"Tips From The Blogging Queen"

An Yet Another New Blog For "The Blogging Queen"

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 08:59:10 PDT

For those of you who have known me for awhile now my next announcement will come as no surprise. In fact, you'll probably say, "We knew "The Blogging Queen" would be doing another one. It was just a matter of time."

For those of you who don't know me and hear that not only do I already have 17 blogs, but have created yet another one you'll probably say, "Have you lost your mind?"

Well, my announcement is that I have created a new blog called "Top Blogs By Crafters Blog." I hope once you hear what this new blog is for you'll agree that it makes perfect sense.

You see, my new blog will support my "Top Blogs By Crafters Toplist" and will be all about my toplist and all its members. It's feed will be automatically connected to my "Top Blogs By Crafters Toplist" page on Facebook and will update all our followers there. Plus, our "Top Blogs By Crafters Blog" has been added to networked blogs on Facebook it will be connected there so everyone who wants to follow us can do so there as well.

It's a plus - plus for everyone who is a member and will, hopefully, bring more exposure to all the members wonderful blogs.

We really do have the best blogs by the best artists and crafters on the web on our toplist and I like to do everything I can to help bring attention to their blogs.

If you haven't visited out toplist in awhile we now have 495 members who have some of the most amazing art, craft, sewing, knitting, needlepoint, designer, woodworking, painting, illustration, story telling, cross-stitch, free craft articles, doll making, folk art, primitive, country, seasonal, mixed media, abstract art, scrap-booking, e-products, crazy quilting, quilting, vintage, Victorian, shabby chic, printables, beading, gardening, food, altered art, candle making, Americana, holiday, animal crafts, wool felting, textile, food crafts, applique, basket making, abstract art, contemporary art, creative embroidery, watercolor art, wearable art, ribbon crafts, crewel, decorative painting, crochet, digital art, graphic art, dried floral design, fiber art, weaving, wedding crafts, baby crafts, fragrance crafts, gourd painting, home decor,paper crafts, jewelry making, lamp making, rug making, soap making, stamping, stenciling, tie-dying, pottery, handbag making, purse making, totes making, pocketbook making, polymer clay, potpourri, etc. blogs on the web. And, our new blog will showcase them.

I'm hoping to provide a blog post for each member containing their blog name, their blog banner or screenshot, their toplist listing description, and a link to their blog URL. With 495 members to do it will take me a little while to add all the posts and I'll be working on that as time permits. I'll be adding oldest members first and working my way up to the newest members.

Not only will the blog showcase the members, but will also be a benefit to the advertisers on our toplist as I've decided to add their buttons to the top of my new blog as well. So, advertising on the "Top Blogs By Crafters Toplist" will include advertising on the top of the toplist for whatever period of advertising they have selected and free advertising on the top of the new blog for whatever period of advertising they are running on the toplist as well.

All in all it's more exposure for everyone. Definitely a plus - plus. Better yet, a win - win for all.

I hope you get a chance to visit my new "Top Blogs By Crafters Blog." I'd love to hear what you think.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

I Just Love The AddToAny Button and Tool!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 09:29:53 PDT

I have to admit that I've been playing again. This time it's with a tool that can be used for any social networking website.

Now you might be wondering why I'd want such a tool. Well, the answer is simple: So everyone who visits my blogs and websites can easily tell their friends about us, send an email about us, or bookmark us all in one nice and easy popup window.

When the visitors to my blog or websites clicks the share/save button a small pop-up window appears on my blog or website that has three tabs. One tab is for sharing on any of the hundreds of social networking websites. One tab is for emailing about us, and one tab is for bookmarking our website. The down arrow at the bottom of the pop-up is for displaying many more of the social networking websites are listed.

You can customize the pop-up window's colors so that match your blog and change the order of the buttons - which is nice. And, you can change the order of the social networking websites listed.

If you'd like to try the AddToAny button for my Tips From the Blogging Queen Blog blog just click the button below:

Then just click the tab you want and share, email, or bookmark our blog with your friends.

The AddToAny button is billed as the world's best sharing button and I would have to agree. They keep up-to-date on all the popular social networking websites so I don't have to and provide me with a sharing, emailing, and bookmarking tool in one easy pop-up. I just love it.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Now Comes In E-Book Sets

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 06:02:35 PDT

Boy, it seems like I just keep announcing more and more with regards to my "Linda's How-Do-I Series? of e-books. I must have inhaled "the energizer bunny" or something! LOL LOL Maybe I'm subconsciously telling myself to slow down. Whatever it is - I seem to be getting a LOT off my "to do" list and I couldn't be happier.

The latest item off my "to do" list is creating e-book sets for my "Linda Walsh Originals - Linda's How-Do-I Series? of e-books. I've grouped them into sets that I think you will like. And, of course, because they're a set they are at a discounted price from buying them separately.

I was going to try and combine my e-book sets into one big .PDF file so you could "instantly download" them from my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website, but changed my mind because the file size for some of the sets would have been way too big for some of you to instantly download easily. So, my e-book sets will be sent as attachments to an email back to you once I've been notified by Paypal of payment. That way all of you can easily download each of the e-books individually.

Here's my new e-book sets:

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Pattern Two E-Book Set

Learn all about E-Products and E-Patterns and learn how to design a print pattern and e-pattern in this two e-book set. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Design a Print Pattern and E-Pattern?" e-book and Linda's complete "What Are E... Series E-Book #9" e-book. If you are an artist or crafter who wants to sell e-patterns our new e-book set can help.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? Going Online Two E-Book Set

Learn all about what to consider when setting up an online crafts business and learn all about social networking, forums, and groups in this two e-book set. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? What To Consider When Setting Up A Small Business Website" e-book #5 and Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? All Social Networking, Forums, and Groups" e-book #8.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? All About Blogs Part 1 and Part 2 E-Book Set

Learn all about blogs and blogging in this two e-book set. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? All About Blogs - Part 1" e-book #6 and Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? - All About Blogs - Part 2" e-book #7. If you're an artist or crafter with an online business and have been thinking about creating a blog to support your online business our new e-book set can help.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips For Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Book #1, #2, #3, and #4" Four E-Book Set

Learn all of Linda's helpful tips for crafters with websites and blogs from her Linda's How-Do-I Series. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3", and Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4" e-books. You'll learn basic html and CSS coding for your websites and blogs from the simplest of signatures up to building simple tables. You'll also learn a ton of other tips and tricks from widening your blog to adding wallpaper, learn about plugboards, building clickable advertising links, and so much more.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Book Sets- Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips For Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Book #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8" Eight E-Book Set

Learn all of Linda's helpful tips for crafters with websites and blogs from her "Linda's How-Do-I Series" revised Books #1- #4 to her new Books #5, #6, #7, and #8. You'll receive Linda's complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #5", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #6", "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #7", and her complete "Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #8" e-books. You'll learn basic html and CSS coding for your websites and blogs from the simplest of signatures up to building simple tables. You'll also learn a ton of other tips and tricks from widening your blog to adding wallpaper, learn about plugboards, building clickable advertising links, and so much more. You'll learn all about what to consider when setting up an online crafts business and learn all about social networking, forums, and groups. Plus, you'll learn learn all about blogs and blogging.

I hope you enjoy my e-books sets and the savings that come from buying a set.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:55:21 PDT

Well, we now have a grand total of ten e-books for Linda Walsh Originals. They cover a wide variety of subjects all intent on helping small business crafters on the net.

After we revised out original 4 Linda's How-Do-I Series? of e-books I decided to add to the collection. So, e-books # 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were created. I hope you enjoy our series of e-books and hope they help you with your small business.

If you'd like more information on our e-books please click on the article links below:

NEW E-Book #9 - Linda’s What Are E… Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Book #9 All About E-Patterns and E-Products

Learn about our “What Are E…?” series, learn what e-products are, learn what e-patterns are, learn what e-articles, e-projects, and e how-to’s are, learn what e-books and e-pamphlets are, learn what e-tutorials and e-pictorials are, and learn what podcasts are. You’ll also learn a little bit about using Microsoft Publisher to create e-products learn about our e-patterns, learn why a small business designer would want to sell e-patterns, and learn about our e-pattern website and instant e-patterns. Plus, you’ll learn about how and where to sell e-patterns, learn how to create a clickable e-product ad for the sidebar of your blog or website, learn how to add an e-pattern ad and PayPal BUY NOW button to the sidebar of your blog, learn how to reduce the file size of your e-patterns, learn about creating an e-catalog, learn how to set-up a free .PDF file, and read about “Designing An E-Pattern and The Price of Gas!” Plus, you’ll learn about the “Everything E-Directory – The One Source For Everything E For Crafters Needs.”

NEW E-Book #8 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - E-Book #8 All About Social Networking, Forums, and Group

Learn about forums and online communities, learn about some of the NING communities and Etsy groups we joined, find out if you are a blog hopper, learn about the various blogging communities, learn about some of the different blogging directories, find out whether blogrolls are important, learn about Google alerts, and learn about out “Top Blogs By Crafters” toplist. You’ll also find out about the writing websites that are available, find out about all the free craft articles and projects websites, find out about all the free online newsletter, magazine, e-zine & traditional paid magazine content driven websites out there, and find out about all the free crafting content that is available and how you can contribute. You’ll also discover whether a team blog is for you, learn about Facebook.com and some of the fun things to do with Facebook.com, find out if you’ll get dooced, learn about Twitter.com and Twitter widgets, and learn about YouTube.com and whether you should become a vlogger.

NEW E-Book #7 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #7 All About Blogs – Part 2

In Part 2 you'll learn all the blogging terms and definitions, learn how to take a screenshot of your website or blog, learn why your sidebar is at the bottom of your blog, learn how to widen your blog, learn how to add wallpaper to your blog, learn how to create drop down menus for your blogs sidebar, and see if you need a blogiday. You’ll also find out if you’re a multi-blogger, learn about podcasting and whether you should jump on the podcasting bandwagon, find out about all the free crafting podcasts online, and determine is you are a blog hopper. Plus, you’ll learn why a blog is not your Grandfather’s newsletter, learn about web blog blidgets, learn whether you should become a vlogger, whether you've become blistless, and why blogrolls are important. You’ll learn whether you’ll get dooced, and whether you should join a team blog. Plus, you’ll learn why videos are a great addition to a blogs sidebar, learn how the Twitter widget is the coolest thing for your blog, and learn how following on Facebook’s networked blogs helps all of us.

NEW E-Book #6 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #6 All About Blogs – Part 1

In Part 1 you'll learn why you should have a blog for your craft business, learn what to write in a blog, how many blogs there are now, learn about eliminating your newsletter in favor of your blog, learn how to provide subscribers for your blog, learn what the #1 mistake is of crafters with blogs, learn whether blogs are really helpful, and learn about blogs and their features. You’ll also learn about some of the old and new features of the “Cadillac” of blog service providers, learn how commenting on blogs can be helpful to your small business website, learn who your audience is and what you should tell them, and learn why you might want to create generic posts. Plus, you’ll learn why you would want to bleg your readers, learn how to incorporate “keywords” into your blog, learn why labels are important, learn all about pinging, and find out about all those blogging communities. Plus, you’ll learn about a million different blogging directories, learn about using Google reader, learn about Google alerts, learn about Google blog search, learn about backing up your blogs, learn whether you should add blogvert and blogvertsing to your blog, and learn if you’re blogstipated. Finally, you’ll learn if you have blogophobia, learn about Twitter widgets, learn about the Feedblitz multiple blog subscription widget, learn about having some fun with your blog, learn about blogs as heirlooms and family fun, and read about our Top Blogs By Crafters toplist and why you should join.

