BlogDay has finally arrived and here are my five recommendations:

1) Chris Brogan - I was introduced to Chris through Jeff Pulver and have been addicted to his blog ever since. Chris is a social media and networking expert. He works as community developer for Video on the Net and Network2. He is also co-founder of PodCamp, a free unconference that explores the benefits and uses of new media community tools. Chris writes amazing posts on how each of us can use social media tools to effectively market ourselves and create a community around our brand. Chris often writes on how we can improve our usage of networks such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to socially connect with others. A great blog for anyone who wants to learn how to do social networking right online and offline.

2) Roi Carthy - Roi and I met at Blogference and have become good friends. Roi is a product launch consultant for various startups. He also recently started covering the Israeli startup scene at TechCrunch. He writes about different emerging startups and likes to interview people in the company before writing his post. He covers various topics such as: Business models, product development, and marketing to the blogosphere. Highly recommended for anyone who’s interested in staying on top of what’s going on in the hi-tech industry and finding out more about the people behind the ideas.

3) Stii Pretorius - I met Stii through StumbleUpon and we have kept in touch ever since. Stii is a programmer who lives in South Africa. He writes a lot about programming (surprise surprise :-)), software, and online tools. Even though a lot of Stii’s posts are quite technical, he has a very personal and simple writing style which allures you to read further. Anyone who is mostly interested in the technical aspects of the Web 2.0 world should definitely check his blog out.

4) How could I leave out Kent Newsome? I met Kent when I initially started blogging. He was one of my biggest fans from day one and I will not forget that. Kent the founder and developer of ACCBoards.Com and a few other popular interactive web sites. I love Kent’s blog because Kent writes like no other. He has a very original and unique way of covering what’s going on in the Web 2.0 world and at the same time give you his own personal opinion about it. He doesn’t just tell you about the latest software or social network, but he has something to say about it. Something meaningful and different than any other blogger. His posts will leave you thinking for days. I cannot say enough about Kent’s blog. You should try it out for yourself.

5) And finally…Stowe Boyd - Stowe and I met through the blogosphere. I have been following his blog for a very long time and I believe we can all learn so much from this wise man. In June 2007 he was ranked #2 out of technology industry analysts by Technobabble. Stowe is a strategic consultant to big hi-tech companies as well as small startups. He writes mostly about social tools, and their impact on business, media, and society. Like me, he likes to discuss not only the online tools, but Web 2.0 culture as a whole and what its implications are on our society. His posts are always thought-provoking and often even philosophical and sarcastically humorous.  If you haven’t yet been on Stowe’s blog, do yourself a favor and start today.

So these are my five blog recommendations. I hope you enjoy them. In addition, I would love to hear back from you guys which are your favorite blogs and why.

Here are some tips I wanted to share with you on how to ehance your blog and create more exposure to it.

1) Write about stuff that interests you

If you write about topics that really interest you, it will show in your writing. The more you relate to the topic, the better your post will be.

2) Be consistent and update daily

I try to write one post each day. We are all busy people and have a lot to do, but if you don’t maintain your blog on a daily basis, your readership will decline. As Om Malik says: “There are no Sundays in blogging”.

3) Say Something Meaningful

Don’t just write about the latest software and how to use it, but say what you think about it. What do you think is missing? What do you think could be improved? Give your opinion.

4) Always respond to comments

If your readers took the time to comment on your post, the least you could do is show them that you care. Always respond back. Never be rude to anyone. Even if someone disagrees with your views, they may have a point. Turn the discussion into a positive debate.

5) Talk TO your readers - not AT them

Engage your audience in conversation. Never preach to them or lecture them. Ask for your readers’ opinions, suggestions, and feedback.

6) Display your RSS Feed at the top of your blog

Make it easy for people to subscribe to your feed. This way, they won’t need to remember to go back to your site.

Not all people use RSS though. Some people will prefer to receive your posts to their email address. Offer them this option as well.

7) Get involved in various social networks and add widgets and rich media to your site

This will show people that you not only blog, but that you’re active and social on other platforms as well.  Display your activity on the different networks with widgets. This will enhance your blog immensely and show people what you’re interested in besides blogging. Adding rich media such as your Flickr pictures will also improve your blog. Visuals are always effective - as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. This is why I always add pics to my posts.

8 ) Promote your posts

I usually update my Twitter with my latest posts. Obviously the more contacts you have, the more exposure you’ll get. If you’re really proud of a post you’ve written, then you can submit it to Digg or Delicious. However, do this sparingly. Remember! You are not a member of these communities just to promote yourself. It is always most satisfying of course when you find out that other people found your writing insightful enough to promote it themselves. 

9) Communicate with your readers 

One way to interact with your readers is by adding all those faces you see on your MyBlogLog widget as contacts. This will allow you to build long lasting relationships with them.

10) Interact with other bloggers

If you’re reading other people’s blogs, leave comments on the posts that interest you. This is another great way to build relationships.

I really believe that blogging is a skill that you learn as you go along. Like anything else in life, the longer you blog, the more you’ll know how effectively interact with your audience and increase exposure to your site. I would love to hear from you guys if you have any of your own helpful tips to add.
 

A couple of people have already asked me regarding the import of my blog from Blogger to WordPress and how easy or difficult it was. Therefore I thought it would be helpful for you guys if I outlined the steps I took.

I recently purchased my own domain and received a WordPress blog with my hosting package. When I tried to find out how I could import my Blogger posts there, this is the information I received from WordPress:

“Users of WordPress 2.2 and above can import from Blogger. Earlier versions cannot import from Blogger because “New Blogger” was released by Google, invalidating all the old importers. Only WordPress 2.2 and later has support for “New Blogger”.

If you haven’t already, you must be using New Blogger and a Google Account on Blogger. If you are still using Old Blogger, the importer will not work.

To start the importer, go to Manage → Import → Blogger and follow the directions.”

I did have the New Blogger, yet it was an older version of WordPress that I received with my package (of course! I got the 2.1.0 version), and therefore I couldn’t just automatically import my Blogger posts there.

Therefore what I did was, I opened a “dummy” account on wordpress.com (which of course had to be the most recent version) and imported my posts from Blogger to that dummy account.  The only problem I experienced in the import was that all the videos didn’t transfer. I had to add them all back manually. Also I had to add a 5 pixels margin left and bottom to all my pics which now appeared almost on top of the text in the posts.

Then I exported all the posts from the “dummy” WordPress account to my real WordPress account by going to: Manage → Export → Download Export File. I then logged in to my real account and clicked Manage → Import → WordPress. There you’ll need to upload the export file. The only problem I experienced in this process was that the names of those who commented did not transfer for some reason. I needed to dig into the code and fix that. I also needed to categorize all my posts now because they were not categorized in Blogger.

I then redirected my old site to my new site. In order to do that, follow these directions.

All in all the process was not as easy as it could be, I think. I am not sure if the problems I experienced were only specific to my case or that they happen quite frequently, but I think that both companies could try to work harder at making the whole transition a lot smoother. There is no reason for me to go and have to manually change stuff myself.

I must add one thing before I finish. I did enjoy my time on Blogger and probably would not have left it if it wasn’t necessary. Even though I have heard some people complain about it, I found its platform very user friendly and intuitive.

I hope this post was helpful and will make your import a bit smoother than what I experienced.

Hi everyone, I finally bought my own domain and moved my blog over here.

I haven’t been writing as much as I’d like to during this past week due to all the technicalities of moving my blog, so please forgive me.

I’d like to send out a special thank you to my friend Liat Adir who created my new, fabulous logo.

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