When I launched my first blog, I thought it would be easy. I read a bit about it on the Internet and saw some of the successful blogs that had been launched. Because I had a strong technical background and access to top-notch graphic professional, I assumed I was in for an easy ride to popularity and riches. After reality hit, I realized it's not that easy, I worked without a plan or any concrete guidance, which was my first mistake. What were my others? Read on and learn. Find out how you can plan your next blog for an exceptional launch, or improve your existing blog to be more successful. 1) Create an Action Plan Much in the same way we create business plans, we should also do the same for successful blog launches. Among the more obvious, some things you'll need to pay extra attention to are: Domain name. Is it easy to remember. Does it describe the blog? Measurable goals. Does your plan include tangible goals that you can measure and evaluate? Does it include contingencies. Budgeting. Have you evaluated and included all foreseeable expenses? What about a financial buffer - What happens when an unexpected expense occurs? 2) Use Reliable Hosting Make sure ...

I just received an email (about a new blog post earlier today). The questions was "...you mentioned [blog] update services and pingomatic, what is that...?" For those of us who use Wordpress, it's a feature you can configure in the writing settings of your blogs administrative area. Simply log in and go to "Settings" - "Writing" and look near the bottom. You will see the following: "When you publish a new post, WordPress automatically notifies the following site update services. For more about this, see Update Services on the Codex. Separate multiple service URLs with line breaks." Many readers subscribe to such services and will see that you have new content posted. By default, Wordpress only notifies rpc.pingomatic.com. The list below contains another 145. Make sure you back up your wordpress files and database BEFORE adding this to the "Update Services" of your blog. http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2 http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc/ http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://pinger.blogflux.com/rpc http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://1470.net/api/ping http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://api.moreover.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php http://bitacoras.net/ping http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://www.blogoole.com/ping/ http://www.blogoon.net/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1 http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php http://www.blogsnow.com/ping http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/ http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php http://ping.amagle.com/ http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2 http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/ http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2 http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2 http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/ http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de/ http://rpc.pingomatic.com/ http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php http://www.blogsnow.com/ping http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping http://api.moreover.com/ping http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://api.feedster.com/ping http://api.moreover.com/RPC2 http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2 http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/ http://ping.blo.gs/ http://ping.feedburner.com http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/ http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/ http://rpc.newsgator.com/ http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2 http://topicexchange.com/RPC2 http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2 http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de http://1470.net/api/ping http://bblog.com/ping.php http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://rpc.pingomatic.com http://ping.weblogs.se/ http://blogmatcher.com/u.php http://coreblog.org/ping/ http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php http://ping.myblog.jp http://ping.bitacoras.com http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/ http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/ http://xmlrpc.blogg.de http://1470.net/api/ping http://bblog.com/ping.php http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC http://www.wasalive.com/ping/ Please let me know if there are any others! - Cheers.

I just got of the phone with a client who asked me how he can effectively respond to readers of his blog who keep asking for free help. In this case it was an issue of readers who were asking for personal assistance, which would cause extra work for my client - Work for which he'd not earn money. Additionally, he indicated that sometimes he just does not have the time to respond properly (or at all). How do you diplomatically say "no"? How do you turn such requests into revenue generators? How do you manage numerous requests as your blog grows? One obvious approach is to ignore requests from your blog readers. That's a 100% solution to saving time and improving productivity. However, in my opinion it's not an effective approach for several reasons. Notwithstanding this approach will almost certainly damage the reputation of you and your blog. It would also reduce traffic as there'd be no valuable communication with your community. And to be blunt, that's just plain stupid. If you're not going to listen and communicate with your community, why even have a blog? For blogs that are more established (having greater readership) one good way to respond to ...

Well I’ve finally done it! I’ve launched a new blog! This has been a long time coming, and I’ve still a ton of work to do on the design, graphics et al. However, it was imperative to at least get this blog launched and running. For those of you who do not know me, I’m a web developer and hosting provider. I provide related services but I also provide advice and consultation services. One of my pet projects is conducting (free) web seminars that teach business owners how to launch web sites, market them, improve them, garner an understanding of the technical aspects of web sites and servers, etc. You can find a bit more of my story from another blog I operate named Ubuntu Linux Help. Here’s the link ubuntulinuxhelp.com/why-i-quit-windows-and-switched-to-linux that will provide those interested, with a bit of information on my technical background. The motivation for this blog is borne out of the excessive number of questions I receive about web site, blogging, web site promotion, video streaming, how to earn money and so forth. My vision is that this blog will contain that information in an easy to use site.