Written on February 27th, 2007 at 12:02 am by Darren Rowse

WordPress Plugins for Monetizing Your Blog

Blogging Tools and Services 22 comments

If you’re a WordPress bloggers and you want to monetize it Lorelle has put together an essential read for you in her post which outlines Monetizing WordPress Plugins.

Lorelle’s put together a whole list of WP plugins which can be used in making money from your blog under the following titles:

  • Adding Adsense Ads to Your WordPress Blogs
  • Amazon.com WordPress Plugins
  • Other Advertising WordPress Plugins For Your WordPress Blog
  • Ad and Banner Rotator WordPress Plugins
  • Shopping Cart WordPress Plugins
  • PayPal Donations WordPress Plugins
  • Adding Ads to Feeds
  • Monitoring Other People’s Money

It’s an excellent resource which I hope you find useful.

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Written on February 26th, 2007 at 11:02 am by Darren Rowse

What A Bad Museum Exhibit Can Teach You About Blogging

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 17 comments

This post has been submitted by Glen Stansberry.

It’s funny what we can learn in our everyday lives that can help us improve our blogging.

I recently went to Kansas City to see the historic Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, and came away with a feeling that the presentation wasn’t quite put together as well as it could have been. Although I’m grateful to see such an amazing piece of history, I think I could have gotten much more out of the experience had some things been organized a little better.

But my loss is your gain. There are still some things that we can glean from a mediocre museum exhibit that can help your blogging.

Organization is Key

Regardless of what you’re presenting, if you don’t organize it well, the entire presentation will suffer. Case in point: I was looking at one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of the 20th century! Organization is critical.

Information Overload

For each piece, there was the standard sign above it outlining its significance. But in addition to having to read lots of these signs, visitors were also given a phone-like device that allowed you to listen to many of the items in the collection. Sometimes the information from the signs and the audio overlapped. Needless to say, it was a lot of information to swallow.


Key #1: Don’t overload your audience with too much information.

Use the least amount of words to convey your message, and end the post. Keep it short and keep it sweet. I know it’s sad, but the attention span of the average blog reader is short. I mean really short. Like Danny DeVito short. So write accordingly.

One of the ways bloggers can help their audience is to give them guideposts. They could include:

  • smaller paragraphs
  • bullet points and numbered lists
  • sub-heading
  • LESS WORDS

By adding these handy little nuggets to your posts, you’ll help organize the text that draws the readers eyes to the most important parts of the post.

Another beef I had with the exhibit is how the presentation was broken down. Instead of telling the significance of the scrolls first, they waited until you were almost done viewing the exhibit before tying in why the scrolls had any historical value.

Key #2: ALWAYS explain your subject matter at the beginning of the post.

In the words of my history professor, “Never underestimate how little your audience knows”. Truer words were never spoken.

Just because you know, doesn’t mean your audience knows. Make sure you effectively explain the background of whatever it is you’re writing about before getting into the meat of the post. Everybody benefits from this: newbies and experts alike.

Many people already familiar with the subject matter don’t mind seeing stuff they already know as a refresher. And if they don’t, it’s not hard to skip ahead because your post is formatted with helpful guideposts, right? ;)

You don’t ever want to make your reader feel like he’s riding the blogger short bus to school, just because he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing scares away a potential reader like not having a clue as to what he/she’s reading.

Conclusions
There’s nothing like a real-world example to give us a little reminder on how to improve our writing. Don’t write like a bad museum exhibit that throws too much information at the wrong times to the audience. If you can break things down into smaller, digestible pieces, your writing will appeal to those fast-scanning blog readers, causing them to take a second look.

And sometimes that’s all you need to get noticed.

This is the third part in the series Cutting Above the Rest, a series focusing on how to use creativity, productivity and organization to improve your blogging skills. Read part 1 and 2 at How to think outside of the box and develop attention grabbing content and at how to blog with voice and increase community and readership. Check out Glen Stansberry’s blog LifeDev (feed) for more tips to improve your creativity.

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Written on February 25th, 2007 at 12:02 pm by Darren Rowse

AdSense Testing Another New ‘Related’ Ad Format

Adsense 32 comments

Update - Thanks to Amit and siong1987 - this is just the latest version of Google’s Related Links.

Speaking of Google testing new types of AdSense ads - Dave from DaveDevelopment just emailed me to show me a new type of ad that he’s seen Google experimenting with. Here’s how it looks (click to enlarge):

Related

It’s a 728×90 banner ad with pictures inset into the ad next to the text of the ad and with tabs along the top that seems to be titled ‘related’ with some tabs after it under the headings of ’searches’, ‘web pages’ and ‘video’.

I’m not sure how these ads work as I’ve not seen one live in action - but they seem to be another ad format that lets readers of a site choose what they want to see (similar to Chitika’s eminimalls).

This will be an interesting one to watch!

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Written on February 25th, 2007 at 11:02 am by Darren Rowse

AdSense testing Italicized Ads

Adsense 12 comments

Over the last week I’ve had quite a few readers emailing me about Google AdSense ads that they are seeing with the headings of the ad in italics.

