Blog Challenge: Does Your Blog Make a Difference?

Recently, Liz Strauss of the Successful-Blog posted “I Want to Make a Difference, Too”, a guest post from Jesse Petersen of Gitr’s WoW Blog. In it, he debates within himself and asks others how he can make a difference in the world around him. I want to make a difference. That sentence is a paragraph […]

Blog, Online Magazine, and Ezine: What’s the Difference?

In the Blog Squad’s article, Recipe for an Ezine, the core elements that make a blog or website into a successful ezine, an online magazine, are: We have found ezines that work well for attracting new clients usually have these eight key ingredients: 1. A great name that defines the topic 2. A defined audience […]

Genealogy Blog: What’s the Difference Between a Genealogy Blog and a Normal Blog?

I’ve just started my article series on building a genealogy blog, which includes all aspects of blog building and development, and I wanted to explain the differences and similarities between a normal blog and a genealogy blog. There are many types of blog models. A blog model is not just about the style of writing […]

Bloggers Make a Difference – Taking On The Auto Industry

Think blogging doesn’t make a difference? Sea Coast Online reports “Bloggers Take on the Auto Industry”>Sea Coast Online reports “Bloggers Take on the Auto Industry and are having an impact. As Detroit’s automakers struggle to keep market share and make money, a new breed of watchdogs is emerging, thanks to the Internet. They post regular […]

Categories versus Tags – What’s the Difference and Which One?

Categories and Tags are for your visitors, not just search engines. Think of your visitors’ needs first. Categories and Tags are about navigation and sorting, grouping your content to help visitors find related information. Categories and Tags are not fashion statements. Don’t be colorful or imaginative with either. Categories are your site’s table of contents. […]

Blog Exercises: How Long Are Your Paragraphs?

How long are your paragraphs? Have you measured them lately? One of the telling differences between traditional writing and writing for the web is the length of the paragraph. Look at the example below. Which is easier to read? On the left, the paragraphs are huge, long blocks of text. On the right, the paragraphs […]

Blog Exercises: Dissecting Post Categories

In a recent article, Noah Weiss shared his struggle to figure out categories and tags on his personal site. I know many of you following these Blog Exercises have also struggled to figure out your categories, so I thought Noah’s site would be a perfect example, He has gratefully given me permission to rip his […]

Blog Exercises: Do You Teach or Lecture?

Do you teach or lecture on your site? We all write with a specific “voice” and “style,” representing our perspective on the information we are presenting. On this site, I’m a teacher, sharing with you lessons to help you blog, use WordPress, and publishing on the web. You may share your expertise or your experiences […]

Blog Exercises: What Are Your Reasons For Blogging

We all have our reasons for blogging. Having our say, sharing our experience, teaching, learning, creative outlet, money, reputation, because they told you to…all of these are good reasons to blog, but to keep blogging you need something more. In this blog exercise, I want you to consider the more. It is the answer to […]

The Brute-Force Password Attack on WordPress Sites

My mother emailed me and asked if WordPress was under attack. With all the news of last week’s attack of the Boston Marathon, the attacks on WordPress and other PHP-based web publishing sites was low on the priority list for myself and others, but this is something to take seriously. As we get back to […]

Blog Exercises: Does Your Site Look Spammy?

Does your site look spammy? How would you know whether or not your site looks spammy? It’s time for a spam check. Web design is hard, especially if you aren’t an expert. Yet, in many ways you are an expert if you are a fan of the web. You’ve seen enough sites to know the […]

Blog Exercises: How Many Words in a Link?

How many words should you put into a link? Is there a rule? There isn’t a rule but there are good standards and practices. These state that two words should be the minimum, and only enough words to compel someone to click through to the linked source. The words must also imply the link’s destination […]

Fight Against Trackback Death

I’ve heard the many threats of trackbacks and pingbacks dying over the years, going the way of the virtual dinosaur, but I’m terrified to hear from Andraz Tori that Typepad is killing pingback functionality and stating that WordPress might be considering it, removing the joy of getting a notification that someone online is talking about […]

Blog Exercises: March Current Events

It’s time to blog the news and current events in our Blog Exercises for March. The first Current Events exercise was in January, and it featured some ideas to help you get motivated to blog some news and current events. Find a way of making the news or a current event tie in with your […]

Blog Exercises: Preview Posts

Do you preview a post before publishing? If not, consider adding this extra step to the publishing process. Why? I’m human. So are you. We mess things up. No matter how careful you are, you will make mistakes. That’s life. By double checking what your post will look like before you release it to the […]