Blogging about Internal Audit (10 tips)

A looooooong time ago, Leeann asked me to write a post about blogging about internal audit, so here goes. Most of this post applies to blogging on any subject, too.

First of all, there is a dearth of good internal audit blogs, and even less good IT audit blogs. So if you’re thinking about, we sure could use you in the blogsphere!

Writing a blog is hard work, and you often get tired of it. Life finds a way to get in the way. This is my 11th year of the blog (see the first post here), which, ironically, was written by skyyler. Fortunately, we’ve gotten better since that first year.

Blogging about internal audit is like a moon shining in a dark place… here’s my 10 tips…

Why this pic on this blog?

Have you ever wondered why I selected the picture above to represent my blog?

This picture illustrates so many aspects and nuances of this blog’s theme.

Here’s your chance to put on your thinking cap, and based on what skyyler and I have written about over the years, tell me what YOU think it represents.

As the comments roll in, we’ll comment on them.

Then, after a few weeks, I’ll peel back my brain and give you a peek inside as to what my reasons were.

Not sure how many of you will take me up on the challenge, but here goes…

 

Best Blog Posts of 2014

Here’s the blog posts that all of you

liked best in 2014, based on hit count.

I’ve also included the most popular

posts from earlier years.

See if you missed any.

Master List of Blogging Tips and Articles

I occasionally blog about blogging, so to make these posts easier to find (and link to), here’s a list (index) of all the blogging posts on this blog, in alphabetical order, and by most popular.
I’ll add other posts as they are written.

Out-of-Office Reply Tells All

I checked my personal email account and found I had 3 out-of-office replies from people who obviously belonged to the same organization. However, I had never emailed any of them.

At first I thought they were some kind of a malware emails, but they were text only and contained no links. So I just left them in my email box and wondered about them every time I saw them. Then I figured it out.

No Comment? Sock it to ME

If you have a comment or criticism, sock it to me. I can take it. I want it.

Some of you have been great commentors and I appreciate it. For those of you who haven’t commented or have held back a bit, check out my reply to one of my critics (the Cow):

Are U Fooled by This Spam Technique?

Akismet flagged a comment as spam and I had not seen the spam technique used before, so I was fooled. I reviewed the comment and approved it, but the name, Michael G. Redmond, made me wonder a bit more (Redmond, WA is the home of Microsoft). So I goggled it. Oops. I remarked the comment as spam. Why?

Stupid Spam Comments 2

Like most bloggers, I get really stupid spam comments. Fortunately, the spam filter or widget, Akismet, has caught everyone one I’ve received so far. As a result of the filter, I was able to make my blog more comment-friendly (I’d love to tell you all about it, but that would only invite more spam, and I like bacon a bit more).

Blogging: Choose Great Titles and Intro Sentences

Using great titles and intro sentences are so critical to the success of your blog. Not only do they grab the attention of your reader, great titles and introductory sentences seduce search engines like Google into sending you even more readers.

Blog Theme Changes Coming (I think)

See my update at the bottom….

I just noticed this alert in my blog admin console:

Howdy! Your current theme, PressRow, will soon be retired and your site will be upgraded to a brand new theme, Pilcrow. For more information on the switch, please read this announcement: Details on PressRow replacement, Pilcrow.

If you want to try out the cool new features in Pilcrow before then just header over to Appearance→Themes and activate Pilcrow—or check out any one of the other fantastic themes we’ve been adding lately.

I like PressRow, but I previewed how the blog would look with this new theme. Although others are complaining about changes, I didn’t see how this would change my blog. So why bring it up?

More on Spamming Blogs

I just found a great spam comment in my Akismet filter. Check it out in Blogging: Spammers under the heading, Update 3 — 8/7/10.

2010 Mid-Year Review: Most Popular Posts

Top 5 Posts

Here’s the top 5 posts between January and June, 2010. If you missed one of these posts, you might want to check it out.

Teach Yourself ACL

This post about Audit Command Language (ACL) software gets twice as many hits as any other post. If you want to know why this bothers me, see the January 2010 review.

PWC Resignation Letter

The popularity of this one really surprised me. But then again, it’s funny, sad, and really hits home if you’re an auditor (or a recovering one).

Top 10 Pay-Boosting Tech Certifications

In addition to the list published by Dice, I added some comments, and describe how the CISSP has affected my salary.

Increase Blog “Traffic” Instantly

Bloggers want to increase blog traffic and many are frustrated that people land on their home page but seldom seem to click on their posts. Other bloggers are frustrated that they don’t get more clicks.

The good news is that one simple change can solve both of those problems. I’m no TycoonBlogger, but it amazes me that more bloggers don’t know this simple secret. Every blogger that I’ve revealed this secret to has followed this simple advice and loved it. Want to know what it is?

Blogging: One year later . . .

I just realized that this blog is already one year old.

Save Your Blog!

If you’re a blogger, have you saved your blog lately?

WordPress makes it easy. Here’s how to do it if you have a free blog:

Blogging: Use the MORE tag

If you have a WordPress blog (or any blog) and don’t use the MORE tag in all your posts, you’re missing more than you think.

Every once in a while I feel like blogging about blogging…

The MORE tag ensures that only a few lines or paragraphs of a post appear on your home page (how much depends on where YOU put the tag). To read the rest of the post, the reader clicks “Continue reading” or whatever phrase your particular theme uses (my theme uses “Keep reading” by default but I changed it, as you can see here on my home page).

This is a Mechanics Blog!

Thanks to TycoonBlogger (my favorite “blogging” blogger), I finally know what this blog is about.

Based on his Find out your blog’s personality type post, I found and ran the Typealyzer tool against my blog. It analyzes a blog and provides its Myers- Briggs Type. Here’s what it said about this blog:

The analysis indicates that the author of https://itauditsecurity.wordpress.com/ is of the type:

Blogging: Spammers

I get a kick out of some of the things that spammers leave as Comments in hopes that you’ll provide them with a link back to their site. I’ve posted a few of the newer ones that I’ve received.

Don’t Miss a Post

You can be notified via email when I add a post to this blog. Just look to the right under Email Subscription and click the Sign me up! button. Enter your email address and I’ll do the rest.

If you have a blog of your own, I’d urge you to add this widget. It will help drive readers who haven’t checked back in a while that you’re still up and kicking.