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Tag Archive: blogs and blogging

Sidebar imagery sets blogs apart

Written on Thursday 8 September 2011 by Alice

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There is a design agency I keep an eye on. I like them because they are distinctly visual (I suppose design agencies are supposed to be), but it is the myriad of colours and the way they use images that attracts my attention.

This is not confined to just their graphics on paper, but online too. Their style is distinctive, and may not suit everybody, but simplicity combined with complexity is tastefully intertwined, and they have found a way to put this concept onto their websites and blogs they also design for.

If you are into NLP, you will know that people understand and process things in different ways. Some respond visually, others to words and the rest to sounds. A blog can use all these to put its messages across. By using all of these media, there is a better chance of capturing the attention of more potential followers and customers.

A WordPress.org blogsite allows you to do virtually anything you like on your sidebars. You could go down the usual route and add in conventional widgets which are mainly text-based, or you could go out on a limb and create linked images. This is particularly apt if your main subject lends itself to a visual presence, and each image is specifically designed to look ‘clickable’ (three-dimensional, enticing and understandable), so your visitors could end up have far more fun exploring your site than an ordinary blog. After all, isn’t that what you want them to do?

Having images on your sidebars linking to various areas of your website should be in addition to the navigation bar, because there will always be people who prefer using that method to enter a site (reference NLP) and won’t understand the concept of clickable pictures. Don’t discriminate people who are wired differently from you, they all have to be accommodated if you are going to make your website succeed.

blogs and blogging, design makes a difference, increasing business visibility, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs - Tags: attention, blogs and blogging, design agency, graphics, images, navigation, NLP, sidebars, text based, visitors, visual, websites, widgets - 0 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

Magic Moment: Blog Login knowhow

Written on Wednesday 24 August 2011 by Alice

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Since blogs are CMS (content management systems) they require their users to log into the background menus to write a post. This process is called login.

You can type the login instructions straight into your browser, such as blogdomain/wp-login.php, and it will take you immediately to a menu page for you to insert your username and password:

This is for my WordPress.com blog, and my username is the umbrella for all my blogs. It’s important to keep your username and password secret at all times, and WordPress helps by disguising the password with dots. It is also advisable not to use easy-to-work-out login details, to stop hackers from gaining access.

This is the login page for my WordPress.org blog. Since the two WordPresses are different, they have separate login pages. And, of course, I have different login details. For WordPress.org, once you’ve accessed the blog, it is for that blog only; you don’t have access to any other blogs.

There is an alternative method of getting to these login pages. You can add the Meta widget to your sidebar, which provides a login link. Once you have logged into your blog, the meta widget will change so you can gain access without having to go through the menu pages:

And if you are viewing your logged in blog, you can also gain access to the Dashboard by typing in blogdomain/wp-admin.

And of course, once you’re logged in to your WordPress.com blog, there are more links to help you gain quick access to different areas of your blog. At the top of your blog you will find a grey menu bar has been added:

Once you have logged into WordPress.com, you can can gain access to any other blogs you have been authorised to edit. That is what I meant by your username being an umbrella to other blogs. (My drop down menu reveals many blogs, so I have only shown three here.)

By selecting the blog you require, an additional drop down menu will provide access to various areas of your blog. Simply access Dashboard for convenience.

If you are already in the blog of your choice, you can gain quick access to your new post page (and other functions) through the ‘New’ link:

You can go directly to your stats page through this link:

And create a shortlink for your blog here:

And if you want to follow WordPress.com, just click on the ‘Follow’ button. Explore the other buttons to see what they contain, and have fun!

Oh, and there is a similar grey menu bar for my WordPress.org blog as well:

The jump between each WordPress is bigger than you think

Written on Monday 8 August 2011 by Alice

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In technical abilities, I would say there is quite a chasm between the two types of WordPress.

This is not always noticeable, as quite often blogs look very similar. But if you look closer there is a distinct difference, as the .org versions have a lot more applications at their disposal, and therefore are able to perform to a much more advanced level.

But – saying that, I am amazed (and pleased) to see how far WordPress.com has come over the years. So many of the applications previously only available as plugins have become standard, and are more easily accessible and activated due to all the hard work the developers at WordPress have put in.

I suppose the main difference is hosting. WordPress.com provides a free-hosted package so all you have to do is to decide on what your blog is going to be called, and then create it. You can make as many blogs as you like under your username, which you can create by opening a WordPress account (even without a blog).

