How to Make a Blog

New Blog Editor - Blog From Your Phone

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:17:00 +0000

I am always looking for ways to be productive while on the go. One of the reasons that I quit updating this blog as frequently as I used to was that I started traveling so much and spending so much time in traffic, I just didn't have time to keep up with all the things I need to do.

I have tried to blog using my phone's browser by connecting to the online blog entry page. That is incredibly painful. Scrolling up and down, trying to click on buttons, zooming in and out; it was a lesson in frustration. Now, I have finally found a tool that allows me to blog, with ease, from my blackberry (although I do have one issue that prevents me from using it on this blog).

The new tool is called BlogLive and it's from a company called imoblive. It runs on BlackBerry and Symbian (and may run on other j2me platforms). You can view the entire list of supported devices.

Some of the product features (from the publisher web site):

Supports multiple blog accounts
Efficiently create, edit and delete posts
User library support for frequently used words and phrases
Advanced text editor: Easily insert text URL, online image in your posts, without having to enter any HTML codes
Supports major online mobile systems including the Blogger, WordPress, Movable Type, TypePad, and MetaWeblog API for compatibility with a most blog sites

You can see from the screen shot above that it does in fact support multiple accounts. From the menu, you select Add to add a new account. One the new account screen, you enter your connection and XMLRPC information. You can select from a list of blog types.

I was able to get it publishing for my wordpress blogs but I could not get it to work with Blogger no matter what I did. I think I may have the Xml-Rpc link wrong but I can't find any definitive information for the right link. I used the link that is in my Zoundry Raven blog editor but that didn't work either. If you use this editor and get it working with blogger, please let me know. I would love to get this working.

Once you have it configured, it is a nice, if simple, editor. Select New Article and then start writing.

If you are going to be entering URLs or images, you might want to use the Advanced Editor. You get a nice large screen as well as some additional options for input. It is still a manual process but I hope they make this even easier over time.

It also has a spell checker. One of the nicer features is the User Library. In that library, you can add often used snippets of text. Footers, common links, signatures, etc. Open the library, select your snippet and it's added to your post.

The editor costs $17.99 and that price includes a free year of upgrades. Support seems to be minimal; I can't find any beyond an email address. There is a FAQ but it doesn't even mention BlogLive.

Still, even with its issues, I find it to be a nice product. I will wait and see how often it gets upgraded before purchasing it and I want to work out the blogger issue. If I can get it to work with Blogger, I will probably buy it.

Let me know if you use and what platform you use it with. If you get it working with Blogger.com, please, please, let me know.

A funny note. When my spell checker hit XMLRPC, it came up with SMALLPOX as a replacement. I have often thought the same. ;-)

Thanks,

LewisC

Technorati : blackberry, blog, blogging, bloglive, client, editor, mobile, remote

Feedburner.com shuts down

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:01:00 +0000

I logged into my feedburner.com account and was welcomed with a message that I had to move my feeds from feedburner.com to feedburner.google.com. It listed all of my blogs and a link to move them. It gives the opportunity to create a google account if you don't already have one. I was already signed and that's where I wanted them so I hit the button.

All of my feeds are now hosted in the google data center. I guess I should feel safer. ;-)

If you haven't logged into your feedburner account in a while, you probably should: More details on moving to a Google account

On February 28th, if you have not moved your feeds to a Google Account, the traffic to your feeds will not be cut off or terminated, but you will not be able to view or manage your feeds until you have moved to a Google Account, unless you use MyBrand. Technically, this means that all traffic will now be served out of our Google data centers, and there will still be a way to move your account that will be in place indefinitely.

You will not be able to log back into your feedburner account once you move your feeds. Then again, you won't need to. I've read some people complain about the move but I have been satisfied with the various services I've used from google so I don't mind it. My biggest hope is that the intermittent interruptions will be fixed now that feedburner has really been moved to a google data center.

LewisC

Technorati : feedburner, rss, subscription

Use Blogger or Install a Blog on Your Own Site?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:14:00 +0000

I was recently asked this question:

Do you find that its beneficial to start a blog on the blogger platform versus installing it on your own site?

