Archive for » July, 2007 «

30
Jul
Is A “Hit”, A “Visit”?
Barbara Swafford

Over the weekend, I received an email from the owner of a website I “showcased” on my other blog. She had a question about “hits” on her website, Dare To Care – Alaska.

Her passion is to feed hungry children, who have fallen through the cracks for Federally funded school lunches. How her non-profit organization was formed, is a touching story. You can read it at: Hungry Children, In The United States?

In response to her email, I wanted to give her a simple explanation for the difference between “hits” and “visits”. Here’s what I wrote:

“HIts” is something I had to learn about, as it’s very misleading. “Hits” are not the same as “visits”. i.e. My first month of blogging, I was averaging 423 “hits” a day, but that was only an average of 34 “unique visitors” a day.

“Hits” are affected by the amount of graphics/images you have on a page. The more graphics/images, the more “hits” you’ll see for each “visit”.

My first month of blogging, I had a lot of ads on my pages. That drove up my “hit” count. Now I have moved those ads to a separate page “Sidebar Shopping”, so unless a reader clicks on that page, I’m not getting a “hit” for all of those graphics.

Now, I have an average of 652 “hits” per day, and my average visitor count per day is 139. See the difference? My visitor count is up-that’s what I’m looking at.

I don’t know what “statistics” program your webmaster is using. Some are better than others. From researching, and using different “stats” programs, I like AWStats the best. They do not count visits by Google bots, or any other “spiders” or “crawlers”, that are used to index your pages. These “visits” aren’t actual visitors.

To gain more extensive knowledge about “hits” vs “visitors”, many websites offer a detailed explanation, but for me, and the owner of Dare To Care – Alaska, , keeping it simple, serves us well.

Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, Stats  Tags: , ,  3 Comments
26
Jul
12 Great Excuses For Not Having A Web Log “Blog”
Barbara Swafford

Way back, we used to write letters to each other. Then, the telephone came along, and everyone had a telephone number to share. After the telephone, came the fax. Then the cell phone. We probably have a minimum of three numbers for one person. Then, e-mail came along, and everyone, had an e-mail address to share. Then, instant and text messaging.

Now, it’s a “web address” for your blog.

But….not everyone wants, or even needs a web log “blog”.

Here are 12 great excuses to use, if someone asks for you, why you don’t have a blog.

1) “Blab? What’s a blab?

2) “I don’t have time to blog.”

3) “Computer language is “Greek” to me.”

4) ” I can’t spell, and my grammar ain’t no good, either.”

5) “I hate computers.”

6) “I only use my computer to play games.”

7) ” I don’t care to “make friends” with strangers.”

8.) “If I wanted to share with everyone, what I’ve learned, I would write a book.”

9.) “I can make more money on my full-time job, than you can, blogging.”

10) “I don’t need “spare change.”

11) “I don’t like to write.”

12) ” I don’t like to read.”

Or, you can get real creative, and combine all of the excuses into one.

“Did you say “blab”? Oh, a blog. Why would I want to set up a blog when I have no free time, hate the computer I have now, and only use it to play games. I don’t know the language of computers, don’t care to learn as I hate to read. I don’t like to write, can’t spell and my grammar ain’t no good either. I make more money with my full-time job than you could ever make “blogging”. And, if I wanted to share what I know, with the world, I would write a book. Plus, Momma told me not to talk to strangers. Does that answer your question?”

If you’re one of those people who’s not blogging, you’re probably having a great time actually visiting friends and family, sharing telephone conversations, living life to the fullest, and loving not being “tied down” to your computer. Enjoy each moment, create memories, and don’t feel guilty if you’re not blogging. You may be one of the “smart” ones.

Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, Life  Tags: ,  Comments off
25
Jul
Writing Your “About” Page
Barbara Swafford

Writing an”About” page for your blog can be difficult. You’re telling the world, who you are.

Should you brag about your accomplishments, or downplay them?

If you’re young, with not much experience in life, how do you get readers to find you credible?

Should you try and stay anonymous?

Should you use your real name?

Should you include a photo?

I recently rewrote my “about” page.

I’ve always used my real name. When I first started blogging, I wrote a pretty general description of myself. When I recently rewrote my “About” page, I have included more information about myself, including accomplishments. The information I’ve included is basically who I am, where I came from, and where I hope to go.

With regard to a photo, I’ll add that at a later date.

If you’re struggling over your “about” page, ask family members or trusted friends to help you. They know you the best.

If you’re young, and don’t have a lot of accomplishments “under your belt”, write about your goals, tell your readers about what you participated in high school. Show your readers a little bit of your personality. Are you goofy, shy, a geek, a slacker, etc….tell your readers. Be honest about who you are. Sell yourself. Make your readers want to read what you write. Gain credibility through your postings. Do your homework. Use a spell checker. Use proper grammar. Not sure? Ask someone to edit your posts for you.

If you’re older, establish your credibility by listing your accomplishments. Tell your readers of some of your experiences. Experiences that made you who you are today.

If you’re a stay at home mom, you have a full time job, raising children. You have many roles that you fulfill. You’re the “President” of a partnership. You’re a supervisor of “younguns”. You’re a receptionist. You’re a chef. You’re the head of the Cheerleading Squad. You’re a professional shopper. You’re the President of the Debate Club. See, where I’m going? Take credit for all you do as a stay at home mom/dad. You have one of the toughest jobs out there. You’re raising the next generation of bloggers.

