Melanie Nelson

If you’re a blogger and aren’t sure if you need to pay taxes, it will depend on whether you’re making money with your blog and whether you consider your blog a business or a hobby. I received the question below and Amanda Henson of High Impact Mom researched the answer and wrote it up.

Dear Blogging Basics 101:
I am building a blog. I thought it would be no big deal to put up a few affiliate banners and make a little spending money, but I didn’t realize that even the smallest income must be reported. Is that correct? I know nothing about how to report my income, or which forms to use. Can you explain how things differ for bloggers (hobby or business?)? Can you recommend a book or article or resource for me? Specifically, if I make less than $600 per year, do I have to file?

Answer: Congratulations on building a blog and great question. Let’s begin by discussing the differences between hobby and business blogging. If you have been lucky enough to make a profit from your blog, or small business, in three out of the last five years the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers it a business rather than a hobby. Even more precisely, if you have treated your blog like a business by regularly working on it with the purpose of making a profit, the IRS would also deem this a business and as such would also qualify for business deductions. If your blog is considered a business and you are filing as self-employed, you are also expected to pay self-employment taxes quarterly rather than at filing time.

Wondering what you need to claim? According to the IRS, taxable income is defined as all “employee wages and fringe benefits, and [all] income from bartering, partnerships, S corporations, and royalties.” The blogger must claim all review items, blog conference sponsorships, ad purchases and generally anything you are given that has value. The IRS also states “[y]ou have to file an income tax return if your net earnings from self-employment were $400 or more. If your net earnings from self-employment were less than $400, you still have to file an income tax return if you meet any other filing requirement listed in the Form 1040 instructions.”

As a business you are also able to deduct certain expenses and losses, though it should be noted that it is not generally a good idea for your expenses to outweigh your income outside of any first year start-losses. In order to make sure you’re taking advantage of as many deductions as you legitimately qualify for, I recommend seeking professional advice from an accountant or tax professional.

The long list of possible blogging tax deductions includes:

• Blog Conference Fees
• Hotel costs for business trips
• Mileage for business trips
• Webinars
• Industry books
• Website hosting fees
• Website design
• Jump drives
• Graphic design fees
• Business cards, letterhead

To learn more about tax law and how it affects bloggers, visit these articles:

• Hobby Versus Business — A Significant Tax Difference via Small Business Legal Blog
• 7 Things That Every Blogger Should Know About Tax[es] via ProBlogger
• How to Avoid Legal Trouble, Income Tax Fines, and Penalties as a Blogger via ProBlogger
• What is Taxable and Nontaxable Income? via IRS
• Self-Employed Individuals Tax Center via IRS
• 101 Tax deductions for bloggers and freelancers via Wisebread

photo credit: Dave Dugdale

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Whether you’re looking for ideas for your own Christmas list or trying to figure out what to buy for your blogger, you’ll want to check out this list of four e-books bloggers need to read to help them build successful blogs. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginning, intermediate, or seasoned blogger, each of these books can offer tips to help you move past a hurdle or just help energize you to continue to build your blog into a successful, well-read blog (and maybe make some money along the way!). What I love most about these blogging e-books is that they are really more like workbooks because each walks you through specific exercises to meet your blogging goals!

Here are my tips for e-books bloggers need to read.

Do-It-Yourself Blog Critique

Author: Melissa Culbertson
Price: Regularly $14, but on sale for Cyber Monday for $10.50!

Melissa has made a name for herself by doing blog critiques at MomComm.com. She was receiving so many requests for help that she decided to create an e-book. Learn how to engage your audience via strong navigation, design, and content — Melissa will show you how. She’s having a terrific deal on her book for Cyber Monday, so now is the perfect time to buy. The book is usually $14, but for Cyber Monday you can pick it up for you or a blogging friend for $10.50! Just use code CYBERAWESOME on November 28, 2011 before midnight and you’ll get the deal.

Mom Blog SEO

Author: Kelby Carr
Price: $19.99

Search engine traffic is vital to the success of your blog. Learn how to set up your blog so it’s as SEO friendly as possible and find and use tools that will help you optimize your content and site so the search engine bots can find you. Kelby explains the ins and outs of basic SEO and how it affects the success of your blog. This e-book isn’t just for mom bloggers! Regardless of your niche, you’ll be able to use the information in this e-book to improve your SEO rankings and traffic.

31 Days to Build a Better Blog

Author: Darren Rowse
Price: $22.49

This book is one of the best-selling e-books online, helping over 19,000 bloggers build a better blog. Darren recently revamped this e-book and every day in the challenge has been updated for 2012, most days have new further reading and case studies, the workbook now has Twitter integration, and the e-book has seven bonus days (effectively giving you 38 days of content)! So even if your blogger already has the book, they’ll appreciate receiving the updated version.

30 Days to Make & Sell a Fabulous Ebook

Author: Ang England
Price: $11.99

One of the best and easiest ways to earn money from your blog is to create your own product to sell. When you’re a blogger, that usually means creating an e-book. Ang England is a successful e-book publisher and she’s sharing her experience and secrets with you so you can start creating your own e-books and establish a new income stream from your blog. The best thing about e-books is that, after they’re written, they are largely a passive source of income.

Please note that each of these links is an affiliate link. 

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Wondering what to give your social media lover for Christmas? Know a blogger who seems to have everything and you have no idea what to get them for Hanukkah or Christmas? Never fear, I have you covered. While I was at Blog World Expo in LA I met the fine folks at Headway Themes and I was completely blown away by how cool their newest version is. As a long-time blogger who is always looking for an easy theme to implement and recommend to my readers, I was immediately intrigued by the drag-and-drop interface and the fact that you can quickly build a wireframe of your own design for your blog or website.

And if you’re interested in Headway Themes, let’s just say it would be a really good idea for you to check it out and buy it this week, before November 25. Headway Themes is moving to a new pricing model on November 25. If you buy the individual or developer license before then, you’ll be locked in to lower pricing and free support forever.

Here’s the basic deal: Though details of the new Headway Themes pricing structure haven’t been released yet, if you buy the individual ($67) or developer license ($164; worth it if you think you’ll be using the theme for more than one site), you’ll be locked into the current low price and free support forever. After November 25 the price is increasing and there will be a monthly fee for support.

It makes sense to go ahead and buy your version of Headway Themes now. Yes, they are releasing a new version of the theme, and yes, if you buy before November 25, you’ll still get the new update — for free! In fact, you’ll get all new updates free of charge! Buying your license before November 25 just makes sense.

Why buy the Headway Theme? I met Clay Grant and his team at Blog World Expo in LA and was intrigued by the theme’s easy drag and drop interface that allows you to build a basic wireframe of your blog or website’s design. You truly have the ultimate control of your design with little knowledge of CSS, PHP, or HTML. It’s amazing, frankly.

You can buy Headway Themese before November 25 and ensure you take advantage of these perks (reprinted from the Headway Themes site):

Developer License

• Support for unlimited Headway sites that you own or develop
• Access to Headway Beta releases as we develop them and before final release to the public.
• Full access to our members only Forums, e-mail support and Developer License exclusive resources (If you are building sites for clients, your clients will not receive members only forum support unless they purchase their own personal license.)
• Free Headway updates for life

Individual license

• Support for two (2) Headway sites that you own or develop
• Option to upgrade to the Developer’s Option for only $77
• Full access to our members only Forums and email support if needed
• Free Headway updates for life

I’ve been so busy writing my chapters for Facebook All-In-One for Dummies that I haven’t been able to work on my own projects as I’d like. That includes installing Headway here on Blogging Basics 101. My final chapter deadline is at the end of January and, even though I’ll have some other things to work on for the book (e.g., marketing and online content), I plan to install Headway here and do a thorough review of the theme in February. In fact, I bought several domain names and am planning to expand the Basics 101 franchise and Headway will be part of that expansion. I’m really looking forward to diving in and learning everything about this amazing theme.

Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links. I feel strongly enough about this product’s quality that I’m willing to recommend it to you and help them sell more.

