Setting up MyBlogLog [ 2:31 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The first thing you want to make sure of when using MyBlogLog is to fill out your profile completely especially with a picture or avatar. This picture or avatar will show up on any blog that you visit and will start to brand you or your business.

Take the time to add the services you already use like You Tube, Facebook, Twitter, and many more. Integrating these will be helpful when you are back checking yourself. Something that will be addressed in a future post under using MyBlogLog for research.

Now how much contact information you decide to make available is a personal choice and each of those items can be displayed to everyone, just your contacts or nobody.

One of the things I do like to set is to auto join communities. Mine is set to 10 visits so if you are a member and I visit your blog 10 times then MyBlogLog will automatically add me to your community. This will become very important when we discuss using this for research.

Fill out your bio and again you can decide who it will be displayed to.

Add in your blog/s. It is a relatively simple process. Next time we will discuss setting up the tracking and adding widgets to your blog but if you have never used MyBlogLog this is enough for one post.

The more information and the more personal you make your page the better it will perform for you. This is about networking with others and building a tribe that wants your information.

Doing this properly does take a bit of time and effort but it will pay off to do it right the first time.

Your comments keep this series going so let me know what you think about the information and if you have anything you have done that would help others or an item that I skipped in this process.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: mybloglog, MyBlogLog setup, setting up MyBlogLog, using MyBlogLog

MyBlogLog - are you using it? [ 1:58 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This will be the start of a series on MyBlogLog (maybe see the end of the post). Most of the people that I talk to whether on the monthly Blog Talk Radio show, in various forums and conference rooms know about it but are probably only scratching the surface on what is there.

Usually they join just for the shiny object – the sidebar widget you can add to your blog that shows who is visiting and allows you to show others when you have visited. Just look to the right on this blog and if you are logged in at MyBlogLog your avatar will be there and I can see who is visiting.

Anyone can click the avatar and go see more about you at MyBlogLog.

There is a lot more to the service though than just the widgets.

It can be used for…

• Tracking what is happening
• Creating interaction with others
• Research what is hot in your area
• A portal for all of your social interaction

So the first part here if you are not using MyBlogLog is go sign up and get an account. Make sure to fill out your profile, add your picture or what you use for an avatar (very important this is what will brand you as you visit others blogs) add in the tracking code and widget to your blog.

Join my community

Then if I get enough comments I will continue the series and get into some of the real power of using MyBlogLog. So if you are interested in this topic your comments will decide if it continues.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: mybloglog, research, social networks, widgets

More on widgets [ 2:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s question:

Mike, I’d be interested in having you discuss widget width. I’ve had problems with different sizes, particularly when I have used a three column theme with two side bars side by side. Any insights you could offer?

Most of the time it is text widgets that cause a problem usually because of the width of your sidebar. Add something in wider and it throws the whole layout out of whack (one of them technical terms ).

There are a couple ways to overcome this.

If it is a subscription form like the standard Aweber form make sure you use the html and not the java script form and you can edit the tables to put the box below the name or even change the size of the box.

This post goes into detail on doing just that.

How to add Aweber signup to your sidebar

If it is a banner or other fixed item it is a bit more difficult to resolve. With images you will need to resize them to fit in the sidebar with an image editor.

Your other choice is to play with the widths in the css style sheet which while not difficult can be a bit for some to overcome. IF you are going to do that make a copy of the style sheet before you start.

You can make the main content smaller and increase the sidebar by the same amount you decreased the main content so that your items will fit.

This may cause problems if your theme uses images for title backgrounds which is why a back up is important. If you totally mess it up just upload the original style sheet and you are back to the beginning but at least your blog will show.

If you are not comfortable with that then I would recommend finding a new theme that has sufficient space in the sidebar.

As always your comments and questions are welcomed.

Technorati Tags: sidebar, sidebar widget, style sheet, widget, wordpress widget

Using sidebar widgets [ 1:24 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Today’s question:

I added one widget and all of the previous items in my side bar disappeared. What happened?