NEW E-Book #5 - Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Book #5

Learn many of the things you should consider when setting up a small business crafts website, such as what to name a website and how to define your niche. You’ll also learn about getting started and where to begin, learn about using Microsoft Publisher, learn about creating an e-catalog, learn about the browser distortion between Internet Explorer and Firefox, learn about splash pages and why they are bad for business, learn about topsite gateway pages and why they are bad for customers, learn about graphics and graphic websites, learn what blinkies are, learn about using an online photo album as a portfolio, and learn about setting up an internet morning routine.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #4

Learn how to add a banner rotation to your website or blog, learn how to build a simple table, learn how to add images to a simple table, learn how to center those images within a table and make those images clickable, learn how to add padding, spacing, and borders to images within a table, learn how to add clickable text links to a table, learn how to all wallpaper or images to the background of a table, and learn how to handle different size banners within a table.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #3

Learn about coding for promotion, copyright, and bio signatures, coding for clickable links to another section of a page, how to take a screenshot of your website or blog, what a plugboard is, learn how to make your plugboard bigger, learn why plugboards red x’s are bad for business, how to add wallpaper to your blog, how to widen your blog, why you would want to create generic blog posts, how to create clickable e-product links, learn how to create drop down menus for your website or blog sidebar, learn what to do about the size of your e-patterns, learn how to set-up a free .PDF file, and learn about some of the best photo hosting websites out there for crafters.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #2

Learn some of the common HTML and CSS tags and attributes, learn how to center banners, button, text or pictures, learn how to add scrolling banners, learn how to add vertical advertising banners, learn how to add horizontal advertising banners, learn how to add colored borders to your banners, learn how to change the background colors between the borders of your banners, learn how to space banners of different sizes, learn how to make your banners clickable back to your website or blog, learn how to build rows of clickable banners, and learn how to add color to the borders and background of rows of clickable banners.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs - Revised E-Book #1

Learn how to set up an email and forum signature, add text links and clickable link lists, change your font type, change your font size, change your font color, learn how to create an email link, learn how to use margins, learn how to use padding, learn how to create borders, draw a line, underline, skip a line, create a paragraph, add color to your border and text, change the background area within your borders, and create a simple banner out of html code. You’ll also learn what the names and #’s are for the 16 CSS colors, what the various size standard advertising banners are, what the difference is between the different picture file types, what the standard video formats are, and what the standard shortcut computer keys are.

Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern Revised E-Book

Learn how to create a print pattern and an e-pattern.

We hope you are enjoying our Linda's How-Do=I Series? of e-books.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals- "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

Our Tips From The Blogging Queen Columns Are A Big Plus In Two Of Our NEW E-Books

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 08:33:13 PDT

We have terrific news to tell you. We've created two new e-books in our "Linda’s How-Do-I Series?" and they are all about blogs and blogging. And, we have to thank our "Tips from the Blogging Queen" column for providing a lot of the articles for our two NEW e-books.

Our NEW E-Books are entitled "Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #6 All About Blogs – Part 1" and "Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #7 All About Blogs – Part 2."

In Part 1 you'll learn why you should have a blog for your craft business, learn what to write in a blog, how many blogs there are now, learn about eliminating your newsletter in favor of your blog, learn how to provide subscribers for your blog, learn what the #1 mistake is of crafters with blogs, learn whether blogs are really helpful, and learn about blogs and their features.

You’ll also learn about some of the old and new features of the “Cadillac” of blog service providers, learn how commenting on blogs can be helpful to your small business website, learn who your audience is and what you should tell them, and learn why you might want to create generic posts.

Plus, you’ll learn why you would want to bleg your readers, learn how to incorporate “keywords” into your blog, learn why labels are important, learn all about pinging, and find out about all those blogging communities.

Plus, you’ll learn about a million different blogging directories, learn about using Google reader, learn about Google alerts, learn about Google blog search, learn about backing up your blogs, learn whether you should add blogvert and blogvertsing to your blog, and learn if you’re blogstipated.

Finally, you’ll learn if you have blogophobia, learn about Twitter widgets, learn about the Feedblitz multiple blog subscription widget, learn about having some fun with your blog, learn about blogs as heirlooms and family fun, and read about our Top Blogs By Crafters toplist and why you should join.

Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #6 All About Blogs – Part 1

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #6
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Here's what you'll find in e-book #6:

Table of Contents – E-Book #6

Introduction – Page 4
Should You Have A Blog For Your Craft Business? - Page 8
I Wouldn't Know What To Write In A Blog? – Page 9
Has Anyone Noticed All The Blogs? - Page 11
Taking A Big Bold Progressive Step and Eliminating My Newsletter In Favor Of My Blog - Page 13
Providing For Subscribers To Your Blog – Page 15
The #1 Mistake Of Crafters With Blogs Page 18
Tips From The Blogging Queen – Are Blogs Really Helpful? – Column #1– Page 20
Testing The Blogs Series – Part 1 – Blogs and Their Features – Page 22
Testing The Blogs Series – Part 3 – The “Cadillac” of Blog Service Providers – Page 28
Testing The Blogs Series – Part 8 – The New Blogger.com – Page 34
Tips From The Blogging Queen – Commenting On Blogs And How That Can Be Helpful To Your Small Business Website Column #2 - Page 39
Tips From The Blogging Queen – Who Is Your Audience And What Should You Tell Them? – Page 41
Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Why Would I Want To Create Generic Posts? – Page 44
Tips From The Blogging Queen – Why Would You Want To Bleg Your Readers? – Column 4 – Page 45
Tips From The Blogging Queen - How To Incorporate "Keywords" Into Your Blog - Column 5 – Page 47
That’s Too Much Work! It’s Not Worth It! Why Labels Are Important – Page 49
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Are You Pinging? - Column 6 – Page 51
All Those "Blogging Communities" – Page 53
A Million Different Blogging Directories! For Crafters - Which To Choose? – Page 57
Do You Use Google Reader? – Page 62
Have You Tried Google Alerts Yet? – Page 63
Google Blog Search – Page 64
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Don't Forget To Back-Up Your Blogs - Column 7 – Page 65
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Should You Add Blogvert and Blogvertising to Your Blog? - Column 8 – Page 67
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Are You Blogstipated? - Column 9 – Page 69
"Tips From The Blogging Queen" Column 10 - Do You Have Blogophobia? – Page 71
Gotta LOVE Twitter Widgets! – Page73
Cool New Widget From Feedblitz.com – Page 75
Oh, What Fun I’m Having! Having A Little Fun With Your Blog! – Page 77
Blogs As Heirlooms And Family Fun! - Page 79
We've Got A “Top Blogs By Crafters” Toplist and Why You Should Join – Page 81
About Us – Page 84

In Part 2 you'll learn all the blogging terms and definitions, learn how to take a screenshot of your website or blog, learn why your sidebar is at the bottom of your blog, learn how to widen your blog, learn how to add wallpaper to your blog, learn how to create drop down menus for your blogs sidebar, and see if you need a blogiday.

You’ll also find out if you’re a multi-blogger, learn about podcasting and whether you should jump on the podcasting bandwagon, find out about all the free crafting podcasts online, and determine is you are a blog hopper.

Plus, you’ll learn why a blog is not your Grandfather’s newsletter, learn about web blog blidgets, learn whether you should become a vlogger, whether you've become blistless, and why blogrolls are important. You’ll learn whether you’ll get dooced, and whether you should join a team blog.

Plus, you’ll learn why videos are a great addition to a blogs sidebar, learn how the Twitter widget is the coolest thing for your blog, and learn how following on Facebook’s networked blogs helps all of us.

Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs – E-Book #7 All About Blogs – Part 2

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #7
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Here's what you'll find in e-book #7:

Table of Contents – E-Book #7

Introduction – Page 4
Blogging Terms and Definitions – Page 8
The Fun Is In The Learning - How To Take A Screenshot Of Your Website or Blog – Page 23
Why Is My Sidebar At The Bottom Of My Blog? – Page 24
Linda’s How-Do-I Series? How Do I Widen My Blog? – Page27
Linda’s How-Do-I-Series? How Do I Add Wallpaper To My Blog? – Page 29
Linda’s How-Do-I Series? Drop Down Menu’s For Your Blog Sidebar – Page 31
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 11 - Do You Need A Blogiday – Page 33
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 12 - Are You A Multi-Blogger? – Page 35
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 13 - What Is Podcasting and Should You Jump On The Podcasting Bandwagon? – Page 37
What Are Podcasts? – Page 39
Do You Like Free Crafting Podcasts? If So, Check Out Our List! – Page 41
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 14 - Are You A Blog Hopper? – Page 43
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 15 - A Blog Is Not Your Grandfather's Newsletter – Page 45 My Tips For Crafters On The Web Blog Blidget – Page 47
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 16 - Should You Become A Vlogger? – Page 4
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 17 - Have You Become Blistless – Page 51
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 18 - Are Blogrolls Important? – Page 53
Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 19 - Will You Get Dooced? – Page 55
Tips From the Blogging Queen - Column 20 - Should You Join A Team Blog? – Page 58
Video's Are A Great Addition To A Blog's Sidebar! – Page 60
Twitter! The Coolest Thing For Your Blog! – Page 62
Facebook.com Networked Blogs - Following Helps All of Us! – Page 64
About Us! – Page 66

If you've thought about starting a blog there's no better time than now and our new 2-part e-book series can help.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"

Linda's How-Do-I Series? of E-Books Has Been Revised

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:40:45 PDT

We have great NEWS. We not only revised Our Linda-How-Do-I Series? E-Books #1, #2, #3, and #4, but we've added a few new articles as a surprise that we think will also be helpful to you.

Several years ago our blog readers asked if we would be converting our Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips For Crafters With Websites and Blogs to .PDF versions and we decided to not only convert them into .PDF format for you, but to make them available as "Instant Download E-Books" as well and did so in February of 2007.

Well, over the past few years some of the HTML coding has become more standardized and some of the original HTML coding wasn't appearing in some of the browsers as it should have. So, we decided it was time to revise our e-books. In doing this we also went back and corrected all of our original blogs posts that may have been having a browser distortion problem as well. Not only have we corrected for the browser distortion, but we've added to the e-books as well.

Just like before, some of the articles contained within the e-books are the exact contents of some of the articles in our blog except they do not contain the 3 ***'s that were necessary for the HTML code to be displayed on our blog. That's a wonderful advantage and incentive for buying the .PDF "Instant Download E-Book" version.

So, you can copy/paste the code from the e-books and just add your own information. There are no 3 ***'s in the HTML coding that you need to remove here. So, you can save the .PDF instant download e-books to your computer and when you need them you just open them up in Adobe Acrobat and copy/paste the code you want and change whatever information you need to change for your website or blog.

How GREAT is that?

So, what's in each of the revised e-books? Well, here's what's contained in each of the revised e-books #1, #2, #3, and #4:

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1 (LINDASHDISEP1) - Revised 8/16/09

Learn how to set up an email and forum signature, add text links and clickable link lists, change your font type, change your font size, change your font color, learn how to create an email link, learn how to use margins, learn how to use padding, learn how to create borders, draw a line, underline, skip a line, create a paragraph, add color to your border and text, change the background area within your borders, and create a simple banner out of html code. You’ll also learn what the names and #’s are for the 16 CSS colors, what the various size standard advertising banners are, what the difference is between the different picture file types, what the standard video formats are, and what the standard shortcut computer keys are.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #1 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2 (LINDASHDISEP2) - Revised 8/16/09

Learn some of the common HTML and CSS tags and attributes, learn how to center banners, button, text or pictures, learn how to add scrolling banners, learn how to add vertical advertising banners, learn how to add horizontal advertising banners, learn how to add colored borders to your banners, learn how to change the background colors between the borders of your banners, learn how to space banners of different sizes, learn how to make your banners clickable back to your website or blog, learn how to build rows of clickable banners, and learn how to add color to the borders and background of rows of clickable banners.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #2 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3 (LINDASHDISEP3) - Revised August 16, 2009

Learn about coding for promotion, copyright, and bio signatures, coding for clickable links to another section of a page, how to take a screenshot of your website or blog, what a plugboard is, learn how to make your plugboard bigger, learn why plugboards red x’s are bad for business, how to add wallpaper to your blog, how to widen your blog, why you would want to create generic blog posts, how to create clickable e-product links, learn how to create drop down menus for your website or blog sidebar, learn what to do about the size of your e-patterns, learn how to set-up a free .PDF file, and learn about some of the best photo hosting websites out there for crafters.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #3 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4 (LINDASHDISEP4) - Revised August 16, 2009

Learn how to add a banner rotation to your website or blog, learn how to build a simple table, learn how to add images to a simple table, learn how to center those images within a table and make those images clickable, learn how to add padding, spacing, and borders to images within a table, learn how to add clickable text links to a table, learn how to all wallpaper or images to the background of a table, and learn how to handle different size banners within a table.

Linda Walsh Originals E-Books
Linda's How-Do-I Series? E-Book #4 - Revised August 16, 2009
Buy Instant E-Book NOW

We hope you enjoy our revised Linda's How-Do-I Series? Helpful Tips for Crafters With Websites and Blogs E-Books #1, #2, #3, and #4 and our new articles.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"

Our NEW Everything E-Directory Is A GREAT Place For Listing and Advertising YOur Website, Blog, and Product

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 07:16:47 PST

If you've known me for awhile you know that I have a LOT of websites and blogs so starting another website and blog might sound a little crazy to you.

Well, it is and it isn't.

You see I've been mulling something over in my head for close to a year now. It has to do with being a small business crafter online and has to do with my experiences with that and with my experiences trying to find everything I need in one place.

There's just SO MUCH that you need for your websites and blogs and just SO MANY places to look. I wanted to make that a little easier, especially when it concerns e-products.

