Setp 1 The first step to writing better blog posts is to know your audience is and have a clear view of what the purpose of your blog is. Are you writing to educate your readers? Entertain them? Or maybe you're writing as a way to connect with family and friends who live in other parts of the country. Whatever your reason for blogging, knowing why you are blogging, and who your audience is, is the first step to improving your blog posts.
Step 2 Follow the latest trends, especially if they relate to your blog niche (mommy blogs, tech blogs, ect.). If you come across something interesting, blog about it. Offer the facts, but try to put a new twist on it. Don't just rewrite what everyone else is already saying. Give your readers something fresh to read.
Step 3 Be Yourself!Remember to be more than just a writer. Your readers don't have to read your blog- there are millions of other blogs out there- so give them a reason to stick around. Stand out by letting your readers see a bit of who you are. You shouldn't be writing articles. Even if you are writing a professional or technical blog, where there may not be room for a lot of blog posts about the details of your life, you should still use a little personality in each of your blog posts.
Step 4 Follow basic grammar rules. Write in a clear, concise manner. In the age of texting and other abbreviated forms of communication, it can be hard to remember that writing correctly still counts for something. Pick up a grammar book at a local bookshop, and read through it. You might be surprised by how much this simple step can help you to write better blog posts.
Step 5 Proof read your posts before you publish them. Does everything make sense? Are there any points that you could improve on? Check for word usage, spelling errors, and anything else that doesn't look right. Taking this one extra step will almost immediately improve your blog posts.
by: Bluewingz
source: http://www.ehow.com/how_5058310_write-better-blog-posts.html?ref=fuel&utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
10 Tips for Writing Better Blog Content
Creating better quality content is arguably the single best thing you can do for your blog. In order to create better content, you need to be able to use the written word effectively so that you can connect with your readers and maintain their interest over time. Here are ten things that you can do to make better use of your words.
1. Use strong keywords in text and links
Although it is always a good idea to write for actual human readers instead of writing only for search engines, using well-chosen keywords that are relevant to the topic of your article is still one of the best ways to improve the overall visibility of your blog. You can use some of the free keyword research tools offered by Google AdWords, Overture, or Wordtracker to get ideas for good keywords and then refine them to suit your specific needs.
2. Get to the point quickly
Many people who scan blogs, feeds, and search engine results do not have the patience to read past the first two or three sentences unless they see something interesting. Therefore it is important that you capture their attention by telling the reader what the main point of your article is within the first two sentences. If you ramble too much in the first paragraph without getting your message across clearly, the reader is very likely to click away from your blog instead of reading the rest of your content.
3. Edit your post for clarity and relevance before publishing
In order to translate good ideas into good writing, editing is necessary to clarify the exact meaning of your words. This includes not only adding relevant content to support your ideas but also removing unnecessary and/or irrelevant content to increase your post’s power and effectiveness.
4. Create content that stands the test of time
Although difficult to do in the case of news-oriented blogs, it is always useful to write articles that contain the kind of enduring wisdom that maintains its relevance with the passage of time. With the exception of a few major historical events, most current events and fads will not be remembered 20 or more years from now. But solid advice on finance, lifestyle, personal growth, and other similar topics never goes out of style.
5. Explain technical terms and acronyms when appropriate
It is easy for many of us to get caught up in the technical jargon of our specific niches. As a newbie, one of the most frustrating things that I have experienced with online forums is that many posters will blithely use acronyms as if everyone already knows what they mean. Because of this, I have adopted a general practice of including the exact meaning of acronyms and niche-specific terms in parentheses for at least the first instance in which they are used. Explaining your terms in this way can help you to connect with a greater diversity of readers whenever you are writing something that is likely to be read by a general audience.
6. Use descriptions for video and other multimedia
If you include video or audio presentations on your blog, it is useful to include some type of text description for them so that users know what they are going to see or hear before they click the “play” button. It is also worth noting that is very annoying to have audio/video play automatically upon visiting a site, so it is best to allow the visitors to play these files at their discretion.
7. Follow a logical order when presenting problems and solutions
If you are writing an article that explains how to solve a problem or overcome a challenge of some sort, it is important to clearly explain the problem first and then follow logically with your solution. With sufficient interest, the reader will be able to identify with the problem and understand your solution well enough to continue reading the rest of the article. If the solution provides favorable results, the reader likely will be appreciative of this and return to the site later to consume more content.
8. Back up opinions with facts
When expressing opinions in an article, particularly if they constitute strong accusations or speculative theories, one should always provide supporting documentation whenever possible. If you can manage to cite valid facts and relatively credible sources for your assertions, you will support your own credibility and increase the chances of swaying others to your way of thinking.
9. Don’t try to write on too many topics at once
As a general rule, you should not write about more than three topics in the same post, and the topics should be relevant to each other. Trying to stuff ten or more topics into the same article is a good way to confuse both readers and search engines, making it very unlikely that you will rank well with either.
10. Keep your content original
Avoid excessively long blockquotes, redundancy, and overuse of clichés. Aside from avoiding duplicate content issues, writing original content will make a more favorable impression on your readers while also having the side effect of ranking better with the search engines. Even if your idea is not new, presenting it in a different or unique way can help readers understand it better and allow you to hold their interest.
source: http://www.karlonia.com/2007/04/24/10-tips-for-writing-better-blog-content/
1. Use strong keywords in text and links
Although it is always a good idea to write for actual human readers instead of writing only for search engines, using well-chosen keywords that are relevant to the topic of your article is still one of the best ways to improve the overall visibility of your blog. You can use some of the free keyword research tools offered by Google AdWords, Overture, or Wordtracker to get ideas for good keywords and then refine them to suit your specific needs.
2. Get to the point quickly
Many people who scan blogs, feeds, and search engine results do not have the patience to read past the first two or three sentences unless they see something interesting. Therefore it is important that you capture their attention by telling the reader what the main point of your article is within the first two sentences. If you ramble too much in the first paragraph without getting your message across clearly, the reader is very likely to click away from your blog instead of reading the rest of your content.
3. Edit your post for clarity and relevance before publishing
In order to translate good ideas into good writing, editing is necessary to clarify the exact meaning of your words. This includes not only adding relevant content to support your ideas but also removing unnecessary and/or irrelevant content to increase your post’s power and effectiveness.
4. Create content that stands the test of time
Although difficult to do in the case of news-oriented blogs, it is always useful to write articles that contain the kind of enduring wisdom that maintains its relevance with the passage of time. With the exception of a few major historical events, most current events and fads will not be remembered 20 or more years from now. But solid advice on finance, lifestyle, personal growth, and other similar topics never goes out of style.
5. Explain technical terms and acronyms when appropriate
It is easy for many of us to get caught up in the technical jargon of our specific niches. As a newbie, one of the most frustrating things that I have experienced with online forums is that many posters will blithely use acronyms as if everyone already knows what they mean. Because of this, I have adopted a general practice of including the exact meaning of acronyms and niche-specific terms in parentheses for at least the first instance in which they are used. Explaining your terms in this way can help you to connect with a greater diversity of readers whenever you are writing something that is likely to be read by a general audience.
6. Use descriptions for video and other multimedia
If you include video or audio presentations on your blog, it is useful to include some type of text description for them so that users know what they are going to see or hear before they click the “play” button. It is also worth noting that is very annoying to have audio/video play automatically upon visiting a site, so it is best to allow the visitors to play these files at their discretion.
7. Follow a logical order when presenting problems and solutions
If you are writing an article that explains how to solve a problem or overcome a challenge of some sort, it is important to clearly explain the problem first and then follow logically with your solution. With sufficient interest, the reader will be able to identify with the problem and understand your solution well enough to continue reading the rest of the article. If the solution provides favorable results, the reader likely will be appreciative of this and return to the site later to consume more content.
8. Back up opinions with facts
When expressing opinions in an article, particularly if they constitute strong accusations or speculative theories, one should always provide supporting documentation whenever possible. If you can manage to cite valid facts and relatively credible sources for your assertions, you will support your own credibility and increase the chances of swaying others to your way of thinking.
9. Don’t try to write on too many topics at once
As a general rule, you should not write about more than three topics in the same post, and the topics should be relevant to each other. Trying to stuff ten or more topics into the same article is a good way to confuse both readers and search engines, making it very unlikely that you will rank well with either.
10. Keep your content original
Avoid excessively long blockquotes, redundancy, and overuse of clichés. Aside from avoiding duplicate content issues, writing original content will make a more favorable impression on your readers while also having the side effect of ranking better with the search engines. Even if your idea is not new, presenting it in a different or unique way can help readers understand it better and allow you to hold their interest.
source: http://www.karlonia.com/2007/04/24/10-tips-for-writing-better-blog-content/
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
20 Tips For A Better Blog
By Big Ben Patton
You have almost a fraction of a second to grab your reader and get their attention. From the time a new visitor hits enter until the whole page and graphics are loaded. That is all it takes to decide your success or failure. Yes, a fraction of a second. Many articles have been published backing this even with scientific experimentation. If the site takes a long, long time to load, even if it's the best designed, coolest content, then the public at large will visit the site less often. They might not return at all.
