Are all bloggers also community managers?

Jayme Soulati , in suggesting this topic, wondered if ignorance regarding community management might explain some blog failures.

Because this post began as a comments-section Q&A, we’ll continue it in the same vein:

What Is Community Management?

Community management is the art of creating something by allowing it to create itself, then nurturing it by creating an environment in which it nurtures itself. Community managers conduct an orchestra of hundreds or thousands as a community forms or sustains itself, but the credit for a successfully developed online community belongs primarily to its members.

Are Bloggers Community Managers?

Some bloggers are (whether they know it or not) community managers; others are new media journalists, content curators, or simply diarists. If any of the following are true of your blog, you might be a community manager:

• You find yourself mediating audience disputes.
• Your goals for your blog include “community growth” goals, such as, “By the end of the year, 50 percent of my comments will come from people who leave at least two comments per week.”
• Your blog has spawned “memes.” One good example is Hyperbole-and-a-Half’s “alot” post, which is reliably linked by a H & ½ audience member anywhere online commenters misplace the space between “a” and “lot.”
• You find yourself making moderation decisions based on your audience members’ feelings as much as your own.
• You let your audience members have access to your pages by inviting guest posts or using a “diarist” system (a la Daily Kos).
• Your audience maintains its own rituals to strengthen a group identity. (More on rituals in my last Spin Sucks post.)

Are Failed Blogs Victims of Neglectful Community Management?

When a blog collapses, the most common outward culprits are blogger burnout or failure to thrive.  Poor community management won’t unilaterally cause these, but it could contribute. Trolls running rampant can cause an audience to evaporate, leading to failure to thrive.

Alternately, blogger burnout can be caused by overenthusiastic community management. Take negative comments personally or adopt every audience member’s problems as your own, and you’ll soon run out of energy.

So What’s a Blogger to Do?

If you do your best to remain an objective blogger, rather than building a personal connection to the audience, feel free to simply moderate comments as necessary to reduce spam.

If, however, you’re striving to build an online community, look for community manager meetups in your area and learn from professionals who work with big brands. Consider giving audience members the opportunity to guest blog, or adding a diaries page for community members. Schedule community events and Ustream chats.

Above all, remember that you can’t create organic communities by force. Take a deep breath, release it, and appreciate the symphony your “orchestra” creates—even if it’s not what you expected!

Jelena Woehr is community and social communications manager for Yahoo! Contributor Network, where more than half a million writers share their knowledge on some of the world’s most visited websites, including Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Shine, and more. In her spare time, she herds cats, feeds carrots to ponies, reads management theory textbooks, and works toward her goal of becoming a professional CEO/Senator/Cowgirl/Eccentric Novelist hybrid.

Today’s guest post is by Nate Riggs. It is a long one; to address all the unanswered questions from last week’s webinar. We designed it so you can skim through any questions that are helpful to you.

Late last week, I was jazzed to have the opportunity to lead a Spin Sucks Pro webinar on the Art of Blogging (as opposed to the science and data of blogging). We discussed how we style our content on the screen to help your readers.

This topic is so important to me, that I’m writing an entire book about it that’s due out early next year.

The webinar was an outline of one of the style chapters that will be published along with 20-30 other blog post styles that you can use as a framework. This will allow you to expand, experiment, and add variety to your blogging discipline.

If you’re interested in learning what we discussed during the webinar, you can buy it on-demand by clicking here. 

Seven Questions on Blogging

Q1: I currently don’t have a blog, but am seriously thinking about it. What’s your basic advice for beginners?

• A1: Before you take any actions, spend some time brainstorming and mind mapping your content ideas. Think about your audience and who you want to read your blog. Consider what’s in it for them and what entices them to come back and visit you. After you’ve found your anchor point, start writing as much as you can, knowing that it won’t be perfect. Your blog will never be perfect, but lots of practice will pay big dividends.

Q2: What are the top five things you would do differently if you were starting your blog all over again?

A2: Great question.

