BLOG MANAGEMENT BIBLE-I

This article will cover few basic tools,smart tools & smart ways of blogging.I truly wish my readers profit from it.

The first step to eternity starts when you choose right from wrong.Blogging field is no exception if you ponder the philosophy there.Tools ranging from bloghosts to blogediting softwares and photoposting softwares to feed providers do matter in the long run.And tools alone not determine the results your blog produce.There are areas which seem unimportant yet the are capable of turning the blogging experience upside down.Blogmanagement bible-I will cover toolselection,organization,monetization
and maintenance.Blogmanagement bible-II will cover tips&tricks you didn't know.You can leave your questions and suggestions as comments.

Lets get some smart tools
1.Bloghosts:This is the first decision any blogger would evertake.While many opt for personal domains bloghosts become the option for many.Choosing a bloghost can be confusing where many heavyweights are offering free blogging platforms.The most popular in the business are:
a.Blogger Beta
b.Wordpress
c.Typepad
d.Movable type
e.Live journal
f.Yahoo360
g.Msn spaces
My personal reccomendation will be 'Blogger Beta' because after recent bugfixes and declaration of completion it defenitely is here to stay.[why choose blogger beta?].Simplicity is a notable factor in the beta version and managing it is a cakewalk.Beautiful dashboard,impressive layout and decent compatibility,it is an excellent choice.

2.Blog-editing softwares:Smart blogging starts with blogediting softwares.These editors not only equip you with ability to do off-line blogediting but also gives you other excellent options you wont regret.Blogediting softwares are attaining impressive popularity.Some are simple and handy while some are complicated and brilliant.Here also the competition is tough with each editor having wonderful features.And what makes them even better is that they are free.Three best ones you will find are:-
a.Windows livewriter beta
b.w.bloggar
c.Qumana
Windows livewriter comes from the microsoft stack and requires .Netframework to run.It has excellent features.Its a 5mb download.The opensourced w.bloggar is simple and cool yet very efficient.Its a 2mb download.Qumana is equally good and requires java for its running.And this one is a 10mbdownload.My personal reccomendation will be windows livewriter beta for its impressive interface and functionality.It makes authoring a cakewalk and the publisher can know how the post will look exactly when published.It supports a web preview mode as well as a html view mode.Here you won't have to preview your blog each time after you make a change as in the case of conventional blogging.As far as photo-publishing is concerned,livewriter allows you to modify size of the pic,apply borders or even add graphic effects to it.

3.Picture posting softwares:Though blogger has an inbuilt photoposting feature,it is not so productive when resizing pictures to fit in.There comes the need of using professional tools to get the job done.One tool which does the job brilliantly and yet is free is "Hello" from picasa.It allows you to post photos directly to your blogs.And moreover its a free software.You may also need to cut and crop the pictures or do some editing.I would reccomend Picasa for this purpose.Its easy to handle.Gimp is also a good option but picasa is outstanding.

4.Web browser:One important tool which will ease the blogging process is a right internet browser.While internet explorer is good we need much more than that.I would recommend mozilla firefox.Its functionality is bravo.Bloggers need a multi-functionality browser and firefox is the one.


5.Online scrapbook.Majority of blogging ideas arrive when bloggers stumble upon something while surfing .If you're not in a mood to blog about it at that moment,the chances are you type about it in your notepad and name it "to blog".Well there's a better idea.Why not copy the stuff to an online scrapbook.Google notebook is such a thing which you cannot ignore.You may ask how unproductive is this stuff when you need to copy something and go to another website log into it and paste the item.Here comes the relevance of the browser i mentioned earlier.Firefox has a google notebook plugin which you can get at the mozilla website.It will stay at the bottom right corner and when clicked will open into a small popup window where you can paste the 'item to blog'.

6.Feeds:Giving option to readers is essential to get loyal readers.Feeds are certainly growing faster than expected and reading posts in your feed reader is much more convenient compared to visiting the sites at browser.There are many feed providers in the business,the best one i could find is feedburner.Highly impressive interface,decent statistics & reports and lots of stuff to customize,feedburner is smart&sexy.link


Lets go to the next level

7.Content:The basics to smoothen the process of blog-management is over,now we will move to advanced stages.One thing you should never compromise is your content.Never write in a superficial manner.Its very important for every blogger to know that there are readers for every content.Write you passion.Keep it original.Give it a personal touch.Content is indeed the most important requiste in getting traffic and ofcourse the basic idea of blogging is to get readers for what you write.

8.Blog monetization:Bloggers also need to eat and drink.Blogs are certainly a good source of income if you know what to do where and when.Thanks to google adsense,chitika and a few others that bloggers have been kept alive not only with bread and water but with good remuneration for the hardwork.Blogs are advertiser's paradise and they know it.You need to sign up for a publisher account and wait for the e-mail.Google adsense remains the best when it comes to blog/website monetization.Since there is no obligation that you cannot display ads from different providers you can choose the ones you like.Chitika e-mini malls,blogads and yahoo adcenter are a few good alternatives for adsense.

9.Traffic:Blogmonetization is incomplete without traffic.The best way to get traffic is search engines.Once you get listed in search engines give time for the results to show.In the mean time you can work to give your blog some exposure.The techniques i can reccomend you will further lengthen the article.So i will post is very soon as a seperate article.


10.Monitor:The next thing you will want is to monitor your blog traffic i.e. how many people visit your blog,when do they come in herds,which ads they click.The best way to know all these is to get a google analytics account.As the name suggests its all analytical.

11.Stay organized:This is generaly a tip.Keep a folder dedicated to your blog in any drive of your harddisk with considerable amount of space.This will do a lot good in the long run.Make a folder for posts,one for pictures and one for other multimedia.Make one more folder and copy installation files of the blogging softwares you use into it.Never know when it comes handy.


Blog management bible-I ends here.Hope it was useful.If you wish Tips180 to include any subjects in Blog management bible-II,leave it as a comment.Tips180 always appreciates comments.