Entries Tagged 'blogging' ↓

I was rather shocked to hear that some keyboards have more germs than the average toilet seat. For some reason a keyboard and a mouse is something that we never think needs cleaning. But, especially if you share a keyboard with other people, you might want to think a bit more carefully.

A microbiologist for Which, found that many computer keyboards have germs such as e coli and S aureus. (links) 

One of the keyboards in the experiment had to be removed from the office because it was five times dirtier than the lavatory seat and home to 150 times the acceptable limit of bacteria.

“[It] was increasing the risk of its user becoming ill,” said the microbiologist, James Francis. “I haven’t seen a reading like that in a very long time - it was off the scale.”

Cleaning Your Keyboard and Mouse.

• A Vacuum cleaner is good for removing dust and small bits which get trapped beneath the keys.
• After shutting down your computer, use a lint free cloth, to lightly wipe with an approved cleaning fluid e.g cleaning fluid 
• Make sure you wash your hands and remove grease before using a computer. (Makes it difficult to eat a packet of crisps whilst typing away)

1. Check Email Again.

It’s 10.30pm, Sunday evening and I’m going to check my email again, even though I did it 30 mins ago. As expected the message comes up
“You have no new messages on this mail server.” - A perfect waste of time and to make it worse you feel you have no mates either.

2. Do the same thing Twice.

Feedburner blog stats get updated once a day, so why do I sometimes check them twice? I can offer no logical explanation. There is no need to check them more than once a week because they are so volatile. There are numerous other examples of things that we do twice.

3. Using computer whilst watching TV / Eating.

If there’s a good film on TV, why do I try to multitask and do something on the computer at the same time. If the TV is rubbish, why don’t we just switch it off and do one thing at a time?

4. Write a comment and then don’t post.

Have you ever written a comment and then thought at the end - what’s the point? no one really cares for my opinion anyway.

5. Hoping to Solve the problems of the World.

The internet is full of misinformation. Yet, we still somehow feel that we could correct all these erroneous views by offering reasoned and thoughtful arguments.

Continue reading →

Some bloggers look upon the Digg homepage as the holy grail of blogging. I don’t think this is true, but nevertheless, social bookmarking sites can be very helpful in raising the profile of your blog and generating the interest of new readers. If you really have enticing, original content, then there is no reason why it can not do very well on popular social bookmarking sites. These are some suggestions to make effective use of Digg and related social media.

1. First Impressions Count

The visual impact of the site does matter. People don’t just vote on the article, but their subconscious opinion of the site. Make it clean and attractive and don’t go over the top with ads and banners. It is also important that you have the content above the fold. Don’t have huge headers and graphics which makes it hard to see any of the actual content.

2. Be Focused.

Every week, try to create 1 or 2 outstanding posts / articles. These should be original and offer something of real value to visitors; it these 1 or 2 articles that you will focus on promoting. Be prepared to take time to write the best article that you can. Don’t be half hearted in creating content - it is better to have an attitude of all or nothing. It is also important that the articles have a clear focus. Don’t get sidetracked into relating unnecessary personal experiences.

3. Headlines are everything

Quite often people on Digg will vote for a submission based on the title alone - without ever reading the actual post. Because of this it is vital to hone your headline writing talents. A good starting point is to just look at the kind of headlines that get to the homepage of Digg. A good headline has the following characteristics:

• Grabs people’s attentions
• Is Descriptive
• Is Original.

A title like “How to Increase Your Traffic” is so boring and repetitive it has absolutely no chance, no matter how good the article. Try, “Secrets of Increasing Traffic to a new Blog” “10 Powerful Tips for boosting Your RSS readership”

See: Ideas for Eye Catching Titles

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For the Daily Blog Tips writing project, I wrote an article - how to increase RSS Readership

It was hard to choose 3 articles, but these where 3 which stood out

Absolute Guide To Losing Readers - how not to blog and write. Have been guilty myself of some of these problems. Looks a promising blog

How To make your post more attractive using photos. - Photos can definitely help. This is a well thought out tutorial on how to incorporate photos onto your blog. One cautionary note, sometimes it is possible to overdo the photos.

How to Write Scannable Content by Daniel at Daily blog Tips. Simple but effective advice. Getting the right amount of white space is crucial for any blog.

• Daily Blog Tips writing contest 

(This post is part of Blogging Tips - Group Writing Project)

When I first began blogging, I didn’t give much priority to RSS readership (partly because I didn’t know what it was :)) but now, increasing RSS readership is one of the main goals for my different blogs. These are some methods that have worked for me; I’ve placed them in a rough order of usefulness. None of them are quick and easy; for them to be effective it is also essential to be able to write good content. If you would like to suggest other methods please add in comments.
Guest Blogging

Probably the most effective way to increase RSS readership is to write guest posts for well established blogs. Recently, I wrote an article for Pick the Brain - 6 characteristics of happiness. With 11,000 subscribers you do get a good return in terms of traffic and boost to RSS subscribers. It is hard work because the articles need to be of a high quality. Also don’t just write 1 guest blog, if you keep guest blogging it creates a cumulative effect and you will become better known within the blogosphere. This personal branding is quite important. - If you keep appearing on top blogs people will want to subscribe to your own. Another benefit of guest blogging is that the article will often rank highly in google, I now get a steady stream of traffic from old guest posts. Therefore, there is a cumulative effect from guest blogging, the more you do it the more powerful it becomes. Zen Habits is an example of a blog which made extraordinary growth in RSS readership through guest blogging.

