In Chris Garrett’s article, “How to choose a perfect blog name“, he talks about the difficulties of selecting domain names (especially since the good ones seem to be all taken) and suggests strategies on how to pick a good blog name.
One of the things Chris mentions is the different characteristics of a good domain name:

1. Readable
2. Pronounceable
3. Spellable
4. Memorable
5. Concise
6. Unique

Now while it’s easy to recognise a good domain name and then identify why it’s good, it’s much harder to generate such a name (I’ll deal with the options of buying domain names in a future article). Let’s face it – some people are not great at thinking up of cool / memorable domain names, while others can do it naturally.

Personally, I’m average or slightly above-average when it comes to picking names (I can recognise winners but find it much harder to think of them). I have a friend though, a fellow blogger, who’s quite good at brainstorming for domain names and there have several occassions in the last year or so when we have chatted simply picked excellent domain names out of thin air.

What I’m getting at is that you will have, in your circle of friends or acquaintances, someone who is naturally creative and clever and as a result is good at picking names, taglines, ideas for logos, etc. Just like you would think of your SEO friend or your PHP expert as being part of your brain trust, the guy who helps you brainstorm is and should be a key part of your brain trust.

We spend so much time and energy after finding domain names, that sometimes we forget that it’s much easier to ask for help from the right person.

Do you have a ‘brain trust’ that you bounce ideas off or have success brainstorming with? If you don’t, maybe it’s time you started.

This article was originally written on 28 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.

When you are planning a new blog, the first thing you do is define your purpose. Why are you blogging?

Once you answer that question, a rough image starts to build your mind about how your blog would be like. One of the key distinctions at this point that you’ll be making is figuring out how much of your blog is going to be a traditional resource (timeless content) and how much of it is going to be a blog (updated news and a collection of (almost) daily thoughts).

To make things clearer, suppose that we are setting up a blog on … dating advice. Notoriously tough niche to get into but considering the ultra-popularity of it, why not? After you select your topic, you move on to the content that you are going to put up on your blog.
And here’s the rub – there’s only a finite set of topics (basic or advanced) that you can talk about and give advice on in any niche. You may go deep into subthemes but on the whole, there’s a limited amount of foundational topics that you can start off on and write about.

And these topics can be covered in a finite number of articles – 100, 200, 300, maybe 500 – depending on the size of your niche.

Sidenote: I would expect some strong opposition on this point, and it’s warranted. Yes, if you want to, you can write an infinite amount of content on any given topic. However, in a realistic setting, and keeping in mind that because you’re setting up a blog to make money for it, you would have chosen a relatively ‘tight’ niche and not something as generaly as technology (if you have, then it’s a different process and I promise to discuss that angle further in the next post). In such a case, you have a limited number of things that you can talk about. You might want to rewrite them and add new slants to them, but there comes a time when you run out of new topics to talk about and therefore you have to back through your list and find those new slants to freshen things up with.

So immediately your blog now has two different orientations when it comes to content. On one hand, you have this ‘resource’ need to fulfill and quite definitely your blog needs its flagship / timeless content if you want it to become an authority blog.

On the other hand though, there’s a need for the conversation to be kept going, for readers to be regularly engaged and for the blog to do more than just inform. Your blog is not a just a book or a means to archive knowledge, it’s a conversation as well. So you’ll be balancing the need to add resource articles with the need to discuss the latest developments, valuable information on other blogs, fostering debate and discussion, etc.

For timeless niches (topics where last year’s knowledge is not “out of date” – self-help is one example of a timeless niche), the balance tilts towards ‘resources’ and away from the ‘what’s happening today’ type of blogging – and as a result your approach to building that blog should be different as well.

Just because you are using WordPress does not mean that you should be updating your blog with fresh content every 12 hours. You could (in the case of timeless niches, you SHOULD) follow Nick Wilson’s advice on building ‘Self Sustaining Blogs‘, establish a foundation for your site by writing 100-300 articles on your target keywords and topics, and then using both reader feedback (as Nick suggests) and ‘regular’ updates via blog or mailing list (always good to capture email addresses and build a targeted list) to keep your blog going forward.

It may happen that after the initial burst of content (which can be pre-written and/or taken from ‘private label rights’ services such as PLRPro), you only need to put up 1 blog post a week, and that too in a roundup format discussing what’s happening in the world and on the Internet with respect to your niche.

