Blogging Basics 101

How We Communicate: FAQs for Beginning Bloggers

I just returned from BlogHer 2008 in San Franciso. I appeared on a panel with four other women called FAQs for Beginning Bloggers. Our panel was flat-out amazing. We met fantastic bloggers and answered many beginner questions. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to answer everyone’s questions. I hope to talk to the BlogHer Three (Lisa, Jory, and Elisa) to discuss having this panel again next year and including a Birds of a Feather Room so we can continue our discussions.

Below you will find my notes from my portion of the panel. After each of the presenters (me, Michele Mitchell of Scribbit, Nelly Yusopova of Webgrrls International, and Shazia Mistry of Adventures in Motherhood) gave a short overview of some basic FAQs, we broke into smaller groups discuss platform-specific questions (i.e., TypePad, Blogger, and WordPress).

We have also compiled a Blogging Resources Document (pdf) for you to download.

In addition, you can find Nelly’s notes at WebGrrrls and Michele’s notes at Scribbit.

How do I find basic html resources to help me remember how to do things like strike-thrus etc.?

When I research information for Blogging Basics 101, I start with a Google search of key words. I also go to each of the three main platforms (Blogger, TypePad, and WordPress) and search their help files with those same key words. More often than not, I find what I’m looking for.

The following five sites are excellent resources for all bloggers to refresh your memory on how to do things like strike-throughs or add a button to your sidebar.

• Blogging Basics 101: This site starts from the beginning and walks you through everything from choosing your blog host and choosing a blog name to figuring out how to do a strike-through and customize your sidebars.
• Blogger Buster: Blogger users should have this one in their bookmarks. Everything you want to know and then some about how to manage and customize your Blogger blog.
• Edublogger: This site is specifically written for people who design, develop, and use educational blogs. However, the information spans niches and is valuable to all bloggers. The author uses many screen captures to make instructions especially easy to follow.
• BlogWell: This site offers everything from theory and design articles to HTML and CSS instruction for WordPress. It is targeted to small businesses and non-profits.
• Lorelle on WordPress: As the name suggests, this blog focuses on WordPress.org and WordPress.com blogs and how to take them to the next level. Lorelle provides tips, advice, and techniques for WordPress bloggers.

What are and how do I create permalinks?

A permalink is the link to an individual blog post. These are important because if you ever need to link to an exact blog entry (e.g., for a carnival or an archived post), you use the permalink as your link. It's poor blog etiquette not to use the permalink.

If you don't use the permalink, you'll just be linking to your main blog page. The problem with that is that, as you post new blog entries, the newest entry appears at the top of your main blog page and the other entries are pushed down on the page. The entry your readers are looking for may be down at the bottom of the page or already in the archives; your reader has no idea where to find the entry! If they click over to your site expecting to see a post specific to a carnival and they see a different post, they may not take the time to find the "real" post they're looking for.

You can find the permalink link under any blog entry. However, not all blog hosts/designs handle permalinks the same way.

• Typepad: There's a link that actually says Permalink under the entry.
• Blogger: The link varies. It's usually the time stamp of the post or the title.
• WordPress: Has a link at the bottom of the post named Permalink and/or the title of the post.

What kind of basic sections should I have in my blog?

I take this to mean What should I place in my sidebar? Your sidebar is your list of things you want to keep handy for your readers and for yourself. Your sidebar is offering your readers something in addition to the day’s post. However, too many links in the sidebar can clutter your design and overwhelm your audience. Keep things clean and orderly.

• Recent Posts/Most popular posts/Archives: You don’t need all three. Just choose one of these.
• Categories or Search: I find that search works well for my blogs, because I have a long list of categories. The search takes up less space and is an easy-to-install widget from Widgetbox.
• About Me/E-mail/Contact information: This is your opportunity to explain your blog. E-mail or other contact information should be readily available so your readers (or PR and marketing people) can contact you.
• RSS subscription button: Blogging Basics 101 has an entire section on RSS and installation and you can review Nelly’s notes at WebGrrrls as well.
• Blogroll (if you choose to do one)

Hosted vs. Non-Hosted?

