A couple days ago I had an interesting chat discussion through the chat widget on my site, with a fellow blogger friend named Phase. We discussed Phase’s new blogging site, The Phase Files, as well as many aspects of blogging such as networking, site design, writing under a pen name, widgets, Google Analytics, SEO tools, blog carnivals, and commenting. It was a good conversation and covered many topics that every blogger should be aware of. If you’re a blogger, you’ll find some interesting tips and tidbits. Enjoy!

8:11:55 PM  plugoo_buddy: [My Plugoo] [Phase] Hey man

8:12:09 PM  Cold Philter: Hey Phaser.

8:12:11 PM  plugoo_buddy: [Phase] I just got your post — I’m flattered and glad u enjoyed it

8:12:20 PM  plugoo_buddy: [Phase] how did u find me

8:12:55 PM  Cold Philter: Through BlogCatalog.  I realized that if I need to start meeting other bloggers if I want anyone to check out my site.

8:13:22 PM  plugoo_buddy: [Phase] i’m glad u did man

8:14:01 PM  Cold Philter: Yeah, that’s a big piece of the blog equation I was missing.  The whole point of blogs is that you create a discussion…and I wasn’t.

8:14:04 PM  plugoo_buddy: [Phase] I have been blogging for about 3 months now and it’s going really well ever since i started networking

8:14:24 PM  plugoo_buddy: [Phase] yea totally man

8:14:33 PM  plugoo_buddy: [Phase] i like ur site a lot it’s fucking sick

8:14:38 PM  plugoo_buddy: [Phase] i just RSS’d u

8:14:40 PM  Cold Philter: Yeah, networking is awesome, it’s really good to get feedback from other bloggers.

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This article was originally written by Alex for the Helium.com title: “The characteristics of a good teacher “. You can view the Helium version here.

Questions: Have you ever had a great teacher? What did you like about him/her? Comment here!

I’m writing this article as a thank you to a great teacher I had in high school named Brad Vickers. He embodies what makes a great teacher and every day I’m glad he was able to teach me. He inspired me to work in the field of graphic design, and I owe a lot to him. As a tribute to his teaching abilities I am going to discuss the strengths, qualities, and criteria that make great teachers. Brad Vickers had all of these characteristics, and I hope everyone has an opportunity to be taught by a teacher as awesome as him.

In a lifetime, we may be graced with the presence of few great teachers. These people end up shaping our lives for the better because of their greatness, and we deeply admire them for that. A great teacher has many faces. They may typically be a professor or teacher in the classroom, but often they can be our family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors. It makes no difference who they are really, or what their profession, but great teachers all have one thing in common. They instill inside us values, knowledge, hopes and dreams. Once they’ve been taught to us, we are changed for the rest of our lives.

Teachers who teach for a profession have high expectations to meet. They hold our young children’s minds in their hands and mold them like pieces of fine clay. Greatness is expected form these teachers as they are responsible for helping bring our children into their adult lives. This is partly why it is important to find the characteristics that these great teachers share. If teachers are to be taught themselves, they must be taught the excellent traits of their peers before them.

Let’s take a look at the qualities that define a great teacher:

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When I created this web site a year ago, I had intended it to be a place where I could express myself by sharing my thoughts and ideas with the online world. I quickly realized however how difficult it was to maintain a blogging web site and to write new content consistently.

I’ve read several articles online from successful bloggers that the key to having a popular blog that people visit on a regular basis is to create “quality content”. In my effort to create quality content that I thought people would like to read, I ended up rarely posting anything because I thought what I had written wasn’t good enough.

While I agree that writing quality content is very important for any blogger, writing consistent content is equally important. A blogger that writes one spectacular article a year probably is not going to be very successful either, because people lose interest quickly if you aren’t providing new writing.

I believe now that the key is writing quality content in a timely manner. I’m sure this is difficult to do, but this is what I’m going to aspire to. So, with this thought in mind, I’m going to change the dynamic of how I post new articles on my site.

For the next couple months, I’m going to write my articles in more of a “free-flowing” manner, similar to how I might write in a journal. This should allow me to be able to write more freely and regularly. My only real concern is that I will try to write something relatively decent and worth reading.

After writing this way for a couple months, I’m hoping to increase my web site’s visibility and gain some readers. If it doesn’t work, I’ll try something new. That’s the great thing about owning a web site, if something doesn’t work, it isn’t too hard to change it or try something different.

I look forward to bringing my site back into the swing of things!

Comments are always appreciated.

This article was originally written by Alex for the Helium.com titles:

“How to tell if you are exploited by your employer“. You can view the Helium version here
“What to do if you are exploited by your employer“. You can view the Helium version here

Most people who have jobs and work on a day to day basis need their jobs to earn a living, buy food, to pay their rent/mortgage, help support a family, and to live a satisfied life. Unfortunately, it is this basic need for survival that can open up an employee to exploitation.

When a person grows afraid of losing their job because they don’t think they will be able to survive without it, they become more apt to tolerate working in an environment they don’t like or even hate. They become more apt to being used and treated badly by their employers because they don’t want to risk quitting or being fired if they confront their employer about the problems they are having.

Some employers see this fear as an opportunity and thus use it to take advantage of their workers. When companies exploit their employees, they are doing so to save profits. They tend to do this in many ways such as not paying their employees what they deserve, overworking them to exhaustion, treating them unfairly, and not giving them credit for their work.

It is likely that at some point during your working life, you will experience some form of exploitation by your employer. This article is intended as a resource to help you determine if you are being exploited by your employer, as well as steps you can take to deal with this stressful and daunting experience.

There are many ways that a company can exploit an employee, and here is a list of the major ways in which an employer will do this:

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This article was originally written by Alex for the Helium.com title:

“Communicating with negative people and the effect it has on your happiness“. You can view the Helium version here.

It’s undeniably true that there will always be people in this world who see the glass as half empty. These are your negative people, who typically see the worst in a situation, no matter what the situation may be. Communicating with these people, whether they are friends, family, or coworkers, can often be difficult, exhausting, and can hinder your happiness. Why are these people negative though? Once we know the answer to this question, and gain some understanding into the problem we can find solutions to beating the negatively that these people possess.

The Good & Bad Sides

To every situation there is in the world, there is always a “good side” and a “bad side”, or positive and negative sides. These positive and negative sides are typically subjective and dependent on the person who views the situation. In reality there is no situation that is strictly good or strictly bad. This is all determined based on the perception of the person who has the view. People who view the positive/good side are known to be optimistic, while people who view the negative/bad side are pessimistic.

The classic “glass with water” analogy proves this pessimistic/optimistic theory that the way we view things subjectively ultimately determines if a situation is positive or negative. In reality, the glass has water in it taking up half its volume. It isn’t “half empty” nor is it “half full”, those are opinions based solely on an individual’s judgment.

It’s important to realize and understand that situations have both a good and a bad side. Choosing one side over another limits your ability to find the real truth that lies in seeing the broader picture.

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