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Facebook has very specific terms of service regarding how businesses interact on their platform. For instance, it’s required that businesses who want a presence on Facebook create a Facebook fan page (also called a business page). Unfortunately, not all businesses are aware of this rule and may have inadvertently created a Facebook profile for their business instead. To solve this problem, Facebook has created a new Profile to Business Page Migration Tool allows businesses to change their Facebook profile into a Facebook business page.

In general, once you’ve established a community around a specific profile, it’s difficult to move that community to a new page. Move them you must, though. Before the migration tool, you’d need to write several status updates asking your community to click over to the new page and Like it in order to continue to receive updates. You had to tell your community that the current profile would be deleted by a certain date and continue to remind them to click over and Like the new page. It was tedious for everyone involved and you invariably lost some of your community because they either didn’t see your updates or didn’t get around to Liking the new page. With the new Facebook Profile to Business Page Migration Tool you can avoid that hassle.

When you use the tool, Facebook takes your profile picture and moves it to a new business page and converts your “friends” into “Likes” on the new page. It’s important to note that Facebook doesn’t move any of your existing content (including status updates, photos, video, etc.) to the new page. If you don’t back that up before you migrate, you’ll lose it. To back up your information follow these instructions:

1. Go to your Account Settings (the down arrow in the top right of any Facebook page).
2. Click the Download a Copy link.
3. Click the Download button on the next page.

After you’ve made a backup of your content, you can start the migration process by visiting https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php?migrate and following the instructions.

A few reasons to migrate your business presence from a personal profile to a business page:

• It’s against Facebook TOS to have a personal profile for a business, service, or product.
• Profiles are limited to 5,000 friends; business pages can have unlimited fans.
• Profiles require someone to request a friendship; pages can be Liked by anyone. That means less hassle for you because you don’t have to approve every fan.
• Pages allow you to install applications fro added functionality. For instance, you can install a newsletter signup, create a custom Welcome tab, or install a contact form. You can even create an online store right on Facebook! Profiles can’t use those apps.

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If you’ve ever found your articles reprinted without your permission — and I’m talking more than what’s considered fair use — then you’ll love today’s article. Ang England explains what scraping is and how to approach a website that’s stealing your content. (Hint: You may be able to turn it into a lucrative opportunity!) Please welcome Angela as this week’s guest blogger and feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts or experiences with content theft. ~ Melanie

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Unfortunately in the blogging world there is one thing we’ll all have to deal with sooner or later — content scraping. This is when someone steals a post or article you wrote and publishes it on their own site.

While this used to have some serious SEO implications, these have been recently minimized by Google in new algorithms that help determine which post was the original and which is the duplicate. However, this content scraping is, quite simply, theft. Theft of your work. Theft of potential readers. And a sign of incredible laziness (or ignorance) on the part of the thief.

Perhaps you discovered the theft in a Google Alert you set up (and you should definitely be doing that), when a friend DM’d or emailed you to say “Hey — isn’t this your post you wrote last month?”, or just by pure happenstance. Whatever the method of discovery, I have some tried-and-true ways of dealing with content thieves you might find useful.

Stay Calm and Be Polite When Dealing with Content Thieves

My initial knee-jerk reaction is usually, “How dare they!?” but this is rarely a useful response. If this is a live human being, it’s probably better to try emailing them or using their website contact form if possible to inform them that you are the copyright holder of the post in question (Be sure to link to which post you are talking about). My initial email or comment usually goes something like this:

“Hi! My name is Angela England and I’m glad you found my article about lavender essential oil useful, however this article is protected by copyright and cannot be republished without permission. You can remit a one-time reprint fee of $XXX via paypal to <my paypal address>. Alternatively, I am available to create an original piece on this topic specifically geared towards your audience for $XX. Otherwise this article needs to be removed within 24 business hours. Thanks so much! “

There are a couple of important things to notice in my sample email above:

1. I used a statement rather than a question. A question can be answered negatively and legally can be ignored. Had I asked, “Would you mind taking it down?” They could have replied, “Yes I mind”. You must say “This article needs to be removed….”
2. I invited the content scraper to hire me or pay me. Obviously you can only offer a reprint fee option if that option is available for that particular post. However, I generally charge about $50 more for a reprint fee than I offer for creating an original article for that person. I would rather them hire me to create a new piece than to have duplicate content floating about all over the web. Besides, lots of people don’t realize that blog posts and websites aren’t a free-for-all. Educate them by offering to hire yourself out. This not only creates a potential win/win situation, but also makes it very clear that your words have VALUE and aren’t up for grabs.

Filing a DMCA Complaint Against Content Thieves

One time out of 10 I get a new job when I send that email. One time out of 10 I get a reprint fee paid to me. Five times out of 10 the articles disappear — usually without a single word of acknowledgement to me at all. So what happens the other three times when there is no response, no reply, and most importantly, my article is STILL up there?

Sometimes, especially if it looks like a legitimate website, I will actually just send an invoice via Paypal. In the invoice I price it higher than my initially stated reprint fee (call it a pain-in-the-butt tax), and will include a notice that payment needs to be remitted with 48 business hours or else the stolen article at http://yourthievingwebsite.com/mystolenpost/ needs to be removed. Sometimes this will work, but sometimes it won’t.

If that doesn’t work, you move to filing a DMCA complaint. I usually will do a WHOIS search and find a contact email address and resend my request to that email. I will also contact the host of the site with an official DMCA complaint. And I will contact Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. It’s not hard to fill out the form and it is, in my opinion, important for bloggers and writers to protect their work. The more often content scrapers “get away with it”, the more the problem will continue.

Depending on how much time I have and my feistiness level, I will contact any advertisers on the website as well. All ad networks have rules in place about the type of content that is permissible, and illegally obtained content isn’t usually approved content. Sometimes the ad networks will remove ads before Google gets to the DMCA complaint — either way, mission accomplished. (Usually I only contact a website’s sponsors if someone responds to me with an ignorant email saying something like “But it was on the internet and everyone knows if it’s on Google it’s free to use”.)

I hope this helps you as you battle content thieves and scrapers. Don’t be afraid to contact them and tell them your posts need to be removed. Your words have value and deserve to be respected.

**********

Angela England’s mission is to empower and educate others about blogging, freelance writing, and social media. She is the author of 30 Days to Make and Sell a Fabulous Ebook. You can read more of her helpful articles at AngEngland.com and Untrained Housewife.

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Earlier this week I was initially thrown by the new News Feed elements Facebook rolled out. I was mostly annoyed about  the new lists because I liked the way I did my own lists. But I spent an hour or two getting to know the new interface on Wednesday night. That, along with the explanations from f8′s keynote on Thursday, made everything fit together for me. And my friends, I AM EXCITED.

Why I’m Excited About Facebook Timeline, Apps, and Open Graph

In 1995 I was making websites by coding HTML in Notepad. And I was geeked about how things were emerging and new. I had a job that hadn’t even been INVENTED when I was growing up. AMAZING.

Fast forward 16 years. I’ve enjoyed blogging. I’ve enjoyed Twitter. I’ve enjoyed Tumblr and Facebook and LinkedIn. Those were all natural progressions of the path we were on. What Facebook outlined at the 2011 F8 Conference is the first time I’ve seen a new idea that no one was expecting. It’s the first time I’ve been EXCITED about potential in a long while. What we’ve been doing up to this point has been a shadow of our social potential. What Facebook is doing is *really* social.

I recognize there are potential problems. People will definitely have to re-think how they share their information and take more ownership of their privacy. They’ll have to pay closer attention to who they’re sharing specific content with. I’m ready to do that (and have been doing it, but I realize I’m not a “regular” user). I think the bigger issue is that people don’t own their page on Facebook and it shouldn’t be the only place you’re keeping these important life moments. I’m afraid less savvy users — like our parents, for example — won’t understand that. They’ll assume that if they put it on Facebook, it will be there indefinitely for their use. And that may be true, but I’ve been in the space long enough that I know we’re breaking new ground, but you don’t know what’s going to be here (or gone) in five years.

But still . . . I’m excited about the potential.

