Successful Blog

Great Find: Lifehacker on Comments and More

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Before you close the drawer on that comments file, there’s more you need to complete the set.

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Apparentely the fact that lifehacker ran this piece wasn’t enough for one publisher that picked it up. If you access the document from EServer TC Library, the document comes with a lovely cover sheet like this which asks you to rate the quality of the work for the purpose of helping future readers. Gee, I thought lifehacker already did that before they ran it.

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Great Find: Lifehacker’s guide to weblog comments by Gina Trapani
Type of Article: How-to and Informational
Permalink: Lifehacker’s guide to weblog comments

Content: A popular document that describes the basic points of commenting on a blog.

  • Stay on topic.
  • Contribute new information to the discussion.
  • Don’t comment for the sake of commenting.
  • Know when to comment and when to e-mail.
  • Remember that nobody likes a know-it-all.
  • Make the tone of your message clear.
  • Own your own comment.
  • Be succinct.
  • Cite your sources.
  • Be courteous.
  • Don’t post when you’re angry, upset, drunk, or emotional.
  • Don’t feed the comment trolls.

Gina Trapani’s explanations are well-written and clear. Worth the time it takes to read them. I call the post popular because both Darren Rowse at Problogger and Steve Rubel at MicroPersuasion both basically picked-up Gina’s list, each adding only one sentence to it. They were among almost 200 others who did much the same thing.

Congratulations Gina for outstanding work.

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Another document you might find useful is Gizmodo’s Comments FAQ. This one is a great model that addresses Cas’s questions yesterday as to how you might handle a comment policy without feeling like you are insulting your readers’ better nature.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Blog Basics 1: Comments and Comment Policies
Great Find: Commenting on CTBIZBlogs

Great Find: Blogs about Blogging

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Great Find: Blogs about blogs, blogger, and blogging by Barry Bell
Permalink: Blogging/wurk.net/
Target Audience: Anyone interested in Blogs about blogging

Content: Somtimes you can read someone’s writing and know you’d have a fun time at dinner with him. That’s how I feel about Barry Bell. In this, what amounts to his Top Nine blogs about bloggers and blogging he gives a tongue-in-cheek review of who should be reading each blog and why they should read it.

Included are Problogger, Jack of All Blogs. Blogebrity, Workboxers, Performancing, Successful Blog, Blogherald, Blog Network Watch, and Pajamas Media. In it he says things that I realize I’ve known unconsciously, but never actually put the words into a thought of my own. One or two of the descriptions were so perfect, they made me laugh out loud with their honesty.

For new bloggers, especially those who’ve not taken a course in marketing this review shows fine examples of product differentiation. All of these blogs basically “sell” the same thing. However, each has chosen to serve a differerent market niche and has developed their blog to that audience with that purpose in mind. The product differentiation is so clear that Barry Bell as a reader can state in a few words who each blog is meant for and what purpose it serves.

Barry has nailed it, and done so in a post that is an easy, fun read. Seven of the eight of the judges give Barry a ten and pass this one into the gold medal final round. The judge from New Zealand, who’s still sleeping–he phoned in a 9.9. The NZ judge does that sometimes.)

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Buttons Are Here!

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It is with great dignity and pride
that I announce and present
the official badge of achievement
of SOB to all who have been named

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers.

Original SOB Button

They take conversations here back to their readers.
I invite them to take this badge of achievement
back to their blog and to display it with pride.

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For the complete honor roll and details on becoming an SOB, see the Successful & Outstanding Bloggers page.

Getting Your Blog Ready for Readers

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In the spirit of a community blog, articles from readers are a regular feature here. Know that I read them all to ensure the content belongs in the context of Successful Blog. Know that not every submission makes it here and that some get revised before they pass muster. Still even then, not every one of them will be right for every one of you.

To be respectful of your time–who needs me going on and on?–I ‘ve made a snapshot form to help you determine easily whether the content suits your personal needs. When you keep an article, it can serve also as a summary. If you have suggestions for changes to the form, just make a comment after an article whenever you think of them. Now on to the article. . . .

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Guest Writer: Katy Whitton

Katy Whitton of Katy Whitton.com sent us this article on how to Market Your Blog and Keep Your Readers from her blog, Flipping Heck!

Target Audience: Beginning Bloggers
Article Type: Overview
Content: Katy mentions the main points of bringing your blog into the world of blogging, including choosing an appropriate name, content considerations, Permalinks, pinging catalogues (directories), posting frequency, advertising, and stats. She also provides links to additional information.

