Ben posted his list of WordPress plugins, in 3 parts. In the last post he mentioned a plugin for putting your writer profile/ bio at the end of each post (which I do) or keeping it at the footer of your blog, not in the sidebar. I disagree with this. Yes, there may be other things you would like to give that blog space to, but… what else gives people their first impression of your site and yourself more than a little blurb about you and what your site is about? I really think this is important. Here is what I wrote in the comments on Ben’s blog. It’s in two parts because I made two comments and Ben replied in between. Go read it from his blog to see everything. I only quoted myself.

I don’t agree about the author bio being relegated to the footer or just at the end of the posts. The first thing I look for on a new blog is something about the author and the intent of the blog. I can skim down the list of posts and guess at who wrote them but it’s not the same. If I read the about or a quick bio/ profile I am far more likely to identify with the blogger and become interested in reading the blog. I will also link to another blog just because I liked the bio and felt it was someone worth keeping track of. (Even if none of the current posts really caught my interest).

I come to read your blog because I know you. Over years online you’ve become a familiar face. When I visit a blog for the first time, it’s stepping into a strange land, new territory. Finding something familiar, that I can identify with makes a huge difference in my first impression and it will decide me on whether or not to stay and read. If I don’t find something to identify with I’m very unlikely to return to the blog. The content would have to completely amaze me and almost no blog does that any more. A lot of people won’t see your footer to find you on your site. It can give the first impression of being empty content, written and left out like a brochure. I think people need to see that there is a person behind the site. I think I just gave myself my post for the day.

I’m working on a blog to display my ASCII art and the art from other artists which I have collected and gathering electronic dust bunnies on my hard drive.

I had a struggle to get the ASCII art to display in plain text without warping to the left. Then I found the Preserve Code Formatting plugin. It works! I just have to keep the art from getting too close to the left margin, that seems to throw it off a bit.

If you want to format your text as plain text, with a plain fixed font this will work for you as well. Might be a nice change from using blockquote as a method of highlighting text. At times the text we are using wasn’t a quote, just something we want to give an extra emphasis to.

This blog is almost 6 years old (anniversary January 2, 2006). This blog has over 1750 posts. The archives for this blog are extensive. Very few people would want to look back and try to find anything in particular in the archives. It would take awhile. Instead people search using words, not dates.

But, here we have all these nice archives. Built up over years, something to look back on with pride. It’s a shame to waste them.

I’ve been feeling I need to make changes with this blog. A new outlook, something to make it more personal for me again and something that focuses on what I really do know about and experience versus what I think I should be and do. I don’t give myself credit for anything I can do well, instead I pick on myself for anything I’m not great at. So too much of my focus goes into trying to become someone else. Meanwhile, the great things I already have get pushed to the back.

Looking into my own archives, everything I’ve been doing these past 6 years in this blog, is a way to reconnect with myself and figure out how to get where I want to be and how I can change and create something fresh.

Resources to Read:

Confident Writing: What’s Hiding in your Archives and How to Find the Treasure in your Archives

ProBlogger: Updating Old Posts on your Blog

Franklin Bishop: 6 WordPress Archive Plugins

Avoid burnout.

If you want to stick to daily posts on your site you have options.

• Write the posts a week ahead and then schedule them to appear daily.
• Instead of writing a long post with many points divide it up. Use each point as an individual post and turn them all into a series, interlinked on your site.
• Get help. Find someone else in your niche who would like to write but doesn’t want to do it alone, or doesn’t know HTML, etc.
• Use borrowed content. There are many sites which offer contributed content. Read the rules at each site.
• Write shorter posts. Go with an illustration or draw a web comic one or more days of your posting week. You’ll still be busy posting every day but the change of media could keep it from getting stale and give you fresh insights.
• Revamp your blog layout, template or theme. Giving the site a new look makes it feel new again, or at least not the same old routine.
• Change the format of your posts. Write in point form or make a list post once or twice a week instead of the standard paragraph form.
• Write ahead for seasonal posts. That way you know you have at least one day off to look forward to.
• Interviews and product reviews can be kept in a stash to be posted when you want to take a week off without notice.
• Most people have a 5 day work week. You can take off weekends and still be considered to be posting daily. (It’s a personal choice).
• Exchange content with another writer. Or, arrange to exchange blog babysitting so he/she writes for both blogs one week and you take on both blogs the next week.
• Run an event. It could be a contest or something with the idea of social networking/ community building. You will need to promote it and get others involved but it also gives you something to write about each day as you talk about your idea and the progress you are making.
• Finally, just take a week off. Announce it in your blog and give the date you will return. Try to stick to the return date unless you really do decide to abandon your site once you are away from it.

