DISQUS

Developer frustration certainly isn't a good sign for Twitter but I don't believe it's as bad as you might think -- developers represent a small fraction of the Twitter population. Twitter's biggest problem is stability. If the users can't do what they want because the system is unavailable, they will eventually start to look for a replacement and that's when it's officially the beginning of the end.

Excellent point about unique SEO content. From what I can tell, so much written on the topic tends to be a rehash of something already written; however, that is not always a bad thing.

Everyone has their own learning style. One explanation might work for one person and fail for somewhere else. In these situations, multiple posts on the same SEO subject really has value.

While I agree readers only need to read one or two SEO sites to learn what they need to know, having several different SEO specific sites can really help the needs of the masses.

Hope that makes sense and didn't drift too far off topic. It's still kind of early for me on a major holiday weekend. :-)

Excellent point about unique SEO content. From what I can tell, so much written on the topic tends to be a rehash of something already written; however, that is not always a bad thing.

Everyone has their own learning style. One explanation might work for one person and fail for somewhere else. In these situations, multiple posts on the same SEO subject really has value.

While I agree readers only need to read one or two SEO sites to learn what they need to know, having several different SEO specific sites can really help the needs of the masses.

Hope that makes sense and didn't drift too far off topic. It's still kind of early for me on a major holiday weekend. :-)

Ben, thanks for the informative post. I wasn't aware that some people have starting stooping sooooooo low. Stealing an avatar -- is nothing sacred?

Ben, I know the audience for the article are those people that might be in a position where they'll soon be talking to venture capitalists; however, I think you can take these questions and apply them to even small side businesses. I actually plan to use them to help me get focused on some of the side stuff I do. Thanks

Yes, if I tried to place on a value on the total amount of time blogging, then I'd be seriously in the negative. Fortunately, I don't think about those details.

Overall I've probably spent about $150 for the whole year. Approximately $100 for a year of hosting (give or take) and approximately $50 worth of domain name purchases. I've only managed to pull in about $15 from Google adsense so I have yet to receive a check. If I can break even before my one year blogging anniversary (12/07), then I'd say the first year was a success. I know other bloggers have done much better in turning a profit but I'm trying a much slooooooower approach. :)

Yes and no. Sometimes I'm very good about following what I advise in some of my site's articles. Other times, however, I mean to but just can't get around to it. I've been meaning to change my site design with my own custom theme but my day job and side projects keep getting in the way.

I think the relevance of the A-List bloggers depends entirely on what the individual blogger hopes to achieve with his/her blog. Nearly everyone would love to have a plug from an A-Lister. A bump in traffic is almost guaranteed. There are others, however, that are very content to just have a small core of loyal readers. I think your point about being buddy-buddy with the popular kids is well put. It certainly doesn't hurt but it's also not always necessary.

Andy, fantastic post. I've done very little with social bookmarking on my site. I've wanted to do more but have felt a little overwhelmed by the options and wasn't sure where to start and exactly the best way to implement. After reading this post, I'm more confident about where to start my research and why. Thanks for the informative post.

Andy, fantastic post. I've done very little with social bookmarking on my site. I've wanted to do more but have felt a little overwhelmed by the options and wasn't sure where to start and exactly the best way to implement. After reading this post, I'm more confident about where to start my research and why. Thanks for the informative post.

Great post. I'd add one more item and one subtraction.

Basic respect -- They need to constantly hammer into the kids to treat one another with respect. Whether they like or dislike someone, that person is still a human with feelings. Be respectful.

End cut-n-paste projects -- I know it's not on your list but I need to get this one off my chest. Once kids enter High School, they shouldn't be doing anymore projects that involve what I call "cut-n-paste." I'm not talking about computers I'm talking about projects where they put junk on poster board etc. They'll never do that stuff in college or in the business world. I've spent hundreds of dollars for these ridiculous "craft" projects only to watch them get thrown in the trash when it's all done.

Okay, rant all done. :)

Those are some scary spam numbers! My blog has very low traffic and has been around since January of this year. Lately spam has started to pick up and now I average about 10 spam comments a day. Akismet catches them all so all I had to do is log in and do a quick review and press delete. Not sure what I would do if I got some of the spam numbers mentioned in this post and in Paul's comment. I hate those blasted spam bots.

Those are some scary spam numbers! My blog has very low traffic and has been around since January of this year. Lately spam has started to pick up and now I average about 10 spam comments a day. Akismet catches them all so all I had to do is log in and do a quick review and press delete. Not sure what I would do if I got some of the spam numbers mentioned in this post and in Paul's comment. I hate those blasted spam bots.

