Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Google Plus

This one goes without saying, but I feel I need to call this out as I recently started getting into it a little more.

Google Plus as you know is the social network from our friends at Google.  Think of it as a cross between Twitter and Facebook (at least that's how I look at it). I've been a user of the site from almost the beginning, but I've never really used it much. That is until now.

The thing that impresses me about Google Plus is the level of engagement you have. I'm blown away by the people I've connected with and how they actually engage with you. I've been using Twitter for years, and while I think it's a handy network to find out the latest breaking news, I just don't get the level of engagement from Twitter that I have from Google Plus.

So if you don't have an account yet, sign up for one. It's all integrated with your main Google email, and doesn't cost you a cent.

Life of Blogging

If you are just starting off as a blogger, chances are you have a lot to learn.  Sure, it's as easy as starting a Blogger account or setting up a WordPress.com account, and typing something up.  But if you really want you content to be read, you'll need a way to put this out there, a way for the readers you want to draw to your site to be able to find your content

The following two sites are somewhat affiliated, and have some great content that is being shared for the new blogger to get their posts some views. Just head over to Blogging Flail, as they write about their experiences with blogging, and give you some good advice on the things that didn't work so well for them. There's a great opportunity here to learn some real life lessons.

The site isn't very active any longer, but it is currently being maintained. Regardless, lots of good information out there if you need help with blogging.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Welcome

This blog will review various sites across the web and give you our perspective on what you can find, before actually spending the time looking through the site yourself.  This is only our perspective, but will hopefully give you a better feel for what the site is all about.

As we stumble across things, we'll try to highlight our findings in a few simple posts on this blog.  We are not posting the large sites that everyone is already aware of, we are looking for those hidden gems that you've probably never heard of before.  We'll call out the blog, the URL, and a brief description of the site.

So by all means, check back often, as you never know if you'll find a few gems here that may be worth looking into.  So let's get right into things, and take a look at our first site:

Code Academy
This is a great website for those of you that are looking to learn how to code (in computer talk). You can learn a variety of languages from PHP to JavaScript to Ruby.  The site will take you through the beginning steps of the language, and you'll eventually learn to code your first program (although it will be very basic).  You won't be an expert, but you'll have the beginning knowledge of how to be a programmer.