2008 December archive at ZsoltBalla.com

Archive for December, 2008

Dec

Skies of Rome

By Zsolt Balla 0 Comments

Categories: zsoltballa.com

Okay, this post has a very little to do with online business (maybe even less than that), but it’s almost New Year’s Eve, so I decided to share some beauty this time, as a farewell to 2008.

I’ve mentioned a couple of days ago, after our holiday in Rome, that every simple concept may work, if you consequently stick to it for a while. I found proof, when I pointed my camera to the sky on the second day of our three-day trip, and shot a picture that I pretty much liked.

What follows is a breathtaking set of images based on this very simple concept: I kept pointing my camera to the sky (almost) randomly. Less than 48 hours, almost 20 images.

I hope you’ll like them too. If you do, please share them, comment them, and regardless of whether you like them or not, a very Happy New Year to all of you!

Skies of Rome #1 - photo by Balla Zsolt

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Dec

A little more experience a few more changes

By Zsolt Balla 2 Comments

Categories: blogging, design and zsoltballa.com

Three weeks into blogging, I’ve found myself unhappy with the design of ZsoltBalla.com, and although I still like the look of the Redoable Wordpress theme. Even though I still dig the basic elements of the theme, I’ve already made a couple of modifications, and given certain difficulties I had to face when trying to modify it further and further, I’m not sure if I will stay with Redoable on the long run. Anyway, I’m sure I will change it to something else only if I completely run out of workarounds and alternative ways. But before that, here are the few modifications I made to make the site look better (I’m still not 100% happy with the result though, but I think I still have plenty of time to experiment).

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Dec

Six things to do before 2008 is over

By Zsolt Balla 0 Comments

Categories: insanely useful

I hope everybody is having a great time throughout the winter holidays, and I also would like to chip in by wishing happy holidays to all of you.

But while everybody is busy with preparing for the next year I also wanted to remind you that 2008 is far from over! If you want to make the most of the last days of this year, here are the six things you’ll definitely need to do before 2008 is coming to an end.
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Dec

7 Things Rome taught me about blogging

By Zsolt Balla 3 Comments

Categories: blogging, important lessons and insanely useful

Every journey has a lesson to learn. Furthermore: if you are lucky (and if you pay attention) there are more than one lessons to learn from a three-day journey. After a really exhausting autumn, I was fortunate enough to spend the last three days in Rome with my wife. Being one of the cradles of European culture, and of human intellect as we know it, Rome is also a bottomless well of inspirations and an endless source of creativity. Its sparkling sunshine and 12-15 degree Celsius temperature, along with the great red wines, provide an unrivaled environment to recharge one’s batteries. I didn’t have internet connection or a laptop with me (I proved wise enough not to bring one), still I always found myself thinking about how this unique aura will help me in my daily work and life.

Here is what spending three days in Rome taught me about blogging and about an aptly built online career.
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Dec

The 4 most important things I learned this week by blogging

By Zsolt Balla 0 Comments

Categories: blogging, important lessons, insanely useful and stumbleupon

As you may know, I’ve only just begun this blog a few days ago. Still I have already learned a whole bunch of important things about blogging - by blogging.

Now I’m running over a couple of them. I plan to have this as a weekly regular (listing each week’s important lessons by the end of the week), so stay tuned, I’m sure that there’s more to come.

1. Bloggers are really-really nice people
When you start blogging, expect the first week to be busy. Extremely busy. You’ll have to play around with templates, establish your blog, watch out for all the technical details, and you’ll have to put a huge effort into planning the content as well. On the other hand, you’ll need to start networking with other people from your niche, let alone fellow-bloggers from outside your niche.

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Dec

11 Feeds to subscribe immediately, when you start blogging

By Zsolt Balla 4 Comments

Categories: blogging and sources

The blogosphere has some zillion blogs, websites and e-books focused on helping freelancers, sofa-entrepreneurs and bloggers, who are trying to make a living online. But if you mean your online business seriously, you will surely have limited time to read these blogs, simply because you will have to focus your time and energy on your own business. These 11 feeds, however, are really the ones you must follow right from day one (hint: count ZsoltBalla.com in as #12).

1. Problogger

Darren Rowse’s Problogger (good ol’ Problogger, as someone dubbed it, I don’t remember where) is the ultimate alpha and omega of making a living off blogging. Darren has been a full time blogger for more than four years. He launched some 25 blogs, made his mistakes, learned his lessons, and now focuses only on three projects blogs, one of which is Problogger. Problogger is both a great source for ideas, tips, tools to use for blogging, and and abundant source of finding fellow bloggers or building relationships. Furthermore, Darren writes in a very consumable, interesting style, while his ethical and quality standardsmake him the blogging hero of many of us.

Last week’s favorite post: How to launch a second blog

2. Top Ten Blog Tips

I love Ben Barden’s Top Ten Blog Tips because of it’s simple, transparent and clear style. When we started talking, it turned out that we have a lot in common with Ben, maybe that’s a part of the reason I enjoy his blog so much. (Maybe people, who start writing with a structured, IT background tend to pile up things into lists of 10 or eleven, like his posts are, or like this one is.)
Anyway, if you want an easy-to-read, straight-to-the-point style of guidance in the world of blogging, Top Ten Blog Tips is always there for you.
Last week’s favorite post: 10 things I’ve learned about blogging by actually doing it

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Dec

I’ve got my first Google-hit!

By Zsolt Balla 1 Comment

Categories: charity blog, google and zsoltballa.com

It happened earlier than I’ve ever thought it would. A lot earlier, in fact. My forecast (rather, my guess) would have been that I was to receive my first visitor from Google sometime between now and the end of the year, but not before, say, two weeks from the launch.

Instead, it happened in four days. And although eight visitors via Google may not seem too many, but it’s a pretty good start, I think.

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