So, I thought that an EVERYTHING E-DIRECTORY to be "YOUR ONE SOURCE FOR EVERYTHING E FOR CRAFTS" would be a perfect solution for small business artists and crafters and e-hobbyists alike. Everything in one place.

Whether you’re looking for E-Patterns, E-Books, E-Tutorials, E-Pictorials, E-Classes, E-Printables, Graphics, Video’s, Podcasts, Blogs, E-Zines, E-Tailers, E-Stores, E-Directories, E-Communities, Handmade Crafts Websites, Crafts Suppliers, Crafting Plugboards, Website Hosting, Picture Hosting, Crafting Topsites, Crafting Twitters and FACEBOOK Crafters, E-Products Classifieds, E-Products Specials, Free Craft E-Products and more we are your one source for EVERYTHING E for your crafting needs.

One place to list all your websites and blogs - even your products. Something suitable and affordable for the newest of small business crafters to the more experienced artist and crafter.

You can list your websites, blogs, and even single products, and you can have your website, blog, even single products as featured advertising. We've got lots of options and lots of possibilities. And, of course, plenty of "freebies."

And, like I do with everything, I have an EVERYTHING E FOR CRAFTS E-DIRECTORY BLOG to support the Everything E-Directory. All our listings members and 12 month featured advertisers will have links back to their websites, blogs, and/or products on the sidebar of the blog. And, we'll have monthly posting for our listing members and 12 month featured advertisers "Latest News", "Contest" and "Specials." And, whenever anyone lists their website. blog, or product or advertises their website, blog, or product we'll post about it during that month. It's a win-win for small business crafters and more experienced crafters alike.

Listing in the Everything E-Directory is FREE and easy to do. Your listing contains a clickable 125x125 button banner for your website and/or blog, or clickable 125x125 product picture on the applicable e-directory category page. It also contains a clickable text link back to your website, blog, or product page as well as a short website, blog, or product description on the applicable e-directory category page.

Advertising in the Everything E-Directory and/or Everything E For Crafts E-Directory Blog is also easy to do and is very affordable. For the featured advertising we offer you a choice of either a button banner or product picture on the applicable section of the HOME page of the Everything E-Directory, top of the applicable Everything E-Directory category page, top of the Everything E For Crafts E-Directory Blog, or sidebar of the Everything E-Directory for product advertising.

For the button banner advertising or product picture you can choose 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or one year of sequential advertising. The prices for months 3 through 12 reflect a discount for placing sequential ads. The longer sequential period of time you advertise the less you pay per advertisement. Featured advertising button banners and/or product pictures run for the length of your sequential advertising period and needs to be 150x150 in size.

We are a family-friendly website and do not allow websites, blogs, banners, or product pictures that are not family-friendly.

I hope you'll agree that this was a great idea. If you'd like to visit our Everything E-Directory please CLICK HERE.

If you'd like more information on listing in our Everything E-Directory please CLICK HERE.

If you'd like more information on featured advertising in our Everything E-Directory and Everything E For Crafts E-Directory Blog please CLICK HERE.

I hope you decide to join us.

Video's Are A Great Small Business Tool!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:49:09 PDT

YouTube Finally Got Me! I finally took the plunge and set up a LWOrig channel on YouTube.com and added two slideshow video's to it.

I'd been resisting doing this for quite some time. I'm not exactly sure what my rationale was, but maybe it had to do with the very nature of YouTube.com and the video's that were first placed there. Maybe I didn't see the small business and advertising potential for my online business at first.

Well, YouTube has become so mainstream that I decided I'd give it a try. Besides they didn't just have video's - you could also have slideshows, etc. And, in thinking about promoting all my websites and blogs I decided that video slideshows would be just the thing.

So, I created two of them without music to promote my Linda Walsh Originals business and my "faceless" doll creations. I decided not to add music as these were being used for my small business purposes not being created for personal use. I respect copyrights and didn't want to have a copyright or royalty issue by using music.

I created my video slideshows using Microsoft Movie Maker software (MSMovieMaker) and found that it was very easy to do. It actually took less time to create than it did to upload it to YouTube.com. Uploading was time consuming due to the size of the video's, but very easy to do from the YouTube.com website.

In fact, it was so easy to do that I decided I should add more video's to my LWOrig YouTube Channel. If you'd like to visit my LWOrig YouTube Channel please CLICK HERE.

I don't know why I didn't create video's before as I can now see what a GREAT way they are to promote your business and what a wonderful small business tool they are. I have added either the video's or links to the video's on the sidebars of all my blogs and links to them on some of my websites.

The first video is all about Linda Walsh Originals and how much there is to do on our websites and blogs. It's entitled "So Much To See And Do At Linda Walsh Originals" and is shown on our left hand sidebar.

The second video, which is also shown on our left hand sidebar, is about my "faceless" beauties and is entitled "Faceless Beauties By Linda Walsh Originals" .

I hope you like the videos.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals Dolls - "Handmade Dolls & Crafts for Grown-up Girls!"

Tips From the Blogging Queen - Column 20 - Should You Join A Team Blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:20:28 PDT

Last September in my TFTBQ Column 19 our definition was "Group or Team Blog." This is a blog maintained by two or more bloggers. Also known as a team blog. Our question was -"Should You Join A Team Blog?"

If you are a small business crafter on the web you probably know that networking is very, very important to getting your website and/or blog seen. Not only has networking blossomed from communicating and mingling with friends with the same interests, but has mushroomed into multiple ways in which to promote your websites and/or blogs.

You can join any of the thousands of social communities out there, become an active member of any of the thousands of online forums, or participate in groups with your interests. You can write FREE articles and gain a following on any of the FREE articles content websites. You can even create your own channel and video's on YouTube.com that other viewers can add to their favorite video's play lists.

You can gain followers on Twitter.com and update them minute to minute with what's going on. Or, become a member of Facebook.com and provide updates to your network of friends. Plus, if you set up a business page for your website and set up a networked blog page on Facebook.com you can update your fans with what's going on with you and your business. You can join any of the hundreds of blogging networks and communities and add "friends" or "admirers" of your blog.

And, you can even become a member of a "team blog" which is nothing more than several people writing posts for the same blog.

Team blogs are usually centered around a common theme or idea. They might contain content about any number of different crafts or interests for the members of the team. They might even be formed by any one of the various clubs you might belong to and used for updating the other members on the various activities of the club and its' members. Team blogs are even being used to create monthly e-zines.

They can be very helpful and versatile for promoting your interests, products, website, and blog and may be maintained by one or several of the team members. Posts may be contributed individually by each of the team members and published by each or they might all be filtered through a team leader who publishes the posts and maintains the blog.

The advantages are that they are being maintained by more than one person and therefore updated more frequently. Less pressure for you to constantly be coming up with a post for your blog. Plus, with more members of the team promoting the blog the wider the spectrum of readers.

The disadvantages are that they may be being maintained by more than one person or persons who may or may not have your posting style and posting demeanor. You might like your blog posts and blog to be maintained in a certain way and style and might not like the style of any one of the team members. Plus, with a wider spectrum of readers comes a wider circle of connections that you may or may not like for your small business image.

It may seem confusing that the advantages of team blogs and disadvantages of team blogs are, well, basically the same. Team blogs can be very beneficial to helping you to promote your website and/or blog, but like everything else on the web it's important to know who the other team members are, what their style is, and who their audience is before deciding to become a member yourself.

Are team blogs beneficial? Yes!

Do they help promote your small business and/or interests? Yes!

Should you join a team blog? If the team blog is conducive to your small business and will help promote your small business to a wider audience then after a careful review of the other team members - yes!

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 21 Definition - "Labeling and Categories"

This is a method of organizing blog entries by assigning each entry to a predetermined label. Each label will link to a list of entries, all with related content. See also "categories." Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 21 "Should You Label Or Categorize Your Blog Posts?"

Copyright © 2009 - All Rights Reserved - Written by Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals, Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer. http://lindawalshoriginals.com/

Contributing FREE Content Is A Great Way To Gain Exposure For Your Website or Blog!

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:37:41 PDT

There are so many ways for you to gain exposure for your website and/or blog on the Internet. One of the ways to do so is to provide FREE content on your website and/or blog.

The FREE content can be in the way of a post, pattern or e-pattern, tutorial, project, graphic, printable, podcast, e-book, e-class, video, etc. It can even be a how-to or a tip. Just about anything you think your customers or readers would be interested in.

You can also allow other websites and blog owners to either add links to or your actual free content to their websites and blogs thereby providing links back to your website and/or blog. Case in point would be my The Best FREE Craft Articles blog.

I have had so many wonderfully talented artists and crafters contribute FREE articles, tutorials, e-books, e-patterns, graphics, e-printables, how-to's, craft projects, tips, crafting podcasts, etc. to my "The Best FREE Crafts Articles" blog over the last three years that even I have lost count of the numbers.

Thank goodness for computers. They never lose count and at last count over 500 FREE articles, tutorials, e-books, e-patterns, graphics, e-printables, how-to's, craft projects, tips, crafting podcasts, etc. have been contributed.

If you'd like to see all the FREE content by category please just CLICK on the CATEGORY below:

If you'd like to see the contributions by artist or crafter please just CLICK on their NAME in the drop down menu below:

I'm sure that any of the above would tell you that adding free content to their websites and blogs has brought them more traffic. I know that it has certainly brought a ton of traffic to my "The Best FREE Craft Articles" blog which I hope has translated into more traffic for my contributors.

If you're looking for a way to gain exposure on the web consider what you can offer for free.

Copyright © 2009 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals, Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer. http://lindawalshoriginals.com

So How Do You Like The Changes To My Blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:58:16 PST

Well, it's been awhile since I've updated my Tips From The Blogging Queen blog. So, I decided it was time for a fresh coat of paint.

I've updated it, reformatted it, and added a few tweaks here and there.

I'm hoping that with all my patterns being completed that I'll be able to start my monthly "Tips From The Blogging Queen" column for small business crafters on the web once again. I've got my fingers crossed.

I hope you like my Tips From The Blogging Queen blog's new paint job!

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"

I've Revised My Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern FREE E-Book

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 15:44:49 PDT

It seems amazing to me that the original free version of my Linda's How-Do-I Series? How to Design a Print Pattern and E-Pattern E-Book has been downloaded 7,441 times. That's right - 7,441 times. That's A LOT of pattern designers out there.

Now you might think that this would be bad news and that as a pattern designer I would be threatened by this as I gave away trade secrets to the competition. Actually, I'm thrilled.

Thrilled because there are so many individuals out there who want to design their own patterns and thrilled because this means the interest in sewing, creating, and selling of e-products on the Internet is growing. More growth means more business for all of us. Especially if it means more growth for e-patterns, which are still in their infancy on the Internet.

So, I decided that I should REVISE and UPDATE my original e-book and I'm happy to report that it is finished and has been added to my Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns website under How-To E-Books and is now bigger and better than ever.

So, did I give away even more trade secrets? Guilty as charged.

Is more competition bad news? Absolutely not! I couldn't be happier, especially if it translates into more business for e-patterns on the Internet.

You know my crafting community motto - what helps one of us helps all of us.

If you'd like to buy the REVISED VERSION of my Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern please just CLICK HERE or click on the picture above.

I hope you enjoy the REVISED VERSION of my Linda's How-Do-I Series? How To Create A Print Pattern and E-Pattern E-Book and hope it motivates you to create your own e-patterns.

Copyright © 2008 All Rights Reserved—Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns (www.lindawalshoriginalsepatterns.com) and Linda’s Blog (www.lindawalshoriginals.blogspot.com). Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 19 - Will You Get Dooced?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

Last June in my TFTBQ Column 18 our definition was "Dooced." This is having lost a job because of entries posted to a blog. Our question was -"Will You Get Dooced?"

I read somewhere that at last count there were over 185 million blogs out there and that hundreds of thousands are being created every day. In fact, if you key the word blog into Google you get 949,000,000 results. That doesn't mean there are that many blogs out there. It just means that there are that many results on the Internet for the keyword word "blog."

Blogging has become so mainstream that Human Resource departments of companies are now creating "blogging" policies for their companies and employees. With blogs becoming so mainstream and with that many blogs out there you have to be saying to yourself, "That's a lot of blogs. Mine will never get noticed."

You might also be thinking that with so many blogs out there the chances of your being fired because of entries posted to a blog has to be minuscule. Besides you have a right to post whatever you want to your personal blog or your small business blog. Right?

Well, you have the right to post what you want to your blog, but if you're a small business blogger who is trying to attract business and customers doing so might just hurt your business. If you have a small business blog where you're trying to personalize yourself to your readers and attract business then hot button issues and controversial images and/or opinions would not make good business sense. So, you stay clear of that for your small business blog. Right?

Well, what about your personal blog. Certainly your have the right to say and post what you want there. Right? Besides the likelihood of something being seen has to be minuscule. Right?