Hosted: A blog that resides on the host’s server (e.g., Blogger or TypePad or WordPress.com).

Non-hosted: A blog that resides on the user’s (yours) server. You pay a third-party to host your blog (e.g., Moveable Type or WordPress.org).

Hosted Pros: Easy to get started because you don’t have to worry about server issues.

Hosted Cons:

• Blogger blogs can appear to be less professional
• Platform limitations (e.g., archiving can be less than user-friendly; TypePad can have issues with comment spam and trackback spam; difficult SEO)
• Less control over HTML and CSS
• WordPress.com does not allow advertising.

Non-Hosted Pros:

• Control over permalinks (articles aren’t randomly named) which can help with SEO
• Control over how archives are managed
• Control over CSS/HTML

Non-Hosted Cons:

• WordPress.org only supports one blog per installation; however, Moveable Type supports multiple blogs per installation.
• Moveable Type isn’t as malleable as WordPress.org.

How do I make a custom header?

• Using GIMP (free to download) to make custom blog banner (via Simply A Musing Blog)
• How to use PhotoShop or PhotoShop Elements to design a custom blog header (via DesignMom) 

To those of you who joined us, thank you! It was a pleasure meeting you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have additional questions. For those of you who were unable to attend our panel or BlogHer ’08, please follow the links to our Blogging Resources Document and panel notes. I’d love to hear from you if you have questions!

I am cross-posting this at Don't Try This at Home and BlogHer.com.

Writing For Two Blogs Or Are You Completely Insane?

Today's guest blogger is Jan Ross of Mrs. Who's Open Book and Bluegrass Moms.

In January of 2007 I started a blog. I was young and naive and blissfully stupid about what was involved. OK, I was naive and stupid. Not so much young. I had heard of blogging at the librarian and technology conferences I had attended and understood that they were basically an online journal but I mentally dismissed them as being something only geeks and losers did. Who in the world would want to document everything they did for the entire world to read?

And then my daughter got pregnant, began doing research on the Internet and stumbled on two hilarious mommy bloggers. Amalah and Sundry. She started forwarding their posts to me and as I cackled aloud at the hilarious doings of these two young women, I admired their ability to write, to stay focused, to come up with so many good ideas. How could anyone possibly do that? And then my daughter started a blog. And I thought, "If she can do it, then so can I."

Like most bloggers, I had always written. Through high school and the school paper and the yearbook and college and the terrible poetry and even as a professional, I had written for magazines and newspapers. So, just how hard could this be?

Because I am extremely organized (when one has no memory, one is forced to be organized) and perhaps a tad anal, I decided I would write every single day. I didn't restrict myself to any topics, just wrote about pretty much anything that occurred to me. Family, friends, TV, movies, books, travel - pretty much anything was grist for the blogging mill. And so it began. First, my loyal family members read and then close friends and then friends of friends and then complete strangers. I never had to look for my "voice", my blog always sounded just like me. Or so people told me. I began to get more organized and participate in giveaways and events to drive traffic to my blog. I started regular weekly features, like a Monday giveaway and a Friday list of links. I had always shared lots of web sites with my teachers, so this was no different. I was comfortable and enjoying myself and I had an appreciative, albeit small, audience.

I had been writing for about a year when an editor from the local newspaper called and asked if I would be interested in being a blogger for a new website for moms they were starting. Offering another blogging gig to a dedicated blogger is kind of like offering water in the dessert to a man who is dying of thirst. You take it, you gulp it down, you enjoy it. And you hope that it doesn't make you puke.

I have been writing for both blogs for about five months now and I feel pretty comfortable that I am doing a good job with both. I get frequent compliments, my traffic has gone up considerably on my personal blog and the professional one also has a lot of readers. I haven't had a stranger stop me on the street but I have had parents at school that I don't know very well stop me in the hall to tell me how much they liked one of my posts. There is no high higher than telling a writer you like something they have written.

There is no one answer to the best way to manage more than one blog, but let me tell you how I do it and what I have learned and what I am still in the process of learning.

