Today’s post about site stickiness is provided by The Website Doctor.

An amazing post, with amazing content is great to have, but if your blog design is not up to scratch, then you can wave good-bye to those readers. In a few seconds, you will be reading tips on how to make your blog design the best it can ever be. Well, I hope so anyway. As you can tell from my blog, I’m a bit of a cheap skate. I’m using a free .wordpress.com domain, and my blogs design is, well, not the best. But I do have something that makes me good enough to give you advice. My blog is all about reviewing websites, and I have reviewed some horrendous blogs, and some great blogs. So I am now going to give you some fantastic tips that will help you improve your blog design. Here goes:

1. The dreaded template.

The first thing you should do when you start-up a blog, is changed the template. Changed the header image to your logo and slogan and change the background colour. I don’t think there is any explanation why, but just change it. You want your blog to stick out, not blend in.

To sum up: Change your template header and background

2. Is this a scam?

If you website is full of hyperlinks, Times New Roman text and adverts with a plain white background and single coloured text, people are going to be waiting for a window to pop up, telling them about your new e-book about how to enlarge your you-know-what by 55 inches. You need a proper layout. One clear column with your main features in, then one side bar with a few widgets. Minimize the amount of advertising you have, other people will know you are only in it for the money. Oh, and no pop ups.

To sum up: Use a clear layout

3. Text

Make sure you use a sans-serif font for the body text. No fancy hard-to-read text. This is a sans-serif font, this is a serif font.. Notice that the sans-serif font has clean ends on each letter, whereas serif fonts have pointed or shaped ends, making it harder to read. Also, it really does go without saying, the size. Text that is very big will make your readers think that you are expecting kids or OAPs to be visiting your blog. Text to small and visitors will be wondering if you actually want them to read your post, or if you just want them to get a bad eye site.

To sum up: Make it easy to read.

4. Grammar

This is just as much of a design fault than a content fault. people are not going to read your blog if the grammar is like this because there aren’t any capital letters no full stops no comers and the sentences are so long that by the time the reader has finished reading them they are blue in the face and on the floor. People are also going to think your blog was written by a 5-year-old, if it has little use of capital letters.

To sum up: Write properly.

5. Ease of Use

Every good website is easy to use. If you find it’s hard to use, then you’re probably one of the few people who use it. Make sure your blog or website has a distinctive home page, one that you know is the home page. This means a large logo and slogan at the top, with widgets with news, top stories and other information in your website. If you have a blog, the home page should have a stick post, which explains you blog in a few sentences, so people get the rough idea of why it exists. If your website is full of pages with no menu bar or way of moving around the website, then readers can get lost or stuck, so they will just leave the page. If you run an E-Commerce website, a customer should be able to see if you have a certain product in your store by only clicking three times. Its true! Go and try it on Amazon!

To sum up: Make is easy for your readers.

6. Backgrounds

First of all, if your background is very jazzy and bright, it’s going to hurt people’s eyes when they are trying to read your content. These backgrounds include bright green, yellow, and orange, and light blue block colours, a mix of these colours, or anything that distracts the reader. Don’t skip this bit if you don’t use bright colours. Using picture backgrounds are also not a great idea. Especially if it is a small picture and has been tiled on the page. Just no. You can use block colours such as white, pale colours, grey, black* or any other colour that’s not in your face. 

* When you use a black background, don’t use white text. it sort of pulses when you are reading it, and hurts your eyes, especially if its small. Use a gold colour instead. Much better. If you don’t want to use gold, you can get around this by having a black outer background, then a white background behind the text. Sorted.

To sum up: Keep it calm, don’t jazz it up.

7. Paint still exists?

When you are designing a logo, don’t use paint. It end up with a horrible quality with not so good colours. Download a free trial of a graphic program and use that. There’s not much more to say on this one, but just don’t use it!

To sum up: Make sure your logo is good quality.

8. Picture Quality

I can’t stress this enough. Never ever use low quality pictures on your website. We don’t want to look at pictures that we can’t work out what it is. You don’t see large companies using bad quality pictures on their website, so why should you? On the other hand, don’t use very high quality, large pictures. People don’t want to wait 30 minutes for your website to load.

To sum up: Make sure we can see what the picture is.

9. Steer clear of a competitors design

If you have a clear competitor, don’t go using the same colour background, the same font or the same logo style as them. You want to be different from them, not a knock off version. It very easy to see a competitors website and think, that design is really good. I couldn’t do it better. But you would be wrong. I’m sure if you changed the background colour, or use a different font size, or changed the title of each menu, then you could make it better.

