Hot Links - Episode 2!
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Time for this weeks hot links. This week I have been working hard on the research for my photography blog. It’s amazing how I can have a specific question I want an answer to, and I am able to find a blog post that deals with it. I have been thinking about blog design and then I heard that Yaro Starak had done a podcast with Darren Rowse about blog design that was very interesting, take a look:
Podcast: Darren Rowse and Yaro Starak talk Blog design.
I found this post on the Blog To Earn blog carnival. This is a very useful post that is full of some great advice. I wish I had read this post when I started blogging, because I would have definitely followed the advice it gives. Here it is:
How to successfully begin blogging.
And last but not least, here is a great post that I came across on the All Women blogging carnival, as usual it’s full of great posts, but this one caught my eye! See what you think…
Thanks
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blog design, Blogger, Darren Rowse, Feedburner, Google, Yaro StarakHow To Choose A Blog Topic
This is the first of a series of articles following the process I am using to start a new blog, and to try and build it up into a successful blog. If you would like to follow this process then you may like to subscribe to my RSS feed.
Do you find it difficult to choose a blog topic?
It’s sometimes not as easy as it sounds! It depends on what you want out of the blog or out of your blogging? If you want to blog for the creative expression or the desire to talk about a topic or issue. Then you probably won’t be too bothered about the size or popularity of your chosen niche, how much traffic you can tap into or how much money you can make. You just want to blog about it for the passion and therefore these are not big factors in the decision making process.
It gets more complicated when you want to reach an audience, a certain amount of readers or you want to make an income from your blog. Now it becomes very important to look at your niche and how much traffic you can hope to receive. You will have to look at how saturated the market is, are there a lot of blogs already out there that cover the topic that you want to talk about, and can you stand out from that crowd to make yourself heard, or read! Can you blog for long enough about the topic and is the niche big enough to attract an audience. Are there a lot of authority blogs running in your niche that have huge amounts of readers. If there are and the niche looks crowded then maybe you could try a sub niche for your topic and specialize in that instead. You need to look at all these answers and determine which way you should go, to give yourself the best chance of having a successful blog. At the end of the day that’s what the research is for, to make an educated decision. Read more
Site Search Tags:blog topic, case studyCreating a Blog Case Study
Over the last couple of months as I have mentioned before, I have wanted to branch out and start another blog. Seeing as I had decided to do this, I thought it would be interesting to do something a little different with it, make it into a case study.
The Case Study
So over the next couple of weeks and months, I am going to be writing an ongoing series of articles about starting and building a blog from scratch. From the blog idea through every step I take to set up the blog, to getting it running and even documenting the statistics of how well or not it is doing. This blog, Build a Blog is my first blog, so it will be interesting to see how I go starting and running another one as well. Especially as it will be documented and under the microscope in the case study, and I haven’t done anything like that before either. So there will be a lot of firsts for me, we will have to see how it goes. It will be an insight into the life of an everyday blogger and her blog, should be fun!
I will set up a category specially for the case study posts, so all the information and statistics for the case study will all be in one place and easily accessible. I am looking forward to doing this and to see how it works out. But I am also feeling a little pressure as obviously the success or failure of the blog is directly related to me and how well I build and market it. It should be an interesting experiment to follow and to see what will happen.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:case studyHot Links - Episode 1!
New Feature
I am starting a new feature called Hot Links for Build a Blog. It will be posted on a weekly basis and include the best information I have found for the week. I am doing this so that the useful links and information that I share will be easier to find because they will all be in the same category. I will also post any news and updates in this section. I find lots of useful articles detailing good resources, information, help and points of view as I read other blogs. It will be useful for me and hopefully you, if I put all these in the one place so they are easy to reference back to in the future.
This week’s Blog Me Cash carnival had a great post by Caroline Middlebrook called 5 Overlooked Benefits of Untargeted Traffic.
Brian Clarke from Copyblogger has released his Teaching Sells Free report! that can be downloaded from the link. It’s a great report from a well respected blogger, I always listen when Brian has something to say…
And finally Chris from Chrisg.com is writing a very interesting series of articles called Making Real Money, and here’s the first one: Making Real Money Online - What Type Of Earner Are You?
Thanks
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:information, links, newsHow Important Are RSS Subscribers?
