10 Essential Blogging Tools
By John Jantsch (c) 2006
So, you finally decided to take the blog leap. You've heard
all about the marketing and search benefits so you stepped
up to the plate and signed up for a TypePad, MovableType or
WordPress blog software package and now you're a blogger.
Okay, now what? Add the ten essential blogging tools listed
below and you will also be well on your way to creating and
promoting a blog that is a powerful marketing tool. I'll
explain the use of the tool and offer some suggestions,
including the tools I use on my own blogs including the
DuctTapeMarketing blog.
Feed Reader
The best way to learn about blogs and blogging is to read,
or at least scan, lots of blogs. One of the wonders of
blogs is that you can have every new post from every blog
you want to read delivered to your desktop or to online
location via RSS, so you can easily read and scan the posts
of many blogs in a very short time. Newsgator
(http://www.newsgator.com/) is a good online choice for feed
reading and also has a version that integrates with Outlook.
I use a free online service known as Bloglines.
(http://www.bloglines.com)
Subscriber Center
You need to make it easy for your blog visitors to
subscribe to your blog's RSS feed – so they can read your
blog in their favorite feed reader. The best way to do this
is to go to FeedBurner (http://www.feedburner.com) and burn
your own RSS feed there and use the tools they provide to
set up automatic subscriber links so people who want to use
Bloglines, Google Reader, MyYahoo or Pluck, for instance,
can click on one button to subscribe. Tech types can figure
this out without the buttons but why not make it easy for
anyone to figure out.
Side note: Subscribe to each of these yourself and you
will force some blog spiders to visit your site.
Email Subscription Option
A lot of people will never get the whole feed thing, but
everyone gets email. Create an option for people to
subscribe by giving you their email address – they will
simply receive your blog posts like an email message.
FeedBurner offers this service for free. FeedBlitz
(http://www.feedblitz.com/) is another option or, if you
already have an autoresponder email list service they may
offer this service. AWeber (http://www.aweber.com/) offers
this and helps me integrate these blog email subscribers
into my other mailing lists.
Blog and RSS directories
There are hundreds of blog and RSS directories and getting
listed in many can be a good thing. I use a piece of
software called RSS Submit (http://www.dummysoftware.com/
rsssubmit.html), but you can also visit Robin Goode's
frequently updated list (http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/
top55/) and submit your blog and feed by hand.
Hint: Subscribe to the RSS feed he offers and you will be
notified when new directories are added.
Ping Service
Pinging is a term used for letting the various blog and RSS
directories know when you have posted new content. Again,
FeedBurner offers this as an automatic option called
PingShot and you should activate it. PingGoat and Ping O
Matic (http://pingomatic.com/) are other options but they
require that you visit and update your record each time you
post new content.
Bookmark Manager
As you surf around the web or hop from blog to blog you may
find sites that you want to point out to your readers.
Online bookmark managers allow you to bookmark and categorize
web and blog pages as you collect them and are a great tool
for managing all of the stuff you find on the web. I use
del.icio.us (http://del.icio.us) but BlinkList
(http://www.blinklist.com/) does a fine job as well.
Blog Stats
I like to track a few key stats in real time because it
shows what other blogs might be linking to you or posting
about your blog. A lot of people just like to track this
kind of thing for fun and frequently visit sites like
Technorati (http://www.technorati.com/). I like to track it
for networking opportunities. I use a tool called MyBlogLog
(http://www.mybloglog.com/) because it allows me to see
where traffic is coming from but also tracks what links on
my blog visitors are clicking on. It's amazing how this
data can help you write more effectively. (MyBlogLog also
ranks your links so visitors can see which links on your
site are the most popular.)
Desktop Posting
With most blog software you must go online and post using a
set of tools provided by the blog software. Many bloggers
like to use a desktop application to create and submit
their posts as it gives them some extra tools and allows
them to more easily integrate content and files on their
computer.
I use w.blogger (http://www.wbloggar.com/) but also like
Performancing (http://performancing.com/), Qumana
(http://www.qumana.com/) and ecto (http://ecto.kung-foo.tv/ -
apple folks) (w.blogger also doubles as a really simple HTML
editor.)
Tell A Friend Script
My blog software (pMachine) has a feature that allows a
reader to click a link and send the post to a friend. This
tactic brings me lots of readers. You might try looking
here for some simple scripts that do that same
http://www.javascriptkit.com/script/script2/tellafriend.shtml
http://www.stadtaus.com/en/php_scripts/tell_a_friend_script/
Republish Your Feed Headlines
The ability to republish your blog posts on other web
pages, sites you own or sites of strategic partners is a
great way to expose folks to your blog content. One more
time we turn to FeedBurner for a painless way to republish
your blog post to any web page you choose with something
they call BuzzBoost.
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John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning
blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World's Most
Practical Small Business Marketing Guide published by
Thomas Nelson - due out in the fall of 2006. He is the
creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing
system. You can find more information by visiting
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com
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