For Dummies Blogging, 3rd Edition
Contents
1. Mozilla Firefox wots Eile Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help EH ay htpzAww manisbakery corm SRAI E P ai f Manis Bakery Cate Healthy Ba BAKERY RESTAURANT MANISBAKERY COM since 1989 LOS ANGELES MOST BALANCED DINING HOWE EXPERIENCE Food Serving up great American cuisine with healthy ingredients and desserts with natural and alterna eteners in our orginal location on Fairfax south of The Grove and Farmers ORDER CAFE amp BAKERY Markat since 1989 PICK UP OR DELIVERY GEN Space Light comfortable and laid back your neighborhood rastaurent in our neighborhood Environment Join us and our customers online to talk about the latest news from Man s on CATERING MENU Fairfan at our Plog or subscribe to our newsletter for new products and updates WEDDING CAKES MANI S BLOG MANI S BLOG CAFE Your caf on the web for current information about delicious hwalthiar versions of traditional foods for tha FAQ 00 12 00 Vegan w CUSTOMER COMMENTS luae i Aeg What makes this cake 5 MANI S SUPPORTS LOCATION ABOUT Done Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics Think of a blog this way It s a kind of Web site All blogs are Web sites the opposite isn t true though and neither the content nor the creator makes a blog a blog the presentation does A blog can be many things a diary a news source a photo gallery or even a corporate ma2. re creating a personal blog add your own photos Even if you use a default template you can often add an identifying graphic or element on the site that differentiates your blog from others Don t be afraid to start small and plan to redesign later You can grow into your big ideas when you re sure that you know what you want so take the time to look at what other blogs are doing while you make your plans Let your readers be your guide If your mom visits your site and says that she can t read it find out why If your friends start talking more about the annoying background color than your latest blog post you have a problem Just like you do with your content keep the design focused on the readers to keep them coming back for more The average blog has four very distinct areas in which to place and customize content logos headers sidebars and footers In a blog each of these areas has a specific purpose As more blogs have come into existence these areas have developed in specific ways that can help you organize your content Here s some detail about each of these customizable areas Logos Getting a visitor s attention on the Internet is a science in itself and clean crisp logos can hold a visitor s interest long enough to get him or her to read some of your blog Typically a logo appears near the top of each blog page Many logos include an illustrated element and a special font treatment of the blog name 1
3. You can detail your own experiences offer advice to others drum up sup port for whatever you like to do or just talk about what you love Best of all you might be able to make connections with others who share your infatua tion making friends and finding ways to get involved with your hobby more deeply Cybele May runs a blog about something she loves candy Candy Blog www candyblog net is her personal labor of love and a great excuse to buy a lot of candy Cybele reviews candies writing extensive descriptions of taste texture and ingredients for fellow sugar enthusiasts And they respond Nearly every review garners comments from fans and critics of the candies that Cybele samples Check out Candy Blog in Figure 1 3 Candy Blog Mozilla Firefox Sl File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help lt P eC a hipaa typativa comcandyblag AA Be Coon P a Candy Blog x j Meticulously 4 TYPETIVE HOME photographed and FAST FICTION documented reviews of PLAYWRIGHT candy from around the CAMO POMME eeni co ana WOMI And the occasional WERESDAY AUGUST 12 2008 other sweet adventures Astor Chocolate Lobsters Open your mouth expand your mind IF you haven t noticad yat this week l is about vacation candy This 20x of Chocolate Lobsters forn Astor Chocolate are not fom my vacation but someone else s this is the kind of product that fiends bring home to the folks who didn
4. and thoroughly enjoyed them especially tha Tarte Tatin one 1 thought it quite he tumed the tart over and most of it fell t happens in lots of kitchens but we never hot ord of the oven hes the Reals to shiz Posted by Jeannette August 12 2009 7 40 AM amp The Pie and Pastry Bible felt compell d st each moment Julia s husband showed a sign of simple admiration or na emotion at all each tme Julia ask him Bur on Amazon Canada ce RLA to taste something although Paul Chid was ultimately P m N oaf 10 supportive to Julia and the forca behind her lika my family bh 5 often he can be the highest and most non motivating critic Soyo Samasa obie Reply ta this Posted by hector Auguxt 10 2009 3 50 PM amp i ve been dying to tell you about the ending of this movie when z i really falt i Glad and resusotated in heaven i think i stopped t k breathing as when Julia opened the padced envelop with her K long book i oh dear i forgot to mention that there was much laughter as wall The Bread Bible 3 Buy fram amazon Posted by rose Levy Beranbaum August 10 2009 5 55 PM amp USA Canada France Germany Japen UK Reoly to this Rose Auu Fram Barnas and Hable Done Courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum author of The Cake Bible William Morrow Designing for Success Blog design is a very personal experience The decisions you make about how your blog looks are just as importan
5. making the company seem friendly and accessible Recognizing a blog You ve probably seen a blog online already Because the blogger isn t required to put a big This Is a Blog sticker at the top of the page you might not have realized that you were looking at a blog With a little practice and familiarity with standard blog elements though you can identify any blog in a snap 16 Part I Getting Started with Blogs Regardless of what the blog is about or who writes it every blog features 1 Frequent updates Most bloggers update their blogs a few times a week some bloggers even update them a few times a day Blogs don t have a schedule for publishing the blogger simply updates the blog when it seems appropriate Posts or entries Each time a blogger updates the blog he or she creates a blog post or entry that he or she then adds to the blog 1 Permalinks Each time a blogger adds a post to his or her blog that post appears on the blog s home page At the same time blog software cre ates a permalink page to contain only that blog post and its comments The word permalink is short for permanent link Permalink pages are a big part of why blogs do so well with search engines every post adds a new page to your Web site and provides another opportunity for your blog to come up as a search result YY Chronological order When a blogger writes a new blog post that post appears at the top of the blog
6. you with an absolute blank in your mind No problem you can start a blog today about one topic and when you actually figure out what you want to write about change directions and go down another road It s a very flexible format Think about the following tips when you start a blog Y Choose a subject that genuinely interests you Don t choose a topic because you think being interested in it makes you look good or you think that it ll attract a lot of readers You re the one who has to do the writing for the blog and you can do that writing a lot more easily if you re enthusiastic about your subject Your passion shines through to your readers and keeps them coming back 1 Decide whether any topics are off limits Bloggers who keep personal diaries for their friends and families might decide to keep certain sub jects out of the public forum of the Internet For example do you really want your significant other reading a frank account of last night s make out session How about your mom or your boss Y Think about your potential readers Who are they How can you appeal to them and get them to keep reading your blog Do you even care about how many readers you have If you do what do you want to show explain or ask them Creating a Successful Blog Blogs are so quick and easy to set up that you can start one without having much of a plan in place for what you want to blog about why you re blogging or what you re tryi
7. Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics In This Chapter Recognizing the hallmarks of a blog Getting started with your own blog Deciding what to blog about Blogging successfully B now you ve probably heard the word blog tossed around by all kinds of people seen it show up in news stories or cited on TV news broad casts or heck you may even have a child friend or coworker who has a blog Bloggers are showing up inside businesses and businesses are even using blogs to reach out to their customers But what exactly do all these people mean when they say they have a blog And what does a blog written by a teenager have in common with one written by a CEO Don t be too hard on yourself if you aren t exactly sure what a blog is The word blog is actually a mash up of two other words Web and log so if it sounds made up that s because it is At its most basic level a blogis a chronologically ordered series of Web site updates written and organized much like a traditional diary right down to the informal style of writing that characterizes personal communication In this chapter you can find out just what makes a blog bloggy and why so many people are outfitting themselves with one like it s the latest celebrity fashion trend Hint It s not just that we re all narcissists You can get some ideas that you can use to start your own blog and become part of the blogo sphere the community of blogs and bloggers around the worl
8. Headers The header of any blog contains a few elements The first element should be of course the name of your blog The title should explain what your blog talks about or who you are as the main writer You can also throw into the header some form of navigation that can help your visitors find their way around and provide them with quick links to special areas that you want highlighted on your site On many blogs the logo also appears in the header Like the name suggests headers appear at the top of blog pages Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics 29 vv Sidebars Sidebars usually become a major focus for a blog site Sidebars are columns to the right or left or both of the main content area and they contain elements such as navigational links special highlighting graphics that point to social networking sites lists of blogs that you read blogrolls archive links or anything that you want to share with your visitors outside the context of a blog post Sidebars usually appear on every page of your blog and look consistent from page to page I cover customizing your sidebars with fun applications and features in Chapter 20 1 Footers Footers live at the bottom of each blog page and sometimes they do nothing more than feature a copyright message More advanced bloggers have expanded the use of footers to include a significant series of links to content within their sites These links might lead to comments on the blog recent posts or
9. ars har over 30000 pisces of gear Shipping Accept Paypal It s all about the gaar Living for tomorrow Sometimes for a few days it s easy to forget ck I an But Seorch found out have cancer two and and I ve been About under some son of trearment chemorherapy radiation surgery or recovering from those things the whole time Tomorrow I ll Words music comment notes hear the results of my latest CT scan good or bad That will helo m ce 1997 news and updates since 1997 Gatermine what comes next from Derek K Miller a writer editor web guy drummer and Last night hardly slept was in the bathroom at least once an dad who s a blogger in hour sometimes sev fa times right through till 6 CO am and Vancouver Canada luckily my wife Air was able tc got Recently off to school which is usually m anib my current medication kept me up ard to predict so Hela find Daniel Hughes when felt them coming on last night had no idea whether they might clear out my Han Solo P I Intestines In an hour or whether it would take all night All might it was Done Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics 13 Exploring a hobby or passion If you have a passion or hobby that you just love to talk about consider doing so in a blog Anyone who shares your interest is a potential reader and is bound to be looking for more information wherever he or she can find it