My opinion on this has changed in the last few months. I used to think that blogger or wordpress.com were "good enough". I now think you should host your own blog on your own domain. My only reason for this is the amount of control you have by doing so.

I have started several new blogs (on tech topics) on my own domains. I chose wordpress a my blog software. The number of plug ins that help me format and control my blogs is amazing. I don't want to spend a lot of time tweaking and with these plug ins, it's mostly install and move on.

NOTE: Don't confuse wordpress with wordpress.com. Wordpress is a blogging package (that you can get from wordpress.org). Wordpress.com is a hosting service that uses wordpress as it's blogging software. You can use wordpress the software on your own domain and if you chose wordpress.com as your blogging provider, you will be using wordpress the software (and can ONLY use wordpress the software).

From talking to family, friends, peers and co-workers, I don't think most people care about the domain being a custom domain or the blogspot domain. I have read some bloggers who feel that a custom domain gives you a certain amount of legitimacy that a blogspot or wordpress domain wouldn't. I don't agree.

So, the short answer is that if you want a very quick start up with no muss and no fuss, blogger (or one of the other hosted domains) is a perfectly fine choice. If however, you are like me and want the additional control, you should buy a domain and install your own blogging software. All of the major blogging packages are incredibly simple to install and most web hosters offer additional assistance in the option of cPanel and SimpleScripts.

LewisC

Technorati : blogger, blogspot, domain, hosting, wordpress

Change in Posting Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 22:52:00 +0000

Well, I guess it's time to hang it up (not totally). While I enjoy writing topics for this blog, it looks like I will have to put it on the back burner. I've changed jobs and am spending an extra 2 - 2.5 hours per day in traffic; that's better than 10 hours per week. If I had access to mass transportation, those would be some very productive hours. Unfortunately, that's not the case and I need to concentrate on my tech blogs (and I've shut down a few of those also).

I will continue to post here when I have something interesting to say but I won't be able to post regularly.

If anyone would like to post a guest entry, send me an email with the entry topic. It will be good for a link to your site and let people see what kind of content you write.

LewisC

Technorati : job, posting

Participate in a blogging Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:51:00 +0000

Hi All,

I got an email from Technorati this evening. The subject is:

Technorati's 2008 State of the Blogosphere Survey

I am a survey taker (I just can't resist). It's not exactly a short survey. I guess it took about 15 minutes to finish. They say they will release the results on Technorati in late September.

Here's the message:

Bloggers,

Technorati has been tracking the Blogosphere for the past several years through our State of the Blogosphere study. This year we have decided to expand our study beyond the sheer size and characteristics of the blogosphere in order to hear more from you, the bloggers. How, when and why are you blogging? Is this a side business, full time job or something you do for fun? Our goal is to analyze the growth of the field as well as understand the people who make the space tick. Help us and join the study of the ongoing global conversation!

Click here to take the survey! http://v2.decipherinc.com/survey/mmc/mmc08001

We hope you will find this survey enjoyable. It should take just 15-20 minutes of your time, and your responses are entirely confidential. Be sure to check back on Technorati in late September for a summary of the results.

Thank you,

The Technorati Team

http://technorati.com/

I hope you'll choose to participate. In an survey like this, the more respondents, the better.

LewisC

Technorati : blogging, survey, tecnorati

Who or What is your blog for?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 22:14:00 +0000

So, have you decided why you want a blog? Do you want to share information? Make money? Have a place where distant relatives can keep track of you? Post funny jokes and links?

Before you start blogging, you should decide why you're blogging. That will help you decide where to blog (which type of host) and how to name your blog. An example is Wordpress.com; no advertising so no money. Also, if you're blogging for relatives, the name doesn't matter but if you plan to monetize, you need a name the is related to your blog topic.

In addition to name, the reason you blog will also affect things like frequency and topic. Again, if this a personal blog, no big decisions need to be made. Same with a blog designed to just share information; call it whatever, and post whenever, you like.

If you want regular traffic though, you need to be on topic and at least somewhat consistent. I consider this blog a tips blog (as in sharing info, not holding out my hand. ;-) ), not a money blog. I try to be consistent for my regular readers but I don't beat myself up if I'm not. I stay pretty consistently on the topic of blogging and the name of the blog is pretty much dead on for the topic I've chosen.

