Tools for the motorcycle bloggers

I thought I should help my fellow motorcycle bloggers with some advices on how they should build their blogs (I’m not playing smart here, I just hope it’s good info). So what would make your blogging a better experience for you and your readers?

Well, besides your PC and internet connections, there are some tools that really make things nicer.

First of all, I would suggest getting your own domain name and shared server. I know that usually you would like to save some money while blogging and make everything for free, but really, your blog is building some value and having your own domain helps you own that. First of all, is good for the ego, second, if your blog goes well, in time, you could sell your domain -- there are people that could make money from your traffic and would pay money for your domain. Also, having your own domain is better in terms of SEO (e.g. position in google), you get e-mail addresses with your domain, and generally it’s easier to remember. Also helps if you plan to put some ads on your site, or making some money from it, in any way you could find. Getting a domain it’s quite easy and un-expensive -- you could get it from eNom or anywhere else. Hostin you could get also from a lot of places, you could try Hostgator -- they have plans starting around $9 if you pay for a year (use coupon “wordpress” to get a discount for the first month). Even better, you can install WordPress with a click of a button.

Now, if you already have your own domain and server running WordPress (WordPress is really the most easy and advanced platform to use in my opinion), you would need the following:

• MyBlogLog -- it’s a widget that let’s you know who has visited your site and build a community around your blog. You can also join the communities of your readers. Here is how this thing looks like (click to see a larger picture)

• Install Statcounter analytics. Most of people are using Google analytics, but I enjoy more statcounter even if it has some limitations, mostly because it’s easier to use.

• WordPress pluggins:

1. CommentMailer. Helps you (the administrator) to send comments replies to the all commenters that registered on the blog. So if a person has ever commented, I can send email notifications when I reply or anything else
2. Related Posts. Builds a collection of 5 links with related posts to the current one. This way, your readers will browse easier your blog and spend more time on your site.
3. Smart Youtube. Embedding a Youtube video becomes extremely easier, you just copy paste the URL and add a v after http, which makes it httpv://www…..
4. Subscribe To Comments. Adds a checkbox to the comments form, that the commenters can use to receive email notification when new comments are added.
5. WP-Flickr. Embeds your Flick photos in your posts, exactly as you need.
6. WP 2.5 Gallery Lightbox. Makes nice photos galleries with detail pop-ups from the photos you upload.
7. FeedBurner FeedSmith. Helps you run your RSS feeds through feedburner -- which is a nice service that helps you get some statistics about your readers or let them subscribe by email as well.

Now, all these you can use for free. Most can be installed as a WordPress pluggin from the interface, but if you need my help for anything, just drop me a line and I will see what I can do if time allows!