I'm Laura. ASCII artist, stick figure cartoonist, urban and rural explorer of abandoned places - these are a few of the things I am doing when I'm not writing. I began as a web writer in 1998 but I started online in 1996, an IRC diva. I think I am a great fit for Lifehacker because I have experience, stamina (I was an editor at Dmoz over ten years), creativity, originality and inspiration. I've also been a copy editor and forum moderator so I can write and self edit my work quite well. I love finding new things online: new gadgets, new sites, new ways to use what we already have. I'm not the most organized person so I look for anything to help me with that. Some things work and some don't but I try them. Once a year I reformat my hard drive to make sure I'm not left with any nasty critters from my experimentation. I'm teaching my Mother to use the computer. It takes patience, a lot of simple words, straight forward answers and I'm usually repeating the same things over a few times before she actually listens but we are making progress. I'm Sagittarius, I just feel the need to teach the world.

WordGrrls (http://wordgrrls.com) is my site for web writers. Originally I used it to stash content I had written for BackWash, WZard.com, HerPlanet, LockerGnome, BellaOnline and Suite101. On WordGrrls I post (daily) creative writing prompts, writing inspiration, web publishing ideas and generally my point of view about anything to do with keeping a space for yourself on the web. There is a flood of information for SEO and marketing your blog but the writing itself is being put on the backburner. I bring the writing back into the lime light. I love writing and even making lists of topics to write about. A bit crazy. Currently I am working through a mild addiction to WordPress plugins. I have found several I like for odds and ends but I've yet to find just what I want for displaying a featured past post.

I'm located in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Not the US but I was once married to an American and spent a few years living in Illinois, does that count?

Right now I am not employed, trying the work from home plan but still mostly just unemployed. I have a lot of availability. Usually I am online in the evening when it is quiet and dark and I can pretend I'm far more mysterious than I really am.

I haven't really thought a personal blog could be a niche blog. Seemed there was just too much to pack into or nail down to become a niche. I was wrong.

I read a post from Lorelle who has become famous (at least to me) for her posts about WordPress. She posted about her cousin's personal blog as part of a series about personal blogs. Lorelle says her cousin, Duke, has the example of a perfect personal blog. Not to my thinking as I'm not a fan of any blog with a black background, but there is something to be learned from Duke's blog. It fills a niche, nicely. Read the description of his blog, that's where the niche gets nailed down and he slides right in. It's very well done.

Duke, maybe with help from his cousin, has used his personality, his interests and become a niche blog. I bet it wasn't done in a day. But, it was done and I think this really does show that any personal blog can become a niche, if we take some time to think and plan. Come up with a few lists about who you are and what you most like to post about. Even though there are thousands of Mommy Blogs there is something unique about yourself and your blog that you can find a niche too. I'm going to work on it for That Grrl, my own personal blog.

Say something relevant to the post itself. Come up with a comment more interesting than “I agree” or “Me too”. It’s not that tough to stretch out a thought beyond two words. Why do you agree with the post? What was your own experience? Most blog comments are on the short side. Find a bit more to say and make yours longer to stand out. A longer comment also gives the feeling you are interested in the post and the blogger and able to string together ideas yourself. Others are more likely to click on the link to your blog if you seem to be someone who can write and write well.

A blog post looking for advice or answers is a great time to get noticed. If you know of a resource, have an opinion, or experience that would help leave that in comments. Give a link to the resource if it is online, even if it is your own site. However, if it is your own site make that clear. That way the blog owner and readers will know you aren’t just spamming your URL, it’s posted for a valid reason.

On the other side of giving information, ask a question yourself. What would you like to know more about? What detail or information might have been left out of the post? Think of a real question, not fluff just to leave a comment.

Be supportive and uplifting and sincere. Everyone is glad to have a comment that spreads good cheer and brightens their day. You can’t smile at others through your comment but you can send a smile in text. If you can’t be uplifting don’t be a wet blanket and do not be obnoxious. That should not even need to be said.

Write with personality, passion and humour. Don’t leave a bland comment that could have been written by half a million other bloggers. Come up with something uniquely you. Maybe a different turn of phrase. How about a funny anecdote. Maybe part of a quote relevant to the post if you really just don’t have a personality of your own. (But I know you do!)

Don’t post a comment at all if you really have nothing to say or if you are posting just to create controversy. A flame war may get you traffic and it will get you noticed but is that really how you want to be known? Besides, that kind of attention is short lived. No one really wants to watch a flame war except the two people in the middle who can’t seem to let go.

