Written on August 8th, 2005 at 05:08 pm by Darren Rowse

31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Day 8

31 Days to Building a Better Blog 4 comments

Today is day 8 of the 31 days to building a better blog project and I’m about to start posting a series of posts on Search Engine Optimization that I’ve been working on - hold on to your blogging instrument of choice - we’re about to go into overdrive!

Before I kick off the new series I want to highlight some great posts that were submitted by readers in the past 24 hours. Here’s what came in:

• Stuart has written a post about Writing for the Web with some practical tips to help with our blog writing
• Digital Doorway is asking people to respond to a Netiquette question - How should a blogger respond when they get a comment?
• Thom has written a post on Better Blogging with five suggestion to more successful blogging (tip 5 is my favorite)

Do you have a blog tip (big or small) to share? Don’t keep it to yourself - share the knowledge, write it up on your blog and let me know the URL and I’ll link up tomorrow so we can all learn from your experience. No tip is too small - we’re all on this journey together - we might as well give each other a leg up from time to time because as we do we all win.

Stay tuned for the SEO series.

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Written on August 8th, 2005 at 02:08 pm by Darren Rowse

Scoble - ‘Why I Blog’

Pro Blogging News 13 comments

Robert Scoble is back after a short break from blogging and has done some thinking about why he blogs. It’s a good read and shows that even top bloggers need to take some time out every now and again to rethink their blog’s direction:

‘See, a good blog is passionate and authoritative. Lately I’ve been going through the motions. Just blogging to keep blogging.

Over the past week I focused on rediscovering myself. What do I like to do? This is my blog. It better be fun. For me. Or else I’ll stop doing it.

So, I went back and made a mental list of why I do this….’

Robert’s reasons for blogging are an interesting read and range from that he likes to talk with smart people to getting things into the search engines. So why do you blog?

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Written on August 8th, 2005 at 11:08 am by Darren Rowse

Declaring War on Blogger Apathy

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Miscellaneous Blog Tips 39 comments

It’s time to talk about something that has the potential to KILL your blog….

Apathy

A blogger can have the best strategic plan in the world but if they have no motivation, passion or drive for their blogging it will almost always amount to nothing at all. One of the keys to the success I’ve managed to have as a enternetusers is that I’ve taken a long term approach to my blogging which calls for constant work over 2.5 years (so far).

Whilst there have been times where my spirit has been low and the drudgery of researching, writing, networking and dreaming has threatened to put a stop to what I do - I’ve continually pushed myself to find new and creative ways to beat down the blog killer of Apathy. I’ve seen other bloggers not been able to break through this and as a result their blogs today either don’t exist or have become something like the ghost towns of the Western Movie with breezes blowing around the tumbleweed of comment spam and out of date content.

So I’ve decided it’s time to declare war on Blog Apathy and want to share a number of the things that have helped me keep my motivation up in blogging. Feel free to add your own experience and tips in comments.

• Start a Series - it gets hard to constantly come up with new topics to blog about each day so why not pick a larger topic to break down over a week or so. I find that once I’ve got a topic to work on I often get the creative juices flowing - a series can fast track the process. The past few days have definitely lifted my own interest in enternetusers (not that it was too low) - simply because I’ve been in ’series mode’.

• Invite questions from your readers - get your readers involved in your blog by setting the agenda for you to write about over the next few weeks of your blogging. Once again this is about stimulating ideas for topics.

• Revisit old Posts - if your archives are anything like mine they are full of posts and articles that you’ve put hours of work into. Keep in mind that many of your newer readers would not have read your old posts and so from time to time it might be worth either reposting old posts, updating old posts or simply bouncing off old posts and continuing old streams of thought.

• Redesign - I always find a fresh coat of paint can really lift a room, a haircut can improve a mood and a blog redesign can get the creative juices flowing again. Tweak it, adapt it or completely redesign it - either way you might just inject a little more energy into something that’s grown tired and find that you’ve got more energy for your blogging.

• Write Posts Ahead of Time - this won’t help you now if you’re in apathy mode - but if you’re not and currently have some energy consider writing a few extra posts that are non time specific to keep for a rainy/apathetic day. When you’re inspired write more so that when you’re not you don’t have to.

• Keep an Idea Journal - this is similar to the previous point but just involves keeping a list of possible post ideas you could write on at a later uninspired point in time. It might include just titles of posts or even a few points that you could write about. I’m constantly jotting down ideas for posts or series and even new blogs all day everyday. Take your journal with you everywhere you go so that if inspiration strikes you can capture it.

