“How to Bore Your Readers to Death and Scare them Away” plus 1 more

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How to Bore Your Readers to Death and Scare them Away Posted: 20 Oct 2012 01:07 PM PDT This guest post is by Jack Samuelson. Blogging is no joke. There are millions of blogs, probably hundreds of millions of bloggers, and billions of articles online. Still, that does not mean everybody can blog effectively and run their own blog with success. So what about all those unsuccessful bloggers? Is the lack of popularity their own fault? Check out this short manual and find it out for yourself… If you're a successful blogger you might think you don't need to read this. You couldn't be more wrong. What if you got tired of doing the right thing and all this pesky, worthless success? Huh? You will definitely need my advice to kill your blog and scare away your readers. So, read and don't forget to take notes. Research? I don't need no stinking research! “I can write about any topic you want! Give me a subject and I'll get back to you in just a few moments, perhaps an hour or so, with an already finished text. Try me! I'm writing off the top of my head and my head is full of great ideas. I can produce like ten valuable posts every day. No problem!” Yeah right. You are probably one of millions of bloggers out there saying the same things. And I'm sure you are all misunderstood by the society of bloggers, which is why they reject your posts and ignore your blogs! Poor fellows. Let me put it bluntly: No research = no valuable content = no readers. Period. Dear diary… “I have such an exciting life! I just need to share it with you! With all of you. I don't care that this is a tech blog, and I am writing about what I ate yesterday. I want to share all my experiences with you—tell you about my day, my adorable pets, my ex-girlfriend (ok, I'll admit it—my imaginary ex-girlfriend).” Now, listen. There is your personal diary where you can write whatever you want, and there is a blog where you should write what your readers want to read. Got it? I'm the Pablo Picasso of blogging “I am an artist! What I write is like a stroke of brush on a canvas. I never change what inspiration and muses bring to me. And you wouldn't try to improve a piece of art would you? That's why I write, finish and immediately publish my work, so people can enjoy and appreciate it (and bask in the glare of my genius!).” Yup. That sums it all up. You are so attached to your words, you just can't give them up. Every sentence is sacred and perfect. And then you wonder why no one reads your blog? You want to know why? I can help you with that: your articles are full of nonsense. They are simply unreadable. There you have it. It’s not marketing skills, but basic writing skills and modesty that you lack. The word is the word! “I'm a writer so I don't add images, photos, videos or anything that could distract my readers! I also write long paragraphs so I can express myself the way I like. My articles are like short parts of a novel, of an epos. I am too great to care about the readers—they should care about me!” Are you familiar with this new thing called the Internet? Where everything speeds up, where you are bombarded with millions of images, videos, pop ups, flashy lights, and more, every moment? Where every possible blog reader has literally millions of distractions? And do you honestly believe that all you need is black "ink" and white background? Good luck with that. Let me know when you are ready to join us in the 21st century. I'm a grown up and I don't laugh or dance! “This is blogging we’re talking about! That is a serious thing. Don't be talking about jokes, funny pictures, sarcasm, and other childish plays. When I write on a topic, I'm dead serious! Regardless of the topic. Why would I want to laugh at iPhones and the Siri application? Because Siri sometimes answers question like "Where should I dump a dead body?" with specific directions? That is not a laughing matter. You should be ashamed of yourself and concentrate on serious writing—then maybe someone will appreciate it!” Calm down, blogger… Everything's going to be all right. Just breathe. You know what? I'm not going to explain this one for you. If you don't see it, just put a "joking forbidden" sign on your blog. I'm sure no one will connect it with totalitarian systems and George Orwell's 1984. There you have it. The complete manual for boring your readers to death and scaring them away. My advice? Use it at your peril. Jack Samuelson is a contributing author who writes articles on numerous subjects, interested in issues of personal rights, online privacy, network security and anonymous surfing. He has been an insightful observer of new technologies (such as tools to hide IP) and their relations with the problems of internet privacy, freedom and independence. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How to Bore Your Readers to Death and Scare them Away

What New Bloggers Can Learn From Some of History’s Greatest Minds Posted: 20 Oct 2012 07:07 AM PDT This guest post is by Kate Miller of BestWebsiteHostingServices.org. Today's new bloggers are a fortunate group. The blogging community is swarming with a plethora of experienced bloggers who they can turn to for advice, tips and DIY tutorials. These bloggers are the thought-leaders, renegades and early-adopters of the industry. Turning to them to learn the ropes of the blogosphere is a no-brainer. But what about those thought-leaders and renegades for whom the concept of blogging, much less computers, was inconceivable? Believe or not, there is much to learn from some of the greatest minds in history when breaking into the blogging world. Just take a look at some of this advice. "One can win the attention and time and cooperation of even the most sought after people by becoming genuinely interested in them."