Editor’s note: This is a contributed post by Meghan, a freelance writer for scholaradvisor.com, an education portal in USA. She regularly contributes articles on education, writing tips and guides.

There are lots of ways you can create your blog, and the beauty of the process is that you are allowed to be as creative and original as you like. You can follow the guidelines and rules of others but there is nothing stopping you from trying something new and running with it.

(Image source: Fotolia)

Just because other blog posts are 500 words does not mean you cannot create one that is 2000 words. Just because other blogs have one picture does not mean you cannot add 12 pictures and turn the blog into a comic book style.

Your freedom from restriction is what makes blogging so fun. Here are some tips for blogging, but they are not rules (and even if they were, you should still break them at your discretion).

1. Keep your paragraphs short and sweet

Writing long paragraphs is going to bore your readers and they will leave to find easier reading. Unless your blog gives out valuable information that the reader is lost without, there is little chance that you are going to impress them with long paragraphs.

2. Do you switch from 1st, 2nd and 3rd perspective?

This is a common mistake because it takes a keen eye to spot when you do it. Do you go from writing "I" to "We" to "one"? It is hard to spot, which is why you should check each paragraph separately for which perspective it is from.

3. Do not make silly spelling mistakes

To avoid making mistakes it’s best to nip it in the bud – during the writing phase. Be sensitive to spelling mistakes like there and their, it’s and its, form and from. The occasional slip is not going to lose you a lot of readers, but making the same mistakes repeatedly is going to annoy people.

4. Do not use txt talk

Txt talk is the language used by people on mobile phones, which will save character space and make writing easier and quicker. It has its place and its uses on mobile phones, but not on a blog. It makes your blog harder to read.

The people reading your blog have been reading since childhood to the point where they can glance at text and know what it means without needing to physically read it. Txt talk however requires thought in order to interpret it, so do not use it.

5. Proof read your blog post four days later

When you have just written a blog post you cannot look upon it with a cold and clinical eye. The text is still fresh in your mind and you will have more trouble reading your text without skim reading. If you look at it a few days later you will have to read every line again, and you will pick up more of your errors that you missed the first time.

6. Proofread line by line

This may seem a bit excessive for a blog post, since it need not be perfect. Nevertheless, you will find a marked improvement in the flow of your writing and the overall quality if you consciously concentrate on one line at a time when you proofread. You may also like to find a cheap online proofreader to check for your mistakes.

7. Check for contradictions

Do not forget to check the message/content of your blog post. Some people will contradict themselves in various minor or glaring ways and be completely unaware of it because they proofread their text without noticing the theme or content. Do you say that you were not present but then describe part of the event in the first person? Do you claim that you were upset by the incident whilst also mentioning how much you laughed about it?

8. Write about things you’re passionate about

Good blogger should remember to start with content first. What does that mean? You need to have something to say before any other part of the writing can begin.

Write about something you are passionate about. If you like sport – write about sport. If you are passionate about tech and apps then write about it. Write what you love.

9. Break your text apart when you proofread it

Cut your text into relevant sections, and then proofread each section individually. Proofreading a whole document can be daunting, and by the middle or end you will become less diligent and more forgiving.

You can avoid this by proofreading in sections. Make sure one section is perfect before starting with a new section.

10. Run a spelling and grammar check

If you work with Microsoft Word, take advantage of the spellchecker. There are a few spelling and grammar checkers online, but if you are already proficient at spelling and grammar, the paid ones are of very little help.

The most accessible spellchecker you will find would be in your mailbox. Many email services come with a spellchecker within their "Compose message" function.

More Tips And Resources

Check out these posts on writing and blogging:

• Tips And Tricks For Writing Fast (And Professionally!)
• 20 Sites To Get Paid For Writing And Blogging – Best Of
• Popular (But Bad) Writing Advice You Should Ignore
• 7 Ways To Keep Your Online Audience Reading
• 5 Copywriting Fundamentals For Blogs

Editor’s note: This is a contributed post by Chris Jackson, who writes about web design trends for DesignCrowd, an online design jobs marketplace for freelance web and graphic designers. They have recently launched a design jobs marketplace in Singapore.

