Expediter Blogs

[ATeam]

For expediter wannabees researching the industry, blogs written by expediters can be a good source of information; especially those that describe day-to-day experiences and observations on the road.

This post was prompted by a new blog, written by Jim and Judy Beck, that I stumbled upon today. Others are listed below. If you know of other expediter blogs, kindly list them in this thread.

It's a Highway Blog
Our Expediting Journey
Jim and Judy Back

(Jim and Judy are new to expediting but I see they have the lawn chair thing figured out. Blogs by newbie expediters are especially valuable to wannabees since early experiences in the industry are the experiences wannabees will have.)

It's a Team's Life
Personal Safety / Street Smarts
Linda Caffee
Featured on the EO home page. Scroll down to see it.

4-Wheeling
Why Things Happen
Jenny Marcu
Featured on the EO home page. Scroll down to see it.

Also by Jenny Marcu: My Life

Learning Something New Every Day
Phil Madsen (that's me)

Edit: Blogs added to the list after the original post was made (added later because I did not know about them before).

One Load at a Time
Over the Road Expediting
Cindy and Dennis

Walking down the Emmaus Road
Gary Atkinson

AJ & Myrian's Blog
AJ and Myrian Johnson

 

[paullud]

How do you get a blog started and promote it?

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[greg334]

How do you get a blog started and promote it?

It is actually very easy to do.

Just start with this link -

WordPress.com — Get a Free Blog Here AND hit the Start here button.

IF you are venturous and want to learn more of how one works and how one promotes it, then go to Domain Names, Web Hosting and SSL Certificates - Go Daddy and sign up for their hosting service at 6 bucks a month and pay for a year of you very own domain name.

Godaddy, like other hosting companies have a lot to offer in telling you how to promote your blog. It has gotten a lot cheaper.

I noticed there are a lot of missing ones on that little list. Oh well a few are invite only and others are for truckers, not expediters.

Oh if you need an idea what software to use if you do go the hosting route, try wordpress, it is really nice.

 

[ATeam]

How do you get a blog started and promote it?

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To do a blog you need to write it, of course, and post your entries (and photos if you wish) somewhere on the World Wide Web where people can see them. Google's Blogger is one of the easiest resources for doing both; free too!

As far as promoting it, techniques range from doing nothing and simply waiting for people to find you, to aggressive use of search engine optimization techniques, to buying advertising space. It just depends on how much you want to promote it.

The best thing you can do to promote a blog is to post regularly and write well. People who are interested in what you write about will find and follow your blog.

 

[jimby82]

Thanks Phil for the mention. Just some of our thoughts and experiences. Right now, we just haven't had time to keep it updated on a regular basis. Once we get a little experience under our belts, we would like to try to update everyday.

Jim & Judy

 

[paullud]

Thanks, I am going to look into getting one started.

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[ATeam]

Thanks Phil for the mention. Just some of our thoughts and experiences. Right now, we just haven't had time to keep it updated on a regular basis. Once we get a little experience under our belts, we would like to try to update everyday.

Jim & Judy

It is the thoughts and experiences of a rookie team that are especially valuable to expediter wannabee readers. You won't be a rookie for long, and then you will not think to write about the things that most interest new people.

I love reading rookie posts. They see the industry through new eyes and therefore see things veterans might otherwise miss.

Just one example: you are starting with a large fleet owner. Large fleet owners like that did not exist when Diane and I started. That in itself is interesting. We have no idea what it is like to run in a large fleet owner's truck. Through your blog we can learn.

 

[ATeam]

Thanks, I am going to look into getting one started.

Let me add that a quick Google search on "How to blog" will produce numerous articles about getting started. I noticed that some are helpful but many talk more about the blog platform and templates and such.

Content trumps cosmetics always. Don't worry too much about how the blog looks and other features that platform providers make available. Your blog is first and foremost about your writing. To start a blog, just start writing. You can think about and refine the cosmetics and other features later.

