Blog Tipping and Link Post Writing

September 23, 2007

Can a blog meme be resurrected after a month or so?

Perhaps not in its original format, but we can still extract lots of value from the original initiative. Chris Gray at SEO Ladder tagged me with the Blogging Tip Meme. At the time he had collected a nice list of blog tips. But it’s been awhile, and I’m not sure where the meme has gone. Really, it doesn’t matter.

In the spirit of Joanna Young’s tips on writing great link posts and Liz Strauss’s link post writing challenge (which I’m late for too!) here’s my attempt at bringing you some great blog tips from everyone else:

Steven Snell reminds me of all the valuable real estate I’m ignoring on my blog. Even after a redesign, I still haven’t tackled 404 pages or auto-responders. And don’t get me started on a copyright page or comment policy. Shaun’s right: they’re important, but I just haven’t gotten around to them.

I feel better after reading Bush Mackell’s Q&A with Greg of RevenueBlogging since I focus a lot on RSS subscribers and blogging consistently.

There’s more to blogging than keeping a schedule and pumping up subscription numbers…blog contests are all the rage, with new ones popping up regularly.

Comments are a great indicator of a blog’s success. We all want feedback; and the more discussion you encourage, the better. But the tools for tracking comments leave something to be desired. There’s no shortage of comment-related functionality you can add to your blog, including a comment referrer plugin but I still long for the day when it becomes ultra-easy to track all the conversations I’m having in the blogosphere.

I do like how Leo Chiang tracks and highlights the top commentators on his own blog. It’s a good way to give a quick kudos to your own community.

I’m also fascinated by Derek Semmler’s review of All-in-One SEO Plugin. It’s a plugin I’ve looked at implementing but now might hold off on…

WordPress plugins are always interesting. There are tons of them out there, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. A recent plugin called Who Sees Your Ads gives you a lot of control over displaying blog advertisements. Considering how many people try to make money with blogs, this seems like a worthwhile addition to your plugin toolkit.

When it comes right down to it, blogging is about connecting with people. To do that, you need to present your blog in a personal way. That includes writing a good about page. And for good measure, why not include a photo of yourself as well?

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Comments
  • Thanks for the BlogsWeLuv link, Ben! And this is a great post. You've linked some terrific posts and blogs! :)
  • Hey Ben, thanks for the link back! Nice write-up. :)
  • I think all meme rules are made to be broken. The intent is the thing, and if the intent here is sharing great blogging tips and linking out - it's never too late:-)

    I agree with you on the comments point - I feel there has to be a non-clunky technological solution that will help us keep track. I'll keep reading here to see if you find one!

    Joanna
  • Thanks for the link love Ben!
  • Happy to share the link love folks...Hopefully everyone finds a tip or two worth using on the blogs I've linked to and my own.
  • I love the articles you linked to, especially the idea of recognizing your top five or so commentors. Although most of the people who surf my blog are non bloggers, so I will need to find another way to show them some love.

    Posting a picture...
    Depending on your audience, that can go either way.
  • I'm glad you could extract something good from that post of mine. I appreciate the link, and hope you've had a very nice weekend. (#):)
  • Leo
    Thanks very much for the mention, Ben. It's always nice to get some link-love credit for work that is appreciated, that's why i have my monthly shout-outs :)
  • Ben - Thanks for keeping this one going (and for the mention/link love)! Gotta love the blog synergy. I also liked how you organized your post...I liked that you gave each tip some commentary (as opposed to just listing the links as in the original) -- I should have done the same. I am going to have to go back and revise my original post. Good show :)
  • Chris - Glad you enjoyed it. The beauty of the Web is that you can go back and edit, or change it up next time...
  • Ben, thanks for the mention of my case-study on the All-In-One SEO plugin but it looks like there is a typo on the link.

    You've included quite a few great posts in this list and I've found a few new interesting sites as a result.
  • Derek - Ugh. What's the correct link? I'll update it.
  • Ben, sorry for not mentioning it in my first comment but it appears that there is some extra text at the end of the href as it includes an "onclick" that shouldn't be there. The post link itself is correct.
  • Derek - My mistake, I was missing a " at the end of the link in the code, which is what broke it.

    The link is fixed now.

    So what's the final verdict on the All-in-One SEO plugin?
  • Ben, thanks for correcting the link.

    The final verdict on the plugin would be that I think it is certainly worthwhile. Since my last update in the case-study, I've seen a continued increase in the number of visitors from the search engines.

    In addition, I've seen an increase in the number of indexed pages and the search results have a more meaningful description.

    I'd recommend using the plugin and will actually be making another case-study update in the next week or so.
  • I enjoyed reading the advice you had to share. there was a time I gave a try to some decent contests but had no luck. From the sounds of it, maybe I should give that idea another go.
  • i prefer linking my post link to other blog which are great so that we can do lotsa link exchange and traffic exchange
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