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!

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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!

In this post I want to give a rough guide to the blog environment. I’m using WordPress to do my blogging because it is known all around the world.
Although I am pretty good when it comes to technology I was scared to delve in at first as I didnt know the software, but I am glad I did because I now use it on 3 websites of my own.

WordPress is free and you can get your own URL for your blog. I recommend buying a domain to host it on but that is the easy part. WordPress can be accessed from anywhere as it is an online platform. Usually your website address for logging in to your blog will be:
http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/blogname/wp-login.php
From there you can do all your normal blogging and maintenance and start to build yourself a mini community.

Here is a lowdown to get you understanding WordPress:

Posting

Big topics can be split into groups and categories. WordPress lets you assign your own categories and tags.
Categories are different from tags. Categories are to do with what groups a certain number of posts together in a wider range and tags are to do with what sort of things are mentioned in the blog.
For example if I had a blog about celebrities, I would have each celebrity I wrote a post about as a category and in each post I’d have tags to give a quick brief single word ‘summary’ of what you would expect from that post.

Media uploading

You can upload media (pictures) to make your blog pretty and break up text on your blog. Media is a great way of helping your readers to understand what it is that you are blogging about.

Blog themes

You can use blog themes to ‘wallpaper’ your blog. When you are ready for a challenge you can mess around with these themes and change anything that you want. If you are even more clever you can write your own.
There is a big library of themes to choose from and explore, and you can buy themes later on when you cant see any free ones that you like.

Plugins

A Plugin is a mini program that sits inside your blog till you want to use it. You can use a Plugin to stop spam occurring when people comment. Spam is usually comments that are not related to the post or blog and must be deleted. You have complete control of this in WordPress. Remember to check back often to see if the Plugin that you have got has been updated. Sometimes there will be a complete WordPress update and that may give you new features.

Blogging with WordPress is the easiest that I have come across yet. There is so much out there to help you have the best blog on the web!

Simple Jargon
Blog(n): Where you write your valuable information
Blogging(v): A way to convey thoughts and feelings to the world
Blogger(n)/Bloggers(plural n): Someone who writes content
Post: A single article on a blog

In this first part I cover essential tips for blogging, with my simple 4 part strategy known as EAPI.
In the second part I talk about WordPress and special features to make your blogging life more stress free.
Finally, in the third part I sympathise with bloggers and share ways to keep your blog stable and how to market your blog.

My simple system should get you well on your way to starting and maintaining a great blog: Remember – Experience Audience Point Inform

Blog To Share Experience

Blog on a topic you know about, and be sensible about the information you write. Explore and experiment with your blog content as putting the barriers up will stop exploration onto similar subjects. Keeping an open mind is great for blogging. Also, if readers understand what you are talking about you will gain respect and praise and maybe people will comment on your work. Research is key!

The phrase KISS will come in handy: Keep It Simple Stupid/Silly

Consider Your Audience

Be yourself and be chatty to make people feel at ease. Writing with passion will help your readers relax. If you need to be serious then this is also nice occasionally to keep the balance. Blogging for a teen audience is different to blogging for the older generation.

If your blog is for young people you can make the blog look funky and let your creativity flow. Older people may find that a blog with a hundred different colours is confusing. Avoid colour clashes with older audiences, instead go for subtle colours.

Keep To The Point

Keep each post short and to the point. If needed you can split the topic that you write about into multiple posts so you can post the rest another day. This prevents confused readers getting overloaded with information and navigating away from your site. This is mainly why I am splitting this blogging topic into 3 posts. Highlight key areas in BOLD to illustrate really important things.

Keep Audience Informed

Deciding to blog is a great thing and once you know what sort of atmosphere you want to create you are well on your way to success. However, blogs get forgotten if you haven’t written anything for a long time. Keep people up to date with news items and you will be popular and you may even see other bloggers write or talk about your work.

Escaping Bloggers Block

Keep a notepad handy to write post ideas in for later. This way you can jot down what interests you which will help posting when you lack content.
Look on other forums/blogs (search on Google) for advice and think about the future of your blog. This will help you to decide on the direction of future posting.

Good Luck!

I am getting really annoyed at my hotmail friends accounts which keep on sending me spam emails…. so I urge now for people to use Google Mail (Gmail in the UK) for their Emails. Here’s why:

• Users can create documents online and share them with friends
• Users have a cleaner less hectic mail space (useful for businesses!)
• Users can easily see and add people to their buddy lists
• Users get less spam and more space (and counting.. (google says))
• Great mobile access
• Quick loading
• Threaded conversations in Emails
• Ability to have Youtube account linked to your mail
• Google Buzz (Video of GBuzz)
• Share photos and much more!
• Save chat history online instead of on your PC…Also download a desktop client for chat if you want to!
• Vacation responder – for people when they are away from a PC
• Forwarding for emails (POP and IMAP)
• and loads loads more!

So there is lots of different things to try out in GoogleMail so go and sign up, have a play and tell me I’m right!