The problem is you can either use the default side bar on most themes or you can use the widget function. You can’t use both. Once you select a widget the sidebar will only show those items that you have dragged over.

The good thing is that there should be a widget for each item in the default sidebar on most themes.

The most common items in the default (and each theme may be different) are:

• recent posts
• recent comments
• pages
• blogroll
• meta
• search

All of which can be dragged over to the sidebar in the order you wish to have them.

Hope that helps explain it a bit better.

Mike

Technorati Tags: widgets, wordpress, wordpress sidebar, wordpress sidebar widgets

Two new plugins I am testing [ 1:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Okay all done with the Twitter series for the time being. Now to what has been changed in the environment here.

I have added WP-Twitip-ID plugin so that if you leave your Twitter id with your comment it will show up with a little bird image that links to your Twitter home page. Again as has been stated here the more that people can interact with each other the better for all involved.

One of my goals is to get back to doing a podcast version of the posts here and today is the first in a bit.

Now you can answer back in the same way.I have added a new plugin called Riffly that will allow you to leave and audio or video comments here. I do ask that you leave a written comment too because not everyone visits with the ability to listen.

Be interesting to see how this goes and whether it stays. Let me know how you like the return of the podcast too.

Have a great week end.

Mike Paetzold

Follow me on Twitter

Technorati Tags: comments, plugins, podcast, riffly, twitter, WP-Twitip-ID

The last couple posts have dealt with some of the ways that I use Twitter in conjunction with my blogging to improve both.

First participate in ways other than just automating your blog posts. See a good tweet with information that would benefit your followers retweet it. Respond and have conversations with others there. It is called networking for a reason.

Just like your blog you are building a community or “tribe” as Seth Godin calls it. People who look to you to deliver information they want and being a credible resource.

The final tool that I have found is called Mr. Tweet. Follow Mr Tweet and you will receive recommendations of people you should be and recommend you to others. This allows you to expand your sphere of influence from the recommendations.

It will save you time although you could and should be finding those worthwhile people if you are using Twitter for research (see the previous blog post).

Last integrate your Twitter into your other social networking by adding it to Facebook, My Blog Log, Friend Feed and any other places that allow it. That is the real leverage as like your RSS feed for your blog it allows you to be updating things at multiple sites with each tweet.

Hope you have enjoyed the series and will be back to more on WordPress now after the Twitter break.

Mike Paetzold

Follow me on Twitter

Technorati Tags: Facebook, My Blog Log, rss, social networking, twitter, WordPress Friend Feed

Twitter can also be a great research tool. You can use the search at http://search.twitter.com to find the latest tweets on any topic you wish.

This can be a great way to keep track of new things happening on any topic. Each search has a feed that you can add to your favorite feed reader and automatically see all the new things happening on Twitter for that topic.

You should be following your name, any product names you have to keep track of what is being said. Yes if someone replies using @mikepaetzold it will show on my Twitter but if someone just uses my name Mike Paetzold in a tweet it won’t show up unless I am following them.

Always nice to know when someone is saying something good and even more important to know if it is bad.

Now lets apply this tool to blogging. Isn’t one of the hardest things to come up with topics that are of interest to your audience. You can get ideas and questions just from following the latest tweets on your topic.

Writers block usually disappears for me once I have a topic and this can be a great way to generate those ideas.

Tweet Later is another tool that will allow you to monitor your keywords but it will email you the results on a schedule that you set. The easiest way to describe it is as Google Alerts for Twitter. (By the way Google Alerts is something else you should be using.)

Now Tweet Later can do a lot more like auto following, allow you to schedule tweets for when you are away and send automatic welcome message for new followers too. But our topic is research and knowing what is happening in your niche makes staying current easier.

Depending on how you like information delivered either of these tools can be very helpful for keeping abreast of what is new on Twitter for your topic.

