Entries from September 2007 ↓

Many hours I have wasted trying to get websites included in DMOZ.

When I first began building websites, getting into DMOZ was seen as just about the best thing you could do - Guaranteed to raise the all important page rank.

The problem was that it just grew too unwieldy and you could be waiting for up to 2 years to have your site reviewed and possibly put in. If you dared complain about waiting two years you were given short shrift and threatened with permanent banning.

The other problem was the potential for corruption, editors wield enormous influence and so inevitably some were tempted by charging a market price for inclusion. Of course, these editors are in a minority and DMOZ always said it sought to weed out corrupt editors. But, if a site has such power, the temptation for using it for selfish ends is enormous.

I’m glad to see DMOZ is no longer of any importance or relevance. DMOZ can tell us many things.

The internet changes very quickly - What is an important SEO tactic one year, can become irrelevant the next.
Success on the internet is not about getting one arbitary link from an anonymous editor. Success comes from building readership and quality pages.
DMOZ rarely sent significant traffic. One way to value links is how many real visitors do they send?
Links from link Sites are always rather dubious. No one goes through web directories. Why bother, when it is much easier to search on google?
Who will want to be an editor at DMOZ now? If there is no personal gain, why spend hours going through sites (a lot of them probably spam) when nobody cares anymore.
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At the weekend, I spent some time away from the internet to write several blog posts. Unfortunately, I lost them because I saved an old edition of the mac text edit document. I made the mistake of writing 4 posts on the same document. I didn’t lose the file, I just somehow reverted to the earliest edition of the document. - So all the beautiful posts were lost. - Of course, these were the best posts I had ever written

How to Avoid Losing blog Posts.

(notes to me)

• Use Microsoft Word which has autosave. - It’s annoying that after spending $2000 on a mac, you still need to buy Microsoft product. (Why do I have to pay for mac mail?)
• Have a separate file for each document, there is less chance of losing several at once.
• Once written, back up to disc or upload to internet and save as draft.
• I could write directly in blog which has autosave, but, I usually write without internet. In fact I feel it is a benefit to write without internet access.

What to do After losing Blog Posts

1. Don’t hit your head against a wall. It hurts and for some reason the wall can’t help retrieve your posts from cyberspace.
2. Try Writing what you remember. The problem is that it is impossible to remember what you said exactly, and anything seems to be inferior to what you originally wrote.
3. No blog post is indispensable to life. Remain detached.
4. Make sure it doesn’t happen again…

Thanks to Daniel at Daily Blog Tips for his blog contest. These are some of my favourite. - All stumbled

My entries:

• 10 Simple ways to improve blog posts at Net Writing
• 10 Ways to avoid depression at Sri Chinmoy Inspiration

Blogging

1. 10 Simple ways to show reader appreciation  - at Raproject
2. How to get bookmarked on delicious - I haven’t used delicious that much. This advice is good for any bookmarking site.
3. 9 Tips to Be more Creative
4. How to Style Your Blog Comments more Effectively - I’m very impressed with Michael’s new blog ProBlog Design. - He has tremendous enthusiasm which is refreshing in the blogosphere.
5. 10 Tips for writing bookmarkable content at Daily Blog tips by Skellie

Other Articles of Note

1. 5 Tips to Being more interesting by John
2. Tips for Interval Training by Shane
3. 6 Tips to Generating outstanding ideas

I was speaking to a friend about RSS feeds. He made the point that for his favourite blogs he prefers email subscription, rather than RSS.

• Often people subscribe to many RSS feeds, but, then it becomes difficult to read them all. I know that I have subscribed to many RSS feeds, but rarely read any blog entries.
• Getting an email, increases the chance they will give the notification there attention and actually go to the blog.
• Just because established bloggers, have worked out what RSS is, and how it works; - it doesn’t mean your average reader has. Email provides an option for those who don’t want to work out another thing. Ask non bloggers if they know how RSS works, I’d be surprised if many do.

Net Writing Subscriptions

• Subscribe via email
• Subscribe via RSS
  

How To Offer Email Subscriptions

1. Set up an account with feedburner. - This makes it easy to manage and track your RSS readership and email subscribers.
2.  Goto your Account and click on Publicise. On the left navigation bar is an option - offer email subscription.
3. Feedburner give you code to paste into your blog. (probably best as a page)

If you would like to subscribe via email, please enter your email address here:

These are a few quick tricks can make a big difference to the quality of your blog post. The best thing about these ideas is that they are not time consuming to implement. It is simple additions / changes that can make the difference between an average blog post and an exceptional blog post.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Keep it Simple.

Don’t write more than necessary. Write with purpose and stick to the point.

2. Use Quotes

If you can’t think of a pithy quote, which captures people’s imagination, don’t worry - use the inspiration of the experts.

“Broadly speaking, the short words are the best, and the old words best of all.”

- Winston Churchill

3. Have Something Different to Say

Don’t write another post that has already been written several times in the past 24 hours. Look at your blogging from a different angle. Don’t just use RSS feeds for writing inspiration. - Do you stand out from the Crowd?

