Instigator Blog

Every blogger is faced with situations that don’t allow them to publish as frequently as normal. Could be a slump. Maybe they’re too busy. Or…wait for it…they could be taking a vacation!

When there’s some planned time away from the computer lots of bloggers will set the publish date on stories in advance, so the stories go live automatically - but that’s not always the case.

My last post was Tuesday, February 27th - probably the longest gap ever. The reason: I was moving. A new house means lots and lots and lots of boxes. It took me 2 days to crawl out from under the boxes, let alone squeeze my arse out from behind the dryer that I had to install.

But I’m back! And along with a host of other major changes in my life (to be discussed soon, I promise) I’m hopping back into the blog saddle.

Thinking about the blog saddle a bit more, here are 6 steps to help:

1. Read More. Now is a great time to catch up on some reading - be it your feeds, or, dare I say it, an actual book. I spent a few days reading some magazines and the newspaper, letting new ideas and thoughts percolate in the back of my head.
2. Take Some More Time Off. Sounds strange - you’ve already been out of blogging for awhile - but take some more time off anyway. Don’t rush it. If you jump back in desperate to publish something the result won’t be as good as you want. So don’t panic; get back into the swing of things by taking just a little more time off to prepare.
3. Think About a Series of Posts. While you’re taking just a little bit more time off you should think about writing a series of posts. A series is a great way to get back into things because you’re preparing a few posts in a row and thinking longer term. Instead of trying to get back on the saddle with just one post, you’re now thinking about a real story arc that can help re-build momentum.
4. Write What You Always Wanted To But Never Did. Every blogger has a post or two in his/her mind that’s been sitting there for ages. Now is the time to finally spit it out. If you don’t, you might lose it and never find the right opportunity again. Maybe it’s a controversial post, or something a bit out of synch with what you normally write…that’s fine! Give it a shot. Grab your readers’ attention back quickly and suck ‘em in.
5. Keep It Simple. No matter what you do, keep it simple. The worst thing you could do is blurt out a million different ideas in a hundred posts in a very fast period of time. You’ll overwhelm your audience. And as Darren Rowse points out in a recent survey he did, most people unsubscribe from a blog because of too many posts. Shock and awe isn’t really suited to blogging, especially when you first get back into it.
6. Give Me Something Unique. Don’t come back into blogging with a link post, or something that might be considered “content filler.” Give me something unique, interesting, thought provoking, funny. Your first post back has to really resonate with people, who may already have forgotten you were there. Hey, people are fickle! So keep it simple but don’t be chintzy. (Granted, a post about how to get back into blogging might not be the most unique; so I may be breaking my own rule!)

Getting back into the blog saddle isn’t easy. You may be a bit unmotivated, distracted, tired, overwhelmed, bored…Even if you’re absolutely raring to go it’s not always obvious how to jump back in. Ultimately you just do it. You won’t be wholly judged on that first post, so don’t throw yourself into a frenzy about it. Write something, make it as good as you can, and plan the next few posts as quickly as possible. You don’t want to tease people with one post only to disappear right after.

The most important thing is to find your groove again, and as soon as possible. I know my groove is packed away in a box somewhere…if only I had labeled these boxes better! Kitchen, bathroom, dining room, blog groove…

Photo by Rexys Lightgarden.

The best blog posts contain only one idea.

It doesn’t matter whether the posts are short or long, five words or five thousand words, people appreciate the singularity and focus of blog posts that are only about one thing.

Just one.

Not two.

One.

This is one of our biggest challenges. Many bloggers are ramblers, and we write like we talk. After all, it’s rare to have a meeting or conversation about one thing. But the problem with the multi-idea blog post is that most people who read blogs are scanners.

Ramblers and scanners don’t mix.

Scanners don’t read in-depth and don’t want to see a post that bounces between ideas. They want one idea. Clear. Obvious.

And ideally, you need to get to the point as quickly as possible. So not only are you limited to one idea per blog post, but you better get that idea out there in the very first sentence.

The best blog posts are about one thing. The more laser-focused the blog post, the better. If you look at your blog post and it’s got two or more ideas in it, you know what you’ve got? Two or more blog posts. Break it up, focus on one thing at a time and you’ll be writing better blog posts.

Picking the best WordPress theme for your blog or website is hard. There are hundreds of themes available and more popping up every single day.

Not all WordPress themes are created equal. And while most are decent and manageable, there are some things you should watch out for and be wary of before selecting a theme.

