CREATING YOUR FIRST BLOG POST
Before you “go live” with your blog, follow these suggestions:
. Create several blog posts to get the feel of working with the software.
. Allocate enough time to complete the post from start to finish with no interruptions.
. If you’re adding images to a blog post, resize them for the post and upload them to the server. If you try to add an image from your digital camera to a
blog post, you distort the blog template because the physical size of the image is much larger than the dimensions of the blog template.
. Consider your first blog posts as a beta test.
GETTING NOTICED
Here are some things you can do to get noticed:
. Use keywords in your posts.
. Allow people to add comments and trackbacks to your blog posts. Add links so that people can rave about your content on other sites, such as Digg.
Trackbacks, links, and raves on sites such as Digg act like bread-crumbs that lead people to your content.
CREATING MEANINGFUL CATEGORIES
When you write a post, you can choose from existing categories or create new ones. Each category you create is added as a link to your blog sidebar. A visitor clicks the link to see all posts created for that category.
When you create several categories for your posts, the categories show up as menu options on your blog sidebar. Visitors can read all installments in a specific category by clicking the category name on the sidebar.
ANNOUNCING NEW POSTS
You can use a Ping service to automatically announce your posts. Ping-o-matic, at: www.pingomatic.com, is a helpful service to use. Enter the URL for your podcast and click the button to ping a wide variety of services, including Google, Technorati, and Bloglines.
IDENTIFYING THE BASIC ELEMENTS OF A BLOG
HOME PAGE:
The important point to remember when creating your blog is that your home page is your blog’s welcome page.
ABOUT OR PROFILE PAGE:
The About page of your blog is simply a biography or description of who you are and why you’re writing your blog. Readers like to know more about the person behind the blog, particularly if your blog offers advice or professional option. Your audience needs to believe that you’re qualified to be writing your blog.
SIDEBAR:
To get you started in building your blog’s sidebar, following is a list of some of the most common sidebar elements that bloggers use, which you might want to include in your own sidebar.
. A link to your About or Profile page.
. Your picture.
. Your contact information.
. Links to your Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn profiles.
. Your blog’s subscription information.
. A list of categories or labels.
. Links to your blog archives by date.
. Ads.
. A blogroll (essentially, a list of links to other blogs you like).
. A list of links to recent comments on your blog.
. A list of links to your recent blog posts.
. A list of links to your popular blog posts.
ARCHIVES:
The blog archive feature makes it simple for readers to find and read your older posts by date. Most archives are divided by year, month, or week. You can display your archive links in your blog’s sidebar. Archives are useful for search engine optimization because all the blog posts you’ve ever written on your blog live online through your blog archives. That means that every post is an entry point to your blog for search engines to find your content.
HEADER:
Your blog’s header is what brands your blog and tells people where they are when they arrive on your site.
Your blog’s header appears at the top of every page on your blog and is the primary element people notice first anytime they visit your blog. Make it unique so people remember it and grow to recognize it.
FOOTER:
A blog footer typically spans across the bottom of the screen on all pages of your blog. Although it’s not essential to include a footer in your blogs design, it’s a great place to put copyright information. In fact, some people use the space in their footer for far more than just disclaimers and legalese.
Following are some suggestions of elements to include in your blog’s footer:
. Copyright and disclaimer statements.
. Link to your email address.
. Your contact information.
. Ads.
. Links to other resources within or outside of your blog;
. Links to your social networking, bookmarking, and Twitter profiles.
. Feeds from other blogs you write or enjoy.
NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS
Blogging Tips (www.bloggingtips.com), provides a good example of promoting a blog newsletter in the blog’s sidebar. You can use a number of email tools that are available online to create and send newsletters. (eg: constant contact www.constantcontact.com) is one of the most popular tools for creating standardized email campaigns such as newsletters. Other options include Emma (http://myemma.com),MailChimp (www.mailchimp.com), iContact (http://icontact.com), and VerticalResponse (www.verticalresponse.com). Each tool offers similar features.
SOCIAL NETWORKING AND CONTENT SHARING
The following sections highlight a few easy tools you can use to share the off-content material supporting your blog in order to give that content, you, and your blog added exposure and recognition, which just might lead to more traffic and money-making opportunities.
Matt Cutt’s blog (www.mattcutts.com/blog), he’s known across the web as the go-to guy for information related to Google’s search engine algorithm secrets. He offers a wealth of information related to search engine optimization, Google, and more.
You can check how many incoming links are pointing to your blog at any time by visiting Google and typing link : www.yourblogname.com into the search bar (inserting your blog’s domain). Then click the search button and a list of all links to your blog is returned to you.
