Blogger vs WordPress Blog

Kozhikode/Thiruvananthapuram: A suspected Islamic State-inspired blogger has issued death threat to the administrators of Freethinkers, a Facebook community engaged in discussions on religions and social issues. A post in the blog has the profile of 14 persons, including a Muslim teacher from Malappuram.

The highly provocative posts exhort Indian Muslims to follow the path of jihad as it is the only way to uphold the dignity of Indian Muslims. The content of the Malayalam blog, muhajir2015.wordpress.com, is not in tune with the stance of any known Muslim fundamentalist outfits in India including SIMI, the most radical outfit, among them.

It is dangerously close to the publicity material of the Islamic State. Without naming the IS, the blogger asks all Indian Muslims to migrate from the land of nonbelievers to the land of Islam. "Till now they (Indian Muslims) had an excuse that there was no Darul-Islam (home of Islam) or the Caliphate in the world. But such alibis are not acc eptable after the re-establishment of the Caliphate. It is the religious duty of all Muslims to migrate after the Darul Islam is established," the blogger says. It may be recalled that IS has invited Muslims all over the world to come and stay in the Caliphate it established.

The post says ideas like communism, democracy , secularism and nationalism are against Islam and claims that Prophet Muhammad has said that one day Muslim warriors will overpower India. It deplores while the world over has woken up to jihad, Indian Muslims are shying away from their duty .

The blogger particularly targets the Muslim teacher in Malappuram, who has been vociferous in criticizing Islamic fundamentalism. "If he continues to walk freely even after insulting the Prophet, it means that Allah has forsaken the community . Anyone who insults the messenger of Allah should be killed," the post says. TOI has contacted senior officials of intelligence, however, they are yet to take a serious look at the issue. State police chief T P Senkumar said the cops have to find out the content creators of the blog. HiTech cell assistant commissioner Vinayakumaran Nair said the police are waiting for a reply from the WordPress authorities. Nodal officer of Cyberdome, the hi-tech centre for cyber security , Manoj Abraham said such issues do not come under the preview of Cyberdome. Members of Freethinkers group, when contacted, refused to comment. Sources said that they have informed the police about the blog, but have no plans to register a formal complaint. Rationalist C Ravichandran said that the killings of rationalists in Bangladesh should be an eye-opener to the authorities in the state.
Source: Blog in Malayalam exhorts state Muslims to join jihad

By JP Morgenthal

Article Rating:

April 29, 2016 12:00 PM EDT

Reads:

247

I have an article in the recently released "DZone Guide to Building and Deploying Applications on the Cloud" entitled "Fullstack Engineering in the Age of Hybrid Cloud". In this article I discuss the need and skills of a Fullstack Engineer with relation to troubleshooting and repairing complex, distributed hybrid cloud applications. My recent experiences with troubleshooting issues with my Docker WordPress container only reinforce the details I wrote about in this piece. Without my comprehensive understanding of both the infrastructure and application layer I don't believe I could have achieved resolution (if I have, but more on that later).

My Docker WordPress container has always had issues with the "Error Connecting to Database" issue, but initially it would happen once a month and I would just re-start the container. I had read that the issue was fixed by moving to WordPress 4.5, so I upgraded, which came with its own challenges given these containers are supposed to be immutable.

Unfortunately, I designed my container when Docker architecture was in its infancy and so separating out and linking a MySQL container and the WordPress container as well as storing data on a separate volume are all features which emerged, or became more easily used, in later versions. Eventually, I will need redesign around 1.11 features, but for now, I'm just trying to keep up what I currently have. I did try just moving the database files onto permanent storage mapped in to the container as a volume, but all I did was fight with file permissions for a day and MySQL never ended up starting.

Recently, it became more and more difficult to keep the container up, so I upgraded to the latest Ubuntu 14.04 kernel and when that didn't seem to help the issue I upgraded Docker from 1.4 to 1.11. None of these seemed to correct the issue. However, Docker 1.11 leverages the new architecture and uses cgroups, which resulted in cgroup out of memory thread killer posting messages to my console.

Now, I could see that mysqld was being terminated at some point due to insufficient memory. To solve the memory issue, I tried optimizing the WordPress LAMP stack for low memory and even migrated from a 1G virtual machine to a 2G instance. It seems no matter how much memory I threw at this problem the longest the WordPress site would be active before the database connection issue appeared was an hour.

Totally baffled at this point, I started chasing down a lead regarding WordPress issues occurring on my cloud service provider. It seemed the issue I was seeing was happening to many others on Digital Ocean, perhaps this was a VPS (DO's Droplet architecture is VPS-based) issue and not a Docker issue. DO responded on its forum to the various postings stating that running out of memory is common result of the known XML-RPC Denial of Service attack.  XML-RPC is the API interface for WordPress.

Wait! What am I doing? No one's going to bother attacking my little old blog, it can't be that. Back to optimizing memory use. Oh crud, this is still not getting me anywhere after two weeks.

Unfortunately, again my immutable container architecture limited my ability to see logs and SSH connections were often terminated due to low memory as well. Once I terminated the container without committing the container the logs were lost. So, I had to modify the current container to use an external volume for all the log files and now wrote them out to permanent storage.

Whoa! What do I find in the apache2 access.log after the next time the issue occurs? Well, when I did a tail of the last 200 entries I found my site was being attacked by a Googlebot, and there were a lot more entries in addition to those. In the end, I was a victim of a denial of service attack.

I believe its important to look at what data I had available and the characteristics identified by the logs and error messages. Nothing screamed DoS attack consuming mass number of threads on the Apache server and driving memory usage to 0 so that the memory manager was sacrificing threads to keep the OS alive (does that make anyone else think of Kirk screaming to Scotty, "all power to life support"?). When the attack stopped, mysqld_safe restored the thread, but it seems the socket or some other interprocess mechanism didn't allow WordPress to communicate with the MySQL.

Piecing this together after the fact required a mix of skills. It might have been easier if I was doing live monitoring and tracking inbound requests while also constantly checking that WordPress could communicate MySQL, but realistically, this is a dramatic step when all else has failed.

Through this I learned a lot about container architecture, but this issue is probably still lingering. I'm just denying all requests to access XML-RPC from outside IP addresses at this time and the WordPress has been up for over 24 hours. More importantly, it really reinforces what I wrote about in the article and I don't believe I could have reached this point if I didn't have a good understanding of the infrastructure, operating system, networking, Docker and LAMP stack.

Read the original blog entry...

JP Morgenthal is an internationally renowned thought leader in the areas of IT transformation, modernization, and cloud computing. JP has served in executive roles within major software companies and technology startups. Areas of expertise include strategy, architecture, application development, infrastructure and operations, cloud computing, DevOps, and integration. He routinely advises C-level executives on the best ways to use technology to derive business value. JP is a published author with four trade publications with his most recent being "Cloud Computing: Assessing the Risks". JP holds both a Masters and Bachelors of Science in Computer Science from Hofstra University.

@DevOpsSummit Stories

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 05:15 PM EDT  Reads: 1,675

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 04:30 PM EDT  Reads: 1,749

By Liz McMillan

Apr. 29, 2016 03:30 PM EDT  Reads: 1,647

By Pat Romanski

Apr. 29, 2016 03:00 PM EDT  Reads: 829

By Liz McMillan

Apr. 29, 2016 01:30 PM EDT  Reads: 461

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 01:00 PM EDT  Reads: 1,476

By Pat Romanski

Apr. 29, 2016 12:30 PM EDT  Reads: 1,627

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 11:45 AM EDT  Reads: 2,217

By Liz McMillan

Apr. 29, 2016 11:15 AM EDT  Reads: 1,412

By Pat Romanski

Much of the value of DevOps comes from a (renewed) focus on measurement, sharing, and continuous feedback loops. In increasingly complex DevOps workflows and environments, and especially in larger, regulated, or more crystallized organizations, these core concepts become even more critical. In his session at @DevOpsSummit at 18th Cloud Expo, Andi Mann, Chief Technology Advocate at Splunk, will show how, by focusing on 'metrics that matter,' you can provide objective, transparent, and meaningful feedback on DevOps processes to all stakeholders. Learn from real-life examples how to use the dat...

Apr. 29, 2016 09:45 AM EDT  Reads: 499

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 07:30 AM EDT  Reads: 851

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 07:00 AM EDT  Reads: 789

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 05:45 AM EDT  Reads: 2,422

By Elizabeth White

SYS-CON Events announced today TMCnet has been named "Media Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on June 7–9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, and the 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC) is the world's leading business-to-business and integrated marketing media company, servicing niche markets within the communications and technology industries.

Apr. 29, 2016 04:45 AM EDT  Reads: 2,362

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 29, 2016 03:45 AM EDT  Reads: 1,682

By Pat Romanski

Apr. 28, 2016 07:15 PM EDT  Reads: 2,392

By Elizabeth White

SYS-CON Events announced today that Fusion, a leading provider of cloud services, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. Fusion, a leading provider of integrated cloud solutions to small, medium and large businesses, is the industry's single source for the cloud. Fusion's advanced, proprietary cloud service platform enables the integration of leading edge solutions in the cloud, including cloud communications, cloud connectivity, and cloud computing. Fusion's innovative, yet proven cloud solu...