• Develop a Posting Schedule - it’s amazing what you can produce if you give yourself a deadline. Whilst for some people the idea of schedules and plans might have the opposite effect - for many of us they help keep us going. My posting goal is 25-35 posts per day - knowing what I’m aiming for helps keep me on track. Whether you’ve got a goal of 2 daily posts, or 500 monthly posts some goals can help get your blogging into gear.

• Get a Guest Blogger - put a little new blood into your blog by inviting someone else to join you in posting either while you take a short break to rejuvenate or to blog alongside you. I’ve recently added a few bloggers to a handful of my blogs and have really enjoyed both the pressure that it’s taken off me but also the energy and fresh ideas that they’ve brought.

• Read other’s blogs - sometimes its easy to become so focused upon blogging that we forget to interact with other bloggers. I remember a few months ago realizing that I rarely really read other blogs any more (apart from those I scanned each day for useful information to blog about). Get back to basics and actually read other blogs - you might just find that in doing so you rediscover the reason you started your own blog in the first place. In addition to that you’ll probably find yourself stimulated to bounce off their blogs with your own.

• Interact with other bloggers - connected to the last point I also find it very useful to not only read the work of others but to converse with them. I regularly chat via instant messaging or phone with other bloggers - in doing so we encourage and inspire each other to break through the dry times. So leave a comment somewhere, start an IM conversation, send an email - talk to someone. Don’t let blogging become an insular lonely thing - rather take advantage of the relational aspects of blogging.

• Meme it Up - another way to get yourself a little more interested in and energised by your blog is to start some sort of Meme. Run a competition, start a blogging project, add a quiz or survey - do something fun, creative and interActive to get other bloggers involved in what you’re doing. To be honest this is why I started the 31 Days to Building a Better Blog project - seeing the wonderful response from readers has definitely lifted my blogging spirits this week.

• Subscribe to a new Source of Information - sometimes it’s easy to get into a rut when you feel like you’re just seeing the same sorts of information on your blogs topic over and over again. So subscribe to some new keywords on Google News Alerts or Topix RSS feeds or find some new blogs to follow. If you put fresh content and ideas into your head hopefully some fresh content will come out.

• Short Posts - if you don’t have much to say - don’t say much. Keep your posts short and to the point. Even if they don’t feel profound to you, just the act of posting something might loosen the blogging creativity within you. Short posts can actually be incredibly effective communication tools also so it might just add something special to your blog.

• New Stimuli - one of the best ways to get your creativity levels up is to expose yourself to new stuff. Buy a book, watch a movie, meet someone new, go for a walk, spend time with your family, listen to some music - get out of your normal daily rhythm and expose yourself to some new sights, sounds, tastes, touches and smells. Remember that what you put into your life has a direct baring on what comes out.

• Just Write - it’s amazing what comes when you just start writing sometimes. Some of my bests posts emerged out of really dry patches when I forced myself to sit and write. The first few paragraphs might end up being scrapped - but if you keep writing you’ll eventually hit gold.

• Get a Coach - I’ve talked a few times here recently about how I’ve found myself a business coach. Whilst the two of us don’t catch up heaps these days - every hour I spend with him is invaluable. He forces me to take a step back from what I do and look at the big picture, he keeps me accountable to the direction I’ve previously set, he asks the hard questions and he encourages me when I’m in a slump. The great thing about him is that he has a very limited understanding of blogging and sees things from quite a different perspective. So get a coach or a blogging partner (you can coach each other). You might consider paying someone to do it or just find another blogger/friend/business person/family member to fill the role. Give them permission to ask questions and give you a kick in the pants if you need it.

• Take a Break - as many people have said in the comments of previous posts in this series - taking a break is often just what a blogger needs. We all need a holiday from time to time so I suggest bloggers build into their yearly rhythm extended periods of non blogging as well as shorter ones on a weekly and even daily basis. I would suggest that if you’re taking a break that you set an end time and date for it - this is important for a couple of reasons, firstly it gives your readers a sense of where you are and when you’ll be back (I find it frustrating as a reader when a blogger disappears for an extended period without warning) and secondly it puts a boundary at the end of you break which will help you to start up again.

I’m sure between us we can come up with many other strategies for breaking the back of blog apathy - I’m interested to hear the suggestions and experiences of others in comments below.

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Written on August 8th, 2005 at 09:08 am by Darren Rowse

ProBlogging - Multi Occupational Disorder

Pro Blogging News 7 comments

Jeremy Wright writes a piece over at the Wealthy Blogger about actually having multiple jobs within one job as a enternetusers - something I was only speaking to a friend about yesterday. He writes:

‘My real secret is that my dream job isn’t just one job. Currently, I hold the following “positions” at “Jeremy Wright, Inc.”:

1. Blogger
2. Consultant
3. Author
4. Courseware developer
5. Speaker / Trainer
6. Writer

And I do these in areas such as time management, personal finance, blogging, communications, marketing and technology.’

