Essential Checklist for Starting a Blog
Raj Setty offers some great pointers for starting a business blog in his Blogging Starter Checklist:
- Register a domain name with your name and redirect to your blog.
- Get a "Creative Commons License"
- Get a feedburner account and direct feeds through feedburner
- Implement subscription chiclets
- Enable search
- Claim your blog at Technorati
- Allow users to get your blog via email
- Link to your profile
- Link to your photo album
- Announce your blog to the world
- Provide a way to contact you
- Link to your bookmarks
- Create meaningful categories and chunk content
- Put your photo on the home page
- Ensure that your RSS feeds are OK
- Geo-tag your blog at Feedmap
- Include a blog link in your email signature
This is a great list. Be sure to check out Raj's post for the details behind each of his 17 points.
Some things I might add:
Add Technorati tags to your posts. It's as easy as adding some hyperlinks at the end of your post, like this:Technorati tags: Tagging, Blogging
There are some handy plug-ins for WordPress that make this even easier, like Bunny's Technorati Tags plugin and Ben O'Neill's Technorati Tags plugin.
- Add a "tag cloud" that shows what tags and/or categories are most popular on your blog. For example, check out the tag cloud on the right hand side on O'Reilly Radar. Two different WordPress plug-ins that allow you to do this are: Ultimate Tag Warrior and the Weighted Categories plug-ins.While you're at it, also add a Swiki "buzzcloud" from Eurekster to your blog. You can see an example of a buzzcloud on the Eurekster blog on the top right undeneath "Hot Searches". It's a great way to show your readers at-a-glance what search terms in your niche topic area are the most popular.
Have a custom favicon. This allows subscribers to your blog to see this custom icon in their newsreader. Take a look at the screenshot of part of my subscription list in the newsreader I use, NetNewsWire. Notice that the Dilbert Blog, Matt Cutts' blog, and ResearchBuzz all show the same generic favicon. Custom icons would look much cooler.- Post a Flickr badge on your blog. Here's an example (underneath "Recent Photos" on the right). You can use the badges supplied by Flickr or some free third-party ones like this one.
- Install an industrial-strength comment spam plug-in into your blog, such as Akismet or Spam Karma.
- Give your blog a boost in link popularity. Link to it from your home page and ask customers, suppliers, business partners, and colleagues to link to it too. Review my Powerpoint on link building for many more tips on boosting link popularity.
2 comments, 9 pingbacks
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Thanks, Stephan, for the great overview of how to start a profitable business blog. The Know More Media blog network, of which my Business Blog Wire is a small part, will surely benefit from these timely tips. Keep 'em coming!
Comment by Easton Ellsworth [Visitor]
· http://www.businessblogwire.com —
11/16/05 @ 14:28
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[...] » Essential Checklist for Starting a Blog @ Stephan Spencer’s Scatterings [...]
Pingback by The Uptick Blog » Blog Archive » Tasks when starting a blog… [Visitor] — 12/07/05 @ 04:38
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[...] Essential Checklist for Starting a Blog [...]
Pingback by Developing in Distance Ed. » Link Blogging for the CRC [Visitor] — 12/15/05 @ 23:53
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[...] Essential Checklist for Starting a Blog @ Stephan Spencer’s Scatterings (tags: blog howto) [...]
Pingback by Blog Sir » Blog Archive » links for 2005-12-07 [Visitor] — 12/24/05 @ 09:19
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[...] Essential Checklist for Starting a Blog @ Scatterings (tags: blogging) [...]
Pingback by Phil Wallach » links for 2006-09-15 [Visitor] — 09/24/06 @ 18:02
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[...] Also, don’t forget to check out Stephan Spencer’s extended checklist on the same topic. Great stuff there. [...]
Pingback by Blogging Starter Checklist Updated « mgdissues.wordpress.com [Visitor] — 09/27/06 @ 05:20
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Nice post, very helpful. I will be using some of your suggestions when developing my open personal blog at http://djonesy21.blogspot.com
Comment by Dustin Jones [Visitor]
· http://pafamilylaw.net —
09/28/06 @ 13:05
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[...] Also, don’t forget to check out Stephan Spencer’s extended checklist on the same topic. Great stuff there. I am sure there are many more but this should give you a start! [...]
Pingback by Blogging Starter Checklist Updated « uncoveredIssue [Visitor] — 10/02/06 @ 04:27
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[...] Also, don’t forget to check out Stephan Spencer’s extended checklist on the same topic. Great stuff there. [...]
Pingback by » How to Be a Successful Blogger | Blogging Starter Checklist · Cultivate Greatness | Persona [Visitor] — 11/02/06 @ 00:05
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[...] Also, don’t forget to check out Stephan Spencer’s extended checklist on the same topic. Great stuff there. [...]
Pingback by Frickin’ Awesome » Blog Archive » How to Start a Blog [Visitor] — 11/15/06 @ 02:30
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[...] Once defined, implemented and measurements are put in place, any business can create a successful blog. It’s simply a matter of time, resources and a willingness to try until “what works” reveals itself.  Here’s a more detailed exploration of this idea as well as a long list of considerations that companies need to be aware of when starting a company blog. If you’re into checklists, then be sure to read Stephan’s “Essential Checklist for Starting a Blog“. [...]
Pingback by Measuring Business Blogging Success . [Visitor] — 10/10/07 @ 16:19
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