Written on April 20th, 2005 at 03:04 am by Darren Rowse

Using Photos in your Posts

Blog Design 10 comments

Arieanna asks her readers if they are influenced by pictures in posts? She writes:

‘I notice quite often that I scan blog posts quite quickly to pick up on one of two things: keywords in the title or pictures. One or the other has to catch my eye to stop my scroll down the page.’

I’m a big believer in catching the attention of readers by whatever means is needed - picture, keyword, intriguing title, promise of free gifts (ok - not that one - yet).

I got to look at some Eyetools results for one of my blogs recently and was intrigued to see how pictures inside a longer article can actually help to draw readers eyes down the page. Very useful strategy.

It’s all part of making your blog scannable - drawing your reader in - grabbing their attention.

Do you use photos in posts? What’s your strategy? Do you think it works?

PS - why did I pick the above photo for this post? It was the first one I found in iPhoto - of a few of my mates who watch me blog all day.

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Written on April 19th, 2005 at 11:04 pm by Darren Rowse

Welcoming Dutch and German Readers

enternetusers Site News 10 comments

I think I might need to learn Dutch and German because some days I think this site is read (and linked to) by more bloggers speaking those languages than English.

It is actually a wonderful thing about blogging - forging relationships with people on the other side of the globe - now if only I knew what they were saying about me!

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Written on April 19th, 2005 at 01:04 pm by Darren Rowse

Gizmodo Gets a New Editor

Pro Blogging News 0 comments

Megablog - Gizmodo just added another editor to support the ’senior’ editor - Joel Johnson.

mmmm - what I’d give for an editor/co-writer! One day.

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Written on April 19th, 2005 at 11:04 am by Darren Rowse

Adsense Smart Pricing Explained

Adsense 14 comments

A few days ago I attempted to explain Adsense Ad Click Value Variations (or why sometimes clicks are worth a lot and other times they are not). A number of readers emailed or instant messaged to say that I’d forgotten to mention ‘Smart Pricing’ which many believe is another factor that impacts Adsense click values.

Smart Pricing is an attempt by Google to give Advertisers value for money and to guard against click fraud. One of the dangers of Adsense is that publishers set up temporary, trashy and/or un-authoritative pages of content on topics that they know attract high paying ads. Clicks on such pages (whether fraudulent or not) are not really good value for advertisers.

Smart Pricing sets a click value for each ad clicked based upon a variety of factors - none of which have been made public. There has been much speculation by publishers about what these factors might include - guesses as to what is included that I’ve seen in forums include:

• site relevance (ie is the whole site dedicated to a topic or just one page?)
• Impressions (is the site well trafficked - which could indicated authority)
• site size
• Page Rank (another indicator of authority)
• Age of site (some believe that click values go up over time once Google determines whether your site is in it for the long haul)
• Inbound Link Relevancy (if lots of other sites link to you with the keywords relevant to your content - and the ads)
• CTR

These factors are educated guesses - Google itself gives a little away in its statement announcing Smart Pricing to advertisers back in April 2004.

‘We’re introducing automatic price adjustments for certain clicks you get from the Google Network. Google’s smart pricing model has always provided better placement for better performing ads, and reduced the cost of a click to the least amount possible to stay above your competitor’s ad. And now, with no change in how you bid, Google may reduce the cost for a click if that better reflects the value it brings to advertisers like you.

How smart pricing works

We are constantly analyzing data across our network, and if our data shows that a click is less likely to turn into business results (e.g. online sale, registration, phone call, newsletter sign-up), we may reduce the price you pay for that click. You may notice a reduction in the cost of clicks from content sites.

We take into account many factors such as what keywords or concepts triggered the ad, as well as the type of site on which the ad was served. For example, a click on an ad for digital cameras on a web page about photography tips may be worth less than a click on the same ad appearing next to a review of digital cameras.

Google saves you time and hassle by estimating the value of clicks and adjusting prices on an ongoing basis. With improved smart pricing, you should automatically get greater value for clicks from ad impressions across our network, all with no change in how you bid.

This statement indicates that site relevancy is definitely a factor which gives even more reason to develop niche blogs rather than general ones. I noticed the power of this when I first started niche blogging - my click values over time went up because ads were appearing on a site totally dedicated to the topic of each post rather than one page showing ads on one topic and another ads on another topic.

