New Blog Editor - Blog From Your Phone

I am always looking for ways to be productive while on the go. One of the reasons that I quit updating this blog as frequently as I used to was that I started traveling so much and spending so much time in traffic, I just didn't have time to keep up with all the things I need to do.

I have tried to blog using my phone's browser by connecting to the online blog entry page. That is incredibly painful. Scrolling up and down, trying to click on buttons, zooming in and out; it was a lesson in frustration. Now, I have finally found a tool that allows me to blog, with ease, from my blackberry (although I do have one issue that prevents me from using it on this blog).

The new tool is called BlogLive and it's from a company called imoblive. It runs on BlackBerry and Symbian (and may run on other j2me platforms). You can view the entire list of supported devices.

Some of the product features (from the publisher web site):

• Supports multiple blog accounts


• Efficiently create, edit and delete posts


• User library support for frequently used words and phrases


• Advanced text editor: Easily insert text URL, online image in your posts, without having to enter any HTML codes


• Supports major online mobile systems including the Blogger, WordPress, Movable Type, TypePad, and MetaWeblog API for compatibility with a most blog sites

You can see from the screen shot above that it does in fact support multiple accounts. From the menu, you select Add to add a new account. One the new account screen, you enter your connection and XMLRPC information. You can select from a list of blog types.

I was able to get it publishing for my wordpress blogs but I could not get it to work with Blogger no matter what I did. I think I may have the Xml-Rpc link wrong but I can't find any definitive information for the right link. I used the link that is in my Zoundry Raven blog editor but that didn't work either. If you use this editor and get it working with blogger, please let me know. I would love to get this working.

Once you have it configured, it is a nice, if simple, editor. Select New Article and then start writing.

If you are going to be entering URLs or images, you might want to use the Advanced Editor. You get a nice large screen as well as some additional options for input. It is still a manual process but I hope they make this even easier over time.

It also has a spell checker. One of the nicer features is the User Library. In that library, you can add often used snippets of text. Footers, common links, signatures, etc. Open the library, select your snippet and it's added to your post.

The editor costs $17.99 and that price includes a free year of upgrades. Support seems to be minimal; I can't find any beyond an email address. There is a FAQ but it doesn't even mention BlogLive.

Still, even with its issues, I find it to be a nice product. I will wait and see how often it gets upgraded before purchasing it and I want to work out the blogger issue. If I can get it to work with Blogger, I will probably buy it.

Let me know if you use and what platform you use it with. If you get it working with Blogger.com, please, please, let me know.

A funny note. When my spell checker hit XMLRPC, it came up with SMALLPOX as a replacement. I have often thought the same. ;-)

Thanks,

LewisC

Technorati : blackberry, blog, blogging, bloglive, client, editor, mobile, remote

Use Blogger or Install a Blog on Your Own Site?

I was recently asked this question:

Do you find that its beneficial to start a blog on the blogger platform versus installing it on your own site?

My opinion on this has changed in the last few months. I used to think that blogger or wordpress.com were "good enough". I now think you should host your own blog on your own domain. My only reason for this is the amount of control you have by doing so.

I have started several new blogs (on tech topics) on my own domains. I chose wordpress a my blog software. The number of plug ins that help me format and control my blogs is amazing. I don't want to spend a lot of time tweaking and with these plug ins, it's mostly install and move on.

NOTE: Don't confuse wordpress with wordpress.com. Wordpress is a blogging package (that you can get from wordpress.org). Wordpress.com is a hosting service that uses wordpress as it's blogging software. You can use wordpress the software on your own domain and if you chose wordpress.com as your blogging provider, you will be using wordpress the software (and can ONLY use wordpress the software).

From talking to family, friends, peers and co-workers, I don't think most people care about the domain being a custom domain or the blogspot domain. I have read some bloggers who feel that a custom domain gives you a certain amount of legitimacy that a blogspot or wordpress domain wouldn't. I don't agree.

So, the short answer is that if you want a very quick start up with no muss and no fuss, blogger (or one of the other hosted domains) is a perfectly fine choice. If however, you are like me and want the additional control, you should buy a domain and install your own blogging software. All of the major blogging packages are incredibly simple to install and most web hosters offer additional assistance in the option of cPanel and SimpleScripts.

LewisC

Technorati : blogger, blogspot, domain, hosting, wordpress

Who or What is your blog for?

So, have you decided why you want a blog? Do you want to share information? Make money? Have a place where distant relatives can keep track of you? Post funny jokes and links?

Before you start blogging, you should decide why you're blogging. That will help you decide where to blog (which type of host) and how to name your blog. An example is Wordpress.com; no advertising so no money. Also, if you're blogging for relatives, the name doesn't matter but if you plan to monetize, you need a name the is related to your blog topic.

In addition to name, the reason you blog will also affect things like frequency and topic. Again, if this a personal blog, no big decisions need to be made. Same with a blog designed to just share information; call it whatever, and post whenever, you like.

If you want regular traffic though, you need to be on topic and at least somewhat consistent. I consider this blog a tips blog (as in sharing info, not holding out my hand. ;-) ), not a money blog. I try to be consistent for my regular readers but I don't beat myself up if I'm not. I stay pretty consistently on the topic of blogging and the name of the blog is pretty much dead on for the topic I've chosen.

If I wanted to make money, I think the topic is a decent one although the blogosphere is pretty crowded for a blogging blogs. I think the title of the blog is winner. I named it well. Blogger isn't a bad choice for hosts as it has integrated Adsense and I can put any other advertising or banners that I want to. I would need to do something about my frequency though, I think.

If you want to make money with blogging, you need to build a traffic stream and the stream has to be interested in your blog topic (which is why I don't understand why there are so many spam blogs). To build traffic you need to post daily (at least in the beginning) and you need a lot of content.

When people show up, you want them to stick around for a while. That means plenty of articles. The faster you generate that content (multiple posts per day), the faster you will build traffic.

Right now, the vast majority of the traffic to this blog is from Google. I'm ok with that. My goal is to provide what tips I can. If people are finding me via google, and getting some use out of this blog, then I am succeeding.

Why are you blogging? What do you look for in a blog like this?

LewisC

P.S. This entry ended up being one of those that started at one place and ended up in another.

Technorati : blogging, writing