10. attract readers to their blogs and they define success by the number people who visit every day 1 Comments Some bloggers find the interaction with readers in the com ment area of the blog very gratifying For these bloggers getting a com ment every day or on every post might mean they re successful Results Many bloggers start their blog in order to accomplish a task such as raising money for a charity to sell a product or even to geta book contract blogs have done all these things When these bloggers meet their goal they know they ve succeeded When you start your blog take time to think about how you define success Do you want to help your entire family keep in touch Do you want to let your friends back home know more about your college experience Are you start ing a company and trying to get attention in the media Consider writing your goals into your very first blog post and then returning to that post every few months to see whether your goals have changed and to remind yourself of what you re trying to accomplish Writing well Many people think that blogs are poorly written misspelled and full of gram matical no no s such as incomplete sentences Most criticism has at least some basis in reality and this case is no different Many bloggers do write their blogs very casually paying only cursory attention to spelling and grammar For many this informality is part of the charm of the format Readers fin
11. aum Mozilla Firefox File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help Qn exa 2 Real Baking with Rose Levy Ber R itp realaakingwithrose com amp Three More Preview Recipes from The New Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics once a manth mouth watering treat Name Email Book Click on the cover of Rose s Heavery Cakes to the right and it will bring you right to it s graat new site on Amazon Scroll down and find three Es recipes from the book fone is the much requested Ri with Figure 1 5 and baking Real online E Follow Rose Baking with on Twittar Rose Levy Beranbaum isa spon Rose s Heavenly Cakes DVD Produced By Gold Medal Flour sored blog This beautifully produced DVD illustrates as no other medium can do as effectively a e range of tips and techniques of cake making Together written by w 2 which contains over 100 beautiful photographs and detailed text you will have the whole cake story in short everything you a cookbook Press Mentions aad ta kad Pho author Starting today with this first three of 23 segments on You Tube thare will EE Courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum author of The Cake Bible William Morrow The concept behind a blog isn t new after all people have been keeping diaries and Journals since the invention of the written word Even on the Web diary Web sites existed long before anyone used the word blog No one really knows when t
12. can be intense when they document rough times Derek Miller www penmachine com a Vancouver based writer has used his blog shown in Figure 1 2 to document his experiences with cancer He posted this blog entry on June 8 2009 Sometimes for a few days it s easy to forget how sick I am But I found out I have cancer two and a half years ago and I ve been under some sort of treatment chemotherapy radiation surgery or recovering from those things the whole time Tomorrow I ll hear the results of my latest CT scan good or bad That will help determine what comes next In your eagerness to let your friends know about what you re up to don t forget that anyone in the world can access a blog unlike a real diary or scrapbook now and in the future Don t publish anything that you might find embarrassing in the future and have the same consideration when you talk about others or use photographs Penmachine Living for tomorrow words music comment from Derek K Miller Vancouver B C Canada since 2000 Mozilla Firefox owi Eile Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help lt C httpidAnwe penmachine conv 2008 08 lringfortomorow SREI E P gi Penmachine Living for tomoro a Derek K Miller vancouver canada dkmiller penmachine com Pe aenmachine com HOME 08 June 2009 BLOG ARCHIVES CONTACT BY EMAIL Electric Guitar at 99 r S Get Ghase co Dixcount Electric Guitare from 99 Free Ab
13. comments in reaction to what they read other times they might offer a suggestion or pose a question Because any reader can leave a comment readers may leave comments about other comments Blog posts often include a link directly below each post indicating how many comments readers have left Clicking this link takes you to a page that dis plays the post any comments that readers have left about that post and a form that you can use to leave your own comment After someone makes a comment it appears in the Comments area of the blog usually labeled with the comment writer s name along with the date and time that he or she left the comment On some popular blogs readers compete to see who can leave the first comment on a new blog post In Rose Levy Beranbaum s blog Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum www realbakingwithrose com Rose often responds to questions that readers ask by putting the answer in her blog post s comments area Rose s comments have a shaded background that other comments don t have see Figure 1 12 and feature her personal avatar image Not every blog allows comments Many popular bloggers find that they re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of responses that they get and must turn off comments because they can t keep up with them We should all be so lucky to have that problem For most bloggers comments are an important way to develop a dialogue with readers I recommend you keep comments turned o