A week before the 22nd September I was sent a letter from the National Autistic Society (as I am Autistic) about various places and things I could go and join and do in my area. There was a poster in the mail for a special day where the voluntary sector etc were to be getting awarded with trophies for all their good work in the city of Portsmouth.
I went on the day and I knew why I wanted to be there: Linvoy Primus (Portsmouth Footballer) but I had to wait till the afternoon to see him.

I wandered down the first section of opportunities and then I saw the Girl Guiding station where I said: ‘My favourite place!’ and I got talking to the two people standing each side of the table.
What I had not realised is that standing next to me was Sheila Hancock! (I’d missed the opening for the event as I’d arrived a few minutes late into 10am that morning) I must have been talking to Sheila and the Guider for at least 10 minutes and then I asked her to sign my autograph book. She wrote ‘Good Luck!’ as a comment as we were talking about me not being able to get a job. I also got a photo with her and then went around each stall taking free pens and balloons etc that they were offering.

I really was getting excited that at 1pm Linvoy Primus was going to show! I got front row seat to see him on the stage and he was a bit late…. I waved to him and he waved at me! I watched him give all the awards out and then I waited at the end to say hello to him. (Ive met him before and I wasnt shy at all!)
I followed him outside with the people who had won awards or just wanted signings or photos. I managed to get a new picture with him and I gave him a homemade birthday card as it was his birthday on the 14th, which spookily is the same date as my dead grandads!

I knew that both were going to be there but didnt expect it to be as informal as it was. I had a fab day meeting both of them and I hope to meet some more again sometime!

However Rowetta did not get the message and I wasnt mentioned on the show… till….

I sent her a message privately on Facebook and Youtube
She actually read my messages out on air! I was really chuffed and she even said my name!

Please click the link below to listen to what I sent in as she read it out and her reply to it!
Ro mentions me on the Tez and Ro Show!
Hope I’m not gonna get into trouble for thieving this but I feel it marks another step in my bid to blog cool stuff!

So, There you have it… I AM now famous so that means I will be getting gifts through the post from all my fans who wish to send me stuff… yeah, right? Like hell!

Finally please follow my newly-found friend Rowetta on Twitter, and chat to her as she’s a cool lady!

I decided to go look at another free webs package from webs.com to see how free for all designing has changed and what you can expect from them. Will free website hosting completely disappear because of the lack of interest and wanting more options or will they continue to thrive into little online cities that govern themselves!?

When I made an account on Webs.com I was pleased at how easy it was to set up and get started adding things.

The things I like about it are:

• Easy quick photo albums… no code to worry about
• Ability to upgrade to a .com address if your site takes off well. (charges may incur straight away to your bank/building society)
• Stats for website which is hosted by a company called Clicky.com and it even allows for Twitter search. You can easily opt out of this. But I wont be going into detail about that as it isn’t what I am focussing on…
• Easy file uploader that can have multiple files sent in each upload… The files are shown in a nice clear way. In this website builder you can upload files by email which some free hosts will not allow… Even the free Geocities wouldnt let people connect using FTP!
• The format for a free site on Webs.com is http://yoursitename.webs.com/. Personally I think that is rather good as on Geocities free it would be your email address as the url which is a pain in the neck as people can spam your email and you can end up on a black list. so format for that is http://youremailaddress/index.htm
• Some Google account abilities from Google Webmaster.
• Email notification for numerous things including guestbook comments and new site members.
• WYSIWYG editing which is useful for people who can’t code in straight HTML.
• Community Forum where topics surrounding your site can be discussed and evaluated by others….
• Search Engine Optimisation for adding your site to Google and Yahoo etc which helps to be found easier. Site linking and sharing are part of the deal.
• Add social networks to your site so others can see what you are doing elsewhere: Twitter and Facebook integration. Members integration with Email Blasts so you can notify of new posts. Facebook Connect available.

Payments may incur when you decide the following:

• Google Adwords and custom display ads with iPromote.
• PayPal E-commerce (package details vary accordingly to what you have decided upon.)
• There are premium packages for more webspace and tools. Domain names only available on the Enhanced and Pro accounts. Multi email addresses also.

As a free website maker the free tools that are available are quite advanced to what other free makers are. If you want the site forever then I’d suggest you pay to get premium benefits and ways to enhance your site.

BUT I AM BACK now with a few posts which I think that you will love!

Please see what I am getting up to by following GoldChoiceUK Twitterfeed

I was at a private event/party and I knew a few weeks previous that Channel 4 were going to be coming to film us having fun in our group I belong to. I didnt know that it was to be a ‘celeb’ event and Anna Richardson was going to be intervieing people for the show. My mum came along and she was interviewed too and will hopefully go out in July… Date to be confirmed.

I danced the ‘Macerena’ and the ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ with Anna and it was all great fun!

I had a picture taken with Anna and I found out she is on Twitter and Facebook so I added her to Facebook and she added me back

Add her now on Twitter if you have it : http://www.twitter.com/annarichardso
Link to Anna Richardson on Wiki

Main twitter is still GoldChoiceUK.