Sunday, November 21, 2010

How to Get Started Video Blogging

Lots of people have been asking me about video recently. Partly because I am pretty vocal on Twitter about finding it difficult but keep doing it anyway, and partly because I have been encouraging my clients to do more of it.

If it is so hard, why do some people make it look easy? And if it is so uncomfortable, why bother?

Fact is technically it does not have to be difficult. In fact I am going to show you that it is very easy technically.

There are many benefits, not least of which are the traffic and attention aspects that you get from video, but also because people really respond to being able to see and hear you.

Video blogs, where all the content is video, are becoming increasingly popular. Man on the Go is one. Here is a video I contributed over there about the best seats to choose on a flight (of all things).

Most people, however, use video occasionally. Either to mix up the content and keep it fresh, or just where visual is more appropriate than words.

Why Video is Hard

My problem with video is because of the performance. I have the technical side pretty much perfected and it really isn’t tough once you know how. Darren can set up his camera and talk out a video on one take. Chris is another “video natural”. You might be the same. I am not.

I’m a writer rather than a natural performer.

The good news is it does get easier! Just practice. The more you do, and the more constructive feedback you get, the easier it becomes. There are more tips and strategies of course but practice really does make the most difference for most people.

How to Do a Video Post in 5 Minutes

Want to know the easiest way to just do video? YouTube.

Go to YouTube, register or log in. Go to “Upload Video” and you will see there is a feature now where you can record direct from your desktop webcam!

Once you have recorded your video you can use the Embed feature to copy the embed code:

Remember though to paste it into the HTML editing tab of your blog rather than “Visual” otherwise screwy things happen when published.

What if Your Video is Not Public?

If you want to run an online course, and most of my video is this type, then obviously YouTube is not a good answer. Fear not though, you can still do it far more easily than it seems.

I use Flowplayer which allows you to embed videos into your WordPress posts that, unlike most Flash-based video players, will even work with iPad and iPhone. There are WordPress plugins that make the whole thing easier but if you are doing for-profit then you really need a license.

Summary

Don’t get caught up thinking that there is a whole lot of super-technical things you need to overcome. Really the hardest part is doing it. You can improve everything incrementally.

Of course there is gear you can buy, techniques for audio and lighting, and obviously ways you can improve scripting and performance, but the main thing is to try it and see if you and your audience like it.

Let me know if this is something you would like me to talk about more or if there are questions you would like answered. Also let me know your own experiences. Looking forward to seeing what you have to share in the comments …

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Saturday, November 20, 2010

Personal Blogging in the 2010s

This guest post is by Karen Andrews of Miscellaneous Mum.

Personal blogging has changed a lot in the last two years. Some writers now run blogs or social media campaigns to extend their profiles for current (and future) readers; some bloggers are using their reach to find or be offered writing work.

The line between ‘writing’ and ‘blogging’ is blurring, which is terrific, but can also be confusing. I know this first-hand. So today I’m going to share with you some points I try to keep foremost in mind. Maybe they’ll help you too.

Making money is possible, but prepare for tough decisions

Here’s a description: you’ve built up a pretty healthy traffic flow, or a solid RSS subscriber count. Long before that, you signed up to an ad network, thinking that by this stage the money would be steadily coming in … except it’s not.

You think about selling private ad spaces, but worry that would be a turn-off for your audience. You’re hesitant about doing sponsored or affiliate-related posts for the same reason. And as for all those opportunities out there in waiting, the longer you’re stuck, the harder they seem to be to grab.

Does this scenario sound familiar? Well, I’ve got a message of hope for the personal bloggers out there. You have one thing on your side. You’re making decisions that matter every day. Here are just a few: how much or little do I reveal about myself or my family? What are some ways I can frame or contextualize a story for effect? What is the best response I can give if I’m challenged about an issue?

What’s needed to answer those questions? Integrity. Look into that part of yourself when asking yourself how far you’re willing to go to make money from your blog. The answer is often there waiting.

