5 May 2009
Now that the whole world seems to have adopted services like Twitter and Facebook, I feel it’s time to go back to some old standards. We all want to differentiate from competitors. Some of the techniques that were revolutionary a while ago – and thus helped us to differentiate – are pretty normal now. I think we strike solid gold when we combine new technology with old quality standards.
Photo Flickr / Thomas Hawk
That’s why I wrote
earlier how killing certain press rules and adopting others makes you a high profile blogger.
Continue reading →
7 April 2009
When you’re a journalist who starts a blog, you’ll have to kill some of your darlings. To give you an example: I’ve been in the School of Journalism my whole life. My dad taught me the basic rules for journalism and kept repeating them every time I wrote an article. Like: sub headers consist of one or two words from the following paragraph. For years I obeyed that rule, even when I started blogging.
It took me a while to find out that I should have killed that darling rule as soon as I started blogging. Sub headers in blog posts have a totally different meaning than the ones in newspaper articles. They have to lure the leader into the article, keep him reading, since his attention is gone as soon as your article gets a little boring. Continue reading →
10 February 2009
There are three important ingredients for success. The first one? Hard work. The other two? Swagger and hustling.
On the day of Obama’s inauguration, two Dutch students crashed the Big Improvement Day – a meet-up of Holland’s finest in the public and private sector. After breaching security with fake press applications, they chose their places and waited for the highlight of the day: Sir Richard Branson.
An interactive SMS screen allowed them to connect with the entrepreneurs of entrepreneurs. “‘Mister Branson, we are 2 broke students, can we join you on the plane to DC?” is what they asked. A lift with Branson’s jet is what they got. They texted their way to the place that formed the center of the world that day. Continue reading →
12 December 2008
“I want to see Lenin’s body!”
“No way! That’s just gross, I wanna go shopping!”
“What the hell are you thinking? You can shop in Amsterdam!”
“Forget it, I’m outta here. You guys all suck”.
I was chilling in the park of Eternal flame for the Unknown Soldier in Moscow, when my travel companions decided it was about time for a fight about the schedule. Once again, I had found myself in a study trip with stubborn companions.
Some human beings aren’t what you call group persons. Continue reading →
16 November 2008
When I introduce people to the beautiful world of blogging by telling them about all the indirect advantages like the enrichment of your social life, they often share the same doubts. Most heard questions: “Who am I to start blogging about this subject?” They feel like they’re nobodies and absolutely not in the position to write about their passion or profession.
The feeling that they’ll never be an authority or expert, holds a lot of people back to start a digital publication. What a waste! ‘Cause you know what? It’s blogging itself that turns you into the authority you want to be.
That’s why I’ve chosen to write this post. Not just because I want to get the word out, also to have a better answer prepared when I try to convert someone to the church of blogging. Continue reading →
Dig through the clutter: 40 must-reads for extraordinary bloggers
Don’t you get tired of all those boring “How to be a better writer?”-posts. It’s the same thing all over again, “Have a unique voice”, “Love your commenters”, etcetera, etcetera. To help us all out, I’ve dug through the clutter and selected 36 posts that can help you become an original and all-round problogger. And because vanity is a blogger’s right, I’ve also included four articles by my own hand. Themes are Development & Design, Workflow, Publishing, Inspiration and Comments. Enjoy!
Development & Design
1. WebDesignerWall: WordPress Theme Hacks
Every time when I adjust one of my blog’s design, I refer to the WordPress tricks from webdesigner Nick La. Conditional tags, Feature post highlighting, and thumbnails – I owe them all to Mr. La. Scan the article quickly and refer to it whenever you spice up your blog design.
Continue reading →