5 Things No One Tells You About Blogging

Posted on December 17, 2015December 27, 2015 by sitemanager

You'll Get Spam Comments... Lots of Them Allowing visitors to submit comments on posts and articles is a great way to boost engagement while creating fresh new content in the process. If you've been blogging for any significant length of time, however, you'll notice many of these comments are nothing more than spam. Such comments may consist of "Wonderful blog! I'll be sure to grab your RSS," or similar generic messages. This doesn't mean that you should disable your blog's commenting feature, but rather use an anti-spam plugin like Akismet to filter them. Competition Is Stiff There are lit...

How to Make Your Blog Posts Easier to Read

Posted on December 8, 2015December 15, 2015 by sitemanager

idea light bulb, how to make your blog posts more readable

Can't seem to generate a strong following with your blog no matter how many posts you make? You can spend countless hours researching and writing new content, but it's not going to yield any real benefits unless visitors actually read it. Unfortunately, this is an all-too-common problem experienced by many newcomers to the blogging scene. The good news is that you can make your blog posts more attractive and easier to read by following some simple steps. Dark Font, Light Background A good rule of thumb when formatting your blog posts is to use a dark color for the font and a light color for...

Benefits of Using Google’s ‘Blogger’ Platform

Posted on November 19, 2015December 8, 2015 by sitemanager

So, you want to start blogging? The first step in launching a blog is to choose a content management system (CMS). While WordPress is hands-down the most popular blogging platform, powering an estimated 25% of the entire Internet, there are other platforms out there as well, including Google's own Blogger. In this post, we're going to reveal some of the benefits of using Google's blogging platform. Blogger Is Free You can create your own blog (or a standard website for that matter) on Blogger without spending a dime. Granted, Google offers premium memberships that include extra perks, but...

5 Ways to Promote Your Blog Posts

Posted on November 18, 2015November 22, 2015 by sitemanager

You can spend countless hours crafting the perfect blog post, but it's not going to yield any tangible results in people actually see it. This is why you should promote your blog posts after publishing them. Doing so will drive traffic to them, increasing your posts' visibility and hopefully generating new conversions and/or sales in the process. Share on Social Media One of the first things you should do after publishing a new blog post is to share the link on your social media profiles. This includes Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and other networks for which you have accounts. Assuming you h...

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...

WordPress to Develop Accelerated Mobile Pages Plugin

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

As more and more Internet users toss out their clunky desktops in favor of smaller and more convenient mobile devices, there's a greater emphasis placed on creating mobile-friendly websites. But just because your website looks fine on a smartphone or tablet doesn't necessarily mean that it's properly optimized for mobile compatibility. Mobile devices often render pages more slowly than desktops, which may cause some users to click the back button in their browser before waiting for the site to load. Accelerated Mobile Pages Project This has prompted Google to launch its Accelerated Mobile...

Breaking Down the Cost of Blogging

Posted on September 19, 2015September 21, 2015 by sitemanager

Thinking of starting a blog? Whether it's for personal or commercial purposes (or both), you'll need to make sure you have the necessary funds to get started. There's an initial investment required with all ventures, and blogging is no exception. So today we're going to break down the cost of blogging, revealing exactly how much it costs. Domain Registration First and foremost, you'll need to register a domain name for your blog. Depending on the extension (e.g. com, net, info, org) and the registrar, you can expect to pay around $10-$20/year for a domain. Of course, you can also create a...

Tall-Tale Signs Your Blog Needs a New Design

Posted on August 21, 2015August 24, 2015 by sitemanager

When was the last time you changed your blog's design? Web design is a dynamic, ever-changing market that continues to evolve with each passing year. Just because a design practice is popular today doesn't necessarily mean that it will be tomorrow. As blogger, you must be aware of the nuances of web design, including which practices work and which ones don't. Your Blog Doesn't Pass Google's Mobile-Friendly Test One tall-tale sign that your blog needs a new design is failing Google's mobile-friendly test. Found at https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/, this tool lives up to...

Checklist for Launching a WordPress Blog

Posted on August 12, 2015August 15, 2015 by sitemanager

Thinking about launching a blog using WordPress? While this content management system (CMS) can be used to create all types of websites, it's particularly effective at developing blogs. WordPress supports multiple authors, visitor comments, tags/categories, and you can schedule postings, all of which are helpful tools when blogging. Define Your Niche The very step in launching a WordPress is to define your blog. In other words, what do you want your blog to be about? Going broad with a generalized topic rarely works, simply because there's too much competition for broad keywords. A smarter a...

5 Trust Signals to Make Your Blog More Trustworthy

Posted on August 11, 2015August 15, 2015 by sitemanager

Lack of trust is a serious problem that can cost blogs and other websites tons of sales. If visitors view your blog as being untrustworthy, they won't feel comfortable making a purchase or taking any other direct action. Trust Seals What the heck is a trust seal? It's exactly what it sounds like: a seal (kind of like a logo) that's designed to instill trust in visitors. One of the most common and well-known trust seals is the Better Business Bureau (BBB) logo, which is found on numerous websites, big and small. Surprisingly, though, BBB isn't the most effective trust seal. A study conducted ...

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