1. I would have started with a broader topic, since my first was narrow and after a year, I found myself out of ideas.
2. I would have started on WordPress, rather than blogger.
3. I would have made it a point to build more discipline up front in terms of how I schedule my time to write.
4. I would have started out capturing email addresses with MailChimp right off the bat.
5. I would have developed more consistent weekly column-esque content earlier on.

Q3: Can you give us three examples of excellent business blogs?

A3: Sure can… If by business you mean blogs that make money well, then here are three:

1. Social Media Explorer : Jason Falls is doing everything right from content to conversion and advertising.
2. Problogger.net & DigitalPhotographySchool.com: Darren is doing everything right to the 10^th degree, both of these are example of how you can transition a single author blog to a collaborative approach and make blogging a business in itself.
3. Social Media Examiner: Michael Steltzner has, in less than two years, turned SME into one of the most popular blogs on the web and a profit machine.

Q4: What are the best methods for tracking?

• A4: The answer to that totally depends on your business objectives. Do you want to have people land on specific pages? Do you want them to help spread your content across social media? There are lots of things you can do. For me though, it’s a combination and the balance of traffic from different sources, social shares, time on specific pages and comments first, then conversions on my contact forms and sponsor banners.

Q5: Can you discuss more about Google+, in terms of referring traffic?

• A5: Don’t get me started on Google+. We might be here all day. It’s fascinating and as of last week is currently in my top five referral sources with limited interaction on the network. I do a lot of lurking inside of Google +. That said, here are some posts I’ve written on Google + (more down in the related posts widget) to help you get started. Here’s one over at CMI as well.

Q6: What do you suggest a new blogger do to improve their writing skills?

• A6: Most people hate this answer, but it’s pretty clear-cut. Blog every single day. Keep a personal journal and guest post on others’ blogs as often as possible. Write more than you ever thought you would write. With blogging, there’s a learning curve until you are able to find your voice. The more often you practice, the faster you get though that curve.

Q7: As a new blogger and someone with only a few years of experience in my field, sometimes I have a hard time figuring out what to write about on my blog. Do you have suggestions?

• A7: Don’t feel alone in that. Even experienced bloggers hit occasional dead spots and loss of ideas. With practice, you start to learn how to bounce back faster. I keep a little playbook, which is simply a sketchbook that I carry with me. During conversations with people I meet, I’ve gotten in the habit of taking notes when something they say leads me to a potential idea. If you don’t write it down at that moment, you may lose it as you go about your day. Stay vigilant on your creative muses.

If you have more questions on blogging, you can always find me on Twitter and on Google +

And, if you’d like to sign up for updates on my new blogging styles book, leave me your email address here. I promise to always respect your privacy and not be a douchebag spammer.

Nate Riggs’ firm Social Business Strategies helps companies identify, build, train and execute collaborative blogging strategies.

Today’s guest post is written by Marijean Jaggers.

I’m not a person who gets writer’s (or blogger’s) block. The challenge of writing daily, however, sometimes leaves me less than enthusiastic about the content I’m creating. Hey, we all get a little stuck for fresh ideas every once in a while, right?

I’ve been paying attention to what gets my synapses firing again when it all gets a little stale. I thought I’d share four helpful actions to help myself and others find inspiration, again.

Four New Ways to Spark Blogging Inspiration

1. Talk to a kid. Every once in a while, usually around the dinner table, I’ll share some client challenge or work-related issue with my kids. I’ve been astounded by their insight (my offspring are older; a teenager and young adult) even when they were younger. Sometimes their fresh perspective, unbiased, and unbound by cynicism gives me just the boost I need. It doesn’t matter if you talk to your own kids or borrow someone else’s for this activity. (If you need one, I may be willing to loan you one of mine.)
2. Read, for a week or only a day if that’s all you can manage, only articles, blog posts, essays, and books recommended by others in your network.  Click through to links shared on Twitter or Facebook from people you trust and who may be reading content that is outside of your normal playlist. It’s not as easy as it sounds –especially because in doing this you will likely need to ignore your own Reader.
3. Shut up. Make a concentrated effort to really listen to people when they talk to you. Do not multi-task if it’s a phone conversation. Give all speakers your undivided attention. Others’ thoughts are always inspiring.
4. Rediscover StumbleUpon. One night of insomnia led me to sign up (again; I’m sure long ago I had an account) for StumbleUpon, the discovery engine that recommends websites based on interests you supply. Hours and numerous sites later I knew I’d found my go-to any time I’m stuck for inspiration. (Also, a wealth of recipes from food blogs are getting tagged and saved for later!)