There are millions of blogs out there and some have an immediate cheap feel and look to them. If you write a blog and want more people to read and actually subscribe, besides snatching their attention with a striking, creative headline, then aesthetics — the overall design, navigation and layout — should be next.
It is time to reveal some tips which will help improve the overall quality of your blog. Some of which might be extreme changes, and others of which are much more subtle and easy to implement quickly:
1. Provide more original content! The #1 thing you can do to improve the blog quality is write compelling, original copy, preferably early on and with an unsaturated topic. If you feel like your blockquote is overshadowing your insight and analysis, the feeling's probably right. Try to reduce the quotes to the points most relevant to your commentary on the post.
2. Find things you are insatiably curious about and write with full-on passion. If you write about things you are only marginally interested in expect that readers will notice and the overall blog quality will suffer. It is extremely difficult, even for very talented writers, to write about subjects where they have little to no interest.
3. Rather than make 10 so-so posts every day, make 3-5 really good ones. If you want to increase exposure, the 10 so-so ones will help in the short term, but in the long run 3-5 good ones will grow the subscriber base more.
4. How-to/fixes/solutions make great topics.
5. Have a contest or give away once in awhile. Surprise your readers. It can be tangible like prizes, money or intangible like advice, tips, or tricks where you've gleaned wisdom and experience.
6. Start blogging about subjects that aren't already being blogged to death, or write about them with a fresh perspective. Unless you are some kind of celebrity, the head of a major company, movie star, etc, just being you is likely not enough in today's overcrowded blog space. If too much of your content is “me too†then readers will find it harder to stay interested and look elsewhere.
7. Pay a professional if you suck at graphics and design. It's not a crime, really, unless you pay way too much for an overly artistic, less practical design. Look at the designer's portfolio and see if the designs match your content and show the designer this list. And for those who say they never come to a website to read blogs, they use strictly RSS, remember that there are still many, many people who do!
8. Don't use too much Flash. Sure, Flash is cool when used sparingly on a website, but use it too much and it makes your website look like the Vegas strip. Flash-only sites can work in some rare cases, but blogs aren't one of them.
9. Don't slap a bunch of flashy banners and buttons (no matter how small) all over the place. The clutter effect will happen if you keep jamming more and more stuff onto the pages, so be picky about what gets on the pages — and keep the content relative — and when something doesn't seem as important or relevant either remove it completely or move elsewhere.
10. Use a smaller, less gaudy logo. Google is a good example of a logo that is there, but unobtrusive. Conversely, the MSN header looks bulky. A vertical measurement of space used with a tool like Screen Calipers can be helpful in not wasting valuable browser real estate.
11. Make sure at least some content (not logo, not header, not advertising, etc) shows on every webpage without browser scroll.
12. Provide consistent navigation. The home page link and search are especially important to be in convenient, obvious places.
13. Do include a byline and author bio so it's clear to readers who the author really is.
14. Always disclose conflicts of interest or the source or basis for your posts.
15. Clearly mark or define advertising placement.
16. Don't cripple the RSS feed. Some readers may actually prefer to read your posts in their favorite aggregator or portable device, so try not to punish them for their preferences. RSS IS GOOD!
17. Liberally blend with descriptive text: pictures, screenshots, audio (podcast), video and any other items that will help keep the readers interested, informed, enlightened and/or entertained. Make it easy for them to have access to this when it becomes archived as well.
18. Keep an open dialogue with commenters and two-way trackbackers. If someone leaves a really good comment try and thank and acknowledge their contribution. [note: A two-way trackback means the blogger actually linked to your blog, a one-way trackback means they just sent you a ping and have no link on their site] If you get someone who regularly leaves good comments then add them to your blog roll, or noteworthy links section.
19. Don't let flamers destroy the community. It's ok, and dare I say useful at times to face some flames yourself (and some of your posts might be inflammatory, so if you dish, you better be able to take it), but be careful when this happens among readers. Stand up for readers and demand standard decorum in the commenting section among readers so that civil debate and discussion (I know, not easy on the web) can ensue and add value to the blog entries instead of taking away. It's a simple formula for human interaction really: make people feel badly and they will be less likely to return, make them feel good, important and appreciated for their contribution and they'll keep coming back. BTW, you do need to be sincere about this, no phoniness. If you hate comments and interaction, then don't have blog comments by all means. Generally speaking, and of course there are exceptions, I believe not having comments and trackbacks hurts the quality of a blog.
20. Are you having fun? Readers are smart and can tell who is having fun from their writing over those who are laboring. Don't labor, have fun. If trying to follow too many things on this list is peeing in your cheerios, then stop following this list. It's not the gospel, although I believe these tips will help those who are seeking some guidelines and direction.
Can you follow all these tips? Probably not. This blog doesn't even follow all them, although I do try to keep this stuff in mind when I feel the quality is starting to slip (and it is an every day job working on blog quality, not something one can just go into autopilot on). But follow enough of these and it will greatly increase the likelihood that you'll become one of the most read blogs out there someday. Let's face it, the web can never have enough quality content. You can add or take away with each post you make. Want to be a shallow, one dimensional blogger? There's tons of those. Want to really work at your writing and make it better? This post is for you.
Did I forget something that you find makes a blog higher quality? I'm sure there's at least another 42million tips out there, so feel free to use the comments/trackback below and contribute. Have a friend or blog roll member or associate who is complaining about blog focus? Drop them a link to this post.
If I'm not already reading, then I hope to be reading and looking forward to your high quality blog someday soon.
source: http://www.realbloggingtips.com/20-tips-for-a-better-blog/
You have almost a fraction of a second to grab your reader and get their attention. From the time a new visitor hits enter until the whole page and graphics are loaded. That is all it takes to decide your success or failure. Yes, a fraction of a second. Many articles have been published backing this even with scientific experimentation. If the site takes a long, long time to load, even if it's the best designed, coolest content, then the public at large will visit the site less often. They might not return at all.
There are millions of blogs out there and some have an immediate cheap feel and look to them. If you write a blog and want more people to read and actually subscribe, besides snatching their attention with a striking, creative headline, then aesthetics — the overall design, navigation and layout — should be next.
It is time to reveal some tips which will help improve the overall quality of your blog. Some of which might be extreme changes, and others of which are much more subtle and easy to implement quickly:
1. Provide more original content! The #1 thing you can do to improve the blog quality is write compelling, original copy, preferably early on and with an unsaturated topic. If you feel like your blockquote is overshadowing your insight and analysis, the feeling's probably right. Try to reduce the quotes to the points most relevant to your commentary on the post.
2. Find things you are insatiably curious about and write with full-on passion. If you write about things you are only marginally interested in expect that readers will notice and the overall blog quality will suffer. It is extremely difficult, even for very talented writers, to write about subjects where they have little to no interest.
3. Rather than make 10 so-so posts every day, make 3-5 really good ones. If you want to increase exposure, the 10 so-so ones will help in the short term, but in the long run 3-5 good ones will grow the subscriber base more.
4. How-to/fixes/solutions make great topics.
5. Have a contest or give away once in awhile. Surprise your readers. It can be tangible like prizes, money or intangible like advice, tips, or tricks where you've gleaned wisdom and experience.
6. Start blogging about subjects that aren't already being blogged to death, or write about them with a fresh perspective. Unless you are some kind of celebrity, the head of a major company, movie star, etc, just being you is likely not enough in today's overcrowded blog space. If too much of your content is “me too†then readers will find it harder to stay interested and look elsewhere.
7. Pay a professional if you suck at graphics and design. It's not a crime, really, unless you pay way too much for an overly artistic, less practical design. Look at the designer's portfolio and see if the designs match your content and show the designer this list. And for those who say they never come to a website to read blogs, they use strictly RSS, remember that there are still many, many people who do!
8. Don't use too much Flash. Sure, Flash is cool when used sparingly on a website, but use it too much and it makes your website look like the Vegas strip. Flash-only sites can work in some rare cases, but blogs aren't one of them.
9. Don't slap a bunch of flashy banners and buttons (no matter how small) all over the place. The clutter effect will happen if you keep jamming more and more stuff onto the pages, so be picky about what gets on the pages — and keep the content relative — and when something doesn't seem as important or relevant either remove it completely or move elsewhere.
10. Use a smaller, less gaudy logo. Google is a good example of a logo that is there, but unobtrusive. Conversely, the MSN header looks bulky. A vertical measurement of space used with a tool like Screen Calipers can be helpful in not wasting valuable browser real estate.