Making sure ‘I’ am enough

Here’s another description: you’re chatting to a friend who also blogs, but does so in more traffic-heavy niches (such as entertainment and technologies). You compare the time you spend and your blogging tactics, and are roughly doing it the same way. The difference is that your friend’s site’s hits are triple yours. You start to feel discouraged.

Does this sound familiar? My message this time is a little more sobering. Yes, it can be hard, but this is the time when you need to decide if you are enough. Does it really matter if your traffic isn’t like so-and-so’s? Perhaps your ambitions can be channeled differently, or your goals need redefining.

It never hurts to stop, take a step back, and see what personal bloggers have achieved in recent years. People who live with or are affected by mental or medical challenges, for example, have been able to raise their voices to advocate the networks which support them and are, in turn, worth being supported by others.

Personal blogging isn’t easy—you might be surprised how many other people feel the same way. This is why meetups and conferences are so important: they create opportunities for open discussion and learning among like-minded peers. It’s also worth remembering that your blog will go through its ups and downs, just as all lives do.

If you’re struggling, perhaps take a day—or a week—off to clear your mind and refocus. It might make the difference between two or three mediocre posts or one terrific one. It might make the difference between quitting or sticking it out. At these times we need to take care of ourselves. We’re all worth looking after.

Karen Andrews is an author, publisher, speaker and blogger at Miscellaneous Mum.

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Friday, November 19, 2010

How to Make Your Website Mobile Friendly (And Keep Your Readers Happy)

image of iphone

Is your website content ready for mobile devices?

By the year 2013, forecasts predict that there will be 1.7 billion mobile internet users.

And it’s a pretty safe bet that at least a few of them are visiting your site, and seeing it on a screen that takes up just a few inches.

So what happens when readers feel cramped or have to work hard to navigate your site or read your content?

They leave.

Connection speed can also frustrate readers. A lot of the time, people are trying to access your site on slow cellular data connections. And despite the attempts by providers to increase capacity, it still feels “slow,” since the more they add, the more we consume.

You want both regular and new readers to have a great experience with your site, whether it’s at home on a nice large screen or while they are mobile and seeing it on a tiny device.

Brian Gardner of StudioPress summed it up pretty well when asked about mobile site design.

Many folks spend a lot of time working on the design of their site for modern browsers, but fail to realize the ever-increasing percentage of site visitors that come by way of mobile devices.

Not only is having a great site design important, you also need to prioritize usability and a quality user experience. That’s why we recommend using a plugin like WP Touch.

So how can you make sure your site is up to par for all those mobile readers out there?

Well, as luck would have it, there are some fairly easy things you can do to assure a more mobile-friendly site.

Here are some quick improvements you can make, starting today.

Install a mobile plugin

If you are using WordPress, you can transform your site into a mobile-friendly version in about 30 seconds with a simple plugin.

There are a lot of these plugins out there, but as Brian recommended, WP Touch is a great place to begin. It’s free, and you can customize it in several ways to best suit your site.

Learn more about WP Touch here.

Oh and one other thing about mobile versions of your site. Make sure you give readers the choice of viewing the standard site as well.

There are options in each plugin to do this. There are times when readers will want to view the full website, depending on their device and internet speed.

Note: before you install and activate any plugin, make sure your site has been properly backed up.

Create smart navigation

How’s your site navigation? Creating smart, thorough navigation for your website is a key aspect to making your site mobile friendly.

Make sure you offer readers clear and distinct ways to get to your most important content.

For example, do you see the red tabs along the top of this site? Those are examples of links to cornerstone content. Not only are they great ways to attract traffic, but they are perfect examples of clear navigation.

Write clear content

Now more than ever, you need to grab reader attention instantly.

When your site is being viewed on a much smaller screen, make sure you have compelling headlines that let the reader know she’s going to have a great experience reading this content.

Clear content that gets right to the point also assures readers can digest your material on their mobile devices, even while they’re distracted and busy.

Don’t use too many images

I’ve been guilty of this one. And I’ve also noticed in my analytics that when I include a lot of images in a particular article, I get less traffic reading it on mobile devices.

