Blogs have been neglected lately and it is all Twitters fault.
Twitter has taken micro-blogging to a whole new level of interactivity and moved towards web2.0 in ways not thought possible at the start of 2008.
I am on Twitter as @getnoticed - hence the rebranding of my blog
In the words of Twitter Whore - Follow Me!
I always read other peoples blogging tips but have not yet seen anyone promoting the use of the Tags function in Wordpress 2.5 or later versions.
I have recently updated all of my blogs and enabled the tag function and have seen search engine result placements rise pretty quickly.
It would appear that bots and spiders are hungry for tags and I’ll continue to feed them what they like, knowing that they will come again to check for more ‘food’ at more regular intervals.
You’ll note to the right hand side of this blog entry is my Tag Cloud
Clicking on the words in this cloud will take you to a relevant post, almost like a Wiki entry does.
The Tags function is enabled in the Widgets options in Wordpress.
Activate yours today and watch the results unfold over the coming weeks using Rank Checker from seobook.com or the Digitalpoint Keywords Tool from digitalpoint.com
If you haven’t done so already I would recommend downloading Piclens, a fab application for viewing photos, websites, media on your screen.
I picked this on from 30DC and will be using it to view images on Google in future and when choosing from stock images.
Don’t let me hold you up from downloading this a minute longer!
I’m trialling the fish theme for it’s feed features and layout and have already noticed a small increase in people picking up my feeds on Flock, the newly launched social-bookmarking-friendly-browser.
I was put onto this by the 30DC team and have spent the last 2 days optimising it and not have all my favourite feeds at my fingertips, inclusing tools like Twitter, Twhirl, Grease Monkeys and Google Reader in colour.
Tweet me and ask me how @getnoticed
The theme you use can tell people a lot about you, what type of style (or lack of) that you have and also the way you like to communicate. Some blogs are dark and others are fresh and clean.
Many will argue that the content is what keeps people coming back and to an extent that is true, but you also have to remember that if a site doesn’t look very good then you don’t stand a chance of getting repeat visitors.
I use Alexking.org as my themes browser as this site always has a great list of funky new blog themes. I suggest you check this out and keep the themes evolving.
I locked myself out of my blog whilst blogging from my mobile, and have now setup a unique user to blog whilst on the road.
For the life of me I could not recall my password, hence the inactivity for a few days.
Back up and running again now so I’ll update my blog with snippets about what I have been up to.
In the meantime, if you’re preparing to attend an exhibition, check out Inzvestor.com for some tips on making the most of your show experience.
The Gunning-Fog Index is a rough measure of how many years of schooling it would take someone to understand the content of a document. The lower the number, the more understandable the content will be to the reader.
1 is primary school age where 17 is post-graduate level
My blog scores a rating of 7.55 (considered very good - easy to read)
I have run the test on several newspapers’ sites and they all seem to score within this range (almost all were under 12)
Typical Fog Index Scores
6 TV guides, The Bible, Mark Twain
8 Reader’s Digest
8 - 10 Most popular novels
10 Time, Newsweek
11 Wall Street Journal
14 The Times, The Guardian
15 - 20 Academic papers
Over 20 Only government sites can get away with this, because you can’t ignore them.
Over 30 The government is covering something up
stats taken from JuicyStudio.com
I’m testing out a new toy at present, Audacity - an audio tool to help with my podcasting ambitions (soon to be revealed)
On the surface, Audacity seems easy to use (after a very quick 30 second install)
The clarity is incredible, and for an open-source program you can’t beat the value-for-money aspect either.
I have an endless amount of content to include in future podcasts, and hope to get a wide ranging audience with high levels of participation.
The website dedicated to this new podcast goes live in May, and I aim to puchase an iTalk to allow me to compile soundbytes whilst out and about.
Whats in store? You’ll have to tune in to find out.
This month’s lineup (aka the usual suspects) at webwednesdays can be found here.
The evenings are informal but well structured. If you’re reading this blog, and have a free night on Wednesday (naturally) then pop along from 7pm to meet and chat with up to 60 regulars and newcomers to the offline internet-entrepreneur evening making an impact on the way ‘you’ do business.
Topics being discussed are wide-ranging (no set format) and can lead to new opportunities and partnerships as well as growth/sales for your company too.
Visit webwednesdays.com for more information and the bigger picture.
Oh, and tell them Glenn sent you along.
I decided to allow comments on my blog, but have since switched this function back off after being hit with numerous spams from an identifiable ip address. Most were for mobile phone companies and some for donkey-porn, all were blocked. I hate spam (and have several recipes to make use of the huge amount I receive every day), but it peeves me most when it invades my personal space - my blog!
I’ll try and keep the blog as uncluttered as possible, but would dearly love to switch the comments function back on. Does anyone know of a good spam-blocker for wordpress?
Tip #1: Don’t be afraid to charge for your services
Tip #2: Set out reasonable expectations
Tip #3: Set out the timeframe
Tip #4: Deliver
Tip #5: Feedback and referrals
A topic being bandied about tonight at Web Wednesdays was ‘charging for your services’
At which point in time should a business start ‘charging for their services’?
The answer is this ~ from the start
Don’t be afraid to charge for your services
Not only will you benefit, but you will be able to provide more resources than if you offer a free service.
You’re effectively selling your time, and unless you’re a charity - time is precious
What are you worth per hour? and is this a fair representation for the work to be undertaken?
I’ll discuss setting hourly rates (or set-project rates) in a future blog
Set out reasonable expectations
When there is no tangible product, often the benefits are not seen by the client for some time.
Put in writing what you will offer, what is chargeable, what is free, and what outside resources the client will need to procure, so that there is no confusion and no reason to contest the invoice that you send.
Set out the timeframe
When can the client reasonably expect to receive your services?
Sales targets are often achieved over a specific timeframe. Bear this in mind when indicating ROI *.
Deliver
Self explanatory, and may lead to future work and referrals
Feedback and referrals
This step is often overlooked but is one of the most vital and binds all the others together
Often you can gain information to help make your customers experience a better one next time round
Referrals, a free form of advertising, can bring an added income stream to your businesses, and helps increase your goodwill, an asset in the eyes of the financial world.
ROI = Return on Investment
i.e how much you will make vs the outlay