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Keeping a blog fresh with regular posts can be a challenge. At some point or another, we all feel we have simply run out of  stuff to write about. Some people call this “Writer’s Block” and there are as many ways to overcome this horrible condition as there are writers. Today, I’d like to share one surefire way that always works for me.

When I don’t have an idea for a new post, I take a break from writing, turn on my RSS reader and go out there reading other people’s blogs. As always, I take the time to leave comments on almost every post I read. Most comments are short – either a compliment to the writer, or a reference to some point in their post. Some are not.

As I type out my comments, if I find that a comment takes me more than a few sentences to express… I turn it into a post! On one of my own blogs of course.

I take care to address the original post, with a solid link back, of course.

I am always polite and respectful.

I take care to evolve my own reply into a post – not copy someone else’s post in my own words.

I go back to that blog and mention that I have a reply for that post in my own post. Alternatively, I post a quick comment on that blog explaining my view, noting that I plan on going into more details in a post on my blog.

It’s a win-win situation with several advantages:

1. I get to express an idea in a more elaborate way by the form of a dialogue.
2. I interact with another blogger on a more profound level and I acknowledge their contribution to online discourse in something deeper than a comment.
3. I get exposure to my own post and blog (be careful – whatever you do, you don’t want to create a sleazy traffic bait).
4. I get to keep my quality content on my blog (rather than writing a post-long comment on someone else’s page).
5. I get myself a brand new spiffy post – which is what I was after to begin with!

I started doing “this” back in 1997.

“This” means creating websites, promoting them and monetizing on the traffic (as opposed to creating websites for other people’s business need). It’s a pretty common business model for most of us.

The Age of Webmasters

Back then, we were called webmasters.

As a webmaster, you were expected to have a variety of skills, including:

1. Web Design
2. HTML coding
3. “Advanced” coding skills (or at least how to hack away at javascript)
4. Search engine optimization know-how (it was pretty basic back then)
5. Social media skills (at the time, it was participation in online forums mostly)

We were jacks of all trades. We had to know how to work with Photoshop, flash, HTML editors (or the code itself), run newsletters and much more.

Oh, and we had “websites” – remember those? Just good ole’ HTML web pages, where you had to change the HTML code and re-upload files via FTP to keep them up-to-date.

The Age of Bloggers

Things sure have changed!

Websites today are complexed dynamic creatures, relying on a variety of technologies to deliver unique customized pages to each visitor. They do a lot of clever things. One of them is that they allow users to interact and leave their own key-print.

What’s more, design standards have changed. You can no longer get away with cheesy web pages with animated gif’s for a background (thankfully, I may add!) Visitors expect a higher level of usability and an overall sleek look. To a great extent, design has become the realm of professional web designers and coding these smart sites has become the domain of professional coders.

These changes brought along the CMS’s, or Content Management Systems. And these beget Wordpress – a fully customizable and relatively easy-to-use CMS.

So, what’s left for us, content publishers? Well, mostly, but not only, creating content.

We write, we promote, we interact with the net. We have the ability to quickly and easily update our websites.

In fact, our websites are now called blogs, and we call ourselves bloggers.

So, How About You?

I still consider myself a webmaster first, and a blogger second. I still enjoy tweaking code and design and I still create static web pages too.

I think the title I prefer the most is a web publisher.

How about you? Are you a blogger? a webmaster? something else?

I won’t name any blogs, but I have seen this on several blogs. Every once in a while, either as a regular feature or just a once-in-a-while thing, they post what might be described as “sexy pictures”. Nothing explicit, nothing that would be illegal anywhere, but not exactly family-friendly either.

I am not a prude and personally I’m not offended by the imagery.  I’m definitely not about to tell any other blogger what they should or should not do on their blog. That said, I do want to share with you three reasons as to why I think posting “sexy stuff” on your blog may not a good idea -

Offending your visitors

I want to get this one out of the way. Maybe you couldn’t care less and that would be ok, but just keep in mind that you may be alienating some people. Even if your post or imagery are relatively benign, they may trigger some unwelcome responses, not to mention adult-oriented spam.