Apr. 28, 2016 09:30 AM EDT  Reads: 2,513

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 27, 2016 07:15 PM EDT  Reads: 2,372

By Pat Romanski

Apr. 27, 2016 04:00 PM EDT  Reads: 2,159

By Pat Romanski

Apr. 27, 2016 01:00 PM EDT  Reads: 1,990

By Liz McMillan

SYS-CON Events announced today that FalconStor Software® Inc., a 15-year innovator of software-defined storage solutions, will exhibit at SYS-CON's 18th International Cloud Expo®, which will take place on June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. FalconStor Software®, Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC) is a leading software-defined storage company offering a converged, hardware-agnostic, software-defined storage and data services platform. Its flagship solution FreeStor®, utilizes a horizontal architecture that unlocks a new world of storage opportunities, allowing IT managers, MSPs, and CS...

Apr. 27, 2016 12:00 PM EDT  Reads: 2,427

By Pat Romanski

Apr. 26, 2016 08:45 PM EDT  Reads: 1,585

By Sanjay Zalavadia

Apr. 26, 2016 06:15 PM EDT  Reads: 2,015

By Elizabeth White

Apr. 26, 2016 12:30 PM EDT  Reads: 1,921

By Pat Romanski

Programmable network connectivity and network overlay technologies like Docker libnetwork, Weave Net, and Calico are essential tools for DevOps engineers using orchestration tools to manage and deploy Docker containers in production. Because network troubleshooting and optimization falls within the jurisdiction of DevOps, it's vital that DevOps engineers understand exactly how network overlays work. In his session at @DevOpsSummit, 18th Cloud Expo, Dirk Wallerstorfer, Technology Lead for networking, SDN, and OpenStack at Dynatrace, will discuss the fundamentals of container networking, see p...

Apr. 26, 2016 10:45 AM EDT  Reads: 1,632

 
Source: The Curious Case of the WordPress Docker Container | @DevOpsSummit #DevOps

Quick question: Do you know what IFC, The New York Post, The Walt Disney Company, and WNBA have in common? Ponder the answer for a moment, as the tie that binds the four organizations isn't obvious. Go ahead, I've got a minute. Stumped? It's the WordPress content management system (CMS) that powers their websites.

If you aren't hip to WordPress, here's a short explanation of what it's about. WordPress is a flexible, easy-to-set-up Web publishing platform that has served as the foundation for more than 60 million websites since its launch more than a decade ago. Its popularity has spawned an incredibly rich plug-in ecosystem that gives users the ability to improve their sites in many ways, including search engine optimization (SEO), article enhancement, and comments management. In short, there are an amazing number of ways to trick out your WordPress installation's base functionality, whether you're hosting your own website or using a managed WordPress hosting service.

There are more than 43,000 WordPress plug-ins available as I write this piece. The upside? There are a ton of plug-ins to choose from. The downside? There are a ton of plug-ins to choose from. As with the Android and iOS app stores, the WordPress plug-in catalog houses countless goodies mixed in with even more duds. This guide's goal is to highlight those that will most benefit your website. You can, of course, visit WordPress' Most Popular Plug-in Directory to see the most downloaded plug-ins of the moment, but you'll miss many great potential additions by not digging deeper. That, however, is a potentially massive time sink, so I've done the digging on your behalf.

I've tested numerous WordPress plug-ins—both good and bad—to compile this list of the best that will help your site perform like a champ. And they do it without costing you a cent, because these plug-ins are all free (although some do offer premium levels with additional functionality). If you've explored this list before, you'll notice some changes this time around. I've updated the list to reflect some of my new, favorite WordPress plug-ins. I think you'll like them. I also removed the plug-ins that are no longer available, as well as the plug-ins that haven't been updated in more than a year. An out-of-date plug-in may work with your recently updated WordPress installation, but it's not guaranteed to do so.

Oh, one more thing. Now's the time I should mention that plug-ins can only be installed in self-hosted WordPress sites; if WordPress.com is your host, this article isn't for you.

If you're self-hosting and you're ready to enhance your WordPress-powered site, check out these excellent plug-ins. Got a favorite plug-in that I haven't mentioned? Feel free to shout it out in the comments section below.

Source: The 25 Best WordPress Plug-ins

Behind-the-Scenes: 52 Blogger's Best Achievements & Worst Mistakes

This is a guest post written by Freelance Writer And Blogger Philip Verghese 'Ariel'.

The Struggle is lifeblood of hope and without hope you can be anything but successful in your life. So keep struggling is the best thing ever in my life and in my blogging journey more particularly.

This is my power of hope that despite working for the last four years and yet to make a big breakthrough. I am working as if I am getting a huge round of applause from everywhere. No doubt the support, love, guidance and encouragement I am getting from everywhere are commendable, but my habit of keeping struggling never let me take a pause of even while.

Well, these things are a little conceptual so I share here what are the best and worst things in my blogging journey in exact terms."

Best things: First of all, my vast experience from offline world is a great support to me while blogging and I understand the intricacies of every aspect of blogging quite easily.

Secondly, my starting of a blog ingreen niche that has least competition and highest demand as soon after three months of my establishing it I got 500 daily visitors on it. So at the beginning I never had any kind of frustration that usually makes people quit blogging.

Third best thing in my blogging journey is my timely decision to start the money blog that connected me with so many great bloggers as with my green blog I was in connect with those who were influencer of green sector but not of blogging field. So my connection with several pro bloggers helped me explore and learn so many amazing things about blogging that boosted my confidence to become a blogging consultant and I got so many clients in the very beginning.

Worst things: First worst thing was my least focusing on technical aspects of blogging that stopped me creating wonderful blog design and impressive layout of my posts that is why my many posts despite of having quite unique info are still unnoticed by many.

Secondly, my not strictly sticking to my strategy and sometimes becoming so philosophical and conceptual was a big hurdle to create contents that go viral in short time as compare to very detailed contents that take a little long time to create their space.

Last and not the least is more reliance on text contents and not trying diversity which now I am trying to cover up but my several posts are devoid of it. ~ Mi Muba, Be A Money Blogger

In my 2 years of blogging journey. I experienced many ups and downs. The best thing about blogging is there are no limits, no boundaries and no restrictions to share your ideas. You are your own boss. It is something that you can proudly tell everyone that it's yours.

Well worst thing happened to me was poor keyword selection for my first blog Amipsyche.com and it failed terribly. Despite this I learned from that failure and I am running a SEO Optimization blog Rustyblogger.com and one secret blog that is making money for me.

Well I have learned and suggest everyone to start your blog now. You will learn unexpected things. ~ Abhishek Jain ~ RustyBlogger

I got into blogging 19 months ago. My biggest mistake was that for the first 12 months I didn't have my own blog. I was ghost writing for another blogger. He was my only client and I didn't have a reputation in the blogosphere so I stayed with him, although I knew I was underpaid.

My biggest achievement was that I started my own blog and monetized my skills faster than I imagined. Through blogger outreach I got to connect with many influencers who became my clients. Have confidence in yourself and give value to others and you will be able to accomplish all your goals.

Minuca creates expert round-ups that provide quality content, bring huge traffic, get more quality leads and help bloggers connect with influencers. You can find her at her blog MinucaElena.com

Best things about blogging: In blogging the possibilities are endless. Being an inspirational blogger, it gives me the freedom to create a positive impact on people all over the globe, help them live their dreams and overcome their negativity to create a happy & successful life. If you have a message to with the like-minded people all over the globe or an experience to share to educate and inspire others or build a business to serve other business or clients, blogging is the foundation. The most beautiful part is if you start a blog and create quality content on a consistent basis, then you can live your dream life while having freedom and fortune.

Worst Thing about blog: I haven't found anything worse yet, because still so much of opportunities are there that I am always busy exploring the possibilities rather than finding the difficulty. Moreover, the blogosphere is filled with so many good people who are always ready to share and help the best solutions and resources which will never make you feel bad if you stay focused and keep looking for solutions. ~ Ajay Mishra  ~ Awesomeaj.com

The best part of my blogging journey so far has been that I have made so many new friends who share common ideologies and thoughts and help each other's grow professionally and personally. I am a member of many blogging communities and get to learn so much about so many different fields and areas, which were almost alien to me. Blogging has also improved my writing capabilities because I guess practice makes a man perfect.

The worst part of my journey so far has to be the time and effort one needs to put. At times it's depressing to realize that I have so few readers and followers and shares and comments. I sometimes even doubt my capabilities, but I know if I put my 100% success is sure to come. ~ Dr.Arpita ~ ArpithaJain.com

The worst thing in my blogging journey so far is probably the first stage when you have to build your audience and readership from scratch. It can be discouraging when you try hard to create great content with little exposure.

On the other hand, being able to share and learn from others great folks out there totally worth the effort. ~Anh Nguyen ~ BloggingThing.com

Blogging has been my passion since the beginning. I love every part of it. I enjoyed the both best and worst things. Both Failure and Success are great because success moments gave me the motivation to work even harder, and Failure moments

taught me many things that helped me grow well over the time.

But, still as you gave me an opportunity to share these things of my life, so I am sharing them here.