To sum up: Be different

10. What you criticise in others, correct in yourself.

If you see a website, and think Wow, that font looks horrible or Why are they using that colour? make sure your website isn’t doing this too. Before you criticise them, correct your own website first.

To sum up: Sort your design before you sort others.

If you are not sure about your blog design, there are lots of forums or review websites where people will review your website and give you tips. My website, The Website Doctor, offers this reviewing service for free, so pop by and have a little look.

Regards,

The Website Doctor

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Nisha Sharma brings us an online blog article today.

Though you might think your business doesn’t need to publish a blog, doing so can actually contribute to your long-term success. Blogs don’t take much time to set up and they provide a powerful opportunity to connect with your customers. They also help you stay at the forefront of your customers’ minds. If you’re not sure whether or not your company needs a blog, check out these five reasons that every online business should have one.

1. Show Your Expertise

There are few better ways to show your authority on a subject than to regularly publish information about the topic. Visitors will quickly be able to see that you know what you’re talking about. While you can show your knowledge by publishing information on the pages of your website, a blog gives you a venue to consistently show your credibility.

2. Provide Valuable Content to Customers

Hosting a blog on your website is also a great service to your customers. When you provide free content to your visitors, they will be more likely to purchase in the future. Offering valuable content for no charge also allows you to build relationships with your audience members. An engaged community is a huge asset to your business.

3. Bring in Regular Traffic

It’s essential to receive regular traffic to your website, as there is typically a correlation between traffic and sales. By writing a regular blog, you’ll receive consistent traffic and draw in new customers, particularly when links to your blog posts are shared through Facebook or Twitter. Once you start receiving more traffic, you’ll have more opportunities to make sales and interest prospective customers.

4. Keep Up with Your Competition

While it’s always a good idea to set yourself apart from other businesses, you still need to make sure you’re keeping up with the competition. As blogs become more popular, it’s likely that most of your major competitors are running blogs on their websites. If you don’t run a blog, your customers will notice and might decide to turn elsewhere.

5. Boost Your Search Engine Rankings

A blog is also one of the best ways to improve your search engine rankings. Search engine algorithms change frequently, but recent updates have stressed the importance of quality content and social media feedback. With a blog on your website, you’ll have more high-quality content for search engines to rank. Blogs are also updated more frequently than traditional websites, which can give you an additional boost from the search engines. Writing a blog is undoubtedly one of the best things you can do for your business.

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So how many of you have a site and absolutely love it? For some of us, it’s second nature. We can sit down crank out a site based on how we envisioned it on our heads.

However, for some other folks, it’s not quite that simple. One of the challenges with building a website is that we usually don’t have all the skill sets needed to create a good one. On one hand, you’ll need your creative juices flowing for the design and on the other hand, you’ll need to leverage your technical know-how to make it come to life. Most people don’t exercise both sides of their brains to the full extent; that’s why it’s a big hurdle that leaves some at ground zero.

When we find that we’re not perfect for certain jobs, what should we do? We hire help to fill the gaps!

Wildfire Marketing Group can provide you with a web design that is based on your input and tastes. Just tell them what you want and they’ll work with you to get you to that goal. We’re talking about pros who can not only customize a site for you but also help drive success, however you may define it. If you want more visitors, they can help. If you want more conversions, they can help.

For those of you who think you’re all set on your website, take a look at Wildfire’s website checklist. This thing is packed things like:

• Marketing planning and strategy
• Creating a search engine friendly website
• Proper HTML and CSS coding
• Design principles
• Proper use of multimedia
• Branding
• Usability
• Website performance
• Conversions
• Improving credibility

All that for a measly $17 with a money back guarantee!

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Today we have a special guest, Dee, who lists some common boo-boos in blogging.

As it stands, there isn’t really any concrete way of knowing exactly how many amateur arm chair writers and business blogs fail on a daily basis, but suffice to say the answer would not be a small number. One of the biggest problems blogs face in the modern way of things is that although they have potential to be hugely powerful, there are just so many of them that the competition is beyond immense. With this in mind, the following is a brief rundown of a few of the most common reasons for blog failures that can be taken as sure-fire ways of killing a blog in a spectacular style:

1 – Lack of Devotion

It really make little to no difference what the subject of the blog is or its overall purpose, the necessary amount of devotion and focus is required to make the blog a success. The biggest cause of all blog failing by far is the way in which many owners feel they are doing a good job with theirs, but are in fact neglecting them somewhat. Consider how many hours per day are actually being devoted to the blog and evaluate whether this is really enough.