What ways have you found of getting unstuck from a blogging rut?

Marijean Jaggers, a social media specialist and public relations professional, is president and CEO of Jaggers Communications LLC, a strategic communications firm based in Charlottesville, Va.

This afternoon’s post is a slight diversion from our typical schedule. We wanted to share with you the importance of blog styling and how you can learn more about it this week.

How many times have you landed on a blog post that was made up of nothing but large blocks of text on your screen? What happened? Did you read on or simply glance and then click away? Each and every one of us has very short attention spans. Right? Yes, I’m talking to you.

With volumes of new content being published online every minute, our attention spans will only begin to grow shorter as times passes.

Because of that, we’ve invited Nate Riggs to share his knowledge and help us all get some style in our lives blogs.

As bloggers, we are often so focused on sharing our ideas, optimizing for search engines and tweeting our posts, that we pay little attention to how we actually style our content on the screen. And, when it comes to getting your audience to actually read your content (instead of just blindly sharing it or passing it by altogether) your style of blogging can make all the difference in the world.

Nate started his blog in 2006 on the advice of a mentor. He had always kept a journal as a kid so he figured that he could do that in the interwebz, and, even better than a journal, have people read it and give feedback. “When I started it was awful,” Nate explained. “But over the years and with much practice, blogging has turned into both a professional outlet for my ideas, and a very enjoyable practice that’s almost an emotional release for me.  It’s also brought me quite a bit of business and new friends in the process.”

Nate came up with the idea of producing content on post styles after working with multiple clients who were all great writers. They wrote beautiful case studies, articles and books, but they struggled with how to translate those skills to a blogging environment. It’s not the same.

In his book and on this sneak peek webinar, he is going to teach us how to transform our blogs posts from visually hard-to-read layouts of copy blocks, to fun and engaging layouts that will pull readers in and keep them coming back for more.

Details:

Mastering the Blog Lists
Thursday July 14th, 11 am Central (9am Pacific, 10am Mountain and 12 pm Eastern – for the time zone challenged)
Registration is $50. Yes, it will be available on-demand afterwards if you can’t make that time. Register now and we’ll send you the super top secret link.
Register now – we don’t want to read your unstyled blog posts anymore!

Nate Riggs’ firm Social Business Strategies helps companies identify, build, train and execute collaborative blogging strategies — that’s when you have companies that sometimes have 40-50 contributors all producing content on one platform.  They do everything from content strategy development to web design and development (though some partners) as well as author coaching.

Hey! You! Over there!

Dear blogger, we need to talk. Sit down for a second, ’cause I really want you to hear what I am saying.

You are taking yourself too seriously. No, don’t argue. Take a moment. Think about what I’m saying here.

Sure you take the work seriously, and that’s great. Sure, you have a blog that gets people’s attention and you’ve earned it. But at a certain point, a switch flipped (or a bit, for you geeks out there). You pushed yourself ahead of the work. What you were trying to say took a backseat to who you are trying to be.

Now, you may want to rush to the comments and tell me I’m an ass (I get that. No really, I get that…all the time.). You may want to write a blog talking about “haters” (I get that too).

But how about this: Take a day. Don’t comment. Don’t blog about this. Just think. Think about who you were when you started and who you are now. Ask yourself, what would the “you” from back then write about you now?

I’m betting a lot of things have improved. I’m betting that you are a better writer than you once were, that you have a larger network than ever before, that new and exciting opportunities appear every single day.

And that’s awesome; you deserve that. What you don’t deserve is the new attitude that comes with the new success.

