Postcards from the Funny Farm

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In this series I’ve been trying to take the reader along with me on my journey toward fun and meaningful blogging. Because I have a decent day job as a teacher I really don’t worry too much about making money on line (pop culture acronym is MMOL). Having said that, here is the stuff that I feel is truly essential for a quality blog experience (and to give one to your readers also):

1. Techonrati. You must join Technorati for a couple of reasons: #1 You can identify and keep track of your rating. The Technorati authority rating is based on how many blogs link to you and a number of other “top secret” (just kidding) criteria. Whether it’s good or bad, Technorati is a place to get your bearings and find out where you stand among other blogs. I don’t think it’s important to use any of their services, just sign up and fill out your blog completely. the second reason is that many bloggers use Technorati as a search engine to find blogs on given subjects. You don’t wanna be left out there.

2. Google Analytics. Make sure you install this on your blog. If you have Wordpress software there is a plugin that will install and configure it for you. This will let you know more than you ever dreamed possible about your visitors and where they come in from. This helps immensely in understanding your audience and evolving your blog to suit your niche (I hate that word, but you know what I am getting at.)

3. A form of tagging system that is seo friendly. There are plugins for this as well.

4. Accounts at the major social bookmarking sites so you can give karma out and submit good artcles you read (as well as your own).

When you’re doing these three things, you’re ready to get your blog on! Of course you will find the attraction of “cosmetic” adjustments quite difficult to resist but don’t get caught up in it all. As long as you are putting out what you feel are interesting posts to your audience and keeping track of your traffic, all the cosmetic stuff is just like playing with paper dolls . . . fun, but just for kids. If you can recommend what is essential to blogging, please make a comment. I’m hopeful this series will help a lot of noobs like I was 7 months ago who aren’t clued-in to the mysterious yet cool subculture of blogging.