The issues I point out for less savvy users haven’t really changed. Those issues have been the same issues since Facebook started — you don’t own your content and you shouldn’t use it as your only means of recording photos/video/anything special. The interface has changed and people may be thrown initially, but I think they will adapt fairly quickly.

As for clients, if FB chooses to install this update to pages as well (which they must), I think this allows a much broader picture of the company and can be much more useful with marketing options. Consider that you can create an entire campaign to share with your fans right on the Wall. You’d be able to have video, testimonials, and a soundtrack grouped together for a much more interactive update.

I’ve seen many tweets and Facebook status updates complaining that it’s too much. The new elements are too hard to navigate. I’m not negating the fact that there will be a learning curve, but I don’t think a learning curve is reason enough to hold the process back. We’re finally moving forward and I can’t help but be really excited about it.

Find Out About the New Facebook Timeline, Apps, and OpenGraph

Knowledge is power. You’ll probably feel more comfortable with the changes if you understand what they are and how they fit together. At least I felt better after hearing an explanation and reading more about it — and I hope you will too. To that end, here are some links to help you see what’s coming and why.

Replay of the f8 Keynote. If you didn’t watch the unveiling in real time (or you just want to see it again), you can watch it via the recorded Livestream video on the f8 Facebook page. I’m not a big Andy Samberg fan, but I admit he made me laugh with his intro bit. But what’s interesting about the keynote is how Mark Zuckerberg explains how the new rollouts fit together and will change the way we market, buy, and share products. We’ve been saying “social media” for a few years, but we’re really just now seeing what social can be. Until now, we’ve been treading water. We’re finally moving forward with something innovative.

F8′s Big Facebook Changes: Timeline, Ticker, News Feed, Apps. Can’t quite bring yourself to sit through a few hours of the keynote? OK. This article highlights the main points. It, along with the other links I’m providing, should give you enough to see what the rest of us are geeked out about.

Video of How Timeline Works. Timeline is going to keep track of your updates and content sharing, but instead of just showing the last few days, it will show everything. You can go back to the first day you joined Facebook. Then you can add more information all the way back to when you were born. This is a new way to share the important milestones of your life. I think I heard someone at F8 call it the year-end report of your life. Or, for those of you who love the crafty, it’s like an online scrapbook. YOU get to choose what the focus is. Facebook has an algorithm that will try to choose the important information, but you ultimately have control and can decide what’s featured and what’s not.

Facebook’s Overview of Timeline. Here you can see each element of the new Timeline and see an explanation of how it will work.

How to Enable the Facebook Timeline Right This Second. If you have the developer app installed on your account, you can see Timeline in action right away when you follow the instructions in this Tech Crunch article. If you don’t have the app, click over anyway and you can download it and get started. Quick note: Your App Display name can be anything and your App Namespace can also be anything, but it has a character limitation (I think it’s 13-15 chars max, but I’m not completely sure). Just pointing that out because I originally assigned a namespace that was too long and it took me a minute to figure out why it didn’t work immediately.

How do the New Facebook Changes Affect Privacy?

You are always in charge of your privacy — online and offline. Although it’s not popular to say, it is never the tool’s responsibility to protect you, it’s your responsibility to protect you. Would it be easier if the tool, in this case Facebook, started out with your privacy set to the highest level instead of the most open level? Perhaps. But consider two things:

1. Facebook’s mission isn’t to provide a personal space for you. They want to create a community that is open and whose members constantly share their lives and milestones with others. It makes sense that they would encourage that by setting default privacy to be more open rather than closed.
2. No matter what the default settings for privacy are, you will most likely have to visit your dashboard and tweak those settings for your own needs. Whether Facebook sets those privacy setting high or low, you still have to go in.

The new apps and sharing that are coming to Facebook allow you to have full control over what you share. If you don’t want to share with people, then don’t install the application. If you don’t want everyone to see your Timeline or profile, then change your settings to Friends Only. If you want to share your updates with select people, you can customize your updates by click the Public button below your status update text box and choosing who can and can’t see your update. Your privacy lies with you as much as it ever did. These new changes are not taking it away. There may or may not be instances where you will need to think twice about what you share and with whom, but you should be doing that anyway.

When you do a tour of the new Timeline, you’ll see this message about your new “View Activity” button on your profile: “View all your activity. Your activity log lists all your posts and activity, from today back to the beginning. Go here to change the privacy for individual stories, delete posts and more. This is your private resource — no one else can see your activity log.”

Let me ask you this: Do you use the free wi-fi at your local coffee shop or library or anywhere? Are you concerned that whoever is supplying the wi-fi isn’t covering your privacy? Why not? I know that when I’m on public wi-fi, someone could easily hi-jack my passwords and make purchases on sites that I’ve logged into, so I change my working habits or where I browse when I’m not using my own secure wi-fi at home. That’s my responsibility.

The bright side to us moving ahead and taking control of our own privacy is that we have the opportunity to teach our kids how to be even more vigilant than we are about weighing what’s public and what’s not.

How Do the New Facebook Changes Affect Facebook Marketing?

The recent changes haven’t really focused on fan pages, but pages are affected. A few things you may have noticed about pages:

• Facebook is no longer sharing Likes from within Facebook in the News Feed. What that means is that, if I Like a picture or status update or link on your fan page, my friends don’t see that any more. However, if Like a blog post or article on an external site (e.g., BloggingBasics101.com), then that Like *does* show up in my stream.
• Your fan page has a new link in the left nav called Friends’ Activity. If you click on that, you’ll see the people who you’re connected with (i.e., your FB friends) and how they are specifically interacting with your page.
• The FB News Feed is no longer making fan pages a priority in the feed. They are favoring personal relationships over business relationships. That means your status updates aren’t showing up as much in the News Feed.

Will Timeline, Ticker, GraphRank Break Facebook Marketing? If you’re concerned about the changes I mentioned above, this article will help explain what your options are.

What Should Facebook Page Administrators Do After f8? I stated privately in a few Facebook groups I’m part of that Timeline and apps associated with it will be rolled out to the masses first. Then, when people are comfortable with the layout, it will be rolled out to pages as well. The impact of Timeline on pages will be big. Businesses will be able to curate how their customers see them; highlight specific campaigns and interactions; and create new campaigns that include interactive apps, soundtracks, testimonials, images, and video. It will change the social media marketing landscape completely. This article backs me up.

What Do YOU Think About the Facebook Changes?

And before you answer that, please stop and think about it. Read through the information I’ve linked to. Consider where we’ve been and where we’re going. Look at the bigger picture. This isn’t just about a new interface, it’s about how we’re going to interact with each other without boundaries. It’s about how business will grow over the net ten years. If you get bogged down in the fact that your interface changed, you’re going to miss the bigger picture.

Let me tell you this: I am the last person who thought I’d be swayed by Mark Zuckerberg. I like Facebook a lot and I love social media, but I’ve had a healthy concern about how Facebook operates. I still do. I think about my privacy, I think about what I’m sharing and how, I think about the fact that I do not own my content at Facebook. And I think about the fact that I don’t like a lot of change in general, because I want to know how pieces fit together rather than jumping in blindly. I feel like Facebook did a fairly good job explaining how the pieces fit together. I’m excited about where we’re headed and that we’re no longer on the same, slow path — we’re about to really get social.

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Copyright and trademark questions are some of the most interesting that I receive (and hardest to answer because there are so many nuances and I’m not lawyer). They are important questions, too, because bloggers, especially new ones, need to be aware that just because something is on the internet doesn’t mean it’s up for grabs and free to use. Today’s question about whether couponing blogs can legally use logos is a good one. I asked Rajean Blomquist to research and write the answer to this common conundrum. She spoke with industry expert Lucretia Pruitt, founder of Social Media Matters, to get to the bottom of the issue. Please welcome Rajean as this week’s guest blogger. ~ Melanie

The Question: Can I legally use company logos on my couponing blog?

Dear BB101, I started a couponing blog and I am unsure about the use of images. I don’t really understand what is legal and what isn’t (besides using my own photos). Since it’s a couponing blog I’ll be discussing many companies and products. Can I use their logos legally? It seems like all the couponing blogs do, but I am not sure they should be. What’s the answer?

