And now there are over 100 new resources listed! Check it out. (Note: It’s a bit messy at the moment, but we’ll get the formatting fixed up as soon as possible.)

We’d love for you to suggest new resources to be added to the list, which you can do by filling out the simple form at the top of the resource list page. We’ll gladly include a link to your website once we add your recommended blogging resources to the list.

Visionary Blogging is hard at work to make this the number one place on the Web for people to learn about how to hone the blog improvement process for better blogging results. Along with our resource list, we’ve been working hard to make the Iris blog consulting service ready for your devouring. (See our recent blog inspection of Pro Blog Design for an example of one Iris component).

We’ve also published an in-depth blog commenting improvement guide and released our exclusive step-by-step 130-point Blog Improvement Checklist.

Your comments, questions, suggestions and juicy rumors are always welcome here. We’re here to help!

Thank you again. We at Visionary Blogging truly appreciate your support.

Coming soon: A detailed guide to improving one of the most important aspects of your blog.

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Check it out, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks to Thord and the gang for giving me this incredible opportunity.

Every Friday, I’ll put up a post for TBH.

Most of my posts will be blogging guides, feature interviews, opinion pieces, etc. Y’know, meat and potatoes stuff.

To celebrate, I think I’ll put a picture of two urinals up at The Blog Herald in my next post.

Keep an eye out for it, will ya?

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I recently asked artist Jason Dowd a few questions about The Expressionist, a just-launched blog magazine covering the art industry with a Tampa, Florida flair.

Easton: You’re calling The Expressionist a “magazine.” Why?

Jason: The magazine is dedicated to the many fields of art. No matter what you touch, someone had to create it, it’s a work of art. I know from being an artist for more than 16 years art is an expression, that concept seemed to fit this magazine and gave it a powerful name. Thus came “The Expressionist” in honor of all the artists inside.

Easton: How did you settle on your current site design? What sites (if any) influenced your design decisions?

Jason: My site manager and partner, Jesse Petersen, knows the person that made this current layout. He chose it because of our content and it’s an easy to navigate layout. When I asked him about designing my site, I showed him Rolling Stone, Time Life Magazine, George, and People.

Easton: How much time and effort has The Expressionist required so far? Do you anticipate any lightening of the load soon?

Jason: To start it’s been grueling. Jesse has worked through school and all his waking hours getting our layout perfect and some content. I have been working on it almost 24/7 myself. Hopefully once we get it running, Jesse, Justin and I will be able to take more of a department role in writing and management. My goal is to in one year get us off the writing and have us manage our deparments and hopefully hire writers.

Easton: How do you plan to make money with The Expressionist? Any advice for professional bloggers out there?

Jason: We plan on selling a .pdf of our magazine each publication which will contain the featured articles, and some higher sub content. We also plan on advertising, we sell space on a tower for ads, and we will allow advertising on our stories. For advice, find someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to blogging! You want to do it right the first time, and I am so lucky I knew someone. This magazine would not be even remotely close to what it is today if I didn’t have Jesse.

Easton: What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced in launching The Expressionist? What advice would you give to those who may create similar blogs or online magazines in the future?

Jason: Time … we all have a demanding schedule and had to make hours of work fit into minutes. Luckily we really had no major flaws anywhere or any major setbacks. Advice … first, get an idea that will impact the majority of people, bring stories to them that not only keep them informed, but educated. Believe in your work, and use it for the good of the people, not just yourself and you will see how successful it becomes with time. With any online/print magazine or blog, fresh content is key. Expect to put at least one, maybe two articles up daily so be on the lookout for the news.

Thanks to Jason Dowd and Jesse Petersen for sharing a bit of The Expressionist with us.

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For whom is your blog?

Who writes the blog posts?

Who typically leaves comments?

Who’s the target reader? The target buyer?

Who your blog?

Who your blog matters more than what your blog. It’s bigger than when or where or how, too.

Let me rephrase it: Knowing why you’re blogging and who you’re blogging for is more fundamental than deciding anything else about your blog, including what to blog about.

