Tag-Archive for » feed readers «

01
Aug
FEFF – Feeling The Joy
Barbara Swafford

443063392 36d47d3753 300x214 FEFF Feeling The Joy

What an exciting week it’s been. We just concluded the second round of interview topics with Lorelle (of Lorelle on WordPress) and learned:

1) Revisitng old posts can provide fresh content

2) How to Manage our feed readers

3) And then we Wooped it up.

4) On Tuesday we welcomed our first teenage blogger to the NBOTW series

On to the Free ‘n Easy Friday Finds (FEFF).

If you didn’t follow the comment thread on Wednesday’s post, Lorelle stopped by and shared a link for anyone who uses Firefox and the Greasemonkey Scripts Extension which will help speed up our reading/commenting time. I used it last night while visiting blogs and estimate I shaved 20 minutes off of my visiting and commenting time. It’s fabulous.

Lorelle has written a post detailing the use of this script.

I’ve also been cleaning house (no, not my home, although that needs it, too). I’ve been tidying up my blog by removing the monthly archives list (it was 17 months long), taking off all affiliate ads (In over a year they haven’t made me a dime), and for my recent commenters, I removed the snippets. My “Recent Commenters” now shows your avatar and name with hopes of giving you more name recognition and traffic to your blogs.

Although it’s my blog, it’s all about you!

I hope you like the changes.

Have a great weekend!

Photo Credit: MGShelton’s photostream
Category: Archives, Free and Easy Finds, Save Time  Tags: , , , , , , ,  40 Comments
23
Jun
You’re Only As Good As Your Current Post
Barbara Swafford

265678915 b8e3c43dfa Youre Only As Good As Your Current Post

Have you ever noticed the majority of visitors to your blog only comment on your most recent post? Even your loyal readers aren’t digging to find more of your writings.

If they are, they often don’t comment.

Why is that?

Today’s Lesson

As bloggers we’re continually publishing new posts.

As our new posts are pinged, our RSS feed readers/visitors come on over, may leave us a comment, and leave.

Many may not take time to read more than the current post, leaving our older posts buried in our archives collecting dust.

Much of what may actually be our best writings gets forgotten.

When I look at my blog, I’ve written over 300 posts.

The ones that are most popular (based on comments) are listed in my sidebar under “What Others Are Reading”. I also include my recently written posts, related posts and most recently, random posts (lower left sidebar).

I try to make it easy for my readers to find previous posts, however, it’s rare I get a comment on an older post. When I do, it’s often the result of a search engine “find” or an inbound link (to an older post).

With that being said, I’ve come to the realization if our current post doesn’t hold value, we could lose visitors.

What if your most recent post isn’t your best, or even most popular post?

Might a reader show up, and never come back?

I believe sometimes they do.

Today’s Assignment

If you look at your current blog post from the eyes of a visitor, what do they see? Keep in mind, RSS readers are not necessarily coming in on your home page. Often they are only seeing the “post” page.

How easy would it be for them to find older posts of yours if they chose to “dig around” your blog?

Are you seeing this trend too? Visitors comment on your current posts, but your older posts go untouched?

How do you entice your visitors to “dig”?

Photo Credit: Just Taken Pics’ photostream
Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Writing Tips  Tags: , , , ,  41 Comments
21
May
Social Meth – One Taste – You’re Hooked
Barbara Swafford

23195020 dde6379dc4 Social Meth One Taste Youre Hooked

Remember when you first started blogging? An increase of one in your visitor counts or feed readers was exciting.

Then you discovered Digg, StumbleUpon, and Twitter. By a submission of your site to popular social networks, you saw your blog growing by the hundreds.

Today’s Lesson

I remember those days.

Each new unique visitor made my day. It confirmed I was being found. Slowly (and I mean s-l-o-w-l-y) my blog grew.

Within a few months someone Stumbled a post of mine. I thought I was seeing things. My statistics showed hundreds of unique visitors in one day. I had a hard time wrapping my brain around how that could happen. But within a few days, my visitors counts went back down. And again I was counting my unique visitors one by one.

Stumbles and Diggs started happening more frequently. It was like my blog was high on drugs. My stats looked great. My blog was on it’s way.

Or so I thought.

Just when I got used to the “good” numbers, my statistics would fall (but not as far down as before the “spike”).

I no longer was satisfied with a handful of unique visitors. I wanted more.

I wanted my stats to be higher. I had tasted that “social (networking) meth”, and I wanted more Stumbles and/or Diggs.

I thought of ways to get more, but didn’t feel it was ethical, so I went “cold turkey” and realized I must go back to counting uniques one by one.