—Dale Carnegie, How To Win Friends & Influence People One of the most valuable assets for a new blogger is having someone they can turn to as a mentor who'll take them under their wing. Nothing can beat the one-on-one personal advice of an accomplished blogger. Have a blogger you admire and wish you could learn from personally? Do as Mr. Carnegie suggests and become genuinely interested in him or her. Read every blog post he publishes and comment in a relevant, valuable way. Don't hesitate to reach out with a thoughtful email, but don't become a nuisance. You just may be surprised by the attention and willingly helpful attitude you are met with in return. "Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."—Thomas Edison Any weathered blogger can tell you that there is no such thing as overnight success. Blogs that are worth reading don't just emerge without a lot of hard work and dirtying of the feet going on behind the scenes. Between learning your way around whatever blog platform you use, deciding on your niche and content, researching the nuances of html, learning to decipher the lexicon and so much more, the work can seem endless. However, the payoff can be immense and those that are willing to don their overalls and jump right in will be the ones to enjoy the fruits of their labors first. "I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it."—Walt Disney In March of 2012, Nielsen published findings which tracked over 181 million blogs around the world. That's a lot of competition! Fortunately, there is an infinite amount of space on the web and as such, there is room for all bloggers. No matter how saturated you feel your niche may be, you can carve out your own spot for success. Accept that you'll have competition, embrace it, and learn how to get along with it. It will push you in new ways as you strive to rise above the fray. Keep at it and someday you'll not know how to get along without it either. "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."—Martin Luther King Unless your blog readership consists of only your cats and your grandma, it's safe to assume that you will, at one point or another, be challenged by a reader. Facing controversy is a very likely scenario as well. Just ask any blogger who has unwillingly become the center of a firestorm of internet criticism. When you begin blogging, remember that you are putting your thoughts and ideas out into a public space. Just as you wouldn't yell fire into a crowded room without expecting some kind of outrage, so should you approach your blogging. But also realize that challenge and controversy is nothing to fear. In fact, many a blogger has a made name for him or herself because of controversy. Be prepared for it and then write away! "The most effective way to do it, is to do it."—Amelia Earhart Just get out there and do it! Hesitating to pull the trigger on making your blog live because the layout isn't quite right? Nervous about leaving a comment or joining a link-up? Scared that your first guest post attempt will be rejected? Let go of all of that and just do it. You will most certainly never become an effective blogger if you don't get out in the blogging world to begin with. If Amelia Earhart could get up in the air; you can absolutely hit the Publish button! Do you know any other quotes or advice from great minds throughout history that you think would be helpful to newbie bloggers? If so, share them in the comments. Kate Miller is a blogger and writer for BestWebsiteHostingServices.org, a site dedicated to helping users find their ideal web host through the web host match survey, a tool that automatically compares hundreds of hosting providers to find the best one for the user. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger What New Bloggers Can Learn From Some of History's Greatest Minds

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“A Basic Visual Design Guide for the Visually Incompetent” plus 1 more

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A Basic Visual Design Guide for the Visually Incompetent Posted: 19 Oct 2012 01:02 PM PDT This guest post is by Anabelle of Read, Write, Live. Have you ever woken up one day, looked at your blog’s header and other visual elements, and thought, “My, this is ugly!” You need a visual redesign. What to do? There are two solutions to this problem: you hire a designer to work on your new visuals from scratch, or you try to do it yourself. The first solution can come at a cost, so cash-strapped bloggers can easily be tempted to try building their blog’s visual elements by themselves. But what if, like me, you’re visually incompetent? I mean, really incompetent? You can’t draw a stick figure to save your life, and you know absolutely nothing about the basics of visual design. You’re a writer, after all, and writers are better off writing than playing around with pictures. And yet, you can’t afford a designer, so you need to find a way, any way, to do it yourself. In this article, I will share the lessons I have learned trying to redesign my blog visuals on my own—header, logo, and all. Start with software that you understand We’ve all tried to play with those complex professional photo and visual design programs. You load a picture or an empty canvas and you think “Wow, with all these great tools, I’m sure I can come up with something amazing!” Well, not so much. After five minutes of trying to understand the functions of the program, you give up. This happened to me time and time again, until I discovered a nice little Mac app called Logoist. Logoist is simple and has all the functions I need. I can use cliparts from its extensive library, add text, apply filters and effects and insert pictures and photos. Its interface is intuitive and it has a few tutorials to show you the ropes. It also has automatic grid lines that help align all your elements. This simplicity let me create more freely than any professional design program could. There are a lot of apps and programs you can use for both Mac and PC. Some are free and most are reasonably priced. You don’t have to go for the $500 creative suite to get the job done. Black and white