Tracking Yourself and Your Blog Brand Across the Online Social World

A while ago I ran across the Yahoo Pipes Social Media Fire Hose, a script written with Yahoo Pipes by Joseph Kingsley. If you want to track yourself, your blog, your brand, or any keyword or phrase across the web, especially by social media sites, this is the tool for you. The Yahoo Pipes Social […]

Blog Struggles: Negative Campaigning Isn’t Just For Politicians

With all the negative campaigning and nasty spin by the media wrapped up in election campaigns and conventions, it surprised me to find a connection between a politician commenting on negative campaigns and my continued defense of bloggers attacking other bloggers and going negative. I thought it worth talking about in my ongoing series on […]

Blog Challenge: Worst Relationship Mistake

We all make mistakes in everything we do. That’s part of learning. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to challenge you to blog about some of the mistakes you’ve made, and the lessons you learned and how these mistakes changed your life. As usual, these blog challenges are very specific, encouraging you to dig […]

Life 101: Books That Changed My Life and Blog

One of my long time favorite authors, Peter McWilliams, has most of his books online for free. These include: LIFE 101: Everything We Wished We Had Learned About Life in School-But Didn’t DO IT! Let’s Get Off Our Buts How to Survive the Loss of a Love You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative […]

Comment Spam Alert: I Read a Similar Article

Bloggers should now be familiar with the blog comment spam ruse of “X wrote an interesting post” to lure us into thinking this is a legitimate trackback, and now comes “I read a similar article also named…” to lure us into thinking this comment is legitimate. As Tony Hung illustrated, the comment spammers use a […]

How to Access Banned WordPress.com Blogs

As discussed in WordPress.com Banned Again: Why Aren’t You Concerned?, WordPress.com continues to be a target for censorship and blocking from various countries and groups around the world attempting to penalize the whole for the “wrongs” of the few the courts or governments decide to penalize, those cutting off thousands of blogs from access. I […]

Blog Struggles: When Is Your Blog Focus Too Narrow?

As I struggled to determine my blog’s focus, I debated like many about the definition of “narrow”. After all, how narrow is narrow in your niche? After years of personal debate on this issue, I came up with this answer: Your blog focus is too narrow when you run out of things to write about. […]

When a Comment Requires the Honest Truth

Maybe it was one of those days. Maybe it was something in the air. Today, I had six comments that required the honest truth as a response. Not the tempered, kinder and gentler response but the hard cold truth. The kind of truth you have to give knowing that some can’t take it. Not all […]

WordPress.com Banned Again: Why Aren’t You Concerned?

According to Brazil: Bloggers united against WordPress.com ban by Global Voices, WordPress.com blogs are or soon will be banned due to a judge in Brazil ruling against a WordPress.com blogger featuring a YouTube video embedded in the blog of a couple having sex. The details of the blogger and content in question is a bit […]

Weekly Digest: Catching Up, Speaking San Francisco, Future Post Mixup, Talking to Blogger Talks, and More

Yikes, it’s been a rough few weeks. Along with some nasty business stuff, which is actually normal in my line of work, I was supposed to be on my first real, non-working vacation in 14 years, which turned into a workation. What should have been normal was much less fun than usual as my husband […]

Blog Struggles: Surviving the When Blogging Goes Bad Blues

It’s been a hell of a day. I’m sure you’ve had them. When every other word out of your mouth should have started with F or S but didn’t because you “grinned and bared it” for the grace of others. Okay, let’s be honest, you didn’t grin, you bit the bullet. We all have these […]

Weekly Digest: Writing About Writing, Working on Books, Lots of Speaking Gigs, and Blog Struggles is a Success

I’ve been working non-stop on my upcoming big article series on blog writing and personal blogging. I’ll be posting some requests for your assistance on these issues soon. I’m also working on two books, as well as the ebook version of Blogging Tips, so stay tuned for more announcements on that. My schedule is starting […]

Blog Struggles: It’s The Rituals That Help Us Focus

I travel. A lot. As I type this, I’ve just flown back from Israel, over 24 hours on planes disconnected from my computer and the Internet and my life after two weeks in one of my favorite places, where every day brought new meetings, interviews, explaining blogging, talking WordPress, meeting old friends, making new friends, […]

Accepting a Blog Challenge Because…

I’ve been very blessed with the responses to my Blog Challenges, and frustrated with the responses of a few. For the few, I will clarify: Accepting one of Lorelle’s blog challenges is free-of-charge. There are no strings attached. You accept the challenge of your own free will. There are no financial or material rewards to […]

Blog Struggles: Blogger’s Depression

It happens to everyone, including bloggers. You work and work, filled with enthusiasm, eager to embrace each day. Then something happens. For a blogger, it’s little things. A mistake found in a post months after publishing. You are embarrassed but no big deal. Then someone says something a bit sarcastic towards you, and not your […]