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Have you heard of Google Alert? If not, it’s an excellent tool for keeping you informed of new articles published on the web with the keywords you’re interested in.  I use it to keep updated on articles published relating to my industry as a Virtual Assistant, but also if anyone writes about me in some way.  I also use it to keep informed on topics of interest to my clients, thereby providing additional service to them.

If you don’t understand how it works, rather than me explaining here, you can go to GoogleGuide to read about it.

So I probably have between 20-30 Google Alerts set up and receive a compiliation of listings for most of those keywords or phrases every day and I can scan through them quickly for items of interest.

However, over the past few months I’ve noticed that none of my posts written on my VA blog get picked up on one of my alerts.  Other alerts pick up on posts I’ve published if my name is included or if other keyword phrases I use are included but for my Virtual Assistant blog they do not show up.  Why?  I have no idea and I’m on a search to try and figure that out.

If I’m not receiving them then I’m not convinced others are too and it means that I’m losing potential audience who might want to know about new blog posts relating to this industry.  I have tried contacting Google about this but, as yet, with no response.  If you have any idea I’d love to hear about it!

Tags: About Blogging, Technology by Kathie Thomas
14 Comments »

I always upgrade my blogs with some amount of trepidation – should I or shouldn’t I?  Some blogs have upgraded fine but others have been a nightmare. Mainly because the templates I choose are not always compatible with the latest version.

So in a moment of craziness I decided to upgrade my Workplace-Ministry blog to a later version of WordPress and was instantly faced with a blank white screen after it told me I could view my blog.  Huh?  My mind started racing to see what I could do and I started to type up a help message to my IT guy.  But then I thought perhaps I should see if I could try and fix it myself.  Fortunately I had not closed the window that I’d performed the upgrade in and had opened a new browser window (I love how Firefox uses Tabs!) to view the blog.

I checked my cpanel and noticed the amount of free space was very low.  I then went into the disk space usage area and clicked on the WordPress section and it showed 0 megs.  mmm, perhaps that’s a clue.

I went back to the window where I’d performed the upgrade and wondered if I backed up through the previous views on that window and redid the upgrade whether that would make a difference?  So I did and with a quick prayer and a re-press of the Upgrade button it performed what it did only a few minutes ago.  I went back to the blank screen window and refreshed and there was my blog in front of me.  Whew!

What is the lesson in this? Well, apart from not panicking, it was not to close a window I’d been working in.  If I had I would not have been able to re-use the upgrade button because it would have considered the job had been done.  Thankfully I could go back to the beginning and redo it and it worked.  Well, another lesson learned for the day – and gratefully so!

Tags: About Blogging, Wordpress by Kathie Thomas
6 Comments »

I get a lot of people asking how to blog and what they need to do to get visitors, etc but when they get started all they do is just write a few posts and nothing else.  Some write more regularly than others but they do little else.

Some of the suggestions I give are:

1.  Don’t write posts that are too long; you could do a series of posts on the one topic instead.

2.  Ask questions so that readers are prompted to leave answers.

3.  Visit other people’s blogs and leave comments on them – often they will come back and visit yours and leave comments and so will some of their own visitors.

4.  Consider running a competition now and then – established bloggers do this to encourage subscribers or comments.  It might be a while before you can do this but keep it as a thought.

5. Subscribe to other blogs that might help you with hints and tips in blogging.  In fact, whenever they write something you find useful, it is good to leave a comment and always leave your blog address – these blogs get lots of visitors so it might draw some more traffic for your own: http://www.chrisg.com/, http://www.chrisbrogan.com/, http://www.problogger.net/, http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

6. Join bloggers’ forums where you can learn from others also.  http://www.aussiebloggers.com.au/forum/, http://forum.authorityblogger.com/ are two I recommend. Some well known bloggers at both groups – one is an Aussie group, the other has leaders from the UK.

7. Search for blogs on similar topics and add them to your blogroll in the hope they will add you to theirs. They will see the incoming links in their dashboard. Leave comments when appropriate.

If you are writing a blog simply to write, then that’s fine, but if you really want to grow your readership then you need to be networking online too. People won’t know your blog exists unless they’re specifically looking for your topic or if they meet you via a comment, blogroll link, a forum of some sort or perhaps through other websites, article directories, and so on.  And if your goal is to earn some income by attracting advertisers or clicks on advertising, then building sufficient traffic for that to happen is imperative.

Networking online is a very worthwhile way of making connections for anyone who is doing anything online.

And don’t forget my free ebook offer ‘Blogging Basics‘ by learning from my own blogging experiences.

You might have more suggestions to help new bloggers and why not share them here?

blogging basics, networking online, how to blog, increase traffic

Tags: About Blogging, Networking by Kathie Thomas
11 Comments »

I’ve recently written an ebook of “Blogging Basics” to help new bloggers on their way.

It’s not a comprehensive how-to for those who already have considerably blogging experience – there are many books out there already that cater to that audience. But there are many others who do not yet know how to start, or if they’ve started, how to progress things further or what even the functions in their dashboard mean.

The book caters to WordPress and Blogger users but the basics would apply to any blog platform.

The table of contents is listed below to give you an idea of what it includes.

Overview of Blogging
My Blogging Story
Why Blog?
What Are The Benefits of Blogging?
Blogging For Business

Getting Started
Domain Names For Your Blog
Paid Hosting For Your Blog
Steps For Setting Up a Blog
Blog Templates
Understanding the Components
Commenting on Other Blogs
How Often Should You Blog?

What Do These Things Mean?
Permalinks
Plugins
RSS Feeds or Email Subscriptions?
Tags
Trackbacks

Extras That Will Enhance Your Blogging Experience
Blog Carnivals
Blog Communities
Google Alert
Social Networks For Bloggers
Tracking Your Visitors

In Summary
Steps to get things happening

How do you get this ebook?
Simple, just subscribe to this blog and you’ll be given the download link to get it.

learning to blog, blog basics, WordPress, Blogger, benefits of blogging

Tags: About Blogging by Kathie Thomas
9 Comments »