Communal Blogging - Who Will Win?

My recent quest to understand and implement trackback on my blog has left me with more questions than answers. It seems that in an attempt to bring relevant blog entries together, there are (surprise, surprise) competing technologies.

First there is the issue of bringing relevant blog entries together. What’s the point and should we bother?

I believe that although blogging is primarily a sole pursuit, the ability for people to comment, refute, correct, or admire a blog entry more deeply than a simple commenting system allows is the next step in making blogging more meaningful, and possibly more accountable. Read more

Blogging - Part Five: Trying to Understand the Psychology Behind It All

For many years while in high tech as a CTO, I was fascinated by the development and progression of chat systems from their very first appearance in Internet land. Though this was not part of my normal everyday running of any of the companies that I worked with, it became a hobby of mine. I also gave seminars around the world, entitled, “The Technological Advance and Psychological Effects of Chat Systems”. These led me to use the term “viral technology”. (This has nothing to do with computer viruses - though the way it works is somewhat the same.) The seminars then advanced to “Understanding The Nature of Viral Systems on the Internet”. Read more

Blogging & Website Basics - Part Four: So How Do I Get Bonafide Links To My Blog?

Since we are on the subject of linking to and from your blogs, and ostensibly this whole series was started with the discussion on links on our minds, (due to the discussion about Technorati rankings), it is not far-fetched to now devote an article or two on the effects of linking and bona fide strategies to get more links without being penalized or worse by the Search Engines. Read more

The Basics of Blogging - Part Three - Keywords, Tags, Categories - Oy Vey! I Am So Mixed Up!

Okay so now we know all there is to know about content and keywords. Hah! But you did get the basics. It may be a good point to stop and talk about Keywords, Tags, Categories and all that as well. Logically, in progression this should come much later, but because there seems such misunderstandings about Technorati, Del.icio.us and other tagging systems, it may be a good place to put this down.

These articles began because of a thread at Absolute Write called “What Is Your Technorati Rank?” On perusing that thread I realized that many writers were placing their hopes in something that just was not going to happen. More so, they were actually misreading the importance of certain “rankings” and thus ignoring the more important factors. Read more

The Basics of Blogging and Website Creation - Part Two: Introduction to Keywords

Okay so now we know content is king. And of course since we are creating our own blogs, (remember blogs is short slang for Weblogs - which is what their “formal and official” name is), most of our information is going to be “unique” and “Original”. Yet every now and then, since we are only human, and since we simply cannot “create” more and more information, we will copy information from other web sites. That is cool. There is no problem with that, UNLESS, you decide that “copying” and/or “linking” is simply better and forego writing anything. Read more

The Basics of Blogging and Web Site Creation - Part One: Content is King

My fellow writers at the Absolute Writers Forum (known lovingly as the AW Water Cooler or just Cooler) are the reason for these next series of articles so I wish to thank them.

In the next few series of articles, I will try and deal with some of the very basic technical jargon and skills that one needs when facing this daunting world of web-site creation, blogging and getting listed and noticed by the Search Engines. Some of this I take from things I posted at AW and others from my own articles on Web Creation and still others from my own blog, Cobwebs Of The Mind (see resource for URL).

Let us start with the few important factors that are required today on the web. There are quadrillions of articles on this, most very poorly written, but the message is always the same. Read more

How to Start a Video Blog

Web logs, commonly referred to as “blogs,” came into the mainstream about 2 years ago.

Not really a newsletter or traditional html page publishing, blogs resemble more of a web-based diary where the creator records their thoughts, posts links, or responds to questions.

Initially, blogs contained only text and pictures, but then came “audio blogging,” which entails the use of audio on a blog.

Audio blogging also gets referred to as “Podcasting” because of the ability to let people with iPods and other portable MP3 players download your MP3 audio. Read more

Ready to Start Blogging? Check out Word Press

WordPress

Ready to start blogging, but don’t know where to start? Try WordPress.

WordPress is an open source blogging software tool which affords pretty much anybody with basic computer skills to blog their way to stardom! Well, maybe not to stardom, but it an easy to use, easy to learn content management system…and it’s FREE!

I’ll get into some of the features and benefits in a second, but here’s some steps and considerations you want to take first.

1. Do you want to tag your blog onto your existing site or setup a new domain name?

There are two schools of thought on this one and both are valid. Tagging it on to your existing site most certainly has it’s benefits such as just having one set of logins to remember. It can get a bit tricky with 404 errors if you don’t know what your doing in the configuration stage, and you may lose some of the external linking benefits if you’re looking to increase your rankings on the search engines.

2. Do you want your blog to match your existing website’s look and feel?

Designing a customized blog with a new look and feel is basically easy to learn and there is a ton of support out there for even the novice PHP and CSS code writer. If you don’t have the time, or have no hair left to pull out after designing and managing your existing site, you may consider outsourcing your blog design. Costs on that can range from $50 to several thousand dollars depending upon the sophistication of your blog’s functionality. Check out http://www.blog-template-layout.com for some ideas and links to themes and plug-ins.

3. What is the purpose of your blog?

It’s a good idea to map out on a piece of paper, a cocktail napkin or whiteboard what exactly you want your blog to accomplish, how many hours a day do you or your staff have available to accommodate fresh content, promotion and optimization. Blogs can help you create a social network, act as a customer service tool, an internal employee communications vehicle, generate new members, customers, supporters, sales, donations, you name it. It’s important to do a bit of a core dump in advance and set some goals and timelines for implementation. Remember, your blog is a living organism and new features and plug-ins are always coming online so be flexible to change.