4. Check For Obvious Mistakes.

If you don’t, somebody else will get great pleasure in reminding you of the difference between:

• Their - (refers to person) - Their command of the English language is better than yours
• There - (refers to place) - You should go to the library over there.

• “Its” - possessive pronoun. - This is its proper use
• “It’s” - short for it is. - It’s going to be a lovely day.

5. Use Lists

Lists are great to write, easy to read, and easy to scan. They may annoy a few English language purists. But, the success of your blog does not depend on this!

6. Use A bit of Humour

• 10 Reasons lists are rubbish

7. Choose the Right Title.

Make sure the title gives people a reason to read the whole blog post. If your title is boring, the blog post will be in vain - because most people will not get further than a cursory glance at the title. - Creating Eye catching Titles

8. Make the First Sentence Count.

If you start your blog entry with the latest veterinary exploits of your 10 year old cat, don’t forget you will have lost 80% of your readers at the first sentence. Make it interesting, set up the rest of your blog post. This sentence is the most important in the whole article. - The importance of your first sentence

9. Use A Photo

Using Photos creates a new dimension to your blog. It can create a captivating impression and helps your blog post stand out in people’s RSS feeds. (Now I just need to find a suitable picture)

10. Encourage Comments

Your readers probably have many good ideas, so try to encourage them to share their inspiration and advice.

11. Offer an extra point at No Extra cost

Another good suggestion is to link to your best articles, buried in your archives

• Please feel free to leave comments. I will link to the blogs of those who leave the best suggestions for easy ways to improve blog posts.

This post is part of Daniel’s Blog Contest over at Daily Blog Tips - (one of my favourite Blogging blogs - and I’m not just saying that because I want to win $100

There is a blog contest at Daily Blog Tips, which will be worth entering. I nearly missed it, so you will have to get your entry in today
Daniel’s entry is a good read:  10 Tips for Writing Bookmarkable content

Blog Rush has developed a lot of interest lately. I thought I would sign up and see what it has to offer.

Web users surf and scan - they click on obvious things. Web users don’t like complexity, the last thing they will do is read instructions or delve through archives to find the best posts.

As a blog owner you want to try and make the experience for web users as easy as possible. Your website should be easy to navigate, it should be obvious what the blog is about. It may be obvious to you, but don’t forget you built it. If you really want to test how simple your blog is, ask your mother to look at the blog and look in exasperation as she struggles to do anything.

Never assume that web users know anything. It is worth bearing in mind how popular searches like “what is a blog?” are.

Here are some simple tips to to increase usability on your blog

1. Don’t offer too many choices.

If you present too many options, people may not actually choose anything. - It is too much effort to read through all the options for them. Make it obvious for readers. Offer 1 choice and you can send them exactly where you want to go.

2. Highlight your best posts.

Make sure you have a best of your blog. This makes sure your best articles are not lost in the archives. Even better consider having popular posts in the sidebar for easy clicking. (see most popular posts plugin)

3. Minimise clutter.

This is difficult if you want to have lots of advertising. But, remember the maxim - sometimes less is more. Reducing the number of google ads, not only makes it a more attractive visitor experience; but, many bloggers have the experience that reducing the number of ads can keep the revenue the same.

Good example: Skelliewag.org 

4. Make it easy to know who the blogger is.

Add an about page with contact details.

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Many top bloggers have said the key to success when blogging is creating meaningful relationships with other bloggers.

In an article for Pick the Brain, I suggested 10 tips for building healthy relationships. Many of these can also be applied to online relationships. Good relationships is mainly about treating people with respect, avoid negativity and appreciating the good qualities of others.

Related 

• Virtual Relationship - with Lorelle about guest blogging.

I have been a member of Stumble upon for over 2 years. It is easy to use and for various sites has sent big surges in traffic. True, this traffic stays for a relatively short time, but even with a short average visit length, it is still a good way to create more exposure for your site. Due to stumbleupon traffic, I have seen the number of subscribers increase as a result.

These are some tips for getting the best out of Stumbleupon.

1. Not Necessary to be a sponsor

I paid $20 to become a sponsor, but, to be honest it is not necessary. It doesn’t seem to help get stumbles.

2. Don’t bother with stumbleupon Exchange sites

It’s hard to Game Stumbleupon. I have experimented with Sites which offer stumble exchanges. However, I no longer use them. I find that the traffic was relatively low for the effort involved. They seem to attract a lot of sites which don’t deserve to be stumbled. It seems a shame to spoil the good reputation of Stumbleupon by promoting less deserving sites. I’m sure stumbleupon will adjust filters to increasingly counter sites like this.
3. Ask Friends for the odd stumble.

The best strategy is to develop relationships with stumblers who have good quality websites. Offer to stumble some of their pages in return for the odd stumble back. This can be very effective

4. Don’t over Stumble your own Site.

If you stumble your own site, you may get a lot of stumbles. But, after about 10, Stumbleupon seem to wise up to the fact and stop sending more stumbles. Therefore, it is important to get other people to stumble your site. If you stumble your own site infrequently – it is fine

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