If you’re a blogger and aren’t sure if you need to pay taxes, it will depend on whether you’re making money with your blog and whether you consider your blog a business or a hobby. I received the question below and Amanda Henson of High Impact Mom researched the answer and wrote it up.

Dear Blogging Basics 101:
I am building a blog. I thought it would be no big deal to put up a few affiliate banners and make a little spending money, but I didn’t realize that even the smallest income must be reported. Is that correct? I know nothing about how to report my income, or which forms to use. Can you explain how things differ for bloggers (hobby or business?)? Can you recommend a book or article or resource for me? Specifically, if I make less than $600 per year, do I have to file?

Answer: Congratulations on building a blog and great question. Let’s begin by discussing the differences between hobby and business blogging. If you have been lucky enough to make a profit from your blog, or small business, in three out of the last five years the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers it a business rather than a hobby. Even more precisely, if you have treated your blog like a business by regularly working on it with the purpose of making a profit, the IRS would also deem this a business and as such would also qualify for business deductions. If your blog is considered a business and you are filing as self-employed, you are also expected to pay self-employment taxes quarterly rather than at filing time.

Wondering what you need to claim? According to the IRS, taxable income is defined as all “employee wages and fringe benefits, and [all] income from bartering, partnerships, S corporations, and royalties.” The blogger must claim all review items, blog conference sponsorships, ad purchases and generally anything you are given that has value. The IRS also states “[y]ou have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. If your net earnings from self-employment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Form 1040 instructions.”

As a business you are also able to deduct certain expenses and losses, though it should be noted that it is not generally a good idea for your expenses to outweigh your income outside of any first year start-losses. In order to make sure you’re taking advantage of as many deductions as you legitimately qualify for, I recommend seeking professional advice from an accountant or tax professional.

The long list of possible blogging tax deductions includes:

• Blog Conference Fees
• Hotel costs for business trips
• Mileage for business trips
• Webinars
• Industry books
• Website hosting fees
• Website design
• Jump drives
• Graphic design fees
• Business cards, letterhead

To learn more about tax law and how it affects bloggers, visit these articles:

• Hobby Versus Business — A Significant Tax Difference via Small Business Legal Blog
• 7 Things That Every Blogger Should Know About Tax[es] via ProBlogger
• How to Avoid Legal Trouble, Income Tax Fines, and Penalties as a Blogger via ProBlogger
• What is Taxable and Nontaxable Income? via IRS
• Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center via IRS
• 101 Tax deductions for bloggers and freelancers via Wisebread

photo credit: Dave Dugdale

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Your Words Have Value!

If you’ve ever found your articles reprinted without your permission — and I’m talking more than what’s considered fair use — then you’ll love today’s article. Ang England explains what scraping is and how to approach a website that’s stealing your content. (Hint: You may be able to turn it into a lucrative opportunity!) Please welcome Angela as this week’s guest blogger and feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts or experiences with content theft. ~ Melanie

**********

Unfortunately in the blogging world there is one thing we’ll all have to deal with sooner or later — content scraping. This is when someone steals a post or article you wrote and publishes it on their own site.

While this used to have some serious SEO implications, these have been recently minimized by Google in new algorithms that help determine which post was the original and which is the duplicate. However, this content scraping is, quite simply, theft. Theft of your work. Theft of potential readers. And a sign of incredible laziness (or ignorance) on the part of the thief.

Perhaps you discovered the theft in a Google Alert you set up (and you should definitely be doing that), when a friend DM’d or emailed you to say “Hey — isn’t this your post you wrote last month?”, or just by pure happenstance. Whatever the method of discovery, I have some tried-and-true ways of dealing with content thieves you might find useful.