14. d No matter what your teenager tells you the blogosphere has absolutely no requirement that you must write your blog while wearing your pajamas Also you re allowed to use a spellchecker 0 Part I Getting Started with Blogs Making Vourself Comfortable with Blogs Ea Figure 1 1 The Mani s Bakery blog does a great job of keeping customers updated ee I talk to a lot of people about blogs many of whom know that you can find a blog on the World Wide Web but who also have the impression that all blogs are written by navel gazing cranks with an axe to grind or by 12 year old girls Some blogs really are diaries in which the blogger records the minutiae of day to day life but blogs can be much more than that and all kinds of people write them One of my favorite blogs falls into the personal diary category Mimi Smarty pants http mimismartypants com A woman living in Chicago writes this blog which records her thoughts and activities with such hilarious prose that I often find myself laughing out loud For contrast visit Mani s Bakery Blog Caf www manisbakery com blogcafe shown in Figure 1 1 a blog that the staff of Mani s Bakery in Los Angeles writes for the bakery s customers Mani s uses the blog to announce menu changes and weekly specials offer coupons and talk about the bakery products such as vegan cake Mani s Bakery Caf Healthy Bakery Sugar Free Desserts amp Restaurant
15. d the colloquial conversational tone accessible and easy to read and bloggers who write informally seem approachable and friendly Re NING Re Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics 25 I m not making an excuse however for ignoring all the rules of writing Well written and correctly spelled blogs attract readers just as often perhaps more often as those that aren t You can develop a friendly personal way of writing without losing touch with the dictionary I encourage the use of spell checking even for very informal blogs intended for friends and family For a professional blog don t even consider writing without paying attention to spelling and grammar Your readers will run the other way and your com petitors will get a good snicker out of it Most importantly however think through your writing and consider your reader Take the time to practice and develop a voice that sounds personal and conversational while still qualifying as good engaging writing Don t let the chatty style of a blog fool you the best bloggers spend just as much time writing a casual blog post as they would a work memo You can find tips on how to develop your voice in Chapter 7 Posting frequently Commit yourself to writing new posts on your blog frequently Ah frequently is such a deceptive little word because really what does it mean For some people frequently means every day For others it means three times a day If y
16. ed a computer that had an Internet connection and understood how to put files onto a Web server he or she was still pretty much in the same can t get published boat You could acquire those skills and the tools to publish but you couldn t do so terribly easily The answer as it turns out comes down to technology specifically soft ware I believe blogging goes a long way toward making that initial promise of the Web come true If you can write an e mail you can figure out how to use the simple interfaces of blogging software without any of the muss of dealing with HTML FTP or any of those other awful Web acronyms everyone s sup posed to understand these days Figure 1 11 shows the publishing interface of Blogger www blogger com a great blogging software tool To write a new post you simply log in to Blogger fill in the blanks for a new post and click the Publish Post button to put the entry on your blog Blogger Quick and Dirty Blog Tips Create Post Mozilla Firefox Wats File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help lt C a O htpzAnw bloeger carpost create g bloolD 46813 1806331 1225691 gt 4 Pl ia O Blogger Quick and Dirty Blog Ti Quick and Dirty Blog Tips supersusie gmail com Dashboard My Account Help Sign out Posting Settings Template Monetize New Post Edit Posts Comment Atederstion Status Title Edit Html Campose ee WT bi BREBBS EE BY AEA A Daen gt Po
17. ee columns with the most real estate given to the column that contains the blog posts themselves The second and or third columns display organizational material for the blog and peripheral information Some blogs don t have sidebars at all and on some blogs you may see elements that I don t mention in the following list of typical sidebar components e Date based archives Nearly every blog archives a post when the blogger publishes that post both by date and by category In the PCS Figure 1 6 A date based archive PCS EEE Figure 1 7 A cat egorized archive De Figure 1 8 A blogroll Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics sidebar of a blog you can usually access both archive methods Figure 1 6 shows the date based archives of Rose s blog broken down by month Date based archives can also show weeks and years e Categorized archives Figure 1 7 shows the category archives of Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum By sorting each post into a category at the time that she publishes it Rose creates an archive organized by subject making it easy for you to find the posts that most interest you Clicking a category link displays only the posts in that subject area organized in reverse chronological order e Blogroll A blogroll is a list of other blogs that the blogger finds interesting or useful By including the blogs and Web sites that Rose likes to read on her blog she can direct her readers to other inte
