They come in short spurts and are unannounced; even I am unaware they are about to occur. I’m speaking of blogging blackouts, periods of time where some unknown force keeps me from blogging. Has is it ever happened to you? read more

I’m a nice guy. I believe in peace, love and harmony. But I also want to be a successful blogger. It’s no secret that controversial posts that take an unabashed stance on a hot-button issue generate serious traffic. If we’re going to be completely honest, sometimes being a pr*ck, is the best thing you can do for your blog. Since nice guys finish last, here are two ideas on how you can blog out of character. read more

I often read about how at-home bloggers, and other work-at-home-preneurs, are prone to feeling disconnected from society. Personally, that has not been my experience. While I might not be meeting my newly found ‘blogging buddies’ for drinks anytime soon, I feel that since I started blogging, I have made more connections than I would have otherwise.

Aditya Mahesh recently blogged about How To Overcome The Disconnection of Working Alone.

And it is going to be the tipping point for me when it comes to blog conferences. read more

No, it’s not a new reality show, it’s real life.

Blogging saw a busy week to round out the first month of the new decade. Between the announcement of Apple’s “truly magical and revolutionary product,” the first State of the Union address by President Barack Obama, and Pope Benedict XVI’s plea for priests to embrace the Internet to communicate with followers, I think it might be time to ask the question…

Has blogging peaked? read more

Beginning March 26, 2010, Blogger will no longer support FTP publishing. This means that if you are one of the .5% of Blogger users utilizing an FTP service to publish a blog to your own domain, things are a-changin’.

Citing a drain on their “engineering resources,” the Google-owned platform has made the decision in order to concentrate on new features and improvements in 2010. read more

Wordpress, many BlogHerald reader’s blogging platform of choice, has rolled out a new service. It doesn’t make your blog load faster or guarantee you more traffic. What it does is much cooler. Much bigger. It makes a difference. read more

So most of us bloggers are not rich and famous…yet. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get to enjoy the self-aggrandizing, masturbatory ritual known as the award show acceptance speech.

It’s actually not a total waste of time… read more

I spent a couple of years working at FOX News where I had the opportunity to hone my headline copywriting skills.

My boss at the time would plead with us to read Reader’s Digest, claiming they had mastered the art of “catchy” headlines.

The way we digest our media has changed, but the tried and true methods of creating a powerful headline have not. Effective elements include… read more

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake (with over 100 aftershocks!) has rocked the western part of the island of Hispaniola, devastating Haiti in the process. Sitting here as a mere blogger in America, it’s easy to feel that there’s not much you can do. While it might not be as gratifying as saving lives, there are small things bloggers can do to pitch in. read more

There is no magic calculator that will tell you how much your blogging services are worth. We each have an interdependent relationship with money that is uniquely our own. The $7.50 you just earned for that 500-word blog post might be worth your time. Or not.

During discussions with bloggers, I have found that the average blogger (not a superstar, but not a slouch) earns around $10 per 250-word post. Of course, most people exceed the word count to please their employer. (Heck, this post is contracted for 250 words and it’s closer to 500!).

So we’re looking at $.04 cents a word. But there are other factors that bring down that fee considerably. Here are a few things to consider when trying to determine if a blogging job is worth taking/keeping. read more