Lately, I have been limiting my use of images to one or two, and now my articles are getting read more by those with mobile devices.

Images are a great way to get a point across or break up text, but just try to imagine someone reading your content on a really slow connection with a tiny little screen. It might mean you don’t need that 20th image after all.

Notice that Copyblogger has, for most types of content, always had just one single, attention-getting image per post.

Don’t rely on Flash or Javascript

All arguments aside about the relevance of Flash, it is generally a safe bet that not all mobile devices will be able serve up either of these technologies.

Even if they do, it tends to be an extra step or two to actually view the content. The best practice is to stick with plain (X)HTML/CSS standards.

Practice good design

In the non-mobile web version of your site, it might be easier to get away with a few design problems that are far more visible and obvious in the mobile version.

Keep in mind the whitespace around paragraphs and words. If your content is so cramped that it makes readers physically uncomfortable, they might not hang out for very long.

Making your content scannable and breaking up long blocks of text is great for all readers, but even more so for mobile readers.

And cluttered, visually busy sites are hard enough to read on a large screen. Don’t ask mobile readers to go there!

So there are several ways you can begin making your website content more mobile friendly. Get started on a few of these and you will be way ahead of the competition.

(If you’re not sure where to start, the best payoff for the least amount of effort is probably getting a mobile plugin for WordPress like WP Touch.)

Have you recently turned your website mobile and noticed more readers? Fewer?

Share your experience with others in the comments below. And let us know your favorite tip for making your site more mobile friendly!

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How to Ajaxify Your WordPress Site

This guest post is by Jeff Starr, co-author of the book Digging into WordPress.

Injecting a dose of Ajax into your WordPress-powered site is an excellent way to enhance functionality and streamline the user experience. Without touching a line of code, you can harness the power of Ajax to boost performance, improve usability, and fill your site with win.

Ajax enables your web pages to respond very quickly and smoothly to user input by loading only snippets of data instead of the entire page. The WordPress login/registration screen is a perfect example. Without Ajax, logging into the WordPress Admin requires a URL redirection and complete page load. With Ajax, users can log in from anywhere with no redirection or page load required. This translates into a more luxurious, sophisticated experience for you and your users.

Beyond the “coolness” factor, Ajax can also improve the responsiveness and performance of your site. Instead of loading new pages to leave comments, view posts, and share content, Ajax empowers users to interact with your site with greater intimacy and efficiency than ever before. By eliminating page loads, Ajax helps to save valuable server resources and bandwidth, resulting in improved performance for your site. And you can “ajaxify” just about anything: from logins and comments to navigation and updates, Ajax can speed things up, save resources, and make your site better than ever.

WordPress + Ajax = Awesome

Using WordPress, implementing Ajax functionality couldn’t be easier. By installing and configuring a few choice plugins, you can ajaxify your entire site (or any part of it) without touching a single line of code. The trick is choosing only the best plugins for your site, and only what’s needed. There are a zillion Ajax plugins available, but only a handful of them really work as advertised (or at all). Let’s check out some of the best WordPress plugins for adding Ajax to your site from within the comfort of the WordPress Admin.

Ajax plugins for WordPress comments

A majority of the Ajax plugins listed in the Plugin Directory are aimed at improving the commenting system. Here are five of the best plug-n-play Ajax plugins for your WordPress comments area:

  • WP-Comment-Master: Put simply, WP-Comment-Master ajaxifies the entire commenting system: comment display, comment paging, comment submission, and posting. It features a great Settings page for easy integration and configuration and is definitely one of the best Ajax-comment plugins available.
  • iF AJAX Comments For WordPress: Another excellent plugin for ajaxifying the comment-submission process. iF AJAX Comments enables users to preview and post their comments without refreshing the page. It includes a ton of options for fine-tuning required fields, CSS styling, status messages, and more. It also features a host whitelist for tighter security.
  • AJAX Comment Page: AJAX Comment Page is a nice little plugin that ajaxifies the display of your comments with a fancy slide-in effect. It works great for paged or unpaged comments and includes a simple Settings page to control the number of comments per page.
  • Ajax Comment Preview: So far, this is the best plugin I’ve found for true comment previews. Ajax Comment Preview enables your users to see exactly what their comments will look like when submitted. This plugin uses Ajax to send the preview through WordPress’ “inner voodoo” and then instantly display the results. The plugin features a nice Settings page to control functionality and integrate the comment preview with your design.
  • AJAX Report Comments: One of my favorite Ajax plugins, Ajax Report Comments enables your visitors to report inappropriate comments with a single click. The Admin page includes basic settings and an email template. This plugin offers truly tight functionality and amust-have for sites with tons of user comments.

