Finally, U.S. Supreme Court Says 2nd Amendment Constitutional And Individual

In a 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Second Amendment was declared constitutional and guarantees an individual the right to keep and bear arms. In what some are calling the greatest decision by the Court in a decade or maybe even 70 years, I believe this is perhaps the grandest moment in American history, defining once and for all the Second Amendment.

First let me apologize for not getting something out on this sooner, as most of you know Heller vs. District of Columbia is something I have followed for a long time and has been a bit of a passion for me. Read more

“From The Frontlines” Airs Today At 4:00

As promised, you can watch “From the Frontlines” right here today at 4:00 p.m. This is a great fund raising event to raise money to buy care packages for U.S. troops. Read more

Skinny Moose Bloggers Chime in on Father’s Day

With all the dads and family oriented bloggers here at Skinny Moose we have some people weighing in this weekend on some of their ideas on Father’s Day. Please check out the list below.

The Hog Blog tries a hand at poetry with Twas the Night Before Father’s Day

The Adventurist gives us Top 5 Ideas For Father’s Day

Read more

Moose Droppings Radio Program: June 13th 2008

Wall to wall moose. Show was recorded prior to 2008 moose lottery draw in Maine. Talk about my experiences hunting moose including tips, do it yourself vs hiring a guide, moose stories including how I recovered my first set of moose antlers in a bar in South Portland Maine after they were stolen. Encounter with a mad cow moose while fishing. Lots of great stuff so join me.

Top 10 Reasons Blogs Fail

I have been blogging for several years now and to some people blogging is still a new thing. There are many people who love the concept of starting a blog and keeping one up. The creative juices begin to flow magically and you think of how nice it would be to write about my passions in life and actually have an audience. Though it is important to set goals and have visions, we need to also begin a process in reality and truthfulness. And the realities of blogging is that thousands of blogs are started daily all across the web but only a handful become successful. After a month or so blogs tend to fizzle out… and sit there in cyber-space collecting cyber-dust.

So what do I believe are some reasons why blogs fail? I have listed out 10 reasons why I believe blogs don’t ever make it.

1) Lack of Long Term Ambition and Commitment
This has to be the biggest one. Notice I said “long term” ambition. It takes ambition to start one, but it takes a sense of commitment to continue day in and day out. It’s like that diet and exercise program we keep going on. You are ambitious for that first week but then something happens. Next thing you know you are counting the days you haven’t been out walking or eating only low-carb foods. To be committed to something long term you have to make it a high priority in your life or you simply will find more important things to do.

2) Failure to Grasp Realities of Blogging
Most bloggers who start a blog are not prepared to undergo the realities of blogging. After a few weeks reality sets in and blogging becomes more work than play. It wasn’t exactly what we thought blogging was. We thought we could begin writing a few fun things and people would swarm in from all corners of cyberspace and leave comments all day long. The truth of the matter is, you have to promote your blog to get people to come to it and read from it. Now you have to learn how to market your blog and we all know that takes more time and commitment and some hard work.

3) Not Standing Out… Being Part of the Mold
Lots of blogs are started because they might have seen another blogger and envy what they do, and simply wish to begin an adventure much the same. So what do we do? We try to duplicate what they do. Although it is nice to learn from others, most bloggers don’t offer up something different. You need to provide readers with something that is new and refreshing. Most people have trouble with finding creative and innovative ideas to stand out and be different rather than how can I be like all the other bloggers. Trying to be like everyone else will not spring your blog into a successful one. Most successful blogs have something unique and don’t necessarily fit the mold of every day blogging.

4) Unattractive Content
Most bloggers want readers. I know some who don’t care and that’s fine. They tend to blog for their personal benefits and as a creative tool and release. But the majority of bloggers I have met in the past want readership. They want interaction and feedback. If this is the case, then we need to stop looking inward and start looking outward. Like companies selling a product. Companies don’t ask, what is it the CEO wants?? Or what is it the owners of the Company wants? No… you ask what is it the Customer wants??

In the world of blogging you need to ask yourself what your readers want. Shape your content to be more attractive towards your targeted audience. The content on your blog is your product you are trying to sell. If your content is boring or not informative or appealing in any shape or form, you will really have a hard time with finding readership. So providing informative and attractive posts is essential to the success of a blog.

