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- Why You Should Never Comment on Blogs. Ever.
This guest post is by David Hartstein of JG Visual.
I'm sure you've heard well-reasoned, logical arguments for why you should be commenting on blogs:
- "You can be a part of the conversation happening out there."
- "You can build your own authority."
- "You can drive traffic to your blog."
But, while there may be a burned, unpopped kernel of truth in these statements, none of them take into account the many reasons you should never comment on a blog.
Well here are some of those reasons for your consideration.
First of all, you shouldn't even begin to think about commenting unless you have something really profound to say. If you merely express agreement, it is likely judgment will rain down upon you. As, to be fair, it should. There is no room for mere opinions in the comment section of a blog. It is a blog after all. No feelings, just facts.
Plus, there's a good chance you don't have the authority to be commenting on a post. I mean, if someone is writing a post, they are certainly held in high esteem by all of the peers in their field. The Internet won't let just anyone publish. And if you're not an expert, you likely don't have much to offer. Sure, maybe you have some ideas, but are they the kind that are best kept to yourself? Unless you have a graduate degree in the subject at hand, they should probably be filed away in your journal.
Additionally, if no one else has commented yet, you're essentially lowering your head onto the chopping block. You could write the first one, but doing so opens you up to being the minority opinion. It's very possible that just after you finish singing the praises of a particular post, a series of users will go on an angry tirade ripping the author apart. You'd look really dumb. Who cares what you thought? Those other commenters probably know more than you anyway.
Also, don't forget that browser spellcheck leaves something to be desired. Sure, it will catch a word that you've butchered, but what about something more minute? And forget any kind of oversight on your grammar. Plus, there's a very good chance that a misspelled word will leave whatever you have to say incomprehensible, leading to angry comments about the spam you are leaving behind.
Once you've waded through the murky waters of actually drafting your comment, you're still faced with giving away your personal information. If you're anything like the average web user, you probably haven't given out much personal info online before, perhaps with the notable exception of some obscure social networking site.
If you do feel the need to comment, you have the requisite authority to do so, and other people already have commented, consider taking the following action:
- Draft the comment in a word processor.
- Check the comment for spelling and grammar mistakes, both with the built-in tools and manually.
- Re-check.
- Send it to a family member or a friend for their thoughts (pick someone smart).
- Print it out, sleep on it, and revisit it at breakfast the next day.
- If you're still feeling the urge, go ahead and publish it.
- Deal with the ensuing fallout.
If, after reading this, you are still wont to publish a comment from time to time, go ahead. But consider yourself warned. It's a dangerous game.
And, whatever you do, don't you dare write a comment on this post!
David Hartstein is a partner at JG Visual, an Internet strategy company that works with organizations to develop and implement their online presence. You can connect with David on the JG Visual Facebook Page.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Why You Should Never Comment on Blogs. Ever.
Переслать - Usable Content: a Blogger's Introduction
You’ve probably heard of usability. Back in the day, when the web was wild(er) and free(r), usability proponents like Jakob Nielsen encouraged site owners to stop doing things like displaying yellow text on black backgrounds, shun the Blink and Marquee tags, and focus on helping users do what they wanted to do on websites.
These days, usability is crucial to the success not just of blogs, but of online businesses—much of the information we read about reducing friction and improving sales pages, for example, is based on usability principles. So are the layouts of popular blog themes, online image albums and video players, and so on.
But we can go further than this, to look at the usability of our content. Content usability isn’t often talked about, but as content creators, bloggers should get their heads around this idea.
What is content usability?
Content usability focuses on making the information we publish as usable a possible to the users our blogs target.
An example: if your blog targets people with dyslexia or other reading and comprehension difficulties, you’ll tailor your content to their needs. That might mean tweaking your layout, avoiding certain color combinations, changing your default fonts, altering your writing style, and so on.