Initially the ads mainly seemed to be appearing on big websites and I thought they were something premium publishers were testing but in the last couple of days it has become clear that they’re testing them more widely and I’ve seen them on my own blogs in quite a few impressions.

here’s how they look:

Adsense-Italics

(You’ll also see the first ad has the google checkout shopping cart which is also relatively new)

Every time there’s a change like this I get the same two responses from publishers.

  1. I think it’s great - this camp thinks that anything Google does that is a bit different to draw attention to the ads is great
  2. I think it’s bad - this camp wants to be able to control such variations themselves as they feel that some of the things Google does with ads can actually work against the overall design of a blog.

My feeling is that this isn’t the most intrusive thing that AdSense are currently testing. One of the other tests currently underway is the ‘G’ image that they’re testing instead of and in conjunction with the ‘Ads by Gooooooogle’ link (see below).

Adsense-Google-Image

My personal feeling is that this goes a little far and cheapens the look of a site. They’re also testing other versions of this and while I know it probably helps their branding and might even help CTR on ads I’d prefer control over whether it appears.

In fact I’d prefer that the Ads by Gooooogle link was a referral link as it links directly to a site where people can sign up to become AdWords advertisers and AdSense publishers. Come on Google - pay us for advertising your programs!?

Thanks to everyone who has been emailing me about the italics ads - feedbuzzard being one.

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Written on February 24th, 2007 at 01:02 am by Darren Rowse

Secret Confessions of a Link-A-Holic

Miscellaneous Blog Tips, Search Engine Optimization 73 comments

Link-1

Is it just me or has everyone been becoming a little ‘link obsessed’ lately?

This week I’ve been counting the number of posts I’ve seen written about getting links for your blog - I’m over 40 and still counting.

Posts I’ve seen this week so far have covered:

  • How to ask for links
  • What type of links to ask other bloggers for
  • How to write content that is linkable
  • What type of links are best
  • What type of sites to target for links
  • How to do internal links on your blog
  • How to get.edu links
  • Link building tips
  • Linkbaiting techniques
  • How to get links that increase traffic
  • How to buy links effectively

The list goes on…. and on…..

Not only have I seen a lot of posting about links, this week I’ve had around 40 emails from bloggers ‘asking for link exchanges’ (not including all the emails with suggestions for posts that others have written).

So what’s my problem with all the link building articles and exchanging links? Am I ‘anti link?’

No - that’s not it, I believe that SEO has a place in blogging and that one of the most powerful ways to grow in your search engine ranking is to build incoming links to your site. I’ve written many times about this and have covered a lot of the topics in the list above here at enternetusers. I value the incoming links that I have to my blogs and would like to see their numbers keep growing.

However this week my alarm bells have been going off and I’m starting to wonder if we (as a blogging community) might be getting a little distracted from…. from…. well blogging itself.

Two main thoughts come to mind:

1. Blog Holistically

Beware any type of blogging obsession. I’ve talked about the temptations that bloggers face to focus in on one aspect of blogging at the expense of others - link building is one of those that can lead to blog destruction. Give it some attention by all means - but keep things in balance and realize that of all the factors that make up a successful blog - incoming links is at best midway through the list.

2. Blog well and the links will follow

This might be easy for me to say as a reasonably established blogger - but I’m a big believer in the principle. How do most of the top bloggers going around build their readership? From talking to a few of them I’d humbly suggest that the main thing in their favor was that they built blogs with compelling content which engaged their readers - the links followed.

My Secret Link Obsession

Let me let you in on a little secret. I’m a recovering link-a-holic.

In my early days of blogging I stumbled across the idea of incoming links as the key to SEO and so I began a campaign of gathering links to my blogs (at the time I only had a couple).

I wasn’t all that blog-savvy at the time and so did a pretty crude job of it (I bought a few links, I tried to exchange links, I got into listing my blogs in directories) but I managed to increase the numbers of links to my blogs over time. In the process here’s what else happened:

  • My posting frequency dropped
  • Readers became frustrated with my content (which was obviously linkbait)
  • I lost some of my passion for blogging and my topic
  • I sold out content wise (started picking topics to write about that didn’t really add value to my blog)
  • I started watching my metrics more than the news in my industry
  • Frustration crept into my blogging when the links didn’t come
  • My Page Rank increased - but my actual SERPs (the position of my blog in search engines) dropped

It wasn’t until I took a step back from blogging for a week at one point that I realized how distracted I’d become and how the very thing that I thought would ‘make’ my blog was in danger of killing it.

I decided to focus again on my readers and on producing content that would be useful to them and in doing so saw a reversal in all of the above points.

Do I think about incoming links these days as a blogger? Yes I do - they are one aspect of blogging that is important. However as a recovering link-a-holic I attempt to keep that side of my blogging well in check. I think my blogs and I are in a lot better shape for it.

