My children and their peers are college graduates. They’re all intelligent, educated people yet I find myself, with my kids at least, correcting their speech occasionally. Sometimes they’ll have to write some important memo or letter at work, and they’ll run it by me first because I am the family editor.

Many times I’ve said: “One of these days I’m going to write a grammar book for you Gen Xers and Millennials.” With today’s technology, it’s so easy to publish a book. I decided that I should put action to my exasperated statement.

GRAMMAR FOR GROWNUPS:

For Kids From Public Schools After Grammar Was De-emphasized

Admittedly, the tag line needs a little work.

Everyday I hear TV’s talking heads speaking, and I cringe at their grammatical errors. I see egregious errors in newspapers and magazines. In today’s world, no one seems to know when to use I or me and who or whom. Don’t get me started on himself, herself, or myself. No one seems to know the rules regarding comma usage, complete sentences versus sentence fragments, or even when to start a new paragraph.

Accept The Challenge

I’m taking the challenge of helping you build a solid foundation in English Grammar, and I’m issuing you a challenge to finally learn what you missed in school. If you’ve ever broken out into a sweat when having to converse with someone important to your career, or, worse, having to write an important letter, this book is for you.

You know Who You Are

Face the truth and do something about it. For better or worse, you are judged by how you express yourself in speech and in writing. If you haven’t experienced the panic associated with presenting yourself as intelligent and educated, you will eventually. Perhaps you’ll find yourself at a dinner with someone important to your career or your personal life, i.e., the hiring decision-maker at a company or the prospective in-laws of the person you love.

These people may be less tolerant of grammatical errors than anyone else in your life. You just never knew how you will be judged, but make no mistake. You will be judged. Above all, you don’t want to come up lacking in the final assessment. Don’t blow your chance to make a good impression.

Grammar For Grownups will help you learn what you should have learned in elementary school. Don’t be afraid. Good grammar is a lot easier than you think once you clear away the confusion and start with the basics. I’m going to walk you through this step by step.

How This Will Work

Grammar For Grownups will present a lesson here on Joan Slings Words every Sunday. These lessons will comprise the text of a book that will be published for eReader devices and in print should you wish to always keep a reference copy on your bookshelf or tucked away in your desk drawer at the office.

You can access these lessons in several ways.

1. Read the blog on Sunday.

2. Subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed.

3. Subscribe to the Kindle edition of the blog.

4. Buy the eBook version. As soon as I get a few lessons underway, I’ll make the book available. That way you can start accumulating the lessons. With eBooks, when you buy the book, you’re not charged when a new version is released. With each new lesson, I’ll update the book’s text.

Takeaway Truth

Grammar For Grownups is your second chance to learn what you missed the first time around.

Technorati

Technorati, a search engine for blogs, has the goal of helping bloggers succeed. They say they do this by “collecting, highlighting, and distributing the global online conversation.”

They were the first blog search engine, but they have become a full service media company. Their services are offered to blogs and social media sites, “connecting them with advertisers who want to join the conversation.”

As the premier blog search engine, Technorati indexes millions of blog posts in real time and surfaces them in seconds. The powers that be at Technorati say that their site is “the definitive source for the top stories, opinions, photos and videos emerging across news, entertainment, technology, lifestyle, sports, politics and business.”

That’s quite a claim, and they make this claim because they say they can track the authority and influence of blogs as well as gathering data on who and what is most popular in the blogging world.

As if that weren’t enough, they also publish original content every day on a variety of topics which is written by their hundreds of member writers.

To take advantage of their ability to increase your site’s visibility, register with them then claim your blog and use their tools to promote your blog.

Takeaway Truth

To make the most of your Internet presence, promote your site whenever and wherever possible.

1. Write with a compelling voice that makes the reader feel as if they’re having a great conversation with the writer. That way, they read the words, not skim the copy, because they’re afraid they’ll miss something entertaining.

2. If possible, punch up the copy with something unexpected. Quote a source that might be a surprise, i.e. Shakespeare, or toss in a humorous quotation, something that will pull a grin from the reader.

3. Use numbered lists. Readers love this because psychologically they feel as if they’re getting step by step help in an area. Even pros will read lists because they’re always looking for new ideas. Both groups are right. Sometimes, another writer’s numbered list really knocks the old ball over the fence!

