Geek Swagger.
DaveKemick.com
Blog-A-Day January
Feb 1st
So you may have noticed that I had a new post written everyday in January. That means 31 posts since the year began. I wanted to take a moment and reflect on how things went and the effect on traffic.
How I Wrote
I started the first week of January by preloading a lot of my posts. I took the last Saturday of 2010 and knocked out 6 posts, and the idea was to do the same every week. Write my butt off on the weekend and schedule the posts throughout the week. There were a few problems with this strategy though.
- Say peace out to your Saturday - I'm not the fastest writer ever and I tend to have long posts so to complete a week's worth of posts in a day pretty much consumes that day. I like weekends, so that was a bummer.
- Short on ideas - When I tried to come up with 7 posts in a day I quickly ran out of ideas, which led to writing lower-quality posts in order to fill my quota.
- Lack of Timeliness - If something cool happened during the week I had to push back writing about it until the weekend
In the end I ended up just writing a single post a night. It became part of my routine. After dinner, sit down and write a post. I also write for the protocol 80 blog from time-to-time so th nights I needed to get a post written for this blog and that blog I was pretty tired of writing. It worked though!
The Results
Throughout the month I kept a careful eye on my Google analytics account. The traffic diffrence was significant, with an overall boost of 180% in visitors over this time last month. My highest amount of visits in a day topped out at 80 thanks to a retweet by the MBMBAM podcast guys. I'm really eager to see what the change will be next month after having a solid month of posts. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up the progress. I'll give it at least one more month to test and see. I'm not sure if I'll continue to post daily just to have fresh content everyday, I would almost rather have quality over quantity. Maybe in month 3 I'll test focusing more on quality posts instead of having a new post everyday and then report back again.
New Side Project – Envy Designs
Nov 2nd
I'm not really a fan of shilling my own work but I had a lot of fun working on this website so here comes some shameless self-promotion. is a website I launched with a good friend of mine. I've done all of the web work and he's created some cool designs which, when partnered with Zazzle.com, we can sell to folks interested in some custom clothing. The nice thing about the website is that I was able to go with a more dark and grungy theme which is not something I get to do very often.
I'm still not sold on Zazzle as a product vendor because there are certainly some limitations as to how you, as a developer, can interact with your products. I've noticed for some of their bigger clients (Discovery, for example) they will open up access to iframes so you can embed your product right into your website's template. Unfortunately, the same functionality isn't available to normal joes like myself. What this means is that is really just a front end to the zazzle website. If I could use that iframe functionality visitors wouldn't ever have to leave the website and the user experience would be much less confusing.
Anyways, head on over to and take a look at the products Dan has made, you can also follow him on twitter at . We're working on setting up the standard array of social networking sites and want to improve the site over time (including adding more designs), so if you have any questions or comments as to what you'd like to see from here on in please let us know! We're addicted to using as many free solutions as possible in this venture, and it's sort of a secondary labor of love for us both. In some ways it's an experiment. Stick tuned for more updates as we go.
Blog-A-Day?
Sep 1st
It certainly has been a while, hasn't it? A lot has happened in my life since my last post and I'm sorry for neglecting this blog so thoroughly. Everytime I receive a new email regarding someone signing up for my blog (spammer or not) I feel incredibly guilty. With that said I hope to amend the issue, at least to some degree.
My initial idea is to try and put out a text-based blog post everyday. The topics will generally regard tech or gaming as the blog is billed in this site's header, and hopefully I can spur some discussion in the form of comments from time to time. To say that this is an idealistic goal would be putting it lightly, but if I keep the posts brief I don't think it's entirely out of the realm of possibility. If all goes to plan my first post will appear this coming Sunday and you can check back daily after that.
See you soon!
New Theme and Such
Aug 2nd
So, I've changed the theme and this is the one I'm going to stick with for a while. Â If you notice any bugs or glitches please holler. Â The most important addition is the little widget up top in the sidebar to the left which contains my recommendations. Â This is a widget powered by Amazon because I've setup an associates account, and if you see something you'd like I'd much appreciate a click.
I'll only put stuff there that I own and like, and you may see an affiliate link in posts whenever I review or talk about a product in the future. Â Stay tuned!
Upgrade: WordPress 2.8.2
Jul 25th
As is usually the case, this probably won't mean much to you guys since most of the updates are relegated to the admin section of the site. Â To be honest, the most prominent reason for installing this update is just that I was growing tired of seeing "THERE'S A NEW VERSION OF WORDPRESS PLEASE UPDATE NOW!" on the dashboard every time I logged in to write a post.
I'll also be experimenting with some different themes over the next week. Â I can't decide if I want to go uber-minimalist or stick with a more robust design. Â We'll see.
As always, feedback would be great.
Boo!
Jul 1st
I heard about AudioBoo on Macbreak Weekly and decided to give it a try. Basically it's a service that lets you record quick audio clips and turn them into a semi-podcast. I might do these more often since they're quick and easy to do, so check back for more.
The coolest thing is how good the quality is - this was recorded with my iPhone, no special mic or anything, and it sounds really good.
Want to win a Drobo?
Mar 29th
Me too! Â The guys over at My Digital Life are doing a contest where if you post a referral link to their site you'll get a chance to win a Drobo. Â You can find the details here:Â
As for my link, here it is:Â HTTP://WWW.MYDL.ME
Where do we go from here?
Feb 17th
So if you follow my blog at all you'll have noticed that I've switched format a bit over the past few days. Rather than doing long, drawn-out posts I've decided to just post small tidbits that I find interesting. I provide some commentary and a link to whatever it is that I'm talking about, and then call it a day. This lets me put out more posts, keep my content a little more timely, and most importantly it keeps me interested in writing.
There's definitely something to be said for long-format blog posts. Sometimes you're passionate about a subject, or you just have a lot to say. However forcing these posts became something I started to dread - an unfortunate fact that led to me posting less and less often. By keeping my posts short and concise I'll be able to put more out, and hopefully if you subscribe to my blog (which I thank you for, very much) you'll get a few more articles in your RSS reader than normal. Not only that but a lot of the time long format posts are more for the writer than the reader. When I go out of left field and write a 2,000 word treatise about Windows Live Mesh I can't expect that everyone will want to read it. If I wasn't interested in the subject I wouldn't want to. Hell, half the time even if I'm interested in the content of a blog post, if I see it's too long I'll tend to skip through it or not read it at all.
I think this will be a change for the better. I'm sure I'll still put out longer posts from time-to-time, but I'm really hoping I can stick with this new format for the benefit of us both (myself the writer, you the reader). I'll stick with gaming and tech content still, since that is what genuinely interestes me, but I may also vere off the traditional subject and post things that I personally like. After all, this is a personal blog. =)
Merry Christmas!
Dec 25th
Alrighty so this is just a quick post to wish you all a merry Christmas. I didn't want to take the time to write a full-fledged post because, to be honest, you probably have more important things to do than read my blog.
Thanks as always for reading and I wish you the best.
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Yes, I’m still alive.
Dec 12th
This is just a quick note to anyone who reads my blog - I apologize for slacking on the content the past week or two. Finals, technical difficulties and work have been keeping me pretty busy lately.
I promise to get back on track as we get closer to the holiday. Hopefully next week I'll return to the normal broadcasting schedule.
Thanks for hanging tight!
