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/

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

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

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

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.

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:

1. Switch off unused lights.
2. Switch unused appliances off
3. Reduce use of hot water.

At Work:

1. Replace light bulbs with energy efficient lights
2. Turn down the thermostat
3. 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