Sorry for the problems today… I tried to upgrade to the new WordPress 2.5.  It has created some issues.  Hopefully I will be able to get them all fixed at the beginning of the week.  I am going to be out of town for the weekend and just got the site back up right before its time to  leave.  And I only lost 1 or 2 posts!!!

FUN!!

That’s some good English right there! Did you notice the new blog bling? Probably not unless you looked really closely. It is called a FavIcon.

Still can’t find it? Look up… farther… in the address bar. Found it? Yes it is a 16×16 pixel picture of me running (see right for a larger one)! Whenever you go to any Team Cross Runs page you should see that itsy bitsy picture of me!

If you don’t, you’ve left Team Cross!

Want your own FavIcon? Obviously you should because all the big sites have them! You can go here to find out more about how to set one up! It is a fairly painless process with very little knowledge necessary!

Enjoy!

I occasionally do some consulting work, helping non-profits and groups with fund raising and web communications strategies. I recently was helping a client with some Internet integration strategies and we walked through the basics of blogging. Here are my 11 Basic Blog Building Bloks.

1. Blog First off what is a blog? You may have been visiting this site for awhile, but do you know the difference between a blog and a website? Blogger (major blog hosting company) defines a blog:
   

   In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

   The term was derived from web log, which was shortened to BLOG!

2. Posting This is a fancy way of saying writing a note on your blog. I’m not sure where the term came from specifically, but it is similar to posting something on the wall for everyone to see!
3. Feeds or RSS RSS is Really Simple Syndication. Wikipedia says,
   

   RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that’s easier than checking them manually.

   In other words a Feed or RSS allows you the reader to get blogs delivered to you or you are fed the blog.

4. Feed Reader A feed reader or feed aggregator is a website or software that gathers all of your feeds and puts them in one location. It mixes all the ingredients (feeds) and serves them to your favorite meal on a silver platter (feed reader). I personally use Google Reader I have also set up this blog to provide you with an e-mail option.
5. Interaction Part of the beauty of blogging is that there is the opportunity for interaction. The most common form of interaction is through commenting. Many readers express their thoughts about a particular post in a comment. I have appreciated those who comment on my posts and provide feedback! Anyone can comment even if you don’t have a blog. I have also provided ways for you to e-mail me more personal thoughts.
6. Advertising Some people are able to blog for a full time job! That would be nice, but not a reality for me. They do that through a variety of revenue generating functions. The most common is through advertisements. A quick browse through this site shows a variety of ads. Most of these generate pennies per click and some a % of the final sale of a product. It is a balance to make sure that you are not overwhelmed by ads but also optimize my ability to generate a small revenue stream! These ads are targeted so they are actually of interest to us and not a complete waste of space!
7. Content A blog is pretty worthless without content! You would stop coming to my blog if I stopped writing on it. You would never have come if it was just any empty shell. I am definitely not the best blogger in the blogosphere, but I try to present polished and relevant content for you. Consistency and relevancy are two important words related to content.
8. HTML Hyper Text Mark-up Language is the Internet standard language used to create websites. With something like Blogger it is quite easy to have a blog without any knowledge of HTML and most bloggers probably don’t. For some of the more advanced functions of this site I’ve had to learn bits and pieces of HTML code, but am not an expert. I often am having to search tutorial sites to find some specific piece of code.
9. Publicize Similar to advertising, but this is getting your blog known throughout the web community. There are lots of ways to publicize your site, but the easiest is to join a blog network such as the Complete Running Network. Getting yourself on their blog roll will exponentially increase your readership! Become active in running forums, sharing your stories and ideas and linking to your blog when appropriate. Making sure that your friends and family know about your site, even adding it to your e-mail signature! Commenting on other people’s blogs is also important. Blogging is about community, when you comment on someones blog others will see that and look back at your blog.
10. Blogging Platforms There are a variety of different companies that offer blogs. The most popular is probably Blogger (owned by Google). Team Cross Runs is being written on the WordPress platform (they have 2 options, either a hosted platform or a web-based platform). Typepad is also a popular blogging platform. I would say that Blogger is probably the all around easiest to use, but WordPress offers some great benefits that once you understand can really add value to your blog.

PS I purposely misspelled Bloks in the same way as Clif’s Shot Bloks!

Technorati tags: Blogging, Basics, How to