WordPress.org, on the other hand, requires you to purchase your own domain name and hosting account for each blog. Getting a suitable URL is quite easy, but acquiring a suitable host is where advice is necessary.

Many hosting companies will happily say they are compatible with WordPress, but then there are two versions of being compatible. There are those that require technical knowledge to prepare your hosting server ready to receive WordPress, and those that make it very easy for you through just one (or two) click(s).

When searching for these ‘easy’ hosts (WordPress has a selection which they recommend), they will probably include an application called Fantastico, which takes all the stress out of the preparation for WordPress by doing it for you in advance. These hosting companies also will happily advertise that fact that they use Fantastico for WordPress.

Once you’ve done the necessary clicks and WordPress is installed into your hosted space, it will be in its default form, just like as for WordPress.com. But unlike WordPress.com who has everything ready for you to use in its sidebar instructions, you need to add in your own applications to your WordPress.org blog.

This is where having a FTP viewer platform like FileZilla comes into play. Right, explanations are probably needed here.

FTP stands for file transfer protocol, and it allows the transfer of files to different platforms on the internet. You will need to transfer your WordPress.org theme into your host’s server, into WordPress which you have set up, to be able to activate it.

You can see what is going on by using FileZilla, an FTP viewing browser or application that shows what is already set up in your host’s server, especially your WordPress files, and allows you to transfer (via FTP) your new files and plugins into your new WordPress.org blog. By putting the necessary files into your blog and activating them, your blog will start to become alive.

But all this extra technical stuff isn’t necessary for WordPress.com. It has been carefully formulated to take out any technical stress and angst for the novice blogger, and yet still provides an extensive amount of applications available for blogging use. These have been made as easy as possible to activate, providing extra time for actually writing posts and reaping the benefits they provide.

Blogging, blogs and blogging, CMS, Free Wordpress blogs, non-jargon, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs - Tags: applications, blogging use, blogs and blogging, domain name, Fantastico, FileZilla, FTP, hosting account, hosts, plugins, technical, Wordpress - 5 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

Sharing is easy on WordPress.com

Written on Wednesday 20 July 2011 by Alice

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In the past it was always a bit of a hassle to sort out how to connect, or feed (the technical term), your blog to your social media profiles. It required creating a RSS URL and going to external application websites to enter your details of your blog, so that your posts would be published simultaneously in your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn account or whatever.

But not any more! Sharing has become so much easier in the new WordPress.com version, as now they do all the processes for you! And they’ve also improved on their sharing buttons as well, methods of encouraging your readers to share your post on their social media profiles, thus increasing the exposure of your posts to a larger audience.

Let’s start with the ability to share your post on your social media profiles. First, go to your Dashboard (usually through YourBlogURL/wp-login.php and entering your username and password):

Settings > Sharing

Look for ‘Settings’ in the left hand sidebar, and click on ‘Sharing’, to go to the Sharing Settings page below:

Here you can see where you can sort out how to publicise your posts and where to regulate which sharing buttons you need.

Let’s set up publicising your posts on Twitter:

Make sure you are already logged into your Twitter account on your computer, or that your computer remembers your Twitter account by default.

Then click on the ‘Connect to Twitter’ link under the Twitter logo:

Here we go through the process of authorising the connection between your WordPress.com account and your Twitter account:

Here you can read all the things this application will allow you to do – pretty impressive, eh?

Click on ‘Authorize App’:

Right, now you’re connected to Twitter, and whenever you publish a post, it will be automatically posted on your Twitter stream. I told you it was easy! Next time after you’ve published, go check the tweet that has been created for you, and know that your post has a better chance of being read by a lot more people than before.

Do the same thing with the other social networking profile apps that you have accounts with – enjoy!

Now to sort out your sharing buttons that will appear after your posts and at the bottom of your pages. Span further down the Sharing Settings page to find the ‘Share Button’ section:

After you’ve decided which social sharing buttons you would like, drag them down into the space below:

There is also the option of dragging them into the collective share button box, where all the services will be stored behind a multi-purpose sharing button, if you want this facility to be more tidy on your blog.

After you’ve finished selecting and dragging your share buttons, it will look like this:

Decide to keep the like button box ticked if you want your readers to ‘like’ your post; you will be notified via email when somebody does!

