26 September 2008

Improving Blog Placement Optimizing Title

In one of my previous publications, I have presented a way to swap parts of the blog post title the way that the post name will go before the blog name, as it is setup by default in the Blogger templates. There are multiple advantages of this simple transformation, both from aesthetical and Search Engines Optimization point of views. Your posts will be less competitive in respect to each other for a descent space on the search page for the particular search items. It is always good to have your main keywords (introduced in your Post title) of a specific blog post at the start rather than placing your blog title at the start. The situation improvement is even more significant, if the blog post title is very long. The method offered was tested, and its works on my Blogger blog posts.

This time, I want to present one more way to reach the same, or almost the same outcome (the only difference is a separation sign between blog post title and blog title). However, there is always good to have a choice. This time, credit goes to BloggerTricks blog.

Let’s make the process more visual.

Before the trick:
1
After the trick:
22
How to change:

As usual, Sign in to Blogger » Layout » Edit html and find this line in the current blog template:
<title><data:blog.title/></title>

Now, replace that line with the following code:

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
<title><data:blog.pageName/>
<data:blog.title/></title>
<b:else/>
<title><data:blog.pageTitle/></title> </b:if>

Save the Changes.
The method has been also tested on this blog, and it worked for me.

23 September 2008

How to Create a Killing Blog Post Title?



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There are some many ways to improve your blog in terms of readability, search ability, attractiveness, organization, and so on, that the newbie blogger feels completely overwhelmed with amount of the available information and massive recommendations, sometimes controversial. Little-by-little, you start developing your own style, adopting some recommendations completely, rejecting others, and modifying the remaining group to accommodate your strategic goals, aesthetic and ethical views, and personal common sense. For me, it is probably time to seek improvement of my blog titles.

Hendry Lee is offering 10 templates on how to create killer titles for your blog posts that nobody could resist but got interested in the post content. Definitely, that does not present the complete solution. You cannot fit all your posts in one of the offered schematic forms. However, these templates give you overview of the killer titles generation approach. In many cases, you can use them “as is”, but be sure not overdoing that, following the internal voice of your personal common sense.

  1. How to ____
This is at the top of the list for a reason. It is simple yet very effective. It can be used almost for any technical (and not only) post.

Example: How to Win Friends and Influence People.
This is the title of Dale Carnegie’s book. It includes double benefits within a single title, which works extremely well.

  1. ____ Proven Strategies to ____
Fill the first blank with a number. This title works because it is specific. It also promises something in the content the readers can find and use. The effectiveness of the title, of course, depends on the benefit you include in the second blank space.

Example: 7 Proven Strategies to Save on Tax.

  1. Here’s a Way to _____ That Has Never Failed Yet!
This one is taken from an email subject line that generated a staggering 60% open rate. It works for sales copy and it can be used for blog post title too.

Example: Here’s a Way to Lose Weight That Has Never Failed Yet!

  1. Do You Make These Mistakes in ____?
Maxwell Sackheim wrote this headline. It became a legendary 40-year control ad. Many copywriters believe this is because of the headline.

What’s account for its stunning success? It is the word these.

Combining these and mistakes intrigue the audience to continue reading and find out what these mistakes are. Including the answers in the copy or content is important as well.

Example: Do You Make These Mistakes in Designing a Web Site?

  1. (Attention: ____,) Don’t ____ Until You Read This
In the first blank, you insert your target audience. Insert something desirable in the second blank space. The impact is much like the fourth title template above but with a qualifier. You may create a second variation by omitting the Attention: ____,” part.

Example: Attention: Newbie Blogger, Don’t Quit Your Job Until You Read This.

  1. Who Else Wants to ____ (in ____)?
Social proof is a powerful and effective psychological trigger to influence your audience to make a decision (like in buying a product). This same headline and title template has been overused in certain niche because it works. The second blank adds specificity into the title, usually a phrase that shows the readers how they could benefit by reading on.

Example: Who Else Wants to Drive 10,000 Unique Visitors to Their Blog in Two Hours?

  1. Need a ____?
A simple formula that identifies an unfulfilled desire the readers want to achieve. You can also rephrase the question to make it a problem instead of desire. Using this title template allows the readers to resonate with it immediately, even if they scroll down the page quickly.

Example: Need a Marketing Makeover?

  1. Stress Free ____
Insert a challenging problem the reader wants to remedy immediately. Something easy that fixes a problem without a lot of struggle is always appealing. You can also rephrase the title to include a desire instead of problem.

Example: Stress Free Ways to Improve Your Productivity

  1. Make ____ Work for You
This template promises to solve or fulfill something. In the previous template above, you emphasize on the benefit of the solution (stress free) but this one focuses on getting the problem solved (finally).

Example: Make Real Estate Investing Work for You.

  1. The Secret to ____ (is Simply ____)
Everyone wants to know a secret. It immediately puts him/her in the loop. Make sure you have something important and exclusive in the blog post though. Another twist is to immediately tell there is no secret at all to stress the simplicity of the solution, sort of a hidden benefit.

Example: The Secret of Selling Your Product on eBay

There is one more point: it is good to include one or two important keywords from those you target, but do not duplicate the same name in labels and keywords as you use in your title, as it might be considered rude by the Search Engines.