2 – Doing it Alone

Taking the reigns and getting into the blog business along can seem a hugely appealing prospect, with full control over the proceedings and 100% of all gains and rewards to follow. However, doing so can be a huge mistake if the subject matter of the blog is one where time-consuming research is needed or other complexities abound. Setting standards too high at the beginning of a new blog can often see the end result come a cropper without a little help from the right sources – so consider involvement.

3 – Forgetting the Audience

It is important to question from time to time exactly whom the blog appeals to and the size of the niche audience out there. More often than not, the reason a blog struggles is because there simply are not enough interested people out there – which is of course something that nobody can put right. If this appears to be the case, consider switching niches to one that will see interest flooding in.

4 – Pure Material Gain

Of course, it goes without saying that the primary driving force behind the majority of blogs started these days is the cold hard cash they can bring in, but if this is the one and only reason behind the blog then the likelihood of it standing the test of time is minimal. There simply must be a degree of passion and drive behind the endeavour to prevent the whole thing becoming a time-consuming and laborious chore.

5 – Following Suit

Whenever something big happens in the industry or the niche that is the subject of the blog, it can be hugely tempting to re-print the details, but it may be best to exercise restraint. The simple fact of the matter here is that nobody is really going to want to read what they may have already read a dozen times elsewhere, therefore if there is nothing more to be said and nothing to add to the information available, perhaps leave it out.

6 – Ignoring Analytics

One of the most wonderful things about the Internet is the way in which business, site and blog owners can track the activities of their readers right down to the very last one – which makes it all the more surprising that millions still never use the software available to do so! Simply by taking a regular look at the analytics available online, it is simple to see exactly what people are searching for, how many of them are searching for it and what seems to be dwindling in popularity. The only way to get by in business is to give the people what they want and with such software around, it really could not be easier these days.

Dee is a freelance writer who has lived (and blogged) on both sides of the pond. She’s provided this concise guide to blogging mistakes, which she herself makes frequently, on behalf of her preferred leather sleeper retailer.

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I love my guest authors. Stella Walker provides us with some photo gathering tips today.

Bloggers know that photos can help draw in a reader substantially—if an accommodating photo looks attractive, a reader is more prone to check out and read the actual post. But sometimes finding a quality photo, more importantly a royalty-free legal-to use photo, can be tricky. Sure you could always pay for photos; some charge as little as 50 cents per image. But we all know 50 cents can add up. To explore all of your other (free) options, however continue reading below.

1. Google Images

By far one of the easiest ways to find useable photos is to use the power of Google. You can’t just simply type in a key word and then download the first image you see however. You need to filter your search and find out which one are labeled for reuse using the advanced settings. Otherwise you might just see yourself sued for copyright infringement. To do this, all you need to do is go to the Google Images page and type in your key word(s). Instead of clicking on search, click on the link that is the right of the search button. It should say “advanced image search.” From here you can specify exactly what you are looking for and rearrange the phrasing. No matter what it is, make sure that under usage rights you select the “labeled for reuse” or “labeled for commercial use” option before clicking Google Search. Once you find an image you like make sure that you still follow the owner’s guidelines on how he or she would like the photo to be credited.

2. Wikipedia Commons

Wikipedia might not be a great source for 100 percent reliable information, but it is a great source to find public domain photos which are automatically free.  The database contains more than 10 million photos of animals, historical figures, and landmarks for example that are free to use.  Just make sure to pay attention to the licensing terms and conditions that are located at the end of the image so that you know how to properly attribute the photo. While these photos are part of public domain, it’s nice to know that all images created/painted before 1923 are also considered public domain and are ok to use without copyright issues.

3. Everystockphoto

While using photo-sharing sites like Flickr is great ways to find reusable and professional-looking photos, an even better option is checking out Everystockphoto.com. What this site does is searches a bunch of different stock photo websites like Flickr all at once in order to help you find the image you are looking for. This means you don’t have to waste time scouring individual sites. While some sources that the web site brings up cost some money, the majority of them are free.  Again, like said many times before, be aware of attribution terms.

Stella Walker is a freelance writer of free credit score where she writes about topics including credit, debt, investment, bankruptcy.

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Ever do a search and the results eventually led you to a page that looked like just a bunch of the same words over and over again? That’s some “genius” loading up on keywords trying to increase search engine ranking.

“If every sentence has the phrase “lose weight fast”, that has to be bad right?”