RSS Subscribers
Recently I have mentioned RSS subscribers when talking about the Blog Action Day results, and I thought I would talk a little more about them. If I want people to come back and keep reading my blog, which I do I write this blog for others as well as myself. Then I think RSS subscribers are the most important element for my blog. In a way even more than traffic, now I know that may seem a silly thing to say, but I would rather have a solid RSS subscriber base than a load of browsing traffic. Because the subscribers have chosen to follow my blog where as browsing traffic may just have a look around and not come back. Although I wouldn’t say no to more traffic don’t get me wrong, I still want to write a good enough blog to attract the browsing traffic and make them want to stay! Anyway, the subscribers do come back! They are my regular readers that I want to look after by building this blog into a useful resource, that is interesting to read and full of content that they can use. Although obviously not all the traffic that comes to this blog will become subscribers, I do work towards building them up and encourage readers to subscribe if they like the blog.
Subscribing to a blog that you are interested in, is the best way to stay up to date with what’s going on with the blog automatically. As a subscriber you can be sent your updates to a feed reader or your email inbox whichever you prefer, so there is no time wasted by surfing around to check up on your favourite blogs. I only learned about RSS and subscriptions when I started blogging in Feb 2007, before then I didn’t know what it was but I wish I had, because it would have made life a lot easier. If you would like to find out more about RSS and how to subscribe then you may like to read this article: What is RSS?
How Do I Deliver My Feed?
Every blog has a feed whether it’s RSS or Atom and this is how blog content is delivered. To help do this I use a media distribution service, the leading one in it’s field for blogs being Feedburner which I use to deliver or ‘burn’ my feed. Feedburner is a free service owned by Google who acquired it earlier this year, and currently Feedburner has 596,466 publishers who have burned 1,023,739 feeds and growing. Because RSS and Atom are slightly different, I don’t know exactly why because that starts to get technical, and it’s not something that I need to know so I stick to the basics, it can effect how easily the blog feed can be read by programs. So Feedburner formats the burned feed to make it easily read by anybody. They also makes it easy to subscribe to a feed, by having a choice of services you can use with your blog for readers to subscribe with. Including RSS and feed reader buttons like the ones on the right of this blog and an email service for your feed instead of the feed readers (also on the right).
I have found them to be a very reliable service and they have loads of tools and help that you can use to boost your blogs exposure and performance. I found out about Feedburner by accident and I knew nothing about them or feeds when I did. I have learned a lot and they have helped me get the best out of my blog when it comes to the feed!
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Mandy
Site Search Tags:email, feed readers, Feedburner, Google, readers, RSS, rss subscribersSo How Did Blog Action Day Go?
I have been following the results of Blog Action Day, were we as bloggers able to highlight the issue of the environment and bring it to everyone’s attention! It’s been fascinating to see it’s effect. What was it like seeing so many posts about the same topic? I do sometimes notice that bloggers can have trends, and if I see one post about selling websites then I can sometimes see quite a few, as I browse through the blogs I read. But this time it was a bit different with so many posts and blogs involved, and it was great to see all the different points of view and solutions.
The Results
Here are some figures from Blog Action Day (taken from the Action Day Blog):
- 20,606 blog involved
- 23,327 posts (via google blog search)
- 14,631,038 RSS readers
The RSS figure is for subscribed readers to these blogs and therefore doesn’t represent the full readership of these blogs, as not all visitors to blogs subscribe to the blog’s RSS. So it is impossible to know the true reach of Blog Action Day, but saying that the figures we do know of are fantastic and it can only grow from there!
We do know that it was the top search and tag term for Technorati on the day with 19 of the top 100 Technorati blogs taking part. It was also talked about in traditional media, which shows it’s reach and it was supported by the UN. Now that’s some pretty impressive statistics.
I am proud to have taken part in my own little way, and it just shows that if we all pull together to achieve something it can be done, everybody counts. I think it has highlighted the issue of the environment to a huge amount of people and was a great success. The effects of Blog Action Day will be felt for a long time and there will be no way of telling exactly how. For those in places of responsibility for the environment, they will hopefully be encouraged that so many people are concerned and interested in the environment, and willing to do something to try and help. On the other hand I hope the people in positions of power hear the call of us as bloggers, and consider it carefully in their future plans for this planet. And that it has reminded all of us of the importance of the environment and what we as individuals can do to help, everybody counts.
