Tips and Tricks - from the comments

A few weeks ago, we asked you for your best blogging tip. Here's some of the highlights that folks from the TypePad community contributed in the comments.

Christa Wells said..."I think people enjoy humor and authenticity--since I also enjoy humor and authenticity. I make an effort to write with that in mind. A few well-crafted paragraphs that let readers into your life and that bring some joy or hope into their day...that's what I aim for.

Visuals--photographs or video--are great to sprinkle in whenever possible!"

Good Girl Gone Blog said... "My tip is to write posts whenever the inspiration comes to you."

Christopher Ming Ryan said..."Thanks for posting this helpful excerpt. I wrote a post recently on how I get inspired when I get stuck.

It's right here on my typepad powered blog, The Way We Watch, entitled 11 Posts From Around The Web To Motivate Your Blogging."

NJ said... "My blogging tip is too use images in your blog posts. With Typepad blogs you can even create a link from the images to an external URL. People love to "click" on things, why not to something that you want them to visit!"

Noelle Mena said..."...loved the graphic organizer used above. I have always used those for writing period with my students. So is great to see it moved over into blogging! I see where that 'mind mapping' can lead you to writing a great 'series' on your blog. Which of course if its a good one, your readers will keep coming back for more!"

Got more blogging tips to share? Let us know!

This Week's Release: Design, Workflow, and Bug Fixes

Here's a few highlights from this week's release.

Add more awesome to your blog:
We've put together a great list of independent experts who can help make your blog design really sing. Check it out!

We're working on improving the new themes from Japan, too, and should have new widths available soon.

Improving Workflow:
Thanks to some feedback we got in our Get Satisfaction forums, we added the ability for guest authors to schedule posts. This helps a ton of people who are publishing with multiple authors.

Another cool little easter-egg feature for those of us who manage a lot of posts: if you hover over the date that a scheduled post is supposed to go live, you can see the time it's going live, too.

Live Chat Pilot:
We're now offering our TypePad Business Class bloggers live chat support to help with billing and account issues. Learn more about how TypePad Business Class.

Other bug fixes:
Fixed reply by email issue with TypePad Connect.
Fixed posting bug in IE (object tags were getting messed up)
Fixed issues with trackbacks not getting sent at the right time

The Federal Trade Commission is keeping an eye on blogger freebies

Just as a heads up for everyone in the blogging community: the FTC is planning to start checking on the freebies that you might get from promoting someone or a company on your blog. Taking a cool camera for writing about the awesome snaps it takes? Better read this AP wire story first.

The practice has grown to the degree that the Federal Trade Commission is paying attention. New guidelines, expected to be approved late this summer with possible modifications, would clarify that the agency can go after bloggers — as well as the companies that compensate them — for any false claims or failure to disclose conflicts of interest.

It would be the first time the FTC tries to patrol systematically what bloggers say and do online. The common practice of posting a graphical ad or a link to an online retailer — and getting commissions for any sales from it — would be enough to trigger oversight.

How do you feel about blogger "perks"? If it's clearly labeled as pay-for-play and taxed appropriately, does that make you feel more trusting of the blogger and the company?

Announcing the Week One & Two Winners of the "Green by Design" Contest

Two weeks ago, we told you about the “Green by Design” contest sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco.

Today, we’re happy to announce the winners of Weeks One and Two!

Haven’t submitted your eco-friendly badge yet? It's not too late! The contest is going on for another two weeks, so there’s still plenty time for you to send in your design. Learn more about how to enter.

Now, without further ado… The winners!

Week One Winner:

Martin Holland: Our Everyday Earth

Add this badge to your blog.

Week Two Winner:

Update: The original winner was disqualified, which makes our Runner-Up, Teresa Fields, the first-prize winner. Congratulations, Teresa!

Add this badge to your blog.

First-prize winners receive a one-year subscription to MailStopper, a junk mail mail stopper service provided by Tonic. Plus, we will donate $150 to a charity of their choice. (For a list of charitable organizations the winner can choose to donate to, please see the contest rules.)

Show your readers how green you are by adding one of the winning badges to your blog. Read the instructions here.

Each badge links to the One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco website. One Million Acts of Green is a collaborative environmental campaign encouraging everyone to go green. One act at a time. The goal? One million acts of green!

Plus, when these badges receive a million impressions, Six Apart will donate $1000 to The Climate Project.

