Organization and Blogging?

By Lisa B. on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Alyssa Avant recently started Organized Life by Design website and network. She is doing a blog tour, answering questions about organization.

sHb: Do you have any tips for how to organize your blog posts? How (or when) do you make the time to write them?

Alyssa: Like many other things that I do to organize I created a system. I try and blog in the different categories at Organized Life by Design on a weekly basis so, I write blog posts 4 times per week there. On other blogs I just make sure I write. I set aside time daily to blog, and this time though it may be at a different time each day is done when I know I can focus the best. You have to just catch that time when it is available especially if you’re a WAHM [Work At Home Mom] like me. Strict schedules rarely work for many.

You can visit her personal blog at Life From My Laptop. If you have any other Organizing questions, check out Organized Life by Design. Thanks Alyssa for stopping by!

Posted in Writing Tips | Comments (3)

WordPress vs TypePad

By Lisa B. on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Many of you are already familiar with Blogger and any limitations that may be there. If you are frustrated with those options or just want to be able to do more with your blog, you have probably started looking at WordPress and TypePad. I’m going to compare some of the features and cost of both of these here.

For the purpose of this article, when I talk about WordPress — I am speaking of WordPress.org which is the free, open source software that is installed under a web hosting account.

In order to get close to the same features for WordPress and TypePad, you would need the TypePad Pro account. Some features are included in WordPress automatically, while the lower TypePad accounts limit what you can do. A few of the features I’m looking at are scheduling posts and customizing the design. I love being able to schedule posts. If you participate in a meme like Wordless Wednesdays where you just post a picture, you could pick out pictures and schedule them to appear on Wednesdays a month ahead of time or more.

As far as customizing a design goes, I’m sure everyone would like a special design. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of free templates out there for both WordPress and TypePad. There are a lot of designers who can customize a template for you for very reasonable prices. But in order for those designers to make certain changes, you may have to pay for a TypePad Pro account.

Now, let’s look at money. For TypePad Pro, the monthly cost is $14.95 unless you pre-pay for a year in which case you get 2 months free. Basically taking the price to $12.46 a month. My web host is DreamHost. Under my account, I can use their one-click install system that makes it super easy to install WordPress. DreamHost also has a great control panel that lets you manage everything for your account. Their one-click install system can install different software — not just WordPress if you ever wanted to venture outside the blog world. Their pricing is $9.95 a month if you pre-pay for a year.

If you know you want WordPress but aren’t sure of the web hosting stuff, check out Desperately Seeking WordPress Installations. Heather’s got some great packages whether you are already blogging or just want to get started. At times it feels like Heather and I share a brain. I was going to come up with packages, but since I haven’t yet, go check hers out!

Posted in Getting Started, Software | Comments (4)

What are your questions?

By Lisa B. on Monday, May 12th, 2008

I am cooking up some bloggy interviews with some bloggers who share their faith and wanted to get some feedback from you. What kinds of things would you like to know? Are you more interested in the technical aspects of it (like what do they use to blog?)? Or are you more interested in how they decide what to write and what not to share?

This is your chance to get your questions answered. Some of these bloggers may not have time to answer every question in their comments area — some of these bloggers get a lot of questions!

Leave a question (or more) in the comments area here and I’ll enter you in a drawing for a copy of Mary Beth Whalen’s book “For the Write Reason.” And since she’s one of the bloggers I’m interviewing, I might even be able to get her to personalize it :)

Comments Closed: Wednesday, May 28th.

Posted in Giveaways | Comments (7)

Pieces of a Blog

By Lisa B. on Thursday, May 8th, 2008

Before we get into some nitty gritty blogging tips and techniques, there are a few things you should understand. If you have a blog on a free service like Blogger, you will not be able to see these pieces but they are there.

1. The first piece is a database. A database contains the actual text that is displayed on your blog. It also contains settings and preferences as well. The database is the heart of your blog.

2. The second piece is the application files. These are the files that make stuff happen when you click the Post button. They are the files written in a coding language that pull the text from the database and display it. The application files are the brain of your blog.

3. The third piece is the theme. The theme files are generally thrown in with the application files, but I feel they are important enough to be their own piece. The theme can and should be customized to fit your personality or to beautify your blog. The theme controls the colors, how many columns of text you have, what photo is displayed in the header among many other little details. The theme is the skin of your blog.

The main reason I’m explaining these pieces to you is so you will understand when I say backups are very important — but only if you backup the correct files. If you’ve been blogging more than a week, you have an idea how long it takes you to write a post. If you’re blog disappeared, you’d probably be pretty sad that what you’ve written evaporated into internet space.

Backing up the database is one of the most important things you can do for your blog. It is, after all, the heart of your blog. Without it, your blog dies. The theme is also important to backup as you will have most likely customized parts of it. The application files can always be replaced. For example if you are running WordPress and one of those files got messed up, you could just download WordPress again from the main site (assuming the versions are the same!).

Read here for creating a backup of your entire blog on Blogger.

Read here for creating a backup of your entire blog on Typepad.

Lorelle shares “Backing Up Your WordPress.com Blog”.

