Tag-Archive for » WordPress «

20
Jan
Blogs – Free vs Paid – Is One Better?
Barbara Swafford

Money Wallet Cash 175 Blogs Free vs Paid Is One Better? When we start blogging we often ask ourselves which way to go.

Should we set up a free blog? Or, bite the bullet, and pay for one?

Unfortunately we don’t know if we’ll enjoy blogging and may ask ourselves, “Would it be wise to put out the money for a blog?”

But on the other hand, if we don’t, might we have regrets?

It’s a tough call.

Today’s Lesson

As I was reading John’s Top 5 Crash and Burn Blogger Mistakes Which Keep You Poor by John Hoff of WP Blog Host, he answered this question perfectly. His response is:

A free blog is ok if: All you care about is your content. Free blogs are good if you want someone else to take care of all the security issues, upgrades, etc. If your only goal is to write and you don’t care much about making money and turning your blog into a business, a free blog is fine.

A free blog is not ok if: You want to turn your blog into a business; want full control of the design of your blog; your mind is telling you that you’ll upgrade to a self hosted blog one day down the road; etc.

When I started blogging, I researched what the big name bloggers were doing and noticed they had self hosted WordPress blogs.  I followed their lead and did the same.

That decision costs me just over $100 a year.

For me, I feel it was a wise choice, however, it’s may not be right for everyone.

What say you?

Today’s Assignment

Do you have a free or self hosted blog?

What was the deciding factor for you?

Any regrets?

signature for blog post.

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, New To Blogging  Tags: , , , , , , , ,  93 Comments
11
Dec
Sexy Bookmarks, Toolbars & Time Savers
Barbara Swafford

61006514 eff5ecbcd5 Sexy Bookmarks, Toolbars & Time SaversSince I call this “your blogging classroom on the web”, I decided it was time we talk about homework; or that behind the scenes stuff we often put off.

Today’s Lesson

As many of you have noticed, I decorated my blog for the holidays.

Since I use a theme which has the “custom header feature”, adding the photo was simple. For the RSS widgets I searched for “holiday icons” and then recoded my widgets.

Listed below are a few new (to me) plugins I am testing.

  1. First is Sexy Bookmarks by Josh Jones and Norman Yung which is visible at the bottom of each post.

    The Sexy Bookmarks plugin is easily customizable, looks good, doesn’t take up too much space and is positioned so readers will be reminded to Tweet, Digg, or use StumbleUpon, etc. to share a post.

  2. The “Follow Me” plugin by WP Burn.com can be seen on the right of the page.

    This plugin is to remind our readers they can follow us on Twitter. The customization includes using different colors as well as different Twitter birds images.

  3. The Wibiya toolbar can be seen at the bottom of the page.

    What I like about this toolbar is if you don’t want to clutter up your sidebars with an RSS feed, recent posts, etc., you can include them in the toolbar.This isn’t a plugin, but more of an add-on which requires an invitation. Just go to the Wibiya site and follow the instructions. In a matter of days you should receive an email from them and at that time you can set up an account and customize your toolbar.

  4. Thanks to the suggestions from both Internet Strategist @ GrowMap and Betsy at Passing Thru I added Zemanta and Apture.

    In a nutshell, these two applications which work for all blogging platforms* make blogging easier and faster by suggesting photos, links, related articles, etc. for our posts. (Disclaimer: I’ve only tested them on WordPress.)

    Zemanta adds a interface to your dashboard from which you can drag and drop photos and/or links into your post as you’re writing it.

    Image representing Zemanta as depicted in Crun...
    Image via CrunchBase

    Apture adds icons which when clicked on, does the same.

    Zemanta also adds a “reblog” feature at the bottom of the post which makes cutting and pasting quotes much easier, plus and an option to add links to other posts which may be beneficial to our readers.

Thus far, the only downside I see to using some of the above applications is they do slow down the page load time.

Today’s Assignment

What are your favorite plugins or applications?

Care to share?

signature for blog post.

Footnote: When using Zemanta on a self hosted blog, the Zemanta plugin must be used. For WordPress, the plugin can be downloaded here.

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Category: Archives, Blog Maintenance, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Linking, Plugins and Widgets, Save Time  Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  59 Comments
29
Aug
Plugins, Questions and Open Mic
Barbara Swafford

393466886 93a4a580b0 m Plugins, Questions and Open Mic

It’s been another busy week here at BWAB and for me in my real life. As the week comes to a close, it’s time to recap what we’ve learned.

This week’s posts included:

1) A.S.K. Liz – How do You Inspire Your Readers To Join Your Community
2) New Blog Of The Week – Writer Dad
3) Parties, Spam and Hanging Chads
4) Self Promotion From The Archives

Behind the scenes I’ve been experimenting with the following plugins.

1) Liz Strauss’ Comment Count Badge See mine in the right sidebar.

It’s an easy plugin to download, use and configure. For details and screen shots, check out Lorelle’s blog post titled:My Comment Count Is Bigger Than Your Comment Count

2) The What Would Seth Godin Do (WWSGD) plugin is shown on the top of each post.

It’s a typical download, and once activated the message in the rectangular box and easily be changed. To witness how other bloggers are using this plugin, check out Catherine Lawson’s great ideas.

3) Ozh’s Absolute Comments lets you reply to comments directly from your “comments” screen.

With this plugin you can answer one comment at a time. If you choose to answer more than one, the only way I’ve found to accomplish that is by entering your replies directly on the post screen.

To read more on comments, check our Joanna Young’s post titled: 10 Practical Ways To Boost Blog Comments and Conversation

Today’s Assignment

To start off this weeks “Open Mic”, I have two questions for all of you.

1) Are you more apt to read a blog if the RSS feed reader count shows a high number?