Ajax plugins for user login and registration

Ajax can literally revolutionize the user login/registration/lost-password experience. Instead of requiring multiple clicks and page loads to log into the Admin, here are three plugins that ajaxify the entire process into a single click.

  • Login With Ajax: Login With Ajax is a popular, well-ranked plugin (it has over 45K downloads). It enables users to log in, register, and recover lost passwords from the sidebar (via widget) or anywhere in your theme (via the login_with_ajax() template tag). It features a great Settings page with role-specific redirects and custom registration email templates.
  • iRedlof Ajax Login: Much more than a login widget, iRedlof Ajax Login adds a complete user dashboard to the top of the screen. The dashboard is pre-styled and includes complete login functionality as well as links to random posts and admin menus personalized to each user according to their role. Downsides: there’s no Settings page, and you need to add updateHeader() to your theme template.
  • AJAX Login Widget++: Another good plugin for Ajax-powered login, registration, and password functionality, this one also features login redirect. The login form can be placed in your sidebar with a widget, or anywhere else with add_ajax_login_widget().

Ajax plugins for the WordPress Admin area

On the other side of WordPress, the Admin area is another excellent place to enjoy the smooth and sophisticated comforts of Ajax. Unfortunately there aren’t quite as many Ajax-based Admin plugins to choose from, but here two that are both fun and useful.

  • Ajax Plugin Helper: It’s simple: save time while keeping up with WordPress plugin updates. Ajax Plugin Helper lets you activate, deactivate, delete, and upgrade plugins without leaving the Plugins page. Very smooth stuff, and there’s even an “Upgrade All” feature for knocking out multiple upgrades with a single click! Nice.
  • Admin Ajax Note: Ever wish you could leave notes and stuff for other admin users? Admin Ajax Note makes it easy with an Ajax-powered notepad in the upper-right corner of the Admin area. Create, edit, and delete as many notes as you want, and share with all users, one user, or none. Good stuff.

These two plugins are great, but it would awesome to add more to the list. If you know of any sweet Ajax Admin plugins, please share them in the comments!

Ajax plugins for other cool stuff

Here are some other keen plugins for ajaxifying different parts of your WordPress site:

  • DynamicWP Contact Form: The DynamicWP Contact Form puts a floating Contact button on the upper-left side of the page. Click the button and the dynamic contact form slides into view. Messages are sent via Ajax to keep the user on the same page throughout the process. Snazzy indeed, but the styling is distinct and may need to be tweaked to fit your design.
  • AJAX Calendar: An ajaxified version of the classic WordPress calendar, AJAX Calendar enables you to browse the months without reloading the page. It features a link to display all posts for the current month, as well as a caching option to enhance performance. If you’re already using the classic WP calendar, this plugin is highly recommended.
  • Ajax Category Posts Dropdown: This plugin is perfect for sites with lots of subcategories. Ajax Category Posts Dropdown lists your categories in a dropdown box. When a user clicks on a category, all posts from that category are displayed via Ajax. Easily display the list in your sidebar via widget, or anywhere in your theme via the acpd_display($acdp_title) template tag.

Ajax plugins to ajaxify everything

One of the coolest things to ajaxify is your WordPress navigation, so that when users click to the next post, it’s loaded instantly and on the same page, without a reload. Here are two awesome plugins that use Ajax to load posts, pages, comments, and archives to basically ajaxify all default functionality on the public side of your WordPress site.