Feel free to let me know if you have found other tools to help do these things as this is an extremely fluid market place with Twitter tools.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: feed reader, google alerts, tweet later, twitter, twitter search

This is the second part of a series on Twitter and blogging. The first part talked about using Twitter and using it for building relationships.

Today I will discuss some of the tools I have found to improve your use of Twitter in relation to your blog and a couple that have been helpful for using Twitter.

First to integrate your Twitter feed on to your blog there area couple items you can use. Tweet My Blog will allow you to easily add your latest tweets to your sidebar. It will also send your latest blog post out as a tweet to your Twitter account.

A similar plugin with a few more features is Twitter Tools,. This will also allow you to use your tweets as blog posts. Either of these will allow you to automate the process and send tweets when you blog along with showing your tweets on your blog.

There is another tool that will allow you to auto post your blog posts to Twitter called Twitter Feed which will monitor your blog’s RSS feed and post to Twitter when it finds new information on a regularly scheduled basis. It also works with other services like identica.ca or Ping.fm.

There are a couple tools that will help you monitor and stay active with Twitter. The two that I have tried are Twhirl and TweetDeck. I am back using Twhirl as I have had trouble since the last Windows update with TweetDeck and my machine.

I really loved some of the utility of TweetDeck and thought it was easier to use but Twhirl will work until I have the time to find what is causing the problem.

Another plugin that allows you to add a place in your comments for people to leave their Twitter username called WP Twitip ID. This way you can find the people who are commenting on your blog and be able to strengthen the relationship through Twitter conversations too.

If you have other tools you have used and like feel free to leave a comment.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: tweet my blog, tweetdeck, twhirl, twitter, twitter feed, twitter tools

Always been someone that loves to get input from others and love using blogs to do it. Unfortunately sometimes it does not work. The subject of Twitter seems to be just one.

Last week I asked for input and was disappointed with the lack of it. Not a knock on my readers it just did not resonate. Now thinking about that made me do some searching. See even lack of much input does tell you something. It tells me that a lot of my readers are

• either not using Twitter as much as they can with their blog
• just not aware of the value of Twitter to their blog
• or just don’t care

I know that my readers care so the third option was not the reason it must be one of the first two items. So….

Lets address them here. Today I will discuss using Twitter and why it can be important to your business. In the future I will discuss how to implement some of these things into your blog.

Twitter is a micro blog platform. You are limited to 140 characters per post. This forces you to be concise and keep each tweet (Twitter post) to just one topic.

The key though is Twitter is a conversation between people. It is about sharing information. It is not a sales platform.

If all you are planning to use Twitter for is as a platform to send out your links forget it now. Just like a blog you need to supply valuable information and build your reputation as a valuable resource.

Do that and when you occasionally recommend something people will be interested. Just send links and no one will continue to follow you.

It works like any type of networking. It is most valuable when you are sorting information about your niche for others. Just like a blog if you find valuable resources from others and let people know about it that is valuable to your readers on your blog or followers on Twitter.

Just like off line networking you don’t go to the local Chamber meeting and introduce your business. You talk to people there and ask about theirs. Have an idea that can help them – share it. Do that and you develop relationships that will help your business not because you pitched your business but because you became a valuable resource that others will recommend.

Twitter works the same way.

Twitter can also be very powerful in keeping in touch with what is new in your marketplace. Some of the tools can allow you to follow any topic easily.

So that is the value of Twitter next time I’ll talk about using it specifically in conjunction with your blogging efforts.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: tweet, twitter, twitter and blogs, using twitter

Here is the replay from last night’s Blog Talk Radio Show.

Sorry for the delay but has been an interesting day when you wake up and it is -2 F and your heater is broken. Just starting to get warm now.thankfully.

Have a great day and enjoy the show.

Mike Paetzold

Technorati Tags: Blog Talk Radio, wordpress, WordPress Q and A