I believe this has been a huge achievement by the blogsphere and a uniting experience. It’s great to see that it has touched so many people in some way or other, and I look forward to joining in next year and to see what could happen then.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blog Action Day, The Action Blog, The EnvironmentBlog Action Day - Environment
Blog Action Day
Today is Blog Action Day where as many blogs as possible are going to write a post about the environment to do with their blog topic. With the hope that as bloggers we can come together and all highlight the issue, by writing a post about it and hopefully raising the awareness of the environment by the amount of bloggers taking part. So far there are 14,081 blogs registered (including some really large ones like Google!) with a combined readership of 12,077,115, now that’s a lot and it’s not the final figure. I am very interested to see what will happen when we all highlight an issue in this way and work together to make a difference. If you would like some more information on Blog Action Day then take a look at The Action Blog.
What would happen if every blog published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day?
One issue. One day. Thousands of voices. - Blog Action Day
The Environment
The environment is something we are increasingly being educated on as we grow larger and larger as a population. It is a subject that should become second nature to us as a consideration in everyday life. I know where I live recycling is becoming very important and we have been encouraged to recycle more of our household waste. Firstly because the Local Authority want to reduce our land fill figures and secondly to promote recycled products and the need for them. I feel this is really good but should have been started years ago!
So that got me thinking are blogs environmentally friendly? Seeing as I am doing this to earn a living I thought I had better look at my impact on the environment. While I cannot be responsible for the services I use and their impact, I think it is looking quite good for blogs themselves. A blog is hosted online and the marketing and advertising is done online (only a small percentage is done offline). There is little paper work and what there is can be recycled, and I use energy efficient bulbs so it’s just the energy used for the computer that would be classed as the worst. I also work at home so there is no travelling to and from work so that also saves energy. I’d say looking at it that way that blogs have a low impact on the environment. That doesn’t look too bad but I am sure that I have probably missed something!
If the over 12 million people reading the Blog Action Day posts are moved to think about the environment more and share this with others, then that will go a fair way to helping save and improve the Earth’s resources. Let me know if you can think of any other ways a blog can be more environmentally friendly?
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blog Action Day, The Action Blog, The EnvironmentTo Upgrade Or Not To Upgrade?
This is part of a series of posts about Wordpress, you may like to take a look at the others, here they are:
Blogging Platforms - Which one to choose!
Who else has trouble choosing a host?
How to Install Wordpress Themes and Plugins?
What are the best features of Wordpress?
You may have heard that Wordpress has released an upgrade, Wordpress 2.3. I am using Wordpress 2.2 for my blog at the moment, so I have to decide whether I am going to upgrade now or not. Wordpress 2.3 was brought out back in September and has lots of new features including internal tagging. So there is no need anymore for the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin or similar, which a lot of bloggers will find a relief as it can be a bit temperamental.
I have been reading some posts on Wordpress 2.3 while deciding what to do, and I think my major consideration is that Wordpress 2.3 is a large upgrade, the smaller ones being 2.2.1 etc. This seems to be something to consider. When there is a larger upgrade you can bet there will inevitably be some problems or bugs to solve, especially with new features. That’s an argument for not upgrading just yet and to wait for the bugs to be fixed and an update released.
That’s what I have decided to do, I don’t want to complicate things as (touch wood) the blog is running fine at the moment with Wordpress 2.2. So I am going to wait a bit until an update with some bug fix’s is released and then upgrade. I am going to start another blog soon and my host (Bluehost) will install the latest version of Wordpress for that blog, so that will start off with Wordpress 2.3 and I’ll get a chance then to see what it’s like.
I was worried about upgrading partly because I had no idea how to do it, but I have found a plugin that could help, Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin:
Wordpress Automatic Upgrade is a plugin that automatically upgrades your wordpress version to the latest files provided by wordpress.org using the 5 steps provided in the wordpress upgrade instructions. - Techie Buzz
Now that sounds like my sort of thing!
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Bluehost, Plugins, Ultimate Tag Warrior, Upgrade, Wordpress, Wordpress Automatic UpgradeDo You Find Little Gems While Surfing?
