The new year has come with plenty of blogger news most of it has been really good but let's get the bad news out of the way first.
Blogger news from Intense Debate for all CommentLuv members
Much to the surprise and shock of many bloggers using the Intense Debate commenting system, their CommentLuv plugin stopped working. According to the announcement on the Intense Debate blog titled CommentLuv Plugin Upgrade here is a little work around to help get you through the crisis:
Update 1-28-11: You can add a URL field for Guest commenters in the comment form by enabling the option in your Comment Settings. Make sure you disable CommentLuv in your Plugins page to ensure that the URL field shows up properly. We will have this updated and back in action soon! We appreciate your patience.
This outage impacts those using WordPress and Blogger and all of the CommentLuv members that leave comments on their blogs. As a CommentLuv Ambassador, it's my job to keep an eye on this issue and let you know when it's resolved. For now, let's move on to some good news.
UPDATE FROM INTENSE DEBATE: Update 1-31-11: Upgrade complete! If you were running CommentLuv on your blog, then the plugin will automatically be reactivated. Thanks for your patience!
Blogger News in guest posting
I am delighted to see Kiesha from WeBlogBetter doing some fantastic guest posts already this year. The first appearance was on Ana Hoffman's blog (you remember Ana from my post Video Blogging Women on the rise). The guest post is titled 7 Tips for Twitting Links that Get Clicked. Kiesha started getting into video blogging herself, and after watching her tutorial on DIY Themes called How To Create Eye-Catching Images with Microsoft PowerPoint I'm sure you'll agree that she is the next video blogging woman on the rise. I can't wait to see more awesome video tutorials and guest posts coming from Kiesha.
Devesh from Technshare and Blokube fame wrote a stellar post that was featured on ProBlogger.net and I love this title: Social Media … or Social Blogmarking I think Devesh has coined a new phrase with the term blogmarking and here's the definition:
Blogmarking is the process of you bookmarking your blog post on a blog bookmarking site. Blogmarking can also be referred to as blog bookmarking.
In the post Devesh (who also runs Wpkube) lays out the pros and cons of using social media like Facebook vs. blogmarking sites like Blokube, Blog Engage, BizSugar and more.
While we're on the subject of blogmarking, Gail Gardner from GrowMap hosted BizSugar's community manager Shawn Hessinger for the post Small Business: 6 Resources on the web for SMBs. Gail is also featured in a post on Adotas called The Google Guillotine. Both articles are of utmost importance for those of you who are blogging for your online business.
My guest post for this month is a entry in the first ever personal finance blogging contest being held on the Credit Cards Canada blog. If you get a chance, stop by my entry and leave a comment or share the link on your favorite social media or blogmarking site 5 Golden Rules of Money Management: A how-to guide for passing the financial torch. You can also check out the list of contest sponsors and prizes.
Blogger news for Blog Engage and BizChickBlogs
I previously shared with you how Brian from Blog Engage introduced the RSS Syndication program. Now, for any blogger that is wondering if this program works, we get proof positive from Dragon Blogger in Earning Money With BlogEngage Syndication, when he shares his Blog Engage Adsense earnings and traffic reports with us. Brian sweetened the deal by including article submission to Blog Serp (sister site to Blog Engage) with the RSS Syndication package and by offering members more earnings by joining the Affiliate Lights program. I love this program and I made my first comission in under 48 hours after joining.
The 2011 bizchickblogs.com will have a new logo (below), new site layout, and a whole new approach….We’re already working with bloggers in food, travel, and technology, and we’re looking for style bloggers and more food, travel, relationships and family, and some social media bloggers who would like to contribute content to the site.
Tia is also syndicating content for certain categories so if you're looking for a great way to get exposure and you think you have what it takes, get in touch with Tia and join BizChickBlogs!
What's your blogger news?
What have you done so far this year that was newsworthy? Share your fantastic blogger news by leaving a comment with the details and I'll be sure to Retweet the good stuff!