reflections

My Utile Center

January 2nd, 2009 Blog Make Money Fast Idea

How do you come up with the best idea for a blog that will make you money fast? This is yet another fairly common question from people just starting out in an online business or enterprise, who somehow learn of the gold mine that is called a blog.

The direct answer to it is that you should strictly stick to what you know best. At least for your first make money fast blog idea. It is the only way that you will be able to churn out enough useful information to make your blog interesting and useful. These are two features that will contribute enormously to helping you pick up traffic fast.

People are able to sense fairly fast what is genuine and useful information and what is generally little else but hot air. When they find genuinely useful information that is difficult to find elsewhere, they will quickly reward you with many repeat visits to your blog and that is how you make money fast from a blog idea.

Creating useful information is really the most important thing for anybody seeking to create a blog. The other stuff like the idea or ideas to use to turn your blog into a make money fast machine is really a secondary issue.

Learn more about the best home business opportunity from a blogger who rakes in thousands of dollars… and growing from their home business.

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January 1st, 2009 Blog and Ping is Dead

Unfortunately, this formerly reliable method of getting listed in Yahoo seems to be dead. I have used it a few times over the last month to try to get some new pages listed in Yahoo and there has been no action at all.

Previously, you could easily slip through the back door in Yahoo by setting up a blog on blogger.com or another blogger website. Then set up a MyYahoo page and subscribe to your own blog on that page. It was simple and fast. Then all you had to do to get a page listed was to blog that webpage with a link to it and presto - you were listed.

Unfortunately, this method was the subject of that old internet problem - spam. Instead of getting a few pages once in a while from various webmasters, Yahoo has been inundated with sometimes hundreds of pages a day from webmasters who never even looked at their MyYahoo page.

It would have been logical for Yahoo to have set it up so that you had to look at MyYahoo once in a while to notice the blog that you posted, but that was not the case.

In any event, Blog and Ping seems for the moment to be dead. So, until the next traffic flash in the pan comes along, I would be a bit wary of any ebook or package that claims to give you an inside track into the search engines.

Ron McCluskey has been marketing online since the early eighties.
Now he has a growing internet empire and is willing to
share his knowledge at Monthly Affiliate Income
Pick up some great free products while you check out some extremely profitable affiliates at Affiliate Treasure Hunt

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December 31st, 2008 Making Money With Blogs

Making money with blogs is fairly simple if you know what to do with your blog to make it profitable. From layouts to content, there are ways to start making money with blogs. As more and more people turn to well-written blogs for information, making money with blogs will become much easier.

First, content is king. Although your layout may have some impact on your visitors, content is the most important part of your blog. You need to learn to write and write often so you are making money with blogs. After all, a true blog is really a weblog that tells the reader about something. While you may not be making money with blogs about your dating life alone, your blind-date escapades can draw in traffic to your site with the right kind of writing.

Blogs allow you to write about anything from your cat’s favorite toys to the political hot potato of the day. Making money with blogs, though, requires you to get into a niche. Most people use AdSense for making money with blogs, and the more targeted your blog may be, the more targeted the ads may be. If you are writing about dating, you will want to use a lot of dating keywords in your content. This way the AdSense bots will pick up on the topic and the ads around your content will all be focused on dating sites. Since you will be making money with blogs from the number of clicks on those ads, your content needs to reflect the type of ads on the sides of your page. This way, your visitors will read your content about online dating and then click on the ad right next to it.

Making money with blogs also means keeping your content fresh. You need to update your blog virtually daily. Visitors like consistency. Once they find a blog they like, they come back often to see what is going on. Good bloggers have very loyal followers. They also click on ads. Be sure you are posting fresh content regularly so that your visitors are compelled to find out what happens next. This will increase your chances of making money with blogs.

You also need to keep your posts clear if you want to be making money with blogs. The spiders that crawl over your content will be looking for sales pitches or nonsensical content. Your blog needs to be commercial free, but you need to write with the intent of your visitors ultimately clicking on the ads. Making money with blogs means knowing how to motivate when you write. If you do not know how to do that, then you may want to take some writing courses or hire someone to write your posts.

Read the rest of the article here - Making Money With Blogs.

Charles Fuchs - EzineArticles Expert Author

Visit our Home Based Business Opportunities Article Directory and receive valuable tips, strategies and techniques designed to grow a very successful Home Based Business.

Copyright © Charles Fuchs is an established Six Figure Income earner and one of the top online marketer’s. He specializes in showing people the Best Home Based Business Ideas on the internet.

