Tips on Blogging as a Business

Q: Hi. I would like to create a new blog - but I have some quick questions, beforehand.1) Would it be sufficient to post on a weekly basis?2) Would it be necessary to purchase a .com domain?3) What is a good name for a blog covering only the most interesting side of baseball - business? (A .Com name should be available)Keep in mind, please, that I am looking to generate a ton of exposure and popularity through this blog. Thank you,Name Game

Asked by namegame

A: Hi Name Game, thanks for the question. I'm no authority on the subject - I blog on a small set of niche topics for personal reasons and don't ever expect to acquirea big audience - but I'll give you my two cents for what it's worth:

• If you're blogging in hopes of making money, don't. Very, very few bloggers make anything approximating a living wage doing so, and the window for developing a new "must-read" blog on a mainstream topic is all but closed.
• If you aren't doing it for the money but still want to acquire a big audience, weekly posts aren't going to cut it. Pick a narrow field - the business of baseball isn't bad - and bring fresh, original ideas to the topic, with an emphasis on breaking news, every day.
• From an SEO perspective, I'm not sure having yor own domain makes a big difference, unless that domain corresponds to a common search term in your topic area. It might be nice to own a domain to make it easy for readers to find you, and to make the brand portable if you want to change blogging platforms (plus it's cheap), so if you find a good URL go ahead, but it's not a make-or-break.

Bottom line, SEO tactics don't make for a popular blog. Table stakes for even a moderately popular blog are: regular (i.e., daily) high-quality posts with a mix of news and original insight on topics of significant interest to your target audiience. If it's not a passion of yours, but rather something you're doing to make money, there are a million (legal) ways to make more money more easily than blogging.

Ask Askablogr a question.

Reader Question: What is a Blog? A Widget?

Q: 1) What is a Blog? Is it the same as the term "Thead" I've seen used on Message Boards?2) Whatis a Widget? How is it used?

Asked by archman

A: Hi Archman. good questions, and I'm by no means the foremost authority on the topics, but I'll offer my layman's definitions below and also point you to some folks who have greater depth on the topic.

Blog is short for Web Log, and it used to mean any form of regular online publishing by individuals (as opposed to estaablished media outlets). The lines have blurred somewhat in recent years as one-time individual publishers have grown into media brands in their own right (e.g., TechCrunch, GigaOm, Huffington Post, etc.). The number of blog formats and platforms has also proliferated, to the point that there are dozens of tools (some free and some paid) for text blogging, photo blogging, "microblogging", "lifecasting", and well, you get the idea.

For the authoritative definition, here's a link to the Wikepdia article on the topic.

In the context of blogging, a Widget is software component that's designed to perform a specific, narrowly-defined function, such as handling reader Q&A, powering blog text search, or displaying photos. Widgets allow non-technical users (which describes most bloggers) to add new features and capabilities to their blog without any coding skills, just by cutting and pasting code snippets into their blog template.

Again, Wikipedia does a much better job than I ever could with the topic here.

I hope that points you in the right direction - thanks for asking!

Ask Askablogr a question.

Where do your Askablogr Q&A appear and why?

Q: Can I not have my Q&A's show up on your main home site?

Asked by the Stake YW Presidency

A: Hi and welcome to Askablogr. Right now, Askablogr is designed to maximize the visibility of participating blogs and bloggers on the Web. By publishing links to participating blogs and their Q&A on the Askablogr site, we increase the visibility of those URLs and content to the major search engines, boosting their relative "authority" in search results. In this way, the service functions as a cooperative, where each member's contributions add to the authority and visibility of the Askablogr site - which in turn reflects its "link authority" back to the participating members.

Due to this cooperative structure, there currently isn't a way for members to have their Askablogr Q&A appear only on their blog, and not on the Askablogr site. This obviously limits the appeal of the service to members who wish to keep their blog posts confidential, but by their very nature as a public communications tool there are few blogs that fit this description. If yours is one of these and you'd rather not appear on the site, please let us know and we can remove your listing from our membership. Thanks again and best regards, Chris

Ask Askablogr a question.

Member Question: How To Reinstall Your Askablogr Widget

Q: When I changed my blog format, I accedently lost your widget :o(Where can I find the code to replace it?Thanks,Rachelhttp://rachelsartjournal.blogspot.com/

Asked by artofmyth

A: Hi Rachel, thanks for asking. You can always grab a new copy of your widget code from your member profile page. Here's what you do:

1. Log in
2. Go to your member profile page
3. Click on the "Edit" link
4. On the right side of the Edit page, click on the "Widget" link

Select and copy the widget code on this page, then go to Blogger's Layout menu and use the "Add a Page Element" wizard to reinstall.

Hope that gets you there - let me know if you run into trouble and thanks for using Askablogr!

Ask Askablogr a question.

