Have you ever heard the term that something “is a marathon and not a sprint”? Well, that’s certainly the case with blogging and it is a point that every beginner blogger and podcaster should be made aware of.

It is also the reason a large portion of blogs fail, dry up, or are deleted by their owners.

If you read some of the various money-making blogs around the web you might be lulled into a sense that you can start a blog, immediately make buckets of money from it and retire happy within a few short months.

The reality is that it might take you months to turn a few cent from your blog, even longer to attract regular readers and longer again to attract any kind of regular comments or feedback on your blog. There is no quick fix in this and that’s why you can look on blogging as a marathon - it takes a great amount of time to get where you want to go.

The thing is to stick at it though. Once you’ve started, don’t be disheartened if nobody leaves a comment. Don’t be disheartened if your feed or email subscriber numbers are low. Don’t be disheartened it takes you six months to get an Adsense cheque in the post (if you’re blogging to make money). Keep providing the content on a regular basis and eventually these things will fall into place.

I know one blogger alone who, despite regular posting, didn’t get a single comment on his blog until almost at the 12-month mark. A year on from that and he’s got a few hundred RSS subscribers and regular commenters to each blog post - all it took was time.

Popularity: 15% [?]

While I’ve been away for long stretches at a time lately on a project, I’ve had to look at ways of increasing my energy (naturally of course!) during the day to sustain longer working hours in the office.

In recent conversations too with other freelance designers, there seemed to be a common element among those who could work longer hours or boost their productivity within their set working timeframe.

The answer? Exercise.

One designer went as far to say he felt “super charged” after just 20-30 minutes in the morning. It is well known that large companies, corporations and multinationals often offer employees gym memberships or even have a gym on location. If you’re working for yourself though, gym memberships can be a real stretch on the budget and there’s a likelihood that after the first month of use you might tire of the trip to the gym and watch the remainder of your membership slip away.

I’ve felt the benefits of it myself - getting up a half hour earlier in the morning to grab a brisk walk or lift some weights at home, anything that gets the blood pumping and energy starting to flow. The early morning exercise often helps settle into the morning work routine that bit easier. There’s no settling down with emails and blogs and constantly sticking the kettle on - it’s just straight into the work, churning more of it out in the process.

Why not try it for yourself? Wake up 30 minutes earlier in the morning and go for a walk, do some stretches, lift some dumbells, hop up on your bike… you’ll be surprised at the difference it can make to your working life.

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As part of my ‘Blogging For Beginners’ talk in May, I had promised I would roll out a number of short posts covering topics up for discussion. The great thing about that is the access for those in attendance to notes and archived material for reference after the talk.

To begin the Blogging For Beginners series, let’s look at the first question to ask yourself - what is a blog?

Definition Of A Blog

The term ‘blog’ is an amalgamation of the words ‘web’ and ‘log’ or weblog, representing a log or diary maintained online in some type of chronological order. Over the years the term has evolved from ‘weblog’ to ‘blog’. Those who maintain a blog and publish content to a blog are therefore known as bloggers.

Blogs to tend to deliver content in a chronological fashion, with the latest blog post entry sitting on the homepage of the blog, followed by the next most recent post, and the next etc.

A blog may contain text, images, audio, video and more. The joy of maintaining a blog online with a service like Blogger or Wordpress is the use of the CMS (content management system) type interface offered. You can start a blog with either of these services by registering an email address and password. Once registered, you are given the tools to publish your content and ideas, hitting the web with immediate effect without the need to learn any web programming language.

Uses Of A Blog

A blog may be used for any number of reasons

• A personal diary
• Keeping details of club events
• Publishing news on a particular topic
• Maintaining an online portfolio
• Showcasing your latest photography
• Sharing thoughts, opinions, tutorials and/or advice on any given topic.

Blog Statistics

Online blog monitoring service Technorati currently tracks 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media, and that’s only coming from blogs registered with the service.

It is also estimated, at time of writing and again according to Technorati, that over 175,000 new blogs are created every day with over 1.6 million blog posts making their way to the web on a daily basis.

This post is part of the Blogging For Beginners series on ProFreelanceBlogger.com.