Commenting on blogs

Commenting on blogs is a slow but steady way to increase your readership. When leaving a comment I try to say something worthwhile because this will make people want to find out more about the commentor. If you just leave ‘nice post’ it is hardly suggests enticing content on your own blog. A good question is whether to leave your URL on a comment. I’m often in two minds about this. For blogs where I regularly comment I don’t put a signature as it might start to irritate people. However, for new blogs, I do often leave a signature or even link to relevant blog post -it helps to create a higher click through rate. Traffic from comments may be low, but the traffic is highly targeted and these are the most likely people to subscribe.

Tips for Commenting

1. Choose Popular and / or relevant blogs and try and get in early.
2. Use Google Blog Search for your keywords, this helps find new blogs. (I often search ‘Economics’ on google blog search for my economic blog.)
3. Say something useful

Continue reading →

Just a quick suggestion to enter Daniel’s Daily Blog Tips writing project.

The subject this time is about writing a tutorial. The topic can be on any theme but should concentrate on giving useful advice. I will write a tutorial for writing on here soon.

• Daily Blog Tips - Writing Project 

There is also a first prize of $300, but the real benefits of writing project is the scope for gaining new RSS readers and finding new blogs.

I began this blog last March, it was initially a blog about writing. But, there seemed a natural connection to blog about blogging. Therefore, I spent quite a lot of time blogging about latest trends in blogging, commenting on other blogs, getting links e.t.c. I did everything a good blogger should do. But, for the effort it seemed to give little reward in terms of traffic and earnings. Therefore, I decided to reorient the blog towards a more specific blog of writing / productivity and internet marketing.

These are some of the reasons Blogging about Blogging is not so easy.

Perhaps the most competitive Niche on the Internet.

I think the blog about blogging is one of the most common types of blogs. It is natural that bloggers should want to blog about what they do, but the result is that there are many blogs saying quite similar things. Therefore, there is competition for traffic, readers and advertising.

Low Click Through Rates

In my experience there is little money to be made from Blogging about blogging, especially if you rely on popular programmes like Google Adsense. Of course people like John Chow show that it is possible to do very well; but, his blog is unique and distinctive. Personally, I have found a much better return from blogging on other subjects like Economics, Cycling, Self Improvement and Mortgages. These blogs are related to products so advertisers are willing to pay more. Also, there is less competition from other bloggers, it seems easier to break into the niche. In terms of hourly pay blogging about blogging is by far the worst. Interesting Problogger, Darren Rowse suggests that his earnings are higher from blogs about digital photography rather than Problogger. Continue reading →

1. Good Content. Create a good quality website, with useful content and simple design. A basic idea but sometimes companies think about SEO before having anything good to link about. Writing articles will help. Generally these will benefit from being clear and easy to read rather than dense and complex. - Writing Tips
2. Be patient. In the first 6-12 months you shouldn’t expect too much traffic. Your site will be sandboxed. This means it takes at least 6 months to start getting good results from Google. It also takes time to build up RSS subscribers, the first 100 is always the most difficult.
3. Offer Something Unique. The internet is highly competitive. Try to offer something unique and interesting.
4. Identify Best Keywords to Use For example if your website is about Mortgages it is virtually impossible to compete on this keyword because there is too much competition. If you choose much more targeted keywords you have a much better chance for forcing your way into the search engine results. (SERPs) Examples for mortgages could be

• “Guide to self Certification mortgages”
• ”Free guide to UK mortgages” (people are always searching for free things)

5. Use Local Searches If your website has a geographical basis this is a good way to get niche results. If your site is based in the UK then remember to make the UK prominent in the title of some keypages. This narrows down the search results. Even better is to focus on a certain city. E.g. A guide to mortgages in London.
6. Choose Good Titles. Think carefully about the titles of pages generally speaking 3 or 4 words are better than just 1. Giving a page a title “mortgages” will not give you any traffic from SERPS. “A Guide to mortgages UK” may. Programs like Wordtracker and Overture can be helpful for suggesting keywords. It is worth learning how to use these programs. It is also important to choose interesting titles that grab people’s attention
7. Building Links. It is important to be able to get a steady stream of inbound links. Ideally your website will be so good people will link without being asked, but to get the site going you need to give it a bit of self promotion.
8. Good Quality Links. The majority of these links should be from related sites. A website about mortgages will derive little if any benefits from getting links from a site about funny videos. Look for sites which are well respected. Consider writing guest posts. This is an excellent way of getting good quality links and traffic.
9. Ezine Articles If you write articles you can submit them to ezines like. Ezine Articles.com iSnare. These enable you to get links back to your site by adding your link in the resource box at the bottom. If the articles are informative they may get copied by other sites giving you even more links.
10. Contact Other Webmasters It may be appropriate to write to some webmasters to let them know about your site. If you feel you have something good to offer and they would actually derive benefit from your site then it is worth asking. Don’t offer spam or average content.
11. Make Contacts at Social bookmarking sites Stumbleupon is particularly easy for beginners to use.
    

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.

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.