18. ee the next most recent post and the next most recent post and so on New posts are always at the top making it easy to find the latest freshest infor mation when you visit Most blogs display around a dozen recent blog posts on the first page of the blog and to read older posts you can visit the archives Post information Along with each entry blog software displays infor mation about the post This sort of post information typically appears but a blogger doesn t have to include it A blog might be missing an element or two that I list or have others that I don t mention e The date and time the post was published e The name of the post s author On blogs that have multiple authors the visitor may find this info especially important e The number of comments on the post In Figure 1 5 you can see the first post hasn t yet received any comments e A link to the permalink page usually labeled Permalink Sometimes as in Figure 1 5 the link to the permalink page is labeled Post Read Comments because you can both read and write comments on the permalink page e The category in which the blogger has placed the post In Figure 1 5 the category of the top post is Announcements e Other links to bells and whistles unique to the blog such as the links to Send to a Friend which allows you to quickly e mail the post to a friend or Print shown in Figure 1 5 1 Sidebar material Most blogs are laid out in two or thr
19. g is all about sharing information Journalists use blogs to report on local national and international news critics and commentators use the medium to state their opinions and predictions Educators keep parents and students abreast of classroom happenings and dates Coworkers let col leagues in geographically distant offices know what s going on in relation to collaborative projects The uses of the informational blog are really limitless The popular blog Boing Boing www boingboing net is a great example of an information sharing blog Self described as a directory of wonderful things Boing Boing s several contributors are dedicated to keeping you up to date on all the weird and wonderful Web sites in the world A selection of posts from August 2009 described the Nano Air Vehicle it has wings like insects do a mouse who had made its home in an Oregon ATM and a link to creating your own Achingly Self Referential Virtual Commodity Fetish Objects This site is truly a random collection of news and links perfect for the eclectic consumer of trivia Another popular information blog is TechCrunch www techcrunch com This guide to everything Internet covers everything from new companies to the latest geek gadgets and of course offers a lot of information about software You might not find every post useful but if you re trying to keep up with the breakneck pace of technological innovation on the Internet you can fi
20. h as buying a house or finding out how to paint 3 Click Search the magnifying glass button to the right of the search box Technorati returns a list of recent blog posts that used your search term When I searched for knitting for example Technorati showed me a blog post by someone who just bought some new yarn for making socks one about a recipe for a knitting themed birthday cake and another post by someone who was frustrated with a pattern 4 Find a blog post that looks interesting and click the URL to visit the blog and read more 5 Repeat Steps 1 through 4 as needed until you find a blog that you enjoy You can find blogs on so many topics that you can t keep from finding some thing interesting whether it engages you professionally or personally I read blogs on all kinds of topics that interest me from surprise knitting to the arts to real estate The blog format is exceptionally well suited to letting you explore an idea a hobby or a project but don t let that stop you from using it for other things People have created blogs to pass along marketing expertise sell shoes cover the latest celebrity gossip raise funds for bike rides and even write books The topic or topics that you write about should excite you and hold your interest and they can be about absolutely anything ar Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics 23 Having that much freedom can be a little scary and if you re like me can leave
21. he first true blog was Created but estimates put the date around 1994 The term weblog came into existence in 1997 and it was quickly shortened to the more colloquial blog If you want to read more about the history of blogging read author Rebecca Blood s essay on the early days of blogging Blogging through the ages at www rebeccablood net essays weblog_history html No one can really measure the number of blogs in the world for a number of technical reasons and because blogs can be short lived acciden tally or deliberately but all studies of numbers indicate that the number of blogs increases dramatically every month For example in May 2007 the blog search engine Technorati www technorati com was tracking 75 million blogs by July 2007 that number was up to 94 million 17 18 Part I Getting Started with Blogs Those common elements are 1 Branding logo header A header at the top of the blog displays the name of the blog often including a logo or other visual element This header is visible on every page of the blog identifying it even to a visitor who visits one of the interior pages without first going to the home page In Figure 1 5 the header contains the name of the blog a caricature of Rose and the Gold Medal logo indicating the blog s sponsorship 1 Most recent posts At the top of the blog s home page the most recent post appears While you scroll down the home page you s