Bottom line – learn to differentiate whether your chosen niche is biased towards ‘resources’ or ‘fresh updates’, and structure your blog accordingly.

This article was originally written on 26 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.

Bloggers practice varying levels of privacy when revealing personal information on their blogs. Some people are comfortable revealing their names, contact information and pretty much everything else, while others can go to the opposite extreme, use pseudonyms and in general be very protective of their identity.

In many cases privacy concerns arise out a greater fear of revealing too much personal information in case someone decides to come after you in anger (if you think that’s ridiculous, you haven’t been the target of such incidents – it’s very real, if not frequent).

However, as professional bloggers, there’s also another concern – do we want our names attached to our most controversial opinions / most
personal thoughts?

I wrote about this last year in an article on managing reputation in which a lot of people gave good advice on how to deal with a situation where your personal blog can become a liability when people search for you online (especially if they’re looking to hire you).

In the comments, a Performancing reader linked to an article he’d written in 2005 about the same problem, albeit from a different perspective. Of note:

I remember telling someone at a dinner party years ago how, “Even though it’s after work, and we’re friends, for better or for worse, I still represent my employer, right now.” The response was an incredulous, “Are you serious? How can that be?” I went on to explain that, “If I act like a fool, you will form the opinion that my employer hires fools. If I act unethically or immorally, you will form the opinion that my employer hires unethical or immoral people. If you are a customer of my company, or were considering being one, or you yourself work for a company who is a customer, how would this impression influence your decision or recommendation to do business with my company?” From the pause that followed, I could tell that he got the point. Even though I was “just an individual contributor” working for a large corporation, I was representing my company even when I wasn’t working, even in times that many people would consider my own very private, personal time. And this was long before blogs existed, let alone popular.

He’s absolutely right – just as a person you are responsible for your own actions, you are also responsible for how your actions and words reflect on the people associated with you – whether they are your family, your co-workers, your employers (or employees) or even your religious or social community.

You might not like it, and you might not judge other people this way, but that is how most people make quick decisions and form biases. It’s not just about blogs, it’s about how we are in our daily lives.

But getting back to blogs, this raises an interesting question – I have a strong desire to use my own name everywhere and not ‘hide’ behind pseudonyms, but several times this policy has gotten me in trouble (a case of mistaken identity, or just because someone read something on my personal blog that they didn’t agree with).

The underlying lesson is that if you are pushing to use your own name and reveal personal information online (or anywhere else), you have to be prepared for the consequences and own up to what you say (whether it’s on your blog, in the comments of another blog, a forum thread, in a conference or even an email). Otherwise, you are best off by using a pseudonym or hiding your identity as much as possible. I used to think that it was the cowardly thing to do, but it’s not about being brave or not, it’s just a decision you have to make about which set of consequences you are willing to live with.

So what about you? Do you use your own name everywhere online (especially when you’re blogging), or do you take on a pseudonym and play it safe?

This article was originally written on 24 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.

A few days ago I happened to be browsing through my blog, looking for some articles I had written last month. As it happens, I hit the category archives, but to my surprise it was showing ONLY the latest 15 articles. No links at the bottom of the page to older posts in that category, nothing.

I use the WP Page-Navi plugin, which allows you to show a full list of archive pages for that category on each archive page. Apparently that plugin had been deactivated by mistake (I can only guess that I had disabled another plugin that was sitting just above it a month or two ago and had click on the wrong link by mistake).

Bottom line – A simple act of carelessness made most of my site’s archives (almost) completely unavailable to readers and search engines (luckily, my archives page lists all posts on the site, so there was at least one way for crawlers to get there).

It made me wonder what other things might be broken on my blog (and on other blogs), and how often we let our blog management go unattended and let small errors like these creep in (especially in design – read Shane’s post on virtual clutter).

We’ve talked before about the need for doing monthly ‘blog reboots’ to your blogs to evaluate your progress and highlight how you can further improve your blog. It would be wise to add a ‘audit’ section in which you look specifically at what things are broken or have gone downhill from the last month.

After all, you don’t want to be in a situation where no one can read your site’s archives.

This article was originally written on 24 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.

Collaboration between bloggers is very important when it comes to building blog networks or maintaining large, content-rich sites such like Blog Herald and Performancing. Not only do you get the benefit of sharing the load of blogging, but you have two (or more) different social and blog networks within which to promote your joint venture, which can only help your blog’s promotion efforts.

