Rachel Maddow Blog

CLICK HERE to watch Rachel Maddow on Wendy Williams Show

Back in May, we asked Comcast CEO Brian Roberts to look into a particular broadcast of the “Rachel Maddow Blog Show” on MSNBC in which Maddow potentially libeled the National Center for Public Policy Research. Roberts pledged to look into Maddow’s comments and report back to me.

While I am still waiting for a response from Roberts, it seems Maddow heard my message loud and clear.

Comcast is the parent company of NBC Universal, which owns and operates MSNBC. At Comcast’s annual shareholder meeting, I confronted the top executive with the repugnant rhetoric emanating daily from MSNBC’s talking heads.

We asked:

Mr. Roberts, why is this happening? Editorializing need not contain libel and NBC Universal is not a middle-school operation – standard fact checking should be in place at all times… MSNBC personnel have a habit of making outlandish remarks and then, sometimes, withdrawing them. For example, Chris Matthews said Republican primary voters are comparable to Grand Wizards of the Ku Klux Klan, then, claimed he didn’t mean to say it. Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a slut. Then, he apologized. But he has also claimed that Republicans want to see sick people die so they can make money off their corpses; that conservative commentators want to see President Obama shot; and he said of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s heart “we ought to rip it out, kick it around, and stuff it back in him.” These would be shocking things for a drunk to say at a bar, Mr. Roberts, but they are being said by supposed professional journalists on your network. Why?

While my complaint largely discussed MSNBC’s vile content and unprofessional personalities in general terms, I specifically referenced the April 24th broadcast of the “Rachel Maddow Show” in which Maddow accused the National Center of “funnel[ing] cash and perks to members of Congress” to influence legislation. This is not true, and MSNBC knows it. Maddow offered no basis for this reckless accusation, and I pointed out to Roberts that network owes us an explanation and an apology.

While we wait, however, it appears Maddow is singing a new public tune about her role as a journalist.

On June 22nd, Maddow appeared on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher.” She shocked the host, audience and fellow panelists with the unexpected claim that she was non-partisan and merely reported the news while offering no opinions whatsoever.

When fellow panelist, Reason magazine editor Nick Gillespie, commented that Maddow always sides with – in his words – Democratic positions over Republican ones, Maddow emphatically denied the charge, saying, “[y]ou don’t even know me.” Gillespie, not conceding the point, asked her for an instance when she has chosen a conservative opinion over the liberal option.

Maddow avoided the question.

Later in the program, the discussion shifted to ObamaCare and RomneyCare. Here, Gillespie was sure that Maddow would agree that RomneyCare was an example of conservative legislation that the MSNBC host would like. Maddow, however, refused to offer any opinion, claiming, “my job is to cover these things, not to tell you how I like them or not.”

How to Write a Blog

In this blog, we will discuss how to write a blog. In the past several years, the popularity of the internet has spawned new words, phrases and even ways for people to communicate. Sure, social media marketing is all the buzz, however, if you think about it, blogging really is the big brother of social media and other forms of internet mass communication. Blogging isn't talked about as much as it was, however, it's still an excellent way to generate traffic to your website.

If you're interested in adding a blog to your website but aren't quite sure how to write a blog post, here are five ideas to help you head in the right direction:

1. The KISS method. When you're learning how to write a blog post, remember that a blog isn't a novel. Heck...it's not even an article. It's a short, concise piece that your reader can read in five minutes or less. Since your blog is an ongoing series, it's much better to have one concept or idea per blog than to cram everything in at once. Keep It Short and Simple.

2. Don't preach. Most people don't enjoy being preached and lectured to. They want to be informed and entertained. So when you're learning how to write a blog post, remember that if someone feels that you're trying to lecture, that's the last blog you write that they will probably read.

3. Humor. Let's face it, people enjoy humor. Something that makes them smile. When you're learning how to write a blog post, it's ok to interject your own personality and sense of humor into the mix. In fact, when people feel that they have gotten to know you, they form a bond which makes them return to your blog.

4. Frequency. Now that you've learned how to write a blog post, it's important to keep your blog updated. You certainly don't have to post daily (although some people do), however, as a blogger, you need to keep in touch with your readers.

