Blogspot Blogs — If You Can't See Yours

Filed Under Basics, Community, SEO, Successful Blog | 18 Comments

With a Little Help from Our Friends

Thanks to Joe at Working at Home on the Internet, here’s what to do

If your page cannot be accessed by readers, you must go into Blogger and publish a post. Then republish your whole blog for it to take.

I know, because I just went through it with my Blogs on Blogger.

Thought you might like to know.

Joe

Thanks Joe!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Link Love Raises Your Property Value

Filed Under Community, Links, SEO, Successful Blog | 32 Comments

Springtime Link Love

It’s spring and a young person’s fancy turns to thoughts of . . . blogging. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? The blogging version of spring would have to be link love. Ah link love . . . that warm, sweet connected feeling that you get when you click back to Technorati and see that incoming link that means someone loves YOU.

Well, wait a minute. For link love to be coming in, someone had to be sending it out. What is the advantage in doing THAT? Actually, if you know your SEO, there are some advantages to outlinking. Read more

Thinking Inside-Outside the SEO Sandbox

Filed Under Outside the Box, SEO, Strategy, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats, Tools | 3 Comments

Learning by Getting It Wrong

Remember your first web site or blog? You had to learn so much about coding and Search Engine Optimization. Bet you learned most of what you know now by doing–OJT, On the Job Training, otherwise known as getting it wrong and fixing it. Those were valuable experiences.

The thing about learning by getting it wrong is that you remember what you did. Tweaking a template and having your sidebar fall off is WAY more powerful than anyone telling you how not to code something.

As much as I wish that WordPress had an undo button, I know I’ve learned more because it doesn’t.

Think like a Search Engine

SEO folks think like Search Engines. They buy and read Aaron Wall’s SEO Book and its updates. They follow and discuss Matt Cutt’s blog, and the Google Blog–probably not this one, the Google Blog, but this one Google Research Blog–or maybe all of them. They check in at Yahoo’s Search Blog, MSN Search, and with other SEO hangouts, such as Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Round Table, and Threadwatch. So I do some of that–the first half at least.

But reading doesn’t help me half as much as doing does.

Thinking Inside-Outside the SEO Box

I’ve been searching out experiences to help me think like a search engine. I use my stats to watch how search engines route traffic to my blogs. Sometimes they hit right on the page that has the content being searched for. That’s not interesting. I expect that. They’ve invested powerful resources into research in doing that right.

Sometimes they hit right next to where they should. THAT I find puzzling and intriguing, especially when the page in question is tagged with the exact search term that was entered.

It happened again this morning. Someone searched for “nextsplogs.” The searcher was sent to the home page of Successful Blog rather than to the page called SOB Business Cafe 04-07-2006, where Nextsplogs actually appears twice–in the text and as a tag. Is it because the term is singular in one and capitalized in the other? Hmmmm. I wonder.

I don’t like things I don’t understand, and I want to understand this.

I’ve learned a lot from watching my stats, but this kind of thing my stats can’t help me crack.

Build Your Own Search Engine

Just when I was about to give up on my chance of knowing, along came this post from the MSN search weblog, Build Your Own Search Engine. I thought, here’s a way to learn by doing. It’s not an actual full-blown search engine–it’s search engine macros–and it’s an early BETA version. That suits me just fine, though. It gets my brain and hands in the process and I can even watch how the parameters have to be tweaked to work right. Just reading the comments about it, I can feel myself getting smarter.

Go on over. Take a look. It’s an inside-outside the box way to learn SEO.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
MSN and Microsoft Joint Research Venture
SEO The Secret Life of Search Engines
Check Google Backlinks Through Yahoo
SEOâ€“The Value of Outlinks to MY Blog

Great Find: 10 Reasons to Love Google Desktop

Filed Under Great Finds, SEO, Successful Blog, Tools | 4 Comments

Keith Dsouza and I shared some email this week about using Google Desktop. He’s an all-out customer evangelist, and he can give you 10 reasons why you should love it too.

Great Find: Top 10 reasons why you should love google desktop
Type of Article: Product Review
Permalink: http://www.keithdsouza.com/google-news/google/top-10-reasons-why-you-should-love-google-desktop.html
Target Audience: All internet users

Content: In this article, Keith Dsouza outlines 10 of his favorite reasons for using Google Desktop. I say favorite, because his writing is filled with such enthusiasm, I have no doubt that he could give you another ten, if you asked him. He also lets us in on a secret that–he’s developing a new plugin for it. Keith uses several plugins already–for Sidebar, Scratchpad, and Del.icio.us. He also uses a filter to keep his RSS feeds right there. If you’re thinking of using Google Desktop, Keith is the fellow you want to know. Click the screenshot to read about what he’s been doing with it. I’m sure that he’d help you, if you want to do some of the same things.

