pelf-ism is contagious

I have long read about the importance of having a 404 page on my blog but I have never taken any action to sit down and code it. If you don’t already know it, a customized ERROR 404 - PAGE NOT FOUND page is important and it gives visitors who have clicked on a broken link some options on what to do next.

You may suggest that they search for whatever they were looking for earlier by providing a search form. Or if that fails, you may suggest that they contact you via the contact form or your email address so that you could help them find it. You may also provide a sitemap if you have one.

Besides helping your visitors look for whatever missing pages that brought them to the 404 page, you may also highlight some of your best posts, or highlight some of your most popular posts, or take the opportunity to inform them of your other blogs/sites/forums.

Finally, you could take the opportunity to promote your RSS feeds. Your visitors might not subscribe to you since they can’t find whatever they were looking for, but there is still a small chance that they might.

Check out my Error 404 page and if you haven’t customized yours, what are you waiting for?!

P/S: This is still my favourite 404 page!

You saw this coming, didn’t you?

Seriously, this is what happens when you read too many posts on “blogging goals” in a very short time frame. Goals that other bloggers set for themselves get stuck in your head and you start thinking about YOUR own goals. And then you start dreaming about your own subscriber base and Technorati and Alexa rankings and the number of page views and unique hits you can get in a month and the number of posts you can churn out in a week and number of comments you can generate from those posts and all that jazz.

Then you realize that you can’t shake those thoughts off. So what do you do? You blog about them, of course!

So what are MY blogging goals?

I hope it doesn’t sound too superficial to say that my blogging goals do not come in a package of RSS subscribers, number of posts and comments, number of page views and unique hits or even the amount of income generated from ads on my blogs. In fact, my blogging goals do not come in numbers and they cannot be measured the way other bloggers measure theirs.

1. Continue learning

   My first blogging goal is to continue learning because there is just so much to learn from and about blogging. I have found blogging enriching in many ways, from meeting new faces to managing my time and resources to increasing my productivity.

2. More consistent blogging and more timeless articles

   I am also planning a blogging schedule so that blogging doesn’t take too much of my time and so that there is a balance between time spent blogging and networking. We all know that blogging is a very time-consuming activity, especially when it involves researching and ensuring that the facts are presented as they are, so a little more time and care should go into making sure that everything is correct when posts are published.

3. Continue spreading awareness on environment- and charity-related issues

   The way I see it, environment-related issues will be a hot topic next year because we are getting more and more aware of our environment as well as the need to conserve the place we live in. Otherwise, we will be leaving our younger generations a planet that is no longer “fit for human habitation” with the increased evidence of global warming and what-have-yous.

4. Increase involvement in social media sites

   Apart from consistent blogging, I would also like to spend a little more time in social media sites such as forums, 9rules, StumbleUpon and Digg because these are places where we can find like-minded bloggers and initiate a relationship with them (not THAT kind of relationship!).

5. Improve networking skills

   If I could afford the time, I would also like to be an active guest-blogger so that I am able to contribute articles to other blogs, and with that, reach a wider audience because I believe that guest-blogging is a very good way to exchange expertise, experience and a great way to improve one’s writing too.

   But of course, if you’d like to guest-blog on Giving Hands or Turtle Talks, you know I always leave my doors open for you

So if my blogging goals cannot be quantified, how do I measure my success?

I consider myself successful when somebody tells me how much he/she has learned from my blogs and how much he/she appreciates my efforts and when somebody leaves my blog knowing that he/she has not wasted his/her time reading my posts

Now, what are YOUR blogging goals?

Yes, you read that right! I am organizing a group-writing project at The Giving Hands in January 2008 and the theme is Save the Ocean.

Why should I participate?

Have you always been awed by the beauty of our oceans? Have you always loved the ocean when you were small? Do you have a lot of fond memories of the ocean while growing up? Are you always upset whenever you see people polluting our beautiful oceans? Have you always wanted to write about the environment but found it irrelevant to the niche of your blog?

The opportunity has just came a-knockin’

Image credit: O mar by Azorina.

How do I participate?

If you are interested, please pick one of the tips listed below (yes, you may pick more than one tip) and let me know in the comments, so that other people are aware which tips are still available and which ones have been grabbed. I will update the list from time to time to reflect the tips that have been taken up

You may write from your own points-of-view, or from your own experience, or from stories you have heard or read. You may also write a factual article (please remember to include the sources of reference) or a photo-article (only images).

Once you have written your article, I will need you to send me the script (before Dec 31st) to be published at The Giving Hands. You are also encouraged to provide a short biography at the end of your article to introduce yourself (and yes, you may include links to your own blog in your biography).

Wait, I have other questions!

1. May I post the same article on my blog?

   Yes, you may. This is a group-writing project and is aimed at creating and raising awareness on how we can all do our part to save our oceans. I am not a fan of duplicate contents but some things are worth repeating.

2. Will there be a winner? What are the prizes?

   By taking up this group-writing project, you are already a winner in my eyes and the eyes of your blog readers. And by participating in the project, you are also showing other bloggers that you are capable of doing something very meaningful

Now, here’s the list of 31 tips:
(tip #1 will be published on Jan 1st, 2008, and so on)

1. Go to the beach — littlebro
2. Dive responsibly — Jakartass
3. Keep your home aquarium ocean-friendly
4. Talk about the ocean in your place of worship
5. Get married on a wild beach — nimrodjo
6. Go on a whale-watching trip — Rinnah
7. Take the kids surfing, or have them take you
8. Walk on whatever beach you want — little polaris
9. Eat organic and vegetarian food — Will
10. Grow a natural yard or garden — julie
11. Conserve energy to help the seas — tears in heaven
12. Save the sea turtles
13. Opt out of the throw-away culture — Kristarella
14. Raise funds for an ocean-related organization — Vladimir
15. Use less plastic — David
16. Be a marine sanctuary volunteer
17. Conserve water — betmo
18. Eat seafood that’s healthy and sustainable — Steve
19. Drive a fuel-efficient car, car pool or use public transport — Guilherme
20. Sail on an ocean-friendly cruise ship
21. Join a coastal cleanup
22. Keep your household refuse non-toxic
23. Support your local wetlands — Pearl
24. Live a reasonable distance from the beach
25. Join/Volunteer at a Marine Mammal Rescue Centre
26. Don’t feed the sharks — Steve
27. Keep oil off our shore — PK Tan
28. Don’t exploit sea creatures for vanity’s sake — Yvy
29. Visit an Aquarium — Pelfy
30. Learn your local maritime history
31. Vote for those who protect the coasts — Vladimir

Let me know if you need some suggestions or ideas to write your article, and I am glad to discuss/work with you

What better ways to begin the new year than blogging to raise awareness on saving our oceans? Hurry up, pick your tips before they are all snatched!

A HUGE thank you goes to the following bloggers who have helped promote this group-writing project:

• Pelf is a word… by Jakartass
• beach by littlebro
• To pick up the challenge or not? by tears in heaven
• Get a life! by soufulow

P/S: This group-writing project is inspired by David Helvarg’s 50 ways to save the ocean.

If you care about the planet then you may have a future in Environmental education. If you are passionate about the environment and unhappy in your current career an online degree could put you in a job you will love fighting for a great cause.