5. Keywords. If you're writing to optimize your blog, make sure that you've used the appropriate keywords so the search engines can spider and pick up the subject matter. This allows you to rank higher and pick up more readers. In each blog post I write I tend to use .5-1.5% keyword density (not too much, not too little).

By keeping the above tips in mind, it's quite easy to learn how to write a blog post. Figure out your subject, sit down and just start writing.

Best Food Blogs

Best food blogs are a lot like, well, food.
There are some like fast food --dished up quick with empty calories. There are others that are like comfort food --all warm, fuzzy and satisfying. And then there are others that allow you to dream about all the things you can create. But one things is for sure, food blogs have changed the way we digest what we know about food.
Blogs like This is Why You're Fat.com “where dreams become heart attacks,” would have been impossible before the Internet. Old food media was often about complex food, complicated techniques and exotic ingredients. Food blogs democratized food knowledge and its appreciation and let everyone in on the conversation.

The Internet gave voice to those who lacked formal food training but nevertheless had a lot to say about food. Food is political, social, sport and fashion. Blogs reflect the fact that food touches every aspect of our culture. Old media didn’t get that.

“Food’s become part of the Zeitgeist in ways that even Betty Crocker couldn’t have imagined,” laughs SeriousEats founder, Ed Levine, a former New York Times and Gourmet writer.

Levine started a little blog to share his passion for burgers and pizza. Six years later millions follow SeriousEats .
Digital media allows people, not “gatekeepers,” to create content, says Levine. “Where’s the innovation coming from? Not from the Times,” says Levine. “They know it. Everybody knows it,” he says of old media’s top-down model.
If food’s your passion, if it’s something you “consistently read about, think about or watch,” a blog lets you “connect with like-minded people,” says Greg Mowrey of StoveTopReadings.com .

“You become part of a community,” he says.

The best blogs combine community and authority with a discerning, non-authoritarian voice. A “best of” list is a moving target as new blogs gain traction and old ones re-invent themselves.
Here is a list of the best blogs you may never have heard about, but should definitely check out.

SeriousEats
The approachable granddaddy of food blogs. Their Serious Eats book (Clarkson Potter) guides you to the best burgers, pizza, po’ boys, sliders, whatever, in the U.S. “Talk” forum postings range from whether graham crackers with butter is disgusting to cooking muskrat. J. Kenji López-Alt’s Food Lab is a must for those obsessed with when food and science collide.

StoveTopReadings
Mowrey traveled, ate and cooked with some of the world’s best cooks for decades as a top New York book publicist. He reviews by cooking from cookbooks so you know which books have recipes that actually work. Sporadic posts but worth it as Mowrey never lacks for an opinion.

FoodGawker and TasteSpotting are photo-recipe blogs that prove that we eat with our eyes.
Bloggers’ photos leave you slack-jawed, as with FoodPornDaily .
Their Fried Shrimp Double Cheese Burger with Onion Straws and Arugula-Pesto Mayo photo rivals Botticelli’s Birth of Venus for impact. Type a favorite ingredient, i.e. “Oreo” into “search” on any of these blogs and let the fantasies begin.

SmittenKitchen
Deb Perelman dedicates herself to stepped-up comfort foods like Pizza with Bacon, Onions and Cream and Baked Rigatoni with Tiny Meatballs using accessible recipes and clear techniques.
She doesn’t do “truffle oil, Himalayan pink salt or single-origin chocolate.” Hallelujah.

CakeWrecks
Jen Yates’ hilarious photoblog of professionally-baked cakes (gone wrong or just bad to start) is not to miss. “Push, Olivia, Push!” features a cake with an anatomical birth (eeeeww) and a “Newborn Baby” comes with umbilical cord and scissors. Check out its first slice picture too. Thank goodness they're just cake.
Conceptually similar to two equally clever books: The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan (Riverhead Trade) and The Gallery of Regrettable Food (Clarkson Potter).

BraveTart
Stella Parks is “pastry girl” at Lexington, Kentucky’s Table 310 restaurant . Prior to that the Culinary Institute of America alum was “Brave Tart,” posting recipes like Bourbon Buttermilk Layer Cake , and yes, Pop Tarts . Her motto: “I make dessert. Someone takes a picture. You get the recipe.”