Copyright Yuri Arcurs - Fotolia.com
Another example: if you run a blog that’s focused on promoting special offers (like a deal-aggregation blog, for example), you’ll want to make sure that every aspect of your content is targeted to readers achieving the goal of taking up those deals. Maybe you’ll make the deal links stand out through color choice. Perhaps you’ll also provide the details of each deal in a sidebar so that users don’t need to scroll through your content to find the links. Perhaps you’ll pull out the key aspects of each deal into a “vital stats” list that appears at the top of every post, for the same reason.
As you can see, the notion of content usability is closely tied to your audience and your blog’s purpose. That said, there are some general usability principles that you should consider in formulating your content.
Principles of content usability
Aside from the most basic ideas of content usability—accurate spelling, good structure, and so on—there are a few content usability principles that bloggers often ignore.
Use consistent formatting
Darren’s provided some detailed formatting advice for bloggers, and formatting is a big deal for usability.
The real key to formatting usability is to use formatting consistently, so that headings of the same level are given the appropriate markup (second-level headings are all H2s, for example), emphasis is always used in the same way, and so on.
This matters for a range of reasons that aren’t limited to the fact that human beings are reading your blog posts—SEO and screen readers, for example. But at its most basic, formatting tells readers something about the nature of the content you’re presenting, and about its component parts.
If I use italics for emphasis here, and bold here, you may well become confused, even subconsciously. Why are those two items (they could be headings, or titles, or images, or buttons) presented differently? Are they different? Okay, so that formatting might not make my content unusable, but it does reduce its usability. How? By increasing confusion.
Don’t underline online text
Using underlines on web text wasn’t cool in Jakob’s day, and it’s still not—even though web design, and web users, have both come a long way since then.
In the good (or bad, depending on how you see things) old days, underlines on text were reserved for hyperlinks—that was the signal to web users that the text was linked to another resource. It still is on many sites, and many of us still regard an underline as the standard form of web link.
Underline your text without a link—for the sake of emphasis, say—and you’ll confuse more than a few of your readers.
Include links
The web offers us a great benefit over every other communications medium in that when we refer to something or someone, we can show readers what that is without breaking the flow of our engagement with them.
Let’s imagine I’m talking to you about content usability, and I want to mention readability, but I’m not sure if you know what that is. Instead of that nice, subtle link I just included in the previous sentence, I’d probably end up saying something like this:
“So, yeah, content usability includes factors like readability and … oh, so readability’s about how easy it is to read and take in—like, comprehend, really—your stuff. So there are these online tests that let you paste in your content and they’ll tell you how readable it is; they’ll give you a readability score that corresponds to school grades and—what’s that? Oh? You know about readability? Cool. So … what was I saying again? Oh yeah, content usability…”
The web offers us the ability to suggest further reading and deeper insight without breaking the flow of communication, or telling readers things they don’t want or need to know. Links make your content more usable, because they make it more useful. Links help your readers to achieve their goals through your blog. Don’t just mention brand names, individuals, or websites: link to the them. And link to them in a way that helps readers predict what they’ll get if they click on the link.
Use pertinent words and phrases
If your content is going to be useable for your audience, surely speaking to those readers is a big part of the communications picture.
You’ll notice here on ProBlogger that we refer to bloggers a lot. We frequently refer to your blog, your audience, and your niche, as these are all terms that are part of the blogging vocabulary, and we all understand what they mean. As a secondary term, we do refer to your site, but only to avoid repetition. First and foremost, we call ourselves bloggers.
This isn’t about SEO—although of course it helps. This decision is about talking to our audience in the terms you understand—terms that resonate with you. Another example: when I first started with ProBlogger I asked Darren specifically if he (and you) referred to your blog visitors as “readers.” This is standard terminology on this blog, but it wasn’t for other publications I’ve worked on.
This may seem like a minor issue. But imagine you read three articles on ProBlogger, and not one of them contained any mention of blogs or blogging or readers. Imagine if all they referred to was sites and end users. You might start to question whether the content was really suited to you and your needs. You’d probably wonder how applicable—or useful—it was to your situation.
Use the words your readers know, understand, and expect. And use them consistently, so users aren’t jarred by a proliferation of terminology. This will help to make your content more usable, though again your readers may not realize it consciously.
