Spreading the word about your latest blog entry is as easy as pinging a few update services. Most blogs allow you to add different update services (ping sites) to notify. I thought it might be userful to put out a list of the update services I’m currently pinging. If you’re interested in adding any or all of these services to your blog, here’s how (I can only explain how using WordPress - my list of sites can be used on any blog, though).

How to Notify New Ping Sites of Your Updated Blog Posts

1. Login to your Control Panel
2. Click on the Options tab, followed by the Writing tab.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and add whatever services you’d like to the Update Services box.

The Mega List of Ping Services

This list includes all the ping services I’ve been able to locate. Feel free to use it as you wish.

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2
ttp://rpc.qwikping.com
http://rpc.pingomatic.com/
http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/
http://rpc.britblog.com
http://rpc.tailrank.com/feedburner/RPC2
http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping
http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc/
http://1470.net/api/ping
http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b
http://api.feedster.com/ping
http://api.moreover.com/RPC2
http://api.moreover.com/ping
http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2
http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping
http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php
http://bitacoras.net/ping
http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc
http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2
http://blogmatcher.com/u.php
http://www.blogoole.com/ping/
http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates
http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1
http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php
http://www.blogsnow.com/ping
http://ping.fakapster.com/rpc
http://www.blogoon.net/ping/
http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC
http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc
http://coreblog.org/ping/
http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/
http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt
http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php
http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php
http://ping.amagle.com/
http://ping.bitacoras.com
http://ping.blo.gs/
http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/
http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/
http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc
http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc
http://ping.feedburner.com
http://ping.myblog.jp
http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php
http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php
http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php
http://ping.weblogs.se/
http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2
http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php
http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/
http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/
http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2
http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2
http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php
http://topicexchange.com/RPC2
http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/
http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/
http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/

If you have any additional services that you ping, let me know! I’d love to build this into a massive listing of all ping services.

Manual Ping Sites

There are a few good ping sites that will allow you to manually let them know of updates. These are included in the above list, but for those people who need to do things by hand, this should help.

• http://www.pingomatic.com
• http://www.pingoat.com

I had high hopes . . . they have summarily been squashed!

As many of you are aware, I tried to put together a networking event here in Denver for web-entrepreneurs, developers, investors, etc. The event this morning was a complete bomb!

The Networking Event of The uhhhhh Century. Well, Maybe Next Time!

I sat at the location for close to an hour and no one showed up . . . well, at least I was in the company of some other interesting people (I did some networking, nonetheless!). I guess that’s the way things go sometimes! I think it may show the difference between Denver and Boulder as far as tech is concerned. When I attended a similar event in Boulder, which was announced in a similar fashion to this one, there were over 20+ people who attended. Oh well . . .

We’ll try this one more time - I’m going to plan on it being at a bar. This way, if I’m stuck by myself, I’ll at least have a beer to keep me company. Stay tuned!

Sounds pretty extreme, right?

I just don’t know what companies are thinking these days.

How Chase Bank Has Forgotten About the Customer

I had a call into Chase about an issue with my credit card the other night and couldn’t believe what I heard. My discussion with a customer service representative was not going where I wanted it to, so I asked to talk to a supervisor. I was told that there was no supervisor to talk to, but if I wanted to, I could just give her my number and she’d have someone call me back. I found this to be quite interesting (no supervisor? come on!) and tried to reason with the rep to have someone with any authority get on the phone, but got the same thing . . . nothing.

From there, I went on to tell her that I was a loyal customer for around 13 years and was just not happy with the service I was getting. Want to hear the response?

“If you’re not happy, then I’ll close your account for you right now”

Really?!?

“I just told you I was a loyal customer for 13 years and you’re telling me to close my account if I’m not happy?”

“Yes, sir. Do you want me to close it?”

(I took notes, because I was so surprised by this response)

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think companies are in business to chase away their customers, do you? Somewhat stunned, I got off the phone and waited for morning to call back and talk to a supervisor. When I got on the phone with a supervisor (after telling the customer service rep I was calling about bad service), it happened again! I explained that I was not happy with the service I recevied and was almost instantly told that if I wasn’t happy then she would close my account . . . she almost begged me to do so.

In a daze, I laughed and asked if this was a big joke. It was not. Not only was it surprising in content, but in tone as well; she was simply nasty to me. I was told that the company now had a policy which requires customer service and their supervisors to close someone’s account if they don’t like the service they are getting.

Apparently, Chase has established a policy where they send away people who aren’t happy with their service. There is no attempt to rectify the situation. They just want you, the problem, to get lost.

Why waste their time keeping someone happy? There are plenty of other customers to rip off on both ends of banking (low savings interest rates and high borrowing interest rates).

With this situation in mind, I’m asking you to boycott Chase. It is the customer that comes first, and if they are too lazy to give good service, then they don’t deserve to have any customers, plain and simple.