Consider also that some people may be browsing from their work place where standards may be stricter, or from home where younger family members may be about with the parent not expecting anything out of the ordinary when browsing for blogging advice.

Google Ads

If you run Google Adsense ads on your blog, you could be in trouble if you run them alongside anything that may be considered “adult stuff”. It can be a thin line between legitimate “sexy” and forbidden “adult”, so why risk your account? The same could apply to other advertisers – current or future ones.

Google Search Filters

Perhaps most importantly, saucy images and the accompanying comments could trigger Google’s search filters. That would mean searchers who have their settings to either moderate or strict search filters won’t be seeing your pages in the search results. Why get your site flagged like that? Is it really worth it?

I finally gave in to peer pressure and bought the Thesis theme for my blogs.

All the cool blogs seem to be running on Thesis nowadays, so I figured it’s worth a shot. Total disclosure moment: I honestly am not that enthusiastic about it on the get-go. There is a lot of hype on the thesis website and I’m more of an understatement kind of person. Sorry, but “check out the new awesomeness” is just the kind of phrase that makes me wary.

Still, I just paid $164 for this, so I’m going to give it a fair chance and hopefully be pleasantly surprised. I’m going to install it on some new blogs, while jump starting a few others with regular templates. Here’s what it looks like, fresh out of the box, on a new blog with just one post -

I wonder how much of a difference thesis is going to make in terms of traffic and specifically search engine traffic. One of their top claims is the SEO qualities of this theme. Personally, I believe off-page SEO is much more important than on-page optimization. With off-page promotion being roughly the same, let’s see if Thesis provides any unique traffic edge.

My expectations in the design department are even lower. With all due respect to the theme’s fabled design “customization”, I can ALWAYS tell a thesis design. Something about the navigation system, and often with the fonts, layout and overall feel to the site that gives it away.

So, I just installed the theme on a new blog (on an aged domain) and will start hacking away. This product is definitely not an “out of the box” solution. Just looking at the new page in front of me, it’s already offering an unrelated image on the main page, and the widget areas have text directed at the site owner. You can’t just activate this one – you need to prepare everything in advance, unless you want your users to see unrelated content on the blog.

Oh well, better get to work then. I’ll let you know how it’s going and reveal the result in a future post.

What about you? Are you using Thesis? Love it? Hate it?

I can’t even tell you exactly how many blogs I own and manage right now. I personally write in about five of six blogs, and I manage close to a dozen others.

Running multiple blogs is different from focusing on a single one in a few ways. Today, I’m going to share a few tips,  focusing  on content management – knowing what you’re going to write when and where.

1. Prepare a list in a spreadsheet which includes the blogs and the frequency of posting that you want for each one. I have some blogs set up for several posts a week (such as this one here), some for weekly posts and some even for bi-weekly posts.
2. Have a concept in mind for the type of posts you want on each blog. I usually decide on a certain mix, depending on the niche and on what I want to achieve from the blog. It could look something like this:
   - 25% news and blog reviews.
   - 25% advice and personal stories.
   - 50% product promotion posts.
3. At the beginning of a week, make a list of posts to make. Check your spreadsheet for blogs to update and set up days in which to post on each one.
4. Always maintain a list of ideas for new posts. Keep it in your spreadsheet, on a piece of paper or in your head – whatever works for you.
5. Now, just stick to your weekly schedule and post away. Check your plans each day and post on the blog you’re supposed to, using your list of ideas.

A word about pre-scheduling posts. It can be done, but I try to avoid it, unless I absolutely have to. I just figure, if I have a post ready, why not go ahead and use it? If I have extra time,  I might as well add another post somewhere else, or better still, promote!

So, what about you? How many blogs do you have and how do you manage your writing schedule?

I’ve never actually tried to add a file for people to download on any of my Wordpress blogs. Until today, that is. I guess there’s always a first time? I had a cat-themed template designed and I wanted to share it with site visitors.

Now, with HTML, it’s fairly simple. I have done that before. All it takes is linking to the .zip file and voila. But when I tried that on a Wordpress page all that happened was an annoying 404 message.

Turns out, you can’t just allow people to download from anywhere on your Wordpress installation. It’s not a matter of uploading the file anywhere on your domain names and linking to it.