Below are the best things in my blogging journey so far:

– When so many friends said that a blogspot blog cannot get Adsense, and I made it happen.   Though, it was not a great thing but it was really a happy moment for me.

–   The second best moment I remember is that when my blog migrated from Blogspot to WordPress.  At that time, this was kind of a big deal for me.

–  The third best moment is when we got Page Rank 4 directly. In those days, getting good Page Rank was a big thing.   These are a few best moments I can remind. However, there are many other small and big good things happened in my blogging Journey.

Below are the Worst things in my blogging Journey:

–  I got outbound link penalty from Google 2 times for my blog www.techtricksworld.com because we linked to advertisers in unnatural ways. These two were the worst things, and I worked very hard to get rid of penalty. Finally, I was able to get the penalty revoked.   There are no more worse things I can remind because, by the God's grace, everything is going great.   ~ Atish Ranjan ~ www.techtricksworld.com

The best thing is that the act of composing a blog article is a good way for me to organize and record my own thinking on a topic.

The worst thing is that some of my articles attract respondents who are jerks and trolls who have to be dealt with.

~ Barry Kort ~ MicroMuse 

The best thing that has come out of my blogging journey over the past year is the connections I have made with both readers and other bloggers. The worst thing has been a lack of focus — my content serves no one person nor solves one specific problem, but all that will be changing in the coming months. My new focus will be on helping those who seek to build their own online service-based business. ~ Brent Jones Online.com

My favorite things about blogging so far:  1. Helping others. I have been constantly amazed with how many people around the world have been helped by The Wonder of Tech. There is nothing better for me than hearing from a reader how I've helped them by introducing them to the tech that makes their lives easier.

2. Building friendships. One pleasant surprise of blogging is the incredible friendships I have made in the blogosphere. Most fellow bloggers I've never met, but I feel very close to them as we have shared and supported each other through our blogging journey together. I had the pleasure of meeting Adrienne Smith in person about a year and a half ago and she is just as wonderful in person as she is online.

3. Discovering cool new tech. One of the most fun things about blogging is discovering new tech that can change lives. When I get to chat with the CEO of an up and coming Tech Company I get to hear the enthusiasm that helped bring the tech to market and learn about how a dream was turned into reality. I love being a part of that process to help my readers learn about this new tech and help entrepreneurs spread the word about their inventions.

Least favorite things about blogging:

1. The tech. I know that sounds strange but tech issues for my website drive me nuts. My website may be down or my email subscribers don't get notifications of new articles published. A plugin update crashes my site or a new theme doesn't work with a plugin. Broken links must be cleaned up which can take hours of my time. I would much rather write about tech than deal with the tech issues of my website.

2. Hackers. All I'm trying to do is help people learn about tech. I don't sell ads, have affiliate links or try to make money off of The Wonder of Tech. Yet hackers want to log in and attack my blog. Fortunately, my dear friend Ashvini Kumar Saxena came up with a very clever way to thwart hackers that has worked beautifully so far.

3. Spammers. Daily I get about a dozen spammers who slip through the multiple anti-spammer filters I've set up. I don't approve their comments for publication so you'd think that they would give up, but no, they keep on coming. They are a total waste of my time." ~ Carolyn Nicander Mohr  ~    wonderoftech.com

Yikes! I could write a book on this subject.   The best thing about my blogging journey is that I have met so many wonderful people, had I not been a Blogger, we would never have met, nor would I have met so many other wonderful friends from all over the world.

Now the worst thing! HUM? To be honest, I think it has to do with sitting all the time, I have never been a good sitter and have made a standing desk at the bar, but it just doesn't cut it for too long.  ~ Chery Schemidt ~  successcoach.chery-schmidt.ws

I cannot choose what is the best thing so far, because there are two things that are just so amazing.  One is the incredible network of supportive and sincere people I have met, people who work beyond parochial borders and petty local politics, people who can see that we are all part of one human race and really don't care what car you drive, how dark your complexion or whether you work in your PJs.

But I also just love to write.  I just cannot help it.  I am an addict, which might be why I love writing posts like Thgmwriters.com – because many of them are true (although, I'm not telling which ones).  So is it the people or the writing?  I cannot decide.

As to what I dislike the most on my blogging journey that one is easy to tell!  Tech glitches.  Boo.  Hiss.  Go away, tech glitches.  Just last week I faced a white screen on three blogs, all because of some infection.  And even while trying to do backups before updating WordPress and cleaning up plugins, I was hit again.  Go away tech glitches.  Leave me alone!  ~ David Leonhard ~  TheHappyGuy

The worst thing in my blogging journey was getting started.

There were so many things I needed to learn. I especially struggled to negotiate a steep learning curve concerning technical things related to tasks like setting up my first blog, adding plugins and widgets, getting a domain, and setting up hosting.

Then I had to figure out how to develop valuable content, and present it in an interesting manner. This presented more technical challenges like learning to do videos, images and such. This was all unfamiliar territory to me.

The best thing in my blogging journey has been helping other people follow in my footsteps.

I started along this path by writing articles about blogging. In time, I created several information products on the topic, including a 7 hour, multi-modular video and demo tutorial called "Blogging Magic."

I've even added several levels of coaching that have given me the opportunity to work with my clients individually, one-on-one to guide them along their own path of building a blogging business.  I've always loved helping people, and my favorite part of blogging has been helping them build a profitable online business with their own blog.  ~Donna Merrill ~ donnamerrilltribe.com

The worst part is, I hate that people see my blogging time as though I am just busy playing and wasting my time with my laptop. They know blogging is a lucrative business, but they do not know how much hard work involved behind it.  And my best? Oh, it has to be the fact that I can impact so many lives at the click of the publish button. That is elating and I don't plan to give that up for anything. I love the recognition too.  ~ Elsieisy  ~  Elsieisy.com

Some of the worst things that happened to me are: 1.   I lacked the understanding of what blogging really means and how to go about it and succeed.  2. No one was ready to tell me the truth; all they presented me was all sorts of eBooks that are saying the same things over and over again. 3. I didn't know how well to drive traffic to my blog.

And some of the good things that happened to me are: 1. The day I got my first AdSense payment, it was a great booster to my blogging career.  2. When some notable bloggers began commenting on my blogs.  3. When a notable blogger confessed to me that so many things they write on their blogs are not real.  This changed my mind set. He advised me to work out a method for myself and my blogging career.  ~Embebu Bon  ~   Efogator.com

The best that has come from my blogging is the true connections I have developed with many people.  By reading my regular blog posts, many people have learned about who I am and what I do that is unique.  Their comments help me to understand the way they think and feel and that helps me to have a sense of the impact I am making.  Many clients have found me because they have read something I have written.  By writing consistently, without anyone editing, I have developed a freer feeling about writing.  The more I write, the easier it becomes.  I created completely different blog sites for different focus points – one for Healthy Baby Boomers, one for Marketing Our Practices for therapists and coaches, one for creating love and one as my authority site to showcase all the work I have done to help people to heal their relationships through love.

I have run into only a few negative moments when someone responded with a comment that was not pleasant or when someone I know had a personal reaction to something I wrote.  But I must say that after blogging for many years, those negative incidents could be counted on the fingers of one hand.  Overall, blogging has been an avenue and a platform for sharing what I know and what I value with the world. ~Dr. Erica  ~ DrEricaGoodstone.com

The best thing about working online is that I've reached the financial freedom.  Moreover, it's fantastic to manage my working hours, while still having a lot of time for my hobbies.

The worst thing is that I spend a lot in front of my computer, which is somehow unhealthy.   Luckily, I love sports, so every day I do some physical activity in the gym, or jogging, or else, skydiving.  ~Erik Emanuelli ~    Erik Emanuelli.com

I have to say that when I started blogging, I did not even know what it is I found out about blogging through the encouragement of Lesly Fererici, Monna Ellithorpe and Dr. Erica Goodstone, we have been a small group having hangouts before the Idea of PAC came and the two Ladies Lesly and Monna got busy to make it happen. I was not even good in writing English, I hope I am a bit better now. I got online through a course, which promised a lot, but did not deliver. But looking back I do not regret, because I learned to know my best friend and he too helped me a lot to improve writing through daily email communication. I can say we help each other now for years and through him I had a whole new world opening for me, which I not yet had discovered and made it possible to express myself.

So blogging became a kind of adventure for me. I cannot say that I had bad experiences, I am grateful to say, I met many  loving people, like you Philip and many others. ~Erika R Mohssen-Beyk  ~  Erikamohssen-beyk.com

Best things in B. Journey- Failures. Before writing the anti-NSA algorithm, which technically gave me the financial stability to take on blogging as a full time job, I failed at blogging DRAMATICALLY. More than 3 blogs, totally doomed. Why they're the best things? Because I believe, life is all about attitude. So instead of taking them as a "the end" mark, I took them as lessons. From the experience, mistakes and knowledge, now I try to share whatever I know of the B-world.

2. Worst thing- Competition and comparison. I've seriously seen people rank their blogs in WEEKS. At first, comparing myself to them de-motivated me, led me to serious depressions, and so I temporarily quit my career. I thought I was no good, but well, apparently I was wrong. Also, from a personal viewpoint, the worst thing that happened was on a blog called "cyberecode", I worked my ass off BUT the tragedy was, I didn't have the money (10$ approx) to renew the domain.

