I've had a surprising number of conversations over the past couple of weeks about blogging - so it seems like a good time to revisit the subject.

Let me say again that you can look at blogging in two ways.  First, in the traditional sense of blogging as a conversation.  You blog, readers comment.

The second part of that equation is where I find most potential bloggers stop short. And unnecessarily.

Many times potential bloggers tell me they don't want to blog because they don't want abusive or controversial comments on their blog.  I can't emphasize enough how unlikely this will be.  There are several reasons why:

First, when using the ANR blogging software you have the option to moderate the comments.  As author, you can choose three options for comments -

General Public Moderated Comments - means anyone can comment, but author approves all comments before they are posted.  This setting can leave you open to SPAM - as I discovered several months back.

After that experience, I chose the option of Registered Users Moderated Comments.  This setting means readers must register before they can post a comment, and again, you, as author approve all comments before they are posted to your blog.  Registered commenters need not be UC affiliated - anyone can register as a user.

The last option is Registered Users Freely Comment - with this setting all comments are posted without approval by the author.  Those choosing to comment must register, however.

At the bottom of the blog posting interface, you can check a box to be notified by e-mail when someone comments.

Once you receive a comment, you can view it and then elect to "post" or "kill" the comment.  You're in control.

Second, you will likely be surprised at how few comments you actually receive.  Now maybe I just write a boring, uncontroversial blog.  But in the almost two years I've been writing this blog I've received fewer than 20 comments. (Not counting the SPAM.) Most of them helpful and constructive.  (Not counting the SPAM, which I couldn't read as it was in Cyrillic.)

My guess is that most reluctant bloggers are thinking of newspapers or political blogs where the comments can get vitriolic.  I doubt that will happen to you.  And if you do receive an inappropriate comment, you don't have to post it.

You also have options on who can write posts to your blog.

Only Blog Owner May Post is self-explanatory.  If you're the owner, only you can post.

Blog Owner and Moderators Freely Post - using this setting you can add Moderators to your blog and they can post without your approval.  This is a great option if you want to share authorship.  Unlike Users, Moderators must have some ANR affiliation.  Anyone with Portal access can be added as a Moderator to your blog.  There are a couple of Master Gardener blogs that use this option.

And finally, All Registered Users May Post (Moderated).  This is the most conversational option - even more than comments; but you as owner still approve all posts.

Next time - other uses for the blog software . . .

OK, before we get started a couple of quick notes --

First, a tip of the hat to Bryon Noel, developer of the the ANR Blog System. Last week I asked him about tags, which at the time weren't enabled. As of yesterday - Poof! - They work like magic. That's a speedy response!

Second, Mike Poe has been on the road doing workshops on blogging and the ANR Blog System. He was in Ukiah earlier this week with that workshop, and will repeat it at the Central Coast and South regional meeting next week. So watch for him there if you're interested in blogging, podcasting, or how to create audio and visual content for the Web.

Starting a blog is easy, maintaining it requires discipline.

Here's the easy part:

If you don't currently have a blog or subscribe to a blog you'll find the link to the Blog System in the Unused Systems section of your ANR Portal.

Click on "Create New Blog"

Fill out this form, click on "Create Blog," and you're blogging!

If you're familiar with Site Builder, you'll recognize the interface.

 

 

About Comments

One of the perceptions of blogs in the traditional sense is that they are like a conversation -- that anyone can comment on your postings. Certainly you have that option, but it's not the only one.

Depending on the purpose of your blog you may or may not want comments. When you set up your blog in the ANR Blog System you have three options for comments.

• General Public Moderated Comments - This option allows anyone in the public to make comments. You must approve each comment before it appears on the Blog. You may get a lot of spam messages using this setting.
• Registered Users Moderated Comments - With this option, only people with an ANR Blog account may leave comments. You must also approve these comments before they are seen on the Blog.

Note that both of these options give you the option of posting or not posting the comment. The moderated comments options are also useful if people leave rude or unhelpful comments.

When someone leaves a comment, you, as the owner of the blog, will receive an e-mail containing the comment. You can then go into the Administration section of your blog and post the comment. Or not. And if you don't want comments at all, you can simply not post any of them.

If you don't want e-mail notification of comments, uncheck the "Notification" box at the bottom of the interface.

The third option is:

 

• Registered Users Freely Comment - All users who have an ANR Blog user account may comment without approval of the Blog owner. Any person may become a registered user. This is not limited to ANR employees.

Using this option, comments are posted automatically.

You can go back into Administration and change the Comments setting if your original choice isn't working for you.

Tags

I think tags are one of the most powerful tools available to bloggers. Blogs are posted chronologically by default, but tagging lets your readers sort content by topic.

For example, in one of my earlier posts, I discussed fonts and colors. I've tagged that entry with those two terms. In future posts if I write about one of those topics again, I add the same tag.

The tags appear as hyperlinks at the end of your post. The number in parenthesis after the tag tells the reader how many posts have that tag.

When the reader clicks on the tag, only the blog entries with that tag appear.

So let's say you're a viticulture advisor, and you have a regular blog for your growers. You might have several posts about Pierce's Disease or mealybugs. If one of your growers only wants to read your posts about mealybugs, and you've tagged your articles, they can easily read just those posts.

The field for entering the tags appears at the bottom of the Editing Post interface.

Save It For Later

You can always go back later and edit your posts, (and your tags) through Blog Administration or though the Create/Edit Post in the left hand navigation bar of the Blog System interface.

 

 

Your posts will be listed as links like this:

You can start a post and come back to it later. If you're feeling really productive, create and bank some posts for live posting later. Simply click on "Save and Review" and then exit the program without making the post live.

Come back to Create/Edit Posts, click on the post you want to edit and keep working on it. Or make it live if its ready to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the hot topics from the Web writing workshops last week was the use of blogging software. Notice that I didn't say "blogs."

I think the "ah-ha" moment for many people was thinking about blogs in a different way. Not the "Here's what I had for lunch today." way or "Why I think Sean Penn is the greatest actor of his generation." way, but as a way to organize content.

Newsletters are a perfect example of "bloggable" content. I think one of the examples from the workshop was actually called a "Blogazine."

You can look at the newsletter example from a couple of angles. One, you can post one newsletter article at a time, rather than saving them for a quarterly newsletter. This gives you the advantage of communicating with your clients on a more regular basis.

Alternately, you could use your blog to archive newsletter articles after the newsletter has been sent. That's an easy way to make the transition from a traditional printed and mailed newsletter to an electronic version. Keep them both running simultaneously.

Another advantage to the blog format is that the search function searches only on your blog. On your website, the search function searches the entire ANR server.

"Tagging" also allows you to group articles by subject matter. That feature is not fully functional in the ANR Blog software but the Web Action Team tells me they're working on it.

The key to a successful blog is regular posting. If you start a blog you should commit to posting regularly. Less than once a month and your readers are going to wonder what's going on.

Another traditional blog feature is comments, and some potential bloggers have expressed hesitation about blogging because of this feature. Fear not! You can turn off the comments feature. You can also control who can comment as well as review comments before they are posted.

More about blogging, including how to use the ANR Blog, in my next post.

There are 25 blogs in the ANR Blog Roll - any ANR bloggers want to comment on how it's working, or not working, for you?