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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Oct | 31 | 2009

Finding Images for your Blog Posts

Posted by Jimmy as Images, Tips One problem that many bloggers encounter is trying to find an image to accompany their posts. Actually the problem isn’t really finding an appropriate image but an image that can be used legally without needing to get express permission from the owner/creator. This isn’t that big a problem for me here at Blog Tutorials since I very rarely use images to accompany posts. However, I can still sympathize with other bloggers who need to find images on a regular basis. Because of this I looked for ways to find images available for republishing in blogs. I then came upon Rhys’ recent ...

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Sep | 30 | 2009

The Importance of About Pages

Posted by Jimmy as Design, Tips How much effort did you put in to make your About Page? Did you even make one? The About Page is probably one of the most neglected pages there is, especially when it comes to the blogosphere. This is a big mistake because About Pages can be really useful. Some of the benefits of having a good About Page include: Searchability – If you are out to build your online reputation an About Page is another page where people can get to know more about you. It's another page crawled by search engines that will hopefully climb the rankings to be included ...

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Jul | 29 | 2009

Quick Tips For A Beautiful Blog

Posted by Jimmy as Blog Tutorial, Design, Images While I like focusing more on content, I cannot deny the value of having an aesthetically appealing blog. Here are some quick tips to create a beautiful blog in terms of the visual aspect. Forget the clutter There are countless widgets and buttons out there. It seems to me that everyday, you can find a new one that you like and that you want to put in your blog. While widgets and buttons are cool and useful, beware of using too many of them in your blog. Doing so will only increase the clutter and take away from ...

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Apr | 10 | 2009

How To Make A Sticky Blog

Posted by Jimmy as Blog Tutorial, Design, Tips Sticky blog? I am sure you pretty much know what a sticky blog is, but just in case you are not entirely sure, let’s take a moment to describe one. Let us say that you enjoy a sudden surge of visitors due to one reason or another. Certainly, you would be ecstatic the entire day. But what about the day after? And the next? Would those people still be visiting your blog? That is the idea of a sticky blog – you get to entice people to keep coming back for more. ...

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Feb | 09 | 2009

Gain That Edge For Your Blog

Posted by Jimmy as Blog Tutorial, Design, Tips, Writing There are thousands upon hundred thousands of blogs on the Internet today. How can you be sure that your blog will be noticed by readers out there? Actually, this fact can go both ways. On the one hand, from the reader’s point of view, it might be like the proverbial needle in the haystack – how do you find one blog amidst the plethora of blogs? On the other hand, from your point of view, you can take advantage by gaining an edge over other blogs and attracting people to your blog. But how do ...

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Jan | 18 | 2009

What First Impression Does Your Blog Give Off?

Posted by Jimmy as Design, Images, Opinion, Tips First impressions last, or so they say. To be fair, first impressions do not always stand the test of time. There are times when first impressions are false and perceptions change through time. But then again, when talking about your blog and new readers, would you take the risk of not converting a first time visitor to a returning one merely because of a so so first impression? I thought not. So, have you taken a look at your blog lately? I mean really LOOK – from an outsider’s point of view. What impression does ...

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Jun | 23 | 2008

How Is Your Blog Template?

Posted by Jimmy as Blog Tutorial, Design and Themes, Templates When you first set your blog up, how much thought did you put on your blog template? If it was your first time blogging, you might have spent some time trying to decide on which template to use. You probably started with a free blogging template and realized early on that the template choices were limited. Then again, you didn’t really have much of a choice, did you? So now that your blog is up and running and you have built up your readership a bit, have you been having thoughts on how to improve your blog template? ...

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May | 26 | 2008

Adding Interest to your Blog: Images and Multi-media Content

Posted by Guru as Images, Tips Though I rarely add images in my posts here and have lots of pure text entries, it is actually advisable to occasionally add other elements to your blog posts to keep it more interesting. Remember you do not want one time readers only but want to get people to keep on returning. Making sure that your blog is pleasing to the eye (and never ending long lines of text is definitely NOT pleasing to the eye) is one way to make the blog more interesting and worth checking out regularly. So what are the things you should insert in your post ...

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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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Software and Widgets

Wordpress Plug-ins

If you blog using Wordpress and can’t do something that you want done like adding Sphere-related content at the end of your blog posts you might be surprised to find out that there are already plug-ins available that make it happen.
To find good Wordpress plug-ins all you need to do is search for “wordpress [...]
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A Friend In Need

I’m helping out my friends from the UA&P – IShareHappiness Blog Team.
Whenever you feel pessimistic, angry, troubled, frustrated, and depressed – what have you – you need someone to talk to. Someone who could help you be more optimistic and help make you feel that there is hope. Sometimes it’s hard to talk to someone [...]
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Monetization

Review: Logical Media

Logical Media is one of the innovative services that pay for ad placement within blogs. Do you have a blog and are you seeking a way to make additional money from the blog? Are you seeking a way to offset other programs with the use of ads? Through the registration with Logical Media, the blogger [...]
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Marketing and Search Optimization

Search Rank Drop and False Alarms

Happy Holidays!
What are the chances of someone being concerned about their blog’s search ranking dropping on Christmas Eve? I have no idea but then again if I’m writing about it right now then there’s probably someone somewhere around the world doing SEO at this very minute.
If you have experienced a sudden drop in ranking, [...]
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