IceCreamIreland
Kieran Murphy is a New York-born “chocoholic Irish ice cream man” who with brother Sean, makes ice cream in Dingle and Killarney, Ireland. With fun posts and recipes like Irish Whiskey Ice Cream and Ice Cream Scones (made with, not on top of). What’s not to love?

HomeSickTexan
Only homecooked meals could ease Lisa Fain’s Lone Star blues when the seventh-generation Texan moved to New York City. She’s stayed true to her roots. Proper chili, she explains, is bean-free. Beans in chili “is meat and bean soup.”

MattBites
Photo-food blogger Matt Armendariz is a professional food photographer who makes food cool (breathtaking photography) and approachable (easy recipes.) Check out Adam’s Scary Apples and Anything in a Tortilla.

ThePioneerWoman
Ree Drummond is the wife, mother, cook and homeschooler-in-chief on her family’s working Oklahoma ranch. So popular that she’s seems to be morphing into a Sooner-State Martha Stewart. Lots of comfort foods, and lots of butter.

Chowhound
Fantastic resource for people who cook or want to learn. Their knowledgeable community helps you understand why your Chicken Cacciatore was an epic fail and how to fix it.

Make Money Blogging

CLICK HERE to watch How to Make Money Blogging video

Do you want to make money blogging? If you do – you’re not alone. More and more bloggers are finding that blogging is a profitable medium. Whether it be to earn a few extra dollars a week to feed their coffee habit, or making enough money to stop them having to get a part time job to get through college, or whether they’ve got it to a point where they are able to make a full time living from their blogging – there are tens of thousands of bloggers who make money blogging.

How to Make Money Blogging

In this page I want to share some information for beginners on how to make money blogging. For a very quick and broad visual intro – check out this Make Money Blogging MindMap which visualizes just SOME of the ways bloggers make money blogging.

First – let me start by sharing my own top Money Making Methods (updated regularly) but below that point you to some great resources and teaching on how to increase your income from blogging.

What follows is a quick summary of my main income streams from blogging. Before you read it though – keep in mind that every blog is unique in how it can make money. Some of the following income streams will work on some blogs a lot better than others – the key is to experiment with as many as possible and see what works best for you.

The following income streams (from a number of blogs) have helped me to earn a six figure income each year for the last 5 years from blogging. I’ve ranked them from highest to lowest.

I hope you find it useful to see the mix and variety of ways that I earn a living from blogging.

1. AdSense

Despite not using it here at ProBlogger any more (here’s why) I continue to use AdSense with amazing effect on my other blogs. I have them all set to show image and text based ads and find that 250×300 pixel ads work best (usually with a blended design). I don’t have much luck with their ‘referrals’ program but their normal ads work a treat and continue to be the biggest earner for me.

2. Affiliate Programs

I run a variety of affiliate programs on my blogs – most of which bring in smaller amounts of money that don’t really justify a category of their own (but which certainly add up).

These include recommending quality products like these here on ProBlogger: Thesis WordPress theme, Yaro’s Blog Mastermind Coaching Program and How to Launch the F*** out of your E-Book (and others) as well as some great products on my photography blog including 123 of Digital Imaging, David DuChemin’s amazing Photography E-Books and Mitchell Kanashkevich’s great ebooks.

The great thing about many of these programs is that they are of such high quality that they sell themselves and I am being emailed from readers who sign up to them thanking me for the recommendation!

3. E-Book Sales

Last time I did a wrap up of how I make money blogging this category did not exist for me – I didn’t really have any of my own products to sell at all. However in the last year or so I’ve released 3 E-books – 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, The Essential Guide to Portrait Photography and Photo Nuts and Bolts: Know Your Camera and Take Better Photos. While these products all only sell for under $20 they certainly add up and some months this has been my biggest category of income. The reason they were only ranking at #3 in the last month was that I didn’t do a product launch (I wrote about one launch which brought in $72,000 in a week here). This is an income stream I see growing as I add more E-books to my range (expect 3 in the coming few months).

