Part 1
First of all, your blog needs a niche. You'll notice as your start submitting your blog to directories that they will constantly be asking for the category. This isn't just needed for filling out forms. People are going to start visiting your blog looking for specific information. There is NO LIMIT on niches. Trust me on this...I've seen blogs on everything from pets to current events to shaving. Yes, you read that right. Shaving.
The first rule of writing is to write what you know. If you're a health and fitness guru, capitalize on that knowledge. If political-obsessed, write about that. If you make an income online (as I do), you can write about that.
Step 1- Define your niche. Make a list of topics that can be covered under this. For example, if you've got a health and fitness blog- you can write about the following: diet tips, healthy food, ways to work healthy food into your diet, specific exercises, interval training, etc., etc. The list is endless.
Step 2- Adjust your blog title to reflect what you're writing about. A cute title may be that, cute...but if it doesn't express what you're writing about, you will lose a little bit of traffic.
Step 3- Start writing. It's always a good idea to get a good ten posts up before you start driving traffic to your blog. After you write a few posts, you'll get the hang of writing quick, to the point posts and may decide to change the direction of your blog.
The first rule of writing is to write what you know. If you're a health and fitness guru, capitalize on that knowledge. If political-obsessed, write about that. If you make an income online (as I do), you can write about that.
Step 1- Define your niche. Make a list of topics that can be covered under this. For example, if you've got a health and fitness blog- you can write about the following: diet tips, healthy food, ways to work healthy food into your diet, specific exercises, interval training, etc., etc. The list is endless.
Step 2- Adjust your blog title to reflect what you're writing about. A cute title may be that, cute...but if it doesn't express what you're writing about, you will lose a little bit of traffic.
Step 3- Start writing. It's always a good idea to get a good ten posts up before you start driving traffic to your blog. After you write a few posts, you'll get the hang of writing quick, to the point posts and may decide to change the direction of your blog.
Part 2
Great content, as stated in part 1, is the most vital part of the blog. However, the average person only stays on a page for 1 to 5 seconds before deciding whether to click on or stay. (Figures vary on exactly how long they stay, but it isn’t long!)
Good graphics help with keeping people on the page. In addition, a well-organized layout will allow the user to easily navigate your content. A disorganized or unattractive page will actually have a negative impact on your traffic. There is a website in which I absolutely love the articles, but it so hard to read and so hard to sort the articles from the advertisements that I don’t visit it.
So, what are some rules for having an attractive and easy to read page:
1) Use colors that don’t hurt people’s eyes. While blue font on a purple page certainly catches attention, it is hard to read. Stick to simple fonts also. While “freestyle script” offers a cute appearance, it is very hard to read. People are not going to stick around just to decipher what you were writing. Big bold letters on a pale, colored background (such as lemon yellow) can also be hard on the eye. The best way to determine what would look best: browse other blogs and see what works.
2) Layout rules- As with the colors, try to avoid layouts that hurt people eyes. Secondly, make sure your layout is easy to navigate. People want to easily be able to browse through older blog posts, find your drop button (if you have one), tell what is ads, and find different pages on your website/blog. Again, browse blogs and see what works. You might notice that columns are the easiest and most popular format.
3) Advertisement placement is also another important feature of your website or blog. First rule: Do NOT place a full-page ad in which people have to click “ignore” just to see your page. Not only is this rude, most people won’t bother with wasting time trying to get to your page. Second, don’t overwhelm your content with advertisements. Some advertisement is probably necessary. But don’t have more than ¼ of your page (at the very top) as advertisements.
Good graphics help with keeping people on the page. In addition, a well-organized layout will allow the user to easily navigate your content. A disorganized or unattractive page will actually have a negative impact on your traffic. There is a website in which I absolutely love the articles, but it so hard to read and so hard to sort the articles from the advertisements that I don’t visit it.
So, what are some rules for having an attractive and easy to read page:
1) Use colors that don’t hurt people’s eyes. While blue font on a purple page certainly catches attention, it is hard to read. Stick to simple fonts also. While “freestyle script” offers a cute appearance, it is very hard to read. People are not going to stick around just to decipher what you were writing. Big bold letters on a pale, colored background (such as lemon yellow) can also be hard on the eye. The best way to determine what would look best: browse other blogs and see what works.
