• Bloggers: Turn off post excerpt

    blog tipWith the tremendous increase in feed reader users and mobile blog reading… I really have to insist on this. You must make sure your feed is sending out the full post and not an except. (Called summary in WordPress)

    Why? The reality is that, as a blogger, you want your readers to actually read what you write and not just see that you have written. Right? Well, having the except feature turned on eliminates a large portion of your readership.

    What’s changed? And why do I need to change? Let’s say your average reader is like me and subscribes to 50-100 feeds. And each day 125-200 things pop up on my reader to read. Let’s say I spend 15-30 minutes per day doing just that, reading blogs. While it is true that I am quickly scanning your posts so an excerpt may be all the more I’ll read anyway… but when I see it’s an excerpt I immediately skip over it. I just don’t have the time or interest to go to your blog.

    Why do people have excerpt anyway? I think it has something to do with stats. Such as, you really want to see that pageview number go up.Just keep this in mind… every day you can take the number of RSS readers you have and add it to your unique visitors! Why? Because people who are subscribed to your RSS are highly likely to read your stuff or else they’d simply unsubscribe to your feed. Other than that, I can’t think of a single good reason to keep excerpts turned on. It certainly doesn’t effect my comment rate as I think some may think it does.

    Let’s say I did want to read the rest of your post? (Which I won’t because excepts are annoying) I am forced to click on it and load another tab. And if I’m mobile (where I do about 25% of my blog reading) I couldn’t look at the rest of your post even if I did want to as most blogs won’t load on a mobile browser very well. And they definitely aren’t worth the time it would take to load the page and then go back to what I was doing. When I’m mobile, an excerpt is just a waste of my time.

    So if you want to increase your blog’s potential to grow do yourself a major favor and turn off the feed excerpt right away. Otherwise I’m killing your feed because I’m sick of scrolling past it.

    Did you do it yet? Really. I’m serious. Do it now so you don’t forget.

  • Elf HQ

    Elf HeadquartersJimmy and I are off to shoot 2 more elf videos for services this weekend. If we have time there will even be some bonus commercials available online only.

    The whole point of these is two fold…

    1. Enjoy them! Seeing church staff dressed like elves should be fun.
    2. Share them! The reason we’re doing all of this is to promote our service on December 23rd. So if you want to see more stuff like this, take action and get people to that service. We’re looking to pack the church out.

    Go to the elf HQ

  • The RIAA is killing itself

    RIAAI don’t think I’ve ever met a person who actually thinks that artists shouldn’t get paid for their work. But the RIAA has clearly lost touch. The idea that consumers can’t share, edit, or even make archival copies of the stuff that they buy is seriously out of touch.

    The RIAA has told a court that ripping your CDs to MP3 format is “unauthorized” and illegal, in a brief filed with the Arizona US District Court where Atlantic Records is suing Jeffrey and Pamela Howell. The last time this issue came up, in the Grokster Supreme Court case, the RIAA’s lawyer said that ripping CDs was not illegal and was implicitly authorized by the record labels. Story

    The internet has changed the ownership game. Consumers have taken the right to edit, share, customize what they buy and they aren’t going to give it back. It won’t be long before the Supreme Court will have to revisit copyright laws for the internet age because we just don’t have a clue how these old laws work in today’s society. Is the RIAA going to sue every person in the country with a computer and an internet connection?

    When the Supreme Court finally comes to its senses and puts this lobby out to pasture, the RIAA will quickly bankrupt itself. Particularly when the major labels start to bolt for a new, better way.

    I predict a new organization will become recognized  by the recording industry that gets the desires of consumers (Who ultimately fund things like the RIAA) and make sure artists are paid fairly for their work.

    At the same time, we need to be responsible consumers and actually buy music instead of stealing it. Artists deserve to be paid, make sure you aren’t part of the problem.

  • Not a snow day

    Kristen and I woke up this morning secretly hoping for a snow day. It didn’t happen. There’s just something about having a Saturday morning on a Wednesday and we were kind of hoping for that relaxed-ness this morning. So instead today is a normal morning. Megan is off to school and Paul is already playing video games on the computer.

    In completely random news: Stoney (our 4 year old yellow lab) is a pathetic beast. He carries around his blanket to sleep on and is hopelessly in love with Kristen. Whenever she leaves he just kind of wonders around and cries. He sits by the back steps and just stares out the window and every once in a while you hear him wimper.

  • YMX: remix

    I don’t know if my blog readers know all that is going on at Youth Ministry Exchange.Here’s a quick snapshot of recent articles.

  • Praise God for Jeanne Assam

    Jeanne AssamNo matter what you think of having an armed security detail at a church, Jeanne Assam was at the right place at the right time. Praise God for her actions.

    I hope others see it in this news report… but God’s hand was all over protecting New Life on Sunday. It’s a miracle that the shooter didn’t do more damage.

    Read the news account

    Here are some statements that impressed me from her statement.

    “did not think for a minute to run away”
    “It seemed like it was me, the gunman and God,”
    “Boyd said Assam was the one who suggested the church beef up its security Sunday following the Arvada shooting, which it did. The pastor credited the security plan and the extra security for preventing further bloodshed.”
    Assam said she was ending three days of fasting on Sunday when fate put her in the path of the gunman.

