(Image by DavidErickson via Flickr)

I know that I have broken some of these basic rules in grammar dozens of times while writing on the Web in the last six years. It occurs to me that if I could use a quick refresher in this area then maybe some of you might benefit from it also.

Here’s an article by Robin Nobles listing 10 of the most common grammar errors made on the Web:

“Top Ten Grammar Errors that Haunt Web Pages”

1. it’s = it is
2. Web site (or page) vs. web site/page vs. Website/website (page)
3. Periods and commas: do they go inside or outside of quotation marks, or does it depend on the sentence?
4. E-mail vs. email, plus what is the plural of e-mail?
5. SEOs or SEO’s
6. Spelling spot check
7. Hyphens
8. Additional spot check
9. Singular vs. plural
10. Commas

Follow the link and take a look at the explanation for each of these common errors. Examples of ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ usage are included.            *Top

(Image by Dan Patterson via Flickr)

Proofreading is probably a writer’s least favorite task. It is also quite necessary, entirely expected, and all of the ‘rewards’ are negative at best. What makes it particularly daunting and haunting is the obvious fact that all of us fail at it occasionally no matter how many times we re-read and edit our masterpieces.

How many times have you bloggers glanced upon yesterday’s article that you’re so proud of only to find an obvious error that the spell check missed or worse yet you used the wrong ‘their’ there. It happens to me all of the time.

Then what do you do? I go back in and change it. I don’t care if it was written last year and it’s all over the Internet in cached form.The error is going down.

This brings up an entirely different subject. There are some who say that once an article is posted on the Internet it is sacrosanct and should never be altered. Horse pucky! Those folks are just crazy and maybe even a little lazy. All of the best publishers will change their miscues in the 2nd edition even if it is a NY Times best seller.

I actually found today’s topic while reading the newspaper of all things, proving that fish wrap can still be relevant if not amusing. Particularly when it’s consumed with coffee and Cheerios. Stephen Wilbers writes a great syndicated column that appears in The Orange County Register: “Writing For Business”

Here’s a link to his website where you can subscribe and receive his columns every week by email if it doesn’t appear in your hometown paper: Writing for Business and Pleasure

Take a look around the site. There’s lots of good stuff to help you improve your writing and proofreading (look under ‘Contents’). Particularly take a gander at this one and the followup which is on today’s topic:

“How to proofread and never miss a single errror”

My greatest fear is that Dr. Wilbers will actually read this post and point out all of the obvious ‘errrors’ that I somehow missed. There’s bound to be several at least. When you find some let me know.              *Top

Here’s a checklist from DailyBlogTips to use before you hit the ‘Publish’ button and send that new post into the blogosphere:

1. Did I read the post after writing it?

2. Is the post as complete as it could be?

3. Did I research the related keywords?

4. Did I craft the title carefully?

5. Did I proofread it?

6. Did I link to one or more of my older posts?

7. Did I link to external resources when appropriate?

8. Did I make sure all links are working?

9. Did I credit any sources I might have used?

10. Did I include an enticing image?

11. Did I optimize the permalink?

12. Did I add one or more elements to engage readers?

13. Is this a good day for traffic?

Go to the article and read what the author- Daniel Scocco has to say about each one of the points on his checklist. It is a very helpful list.

Response: This is an important issue that can really affect your credibility. Careless mistakes and missing or broken links leave a bad impression with your readers. In fact poor editing can actually detract from the message itself.

One good idea is to have blogging friends or family members check out your posts and be honest. Many times another set of eyes will see stuff that you may have missed.

How many times have you discovered typos and missing or misused words in posts that you have already published? It still happens to me. However, it doesn’t happen nearly as often as it use to since I have developed my own pre-publication checklist.

For some reason I always seem to see the mistakes better after it is published. I have made considerable progress in this area by using the ‘previewing’ feature in my editor and seeing what the published post will actually look.

