I’m at the 3rd annual SOBCon (Successful and Outstanding Bloggers) conference, and I wanted to add a little bit about this for those of you who couldn’t join us in Chicago, or who would to learn more before you come with me next year.
I’m in a session right now with Stephen Smith and Brad Shorr about how to do a better job of writing your blog. I don’t do all of these (yet).
- Grade your blog/website at http://website.grader.com/
- Categories should be broad in scope but limited in number
- WordPress related posts plug-in
- Use tags and add a tag cloud
- Use hyphens not underscores in post-slugs and in categories
- Use header tags (but not H1 tags)
- Make sure your hyperlinks is in a separate color from the rest of your text
- Use title tags on your hyperlinks to provide a little more information
- Name your pictures something friendly and descriptive so folks can find them when doing a Google search (I have an image of Klinger from MASH that I used to get several THOUSAND hits a month on. I removed it because none of it was for what I wanted folks to find me for)
- Use an ALT tag and a TITLE tag on your images whenever possible (I always ALT, wasn’t sure about TITLE)
If you want to listen to a very in depth conversation about this, check out Writing for the Web Inside and Out at the SOBCon blog, and soon, the slides will be on http://www.slideshare.net/SmartWealthyRich
And if you want to follow me on Twitter, I am trying to live Tweet stuff, or just go to the Twitter search for SOBCon and see what EVERYONE has to say.
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Hi Phil:
Thanks for the update, I was hoping to make it to SOBCon this year but I wasn’t able to due to financial issues. Thank you, also, for stopping by and commenting on my blog.
Blogging is still a very new thing to me – a work in progress. It took me many months just to get Google Analytics to report my web traffic correctly. I have been blogging anonymously with just my first name. I have been a bit overwhelmed with many things when it comes to blogging: the blog name, its focus, the frequency of posts. Should I blog for personal reasons or professional reasons? Do I reveal too much about myself or too little? Is my content good enough for people to keep coming back?
When I compare my blog to others out there, I am sometimes discouraged. I say this because there are a lot of bloggers with great content, clever ideas and great design. I am blown away by their work. How can I compete with this? Then I realize, it really isn’t about competition. When you work out at the gym there will always be someone who can lift more than you. In the work world, there is always someone who is more successful or makes more money than you. In the blogosphere, there’s always someone who will have more traffic than you.
Oh well, sorry to ramble. Keep up the great work and keeping us informed of what’s going on at SOBCon.
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Hi Phil .. thanks for those comments – really useful tips and ideas .. none of which I practise .. I was lucky .. I was guided to do something I was passionate about .. which was writing letters obo my dying mother .. – so they turned into articles that she would like to hear about – that will stimulate her .. and are of light relief to others .. interesting historical information, snippets re her span of life etc .. I’m not there yet .. and need to do some adjustments – but at least I’m probably off on the right foot. It may be easier to do something non technical, that others aren’t doing .. and so I was determined to do something no-one else could do .. so I could be unique ..
Good luck Tim .. if you read this ..
Thanks Phil again .. with the lots of zcszcs .. & enjoy the rest of the conference – sounds good .. have you got a list of the particpants .. or the successful and outstanding bloggers we could have a look at? Thank you – you’re a star!
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Positive Letters
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Hi! Thanks for the tips. They’re really good. I’m actually kinda new at blogging and these tips are great. I’ll be sure to use these. Great post! Will share this with friends.
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Hi Phil,
It was great meeting you at SOBcon ’09.
I am so glad we met, I think Liz is right we are a lot a like. I can’t wait to read your book.
Let me know when you branch out to San Diego.
I look forward to getting to know you better.
Have a great day!
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than no Action
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Welcome back! I had never heard of a convention for blogging but then agani that have a convention for everything now-a-days! Thanks for the pointers!
Scott
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Hi Phil, thanks for summarizing this session (I was in the other one — It was pretty hard to make that choice, so I’m glad to hear about the experience of those who made a different choice from me!).
The tip in your list above that really struck me was the one about making your categories broad in scope and limited in number. Right now, by this criterion, I’m not using categories to their best effect on my blog. So this gives me a specific action step to work on to tweak and improve my blog. And as Giovanna might say, taking any action, however imperfect, is better than doing nothing!
…and I’m looking forward to more SOBCon-inspired posts!
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Tim – not sure if you really want help with those questions or not. I do some social media coaching, and I’d be happy to work with you if you’re interested.
Hilary – You’re right – you are fortunate. You found a passion and decided to turn it on. Good for you!
Vince – glad you found it helpful. That’s all I can ask. Please share it far and wide.
Giovanna – I am so glad we connected too. You have the right attitude, and you could probably help our friend Tim too. Just do SOMETHING!
Scott – There’s a convention for everything friend, you just have to look for it.
Wendy – That was a good tip from Brad and Stephen. I don’t do it either (which is why my categories and tags are hidden). I plan to do so soon.
More SOBCon inspired posts coming soon
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Thanks for the article. Very helpful. I’m a publisher myself and I always like to read articles like yours.
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