Use the most appropriate content form
Content isn’t just words—we have at our disposal diagrams, photographs, video, sound, and interactivity in various forms. Often, written content should take a supporting role. It’s up to us as bloggers to discern those moments, and to use the tags, captions, and other tools available to us to augment, rather than replace, the appropriate content form.
In all cases, we should make the most of those possibilities, even at a text level. If your blog post doesn’t fit into list format, don’t write it as a list post. If as you’re writing, you find that your post becomes a list, go back and make that clear in the title and opening paragraphs. Telling users what they can expect—and then meeting that expectation—is vital to usability.
Think laterally
I’ll admit that I can be a bit slow on the uptake as a web user. That’s not good, because I use the web a lot, and I get grumpy when things don’t go as I expect. I can think of plenty of examples, off the top of my head, where usability could be better.
Each of these examples arises as a result of the point I made above: that on the web, we, as bloggers, can link to resources. That’s the up-side; the down-side is that we, as readers and users, can get confused about what can be clicked on, and where it will lead. Very confused, in some cases.
Like Darren’s Workbooks page—I really want to be able to click on the book titles there! I was looking for a book there today (ProBlogger’s Guide to Blogging for Your Business). I scrolled down, found the title, clicked! …aaaand nothing. I had to go all the way to the scroll bar again, drag it down, and click on the link.
Can your blog’s users click on the things they expect to?
Or, take Google’s page header (it’s not a blog, but it deserves a mention). When I started using Google+ I had some questions and started looking for Help. I saw that little cog in the top-right corner, but I thought it provided access to my settings, not help. Even the page footer, standard location for Help and Privacy links, lacks a link to Help!
I expected to see a Help link in this menu bar. Is that so wrong?
Does your blog clearly indicate what’s what, and what leads to where? You might need to do some user testing to find out the truth on this one.
And what about this shot from Copyblogger? This box appears at the bottom of Copyblogger’s right-hand sidebar. I don’t know about you, but I’m a lazy clicker. The box has one link. So (my whiny-teen-alter-ego whinges), why can’t I click anywhere on that box to access the link?
Copyblogger kudos box: not so clicky
Does your blog make users work harder than they need to?
These kinds of issues may require some lateral thinking—or some user testing—to uncover, but correcting them could make your blog, your newsletter, your sales pages, and your content in general, a whole lot more usable.
Making content usable
Okay, so people don’t talk much about content usability. But people who create content and publish it should have a firm grasp and consciousness of the concept and what it means for their users. We’re not always going to get it right, but we owe it to ourselves and our readers to strive constantly to improve content usability.
How can you do that? You could review some of your content using the ideas I’ve mentioned here, and see where you could make improvements. You could play around with wireframing software like mockingbird to create different presentations for your content. Perhaps you know a usability professional who you can speak to about the principles of usability—or you could just pick up a book on the topic at your local library. Once you get started, you might like to do some user testing to see if you are actually making your content more usable for readers.
If you need a little extra impetus, consider that in many cases, better content usability means better content reusability. Format your posts well, use reader-appropriate language, link wherever you can, and employ the appropriate formats for the message you’re delivering, and you’ll be much more easily able to repackage that content into a saleable format down the track.
How usable is your content? Are you conscious of usability as you write and prepare posts for publication? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
Usable Content: a Blogger’s Introduction
Переслать - "Most Recommended" by Blogging Geniuses at WordCamp Boston
This guest post is by Marci Reynolds of marcireynolds.com.
The July 2011 WordPress WordCamp Boston rocked! Hundreds of eager WordPress users gathered to watch more than 40 speakers who presented on topics from social media to themes to shortcodes to security.
I took detailed notes as I listened, watched and networked with blogging and WordPress geniuses and have gathered what I consider the most interesting tips and tricks.Most recommended WordPress plugins
Plugins were a hot topic in every session, but only three rose to the top as the "most recommended":
- Yoast SEO: allows you to optimize page titles, meta descriptions, keywords, XML sitemaps
- HubSpot Plugin: allows you to leverage HubSpot's lead nurturing, website analytics and "call to action” post types
- Google Analytics for WordPress: allows you to synch up information with your Google analytics account and allows you to track custom variables and meta data.