Instead, you have to upload the file via Wordpress, which will then make it available for download. The way to do that is using your “Add Media” button here:

I confess, with buttons there to add pictures, movies and audio files, I never quite understood what the “add media” was for. Now I know.  It allows you to upload files to your upload directories and create a working download link for your visitors.

Gotta love Wordpress – always a new trick up its digital sleeve!

Oh, and if you’re looking for a cat theme – you can find that one right here:

Wordpress Cat Themes

I’m not sure if it was a matter of focusing on other projects in work and life or just some innate conservatism, but the fact is, I was late in jumping on the social media promotion wagon.

When Facebook and Twitter started out, I just didn’t have the attention span for learning new tricks (does that make me an old dog?) I kept waiting and waiting, until the buzz was so loud, I just had to do it. Now, watching the rate at which my main Twitter account @israelimom is getting followers, I sometimes wish I’d started out much earlier, around when Twitter started.

My point being – with social networks, getting in early is a good idea. And with that in mind, I’d like to invite any blogger reading this to join Blog Engage. Blog Engage is like a social bookmarking network for bloggers. Once you publish a new post, you submit it to Blog Engage where fellow bloggers can see it and vote for it.

We all like lists, right? So here are six reasons why you should join Blog Engage -

1. Blog Engage is an active and well-moderated system. With new submissions pouring in, everything is carefully monitored and spammers get the boot, leaving more room for quality blog posts. Brian, the owner and manager, is very attentive and if you see something out of place and let him know, it’s handled right away.
2. You can promote as many blogs as you like. If it’s a real blog post and not spammy, you can submit it. It all goes under your profile, allowing your peers to check out your work across several blogs.
3. It’s an active and interactive community. I have discovered a wonderful group of fellow bloggers who interact with each other over blog comments, cross-posts and over Blog Engage too. Join in and gain new quality readers and commenters.
4. Direct links to your posts. Yes, I realize for many people this is the best part of Blog Engage. Your submission gets a direct dofollow link from Blog Engage. Deep linking is always a good thing for your SEO!
5. Revenue Sharing. Personally, I don’t use this feature, but it is available. Blog Engage displays ads next to your listing and you can get your share of the revenue.
6. You’re right on time! Going back to my first point in this post, this is just the right time to be joining Blog Engage! You’re in early enough to enjoy a lot of exposure and gain a stand in this fast evolving community.

So, what are you waiting for? Join Blog Engage, and become an active participant in this thriving and fast growing community! And don’t forget to add me as a friend!

I can’t believe it’s taken me over a week to get back to my RSS reader and go over the latest headlines and bylines.

2009 Reports and Summaries

It’s December, the end of 2009 and some interesting end of year reports have been published.

Facebook published its list of trending topics this year. Rather than just showing trending keywords, they actually grouped some keywords together to reflect a trending topic. So, for example, “celebrity deaths” at number four reflects Michael Jackson, Patrick Swayze and Billy Mays.

Another interesting, and if I may say so, rather upsetting list, was published by Norton. It’s their list of the top 100 searches made by kids, based on data collected by their software across millions of homes. I can only hope people simply don’t know how to use their software properly, so that the data also includes searches made by adults. Otherwise, the results scare me, with porn being at #4 for kids aged 7 and under!

To end the lists with something nicer, if you’re a Mom Blogger, you should check Mashable’s latest feature: The Top 2009 Social Media Trends for Moms.

SEO Highlights

As always, lots of SEO related news on the web. I found these to be particularly interesting:

Randfish from SEOMoz reviews how personalized search results could effect your site’s traffic in his How Personalized Search Changes SEO (and Doesn’t). He predicts that big brands are going to get an even bigger slice of the pie and competition for those long-end phrases will become harder.

Bill Slawski discusses the use of synonyms in Google’s algorithm. Basing his post on quotes from the actual algorithm patent, he analyzes some examples to show you Google may or may not be implementing this in the SERP’s.  How Google May Expand Searches Using Synonyms for Words in Queries – well worth a read.

On a more practical note, I found this piece by Julie Joyce useful: 8 Steps To Avoid Link Analysis Paralysis.