Stay Calm and Be Polite When Dealing with Content Thieves

My initial knee-jerk reaction is usually, “How dare they!?” but this is rarely a useful response. If this is a live human being, it’s probably better to try emailing them or using their website contact form if possible to inform them that you are the copyright holder of the post in question (Be sure to link to which post you are talking about). My initial email or comment usually goes something like this:

“Hi! My name is Angela England and I’m glad you found my article about lavender essential oil useful, however this article is protected by copyright and cannot be republished without permission. You can remit a one-time reprint fee of $XXX via paypal to <my paypal address>. Alternatively, I am available to create an original piece on this topic specifically geared towards your audience for $XX. Otherwise this article needs to be removed within 24 business hours. Thanks so much! “

There are a couple of important things to notice in my sample email above:

1. I used a statement rather than a question. A question can be answered negatively and legally can be ignored. Had I asked, “Would you mind taking it down?” They could have replied, “Yes I mind”. You must say “This article needs to be removed….”
2. I invited the content scraper to hire me or pay me. Obviously you can only offer a reprint fee option if that option is available for that particular post. However, I generally charge about $50 more for a reprint fee than I offer for creating an original article for that person. I would rather them hire me to create a new piece than to have duplicate content floating about all over the web. Besides, lots of people don’t realize that blog posts and websites aren’t a free-for-all. Educate them by offering to hire yourself out. This not only creates a potential win/win situation, but also makes it very clear that your words have VALUE and aren’t up for grabs.

Filing a DMCA Complaint Against Content Thieves

One time out of 10 I get a new job when I send that email. One time out of 10 I get a reprint fee paid to me. Five times out of 10 the articles disappear — usually without a single word of acknowledgement to me at all. So what happens the other three times when there is no response, no reply, and most importantly, my article is STILL up there?

Sometimes, especially if it looks like a legitimate website, I will actually just send an invoice via Paypal. In the invoice I price it higher than my initially stated reprint fee (call it a pain-in-the-butt tax), and will include a notice that payment needs to be remitted with 48 business hours or else the stolen article at http://yourthievingwebsite.com/mystolenpost/ needs to be removed. Sometimes this will work, but sometimes it won’t.

If that doesn’t work, you move to filing a DMCA complaint. I usually will do a WHOIS search and find a contact email address and resend my request to that email. I will also contact the host of the site with an official DMCA complaint. And I will contact Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. It’s not hard to fill out the form and it is, in my opinion, important for bloggers and writers to protect their work. The more often content scrapers “get away with it”, the more the problem will continue.

Depending on how much time I have and my feistiness level, I will contact any advertisers on the website as well. All ad networks have rules in place about the type of content that is permissible, and illegally obtained content isn’t usually approved content. Sometimes the ad networks will remove ads before Google gets to the DMCA complaint — either way, mission accomplished. (Usually I only contact a website’s sponsors if someone responds to me with an ignorant email saying something like “But it was on the internet and everyone knows if it’s on Google it’s free to use”.)

I hope this helps you as you battle content thieves and scrapers. Don’t be afraid to contact them and tell them your posts need to be removed. Your words have value and deserve to be respected.

**********

Angela England’s mission is to empower and educate others about blogging, freelance writing, and social media. She is the author of 30 Days to Make and Sell a Fabulous Ebook. You can read more of her helpful articles at AngEngland.com and Untrained Housewife.

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• Using Collages to Tell Stories and Share Memories via Pioneer Woman Photography. Jodi Friedman provides lots of examples of collages and links to several collage products and a Photoshop and Elements action that allows you to make your own web-sized template.

• Four Easy Steps to Prepare Your Photos for Web Viewing via I Heart Faces. These are the no-nonsense, full-of-screenshots-so-you-know-exactly-what-to-do instructions for saving your photos the right way for your blog or website. Easy-peasy.

• Get the Yellow Out of Your Photos via Shortpump Preppy. Do your photos all have a bit of color tinge to them? Whether it’s yellow or blue or something else, find out how to quickly fix that with Picnik.com.

• How Do I Optimize Images for the Web? via Blogging Basics 101. I explain what optimizing means, how big your picture file should be, and which extension to use (e.g., .jpg, .gif, or .png).

• 31 Days to a Better Photo via My Three Boybarians. This is the first post in a series that will continue through October. You won’t want to miss Darcy’s advice. Subscribe to her feed so you don’t miss a single day!

