Category: Blogging

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3 WordPress PlugIns to Reward Your Commentators

One of my favorite things, is when I get comments on my blog. Apparently I am not alone! Commentors tell you that someone has actually taken the time to read your post, and leave a comment. It is a good boost to the ego. I think it is also good for your blog to have a dialogue going on. Your readers can add insight and different points of views to your posts, making them more interesting for everyone.

So recently I have decided to do everything I can to reward my commentators. This was easily accomplished by adding three plugins to my wordpress blogs.

One plugin that is very popular, that I really like to see on other blogs, is Comment Luv.
With Comment Luv, when your visitor enters their URL, the plugin finds their last blog post and inserts a link to it at the end of their comment.

What goes along quite nicely with Comment Luv is Keyword Luv Many commentators like to use their keywords in place of their name. But that can make their whole comment look spammy, and it can be awkward to reply to “Make money online with Adsense”. With keyord luv, your commentators are prompted to enter their name as Kat@ Blogging tips for Webmasters. The plugin separates the name from the keywords. So your name will look like Kat from Blogging Tips for Webmasters. Pretty nifty!

And then, to add the icing to the cake, to make Comment Luv and Keyword Luv truly show Luv to your commentators, make your blog no follow free with theNo Follow Free Plugin. By default, most WordPress blogs will add the no follow tag to commentator’s links. No follow free removes those tags, and lets some link juice flow through to your commentators.

Now do know, that when you add these three WordPress plugins to your blog, you will get a certain number of spammers just wanting the free links. You will need to actively moderate your comments and delete the ones that do not add value to your blog. I know that some people may be coming to my blog and commenting just for the do follow link, but I expect them to give me something of value in return, in a well thought out comment that encourages discussion.

To see how all the plug ins work, leave a comment on any post. But make sure it is a good comment, or it will be deleted!

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End Comment Spam

endblogspam1

Akismet has protected your site from 14,476 spam comments already, but there’s nothing in your spam queue at the moment.

Don’t you love it when you see the above message. Nothing in your spam queue. No pages of links with descriptions that would make your grandmother blush. No more needing to weed through the spam looking for the errant comment or two that is not spam. I used to have hundreds of spam comments a day. Now I have none.

You see, very little spam is generated by new (or  not so new) webmasters trying to get a free link back to their site. Most of the comment spam I was getting was from automated spam bots. Askimet would send the comments to the spam folder, but I still needed to go through them to catch the errant real comment that had been flagged as spam.  I don’t have a lot of extra time to go through page after page of spam comments, so often I just had to hit the  “delete all spam” button and hope for the best.

WP-SpamFree has changed all that.  It is  a simple plugin for WordPress that is easy to install, easy to use, and doesn’t do anything to annoy my real-life commentors.  No  Captcha, no challenge questions.

Direct from the WP-SapmFree, here is the list of features:

Features

  1. Virtually eliminates automated comment spam from bots. It ensures that your commentors are in fact, human.
  2. A counter on your dashboard to keep track of all the spam it’s blocking. The numbers will show how effective this plugin is.
  3. No CAPTCHA’s, challenge questions or other inconvenience to site visitors – it just works.
  4. No false positives, which leads to fewer frustrated readers, and less work for you.
  5. You won’t have to waste valuable time sifting through your Akismet queue anymore, because there won’t be much there.
  6. Now with Trackback and Pingback spam protection.
  7. Easy to install – truly plug and play. Just upload and activate. (Installation Status on the plugin admin page to let you know if plugin is installed correctly.)
  8. The beauty of this plugin is the methods of blocking spam. It takes a different approach than most and stops spam at the door.
  9. The code is has an extremely low bandwidth overhead and won’t slow down your blog (very light database access), unlike some other anti-spam plugins.
  10. Completely compatible with all cache plugins, including WP Cache and WP Super Cache. Not all anti-spam plugins can say that.
  11. Options to completely disable trackbacks and/or pingbacks if they become an excessive nuisance. While doing so can reduce the connectivity and community feel of the blogosphere, it has been much requested since the glitch in 1.3 that inadvertently blocked trackbacks and pingbacks. Many people actually liked this. So, the choice has been given back to you.