The third point should be, "bad advices". Trust me, 70% of online blog-gurus take you as a competition even before you enter the game, and taking their advice is the worst possible decisions bloggers make. ~Evan Derek ~   Vebblabbs.com

There's been a lot of ups and downs in my journey to finding success as a blogger. I think that the worst event to happen in my blogging journey was having to start over again after failing with my first blog at Magnet4Marketing. But that being said, I'm actually pleased that this happened to be honest, because starting over has really been a small success in itself.

Making mistakes and experiencing hard times is just part of the process of finding success online, and we all have to embrace it.

So the best thing that has happened for me in blogging, so far I should add, is all the wonderful connections I've made in this industry with so many awesome like minded people. There is nothing more powerful and rewarding than having a loyal blog audience. I'm not big on SEO, but I love connecting with people online by networking and doing blog commenting etc. So for me the relationships I've made online has really paid off and I'll continue to do just that. ~ Fabrizio Van Marciano ~ Magnet4Blogging

The best things in my blogging journey, so far, is the time and freedom I have. I can work from anywhere I want, and work on my own hours. I also get to help and inspire people from all over the world.

I don't really have anything to say about the "worst things in my blogging journey" – but I would say this; building a strong self-discipline to do the necessary work and take massive consistent action, was a big challenge to overcome. ~ Freddy Gandarilla ~InternetMarketingblog101.com

One of the best things about blogging is getting to interact with so many people. Several of my offline friendships first developed online. The friendships have enriched my life. My phone rings if I'm offline a few days and so will theirs. We hold each other accountable that way. I have also had people stop me who recognize me from my blog. They will comment on this article and that. It's always humbling to know that words have the power to impact so many people. The relationships with others are better than blogging income or the freedom that writing brings – although those are pretty good too.

The downside is that people have no clue how much work goes on behind the scenes. It takes hours to write a blog post or a script, edit a video and do all the grunt work that's required. Then there are the lost internet connections and cafes that close just as the video finishes uploading. These are small things though. I can't imagine what I would be doing if I wasn't blogging.~ Gayle Crabtree ~ YouHavebeenReviewed

The best thing to happen in my blogging journey is getting recognition as one of the top bloggers of India and a popular blogger of the blogosphere. I didn't expect to reach so far when I started blogging. Therefore, these unexpected turn of events were a sweet surprise as well as a humbling experience.

However, the worst of my blogging journey has been the inability to start off my new blog, as planned. I had been trying for a perfect start, but then things did not happen as desired due to certain unexpected events, and I had to postpone the plans. However, I'm gradually working on it.

Just as in life, the blogging journey too has its ups and downs, and I learned that one must try to find a balance and anchor in the hope that all will end well, and keep making the efforts. Consistency is the key, and it will level out the ups and downs to create a smooth and memorable blogging journey. ~ Harleena Singh ~ AhaNOW

Best Thing: Blogging helped me discover myself & let me experience life the best way possible. I couldn't imagine my life to be the same with 9-6 job type.

Worst thing: Finding work-life balance was a task in between, as when you passionate about something that becomes your life. After 7 years of blogging, I believe I'm on the verge of finding that perfect balance. The credit for this goes to my partner-in-crime @Shalkit who helped me see the life from a new perspective. ~Harsh Agrawal ~ ShoutmeLoud.com

I might have done a good job when it comes to creating helpful and engaging content. I've seen some of my blog posts ranked on the first page of major search engines. The good thing is I've made myself a DECISION MAKER. I make a decision and follow it. Sometimes, they really work. The only thing disturbs me is that at some point I get stuck between two favorite things to drop down the least favorite and go with the best one, for example, in niche markets, entrepreneurial ideas etc.

And, the good thing is, I end up with a decision, whether wrong or right. I don't keep things that way like forever. This is what I am. But, I have to fix the certainty issue in the personality because it's not good for my business. I have to be more certain with my decision making. ~Hassaan Khan~ Hassaankhan.com

WORST: I might substitute the word 'worst' with 'unpleasant'. The unpleasant blogging experiences have taught me to be patient and work towards finding a solution instead of getting worked up about it.

My unpleasant blogging experience so far has been my commenting system. I have experimenting with numerous commenting systems but none seemed to work for me.

I've had issues either with installation, loading time and some of my loyal readers have even admitted hating the commenting system I was using. This resulted in many unhappy readers who read my posts and left without commenting.

My readers definitely helped me sort out this issue and I eventually to revert back to my default commenting system and it is working in my favor.

BEST: Redesigning my blog has been the best thing that happened so far.

I met an experienced web designer/blogger via a blog community and she was keen to give my blog a facelift. I sent her my requirements and the output was exactly what I was looking for.

Revamping my site has generated a lot of traffic and subscribers. Bounce rate is a lot lower than it used to be.

I've had a number of wonderful feedback of how branded and attractive the site actually looks now. It was worth the time, effort and money. ~ Hema Unoop ~ Cre8teapositivelife.com

The best thing in my blogging journey is that I am able to make a difference with my message plus blogging has given me the awesome opportunity to meet people and build a relationship with so many pro bloggers.

As for the worst thing in my blogging journey, It was when I picked the wrong hosting company that made me spend so much money and made my site so inaccessible and slow. ~Ikechi Awazi ~   Be A Light to the World

The best thing about blogging is transferring the experienced knowledge to readers and the worst things is change or revise in information due to web search and technology improvements. New readers' vs old information could be odd with the current trend or technology. There could be mismatch in features and factors. Again it can be tackled by reference / cite content or any mentions about future updates like subjected to change or so. ~Jagdeesh Kumar Nambiar (Jag) ~ SEOaday.com

I personally don't like negativity, so let's get the negatives out of the way first.

I would say the thing I dislike the most is spamming. It is one of the most irritating things I have experienced. I went through a time on my personal blog where I constantly started receiving spam comments. Every time I would visit my back office to work on my blog, there would be tons and tons of spam comments.

A friend recommended a plug-in called Antispam Bee. We installed it, and the problem was eliminated.

The biggest like is when I have written a post and I receive positive feedback. What I am referring to is for example after I have written one of my posts, I received a comment from a reader about how timely my post was. It addressed the exact issue she was dealing with at the time.

There is no way for me to know what any specific individual is dealing with when writing a new post. When I then receive comments such as these, I know that God is working through me and I am grateful that I was available for God to address a problem in someone's life. ~Jaco Alberts ~ Your Mind Renewed

The best thing I have experienced in my blogging journey thus far, has been discovering my own authenticity. It has taken me years to realize that I'm not like other people. I'm not like other bloggers. My goals are different, my motivations… and what I want OUT of blogging doesn't align with any other blogger I know.

What did that mean? It meant that I had to lean to stop doing what I THOUGHT readers wanted and to start being who I really am. Once I did that, success found me in days. Literally days.

The worst thing in my blogging experience for the past 10 years has been my struggle with developing an email list. I've followed programs, did what the pro's say to do, and even purchased the best tools in the business… but it has never worked for me.

I keep trying, but my 2016 resolution, being a popular author, is to find my 1000 fans and start from there. That means interacting and providing the best stories I can offer… and though no one can guarantee success, I've learned over time that you can consistently do the right things to increase your chances of success. ~Jaime D. Buckley  ~  WantedHero.com

My worst moment, as a very inexperienced and naive blogger, was the day I found that my FIVE blogs had been badly hacked on the same day and the hosting company hadn't been taking backups. I had innocently imagined that I didn't need to worry about security because "No-one could be bothered to hack my little blogs!" With hindsight, I shouldn't have had five blogs, but as a complete newbie I had been very badly misinformed and told that it was "really easy to make money blogging". If only….

The best thing that has happened is that I met and have learned so much from some wonderful bloggers. What they have shown me has helped me go from wondering what on earth I had to write about in my first blog post, to have been mentioned by some very successful bloggers – including yourself – and recently having been invited to be an Expert Author on PAC. ~Joy Healey ~ Joyhealey.com

Best Thing: Connecting with like-minded people like Harleena Mam, Ankit Singla, Krishna Moorthy D, Mohd Arif, Nirmala Santhakumar, Sanu Siddharth, at the right time is the best thing for me. I learned lots of things from these bloggers. Sometimes we choose the wrong path if nobody guide us. Getting good guidance is more than anything for me.

Worst Thing: 1). I offer services to clients also, but I never ask to upfront payment since I believe in long term relationships and getting good work delivered. But one of my clients cheated me, and he didn't pay a single penny after delivering complete work. I lost more than 2K $.

2). Poor Keyword selection and On-page optimization of blog posts. As most newbie bloggers do in the beginning. I also did the same thing, and it affected me a lot. ~Jyothi Chuhan ~ UpdateLand

I've been blogging since 2011 on different topics from fashion, business, lifestyle, inspiration for personal development. When I'm blogging, I come alive! One of the best things about blogging is that it allows me to be myself, share my thoughts, inspire people and also learn from them. I love that I get to work from anywhere while also connecting with amazing people around the globe. Blogging has also given me some really good opportunities (speaking engagements, especially) and I continue to learn new ways to create valuable content for my audience. In fact, blogging helps me to keep growing and unlocks some hidden potentials in me.

