1. Useful but practical information What problem/issue does someone have in their day to day life that you will be able to help with? Solve that dilemma; create a resource full of information tips, links to relevant sites, video, diagrams and tools.

2. A killer headline The most important part of the blog: if it’s catchy they will read on.

3. Scanable text A vast amount of text will put readers off, make it easy to scan through and pick up the main points. Use bullet points, sub heading, images, bold and italics. If you have a lot of info on the topic perhaps break it into a series of posts.

4. Concise, simple Write in a conversation style, no jargon, to your reader rather than down to them. Try to write between 250 and 500 words.

So you won’t get stuck creating content here are examples of the types of blog

• Instructional – how to do something or achieve something
• Informational – simple info on a topic
• Reviews – give fair and insightful opinions
• Lists – “the top 5 ways to...”
• Interviews/Profile – on a company, client etc
• Case Study – client or situation
• Link – finding a quality article or blog on another site and linking to it. Adding your own take on the topic
• Contrast of options – give the for and against
• Rant – let off a bit of steam
• Interaction – a post that involves the reader: perhaps a poll, ask reader for options

 

And if you get stuck for topic matter try these tools for generating ideas

• Google keyword tool shows the volume of people searching on particular keyword and keyphrases, more popular ones could make great blog post ideas.  
• Ubersuggest uses Google suggest (when Google suggests search ideas while you are typing in the search box).

So time for me to pull my finger out and practice what I preach – bring on the regular blogging. Let me know how you get on.

Chicken Dhansak, serves 4

• 1 kg Chicken , skinned and cubed
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh garlic, paste
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• ½ tsp black mustard seeds
• 6 dried red chillies
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 Bay leaves
• 4 Green Cardamoms
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 large onion , chopped
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp tamarind concentrate
• 1tsp brown sugar
• 2tsp lemon juice
• 2 ½ tsp salt
• 110 g red lentils, washed and drained
• 6 tbsp water , for the chicken
• 5 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves , chopped
• 620ml warm water , for the lentils

 

Marinade the Chicken

In a large bowl, add 1½ tsp salt, ginger and garlic, coriander powder, cumin powder and mix. Add to the chicken, and combine the paste with the meat making sure that the chicken is well coated. Marinade overnight in the fridge.

Fry Spices and Chicken

In a large pan melt the ghee over a medium heat; add the fennel seeds, cinnamon stick, dried red chilies and mustard seeds and fry the chicken with any juices for 20 minutes on medium to low heat.

For the Lentils: fry Onions and Spices

In a separate pan, heat the oil and add the salt, cardamom seeds, garam masala, turmeric and bay leaves, Add the onions and fry until golden. Then add the lentils.

Add Water and Simmer

Add the water , 1tsp salt, tamarind concentrate, brown sugar and lemon juice, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 15 minutes. Mash the lentils with a spoon to make a pulpy mixture.Cook for another 15 minutes.

Add Lentils to Chicken

Add lentils to the pan containing the chicken pieces.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook for 30 minutes, whilst stirring occasionally to make sure that it does not stick or burn.

Serve

Add a pinch of coriander, stir and serve.

 

As a standard Dropobx opens the file in the browser window.  By tweaking the link the file will download to their computer automatically instead.  Simply add ?dl=1 to the end of the link Dropbox gives you.  This will only work with files you have in the public folder.

 

 

Dropbox instantly backups and syncs your files between your computer and the web, making the files available to you online as well as any other computers given direct access.  Installed on your computer Dropbox creates its own folder on your hard drive; any file you add to this folder auto syncs and is then monitor for changes.

And it doesn't just stop there as you can also share specific folders with other Dropbox users, easily email out large files by hosting items on Dropbox which can be readily available to the whole web.  As well as this there are a host of alternative uses and add on applications for platforms such as Chrome, Firefox, iPad, iPhone and Android for easy access to your files.

Its one of those things I just can't do without, so get Dropbox for free follow now.

 

 

 

 

On Windows

On Windows, it's easy to get rid of unwanted headers and footers on Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera. From what I can tell, Chrome's another story—but you can still try a workaround.

Firefox: Go to File -> Page Setup, then click the Margins & Header/Footer tab. Set every header and footer to --blank-- and click OK.
Internet Explorer: Go to File -> Page Setup, then set every drop-down in the Headers and Footers section to -Empty-. Click OK.
Opera: Go to Menu -> Print -> Print Options and untick the Print headers and footers checkbox.

On OS X

Like Windows, the process is pretty simple for most browsers in OS X.

Firefox: Go to File -> Print... (or hit Cmd+P), make sure the printing options are expanded (click the down arrow button next to the Printer if not), select Firefox from the third drop-down menu, then set all the Page Headers and Page Footers drop-downs to --blank--.
Safari: Go to File -> Print... (or hit Cmd+P), make sure the printing options are expanded (click the down arrow button next to the Printer if not), select Safari from the fourth drop-down menu, and untick Print headers and footers.

 

 

With their help and support completing my next running time targets of a 10k in sub 40 mins and half marathon in sub 90 mins l ook closer on the horizon.  My first run for the club will be tomorrow at the Beach Run, Middelton-on-Sea. Worthing Stiders don't go by unnoticed; look out for my florescent orange club top.

With the launch of Worthing Dads it was ideal timing to promote but also to gain some interesting points of view on how to best develop the network.

 

See you all next month.

Picture courtesy of Sara Headworth and thefordie