4. How much do I have to spend?

Figure hosting (if you need it) will cost around $10-15 a month on the high end. A new domain, anywhere between $2 and $20 (beware of cheap domain name registrars that won’t let you point the domain to your nameservers of choice and sucker you in with $2 domain name registrations only to stick you with an expensive hosting plan). Design, if you don’t do it yourself will cost between $50 and several thousand dollars for a massively feature rich content management system if you are a membership organization, a mid-size business, a media concern, have a ton of existing content you wish to leverage or just want to dominate your market space.

WordPress Features and Benefits

FREE
Easy to learn
Easy to Post, Edit and Manage
Lots of cool plug-ins (be careful if you don’t know basic PHP, they don’t all work)
Open Source (lot’s of smart people making a better system)
FREE
Build a subscriber database
Easy to do basic customization
Easy to setup
Lots of hosting companies already support it (see Fantastico)
FREE
Great support forums
Pretty much search engine friendly
Pretty stable
Pretty secure (beware of some PHP formmailers)
Did I mention it’s FREE?

So, if you’re ready to start blogging, check out WordPress, make a list of objectives, set some goals, do a content inventory and get started. And keep an eye out for more articles on blogging, or subscribe to http://blog-template-layout.com/feed/ and get the latest delivered via your favorite aggregator.

Author - Christopher Conlan is Managing Director of Kaboodle Ventures (the company that owns this blog www.blog-template-layout.com)

Writingup members who sabotage your blog

Is your blog important to you? YES. Is your blog important to me? YES.

Every single topic I add to my blog is very important to me. The time I spend on a blog post really means a great deal to me also.

Let me begin by saying that so many blog entries are being sabotaged immediately after being submitted. You wrote about something that you thought was important enough to be in your blog, but your readers aren’t as interested as you hoped they would be. Well, keep reading because every single member here at writingup has the power to jump start each others blogs. Read more

5 More Ways to Improve Your Blog

The world of blogging moves really fast. As fast as millions of people can write code, plug-ins and content. About 75,000 new blogs are added everyday. Bear in mind that most of them are of the ilk “My Cat’s Philosophy” and really aren’t readable and provide no value to anyone but the indifferent cat blogging community.

Alright, we all know that our daily routine should include a shower, a shave and maybe even brushing our teeth before we do our daily blog posting. In the world of blogs, content is king, regardless of whether you brush your teeth or not. Hopefully you’ve optimized your blog, the content is valuable and every post is pinging out the RSS world. People are now taking notice.

Here’s 5 more ways you can improve your blog and create value for your company or cause and better the user experience.

Get People to Participate
Help out your content building strategy and your traffic strategy by encouraging people to participate. Here’s some tips:

Customize your “Here’s your password” message when they register to post or comment.

Give them something for free to get them to register. A “How to PDF” or free MP3 download. Include a link to the file in your “Here’s Your Password” email.

Hold a contest, pose a question for the community, encourage them to voice their opinion.

Keep People Participating

Use a weekly or monthly newsletter to keep them informed.

Include an “Email This” and “Print This” function on your blog. Let them share the wealth and encourage their friends to register. Build your database.

Include a Bio Pop Up feature that allows blog “members” to share their personality and background. Dagon Design has a neat plug-in for this one.

“Partner Up” with a rich media provider such as VoiceAmerica talk radio and add links to rich media content that fits with your blog. For example, if your blog is about health, include links to their website, or ask them if they have a popup player that you could add as a rich media feature to your blog. This begins to make your blog a cross media destination as opposed to just something they can read.

Add a tracking feature for your users to be able to follow other users comments on a specific topic or posting. Again Dagon Design has a great plug-in for this one. (Aside – you can get all these free plug-ins at http://www-blog-template-layout.com)

Keep the Spam off your Blog
Once your blog is off and running, pinging out of control and people are participating, it’s important to keep the spam off your blog. Nothing is more annoying to the user than having to sift through non-appropriate content. Dealing with articles and postings “Awaiting Moderation” can become cumbersome, so try to “nip it in the bud” when it comes to every Romanian or Indonesian blog spammer that comes along. If you’re using WordPress the Askimet plug-in works great, it comes with the free 2.0 download, but you’ll need a WordPress API code (free).

Make Sure Your Bloggers Can Contact You
Don’t expect everyone of your readers or group to want to post their “personal” comment on your blog. Some people actually still do value their privacy! Make sure there is an easy way for them to contact you directly, especially if you’re answering questions or hoping that someone will ask you for a custom proposal. One more time Dagon Design has a great plug-in for a Contact Form (Formmailer) and it has a visual security code that keeps the spammers away. It’s easy to configure, free and comes ready for WordPress and in a standalone PHP format if you use another blog program.

Incorporate Your Existing Site
Regardless of whether you’re running a standalone blog or running one connected to your main site. Make sure that you include hard static links back to your order form, about us, product white papers, contact information, etc. in your blog. It’s not hard to do, put it in the Links section, or add direct links in your header and/or footer. Most blogging software isn’t really ready for shopping carts (although there are some plugins out there in Beta that look promising) but that doesn’t mean you can’t have one. With a little creativity in your header, footer and sidebar you can utilize all of the functionality you currently have on your website, or anyone else’s website.

Well, that’s it for these 5, 5 more just popped into my head! The blogosphere moves fast, make sure you’re moving smart! As always, make sure you have a clear picture in your mind, or better yet on paper of what your goals are for your blog in terms of Return on Investment, then find the right plug-ins, partners or programmers to help you achieve those goals.

Happy Blogging!

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