5) No Time
This sort of fits in with lack of commitment, but people today are jam packed with life. Some running to and fro working 2 jobs, school, family events, and there simply isn’t enough time to put into blogging. A lot of people start blogs realizing that there just isn’t enough hours in the day for them to keep up a blog. So they give it up.

6) Lack of Promotional Skills and Outreach
OK this is where I see a lot of people end up. They have the time, the commitment, and even really great content. But they have no idea how to promote their blog. Where do I go from here they ask? How do I get readers? My content is great but nobody is coming to read it. People talk about Search Engine Optimization and Networking. Where do I start. The thought of it begins to get overwhelming and then the blogger becomes frustrated and soon the blog either sits there and rots or the blogger loses excitement and posting becomes less frequent.

Feel free to read through all my blogging tips I have posted in the past. A lot of them touch on promotion and networking.

7) Not Posting Frequently Enough
This is huge on my list. I have noticed, even with this blog here, that when I relax on posting often, then the readership level goes down as well, which makes sense. No new content to talk about so nothing really to do here… When posting increased there is more to read and more to discuss. If you can’t post at least 5 times per week don’t expect a very active blog. You can have a nice blog and nice content but posting frequently will really juice up your blog. Google also loves it when there is new content on your blog. Update it daily and Google will train their “bots” to come crawl your site daily. Having Google come to your site daily is a wonderful thing. So post often as you can with nice good content.

8- Too Broad of a Topic
Pick a topic you can talk about a lot and use that as your blog’s topic. Narrowing down on a topic and hitting it hard is where it’s at. People tend to try to become everything to everybody and that just is not realistic. A blog that is titled Steve’s Hunting Tips will probably be more successful than Steve’s Journal or Steve’s Life. Having content that is similar such as hunting or fishing or outdoorsy stuff will do better in the long run than to have a blog that talks about hunting, politics, religion, yarn, cars, book keeping, science, astronomy, and under water basket weaving. Narrow it right down and hit your niche with a ton of rocks. People will enjoy your blog a lot more.

9) Ugly Template
Now, I know this is a bit vain BUT, I can’t stand going to a blog and reading white text on a black background. I just won’t do it. I can’t. Sorry. If your template is too ugly or hard to read then I just won’t go there anymore. Keep it neutral with white background behind your text area and make it black, if you like black so much, around the edges. The template needs to be easy to navigate from topic to topic.

10) Spamming and Being an Annoying Blogger
We all know you want to promote your blog and we all know thousands of other people are interested in promoting theirs as well. But refrain from spamming other sites with your link. I think it’s fine to post at forums and leave a link in your signature if the Forum Administrators of the site allow that sort of thing. But refrain from going onto a new forum and saying “check out my new blog click here now”.

Annoying!

Feel free to send an email to everyone in your friends list and say, “hey guys.. check out my latest blog.. here is the link and invite you all to come participate”. Great! Don’t start mass emailing people daily with new updates to your blog. Let people know they can subscribe to it and those who choose to get email updates will get them automatically. I have seen many bloggers lose any chance of success because they are trying to force their blog down people’s throats. Over time you will get readers one at a time. How about those people who send Private Messages to all the members at a Message Forum, inviting you to see their blog. Don’t be one of those. In all honestly it will make people furious and less likely to come to your blog. Sometimes less is more.

Thoughts And Thank Yous On The Maine Moose Lottery Drawing Event

Actually, my head is still buzzing from the excitement of the event last evening that took place at the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine. It is my understanding that this is the first time that this event has been held at a venue like the Kittery Trading Post - a place of trade or business.

Although I am not a veteran of many previous Maine Moose Lottery drawings, I think it can be said that this one was a big success. Read more

Skinny Moose Media To Stream Live Audio/Video of Maine Moose Lottery Drawing

Mark your calendars for June 12, 2008. That is the date of the annual Maine Moose Lottery Drawing, this year to be held at the Kittery Trading Post in Kittery, Maine. More information below.

I’ve been working with the folks at KTP and Bob Adams has given me a great Internet connection speed so that I can stream audio and video from our web site. You will be able to do that by clicking this link at Skinny Moose Media broadcasting. We will make this link available at several of our websites so that you can more easily find it. Read more