Thanks, Keith.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Technorati's Family of Support Pages

Filed Under Branding, Business Life, SEO, Successful Blog, Survival Kit, Tech/Stats, Technorati | 13 Comments

Most people I know are like me in one respect. They would work for hours rather than ask for customer service help, especially where a computer is involved. Usually it’s because the folks in customer service aren’t much help at all. With Technorati, it’s either because the service has been touch and go, or because we understand how much Janice Myint and her Customer Service Team have to straighten out. . . .

So I figure a review of where things stand after this latests upgrade might let us all know what’s there the next time we need to find our way.

A Family of Support Pages

There is at least one addition in the Technorati household. The cute little fellow has a serious adult name. It’s called by the moniker, Technorati: Support FAQ. Perhaps the family is thinking it’ll grow into it.

Now Technorati has quite a family of support documents to choose from. They are all under the HELP link in the gray nav bar at the top of the page. A click there will lead you to all of this information.

About Technorati gives basic information about the blog search engine. This is where you find out that Technorati is currently tracking 33.1 million sites and 2.2 billion links.
Blogging Basics covers the most basic description of weblogs in a Q&A format.
The FAQ answers frequently-asked questions about Technorati and terms and symbols used on their site.
How-tos is a collection of posts by
The posts cover topics from hot-to hack Technorati, how-to build tags, to how-to use tags to increase your blog’s traffics. The links above are not all that you will find there. Some writers did more than one post.
If you like that page, there is Technorati Tools, which includes Browser Plugins, Bookmarklets, and more links–this time tools from users, including Lorelle VanFossen and David Smith, on tools for using Technorati to its fullest.
Of course, you’ve already checked out the Publisher’s Guide, which
gives the basics on claiming a blog.
Two pages: Blog Finder and Tags explain what the tagged web is about.
The Support FAQ. the newest addition, but I wouldn’t call it the baby.

The Support FAQ

The Support FAQ page is a concerted effort to address most of the issues that have been the talk of Technorati. Someone, or some ones, have spent some time putting it together, and though such things are never complete, this page is a fine start. Here’s what you’ll find there.

What to do you if you have trouble claiming your blog–with special notes on Yahoo 360, MySpaces, MSN Spaces
An explanation of the difference between post and blog tags
How link counts work
What you might do to when spiders aren’t reading your posts correctly
How to ping Technorati when your posts AND links from others aren’t showing up
How the Technorati user name display works
How to redirect a URL change so that you keep your links
What to do if you no longer want a post in the index–hint: don’t delete it!

Okay done. Believe me, I don’t, nor do I wish, to work for Technorati. I’m sure that’s a relief to David Sifry. I would like to stop by, though, the next time I’m in San Francisco to meet all of the folks who work on my blogs, especially those who made a big deal of Friday’s fairy tale.

Now we have all of the support options together in one post for a quick run down. Hopefully this will help us when we need to know our options. An even bigger hope is that we’ll never need to think of any of this again.

Of course, while I was writing this post, I repinged all of my blogs. Sigh.
Good thing, I’m still the nice one.

I’ve started a new category–Technorati. It’s become a case study in building a brand.

ME “Liz” Strauss

Before You Publish–Check for Spiders and Opportunities

Filed Under Branding, Marketing, SEO, Successful Blog, Writing | 3 Comments

Before you hit that PUBLISH button . . .

Publishing occurs whenever an author shares a work with an audience. An email memo, a note that says where you are going, a paper you wrote for a class in Econometrics, these are all forms of publishing.

–ME Strauss

Reading for Spiders

Publishing for the web has two audiences–people and search engine spiders. The first time I read my work over, I read it for people. I checked for errors that get between my readers and the message. I also had my proofreader check it to catch what my dyslexia missed. Yesterday, she caught quite bit.

Then I go over it a second time quickly for my second audience–search engine spiders–to make sure the spiders don’t trip and have plenty to eat.

Making Sure the Investment Pays Off

Prorating the time that I spent gathering ideas, I’ve probably spent 60-90 minutes on this one post. Time is money, and I think of that time spent as an investment. Now is when I make sure that investment pays off. I’ve made a short Pre-Flight Publishing list that I run down, before I pass say, “Go.”