The Answer: Yes, you can legally use company logos on your couponing blog.

This is such a great question! Coupon sites are making it easier for consumers to save money and try new products, mostly from the comfort of their homes before ever hitting the stores — or from the convenience of their smart phones while in the stores. How brilliant is that? The fact is, we live in a multibillion-dollar coupon industry. Consumers are spending billions while also saving a ton of money. Just last year, 3.3 billion coupons were redeemed according to Coupons.com.

When I started researching the answer to this question, it seemed appropriate to seek the knowledge of someone who counsels others about all things online, so I asked Lucretia Pruitt, Founder Social Media Matters, for her take on this blogger’s question. She explains the reader is really asking two questions: one is about photo copyright, and the other is about trademark use.

Photos and images on the Internet are subject to copyright laws in the US and other countries, making them somewhat different than logos, brand names, and catchphrases that are registered as trademarks.

According to Pruitt, there are three main types of photos/images you find on the Internet:

1. Copyrighted images have either all or some rights reserved. You must have the copyright holder’s permission to use these images.
2. Public domain images are those that no longer have copyright protection either because they aged out of it (max. 120 years) or for some other reason. Anyone can use these images.
3. Creative Commons (CC) licensed images are copyrighted pictures that the creator has marked using a specific Creative Commons license. The type of license determines how you can use the image. Pruitt boils it down even further explaining that the three elements of a CC license are:

• attribution
• whether or not you can make derivatives (i.e., change or modify the image), and
• whether or not you can use the image for commercial use.

At a minimum, you have to attribute the creator (i.e., Photo by Bob Smith) and include a link. You’ll notice this article has an image at the top of the article. That image was found via the PhotoDropper plug-in for WordPress. That plug-in takes keywords you type in, then searches Flickr for Creative Commons images that match. You can then insert the image into your post and the plug-in creates an auto-attribute (you’ll see the one for the copyright image down at the bottom of this article — it looks like this:  photo credit: gabrieldeurioste).

Pruitt notes, “If you are making money off of [your blog], you will also need to have the work approved for commercial use.” This is important to bloggers because a hobby blogger can use a Creative Commons image that has non-commercial conditions, but bloggers who make money from their blogs cannot.

Sites like Flickr.com and Google’s image search have options to search for Creative Commons licensed & public domain images. Just make sure that you go to the “advanced” search options.

Now back to logos and trademarks. Wikipedia gives a succinct definition of a trademark: “A trademark is typically a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image or a combination of these elements.” Any company (large or small) investing time and money into trademarking their logo will be protective of how their logos are used. As a blogger, when you’re writing about a brand, you will be using their name and other trademarks like their logo under the “Fair Use” doctrine.

Specifically, Pruitt says fair use of a logo or other trademark (not to be confused with copyright) may be asserted on two grounds:

1. You are using the mark to describe accurately an aspect of your own product, or
2. You are using the mark to identify the actual mark owner.

It’s the second one that really applies here. “If you are using say, the logo for ‘Campbell’s ® Chunky ™ Soup’ you’d probably be using it to refer to their actual soup. So what you are doing is covered under Fair Use of a Trademark,” according to Pruitt.

But you’ll note the phrase in quotations above has an ® and a ™ in it. Yes, those two words are trademarks of that company. So when you write about that brand, you should make sure to do it the way that it’s written above. If you’re not sure, it’s better to err on the side of caution and go check the brand’s website. That’s probably where you are getting the logo from in the first place, so it’s just a quick check to see how they refer to the product or brand name.

Trademark and logo use violations are unintentional in most cases. But you don’t want to invite legal action by blatant misuse of a logo or image. A majority of deal or coupon websites seek permission to use a company logo as part of the deal contract.

Any time you are not sure about using a company’s logo or image, ask or consider that perhaps you don’t really need the logo anyway. You can promote a discount or coupon offered by simply using the company name.

Disclaimer: Lucretia and I are not lawyers, but this is our understanding of how it all works. If you need specific legal advice, you should contact an attorney. Better to protect you now than defend you later — or all that money you save using coupons and taking advantage of daily deals could be spent on legal fees.

Thank you to Rajean Blomquist (@rajean) and Lucretia Pruitt (@lucretiapruitt) for researching the answer to this question and sharing their knowledge. — Melanie

photo credit: gabrieldeurioste

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Please welcome today’s guest blogger, Melissa from Momcomm as she shares tips on critiquing your own blog. I’ve gotten to know Melissa over the past year or so because of  Facebook group we belong to. She is a wealth of marketing information and she rocks socks at making blogs better. Today she’s sharing some tips from her new e-book DIY Blog Critique.

I’m sure you love when people tell you how awesome your blog is. But deep down, you’re probably itching to be bigger and better… to sell more products, to work with more companies in social media or maybe to just make people laugh harder.

I’ve been editing and reviewing websites and marketing materials for over a decade now. So when I launched my blog Momcomm, it seemed like a natural fit to start critiquing blogs each week using that past experience. After a crazy-long queue of bloggers wanting critiques, I knew I could do more to help. So, I created the DIY Blog Critique so that bloggers could tackle improving their blogs with a virtual “fresh set of eyes.”

While my eBook covers 43 points in detail, here are five ways to critique your blog right this instant (hooray for instant gratification!):

1. What’s your blog about?

I love how Darren from Problogger puts it: “If you’re fuzzy on what your blog is about it’s unlikely that anyone else will have much of an idea either.”

So what IS your blog about? Can you sum it up in a sentence? Defining precisely what your blog is about will not only benefit your readers, it’ll benefit you too. When you can sum this up, your goals, content, design (okay, EVERYTHING) will become that much clearer.

If you worry that you don’t have a niche, then think of it this way: Are you blogging to inspire? Educate? Inform? Entertain? Don’t be afraid to define your blog that way either.

2. Do your colors match what your blog is about?

Colors visually set the tone for your blog. Overpowering colors may scare people away while sparse color may bore them to death.

Choose colors that compliment what your blog is about. For example, if you write a humor blog then subdued colors aren’t really the way to go. Learn what colors mean (like red can indicate strength) and build a palette that reinforces your message.

3. Are your social media profile buttons easy to find?

Do you have a Twitter account, Facebook page, LinkedIn profile or other important social media profile? Well, make sure your readers know it!

It isn’t enough just to have a widget of your latest tweets or a box showing off your Facebook fans. Use social media icons that link to each account and put them at the top of your sidebar or in your header. Make sure they’re all in the same place as well instead of scattered throughout your sidebars.

If you want to put them in your footer, then that’s great as it reminds people who may have scrolled through all your awesome posts that they should follow you. BUT they should still be at the top too.

4. Is your About page doing its job?

Your About page should be a reflection of three things: you, your expertise and your blog. As you write (or re-write) your page, tell your readers a bit about who you are.

Then give them a bit about why you know your stuff. Even for a lifestyle blog, this is important. For example, if you write about food but aren’t a chef, then maybe you grew up in the kitchen. Or you started creating your own recipes because you’re on a limited diet. Whatever it is, that’s your expertise.

Finally, tell your readers what your blog is about. Limit the use of “I” in this section; it should focus on what the reader will get out of reading your blog (tips, laughs, recipes, fun stories, etc).

While it doesn’t necessarily have to be in this order, these are the magical elements to a stellar About page.

5. Do you write compelling content?

What does compelling mean? To me, it means your content causes people to take action in some way: comment on your post, share your post with others, buy your product, donate to your cause, etc.

Writing great content that drives action may come naturally for some but not for most of us. But there are a few things you can ask yourself before you hit “publish.”

Does your content flow or do you randomly bounce around from one idea to another? Do you use photos in your posts? Can readers relate to the topic you’re writing about or can you spin it in a more interesting way? For example, a post running through what you did each day on your vacation may not be as interesting as a post about one particularly funny or sweet story from your trip.

Hello, awesome!

If you’re looking to make your blog even more awesome, grab a copy of my eBook, the DIY Blog Critique. It’ll guide you through improving your blog’s design, navigation and content and includes a spreadsheet to keep track of your progress.

