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Missed something last month? Here are the top ten most popular new posts on MamaBlogga last month!
We’ve discussed blogging privacy before (and let me say that the discussion was way better than the post that sparked it!). But there was something I should have mentioned the last time around in protecting your family’s safety and privacy.
I know that many of us don’t feel comfortable using our children’s real names, or posting photos of them on your sites. But if you’re really worried about something bad happening to your family because of your blog, this is the number one issue that I think you need to take care of.
If you have your own domain (i.e., thisismyblog.com instead of thisismyblog.typepad.com), get private registration. It costs extra, but I think it’s worth it.
What is private registration and why would I want to pay extra for it?
Private registration means that your name and address (which you supplied when you registered your domain) will be kept private from anyone who searches for them. If you don’t use private registration, anyone can find your name and address if they have your domain name.
I know you’re wondering how they do this. It’s called a whois look up (pron. “who is”). Whois.net is just one of dozens of sites where you can look up domain registration info.
When I look up, for example, Marketing Pilgrim, the Internet marketing news blog I work for, I am directed to a page where I can find this (his old office address):
Registrant:
Andy Beal
6512 Six Forks Road
Suite 502B
Raleigh, North Carolina 27615
United States
This goes on to add his telephone number.
Now, if I look up my domain, I get:
Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
(Note that the fact that this company is located on Hayden Road has nothing to do with my son’s name. Eerie, though, don’t you think?)
Through my domain registrar, private registration costs about $7 a year. I don’t think that’s too much to pay for that modicum of privacy, do you?
I’ve had a couple polls on here lately, and I figured you might want to see some of the results!
The first poll was about Blog Comments and You.
With more than 100 total responses, the blog comments poll was designed to help me (and now you) understand how you prefer to interact with blog comments. The most popular responses:
What does this mean for me (and you)?
So what should you do?
The second poll, How often should a blogger post?, requires a bit less analysis: 77% voted for two to five times a week. The four-five times category was a little over half of that group. (I was asking because I was worried that I might be posting too much—or pushing myself to post more often than I needed to!)
For more insights on the polls’ responses, read the comments on each post (Blog comments and you and How often should a blogger post).
Another poll for you! How many times a week should a blogger that you read publish a new post?
Every month I try to round up my most popular posts, just in case you missed something cool. So take a look back at the most popular posts in October!
Whether you’re struggling with spam comments, spammy commenter names or abusive comments, a comment policy is a useful tool to protect your blog. With a comment policy in place, you will probably still have to manually monitor and moderate your comments, but if anyone is ever offended by any comment-related decision you make, you can point to your comment policy as your “fall back.”
A good comment policy outlines what kinds of comments and signatures you’ll allow on your blog. It also includes information on what you’ll do about comments (and people) that violate these policies. For example:
Finally, you should probably reserve the right to edit, delete and otherwise exercise your editorial discretion over comments left on your blog. Also, state that you’re not responsible, legally or otherwise, for comments left on your blog.
Some of my favorite comment policies:
Marketing Pilgrim
ProBlogger
eMoms at Home
All of these policies outline what kind of comments are welcome and what kind are not, as well as actions that will be taken against comments that do not meet the guidelines. Also for your reference, you can see the MamaBlogga Comment Policy.
Again, having a comment policy won’t prevent spam or mean comments on your blog, but if anyone ever asks you why their comment was deleted or edited, you can point to your policy as the reason.