What Can We Learn From This Situation?

Customer service is Paramount! If you treat your customers like crap, there will be a backlash against you, especially in the days of the internet. If you treat them well, they will tell their friends and you will only see positive results! With so much choice (except when it comes to cable TV & telephone providers), we, the consumer, have the power to not only choose another, better, option, but also to tell the rest of the world of our experiences.

In a guest assignment for Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger, Alister Cameron writes an incredible post detailing how Google Blogsearch ranks your blog posts. Using the Google Blogsearch patent application, Alister reveals some incredible information about the data Google uses to determine the quality of a blog or blog post.

He mentions how it looks like Big Brother, and it really does. It appears as though Google is taking data from not only their search results, but from blogrolls, from the qualit of a site lnking to you, from feed subscriptions on the Google Feed Reader, from chats on GTalk, from emails on Gmail, etc. They then use their fancy algorithms to determine weight and ranking. I’m not sure about you, but it looks to me like we have to worry less about the government spying on us then we do Google. Orwell was somewhat correct, but in the real future, it is big business, not governments that are truly to be feared (thanks Charles).

That said, there is much to learn from examining the article on Problogger, as the insight it provides is invaluable. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to bookmark the site, as it is one of the top blogs out there about the “sport” of blogging.

It happened again . . . I awoke to phone calls and emails this morning alerting me that my websites are not working. I really hate it when my server has issues like that (hate is not a strong enough word to describe how i really feel)! So far, this has happened a few times over the past several months, and we are no closer to finding a solution. I’m at least glad my dedicated host has a means for me to log in and reboot my box through their system . . .

Anyone know a good, honest, competant server admin I could borrow for a bit?

I’m off to problem solve for a while, which means stir around, simply because I don’t have the web-server expertise to go through Web Host Manager (WHM) or cPanel and understand what really happened.

Argh!

Whoops . . . posted that one a bit prematurely . . . no it’s not a problem I have regularly!

The Creation of a Denver Networking Group

I’ve talked on this blog about why you should get out of the office and network and I’ve decided to start up my own local group here in Denver. This group, will be called (for now) the Denver Meeting of Minds Networking group, and will serve as a means for local Denverites (cool word, huh!) to get together, network, chat, pass along ideas, and expand our horizons as a group.

If you’re an internet entrepreneur, programmer, web-developer, investor, or anyone else involved in a tech startup and you live in the Denver Metro area, please stop by and get involved. The official group page can be found here on the blog at: http://www.timeforblogging.com/meeting-of-minds-denver-networking-group/

Upcoming Event Details
When: Tuesday, May 1, 2007, 8:00 AM
Where: CapuVino - 728 S. University Blvd, Denver, Colorado
How to Register: Visit Registration Page
FREE WIFI? Yes

It should be a great event . . . if anyone shows up other than me (lol to myself). I’ll let everyone know how it goes!

I recently read a webmaster forum post from a guy whose friends keep asking him to teach them how to make money online. There are a few approaches to take in this situation:

Three Approaches to Dealing With a Friend Who Wants Free Advice on Making Money Online

1. Tell him to piss off and figure it out himself
2. Be a good friend and actually help him out
3. Scare him off by telling him how hard it is

The Fourth and Only Approach to Take In This Situation: Create a Partnership

While I’d typically reccommend the second approach listed above, there is actually a better route to take here. Instead of just giving away all the pearls of wisdom that you spent your hard time learning, do like they do in 24 . . . cut a deal!

How To Create An Online Partnership

1. Convince your friend of your know-how and let them know that you can relpicate your previous successes
2. Let them know that while you’d love to just give them all the knowledge you’ve gained, it would be easier if you partnered up
3. Cut a deal. In exchange for you helping them create a successful online money-making website, you absolutely deserve a cut. It is up to you to negotiate your share based on your ongoing participation in the site, the work you put in to get them started, etc. For example, I’ve partnered with a friend on a blog site, where I am responsible for the setup of the site, maintenance, monetization, and publicity; he is responsible for content. We have come to a 50/50 arangement.
4. Put everything in writing. Working with friends can lead to problems if expectations are not clear. In creating a contract for this partnership, consider the following questions (this is by no means comprehensive):
   • What will each partner’s role be in the day to day care of the website? (consider little things like who wants to be woken up at 3 AM if the is a problem with the site)

   • Do you want to create a company, which will own the site, or will it be in your names
   • Who will be the registrant of record?
   • Who will finance the site’s startup costs?
   • How will expenses be covered?
   • How will any income/profits be split?
   • If sold, how will the proceeds be split?
5. Once you’ve got everything in writing, be sure there is absolutely no debate over any of the expectations.
6. Sign your partnership agreement and start making money!

If the online business is a success, you will both benefit. If the partnered site(s) is(are) better then any of your personal sites, then you won’t be kicking yourself in a jealous rage . . . you’ll be laughing all the way to the bank!