Why you need a blogging notebook and a giveaway
June 4, 2008 | 4 Comments
It’s easy to think that blogging “happens” online. The fact is, the idea for your next great post can come at anytime, even when your away from your computer. It’s important to be ready to capture these ideas and develop them as they occur. To acheive this, I use a Blogging Notebook.
Purpose
I wanted a tool that I could use to:
- Brainstorm ideas
- Capture the good ones
- Develop ideas into posts
- Set a blogging schedule
- Explore potential projects
So, I created a blogging notebook.*
Popularity: 100% [?]
Defining your blog’s purpose and goals
May 7, 2008 | 1 Comment
Last week, I wrote a post entitled “Five ways to improve your blog right now,” which described simple things you can do in fifteen minutes to make your blog significantly better. It’s my post popular post to date, and elicited this comment from Zowoco:
“I think your advice here leads us back to the six million dollar question: ‘what exactly am I trying achieve through this blog?‘
And that is worth asking every day. Because your focus shifts, and the reason your blog exists now is most likely quite different to your reason a year ago.
What are you hoping to provide your reader? And what do you want them to do? I blog therefore I am.”
That’s an excellent question; one that every blogger must consider (and re-consider at regular intervals). In this post, I’ll describe exactly why — and how — you should define your blog’s purpose and goals.
Popularity: 98% [?]
Blogger weekend project: Pimp your RSS feed
May 3, 2008 | 2 Comments
It’s Saturday! Take a break from posting and complete a hands-on project that will improve your blog. This week’s project is pimp your RSS feed.
RSS stands for “really simple syndication” (or “real simple syndication,” depending on who you ask). Think of it like your newspaper subscription. Every day, the paper boy brings the newspaper, with all of its articles, to your door. You needn’t request the paper, it shows up because you have a subscription.
Similarly, your blog’s RSS feed (the paper boy) delivers your posts (the newspaper articles) to the readers who have subscribed to your feed.
When I was a paper boy, I loved Tuesdays because the papers were thin and light. However, Sundays were a different story, as the papers were crammed with all sorts of extras. More work for me, sure, but added value to the readers who enjoyed the coupons, flyers, weekend magazines, etc.
A plain vanilla RSS feed is fine, but with a minimum of effort you can add value that your readers will appreciate and encourage them to click through to your site. Best of all , the “paper boy” doesn’t care how “heavy” your feed is, he won’t toss it onto the roof and the rain won’t render it useless pulp.
Put on your tool belt, get out the slide rule and roll up your sleeves. It’s time to pimp your feed.
Popularity: 63% [?]
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