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December 30th, 2008 Are Blogs Replacing Websites? There are Benefits and Challenges

Are static websites being replaced with dynamic blogs? During the past year, several marketing and communication pros suggest that a trend has begun. And one of the best-known ad agencies in the country is already on board. The move makes sense for several reasons, as we’ll discuss. But first, are blogs really replacing websites?

The look and feel of blogs has changed since their introduction. You’ll notice static web style pages on almost every blog you visit. When taking a closer look, it becomes clear blogs are not, in essence, replacing websites. The two are merging and the result is a full-functioning communication tool - a better mousetrap if you will.

Whether you consider your blog a “tab” on your website or your website a “tab” on your blog - let’s face it, aren’t they becoming one in the same? What’s driving the merger?

One driving force is simplicity; another is the recent proliferation and success of organized Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing campaigns. WOM is red hot and adding a blog to your web presence is a mandatory step when launching a campaign.

Blog Benefits

  1. Static web pages quickly become stale. Blogs are dynamic and remain fresh.
  2. Blog software is inexpensive or free, user friendly, and software update costs are minimal.
  3. Contact information, portfolios, and similar “web style pages” are easily incorporated into blogs
  4. Blog conversations build relationships with your clients and prospects
  5. Potential clients get to know how you think, as well as learn how well you communicate and write.
  6. The numerous links in blogs are favored by search engines such as Google and Technorati
  7. When professionally maintained, blogs are excellent word of mouth (WOM) marketing tools

Challenges Remain

  1. It is time consuming to post relevant and compelling content daily and respond to comments
  2. Time spent blogging takes away from billable time for service professionals
  3. Overworked and under budgeted marketing departments lack the resources to staff blog projects
  4. Blog management plans must be prepared, and marketing budgets modified and approved (i.e., reallocation of website expenses to blog development and staffing)
  5. Blogs still have somewhat of a “wild west” reputation and they are not considered mainstream by most - although the trend has started, we’re not there yet.
  6. Corporations are slow to change. Replacing a corporate website with a blog is a difficult concept for marketing managers to sell management.

By Greg Magnus, a freelance writer and owner of eoecho.com; a communications consulting firm that provides strategic, yet sensible, WOM marketing services. He can be reached via email or you can leave a comment on his Blog: http://www.eoecho.com/gregmagnus/ ~~ Strategic minds with knowledge, will travel.~~

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December 30th, 2008 Get Blogging

To blog or not to blog, that is the question. It really isn’t a question at all. If you have a business you should, no make that, have to blog.

Blog, shorthand for weblog, began as an online diary where bloggers would chronicle, for all interested, the mundane doings of their day. There is some reader interest in this journaling, but only to the extent it makes you feel better about your lot in life.

Business owners quickly learned a better use for blogs. There is a hungry cyber audience looking for advice and you sure can advise in your online writing. Write enough, engage readers, and you become an expert. Imagine customers asking you to solve their problem, and oh, by the way, sell them what they need.

The big search engines like blogs a lot. Most bloggers see their website ranking and fortunes rise. There are thoughts as to why this is so, but suffice it to say it has to do with content. The more relevant information you provide, the higher you rank.

When you build a blog, look for a free template. They are professional looking and easy to use. There are lots of them found online. Google’s Blogger is one of the top choices. To get popular, follow the same rules you do with your website. Pen lots of meaningful content, link to other like blogs or websites, and make the weblog easy to navigate.

What should you write about? Information for which your customers are hungry. What is that? Think about the questions you get from customers every day. Still not sure. Build a box on your blog where readers can pose queries.

Start building a blog. It is a critical marketing move. You should, no make that have to start now.

Brian Grinonneau - EzineArticles Expert Author

Brian Grinonneau is the general manager of McMann & Tate Advertising, an agency that insists its clients tell their story like it has never been told before.

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December 29th, 2008 Introduction To Blogging - Part 3a: Setting Up A Blog On A Free Host

Okay, you’ve decided start a blog and you’ve put together a rough publishing plan: how often you’re going to post long and short articles, who is writing, who is editing, who is managing the webmaster-related tasks (blogmaster). [See link at bottom.]

If you’re a small business owner, you’re probably going to have to wear all of these hats. But if you’re prepared, the next step is to set the blog up so you can start posting articles (sometimes called “entries” or even “posts”). (All links shown at the end of this article.)

You have two blog hosting choices:

  1. Set up your blog on a free host such as Google’s blogspot.com, or Typepad’s Livejournal or WordPress’s WordPress.com.
  2. Set up your blog on your own domain that you’ve registered and that you own.

