Terra Extraneus

How do you like our facelift? Regular readers of Terra Extraneus will notice that we have spruced up the appearance of our little blog. TerraX went online on Dec. 23, 2005, which means we are approaching our second anniversary. So, we thought it was about time to do some of the tweaks and tune-ups we had planned from the start or had made note of along the way.

We’re still running the same Wordpress theme, but we have transformed the previous color scheme of blacks and grays with some much-needed splashes of color. And we’ve finally completed the header design we sketched out on paper back in ’05 — our mysterious planet, floating in space, to accompany our name, Terra Extraneus, which means “strange world!”

We thank web designer Travis Langley for his help. We began working with Travis earlier this year on this and a couple of other projects, and Travis deserves a lot of the credit for the new improved us. We recommend him.

Along with the facelift, Rod and I have renewed our commitment to post quality content on the law and its practice on a frequent basis. Sometimes it’s hard to do. Rod is a busy attorney, and I have jobs in the law office and at my church. But we have managed to put up 135 TerraX posts in these first 22 months, plus another 150 pieces which were originally posted here but have been transferred to our faith blog, Joshua One — and we feel like we’re still just getting started.

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I have not waded into the blogosphere’s virtual waters very much this year. In addition to my law office responsibilities, I have been busy with other projects, including pastoring a small church, preparing to lead an upcoming missions trip to Central America, and catching up on the first six seasons of 24. Thankfully, my commandant in the law practice, Rod Heggy, has carried the flag of our blogging quest, while occasionally reminding me that this two-man project is increasingly becoming less so.

Rod wrote about “Law Blogging Burnout” in an April 2007 post. Ironically, he wrote that his solution to blogging burnout was to partner up with a former newspaper reporter and editor — yours truly. Hmmm, I wonder how that’s working out for him.

“Blogging burnout” is a malady sufficiently prevalent that Google returns more than 10,000 hits for the phrase. There are “6 Blogging Burnout Cures,” “7 Ways to Avoid Blogging Burnout,” and “12 Ways to Avoid Blogging Burnout.” If only I’d known sooner! All of these gurus advise that one important remedy is to “take a break.” For example:

Time off is necessary for everyone. Taking a week away doesn’t mean that your blog will die. … Time off can be refreshing and inspiring.

Well, if a week off is good for the blog, think what the past 10 months must have done for Terra Extraneus! Perhaps I should feel trepidation about messing up a good thing now.

In his “7 Ways…,” web consultant Ken Yarmosh writes:

Blogging burnout is best exemplified at the point where a blogger is guilted enough to write, “Sorry for not posting in a while.”

Well, I’m not apologizing. And it’s not because I’m a stranger to guilt. I’m just fairly certain that the world has managed to limp along without my bloglines these past few months. If any of you believe I owe you an apologize, please advise in the comments section below, and I will humbly make amends.

I like Chad Everett’s comment the best. In his blog, Don’t Back Down, he writes:

There are times when I don’t feel like posting, and I don’t. There are times when I post multiple times in a day … There are times that I may post on not having anything to post. But in the end, I blog because I like to blog - not because I feel pressure to blog. … I like to get the thoughts out there. I have this vision - misguided though it may be - of making a small mark in the world. Changing it for the better. When I feel inspired, I post. When I don’t, I don’t. I just don’t get the pressure part of it, but maybe that’s me.

I couldn’t catch a clue from studying Everett’s blog who in the heck he is or what he does. But I like his attitude. I’ll tell you this much. He wrote the above words in July 2004. Today he’s still blogging, and he put up a fresh post today.

So OK already. I’m back. Reviewing our TerraX posts for 2007, I see that I ventured back for a few days in May, writing 7 posts in 11 days before disappearing again for these past five months. That’s good news for me. It means that I managed to set the bar so low that I should have little trouble doing better this time around. If I were writing “18 Antidotes to Blog Burnout,” I guess I would put that towards the top of the list, right next to taking long breaks: keep the bar low.

