There are some  considerations that may help you, especially if you are new to blogging, to arrive at a  reasonable decision about how often you should post.  The more unique a post is, the more research and the more images and/or video you want to include, the more time each post will take you and practically speaking, this would make it, probably, necessary for you to post every week, every other week, or whenever you have time.  If you have nothing else to do, few other daily responsibilities and blogging is your life, you can post daily once to several times a day.  A web log style blog in which the blogger is giving readers an update about what events and problems and triumphs are happening in the blogger’s life, makes it easy for the blogger to simply sit down at the computer and report the latest news from his or her world.  This does not require a lot of preparation and , in fact, is probably more authentic the more spontaneous it is.

Personally, I am comfortable with no set schedule of posting.  I write on unique topics and sometimes this requires careful thought and extra effort to include images or specific factual information that must be gleaned through research.  Sometimes I may have 6 or 7 ideas for posts at the same time.  At other times, I am struggling to find something that interests me enough to want to share it with you.   Like many bloggers, I have another job and blogging is like a second job; an activity I pursue in my spare time.  I have not found any serious disadvantages to not posting every day or even every week.  Realistically, I am a staff of one and I can accomplish only as much as I can manage in the time available to me for this activity.  I feel certain that this is often the case with many other bloggers.  While it may not be disadvantageous to post infrequently, depending on your style and content, it cannot be disadvantageous to post often and certainly this will earn the added benefit of keeping the interest of readers who are really enthusiastic fans of your blog.  How then, could you increase your productivity and find ways to post more frequently, especially at times when you are ill or extremely busy with the  routine affairs of daily life?  Here are a few ideas, some of which, I have used when trying to increase the number and frequency of posts on this blog:

The first idea is to keep a file of finished posts in reserve so that if you are indisposed you can simply choose one of these and publish it.   You can take advantage of a particularly creative period and write several posts to keep in this file.  This is what reporters do when they have to contribute articles on a regular basis.

You can look back at your previous posts, if you have some of them and see if there is some way you can expand on something you wrote before.  I did this with a post about  Comment Spam  and wrote three more posts, subsequently, based on this topic.

You can read through your comment spam and see if there are some interesting “comments” spammers have sent you that you can present as a post to illustrate to new bloggers what they can expect.  I did this with Spam  Comment Makeovers.

If you have a number of interesting  photos documenting some activity you have been involved in, you can post several of these with a minimum of explanation and simply a few captions.  Here, the photos will tell the story.

If you have some ezine articles published before, you can recycle these, editing them and customizing them to fit your blog.  I did that with a recent Ezine article: Why A Good Writer is Like A…A What? and recycled it by making some changes to fit this blog.

You can use a blog written by a “guest.”  “Guest Posts” can be extremely valuable and can help you to keep to a more ambitious (more frequent) posting schedule.  Evaluate which bloggers write in a manner consistent with your theme and purpose and then contact them to offer to publish their posts on your blog.  It is usually a great compliment to have other bloggers ask you to be a guest on their blog; it shows they think highly of your writing.  Arrange to publish the guest blog and be sure to give full credit to the blogger.  This is a fair reward to the blogger for writing a post for you in that they are given free promotion of their blog on your page.  This is a project that you will probably have to start before you need the posts because, human nature being what it is, writers who are well-intentioned are seldom prompt in fulfilling their promise to you of a post.  Bloggers may be busy with their own blogs and it may be some time before they can send you the promised post, so it is desirable to give bloggers advanced notice and to get as firm a comittment as you can.  Guest posts published on your blog have an added benefit in that such posts bring fresh material and perspectives to your blog.  People always enjoy novelty and a guest post may be just the “seasoning” you need to add this quality to your blog.

Whether you like to write daily posts or whenever the Muse moves you to create your next masterful blogpost, you may find the above suggestions useful to help you fill the space caused by your “absence from your  blog post”(i.e, your “disengagement” from your blogging activities.)  I am going to begin availing myself of guest bloggers in the near future and I will try to introduce new and different topics by means of these writers.  Take Care and I hope your search for new posts goes smoothly.