Melissa Culbertson is a marketing communications consultant, blogger and author of the DIY Blog Critique, a 43-point guide to making blogs more awesome. You can find her on Twitter as @momcommblog and at her blog, Momcomm.

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Facebook viruses have been around for a while, but lately I've seen them cropping up even more frequently. You get a Facebook virus when you click on a link that installs malicious code or if you allow an untrusted application access to your account. The links most people click on claim to tell you who has been looking at your Facebook profile (catch those stalkers and ex-boyfriends in the act!) or allow you to watch a video of something "you won't believe!" or even a video of you (What were you doing here? That's crazy!).

Facebook viruses are becoming harder to discern. This article explains how to fix your Facebook account if you have a Facebook virus.

What Do I Do If I Have a Facebook Virus?

The first thing you have to do when you discover you have a Facebook virus is change your Facebook password. Here's how:

1. Log in to your Facebook book account.
2. Click Account > Account Settings.
   The My Account page appears.
3. Click the Change link next to Password.
   Three text boxes appear.
4. Type your current password into the Old Password text box.
5. Type a new password into the New Password text box.
6. Re-type the new password into the Confirm Password text box.
7. Click the Change Password button.

Once you've changed your password, write a status update alerting your friends that you clicked on a bad link and had a Facebook virus. Tell your friends not to click on any links that appear to be from you (then refrain from posting any links for a while so people don't worry about which links are good or bad). If you know specific people received a viral link from you, head over to their Facebook Wall and delete the message from you if you can and let your friend know not to click on the link.

Finally, check to be sure the application isn't lurking on your account. It's probably not, but it's good to be sure and now is a good time to clean out the apps you're not using any more anyway. To check the apps connected to your account, follow these instructions:

1. Go to Account > Privacy Settings.
   The Choose Your Privacy Settings page appears. At the bottom of the page is a header called Apps and Websites.
2. Click the Edit your Settings link under Apps and Websites.
   The Apps, Games, and Websites page comes up.
3. Click the top Edit Settings button (by Apps You Use).
   The Apps You Use page comes up listing all the apps you've allowed to have access to your account.
4. Go through the list and be sure you know each and every one of the apps.
   If you're unsure if the app is trusted or if you want to remove an app: 
   1. Click the Edit Settings button next to the app.
   2. Click the Remove App link.

If you don't see an app that looks like it's related to the virus, that's OK. It may not be there. Changing your password is what really matters, this last bit is just insurance.

How Do I Know If a Link Is a Facebook Virus?

With every new current event, you can expect a new rash of viruses. When Osama bin Laden was killed, links surfaced on Facebook suggesting you could watch the raid or see Osama's dead body. In the last month, a particularly insidious Facebook virus was going around that sent a message claiming someone had tagged or commented on a photo of you. Many times the person who supposedly did the tagging wasn't someone you knew and many people clicked on the link. Other versions of the virus named the tagger/commenter as one of your friends. Unfortunately, when you click the link, you're taken to a blank page and most people simply think the link was bad or bogus. In actuality, the link installed a Facebook virus and started sending out bogus links to your friends. If they clicked the links, they got the virus.

One way to avoid getting a dreaded virus is to pay attention. Before you click on a link, consider the source. Is this the type of link this friend usually shares? If not, don't click. If you're tempted to click, first hover your mouse over the link and look in the lower left corner of your browser. You'll see the URL attached to that link. If it's not a URL you're familiar with, don't click the link. If you see .info in the link, I suggest not clicking the link (a link that infected my friend's account was a .info link).

Do you have more tips? Please leave them in the comments!

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions for beginning and intermediate bloggers at Blogging Basics 101. You can connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

[Let me preface this article by saying I understand you can find decent men who aren't misogynistic. Some men are truly interested in working with women as equals. The men I met this week, though, are indicative of another group I have seen over and over. They are the men who do not hold women in esteem and do their darndest to keep us in our place.]

This week I was reminded I was a woman. Not in an empowering, positive way, but in a objectifying, belittling, humiliating way.

In general, I'm proud to be a woman. I'm a great role model for my daughter who sees me working for myself and learning something new every day. I do what I do because I love it, but I also do it because I want my daughter (and my son) to see that I add to our family, my clients, and them. This week, though, in under an hour, I was reminded that smart, attractive women with ideas aren't always welcome. In fact, we are threatening and must be demoralized so as to prevent any inclination to rise up and do more than stay at home with the kids.

Over the past 15 years, ever since I quit my corporate job, I've gotten used to working with other smart women. I've collaborated with them to get things done. I've bounced ideas off them to make both of our businesses prosper. Lately, I've started helping local business women understand and build a social media platform for their home-based businesses, because I truly want to see other smart women succeed. And it's been working. As I help my clients, they tell their friends and business colleagues about me. One of those colleagues, a man with a successful and popular local business, called me this week and requested a meeting. I accepted. When I showed up (exactly on time), I realized (again) why I left the corporate world.

During my meeting, my hand was squeezed to a point of pain (and I have a very firm handshake, I'm no wuss; this squeeze was intended to hurt). I was waved away as the man I was supposed to meet with had a meaningless conversation with another man (who was drunk, by the way). When we finally sat down, I was interrupted while giving advice so the man could turn to his partner to say, "You know what? I like her. She talks fast and gets to the point. OK." I could almost feel him patting me on the head. The intention was clear: Isn't it cute that she appears to know something about this? Both men left the meeting at various times to do other things. Throughout the meeting I was put on the spot with several "jokes" to see if I could keep up and "take it" (it was deemed that I had a good sense of humor). But the final straw? When one of them asked me if I was a real redhead.

This was bar-none the most unprofessional meeting I've had (and I've had some doozies -- I used to work with good ol' boys in oil & gas). I was so taken aback that I simply continued explaining my game plan with regard to their Facebook presence. I gave them solid advice and explained several things they could implement immediately to grow their fan base. It wasn't until I left that I realized how violated I felt. No one had touched me (except for the awful handshake), but I had been bullied. In fact, it's two days later and I'm still processing the incident. I am confident in my abilities, I am a quick learner, and I love to see others succeed. Rationally, I know these jerks were nothing. Emotionally, though, they shook me.

I'll bounce back. I already am. They want me to work with them on a weekly basis. I'm canceling our next meeting and instead sending them a proposal that outlines what I'll implement on their Facebook page (once) and for how much money. I'll do all the work from home, all correspondence via e-mail. After the implementation, we're done.

I have considered not taking the job at all. In fact, I have the luxury of not needing this particular job because I'm busy with several projects right now. If I'm being honest with myself, I think I want to take the job and twist it to my terms to assert my own strength. I need to show them (and myself) that I'm not going to be bent to their will on their terms. I will call the shots, implement the solutions, then leave (with plenty of money). The deal is on my terms and if they choose not to take it, that's OK too. At least I asserted myself. If I don't take the job, I'll feel like I didn't stand up for myself or the countless other women they've humiliated.

On the other hand, why bother with them at all? Why put myself in the position of dealing with jerks who aren't really committed to making social media work for them (sandwiched in between jokes and rude remarks were tell-tale signs that they haven't bought into social media's power). It's entirely possible I'll be their fall guy if their numbers don't triple.

I could use your support. Have you endured an unprofessional meeting? How did you respond? Would you take the job or run fast in the other direction?

Melanie Nelson owns Blogging Basics 101 and provides tips and instructions for beginning bloggers as well as social media consulting for businesses. You can also connect with Melanie on Facebook.

Today VideoEgg is expected to confirm that it has bought Six Apart, the parent company of the Movable Type, TypePad, and Vox blogging platforms. The two companies will lose their names and together will become SAY Media. According to Mashable, Chris Alden, the CEO of Six Apart will step down and Matt Sanchez, VideoEgg's CEO, will continue in that role for SAY Media. Meanwhile Mena Trott, an original co-founder of Six Apart, will be part of SAY Media's Board of Directors.