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Attending unconference and networking events is a great way to meet and talk with other bloggers, designers, writers, and lovers of all things technology. BarCamp (mainly web focused) and PodCamp (web and podcast focused) events (or WordCamp, MashupCamp, BlogCamp etc.) embrace the open and friendly unconference approach when the speakers are made up of those attending, you’re free to walk between talks and demos and you don’t need to pay a stiff fee to get in the door.

I’ve been directly involved in the planning and running of a number of these events and they’re the perfect way to meet like-minded people, learn and share ideas and experiences under the one roof, all without blowing a hole in your precious budget.

With that in mind, here’s a number of upcoming BarCamp and PodCamp

Upcoming BarCamps

*note: Dates are in DD/MM/YY format

• 03/05/08 - BarCamp Jacksonville
• 03/05/08 - BarCamp San Diego
• 03/05/08 - WordCamp, Paris France - Should be great for Wordpress users and bloggers professional and hobby alike.
• 09/05/08 - BarCampKC, Kansas City
• 10/05/08 - BarCamp Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)
• 13/05/08 - DemoCamp Calgary

Upcoming PodCamps

If you’re a podcaster or have any interest in learning about social networking, social and new media then these are some events to check out.

• 25/04/08 - PodCamp NYC, New York
• 03/05/08 - PodCamp San Antonio
• 06/06/08 - PodCamp Chicago
• 20/06/08 - PodCamp Austin
• 28/06/08 - PodCamp Ohio

If you’re looking for networking opportunities then don’t underestimate the power of connections that can be made at these type of events. Anyone and everyone can and does attend, from people with a passing interest in design and technology to company CEOs, web startups, angel investors, VCs, bloggers, developers and more.

Have you been successful in gaining any work, as a freelancer, by attending any BarCamp or PodCamp type events?

Don’t forget your business cards!

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Going Solo takes place in Lausanne, Switzerland, this May 16th and registration is now open for the event. Going Solo is a one-day educational conference for freelancers and small business owners from all over Europe.

While the main event takes place from 8am on the 16th (Friday), there is also a BarCamp taking place on 17th (Saturday) as well as a Seesmic users meetup.

Some of the sessions confirmed at present include

• Marketing and taking care of one’s social capital
• The Joys of Tax and Finance (How not to mess up)
• Tools and Methods to Save Your Life
• Solo in a Networked World
• When Passion Becomes Profession (Balancing Work and Life)

You can also find details of some of the speakers here.

Although located in Switzerland, the entire event will be delivered through English and will be hosted in the hotel Albatros-Navigation. Online registration is open at the moment but will close within a week of the 16th. Tickets are priced at 600CHF (roughly €375, £275 or $545). Walk-in prices on the day are 700CHF.

Visit Going Solo for more details.

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While I had mentioned on Friday that I’d just come off a lengthy stretch on a project, I certainly hadn’t anticipated the weekend being just as busy!

An interview Saturday morning, a project meeting Saturday afternoon, a gig Saturday evening (delivery, setup, sound checks, strip down etc. - a group of us cater for music acts on available weekends), mixing Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon meeting, dinner Sunday night…

Then you go straight back to the office.

However, this morning, I said “no thanks”. After a few days on the go, I’ve booked a few hours off this morning - caught up with some Seinfeld, Scrubs, King of Queens, mostly anything Paramount could throw at me for morning TV.

Working for yourself it becomes very easy for your weeks to blend into your weekends and if you feel it slipping away, then book a few hours for yourself on the couch, shut off, charge the batteries and get yourself back on track. Do something some way unrelated to your work - if you’re a writer, why not watch a DVD? If you’re a designer, switch off your laptop or computer and open a book. On the plus, you may find something inspirational in what you do but the main thing is to make some time for yourself.

There’s nothing wrong with allowing yourself to switch off once in a while.

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Working as a graphic designer, one of the jobs I really enjoy is creating artwork for CD releases. While the fun comes in the creation of the artwork as well, you’ve got to consider the technical specifications - measurements, bleeds, colours, if you’re going jewel case, j-card, digipak or otherwise.

Here’s a list of resources for you on CD sizes and specs along with some downloadable templates you can work from.