Well, the chances aren't as minuscule as you might think and the reason for that is due to the search engines. You see, the search engines have a funny way of uncovering exactly what you don't want uncovered. Even things you think you've deleted.

If you are like many small business crafters on the web you probably have a full-time job. With Human Resource departments creating "blogging" policies you have to know that employers are very aware of the power of the Internet to disseminate information rapidly and are therefore watching what is said about their company.

Does this mean they're "googling" their employees? Probably. As a small business owner - wouldn't you? In fact, how many of you "Google" your own name, your small business name, your product names, etc. to see what is being said about you and your business. Most of you I would bet. It only makes good business sense to do so. After all, it's your small business reputation that is at stake. So, you have to "Google" things about you and your business as a prudent business measure. Right?

Well, employers are no different. It is their job to maintain the reputation, integrity, confidentiality, security of copyrights and trademarks, and good standing of the businesses they work for. Right? And, in doing so they are going to go to the Internet to see what is being said.

Which brings us all back to the likelihood of your blog posts being seen. Will they be seen? Absolutely. There are just so many variables for how you could be uncovered by a search engine that I'd be here all night just listing them. Suffice it to say that despite your best efforts to remain anonymous you will be seen.

What about your Facebook page, your MySpace page, or any number of social networking websites? Will employers be looking here? Well, the idea of these websites is to create a profile containing your real name. Right? That's because they are set-up for all your friends to find you. And, old school chums aren't going to be able to find you if you use a pseudo name. Right? Does that mean your employer can find you, too? Absolutely.

Does that mean you shouldn't post the pictures you want and say whatever it is you want? Right again. You shouldn't and here's why. If you use your blog or your social networking pages to post objectionable material or post about your frustrations with the company you work full-time for or your boss then you are going to have an issue with your employer.

And, if your full-time employer can find you, well so can your small business customers. Whether or not it has anything to do with the small business products you are selling or not you can bet that a customer will think twice about doing business with you if you are posting objectionable material or venting your frustrations on the Internet.

That's here and now. What about the future? Well, if you're looking for a prospective employer to hire you then in this day and age you'd better check yourself out on Goggle to make sure their isn't anything objectionable about you anywhere on the web. Will prospective employers Google you? Absolutely. A comment you might have made about your employer in a forum is fair game for the search engines, too. In fact, anything and everything on the Internet is fair game for the search engines and for prospective employers to find.

Are employers Googling existing employees and prospective employees? Absolutely. They'd be foolish not to. If you do anything that might reflect badly on your employers good name, reputation, business standing, etc. with anything you may have said or posted in your personal blog, social networking website, forum, etc. then they are not going to be happy with you and you may or may not get "dooced." That all depends on your employer and their respective "blogging" policies.

A good rule of thumb to follow is this. Do not post anything that you wouldn't want anyone else seeing or reading. This includes blog posts, images, social networking pages, emails, chat rooms, instant messages, video's, groups, forums, etc.

For those of you with small business websites a good rule of thumb is this. Do not post anything that any of your small business customers might find objectionable. With worldwide customers this encompasses a huge area of objectionable material.

My grandson and I were having lunch and I happened to mention that I had seen his MySpace page. He then asked "Did you read my wall, Nana?" I, of course, said, "Well, ya!" His response was, "Don't read my wall, Nana. That's private!" Well, in this day and Internet age the only thing that is private is something you keep to yourself.

So, will you get dooced? Maybe, maybe not! But, do you really want to test that?

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 20 Definition - "Group or Team Blog"

This is a blog maintained by two or more bloggers. Also known as a team blog. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 20 "Should You Join A Team Blog?"

© 2008 - All Rights Reserved - Written by Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals, Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer. http://lindawalshoriginals.com/

Blog Terms and Definitions Updated

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:27:10 PST

It's been about a year and a half since I updated my blog terms and blog definitions list. Well, in the blogging world that's a lot of time. Lots of things have changed and a lot of new terms have been added.

So, to help my craft blog readers and anyone who is starting a blog for the first time I thought I'd update my blogging terms and definitions list. It's not a definitive list by any means and doesn't intend or claim to be so. I provide it as nothing more than a tool for my craft blogging readers and friends.

Blogs and bloggers have a language all to their own that might seem strange for anyone being introduced to blogging for the first time. So, I thought it might be helpful to compile a list of the more common blogging terms and their definitions that crafting bloggers on the web might run into:

A-List - Top bloggers who influence the blogosphere.

Above The Fold - The content on a blog that appears in the open window without scrolling downward or sideways.

Address - A unique identifier for a computer or online website, usually a URL for a website or marked with an @ for an email address. Literally, it is how your computer finds a location on the information highway.

AdSense - Google advertising and affiliate program for generating money from your website and blog.

A-List - Another form of blog celebrity.

Anonoblog - A blog maintained by an anonymous author, often under a pseudonym or pen name. Synonyms include anonyblog, faux blog and ghostblog.

Aggregator - A program or website that allows users to read the contents of blog articles using RSS or Atom feeds.

Archives and Archiving - The repository of published articles for a particular blog.

Astroturfing - Also known as "astroturf marketing." The artificial creation of a grassroots buzz for a product or service.

Atom - An XML-based document format and HTTP-based protocol designed for the syndication of Web content such as weblogs and news headlines to Websites as well as directly to user agents.

Audioblog -A blog where the posts are mainly audio files such as music of podcasting. Sometimes the posts may contain some text or keywords.

Audioblogging - Also called audioblog. Blogging using audio instead of text.

Autocasting - An automated form of podcasting that generates audio versions of text blogs from RSS feeds.

B5media - Commerical blogging netwrok.

Back-up or Backing-up - Process of copying a blog template, and article(s and storing them on a separate medium in the event the blog template and article(s are lost or accidentally deleted.

Barking Moonbat - A negative term used to describe someone who is at the far edge of whatever ideology he or she is advocating (i.e. crazy).

Biblioblogosphere - A humorous reference to the world of librarian blogging.

Biz Blog - A business blog.

Blacklist - List of URL's the blogger has identified as banned from their blog.

Blammer - Blog spammer.

Blargon - Also called Blogssary. Blogging slang and glossary. What I am telling you now.

Blaudience - The audience or readership of a blog (i.e. the blog readers).

Blawg - A Law blog.

Bleg - A blog entry consisting of a request to the readers of a blog for information or controbutions. The name is derived from the words "blog" and "beg."

Blego - The self-worth of a blog as measured by the popularity of their blog.

Blinkie - A small blinking graphic.

Blinking - Also known as b-linking. This is moving from one blog to another by clicking on the links on a blog. See also "Blog Hopping."

Blistless or B-listless - When a blogger becomes listless or apathetic about posting. It is also indicative of what will happen to the bloggers mailing list.

Blog - A weblog, which is usually shortened to blog, is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary) and displayed in a reverse chronological order. See also "weblog."

Blogads - Ads running on blogs that generate income for the blog owner.

Blogaholic - Someone addicted to writing blogs or reading blogs.

Blogathon - Updating your blog every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight.

Blogathy - When you don't care if you posted in your blog that day.

Blogburst - Syndicating your blog feed to top publishers.

Blog Carnival - A blog post that links to other articles, within or outside of the blog, that cover a specific topic.

Blogcasting - A blog and podcast merged into a single website.

Blogchalking - Tagging a blog with meta tag information specifically for search engines.

Blog Client - An application that allows a blogger to post, edit, format and perform a variety of functions for a blog or blogs without launching a browser.

Blogcritic - Someone writing critical reviews and opinions on any topic.

Blog Communities - Communities of bloggers united for a specific purpose or social networking.

Blog Day - August 31st. Bloggers worldwide post an annual recommendation of 5 new blogs. The day is intended for bloggers to highlight other blogs that differ from their own creations in terms of culture, viewpoint, design or political view or affiliation.

Blog Digest - A blog that summarizes a number of other blogs on a daily or regular basis.

Blogebrity - Someone who is famous for blogging.

Blog Ecosystem - A map of the relationships between different blogs online.

Blogerati - The collective blogging intelligentsia, commonly understood as being the most influential and highly trafficked bloggers online by page rank and the effect of link traffic.

Blog Farm - Similar to webrings this is a website constructed from a group of linked blogs.

Blogfat - The increase of weight gained from blogging and lack of physical exercise.

Blogfather - The owner of a blogging website.

Blog feed - The XML-based file in which the blog hosting software places a machine-readable version of the blog so that it may be "syndicated" for further distribution on the web. Formats such as RSS and Atom are used to structure the XML file.

Blogfolio - An online journal created to display the blogger's creative work.

Blogfriend - Someone you know and consider a friend solely through reading and interacting with their blog.

Bloggable - Able to or worthy of being posted on a blog.

Blogger - The owner and writer, generally, of a blog. Also associated with Blogger.com.

Blogger.com - The number 1 service provider of blogs on the Internet.

Blogger Bash - An online or offline party for bloggers.

Bloggerel - An opinion posted on a blog that has previously been repeated many times, usually ad nauseum.

Bloggeries - The posts or entries within a blog.

Bloggerite - Blog equivalent of a socialite.

Bloggernacle - Blogs written by and for Mormoms. Short for blog and tabernacle.

Bloggeropoly - Professional blogger recruiting agency.

Bloggoogle - Directory of professional bloggers.

Bloggies - One of the most popular blog awards.

Blogging - The act of posting on blogs.

Blogher - Blogging website for women only.

Blog Hopping - To follow links from one blog entry to another, with related side-trips to various articles, sites, discussion forums, and more. See also 'Blinking."

Blogiday - This is when you get fed up and take a holiday from blogging.

Blogistan - Used interchangeably with blogosphere, though more often applied to warblogs or milblogs (i.e. military blogs).

Blogiversary - Birthday for the day the blog was established.

Blogiverse - See blogosphere.

Blogmaster - Someone who owns, writes, and/or manages a blog.

Blogmute - Someone who occasionally blogs.

Blog Network - A number of blogs under a single domain name or company that can be used commercially or solely for social purposes.

Blognoscenti - Bloggers who are especially knowledgeable about the blogosphere, blogging, or their particular blogging subject area.

Blog of Note - A recommended blog.

Blogogler - Someone who reads blogs and posts comments but doesn't start a blog of their own.

Blogography - The profile or "About" section of a blog, often containing a short biography of the blogger.

Blogoholic - A blogger addicted to blogging.

Blogology - The science of blogging.

Blogonomics - Blogging conference on a Blog Cruise in 2006.

Blogophobia - Fear of blogging.

Blogopotamus - A very long blog article.

Blogorific - A terrific blog.

Blogorrhea - A very large number of articles published by a blog.

Blog Provider - A company providing blog services and software.

Blogosphere - The blogging community.

Blogsit - Maintaining a blog for someone else while they take a break from blogging.

Blogspot - The Google Blogger.com web host address.

Blogstar - Blogger running a popular blog.

Blogther - A fellow blogger.

Blogroach - A commenter on a blog who obnoxiously disagrees with any and everything posted, as rudely as is possible.

Blogroll - A list of links to other blogs. May be manually entered by a blog user or provided by a "BlogRolling" service provider.

Blogsit - To maintain a blog while the blog's original or primary author takes a break from blogging.

Blog Site - The web location (URL) of a blog, which may be either a dedicated domain, a sub-domain, or embedded within a web site.

Blogsite - A web site which combines blog feeds from a variety of blogs and non-blog sources, and adds significant value over the raw blog feeds.

Blogsnob - Person who refuses to respond to comment on their blog from people outside their circle of friends.

Blogspot - Hosting service for blogs operated by Blogger.com, which in turn is run by Google.

Blogssary - Also called Blargon. Blogging slang and glossary. What I am telling you now.

Blogstalk - To religiously check a blog multiple times a day for new content.

Blogstipation - Being unable to think of anything to blog about (i.e. writer's block for bloggers).

Blogstorm - The name for when a tremendous amount of activity (i.e. posting, comments, etc.) surrounds a particular subject or controversy in the blogosphere.

Blogstream - A play on the term mainstream for the alternative news and information network of weblogs.

BlogThis - Used on Blogger.com, it is a function that lets you make a blog post without going to the Blogger.com website. BlogThis can be added to your browser toolbars. When you click BlogThis, it launches a mini-interface to Blogger that is pre-populated with a link to the Web page you are currently visiting, as well as any text you have highlighted on that page. Bloggers can also choose to add additional text and then publish from within BlogThis!

Blog Tipping - Complimenting 3 blogs on day 1 of every month.

Blogware - The software used to write blogs.

Blogule - An idea within a post that does not quite constitute a meme. See also "meme."

Blogvert - An ad on a blog, Ads can be pictures, banners, text, video, etc.