It's reported that SAY Media will continue to support Movable Type and TypePad (the Vox platform will be dead September 30). However, VideoEgg is an advertising network, and over the past few years Six Apart has also been pushing their ad network and encouraging affiliate sales.

According to AdWeek,Troy Young (President of SAY Media) said the main focus of the new company will be those bloggers who want to "build media businesses, rather than regular people who write a blog for fun. They quote him as saying, "The kinds of people we want to work with are emerging media personalities." So where does that leave you?

If you're using Movable Type and want to stay with a similar platform but have sworn off WordPress, then you'll be happy to know that Byrne Reese, who used to be the Movable Type evangelist until he left Six Apart last year, has been working on a new open source blogging platform called Melody. It looks to be incredibly similar to Movable Type and it's named after some song that seems to have special meaning to the Six Apart Movable Type crew. (Frankly, I don't know the whole story. When I met them at Blog World one year, Anil Dash thought my name was Melody Nelson instead of Melanie Nelson, and he went off on some weird diatribe about my name and the importance to the team. I gave him serious eyes and nodded to be polite. I just thought it was interesting that the guy in charge of Movable Type left to make a new version of it and called it something that had meaning to the group at Six Apart. It seems a little incestuous to me.)

If you're using TypePad? I don't know what this means for you. The Everything TypePad blog promises, "Nothing in TypePad changes today, and SAY Media will continue to provide support to TypePad subscribers, and evolve the TypePad platform. You can choose to take advantage of our strong relationships with marketers to monetize your blogs, or you can keep your blog ad-free." I'm not concerned that anything will change today, as they point out. I'm concerned about the changes coming down the road. The information I'm seeing from TechCrunch, Mashable, CrunchBase, and AdWeek tells me these two companies are focused more on developing an ad network than supporting bloggers (unless, of course, you're an up-and-coming or established media personality, apparently). I'm fairly certain they won't be shutting down anything immediately, but if it were me, I'd be watching this closely. It doesn't help that TypePad is one of the harder platforms to migrate. If you do plan to migrate, it will take some planning, patience, and probably some money to pay someone to help you if you're not savvy about the back-end of your blog. (As an aside, yes I can help you migrate, but I hope it doesn't come to that.)

I'm interested in your thoughts. Are you a TypePad or Movable Type user? If so, how do you plan to proceed? Will you stick with them no matter what or will you start preparing to migrate your blog to another platform just in case?

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions for beginning and intermediate bloggers at Blogging Basics 101.

One of the best ways to engage with your blogging community is to respond to reader comments. But what's the best way? Should you respond to every comment, every time? And how should you respond: within the comments or directly to the commenter? It can get confusing quickly. Luckily, there are options.

Do I need to respond to every comment?

If you're starting out or don't have a solid following yet, then my advice is to respond to as many comments as you reasonably can. Just as bloggers love to receive feedback on posts, readers like to know their opinions have been heard. If someone is taking the time to write a thoughtful comment on your post, it makes sense to acknowledge it and encourage even more comments. This can get sticky if your blog grows and you start receiving many comments on each post. At that point, you may need to re-think your comment response strategy your comment policy. Most comment policies set boundaries for rude and attacking comments or spam, but you should also set expectations of how often you will respond to comments (if at all). By setting expectations early on, readers will be more likely to understand when you can't get to everyone.

Now, having said all that, there are bloggers who don't respond to comments at all (or very rarely) and that's OK too. As readers, I encourage you not to take it personally if a blogger doesn't respond to your comment.

How should I respond to comments: via e-mail or in the comments section?

Each blogger handles commenting differently. Some respond to each comment individually via private e-mail; others respond individually within the comments section. Or, if there are recurring questions or reactions, a blogger may choose to update the post itself to address those concerns. Unfortunately, the default comment systems on most blogging platforms leave a lot to be desired. Luckily, there are work-arounds for the most common issues. Here are some plug-ins, widgets, and third-party applications you can install depending on your platform and what you want to achieve.

WordPress

• Subscribe to Comments via Tempus Fugit allows users to subscribe to comments so they'll know whenever someone else leaves a comment on the same post. This can be helpful if comment discussion is lively and users want to have updates to the conversation sent to their inbox.
• Comment Email Responder via Ugh!!'s Greymatter Honeypot is an easy way to send an e-mail response to the commenter and have that same response automatically show up in the comment section as well.
• If you haven't enabled threaded comments, you can follow Kim's instructions for enabling threaded comments on your WordPress blog. (Threaded comments are when responses to a specific comment are indented and show up directly under the comment they respond to.)

TypePad

TypePad's default commenting system is fairly robust: it allows you to establish settings like whether to allow basic HTML within comments, set comment order (oldest to newest or vice versa), include userpics, etc. But if you want to include some extra functionality, you'll need to switch to TypePad Connect. Connect allows you to kick it up a notch with functionality like

• threaded comments
• replying to a comment via e-mail and having it show up in the commenter's e-mail box as well as the comment section of the post
• replying to comments directly from the comments section and having it show up in the comments and also sending a copy to the commenter's e-mail box.

Blogger

Although Blogger is a great blogging platform for some and it's very malleable in many ways, its commenting feature has been a source of frustration since the beginning. To get around the lack of commenting features, many Blogger users resort to third-party software. The two most popular options are Disqus and Intense Debate.

How are you handling comments? What plug-ins are you using to make your comments more efficient and usable for you and your readers?

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions at Blogging Basics 101. She is also the co-author of TypePad for Dummies.

Ask any blogger how to find blogging success and she'll answer with write well. It's cliche, but it's true: Content is king. Your blog design, brand, and attitude are all important, but the bottom line is this: Any amount of success requires good content. And writing strong content is rarely a quick thing. It takes planning and effort. Here I give you six steps to help you write a better blog post.

1. Know your audience. Success in anything can be boiled down to knowing your audience. If you know your audience, you know what they are looking for and you can give it to them. If you're writing tutorials, you'll need to determine whether you're writing for a beginner, intermediate, or expert. If you're sharing funny stories, what seems to resonate with your audience? Look at your Google Analytics to see what posts see the most traffic (organic and search) and figure out what speaks to your audience on such a large scale. Not sure what your audience wants more of? Ask them.




2. Know your goal. What is your post trying to accomplish? Do you want to make your readers laugh? Show them how to do something? Encourage them to leave a comment? As you write your post, keep that goal in mind and consider how it fits with your audience.




3. Tell a story. Now that you have your goal in mind and you know what you want to write, make sure you do it in a way that is easy for your reader to follow. Have a beginning, middle, and end to your post. It's so easy to start out writing on one topic, then move tangentially to a new topic. The result is that your post is confusing or, worse, doesn't deliver on your goal (i.e., teaching, entertaining, challenging, etc.).




4. Respect the language. I've been called a grammar snob, and it's true. I am. I also realize that not everyone has a knack for grammar, punctuation, and spelling. But that doesn't mean they don't matter. These constructs are what we use to navigate the written language. They are cues that tell your reader what your intention is. A mistake here or there can be overlooked, but consistently ignoring good grammar and punctuation may lead to fewer eyes on your page.




5. Use interesting, strong words. Or, as Rita Arens puts it, write with authority. Not only should you choose strong words, you should get rid of the dead words that add nothing to your story. Which brings us to . . .




6. Edit. Once you write your post, you're not finished. Re-read your post, re-work your post, re-write your post as needed. NinaAmir suggests exercises for editing your own work like simply taking an existing piece of writing and trying to re-write it using half as many words. Like good writing, good editing takes practice.

More articles to help you write the perfect blog post

• 8 Tips to Write a Tutorial That Gets You Noticed by Jessica Howard
• 10 Things J. K. Rowling Taught Me About Writing by Michelle V. Rafter
• How to Find Your Blogging Voice by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions at Blogging Basics 101 and is the co-author of TypePad for Dummies.

URL shorteners aren't new, but not everyone knows what they are or understands how useful they can be. I want to introduce you to a few URL shortening tools and explain how they can make a real difference in the way you track what your audience is doing with your information.

Why Should I Shorten My URLs?

