{"id":158,"date":"2008-01-15T08:24:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-15T16:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/?p=158"},"modified":"2008-01-14T18:35:27","modified_gmt":"2008-01-15T02:35:27","slug":"10-basic-blog-building-bloks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/10-basic-blog-building-bloks\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Basic Blog Building Bloks"},"content":{"rendered":"

I occasionally do some consulting work<\/a>, helping non-profits and groups with fund raising and web communications strategies. I recently was helping a client with some Internet integration strategies and we walked through the basics of blogging. Here are my 11 Basic Blog Building Bloks<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Blog<\/strong> First off what is a blog? You may have been visiting this site for awhile, but do you know the difference between a blog and a website? Blogger<\/a> (major blog hosting company) defines a blog:
    \n

    In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what’s new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The term was derived from web log, which was shortened to BLOG!<\/li>\n

  2. Posting<\/strong> This is a fancy way of saying writing a note on your blog. I’m not sure where the term came from specifically, but it is similar to posting something on the wall for everyone to see!<\/li>\n
  3. Feeds<\/strong> or RSS<\/strong> RSS is Really Simple Syndication. Wikipedia<\/a> says,
    \n

    RSS makes it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner that’s easier than checking them manually.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    In other words a Feed or RSS allows you the reader to get blogs delivered to you or you are fed the blog.<\/strong><\/li>\n

  4. Feed Reader<\/strong> A feed reader or feed aggregator is a website or software that gathers all of your feeds and puts them in one location. It mixes all the ingredients (feeds) and serves them to your favorite meal on a silver platter (feed reader). I personally use Google Reader<\/a> I have also set up this blog to provide you with an e-mail option.<\/li>\n
  5. Interaction<\/strong> Part of the beauty of blogging is that there is the opportunity for interaction. The most common form of interaction is through commenting. Many readers express their thoughts about a particular post in a comment. I have appreciated those who comment on my posts and provide feedback! Anyone can comment even if you don’t have a blog. I have also provided ways for you to e-mail me more personal thoughts.<\/li>\n
  6. Advertising<\/strong> Some people are able to blog for a full time job! That would be nice, but not a reality for me. They do that through a variety of revenue generating functions. The most common is through advertisements. A quick browse through this site shows a variety of ads. Most of these generate pennies per click and some a % of the final sale of a product. It is a balance to make sure that you are not overwhelmed by ads but also optimize my ability to generate a small revenue stream! These ads are targeted so they are actually of interest to us and not a complete waste of space!<\/li>\n
  7. Content<\/strong> A blog is pretty worthless without content! You would stop coming to my blog if I stopped writing on it. You would never have come if it was just any empty shell. I am definitely not the best blogger in the blogosphere, but I try to present polished and relevant content for you. Consistency<\/em> and relevancy <\/em>are two important words related to content.<\/li>\n
  8. HTML<\/strong> Hyper Text Mark-up Language is the Internet standard language used to create websites. With something like Blogger it is quite easy to have a blog without any knowledge of HTML and most bloggers probably don’t. For some of the more advanced functions of this site I’ve had to learn bits and pieces of HTML code, but am not an expert. I often am having to search tutorial sites to find some specific piece of code.<\/li>\n
  9. Publicize<\/strong> Similar to advertising, but this is getting your blog known throughout the web community. There are lots of ways to publicize your site, but the easiest is to join a blog network<\/em> such as the Complete Running Network<\/a>. Getting yourself on their blog roll will exponentially increase your readership! Become active in running forums<\/em>, sharing your stories and ideas and linking to your blog when appropriate. Making sure that your friends and family know about your site, even adding it to your e-mail signature! Commenting<\/em> on other people’s blogs is also important. Blogging is about community, when you comment on someones blog others will see that and look back at your blog.<\/li>\n
  10. Blogging Platforms<\/strong> There are a variety of different companies that offer blogs. The most popular is probably Blogger <\/a>(owned by Google). Team Cross Runs is being written on the WordPress <\/a>platform (they have 2 options, either a hosted platform or a web-based platform). Typepad <\/a>is also a popular blogging platform. I would say that Blogger is probably the all around easiest to use, but WordPress offers some great benefits that once you understand can really add value to your blog.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    PS I purposely misspelled Bloks in the same way as Clif’s Shot Bloks!<\/p>\n

    Technorati tags: Blogging<\/a>, Basics<\/a>, How to<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I occasionally do some consulting work, helping non-profits and groups with fund raising and web communications strategies. I recently was helping a client with some Internet integration strategies and we walked through the basics of blogging. Here are my 11 Basic Blog Building Bloks. Blog First off what is a blog? You may have been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4iaAv-2y","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1797,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2010\/talked-to-the-doc\/","url_meta":{"origin":158,"position":0},"title":"Talked to the Doc","author":"crossn81","date":"January 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I didn't do much this week and I'm not going to give you a laundry list of excuses.\u00a0 Just that it is hard to get motivated to go to the gym, when you'd rather be running.\u00a0 But on a good note, I had an appointment with a sports doctor this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Running"","block_context":{"text":"My Running","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/my-running\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":175,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/january-highlights\/","url_meta":{"origin":158,"position":1},"title":"January Highlights","author":"crossn81","date":"February 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"January has been a very busy month for Team Cross.\u00c2\u00a0 We moved almost 600 miles to Minneapolis and began setting up our lives here! 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Wow, I've not experienced so many sub-zero days in my life (at least that I can remember).\u00a0 It was actually the coldest weather in Minnesota in 5 years.\u00a0 Most of the work week saw the high not making it above 0, but fortunately the beginning and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "My Running"","block_context":{"text":"My Running","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/my-running\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/running\/images\/jan15weather-21.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2007\/race-day-dino-series-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":158,"position":4},"title":"Race Day: DINO Series #5","author":"crossn81","date":"September 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"On a cooler Saturday morning 206 eager competitors (89 in the 15K and 117 in the 5K) lined up for a muddy start to the DINO Series 5th race of the season at Town Run Trail Park in Indianapolis. The 15K started at 9am with the 5K following five minutes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "15K"","block_context":{"text":"15K","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/15k\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dinoseries.com\/run-logo.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/2008\/marathon-training-week-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":158,"position":5},"title":"Marathon Training: Week 2","author":"crossn81","date":"June 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This was a pretty good week for training. Only a few of the days were really humid and a gorgeous weekend! On Tuesday and Thursday I threw in a couple of accelerations after the run and then did push-ups, sit-ups, and a back exercise to build up some core strength.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marathon"","block_context":{"text":"Marathon","link":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/category\/marathon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/images\/2.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teamcrossworld.com\/running\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}