Can you believe that on one given day in a street if you asked a bunch of people they wouldn’t know what a browser was?
Video 1: What people think a browser is – Youtube video 1
Video 2: What a browser is – Youtube video 2

There are a multitude of browsers on the web to download right now and new things are being added to them all the time. Some browsers, like Firefox, have add-ons which are little applications that you can use whilst you surf the web all by loading up your browser!

Anyway, with all this talk of browsers, I thought I would draw you to the new Google Chrome app store, which has apps for everything (sound familiar??)… Yup now Google have taken charge of their own app store right in the browser.

You can download social apps like Facebook and Twitter to update what you’re doing whilst checking up on the world, or if you are a gaming person or just want something to pass the time you can install games that work directly from a browser window. They have just added Angry Birds and there are ones for the spelling bee in you with word games but I want to review a few of the ones that may actually be useful to a web designer like yourselves…

Before I give you the suggestions, identify what you would like to achieve and what the problems are right now. This will determine what sort of action to take.

Do:

Number 1: Submit your blog to www.boagworld.com/forum

This will allow real web designers to give you help on design, content, and spelling mistakes!
When submitting it there, put it in the Website Critique section and read the posting notes before you post anything.

Number 2: Make a viral video and post on Youtube

If you make a viral video you can bring more potential customers to view your work and you may get all over the world!

Number 3: Email advertising

Once you have a blog set up you can send emails out to your readers/subscribers and tell them what they will expect each month. You can include your video viral in emails. It is great to look professional so make your email stand out from the crowd. HTML emails are great, but provide a plain text email option too.

Number 4: RSS and Apps

If you want to you can learn how to make an app for your iPhone/iPod. This will let your audience read the blog without being stuck infront of a PC to read it! Also you may make a page on Facebook or any other social network to help your blog grow. And when you have that page you must engage with your fans/followers and post often, relevant content. No spamming though.

Number 5: Blog Awards

If your blog is good enough it may get onto other sites and win awards.

Dont:

Number 1: Pirate Content

Copying other sources word for word to make it look like your own is illegal and will not look good, so may damage your reputation. If you are going to copy then put what you want in quote marks (those are those things that look like a single/double speech mark).

Number 2: Don’t Spam

Spamming other blogs with your links will not look cool, and it is not clever either and will also damage your reputation. By all means post a link, but only one and make sure it is relevant to the blog that you are commenting on. Also on social sites spam may not be tolerated by people.

Number 3: Don’t Neglect

Once you have a blog, do not neglect it! Post things that you want people to read, but dont post till you have something worth while that people want to read. Read other magazines and articles telling you how to get the most out of your blog and treat your users with respect!

-

I’m sure there are things here I have forgotten to mention but if there is then I’m not perfect!
Please leave comments below and add any ideas that you wish!

Ah, only kidding. I am not giving away food nor even talking about the classic Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich, but I am talking about cyber blog-food… SPAM.

As I go through my blog comments this is what I have been reading:

a) I am definitely bookmarking this site and sharing it with my friends
b) Very outstanding site
c) The message here is genuinely important
d) I will invite my friends
e) I usually don’t post in blogs but your blog forced me to, amazing work… beautiful
f) I am reading this article second time today
g) Keep up the good work
h) Look forward to read more from you in the future

Question is: Do I or do I not post them? I’d like to think that they were really thinking that my blog was amazing and had some genuinely important messages but I dont feel it is because the real people arent stepping forward…
I know spam means that it is usually bad, but at times like this when you see an excellent comment you want to post it because you like it when people like what you have said and understand your reasoning behind the article…

I’m not asking for sympathy or even a reason why this is happening. I think it is great my site is being found, but not if only by bots, droids, martians, dodos, daleks and anything else that is programmed by hackers etc. My blog is far from being a spam ground for the insects to feast on… It is however a haven for all the real people who wish to gain advice and knowledge on most easy to moderate web publishing/editing tools, and the tricks of the trade!

I have had this blog/site since July 2009 and I have had a mass of spam. Most of it being about things totally unrelated to this site. It has really annoyed me and I have enabled the necessary spam catcher, in my case Akismet, but not sure if I want to go the whole hog with a capture too. I would like something like I have seen on other blogs where there is a sum like 2+2 and you have to put 4 in the box… but would that turn posters away or would it make them feel safer because they knew the site was safe and capturing spammers?

I hope to have some ideas on this please, so feel free to comment. Bots comments of course will be EXTERMINATED!!

I may be able to ask questions and get answers but I think it is how they answer and communicate which can be the problem.

If they dont know exactly what you can do for them, help them by giving a mini CV of the sort of things that you can produce.

I had this sort of a problem with Rayna Disabled Rider where I knew what needed to be done but the client didnt seem to know what she wanted which made me uneasy. I had some people there to help me with it but if they were not there I’d have probably not taken the challenge very easily.

The other thing that annoys me is when little tweaks need to be made to a site and they assume I know exactly what they want in place and I dont unless they tell me.

I also love clients because they help others see what I am capable of and may help me to develop my already learned skills or even learn new ones!

So when you next book time (very precious) with a client, then use it to gain as much knowledge as you can about the task in hand. If you can then ask the same question a million different ways!