4. Use metaphors and similes that speak to the audience’s cultural experiences. In #3 above, I used a baseball metaphor because it’s springtime which is baseball season and just about everyone understands a baseball home run. Sports allusions are great for male readers, but female readers understand them too. So don’t be afraid to use sports, literary, political, or whatever-floats-your-boat metaphors and similes.

5. Reference what others have done. Don’t be afraid to refer to what others have written on the same subject. Acknowledge the body of work that has already been created. Give links if possible; share that link love. Honor your fellow writers.

Don’t be afraid to tackle a subject that’s been done over and over because the way you write it may be the way that speaks to someone who really is looking for an answer. That’s content that works in every way.

Takeaway Truth

Always remember that different writers present the same information in different ways. Maybe you’ve read 100 articles on a particular subject, but article number 101 is the one that really explains it so you finally understand.

I’ve blogged about this issue before on this blog and on my other one. Look for similar posts in the Internet Success category. I thought my answer to the blogger might be of interest to anyone else who is facing this problem.

Actually, all writers who want to get paid to blog face the same problem: attracting an advertiser’s attention. There’s enormous competition for that interest, and there are really no easy answers to making one’s blog akin to the pretty girl who gets asked to the prom.

Simple, Not Easy

Though there are no easy answers, there are simple answers. That’s because most things with simple answers are just darn hard to implement. The simple answer is you make your blog extremely attractive because there are a finite number of opportunities and many writers vying for them.

You’ll be able to tell when the economy really does improve because there will be more advertising dollars floating around. In the meantime, take a good, hard look at your website.

Important Questions To Answer Objectively

1. Does your site have good Google PageRank?

2. Is your blog about an area of interest that makes it have broad appeal to advertisers?

3. Is it well designed?

4. Is it free of grammatical errors and poor logic?

5. Does it have a good balance of content and ads?

6. Is the content well-written, educational, and entertaining?

7. Is it free of what I call the “deadly sins” of blogging, i.e. annoying flash ads, pop-ups, pop-overs, too many different fonts, too many colors of fonts, automatic music, etc. (These are all on the lists of things net visitors hate most.)

Takeaway Truth

Build a better mousetrap – or blog – and the world – and advertisers – will beat a path to your door.

Writing, when done well, is hard work, but, for most writers, it’s the only work which interests us. Yet, many writers don’t know how to sell their words, that is, to use their skill to produce income. I’m happy to share the knowledge with others. I always tell anyone who is interested in earning money from their prose ability that there are 3 steps involved.

Follow These Steps

1. Establish a blog and fill it with good content.

2. Post consistently and frequently with that good content in order to get a decent Google PageRank.

3. Sign up with reputable companies who pay you to blog at the request of advertisers.

Now, you may think that’s all a no-brainer. It’s like a lot of things in life: simple, but not necessarily easy, with the exception of the third step.

Take Step 1. Sure, it’s easy to establish a blog. Anyone, and their dog, literally, have blogs. However, filling a blog with good content takes skill, talent, and an artistic sensibility when it comes to layout, fonts, and images.

Step 2 isn’t easy either because it requires a commitment and dedication as well as treading big G’s skinny line between content for content’s sake and paid advertising.

Step 3 is probably the easiest of all if you do your research because that research will show that one of my favorite companies Sponsored Reviews is, in my humble opinion, one of the best get-paid-to-blog sites around.

I’ve been with a lot of sites, and I’m signed up with about a dozen now. They all have their good points and their bad, but so far, I haven’t found any bad points with Sponsored Reviews. They may have some, but I haven’t run up against any yet. My only quibble is that I can’t get writing jobs there every day. I long for the day when my PageRank is so high that advertisers fall over themselves in trying to get to me with offers.

Why They’re Tops

Here’s why they’re tops in my book. The website is well organized and easy to navigate. Everything you need to know to sign up or to check in for jobs is on the Home Page from Action Items showing jobs awaiting your approval or in progress and Reports showing jobs waiting for advertiser approval, those completed, rejected, and expired to Help features you can use to educate yourself if you’re new to this arena. They also post any Messages from the powers that be.