DRIVING CONSUMERS TO YOUR BUSINESS BLOG
Below is a brief list of blog promotion tactics to get started:
. Leave comments on related blogs. One of the best ways to start driving traffic to your business blog is by leaving useful comment’s on other blogs related
to your business. Be sure to include your blog’s URL in the appropriate comment form field, so readers who like your comments can follow the link to your
blog to read more.
. Link to great content on other blogs. When you link to content on another blog from one of your blogs, the other blogger can be notified via a
trackback or backlink or through his or her blog analytics tools. Getting your blog on the radar screens of other influential bloggers in your niche is a great
way to prompt them to check out your blog and to build relationships with them.
. Include your blog’s URL everywhere you can. Put your blog’s URL on your business cards, email signatures, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter profiles,
invoices, receipts, promotional items, and anywhere else you can think of.
. Syndicate your blog content. You can syndicate your blog content for publishing on your Facebook or Twitter profiles or through online syndication services
such as BlogBurst (http://blogburst.com). Alternatively, you can syndicate through a licensed syndication provider such as Newstex (http://newstex.com).
. Use search engine optimization techniques. Be sure to write each of your blog posts using keywords and search engine optimization tips to increase
your rankings for keyword searches via engines such as Google.
. Share your content on social bookmarking and networking sites. Publish links to your best content on sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Facebook, LinkedIn,
and so on.
. Use Twitter to highlight your best content. Post links to great content on your blog on your twitter profile.
. Hold a contest. You can hold blog contests to boost comments, increase subscribers, build incoming links and more.
You can analyze your blog post content for junk by using HubSpot’s GobbledyookGrader tool. The tool was created within marketing expert David Meerman Scott. You can simply copy and paste your content into the text box at www.gobbleydyook.grader.com to determine how saturated your writing is with cliché’s. overused words, and jargon.
WRITING SEO – FRIENDLY BLOG POSTS
You need to understand how to use keywords in your writing so they actually help your search rankings. The following suggestions are commonly accepted techniques to use to ensure engines find your keywords and rank your content accordingly:
. Use keywords in your post titles. Make sure your keywords are included in your blog post’s title.
. Use keywords in your subtitles and post headings. Include a subtitle with your blog post or break your post into sections with a heading for each section.
Use the headings attributes, H1, H2, H3, and so on (or bold or italics) to format your subtitle and headings.
. Use keywords at the beginning and end of your post content. Use the same keyword as well as variations of that keyword (plural, different verb tense,
and so on) at least two times within the first 100 words or so of your blog post as well as at the end of your blog post.
. Use keywords in and around links in your posts. If possible, make your keywords link to another page or include your keywords around links within your post.
. Make sure the keyword links you use in your blog are relevant, or they can do more harm than good. Goggle might view them as spam if they’re
abundant and aren’t relevant to your post content.
. Use keywords to name your images and in ALT tags. If possible, name the images used in your post with your keywords and include them in the ALT
tag of your image’s HTML code. However, make sure it’s relevant to do so, or Google might view your efforts as keyword stuffing, which is a form of spam.
PUBLISHING CONTENT SIMILAR TO POPULAR CONTENT
Review your blog statistics to figure out what posts on your blog are getting the most traffic and then publish more content like those original posts.
TIMING POST PUBLISHING FOR HIGH TRAFFIC DAYS
If you have posts that you want to be certain a large audience sees, use your blog statistics to determine which days of the week your blog gets the most traffic by analyzing page view trends over time.
IDENTIFYING KEYWORDS
By analyzing the top keywords that are driving traffic to your blog from search engines, you can determine which keywords are performing well and which are not, and which are misused. You can then use that analysis to revise existing content and create new content that focuses on the keywords that drive the best traffic to your blog.
FINDING UNDERPERFORMING CONTENT
Using the Bounce Rate and Top Exit Pages statistics, you can determine which content on your blog is not enticing people to stay on your blog longer. You can try to revise that content to make it more useful and appealing.
EDITING AND FINDING IMAGES
Images are an important part of a blog because they add visual interest and visual relief by breaking up what would otherwise be very text-heavy pages. Images can also help to illustrate a point and even boost search engine rankings.
CHANGING IMAGE SIZE
One of the first things you need to understand about adding images to your blog is that the larger the file size, the more room that image takes up in your web hosting account, and the longer it takes to load on your live blog.
If you’re using a web host to store and share your blog, the former consideration can affect you, and if you don’t want visitors to get annoyed waiting for your blog to load in their browser windows the latter should affect you.