1. Messy Code. Messy code doesn’t mean the theme is broken or won’t work, but it makes it harder to change things. Even small tweaks could have disastrous effects. Messy code also makes it harder to find things and understand how the code is affecting the design. So you’ll run into situations where it’s simply not obvious how to change something. Clean code is usually nicely aligned and documented. Here’s an example:
   

   /* Begin Content Classes */
   .featuredpost {
   margin: 0 0 30px 0;
   padding: 10px 20px 20px;
   background: #f5f5f5;
   border: 1px solid #ddd;
   }

2. Too Restrictive. Some themes were just not meant to play with. A theme that’s too restrictive won’t let you easily make changes. This is most likely a result of poor coding, which will be very difficult to overcome, and not worth the effort of fixing up (just find another theme.) If you’re planning to make significant changes to a theme, test those changes out quickly, on-the-fly, to see if the theme is too restrictive or not.
3. Too Many or Too Few Files. When you go to edit your WordPress theme it lists the editable files on the right-hand side. Some themes will have an overwhelming number of files, which means it’s harder to change your theme and make sure the changes follow through across the blog. It’s also downright confusing. I’ve seen this a few times with K2 Themes; the list of editable files is so long you’re not sure where to start!

   Too few files means that you might not be able to get the right diversity of design, style and layout that you want. For example, the Painted Desert theme only has a few editable files. It’s quite a nice looking theme and fairly unique amongst others that you’ll see, but if you want to make significant changes it gets complicated.

   A good “group” of files to have (in order to maintain flexibility but not go over the top) include Stylesheet, Main Index Template, Single Post, Page Template, Archives, Sidebar, Search Results. There are others too (like Footer) which are handy but not necessary to do most of what you’ll need to.

4. No Further Updates. There are many themes out there in various stages of release that will never get any further love from the original designers/developers. That’s OK, they’re giving the stuff away for free, and everyone’s busy, but if it looks like a theme hasn’t been updated in a very long time, or the owner has openly said s/he won’t be updating it anymore, consider your use of that theme carefully.
5. No Support. You might find the most perfect theme out there for your blog, but if there’s no support provided (in the form of forums, active comments on blog threads, an email address of the original designer, etc.) you may want to think twice. If you’re a sophisticated WordPress user or you don’t expect to make a lot of changes, go for it, but lots of themes have small, little bugs you might encounter, or you might need help making advanced changes. Even a small support network or active user group of the theme can be extremely helpful.

The great thing about WordPress is that you can always change themes, but it’s always best to start off on the right foot. And once you’ve picked a theme and invested some time in it, you won’t want to start all over again with something new.

WordPress makes it very easy to change themes and completely change the design of your blog. That’s a great feature, and it allows non-designers and people with limited CSS/HTML/etc. experience to do some amazing stuff.

But, there’s a number of critical steps you need to go through after changing your blog’s design, in order to make sure it’s going to work perfectly.

1. The Sidebar Will Be Overwritten. Most people make a lot of changes to their sidebars, adding text, advertising, links, widgets, etc. If you’re using widget-enabled WordPress themes this isn’t an issue (because widgets stay in place when themes are changed) but if you made changes manually you’re going to have to redo them.

   Before you activate the new theme, save all of the code from your sidebar (just copy and paste it somewhere.) When you switch themes, edit the sidebar file(s) and re-apply your changes.

2. Re-apply Stat Tracking Code. Most people use a blog stat tracking tool of some kind (i.e. Google Analytics, 103bees, etc.) This is usually done with a snippet of code found in the header or footer. When you change WordPress themes, the header and footer files will be overwritten, so you’ll need to re-apply these code snippets. Otherwise your site will no longer be tracked properly, and you won’t be collecting stats. After re-applying these snippets, make sure the stat tracking tools are working properly.

   The same holds true if you’re using Google Webmasters Tools. Google Webmasters Tools require that you verify site ownership. This can be done by uploading a file (in which case changing WordPress themes is irrelevant) or by putting meta tag code in the header file. If you use the latter, make sure to put the code back after you change the WordPress theme or the site won’t be properly verified.

3. Check Which Plugins You Need. You may not need every plugin that you were using before. Some may no longer be suitable to the theme you’re using, some might be redundant. For example I was using the Optimal Title plugin (which I highly recommend.) It puts the post title in front of the blog name for the title of any page. This is better for SEO purposes. When I switched to this theme, I noticed that the post titles were already in front; the theme was coded that way. So the plugin was no longer necessary.

   There may also be some plugins you don’t want to use anymore. Now is a good time to clean things up.