So what is the take home advice for bloggers using Adsense? Mine would simply to be aware of Smart Pricing and keep on developing quality blogs with quality content on niche topics. All of the hints that Google have given us about Smart Pricing indicate that they will only charge advertisers the higher click values when they come from relevant, quality sites - which gives a pretty good indication to me as to what type of blog I should be creating.

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Written on April 19th, 2005 at 10:04 am by Darren Rowse

Movable Type 3.16 Released

Blogging Tools and Services 0 comments

Six Apart has just released an upgrade to Movable Type - Movable Type 3.16.

The upgrade includes:

• Fixed email notifications for entries and moderated comments which were broken for some users in the last release

• Fixed several bugs affecting customers running Movable Type on Windows servers including a plugin API bug that caused broken links to plugin configuration screens

• Fixed a bug with AltTemplatePath that now allows you to easily and completely customize your MT administrative interface

• Made significant improvements to the posting interfaces including numerous bug fixes with QuickPost and hierarchical display of categories

• Implemented better error checking and data validation throughout the program leading to fewer dead-ends and cryptic error messages

• Fixed several issues with dynamic publishing

• Includes a new open-source version of the ‘nofollow’ plugin exhibiting many best practices of plugin development. If you have the previous version installed, it’s preferable to remove it. See the post on Pronet for more on this.

Read more at Movable Type 3.16 released

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Written on April 19th, 2005 at 09:04 am by Darren Rowse

Which Blogging Platform is Best?

Blogging Tools and Services 29 comments

Dave (a enternetusers reader) asks:

I am trying to decide what software to use for a new blog. I have a little experience with blogger, but have looked a lot at Wordpress and Moveable Type. But, I sure would appreciate what you think are the pros and cons and even a recommendation on the various blogging formats.

I thought I’d open it up for some discussion. What tool do you recommend and why?

Technorati Tags: Blogging

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Written on April 19th, 2005 at 03:04 am by Darren Rowse

One Blog Many Categories or Many Blogs?

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 38 comments

William (a reader of enternetusers) asks:

‘I have so many diverse hobbies and interests that I want to start a blog about, plus I’d also like to make some $ through AdSense & the likes…. Am I better off having one blog site with multiple categories or multiple blog sites highlighting specific interests?’

Great question William and one that I think more enternetuserss would do well to think through.

One of the common ways that many bloggers start out in their entrepreneurial blogging is through a personal and very general blog that covers many topics of interest. It makes sense in many ways - it’s simpler to have it all in one place, to manage one set of statistics, one design, one set of readers etc. Most blogging platforms seem pretty well set up for this as they allow categories to be created for each topic being covered.

Whilst it might seem easier to manage one blog on many topics it doesn’t always make good business sense to do so.

After a year of blogging in this way myself I began to notice a number of things that made me consider a new approach:

• Some readers became disillusioned with the blog - My blog had four main themes and different readers resonated differently with each one. A few readers shared my diverse interests in all four areas, but most came to my blog to read about one of the (or at the most a couple of) topics. A number of regular loyal readers became disillusioned with my eclectic approach to blogging and gave up coming.
• I felt guilty about the variety of topics - I’m a pretty impulsive guy who tends to get into something for a while in a big way and then move onto something else. As a result my personal/general blog would go through identifiable stages. For a while the posting would focus upon the topic of politics, then there would be a burst of writing on the topic of blogging, then there would be a few weeks of reflections on spirituality etc. Knowing that my readers were disillusioned by this approach I began to feel more and more guilty about my impulsive bursts of activity on topics. As a result I’d o out of my way to post on things just to keep some balance, even if I didn’t really want to write about certain things.

In the end it all got a little too much for me to bare and I decided to splinter off my blogs into niche topics. Not only did this solve my problem of disillusioned readers and a confused and guilty me (it was quite a relief) it made good business sense to focus upon niches or specialty blogs rather than a big general meta-blog.

Whilst there are blogs out there that successful on a business level with a general or eclectic range of topics the majority of profitable blogs that I’ve observed have a defined niche that they are targeting.

