Entries from September 2007 ↓

If you are looking to stand out from the crowd, a unique web design is a must. When visiting websites, I think we subconsciously give a very high weighting to the visual impact of the site.

If you would like to get a distinctive custom design I can recommend, Pure Web Designs,  run by a friend, Sumangali Morhall.

Pure Web Designs, offer custom templates, design and general advice about building websites and Blogs.

 An Example from Pure Web Designs:

Pure Web designs is run by Sumangali Morhall, who has her own blog

It is important to be able to contact the author of the blog. I feel this helps creates trust. Also, it is through contacting other bloggers that you can share ideas and benefit from mutual growth.

One of the best ways is to use a contact form. This means you can be contactable without people (and spammers) knowing your email address. Contact forms for wordpress

Using Email Adress.

1. if you write this: bob@easytospam.com spammers can harvest your email from automatic programmes.

2. bob (at) hardertospam.com - This makes it more difficult to harvest, but there is a likelyhood spammers will develop a programe to harvest it.

3. bob at the gmail. This means bob@gmail.com - I saw one blogger use this. The problem is that some people, like me, may not realise straight away that it means bob@gmail.com. You want to make sure it is as effortless as possible for people to contact you.

4. Hide email through javascript. link for free script

This looks professional and is difficult (though not impossible) to harvest. For some content management systems you may need to enable javascript.

5. Use Image

Secure against harvesters, but not so accessible

David Airy has put together a pretty impressive blog contest. There is a remarkable list of prizes. 

It would also be interesting to have a blog review with deep links and images

Although to be honest, I think the most important thing is not just to receive advice but actually act upon it. Recently I critiqued my own blog, but I still have several things to implement.

I think it is also a pretty smart move by David Airey. By encouraging the participation of so many top bloggers there is likely to be a lot of momentum and publicity for this contest. It’s worth having a go.

Blog contest at David Airey

Related

What Makes a good blog contest?

Continuing the theme of making blog statistics work for you. I very recently added a feedburner account.

The new RSS feed for Net Writing is here: (By the way the old feed will work with no problem)

The immediate advantage of using feedburner is that you are able to easily track the number of subscribers.

This includes the following advantages.

• Set Targets for increasing RSS readership. - Congratulations to Daniel at Daily Blog Tips who recently passed 5,000 RSS readers - It’s hard to believe the blog is less than a year old

• View the success of different types of conversion.
  For example, stumbleupon may send you a 1,000 visits, but what % will actually subscribe? On the other hand leaving comments on related blogs, may lead to a small number of visits, but if a high % subscribe then this is worth doing.
• Another statistic to check every morning…
• RSS readership may become an increasingly important factor in search engine ranking. - It would make sense as its harder to manipulate.
• Being able to display a high RSS feedcount can help in increasing the prestige of your blog. If someone sees that you have 5,000 subscribers, it means alot of people have effectively voted for you.

Other tips

1. If you use wordpress install the wordpress plugin to convert all the feeds into the common feedburner one. - blog post at problogger

• Plugin at Wordpress
  • Making statistics work for you - Keyword analysis

2. Don’t place all importance on the RSS feed count, it is only one of several factors.

3. As a general rule, it is advised not to display the number of readers, when it is in single figures. - Wait til you have three figures, at least.
Related

I enjoyed seeing this video of Problogger HQ. - I appreciate the fact it is so uncluttered and tidy. Makes a big difference to productivity.

Here are the two places I blog.

My Room

Notes

1. List of Passwords and usernames on wall in front of computer. (I used to waste hours looking up lost passwords)
2. Packet of chocolate biscuits within easy reach.
3. Mac book for travel
4. 19″ Flat Screen but developing desire for an Apple cinema screen.
5. Pen and paper for writing titles of articles down.
6. Wireless Mouse - essential
7. Statue of Lakshmi (Goddess of Prosperity)
8. Several random papers / pens / bits of junk removed for camera shot.

The Other Place Where I blog - Coffee Shop In Blackwells Bookshop Oxford.

This is where I do my writing. I haven’t taken a photo of the inside, because it’s pretty much like any cafe. But, this is the view from the window. It is of the Sheldonian Theatre, with the Bodleian library in the background

• More photos of Oxford
  

I think the place we blog is more than of mere interest. It definitely has an impact on productivity and can indirectly affect the quality of writing /blogging.

It seems 8/10 bloggers feel they spend too much time checking statistics. Any guide to increasing productivity will probably mention the advantage of not checking your stats 10 times a day. This is good advice, but, we should not forget that statistics can also be of great help in growing our blog. This week we will be looking at how statistics can help transform your blog.

Using Keyword Analysis.

This shows how people come to your site through search engines. Search engine traffic is particularly important when you want to monetize your blog. Therefore, it is essential to make the most of your popular keywords. If one keyword is resulting in high traffic, there is a good chance that a small variation on the keyword will also prove successful.

• For example, on my mortgage blog, I had many people searching “housing market”. Therefore, I created several related pages on the “UK Housing Market” “American Housing Market” London Housing Market e.tc. These pages have proved quite successful.

• Also, I sometimes find people use keywords which are not in the title, but in the body of the text. When I look on Google, this entry is say number 9. Therefore, I write a new post with this keyword in the title. This has a chance of becoming number 1 or 2 on google.

