All posts tagged Blogger Challenge

Build a Better Blog: Hunt for Dead Links

By | May 10, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 1 Comment
Flickr by cleepa

I’ll admit it.  I love links.  I’m a connector by nature (some personality test told me that in college), so the idea of links fits great into this pattern of thinking.  I once read a book about the beginning of blogging.  The book highlighted some guy’s site that was one big tangled web of links (this was before you could post by days).  If I could find that blog, I might end up wasting half a week checking out all the links.  I often wish I could somehow build links into the pages of my journal, but since I’m still using old-fashioned paper, I guess that’s not a possibility.

One thing I don’t like, however, is dead links.  There’s nothing more annoying than seeing those blue letters of promise, highlighting some interesting tidbit, clicking on it and ended up on a 404 screen or something like that.

Let me let you in on a little secret.  Your readers hate that too.  Dead links (or link rot) is bad for several reasons. Darren Rowse shares these in his workbook:

  1. Readability—clicking on a dead link can mean your readers can end up on error pages or being redirected to other irrelevant content. This can lead to reader frustration and give the impression that your blog is old and out of touch.
  2. SEO—I’m unsure of the technicalities or what the latest research shows, but from what I can tell, a dead link is unfavorably looked upon by search engines which means you run the risk of penalties.

So, how can you get up to speed?  Darren lists several free programs that track down dead links (in the workbook). Check a few out and start eliminating those dead ends!

 

Build a Better Blog: Grab a Magazine

By | April 12, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 3 Comments
Flickr by A b u a b a r a

For this week’s task (#24 in the Blogger Challenge), you’ll be doing an offline activity. All you need to complete it is a pack of sticky notes, a notebook, a pen, a magazine (or a newspaper), and an hour of time.

You can do this at home, at the library, or even at a Barnes and Nobles (or a Borders if yours hasn’t closed yet!).   If you head to Borders, I recommend the Raspberry Mocha Kiss (yum!).    Any magazine will work, but for our type of writing, those focused on the ministry might be especially helpful.

Here’s some benefits of this task:

  • Marketing Ideas—the way the magazine markets and pitches itself to readers can teach a lot, particularly what they do on the front cover as it’s all about convincing people to buy the magazine.
  • Post Ideas—whether I choose a magazine on my blog’s topic or not, I almost always come away with a story for a new post. Sometimes the inspiration comes from a completely unrelated topic, but the article’s headline or title could be applied to my niche.
  • Learning About My Niche—if you choose a magazine on your topic it’ll keep you across the latest news and developments.
  • Writing Tips—a good article on almost any topic can teach you a lot about effective communication
  • Reader Engagement—while a very different medium, magazines are increasingly trying to become more interactive with readers by running competitions, setting up online areas, and using reader contributions. I often gain sparks of inspiration from watching how magazines reach out to readers.

Check out the workbook for Darren’s complete process and more details on this assignment.

What about you?

What are you favorite magazines?  And what kinds of things do you think you could learn from them?

 

TOTAL SIDE NOTE: Target.com has some awesome daily deals today!  If your family loves to play games, check out the 17 family board games Target is offering at 30% off today only.  As always, Target Daily Deals include free shipping.  Grab one for your family in preparation for TV FREE WEEK (next week!).  More details here.

Setting up a iGoogle page

By | March 7, 2011 | 31DBBB | 1 Comment
Flickr by abbyworld

One of the tasks in our “Build a Better Blog” Challenge was to monitor what was happening in your niche.  One way to do this is to set up alerts.  Another way that I’ve found especially helpful is through an iGoogle page.  Your iGoogle page is basically your “one stop shop” when getting started on your web browsing for the day.  You can set it up to monitor blogs and websites, put your to-do list on it, set up countdowns, and a lot more.  I use it to keep track of all my favorite blogs out there, and here’s how you can too.

