Is it difficult to start my own Blog?  Who would I link to anyway?

There are many free software programs on the Internet that can help you set up your very own blog. This is a quick overview of a few available blogging programs:

Beginner: I barely know how I go here.

Blogger

Intermediate: I know my way around a computer.

Blogger
WordPress

Advanced:  You probably already know more than enough to make you dangerous!

WordPress
Moveable Type

Blogger, this is what Google uses for their blog, is free and has only three steps to setting up a blog.  It has a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) setup known as compose mode, and takes five minutes to create your blog.  Your URL, or Internet address, will be http://(title).blogspot.com.  If you prefer another hosting/domain option you can use their advanced setup.  Two other Mystery Shoppers that use Blogger are: Melanie Jordan's Mystery Shoppers Coach Update and Shari Shopper of Best Mystery Shopping Companies.  Because Blogger has a relationship with Google, Ad Sense (Google's advertising links) is advertised as an added benefit of Blogger, but can be added to any blog with a simple copy and paste function. The author can email posts to his/her blog remotely.  Blogger is free.

Moveable Type, this is the big boy!  For those that can read/write code, for those that are closet programmers, this is what you want!  Trackback and Pingback are supported.  The most difficult aspect of this software is the installation.  You must have your own hosting/domain.  You need to use Perl/CGI, FTP and many other alphabetical symbols that are beyond this author.  Changes are not immediately visible as MT has to rebuild pages once an initial change is made. The author can email posts to his/her blog remotely.  There is a free version of Moveable Type, but it has an extensively licensing agreement.  You can purchase a installation service.

What to choose?  You can try the free version of these and see which is the best for you.  Or surf others' blogs and see what they are using that you like the look and feel of.  Most importantly - link to us when your blog is published!

Is your blog ready to be linked to others? Link to us!

A web ring is like your favorites, or bookmarks, on your own computer.  However these are on the Internet for others to view.  If surfers like one site on the web ring they will probably like others on the web ring. 

This newsletter is part of the Mystery Shop Logs WebRing.  Please visit and join if you think you have a site that would be complementary to this newsletter and or the blog site.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Do you know of a Mystery Shopper Blog that should be reviewed by this newsletter? admin@shoplogs.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Pew Internet & American Life Project
has reported interesting findings on Americans
and blogging:

• In June of 2003, 3% of internet users said they had created a blog or web diary that others could read. By the beginning of 2004, the figure had grown to 5% of internet users. Our survey in late November showed that the number grew to 7%, which represents more than 8 million people.

•  Spring of 2003 found that about 11% of internet users at that time had read blogs. The figure jumped to 17% this past February and leapt to 27% in November. The growth in 2004 alone amounts to 58%.

•  More than one-in-ten internet users (12%) say they have posted material or comments on others’ blogs. That represents more than 14 million people and is a threefold increase from April 2003.

February covered Volition, MSR and Mystique; What other forums are people visiting? 

Delphi Forums:
Cathy’s Corner2; Cathy Plumb and Martha (JB) Boyd. Both ladies are long time merchandisers and shoppers; their friendliness is only outdone by their willingness to teach others about the profession. 
The front page of this forum offers links to many shopping/merchandising tips (Information on: Being a Merchandiser/Data Collector/Mystery Shopper, Tips N' Tricks, MS Descriptors List, MS--The Past, Present and Future, Types of Merchandising Tasks, Step by Step Resets, Reset Tips N' Tricks, Merchandiser tips to work faster, Reset Tools of the trade).  The site does contain advertising that is inserted into the forum threads and is present when you sign in as a member.
You can view messages as a "Guest", but cannot post. Registration as a member of Delphi is free (note – Delphi Plus costs about $4 a month and requires only an email address. CC2 has chat (run by Rhyan). 

Other Delphi Forums have postings by state, but companies like Shop N Chek post for shoppers in all cities within the state and then newbies respond by advertising their personal information.

Is there a forum about which you would like to know more? admin@shoplogs.com

We Shopped ‘em!
Blog entries from the shopped…

"I was almost written up because of a mystery shopper.  On Sunday, my boss asked me to come into the office.  She showed me the mystery shop report and informed me that any employee scoring less than 80% is automatically written up.  I scored a 77%.

However, she decided not to write me up, after looking at the results, I agreed with her.  Why?  The shopper took points from me (each point is worth approximately seven and a half percent)  for failing to greet customers and ask if they wanted assistance.  There's just one problem: I was working the register at the time.  The shopper herself conceded there were 42 people in the store, which meant that at the time she was grading me,  I was most likely dealing with a long line of customers. The shopper then wrote that the service was excellent, she would most definitely come back to our wonderful store, etc. etc.  So she took points from me for not being in two places at once.  Worse yet, she described me as being "35 years old."  Sheesh. At least she listed me as 5'10".  Maybe I was wearing lifts at the time."
FULL TEXT