One of the highlights of the year for any serious web designer or developer is often the Web Conference. Every year there are more and more amazing events taking place all over the globe, from events all over the US such as the An Event Apart series to SxSW in Austin, Texas, to the Edge Of The Web conference in Australia to events like jQuery Europe and DLD in Germany.

There is something for everyone no matter where you are from. We take a look at some of these amazing web conferences and they may have for you. If you have any other conferences to add to the list, let your voice be heard in the comments section.

Note: Most of these events occur on an annual basis (sometimes a few times a year) so be sure to check their sites for details if you want to paticipate in any of them.

New Adventures In Web Design

New Adventures in Web Design is a focused, single-track design conference in the historic English city of Nottingham. Alongside the lineup of great speakers for 2013, there are three masterclass workshops on offer from industry legends Sarah Parmenter, Andy Clarke and Steph Hay.

Industry Conf

Industry is the brainchild of conference veteran Gavin Elliott, organiser of the incredibly popular DIBI Conference in 2010 and 2011. The event will feature 8 diverse web professionals giving practical talks and giving you the tools to use what you learn from the conference in your own work.

Altitude

Altitude is a unique event set in a unqiue location: 100 meters above sea level in Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower! Web entrepreneur Paul Boag interviews 4 leading figures from four different disciplines – development, design, accesibility, and iOS design – giving conference-goers a broad and insightful view of the industry.

Port80

Port80 is organised by Joel Hughes and is Wales’ first web design conference (in 2013). Alongside the yearly main event, there are Localhost events, low-cost evenings that happen three times a year.

SxSW Interactive

SxSW is one of the most well-known conferences anywhere in the world, featuring cutting edge music, film and digitil/interactive technologies year on year. Its scale and scope can be daunting to the newcomer, and the handy First Timer’s Guide is a good place to start for the uninitiated.

Converge SE

Converge promises a conference for "designers and developers who want to explore the mysteries of the web" – which it does through intensive half- and full-day sessions, in multiple venues all across Columbia. In 2013, participants heard inspirational talks from Chris Coyier, Grey Hoy and James White.

Le Web London

Le Web London is back for the year 2013 with the concept of Digital "Hippies" – people creating a global marketplace where ideas and creations are shared openly, without the usual focus on money.

IUI Conf

The first IUI Conference, all the way back in 1997, was conceived as a highly selective program focusing on quality. After all these years, the focus remains the same, and the program of excellent speakers will help to inspire the next wave of research into Intelligent User Interfaces.

Interaction

Toronto is Canada’s largest center for design, and is the perfect place to host the Interaction conference. Already breaching 10 years since the founding of IxDA, the web conference celebrates the interaction design community with various workshops, sessions, panel discussions, "Idea Markets", and more.

An Event Apart

An Event Apart was founded by Eric Meyer and Jeffrey Zeldman, and is dedicated to the idea that creators of great web experiences deserve a great learning experience. Every event, happening all over the US, promises to be just that – with a range of speakers and sessions all happening in the one room.

Mobile+Web DevCon

This mobile conference is split over three days, with the main conference happening over two. Prior to the conference, atendees can take part in the Labs, where they can learn a range of skills from mobile design and client/server iOS apps, to getting your teeth into JavaScript (for any designers who have previous steered clear!)

WebVisions

WebVisions looks to the future. Over 4 events (three in the US, one in Europe), the conference explores business strategy, user experience and content creation and how these things are constantly changing.

WordCamp Central

WorldCamp events are informal, community-organised gatherings put together by WordPress enthusiasts all over the world. Every conference brings together a great mix of industry professionals, lead developers and casual users to share ideas, inspire and learn from each other.

DLD

Digital-Life-Design is a global network focused on innovation, science, digitization and culture. The conference will bring together 150 speakers and 800 attendees to discuss the interconnection of business and technology.

TakeOff Conf

TakeOff focuses on what the trending topics will be for the coming year, covering everything from pure front end development and design to new web frameworks and languages, to look at how the web will evolve in our near furture, and what we can do along the way.

The Design Of Understanding

The more people can understand an idea, and the easier that understanding comes, the greater the idea. Design Of Understanding conference focuses on this point, beginning with Information Design and looking beyond into related fields, with speakers from media, sport, defence and literature as well as technology.

