Your name and your blog

April 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Today, in a post titled “The Choice of Associating Your Name with Your Blog”, Darren Rowse of problogger.net, identified the following 4 categories of blogging.

  1. Blog under your personal name and promote it prominently on your blog
  2. Blog under your personal name but don’t really promote yourself
  3. Blog under an alias and promote that name
  4. Blog without any name on your blog at all

Darren also requested readers to comment on what are the pros and cons of the type of blog they have chosen.

This is a compilation of my own views (and some reader comments from Darren’s original Post)

1. Blog under your personal name and promote it prominently on your blog

Pros
  • More credible, people know that you really exist!
  • Ideal for video posts
  • Present information with a personal tone. This is a very important point since blogs were initially created for this purpose (i.e. allowing individuals to quickly share their thoughts and views)
  • If you are really good in your subject matter, you will be noticed within your industry, bringing new business or career opportunities
  • If you have good qualifications, experience and expertise why not show it off? Because readers look for reliable and credible information
  • Good for social networking
Cons
  • Hard to sell your website, because you have created a brand around you and without your presence your website is less valuable
  • Loss of privacy

2. Blog under your personal name but don’t really promote yourself

Pros
  • Better privacy
Cons
  • I can not think of any, if you know one please feel free to share.

I am not getting many points for this category. Feel free to help me out here.

3. Blog under an alias and promote that name

Pros
  • Your privacy is protected
  • Can build a brand around your alias
  • Good for controversial topics
  • Safer (for example: writing about gang violence in your area!)
  • A good choice if your real name is hard to remember
Cons
  • May not be suitable for all topics, for example consider a medical blog, your readers first want to know about you and your background

4. Blog without any name on your blog at all

Pros
  • Easier to sell your blog
  • Better privacy, safety
Cons
  • Hard to create a unique voice (with a personal tone) , since your readers have no clue about yourself
  • Readers will be less tolerant for any mistakes, because they consider your website as a news source and not as a blog that is driven by a single person

Know more pros and cons for each type? Please feel free to share. As the comments come in I will update my list of pros and cons.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With:

Blog vs CMS, which one to choose?

April 15, 2008 By 2 Comments


Blogs and Content Management Systems (CMS) are two popular platforms for creating a website. Both platforms have their own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore it is often hard to decide on which platform is more suitable for your website.

When I decided to start TechThinker.com, I was torn between Blogs and CMS. I like the features of both platforms! But I can only choose one. Finally after carefully considering a number of factors, I decided to go with a blog based website.

So which platform is right for your website?

In order to understand the main differences between Blogs and CMS one has to look at why they were created in the first place.

1. Blogs were created, so that a single person can quickly add content to his/her website. In a blog newly added content is shown above old content. The content is displayed in reverse chronological order.

2. A CMS on the other hand deals with the creation, organization, management, and distribution of information, by multiple users who have no or little technical knowledge.

Please Note: When I was evaluating these platforms I was using WordPress as my blogging software and Joomla as my CMS software.

The following are some of the key factors that I considered during my selection process.

1. Simplicity and Ease of Use

Both blogs and CMS are intended for non-technical people. But out of the two blogs are far easier to setup and maintain. CMS software like Joomla, requires relatively more effort to setup.

2. Available Features

Blogs are simple because they provide fewer features compared with a CMS. Many consider blogs as a specific type of CMS. CMS are relatively complex and they provide a wide range of features.

3. Number of Authors

A blog is usually authored by a person and in some cases by a few. Blogs are primarily driven by a single person. A CMS on the other hand is designed to be managed by multiple users, all contributing to the content. Therefore, blogs are better suited for a website with few authors while CMS is a good choice for a website with many authors.

4. Tone of Voice

As you saw in the previous point, blogs are generally driven by a person. Therefore the information on a blog is usually presented as a person’s own views and opinions. The tone of the voice is very informal. If you do not want to present information from a personal point of view, but would like to present information with a formal voice, a CMS based website might be a good solution.

5. How is Information Structured

A blog shows content in reverse chronological order (recently added content is shown on the top of the page). This is a key feature of a blog. But not everyone wants this type of structure for their websites. But in a CMS you can present your information in different structure and formats.

6. Customization of Look and Feel

A CMS system provides better control over customizing your website. You can precisely configure the look and feel of your website by configuring templates. Blog templates on the other hand are less customizable.