Blogvertising - Advertising of any shape or nature that appears on a blog either in the sidebar(s), masthead, footnote area, or embedded within the articles of a blog. Blogvertising usually contains a clickable link to the subject advertisers website or blog.

Blog Voyeur - A reader of blogs who has no blog of their own. See also "blurker."

Blogzine - An online magazine in blog format.

Bloll - A troll who specializes in blogs.

Blooger - A blogger acting like a teenager or in an immature manner.

Blogmarklet - A toolbar link for direct posting to a blog.

Blogopotamus - A blog that goes on and on without end.

Blogroach - Someone who delights in inflaming a blogger.

Blogstar - A popular blogger.

Blook - A blog turned into a book.

Blurker - A reader of blogs who leaves no trace of the visits behind. See also "blog voyeur."

BMP - Stands for "bitmap" and is the standard graphics file format on Windows-compatible computers.

Bookmarklet - a shortcut (i.e. link) for quick posting to a blog.

Boreblogging - Writing about personal matters that are barely interesting even to the writer.

BSM - Blogstream media. Generally from the most heavily trafficked blogs.

Bye-line - The text at the end of the post that identifies the blogger.

CAPTCHA - Short for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart." Security feature that shows letters and numbers and which requires the user to type into a box in order to show they are human and not a bot. Often used to minimize and eliminate posting, comment and trackback spam.

Catblog - A blog about cats.

Categories - This is a method of organizing blog entries by assigning each entry to a predetermined topic. Each topic (category) will link to a list of entries, all with related content. See also "labeling."

Celeblog - A blog focused on a celebrity.

Celebriblog - A blog maintained by a celebrity.

CEOBlog - A blog maintained by a chief executive officer. Variants include CIOBlog, CFOBlog, etc.

Clog Blog - A blog written in Dutch and/or by someone in Holland. May also refer to a corporate blog.

Clipart - A ready-to-use graphics file.

Clog - An online-community web forum with articles contributed by more than one person and which does not require user access to join.

CMS - Short for Content management system. Software used to publish and manage websites.

CoComment - Tracks comments across different platforms following conversations.

Collaborative Blogs - A blog written by more than one person and often about a specific topic and requiring user access to join and publish.

Commentariat - The collection of commenters for a particular blog.

Commenter - Someone who leaves remarks in the "Comments" section of a blog or article.

Comments - Opinions left by a blog reader on the published article or a blog.

Comment Spam - Spam posted in the comment section of blogs.

Continue - A link to another section of a blog to save space and loading time. Also known as a jump.

Creative Commons - A license providing a flexible range of protections and freedoms for authors to offer a voluntary "some rights reserved" approach to utilization of content.

Crisis Blog - A blog specifically created to respond to a public relations crisis for an organization , natural disasters, etc.

Crud- Code that unintentionally appears within the body of a blog post, instead of applying whatever formatting or action that the code was intended to perform.

CSS - Stands for "Cascading Style Sheet" and are software scripts that define color, layout, font types, etc. on a webpage or blog.

Dark Blog - A blog that is unavailable to the public. May be behind a firewall.

Dashboard - When logging into Blogger.com it's the first screen you see with your blog contols, tools, and functions.

Dead-Tree Media - Paper, magazine, and newspaper publishers. Also known as "old media."

Del.icio.us - The social bookmarking site where users can store, share, and discover new web bookmarks.

Desktop Blogging Client - A off-line blog management tool for posting, editing and archiving.

Digged - A link posted on digg.com for driving traffic to your blog.

Digg This - Hyperlinks provided by some blog service providers to allow blog readers to submit the post to the Digg.com website where members can discove, select, share, and discuss the news, videos, and podcasts that appeal to them.

Directory Blog - Directory blogs are usually focused on a particular news topic and/or provide regularly-updated links to topics of interest.

DNQ/DNP - Do Not Quote/Do Not Print. Borrowed from chat shorthand, indicating that whatever the acronym is applied to should not be posted anywhere else.

Domain - A name that identifies one or more IP addresses.

Dooced - To have lost a job because of entries posted to a blog.

Doppelblogger - One who plagiarizes the content of another blogger. To Doppelblog.

Dowdificication - Omitting one or several words from a quote in a way that changes the nature of the statement sufficiently to illustrate a point the writer is making, in the context of launching a criticism of the author of the quote.

Down thread - Referring to a post made earlier than a comment or post that you are reading, within the same section.

Draft - A non-published article on a blog.

E-Book - An acronym for electronic book. Can be anything from the digital version of a paper book, to more interactive content that includes hyperlinks and multimedia.

Edu-blog - An education oriented blog.

EFF - Short for Electronic Frontier Foundation. A nonprofit group working to protect blogger rights.

Ego-googling - Looking up one's own name in Google to check on its prominence. Also known as e-googling or self-googling.

Entry - A published article on a blog. See also "post."

E-Pattern - A complete pattern digitally encoded and transmitted over the internet as .PDF (portable document format) file which can be downloaded and then saved directly onto a computer. Can be transmitted as an instant download e-pattern or as an attachment to an email.

E-Product - A product which can be digitally encoded then transmitted rapidly, accurately and cheaply over the internet.

E-Zine - A periodic magazine publication distributed by email as a .PDF file or or posted on a website.

Expandable Post Summaries - Showing a small teaser part of the post on the index page that links to the full post elsewhere.

Event Blog - A blog set up, specifically, for a period of time to cover an event.

Facebook - Social networking website where users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region to connect and interact with other people. Members can add friends, send messages, and update their personal profile. The website's name refers to the paper facebooks depicting members of a campus community that some American colleges and preparatory schools give to incoming students, faculty, and staff as a way to get to know other people on campus.

Fact-check - To use Internet search engines to ascertain the veracity of dubious claims made in the press.

Feed - An XML file containing headlines and descriptions also called news feed, content feed, xml feed or web feed.

Feedblitz - An email subscription and newsletter service.

Feedburner - A professional feed management system.

Fisk - To deconstruct an article or post point by point, usually in such a way as to point out poorly made arguments or sloppy fact-checking. Also known as fisking.

Flame - To post a hostile comment, often directed personally to another commenter or blogger and generally deliberately inflammatory or insulting.

Flame War - A series of flames going back and forth on a blog, usually within the comment section, often going on for pages and bearing little relation to whatever topic was on the thread the flames are posted upon.

Flickr - Photo sharing web service.

Flog - Much like a ghost writer. A flog is a blog that is written by someone else.

Footer - The bottom most part of a blog usually listing navigation and copyright statements.

Format and Formatting - The organization of information according to preset specifications (usually for computer processing).

Froglogs - French blogs.

FTP - Stands for "File Transfer Protocol" and is the language used for file transfer from computer to computer across the internet.

GAD - Google Adsense Disorder. Repeatedly checking your adsense earnings.

Gadget - A mini application that resides on a computer desktop or personal home page that can provide any number of specific functions like: sports news, weather, joke of the day, etc.

GIF - Stands for Graphics Interchange Format and is a compressed graphic file normally used for small images that do not require too many colors.

Glog - To blog about an activity in person, where the person blogging is a participant in the activity.

Google bomb -To insert words or phrases into blogs, often as many as possible, with the intention of increase the page ranking of the words or terms on Google search results.

Googling - Using the Google search engine to look something up or check someone out.

Group blog - A blog maintained by two or more bloggers. Also known as "team blogs."

Graphic - An image that is generated by a computer or imaging device.

GUI - Graphical User Interface - A program interface that uses the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use.

Gulog - A very dismal and depressing blog. Short for blog and gulag.

Hat Tip - Acknowledgement of the source that tipped you the news.

Header - The topmost part of a blog usually containing the blog title.

Hitnosis - To become mesmerized by constantly reloading a Web browser to see if a blog's hit counter has increased or comments section has expanded.

Host - A computer that is connected to the internet.

Hosting Company - A company that uses a web server to provide storage space for many web sites.

HTML - Stands for "HyperText Markup Language" and is a software language for designing webpages.

Icerocket - Serach engine that specializes in searching blogs.

Idiotarian - Abusive term for an advocate of views a writer considers to be irrational, subjective, or without any relationship to the real world.

Image - A picture.

Index Page - The front page of a blog.

Information Super Highway - The Internet.

Instalanche - When a Web site receives a huge amount of temporary traffic due to a link being posted on instapundit.com. The phenomenon can slow or even crash Web servers that are not configured for this amount of traffic. Also known as "Instapundited."

Internet - A global network connecting millions of computers that includes nearly every university, government, and research facility in the world. Also included are many commercial sites and blogs.

Intranet - A computer network, based on Internet technology, that is designed to meet the internal needs for sharing information within a single organization or company. Generally, a private network that is not accessible to the Internet.

IP Address - Stands for "Internet Protocol Address" and is a numeric address that is given to servers and users connected to the Internet.

J-Blogosphere The name the Jewish blogging community uses to refer to themselves.

J-Blog - A blog with a Jewish focus.

Journal Blog - A personal diary-like blog or journal.

JPEG - Stands for "Joint Photograhic Experts Group" and is a common image format. Art and photographic pictures are usually encoded as JPEG files.

Jump - The continuation of a story on another page to preserve space on the index page.

Keyword - A word or phrase that is used when searching for a website in the search engines or directories that explains the content of a website.

Kittyblogger - A blogger who writes about his or her cats. More generally used to deride a blog or post as banal or boring.

Klog -A blog used by knowledge workers, where the blog itself is hosted within a company intranet for the purpose of sharing company knowledge. See also "plog."

Klogger - Someone maintains or contributes to a Klog.

Kos Kid - A term for any one who posts, or reads regularly, the blog Daily Kos. Also known as "Kwazy Kos Kids" after the eccentric nature of some of the members.

Koufax - An annual quasi-Liberal webblog award.

Labeling - This is a method of organizing blog entries by assigning each entry to a predetermined label. Each label will link to a list of entries, all with related content. See also "categories."

Lexiblographer - A person who chronicles blog terms.

Linguablog -A blog that focuses on linguistics, translation, languages, or other language-related subjects.

Link - Using hypertext, a link is a selectable connection from one word, picture, or information object to another.

Link Baiting - A habit of writing good content with the sole purpose of getting it linked from multiple sites.

Link love - To post a link to another blog without being paid or solicited to do so.

Link orgy - When a blog is linked to by many sites within a short period of time.

Link rot - The phenomenon whereby links from posts or blogrolls increasingly go dead as time passes.

Link whore - Any blogger, regardless of gender, who makes an extraordinary effort to get other blogs to link his or her blog or post. Also called a "Link slut."

Log in, blog to, log out - A catchphrase referring to blogger style of activity.

Lurker - A reader of a blog who never comments or otherwise indicates his or her presence.

Medblog - A blog dealing with health and medicine.

Mediasphere - A term describing the entirety of the conventional media, usually separate from the blogosphere.

Meme - An idea passed down on from one human generation to another. The cultural equivalent of a gene, the basic element of biological inheritance. Amongst bloggers, meme refers to an idea passed from one blog to another, cascading throughout the blogosphere.

Meme hack - An intentional change made to a meme, by using it in a different context or otherwise altering its meaning.

Metablog - To blog about blogging.

Meta-blogging - Writing blog articles about blogging.

Milblog - Blog written by a member or veteran of the armed services. Also known as a Joe blog.

Moblog - A blend of “mobile” and “blog.” A blog featuring posts sent mainly by mobile phone. They are often photoblogs.

Momosphere - Blogs written by Moms.

Mothball -A blog that you stop posting regularly and put into archival mode for posterity purposes.

Movable Type - A popular blog publishing software package.

Movlogs - Mobile video blogs.

MP3 Blog - Blogs that host downloadable music in MP3 audio format.

MSM - Mainstream Media.

Multi-blogger - A person or business running multiple blogs.

Multi-blogging - Creating, maintaining, and running multiple blogs (2 or more) at the same time.

Music Blog - Audio or MP3 blog.

MySpace - A social networking website popular amongst teenagers that offers interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos.

NavBar - A navigation bar usually seen on top of Blogger blogspot hosted blogs.

Netiquette - Etiquette on the Internet based on the Golden Rule. The need for a sense of netiquette arises mostly when sending or distributing e-mail, posting on Usenet groups, chatting and blogging.

Newbie - Someone new to a discussion or blog, often after the person demonstrated unfamiliarity with a concept or standards of communication of the forum. Also called "noob" or "noobie."

Network - A connection of two or more computers so that they can share resources.

Networking - The informal exchange of information and ideas between individuals who have grouped together for some common purpose. Also known as social networking.

Nicheblog - A blog created with the intent of using it to market products to a particular niche market.

Ning - An online social networking service for creating, customizing and sharing your own social network.