4. Continuity Programs

This is another newer category for me but one that continues to grow.

A continuity program is a site where you earn a recurring income from people who subscribe to a service you offer.

For me this includes two sites – ProBlogger.com and Third Tribe Marketing. Both programs are membership sites and generate monthly income from the thousands of members that they have as a part of them.

5. Private Ad Sales/Sponsorships

Private ad sales directly to advertisers have fallen for me in the last year (they previously ranked #3 on this list). This is partly due to a change in my own focus but also partly due to the economy as it is. I should note that this area does vary a little from month to month depending upon the campaigns we’re asked to run – we’ve had a couple of months where it actually ranked #2 in the last year.

This includes ad sales of the 125 x 125 ads here at ProBlogger as well as a campaign or two at Digital Photography School.

6. Chitika

Chitka continues to be a great performer for me on my blogs. They traditionally have worked best on product related blogs although their Premium ad units now convert well on a larger range of blogs.

While I’ve focused a little less on Chitika in the last 6 months (mainly as I’ve released my own products and moved a little away from advertising) they do continue to perform well where I use them and over the time I’ve been using Chitika they’ve now earned me over a quarter of a million dollars – as a result I can’t recommend them enough!

7. Amazon Associates


Amazon’s affiliate program has been one of my big movers in the last 12 months. I used to make a few odd dollars from it – however in recent times it has become a significant earner for me (in fact it’s now earned me over $100,000 since I started using it). Christmas time (and the lead up to it) is a particularly good time for Amazon – last December it would have ranked #2 on this list.

8. ProBlogger Job Boards

The job boards here at ProBlogger continue to grow each month in the number of advertisements that are being bought. This enabled me to invest most of the money that they’d earned a while back into getting a new back end for the boards and to redesign them. These job boards now bring in over $1000 a month in revenue which is pretty nice considering that they are so low maintenance to run. They also offer a service to readers and add value to the overall blog.

The only problem that I face with the job boards is that there are so many bloggers looking for work that the demand for jobs far exceeds the supply. On the good side of things is that advertisers are reporting getting amazing quality of applications.

9. Speaking Fees

I get asked to do a lot of speaking and increasingly they are paid opportunities. I’m not able to do as many as I would like (mainly because I live in Australia and most of what I’m asked to do is overseas and I only travel 2-3 times a year) – however in April I did a couple of events and the income was enough to include in this list.

Other Income

In addition to all of the above there are many smaller incomes. Many of these are from smaller advertising programs that I test but none are big enough to really rate a mention here.

The other income stream that there was no actual money from in April was book royalties from the ProBlogger Book. These are only paid every 6 or so months (not in April). It’s probably also worth mentioning that authors don’t tend to make a whole lot of money on book royalties – you don’t write books to get rich (unless you sell a lot of them).

Useful Resources for Bloggers Wanting to Make Money Blogging

A lot has been written on the topic of making money online from blogs. There is a lot of wonderful information out there – but also a lot of hype and sometimes dangerous information.

Web Hosting

What is Web Hosting?

Web Hosting is a fundamental component of any website. It is the link between creating a website and making it accessible to online visitors via the World Wide Web. Simple put, web hosting is a service that provides the disk space on a server to store a website content so that visitors can view and utilize this website online.

Taking a look at the web hosting industry, it is huge! There are hundreds of web hosting companies out there, each one offering many different types of hosting services. With so much competition, how do you know which one is going to be best for you? But look at the bright side more competition means less cost and better service for you.

When deciding on a hosting company and a package that are right for you, there are a lot of different factors to consider. The first step is deciding what type of hosting service best fit your needs and your budget, there are many different web hosting services but mainly they are 3 main types; shared web hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Server), and dedicated hosting.

Once you know what type of hosting you are looking for, the next step is deciding on a hosting company. One of the most important aspects to look at when choosing your provider is reliability or Up time.

Below is a list of the main web hosting services which are; Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Dedicated Hosting:

Shared Web Hosting
The largest growing and most popular type of web hosting is "Shared Web Hosting". Shared web hosting is a type of hosting where multiple customers' sites can share the same server. Each one of these sites sits in it's own section of the server, keeping them separate from one another. This type of hosting service is the most economical option for hosting, not only because you are sharing the overall cost, but you are also cutting costs by not paying any upfront hardware expense.