1. You must love writing to be a blogger, whether you are writing for one blog or ten. If you don't love it, you won't stick with it. Eventually, it will become a chore instead of a giddy pleasure and you will write less and less until finally someone stumbles on your blog and the latest post is a year old. I can't tell you how many times I have found blogs like that. So, write. Write all the time. Write about anything and everything. Every single word may not make it into a post but some of it will and some of it may inspire other ideas.
2. Be organized. Melanie wrote a post recently about keeping an editorial calendar and I was extremely impressed with myself because I had been doing that for a while in a spreadsheet but I didn't know it was an editorial calendar. Much more impressive title. I try to stay at least a week ahead and even more than that with the Monday giveaways and the Friday links. I probably have them done 3-4 weeks in advance. I don't want to be up at midnight, stressing myself out because I have to write a post for the next morning.
3. Be creative. I have much more flexibility with my professional blog because, well, it's a professional blog. For a professional newspaper. When I ask for giveaways, people are much more impressed with the newspaper blog than with my personal blog. But the personal blog picks up traffic from the professional blog because I link them together. I used to review children's books for a professional magazine so I decided this was something I could do again for this blog. I contacted dozens of publishers of children's books and, using my new credentials as a professional blogger, asked for review copies. Within days, I had a pile of books to review and give away on the blog.
4. Extend your blog beyond the computer. When I realized I was going to be reviewing books that people would want to buy, I went by the local bookstore and had a chat with the manager of the children's department. She agreed to display the books I reviewed, with a printout of that post and my picture. More readers followed from that display to the blog.
5. Think about how your everyday life could give you a great blog concept. I say concept and not idea, because I like things that have an arc, like a good story. Something that continues that makes people tune in and read. One thing I enjoy in the summer is eating on restaurant patios. A couple of months back, I thought "Huh. I should tell people about all these patios. I should review them. I should write about them." Hey. I should. And maybe I could give away some gift certificates, along with the reviews. I wonder if the restaurant managers would GIVE me gift certificates. I had professional business cards made, I introduced myself to the restaurant managers and, somewhat to my astonishment, they ALL gave me gift certificates. Hundreds of people are reading these reviews and making comments so they can enter the drawings.
6. Be persistent. But professional. A couple of restaurants I went to had managers without the power to give me gift certificates. I had to talk to the owners. I had to call back, go to the restaurants, follow up. I did all that. And they all gave me gift certificates.
7. Only do it if it's fun. If you are not having fun, enjoying yourself and just getting a kick out of what you are doing, it becomes a chore. And who wants to read about that? The patio dinners with my friends are a blast. Writing about them is easy. It's FUN. And so it should be.
8. Keep track of your ideas. I have seen this advice numerous times, but you have got to get those ideas down while they are fresh. I have notebooks in my car, by my bed, and I have been known to ask my husband to pause a show for just a second while I go type an idea on the computer. I have to keep track of those ideas because they are going, going, gone. I can't tell you the number of times I have written an entire wonderful, hilarious blog post in my head and then thought "Wait. What was I going to write about?"
9. If you want to be a good writer, you have to read. Read books, magazines, the newspaper, other blogs, and pretty much whatever you can put your hands on that has words in it. It will give you ideas, it will inspire you, it will help your vocabulary, your spelling and its fun. If you love to write, you probably love to read. Feed that love.
10. Do what you can handle. And don't feel guilty you can't do more. When the newspaper editor called me, I said I would write for them but only two days a week. I knew I couldn't write two blogs and write them daily. It would be way too much. Two days a week is manageable.
11. Have some long term goals. This is not a requirement, but I like the fact that I know I eventually want to make money from blogging. I want to do a lot more with the professional blog and I am building relationships now that will help with that goal.

I hope at least some of this advice will help one of my fellow bloggers. Stick with it. You are doing a great job. And I love your haircut.

An Editorial Calendar Will Keep You Sane

I currently write three daily blogs and contribute a monthly column to one more. For a long while I simply wrote on my whims about whatever came to mind at that moment. Rarely did I think about what was coming up or where I needed to be in a week. Needless to say, that wasn’t working consistently for me. I missed deadlines, wrote uninteresting posts, and wasn’t meeting the goals I had set for myself.

