If You Want A Blog, Let Me Know

Published September 27, 2007 @ 19:09 in Mixed

mouseIf you've got something to say or wish to cover a topic and address an audience, you should blog. This web thing is really catching on and a nicely put together blog with an RSS feed is your best chance to actually communicate beyond your immediate family and a few close friends.

If you want a blog, and don't know where to start, drop me a line. I'm not free, but for a nominal fee I'll hold your hand as you pick up a solid domain name and some very inexpensive web space. Then, I install Movable Type, code your preferred look and feel, optimize the sucker for search and teach you how the heck to manage the thing all by yourself. I promise, you don't need to do any coding as I ensure Movable Type does all the heavy lifting, including the automatic creation of permalinks, the adding of the entry to category and monthly archives, the updating of the RSS feed, the pinging of Technorati and other blog aggregators and other bloggy goodness. Oh yeah, I'll set up a cool and free stats app too, so you can watch your traffic grow as you write more and more excellent content, just like this!

Most Torontonians know the names Humble and Fred. I performed all of the above for both of them. Humble's blogging at HumbleHoward.com and Fred's blogging at FreddieP.ca. Fellow Humble and Fred fan Buffalo Boy just signed up for the Toronto Mike blogging package. Although I just installed Movable Type for him today, he'll soon be blogging up a storm at BuffaloBoyMike.com.

Who's next?

10 Responses to "If You Want A Blog, Let Me Know"

Trackback Address

Anonymous
September 28, 2007 / 02:51

I just want your stats app. Webalizer's starting to annoy me.

James
September 28, 2007 / 02:53

... That was me, by the way. Assuming this time it will actually pass my information to the SQL server rather than eating it.

Toronto Mike
September 28, 2007 / 08:41

I should preface this by saying I only checked out MT4 for the first time yesterday and I hear it has some stats capabilities built in, so I can't speak for that, but...

IMHO, you're better off with a JavaScript driven stats approach than a log driven one like Webalizer. If you, like me, just want to know about human beings visiting, how they got there, what they did, etc., you really should start with the free package from statcounter.com. You'll set up an account in minutes and then you just have to stick references to a couple of JavaScripts on the pages you want to track, which should mean an edit to one module (assuming you were a smart templater) and then a rebuild in MT will have you tracking every page of your site.

Warning: If you've been relying on Webalizer to measure your human traffic, get ready for a jolting reality check when you monitor your statcounter.com for a couple of weeks.

james
September 29, 2007 / 05:10

I have only 2 requirements. Must be accessible, and must not be complete shite. Nothing against the almighty goog, but their trafic analysis program is far from accessible. And... um, yes. Webalizer *is* complete shite. I just haven't found a whole lot better.

Toronto Mike
September 29, 2007 / 08:58

I use statcounter.com - it's not from the almighty Goog. It's accessible from everywhere you have a web connection and it's accurate, so long as the visitor has JavaScript enabled.

Jason | GetYourOJ.com
October 1, 2007 / 14:01

statcounter.com is good

i'd love to know more about optimizing searches.. something i really need to look into

thing is, google is biast towards blogger in searches! one of the reasons i use blogger!

Toronto Mike
October 1, 2007 / 14:04

Google may own Blogger, but that likely ensure they don't show any bias. It's all about optics, and I haven't noted any such bias. For example, google Toronto Blog: http://www.google.ca/search?q=toronto+blog

There's no blogger on that front page...

Jason | GetYourOJ.com
October 1, 2007 / 22:23

ok that is one example now try this one and see how many you tube and blog spots are on the first page

http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1B2GGGL_en__176&q=blog up the junction lily allen&btnG=Search

so i don't know who is right

James
October 2, 2007 / 05:23

ok that is one example now try this one and see how many you tube and blog spots are on the first page

3 blogger sites and 2 youtube clips out of 20 results. Thaqt's still not too bad. For reference, if you stick any/all of those keywords in the title of a webpage, you're guaranteed to wind up in the top 20 on Google. Top 40 at absolute worst.

James
October 2, 2007 / 05:34

As an aside, digging this deep into one of Mike's and my favourite topics has revealed not a single blogger or youtube sighting. Of course, by the same token, I think I only ever saw one actual blog... but at least we know they're not completely if at all biased!

Leave a Reply



« The Rouge Does Suck Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert »