Get more from you ZDblog!
Want to make sure you get the most from you ZDNet blog? In the right hands it's an incredibly powerful tool. I will post a series of articles helping you get he most from it.
My first 3 tips are to do with getting more people to read you blog posts
1) Use HTML/CSS. Did you know your ZDblog supports standard HTML and inline css styles? Use this to improve your posts. This is not just to make thing pretty with colours. Using HTML you can create links, create headings, insert images etc. Don't know HTML? No Problem - Your on ZDNet! This means your surrounded by professional web developers/designers/producers. Alternatively just post a comment on this blog post and I'll aim to respond with instructions within a few minutes if I'm online (yes i'm that addicted to ZDNet).
A couple of quick things I'll show you are:
i. Links To create a standard link type <a href="yourlinkurl" >Your Link Message </a>
To make a link open in a new window or tab (i.e. Links that take viewers away from the ZDNet site) take advantage of our javascript library and add the rel attribute: <a href="yourlinkurl" rel="external" >Your Link Message</a>
ii. Highlight text To make text appear bold simply enclose text between the strong tag: <strong>yourtexthere</strong>
Alternatively you could just use a WYSIWYG editor to prepare you posting and then past it into your blog. (I am working on a template you can use to see how you work will look on the ZDNet site including the css styles created for bloggers to use).
I believe the guys at ZDNet are working on an enhanced version of the blog to assist you with using HTML in your posts but there is no eta on this yet.
2) List you blog on Technorati. If you've never heard of it Technorati is the Google of Blogs. By listing you Blog on there your articles will be visible to hundreds of thousands more viewers.
For a step-by-step tutorial on how to use add your ZDBlog to Technorati click here.
NB. At the moment if you want Technorati to know when you've made a new post so it can index/list it you need to visit the site and click the ping button next to your site. The ZDNet Team are working on having this built into the ZDBlog so it will automatically notify your chosen blog directories (including Technorati).
3) Feed you ZDBlog into your Wordpress Blog. Been trying to figure out how to run your Wordpress blog ASWELL as your new ZDBlog? Well fret no more. If you don't have time to update each seperately you can tell your WordPress blog to duplicate any posts you put into your ZDBlog. If you ever want to turn off this feature you can without losing any posts copied over. You can also delete individual posts if they were only intended for ZDBlog.
For step-by-step instructions on adding your ZDBlog to Wordpress Click Here.
You can also feed you posts into a standard website as news feed - keeping fresh content on your site. I will show you how to do this another time.
Why only 3 tips? Well I don't get paid to write blogs like some lucky people. I have to get on with work like everyone else. What you see here is what I have time to do on my bus journey too and from work (or in my lunch break).
Coming soon
+Why you should have a blog/ZDBlog
+Using images into a ZDBlog
+What makes a good Blog?
+Easy Blogging - tips for busy/lazy bloggers
+What Preloaded CSS classes can I reference?
Feedback is always appreciated so leave a comment whether it's good or bad. Too technical? Not enough detail? Let me know.
You can also contact me on my other blog From The Front End