10 trails to become a blogger

Blogs are the new national pastime--not only for America, but for Web-connected people all around the globe. It is something that spans all age groups and jobs. There are personal blogs, social blogs, and corporate blogs. Whatever the topic, someone has probably blogged it. Many of us get paid to blog and others pay for the privilege of blogging (on a certain site or with certain software).

The net made it possible for any one to make public content to a world audience. The Web log, or blog format, has made it easier and less complicated. However all blogs are not created equal. Some draw an ardent following and others waste in obscurity. Regardless of your reason for blogging, you can make your blog better, more comprehensible and more hot.

#1: Outline your purpose

The most important step in making a better blog is to ask why you are blogging. What is the point of your blog? Is it to be a Web edition of the personal diary, recounting your experiences, views, and emotions? Is it more of a journal, where you mantain concepts and sketch tasks? Is it a social site, for interacting with chums, sharing links, getting familiar with persons? Is it a newspaper column page, for comments on politics, social trends, and latest events? Is it a master or hobbyist blog, for sharing ideological and tutorial information about some area of study (e.g., aviation, PC software development, or photography ) ?


Sure, you may have just a blog that mixes components of all of these, but you will find that readers like you to narrow it. If you want to pen about your area of expertise often and your favourite political party at other times, it might be beneficial keeping 2 distinct blogs to obviate dividing or uninteresting your readers 1/2 the time.

Concerning readers, a vital element in outlining your purpose is to know your audience. Which will help you identify the voice and writing manner that's appropriate for those you are speaking to. You most likely would not use an unchanged style when writing to stock automobile race devotees that you'd utilize if your audience were made basically of stock market agents.

In keeping with your blog's purpose, you should have a defined theme. As an example, if the purpose of your blog is to state political views, the theme might be to market a low-tax, nonintrusive government.

#2: Create an attractive visual

Content isn't the single thing that matters. Your blog website should also be visually attractive, or at least visually stable. You do not want to frighten away potential readers or have them leave in disappointment because the site is disordering or unclear.

The optimal visible design for the website is reliant in part on your readers and theme. You may use coloring, font styles, and artwork to set the stage and tone--just make sure the tone aggrees with the content. Whatever your theme, it's best to duck dark font on a dark background, small or overly fantasy typefaces, and other factors that make your blog tough to look at.

If your blog is hosted on a public blog platform, you may be limited in how much you can modify the design, despite that there will typically be some preconfigured visible themes you can select from. Keep public appeal and legibility in mind when selecting one.

#3: Utilize the right tools

You may make a blog utilizing any WYSIWYG HTML editor, such as FrontPage (soon to get replaced by Microsoft Expression Web Designer), Macromedia Dreamweaver, or the Amaya open even employ a text editor endorsed by W3C. You can even employ a text processor like Notepad to write the HTML code.

Nevertheless, blogging is made far cleaner, faster, and less complicated if you employ a dedicated blogging program or the features of a blogging Web site that lets you write posts in the Web browser or via e-mail.

If your blog is hosted on a free open blog platform, for example Blogger or Windows Live Spaces, you can publish your posts in your email client to a particular address you are given when you create your account. For many, this is the easiest way to publish, while it does not display you the formatting.

Another alternative is to allow a blog program like WordPress, Movable Type, Post2Blog or Windows Live Writer, the helpful features varied. As an example, Windows Live Writer (free download at http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/) can you put a button in the toolbar in Internet Explorer so that if you want your blog on a Web site address you are visible, you can quote the text you want, and click

#4: Make it easy to surf

If you're designing your blog website starting from scratch, it is significant to make it straightforward for your audience to find a way around and do what they want to do. For instance, if you are using comments and "Really Simple Sindication" feeds, confirm it's obvious to readers ways to post a comment or sign to the feed.

You should also prepare it straightforward for readers to obtain previous posts. Make sure archives are arranged logically--not just in chronological order but in categories to make it easier to obtain specific posts.

If your blog is hosted on a public blog platform, you can usually modify the arrangement of page elements, add or remove elements (often called modules ), and otherwise determine the navigability of the page. Keep clutter as small as possible but be sure to insert the elements that your audience need.

Your blog should be searchable, if feasible, so users can find posts using keywords. You can place a free Google search box on your site (for more info, see http://www.google.com/searchcode.html#both).

