All I would like to say is …….. Have a great weekend! We have all earned it! Enjoy!

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Hi Barbara. What an amazing photograph! THAT is meditation in a picture…

I’d like to know on average, how many hours a day you bloggers spend blogging. Do you have a system to pace yourselves so you can visit your favourite blogs, write your own posts, reply to comments, and explore new blogs, etc. I love all of this, but can’t seem to fit it all in. It’s like having too many chocolate bars to eat all at once

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Hi Barbara - you do use great pictures in your posts!

It’s funny, but before I read Davina’s comment and your reply, I was going to say that managing my blogging time, and organising the way I operate, is what has been at the forefront of my “blogging week”. I have been spending far too much time idly clicking around.

I finally got the internet working at Mum’s place in the country yesterday (for family reasons it was not possible before this), so I should be more effective. (I’m writing from there now!)

Robin’s last blog post..Letting Creativity Just Slip In

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Well, I’d like to know how people manage the blogs that they read and comment on. I love to find new blogs, but I already have over sixty in my news feed and it can take a couple of hours or more to read them all and make comments. Recently, I’ve taken to going straight to the ones who comment on my own blog first and making sure I answer those, then catching up on the others, but this doesn’t help get new readers or encourage those who don’t comment very frequently, and I do value those people too.

Also, I feel guilty if one of my favourite bloggers posts something I have no interest in and I don’t comment on it, though I know that’s unreasonable. Not to mention if I actually take someone off my feed because either they never, ever comment back or I’ve just lost interest …

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Hi Barbara - This week has been exhausting. I’ve got so much to do. First I couldn’t sleep because of the jetlag and when I finally did - I slept through a whole day.

I’ve so much to do on my blog - and a major thing I’ve got to do is finish an interview I promised Kelly and send her it. She’s been waiting for ages. I’ve been so unorganised lately.

@ Davina - That’s a difficult question to answer. I never time myself writing - it varies so much depending on the post and sometimes I’ll write a few at once.

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I think the time management question is a problem all of us struggle with and constantly have to revisit. I am again looking at how I will manage blogging with school starting and my new job starting next week. I also don’t want to continue to spend every free minute blogging because I don’t get any sewing done and I really miss that. I have lots of house “to do” items that needs attention also. The actual managing of your own blog isn’t the problem as much as reading and commenting on others. I have been considering this issue lately and think I may need to make a change in my policy. I just have to free up some time somewhere. I love blogging, but it may have to move down the list of “things to do” for me. I’ll still post everyday, but I may have to cut back on how deligent I try to be at replying to comments, but lets face it, I’m not very good at it sometimes anyway.

Have a great weekend everyone!

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SEO is something I know I can do better, and I’m sure one day I will, but when I tried to write for keywords in my first few posts, I didn’t like the result. It felt about as natural as astroturf. So, now I just write. When I’m all finished, then I look to see if there are some keywords I can recognize. Weak, I know, but until the writing is as fluid as water, I don’t want to worry about SEO.

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Hi Barbara, I haven’t spent any time on SEO for my blog, but I will definitely read the article you mention, because I want my new blog to benefit from all I’ve learned in the past few months.

I never blog about blogging at one bag nation, but I’m often tempted, because it’s such an interesting topic! I might do a post about starting a new blog one of these days.

Enjoy your weekend!

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@ Barbara - wow, front page spotlight, I’m honored!

I’d like to see what your experience is with Woopra after you’ve used it for awhile (I’m sure it’s already on the list). Also, any update on when the new template is coming out?

@ Vered - That would be an awesome idea. To be slightly different, maybe think about how your target readers might use SEO.

@ Scott - thank you for the great compliment. I’m flattered to have you over on my side of the Internet - thanks for stopping by.

@ Everyone - If you ever have any questions about SEO, please feel free to ask me. I’m always here to help, especially my fellow BWAB friends.

If you don’t use SEO too much but would like to, my suggestion is to really focus on keyword phrases. Nothing works quicker and is more targeted than that. Put them in your links you create, possibly your title, and your header tags.

Every post doesn’t have to be optimized, just a few you feel you want people to find. After a while, you’ll find it becomes easier to write for humans while not alienating our pal Googlebot.

John Hoff - eVentureBiz’s last blog post..The Continuity Of My Blog - Putting It All Together

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Hi Robin,

It’s great to hear your new location (at Mums) is working. And yes, it’s easy to spend too much time on our blogs, but they’re so addictive, it’s hard to stay away.

Hi Kelly,

I hope the suggestion works (popular posts inside bar). The reason I said that was that I never even noticed them in your header. Your posts are good, show them off!