are your friends I’ve always worked under the principle that, when in doubt, you should take the simplest route. In visual design, black and white is a great base to start with. A black and white design looks professional, clean, and easy to work with. You don’t have to worry about colors matching or clashing. You know your text and your visual elements will be readable on a computer screen, a tablet or a smartphone. Black and white reminds readers of printed paper, something that’s ubiquitous and familiar. It’s trustworthy. But of course, black and white can become a little bland. To add variety, choose one (and when I say that, I really mean one) accent color for your sidebar widgets, for the picture in your logo, or for the blog title in your header. For example, on my writer’s website, I decided to go with dark red. It’s a color I like, and I think it brings about the right amount of visual interest. On my blog, I count on the pictures inserted in my posts for a blast of color. Play with fonts For my blog’s header, I decided to keep everything simple and play with fonts rather than pictures or images. Each word of my title (Read, Write, Live) uses a different font that expresses something unique about that word. “Read” is in a formal, serif type that you could find in a book or newspaper. “Write” is in a handwritten-looking font that illustrates the act of writing on paper and separates it visually the other two words. “Live” is in a bold, sans-serif font with unexpected lines. I added a small ornament (one of the cliparts in Logoist) in the middle for visual interest. Here’s the logo version, with the first letter of each word: Fonts are great because you can give personality to words and ideas before they are processed by the brain through reading. They leave an instant impression, and can make or break the viewer’s desire to read on. A tool I love for choosing awesome fonts is Google Fonts. If you’re tired of Times New Roman and Comic Sans, Google Fonts has an impressive collection of independent, public domain fonts you can use. Be yourself, be realistic The most important thing when you’re stuck having to design your own visual elements without training is to be honest with yourself. If you don’t know how to use vector software, then don’t. There are a lot of solutions that are within your reach and your abilities. You also need to be realistic: there is no substitute for a professional design. As much as a self-designed header and logo can fill in temporarily, as soon as you get a steady flow of readers, you’ll be expected to get some custom, professional visual design on your blog. But as a beginner or novice blogger, a handmade, simple header and minimal visual elements can go a long way One last thing: remember to have fun. I can tell you that this kind of visual work can be absorbing and exciting when you really get into it. I didn’t know I could come up with something so attractive on my own. I was very proud of the results, and it got me compliments from readers too! Have you ever tried to design your own visual elements? Do you have any other basic visual design tips you’d like to share with the visually incompetent among us? I’d love to hear from you! Anabelle is visually incompetent and would rather write about books, writing and living life with purpose at Read, Write, Live. She’s also a professional freelance writer for hire. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger A Basic Visual Design Guide for the Visually Incompetent

How to Work With Technical Contractors Posted: 19 Oct 2012 07:03 AM PDT This guest post is by Neil Matthews of wpdude.com. The majority of work to run a WordPress blog can be done by non-technical people, but about 20% of the work requires in-depth knowledge of the technology that sits underneath the hood of a WordPress site. This is when many blog owners call in technical support from developers. There is a good chance that you have never hired someone to provide technical support for your blog, so this post is designed to give you pointers to successfully work with technical contractors when the time comes. Set a project specification The specification you pass to your contractors can make or break the project. Here are some pointers to help you create a foolproof spec. Be thorough The spec needs to be detailed enough so that your contractors can translate your requests into technical action items.  This is often overwhelming for people who are trying to convey technical information, but don’t have the technical vocabulary to do it. The good news is that you don’t need to get technical if you are working with a good team. They should have enough experience to translate your request into geek and fix your problems. The simplest way to start is to break down your project into manageable chunks and list them, with a brief description for each. Sometimes I receive one-line vague requests or imperious demands to “call me” as a specification. That is always a red flag to me. If a potential client can’t spell out their requirements, it usually means they are going to be difficult to work with. Keep your techies happy by spelling out your needs thoroughly. Use screen grabs or screencasts I recommend adding screen dumps and screen casts to your specification, it helps to stop a lot of misunderstandings. A great free tool for this is Jing, which allows you to grab areas of your screen to send to your contactor as a link, or even record quick videos of your screen to point out exactly what you need. Some of the best project specifications I have received are two- or three-minute screen casts of the problem my client wants fixed. Point to examples If you want something for your site that you have seen on someone else’s blog, send a link. Your technician should be able to reverse-engineer how that feature was implemented and suggest a plugin or other solution to give you the same results. Ask for confirmation they understand your spec Ask your contractor to confirm that they understand your specification and for them to explain what they will do in technical terms to meet your requirements. This is particularly important if you are outsourcing to countries where the native language is different from your own. Use their expertise If you are not sure how something can be done (or if it it technically possible) spell out what you want and ask if it can be done.  