blogging Archives - Page 15 of 24

Can you help?

Yesterday I made the terrible mistake of agreeing with YouTube’s incessant desire to link my YouTube account to my Google account. The result was that all my gmail, all the RSS feeds in my Reader, became inaccessible. Several attempts to reset the password or recover access to the accounts failed. I have several emails from Google saying that they can’t confirm that I really exist as an account. Apparently, in order to prove your account existed to Google you have to be able to remember when you opened every Google account you have, who sent you the invitation to use Gmail, what year you opened your Blogger blog and a whole lot of other crap. The fact that I know the password and username for my account doesn’t seem to matter. A big #suckit, Google.

The mail isn’t a big deal. I only used my gmail address as a forwarding station on the route between one spot and another. I changed my forwarding and lost one day’s mail. If that had been my main email account I would be absolutely hysterical right now.

But the RSS feeds are a problem. I created a new Reader account and started trying to resubscribe to tech blogs. I need to recreate several years worth of finding tech blogs and subscribing to them. Literally hundreds of them.

Here’s where I’d like your help. I can’t remember all those tech blogs. Send suggestions. Leaving me URLs in the comments will send you to the spam queue, but blog names are fine. Just the name, no URL. Please, leave me some good tech blog names in the comments. Thanks.

Review: Professional Blogging for Dummies

A review by Virginia DeBolt of Professional Blogging For Dummies (rating: 5 stars)

Professional Blogging for Dummies is by Susan J. Getgood. It’s from Wiley Publishing (2010).

In all the years that I have been reading and reviewing computer/tech books, I’ve never read one the of the books in Wylie’s For Dummies series. I had the idea that they would be watered down and superficial treatments of the topics. Boy, was I wrong—at least if this book by Susan Getgood is representative of the whole series. This book is a complete guide to becoming a professional, money-making blogger who treats a blog as a business.

The discussion starts with the attitude and mind-set you need if you are serious about being a professional blogger. It tells you how to search out and identify a niche that will fit you. You learn how to do the preliminary planning such as identifying your audience, studying your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses before selecting your niche, and getting involved in your niche before you even begin to blog. If you follow the steps in this section of the book about looking for your niche and planning your blog before you even get it set up, you will be in a really strong position to achieve success. It helps you take a hard-headed look at what you have to offer, what others already offer like it, what you can expect to get out of it, and what you’ll need to put into it.

The necessary steps for setting up a business legally and with the proper legal protections and policies are explained in Chapter 3. This includes help with setting up a policy for endorsements, reviews, and testimonials, and for complying with the FTC disclosure requirement. Chapter 4 takes a look at making money with the blog. Early planning decisions are discussed as well as details about selling ads, finding sponsors, and other money making options. You also learn how to track the money effectively as a business. Chapter 5 goes into depth about selling products or services on a blog. Chapter 6 really digs into making money from advertising. Chapter 7 looks at making money writing for blogs.

There’s a section of the book devoted to building the blog. This includes Chapter 8 about naming the blog, finding a platform and hosting, and registering the domain name. Chapter 9 talks about blog design. Chapter 10 gives you tips on creating the blog’s content. Everything from finding your voice to writing good headlines and using video and images is explained.

Maximizing Your Blog’s Success includes a chapter on getting the word out through email, traditional media, blogrolls, comments, contests, social networks, and search engines. There’s a whole chapter helping with what to do when companies come calling with pitches that may or may not work for your blog. The section on how to work with marketers is very helpful, because bloggers are barraged with marketing PR constantly. Tracking the blog’s success with various measurements and analytics is explained carefully. There’s a chapter with help about keeping the blog fresh and engaged and growing in this section.

The last part of the book is called The Part of Tens. It contains chapters on 10 mistakes to avoid, 10 blogs to learn from, and 10 tips for jump-starting creativity.

Overall, the book is clearly written with excellent examples and advice. It works through the process step-by-step from planning to posting. I think you could follow the guidance in this book to a successful, money-making blog.

The disclaimers: I was asked to review this book by BlogHer, who provided me with a copy of the book. I met Susan Getgood briefly at a BlogHer Conference once and exchanged a few words with her. I even snapped her picture. Many (but not all) of the successful blogs mentioned as examples in the book are members of the BlogHer network. This is not because the book is slanted toward BlogHer or women, but because so many successful bloggers are women who are members of the BlogHer network.