For single blogs, partnering up with other bloggers (as long as you can resolve your differences, if any) can bring you plenty of benefits, especially if your skill sets differ.

For example, I’m involved in several blogs where my role is that of advisor and manager – I advise, help monetize and promote the blog and manage the design, while the other blogger does what they know best – write about what they love. As blogging partnerships go this arrangement is one of the best ones to have (most, if not all, blog networks work this way).

In one of the early posts on Performancing Chris Garrett wrote an excellent article on Co-blogging, which I highly recommend you read. In essence, the idea is that by sharing your blogging responsibilities, you take a lot of the pressure off you that goes with blogging by yourself.

The big question before you get into a blogging partnership, however, is whether you are ready for it or not.

Undoubtedly there needs to be a match between the team – the bloggers must be able to trust each other and respect the quality of their work – but above that there is a mindset issue, where most people are just not willing to give up control on their blogs.

Several bloggers I know are extremely passionate about their work and are quite good at what they do. However, they find it hard to ’share’ their blog – even in the rare case when they allow others to write on their blog, that person never has editing access.

It sounds trivial but the mindset behind this is one of a fear of losing control, and having co-blogged on several blogs myself, I can assure you that it is a genuine fear. BUT, if you are working with the right people, if the roles are clearly defined and if the terms are fair and agreed upon from the start, there are rarely any problems that cannot be resolved.

Blogging Partnerships can help you scale your business, make your blog bigger and better and as a result, help you make more money.

The only question is whether you are willing to take the step forward and open up your mind to the possibility of sharing your blog.

If you are apprehensive, I’d advise that you break it down into smaller parts or projects and take them one at a time. Start with a small one to see how you both go, to see how you get along and to learn how to work with one another.

What do you think? How have your experiences with blogger collaboration worked out?

This article was originally written on 18 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.

It’s 2am in the morning, you’re tired and you can’t even look at your blog lest you find something else wrong with it. You give up and go to bed, only to find out that you can’t sleep because sleeping over it isn’t going to make things better – the problems will still be there tomorrow morning.

So you trudge back to your laptop and get down to work, except that you’re chatting on IM instead of working – and then someone tells you how cool your blog is, and it dawns on you: You have been too harsh on yourself and your blog, and instead of finding positive solutions and working on them, all you’ve been doing is focusing on what’s wrong and letting that eat you up inside.

Moral of the story: Whenever your blog or your blogging hits a dip (whether it’s a drop in motivation or traffic), don’t go Postal on your blog and everything that you’ve worked so hard to build up. Find out the reason why you’ve spent thousands of hours working on your blog, and why you got started in the first place. And then make sure you talk to the people who regularly read your blog and get their opinion on what they think of it.

Chances are, all you need is a supporting shoulder when you’re down, and nothing works better than your own readers telling you that your blog rocks and that you shouldn’t give up.

Thank you, dear reader.

This article was written on 16 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.

When planning for a new blog, you might take a few days to think over it, ask a few knowledgeable friends, research the industry, etc etc. The ‘planning’ phase for a new blog can take you time, right?

Bollocks.

I’m telling you right now that a blog launched based on 5 minutes of brainstorming will do just as well, if not better, than a blog that is started after a week’s worth of meticulous research.

How come? I say this because there is only one question you need to answer before you get to the LAUNCH phase, where you put your blog up and THEN start dealing with all the small issues that come up at the time. Sure, it’s nice to have all the answers before you start, but it’s not necessary. And if you’re already very busy with other work and have a limited period of time in which to start this new blog, you need to save time and with that, everything unnecessary (such as taking out time beforehand to answer a myriad of questions whose answers you won’t need till some time later) is a waste of time.

The ONLY question you need to answer at this point is:

Why do you want to blog?

In a previous blog post I talked about why people blog, and some might say I was cynical about it. However, that discussion brought out a variety of different views about why people blog. This is fascinating for me because for every blog that I’ve started or written at, my actions on it and surrounding it were guided by the answer to this question.

Why do you want to start this new blog? Is it:

• To make money?
• To share your knowledge?
• To change people’s lives and opinions?
• Just for fun?

Your answer – make sure it’s just one thing (if you’re split between sharing and fun, pick the one you want to do the most) – will be your guiding light for the lifetime of your blog (you’re free to change this midway, of course).

So how does knowing the answer help? Here’s a personal example:

There’s a blog that I want to start – a blog about social, economic, political and religious issues in Pakistan (it’s a given that when you’re ‘planning a new blog’, you already have a rough idea of what you want to talk about).