• Printing For Less CD Cover & Inlay Card
• Amtech Duplication (Montreal, Canada) - Digipak templates available in EPS and PDF format. (See also DVD Templates)
• MPEG Production, Sweden - CD / Digipak / DVD templates in PDF format
• Music Matters International - CD, J-Card, DVD specs and templates.
• WTS Duplication - CD, Booklets, Mini CD, Business Card CD covers and templates.
• Oasis Disc Manufacturing - Plenty of CD templates to download including required industry and packaging logos.

Have you any resources you would like to add or suggest? Leave a comment here.

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**RANT ALERT**

Don’t fool yourself.

When you’re self-employed, freelancing, working for yourself, there is no such thing as the “9 to 5″. In my case, yesterday saw an 8am to 1am while today saw a 6am to 6pm, so apologies in the down time on the blogging front.

The last two days have been a rollercoaster on a particular project I’m working on. The highs, the lows, uncertainty, testing, bending code, flexing designs, threatening Internet Explorer with violence, doing the same to Firefox about four hours later…

But when you actually hit the milestone you’ve been looking at in the distance for so long, the one that seemed almost out of reach, you might be amazed at the sense of relief that sweeps over you. At least I was anyway.

This particular project has been rather testing - of both my abilities as a designer and my patience as a human being.

Thankfully, it’s Friday and while there is no 9-5, there’s also no office work after 6pm on Friday. That’s my rule.

Of course, I also run a music PR outfit and a theatre company so I’ll be donning another hat at 9am tomorrow

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While I have a number of offline applications for viewing RSS feeds and blog subscriptions, the bulk of my feed reading is done through Google Reader.

I could dip in and out during the day and start reading through a variety of blog posts on technology, sports, freelancing, music etc. often getting lost for five minutes here, ten minutes there, ultimately losing a large chunk of time from my day.

Rather than culling feeds or giving up on reading blogs during the day (I do like to stay informed!), I made one simple switch.

I made the switch from expanded view to list view. Rather than spend time scrolling through post after post, the list view in Google Reader (pictured above) allows you to view the latest headlines at a glace. A single click opens the post, a click to close, or use your keyboard shortcuts (e.g. ‘J’ for next post) to read through them.

It reminds me of the good old teletext days (which I still rely on) on the TV but I find I’m able to skim through the latest headlines, star what I want to read based on the title and blog and ditch the rest.

I guess that means you would want to have catchy titles for your blog posts then, wouldn’t it?

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Outsourcing work has become almost commonplace in the design industry. Larger, busier companies have started outsourcing design and writing work to freelancers or smaller companies, creating the ability for them to take on more work and bolster their own portfolio. People have started outsourcing their personal workload (shopping, bills, getting dry cleaning done) as they don’t have time for day-to-day tasks thanks to their workload.

On the other side, taking outsourced work is another gateway of income for freelance designers, myself included.

I’m a web designer by trade who has a hearty passion for graphic design and branding. I offer graphic and identity design services to new clients and customers. Firstly, because I enjoy doing it and have always delivered results the client wanted but secondly, the job gets turned around a lot quicker.

While I might be happy to outsource part of a web development or design project, given past experience, I don’t think I would take an outsourced web development or design project. The reason being is a question of control.

One project springs to mind where I found myself completely in the middle, the company who outsourced the work demanding their own taste, twist and designs be put into place, something which left me thinking “well, if you want it done your way then why did you come to me in the first place?”.

Plus there’s an element of too many links in the chain. When I’m taking on new web work I like to meet and deal with the ultimate end user, the one who has the vision for the company and the vision for the website. Not the follow a chain of director to manager to sales person to front office person to design company to designer, down the outsource path, to me. It takes too long for feedback and too long to produce a result. In that situation, you’ll find that the project you budgeted six weeks for is now running at eight weeks, or ten weeks, or beyond.

However, when it comes to graphic design, the approach is different. I aim for a three day turnaround, depending on the scope and brief of the design, plus current workload, though the first drafts are usually presented within a three day window.

As you’ve got the visual goods at hand and something tangible to review and approve within three days, the flow of feedback is usually quicker and the end result turned around faster.

I guess it depends on the structure put in place first. If you’re allowed an element of direct contact, or full contact, then all the better, but as a creative mind it is nearly impossible to keep a designer in the dark, wouldn’t you think?

Have you had any joy in taking outsourced web development work? Or any horror stories as a result?

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