Blogging Ministry

During a recent visit to one of my favorite blogs, I noticed this symbol  ShareThis at the end of each post. I had to click on it of coarse and found that it was a great little widget/device that makes it easy for visitors to share and bookmark your posts without all the clutter of placing each different/separate symbol of the social web on your blog.

I immediately put it on all of my WordPress blogs through an easy to load ‘plugin’. I am amazed and more than happy with the results!

I have only recently become aware of how important social bookmarking can be to building the daily traffic to your blog. Last month when I was checking out the stats on one of my blogs, I saw that the traffic had jumped up significantly at that site and on one day in particular there were over 200 unique visits to one particular post. When I checked out the ‘referrals’ I saw that most came from "StumbleUpon".

From then on, I have been looking for a way to make it easy for folks to share and bookmark my blog posts. Most of the widgets and plugins I reviewed were to complicated, messy, or didn’t work right on my blogs. ‘Share This’  is definitely the best I have found, If anyone out there has other suggestions please let me know.

‘Share this’ currently has plugins for WordPress, Blogger, and Typepad. They also have code available for other websites. In addition, they offer a toolbar add-on for browsers to make it easy to bookmark and share with your friends.            *Top

I recently posted a review on the Windows Live Writer -a new desktop editor for blogging. I found this link on DailyBlogTips -a list of all the best desktop editors for blogging–called "Desktop Blogging Clients".

It not only lists Windows Live Writer but many others that may be useful in publishing on a desktop rather than the on-line blogging site editor.            *Top

I started blogging two years ago on March 5, 2006.

The original idea was to start a blog as an actual ministry on the Internet. I figured that I would teach a Bible study, have a Bible Q & A site, and respond to current events from a Christian perspective.

Along the way the original blog has expanded to 8 sites and usually I am way over my head with all the technical stuff. Sometimes I have gotten off track and have forgotten the original vision. Sometimes it has been more like a hobby. Sometimes it has been a burden. But sometimes I remember to include the Lord in what I am doing and it is actually a blessing. It has definitely been an interesting ride so far. There have been ups and downs, but mostly ups and many blessings in the process.

This month also marks the first anniversary of this blog–Blogging Ministry. The original idea was to write about the ‘Hows and whys of using a blog for ministry’ with articles on helpful hints and info. on how to get started.

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