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Written on February 23rd, 2007 at 01:02 pm by Darren Rowse

What do you Want to Know?

enternetusers Site News 92 comments

Blog-QuestionsDo you have a question that you’d like to see answered or addressed here at enternetusers?

It’s not that I’ve run out of questions to answer (I get quite a few through my inbox) but every now and again I like to publicly ask for questions to get a gauge on where the wider readership is at and how I can be of more use to you.

I won’t be able to answer all questions but will try to get through as many as I can. If you don’t want your name/blog to be linked to your question feel free to ask it anonymously. Please submit the questions in comments below.

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Written on February 23rd, 2007 at 07:02 am by Darren Rowse

FeedBurner’s State of the Feedosphere

RSS 2 comments

Feedburner has released a report this morning that is well worth reading if you’re interested in RSS metrics and the recent changes in how Google Reader is reporting he numbers of those using their service.

For analysis of the report head over to Aaron Brazell and TechCrunch.

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Written on February 23rd, 2007 at 02:02 am by Darren Rowse

10 (+5) Requisites for Professional Bloggers

Miscellaneous Blog Tips 34 comments

Daniel at Daily Blog Tips writes 10 Requisites for Professional Bloggers and has some useful things to say under the following headings:

1. Time
2. Expertise on a topic
3. Passion for the topic
4. Writing skills
5. Technical Knowledge
6. Blogging Knowledge
7. Web Design Skills
8. Business/Marketing Knowledge
9. Creativity and Innovative Ideas
10. Network of contacts

While I think all of these skills and abilities will be an asset to a Professional Blogger - my own strategy has always been to attempt to surround myself with people who are able to compensate for those that are lacking for me.

On the above list I would say that I’m lacking on 5 and 7 especially (and am borderline on a number of others).

Five more requisites that I’d add to the list:

11. Patience - too many bloggers give up too quickly. Building a successful blog takes time (not only in the way described by Daily Blog Tips but it takes sustained effort over many months and years).

12. Relational Abilities - extending upon ‘network of contacts’ listed above - I’d suggest you also need to know how to relate to people. This is true on a number of levels - from readers, to other bloggers, to those you engage to work for you, to parters. Knowing how to befriend, motivate, encourage an inspire others is key in most types of blogging. The other aspect of this is that I find many successful bloggers are not selfish about their relationships and often have a gift in being able to connect people with one another.

13. The Ability to Communicate - going beyond the ability to write well is the ability to communicate. Just as important as grammar and spelling is the ability to get a message through and persuade your readership. I know some great technical writers whose work is dry, uninteresting and uninspiring.

14. Information Gatherers - one of the characteristics that I’ve noticed lately about some of the successful bloggers that I interact with is that they have an insatiable desire (and great ability) to gather information. This probably relates to some types of blogs more than others.

15. Comfortability with Themselves - I’ll finish with one I strongly believe in. I see many bloggers attempting to make it big through imitating other bloggers or attempting to replicate what others are doing. While you can learn a lot from imitation - uniqueness and individuality is also important. Finding your own voice, style and rhythm is essential.

I’m sure there are many many more characteristics that would be great for a Pro blogger to have (in fact we did a group writing project a while back with 84 submissions on habits of effective bloggers which covers a lot of this too.

But what have Daniel and I missed from our lists that you’d add? There must be plenty more!

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Written on February 23rd, 2007 at 12:02 am by Darren Rowse

Google Algorithm Update in Progress?

Search Engine Optimization 23 comments

A number of readers have emailed me today asking if Google is updating it’s algorithm. I’ve noticed some slight shifts on two of my sites - but nothing major. Aaron Wall from SEO Book has noticed some significant shifts though and is reporting that an Algorithm Update / Refresh could well be in progress.

I’m not seeing too much discussion so far in the forums that I follow (not much beyond the usual) - but time will tell.

Have you noticed any shifts?

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Written on February 22nd, 2007 at 08:02 am by Darren Rowse

enternetusers Readers Meetup - New York

enternetusers Site News 87 comments

I’m really excited to announce that it looks like there will be a chance for the first ever enternetusers readers meet up while I’m in New York in late March.

Text Links Ads have aggreed to sponsor the night (cough… free drinks!…. cough) and we’re at a point where we’ve narrowed down the date to 28 March (it’s a Wednesday) for an evening meetup (time to be announced).

I’m staying in the Midtown West kind of area so it’ll probably be not to far from there.

At this stage we’re keen to hear from anyone interested in coming along. Getting an idea of numbers will help us choose an appropriate venue.

If you’re a good chance to come leave a comment below with your name and an email in the email field (it’ll be kept private) so we can keep you in touch with the details as they emerge.

I’ve already heard from a few people that they’re considering flying and driving in for the event which blows me away. If there’s enough interest perhaps we could also have an afternoon time for a little more formal get together (perhaps even a workshop or two before the meetup) - an unconference of sorts. If this interests you also please indicate it below.

update: we’re close to having a venue booked. Keep checking your inbox over the coming days and start thinking about what other bloggers you can invite! :-)

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