Can I surpass those 11 days of May, persevering for a full two weeks this time? Maybe even a month? Who knows? Anything can happen at the blogateria. I’m sure the watching world is catching its collective breath, anxious to know the answer.

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Many bloggers labor to write an intelligent, well-crafted article, only to top it off with an awful headline. If you wrote a book, would you spend only a few seconds developing the title? Likewise, if you have spent several minutes or more writing a good blog post, take a little extra time to give it a decent headline.

A headline that says something. A headline that draws the reader in. A headline that tells your prospective visitor what your article is about and why he should take the time to read it.

Much has been written about headline writing. Google returns 100,000 hits for the phrase “headline writing.” In writing this post, I took the time to review several other articles on the topic. How to write headlines that sing. Headlines that are clever, ironic, humorous, alliterative, even poetic. Headlines that pique a person’s curiosity.

Great headlines are a worthy goal, but I think those articles expect too much from the typical law blogger. A truly outstanding headline is worth every syllable, but most law bloggers can’t devote more than a minute or two to each headline they write. Therefore, my goal with this post is not to elevate any headlines from good to great, but simply to minimize the number of law blog headlines out there that are just plain awful.

Law bloggers are especially guilty of putting bad headlines on good blog posts. Maybe it’s because most of the other things a lawyer writes, from emails to correspondence to contracts to pleadings, don’t require creative titles. However, unlike the legal documents you write, nobody has to read your blog post — unless your headline convinces them to do so. The good news: although great headlines may be a work of art, a good, solid, effective headline only takes a little extra effort.

The First Commandment of Good Headline Writing is so obvious that it is amazing how seldom it is heeded: Your headline should tell the reader what you have to say. The test is a simple one: If I can’t tell from your headline what your topic is and the basic point you want to make about that topic, your headline has failed, and it has probably turned me away.

OK, sure, there are exceptions to that rule. There are marvelous headlines that are inscrutable and yet so exquisite – so creative, intriguing or provocative – that one glance and the reader cannot turn away. And there are some bloggers who are so popular, whose devoted followers hang on to every pixel they post, that the headlines just don’t matter. But if you are among the 99.8% of us who are neither celebrity bloggers nor headline-writing wizards, then at least give us a headline that signposts what you have written.

Some headlines don’t offer a clue. In the current issue of Blawg Review (No. 107), I came across these headlines: “A Rare Non-lawsuit,” “Regulation is the Key,” and “Why Aren’t We There Yet?” Do those headlines grab you and pull you in? Not me. What in the heck are they even about? Respectively, they are about a claim related to a high school football injury, regulation of the legal process outsourcing industry, and the status of women in the legal profession. Interesting topics, so why not use the headline to arouse the interest of prospective readers?

However, the headline should do more than merely identify the topic. Repeating that First Commandment of Headlines: Your headline should tell the reader what you have to say. Not just the topic, but what you have to say about it. In straightforward, specific language, tell me what is in store if I take the time to read your article.

In a search on the phrase “tort reform,” here are three headlines I pulled up from law blogs across the country: “Tort Reform,” “Tort Reform: A Suggestion or Two,” and “Real Tort Reform.” Now remember, these are showing up in search engine results among scores of other entries through which readers are skimming in search of some good reading. Which of those headlines would get your click? Pretty hard to pick?

However, on the same results pages I found these headlines: “How Tort Reform Can Hurt You,” “Tort Reform Does Not Reduce Insurance Premiums,” “Tort Reform is Misguided and Tyrannical,” and “Pfizer Proves That Tort Reform Was a Fraud.” Those headlines may not be works of art, but at least they are interesting, creating a clear and specific pathway into the pieces they head.

Think about it. There is just one reason for a person to run the phrase “tort reform” on a search engine: he wants information on that subject. You don’t have to convince him to be interested in the topic; he already is. What you do have to do is convince him to select your post from among the sea of choices that the search engine splashes up on his screen. I think you will agree, the second group of headlines above are much more likely to achieve that, because they actually say something. The first group of heads really don’t say anything at all. If the writer has nothing to say in his headline, what chance is there that he has something to say in his post?