Haha! So true - sometimes we need to change direction. This past week I was all set to move into a specific direction with my posts, but then on Monday the comments took me into the direction I went. I decided it was better to give my readers what they “appeared” to be asking, than to follow a plan.

Hi Jay,

It’s tough managing the blogs in our feeds. Like you, mine continues to grow. If I can’t identify with a post, I won’t comment, but will wait to see what they post next and hopefully a part of it resonates with me.

I think bloggers understand our time is limited. As long as we pop in on a regular basis, they’re aware we’re still supporting them.

Having to delete blogs out of our feeds is inevitable. As we grow and our interests change, some blogs will become relevant.

Re: CommentLuv. It appears that at times it’s unstable. All you can do is keep trying. I haven’t had the “banned” message yet.

Hi Catherine,

Having looked at your blog, I couldn’t tell you were suffering from jet lag. You were posting daily and stayed right on top of the comments.

Hi Rita,

You’re welcome. P.S. I’m still waiting for part II of your article.

Hi Debbie,

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know how you do it all. Now that you’re taking on a job, your free time must be getting close to nil.

Hi Hunter,

So, do you agree, isn’t Vered like the Kool-Aid mom on the block?

Hi Writer Dad,

Agreed! New bloggers often have much more to worry about that SEO. In time it’ll come, and like John mentions in his comment, every post does not need to be optimized.

Hi Marelisa,

Knowing you want to turn your writings into a book, SEO will be your best friend to getting found.

Hi Ann,

There you go again, talking about the mysterious new blog. When is the unveiling?

I would love to see you write an article about blogging. It’s always interesting to read other takes on it.

Hi Davina,

Time management is very important. We don’t want to miss out on life because we’re so busy blogging.

Hi John,

You’re welcome. I appreciate all of the hard work you put into that post, and had to share it. It’s an awesome list.

A post about Woopra will happen as soon as I figure out all of the bells and whistles. Thus far it’s the most advanced stats program I’ve seen. The interface is gorgeous.

Hi Jennifer,

You’re welcome.

I agree, some days the spammers are working overtime. I’ve had days where I’ve gotten over 100 spam comments. Thank goodness I have Akismet installed. Although a few real comments do end up in spam, it’s easy to fish them out by checking the box next to the comment and then clicking “despam checked comments”.

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@ Jennifer - Don’t forget about the Bad Behavior plugin which works well with Akismet and is the first line of defense. I use both plugins.

Also, there’s the Math Comment Spam Protection plugin which might be useful as well.

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Barbara,

I’ve given your questions a LOT of thought, and if it’s OK, I’d like to change my response.

Yes. Yes. No.

That’s it. (And Part II is up)

As always, thanks for everthing. I’ll be following along all weekend, as I always do. Your blog brings out the very best in people, and though I prefer it when you write, I frequently learn more about my fellow-bloggers on weekends here, than I do by reading their blogs. Again, thanks for the opportunities you so graciously provide.

Rita

Rita’s last blog post..The FIRST Time I Almost Got Expelled From College: Part II

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Hi John,

Do you think the Bad Behavior plugin will block “real” comments? Is there a way of checking what it blocked?

I recently read that we need to be careful what spam filters we use as sometimes they block the good bots. I don’t know if that’s true, but it’s made me think.

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The Urbane Lion is always trying to encourage me to think about search words when I write. I rail against it, because I find it restrictive. However, I am definitely going to read John’s post to see what he is to say. Maybe I just need to understand it better.

Once again, an excellent week of posts, Barbara. Especially since we are considering some changes to websites. Thanks!

Urban Panther’s last blog post..The beginning of the end

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I’ve been ignoring SEO (other than having my URLs formatted decently) pretty much on purpose. I used to work with an SEO firm, and so I associate keywords with marketing.

John’s right, they’re really easy to incorporate. But for now, I’m happy going with the decision to focus on quality writing and natural language.

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To be honest, Barbara, I have wondered the same thing. No one’s emailed me yet that their comment doesn’t get posted, though. I have been thinking of switching the Bad Behavior plugin for the math question.

John Hoff - eVentureBiz’s last blog post..The Continuity Of My Blog - Putting It All Together

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I try to optimize my posts with keywords that fit in well with Google, but it never seems to work. The articles that do get ranked well almost always surprise me. My goal is to write valuable content so people link to me and Google thinks that they need to help me share my message.

Karl Staib’s last blog post..Notice the Every Day WOW

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I want to work on having a more compelling, yet lighter tone to my writing. Piece of cake, yes? Ha!