The success of this approach can be explained on many levels:

• Loyal Readers - Niche blogs develop a loyal readership who bookmark or follow the blog via RSS because they know what they will get there.
• Specialist Authors - Authors of these blogs have the freedom to really focus upon a topic and don’t feel guilty about doing so. This can lead to increased quality and depth of articles.
• Build Credibility and Profile - Blogging on one topic alone can build your profile and perceived expertise on a topic or in an industry.
• Good for contextual Advertising - Ad programs like Adsense seem to work better on sites that are tightly focused. You’ll get better targeted ads and many believe will attract higher click values.
• Good for Search Engine Optimization - Search Engines like sites that are focused on one topic, that have multiple pages on the one theme and that are integrated sites.
• More posts - I find that I post more if I have 10 blogs on 10 topics rather than 1 blog on 10 topics. There is only so much you can write on a blog each day without overwhelming your readership. On my old general blog I tended to post a maximum of 7 or 8 times per day - if I did any more than this readers couldn’t keep up even though I had plenty more to say. Now I have 20 blogs - I post less on each one (most get one or two posts per day) but overall am adding more content/pages than I used to. The more posts you are able to add the bigger your sites are and the more potential entry points you have for readers from Search Engines.
• Attract Advertisers - Niche blogs are usually more attrActive to private advertisers or sponsors who are looking for content to place their ads on that is relevant to their product or service.

My approach to blogging has been along the lines of Niches for the past 18 months.

Since I moved to this approach I’ve gone from 1 blog with 1000 pages that had around 900 daily visitors and earned just a few dollars per day to having 20 or so blogs with over 11,000 pages with 25,000 daily visitors that earns a few hundred dollars per day.

Of course there are other factors that have led to this growth - but if I had to narrow it down to one factor it would be the niche blogging as a key. - I hope that answers your question William.

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Written on April 18th, 2005 at 09:04 pm by Darren Rowse

DIY Blog Advertising

Advertising 7 comments

Duncan has a great post on DIY Blog Advertising which is well worth the read for anyone who is contemplating finding advertisers for the blogs. In it Duncan cuts through some of the terminology and gives some valuable tips (some of which I’d known a few months ago).

I particularly like Duncan’s advice on setting the price for your advertising:

‘Setting a charge for your advertising is often the hardest part of the process. Everone thinks their blogs is worth millions, and I can tell you that some try to charge that way. There is, however I fine line between charging a premium amount and an amount that it too low.

Last year I was approached by an advertiser who wanted to sponsor the Blog Herald and wanted a whole lot of advertising in return. Massive banners 728×90 banners, exclusive run of site the whole thing. I put forward an offer and I was basically laughed at it. The response was that they could get $1 CPM elsewhere for a similar deal and why would should they pay more here, this despite them being the ones approaching me. Suffice to say it was an interesting lesson, both in that advertising wasn’t worth as much as I’d expected (particularly when you’re talking exclusive rights) and that advertisers can be fickle.’

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Blog Advertising

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Written on April 18th, 2005 at 05:04 pm by Darren Rowse

Blogging for Dollars Seminar - Seeking Expressions of Interest

Pro Blogging News 6 comments

Recently I’ve met a number of Melbourne Bloggers who are interested in learning how to make a living from their blogging. I’m excited about this as it’d be nice to have a few local blogging buddies to get together with to share ideas - work together on projects and become friends with.

Most of those who want to get into Entrepreneurial Blogging are personal bloggers or are just starting out with adding Adsense or affiliate programs to their blogs and have been asking for tips and advice.

Rather than meeting each of them one on one or chatting via Instant Messenger I’m toying with the idea of running an introductory evening seminar into Entrepreneurial Blogging - (Blogging for Dollars).

This night would probably run for 2.5 - 3 hours (7pm - 9.30pm for instance) and it would be in a central location (probably in inner northern suburbs).

I would charge a small amount per person to attend to cover my preparation time. The amount of $50(ish) is in my mind for some reason - does that sound reasonable? I believe the content would be worth more than this in a business setting but want to make it accessible to the blogger just starting out who isn’t making much from their blogs yet.