Jfokus

Jfokus (as the name suggests) focuses on JavaScript, and is arranged together with Javaforum, a Swedish developer community and an official Java User Group. Speakers at the Jfokus conference come from all across the world, from leading universities to cutting-edge software companies, whose talks center on system development with JS and the surrounding technologies.

WebStock

WebStock consists of three full days of hands-on workshops, then another two days of conference sessions led by amazing talent from the industry. While most of these sessions are keynote presentations, WebStock often features two steams, giving speakers the chance to delve deeper into their subjects.

Snow Mobile

Snow Mobile is, unsurprisingly, all about mobile. Everything from iOS to Android to Windows Phones and the mobile web in general are covered during the conference. Following the event there will be an after-party at The Sett, featuring live music, games, a bowling alley and even a climbing wall!

Toca Me

The Toca Me conference is ran by the Toca Me design studio, based in Munich. With a focus on intimacy and communication, the event brings together a variety of speakers including designers, digital artists and musicians.

jQuery Europe

jQuery Europe is a truly international conference, with the best developers and web professionals from around the world speaking and leading workshop sessions. This event is hosted in the spectacular city of Vienna, which is widely regarded as the world’s number one destination for international congresses and conventions.

The Next Web Europe

TNW Europe is a huge yet somehow intimate event, with over 40 speakers, 80 tech startups and around 2000 participants expected to attend. Discover the latest trends in mobile and internet, learn about best business practices and help predict, discuss and invent the future.

Edge Of The Web

Edge Of The Web is a loosely-structured conference for all kinds of people, from web devs and entrepreneurs to creatives and futurists. The focus is on the wider issues of the industry, and as such the event delves into ethics, design thinking, profitable collaboration and much more.

The Big eCommerce Conference

The Big eCommerce Conference will focus on, yes you’ve guessed it, eCommerce. The single day event includes 5 seminars from industry experts abd a 3 track workshop program. Topics for the day include emerging eCommerce technologies, best practices and customer service.

While we lament the impending loss of Google Reader, Google shares some good news recently with the newly launched Google Keep. Its tagline, "Save what’s on your mind" describes its function as a note-taking service.

It’s currently a stand-alone service and in the early stages of development but will work with Google Drive in the near future. It has still pretty basic features, and we will show you what you can currently do on Keep to help organize your thoughts.

Recommended Reading: Everything You Need To Know About Google Glass

Keeping Your Thoughts Organized

Google Keep is akin to Evernote but with a simpler approach. Keep lets you take down short notes with just a basic title and your note content. You can also choose to add an image to a note and color code each note with one of 8 colors.

Prefer a to-do list style instead? There is also the option to create this, then cross out things that you have completed later on.

However there are a few things to note about Google Keep. At the moment, it does not allow rearrangements of your notes, so it will remain in the order where new notes will be on top. You also cannot have a list just with pictures; pictures can only be accompanied by notes.

Access Google Keep everywhere

You can access Google Keep on a desktop or mobile web browser through drive.google.com/keep. It features a responsive web design that works really well for smaller smartphone screens to high-resolution tablets.

iOS users as you can access Keep through a web browser like the Chrome app.

‘Keep’ On Android

Android users have it better as Google has already launched a dedicated Google Keep app on the Play Store. The Android Keep app also looks better than the web version with more vibrant colors to each note you create.

Keep also comes in widget form so you can access it straight on your home screen without even launching the app. The handy widget also allows you to quickly view or create new notes in Keep.

One more handy feature is its speech-to-text recording feature. Tap the microphone to start dictating what you need to remember and it will save a recording of your voice with the text of what you said on the body content of the note. You can also add a picture to this or later download the recording through the Keep webpage.

Wishlist for Future Features

So far, Keep has yet to really blow our minds but that’s only because we know there will be more unique and cool features to look forward to for Google Keep.

Knowing Google and its push for innovation, we hope to see Keep eventually:

• Integrated with Gmail and Chrome to easily create notes
• Have notifications and reminders
• Allow uploads of images through urls
• Have better organization with folders

Summary

In short, here are some of the pros and cons we derived from playing with Google Keep, for now.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Simple functions
• Lightweight
• Beautiful Android app

Cons:

• No rearrangements (yet)
• No iPhone app
• No reminders