-wil

Commenter:

Hi there, I found your blog via Google while searching for first aid for a heart attack and your post looks very interesting for me.

Bloggasaurus:

Well, first, let me say that I hope you are feeling better. Your comment underscores the importance of having a High-Speed Internet Connection. I appreciate that you have looked at this post. Actually, I hope you were able to read it, although you were probably a bit preoccupied at the time. You are always invited to return.

Commenter: 

Hey, Chris here. This was great information on Cardio Exercise. I tend to do cardio 3x per week and it is really helping me lose weight and get in shape. Anyway, good info. – Chris 

Bloggasaurus:

  Oh. Hi Chris! Thanks for your comment. I am glad you are keeping fit. You may be surprised to learn that I found your comment in my spam filter. Yes Chris, Your comment is actually spam (Sorry,) however, I will still use it anyway. I do think that, perhaps you sent it to the wrong web site, and certainly, it seems you responded to the wrong post: This Post is entitled 6 Ways to Evaluate products…etc., or, perhaps you did not notice, while reading it enthusiastically, that it is not about Cardio Excercise. Don’t worry, it is apparently easy to confuse cardio exercise with product marketing, if you lose focus for a minute. I was wondering, Chris: Do you have any advice for my roofing company friend (Carrington Roofing) in the comment above?
–Wil

 Commenter:

What you’re saying is completely true. I know that everybody must say the same thing, but I just think that you put it in a way that everyone can understand. I also love the images you put in here. They fit so well with what you’re trying to say. I’m sure you’ll reach so many people with what you’ve got to say. 

 [ This is a perfectly good comment without the embedded link that caused it to be trapped in the spam filter, so the embedded link has been edited out and the comment retained.]

Bloggasaurus:

Thank you guest for the comment. I’m glad you enjoyed reading the post, and its illustration. Actually, everybody does not say the same thing. Please read through the other comments and you will be surprised by totally different comments. I can’t believe it myself.

Commenter: [to "In Appreciation of Doorknobs"]

I don’t agree with every thing with this posting, but you do make some very excellent details. I’m incredibly fascinated in this particular matter and I myself do a lot of analysis too. Either way it was a nicely thought out and good read so I figured I would leave you a comment. Really feel totally free to verify out my site sometime and let me know what you feel.

Bloggasaurus:

Thank you guest, for your comment to the post entitled: “In Appreciation of Doorknobs,” which I admit, is a spam comment that I extricated from my spam filter, but it is an interesting comment. As I understand it, you do not agree “…with every thing with this posting…” That is what I find so intriguing. What is it, I wonder, that you do not agree with? Don’t you like doorknobs? Did you find the illustrations of doorknobs to be artistically offensive in some way? Do you object to doorknobs on the basis of some religious, cultural or philosophical creed? Do you think, for example, that the world would be better off if there were no doorknobs? Have you ever been on the wrong side of a locked door, perhaps, having accidentally locked yourself in a closet and had the doorknob in your hand come off suddenly? A situation like this can give one a whole new appreciation of doorknobs. Even with your disagreement, I notice that you are still “incredibly fascinated in this particular matter.” Really? Do you have a door knob collection too? I also notice that you do a lot of analysis; I would love to read your further analysis of doorknobs. In any case, thanks for the visit and BTW I did visit your site. I cannot find any connection with doorknobs but it is a site which promotes smokeless cigarettes and I think this is good public service so, Good Luck–Wil

Commenter:

 I Love You. I really do. I would even buy you flowers and dinner for what you have shared with us! Thanks to you I now have a working blog.

Bloggasaurus:

A simple “thank you” would be quite sufficient . –Wil

Commenter:

I want this post has been up top, up top! Top up to everyone to see!

Bloggasaurus: uh……well……Thank you for your exuberance and boundless zeal. With enthusiastic readers like yourself, I think this blog will quickly arrive….you know…..up top and stuff. Cheers.