The next stage allows you to play with the presentation of your buttons. It might be a good idea to have the buttons opening up in a new or different window when clicked on, so change the settings to ‘New Window’ from the drop down menu.

You can also decide where (which posts, pages or index pages) you want your buttons to be displayed, by selecting from the options available from the final drop down menu.

And don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

Now go and have a look at a post you have written to see the effect:

And if you’re not happy, go back to the Share Settings page to change everything to how you want it to be; it’s always easy to rearrange WordPress.com to perfect your blog!

Blogging help, blogs and blogging, Free Wordpress blogs, Social Media - Tags: blogs and blogging, connect, Facebook, feed, like, LinkedIn, pages, posts, publicise your posts, RSS, settings, sharing, sharing buttons, Twitter, Wordpress.com - 0 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

How to make pictures look better

Written on Tuesday 3 May 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

In my last post you learned how to put a picture into a post. But there’s a lot more to pictures than you think, how they are positioned, creating padding around them, making them readable for the search engines – even understanding how to prepare your pictures beforehand.

When I started working for my boss and her newsletter provider, I was astounded how her staff struggled to prepare the pictures so they were suitable to be inserted. Her newsletter system was very particular, and could only cope with jpegs that were below 30MB, and the software available to use was Paint, which didn’t even work on my computer!

It took me a while to persuade my boss to buy Photoshop Elements, but once purchased, transforming pictures became a doddle. I taught my colleagues about dots per square inch, and that 72dpi is the most suitable for the web. I showed them how to crop a picture to show the best subject matter, how to reduce it in size without distortion, and how to to save it within the required size-frame. I even showed them how to collect images from different sources and convert them into jpegs so they could be used appropriately.

Suddenly the newsletters started to brighten up, look more interesting and attract more attention. And the same can be for your blog.

Click on your newly inserted picture, and you’ll get these icons:

It’s obvious that the red circle on the right means delete, but if you want to edit your picture, click on the left icon and you’ll get this menu:

Here you can change the alignment of your picture, whether it is placed left, right or centre within the page (from where you place your cursor) and the text will be automatically wrapped around it. (If this doesn’t work, which might be the case in some WordPress.org blogs, then you’ll need to add in a caption because then the image will be placed in a caption box which the text can wrap around.) If you don’t need to worry about your picture’s alignment, leave it as ‘None’.

I explained about alternative text in my previous email: alt tags describe the pictures for the benefit of the search engines who can’t read images, so use appropriate and relevant keywords, and for blind people whose computers read the alt tags.

Below that you can see the picture’s special URL, which will link to the picture’s allocated page within your blog. But you can edit that field to any other URL destination, internal or external to your blog, or to your email by typing ‘mailto:’ immediately before your email address.

If you’re happy with these changes, click on ‘Update’.

However, there is an ‘Advanced Settings’ tab at the top:

Here you can change the size of your picture to whatever you want. A tip: change either the width or the height, and then leave or make the other field blank, WordPress will adjust the picture accordingly without distorting it.

I use the image properties for creating ‘padding’ around my pictures. (This isn’t necessary if you have a caption, as padding is automatically created for your caption box.) Padding is the white space in between the picture and the text, preventing them from jutting against each other, and using this can make a big difference when presenting your pictures. I generally put anything from 5 to 10 in the boxes (vertical and horizontal), but you can experiment to what suits you.

The border box obviously provides a border for your picture, but be lenient – use between 1 to 3 unless you want to make a statement!

Again, once you’ve finished editing your picture, click on the ‘Update’ button.

So to sum up, make sure your picture is the correct size, is 72 dots per square inch, is aligned within your text, has alt text added to it, has a link added behind it, and has appropriate padding for ‘breathing space’ within the text. Then you’ll see a difference between professional picture placing and those that don’t know…

What’s stopping you from blogging?

Written on Wednesday 20 April 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

I was recently asked: “What are the barriers towards blogging?” – so here is my answer:

When I first heard about blogs (all those years ago) my initial reaction was “How do I do it?” rather than “OMG, it’s technical, I can’t do technical!” In other words, it’s the state of your mind that creates the barriers to blogging, not the actual process of blogging itself.

The ‘technical’ part might be a big barrier, but compared to when I first stated blogging, this is less of an issue now. WordPress has done a massive amount towards making it as easy as possible – if you can use Word, you can use WordPress.