Great headlines may be asking for too much, but it is easy to go from awful to pretty good. It just takes a little extra effort, and it is as basic as crafting a headline that tells me what you have to say.

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OK, I’m on a hobby horse. I have a lot more notes on this topic of law blog headline writing, so look for a few more posts on this topic in the coming days.

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Thanks to Charles Hill at Oklahoma’s favorite blog, Dustbury, for linking to this post. Charles lists some of his own favorite headlines from the past year.

Thanks to Click Abuse & Fraud for linking to this post.

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I noted Jim Calloway’s post of his pick for a weblog of the week and noted his comments about continuity of law bloggers, and their tendency to burn out quickly.

Having experienced this myself at www.terraextraneus.com, my solution was to bring on an “editor” and co-contributor. I am a solo practitioner in an office sharing arrangement with a former partner from our prior lives with another firm. However, I was fortunate enough to run across an old friend that was a former newspaper reporter and newspaper editor in several small newspapers in Oklahoma, Terry Hull. He has worked in a law office as a paralegal for four years, too. I engaged him to act as my editor in chief and co-contributor.

Serious law bloggers will either eventually form virtual law firms in which they blog together, some already have, even if they do not practice together, or they will engage web consultants like Mr. Hull to assist with editorial and content contribution. I have chosen the latter. Busy lawyers, especially trial lawyers like myself, will have no choice. I am often out of state in trial and simply do not have the time when I’m in trial to do anything with it.

Terraextraneus is being redesigned into a pure law blog, a process we hope to have finished shortly. It was a mixed bag before, reflecting varied interests, but I have decided to participate at least in one other blog to address those interests.

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Terra Extraneus asks our readers to support three of our favorite blogs and one fellow Oklahoma blog by casting your votes in the 2006 Weblog Awards. Voting is held online from Dec. 7-15. You can vote once each day (from every computer you have access to). Just follow the links below (in all caps) to vote for:

• Evangelical Outpost, written by Joe Carter, nominated for BEST INDIVIDUAL BLOG.
• Jon Swift, nominated for BEST HUMOR BLOG.
• Real Climate, written by an international team of PhDs, nominated for BEST SCIENCE BLOG.
• Sean Gleeson, written by an Oklahoma City artist and teacher, nominated for BEST IN THE 5001-6750 LEVEL of the “blogging ecosystem.”

For links to these posts and to read why TerraX is endorsing these outstanding blogs, see our earlier post: “Your Vote Counts…”

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Finalists for the 2006 Weblog Awards were announced today. Hundreds of blogs in dozens of categories are nominated, and the winners will be determined by online voting. Voting begins tomorrow and continues for 10 days, and you are welcome to vote in each category once each day.

Terra Extraneus encourages our readers to support three of our favorite blogs in the voting beginning tomorrow. They are:

• Evangelical Outpost, written by Joe Carter, nominated for Best Individual Blog. Last year E.O. was voted Best Religious Blog, but that category was eliminated this year. But Joe is still up for an award with his nomination for best individual blog. Joe, the Director of Web Communications for the evangelical conservative Family Research Council, blogs an interesting mix of conservative politics, evangelical faith and random trivia. E.O. is on TerraX’s “Must Read” blogroll. Check it out, and give it your vote starting tomorrow.

• Jon Swift, nominated for Best Humor Blog. If you are a regular TerraX reader, you know that I am a big Jon Swift fan. He is hilarious. Jon is a liberal in satirical sheep’s clothing. I read everything “Jon” writes and encourage you to do the same. (Here’s my review of Jon Swift: “What If Archie Bunker Were a Blogger?”) What truly amazes is that “Jon Swift” began his blog only one year ago, and he is already approaching his 200,000th visitor. Please join me in bringing the Jon Swift blog even more much-deserved attention by voting it the Best Humor Blog in the blogosphere.