#5: Find your spot and stay there

Most bloggers experiment with different blog hosting sites and/or with hosting their personal websites, especially on the early stages of their blogging experience. It may take you some time to discover the best setup, but attempt to do so as fast as possible and then stay in one place so your audience can find you. Moving around to different URLs too frequently is sure to drop off you a portion of your audience.

If you have a tested blog and it's necessary to change it to a new address, attempt to make public a last post on the previous blog that heads readers to the new blog and leave it up as as much time as you can.

#6: Engage your readers

Maybe the most important factor in enticing and keeping readers is establishing a relationship with them. Even fascinating content is rendered less fascinating if we do not know who's chatting ( writing ) to us. Tell your audience who you are and something regarding yourself.

You do not have a lot of personal information, please see if your blog is political or professional, and in some situations you may not even want to exhibit your real name (especially as an example, if you are insulting information to your employer or contribution) are the chief of police in your little town. But not only stay unnamed, you give your audience a pseudonym that you use on the ground and tell them the general aspects about yourself that will cover credibility, without Her. For example, you can say that you are middle-aged man living in Atlanta and is active in the telecommunications industry.

If you do not have an incentive to keep your identitysecret, you could be in a position to benefit ( attract the attention of headhunters in your area, become known as an expert in a specific field, for example. ) by trying your actual name and supplying contact information.

Irrespective of whether you exhibit your real identity, you can engage your audience by chatting with them through the comments feature or by providing an e-mail address and replying to their feedback. You can, of course, use a free Webmail address or other solution to your primary address if you need to guard your identity and/or avoid spam.

Engaging your audience requires gaining their confidence and thinking of the reader first. If you make claims, support them up with cites and links. If possible, don't link to sites that expect a subscription or even free registration (or if you must, advise your readers).

#7: Create a blogging agenda

Blog readers are a variable amount. If you are attracted an audience, they predict to find new content when they go to your blog. That does not mean you need to turn every day, but you have to rely on a minimum agenda for blogging and live with him. That the reader may know, ideally in a non-updated Chaning text box at the top of your blog page that you go to the blog on a daily basis, weekly, Tuesdays and Thursdays, or whatever. Then do it - even if some of your posts are not very deep or long. Your audience will abandon your blog if they suspect they have left.

If you must vary from your agenda ( for example, you are going on holiday for two weeks or you will be in the surgery or you have a family or job emergency ), let your audience know that you won't be writing at the regular time and give them an idea of when you will return.

#8: Be succint

Commenting on posts is not particularly greater than or long, do not think you have to wait until you have a fascinating assertion or before you write delay, because you do not have time to prepare, "Les Miserables" today. To tell the truth, most readers have short attention and / or a jammed agenda of their own, preferring to read a short, short, rather than a long and complex.

If you do write long articles, break them up into short paragraphs to turn them more meaningful. There's nothing else frightening to a reader than a huge volume of unbroken text, no matter how nice your turn of phrase.

You'll also appeal to more readers with general words than with complex ones, so unless you are writing for a particularly scholarly audience, follow the famous KISS advice: Keep it simple, sweetheart.

#9: Proofread before publishing

Even if you are a British professor, it is not hard to end up with typographical errors, misspellings and grammatical errors in your articles if you read before pressing the Publish button correction. Especially if you write in the wake of the enthusiasm and inspiration, your fingers can write you from your ideas and create words to overlook or be implemented, commas in the wrong place, or sentences seem confused.

Maybe you congratulate yourself on not adhering strictly to the guidelines, but possibly, you need your audience to realise what you are exclaiming. That complex sentence that seemed so fascinating in writing may read a little strange once you see it on the screen.

It's tricky to grab mistakes in your own texts, as you tend to fill in what you believed you typed, rather than see what's really there. This is particularly true straight after writing. If feasible, have someone else proofread your post before you publish it. Otherwise, let it "cool off" for a day so you can approach it with a more objective proofreader's eye.

And even though it's best to catch mistakes before they are revealed, one huge advantage of Web content is that, unlike print copy, it's easy to change should you discover a problem after publishing.

#10: Syndicate yourself

You do not need to wait for readers to come to your blog every day or every week. Rather, you can get your blog to them. Use RSS to feed your new blog articles to readers who sign up. This makes it less complicated for your audience, who do not have to don't have to visit your blog site to go to your blog Web site to check for new posts--and whatever makes it less complicated for readers is good for writers. You can syndicate just your post titles, short summaries, or complete posts.

