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Around The Blogosphere A sobering moment for all us bloggers in the ‘sphere. The author of the blog Brain Hell died on February 2. His blog chronicled the diagnosis and gradual progression of his illness, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and was an amazing, moving series of letters to the world. As he preferred to remain anonymous while he was alive, I will refrain from using his name here. The blog is still online. Seeing all the loving comments after each ...
Continue readingKnow your roots
Blogging “Blog” is an everyday term now (except in my Microsoft Word program for some reason), but most of us can remember a time when the idea of keeping a journal on the internet seemed strange and bizarre. (And another time when the idea of the internet itself seemed strange and bizarre, of course.) Have you ever wondered who the first bloggers were, and what prompted them to share their lives with the world? Let us unearth some of that ancient ...
Continue readingLove your blog: a Valentine’s Day post
Promote your blog Of all the potential Valentines out there, only one is always here for you, always interested in your life, always seeking your attention: your blog. (Also, your dog. But they don’t pay me to write about dogs here.) This Valentine’s Day, forget all that nonsense about restaurant reservations and trashy lingerie and take a moment to focus on the true love of your life. Say it with me now: Love. Your. Blog. Dress it up pretty Take a moment to ...
Continue readingNSFW: How and when to warn your readers about adult content
Writing Live nude girls are great, don’t get me wrong. But before you go wild and start posting naked images all over your blog – or even one image – you need to stop and consider your audience. Most people, including your friends, parents, neighbors and little sister, might get in trouble for opening a website at work or at school that contains images of nudity. This also goes for images of body modifications, lewd words in large print, and ...
Continue readingCorporate policy on employee blogs
Blogging Most of us get a large percentage of our blogging material from work. Maybe you work with hilarious (intentionally or otherwise) colleagues, or you work in a particularly interesting industry – or one so boring that you have plenty of time to write about it. Regardless, we spend a huge chunk of our time at work, so naturally it gets reflected in our personal blogs. A lot of companies are starting to develop policies on employees who blog about ...
Continue readingHow social networking sites can work for you
Promote your blog Last week I wrote about using free publicity to attract traffic. This week I’d like to examine another self-promotion venue: social networking sites. Most people have a MySpace page, a Facebook page, or both. Even if you hate these sites, you’re probably on there somewhere simply because these and similar social networking sites are a good way to, well, socially network. They help you keep track of your friends, find people you used to know, ...
Continue readingGetting the word out
Promote your blog You’ve built up a nice little archive of posts. Now all you need is some readers. It’s the question everyone’s asking: how do you promote your blog? First, let me direct you to the excellent post on this topic by Michael Martine. Michael knows you have to give a little to get a little. I’m going to address a specific aspect of that: giving publicity. If you run a themed blog, this will be very simple. In fact, you’re probably doing it ...
Continue readingClassic corporate subterfuge: Writing the email blog
Personal If you’re like many of us, you’re working in your boring, dead-end office job for just one reason: you need a quiet place with internet access where you can update your blog. (Also, it helps you pay for rent and food and stuff. But mostly jobs are about blogging, right?) Even if you love your job, there are few who can resist the lure of a half-hour of downtime and a quiet desk in the corner. Sometimes, you just gotta blog. Alas, less ...
Continue readingPunctuation: a small primer
Writing Punctuation is important, sure, but it’s not a deal-breaker. For the most part, your readers probably don’t care whether you’re comma-crazed, like me, or writing marathon run-on sentences. Few people are studying closely to determine whether you should be using parentheses rather than dashes. Still, there are a few instances where something as small and boring as a punctuation mark can make or break your post. The most exciting mark is, of ...
Continue readingLooking Back
Blogging As the new year approaches, it’s good to look forward and make resolutions and all that, but it’s also fun to look back at the year we just spent. Your blog is an ideal forum for this, and you’ve got several options for how to consider the past year. Here are a few: A Year In Review Write short paragraphs on the most important items in several categories of your choice. You can write on a pop culture theme and review the year’s best ...
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