Have fun with your “About” page, but show your readers that what you’re posting is credible. Make your readers want to come back for more.

Category: Archives, Lessons Learned  Tags:  Comments off
24
Jul
Google Page Rank – Chasing That Elusive Dream
Barbara Swafford

Google Page Rank. If you blog, and have done any research on linking, you’ve probably read that you want incoming links to your pages from sites that have a ranking of 4 or above. This apparently, will help your Google Page Rank., which, in turn, increases your position in the search engines. It is written, that a higher position in the search engines, means more traffic to your blog. Talk about a domino effect.

It’s all about links. Should you buy links? Should you sell links? Should you beg for links?

Or……should you pursue reciprocal linking from a blog like mine–a blog that hasn’t even gotten a ranking yet? Some, will tell you “No”. I, say, “Yes”.

Here’s the philosophy behind my thinking.

I currently have a blog that has no ranking, or 0/10 on “Google’s Page Rank”. My blog, and all new blogs in their infancy, get the same ranking. But….blogs grow. Their ranking increases. So….if you link to my blog, which has a ranking of 0/10 now, and it grows, and receives a ranking of 4/10++, that will affect your ranking as well.

So, what I’m saying is, “Don’t be so shallow, and so selfish, that you won’t link to an infant blog” That could be compared to not dating a girl or guy, before they go through an “extreme makeover”. You know the ones. In high school, they were the geek or ugly duckling. You may have snubbed them, or made fun of the. Then, at your class reunion, you didn’t even recognize them, because they had gone through a transformation. Now, they’re “hot”. Maybe, rich. Or, both. Maybe they’re Bill Gates. Can you blame them, if they won’t even give you the time of day?

A new blog, is like the geek, or ugly ducking, in high school. The blog is so new to blogosphere, it doesn’t even “deserve” a ranking. How sad. But, blogs grow up. The authors may become “probloggers”. They transform, and start getting lots of attention., i.e. traffic and a higher ranking. Then….. you want some of that “link love”. But, no matter how hard you try, you can’t get any. Poor you! Maybe, you should have paid some attention to them when they were in their infancy.

Are you going to be saying, “woulda, shoulda, coulda?” when you see a new blog, mature into a well renowned blog? And, now you want a link from them? Or, are you going to start supporting blogs, in their infancy, not caring if a link to them, lowers your Google Page Rank?

Stand up! Be the “first kid on the blogk” to send some “link love” to a new blog. Go online, and find those new blogs. Give them support. Link to their blog in one of your posts.

Fast forward….years from now, you’re at that blogging convention of probloggers, and one of those “ex-newbies” (now a problogger) is speaking of how they succeeded in blogging. Your name, and your blog’s name is mentioned. What a proud moment that will be.

Spread the link love!

I set up a “page”, I’ve named “Blogging Buddies”. I provide a link back to every person (with a blog) who has left a comment, or has linked, to either this blog, or my OM blog. Want your blog added? Leave me a comment, or, share some link love with me.

Comments will be moderated, and I visit every site before posting a link on my “Blogging Buddies” page.

Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, Linking, Page Rank, SEO  Tags: , , ,  7 Comments
23
Jul
Are You A Stataholic
Barbara Swafford

Are you constantly checking your blog stats? Have you become a stataholic?

With new bloggers, it understandable that you check your stats often. You want, what you’ve written, to be read. After all, you started blogging to share with the world, what you feel is valuable information.

I’ve been a stataholic. When I first started blogging, I checked my stats every few hours. I’ve stopped that. My Google Analytics, AwStats and Webalizer are updated once a day, so checking those more often, is useless. The other stats I have enabled, are WordPress stats and Feedburner. I usually check those, about three times a day.

Checking stats can take away from the other priorities in your life. If you have another job, checking stats can distract you from your work, and possibly compromise your position. If you work at home, or are blogging after work, checking stats can take you away from the most important things in life-family and friends.

Checking stats often can also affect your mood. See the numbers go up, you’re happy. See a decrease, and your mood can plummet like the numbers. See the numbers remain static, and you get frustrated. Do you get the picture? Your stats can put you on an emotional roller coaster ride of hills and valleys.

To stop checking your stats so often, is like entering into a 12 step program. You first have to admit, you are a stataholic. Realize that checking your stats is affecting your mood, which in turn, can affect your creativity.

Set a limit for yourself. Allow yourself to check your stats 3 time a day-morning, noon, and night.

What’s the age of your blog? A new blog’s stats may remain low for months, especially if you’re not publishing indexable content.

Learn from your stats. Do you need to concentrate more on keyword density? Meta Tags? , etc… Do you need to “clean up your site” i.e. do you have too many flashing banners, or have a site that’s difficult for your readers to “read” i.e. do you have a dark background and/or small fonts? Ask a trusted friend for constructive criticism.

Look at the big picture. Hourly statistics are only a small pie of the pie. Remember the law of exponential growth. Increases in your stats every month will result in tons of traffic over time.

Concentrate on publishing good, quality content. If you can share valuable information with readers, the stats will follow. It all takes time.

Are you a stataholic? Have you been a stataholic? Leave me a comment, and share your story.

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Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, Stats  Tags: , , ,  One Comment
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