12 things I would do if I had to start my Blog again
ADVERTISEMENTSDarren Rowse has started another group writing project (If I had to Start My Blog Again) in his popular blog, ProBlogger. I am writing this post as a part of this group writing project.
What would I do if I had to start my blog again?
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Domain name
First of all I would get myself a good Domain name. My current domain name (johntp.com) sounds more like a personal blog, but I have not blogged much about my personal life.
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K2
I would use the best WordPress theme -K2 from the beginning and modify it to make my blog unique. I found K2 a bit late and could not use it from the beginning of this blog
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Feedburner for comments
I have not been using from the beginning of this blog but was still able to track all the subscribers thanks to the Feedburner Plugin. What I regret is that I started using FeedBurner for my comments only recently and the Feedburner Plugin does not allow redirection for two FeedBurner addresses. So if I had to start my blog from the beginning I would use FeedBurner for my Comments from the beginning.
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Google SiteMap Generator
If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I have activated the Google SiteMap Generator WordPress Plugin as soon as I start blogging.
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Akismet
I started blocking spam with Akismet only about 3 months later after starting this blog. If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I have activated the Akismet WordPress Plugin to block all spam from the beginning.
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Comment on other Blogs
Commenting on other blogs is one good way to get your blog noticed by other bloggers. I have not commented on other blogs much so far. So If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I comment on atleast popular blogs.
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Submit Bog to Dmoz
I have not got this blog listed on Dmoz so far mainly because I did not submit it there. But if I had, my blog would have been listed on Google’s Directory and hundreds of other directories resulting in better Link Popularity and Search Engine Ranking. So If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I submit my blog to Dmoz and Yahoo’s Directory.
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Submit Articles to Ezine Articles
Submiting your Articles to Ezine Articles will make it exposed to more readers meaning more links to your blog. Unfortunately I always forget to do so. So If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I submit my orginal Articles to EzineArticles.
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Better About Page
An About Page should not only describe about you but also about the site. Unfortunately, I realised my mistake only a few months before. I will make sure I never make this mistake if I have to start my blog again.
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Subcribe Buttons
I used to have my buttons only on my homepage for many months. This prevented readers from easily subscribing to my blog. This is another of those mistakes I would not want to make if I have to start my blog again.
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Unnecessary Meta Tags
After spending some time analysing my site, my friend who is good at SEO found that my site had different PageRanks for the domains- https://johntp.com and https://johntp.com because I used unnecessary Meta Tags. If I had to start my blog again I would make sure that I do not use these unnecessary Meta Tags again.
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Link Exchange Services
A few months back I had registered with a Link Exchange Service who promised to get my blog 1000+ backlinks. Unfortunately, I came to know that the service was fake and was set up to get links for themselves. Also Search Engines consider these services as methods for artificial Link Popularity and may ban your site if they find you using it. So if I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I never use these services
So what will you do if you had to start your Blog again?
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Posted on July 27th, 2006 | Category: Blogging |
Pierre Lourens
July 27, 2006 at 2:07 am
I just launched my blog, http://pierrelourens.com
I use feedburner for comments and entries, and made sure to change my autodiscovery links in my header.php file.
I use Wordpress and slightly modified K2 to my liking, and have decided to modify it in the next version of my theme.
I use technorati to manage how many people link to my blog, and they thankfully revamped their site so it might be more accurate.
I use Google Analytics and Slimstat to monitor stats, what type of viewers I have, and where I come from.
Not only do I comment on other peoople’s blogs, but I also partake in online forums relevant to my topic, and put a link in my signature.
I’ve joined blog networks like Random Shapes, and hope to become part of 9rules. The best tip I can give is to write good content, and don’t join any gimmicks because you are hungry for views
Thilak
July 27, 2006 at 2:19 am
I feel Unnecessary Meta Tags has no impact because i asked this question in a SEO Forum.
Check out Shoemoneys or Liews Meta Tags. They too contain those
Blogtheinternet
July 27, 2006 at 6:09 am
What I don’t understand is why do you think you need to start a new blog or rather if you had the opportunity to start this blog over… who says you can’t do these things now? Idea’s are all about the growth of your site… all sites start as seeds… which are basically small ideas… and as those ideas get put into words, design, and a webpage… you grow and your site grows… you re-think things… re-do things… erase things… etc…
So keep in mind, that with any site it is never too late… Who is to say DMOZ would have accepted your site back when the site was brand new… I think you have a better change now than then… you need to focus on doing everything you said in your post… and don’t think for a minute that its too late…. Its not… there is no better time than today! and don’t put it off until tomorrow, because tomorrow will turn into next week, and etc…
John T P
July 27, 2006 at 6:48 am
Pierre Lourens- You can’t join 9rules if you have joined another blog network already…that’s what I heard.
Thilak- LiewCF has none of these Meta tags.
Blogtheinternet- I don’t want to start my blog again. I was only answering Darren’s question.
Pierre Lourens
July 27, 2006 at 6:50 am
JohnTP — If so, then maybe it’s worth it for me to build my blog traffic from scratch, because that’s a ridiculous rule to enforce. Not cool.
George
July 28, 2006 at 12:32 am
Great list of changes. I just browsed around your blog, really nice information. I just subscribed to your feed, so I can up with it.
I answered Darren’s question a couple of days ago here
All the best,
George
Damien
July 28, 2006 at 3:21 am
I use K2 myself, and while it’s not perfect, it is a pretty decent theme.
