Written on August 9th, 2007 at 12:08 am by Darren Rowse

Run an Advertising Audit on Your Blog

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Advertising 15 comments

Building-A-Better-Blog-2Todays task in the 31 Day project is to do an Advertising Audit on Your Blog. I know that not everyone doing this project is making money through advertising - be there are enough tasks from other days in the project that you can always go back and redo one of the others.

It’s easy to set up advertising on your blog and to spend time optimizing it but then let it run the same way without ever giving it much more thought.

Take some time out to think strategically about the design and placement of your ads.

  • What could you do differently?
  • Would using a different size ad make them perform better?
  • Would changing the colors have an impact?
  • Could a different position increase CTR?

Pick one aspect of your blog’s ads to change and watch what happens to your ads performance once you have. I did this last week and increased the ad unit size of my AdSense ads on this blog from 300 x 250 to 336 x 280 and saw a jump in CTR without losing much in the way of readability. It’d been a year since I tweaked those ad sizes - just think about how much money I’ve lost in that time!

A few basic and fairly general principles to keep in mind as you run your eye over the advertising on your blog.

  • Generally ads above ‘the fold’ do best (ie ads that can be seen without having to scroll)
  • Ads close to content tend to do better than ads in sidebars (see the AdSense heatmap for hints)
  • Ads above and below comments are other spots which can work quite well on a blog
  • Blogs generally have fairly loyal readers so to rotate the colors, size and position of your ads can be effective at combatting ad blindness
  • If you’re using ads like AdSense or Chitika try blending ads (ie making the colors similar or the same as colors on the rest of the blog)

I’ll finish by saying that every blog is different. The ads that perform best will vary a lot from blog to blog - the key is to test, track and then test and track some more!

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Written on August 8th, 2007 at 02:08 pm by Darren Rowse

How to Blog Successfully - 70 Reader Blogging Tips

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 28 comments

The 31 Day Blogging Project Rolls on (we’re at Day 8) and the last 3 days have seen another great bunch of 70 reader blog tips submitted. That brings the total of reader submitted tips to 151 with still 23 days in the project.

There is some seriously good reading in this lot on a huge variety of blogging related topics. Thanks to everyone for going to the effort of participating. Don’t forget that if you want to participate to follow the process outlined in the project’s introductory post. You can see the full list of all of my tips and reader tips at the central 31 Day Blogging Project page.

Here are the most recent batch of tips:

Keep track of future tips in this series by subscribing to enternetusers.

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Written on August 8th, 2007 at 12:08 pm by Darren Rowse

How to Increase Your Earnings when Your Traffic Falls

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 17 comments

Two good posts leapt from my RSS feed at me this morning that I think complement one another quite well.

Wendy writes - How I Grew My Blogging Profits While My Traffic Numbers Went Down and identifies 6 key lessons:

  1. I have truly learned the value of a targeted visitor.
  2. I have never been more grateful for the power of networking.
  3. There’s nothing more discouraging than your first year of trying to make money online.
  4. The Long Tail is your secret to success.
  5. It takes a hell of a lot of people skills to make money on the internet from home.
  6. There is no one-size-fits-all formula for internet marketing success.

Maki writes - How to Make More Money with Your Websites (without Getting More Traffic) and suggests five main ways:

  1. Make an Effort to Use Affiliate Links Regularly
  2. Develop and Display a List of Recommended Websites/Products
  3. Focus on Conversion: Optimize your Existing Ad Placement
  4. Diversify Your Income: Try New Monetization Tactics
  5. Leverage Your Blog to Promote Your Services or Business

I think that between them Maki and Wendy have put together some very worthwhile principles. Neither of them are saying that less traffic is necessarily a good thing - but it need not mean less money. In fact I’ve experienced the same thing of late on one of my blogs which has had a seasonal slump in traffic. The decreased traffic did mean a slow down in income but inspired me to do some tweaking of the advertising on it’s main pages - the result is higher conversion of the ads (stay tuned for more on ad optimization in tomorrow’s task for the 31 Day Challenge).

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Written on August 8th, 2007 at 12:08 am by Darren Rowse

Comment on a Blog that you’ve never Commented on Before

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Miscellaneous Blog Tips, Blog Promotion 71 comments

Building-A-Better-Blog-2Today your task in the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog Project is as simple as they come. In fact it’s a tip that gets included in almost every post ever written on how to grow a blog’s traffic - comment on a blog that you’ve never commented on before.

Sometimes as bloggers it is easy to get in a rut both in your writing and in your reading of others blogs.

Go on a blog hunt today to see how many new blogs you can find in your niche. Add to the conversations on these blogs as you surf by adding useful comments and add to your feed reader with their RSS feeds so you can keep following them.

While this tip is another of those tips that we might classify as pretty basic and not that spectacular - many many successful blogs have been built on the back of it.

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Written on August 7th, 2007 at 10:08 pm by Darren Rowse

Technorati Top 100 - How Many Times Do they Hit the Digg Front Page?

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 9 comments

Glen just wrote me an email to let me know about a post that he just published that researched how many times the Top 100 blogs at Technorati hit the Digg home page.