If I wanted to make money, I think the topic is a decent one although the blogosphere is pretty crowded for a blogging blogs. I think the title of the blog is winner. I named it well. Blogger isn't a bad choice for hosts as it has integrated Adsense and I can put any other advertising or banners that I want to. I would need to do something about my frequency though, I think.

If you want to make money with blogging, you need to build a traffic stream and the stream has to be interested in your blog topic (which is why I don't understand why there are so many spam blogs). To build traffic you need to post daily (at least in the beginning) and you need a lot of content.

When people show up, you want them to stick around for a while. That means plenty of articles. The faster you generate that content (multiple posts per day), the faster you will build traffic.

Right now, the vast majority of the traffic to this blog is from Google. I'm ok with that. My goal is to provide what tips I can. If people are finding me via google, and getting some use out of this blog, then I am succeeding.

Why are you blogging? What do you look for in a blog like this?

LewisC

P.S. This entry ended up being one of those that started at one place and ended up in another.

Technorati : blogging, writing

MIT Courseware - Free Internet Communications

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:19:00 +0000

MIT has, for a few years now, opened its courses to the public. Colleges and university's world wide can either use the courseware as a template for their own, or just them as is. Individuals can use them for self training. I love self training. Especially when it's free. I'm cheap. ;-)

Anyway, you can check out the entire list of courses. I guarantee there are at least a few worthy blog entries in there. However, there is one course in particular that is relevant to bloggers. It's getting a little old now but is still worth looking at. The course is Communicating in Cyberspace. Cyberspace is just so yesterday. ;-)

In the related resources section, there is a list of Excellent Websites, Poorly Designed Websites and Useful Resources. There's even a list of useful books, some of which I own already.

This course has less in the way of presentation and lecture notes than many of the courses but it does give a good over in general. There are several writing courses available. I always like the history courses as that is a hobby of mine.

Enjoy,

LewisC

Technorati : college, courses, free, mit, university

Controversy and Lawsuits

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 16:08:00 +0000

A good way to drive traffic is to write controversial posts. I tend not to do that. No particular reason, it's just that the topics I write about generally aren't controversial.

One thing you have to be careful of is becoming identified as a link baiter. Some one who writes nothing but headlines to grab attention will eventually be identified as a link baiter. That can be good or bad I guess. If you are primarily in it for the money, you can wrack up some dollars that way. I'd prefer people to actually want to read my writing. Again, that's just me.

Another issue with controversy is the possibility of moving from attracting attention to attracting lawsuits. Libel is when you write something that is not true and is either embarrassing or damaging to that person. Even truth is not an out because if there is no newsworthy reason to say what you've said, you can still potentially lose a lawsuit.

Let me say right here, just in case it is not obvious, I'm not a lawyer. I just have read quite a bit about slander, libel and defamation.

Even if you win a lawsuit, it will still cost you time and money. So the point is to be careful.

A case in point, yesterday, I was doing a search and ran across a blog entry from a tech blogger. It's not a blog I have read before so I don't know any background on the people involved. The post is fairly long. If you read just the technical aspects, it makes a lot of sense and, IMHO, the author makes some very good points (again, I mean from a technical angle).

The post is 50% to 70% Of all Programmers are con-artists. If you are interested in programming, you can read it. It is interesting. Where it becomes pertinent to this discussion are some of the claims made:

Joanna, if you ever come across this post or someone else finds it for you, let it be known that I'm officially accusing you of being a charlatan.

And they artificially inflate your capabilities which is fraud, if you intent to use your new found prowess for financial gain.

People who have hired you in good faith, should be getting their money back (if they've paid you) for being so thoroughly cheated.

Joanna has her misinformation posted on Articlebase, EzineArticles, GoArticles, and the king of all shameless plugs, Promotion World.

There is actually more of that in the article. I think those are enough to get the point across.

Charlatan, fraud, cheated, misinformation. Actionable? As I said, I am not a lawyer, so I would be hesitant to publish something like that with first speaking with one. If the author can prove those things, and maybe the author can, it would probably be a pretty good defense. But is it worth going to court for?