At the bottom of the page, there’s Here’s How To Get Started. It will take you through the simple, and easy, steps necessary to become one of their bloggers.

The advertisers who use Sponsored Reviews pay well for good writing. Even better, Sponsored Reviews pays the writer promptly. Financial record keeping on the website is easy to view, understand, and print.

Takeaway Truth

Find reputable companies who will reward you for your skill and talent. That’s a win-win for both of you.

Thanks, Angela Hoy

Then Angela Hoy of Booklocker and Writers Weekly did an examination of The Examiner, and I realized I needed to find out more about this because I had friends interested in writing for this company. In fact, I had applied because it sounded like a fun gig, but the niche I wanted to fill had already been filled. Lucky for me because at the time I had no hard evidence as to what one could earn from writing for them only their PR assurance that it was a way to make money. Even pros like me sometimes don’t take the time to ask the right questions.

Read The Evidence

Thanks to the Letters to the Editor started in May on Writers Weekly, I now know it’s not a fun gig at all. Now, The Examiner pays per click not per view so there’s a minor difference though the end result seems to be the same. Be sure and Search the site for all the articles about this subject so you won’t miss any, like the one that breaks down the contract terms for Examiner writers.

Triond

Triond pays you per page view for articles you upload. One writer, who shall remain nameless since I don’t wish to embarrass him, has a breakdown posted online about what he earned with Triond. He was thrilled over the $15 bucks and change he earned in the last year from an article he posted 12 months ago. It garnered over 5,000 page views for which he has earned a little over $15 bucks. Excuse me! He thinks this is good pay for writing something? I was shocked and felt sorry for him. He could earn that much by writing one blog post on his own blog, and he would probably have far more people reading it that the average 14 people a day required to give him the 5000+ page views.

Bukisa

This is another site that pays per page view. Bukisa defines Unique Visitor so be sure and read that. They also pay according to the
Bukisa Index which they describe as “a unique and exciting way you can keep track of your earnings from your published content and networks content in Real Time.”

They further say: “What this number means is that for every 1,000 unique human visits to your content you will receive the USD equivalent of the Bukisa Index. For example, if the Bukisa Index is $4.00 that means you will receive $4.00 USD for every 1000 unique views your content receives.” So, they might pay the Triond writer above a bit more than $15 bucks, but, Bukisa updates their Index “at least once per month based upon the overall performance of our websites revenue streams….”

You can interpret that to mean there is no guarantee you’ll get 4 bucks per 1000. Also, you must have at least $10.00 in earnings in order to withdraw the funds. In my opinion, based on similar requirements on sites for which I get paid to blog, if the threshold for withdrawal is set that low, it means very few meet the threshold. If any Bukisa writers would like to speak up, I’m happy to publish your audited financials.

Associated Content

This is one of the better known pay per view sites. They pay an Upfront Payment which can range from $1 to $20 depending on the content you provide. Then you get royalties or Performance Payments as they call them, with a baseline rate of $1.50 for every 1,000 page views your article receives. They claim that contributors can earn hundreds or even thousands of dollars each month.

If anyone out there has earned these amounts, please contact me. I’d love to feature you on this blog. If you have a different story, then write it up and you can guest blog about it.

Guidelines To Follow

Your words and how you put them together are what you have to offer. Sure, there are times you may want to write for free, and there may be compelling reasons to do so. Just make sure you have valid reasons for signing on with a website. If interested in any sites like these, and there are many, be sure and read all the terms so you know exactly what you’re getting for what you’re giving. If you do sign on, be ready to promote till the cows come home to get that traffic to where your article is posted.

Takeaway Truth

If you’re writing for free or nearly so, make sure it’s just a stepping stone to the next level. Don’t get stuck in that niche, and don’t ever sell yourself short.

No matter how many times you spam my Comments for your various eyeglass websites, I won’t publish what you leave the drivel you leave.

Yours truly,
Website Owner

Seriously, don’t the spammers know that their IP address appears next to their lame attempt at comments? This guy/gal has been spamming me for a week and a half, and I think I know who submitted my website to their hired flunky. That person is registered on a pay to blog site as an advertiser, and that person has a website that sells eyeglasses. I’m not naming names because I have no proof, only my gut instinct about the situation.

Would This Fool Anyone?

