MyBlogLog Builds Community with Blog Visitor Activity Tracking

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/" style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px;color:rgb(1,69,138)">MyBlogLog</a><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">is a tracking and community tool that allows</span><a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/MyBlogLog-Builds-Community-with-Blog-Visitor-Activity-Tracking.id-124093.html#glossary-blogger" style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px;color:rgb(1,69,138)">bloggers</a><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">to bookmark and share favorite</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/MyBlogLog-Builds-Community-with-Blog-Visitor-Activity-Tracking.id-124093.html#glossary-blog" style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px;color:rgb(1,69,138)">blogs</a><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">, display cool widgets, and keep track of what blog visitors find interesting.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">MyBlogLog says it's in the business of helping you identify what your readers like about the content of your blog. The side result has been to create a community-building service, which the folks at MyBlogLog are pretty happy about, too!</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Using a combination of RSS,tagging, and other tools, MyBlogLog tracks what links your visitors click when they visit your blog (and not the ones to your own site), letting you know where you're sending people. If you keep a blog where you refer people to other Web sites, MyBlogLog can help you know whether you're doing a good job of choosing resources to share.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The key feature of this service is the MyBlogLog community badge that you can display on your blog. As a MyBlogLog member, when you visit a site with this badge, you're added to a badge displaying your profile information. It's an instant community!</p>

MyBlogLog Builds Community with Blog Visitor Activity Tracking

MyBlogLog   is a tracking and community tool that allows bloggers   to bookmark and share favorite   blogs , display cool widgets, and keep ...

Read more »

MyBlogLog Builds Community with Blog Visitor Activity Tracking

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/" style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px;color:rgb(1,69,138)">MyBlogLog</a><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">is a tracking and community tool that allows</span><a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/MyBlogLog-Builds-Community-with-Blog-Visitor-Activity-Tracking.id-124093.html#glossary-blogger" style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px;color:rgb(1,69,138)">bloggers</a><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">to bookmark and share favorite</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><a class="" href="http://m.dummies.com/DummiesArticle/MyBlogLog-Builds-Community-with-Blog-Visitor-Activity-Tracking.id-124093.html#glossary-blog" style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px;color:rgb(1,69,138)">blogs</a><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">, display cool widgets, and keep track of what blog visitors find interesting.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">MyBlogLog says it's in the business of helping you identify what your readers like about the content of your blog. The side result has been to create a community-building service, which the folks at MyBlogLog are pretty happy about, too!</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Using a combination of RSS,tagging, and other tools, MyBlogLog tracks what links your visitors click when they visit your blog (and not the ones to your own site), letting you know where you're sending people. If you keep a blog where you refer people to other Web sites, MyBlogLog can help you know whether you're doing a good job of choosing resources to share.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">The key feature of this service is the MyBlogLog community badge that you can display on your blog. As a MyBlogLog member, when you visit a site with this badge, you're added to a badge displaying your profile information. It's an instant community!</p>

MyBlogLog Builds Community with Blog Visitor Activity Tracking

MyBlogLog   is a tracking and community tool that allows bloggers   to bookmark and share favorite   blogs , display cool widgets, and keep ...

Read more »

Blog beyond Your Own Site and Invite Guest Bloggers In

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">If you want to build a community around your</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">blog, participate in others' blogs — and be on the lookout for</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">bloggers</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">who you'd like to invite to make an appearance in your own blogosphere as a guest.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Start out by finding blogs that are related to the topic areas of your blog. Jump into the conversation by offering a different perspective or feedback to the blogger or to the folks who leave comments.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Mentioning your site on other blogs is fine, as long as you make sure that your comments relate to the subject at hand and add to the conversation.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Also, don't just write and leave. Keep active in the communities in which you are a member and use that time to connect with others. Take what you can from the community, but also give back what you think will benefit everyone as a whole. Remember that participating in these communities might even give you ideas for your own blog, so you're likely to benefit in several ways from the time you spend on these blogs.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">You can also share links between your blog community and related blogs that you want to support. Offer to set up a type of network where you can share content between sites. Anything is possible; all you need to do is ask.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If your blog is attracting a significant number of daily readers, you can request members of your community to help you out by guest-blogging on your site. Depending on the software you're using, you can either set up private sub-blogs or allow them to post to the main page of your site. Being able to provide other insight and information from your community "experts" is incredibly cool, and you might be able to build a series of posts from other bloggers into your site.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">This kind of blogging trade off is a great way to have multiple voices filling out the content on your site and providing a richer experience overall for your readers.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">These relationships are great to have when you get sick or want to take a vacation — tap your guest-blogging community for help covering your blog while you aren't around to do it.</p>

Blog beyond Your Own Site and Invite Guest Bloggers In

If you want to build a community around your   blog, participate in others' blogs — and be on the lookout for   bloggers   who you'd...

