Written on February 7th, 2007 at 12:02 pm by Darren Rowse
Speedlinking - 7 February 2007
- Neil Patel writes a short tip on Increasing your StumbleUpon Audience which is a follow up to his previous one on promoting your sites through it.
- TechCrunch announces the launch of Fast’s AdMomentum product that lets publishers design their own ad network. From reading a little more about it I’d say it’s a bit beyond the average blogger at this point - but it’ll be interesting to see where they take it
- Google have released a tool for analyzing external and internal links to your site in webmaster tools.
- ManyTongues is a soon to be released service for bloggers that will translate (for a per word fee) blog articles into a number of languages including Korean, Chinese and Spanish (from English).
- Andy Hagans writes his Ultimate Guide to Linkbaiting and Social Media Marketing
- Wendy posted Super Bowl Secrets to Blogging like a Champion
- Frantic Industries posts a list of 10 minimalistic blogs worth checking out
Written on February 7th, 2007 at 06:02 am by Darren Rowse
WordPress Feed Styler
This week I’m writing a series on how to make your RSS feeds POP and coincidentally Ronald Huereca from Dev Lounge released a WP plugin that helps you do exactly what I’m writing about.
It’s a WordPress Feed Styler that allows bloggers to add design elements into their feeds - for example styling blockquotes, images and more.
I’m yet to try it (busily packing for Sydney as I write this) but it looks like the type of thing that has the potential to make your RSS feed stand out a little from the rest.
Written on February 7th, 2007 at 02:02 am by Darren Rowse
Make Your Posts Scannable - RSS Feeds that POP
I recently watched two fellow bloggers work through their news aggregators (one was using Google Reader, the other Bloglines). In both instances the method that they used was to quickly scan content - only briefly stopping to read a sentence or two here and there - and occasionally opening up a post in a new tab of their browser.
People scan websites at the best of times - but I suspect that when it comes to news aggregators the scanning of content goes to a whole new level.
As a result it becomes particularly important for bloggers wanting to grab the attention of RSS readers to do whatever they can to make their content scannable.
Techniques for scannable RSS feeds are not dissimilar to those for scannable websites of any type and include:
- Use Lists - using bullet points draws the eye and makes your content more digestible
- Headings - headings scattered throughout your posts stand out on the page and give your readers visual cues that lead them down into your post. They also quickly communicate where you’re heading (no pun intended) with your post and can intrigue readers enough to get them fully reading what you have to say.
- Formatting - using different text formatting (bold, italics, font sizes and even colors) can also draw the eye of your readers to different parts of your posts. Be careful about going too over the top though.
- Blockquotes - highlight quotes or other key parts of your posts with blockquotes that indent text - again this draws the eye and adds variety into your feed.
- Short Paragraphs - News aggregators are heavily laden with text at the best of times - but add to it with large unbroken slabs of text and you’ll end up turning off many readers.
Once again - the benefits of using these techniques will not just make your RSS feeds Pop - they’ll make the posts on your actual site pop too!
Of course to use the above tips you’ll need to have a full feed with html formatting enabled in your posts. Don’t worry for those of you using excerpts - tomorrows tip will be something more useful for you.
I should also mention that from my experience of using a variety of news aggregators - most seem to be moving towards handling this type of formatting. I can’t guarantee that all do however. I’m a Google Reader user and find that it reproduces formatting pretty well - Bloglines seems to also (although I rarely use it these days). I’d love to hear from readers as to what feed readers they use and how well they handle formatting, images, video etc.
Written on February 6th, 2007 at 11:02 am by Darren Rowse
AdSense Relaxes Ad Labeling Policies
A couple of weeks ago when Google made changes to it’s AdSense policies there was a lot of talk about the impact that the changes would have upon using different ad network ads on the same page as AdSense ads.
One small change seemed to get lost in the midst of these larger changes but Eric picked it up and had it confirmed today.
Previously you were only able to label your AdSense ads with the words “Sponsored Links” and “Advertisements”. This seems to have been relaxed.
AdSense responded to Eric’s query about this with:
“To answer your question, “Sponsored Links” and “Advertisements” are not the only two labels publishers may use…..
However, please keep in mind that publishers are not permitted to encourage users to click on Google ads or bring excessive attention to ad units. For example, your site cannot contain phrases such as “click the ads,” “support our sponsors,” “visit these recommended links,” or other similar language that could apply to the Google ads on your site.”
This isn’t a massive change but it is a relaxing of their previous policy that some publishers have been asking for.