11. Make sure at least some content (not logo, not header, not advertising, etc) shows on every webpage without browser scroll.
12. Provide consistent navigation. The home page link and search are especially important to be in convenient, obvious places.
13. Do include a byline and author bio so it's clear to readers who the author really is.
14. Always disclose conflicts of interest or the source or basis for your posts.
15. Clearly mark or define advertising placement.
16. Don't cripple the RSS feed. Some readers may actually prefer to read your posts in their favorite aggregator or portable device, so try not to punish them for their preferences. RSS IS GOOD!
17. Liberally blend with descriptive text: pictures, screenshots, audio (podcast), video and any other items that will help keep the readers interested, informed, enlightened and/or entertained. Make it easy for them to have access to this when it becomes archived as well.
18. Keep an open dialogue with commenters and two-way trackbackers. If someone leaves a really good comment try and thank and acknowledge their contribution. [note: A two-way trackback means the blogger actually linked to your blog, a one-way trackback means they just sent you a ping and have no link on their site] If you get someone who regularly leaves good comments then add them to your blog roll, or noteworthy links section.
19. Don't let flamers destroy the community. It's ok, and dare I say useful at times to face some flames yourself (and some of your posts might be inflammatory, so if you dish, you better be able to take it), but be careful when this happens among readers. Stand up for readers and demand standard decorum in the commenting section among readers so that civil debate and discussion (I know, not easy on the web) can ensue and add value to the blog entries instead of taking away. It's a simple formula for human interaction really: make people feel badly and they will be less likely to return, make them feel good, important and appreciated for their contribution and they'll keep coming back. BTW, you do need to be sincere about this, no phoniness. If you hate comments and interaction, then don't have blog comments by all means. Generally speaking, and of course there are exceptions, I believe not having comments and trackbacks hurts the quality of a blog.
20. Are you having fun? Readers are smart and can tell who is having fun from their writing over those who are laboring. Don't labor, have fun. If trying to follow too many things on this list is peeing in your cheerios, then stop following this list. It's not the gospel, although I believe these tips will help those who are seeking some guidelines and direction.
Can you follow all these tips? Probably not. This blog doesn't even follow all them, although I do try to keep this stuff in mind when I feel the quality is starting to slip (and it is an every day job working on blog quality, not something one can just go into autopilot on). But follow enough of these and it will greatly increase the likelihood that you'll become one of the most read blogs out there someday. Let's face it, the web can never have enough quality content. You can add or take away with each post you make. Want to be a shallow, one dimensional blogger? There's tons of those. Want to really work at your writing and make it better? This post is for you.
Did I forget something that you find makes a blog higher quality? I'm sure there's at least another 42million tips out there, so feel free to use the comments/trackback below and contribute. Have a friend or blog roll member or associate who is complaining about blog focus? Drop them a link to this post.
If I'm not already reading, then I hope to be reading and looking forward to your high quality blog someday soon.
source: http://www.realbloggingtips.com/20-tips-for-a-better-blog/
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Top 10 mistakes new bloggers make
Written by Kevin Muldoon from Blog Themes Club
I’ve started to notice the same mistakes recurring by new bloggers. Infact, most of these mistakes are applicable to everyone who starts a website for the first time. Unfortunately, there is a learning curve with this kind of thing and the majority of new bloggers will only learn from making these mistakes. Very few will realise that they are actually making mistakes until further down the line.
I have decided to list what i consider to be the top 10 mistakes that new bloggers make. I’m sure many of you reading this have made some of these mistakes but this is nothing to be ashamed about, i myself made some of these mistakes when i first started in web development. As as i said, with a lot of these mistakes you only seem to learn about it by making the mistake yourself.
Anyways, enough rabbling, heres my list of the top 10 mistakes new bloggers make in no particular order. Enjoy
Repeating what other bloggers are saying – I believe that if you have something to say about a subject you should write about it on your blog however i’ve noticed a lot of new bloggers do nothing but just echo and repeat what other bloggers in their genre have said. It’s good to give your opinion on a subject but if you only post about topics which began on other blogs your blog is never gonna be successful.
No Opinion / Scared to rock the boat – A lot of bloggers are scared to go against the crowd and take a stance that is against what everyone is saying. If you disagree about something then say so in your posts
Link Trains – Bottom line, there is no quick and easy way to get traffic to your site other than writing good articles on a consistant basis. If a traffic scheme seems sounds to good to be true it most probably is.
Spamming other blogs with comments – So many new bloggers think that it’s a good idea to cheat their way onto the top commentators list of a blog by posting lots of small and pointless comments just to get their number of comments up on the blog. This won’t make you too popular with the author of the blog and may even discourage others from reading your blog. For someone to want to visit your blog from a comment you need to write something worth reading! A good comment is an indication of a good author.
Spending more time commentating that writing posts – If your launching a new blog, spending some time commentating on other blogs is a great way to bring your site to the attention of people. However, readers need a reason to come back to your site ie. you need to keep writing good content. I see so many bloggers who are spending more time commentating on other peoples blogs than writing on their own one!
Promoting their blog before its ready – This is a very common mistake which i see time and time again. I really don’t believe that a new blogger should do any major promoting until the blog is about 2 months old. You clearly still need to do some promoting at the start but more time should spent on writing posts. It’s like advertising a new shop before its got any stock in to sell!
Blogging about too many subjects – The top blogs on the net are all focused on one topic of genre. So many new bloggers are blogging about a very wide range of subjects. For example, ive read blogs that post about blogging, music, their pet dog, movies, computer games, their favourite sports team etc. It’s hard to buld a steady readership with categories and posts so random.
Erratic posting frequency – It’s very important to update your blog on a regular and consistent basis. Posting like crazy for a while and then not posting for a week is a sure way to lose you readers.
Trying to make money instead of just concentrating on running a good blog – Too many bloggers are putting all their efforts into making money instead of trying to write good posts and develop a good blog. Dont worry about the money aspect at the start of a blogs life, if you build a successful blog the money will come with it in time.
Expecting to have a successful blog within 3 months – It takes time, a lot of time, to build a successul blog. I’ve noticed a lot of new bloggers lose interest in writing after a few months. The time it takes for a blog to be successul isn’t always the same but if you continue to update it and work hard on the blog it will do well. It’s a hard long slog but it’s worth it. Don’t kid yourself that you can get to the top so quickly – Rome wasn’t built in a day
source: http://www.bloggingtips.com/2007/06/30/top-10-mistakes-new-bloggers-make/
Monday, August 10, 2009
How to Lose Your Subscribers
by Praval Singh
in Blogging Tips
As a blogger, keeping up with the subscriber count is one’s great desire. Good traffic, large number of RSS and email subscribers and a lower bounce rate is what a pro-blogger needs to run a great show. But, there are instances wherein blogs begin to lose their subscribers for some reason or the other.
Today, we take on a few reasons to give you an understanding on how does a blog lose its subscribers willingly or unwillingly;
Many bloggers lose their subscribers because of the Feedburner widget they install on their blog. There have been many reasons of losing your subscribers with Feedburner, the main being false plug-ins and unsupported upgradations. Cases such as that of Tom Raftery are actually hard to explain, but the end result is the loss of subscribers.
There have been instances when a site has been sold a number of times in a very short duration. That is, the ownership of a site has changed. Putting up a sigh on the site such as “For Sale” results in the loss of reader’s confidence. Consequently, the subscribers tend to lessen making a famous blog into an infamous one.
Irregular schedule of posting. Subscribers always have a particular expectation in mind about the number of posts in a day or week. Playing with this frequency results in loss of subscribers.
If the content that gets published on your site is old, plagiarized and shabby, it does not take much time to lose subscribers.
Falsifying facts and figures to gain false popularity is another way of breaking people’s trust for what you write.
Writing about topics which are no where close to what your site is all about often confuses subscribers. For example, if an affiliate marketing site starts writing about women health and beauty, it won’t make sense to subscribers resulting in a loss of numbers.
If you provide content to subscribers which they don’t value, chances are that you would soon lose your credibility and the subscribers too. Remember, greatest bloggers write content which is of value to readers and thus the word of mouth spreads. Content is the king!
Putting up a feed which focuses too much on advertisements makes your regular subscribers lose interest, unless you’re blog is all about rocket science!
Writing about topics or people which is not in the true spirit of blogging makes a dent in the number of your subscribers. For example, a true blogger is one who is able to publicize or promote his blog by not calling others’ work bad. One shall follow the Internet etiquettes.
The web is full of thousands of reasons for losing your subscribers but these are a few largely observed reasons.