While reading through some other blogs this week I came across two posts that really jumped out at me. The best articles and blogs that I have found have all been by accident when I‘ve just been reading and come across something, if I actually try to find something I can never find what I am looking for!
During October Chris from Chrisg.com is offering anyone with a technorati indexed blog the chance of him writing a guest post for their blog. Obviously it depends on how many he can write in a month, but I think this is a fantastically generous offer and a great opportunity. I’ve asked for one and I really hope I am able to get a guest post because he would be my first guest blogger and I have been looking for one. I’ll just have to wait and see.
2. 5 Post Types For When Writing Without Expertise.
The next post I found was by accident when browsing through some links I had come across on another blog. It’s from Bloggingtips.com and coincidentally is another blog that Chris writes to, a complete coincidence as I didn’t know he wrote for another blog about blogging. Anyway I am looking at starting another blog, a photography one and this post really hit the nail on the head for me. I have been holding back on starting the blog because although I love photography and everything about it, I am by no means an expert and still learning. And this worried me as to how well I could write to the blog in this position. This article has changed how I think about it, and made me realise that you don’t have to be an expert at something to be able to blog about it, a love for the subject and a willingness to learn are ample. If you are honest and approach it in the right way then a successful blog can be built in this way.
Hope you enjoy them…
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:blogging expertise, bloggingtips.com, chrisg.com, guest postsWhat Are The Best Features Of Wordpress?
My Top 3 Features of Wordpress?
I have been using Wordpress (.org) since July this year and I thought I would share my 3 favourite features of Wordpress with you. I have found Wordpress very easy to use, although I have had some experience of using a blogging platform before over at Blogger, and was therefore familiar with that type of interface, so that may have helped. My favourite features are all to do with the write tab.
1. More Tag
If I feel my post is really long and therefore taking up too much space on the front page, I can insert the more tag by placing the cursor where I want the break to be, and then clicking the more tag in the posting tools (it’s the one that looks like a cut piece of paper). It’s great because I can have the first couple of teaser paragraphs on the first page, to draw the reader in and want to read more, then hopefully click through to read the rest which will help my page views. When clicked it takes you to a single post page where you can read the whole post and comment if you like. Saving that valuable space on the front page to fit even more posts on, and put off the time when the post is relegated to the archives. There’s a difference in opinions about the use of more tags, I tend to only use them when I have a really long post. Because if all the posts on a blog are tagged then it can be annoying to read, and there is no real content on display on the front page so I can’t get a feel for the blog itself. A really useful feature as long as it’s used well.
2. Timestamp
The edit timestamp tool is probably my favourite. It gives you the ability to edit when the post will be published which is great for holidays or a weekend off. I would like to be organised enough to write a batch of posts and then timestamp them to publish while I was away making sure that my ranking isn’t effected by the holiday or time off. Also sometimes I get a mad mood on and sit down to write several posts say, if I know I won’t have time with the kids being on school holidays, then I can timestamp them to publish when I want them to. It’s great for keeping continuity to my postings and helpful if I get ahead of myself. But as you may have noticed the best laid plans sometimes go astray and I don’t always get organised to do it, but everything comes with practice!
3. Pages
Next to the write post tab is the write pages tab, so I can add pages to the navigation across the top of the blog like my about page, articles page and recommended resources page (so far). This is great for information that I want to stay visible and highlighted on the blog, and easily accessible without having links everywhere on the front page or having to delve into the archives to find it. It gives me more scope for extending that information, updating it and breaking it down into relevant sections making it an easier read and information source. A great way to personalise my blog and make it a nicer place to visit!
Conclusion
These features were all new to me when I started with Wordpress because I hadn’t had them available for my blogger blog (or as far as I know I didn’t). They have added and enhanced my blogging experience and simply made it easier. I am writing this to share my enthusiasm for them and why I like them. These are the 3 features I feel have changed my blog and blogging the most, so tell me…
What are your favourite features of Wordpress?
This post is part of a series about Wordpress, if you are interested in reading the rest here they are:
Blogging Platforms Which One to Choose?
Who Else has Trouble Choosing a Host?
How to Install Wordpress Themes and Plugins.
Mandy
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Site Search Tags:Blogger, Wordpress
