Author: Barbara Swafford

Blogs aren’t for everyone. In fact, blogs aren’t for most people. However, if you’re thinking of starting a blog, you need to ask yourself a few questions. 1) Am I willing to devote time to blogging? 2) Do I have the “spare change”, needed to start a blog? 3) Do… read more Do You Have What It Takes To Blog?

If you’re blogging, and are interested in search engine optimization (SEO), the first few sentences you write, are the most important. Your first sentence should not only tell your readers what your post is going to be about, but will also tell search engines, how to index your particular post…. read more Writing That Important First Paragraph

Google AdSense is a great way to make money with your blog. After adding some code to your pages, the ads will automatically appear – like magic. Once readers start clicking on your ads, you can start making money. An added bonus, it’s free to you. If you’re comfortable adding… read more Make Money With Google AdSense

I recently added the “Digg This” button to my blogs. The “Digg This” button is great for blog authors to use, if they want to encourage readers to submit their stories to Digg. Submitting your posts to Digg, may help to increase your readership, thus increasing your traffic counts. As… read more “Digg This” Button Added

If you blog, and add advertisements to your pages, you’ll often see the term, “above the fold”. So, what does “above the fold” mean? Above the fold, is a term that is used to describe what a reader sees when then open your page in their favorite browser. Above the… read more Above the Fold

Blogging is not my big idea to make millions. If you’re asking, “Can I make millions blogging?” Well…that’s a million dollar question. Take the time to read an earlier post, I wrote, “Quit Blogging, and Make Millions”.  Plus, if you’ve done any research, you’ll see that anyone who’s been blogging… read more Big Ideas That Could Make Millions

With blogging, the language is: CSS, HTML; XHTML, links, pings, trackbacks, URL’s, posting, stats, addons, widgets, plugins, SEO, page rank, RSS, and much more When I was “blogging without a blog”, a month or more before I actually had a blog, the language of blogging, made my head spin. To… read more Oh, That Blogging Language – Part 1

If you’re new to blogging, you may be overwhelmed with all of the blogging language. You did find out that blogging has it’s own language, didn’t you? My best advice to new bloggers, is to take it, one step at a time. There is no way, you’ll learn all there… read more Are You A New and Overwhelmed Blogger

If you’re a newbie to blogging, who is using WordPress, finding the right information can be difficult. Searching for information about blogging with WordPress, can produce millions of results. The best source for WordPress, is in an obvious place. It’s at WordPress .org. By clicking on the following link, you… read more Best Source For WordPress Newbies

Sitemeter is one of many statistical data reporting services for bloggers and webmasters. When one of my “Blogging Buddies”, mentioned they were using Sitemeter, I decided to give it a try. I was pleasently surprised at the detailed information Sitemeter provides. Sitemeter contains: 1) Updated stats which shows “who’s on”… read more Review – Sitemeter Statistical Data

WordPress.com Stats is a great plugin for checking your stats. The WordPress Stats plugin, does not count the visits you make to your site(s). Like Akismet, with the WordPress.com Stats plugin, you need an API key. Once the API key is entered, the rest is automatic. You will then find… read more Plugin – WordPress.com Stats

If you have a new blog, and want to get indexed by Google, Yahoo, plus other search engines, thus improving search engine optimization, it’s apparent that a site map is imperative to install. What is a site map? Think of a site map as a blueprint of your site. When… read more Google Sitemap Generator

Is your site XHMTL compliant? Don’t know? “Run it through” the “Validator” at w.3.org. It’s not uncommon for a site to contain many errors. Three reasons you may get errors are: 1) Your theme contains errors 2) Your plugins or widgets contain errors 3) Your advertising code contains errors. To… read more 3 Things That Can Make Your Blog XHTML Uncompliant

Testing your WordPress blog on Firefox, Internet Explorer, and other browsers is imperative. I use the Firefox browser for most of my work. However, when I began testing my blog’s appearance on the Internet Explorer (IE) browser, I began seeing a different “look”. When I thought I had things perfect,… read more Testing Your Theme In Firefox Browser vs Internet Explorer

