All Entries in the "Blogging" Category

10 Steps to More Page Views for Your Blog

With Google Adsense or Yahoo Publisher, having people click onto more pages helps your revenue immensely, but how do you get them to read more than one page when they visit your website? Here are a few tips.

1. Create pages within the blog that contain reference material you refer to often in your posts. These static pages will also get crawled and indexed by the search engines and as you write posts about your topics you can refer people to these static pages as references to what you are posting about.

2. Use articles as static pages. You can reprint articles on any topic for free by visiting one of the many article directories like http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit/ Then refer people to read the articles that relate to the post you are making. You could even add one article as a new page every time you make a post.

3. Refer to other posts you have made on your blog or on another one of your blogs while posting. This gets the reader to click over to previous posts. You can even decide your posts by browsing previous posts and deciding which one to follow up on. Those archives are not to be lost and forgotten. Its great material, (you wrote it right?), so use it.

4. Create a page that links to your favorite posts that are timeless. You browse your old posts, find posts that you want readers to find easily, then build a links page with those posts directly linked. Then add a link to that page from your front page. Call it favorite posts or whatever and you will benefit by those that click through and follow those links.

5. I’ve posted here before about the “more” tag. You write your post as normal, then decide where you want to break the post up onto a new page. You put the more tag in and readers have to click to a new page to read the rest of the story.

6. Write once per week special projects. These are a series of articles on a particular topic. You will be offering it once per week giving readers a week to comment on it, then have them hanging on for next weeks special post in the series. Each time add links to previous posts in that series.

7. Using your content from your other websites or blogs is also a great way to get more pageviews for all of them. Use the target new tag and refer to material on your other blogs and websites. It will open a new window leaving the current blog open while they visit your other website or blog. You can quickly double up your pageviews while also introducing your readers to your other websites and blogs.

8. Make a list of 10 previous posts and the links to those posts. Make a post in your blog about 10 things you want your readers to know and read in case they have not done so before. At your suggestion they will at least go see if they have read those posts before, increasing your pageviews once again plus bringing old material to new readers. That also lets them know they should browse the archives for things they have missed.

9. Using that same list of 10 posts or a new one, visit other blogs on your topic. Find posts that talk about something similar to one of those 10 posts, then instead of adding a link in your signature to the home page, make a comment there and refer to the post that is similar and that contains helpful information to that blogger and their readers. You will also be increasing your link popularity while doing this. Do not spam the link. Make sure it actually contains useful information. Don’t be trolls or spammers and you will end up with new readers and more page views for your blog.

10. Do not stop being creative. Use the tips in this article, plus invent some of your own ways to interlink your blogposts together. Create pages. Don’t just post and forget. That content is valuable, use it. Do not make people search your blog. They are lazy and busy. Bring it to them. That is just good customer service.

I hope this article helps you learn there is more to blogging than just writing a post once in awhile or even daily. If you employ the tips I just gave you into your blog I guarantee you will increase your pageviews which in turn will increase your revenue if using an ad program in your blog.

March 30, 2010 | Chris McElroy | Comments 1

Big Ping List for Blogs

I have a question for today. What do you think about large ping lists for blogs? Do you think pingomatic is enough or should you have a large ping list for everybody you can find? How can you tell which sites are good to ping and which are not?

Here is a large ping list I’ve found for blogs

http://rpc.pingomatic.com/

http://blogsearch.google.com/ping/RPC2

http://rpc.technorati.com/rpc/ping

http://ping.feedburner.com/

http://1470.net/api/ping

http://api.feedster.com/ping

http://api.moreover.com/RPC2

http://api.moreover.com/ping

http://api.my.yahoo.com/RPC2

http://api.my.yahoo.com/rss/ping

http://bblog.com/ping.php

http://bitacoras.net/ping

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://blogdb.jp/xmlrpc

http://blogmatcher.com/u.php

http://bulkfeeds.net/rpc

http://coreblog.org/ping/

http://mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatt

http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

http://ping.amagle.com/

http://ping.bitacoras.com

http://ping.blo.gs/

http://ping.bloggers.jp/rpc/

http://ping.cocolog-nifty.com/xmlrpc

http://ping.blogmura.jp/rpc/

http://ping.exblog.jp/xmlrpc

http://ping.myblog.jp

http://ping.rootblog.com/rpc.php

http://ping.syndic8.com/xmlrpc.php

http://ping.weblogalot.com/rpc.php

http://ping.weblogs.se/

http://pingoat.com/goat/RPC2

http://rcs.datashed.net/RPC2/

http://rpc.blogbuzzmachine.com/RPC2

http://rpc.blogrolling.com/pinger/

http://rpc.icerocket.com:10080/

http://rpc.newsgator.com/

http://rpc.weblogs.com/RPC2

http://topicexchange.com/RPC2

http://trackback.bakeinu.jp/bakeping.php

http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

http://www.blogoon.net/ping/

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

http://www.blogroots.com/tb_populi.blog?id=1

http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://www.blogsnow.com/ping