As with any plugin that greatly modifies WordPress, these plugins involve a lot of options. You’ll need to spend some time to understand and configure them properly. Most of the other plugins mentioned so far are plug-n-play, but Ajax-everything plugins like these require some time to familiarize and customize.

SEO considerations for ajaxed content

As you ajaxify your site, keep in mind that search engines aren’t yet crawling or indexing ajaxed data, so make sure you’re enabling Google et al to find your content. There are numerous solutions to this challenge, the easiest of which involves the use of a well-linked sitemap and actual HTML content delivered via noscript tags.

Also consider SEO when ajaxifying your comments. User comments add content to your web pages, but they won’t be crawled, indexed, or considered in page rank if they’re served with Ajax. For many sites, this shouldn’t be too big a deal, but it is something to think about.

For more information on Ajax and SEO, check out Scott Allen’s article, AJAX, Web 2.0 and SEO.

Wrapping up

These are the Ajax gems that I’ve managed to find, but many other great plugins are available. If you know of any good WordPress Ajax plugins (or themes!), please share them in the comments. Thanks!

Jeff Starr is a web developer, graphic designer and content producer with over 10 years of experience and a passion for quality and detail. Jeff is co-author of the book Digging into WordPress and strives to help people be the best they can be on the Web. Read more from Jeff at Perishable Press or hire him at Monzilla Media.

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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Adsense Ready Wordpress Themes

Mention Google Adsense to anyone that is making decent money online, and they will probably have something negative to say about it. It’s true… Adsense doesn’t get the love it deserves. As much as everyone loves to hate on the thought of running Google Adsense on their site and losing site visitors for pennies, Google Adsense did help pave the way to online advertising and affiliate marketing. It’s also safe to say, Google Adsense is the “easiest” way to make money with a web site.

Not only is Google Adsense the easiest way for anyone to make money with an established web site, but it’s also become a huge favorite in the blogging space. The thing about blogging, is so many people are blogging simply to blog, not many people are blogging for money or know how to make money. It’s easy enough for a blogger to copy and paste a code and maybe make a few bucks with Google Adsense.

One the other hand, making blogs that are strictly used for building tight niche sites and monetizing them with Google Adsense is another issue. There are literally billions of different tight niche sites that you could build a mini blog about and make a few dollars a day to a few hundred dollars a day (using Google Adsense) if you get indexed into Google, have decent content and the necessary backlinks.

Whether you are just looking for a new blog theme and would like to try out Google Adsense, or you want to take a stab at the mini blog / Google Adsense game, I’ve compiled a list of the top Adsense Ready Wordpress Themes available around the web. All of the themes I have listed here are free to download, and I’ve also listed a few other useful resource sites at the bottom.

Golod Adsense Ready Theme:
A 3 column AdSense ready theme, which leaves a lot of room for customization and improvement with it’s header, social widgets and right/left columns.

Live Demo | Download | Template Home

Prosense Adsense Ready Theme:
A very simplistic 3 column AdSense ready theme that comes in three different colors. Easy user navigation and not forcing Adsense down the user’s throat, makes this a good choice among other Adsense ready themes.

ProSense | Download Prosense | ProSense Gray | ProSense Blue

Blueiz Adsense Ready Theme:
A simple design with a 2-3 column layout, but the proper ad placement and content, it won’t look like your typical bland Adsense ready theme.

Live Demo | Download

Monetizing the Web Adsense Ready Theme:
A very clean design which blends content and Adsense nicely. Leaderboard, skyscraper, regular banner ads and and content area Adsense spot all availalbe with this theme.

Live Demo | Download | Template Home

SEOMaxAds Adsense Ready Theme:
This theme pack comes with 16 different themes for Google Adsense monetization. From the screen shot below you can clearly see how monetized the site is for Adsense placement as it’s right in the users face.