2) With the introduction of Liz’s Comment Count Plugin, would the display of comment counts influence you to join in on the conversations?

The floor is yours. You know the rules.

Questions, comments and concerns are welcome.

Have Fun!

Keep it Clean!

And don’t forget to either check the “subscribe to comments on this post” box, or subscribe to my comments RSS feed (upper right sidebar), so you can follow along.

Photo Credit: El Conde!’s photostream
Category: Archives, Comments, Open Mic, Plugins and Widgets  Tags: , , , ,  56 Comments
18
Aug
A.S.K. – Liz Strauss – How To Format A Blog Post To Maximize Comments
Barbara Swafford

ask 300x205 A.S.K. Liz Strauss How To Format A Blog Post To Maximize Comments

Welcome to my new series. A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge.)

Based on the success of the interview series with Lorelle (of Lorelle On WordPress), my blog, like many others, is experiencing a slight transformation.

In my attempt to continue to help bloggers, I’ll be adding more interviews in the form of “answers”. I will contact experts in the blogging field and ask if they would like to participate. My hope is most will say “yes”.

This expert needs no introduction. It’s Liz Strauss of Successful And Outstanding Bloggers. She recently made blogging history by showcasing 260 blogs in her “2008 Blog-to-Show”, and is the author of “The Secret to Writing a Successful and Outstanding Blog, which, by the way, is a fabulous book.

Let’s get this underway.

I said: “When I spoke with Lorelle, she mentioned you’re known for an astronomical amount of comments on your blog (for some reason 70,000 rings a bell). Undoubtedly, you have a knack for making your readers feel so comfortable on your blog, they WANT to respond. For new bloggers who yearn to get comments, what’s the best piece of advice you would give them so they too, can begin seeing activity in their comment section?”

Liz answered.“Yep, on my big blog I’ll turn 70,000 comments in the next couple of weeks. Writing for conversation is a new genre, different than any writing we’ve done before. However, if we consider what we know about conversation, it’s not really that hard to figure out. When we have a conversation, we never get a chance to “present” an entire idea fully and complete. We get to say one part. Then, it’s the other person’s turn to speak. If we say everything we know and tie up every detail thoroughly, we’re not having a conversation, we’re giving a presentation. The other person is left sitting there listening — we’ve left them no room to talk.”

“The first advice I always give is to come down off the podium.”

Reflecting on the answer

Most important, thank you Liz, for taking time out of your busy schedule to answer this question.

When I look at Liz’s answer, it reminds me how bloggers have this wonderful medium for conversation. We speak, and others listen.

As Liz stated, “Then, it’s the other person’s turn to speak”

Today’s Assignment

Have you opened the door to letting your readers have their say?

If so, how are you accomplishing that?

Is what you’re doing working?

Other than Liz’s “first advice”, there is a lot of value hidden in her answer. Did you find it?

Category: A.S.K., Blogging Lessons, Comments, Writing Tips  Tags: , ,  43 Comments
12
Aug
NBOTW Authors – Where Are You Now
Barbara Swafford

cooltext96100279 NBOTW Authors Where Are You Now

In January of 2008 as my way of paying it forward, I started the New Blog Of The Week (NBOTW) series.

Here it is, seven months, twenty nine blogs later. As I look through the list, I am amazed at the talent displayed by these great authors who willingly share from their hearts, with stories of their lives and lessons life has taught them.

For those new to Blogging Without A Blog (BWAB), the New Blog Of The Week (NBOTW) series posts every Tuesday, and for a one week period the blog is showcased in my sidebar.

Today is a recap of all of the NBOTWs and their authors. Some are still going strong, whereas others are either on hiatus and/or busy living their lives.

To all of the NBOTW authors, wherever blogging has taken you, I wish you all of life’s best.

Here they are, in the order in which they were showcased:

  1. Natasha’s World by Natasha
  2. NezSez by Nez
  3. David Lano.com by David Lano
  4. Three Weddings by Debbie Yost
  5. Bizlift Blog by Sterling Okura
  6. In My Heels by JEMi
  7. Admnistrative Arts by Jodith
  8. The Growing Life by Clay Collins
  9. Plain Talk – Ordinary Wisdom by Pat
  10. Creative Journey Cafe by Mark Penta
  11. Yes To Me by Akemi Gaines
  12. Kitchen Table Medicineby Dr. Nicole Sundene
  13. Success Soul by Shilpan
  14. Between Us Girls by Lori
  15. Golden Zen by Harmony and Ginger
  16. Life’s Little Inspirations by Wendi
  17. Be Playful.org by David
  18. Happy Dogs Make Happy Humans by Kaye Swafford and Krystal
  19. On Simplicity by Sara
  20. Work Happy Now by Karl Staib
  21. Forced Green by Linda
  22. Abundance Blog by Marelisa
  23. MomGrind by Vered
  24. The Jungle Of Life by Lance
  25. Dr. Cason.org by Dr. Cason
  26. Urban Pather’s Lair by Urban Panther
  27. Urbane Panther’s Den by Urbane Lion
  28. Rajaie Talks by Rajaie
  29. Tender Loving Elder Careby Linda Abbit

For all of the readers of BWAB, do you see names of favorite bloggers?

If you haven’t visited these blogs, click on the links, visit others and make new friends.

Do you know someone you would like to nominate? Would YOU like to become a NBOTW? It’s easy, just leave a comment or fill out the contact form (in the header). All nominations will be considered. The prerequisite is:

1) The blog should be less than four months old
2) The blog must contain value based content

Next Tuesday I’ll resume showcasing new blogs.

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Category: Archives, New Blog Of The Week  Tags: , , ,  49 Comments
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