Archive for the ‘Blogs’ Category

WordPress announced today that they have launched two new mobile themes which will be automatically displayed when readers access a WP blog via a mobile device. The first theme is a version of WPtouch and will be used with modern Web browsers such as those found in iPhone and Android phones and the second is a modification of the WordPress Mobile Edition and will be displayed on all other devices.

Technorati has published their annual State of the Blogosphere Report for 2009. The entire report will be released this week over five consecutive days. For this year’s study, Technorati took a closeup look at professional blogging and conducted interviews with several successful bloggers. Here’s a summary of what’s new for the 2009 report:

• “We took a deeper dive into the entire blogosphere, with a focus on professional bloggers
• Professional blogging activities
• Brands in the blogosphere
• Monetization
• Twitter & micro-blogging
• Bloggers impact on US and World events
• Our largest survey ever conducted by market research firm Penn Schoen and Berland: 2,900 bloggers
• Interviews and profiles of some of the leading professional bloggers
• In addition to Technorati index data, we’re also looking at data from search tool provider Lijit.”"

Jeffry Thurana at MakeUseOf walks readers through the step-by-step process of how to Build A Cool Photo Gallery Website from Wordpress. This helpful guide provides annotated screenshots which illustrate how to turn your blog into an image gallery.

• The Cool DIY Way Of Sharing Images
• Finding & Installing The Themes (& The Plugins)
• Building The Blog

If you’ve considered turning your blog into a vlog or video blog, or just adding occasional video content, you’ll want to check out this Complete Guide to Video Blogging. Leah Betancourt at Mashable discusses concepts, tools, and distribution methods for this new media format.

• Video Blogging is Still in its Infancy
• Web Video Puts People on Equal Footing
• What Makes a Good Video Blog
• Creating a Video Blog
• Distributing a Video Blog

Social media guru Chris Brogan posts 14 tips for How to Blog Almost Every Day. Check out his useful recommendations to get yourself in the habit of writing for the Web. Here are his top five suggestions:

1. Read something new every day. Need a starting point? Try Alltop. (Hint: read something outside your particular circle to get new thoughts).
2. Talk with people every day. I get many of my topic ideas from questions people pose to me, or through conversations.
3. Write down titles and topic ideas in a notepad file. ( I’ve given you 100 blog topics and another 20 blog topics just to get started.)
4. Maintain a healthy bookmarking and revisiting habit. I use Delicious.com
5. Find 20-40 minutes in every day to sit still and type.

Christina Warren at Mashable creates a quick guide to How to Integrate Facebook With Your Blog. These helpful suggestions will set you on your way to let your readers sign in with their Facebook login to leave comments, display recent visitors, commenters, and friends on your website, feed your blog content into FB, and more.

Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes Club has created a mega-list of 101 Great Blogs You Should Be Subscribing To for BloggingTips. If you’re always on the lookout for new quality blogs to subscribe to, as am I, you’ll want to check out this giant list. The list is organized into the following categories:

• Design & Coding
• Writing & Freelancing
• Social Media
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing
• Entrepreneur
• Domain Names
• WordPress
• Copyright
• Blogging

Josh Catone at Mashable lists the Top 5 Business Blogging Mistakes and How to Avoid Them. Libraries and other organizations who are interested in improving their blogs will want to check out this helpful post. Here are his 5 pitfalls to avoid:

1. Treating Your Blog Like a Press Center
2. Not Blogging Regularly
3. Not Enabling Conversation
4. Making New Content Hard to Discover
5. Expecting Too Much, Too Soon

Webdesigner Depot has published a mega-guide to making the most of the WordPress blogging platform. Whether you’re just starting out or a regular user you won’t want to miss this huge list of 300+ Resources to Help You Become a WordPress Expert in the following categories:

• Theme Roundups, Theme Templates, and Theme Frameworks
• Tutorials and Tips
• Plugins
• Tricks, Customizations, and Hacks
• Galleries and Inspiration
• Blogs, Articles and Other Resources

If you’re doing any sort of writing for the Web, from blogging to tweeting, you’ll want to check out Josh Catone’s 5 Rules for Better Web Writing. This succinct post defines five guidelines to improve your copy writing.

1. Know Your Objective
2. Know Your Audience
3. Keep it Short
4. Make it Scannable
5. Embrace Constraints

Dragos Roua posts one hundred tips to better blogging with 100 Ways To Improve Your Blog. This massive guide discusses techniques to more successful blogging and is divided into the following categories:

• Content
• Layout
• Plugins
• Promotion
• Networking
• Money

Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Librarian in Black, has completely redesigned her blog which she’s migrated from Typepad to Wordpress. The design and features are fantastic as is the content so be sure to update your RSS feed and bookmarks!

Online College comes up with 100 Terrific Tips & Tools for Blogging Librarians. This massive list provides LIS bloggers with tips in the following areas:

• Basics
• Readership and Traffic
• Content
• Branding and Marketing
• Networking
• Design
• Blogging Platforms
• Extra Services
• Organization and Administrative Tips and Tools
• Miscellaneous

The September 2009 issue of Walt Crawford’s Cites & Insights is now available. Be sure to check out this issue for an in-depth update of the state of both public and academic library blogs. Walt discusses the following:

• Where Are They Now?
• Survivors and Currency
• The Quintiles
• Post Frequency
• Comments
• Conversational Intensity

The folks at Online Degree Programs have created a mega-list of the 100 Best Blogs for Library Science Students. If you’re an LIS student, or just someone looking for some interesting library-related blogs to read, you’ll want to check out this post. The blogs are categorized into the following sections:

• Universities
• Information Science & Systems
• Librarian 2.0
• Information Literacy
• Technology
• Resources
• News