Most public blog hosting sites give you the choice to syndicate your blog, and it's usually as straightforward as pressing a button or 2 in the configuration interface. If you want to syndicate your self-hosted internet site, see http://www.xul.fr/en-xml-rss.html for more information.


This tutorial to become a blogger is also available on video by clicking this link.

Making an RSS Feed

What Is RSS?

How does RSS work or delivery? You have about a particular topic, say issuing a new Web page. Topics that other people will be interested to know about it. Your RSS file

What does RSS stand for? There's a can of worms. RSS as introduced by Netscape in 1999 then later abandoned in 2001 stood for "Rich Site Summary." Another version of RSS pioneered by UserLand Software stands for "Really Simple Syndication." In yet another version, RSS stands for "RDF Site Summary."

History buffs might be interested that there's been some rivalry over who invented RSS. This is why we have both different names and indeed different "flavors" or versions of RSS. Mark Pilgrim's written an excellent article, What Is RSS, that charts the different versions with recommendations on which to use. I'll also revisit the version choice you'll need to make. But first, let's look more closely at some basics of what goes into any RSS file.

How Easy Is RSS?

I've been exploring RSS because it was time that Search Engine Watch offered its own stories in this manner. I've read several tutorials about making a feed, and they generally suggest that it is easy. They often offer code that you can "cut-and-paste" and link over to specifications that I actually don't find that clear.

For example, the RSS 2.0 specification has an "cloud" element that's optional but which a lay person might still wonder if they should use it. Meanwhile, heaven help the person who stumbles into the RSS 1.0 specification and its complicated RDF syntax.

Sure, making an RSS file IS easy for many. If you understand HTML, you'll probably understand enough to do a cut-and-paste from someone else's RSS file to make your own file. Don't know HTML? Start a blog, because several blogging tools automatically generates RSS files.

For those who use non-WYSIWYG web page building tools or personal home page building systems technical staff, and confidence. Even if you can create an RSS file from scratch, as long as you have the extra features, you may not need some exemptions. We will how to do this below. Later, I will mention some of the tools, and even do some or all of your work.

The RSS File

At the heart of an RSS file are "items." No matter what version of RSS you settle on, your file will have to include at least one item. Items are generally web pages that you'd like others to link to. For example, let's say you just created a web page reviewing a new cell phone that's being released. Information about that page would form an item.

To enter your item into the RSS file, you'll need three bits of information:

* Title

* Description

* Link

Requires a precise description of the item title or to see the items on the Web page's HTML tags do not match the title, and description meta tags, they do not know (what I assume is what you use ? of my HTML tags to see the article about how to use what). Any title and description, we can write a page describing. However, the title of your page using the meta description tag, and certainly easy to copy, RSS feeds to create a paste.

In the case of our example page, let's say this is the information we settle on to define it as an item:

Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

I've been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html

Now we have to surround XML tags and their information. These HTML tags are exceptions, HTML, unlike XML which does not exist to set a definition similar to the tag. Anyone can configure a specific XML tags. Is convenient if the resulting XML file is read depends on the program. RSS feed is an XML tag is defined, and set their own feed. To correct them, read RSS feeds that information to understand and use?

Did that make your head spin? If so, don't reread -- just carry on to see how simple it is. First, open a text editor like Notepad. We're going to build our RSS file using it.

For your title, you need to start it with thetag, then follow this with the text of the title, then end with thetag. It looks like this:

Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

For your description, you do the same, starting out with the openingtag, then following with the actual description, then "closing" with thetag. Now you have this:

Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

I've been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!

Next, we add the link information, beginning with , following with the actual hyperlink, then closing with . That gives us this:

Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

I've been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html

Now there's one more thing we need to do. We actually have to define all this information as forming a particular "item," which we do using a special item tag.

You place the opening item tag,at the top or start of all the information we've listed. You then place the closing item tag, , at the bottom or "end" of the item information. The finished product looks like this:



Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

I've been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html



Congratulations! You've now made your first item. There's a bit more to do to finish our RSS file. First, what if we have other items we want to syndicate? Then we simply add more item elements, just as we did above. You can have up to 15 items. New items tend to be inserted at the top, with old items removed from the bottom, to make room for new stuff.

