Blogging for Dollars Blog

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There’s a lot of nonsense talked in the blogosphere, and much of that nonsense is related to blogging’s so-called “conversations”. Some old-school bloggers believe that on a blog, anything goes, and that you shouldn’t moderate what people have to say in their comments on blog postings.

This free-wheeling attitude leads some anonymous lunatics to take advantage of their anonymity. They spew venom all over a site, so that we have the unfortunate situation of Kathy Sierra, a wonderful blogger who’s not only been trashed on various sites, but has also had her life threatened.

The solution?

Ensure that anyone who wants to comment on one of your blogs registers, and that you moderate comments. Yes, this is a nuisance, but it stops demented souls using YOUR blog to trash someone else. Then, use the Delete key freely.

I’m all for free speech, but my attitude is simple – if you want free speech, create your own site or blog and say whatever you like. If you want to put your views on one of my sites, you follow my rules.

I’ve been moderating my writing blog for a couple of years now, and the readers have been wonderful. I haven’t had a single complaint, and the only comments I routinely delete are comment spam.

Moderating works. It’s sad that it’s necessary, but unfortunately it is.

Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, free speech, comments, moderate, Kathy Sierra

You’ve made a big decision: you want complete control of your WordPress blog, and this means finding a hosting company. What should you look for?

1. Satisfied customers of a hosting company

Make sure that your host has happy customers. Do a Google search on “hosting + problems” and steer clear of companies whose customers have complaints.

2. Scalability – can you grow with the company?

If you’re new to the Web, one blog, and one host may be all you need. However, if you envision that you’re make a full or part-time income on the Web, you need scalability. Look at the fees for reseller accounts on your chosen hosts. Are they reasonable?

3. Fast server response – it matters

The blogs on my current favorite host, HostGator, load instantly. Unfortunately on another of my hosts, the blogs always seem slow. I know I’ll need to move those sites to another host eventually, because I’m just not happy with the speed at which those sites load.

Which hosting company do I recommend? At the moment, just one, HostGator. I’ve been very pleased with the service, from the setup of my first Baby Swamp account, to my current Aluminum account. When I’ve needed help and explanations, they’ve got back to me instantly, either via online chat, or via email. I like that.

Technorati Tags: hosting, blogs, blogging, WordPress, site hosts

Finally – great how-to on optimizing WordPress.

I love WordPress. It’s my blog platform of choice, and in many cases, it’s my choice for static sites as well. Yes, there are ways to get your blog looking like a static site.

That said, I haven’t paid all that much attention to search engine optimization (SEO) in many of my blogs, other than to do the most obvious things like keywords in titles, and to fix the permalinks etc. I also use plugins like Tag Warrior on many sites.

Jim Westergren’s “SEO for WordPress – The Complete Guide” has opened up a new SEO-world for me – great tips, and understandable too, even for we non-techy people.

Technorati Tags: WordPress, SEO