I was determined to turn my work habits around and be more positively productive. To that end, I began using an editorial calendar and I cannot recommend it enough. An editorial calendar is simply a schedule of where you are writing, what topics you plan to cover, and when you plan to cover them. Whether you write one blog or many, an editorial calendar can keep you sane.

I am not your average blogger, I know. Having three distinct blogs is more than most people care to tackle. I think of blogging as my career, though, and as such, I dedicate a lot of time working on each blog. Each one demands a different strength, but they all demand my time.

Part of my calendar reminds me of what I need to accomplish each week for each blog. For example, Bloggy Giveaways requires that I contact vendors each week to remind them their giveaway is coming up. I must also keep an eye on who is reading Bloggy Giveaways, which giveaways receive the most traffic, how many click-throughs I’m generating for the vendors, etc. Finally, I must know what vendor options I have so if I’m low on giveaways, I can contact new ones to fill my empty calendar.

Blogging Basics 101 requires that I keep tabs on what is happening in technology and can distill that information for my audience. I also have to research multiple platforms in order to answer questions and respond to comments. I spend a few hours each day following tech blogs so I can be up-to-date on how blogging is changing and moving ahead. This research also helps me write my monthly column at 5 Minutes for Mom and provides many of the links you see on Fridays in Mighty Helpful Links.

Organizing all those tasks without a calendar is a nightmare, I assure you. I forgot ideas or simply ignored them. I became overwhelmed and ended up sitting at my computer playing Sudoku online or fiddling with iTunes--anything to avoid starting because I didn’t know where to start.

Once I determined my editorial calendar and stuck to it, writing became a pleasure again. I felt as though my posts were better, I was more organized, and I actually liked my job.

In coordination with my editorial calendar I use a notebook. I write all of my blog post ideas down in this notebook. I carry it with me everywhere. That way, if I see something or think of something, I can keep track of it without worrying that I’ll forget it later. This process serves two purposes:

1. It allows me to have a working list of ideas in case I am suffering from writer’s block.
2. It allows me to organize my posts in a way that makes sense to me and make notes as necessary.

For my editorial calendar I use a large desk calendar (which is actually hung on my wall) to keep track of what tasks I need to accomplish for which blogs and when. I include recurring tasks as well as unique ones. For each blog I write at, I write down what topic I am going to cover on each day and when that post will be published.

Keep in mind that I usually have posts written several days, if not a full week, in advance. I find that gives me a little more ease if I have a day where I just can’t write due to family duties or anything else that may come up.

Writing posts in advance also allows me to focus on what is coming up and not be pressured to finish my post immediately. I can write, walk away, come back, edit, re-write, etc. I can take my time and ensure that my posts are interesting and well-written.

Having a calendar telling me which topics I’m going to be covering keeps me thinking about them in the back of my mind. As I consider new ideas and angles for each topic, I write them down in my journal or on the calendar itself.

One thing to note about an editorial calendar: include wiggle room. There are topics that will pop up and demand your attention or a post immediately. Or, you just may not feel like writing about that topic at that moment. A writer’s muse is a fickle thing. It’s OK to switch things up; sometime our writing flow just goes a different way than we expected and we’re ready to write about a memory instead of coding. Just make sure each item finds a place on your calendar.

You’ll be happy to know that once you start using an editorial calendar, you will be in good company. Here are a few other posts to help you start:

• An Innovative Way to Plan Your Blog Posts via Blogging Tips
• How to Plan a Month’s Worth of Posts in 30 Minutes Flat via Confident Writing
• My Daily Blogging Routine--How I Work, Step-By-Step via Performancing
• Giving Each of Your Blogs Equal Attention via Network Blogging Tips
• Save Time by Finding Your Perfect Blogging Schedule via Network Blogging Tips

A Few More Links for Copyright Information

Copyscape allows you to type in your URL and see if anyone has copied your content without your permission.

A quick FAQ on copyright infringement: what’s allowed and what is not.

And, as a reminder, if you’re using Creative Commons, you may be giving away some of your copyright rights.

Nothing can keep someone from taking your content, but the more you know, the better prepared you can be if it happens to you.

I put a Creative Commons license on my blog, but is my material truly protected?