The plugin uses a combination of java script and cookies to weed out automated spam comments.  It works quietly in the background and most of your readers will never know it is there.  For the few that do have java script or cookies turned off on their computer they will be prompted to turn them on to leave a comment.

I have been using this plugin for over a week now and I love it. You see, my grandmother wasn’t the only one blushing at the content of my comment spam!

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Finding Content for Your Blog

Knowing that I really needed to get a post up that had nothing to do with my December giveaway, and actually had something to do with blogging, I went searching eZine Articles for something to put up here fast. When you are rushed for time it is an appealing idea, and I have to admit I have done it more than once. It is not hard to tell on my blogs, I follow the rules and leave all the links. Usually it is a simple task. Select an article, cut, paste, done.

It didn’t work that way today. First off, most of the articles on blogging were “How To Get Rich Blogging” articles. I don’t believe many of the authors have actually gotten rich from blogging, so I am not all that interested in whatever affiliate program they are pushing. The rest of the articles were just rehashes of the same old stuff. Anyone who has been blogging for more than a week probably knows to find a niche, write great content, and write often. If they have been blogging for a month they probably have guessed that SEO is important, (even if they don’t know what that is, or if like me, they would rather write for readers than search engines!), pictures make your posts pop (apparently pictures of scantily clad women are best, even if your post is about SEO). Then there is always the self hosted vs free hosting discussion. Go ahead and bash whatever you are not doing.

So, because I have no time, the best thing to do is waste time, I go blog hopping. Entrecard is good for this. I’ll just do a little widget surfing and maybe some blog out there will give me inspiration and help me to write the post that Diggers will Digg, Stumblers will Stumble, and the almighty Google will put in the #1 position of every search. In addition the readers of this remarkable post will click every sponsored link and buy every affiliate product, making me an overnight millionaire.

I know my standards were high and I was asking the impossible. But it is hard to be inspired by a post on “I’m sorry I haven’t been posting”. Or the, “I need original content so I will scrap this post and run it through Google translator a couple times and the resulting gibberish is sure to bring tons of readers and instant wealth” posts. And the inevitable “make money online” posts.

Of course, my favorite posts are the ones on mesotheliomia. Because when someone clicks on an ad for mesotheliomia it pays really well so even if my blog has nothing to do with mesotheliomia I will make sure that I use the word mesotheliomia lots, because using high paying keywords, like mesotheliomia, are the best way to instant riches. (Of course it might help if I knew how to spell mesotheliomia.)

So, my poor readers, still believing that any post is better than no post, I have subjected you to over 500 words of pretty useless ranting. But I know that I read somewhere that between 525 and 550 word posts are the best for SEO, keywords and instant riches, so I’ll just leave it at that!

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More Winners!

Dec. 9   BobbyT, the only commentator who hadn’t already won!

Dec. 10  No comments

Dec. 11 No comments

Dec.12 Bloggernoob

Dec.13  Only one comment, from someone who already won!

Dec.14  No comments

Dec.15 Escarlata

I haven’t been getting very many comments lately. That is bad for me, but good for you!  Your chances are pretty good to win a domain!  I’ll be contacting the winners by email to tell them how to claim their domain!

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I Feel The Need For Speed

The number one complaint that I hear about web pages is that they load too slow!  In fact, people have said that to me about this page.  (I’m working on that!)  But how do you know if your site is a turtle when it comes to loading.  You can’t always tell by your own experience.  Your website or blog is probably cached on your computer, making it load faster.  You may have a faster internet connection than most.

I have found  a useful tool that can tell you how fast your pages load, and even offers suggestions on how to speed up the load times.  Using the tool I have found that there is lots of room for improvement on The WebMaster Blog!

Run your site through  Web Page Analyzer and see how fast it loads.  Leave a comment here, and maybe the fastest blog will be the next domain winner!  We will use the speed your blog loads at 56K.  The home page of this blog loaded at 102.11 seconds. I am not too happy about that, but I will use the suggestions from Web Page Analyzer and see if I can improve that!