22. n in your blog They re an easy way to involve your audience in your topic and to get valuable feedback about what you re doing with your blog Unfortunately spammers can take advantage of comments as easily as they can send you unwanted e mail If you keep comments turned on you get unwanted comments that have commercial messages unless you take preven tative measures which is becoming easier to do You or your readers might even find some spam comments offensive just like some kinds of spam e mail If you decide to allow comments on your blog be sure to read them and delete inappropriate messages Your readers will thank you In Chapter 9 I talk at length about encouraging comments and dealing with those comments that you don t want Figure 1 12 The Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum blog allows readers to leave comments and ques tions for the blog s author Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics 27 E Julia Revisited Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum Mozilla Firefox File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help OET cxa R Julia Revisited Real Baking wit R bitpvAWew reslaakingwithrose com 200308 ulia_ewsited htm S2 Me comments Thank you so much Matthew for giving the link to these videos Although have and use Julia Child s books have naver SEEN her in acton before t don t think these shows were ever played over here in the UK have watched three of them so far
23. nd TechCrunch shown in Figure 1 4 and blogs like it an invaluable resource Making money You spend a lot of time producing your blog and a lot of people read it Why not turn those eyes into dollars That s a question many a popular blogger has asked and you can make it happen in several ways The most common technique involves including advertisements on your blog pages For example Google AdSense www google com adsense pro vides in page advertising that s designed to match the content of your blog and therefore be of interest to your readers Each time a visitor to your blog clicks one of these advertising links you earn money from Google I talk more about making money from advertising programs affiliate links sponsorships and more in Chapter 17 Of course companies haven t missed out on the fact that blogs can help them drum up interest in their products and services or inform and connect with consumers Many companies small and large have added blogs to their Web sites and they use the blogs to start conversations with their customers and potential customers In many cases taking on the informal voice of the blog medium has helped customers understand that real people work in these orga nizations This personal connection gives the company better credibility and often adds to customers recognition of that company and its values in the marketplace ee Figure 1 4 TechCrunch is your source for satisfying y
24. ng to accomplish Some people thrive on this kind of wide open playing field but others quickly become bored or boring To get your blog started on the right foot think seriously about why you re blogging and then make a commitment to attaining your goals Don t get me wrong this isn t a job But just as you wouldn t expect good results from a dinner prepared without paying any attention to ingredients you can t start your blog without having a recipe for success Here s my recipe for a good blog 1 Preheat the oven by setting goals 2 Measure out several cups of good writing 3 Mix well with frequent updates 4 Sprinkle in a lot of interaction with your readers 24 Part I Getting Started with Blogs ar Watching how someone else blogs is a great way of finding out how to be suc cessful yourself Keep track of how the blogs you enjoy are keeping you interested Take note of how often the blogger updates his or her blog the writing style and which posts you find most engaging and get you to leave a comment Setting goals Just like you have many different reasons to blog you have many ways to create a successful blog Don t forget that your goals and plans might not be the same as another blogger s Do think about what your goals are and keep those goals in mind when you start your blog The following are ways that you might define a successful blog 1 Numbers Many bloggers are eager to
25. ou want a blog that doesn t eat up every spare moment in your life but that you still update enough to keep people interested define the word frequently as at least two or three times a week If you want to blog more often than that go to town This number of updates strikes a good bal ance for most blogs Many bloggers use a little trick to account for periods of writers block or for when they go on vacation They write posts ahead of time and then save them for later Using your blog software you can schedule a date and time fora post to go live making it possible for you keep your readers entertained even while you re having your appendix removed or sitting on a beach in Hawaii You also need to pace yourself In the first heady days of having a blog the posts flow freely and easily but after a few months you might find it difficult to be creative Interacting with comments Comments make blogs really different from a Web site the opportunity to interact and converse with the creator of a Web site and with other readers 26 Part I Getting Started with Blogs ar is almost unique to blogs Forums also called bulletin boards offer one way to engage in online conversation on the Web but they aren t as directed by regular posts as blogs Everyone in the forum community is free to chime in with a topic or question Visitors to a blog have the opportunity to leave a comment on each post Sometimes readers leave
26. our gadget news appetite a E Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics TechCrunch Mozilla Firefox Sex Eile Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help lt C a TC hitp zAww techcrunch corny Sy 4 PD TC TechCrunch Tech sadgets Mobile Enterprise CrunchBase More Search TechCrunch COED is looking for talent About Advertise Archives Company Index Contact CrunchCam Jobs Research Subscribe BJ gt ei oduced ae IronScale Need true mt reliability STREAM WARS Facebook Grew Twice As Fast As Twitter In July Web App Developer Please Take Our Survey CrashCorp Demos Augmented Reality iPhone Application y Daniel Brusilovsky 2S GrashCorp the joint venture between former Digo Lead Architoct Jom Stems O nc formar te fnundar nf Is gt General Motors Google and Sun Microsystems all have company blogs giving readers a peek inside the corporate culture of what might otherwise be fairly faceless monoliths Southwest has taken this approach www blogsouthwest com On the blog s About page Southwest says Our goal with the new Nuts About Southwest remains to give our readers the opportunity to take a look inside Southwest Airlines and to interact with us Southwest tries to make sure that the blog represents a lot of voices inside the company from managers to captains even the president of the company Like with personal blogs the tone is light and conversational