The smartest course of action is to save the image that you want to use on your blog to your computer hard drive and then resize it using an image-editing tool.
Save the image at the size you want it to appear on your blog. (You might need to do some tests to determine the size you like for images on your blog). Then upload it to your web hosting account and insert it into your blog post, sidebar, blog page, and so on, as appropriate.
Resizing images before you upload them to your blog is particularly important for blogs that use a lot of images. Each image takes up storage space in your blog or web hosting account. You don’t want to run out of space and have to find another blogging solution or upgrade your web hosting account simply because images that could have been stored in smaller sizes and used less storage space were not.
After you upload an image to your blog, you can shrink it from your post editor without affecting the resolution. However, if you try to enlarge the image from your post editor, the image will become pixilated and blurry.
CHANGING IMAGE FORMAT
When you include images on your blog, they should be saved in a web friendly format, which compresses the file size for speedy page loading, and ensures images will appear correctly onscreen. The preferred image file formats for online use are:
. JPEG : JPEG files end in a .jpg extension. JPEG files can be saved at high or low resolution.
. PNG : PNG files end in a .png extension. These files are typically very small in size but display well on screen.
. GIF : GIF files end in a .gif extension. They’re very small, with low resolution, and work very well for line art and simple images.
The best resolution choices for online images are 72 dpi to 150 dpi. When you find an image you want to use on your blog, check the file format to determine whether it’s web friendly. Example, TIFF (itif) and Bitmap (.bmp) files are usually very large, and they slow page load times significantly, thereby reducing the overall user experience on your blog.
FINDING RESOURCES FOR CHANGING IMAGE SIZE AND FORMAT
Picnik (www.picnik.com)
Offers a free online image – editing tool as well as premium tools, which are offered for a fee. However, most bloggers find that the free tools offered by Picnik provide all the capabilities they need. You can sign up for a free Picnik account and upload your image files for editing. When you have your images uploaded, you can change file formats, sizes, and much more and then save the new image to your hard drive in a matter of seconds. Because Picnik runs online, you need to have an active internet connection to use it.
Even the free version of Picnik offers some advanced tools such as red-eye removal and custom effects. The best part about Picnik is that it’s extremely easy to use. Even the most technically challenged people should be able to use Picnik without any problems. If you do have trouble, check out the active forum on the Picnik web site, where you can ask questions and get help.
Paint.NET (www.getpaint.net)
Paint.NET is completely free and completely great. You can download Paint.NET to your windows computer, and use it to modify images in many of the same ways that expensive image-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop provides. The capabilities offered in Paint.NET are more advanced than those offered by Picnik, but it does take a bit more technical savvy to use it. However, for saving images in new formats or at new sizes, Paint.NET is easy to use.
Paint.NET offers many tutorials and an active forum, so help is never far away. Furthermore, the developers behind Paint.NET continue to improve it and free upgrades are released as they come available.
GIMP (www.gimp.org)
It is free image-editing software that you can download and use on a variety of systems, including windows. It offers robust features, similar to those offered through expensive image-editing software programs such as Adobe Photoshop. Resizing images and saving them to different formats are an easy task to do, but GIMP offers far more advanced photo-retouching and photo-manipulation tools too.
GIMP is the most challenging to figure out if you aren’t technically savvy. However, if you invest the time to learn how to use it, you’ll love what it allows you to do with images. The GIMP web site offers a user manual and a number of tutorials to help you bypass the learning curve quickly.
Shrink Pictures (www.shrinkpictures.com)
If you’re looking for a rudimentary tool that allows you to resize images and save them in .jpg format, Shrink Pictures is a viable option for you. Shrink Pictures is free to use. It runs online, so you need to be connected to the web to use it. Just upload a .jpg, .png, or .gif file of 6MB or less to the Shrink Pictures web site, select the size and quality you want your new image to be from the list of options provided, add a grayscale or sepia effect if you want, and click the Resize button. Your image is saved in .jpg format using the settings you selected. Shrink Pictures is one of the easiest image-resizing tools you can use, but the capabilities are also extremely limited. However, those capabilities are enough for many bloggers.
FINDING IMAGES THAT ARE SAFE TO USE ON YOUR BLOG
Following are several sources to get you started:
Flickr (www.flickr.com)
Flickr is a photo-sharing site where anyone can create a free account and upload images. When a person uploads an image to Flickr, they can set the usage restrictions related to that image, so people who find it know what they can or cannot do with it. Example: they might apply a Creative Commons Attribution license to the image, meaning anyone can use the image in any other work as long as the original owner of the image is cited as such.