[...] A nice web master created an interesting post today on Joan Slings Words Blog Archive August [...] [...]

[...] A smart blogger placed an interesting blog post on Joan Slings Words Blog Archive

[...] Someone I’ve heard of placed an interesting blog post on Joan Slings Words Blog Archive

All these are immediately followed by about 250 words of description for various eyeglasses.

Making A List

Yep. I’m making a list of the IP addresses and checking it twice and going to start blocking these since it’s taking way too much time to scan them each day. Is it a sign of popularity to be the recipient of so much swill?

Takeaway Truth

One must learn to deal with the problems that crop up in maintaining a website, and the sooner one learns this, the better.

Truth #1

Not everyone who reads your blog is an expert or professional blogger. In reality, your reading audience will be composed of those who wish to learn as much as by those who are old pros at blogging and Net surfing. Make sure your content is informative and explains concepts that may be new to some readers.

Truth #2

Make your content accessible to all. This can be tricky because you must provide editorial sustenance for all readers by creating content that speaks to all levels of proficiency.

Like so many things in life, this can be easier to say than do.

Takeaway Truth

Even if something is hard, work at it. Practice may not make perfect, but you’ll be surprised by how much practice will improve your skills.

Free? Sure!

That’s right. Article Alley has hundreds of articles free for you to use on your blog, as long as you honor the terms of service. They have articles in topics from Automotive to Writing and Speaking with just about all of the popular topics in between. A website like this can save your blogging life by providing you with content to populate your blog until you get into the swing of things.

Reserve Power For Bloggers

Even after you’re creating your own original content every day, you can use the site to select articles to schedule for your blog in advance for those times when you know you just won’t have time to post each day. After all, there are scheduled events like vacations and unscheduled ones like catching the flu.

They also offer a writing service for those who want to request a particular topic. Their writers can generate an article for you at a reasonable price.

Takeaway Truth

Don’t let a lack of words stop you from starting a blog when you can get help, by shopping wisely, for your prose needs.

Template Change

I really like the template I’m using, but I want my content to be accessible in every way to readers. Since I’m remodeling my other blog, I decided to test drive a new blog template beginning next Monday. (I’d rather be test driving the new Camaro, but no one has asked me to get behind the wheel of this sweet ride yet.) If you’d like to let me know what you think about the new blog template, feel free.

Takeaway Truth

A successful blog must be not only esthetically pleasing but also easy for the eyes to read.

Old School Or New Technology

Sure, the traditional ways of advertising work, but are they cost effective or even affordable in today’s economy? Perhaps you should explore Social Media Marketing. Let me define that for you. I see it as the marriage of social media, information content created by people utilizing user friendly publishing technologies, and sound marketing techniques which generate exposure for a business. If successful, the result will be increased traffic, resulting in increased consumers and new business partnerships.

Enter IZEA

IZEA is a social media marketing expert and a world leader in Sponsored Conversations. Isn’t that a great phrase? A sponsored conversation is an agreement between an advertiser to compensate a blogger who conducts a conversation at the advertiser’s request, for example, writing a blog post. IZEA has a network of more than 250,000 bloggers and 25,000 advertisers around the world. They know how to create buzz, drive traffic, and deliver ROI.

Takeaway Truth

They say there’s nothing new under the sun, just new ways of doing old tasks. Maybe it’s time to explore new ways of advertising and marketing.

In this article, I traced the history of the blog. Today, it’s hard to imagine that some may not know what a blog is, but it’s true. There’s a big part of the world that still isn’t wired in, and doesn’t want to be.

If you know someone like that, and we probably all do, whether it’s a grandparent or a coworker who shuns the cyber world, here’s a primer you can give them.

Blog, or Weblog for those who still may be unfamiliar with this online journal, falls under that “Good News-Bad News” heading.

Good News

The good news is that, used well, a weblog can be an effective business tool to promote your brand and foster name recognition and credibility as an expert. It’s a social tool for building online relationships and communities.

Bad News

The bad news is that blogs can be addictive, as highly addictive as Free Cell, Solitaire, or Cubis. But far more entertaining.

Weblogs are defined as a web application which contains periodic posts on a common webpage. They’re usually posted in reverse chronological order with the newest at the top.

