Blog Basics Archives - Page 21 of 26

Great Finds: Over 875 Free WordPress Themes

June 13, 2006 by Liz

WooHoo!!! All in One Place

Just updated on May 31st — Believe me, there are WAY more WordPress themes and variations here than the title of the post says.

Great Find: Comprehensive list of 875+ Free WordPress 1.5 and 2.0 Themes / Templates available for download
Type of Article: Resource of link throughs to WordPress templates
Permalink: http://www.emilyrobbins.com/how-to-blog/comprehensive-list-of-615-free-wordpress-15-and-20-themes-templates-available-for-download-266.htm
Target Audience: Every WordPress user

Content: Emily Robbins at How to Blog did the work. It shows. Emily not only made the list, she gives the details. She tells you which templates require word 2.0, which offer 3 columns, and which include WordPress widgets support. She even makes notes on specific themes, such as those that are appropriate for photobloggers. This list might not be as pretty as the WordPress Theme Viewer, but I don’t think there is a more useful list available anywhere. To find the list click the title below.

Ready to brand your blog or your business properly? Try new WordPress Theme that says what you stand for.

Congratulations and thank you, Emily. Give this woman links and links. She’s earned them.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

EchoEcho on and on and on

June 11, 2006 by Liz

Use at Your Own Risk

This is SO COOL and SO DANGEROUS. If you know what small bit I do about coding, it might be a good idea to back up your template files before you start playing with this new toy. . . .

Great Find: EchoEcho
Type of Site: Encyclopedia of information on how to build and maintain websites — This section: HTML Basics
Permalink: HTML Basics: http://www.echoecho.com/html.htm
Target Audience: Every blogger can find something useful on this site

Content: On the home page of EchoEcho, you’ll see this quote

“It’s easy to explain simple things so they seem to be complex…
to explain complex things so they seem easy – that’s the real challenge!”

The webmaster at EchoEcho has taken on the above challenge, and goes further by attempting to add the word complete. I’m not using hyperbole when I call this an encyclopedia of information about building websites. EchoEcho is a hosting company that knows how to establish credibility through ezine artitcles, tutorials, a forum, online tools free resources, even a quiz.

The Tutorials are divided into three categories each of has subcatagories that cover several topics, talking each one many levels deep. Here are the categories and categories you’ll find there.

Page Building: HTML, Javascript, CSS, DTML, XML.
Component Building: Design, Flash, Java, Free Java Applets, Java Programming Tutorials
Server Programming: ASP, Cold Fusion, PERL, PHP, SSI

I’ve set the link to the HTML Tutorial on the titleshot below. Click on over. EchoEcho is a reference to keep.

There’s no questions that every blogger at every level can use this resource.

EchoEcho has plenty of tools and things to learn, do, and make here for free — ways to add unique details, ways to differentiate your brand, ways to add to your blog’s curb appeal . . . ALSO ways to overdo the bells and whistles BIG TIME . . . ways to screw up your template too, if you you’re like me.

I think I’ll ask friend to come along when I explore this site. I could get into some real trouble easily.

Good luck and enjoy!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
I’ll be adding this Great Find to the NEW BLOGGER Page.
You’ll find other pages there and in the Tools and Stat/Tech categories.

Easy File Backups

June 10, 2006 by Liz

You Know You Oughta

When he sent it, Keith said, “Share it with your readers. Let them save some money from expensive backup too.”

Great Find: Using Gmail to back up files with ease
Type of Article: How-to back-up files
Permalink: http://techie-buzz.com/technology-buzz/using-gmail-to-back-up-files-with-ease.html
Target Audience: Every computer user

Content: Keith Dsouza describes himself as pretty fussy about backing up his files. So he’s just the guy you want writing a post about how to do it. The post is short and sweet. It tells you how and it tells you why.And it does so in Keith’s most readably friendly writing style. End of story. Click the title and go to see his new blog, Techie-buzz.

608 techie buzz Using Gmail to back up files.Jpg

Thanks, Keith.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The Blogging Goals Project

June 10, 2006 by Liz

The Writing Project

Darren Rowse suggested a Group Writing Project in which participants considerted and shared their writing goals. I thought is was a worthwhile and timely event. So I did my part, My Father’s Saloon — a Blogging Story, about the place I want blogging to hold in my life. Other folks took other routes. All together there were 130 posts written, if I counted right.

Here are the highlights, most from folks we know. Stop by a few; have a read; leave a kind comment, if you time. I’m sure that everyone would appreciate hearing from you.

Inquisitive minds wanted to know.

James Martin starts everyone out with the crucial question. Why Do Blogs Exist? Meanwhile Yehuda is working on his own question — How I plan to take over the world. While Melly asks Is it True I should have Blog Goals?

Analytical ones were quite focused.

Ann Michael took a Sanity Check! Hock Ng considered Being a Purple Cow. Trisha discussed Blogs, my Goals and Everything. Rod at Wintermute added perspective in Blogging for Myself. Sheila Scarborough was quite clear. She said to Prevent a Midlife Crisis – Blog!

Manly men took up the challenge.

Easton Ellsworth put a prize possession on the line. If I DonÃ¢â¬â¢t Keep This Blogging Goal, You Can Have my PEZ Dispenser. Ben Yoskovitz vowed to Get Rich or Die Trying (OK not really, but it sounds cool, No?) Jack, on the other hand, took the opposite approach. 365 days left to kill this blog – this is what I call a killer Blog Goal.

Rugged individuals did their thing.