I wouldn't call this link bait as it is not a (un)popular stand, for or against. I think the author feels very strongly what he wrote. I think if I wrote it, I would have kept the "debunking" but dropped the accusations.

What do you think?

Technorati : controversy, slander, traffic

Sometimes, Everything I Write Sucks!

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Yesterday I wrote about persistence paying off for bloggers. Brad made some good comments:

I come up with idea's for blogs and internally shoot them down as "not worth writing about" or "everyone knows this already, why write about it".

Oooh, I hate that. This is such a good point and is something I think every blogger runs into now and then. I call it my internal editor. If you read writing books, that is a major topic. Most of those books give the same advice: Write! Write! Write! Ignore the internal editor and go for broke.

It's not always advice I want to hear, that's for sure. I have to admit though, that it is true. When I wrote my book, I got up everyday, 7 days a week and wrote. During the work week, I did a couple of hours, usually starting at 4am, before getting ready for work. I'd do another couple of hours at night before bed. On the weekends, I would do a full day. 120,000 words in 4.5 months. And I maintained a blog at the same time.

I wasn't always motivated (for the book or the blog) but once I sat down and started putting words on paper, it usually started flowing. The same is true for blogging. Just type something. Even stupid ideas are a start. Many times, I start writing on a topic and I either spontaneously generate ideas for future posts, or I change direction and write a different post than I intended.

When it comes to "not worth writing about", you never know. One man's garbage is another man's gold. If nothing else, it might be entertaining.

On the topic of "everyone knows this already, why write about it". You might be an expert but not all of your readers will be. Sometimes something very basic will help someone else tremendously.

Every entry you write helps give life to your blog. Not every book is war and peace and not every blog entry will be a front page digg item. But that's ok. I don't want to read war and peace every time I open a book. Sometimes, I just want to be entertained or have some downtime.

So, my tip of the day is Write! Even when you don't want to. I'll try to do as I say, too.

LewisC

Technorati : blogging, persistence, writing

Persistence Pays Off

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:05:00 +0000

Persistence pays off. What does that mean? Well, in my case, in means that I continue to blog even through job changes, house moves and children being born. I've taken breaks from blogging, usually unplanned. It just kind of happens. That's a bad thing but I always come back. Persistence.

Why do I persist?

Well, I like writing for one thing. I keep coming back because I have something I want to say. As much as I like writing, I want someone to read it. For that, I need to be consistent. I haven't been lately, but I plan to return to it. If I don't write, I think I would go crazy. ;-)

I'd also like to make some money from my blogs. I don't expect to get rich but I have a paid host (for a different kind of web site) and I like the fact that my blogging pays for that. Actually, it recently paid for a Wii and a bunch of games, too. Actually, my blogging income has never been better. It's a great time for bloggers.

I also like to share what I learn. That's why I blog on so many different topics. I learn a lot from reading other people's blogs. I want to return the favor.

Why do you persist?

What makes you write on those days when you really don't feel like it? I'd like to know.

Technorati : blogging, monetization, traffic

MyBlogLog Full Page

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:13:00 +0000

MyBlogLog has a new widget (at least I think it's new) that will create a feed page for you. It will list a page full of your most recent posts. I like the full page factor but that limits its usability in a blog. It would fit right in on an About page though. MyBlogLog also has a sidebar about me widget that looks something like this one.

It's really kind of awesome.

Technorati : about me, feed, rss

Ethics in blogging?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 16:59:00 +0000

I apologize for having been away for so long. My previous job ate up a lot of non-work related blogging time. Anyway, I'm back and I hope you're still with me.

I was reading a good article today and wanted to give my opinion and maybe get some feed back. I am totally open to advertising on blogs (as long as they're obviously advertising) and to a sponsor, as long as that's disclosed.

There seems to be some disagreement about this in the blogosphere. Pat Phelan, who writes a technology blog, calls out one Sarah Austin. According to Sarah, she is "one of the first live streaming, life-casters popularized on Justin.TV and now hosts a weekly live show in conjunction with Pop17 at Mogulus." Also in her about page, she says:

Pop17 is a two-to-three minute daily exploration to track, analyze and understand the new cultural phenomenon of online micro-celebrity.