While I don't have any "worst things" that have happened in my blogging year, blogging can be a bit challenging sometimes. While they might be different for other people, mine is definitely more about finding a good balance between blogging and life in general, thinking about getting more traffic and blogging while creating a niche for your blog. But I've developed a mindset of adding value over struggling with views, developing the right strategy to reach my audience and also blogging from my heart versus doing what every other person is doing. ~Laiza King~ LaizaKing.com

I would say the worst thing in my blogging career was inadequate tool, I started blogging not having a PC and it really was hell using a mobile device and frequenting the café.

The best thing that has happened so far in this journey was knowing that what I had passion for pays. Yes, blogging pays and trust me, I'm cool with that. ~Larry Frank ~ FlowingTechBlog.com

Worst Thing: Technical fails – a plugin almost took down the entire site and I learned when choosing a webhost choose one available with 24/7 support. Things will happen and you don't want your site down for any length of time. (I had a resseller from a different time zone and that made it difficult for technical support.)

Best thing: The people – I met so many wonderful people and made new friendships via blogging. Many of the people are also willing to help out and I've enjoyed helping others out too via my experiences. I've also learned so much and I consider my blog as part of my resume now. Lisa Sicard ~ Inspiretothrive.com

Like every other blogger, my blogging journey has been filled with many ups and downs. There are a lot of things I like about blogging, including the connections I have made with others (both other bloggers as well as my audience) and the ability to share my knowledge and experiences with others.

I actually have two BEST things I'd like to mention regarding my blogging journey. The first is that I have written many posts that have hit the #1 spot in Google Search.

The second is that I was able to found and grow a freelancing business, Wording Well, which allows me to help others in need. As a certified teacher, this pleases me greatly — I love helping others!

I don't really have any "WORST" or negative things to mention. The only thing I would like to say is that I sometimes have a hard time with some of the technical aspects. For example, I recently faced an issue with my site wherein my formatted posts lost all of their formatting. I still am unsure as to WHY this happened. I ended up having to copy them all, one by one, into a Word document, trash the post, and then re-do each post as new one using the same content. It's things like this that frustrate and irk me!

Aside from technical problems (which every blogger has faced at some point or another), I love blogging and all it entails! ~ Lorraine Reguly ~ WordingWell.com

My best blogging experience is when there is a lot of response in the form of comments and discussion. My worst experience is the opposite – when no one reads or comments, or comments without reading through properly. ~ Malsawmi Jacob ~ EmyStoryLand

Let's start with the worst thing: the worst thing that happened to me during my blogging journey thus far was making the mistake of undervaluing my blog... I formed a joint venture partnership where I was getting the short end of the stick, and that wasted a lot of my time. And another thing is that sometimes it's been difficult for me to manage time for my blog. However, I learned from that experience, and the best thing has been all of the inspiring friends I have met who have really pushed me to do better and to reach higher. ~Mary Fernandez ~ Persuasiveblog.com

Best thing about blogging is being able to inspire, motivate, and encourage people all around the world. Just by sitting at my laptop and sharing my thoughts and experiences as a blind entrepreneur I show people what they can accomplish if they only start taking action. Whenever I do something challenging for the first time it shows that I am willing to walk my talk. It proves that I don't just encourage them to move out of their comfort zone. I do it myself. And nothing feels better than when I get a comment or an email from someone saying how I inspired them to take risks and move forward on their own journey. My most common response is if Max can do it then why can't I.

Worst thing about blogging is all the things that go along with having a blog. Here is a short list. In addition to coming up with ideas for new posts, writing them, editing them, and pressing publish; you also have to share on social media, mention them in your email newsletter, and reply to comments. You have to worry about search engine optimization and site security. You have to reply to comments on your blog as well as to replies from your social media posts. In my case I also recruit and contribute to guest blog posts, magazine articles, and radio shows. All of these also require promoting and following up on. There are always new social media networks to keep up with and new methods to learn like infographics, squeeze pages, hover cards, and the like. And as a blind computer user a lot of these websites are not easily accessible with a screen reader. Add to that having written an ebook and working on completing a second one. Becoming a successful blogger, podcaster, or onli ne business owner takes so much more work than most people realize.

I hope people don't think I'm complaining. As a blind person the world of blogging offers me a way to reach people that I wouldn't be able to if I had to depend on finding ways to meet and interact with them in person. It allows me to compete with sighted people in a way that doesn't really exist in many places outside of the internet and online businesses. And as we become even more dependent on an information based economy it gives me hope for my future and that of the blind and visually impaired people coming along behind me. I'm so thankful for the work. ~Maxwell Ivey ~ The Blind Blogger.net

Well according to me it is an excellent way to inspire others. The greatest obsession in my blogging journey is that it gives me more than my expectations i.e.

Knowledge

Help me out to strengthen my writing skills.

Make my own identity in the blogosphere.

~ Mohammad Mairaj ~ EtutorialBlog

I would have to say that the worst thing in my blogging journey so far is going to my site one morning, a site that I had worked so many hours creating had been hacked and the majority of the content was just GONE and I stared at a screen with a skull and crossbones that said YOU'VE BEEN HACKED." I did have a backup but it was not recent. So the lesson learned was to always and constantly back up your blogging content. I am still at a loss as to what purpose this serves to anyone other than just being plain mean. ~ Monna Ellithorpe ~ Monnaellithorpe.com

The best part of my blogging journey has been helping other people. The worst part is that it has become such a huge time suck that I spend at least 3 to 4 hours a day on my blog. ~Neil Patel~ NeilPatel.com

My passion for blogging is the best thing. It made me courageous and I got able to leave my 10 to 7 job to be a full-time blogger. I explored many things and met with some great bloggers. It is the best part of my blogging journey so far.

The worst part is, I didn't get any mentor and hadn't money even for paying for small expenses. For buying a hosting for my blog, I had to borrow the money. ~Nikhil Saini ~ MyQuickIdea.Com

My experience the thing about blogging is the flexible time schedule; I can work anytime I want, from anywhere I want. The 'no cubicle' career was always my dream. And as far as the worst things goes, I think the financial uncertainty of the beginning period is really hard to deal with. You must keep your expectation down and work diligently during this time to monetize your blog in long run. ~Nisha Pandey ~ SEOTechWorld.com

Getting to meet fellow bloggers in a big eco-system as blogging. Impacting and getting impacted upon, these among many others are the best moment of my blogging journey. Of course, there are some hard times, some of which are not having a PC to write my piece, nor connection to publish them if at all I get means of writing it. For several months, I was literally using my phone to browse and trust me it was pretty frustrating. Also, it took me several months to make my first $100 and those were really frustrating and hard times when I have to pay for hosting after running around to get money from external sources because my blog wasn't paying me. I'm glad that I've gone past those times though and I'm sure my earnings can always be better. So that's it. ~Sam Adeyinka  ~ Samuelkermis

The best experience I have had in my blogging journey so far is the connection and establishment of a diverse network of fellow learners and knowledge sharers. These people are not just generous with their knowledge, but they freely give of their time wherever possible to care and to help.

The worst experience I have found is in investing heavily in an open knowledge sharing platform only to suffer from its closure due to shifting corporate priorities. Google Knol was such a disappointment. However on balance, my blogging experience has been hugely rewarding for me, especially when readers take the time to thank me for helping them understand concepts that were previously beyond them." I am currently active on a question and answer site (Quora), where I share what I have learned from my experience and learn what others have learned from theirs. ~ Peter Bhaskerville ~ Peter Baskerville

The best thing about blogging is being able to write to my heart content without worrying of any backlash. On top of that, it is also a great way to share knowledge.

The bad thing about blogging is that it takes up a lot of time. Common blogging practises doesn't work anymore. Tons of research needed to have a successful blog. ~Reginald Chan ~ ReginaldChan.net

There are a lot of best things about blogging like enhancing our writing skills, improving our knowledge, successfully running an online business, establishing ourselves as an expert in a particular field and numerous other benefits. But, the most important benefit I like about blogging is networking with people from different parts of the world. I consider that is the best thing about my blogging journey so far.

Now the worst thing about blogging: It is very difficult to find the worst thing about blogging than the best thing as there are very less things that can be considered as a worst thing in blogging. For me, the only worst thing that I encountered so far is the lack of time spending with family members and friends when we deeply involve in blogging related activities. ~ Reji Stephenson ~ DigitalDimensions4U.com

The best thing about blogging is you get to connect with like-minded writers and readers. When I see all my stats, it's unbelievable that Internet/social media helps you reach so many people and gives you so many opportunities to help and inspire people in so many ways.

In my opinion, there is nothing worst about blogging. It's just that blogging is the most misunderstood and most challenging career option one can possibly choose, if they are planning to be a professional blogger. ~Rohan Chaubey ~ Be Rohanlicious.

