Why do I want a blog anyway?
How do I start an Orble Blog?
OK, I've created by blog, what do I do next?
What should I write about?
What is the difference between a regular Orble blog and a Domain blog?
How do I get a domain blog?
Is Orble free?
How do I get published on the Orble homepage?
How much can an Orble blog make?
Can I have a classifieds section on my blog?
Can I use an Orble blog to promote my business?
How do I get AdSense working?
Where can I learn more about using the Orble system?
How do I get more people to read my blog?
How many readers can I expect on my Orble blog?
How do I add a Title Banner?
My title banner is not centered, how do I fix it?
What is the difference between a Blog and a Post?
What is Orble Karma and how do I get more of it?
Can I publish more than one post a day and what happens if I miss a day?
Are there any restrictions on content?
I've got a question I can't find an answer to, what should I do?
Who owns Orble?
Since these humble beginnings the term Blog has grown to refer to any
website on which dated posts can be published with ease. They are now
used for anything from the traditional one person diary with a couple
of posts per month to major news and current events websites which
have hundreds of new posts every day.
Recreational blogs are those written for enjoyment. It can be
lots of fun to write about whatever is on your mind and get feedback
from people all over the world. It's also a great way to keep friends
and family informed about what you have been doing. Orble provides
all the tools you will need to run a recreational blog that everyone
will enjoy, including you.
Professional blogs are written by people who want to either
make a living (or at least some pocket money) out of writing, get a
message across, or who just get a kick out of creating active
communities. They are also usually focused on a particular subject
and examples include Soccer, African Politics, or Knitting. Orble
will provide you with all the tools and advice you need to run a
successful professional blog.
Business blogs are effective marketing tools. By publishing
quality articles related to your area of business you can build trust
with your readership and many of them will turn into customers.
Businesses are also now using internal blogs and forums to keep their
employees informed and to improve the flow of information.
Some examples of subjects which will appeal to a large number of readers:
- Cricket
- Knitting
- African Politics
- Movies
- Punk Rock
Examples of topics which usually find it hard to attract readers:
- My life as a student
- Thought for the day
- Harry's diary
- My love life
- My musings on the universe
Also keep in mind that some topics typically generate more revenue
than others the important factor being the existence of a competitive
advertising market. The difference can be quite dramatic. A blog on
Digital Cameras will probably generate about 20 to 100 times as much
revenue as a blog on philosophy with the same number of readers.
Examples of topics which typically generate high revenue:
- Digital Cameras
- Real Estate
- The Share Market
- Jobs
- Cars
Examples of topics which typically generate low revenue:
- History
- Philosophy
- Literature
- Art
- Books
- News
At the moment Orble is particularly interested in blogs on the following topics:
- Film
- Sport
- Travel
- Business
- Music
- Video Games
- Parenting
- Technology
- Politics
- Food
- Health
- Motoring
- Writing
Orble provides all the tools you will need to successfully work
together including full control over writing and commenting
permissions along with membership management.
See this page for more information.
Orble blogs are great for attracting readers through publication on
the Orble homepage and through attracting traffic from the search
engines.
By publishing quality articles related to your area of business you
can build trust with your readership and many of them will turn into
customers.
Please note that Blogs which merely promote products and services will
be deleted. Your promotional blog should be about a subject which
attracts your target demographic, not actually about your business.
You can place a link to your business at the end of each post.
You can create an Orble blog on this page.
Work your way through the New Blogger Checklist.
Apply for an AdSense account here.
Once your account has been approved you will need to tell us what you client id is. You can do this here.
You do not need to post any code into your blog despite what Google says. Everything is done automatically by Orble.
The Blogging Tips blog will tell you how to create new posts, edit them, insert pictures and much more.
Read the Blog Adviser blog. It's got lots of great advice, especially this post.
See this post.
You've not read the Blogging Tips blog have you :) This post will tell you how to add a title banner.
This post will help you out.
This post in the Blogging Tips blog will tell you how.
A Blog is a website on which individual Posts are published, similar to how a newspaper is a place where individual articles are published.
So for instance a Soccer blog could be called "Soccer News" and would contain posts called "Manchester vs Liverpool, what a game!" or "David Beckham, the best player ever?".
Some people use the term Blog to describe a Post but rarely the other way around. This can get rather confusing! A Post is also sometimes called an Entry.
Every time you vote for a post its score will increase by the amount of Karma you have. Any posts you write will also start off with a score equal to your Karma.
The Karma system is designed to encourage people to contribute to the Orble community in a constructive way.
Your Karma score is made up of three parts:
1/3 is the amount of traffic that your best blog receives (if you have more than one). This is a good measure of blog popularity.
1/3 is the ratio of comments and ratings received on your blog(s) to the number of posts written. Another good measure of blog popularity.
1/3 is the number of comments you have made on all the Orble blogs. This is a good measure of the contribution you are making to the Orble community.
The scale is also roughly logarithmic with it getting much harder to move up each progressive level of Karma.
You can see your own Karma by going to your homepage (use the "My Profile" link at the top of this page).
Regular Orble blogs are those which are hosted on the www.orble.com domain. Orble also provides "Domain" blogs which are hosted on their own domain name, for instance www.myblog.com.
Domain blogs are linked into the Orble network and generate a much larger readership than regular Orble sites.
To obtain a domain blog create four posts on a regular Orble blog. You will then automatically be considered for a domain blog.
Your four posts should focus on a particular topic such as Football, Films, or Music, rather than random musings on the universe.
At the moment Orble is particularly interested in blogs on the following topics:
- Film
- Sport
- Travel
- Business
- Music
- Video Games
- Parenting
- Technology
- Politics
- Food
- Health
- Motoring
- Writing
You are able to publish more than one post per day. However, it is not advised to post one week's worth of material in one day and then neglect your blog until the following week.
You can delay the publications of a posts using the "Display Time" field on the blog creation form. The Display Time is when a post will be published on your blog. Many bloggers write two or three posts in one go and have them actually appear on their blogs over the next few days.
Search engines direct more traffic to those domains/blogs that are active and updated regularly, i.e. at least 3 times per week. To attract repeat readers you will also need to post regularly to give them something new each time they visit. Try and make up for a missed daily entry!
There are no restrictions on content as long as you do not post anything offensive, racist, or pornographic. Exactly what offensive means is hard to define but we reserve the right to remove any content we think may offend people. In practice this has only happened a couple of times and we take a very liberal stance.
Expletives are okay, but in moderation. If a post contains adult content it should be flagged as "Mature".
If you've read this FAQ and the Blogging Tips blog and still can't find an answer you can ask your question on the Writer's Forum.
You can also try searching the Writer's Forum for answers to previous questions.
Orble will never charge writers for anything. If you are given a domain blog, Orble will pay for the domain registration and hosting.
Orble makes money by taking a share of the advertising revenue.
Orble.com is owned and run by On Topic Media PTY LTD.
ABN 18 113 479 226
