Here’s some video showing the new features in WordPress 2.7.

I haven’t posted here in months. It was not because lacked anything write, but because I had other places to share it.

Over the last few months I’ve been using Facebook and Twitter to share stories, keep in touch with friends, and meet others who share my interests.

I set this blog up originally to test out Wordpress. I had a basic blogging strategy of what I wanted to accomplish here. I made efforts to post here on a regular basis. I soon discovered Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites.

“Tweeting” and posting links into Facebook were quick and easy. I found myself drifting away from blogging and using those resources more. I also wanted to find out how useful were these tools were in everyday use.

I am dealing with my own information overload. I love all the tools that so-called “Web 2.0″ has brought us, but there are only so many RSS feeds, news services, YouTube channels, and micro-blogging sites that one person can read and gain useful information.

In the last few months I’ve learned a great deal about the benefits and pitfalls of social media. I’ll share what I have learned in future posts about my successes and mistakes.

After posting that photo of the cupcake, now I really do want one.

It is easy to get depressed and worn out when it looks like you have a giant mountain of work in front of you. Chris Garrett over at The Blog Herald offers some advice on setting goals and staying positive when running a blog.

The way he puts it, that big mountain you have to climb is just a series of small hills.

RSS is a great tool for keep up with blogs and news, but it can overwhelm you if you let it.

Google Reader is a lifesaver.

Don’t overplan or overthink what you write on a blog. Use common sense, but it is better to write something and have to edit it later.

CSS and Internet Explorer 6 will give you plenty of headaches unless you understand browser bugs.

A clean, organized desk is a stress reliever.

Write down all your passwords for your different email and web services in one spreadsheet and keep it updated.

Water is better for you than coffee.

Sleep is better for you than caffeine.

Don’t fret too much over a first draft.

Jennifer Laycock describes the process of engaging customers to sell your product and the power of “word of mouth” marketing.

Here’s a quote…

My phrase at the class this week was that social media is mostly just word of mouth on crack. Instead of a person telling ten friends at a dinner party, they blog it and reach thousands (or millions) of people around the world.

She uses a diagram from the Brains on Fire blog to illustrate the lifecycle of a fan.

From large corporations to blog writers, the word “community” is used to describe different ways to market websites and products. But how do you start and what are the risks? This article serves as a starting point to illustrate an elusive idea.

The Charles Gnilka Blog Laboratory is my other project. I like WordPress, but Google is improving their Blogger blog platform. The Google team is adding new features to Blogger and their recent purchase of Feedburner will be a valuable asset.

I have been researching what the future of blogging will be. With Twitter and Facebook gaining users and building new communities, the blog landscape is changing.

While new bloggers are appearing every day, I have seen some of my favorite bloggers shut down their blogs and move on to other pursuits. They are still online and using the Internet to communicate, but for one reason or another they felt their current blogs had run their course.

Other bloggers felt burned out by the stress of writing and felt they were not measuring up to their blogging goals. When blogging feels like a chore, then it probably is best to give it a rest.

While looking through YouTube videos I found a clip of Ray Bradbury talking about the art of writing. While he is speaking about writing novels and short stories, I’m sure his advice could appeal to blogs as well.

One of the missions of my personal blog is to organize the vast amount of information I deal with.

A blog as a your personal information library

My RSS feeds and Google Alerts offer articles, tutorials, and useful information every day. I use del.icio.us and my Google Personalized Homepage to keep track of sites and blogs I know I will need later, but even these services have their limits.

Blogging offers a way to categorize information into an easy to search format. Google’s Blogger platform offers a label tool while WordPress can organize posts into categories. The format of a blog post lets me write out why the information is useful.

Beyond bookmarks

Back when my web browser was main tool for storing links, a bookmark folder was fine for managing links to modest numbers of sites, but they were difficult to share and could be difficult to manage across multiple computers. Social bookmarking tools, like del.icio.us, have their limits when it comes to adding comments.

I can blog about a useful tutorial or web site and go into more detail about its uses. I can mention more than one site or link at once, add images, use category links to organize information.

The most important thing is I can give context to the information. A simple web link does not do that.

Blogs bypass the email inbox and are always available

To share a particular link or article, anyone can visit my blog and and look under a category or date. It also helps that my last name is the URL for my blog. If someone knows my last name, they can find my blog.

A blog is always on (hopefully) and can wait till someone has the time to browse through it. Unlike magazines or news clippings, it takes up no space on a desk and does not get shuffled under other papers or get coffee mug rings.

I used to send friends links to sites or blogs using emails or instant message links. The problem is that important links can get lost in the mix of memos, documents, and spam that churn around in the average email inbox. A blog is beyond the chaos of daily email and accessible from anywhere.

Edit for yourself

The challenge in using a blog to organize yourself is to be a careful editor for yourself. Use your judgment to determine what is important enough to blog about. Will you actually use the information you posted?

While a personal blog can serve the purpose of being an information storehouse, you still have the responsibility to be interesting and concise.

Look out for the interests of your readers, even if you are the only one.

The best advice I can offer is write good content.

Most of the blogs that I read on a regular basis I found through content, usually when I was doing a search for a solution to a problem or daily research.

This tutorial on SEO from Lorelle on WordPress is useful as well.

Here are some resources and tips I found helpful.

• Download Squad features a post-install checklist. Going through this checklist will show you where all the features are located.
• When you read through the Download Squad checklist, take note of item #10 on permalinks. Permalinks can be configured to be more pleasing, but permalinks alone will not influence your search engine rankings. You need content to do that. You can find more on permalinks on this page.
• Get familiar with the writing interface on a few disposable test posts. Familiarity with the interface will make your writing easier. Tinkering with settings while trying to write breaks your focus.
• If you change your blog’s URI under the options tab to the wrong address, your blog directory starts looking in the wrong place. Getting back to the dashboard is impossible. To reset your WordPress URI, use this PHP script. Even if you have not broken your URI, keep this script handy just in case. It is like having a second pair of keys to your house. Always use caution if you are going to change any major setting to your blog. If you do not fully know what you are doing, do not mess with it. A good browse through the WordPress Docs page is recommended too.
• If you are using Mozilla Firefox and have the NoScript plug-in, make sure you add your blog’s URL to the allow list, or your blog dashboard will be missing key features.

If you have any WordPress tips, post a comment and let me know.