• Real Climate, written by an international team of PhDs, is nominated for Best Science Blog. Real Climate covers global warming and other climate issues. The scientists do an excellent job of making the science of this complicated subject understandable. Anyone who wants to be up-to-speed on global warming should read Real Climate. This is one blog that truly is making a difference, so I hope you will give it your online vote.

• I want to mention one more blog: Sean Gleeson, nominated for best in the 5001-6750 level of the “blogging ecosystem.” I am not a regular Sean Gleeson reader, but I’m going to change that by adding him to the TerraX blogroll. Gleeson is an Oklahoma City artist and teacher. We Okie bloggers and blog readers should stick together, so I’m going to start reading Sean’s blog, and will give him my vote in the Awards.

Hope you will do the same.

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A California Supreme Court ruling on Monday bolsters the free speech rights of bloggers. The ruling protects Internet publishers’ right to post the possibly libelous statements of others. The ruling does not exempt bloggers and other Internet publishers from liability for their own comments.

The ruling was not based on the First Amendment, but on the Communications Decency Act, which Congress could change. Indeed, in its ruling the Court seems to be calling on Congress to review that 1996 federal law in light of 21st century Internet activity.

We acknowledge that recognizing broad immunity for defamatory republications on the Internet has some troubling consequences. Until Congress chooses to revise the settled law in this area, however, plaintiffs who contend they were defamed in an Internet posting may only seek recovery from the original source of the statement.

Nevertheless, the ruling is a good one for free speech in the blogosphere. Text of the ruling can be found here: California Supreme Court ruling.

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MSNBC did some sloppy reporting of the Court’s ruling. Its headline vastly overstates the extent of the ruling: “Calif. court says bloggers can’t be sued. State’s Supreme Court said a federal law gives immunity from libel suits.”

In the report that follows, MSNBC correspondent Pete Williams reports:

She argued that because she did not write the letter herself and instead posted the work of another to her newsgroup, she was immune from suit under a section of the federal Communications Decency Act, passed by Congress in 1966. It protects both Internet service providers and their users from lawsuits.

Oops. The Communications Decency Act, the first federal law regulating Internet content, was passed in 1996, not 1966. The World Wide Web didn’t come along until 1991.

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Nominations have opened for the 2006 Weblog Awards. Some observations:

• Terra Extraneus has been nominated for a Weblog Award. Ordinarily we would be delighted for any kind of recognition, but — neither Rod Heggy nor I own tuxes, and then there’s the whole thing about clearing space in the trophy case. More about our nomination in a moment.

• The Weblog Awards were launched in 2003 by Kevin Aylward, author of the popular Wizbang blog (about 30,000 visitors a day!). Last year almost half a million votes were cast in 37 categories. Here is more about the awards and how they work from Aylward.

• Nominations are made by the general public by entering a comment on the Weblog Award site. That means all the nominees and who nominated them are public information. Nominations close on Nov. 24, after which Aylward and the crack team of blog authorities he assembles will select 10 finalists in each category. Voting is conducted for 10 days in December, and any person on the planet with an Internet connection can vote once a day for 10 days. Vote totals are continuously updated on the site during the voting period.

• Terra Extraneus has been nominated in the “Best of the 1751-2500 Blogs” category. The name of that category is too big for a trophy — which works out fine, since no trophies are given. “1751-2500” refers to a blog’s rank in the blogosphere ecosystem. (I won’t attempt to explain the ecosystem here, except to refer you to The Truth Laid Bear.)

TerraX is currently ranked No. 2053. Out of the estimated 50 million blogs in the world? How in the heck did that happen? Well, if you knew, you’d be less than impressed. Okay, I’ll tell you. The rankings are based on incoming links. TTLB says TerraX has 154 incoming links — 154 other blogs link to us in their blogroll or elsewhere on their home page. Impressed? Don’t be. When we first opened for business last year, I immediately enrolled our blog in a couple of “blog networks” (e.g., Christian Bloggers). All the blogs in a network list each other on their sites, thus boosting each other’s incoming links. I could easily boost TerraX’s TTLB ranking some more just by enrolling in a couple more networks (Bald-Headed Bloggers? Bloggers Who Love Zydeco?). Personally, I think the TTLB rankings are meaningless and that blog traffic is the only stat that matters (our traffic is still at the slow trickle stage).

