Archive for June, 2009
Where you can find free blog plugins
As I have mentioned in before, plugins for wordpress can really make a difference in the usability of a blog. A plugin can turn an ordinary boring common theme and make it stand out for the reader. So, where do you get all of these free blog plugins? Good question. The answer is there is a ton of places to find them.
I must say I love the new wordpress version where you can install plugins right from the admin. You no longer need to download and ftp over the files. A simple enhancement that has made me fall in love with WordPress blogs all over again.
Okay back to the point of the blog and that is where to find free blog plugins. Here are three places you can go to check for the whatever your need is for your blog. I recommend starting with WordPress Plugins main website. This is the most reliable place to stop which covers an overview of the free blog plugin and how to install it.
From there try out Siteground which has a good list of free blog plugins or a very large database of free blog plugs over at WP-Plugins. It really all depends on what you are looking for or better yet, if you even know what you are looking for.
What I mean is that you should surf around as many blogs as you can. Find plugins that you like and then google the plugin. Find the free blog plugin and use it. It is okay to mimic a blog that you like. You don’t want to be 100% the same but it is okay to take the pieces you like and reuse the layout and usability.
It is the content that will make you stand out but the presentation of the content does make a difference.
![[del.icio.us]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Feed Me Links]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/feedmelinks.png)
![[Google]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[Kaboodle]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/kaboodle.png)
![[LinkedIn]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/linkedin.png)
![[Reddit]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/reddit.png)
![[Squidoo]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/squidoo.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Windows Live]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/windowslive.png)
![[Yahoo!]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/yahoo.png)
![[Email]](http://thebloggingcenter.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
How to check your blog rank for free
The more you get interested in SEO fixes the more addicting it can be. Always wondering if you have gained on your competitors for your keywords. If your page rank has increased. Are you on page one yet and if not, why not!
Maybe your not obsessed with it, maybe that is just me however if you are always wondering where are you right now on your page rank, you can check out this free page rank tool. This is a simple tool with very specific results but will give you the answer quickly and is reliable.
If you are wondering how your blog rank is doing on more then just one search engine, try this blog rank tool. This site allows you to enter in the keywords you are trying to use to drive traffic to your site and will tell you how you rank with google, yahoo, AOL, MSN and a few others. It is a free tool so if you don’t like it no harm done but if you do, you can check it as often as you like though it may not update unless the search engines have updated or you have dumped a ton of new content on your site.
Remember, keywords are the center piece of your SEO plan. Your blog rank is really tied to your success of getting the most SEO fixes around your keywords selected. Knowing how you are doing with your keywords and checking your blog rank now and again is a good way to see if you are really making a difference or maybe it is time to try a new tactic or even worse, new keywords to get your blog additional traffic.
Flash websites how it impacts SEO for blogs and traffic in general
A lot of people when they build websites love the idea of using flash. Flash splash pages as introductions or for navigation. Flash along the sidebar to give the users an interactive way to read information. Flash is a great way to make a site fun for users. Yet… it has major issues when it comes to SEO and flash AND usability in general.
Let’s start by saying not everyone is going to have macromedia installed or the plugin needed to support flash. So what does this mean? You lost that traffic. I know from personal experience that if I need to download something I leave the site. There are a million other sites out there with very similar to your content I am willing to bet. Why would I spend another second on your site when I can just go elsewhere?
Secondly, flash needs time to load. It is not fast like basic html or blogging software. Flash usually has a loading period and if you are dealing with traffic that has a slow connection to start with you have just scared away even more users. Flash is great for a certain uses but not for a general content site. Your content should be what you want people to be in love with, not your use of flash. Always remember what the goal of your blog is.
When it comes to SEO fixes and flash you can forget about it. As tip number three with flash and blogs, spiders have trouble with flash software. Here is a great article by SEOmoz talking about the situation. Basically the content in flash is not as easy to read as text on the screen within html or blogging software. You can’t apply SEO fixes like anchor text or title tags to flash pages. You lose out basically of all other SEO fixes when you apply flash as a page. When you apply it as part of a page you lose whatever value the html equivalent would have given you.
