While searching through Wikipedia for definitions of social media terms, I came across a long list of blog related words. While even the term blog (web + log) is far from inspiring, the wealth of ridiculousness within the word warping ‘blogosphere’ is overwhelming. For your enjoyment/disgust/confusion, here are the dumbest blog terms (blerms) ever made. Seriously, try saying any of these without cringing or bursting out in laughter.

Note: use the following terms with caution since we think someone on Wikipedia was just messing around when they added them. Still, several of these blog words (blords) may wind up on a blog near you, so knowing these definitions will not only make you appear more knowledgeable, you could potentially win some trivia with them one day! Also, if you happen to see any of these terms used on our blog, let us know and we’ll promptly shoot ourselves in the foot.

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Building trust with your readers is essential if you want them to keep coming back to your blog and sharing it with their peers. Establishing this relationship requires the blogger to write on a human level – meaning that they have to appeal to their audience’s senses and emotions to strike a chord in their memory.

Here are some emotional factors bloggers need to consider when writing:

Directly engage and interact with readers. This often requires you to write in a friendlier, conversational tone in order to invite discussion on your blog. Asking open-ended questions and sharing your own opinions are excellent means of appearing sociable and approachable with your blog.

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When you blog on a regular basis, it’s easy to forget about your old posts, especially after they’ve been off your main page for a long time. Even though your old posts may not be getting the spotlight treatment on the front page, it doesn’t mean they are going unnoticed. In fact, a great deal of your new visitors may land on your blog’s archived material through search engines or outside back links.

This is why strictly focusing on your main page, in hopes of keeping your returning visitors impressed, is only a small part of building a better blog. Sometimes, it’s worthwhile to go back and dust off your previous work. Here are some strategies for improving your blog’s archives:

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The following is a list of 50 blogging goals you can set for yourself to energize your efforts online and give you a sense of direction when you write. Some are short term and can be attained everyday; others will take longer to achieve. No matter how challenging they seem, they are all possible as many of the Internet’s most recognizable bloggers have demonstrated.

These goals, both big and small, are sure to inspire your blogging efforts. So print this off, scratch some off with a pen, and fulfill your blogging dreams!
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In response to threats and misogynistic comments left on the blog of Kathy Sierra, Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly Media proposed a Bloggers Code of Conduct, self-regulated rules that bloggers would abide by as they run and develop their site.

We thought the concept was worthwhile and that any disciplined effort to deal with inflammatory or bigoted comments is essential for established writers online. So, courtesy of Wikipedia, here is the conceived Bloggers Code of Conduct:

1. Take responsibility not just for your own words, but for the comments you allow on your blog.
2. Label your tolerance level for abusive comments.
3. Consider eliminating anonymous comments.
4. Ignore the trolls.
5. Take the conversation offline, and talk directly, or find an intermediary who can do so.
6. If you know someone who is behaving badly, tell them so.
7. Don’t say anything online that you wouldn’t say in person.

I think that’s a pretty comprehensive and fair set of commandments, wouldn’t you say? Do you follow any blogging creed to help you deal with the pressures of writing in the open?

If you’re thinking about taking the leap into blogging but don’t quite know where to start, good for you! You’ve already taken the first step by reading Apollo Media’s social media blog. But what next? With all this blogging information here and on the Net, where do you start?

We thought we’d help out a bit by simplifying the process and sharing our blog start-up formula. This way, blog newbies have a clear, step-by-step guide to starting a blog that they can follow. Here it is:

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At Apollo Media Blog, we are currently mulling over a new sense of direction and purpose for our articles here. While we are still going to keep posting about blog tips, SEO and other highlights from the Web 2.0 world, we feel that there needs to be a more distinct focus for our efforts in the realm of social media. As we go through the process of brainstorming ideas and coming up with an action plan, we thought we would share some of the steps and considerations we are taking, so we can all learn together.

Whether your blog is fairly established, just starting out or on the brink of collapse, there are several pathways to lead you to a better blogging experience. Here are some of the key ideas we are currently delving into as we shift our blogging priorities:

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There are many forms and functions in the expanding realm of social media and Web 2.0. While we have spent some time describing, defining and analyzing social media on this blog, we have yet to really delineate the different applications SMM can have and what it means for users and businesses alike.

Here is a simple yet comprehensive breakdown of various social media types, and their application, so you can better understand what services, features and networks will work best for your online enterprise, satisfying its purpose and goals.

While some social media applications may overlap each other in terms of their overall use and value, we found social media services and sites could be lumped together into several specific categories:

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It’s hard to be original these days when you consider the hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, covering every topic imaginable. Despite the crowded playing field, there are several strategies that bloggers can use to inject some personality into their work and be different.

If you truly want to create something that’s not just useful but remarkable as well, take a look at some of these suggestions:

1. Break your content down into sub-niches

If you see several other blogs covering your niche, you may want to break your content down to even small sub-niches, narrowing your focus to better establish your authority. If you are having difficulty writing substantial content on a regular basis, the scope of your blog may be too broad. You don’t want to spread yourself to thin when it comes to content development. Examine and analyze your niche and the blogs that currently cover it. How can you break it down further? Will it still have an audience after you streamline it?

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While I was browsing through my daily blog reads, I noticed a very peculiar feature on one of them every time I scrolled across their blogroll. I tiny preview window appeared next to my cursor as I went over a link, displaying the content of that site in a clear RSS feed. At the top left corner of this window, you could also toggle a different view that previewed the front page itself. You also had the ability to increase the size of the window without straining your eyes to read the tiny text.

What is this marvelous tool that shows where outbound links are headed without having you leave the original site?

A glance to the lower right hand side of the preview window had the name Snap Shots and a link to their page. This service, found at www.snap.com, is free and with sponsored keywords related to the links appearing in the window, presents an opportunity for bloggers to share ad revenue with the company. Along with the standard window, specialized window types, or shots, can be used for a variety of different links, making your site accessible for your readers.

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