Blogs should be considered independent websites, with well-considered posts to help the user with navigation while lending visual appeal and strong subject matter. Funny, many don’t turn out that way.

From Nielsen, here are four key blunders in blogging:

Vague Posting Titles
Your headlines should not only be appealing, they should spell out the gist of your content in a few direct words. Blog readers, like all Web aficionados, are skimmers. Get to the point immediately. Moreover, headlines are served up in RSS feeds. You want readers? Put a hook in their eye.

Mishmash Topics
Your readership will visit on a regular basis to receive a known quantity. That means you need to be consistent. Think of a food franchise with a devoted clientele. People order the same thing every time. Visit a hamburger joint in Tokyo and you’ll get the double patties in a familiar wrapper that you find in Cleveland.

Irregular Publishing
Miss a few days and you’re toast. Think old media. If you opened the front door in the morning and the newspaper wasn’t there, wouldn’t you grumble?

Links to Nowhere
Simply adding a hypertext anchor to a string of words won’t help the user. Affix generous “mouse over” text so visitors can see where they’re going. Let them make an informed decision before linking off your site. Consider opening your links in a fresh window so your blog won’t disappear the moment users click them.

Source
Jakob Nielsen

There are distinct benefits from learning the language as well as in becoming a certified PHP engineer. The certification, offered by Zend Technologies as the ZCE, can distinguish your skills from other job applicants in the development space.

Moreover, whenever someone passes the certification exam, Zend Technologies lists their name and career profile in Zend’s Yellow Pages that helps companies to recruit PHP developers. There currently are more than 3,000 certified Zend Certified Engineers.

Here are the main areas in the certification exam:

PHP basics, XML (including SOAP, Xpath, and REST), object-oriented programming, application theory and design, SQL,  SPL (Standard PHP Library), security, streams and network programming, Web elements, databases, control statements, classes, in-build functions, include files, and more.

If you’re preparing for certification exams, please check with your instructors. You will need to know the specific differences between PHP 4 and 5 to earn a current certification. The exam has 70 multiple choice questions with options for answers. More than one option may be part of the correct answer, or you may be required to write a free-form answer of your own. The test is taken on a configured computer and pass-fail results are delivered at the computer as soon as you complete the exam.

Zend offers test preparation training for cost, along with study materials for purchase and downloadable sample tests. The official price for the certification exam is $125, and there is a discount if you need to take the test over.

Source
Zend Technologies

Well-Designed Social Networks for Web Designers
Social networks are a great way for Web designers to connect, share tips, and find out about the newest design trends. But Web designers have little patience for poorly designed or ugly social networking sites. If the blinking adds and neon backgrounds of amateur social network sites are driving you crazy, check out these well-designed networks: 

Designfloat.com
Design  Float is a well organized, digg-style site that separates threads based on various sub-fields of Web and graphic design. Topics include industrial design, identity and branding, business and freelancing, and more.

Designrelated.com
Simple and elegantly designed, Design Related is a network that allows members to post portfolios and browse other designers’ work. Cool features include “inspiration” pages, featured members, and a job database.   

Commandshift3.com
Command Shift 3 is a creative and fun site that allows members to vote on Web sites- like hot or not for Web design. The page of best and worst Web sites is especially entertaining, and there are some truly incredible designs on this site.

Pixelgroovy.com
Pixel Groovy is a collection of Web design tutorials. Members vote on whether a tutorial is worth sharing. This site provides great resources to help you refine your Web design and general computer skills.
 
Design21.com
For the socially conscious designer, Design 21 social design network is a network that partners with the UN’s cultural organization, UNESCO. Design 21 holds design contests for logos and Web pages of non-profit organizations and UN projects. Design 21 is a cool way to use design to give back and help the cause of your choice.

Sources:
Commandshift3.com
Design21.com
Designfloat.com
Designrelated.com
Mashable.com
Pixelgroovy.com