Here’s the thing, I want what you have (so you can save yourself from telling me I’m jealous in the comments), but the thing is, if I start taking myself and my blog more seriously than the work, then I want you to punch me in the face. No, seriously, feel free to do it (except you Danny Brown, you would just do it for fun).

You really do rock; we really do listen to you for a reason. Think about where you started and where you are heading. Don’t go back to who you were at the beginning, I mean, we all have to evolve. Just take one quick second and one giant step back to get some perspective.

Don’t worry, it’s not too late. Just go back to doing what you love, without loving yourself quite so much. Oddly enough, it will make us love you even more.

As for the rest of you, the next wave of bloggers who are just starting to experience a taste of this success: keep your head on straight and don’t become the person you’re currently making fun of. And me, I’m just going to keep writing a blog that no one reads.

Michael Schechter is the digital marketing director for Honora Pearls, a monthly columnist for JCK Magazine, and the founder of Gen-Next Jewelers.  He also steals and shares your best ideas and quotes on his Tumblr blog, Smarter Than I Am.

This week’s question comes from Alex Wood.

He asks:

“Hey Gini, happy Friday from Australia! I have a blog Q for you (and anyone else who feels like chiming in) Q: Are there any truly successful blogger ‘partnerships’ out there? I mean, two ppl working together on the one blog with the one vision. Sure, more hands, more contacts, more content = great! But I’m I just realized I’m about to start a blog with a colleague/friend and… well… I can’t think of an example of a similar blog or the potential issues they’d face. Am I missing something?? Alex”

I answer the question, from a Spin Sucks perspective (back when 18 or more of us were writing), in the video below (or click here if you can’t view it in your Reader).

And then I talked to bloggers who co-author: Edooce, Develop Socially, HMA Time, Social Media Examiner, and 12 Most.

Following are their pros and cons.

Edooce (Patrick Reyes and Bryan Willmert)

PROS

• Provides different viewpoints and styles to the reader audience…keeps it fresh.
• Not having to worry about being the only one to come up with content.
• Learning from each other’s experiences and different backgrounds.
• We have our own blogs, too, and co-authoring this one spawns creativity for our individual efforts.
• Uses both of our networks.

CONS

• If you’re trying to build your personal brand, does it harm that process?
• Finding time to collaborate (we both have full-time jobs).
• If we have dry spells at the same time, the blog sits alone.
• People confuse us for each other all the time. (GD: Clearly. You look so much alike.)
• It’s hard to pronounce Edooce: “ed oo c.” (GD: I think I said it wrong in the video.)

Develop Socially (Samantha Collier and Justin Brackett)

PROS

• Because of our different industry backgrounds we complement each other and bring different subjects/ideas to the table.
• Our different backgrounds also bring different networks of people together to create a blended community.
• When one of us has an “off” day, the other is usually having an “on” day.
• We split/share the workload of maintaining a blog. We can both take on writing, getting guest bloggers, doing back end stuff, etc.
• It’s great having a sounding board to bounce ideas off and get honest feedback.
• We both share the wins and cry about the losses.

CONS

• Living far apart and in a different time zone.  We can’t just get together to have a long discussion about the day-to-day stuff.
• Both of us have separate side jobs that leave little time to discuss how to develop the blog.  It’s hard to move forward when we don’t have time to chat and figure out the next move.
• We’ve never met IRL so we don’t know one another 100% yet.
• We haven’t had a disagreement yet but this could be tricky. We both have agreed to be very open and honest and communicate.

HMA Time (Abbie Fink and team)

PROS

• Sharing the responsibility with others to provide valuable and timely content.
• When done correctly, it adds a variety of voices to similar topics and has the opportunity to be seen by a much larger audience.

CONS

• Logistics — determining whose turn it is to post something and being sure that content is posted regularly based on a shared schedule.
• Conflicting views on particular topics, however, this may actually be a pro as it would likely lead to good conversation and lively debates.
• It may make it difficult to “brand” the blog based on a particular style or personality.