This article will focus on choice #1. A follow-up article will discuss choice #2.

If you’ve visited any number of blogs, no doubt you’ve seen little text ads crying out “free blog”. There are numerous choices and this article has no intention of listing all of them. While I have registered with several free hosts including Typepad and Wordpress, I’ve found that Google’s blogspot.com uses a very simple, easy to use blogging platform and client (interface) called Blogger.com - so I’ll focus my example on these services.

To clarify, Blogger.com has both the blogging “platform” and the “client“. A blogging platform is the software that generates the blog pages for you. Examples include MovableType, WordPress, TextPattern, Drupal, and Blogger.com. Every one of these platforms has an administrative panel page where you can manage your blog - add, edit, and delete articles; add article categories; etc.

The admin panel page is typically called the blogging client and its features are platform-specific. However, there are standalone software applications - also called blogging clients - that you can download to your computer, and which do not work from a web browser.

With these standalone clients, you can write your blog entries and pretty much post to any of the platforms. That means you can have one client to manage multiple blogs on several free (or private) hosts. (But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.) I’ve tried numerous standalone clients, but use two of them exclusively.

One is Zoundry.com’s BlogWriter, which is a true standalone client. The other is Performancing.com’s Firefox Extension (PFF), which works as a panel within the Firefox web browser. (While I find both of them highly efficient, I am not necessarily endorsing them.)

Other choices are Qumana, w. bloggar, Loch Journal, amongst many others. For those of you familiar with Microsft Word, Blogger.com has a plugin that lets you manage your blog directly from MS-Word. You don’t have to learn a whole new interface - beyond the setup stage.

As this article is intended for absolute beginners to blogging, I’m focusing on Blogger.com’s platform and default interface. The steps are relatively simple, and you don’t require a degree in computer programming to set up a blog - unlike some of the other platforms.

  1. Go to http://www.blogger.com and sign up for a free account. (I’m using them as an example. Feel free to pick whatever you like.) The form will ask you to enter your real name, a screen name, a password, and email address. If you have a GMail (Google Mail) account, use that. For your screen name, keep in mind that it will appear at the bottom of each article/entry that you post live to your blog. So pick something suitable. Rules for names are provided.
  2. Now create a new blog.
    • You’ll be asked to enter a title for the blog and a sub-domain name.
      • The title will appear at the top of your blog at all times - unless you change the page template. (More in a future article.)
      • The sub-domain name will be part of the domain “blogspot.com”. For example, if you are starting a blog to promote your plumbing fixtures store, you may want to use something like “home-plumbing-tips”.
        • This will mean that your blog address/URL will be http://home-plumbing-tips.blogspot.com. (Some bloggers and readers don’t like hyphenated sub-domain names, but I see nothing wrong with them.)
        • You could, of course, use something like “plumbing-fixtures”, but it will not convey the idea that you are providing helpful tips.
        • Now it’s entirely possible that someone has already registered the subdomain you want on blogspot.com. If so, you’ll get a warning message and you’ll have to choose another sub-domain name.
        • As a result of this, some of my blogspot.com blogs have fairly lengthy sub-domain names, which are easier to remember because they’re hyphenated.
    • You’ll also be asked a number of other optional questions, and be given a chance to enter the URL of a digital picture of yourself, if you have one elsewhere. (There are several services, including http://flickr.com, that let you upload pictures and graphics for free. The only drawback is that the terms generally say that in return for free hosting, other people can use your images, with some conditions.)
    • Next, choose a page template. All of the free hosts have some pre-formatted page templates. Pick one from the samples displayed, and you can customize it later - although this does take a bit of technical know-how. Once the template is selected, Blogger.com (or what have you) will create the blog for you, and you can start posting entries.
  3. Post a “Welcome to Such and Such Blog” entry.
    • You should see a button that says something like “start posting“. What’ll happen is a edit page with a form will appear. There will be fields for the article/ entry title, the body text, and a date/time stamp (which defaults to right now). There will also be a number of tabs that let you use the large text area like a rich-text editor. Play with the tabs and “buttons” a bit; get acquainted.
    • On blogger.com at least, there is a link that says “show preview“. You can click this link and see what your article will look like formatted (but not with your template features). When you’re happy with the “welcome” article, click the “publish” button. (If you’re not happy but don’t want to lose what you’ve written, you can click the “save as draft” button and come back later to edit and publish.)
    • Depending on the time of day, and since this is a new blog, the article should publish very quickly. You’ll see a message like “100% complete”. Voila, you now have a live blog. You can click on the “View site” tab to have a look.