Last of all, proofread your comments before you click to post them. Spelling errors are one thing but typos just look clutzy. You can try to avoid them or just not bother and give the impression that you don’t care. Also, don’t leave a comment that is a solid block of text. It is easier to read a long comment if it is broken up into individual thoughts/ ideas.

Happy commenting. Let me know if you have other great commenting ideas.

Meanwhile consider using CoComment. Your comments from other blogs are posted to your own blog in a widget. Nice way to show that you actually do make comments and give links to the blogs you read. Although it is too late for the 31 Day Comment Challenge which utilizes CoComment too.

You can join up IComLeavWe for July, join before the 21st.

IComLeavWe - International Comment Leaving Week Blogging is a conversation and comments are honoured and encouraged. I like to say that comments are the new hug–a way of saying hello, giving comfort, leaving congratulations.

The challenge of being a personal blogger is keeping it that way. I enjoy the added challenge of building my site and traffic and seeing it grow. I understand that most people are going to be lurkers, I don't comment on every single post or blog I stop at after all. So having a web counter gives you that little boost to see that it's not just yourself and a few friends reading your blog.

But, once you get traffic others want to benefit from it. People seem to expect they have every right to perch like a cow bird on my blog. I don't understand their attitude. It seems very arrogant to think I should want them here. I don't.

I get at least 2 or 3 emails each week from someone "writing for a client" or themselves telling me what a great favour they can do for me by putting ads on my site. Do you see ads on my site? Other than the one text ad thing which says I will make $1.91 eventually, there aren't any ads here. I could understand their attitude that I would want their ads if I was running an ad farm. But, I'm not. So clue in and try another blog.

What really really does peeve me, far more, are those who want to be my friend. Do you even know my name? No. How can you be my friend when you know nothing about me. You wouldn't miss me if I was hit by a bus an hour from now. The only impact my absense would have is the worth of having a link to my blog traffic. So peeve off and befriend some rock or something. I only want to be friends with people who at least have the interest in making a return visit and actually reading some of my blabbering.

I use my Technorati list for blogs _ I _ read. Yes, me, not you. I do not use it as a way of trading links. I do not expect anyone on that list to link back to me. It is nice if they do, I don't check into it. That list is for me. It is a list for me. Hope that helps some of those people who think they are my friends and should be added to my blogroll because we are such great friends. I don't trade links on my blogroll. Of course, it would be nice if any of those friends would read this. They won't. They don't read blogs they just use them.

Anyway, that is my little rant except for one last point.

The problem with having a personal blog and the ego to find traffic is that you put time and energy into promoting it and don't always have time and energy to post to it. Kind of silly. I aim to post each day but some days I am cheating to get content. I would prefer all my posts to be real blog entries and geeky looking stick figure drawings. But, I work, I have laundry and I like to sleep at least once every 24 hours or so. Some days a cheat is all I can do. But, I try to make them interesting cheats, not just another cheap cheat. :)

So there are my thoughts about blogging today. It's not easy being a personal blogger in a world of monetizing mania. But I'm not forgetting what I liked about blogging in the first place and I'm sticking to being a personal blogger, with pride in creating for myself and those who wander in for a look.

Lady Banana selected me and this blog as a Treasured Blogger. The Treasured Blogger idea came from Dancin' Fool as a dedication to a blogger she will miss. I've also had a few people who I came to know through their blogs only to have them disappear one day. It is sad. For some you think of them years later but have no idea how to ever find them again, even if they did start blogging once again.

So thank you to Lady Banana. It really is an honour to be someone who would be missed. I think a lot of us write these personal blogs as a way of being heard, getting some feedback and maybe as a way to feel connected to the world and all the people in it. That isn't something you can always find in the day to day daily grind where people often don't even know their neighbours. It really is more than nice to be a voice out here in the world who would be missed. Thank you to everyone who comes along this way, thanks for listening, even for a short time.

Bloggers that I miss are Happy and Blue (Glenn) and Skye. Skye has a new blog but posts pretty rarely.

Bloggers I would miss if they disappeared would include Lady Banana but she sent me the award so I will mention her but not have her create another list for her blog.

The grrls as I think of us, from my Ontario Rural Ruins group. I'd hugely miss seeing photos from The Navigator, Kate, Lee Ann and msDeKay. Not only do they find great things but they take great photos too.

I only know him as twintam44 on Flickr but I have wondered if he knows b13fotographica, then there are The Useless Men, Terry aka Latte Girl, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Jade who has the best newsletter with quotes, Bev Walton-Porter who has several blogs but I still don't keep in touch as I'd like to, Rainy Pete and others who I have known in the past and lost track of in the now. I hope you know who you are if you wander this way.