Open Thread - A thread whose topic is open for definition by those posting to it. Common to blogs with large readerships that visit to exchange views, as opposed to focus exclusively on posts from the blogger.

OPML - Short for Outline Processor Markup Language. It is an XML format for outlines which allows you to easily import and export multiple blog subscriptions between different RSS aggregators.

Page Rank - Google measures of the importance of a page which reflects in its rankings.

.PDF - An acronym for Portable Document Format, a universal file format that preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Created using Adobe Acrobat software and utilized by numerous e-products.

Permalink - The URL of individual article posts.

Phlog - A type of photoblog using Gopher protocol instead of HTTP.

Photoblog - A blog of mainly images and pictures.

Photobucket - Photo sharing web service.

Photocast - Photoblogs that update as soon as you add new images.

Photofeed - A web feed with images.

Ping - A feature in blog software that automatically notifies search engines, subscriber services, etc. when new posts or comments have been published. Can also be manually triggered by the blog owner on some blog ping services.

Pingback - See trackback.

Placeblog - A blog that focuses on people and events from a local area.

Plog - A political blog or project blog.

Plugins - Small files that add improved functionality and new features.

PNG - Stands for "Portable Network Graphics" and is a compressed graphic file normally used for images.

Podcasting - A combination of the words iPod and broadcasting where you post audio and video material onto a blog and its RSS feed specifically for digital players.

Podcatchers - A form of aggregator used to download podcasts.

Political Blog - Blogs that comment on politics.

Pornblog - A blog that displays or discusses pornography. A

Post - A published article on a blog. See also "entry."

Post scheduling - Using blogging software to write posts and schedule them for publishing in the future.

Post Summaries - Expandable sections of a larger blog. Often used with RSS feeds.

Problogger - A professional blogger.

Progblog - A progressive blog. A blog that supports left, liberal or green political ideologies.

Profile - A page about the blog owner that may include a picture and other information about the blog owner. Basically, an "About Me" page supplemental to one's blog.

Project Blog - A blog about a specific project.

Published Article - Individual blog article that has been made public and given a permalink.

Publishing - The process of making a blog article public.

Pundit blog - A blog focused on news punditry.

RDF - Short for Resource Description Framework. A web content syndication format.

RSS - Stands for "Real Simple Syndication" and is a file format that contains the latest articles posted by a blog. RSS feeds are immediate when an article is published and are read by RSS aggregators or reader. Depending upon the feed readers requirements a feed may contain just the title of the article, the title and a couple of lines, or the entire article that was posted.

RSS aggregator - A reader or feedreader service or software program that allows a blogger to read an RSS feed.

RSS Feed - The file that contains the latest updates to an RSS-equipped page.

RTWT - Stands for "Read The Whole Thing."

Reciprocal Link - A blog link exchange.

Repost - To post a comment or post that had already been posted, either within a thread or on another blog. Generally frowned upon in the blogosphere, especially when the content is from another blogger's site.

Scribosphere - The collection of blogs that are maintained by screenwriters.

Shocklog - A blog that intentionally provokes discussion by posting content aimed at shocking readers.

SEO - Search engine optimization. To improve your search engine rankings.

Server - A computer that delivers information and software to other computers linked by a network.

Sidebar - One or several columns placed on one or both sides of a blogs published articles.

Sideblog - A smaller blog usually placed in the sidebar of a blog. A blog within a blog.

Simultaneous Blogasm - What happens when two bloggers post the same thought at the same time.

Skins - One of a set of pre-designed templates for a blog, giving it a customized set of images, fonts and layouts.

Skypecasting - The practice of using Skype, the VoIP telephony service, to create podcasts, vidcasts and blog entries.

Slashdotted - When a Web site receives a huge amount of temporary traffic due to a link being posted on slashdot.org. The phenomenon can slow Web servers or even take sites temporarily offline by exceeding the allotted bandwidth for the site. The term can be used as shorthand for traffic surges due to posts on other extremely popular blogs, including Instapundit, BoingBoing, The Huffington Post or DailyKos.

Slide - Originally formed to make photo sharing software for social networking services such as MySpace, the company achieved its greatest success as the largest developer of third-party applications for Facebook.

SOB - Acronym for Successful and Outstanding Blogger. From successful-blog.com

Social Networking - See Networking.

SOVO- An acronym for Silent Online Video Object which is the use of a video clip in a blog where a print publication might use a photograph.

Spam - Unwanted, unsolicited email.

Spam blog - Blogs composed entirely of spam.

Spambot - Code that automatically generates large numbers of unsolicited comment spam.

Sping - A ping sent from a splog to make recipients think content of interest has been updated although that may not be the case.

Splog - A spam blog.

Spomment - See comment spam.

Storyblog - Blogs used to publish stories, creative writing and poetry.

Stripblog - A cartoon/comic related weblog, either pertaining to cartoons/comics or featuring graphics of that nature.

Stumbles - Video discovering, collecting, sharing and watching website.

Subscribe - Various types of services that allow readers to be notified when there are new posts to a particular blog.

Svithe - A spiritually themed post on a blog not normally focused on spiritual matters.

Syndicate - An RSS feature that automatically informs subscribers that a new post or comment has been published on your blog.

Tag - A keyword.

Tag cloud - Visual representations of tags or keywords used in a blog. Tag clouds may be used to organize content and can be presented in boldface to distinguish them from other text.

Take down - A point by point refutation.

Team Blog - Blogs written by members of a team.

Tech Blog - A blog focused on a technical subject.

Technorati - An Internet search engine that indexes and searches blogs. Technorati tracks blogs and other forms of citizen media, including video blogs (vlogs), podcasts and amateur movies and videos in real-time. All this activity is monitored and indexed within minutes of posting.

Template - A document or file having a set of pre-designed formats, used as a starting point for a particular application so that the format does not have to be recreated each time it is used.

Text Editor - A text editor is any word processing program that you can use to type and edit text. Word Pad and NotePad for Windows and SimpleText and TextEdit for the Mac are common text editors. Larger programs such as Microsoft Word and Word Perfect are also text editors but they have many more features. You can actually write HTML code and create HTML pages with a simple text editor as long as you know the correct HTML syntax.

Text File - A file that contains text only and is associated most often with a text editor. Examples are Notepad files (.txt).

Thread - A series of remarks posted in the comment section of a blog that follow a specific sequence.

Thread drift - The phenomenon of off-topic posts in a thread that is devoted to a specific topic.

Toolbars - A series of selectable buttons in a GUI (graphical user interface) that give the user an easy way to select desktop, application or Web browser functions.

Topical Blog - A blog that focuses on a niche.

TrackBack - Systems that allows a blog owner to see when someone has seen the original blog article and written another entry about it. A "ping" is sent between the two blogs alerting everyone as to the trackback.

Trackback Ping - A ping that signals a blog's server that a post on that blog has been commented upon.

Trackback spam - Sping sent by means of the Trackback system. Many blogs stopped using Trackback after the system became flooded with this type of spam.

Troll or Trolling - A person who posts content on a blog with the express intent of provoking an angry response. Trolling is the act of a troll.

Turing test - A test which determines if the party on the other end of a remote communication is a human or a computer program. See Captcha.

Typelist - Lists mainly the sidebars of blogs to other areas of interest to the blog owner or that they are recommending. They may or may not contain links to other URL's. Areas of interest could be books the owner likes, movies they like, pictures they like, etc.

URL - Stands for Uniform Resource Locator and is a string of text (i.e. the global address) that specifies the location of documents, websites, and other objects on the World Wide Web.

Vlog - A video blog.

Vlogging - Also called video blogging. Blogging using video instaed of text.

Vlogger - A video blogger.

Vorage - To search for video online and share it with others.

Webliography - A bibliography of web sources.

Warblog - A blog focused on war, commonly conflict in the Middle East but not limited to that theater. Often written by soldiers or battlefield journalists.

Web Feed - Allows online users to subscribe to websites that change or add content regularly.

Weblog - Usually shortened to blog and is a type of website where entries are made (such as in a journal or diary) and displayed in a reverse chronological order. See also "blog."

Webnesia - Instantly forgetting the website your browser is about to visit.

Webpage - A document on the World Wide Web, consisting of an HTML file and any related files for scripts and graphics, and often hyperlinked to other documents on the Web.

Website - A set of interconnected webpages, usually including a homepage, generally located on the same server, and prepared and maintained as a collection of information by a person, group, or organization.

Widget - An interactive self contained module for a blog. Combination of window and gadget.

Wiki - Collaborative on-line software that allows readers to add content on a subject that can be edited by others. For example: Wikipedia.

Word Banning - A feature from TypePad that allows a blogger to ban specific words, in addition to IP addresses, into a comment spam filter.

WordPress - An open source blog publishing application.

WWW - An acronym that stands for "World Wide Web" and is is a collection of online documents stored on servers around the world, that are connected to the Internet.

WYSIWYG - An acronym for "what you see is what you get." What you see on the computer screen corresponds to what you will get as printed output.

XFN - Short for XHTML Friends Network. Is a simple way to represent human relationships using hyperlinks.

XML - Stands for "Extensible Markup Language" and is a flexible way to create common information formats and share both the format and the data on the World Wide Web, intranets, and elsewhere.

YouTube - Video web service.

Zombie blog - Also known as a "spam blog."

Just like text messaging, forum commenting, etc. bloggers have their own shorthand, words, and definitions, too. You don't have to be an expert on them right away or know what everything means.

If you're new to "blogging" don't worry. If you decide to create a blog before too long some of these words will become common language to you. I'm sure you may have heard some of the terms already. Some may be more obscure and you may never use them or know what they mean. I gave them all to you because I like to be thorough.

I utilized the following source references to compile my list:

http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1186975,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Transwiki:List_of_blogging_terms
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blogroll#B
http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2006/06/the-giant-blogging-terms-glossary
http://www.webdesignseo.com/blogging-terms
http://www.bloggeries.com/blogging-definitions-terms-of-the-blogosphere.php
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1186975,00.html
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/glossary.html
http://www.webopedia.com/
http://www.planetebook.com/mainpage.asp?webpageid=70
http://www.blogossary.com/
http://www.jeffro2pt0.com/20-weird-blogging-terms
http://www.bloggingfusion.com/articles/blogging-terms-glossary-a-list-of-blogging-terms-article-5.html
http://www.webdesignseo.com/blogging-terms

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 18 - Are Blogrolls Important?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

Last month in my TFTBQ Column 17 our definition was "Blogrolls." This is a list of links or your blogs sidebar. They can be a manual list maintained by the blogger or a list provided by a "BlogRolling" service. Our question was -"Are Blogrolls Important?"

Given that there are hundreds of millions of blogs out there nowadays you have to wonder if your blog will get noticed.

For some of you your blog is a personal blog that you write for yourself and your family and/or friends. Getting noticed isn't paramount to you.

For others your blog is written in support of your online small business and helps to personalize you to your customers and keep your customers in touch with what's going on with your small business. Getting noticed is paramount to the survival of your online small business.

So, what do you do?

Well, just like your website you need links to help you get noticed and, most importantly, to help with search engine optimization. Search engines love blogs because they are filled with so much text. So, they crawl all over them and while doing so they follow the links from one blog to another. You want you blog to be one of those links.

It has been customary for bloggers for a long time to add the name and URL of other blogs that they like to the sidebar of their blogs. Bloggers just love to jump from one blog to another and the link on the sidebar provides the opportunity to easily do so. This also provides customers with the ability to check out other blogs as well.

So, how do you get linked with other blogs?

Well, just like with websites you can email other bloggers and ask if they'll exchange text links with you, join blog communities, join blog link exchanges, or join blog linking services like "Blogrolling."

Emailing other bloggers is a nice way to establish communication with other like minded bloggers and helps you with networking within your field of interest.

Blog communities are springing up all over the web and provide for a linking of blog URL's via their widgets. The widgets are small snippets of HTML code that you add to the sidebar of your blog and contain links back to other member's blogs, the bloggers avatar, etc. This is also another great way to network with other bloggers.

Blog link exchanges usually require their members to visit other members blogs in exchange for points. The more blogs you visit the more points you earn and they more often your blog is displayed for other bloggers to visit.

The blog linking service providers make linking easy by providing you with the ability to easily add the URL of a blog that you like to the sidebar of your blog. They do not, however, link your blog URL to the blog that you like. It's a one way link which according to some SEO experts is also good for search engine optimization.

Personally, I prefer an email exchange of links. I love to blog hop and if I find a blog that I like I will leave a comment so the blogger knows that I visited their blog. If I like their blog then I might add a link to their blog on the sidebar of my blog and I might ask them if they want to exchange links with me. If I like their blog and establish a relationship with them I may just refer someone to it.