Do you delete comments because the commenter didn’t have enough to say (in your opinion)?

I read a forum, there was a post by someone who felt discouraged about their writing. They weren’t getting enough comments. In the comments from this post, someone said they delete comments based on their value. For instance, they delete comments which say, “Me too.”, “Good post.” and so on. These comments are deleted because they don’t add to the discussion or bring any new information.

Well, I think that’s just plain stupid. (To be blunt).

Think about the times you have left a comment on a blog, forum or site. Maybe your comment wasn’t the most brilliant thing posted. Maybe it was the first comment you posted to that blog. Maybe you weren’t sure how much you really wanted to say but you did want to leave some kind of comment. Maybe you only posted the comment to encourage the writer and let him/ her know you had read their post.

After leaving a comment do you just move on and forget about them or do you check back and see if the writer gave you a follow up comment, or pop in to see how the discussion in comments went? Most people who leave a comment have something invested in that comment. Even if it isn’t saying much in the actual text. People check back on sites they have commented on. How will they (or you) feel if the comment is gone, deleted?

Chances are you won’t feel appreciated. How likely are you to comment in that forum, blog or site again? Not very!

It’s one thing to moderate comments to prevent an overly heated discussion, discouraging remarks, and of course, junk comments. Moderation and the style and standards used are up to the site owner. However, to over moderate could be a bad plan. You may think you are trimming the fat but you could be cutting off your nose to spite your face. Not a pretty picture.

Read & Trust- is committed to gathering together the best independent writers available – the ones recommended by the writers you read and trust.

It’s all men. Yet, there are endless women writing online.

Maybe we still aren’t taken all that seriously? I thought we had outgrown the time when all women bloggers were seen as personal or Mommy bloggers. Women are writing for impressive sites, have worked for important sites and start ups and successful projects of their own creation.

Note: I am not picking on men, or on Read&Trust. I just noticed there are no women on their list. I was surprised.

I started reading this and liked the rhymes. I would have read more, probably right to the end, but the formatting (a block of solid text) put me off. I skipped down and read some lines from the middle and then around the end. What a shame the writer didn’t take the time to format their work and make it easier to read.

I tried and failed. I couldnt prevail. My path derailed. In my own fairytale. I couldnt see what I needed to see. All this time you were misguiding me. Here I thought you were setting me free. But I was to blind to see reality. I heard your voice clear as day. When I saw you walk my way. I wanted to leave but you begged me to stay. For so long I stood at your side. Not knowing I was,building my own prison to,hide. Blinded I was so filled with pride. I was dieing and that I denied. I wanted so bad to stop this bleeding. To heal a scar that was never leaving. To wrap real love around this wound. Leave this world I will real soon. When I am gone dont call my name. I will ignore you as you did the same. Will you see the tears I cried or closely feel my pain. All the lies are just a bloodful stain. It scars me, a good girl I cant maintain. I look at you hate runs through my vains. Why couldnt I brake free before? Oh, thats right cause I was the one you adored. I was scared a bit paranoid. I thought that I loved you but truly what it was. I was looking for someone to love. This heart that I hold loses control. It confuses emotions and, of what it ought to know. Faliur is powerful when you feel its your fault. The world can tell you different. Yet you tell them to hault. Corruption of the heart, mind and soul. Trying I was but this is unbearable to hold. Will you die mentally? Will you stay traped, when I brake free? Will you feel what you did to me? Do you feel anything? I doubt it, just like everything. I guess this it I’ll take my leave. Thnxx again for nothing.

via Thnxx For Nothing on PNN.

It’s all about offering extras, those little things that make one blog stand out from another. Give people something extra.

Take the information you want to write about and present it in a unique and interesting way.