Is the content keyword rich? By waiting to read for keywords until after all other checks, I make sure that I don’t forfeit quality to pray at the altar of SEO. Now, I can look for keywords my readers might search for and make sure that they find the relevant content that I have to offer. I won’t be reaching, and they won’t be disappointed. Current relationships will stay strong, and new readers will be pleased with what they encounter here.
What tags might I add that belong with this post? Tags can help search engine spiders properly index my post. Post tags are definitely blog, brand, and business promotion. If your blogging software doesn’t easily allow you to tag your posts, there are plug-ins and hacks for every platform out there.
What related articles do I have that readers might be interested in reading? Offering related articles for readers to go to when they finished your post, gives people more information about a subject they’ve already shown interest in. It also gets readers more involved with you, your blog, your business, and your brand. The intra-link that you make at the end of your post shows people how your content relates and is relevant throughout your blog–this helps search engines index it as well.
Are there opportunities for trackbacks? If you’ve mentioned another blogger’s work or if what you’ve said meshes beautifully with the conversation on another blog, send a trackback to let that blogger know.
Is this that one-in-a-million post that I should self-promote to other blogs? If you’ve written the post that reveals the nature of how to get “Google Goodness” from every post, carefully write a brief introduction of yourself and your post to a select few bloggers you wish to share it with. Do be sure it’s a one-in-a-million post, and do explain your reasons for thinking it’s a match with their blogs. If you don’t read a blog, don’t send a link. Period. Either way, it’s a long shot that a post really is the one-in-a-million post that we think it is.

Those are just a few ways I try to diversify and grow my investment. I like to make sure the time I spend continues to pay off, compounding interest well into the future.

You probably have other ways that you build promotion into the posts you write. Will you take a minute to share one with us?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Google Page Ranks Underway

Filed Under Business Life, Links, SEO, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

This Just In

Duncan has announced at the Blog Herald that the Google Page Rank is underway.

Why is page rank important
to your blog and your business?

Page rank is Google’s system for ranking pages for its search tool. Page rank determines how relevant your blog is by using linking as a vote system. Google has developed an algorithm that weighs links between blogs A to B to C to A, and also looking also at the importance of the blogs making the links. Quality blogs that are well connected to other quality blogs are considered highly relevant to Google users. Relevant, quality, important blogs receive higher page ranks. Higher page ranks can mean higher advertising payments for blogs that monetize.

Darren offers more on page rank at Problogger.

The checker given by Duncan and Darren is considered the standard and is really all you need. However, there are others. These have varying degrees of accuracy. Here is one page rank checker.
PageRank: Search Engine Optimization

These are page rank predictors not checkers.
Medpan Page Rank Predictor
IWebTool

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Want Technorati Fixed? Link to Janice. Give Janice AUTHORITY.

Filed Under Business Life, Community, Links, SEO, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats, Technorati | 20 Comments

Yesterday I wrote about David Sifry’s State of the Blogosphere–Part 2 Message. I ended that post with the question, What will you do? I wasn’t really talking to Niall Kennedy, but he did something anyway.

Technorati’s Still Broken, Niall Leaves, and
We Get Bells and Whistles

This via Duncan Riley at the Blog Herald: Niall Kennedy left his job at Technorati. Mr. Kennedy doesn’t discuss his reasons for departing. Click the logo to get to the Blog Herald Story. Then come back to find out what to do about it.

Duncan isn’t the only one concerned. Martin is wondering in the comments here why Technorati is introducing new features when their basic engine and tracking service is broken. So are lots of other people. I’m getting daily emails on the subject.

Use a Whistle–Give Janice Technorati AUTHORITY

The way I see it. Janice Myint needs more than Janice to fix what’s wrong at Technorati. It’s time to get throw some real support behind her. So why not use the whistle David Sifry just handed us–AUTHORITY.

Let’s give Janice Myint Authority, by getting everyone to LINK TO JANICE.
We’ll need to do this with some saavy. We don’t want Janice to end up in the Google sandbox. I propose we work together on the honor system. Are you with me?

For SEO reasons, we need a variety of link types and a variety of link names. Keep these guidelines in mind.

Not everyone should use the exact title of her blog.

Not everyone should blogroll her blog. Some should be links to individual posts.

Some should be comment links.

Not everyone should link today, tomorrow, or the next day.

Choose one of the options below to pick your link day.

1. Choose the last letter in your last name. Count its place in the alphabet. Count out that many days from today and link to Janice’s blog on that day.

2. When you get your next link to your own blog. Link to Janice’s blog.

3. If a friend or family member has a birthday, anniversary or other occasions between now and April 1st, link to Janice’s blog on that day.

4. When you get the third, or fourth, or fifth, “Sorry Technorati is . . .” message, link to Janice’s blog.

Janice’s URL is http://janicetechnorati.blogspot.com/

This will get real attention, if enough of us do it. We have the power to make a difference.

I’d trade the bells and whistles for a smooth-working engine that tracks my links accurately.

Wouldn’t you? Link to Janice.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles:
Dear Niall Kennedy and David Sifry at Technorati
Janice Myint at Technorati Is in Customer Support
Explore the Magic Middle with Authority
Want Technorati Fixed? Link to Janice. Give Janice AUTHORITY.

MSN and Microsoft Joint Research Venture

Filed Under Business Life, SEO, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats | 1 Comment

For my tech friends and my friends on campus . . .

