Helping people get set up for the writing contest has caused me to realise just how much I take for granted. Not everyone knows what I know, which should be obvious.
The aim of this post is just to help you navigate what can be some confusion terminology for something that should otherwise be quite a lot of fun.
Author Platform
This is the sum total of all the people paying attention to you. Your audience, in other words. Not to be confused with your blog or website.
- I’ve written a more in-depth look at what an author platform is.
Blogging Platform
Blogging platform has to be the most confusing name anyone gave anything. This is just your blog, or rather, the technology that runs your blog.
I try to avoid using the phrase “Blogging Platform”. Instead, I like to call it blogging software or blog system which is a bit easier to understand.
Reach
This is usually a measure of the number of people you can reach. Also known as your audience. Some places, such as Facebook, have their own spin on what it means.
URL aka URI aka link
At the top of your screen is an address bar. It probably says something like http://www.example.com/stuff… most of the time. If you are asked to post a link, that is what you are being asked to share.
To share a link to a post, for example. Navigate to the public version of that post (WordPress and other systems often have a private version for you to edit and so forth). Then copy and paste the text from the address bar.
To add to the confusion, links my be referred to by any of the following names:
- URL or URI
- Link
- (Web) Address
- Web link
- Web path
Whatever word you prefer it all amounts to the same thing.
Comment love
Comment love is a term bloggers often use which means to show appreciation for a blog post by posting a good comment. It can also mean to get traffic back (through the link your comment makes) due to leaving a good comment.
Leaving helpful comments that add value to a post can be a good way to grow your readership (and thus your author platform). Try to move beyond saying “nice post” to actually explaining what you liked or engaging the topic and other commenters in a discussion.
These days it is very easy to keep your comments to facebook but taking a moment to post directly on a blog is a way to show love and appreciation for the writer.
Pings and trackbacks
This is not one thing, but rather a bunch of technologies that do more or less the same thing. It is a way of saying “hey, I mentioned you”.
If you are using WordPress the pingback settings are found under settings, in the Discussion section and probably look something like this.
The exact system differs from system to system. For example, in NucleusCMS (which I use for my personal sites) this is an added feature which requires a plugin.
Like comments, pingbacks and trackbacks often need to be manually accepted on most sites. Which can mean that they take a little while to show up. Not all blogging systems support them and those that do might not send them. If yours does not, it is not the end of the world and I really would not worry too much about it.
For example, Tumblr and Blogger accounts generally don’t have that (they may have similar systems for internal use).
- There are tools that might work.
- I say “might” because I have not tried any out yet.
SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. To be honest, until you are comfortable just writing good content and publishing it, don’t worry about SEO. SEO, is for the most part, about creating quality content.
There is a bit more to SEO than that, but quality content is the cornerstone of all SEO.
- I have written a lot more about SEO here.
Guest Blogging
Again this is something that you don’t want to get stuck into until your own blog is well established. Once you are well established occasionally writing for another reputable blog, or having a blogger of good reputation write for you, can be a nice change of pace.
Outposts
Some experts describe things like your social media presence (pages, twitter accounts, profiles, etc) as your social media outposts. This is a way of simply recognising that your social media is not the centre of your platform but more like an outpost on foregn soil.
Thus, it follows, your best stuff should always be saved for serving to your own guests, at home. Most blog systems allow you to send a link out to your outposts when you publish. This can be very handy and cut down on your workload.
Spam
We all hate spam email but there are also spam comments and even spammy blog posts. They are just as devoid of value and reak of desperation. If what you were about to post feels “spammy” it might be time to rethink.
Spam is anything that is low quality and of no value to another human being. Spam is bad. Don’t do it.
Link love
Link love is a term bloggers often use when talking about linking to another blogger. Links are like votes to Google so by taking the time to link to another blog you are showing them some love by voting for them.
Link love is great and you should be fairly generous with it when you find a deserving blog or blog post. Don’t go silly. Remember, your readers need to understand why you posted that link and it needs to fit with what you are saying. However, spreading the love around makes the world a nicer place.
An appropriately placed link says to your readers, go here and read this. Make sure that is a deserved recommendation and your readers will thank you.
Bad neighbourhoods
This is a Google idea that has some merit. It is a way of describing those bits of the web which are low quality and spammy. You are unlikely to have to worry about bad neighbourhoods unless you being a bit shady yourself.
Your readers will not be happy if you link them to such nasty bits of the web and Google takes a dim view of it too. However, if you follow the recomendation to link to things that deserve it, you will almost never link to a bad neighbourhood.
Domains and Domain Names
Domain names are usually the part of a URL that you remember. Like facebook.com or thanetcreativewriters.wordpress.com. If you are willing to pay for it you can get a custom .com or .co.uk (or whatever).
- I’ve created a tool that allows you to check what is available (and buy it if you want).
Custom domain names are probably something you can leave until later. Unless, of course, you want to set up a custom website or self-host your blogging software.
Anything else?
Have I missed anything out? What else would you include in this list? Share your insights in the comments below.
Over to you.
Thanet Creative Writers 
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