    “I was praying to God that he direct me” in what to do in life, Assam said. “God made me strong.”

    Amazing stuff there. Sometimes God calls us to do things for Him that make no logical sense. I praise God this woman took action to hear God’s direction and was bold enough to act on it. I hope she is an example for Christians everywhere in that regard.

  • 10 Signs Your an Internet Junkie

    I think Kim has aimed this directly at her husband.

    Even still, it is a good list.

    10 signs you are an internet junkie.

    1. You watch TV while cruising the internet.

    2. Your keyboard has crumbs in it

    3. You begin to talk in html language when describing a link to your best friend

    4. You met your best friend online

    5. You check your email more than you sit down for meals

    6. You can’t go to bed until every Myspace, Facebook, email, website and forum of yours has been checked for new messages or comments.

    7. You have more internet friends than friends.

    8. Your couch has a permanent TV tray in front of it so you can rest your lap top.

    9. You base your decision where eat out on whether or not they provide free WiFi

    10. You post from the toilet

  • The Economy of Fear

    Economy of FearBack in October I wrote about The Economy of Hate speech on the internet. Here’s a review of the math in the blog world when writing hate content:

    Normal content + traffic = $1

    Hate content + traffic = $5

    Remarkable content + traffic = $10 

    Today I want to talk about something that runs rampant inside Christian publishing of all kinds. Instead of writing remarkable content they capitalize on fear. Listen to any Christian radio station or walk through any Christian bookstore and you’ll see that about 50% of the content is fear-based. Instead of focusing on truth or on the Bible, you’ll hear and see plenty of content that sensationalizes something minor for a profit.

    Add this to the math:

    Fear content + traffic = $5 

    For every cultural phenomenon, there is an equal and fear-based Christian equivalent. Harry Potter is “bad” (according to some) so let’s make some money by publishing books telling people how bad Harry Potter is! Christian pundit James Dobson has made a lot of money with his catch phrases “an attack on truth” and “an attack on the  American family” or “liberal activist judges.” Just listen to more Focus on the Family and you’ll know how to protect your family from atheism, homosexuals, and judges.

    Nevermind the fact that these are the stupidest statements in the world. If something is true you can’t attack it because it is truth. And my family is not under attack if my next door neighbors are gay. (When was the last time you heard of a gay family leading a raid on heterosexuals neighbors?) But you sure can make money on telling people to be afraid of stuff like that. Why? Because fear is a short-term motivator. If you scare people they will buy. (Or give to your cause. Or visit your website.)

    The Golden CompassOf course, the latest edition of the fear-based Christian media spewed out their sales pitch against the release of The Golden Compass. This is a fiction-based children’s movie with a decidedly atheist bent. In listening to and reading the Christian media in the past few weeks one would have thought that The Golden Compass was certainly related to the Antichrist! Even right leaning FoxNews got into the act by capitalizing on the movie with a plethora of fear-based coverage. Did they do this to protect unsuspecting Christians from those mean atheists out there? No. I think they were motivated by money. There is an awful lot of money to be made by scaring people. Advertisers love traffic to a website and television ratings. And fear sells in America more than sex. (When was the last time your local news led off with a story about sex? It always leads off with something to scare you.)

    Each time I see the Christian media freak out about a movie, song, candidate, or other cultural influence I feel called to help people see through it. Follow the money trail! Think critically and ask, “Why is this person scaring me?” “What’s in it for them?” Ratings? Web traffic? Book sales? Donations? If James Dobson raises another $5 million for Focus on the Family, what’s in it for him? What does he lose if he can’t raise that money? What’s in it for a Christian website that increases traffic with fear-based content by 20%? Why is it that FoxNews has a group of people on their panel who are “experts” on a topic? Who published their books? What’s in it for Fox? What’s in it for the panel members?

    Remember… The Last Temptation of Christ was going to destroy Christianity forever. So was Footloose, The DaVinci Code, and Harry Potter. Likewise,  movies like Passion of the Christ, Lord of the Rings, and Chronicles of Narnia will lift Christianity up and millions of people will come to Christ, right?

    Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe I’m just a cynic. Or maybe I’m just stupid and these things really do affect the effectiveness of Christianity in today’s culture. But my assumption is that Jesus is God no matter what.My assumption is that my family is in the hands of God. My assumption is that the word of God is unshakable in its inspired form. And my assumption is that God isn’t pleased with the money changers who use fear to motivate financial transactions in Christians.

    I long for a Christian media who paints an accurate picture of the world. I long for James Dobson to care about real issues that don’t monetize like poverty in his town, poverty in the world, AIDS in Africa, and children sold into slavery.  I long for the Christian media to look around and use their influence to lift up the name of Christ and motivate Christians to live a life worthy of all that Christ has given to them.

    And I long for a Christian media that generates sales based on remarkable content instead of cheap fear. 

  • Proud to be an American

    With a political year looming, this is a good reminder about who the American people really are. This video comes from Fenway Park on a day dedicated to people with disabilities. Check out what happens when the singers struggles with the National Anthem.

    HT to Douglas Karr

  • First Two Elf Videos

    This is for today’s service at Romeo

    And this is for Married Life this coming weekend

    All told, I have 5 original videos in today’s service. I think that’s a record.