Shared hosting often includes services such as a "system administrator". System administrators are great for those just starting out and don't yet know a lot about servers, or for those who simply don't want the extra hassle of taking care the server themselves. The provider is not only responsible for managing the servers, but also for installing server software, providing technical support, security updates, etc.

This type of hosting is great for small to medium-sized businesses. It is also a great option for those just starting out with their online career, as it is budget friendly yet still provides the management and services that may be required for less experienced website holders.

VPS (Virtual Private Server, Virtual Dedicated Server)
A VPS refers to a "virtual machine". It bridges the gap between shared web hosting services and dedicated web hosting services. It provides the customer with most of the benefits of a physical dedicated server, but at a much lesser cost. This type of server is similar to shared web hosting in that you will be sharing a server with other customers’ websites however instead of using a portion of a server, the server is entirely split.

Not only does a VPS have the privacy of a separate physical computer but it also is functionally equivalent to running on a separate physical computer, all the while running software on the same physical computer as other customers' "virtual machines". Each virtual server can use its own full-fledged operating system and can be independently rebooted.

This type of hosting is perfect for website owner that receives large amounts of traffic daily, or a business owner with multiple websites. VPS is an accumulative server, which means that as your site continues to grow, more resources will be added to accommodate its needs.

There are certain software such as virtualizes themselves that do not run as well on VPS. Another things to consider is because of the number of customers running on one machine, a VPS often has limited processor time, RAM, and disk space.

Dedicated Hosting
The most powerful type of web hosting is "Dedicated Hosting". With this type of hosting, the client leases and entire server, not shared with anyone.

Dedicated hosting is more flexible than shared hosting because it is solely for your use. It offers full control over the server, including choice of operating system, hardware, etc. These types of servers are most often housed in data centers, providing redundant power and HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning). By having multiple vendors for connectivity and use of redundant hardware, these providers are able to guarantee higher up times, which usually fall between 99-100% if they are a higher quality provider. Dedicated hosting uses extreme security measures to ensure safety of data stored on their network servers.

This type of web hosting is ideal for high-demand websites that require large storage space and high transfer speeds. Many large corporations use dedicated hosting because it is capable of handling many functions simultaneously.

No industry standard has yet been set for dedicated hosting. This means each provider will use standard industry terms, but providers will define theirs differently. Different companies will provide different levels of management and support.

Free Blog Sites

CLICK HERE to learn how to start a video blog

Free Blog Sites: Squidoo
Finally, a truly positive review!

That’s right, I really like Squidoo as a single-topic platform. Squidoo is very limited in what it can do, but it does not claim to be an ongoing blog platform. Squidoo allows you to login, create a page about one topic, and move on. Want to write about a new topi? Create a new page.

This is what Squidoo wants you to do. There is no pretense at being any more than that. I am currently about half-way through creating my first Squidoo lens, and I really look forward to getting the finished product published. Because of the nature of Squidoo, I feel compelled to create something worthwhile rather than just a knock-off blog post like I might use on another reviewed site. This is a lens I intend to keep.

Why am I calling it a “lens” instead of a blog? “Lens” is the term Squidoo uses to symbolize the detail and focus you can give to your single topic. Much like an in-depth college paper, you can really dive head-first into a subject when you are liberated from the expectation of regularly updated content. So far I’ve written about 2000 words on a subject I studied in-depth seven years ago, and fell in love with, but have never really been involved with again. This is my chance to fall in love all over again, and I have.

Squidoo is NOT a platform for a blogger who wants to inject his personality into a daily opinion post. While I suppose it would be a decent platform for a well-developed argument, you will not be able to develop the cult of personality most bloggers try to cultivate. Your readers are going to be interesed in your subject, not you.

On the technical side, building a Squidoo lens is clean and simple, but somewhat limiting. On a text-heavy lens like mine, there is not much opportunity to add many images, which is unfortunate. My subject is very visually stimulating, but I can only add one small image per text block. I can add Flickr modules between text blocks, which is not as aesthetically pleasing. Not a big deal, but it would be nice to be able to add images more freely. The modularized interface works perfectly. The blocks are very fast and easy to organize.