Notes: This is an overview that will get a new blogger thinking on what there is to do and hopefully bring him or her back to Successful Blog to find answers to any questions the article might prompt. Katy’s writing makes her article an easy read, an investment of a few minutes. Her writing voice lets the reader know that he or she can do this.

Thanks, Katy, for contributing to the Successful Blog community.

ME “Liz” Strauss

Blog Design Checklist

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A successful blogger is always asking the question, How does this serve my readers?

To many of us design is the fun and “creative” part of building our blog, talking and tweaking design can take up more time than writing content–if we let it. A checklist can help keep my creativity at uptimum levels and keep my focus on how my choices will ensure my readers enjoy their stay well enough to return again and again.

Blog Design Checklist.

      1. Title and Subtitle: Are they here? Are they clear? Could any reader understand what they mean? Turn off the blinkers, the sliders and slinkers. They distract me when I’m trying to read your post.

      2. Bio: Can I find it? Does it tell enough about you that I feel a connection with the person behind the screen? Did you give me a way to contact you, if I have a genuine reason to? Is there a photo, or at least a visual, there to represent you?

      3. Fonts/Text: Are they readable? Are there too many? too few? Are they in readable colors? Is there moving, blinking, twinkling text to distract me and annoy me? When it comes to color, size, and number less is always more.

      4. Comments/Permalinks/Trackbacks/Email: I expect to find these after the post? Please don’t get creative and make me look all over to find them.

      5. Navigation: Can I find my way around in a glance? Can I find your Classic Posts? Do your links really work? Is it easy to get back to the home page? I don’t like feeling lost.

      6. Sound/Gadgets/Plug-ins: Do they really need to be there? Are you sure they won’t irritate me? When in doubt, take them out.

      7. Technical Issues: Does the blog load fast in my browser? Does it load accurately? You may hate IE but most folks still use it. If you pretend they don’t exist. You can be sure for you they won’t.

      8. Images: Are they clean, clear and crisp? Are the files compressed so they load quickly? Fuzzy pictures hurt my eyes.

      9. Organization: Does the page feel in proportion? Do things seem where they belong? Is there enough white space and a lack of clutter? I like a little room to breathe.

      10. Marketing: Is the presentation of subscriptions, ads, and other marketing integrated into the design? Do ads become too interruptive? Are there pop-ups or pop-unders? Ads that make themselves too annoying will drive me from your blog forever. No pop-ups or pop-unders–they break your trust with me.

Use this checklist to remind yourself not to let too much design creativity take the “fun” out of reading your blog. Then get started. Have fun tweaking.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

And don’t forget the other checklists in the set:
Blog Review Checklist
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist
Checklist for Linking to Quality Blogs
A Blogger’s Personal Narrative Checklist
Checklist for Starting a Directory Listing

Five Design Basics to Never Forget

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Blog design is a lot like a book cover. It’s our first impression. A promise of what’s still to come. Before they read a word or take in the title, readers have formed an opinion of our blogs based on the design.

“Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” might be what they tell you. Reality is that covers sell books, and designs draw in readers. Great content and useful design keeps readers coming back for more, but first-glance design is what gets them to try us.

What are the five design basics never to forget?

  • Put the title where I can see it and a subtitle explaining what the blog is about. Sounds obvious, but we’ve all been to blogs where we couldn’t find the title. More often we’ve been to blogs where the title just wasn’t enough. Does Mary muse about music or about mathematics? It makes a difference to whether I want to read her. It won’t make me a reader not to tell me. I’m going to find out.
  • Please tell me about yourself. Tell me who you are, writer. Blogs are special in their person-to-person connectedness. I read blogs because I like that about them. I can ignore it, if I don’t care about it, but I can’t make it up, if it’s not there. Don’t take that choice away from me.
  • Choose a color palette that goes together. Don’t let fighting colors distract me from what I should be paying attention to. If you’re artfully challenged, there are tools that can help.

    Image-Based Color Palette Generator

    Monochromatic Color Palette Generator

    Colour Lovers–Great Color Palettes Already Developed

    • Colors that are meant to go together make the environment comfortable and inviting–one worth spending time in.

  • Less is more, and simple is elegant. Put what you think I need. Then take half away. White space is good. It gives me room to think. Lack of it crowds me. It confuses my eyes and makes me want to leave. I like my space, like most people do.
  • Form follows function. You might have heard this one. It means that everything should be there for a reason–in this case for me, the reader. If it’s not, let it go. Things without function get in my way–they get between me and what you’re trying to tell me. I don’t want to fight to hear what you have to say.

The key to design is that it adds value to readers’ experience without calling unnecessary attention to itself. Like a great music score, you sense it and feel it. It carries you along as if it knows right where you want to go.

–Me “Liz” Strauss