Read more »

Blog beyond Your Own Site and Invite Guest Bloggers In

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">If you want to build a community around your</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">blog, participate in others' blogs — and be on the lookout for</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">bloggers</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">who you'd like to invite to make an appearance in your own blogosphere as a guest.</span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Start out by finding blogs that are related to the topic areas of your blog. Jump into the conversation by offering a different perspective or feedback to the blogger or to the folks who leave comments.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Mentioning your site on other blogs is fine, as long as you make sure that your comments relate to the subject at hand and add to the conversation.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Also, don't just write and leave. Keep active in the communities in which you are a member and use that time to connect with others. Take what you can from the community, but also give back what you think will benefit everyone as a whole. Remember that participating in these communities might even give you ideas for your own blog, so you're likely to benefit in several ways from the time you spend on these blogs.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">You can also share links between your blog community and related blogs that you want to support. Offer to set up a type of network where you can share content between sites. Anything is possible; all you need to do is ask.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If your blog is attracting a significant number of daily readers, you can request members of your community to help you out by guest-blogging on your site. Depending on the software you're using, you can either set up private sub-blogs or allow them to post to the main page of your site. Being able to provide other insight and information from your community "experts" is incredibly cool, and you might be able to build a series of posts from other bloggers into your site.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">This kind of blogging trade off is a great way to have multiple voices filling out the content on your site and providing a richer experience overall for your readers.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">These relationships are great to have when you get sick or want to take a vacation — tap your guest-blogging community for help covering your blog while you aren't around to do it.</p>

Blog beyond Your Own Site and Invite Guest Bloggers In

If you want to build a community around your   blog, participate in others' blogs — and be on the lookout for   bloggers   who you'd...

Read more »

Stay in Touch with Your Blog Community with E-Mail Options

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Offering e-mail delivery of some or all of your</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">blog</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">content to your readership can attract users who aren't comfortable with some of the fancier technologies, such as RSS. </span><br> </h1><p class="Byline" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Try these three tactics with e-mail options for your blogs:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> Allow your readers send a blogpost to a friend that might also be interested.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Let your users sign up for e-mail notifications when you post something new to your blog.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Invite your readers sign up for an e-mail newsletter that supplements your blog or recaps recent blog posts of interest.</p> </li></ul><p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Many blog software programs have a built in "Tell a Friend" or "Email a Friend" functionality. If you turn on this feature, every blog post is accompanied by a small icon or linkthat, when clicked, lets your reader fill out the name and e-mail address of a friend and send an e-mail notification about your blog post to them. It's like free marketing.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Setting up your blog to enable users to sign up for e-mail notifications when a new blog entry is posted is an easy way to reach users who aren't up on newsreaders and RSS. Allowing them to sign up and also to remove themselves from your e-mail system puts them in control of the situation, too, which means you won't be contributing to the spamproblem. The <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">FeedBurner</a> site gives you the tools to set up an e-mail notification/subscription tool.</p>

Stay in Touch with Your Blog Community with E-Mail Options

Offering e-mail delivery of some or all of your   blog   content to your readership can attract users who aren't comfortable with some o...

Read more »

Stay in Touch with Your Blog Community with E-Mail Options

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Offering e-mail delivery of some or all of your</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">blog</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">content to your readership can attract users who aren't comfortable with some of the fancier technologies, such as RSS. </span><br> </h1><p class="Byline" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Try these three tactics with e-mail options for your blogs:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> Allow your readers send a blogpost to a friend that might also be interested.</p></li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Let your users sign up for e-mail notifications when you post something new to your blog.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Invite your readers sign up for an e-mail newsletter that supplements your blog or recaps recent blog posts of interest.</p> </li></ul><p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Many blog software programs have a built in "Tell a Friend" or "Email a Friend" functionality. If you turn on this feature, every blog post is accompanied by a small icon or linkthat, when clicked, lets your reader fill out the name and e-mail address of a friend and send an e-mail notification about your blog post to them. It's like free marketing.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Setting up your blog to enable users to sign up for e-mail notifications when a new blog entry is posted is an easy way to reach users who aren't up on newsreaders and RSS. Allowing them to sign up and also to remove themselves from your e-mail system puts them in control of the situation, too, which means you won't be contributing to the spamproblem. The <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)">FeedBurner</a> site gives you the tools to set up an e-mail notification/subscription tool.</p>

Stay in Touch with Your Blog Community with E-Mail Options

Offering e-mail delivery of some or all of your   blog   content to your readership can attract users who aren't comfortable with some o...