Visually, all lenses have pretty much the same look. To borrow a Ruby on Rails saying, these constraints are liberating. Much like it’s nice to be able to write on one subject only, it feels good to be able to focus on content, knowing the reader is not expecting anything from the form. Like writing a Wikipedia entry, focusing on the facts is making me feel like a better writer.

Are you an expert on something? Squidoo allows you to express that. Doesn’t matter how minute the topic might be, if you can write one thousand words or more about the subject, check out Squidoo and let your inner writer out.

Free Blog Sites: Spruz

So promising, and then… nothing.

I read about Spruz on Go2Web2 earlier this afternoon. It sounded like a great site! I’d never heard of it before, so I was pretty excited. It sounded like there were a ton of customization features that could create not just a blog, but a whole social networking site built around a blog.

And then I actually tried it.

The landing page offers you a chance to “Reserve your domain” even before you logon. Unfortunately, this was a waste of time, because this information is apparently thrown out when you go through the steps to sign up a new account. You will be asked to enter the subdomain of your choice again, this time with a verification program that might tell you the name you entered previously is taken.

After confirming the account, I was taken to the theme selection screen, where my heart sank a little. I was expecting some serious customization options. Instead I was presented with thirty-five awfully hideous themes. There was not one theme there I even kinda liked. I selected the plain black, white, and silver theme just because it was slightly better than the canary yellow theme, the second best option.

After selecting the them, you are asked for more sign-up info, including the subdomain (again) you want. After that… well, I wish I could say it got better, but I received “Service Unavailable” errors several times at this point.

I did finally get in, however. The setup wizard might be popular with some people, but I didn’t care for it. A Flash-based walk-through for using a service that is already very simplistic just annoyed me. No way to skip it, it seems. This line at the bottom of the setup screen really made me happy: ” This site has been optimized for Internet Explore 7.” To my Linux-running Firefox-fanboy self, a warning like that means “Our site is badly programmed, but IE’s ok with it. Firefox complains about our bugs, but we don’t care.” I only noticed that warning because Spruz froze up after I entered a page description and I had to repeat the wizard.

After completing the wizard, there is another theme library from which to choose the look of your website. While there are around 90 themes to choose from overall, most are still hideous. The game-related themes are a little better, but they are not at all appropriate unless your site is somehow related to that game.

When I tried to edit the content of my blog, I was presented with an unreadable page, medium grey text on a background featuring medium grey and light grey diagonal stripes, with slightly-darker-than-medium grey buttons. My eyes are pretty sharp, but this page was giving me a headache. I gave up after a couple of minutes of trying to figure out how to write an actual blog entry and decided to leave it blank.

In their rush to make buttons and menus that anyone could use, I found the whole thing slightly confusing and painful. Maybe it’s the engineer in me, but software that tries to hard to be easy just ends up harder to use than the common design most software uses. Here’s a clue, guys… most software is designed that way for a reason! Stop trying to reinvent the GUI; it’s not necessary.

Beyond the site-building interface, there’s not much to like. In the end, you have a hideous blog with advertising plastered across the top. Even if a newbie blogger liked the admin menus, I can’t imagine they’d be happy about the end result. You can do much better with the easy-to-use admin interface at Blogger, for example.

The host is very slow: average load times for my zero-content test page were eight to eleven seconds. According to a load time indicator at the bottom of the screen, all database accesses were taking less than one second. The advertising image is only 12.2kb, so I’m going to have to blame the pipes for the load times. Their network connection is probably being overtaxed by serving out that Flash setup wizard.

I’m very sorry to say that this is probably the worst free blog host I’ve ever seen. I absolutely can not recommend Spruz for anyone, including the absolute beginners for whom it was designed. Great idea, horrible execution.

Free Blog Sites: Smoothlaunch
Smoothlaunch is a free blog site I’d never heard of before. I found it through Google this afternoon and decided to check it out.