-Wil

 Commenter: [ commenting to "Apologies, Farewell and Welcome"]

hey, I am agree with your posting about that but i found something strange that i felt you didn’t know the news before you posting this. i want to ask :where do you know about this friend ?

Bloggasaurus:

Thank you for your perspicacious comment but I am a bit unnerved because, you say there is something strange—- in myblog?; …and I didn’t know the news before posting this? Oh No. I believe you are exactly right! I still don’t know this news; and honestly, I do not know where or even who this friend is, of which you speak. I am very confused. Hmmmm. There is something very strange going on here. Please keep me posted as to the results of your ongoing investigation and hopefully, we will “get to the bottom of this.” BTW thanks for your fascinating comment (which I rescued from the spam filter.)

 Commenter:  Pourquoi ces faisez-vous?

La Bloggasaurus:

Le question est: Pourqoi ces faisez-vous? ( Why do you do this)
La reponse est simplement: Il me donne une satisfaction grande ( I enjoy it )

Pour une reponse plus complete, s’il vous plait, refere a` mon poste avec la titre: ( please refer to my post….)
Pourquoi Quelqun Se Blog? [Why Blog? (And Why Try to Make Money With Your Blog?)

Pourquoi faisez-vous ce me demander? ( Why do you ask ?)

Guil
–Wil

Commenter:    

  I don’t mean to be too rude with this, and I know it’s completely irrelevant but I will just say it anyway! Whhhhhaat the heck has Obama been smoking these days? There, I got it off my chest!

Bloggasaurus: 

Greetings Hoodia (Gadlin586): Thank you for your exemplary comment. I do not want to be rude either and I hope it will not be too much of a shock to you when I point out that your comment is a perfect example of SPAM and as such is useful as an illustration for others to see what kind of comments they can expect to get sometimes. [ I received this exact comment a few months ago in the spam filter of my original blog.]

Do not be worried that the comment is too rude; it is just about the right level of rudeness. I must also compliment you on your sharp intuition and sense of what is appropriate concerning the relevance of your comment. You are exactly right: It is completely irrelevant.

Now, I will answer your completely irrelevant question: Mr. Obama smokes Marlboro Reds. I would recommend that you switch to these as an alternative to whatever you are smoking; just a friendly suggestion ; )

–Wil 

Commenter: 

 I was searching for Lithuanian translator, and found your website. Great blog. Very inspirational! This blog have such a nice information. Links are very helpful and and impressive too.

Bloggasaurus: 

Thank you for your highly original comment, retrieved, of course , from my spam filter. It is one of those remarkable mysteries, how you managed to search for a Lithuanian Translator and then, somehow, found my blog and decided to read it before moving on to continue your search. Well, I do not want your search to be in vain so allow me to say this in response to your comment:

Dėkojame už labai kūrybingas komentarą. Negalima daryti dar kartą, jei ji yra teisėtas komentarą, o ne “spam”

Thank You,

–wil

Commenter: [commenting to "Understanding Stupidity]

You lost me, buddy. I mean, I suppose I get what you’re saying. I get where you’re coming from. But you just seem to have forgotten that there are people out there who can see this issue for what it really is and may not agree with you. You seem to alienate a whole bunch of people who might have been fans of your blog.

Bloggasaurus:

[I have retrieved this comment from my spam filter simply because I wanted to embrace the challenge of giving a response, so here it is:]

It is, I think, more accurate to say that you lost yourself without my help. It probably happened when you were noticing where I was coming from but stopped paying attention to where I was going. Since you are admittedly “lost” the least I can do is to tell you where to go, but instead let me get to my other points: Since this is my blog and by definition, a blog is where the blogger writes from his or her own perspective, I do not mind that there are some who “disagree” with me. Disagreement is healthy and can lead to interesting dialogues. I was ever mindful when writing this post that it was possible I would alienate idiots, morons, schmucks and the entire assortment of distinctive personalities defined in the “Lexicon….,” but I decided that:

1) this was a chance I had to take and
2) these types would not be reading this post.