If you are running your own hosted version of WordPress, I highly recommend you install the WP-DBManager Plugin. You’ll be able to setup automatic backups to be emailed to you or stored on your server.

Posted in Getting Started | Comments (1)

We have 2 winners!

By Lisa B. on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

It’s my birthday and I decided to change a few of the rules. Well, one actually. I divided everyone up into “already has a blog” and “no blog.” So there are 2 winners.

Lynn was comment #42 but does not have a blog. She will as soon as she emails me back! In the event I don’t hear from her in a few days (I’ll give her until Friday) I’ll pick another winner from the short list.

Annabelle @ Christian Momma blogs at Blogspot and will be having her blog revamped and moved.

Little do these 2 women know they are my guinea pigs :D While I’m walking them through the start-up, it’ll give me content to share with all of you. So, stay tuned! Not to mention I may do another giveaway …

To my GBH (Genius Better Half for those of you who don’t recognize the initials from my other blog): You did not win. In all honesty, I didn’t let you enter technically even though I didn’t say in the rules my family couldn’t enter. I would say I’ll try to get to that load of laundry, and I will — it just won’t be today :) Happy Birthday to me!

Posted in Giveaways | Comments (4)

Holy Mama!

By Lisa B. on Monday, May 5th, 2008

I was trying to decide what information to share with you today. I prayed about it and God led me to “Holy Mama!” Her tag line is “True confessions from the everyday life of a sorta shallow Christian mom.” You can read Kelsey’s story and how she thought she was too shy to reach out to other moms in person.

You don’t have to be technical (that’s my job). You don’t have to be an extrovert or good in crowds. You just need a heart for Jesus.

Posted in Great Reads | Comments (1)

She Speaks Conference

By Lisa B. on Friday, May 2nd, 2008

Some of you may have heard of the She Speaks Conference before. It’s put on by Proverbs 31 Ministries for speakers, authors, and women’s ministry leaders. This year they are even adding two very special sessions for bloggers given by Rocks in my Dryer, BooMama and Big Mama. If you don’t read them, you should.

I thought it would be great to check up on the blogs of those who are attending as well as those who are giving the presentations. I’ve started 2 lists in the sidebar. If you are presenting or if you are attending, please use the Contact Page to send me your blog URL. I’ll add you to my list as fast as I can.

Once I’ve added you to the list, I’m going to find the easiest way for all of us to check those blogs at one time — whether it be a web page that pulls the headlines from each blog, or a feed reading service. Don’t worry, I’ll have simple, easy instructions so you can keep up with all these ladies as well.

Posted in Great Reads | Comments (2)

Choosing which software to use

By Lisa B. on Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

When you are starting out, you may not understand all the choices available to you in blogging software. Here are some basics about each service to give you a broad overview.

Read More »

Posted in Getting Started | Comments (1)

Finding Your Bloggy Purpose

By Lisa B. on Monday, April 28th, 2008

I am thrilled and humbled that so many of you have found your way here. Don’t forget to enter the Launch Week Giveaway!

Many people start a blog with the intentions of making money. I should probably tell you right now, I’m not the person to get advice from for making money on your blog. While I can give you advice on how to setup your blog, make it look like you want and to start writing, you ultimately will need to determine the purpose of your blog.

Read More »

Posted in Getting Started | Comments (3)

simply His blogger: Launch Week Giveaway!

By Lisa B. on Thursday, April 24th, 2008

You may never know how excited I am that you are here!

In honor of Internet Evangelism Day, I’ll be giving away a special blog package! That’s right — a whole blog. But I’m not going to leave you all alone with this blog — not knowing how to work it.

Here’s what you’ll get:

  • a domain name of your very own; registered for 1 year (a $9.95 value) and I’ll help you brainstorm domains
  • a fresh install of the latest WordPress blogging software (free, but the best software!) with free, easy one-click upgrades
  • a free web hosting account for one year where your blog will live (a $120 value; cost $24/year after the first year)
  • immediate access to 60+ themes (again free but some really cool themes to customize)
  • customized blog header and theme changes up to 3 hours of work (a $150 value)
  • several WordPress Plugins installed — the ones I feel are most important; like creating backups of your blog and such so you don’t lose any of your witty writing!

If you already have a blog at one of the free services like Blogger, I will transfer your blog over to WordPress. If you are just starting a new blog, I’ll help you get started with posting, uploading images, placement of those images, and general management of your blog.

Here’s what you need to do to enter:

  • Leave a comment on this post before midnight (EST) Tuesday, May 6th.
  • You must use a valid email address (which is NOT published on this site) so I can contact you if you win (respond back within 3 days or I’ll draw again).
  • One comment per person for entry.
  • Link back to this post on your blog for an additional entry.
  • Let me know in your comment if you currently have a blog or not.

The winner will be announced Wednesday, May 7th on my birthday :) Meanwhile, use the Contact page to send me some of your blogging questions. Nothing is too basic, outrageous or crazy. I want to know what you’d like to know about blogging or internet evangelism.

If you like entering contests, Bloggy Giveaways is doing their Quarterly Carnival here!

Posted in Giveaways | Comments (80)