Blogineering

One of the reasons that you should choose a hosted WordPress blog over a WordPress.com blog are plugins.  Plugins are small pieces of software that you can integrate to your hosted WordPress blog. Most plugins have a specific purpose.  For example, a statistics plugin monitors the number of page views, number of unique visitors, and other related information about your blog. On the other hand, a back up plugin backs up your blog periodically. The short video below discusses more about the basics of plugins.

There are about 20,000 plugins located at WordPress Plugin Directory.  Some are paid and some are free.

One of the common feelings running through every newcomer in blogging is the enthusiasm – over-enthusiasm, actually, to go on and create as much content as possible to jumpstart their blogs. This is because a lot of them are already “counting the chicks that would hatch from the eggs”.

Indeed, blogging can change lives. Others, meanwhile, have used their blogs as platforms to promote their services. Definitely blogging opens a lot of opportunities for anyone who has committed themselves into it. Others in fact have become millionaires. That is why once a blogger has set up his mind to create a blog or website, he is very eager to start as soon as possible.

However, after several weeks of setting up the blog and everything, and then starting to write your content on a regular basis, you will eventually come to realize that what you initially thought of blogging is very, very different to what you are experiencing right now.

First and foremost, you will surely, at one point or another, run out of ideas to write about. This is the most common pitfall in blogging. It’s like having a writer’s block. But the funny thing is, there is definitely a lot to talk about. You just won’t know how or where to start again. Therefore in blogging, it is definitely important for you to have fun doing it. Because if it is starting to be a chore, then it will take the excitement out of you, and it will feel like you are blogging just for the sake of having content in your site. There should always be room for fun. Read the rest of this entry →

In my last post, I discussed how to automatically import blog posts to Twitter via Twitterfeed. In this post, we learn another way; that is, to use Feedburner to feeds to Twitter. Of course, before following this tutorial, you must have a Feedburner account and a Twitter Account.

Steps in Importing Feedburner Feeds to Twitter

1.) Login to your Feedburner account.

2.) Select the feed that you want to import to in the My Feeds… page.

3.) In your feed page, click Publicize tab and then click the Socialize link.

4.) In the Socialize page, click Add a Twitter account button.  This will take you to a Twitter page where you will be asked to log in. Log in to your Twitter page.

5.) After logging in, go back to Feedburner page. You should see your Twitter account as link.  To finish,  click the Activate button at the bottom of the page.

After step 5, each time a feed is posted, it will be automatically imported to your Twitter account.

A lot of people nowadays maintain blogs. Initially, it is the web version of diaries. But with the openness of the internet, blogging has evolved into something quite beneficial for bloggers—be it for personal, social, or business purposes.

For now, we will focus on the personal benefits of blogging.

1.       Improves your writing skill

In blogging, you have to be a good writer to be able to turn out quality posts. If you are not that confident of your writing, blogging will help you improve your article crafting skills over time because not only will you write, you will also be compelled to read a lot of materials online to get your ideas from as well as to visit other blogs to build your community. Such activities will not only enhance your vocabulary skills, you will also get bits and pieces of how to write really good content for your blog.

2.       Expands your knowledge base

Because you will need to read lots of articles – blogs, news, and definitely, articles from Wikipedia – you will definitely increase your knowledge base because of the amount of information you come across. Blogging will also help you become a better researcher because oftentimes, you need to have a good grasp of what you will be writing about.

3.       Name and fame in the blogging world

Continuing to write quality posts in your blog will eventually lead to your readers wanting to know more about you, and recommending your good posts to their friends or networks. And because you are writing about your interests on certain subject matters, people will get to see your expertise on that particular subject, and soon your subscriber base who shares the same interests will definitely grow.

4.       Building a network

This is related to Point 3. As people with the same interests get to know more about your blog and your expertise on the subject you are writing about, this will lead to your community or network of other bloggers. You will eventually be opened to the world of other successful bloggers, and know their thoughts, ideas and opinion on your topic.

5.       Motivation

Knowing that people do read your blog posts, and seeing their wonderful comments or constructive criticisms, will really push you more to write more on the subject and deepen your understanding or knowledge of the subject you are writing about. You will be motivated to write more and connect more with them.

6.       Income

Definitely, a lot of bloggers out there have monetized their blogs after a certain period of time of maintaining them. In fact, the potential income part is one of the reasons some people do jump to blogging. But of course this is not easy; you have to establish yourself first in the blogging world, and you have to make sure your articles are really relevant to your readers. This way, they will continue to visit your blog, and after a while, start interacting more with you through your blog. Eventually, as you gain the name in your subject matter in the blogging world, potential advertisers in the same space would get to notice your blog, and as they begin to feel confident, advertisements/sponsorships could begin to come in. But of course there are no shortcuts to this. You have to religiously update and maintain your blog, interact with your readers, and build your community.

We have learned how to automatically publicize and share to Twitter in a WordPress.com blog. In this post, we learn how to automatically publish posts to Twitter from a hosted WordPress blog. Before following the tutorial, be sure that you have set up a Twitter account and an RSS feed.

Instructions 

1.) Register a Twitterfeed account.

2.) After registering, login to your Twittefeed account and your Twitter account.

3.) In your Twitter Dashboard, click the Create New Feed button

4.) Type your feed name in the Feed Name box, paste your RSS feed in the next box, and then click the Continue to Step 2 button. This will bring you to the Available Services of the Feed Publishing page. Notice that  Twitterfeed can also be integrated to Facebook,  Linkedin, Status net and Hellotxt.

5.) Select Twitter in the Available Services list. This will bring you to the New Twitter Service page.

6.) In the New Twitter Service page, select the click the Authenticate Twitter button. This will take you to a page where you will be asked to “Authorize Twittefeed to use your account. Now, click the Authorize App button. Your authenticated Twitter account name should appear in the Authenticated Twitter Account list box.

7.) Now, click Create Service button at the bottom-left of the page to finish.

After doing the steps above, everytime you posted a new article, it will be automatically imported as tweet in your Twitter account.