The evening would be for those who already have an understanding of blogging (ie I wouldn’t be explaining the basics of ‘what is a blog’, ‘how do I post a post’ etc) but who are at the beginning of their journey of making money from their blogs.

Topics Covered Would include :

• Niche Blogging
• How to choose a profitable topic for my blog
• Income streams - what are the options (from affiliate programs, to advertising to other forms of income)
• Introduction to Adsense (with my top ten tips for optimizing your Adsense ads)
• Finding Readers - techniques to increase the readership of your blog (including some basic Search Engine Optimization Tips).
• Common Mistakes of Entrepreneurial Bloggers
• Finding Content
• Tools for enternetuserss - a description of my workflow and some of the tools that the Pros are using.

There would of course be time for questions and answers and I’d attempt to use as many examples of different approaches to ProBlogging as possible. In many ways it would be a live, collated and condensed version of this blog. The blogging community in Melbourne isn’t huge so I’m thinking it would be a reasonably intimate gathering where everyone would get a chance to participate.

Are you interested in attending? I’m seeking expressions of interest at this point to gauge whether it is something worth working on - so if you’re in Melbourne (or are willing to come here for it) leave a comment or shoot me an email to express your interest.

If you are not in Melbourne and you would like to participate there are two options for being involved:

• you could fly my to where you are for your own mini seminar with some of your blogging friends (ok I’m dreaming here - but get enough mates together and its possible)
• if enough of you are interested I could record the session and offer it as a downloadable podcast/teleseminar type product. Again I’d be hoping to keep the cost down to make it accessible for as many as possible.

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Written on April 18th, 2005 at 10:04 am by Darren Rowse

Avoiding Blog Burnout - Advanced Posting and Additional Authors

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 14 comments

Duncan has posted on the topic of How to avoid blog burnout in one easy lesson where he suggest taking a break is a good way to sustain your blogging over a longer period of time. In particular he writes that taking a weekend off (or at least having a lighter weekend) might be a way to keep your blogging fire burning.

I agree with Duncan in this - I am a big believer in a day off - in theory anyway.

I remember reading a study into productivity a few years ago in which researchers looked at a variety of different cultures work patterns in order to discover what the most productive people’s work practices were. A number of factors emerged from the study - but the one that rings in my mind years later is that they found the most productive cultural groups were those that worked hard for 6 days per week and rested for one. The day off was devoted to rest, family, relaxation and rejuvination of body, mind and spirit.

I think this is an important approach for any worker - bloggers are no exception. Without taking a break blog boredom and writers block can easily set in.

The challenge for those of us making a living from blogs is that the medium is a 7 day per week, 365 day per year venture. Whilst traffic does tend to go down on weekends (as less people are at work surfing the net when they should be working) the weekend is actually an opportunity for traffic and earnings like any other day and regular posting on the weekends is one way to ensure the traffic keeps coming in.

So what is a Pro Blogger to do?

• Take a break each weekend, get a life and forget about the money?
• Work through the weekend and run the risk of burning out in the hope of good earnings?

Either of these approaches would be a valid option but neither meet both objectives of rest and maximizing profits.

What other options might there be?
Advanced Posting - As Duncan points out in his post - one of the strategies that I use is ‘Advanced Posting’ whereby I write a number of posts in advance of when I want them to appear and using Word Press’s ‘Edit timestamp’ option I set the time for when I wish the post to appear and Word Press handles the rest and posts them at the appointed time. In this way I simply do a few extra posts on Friday so that the following days I’m not under any pressure to have to write.

Unfortunately Advanced Postings is only really an option on certain types of blogs. I can get away with it here on enternetusers because many of the posts I write here are of a ‘tips’ or ‘advice’ nature - but on blogs like my Pope Blog which relies on the latest breaking news there is no way of knowing what the news will be in advance.

Group Blogging - Perhaps the other way around this is to add more authors to your blog/s. Adding another blogger is a pretty obvious way to not only keep up with the latest news and keep fresh content appearing 7 days a week. A simple roster would ensure a blogger is ‘on duty’ and watching the news on any given day. Of course having additional authors brings its own challenges - but perhaps its a work around for the problem.

What’s your approach to weekends, holidays and finding the balance between work and rest?

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