Photo by jonrawlinson
A lot of new readers have joined the Skelliewag community in the last few months. I thought the general trend of ‘Best of 2007′ lists would be a nice way to remind both recent and long-time readers of this year’s highlights. Unfortunately, this list can’t be a true ‘Best of 2007′ round-up because Skelliewag is only five months old — but I’ll do my best!
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Here are some new posts from me, published at other blogs this week.
The better each post does, the more likely I am to be kept on as a freelancer. In a roundabout way, your comments and votes help me pay the bills :-).
Guest Posting Secrets: How to Get Published on an A-List Blog
This one was written for BlogPerfume. It outlines and explains how you can use the same methods I’ve used to have guest-posts published on a number of top blogs.
How to Get More Comments on Every Post You Write
This one was written for Ades Blog. The comment count is one of the primary ways new visitors will judge the worth of your blog. This post helps you maximize it on every post.
15 Remarkable Ways to Thank Your Readers This Festive Season
This one was written for NorthxEast — my first post as a staff writer. Every blogger and webmaster owes a lot to their readers, and the Festive Season provides the perfect opportunity to say thanks. (Yes, I’ve got something in the works!)
The Essential Website Usability Checklist
This one was written for Daily Bits. It’s a simple, 13-point usability checklist webmasters can use to evaluate their site.
How to Develop the Habit of Writing Posts in Advance
This one was written for ProBlogger. The habit of writing in advance will make content creation easier and less stressful. Here I share the strategies I used to develop the habit.
Photo by Stewart.
Thanks to everyone for receiving my guide to finding and using incredible Flickr images so warmly. Finding photos through Flickr seems to be something many have wanted to do but weren’t sure how to go about it (or how to go about it safely).
One question many people had in response to the post was: how do I add credits beneath the photos I use?
In this follow-up post, I want to provide a comprehensive answer to that question. There are a range of solutions here to suit everyone — from the HTML newbie to the CSS pro.
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I don’t think this blog would be half of what it is without Flickr. The images included with most posts magnetize the eye to the page and create an atmosphere for the rest of the piece. It’s also one of the most commented-on aspects of the blog — the images are something I think leaves an impression on a lot of people.
A question I get often is: how do you find such great images through Flickr? Most importantly, how do you find such great images that you can use freely?
In this post, I want to share everything I’ve learned about how you can quickly and easily find Flickr’s best images to suit your needs, whether it’s for a blog post, an eBook, a design, an artwork or anything else. Secondly, I want to explain how Creative Commons works for Flickr images — and what that means for you.
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One idea I’ve been kicking around these last few days is to introduce a once a week (if I have enough material) ‘Ask the readers’ post.
My inspiration in this is the ‘Ask the readers‘ section at Get Rich Slowly, where a reader’s problem is outlined, or a thought-provoking question is asked, and other readers provide advice and discussion in the comments section of the post.
I often get requests for advice and feedback on the blogs and websites of readers, in addition to meaningful, general questions that are difficult to answer quickly.
While I’ve always responded to the best of my abilities I’m finding that, as this blog grows, I’m receiving more requests and have less time to complete them.
Rather than letting these requests go unanswered — which to me, is unacceptable, as I’ve made a promise with myself to help everyone who asks — I’m starting to think that a collaborative approach would be effective in a number of ways.
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