Archive for » June, 2007 «

24
Jun
Secure Contact Form For WordPress
Barbara Swafford

I just installed the “Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form v.2.0″ which can be found at Beast-Blog.com or, at Blue Anvil.com. It was written by Mike Cherim and Mike Jolley.

To install the Secure and Accessible PHP Contact Form v.2.0, is quite simple. The “Mikes’” have written a very thorough readme file, which takes you through the process, step by step.

From what I understand, this form will help to eliminate spam, plus gives readers a chance to contact a site owner, by just entering a small amount of information.

To see my “contact” page, just click here, or on “Contact”, in the sidebar.

A big thank you goes out to Mike Cherim and Mike Jolley, for a job well done on an awesome plugin.

Category: Archives, Plugins and Widgets  Tags: ,  Comments off
21
Jun
Do You Digg “Them”? I Digg “Them”!
Barbara Swafford

What do I Digg? I dig Digg. And, I Digg my posts. I’m my harshest critic, but I’m also well aware that some of my posts are worth Digg-ing. By the way, these aren’t typos. Read on.

To Digg your own posts gives them more exposure. If your posts appear to include valuable information, Digg may send more traffic to your site. According to my Google Analytics, in the last month, Digg accounted for 19.5% of my traffic. I can dig that!

To Digg your own post is simple. Click on the post you want to Digg. Click on your Digg “chicklet”, and follow Digg’s instructions. You don’t have a Digg chicklet? Add the Notable Plugin to your blog. Make sure you check the “Digg” box.

When you get to Digg’s site, at Digg.com, enter the requested information, Digg will say, “Submit Story” You may get a message that reads “! We think your story may be a duplicate of one that was submitted by someone else”. Digg then lists similar articles. Some of these may be on track with what you wrote, but unless someone has plagiarized your work, your article should be an original. Continue on to the bottom of the page, and click, “Continue,Submit”. You just “Digg – ed” your post. You will see that you now have “1″ Digg. If other people “Digg” your post, that number will increase. If you go to your “profile” at Digg.com, you’ll see all of the articles you’ve “Digg – ed”, or I guess that would be, “Dugg”.

I dig the fact that this post is very, very, very, keyword dense. I think I’ll Digg It!

Category: Archives, Lessons Learned  Tags: , ,  2 Comments
21
Jun
Newbie To Blogging?
Barbara Swafford

I’m not sure what constitutes being a newbie to blogging, but I think I’m still a newbie, as my two blogs are less than three months old.

When I first started blogging, I felt overwhelmed by everything I was reading. My head spun for weeks, and the learning curve was more like a switchback road going through a mountain pass. With every site I visited, I got more information, however, the more I read, the more conflicting the information became. What’s a newbie to do?

So, here I am, almost three months later, and I feel I’m getting a grasp of what makes for a “decent” blog. I won’t rank myself as “good” or “excellent”, but I do feel those rankings are attainable.

If you’ve done any research at all, you see it: You need links: deep links, back links, outgoing links, etc. Then I read how I should join the blogging community and leave comments on other blogs, get my name “out there”, sign up for online directories, use keyword density, use word tags, don’t use word tags, use meta tags, don’t use meta tags, add plugins, add widgets, check your stats, download, upload, robots, spiders, crawlers, learn about HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, pinging, trackbacks, post slugs, SEO, SERPs,carnivals, …Whew!…….the list goes on. Who would have ever thought, that just to write an article (or post), would mean that you need a higher education in computer terminology and technology?

What do I do? The most important thing I find is to write (or post) what I know. And, I post often. I’ve settled in with the thought, “If I blog, my readership will increase”. (Or as they say in the “Field of Dreams”…”If you build it, they will come”) I have lots of patience. so I’ve taken the time to learn some HTML, created some outgoing and deep links, utilize keyword density, joined a blogging carnival, and use a few plugins and widgets, etc. As time permits, I will increase my knowledge of what’s truly needed to create a successful blog, but I’m not going to beat myself up because I haven’t learned it all yet.

There’s something to be said about “Keeping It Simple”. So, if you’re a newbie to blogging, I say, “concentrate on blogging about what you know”. Don’t expect to be able to learn everything overnight. And…….most of all, have fun!