Congratulations to our winners. Keep those submissions coming! 

Don't Forget to Enter the "Green by Design" Contest!

The first week of the "Green by Design" badge contest is almost over, but it's not too late to submit your entry!

To enter, all you have to do is create a Green Badge with an earth-friendly design and/or message. We will choose one grand prize winner each week during the month of June. The winner's design will be featured on Everything TypePad for bloggers to put on their blogs, as well as on blogs across Six Apart Media's advertising platform.

This contest is sponsored by One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco. One Million Acts of Green is a collaborative environmental campaign encouraging everyone to go green. One act at a time. The goal? One million acts of green because, as we all know, we’re more powerful together than we can ever be apart.

Learn more about how to enter the contest and don't forget to record your Acts of Green on the One Million Acts of Green website.

Gallery Furniture: Building Connections with Customers

When most people think of blogs, they think of them as a great way for people to keep in contact with one another and share their life with friends and families. While this is still true, they've evolved into so much more, especially as a way for businesses to get their message across to their customers. They're a great tool for making your company more personal and nowhere is this more apparent than on the blog of Houston business Gallery Furniture.

Ask any Houstonian and almost all of them will be familiar with Gallery Furniture and its owner, Jim McIngvale, affectionately known as Mattress Mack. Thanks to his commercials, everyone knows that Gallery Furniture "really will save you money" and his original store on the North Freeway - in the same location for 28 years - is an icon. Mattress Mack is also known for his charity work, including revitalizing over 130 USO Centers around the world and offering a Christmas Furniture Giveaway every year where furniture is given away to those in need.

On May 21, 2009, the 100,000 square foot warehouse behind the original store caught on fire. It was a gigantic blaze, with over 150 firemen struggling to keep it contained for two and a half hours. Fortunately, no one was injured, not even Post Oak the calf that had a pen in front of the store and the four macaws that live in the showroom, though one of the macaws did need to be revived by the Houston Fire Department. The damage is estimated to be between $15 million and $20 million dollars.

Ever since this tragedy, Gallery Furniture has been posting pictures and stories to their official blog to keep Houstonians informed how the rebuilding effort is going. The posts have also included inspirational stories of the outpouring of goodwill that Houston has directed towards the company. They've shared stories of school children sending in handmade cards. A high school choir group raised money to assist Mattress Mack, but he insisted that the money instead be given to Peace of Mind Foundation, a local charity. A young boy named Logan showed up at the store and refused to leave until the money he'd been saving for an iPod Touch was taken as a donation for the employees. This money was also given to charity and Matress Mack bought Logan an iPod Touch and iTunes gift certificate to thank him for his generosity. The comments have also been filled with messages from readers who want to let the Gallery Furniture family know that they are behind them.

While the fire was certainly a tragedy, Gallery Furniture has made their TypePad blog a place not only for the community to stay informed of what is going on, but to put a human face on their corporation. TypePad is a great tool for making sure your own company is more than just a faceless entity, allowing your customers to see the human side of your business and connect with you on a deeper level.

Widgets: add the Etsy mini-widget to your sidebar

We love guest stars here on Everything TypePad, especially when they're telling us how to do more cool stuff with our blogs. Here's a guest post on how to add the Etsy mini-widget to your blog, from one of our favorite bloggers, Sara, who blogs at All Things Girls Can TellWhat I Did With My Summer Vegetables. Take it away, Sara! 

Do you have a Typepad blog, love Etsy.com and want to include an Etsy mini widget (or three) in your sidebar?

1. Once you have the java script all cut and copied from your Etsy account for your Etsy mini (you can find it under "Promote" when you're logged in, under "Your Etsy"), go to Typelists in your Typepad behind-the-scenes screen (your dashboard when you're logged in). Click "create a new Typelist".
2. Choose "link" as the type of list you'd like to create.
3. Name your fancy new list (I call mine "currently at Etsy", but by all means, be more creative than that).
4. Now choose which page you'd like to display it on - your blog page, your about page, etc.  
5. Click on this new Typelist, and paste the javascript code you grabbed from Etsy into "link title" and then save it. (Leave the other fields blank).
6. Once that's accepted, you need to click to "edit your current design" (in the "Weblogs" tab).
7. First click "select content" to add it to your sidebar content.
8. Then click "order content" to arrange your sidebar items as you wish (most likely prominently displaying your fabulous Etsy Mini). It's all pretty drag and droppy, so have fun with it.

