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Greetings and welcome to Askablogr

Q: Hi

Asked by alex_brown

A: Hi back atcha.

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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.

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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!

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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

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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!

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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...

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