Author Archive for Jimmy

Feb | 28 | 2010

Bullets in Blogging

Posted by Jimmy as Tips, Writing In case you haven't noticed, I like using bullets. Bullets are very useful for blogging because: *It makes your content easy to scan - The average internet surfer (which of course includes blog readers) have very short attention spans. This makes it very important to present your posts in a manner that would allow them to scan and take in as much information as they can by simply scanning your post. If what they see at a glance interests them then they will take the time to read the post in detail. If they aren't too interested they go to the ...

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Feb | 22 | 2010

Focusing on the Sidebar: Show me the Money!

Posted by Jimmy as Design, Monetization Last time I mentioned how the sidebar contributes to the blog in terms of aesthetics and usability (navigation), one thing I failed to mention though is that the sidebar can also be very important in terms of monetization. Obviously you can use the sidebar to insert all kinds of ads - from Adsense to the direct sponsor's banners. If you do choose to use your sidebar as a venue for blog monetization though I urge you to keep to the following guidelines: Think appropriate - Make sure you only put up ads that are appropriate for your readers. Obviously if your ...

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Feb | 18 | 2010

Focusing on the Sidebar

Posted by Jimmy as Design, Tips One of the most important aspects of blog usability is the sidebar. The sidebar is important because it contributes to your blog in two major ways - navigation and aesthetics. When choosing the type of sidebar to go with you have to make sure you always factor in both. Aesthetics - The sidebar should always complement your blog's over all graphical design. You want the colors to blend in, the proportions to work, and the format such that it will enhance your blog's overall look without taking the reader's attention away from the most important thing - your posts. What this ...

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Feb | 11 | 2010

Blogger Photo: Posting Guidelines

Posted by Jimmy as Tips In my last post I gave cases when you should NOT post a profile pic in your about page. Today I'll be giving some advice on choosing your profile photo for your About Page. As I have mentioned before, your About Page is your chance to make a good impression to new readers interested in knowing more about you and your blog. With that in mind you should choose a profile picture that represents you well. This means that the picture should: Be REAL - No stock photos please of some handsome or pretty stranger. You know how some blogs use such ...

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Feb | 08 | 2010

Blogger Photo: When NOT to post

Posted by Jimmy as Tips I have said several times that an About Page is important for every blog. Your About Page gives new readers an easy way to check what your blog is supposed to be about, who the blogger(s) is/are behind the blog, and figure out the blog's trustworthiness. In short, the About Page is your introduction; your chance to make a good impression. When deciding on the contents of an About Page I'm pretty sure that almost all bloggers put much effort on the text portion - the information to be shared, the wording, the tone, and the length. However, when it comes ...

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Jan | 30 | 2010

Initialisms DUH?

Posted by Jimmy as Terminology, Writing We live in an SMS world nowadays. Everywhere you go you'll see people on their phones - not making calls, but texting. With the popularity of texting (and chatting) it is no wonder that initialism has boomed. If you're wondering what initialism means it is simply abbreviating phrases by using the first letter of each word on the phrase. Initialism is not a bad thing because it serves its purpose - makes texting and chatting really faster. (Though I'm pretty sure spelling teachers all over the world hate it. People misspell words often enough without developing bad habits from initialism ...

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Jan | 28 | 2010

Loving the Link Love

Posted by Jimmy as Linking, Opinion How much do you link to other blogs and websites? Spreading link love is, I think, like good karma. As they say, "What goes around, comes around." If you spread link love you might not see immediate results but it DOES help your blog in several ways. 1. Ups your user-friendliness - Blogs that mention sites or other blog posts without linking to the exact page they are referring to is one of my major irritations. I end up having to search for their source when I could just have got to where I could get more info in just one click had ...

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Jan | 25 | 2010

Why You Are Losing Ground in Search Results Pages

Posted by Jimmy as Marketing and Search Optimization, Spam, Tips As promised in my post Reasons for Sudden Plunge in Blog Traffic I will be discussing the possible reasons for a sudden drop in search rank. I already wrote about this in the past but concentrated on FALSE ALARMS. However, what do you do when you find out that your search rank has indeed dropped? Just like finding out the reason for a decrease in traffic, the first thing you need to do is find out WHY. Major reasons could be: 1. spam - If you are a splog then you have most likely been discovered. However, if your blog ...

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Jan | 12 | 2010

Reasons for Gradual Decline in Blog Traffic

Posted by Jimmy as Tips On my last post I gave several reasons that could explain a sudden plunge your blog’s incoming traffic including: *problems with your stats tracker; *technical difficulties with your blog; *holidays/special events; and *a sudden drop in search rank (or even removal from search index). What I will be discussing today though could explain why your blog has been experiencing a slow and steady decline in traffic. In my opinion a steady decline in traffic is harder to reverse and more deadly than an abrupt plunge (unless the plunge has been lingered for some time). The reason for this is, as you can see from ...

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Jan | 02 | 2010

Reasons for Sudden Plunge in Blog Traffic

Posted by Jimmy as Tips What do/will you do if your blog traffic noticeably decreases? What SHOULD you do if it does? When I first experienced this problem I found that my first response was emotional: I got frustrated and discouraged. There’s nothing wrong with that unless you let it get to you and end up quitting. I can’t tell you not to feel discouraged but what I can help you with is to be prepared to take proper steps to address the issue. After giving yourself a few minutes to wallow, the next step is to check whether you are experiencing a sudden drop in traffic ...

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Design and Themes

Is Your Blog W3C Compliant?

Last night I checked my personal blog’s code hoping I can proudly display the W3C Validated Button. Since I use Blogger and do not really do anything to clean up the code (beyond adding Alt-tags to the images I embed) I wasn’t surprised at all to find that my blog contained lots of errors – [...]
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Happy Holidays!
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