Dear Bloggers and webmaster, remember that it does not take much time to lose your subscribers. Put in some sincere efforts to keep the number of subscribers of your site increasing day by day and try not losing them. Keep blogging!
source: http://www.profitblogger.com/lose-your-subscribers/
in Blogging Tips
As a blogger, keeping up with the subscriber count is one’s great desire. Good traffic, large number of RSS and email subscribers and a lower bounce rate is what a pro-blogger needs to run a great show. But, there are instances wherein blogs begin to lose their subscribers for some reason or the other.
Today, we take on a few reasons to give you an understanding on how does a blog lose its subscribers willingly or unwillingly;
Many bloggers lose their subscribers because of the Feedburner widget they install on their blog. There have been many reasons of losing your subscribers with Feedburner, the main being false plug-ins and unsupported upgradations. Cases such as that of Tom Raftery are actually hard to explain, but the end result is the loss of subscribers.
There have been instances when a site has been sold a number of times in a very short duration. That is, the ownership of a site has changed. Putting up a sigh on the site such as “For Sale” results in the loss of reader’s confidence. Consequently, the subscribers tend to lessen making a famous blog into an infamous one.
Irregular schedule of posting. Subscribers always have a particular expectation in mind about the number of posts in a day or week. Playing with this frequency results in loss of subscribers.
If the content that gets published on your site is old, plagiarized and shabby, it does not take much time to lose subscribers.
Falsifying facts and figures to gain false popularity is another way of breaking people’s trust for what you write.
Writing about topics which are no where close to what your site is all about often confuses subscribers. For example, if an affiliate marketing site starts writing about women health and beauty, it won’t make sense to subscribers resulting in a loss of numbers.
If you provide content to subscribers which they don’t value, chances are that you would soon lose your credibility and the subscribers too. Remember, greatest bloggers write content which is of value to readers and thus the word of mouth spreads. Content is the king!
Putting up a feed which focuses too much on advertisements makes your regular subscribers lose interest, unless you’re blog is all about rocket science!
Writing about topics or people which is not in the true spirit of blogging makes a dent in the number of your subscribers. For example, a true blogger is one who is able to publicize or promote his blog by not calling others’ work bad. One shall follow the Internet etiquettes.
The web is full of thousands of reasons for losing your subscribers but these are a few largely observed reasons.
Dear Bloggers and webmaster, remember that it does not take much time to lose your subscribers. Put in some sincere efforts to keep the number of subscribers of your site increasing day by day and try not losing them. Keep blogging!
source: http://www.profitblogger.com/lose-your-subscribers/
Sunday, August 9, 2009
6 Tips to Attract More Comments on Your Blog
6 Tips to Attract More Comments on Your Blog
by Gobala Krishnan
in Blogging Tips
Do you ever wonder how to attract more comments from your readers to your blog posts? Blogs are unique because they enable writers and readers of a blog to add comments which in itself add to the unique content a blog provides. After conducting some detailed research, I discovered 6 tips that you can use to attract more comments to the posts you write on your blog. The 6 tips are as follows:-
Interact with your readers – When readers leave comments on your posts, make sure you reply back and ask questions to continue a discussion that your readers started.
Ask questions at the end of your posts - This will enable your readers to start a discussion that could end up involving many other readers.
Make it easy for readers to comment - Do make sure that your comments section is set up such that readers don’t have to go through a long process to register. This sometimes deters readers from commenting.
Notify commenters of new comments: A Subscribe to Comments plugin enables commenters on your blog posts to check a box before commenting and get an e-mail notification of further comments related to that particular post. This will encourage readers to come back and take part in the conversation.
Reward your commenters – You can encourage commenters to increase comments on your blog by rewarding them. You can do this by using the Show Top Commentators WordPress Plugin.
Use plugins that attract more comments – There are a couple of other plugins in addition to the Show Top Commentators WordPress and Subscribe to Comments that you can make use of to attract more comments from your readers. These are Comment Relish and Brian’s Threaded Comments. The Comment Relish plugin sends a thank-you email to your blog’s first time commentators. This will surely encourage them to come back again and comment regularly. Brian’s Threaded plugin adds a ‘Reply to this comment’ link to every comment which means, your comment is placed directly under the comment you replied to. This plugin make comments easier to follow and also prevents readers from scrolling down to look for answers to their questions.
These 6 tips will surely help you get your readers to add more comments to your blog posts and at the same time provide you with more unique content which in turn will keep the search engines spidering your blogs more often.
source: http://www.profitblogger.com/6-tips-to-attract-more-comments-on-your-blog/
by Gobala Krishnan
in Blogging Tips
Do you ever wonder how to attract more comments from your readers to your blog posts? Blogs are unique because they enable writers and readers of a blog to add comments which in itself add to the unique content a blog provides. After conducting some detailed research, I discovered 6 tips that you can use to attract more comments to the posts you write on your blog. The 6 tips are as follows:-
Interact with your readers – When readers leave comments on your posts, make sure you reply back and ask questions to continue a discussion that your readers started.
Ask questions at the end of your posts - This will enable your readers to start a discussion that could end up involving many other readers.
Make it easy for readers to comment - Do make sure that your comments section is set up such that readers don’t have to go through a long process to register. This sometimes deters readers from commenting.
Notify commenters of new comments: A Subscribe to Comments plugin enables commenters on your blog posts to check a box before commenting and get an e-mail notification of further comments related to that particular post. This will encourage readers to come back and take part in the conversation.
Reward your commenters – You can encourage commenters to increase comments on your blog by rewarding them. You can do this by using the Show Top Commentators WordPress Plugin.
Use plugins that attract more comments – There are a couple of other plugins in addition to the Show Top Commentators WordPress and Subscribe to Comments that you can make use of to attract more comments from your readers. These are Comment Relish and Brian’s Threaded Comments. The Comment Relish plugin sends a thank-you email to your blog’s first time commentators. This will surely encourage them to come back again and comment regularly. Brian’s Threaded plugin adds a ‘Reply to this comment’ link to every comment which means, your comment is placed directly under the comment you replied to. This plugin make comments easier to follow and also prevents readers from scrolling down to look for answers to their questions.
These 6 tips will surely help you get your readers to add more comments to your blog posts and at the same time provide you with more unique content which in turn will keep the search engines spidering your blogs more often.
source: http://www.profitblogger.com/6-tips-to-attract-more-comments-on-your-blog/
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Using Social Media to Advertise Your Blog.
By: Derald
One of the popular trends on the web right now is social media and/or social networking, and it looks like there is no stopping it in the near future. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit are among the many sites which are leading the way with social media, but is there a way for you to use social media to your advantage?
There are a few ways you can take advantage of social media for your blog. Sites such as cracked.com seem to be on Digg’s front page daily, and this success shows. Blogstorm.co.uk recently released a list of 100 sites based on how often they reach Digg’s front page. Cracked.com was ranked 26 on this list, and looking at Alexa’s stats is seems that it maybe a lot of where their visitors are coming from.
So, what advantages does social networking provide for blogs, and what are some ways to use them effectively? The most obvious advantage is traffic directed toward your site. From this traffic you can make some revenue, which is the goal for most sites. You can also build a loyal support base via social media. Looking at any of the social media sites, you can tell that they are very loyal to their brand. Just visiting any of the sites, you will notice arguments like Facebook is better than Myspace, or Reddit has a better user base then Digg, and so on. This loyalty is something that takes large companies years to build, but via social media you can do the same thing in less time.
In order to effectively use social media, you have to be part of the community. As we already stated, the communities are loyal for the most part, but they are not welcoming to outsiders. If you were to submit a blog entry to Reddit, or Digg, it will most likely get lost in the shuffle. If you were to only use Twitter to announce a new blog article, your chances of looking interesting to other users can be very low. So how do you break this trend? You have to become part of the community. This can require a lot of time. You will have to build a relationship with the users, and get to know them. This is a key feature that most people who use social media for advertising don’t fully understand. Most people are drawn to social media because it is a “free” way to advertise. Then they wonder why their plan doesn’t work, when they are not apart of the community. Some ways to start to fit into the community is simple, acknowledge the community. Comment on stories at Reddit, reply to tweets on Twitter, send personalized messages to people on Facebook. After you build a good network, then start linking to your blog, but continue to communicate in other ways. You can send a personal tweet or message telling a user that you thought they would be interested in an blog entry you posted, but only do it when you really mean it. After doing this, you have to remember not to “abuse” the community. After building friends, don’t send them links to every blog article you wrote. Respect the users of the service. Remember the saying “Respect is a two way street”, and in social media this is really the case. By not spamming the people on your friend’s list with every article you write, you are respecting them. When you actually do send them a link, they are more likely to read the link.
Don’t seem like you are in the community just for advertising. If you are using Twitter, make tweets about other subjects. On Digg, submit stories from other sites, which you truly find interesting. Making yourself not look like a person spamming just one site, will allow you to build friends also. A person may enjoy the article enough to look at your past submissions, and if they feel like there is something in common they may check out your profile more often.