As you see, I have chosen for the title just one of the offered templates. However, you can do your home exercise and easily apply each of the offered templates to our topic of discussion. And remember, that title is just starter. If your blog post content does not match the striking title, or it is just boring, you lost it, as you could not keep your visitor at your virtual home for more than couple of seconds.

16 September 2008

What is Google PageRank?

One of the users of my Blog asked for clarification of what is meaning and importance of the Google (PageRank) for the blog and site popularity. There are online arguing among SEO specialists of how important the PR is for improving your site popularity and site indexing in Search Engines, however, everybody agree on the fact of the higher PR - better. Some Q & A on the topic:

What is Pagerank and how does it work?

PageRank is a system implemented by Google that measures a web page’s significance only taking into account the links and links related factors. The fundamentals are that each web page is giving votes to the links on that page and the power of the vote is established by the number of links pointing to the page that gives the vote. The votes are divided among the links on the page so the lesser number of links, the more share of the vote is given to each link.

How often does Google update their PR?

Google representatives, such as engineer Matt Cutts, have publicly indicated that the Toolbar PageRank is republished about once every 3 months, indicating that the Toolbar PageRank values are generally unreliable measurements of actual PageRank value for most periods of the year. However, PR is updated at Google daily (or close to daily). New links are factored into the equation and they are applied to a page’s PR. You just cannot see this PR until Google does its next public PR update.

What is the importance of the Google PageRank?

PageRank is important as it used by Google to determine the quality of a Web site. Having a high PageRank will result in faster and more successful search engine positioning. The basic requirements of a high PageRank are: Good Web Site Structure - Structuring your site in a simple and user-friendly fashion will add to your PageRank. The highest PageRank possible for good structure is PageRank 3. To rank higher than a 3, you need good quality links pointing to your site.

How to check Google PageRank for any Website?

While there are many free services and free programs, that are able to check PageRank for any Website, I would recommend using the new free service URLMetrix that is able to check any URL for multiple metrics like: Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, Compete Rank, Quantcast Rank, Technorati Rank, Google Indexed, Yahoo Indexed, Google Backlinks, Technorati Blog reactions and lots more.

To give a proper ending for the topic of discussion, I want to present nice lyrical song dedicated to PageRank for all current and prospective Webmasters:




PageRank Lyrical Song

11 September 2008

Bloggerplugins Help to Optimize Blog Title for Search Engines

You have probably already noticed that when you search Google for something and your blog is present in the search results the Title of the result will be of the form: Blog Title + Post Title. This type of a title is not very attractive to the searchers, and your posts at some degree compete each other. Here is a hack that will change the title to the following more attractive format: Post Title + Blog Title. This trick will help you to optimize the blog title for Search Engines and is expected to drive more visitors to your blog.

Note that it will take some time for the new title format to appear in the search results (actually, following the next re-indexation of your blog by the crawling spider).

Please visit developer Website and follow the recommended way of code modification: http://www.bloggerplugins.org/2007/09/optimise-blog-title-for-search-engine.html

08 September 2008

AdSense Ads Management Plugin for WordPress Blogs

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If you are using Wordpress, and you care for effective blog monetization with Google AdSense, this plugin must be for you. The plugin Adsense Injection will help you setup AdSense on your Wordpress with no complications.

It only adds your AdSense code into the body of your Wordpress blog and not into the side panels or the footer or the banner area. And you do not have to change any AdSense code or play with files.

This Google AdSense plugin is so easy to use. Say, you are able to edit the template of your blog and you edit the header file and the left sidebar file to include your AdSense Code in there, you then only have to set the limit of the ads that the AdSense Injection script shows in the body of your blog to a maximum of 1. That will automatically hide your AdSense Ads from yourself to avoid accidental clicks, as you choose that in the settings.

You can also change the way the AdSense ads display in your blog posting area and you can change the type of AdSense blocks that are displayed with just one click. Since the AdSense Injection Plugin will show different types of AdSense blocks at random if you choose more than one type of ad, your visitors will not always see the same Ad blocks and this will lead to an increase in your AdSense earnings.

Download plugin: http://www.ziddu.com/download/2111387/adsense-injection-20.zip.html


Additional Reading:
http://gerthough.com/wordpress/how-to-adsense-free-adsense-software-adding-adsense
http://www.reviewmylife.co.uk/blog/2008/07/24/adsense-injection-wordpress-plugin-tweaks/

02 September 2008

Recent Posts Widget on your Blogger Blog

In one of my previous publications, I have offered the opportunity to embed the Blogger pluging to post 10 recent posts summaries on a sidebr of your Blogger Blog. The problem is - the script did not work on Blogger. With my weak programming knowledge, the best thing I could do was to find a valid substitute solution. Here you can access the site, offering to generate such a plugin.

The Recent Posts Widget displays recent posts summaries in your sidebar. You can customize this widget to display the recent posts of any blogger blog that you like, you can customize the number of posts to display, whether or not to display a post summary and the size of this summary (in number of characters). Just Fill Out the Details in the Widget installer, and it will be automatically transferred to your Blogger Blog layout for update.

This time, I personally tested it, and confirmed that the plugin code works fine.

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