Read more »

How to Find and Use Templates in Your Blog

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Blog</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">design comes down to one thing: the templates you use to run your blog. In these blog templates, you find all the code — and snazzy bells and whistles — that make a blog look great. </span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">A good template makes you look more professional, framing and setting off your blog content to its best advantage.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">With any design, consider your content and readership: What do your visuals say about you, and what you have to say? The theme should answer some subtle questions about you as the bloggerand who it is you're trying to attract.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">A lot of the free template designs have been around for some time, and the code definitely has a track record. Some blogging sites review common blog designs, let you know what kinds of problems you might run into, and give you advice about how to avoid those problems.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Here are some online sources for quality free blog templates:</p><ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><a href="http://www.oswd.org/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)"><b>Open Source Web Design</b></a><b>: </b>This Web site is great and has a lot of different designers contributing to the site. The designs are fairly basic, but they cover a decent number of themes. You might find a few duds here and there that don't really look bloggy, but most are great.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><a href="http://www.opendesigns.org/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)"><b>The Open Design Community</b></a><b>:</b>On this site, the goal of the design community is to "make the Internet a prettier place." It has a decent number of blog templates, and all of them are of a high quality.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><a href="http://www.openwebdesign.org/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)"><b>Open Web Design</b></a><b>:</b> Open Web Design has much the same goal as the Open Design Community (almost the same name, too), but this design group has a much larger collection. It can take a while to look through all the options, but you can find a series of good designs that any blogger can use.</p> </li></ul><p class="Warning" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If you aren't that comfortable with either HTML or the blog softwaredesign elements that each blog package has, using free templates might be a big problem for you. Just because the templates are available on the Internet doesn't mean they'll work for your blog. All blog software has special code that needs to be inserted into any template you choose.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Aside from needing to do a lot of the code work yourself if you choose a free template, watch out for a few common problems as you browse free templates:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Duplication: </b>Because the templates are freely available, other blogs might use the same design you have. Using a design also found on other blogs puts the pressure on your content to be fresh and meaningful to your blogging public.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Incompatibility: </b>Some blog software is unforgiving when it comes to the design of your blog. One of the better indicators of the quality of your blog software is in how the design elements are able to work with the rest of the package.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Bad code: </b>Another reality about templates is that even if the design looks great, it might not be using code that works well in your blog. With blogs, having your content accessible is always the first priority, and some poorly written code might prevent your blog from being the best it can be.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>(In)Flexibility: </b>Free templates are designed for everyone and for no one. The template designer does his or her best to create an attractive and appealing design, but in the end, that template wasn't designed with you specifically in mind. The template needs to be flexible enough to handle all kinds of Web sites and blogs — and ultimately, that means it might not suit any of them perfectly.</p> </li></ul><p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Even with all of the potential pitfalls, don't immediately dismiss using pre-made templates. Check the layout and review the code behind the layout before you choose a free template to make sure you have your bases covered.</p>

How to Find and Use Templates in Your Blog

Blog   design comes down to one thing: the templates you use to run your blog. In these blog templates, you find all the code — and snazzy b...

Read more »

How to Find and Use Templates in Your Blog

<h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px;padding:0px 0px 0.5rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">Blog</span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> </span><span style="font-size:18px;line-height:24px">design comes down to one thing: the templates you use to run your blog. In these blog templates, you find all the code — and snazzy bells and whistles — that make a blog look great. </span><br> </h1><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">A good template makes you look more professional, framing and setting off your blog content to its best advantage.</p> <p class="Remember" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">With any design, consider your content and readership: What do your visuals say about you, and what you have to say? The theme should answer some subtle questions about you as the bloggerand who it is you're trying to attract.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">A lot of the free template designs have been around for some time, and the code definitely has a track record. Some blogging sites review common blog designs, let you know what kinds of problems you might run into, and give you advice about how to avoid those problems.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Here are some online sources for quality free blog templates:</p><ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"> <li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><a href="http://www.oswd.org/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)"><b>Open Source Web Design</b></a><b>: </b>This Web site is great and has a lot of different designers contributing to the site. The designs are fairly basic, but they cover a decent number of themes. You might find a few duds here and there that don't really look bloggy, but most are great.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><a href="http://www.opendesigns.org/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)"><b>The Open Design Community</b></a><b>:</b>On this site, the goal of the design community is to "make the Internet a prettier place." It has a decent number of blog templates, and all of them are of a high quality.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><a href="http://www.openwebdesign.org/" style="color:rgb(1,69,138)"><b>Open Web Design</b></a><b>:</b> Open Web Design has much the same goal as the Open Design Community (almost the same name, too), but this design group has a much larger collection. It can take a while to look through all the options, but you can find a series of good designs that any blogger can use.</p> </li></ul><p class="Warning" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">If you aren't that comfortable with either HTML or the blog softwaredesign elements that each blog package has, using free templates might be a big problem for you. Just because the templates are available on the Internet doesn't mean they'll work for your blog. All blog software has special code that needs to be inserted into any template you choose.</p> <p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Aside from needing to do a lot of the code work yourself if you choose a free template, watch out for a few common problems as you browse free templates:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Duplication: </b>Because the templates are freely available, other blogs might use the same design you have. Using a design also found on other blogs puts the pressure on your content to be fresh and meaningful to your blogging public.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Incompatibility: </b>Some blog software is unforgiving when it comes to the design of your blog. One of the better indicators of the quality of your blog software is in how the design elements are able to work with the rest of the package.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Bad code: </b>Another reality about templates is that even if the design looks great, it might not be using code that works well in your blog. With blogs, having your content accessible is always the first priority, and some poorly written code might prevent your blog from being the best it can be.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>(In)Flexibility: </b>Free templates are designed for everyone and for no one. The template designer does his or her best to create an attractive and appealing design, but in the end, that template wasn't designed with you specifically in mind. The template needs to be flexible enough to handle all kinds of Web sites and blogs — and ultimately, that means it might not suit any of them perfectly.</p> </li></ul><p class="Tip" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Even with all of the potential pitfalls, don't immediately dismiss using pre-made templates. Check the layout and review the code behind the layout before you choose a free template to make sure you have your bases covered.</p>