Once that's all done, you need to republish for it to appear. You can see how it looks all pretty and finished right here on my little blog. Rock it!

Enter the Green by Design Contest & Help the Planet

Last Friday, we blogged about how, thanks to you, our Green Badge program was a rousing success. We were hoping for 100,000 impressions across the blogosphere and we surpassed our goal by nearly two million!

When we realized how many of you were adopting the badges we designed, it occurred to us that you might have a few eco-friendly designs of your own you want to share with the world. That’s why we partnered with One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco to create the “Green by Design” contest.

To enter, all you have to do is create a Green Badge with an earth-friendly design and/or message. One winner will be chosen each week this month and that person’s design will be featured on Everything TypePad for bloggers to put on their blogs, as well as on blogs across Six Apart Media's advertising platform.

Like the previous badges, the winning badge will link to the One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco website. One Million Acts of Green is a collaborative environmental campaign encouraging everyone to go green. One act at a time. The goal? One million acts of green because, as we all know, we’re more powerful together than we can ever be apart.

Each weekly winner will also receive a one-year subscription to MailStopper, a junk mail stopper service provided by Tonic. Plus, we will donate $150 to a charity in the winner’s name. (For a list of charitable organizations the winner can choose to donate to, please see the contest rules.)

Two runner-ups each week will receive an honorable mention on EverythingTypePad, as well as a one-year subscription to MailStopper.

Plus, when the badges receive a million impressions (and we know they will!), Six Apart will donate another $1000 to The Climate Project.

We know that TypePad bloggers are amongst some of the most creative and generous people on the web, and that the Green Badges you create will help inspire people to take care of our planet, record their Acts of Green and make a difference.

Do your part by entering the Green by Design contest today. Because when we all do one act, we act as one, and help the planet.

Here’s what you need to know in order to submit your design:

• The deadline for entry of Submissions is the End Date, at 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time.
• The Submission must include a positive environmental message.
• The Submission must be in the JPEG file format.
• The Submission must be 160 x 90 pixels in size at a resolution of 72 dpi.
• The maximum file size of the Submission is 500 kilobytes.
• The Submission must be accompanied by an email address at which Organizer can contact Participant regarding the Promotion.
• The Submission and each element thereof must be the original work of Participant.
• No Submission may have been a winner or honoree in any previous contest.
• The Submission must not be defamatory, offensive or obscene or violate or infringe on the trademark, copyright, publicity, privacy or other rights of any third party or contain any worms, viruses, trojans, backdoors, spyware, rootkits, auto-loading code or any other malware

Please email your entry to badgecontest@sixapart.com

Contest begins June 1, 2009, and ends June 25, 2009. All entries must be received by June 25, 2009, at 12 p.m. PT. Winners will be announced on the following dates: June 8th, June 15th, June 22nd and June 29th.

View all contest rules here.

GOOD LUCK!

We Reached Our Goal!

Last month, we told you about our latest initiative intended to encourage everyone to go green, one act a time. We created Green Badges for your blog that linked to the One Million Acts of Green brought to you by Cisco website. The badges were meant to show your readers how green you are, while simultaneously encouraging them to get involved.

In addition, we promised that when the badges received 100,000 impressions across the blogosphere, Six Apart would donate $1000 to The Climate Project, a non-profit charity seeking to raise awareness about the urgency of the climate crisis.

We are thrilled to announce that as of today, the Green Badges have received almost TWO MILLION impressions and, as pledged, we are sending The Climate Project a $1000 check. It is because of you that our planet has been positively impacted and we can’t thank you enough for not just putting the badges on your blogs, but for caring about the planet and making a difference.

The badges were so popular, in fact, that we’ve come up with an exciting way to reach even more people and further spread the message that change can start with one person. One action. One Million Acts of Green.

Stay tuned for news next week about how you can participate… and in the meantime, visit One Million Acts of Green and record your Acts of Green. Because together, we are making a difference.

Meet the Champions on Get Satisfaction!

We’ve been using Get Satisfaction as a forum for our TypePad members to ask questions, get answers, or suggest features to us, but most of all, it's been a great place for you to talk with your fellow TypePad fans. We’ve selected a few members around the community to be topic experts around blogging, find out more about them and join the discussion if you haven’t already.