• Keyword analysis is a great way to find titles for posts. You don’t have to use it all the time. But, my theory is - if people are repeatedly searching for something, make sure you offer it.

• Also through keyword analysis you may find certain keywords which can bring alot of traffic. For example, one of the best keywords is the word free. You may be giving an SEO guide away for free, but, do you mention free in the text. Sometimes just adding the word free, to certain pages can help it rank for different searches.

Some Extra notes:

• If you are a new blogger don’t expect much search engine traffic in the first 6 months. - You may not like it, but that’s just the way it usually is for most bloggers.

• Some keyword searches tend to be topical and the rankings don’t last for a long time. I think google give you a high ranking for a few weeks and then look for other newer posts. I’ve noticed that this occurs much more often on a blog about SEO and Blogging. Some SERPs are very stable, others fluctuate alot.

Related Links

• The Best free stats counter
• Increase traffic through search engines
• Stop checking the stats daily at Daily Blog tips
• Making sense of web statistics

To write with confidence and clarity it is necessary to work hard at practising and developing your writing. Don’t expect to be a “born writer”. Even the great writers have to work at their craft; there is no reason you should be any different. For this reason it is important to avoid having a feeling that “I am not a writer” If you read exceptional writers and learn from their technique and style you will gain a lot of inspiration. From this you can develop your own style, without seeking to imitate the style of another.

How to Improve Your Writing

Independence of Thought.

Independence of thought is an essential part of developing a unique writing style. Every writer gains inspiration from other sources. But, a great writer is able to add something of his own or look at concepts from different angles. To develop independence of thought we need to be well read, but also able to see beyond the bias and opinions of other writers. To have true independence of thought we need to forget the needs and expectations of the reader entirely.

Writing for the sake of writing

When writing there is a tendency to consider the needs, expectations and even prejudices of the readers. This occurs quite often in certain newspapers. To develop our own unique style we need to be free of constraints about what people expect. We should write from the heart, because we feel it is worth writing, not because we feel it is what other people want.

Continue reading →

Recently, I enjoyed a very pleasant holiday in New York. I found it quite difficult to keep blogging and decided to stop for a complete break. Since coming back from America I’ve found that the momentum for blogging is slowly coming back.

As a general rule, the more time I spend on a blog the more ideas I get for posts / links e.t.c. If you are stuck for momentum I would suggest persevering with your blog. You will find that momentum can soon come back.

Also, try this post: 10 tips for finding inspiration to write 

Other Links

• Having Participated in Probloggers month of Blogging Tips. I found this post interesting - How to get traffic from a Group writing project
• This shows the importance of being on top of a list and creating a good eyecatching title.
• What Makes a good logo at David Airey
• 7 Ways to avoid Overspending

Ravi Vora asks a question about his new blog - Ravi Vora

I was wondering if you could give me some tips on my SEO and whether I’m heading in the right direction with my new blog. I have been doing a lot of research and reading and have been trying to make sure I follow the guidelines. However, it seems that my blog is not showing up on searches and I can’t figure out what the problem is. Any help at all would be much appreciated!

These are my impressions and suggestions:

1. The Blog is very new - less than one month. In terms of search engine traffic you should expect very little in the first 6-12 months. No matter what you do, search engines are very unlikley to send you much traffic at all. It just takes time to build up links and become an established blog. It is best not to worry about statistics at this point and concentrate on writing good content and promoting these through blog carnivals e.t.c
2. There are some good articles on your blog. You have written thoughtful articles. The titles are also likely to be popular on social bookmarking sites.
3. The Blog design is distinctive - which is good. But, I can’t say its to my taste, but that is just a personal preference.
4. Although your articles may deserve to do well on Digg, I have to say it is difficult for a new blog to get on digg home page. Not impossible but difficult. You might want to consider removing digg button for now.
5. Be Patient - New bloggers and established bloggers have to be patient.

What I would suggest

• Work on building up links
  
• Keep producing articles
• Consider submitting some articles as guest posts on other blogs.

Good luck with blog.

Leaving comments on a blog is one of the main attractions of blogging. It allows you to participate in debates and also raise your profile and potentially get new readers from your blog. However, because of the potential seo / traffic benefits many bloggers are tempted to look upon comments with a view to how it can benefit them. As a result the quality of the comments can fall and reduce their credibility. As a general rule if I see a blogger leaving spammy comments - “Nice post!” e.t.c I assume they have a spammy blog and so am less likely to click on their links. Your comments should reflect well on your blog. These are some suggestions with regard to commenting.

1. How to Sign your Name?

I have tried various combinations of leaving a comment. After trying various combinations I prefer just using my full name. - Tejvan Pettinger. Why I like using my real name:

• I am happy to identify myself with any comment I make.
• There is no attempt at advertising my site
• It develops personal branding, the name is quite unique and hopefully memorable.
• Some bloggers have said they prefer people to use their full name. I appreciate their request. E.g. Binary Moon commenting policy

After deciding on which name to use, the best thing is to stick with it.

2. Should I use SEO keywords in my signature?

e.g. Mr R.e. Mortgage-Quote?

• It looks daft.
• It undermines your credibility
• I doubt how much SEO benefit there is anyway. Maybe there is some for blogs who use Do follow, but otherwise I feel you are definitely wasting your time.

Continue reading →