Occasionally a post will get Stumbled or Dugg, but I’ve learned it’s only a temporary high.

I am now an ex-social networking junkie. I reverted back to why I started blogging.

In this uncertain world, my hope is to leave a small piece of what I’ve learned, on this “medium” called the “world wide web”, and hopefully benefit others for years to come.

Getting hooked on “social meth” is actually a problem for many bloggers. After reading my post on success in blogging, Mojo did a great cartoon titled: RSS: Crystal Meth For Bloggers..

It’s easy to get caught up in the thrill of high traffic numbers, but if you take all of those Stumbles and Diggs away, you’re left with your loyal readers.

Aren’t they really who we write for?

Today’s Assignment

Are you addicted to social “meth”? Playing the numbers game?

Are you trying to sustain those high numbers?

Or have you realized your loyal readers are the ones who are truly important?

Photo Credit: babasteve’s photostream
Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Increase Traffic, Networking  Tags: , , , ,  18 Comments
01
May
Blogging – Year One – Lesson Eleven
Barbara Swafford

83400425 3665333b3f m Blogging Year One Lesson Eleven
The amount of blogs online grows by thousands every day.

There is no way we can read, or even find them all, but we try.

Over the past year, I’ve read hundreds of blog posts (possibly thousands).

There’s some good stuff out there.

In the beginning, I remember reading posts written by seasoned bloggers. I was often in awe. Their posts were so eloquently written. Some intimidated me.

I would ask myself, “Can I ever be that good?”

I marveled at the dozens of comments they had, the massive amount of RSS feed readers, their high page rank, low Alexa rating (lower is better with Alexa), and their archives which were filled with hundreds of blog posts.

In someways I felt pretty “small”. I had zero comments, zero feed readers/subscribers, a 0/10 Google page rank, an Alexa rating that topped 2 million, and my archives were looking pretty pathetic.

My enthusiasm and motivation were quickly becoming depleted.

Finally I realized what was happening.

I had been comparing myself/my blog to longtime bloggers.

To set myself straight, I figuratively slapped myself upside the head.

I stopped visiting so many blogs, and concentrated on my own. I wrote from my heart and quit comparing my blog/myself to others.

It was then that I found my voice.

Lesson 11: We will always find blogs that are better than ours (in one way or the other). If we continually compare our blog/ourself to others, we will never be satisfied. We will always want more, even if we don’t know what more is. In the process of striving for perfection or trying to be like the “big boys/girls”, we often lose our voice.

Sometimes it’s better to stick close to home and play in our own sandbox.

Today’s Assignment

Do you look at other blogs and think, “the grass is greener on the other side”?

Do other blogs intimidate you and make you feel “less than:?

Do you want to be like the big boys/girls? Be popular?

Or have you already learned this lesson and and write from your heart?

Photo Credit: BlazerMan’s photostream
Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Lessons Learned  Tags: , , , , ,  19 Comments
28
Apr
Blogging – Year One – Lesson Nine
Barbara Swafford

2367064835 2a14f9ebbb m Blogging Year One Lesson Nine

B-2, I-25, G53, O-68. BINGO!

It’s been a long time since I played Bingo.

For those who have never played the game, the object is to get five numbers in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line. Sometimes you may play “four corners”, or a game when you must cover all of the numbers on your card.

It’s a typical game. Some follow the rules. Some will cheat. It eventually ends. There’s always a winner.

Today’s Lesson

I’ve been thinking ( I do a lot of that), what makes a blog/blogger a winner? A success?

Are you a success if you’re rated as an “A-list” “big name” blogger?

Or if you amass 100,000 pages views a day?

Are you a success if you’re a “six figure blogger”?

Or if you can show 15000 +/- RSS feed readers?

Does hitting the front page of Digg make you a winner?

What if you have so many comments in a day, you can’t answer them all?

Do “numbers” measure success in blogging?

Can you only call yourself a success if you hold the title of “problogger” (a professional blogger who blogs for a living)?

Can success be measured in other ways?

To me, blogging has been a new ending journey. It’s a work in progress. Each day I grow as a person, and learn something new.

Lesson Nine Blogging has been a succession of many “successes” for me. From the time I signed up for my first domain name, “going live”, publishing my first post, receiving my first comment, making my first penny, and dozens of milestones in between, I’ve yelled out “BINGO” many times.

Today’s Assignment

How do you define success in blogging?

Can it be defined? Or is it a “carrot” that dangles in front of us, always enticing us to want more?

Do you yell out “BINGO” when you hit small milestones, or do you feel unsuccessful because “your card’s not filled’?

Photo Credit: hownowdesign’s photostream
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Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , ,  23 Comments
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