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://www.mod-pubsub.org/kn_apps/blogchatter/ping.php

http://www.newsisfree.com/RPCCloud

http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php

http://www.popdex.com/addsite.php

http://www.snipsnap.org/RPC2

http://www.weblogues.com/RPC/

http://xmlrpc.blogg.de

http://xping.pubsub.com/ping/

http://www.a2b.cc/setloc/bp.a2b

http://www.bitacoles.net/ping.php

http://www.blogdigger.com/RPC2

http://www.blogoole.com/ping/

http://www.blogpeople.net/servlet/weblogUpdates

http://www.blogshares.com/rpc.php

http://www.blogstreet.com/xrbin/xmlrpc.cgi

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/XMLRPC

http://www.lasermemory.com/lsrpc/

http://www.newsisfree.com/xmlrpctest.php

Do you see any on this list that should not be there?

Pinging Feedburner using PHP and curl without XML-RPC (russellbeattie.com)
Ping that Post (potpolitics.com)

March 10, 2010 | Chris McElroy | Comments 2

Are You a Blogger or a Reblogger?

Sometimes we have to examine what we do on the web to see if we are being effective at what we do. Are we adding value to the web? Are we doing the best we can? How do others perceive us from what we are doing?

There are a lot of people who call themselves bloggers. This is not one of those I’m a better blogger than you are posts. I ask myself the same questions I posted above about my own marketing efforts and blogging.

But here is my take on blogging.

1. If all you have is a bunch of blogs that auto-post content, then you are not a blogger. Parking a few domain names with auto content is ok. It’s better than parking a domain name on a static page.

But to call yourself a blogger, you do need to have at least one blog that you actually write original and unique content on.

2. This one makes some people mad, but here goes. If all you do on your blog is post news that can be found elsewhere, then you are a reblogger, not a blogger.

It’s like being a follower instead of a leader. It’s ok to post about news or what someone else posted about, then add your own unique comments and opinions. That is blogging. But you should mix in some original posts about something at least as much as you post news from someone else’s site or blog.

I know how frustrating it can be to come up with original posts every day. But that very thing is what separates the blogging leaders from the rest of the pack. They work hard at creating original and unique blog posts every single day to our benefit. We learn from them and ask for more.

They link to other related articles. They research their topic. They use images and screenshots. They take the time to do all of this for their readers. That makes them popular.

Sometimes we are too busy to do all it takes to make a really good blog post. We take shortcuts and post something quickly so we can get other things done. We can’t commit the time to do it right every single day.

The problem is that our readers know when we take shortcuts. That makes our blogs less appealing than those of the bloggers who take that time every day and who write original and unique content that is interesting to their readers.

So, hats off to those bloggers who really work at making every single post a great post. You are the leaders we all like to follow and the ones who set the example for the rest of us.

March 08, 2010 | Chris McElroy | Comments 0

Blog Buzzer Review

I like simple tools. So many people write software, scripts, programs and applications and try to make them do too much. Give me a simple tool that does one thing and I’m a happy camper. Try to be all things to all people and your stuff will likely have ongoing problems to resolve.

Blog Buzzer is a simple tool. You simply go to BlogBuzzer.com and enter the name of your blog and the URL of the blog post you want to create a buzz about. Then hit submit and Blog Buzzer does the rest.

It pings Blog Catalog which is one of my favorites. It pings Blog Hub, Blog Intro, Blog Pulse, Blog Rolling, Blogbuzzmachine, BlogFlux, Blogion, Bloglines (another favorite of mine), Blogrolling, Blogsearch Argentina, Blogsearch Australia, Blogsearch Canada, Blurtit, Google Blogsearch (everyone’s favorite), Moreover, (an excellent buzz creator), Newgator, Pubsub 2, Syndic8, Twingly, Urlfan, (a good source of traffic), Wasa Live and Weblogs, (great site), in just a few seconds.

How Blog Buzzer works…

BlogBuzzer helps bloggers automatically submit their blogs to the top blog search sites and blog directories.

Once you enter your URL and title of your blog, it is pinged and picked up by the appropriate blog directories or search sites and gets indexed.

Bloggers can ping up to 5 blog post URLs per day or can purchase the Premium membership that allows unlimited pinging and submissions to search engines.

It will also ping in 5 different languages. They are still developing the website and updating pages, but the pinging system is already working. I recommend trying it out. A few more links will never hurt you.

March 01, 2010 | Chris McElroy | Comments 3

Mingle Plugin Allows Your Blog to be a Social Network

I like testing WordPress plugins. You find a lot of plugins you don’t need and every now and then you find a gem. the Mingle plugin for WordPress is pretty cool.

You see the links at the top of my blog? There is a Mingle Signup page where you can join the social network for my blog. You get a profile page with your chosen username in the URL to your profile page.

You can add friends. You can micro blog on the My Activity page. It’s nice to have subscribers and members on your blog, but even nicer that your blog members can interact with each other.

I didn’t have any problem configuring the Mingle plugin for my blog and doubt you will either. Give it a try!