What games do you play?

Posted on October 2, 2009 by Wes Johnson

Games help people stay mentally sharp by challenging their skills and abilities.  They also serve as inexpensive entertainment.

Games come in all kinds of forms

  • Board
  • Card
  • Dice
  • Dominoes
  • Stones / Gems
  • Pegs
  • Paper & Pen
  • Role Playing
  • Video
  • Simulations
  • Repetition

Some games are designed to be played solo where your goal is to finish the game.  These games tend to be based on memory, pattern recognition, logic and persistance. If you finish the game then you win.  Other games are designed to be played head to head.  These are usually games of chance or strategy or a combination.  There are usually points involved and depending on the point system the lowest or the highest score wins. The last kind of games are designed to encourage teamwork, social skills and comradery.

Here are a few of my favorite games:

  • Sudoku
  • Chess
  • Othello
  • Pente
  • Chicken Foot
  • Cashflow 101
  • Halo

Reply to this post.  What are your favorite games?

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ProBlogger book review

Posted on October 1, 2009 by Wes Johnson

I just finished reading the book called ProBlogger by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett.  I actually heard about the book through Darren’s website http://www.problogger.net 

I recently saw Darren in a video commenting on their book.  He said the book was a compilation of information blogged about over the years.  They took all that information and made it current with more up to date information and fresh insights into blogging.

The book will be very interesting to bloggers or those who would be bloggers.  From the beginning through the end of the book they share their life experiences and wisdom regarding blogs and blogging in general.

Some of the many topics discussed:

  • The different kinds of blogs
  • How to start blogging
  • The reasons behind blogging
  • How and when to monetize a blog (generate income)
  • Issues related to monetizing a blog
  • How to increase a blog’s readership / subscribers
  • Ethical practices in blogging
  • Treating blogs as a commodity (buying and selling)
  • Using blogs as a marketing tool
  • Lessons to learn from top blogs

Through-out the book they gave many practical and relevant examples that were related to the topic being discussed.

This is definitely a book worth reading a few times.  I plan to read this book again, probably around the time I reach my 200th blog. 😉

They also mentioned a few other books that I plan on checking into when I get the chance.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their blog or are planning on entering the blogosphere.

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The Answers are in front of you

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Wes Johnson

In my Network Marketing Workshops, I tell everybody to participate in forums.  When someone hears a statement like this they might think of discussion groups.

Some better known discussion groups

They might say, this seems like a lot of trouble or do I really have to join a discussion group just to participate in a forum?

LinkedIn Answers

LinkedIn Answers

If you are a member of LinkedIn, then the Answers are literally in front of your nose.  You’re already a member of a 40 million member network of people.  All you have to do is click on the Answers tab and you’ll be transported to the Answers section of LinkedIn.  For your convenience, I have added the link here.  www.linkedin.com/answers

When members have questions they go to the Answers section of LinkedIn.  When you visit the Answers section, you can either ask a question or review and answer questions.  The questions are categorized so as you can quickly navigate through the kinds of questions being asked.

Just for fun, you should visit the Answers section to see if you can help.

Always remember, whenever you help by providing your knowledge or insight, you are not only helping them out but you’re helping yourself out too. 

You never know, a future network connection might be waiting for someone just like you to help them with their next venture.

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MrWes celebrates 100th blog

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Wes Johnson

A few short months ago, I created my personal blog called  Wes Johnson – MrWes Words of Wisdom.  The blog theme has been based on my life experiences and wisdom gained along the way.  In the spirit of the nature of this blog, I’m going to take a moment to reflect on where it’s been.

My original goals:

  • To generate networking opportunities
  • To market myself as an excellent communicator
  • To share my knowledge and wisdom with my readers

What I received:

  • knowledge – I learned the terminology and how to do many new blogging related activities
  • experience – I have gained hours upon hours of experience while writing and developing ideas for my blog
  • wisdom – I have learned what works and when to use it
  • respect – I have gained the respect of others who have read my work and appreciate my style of communication 

The Journey

WordPress

I started my blogging journey by learning WordPress the web-based framework for making blogs like this possible.  I’m using the self-hosted version, so there were a few access issues that needed to be resolved in order for everything to function properly.

After installing WordPress, I started learning about Themes and how they work within the WordPress framework. Themes are simply the look and feel of the website the user experiences while they’re visiting.  Many themes are free and developed by individuals.  Sometimes, a developer may not have tested or encountered a particular scenario.  This requires a little bit of PHP programming or CSS magic to resolve these issues.