MSN and Microsoft Research have launched a joint venture called Live Labs. The purpose of the venture is to create new Internet research opportunities and new academic funding Internet research. A companion organization, called Search Labs, will be creating innovative products from prototypes developed at Live Labs. The project is located in Silicon Valley, and they’re hiring.

The information goes deep and wide below the Live Labs announcement post if you’re interested in finding out more about it.

The project sounds more than interesting, particularly the part about academic funding.

It never hurts to know what MSN and Microsoft are up to.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Google Blogger–403 Forbidden–How Could You Let that Happen!

Filed Under Business Life, SEO, Successful Blog, Tech/Stats | 11 Comments

Dear Dr. Eric Schmidt and Larry Paige,

I realized last night that, as a Blogger blogger, I am a guest in your home or should I say a captive visitor. Darn, I thought I was a welcomed customer. What made this clear was when you locked me in my room and forbade me access to my stuff. My own parents didn’t use the word FORBIDDEN, nor have I ever used it with my child.

Yes, I realize that you at Google did not actually write the script for the 403 error code that uses the word FORBIDDEN, but you’ve been in business long enough to know how it works. You’re at the top. You get all three of the big Ps–the Big Press, the Big Paychecks, and the Big Pain when things go wrong.

Blogger has put on a show of the worst customer service and total random inefficiency I’ve seen in ages. It started about 2 days ago with outages. Then random inability to access Blogger blogs. Last night I was able to reach the dashboard of my Blogger writing blog, but not my blog itself–even from its own dashboard. I received a 403 Forbidden access error, because I was being read as a directory. It told me to contact myself and give me permission!

This was an opportunity for Google to show some care for its customer. Instead here’s the current Google Blog post still up.

Google has an informative, how-to blog for everything, except for it’s Advertising cashcow Blogger.

You might say, “What about Blogger Buzz?” The Blogger Blog is fun to read and chatty, but it offers little information about how to use Blogger. A post here too might have made me think that Google cared. It also might have made me know for sure that it was a Blogger problem and not a problem with my computer. This is the current post Blogger Buzz.

The email abyss Blogger Help offers a return reply that says go search the help database. Then write again. Of course, then it never answers. Been there. Done that many times. It’s been that way for every email I’ve ever sent.

Google makes products, such as sitemaps, that don’t work on Blogger. To use them people have written scripts on Greasemonkey that go through Firefox to rewrite your software. Blogger customers are forced to get help from other Blogger users. That’s not customer service. That’s leaving customers to fend for themselves.

When I look at your corporate structure, it’s very telling. I don’t find the word customer anywhere.

Larry, you write ten points that you call the Google Philosophy. You explain each one carefully. I bet most users (that’s what you call us isn’t it?) have never read about them and will be surprised to see them.

Let me remind you what they are.

Focus on the user and all else will follow.
It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
Fast is better than slow.
Democracy on the web works.
You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
You can make money without doing evil.
There’s always more information out there.
The need for information crosses all borders.
You can be serious without a suit.
Great just isn’t good enough.

My answer: Get a Blogger blog, and you’ll see that where Blogger is concerned NUMBER 10 IS REALLY NOT A WORRY.

Why not try what Technorati has done recently . . . decide that customers are people who deserve support, not users who will always be there. Hire a full time Blogger Customer Service Team. Don’t make your customers do your work for you. That’s not nice.

How could I possibly, tell a new blogger that Blogger is the platform he or she should use to be successful?

I’m the nice one.

Sincerely,

ME “Liz” Strauss

PS. I forgot to mention. I could not get to Blogger Status. I didn’t remember the address. Why don’t you have a link to it under Blogger Help on the Dashboard? There was no notice to go there.

UPDTATE—If you came to this page because you got a 403 Forbidden Error, the URL to find out what’s going on is

http://status.blogger.com/

That’s where you can get up-to-minute information about what is going on.

Google for some reason can’t see to get that information where people can find it. So they send you to Successful-Blog, because they know that I have it. Bookmark this page because, as we all know Blogger and Blogspot go down A LOT

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Successful Blog

You're Only a Stranger Once

With a Little Help from Our Friends

Springtime Link Love

Learning by Getting It Wrong

Think like a Search Engine

Thinking Inside-Outside the SEO Box

Build Your Own Search Engine

A Family of Support Pages

The Support FAQ

Reading for Spiders

Making Sure the Investment Pays Off

This Just In

Why is page rank important to your blog and your business?

Technorati’s Still Broken, Niall Leaves, and We Get Bells and Whistles

Use a Whistle–Give Janice Technorati AUTHORITY

UPDTATE—If you came to this page because you got a 403 Forbidden Error, the URL to find out what’s going on is

http://status.blogger.com/

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Technorati’s Still Broken, Niall Leaves, and
We Get Bells and Whistles