KimBahLee says Blog less. Kristonia Ink! speakth the 11 Commandments of blogging in the Blog Bible. jason Boog confesses in the latest blockbuster film, “Jason Boog Always Screws Up His Goals.”

In the end it all comes down to a small list of priorities. Mayvelous has hers down in
The Great Determinations of Mayvelous.

Why Do This?

Group projects like this worth are always worth considering. If you have the time to participate — they are often a win-win-win for a small investment. Knowledge shared here is wide and varied, highly useful and fun. Links made here strengthen the web-like connections of the Internet. Connections shared by us — folks in the middle are sharing these links, not A-Listers.

Collaborations like these are also great promotion for every blog involved. It’s branding, letting people know you exist, who you are. Relationships start. New discoveries are made. It’s participating becoming part of the conversation. Imagine commenting on that many blogs in just a few seconds. The impact is exponential and lasts a long as any blog reader who reads your blog, any blog writer that links to yours.

The best part is I’ve already discovered new blogs and new bloggers I really like. Nothing can top that as a reason to participate. This is one more way to be part of the conversation.

How might you carry this home to your blog?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
See the NEW BLOGGER PAGE, if you’re looking for serious.
See the category ZZZ-FUN if you’re not.

Interview 5. Meet Peter Chen: Blogspot Expert for New Bloggers

May 17, 2006 by Liz

Meeting Peter Chen, Blogger

Once in a while I surf the Google nav bar to see who’s there. It’s a fun way to do some random exploring and sometimes I land on a jewel as I did when I found the blog of a man named Peter Chen. What caught my eye about this blog, Blogger for Dummies, (now called Blogger Help) was that it had screenshots that were described and labeled with meticulous detail.

Little did I know that this was one of several blogs that Mr. Chen has on two of which are dedicated to Blogger. This blog alone led me to want to interview the man.

Interview with Peter Chen
His Blogs:
Blogger for Dummies aka Blogger Help,
Blogger Tips and Tricks,
Enviroman Says, and
Food as medicine.
Liz notes: Peter has so many blogs. I went straight to the interview.

Peter, What led you to make your blog?

I am retired and have plenty of free time. I need some activities to fill up the free time.

I notice that you haven’t updated one blog since April 23rd. Why is that?

You must be refering to Blogger for Dummies. Someone told me of possible interference from Wiley Publications because of the “for Dummies” in the title. Rather than building up the content of the blog, and then having face the decision whether to take them down later, I decided to start a new blog at http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com. There is still sizable, useful content at http://bloggerfordummies.blogspot.com plus significant inbound links, so I am leaving it as it is and will be making an announcement of the shift on the blog later.

What are your blogs and what are they about?

These are my blogs:

Blogger Help at http://bloggerfordummies.blogspot.com
A resource for those using the very popular Blogger blogging service. Although meant for Blogger, many of the tips are also relevant for those using other blogging services.

Blogger Tips and Tricks at http://blogger-tricks.blogspot.com

This is the replacement for http://bloggerfordummies.blogspot.com . It will eventually will be my main blog.

Enviroman Says at http://enviromansays.blogspot.com
An environmental blog. That blog was set up specifically for a cartoon character Enviroman and an artist friend was supposed to help out with it. That didn’t work out, so it has ended up with Enviroman making comments on the environment.

Food as Medicine http://foodasmedicine.blogspot.com
A blog focusing on using food as a mean to health. As Hippocrates had put it, let your food be your medicine and medicine be your food.

To what do you credit your very high site meter count?

This is probably due to the high number of people seeking solutions to blogging problems. And I think the content are well written, easy to follow and understand, so visitors tend to come back for more, as the statistics show.

What advice do you have for a new blogger starting out?

Pick on a topic in which you have an interest. Then you will never tire of the work involved.

What blogging platform do you personally recommend and why?

I use Blogger. It is free, unlikely to go out of business as it is backed by the Internet giant Google, relatively quickly picked up by search engines, easy to use even by beginners, and the template is highly customizable. Recently there were some glitches, and complaints about a non responsive support which has put off some people, but it has affected me relatively little, so I will continue to use Blogger. I personally had got a problem with a frozen blog unblocked by Blogger support after an email. And a reader has written in to say that his blog which he accidentally deleted got undeleted after a series of email. So Blogger support do respond to emails.

There you have it — the experience of blogger, Peter Chen. He’s made good use of Google’s free Blogspot platform and finds that it works for him. Using free accounts has it’s upside and it’s downside. Be sure you look carefully before you decide that’s the route you will go. Many successful bloggers, such as Improbulus and Freshblog have done fabulously and many others swear that you need an independent account.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Boosting Blog Traffic

May 9, 2006 by Liz

When I went looking to see what was new on blog traffic and blog promotion, I didn’t expect to find anything nearly as thorough as this.

Great Find: HOW TO: Boost Your Blog Traffic by Paul Staminou
Type of Article: How-to on every step
Permalink: http://www.paulstamatiou.com/2005/11/03/how-to-boost-your-blog-traffic/
Target Audience: Everyone who blogs

Content:Paul Staminou has put together the complete document. It’s amazing and beautiful. This is not a mere blog post. It’s an e-book with visuals. It covers content, usuability, Technorati, blog networks and blog rings, feeds, stats, and how to talk to lurking readers. I think the value of the post is shown in the 193 comments. The trackback from this post will make it 194. To get there, as always, click on the screenshot of the title below.

Thanks Paul for the obvious time and work that went into this post.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
I’ll be adding this post to the others on the NEW BLOGGER PAGE.