Write about something the community will like on your blog. If you know that most of your followers on Twitter really like 80’s TV show, talk about those shows and be creative when doing so. Talk about how you think the MacGyver would respond to current events, or how a reality show would be if the A-Team was part of it. If people find your site interesting, and can connect to the content, they will be willing to look at what else you have to say. Posting an article on Digg about how to rebuild a car motor wouldn’t do as well as how to hack an electronic road sign. This is another aspect where being active in the community helps you understand what will do well on a social network site.
Make your site social. Allowing the user to interact on your site via comments, or a forum will make the user feel part of the site. They will be able to voice their ideas about the blog entry, and in doing so it will start to build your own community. This also allows you to get feedback from the community. If you post an entry that you thought was great but the community says they thought it was horrible, then you know not to write similar articles in the future.
Just like wine, it takes time to get the best out of social media. If you are expecting that social media will make a large influx of traffic to your site over night, then you should not use social media as a mean to advertise your site. Social networking doesn’t make advertising easier, it just makes creates more of a level playing field for the small blogs. With hard work, social media can be part of a site’s success.
source: http://www.pureblogging.com/2009/04/10/using-social-media-to-advertise-your-blog/
One of the popular trends on the web right now is social media and/or social networking, and it looks like there is no stopping it in the near future. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit are among the many sites which are leading the way with social media, but is there a way for you to use social media to your advantage?
There are a few ways you can take advantage of social media for your blog. Sites such as cracked.com seem to be on Digg’s front page daily, and this success shows. Blogstorm.co.uk recently released a list of 100 sites based on how often they reach Digg’s front page. Cracked.com was ranked 26 on this list, and looking at Alexa’s stats is seems that it maybe a lot of where their visitors are coming from.
So, what advantages does social networking provide for blogs, and what are some ways to use them effectively? The most obvious advantage is traffic directed toward your site. From this traffic you can make some revenue, which is the goal for most sites. You can also build a loyal support base via social media. Looking at any of the social media sites, you can tell that they are very loyal to their brand. Just visiting any of the sites, you will notice arguments like Facebook is better than Myspace, or Reddit has a better user base then Digg, and so on. This loyalty is something that takes large companies years to build, but via social media you can do the same thing in less time.
In order to effectively use social media, you have to be part of the community. As we already stated, the communities are loyal for the most part, but they are not welcoming to outsiders. If you were to submit a blog entry to Reddit, or Digg, it will most likely get lost in the shuffle. If you were to only use Twitter to announce a new blog article, your chances of looking interesting to other users can be very low. So how do you break this trend? You have to become part of the community. This can require a lot of time. You will have to build a relationship with the users, and get to know them. This is a key feature that most people who use social media for advertising don’t fully understand. Most people are drawn to social media because it is a “free” way to advertise. Then they wonder why their plan doesn’t work, when they are not apart of the community. Some ways to start to fit into the community is simple, acknowledge the community. Comment on stories at Reddit, reply to tweets on Twitter, send personalized messages to people on Facebook. After you build a good network, then start linking to your blog, but continue to communicate in other ways. You can send a personal tweet or message telling a user that you thought they would be interested in an blog entry you posted, but only do it when you really mean it. After doing this, you have to remember not to “abuse” the community. After building friends, don’t send them links to every blog article you wrote. Respect the users of the service. Remember the saying “Respect is a two way street”, and in social media this is really the case. By not spamming the people on your friend’s list with every article you write, you are respecting them. When you actually do send them a link, they are more likely to read the link.
Don’t seem like you are in the community just for advertising. If you are using Twitter, make tweets about other subjects. On Digg, submit stories from other sites, which you truly find interesting. Making yourself not look like a person spamming just one site, will allow you to build friends also. A person may enjoy the article enough to look at your past submissions, and if they feel like there is something in common they may check out your profile more often.
Write about something the community will like on your blog. If you know that most of your followers on Twitter really like 80’s TV show, talk about those shows and be creative when doing so. Talk about how you think the MacGyver would respond to current events, or how a reality show would be if the A-Team was part of it. If people find your site interesting, and can connect to the content, they will be willing to look at what else you have to say. Posting an article on Digg about how to rebuild a car motor wouldn’t do as well as how to hack an electronic road sign. This is another aspect where being active in the community helps you understand what will do well on a social network site.
Make your site social. Allowing the user to interact on your site via comments, or a forum will make the user feel part of the site. They will be able to voice their ideas about the blog entry, and in doing so it will start to build your own community. This also allows you to get feedback from the community. If you post an entry that you thought was great but the community says they thought it was horrible, then you know not to write similar articles in the future.
Just like wine, it takes time to get the best out of social media. If you are expecting that social media will make a large influx of traffic to your site over night, then you should not use social media as a mean to advertise your site. Social networking doesn’t make advertising easier, it just makes creates more of a level playing field for the small blogs. With hard work, social media can be part of a site’s success.
source: http://www.pureblogging.com/2009/04/10/using-social-media-to-advertise-your-blog/
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Improve Your Blogspot Blog
By Misti Sandefur
Many Blogspot users haven’t moved from Blogspot to Wordpress because they’re afraid they’ll lose some of their loyal readers, but each time some of them hear about a new Wordpress feature or visit other blogs created with Wordpress, they sigh with envy. As a Blogspot user myself, I can honestly say I wished I had known about Wordpress when I created my Life of a Writer blog, but it wasn’t as popular then as it is today. And like many others, I haven’t moved my blog to Wordpress because I don’t want to risk losing my loyal readers readers either. However, as I was blog hopping last night, I discovered a great post on Download Squad that would allow me to improve my Blogspot blog by giving it a more professional look. Would you like to give your Blogspot blog a professional makeover as well? Then keep reading as I reveal the information I discovered on Download Squad last night.
One of the things I like about Wordpress is their selection of free templates. I like the fact that they offer three column templates, which is something Blogspot does not offer, nor does Blogspot have a large selection of templates to choose from. With that said, the post I discovered on Download Squad, “8 Steps to a More Professional Blogspot Blog,” includes links to six third party websites with several Blogspot templates to choose from. In fact, all of those websites, except for one, has some three column templates that I plan to check out further.
In addition to third party websites with great Blogspot templates to choose from, Download Squad also tells Blogspot users how to eliminate the ugly navigational toolbar at the top of their blog, how to change the label list to a tag cloud, how to add an About Me page and more. Then at the end of their “8 Steps to a More Professional Blogspot Blog” post, they provide links to some other posts they’ve written about Blogspot, and one of those links will take you to a post that discusses adding recent comments to your Blogspot blog.
If you’re looking to give your Blogspot blog a more professional look, I urge you to head to Download Squad and read “8 Steps to a More Professional Blogspot Blog.” It’s most definitely a must read for any Blogspot user!
Do you have any tips on improving a Blogspot blog that you’d like to share with us? If so, please share your tips with us in the comments section. After all, Blogspot users really could use the information to help make their blogs more appealing.
source: http://www.pureblogging.com/2008/03/26/improve-your-blogspot-blog/
Many Blogspot users haven’t moved from Blogspot to Wordpress because they’re afraid they’ll lose some of their loyal readers, but each time some of them hear about a new Wordpress feature or visit other blogs created with Wordpress, they sigh with envy. As a Blogspot user myself, I can honestly say I wished I had known about Wordpress when I created my Life of a Writer blog, but it wasn’t as popular then as it is today. And like many others, I haven’t moved my blog to Wordpress because I don’t want to risk losing my loyal readers readers either. However, as I was blog hopping last night, I discovered a great post on Download Squad that would allow me to improve my Blogspot blog by giving it a more professional look. Would you like to give your Blogspot blog a professional makeover as well? Then keep reading as I reveal the information I discovered on Download Squad last night.
One of the things I like about Wordpress is their selection of free templates. I like the fact that they offer three column templates, which is something Blogspot does not offer, nor does Blogspot have a large selection of templates to choose from. With that said, the post I discovered on Download Squad, “8 Steps to a More Professional Blogspot Blog,” includes links to six third party websites with several Blogspot templates to choose from. In fact, all of those websites, except for one, has some three column templates that I plan to check out further.
In addition to third party websites with great Blogspot templates to choose from, Download Squad also tells Blogspot users how to eliminate the ugly navigational toolbar at the top of their blog, how to change the label list to a tag cloud, how to add an About Me page and more. Then at the end of their “8 Steps to a More Professional Blogspot Blog” post, they provide links to some other posts they’ve written about Blogspot, and one of those links will take you to a post that discusses adding recent comments to your Blogspot blog.
If you’re looking to give your Blogspot blog a more professional look, I urge you to head to Download Squad and read “8 Steps to a More Professional Blogspot Blog.” It’s most definitely a must read for any Blogspot user!