No problems so far Ben. I did notice a longer than usual delay in accessing your site, however, I doubt that had anything to do with the registrar change. I must admit, changing registrars sounds like a bit of a risky move. Mind if I ask why you decided to make the switch? I understand why people switch hosting providers but I haven't heard of too many people switching domain registrars.

The Quicktags for comments looks pretty cool; however, I'm wondering how many people really take the time to use the quicktags. I know I just did when I bolder the word cool. But seriously, have you found that people have been asking for this added feature? I'm curious as I am going through a progressive redesign of my blog and wonder if I should try to offer this feature as well. BTW: nice post. Thanks

The Quicktags for comments looks pretty cool; however, I'm wondering how many people really take the time to use the quicktags. I know I just did when I bolder the word cool. But seriously, have you found that people have been asking for this added feature? I'm curious as I am going through a progressive redesign of my blog and wonder if I should try to offer this feature as well. BTW: nice post. Thanks

Agreed. A blogger code of conduct is a futile attempt to impose responsible behavior on a someone bent on being irresponsible. Nothing anyone can say will stop such people from being annoying. It's a fact of life that wherever large groups of people gather with the best of intentions, the party poopers will follow.

Sounds like it was a day well spent. I'm most intrigued by Mitch Joel. I'm a big believer in the importance of branding but have to admit I had never heard of "personal" branding until just now. Also, the morning news shows have recently been playing a clip of that "free hugs" video. This morning was the first time I had seen the whole thing. Great video! Thanks.

I don't think the idea of a how-to focused video web site is anything earth shattering. I've already seen something similar over at Tubetutorial (I think that is how to spell it). The value here is the quick, yet informative, interview. You can find similar sites on the net but it's doubtful you can easily find a similar quick interview. Thanks for the post Ben.

My wife keeps telling me that according to scientific research only women are capable of honestly multitasking. I have no idea whether you can believe the research but I know personally that whenever I "attempt" to multitask a lot of things get started but nothing ever gets finished.

Dead on -- headlines are critical. In my attempt to make better headlines, I don't think about search engines (in time I might change that approach) I just think about the reader. Also, I give my posts a simple headline to start, write the post, and then come back and rewrite the headline. Tends to work well for me because once the post is finished the original headline rarely still applies.

Thanks for passing along the resources. I'm always looking for helpful resources and it's greatly appreciated when you take the time to write up a post on these resources which includes a short little review of each. I've seen too many similar posts of resource links with absolutely nothing other than the list. In those situations it begs the question, "Why post it? Where's the value add?" Obviously, that is not the case here. Thanks for the post.

CA...If it helps, I can relay my experience with WordPress and tags thus far.

I install the SimpleTags plugin for WordPress recommended here by Ben. The plugin is very easy to use. Write a post and the surround key/important words with the SimpleTag (similar to using any other HTML tag but uses different syntax). When you publish your post you'll see the list of words you tagged with SimpleTags at the bottom. Click on anyone of those words and you'll get taken to Technorati where you'll get presented with other recent blog posts with similar tags. For example, if you surround the word "blog" with a SimpleTag, and then click on the link at the bottom of your post, the link takes you to technorati.com/tag/blog. There you'll see your post and others with the same tag. I think Ben has his tags set up a little different here, but what I described is the general idea. Hope that helps.

Nice post on an often overlooked topic. I.M. has clearly established itself as a critical part of the "Holy Trinity of Communication: Phone, Email, and Instant Message." Despite the wide spread use of I.M. everyone needs to know when to stop I.Ming and when to pick up the phone or send an email. If your opening I.M. statement to someone becomes several sentences long, you should think about moving to email. If your I.M. chat conversation becomes a non-stop back and forth exchange lasting several minutes, you should consider picking up the phone (if possible). Obviously if these chats are between you and a friend, then disregard what I'm proposing. If the chat is with a business associate, then what I said applies.

I concur, something very odd going on with those three comments. The last two in particular are very odd -- they're basically duplicates. I'm leaning towards Home Depot sticking in the positive reviews but wouldn't rule out a middle distributor sticking in the comments. All 3 rugs came from different companies but Home Depot could be buying all 3 of them from a single distributor. Either way online product reviews aren't what they used to be. Average consumers still do write honest reviews (I still do it sometimes) but sadly, more often than not, the review are "plants" by someone with a vested interest in selling more product.