Code of Conduct / Suggestions / Terms

We're very glad you decided to join the experts and hobbyists at Lockergnome! Results are typically proportional to your level of involvement, so don't be afraid to jump right in and share your expertise and passions with the world.

If you've blogged before, you're probably already familiar with the nuances of how this works. If you're completely new to blogging, think of this as nothing more than a way to write something unique and have it read by thousands of people from around the world. Lockergnome has built fantastic discovery tools so that people might find you through search engines as well as through related posts throughout the Lockergnome network.

By posting here, you imply a shared license of your content (the Creative Commons license is for you to set). If you choose to quote from an external source, please quote conservatively. The world is interested in hearing new, insightful commentary - original tips, tricks, and ideas. If it's discovered that you're copying content without proper attribution, or if you're doing nothing more than quoting content without providing enough original commentary, you could have your account revoked.

While we understand you may be blogging elsewhere, we discourage the exact duplication (cross-posting) of content. A conservative amount of cross-linking is fine, but running the same information in several places can hurt you.

Recognize hot stories. Don't just copy what someone else has written - give your own commentary on today's news, then be sure to link back to other people who happen to be writing about the same topic that day.

An article or headline that contains How to, Tutorial, Guide, Reference, or Top 10 has a much better chance of getting picked up and shared by visitors. I strongly recommend writing detailed "how to" guides if you want to grow your traffic on Lockergnome (as they will get promoted more).

Write an amazing headline that nobody could pass up. Use words like awesome, great, free, finally, amazing, best, tips, top 10, how to, tricks, help, or anything that would compel YOU to click on the article if someone else was teasing it. Do not underestimate the power of headlines.

Give it a personal touch. Remember that blogging isn't just about writing - it's about making interpersonal connections with your readers. You don'’t want to only attract visitors from the search engines, but you want to appeal to an audience that will find you and stick with you wherever you go.

Start becoming active in social networks - Flickr, del.icio.us, Twitter, Reddit, Digg, MySpace, YouTube, etc. If you want people to read what you write, you'll probably have to reach out to them in some fashion first.

Leave legit comments in other people's blogs. How else are they going to know about you and what you're writing if you don't introduce yourself first? You probably already know people who are blogging about what you love blogging about - so let them know you're out there, too. This includes leaving comments on other Lockergnome blogs.

WRITE SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY. Without fresh content, people will stop coming back to you as a source of information. There are some people who are writing updates throughout the day, and they're the ones who are getting the most comments from visitors.

You can assign any article a category as a general label, but then tag that article with several keywords you believe are most applicable to it. An article can have a handful of tags, but maybe only (really) belong in a single category. Moreover, by tagging your posts with an appropriate amount of keywords, you're making it easier for visitors from other sites to find you.

While we will continue to add revenue-sharing programs to this publishing system over time, the first thing you should do is sign up for Google AdSense so that we can serve 50% of the page impressions directly to your account.

If we see that you are using your Lockergnome account to do nothing but drive traffic back to other sites you own, or through affiliate programs that aren't being traced through us, you could have your account revoked. More importantly, if we discover that you're selling outbound links, content, or advertising through your Lockergnome blog, you could have your account revoked.