To conduct a search on Flickr for images with Creative Commons Licenses attached to them, follow these steps:
1. Visit www.flickr.com/creativecommons. From this page you can select the link for the type of Creative Commons licensed images you want to find.
2. Click the See More link under the images displayed under your chosen license heading. (This example uses the Attribution License). The Creative
Commons Attribution Image Archive opens.
3. Enter the keyword you want to search for in the text box and click the Search button. Images matching the license and keywords you selected are
returned to you.
4. Click the image you want to use on your blog. The image detail page opens.
5. Click the All Sizes link above the image to open the image download page.
6. Click the link to Download the image at the size shown or click the appropriate link above the image for the size you do want to download.
7. When the size you want is displayed, click the Download link for that image size and save it to your computer’s hard drive.
Just because someone uploads an image to Flickr doesn’t guarantee that person owns the image. Use your best judgment when you republish images uploaded to Flickr.
Stock.XCHNG (www.sxc.hu)
Stock.XCHNG is an image-hosting site. You can register for a Stock.XCHNG account, so you can download images to your computer that you want to use in your blog. People upload images to Stock.XCHNG, and apply rules for use of those images. Some images simply require that you attribute the owner, but others require that you contact the owner for permission to use them. As such, you have to read the image restrictions for each image you consider using on your blog and follow the specific instructions provided.
There are many free images available on Stock.XCHNG that you can use as long as you follow the usage requirements, but there are also many images that you can pay a fee to use.
Images with a fee attached to them are typically listed at the top of your keyword search results and are labeled as Premium Results.
To find images you can use on your blog for free with Stock.XCHNG, follow these steps:
1. Visit www.sxc.hu and enter your search keyword into the search text box on the left side of your screen.
Alternatively, you can search all images in a category by clicking the arrow in the Image Categories drop-down list at the top left of your screen and then clicking the category of your choice from the list that appears.
2. Click the Orange button with the magnifying glass in it (below the search text box) to start your search. Your results page opens.
3. Click the image you want to use. The Image Detail page opens. In the Usage section to the right of the image and in the Availability section beneath the
image, be sure to check the License and Options links to find out how you can use the image and what you have to do to use it.
4. Click the Download button to save the image to your hard drive. You’re prompted to log in or create a new account before you can complete
the image download process. After you log in, you can save the image to your computer’s hard drive.
Morque File (http://morguefile.com)
You can find many images available on Morgue File that you can freely use on your blog. The Standard Morgue File License allows users to adapt and republish the free images found on the site without attribution, however, many image owners do include their email addresses or personal notes asking to be notified when their images are used.
Read the current Morguefile License language at: http://morguefile.com/license/morguefile.
To find a free image to use on your blog from Morgue File, follow these steps:
1. Visit www.morguefile.com and enter your keyword in the search text box on the right side of your screen. Make sure Free Photos is selected in
the search drop-down list.
2. Press your Enter key. Your results are returned to you.
3. Click the image you want to use. The Image Detail page opens with license information and a Download button.
FreeFoto.com (www.freefoto.com)
Freefoto.com offers over 100,000 images that are free to use as long as you follow the link and attribution requirements for each image. You can find the current requirements at: http://test.freefoto.com/browse/99-05-0?ffid=99-05-0.
Follow these steps to find images you can use on your blog using freefoto.com:
1. Visit www.freefoto.com, and enter your keyword in the search text box in the upper-left corner of your screen. Click the Search button to begin
your search. Your image results are returned to you grouped into categories.
2. Click the link for the category that you want to view. The images saved in that category are displayed on your screen.
3. Click the image you want to use on your blog. The Image Detail page opens.
4. Click the License button to read the image license details, and click the Download button to save the image on your computer hard drive.
As long as you follow the current usage instructions.
Dreamstime (www.dreamstime.com)
Dreamstime offers both free images and images available for a fee. The images are uploaded by their owners, and many talented photographers offer images for free as a way to get more exposure for their work. Even the images offered for a fee via the Dreamstime web site are reasonably priced.
To find free images on the Dreamstime web site, follow these steps listed:
1. Visit www.dreamstime.com/free-photos and enter your keywords into the search box in the top right of your screen. Click the Search button to
launch your search.
Your search results are returned to you.
2. Click the image you want to use. The image detail page opens and there you can log in (or register if you don’t already have a Dreamstime account) and
save the free version of the image to your computer’s hard drive, or you can purchase credits to download high-resolution versions of the image or
variations of the image.
