Expanding the network.

This has been in the works for awhile, to be frank- Clean Cut / Well Kept is no longer the singular blog- I seek writers and photographers and artists alike to join a group of like-minded content publishers.

Our aim is to establish a readership and create an attractive, networked team of bloggers.

Cross-contamination to increase audience is common enough these days- note the rather daunting number of pop tracks that are of the format "Title - Artist A w/ Artist B feat Artist C" - A, B, and C are potentially exposed to all of the others' fans.

The idea behind the network is something like that, I'd suppose. If you're interested in joining, shoot me an e-mail at [ disposablenamenlos at gmail dot com ].

Blogs I like: Easy Tips for Business Writers @ Wordpress

If I recall correctly, now is approximately crunch time for college essays (and applications, too)-

Here's [ http://lisakusko.wordpress.com/ ] - Articles about improving your writing.

A few recent posts of hers: [ 1 ], [ 2 ], and [ 3 ] (in reverse chronological order of publication).

Coincidentally, I'm adding this to the reading list.

Shameless Plug: The Dark Bite @ Blogspot

The inaugural plug of the newly-created CCWK Content Network is here:

I give you the newly-formed blog of a good friend of mine, a comic aficionado and foodie- A blog whose title speaks for itself. This is [ http://thedarkbite.blogspot.com ].

Be gentle, folks- he's new to the scene. He's treated me to excellent breakfast tacos and given excellent recommendations on where to get delicious [ barbecue ].

On the slight decline in visible activity:

I'm slaving away at decent guides!

Maybe I should publish portions of them, and then a summary post later?

I'm also working on getting a few other sites up.

Until then, I'll post occasionally and with tidbits I think you'll like:

[ http://reddit.com/r/aww ] is just a colossal collection of cute.

It makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

Blogs I like: Ian Bowden @ bowdeni.com

I've been talking about SEO for a while. Here's someone who's been making a living off of it:

[ http://bowdeni.com/ ]

My TL;DR: Search engine optimization is important, and is something that can (should?) be utilized to drive traffic your way. When Google and other search engines are the first place people turn to for answers, it pays for your solution to be the first thing they see.

Unrelated, but neat: [ http://www.catsforgold.com/ ].

Stuff I Like: Blogworld @ blogworld.com

Check it out:

[ http://www.blogworld.com ] is a resource for both ends of blogging- those looking to get into the business (if you can call it that) and business trying to get involved with social media.

Worth reading:

[ How not to pitch to a blogger ] via [source]
[ Thirty Days to a Better Blog ]
[ 9 SEOers Optimizing ]

It's important to know how to get your word out there- starting out is difficult, because building a readership when you've got little to no content is an uphill battle. Search engines are your friend, and understanding how they work makes them a utility.

Google works (partially) on backlinks- that is, the more often your pages are linked across other sites, the higher it appears in search rankings. Furthermore, the more often you are clicked in Google's search results, the heavier your site will be weighted the next time it's ordered.

In addition to the Free Hosting and Domain guides, a DIY SEO guide has been added to the queue.

On the ground!

As you're reading this I am likely waking up in Germany.

I made it here safely (taking a flight from Newark to Berlin) and was pleasantly surprised by the local accomodations.

I'll have a miniblog going over at http://ccwkgermany.blogspot.com

I'll post something short over there each day, and will only be posting every other day until further notice.

Low-content: More gizmodo links.

[ twitter in classrooms? ]
This sounds like it's encouraging the same mentality that has kids texting across the dinner table while they're out on a date, to me.

[ "Performance" bed sheets. ]
The entire bed is like the cold side of a pillow? SIGN ME UP RIGHT NOW.

[ Font designed with screens in mind. ]
Given the expanding market of portable virtual-book machines, I figure this was the next logical step. I predict we will see (at some point) font-bashing based on the screens they're designed for.

Progress!

Stuff I like: Hypebeast, Urban Outfitters

More fashion!

[ http://hypebeast.com/ ] is an online publication that is less high-fashion and more street-style. A good read to check up on, if only for the neat pictures and regularly-updated information.

[ http://www.urbanoutfitters.com ] is (in my opinion) an incredibly hipster online clothes-merchant, but they pull off the entire shebang with style.With an easily navigated website and regularly-updated inventory, they offer everything and anything you might expect to find present in street fashion. While some prices might be a bit off-putting, the quality of the products is worth it.

Your thoughts?

Blogs I like: Simply Scotches @ Blogspot

By popular demand, here's a shoutout to a broseph out there who knows more about good scotch than I ever will...


"The true men's drink" is Scotch, apparently. I'm more of a water guy myself, but I've yet to encounter a more informative resource than Chris's blog. Folks thereabouts don't just "comment" on his posts- they keep it classy.

If you're attentive enough, you can even notice some subtle wordplay and accents hidden within his posts.

Definitely of interest if you enjoy libation.

Something I didn't know: scotch is delicious.

Good news, everyone!

Okay, fantastic news!

I've recently discovered that I may have a (semi-free) hosting plan to move myself onto another server and switch from Blogger to a WordPress-powered system!

I do appreciate the snappiness that the current solution provides and also like the simplicity of it- but I also want to have a bit more leeway with design, which is hard to accomplish within the limitations of a stylesheet and my rather poor knowledge of CSS.

I'm learning a bit about how it works by reading the documentation, but my wizardry is not on par with what I'm currently using and/or the WordPress theme equivalent.

I'm currently testing the possibilities of a WordPress-powered system over at [ http://cleancutwellkept.co.cc ], but the free hosting (provided by the fine folks over at [ http://freehostingcloud.com/ ]) is a tad sluggish, even post-optimization.

The WordPress software is available over at [ http://codex.wordpress.org ], which is also (conveniently) a repository of documentation for the aforementioned software.

In all seriousness, I'm not sure that the .co.cc address is loading for any of y'all. I'm considering trying out .tk as well, but some of the experiences I've had in the past with their use of interstitials leaves me a bit wary of using the service again.

In unrelated news, I'm thinking about trying to acquire a decent entry-level DSLR (a la the Nikon D90 or a Canon Rebel XS), and starting something up on tumblr or another hosted site on the same service.

More on that to come later.

EDIT: I've also taken the liberty of registering m512.tk and pointing it to this blog. It'll be my shortform address, since cleancutwellkept is a long name and definitely prone to errors.


I might also rename the blog, but that's iffy.

An aside, on the different sorts of blogging:

There's Blogger, which I use to post these sorts of things. It's got a relatively user-friendly interface that makes idea-to-post a very short and easily manageable process.

There's WordPress, which is kinda like Blogger but is a little easier to tweak and a little "classier." I use quotes because not all of WordPress is clean-cut and delicious.

There's tumblr, too, which is essentially hipster-blogging. It's an even more minimalistic interface than Blogger's, permits a fair amount of customization (beneath the hood), and implements a social networking aspect.

I will admit to having several of each of those, but I try to keep them relatively compartmentalized and try to minimize the amount of content bleed between blogs.

I guess MySpace and Facebook both have blogging sorts of things built in, but they're primarily social networking sites, so I'm unsure if they're worth mentioning.

Noteworthy amongst bloggers is Arianna Huffington, co-founder of The Huffington Post.

Also noteworthy is The Drudge Report, which is an easy go-to source for news.

There are certainly other Blogger users that I'd cite, but that's for another post.

Which bloggers do you consider noteworthy?