Archive for the Category »Blogging Lessons «

03
Dec
Advising Wannabe Bloggers

“Should I start a blog?”

That’s a loaded question, isn’t it?

“Should I start a blog?” is what all bloggers asked themselves prior to blogging and ultimately they all answered, “Yes!”.

For some it worked out. For others, not.

Today’s Lesson

In the comment section of the “Park it, Leave it, or Say Good-Bye” post where we discussed abandoned blogs, Sergio Felix of “Marketing With Sergio shared, in part:

Well to be honest, this whole thing of abandoning blogs really bothers me whenever I see it.

I guess it’s because someone was not guided properly into what a blog or website should be for or simply because someone wasn’t meant to having a blog in the first place.

Many believe that having a blog is very easy right from the beginning just because you can write a few “Hello World” lines and publish that in a few minutes.

But it requires VERY HARD work and many people don’t understand that “small” part of the equation.

He’s right.

A blog isn’t for everyone and with the high rate at which blogs are abandoned, it’s obvious blogging didn’t meet the expectations of many, became too time consuming for some and/or served its original purpose and is no long needed.

That said, there are still many others who want to start a blog, but they don’t know where or how to begin.

I think wannabe bloggers should ask themselves a series of questions prior to starting a blog.

If a wannabe blogger asked me, “Should I start a blog?”, I would answer their question with the question, “What do you believe a blog can do for you?”

Why would I ask that?

I believe blogging has wrongly gained a reputation of being a quick and easy way to make money online, get our writings noticed and/or to build a digital footprint, when in fact, blogging can be very time consuming and can challenge us in many aspects. If a wannabe blogger is not prepared to learn new things or to put in the time  and effort, chances are, they will fail.

Now it’s your turn.

Today’s Assignment

What would your one question be if someone asked you, “Should I start a blog?”

Please elaborate on why you would ask the question.

Care to share?

signature for blog post

P.S. I have a friend who is contemplating starting a blog. I want them to go into blogging with a good understanding of what all blogging entails. Although they do value what I share about blogging, I believe it will benefit them to hear what other bloggers have to say, as well. I appreciate you taking the time to help not only my friend, but others are considering starting a blog of their own.

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  97 Comments
28
Nov
Park it, Leave it, or Say “Good-Bye”

Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of blogs come and go.

I’m not surprised, considering how most blogs don’t make it past the first few months.

That said, the question becomes, “What’s the best way to put a blog to rest?”

Today’s Lesson

When I click on the links to abandoned blogs, I find the following:

  1. The blog is still live, however the most recent post is extremely old.
  2. The blog is still live and the blogger has written a “Good Bye” post stating why they are no longer blogging.
  3. The link redirects to a page which states “this webpage is parked*” and the domain is for sale.
  4. The link redirects to a “parked”* domain and displays advertisements.
  5. The link redirects to a 404 error page.

Seeing how others abandon blogs makes me wonder if one method is better than another.

If it’s a blog I frequented in the past, I like seeing a “good bye” post, however when the link redirects to a parked domain, it’s anyone’s guess what the blogger’s intent is.

Seeing a blog with outdated posts is one way of keeping a blog alive, however if the information which was shared is time sensitive, the content is irrelevant.

Most bloggers have a definite plan when they start blogging, but how to quit blogging is something we don’t discuss.

Maybe we should.

Today’s Assignment

If you quit blogging, what would you do with your blog?

Park it? Close it? Or leave it be?

Care to share?

signature for blog post

*Domain parking is the registration of an Internet domain name without using it for services such as e-mail or a website i.e without placing any content on the domain. This may be done to reserve the domain name for future development, to protect against the possibility of cybersquatting, or to engage in cybersquatting. Since the domain name registrar will have set name servers for the domain, the registrar or reseller potentially has use of the domain rather than the final registrant.

Domain parking can be classified as monetized and non-monetized. In the former, advertisements are shown to visitors and the registrant gains revenue. In the latter, an “Under Construction” or a “Coming Soon” message may or may not be put up on the domain by the registrar or reseller. This is a single-page website that people see when they type the domain name or follow a link in a web browser. Domain names can be parked before a web site is ready for launching.

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , , ,  122 Comments
19
Nov
Taking Responsibility

After you’ve blogged for awhile, you realize there’s more to blogging than just writing.

There’s behind the scenes maintenance; a task some of us would rather forget about.

Today’s Lesson

Over the past few weeks, I learned two great lessons.

  1. If my blogs load slow, chances are, I haven’t done my homework.
  2. If I don’t empty out my spam folder, I may be in violation of the terms of service for my web host.

When I first noticed my blogs were loading slow, I blamed it on my old computer. Then I thought it was Firefox. But after I tested my blog speed on WebSiteOptimization.com and YSlow (a Firefox addon), I found

  1. I had too many images on my home page.
  2. I had images which were not compressed.
  3. I wasn’t utilizing my caching plugin to it’s fullest potential

To correct the above problems,

  1. I removed a few of the images from my home page.
  2. I installed the “Smush It” plugin – which compresses photos.
  3. I chose more options for the WP Super Cache plugin.
  4. I also made a note to myself: when I make changes to my blogs, test the blog page loading time.

With regard to my second problem, my web host (BlueHost) sent me an email stating my account had been deactivated. They requested a call from me to discuss the problem(s). When I called them, they stated I had “inappropriate” content in my spam comments folder and I was in violation of their terms of service, which reads, in part:

Prohibited Offerings. No Subscriber may utilize the Services to provide, sell or offer to sell the following: controlled substances; illegal drugs and drug contraband; weapons; pirated materials; instructions on making, assembling or obtaining illegal goods or weapons to attack others; information used to violate the copyright(s) of, violate the trademark(s) of or to destroy others’ intellectual property or information; information used to illegally harm any people or animals; pornography, nudity, sexual products, programs or services; escort services or other content deemed adult related.

Profanity. Profanity or profane subject matter in the site content and in the domain name are prohibited.

Because I wasn’t able to access the back side of my blog (dashboard), the technician (patiently) gave me instructions on how to delete the spam comments via my cPanel. When I was done, I was instructed to call them back, which I did and they immediately reactivated my blogs.

This problem taught me two lessons:

  1. Read the terms of service for your webhost
  2. Empty your spam folder(s) on a regular basis

In order to avoid having the same problem in the future, I

  1. Installed the G.A.S.P. plugin which verifies those who comment are not spammers or spambots, thus reducing spam.
  2. Delete any spam comments which do come through.

As much as we’d rather spend our blogging time writing or commenting, in order for our blogs to run smoothly, regular maintenance needs to be performed, too.

What say you?

Today’s Assignment

How often do you do maintenance to your blog(s)?

When’s the last time you tested your blog’s loading time?

Care to share?

signature for blog post

P.S. All of my blogs have been hosted with BlueHost* since March 2007. The problem I had resulted from me not reading their terms of service and not deleting the inappropriate spam comments.

*Affiliate link

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Category: Archives, Blog Maintenance, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Plugins and Widgets, Spam  Tags: , , , , , ,  64 Comments
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