Guide To Blogging

Tips and advice to get your blog up and running
April 4th, 2008

What Is Web 2.0?

Whether you’re new to blogging or have been around for awhile there’s no doubt you’ve heard of or used some of aspects of what is known as Web 2.0, sometimes without even realising it.

It doesn’t matter if you blog for personal reasons, to supplement your income or part of your business strategy using and understanding Web 2.0 can be of a great benefit to you.

Things like blogging, social bookmarking, social networking, wikis etc are all forms of web 2.0 as they are are “user driven” and allow for interaction etc this free Web 2.0 ebook explains just what those things are and how best to implement them for your own gain.

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March 28th, 2008

Understanding Blogging

There are still people who do not know what blogs are. Because of the unusual name, people tend to think unpleasant things when they hear the word “blog”. Is it a murky mixture of sand, water and dirt?

Blogs are like bulletin boards in the internet that are updated regularly, often in a daily basis. The contents of blogs are information about a specific topic, or in some types of blogs, people sometimes use them as a journal or diaries where they put in the details of their personal lives, their opinions about certain topics and even social commentaries. To put this in simple terms, blogs are used by the person who created the blog anyway he or she wants them to be. The creator of a certain blog is the author and its his or her responsibility to provide the contents.

To start or create a blog, here’s a few guidelines to get readers to actually read your blogs.

Blogging is simple and easy to do. All you need is a computer and an internet connection.

Pick a topic and stay on it

To create a successful blog, you first have to pick a topic that you are interested or knowledgeable in then write an article about it. Although your opinion about a certain topic is acceptable, it is wise that you should stick to facts as much as possible. You can also mix in some humor if you want it to be more fun to read and also include your personal experiences about the topic. This would make the readers think that you actually experienced what is being discussed.

For example; your topic is about tennis, people who’ll be reading this is interested in tennis, therefore you shouldn’t write about what you watched on TV last night, include some tips that may interest readers, like how to improve your forehand or backhand and even how to prolong their tennis ball’s life. Stick to the topic, although you can also include some humor you experienced in the tennis court. Everyone did something stupid or embarrassing in a tennis court, its good to share them with people; it creates a more personal view of your blog and may seem friendly to read.

If you’re going to include humor or opinion in your blog, it is important that you balance it with factual information. Talking about your personal experience, whether good or bad, can affect your reputation in the web. Include some updated news about whatever product or service you’re discussing. It is good that you base your opinions on facts and include some advantages and disadvantages and remember to balance it.

Remember that no one will read old news; always keep your blog updated. Present it with factual news that is accurate and informative. If you write about something that happened a few months ago, it will not grab the reader’s interest. Writing about someone who won the Wimbledon Tournament that happened a few months ago will make people think that you are not updating your blogs and won’t read your blogs again, ever.

However, updating blogs is a very strenuous task; plan a schedule on when to update your blog and stick to it. Twice or thrice a week would be good enough to keep your readers loyal. Also, tell your readers on when you will update your blogs by posting it in the website. Remember that communication is the key to success to attract readers to your blog. No communication, no readers.

Keep you blog simple to understand. For example; your blog is about your gun hobby, do not put in technical terms and so many numbers. such as: “This .50-70 M-1874 Belcher, 12 pounds, .50 cal. 2 1/2-in. 70 grn or FFG & 370 gr. PP” and so on, this will get readers to close your blog page on the first second they see it. Put it in simple terms as much as possible. Remember that many people are interested about a certain topic but do not actually know the technical terms, in this case, about guns.

Your headline should be large, bold letters that can easily catch a reader’s attention. Naming your headline is also important. Do not just put in “Guns” or “Tennis”, but think of a catchy phrase to get your readers to actually read your content.

Put your old, similarly themed blogs in an archive. This is great for someone who is interested to read your old blogs. The keywords in your archived blog are also important to generate targeted traffic in your blog.

If you have written an article before, you probably know that it is important to spell check and proof-read what you wrote. Remember that what you write reflects your reputation. If you stumble upon a sentence, redo it.