27. posts that you particularly want to high light The footer can feature parts of your blog that you want visitors to find easily 30 Part I Getting Started with Blogs
28. resting Web sites see Figure 1 8 And who knows those sites may return the favor sending their visitors to her site Sp archives S7 s August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 Courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum author of The Cake Bible William Morrow lt categories Ce Categonies Announcements Television Rose s Books Did You Know Equipment New Products Rose s Products Events Happenings Courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum author of The Cake Bible William Morrow gt sites i like gt Heavenly Cake Place gt Baking 911 gt Baking Bites gt Becoming a Chef Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page gt Better Baking gt BitterSweet Vegan Blog Courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum author of The Cake Bible William Morrow 20 Part I Getting Started with Blogs e Information about the author Because blogs are so personal some times you want to know more about who s writing them Many bloggers know their readers are curious and those bloggers put together short bios and other information for readers Bloggers sometimes display this information in the sidebar or link to it like in Figure 1 9 e RSS feed link Readers can use RSS or Really Simple Syndication to subscribe to your blog by using a newsreader such as Google Reader After a reader subscribes via RSS he or she can read the latest updates via the newsreader instead of visiting your blog So your readers don t have to vi
29. rketing tool Blog con tent can include text photos audio and even video and bloggers talk about nearly any subject that you can imagine One of the reasons blogs have become such a popular way of publishing a Web site is because they re particularly good at generating high search engine rankings If you have a blog it s more likely than a standard Web site to come up high in lists of search results for the topics you discuss because your posts are fresh and current Search engines give an extra boost to Web pages that have the most recently updated or created content related to the keywords that someone is searching for And better search engine listings mean more visitors more readers more comments and a more vibrant community Individuals and companies have taken advantage of the blog medium to reach out to Web users How people use blogs With millions of blogs in the world the blog search engine Technorati http technorati com has tracked more than 133 million blogs since 2002 it s obvious that blogging is a popular and successful format for publishing a Web site But just what are people doing with blogs They can t all be talking about their cats And they aren t Bloggers are using the blog format to communicate effec tively in all kinds of information spheres from the personal to the profes sional In fact many blogs serve multiple purposes at the same time mixing posts about activities at home with new
30. s first page The next time the blogger writes a post it shows up at the top and the older posts move down the page Comments Most though not all blogs allow readers to leave comments short text messages in response to blog posts Comments really differentiate a blog from most Web sites by encouraging interaction and conversation 1 Archives Because blogs are updated so frequently bloggers often sort their blogs into a date based archive so that readers can find older infor mation easily 1 Categories Bloggers can also sort posts by subjects or categories which allows a blogger to blog about a number of different topics and lets readers focus in on the topics that most interest them Blog anatomy Dissecting a typical blog In this section I give you a tour of the usual blog elements by using baker Rose Levy Beranbaum s blog Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum www real bakingwithrose com This blog is unusual because although Rose writes it herself it s sponsored by Gold Medal Flour which paid for the blog to be built and handles any maintenance costs associated with running it It still has all the usual features that I discuss in this section as shown in Figure 1 5 Rose s sponsorship is unusual but the format of her blog isn t In fact most blogs no matter what topic they cover look quite similar because the elements of one blog are common to all blogs Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranb
31. s pertaining to work Your blog can serve many purposes in your life Documenting your life A lot of folks use blogs for the same reason they might keep a diary to chronicle their lives and activities This urge to communicate appears in all kinds of mediums from scrapbooking to taking digital photographs and if you re interested in sharing these personal details with others a blog gives you a fast efficient way to do so If you send holiday newsletters every year or e mail a group of friends and family to let them know about exciting events in your life you can have a lot of fun with a blog You can blog as often as you want and your readers visit when they re ready to get more information Best of all each blog post gives your friends and family a quick way to respond to you without having to find 11 12 Part I Getting Started with Blogs MBER KV amp NING RY N Figure 1 2 Derek Miller blogs about everything in his life from che motherapy to Apple s new operating system C the stamps they only have to leave a comment on your blog post You might find you re talking more with your family than ever before You don t have to find the postage stamps either so keeping in touch through your blog is inexpensive and less time consuming than snail mail And no more envelopes to lick Of course not all lives come up roses every day they can t all be wedding and travel blogs Personal blogs