Plugins: Yes, a very large selection
Themes: 8, possibly original
Commercial Sites Allowed: Yes
Virtual Hostnames: No
Domains: No
Right away one can see they’re probably serious about building something here, which is great. The landing page has a very nice theme and, given some of the links from the main page, it seems to be very marketing friendly.

Maybe a little too marketing friendly. Using the very same tactic I use at Emerald Nova (no idea is completely original, even if you don’t know of anyone else who’s ever had it before), the dashboard has been replaced by affiliate links. The good news is that Smoothlaunch wants you to use their site for affiliate marketing. The bad news is that the admin pages themselves, seen only by the blog authors, are filled with advertising. This seems a poor choice; the very small number of blog authors you might reach this way will largely be turned off by having their private admin menus filled with Adsense ads.

I was very impressed by the list of plug-ins available at Smoothlaunch. I counted 99 plug-ins available. This may actually be overkill. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m plug-in happy on my own blogs, and I don’t even use 40. Many of the plug-ins they have available duplicate effects, such as the three AdSense plug-ins (all totally unnecessary), three mp3 players, and three social bookmarking plug-ins. There are also some that shouldn’t be here. I won’t say which one, but one of their plug-ins allows users to delete stuff that doesn’t belong to them, and do other things they shouldn’t be allowed to do. This is a MASSIVE security hole, too bad they didn’t test it before going live with their site.

Smoothlaunch does not support virtual hostnames or domains, so your blog will be named www.smoothlaunch.com/blogname. I’m ok with that, but many people aren’t.

The host is somewhat slow. Page loads average around 5 to 7 seconds. The custom dashboard took over 20 seconds to load the first time I logged in. The WedTradeSecrets info in the dashboard also give the impression their site may be part of a link farm. I can’t be sure about that so I won’t say it’s true, but IF it is true, Google will hate this site. Any web page hosted here would be be doomed to “bad neighborhood” Hell.

I liked the idea behind Smoothlaunch, but possibility they are part of a link farm, the slowness of the host, and the huge gaping security hole makes it impossible for me to recommend them. The Internet needs more free blog sites that are friendly to marketing and commercial sites. But one that is run so amateurishly just doesn’t fill the needs of the market.

Free Blog Sites: Blogsome

The next WordPress-based free blog site I want to review is Blogsome. I’ve had a site hosted here for a couple of weeks and it’s not bad, but not very good. Response times are slightly faster than WordPress.com, with average load times being around 2.5 to 4 seconds.

Plugins: Yes, VERY limited selection
Themes: 27
Commercial Sites Allowed:No
Virtual Hostnames:Yes
Domains:No
The plug-in selection at Blogsome is awful. While it’s nice they support plug-ins, they are not very useful. Of the ten plug-ins supported, four are editor related (Why anyone would want to change the behavior of the WordPress editor, I can not imagine) and two are spam-related (But no Akismet). I’m a plug-in freak, I guess (I use over thirty on my main blog), and this selection just doesn’t interest me at all.

Theme selection is not much better. Most are very old, plain, and rather unattractive. The latest dates in the theme list were March 2005. If you want your blog to look completely out of date, then I guess that’s ok.

OLD described Blogsome well, in fact. I’m not sure exactly which version of the software they’re using. Looking at the page source shows “WordPress 1.5.1-alpha” as the generator. I wasn’t using WordPress in 2005, so I assume this is the version number of WordPress around which WordPress Multi-User was built at some point in history. I guess this would explain why “Hello Dolly” was the only plugin I’d ever heard of.

My final complaint is that Blogsome adds an out-of-place button ad for itself in your sidebar. I have no problem with free blog sites promoting themselves on customers’ blogs, but the button just looks wrong on my tan-colored theme. It also doesn’t really give visitors any compelling reason to click on it.

I chose Blogsome for a third-string niche site because it was WordPress based, had a decent Google Pagerank, and was not particularly well-know. While it hasn’t failed me, I probably wouldn’t use it again, mostly just because of the theme choice. It’s important to me that a blog look good, and that just won’t happen at Blogsome.