Don't worry too much about your writing. I said above that it is important to write well, but you are not writing for a high end literary publication. Write well enough to be understood.

Don't worry too much about your theme or purpose of your blog. You should have something in mind when you start but do not commit strongly to it. Give yourself the freedom to let your blog evolve. It's OK to change your mind.

Don't worry about building an audience, especially not at first. Just write. Once you gain a rhythem and flow, then think about promoting your blog and building an audience, if that is what you wish to do.

Don't worry about making money with your blog. Most bloggers don't. If you intend to make money with your blog, disregard everything I said above and seek advice from the very few people who make money with their blogs.

Keep in mind that anyone can read a public blog. You may be writing with a particular audience in mind but you will find other people reading your blog too. That may be good or bad for you, depending on who they are and how they react.

I started my blog as described above and then one day was surprised to read this in the June, 2011 edition of Trucker's News magazine, a copy of which Diane brought back from a TA laundry room. (Shameless plug follows)

"While too many blogs become meandering accounts of the daily trivia of their writers, holding little value to readers who don't know them, Madsen's is focused. His central device — to begin each post with something new he encountered — lends an ongoing sense of discovery that makes the writing uncommonly accessible and valuable."

This quote came from Todd Dills. He also writes the Channel 19 Blog and said on 04/19/11, " Phil’s “Learning something new every day” blog contains some of the best writing on the long-haul life out there, chronicling the small things experienced toward a goal of casting the big picture in a clear light"

Sandi Sondecker, managing editor of Land Line magazine, surprised me when she said on her editor's page, "...Phil Madsen's blog is one I read often."

How do you promote your blog? Just start writing. Write regularly. Give it time. People will find you and promote it themselves as they share it with others they know.

Ways to promote your blog will come to mind as you proceed, but you have to have something to promote first, so begin by writing.

EDIT: One more suggestion. Make your text pleasing to the eye. Make the font size large enough for readers to see without strain. Do not create too sharp of a contrast between the text and background color. Notice the Open Forum colors...easy on the eyes...easy to see....light blue, black text.

Avoid cluttering the page that distracts the reader from the words you want them to see. Lots of white space is OK. Notice my blog pages. There is nothing there but the blog itself. That is primitive by modern-day flash-bang-zoom standards but the content gets noticed and widely discussed (again, content trumps cosmetics).

 

[paullud]

Thanks Phil, I was thinking of doing a blog about the lifestyle of drivers. I figure it is something I know and have done in an 18 wheeler and cargo van so I can look at the differences between the two as well as the learning curve associated with both. Sometimes it is kind of hard to get out of that truck driver mentality and adjust to expediting but luckily there are people like chefdennis that helped me, especially this week.

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[ATeam]

Thanks Phil, I was thinking of doing a blog about the lifestyle of drivers. I figure it is something I know and have done in an 18 wheeler and cargo van so I can look at the differences between the two as well as the learning curve associated with both. Sometimes it is kind of hard to get out of that truck driver mentality and adjust to expediting but luckily there are people like chefdennis that helped me, especially this week.

That is a fantastic idea! You can write about yourself and others. Anytime you need new material you don't have to do anything more than start a conversation with people at the lunch counter or parking spot next to you. Every driver has a story.

Really, that is a great idea.

 

[xiggi]

Good info Phil, thanks.

 

[Turtle]

{In case anyone is wondering, the off-topic posts were removed}

 

[chillyhiker]

Great reading been looking for something like this

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[Jenny]

Tonight or tomorrow, once we get settled I will be starting the.first of my blogs about our trip to California

 

[greg334]

Well a couple related subjects one is content. The other is how to control comment content on blogs.