Member Question: Is There an "Ask Everyone" Option?

Q: Is there a way to throw a question out to the community at large?

Asked by JonKnight

A: Hey Jon, thanks for the question and interesting idea. We've been pretty wary of leaving the door open for spammers to abuse Askablogr, so this isn't a feature we've considered. Given our controls for ignoring questions and blocking users, I can imagine offering the option to registered members, but it still makes me a little nervous. I'd love to hear how you'd use it, and if there are other members out there who would also like to see this feature come to life. Just comment on this blog post to let me know your thoughts...

Ask Askablogr a question.

Member Question: Threaded Conversations in Askablogr?

Q: It seems people are using Askablogr to ask follow-up questions to their original question to keep the dialog going. Is there a way to post the related question as a question on the post in my blog?

Asked by Corky

A: Hi Corky, glad to see your Askablogr Q&A activity picking up, and thanks for the question. We've also noticed that our Q&A are creating conversational 'dead ends' and have been noodling on the best way to address that. My current 'hack' for this problem is to include a link in the current post to any previous post(s) it refers to, but that's admittedly not the most elegant solution. Another option we've discussed is to create a "threading" feature allowing readers to post follow-on questions to their original question, with all the related posts presented together. We haven't come up with a clean way to do that yet, but it's an option we like. The final approach we've discussed is to add a comment system similar to the one found on your blog platform, but that's just recreating one of the problems we're trying to solve (i.e., conversation via comment instead of up in the posts themselves).

Your question has increased our focus on this problem, and Craig and I will take a fresh look at alternative approaches when we meet this week. Thanks for bringing it up, and don't be surprised if I circle back to get your feedback on what we're thinking about.

Ask Askablogr a question.

Member Question: Do We Support Multiple Blogs In One Profile?

Q: Can I have more than one blog added in my profile?

Asked by Catus Lee

A: Hi Cactus, welcome to Askablogr. I'm replying via my Askablogr account as a demo to show you how I've handled this. Right now, we don't support multiple blogs under a single member ID. Because I maintain two blogs - my personal one and the Askablogr product blog, I created two different member accounts, that route questions to two different email addresses.

I'd be interested to hear from other members if this is a popular request. If so, we'll add it to the feature request list and tackle it in a future release. Again, thanks for the question and welcome to the community. 

Ask Askablogr a question.

More Testing: Anonymous Q&A Autopost to Blog

Q: Craig believes he's worked out the issues with auto-post of anonymous questions. I'm asking another anonymous one to verify that's the case.

Asked by Askablogr QA

A: When I post this answer, here's what I expect to see:

• An answer confirmation screen that includes links to the Q&A on Askablogr, and on the Askablogr blog
  
• The Q&A should be inserted as a post on the Askablogr blog
• That insert should include a footer link to ask another question, so readers who consume the posts via feed reader see the option to ask questions.

Let's see how this goes...

Ask Askablogr a question.

Askablogr Question: Widget Install Hack for Unsupported Templates

Q: My blog has a *very* customized template, so you can't install a widget in it. Can't you just give me some HTML? Also, your widget will clash with my site -- Can I use my own CSS? Why the 200 char lim

Posted by royleban

A: Hi Roy, thanks for the question. Our recent wave of member signups has exposed a lo-o-o-ong list of areas that need attention, and supporting more types of widget installs is high on that list. Although I don't currently have a programmatic solution, a hack that several members have put in effect on their own is to register their blog so the automatic insert works, but strip the "ask me a question" url from the widget code and create a custom Ask button that works on their site. This doesn't give you access to the "recent askers" photostip, but it enables the basic flow for you and your readers. You can grab your individual member "ask" URL from your member profile page.

Thanks for the heads-up on the issue - we'll be scrambling to chase this and other feature needs for at least the next several weeks.

Askablogr Question: Q&A Workaround for Platforms that Disallow Javascript

Q: Using a WP.com blog that I believe strips <script> from the code. Is there a workaround?

Posted by toddwaller

A: Hi Todd, welcome to Askablogr! Not sure we have a workaround for the full script, butIf you just want to enable the ask-anwser flow, you can take the URL from the call-to-action (e.g., http://www.askablogr.com/question/ask?blogger_id=foo, where foo is your member ID) and drop it in as a text link in your sidebar. For this to work, you need to have registered your blog via the 'full install' option.

The widget works fine in most WordPress installs that we've come across so I'm also wondering if there's just a setting you can change to enable jscript widgets? (I'm not a WP master, but will dig around a little and see what I find). 

Please Ignore: Just Registering Askablogr @ Technorati

Technorati Profile

Askablogr Question: When Will We Support Movable Type?

Q: Hey, when can we expect Movable Type Support? I know you support WP. I wanted to gun this into our blog (blog.questionpro.com) -- but got stumped. Cannot plug into MT...