On this blog, I guess she has sponsors that she does not disclose. For the details of this, read Pat's blog entry. I won't repeat them here. Sarah has her say on her blog. Personally, it seems like the whole thing just helps here in her micro-celebrity and may be a joint marketing thing between the two of them. Conflict drives page hits (which is a completely different aspect of ethics). I don't know either player so I can't say.

It does bring to light a very interesting point about ethics. As in, what are the ethics of blogging? Are blogger journalists? Are bloggers self-obsessed celebrity seekers? Something in between? I think that has to be answered before we can talk about ethics.

I think a lot of it has to do with how you present yourself and what you blog about. If you are presenting a professional appearance, and you blog as if you were a journalist, which seems to be how the blog in question operates, then I think the ethics of disclosure is obvious. The ethics of the situation are even cleared when someone is comparing a sponsor's products to those of its competitors. That's OK to do, but it must be disclosed (IMHO).

Disclosure is required for long term credibility. If something just does not look or feel honest, people will pick up on it and dishonesty will destroy long term success for a blogger.

What do you think?

Technorati : blogging, ethics, fraud, sponsorship

Blog Editors

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:35:00 +0000

How To Make a Blog

I am a blog editor convert. If you aren't sure what a blog editor is, it's a graphical editor that makes it easy for you to write, save drafts and post blog entries. Have you ever been typing a blog entry and had the browser crash? Argh! Many of the blog editors have autosave so that you don't have to worry about that.

They also make including links, adding graphics, block quotes, etc very easy with a visual preview. Have you ever hand coded an HTML table for tabular data display? I hate doing that. With a blog editor, it's a couple of button clicks and then you just enter your data.

I've used several to see how they perform. I narrowed it down to two editors: Windows Live Writer and Zoundry Raven.

Windows Live Writer

Windows Live Writer (WLW) is a free offering from Microsoft. I'm not an MS basher. I think MS tends to write very usable software. WLW is a very good looking, very functional tool.

WLW has a graphical UI and follows along with most other MS GUI tools. It has plenty of features

Zoundry Raven

Even though WLW is a good tool, I have settled on Zoundry Raven. I've used the support forums and I have to say I am very happy with them. The tool itself fits the way I work. It's easy to configure and run.

Some of the better features are:

A true WYSIWYG editor. When I post a blog entry, it looks on my blog exactly like it does on the editor.
Multiple blog support. I write about 15 blogs now. I can easily select the blog I am working on, post to multiple blogs at once and view previously published blog entries at any time.
Great trackback, ping and tag support. Global and blog configurations make these painless.
It can run from a USB drive. Go on the road and take your blog editors (and your blog posts) on the road with you.

Depending on how you write and what you're looking for in an editor, I would recommend either of these editors. Both are free so you won't lose anything more than a little time by trying either (or both).

Technorati : blogging, editor, raven, zoundry
Del.icio.us : blogging, editor, raven, zoundry

ScrnShots - Free Screen Shot Hosting

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:50:00 +0000

LewisC's An Expert's Guide To Oracle Technology

This ain't no Flickr! Every blogger needs a place to host screen shots. Flickr is the best place for photos (IMHO) but they ask that all the images you post be photos (not that they're rabid about that). But now there's SCRNSHOTS.com. Unlimited screen shot uploads. You can tag them for easy searching. The photo below is a screen shot of scrnshots.com and it is hosted on scrnshots.com. How recursive is that!

It works pretty much like flickr. Take a screen shot and save it on your computer. Upload it, add a description and tags. Embed it using the provided html. They do ask that you link back to them which is the same thing flickr asks.

On the social side, I've found that people frequently comment on shots. It's fun to browse around and look at the shots other people are taking. I'm going to try to post at least one interesting shot per day and I'll try to comment on any interesting ones that I find.

I am very happy to have this available. I'm not sure what the financial model is for this. I'm hoping they don't disappear anytime soon. Flickr seems to be going strong, especially now that they got bought. Maybe google will buy this one.

LewisC

Blog Directories

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 21:02:00 +0000

What is a blog directory? A blog directory is basically a catalog of blogs. Some give you a direct link and most will allow you to enter some kind of descriptive text and a category for the blog. Many directories will also track statistics and may even offer ranking based on visitors. Of course, many directories offer a community where you can join groups and leave comments.