2) Layout rules- As with the colors, try to avoid layouts that hurt people eyes. Secondly, make sure your layout is easy to navigate. People want to easily be able to browse through older blog posts, find your drop button (if you have one), tell what is ads, and find different pages on your website/blog. Again, browse blogs and see what works. You might notice that columns are the easiest and most popular format.
3) Advertisement placement is also another important feature of your website or blog. First rule: Do NOT place a full-page ad in which people have to click “ignore” just to see your page. Not only is this rude, most people won’t bother with wasting time trying to get to your page. Second, don’t overwhelm your content with advertisements. Some advertisement is probably necessary. But don’t have more than ¼ of your page (at the very top) as advertisements.
 How To Make a 125x125 pixel "Badge"
You’ve probably seen the badge on many people’s sites. And if you use Entrecard or Adgitize, both have the option of uploading your own badge. Having your own badge is very important to help in “branding” your blog. Once we’ve gotten the badge made, I’ll run through how to add the “grab my badge” section you see on so many other blogs.
First step is to pick an image. Most people choose something related to their blog topic. For example, I run a website: http://www.cynicalmusings.com- though it might seem weird, the picture is one red sad smiley face in a bunch of yellow happy ones with the words “Cynical Musings” overlaid. While odd, it fits in with the sarcastic, cynical attitude that I “show” on that website. Of course, there is no rule. You can pick any image you want. I DO NOT recommend using a picture of yourself. Too many sites use pictures of people (especially girls) to get traffic. Even if it is you in the picture, many people avoid visiting sites with people as the badge. The second step is to make your image 125 pixels by 125 pixels. I highly, highly recommend using Windows Paint to do this. It allows for not only cropping the picture, but expanding and contracting it, meaning you can keep the full image, just make it smaller. If you wish to add words “over the top” of the picture, I use PowerPoint. I would only suggest doing this is you are familiar with Powerpoint, though. The editing and saving to an appropriate format to then use Windows Paint is a bit annoying. Once you have your picture cropped to 125 pixels by 125 pixels, you now have your badge! Most places will allow you to upload it from your computer. If it requires the image to be online, check out the next article about making a badge out of your image. I’ll run over Photobucket and all that in the next article in this series. Note: if you upload to Adgitize, there can be NO SPACES in the name. For example, cynical musings.jpeg has to be cynicalmusings.jpeg. How to Make a "Grab My Badge" Button
Okay, you should already have your picture picked out and it should be 125 pixels x 125 pixels.
1) Next, we upload the picture to the internet. I use Photobucket. It’s free, easy to use, and once the picture is uploaded, Photobucket automatically makes an e-mail link, HTML code, direct link, and image code for each picture. This is going to save us a lot of trouble. So, if you don’t already have an account, open a free account with Photobucket. 2) On the Photobucket home page, click “upload images and video.” This will open a new window which allows you to pick the picture from your computer. (Use the “look in” option at the top if it doesn’t automatically open to where you have it saved….for example, when mine pops up, it opens the “downloads” folder, not the “my pictures.”). Double-click on the picture and it will upload to Photobucket. Photobucket will now give you the option to add a name, description, and tags. I simply skip this step and click “save” as there aren’t enough photos in my account for me to be worried about organizing them. 3) Once on your Photobucket home page, simply click on the image. It will appear on the screen a bit larger. On the left hand side of the screen, there will be a “share this image box.” 4) Here’s the magic part. You have no idea how long it took for me to find this stupid code when I first started blogging. <img src="PHOTOBUCKET DIRECT LINK FOR PICTURE"/><br/><textarea rows="4" cols="24" style="text-align:center"><a border="0" href="WEBSITE" target="_blank"><img src="PHOTOBUCKET DIRECT LINK FOR PICTURE"/></a></textarea> Once you input your link and website in the appropriate places above, you now have your html code for the “grab my badge button”. Simply cut and paste it onto your website wherever you want it! Example: For my cynical musings website, the direct link provided by Photobucket in the "share this image" box is: http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt131/gplandsberger/Smileywithlogocropped.jpg The website address is: http://www.cynical musings.com So, the "grab my badge" code looks like this: <img src="http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt131/gplandsberger/Smileywithlogocropped.jpg"/><br/><textarea rows="4" cols="24" style="text-align:center"><a border="0" href="http://www." target="_blank"><img src="http://i605.photobucket.com/albums/tt131/gplandsberger/Smileywithlogocropped.jpg"/></a></textarea>
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