Posted by Vivek

A: Hi Vivek, thanks for the question and sorry we're not able to support Movable Type users just yet. Long story short, we started with the easiest ones to integrate with (Blogger & TypePad) and are working our way down the list. Movable Type is the next platform on the roadmap, and now that you've made the request Craig and I will talk about how to get it done sooner. Glad to know that Askablogr is of interest and we'll circle back with you when MT is ready for action.

Member Question: Blog URL Structure and SEO

Q: I my main goal is to make my blog search engine friendly, I guess like most everyone!
Thank you very much.
Joseph

Posted by karado58

A: Hi Joseph - I'm going to answer this question and your three previous ones with one post. Long story short, SEO is more art than science and I'm a novice in the discipline, not a grand master. My advice on how to get readers to your blog starts with publishing unique and relevant content within a relatively narrow and consistent topic area. If you're doing that, do it every day and keep doing it for a while, you'll start to see the traffic and readership you're looking for no matter how you set up your domain.

That said, as long as Google includes the URL of your page in their results, you might as well make your URL structure as specific and reader-friendly as you can. So if your URL is a compound three letter wor, both crawlers and humans are going to be able to understand the "three_letter_word" format more accurately than they are the "threeletterword" version.

On the topic of top-level domain vs. subdomain for your blog, I've always thought that the cleaner and shorter your URL, the more likely users are to trust your site and perceive it as a high-quality destination. By that logic, three_letter_word.com would be more "trustworthy at a glance" than three_letter_name.three_letter_word.com (or three_letter_word.com/three_letter_name.htm, for that matter.

Hope that helps, and thanks for using Askablogr!

Reader Question: How to Build Blog Readership

Q: How do I get readers/subscribers? Any tips will be helpful. I've joined several groups/communizes... but I'm still new to blogging.

Posted by Lunatic Lodge

A: Remember the joke about the tourist who asks how to get to Carnegie Hall? The answer: practice, practice, practice. For a blogger, the shortest and best path to a large and loyal reader base is equally simple: publish, publish, publish. Assume that Google is the front door to your blog for most readers, and write often and with a point of view about the topics that interest you most; the people who are looking for fresh content on those same themes will find you and your ideas via Google first, and word of mouth second, after you've built up an initial audience.

Blog entrepreneurs like Nick Denton (creator of the Gawker family of snarky opinion blogs) have mastered this art - they hire paid bloggers to post on time-sensitive subjects, and to get 10 or more posts up on each blog before noon eastern time. This is probably out of reach for the average amateur blogger, but it's a proven formula if you have the time and can deliver unique content.

The next step once you have a base of great content and a distinctive voice is to build links, first by seeing if other bloggers who write on similar themes will add you to their blogrolls. But until you have a voice, there's not much chance of winning links - most people want to know what kind of site they're sending their readers to before they'll add a link, and the only way to answer that question is to publish early, often and well.

Hope that helps and thanks for using Askablogr. 

Reader Question about Blog Platforms

Q: Hi, first of all.. I'm enjoying this site!

My question is: Besides Blogger, where is a good place to start a blog?

Posted by Lunatic Lodge

A: Hey Lunatic - thanks for the question. AFAIK, there are four major blogging tools / platforms out there, each catering to a slightly different audience. Blogger - now owned by Google - is the default choice for most people because it's free but works (and gets regular upgrades) as well as any paid platform. Live Journal is also free, but hasn't seen much development since it was acquired by Six Apart (and recently divested to a Russian holding company) - it tends to attract younger and "edgier" voices. TypePad (also owned by Six Apart) is the default paid platform, and corporate users like it because it offers more customization options than Blogger, while still being easy to use. WordPress is the developer and technophile's choice - open source software that's very well maintained by the community, offers the widest range of customization options, but also requires the greatest technical chops to use. Hope that helps, and thanks for using Askablogr!

Open Startup: Askablogr Lets Down a New Member

Q: Chris just asked me a question, but when I published my answer I got a "We're sorry," page. So I tried again with the same result, but the answer also appears to be published twice now.

Posted by Amanda Nicole

A: Hi Amanda - I'm very sorry that your first time trying Askablogr was such a disappointing one. All software has bugs, but user-impacting bugs are the worst. When the first experience a new user has with your application is a negative one, it can be very hard to rebuild the trust and enthusiasm they showed by signing up for your service.

Askablogr may still be an "alpha" (meaing pre-ship or prototype) service, but since we're out there asking for signups and feedback we need to be quick to respond when a user encounters an error, to try to win back their trust and turn their negative experience into a positive one.

We've seen this same bug once before, and Craig and I thought we'd identified the root cause and fixed it. Looks like that's not the case, so it's back to the hunt for us, with our most sincere and abject apologies to you.

