Blogging Questions & Answers 23
Time for Blogging Questions & Answers. The questions on this batch were sent via email over the past weeks. Next week I will get back to the ones posted on the comments section.
If you want to leave a question, the easiest way is to simply write it on a comment below.
1. Himanshu asks:
1. Is it okay if I Digg my own post myself ? Also I’ve seen couple of blogs where bloggers themselves comment with some other names just to let readers think about the popularity of their blog. Is it a good practice ?
2. I’ve a blog where I write about software and internet tips along with a bit of Blogging/SEO. Is it good to have that in one blog or shall I create another website for SEO content and separate out software/internet tips ?
1. It is OK to submit your own posts to Digg, as long as you do this rarely (i.e. once every month at most) and as long as the content itself is Digg worth. On the beginning of your blog you won’t have many readers, so you could try giving it a nudge yourself on social media.
Also, make sure to genuinely participate on the community. If all your submitted and dugg stories are coming from your blog people will consider you a spammer, even if you do that only once a month.
As for posting comments on your own blog, I have never done that and probably never will. First of all because I don’t think it is worth your time (go write more quality content if you have time to write fake comments!), and secondly because I don’t think it is ethical either.
Some people, however, recommend this is strategy. It is the so called “fake it till you make it.” A matter of opinion I think.
2. I would choose either one or the other topic, and create it on a single blog. Then focus all your energies on it, until you make it an authority on its niche. It is very hard to create one popular blog or site, let alone two at the same time!
Once your first blog is large and established you could think about launching an spin-off.
2. Sam Duvall asks:
Which do you think is better?
1. Email newsletter one’s a week, that would “feature” the weeks posts and
would have unique mini article.
2. Email subscription to the post as they come out.
I have the skills and motivation to make either work, but I just don’t know if
#1 is worth it, since #2 is very easy with feedburner.
I say both!
Use an email subscription feature on your blog to let the users that want to stay updated receive your articles on their email inbox, and use the Feedburner feature for this one.
Then also launch an email newsletter with extra or insider information, and once a week shoot your best articles as well to drive some more traffic to your site. For this option I would go with Aweber.
I am planning to launch my newsletter soon, for example, just lacking the time to.
If you don’t have time or money to setup a newsletter, then go just with the Feedburner email subscription feature because it is pretty fast and easy to setup.
3. Potato Chef asks:
Hi, My site, Potato Patch Recipes, has been live about 3 weeks. I submitted a site map to Google, the site was verified by Google. I basically did everything Google said you should do.
My questions is this: Why after posting about 15 posts can’t I find any of them on google when I do an organic search?
I don’t expect to be on the first page, but I have looked 50 pages deep and still have not seen any of my posts.
Is it too soon or have I overlooked something?
It is too soon AND you have overlooked something.
First of all yeah, do not worry if you are not ranked after 3 weeks. I would start taking a look on Google after one or two months, and even then just for curiosity’s sake. Real traffic should start coming in 6 months, if that.
Secondly, you are overlooking the main factor that will make you rank on Google: backlinks!
In fact, I don’t even recommend for people to submit their site to Google or to submit a sitemap. All you need to do is to get a backlink from an authority site and Google will crawl you.
I have been able to rank my sites in 48 hours in the past, just one with quality backlink.
How do you go about getting that? Ask friends if you can, or try to submit a guest article to a popular blog.
Overall, however, just think about proving value, growing and promoting your site, and the ranks will come naturally.
4. Kaheem asks:
I have a niche blog, that relies heavily on activity in the topic I’m covering. Every so often, I run a poll, create a “top 10″ list to fill the gaps between slow weeks. I’m fearful that my blog will become idle jabber when there is nothing to write on. Any ideas on how to keep my blog fresh.
Do you mean your blog is somewhat news-related, and that you depend on the events in your niche to have something to write about?
Well, that is a natural pattern with news blogs, and there is nothing you can do about it.
If you are blogging about an event that has a specific duration, like the 2008 Olympics, I guess the best thing would be to milk it for as long as the event goes on, and then just let the blog be and focus on new projects. Put AdSense and text links there and make as much money as possible with the remainder traffic you will see there.
If, on the other hand, you are blogging about something that goes on, like celebrity gossip or tv news, then there is nothing to fear. There will always be new things to write about on those niches right?
Check out the article 9 Steps to Better Blog Post Ideas for more ideas on this topic.
5. Keith asks:
What’s you opinion about turning off comments until the number of readers increase? I’ve tried trying to engage readers but it doesn’t seem to work. I’m just wondering if people may look at that like a forum that has a lot of threads and no replies, or if it’s just something I think too much about.
It is something you think too much about.
By turning off the comments you would killing even the small number of comments that you could get while your blog is young.
Additionally, it could be a turn off for some readers, and many could get used to the fact that your blog does not allow comments, making them more reluctant to comment even when you decide to turn it on.
6. Avinash asks:
I would like to know whether having multiple categories is good, or having categories with sub categories is better, does the category structure have any part to play with SEO as well?
I like to use a limited number of categories, and no sub-categories at all.
Why? Because I think it is easier for the end user to figure where a certain post might be if you only have 10 or 15 categories. The upper limit I would put is 20 categories. More than that would be overkill, and would just confuse your visitors.
If you want to offer them more granularity, use tags to complement the categories.
Finally, I don’t think that the number of the categories that you decide to have will have an influence on the SEO at all. Their name might, but even them just slightly.
7. Balaji asks:
i got some 12 visitor from google for the keyword”social network engine”. I saw
my blog on the 7th position.But after 2days i missed that ,why this happen?
This is the normal pattern in Google. The SERP (Search Engine Results Page) is always changing. Some pages will go up, others will go down.
The number of backlinks pointing to a page and it is overall relevancy is what will influence the direction of the page.
Sometimes your backlinks and relevancy might stay the same and you will still go down. Why? Because other pages improved their SEO factors and displaced your own.
8. lolbunnies asks:
Hi I run an image-based blog and was wondering what some good alt text tips are for image search rankings. I would like for my images to come up in various searches for my niche.
Also what is the difference between alt text and title for images? Do they both have importance in search engines? I have decided to use the same text for both the alt text and title.
On the ALT attribute you should put the text that best describes the picture, for people that might not be able to see it for one reason or the other.
The TITLE attribute, on the other hand, is used to provide more information about any image, and it is displaced as a tooltip by most browsers (i.e. when you hover over the image).
If you are worried about SEO, the best thing you can do is to do some keyword research before you even choose the name of the picture. Once you know what people search for, use that on the name on the image and on the ALT attribute. On the TITLE one you could use a more elaborate description of the image.
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Blogging Questions & Answers 23
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The Revolution Theme Goes Open Source
You probably have come across the Revolution theme once or twice right? Created by my friend Brian Gardner (who also designed the first custom theme for Daily Blog Tips long time ago), it was a huge success around the blogosphere.
The themes used to sell for $79, and they were selling like hot cakes. Just think that Brian was able to quit his full time job thanks to the online revenues he was making.
Brian is now shifting the direction of his project though. He wants to be more aligned with the open source mentality behind WordPress, and therefore he will be launching a whole new set of Revolution themes under an open source license. In other words, you can download and use them for free.
Currently they have 14 themes available, and I believe more are coming soon. You can visit the site on RevolutionTwo.com (a bit slow at the moment, probably due to the high load they are seeing).
If you need support with the themes, Brian will also be providing a subscription plan that will come with all sorts of perks and assistance.
I applaud Brian for taking this route. It is a good thing for the whole WordPress community given his design talent, and I am sure it will be another home rum for him.
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The Revolution Theme Goes Open Source
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