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Brighter side of web - blogging
A few weeks ago, I asked a question to Darren Rowse at Problogger Should I change Blog Platforms?
Since I asked that question I decided to just set up new blogs. The advantages of setting up new blogs are:
- Get the best domain name.
- Enables specialisation (people will probably take advice about blogs more seriously if it's not in between a Monty Python Spam Sketch
- Enables you to choose the best blogging software. in this case wordpress.
Netwriting is my blog about blogging, seo and things like increasing productivity on the internet.
I also have several blogger blogs, (e.g. mortgage blog which I want to change. Blogger blogs on FTP just don't have enough flexibility.
Quite recently, I have become motivated to learn proper grammar and punctuation. Previously, I never really bothered about grammar, much to the chagrin of my sister - Lynne. In fact, I have often "joked" about grammar; see these posts on:
My philosophy is that to learn something, you need to teach it. I hope these are all correct:
My New Wordpress Blog: Net Writing
- Google Sitemap - Gives statistics and is best way to check links to your site. (It is not worth using google link:http://www.site.com)
- Statcounter This is an extensive statcounter given detailed information about site entry e.t.c. It is free if you have a log size of less than 100, which is fine. Gives real time stats.
- W3C Validator Includes
"Don’t Make Me Wait" and "Don’t Make Me Think" are 2 connected principles of web design that will help increase traffic and make sure people want to come back to your site.
Don’t Make me Wait – A recent study found that consumers who need to wait more than 4 seconds for a site to load, often went elsewhere. 4 seconds is not actually that long. It shows how much visitors value speed of page load.
Most web developers will have a fast internet connection (8mb) but remember the majority of people will not be so fortunate. Check your site on a dial up - you will really begin to value speed then.
An unexpected side effect of the Internet, is that the art of writing is becoming more widespread and important than ever before. Through writing on the subjects that interest you, the Internet provides a unique opportunity to make a living through your writing. If you hope to make a successful website it is important to place considerable importance on the technique and inspiration of writing
- Don’t be Put Off. I quite often hear people say they are “not a writer” It is easy to have such false modesty. However just because you are not a professional writer is not a reason to start writing. My theory is that if you can communicate ideas verbally, there is no reason why you can’t communicate through writing.
There are over 60 million blogs on the internet and I’m sure that this number will continue to grow. What makes a good blog? How can you make your blog stand out from all the other 60 million plus blogs? These are a few ideas which will help you to write and create a successful blog.
- Share your Passion. Write on what you know about. It may sound obvious but to be successful you need to be able to write with passion and / or with an informative background. There is no use trying to make a blog about mortgages unless you know actually something about it.
- Regularity. Post on a regular basis. If a blog is regularly updated then it will definitely encourage others to come back and check for your latest content. Also search engines like blogs and websites that have regular content added at a natural rate.
- Keep it simple. Good writing is often deceptively simple. There is no need to try and develop complicated linguistic skills. People will appreciate blog posts that are easy to read. See previous post on writing articles for internet
- Clear Easy Format. I sometimes like to write in bullet points or numbers. It makes it quicker to write and easier to read.
- Niche Areas Focus on a couple of niche areas of interest. If you try to cover every interest under the sun then it is more difficult to build up a regular readership. Having said that I sometimes ignore my own advice. On this blog I post on many unrelated posts: The UK economy, spirituality, Monty Python, Photos of Oxford, poetry e.t.c If you do have several interests you could always consider having different blogs for different topics. This is likely to develop a readership who are interested in your whole blog, rather than get put off by seeing different things. At the same time don’t spread yourself too thinly by having countless blogs.
- Don’t Make Me Think. A while back I came across an idea on the internet “Don’t make me think” I like this very much. Basically the average internet user wants to find the best things with minimum effort. Make sure your best posts don’t get lost in the archives. You can always link to them every now and then or you could have good posts highlighted. Don't Make me Think
“If you really want to know if your Web site works, ask your next door neighbor to try using it, while you watch." (When my mother can navigate my site I know I have got it right)
- Good Titles Choose titles with care. To get traffic it is good to choose keyword rich titles. For example if you choose “Advice for writing a blog” you have much less competition than if you chose a title “A Good blog”. Generally 3-4 words are better than 1.
I would like very much to choose a good name for this blog. The original name was "Richard's Blog" - OK, but not particularly original or insightful. The current blog name "Good Things" is far too bland. Anyway I asked the help of my friend Shardul, who choose a very good name for his blog The Brighter Side of Life. these are some suggestions, which Shardul kindly gave to me:
- "On the Sunny Side of the Street"
- "It's All Downhill From Here" - I like this, related to my cycling
- "Blog of the Lion-Heart" (After King Richard III - The Lionheart)
- "Spinning Wheels"
Quite recently I added a photo to my blog a couple of days later I came across this 2000 bloggers
It's a very good idea. I think it is always good to see the person behind the website, makes it closer to personal contact. It has also been increasing my technorati ranking, though I'm not sure how important that it is.
My irregularly updated blog on Blogging advice
Just need to find a good picture next...
Usually I use Mozilla browser, but sometimes I check how my sites look on Internet Explorer. There always seems to be some bug when viewing In IE, which require some patch, fix or hack. I think this is why many computer users have developed a dislike of Microsoft products. They always have bugs and problems which require numerous fixes after it has caused you problems. As other people have suggested its like designing a car and when it crashes you get sent a patch so the brakes work a little better next time. IE7 is out and may solve some of the problems, but I would still recommend downloading Mozilla. There are many other good features and generally it is considered more secure against viruses e.t.c.
There are over 60 million blogs on the internet and I’m sure that this number will continue to grow. What makes a good blog and how can you make your blog stand out from all the other 60 million plus blogs. These are a few ideas which will help you to write and create a successful blog.
- Write on what you know about. It may sound obvious but to be successful you need to be able to write with passion and / or with an informative background. There is no use trying to make a blog about mortgages unless you know actually something about it.
- Post on a regular basis. If a blog is regularly updated then it will definitely encourage others to come back and check for your latest content. Also search engines like blogs and websites that have regular content added at a natural rate.
- Keep it simple. Good writing is often deceptively simple. There is no need to try and develop complicated linguistic skills. People will appreciate blog posts that are easy to read.
- I sometimes like to write in bullet points or numbers. It makes it quicker to write and easier to read.