Social Media Explorer (Heather Rast and team)

PROS

• Learning from others in a closed-group setting. We use a Facebook Group to share ideas or ask questions of one another so we gain a level of intimacy there. The central blog cog binds us in a way.
• Professional push. Many of the authors I write alongside are people I hadn’t “known” (in the social media sense) before the group blogs were formed. Upon meeting the SME writers I was immediately taken back by their talent and diverse backgrounds; I’m in very strong company.
• Introduction to new readers, thinkers, detractors.
• Cross pollination. Since I began contributing to other blogs, I’ve had the pleasure of “meeting” new people through comments on posts and tweets sharing links of posts.
• Adopt different style, topics, tone/voice than on own blog.

CONS

• Commitment. I write regularly for three blogs (including my own) and semi-regularly for three others. I’m a very organized person but even with my penchant for scheduling I find it can be a race to the wire to submit a post on time.
• It can be onfusing/frustrating if communication is poor.
• Left to tread water if there’s no community owner/driver.

12 Most (Sean McGinnis and Dan Newman)

PROS

• You don’t have to carry all the weight alone.
• Even though there is some significant overlap between our two networks, there is a substantial number of connections that are unique.
• We each bring different viewpoints, skill-sets, and expertise to the table.

CONS

• No matter how hard you try, multiple authors means multiple voices. It’s MUCH harder to speak with one coherent voice.
• With your own blog, you can make all the decisions. With a co-authored blog, you need to collaborate, which takes longer and requires more communication.
• One person often does brunt of the work.
• If your partner/co-author is named Sean (GD: Hahahahaah! I had to leave that in!).

Do you co-author a blog? What are your pros and cons?

What are the pros and cons of the co-authored blogs you read?

At the time I said, “Sure!” without really thinking it through. All I thought was, “Great! I won’t have to prepare a speech two weeks before we launch Spin Sucks Pro.”

But taking questions from an audience, for an entire hour, is pretty nerve-wracking because you have NO idea what is coming and you have zero time to prepare. It’s completely on the fly and, I learned yesterday, that you have to have a whole bunch of confidence (which began to diminish the closer to 12:30 we got) in order to do that.

Afterwards, I was scrolling through the Twitter feed to see what people tweeted the most, in order to give you some of the key points. I don’t know what we did before Twitter. I guess we didn’t blog about it the next day!

The Q&A

Q: There are many different agencies a business can hire, and they all seem to be converging on this concept of digital marketing and social media. When should a business hire a PR agency to handle digital marketing or social media rather than a more specialized digital agency that specializes in the digital space?

A: If you’re looking to hire an agency that focuses solely on social media, you won’t have an agency to work with in two years. My reasoning being that social media is a TOOL and agencies should not be specializing in tools. Social media should be a part of what they offer, including traditional communication, some basic search, some marketing communication, and reputation management.

Q: How do I know how much I can promote myself online?

A: We have the 80/20 rule: Eighty percent of what we distribute online is about someone else (their blog posts, their videos, their content, etc.) and only 20 percent is about us. We liken this to going to a networking event and meeting, what Lisa Gerber calls, Type OO (output only). Just like you’re searching for someone else to talk to when Type OO is chatting your ear off about how great they are, the same thing happens online. The companies who use the tools only to promote themselves will fail.

Q: How many tweets should you send in a day?

A: I don’t think there is a one-size fits all for how many tweets you send in a day. For instance, I schedule my tweets to go out once an hour, from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m., every day. Those tweets fit the 80/20 rule. Then, when I’m on Twitter, I’m engaging, I’m reading, and I’m having conversations. So I could easily send 200 tweets in a day. Or more.

Q: What’s the difference between social media for consumer or B2B brands?

A: Consumer brands are much easier to promote, using the social tools, because the audience is everyone. There is a lot of talk about it not working for B2B brands, which is baloney. If you know where your customer is participating online (and they are participating online), you can know which online tools to use to reach them. Free tools such as Google Alerts and Socialmention will give you a good understanding of where they are participating. Then you can move to paid tools such as Engage 121, Spiral16, Radian6 for monitoring where your prospects are and what they’re saying and Flowtown (which is my favorite), Gist, and Xobni for your current customers habits.

