Three years ago today, I posted the first article on this blog. It was a pretty simple piece – short, and more of an overview of what to expect in the days ahead. Three years later, and it’s interesting to look back and see how I’ve changed in that time, both in style and in views on a variety of topics. While I’ve been blogging on and off since 1999, this blog is the one that I’ve made my own,…

This is a guest post by Nancy Davis. How many times have you stumbled across a blog and felt that something is missing? They have great content. They even have a really cool photo to draw your eye in. The text is large enough to read easily. The blogger kindly responds to your comment, yet you never go back. Why? I hate to tell you this – you leave me cold. I read your post with excited eyes, but you…

So you’re bored with blogging. You have other things to do – like eat, sleep, go out, work. You know – boring “real life” stuff. Besides, thinking about it, blogging is for computer nerds and failed writers. Not to worry – help is at hand. Here are 10 ways to kill your blog. Let’s begin. 1. Stop Writing What? That’s too simple – of course your blog will die if you stop writing? Well, yes, if you stop writing altogether….

This post is part of our free blog topics series over at For Bloggers By Bloggers. For many bloggers, coming up with blog topics can be hard. Keeping your blog fresh and interesting for readers old and new can see you hitting the blog topics wall, and often that leads to you just not blogging at all. So, in this weekly series every Saturday, we’ll provide you with 10 free blog topics to get your mind rejuvenated. As well as…

Over at For Bloggers By Bloggers, I offered up a new list of free blog topics to help you with ideas for your blog. There are ten topics to choose from, and it’s something we offer up as a thank-you to the For Bloggers By Bloggers community. One of the topics suggested is If This Was My Last Blog Post, and its premise is wondering what you would say, if you knew it would be the last post you ever…

This is a guest post by Michael Schechter. I’m noticing a pattern lately:  the moment that a blogger starts to monetize his or her site can usually be tracked back to moment the content begins to suck. The minute that optimization becomes the priority, creation tends to quickly take a backseat. It’s not a perfect theory, but it is quickly becoming a common one. Now, I’m fairly new at this whole blogging thing, but I have a pretty clear call…

When you start blogging, you usually do it for one of two reasons – you have something to say and want to share it, or you read other blogs and enjoy how they can be used for growing a brand; a business; a mindset; and more. Often these two criss-cross with each other. Other times they’ll work alongside other goals – to sell products and services; to act as a lead generation platform for your business; or to be a…

Last week, I spoke with Joe Hackman about blogger ethics and transparency (you can listen to the podcast here), and one of the things we chatted about was the topic of disclosure. My belief – and something we instill into any clients that have a blogger or social media outreach program in place – is that you need to offer full disclosure whenever necessary. Professional relationships, sponsorships, financial or physical gifts, etc – basically, if you or someone you represent…

… And in with the new, as the saying goes. Seems kinda apt for some of the changes coming this way in 2011, at least as far as this blog is concerned. In the next few days, I’ll be putting the new design live on here. Built from the core WordPress platform, it’s the first time I haven’t used any premium theme framework and instead gone for a custom design. The makeover is being handled by Lisa Kalandjian of SceneStealer…

Sometimes, through anger, we see our own frailties. Or maybe not frailties – but definitely nuances that could be shared better. The last few days has taught me that, as I’ve been pretty angry on this blog. Although, to be honest, I don’t see it as much anger as it is passion. I’m passionate about how business should be run; how people should be treated; how ideas should be received. But that passion can sometimes blinker my view, and that…