Do you have any tips on improving a Blogspot blog that you’d like to share with us? If so, please share your tips with us in the comments section. After all, Blogspot users really could use the information to help make their blogs more appealing.
source: http://www.pureblogging.com/2008/03/26/improve-your-blogspot-blog/
Monday, April 20, 2009
Use Technorati to improve your blog
If you want your blog to rank higher in Technorati, then I will show you how to get more people to link to your blog and add you to the favourites on Technorati. The more links you get, the higher your rank will be on Technorati.
So What is Technorati?
Technorati is an internet search engine for blogs with a dynamic ranking system.
Technorati is like Google for blogs, this is a good thing because it is so much easier to rank well on Technorati since the majority of bloggers do not know how it is done.
How does Technorati work?
Technorati aggregates RSS (Really simple syndication) feeds in real time from the internet and sorts the posts it finds into categories using Technorati tags. After sorting posts into their proper categories Technorati offers visitors the ability to further sort the posts by freshness, by topic and by authority.
What are Technorati Tags?
Technorati tags are labels that writers assign to articles in order to tell Technorati what the article is about. Wordpress blogs uses plugins to make this task simple however wordpress version 2.5 has rendered most plugins obsolete. Technorati is now able to use an article’s category name as its tag.
What is Technorati authority?
Technorati authority is a system in which points are assigned to blogs based on the number of other blogs that link to it. When another blog links to yours you gain one authority point however subsequent links from the same blog do not give you additional points. Technorati ignores points older than 6 months.
How to get started with Technorati?
To add blog posts to Technorati visit www.technorati.com and create a free account. Once your account is set up you will be prompted to “claim your blog”. Follow the instructions provided by Technorati and claim your blog. If you’re running version 2.5 or later of Wordpress you don’t need to do anything else.
Follow the steps below and you will get a higher rank within a month if you continue to do this.
Step 1. Finding the right people.
Do some research before you start this. You need to find other bloggers that are interested in what you have to say and write about on your blog. Now head over to Technorati and browse for some high ranking blogs in your niche.
Use the search button to find blogs in your niche with a high authority of over 200 or click on “Popular” and browse through there until you find a blog in your niche. When you find the right blog, click on it. You can sort your research either by sorting by, highest Authority or by number of fans.
For this exercise I chose – Courts Internet Marketing School – How to make money Online.
It has an Auhortity of 2,262.
Step 2. Filter out the potential readers.
Having a look at this blog it has over 9822 blog reactions . What is blog reactions? Those are the blogs that have linked to Courts Internet Marketing School and the reason why they are good target is because if they are willing to link to this blog, then they might link to us. Click on view all , now we have a list of our potential readers and link lovers. Filter out which will more likely link to your blog. Now Courts Internet Marketing school is just an example you might want to find a less popular blog so you get more chance of being linked to. Choosing the right people is everything
So now click on “View all reactions” .
Choose blogs with an authority of around 10-50 because if it is too low then that I assume that blog doesn’t have worthwhile content. Now some of those blogs with 1-10 authority might be new but I do not want to waste time and guess.
Once you have chosen dozens of these blogs, you need to visit them and check them out. Look for their most recent posts and try to find a good one.
Now that you have one chosen one good post from each of the dozens blog, you need to link to those post. Just link to them in anyway on your blog. What you can do is a “post of the week” thing in which you link to those profitable blogs. Most of them will visit you and half will link back to you.
Do not link to the top blog just because others are doing it. In most cases they will hardly notice you and they are already popular. Link to the newborn blogs and they will gladly visit you and even link to you.
Just make to link to all of these profitable blogs in your post. Dedicate one of your post a week for linking to others.That is basically it and remember choosing the right people is EVERYTHING in this technique.
If you want to find out more about how to increase your Technorati Authority then have a look at the following links below.
source: http://www.how-2b-debtfree.com/blog/seo/use-technorati-to-improve-your-blog#comment-1376
So What is Technorati?
Technorati is an internet search engine for blogs with a dynamic ranking system.
Technorati is like Google for blogs, this is a good thing because it is so much easier to rank well on Technorati since the majority of bloggers do not know how it is done.
How does Technorati work?
Technorati aggregates RSS (Really simple syndication) feeds in real time from the internet and sorts the posts it finds into categories using Technorati tags. After sorting posts into their proper categories Technorati offers visitors the ability to further sort the posts by freshness, by topic and by authority.
What are Technorati Tags?
Technorati tags are labels that writers assign to articles in order to tell Technorati what the article is about. Wordpress blogs uses plugins to make this task simple however wordpress version 2.5 has rendered most plugins obsolete. Technorati is now able to use an article’s category name as its tag.
What is Technorati authority?
Technorati authority is a system in which points are assigned to blogs based on the number of other blogs that link to it. When another blog links to yours you gain one authority point however subsequent links from the same blog do not give you additional points. Technorati ignores points older than 6 months.
How to get started with Technorati?
To add blog posts to Technorati visit www.technorati.com and create a free account. Once your account is set up you will be prompted to “claim your blog”. Follow the instructions provided by Technorati and claim your blog. If you’re running version 2.5 or later of Wordpress you don’t need to do anything else.
Follow the steps below and you will get a higher rank within a month if you continue to do this.
Step 1. Finding the right people.
Do some research before you start this. You need to find other bloggers that are interested in what you have to say and write about on your blog. Now head over to Technorati and browse for some high ranking blogs in your niche.
Use the search button to find blogs in your niche with a high authority of over 200 or click on “Popular” and browse through there until you find a blog in your niche. When you find the right blog, click on it. You can sort your research either by sorting by, highest Authority or by number of fans.
For this exercise I chose – Courts Internet Marketing School – How to make money Online.
It has an Auhortity of 2,262.
Step 2. Filter out the potential readers.
Having a look at this blog it has over 9822 blog reactions . What is blog reactions? Those are the blogs that have linked to Courts Internet Marketing School and the reason why they are good target is because if they are willing to link to this blog, then they might link to us. Click on view all , now we have a list of our potential readers and link lovers. Filter out which will more likely link to your blog. Now Courts Internet Marketing school is just an example you might want to find a less popular blog so you get more chance of being linked to. Choosing the right people is everything
So now click on “View all reactions” .
Choose blogs with an authority of around 10-50 because if it is too low then that I assume that blog doesn’t have worthwhile content. Now some of those blogs with 1-10 authority might be new but I do not want to waste time and guess.
Once you have chosen dozens of these blogs, you need to visit them and check them out. Look for their most recent posts and try to find a good one.
Now that you have one chosen one good post from each of the dozens blog, you need to link to those post. Just link to them in anyway on your blog. What you can do is a “post of the week” thing in which you link to those profitable blogs. Most of them will visit you and half will link back to you.
Do not link to the top blog just because others are doing it. In most cases they will hardly notice you and they are already popular. Link to the newborn blogs and they will gladly visit you and even link to you.
Just make to link to all of these profitable blogs in your post. Dedicate one of your post a week for linking to others.That is basically it and remember choosing the right people is EVERYTHING in this technique.
If you want to find out more about how to increase your Technorati Authority then have a look at the following links below.
source: http://www.how-2b-debtfree.com/blog/seo/use-technorati-to-improve-your-blog#comment-1376
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Visitors know how to improve Your Blog: 7 tips to make them speak
Who is the best judge of your blog? For whom you spend most of the time reading, browsing web and thinking of a new killer post? Yes, the audience - your blog readers. For instance, check this article which says a simple, hard-hitting fact (you can skip reading the full article - but remember it) - Blog Readers Spend More Time and Money Online.
Some accidentally hit your blog through search engines - few subscribe or bookmark and visit often but, everyone who have visited your blog always formed an opinion about your blog. That might be a good or bad - but, they had something to say, right? They make or break a blog - if they love your blog, they would bookmark you.
So, we should spend some time on listening to our customers - shouldn't we?
Imagine, what if you have known to some 100 ideas about improving your blog for FREE. I will swap a month's pay for that. Ok, we get down to business - How do you make your readers speak on your weaknesses? Here are 7 tips:
1) Conduct a Poll / Survey: If you have not collected a feedback for your readers, it is the best time to conduct a user need survey. Use polldaddy for a one question blog or you can design a full questionnaire (limit to 10, please!) using zoomerang or surveymonkey (both have free accounts - but maximum 100 responses for a 10 days period).
2) Reward those who speak: Do not think you have not got a BIG reward. Either you can announce 'a random winner will get an iPod' a deal or if you do not have a budget, give-away a free e-book for all the respondents (Write a feedback and download this e-book).
3) Add a Guesbook: You can not have a permanent poll running around - so, have a guestbook link at your blog contact page or more prominently in the front page. Do you know the second most checked thing in a blog (after the About page) is the Contact us / Feedback page. Make it obvious that you are listening.