When you’re birthing a blog, the why and who are the head and shoulders.

Concentrate first on why your blog and who your blog and the rest will emerge easily.

So … boy or girl?

Imagine all the bloggers …

photo credit: Gaetan Lee

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Why your blog? Why is it special?

Why your blog? Why did you choose the blog format?

Can a new visitor tell me “why your blog” within 10 seconds?

Can you?

Why your blog?

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Did you attend the SOBCon08 business blogging conference last week in Chicago?

If so, I have an idea.

If not, I have an idea.

Let’s take a blogging/business step forward together in May 2008.

Let’s each put a piece of SOBCon advice into practice in our online efforts by the end of this month.

Why?

Well, why not?

How to Participate in the May 2008 SOBCon08 Step Forward Challenge

1. Pick one item from the SOBCon08 tips list to do by May 31, 2008.

2. Leave a comment below announcing your resolution to participate.

3. Fulfill your resolution. (Ah, the easy part.)

4. Leave another comment below explaining how you took your step forward.

I’ll keep track of things and report back to the community at the beginning of June.

Many hands make light work.

What do many feet stepping forward do?

Let’s find out together.

Who’s with me?

Photo: One Step Beyond by kirtaph

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Want to know who’s attending the SOBCon08 business blogging conference? I’ve made an unofficial SOBCon08 directory to help you learn about SOBCon08 attendees, speakers and lessons learned at SOBCon.

Please register and help me improve the list.

2008 SOBCon Resources – Leave a Comment Below to Add Your SOBCon08 Resource

• Liz Strauss released a big SOBCon08 attendees list today.
• There’s a growing SOBCon08 attendee list at the official SOBCon08 Wiki.
• Follow the official SOBCon Twitter group.
• Visit this Google Blog Search for SOBCon or grab its RSS feed to track new posts about SOBCon08.
• Visit this Tweet Scan SOBCon08 search page or grab its RSS feed to stalk Twitter mentions of SOBCon.

Please, please go to SOBCon. You’ll never regret it. I promise.

I’m grateful to be helping out with the SOBCon08 blog and spotlighting some of the first-time SOBCon attendees there.

There will be bear hugs … oh yes … there will be bear hugs!

I’m Easton, by the way. Nice to meet ya.

And I look forward to seeing you at SOBCon!

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Last week we defined visionary blogging and named the 5 key elements of vision: awareness, focus, discernment, imagination, diligence.

That explains “visionary.”

But what about “blogging?”

First, what is a blog?

A blog is a series of online articles or posts published in chronological order. The articles may consist of text, audio, images or videos. The order is usually reversed, so the most recent article appears first. A blog may allow visitors to publish comments in response to its articles.

So what is blogging?

Blogging is the act of publishing, promoting or improving a blog.

So blogging is actually many things. For example:

Blog Publishing

• Coming up with blog post ideas
• Planning your blogging activities
• Reading about blogging in order to get post ideas and improve your posts
• Editing published posts
• Writing posts
• Using blog publishing software
• Learning how to improve your blog publishing efforts

Blog Promotion

• Emailing people about your blog
• Calling people about your blog
• Talking to people in person about your blog
• Sharing your blog on social media websites
• Making and publishing press releases about your blog
• Learning how to improve your blog promotion efforts

Blog Improvement

• Analyzing the traffic and search engine rankings of your blog
• Changing the design of your blog
• Adding services to your blog
• Recruiting or hiring other bloggers to contribute to your blog
• Studying the process of blog improvement

Head spinning yet?

This is why vision is everything.

As vision improves, blogging becomes simpler. The better your blogging vision, the easier it is for you to improve your blog and become a better blogger.

Armed with our definitions of vision, blogging and visionary blogging, we’re ready to plumb the depths of blog improvement.

Will you join me? Please subscribe to Visionary Blogging now so you don’t miss a thing.

Challenge: Define blogging in one sentence. Can you do it? What’s your definition of blogging?

Photo: confusion by NEOPIXX

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