These are some of the things to consider if you’re planning to blog. By following these few simple guides, you can be sure you’ll get a lot of readers and also keep them reading.

For an awesome resource on blogging visit http://www.nhk-blog.info

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Wightauction

 

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February 27th, 2008

Creating Your Own WordPress Theme

I’ve mentioned here in the past that one of these days I’d like to create my own theme for my WordPress blogs, and in fact I’ve linked to a couple of sites that make it easy, I think part of the reason I’ve never actually done it is because to me it’s a fairly scary prospect (all the php gooblygook) for now I tend to just play around with themes I already have by customising them a little and putting it on a test site etc which means I’m slowy (very slowly) learning what does what.

Having said all that, I just came across what looks like a really cool site, with a download and some quick videos that should make creating your own WordPress theme a piece of cake.  WP Themer Kit has some blank files and instructions along with the brief video examples which enable the user to make their own theme based on the chosen template etc.

I haven’t used it (yet) but it looks like a really cool idea so for anyone out there that has tried it I’d love to hear your thoughts on it - is it as easy as it looks, are the changes you can make limited or can you really fiddle around with it etc?

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February 10th, 2008

How To Make An Income As A Freelance Blogger?

The best way to make money blogging is to take on as much work as you can in the amount of time you have available. Get started by doing a Google search on writing jobs, blogging or bloggers. There are many companies and individuals looking for freelance bloggers.

There are also a number of freelancer websites such as GetAFreelancer.com and ELance.com where there is a lot of blogging work to be found.

Be sure not to take on more articles than you can do, and be very selective as to who you write for. Many professional bloggers have listings of good and bad employers so be sure to read the comments that everyone has about a particular individual or company.

Blogs can be categorized in different ways. A blog post could consist of 300 words on your thoughts and opinions on a particular subject or it could be a 300 word news article. Several companies are now calling articles blogs.

Whatever you are blogging on, you will need to build up a knowledge of the subject. Of course, it is best to aim for subjects that you are already familiar with. If not, you will have to spend some time on researching what the particular article is about.

You need to be sure that you write only facts about that particular subject and not false statements. Even more important is to avoid plagiarism. Copying other people’s work will ruin your reputation and cause all kinds of trouble for your employer.

In most cases when doing research you can just do a Google search on the exact topic and most likely it will display other articles for use as information. You can read a few of the other articles and before you know it, you will have a lot of ideas in your head as to what to write.

While there is plenty of blogging work out there, it will take some time and effort to build up a decent income. However, once you establish a name for yourself you should be in a position to ask for a reasonable amount per article or post.

It can be a good idea to take on small projects initially so you can feel them out to see if they are legitimate and are going to pay. Once you establish a good relationship with a client or clients, you will be ready to take on bigger projects for them.

It does take a while to make money from freelance blogging but you can do it with enough determination and time. Start your own blog for practice and even see if you can make some extra income from that.

For more information about starting a freelance business, visit FreelanceSprout.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jerret_Turner

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January 26th, 2008

Australia Day

Well Australia Day is now heading into late arvo and in truth I haven’t really done all that much. For those that don’t know I live in South Australia and today I was treated to the Tour Down Under - which meant I was pretty much trapped in my house and forced to watch a heap of guys speed past my house on their bikes.

While I certainly don’t mind watching those guys I have to admit that the people getting out of their cars before 6am this morning so they could find a good watching spot could have been a touch quieter.

Anyway - just wanted to say hope you Aussies out there had a good day and to share this

How Do You Tell If You Are A True Aussie 

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January 16th, 2008

The Cost Of Mobile Phones - Or Those SMS’s

This isn’t blogging related, but I felt like making a post about it so I chose this blog to do it on.

This post instead has to do with mobile phones and SMS.

A bit of background first - I have twin girls and both of them got a new mobile phone for Christmas. Due to a few different things (expense, out of stock etc) one ended up on Virgin the other on Telstra.