Most recommended WordPress SEO tips
In addition to the hearing about the importance of fresh, high quality content ("content, content, content"), a number of experts reinforced these WordPress SEO tips:
- Change the Permalink default on blog posts to end with your post name, not the post number.
- Use images to break up your content, engage readers and help with SEO.
- Be sure you own the image, or choose them from "creative commons", with appropriate credit (one of my favorites is www.freedigitalphotos.net).
- Use relevant keywords in the image name and alternate text
- Add an XML sitemap.
- Monitor and improve your site loading speed.
- Google's Matt Cutts has stated that, “We want the web to be faster, we want sites to load quickly,” so it's very possible that Google could be looking to encourage and reward this through their ranking of sites.
- In May 2011, Google added a Site Speed Report in Google Analytics.
- For more detailed info, check out the recent blog post on Search Engine Watch, Why Marketers Must Care About Site Speed.
- Build link juice. Not random back links, but high quality links to and from other sites that offer relevant content. (One technique that has worked well on my Sales Operations Blog, is to build a page dedicated to linking to other sites with relevant, high quality content. Check out the Other Sales Ops Articles example. )
Social media … of course
I think it's required that every 2011 conference, whether it's about real estate, insurance, or cat food, must include several sessions on how to use social media, and WordCamp (WC) was part of that group.
However, there was an obvious division in the WC audience. Some WC attendees like me, were well versed in social media 101 and 102 and were looking for something new and advanced. The remaining attendees (seemed like 50% of humans) were beginners and were looking for advice on how to get started. One conference attendee was skewered on Twitter, hashtag #wcbos, for asking how to spell "Mashable." Understandable!
The general themes on how to use social media to support your WordPress efforts were:
- Make it easy for readers to share your blog content by including sharing buttons within your posts. There are many plugin options to facilitate that.
- Use social media to share your content. You may only share it with 50 or 100 followers, but you need to consider the power of the retweet.
- Per HubSpot, blog posts that are shared on Twitter have more page views, while blog posts shared on Facebook have more comments.
- Try testing three headlines on Twitter and see which one gets the most clickthroughs.
Overall, WordCamp Boston was a great experience, and well worth the time and money investment. I saw some very talented speakers, networked with other WordPress users and learned many new things. I look forward to attending next year's conference.
Have you attended a WordCamp event? What did you learn?
Marci Reynolds, based in Boston, MA, is an operations leader by day and an active blogger after-hours.
She enjoys writing about sales support, service operations, process improvement and social media best practices. Learn more about Marci.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
"Most Recommended" by Blogging Geniuses at WordCamp Boston
Переслать - 4 Tips for Pitching Guest Posts Like a Pro
This guest post is by Aman Basanti of Ageofmarketing.com.
Since launching my blog in Mid-may 2011, I have guest posted on a number of A-list blogs in the blogging and online marketing niches (including ProBlogger, MarketingProfs, and Daily Blog Tips). In doing so, I have learned some important lessons in getting guest posts accepted on big blogs.
But rather than boring you with the usual advice (pick the right blog, research the blog, pitch quality content etc.) I will attack a specific aspect of guest posting—preparing the pitch. If you want to learn about other aspects of guest posting check out Ali Luke's post, How to Get Your Guest Posts Accepted Every Time.
I’ve identified four important elements that can greatly increase your chances of having your article or pitch accepted.
1. Pitch multiple post ideas
I had been reading ProBlogger for over a year before I pitched them a guest post. By any measure, I had done my research. Still, my judgement of what would be accepted was way off.
The post I thought would be best for ProBlogger was rejected, as was the one I thought would be second best. The one I least expected to be published was accepted. Had I not pitched three post ideas at once, I would never have known. I’ve had similar experiences with other editors.
