This month at the KLCK bloggers network we’re going to be talking about WordPress plugins. Some of our favourite plugins including Askimet, a spam filter for your comments require you to have a WordPress API. If you have a WordPress.org blog (self hosted) this can be quite confusing so this week we are giving you a step by step guide on how to get one.

• Go to www.wordpress.com and sign up for an account (even if you already have a wordpress.org blog)
• Click ‘Sign up now’ on the right hand side of the page

• Fill in your details and tick the box ‘just a username’ at the bottom
• Click ‘Next’

• You will receive an email from WordPress including a link that will confirm your email address.
• Once you have done this log in.
• Click the ‘My Account on the top left hand side

• On your profile page click ‘API Key and other Personal Settings’

• On the next page WordPress will provide you with your API key.

Next week I will be showing you how to use this API key to add a profile picture to your WordPress.org blog and to activate the Askimet spam filter.

Today’s blog post is slightly different as Amanda tells us about the second meeting of the KLCK Bloggers network:

It was a busy day for Spiderworking.com and the KLCK bloggers network yesterday.  I was invited along with Lorna Sixsmith from Garrendenny Lane Interiors to go to the Edwina Grace show on KLCR96fm to talk about KLCK.  Edwina was great and we couldn’t have felt more relaxed chatting to her.

I only just made it back to the office in time to grab my computers and head straight back out to the Talbot Hotel, the venue of the second KLCK Bloggers Network.  I couldn’t believe how many people were there when I walked in the door.  22 Bloggers in total from all areas of blogging, some business bloggers, some personal bloggers and some who hadn’t started blogging yet but were keen to get going.

Participants were truly nationwide with people traveling from as far as Limerick to join in.

For those who couldn’t make it in person I livestreamed the event via webcam and Twitter, we had 4 viewers on the night, if you missed it you can view the recording by clicking here.  Paula Sheridan from Candle Designs gave us some great tips on using Flickr and Ruairi Brown from Kro.ie took us through the steps to set up a WordPress hosted blog.  You can download Ruairi’s presentation from  his blog.

After all the formalities we retired to the bar where we did some more relaxed networking.  It was a great evening and we’ve had so much good feedback that I can’t wait for the next one.  Photographs from the night can be viewed on the Flickr group.  If you would like to know more about the KLCK Bloggers network join our dedicated Facebook Page.

The next meeting will take place on Monday 13th of September at 7pm in Portlaoise (venue TBC).  We’ll be talking about ‘Plugins’.  It’s free to attend and all are welcome whether you are blogging, thinking about blogging or just want to know what a blog is.

This week, we return to the whole area of blogs and blogging. Diarmuid O’Connell from O’Connell Copy and a commercial writer with many years of experience puts forward the argument for getting someone to do the dirty work – the writing!

Ghost-Blog your way to higher sales

There’s nothing spooky about it. Hiring a professional writer to come up with and write blogs for your business brings sparkle to your online presence and a shine to your social media strategy. And from about €60 a blog, you’ll not find better bang for your online buck.

But you may well be thinking … what would I need a blog for? As for writing it yourself, many folk shudder at the thoughts of it. They usually say…..but I hated English in school and cannot stand writing about myself.

I know the feeling – I gladly ask an accountant to handle my tax and a recent technology meltdown was resolved in minutes by my IT guy.

You’ve read other company blogs and you know how powerful they can be. A professionally written blog, optimised for Google and other search engines will ensure your website has a much, much better chance of getting hits. More hits… a bigger audience…more sales.

It’s easier than you think. My clients usually send me a few bullet points by email or just give me a shout. And over the phone, we come up with a few ideas to get you started. I’ve written for over 30 industry sectors from technology to tourism and from finance to politics and everything in between.

If you love writing your own blog, just keep in mind what you want to ‘say’. Sounds obvious but a good blog post makes one point clearly and retains the right characteristics of your personality and that of your business.

But, if you want to have your blogs ghost-written by a professional writer and put the fear of God into your competition – get in touch….today! Log on to www.oconnellcopy.com or email me at diarmuid@oconnellcopy.com.

We’re often asked which blogs people should follow and over the last year there are three that really stand out, they provide great, easy to digest information on social media and have at least some content that is aimed at our target market; micro business and SME’s.

1. Social Media Examiner

Our absolute favorite blog is Social Media Examiner.  Great articles including dos and don’ts, case studies, tutorials and comment at least once a week there is an absolute gem.

2. Brian Solis

Brian Solis is well known in the internet world for his genius in Internet marketing.  His blog although sometimes be a bit in depth for beginners also has some great articles, statistics, information that are easy for even a social media novice to make the most of.

3. Mashable

Mashable is a mine of information covering user friendly technology from the Kindle to Facebook.  We keep an eye on the Social Media section on almost a daily basis.  A huge amount of information here but some really great articles too.

Is there a blog missing here?  What are your favorite Social Media blogs?  Leave your comments below and if we agree we will feature them here.

Monday saw the Inaugural meeting of the KLCK Bloggers Network, a group of like minded people living in the Kildare, Laois, Carlow, Kilkenny area who share an enthusiasm for Blogging and Internet marketing.

Amongst those who attended were those who write professionally, those with popular blogs, those who were just taking the first step in blogging and those who were on the cusp of getting started.

