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.