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Should I migrate my blog to WordPress

Given the brouhaha that’s going on this week (Six Apart was bought by VideoEgg and they’re forming a new company named SAY Media. Please click that link and read the article. I was surprised at a quote from SAY Media’s president about how they plan to work with bloggers), that’s a reasonable question. Before you make your decision, I want to give you the low-down on your WordPress choices. There are two versions of WordPress: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. Both are free.

WordPress.com is free and hosted on WordPress servers so you don’t have to deal with finding your own hosting. You cannot run an ad network or sell ads on your blog. However, WordPress.com is free because they sometimes put ads on your blog. If you choose to migrate to WordPress.com, you can always choose to upgrade to WordPress.org later and the migration will be easy-peasy.

WordPress.org is also free, but it’s a self-hosted version. That means you need to pay a third party to host your blog for you. I use DreamHost (affiliate link), but I have many friends who use HostGator. You’ll just have to do a search to see which host is right for you. NetTuts has an article on what to look for in a web host.

Some people balk at WordPress.org initially because buying server space seems like a big investment up front. Actually, you can probably find server space for about as much as you were paying for TypePad every year. Consider that most bloggers have the $14.95/month plan with TypePad and most servers ask for $99-$150/year. It’s a wash. With WordPress.org you can run ad networks or sell your own advertising in your sidebar.

Are you wondering why it can be expensive to pay someone to migrate your TypePad blog to another platform? It’s because it’s time consuming. The main issue is that when you export your TypePad blog, that export file has your content, comments, and trackbacks. It does NOT have any files you’ve inserted into your posts (i.e., images, video, or pdf files). Those have to be transferred to the new server manually. You also don’t have your CSS (your design elements) in that file and your design has to be recreated. I know it sounds like a lot, and it is, but I hope you won’t let it scare you. More than anything, it’s time consuming, but if you’re willing to learn some new things, you can definitely do it yourself. If you don’t want to mess with it, you can hire me to do the tedious stuff. Just fill out my Contact form and let me know you need me to help you migrate your TypePad blog to WordPress.

If you decide you want to migrate your blog to WordPress, you have some options. I’ll be writing my own instructions on how to migrate your blog, but in the mean time here are a few articles you may find helpful.

• TypePad to WordPress via WordPress SEO
• How to Port Your Blog from TypePad to WordPress via Smilin’ Joe Fission
• Moving from TypePad to WordPress via foliovision
• Installing WordPress via WordPress

I’ve had a few people ask if they can migrate to Blogger instead of WordPress because they’re afraid WordPress is too techie for them. I don’t advise it. WordPress is the industry standard. If you ever need help fixing a WordPress blog, there are thousands of articles, websites, forums, and geeks ready to help you fix your problems. Blogger can’t say the same and they’re lax about responding to questions. Blogger simply doesn’t have the community that WordPress has.

I’ll be back with my own version of instructions for migrating your blog and I’m going to try to do some quick and dirty video tutorials to help you feel more at ease with the WordPress dashboard and how a WordPress blog works. It’s really not that much different from what you’re used to with TypePad — except that many things, like putting widgets in your sidebars, are easier. You won’t have to click around so much to find what you’re looking for, it’s all on one dashboard.

In the meantime, relax. I don’t see TypePad disappearing this year. You have some time to think about what you want to do and how you want to do it.

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CAPTCHA: stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart. You’ll recognize captcha as those words you have to type to verify yourself as human when you leave a comment at some blogs or make changes to some online accounts. Article for more help: The Official CAPTCHA Site

Favicon: Favicons are the small 16 pixel by 16 pixel pictures you see beside some URLs in your browser’s address bar. You also see them in your list of bookmarked sites. They are fairly easy to construct or generate online. Article for more help: What is a favicon and how do I make and install one on my blog?

Hexadecimal value: The six-digit code used within HTML to determine what color to display for a page element. For example, if you want a word to be green you could use this HTML code and hexadecimal value: <span style=”color: #ff6600;”>orange</span> which looks like this — orange — in your browser. The #ff6600 is the hexadecimal value of that particular orange color. For your reference, white is #ffffff and black is #000000. It’s handy to know the hexadecimal values of your blog design so you can be sure to use the same colors each time you add a design element to your blog (you can change your link colors to match or be complimentary, add lines between posts in specific colors, etc.). Here’s a handy chart that provides hexadecimal values for many colors.