I haven't had any worst things, because I have largely enjoyed the journey, but as for the best things, wow. I love the freedom. I like being free to blog from anywhere in the world and also to free my audience, so that they too can blog from paradise. That's the dream part of blogging, for me. As for practical stuff I just love to write. I churn out 6,000 words on most days and publish one, 7,000 word post each week. I also am publishing book #11 in the Blogging from Paradise library soon because hey; if you love writing, you gotta write, right? ~Ryan Budalph BloggingFromParadise

The worst parts of my blogging experiences occur when I take the time to comment on someone else's blog and they decide not to publish my comments because they don't want to show anyone's opinions except those who agree with theirs. I dislike that because they wasted my time and disrespected my perspectives. They are unethical, cowardly and unprofessional not to include dissenting opinions on their site so I unfollow them.

The best occasions of my blogging experiences are the times that I receive thoughtful, considered comments or questions in response to my posts and/or to my comments on others' posts. I enjoy the engagement, the poking at one's perspectives and the respectful conversations that ensue and I learn a lot. ~Sally Ember SallyEmber.com

As the being attunes to the mystical winds of divine intervention, I draw inspiration from the burst of creativity that I see in all endeavors be it literary, musical, dance or other forms…………. I scribble a lot…………erratically about social, cultural and current economic scenarios.

My most memorable blogging experience: In May 2014, I had blogged about the acclaimed Malayalam Film Director, screenwriter and author P Padmarajan titled "Radhalakshmiyude Gangharvanu"

One of my friends had sent a printed hard copy of the blog to Mrs. Radhalakshmi Padmarajan. She as well as her son Anandapadmanaphan on receipt of the copy called to appreciate the blog. She was thrilled that I had read her book at a stretch on a flight to Chennai and subsequently quoted from her book as well as added my own outlook and emotions. She made a special mention that my talent stemmed from my multifaceted father Cartoonist Yesudasan.

My most hated blogging moments: India was ablaze with the Nirbhaya rape incident. A year after the incident, I blogged "Nirbhayam Oru Varsham"……! I was upset that the accused in this despicable crime had not been hanged to death immediately. The rage and helplessness in me knew no bounds. ~Sanu Yesudas ~ Sanuyesudasan.in

The Best thing is: I am fortunate to achieve the first thing up to a satisfactory level. I love to see people are having great interest in my blog. In fact, I am blessed with a combo of love and likes of fellow bloggers too! Even some good companies are impressed with my writing style, blog name and the hard work I am doing especially for new bloggers.   The best thing is so far in my blogging life, I am able to fetch sponsored posts for my fellow bloggers too from some companies.  Some of prestigious companies have given me authority to check and approve sponsored posts on my behalf.

The worst thing is, I think, I do not get enough visitors like SEO experts to my blog. Still, I am lacking to generate huge traffic from search engines. ~Sharad Gupta ~ CreativeBlogThinking.com

Let's start off with the worst: I say the worst part of the blogging journey was that I didn't have any support to start off with from friends or family. So I took the bull by the horn and ran with it.

I never really like to write, but blogging grew on me which brings us to the best of my blogging journey.

The best part is just learning how to build a blog and engaging with other bloggers who are on that same journey. When you find the write people to engage with, you not only learn a lot, but you get all types of support to help you along your journey! ~Sherman Smith ~ ShermanSmithblog.com

For me, the best and worst things in my blogging journey are tightly related. The worst part was when I first started blogging and I felt totally isolated. Sure, there were some very well-known bloggers who were teaching courses and offering advice but it was a challenge to really connect on a personal level. The best part was becoming a part of a wonderful (and caring) blogging community. Building mutually beneficial relationships is really the key to growing a successful blog. We can't do it all alone. We need the help and support of others. ~Sherryl Perry ~ KeepupWithTheWeb.com

First, I will share the worst thing in my blogging journey. Some months back, I was not regular in taking my backup data, one day while updating my new WordPress version, immediately my data files crashed and I was not able to login to my WordPress admin and my blog was showing 504 errors to visitors, I don't know what to do that time because I am new to blogging and have not much knowledge in technical side, later BlueHost customer support helped to retrieve my data, that was the most horrible time for me, I thought I lost all my hard work.

My happiest moment. When I received my first blog income 34$ through PayPal account for my work, and whenever I see my keywords in the Google first page. I think I have not tasted the happiest moment yet in my blogging journey as of now. ~Siddiah Tirupathi ~ ReachoutSid.com

I believe that for both questions the answer is the same: The fact that this journey is something you take on your own. The fact that in this journey you are alone. This is something which lets you express yourself better and more openly. By blogging you can have the opportunity to really let the world know who you are, to actually expose yourself to the world and let them understand you better which in the process you try to understand the world better yourself. On the other hand, blogging can be painful in a way. You write on your own, there is no immediate dialogue with others in the process of drafting a new blog post (comments from visitors do not really count as "dialogue"). It's a more or less a solitary process. A process which can be hard, but lovely at the same time! ~Spiros Kakos ~ Harmonia Philosophica

I have a few instances where I do a lot of thorough research through trusted resources. I have come to trust them, but didn't realize in an instance or two they had NOT done their homework and were regurgitating old information that is no longer valid. I needed to research THEIR resources, not rely on them. That's on ME and my responsibility.

What happens then is we all look like fools as I always link back their original post.

The other item is lazy posters. These are the people who simply copy and paste a popular post to ride on that SEO value and audience. They don't link back to the original, they don't cite the reasons they are copying/pasting and give the illusion it is THEIR content. They post the full post rather than a respectful excerpt that links back to the original post AND the author. LAZY! ~Susan Finch ~ Susanfinch.com

Blogging for me has been full of roller-coaster rides. In my blogging journey spanning 2 year, I have seen a number of highs and lows. Starting with the best things, I was lucky to meet and network with many pro bloggers during my initial days. Of them, Harleena Singh (of Aha!NOW) and Atish Ranjan of Tectricksworld are very important people.

Being friends with such nice and down to earth experts has its own perks. They taught me the ins and outs of the industry, which would have taken years without them.

My second best thing is when one off the leading Facebook influencers, Mari Smith shared my post on Facebook marketing tips on twitter and Facebook. The traffic she sent me literally crashed my site and bumped my email list. Having a blog on social media marketing, the leads she sent was a treasure. Now I have a name in the social media niche and part of the credit goes to influencers like Mari Smith.Of the worst nightmares, I would say the time I wanted to shift my blog from blogger to WordPress. I had no exact resource at the time to guide me and worst even was the fact that I had no credit card to buy a hosting.

Had it not been Atish Bro's help, I fear I would still be behind. This process has so much impact on me that I have actually created a "step by step guide to make a blog" so that it could help newbies to actually understand what the process is. A word to the newbie bloggers:Build relationship with other bloggers (especially influencers). Staying in the cocoon will never help you to bloom like a flower.~ Swadhin Agrawal ~  DigitalGYD.com

The best thing in my blogging journey is that I've learned a lot, met some great bloggers, and being able to promote my business and reach out to my target market with my blog. I can't say that I want to call anything, the worst thing. Blogging is a learning journey. ~Sylviane Nuccio ~ Sylviane Nucci.com

The best part of my blogging journey is the ability to share my ideas, the reach it affords me and the relationships it helps to create.

The worst part is the constant need to always be producing more content and do it on a regular basis. Welcome to the 'Age of Influence,' where anyone can build an audience and effect change, advocate brands, build relationships and make a difference. ~Ted Rubin ~ Tedrubin.com

The best things in my blogging journey so far are the many things I learn from all of the wonderful bloggers I've met over the years. It's always good to discover new perspectives and get to know people from around the world. I am truly blessed to open my heart, soul and mind to the experience of blogging, especially since, as it turns out, I receive so much more than I could ever possibly give to those who follow me.

The worst things are the little technological bumps along the way. I simply don't have a clue about many of them, and figuring out how to manage them sometimes disturbs me more than I'd like to admit. Still, there is a gift in the learning curve here, and I appreciate the opportunity to learn and grow. ~M J Joachim ~ M J Joachim's Writings

It has been more than 11 months in my blogging career and the worst thing I got in this was Google ADsense. Yes, it seems pretty shocking but Google Adsense was something which did not work for me. Publishing Tutorials while I was still learning was one more worst thing which lacked perfection and professionalism in my writing in start.

I have earned some dollars and valuable connections (like you) over internet by blogging and that's what I treat as the best thing which happened to me ever. All my followers and fans are the gems i discovered. ~Vashishtha Kapoor ~ Vashishtha Kapoor.Com

My best experience is I get to express myself on my blogs. I also believe that my content is often deep, forces the reader to self-introspect, hence long, and requires patience… hence certainly useful.

My worst experience is this content never seems to reach the right people (Not everybody needs to like my writing, but I am sure there are many who will be able to connect with my writing/communication level). 'Dumbing down' or using 'cliché content' is not a compromise I am ready for – since my authenticity will be lost. This is sad, because I am trying my best to share my learnings, but cannot reach the people who might need it Take my TEDx video for instance. I believe it will be very helpful for all kinds of people. TEDx is a great brand too.  But despite good content and brand, it has a total of 1300 views only. And I do not understand how to crack that. ~ Vijayraj Kamat ~ Vijayrajkamat.com

The worst part of my blogging experience is when I just started and trying to find ideas and content. I was not sure what would appeal to the mass of people as against what would not, nor where to content. It was purely a matter of trial and error. Getting persons to read, comment and share my content was extremely challenging even when I thought I had written my 'epic' post. No doubt this caused doubt and uncertainty as to whether I should continue. The most challenge though was to find the time to write. Only my passion for writing allowed me to reach this far.

