Reporting Spam Blogs – Splogs

Quick Online Tips recently posted “How to Complain and Report Spam Blogger Blogs”, a good look at the procedures you need to take to report, and hopefully remove, splogs. A splog is a “spam blog”, a blog that copies content from other blogs without permission (though there might be a link back), using that content […]

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 […]

Spinning Spammers Steal Our Blog Content

Last week, an article I wrote for the Blog Herald, Blogging Outside of Your Community By Not Blogging in Your Native Tongue, caught the attention of more than just the readers. It caught the attention of the staff of the Blog Herald by attracting a very unusual trackback from a new kind of copyright violating […]

Weekly Digest: Guest Bloggers Galore, Theme Spam, Blog Scraping, and Personal Blogging

It’s been a week and a half of fabulous guest bloggers bringing some color and excitement to Lorelle on WordPress. Wow! And some babble about WordPress Themes with link spam and vulnerabilities that must be addressed, and blog scrapers stealing content from WordPress.com Blogs. And one of my guest bloggers begins a series on the […]

Comment Spammers Never Stop, Even When Your Blog is Down

Just a reminder. If you let your comment spam fighting stop for even a few seconds, comment spammers will get into your blog. As many users are upgrading to the newest version of WordPress, their comment spam fighting guard is down as WordPress Plugins must be deactivated during the upgrade, and sometimes a few glitches […]

Weekly Digest: Blog Silence Day, Comment Spam Brainstorming

Welcome to the Weekly Digest from Lorelle on WordPress, a one-stop buffet of tips, tricks, and techniques on WordPress and blogging. Past issues can be found in the Weekly Digest category. For information on how to subscribe to this weekly digests of the events and activities on Lorelle on WordPress, check the bottom of this […]

Changing Blogging Programs Won’t Stop Comment Spam

I recently saw a question posed in a forum on whether or not the person should switch from WordPress to Blogger, Movable Type, or one of the other blogging programs and platforms in order to stop the accumulating amount of comment spam on their blog. Honestly, do you really think comment spammers are paying attention […]

Do You Care Enough To Keep Your Blog Comment Spam Free?

I was researching an article and ran into a blog that might have had the answer I needed, but I ran from it almost immediately. There were 74 comments on the post of which over 50 of them were comment spam. A quick scroll down the list of penis enlargers, casinos, free views of big […]

Comment Spam and Viral Marketing – BBS Weblog Watch

BBC’s Weblog Watch’s Bang blast takes a poke at advertising on blogs, specifically targeted advertising through coments, aka comment spam and Viral Marketing. Now imagine writing an entry about making contact with a parent after three decades of silence. And now imagine finding someone had slapped an advert for bleach on it. One which made […]

Katrina Comment Spam Assaults Blogs

WordPress does an amazing job battling comment spam, reinforced with a couple powerful comment spam fighting WordPress Plugins if you need them. But the comment spammers are always looking for an angle to get in and make your life miserable. Katrina based comment spam is now hitting blogs around the world. The problem is compounded […]

Blog Exercises: Ingredients of a Well-Designed Site

I was asked by a student in my WordPress class recently what defined a “professional blog,” one that met all the criteria for a well-designed, well-formed site that met web standards. What a marvelous question! We brainstormed all the elements that make up a web standard site, and mixed in personal preferences of the students […]

Blog Exercises: I Don’t Have Any Comments

I hear this complaint frequently from new and long time bloggers. “I don’t have any comments. How can I get more comments?” First of all, let me explain something. You don’t want comments. Yes, that’s right. You do not want comments. At least not comments from anyone. If you just want comments, be content with […]

Speed Blogging Tips and Techniques

The following are the workshop notes for my popular workshop on “Speed Blogging.” The workshop is designed to teach how to take charge of your website and keep the content flowing with enthusiasm over the long term by learning the shortcuts, tips, and techniques to speed up the process of blogging, allowing your blog to […]

Your Blog is Your Business Card

The following are the notes for my popular workshop “Your Blog is Your Business Card”. The premise is that today’s business card can’t hold all the contact information necessary to connect adequately with potential clients, but the blog can. It is the holder of your contact information and online identity. The workshop covers the philosophy […]

Blog Exercises: I Don’t Trust That Site

I recommended an article to a student and they said they didn’t trust that site, thus shed doubt on my personal integrity. I asked why. “Because it’s on Blogspot.” Wow. I have to say that wasn’t the answer I expected. I didn’t expect someone, not web savvy in the least, would associate a blogger on […]