Lurker: Someone who visits a blog, but rarely, if ever, comments. Is it rude to lurk? Not at all. As a blogger, I appreciate that comments can make your day, but it’s important to remember that not everyone is comfortable joining an online conversation. Your lurker(s) may love what you write, but don’t feel that they have anything to contribute. Or maybe they were looking for specific information, found it, and are off implementing your advice or tutorial. There are a million reasons why someone may lurk, but don’t let it ruffle your feathers.

Troll: A commentor (usually anonymous, but not always) who leaves hurtful and rude comments at your blog. A troll is different from spam because spam is usually an advertisement of some sort. A troll’s sole purpose is to stir up trouble on your site. What can you do? Ignore them as much as possible, or, if it escalates, block their IP address (most blogging platforms have a way to do this, ask the help desk). My advice, and it’s easier said than done, is to try ignore the troll as much as you can. Do not engage in a conversation with him or her. It won’t end well.

Please feel free to leave some ideas for other terms you’d like to see defined or add your own definitions in the comments section.

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions at Blogging Basics 101 and shares daily links to fascinating and helpful tech links at the BB101 Tumblr blog.

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tags Article for more help: Category: A blog category is a topic you address on your blog; your list of categories is like the table of contents for your blog. Categories are broad and can encompass smaller, more defined topics (i.e., tags). A category title should be descriptive and can be several words long. Categories go hand-in-hand with Understanding and Using Blog Categories and Tags Effectively

Hosted: Refers to a blog that resides on the host’s server (e.g., Blogger, TypePad, or WordPress.com blogs). A hosted platform is housed on the platform’s server — in other words, if you have a Blogger blog, your blog is hosted on the Blogger server; if you have a TypePad blog, it’s hosted on the TypePad server. Articles for more help: How We Communicate: FAQs for Beginning Bloggers, WordPress? Blogger? TypePad? How to Choose a Blogging Platform

Meme: First things first: the pronunciation of this word rhymes with dream and theme. According to Top 10 Internet Memes, a meme is “an [online] image, video, phrase or simply an idea that spreads from one person to another seemingly for no logical reason at all.” A few years ago, the most popular memes were lists of questions that people answered about themselves. These days memes include everything from LOLCats to viral videos to Facebook statuses (e.g., the ones that ask you to post specific information in your FB status as a show of solidarity for a specific cause). If you invite someone to play along with a specific meme, that invitation is called a tag, as in “Tag! You’re It!” When you first start blogging, memes are an easy way to overcome writer’s block and share information about yourself. However, it’s important that you don’t get your feelings hurt if you tag someone for a meme and they choose not to play. Many bloggers don’t dig the meme. Article for more help: The Daily Meme

Non-hosted: Also referred to as self-hosted. A self-hosted blog is hosted on your own server or web host, usually a third party you pay to host your site. You can use WordPress.org or Moveable Type as a self-hosted blogging platform if you set up an account with a web hosting company. Articles for more help: How We Communicate: FAQs for Beginning Bloggers, WordPress? Blogger? TypePad? How to Choose a Blogging Platform

categories are your blog’s table of contents, tags are your blog’s index. Tags go hand-in-hand with categories. Article for more help: Tag: 1. A tag is a word or short phrase attached to your post that helps make the post findable. It addresses items you discuss in a particular blog post and is usually only a word or two and reflects the keywords or points of your article. If Understanding and Using Blog Categories and Tags Effectively. 2. An invitation to participate in a meme.

Please feel free to leave some ideas for other terms you’d like to see defined or add your own definitions in the comments section.

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• The Private Ad Sales Model: 9 Tips from Design Mom On Selling Your Own Blog Advertising via ABDPBT. Anna wrote a series about monetizing mommy blogs (though, the information can be tweaked to fit your niche). She’s sharing some good information and highlighting one of my favorite bloggers, Design Mom. Win-win!

