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I had the most interesting encounter in Reddit recently with a user who accused me of blog spam. Of course, having a slight understanding of what the term was, but not that it was a real term, I decided to do a little research. I know this might sound a bit know-it-all, but I am almost certain other bloggers have run into these type of users who really have no idea what spamming entails, especially in regards to blogging and using social media in the social networking and social bookmarking communities. In fact, not one, but 2 of my articles that were top roundups about WordPress layouts I found that were handy for certain webmasters looking for those type of themes were accused the the same user.

So, here is what I found and how not to blog spam.

According to Wikipedia,

Spam in blogs (also called simply blog spam or comment spam) is a form of spamdexing. It is done by automatically posting random comments or promoting commercial services to blogs, wikis, guestbooks, or other publicly accessible online discussion boards.

In my case, I manually bookmark and share my links, or my visitors graciously do this, so in my case, and since my posts really have not been commercial in nature do not constitute as such. You are within your rights to share your blog or other links in any social network or social bookmarking system. In fact, most of their services highly encourage it, but they also warn about spamming. So it is a use at your risk type of situation. If the article is not yours, you are required to give credit, but you are still able to share those links anywhere.

It is when you post unrelated material to those networks and keep doing so in a manner that may be assumed that you are trying to force people to go to that link. No matter if your articles or the ones you plug are commercial or not, you have to be certain that others will not take offense to such material. For example, in Twitter, there are users that will send you reply messages and try to get you to try their product. After further look into the matter, you will find that the person has contacted many other users with the same or similar message. That is spam. Even if the message is to go to a blog, that is blog spam.

You could also create this when publishing paid to blog articles as well. How? Well, if your sponsored posts have no relevancy to your site’s focus, some of your visitors may feel that you are spamming them. Make sure to choose paid post opportunities that fit as closely to your blog’s niche.

What constitutes as blog spam to you? What other suggestions can you make to avoid the possibility of blog spamming? Have you ever been accused of spamming with your blog?

I have come across mixed opinions about blogs that contained paid-to-review, also known as, paid to blog. Some people are not fond of it, while others are happily writing posts they will eventually get paid for. Blondish.net does have paid posts from time to time. Since my site revamp, my focus has prevented me from accepting some paid opportunities that I normally might take. I only pick opportunities that have some relevancy to my site.

However, I am alarmed to see so many people posting just about anything on their site, while complaining that their site is not doing so well. This is why I am writing this post. I will say this first: I am not discouraging anyone from taking opportunities. However, if you wish to improve your blog and connect with others, you might want to read.

When you create a site and make others aware of it through social networking, you are drawing people in because you want them to see what you are saying and hopefully provide some type of feedback, whether commenting, linking you back, or even returning. The issue lies in your site’s content, particularly your site’s focus – what your site is all about. As much as anyone loves money, if you are filling your site with more advertisements, and less content, you are not being effective in conveying your blog’s message. In fact, you are far more likely to have people tell others that your site has a lot of spam. Here are some pointers:

1. Make sure to only accept opportunities that are relevant to your blog. This will eliminate the confusion on what you are trying to say. Your blog is all about you, so make it you. If you are a walking ad billboard, then so be it, but do not complain if you are not getting the responses and traffic you desire.
2. If your site contains many focuses, perhaps trimming it or splitting it up might be a good idea. If you talk about lawn mowing on the weekend while drinking a beer, and then post another blog after it about some tech gadgets, that might be strange, unless the mowing has a story with something techie in it. You may have to make a separate blog for personal stuff. This means you can take opportunities relevant for both sites, but not mix up your ads.
3. Although some paid to blog sites allow you to post back-to-back or even every other post, you should strive to put more quality content between your paid opportunities. If you have to, make a list of your topics ahead of time and then insert your opportunities every few posts, even if you have to blog several times a day.
4. Try not to write as if you were trying to be a pitchman. When you take a paid blog gig, you need to make it you and try to incorporate how it is relevant to your site. People want to connect and see that you are honestly blogging a message rather being in it just for the money. They will understand you might need the money, but be honest about it.
5. If you do take an opportunity, stand behind it and share the link out in the social networks. Make sure to write your post open-ended so you can get responses.Treat that paid post as if it were like the rest of your blog.

Do you get paid to blog? If so, do you have more advice on this subject? If not, what do you think of getting paid to blog?