How to Find and Use Templates in Your Blog

Blog   design comes down to one thing: the templates you use to run your blog. In these blog templates, you find all the code — and snazzy b...

Read more »

Public Relations Tips for Promoting Your Blog

<div class="CheatSheet" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:16px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif"><h1 style="font-size:20px;margin:0.25rem 0px 1rem;padding:0.3rem 0px 0.4rem 2.7rem;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(204,204,204);background-image:url(http://media.wiley.com/spa_assets/R16B060/site/dummiesmobile/include/images/icon-cheat-sheet.png);background-repeat:no-repeat no-repeat"> <br></h1></div><p style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;color:rgb(51,51,51);line-height:24px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif">Blogs provide news and commentary one to two days ahead of major media. Those two days can make a big difference in the world of public relations. Blogs build buzz, so after you've launched your blog, use these tips to promote and monitor it:</p> <ul class="level-one" style="padding:0px 1rem;margin:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"> <b>Submit to blog search engines.</b> Beyond the traditional search engines, such as Google and Yahoo, there are search engines and directories that track blogs exclusively and which thousands of people search every day. Submit your blog's URL to these sites for free:<span class="code"><a href="http://blogsearchengine.com">http://blogsearchengine.com</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com">http://technorati.com</a>, <a href="http://www.daypop.com">http://www.daypop.com</a>, <a href="http://blogdex.net">http://blogdex.net</a>, <a href="http://w.moreover.com">http://w.moreover.com</a>, <a href="http://www.yahoo.com">http://www.yahoo.com</a></span>, and<span class="code"><a href="http://popdex.com">http://popdex.com</a></span>.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Ping each time a new post is published.</b> The blog search engines offer a system whereby you notify (or "ping") them, either manually or automatically, each time a new post appears on your blog.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Use trackbacks and tags.</b>Look for the "trackback" linkat the bottom of a post, next to the permalink andcomments link. Trackbacking notifies ablogger that one of their posts has been featured on another blog. It's a non-intrusive way of letting a blogger know you are interested in what they have to say. "Tags" are categories and keywords for blog posts. You will often see keywords on the navigation bar of a blog. If you click on one of the keywords, it will show you all of the blogs that are categorized under one of those "tags." If someone finds your blog and wants to read all of the articles on a particular topic or keyword, tags make this very easy.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Include a growing "blogroll."</b>You'll see this on the navigation bar of many blogs. It is essentially a list of favorite blogs or related Web sites. This is one of the ways people hop from one blog to the next and help promote each other's blogs.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Participate on other people's blogs.</b> Devote a certain amount of your time actively commenting on and linking to blogs that are related to your industry and topic. Focus especially on blogs that get high traffic. And be sure to include your blog address in your email signature so that your blog will reach many new readers who see your post.</p> </li><li><p class="first-para" style="margin:0.75em 0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-size:18px;line-height:24px"><b>Make it easy for readers to subscribe to your blog via RSS.</b> Give lots of options so people can choose the one they prefer.</p> </li></ul>

Public Relations Tips for Promoting Your Blog

Blogs provide news and commentary one to two days ahead of major media. Those two days can make a big difference in the world of public re...

Read more »