I’d add to the list of jobs that I’m increasingly finding myself doing things like:

• Accounting/Bookkeeping
• Marketing
• Sales
• Public Relations

In a sense being a sole trader blogger is like any other small business where you end up doing any and every aspect of your business. At times this can be incredibly stretching - at other times its tempting to ignore the parts you don’t naturally gravitate towards - but overall I’m finding it to be a rich experience and one that I hope is adding to what I have to offer in future ventures (blogging and otherwise).

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Written on August 7th, 2005 at 11:08 pm by Darren Rowse

31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Day 7

31 Days to Building a Better Blog 5 comments

We’re a week into the 31 days to building a better blog project and I’m pleased to say that despite being a bit off color I’ve learnt a thing or two about blogging this month already. I’m looking forward to a continued group learning experience this coming week.

In the past 24 hours a number of people have submitted tips and posts for us to interact with. Here they are:

• William Stewart writes a post giving Tips for a Successful Blog
• The PC Doctor writes a blog tip titled - Make sure you have enough to say
• Kevin pointed me to an article titled Exit Adsense which tells of one blogger’s decision to stop using Adsense
• Syntagma writes a post about asking are there three blogospheres

Keep writing your blog tips and related articles and let me know of their URLS. Also stay tuned tomorrow for another series of posts that will hopefully help you (and me) build a better blog.

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Written on August 7th, 2005 at 01:08 pm by Darren Rowse

On Buying Text Link Ads

Search Engine Optimization 15 comments

Stephan Spencer has posted a good piece on buying text links to help promote your blog and to build it’s ranking in Search Engines - he writes:

‘The business of text link ad buying has matured, and it’s on the up-and-up. We’re not talking about “buying PageRank”… what we’re talking about is a totally legitimate business practice of buying text ads where you choose your hyperlinked words carefully based on keyword research and your advertisement appears on a reputable, relevant website. And of course, it links directly to your website, sans click tracking, so the ’search engine juice’ flows unhindered.’

Read more of this post here.

I have personally not bought text ad links on others sites and have relied upon a more natural approach to building search engine ranking - however I’m not adverse to the strategy. In fact these days with the clutter of the web growing it may be one of the best ways to get your blog ranking higher in Google and Yahoo.

I’d give a few of words of caution though before we all rush out to buy some incoming links.

1. I recently received an email from one of the affiliate program providers that I used to use quite a bit with a word of warning to publishers about using advertising terms above such links. They said that they’d had good advice that Google were devaluing the weight of links associated with words like ’sponsors’ or ‘link partners’ or ‘advertisements’. I’m not sure where they got the information or how much notice we should take of it - but perhaps its worth keeping in mind.

2. Once you buy a link on another site you’ll definitely gain a little ‘Google Juice’ for your linked to blog (ie it will contribute to Google ranking you higher) - however keep in mind that these links need to be maintained and to sustain your page ranking you’ll need to continue to pay for such links. If you don’t renew your text link and it is removed from the site where you buy it you risk loosing page rank at that point. A text link isn’t just for Christmas - it needs to be maintained over time and this cost should be built into your initial purchase.

3. The most powerful and effective incoming links to your blogs will always be from high ranking and relevant sites. So if you want to buy a link to your ’stereo system’ blog the most effective way to do so would be to find another (highly ranked) site with similar keywords to link to you by using a keyword that you’re targeting in your link. Other links might help a bit but don’t just rush into buying any old link.

4. Also try to buy from reputable sites. Links from spam sites that engage in poor search engine optimization practices can be penalized by Google. Also remember that blogs with many other outbound links on them to other sites are not thought to be as powerful as sites that only have a handful of such links. Ideally you want to be linked to on a site which is not seen to be spamming the system in any way.

With these things in my mind I’ve resisted buying text links (please don’t hear me as saying they are totally bad - I’ve just chosen to avoid them). I do occasionally do reciprocal links to other sites who I have a relationship with the webmaster of or see as a quality site - but in general I’m much more comfortable in growing my search engine ranking through more organic inbound links - ie through people linking to me because they see something on my blog that they think is link worthy. In a sense these are the most powerful links as they are one way and usually very relevant (and they don’t cost a cent).

Update: One place to buy Text Links is Text Link Ads (aff).