It is very easy to create a basic blog in minutes, and my e-courses here can show you how. You can start writing your blog posts immediately, even before you’ve added in all those fancy extras in the sidebars, and since WordPress does all the hard stuff for you anyway, your compositions will start being seen by the search engines as soon as you hit that publish button!

What to write may be seen as a barrier, and certainly for blogging newbies this could be a bit daunting, especially when your told you need to keep posting on a regular basis to make your blog a success. Instead read this post about finding suitable content for your blog, and if you are consistent with your contributions without leaving very long fallow periods, and write good quality, relevant and entertaining posts that people want to read, your blog will do very nicely.

Another barrier might be worrying about what your readers should see, and how much you should reveal about you and your business. This unfounded misconception bothers many small businesses who have yet to obtain the mind-set that publicising their business to the world is a good thing. Certainly reputation is very much worth-while preserving, and etiquette for blogging practices will help to found a good position in the blogosphere, but why not follow the patterns of other great bloggers by reading and observing what they do, to form your own style from them.

And the final barrier would be misunderstanding what a blog is for, or how it can help your business. You need to understand that a blog is a part of social networking, which is all about communicating with your friends, associates and contacts, whether past, present or prospective, so that they get to know more about you (and your business). It is a superb medium that allows you to express yourself in writing, to explain things in another way so that people will understand it better, to gradually build up a relationship with the outside world (as blogging will reach a lot more people than who could do business with you), so you can interact with them through their comments or even by reading and commenting on their blogs.

There will always be some barriers I haven’t managed to cover in this post, so it’s up to you to tell me what they are through the comment box below.

What makes a post attractive?

Written on Thursday 7 April 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

Your posts need to be attractive to anyone and everything that reads them, as it’s not only people that read blogs; you have to consider the robot element as well.

And when I say attractive, I don’t necessarily mean adding pretty pictures. Certainly your readers may appreciate them, but the search engines and their internet spiders cannot read images and graphics, as they are only programmed to look for words.

When writing a post, it’s important to consider whether it would appeal to your audience. You need to communicate by letting them know you are writing for them, accessing their wave-length and empathising with the way they think. Your posts should be attractive by providing readable, educational, entertaining and informative material that would benefit everybody within your readership.

But your posts shouldn’t only contain pure content alone. You need to consider the other ‘beings’ that frequent your blog.

It is in the nature of blogs to provide continuously updated material on a regular basis, perfect for spider fodder. Spiders also thrive on keywords, especially ones that are in vogue, prominent or heavily requested in the search criteria.

Blogs have specially programmed gimmicks that are designed to appeal to the search engines. These are called categories and tags (I prefer to call them topics and keywords) that should accompany your posts.

The categories group posts together according to their subject matter or topic, and are particularly good for archiving or research purposes. Each category has its own page with the posts that have been allocated to it.

Tags are sourced from your post’s content, and ideally should consist of the keywords so desired by spiders. This is where you highlight the words you think are important, or have found to be popular, so the search engines can find them easily. Each tag has its own page, listing all the posts that have used it, and can be displayed on the sidebar within a ‘cloud’ that shows the most heavily used tags as much larger than the others.

Posts that omit the use of categories and tags are empty and ineffectual. They are missing a trick when it comes to attracting the search engines, gaining new traffic and increasing the readership. They don’t detract from the post’s content, and the audience is hardly ever aware of them, but they are certainly a vital part of making your blog more attractive.

blogs and blogging, Free Wordpress blogs, increasing business visibility, Self-hosted Wordpress blogs, Writing tips - Tags: attractive, audience, blogs and blogging, categories and tags, keywords, people that read blogs, posts, search criteria, search engines, spiders, topic, writing a post - 2 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

How you ought to write a blog post

Written on Tuesday 5 April 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

Blogging is not for the faint-hearted. It may be considered something to hide behind, especially if you prefer to write rather than stand up and talk (I used to be like that), but then the danger is your blog becomes stilted, too perfect, too precise.

When I first started blogging and article writing, all those years ago, I was insistent my writing should be the absolute best. I took hours over it, rewriting and changing it, looking up alternative words and fussing over the syntax. And in the end it wasn’t all that good after all!

Then I relaxed, and wrote down whatever came into my head. It made it so much easier to write a post, and I like to think it showed more authenticity in my subject matter. The answer is to become more open and transparent in what you write, and I reveal little quirky bits (which I really should regret) in order to show up my personality(?)!