There’s a definite correlation there - particularly among the very top five blogs who make it to Digg’s home page 3600 times (that’s 45% of the total 8000 times that the top 100 blogs hit the home page).

Check out Glen’s full post here.

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Written on August 7th, 2007 at 08:08 pm by Darren Rowse

13 Blog Jobs Up for Grabs

enternetusers Site News 7 comments

Looking for a Blogging Job?

Check out the latest blogs on the enternetusers Job Boards where there have been 13 new blog jobs advertised since the beginning of the month just 7 days ago.

Here’s what’s on offer:

Leadership Blogger - Blogging and Web Dev Bloggers - Celebrity Diet/Exercise Blogger - Travel Bloggers, Rome, London and Sydney - Avril Lavigne Blogger - Christina Aguilera Blogger - Ugly Betty Blogger - Comedy TV Blogger - Entertainment Gossip Girl - SEO/Social Media Blogger - Canadian City Bloggers - Golf Bloggers - Travel Bloggers

Looking to Hire a Blogger?

For just $50 USD your job will be seen by thousands of bloggers looking for work over the next 30 days. Most of those advertising on our boards report finding high quality bloggers within days of posting their ads. Payment is via PayPal and the signup process is quick and easy. Post your ad now.

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Written on August 7th, 2007 at 09:08 am by Darren Rowse

8 Things to do on your Blog when you’re Sick

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 44 comments

SickI’ve been asked numerous times blog bloggers what to do with a blog on a day that they’re sick. As I woke up with a pounding head and numerous other flu ailments I thought today might be a relevant day to answer the question:

  • Ask a Question - one of the simplest types of posts to write is the ‘reader question’ post.
  • Run a Poll - a variation on the ‘question post’.
  • Update and Repost an Old Post - there’s gold in those archives. Updating and/or reposting your archives is not only a good way to get a new post up but it can help readers who are new to your blog to find useful content.
  • Point back to something in your archives - similarly, a post that points back to your archives to ‘classic posts’ can be useful to readers. I see a lot of blogs that do this by posting links to what was on their blog 1 year ago. The key is to point back to useful/timeless posts. Alternatively write a compilation post of posts you’ve written all on a similar theme.
  • Guest Posts - if you have a friend or fellow blogger who is able to quickly stand in for you a guest post can be worth doing. This is particularly useful if you are sick for an extended period of time.
  • Raid your ‘reserve posts’ - many bloggers have a little stash of posts that they write in advance for those occasions when blogging isn’t possible (when you’re sick, away or have other priorities). Think ahead and have a few posts that you can quickly hit publish on and your blog will continue to tick over.
  • Write a ‘what do do with your blog when you’re sick’ post - I guess that’s what this post is…. (cough… sneeze…. sniffle). But seriously - sometimes a quick ‘list post’ on a topic that is relevant to your blog can actually be a worthwhile thing to do.
  • Take a Day off Posting - don’t just throw up something for the sake of it. If you’re sick, your body is telling you to have a break so if you don’t have the energy to do one of the above - take the day off. There’s not really any reason for telling your readers about it. As bloggers we tend to think of ourselves as more important and central in the lives of our readers than we really are. Most won’t even notice if you don’t post for a day or two. Make your priority getting well and you’ll do your blog more good in the long run than posting something off topic or of a low quality.

I’m off to bed. Lucky I’ve got another post or two written from yesterday to put up over the next 24 hours! (see #6)

PS: What do you do with your blog on sick days? (#1)

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Written on August 7th, 2007 at 12:08 am by Darren Rowse

Plan Your Next Week’s Posting Schedule

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Writing Content 71 comments

Building-A-Better-Blog-2Your task today in the 31 Day Project is to plan out a posting schedule for the next week of your blog.

Are You a Planner or an Impulsive Blogger?

When I first started blogging my posting style was incredibly impulsive. I would sit down at my computer with no idea what I was about to blog about on any given day and would just start writing.

While this style of blogging was fun and worked well in the early days - I found that it had some ‘costs’ associated with it:

  • Sporadic Posting Frequency - some days when I sat down to write - nothing came. On these days I would quite often not post anything.
  • Post Quality Varied - on days when I was on fire I could pump out a great quality post - while on other days when I was struggling I would often feel the pressure to post something - so would end up posting rubbishy posts.
  • Productivity Decreased - posting this way meant that I was spending more time blogging for less results. It took me away from other activities that I wanted to spend time on.
  • Lack of Momentum - from day to day posts were not really relating to each other. I found readers complaining that I was all over the place.

After blogging in this impulsive style for quite some time I realized that I needed to make a number of changes. One of these changes was to spend more time planning the coming week of blogging.

It actually happened quite by accident and through frustrating circumstances. Let me tell you a quick story:


How I became a Blogger that Planned

It all happened one morning when i sat down at my trusty ibook laptop (this is a few years back now) ready to blog. I opened the computer expecting to see the screen light up only to find myself with a flickering screen. I’d never seen anything like this before. The flickering continued for a few seconds and then made a little ‘pop’ sound before going black.

Hmmmm - not good.

The long and short of it was that my computer had died and when I took it in for repairs I was told that it would take 2 weeks to get the part needed to repair it and that they had no loan machines to keep me going in the mean time.