7. Levels of Security

Since CMS are intended to be used by many users, they provide better security and control on who can do what. Compared with CMS, blogs provides fewer levels of security.

8. Community Building

Blogs are great tools for community building. Bloggers interact more with other bloggers. Blogs provide better features for community building (ex. comments, track backs etc).

Conclusion

All of the above points show the fundamental differences between blogs and CMS. But, depending on the type of blogging or CMS software you use, these points may not always hold true.

Which platform do you use for your website? What is the main reason for choosing that platform? Please share it with us.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: ,

The Four Pillars of Success

April 9, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Four Pillars of Success
The founding philosophy for a successful website

In this article I explain my philosophy for a successful website, a philosophy that is based on the following 4 key fundamentals:

1. Content
2. Design
3. Traffic
4. Monetize

I call the above fundamentals as “The Four Pillars of Success”. I believe all 4 fundamentals are equally important for building a successful website.

Now let us examine what constitutes each pillar to understand them better.

1. Content

You may have heard the phrase “Content is King”. The word “Content” refers to any informational material that is published on a website. The published material can be in text, image, audio, video or multimedia format. It is widely accepted and proved that good quality content is what drives visitors to a website. In the Content Pillar the primary focus is on how to create high quality website content.

2. Design

No matter how much quality content you may have, if your website is not designed properly, you will not attract as many visitors as you wish. A good website should be user friendly. It should be easy to use and navigate. In the Design Pillar the focus is on the usability aspects of a website.

3. Traffic

Traffic refers to the number of visitors to your website. Even with a properly designed website with high quality content, you are not going to get loads of traffic. This is because your website is not marketed properly and is not optimized to get more traffic from search engines.

There are two types of traffic

  1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Traffic, gained by optimizing your web pages for search engines.
  2. Non-SEO Traffic, gained by marketing your website via other means such as advisements, promotions etc.

In the Traffic Pillar the primary goal is to increase targeted traffic (i.e. visitors who are interested in what you offer) using both SEO and Non-SEO methods.

4. Monetize

After building a successful website (using the above 3 pillars) your may want to reap the benefits by making money from your website. This is where the monetization comes into play. The term “Monetize” refers to ability to make money from your website.

In the Monetize Pillar the focus is on making money from your website using advertisements, affiliate programs and e-commerce.

There is a lot of interest in the community to make money online. This is part of the reason I made Monetization as the fourth Pillar of Success. If you are not interested in making money online you can ignore this pillar.

Final Thoughts

Even though I have presented 4 unique Pillars of Success, in reality these fundamentals are interwoven. Based on your website objectives and requirements, some fundamentals may weigh more than others.

Pillars of Success
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5 tips on improving the accuracy of your blog posts and web articles

April 7, 2008 By 2 Comments
Proof Reading

Beside from the obvious points of checking for spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, here are few tips on increasing the accuracy of your articles:

1. Do not make any mistakes

The best way to avoid errors is not to make them in the first place!
Write your articles when you are in a good mood. Do not write, if you are upset, angry or constantly distracted. By concentrating well you can avoid mistakes. It is much easier to avoid mistakes in the first place rather than scanning for errors and fixing them later on.

Do not parallel task doing other activities while writing. Allocate time exclusively for your writing. Pick a time slot that will allow you to work without many interruptions.

2. Get someone else to proof read your content

When we write, most of us go over the same sentence many times. Therefore the words you choose and the sentences that you form are unconsciously recorded in your memory.

Therefore when you proof read your own article, you have the tendency to read it the way you intended to write it, not the way it is actually written! This happens due to your prior knowledge (in memory) of the article.

But when someone else proof reads your article they come across the content for the very first time. They do no have any preconceived ideas about your article. Not knowing what is coming next allows one to read with more interest and attention. Therefore it is easier for someone else to spot errors quickly.

3. Read it aloud

If you do not have anyone to proof read your work, read the article aloud by yourself. By reading aloud you can spot grammatical errors and poor sentences.

4. Use a Text-to-Speech program to read your article

Another technique I use to proof read my articles is using Text-to-Speech software. Text-to-Speech software can read any typed text. I use a software called Natural Reader. Using this software I can listen to my writing before publishing it. Text-to-speech software follows punctuations, such as commas and full stops. Therefore it is very easy to identify complex sentences. By listening to your text, you can easily identify spelling and grammatical errors as well.

