This is the companion blog to “The Rough Guide to Blogging,” available now (Fall 2006).
Well, it looks like I’ll be blogging more over at jonyang.org now than here. It’s been a fun run, but I’ve got a million blogs and the theme of the day is “consolidation” so I’d like to keep everything on one blog. So head on over there for a treasure trove of information — blog and non-blog related. Thanks guys!
Coming at you from Freelance Switch, it’s the “15 Must-read Blogs for Blog Writers.” To be honest, lists like this are highly useful but at the same time, I say to just read what you like and you’ll naturally start to become a “better” blogger. This list gives you a small slice of nice sites to learn some blogging strategies but in the end, if you emulate these guys, you’ll be nothing but an, well, emulator.
Freelance Switch is for a resource for freelancers of all types and it’s got easy to read content and a nice community around it. Check it out.
A few weeks ago, reader Dave Hall took a look at the Rough Guide to Blogging and noticed that it said this:
“You can use an image from elsewhere on the Web without copying it to your server. Simply find the address of the individual image (not the page it’s displayed on) and use the IMG tag in the usual way.
Before posting an image on your blog, however, it’s best to ask for permission from the copyright holder. In reality, nothing is likely to happen to you for using an image without permission - especially in the case of celebrity photos and other commonly circulated stock photos - but at the very least it’s polite to ask before using, say, a drawing from an artist’s website.”
As Dave pointed out, that’s “hotlinking” and definitely not kosher for bloggers. I wrote him back and explained that he was definitely right; you should definitely ask permission to re-post images from another blogger and then host the image yourself.
Thanks for pointing that out Dave!
And here’s an important article from Aviva Directory that you should probably read: “12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know.” Included in the twelve? Whether to Disclose Paid Posts, The Legal Use of Images and Thumbnails, Domain Name Trademark Issues, Laws that Protect You From Stolen Content, and of course, Is Deep Linking Legal?
MSNBC has this article titled “Should You Start a Business Blog?” The article says that if you have a small business, starting a blog is not only a wise move, but perhaps, essential.
“In a recent survey of business technology marketing executives by research firm MarketingSherpa, blogs were voted the No. 4 tool for generating sales leads.”
Having a blog not only allows you to communicate with your customers, you can use it to increase your legitimacy as a company and to add a face to your business. Check out this quick Forbes Small Business blurb too. As for my word of advice on small-business blogging: “Blog often, don’t let it just sit there with no fresh content. Blog blog blog!”
Here’s a few good sites to use when marketing your blog:
(1) Instant Domain Search allows you to quickly get an idea of what domain names are available among the .com/.net/.org addresses. Once you find one you like, head over to GoDaddy to bu your new web address.
(2) 25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog
(3) Creating Flagship Content
There’s a lot of sites out there designed to help your blog achieve success. One of the best? Copyblogger. Don’t take it from me, Copyblogger was named the “best blog for writers” and I’d agree. Brian Clark is an Internet marketing strategist and his words of advice are essential for enhancing your current blog’s ability to gain traffic, subscribers, and links. Here’s Brian’s “Why Copywriting is the Key to Successful Online Marketing.”
Copyblogger has great titles for its posts — “The 5 Immutable Laws of Persuasive Blogging,” “Ernest Hemingway’s Top 5 Tips for Writing Well,” “The Ultimate Guide to Attracting Links and Increasing Web Traffic” — so even at the very worst, follow Brian’s example and make a clean site with catchy titles, well executed content, and watch your hits grow!
The great thing about blogs? It fosters focus and obsession. For example, an entire blog dedicated to the lost art of proper shaving? Bring it on.
The Shaveblog is popular, famous, and here is its primer on “The Perfect Shave.”
Heck, I barely (need to) shave and I was reading this site for an hour just to find out about badger hair brushes, the scuttlebutt, and a zillion other wonderful shaving related tips, tricks, and historical facts.
Hey, what were you doing at 12-years old? Were you blogging for a worldwide audience? Were you simultaneously balancing growing up and a blogging career? Didn’t think so. David Wilkinson is doing it all over at Techzi.net and making us all look bad with his dedication and focus.
Young David is guest-blogging today over at ProBlogger about driving traffic to your blog. Follow along with his “3 C’s Plan” — Community, Communication, and Consideration.
Now there are officially no excuses not to blog. If a child can do it, so you can you!
And on a related (but un-related) note: Here’s an article from New York Magazine on “The Power (and Peril) of Praising Your Kids” by Po Bronson.
There’s this thing: it’s like, basically t-shirts, but so much more. It’s about clothing, it’s about shoes, it’s about gear, it’s about style with substance, or just style. It’s about having the first before anyone else gets it. It’s underground, but also right in your face. The New York Times covered it in their The Brand Underground article; Theme Magazine has a nice spread on it — the X-Pollination of Streetwear.
It’s creeping into the mainstream but the “movement” as it were, is being documented and pushed along by blogs. That’s right, blogs. Check it out at Hypebeast, High Snobiety, Jeff Staple, or Mr Kim Says. Or any of the other inter-connected blogs that let you into a world of streetwear.
“This might seem strange, since most of us think of branding as a thoroughly mainstream practice: huge companies buying advertising time during the Super Bowl to shout their trademarked names at us is pretty much the opposite of authentic or edgy expression.
But branding is more complicated than that. It is really a process of attaching an idea to a product. Decades ago that idea might have been strictly utilitarian: trustworthy, effective, a bargain. Over time, the ideas attached to products have become more elaborate, ambitious and even emotional.
This is why, for example, current branding campaigns for beer or fast food often seem to be making some sort of statement about the nature of contemporary manhood. If a product is successfully tied to an idea, branding persuades people consciously or not to consume the idea by consuming the product.
Even companies like Apple and Nike, while celebrated for the tangible attributes of their products, work hard to associate themselves with abstract notions of nonconformity or achievement. A potent brand becomes a form of identity in shorthand.”
-The Brand Underground-
I tried to keep a running diary while watching the Super Bowl. I couldn’t do it. It got too hectic. What with an opening kickoff return for a touchdown, turnovers galore, and the general excitement of the game (not to mention no down time due to the “must-see” commercials). I gave it up just a few minutes into the second quarter. Trying to balance and protect my laptop amid screams and cheers got too difficult.
Doing a running diary is not as easy as it looks apparently. You try coming up with coherent thoughts a mile a minute and then posting everything in real time. Well, where I fail is yet another opportunity for someone else to succeed. Nice attitude right? My ancestors would have discovered gravity but we figured we’d let Ike do it.
Anyway, here’s the “Official CBS SportsLine.com Super Bowl Blog.” Yes, the game is over, but the memories will never recede. Re-live Peyton’s big moment and see how your experience matched up with Gregg Doyel’s.
Additionally, here’s an article about Will Leitch of Deadspin - a smart and snarky sports blog.
Genghis Mendoza has chosen to use his blog to share his experiences being a caregiver for his father, who was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimers when he was only 55. The blog serves not only as a repository for Mendoza’s memories and experiences but also provides him with an outlet for the days when things just don’t make sense.
Don is a nonagenarian (90+) blogger who is sharing with us his musings on life — and death — in Don To Earth.
My friend Eric Galvez has started a blog — and published a book — about his experience undergoing surgery for removal of a brain tumor. As a physical therapist, he has a unique view of the experience and is well on his way to full recovery. His energy, passion, and fight for life will impress and overwhelm you and the soundtrack to his book will pump you up, guaranteed!