So the lesson here is to pitch multiple posts. You cannot guess what the editor will find interesting. Stop trying to be a mind-reader. Place your trust in probability.
2. Write solid outlines
If you pitch multiple pieces, do not simply include them as attachments. A-list blogs get a ton of pitches every week and do not have the time to read through them all. Make it easy for the editor and write a short description for each piece.
Here’s a sample outline:
The Pimp, the Grocer and the Hit Man: Magnetise Your Headings Using the Power of the Unexpected
An article about how humans are wired to pay attention to unexpected events and how bloggers can use unexpected details to write more attention worthy headlines.
Sending article pitches, rather than articles, also benefits you. You do not have to have the post written before pitching it. You pitch it, see if the blogger is interested, and then write based on their feedback.
Pitching multiple posts with outlines is the single most important thing that has helped me get more posts accepted. It cuts out the guesswork.
3. Use the right keywords
As editors are busy, they do not have the time to imagine how your post relates to their niche. Your pitch has to be specific to their blog from the outset. The simplest way to make your post appear more specific is to use the right language.
This is where your research will come into play. Most sites target specific keywords. ProBlogger, for example, targets blogging-related keywords. So if you are pitching to this site, use the word “blog” instead of “website” and “post” instead of “article.”
Even cosmetic fixes like these can make your pitches more appealing. As Georgina explained it to me: "I, like the search engines, like to see [keywords] used in the posts I’m reviewing. There’s plenty of content online that’s relevant to blogging, but unless it’s specifically and explicitly tied to blogging and bloggers, we can’t accept it."
4. Show samples of your work
Include in your submission samples of your writing from around the web. Ideally, you want to list your top three pieces, with at least one of them (if not all) being on a site other than yours.
This will help the editor get a better idea of the quality and style of your writing. Even if they do not read it, it shows social proof. It shows that other blogs have found your writing interesting.
A sample submission
Here is the email template I use to submit my guest posts. This should bring the tips listed above together into an actionable plan that you can use next time you submit a guest post to a blog.
Hello [name of editor],
My name is Aman Basanti and I am a consumer psychology writer from Australia. I am interested in writing a guest post for your blog.
Are you currently accepting guest posts on your blog?
If yes, I have the following ideas for you to consider.
- The Christina Aguilera Error: Are You Saying Ironic When You Mean Coincidental?
An article on how many people confuse ironic with coincidental. It defines what ironic is, gives examples of situations that are often incorrectly identified as ironic. It then goes on to discuss why this distinction matters to bloggers, especially to those who submit their articles to other publications.- The Pimp, the Grocer and the Hit Man: Magnetise Your Headings Using the Power of the Unexpected
An article about how humans are wired to pay attention to unexpected events and how bloggers can use unexpected details to write more attention worthy headlines.- Idea 3
A short description of the blog post.Also, you can see samples of my writing at:
- 4 Success Secrets of Infamous British Author, Jeffery Archer
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2011/06/18/4-success-secrets-of-infamous-british-author-jeffery-archer/- The Joe Girard Method: What the World's Greatest Salesman Can Teach You about Sales and Marketing
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/the-joe-girard-method-what-the-worlds-greatest-salesman-can-teach-you-about-sales-and-marketing/- The Margaret Thatcher Effect: Does Familiarity Breed ConteMPT or ContENT?
http://www.ageofmarketing.com/The-Mere-Exposure-EffectI look forward to hearing from you,
Aman Basanti
AgeofMarketing.comThere are no magic bullets to getting guest posts. Quality posts pitched to the right publications in the right way will increase your chances of scoring a guest post and reaping the associated benefits. Do you submit pitches to sites you want to guest-post on? Let us know how you approach pitching in the comments below.
Aman Basanti writes about the psychology of buying and teaches you how you can use the principles of consumer psychology to boost your sales. Visit www.Ageofmarketing.com/free-ebook to get his new ebook—Marketing to the Pre-Historic Mind: How the Hot New Science of Behavioural Economics Can Help You Boost Your Sales—for FREE.
Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger
4 Tips for Pitching Guest Posts Like a Pro
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