Jul

28

Pick the Right Colors with ColorPic

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ColorPic

Every blogger or web designer will have the occasional need to identify a color code from their screen. Whenever I change a template for one of my blogs, I often also have to change the color palettes of ad blocks or other objects so that they blend in correctly. To do that I need to know the color codes for certain parts of the blog or web site. Here is a freeware color picker that has very useful features: ColorPic.

I particularly like its built-in magnifier and the ability to save palettes for later use. It also allows the user to set up hotkeys rather than mouse buttons to capture colors, and you are not limited to picking colors from your browser window. An all-around excellent program.

ColorPic

[via freewaregenius]

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Jul

27

Top 55 Articles for Serious Bloggers

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I used to have a mango tree. When mango season came, I would begin to see names written on the choicest-looking mangoes as they ripened on the tree. My friends had been claiming mangoes while still on the tree, so they could say, Yes, it has my name on it. What does all this have to do with blogging? These 55 articles are like those mangoes. They are still on the tree; you can claim them only by reading them, and they will ripen only when you incorporate them into your blogging.

Matt Huggins has taken the time to pull together his favorite articles into a post called 55 Essential Articles Every Serious Blogger Should Read, and he has categorized them according to the stages of a blogging career. Obviously it would take a brain significantly larger than the kind we humans possess to read and incorporate them all in one sitting, but step by step they will help you build a blogging empire, make money, and live happily ever after. So without further delay, I give you

55 Essential Articles Every Serious Blogger Should Read

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Jul

26

Getting People to Actually Read Your Posts

Filed Under Lessons, Tips, Featured | Leave a Comment

I skim through hundreds of feeds every day; you probably do too. This amazing feat is only possible through the miracle of filtering. I actually read fewer than 20; the rest do not tickle my fancy. So the question bloggers have to ask themselves is: Are readers actually reading my posts? And if not, Why the $*@# NOT???!! This post will identify some solutions to this problem.

Titles

A brief examination of my technique, which is certainly quite common, tells me that people first glance at my post’s title. If it is boring or concerns something they aren’t interested in, that will be all the attention my post gets. For example, once I see the word iPhone in a post’s title, I move on. I don’t have one, I don’t want one, and I’m sick of hearing about them. The lesson here is simple: Make sure your titles have something to do with your blog’s niche. Readers come to your blog or your feed because they’re interested in the niche you write about, so let them see that each post has something to do with that interest. Even if your title is connected with your niche, the next question is:  Is your title interesting? It’s not enough for your titles to be descriptive. It takes a bit of mental effort to combine descriptive and interesting, but this is a winning combination.

Openings

Since feeds just give summary, the first paragraph or part of it, I’ll skim that bit if the title grabbed me. Sometimes, if even after reading the snippet I can’t tell what the post is about, I’m on to the next one. So your first sentence/paragraph should make the reader understand how valuable to them the rest of your post will be. You are persuading them that they really need to read on. Whether they find your post via a feed, through Digg, or by searching, you have to get them to want to read the entire post, and that’s the job of your opening.

Concision

So we’ve got the reader to believe there’s valuable information to come if they read on. Now, that information has to be easy to find, not buried in a thick coating of superfluity. When I write articles for other publications, I’m usually given the number of words they should contain since space is limited whether the article will be online or on paper. I usually write 25 to 30 percent more than what I’m asked for, then sculpt the article by chipping away words until it’s just right, and any further chipping would ruin it. Don’t you hate it when a speaker takes an hour to convey information that could be accurately conveyed in 10 minutes? The same principle applies to writing.

These are the qualities that entice me to read entire posts.

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