- FeedDemon (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Feedreader (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Findory (Aggregator/Feeds)
- NetNewsWire (Aggregator/Feeds - MAC)
- NewsGator (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Radio UserLand (Aggregator/Feeds)
- Crayon - Create Your Own Customizable Online Newspaper
- PR Web (Press Releases)
- US National Archives
- About.com - About Everything
- News Lab
- US News Archives - Newspaper Archives
- University of Toronto - Internet Resources and Metasites
- Ask a Librarian
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts
Friday, October 31, 2008
Reading What Other People Wrote
Inspiration comes in many ways from reading. It begins by reading about what people are writing about in your industry. If they wrote it wonderfully, then you can cite them on your blog with a comment or two to encourage your readers to visit their site and read the article. If you want to talk about what they wrote, you can cite their post and include a blockquote or two from the article, and then say what you want to say.You never know where a bit of inspiration will come from, so keep your mind open to all possiblities. The following includes a wide range of resources for finding articles and archived articles. I’ve also included a list of some aggregators, sites that display content from other sites to help you keep track of what is going on through blog feeds. Some of these you can personalize and customize, while others are just lists to read through. If you like what they wrote, but you think you can write it better, use their article as inspiration to write your own. Reading what other people also write helps you to keep up with what is going on around you, the trends and the news.
Most Popular/High Traffic
Most popular lists are based upon a variety of criteria. For a few, it is just what is most popular to them, the individual or group, as they see it, often with their own criteria. For most “most popular lists”, though, popularity is solely based upon measurable data such as actual purchases or highest visitor traffic.
For high traffic sites or blogs, there is a lot to learn as well as be inspired by. What are they talking about? How are they talking about the subjects? Where are they getting their information and resources? Should you be following their lead? Use high traffic and most popular sites and blogs as resources for possible content and ideas.
If you don’t see a specific “most popular” topic of interest to you, in a search engine type in “most popular” with a keyword for your interest, like WordPress, and the search results will include the most popular WordPress Themes, plugins, tips, techniques, blogs, and other WordPress related most popular items. From here, you can find sites to monitor for the “most popular” topics for your blog.
There are many lists online that list the “most popular” websites, blogs, topics, news, products, services, and more. By monitoring these sites, you can stay on top of what is attracting the most attention.
Tag and Social Bookmarking Services
Tags and social bookmarking services are similar but different. Social bookmarking actually is the term that refers to users recommending which topics are most popular with them. This is done through votes and by tags.
A site or software tool that collects and stores your recommended or “bookmarked” sites is called a Social Bookmarking Manager. Some Social Bookmarking Managers are private, but the ones that will usually serve you better are the public ones, which show the world what you think is important information, and asks others to “vote” for your recommendations as you vote on theirs, and the winners rise to the top.
Tags are mini-categories for blog content, tagged by the blog owner or visitor. Used in combination with social bookmarking, you can search through tag services for the most popular posts within a specific tag category based upon traffic, voting, or other recommendations.
Tags and social bookmarking help Internet users talk to each other, sharing favorite posts and articles. They also help let you, the blogger, get a feel for what topics are popular at the moment. If it is popular enough, you may want to blog about it. By monitoring these “most popular” lists, whether by overall category or tags specific to your interests, you can keep a finger on the pulse of public opinion.
Comment on Blogs From Within Google Feed Reader
One of the most frustrating aspects of reading blogs through feed readers is the process of commenting on blogs. The typical step-by-step process is:
- Scan through the blog post titles.
- Find an interesting title and click on the title to open it and read.
- Want to respond or read more? Open the post title in a new browser tab.
- Scroll around your tabs to get to the tab you just opened.
- Read the blog post.
- Comment on the blog post.
- Close the tab (or leave it waiting for a response or add the comments feed to track comments).
- Hunt for your feed reader tab.
- Find it and move onto the next post title of interest.
- Repeat.
How would you like to cut this down to only a few clicks? And how would you like to comment on blog posts directly from Google Feed Reader?
Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging.
Lorelle VanFossen has put together hundreds of the tips you need to know before you start blogging, and after, in
- Explore the pros and cons of blog design.
- Learn more about writing interesting and attention-getting content.
- Develop your blog writing voice and style.
- Learn how to define your blog’s purpose.
- Learn how to build your blog’s plan.
- Tips on writing with keywords and search terms.
- Learn how to encourage your readers to respond.
- Deal with comment spam and other nasty comments.
- Explore the new PageRank, TrustRank, and SEO techniques.
- Learn how to improve SEO with podcasts, video, and other multimedia.
- Tips to prevent blog burnout.
- Tips on developing a blog plan of action in response to disasters, emergencies or accusations.
- Learn how to respond to copyright violations.
- Learn about your rights as a blogger.
- Tips on administrating and maintaining your blog.
- Tips on online social networking and interaction.
Finding Content for Your Blog
here are several resource that you can use to get content for your blog. If I have missed a favorite resource of yours, please add it below in the comments. I love looking up new avenues of inspiration.