Summary: An excellent resource for starting a profitable blog-based business.

[Cross-posted in a different and expanded form at BlogHer]

Technorati Tags: Professional Blogging for Dummies, book reviews

Identifying affiliate links: Have I discovered a best practice?

Bloggers do all sorts of things that earn money or products. Reviews, giveaways, contests, and product mentions are among many common blog post types that may result in the blogger either getting a free product or making some money somehow.

Bloggers get pitched by PR firms to try out products and write about products all the time. Sometimes they get something for doing this, sometimes not. The FTC has decided that bloggers need to disclose/be transparent about where products come from and what is being given in exchange for a mention.

I’ve published a review policy for this blog. It explains how I choose the books I review and the occasional app or software post I write.

I have an affiliate account at Amazon.com. If you buy a book with a click from this site I might make a few cents. I’ve experimented with various ways to identify links in order to achieve transparency and let readers know that a link is an affiliate link.

I’ve used alt text with images that are affiliate links. The last book I reviewed, Create Stunning HTML Email that Just Works, had this alt text:

<img src="image.jpg" alt="get HTML Email at Amazon">

Sometimes I use:

<img src="image.jpg" alt="buy this book at Amazon">

If you go back far enough into the archives of my book reviews you find non-transparent alt text like this:

<img src="image.jpg" alt="HTML Email cover">

Recently I decided to add a title attribute. That way people who aren’t seeing the alt text will see the title information in a tooltip popup. I’m working on a review for later this week that will do the following:

<img src="image.jpg" alt="affiliate link to Amazon" title="affiliate link to Amazon">

The thing I like about adding a title attribute is that you can use it with a text link as well.

<a href="somewhere.html" title="affiliate link to Amazon">Book Title</a>

I don’t know that there is a best practice guide anywhere online about how to identify affiliate links in a way that is open, honest, and unobtrusive. I think my idea for disclosing with both alt and title attributes with images is a good rule of thumb. I think adding a title attribute to text links is a good practice. I nominate these two ideas for best practices for affiliate links.

Best Practices for Affiliate Links

Use both alt and title attributes in image links to disclose the fact that the link is to an affiliate site.
Use a title attribute in a text link to disclose the fact that the link is to an affiliate site

What do you think? Are these, in fact, best practice? Should my ideas be modified, expanded, laughed at? Is there a better guideline somewhere?

The $100 Question: Why did you start blogging?

$100 Question Promo Graphic You can win $100 by answering my question at the BlogHer site. To be eligible to win, answer before Thursday, August 12.

The winner will be picked at random, so leave a comment at BlogHer to get in the running for the money.

The question you have to answer? Just this:

What was the original impulse that drove you to begin blogging? Is that still what’s driving you?

I answered the question myself, if you’re interested. I hope you will go take a chance on winning.

In the mind of Copyblogger there’s a great HTML blog

You know Copyblogger, right? Copyblogger is Brian Clark, the genius writer with a kajillion followers who gives good advice to bloggers about how to get traffic and keep readers coming back.

I was playing a game in my head with some of the Copyblogger headlines, thinking that if people who wrote about HTML and CSS and stuff like web education used his headline techniques, there would be a lot more traffic to web dev blogs.

Here are some examples of how the game goes. Feel free to suggest more.

Copyblogger said: How to Find Thousands More Prospects for Your Business
I said: How to Find Thousands of Web Standards Tips

Copyblogger said: How to Develop an Endless Source of Ideas that Sell
I said: How to Develop an Endless Source of HTML Tutorials that Deliver

Copyblogger said: Want More Readers: Try Expanding Your Internet Universe
I said: Want More Semantic HTML? Try Developing Your List Elements

Copyblogger said: 7 Essential Steps to Creating Your Content Masterpiece
I said: 7 Essential Steps to Optimizing Your CSS

Copyblogger said: The Grateful Dead 4-Step Guide to the Magical Influence of Content Marketing
I said: The Grateful Dead 4-Step Guide to the Magical Influence of Accessible Forms

Copyblogger said: Improve Your Writing Overnight with the Rule of 24: Guaranteed
I said: Improve Your Code Overnight with the Rule of 24: Guaranteed

I need to start playing this game in real life.

