The Hello Bar is a simple notification bar that engages users and communicates a call to action.

Blog Traffic Magic: Is a Blog Carnival Right for Your Blog?

As bloggers we like to know that people are reading what we write and that we’re connecting on some level with our audience. The more people that come to our site, the happier we are. Maybe you’re happy simply because people are coming or maybe you’re happy because more traffic means more revenue (especially if [...]

Twitter Glossary

This week I’m introducing you to some common Twitter terms. Twitter is pretty popular, but not everyone is well-versed in the lingo and it’s a little daunting if you don’t know your DM from your RT. As always, I welcome your additional Twitter terms and definitions in the comments on this post. I’ll integrate them [...]

Social Media Glossary

Social media is how we connect with each other — and with companies and brands — online. These days every marketing plan includes social media; to ignore it would be to ignore a significant portion of your audience. But what is social media? How do you use it? Where do you start? The first step [...]

Defining Basic Blogging Terms, Part 3

Thank you for sticking with me as I’ve defined basic blogging terms over the last three weeks. This is the last week for the blogging glossary; next week I’ll be defining and discussing social media terms. CAPTCHA: stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart. You’ll recognize captcha as those [...]

Defining Basic Blogging Terms, Part 2

This week I’m continuing to define basic blogging terms. My goal is to compile a glossary of key terms that will help new bloggers navigate their way through the blogosphere. Every time I think I’ve defined all the basic terms, I come up with a few more that have stumped my readers in the past. [...]

What is a favicon and how do I make and install one on my blog?

Favicons are the small 16 pixel by 16 pixel pictures you see beside some URLs in your browser’s address bar. There are several tutorials online that will walk you through how to make a favicon and install it on your blog, so we’ll just point you in the right direction! How to Make a Favicon: [...]

Blogging Glossary: Defining Basic Blogging Terms

If you’re new to blogging, you may be overwhelmed by the jargon tossed around effortlessly online. I started this article thinking I could define a few key blogging terms that may help beginning bloggers find their footing. What I ended up with was an epically long post that needs to be separated into several categorical [...]

What is the difference between blog categories and blog tags?

When I talk to beginning bloggers, I’m asked all sorts of questions. One I received this week was what is the difference between tags and categories? The obvious way to answer this is to define both, of course, but beyond that, I want to explain why you need both, how to name them, and how [...]

What is HARO and How Does It Work?

Finding sources for a news article is hard when you don’t know where to look or if you don’t have contacts within an industry. It’s also hard to contribute your knowledge on a given subject when you don’t know who needs your help. Enter HARO, which stands for Help A Reporter Out and is a [...]

Should I choose a hosted or non-hosted blogging platform?

This article defines what hosted and non-hosted blogging platforms are and explains the pros and cons of each.