Please welcome my guest blogger, Brian Swichkow (@swichi293 on Twitter.) Brian is a graduate of Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont, and has with a degree in Multimedia and Graphic Design. He always tweets wonderful, inspirational, and resourceful links to sites containing design and technology. I asked him to define good web design in his own words.

Web design to me is such a simple thing to produce – it involves images and text that are established to communicate information over the Internet. Now, the idea of good web design, and by association – effective web design, is intricate and thoughtful to an almost theoretical level. The question isn’t what makes web design “good”, but rather “what is effective?”

What is the web design that will push you to make a purchase? What is the look of a website that will call the consumer to action? The answer lies in the personality of your target market and what interests them as individuals and as a whole. Effective web design is fast loading, easily navigated, and informative. Effective web design uses colors, shapes, and visual motion to create a mood to be subliminally felt by the viewer. Effective web design not only displays a cohesive message, it portrays an attitude, a vibe, and a lifestyle. Effective web design makes the customer take out their wallet, type in their credit card, and purchase the item. Effective web design makes those who can’t afford your product talk to their friends about how much they want the item and why, it creates word of mouth marketing and builds a brand following that will further market the product.

Good design is effective web design and when you find effective web design you won’t recognize it until the delivery person is already at your door.

Another nifty bookmark site has surfaced: TopRoundups.com! This one is focused on quality articles in the web and graphic design world. The project creator is Webmasterish, who also created SimpleFunctions.com. I had blogged about that site with Back To The Simple Things: SingleFunction.com not too long ago. Some of the popular articles are in the design, web design, and WordPress sections of the site.

TopRoundups allows users to submit their articles. You simply fill out the form with your blog articles information. The site allows people to vote or even leave comments. It is a great way to get trackbacks for your articles as well as attract traffic with a similar interest in what you blog. To navigate the site, you can go by tags, author, and publisher.

The one thing that stands out about this site it uses the WordPress core, TDO Mini Forms, and some extra tweaking.

Go ahead and check it out! If you have a related article, submit it and look at the other articles available.

With the increasing number of comments I have seen on my site, I am alarmed at the number of people who have not plugged into handy tools that I have blogged about, especially people I know to have businesses.

One of the big ones is Gravatar. Gravatar allows you to sign up for free and load an avatar (a graphic that to represent you, much like that image you get to load in Twitter.) When you comment and use the same email address you signed up with Gravatar, your image will appear in the comments. Sometimes a gravatar that is catchy might attract someone to your site. For some professionals, it might be a great way to allow people to connect a face to your business.

Another things I see are people hesitant to being versatile to signing up for a multitude of social networking sites. Because of all the comment tools like IntenseDebate, Facebook connect, and Disqus, you should seriously sign up and become connected. Some bloggers only allow you to comment using the specific tool they use. For example, you may only be able to comment with your profile from one place, but be allowed to type in your name and site address in another. Do not let signing up for another thing let you down. Believe me, for the amount of social identities I have listed in my own navigation bar, there are many more.

The point is to make yourself available online to any potential client for a business or even on a personal site, to any visitor. Make your blog versatile and allow them to comment with the most convenient method they like to use. You might find that they may keep coming back to join in on the conversation in the future.

Do you use Gravatar? What tools do you use to make your blog versatile? What social networking sites do you belong to. (You are welcome to share the links to them. I would be happy to friend/ follow you.)

Everyone has something to say and has an area in which they excel better than others. Even people within the same industry are always bouncing ideas off each other because they have found things that work where others could not figure it out.

This can be said of any industry or even on a personal blog level. People come to your site because they want to read what you have to say and possibly contribute to the conversation. Those who are ‘comment whores’ could do better with their sites by joining into their comment streams and giving feedback to their visitors. It is a way to bounce ideas.

Blogging does take guts… for some… a lot, especially when you are putting your experience on the line. You blog and hope people understand what you are talking about. You may even want people to agree with your blog. However, that is not exactly the point, it is to get people active and learn from each other.

Blogging is a learning tool on both a personal and business level. Businesses learn what their customers like and how to make their product better. The blog is a great extension to make businesses less ‘robotic’ and ‘automated’, and fill it with life. Businesses can blog on how their product is better and ask their customers or others in the field to give feedback. As Jim Turner said at WordCamp Chicago 2009, “a blog is a business tool, like telephone, fax, and email.”