PicApp (http://picapp.com)
PicApp works differently from the other image sources. PicApp images come from professional sources such as Getty Images, Corbis, and more, and the owners of those images expect to get paid royalties anytime their images are republished.
Although you can use the images available on PicApp for free (and you’re not required to register on the site to do so), there’s a catch. Each image displays on your blog with an ad component. That’s how the image owner is paid. If you can live with the ad component appearing with the image on your blog. PicApp is a great source for celebrity and current event photos.
Follow these steps to find and use images from PicApp on your blog:
1. Visit http://picapp.com and enter your keywords into the search box on the left side of your screen. Then click the Go button. Your results are
returned to you.
2. Click the image you want to use. The Image Detail page opens.
3. Select the Radio button next to the size of the image you want to use on your blog, and then copy the embed code provided in the text box.
4. Return to your blogging application and paste the embed code into the HTML Editor of your blog post.
Fee-based image sources
iStockphoto (www.istockphoto.com) and BidStockPhoto (www.bigstockphoto.com) are two sites that offer many images at very reasonable prices. If you have a big budget, you can look into using images from some of the big players such as Getty Images (www.gettyimages.com) and Corbis Images (www.corbisimages.com).
SECRETS TO BLOGGING SUCCESS
WRITING WELL
. Grammer knowledge : To be a successful blogger, you need to know how to structure sentences. Does your grammer have to be perfect? No. But you
do need to be able to use a grammar checker within your word processing software or purchase a grammer text book to help you learn the rules.
. Ability to spell or use spell check : Take the time to consult a dictionary and use spell check to ensure your blog posts are free of spelling errors.
. Succinct style : Blog posts are traditionally short. It’s difficult to read long text online, so bloggers who are capable of writing succinctly without
sacrificing their messages have an advantage over long-winded bloggers. Try to keep your blog posts under 800 words
and delete extraneous words and phrases that don’t help make your point or If readers get bored, they’ll click away. If you want to write a long
post, consider splitting it up into a series of posts.
. Clear communication : Always edit your posts for clarity. A sentence might seem perfectly understandable to you as you’re typing it, but it might make
little or no sense to readers. Take a step back from your post and look at it from an unbiased perspective to ensure people will understand you without question.
. Engaging style : Your blog posts should be written in a style that engages your audience. Let your passion for your subject and your personality shine
through your writing.
Always proof read your blog posts before you click the Publish button! Blog posts laden with spelling and grammatical errors do not retain an audience.
WRITING OFTEN
Following is a rough guideline to help you determine how frequently you should publish new content on your blog to reach your blogging goals:
. Rapid growth : For accelerated blog growth, publish new content on your blog at least three times per day. Allow at least two hours between publishing posts.
. Moderate growth : For moderate blog growth, publish new content on your blog at least one time per day.
. Slow growth : For slow blog growth, publish new content on your blog at least three times per week. Try to leave no more than two days in a
row without publishing new content.
. Very slow growth : If blog growth is not important to you, feel free to publish content anytime you want.
POSTING COMMENTS ON OTHER BLOGS
Whenever you leave a comment on another blog, be sure to use the same keyword phrase in the Name field of the comment form and provide the URL to your blog in the URL field of the form. Doing so helps your search engine optimization and branding efforts.
HANDLING COMMENT MODERATION
If your blogging application allows it, set up your comment moderation to mark comments with two or more links as spam automatically. This setting doesn’t count the link provided in the URL field of the comment form as one of the two links, so readers can leave two additional links within their comment before it is identified as spam.
Similarly, you may be able to block comments from specific IP addresses or comments that include specific words, depending on the blogging application and comment spam blocker you use. Most spam blockers catch comments with profanity and other common spam words, but if you see comments with words you want to block coming through for you to moderate, add these words to block within your comment spam settings.
KEEPING ETHICS AND LEGALITIES IN MIND
The Federal Trade Commission issues laws and restrictions related to publishing reviews or endorsements online and accepting free products or payments in return for publishing such reviews, which you can review in Title 16 Part 255 of the code of Federal Regulations (CFR) available at your local library or at www.ftc.gov. The specific URL for Part 255 of the electronic CFR is:
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?=ecfr &sid=9e1feabc52fb364fdbde5a1b2b1e6648&rgn=div5&view=text&node=16:1.0.1.2.22&idno=16
In terms of ethics, the blogosphere frowns upon ads that are not disclosed as such, particularly reviews and text link ads. Search engines, such as Google, even consider text ads as a deceptive practice that artificially inflates the assumed popularity of the web page the link leads to. The key is to remember to be honest, disclose ads as such, and follow the law.