And Some More

Jason Kincaid from Tech Crunch discusses a feature of Chrome which I really like: Google Browser Size Helps Keep Your Content Above The Fold. It’s so true. When I first tried Chrome, my initial reaction was, “There’s so much space on my screen now!” For marketers, this is a relevant issue and Jason provides a very neat link there, to Google Labs Browser Size Page.

Speaking of Google, this one piece here on Mashable discusses Google Wave’s Massive Potential for Business Users. Given Wave has been given a lot of bad rap lately, it provides a refreshing look at what’s supposed to be the ultimate social application of the future.

Last, (and maybe least), is this piece in Mashable again: HOW TO: Outsmart Phishers. The writers have disclaimers all over the place about this being a humorous article, yet  it is exactly what they do at 419 Eater. I’d never do it myself, but it sure is funny.

Uh oh… not another post about the dofollow issue?

Blame Extreme John who just posted about removing nofollow blogs from his RSS reader. Since even the mighty Google thinks I’m an authority on the subject (this blog is ranked in the top ten results for “dofollow blogs”), I figured I need to give my input… again.

In his post, Extreme John refers to mutual linkjuice gifts and a “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” concept. I’d like to present a slightly different angle on this. I don’t dofollow with other bloggers in mind – I dofollow with surfers in mind. Here’s why.

The Heated Dofollow Debate

If you look at Extreme John’s post and the following comments, you could easily get the impression that most webmasters passionately support dofollow. In my experience, this is not the case.

Take Sitepoint Forums. If you want to start thread with lots of replies, use the word “dofollow” in the title. Supporting dofollow on blog comments over there is a surefire way to get flamed (no pun intended). If the people are in a good mood, they’ll just tell you you’re wasting your time. They could also mark you for a spammer.

To be honest, they have a point. Dofollow blogs can become spam magnets. Just visit the darker side over at the DP forums and run a search for dofollow blogs. Spammers all over the place, selling lists of dofollow blogs along with spam bots that will do the dirty work for you.

Thus, my first instinct was to go nofollow, because that’s what the “good guys” recommended. But then I gave the matter some thought and you can read more about my conclusions in this post. Bottom line – nofollow blogs get as much spam as dofollow blogs and it’s up to the blogger to click the “spam” link and trash the spam comments.

One more point for nofollow supporters to consider

Google (and other Search Engines) keep telling us that serving different versions of your page to surfers and search engines is a big No No. That’s why cloaking is a good way to get your site banned from the SERP’s.

I argue that the nofollow tag is in fact a form of cloaking. It’s showing your surfer one thing – a link to another site – while telling the search engine to ignore that very link.

If you think the link is bad, don’t have it on your blog. That’s part of your blogger duties and that’s why you should always monitor your comments and have spam filters in place.

If you think the link is valid, legitimate and useful to your visitors, there is no reason in the world to hide it from the search engines.

Nofollow has in facr become a tool for linkjuice channeling, aka link sculpting. By definition, it creates one picture of the web for users and another for search engines.

Now, if Google, or anyone else, wishes to devalue comment links in their algorithm, or to disregard them completely, that is entirely up to them. As a web publisher, I just want to have a clean page with no behind-the-scenes changes in the code that my surfers can’t see.

Back from a short but very invigorating holiday here. Took the family and headed out for the Israeli desert to escape local rainstorms. I made a Facebook fan page for my Israeli Mom profile, so you can see my pictures even without adding me as a friend. Lots of cool Negev trip pictures here.

Back to work here! One of the things I had to deal with was comments on my blogs. Some were approved and some tagged as spam. Now, sometimes it’s very easy to tell which is a genuine comment and which is spam, and sometimes it can be more difficult. I plan on making a post with my comment spam cues, but today, I’ll just share this one tip:

If you’re not sure if a comment is spam or not, Google for a sentence it contains. If you see the exact same phrase used in comments on other blogs, it’s probably spam.

That’s it for today. Thank you all for the constructive comments (all approved). If you left me a comment and you think you got marked as spam by mistake, please read my Commenting Policy to see what might have gone wrong and leave me a new comment.