Just like in the business world word of mouth is important. In the blogging world word of mouth is a text link on the sidebar. It says that the blogger likes your blog and is recommending it to their readers and/or customers.

Word of mouth is paramount for a small business and is why I prefer an email exchange of links over blog communities, blog link exchanges, and blog linking service providers. The latter three are very useful for exposure, but to me personalization, which is why you are blogging in the first place, is crucial. It doesn't get more personal than word of mouth.

So, the long and short of it is that blogrolls are very important for blog exposure. Which way you choose to blogroll is entirely up to you.

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 18 Definition - "Dooced"

This is having lost a job because of entries posted to a blog. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 19 "Will You Get Dooced?"

Copyright © 2008 - All Rights Reserved - Written by Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals, Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer. http://lindawalshoriginals.com/

"Mozilla - Firefox Versus Internet Explorer" How Does Your Website Fare?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

Three years ago when I decided to create a website I decided to use Microsoft "Publisher", which is an old "dinosaur" to create my website. I had been using "Publisher" for years and thought - "why not?" It used Internet Explorer as its browser and I would be using FTP to update my website so it was a good fit.

Back then "Publisher" had a LOT of coding issues and was not the optimum for coding finesse. However, I was familiar with the program and could easily update and maintain my website myself which was appealing to me. After I created my Linda Walsh Originals website I soon learned that it wasn't being read properly by some of the other browsers such as Mozilla - Firefox.

At the time I only used Internet Explorer and AOL, which used Internet Explorer as their browser. My website was FINE there so I asked some of my friends who had a problem with their browsers what was showing when they went to my website. The answer was as varied as the various browsers.

So, I decided to use my GoDaddy.com website hosting statistics to see how much of my website traffic was for browsers other than Internet Explorer. At that time 98% of my traffic was by Internet Explorer with close to 1% for Mozilla - Firefox. The other 1% was made up of several smaller browsers. I decided that less than 1% was not something I had to immediately address.

When I decided to update my website I was hoping that Publisher 2007 would contain more standardized coding and, hopefully, solve the browser distortion problem. To my delight it did and solved most of the Mozila - Firefox distortion problems.

So, I decided to check my browser statistics to see if more of my traffic was coming from Mozilla - Firefox these days and whether it would be worthwhile to spend the time to fix both my Linda Walsh Originals and Linda Walsh Originals Dolls websites which had been created in Publisher.

To my surprise 86% of my traffic was coming from Internet Explorer now and 12% was now coming from Mozilla - Firefox. The remaining 2% was coming from several much smaller browsers. In evaluating the statistics I thought that 12% now was way too much of a customer base to be missing so I decided to spend the time to fix both of my websites and I'm happy to report that I no longer have a browser distortion problem with Mozilla - Firefox in either website. In fact, none of my website and blogs have a browser distortion problem.

I recently switched to Mozilla - Firefox myself because I was having a horrendous time with Internet Explorer 7.0. It was SLOW as molasses, was freezing during printing from my blogs, and causing a multitude of other issues. After using Internet Explorer exclusively for over 30 years I'd had enough and made the switch. I'm happy to report that Mozilla - Firefox does have a few problems, but I haven't been happier. It works like a charm and ALL my websites and blogs are FINE and load exactly as I want them to.

So, why am I telling you this? Well, if you are a small business website owner or blogger you might want to check your website and blog to see if Mozilla - Firefox is displaying properly. If my percent of website traffic from Mozilla - Firefox is par for the course then 12% of a customer base is WAY TOO MUCH to be losing.

Plus, if you are a blogger and have deviated from some of the standard blog providers templates you might want to consider checking your blog. In checking the blogs of several of my blogging friends who have gone to 3-column templates I have noticed that they aren't displaying properly.

For now I'm happy with Mozilla - Firefox. Happy browsing.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"

Do You Use Google Reader?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

I have been a big fan of Google.com and all the services they offer for a long time. One of the services they offer is Google Reader which I have found to be an invaluable tool and time saving resource for me.

Google Reader is a feed service that allows you to track RSS and Atom feeds. For me, I use it to keep track of all the current posts for all my Top Blogs By Crafters Toplist blogs.

Since I now have 357 members on my toplist that's a LOT of blogs to read. But, Google Reader makes that a breeze and I just love keeping up-to-date on what's happening with my favorite blogs.

The only negative is that I'm only seeing the feeds and not all the changes everyone has made to their blogs, which I also like to see.

So, from time to time I just visit everyone's blog to see what they've done to their blogs. It's always fascinating to see the creativity involved with all the bloggers and see how much the new bloggers have learned for managing their blogs.

Since I use I-Google as my home page I have a widget for Google Reader right on my homepage. So, I can read the blog updates as they happen right from my homepage or just go to my Google Reader page.

Adding new subscriptions is a breeze and managing my subscriptions is a breeze.

If time is of the essence, and you have a LOT of blogs you like to read then try Google Reader. It will save you some time. It certainly does that for me.

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 17 - Have You Become Blistless?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

Last month in my TFTBQ Column 16 our definition was "Blistless or B-listless." This is what happens when a blogger doesn't care about posting and becomes apathetic about it. In other words - listless. Also know as "blogathy" which is characterized by lack of interest in your blog. Our question was - "Have You Become Blistless?"

Every blogger suffers from time to time with being a little bored with their blog and with writing articles. You might not have anything new to say or might get a version of writers block called "bloggers block." That's alright. Usually it will pass and usually it just requires stepping back from your blog for a bit.

The problem for a small business blogger is that by not posting frequently or taking too long of a break might result in lost readership. And, once the readership is lost, it is very hard to reclaim.

Lost readership can also translate into a loss of customers and potential business. For the small business blogger that isn't good.

So, what do you do if you're a small business blogger and a little tired of your blog. Well, you plan for the occasional blistless or blogathy periods and re-issue previous posts, stockpile some articles ahead of time, or post some re-cap articles.

What do I mean by this?

Well, you prepare for the blistless periods - which you are going to have - by writing generic articles that are not time or period sensitive that you can re-post later on. Or, you prepare by stockpiling articles ahead of time that can be posted when you're in a blistless period.

Both of these require a little planning and forethought as to what your article will be about. When writing re-post articles just give some thought as to being able to re-post this, say, in 6 months or next year and write with that in mind.

For the stockpile articles I have always found that when I'm in a "blogging" mode that I can write several articles ahead of time and save them to be released later on.

For the re-cap articles this is where having several different theme oriented blogs comes into play. All you have to do is post articles re-capping what's happening on your other blogs.

All three of the above will keep you posting during the blistless periods and keep your small business from suffering in readership and potential customers. Most importantly, don't worry. Your "blistless" or "blogathy" period will pass and you'll be blogging again to beat the band!

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 17 Definition - "Blogroll"

This is a list of links or your blogs sidebar. They can be a manual list maintained by the blogger or a list provided by a "BlogRolling" service. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 18 on "Are Blogrolls Important?"

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 16 - Should You Become A Vlogger?

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:24:09 PST

Last month in my TFTBQ Column 15 our definition was "vlog" which is nothing more than a video blog and a "vlogger" is simply the blogger who maintains it. Our question was - "Should You Become a Vlogger?"

That is a good question and like other things within the blog world not easily answered. You see, "vlogging" just like "blogging" started out as a simple thing and morphed into unbelievable proportions. Think "YouTube" and you know where I'm going with this.

"Vlog" is a combination of video and blog. Entries are posted in reverse chronological order and may combine video and text, images, or other data. In the blogosphere "vloggers" and their blogs are referred to as the "vlogosphere."

Vlogs started out as simple videos posted hourly, daily, etc. to a blog and were pretty much video diaries of a person's life, chronicle of an event, etc. When computer processing speed improved and internet connection speeds increased vlogging became achievable for the masses.

Videos have become so immensely popular that just about everyone is creating them and a whole slew of websites to support video content have been created. YouTube is the behemoth of the video craze and to show you the importance of this phenomenon Google paid YouTube.com 1.65 billion in stock to purchase it in 2006.

And, of course with increased popularity comes awards. The 1st ever "Vloggies" video awards was held in November 2006. Think academy awards of videos.

Anyone with access to a video camera and a high-speed connection can create a vlog and publish it the same way text articles are published to a blog. The content is distributed via RSS feeds. Video content distributed this way is known as a vodcast or vidcast.

And, with the advent of technology in 2007 live interview vlogs and live transmission became possible.

So, for a small business owner the question is "Should You Become a Vlogger?" Well, that is not a simple question to answer for a small business owner. It really depends on what you are selling and whether or not videos would enhance your small business blog. It also depends on how creative you are.

Just like writing articles for a small business blog, creating videos requires creative skill, thought, and, most importantly, organization. You can't just throw a video out there - not if you're a small business owner. You need to think about what your video is going to convey to your readers and/or customers. Does it compliment your products and your business? Or, is it a detriment?

If it doesn't enhance your business image, convey to your readers and/or customers who you are and what your product is, or generate future sales for you then you shouldn't be vlogging. You might create a video that generates a tremendous amount of traffic to your website, but if that doesn't translate into sales for you then you might not have the right video.

So, should you become a vlogger? Well, that depends on what you're selling, how much time you have to devote to your videos, and how creative you are.

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 16 Definition - "Blistless or B-listless"

This is what happens when a blogger doesn't care about posting and becomes apathetic about it. In other words - listless. Also know as "blogathy" which is characterized by lack of interest in your blog. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 17 on "Have You become Blistless?"

© 2008 - All Rights Reserved - Written by Linda Walsh ofLinda Walsh Originals Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer. http://lindawalshoriginals.com/

My Tips From The Blogging Queen Blog Blidget

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:38:05 PST

I've been playing again. This time it's with WIDGETS.

WIDGETS that you can add to your websites and blogs. Well, in my case it's WIDGETS and BLIDGETS.

Now you might just be wondering what a WIDGET is or certainly what a BLIDGET is. Well, a widget is a box that holds data that a user can interface with. It can be a game, a calendar, news, pictures, or just about anything you can think of.

And, here's the best part - it can also be a blog. Which means it's a BLIDGET.

That's right - it can be a blog. Your blog, in fact, turned into a widget.

That means that I can create a BLIDGET of my Linda's Blog and add it to any of my other websites or blogs.

And, if I make it a public blidget - guess what - you can add it to your website or blog.

How fantastic is that?

So, of course I created public BLIDGETS for all my blogs except my "I Love Crafts and Craft Blogs" and "The Best FREE Craft Articles" blogs. I didn't create public widgets for those two as they contain copyrighted materials from other bloggers and that is a violation of the Widgetbox.com terms of use.

You might be wondering exactly how I did this, what my blidgets look like, and where you can get one for your blog. Here's the where-with-all.

Here's what my Tips From the Blogging Queen Blog blidget looks like:

If you want to get my Tips From The Blogging Queen Blog as a BLIDGET for your website or blog all you need to do is CLICK on the little "Get Widget" button and follow the prompts. How much fun is this? Think of all the possibilities?

So, of course, the "dollies" noticed how much fun I was having and decided that they wanted their own BLIDGETS for their respective blogs. Only, they didn't want just my blogs they also wanted to have some FUN, some games, things relating to dolls. They wanted some WIDGETS, too.

Given that I hardly ever refuse them anything (well, hardly ever) I decided to add some fun WIDGETS to their blogs. That should keep them happy for about 2 minutes! LOL LOL

I'm going to add my blog BLIDGETS to the sidebars of my different blogs so if you're a reader of that blog and want to add it as a widget to your own blog or website all you need to do is click on the "Get Widget" button.

So, where can you get a WIDGET or BLIDGET for your own blog? Just go to WIDGETBOX.COM and open an account to get your very own blidget (which is your blog turned into a widget) or get some of the other widgets that are there.

I just love it when I'm playing. Have fun!

Posted by Linda Walsh Originals - "Doll Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"
Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns - "Instant Download E-Patterns for Grown-up Girls!"

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 15 - A Blog Is Not Your Grandfather's Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

I thought I'd take a little break from my usual "Tips From the Blogging Queen Column" format and use a little different format for Column #15.

My column this month is entitled: "A Blog Is Not Your Grandfather's Newsletter!" Now I know you might all be wondering what I mean by that. Well, let me explain.

From a marketing point of view weekly, semi-weekly, and monthly newsletters have traditionally been considered a good idea for small businesses on the Internet as you are directing your sales efforts towards a "targeted" audience. By this I mean people who have bought from you in the past (i.e. customers) and those people who have signed up as subscribers for your newsletter.

Traditional was always equated with the "best" or "your grandfather's tried and true methods." Well, in today's market if you only focus your marketing efforts on your traditional and targeted newsletter audience your competitors are going to leave you standing in the dust.