You now have a blog. Get acquainted with the adminstration panel. Most of the popular blogging platforms have fairly thorough details, but sometimes they may be a bit too technical.

Now that you have your blog live and running, the next step is to post several more relevant articles in short succession, then start promoting your blog. I’ll talk about blog promotion in Part 4 (after 3b, which is an overview of setting up a blog on a private domain).

Links: Part 2: Planning Your New Blog

Raj Dash - EzineArticles Expert Author

Raj Kumar Dash is a writer, author, and Internet consultant. Visit his hubsite at http://www.chameleonintegration.com/ to find the full introduction to blogging. (A free ebook on blogging is in the works.) Newbie bloggers can also visit Raj’s BlogSpinner blog at http://blogspinner.countwordula.com/ for a “how-to guide to blogging”.

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December 27th, 2008 Fun Free Feed Tools For Both The Publisher And The Reader

As you’ve probably been reading, there are basically three problems many webmasters have with web feeds (that is, among those who are already familiar with them on a basic level).

The three concerns I hear the most are:

“How do I deal with the bandwidth hit?”

“Is there a way to include information that isn’t in the automated resource I use to populate my feed without touching any code?”

and

“Where can I find a cost-effective, simple way to display feeds on my site?”

Say Goodbye to Bandwidth Overages with FeedBurner

http://feedburner.com

If you’re a publisher, chances are, you’re familiar with the bandwidth increase that occurs every time your audience reads the latest update to your feed that for some webmasters lead to the possibility of exceeding monthly bandwidth limitations. There’s an easy solution.

Burn your feed with FeedBurner. They’re happy to take the burden off your server. (And yes, they say, FeedBurner is one word.)

Whether you’ve just created your news feed or you have been RSS-ing for years, you can create a free account at their site. Their service will also:

  • translate your feed from Atom to RSS or vice versa,

  • make a browser-friendly page that explains what web feeds are to the new user,

  • allow you to splice any link into your feed using some of the more popular social bookmarking services.

FeedBurner also allows you to study your demographic by giving you statistics on how many request have been made for your feed contents, down to the item if you like.

Though I offer both the burned version of my feed and the original to my audience, they love the extra information my FeedBurned link provides them.

Social Bookmarking -Share More Info with Less Hassle

http://furl.net

http://bloglines.com

http://del.icio.us

Social bookmarking allows you to create a bookmark online, and share those bookmarks via RSS.

Some services even allow you to share your collection of links, as you can do with the service from del.icio.us . Furl.net, newly acquired by LookSmart, also adds the capability of saving an old version of a page you have visited with the bookmark feature. And at Bloglines, you can get ezine subscriptions via feed by subscribing through a special address they give you.

All three of these services can be coupled with FeedBurner to splice external links - or other internal links from your own site - into the “burned” version of your feed.

Display links on your site for free with RSS Digest

http://www.bigbold.com/rssdigest/

You’ve heard about the value of displaying feeds from other sites (with permission of the publisher, of course) on your site. The theory is that the frequently updated headlines add freshness to your site, which results in more frequent visits from search engine spiders. This can lead to better rankings for the site carrying the headlines, and more backlinks for the feed publisher. Everybody wins.

For the most part, I’ve found this to be true, with a feed that frequently updates, at sites that have suitable content for both the visitor and the spiders to enjoy.

The trouble for many smaller web property owners is finding a cost-effective manner in which to employ this technique. Most free tools that do this with javascript are fine for site publishers who are using the headlines for content, but if you also want the search engine benefits, it doesn’t help as many spiders don’t register content that appears in this format.

RSS Digest will do this for you in HTML, as recently reported in Search Engine Journal.

It’s not as sophisticated a tool as CARP or RSS Equalizer, but if you want to offer your feed to an audience and they don’t mind using an IFRAME or pasting PHP code into their pages, this will do the job just fine.

If you’re good at supplying tips, finding resources, or locating fresh information, after viewing some news feeds for yourself, you might find that you’re ready to take the next step and publish one. If you’re already a publisher, utilizing some of these free tools may help you build a better feed.

Either way, good luck!

Copyright 2004 Tinu AbayomiPaul

About The Author

Tinu saw a 75% increase in site traffic using only promotion of her web feeds, not taking into account increased exposure in search engines. She compiled her findings into a quick, ever-evolving guide this past July that you can download from http://www.freetraffictip.com, in addition to the semi-daily free traffic tips you’ll find in her blog.