• 22 Ways to Find Advertisers for Your Web Site via Daily Blog Tips. Daniel lists some very basic, common sense ideas for letting your readers know you accept advertising at your blog. it’s a place to start if you’re finally ready to sell ads, but aren’t sure how to do that.

• Are You Choosing the BEST Affiliate Banners? via Net Profits Today. Rosalind explains why some advertisements have higher click-through rates than others and how to make the most of your ad banners.

• Your Blog’s Media Kit via Blogging Basics 101. If you’re going to be selling advertising, you’ll need a media kit that explains who you are, what you’re doing, and why companies need to invest in you. I give you some tips and point you to some templates to help you get started.

• Advertising Rates for Mom Blogs: How Much Should I Charge? via Mom Bloggers Club. Jennifer shares several scenarios with traffic, niche, etc. to help you determine a reasonable rate when selling your own advertising.

photo credit: Billie Hara

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In the list below, I’ve included the term, a definition, and a link to an article that provides further explanation or a tutorial. I’d love to know if this is helpful to you or if you prefer just the term and definition.

Blog: Short for weblog. A blog is collection of thoughts, media, links, etc. shared with others online. Most blogs

• are public, though blogs can be password protected
• post newest content at the top of the page (in reverse chronological order)
• allow comments so readers can give feedback to the blog’s author and continue the conversation

Article for more help: Just What Is a Blog, Anyway?

Blogosphere: The entire network of blogs. It’s sort of like the universe in that it’s infinite.

CSS: Stands for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS defines how a web page displays HTML elements. By using a cascading style sheet you can define the page elements of an entire site (e.g., link color, heading color, font, etc.) in a single place. Then, each page created on the site will reference that style sheet and display accordingly. The advantage of this is that, by making a change to a single style sheet, you can change one element throughout an entire site instead of having to open each page and change the element. For example, imagine if BlogHer wanted to change the color of every heading on every article to a darker green. It would be a nightmare to open each document and change every single heading markup. Instead, using a stylesheet that defines the elements of the entire site’s pages (including the color of headers), you have all the style definitions in one place and only have to change the style in that place because the sub-pages (or articles) all reference that one stylesheet.
Article for more help: Blogging Tutorial Links: Learn HTML, CSS, and WordPress

HTML: Stands for HyperText Markup Language and defines how text elements are displayed on a web page. Article for more help: Learning HTML Can Help You Take Control of Your Blog

NoFollow / DoFollow: How a blog treats links. If a site is DoFollow, then links to external sites are acknowledged by search engines and get credit for being linked to (which helps search engine ranking and authority). If a site uses NoFollow tags within links, search engines do not acknowledge the links to the external site. Article for more help: SEO: What Are NoFollow and DoFollow Links?

Permalink: The specific link for a blog post or article. A blog’s main URL would be, for example, http://www.blogher.com and would link to the main page of the blog that’s updated regularly. A permalink links directly to an article on the blog. For instance, the permalink for this article is http://www.blogher.com/basic-blog-defintions. Article for more help: What Is a Permalink and Why Do I Need It?

Platform: Refers to your blogging software. There are many different platforms (all housed online, not on your computer) available for blogging, but the most popular are Blogger, TypePad, or WordPress. Article for more help: WordPress? Blogger? TypePad? How to Choose a Blogging Platform

RSS Feed: RSS stands for Real Simply Syndication. The easiest way to explain it is to ask you to watch this video:

Articles for more help:

• RSS Series Part 1: How do I burn my blog’s RSS feed with Feedburner?
• Part 2: How do I set up my blog’s RSS feed via e-mail?
• Part 3: How do I find and install a custom RSS button on my blog?
• Part 4: Should I offer a full or partial RSS feed to my readers?
• Part 5: How do I include advertisements in my RSS feed?

SEO: Stands for Search Engine Optimization and refers to how your blog ranks when someone searches a keyword relevant to your blog. There are many factors that go into SEO, some of which include keywords in your headings and article text, who is linking to you, relevant content, etc. Articles for more help:

• SEO & Counting What Counts (Part 1)
• SEO & Counting What Counts (Part 2)

Theme: A blog’s design or template. The major blogging platforms provide many free themes you can apply as your blog’s design or you can hire a designer to create a custom theme for you. Most themes allow you to do some basic customization (e.g., use your own banner graphic). Article for more help: 10 Important Traits of a Great Blog Design

Please feel free to leave some ideas for other terms you’d like to see defined or add your own definitions in the comments section. I will continue updating the glossary in the coming weeks.