Live Demo | Download

Other Adsense Ready Wordpress Theme Sources

42 Adsense Ready Wordpress Themes Optimized For Monetization

18 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes to Maximize your Contextual Ad Earnings

The Ultimate List Of Adsense Ready WordPress Themes

There is actually a large amount of Adsense Ready wordpress themes out there, but the few I selected have the best layouts and color schemes. If you know how to code a bit, you can easily download any of these themes and throw together a decent looking blog, but keeping the same Google Adsense concept in mind.

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Wednesday, November 17, 2010

8 Critical Questions You Should Ask Yourself as a Blogger

“I’m at a point in my blogging career where I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

Every blogger reaches a point in time where they find themselves struggling, it’s normal. However, the challenging part of that struggle is finding out what exactly are you doing wrong and how can you correct it. I’ve watched as thousands of bloggers throw away their blogging career, just because they were unable to answer this kind of question. After being in the blogging industry for about 19 months, I’ve studied blogs and bloggers as well as the points where they go wrong. In my 19 months of being in the industry, I’ve gathered 8 critical questions bloggers forgot to ask themselves.

1. Are you blogging about your passion?

The beauty of blogging is that you have the ability to talk about something you love. If you put hard work and effort into it, chances are you will succeed. But, if you’re not blogging about something you’re passionate about, what’s the point of your blog? Are you blogging with hopes to make money? You can do that with any niche that has people who are interested in what you have to say. So why not make it a niche your passionate about? People will be able to tell if you’re actually passionate about what you do. The desire to over deliver, and give your blog your all can only be done by someone who is truly passionate about what they’re doing.

2. Do you know your audience?

A critical part that will determine your blogs success is how well you know your audience. The better you know your audience, the higher the chances are you can cater to their needs and help solve their problem. Another problem with not being aware of your audience is, how do you really know what they want and don’t want? What about all the posts you’ve been writing, do you really know how many of them your readers find useful? Are you wasting your time writing posts that aren’t benefiting your community?

3. Are you building a community?

Having a strong community can either make or break your blog. If you’re serious about blogging and wanting to better yourself as a blogger (which I assume you do since your reading this post), you should be serious about building a community. A strong community is like having a family; through your ups and downs as a blogger, your community will be there for you. They will love you, support you, and spread the word about your blog.

4. Are you solving your reader’s problems?

When people arrive to your blog and read your posts, are they going to leave with knowing something new? Or are they going to leave your site the same way they entered – confused and wondering what to do next. Take Problogger for example, it’s the world’s most popular blog for blogs about helping others to become a better blogger. If Darren posted about what he ate for dinner, or what he had been doing his entire day, would Problogger be where it’s at today? Absolutely not. He was able to get where he is at today by providing help useful material to new bloggers by finding out what problems his readers were facing and wrote about them.

5. Are you instilling the urge for community response?

What kind of vibe do your posts give off? Do they give the “I don’t care about your input” vibe, or do they give the “This post won’t be complete without your input” vibe. Having a comment section does not instill an urge for community response, your posts are what instill the urge. Try ending your posts off with a “Group discussion” or a “What do you think” section at the end. Ask your readers what do they think about the topic or what would they add to it. Give them a reason to comment, and show them that you want to hear their input. You can also write posts that connect with your readers deeply which will bring will allow you to see a more heart-felt comment. When your readers leave a comment, respond to it. Spark a discussion and share your input on top of theirs.

6. Are you a “thinker” and “planner” instead of a “doer”?

You will always hear someone say “I have a million dollar idea”, but you never see it happen because they don’t take action. Maybe you “plan” for the big day where you will become a six-figure problogger, but are you actually taking the steps to make that happen? A quote I like to think of is “It’s not what you know, it’s what you do with what you know.” The quote has so much meaning behind it, because thinking about something isn’t going to make it happen. Find your idea, write it down and actually do it. If you struggle, don’t give up, learn from your mistake and try again.

7. Are you blogging with a backup plan?

Every blogger should blog with a backup plan in mind, point-blank.
Diversifying your income streams
Having multiple traffic sources
Making sure your blog is being backed up daily
These are all backup plans you need to have. What if you wake up one day and find out that your blog has been hacked and you lost all your files? Do you have a backup of your site? What happens when Twitter dies out and that was your main traffic source? You suddenly lost all your blog traffic. You need to be willing to plan for the unexpected, because it can happen and it can happen to you.