10 Terrific Tech Blogs by Women

Tech tips, geeky how-tos, thoughtful analysis of issues, news about the latest gadgets, ideas for improving your blog—you’ll find it all in these 10 terrific tech and science blogs. They just happen to be written by women.

I. Hacker Chick

The Hacker Chick Blog is a beautiful starting point. I say beautiful because the graphics on this blog are stunning: everything from the image representing the hacker chick (software developer Abby Fichtner) to the icons and images used as illustrations are visually outstanding. Hacker Chick writes about designing WordPress themes, agile computing, programming, social media, and business.

In Build Your Startup From the Heart, she said,

The world, it seems, is changing. If you ask Daniel Pink, he’ll say that our “left-brained” aptitudes — logical, analytical skills, the types of things schools reward us for — are no longer sufficient if we want to remain competitive. These are, after all, the very things being automated by computers and outsourced at rates we can’t compete with if we want to pay our mortgages, or, say, eat.

If we truly want to succeed, we need to pull in those right-brained skills that our schools & employers have tried so hard to beat out of us — artistry, empathy, play, and story telling.

You don’t find many programmers who think this way, or who can pull it together the way Hacker Chick does.

II. Pars3c

Elizabeth Howell has her head in the stars with her blog Pars3c. The blog is pronounced “PAR-seck,” and astronomical term that gives you an idea of the topics you’ll find on the blog. This blog is about astronomy, spaceflight, science and telescopes. Big telescopes.

In 500 explosions, 500 reasons to love satellites, Elizabeth said,

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again — the greatest thing about space-borne observatories is they have 24-hour darkness to enjoy. This makes it easier to catch fleeting cosmic events, even explosions.

Like that moment last month when NASA’s Swift telescope saw its 500th gamma-ray burst.

III. Blogger Buster

Blogger Buster is for Google Blogger users. It’s written by Amanda Kay. Blogger templates and tutorials are the heart of this blog.

For example, you can learn about 90 Related Posts with Thumbnails for Blogger – New Version by BloggerWidgets

Aneesh of Blogger Widgets has developed a new “Related Posts” script for Blogger which displays thumbnails of images in addition to linked post titles.

In appearance, this Blogger “add-on” is similar to the LinkWithin script. Each section is highlighted in a complementary colour when the mouse hovers over it, and the entire section is clickable, leading to the URL of the “related post” displayed.

IV. Girl Developer

Girl Developer is written by Sara, a software engineer. Her topics range among .net and WAN, tech events, software reviews, and life as a developer. There’s always a dash of style and humor in the mix. Recently she wrote about Meeting Wendy Friedlander, a fellow developer who is undergoing cancer treatment.

Meeting Wendy prompted her to put together a fund-raising dinner:

I put this dinner together because I think it would be wonderful if we could all help Wendy a little as a community. She’s one of our own and it really could be any one of us. We’re having a dinner for Wendy, and if you’re in the NYC area and can make it we’d love to have you. It will be a great time of fellowship with other developers and I’m looking forward to it. If you can’t make the dinner or aren’t from the area there is a paypal link here for donations.

V. Do it Myself Blog

Do it Myself Blog is the work of Glenda Watson Hyatt, the left-thumb blogger—so called because she types only with her left thumb due to her cerebral palsy. Glenda writes about accessibility on the web and in life, about events she attends and speeches she gives with the help of her computer’s voice, about new technology, entrepreneurship, and trying to find an accessible bathroom while at tech events.

Lately Glenda has been searching for the perfect app for her iPad that will help her with chores like making hair appointments and ordering burgers. In The iPad as an Affordable Communicator: A Follow-up Review, she commented

While I was at the mall last Tuesday, i also made a hair appointment. In the old days I would have typed a note before leaving home. Or, I would have asked Darrell to call for an appointment.

Tuesday i pulled out my iPad, typed a message in the Proloquo2Go app and showed it to the receptionist. An appointment was made for the following day.

All is not golden with the Proloquo2Go app, however, as Glenda discovers when she tries to order food.

VI. Apophenia

Apophenia is danah boyd’s blog. This blog deals with big ideas. It focuses on issues: trends, analysis, data about how young people use technology, and topics like privacy.

