2007 March : @ProBlogger

Written on 3/26/2007 at 12:39 am by Aaron Wall

What Does it Mean to Optimize a Blog Post?

This post has been submitted by Aaron Wall – the author of the comprehensive Search Engine Optimization e-book SEO Book. He blogs at seobook.com

With so many people writing online today, just appealing to the robots is a surefire way to never gain market-share. Keyword research is important for creating targeted content, but focusing on things like keyword density leads to dense sounding content. And nobody wants to read that!

Even if your content exactly matches a search query, Google is not going to trust it much unless other people trust it first, which leads to a chicken vs egg scenario.

Until you get subscribers, build market attention, and people regularly link at your writing, then it is important to put people well ahead of search engines. When writing your headlines make sure they are clear and compelling, but place human emotional response ahead of trying to match as many keyword phrases as possible.

If you are new don’t be afraid to ask for help with marketing. Write comments on popular blogs, participate in discussion forums, buy AdSense ads on related blogs, interview someone who is popular or blog about them. Eventually people will notice. We are all selfish. We are each the most relevant thing in our lives.

Read more of Aaron’s work at his SEO Book Blog.

Written on 3/25/2007 at 9:09 am by Darren Rowse

Top RSS Feeds – a Top 40 List

Filed Under: RSS

I’ve had a few people ask me lately if there was some kind of list of blogs with the biggest RSS subscriber lists with Feedburner counters. Today Stan sent me a Top 40 list that he’d compiled on the topic.

I’m not really one to go into these type of lists on some levels as I think there are plenty of blogs out there that are doing great things that will never get on them – however what I think is most useful about them is that they highlight a list of blogs that we all could learn a thing or two from in terms of building an RSS subscriber list.

Keep in mind some of the observations disclaimers that Stan makes in his post. For example the list only includes those using feedburner etc. It’s not something to take as ‘the’ list but perhaps is a useful observational tool for some analysis for those wanting to grow in this area.

For more on using RSS feeds effectively – check out my series – how to make your RSS feeds POP!

Written on 3/25/2007 at 1:35 am by Darren Rowse

How to Get Backlinks

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization

GuruMonetizer asks – can you describe how did you get backlinks for problogger over the time?

Thanks for the question GuruMonetizer. There’s no real secret to this one – I simply went about my business of blogging in a way that I felt would provide the most useful information and community for those exploring my topic – making money online via blogging.

Some of the things I’ve not done (or at least not done for quite a few years) include:

link exchanges
buying links (I’ve run a couple of small AdWords and BlogAds campaigns but no text links)
begging for blogroll links

I think if someone did some analysis on the type of links that are pointing at ProBlogger that they’d find that the majority of them are the result of someone commenting upon, disagreeing with or recommending something that I’ve written.

What type of posts have brought in the most incoming links?

I’d be guessing here – but I think there’d be a few:

Scoops – breaking big news is probably the best way to get incoming links because the majority of bloggers who report on the news will also include a link to you as it’s source. Some blogs have perfected the scoop post to the point that they’ve really launched themselves into the A-list as a result of them.
How To Posts – I always find that these posts generate a lot of incoming links. Once you help one person work out how to do something – they often like to keep a record of it for themselves but also to pass it on.
Opinion Pieces – arguing a point strongly is great for getting people to comment and link up to your posts as you generally find that two camps rise up as a result – firstly those who agree with you and want to write about why – and secondly those who disagree with you and want to state their case.
Group Projects – while I don’t force participants to link back to my blog I do ask them to consider it. Even if only 50% do this can result in a hundred or more backlinks per project.
Humor Posts – one of the frustrating things of having a serious blog is that quite often the heavier and serious posts (that you put hours and hours into writing) get ignored and it can be the lighter and humorous ones that you post off the cuff without thinking about them that get all the attention.

These are the type of posts that seem to generate links here on ProBlogger. On other blogs that I own there are similarities but I’ve found that each blog seems to have it’s own type of post that works best.

Lastly – Keep in mind that links are not everything. While they definitely help, concentrate on producing great content and keeping a holistic perspective and you’ll find the links will come in time.

Written on 3/24/2007 at 8:00 am by Glen

Use A Startpage to Blog More Efficiently

Filed Under: General

This post was written by Glen Stansberry of LifeDev.net (feed). Check out LifeDev if you’re interesting in adding more productivity and creativity to your blogging and life.

There are tons of startpage options to choose from: Google Homepage, Netvibes, Pageflakes and a slew of others. Personally, I’d recommend either Netvibes or Pageflakes, but to each his own.

A startpage can be a very valuable tool if you find yourself doing a lot of blogging. The most immediate benefit of using a startpage is the ability to do many blog-essential tasks from one interface. Tasks like searching, jotting down post ideas, and reading news. These can become pretty cumbersome if you do them frequently. Using a startpage greatly speeds up the process, and in some cases can even automate it.

Here are some of the most immediate pluses to using a startpage as opposed to a traditional feed reader.

1. Customizable feed layouts. You can subscribe to many different feeds like a traditional feed reader, but instead of showing up in a river of news style the feeds show up in boxes. You can visually manipulate the layout to display the feed boxes however you want. You can toggle them open or closed, and you can arrange your most important feeds towards the top, leaving the less active ones at the bottom. This allows you to quickly scan the page for new items.

2. Tons ‘O Tools. You can have a plethora of resources to aide your blogging. Todo lists to keep track of post ideas, rich media (video, image, podcast) searches, blog search, instant messaging, imported del.icious links, email… the options are virtuously limitless when tricking out your startpage.

3. Multiple pages. Most startpages allow you to create multiple pages. So for example, you could have an entire page dedicated to one blog, with all the relevant feeds, rich media searches.