I don't spend a lot of time registering for directories. 1) it takes a lot of time that I could be writing, 2) different directories have various rules for inclusion, 3) I think the search engines are aware that directories are a type of link exchange and discount them, 4) I have participated in several directories on various blogs and none of them ever sent me much in the way of visitors.

There are a few directories that I have registered with that have sent me some traffic. A few of those are blogrush (which is more of a widget thingie than a directory), blogflux, blogcatalog and blogarama. Most of these I registered for a long time ago. I know some people who swear by directories and spend a small part of each day registering with them.

Regardless of that, I found a list of directories that seems to include most of the main sites. That would be RSS - Blog Directories.

Do you use directories? If you do, which ones have been successful for you?

LewisC

blog blogging

Spread Some Widget Love With SpringWidget

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 02:40:00 +0000

If you want people to know about your blog you have to tell them. There are many ways to do that but a new, web 2.0ish way would be to use a SpringWidget. You can signup for free.

Creating a widget is as easy as entering a feed url, a title and short description. You can modify the size of the widget and even the colors. My widget below is the default size and color.

Get this widget!

In addition to building your own widget, you can get plenty of already created widgets to spruce up your blog.

Just don't get too carried away as widgets will eventually slow down your load times.

blog blogging

10 Free Ebooks From Mashable

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 22:28:00 +0000

Another great resource from Mashable, Top 10 Free E-books For Bloggers. Short and sweet, this list of 10 books are all keepers. It looks like it's time to expand your eshelf.

LewisC

ebooks blogging

What if someone already wrote it?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:09:00 +0000

A question I have been asked, and a concern I have thought of myself, is the question, "What if it's already been said?" Have you wanted to post on a blog topic and then thought about how many people may have blogged in that topic before you? How many people may have been more original on the topic? Did that make you stop and walk away from the keyboard?

To digress for a second, I get quite a few writer newsletters. I usually let them accumulate in my inbox and then read a bunch all at one time. One of the newsletters that I really like is WrteSuccess. Maybe one day I will write up a list of newsletters that I like but that's not the topic today.

Today's WriteSuccess had a very good quote from a master writer, CS Lewis.

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." --C. S. Lewis (1898 - 1963)

Add blogging to literature and art and that answers the question. What if someone already wrote it? So what, give it your spin. Be honest. Write.

blog blogging

Should I Move to my own Domain?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:52:00 +0000

I am writing quite a few different blogs now, on very different topics. I've had several people tell me that should move to my own domains and dump blogger.com.

When I ask why, no one has any really good reasons. "You'll make more money!" Really, where are the statistics for that? "People don't trust blogspot.com blogs!" Really, who doesn't? I read plenty of blogspot blogs. I know a lot of people who read blogspot blogs.

The only argument that I can give some credence to is that if blogger shuts down for some reason, I would be in trouble. That part is true. I don't think google is going to shut down blogger in the near future and I am not sure that blogging is what I plan to do in the long term.

What do you think? Are you afraid to use blogger as a blog platform? Why? If you are using blogger, are you nervous about it at all?

blog blogging

Free Ebook on Build a Website That Sells

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 15:00:00 +0000

I just posted an entry on my Free Stuff site about a free ebook from microsoft, Build A Website That Sells. It's got several decent tips and it's free. Check it out.

blog blogging

Getting hits on your blog

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 01:55:00 +0000

Everyone wants to get more hits on their blog. I am trying a new service as an experiment. You may have heard of it, Blogrush.

With Blogrush, you sign up and add your blog. They give you some javascript to add to your blog. The widget will display 5 links related to the subject of your blog. Each time someone views your blog, you get a "credit". That means that for each page view, your blog will show up in someone else's widget.

I've already gotten a few hits from the service. I plan to give it some time and see if it's worth the real estate it takes up.

If you want to sign up, do me a favor and please use my referral link. You will still get your credits but I will get additional credits each time your page is loaded. My referral link is http://www.blogrush.com/r32050784

Thanks,

LewisC

blog blogging

What is an RSS Feed and What is it Good For?