My current ‘pre-publication checklist’ is far more elementary than the one above. I suggest that you develop your own—here’s mine:

1. Spell Check the first draft

2. Proofread and rewrite

3. Come up with an interesting and relevant title

4. Provide links to sources

5. Find a relevant image

6. Links to previous articles on the subject

7. Add keywords and categories

8. Use ‘Preview’ feature and do a final proofing.

9. Publish and check it out.

10. Make panic changes (What I’m trying to eliminate)

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(Image by Mexicanwave via Flickr)

Started thinking on this subject after reading: “5 Blogging Etiquette Tips for Beginning Bloggers” by Melanie Nelson

When I started blogging I couldn’t even spell ‘etiquette’ much less practice it on my new blog but I did try to learn the best procedures by observing the best. Along the way I naturally picked up some important do’s and don’ts—a lot by just experiencing stuff that I didn’t like others doing to me.

A lot of Christian bloggers first started using the internet to find stories and issues that they want to share with friends and relatives via email. I still have several who are close to me that browse the net and send me stuff that they found. Sometimes they just copy an entire story and send it on—other times just a link, a video, or a cartoon.

Later, some friends have transitioned from email to social media or even blogging with little change in what they do. If it is maintained in social media just among friends a lot of what goes on is forgivable.

The problem comes when folks start blogging and their new sites are all of a sudden beamed to the entire world potentially. In reality only their close friends and relatives are reading the stuff but others do eventually come aboard once the blog is indexed by Google and it all takes on a more permanent ‘life of its own’. A case in point–I have one personal blog that has been visited by folks from over 182 different countries in the last 4 years–many I didn’t know even existed!

Here’s some basic ‘golden rules’ to consider:

1. Linking Sources

Always provide proper links to sources that you refer to or use in preparing your posts. That way your readers can check out the story and documentation for themselves. Also, the sources should receive credit and linking makes that possible.

Note: It is always best to use permalinks to the actual post or story rather than just referring or linking to the home page or blog.

2. Linking Rather than Just Copying

It is a violation of both blogging etiquette and copyright rules to copy an entire article and post it without permission, even if you do link to the original source. ‘Fair Use’ allows for quotes. If you think the whole article is important and you want folks to read it than provide an anchor text or quote from the article with a link to the rest.

If you post the whole article than your readers have no reason to visit the original site and that is completely unfair to the original author.

3. Commenting

This is the bread and butter of blogging but with all of the spam out there it is beginning to become a problem for every blogger. It is getting harder to differentiate between spam and actual comments sometimes. Some spammers used to leave trite comments like: “nice blog”, “great article”, “beautiful site” and etc. Now they seem to be leaving more extensive comments like: “I’m going to read your blog from now on”, “You have some great information here that I can use”, “ Your have really added to the conversation on this subject” and etc. 

As a blogger making comments on other blogs you should always be relevant to the discussion and add to the conversation. Some no-no’s:  Leaving trite comments that don’t really add to the conversation. Leaving insulting personal comments. Worse–posting an entire pre-written article of your own on the same subject in the comment section. Less worse– linking to one of your own without permission. A grey area– Linking to a relevant post of your own or on another blog. If you are a regular commenter on that blog it is probably less of a problem.

As a blogger moderating the comments on your own blog is it mandatory to post all comments the way they are? Generally yes, they are really the property of the writer and not the blog. However, in the past I have personally deleted some inappropriate words on a couple of occasions with an inserted note: (expletive deleted) and self-serving links that were not helpful to the discussion.

It is a good idea to have a commenting policy in place with your expectations clearly identified. 

4. Pictures and Images

Another area that new bloggers in particular have difficulty with is in using and borrowing pictures and images. Pictures and images are also protected by copyright laws and not always available for free use without permission. It really isn’t right just to grab a picture or a graphic off of another site and paste to your own. Care should be taken to insure that it is in public domain and available for general use.

Also care should be taken to down load any images to make sure you are not ‘hot-linking’. Every image and picture on the internet has its own link and if you just copy and paste and leave the link intact then you are actually stealing someone else’s hosted bandwidth.

