Blogging Secrets to Power Your Community – Part II

Technology can help enhance and serve your community if used properly. Some of the more technological techniques I use when developing my blogs are:

  1. A nice clean blogging theme is a must. There are lots of free themes that can be customized – but investing in a trusted theme package such as Thesis or Revolution can and will save you headaches later on.
  2. Make it easy for people to subscribe to your post. Most blogs have a big orange RSS button up in the corner but that’s not enough. Get creative in providing multiple ways and methods for subscribers to sign up.
  3. Claim your blog in Technorati. You don’t have to like Technorati, you don’t have to be a fan or even think it works well – but time has proven Technorati does provide some functions you need.
  4. Change the permalinks structure. (In WordPress, this is in Settings/Permalinks.) Change the structure to custom and put /%postname%/. If you click on any post, you’ll see it all written out in plain English without extra junk that is really not needed. (This is a personal preference).
  5. If you worry that a post might get copied or if you encourage people to repost your work with proper attribution (which is often encouraged), include a few links in the original post that will politely and non-evasively show people where the content came originally from.
  6. Learn how to make links, how to add photos, how to bold and italicize things, and a few minor tweaks that can make your posts more visually appealing. If you’re unclear on how to accomplish a certain technique, Google or “view source” on blogs that do what you want to accomplish.
  7. Don’t force people to register in order to post a comment on your blog. Lots of people won’t. Blogger proved that a couple of years ago.

What are some other “technical” suggestions you can think of that may help to enhance your community?

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3 responses
  1. Brook (Matt5verse6) Avatar

    I signed up over at Technorati but I am not quite sure how to “claim my blog” unless you are referring to “becoming a writer” for them? Or is there a different section about which you are speaking? Or is it like Hubpages?

  2. Gayla Baer Avatar

    When you are on the Technorati website – in the upper right corner you will see your username. Click on that to access your account. Near the mid-bottom of the page, you will see an area called “My Claimed Blogs” and at the top there is a space where you can begin a claim. Follow the directions from there and you are good to go.

    1. Kevin Daniel Gibbons Avatar

      Hi Gayla,

      I’m a new blogger and I just tried claiming my blog on Technorati as well. It seems pretty vague. Despite having followed the instructions, I’m not sure if it was a successful process. How do I know if this process is complete? And why is it important to claim my own blog on another website? In your post you said, “time has proven Technorati does provide some functions you need”. Can you give some examples?

      Thanks!

      Kevin

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