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 16:45:00 +0000

Rather than go into detail about the composition of an RSS Feed, I will just give you some links that you can refer to.

For an encyclopedic answer, you can visit the RSS entry on WikiPedia. For the technophile, you can see details and history at XML.Com's entry on RSS. For a very brief FAQ with additional links, see What is RSS.

Now for my explanation. RSS is an acronym. Don't worry about what the acronym means. It's not important. An RSS Feed is a text file that contains data in a special format. Like a word document or an excel document, an RSS can be read, and is meaningful, to programs that understand that special format.

For Blog Readers

Bloggers create an RSS feed of their blog posts and make it available as a button or link on the site somewhere. An RSS link will usually look something like the icon to the right. Some sites may show icons for specific RSS readers, like Bloglines or GoogleReader.

An RSS Reader allows you to subscribe to all of your favorite blogs and see when the writer updates without having to actually navigate to each blog. It's like a little browser that goes out and checks for new blog entries for you.

The benefit of using RSS is that it saves you time. There are so many good blogs out there, not many people have enough time every day to go check on each and every one of them. It's especially annoying to keep checking on a blog that you really like and it not being updated as frequently as you would like. Get an RSS reader and let it tell you when the blog has been updated.

For Bloggers

An RSS Feed is built from your blog. Most blog hosting providers, like blogger.com or wordpress, will generate an RSS Feed for you. You can choose how much information goes into your feed. You can choose headlines only, headlines and summaries or full posts.

People disagree on what is best to put into your feed. My suggestion it to do what ever you prefer. It really all comes down to personal choice for any particular individual. I choose to use full feeds as I want my readers to be able to read my entire post as easily as possible.

Summary

So what is an RSS Feed for? Just what I mentioned above. People can subscribe to my feed, using an RSS reader, and see my posts almost as soon as I write them. They don't need to keep coming back to see if I have updated. It's a time saver for my readers. I also offer email subscriptions for the same reason.

blog blogging rss feed

A Reason To Choose Blogger for your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 04:41:00 +0000

I have a new addiction and I have Google/Blogger to thank for it.

Two half naked girls on a branch.
A badly focused image of a teen band playing.
Four girlfriends jumping over a bench.
Two soldiers fixing flags draped over many coffins.
Two little boys in their pajamas and galoshes playing in the rain.
Food.
An empty kitchen.
Someone surprised, looking over her shoulder at a bulletin board.

What do all of those have in common? Blogger Player.

Blogger Play is a real-time slideshow of photos Blogger users have recently uploaded to their blogs. It's a great snapshot of what people are thinking and posting about, right now!

Two girlfriends hugging for the camera.
An empty city street at night.
A high-rise.
A billboard in spanish.
A little girls face.
An old toy train.
A clean work shop.

It goes on and on. I can't quit watching. I put on some bowie or faster pussy cat and just sit back to enjoy the show. I almost wish I could record it but what would be the purpose? There will always be more.

Enjoy.

blog blogging

Help! My feed doesn't contain post test.

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 23:20:00 +0000

This post is not a blogging tip. I'm hoping someone can tell me why my blogger feeds are not showing any text. I have the feeds set to full but I get nothing. I tried short, still nothing. I have posted this question in a couple of forums (including bloggers) but I have yet to get an answer. Please leave me a comment if you have the answer. Thanks, LewisC

help feed

AnswerTips Are Enabled

noreply@blogger.com (Lewis Cunningham) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:29:00 +0000

I'm trying an experiment. I have enabled Answers.com's AnswerTips. Do you have a question about a word on this blog? Just double click the word and see what happens.

You should get a pop up like the image to the left. You can click on any word on the blog (any word at all) and get a definition and some information about that word.

Is this something you find useful? The goal of something like this is to keep your readers on your site as long as possible. If someone can get information without ever leaving the site, you meet your goal.

The downside to a tool like this, and it's not really a downside per se, is that if people don't know it's available, they aren't likely to try double clicking on random blogs.

But, if it does become popular, you'll be supporting a neat feature. I call this an experiment because I am seeing if it slows my page down at all. If it doesn't, I would have to call it a winner.

blog blogging