Denver Web Design & Denver SEO - The Katz Web Design Blog

So I’ve been working on creating great content for everyone out there, which happens to include Google.  Well, it turns out that the Denver Web Design & Denver SEO Blog has been given a PageRank (their system of measuring the quality of a website) of 5/10…which is great.

I enjoy blogging for many reasons other than SEO, but it’s always nice when there’s a great reward, including good PageRank from Google.

I’ve been working with the WordPress platform for a little while now, and I’ve been a regular blogger since January (though I had been promoting blogging for years earlier, and had my first blog in 2000 [yes, I'm a bit insecure about my blogging creds]).  I’ve created many sites with blogging capabilities, some of them based on Blogger.com integration, and others WordPress.

I’ve explained the benefits of blogging many times to my clients, made nagging phone calls reminding them to blog — all to little avail.  I even wrote an article about the importance of blogging to help explain myself. But still, the blogs remain silent.

What I tell my clients about the benefits of blogging

If my clients already know what a blog is, then I can dive into why it’s so important (other than people KNOW that it’s important).  I tell them the following:

Blogging is a great way to reach people who may not be searching for what you want them to be searching for. Let’s say you have a service for “healing touch,” but it’s not “therapeutic touch.”  With a normal website, you would not be able to rank well for the other key phrase. If you write an article on the differences between therapeutic touch and healing touch, you then will be able to rank for both phrases, even if your business only focuses on one service.

The more you write about what you know, the larger your online sphere of influence grows. By writing consistenly about topics important to you, you’re able to rank better in Google and other search engines, build a community of people who follow what you write, and become an authority on your topic.

There’s no other marketing medium like blogging where all you need to invest is your time, and you’ll get direct benefits. Fliers, radio, tv, newspaper, business chambers — they all take money.  Blogging is free to set up, and free to use.  You will get out of it what you put into it.

That’s the jist of what I tell people about blogging.  They generally get very excited, get a blog, and post a few times. One month later, cobwebs form on their admin login form.

Maybe try a professional blogging service?

One thing I’ve considered is writing the articles myself.  I’m no copywriting expert (I’m a Denver web designer), but I do know my clients’ business well.  If they don’t have the time or commitment to write their own articles, they should find someone to do it for them. There are many professional blog writing services out there, maybe I should start recommending them?

Does anyone have any experience using a professional blog writing service?

Are you having the exposure blues?

Do you write articles that few people read? It may be because they aren’t finding your article! Writing on your blog is not enough when you’re starting out. It’s important to spread the word.

Doing a little legwork after you write an article makes a large difference in the traffic you will get.

When you write a blog post, what happens?

Depending on the blogging platform you use (WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type to name a few), when you write a post, a few things happen:

Upon posting:

• Your sitemap will get updated
• Search engines and other websites will be notified of the update
• Your RSS feed will be updated
• Gremlins dance a jig around a cauldron of boiling yam juice and frog eyes

These processes will notify the search engines, but in order to increase your website’s exposure, there are a some websites you should submit your article to. After writing an article, take 5 more minutes and submit your site to bookmarking websites.

(more…)

I was asked a question by a potential client about blog comments.  She was concerned that some of the blog designs I’ve created have little user interaction.  She wrote (emphasis added by me):

I have been looking at the blogs you have created.  I am wondering why there aren’t many comments.  I want to use my blog to have extensive viral discussions; mainly to ask questions to moms that want to go back to the workplace.  I want my blog to be primarily questions with as many comments responding as possible.

The question is a good one: why aren’t more people interacting?  I wanted to dig deeper into the question: what contributes to comments? (more…)

I listen to NPR (KFCR in Colorado), and I’ve heard a few bits about the Democratic National Convention here in Denver. One of the main topics in these bits is how technologically advanced the DNC ‘08 convention is going to be.  There will be blogging, there will be YouTube, there will be Twittering, and so on. They want to “tear down the walls” and get people involved, but somehow it all seems so empty!

Rich in media, lacking a real message

So I get it, Democrats are tech-savvy. But what about citizens older than 30 that may be wary of technology and wanting a real political voice?  What about grandma and grandpa sitting at home, wondering whether to vote McCain or Hillary/Obama? When people look at the TV, what is the message voters will get?

