Blogging Basics 101

Guest Bloggers for July

I am taking July off. However, I have celebrity guest bloggers lined up to continue the learning.

• Jordan McCollom from Momma Blogga: Everything you need to know about RSS (July 7-11)
• Lani from The Wooden Porch: How to remove the double border in Blogger banners (July 14)
• Stephanie from Adventures in Baby Wearing: Bloggers & their relationships with PR/Marketers (July 15)
• Sarah from Like a Warm Cup of Coffee: The differences between women and men bloggers (July 16)
• Jan Ross from Mrs. Who's Open Book: Writing for two blogs (July 17)
• Karen from Simply A Musing Blog: Branding your blog (July 21)
• Karla from Looking Towards Heaven: Basic blog design choices; Beginner blogger's checklist; Social media/networking (July 22, 23, 24)
• Jennie from Wash Words: Content is king (July 28)
• Deb from Mom of 3 Girls: Setting up a stat counter and submitting your site to Technorati (July 29)

I will continue to provide Friday's Mighty Helpful Links.

Call for Guest Bloggers at Blogging Basics 101

I am looking for guest bloggers who would like to write a few posts here at Blogging Basics 101. I have several July dates open and I'd love to showcase your articles. If you think you have a knack for writing a blogging tutorial (especially WordPress) or would like to share your thoughts on blogging theory, I want to hear from you.

You can contact me at bloggingbasics101 at gmail dot com. Please include your name, a link to your blog, an idea of what you'd like to post about, how many posts you can contribute, and anything else you think is relevant. If you're the perfect match for BB101, I'll let you know and we'll set up some dates. I need to set this up fairly quickly, so start writing those e-mails now! Thanks.

A Few Contests You May be Interested In

I don't usually promote contests over here at Blogging Basics 101. However, there are two contests I think beginning bloggers will be interested in. Each are offering amazing prizes!

Win the Ultimate Blogging Package by Suggesting a New Feature for Blogger via Blogger Buster. This contest will have one Grand Prize winner and 5 runners-up. The Grand Prize is (according to Blogger Buster):

• A unique, pre-made Blogger XML template (which will not be available for anyone else to use!)
• A complete blog tune up (including optimizing for search engines and page loading time)
• A one year domain name, basic hosting and email package from GoDaddy
• A copy of the Problogger book
• A one month 125px advertising slot here at Blogger Buster (a $30 value)
• A set of MiniCards from Moo to help you promote your blog offline

Not bad! You'll want to head over to Blogger Buster and get in on this. The deadline is July 4.

Blogging Idol Contest via Daily Blog Tips. This contest is solely for blogs with under 1,000 subscribers. The idea is to build traffic and subscriptions in a bid for a Grand Prize worth $1,500 ($800 cash via PayPal and $700 worth of SEO consulting)! The start date is July 1, so you'll need to sign up before then. Good luck!

Small Break

I had planned to start answering questions again after spring break. Unfortunately, we have had a death in the family and I can't concentrate right now. I hope to be back next week some time.

Thank you for understanding.

Melanie

Housekeeping: Comments close after one month

Due to an amazing amount of spam on older posts, I have had to close comments on all posts older than one month. If you have questions regarding an older post you can still send e-mail to bloggingbasics101(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

Do you have a blogging etiquette question?

I will be talking with Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer this week for a podcast on Blogging Basics 101. She and I will be discussing blog etiquette. If you have any questions you'd like me to ask, please post them in the comments. Thanks!

Blogging Basics 101 News

The winter break was anything but a break, but I am currently working on several new answers for you! In the mean time, I'd like to read your ideas about what podcasts you'd like to hear from BB101. Is there a particular blogger you want to hear from? A particular topic you'd like discussed? Is there a certain answer that would be helpful if done as a podcast (similar to what I did with permalinks)?

Blogging Basics 101 is growing and I have all of you to thank for that. I also have to thank Shannon for the idea. This was all her little brainstorm and she passed it on to me because she's completely awesome like that. The fact that you keep coming back for more information, place the BB101 button on your sidebars, link to the site, etc. is really fantastic. I appreciate your feedback and your visiting. Thank you!

The 2008 Weblog Awards (The Bloggies) are now up and accepting nominations. You can nominate blogs in several categories, but the nomination deadline is this Friday, January 11. If I may be so bold as to ask, would you please head over and, if you've been happy with BB101's information, nominate Blogging Basics 101 in at least one category? I would love to have the BB101 name out there and spread the word that information is available if you know where to look! Thank you.

Now, don't forget to leave me a comment about what podcasts you'd like to hear.

Blogging Basics Break

I am taking a break from all blogging until after Christmas. I will return full force after the holidays. I plan to have many new podcasts for you and lots of Might Helpful Links. Please keep Blogging Basics 101 in your feed reader so you'll be sure to know when the new stuff is up.

Happy Holidays from Blogging Basics 101! Be safe and happy.

Taking A Break

OK, folks. I'm swamped right now. I am going to take a short break to work behind the scenes on this blog and then I'll get back to the tutorials. If you haven't seen your question answered, never fear. We'll get to it. If you'd like to submit a question, please send an e-mail to bloggingbasics101ATgmailDOTcom (change the AT to @ and the DOT to .).

Also, we are in the process of adding more information for WordPress blogs! I want to thank Jordan McCollum (found at MamaBlogga) who has graciously volunteered her services to help us with the instructions we've been lacking. She has sent me six pages (!) of updates that I'll be working on adding to existing tutorials this week.

Thanks for your patience and your questions!

Melanie

Sparse Posting

My word, you guys! Life is busy when you have three blogs to write, two kids to mother, and a husband who likes to, you know, have dinner once in a while. Throw a kitchen renovation into the mix and you've got one gal who hasn't been posting much any blogs.

It's summer now and I have lofty ideas for posting. Please keep checking back. Some of the questions I've received I have to research before I can answer.