Sources like Flickr, and apps like Zemanta, Apture, and PicApp can make life a whole lot easier for bloggers when it comes to images and picture. 

(-Picture by Sybren A. Stüvel via Flickr)

Here’s a post I found on Problogger with some tips on writing by Shannon Paul- “Six very Official Ways to Improve Your Writing”:

1. Stop Trying to Sound Intelligent

2. Give yourself permission to write garbage

3. Be a Ruthless Editor

4. Use MIGHTY verbs

5. Read aloud before posting

6. Do what works for you

Go to the article and read what she has to say under each suggestion–very helpful indeed.

Now for my Tips: –when are you done with a post? Some contend that once it is posted that’s it! It is left to revolve around the blogosphere as it is forever.

A. Changing a Published Post:

Have you ever posted a brilliant blog at midnight only to find that the next morning it has turned into a pumpkin? That happens to me all the time. Guess what? I just change it!

Sometimes there may even be a couple of versions of my same blog circulating on different aggregators. Oh well! The current and best version can always be found on my blog for everyone to see.

On several occasions I have even noted that the post was ‘revised on —” since it was a substantial departure from the original.

B. Changing a Posted Title:

What about the title? There have even been a  number of occasions when I blew it on the title. I have misspelled a word, left out one I intended to include, or maybe the title just didn’t cut it. What can you do then? A permalink has already been produced for the post.

No problem if your permalink is numbered, but what if the title is actually part of the link? It takes a little more care, but if you have WordPress you can change the title and leave the original permalink in place so you don’t lose any possible links to the post.

Blogging is not nuclear science and the consequences of changing a post are not earth shattering or life changing. Guess what, there’s no blogging police!

One sure way to improve your writing–always correct your mistakes. Editing is one of the most important parts of the blogging experience. For me, editing never ends. If you want to change one of your posts you certainly have my permission.            *Top

(Post Work via Wikipedia)

Have you ever read a post on your blog a couple of days later (after publishing) and found words or spelling that needed to be changed? I just make the changes and usually go on down the road unless my mistake has been pointed out in a reader’s comment.

Mostly these amount to word usage mistakes that weren’t caught by the spell check–like there or their, to and too, accept and except, effect and affect. These type of changes are usually no big deal and really don’t affect the message.

Other times there are links in older posts that no longer work, these should to be noted or changed–dropped links can give your blog seo penalties. However, if you have thousands of old posts like I do they mostly go unnoticed.

Once in a while, the info you may have relied upon may have been incorrect, or subsequent changes make the information wrong or obsolete. It is always good to make the changes and note the *updated information. Some folks just strike through the old and add the new, regardless of your method of choice, changes of this type should probably be noted in some way.

Why make changes at all?

If you are running a regular blog program, all of your articles, even those you posted last month, last year, or years ago are still on the Internet and search engines like Google are still giving links to them all. When I check the referral clicks on my Site Meter it’s always amazing to me how many of my older articles are still being read every day.

Here’s another reason to make a change or an update–sometimes you may even no longer agree with what you wrote in the past, yet folks are still reading what you said two years ago.

Here’s a link to a great article on this subject by PROBLOGGER with a number of different solutions: "Updating Old Posts On Your Blog"          *Top 

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Image by ario_j via Flickr

Anyone who’s been publishing a blog for a while has received comments that are inappropriate for a Christian site–comments full of obscenities or bearing links to pornography–or comments that you would rather not have published on your blog.

There are always those Christians who consider it their mission to drop pre-written articles into the comment line of any post that comes close in anyway to their specialty issue. Mention ‘baptism’ in a post and you might receive an unsolicited 2 page teaching on "why infant baptism is a false practice"–posted on the comment line. You may even agree with the teaching but it really doesn’t respond in any way to the original post–what do you do?

On other occasions you might receive a ‘comment’ that is longer and more detailed than the original post–usually in opposition to what your take is. Then there are those who show up and choose to use the comment line as an opportunity to make a promotional announcement or post a veiled commercial link–how do you respond?