32. sit your blog several times a day to see whether you ve updated it A blog often includes an RSS link identified by a small orange icon as shown in Figure 1 10 near the bottom of the sidebar I talk more about RSS in Chapter 13 hres Welcome to Rose s Blog Rose s Bio Rose s Books Ea Rose s Bread Baking DVD Rose s Bread Primer on Figure 1 9 Epicurious An About Theievolution of Rose s the Author Press Mentions N Press Photos section Videos of Rose on Youtube Courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum author of The Cake Bible William Morrow a Figure 1 10 TENRA RSS feed C Courtesy of Rose Levy Beranbaum author of The Cake Bible William Morrow Getting a Blog Started One of the reasons that so many blogs exist is that you can set them up and publish them so easily The early days of the Internet were full of heady talk about the democratization of publishing people discussed how absolutely anyone would have the power to publish because of the prevalence of personal computers In fact that idea wasn t strictly true A writer no longer Figure 1 11 You can publish a blog by simply fill ing in a few form fields and click ing Publish Post OS Chapter 1 Discovering Blog Basics needed a printing press and a distribution method to get his or her work to people but he or she still needed specialized skills and technology Unless the would be publisher spent time figuring out how to use HTML own
33. st Options Labels for this post eg sconters vacation fat Shortcuts press Cent wih O Bold Malic P Publish Save D Draft more Return to list of posts Done 21 22 Part I Getting Started with Blogs Different blog software offer different feature sets Like with all software the tricky part is finding the right one to use for your situation and needs but I can assure you blogging software comes in all shapes sizes and price ranges In Chapter 3 I talk extensively about choosing the right software solution for your blog Chapter 4 shows you how to start a blog in about ten minutes by using Blogger and Chapter 5 walks you through the details of using WordPress Choosing What to Blog About You can find blog topics all over the map If you haven t already read a blog follow these simple steps to find one and read it which is the best possible way to become familiar with the medium 1 Open your Web browser and go to www technorati com 2 Type any search term that you re interested in reading about into the search box at the top of the page For example you might enjoy reading a blog written by someone with whom you share a hobby such as knitting or parasailing Or try a search term that describes what you do for a living if you re an accountant for example you might search for tax regulations You can also search for something that can help you accomplish a task suc
34. t as the technology that you choose to run your blog and what you choose to put on it Because the Web is an ever evolving medium no solid rules exist that tell you what you should or shouldn t do with your blog But you can follow guidelines to keep your best foot forward The blog that you re starting is a reflection of you and your professional life Even if your blog is for personal expression it represents who you are So make sure that you have a good handle on how you want to present yourself to the world If pink bunnies say everything you need you should have pink bunnies And if you need to look more corporate you should avoid the pink bunnies unless you sell Easter baskets and egg dye 28 Part I Getting Started with Blogs MBER KV If you re blogging for business reasons either on behalf of a company or to promote yourself make sure that both the writing and design demonstrate the proper tone Seek advice from bloggers like you and find out from friends and family just how they think your blog should look Check out other blogs especially blogs that reflect the same goals or tone you want to create What does the design of those blogs say about the blogger and the blog content Whether you hire a designer for your blog use a blog template or try to make the design yourself seek ways to make your blog stand out from the rest If you re a business make sure that your logo appears on your blog If you
35. t go on the trip The package calls it A Sweet Taste of Boston and features a vista of Boston Harbor with sailboats amp puffy white clouds At least hope that s Boston as mentioned l m not the one who took the trip My only trip t0 Boston was hae on a frigid waekend in February and all did was go see a play share a hotel room with a half a dozen other grad students and then get back in our rented van FEATURED NEWS ITEMS Terings Cambia ria offers a wide variety of astes enjoyed thelr curated panned nuts classic bars hgh collacton of gumi and chocolate bar i 5 and drive back to Pittsdurgh nd of course old favoritas like Figure 1 3 A giant Pig Slk more Candy Blo It s a big box eight inches by eleven Ater taking off the shrink wrap the sleeve of Le i y g the box slides to reveal a tray of 14 solid milk chocolate nieces shaped like been s Presidential Inaugural Mints amp Turtles is a sweet labstars ae ne labor of love y Blog Mada by Astor Chocolate of Lakawood Naw Jersay they re part of their line of g Masthe Premium Gourmet Souve hocolate This one think is from their Destination k Frani 7 ET PEETER S for Cybele 1CandyBlog Chocolates for Travel Retail wide variety of cRiea to choose from iCaramalMuts Rating 7 cutot10 more May Revita Candy on the Trail w Done 14 Part I Getting Started with Blogs Sharing information Sometimes a blo
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