The daughter who scored the Telstra pre-paid phone got an initial $10 credit (and went for the bonus of free calls to 5 friends on Telstra.) Anyway, when they got the phones they knew they weren’t to get carried away making calls or sending text messages etc (though the one on Vodafone ended up with way more credit than she can possibly spend) and they’ve been told countless times not download ring tones etc (that whole fine print thing - they keep sending them and you keep paying for them even if you don’t want it stuff)

So, the initial Telstra credit actually ran out fairly quickly, even though my daughter assured me she hadn’t got carried away sending text messages etc - and I sort of agreed, and she’s been harping on at me to get her some more credit for a couple of weeks now. So yesterday, at about 1pm, I bit the bullet and got her another $30 credit while I was out shopping.

No sooner had we got home and she received a text message - she looked at it and said to me “what’s this?” it was some game thing where she had to goto the site to download it - I told her to delete it and never go into those sites cause it’ll cost her a fortune etc etc.

Today, she got another text message, some horoscope thing - mind you there were no other details with it - just the horoscope - I swore - she said she’d never signed up for anything like that - I told her to send a STOP message back to it and see what happens - she got a text message back saying it had been cancelled - two minutes later she got a standard message from Telstra saying she had less than $10 credit. She got pretty upset - I got wild and made a note of the number the sms had come from - not half an hour later she got another horoscope thingie message and checking her balance she was down to less than $2 credit. I’m now furious and wondering just what the hell I can do about it.

I rang Telstra pre-paid and explained what was going on - the lady I spoke to asked for the number the SMS had come from and asked me to go on hold while she got a support/contact number - after being on hold for I don’t know how long, I got frustrated (mind you I wasn’t in the best frame of mind to begin with) and hung up.

I quickly re-dialled and got through to a different person. I explained it all again, reminding the guy again that I couldn’t afford this crap and what the hell could I do about it etc etc - though I was speaking in a reasonable and patient voice :-) (I always try to be nice - at least in the beginning of a phone call) he told me the only thing he could do was to change my daughters phone number and put a call barring on for those type of numbers. I said okay but first I wanted to know how I could go about finding out the details on how to contact these people and getting some sort of refund - she never subscribed and they’d pretty much cost her (me) $30 in 24hours. He asked for the number the SMS had come from so I gave it to him - he didn’t even put me on hold - well if he did I didn’t get the annoying music - he just fairly quickly came back and said that number is not in their database (I assume they have some sort of system that keeps track of these so called premium sms message services) so in that instance I was S.O.L

However he did offer me $20 credit once I changed my daughter’s mobile number and put the barring on so at least  in reality I’m only down 10 bucks.

What really annoys me though, and I guess is the whole point of this rambling post - that probably doesn’t make much sense - is that sometimes no matter what you do, these types of companies can still cost you and there’s sometimes not a thing you can do about it.

We (the kids and I) knew not to download ring tones, get games,  enter contests etc. yet somehow they still find a way. I was just doing some searching and came across some doosy ways they scam you that I never would have thought about: the missed call being one.

I guess I can never be 100% sure that she hadn’t somehow signed up for something - she tells me she didn’t (and I believe her) but there’s a chance she hit reply on something or when she first got the phone and was playing around in all those little added extras she may have done something etc - but even so, for that type of thing, like email subscriptions etc there should be some sort of double opt-in - where the provider ensures you actually want to subscribe and if you send stop - you should be unsubscribed.

Okay rant over  - back to more blog related stuff soon

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January 11th, 2008

What It Means To Be A Blogger

The twenty-first century’s version of the diary, the web log or blog. What started as an online journal has now become one of the fastest growing hobbies in the world.

For the every day person, the chances of having any piece of work published, be it written, audio or video, is almost impossible. Most of us don’t even have the skills, imagination or the training to prepare items to the standard that most publishers require. Blogging solves that problem.

It does not matter how well or poorly you write. You are master of your own work as a blogger. If you like it, you publish. If you don’t like it, you either bin it or keep at it until you do - then you publish.

