The Open Source Marketer

Here are a few notes from John Pozadzides at OneMansBlog.com. He’s giving the presentation on 45 Ways to Power Up Your Blog at WordCamp Dallas 2008.

I’m not going to list all 45 tips in this update, but here are a few interesting ones for you.

1. Use English Names for Images
2. Descriptive and accurate titles are essential
3. Use title elements on every hypertext link
4. Pick the right theme (SEO over Eye Candy)
5. Web hosting affects your traffic - google traffic is affected by site performance (google could flood a slow server). StumbeUpon stops sending traffic to slow sites
6. Serve images from your own server and not Flickr or risk sending traffic to Flickr and not your own site. Images searches will go to where the site is stored.
7. Use a sitemap to tell Google where everything is on your site. Get the WordPress Site Map Plugin.
8. Post regularly, no less than 2-3 days. Post in advance. Keep 2-3 post buffer at all times, a week or two is even better if you can.
9. Always show related posts.
10. Use Print style sheets to make it easy for people to print your content.
11. Use deep linking by using keywords in the link text.
12. Have your own domain name. Don’t use typepad, blogger, or other sub-domain.
13. Create a podcast and/or publish a video to connect with your audience and make yourself real.
14. Pick a theme that loads quickly
15. Use wp super cache plugin to survive a digg front page appearance.
16. Use the link attraction factors plugin to find out if your post title is digg worthy.
17. Always include at least one image per post, period.

These are all great tips, but the grand finale was the best tickler and that was the Layered Technologies real-time analytics reporting tool from Woopra.com. I’m getting a beta account today as part of being an attendee of WordCamp Dallas 2008, so I’ll update you on all the yummy coolness once I have a chance to get in and use the tool.

Updating from WordCamp Dallas 2008

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com

Blog comments are extremely important to the health of a successful blog. But responding to comments in a blog tool like WordPress can be time consuming and awkward. Today we’re going to talk about a WordPress plug-in that can make replying to comments painless.

Successful bloggers know that blogs are fueled by content. In fact, it’s been said many times that it’s important for the blogger to produce content on a daily basis. Publishing articles and short posts on a regular basis is what brings in new visitors and what keeps veteran readers coming back. But, did you know that comments are just as important as the content that bloggers create.

You see comments are free content that the blogger doesn’t have to produce. Comments create a sense of community and encourage reader participation. Comments are an active expression of the reader’s opinion that can add a unique voice to a blog beyond what even the blogger envisioned. Smart bloggers know that in order to increase their content, they must encourage and nurture comments from their readers. Read the rest of this entry »