Written on February 6th, 2007 at 06:02 am by Darren Rowse
Using Images to Make Your RSS Feeds POP!
This is the second post in a series on How to make your RSS Feeds POP
One technique that many successful bloggers use to stand out from the crowd is to use images in their feeds. This means switching your feeds to full feeds, enabling html and putting up with a little more bandwidth but in my experience of surfing through thousands of posts a day in RSS it makes a big difference.
Images draw the eye, they pique interested, they grab attention and they have the potential to make what can otherwise be a dry and text filled environment (news readers) a more visually pleasing and sensual space.
I know when I’m scanning my feeds that it’s often the posts with images in them that I pause to take a second look at.
The images you use might illustrate a point you’re trying to make - or they might simply be the equivalent of an image title for your post (like I’m using in this post).
3 Examples
A few blogs that use images regularly and effectively in posts include:
TechCrunch who uses lots of logos and screenshots of companies that it reviews.
Copyblogger uses title images effectively - I know when Brian uses one that I’ve got to pay attention because he’s writing original content. It’s a visual cue to his readers to listen up!
Richard at Read Write Web uses a lot of images in his posts. This is particularly useful for his blog which often features longer and pretty in depth posts that without images could look like large slabs of text.
Using Video in RSS
Over the last year Videos have increasingly been appearing on blogs and over the past few months some news aggregators have worked out how to show them in RSS feeds.
The same principles that apply to images in feeds seem to apply with video - they add another dimension!
Perhaps it is the novelty value or perhaps that it’s an ‘Active’ thing to press the little play button - but there’s something about seeing video on a blog or in a feed that sucks me in every time. It catches my eye and draws me towards it - I suspect that it does the same for others so smart and relevant use of video in posts can add a new dimension to both them and the feeds that they appear in.
Tomorrow I’ll continue this series in writing for RSS - but in the mean time I’d love to hear your thoughts on images in feeds.
- Do you use them?
- Do you like them in other’s posts?
- Who uses images in posts well?
- What type of images work best for you?
- Can bloggers sometimes use too many images and videos in posts?
Written on February 6th, 2007 at 05:02 am by Darren Rowse
How to Make Your RSS Feeds POP!
RSS has become an increasingly important way of engaging with blog readers over the last couple of years - but in more recent times with its integration into web browsers and operating systems it’s potential power for bloggers to engage readers has increased.
However - if you’re anything like me, you’ve probably not put a lot of thought into thinking strategically about how to engage with readers through feeds. Most of us simply know we have a feed, ensure we have a link or button to let readers know we’ve got one and hope that people subscribe.
But is there a way to engage readers more effectively through RSS?
While many tips have been written on how to write blog posts, I’ve not seen any that focus upon feed readers.
The Problem of Clutter
I have around 700 feeds that I attempt to follow each week. Some of them only post once or twice a week but some can have up to 100 posts. You can imagine the massive quantities of information that many heavy RSS readers are confronted with in their news aggregators.
How can bloggers break through this clutter and make their RSS feeds get noticed? How do you make your feed ‘Pop’?
How to Make Your RSS Feeds POP!
This week I’ll be presenting a series of short posts on writing for RSS readers. As always - my invitation to you is to join in with the tips. Like everyone - I’m still making sense of new technologies and how to use them most effectively - I’m looking forward to learning from you also.
Stay tuned for the next post in this series.
PS: it should be said up front that some of the tips for improving RSS feeds that I’ll share in the coming days also have the potential to improve the blog posts that actually appear on your blog. Consider that a double bonus for the series!
The Series so Far
- Using Images and Video
- Scannable Content
- Titles with Bling
- Opening Lines
- Avoid Clutter
- How to Get More Subscribers to Your RSS Feed
- 10 Sure-Fire Ways to Get RSS Readers Visiting Your Blog
Bonus Post: 34 Reasons why Readers Unsubscribe from Your Blog
Written on February 6th, 2007 at 12:02 am by Darren Rowse
AGLOCO - First Impressions
Over the last few weeks I’ve been getting more and emails from people askine me for my opinion on AGLOCO (refferral link).
To be perfectly honest the first few times I heard about it I didn’t think much.
The second few times I thought it was some sort of pyramid scheme or spyware scam.
But in the last week or so a few people that I respect have started recommending I check it out as a potential way to earn an extra income stream online. Most of them told me about it with a few reservations (there’s a lot of hype about it out there too) but told me that they thought it was something that could have potential as an income earner for bloggers.