4. Shareable pages. If you’ve got more than one author on your blog, share your startpage with them. That way you can both use the same resources, as well as easily stay on top of what the other is doing.

So to put an example startpage in action, check out a demo of one I made here for cars at Netvibes. I only added one feed, but you could add many many more. I just wanted to showcase the power and simplicity of being able to search blogs, movies, podcasts and more in one interface.

I’ve been using startpages for a couple of my niche blogs, and I can say with certainty that it has greatly cut down the time used per post. While I do like Google Reader, a startpage just brings more overall blogging functionality to the table.

How about you guys? Do you have any unique setups with startpages that help you blog?

Written on 3/23/2007 at 9:00 am by Darren Rowse

Important Elements of Blog Design & Layout

Filed Under: Blog Design

Hello everyone, I’m Matt from NetBusinessBlog.com. I’ve been doing web design and development for the last 7 years but have just recently started blogging. Hope you find my content on par with the rest of the articles here, and don’t be afraid to let me know what you think.

The eruption of popularity for blogs came on the heels of the Web 2.0 “revolution”. With this in mind it’s easy to see how blogging has adopted most of the ideas of design which focus on minimalism, the focus on content, user experience, and compatibility. It is something that has been built into blogging from the beginning whether you realize it or not. It is important that you keep these aspects of the new web in the front of your mind when you’re designing your blog.

Focus on Content

Ever heard the saying “content is king”? Well if you haven’t, keep it in mind. Just about every website relies heavily on its content to attract and retain new visitors, but it is even more vital when dealing with blog design. Blogging is centered almost entirely around the content, and you have to make sure that your design does not take away from that.

Your design may take focus off of your content if your header, for example, takes up the entire area above the fold. One of the first things you want visitors to see when they wander into your blog is your delicious content, not a page full of graphics.

If you look at how Darren has setup his header, you’ll see that one of the first things his readers see is links to some of his most read articles. That is a great way to get users engaging in your blog rather than just browsing the main page and leaving. At my blog I like to have a couple of my best recent articles as well as some introduction text up at the top to entice users to dig more through my site.

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Written on 3/23/2007 at 7:55 am by Darren Rowse

ProBlogger.com Sold

Filed Under: ProBlogger Site News

I’ve been wait to write this post for almost 3 years – I just bought ProBlogger.com.

The day I first came up with the idea of starting a blog called ProBlogger I started it as an extension on another blog domain. A few months later when I decided it was a topic that needed it’s own purpose built blog I found that Problogger.com was already taken (it was a holding page for a blogging community from memory) and so I was forced to buy up ProBlogger.net.

Since that time I’ve attempted to purchase ProBlogger.com. on a number of occasions – but in each instance the owner either was asking for an amount which was too much for my budget or had plans of their own to develop it.

I had numerous watch systems up on the domain in case it ever expired and every year in February I held my breath hoping that it would. However each year on the day it expired it was renewed – until this year….

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Written on 3/23/2007 at 5:19 am by Darren Rowse

Should Low Traffic Blogs Disable Comments?

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Blog Tips

Reader Questions LintCollector asks – ‘My question relates to comments on a low-traffic blog. If there are very few comments due to lack of readers (not lack of regular posts), can this emphasize the lack of readers and reflect badly on the blog? If high activity on popular blogs conveys an impression that the blog is valued and has worth, then can a lack of comments give the opposite impression?’

The old ‘should a blog have comments?’ debate – an oldie but a goodie.

You’re definitely right on some levels about comments being a pretty quick signal to new readers as to whether your blog is being read widely or not. It’s like walking down a road with a lot of restaurants on it and seeing some bursting with patrons and others with no one inside – I know which one I’d rather be eating in!

There’s no getting around the fact that comments beget comments – however I also think that they can be a valuable part of even a small blog where they are rarely used. In fact on a small blog they can be even more important than on a big one because they put you into a potential conversation with the readers you already do have.

I remember when I first started blogging that I spent a lot of time in my own comments section. Even though I was probably only getting 2-3 comments a day from readers I would intentionally spend time replying to every one, asking follow up questions, emailing thank you messages to those who left comments etc. Every comment left is a reader taking a step towards being a regular reader – without them readers have no simple way to participate.

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Written on 3/22/2007 at 5:11 am by Darren Rowse

10 Ways to make your Blog more Attractive to Advertisers

Filed Under: Advertising

Today’s guest post comes from Chad Randall, the Director of Sales for b5media and the author of AdvertiseSpace. Chad has been working in the online advertising industry for over 6 years now, and has personally sold more than $5,000,000 in online ads. I figured he’d be a good person to ask about how to make your blog attractive to advertisers.

1. Have an “Advertise with Us” Banner on your site

This is the single most important issue. It should click to an Advertising information page and have an easy way to contact you for more information and rates. Key points: Make it a graphical image or a tab. Keep it above the fold.

2. Keep the ads on your site specific to your site

Don’t have smiley ads and wallpaper ads if your site is site is about mobile phones.

3. Show them the banners

If you currently have no paid placements on your site, put up house ads or partner ads in the same spot you would run a paid spot. (A house ad refers to banners for other products or sites that you or your company own)

4. Throw up a free bonus ad.

By putting a free advertisement on your site, you may not only encourage similar ads or competitors to that product, but the company you added for free may decide to advertise with you. Ask for full disclosure of the performance of the campaign in return. (Total clicks, total purchases etc. ) Key points. Put the free bonus up with a direct URL without tracking tags or affiliate tags.

5. Show your site stats.

You need to show at least the basics for site statical information: Monthly unique visitors and total number of impressions are the 2 key ones. Other less important can be Google PR & Alexa rank.

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