Q: There was an article a couple of months ago about blogs trending downwards and seemingly going away. What do you think about that?

I think blogs are trending downwards because a whole bunch of people jumped on the blogging bandwagon when it was the shiny, new penny. But they are hard work. Super hard work. And people don’t have the time or patience to put into a blog what it takes to have some semblance of success. For instance, between Lisa and me, we spend a good 40 hours or more on Spin Sucks a week. It’s a full-time job and it’s not something you an say, “Oh, I don’t really want to do that today” if you’ve built the expectation that you ARE going to blog every day. So I don’t think blogs are trending downwards because they’re going out of style, so to speak. Rather, it’s because they take a lot of care to maintain.

Q: How often should you blog?

If I’d been asked that question three years ago, I would have said three times a week, definitively. But now I think it’s more about consistency. If you are going to blog every Monday at 9 a.m., but darn, you’d better blog every Monday at 9 a.m. Just set the expectation and deliver…consistently.

There were a ton more questions, but those are the ones I can remember from reading the Twitter stream. And, I’m getting dangerously close to a blog the length that Ingrid Abboud writes so I’ll stop now.

How would you have answered these questions? Do my answers lead to more questions? The comments are yours.

Tony Hastings is the man behind the Top 10 Blog.

I just noticed I have been running The Top 10 Blog for almost 12 months so what a good time to review, and share, the main lessons I’ve learned.

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a technical expert so, while I know that there are many excellent blog advice articles out there, I hope that you may benefit from this simple common sense approach.

1. Just Get Stuck In: I  must have spent months trying to decide what to blog about before I actually got going. How I wish I had got on with it sooner. There are so many questions when you have decided to take the plunge. I sort of drifted into Top 10 with no clear plan of how to develop, but as my experience and confidence have increased it has taken on a life of it’s own.  I never imagined, for instance, that Twitter would be such fun and such an inspiration and that it would take me off in a new direction.  So the first lesson is plan by all means, but don’t plan for so long that you never actually achieve anything. Just get on with it and see where you go.
2. Twitter: I am, as they say, no spring chicken and I thought Twitter was for young people with nothing better to do. I was wrong. I really enjoy interacting with people from all around the world and there is no doubt that it is a very effective way to promote what you are doing. So get involved if you aren’t already.Use the knowledge and experience of those who have already been down the Twitter path to make sure you get the most out of your Twitter experience.  This post from Kathy Meyer is a great starting point.
3. Be yourself: This follows on in a way from number 2.  When I started to blog and Tweet I did so as ‘The Top 10 Blog’.  I soon found that others respond to you much more if you show them that you are a real person, even if that means making a fool of yourself occasionally.  (If you have seen the Twitter Singups you will understand what I mean)The same principle applies with your Avatar, I stayed with the blog logo on Twitter, Facebook and Disqus for far too long and I was nervous about showing my face to the world! Wrong again, I have had so much more fun since I came out from behind that logo.
4. Interact: Really important this one! Again, when I started I was a passive observer. I watched the Twitter stream and didn’t dare say anything in case I made a fool of myself.  I read great blog posts and wouldn’t comment. I now know that everyone, including I, loves to get feedback or to be recommended to others.  The more you put out there you more you get back as long as you are genuine. Read blogs, and if you like what you read, or even if you don’t, then leave a comment and Tweet about it.
5. Be patient: At first, blogging and tweeting can be really frustrating. Why is nobody looking at my blog? Why has nobody retweeted my wonderful Tweet? Nobody loves me! Nobody cares! Be consistent in interacting with other people, relax, have fun, give something to others and if you are patient it will happen.
6. Make connections and value them: I have met some marvelous, giving people through Twitter and getting to know them has allowed me to connect with many others. There are too many to name individually here but you will find them all on my Top Twitter People lists, I value these people so much and I go out of my way to make sure I keep in touch with them and take an interest in what they are doing, follow these lists and you won’t go wrong.You can make connections in many other places than just Twitter by adding comments to other blogs. Commenting is a great way to raise your profile and I also find that it sharpens the way I look at my own blog by looking closely at and responding to what others are doing and saying.
7. Content and presentation: Simple really. Have good quality content and a good, neat presentation with correct spelling and good grammar. (Yes, these are still important!)  Try to be consistent with the way the posts look.Use images well. Find good quality pictures and make sure they are free of copyright or that you add an appropriate attribution. I find two good places to get free images are Free Digital Photos and  Flickr. It can take a while to find exactly what you need but it’s well worth it to give you peace of mind.
8. Don’t be shy: Let the world know how good you are.  Tweet about what you do. Have a presence on Facebook. Stumble, Digg and Delicous where you can promote your own stuff and that of others’.  Make sure that you add some decent ‘Share’ buttons. You don’t have to be a Tech expert (which I am not) as there are some great plug-ins out there. But don’t forget to continue to promote other people as well. You will soon find you have no friends if you only ever talk about yourself! (Applies to real life as well)
9. Read and learn: It is vital to keep reading what other people are putting out there. There is a seemingly never-ending supply of good quality information. Don’t be afraid to try simple things but remember don’t save until you are sure as you can always ‘Undo” and also remember…..
10. Don’t try to be too clever: I nearly learned this lesson the hard way when I deleted most of my posts by trying to do something that I really didn’t understand. Thank goodness I found that restore facility.Another lesson I have learned recently is to check everything you publish in a guest post carefully before you click ‘Publish’.  A guest had put a link in a post about a prestigious competition for developers with a massive cash prize – that soon was picked up and started flashing round the world, unfortunately the competition ended 2 years ago!