Creative Commons or any version of copyright helps you to maintain your rights regarding your writing. However, it won't keep others from trying to steal (or scrape) your content if they are determined. What it will do, is give you a better legal standing because you clearly labeled your content copyrighted. Many people have had their content stolen, plagiarized, etc. even though the content was copyrighted.

(Aside: To curb scraping, I suggest you use a shortened feed. While the full feed may be useful to your readers, if you are having trouble with people stealing your content, using the shortened feed makes it harder for them. What the scraper is doing is re-routing your feed info to their site and using ads on that site to generate money. If they don't have the full feed, they can't make money.)

I encourage everyone to put a clearly visible copyright on your blog or web site. Having said that, here is some information about Creative Commons and copyright.

Creative Commons allows you to choose conditions you want applied to your copyright. The following is from Creative Commons:

1. Attribution: This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered, in terms of what others can do with your works licensed under Attribution.
2. Non-commercial: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.
3. No derivative works: You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.
4. Share alike: You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

My understanding--and remember, I'm not a lawyer and I'm still learning too--is that if you use the text Copyright 2004-2007 (or something similar), then anyone interested in using your information must actually contact you for permission. If you use a Creative Commons license (CCL), they know that if it's yours, they can use it without actually contacting you (provided they follow the actual CCL agreements at the Creative Commons site). The CCL is just a way of telling your readers that you agree to let them use your stuff in certain ways without asking.

Again, from the CC site:

Creative Commons defines the spectrum of possibilities between full copyright — all rights reserved — and the public domain — no rights reserved. Our licenses help you keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work — a “some rights reserved” copyright.

What you have to decide is whether you are comfortable allowing people to use your work with certain stipulations or you would rather hold all rights and not share your work. If you don't want people re-using your work, go with full copyright. If you have a CCL badge on your blog, know that you are allowing people to re-print your work without your permission, but they should be attributing it to you. (And remember, even this doesn't mean someone won't try to cut and paste or scrape your content for their own use.)

Copyright is a widely misunderstood issue. I encourage you to read more on the subject and learn how you can protect your creative products.

Here are some copyright information sites to start with:

• Creative Commons
• Public Domain
• Copyright
• US Copyright Office
• EFF: Bloggers' FAQ: Intellectual Property
• What Bloggers Should Know About Copyright Protection for Their Writing and Photographs

I accidently published a post in Blogger, but I don't want it to go up yet! What can I do?

Yep. That happens to everyone sooner or later. We hit "Publish Now" instead of "Save for Later" or "Draft" or whatever.

To fix this issue:

1. Go to your Posting tab.
2. Click Edit Posts.
3. Click Edit next to the post you want to change to unpublish.
4. Click Save as Draft.

I have a couple older posts that I don't like the picture quality and maybe no one has commented on. Is it okay to delete posts like these?

My opinion is that, ultimately, the decision is yours because first and foremost it's your blog. If, for instance, you wrote a few posts in the beginning (e.g., about the joys of vacuuming your hallway) but your blog began to slowly take a different turn (e.g., how to grow your own herbs indoors) and you have hundreds of posts about the herbs and only 10 about the hallway, I think you'd be safe in deleting the hallway posts. They no longer represent your blog's direction.

Or say you used your blog for venting about family problems (I do NOT recommend this) but some family members found your blog because they want to see pictures of their nephew. I would definitely delete the venting posts. It's much more important to keep harmony in the family than to think you're compromising your blog's integrity.

Now, don't get me wrong. Integrity is important, but the bottom line is that you have to live your life and do the best you can. If that includes deleting a post here and there, so be it.

I found a discussion about culling archives just last night at Write to Done.

What do you think?

How do I make one of those "100 Things About Me" posts that I can add to my sidebar?

It is tradition to write a 100 Things About Me post when you reach your 100th post. Once you've written your 100 things, you may want to post them as a regular post or you may want to just provide a link to it on your sidebar. Or both. Or neither. Whatever.

