Sure, I could give the typical (and critical) advice that all bloggers need a top notch spam blogging plugin. But here is some equally important advice:

Don’t just delete spam. Be sure it is tagged as spam!

Akismet, the plugin I use (and recommend) finds 99.9+% of all spam on my blogs, but occasionally something slips through. And when it does, you should be sure that it’s identified as spam according to the procedures of your software. Doing so (at least with Akismet) added that commentor to the larger spammer list shared by everyone using that software. As part of the blogging community, you are doing your part to clean up the Internet graffiti (well, graffiti minus the artistic value).

UPDATE: Wow, there were 44 new spam comments since I wrote this post 10 hours ago!  Have you seen an increase in spam on your blog?

[PhotoCredit:BennyYap]

Write 10 Posts on Your Blog Topic

There is a lot to be done when you publish your own blog, but nothing more important or time consuming than writing for your blog. Hey, that’s why we visit blogs, to read great content. So one way to explore the world of blogging is to pick a potential blogging topic and write 10 posts for that blog. Don’t try to write them all in one day. Take some time, but no more than two weeks. Write about a topic that interests you…one you might want to blog about.

So, how was it? Was it difficult to come up with new ideas? Did you enjoy the writing? Pass on your writing to a close friend or two. Ask for their thoughts and opinions.

Writing the 10 posts is a blogging test run. It gives you an idea what it’s like to write every couple days about your blogging topic. And remember, blogging is a long term commitment. The honeymoon period for blogging usually ends after three to six months. That’s when the writing really becomes a chore. But if you enjoy the subject and like to write, it becomes a welcomed chore.

Oh, don’t forget to hold onto those 10 new posts. They are a great way to start if you do become a blogger. For some great tips on writing blog posts, see Piaras Kelly’s post, Tips on Writing Content for Your Blog.

Guest Blog on an Established Blog

Hey, now that you’ve got 10 great posts already written (you did say they were great, eh?), you can offer your writing services as a guest blogger on an established blog. Your posts can be used as writing samples, and if the blog is on the same topics, you can even use one that you’ve already written.

First you must find a blog where you can offer yourself as a guest writer. If you already frequent a blog or two and are known by the owner, then that would be good place to start. You can also research blogs in your topic area at Technorati or Google Blog Search.

Once you have a blog in mind, be sure to read several posts on the blog until you have a real good feel for the tone and topic of the blog. Contact the owner through their contact page or email address to offer yourself as a guest writer and pitch a few ideas for possible posts that fit their blog. Don’t be surprised to be welcomed with open arms as many blog owners are very busy and would welcome a guest writer.

Oh, by the way, don’t expect to get paid for being a guest blogger. Only the top blogs pay for posts and rarely use unknown writers for guest bloggers. Your experience writing for the blog and seeing the reaction of readers is payment enough. To learn more about how to be a good guest blogger, visit ProBlogger.net.

Microblog on Twitter

Want to go ahead and start your blogging experience without the long term commitment or enormous writing demands? Twitter helped popularize the term microblogging with it’s service to publish very short (no more than 140 characters) “posts” about anything you want. Many Twitterers (hm, is that right?) use the service as a diary and post what they are doing throughout the day. Others comment on current events or share information.

Unlike a blog, you don’t read a Twitter on a single page on the web. A Twitter can be published on multiple websites (in something called a widget), in a desktop applet (like instant messaging), or at Twitter.com. To read someone’s Twitter, you must choose to follow them. To learn nearly everything there is to know about Twitter, read the Big Juicy Twitter Guide by the Queen of Twitter, Caroline Middlebrook.

Twittering will give you a taste of blog publishing without the hassle of setting up a website or the responsibility of writing multi-paragraph posts. You can twitter in just a few seconds and do it as often as you like. It’s not the same as blogging, but it will begin to give you a taste of what it’s like to write for others on the Internet.

Start a Blog on Blogger or WordPress.com

Finally, if you’re nearly ready to take the plunge, but not yet ready to commit money or time to creating your own blogging website, you can start a blog for free at WordPress.com or Google’s Blogger. Both of these services offer free blog sites with nearly all the functions of an independently hosted blog. You can register your account and create your blog in less than 15 minutes.

These free blogs allow you to focus on your writing and not worry about all the hassles of purchasing a domain, finding a web host, loading software and tackling technical problems. You simply write your posts and load your images. It’s definitely more involved than Twitter. Let’s face it, you are no longer test driving, you have now leased a vehicle and are among the thousands of bloggers worldwide.

The only step from here is to “buy the vehicle” by setting up your independent blog on your own domain. But you don’t have to do that to be a real blogger. You can continue blogging at Blogger or WordPress and experience success as many other bloggers have before you.

So don’t think you have to jump into the deep end of the pool when you first consider becoming a blogger. Take some time to sample the experience and consider the ideas I’ve suggested.