SpaceAgeSage’s last blog post..In the eye of a tornado? Well, kind of … see photos

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Hi Ajith,

I’m hoping Akismet soon realizes your comments aren’t spam.

It sounds like life has kept you busy. I’m looking forward to seeing the major revamping you’re planning for your blog.

Hi SpaceAgeSage,

Half the battle is knowing what we want to project. Being the good writer you are, I’m sure you’ll succeed in accomplishing the other half. Yes?

Hi Linda Abbit,

Haha! I guess that’s what you call being in the right place at the right time - NBOTW position.

I love how you paid it forward with your reference to Ryan’s mission, and I’m sure he appreciated your act of kindness. In the end, that’s what it’s all about - being able to help others. Great job!

I’ll patiently wait until Monday to read about your next endeavor.

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Hi Eric,

It’s great that you’ve extended an invitation to the BWAB community of bloggers. That’s what we like to see. Often new bloggers remain silent (not commenting), and by doing so, we can’t find them.

Having read what I have on your blog, I KNOW you’re not a fly by night bloger. You write from the heart and it shows.

Thanks again for your kind words, and for subscribing. I look forward to your participation in future discussions.

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Barb,

I just read Shilpan’s comments. Though imitation MAY be the sincerest form of flattery, content piracy has been plaguing me as well - and I KNOW that I am difficult to pirate from. At first - ahh, coincidence. Now, no. It is absolute content piracy - and I know the worst offender, who is a “big fan.” ANY ideas on stopping content piracy would be much appreciated!

And Shilpan, I am NOT trying to “pirate” your idea about addressing “content piracy.”

Thanks,

Rita

Rita’s last blog post..Why I Have NEVER Tasted Coffee

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Hi Shilpan,

Yes, the SEO post written by John Hoff is fabulous, and definitely worth Stumbling.

With regard to content piracy, I will refer you to the article titled: Interview With Lorelle VanFossen - Part 2 - Errors Bloggers Make. In that post Lorelle provides links that take this issue further, and what steps you can take if your content is plagiarized.

I’m hoping the post will help resolve your issue as it’s very disturbing when we work so hard on our posts, only to have the content lifted.

Hi Rita,

I’m referring you to the answer I provided to Shilpan.

With your content being so original to YOU, it would be very obvious if it was plagiarized. How sad that it’s a “fan”.

Hi Codrut,

Yes, John’s post is powerful. And I agree, if blogs were to use the SEO tips he provided, the results could be phenomenal.

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I got a lot of catching up to do! I missed all your great “classes” on blogging this week. Anyway, with regards to SEO, I’m with Mare. I don’t do it. I tried before and it definitely took a lot of my time. Maybe someday when time permits, I’ll be able to devout time to it.

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@ Everyone - thank you so much for the nice comments everyone has to say about my article. I spent a long time trying to make sure it was informative through my own personal experiences.

Everyone has the first step in SEO correct - always write for humans first. This is very important. SEO isn’t something you shouldn’t think about a whole lot.

Here’s my suggestion. Write just like you are now. Let it be natural. Whatever topic you’re writing about in and of itself should be SEO to some extent. Concentrate on your article’s title and a link or two. That’ll be enough and is what I mostly concentrate on when thinking SEO. It gets me quite a bit of Google traffic.

If you’re writing about “How to get people to like you,” your content will most likely naturally include keyword phrases. It shouldn’t be something you necessarily need to think long and hard about.

When proof reading, see if you can identify those keyword phrases someone might type into a search engine to find your article. It might be helpful while proof reading to think, “What would John Doe type in Google to find this article?” Chances are, if your article is focused, those words will be included already in your content (or something close).

When you identify those phrases or keyword, make them a link (that will boost them in Google’s priority ranking). Link to one of your articles or someone else’s, that’ll do just fine.

If you really want to help your SEO, match a phrase in your article’s title to what someone would type in Google. That’s probably the best thing you can do. It doesn’t have to sound robotic, it just takes a little practice.

I’m always available both here and on my site if anyone ever has a question. We’re all here to help each other grow, right?

John Hoff - eVentureBiz’s last blog post..The Continuity Of My Blog - Putting It All Together

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Hi Bamboo,

You’re right, if we do listen, we can hear what our readers are asking for. It’s tough to do, but it can be done.

Although you do not use SEO, John’s post is worth bookmarking for future reference.

Hi John,

How kind of you to write such a thorough response. Not only is your SEO post helpful, but so are your additional comments. I sincerely appreciate your help and input.

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okay i got ya. that makes a little more sense in that you know if what you’re doing is working. thanks.

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