• Use a quiz as part of your post. Highlight information and confirm your message.
• Give a widget with your RSS feed.
• An infographic (becoming a trend) can give your information in a visual way.
• A hand drawn post. Write it long hand, add some lettering, illustrations, etc and take a photograph you post to your blog.
• A web comic is visual and uses humour.
• Start a blog tour. Invite others to join and set a date for the tour.
• Try a blogging marathon. Set up how often and how long you will post for.
• Create avatars for readers based on their blogging personality.
• Audio like a podcast people can listen to.
• Video posts (though I’m not a fan of anything in a big, clunky file).
• Turn your blog into the focal point of a community for people in your niche. Bring everyone together to talk.
• An ebook. Turn your post into something that can be downloaded and read offline.
• A mini directory post. Pull together all the great resources you can find and turn them into a directory of information.
• A social web application or blog plugin, etc. For those who have (or get) the know how.
• Create a (WordPress or other CMS) blog theme/ template and offer it for free.
• Go with a little controversy. Debate the less popular side of a pro versus con.
• Start an event. Like ProBlogger’s 31 Days to a Better Blog.
• Create a seasonal/ holiday web graphic (add text with best wishes/ seasons greetings) free for the taking.
• Interview a popular blogger, someone well respected in your niche.
• Run a contest. Make sure you have a prize worth winning and you get our winner to confirm they did get it.
• Give out awards. Pick the ‘best of’ in your niche and create an award they can take from your site.
• Promote another blogger, someone who inspired you or had valuable information.
• Write a yearly round up with the best, most inspiring, etc. blog posts you’ve read in your niche.
• Ask for information. Ask your readers to ask their friends/ readers/ followers too.
• Write about how you solved a problem, step-by-step. Use illustrations.
• Run a survey. Ask for feedback and opinions about your own site or the topic you write about.
• Create an index of authorities in your niche and give links to each of them plus their Twitter  and RSS feed links.
• Review a book or other product available. Pick something useful/ new to your readers.
• Thank someone. Write a post thanking another blogger for something. Don’t stop at just one.

Small packages bring good things. Turn what began as a plain text blog post into a small, contained unit of information like a quiz, infographic, widget, web comic, web graphic or something else small and simple which can easily be shared through social media and links.

Wikipedia: Link Bait

Link bait is any content or feature, within a website, designed specifically to gain attention or encourage others to link to the website. Matt Cutts defines link bait as anything “interesting enough to catch people’s attention.”

Resources:

Blue Glass: Overlooked Linkbait: The Value of Widgets, Quizzes, and Other Interactive Content.

Sam Tilston: How to Write Linkbait

ProBlogger: 20 Linkbaiting Techniques

Smashing Magazine: Golden Rules of Linkbaiting

rebekahELLE (rebekahelle) on Twitter.

I get tired of the focus on celebrities too. I’m always curious about how the world works and I’m passionate about the things that matter to me. I hope everyone is!

I started Men’s Style on Scoop.it, mostly as an excuse to look at men in suits. I don’t mind admitting how nice it is to look at men dressed up and looking good. As I began looking at content (it’s a curated content blog sort of site), I realized how many fashion blogs there are geared to men. Not all of them are good, of course. Some are really great.

It’s funny the things that can make one blog great over others which have good content, navigation, layout, etc. If you think about it, what is the one thing that makes a blog stand out for you?

For me it’s whitespace. Having space and a clean look to the blog. This includes not having a lot of ads and other stuff cluttering up the sidebar. But, some blogs go bare minimal. For me this makes them look professional, easy to read and better written even. They may not be at all better than another blog which isn’t so clean-looking, but it’s the first impression I get when I see that simple, clean site.

Have a look at some (or all) of the men’s fashion sites/ blogs I’ve listed. See if you can decide what one thing makes or breaks a great blog for you.

• The Dandy Style
• Real Men Real Style
• PRZMan
• The Art of Manliness
• Guy Style Guide
• Samuel Jing
• The Urban Gentleman
• A Man Fashion
• Dapper Lou
• The Dandy Project
• Style Savage
• French Truckers
• Calculatus Eliminatus
• How to Talk to Girls at Parties
• Man Blog
• Fashion Bits and Bobs
• Men Psychology
• Kate Loves Me
• We Could Grow Up Together
• Fashion Blogs