When setting up a blog one can go in two different directions. A blogger can either use a free blogging service, i.e. blogger, or buy a domain name for their blog, i.e. ajvaynerchuk.com. Personally, and obviously, I feel the best method is to purchase your own domain name and avoid all the junk that comes with a free blogging service. One major reason for this is the fact that I am a huge believer in branding. Using a domain name properly could ultimately result in a great brand. Using a free blogging service will almost never deliver a strong brand since the URL of the blog will not be unique but instead the blog will be generic. The other major factor in this debate falls under the idea of spamming. I covered this issue in my latest article “Try not to use free blog services.”
A new book has been released, “
iPhone the Book.” The book is “a documentation of the road up to the iPhone, the release day, and the days that follow. The book will include blog posts from the blogging community, photos, screenshots, a timeline and more.”
Featured stories in this book:
Shel Israel is co-author of Naked Conversations and a social media consultant.
Seth Godin is the author of The Dip, Purple Cow, All Marketers are Liars, etc.
Jason Kottke is a web designer and a well known full time blogger.
Derek Powazek is a photographer and started JPG Magazine.
Keegan Jones is a web designer for Firewheel Design.
Cameron Moll is an interaction designer and started Authentic Jobs.
Thomas Hawk is a photographer, social media enthusiast, and CEO of Zooomr.
Chanpory Rith is an interaction designer for Dubberly Design Office.
Derek Punsalan is a web designer and developer.
John Zeratsky is a designer at Google.
AJ Vaynerchuk is a web entrepreneur and started Wiitube.
Nick O’Neill is a social media consultant and started AllFacebook.
Noah Stokes is a freelance web developer.
Steve York is web developer.
Plain Jane Mom is a web savvy mom.
Jon Christopher is a web designer and developer.
Josh is a web entrepreneur.
The book, which will be available to purchase through LuLu.com as a softcover, perfect-bound, color book, was created and produced by my good friend Ethan Bodnar. From what I have seen of this book, and considering the people involved, I would definitely recommend you take a look into getting one.
Today I read an interesting article by Dawud Miracle - “Do You Brand Yourself in Your Blog Comments?” The article brings up an interesting point about branding and the importance of branding yourself in every blog comment. Consistency of branding will draw eyes to your name and then hopefully drive traffic to your blog/website.
I decided to take the branding a step further and go with “blog comment signatures”. I think the name is self-explanitory, and if you want to read my guide for how you should make your blog comment signature read my article - “How to make a blog comment signature.”
I can’t stress the importance of being involved in your niche’s community. Blogging at its root is communal, and if you aren’t involved, you aren’t any good. Creating relationships and adding credibility to your name/brand is almost as important as the comment you produce.
A simple comment signature at the end of your blog posts on other blogs can send you targeted quality traffic. I wrote an extensive article on this subject, check it out if you get a chance: Blog Comments Are a Great Source of Traffic
Alexa has finally put out a version of their toolbar for Firefox. Although it is about 3 years too late, there are still webmasters out there who are thrilled by this news. It is going to be interesting to see how Alexa Rankings will shift over the next few months. I am sure tech related sites will get a slight boost in the rankings, while sites that rely heavily on Internet Explorer users (myspace resource sites) will see a small decline in rankings.
Darren Rowse of Problogger covered the story here.
John Chow also made a comment or two pertaining to the news.
I covered the story in an article I wrote entitled: “Alexa Toolbar Released for Firefox: Top 10 Reasons Why This Matters To Webmasters.”