Does the convention invite them to become part of the party that supports universal health care, peace, and strengthening the middle class? Or will watching the convention make the Democratic party seem too ungrounded and distracted to be relevant to them?

Focus on what is important - the party platform

I want the Democratic Party to remind the country: Democrats stand for lofty, yet achievable ideals. Helping others be healthy, safe, responsible, and successful is a worthy endeavor, and by voting for a Democrat, you vote for a better country and an improved world.

Having a technology-focused convention with hundreds of LCD screens flashing multimedia content dilutes the party’s message of true progress as a moral society.

A picture [of my cat] is worth a thousand words.

I’ve been waiting for WordPress.com to update the administration panel so that I can have galleries.  That is the main feature that I’ve been waiting for.  Now it’s here, I can finally upload pictures of my cat (and my wife )  

This will also allow simpler embedding of video, audio, et al.  I’m glad it’s finally live.

EDIT: There seem to be a few kinks still with this feature — instead of having thumbnails, the site was loading the full images. This is obviously an issue. Until then, you get a thumbnail of my cat in the grass.

Auto-tagging is good too

2.5 also recommends what tags to use based on tags you’ve used in the past. Unfortunately, that part is less responsive than I would like.  It’s still neat to have available.

Much better text editor

The previous text editor for WordPress.com was so terrible, every time I tried to make a word bold, it added some round-about Safari-specific hack ( or something like that).  Now it uses the proper code (strong), and I’m quite grateful. Now, I can actually write posts online, instead of writing them in Dreamweaver and then pasting the code in to WordPress. Very much improved.

The text editor still does not create paragraphs when you view the HTML code; it displays paragraphs as line breaks.  This is frustrating, because in the past it often lost all formatting.  At least in this iteration, switching views between Visual and HTML keeps the formatting intact.

Very pleased with this update

The editor is a LOT more functional, the gallery is great, and well, what can I say?  It’s a great success.

Just wondering: who would want to use Blogger.com?

Before this update, WordPress was just VERY superior to Blogger.  Now it’s outright in a league of it’s own.  I used blogger when it came out because, well, it was the originator of simple blogging.  But man, it’s really outdated.

Blogger is owned by Google, so you think it would be cutting edge, but every time I try to work with it, I end up hitting myself over the head.  What advantages does Blogger have, if any?

Today, a business associate asked me “I know about blogging, and it seems like a waste of time. Why is blogging worth the time?” I was able to reply with some very convincing arguments — and in a way, I reminded myself about the value of blogging.

1. Blogging establishes you as an expert in your field
2. Search engine traffic dramatically increases
3. Blogging is basically free marketing for your business: the only cost is your time.
4. Blogging forces you to write about your life and your business

Oh, you’re amazing? I had no idea.

If you don’t have a blog, and all you have is a website, then you may or may not know what you’re talking about. Your website could have good content, great images, convincing arguments for action, and simple navigation. Your website may be amazing, but in the end, without a blog, who knows if you are amazing?

If you don’t share your experience, it’s as if you have none. Blogging about a broad array of topics gives you authority on a subject; it shows that you know what you’re talking about. You can even write about not knowing something and be an authority!

Search engine traffic, anyone?

It’s called SEO, and if you don’t have a blog, you’re not doing too much of it! The reason why blogs are great for search optimization because they are written a natural way on a broad variety of subjects. The more you write in a blog, the broader your website’s relevance. By writing helpful content — and writing often — your website becomes a much larger presence in searches, across a wide spectrum of keywords. Blogging = traffic, it’s that simple.

Hello, my name is Mr. Free Exposure. I’m a friend of Blogging.

Yeah, blogging is free. The F word. And, if you look above, it brings in traffic. Traffic means potential leads/users/clients/sales. So, if you’re following the logic, you get free business.

The person I was speaking with looked skeptical. Time isn’t free, right? Well, I know that I don’t work every second of the 8 9 hour day. I do some browsing here, some slacking there. It’s only natural! While you’re not working, you might as well be blogging about working. You get to take a break from work, AND you build your business at the same time.