Category: Archives, Lessons Learned  Tags: , , ,  3 Comments
20
Jun
How To Rank High On Search Engine Results
Barbara Swafford

You blog. You want your blog to rank high on the search engines. The major question is, “How do I get my blog at the top of the search engine results?”. From my experience, getting your blog to the top of search engine results doesn’t happen overnight. This is what I’ve found.

1) Blog about what you are passionate about-don’t follow the crowd, otherwise you’re all competing for the same position.

On my OM blog, I did a post on How to Teach Children Basic Math With Cribbage. Much to my surprise, it comes up on the front page of Google’s search engine. Actually, it’s there twice, once from my post, and secondly, from “Digg”.

2) Use meta tags. I don’t know if they help or not, as when I researched them, I read that not all search engines recognize them, but I think they may give me an advantage.

3) Use keyword density. Do a search for what you’re going to blog about. Look at what results come up. See how they are keyword dense? A lot of people want to use keyword that rank high, but not everyone is searching for the same thing. When I did a search for “teach cribbage”, there were 94,800 results. I ‘m real proud of myself for being on the front page.

4) Have original quality content. Don’t copy what someone else is writing….unless a link to an article on another blog compliments what you have to say. Is what you’re writing about something that can help others? Look at your content from your readers perspective. Is it something you would like to know? Or is it just “fluff”? “Fluff” may get you a higher ranking for a short time, but that too, shall pass.

5) Create a quality site. Have you created a site that’s easy to navigate and invites your readers to come back often in anticipation of what you have to say? Or is it a site that filled with ads and lots of graphics? Again, pretend you are surfing and found this “site”. Would you stay and visit? Or would you click off of it? Analyze it. Ask your friends for their honest opinion about your site. Use what you learn to perfect your site. Do you need to change your theme? Then, do it.

On my OM blog, I created a category which I named Sidebar Shopping Site, for my readers who what to shop. It got most of my ads off of the post pages.

6) Post often. If the bots, spiders and crawlers “see” that you’re updating your site on a regular basis, the chances of getting your posts indexed faster, is greater. Remember…..quality content matters.

7) What’s your motivation for creating a blog? If you’re blogging in hopes of getting rich quick and making a kazillion dollars, and that’s your motivation, you may be left in the “sandbox” for a long time. Or, you’ll run out of patience, and all the time you spent trying to make that kazillion, will be wasted. If, on the other hand, you’re blogging to share what you know with others, in an effort to make their lives a little easier, the chances are, your blog will succeed and stand the test of time.

8.) Lastly, be patient. It’s said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”, neither is a good blog.

For an example of great blogs, check out my blogroll on my home page. These are sites I love to visit often. These individuals have put a lot of time and effort in creating sites that contain valuable information, are easy to navigate, and are proof that developing a great blog is attainable.

Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, SEO  Tags: , , , ,  2 Comments
19
Jun
How To Create Deep Links In Your Blog
Barbara Swafford

Getting inbound links to your blog from highly ranked sites can be difficult. Creating outbound links is much easier. You can link to another blog, link to a story you want to share, or link to a shopping affiliate.

I have a few inbound links to my blog, but what I’m doing now, is linking internally to other posts in my blog. You know, you have those early posts that are buried in your archives, and they aren’t getting any hits. In blogosphere, you’ll hear this technique called, “deep linking”. You could also deep link to comments you’ve received on a post. Deep linking will also give you more topics to write about.

Just today on my OM blog, I did an article. Well, let’s link to it. Easy Office Filing System. Since I have a category on “office” ,”organizing” and “product reviews”, just to mention a few, I have written a post that includes four of my previous posts.

To include that many links, did take a little creativity, but with a little bit of imagination, I was able to create a post that makes sense, and has valuable information.

Currently I have approximately 60 posts in my archives, and of those, about 10-15 are getting the majority of the hits. By deep linking, I’ll be able to bring some of those old posts back up to the surface, and at the same time concentrate more on keyword density.

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Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, Linking  Tags: ,  Comments off
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