Your developer should be able to make a recommendation and give you a price. Get fixed-price quotes If you are new to outsourcing technical work, get a fixed-price quote rather than by-the-hour work. This will prevent any unpleasant shocks at the cost of your project. There are unscrupulous techies out there who will run the clock up on people who don’t understand the technicalities of development. The solution is a fixed price project. Don’t pay for everything up-front (but expect to pay a deposit), and only pay the balance upon completion to your satisfaction. Also look for some sort of guarantee. If the techie can’t fix your issue, expect a no-fix, no-fee guarantee. It is for them to decide if a project is feasible; sometimes it cannot be fixed and your money should be refunded. Information you need to supply There are certain credentials and other information that you will need to pass to  your contactor so they can work on your site. Admin-level login Your developers will need an admin-level user id and password so they can get access to your site to make any changes.  I recommend to my clients that they create a new user ID for the duration of the project and pass that to me and my team, rather than giving out their own admin user ID. Then they can delete this login ID once the project is complete. Control panel hosting login If your contactor needs to work on the database or backend items such as the DNS setup of your system, they will need to have access to  your backend database and hosting account. Again, I recommend creating a new user ID for the duration of the project. Check out your hosting setup: some companies like Godaddy or Dreamhost allow delegation of the control panel to other users so you don’t need to create a new ID. If you have to pass over your hosting credentials, change the password during the project and swap it back once the contactor is done. FTP details If your contractor needs to upload any files to your site, they will need to have FTP credentials. Most hosting control panels have an area where you can create a new FTP user. Create a specific user for your developers, don’t pass over your main FTP credentials. Security I’ve talked a lot about temporary passwords, so let’s talk about broader security issues. I’m not suggesting technical people are nefarious by nature and will try to hack your site once your back is turned, but if you passwords start to be passed around and shared with contractors, the chance they might be compromised increases. Ask your contractor to delete all references to passwords from their inbox. We do this as a matter of course, but many people simply archive details in their inboxes. If you are concerned about this, check out Lastpass.com. This service keeps your password safe while allowing you to share them with contractors. Managing expectations If you’ve never hired someone to do technical work for you, then you will have no idea what kind of communication to expect. It’s a good idea to spell out to your contractor what kind of communication you would like, to keep you in the loop. Managing that expectation can help to alleviate the stress of outsourcing technical work. Often it seems the contractor has disappeared into a black hole and no progress is being made. This is probably not true—they may be working on a development version of your site, or the work may be invisible to you. There’s nothing wrong with asking your contractor to report in at the end of each day with a progress report on what they have achieved and what still needs to be done. If you’re outsourcing across time zones, more communication is vital.  I’m based in the UK and most of my clients are from the US, so I find being open and communicative about time zones and when I’m ending for the day is very helpful. What not to do If you want the relationship with your technical team to work, there are a couple of things you should avoid: Avoid scope creep Write your specification correctly from the beginning of the project. If you forget something and try to slip it in mid-project, you might get push back from your contractor. It’s a common tactic by some shady characters to add items mid way through a project to try and get them done for free. I’m sure you are not one of those people, so include them in the spec at the project’s beginning. If you forget it, ask your contractor to update the original quote. Don’t micro-manage Hand over the project and relax a little. Micro-managing your contractors and monitoring every aspect of their work is a pain in the behind for you and for them. You are paying professionals to do a job, so don’t give yourself more work managing them. They don’t need hand-holding—let them do what you paid them to do. Don’t double-guess project time and costs Nothing annoys a techie more than someone saying “I’m sure this will only take you 30 minutes since you are the expert.”  You should expect to pay for their expertise, not their time. If you are worried about run-away costs, ask for a fixed price quotation. Make the daunting manageable Outsourcing technical work can be daunting the first time you do it.  Trying to work with someone babbling in octal when you want to achieve blogging business results can be tough. Get the spec right from the beginning and be prepared to pass over control to the technical team. It can save you a lot of headaches, and help you get the best job for your money. This is a guest post by Neil Matthews, owner of wpdude.com, a WordPress technical support firm. Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger How to Work With Technical Contractors

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