[PhotoCredits:Exfordy & Salsaboy]

It seems that GoDaddy has stepped forward to play this very important role in my super hero identity. Yes, GoDaddy…the mega domain wholesaler and, uh um, web hosting provider. So, now it is time for me to put on the leotard suit and puff my chest out while I do battle with GoDaddy.com. Okay, here’s my story and a message. (Prepare yourself, even the abridged version of the story is long.)

My Story:

A little over a month ago I decided to move one of my blogs off of my GoDaddy shared hosting account due to problems with installing WordPress on GoDaddy servers (there are a multitude of websites that have the detailed instructions) and some data problems that I could not trace the cause of. I backed up my WordPress data and attempted to install with the new host.

Unfortunately, the data backup was incomplete for some reason. When I went back to my database on the GoDaddy server, the database had been renamed. GoDaddy tech support admitted to having problems with WordPress hosting during the past 48 hours, but claimed that the database name change was not possibly created by anyone but me. BTW, the name was changed to something like “AAsad4q24Asdf0-45″. Not a name I would have readily thought of. To read more about this adventure, visit “6 Unheralded Benefits of Blogging” at UTurnAhead.com.

Well, I finally settled in with my new hosting provider, BlueHost.com and even started a couple more blogs. I let my GoDaddy hosting account just sit until last week. Then I decided to give GoDaddy a second chance. I set up a WordPress website for our local disc golf club and for my employer. All was fine for a few days.

But today I was adding a post on the disc golf site and had a problem with uploading a photo. I figured it has to be a WordPress problem (although it worked yesterday), so I reinstalled WordPress. Still didn’t work. On a whim, I decided to see if I could upload photos in my other GoDaddy hosted site…still didn’t work. Finally, I tested the photo uploads on all my BlueHost sites and had no problem at all.

So, is it a GoDaddy problem or something else? To be fair, I really don’t know. The evidence is that the problem occurs on both GoDaddy sites but not on the three BlueHost sites. I began searching for a solution to my problem and started finding a plethora (you like that word?) of blog posts and articles of GoDaddy problems. Here is a sampling…

WordPress and GoDaddy:

• Trippin – “GoDaddy is Killing Me Here“
• DarcyNorman – “Thinking of Ditching GoDaddy“
• Ramblings of a Bored Geek – “GoDaddy 500 Internal Server Error“
• Venetsian – “GoDaddy Web Hosting Causes WordPress Search Engine Privacy Issues“
• Off Topic – “Hosting on GoDaddy“
• Charles Online Review Element – “Problem with Trailing Slash for WordPress in GoDaddy“
• Online Dating Guide & Blog – “Using WP-Cache on GoDaddy (500 Error)“
• Tim Sisk – “WordPress and GoDaddy.com“
• Late Night PC Service – “Mod_Rewrite on GoDaddy with WordPress“
• Romantica.name – “WP-Cache and GoDaddy Hosting“
• Uberdose 2.0 – “Some Thoughts on WordPress Hosting“
• Inside Google – “Great, Now GoDaddy is Screwing Me!“
• StyloMilo.com – “Dumped GoDaddy Host and Migrated to BlueHost“

General GoDaddy Concerns:

• ShoeMoney – “GoDaddy Frustrations Have Hit Me First Hand“
• Building My Empire – “Things About GoDaddy.com“
• The Consumerist – “GoDaddy’s Customer Service Suffers Wardrobe Malfunction“
• 8008135 – “Is GoDaddy Blackmailing Me?” (This is a must read.)
• ZDNet – “GoDaddy Hosting Customers Victim to Massive Hack“
• c|net News – “GoDaddy Pulls Security Site After MySpace Complaints“
• Bad Behavior / Bad Behaviour – “GoDaddy Sucks“
• Forever Geek – “GoDaddy Sucks” (Another original title)
• Miranda Writes (Blog) – “GoDaddy Sucks” (Hmm, same copywriter?)
• RabidGadfly - “GoDaddy Still Sucks” (Still? Really?)
• Blue Mushrooms – “GoDaddy Sucks More than I Thought” (The expanded version)
• Ken Hada – “Archive for the ‘GoDaddy VPS Problems’ Category“
• Ramblings of a Web Guy – “GoDaddy Support is Awful“
• Smaxor’s Musings – “Why GoDaddy Sucks Ballz?“
• Chrono Tron – “[More] GoDaddy Woes…“
• ThreadWatch.org – “Godaddy Grabs a Valuable Domain Name from Their Customer Because of Invalid Email and Profits From It” AND “GoDaddy Holding Customer Sites to Ransom?“
• Jim Boykin’s Blog – “GoDaddy Jobs Problem“
• Wired News – GoDaddy Defends SecLists Takedown
• San Francisco Bay Guardian – “The Self-Appointed Censors at GoDaddy“
• NoDaddy.com – “My Story“
• Geek Daily – “GoDaddy Surpressing Search Engine Indexing“
• Colin McNamara – “Why GoDaddy Linux Virtual Dedicated Hosting Sucks & How to Fix It“
• Johnon.com – “GoDaddy Has a Problem“
• Oregon Herald – “GoDaddy.com/TDNam.com: Are They Careless or Just Stupid?
• DNForum – “GoDaddy Charged Us $29 for Trademark Violation!“
• Geeks With Blogs – “The Woes of Plesk Control Panel for Shared Web Hosting“

And what’s with GoDaddy tech support always needing to put me on hold for another three or four minutes while the rep “Checks on something?” Does he have a burrito in the microwave or just wanting me to rack up more minutes on my phone bill. That’s right, there is no toll-free tech support at GoDaddy.