The aim of the group is to share knowledge, put our heads together and see what we can achieve both individually and as a group.

Meetings will continue every second Monday of the month and all are welcome to attend whether you are living in the four counties or not and whether you are already a blogger or not.

Our next meet up will be on August 9th at the Talbot Hotel Carlow. Paula Sheridan from Candle Designs will be talking about using Flickr for business and we will have a second presentation on the basics of setting up a WordPress blog and useful plugins (speaker tbc).  If you’d like to come along or if you have expertise to share with the group you can RSVP on Facebook or on Linkedin or by leaving a comment on this blog post.

Are you a blogger?  Do you live in the Kildare, Laois, Carlow, Kilkenny region (or nearby). Come and join us at the KLCK Bloggers Network.

I’m a big networker both online and offline. I love networking not just for the business that it can generate but also for the shared knowledge that it brings.  For a while I have been wanting to connect with more local Bloggers, more people who were passionate about using social media and the Internet like me and for that reason I have set up KLCK Bloggers Network.

The first meeting will be very loose, just a chat and a bit of networking but members will be encouraged to suggest what form they would like further meeting to take.

If you’d like to come along here are the details:

Date:  Monday 12th July 2010

Time: 6 for 6.30pm

Place: Bar of the Clanard Court Hotel in Athy.

Who can come: anyone who is blogging, thinking of blogging, would like to blog, Facebook users, Tweeters, and anyone else who is interested.

If you want to come along you can RSVP by leaving a comment on this post, on Facebook, or on Linkedin.

We also have a Facebook page and a Linkedin group and would love your input.

Many thanks to Lorna from Garrendenny Lane for helping us organise this.

It’s important to update your blog on a regular basis.  SEO experts believe that after time search engines will get used to how often the content in your website is updated and will visit accordingly.  So once you have decided how often you are going to blog it’s important to keep to this schedule.

Sometimes however it’s impossible to keep to your blogging schedule, what about when you go on holiday?  If you have a meeting? If you simply don’t have time that day? One of my customers asked me if it was possible to schedule posts for the future.

The good news is that yes you can write your blog posts when you have time and schedule them for later:

• Log in to your wordpress account and click ‘New Post’ on the top right hand side of the screen.

• Create you blog post as usual but instead of clicking ‘Publish’, choose ‘Edit’ next to ‘Publish immediately’ on the line above the publish button.

• Add the date and time that you want the post to publish.

• Click ‘OK’

• Click ‘Schedule’

And that’s it, simple!

If you’re a blogger did you know that you can feed your blog automatically into Facebook. In this weeks video blog we show you two ways to do this:

1. Using the existing “Notes” application
2. Using Networked Blogs:

If you want to know more about some of the coolest social meida applications  join our Facebook page, where every Monday we feature a “Monday Morning Cool Tool” last weeks tool turned text uʍop ǝpısdn.

Each week we are featuring one of the Work The Web workshops here on our blog.

This weeks featured workshop is ‘Blogging For Business’

Who is this workshop for?

Small to medium sized business owners who own a website but feel that they are not maximising it to it’s full potential.

What you will learn:

If you would like to start a blog for business but aren’t sure where to start, we can show you how to do it from the ground up. We will show you everything you need to know in order to set up a blog easily and quickly and to maximise both SEO and branding potential.

• Choosing hosting and domain name

• WordPress vs Blogger

• Creating your blog online

• Configuring basic blog settings

• Changing the look of your blog

• Creating your first post

• Formatting and editing posts

• Using hyperlinks

• Embedding video and images

• Managing comments

• Tags, Keywords, and SEO

• Case studies – Blogs that work

• Setting a blogging schedule

• Different types of blogs

• Targeting your market

• What to write

• Goals and calls to action

Where & When:

We are running this one day workshop on:

Friday 7th May at at Jury’s Inn, Dublin 1

and

Thursday 27th May at The Maudlins House Hotel, Naas, Co. Kildare

A limited number of Early Bird tickets are available for €95

Full price tickets cost €145

Payment Details

If you wish to pay by Visa or Mastercard please simple pay online when booking your tickets. If you wish to pay by Laser or if you prefer to pay by Visa/Mastercard over the phone please call 091 399 939 and tell the receptionist that you wish to pay by credit card. To pay by cheque or EFT please contact Ruairi on 091 399 939 for details.

It is impossible to watch the news at the moment without your heart going out to those effected by the flooding.  People loosing their homes and their businesses, devastated by the ‘aquapocalypse’.

Spiderworking.com is delighted to join the scheme initiated by Galway based IT company ‘Kro IT solutions‘ to pledge time and services to a business effected by the flood.

Ruairi from Kro launched the initiative yesterday with on his blog promoting it across social media networks.  Using the hashtag #flood2help the cause quickly spread across twitter.  People shared the blog link on Facebook and soon the pledges of help started flooding in (excuse the pun).  Others started to blog their support and soon the pledged hours started clocking up.  At Spiderworking.com we pledged a tailored social media marketing package.

If you have a business and would like to pledge your help leave a comment on Ruairi’s blog, blog about it yourself letting Ruairi know so he can link to you, and spread the word on twitter, facebook and the rest of your social networks.