Archive for the ‘Blogs’ Category

Tom Walker writes for Powerusers about 10 Alternative Uses for WordPress. This useful post lists some exciting ways to make use of the open-source content management system. Here are his top five:

1. eCommerce
2. WordPress Wiki
3. Forum
4. Contact Manager
5. Job Board

The folks at Online Universities.com have pulled together a list of the 50 Best Blogs for Education Leaders. This mega-list contains many interesting blogs which have been divided into the following categories:

• Education News
• Subject Specific
• Inspiration and Innovation
• Educational Policy
• Educational Technology
• E-Learning and Online Education

Matt Silverman at Mashable has some suggestions for How To: Build a More Beautiful Blog. If you’re looking to take your blog to the next level, you’ll want to check out this post which makes the following recommendations:

• Learn Some HTML
• Find the Right Template
• Be a Layout Sleuth
• Make It Your Own
• For the Non-Designer: Go Minimalist
• Need More Inspiration?

The WPBeginner website has posted a fantastic collection of 55+ Most Wanted WordPress Tips, Tricks, and Hacks. If you are interested in using the open-source blogging platform for yourself or your library, you’ll want to check out these tips. Here are just a few of the instructions you’ll find in this article:

• Use WordPress as a Free Email Newsletter Service
• Create a Membership Directory using WordPress
• Create Your Own Private Twitter Site using WordPress
• Create a Contributors Page that lists Author with Avatars and Other Details
• How set an Expiration Date for Your Posts
• Allow Users to Submit News on Your Site

Blake Carver at LIS News has published the annual list of new must-read LIS blogs. Check out this year’s list of 10 Librarian Blogs To Read in 2010 for professional inspiration. Here are the top five:

1. Academic Librarian
2. Awful Library Books
3. The Best Of PubLib
4. Disruptive Library Technology Jester
5. Everybody’s Libraries

SocialMouths has a tutorial on How To Produce Video Interviews For Your Blog Using Skype. The article breaks down the process into 6 steps which include helpful screenshots and software recommendations.

1. Record A Little Intro
2. Screen Capture
3. Skype
4. Editing Your Video
5. Video Sharing Service
6. Embed To Your Post

ProBlogger has an article about 13 Types of Posts that Always Get Lots of Comments by Darren Rowse. The author discusses each of these different types of blog posts and links to illustrative examples:

1. Competitions
2. Personal Stories
3. Show Off Posts/Share a link
4. Creative Posts
5. Hacks
6. Meaty Posts
7. Relatable Posts
8. Question Posts
9. Debate or Controversy Posts
10. Opinion Pieces
11. Humor
12. Group Projects/Challenges
13. Mega Lists/Resources

Ritu at FreelanceFolder discusses 5 Ways to Better Engage Readers on Your Blog. These are all helpful tips which blog authors will want to check out. Here are his recommendations:

1. The End Is the Beginning
2. Give Your Readers an Incentive
3. Make It Fun, Make It Worthwhile
4. Be There
5. We Are In It Together

Chris Brogan, social media guru, writes a guide to how to Write Better Blog Posts Today. If you’re blogging in a professional capacity, this post provides advice for more effective blogging. The post is divided into the following sections:

• Subject Matter
• Goals of the Post
• Titles Matter
• Style and Language
• The Call to Action
• Other Considerations
• Troubleshooting

Ivor Padilla at Net Tuts aggregates 20+ Brand New and Incredibly Useful WordPress Plugins. If you’re a WordPress blogger, you’ll want to check out this article. Here are a few of the more interesting extensions:

• Custom Coming Soon Page
• Excerpt Tools
• Drag To Share
• Custom Class Selector
• Pretty Comments

Michael at Income Diary has put together a list of 20 Websites That Will Make You A Better Blogger. This annotated guide discusses twenty blogs and websites to “learn, improve and get inspired”. His list is divided into the following topic areas:

• Websites Teaching Blogging
• Blog Design Websites
• Website Optimization
• Make Money Online
• Blogs To Aspire To Be Like

David Turnbull at DailyBlogTips lists out 101 Ways to Promote a New Blog. If you’ve recently started a blog and you’re brainstorming about ways to get the word out, you may want to check out this guide which is divided into the following sections:

• Content
• Facebook
• Fundamentals
• Online Video
• Other Blogs
• Paid
• People
• Podcasting
• Search engine optimization
• Social networks
• StumbleUpon
• Su.pr
• Twitter
• Wordpress

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