Blogging Resources

A list of blogging resources that will be of use for any aspiring (or veteran) blogger. My favorites are in Bold.

Hosting

• WordPress – Offers a lot of functionality and customization. Would like it even more if it offered the facility to alter the HTML/CSS code for the template. Also, offers software for hosting on your own server.
• Blogger – Used to blog here. Limited functionality, but offers template customization. Allows use of AdSense.
• Blogsite: Enterprise level Blogging and publishing platform
• Typepad (Paid hosting)
• Livejournal
• Bloglines
• Blogsome – Uses WordPress.
• Moveabletype
• Thingamablog – Provides Blog hosting software

Themes

• WordPress Themes: Nicely categorized WordPress themes
• ThemeViewer: Provides a nice option to sort and view themes.
• Blogspot themes: Clean and simple themes for Blogger

Posting/Editing

• Windows Live Writer – Desktop based editor for publishing. My review on Windows Live Writer 2.
• Scribefire (Previously Performancing)- Wonderful add-on for Firefox users.
• Flock – Offers in-built blogging facility.
• Blogdesk
• Blogjet 
• Ecto
• Rocketpost
• Qumana
• ZohoWriter
• Post2Blog
• W.Bloggar
• DotPost

Blog related Statistics

• Sitemeter – I use this. WordPress also offers in-built tracking facility.
• Statcounter
• Google Analytics – Provides some of the best reports. But, am not able to use it with my blog presently.
• PageRank – Page rank indicator.
• Feedburner – In addition to feed management (and statistics related to feeds), it also offers traffic management at the site.
• Alexa

Blog Search Engines

(The sites listed below are the most commonly known. Look for your local blog search engines or listing sites or social networking sites. These will also drive traffic to your blog.)

• Technorati – Most widely used service.
• Google Blog Search
• Blogniscient
• Sphere – Direct competitor to Technorati.
• Blogpulse
• IceRocket – Looks to be one of the best blog search engines. Is nearly up-to-date with the entries. Have a look at the Trends and IceSpy sections in this site.
• Gigablast: This didn’t return very relevant results.

Blog Monetizing

Fortunately or unfortunately, the hosted WordPress.com blogs cannot have ads. So, I haven’t managed to use these resources, but I am pretty sure that these are of value.

• Google Adsense: Offers both Pay per view and Pay per click options. This is the most commonly used of all monetizing tools.
• Text Link Ads
• Adbrite
• Linkadage
• Chitika - Seems to be one of the favs out there.

Technorati tags: Blogs, Editor, Software, WordPress

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