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We recently published a post on how to start a blog and how to maintain it. We also created a slideshow on how to create a great blog in just 30 minutes . Yet, certain things remained unsaid. For example, what should you consider even before you take a plunge to make a new blog (or website). These are very important because they map your mindset... they let you test whether you have the potential to become a 'successful' blogger in terms of money or storytelling or making an archive or furthering your professional interests or whatever else is your blogging goal.  We have divided this pre-blogging checklist into 5 segments as follows: Do you know well the rewards and the pitfalls? Knowing what you can get and at what cost is important before you start blogging. Do you understand your own strengths and  weaknesses? You must be conscious of your skills / knowl edge / energ y / time / experience / etc and also what all you lack. Can you overcome the shortcomings? Wh...

Blogging is sinful to Islamists in Bangladesh, if it promotes secular thought A publisher has now paid with his life for keeping and propagating secular thoughts in this Muslim-majority nation.  Publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was killed by Islamic extremists last week. Himself a secular blogger, his publishing house Jagriti Prokashoni has published books by Avijit Roy, a US citizen of Bangladeshi origin was killed earlier this year. There have been massive protests in Bangla Desh against this attack, but like earlier attacks on bloggers, we keep our fingers crossed whether there would be any check on the attackers. In fact, they have updated the hit list they issued earlier and have threatened to kill them all. A very popular blogger, with about a million following his social network pages, Imran Sarkar, has also received a death threat a few days back.  One more publisher, Farid Ahmed, of Somoy Prakashan publishing house, has also received a death threat this...

Thoroughly updated: November 2020 This is sequel to our post on ' How to start a blog '. If you have not yet made a blog, do read that and take action, and then come back. In addition, we have posted an article ' 9 Blogging myths that bloggers must avoid '. We suggest that you read both the articles together so that intentional or inadvertent mistakes do not come in the way of your nurturing the new blog into a big, reputed blog. If you already have a blog, you can cover most of the lost ground by following best practices and undoing the mistakes.   Blogging mistakes that beginners and new bloggers make.   1. Bad URL, bad bog title, bad blog description. On the web, you can see numerous examples of bad blog meta data or basic information. Many bloggers start with giving the blog a domain name that is not related with its subject or is difficult to remember. They also give it an irrelevant title and a lengthy (but value-less) description.  These are not BIG blo...

Not many of us might have seen a research paper on the value of blogs as historical archives, by Dr Deborah Gabriel. So we thought, let's share it with blogger friends this week. The paper analyses blogs by African Caribbean bloggers living in the UK and finds that blogs pay an important role in capturing key historical moments as they help generate new levels of understanding on the experiences of racial minorities.  To further quote the paper, Blogs function as an important medium that enables African Caribbean people to create and interpret events as counter-narratives in opposition to dominant discourses. This is of major significance since power and privilege are unevenly distributed across all cultural and social arenas and as such can only be challenged through ‘democratic practice’... The findings demonstrate that the bloggers featured in this study appropriate blogs as a medium for self-representation, leading to the cultivation of symbolic power through their own...

On ITB we have generally been addressing bloggers who already have opened a blog. This post is for those who’d like to start a blog for their own self, kids, parents, grand parents, a group, a company or an organization . WHY SHOULD I BLOG AND WHAT WILL I GAIN FROM BLOGGING? We have discussed the following topics that come naturally when you think of starting a blog, so we won’t repeat them but have just linked them from here: How is a blog different from a website ?  Is my blog of any consequence ? Can blogging fulfill our small dreams and make us happy ? I have a Facebook account. Why should I blog? In what ways is a blog a superior web property than an account on social networking sites (Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter, etc)? What is the range of topics on which I can blog ?  What age is too early for blogging? BLOGGING FOR BEGINNERS Let's go straight to blogging. Let's try to answer ‘How can I make my own blog?’ Making a blog is as simple as ...

There are people who create myths to misguide others and then make hay. There are myths that get created on their own and people spread them for their gain. AND THEN there are the gullible folk who repent for having believed the myths and taken wrong actions. Bloggers just starting their blogs also fall prey to myth-mongers. So, friends, let's bust the 9 major blogging myths. Our blogging can be successful only when we are clear about the right actions that we need to take. Myth 1. Blogging will make you millionaire within six months. We put it on top of the list because of our long experience with compiling blog directories. We have discovered that thousands of bloggers create blogs with the intention of making quick money and are left frustrated when such money doesn't come by.  Well, there may be stray instances of a smart blogger choosing a paying niche, his tricks paying off and he making a big sum in a short time. But these are exceptions. All others have to wo...

Our purpose is not to scare you with legalese. But it IS our purpose to guide bloggers on legal and ethical aspects of blogging. ATTRIBUTE THE SOURCE When we copy a quotable passage from somebody else's website / blog / presentation / press release etc, we must give due credit to the source. Even more important is to give adequate attribution when using somebody's audio, graphic or audio-visual material. We have discussed it many times in the lat five years, so will leave it at that. Would like to add just this bit: giving credit does not mean you can use any material; we need to abide by copyright laws when using others' content. DISCLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH A BRAND When we, as bloggers, endorse a product or service, we are legally bound to disclose our relationship with the brand and benefits being derived through that association.  Federal Trade Commission of the USA has issued comprehensive guidelines , with examples, on how to disclose promotion of a brand ...