Blogs keep your personal site or your business up-to-date and fresh in the search engines. Yes, when you blog, the search engines will notice and eat up that new content and document it. It is okay to blog about your business. It is not an ego trip as you have to be confident in your product. Why even bother to advertise or plug yourself into the social media world if you cannot be confident about what you can deliver to people? No matter how small it is… do not be afraid to share it. Blog about your passion in life, even if it is your job. People who are in a similar field will read and spread the word about what you have to say, or even blog on their own site about their own experience – meaning that you influenced them in some way.

With tools today for bloggers, you can become more connected with colleagues and potential clients more than ever. People from small towns can connect with the world!

Why should you blog? Why not is a better question.

What are you passionate about? Are you blogging about it? Do you have a business and have a blog with it?

A 404 error page, or for those not familiar with the term, the ‘Page not Found error’ is important to have with any website. At Blondish.net, there is an article that illustrates the importance of a custom 404 page in detail, but it is really simple.

1. You are keeping your visitor within the site and giving them an alternate way to find what they are looking for.
2. The search engines will not frown as much on your custom 404 page as you are being courteous to your user, and once again, giving them another way to find what they want on your site.

A lot of themes come with the 404.php file, but there are some that do not. In the case you are making your own theme, or if you have downloaded a freebie, then you can make your own.

1. You need to know where to get the code for the 404 page, which can easily be found in the WordPress Codex. In the case of this tutorial, it will be using the basic code.


<?php get_header(); ?>
<div id="content" class="narrowcolumn">
<h2 class="center">Error 404 - Not Found</h2>
</div>
<?php get_sidebar(); ?>
<?php get_footer(); ?>


2. Sure, you have a 404 page that will say “Error 404 – Not Found”, but you really need your site to do something. Perhaps you should add articles that are popular or want your readers to see that may be missed. Or perhaps it was a click on an old internal link from an old blog entry, you should think about putting a search form. A search form will really help.


<p><?php _e('Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.'); ?></p>
<?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . "/searchform.php"); ?>


3. Edit your message to something friendly. Sometimes “Error 404 – Not Found” might be a bit shocking and make your user think they did something wrong. You could direct them to the home page of the site or as already suggested, articles you want your visitors to read.

Here is an example that is used here at Blondish.net

Oopsie! Sorry for the inconvenience.

If you were looking for something on Blondish.net, and did not find it you can contact me or use the form below to search for it. Again, apologies!

The message is allowed to be used. Just change the site name. No credit back is needed.

4. Add your recent posts. This may entice your readers to stay on the site. It is also fresh content and easier than adding featured posts (and editing them from time to time.)


<h2>Recent Posts</h2>
<ul>
<?php query_posts('posts_per_page=5');
if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<li><a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>" title="Permalink for : <?php the_title(); ?>"<?php the_title(); ?></a>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
</ul>


5. Get the search engines to find the custom 404 page. In your .htaccess file, you need to put the code:

ErrorDocument 404 /index.php?error=404

In the case your installation is not on the root of your site, but instead a subfolder, you need to make sure the folder name is added before the index.php link for the .htaccess Error Document function.

Very easy, right?

Perhaps when you read the top, you wonder what I mean by ‘how to blog better lists.’ People love to read the top 5 of something to see if it is relevant – to them if they might be on that list, for information that could be provided, or if their friends might be listed. These type of blog entries are indentified with phrases like ‘top 10′ or even ’5 best.’

There are a lot of lists with wonderful buzzwords attached to them. However, I have noticed when viewing these lists that they are quite long! It gets a bit boring looking through 20 or more things. It is great that you took the time to make such a list, but was it really necessary to include that many? What ever happened to the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid)? It is not about the quantity, but the quality of the post. That is not the first time I have said that, but it does very much pertain to making lists.

Here are ways to improve your blog lists.

• Aim to blog between 200 to 400 words.
• Shorten your lists and break it up. Use the KISS method. For example, you do not have to list (example) ’50 Designers on Twitter to follow. You can break those posts up. A lot of designers specialize in certain areas. Instead of sliding all of them in the same general genre, make several lists. If you have WordPress, your entry might call up those related lists if you have the proper plugins installed (like Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.)
• Make sure your list is honest and thurough. If your friend really is not all that awesome, do not include them. You are providing a list of people you recommend to people. This is important if your blog also ties in with your professional life. If you recommend someone who is not up to your own standards, you are not providing your best list.

These are just a few to consider and they are very basic. What other things do you recommend to bloggers to consider when making their top 10 or similar type lists?