The Message:

So, is GoDaddy really an evil hosting and domain provider? Nah, probably not on the level of Jerry Springer and Dr. Phil. But I’m writing this post for a different reason. As an advisor to new bloggers, I owe it to you to share this information. The fact is, when you are choosing a host for your blog you need to ask: Do I want to risk the problems that are broadly reported at GoDaddy? Or will I simply take the low cost deal and hope I’m one of the thousands of satisfied GoDaddy customers? (Oh yeah, some of my best friends are GoDaddy fans.)

The bottom line is, shop around and know the potential problems. A great place to start is the BlogFlux Hosting Directory. They have customer reviews and comparisons for a multitude of hosting providers.

[PhotoCredit:FuzzCat]

Automattic WordPress.com 2.5 Essential Training – This video training is the newest release at Lynda.com. You’ve not heard of Lynda.com? Well, that’s another great story…but for now you just need to know that Maria Langer has created a 4.5 hour video training for Lynda.com that covers nearly everything you can do with WordPress 2.5. Some of the introductory segments are free to view, but you should consider the one month, $25 membership. You can watch as many videos as you’d like for 30 days! (No, Lynda doesn’t pay me to say this…but I wouldn’t mind if she comped the one-year membership I purchased.)

Dateless Sniper 2.0 WordPress Theme – With a name like that, it’s got to be….well, I don’t know, but I love this theme! This Courtney Tuttle design is clean, sharp and Adsense ready. Court has even put together a video tutorial for those using this theme. If you’re looking for a high-quality, FREE WordPress theme, be sure to give Dateless Sniper 2.0 a look. I love that name!

Lost At E Minor – This blog is listed here simply because it is the most amazing WordPress site I have seen is quite some time. The design is by Andrew “Whitey” Whitehead, an Australian chap with amazing talent. This pop culture blog is a mixed media extravaganza. Can a blog be eye candy? Visit Lost At E Minor and find out.

WordPress SEO – Or, according to the subtitle, the definitive guide to high rankings or your blog. This Yoast post by Joost is the most, pardon my boast. (Hey, I’m having fun…play along.) Just a few days old, the WordPress SEO is a digestible article on the tricks and tactics for optimizing your site for search engine ranking. I strongly recommend that you read this post and take action… immediately! Your blog deserves Google page one ranking and this is the way to get there.

Protecting Your Content on WordPress.com – I get so frustrated with finding content I wrote used (usually without credit) on other websites. It’s not that what I write would interest a pimply faced Internet scavenger, but there are plenty of lazy, unscrupulous site owners who simply “scrape” blog content and use it as their own. Join me in fighting this battle against lazy S.O.B.s. Read Jonathan Bailey’s post at Lorelle on WordPress about how to find and battle Internet plagiarism.

Oh well, that’s where our spam filters come in. So the question today is, just how good is your spam filter? When I started this blog, I decided to do a little recordkeeping to see just how good my spam filter is. I have always used the Akismet spam filter that comes with my WordPress installation. Of course, I keep it up to date with each new update.

So, here’s the comment stats since my blog started in mid-January 2008.

Total Comments: 598
Total Spam Comments: 410
Percent of Comments that are Spam: 68.6%

Spam Comments Missed by Akismet: 1
Comments Incorrectly Filtered as Spam: 4
Percent of Spam Filtering Errors: <1.0%

Percent of Spam Peddling Porn or Viagra: 78.9%
Percent of My Budget for Buying Porn or Viagra: 0.0%
Percent of My Day Spent on Spam Problems: 0.0%

Now if only the Sacramento Kings stats looked as good. Quite honestly, I can’t imagine how the Akismet filter could do any better. Actually, I can’t imagine how it does even that well. The Akismet filter is absolutely amazing. By the way, the above photo reveals the secret behind the Akismet spam filter.

So, what spam filter do you use on your blog? Do you feel the performance is on par with the Askimet filter?

[PhotoCredit:Lloydyidau]

To try out the redesigned administration panel, go to the test site login and enter the following: user name (admin) and password (demo). Try out things and see how you like it. The site is returned to the default settings each hour. Have fun and let me know what you think.

[Editor's Note: If you are interested in a detailed list of changes, visit Westi on WordPress. Each week he as been posting an update on the new changes for version 2.5.]