4) Feedback link in the RSS feed: Ask your feed readers to help you in improving your blog. Add a 'request a blog post / tip' or 'Ask a Question' link so, readers can easily reach you and by this way, you can get ideas for future blog posts (Stop scratching your head!).
5) Rating - One-click for rating for posts: As long as it is a simple, unobtrusive - a simple thumbs up / thumbs down icon - it is OK to have at the end of every post. Get a rating widget for new Blogger from Spotback. You can find many plugins for Wordpress blogs.
6) Make them comment on your posts: This is tricky - because as the Problogger himself says, only 1 out of 100 readers (read his excellent tips) make an effort to comment (we are lazy!). But, even we have to come out of our shelves to comment on others' blogs. Set out a time to take a blog walk - just to interact with readers - use mybloglog, blog directories, backlinks - and comment on their blogs. They will come back and do the same thing for you.
7) Publish Recent Commentors / Comments: Recent commentors ( 5 or 10) list is a good way to reward the readers who leave a feedback. Link their name with their blog or web page - they will love it.
Similarly, recent comments also good to show how readers thought about your blog posts.
source: http://www.howtoliveonline.com/2007/06/visitors-know-how-to-improve-your-blog.html
Some accidentally hit your blog through search engines - few subscribe or bookmark and visit often but, everyone who have visited your blog always formed an opinion about your blog. That might be a good or bad - but, they had something to say, right? They make or break a blog - if they love your blog, they would bookmark you.
So, we should spend some time on listening to our customers - shouldn't we?
Imagine, what if you have known to some 100 ideas about improving your blog for FREE. I will swap a month's pay for that. Ok, we get down to business - How do you make your readers speak on your weaknesses? Here are 7 tips:
1) Conduct a Poll / Survey: If you have not collected a feedback for your readers, it is the best time to conduct a user need survey. Use polldaddy for a one question blog or you can design a full questionnaire (limit to 10, please!) using zoomerang or surveymonkey (both have free accounts - but maximum 100 responses for a 10 days period).
2) Reward those who speak: Do not think you have not got a BIG reward. Either you can announce 'a random winner will get an iPod' a deal or if you do not have a budget, give-away a free e-book for all the respondents (Write a feedback and download this e-book).
3) Add a Guesbook: You can not have a permanent poll running around - so, have a guestbook link at your blog contact page or more prominently in the front page. Do you know the second most checked thing in a blog (after the About page) is the Contact us / Feedback page. Make it obvious that you are listening.
4) Feedback link in the RSS feed: Ask your feed readers to help you in improving your blog. Add a 'request a blog post / tip' or 'Ask a Question' link so, readers can easily reach you and by this way, you can get ideas for future blog posts (Stop scratching your head!).
5) Rating - One-click for rating for posts: As long as it is a simple, unobtrusive - a simple thumbs up / thumbs down icon - it is OK to have at the end of every post. Get a rating widget for new Blogger from Spotback. You can find many plugins for Wordpress blogs.
6) Make them comment on your posts: This is tricky - because as the Problogger himself says, only 1 out of 100 readers (read his excellent tips) make an effort to comment (we are lazy!). But, even we have to come out of our shelves to comment on others' blogs. Set out a time to take a blog walk - just to interact with readers - use mybloglog, blog directories, backlinks - and comment on their blogs. They will come back and do the same thing for you.
7) Publish Recent Commentors / Comments: Recent commentors ( 5 or 10) list is a good way to reward the readers who leave a feedback. Link their name with their blog or web page - they will love it.
Similarly, recent comments also good to show how readers thought about your blog posts.
source: http://www.howtoliveonline.com/2007/06/visitors-know-how-to-improve-your-blog.html
Saturday, April 4, 2009
To Build a Good Blog, Consider : Usability
Steve Krug wrote a book called Don't Make Me Think and that's exactly what you should be aiming for when visitors comes to your blog. If they are looking to read your content they should be able to find it and read it with ease. If they want to subscribe to your blog, they should be able to find your RSS feed with ease. Whatever it might be, you want to make it as easy for your readers as possible.
Here are a couple things to keep in mind.
Your website's content should be easy to read as well as easy to navigate.
Make it easy for people to find your content by using categories and by having a search feature on your blog.
Make your RSS subscription button easy to access for anyone looking to read your content from a RSS reader.
Limit the options and features on your blog. Why have tons of features when 90 percent of your visitors only use a handful of them.
Try to avoid technical jargon when possible and when you cannot try to explain the jargon in as few words as possible.
source:
http://www.pronetadvertising.com/articles/5-ways-to-building-a-better-blog.html
Here are a couple things to keep in mind.
Your website's content should be easy to read as well as easy to navigate.
Make it easy for people to find your content by using categories and by having a search feature on your blog.
Make your RSS subscription button easy to access for anyone looking to read your content from a RSS reader.
Limit the options and features on your blog. Why have tons of features when 90 percent of your visitors only use a handful of them.
Try to avoid technical jargon when possible and when you cannot try to explain the jargon in as few words as possible.
source:
http://www.pronetadvertising.com/articles/5-ways-to-building-a-better-blog.html
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
define : admonish, monitory, premonition
MONI comes from the latin word monere, “to warn” or “to scold”. Warning and scolding are often similar, since many warnings can be called “pre-scoldings”.
Admonish – to warn or criticize mildly.
The teacher admonished Bob, the talkative student who kept on chatting with his seatmate.
Monitory - giving warning, cautionary
While the class listened, the teacher spoke to Bob in a monitory tone.
Premonition – a previous warning or notice; forewarning; a feeling about an event or a situation before it happens.
The students knew this situation could be a premonition of Bob’s grades for this grading period.
Admonish – to warn or criticize mildly.
The teacher admonished Bob, the talkative student who kept on chatting with his seatmate.
Monitory - giving warning, cautionary
While the class listened, the teacher spoke to Bob in a monitory tone.
Premonition – a previous warning or notice; forewarning; a feeling about an event or a situation before it happens.
The students knew this situation could be a premonition of Bob’s grades for this grading period.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Let Us Support Earth Hour 2009
Everyone is encouraged to participate in Earth Hour 2009. Turn all unnecessary lights off in your homes on Saturday, March 28, 2009, from 8:30pm to 9:30pm.
What does Earth Hour ask people to do?
At Home:
- Switch off unused lights.
- Switch unused appliances off
- Reduce use of hot water.
At Work:
- Replace light bulbs with energy efficient lights
- Turn down the thermostat
- Turn off lights and computers outside working hours
Participate now! Log on to www.earthhour.org and sign up!
What is PageRank?
PageRank is what Google uses to determine the importance of a web page. It's one of many factors used to determine which pages appear in search results.
The History of PageRank
PageRank was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford. At the time that Page and Brin met, search engines typically linked to pages that had the highest keyword density, which meant people could game the system by repeating the same phrase over and over to attract higher search page results.
PageRank is patented by Stanford, and the name PageRank likely comes from Larry Page.
What Does PageRank Measure?
PageRank measure's a web page's importance.
Page and Brin's theory is that the most important pages on the Internet are the pages with the most links leading to them. PageRank thinks of links as votes, where a page linking to another page is casting a vote.
This makes sense, because people do tend to link to relevant content, and pages with more links to them are usually better resources than pages that nobody links.
PageRank doesn't stop there. It also looks at the importance of the page that contains the link. Pages with higher PageRank have more weight in "voting" with their links than pages with lower PageRank. It also looks at the number of links on the page casting the "vote." Pages with more links have less weight.
This also makes a certain amount of sense. Pages that are important are probably better authorities in leading web surfers to better sources, and pages that have more links are likely to be less discriminating on where they're linking.
How Important Is PageRank?
PageRank is one of many factors that determines where your web page appears in search result ranking, but if all other factors are equal, PageRank can have significant impact on your Google rankings.
Are There Flaws in PageRank?
There are certainly flaws in PageRank. Now that people know the secrets to obtaining a higher PageRank, the data can be manipulated. Google Bombs are a classic example of PageRank manipulation.
"Link farming" is another method people attempt to use manipulate PageRank. Link farming is the practice of linking without thought of the relevance of the pages being linked, and it is often automated. If you've ever run into a web page that was nothing but a collection of random links to other websites, you may have run into a link farm.
Google has adapted their calculations to filter off possible link farms. This is one reason why submitting your website to directories with low or no PageRank may be a bad idea.
If you find your website linked in a link farm, don't panic. In most cases this has no effect at all on your ranking. You can't control who links to you, anyway. Just don't link back to link farms and don't submit your site to them intentionally.
How Can I See PageRank?
PageRank is measured on a scale of one to ten and assigned to individual pages within a website, not the entire website. To find the PageRank of a page, use Google Toolbar. Very few pages have a PageRank of 10, especially as the number of pages on the Internet increases.
How Can I Increase My PageRank?