A version of this article was posted at BlogHer.com.

photo credit: Wordle.net

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I’m going to point out the obvious and tell you that you should seriously consider your blog’s name before you start blogging instead of just throwing something up there because then you won’t be in this predicament. But, since I didn’t do that and I’m hardly one to throw stones, I’m not going to dwell long on that sentiment. Before you change your blog’s name, though, you should take some time and think about what you’re going to use as your blog new title because your readers, though loyal now, will tire of your whimsy if you’re changing your blog’s name every year. I think it’s an un-written blogging law that you get one change and that’s it. Any more than that and not only are your readers confused, but you’re damaging the brand you’re trying to build. You can’t have consistency if you’re always changing.

So, if you must change your name, let’s look at some things you need to think about:

• Match your blog’s new name with a domain. If at all possible, your blog’s name and domain (URL) should match. As you’re considering what to change your name to, do a search to see if the domain is available (and try to get the .com and .net). Having your blog name and URL match isn’t just good SEO, it’s an easy way for people to find you. If a reader can remember the name of your blog, she can remember your URL and find you. For example, if I meet you at a conference or just around town and you tell me your blog’s name is I Like Pie, chances are, when I try to find you online, I’m going to type in http://www.ilikepie.com. If that’s not your blog, I may or may not type the title into Google. It depends on how much I want to find you. If your blog’s name and domain match, problem solved; if they don’t, it can be a hassle for your new fan.
• Match your brand throughout your social media accounts. Ten years ago, most bloggers just had to worry about their brand on their blog (and we didn’t even call it a brand). Now you have a social media brand on your blog, Facebook, and Twitter at least. If you decide you need to change your blog’s name, consider how that will affect your other accounts. I went from Chilihead to Melanie Nelson a few years ago and I still have people calling me Chili (which, actually, I love). In fact, many times I introduce myself and I get the blank look. Then I say, “I’m Chilihead on Twitter” and the person usually has at least a glimmer of recognition. If you change your blog’s name, will people still be able to recognize you throughout the social media community?
• Change your name early in the game. If you think you want to change your blog’s name, do it sooner rather than later. When you’ve established an entire brand or identity around your blog, it’s harder to change that when you have 1500 posts instead of 500.
• Tell your readers as soon as possible. Let your readers in on your decision and keep them in the loop. Let them know that you’re going to change your name, how the change will affect your content (if at all), and whether your domain will change as a result. Tell your readers your thought process and lead them through the transition. Your readers are your community and, though it is your blog, they are your readers and they’ll be more inclined to make the jump with you if they’re part of the process.

More Articles on Choosing a New Name for Your Blog

• Advice for New Bloggers: Choosing a name for your blog via Absolutely Bananas. This article discusses not only what to consider when you’re naming your blog, but the comments are also interesting and offer great discussion on how others have faced this dilemma.

• What to do when you outgrow your blog name? by DawnieMom at BlogHer. This is the post that inspired the post you’re reading now. It’s such a common thing to want to change your blog’s name at some point. Click over to join the discussion and add your advice.

• Starting a Blog: Picking Your Name via Empowering Mommy: “I have found that bloggers can tend to change their themes and ideas after about 6 months – they find what they are good at and love.  By that time, their name defines them and they are often concerned that by changing their name they will lose their readers.”

Questions for Comment

Have you ever changed your blog’s name? Were you able to retain your readers or did you have to start over? How long did it take you to re-build your brand once you made the change?

This article was cross-posted at BlogHer.com.

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The ironic thing about computers is that, for all their apparent smarts, they have to be told what to do. And to tell a computer what to do, you have to speak its language. There are many programming languages out there that help browsers interpret web sites or make them function, but for today we’re talking about the most basic level of coding your web site: HTML. HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and it’s the code that tells your browser how to read and display text elements on your web page.

