Thursday Thirteen #23 - Blogging resources

When I first starting blogging last spring, I didn't know much, if anything, about how to go about it. I learned a little bit at a time, more and more as I went on. And I'm still learning new things often and tweaking my template, my design, my URL, and probably more yet to come. That's a big part of the fun and joy of blogging - there's always more out there to learn and try and do.

I wanted to share some of the resources that helped me when I first got started. Maybe some or all of these will help you too. And if you know of something valuable that I've missed, please leave a comment about it - and I'll be sure to check it out!

1. MamaBlogga - Lots of great posts on everything from blog statistics to feed readers and more that are written at a level that anyone can understand. Jordan also hosts a group writing project every month that is fun to participate in. Here is her list of the 25 most popular posts from 2007. I've learned a lot from Jordan about the technical side of blogging.
   
   
2. ProBlogger - This site is geared mainly toward bloggers who are looking to monetize (make money from) their sites, but there is a lot of great advice for us amateurs too. His Blogging Tips for Beginners series of posts was especially helpful for me.
   
   
3. Blogging Basics 101 - Truly a site for the beginner, Melanie answers questions about the very basics and her tagline sums it up nicely - 'where there are no stupid questions!'. Here's a great answer to the question of whether or not your blog name and your URL should match.
   
   
4. Blogging Tips is written by several different people, and covers a wide variety of topics. I've found it to be quite helpful especially as I've gotten more into the coding and html side of things. I especially liked this recent post on how to develop relationships with your readers.
   
   
5. On Blogging is the column written by Jenny from Absolutely Bananas over at Seattle Mom Blogs. Now I know I don't live in Seattle, but I do enjoy reading Jenny's posts, as well as the rest of the Seattle Mom bloggers. Jenny has a way of breaking things down for the less technically-savvy of us in an enjoyable (and often humorous) way. I thought her post on the pros and cons of guest blogging was very insightful.
   
   
6. Skelliewag - She is a regular writer for ProBlogger along with other sites and has a lot of good information on her own site as well, especially about providing worthwhile and valuable content for your readers - such as her recent post, How to Value-Add Everything (Even the Little Stuff).
   
   
7. I found a great post on how to back up your Blogger blog at Quick Online Tips. This is something I need to do more often!
   
   
8. Sephy's Platzish does a series of blogging tips every Tuesday - I've found many of them to be quite useful, especially his one on how to move your blogspot blog to your own domain, which I utilized quite recently myself. :)
   
   
9. Back in September, What Works For Us did a T13 post listing thirteen blogging tools and resources, which has been very helpful to me.
   
   
10. I'm still debating whether or not to move to Wordpress - one of the best articles I've found written on the subject is called Moving Blogger Over to Wordpress: The Good, Bad and the Ugly, over at BlogBloke. It's given me a lot to think about as I decide what I want to do.
    
    
11. Michelle at Scribbit often posts valuable blogging tips and information, including the best guide to Technorati that I've come across.
    
    
12. There's a great list at Bad Language on How to blog like a pro, that I've found very useful.
    
    
13. This last one isn't one specific article, post or site. But one of the ways in which I've learned the most about blogging, is just to read other blogs. To see what I find interesting or not, what seems to be working for other bloggers (or not), and to meet some incredible people. The blogosphere is an amazing place!

I hope these links can be as useful for others as they have been for me, and if you know of another great resources that I've missed, let me know! I'm learning more as I go on, each and every day. :)

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Thank you to Write From Karen for the header graphic this week!