Now here's where our title "A Blog Is Not Your Grandfather's Newsletter" comes into play. When marketers want to convey that something is better than the tried and true traditional methods they use words such as "not your grandfather's...." to indicate that the new approach is not only different - IT'S BETTER!

Blogs are unique in that they can be a combination of a traditional tried and true approach as they can serve as a newsletter - ONLY MUCH BETTER - but, also function as critical marketing tools for today's small business environment and here's why?

Posting to your blog and the way your posts can be communicated to the Internet masses is astonishing. Not only can you have a targeted and non-targeted audience with subscribers of your RSS feed, but you have opened up the possibilities for expanding your customer base exponentially on a minute-by-minute, hourly, daily, weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly basis via the search engines.

The nature of the Internet and blogs has changed how we communicate. Internet users can receive RSS feed emails instantly, daily, subscribe to reader services and read what they want anytime they want. They can visit the blogs they like when they want and they can even download the blog articles, RSS feeds, podcasts, etc. to their PDA's, phones, IPods, portable drives, etc. This makes communication available 24/7, available when the reader (i.e. customer) wants it, and available in the format the user wants.

Now comes the really big reason why "Blogs are Not Your Grandfather's Newsletter!" Search engines love content and there is nothing more content driven than blogs. The search engines by their nature create your targeted audience for you and multiply that to mind boggling proportions.

Between the blog feed capabilities and the search engine capabilities the universe for customers has gone from just your tried and true "traditional" customer base to an exponentially limitless potential customer base. There may be people reading your small business blog that you are unaware of and they may just become future customers. Your blog posts are coming up in searches that you will never be aware of. Because of the ways information can be disseminated on the Internet now the potential reach of blogs is truly amazing.

Two years ago I gave up my traditional monthly newsletter in favor of my blogs and I have never looked back. If you are a small business owner on the Internet in order to market to your current, new, and future customer base you need a blog.

Blogs are definitely not your grandfather's newsletter. They are one thousand fold BETTER. As a small business owner on the Internet you don't want to be let standing in the dust.

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 15 Definition - "Vlogger"

"Vlogger" - A vlog is nothing more than a video blog and a "vlogger" is simply the blogger who maintains it. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 16 on "Should You Become A Vlogger?"

Copyright © 2008 - All Rights Reserved - Written By Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals, Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer. http://lindawalshoriginals.com

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Are You A Blog Hopper? Column 14

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

Last month in my TFTBQ Column 13 our definition was "Blog Hopping" which is to follow links from one blog entry to another, with related side-trips to various other articles, blogs, websites, etc. It is also used to describe visiting blogs that you like frequently and commenting on them.

If someone were to ask me if I provide links throughout my blog my answer would be "yes." As a small business blogger it is essential for search engine optimization to do so. The more links the better the rating.

However, if someone were to ask me if I "blog-hop" my answer would be "ABSOLUTELY." I love to see what my blogging friends are up to by not only reading their latest posts, but by visiting their blog. Each night I visit my favorite blogs (and I do have to admit there are a LOT of them) to see what's happening. Sometimes I leave a comment, sometimes not. Sometimes I follow a link from their blog to another blog that I have never visited.

Now, you might thing that it is a waste of time to hop from one blog to another to see what's going on when you can just get the latest RSS feed. Well, as far as time is concerned you are correct. However, you missed the most important thing about "blog-hopping" which is the experience of seeing what's going on with a particular blogger, the experience of really getting to know the "blogger" through all the vehicles available to them to communicate, and the experience of visiting a totally new and unfamiliar blog.

Blogging has become the "de facto" way to communicate with family, friends, and customers about what's happening with you, your family, and your business. And, explaining what's happening with you and your business can be done with more than just text. It can include pictures, graphics, video, downloads, new products, audio, podcasts, surveys for customer involvement, various widgets, new templates, etc.

There are so many ways to communicate on a blog that to not visit the blog is to truly miss the creative adventure, especially when you are visiting the blogs of small business artists and crafters. The blog becomes the essence of the artist and crafter. It invites you into their world - giving you insight into their art & craft, and insight into the mind of the artist or crafter themselves. You can get a visual feel for the artist or crafter which, hopefully, will entice you to buy from their blog or visit their website.

And, if you like someones blog or post, just want to say "hi", or just want to offer your opinion on something be sure to leave a comment. After all, doing so makes good business sense as you not only provide the search engines with a vital link back to your blog, but provide future readers and/or customers a way to "blog-hop" over to you. If they like your blog maybe they'll decide to do business with you. Maybe they'll add you to their list of "Blogs I Like" which might entice future customers.

So, the next time someone asks you if you are a "blog-hopper" make sure your answer is "ABSOLUTELY."

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 14 Definition - "Vlogger"

"Vlogger" - A vlog is nothing more than a video blog and a "vlogger" is simply the blogger who maintains it. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 15 on "Should You Become A Vlogger?"

Copyright © 2007 - All Rights Reserved - Written by Linda Walsh of Linda Walsh Originals, Linda Walsh Originals E-Patterns and Linda's Blog. Linda is a doll maker and doll pattern designer.http://lindawalshoriginals.com/

Tips From The Blogging Queen - What Is Podcasting and Should You Jump On The Podcasting Bandwagon? Column 13

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:27:44 PST

Last month in my TFTBQ Column 12 our definition was "Podcasting" which is a combination of the words IPod and broadcasting where you distribute audio and video material over the Internet using syndicated feeds like an RSS feed specifically for playback on portable digital players and personal computers.

I'm sure that most of you are aware of IPod's and probably have at least heard the word "podcasts." If you're not then you should know there has been a mini-revolution going on over the last few years with the way in which content is being delivered to the masses.

Content has become extremely mobile and "podcasting" is allowing audio and video content to be delivered to portable media players on demand.

What does this mean for you as a small business owner? It means that you can deliver audio and video content to your customers that they can watch or listen to whenever they want and wherever they are. Content has become available anytime and anywhere.

Also, the way in which content is being delivered is also evolving. It used to be that only audio content could be podcast and required MP3 files to be downloaded into IPod's or personal computers where separate player software (i.e. Real Player) was used to play the audio files. You would click on the link and download the audio file. The audio file would then open up in your "player" and begin playing the file.

This started with music downloads and quickly evolved into "radio broadcasts" where anyone could broadcast if they had a microphone connected to their computer and sound recording software.

Now "podcasts" have become so sophisticated that your can broadcast audio and video content just about anywhere, anytime. Some broadcasters are now combining "podcast" within their blogs and creating what is known as a "blogcast."

The latter allows bloggers to post an article to their blog and include an audio or video "podcast" within the post that can be played right from the post utilizing and inline audio/video player. Readers do not need to open up a new player.

So, should you jump on the "podcasting" bandwagon? That depends on what you are selling and how good you are at conveying your message either verbally or via video capture. In essence you would be creating a "radio show" or "video" for your customers.

Either of the above or combination of the above would have to contain content that is interesting enough for your blog readers to want to take with them and watch or listen to at their leisure?

"Podcasting" is not for everyone. Disadvantages include the fact that it does require practice and the ability to conceptualize what and how you want your idea conveyed to your customer. Advantages are unlimited mobility and being able to convey your ideas to your customers anytime and anywhere.

If you are capable of the above then for bloggers "blogcasts" are ideal. Blog posts can now contain audio and video podcasts within the posts. For small business bloggers there are so many ways to convey your message to your customer now that to not take advantage of some of them puts you at a severe disadvantage in the marketplace.

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 13 Definition -

"Blog Hopping" - To follow links from one blog entry to another, with related side-trips to various other articles, blogs, websites, etc. It is also used to describe visiting blogs that you like frequently and commenting on them. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 14 on "Are You A Blog-Hopper?"

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Are You A Multi-Blogger? Column 12

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:38:05 PST

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Are You A Multi-Blogger? Column 12

Last month in my TFTBQ Column 11 had two definitions "Multi-Blogger and Multi-Blogging." A Multi-Blogger is a person or business with more than one blog and Multi-Blogging is creating, maintaining, and running multiple blogs at the same time.

My question to you was: Are you a multi-blogger?

For those of you new to blogging I suspect the answer is "no." For those of you, like me, who have been blogging for awhile I suspect the answer is definitely "yes."

Now I know some of you are going to say, "I can hardly think of enough material to include in one blog for my small business - why would I create more than one?"

Well, the reason is simple - To provide directed content for your readers and/or customers.

Sometimes when you have been blogging for awhile and see how easy it is to post articles on just about anything you want about your small business, about your products, or about yourself you begin to realize that your posts cover a wide spectrum. In other words your blog begins to contain many, many different articles, subjects and/or facets about your business and your interests. Some of these may be entirely different areas with a vastly different audience. So, what do you do?

You create a blog specifically for that content and that audience. By doing so you provide your audience and/or your customers with the material that is specifically geared towards them.

For example, my small business sells e-products, print products, and a large variety of handmade items. When I started blogging I found myself writing about subjects that were as varied as my small business.

However, while some of those subjects were of interest to some of my customers and readers some were not. They had their own targeted audience so I created separate blogs for them. By doing so I allowed my readers and/or customers to subscribe to the blog that was specifically of interest to them. Of course, they could still subscribe to and read my main blog if they wanted to as it was a compilation of my entire business, but that was now up to them.

Now I know that you're going to say that multiple blogs is a lot of work. Granted setting up multiple blogs is extra work initially, but maintaining and posting to them isn't that much more effort. If you were going to post about a particular subject to your main blog then adding that same post to another blog is nothing more than copying and pasting.

Is the extra effort involved in setting up and maintaining multiple blogs worth it? Well, if it gives your readers and/or customers directed content that they like to read then you've made your readers and/or customers happy. And, hopefully, happy customers means more sales.

If you are currently a multi-blogger I say, "Congratulations!" If you're on the fence and wondering if you should create another blog then I say, "Go for it! Become a multi-blogger!"

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 12 Definition -

"Podcasting" - A combination of the words IPod and broadcasting where you distribute audio and video material over the Internet using syndicated feeds like an RSS feed specifically for playback on portable digital players and personal computers. Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 12 on "What is Podcasting and Should You Jump On The Podcasting Bandwagon?"

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Do You Need A Blogiday? - Column 11

noreply@blogger.com (Linda Walsh) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:38:05 PST

Tips From The Blogging Queen - Column 11 - Do You Need A Blogiday?

Last month in my TFTBQ Column 10 my definition was "Blogiday" which is getting fed up with your blog and taking a holiday from blogging. My question to you was: Do You need a Blogiday?

If you are like me and have been blogging for awhile you undoubtedly know that blogging creativity comes in phases. Some days you are in "blogging mode" and can write and create to your hearts content. Other days you can't think of a thing to write about and can't even get your fingers to move on the keyboard.

What's your problem? Well, you have just have "bloggers block" or "creativity block" and need to do something to get your creative juices moving again.

What should you do? Quite simply, don't despair - take a "blogiday" or a holiday from blogging.

You need to step away from the blog for a day or two or even a week or so and relax, enjoy yourself, and do something you love to do. Or, spend some time doing some of the mindless work you may have put on the back burner. For small business crafters there's nothing like mindless work or doing something you love to get your creative juices flowing again.

Better yet do something fun with your kids, or your friends, or visit your grandchildren. Take a day trip, go out to eat, or indulge yourself at a day spa. Go to the library or the bookstore and browse through all the books. Plan a vacation, take an online course, start a new hobby. Do whatever it takes to relax and take your mind off blogging.

What else can you do to get your creative juices flowing? Well,you may need to do some "blog hopping" and research on other blogs that you like to see what's new in the blogging world, catch up on the latest in blog widgets, search for some new graphics, find new content to add to your blog, etc.

Or, you may need to spruce your blog up. Try reformatting your blog, adding new colors, change your blog format, increase or reduce the columns or widths, add new wallpaper, or create a new banner. Sometimes a little "blog spring cleaning", "blog remodeling", or "blog sprucing" is all it takes to get your creative juices flowing.

And, when your creative juices are flowing again you'll find you're quickly back in "blogging mode." This time, however, when you're in "blogging mode" draft a few articles or ideas for articles and save them in "reserve" for those times when you are "blogstipated" (see my TFTBQ Column 9 in the July 2007 Faithful Friends Online Newsletter) and need to take another "blogiday." Then you'll always have articles to post when you get fed-up with your blog and need another "blogiday."

But, most of all don't despair. "Blogiday's" are as necessary as "holidays" and "vacations" to get your creative juices back on track. Your blog will always be there when you get back.

"Tips From the Blogging Queen" Column 11 Definition -

"Multi-Blogger and Multi-Blogging" - A Multi-blogger is a person or business with more than one blog and multi-blogging is creating, maintaining, and running multiple blogs at the same time.

Be sure to tune in to my TFTBQ Column 12 on "Are You a Multi-Blogger?"