Adding a Google Search Bar on your blog/website, can help you increase your Google earnings. This is almost a no brainer, as most themes already include a search bar. To add AdSense for Search is easy. Log into your Google account. Go to “AdSense Setup”, click on “AdSense for Search”,… read more AdSense For Search

RSS feeds are a great way to let readers know when you’ve updated your blog. After “crashing”, and “revamping” my blog last week, I’ve added a plugin named “Subscribe Me”. I have activated the “drop down” option, and offer my readers a variety of ways to subscribe to my blog…. read more Plugin – Subscribe Me

Some of my plugins are causing XHTML validation errors. I recently used The W3C Markup Validation Service, to check the validity of my blog pages. The Markup Validation Service returned a lot of XHTML errors on my pages. Upon further research, I found that some of the plugins I was… read more Plugins Caused XHTML Errors

My head is still reeling from “crashing” both of my blogs late last week. It all started, when I decided to add a third blog (more on that at a later date). I signed on to my web hosting account, and filled out all of the information. No problem there…. read more I “Crashed” My Blogs

Adding a block quote to your blog is easy. Block quotes are are great way to reference other valuable sites Today’s Lesson We all get ideas of what to blog about from different sources. Oftentimes, we are well versed in an area, and the words come easy. Other times, we… read more Adding A Blockquote To Your Post

I just added the Amber Alert Ticker to both of my blogs. I’m encouraging all webmasters and bloggers to add the Amber Alert Ticker to your websites and blogs. It could help to save a child. Since Amber Alerts are normally only posted on TV and the radio, this will… read more Amber Alert Ticker Added

You know you’re indexed with the search engines, because you read my previous article Are You Being Indexed On The Search Engines?. Now…….how do you know how high your pages are ranking, on the search engines? You can find out, in four easy steps. 1) Go to your stats program… read more How High Are You Ranking In The Search Engines?

If you have a website or blog, you’ll want to know that your site is being indexed. To test if your site is being indexed on Google, Yahoo, or any of the other search engines, enter your site’s name, i.e. “bloggingwithoutablog.com”, hit “search”. The results will show how many times… read more Are You Being Indexed On The Search Engines?

Want your links to open in a new browser? Inserting the code, is very easy. The code that needs to be inserted is { target =”new” }, or. {target =”_blank”}. This gets inserted immediately before the {>}, which is immediately before the description of the link. For an example, if… read more How To Create A Link In A New Browser

I bang my head against the wall every now and then. This time it’s over my RSS feed, again. One of my “Blogging Buddies”, emailed me, to let me know my feed wasn’t working correctly. I decided to try adding the new “FeedBurner FeedSmith” plugin. This plugin works with WordPress,… read more New Plugin Added – FeedBurner FeedSmith

Over the weekend, I received an email from the owner of a website I “showcased” on my other blog. She had a question about “hits” on her website, Dare To Care – Alaska. Her passion is to feed hungry children, who have fallen through the cracks for Federally funded school… read more Is A “Hit”, A “Visit”?

Way back, we used to write letters to each other. Then, the telephone came along, and everyone had a telephone number to share. After the telephone, came the fax. Then the cell phone. We probably have a minimum of three numbers for one person. Then, e-mail came along, and everyone,… read more 12 Great Excuses For Not Having A Web Log “Blog”

Writing an”About” page for your blog can be difficult. You’re telling the world, who you are. Should you brag about your accomplishments, or downplay them? If you’re young, with not much experience in life, how do you get readers to find you credible? Should you try and stay anonymous? Should… read more Writing Your “About” Page

Google Page Rank. If you blog, and have done any research on linking, you’ve probably read that you want incoming links to your pages from sites that have a ranking of 4 or above. This apparently, will help your Google Page Rank., which, in turn, increases your position in the… read more Google Page Rank – Chasing That Elusive Dream

Are you constantly checking your blog stats? Have you become a stataholic? With new bloggers, it understandable that you check your stats often. You want, what you’ve written, to be read. After all, you started blogging to share with the world, what you feel is valuable information. I’ve been a… read more Are You A Stataholic

Would you like to be able to make a million dollars blogging? Of course, you would. Although most of us blog in an effort to help others, money always enters the picture, in one form or another. We may want to make a few bucks via our affiliate advertising, by… read more Quit Blogging and Make Millions