“Does it really work?”

“Is there a secret formula?”

“How do we measure the keywords and keyword phrases within an article?”

Straight from the Office of Phrases-That-Never-Existed-Before-Search-Engines, the answer to that last question is keyword density. By definition, it’s simply the percentage a keyword or keyword phrases compared with the rest of the words in an article. Keyword stuffing is when you bloat your article with a lot of unnecessary keywords.

A quick look at keyword density

This is what happens when you think about keyword density instead of writing naturally.

You don’t need me to tell you that if every sentence has the same keyword phrase in it, that’s bad! Even if the keyword stuffing actually worked, your article would be unreadable. No one in their right mind would stay longer than two seconds before clicking the Back button.

There are so many “experts” out there who will recommend a certain keyword density. Some say go with no more than 20% (which is really insane), while others swear by staying under 5%. What do I recommend? How about writing for your audience and not for search engines?

Keyword density penalty

At the end of the day, your article has to have some keywords and keyword phrases. But that’s just common sense. As you write your article, you will naturally populate it with keywords.  Think about it, try writing an article about affiliate marketing but never mention the keyword phrase ‘affiliate marketing’ ever. It’s impossible!

Those of you who are worried that search engines will penalize you for not having enough keywords, stop worrying. First of all, no one knows the algorithms for any of the major search engines. Even if someone did, that algorithm would potentially change in a month’s time anyway. The rumor mill actually states that Google is particularly more harsh on keyword stuffing than Yahoo and others but no one knows how much more.

Final thoughts on keyword density

The bottom line is this: no one knows exactly how much keyword density to use. When in doubt, just write something worth reading for your audience. Don’t worry about how many keywords there are on the page, where they are placed, or how many alternative keyword phrases you have. Instead, focus on whether or not your post provides value for your visitors.

After all, we’re all looking to build a user base for our blog and the only way to keep them coming back is to have interesting articles. You can’t do that if you’re thinking about keyword density!

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An inspirational guest post today!

Blogging is very much like beginning any new hobby. Whether it’s learning to play an instrument, writing a novel, or any other creative endeavor, there is a “beginner’s luck” phase, in which you only see clear skies and smooth sailing. You have tons of ideas for your blog, and they all come out flowing. Then, after a few weeks or months, the flow slows to trickle. Writing anything seems infinitely hard, let alone writing full-length content consistently. Then you get discouraged, and you may feel like throwing in the towel. What most bloggers at this stage need is inspiration. Here are a few common and exciting places to turn to.

1. Read a controversial book or essay and write about it.

In an age in which reading blogs and Facebook status updates is the only form of reading done, picking up a book and writing about it is a good way to distinguish yourself. Of course, you probably aren’t a book reviewer, so it won’t do to pick up any old fiction bestseller. Find a book or lengthy essay that is related to your niche. The more controversial, the better. Then write a response to it, in which you lay out your thoughts and opinions.

2. Go out and experience something unusual, then blog about it.

Sometimes inspiration is right around the corner. And sometimes it’s in another country. If you’ve run out of material for your blog, chances are that you need a vacation. And a vacation doesn’t necessary mean an overseas one. Visit something local that you’ve never seen before, or go on a road trip with friends. You are bound to find something unusual that can inspire a blog article.

3. Ask your friends and family for ideas

Your closest friends and family probably know how your mind works better than anyone else does. Approach loved ones who are at least marginally acquainted with your blog, and pick their brains for ideas. Cast your nets wide, and discuss with those friends of yours who suggested the best ideas. Using this collaborative strategy is one of the best ways to renew interest and get inspired about your blog all over again.

4. Read a bunch of other blogs in your niche, and see what other people are talking about.

At this point, you probably do read a few blogs, but try reading a bit more. Use a spreadsheet to tally the most popular topics and the topics that are just starting to gain ground. Of course, copying is not a good source of inspiration, but it is good to take a popular idea and write about it better than anybody else. Do more research and try to see if you can find the “next big thing.” Trying to keep up with what is popular in the blogosphere is a fun game of cat-and-mouse, especially considering that what’s popular changes so quickly on the Internet.

Of course, only you know yourself very well, and you know what, precisely inspires you. These sources are simply designed to get the ball rolling again. If you feel frustrated, know that losing motivation to blog is completely normal. At some point, you’ll start back up again, after actively seeking inspiration. Good luck!

This guest post is contributed by Patricia Garza, who writes about gadget, technology, design, social media, e-learning related articles at online university rankings.

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