With our example, let's see how things look if we add two more items:



Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

I've been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html





Sanyo Tablet PC Amazes!

I was dubious about the new Tablet PCs, but then I saw the latest from Sanyo. Wow, cool looks and it works!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/sanyotablet.html





Canon MegaTiny Digital Camera Too Small

OK, there is a limit to just how small is too small. Canon's MetaTiny, no larger than a quarter, simply is too little to use properly

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/metatiny.html



Having defined items we want to distribute, we now have to define our site as a "channel." You'll use the same tags as with the items: title, description and link. However, this time the information will be about your entire site, rather than a particular page. That means our channel information would look like this:

All Gadgets Reviewed

If it's a gadget, we review it. Learn what gadgets are hot and what's not!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com

Now, how does something reading our RSS file know that the information above is for our "channel" when it looks just like item information? Simple. As long as we don't surround this information with an opening and closingtags, it won't be seen as item information but rather as channel information. That gives us this:

All Gadgets Reviewed

If it's a gadget, we review it. Learn what gadgets are hot and what's not!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com



Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

I've been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html





Sanyo Tablet PC Amazes!

I was dubious about the new Tablet PCs, but then I saw the latest from Sanyo. Wow, cool looks and it works!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/sanyotablet.html





Canon MegaTiny Digital Camera Too Small

OK, there is a limit to just how small is too small. Canon's MetaTiny, no larger than a quarter, simply is too little to use properly

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/metatiny.html



There are a few last things we need to do. First, we need to add a tag at the very top of the file saying that this is written according to the XML 1.0 specifications. Right under this, we also have to say what RSS version we are using.

So far, everything we've done is compatible with UserLand's popular RSS 0.91 version. However, it also matches UserLand's latest RSS 2.0 version, as well, so we'll define the file as meeting that specification. This will allow us to add other neat features in the future, if we want.

Finally, after the RSS tag, we need to add an opening "channel" tag. That gives us this at the top of the file:







At the bottom of the file, after all the items we want to syndicate, we have to insert a closing channel and RSS tag, in that order. Those look like this:

This means our complete file looks like this:







All Gadgets Reviewed

If it's a gadget, we review it. Learn what gadgets are hot and what's not!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com



Nokia 3650 Combines Phone And Photos

I've been playing with the new Nokia 3650. Finally, someone has got the combination of a cell phone with digital camera capabilities right!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/nokia3650.html





Sanyo Tablet PC Amazes!

I was dubious about the new Tablet PCs, but then I saw the latest from Sanyo. Wow, cool looks and it works!

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/sanyotablet.html





Canon MegaTiny Digital Camera Too Small

OK, there is a limit to just how small is too small. Canon's MetaTiny, no larger than a quarter, simply is too little to use properly

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/metatiny.html







Mind Blowing Options

Everything shown above is the bare basics you need to create a file and start syndicating content from your web site. However, there are additional things you could do.

For example, rather than your entire web site being a "channel," you could actually have different content from within the web site be defined into separate channels. That's something I'm not going to explore in this article, but some of the resources below will guide you through this, when you feel more comfortable.

As suggested, RSS 2.0 allows you to insert any kind of additional information in your feed. It is your heads and watch them spin, you can decide what to use. The simple answer is, please do not worry about what you do not know. Provide all the options not all aggregators. Above proposal to provide only minimal information, but should be fine.

Did I Choose The Right RSS Version?

Earlier, I'd mentioned there are different versions of RSS. Even though we entered the bare minimum of information, it turned out that we were able to have a file that was easily considered to be RSS 2.0, the latest version promoted by UserLand and which is widely used.

Indeed, the Syndic8 site reports that the most popular format of RSS by far is RSS 0.91 -- and though we've used RSS 2.0, our file as shown is entirely compatible with RSS 0.91. In short, we're in safe company.

What about that RSS 1.0 version that I said was complicated. Well, it is complicated. However, some people might want to make use of some of the special capabilities that it offers. If you are interested in it, then check out the official specification.

Saving The File

Now that we're done adding to the file, we need to save it. But what name shall we give it? I've looked and not seen any guidance on this. I imagine that's because as long as the file is valid (more below), it probably doesn't matter what it's called.