Free Blog Sites: WordPress.com
WordPress.com is certainly the largest of the WordPress-based free blog sites. Here is the feature set at WordPress.com:

Plugins: No
Themes: 60
Commercial Sites Allowed: No
Virtual Hostnames:Yes
Domains: Yes
WordPress.com is a fast host. Average page load times are about three to six seconds for a single post page. Account setup is fast and easy. Users can use either a virtual host (blogname.wordpress.com) or point an existing domain to WordPress.com.

Once logged in, this is standard WordPress. It’s powerful and flexible, but can also seem a little overwhelming to new bloggers. The text editor built into the WordPress software is the best in the blogging community. You can use either the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) visual editor, or the code editor to create your own HTML markup.

The theme selection is nice, taken entirely from the WordPress themes directory that is linked within all WordPress installations. Most of these are very popular themes, so your page might end up looking like thousands of others across the Internet.

The lack of plugins is disappointing. WordPress Plugins are what make the software great. Any piece of software can put text on the Internet. You don’t even need a blog or CMS program to do that. Plugins are extra programs that be added to WordPress to increase the functionality. On my personal website, I used over thirty plugins. Even more non-technical users tend to install a handful of the most useful plugins.

Commercial sites are not allowed on WordPress.com. The site’s terms of service make it clear that links to affiliate programs such as Clickbank and Amazon Associates are not allowed. While this is fine for a personal or hobbyist website, that makes WordPress.com entirely unsuitable if you are interested in making money from your website.

Free Blog Sites
I’ve been blogging, in one form or another, since 1995, long before anyone had ever used the word “blog” to describe what we were doing with our personal online journals. In those years, I’ve used dozens of free blog sites, as well as owned several domains.

While blogging experts will tell you that owning your own domain is the way to go, the fact is that being hosted in a free blog site can result in immediate traffic, while being self-hosted can result in months of loneliness, where you feel like no one is listening to you at all. Problogger recently wrote a great article on that subject.

I currently write four blogs. All get about the same level of traffic, 40 to 60 unique visitors per day. The difference is that one has been online almost three months and consumed hundreds of hours of my time. The other have been online less than two weeks and are populated with basically throwaway articles. What’s the difference? The two newer blogs were hosted on free blog sites where I can take advantage of other peoples’ traffic to help my own, and vice versa. The other, the one that has been hard work and still receives very little traffic, is hosted on a paid host and has its own domain name.

This site is about looking at other free blog sites. You’ll notice I used WordPress.com, the multi-user version of my favorite blogging software. Why did I used WordPress.com instead of writing these reviews on the other site, the one that is more important to me? Because I actually want people to read it, and I am quite certain that will happen immediately hosted here.

Why LinkedIn is a critical business to business blog tool

CLICK HERE to view video on LinkedIn Business to Business Blog Marketing

LinkedIn is a critical tool for a business to business blog audience.

The target audience is executives and professionals looking to network as compared to an average consumer.
What to do: Establish a company profile, where you will give an overview of your business, and an individual profile, where you provide a short version of your résumé. Make sure to upload a headshot or a business logo, and list your personal or business specialties.

Connect: Make connections with current and past colleagues and schoolmates, and accept those who request you as a contact if you know them or have interacted with them. You can also create or join groups, which allow users who have certain connections — alumni associations or nonprofit boards, for example — to have a central place to connect.
Searching: You can look for people, updates, jobs and companies, among others, and can be done through the search and advanced search function, or http://www.linkedin.com/signal. From there, you can set up alerts to follow a company and see what it is discussing online. Following can be a useful way to determine who you need to connect with when looking to deal with a specific company.

Stay in touch: LinkedIn can also be useful to stay in touch with your network. Sending a quick congratulatory note to connections with new jobs, or to those who just got promoted, can help keep connections strong. You’ll also be able to share links and create events.

Whether your company just started a Twitter feed or already has a thriving social media presence, consider signing up for our Social Madness contest.

It's a national competition organized by American City Business Journals, Inc., the parent of this publication. The challenge will measure the growth of a company’s social media presence during certain time periods as it competes in a bracket-style tournament. Companies will compete against others of similar size and be ranked based on votes on triad.bizjournals.com, LinkedIn connections, Facebook activity and Twitter followers. It only takes a few minutes to sign up, but hurry. The deadline is May 15.