Category Archives: Blogs & RSS

talking specifically about blogs and rss.

Blogs + Niches + SEO + WordPress = ActiveBlogging.com !

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Blogs are hot.

Period.

And people are using blogs to succeed more than ever – to get personal recognition, to promote business ventures or product- or even to make ‘passive income’ through affiliate sales or advertising (like Google AdSense).

I’ve been writing my Top 10 Tricks books to discuss WordPress and it’s many uses – but they focus on one subject at a time, and only scratch the surface of what that program can do to get your message out there.

So I’ve started a members site – where you can get the tips and tricks I use in other areas to get WordPress doing new and interesting things:

ActiveBlogging.com

You can download a sample issue to see what it’s about – and of course visit the ActiveBlogging.com site to sign up.

Enough said – drop by and see. Even if you don’t join, you can sign up for a free weekly ‘Tips and Tricks’ email that will get you thinking about how to blog right.

Blog Content – Or, What To Put In It?

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A fellow asked a question today about a report he had read, where a Guru had talked about making large amounts of money by putting up lots of web sites.

Unfortunately, he had left out a tiny detail – what to fill them with!

A site needs to be filled, and filled with unique content (if you’re a copy of someone else’s site, why would people go to yours first?). After all, a WordPress blog can be set up in 5 minutes – so content really is the main issue, not the site.

But what to put into it? Some recommendations:

  • Public domain content. There’s other rules, but roughly speaking, anything published before 1923 qualifies. However, people can easily copy your content with impunity.
  • Article content from free online article sites. Many of these sites have articles available for free republishing (such as my own, FreeWordZ.com). However, you’re not the only one using them, so you risk duplication.
  • Content generators. Various kinds exist, but these are basically programs that take other’s content, and regurgitate it in a format for your site. Search engines tend to dislike automatic generators like this (since they often provide no real content, just rearrangements of other’s), so you run the risk of having your site removed.
  • Your own content. The preferred choice for uniqueness and value, liked by search engines everywhere – but more work.

This is just a brief list, but it does show that sites CAN be filled – and sometimes quite easily…

Are Blogs Hot – or Hype?

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This question come sup from time to time, especially with all the hype out there about blogs – not only will they slice bread faster than a kinsu knive, they’ll tuck your kids in at night and wake you up with a freshly brewed pot of coffee. Not to mention they will help you sell refrigerators to Eskimos, and barrels of oil to Saudi Arabians.

But are they really worthwhile? I think so – and here’s some reasons:

  • A blog enhances a reputation – a well written one does a great deal of good for your name. I truly believe my blogs have helped me get known.
  • A blog gives you search engine notoriety – I’ve had sites visited within 48 hours (often less), with no more than a link on a currently-indexed blog. I’ve never had that happen with a link on a regular site!
  • A blog gives you more flexibility in content management. When my old sites needed revamping from time to time, it a was a major pain – even a simple background color change or header change involved hundreds of pages changed and uploaded. With WordPress, a single page tweak, and my sites look completely different.
  • And they DO make money – as the editor of Jason Calacanis points out, he’s well on the way to making a million dollars this year.

So is it hype – or hot? You decide…

Upgrade to WordPress 1.5.1.3 Out Now – New Security Issues!

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Just released, WordPress 1.5.1.3 fixes a new security issue involving remote procedure calls. While you don’t need to update ASAP, at least you will need to plug the hole by deleting a file on your site (xmlrpc.php).

Remote procedure calls are handy for remote posting of blog contents – but they can be like a ‘remote control’ to your site. So a security here is well worth a quick fix.

For more details, check out the WordPress site right away – and get your blog(s) kosher asap…

Blogs, Legal Issues, and the EFF

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation is one of the few (very few) organizations today that work for the ‘little guy’ (or gal).

As freedom of speech wanes, it’s important to know what you can (and cannot) say. The EFF states it well on their site:

“None of this should stop you from blogging. Freedom of speech is the foundation of a functioning democracy, and Internet bullies shouldn’t use the law to stifle legitimate free expression.”

Some interesting points:

  • Journalism and Blogging do go well together – especially if you need legal protection for sources.
  • What is considered private can be rather surprising – and you should be up on it if you like to blog big secrets.
  • If you are an ISP, you can be protected from what bloggers write on your server – and in fact, you (as a blogger) might also be protected if you open your blog to comments

Well worth a glance – give it a look-see soon.