Bottom line is why roll the dice with flash on a blog when it can impact your SEO work, hurt your search engine rankings and drive readers away from your blog.
Top three must have plugins for wordpress
Plugins for wordpress can take an ordinary blog and spruce it up. Make it interesting to the reader and with the right plugins for wordpress, can make your life as a blogger easier. Here is a great reference list to thirty great plugins for wordpress.
Out of this list, here are the top three that I have used in my own experience that have really made a difference in my blogging experience.
Google Sitemap Generator: The must have of SEO fixes is a google sitemap generator as it will create the information the search engine requires to easily crawl though your pages and index your content. This plugin for wordpress formats your google sitemap properly and will ensure that the search engine is aware that your blog has been updated recently.
Here is where you can find out more about the google sitemap generator:
Sociable: Social Media Optimization is a strong natural way to build traffic to your blog. The key to making the most of SMO traffic is make it easy on your reader to tag your post and add it to whatever social media network they belong to. The plugin for wordpress Socialable does just that for you. It provides a quick obvious button for readers to click and add your post.
Here is where you can find out more about the Socialable plugin
WordPress database backup: The biggest fear with anything online or electronic is losing the data. Without a printed backup which no one does with blogging, if lost it is gone forever. For many this could cost thousands and thousands of dollars. Using a plugin for wordpress to backup your blog posts can save you a possible nightmare situation.
Here is the link to the wordpress database backup plugin.
Any plugins you use for your wordpress blog not mentioned?
Get blog traffic series: Make the most of your RSS feeds
SEO fixes can help you get blog traffic by ranking your site in the top of search engine results but once a reader finds your blog, it is up to you to keep them. Return traffic and repeat visitors are the key to a successful blog. Look at the top blogs out there and you will find in their comments that many of the same names post each day. What this means is that to get blog traffic you need to get new readers AND keep the ones who have already found you.So how do you get blog traffic by keeping the reader who has found you? The answer is to make the most of your RSS feeds. Here is a short and long term solution to get blog traffic with RSS Feeds.
Short term solution is to be sure to you are offering both the email and feed version of your RSS feed. Not only do you need to be sure you are offering both email and feed version, the user should not have to work to find where to sign up. Your RSS feed should be very clear and obvious if you want to get blog traffic by having them sign up for it. RSS feeds are the best way to ensure once someone has found you that they will keep up with your writing. Feedburner is the best option as it is reliable and easy to manage subscriptions.
Long term solution to get blog traffic with your RSS feed is to ensure you have submitted your blog to RSS directories. There are many aggregate sites out there and repositories that track all of the blogs and their feeds. Submit your feed to all of them and eventually other sites will pick up your feeds. More readers of your feed will translate to you getting blog traffic. Here is a good list of RSS directories you should submit your feed to.
Get Blog Traffic Series: Increase blog traffic by writing good content
If you want to get blog traffic you need to have content. More importantly, you need to write good quality content for your blogs if you want to see an increase to your blog traffic.What defines good blog content? How does it relate to an increase in blog traffic? Well, good content requires two things smart use of the right keywords and has to add value to your readers. If you can make a balance between these two items in all of your blog posts you will see an increase to blog traffic as search engines will rank your posts higher and more importantly readers will come back after they found you to read new articles in the future.
Here are the solutions for the day to increase blog traffic:
Short term solution to increase blog traffic is write quality content. This will be said over and over again but content is king. Quality content will get blog traffic faster then simply writing keyword clogged articles. Sure you need to work your keywords into your article but do it as subtle as possible. Your articles should be giving value to your reader and if it does you will see an increase to blog traffic as the reader will return each day in the future. If you do not add value to your content all of the SEO fixes in the world will not matter.
Long term solution for SEO fixes to increase blog traffic is to write articles considering how people search for the information. Don’t waste your title of the blog post with a generic statement. Form a title that you would image someone searching on such as how to get blog traffic or ways to increase blog traffic. You want to form your keywords in search engine friendly phrases – this is also called long tail keywords. Look at your keywords you are about to write posts for and try to add long tail keywords to them to make them fit exactly what someone will search for.