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Do You Like To Make Money?

I promise I will get back to the domain give away. And I will be giving away one domain for every day of December until Christmas.  So keep commenting! But for right now I want to let you know about another contest/opportunity I have for you!

If you read this blog I think I can make a a few assumptions about you.

  1. You like to blog.
  2. You like to make money.
  3. You don’t really like to pay for hosting or for domains.
  4. You don’t want to pay for the “opportunity” to make money.

So what if I tell you about a way that you can have a blog that costs you nothing. You don’t have to pay for a domain or hosting or for the “opportunity”.

  • You will earn at least $1 for every post you write. (Up to one post per day.)
  • You will get paid $2 for every 2000 uniques.
  • You will have the opportunity to make even more money.
  • You will help me earn more money so I can keep giving away domains, even after December!

Does this sound good to you?  Then please use my affiliate link and sign up for a free blog at Today.com.  Then make 10 posts of at least 100 words each.  When you do that, I will earn a commission and you will have earned at least $10!

Now, let’s make it even better!  If you sign up for today.com, using my affiliate link, and you make at least 10 posts then I will give you a few extra bonuses!

  1. If I win a bonus for most referrals for the month of December, I will share that bonus with everyone that signed up with me!
  2. I will give you a 90 day blogroll link to your today.com blog on The WebMaster Blog
  3. I will write a review of your today.com blog on my blog Review Me Today!
  4. I will visit your Today.com blog frequently, which will increase your earnings!

So what more do you want? (Seriously let me know!) Then click on the banner and get yourself a free blog!

Don’t like banners, can’t see the banner? Then click here for Today.com.

Then, once you have your free blog from Today.com leave a comment here with a link and we will all go and check it out!

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December 3 Giveaway

Well, I got a lot more comments yesterday, and it was hard to pick a winner.

John was real nice, left 2 comments, and hinted that he might write about the Giveway on his blog. Very tempting.

Mike said my site looked awesome, and I love compliment 😉

Escoofield commented all over the blog, he left 7 comments, that was great!

But the winner for Dec. 3 is going to be Charles.  I checked out his blog, and it is pretty good, but right now he has a Blogspot blog.  You know he really needs his own domain, so he wins brandingyp dot com.  I think it will make a good fit.

It is not too late to comment for today’s giveaway!

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I’ll Show You the Best Way to Turn Entrecard Users Into Loyal Readers

Most Entrecard users are selfish.

They just access a blog, drop a card on the Entrecard widget and move on to the next blog, where they’ll repeat the process. They couldn’t care less for the bloggers behind the pages they visit. They don’t pay attention to the posts. All they want is to accumulate Entrecard credits as fast as possible. However, when other Entrecard users behave the same way, they complain a lot: “How come all those people come here, drop a card and go away? Why don’t they take the time to click on my wonderful headlines and read my precious articles? How can they be so evil to me?” Talk about incoherence!

But do you know what? There’s an easy way to take advantage of this situation.

It’s very easy to beat selfish Entrecard users

If you’re surrounded by a selfish crowd, what’s the best way to stand out and make a difference? That’s an easy one: do not be selfish. Be generous and friendly. Offer the others exactly what you’d like to be offered.

Do you want interested visitors? Subscribers? More comments? You can get it all if you do one simple thing: whenever you visit a blog owned by a fellow Entrecarder, drop your card and leave a meaningful comment on a post.

By doing this you’ll show good-will towards the blogger, whom on his/her turn will likely return the favour. This could be the beginning of a promising relationship. In the end the blogger may become a regular visitor and/or subscriber to your blog. Of course, I highly recommend that you reciprocate.

“This is too time-consuming,” you might argue.

Let me tell you something that shouldn’t be a secret for anyone: there’s no magic way to generate repeat visits for a blog or site. If a traffic generation method looks too good to be true… you know. All effective promotion techniques require time, effort and persistence. This one couldn’t be different.

Besides, it’s about giving people what they want, as opposed to sitting down and waiting for everyone to serve you as if they were your slaves. Be nice to others and many will be nice to you too. It’s that simple.