Once my Theme issues were resolved, I moved on to the WordPress Plugins.  A WordPress Plugin allows a developer to extend or create a desired feature that can be shared with the rest of the WordPress community.  There a many popular Plugins that help bloggers improve the user experience.  I have commented on a few.  My most recent discovery was Pretty Link, a WordPress Plugin that aids in creating permalink shortcuts using your domain.  Pretty Link adds an extra edge to those that are trying to develop their brand.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

My journey continued with Search Engine Optimization.  I had to learn the terminology, tools, and techniques to improve opportunities to be recognized by search engines.  Fortunately, there are several WordPress plugins that have helped in my SEO efforts.  SEO isn’t automatic, but the tools make it easier to keep up with the important aspects of SEO.

Google Analytics and Web Tools

Two important tools I’ve been utilizing during my first 100 blogs are Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Toolkit or GWT. 

GWT – helps the blogger/webmaster see which searches are finding their website.  It also points out areas that may be affecting their rankings.

Google Analytics – helps the blogger/webmaster see exactly what’s working and what’s not.  This tool provides great insight into which pages or objects in my website receive the most requests.

Google Analytics provides information like:

  • Traffic sources (Search engine referrals, website referrals)
  • How many unique visitors I’ve had over a period of time.
  • Average Pages per visit
  • Average Duration of visit
  • Which page(s) they land on
  • Which page(s) they leave from
  • Bounce rate for each page.
  • Where the reader is from.  Not specifically, but their geographic information.
  • How many conversions I’ve had.  A conversion is getting a reader to take some kind of action, for me it’s visiting my about page.

A few Google Analytics details for MrWes.net between August 28th and September 27th 2009

  • 50 countries are following my blog
  • top 3 countries are United States, Canada, United Kingdom
  • 47 states in the U.S. are following my blog
  • top 4 states are California, Texas, Florida, New York
  • The bounce rate is 2.5%, when readers find my website, they usually stay a little while and read a few of my blogs.

Content (Ideas)

When I first started, I did have a concern that the flow of my ideas would dimish over time.  I am happy to report that I still have lots of ideas for many more blogs.  Of course, since this is a personal blog, I do have the freedom to write about any topic I wish.

Future endeavors

In an effort to expand my horizons, I have been considering breaking my blog into two parts.  I already have control over the domains mrwes.com and mrwes.net.  I would keep mrwes.net as my personal blog and make mrwes.com more focused on one topic.  Perhaps tutorials and technical support.

What do you think?  Is there a topic you’d like me to spend more time on?

The Journey continues

I hope you have enjoyed my last 100 blogs.  If you have enjoyed them, please feel free to Leave a Reply and let me know how much you’ve enjoyed them.  Tell your family, friends, networks and associates.  You can bookmark blogs that you find useful.  You can track this blog using an RSS feed or Subscribe via email using the Posts icon in the upper right hand corner.

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Venturing Rendezvous 2009

Posted on September 27, 2009 by Wes Johnson

I spent this past weekend at the Wente Scout Reservation.  The reservation is located in Mendocino County.  Just outside of Willits, California.  Over 250 Scouts from the Venturing program came together from several different counties for a Venturing Rendezvous.  A Venturing Rendezvous is an annual gathering of Venture Crews  and Sea Scouts during the last weekend in September for the purpose of having fun with other Venture Scouts doing Venturing activities.  There were Sea Scouts present and Venture Crews that came from all parts of the Bay area including the Central Valley.

Opportunities for members of Venturing Crews to interact with each other were plentiful.

Organized activities available to Crews were:

  • Shooting Sports
    • Shotgun
    • Rifle
    • Archery
  • Water Sports
    • Swimming
    • Kayaking
    • Canoeing
    • Row boats
    • Sail Boating
  • Mountain Biking
  • Rock climbing / rappelling
  • Horseback riding

One added bonus over this weekend was that my friends and fellow Crew Advisors Ward Shelley brought out his high powered tracking telescope for some cool Astronomy.  His telescope had software that would find visible planets, stars, start clusters and nebulas.  Seeing the heavenly bodies were awesome.

Some of the heavenly sites we saw:

  • Jupiter – we saw 4 of her moons
  • Moon craters near the edge of the Dark Side of the Moon
  • M92 Nebula
  • Butterfly Star Cluster

The scouts had a blast interacting with other crews and having good natured fun.  There were many Crew Team building opportunities with some healthy competition.

It was great getting away from civilization for a while and getting back in touch with nature.

Any Venturing or Sea scouts or groups that attended, please feel free post your comments.

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