Blogs vs Standard Website: What’s the Difference?

Posted on November 4, 2015November 8, 2015 by sitemanager

We all know the importance of having a blog: it instills greater trust in your audience while allowing for a deeper, more personal connection. But what is the difference between a blog and standard website? They are both essentially "websites" with their own domain name, so what distinguishes one from the other? Navigation Structure While there are always exceptions to this rule, most blogs are designed with a special navigation structure consisting of categories, tags and/or archives. When a user first lands on the blog's homepage, he or she can choose a category in which posts, pages, or b...

The Hidden Costs of Starting a Blog

Posted on October 30, 2015November 1, 2015 by sitemanager

coin dropping into piggy bank, blog costs

One of the reason why so many bloggers choose WordPress is because it's free. Other blogging platforms may cost hundreds of dollars per year, but WordPress is completely free to download and use with no strings attached. However, there are other, more discreet costs to blogging that shouldn't go unnoticed. Blog Images There's a reason why every blog post we publish has at least one image: because images improve user engagement while boosting traffic in the process. If you plan on starting a blog, you'll need to find a suitable source from which to acquire images. Copyright laws prohibi...

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes: Which Should I Choose?

Posted on October 28, 2015November 1, 2015 by sitemanager

screenshot of wordpress themess and templates

One of the reasons why WordPress is such a popular blogging platform is because it supports the use of interchangeable templates known as themes. Rather than coding a new blog design from scratch, you can simply download and activate a theme. Within seconds, your blog will have a new appearance while still retaining all of its existing content. But should you choose a free or paid/premium theme for your WordPress theme? Attribution Links It's not uncommon for free themes to contain attribution links in the footer. These are classified as site-wide links, meaning they show up on ever...

How Many Pages Should My Blog Have?

Posted on October 24, 2015November 1, 2015 by sitemanager

Frequently Asked Questions, number of blog pages

This is a question that many first-time bloggers ask. Conventional wisdom should lead you to believe that bigger blogs are better than smaller ones. However, you must also consider the work and time requirements that go into creating a blog. So, how many pages should your blog have? Let me first start off by saying that there's no easy answer to this question. Because every blog is unique, lengths are going to vary depending on a number of different factors. If your blog is new, for instance, it may only have a half a dozen pages, which is perfectly fine as long as you continue to build n...

Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting My First Blog

Posted on October 23, 2015October 25, 2015 by sitemanager

You Can Schedule Posts for Future Publishing We all know the importance of publishing new blog posts on a regular basis -- well, most people know this, at least. But what if you are unable to log into your blog to create a new post every couple of days? Thankfully, WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, and other popular blogging platforms have a post scheduling feature. Using this feature, you can schedule your posts to be published at a later date, eliminating the need to manually log into your blog to publish them. Visitor Comments Matter Blogs are unique in the sense that they place an emphasis on...

How to Keep Your Blog ‘Fresh’

Posted on October 22, 2015October 25, 2015 by sitemanager

While the exact number remains unknown, some sources claim there to be more than 152 million blogs on the Internet. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these blogs fall into the abyss where countless others have gone before it. When bloggers fail to update their blogs with new content on a regular basis, their traffic dies down and so does their search rankings. So, how can you maintain a fresh blog that people actually want to visit? Mix Evergreen with News-Style Posts Regardless of niche, blog content can be broken down into one of two different categories: evergreen content, which consis...

The 10 Commandments of Blogging

Posted on October 19, 2015October 25, 2015 by sitemanager

stained glass depiction of 10 commandments

#1) Thou Shall Not Use Duplicate Content While Google has said that small amounts of duplicate content won't cause any major problems, blogs that contain mostly duplicate content may suffer from lower search rankings. There's nothing wrong with using quotes or legal jargon that's found elsewhere on the web, but the bulk of your blog's content should be unique. #2) Thou Shall Not Engage in Link Schemes What exactly is a link scheme? Basically, it's any link that was created outside of the boundaries of Google's Webmaster Guidelines. This includes paid links, excessive reciprocal links, links...

Should I Make My Blog Private?

Posted on October 16, 2015October 18, 2015 by sitemanager

There are certain cases in which a blogger may wish to make his or her blog private. If you are a new parent, for instance, you may wish to post photos of your newborn on your blog for friends and family members to see, but not the general public. Private blogs are also used for collaboration projects in which two or more people work on a single project together. Of course, there are just a few of the many reasons why bloggers prefer to maintain private blogs instead of open/public blogs. Search Rankings and Privacy It should go without saying that you won't be able to effectively rank a pri...

How to Make Your Blog Stand Out

Posted on October 10, 2015October 18, 2015 by sitemanager

blog - blogger standing out from the crowd

While the exact number remains unknown, some sources have estimated there to be roughly 152 million blogs on the Internet. Whether it's in the automotive niche, healthcare, e-commerce, fitness, fashion, etc., you can find a blog covering just about every topic under the sun. Unfortunately, the massive amount of competition makes it difficult for newcomers to make a name for themselves, which is why it's important to distinguish your blog from the rest. So, what can you do to make your blog stand out? Be Personal The term "blog" was initially used to describe a person's online journal. Wh...

How to Build an Email List While Blogging

Posted on October 8, 2015October 10, 2015 by sitemanager

email symbol on row of colourful envelopes

Are you collecting users' email addresses on your blog? If not, you should be. Email remains one of the most effective platforms for promoting a product or service. According to the credit bureau Experian, email marketing is 20 times more cost effective than traditional advertising, attesting to its benefits. But how exactly do you capture email lists on a blog? You have a couple of options, so we'll explain. Create a Newsletter Signup Form The easiest and most effective way to collect email addresses on a blog is to create a newsletter signup form. Users will enter their email address to ...

Keep up with John’s Blogging Tips