Thanks for giving us your time and trust in trying Askablogr - we're now in scramble mode to win your heart back!

Askablogr: First 24 Hours

So we "officially" opened up the alpha version of Askablogr to the public on Friday, and as with any new product release there were some high points and some low points. The high point was our first "outside" signup by Katana (thanks, Katana), and the low was a series of bugs that Katana ran into trying to get the widget set up and answer her first question (special shout-out to Natalie, a.k.a. Nanook9828, for that first question).

We also marked our first "where did they come from?" signup and install by Roger (thanks, Roger). Katana found us through a comment on her blog, but I don't know how Roger heard about us (I asked him a question via his Askablogr widget but either we have a bug or he hasn't responded yet).

Finally, I'm not 100% sure but it also looks like we got our first spam signup (it's a little hard to tell b/c they didn't include a link to their site, but Unlimited Success World Wide Website sounds a little commercial to me).

My biggest worry right now is that our blogger experience isn't as slick or polished as it needs to be. Signups and installs seem to be going OK, but the post insert process seems a little fragile, and the formatting of the inserted posts needs some work. If bloggers - the main user group for Askablogr - are going to keep this widget and feature it on their sites, we're going to have to make the experience of answering questions easier, better, more fun and better looking (and we need to improve it before we move on to other features on the wish list, like answer feedback scores, the blogger leaderboard, even Wordpress integration).

All in all, though, it's been incredibly satisfying to get this app that was just an idea in my head out in to the world for people to play with, even in its current clunky and fugly form. Thanks to everyone who's helped out in ways large and small, and a huge shout-out to Craig, our architect, developer, tester and troubleshooter.

Friday, January 18th is Askablogr's Day Zero

Q: So when is Askablogr going to be ready for anyone to use?
Posted by Chris DeVore

A: We shipped our first working version of the product about a week ago, but once we (and some of our more indulgent friends and family) had a chance to play around with the service we decided to do a little more polishing before spreading the word. Don't get us wrong, we're still very much in the prototype phase, but some things (especially our first rev blog widget) were too clunky even for us.

Knowing that (a) we could tinker forever if left to our own devices, and (b) once a few real users get their hands on it we'll have more feedback than we know what to do with, we've promised ourselves that we'll stop messing around and start inviting users by this Friday (January 18) at the latest.

So give us just a few more days to fix up the jankiest bits and we'll be open to all comers, warts and all!

Who needs Askablogr?

Q : Who needs Askablogr?
Posted by Chris DeVore

A: Everyone! (just kidding). But we think anyone who has a blog and enjoys connecting with their blog readers will see value in pulling at least some of those conversations out of the comments field and into the posts themselves. For this audience, the biggest benefits we see are:

• Inline Q&A: Askablogr combines reader questions and blogger replies into a single post which (if you choose "full install" during signup) are published to your blog automagically, with clear Q&A formatting to make these posts stand out for your readers.
• More exposure for your blog and content: Every Askablogr Q&A exchange is posted first to your blog, and then to the Askablogr site with direct links back to your blog. Every participating blogger also gets an Askablogr profile page summarizing their Q&A history, and frequent and highly-rated posters are also featured on the Askablogr home page. The more you and your readers use Askablogr, the easier it will be for other Web users to find you.
• Readers are people too: Once they've asked their first question, blog readers also get a permanent profile on our site, including a picture, links to their blog or site, and all the Q&A they've participated in on any Askablogr-powered blog. We embed a link to this profile in every question they ask, so you can always get a sense for the person behind the question, even if they don't have a blog of their own.
• Spam-proof: with Askablogr you don't have to put your email address on your blog for spammers to grab. We handle message routing between bloggers and their readers anonymously, and require email authentication of anyone who wants to submit a question. Bloggers can also permanently block questions from specific members, so bad actors can be turned off as soon as they show their hand.
  
• Fun: Maybe it's just us, be we think it would be cool to be able to see what kinds of questions are being asked and answered across the blogosphere. We included tagging on the Askablogr question form to make it easy for people to browse Q&A by topic, making it easy to discover new and unrelated blogs that are discussing the same thing.

Q What is Askablogr?

Posted by Askablogr

A Every blogger is in coversation with his or her readers, but those "conversations" are typically buried in comments and hard to follow. Askablogr is a new, free service that invites blog readers into the conversation "up top" in the blog posts themselves. Bloggers can install the Askablogr widget and receive questions from readers without publishing their email address. When they answer a question, it's automatically formatted as a blog post and inserted in their blog. The Q&A exchange is also published on Askablogr, with links back to the blog post, making it easier for new readers to find.

We're Live! (Sort Of)

Askablogr went live on January 8. We're not really open for business quite yet, but give us a week or so and we'll be able to show a little more about what we're up to.