Your comment suggests that I may have been wrong about number 2). Thanks for your candor. My final thought on this is that if some people are so easily alienated by what they freely choose to read in my blog, I would cheerfully and wholeheartedly recommend to them that they read your blog.

–Wil

 So that is my current installment of spam comments, recycled as regular comments in posts.Can you see the possibilities of treating spam in this way?  Can you find a way to recycle spam comments on your site?  Why not try it.  It can be a lot of fun and you will be pleased to find that you have an abundance of material for comments.  Try it. Enjoy it.  Share it with your readers; and if you liked this post, maybe you can forward to friends on Twitter or share with friends on Facebook and other social networking sites.  Just click on the appropriate icon at the bottom of this post.  Thank You for reading.  I hope you can come visit again.

–Wil

So, I read through the contents of my spam filter and thought: ” Some of these comments are actually quite good and some, although a bit silly, are very entertaining. ”  I needed more comments for Bloggasaurus, and as other bloggers have discovered, legitimate comments are often in short supply, so, I reasoned that, perhaps, I could find a way to use these rather than delete them. 

A few months before, a blogger left a comment on my original blog, in which he suggested to me that, perhaps, I should not be too rigid in  not approving comments which had commercial links or addresses attached.  Until that e-mail, it was my policy to ban, outright, anything remotely resembling spam that ended up in my spam filter.  He reasonably made the case that there was no harm in allowing some selected spam comments to be used as valid comments as long as there were no embedded, “no-follow” links in the text.  I thought about that and decided that he was right.  I do not remember his name because his comment along with all the data in my database was erased in a host company debacle early in the year ( see “Apologies, Farewell and Welcome.”) and I owe him my thanks because he taught me that flexibility can often bring rewards in more creative choices.

After this “Aha!” moment, I began to look at comment spam in a different way and realized that many of the comments that had been filtered out by my spam filter could be reconstituted for use as valid comments, as long as I would permit a commercial URL or link.  That is when I decided to start using selected comment spam as regular comments in my posts if they have some merit, in my opinion ( although, I still tag them as “spam” to let readers know that these were not ordinary comments-necessary since my responses to these are not ordinary responses.)

The advantage for me (and for any blogger that also decides to try this) is that, while valid comments are still rare, I still can use a large number of comments culled from my spam filter  that more than compensate for the lack of ordinary, valid comments.  Some of these comments are, frankly, quite amusing, although they were probably not intended to be, and, I thought, it would be a shame to waste them without sharing them with interested readers.  A few of these comments from my spam filter are a bit sarcastic and a little arrogant too and  some writers seem to feel that I need to be lectured.  I like these.   I enjoy them because it gives me the opportunity to have a little fun (admittedly, at the expense of the spammer, though with no malice on my part) and to dust off my rarely used dry sarcasm which is reserved for spammers only.

So, although I do not like spam and think it would be better if we didn’t have to deal with it, I have found a way to use it and enjoy it.  In my next post, I will share the best of these reconstituted spam comments with you and my responses to them.  The comments are often a bit bizarre, but so are my answers and I hope some of my readers, especially new bloggers or ”about-to-be new bloggers” will enjoy seeing what a blogger has to deal with sometimes.

Converting selected comment spam into valid comments is only one way to make practical use of spam.  There is another use.   When you select the comment that you will approve and respond to, you allow a commercial link and this is a link that you can click on to visit your spammers site.  It is only fair that you should be able to leave a comment of your own on his or her website, along with the url to your web site.  You should always check out the site of the  spam commenter to ensure that it is appropriate and acceptable to your professional standards and to the sensibilities of your readers if any of them should decide to follow that link.  In some cases there are pornographic URLs or other objectionable sites attached to the comment spam and it is not always obvious until you click on the link.  Always check out the links.

When you realize that comment spam can be of some practical use as raw material for valid comments , you will be able to greatly expand the comments attached to your posts and by using the spammer’s URL and link, you can go to their site, leave a real comment and forge a potentially valuable backlink.

To examine some of these comments and see examples of how to use them in a , hopefully, engaging and entertaining way, please have a look at the next post which consists of the best examples I have rescued from my spam filter and used in various posts as  bona fide comments.