The idea is to try and get inside your readers’ heads, and think like they think. Don’t sound too intelligent, blogs aren’t meant to consist of academic thesis or much laboured articles. If you don’t understand your readers, do some simple research (it needn’t be complicated or expensive) or even just ask them – what do you want me to write about?

Hang out where your readers are. Immerse yourself in their environment, ask the same questions, wallow in their predicaments, gather this information together and then formulate the solutions. Once you’ve found out what is wanted, write about it in your posts.

What kind of readers would you prefer? Find out what other blogs are they reading, and then comment on them, to draw attention to yourself and your blog. What discussions forums do they frequent? Contribute your opinions or begin a new discussion, post up one of your blog posts and ask for comments.

Be enthusiastic and sympathetic to prospective readers and they will eventually come round to you, especially if you write the kinds of posts they want to read.

blogs and blogging, Writing tips - Tags: article writing, authenticity, blogging, blogs and blogging, discussion, easier to write a post, open and transparent, perfect, precise, questions, readers, research, solutions, write - 5 Comments - Why not leave a comment?

Should your posts have a personality?

Written on Monday 4 April 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

It doesn’t matter whether you’re blogging for pleasure or business, it is how you communicate with your readers that will determine your blog’s success.

How your posts are written may depend on the niche, subject matter or industry you have chosen, but you should not lose sight that a blog is not merely an online diary, or somewhere to write articles to get them published on the web, for more people to read your work and to expand your online presence.

Unfortunately that kind of stuff is incredibly dull. For me a blog should not be boring, it should be somewhere to inspire your readership, cultivate your knowledge, practise your passion, explore your expertise, strive to succeed as ‘the’ thought-leader in your chosen subject – and all this hard work will show up in your posts, making them readable and more likely to be shared.

And sharing is important! A blog should resemble a community, or the ‘hub’ of your business, somewhere for you and your readers, followers and subscribers to communicate. It doesn’t matter whether they are potential customers or not, who knows what influential person may read your posts and share them amongst his colleagues? And remember ‘every’ reader is equally important, not to mention valuable, so make sure your posts reach out to everyone who visits your blog.

Ideally you should be ‘talking’ to your audience through your posts. For me, ‘talking’ is the operative word, as good and readable posts are ones that ‘communicate’ with their readers, rather than preaching to them. When I write my posts I try to make it as if I am holding a conversation with my readers, with me desperately trying to type it down fast enough before it disappears into the ether…

And this ‘hub’, this ‘community’ your blog is trying to emulate, make it so that anybody who is interested can visit to read what’s on offer, and can feel free to participate. It’s the commenting on the latest post or adding their pennyworth to an existing discussion that makes a blog come alive! Cultivate these conversations by putting in a personality into your posts; make them encouraging, informative, friendly and accommodating – and add in a leading question or call to action to prompt a response too!

Why should you have a blog?

Written on Thursday 31 March 2011 by Alice

Fairy Blog Mother

Everyone should know that a blog is a medium for expression. It is somewhere you can download all the ideas and concepts you cannot add into your website, and of course a cluttered website that includes absolutely everything is not good practice.

This is where a blog comes to the rescue. Here you can provide all that extra information and material for your customers in a much more accessible format. A blog is perfect for communicating your vision, objectives, aspirations, focus and achievements in a friendly and informative method, designed to be more comprehensible to your readers. Remember to reach out to your audience on a regular basis, especially since consistent posting is an important factor that contributes towards your blog’s success.

Use your blog to write material that will influence the people within your industry; somewhere to publish examples of your expertise, knowledge, research and points of view. If you are asked the same questions over and over again by your customers, why not write your response in a post so more people will be able to read your answer. If you read a competitor’s report that sparks off a particular reaction, why not respond to it appropriately or provide your solution to the scenario, so that your customers get to see your side of the story.

Blogging is a highly suitable method of striking up a dialogue with past, present and prospective customers. There is no reason why your post can’t resurrect an old contact, reassure your customers they’re using the right company, or influence possible new recruits to check you out with a view to doing business. Using the interactive properties of blogging to engage in conversations with your readers will stimulate search engine indexing who view comments as valid new material.

Taking advantage of this wonderful medium, so ripe with possibilities for communicating, influencing, interacting, educating and entertaining, is an opportunity that should not be missed.