Content is important, as Phil said don't worry about anything - just write. Writing may be hard at first, some times it is difficult for those who never wrote anything before but if you have problems trying to figure out what to write remember it is sometimes the small things in life when pointed out are entertaining and enjoyable. I wrote about my trip to Alaska and what I was doing there. It did alright with the hits and got a few comments but when I wrote about this old guy and his dog that I met when I was waiting for my road test, I got a ton of hits and comments about just the guy and his dog. I once explained about Poutine to a southern who thought all Canadians were French and wrote about his conversion which in turn was used in print for a southern rag a while back under another name. On the technical side of business, when I wrote about the time I spent in the traffic center for a large carrier, explaining how things worked from my point of view, I got a lot of questions about two specific subjects and went back to the traffic manager to ask about them which generated a few more blog posts, a lot of hits and more comments.

It sometimes doesn't matter what you write about, the pin hole in the head liner of your truck may interest someone and they may come back for more.

I have taken comments and used them as a foundation for posts, mainly because some of them raise interesting questions and others are just good comments to expand on but many blogs will not allow comments which I think takes away from the blog, really.

My point of view a blog with comments is rather a good thing, it allows the members or non-members (depending on how you want to approach your target audience) to take participating to a higher level and engaging you or other people on your blog which in turn enhances the site.

TO have a sane and good site, you do have to moderate the comments before they are posted on your site, some times it is a registered user that can submit a comment while other times it is open to anyone - a rather dangerous thing.

One thing that happens with moderated comments in a few good blogs is the owner/administrator will engage the member when there is something that is wrong, off topic or what ever. Sometimes the owner/administrator will also add to the comments after there is a dialog opened behind the scenes or even out in the open. Rather good thing.

On the other hand I have seen where owners/administrators are a walking "rule book" and apply their rules to everything or to a few select members which sometimes detracts from the blog. I know one blog where the owner is a complete and total a** to everyone and everyone loves it - and that place moves a lot of information with visiting posters and sometimes syndicated content. I think this happens in forums too, but also the opposite thing happens when moderators apply the rules unevenly and without respect to others. As a rule, the forums I am involved with the mods don't edit posts or threads without permission from the administrator and we inform the member out of courtesy.

NOW this brings me to another thing that bugs me a bit but I also use it for one of my 'non-trucking' blogs which gets a crap load of traffic, it is called CAPTCHAs. It is that weird looking box with letters and numbers or words that only Timothy Leary can imagine. If you do get a blog and want to prevent that spam crap, than get that plug in and use it - it helps. There are other means to do this but with the amount of traffic that some of these site generate, you want the easiest way to administer it as you can get.

The other bit of advice is DO NOT put your email address in plain text. There are a couple ways for you to "mask" that email address, one is a bit annoying - g r e g at y a h o o dot c o m. I don't like to use contact forms, some sites have a hard time with them so it is simpler just to have a single email address.

As a side note - I really don't appreciate the deletion of my post about how I view Phil and his site which actually added to the positive of this thread and making more than a small effort to counter the BS that went on in the landstar thread. If I stepped over some imaginary line that only one mod saw, well it happens a lot on this site and even mods add to the mess.

 

[paullud]

Thanks Phil for the mention. Just some of our thoughts and experiences. Right now, we just haven't had time to keep it updated on a regular basis. Once we get a little experience under our belts, we would like to try to update everyday.

Jim & Judy

Looks like you guys have run into some issues early in your career, it happens. I like that you guys had the blog started before you got on the road, it makes it a good place to point beginners.

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[denny2010]

wife and i started a blog. she teamed out with me august 17th. she still trying to get time to write. i enjoy reading the expediters blogs on here. if anyone is interested ours is this.
One Load at a Time thanks, dennis

 

[ATeam]

denny2010, I edited the original post to include your blog in the list.

 

[denny2010]

Thanks Phil....

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[mcavoy33]

I don't understand how the blogs work on this site, I can't navigate to find an old post by Jenny about her A/C set up. When I go to her blog, it only lists her current post and I have no clue how to find the previous ones.



edit: finally figured it out woo hoo