BloggersWalk

Starting today, I’m planning on giving a review on the various blogging platforms currently in the market. Although I did have quite a bit of blogging experience in the past with WordPress, I was still unsure whether WordPress was the platform to go with for BloggersWalk. This certainly isn’t because WordPress is a bad platform or anything. It simply was because of the avalibility of so many quality platforms, each and everyone had its strengths and weaknesses.

Over the next few weeks, I plan on testing an ample amount of blogging platforms on my local hard drive. Everything from famous platforms to some that may not be well known, I really do hope to cover.

If any of you know of any blogging platforms that you would like me to do a review on, please feel free to leave a comment and I’ll be sure to check it out. Thanks!

Below is the list of all the bloggnig platforms I’m planning on covering. This will be updated as I go along.

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Live Journal
• TextCube

It is widely known that when you meet someone, their first impressions are what lasts the longest. This seems to be true with blogging too. In a few seconds you are either going to make that visitor a constant follower of your blog or just another person surfing by. Here are a few things that I have been trying out to start getting some regular visitors.

Anything BUT! Default
The default theme is doable regardless of the script you are using. However, the blog is like the makeup that you have on and the clothes that you are wearing. Certainly a normal person will look once again at a Vogue model than an ordinary person, at least in terms of looks. With blogs, it is similar. Any free, premium, or custom theme will be at least some sort of an improvement from the default. I personally believe that this is one of the biggest factors to consider when working on your blog’s first impression.

The Content
A log should have some sort of content. At first, all blogs lack quality content. However, with constant and regular posting, this can be overcome. In my opinion, this is the hardest part when working on your blog’s first impression. Nonetheless, it is one of the more important factors as quality articles among the junk seems to always receive recognition.

Minimizing the Advertisements
There are clearly two types of people when it comes to blogging: those that blog without making money and those that do make money. Making money is fun, exciting, and certainly an attractive aspect of blogging. However, a blog full of advertisements is unaesthetic. Flash banners screaming “You’re the 1,000,000,000th visitor! Claim your prize!” and “iPod at only $10 USD!” certainly degrades your blog’s level. Anyone who cares about their blog should avoid this. While a small degree of advertisements are okay, an excessive amount that would surely distract the user from the content of the blog should definitely be avoided.

Visibility of the Most Recent Post
I can’t stress how important this is. I am an avid blog-surfer, and read many random and sometimes even totally off-topic blogs. However, from time to time, I hit a blog and I just am overwhelmed by everything around it that I really don’t know, can’t find, or just can’t focus on the most recent post! If you want your bloggers to read your blog posts, make sure that it is there, available, and easily accessible.

Visibility of the RSS Feed Icon
This isn’t too big of an issue lately with the themes rolling out. Still, it is important to note the positioning of your RSS feed icon. It is your opportunity to make a random reader into a subscriber. Feed subscribers will probably come back sometime. A random surfer probably won’t.

These are just a few things that I’ve been focusing on lately and I have to admit, the traffic is certainly increasing. Sure, I don’t have much content yet nor is this some unique blog, as yes, it is yet another blog about blogging. Nonetheless, these little techniques seem to be clicking correctly for me at least.

Okay, so after the first BloggersWalk introduction post I have yet to post another post. It certainly is not a lack of enthusiasm for the project and nor is it because I totally forgot about it. I was just too busy with my summer work and while I constantly thought that I should post my first quality post, I never had the chance. So, to push myself, I decided to make a schedule.

From today on, BloggersWalk will publish a quality blog post every Tuesday and Friday. It is possible that I will post even more whenever time permits, but these are the two days that I will for sure write up a new content.

Now, this does not mean that you should only check BloggersWalk every Tuesday and Friday. Infact, you should check everyday! As I said, I will try to post more than twice a week, but for now, I will at least get two posts up a week.

So, what does that mean? The first blog-related, the road to becoming a professional blogger-type of post will come tomorrow, June 24, 2008!

Welcome to BloggersWalk!

My name is Gnus (alias really…) and since January 1, 2003, I’ve been actively engaged in the making, promoting, and selling of websites, domains, design services, and a few other “Internet” activities. Throughout my many experiences, one of the things that I thought would be worthwhile and a learning experience was blogging.

In mid-June of 2006, I really began to dig into what blogging was all about, by starting a Zune fansite based on WordPress. Ever since, I’ve sold the Zune blog and featured as a part-time blogger for many tech blogs, sports blogs, and game blogs. However, missing my enjoyable times as a Zune fan-blog administrator, since early 2008, I began to think of what I could blog about.

After months of thinking and seeing what niche I could try out I still couldn’t find an answer. Then, I realized that blogging itself is what I was interested in. After my high-school graduation in early June 2008, I decided that I should create a blog dedicated to blogging. Plus, maybe I thought that maybe I should become a professional blogger too, if a job even existed!

That is what you see here now. BloggersWalk. A blog dedicated to the art of blogging. I plan on running my own personal blog dedicated to all my various and extreme hobbies, but I wanted to keep the blogging section at a separate zone; BloggersWalk is that place, my little abode where I learn what blogging is what becoming a professional blogger really means.

I am still not an expert in blogging. However, my current goal is to carry this blog through until my next graduation four years later. Everything I learn regarding designing a blog design to promoting blogs and writing good content for it, I will share here in BloggersWalk. It will certainly not be an easy path the next four years and I do know that from time to time I will be tempted to quit. Nonetheless, I hope to reach my goal.

Will you join me in my new, exciting journey?

Again, welcome to BloggersWalk. I hope that you learn a lot from my stories as I start a journey to becoming a professional blogger. Please leave a comment with a link to your blog too, as I can’t wait to share and learn what you have in store for me too.

Thank you.