So what’s a blogger (who had recently gone full time) to do when he didn’t have a computer?

We were newly married and our credit cards were overloaded after our honeymoon so hiring a computer was out of the question - so I did the next best option - used my local libraries free net connections. I say libraries and not library because there was a limit of 45 minutes per day at my local library and so I spent 45 minutes in three different libraries each day during those two weeks.

My blogging time went from 8-10 hours a day to 2 hours and 15 minutes per day (less on the days that one of the libraries was closed).

On the first day that I did this I was so stressed. How could I possibly fit so much work into such a short period of time? I went home that night telling my wife that it just wasn’t possible and that my fledgling little business was over (I’m a bit of a drama queen). Here response was:

‘You need to blog smarter’.

I realized at that point that my blogging style was not smart or efficient and that I needed to develop a new system.

By the end of those two weeks I was pumping out more posts per week than I previously had - I was spending less time in front of the computer but increased output. The main reason that this happened was that I learned the power of planning my posts.

Each day before hitting the library circuit I sat down and mapped out what I would post that day. I’d brainstorm topics, titles and main points and then list them in order of priority for each blog. Then when I sat down at the computer to blog I was ready to go. The posts were half written because I had a topic, title and outline - blogging was almost like joining the dots.

My Current PrePosting WorkFlow

Since this time I’ve taken planning to a new level. I don’t sit down each day to do it - but generally do it on a weekly basis on Monday mornings (while most of the rest of the world are still having a weekend - one of the advantages of being in Australia). Here’s my process:

  1. I start by brainstorming topics (generally on a text file which sits on my desktop)
  2. With a list of topics I’ll then pick one to develop a little further (I open up a new text document for each post and save them to a ‘posts in progress’ folder on my desktop)
  3. I start by tweaking the topic into a post title (this sometimes change later as I actually write).
  4. Next I jot down a sentence that describes the post that I want to write - so that later when I come to write it I know what I meant by the title. This sentence often gets used as the first sentence of the actual post.
  5. I then will quickly brainstorm a few of the main points that I want to make in the post. I don’t take a lot of time on this as I find that most of the main points will come during the writing process - however if I have a few obvious points already in mind I capture them now
  6. I then quickly think back to previous posts that I might have written on similar topics. This is useful because it helps to develop your post but also is useful for interlinking posts
  7. Then I select another of the posts developed in step #1 and then go through steps #2 - 6 again with each one in turn.
  8. Once I’ve got enough post ideas developed for the week ahead I’ll then think about what order I want to post them in and map out a posting schedule for the week ahead.

I generally do this process on a blog by blog basis - so I’ll start with enternetusers and try to come up with at least 7 posts for the week and then move onto Digital Photography School and then come up with 5 posts for the week (I only really post there on weekdays).

Of course my weekly blogging doesn’t always stick to what i plan on a Monday. I add to planned posts with news related posts and link posts that are inspired by what others are writing - but having the schedule is a great basis and takes a lot of the stress out of my week.

Since moving to this type of process I’ve found post frequency and quality is more consistent, productivity is up and I’m able to build more momentum on my blogs.

Your Homework Today is to Plan Your Next Week’s Blogging

So that’s my process - you don’t have to follow it exactly, feel free to adapt it to your own style and workflow but take it and spend a little time today mapping out the posts that you’ll write in the coming week on your blog.

Once you’ve done it - tell us in comments below how you found the process, how you adapted it and what other ideas you might have on being a productive blogger.

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Written on August 6th, 2007 at 12:08 am by Darren Rowse

Email an Old Timer Reader

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Miscellaneous Blog Tips 22 comments

Building-A-Better-Blog-2Today your task in the 31 Day Project is a fairly simple one - it’s to Email one (or more if you have time) one of your ‘old timer’ readers.

Do you have readers that have been reading your blog since the ‘early days’ of your blogging? You know the ones, they’ve been commenting and contributing away to the point where they’ve almost become part of a the scenery on your blog.

These readers play a big part in making your blog what it is. Their comments are actually content that is being added to your blog, their involvement brings a sense of community and makes it a more vibrant place and their input adds to the knowledge base of your blog.

It’s not just new readers that you should be emailing a welcome email - but old ones too.

Shooting these readers a quick email thanking them for sticking with you and for adding value to your blog is something that I’m sure would create a great impression and build the loyalty even further.

PS: don’t have any ‘old timer’ readers because your blog is too new? Pick one of the other tasks from the last 5 days (they are listed at the bottom of this post) to repeat today.

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Written on August 5th, 2007 at 07:08 pm by Darren Rowse

New AdSense Units Spotted

Adsense 30 comments

Today I’ve had a few emails from people spotting new types of AdSense ads with links not only in the ad but under the ad also.

Here’s one from Paul:

Inlineadlinkik0-3

Here’s one (via Jacob) - click to enlarge:

Adtw4

Having chatted to a few people who’ve spotted them on their blogs they seem to be normal ad units combined with ad link units.

Some readers have also reported seeing ad units with ’show more’ underneath the ads instead of the topics as you see above.

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