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December 27th, 2008 You Can Accomplish Great Things! Yes, I’m Talking To YOU!

“You will fail! There’s no chance you could ever do such a thing, so don’t even try!” Has anyone ever told you something like this? Have these words ever toppled your great plans for success? How did it affect you? Did you put your plans away for another year? Every morning I make my 10-step commute from my bedroom to my office where I turn on my computer, and of course, talk radio. One day I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh show where he was talking about golfing, one of his favorite topics. Some listeners don’t share his love for golf. But after he finished his story, I think even listeners who think the word club is just a place to hang out at late at night, enjoyed this story. He described some very technically advanced golf clubs that pro golfer Tom Watson had given him as a gift. Everyone told Rush not to even try to use these clubs, saying his golf skills were lacking. The reason? The sweet spot on these clubs is the size of a quarter, which required the talent of a professional golfer. Well you guessed it, Rush used the clubs and golfed better than ever. His point: people will tell you not to try something more than they will tell you to go for it. Your mission: do it! Don’t listen to people who say you can’t do something. It’s a good thing Jean Harper didn’t listen. In 1959, Jean was in the third grade, and her teacher asked her to write about what she wanted to do when she grew up. Jean wrote that she wanted to be a pilot, but her assignment came back with an F on it because her teacher told Jean that women couldn’t be pilots. Fortunately, in high school Jean had a teacher who told her the opposite, that she could do it, which gave Jean the motivation to pursue her dream. In 1978, she became one of the first three female pilot trainees accepted by United Airlines and one of only 50 women airline pilots in the nation at the time. Now’s your turn: What kind of business do you want to start? Are people telling you to not even try? Look, nothing great was ever accomplished because it was easy. Also, people who try and those who accomplish great tasks have something in common: They enjoy what they’re doing. Have you ever heard of a world-renowned chef who hated to cook? Or a sports star who hated her sport? Probably not. If you’re thinking about what kind of business to start, first look inside. Think about your likes, your passions, your God-given talents. Use these as your guides to living your dreams. Can you honestly say the following words: “I love what I’m doing with my life. I can’t imagine making a living any other way.” If not, this should be your daily goal! Just try it. I dare you.

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December 23rd, 2008 Intriguing Irrelevancies

The Internet links us all to a vast array of information-sometimes more than we expect, and to sources we didn’t know even existed. When searching for ‘online dictionary’ I pulled up a variety of ‘ordinary’ dictionaries, and such sites as etymology dictionary (www.etymonline.com). Adding ‘desert’ to my search query pulled up sites as diverse as: Dream Dictionary (http://www.soulfuture.com/dream_dictionary/dream_dictionary_main .asp) and The Astrodigital Online Dictionary of Meteoritics (http://www.astrodigital.org/astronomy/metdict.html)

Like a lot of people I sometimes get diverted from what I’m doing by this kind of interesting link appearing in front of me, of which is entirely irrelevant to what I’m doing. In this case, I looked up a definition of the word ‘desert’ which I subsequently found, but in the end didn’t end up using. My search had nothing to do with meteors called ‘fireballs’ which are much brighter than normal meteors because they are roughly the size of peas, some even the size of a grain of sand. I love discovering this kind of trivia. Thankfully, using the Internet makes researching much faster so I can spare a few minutes to connect with interesting web sites, and still learn what seeing a desert means in a dream, before getting back to connecting with the facts I need to know today. You know the next time I see a very bright meteor, I may remember it is a ‘fireball’, and why it is so bright.

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December 6th, 2008 Blogging Etiquette

Have you ever thought about the reasons that blogging has become so popular? Enter the word blog into any search engine, and the results are overwhelming. The phenomenon known as blogging has become one of the fastest growing features of the internet. It’s an advocate for free speech, a chance to imprint our thoughts and - ultimately - our individual selves on that vast unknown entity called cyberspace. By blogging we become part of the internet. It may be a miniscule part, but our blogs establish and affirm our presence in cyberspace.

My blog was born on 24 March 2005. I had no idea how the seed I planted would grow, nor the direction it would follow. Today I read through my first entries, and I see it hasn’t changed radically in the first ten months of its life. I think it’s become a bit more refined… but that’s my humble opinion! The inspiration for that first entry was the cell phone ring tone advert on VH1, featuring the character called “Crazy Frog”. Two days later I wrote about Easter in Greece. I followed that with a piece about reviewing on WDC. The fourth entry was about the news channels on TV, and the final one spoke about Zimbabwe.