And thanks for sharing the tips. Though I’d have to reccomend the No WWW plugin for WordPress if you’re trying to get a consistent pagerank. If you do want the www subdomain, it’s not that hard at all to make it work inversely if you know a smidge of RegEx.
MamaDuck
July 28, 2006 at 6:16 am
K2 is ok, IMO there is no perfect theme, I’m always changing my current theme but I’m pretty happy with it (and no, it isn’t K2 ;)). Great post - we did this project as well - http://lilduckduck.com/archive/187 - if you want to look!
Stefan
July 28, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I discovered your blog via Darren’s group writing project as well and I really like it.
You made some good points, although I can’t follow you concerning you META-tag problem.
Thilak
July 28, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Yeah I agree with you Stefan. Thats was exactly what i was saying in previous comments. Meta tags are almost dead now. They have no impact.
We have already discussed this issue over at Digital Point. This happens because google see domains with http://www. and without www as two different domain names and thats what causes the trouble.
I suggest you use .htaccess to redirect all your traffic to one single domain (either with or without www), but www is seriously depreciated by Google.
But doing this your PR won’t split up into two different accounts. I reckon if you had done this before latest PR update, your PR would have been about 6 by now !!
Anyway its your blog and i think you have a better knowledge about SEO. Do whats best for johntp.com
Jason Drohn
July 28, 2006 at 7:09 pm
John,
Just an idea, your #1 point is to get a better domain name from the start. Just spend the $7 to get a name that describes your site better and have it forwarded here if it is an issue. I really don’t think it is. Some of the absolute most successful blogs have personal or wierd names. I honestly don’t know if your new domain name will have the same PR though. I think that google will follow to the forwarded domain but I may be wrong.
Jersey Girl
July 28, 2006 at 9:09 pm
I came over from problogger.
I really enjoyed reading your post. You listed some really good information. I’m going to go check out one of your other posts when I’m done here. Since I’m still figuring out this blog thing, I appreciate seeing such a full list and easy explanations about each one. Best to you.
Thom
July 29, 2006 at 8:33 am
I’m with Blogtheinternet, unless you have some business reason, pretty much everyone should be able to start over or at least make some changes. Good list though. Very well thought out.
Nice site, have a great day.
Iam4real
July 29, 2006 at 6:07 pm
A great article indeed. After scavenging all my default themes , you finally let my mind to rest. K2 looks great and the best part is they are still looking for ways to improve it. Wont find it without you! Thanks!
Shivaranjan
August 1, 2006 at 11:40 am
Great post John…..
As you said, Going by my domain name everyone things that it is a personal blog and even I donot put much of personal stuff in my blog….
But in the end I donot want to start all over again….
Brian Layman
August 3, 2006 at 4:12 am
“If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I have activated the Google SiteMap Generator WordPress Plugin as soon as I start blogging. ”
Why? Have you actually seen a benifit from this? A jump in activity right after you activated it?
When I use Google to search for terms the way I would expect people to search for them, my articles almost ALWAYS come up in the first several entries. They are almost always discovered within the first day, in fact it is only time that seems to lower the listings as more people post about topics. I don’t want to change that, so I haven’t put in the sitemap plugin.
Have you seen real advantages to it?
John T P
August 3, 2006 at 7:37 pm
Google SiteMap Generator will notify Google as soon as you post an Article. This helps in getting your articles crawled faster by the Google Bot.
Michael
September 5, 2006 at 8:40 am
Hi there John. I liked your article. As a matter of fact, I am new to site promotion and have just started a personal blog.. and am finding it rather fun! Well, my goal is to be number 1 in the search results for Michael Fraser in Google so I am hoping your tips will help me out. When I check Google each day, my ranking seems to vary a couple of places either way, however the link to my site is always old i.e. old article content in it… any idea? How can you get google to index your site more often. Anyway, good read!
Graham Keellings
October 2, 2006 at 1:22 pm
I totally agree on #12, “Link exchange services”. Google is known to come down hard on anything that smells like a “link farm”.
Avoid cheating (you will know it when you do it), and stick with quality).
Thanks for yet another great article.
XhacK
November 6, 2006 at 11:16 pm
Thanks for the tips!!
i`ll consider them in my (next week)blog
Graham Keellings
November 7, 2006 at 9:08 am
I would definitely first consider the structure of my ‘blog. Plan well in advance, don’t just jump into writing, but first consider what you will be writing about.
For instance, my personal two major regrets were not clearly defining my categories before beginning and, to a lesser extent, not clearly defining (Tagerati) keywords, which can be used to cross reference entries.
Notify me of followup comments via e-mail « How to increase your site’s Link PopularityReply from the Adsense Team »CommentsPopularity Contest 1If you only realise after five hundred posts that fifty of them have been about widgets and that you need at least a widgets keyword and probably even a widget category, then a lot of tedious work is required to re-tag or re?categorise.
I suppose that careful planning of categories is the more important. If you plan to offer a list, or drop down menu, of categories, then having five hundred posts and one hundred categories shows lack of structure.
Probably best stick to ten or so categories, if you can.
You can have as many keywords/tags/whatever your system calls them as you like, but when you notice that you have mentioned the same “sub-category” a dozen times and it perhaps is time to add a new tag/keyword/etc, you then have to comb though your archives and add the new tag/keyword.
Perhaps a better approach is that when you first mention a new concept/person/technique/gadget/country/programming language/etc you should consider if it is likely that you will write about it again (no point in a keyword which is only used once)
Anshul
December 4, 2006 at 8:32 pm
Great Tips John!