In “for the lolz”: 4chan is hacking the attention economy , danah explains what 4chan is with a “Newbie Note” before she begins her discussion of the site:

Newbie note: If you have never heard of 4chan, start with the Wikipedia entry and not the website itself. The site tends to offend many adults’ sensibilities. As one of my friends put it, loving LOLcats or rickrolling as outputs is like loving a tasty hamburger; visiting 4chan is like visiting the meat factory. At some point, it’d probably help to visit the meat factory, but that might make you go vegetarian.

danah boyd is quite possibly one the the smartest people on the planet, so running big ideas through her mind and getting to read the results of her thinking on her blog is a true privilege.

VII. The Female Perspective of Computer Science

The Female Perspective of Computer Science is from Gail Carmichael, who is working on a doctorate in Computer Science. Her fields of study include educational entertainment and augmented reality, both of which get discussed on the blog. Other topics include visual computing, games, events, computer science, and women.

Recently she wrote about Getting the Hang of iPhone Development.

I needed to learn how to develop for the iPhone since the projects I want to work on next will be games for the device. This task was somewhat daunting, given that I hadn’t really even used a Mac before, let alone Objective-C or Xcode. Luckily, there are some really great resources out there that you should check out if you are also just getting started.

So far, the most invaluable resource for me has been the Stanford iTunes U lectures on iPhone development. After watching the lectures via iTunes, you can download all the course materials, including slides and assignments.

A free course from Standford so you can learn how to develop for iPhone? Dang, that’s great information!

VIII. Geek Feminism Blog

Geek Feminism Blog has over a dozen writers, mostly women. A few male feminists in the mix is a good thing. The range of topics you find there is as wide and deep as the minds of its many contributors. The frequent linkspam posts are a great source for exploring the blogosphere on topics related to technology and women. Other topics you might find explored there are comics, conferences, gender, open source, programming, star trek, and just about anything else you can think of that interests geeks.

In July 6th is the last day for super early bird rate for Grace Hopper Celebration, Terri tells us,

If you haven’t heard of GHC before, it’s a really amazing conference for women involved in technology (especially geek feminists!). Not only does it tip the usual ratios on their heads (hello, >90% women! And yes, that means men are welcome.) it’s one of very few conferences where I can say that even the most technical talks are interesting and well-presented.

IX. CSS, JavaScript and XHTML Explained and Standardista

CSS, JavaScript and XHTML Explained is by Estele Weyl. The title is self-describing, but doesn’t completely cover the range of what you find there. You might learn about conferences, girl geeks, browser quirks, accessibility and other web development related topics. Estele has another blog called Standardista: CSS3, JavaScript and HTML5 Explained that is similar but devoted to newer technologies such as HTML5. As the technologies move forward, the newer blog may get the most additions.

Estele is great at putting things in an organized matrix to help you quickly see what is what with a topic. For example, in HTML5 Input Attributes & Browser Support, she created a handy table to show which browsers support which of the new HTML5 form elements.

X. MacTips

I saved a great one for last: MacTips, the very helpful guide to Macs, iPhones and iPads from Miraz Jordan. The tips never end at MacTips. For example, Use Safari 5′s Reader for easier reading on the web and How to change app Preferences on an iPhone.

Miraz always has clear directions with informative illustrations and screen shots to guide you through all things Mac.

Cross-posted in slightly different form at BlogHer.

7 Tips for New Bloggers

I’ve been blogging a long time–since 2001. People ask me about starting blogs all the time. Here’s what I usually tell them.

It’s easy to start a blog. If you can use Word, you can blog.
It’s better if you are comfortable with web sites, icons, the Internet, and your computer isn’t scary to you.
It’s better if you know the basics of HTML and CSS and understand images. However, if you’re a musician or an artist and don’t want to think about those things, you can still have a blog.
You need to be sure you have something to say and are burning to say it. You need a reason to keep coming back week after week to produce new material. It doesn’t matter what your thing is, but you need to have a passion for writing about it.
You have to commit to it. It takes constant time, effort, and work. If you don’t have the self-discipline to make a long-term commitment to a writing project, don’t do it.
You need to be a decent writer. You need to enjoy writing. You don’t have to be a literary genius. But you need to be willing to spell check, grammar check, proofread, edit, refine, rewrite, and make an effort to write well. Within that restriction, be yourself. Use your own voice, your own tone, your own style.
Don’t expect a miracle. There are millions of blogs but only a few people are famous bloggers who make a living from a blog. Do it because you want to say something, not because you want to get something.