How the Entrecard-drop-and-comment scheme works

1. You visit a blog containing the Entrecard widget. Ideally, you want to access blogs whose topics you’re familiar with.

2. You drop your Entrecard, as usual.

3. Instead of leaving the blog right away, you choose a post that catches your attention and read it.

4. Finally, you leave a relevant comment on the article you’ve just read. Since you’re familiar with the blog’s topic, it shouldn’t be difficult to come up with a nice message.

Special tip: let the blogger know you’ve found his/her blog via Entrecard. The reason why you want to do this is to show the blogger you aren’t one of those selfish quick droppers. You use Entrecard as a networking tool and you’re genuinely interested in building relationships.

There you have it: you’ve just made a blogger happier–who doesn’t like comments?–and encouraged him/her to not only reciprocate your Entrecard drop, but also pay attention to your posts. There’s no way a quick dropper can cause a better impression than you.

For more Entrecard tips and blogging advice, subscribe to our feed and read the new posts as soon as they’re published.

Your feedback is welcome. Leave a comment and share your Entrecard experiences with our readers.

Karen Zara is a writer who favours relationship building over selfish promotional actions. You can click here to contact her and/or learn more about her SEO writing services.

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Cheap Domains and a Free SEO eBook

If you are like me you like to have a few spare domains around. You never know when you are going to get a great idea for a website and it is just easier if you already have the domain.
GoDaddy is currently selling .info domains for just 99 cents plus a 20 cent Icann fee. That is just $1.19 for a domain. I know many people don’t think infos are that great of a domain, but for $1.19 I think it is a pretty good deal. As always, with GoDaddy, you never know how long the special is going to last, so don’t wait too long to get your domain.

Then, when you are ready to set up a WordPress Blog, click on over to BlogOhBlog and pick up your free WordPress SEO for beginners eBook. The ebook is short and sweet. It is just 5 pages but the advice is sure to improve the SEO of your WordPress Blog.The eBook also contains links to some very popular WordPress Plugins. The best part, you don’t even need to register or give your email. The ebook is free with no strings attached!

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Generating Traffic Offline

There are a lot of articles and reports about generating site traffic online. On the other hand, I’ve seen only a few that discussed ways to generate traffic offline. So here are some ideas I’ve picked up here and there, and some of my own.

Give away “branded” stuff. Brand things you give away with your site address; t-shirts, caps, pins, stickers, anything. You can sell them, but it’s better to just give them away. The reward you get is much more fulfilling (you get a walking billboard), not to mention socially responsible (you clothe someone).

Harness the power of traditional media. Advertise on newspapers, on television, or on-air radio. Certainly it isn’t cheap, but well worth the money. Then again you can always try to do what people from my part of the world do when they want some press attention for free. Climb up on top of a really high place and make as if you’re about to jump (don’t do this at home kids). That’ll get you some looks from the media. Just don’t forget to wear your site-branded shirt.

Get the word out. Word-of-mouth promotion is free. Use it! Tell your family and friends that you have a new site or blog. Better yet, tell everyone. This is easy. Go to social events (parties, etc.) and try to subtly include your site in every conversation you make. This may offend some people’s sense of propriety, but it beats the alternative: telling complete strangers to visit your site as you pass them on the street.

Sponsor Events. Offer to contribute something to a community affair in return for a plug. You can do this with dances, league games, and other celebrations/programs. Or create an event of your own; a contest, for example. A word to the wise: beware the snowball effect. One must always be prepared (financially) for everything that can happen when conducting a contest-else he may find himself running from an avalanche of winners because he didn’t expect such enthusiastic participation and didn’t prepare enough prizes.

Involve others. Look for other webmasters who promote their sites offline. This way you can try the more outrageous promotion methods (these methods warrant a separate article) with safety in numbers. Also, try to make tie-ups with small businesses using a “You-promote-me-I-promote-you” approach. One that is related to your site’s niche is best. You wouldn’t want your “All about dogs” site to be promoted by an adult specialties shop, and vice versa, would you? Not only is it illogical, it’s also a bit of not downright disturbing.

So there. Good Luck!