Take care and “see you next time.”

–Wil

     Spam is a problem because it quickly fills your spam filter or otherwise accumulates on your web site like the detritus in a roadside gutter after a flashflood.  OK.  maybe that’s a little dramatic, but the more traffic you have the more spam you will get and you have to manage it.  It requires extra time  to cull and sort and delete and empty from your filter.  This is time you could spend more productively to write posts, search for interesting products to promote or answer legitimate comments.  It is not just the overwhelming volume of spam on your web site that is annoying.  It is the unprofessional disrespect and inconsiderateness of the spammers who send out their spam to your site without, apparently, any thought about how they are impacting your site; the “host” site, to use a term from parasitology.  Their sole aim is to promote their site and they are not interested in any mutual agreements with the spammed sites to promote each others’ sites.  They are self-serving .

     There are several ways in which spam may display on your site and there are distinctive identifying hallmarks to indicate that a comment is, in fact, a spam comment:

 1. It is in your spam filter.    (Spam filters are quite advanced and are very good at screening out  spam comments.)

2.  A characteristic of these comments is that the urls have one or more subdomains attached and usually bring you to a commercial site.

3.  If you click on the link, it will bring you to a third party site which is not owned by the spammer.

4.  There are imbedded “no follow” links within the comment.  Here is an example:

      Hello dudes , this is a great forum! if yas dont mind, im trying to improve my forum, can you guys give me some feedback please : privateserver (link de-activated) also is it possible to donate to the owner of this website? its great

5.  The comment is totally irrelevant to your post. Example:

      This is really good news today……  (In response to the post about “…Doorknobs.”)

6.  The comment is so general, it could apply to any post.  Example:

      That’s a very interesting information. I didn’t know about it. Keep developing your site!

7.  The comment has been cobbled together by an automatic article writing software device or something similar and it is, mostly, “gibberish.” Here is an example:

Lemons.a abigail of the most authentic alkalinizing foods, are pattern to tropical Asia, where cultivation dates spring endorse from at least 2,500 years. In the twelfth century the Arabs brought lemons to Spain and Africa. It was Christopher Columbus, who brought the seeds of lemons with him from the Canary Islands on his damaged voyage. In the Redone Men, lemons were introduced at calligraphy control means of the Spanish adventurers in Haiti, then known as Hispaniola. In the Appraisal States, Florida was the in the principal stock lemon-producing limit, and this awe-inspiring led in origination of lemons until a mournfulness integrate in 1895 killed the lemon groves. They were not in a million years replanted. In the mount circumstances, to 95 percent of the lemons against in the Pooled States and Canada are produced in southern California. The other 5 percent are grown in Italy. Italy and California together postulate in return all reasonable purposes the bund’s make whoopee equipping of lemons

8.  If you try to contact the sender, you get a “failure” notice because the e-mail address is not real.

 9.  The comment is gushing and effusive with fulsome praise and excessive flattery out of all proportion to your humble accomplishments and, of course, has links attached to promote the spammers’web sites. Example;

I want this post has been up top, up top! Top up to everyone to see!

 and you already saw this one above:

Hello dudes , this is a great forum! if yas dont mind, im trying to improve my forum, can you guys give me some feedback please : privateserver (link de-activated) also is it possible to donate to the owner of this website? its great

10. The comment is attached to an illustration on your site and not to a post.  You cannot publish this kind of comment.  It will not appear in the comments of a post.  Here is a comment that was attached to a picture of a doorknob:

Great points…I would note that as someone who really doesn’t comment to blogs much (in fact, this may be my first post), I don’t think the term “lurker” is very becoming to a non-posting reader. It’s not your fault really , but perhaps the blogosphere could come up with a better, non-creepy name for the 90% of us that enjoy reading the content .

