Multiple Authors of a Blog

We can see the phenomena of multiple authors of a blog more and more often. There is something that attracts some bloggers to gather together and co-author one blog. However, maintaining a blog with a few authors can be quite challenging. That is why I would like to give you a few tips on how not to allow this experience to get out of hand:

1. Make sure that you team-up with like-minded people. There is nothing more annoying than having to deal with someone you don’t like or understand.

2. Have similar goals. This is definitely an important point, because ultimately each blog has to have some goal. It will be a lot better if all of you work towards the same goal.

3. Be demanding when choosing the bloggers. You want to have the right people for the job, so make sure that you familiarize yourself with their writings before you decide to work with them.

4. Control the quality of the posts. Do not allow any of them to be of a lower quality than others. You need to have some standard according to which you measure the quality.

5. Check if the content is not duplicate. You don’t want to have co-authors which are stealing content. You may use Copyscape for this purpose.

6. Coordinate your schedules from time to time. Plan meetings or maintain regular email conversations.

Blogging is Time Consuming

Most people who do not blog do not realize that blogging is very time consuming. There are multitude of things to do including marketing, search engine optimization, networking, promotion, using Digg, guest posts, posting, comments, moderation, template design, protecting from hackers, and writing reviews.

I suspect that I did not even mention all of the things to do. A blog is like a business, but the difference is that usually only one person has to do all of the things. In companies there are different people responsible for different aspects. Sometimes there are even departments only responsible for one aspect like marketing. Naturally, you do not have to work on all of the aspects, but if you will not, then you won’t be really able to compete with other bloggers.

One of the most important things you need to focus on is marketing. Marketing is an interesting subject and a crucial part of a successful blog. That is why it is beneficial to learn from marketers how they manipulate how people think. It might sound scary, but that is really what marketing is about, and I don’t believe there is any fundamental flaw in it. I think it has been discovered what is the secret in marketing that allows to attract a large number of people. Successful marketers believe it is all about emotional connection, specifically to be able to connect with what’s behind the brand, with what’s behind the promise of the product. If that is achieved, it can create loyalty beyond reason.

RSS Feed and Email Subscriptions

I would like to discuss RSS feed and email subscriptions. In this post I am not really going to answer which choice is better, but I just want to say that in some cases email subscriptions might be a better choice. WE have to admit that most blogs focus on RSS feeds and RSS subscribers a lot deal more than on email subscriptions. This is probably due to the fact that RSS subscriptions are very convenient, and are more and more popular.

So why would anyone not want to be an RSS subscriber, but rather prefer to subscribe by email? The answer is that many Internet users simply didn’t learn yet about RSS feeds, and might not know how to subscribe to a feed or use RSS feed readers. This post is especially directed at blogs which deal with non-technical topics.

I think it is important to remember that some people do not know everything when it comes to more technologically advanced stuff like RSS feeds. It is crucial to take that into account if your blog is in a niche that includes a lot of people who are non-technologically oriented. Offering various ways to subscribe to your blog posts is a great way to increase the number of readers you have.

Computer Case

Do you have a computer case that you really like? In my opinion a computer case should fit the style of the room just like furniture. This is especially true of computer cases which are rather large. A lot of computer cases these days seem to be black and silver which means that they can perfectly fit the style of many rooms in modern households. However, the question that you need to ask yourself is whether they would fit the style of your room? If your room has pink walls and pink curtains, not every computer case will look nice in such a room. It is very important to remember to check how the case of your computer will look like before you make a purchase. Some cases also come in an irregular shape, and some of them might not be suitable for some rooms.

Spell Checking for Firefox

Many people decide to use Firefox as their preferred internet browser due to many features not found in other browsers like Internet Explorer. One of the really useful things in Firefox is the built in spell checker. It is a great tool which will help you spot any mistakes you make while you type in Firefox. Unfortunately, Firefox only checks the spelling on large text fields, not all of them. In order to enable spell checking for all fields, you will have to do some small modification.

To do so, you should first type “about:config” in the address bar. Later type “layout.spellcheckdefault” in the filter box, and double click on preference to change value from 1 to 2. After restarting Firefox your new settings should be applied. You will see that it works, if typos are going to be underlined in red. You can even try to misspell some words on purpose to see if it works.

This tweak will allow you to spot any mistakes you make, even if you are typing in small fields, such as when you fill out forms. From my personal experience I can say that spell checking can be very useful. However, if you really want to avoid any mistakes, you should be only writing when you feel rested, because being tired can greatly reduce your concentration.

Red-Eye in Digital Pictures

Let’s say that you have a great picture which features your loved one in the perfect angle and lighting, but unfortunately with the dreaded red-eye. This can be really frustrating, but fortunately there is a solution to this problem. This can be easily fixed using Picasa and similar types of software. I think that using Picasa is convenient so that is why I am going to present you with this solution. However, keep in mind there are other programs capable of doing the same taks as well.

• Download and install Picasa from picasa.google.com/download
• Run the program and select “Basic Fixes” from the left side.
• One of the basic fixes is conveniently named “Redeye”.
• Hold and drag your mouse around each eye to get rid of the redeye. It is important to select the pupil area, and not the whole eye.

Now you know why I said it can be easily fixed. Remember that there is no need to get rid of a perfectly good picture just because of such minor problems. Of course, there are many other ways you can edit your pictures, but removing red-eye is probably the most useful thing to do.

Speakers

Do you enjoy listening to music like millions of other people do? Some people listen to a lot of music, and they like it very loud. One of the things that could bother such people is the quality of speakers they have. That is because the quality of sound is very important. The better it is, the bigger satisfaction they can have from listening to music.

Usually the better the speakers, the more money they are going to cost, and the more space they are going to take. If this is not a problem for you, and you value the quality of the sound coming from your speakers, then you might start thinking about buying some high quality speakers. You do not have to make up your mind immediately, but you may want to think about it. You should check out whether you are going to have enough space for larger speakers, especially if you have a small room.

Take into account that there are various brands of speakers and some of them are more reliable than others. When it comes to computer speakers Cambridge Soundworks, Logitech, and Klipsch seem to be the best in overall performance. Out of the ones I mentioned Klipsch might be the best, but they are usually quite expensive.