In web-speak, all bloggers are writers but not all writers are bloggers. But if you’re one of those writers who aren’t bloggers, too, better start thinking about getting yourself a blog. Besides all its other uses, it’s a good way to build a portfolio. And since were on a campaign to encourage every writer to get onto the blogosphere, let’s give you five free tools to help you jump start your blogging career if you’re a newbie, or enhance your already blooming path to greatness, if you’re already on-track.
1. Blogging service. Take your pick. There’s Blogger (Google), WordPress, Vox, TypePad, Live Journal and other services that offer a free blogging platform. Blogger and WordPress are by far the most popular as it’s easy to customize a page and there are plenty of third-party themes and gadgets you can add to your blog.
2. Article Directories. Ezine Articles, iShare, eHow, Helium and other article submission directories are excellent sources of writing inspiration. If you’re theme for this week is on Social Media, you’ll find loads of articles related to social media on these websites. Reading some will help you find something to write about.
3. Dictionaries. Merriam Webster online and Dictionary.com are excellent tools for writers. But so is Urban Dictionary. The first two help you with Standard English, the last one with slang and colloquial terms. There’s not much socializing on M-W or Dictionary.com. Urban Dictionary however has a Twitter chatterbox and a Meebo chat room where everyone can participate in.
4.Translators. You have a built-in translator on Dictionary.com and a Spanish-English dictionary at Merriam Webster. But you know what I think the best language translator tool on the web so far? It’s Google Wave’s Rosy. It’s amazing how it works. See for yourself. Review my previous two posts and watch the video of the Google Wave demo.
5. Spinning Software. First off, read this squidoo page. You have to appreciate the power of article spinning to see how this tool can boost your blogging career. Since it’s basically an article marketing tool, this goes on to your promotional efforts. Second, there are free, trial and paid versions of various article spinning software and you can Google up for one that suits you. There’s plenty of choices out there, too. Okay, so article spinners are not necessarily social media tools per se. But the support you get from providers and their community of users does it for you.
How it All Works
When you’re writing for an audience, you may need to ‘dumb it down’ a bit. Your dictionaries can help you maintain grammatical correctness amidst colloquialism and slang. Or if you need to be politically correct, the source article you drew inspiration from can help you put it in context. Now, you might want to provide foreign language versions of your articles to reach a wider audience. Remember, about a quarter of the world’s population is Chinese or Indian and the bulk of them may not understand English. Although the non-English speaking world is catching up, reading something in your native tongue facilitates better understanding especially if your English skills are on shakey ground.
Go ahead and try these tools out. They’re free and they’re available at your fingertips. I use them myself and they’ve been such great help.