I’m starting this blog so that I can change the lives and views of people in Pakistan and build a platform through which I can build support for social projects in Pakistan. It’s a rough idea, but the key factors here are social mobilization, non-commercial and aiming to influence.
Right now these are very rough ideas in my head, but already this has given me direction in how / what I want my blog to be like.

For starters, while it’s a non-commercial project the blog has some big targets to achieve, and as such it’s a serious venture that will require a lot of personal time. Unless I have the money lying around, or I have an automated money-making solution already working for me (no to both of them), I have to either make a lot of money first so I can dedicate time to this project or (more likely) get help. For me, it’s a case of looking around in my circle of contacts and picking out those people who are passionate about this subject.

Also, we know by default who the audience is – the internet-savvy segment of the Pakistani population, especially those people who will be willing to participate in this venture. As well as taking out time to profile your audience, you should match your content to your audience’s needs and emotional triggers (if you want them to take action, you must tap their emotional wells and charge them up). In this case I can bank on personal experience but it always pays to do a good brainstorming session with one or two other friends and get your ideas clear.

But to be honest, you can ‘tune’ your content and your focus later on, once you’ve launched. As long as you have a basic idea of your audience, you are good to go.

The last point I want to raise is how important this blog is going to be to you personally and whether you can take time out for it. If you are starting a blog for fun or for sharing info, usually it’s understood that you’ll only spend your spare time on it and as a result it’s not a professional undertaking. On the other hand, if it’s a serious social project or a commercial venture, then you have to look at your time management and figure out if you have the time for it.

In most cases, the new blogs that we want to start take us away from the stuff we really should be doing – and while you might disagree, I tend to quash 90% or more of my ‘new blog’ ideas, simply because there’s not enough time for it and I’m not going to take on a new time commitment on a whimsical idea.

Sometimes though, you might have a project that you feel very passionately about, or you might be in a position where you are just starting out on pro-blogging for the first time and are going for a money-making blog. In these cases, accept that the site will only flourish if you work your ass off (Gerard explains this very well here). If you can’t do it, don’t have the time to do it or aren’t willing to commit, don’t bother starting.

What Next?
If you’re planning to start a new blog, I’d like you to take a couple of minutes out and share your answers to the following points in the comments section

• What are you blogging about?
• Why do you want to blog?
• Who’s going to read it?
• Who’s going to write it?
• Do you have the time to work on it?

It doesn’t take a lot of time to figure this out – 5 minutes at best, because the truth is that usually you have already spent some time thinking about your blog and these ideas are already floating around in your head.

My approach at this point is – once I have the answers, I move to the launch phase. Get things out of the door fast and start applying your ideas, and as a result you’ll solve those pesky unforeseen problems early, and overall, get things done today as opposed to think about doing them tomorrow.

So what are you waiting for? If you have a blog that you want to start, and you have the time to work on it, get started.

This article was originally written on 16 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.

Why do people blog?

In my view (you may wish to add to the list), there are 3 main reasons why people blog:

To get attention, to make money and to influence others.

BLOGGING FOR ATTENTION

Blogging is an attention-seeking platform by nature. It is positive and negative – just as you seek attention for positive causes (raising money for charity), you can also seek attention for negative causes (as an extreme, attacking a religion).

If you’re a new blogger, attracting attention may seem like your first (and most important) step but it can’t be your end goal. All that attention is useless unless you have the means to convert it to your advantage, whether you are looking to make money or to change people.

BLOGGING FOR MONEY

Blogs are publishing platforms, and information publishing and networks are always a good source of income if you have mindshare and a profitable business plan.

We have talked a lot about making money and attracting attention here at Performancing – see the Blog Monetization and Blog Promotion sections in the Best of Performancing section.

Mind you, as Ryan said earlier, that blogging doesn’t scale well as a source of income unless you outsource it and focus your time on management.

BLOGGING FOR INFLUENCE

Attracting attention and making money off your blog is, in comparison, simple. Influencing public opinion, whether you are trying to change the views of an industry or of a society, is a different game.

While attracting attention and making money are themes that are often discussed in blogging, we don’t often talk about acquiring the power to influence others. Simply put, very few people / bloggers have the means to influence a mass audience, and it starts with the most basic of things – getting attention and holding peoples’ interest.

So tell me – why do you blog?

This article was originally written on 7 Aug 2007 for Performancing.com.