History

In the beginning, way back in the early nineties, they were labeled web log to avoid confusing them with a server log. Several internet sources cite Jorn Barger as the creator of the term weblog in December 1997. Dave Winer, who runs the Scripting News weblog, states that Tim Berners-Lee at Cerner Corporation, a particle physics laboratory, created the first weblog. (If you’re interested, the content of this site is archived at the World Wide Web Consortium.)

In February 1996 Dave Winer (link was http://newhome.weblogs.com/historyofweblogs but is no longer active) started his weblog as part of the 24 Hours of Democracy website.

In April, he added a news page for users of Frontier, a software program, and that page became Scripting News a year later. It’s still one of the longest-running weblogs on the Internet. Winer’s and Berners-Lee’s weblogs were like most of the early weblogs–political, business, or software related. The weblog began to mutate when people began using it as a personal vehicle for recording their thoughts, actions, and opinions. Weblogs became Personal Web Publishing Communities.

Origin of the Word Blog

In 1999, Peter Merholz changed the word weblog and, for all practical purposes, changed society. Merholz, a founding partner of Adaptive Path, a user experience consulting company, has a blog that contains “Links, thoughts, and essays from Peter Merholz.”

In his entry Play With Your Words May 17, 2002, he told how he created the word blog, a phrase meaning “we blog” from weblog. “…it’s weird to experience how my love of words and wordplay has actually made an impact. Sometime in April or May of 1999 (I can’t say for sure when I exactly did it), I posted, in the sidebar of my homepage: ‘I’ve decided to pronounce the word “weblog” as wee’- blog. Or “blog” for short.’ I didn’t think much of it. I was just being silly, shifting the syllabic break one letter to the left. I started using the word in my posts, and some folks, when emailing me, would use it, too. I enjoyed it’s crudeness, it’s dissonance… As I wrote Keith Dawson after he added “blog” to Jargon Scout: ‘I like that it’s roughly onomatopoeic of vomiting. These sites (mine included!) tend to be a kind of information upchucking.’ Blog would have likely died a forgotten death had it not been for one thing: In August of 1999, Pyra Labs released (the software) Blogger. And with that, the use of Blog grew with the tool’s success.”

Present Day

Blogs had been around since then, but around 2004, they seemed to explode. Everyone, and her dog, has a blog. Check out the blog of Jasper, a black Labrador, if you don’t believe me. And that’s just one of thousands of hits Google shows. There are cat, parrot, rabbit, etc. blogs.

Takeaway Truth

If you can think of a subject, there’s probably a blog for it. Sometimes that’s good; sometimes that’s bad. It all depends on the quality of the content.

Please visit me at my blogspot blog Sling Words until further notice.

Takeaway Truth

Sometimes you have to take a step back and regroup.

Written Wisdom theme for November: Thanks and appreciation. Appropriate? Yes!

Reading: Interview with Romance Author Anne Marie Novark.

Writing: Feature article is

Wordplay, Joan’s Newsletter: Detail of the November update and a feature article that appears only in Wordplay:

Work In Progress: Short discussion about what I’m writing.

Previously Published: Part 3 of Keeping and Using Rights entitled
Parts 1 and 2 remain on this page also.

Archives: articles that have appeared on the website 2006 – 2008.

Takeaway Truth

Gather information because the more you know; the more effective you are.

As a writer with more than a few manuscripts, published and unpublished, behind me, I know this truth in every cell of my brain. This is why I always encourage those who tell me they’re going to write a book when they have the time. I tell them to go for it. They may succeed. If anything, they’ll learn it’s not as simple as finding some free time to devote to the project.

If they’ve been particularly condescending in their assumption that free time is all that is needed to write successfully (of course, I’m thinking of one particular individual here), I stand a good chance of being greatly amused when I bump into them in the future. I’ve yet to hear anything but hemming and hawing from those who’ve actually tried to turn their idea into a book.

More is required than leisure time to successfully write. If you want to write, you must be willing to work hard. Writing is hard on the anatomy, the brain, and the emotions. I think it was Earl Nightingale who said: “There are no bargains at the counter of success. You must pay full price.”

Takeaway Truth

No worthwhile endeavor is ever as easy as the uninitiated think. If it were, everyone would be doing it and doing it with great success.