Looking at the beginning of my blog I see it’s like a diary. The first entries covered Michael Jackson’s trial, Terri Schiavo, Prince Rainier of Monaco and Zimbabwe’s elections. I sit here, amazed that all these things happened almost one year ago - where has the time gone? And if it wasn’t for my blog I wouldn’t have a record of the events and the way they made me feel at that particular time. I suggest you all go back at look at the first few entries in your blog. You’ll probably see your writing has, over time, become more confident and more streamlined. Mine certainly has.

Blogs are representative of their writers. They reflect our thoughts, our minds and our attitudes at a specific moment in time. They are also a permanent record of the events at that particular time. There only limit to a blog is your own mind - how far are willing to let your mind go and how much of yourself you are prepared to divulge? You can write about any subject that interests you and take your writing in any direction. Bottom line - how much of yourself are you willing to share with the World Wide Web?

Which brings me to the most important feature of blogging - the readers.

They are the reason for the rapid growth of the blogging phenomenon. Without readers blogs would not exist - they’d be diaries or personal journals kept under lock and key. The comments and contributions to our entries feed the blog, inspiring our own entries and helping it grow. I find the feedback I receive encourages me to keep writing. The same applies to the blogs I read and to which I contribute. I can’t tell you how many blogs have inspired one of my own entries. Over time a blogger develops a fairly close relationship with regular readers, and the way these relationships are conducted are important if you want your blog to grow.

I recently read an entry in an offsite blog where a blogger’s entry claimed he didn’t care about the kind of responses his blog attracted. His reason: “the people contributing aren’t my kind of people.” My answer - and I did actually post this - was: “So why are you blogging? Keep a private journal if you don’t want or need interaction from other web users.” I stopped reading his blog after that, and when I checked yesterday I saw he’s still writing, but he’s removed the offensive entry!

Those who take the time to read a leave a comment in a blog are people, whether we agree with their opinions or not. I know - the difference is that we’re interacting in cyberspace with a screen replacing the face of an actual physical presence. But that doesn’t mean we have to lose our manners! Someone who’s read through an entry that’s made enough of an impression upon him or her to want to write a comment deserves some respect, even if his or her opinion is contrary to our own. Think about how you would answer that person if he or she was physically in front of you before committing fingers to the keyboard and pressing submit. Words typed and sent in anger are even more damaging than the spoken word, because a record remains in black and white for as long as the blogger chooses.

Let’s put the shoe on the other foot for a moment, and consider our response to an entry we find offensive. Perhaps it goes against our moral, political or religious beliefs. It may also be written in a way we personally find insulting. Instinctively the first reaction is to fire off an angry, critical response - but that’s not necessarily the right action to take. Many a time I’ve found myself wanting to respond immediately to an entry containing an opinion contrary to mine, but I’ve managed to restrain myself. Words spoken in the heat of the moment can be very damaging, and in this case attack is not necessarily the best form of defence. The chances of saying something you may regret later are very high indeed, so I suggest you think about what you want to say before responding. Ask yourself if the words you want to write are something you’d say to a person standing in front of you in a room full of bystanders. Remember the blogger isn’t the only person who will see your comment - everyone reading the blog will know what you’ve said. And once it’s there you cannot take it back. Only the blogger can remove your comment.

Conversely there should some respect afforded to the blogger. It takes courage to share one’s beliefs and deepest thoughts. My husband often says: “consider the source”. It’s a good guideline to use when reading blogs. We’re all “victims” of our own personal circumstance, products of different cultures, ethics and traditions. We bring our different personalities and beliefs to the world of blogging, which is one of the reasons blogging is so exciting. My own blog is a link to people from all over the world, and the fact that I would never be able to interact with such a diverse group in my daily life makes blogging a truly exciting experience… well, for or me anyway! When I write a potentially inflammatory blog it takes me a while, because I try to convey my own opinion in a frank and honest manner, without offending those whose beliefs may be contradictory to my own. It’s not easy, and requires a lot of tact and diplomacy - not to mention forethought! That’s probably why I don’t do it very often…

I think my journalistic training has helped me restrain myself when I want to reply to what I consider an inflammatory blog. I was taught not to write about something until all the facts are to hand. I’m not saying don’t respond; I’m simply saying think before you say anything. And if you really don’t know what to say then don’t say anything. Why not leave a comment to that effect? Or perhaps write an entry about how that particular topic makes you feel. I’ve always lived by the adage: “It’s better to stay silent and appear a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt”.

I find it’s a rule that works well when blogging.

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