It’s Official: I’ve Moved to BlogRivet.com

The blog is dead, long live the blog. I’ve made the big move and BillyProBlogger is no more. Check out my new digs at BlogRivet.com. I’ve exported all the posts and comments from here. BlogRivet.com is my first standalone blog and I’m excited to get started. See you there.

Blog Reality Check: Am I Doing it Right?

Making the transition from hosted to standalone blog seems like a good time for a reality check. The question is: Where do I stand in relation to what I want to do?

To answer this question, I flipped through my marked-up copy of the ProBlogger book. Here I’ve taken some of the highlighted points that Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett make and ask myself: Am I doing it the way I should?

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

Click HERE for the rest of it.

Thank you.

5 Reasons Why The Blog’s Moving and How It Will Make You a Better Person

OK, maybe I’m overstating that last part just a tad, but in the spirit of blogger lists everywhere, here’s why after two weeks of blogging I’m getting ready to move this to a standalone blog.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

Click HERE for the rest of it.

Thank you.

Field Reporting: Blog to the Beat Pt. 4

This is the final post in a four-part series on applying basic methods of beat journalism to your blogging niche.

Yesterday’s post looked at methods for cultivating sources. Today I’ll focus on ways to pull you off the computer and into the field to do some actual reporting.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

Cultivating Sources: Blog to the Beat Pt. 3

This is the third in a four-part series on applying basic methods of beat journalism to your blogging niche.

Yesterday’s post looked at methods for gathering background information. Today I’ll focus on finding and keeping sources. When I use the term sources I mean people: living, breathing human beings interviewed by you, the blogger-reporter.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

Background Info: Blog to the Beat Pt. 2

This is the second in a four-part series on applying basic methods of beat journalism to your blogging niche.

Yesterday’s post looked at how the basic concepts of beat reporting apply to blogging. Today I’ll focus on methods for gathering background information.

You don’t have to be an expert in your niche to write a good blog but you better know the basics of what you’re writing about. Context is everything.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

Journalism 101: Blog to the Beat Pt. 1

This morning as I was making my blog-feed rounds, I happened upon “Bloggers That Fake It” from Men With Pens. The post, written back in March, resonated with me. I have found lots of cookie-cutter blogs out there, repeating essentially the same message with different words. This excerpt gets to the gist of it. Too many bloggers are:

fast to jump on the bandwagon with the latest and greatest product, service or topic. They beat it into the ground until it’s dead. The Internet is so saturated that it’s nearly worthless.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

RSS as a Blog Development Tool

Since the beginning of my blog-development process, the importance of RSS feeds has loomed large. In both my niche topic and this one, knowing what other bloggers are writing about has been an important part of my strategy. Initially, it was overwhelming. The sheer amount of information pouring into my reader was far more than I could keep up with. But now I have caught up and learned a few lessons in the process.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

Content is King When It Comes to Making Money

Problogger’s Darren Rowse held a free Webcast last night that was full of great advice for beginning and intermediate bloggers. At the event, sponsored by The Blog Squad, he identified the five keys for making money from a blog.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

Attracting Readers One Comment at a Time

So far this blog has gotten zero hits. That’s right, nada. Not even my mother has found it. Nor would I expect her to. Up to this point I’ve written a few posts, worked on basic design issues and learned as much as I can about the ins and outs of professional blogging. Now I need to venture out and begin attracting readers.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

Click HERE for the rest of it.

Thank you.

Mission Control: Defining the Niche

Defining my standalone blog’s mission and niche has been a lot of work, and I’m not done yet. It’s not just a matter of defining what I want to write about. That part is fairly easy. But what are other bloggers writing about? What are they not covering? What do readers respond to? Where can I fit in?

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

Finding a Web host: Where to start?

Picking a Web hosting service is a big challenge. A lot rides on the decision. Nobody wants to get stuck with an unreliable host. But try googling for reviews on Web hosts and a confusing array of lists and sites pop up. Promotions and self-serving reviews are bound to bog down your search. But with a little work, you can sift through the chaff.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

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Thank you.

Getting started the Problogger way

The book ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income arrived less than a week ago, and it has kept me busy ever since. This blog records my progress in establishing myself as a professional blogger with a stand-alone blog that I am now developing. I also hope to provide useful information and moral support to any new bloggers who stumble across this.

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This post has been moved to my new blog, BlogRivet.com.

Click HERE for the rest of it.

Thank you.