By the way, this would have been a good comment if the sender had commented in a legitimate way.  I wanted to post it but was unable to put it in the correct comment group. (so, I show it here as an example.)  I actually answered this post and, I might as well include my answer here as I was unable to link my answer and the comment to a post:

11.  Comment spam may also be identified by the frequency of its occurrence.  “Same Spam Different Day” would aptly describe this tactic.  I have received two or three comments from  from different IP addresses.  The duplicate comments are exactly the same, ostensibly from different individuals, sometimes from the same people. They can reoccur weeks apart or appear after a month or more.                                        

     Spam is here to stay.  It is a part of the Internet Scene.  so far, no one has been able to eliminate spam completely, but there are ways to control it.  The most obvious way to do this is to have a good spam filter.  There are many but one of the most powerful and effective filters is Aksimet from WordPress.  If you want to save time you really need a spam filter.  

 Spam comments, especially those generated by “bots” can be foiled with the use of CAPTCHA codes.  This prevents anyone from simply pressing a button to send spam to your site, because the spam device cannot “read” the code ( sometimes I cannot read the code either ).  The person has to manually send his comment  This is time-consuming and not favored by those spammers who want things to be easy. 

Some sites ”build” all kinds of virtual barriers to keep spam at bay.  They will use CAPTCHA codes, make you register and sign in every time you want to leave a comment and so on.  I don’t use this simply because many readers do not want to “jump through hoops” just to leave a comment.  I believe, and this is my personal opinion, that readers who do take the time to leave you a comment are contributing to the interest of your blog and I don’t like to put obstacles between them and my site, which might discourage them from commenting.  One of the most common complaints of bloggers is ” I am not getting enough comments.  How do I get people to comment more?”  The answer is very simple.  Encourage readers to leave comments and make it as easy as possible for them.  

    Spam is a problem, but, believe it or not, I have found some spam to be really useful.  I actually have discovered that spam can be interesting and entertaining and I look forward to checking my spam filter for potentially “useful” spam.  I will tell you all about it in my next post:  “Recycling Spam.”

Take Care and “Blog-On”

–Wil

1. Spam in blogs (also called simply blog spam or comment spam) is a form of spamdexing. It is done by automatically posting random comments or promoting commercial services to blogs, wikis, guestbooks, or other publicly accessible online discussion boards. Any web application that accepts and displays hyperlinks submitted by visitors may be a target.

     Adding links that point to the spammer’s web site artificially increases the site’s search engine ranking. An increased ranking often results in the spammer’s commercial site being listed ahead of other sites for certain searches, increasing the number of potential visitors and paying customers.

     From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comment_spam

2. Comment spam

      Comment spam: Comments made with the sole purpose of gaining a backlink, which in turn will send traffic or link juice (provided the blog in question doesn’t use the no follow tag) to the site of the spammer. Some spam comments are very explicit and come with several links to drug or gambling related sites. Other forms are more subtle, where the commenter actually tries to leave a relevant message on the blog.

From: http://aris-haryana.blogspot.com/2008/11/bloggers-glossary-part-2.html

3.   Often blog comments include URLs, as a result spammers will often post blog comments in an effort to boost the incoming links to their websites. Comment spam often make no sense and the comments are simply a product plug. : Comments made with the sole purpose of gaining a backlink, which in turn will send traffic or link juice (provided the blog in question doesn’t use the no follow tag) to the site of the spammer. Some spam comments are very explicit and come with several links to drug or gambling related sites. Other forms are more subtle, where the commenter actually tries to leave a relevant message on the blog. 

To summarize: Spammers hope to send their comment spam to your blog so that the link they have embedded in their comment will create a “backlink” ( linking your site to theirs) thus making their site seem more popular and relevant to search engine robots. This can result in their site getting a better page ranking. You may not wish to be the unwitting host parasitized by spammers. Spammers do not ask your permission to use your site for their sole advantage.

     Spam was not much of a problem for me (until recently,) but as anyone with an established website can tell you, as soon as your traffic increases , so to, unfortunately, does the volume of comment spam.   When you set up your blog, you can expect the same and that is why it is a very good idea to make sure you have installed a spam filter on your web site.

 Take care and hope to have you visit again soon.—wil