So today I signed up to check it out for myself. I’m still a little perplexed about it and feeling my way with it so take this as a very initial first impression review (it’s hard to do anything else at this stage as it’s in such early days).
Agloco isn’t the easiest concept in the world to explain (I’ll let you get all the ins and outs at their site) however from what I’ve gathered so far it brings together a variety of online activities:
- social networking
- referral program
- online shopping
- toolbars
- Software downloading
Here’s a diagram that they use to attempt to explain it (click to enlarge):
My first impressions:
I still have some questions about Agloco - but am quietly interested about it’s potential:
• My concerns over spyware via their ‘Viewbar’ should probably be alleviated by their explanations and assurances that it’s not - but without actually having access to it (it’s in beta) I’m not sure
• I guess the ‘beta/pre launch’ nature of it leave me with a variety of questions. At the moment it just seems to be a lot of promises. Don’t get me wrong - the promises seem great and I like a lot of what I see - but I’m the kind of guy who likes to see a product before getting too excited.
• I think the basic concept is pretty interesting and I can see why a lot of key web types are getting behind it. I can also see why there is a lot of hype by internet marketers about it.
I’ve talked to a number of others about it today and the reviews are mixed. Some still think it’s a pyramid scheme (although others who used to think this are being won over by the caliber of the names behind it) - but others are reserving judgement but are quietly experimenting with it and watching on too.
I’m going to withhold my judgement on AGLOCO until I see more of what it is and how it develops - but I think it’s an interesting concept that is worth keeping an eye on and that it’s one of those things that would probably be worth getting in on early if you’re going to benefit from the referrals system - something bloggers are ideally situated to do.
I would invite your reflections upon AGLOCO - particularly if you’re a member. What do you think about it?
update: Robert Scoble has a good interview with AGLOCO’s founders here.
Written on February 5th, 2007 at 09:02 pm by Darren Rowse
My Upcoming Schedule
Just a short note to give an update on my up coming schedule as the next few months will include a few opportunities to meet bloggers in different parts of the world.
Sydney This Week
I’m at AdTech in Sydney Wednesday and Thursday of this week. If you’re there and can’t find me feel free to give me a bell on my mobile.
I’ve already heard from a few bloggers who will be at AdTech but if you’re not going and would like to catch up I’ll be at the Sydney Weblogger Meetup on Wednesday night at the Arthouse Hotel (not sure what time I’ll get there but it shouldn’t be too long after the 7pm start).
US and Canada Trip - Mid March to Mid April
This will be a month long trip - part work and part holiday with the family.
We will be traveling through Los Angeles (a few days at each end of the trip), San Fransisco for Elite Retreat, (very little spare time there - if any), Washington DC (I’m on a conference here but I might be able to find a spare evening for a meet up if there is enough interest), New York (we’ll be there for a week of vacation - but I’m sure I could do a meet up one night) and Toronto (we’ll be there over Easter for a week for some b5media business).
I’d like to attempt to contain meetings on this trip as much as possible as it’s supposed to be part holiday. If you’re interested in meeting up in any of these cities let me know in comments below. I’ll try to post updates as it gets closer.
New York - June
It looks like I’ll be back in New York for a short visit (another conference) around the 7-8 June this year. I’m still confirming this at present (the sticking point in negotiations seems to be my demands for a bath full of orange M&Ms that I require in my hotel room). More on this later.
Update: Looks like they’ve come through with the M&Ms and I’m booked to speak at FOOA (Future of Online Advertising) between 7-8 June.
Written on February 5th, 2007 at 07:02 pm by Darren Rowse
Speedlinking
- Net Business Blog shares 8 Reasons Why the Masses Love Lists
- Deborah Ng has posted a short interview with me on her About Web Logs page. I was also quoted today in an article in the Christian Science Monitor.
- Dave Taylor asks Are You Engaged in Risky Business Behaviors?
- Digital Inspiration has a post on why it’s useful to offer your readers email subscription. Don’t forget you can subscribe to enternetusers’s feed via email here.
- Lorelle has put together one of the best posts I’ve ever seen on blockquotes that goes beyond the basics and helps you customize this useful formatting tool.
- The following video has been doing the rounds over the last few days and is worth a look.
Written on February 5th, 2007 at 12:02 pm by Darren Rowse
YPN Limit maximum number of Ad Units Per Page to 3
YPN have today announced policy changes - the main change being that you are now only allowed to place a maximum of three YPN ad units on any single page at a time. This is the same maximum that AdSense allows on a page at any given time (unless you have special permission to do more).
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