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Written on August 7th, 2005 at 07:08 am by Darren Rowse

More on Posting Schedules

31 Days to Building a Better Blog, Writing Content 15 comments

Peter at Almost Cool comments on my series on Blog Apathy - particularly picking up on some of the comments on posting goals and schedules. He rightly observes that with RSS subscribers you’re likely to get readers look at your posts whether you post regularly or irregularly and argues against quantity over quality of posts. This has been a common response to my mention of a posting schedule from a number of readers.

I agree with Peter and others - quality posting is essential to good blogging - but I guess want to argue for balance.

Blogging commercially is a traffic game whether we like it or not. If you want to earn more money one good way to get it is to increase your readership. Quality content is essential but so is quantity. You can write one fantastic post per week and get a bit of exposure but the chances are that unless it’s amazing it will never draw enough traffic to sustain you financially until the next post.

Having a posting schedule or goal is like being a journalist with a deadline. It’s not meant to decrease the quality - but gives an end point when the article needs to be finished so that a new one can be started upon and that a paper/magazine can continue its publishing rhythm.

Perhaps one of the things I should have mentioned some of the following in my initial comments on posting schedules:

• when you choose a posting schedule look at your current blogging rhythm and base your future goals on this. Its like when you go to the gym - you need to be realistic and base your fitness plan on your current situation. If you’re not fit it would not be wise to commit to running 40 miles per day. You need to work up to it. Set your rate too high and the quality of your posting will definitely suffer.

• make your posting goals realistic and achievable - Take into account factors including how much time you have to blog, how long your blog posts generally are, how many posts per day your readers are used to reading, how much content is out there as a basis for your posts. With these factors in mind pick a goal that you know you can achieve on a good day. I’m fortunate enough to be able to blog full time - so my posting schedule is higher than many of my reader who only have an hour or so per day - that’s cool. Start where you’re at.

• stretch yourself - to use the fitness analogy again - if you want to get fit sometimes you have to push yourself a little. You don’t need to break your back but most personal fitness coaches will set a goal a little beyond what you currently do to take you out of your comfort zone. Sometimes this hurts, but the result is growth.

• rules are made to be broken - Don’t get down if you don’t achieve your goals - they are not there as hard and fast rules to make you feel guilty - they are there as something to strive for - as inspiration. I regularly have days when I don’t post at the rate I set myself - other stuff comes up, I get distracted, I get sick, I have breaks. Whilst I try make up for when I miss a day I don’t get down on myself and just get back on with blogging.

The last thing I’ll say is to draw your attention to Peter’s last statements:

‘I think the quantity game is a dangerous one for a business blogger.

Now, if your business is blogging, it’s a different scenario. Your goals will be to get maximum total exposure. A blog talking to an established or niche customer base (say, like a designer talking to potential customers) will be less concerned with adsense click through rates and more concerned with earning and keeping happy clients.’

This is a good distinction to keep in mind. If you have a business blog (ie you’re blog is not directly about making money but rather draws attention to your (or someone else’s) business then quantity is probably not as key as if your running a commercial blog. I would still argue you need both - but perhaps as Peter writes the focus should be more upon the quality end of things.

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Written on August 7th, 2005 at 03:08 am by Darren Rowse

Blogging Goals

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 0 comments

Wayne Hurlbert writes a post on Blogging Goals that might be a good follow up for some after my Strategic Blogging series of posts.

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Written on August 7th, 2005 at 12:08 am by Darren Rowse

31 Days to Building a Better Blog - Day 6

31 Days to Building a Better Blog 2 comments

I’ll make this quick as I’ve not been well today. Sorry for the slower posting rate today that I’d hoped for.

Readers have submitted the following blog tips today as part of the 31 days to building a better blog project.

• Hatem has written a post titled Blogversation - How to Build blogosphere easily
• Steve bounced off my case study and wrote How NOT to Build a Successful Online Business

Feel free to let me know about your blog tip type posts and I’ll link up on day 7.

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Written on August 6th, 2005 at 05:08 pm by Darren Rowse

Domain Name Suggestion Tool - DomainBot

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 26 comments

I’ve been working on some ideas for new blogs over the past 2 weeks and as part of the exercise I’ve been looking at choosing domain names. Of course looking for a domain name can be a frustrating business - you know what you want but the chances are that it’s already taken as a.com and probably most of the other extensions also.

You can spend endless hours typing random names into domain search tools and come up with very little.

Surely there is a better way?

Luckily a year or so back someone pointed me to DomainsBot which is a domain suggestion tool. You simply type in the key word or words that you want to be in your domain and it comes back to you with a variety of combinations of available domains using that combination of words (and if you like synonyms of the words). The results of this come with a suggested ranking.

I know there are other similar tools out there but for some reason I keep coming back to this one. How have you come up with your blog’s name or domain?

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