HTML is pretty intuitive. If you use the HTML tab on your blog’s compose editor, you can see how your posts are marked up with HTML code. If you look at it closely, you’ll notice a few recurring things:

1. HTML tags usually (but not always) come in pairs. These pairs are the opening tag (which tells the software that a command is coming) and a closing tag (which tells the software that the command is finished). For example, paragraphs are usually coded with <p> (the opening command) at the beginning and </p> at the end. The / is what tells the software that the command is ending.
2. References (or URLs) are always in quotes. If you look at the HTML for a link, you’ll see something like this: <a href=”http://www.bloggingbasics101.com”>Blogging Basics 101</a>. That link looks like this on your page: Blogging Basics 101. The key to making sure the browser reads the link correctly is to ensure the URL you’re linking to is enclosed in quotes. And not just any quotes. If you use smart quotes (i.e., curly quotes), the browser doesn’t always read those and your link doesn’t work. To avoid curly quotes, don’t write HTML in Microsoft Word or Mac Pages. You can use your blog’s editor or even TextEdit or Notepad.

There are many good basic HTML tutorials online so I’m going to point you to them instead of trying to cover everything here:

• HTML Primer provides tutorials for beginning or advanced users.
• W3 Schools gives you everything you need to know about HTML and then a little more.
• Tizag has tutorials on learning HTML, but also provides tutorials for CSS, PHP, scripting, and databases so you can continue to learn.

Technically speaking, HTML is not a computer programming language; it’s a markup language. What I mean by that is, if you want to ensure a line of text is seen as a header (or bold or italics) in a browser, you have to tell the browser to display that text as you want it seen — you have to markup the text. In the case of a header, you would decide which level of header you want to display (e.g., Header 1, 2, or 3) and then use the HTML for that header. A header 3 would be marked as follows:

<h3>Text for Header Example</h3>

That text would appear in a browser as follows:

Text for Header Example

As you learn HTML and begin applying it, you’ll see that there are different markups for text emphasis. For example, you may see the markup to bold a word as <b>text</b> or <strong>text</strong>. Or, if you want your text italicized you may see it marked up as <i>text</i> or <em>text</em>. Does it really matter which HTML markup you use? Well, yes. It does. If you’ve ever debated someone, you probably understand the importance of semantics of the spoken word. Semantics in HTML are just as important. As Virginia DeBolt of Web Teacher explains,

“The <b> tag is indeed bold. It is purely visual and carries with it no semantic meaning to indicate importance or emphasis. Therefore, non-visual browsers (such as screen readers) get nothing from the <b> tag. It’s as if it doesn’t exist. The <strong> tag means strongly emphasized. It is interpreted visually in different ways by various browsers–often as bold. The <strong> tag always carries the semantic meaning of strong emphasis, even for non-visual browsers.

The sister tag <em> means emphasized, and it is often rendered in italic–but not always in italic. The <em> tag always conveys semantic meaning for emphasis. If you want italic for purely visual reasons (no attached emphasis), use <i>. If you want italic because you are giving the title of a book or movie, use <cite>, which conveys the semantic message that the words in italic are a citation.”

But semantics aren’t just important for interpreting text decoration correctly. Semantic HTML is important in SEO as well. Laura Scott of Rare Pattern explains:

“The use of semantic markup helps search engines index your content correctly. If you wrap a sub-header in <b> tags, then Google *may* consider it somewhat important, but Google will not consider it as important as a <h3> tag (commonly used to show a sub-header). Wrapping citation text in <i> and </i> gives you italics, but wrapping citation text in <cite> and </cite> not only gives you visual styling, it tells Google, Bing, etc. that this text (or link) is a citation. All these things will get increasingly important as search gets more sophisticated and smarter. The more ‘robot food’ we can give the search bots, the better for SEO.”

As you spend more time blogging, you’ll find that even a little knowledge about how to use HTML will help you control how your web pages are displayed. Take a little time and peruse the tutorials I’ve linked to and try out some of the things you learn, then please let me know if they’ve helped you.

photo credit: Jesper Rønn-Jensen

A version of this post was published at BlogHer.com.

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