The moral is: With everything you do take your time and don’t run before you can walk.

Tony Hastings is the man behind the Top 10 Blog, a place where you will find regular Top Twitter People, amazing guest articles on all sorts of topics, some of his own writings on his social media journey, fun interviews, and more.

The brain child of Danny Brown and contributed to by Joey Strawn, Frank Dicksinson, Aaron Lee, and Judy Dunn, For Bloggers, By Bloggers is chock full of tips for everyone interested in blogging to the most sophisticated blogger.

Broken into eight different areas – design, tips, topics, social bookmarking, social networking, theme review, videos, and WordPress – you can get information on just about everything you need. I say just about everything because I’d love to see a robust section on organic search, but that’s because it’s something I need to do more efficiently, not because I think it’s a gaping hole. Come on, guys! Don’t you know this is all about me?!

One thing I love that they’ve recently added is weekly topic ideas for free. In some places, you’d have to pay for those ideas, but For Bloggers, By Bloggers gives them to you with a smile and a “have at it” attitude.

Want to start a blog?

Don’t know what to write about or how often you should write?

Don’t like to write, but really would like to better understand vlogging?

Keep hearing about using social bookmarks, but have no idea what they are or how to use them?

Already have a blog, but don’t get any comments on it?

Reached exhaustion and need a pep talk?

Get my drift? It doesn’t matter if you’re just starting out or if you have a blog with a robust community. This #FollowFriday is for you. Because, well, it’s written by people who do this every day and are able to share their lessons, mistakes, and successes.

Check out Danny, Joey, Frank, Aaron, and Judy…and their site that is maintained with you in mind.

She asks, “I have a question for your weekly Spin Sucks video post. How do you (Gini, or any of your staff) manage the amount of time you spend reading new blog posts, catching up on Twitter feeds, reading news stories, etc.? As a student, it’s hard for me to find time to be both productive and good at my work AND be aware of what’s happening in the blogosophere each day. I’m sure the same goes for you as a PR professional with your own clients whose needs must be met each day. Any tips?”

My answer is in the video below (or by clicking here). What are your tips for Elizabeth?

Don’t forget…if you have a question or want to pick my brain, go to our Facebook wall and ask it there!