I have even received an angry email when I edited or deleted one of those 2 page off-topic ‘comments’. I didn’t have a policy posted at the time.

Every blogger eventually faces commenting problems and must develop some standards on how to respond. At first you’re happy when anyone shows up and leaves a comment. later when your blog actually has some traffic, all the spam begins to show up.

If you’ve been blogging for a while, you already have developed a policy–you might as well let your readers and commenters in on it. If you’re brand new, you might take a look at the comment policies on some of your favorite blogs and settle on some principles to start with.

Here’s my Comment Policy –probably more than most of you will want or need. It was originally developed for my Answers For The Faith blog which handles controversial culture-war issues.

It’s really a good idea to let your readers in on your comment policies and expectations. Especially if you are a Christian blog with different ideas of acceptability than the general blogosphere. That way there’ll be no excuses and readers will be able to respond more appropriately in their comments.

Here’s a link to a post on the Blog herald with some great ideas on creating a comments policy.            *Top

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Apture allows you to add pictures, pop-up articles, videos, music and all sorts of good stuff to your post after you have published it!–without re-editing or republishing!

It works different than Zemanta, which is connected to the editor and you use as you’re writing. The good thing about Apture–you can use Zemanta first, add pics and links available from Zemanta, then publish the post. Go to the front page of your blog and take a look at the new post, turn on the Apture editor, find more stuff that you can add and embed in the post, and then put it all on without having to re-edit or republish it. Actually it is unbelievable!

If you have already added a link to a Wikipedia article through Zemanta, the Apture program automatically turns it into a pop-up when you point at it.

For example, in a recent articles on one of my blogs I linked Dr. James Dobson, and Knights of Columbus to articles in Wikipedia. Notice how Apture turns them into pop-ups when you hover over them. Also, Apture will allow you to capture any other media that might be available under that title or name–at the bottom of Dobson’s article you can click on and view a YouTube video of Dr. Dobson at TheCall. Later with just one click, I embedded the video below–between this paragraph and the next.

Last week, after writing an article about revival on one of my blogs, I found all sorts of great videos in the Apture mode and added some on. Hover over ‘revival’ above and see what I mean–here’s just one.

At first I didn’t think it would be all that useful for a Christian blog, but I was wrong. Also, it just takes a minute or so to ‘capture with Apture’ and transform your blog into a multi-media source.

Apture can be installed on the following platforms:

• 1 Blogger
• 2 TypePad
• 3 WordPress.org
• 4 MoveableType
• 5 Ning
• 6 Tumblr
• 7 Blogsome
• 8 Wikispaces
• 9 Drupal
• 10 Xanga
• 11 LiveJournal
• 12 Squarespace
• 13 Related Links

Check it out, it actually has far more features than I can tell you about in one post.            *Top

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• Need Pics and Links? – There’s Always Zemanta!

Image by Zemanta via CrunchBase

What is Zemanta? It is a very helpful application for blog publishers.  It provides the writer with possible pictures and images in public domain, links to websites, links to Wikipedia articles, and a list of possible related articles to choose from all while you’re in the process of writing.

The program picks up key words from your article and automatically provides you with a number of different media choices that might enhance and enrich your post.

For example, in this article, the ‘Zemanta’ image was provided by the program, also with a point and click I was able to add a link to the Zemanta website, Windows Live Writer, and all the ‘related articles’ at the bottom. What a handy tool and a real time saver!

I’m using the Zemanta plug-in for Windows Live Writer, they also have applications for the following:

• WordPress.com
• Self-hosted WordPress.org 2.1+
• Blogger.com
• TypePad
• Ning
• MySpace
• LiveJournal
• MovableType
• Tumblr
• Drupal

Check it out! For some platforms the application works through the browser, for self-hosted sites there are plug-ins.             *Top 

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This is the most complete guide on Blogger that I have found so far. It starts at the beginning and takes you through how to start a blog, how to write a post, how to use the editor, post pictures and format a new Blogger blog. <–See the rest posted on my Blogger site–>

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