• Since nominations are made publicly, I know that TerraX was nominated by Jon Swift. Now that makes my day. Jon Swift is one of my favorite bloggers (See “What If Archie Bunker Were a Blogger?”), and his blog is a “must read” on the TerraX blogroll. Thanks, Jon.

I see that Jon Swift has been nominated in four categories so far: best new blog, best humor blog, best individual blog, and best in the 501-1000 category. That’s all fine and dandy, but I imagine Jon has been miffed that he hasn’t been nominated in the one category that matters to him most: “best conservative blog.” Well, I rectified that oversight this morning by making the nomination myself. “Jon Swift is the voice of conservative America,” I wrote. “When it comes to conservative blogs, Jon Swift is as good as it gets.” I really mean that, Jon.

• I see that the “Best Religious Blog” category has been dropped this year. There was no such category in 2003 and 2004, but last year the category was created and the award went to Joe Carter at Evangelical Outpost. Haven’t seen an explanation why the category has been axed this year. Congratulations, Joe. They apparently have retired the category in your honor, making you the Best Religious Blog for all eternity.

• Kevin Aylward, Supreme Ruler of the Weblog Awards, says winning the award comes down to aggressive PR. In an Online Journalism Review report, Aylward was quoted as saying:

“It’s a popularity contest. The question is can blog A get more readers to vote than blog B?”

Gee whiz, if Blog A and Blog B are already out there pounding the pavement for votes, Rod and I better start formulating our campaign strategy (just in case we make the finals). Let’s see — how about some campaign promises. That’s always a great way to fire up voters. So, here is TerraX’s campaign pledge if you vote us the best darn 1751-2500 blog in the world:

TERRA EXTRANEUS’ 2006 WEBLOG AWARDS CAMPAIGN PROMISE:

If elected, TerraX promises to win the war, bring our troops home immediately, slash taxes, put a lid on health care costs, and eliminate global warming.

There’s something in there for just about everybody. So how about it? Can we count on your vote?

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Not one — but two! — blog sightings of Rod Heggy, right here at TerraX. Rod was away on a two-week vacation, and then, immediately after his return from vacation, back out of state on business. At least that’s the official story. I was beginning to wonder if he had actually been taken hostage. But I discern by his posts earlier today that he is back home and back in the blogosphere. Very glad for that — I would hate to have to start passing the hat to raise a ransom. Good to have you back, brother.

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Thanks to Dustbury for referencing this post at Outside the Beltway: “Getting Your Blog Noticed.” OTB editor-writer James Joyner says to have a successful blog, you must put up a minimum of 40 posts a week:

The key is content, content, content. Unless you’re doing Lileks- or Wretchard length essays, it’s almost impossible to get steady traffic without posting 40-50 items a week at minimum. There are just too many sites competing for eyeballs for large numbers of people to make your site a daily stop unless you’re giving them something to read when they get there. People who write quickly, prolifically, and about interesting things at least have a chance of breaking out of the pack. It’s not coincidental that most of the top bloggers are college professors, journalists, or self-employed. Unless you have the ability to blog during the day (or the discipline to get up early crank out several posts before going to work a la Ed Morrissey) you’re at a distinct disadvantage.

Joyner has the credentials to make such a pontification. His blog, written by him and eight others, has more than 20,000 visitors a day.

Jon Swift is a notable exception to the rule. He gets more than 1,000 visitors daily, writing no more than three or four posts a week. (See our review of Jon Swift).

Charles at Dustbury says he’s hitting close to the 40 posts/week mark, and he has more than 800 visitors a day to show for it. Few bloggers, however, have the time to crank out that much material and maintain any level of quality. If Joyner is right, the real truth behind his observation is that it requires a team of talented writers to create a successful blog. Terra Extraneus is currently a two-person operation. If the right person were to come along, we might add a third writer to the mix. But it would have to be the right person.

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