URL shorteners have been around for years and most do the same thing: they take a long URL (http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2010/04/helpful-blogging-links-get-shar...) and making it into a short URL (http://bit.ly/ckNJhr). There are several advantages to shortening your URL:

• If you're sharing a link on Twitter, you're limited to 140 characters. Any URL you share can quickly eat up those characters and limit your actual message. (Tip: You don't want to just post a link; you wan to tell people what they can expect when they click over.)
• Any time your link is visible, the longer it is, the harder it is to remember (and it's not very pretty, either). Shortening it (especially if you use a service that allows you choose a keyword for the link; see below for some options) can solve this problem in some cases.
• Some URL shortening tools allow you to track how your audience uses and shares your URL.

URL Shorteners with Keywords

These services not only allow you to shorten your URL, but they give you the option of choosing a specific keyword to include in the URL. The result is something like http://doiop.com/blogher. These services don't allow you to track your stats, but you can use Google Analytics to track specific user behavior or referral information for the page you're linking to. For basic shortening with no bells and whistles, you can use one of these services:

• Doiop
• TinyURL.com
• Snipurl.com

URL Shorteners with Analytics

For those of you who want to know who's clicking on or sharing your links, you'll want to consider using a more powerful tool like the ones listed below.

Bit.ly allows you track the short URLs you create with an analytics page for each URL. You can determine your top referrers, reader location, actual clicks. Bit.ly is free. Some people have been confused when their Bit.ly statistics and their Google Analytics statistics don't match up. It appears that there a few reasons for this.

• No two analytics programs are going to ever show the same data; they all have different interpretations of data.
• When you use Bit.ly (and possibly any URL shortening tool) to shorten a URL on, say, Twitter, Twitter will then look up the link via bots/spiders. Your Bit.ly stats include those false hits in their stats. I say "false hits" because those aren't really pairs of eyes seeing your content, it's just Twitter's bots finding the link. Google Analytics won't count those bots in its statistics.

Clicky.me requires you to run their analytics program on your web site (similar to Google Analytics) and will then track many of the same metrics Google Analytics tracks: "top referring domains, top countries, average time on site, bounce rate, etc)" as well as individual visitors. Because the clicky.me shortened URLs are linked to the clicky.me analytics you run on your site, the stats they provide are specifically for your web site; if you choose to share a link to another site that's not running the clicky.me analytics (for instance, if you're part of a campaign that's tweeting links for a client), you'll only be able to track how many times the link is clicked, not what people do once they arrive at your site. Clicky.me offers both a free and premium accounts, but the free account only allows you to shorten five URLs each day.

HootSuite.com is a very popular tool because, in addition to shortening URLs, it provides a suite of tools to help you manage your social media presence. You can

• track stats (including the most influential re-tweeters of your link)
• set up a Twitter dashboard similar to what you may be used to with Tweetdeck (you can have columns dedicated to specific keywords, hashtags, or users)
• schedule tweets
• manage multiple Twitter accounts
• collaborate with your team

There are actually many more features offered by HootSuite, but I suggest you check out the HootSuite blog for more info. HootSuite is free.

More articles about using URL shorteners:

• Twitter Tips: Not All URL Shorteners Are Alike via PC World
• Google Gets Into the URL-Shrinking Biz with Googl via Cnet News
• Four Big HootSuite Updates You Should Know About via @KathleneHestir

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions at Blogging Basics 101 and is the co-author of TypePad for Dummies.

Blog carnivals can be a great way to promote community and increase traffic not only to your site, but to your participants' sites. But how do you do that? With a linky tool. A linky tool allows carnival participants to submit a title for their link and a link to their site. The linky tool then takes that info and creates a list. You can see linky tools in action at some popular carnivals like Works-for-Me Wednesday or Mantel Party Time. Works-for-Me Wednesday is using Linky Tools, while Nester's Mantel Party Time is using inlinkz. I'm going to tell you a little about both of those tools today. I'll also give you some advice on how to be a good linky list participant.

Linky Tools (formerly Mcklinky) developed out of a need for a reliable link list generator. There was a time when there was only one game in town and as that tool became more and more used, the owner couldn't quite keep up with the demand and the service suffered. Linky Tools was quickly embraced and is used throughout the blogosphere.

inlinkz is a new linky system that allows your participants to include a photo in their link. It makes the list more interesting and eye-catching. I can see how inlinkz would be a great tool for giveaway carnivals. Participants could include a picture of their giveaway and make it so much easier for others to find what they're looking for without wading through irrelevant links.

Installing the Linky Code for Your Carnival

Both inlinkz and Linky Tools allow you to copy and paste the necessary code directly into your post (make sure you're in the HTML view of your post) regardless of whether you're using WordPress, TypePad, or Blogger. This makes it very easy to include a linky in your next carnival! I was impressed with the instructions on both inlinkz and Linky Tools; you'll be able to be up and running in just a few minutes. inlinkz provides instructions for setting up an inlinkz account and creating a new linky list. They provide many screen shots and explanations to eliminate confusion. Linky Tools offers video tutorials on setting up your account creating new Linky Tools lists.

Finding the Features Your Carnival Linky Needs

Linky Tools and inlinkz have excellent features in common, but also have features that set them apart from each other.

Shared features

• Optional images. Sometimes it doesn't make sense to have images in your carnival or maybe you just don't like to have the images take up so much page real estate. That's OK. You can choose to have a text list only. Just pick that option when you're creating your new collection.
• Save your carnival. If you have a weekly carnival or meme that you share, you can save it so you don't have to re-make it each week. You know how love efficiency.
• Title constraints. Any titles participants add to their entry are limited so you don't get really long titles that mess up the display of the list. Everything will be in nice, neat rows. My OCD thanks you greatly.
• Cropping. When a participant chooses her image for the list, she has the option to crop it! This could be handy for showing specific detail of an item within the list.

inlinkz features

• Users can delete links. Sometimes mistakes are made and when that happened with some other linkies, the administrator had to go in and delete the link for the participant. Not with inlinkz! Nope. You can delete your own links if you make a mistake or change your mind. One less thing for the carnival administrator to worry about? Yes, please.
• Real-time stats. Want to see how your carnival is progressing and how it's being used? inlinkz has you covered. Figure out where you're rockin' and where you need to improve by tracking your collections with real-time stats.
• Voting. You can see the voting in action at the Clips-n-Cuts Around the World Challenge where you can vote on your favorite submission. That's pretty cool. This feature is currently in beta, from what I can gather, but will be available soon.

One thing to note about inlinkz.com if you're using the image list option: participants have to either have the image already in their post or know the URL of the image they want to use. Participants do not have the option of uploading an image from their computer. This isn't a big deal, but it's worth noting.

Linky Tools features

• Different list options. You can create different lists depending on what your carnival is about including a basic text list (with text links only), thumbnail list (with images), and even a way to invite your readers to help create a story by leaving their contribution within the list (use the "create a story" list option when creating your new list).
• Blog hops. This is an easy way to allow many blogs to host the same carnival link-up list on their blogs. Everyone uses the same code, places it in their own blog post, and they all host the same list.
• Choose images from your computer or an URL. Linky Tools doesn't care where your image comes from as long as you hold the rights to it. You can choose a file from your computer or choose from the images in your post or on your site. You cannot provide a specific URL for your image.

Being the Best Carnival Guest You Can Be

When leaving your link as a participant in a carnival, there are few things you should consider:

• Be brief. It's tempting to promote yourself with your name, your blogs, name and your URL in your link title. Please don't, though. The longer your title, the more it affects the columns of the list. In fact, this became such a problem, most linky generators now have character constraints the carnival owner can implement.
• Be useful. Consider what the carnival is about and whether there are guidelines about what to include in your title. Use keywords that tell others what they'll find if they click over to your site. For instance, when I was doing the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival, I asked participants to include what they were giving away and where they'd ship. For exmple, Jane Eyre DVD (US/Canada). The title is short and it tells you what to expect. It's not promoting my actual blog name, but once you click over, you'll know where you are. And your blog is still getting the link love from the carnival via the permalink you use.
• Use permalinks. A peramlink is the link to a specific blog post, not the main page of your blog. Most carnivals require you to use a permalink instead of your blog's main URL and your entry may be deleted if you don't.
• Don't double post. You only need one entry for each carnival (unless the guidelines state otherwise). If you make a mistake on your link, contact the carnival owner and ask her to delete your entry (unless she's using inlinkz, which allows you to delete your own entries).

