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Got this notice in my email this morning:

EzineArticles Announces Formation of the EzineArticles Racing Team

There are several interesting aspects to this announcement that I will get into in a
moment… but first, for those unfamiliar with EzineArticles, a little background.

EzineArticles.com is an article directory for writers, blog/ezine publishers and for
internet users looking for more organized information on any particular subject.
It is also a matching service — bringing real-world experts and ezine publishers
together. For those of us who publish blogs (or ezines), it is a resource for article
content. For writers and niche experts, EzineArticles.com provides an opportunity
to get your articles published/disemminated across a much wider audience than is
possible on your own.

Now to the “why” of this development.

As Christopher Knight, CEO, explained in the press conference, “Internet marketing
is all about driving traffic to your site. Making a big splash to an audience as big as
pro auto racing is a great way to stand out from the crowd and bring people to our
site.” The company and its CEO are showing considerable chutzpah and more than
a bit of humor in this venture.

First, “driving traffic” and race car driving provide lots of material for writers and
media PR people to create a “buzz” with. I don’t know the percentages of racing
fans and internet participation. However, racing is BIG! Lots of fans…and, I am
sure, many (most?) have not heard about Ezine Articles or its role in internet
marketing.Regardless of their present internet participation, seeing the Articles
car #404 on the track is bound to stimulate their curiousity. More people visiting
the EzineArticles website means more eyeballs and more eyeballs means more
advertising dollars and more opportunities to monetize that traffic for the company.

Quoting from their blog, “The team’s choice of car number 404, a reference to the
Internet error code for “Page Not Found,” speaks volumes about EzineArticles’
tongue-in-cheek approach to sponsorship.” Whether that choice turns out to
be an ironic one remains to be seen. Pro racing is a big gamble for any group
involved, It is high risk in many respects. Whether the risk of this investment
pays off, again, remains to be seen. For writers like yours truly, it will be an
interesting “trip” to follow. However, for you poor readers, I am sure you will have
to put up with more than your desired share of puns, analogies and poor efforts
at humor in the process.

The bottom line question - great ROI or “crash and burn”?

Stay ‘tuned”! - see, it starts already …

Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger and @SeniorTweet on Twitter.
Senior Tweet Blog
Senior Writer Blog
Blog Success for Boomers
Boomer Extra Income
Blog Success for Seniors
Senior Extra Income

Thanks for your contribution - participation increases the value of the blog for everyone.

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Spent much of this last week getting familiar with Twitter. Learned a lot and a lot
to learn. Too soon to tell whether there is much benefit to the time, energy and
thought that goes into Twittering or Tweeting. Part of the process is just learning
the lingo. I found my way to twictionary. That helped.

However, as you may know, when you Tweet (post) on Twitter, you are confined
to 140 characters for your tweet. That gives rise to a whole shorthand of
abbreviations. More to learn. Now, you may think that I am down on Twitter.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. I think it is fascinating and has the
potential for being the engine for a whole new world of communication and
collaboration.

Because of my personal bio and the tweets I have posted, it is fairly clear to
others that a primary interest of mine is in how to use Twitter to make extra
income and to learn how to show others how to use it for the same purpose.

However, too much selling or promoting is surefire way to be unsuccessful.
You have to write, share and respond in such a way that other tweeters
will grow to know, like and trust you. Developing a reputation for honesty
is critical. Distinguishing your personality from the crowd is also of great
importance. I’ve found that Twitter is a good place to let your hair down
- even, as in my case, you are bald.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networking sites. A raft of
tools is available to increase the ease of use and reduce the time necessary
to make effective use of the social networking potential. The jury is still
out on the ROI but that is a very individual matter because Twitter is
a very personal community and each user brings a different set of needs
and purposes to the community.

As we go along in this blog, I will be sharing my experiences with you
and, I hope, you will be sharing your thoughts, feelings and experiences
with the rest of us as well.

I’m excited about the potential in a lot of respects but cautious about the
time demands. Time will tell. When it does, I’ll let you know what I am finding
out.To start with I am installing a TwitterCounter plugin to let you know
how many “followers” I have attracted to my SeniorTweet page. (292 total
so far).

There’s a lot to write about - let me know what you think about it and
what you would like to know about Twitter. Just realize it may be a while
before the Twitter Bird is eating out of my hand.

- Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger.

Please follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SeniorTweet

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I’m not here to convince you to Tweet on Twitter. However, I just came across two
articles that will give you a flavor of how serious bloggers feel about Twitter - you
decide on your timeline. I’m finding it’s worth more that sorting through my email -
that’s probably because I am more selective about my Twitter now than I’ve been
about my email opt-ins in the past (more about that later).

For now, I will just share with you what I am learning about Twitter and how I
integrate my tweeting into my daily activities. On the learning side, I just came across
two excellent articles that Jack Humphrey, referred to me.

First, Darren Rouse had an interesting article on his TwiTip blog called:
Types of Birds on Twitter and How to Be an Eagle. The article was written by
Jason Mitchner - follow him at @jasonmitchener. In it Mitchner
describes various types of birds and compares their characteristices to how people
behave on Twitter. Many lessons about “what not to do” included. Not surprisingly
he described the eagle as the bird to choose to emulate. Its characteristics best suited
for effective functioning on Twitter.

The second article, 8 Sure-Fire Ways To Tick Off the Twitterverse“>8 Sure-Fire Ways To Tick Off the Twitterverse, was written by Jenny Cromie. Between these two
articles you should get a good sense of what not to do. However, these two tweeting
bloggers represent the kinds of people you should listen to if you are interested in Twitter.

Any writers reading this? Jennie’s Blog, The Golden Pencil subtitle is: The Freelance Writer’s Resource. I bookmarked both of these sites - shouldn’t you? Check them out and see.

- VS, Tweet Me @SeniorTweet

If you want to advertise your own Twitter feed, there are simpler, less obvious ways
than the one below but heck, you’ll not have trouble reading it …

Tweet Me @SeniorTweet

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While working on Comics Cartoons and Creativity, one of my new blogs, I had this kind of strange thought that I then captured in this image:

How do you keep track of your ideas?

How do you prepare for those great ideas of yours? How do you keep track of them?

I’m trying to get better organized. A part of that process is developing a
systematic way of capturing my great ideas so I immediately know where to go to find
them. As you may already know, as you get a little older, it doesn’t get any easier to
remember where you put them, or your keys, or …

So what does one do about it? Paper and pencil/pen at hand? Pocket notebook
always at hand (in the pocket or pocketbook)? Notepad or other note-taking software
when on the computer? Have any good ideas? What works for you?
- VS