  1. Head to http://www.google.com/ig.  You may need to click on “Don’t have a page? Set one up”
  2. Choose some interests (optional), a theme, and then click “See My Page”
  3. Google will fill in your page with stuff you may find helpful: time, weather, latest youtube videos, CNN feed, etc.
  4. You can get rid of whatever you don’t like by clicking on the little box with the down arrow in the right hand corner of each box/feature.  Then just delete the gadget.
  5. Make sure you click on “Make iGoogle my Homepage”. You may even want to set up an account so you can always find your iGoogle page (you might already have an account if you have gmail).
  6. Now the fun part — go to the upper right hand corner of your iGoogle page and click on “Add Stuff”. In the left side bar there is the option to add a feed or gadget.  Simply put in the homepage of the blog/website you want to follow and the rest is easy.  Every time they post, it will show up on your iGoogle page.  This way, you can see at a glance what’s going on in your niche.

Hope it helps.  Stay tuned tomorrow for this week’s Blogger Challenge: Leave comments on other blogs.

Build a Better Blog: Create a Sneeze Page

By | February 21, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 3 Comments
Flickr by mollypop

Today’s task is to build a sneeze page highlighting some of your older posts that no longer show up on the front page of your blog.  Darren Rowse of Problogger describes the benefits of a sneeze page on his site:

Benefits of Sneeze Pages

There are a variety of reasons that a sneeze page can be powerful:

1. It shows off your archives - I don’t know about you but when I spend hours (if not days) crafting a blog post, I want people to read it! Sneeze pages lengthen the time that people interact with your older posts.

2. It’s great for SEO - search engines not only look at the links that other people make to your posts in order to give them ranking but the internal links on your blog. Linking to old posts can help them grow their search engine ranking.

3. It can help create a ‘Sticky’ Blog - I’ve not seen stats on this but it is my suspicion that a person arriving on your blog for the first time increases the chances of coming back to it the more great posts that they view on it. Get someone to read 10 great posts that you’ve written previously instead of 1 and you’ll exponentially increase the likelihood that they’ll subscribe and become a regular reader.

Types of Sneeze Pages

There are many types of sneeze pages: themed sneezes, sneezes from a certain time period (“Best of 2010″), or perhaps some of your favorite posts.  Check out today’s task (#18) in your Problogger workbook to find examples and ways to promote your sneeze page!

Be sure to leave a comment with your sneeze page below so we can all check out some great posts!

Build a Better Blog: Watch a First Time Reader

By | February 14, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 2 Comments
Flickr by pamoolah

Welcome back to the Build a Better Blog Challenge!   This week’s task is to interact with someone who has never seen your blog before.  I have an unexpected advantage since my blog is newly redesigned and so even my regular readers are more like “first time readers”.   So friends, what do you think?    Darren provides a list of questions, and I’d love to hear your thoughts!

  • What were your first impressions?
  • Did you find it easy to read/navigate/understand?
  • What did you feel when you first arrived at Growing Kids Ministry?
  • What suggestions do you have on how I could improve the blog?
  • What questions do you have after surfing your blog?
  • What words would you use to describe the design?
  • What are the main elements you  remember about your blog 10 minutes later?
  • What suggestions do you have from a user perspective?
I think I’ll also have some family members take a look at it and maybe some friends from church to see what they think. This way I’ll be able to observe them directly.  Let me know how the exercise goes for you!

Build a Better Blog: Solve a Problem

By | January 31, 2011 | 31DBBB, Resources | 4 Comments
Flickr by picklin'paul

This week’s task (#16) in our Blogger Challenge is to identify and solve a potential problem for your readers.  Be sure to read the day’s entry in the workbook.  It’s full of great ideas to help you understand your readers more.

Darren suggests checking out the search words people use in order to land on your site.  I’m pretty sure you can do this on Google adsense.  I’d have to play around a bit to figure out exactly how.  He also suggests installing an internal search box called Lijit.  It keeps track of what your readers are looking for, so you can better customize your site.  I just installed this today and am anxious to see how it works!

Another suggestion is to look at a bigger site in your niche (especially if you have a newer blog) to see what people are asking.  A great place to do this is at the Ministry to Children Forums.  See what people are asking, and write a post on it.  Be sure to let people in the forum know as well!

← Older Entries