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions at Blogging Basics 101. She is the co-author of TypePad for Dummies.

As bloggers we like to know that people are reading what we write and that we're connecting on some level with our audience. The more people that come to our site, the happier we are. Maybe you're happy simply because people are coming or maybe you're happy because more traffic means more revenue (especially if you're in an ad network or selling a product.) Either way, what if you could host a party that increased your traffic, but also gave back to your community? You can. And that party is called a blog carnival.

What is a blog carnival? A blog carnival is when a blog owner hosts a party online and invites other bloggers to participate by writing on the same topic and linking back to the main host site. For example, when I was running BloggyGiveaways.com I held a Quarterly Giveaway Carnival. Every three months I invited other bloggers to host giveaways at their own sites, then come to BloggyGiveaways and list their giveaway with a link to their site (I'll get to the mechanics of how you do that in a moment.) So what we ended up with was a central blog (BloggyGiveaways.com) hosting a list of links to blogs with other giveaways. We were sharing link love (I was linking to them, they were linking to me) and people could find everything in a central place and didn't get lost surfing from one blog to another. That carnival regularly generated over 1,000 links and my traffic increased by 300% during carnival weeks.

Which sounds like magic, doesn't it? And I wish it were. Unfortunately, while a carnival can be a terrific traffic generator, it's really hard to come up with an original idea that spreads like wildfire. It's much easier to simply participate in carnivals and soak up the link love that way; you'll still probably see a spike in traffic.

How to do you run a blog carnival?

What's that? You're not deterred? You're set on hosting your own carnival? I say go for it! The carnival itself is fairly easy to run, it's coming up with an idea that works that takes the most time. Once you've decided on the topic, here are some things to get you started on your way to hosting a successful carnival.

Establish rules and guidelines. You have to have guidelines or everyone and their dog is going to just come and link up at your site whether what their linking to is relevant or not. Then, when you delete them for not being relevant, they may be upset. It's easier for you down the road if you know what you expect and convey those expectations to your participants.

Promote your carnival. You need to tell people you're hosting a carnival, what the topic is, how they can participate, and what the rules are. So make yourself a pretty button and post it in your sidebar (include the name and dates of your carnival, your URL, etc.). Write up a post about what you're doing and ask your readers to help spread the word via their social media outlets (and offer them the code for your button in case they'd like to use it in their own promotions.) Give your readers about two weeks notice and remind them a week before and again two or three days before the carnival. Once your carnival is established, you might just need to remind them the day before or not at all once you really get going.

Use the right list-generating tool. Since a carnival is all about linking up together, you need a way to generate a list of blogs that are participating and have each one link to its respective post. There are several widgets you can use to achieve this:

• Mr. Linky used to be the only game in town. Unfortunately, the widget wasn't always stable and it's not much to look at so people started making new options. The Bloggy Giveaways Carnival used Mr. Linky.
• Linky Tools (formerly MckLinky) also creates a basic linked list of participating blogs. You can see an example at Works-for-Me Wednesday.
• Inlinkz is a really cool option because it posts a photo related to the person who leaves the link (h/t to Linda Sellers for alerting me to this tool.) You can see it in action at Sweet Shot Tuesdays.

Monitor the links. This is the most time-consuming part of any carnival. In order for the carnival to be useful, you'll need to keep an eye on who is participating. You'll more than likely get a few spammers who are linking to irrelevant sites (delete them). You may also get a few people who aren't using a permalink (the link to an actual article, not the main page of a blog.) You'll want to ask these participants to change the link because if readers click the link and don't see what they expect to see (i.e., they see the main page of a blog that doesn't have an article relevant to the carnival), they are confused and frustrated. The down side here is that you'll need to delete the original link and ask the participant to re-submit her site with the permalink. She's going to lose her spot in the list of links and be further down the list when she re-submits (which is another reason to ask your readers to use permalinks when you're explaining the guidelines; if they do, they won't lose their place on the list). If you find a link that doesn't fit your carnival for some reason, you can delete it. If the blogger contacts you to ask why her link is down, you can point to your guidelines and explain why you deleted her link. I want to point out, though, that most people are happy to play by the rules if they know what they are. Once participants are used to how you run your carnival, you'll see fewer and fewer issues.

Questions for You

• Have you ever used a carnival to increase your traffic?
• Did it build your community at the same time?
• What are your favorite carnivals to link up to (feel free to leave a link in the comments here)?

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions for bloggers at Blogging Basics 101 and is the co-author of TypePad for Dummies. She hasn't figured out a great idea for a tech carnival yet, but she's open to suggestions.

This week I'm introducing you to some common Twitter terms. Twitter is pretty popular, but not everyone is well-versed in the lingo and it's a little daunting if you don't know your DM from your RT. As always, I welcome your additional Twitter terms and definitions in the comments on this post. I'll integrate them into the actual post.

Twitter: A social media tool that allows you to share thoughts using 140 characters or less. What kinds of thoughts, you ask? Well, everything from what you're doing to performing Shakespeare to promoting your own products and links as well as those of others. Be careful, though, and remember that nothing on the internet dies. The Library of Congress has acquired all Twitter archives. Helpful article: Twitter Tools to Save You Time  

Tweet: A message, up to 140 characters long, sharing information with or asking a question of the Twittersphere. Helpful article: What Women Do with Twitter  

@: The @ symbol precedes all Twitter usernames. My Twitter username is chilihead, but if you want me to see that you've tweeted about me, you'll need to type @chilihead.  

DM: Stands for Direct Message. This is a private message sent to a particular Twitter user, not the entire Twittersphere. To create a DM you must use the following notation (you're still limited to 140 characters):

d @username Your message

The 'd' tells Twitter you're creating a personal (or direct) message and not to display it to the public Twitterstream. The '@username' would be the Twitter username of the person you want to contact (e.g., @chilihead). Then you just type your message and click Send. Note that in order to send a direct message to someone, they must be following you. If you aren't sure if they're following you, try to send the DM. If they're following you, the message will go through, if they aren't, you'll receive a note that the user isn't following you so you can't send the message. Helpful article: Twitter Best Practices: Three Things You Can Do Right Now to Make Twitter Better

Hashtag: A tag that describes or links a tweet to a specific topic. The tag is preceded by the # symbol. The # is referred to as a hash, hence the name hashtag. A sample hashtag would be #blogher. Hashtags make your tweets easier to search and group if you're trying to find people discussing the same topic. Helpful articles: Utilizing Twitter Hashtags to Market Your Business

Twitter Follower: Someone who subscribes to (i.e., follows) the tweets of another Twitter user. Helpful article: Use Twitter and Facebook to Grow Your Community

Twitter search: You can find tweets on specific topics by going to http://search.twitter.com. You can search for keywords, hashtags, or even your own name.

Twittersphere: The network of Twitter users and their tweets. Sometimes called the Twitterverse.

Twitterstream: Your updates from the Twitter users you follow. Whether you use the Twitter.com interface or a third-party Twitter client (like TweetDeck), the updates you see from others comprise your Twitterstream. Your Twitterstream also includes your own tweets. Helpful articles: Twitter Tools Part 1 and Part 2  

RT: Stands for Re-Tweet which is to re-submit something someone has tweeted via Twitter. The re-tweet is usually preceded by RT. For example:

• Original tweet: I'm giving away 5 copies of WordPress in Depth this week! Come enter to win. http://is.gd/bzj2o
• Re-Tweet by another person: RT @chilihead: I'm giving away 5 copies of WordPress in Depth this week! Come enter to win. http://is.gd/bzj2o

Melanie Nelson writes tips and instructions for bloggers at Blogging Basics 101 and is the co-author of TypePad for Dummies. She shares tech-related news articles on the BB101 Tumblr blog. You can find her on Twitter as @chilihead.