I enjoy blogging for several reasons. First, I can express myself in my own words. I don’t have to answer to a publisher. I don’t have to follow a publishers particular leaning, be it political or social. I do it my way. The second thing I like about blogging is that I can write about topics that I want to write about. The third and final aspect of blogging that appeals to me is the community of bloggers. I enjoy reading other blogs and interacting with authors. We swap hints and tips. We form networks. We even comment on each others work.

Like everything else in life, blogging has become commercialized. Advertisers see blogs as ideal vehicles to place ads. Bloggers see advertisers and advertisements as a way of funding their activities. Who wants to get published in that old fashioned book format, particularly when you have to almost sell your soul to get published in the first place when you can write to a blog and get paid. Of course payment depends on the number of visitors and the number of visitors depends on what you write. It is still your choice. You can write to whatever genre you feel comfortable with. Over time you will get a regular audience.

Blogging has become a way of passing on information and skills. Those who are qualified or skilled in a particular area are able to write fact sheets and how to blogs. Type in a topic in most search engines and you can be sure that some of the top sites listed will be blogs.

to be a blogger means having the freedom to write what you want, when you want irrespective of the training, writing skills or even the English language. Being a blogger means enjoying your writing.

Les Scammell

http://www.myradicalblogs.com

http://www.just4families.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Les_Scammell

 

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January 1st, 2008

2007 - my blogging year that was

Well since we’re now a couple of days into the new year (at least here in Aust.) and I’m sick as a dog at the moment (not a good way to start the year off in my opinion) I thought now was as good a time as any to go back over some my favourite plugins and posts here in this blog along with any other blogging related stuff.

It was early in 2007 that I really got stuck into blogging - very late in 2006 I discovered WordPress - first through WordPress.com then on free hosting providers and then I took the plunge and actually got my own domain and hosting - and once I did that I never looked back. While it’s just my opinion and preference for those out there that are thinking about starting a blog or considering moving their blog(s) to the next level - getting your own domain and hosting is certainly the way to go - mainly because you have so much more control over things (I had a  bad experience with one free host I used where my blog suddenly disappeared and linked to an adult site - though I do still have one of my old blogs on a free host and never had a problem with it)

My Favourite Posts:

Listed below are some of what I consider the top posts on this blog - either because I think they actually provide some useful information or they’ve received either the majority of comments or other sites have linked to them because they’re related/helpful etc.

Where to host your blog - covers free and paid hosting

Setting up your first WordPress blog - covers using fantastico or ftp etc with a quick video guide

Editing Your WordPress 404 page - shows how to quickly edit your default page not found message. A continuation of that post is how to create your own 404 page if your template doesn’t come with a default 404.php file

Backing up your blog - there’s several ways to do this - this post covers a couple of them - and it’s something we should all do regularly - I know I’m slack and should do it more often

My Favourite Plugins

Listed below are a few of my favourite plugins

First and most important is Akismet - while it comes standard with a WordPress installation you can find out more about it here a must have when it comes to spam

Adding Amazon Products to blog posts - sometimes adding an Amazon product is a lot easier said than done - particularly when it comes to WordPress as the code can often make things go all wacky - well this post covers a cool plugin that makes it really easy - though the one downfall of it is that you only get three products per category (at least as far as I know)

All In One SEO - great when it comes to optimising your blog posts for the search engines

Vipers Video Quick Tags - I wrote a post awhile ago showing how to add YouTube etc videos to your blog, not long after that I came across this cool plugin that allows you to add YouTube, Google videos etc with the click of a button

CommentLuv - a plugin that helps you to appreciate those that take the time to comment on your blog. After the commentor has left a comment it automatically adds their most recent blog post to their comment

Comment Relish - while on the subject of commentors this plugin allows you to send a one off message to those that have commented on your blog for the first time - a great way to say thanks

There are of course plenty of other great plugins around the place - some of which I’ve written about already, some of which I’m yet to write about and some of which I’ve either not used yet or haven’t discovered (feel free to let me know if you think I’m missing some important ones)

Well that’ll probably do for my round-up - hope you all have a great and productive 2008

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