The best part is when I write a piece of content and it is commented on by many people who also shared it. This is a good feeling and helped to build my confidence and eagerness to write more on a consistent basis. The fact that I am in so many online communities has also provided some level of training in terms of writing styles, pitfalls to avoid content curation and delivery. I thank my blogging friends for their valuable shares and suggestions. ~Vinton Samms 1sureprofits.com

As blogging is all about making connections and sharing things, I am glad to connect with lovely people in my blogging journey.

By blogging, I have gained four BEST things so far

1. Bond with wonderful people 2. Energy to expose my passion 3. Support from every blogger. 4. Trust with my readers.

In the beginning, I did face many problems in installing the blog. Everything was new to me. But, I don't want to tag them as my 'worst' days. From contacting the web-hosting support staff to experimenting with CSS codes, I learned a lot from these crazy days. ~Yatin Khulbe ~ Mushroomcontent.com

There are a lot of best things about blogging like enhancing our writing skills, improving our knowledge, successfully running an online business, establishing ourselves as an expert in a particular field and numerous other benefits. But, the most important benefit I like about blogging is networking with people from different parts of the world. I consider that is the best thing about my blogging journey so far.

Now the worst thing about blogging. It is actually very difficult to find the worst thing about blogging than the best thing as there are very less things that can be considered as a worst thing in blogging. For me, the only worst thing that I encountered so far is the lack of time spending with family members and friends when we deeply involve in blogging related activities. ~ Yvonne Wilson ~ Empowerment Moments Blog.com

Originally appeared at pvariel.com

This Blogger's Books and Other Items from...

Behind-the-Scenes: 52 Blogger's Best Achievements & Worst Mistakes

Source: Behind-the-Scenes: 52 Blogger's Best Achievements & Worst Mistakes

Strong design and management are essential for a successful site, and the WordPress Wizard Bundle provides the skills to accomplish both.

You can transform your ambitions into a high-quality professional site through 12 essential courses, at an appealing 95 per cent off from Pocket-lint Deals.

Start with a foundational mastery of WordPress, familiarizing yourself with the best commercial themes before moving on to the tricks of the SEO trade. Soon you'll have the full toolkit to manage everything from shopping carts to user newsletters and more. Using the Genesis theme framework, you'll master the ways to make your site immersive and engaging, with features like email subscription bars, homepage widgets and beyond.

The WordPress Wizard Bundle also walks you through the construction of native mobile apps, with zero coding required.

Courses include:

Become a WordPress and WordPress Nirvana Expert Course

How I Make $4000 Each Month Blogging

Learn WordPress by Building 2 Responsive Websites

Make an App for Your WordPress Website

Creating a Business Website with a Responsive Design

Build Your Brand: Blogging, SEO, Social Media and Relationships

Bootstrap to WordPress: Build Custom Responsive Themes

Talking With Clients – Creating a WordPress Website

WishList Member and WordPress: Create a Membership Site

Develop WordPress Sites and Earn Money With Affiliate Programs

WordPress E-Commerce with WooCommerce

Build a Money Making Website For Beginners: Work From Home

Develop effective techniques to monetize your blog and engage in affiliate programs without the pitfalls of endless promotion funding. Get started today for just £33.86 ($49) from Pocket-lint Deals.

Source: Build the perfect website with the WordPress Wizard Bundle

The website is at the heart of almost every business. It's also usually the first port of call for customers, so it's essential that it provides a great first impression of a brand.

In today's connected world, consumers will no longer tolerate slow, clunky or difficult to navigate websites – they will simply take their business elsewhere. Because of this, businesses must put their website on a pedestal and ensure it's created, developed, and maintained with the customer at the forefront.

An effective website serves its role as the primary access point for customers by providing all the information they may need in a simple, easy to use fashion. A website which conveys your business' personality, which clearly communicates your products and services and which scales and develops with your customers will help create a loyal customer base.

Many businesses may lack clarity regarding the type of platform which can help them to achieve these goals. WordPress, stemming from its blogger origins, is simple to use, reliable and offers individuality and customisability with its range of plugins – it's a great choice for businesses of all sizes. But why, and what needs to be considered?

Scalability and reliability

Websites must be reliable. As consumers want access 24/7 – there's little time for excuses and customers will not tolerate downtime – they'll simply click to your competitor's site. For some businesses such as retailers, there will always be fluctuating traffic levels to their website, depending on the time of day or month. Whether it's your average Wednesday in April or Christmas Eve, businesses must be able to provide customers with a stable website, or risk losing them forever.

Along with retailers, all businesses face the challenge that incoming traffic to their website may change dramatically or spike at any time. Maybe an article in a national newspaper becomes highly popular, maybe it's a seasonal holiday, or maybe discounted products become a hit. The key is having a platform which can be scaled immediately depending on demand. A platform like WordPress provides this and ensures that no matter the increase in traffic, businesses have the capabilities to adapt quickly and meet demand without the risk of downtime.

Choosing the right plugins

Websites need to resemble a company's personality. It needs to be personalised to portray the brand while being secure and safe. One of the greatest aspects about choosing a web platform is the host of plugins available which allow businesses to customise their site and enhance and maintain its security. WordPress, for example, has over 43,000 to choose from to support security, SEO, maps, live chat, and many others.

Even websites on the same platform can have different structures and a strong sense of individuality. The number of unique plugins which now exist allows companies to build a unique website, adding and changing functionalities to suit the business as it grows and develops.

Publishing engaging content

A crucial aspect of any website is to promote and showcase the great information and content companies have to offer. Today, many brands are taking publishing into their own hands and looking to build direct relationships with customers. For many businesses, which may not be able to employ large teams of technical specialists, there is a need for a simple CMS that can be managed by anyone.

Companies want to be able to publish engaging content themselves. With a simple platform like WordPress, there is no need for technical know-how which allows a greater diversity of content to be shared online. The ease of use and flexibility of WordPress is really driving this 'brands to publishers' revolution.

The website acts as the most important extension of the business, and in some cases the website is the entire business. By making it secure, making it personal and making it work 24/7, businesses have a great access point to customers to develop brand loyalty and increase sales.

Fabio Torlini, MD EMEA, WP Engine

Image Credit: Shutterstock / GongTo

Leave a comment on this article
Source: Creating effective websites: Why WordPress is the CMS of choice

Strong design and management are essential for a successful site, and the WordPress Wizard Bundle provides the skills to accomplish both.

You can transform your ambitions into a high-quality professional site through 12 essential courses, at an appealing 95 per cent off from Pocket-lint Deals.

Start with a foundational mastery of WordPress, familiarizing yourself with the best commercial themes before moving on to the tricks of the SEO trade. Soon you'll have the full toolkit to manage everything from shopping carts to user newsletters and more. Using the Genesis theme framework, you'll master the ways to make your site immersive and engaging, with features like email subscription bars, homepage widgets and beyond.

The WordPress Wizard Bundle also walks you through the construction of native mobile apps, with zero coding required.

Courses include:

Become a WordPress and WordPress Nirvana Expert Course

How I Make $4000 Each Month Blogging

Learn WordPress by Building 2 Responsive Websites

Make an App for Your WordPress Website

Creating a Business Website with a Responsive Design

Build Your Brand: Blogging, SEO, Social Media and Relationships

Bootstrap to WordPress: Build Custom Responsive Themes

Talking With Clients – Creating a WordPress Website

WishList Member and WordPress: Create a Membership Site

Develop WordPress Sites and Earn Money With Affiliate Programs

WordPress E-Commerce with WooCommerce

Build a Money Making Website For Beginners: Work From Home

Develop effective techniques to monetize your blog and engage in affiliate programs without the pitfalls of endless promotion funding. Get started today for just £33.86 ($49) from Pocket-lint Deals.

Source: Build the perfect website with the WordPress Wizard Bundle

Even if you're the best blogger in the world, you'll lack readers if folks can't find your posts online. How do you lead readers to your posts? By promoting your blog in as many ways as possible.

If you want your blog posts to get the attention they deserve, you'll need to know the best places to promote your blog on the Web. Then you need to do the legwork necessary to have your blog listed in those places.

Below are a bunch of places to start.

Places to Promote Your Blog on the Web Email Signature

Including a link to your blog in your email signature will promote your blog every time you message a customer, vendor, new contact, colleague or even friends from high school.

Using tools such as WiseStamp, you can also include a link to your latest blog post automatically.

Social Media Profiles

Have a Twitter account? What about Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ or Instagram? As you can see in the example Twitter image below, there's space to include a link to your blog in each:

Per-Post Social Media Sharing Buttons

Make sure that each and every one of your blog posts prominently feature social sharing buttons like the set on the left in the image below:

These buttons enable your readers to promote your posts for you and that's a very good thing. If you have a WordPress site, click here for a list of social sharing plugins.

In-Post Social Media Sharing Links

Encourage readers to share your posts by providing sound bites they can share with the click of a button. Click here to tweet this …

(FYI — we used ClickToTweet to create this free link)

Social Media Updates

Whenever you publish a new post, let your social media fans, followers and connections know about it by posting an update with a title that attracts attention and a link to the post.

