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Blog Faqs And Answers
By Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach, Sat Dec 10th
Q: Can you get married by blog? A: Now that I’ve got yourattention! Actually you can, at least Eric and Kathleen considerthey did, thanks to an obscure law in Texas regarding “informalmarriage.” All you have to do, they say, is declare yourspouse-itude publicly to other residents of the state. Readabout it on her blog - http://www.fashion-incubator.com/mt/ ,August 5th entry. There’s a proliferation of articles on the Internet aboutblogging matched only by the proliferation of blogs beingcreated. The numbers are astronomical, the growth rateexponential. Since blogging has yet to peak, there is the usualhysteria and hype around it. To help you sort through the maze,here’s a brief primer with resources: Q: What’s the purpose of a blog? A: Some of them are:
1. Self-expression; journaling gone public 2. Pitching a productor professional service 3. Providing information on a topic 4.Raising awareness about an issue 5. To get around google“sandboxing” 6. To have fun Before you mount a blog, decide the purpose and the intendedaudience. This will shape your choice of template and dictatecontent as well. Nancy Fenn, The Introvertz Coach (http://www.theintrovertzcoach.com ), wanted a blog(http://www.theintrovertzcoach.com/blogger.html ) to raiseawareness about introversion as a legitimate personality style,and to show “what it’s like to be introverted and intuitiveevery day.” Her target market is intuitive introverts, and since introvertslove the Internet, she hit the jackpot. Peripherally, shepromotes her products and services and receives over 5,000visitors a month to her website. Q: What’s the format? A: Many blog production sites, such ashttp://webhosting.availablehere.biz , offer attractivetemplates. Picture this as writing in a diary, one entry afteranother. You should have a masthead telling what the theme ofthe blog is, and information about yourself, as well as contactinformation. Q: What’s “sandboxing”? A: Something google can do to yourwebsite. When you have a new website and submit the URL, it canappear on the search engine and then suddenly disappear. Forsome reason it’s put in a holding pin (“sandboxed” for a while,or indefinitely. Putting up a blog is a way to bring traffic toyour website while you wait to see what happens. (See my article“Blog Your Way Out of Oblivion,” ( http://www.goarticles.com ). Q: Can your employer fire you for having a blog? A: No doubtyou’ve heard about the Delta employee who got fired for puttingan “inappropriate” photo of herself in uniform on her blog.Ellen Simonetti, Queen of Sky, tells her story here -http://news.com.com/I+was+fired+for+blogging/2010-1030_3-5490836.html . As with “inappropriate” emails and visiting porn sites atwork, employees who have a Promethean desire to self-sabotagewill find the uber-public Internet just the place to crash andburn. Why would you post something negative about your employeror their product or be unprofessional on a blog any more thanyou would badmouth them at a Chamber meeting and expect norepercussions? “Why push the envelope?” says Mark Brandenburg, MA, CPCC, (http://www.markbrandenburg.com ), a coach who helps businessclients connect what they do at work with their personal values.“Don’t do anything on a blog, or anywhere else,” he says, “thatyou wouldn’t want your supervisor or co-worker to see. If itdoesn’t represent you or your organization well, don’t do it.” “If you feel a desire to write or do something that doesn’treflect well on you or the organization,” he adds,
“it might betime to get some help to find out what need you’re not gettingmet.” Q: What mistakes should you avoid? A: (1) All the mistakes thatmake a regular website inhospitable – poor layout andnavigation, bad grammar, typos, poorly written articles, lamematerial, static not dynamic (you should feed your blog at leastevery other day), or something unreadable like blue print inBlackadder font on black screen. (2)Failing to market, if that’s your intent. If you’remarketing, you must give the person a reason to return often andmake it easy for them to contact you. Keep to your topic, pumpuseful (or entertaining) information, and give URL, email andphone number. (3)Not submitting your blog to blog directories.Do it now. As of yesterday, at www.blogwise.com, just onesubmission site, there were 5989 blogs in the queue with anexpected wait of 29 days. (4)If it’s a blatant ad, no one willvisit more than once. (5)Not stating what seems “obvious” to you. Tell them what yourblog is about, how often you add content, why you’re doing it,etc. Q: What should not be on a blog? A: The same copyright andintellectual property laws regarding written and graphicmaterial apply as elsewhere. For legal advice, consult anintellectual property attorney. To be safe, use your ownmaterial, or access sites like www.ideamarketers.com offeringpre-authorized articles. For graphics, try www.clipart.com . Q: With a new blog going up every second, how can you make yoursstand out? A: “The blog software or blog service you choose canmake a big difference,” says Craig Thornburow,”http://webhosting.availablehere.biz , “You should consider thelevel of support, the cost, whether it’s HTML or PHP driven, andhow the software manages links. You also want software flexibleenough to allow you to customize. For instance, take a look atthe B2Evoluation ( http:// webhosting.availablehere.biz ). It'sthe next generation blogging system – probably the mostcomprehensive blogging engine you can find. Its features includethe ability to blog instantly by one simple button or by sendingan email or MMS to your blog. The system also supports up to 100different blogs from the same site." A further advantage to a site such as this, is that you can haveyour own URL, better for SEO. With the free blog sites you canend up with a URL like http://theirblog.com/your name.html whichis far less attractive to the search engines. Q: What can you do if you want a blog but are computerilliterate, hate to write, and/or don’t have time? A: Programslike www.blogger.com and http://webhosting.availablehere.bzizare so simple to use, I urge you to give it a try. However, youcan always hire someone else to do it. As soon as something newappears, the support personnel, trainers and teaches startqueuing up for your dollar. Q: What do you look for in a blog-meister? If you’re going tosupply content, minimal computer skills, like a VirtualAssistant. Or (this is our future, folks), take a look at theprices on this site owned by an Australian company, with webtechs in India: http://www.supportresort.com/ at $2.88 an hour. If you want someone to research and/or choose content, you needsomeone intelligent, with a proven record for research andwriting on the Internet who is familiar enough with your field.Check with marketing companies and coaches who do Internetmarketing. If you’ve been thinking about starting a blog, now’s the time.Good luck! About the author:©Susan Dunn, MA, Internet Marketing and Blog Coach,http://www.webstrategies.cc . To set up your own blog, go here:http://webhosting.availablehere.biz . For more information,mailto:caricky@beeb.net .
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