8. Are you striving to over deliver on each one of your posts?

I’ll be blunt here. Being a consistent blogger doesn’t mean anything if you’re not striving to deliver the best on every post you write. If you hit the stage where you’re facing bloggers burnout to the point where you are struggling to find a good post to write about, take a break and ask for guest post submissions. The quality of your posts define the quality of your blog, and most importantly defines the quality of you as a blogger. So make sure you over delivering, or don’t deliver at all.
Are you asking yourself these 8 questions?

I’ve watched thousands of bloggers fail, but I’ve watched only a handful succeed. Ask yourself these questions, and be truthful about your answers. They can only benefit you for the better, so make the most out of it. Are there any self reflecting questions you believe us bloggers should be asking ourselves?

About the Author: Rob Rammuny is a 16 year old Internet marketer/blogger who teaches other’s how to make money online at his blog Robswebtips.com. If you’re interested in learning how to make money online, check out his website for a free course.

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13 Tips for Beginning Bloggers (Which I Learned the Hard Way)

This article is by Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project.

I started The Happiness Project blog as a way to test the argument that novelty and challenge bring happiness (turns out they do!), but I knew nothing about blogging when I began.

Here are some strategies that I learned the hard way, through experience. As Benjamin Franklin once remarked, “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.”

  1. Start simple. Add bells and whistles over time. Many people get paralyzed at the outset, because they’re overwhelmed by the desire to figure everything out before launching. Don’t get it perfect, get it going.
  2. Post every day. It’s counter-intuitive, yes, but strangely it’s easier to post every day than to post three or four times a week. You don’t procrastinate, you loosen up, you stay engaged with your subject, and you’ll be taken more seriously by readers. But if you stop writing for a while…
  3. Don’t point out that you’ve been lax about posting! It’s boring, it shows a lack of commitment, and maybe readers won’t notice if you don’t say anything.
  4. Include the text of the post as well as the URL if you want to bring a post to someone’s attention by email. Often, people won’t bother to click through, even though they might like your post if they did!
  5. If you feel squeamish about posting something—don’t. Wait a day or two, and think it over.
  6. Join the community. Link to other bloggers who write about your subject, shine a spotlight on their work, get to know them. Blogland is a friendly, helpful place—and the truth about human nature is that people become interested in you when you show an interest in them.
  7. Read about blogging. My favorite resource is ProBlogger, of course.
  8. Use lists when possible. People love reading lists, especially tips lists. I know, tips lists seem like a simplistic way to present information. But people love them. I post a tips list every Wednesday.
  9. State the purpose of your blog very prominently. A new reader shouldn’t have to ask, “What’s this blog about, anyway?”
  10. Maintain quality. I have checklist to try to keep my posts interesting and my voice true:
    • Am I being funny?
    • Am I giving interesting information from science, history, literature, etc.?
    • Am I revealing my character?
    • Am I telling stories?
    • Am I showing what it’s like to live in New York City?
    • Am I linking to other bloggers?
    • Am I comfortable with my parents reading this? (I never work blue.)
    • Am I criticizing anyone except myself?
  11. Keep a separate document containing your blog entries. I have an 800-page document containing every post I’ve ever made. That way, I can easily search, copy, and paste the material on my blog when I need it for other purposes.
  12. Keep a running list of ideas. Invaluable.
  13. Most important? Have something to say with every post, and with your entire blog. This sounds obvious, but it’s a lot easier to write when you’re trying to tell a story, explain an idea, give a review, link to an article, or whatever. If you’re having trouble with your blog, forget about the blog and focus on what you want to communicate instead.

More experienced bloggers, what are your top tips to help those just starting out?

This article is by Gretchen Rubin of The Happiness Project. Follow her on Twitter @gretchenrubin, and buy the book THE HAPPINESS PROJECT, the #1 New York Times bestseller.

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