Use @Mentions to Increase Social Media Reach

If you refer to a source in your blog post (e.g. a site or person), make sure to @mention them in the social media updates promoting that post. This lets them know that you've promoted them and, in turn, they may share your update with their own fans, followers and connections.

Social Media Groups and Communities

Posting an update to social media groups (on Facebook and LinkedIn) and communities (on Google+) will promote your blog to targeted readers. One warning however: make sure the blog posts you promote are truly useful or you will be seen as "spammy", something that will drive readers away rather than attract them to your blog.

Share Blog Posts Multiple Times on Social Media

Your targeted prospects are neither on social media all the time nor at the same time. To increase the odds that your blog updates are seen, you should promote them many times. Again, to avoid being "spammy", don't pelt your followers, fans and connections with updates — send them over time.

Post Social Media Updates When They're Most Effective

Tools, such as the free Google Analytics, can tell you the best days and times to post on social media based on the number of clicks your previous updates received.

Paid Promotion on Social Media

Social media advertising is on the rise, and it's a handy way to extend the reach of your promotional updates. Click here for some social media advertising tips.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a practice that will help your blog posts obtain higher ranks in search engine results so readers are more likely to discover them. Click here to learn some SEO basics.

Paid Promotion on Search Engines

Search engines offer "Pay-Per-Click" (PPC) advertising that can be aimed at your targeted readers. This is an especially useful tool if your target market is specific.

Other Paid Promotion Platforms

There are a number of paid promotion platforms that can get your blog in front of millions of potential readers. Here's how that looks on one of these solutions, Outbrain:

Other solutions include: SimpleReach, Taboola, ZergNet, and Adblade.

Guest Contributing on Other Sites

Get the word out about your blog by guest contributing on other authoritative blogs in your industry. Not only will you get in front of their readers, but you'll be able to point people back to your blog, as well.

Leverage Sites with Heavy Traffic

Similar to guest contributing, this approach enables you to post content on heavily-trafficked sites, such as LinkedIn (tips) or Medium, to leverage the readership they've already built. Be sure to include a call-to-action link back to your own blog so they can read more of your posts.

Set Up and Promote an RSS Feed on Your Website

Readers who subscribe to your RSS feeds will be automatically notified when you publish a new blog post. Make sure to promote your RSS feeds (with a button as shown below) so readers can subscribe.

Use Desktop and Mobile Push Notifications

A growing number of solutions enable you to send desktop or mobile notifications when a new post is published. Here's how that looks on one of the solutions, Roost (desktop on top, mobile on the bottom):

Other solutions include: and OneSignal and Pushbullet.

Leverage Your Email Marketing List

Bring list subscribers back to your site by sending an email when a new post goes live. Click here for some email marketing tips.

Add Your Posts to Curation Sites

When you add a post to a curation site such as Scoop.it or Storify, folks can add your post to their own list of "must-read content" for their followers to see.

Team Up with Other Bloggers on Triberr

Triberr is a reciprocal social media site for bloggers where you form a "tribe" that shares each other's posts with your respective audience. This is a great way to leverage others to promote your content.

Links Roundup Submissions

Many sites create weekly link roundups that are perfect for promoting your posts. Click here to see a list of sites to start with.

Submit Your Site to Content Aggregators

Regardless of topic, get your blog listed in popular news aggregators to help people find it. Two examples are Alltop and DoSplash.

Social Bookmarking/News Sites

These sites allow you to submit your post after which its visibility depends on the number of people who vote your post up. Examples include: BizSugar, Digg, Blog Engage, StumbleUpon, and more.

Syndicate Your Content to Top Blogs

Many top blogs and networks will allow you to republish your content on their site with credit back to you. Most big blogs, including mega publications like Business Insider and Huffington Post, do it if they feel that your content is good enough.

Answer Questions on Quora

Quora is a site where you can establish your authority and attract attention by answering questions. Make sure your profile has a link to your blog and you'll drive readers to your posts.

Make Comments on Other Blogs

Have a list of blogs that you read and respond to regularly? Include the link to your blog either in the text or in the URL field as a reference point for who you are and what you're knowledgeable about. You don't want to get in the habit of spamming blogs with your blog URL, but if you're adding to the conversation, it doesn't hurt to leave it.

Use a Press Release

For posts with truly interesting or exclusive news, consider using a press release to promote your work.

Bonus Section – Offline Places to Promote Your Blog

Here are some ways to promote your blog in the real world:

Print Promotional Material

Hey, just because that brochure or handout resides offline, doesn't mean you shouldn't be using it to promote what you're doing online. Make sure customers are aware you're a business whose blogging by putting the address and blog-related call-to-actions on printed promotional material.

Customer Receipts

Whether they made a purchase in your store or through your website, put your blog address on receipts to build awareness and encourage people to check it out.

Packaging

Why not send customers home with something else to check out?

During Presentations

Speaking at a local or national event? Using a PowerPoint or a Keynote presentation? Don't forget to mention your blog!

On Business Cards

It's not just for your phone number anymore. Include your blog URL + all social profiles!

Community Happenings

Sponsoring an event or just taking part in a community activity? Make sure to include literature that mentions your blog or direct people there during conversations.

Conclusion

Knowing the best places to promote your blog on the Web is the key to building your readership, use the list above as a map for your promotional journey.

Do you have additional ideas on how to promote your blog you want to share?

Promote Photo via Shutterstock

Source: 30+ Places to Promote Your Blog On The Web

What can you do with today's deal? You can build a website. Hell, you can build 100 of them. Or a portfolio. Blog? That too. E-commerce store? Sure. And you don't have to write a single line of code. Get a lifetime subscription to Dessign's premium responsive WordPress themes for $49 at SitePoint Shop.

Grab this deal and get instant access to gorgeous WordPress themes that have been featured on Mashable, Tripwire Magazine, and more. They're fully responsive, SEO optimized, and easy to set up. Have your pick of the 95 themes already included and look out for more added every month—and use them to set up a shopping site, show off your photos, create an online magazine, or quickly get a corporate site up and running.

Save 50% when you get your membership at SitePoint Shop. Get a lifetime subscription to Dessign's premium responsive WordPress themes for $49!

Source: Save 50% on pro-Quality, Responsive WordPress Themes

The website is at the heart of almost every business. It's also usually the first port of call for customers, so it's essential that it provides a great first impression of a brand.

In today's connected world, consumers will no longer tolerate slow, clunky or difficult to navigate websites – they will simply take their business elsewhere. Because of this, businesses must put their website on a pedestal and ensure it's created, developed, and maintained with the customer at the forefront.

An effective website serves its role as the primary access point for customers by providing all the information they may need in a simple, easy to use fashion. A website which conveys your business' personality, which clearly communicates your products and services and which scales and develops with your customers will help create a loyal customer base.

Many businesses may lack clarity regarding the type of platform which can help them to achieve these goals. WordPress, stemming from its blogger origins, is simple to use, reliable and offers individuality and customisability with its range of plugins – it's a great choice for businesses of all sizes. But why, and what needs to be considered?

Scalability and reliability

Websites must be reliable. As consumers want access 24/7 – there's little time for excuses and customers will not tolerate downtime – they'll simply click to your competitor's site. For some businesses such as retailers, there will always be fluctuating traffic levels to their website, depending on the time of day or month. Whether it's your average Wednesday in April or Christmas Eve, businesses must be able to provide customers with a stable website, or risk losing them forever.

Along with retailers, all businesses face the challenge that incoming traffic to their website may change dramatically or spike at any time. Maybe an article in a national newspaper becomes highly popular, maybe it's a seasonal holiday, or maybe discounted products become a hit. The key is having a platform which can be scaled immediately depending on demand. A platform like WordPress provides this and ensures that no matter the increase in traffic, businesses have the capabilities to adapt quickly and meet demand without the risk of downtime.

Choosing the right plugins

Websites need to resemble a company's personality. It needs to be personalised to portray the brand while being secure and safe. One of the greatest aspects about choosing a web platform is the host of plugins available which allow businesses to customise their site and enhance and maintain its security. WordPress, for example, has over 43,000 to choose from to support security, SEO, maps, live chat, and many others.

Even websites on the same platform can have different structures and a strong sense of individuality. The number of unique plugins which now exist allows companies to build a unique website, adding and changing functionalities to suit the business as it grows and develops.

Publishing engaging content

A crucial aspect of any website is to promote and showcase the great information and content companies have to offer. Today, many brands are taking publishing into their own hands and looking to build direct relationships with customers. For many businesses, which may not be able to employ large teams of technical specialists, there is a need for a simple CMS that can be managed by anyone.

Companies want to be able to publish engaging content themselves. With a simple platform like WordPress, there is no need for technical know-how which allows a greater diversity of content to be shared online. The ease of use and flexibility of WordPress is really driving this 'brands to publishers' revolution.

The website acts as the most important extension of the business, and in some cases the website is the entire business. By making it secure, making it personal and making it work 24/7, businesses have a great access point to customers to develop brand loyalty and increase sales.

Fabio Torlini, MD EMEA, WP Engine

Image Credit: Shutterstock / GongTo

Leave a comment on this article
Source: Creating effective websites: Why WordPress is the CMS of choice