I’ve grouped the different resources for finding content for your blog into the following categories:
- Top News Stories
- Industry News and Resources
- Tagging and Social Bookmarking
- Most Popular/Highest Traffic
- Top Search Results
- Research: Reading What Other People Wrote
- Facts, Figures and Statistics
- Search Engines, Search Blogs, and Search Resources
- Tracking Stories
- Internet Traffic, Web Trends, and Page Rank
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
5 Reasons Why Blogging is the New Internet Marketing Tool
Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment an existing webpage, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one’s opinion on the said page. What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the blog’s potential. Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet marketing tool.
1.Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging. No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse. It’s like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entice your reader to also try your product. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t?) then you can blog and advertise.
2. Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims. However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience. You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.
3. Blogging is free. Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free. Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up. Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.
4. Blogging builds credibility. As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs. As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs. As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.
5. Blogging builds your market. Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is. But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base. Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:
-By using your e-mail. Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market. In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site. Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.
-By using subscription. An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite. Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.
-By understanding your readers. Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences. Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared. In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.
-By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc. Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject. Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.
-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today. As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base. Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.
Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.
1.Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging. No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse. It’s like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entice your reader to also try your product. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t?) then you can blog and advertise.
2. Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where advertising saturate our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims. However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand product use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience. You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.
3. Blogging is free. Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free. Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to businesses that are starting up. Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your seriously growing business.
4. Blogging builds credibility. As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs. As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs. As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.
5. Blogging builds your market. Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is. But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base. Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:
-By using your e-mail. Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market. In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site. Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.
-By using subscription. An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite. Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.
-By understanding your readers. Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences. Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared. In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.
-By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc. Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject. Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.
-By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today. As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base. Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.
Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.
Monday, April 07, 2008
About movable type
Movable Type is a "decentralized web-based personal publishing system designed to ease maintenance of regularly-updated content." While there are other options such as Blogger and Livejournal, MT has many advantages such as its flexiblity and powerful features. It has quickly become the de facto content management system for bloggers.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
why people blogging
This is just several reasons or people comments about the reasons of why they decide to logging.
Blogs are created for various reasons. Some are created as a result of an itchy mouth like
which resulted from a simple question when my daughter gave me the CD containing the nuchal scan of her unborn baby, my first grandchild: "Why don't you put it on the Web?". She retorted: "Why don't YOU do it?".
Some created blogs to help spread environmental awareness like
Some are health related blogs like
Blogs are created for various reasons. Some are created as a result of an itchy mouth like
http://my-first-grandchild.blogspot.com/
(My first grandchild)which resulted from a simple question when my daughter gave me the CD containing the nuchal scan of her unborn baby, my first grandchild: "Why don't you put it on the Web?". She retorted: "Why don't YOU do it?".
Some created blogs to help spread environmental awareness like
http://enviromansays.blogspot.com
(Environmental blog: Enviroman Says)Some are health related blogs like
http://foodasmedicine.blogspot.com
if you search on google there will find a lot of people blogging there
if you search on google there will find a lot of people blogging there
Advantages of moderating comments via email notification
I have found a cool tips from http://bloggerfordummies.blogspot.com
this is just about the Advantages of moderating comments via email notification
I have set comments in almost all my blogs for moderation via email notification. This means each time a visitor makes a comment, I get an email with the full message and I can approve or reject a comment from there.
Moderating comments via email notification has many advantages over moderating via the Dashboard. The first big one I would point out is there is a link to the post where the comment was made. When you have read the message and see that it is not spam, and you click "Publish", a new tab or window (depending on your browser settings) will open with a link to the post itself. Click on the link and you are now in the post, ready to respond to the comment.
Another advantage is, you have a permanent record of the comment in your Inbox, and in cases like you accidentally deleted a comment you wanted publish, or you want to edit the comment, you can use a work-around (trick) to republish or edit the comment. See What you can do if you accidentally deleted a comment or you want to edit a comment (click BACK button to get back to this page).
Of course if you have set your comments to only registered bloggers, you will have to temporarily set it to allow anonymous comments first. The above advantages are not available when you moderate via the Dashboard.
However, I am often forced to moderate comments via the Dashboard because I don't get email notification for some
Of cource it is very useful is not it?
this is just about the Advantages of moderating comments via email notification
I have set comments in almost all my blogs for moderation via email notification. This means each time a visitor makes a comment, I get an email with the full message and I can approve or reject a comment from there.
Moderating comments via email notification has many advantages over moderating via the Dashboard. The first big one I would point out is there is a link to the post where the comment was made. When you have read the message and see that it is not spam, and you click "Publish", a new tab or window (depending on your browser settings) will open with a link to the post itself. Click on the link and you are now in the post, ready to respond to the comment.
Another advantage is, you have a permanent record of the comment in your Inbox, and in cases like you accidentally deleted a comment you wanted publish, or you want to edit the comment, you can use a work-around (trick) to republish or edit the comment. See What you can do if you accidentally deleted a comment or you want to edit a comment (click BACK button to get back to this page).
Of course if you have set your comments to only registered bloggers, you will have to temporarily set it to allow anonymous comments first. The above advantages are not available when you moderate via the Dashboard.
However, I am often forced to moderate comments via the Dashboard because I don't get email notification for some
Of cource it is very useful is not it?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