Explain yourself.

It’s often helpful to write about your business. Writing allows you to elaborate on various aspects of your life and business. It’s contemplative. When you share with others, you learn about yourself and your own process. The more you write about who you are and what you do, the better you know yourself.

Some topics you can blog about that make you think:

• What do you do?
  • Are there ways to do it better?
  • Who else is exploring how to improve your industry?
  • What do you like about your job?
  • What is the most challenging aspect of your business?
  • Do you have any funny stories about your job?
• Who are you?
  • How do you spend your free time?
  • How do your hobbies reflect on your life?
  • Have you read any good books recently?
  • Any books about your industry?
  • What’s your favorite local restaurant?
  • What do you want to achieve this year?
  • Have you traveled recently?

I was reading an article on A List Apart the other day and found a link to a website called Tumblr. It makes blogging really easy by making it less intimidating.

You choose what type of content you’d like to post, and then you do it!It’s one of the most simple signup forms around, and encourages you to post right away. I just wanted to test it out, but now I’m hooked (check out the KWD Tumblr Page).

If you’re too nervous to blog, Tumble!

I stumbled upon the website BlogFlux today and found myself reading a blog titled Jehzlau Concepts. I found one of the articles very interesting about how to increase rank on your blog even if you don’t post often. You should check out the article.

The article says that a great way to get traffic is by riding many small, short waves of web popularity by using the cool tool, Google Trends, that shows you what people are searching for NOW. Not 10 minutes ago, but what is hot right now. For instance, today Google Trends shows that J-Lo had twins, a teacher sent illicit pics to students, the Philadelphia airport has delays, and there’s a Star Trek collection tour.

The post is very interesting, and the concept is intreaguing. Yes, it’s a great way to get some quick traffic to your blog, and depending on what you’re trying to achieve with your website, it might be right for you. I can see it working for a website whose revenue is based on quanitity, not quality of leads.

For some specialized industry, using Google Trends for industry news is great, but posting for the traffic alone, without any real interest, I believe it is unethical and a waste of time. That is, unless you’re a Star Trek fan…

My wife and I had coffee last Thursday to discuss our new plans: we are going to have a daily schedule that we follow that will help us avoid distractions and keep us focused.  Here’s my daily schedule that we pieced together:

1.  Make list of daily tasks and define the Main Project for the day
2. Check and respond to emails & voice messages 
3. Tidy up my desk and do administrative tasks (invoicing, late payment notifications)
4. Write a post to my blog
5. Take a break for 30 minutes, including checking Google Reader, MacNN, and other favorite sites like Woot.com
6. Check my clients website ranking with my Rank Tracker software
7. Work on a website design mock in Illustrator for 1 hour
8. Take a 40 minute lunch break
9. Work on the Main Project for 2.5 hours
10. Chisel away at the rest of my list until 5:00pm

So, that’s my day plan.  Sticking to the plan is the hard part

Set up a blogging schedule that aligns to your slacking habits 

If you find yourself not posting to your blog and letting your website stagnate, set up a schedule that fits your cycle of procrastination. We all know how hard it can be to do anything consistently, but we manage when the results are immediate. 

• Take out the garbage
• Shaving/showering/washing dishes
• Cleaning
• Waking up!

When are you least productive? 

In order to find your blogging sweet spot, a great way is to do a little investigating. One way to tell when you are least productive is by answering this question: what time during the day do you read the most blogs? If you use Google for any services (Gmail, iGoogle, Finance, etc.) you have a Google Account.  With that account, you can enable a service called Google Reader. Google Reader lets you compile all of your favorite websites’ articles into one easy to use format. 

Least productive Fridays

By looking at my Web History chart, it’s easy to see that:

• I waste the most time from 10-11am, and 2pm.
• I waste the most time on Tuesdays (by far!)

So, based on these statistics, I know that I should schedule a time for me to post on Tuesday around 11am each week.  Also, I should pencil in a daily posting time at 2pm to remind myself to post. Note: I started writing this post at 2:30 pm.  

 What about you?

How do you allocate time in your day to blog, and how effective is it?