Blogging 101 - Resources

This continues the Basic Blogging series that began with 

• Blogging 100
• Blogging 100 - Resources
• Blogging 101

I use FreeMind, a mind mapping software, to keep and share my notes on the blogging sessions I have conducted for PodCamp WesternMass and others. One of the drawbacks for this version of software is how it exports. It works well for showing a section at a time and then hiding it to reduce clutter and confusion.

The full listing of the links is as follows:

Blogger software

Blogger -  http://www.blogger.com/

Wordpress - http://wordpress.org/

Typepad - http://www.typepad.com/

RSS Reader

Web based

Google reader - http://www.google.com/reader/

Bloglines - http://www.bloglines.com/

Feedly - http://feedly.com/

Desktop based

RSSOwl - http://www.rssowl.org/

FeedDemon - http://www.newsgator.com/Individuals/FeedDemon/

BlogBridge - www.blogbridge.com/

Analytics

Google Analytics - http://www.google.com/analytics/

StatCounter - http://www.statcounter.com/

SiteMeter - http://sitemeter.com/

Pictures

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/

Picassa - http://www.picasaweb.google.com/
Instagram - http://instagram.com/
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/

Info about 30 free sites - http://websearch.about.com//od/bestwebsites/tp/free-images.htm

Video

YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/

Vimeo - http://www.vimeo.com/

Blip TV - http://blip.tv/

Network/groups

Google groups - http://groups.google.com/

Yahoo groups - http://groups.yahoo.com/

NING - http://www.ning.com/

Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/

LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/

MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/

Twitter - http://twitter.com/login

My FreeMind notes, output as a HTML file, is available for download here

updated 1/4/14

Blogging 100 - Resources

If you have some trouble getting started with the activities described in Blogging 100, these are some resources that can help kick start your effort.

I highly recommend getting a Google Account, it is free and provides so many resources with the one account!

Google account: https://www.google.com/accounts/Login

Google Reader:   http://www.google.com/reader/
With the retirement of Google Reader, my prime choice is Feedly
There are quite a few reader choices available and for a good listing check this one on List.ly  http://list.ly/list/33u-google-reader-slash-rss-reader-alternatives-crowdsourced-list?feature=search

Google Analytics:  http://www.google.com/analytics/

StatCounter   http://www.statcounter.com/

Here is the link to the Cluetrain Manifesto whose theories underlie much of what I said.

http://www.cluetrain.com/book/index.html

Seth Godin, a marketer who walks on water with great though provoking questions

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/   He has written a series of books on marketing creating terms like ideavirus, permission marketing, meatball sundae, purple cows. A recent one is on Tribes, the evolution of a topical community. His most recent book is called "Linchpin" http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/

Chris Brogan   http://www.chrisbrogan.com/        Chris is also one of the authors of "Trust Agent", a recommended read!

Check out Keith Burtis. He started as a wood turner making stuff and showing how it was done.

He blogs here http://www.magicwoodworks.com/   and here http://keithburtis.com/

He turned (no pun intended) his social media and blogging work into a full time gig.

He is now was community manager for BestBuy  http://remixblog.info/

Keith is now out on his own as a consultant. You can find him on twitter as @keithburtis

(Joe Zwack is now the Community Manager for @BestBuyRemix)

Updated 2/10/10 - note, the community manager listening program is good, he picked up this post and emailed me to make the correction. Keith's listening is also good, his comment arrived just minutes after Joe's.

Other people I have met and are worthy of following to observe how they do what they do:

Laura Fitton, @pistachio   http://pistachioconsulting.com/

Doug Haslam, @DougH  http://doughaslam.com/

Christine Kane  http://christinekane.com/

Hugh MacLeod  http://www.gapingvoid.com/

Just a little something   http://stampedbyhand.blogspot.com/

Lively Women   http://www.blisstree.com/

While I have set out my 2 cents on these topics, these are by no means the final answers to any of these topics. Nor is the listing provided an exclusive one. I could come up with a dozen or so more good examples that would be different each time, but all worthy!

In fact, Darren Rowse recently posted about blogger debate items here:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/02/06/29-debates-bloggers-have-about-blogging/

San Diego Fire Info

The fires in San Diego are immense and out of control.

From the Wall Street Journal:

As of last night, more than half a dozen fires spreading from north of Los Angeles down to the Mexican border below San Diego had burned 420,424 acres, destroyed 1,155 homes and forced the evacuation of some 881,500 people, according to the Los Angeles Times's tally. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said the fires, which are mostly uncontained, still threaten 68,000 more homes. And until the Santa Ana winds subside, there isn't much overtaxed fire crews are able to do other than tamp out spot fires and chase "ribbons of airborne embers to keep new fires from flaring," as the Associated Press puts it. "If it's this big and blowing with as much wind as it's got, it'll go all the way to the ocean before it stops," San
Diego Fire Capt. Kirk Humphries said. "We can save some stuff but we can't stop
it."

and this one:

Like the fire chiefs on the front lines, state and local officials were raising doubts about government readiness for the periodic burst of wildfires in Southern California. San Diego, in particular, has been mired in a financial crisis that might have stopped it from improving preparedness since the last wave of fires there four years ago. Twice in recent years, voters rejected proposals to boost funding for local fire and police departments by raising hotel taxes, the Journal notes, and last year the city's fire chief resigned in frustration.

Bold for my emphasis

How big is the fire? Check out this map view updated by the local TV station, KPBS