To make my own decision for Search Engine Watch, I decided to imitate what I saw out at UserLand, which promotes the RSS 2.0 standard that we used. UserLand's example feeds all ended .xml, so let's do the same. As for the first part, that really can be whatever you like. For our example, let's say we just call it feed.xml.

Now that our file is saved, we can place it anywhere we want on our web server. Let's say we put it in the root or home directory. Then the address to our RSS file would be:

http://allgadgetsreviewed.com/feed.xml

Validating The File

Now our RSS file is done, but did we do it right? To find out, we need to validate it. Use the aptly named Feed Validator service. Simply enter the address to your RSS file, and you'll be told if everything is OK -- or if there's something wrong you need to fix.

How about a quick preview of how your new feed actually looks? Then pay a visit to Wytheville Community College News Center. Again, enter your feed URL, and you'll see the clickable headlines and story descriptions nicely assembled inside a box.

The service will also generate a JavaScript code that you can post on your site. Anyone copying the JavaScript can automatically have your feed syndicated into their pages -- pretty neat!

Get Syndicated!

Now that your file is validated, you want the world to know about it! To make this happen, visit the RSS directories and search engines listed in the RSS: Your Gateway To News & Blog Content article. They generally offer submission pages, where you can inform them of your feed.

You also want to make sure people who come to your web site see that you provide a feed. It's very common to post a link to the feed somewhere on the home page of a web site. If you have a dedicated news page, you may want to put it there, as well.

You can link to your feed using a normal HTML link. However, many websites have a small orange XML button to use to the feed link. I've also seen some sites with a blue RSS icon. I could find no standard about using these. So, to be sure I have all three of Search Engine Watch. Search on the homepage, and you'll see how it's done (and help yourself to the icons, when you need it).

Finally, it's good to "ping" one of the major services that track when web logs and RSS content changes. By doing this, you ensure that other sites that monitor these know to check back at your site for more content.

Weblogs.com is one of these major sites. Enter your site's name and the URL of your feed into the manual Ping-Site Form, and it will know you've updated your feed. The Specs page explains how to set up automatic notification.

blo.gs is another major change monitoring site. It is supposed to receive any changes that come from Weblogs.com, so you shouldn't need to notify it separately. However, if you want to be on the safe side, it's easily done. Use the ping form, which also explains how to set up automatic pinging, as well.

Tutorials & Resources

RSS Headline Creator, you can skip and manually coding the number of headlines you want to choose your file, up to the 15 maximum allowed. Then a form with fields that you be made complete. Enter the correct information, then press the

How To Get Your Web Site Content Syndicated is a Dec. 2002 tutorial by Kalena Jordan and Dan Thies from which I drew inspiration to get my own feed going.

Syndic8's How To Section lists a variety of tutorials that discuss how to build RSS files.

Content Syndication with RSS is a book by Ben Hammersley that was just released in March 2003. I haven't read it, but everything I've heard is that it should be excellent.

RSS Resources Directory from UserLand categorizes helpful information related to RSS, in different categories.

Postscript: Search Types: Blogs & Feeds and SEO: Feeds are sections of the Search Topics area available to Search Engine Watch members with lots of information on the topic of feeds since this article was originally written.

http://freeadvertise.co.nr

Web Design and Development

?

Web design and development is somewhat old topic now. The people are well aware of this. However, the importance of these issues is still there, there is progress in both Web design and development very often. Those who should be in Web design and development stakeholders to know what are the latest trends in both web design development.

To provide the latest trends is more beneficial to them, a few good forums.

Then study of related blogs is also worth and should be given some time daily.

Read magazines containing web design and development related to the most important thing to learn web design and development of new trends in

If we go through the history of web design and development:

· The first page on a Web server has been uploaded just a simple document with black text.

· In late 1990s, websites were designed using colors and text effects.

Then, came the tendency to make interactive sites: the visitors to give their inputs on the website directly

· Use of HTML, DHTML and Flash was started to create website designs.

· Then came CSS as the table based design was good but it had some limitations; lots of codes to write and implement style on each and every object on the web pages. Solution was introduced in shape of CSS (Cascading Style Sheet). CSS is the latest trend in web design. There are no tables to draw. You can use the div tag to assign styles to any object or component on the web pages.

The new trend is still more efficient site, declined to be user-friendly.

Source:

Shahid H. Qadri is internet consultant and is associated with www.pntglobal.com website design and development company.