If you'd like to increase your PageRank, you need to have "back-links," or other people linking to your website. You can trade links with other people, but make sure you only trade relevant links, and make sure you're not trading links with a link farm. You can register your website with directories, such as the Open Directory Project, but use directories with high PageRank whenever possible.
As you build web pages within your website, you can create some of your own back-links by linking to relevant pages within your own website. This is a technique you may notice on this website. However, remember that the number of links you create counts into the equation. Don't overdo it.
The best way to increase your PageRank is to have quality content that other people want to link.
source: about.com
The History of PageRank
PageRank was developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford. At the time that Page and Brin met, search engines typically linked to pages that had the highest keyword density, which meant people could game the system by repeating the same phrase over and over to attract higher search page results.
PageRank is patented by Stanford, and the name PageRank likely comes from Larry Page.
What Does PageRank Measure?
PageRank measure's a web page's importance.
Page and Brin's theory is that the most important pages on the Internet are the pages with the most links leading to them. PageRank thinks of links as votes, where a page linking to another page is casting a vote.
This makes sense, because people do tend to link to relevant content, and pages with more links to them are usually better resources than pages that nobody links.
PageRank doesn't stop there. It also looks at the importance of the page that contains the link. Pages with higher PageRank have more weight in "voting" with their links than pages with lower PageRank. It also looks at the number of links on the page casting the "vote." Pages with more links have less weight.
This also makes a certain amount of sense. Pages that are important are probably better authorities in leading web surfers to better sources, and pages that have more links are likely to be less discriminating on where they're linking.
How Important Is PageRank?
PageRank is one of many factors that determines where your web page appears in search result ranking, but if all other factors are equal, PageRank can have significant impact on your Google rankings.
Are There Flaws in PageRank?
There are certainly flaws in PageRank. Now that people know the secrets to obtaining a higher PageRank, the data can be manipulated. Google Bombs are a classic example of PageRank manipulation.
"Link farming" is another method people attempt to use manipulate PageRank. Link farming is the practice of linking without thought of the relevance of the pages being linked, and it is often automated. If you've ever run into a web page that was nothing but a collection of random links to other websites, you may have run into a link farm.
Google has adapted their calculations to filter off possible link farms. This is one reason why submitting your website to directories with low or no PageRank may be a bad idea.
If you find your website linked in a link farm, don't panic. In most cases this has no effect at all on your ranking. You can't control who links to you, anyway. Just don't link back to link farms and don't submit your site to them intentionally.
How Can I See PageRank?
PageRank is measured on a scale of one to ten and assigned to individual pages within a website, not the entire website. To find the PageRank of a page, use Google Toolbar. Very few pages have a PageRank of 10, especially as the number of pages on the Internet increases.
How Can I Increase My PageRank?
If you'd like to increase your PageRank, you need to have "back-links," or other people linking to your website. You can trade links with other people, but make sure you only trade relevant links, and make sure you're not trading links with a link farm. You can register your website with directories, such as the Open Directory Project, but use directories with high PageRank whenever possible.
As you build web pages within your website, you can create some of your own back-links by linking to relevant pages within your own website. This is a technique you may notice on this website. However, remember that the number of links you create counts into the equation. Don't overdo it.
The best way to increase your PageRank is to have quality content that other people want to link.
source: about.com
Saturday, March 21, 2009
define : bulwark, cache, callous
bulwark - n. something used as a defense, a strong protection
The 1986 Philippine Edsa Revolution showed the Filipino people's courage, they used their bodies as bulwarks against the army's invading tanks.
cache - n (cash) a hiding place, something hidden in a secret place
The dictators then thought that there was a money cache somewhere funding this rally.
callous - adj. unfeeling and insensitive
The peaceful confrontation between the army and the people showed that the army was not callous as it was initially thought to be.
The 1986 Philippine Edsa Revolution showed the Filipino people's courage, they used their bodies as bulwarks against the army's invading tanks.
cache - n (cash) a hiding place, something hidden in a secret place
The dictators then thought that there was a money cache somewhere funding this rally.
callous - adj. unfeeling and insensitive
The peaceful confrontation between the army and the people showed that the army was not callous as it was initially thought to be.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Simple Ways To Get More Blog Traffic
This is every blogger’s dream. Increasing your blog traffic and in effect, your page rank. So you’re looking to increase your blog’s popularity this year, here are some basic tips:
• Be mindful of your content . In blogging and the internet in general, it is important to carve your own niche. What is your blog about? Is it about parenting?computer hardware? Health and beauty? It is important to identify your target reader and concentrate of building your blog with them in mind. It is also important to have a feature article at least once a week. Think about a popular topic that will interest a lot of readers. Think about keywords also. These are words that are most likely to be used when searching for topics using internet search engines. It is important to have blog entries that will be interesting regardless of date, no matter how many years ago you wrote it.
• Update often. Search engines can detect if a blog is active. If your blog is updated regularly, the more likely your blog will appear first in the search engine results. Try your best to update daily, or at least three times a week.
• Participate in other blogs. Don’t spend too much time trying to make your blog the best there is, it is also important to network with other bloggers with similar interests. Choose popular blogs with high page rank. Visit them often and comment on their posts. Establish a friendship and join the community. Once you’ve established a relationship with them, try linking them up and wait for them to do the same. This will definitely be plus points for your blog’s popularity. These blogs will send traffic your way.
These are pretty simple tips that you may have already heard. Take them to heart and seriously consider them when logging on to your blog. I hope you see positive changes soon. We are all rooting for a higher page rank and increased popularity of our blogs. Good Luck!
• Be mindful of your content . In blogging and the internet in general, it is important to carve your own niche. What is your blog about? Is it about parenting?computer hardware? Health and beauty? It is important to identify your target reader and concentrate of building your blog with them in mind. It is also important to have a feature article at least once a week. Think about a popular topic that will interest a lot of readers. Think about keywords also. These are words that are most likely to be used when searching for topics using internet search engines. It is important to have blog entries that will be interesting regardless of date, no matter how many years ago you wrote it.
• Update often. Search engines can detect if a blog is active. If your blog is updated regularly, the more likely your blog will appear first in the search engine results. Try your best to update daily, or at least three times a week.
• Participate in other blogs. Don’t spend too much time trying to make your blog the best there is, it is also important to network with other bloggers with similar interests. Choose popular blogs with high page rank. Visit them often and comment on their posts. Establish a friendship and join the community. Once you’ve established a relationship with them, try linking them up and wait for them to do the same. This will definitely be plus points for your blog’s popularity. These blogs will send traffic your way.
These are pretty simple tips that you may have already heard. Take them to heart and seriously consider them when logging on to your blog. I hope you see positive changes soon. We are all rooting for a higher page rank and increased popularity of our blogs. Good Luck!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
define: blanch, blithe, broach
blanch - v. turn pale
Grace was so surprised at Mark's marriage proposal that she blanched.
blithe - adj. happily, light hearted, joyful
Deep in her own mind, she had blithely denied the possibility of him and her.
broach - v. to open up a subject for discussion
That was why she was genuinely shocked when he broached the subject of marriage.
Grace was so surprised at Mark's marriage proposal that she blanched.
blithe - adj. happily, light hearted, joyful
Deep in her own mind, she had blithely denied the possibility of him and her.
broach - v. to open up a subject for discussion
That was why she was genuinely shocked when he broached the subject of marriage.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
define:begrudge, benediction, benign
begrudge - adj. to envy another's possessions, to concede reluctantly
Her husband does not begrudge her going out with friends, as long as she comes home within a reasonable time.
benediction - n. a blessing, a good wish
Her husband's arrival in her life is such a benediction on her part.
benign - adj. gentle, not harmful, kind
Allison knows that the curfew set by her husband is benign, and meant only to protect her.
Her husband does not begrudge her going out with friends, as long as she comes home within a reasonable time.
benediction - n. a blessing, a good wish
Her husband's arrival in her life is such a benediction on her part.
benign - adj. gentle, not harmful, kind
Allison knows that the curfew set by her husband is benign, and meant only to protect her.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Attract More Readers To Your Blog
The key here is minding the structure of your blog posts. Well structured blog posting will catch the readers' attention, and make them want to read what you have to say.
- Give the blog posting an amazing or thought provoking title that will surely catch the reader’s eye. This is the first thing they see and will help them decide if it is interesting to them.
- Put the main point in the first paragraph. If the reader is merely scanning the post this is the only thing readers will see and if it is interesting enough, they will want to read on.
- Put the details in the following paragraphs of your posting.
- Finally in the last part of the posting add the background information. I know this writing style is slightly different from what we're used to, in school we are taught to wrap it up or summarize in the end. But in blogging, we do not have the luxury of time.We are constantly battling for our readers attention and everything must be kept interesting for them, be it the beginning, the middle or the end.
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