5. Give it a rest for a week

Finally, another technique I employ is to write an article and give it a rest. Now, start working on a second article. After a week re-visit the first article for proof reading. By this time, most of your memory of the first article would have diminished, because you have been focusing on the second article. This allows you to read the first article as it is written. You’ll be amazed how many mistakes and issues you will come across. You will not only find errors but also find better ways to reword poorly written sentences. But this technique is not useful if you have any time limitations for publishing your article.

I hope the above 5 simple tips will allow you to write better quality articles. If you know any other proofreading techniques, please feel free to share them.

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What bloggers can learn from Barack Obama?

April 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Obama Quotes

I am a Canadian following the 2008 US presidential nominations with great interest. Out of the many candidates I find Illinois Senator Barack Obama to be inspiring and motivational.

I personally believe that everyone can learn something from Obama and his speeches, including bloggers. In this post I explain how new bloggers can use some of Obama’s inspiring quotes as way to understand good blogging practices. This is not a political post, so please read on …

“I’m asking you to believe not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington… I’m asking you to believe in yours.”

Key lesson: believe in your abilities

To become a successful blogger you have to first believe in your ability to create good content for your readers. It is said that every second, 2 blogs are created on the Internet. There are countless blogs on the same subject matter! This means you will have to compete very hard, for your blog to be noticed by a wider audience. The best way to compete is to differentiate your blog from the rest of the pack by developing your own unique style of presentation.

Some bloggers employ guest bloggers to create content. While guest posting is good way to expand your blog, you should not primarily depend on others to create content for your blog. Guest bloggers have their own reasons for writing guest posts. Therefore guest posts are not effective as your own posts when it comes to making your blog unique. You are the only person who can make your blog unique.

“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”

Key lesson: continuing to do the right thing on a regular basis will lead to success

In order to become a successful blogger you should have a clear vision about your goals and objectives. Knowing your destination makes a long journey a little bit easier than having no clue about where we are headed. Clear goals and objectives allow you to keep your blog on track.

Your goals and objectives should be set for the long haul. Some people expect quick returns from a blog. But, building a successful blog can take years. You should have good perseverance, patience and determination.

Blogging needs a lot of discipline. You have to commit time for it everyday. Learning, researching and posting blog entries should become more than a habit, they should become part of your life style!

“This union [racial union] may never be perfect, but generation after generation has shown that it can always be perfected.”

Key lesson: no blogger is perfect, but a good blogger strives to get better over time

Your blog posts will never be perfect. But as you continue blogging you can and should perfect it. A good blogger strives hard to get better over time. To become a better blogger you need be a voracious learner, learning through research, experience, successes and failures. A good appetite for learning will make you a better blogger and eventually an expert in your subject matter.

“Money is not the only answer, but it makes a difference.”

Key lesson: do not get carried a way with the concept of making money online

Many people are interested in making money from their blogs. There is nothing wrong in trying to generate revenue from your blog using various money making programs. But some get carried away with the concept of making money online. In trying to monetize their blogs they loose focus on the content. Having good content is what attracts a large number of readers to your blog. When the quality of your content is compromised, your reader base will shrink. A shrinking reader base will have a cascading effect on your website traffic and revenue. Therefore it is important to have the right balance between the efforts you put on content creation and revenue generation.

“This campaign can’t only be about me…It must be about what we can do together.”

Key lesson: do not become self-centric

You are the driving force behind your blog. But that does not mean you have to be self-centric. Good bloggers collaborate with others. They invite guest bloggers to write for their blogs. They participate in social networking. They help new bloggers to get up to speed with blogging. By sharing their knowledge and expertise they build valuable relationships. Building relationships lead to new opportunities.

“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it’s not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won’t. It’s whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.”

Key lesson: learn from failures

Finally I want to leave you with the above quote that holds true for any successful blogging experience. This quote encompasses many key points we have discussed up to now and emphasizes the need to learn from failures.

As your blog matures it will face more scrutiny and critique by a wider audience. You will come across both constructive and negative criticism. While positive comments can make you feel happy and motivated, negative comments can halt your progress. To become a successful blogger you should become seasoned enough to face challenges and learn from failures.

Your comments are welcome.

Post Update (2 May 2008)

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Please checkout the following article at DoshDosh.com where the author explains the importance of empowering your audience with a powerful message.

It’s Not Just Words: The Importance of Empowering Your Audience.

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