Blogger

1. Write your 100 Things post. It's harder than you think.
2. When you are ready to publish your post you have two options:
   1. Post it as a current post that will show up in your current lineup of posts, or
   2. Back date the post so it is hidden in your archives and you can link to it from your sidebar and give people the option of reading it.
3. To post as a current post: Simply click Publish Post.
4. To back date the post and hide it in the archives:
   
   1. Click Post Options.
   2. Under Post Date and Times change the date to whatever you want.
   3. Click Publish Post.

Your 100 Things post is published. Let me guess. Now you want to link to it from the sidebar, right? So everyone will know you did it and can read it and get to know the real you? Excellent idea, actually. Let's do it.

Of course, there are also a few ways to do this too. You can make a button and upload it to your sidebar and link it to the post. Or you can make a simple text link in your sidebar. To make a text link:

1. Copy the permalink of your 100 Things post. You'll need it in a minute.
2. Go to your Layout tab.
3. Click Add a Page Element.
4. Choose Link List.
5. Leave the Title field blank (unless you want a header).
6. In New Site URL, type or paste the permalink of your 100 Things post.
7. In New Site Name, type 100 Things About Me (or whatever you want to call it).
8. Click Add Link.
9. Click Save Changes.
10. In the Layout tab, you can click and drag your new Link List element to whatever position you want on your sidebar.

TypePad

1. Write your 100 Things post. It's harder than you think.
2. When you are ready to publish your post you have two options:
   1. Post it as a current post that will show up in your current lineup of posts, or
   2. Create the post as a page (this is a static page that is part of your blog, but does not show up in your feeds) and link to it from your sidebar and give people the option of reading it.

To post your 100 Things as a current post:

1. Go to the Compose tab.
2. Click New Post.
3. Write or copy/paste your 100 Things into the Compose tab and choose Publish Now under Posting Status.

To post your 100 Things as a page:

1. Go to the Compose tab.
2. Click New Page.
3. Write or copy/paste your 100 Things into the Compose tab and choose Publish Now under Posting Status.

Your 100 Things post is published. Let me guess. Now you want to link to it from the sidebar, right? So everyone will know you did it and can read it and get to know the real you? Excellent idea, actually. Let's do it.

Of course, there are also a few ways to do this too. You can make a button and upload it to your sidebar and link it to the post.

Or you can make a simple text link in your sidebar. To make a text link follow TypePad's instructions for making a typelist or adding an item to an existing typelist.

Or follow Typepad's instructions on linking to your Pages from your sidebar.

I find that many of my posts are quite long. How do I make it so my post has a teaser or introduction, but provides a link to the rest of the article?

This is one of those questions I receive a lot. Expandable content (providing readers with a short teaser, then providing a link to the rest of the article) is excellent for bloggers whose posts tend to be quite long or who like to keep weeks and weeks of content on their main page.

Blogger
Believe it or not, Blogger actually has information on how make your posts expandable. You will need to have post pages enabled and you'll be inserting CSS code. I think Blogger's instructions are clear and you shouldn't have any problems.

TypePad
Enabling expandable posts in TypePad is even easier because you don't have to insert the code yourself.

1. Go to Weblogs > Compose Post.
2. Click Customize the display of this page (you'll find it at the bottom of the page).
3. In the pop-up window, choose Custom and check Extended Post.
4. Click Save.
5. Save your post.

WordPress (written by Jordan at Momma Blogga)

The easiest way to enable a "Read More" link is to use the "more" button in the compose post window, which inserts the code <!--more--> .  Make sure the cursor is positioned where you want the read more link to appear in the post window.

Note that until we get to WordPress version 2.5 (due in spring 08), this will cut off the post in the feed as well.  However, if you're running WordPress.org (a standalone site with hosting), there are plugins that are designed to show excerpts from your posts on your website without affecting your feed as well as plugins designed to show full stories even when you use the Read More tag.

WordPress allows you to set up the "Read More" function from your admin page. WordPress also allows you to customize your "Read More" link.

Podcast: Grammar

Here is the second installment of my discussion of blog etiquette with Shannon from Rocks In My Dryer. She is a champion of all things grammar and we discuss why this is important in blogging.

The podcast is just over three minutes long and you can download it from my server (it's in m4a format or mp3 format). If it doesn't load right away, please try again in a few minutes.

m4a

mp3