4. Verify That Plugins Work. Any plugin that didn’t require you to edit the template files should be OK, but many do. These plugins won’t work anymore without re-applying the changes to the new template. A good example is the Related Entries plugin which requires a small snippet of code inside the WordPress files.

   Some plugins may display strangely due to new CSS code in the stylesheet file(s), and so you may have to change CSS as well.

5. Update The Design and Colors of Your Ads. If you’re running Google AdSense, Text-Link-Ads or any other form of advertising, chances are you blended those ads into the design and color scheme of your old blog. With a theme change there’s a good chance that you’ve also changed link colors, which means your advertisements won’t be as well blended and designed as before. For Google AdSense if you’re using AdSense Deluxe it’s easy to change the colors in WordPress. For Text-Link-Ads you can edit the plugin through WordPress as well.
6. Make Sure RSS Feed Subscriptions Work. Because RSS feed subscriptions are so important, just test this to make sure it’s OK. Try subscribing to your site. If you use FeedBurner, subscribe with the FeedBurner link and with the blog’s URL by itself. When you subscribe with the blog’s URL, your RSS Reader should auto-discover the available feeds. Make sure it’s pulling the one you want.
7. Test All Secondary Features. When picking a WordPress theme you probably won’t see all of its features in action, including pages, searching, categories and archives. As soon as you activate the new theme check all of these things out on your blog. You might be surprised what you find. The biggest issue will be that something isn’t formatted the way you want. For example, I tried searching here after updating the theme and noticed that the results didn’t include an excerpt of the post. So that’s something I had to change.
8. Test Using Multiple Browsers. Most people forget to test using multiple browsers, but it’s very important. If you’re using a PC it’s easy to test your blog in Firefox and Internet Explorer. On a Mac you can check it out in Firefox and Safari.
9. Make Changes Carefully. You may not have spent a lot of time experimenting with the new WordPress theme. So before you start radically changing things, take a few baby steps. Make a few small adjustments, test in multiple browsers and see how things go. It’s important to really learn the innards of the theme before you make huge changes.
10. Post About The Change On Your Blog. Make sure you tell people that you’ve changed the design of your blog. Ask people for feedback. People have all kinds of different setups; resolutions, browsers, screen sizes, etc. so they’ll be able to tell you how it looks. Remind RSS readers to come check it out too.

Most of us never have enough blog traffic. We want more, and more, and more site visitors.

But the real value in blogging comes from 1.

How can you get 1 more person to visit your blog, engage and build a relationship with you?

1. Write to Get More Comments. Turning a visitor into a commenter is a key way of building a relationship with someone. Here are some blog writing tips to get more comments.
2. Reply to Comments. Unless you get hundreds of comments per day there’s no reason you can’t do this. Even if it’s to say “thank you, come again!” People who comment are more interested in building meaningful relationships; in a way, through commenting, they already have.
3. Visit Commenters’ Sites. Most people leave a link when they comment. Click on it. Visit their blog and see what’s there. You never know what you’ll find.
4. Email People a Thank You. If you see real possibilities for extending the relationship between blog writer and reader, email the person a thank you. Ask questions and extend the discussion.
5. Email People Links of Interest. Don’t be shy about emailing people a link of interest from your blog. Or, it might be from another site, with a small note, “You might also find my blog interesting at http://www.instigatorblog.com. I’m tackling topics such as…”
6. Track The Most Popular Content. What are the most popular posts on your blog? And how did people get to them? Answer those two questions and you start to paint a picture of what people are looking for. Give them more of what they’re looking for and new and old readers alike will become more engaged. I’ve used Google Analytics for awhile and just started using 103bees (which has some interesting reports and metrics.)
7. Make Content Accessible and Readable. Don’t over clutter your blog to the point of hiding content. A blog is nothing without content; it needs to stand out and shine through. You don’t need a blank sidebar or the ultra-cleanest Web 2.0 theme in the world; but de-clutter when you can, make headlines prominent, and keep content easily readable and inviting.
8. Participate in Online Communities. The further you reach beyond your blog, the more potential you have to connect with people. It’s a pro-active versus passive approach to building your blog community. Comment on other people’s blogs. Join MyBlogLog.

Your blog community will grow 1 person at a time. Your network of meaningful relationships will grow as well.

The most powerful thing about the approach is that new community members will become evangelists for you. If each person you build a blog relationship with goes out and tells 5 other people about your blog, and they become engaged only to tell 5 more people…well, you get the picture.

Successful blogging isn’t about having the biggest audience, or constantly growing traffic by leaps and bounds. Those are great things, but they don’t get at the heart of successful blogging.

Successful blogging is all about the power of 1.