Have Your Windows & Windows Live Blog Posts Showcased - Join The Clubhouse

Brandon LeBlanc — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:08:15 GMT

Are you using your blog to talk about using Windows and Windows Live? Do you want to get your post showcased on Microsoft websites? You should join The Clubhouse. The Clubhouse is a place that brings together people using their blogs to help others how to use the best parts of Windows and Windows Live.

How does The Clubhouse work?

You first need to apply to join The Clubhouse. There is a small review process in order to insure that there is a good fit for people applying and the rest of The Clubhouse.

Once you’re approved, you continue to write fantastic Windows and Windows Live content on your blog and use special tags that help identify what you’re writing about as it relates to either Windows or Windows Live. Your posts are brought into the Clubhouse via your RSS feed (having an RSS is a requirement to take part in The Clubhouse). Once you tag your post for The Clubhouse using the special tags, it gets pulled through your RSS feed into The Clubhouse.

In order to use the special tags needed to identify your contributions for The Clubhouse, you will need to add a new Tag Provider in Windows Live Writer. Right now, The Clubhouse has special tags for Windows Live and Windows Vista, with a set of special tags launching for Windows 7 later this month.

Once your post is published with the special tags – it appears within The Clubhouse where members of The Clubhouse rate one another’s contributions, so the top rated content can be showcased on Microsoft websites, newsletters, and even tweeted from @MSWindows and @windowslive. So it’s up to your peers to choose which content is good enough to get showcased.

So where is your content showcased?

After you get enough good votes inside The Clubhouse – depending on the type of post (Windows Vista or Windows Live) your stuff will show up on 1 of 2 Microsoft websites:

Explore Windows Live:

Discover Windows Vista:

Outside of the really cool opportunity to get your content from your blog showcased on Microsoft websites, The Clubhouse offers several other “perks”.

As you continue to write your own content – you will earn Club Points and Badges. When you earn a certain amount of Club Points, you get Badges. Each Badge you earn will appear next to any of your content showcased on Microsoft websites. You also can earn special-recognition Badges as well. These Badges are a great way for people reading your content to see how much you rock.

Because I am a Microsoft employee, for any of my content you will see this Badge:

If you blog quite a bit about using Windows and Windows Live – I suggest giving The Clubhouse a look and applying! It can be a great way to gain more exposure of your content!

Clubhouse Tags: Clubhouse, Story, Windows Live, Windows Vista

Open Already Published Blog Posts with Windows Live Writer

Brandon LeBlanc — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 08:19:40 GMT

A few days ago, I needed to edit a blog post that I didn’t publish using Windows Live Writer. I discovered that Windows Live Writer allows you to open any blog post on your blog that has been published – regardless of whether it was written and published with Windows Live Writer or not.

When I clicked “Open” in the Windows Live Writer toolbar, an options window appeared giving me several options to choose from.

I can open a blog post from Drafts, Recently Posted, and of course any of the blogs that I have configured in Windows Live Writer such as the Windows Experience Blog. When I clicked on “The Windows Experience Blog” option – I was given a listing of 5 of the most recent blog posts from the Windows Experience Blog. The default is to list 5 posts however you can choose to view more blog posts via a drop down menu. I was able to choose any blog post that had been published (via Windows Live Writer or not) from the Windows Experience Blog to edit and publish those edits.

The ability to open blog posts from blogs in Windows Live Writer exists today with the current non-Beta version of Windows Live Writer available at get.live.com as well as the current Beta of Windows Live Writer available at download.live.com.

If you haven’t already discovered this, thought it might be of some interest to my fellow bloggers.

Windows Experience Blog : Windows Live, Blogs

Have Your Windows & Windows Live Blog Posts Showcased - Join The Clubhouse

Open Already Published Blog Posts with Windows Live Writer