How many posts to show on your home page

Apr 27, 2009 in questions, traffic

Todays question:

Any suggestions on the number of posts that one should show? Default is 10, but I have seen many blogs that only show 1 post.

This is actually an unanswerable question because it will be different depending on how you use your blog.

First understand that the visitors coming from the search engines are only going to see the post that it indexed. Google and the others will be linking to the exact post not your home page.

So the next questions are how are you advertising your home page and what do you want to have happen?

Here is an example – Each week on another blog I do a recap of the week and send people to the home page of the blog via an email blast to my lists.

I want people to keep reading if they are interested right down the blog because they may find something of interest in the second or third post. I’ll also do an email blast if I add an article hoping they will keep reading and take advantage of the offer that is in the second or third post down.

There may be others but the only time I can see where a single post on the home page might be worthwhile is where you are using a blog as a CMS (Content Management System) instead of a static web site to take advantage of the RSS feed and interlinking that is built into a blog and the ability to interact with your reader through comments.

As always your questions and comments are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

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Technorati Tags: blog home page, number of posts, WordPress home page

Real Estate Websites – finding a theme

Apr 11, 2009 in profitable blogging, questions, traffic

Here is a question from the Blog Talk Radio show that needs a bit more clarification.

How would one create a WP blogsite that is real estate oriented with articles, links, listings (descriptions of property for sale with 6 pictures)? Is there a WP theme that is particularly well adapted to do a real estate blog? Creating articles and links I understand but creating listings with pictures has me stumped at the moment.

With all the thousands of themes available I would not have a recommendation that way. Like any other theme find one that is clean, neat and easy to read. Personally I would stay with white background and black text of a decent size for any business related blog.

If the blog is not easy to read for all then people won’t bother. This eliminates all those neat and cool themes like the black backgrounds and neon blue lettering. Personally I can’t read those.

To create the listings I would use a free tool called Blog Desk. I use it for all my posts including this one. It will allow you to add a picture to your post, resize and set the position without any html.

2009-04-11 1009

I took a quick screen capture of the image editor section and input into the side of this post so that the text would wrap around it.

I never opened photo shop or anything else to re-size it and could change the size of the picture from the original by just clicking the radio button for the size I want.

Blog Desk will allow me to upload the photos and the posts directly from my desktop.

Now even though Blog Desk will allow you to publish your post directly from your desk top I never use that feature personally.

I always want to add tags to my posts, I may want a custom title tag and description or add a podcast or video through Seesmic before I submit my post.

Other than not letting it publish direct it is a great tool and allows me to create and edit my posts on my desktop and have them ready to upload when I am ready.

You can find a tutorial on using Blog Desk and tweaking various portions of your blog to make it more yours in the Advanced WordPress Tutorials.

Hope this helps answer the question more fully and always love to get questions from my readers. Leave yours in the comments.

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Technorati Tags: BlogDesk, create posts with picture, find themes, wordpress

What plugin would you like to see?

Feb 17, 2009 in questions, traffic

I talk a lot about Twitter and your blog but last night I got this message.

@MikePaetzold Hey Robert Plank rules and Mike Paetzold sucks… just kidding… can I make a WordPress plugin just for your blog readers?

So of course I said yes but now the question is what kind of plugin would you like to get?

Now a bit of background here. Robert is a bud from way back and I met him through Robert Puddy. A few years ago he did a whole post at the Warrior’s Forum asking people to call in and leave a message “Robert Puddy sucks… Robert Plank rocks…” and put the results on line.

When I finally met Robert in Philly last year at JV Alert I walked up behind him in the bar and reversed the saying. Now you understand the tweet I got from him.

So lets get back to the point here. Robert is a talented programmer and does great plugins. He has even created a product that I own that will help you create your own plugins called WordPress On Crack.

What plugin would you like to have created that you can get from here made to do what you want?

Leave your comments here to let me know. I also recommend you follow Robert Plank on Twitter and check out his blog. Robert is one of the good guys despite what he said about me.

Mike Paetzold

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Technorati Tags: JV Alert, plugin, Robert Plank, twitter, wordpress plugin

MyBlogLog – are you using it and if not why not?

Jan 30, 2009 in questions, traffic

This will be the start of a series on MyBlogLog (maybe see the end of the post). Most of the people that I talk to whether on the monthly Blog Talk Radio show, in various forums and conference rooms know about it but are probably only scratching the surface on what is there.

Usually they join just for the shiny object – the sidebar widget you can add to your blog that shows who is visiting and allows you to show others when you have visited. Just look to the right on this blog and if you are logged in at MyBlogLog your avatar will be there and I can see who is visiting.

Anyone can click the avatar and go see more about you at MyBlogLog.

There is a lot more to the service though than just the widgets.

It can be used for…

Tracking what is happening
Creating interaction with others
Research what is hot in your area
A portal for all of your social interaction

So the first part here if you are not using MyBlogLog is go sign up and get an account. Make sure to fill out your profile, add your picture or what you use for an avatar (very important this is what will brand you as you visit others blogs) add in the tracking code and widget to your blog.

Join my community

Then if I get enough comments I will continue the series and get into some of the real power of using MyBlogLog. So if you are interested in this topic your comments will decide if it continues.

Mike Paetzold

MyBlogLog - are you using it? [1:58m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Technorati Tags: mybloglog, research, social networks, widgets

More on widgets

Jan 27, 2009 in questions, traffic

Today’s question:

Mike, I’d be interested in having you discuss widget width. I’ve had problems with different sizes, particularly when I have used a three column theme with two side bars side by side. Any insights you could offer?

Most of the time it is text widgets that cause a problem usually because of the width of your sidebar. Add something in wider and it throws the whole layout out of whack (one of them technical terms ).

There are a couple ways to overcome this.

If it is a subscription form like the standard Aweber form make sure you use the html and not the java script form and you can edit the tables to put the box below the name or even change the size of the box.

This post goes into detail on doing just that.

How to add Aweber signup to your sidebar

If it is a banner or other fixed item it is a bit more difficult to resolve. With images you will need to resize them to fit in the sidebar with an image editor.

Your other choice is to play with the widths in the css style sheet which while not difficult can be a bit for some to overcome. IF you are going to do that make a copy of the style sheet before you start.

You can make the main content smaller and increase the sidebar by the same amount you decreased the main content so that your items will fit.

This may cause problems if your theme uses images for title backgrounds which is why a back up is important. If you totally mess it up just upload the original style sheet and you are back to the beginning but at least your blog will show.

If you are not comfortable with that then I would recommend finding a new theme that has sufficient space in the sidebar.

As always your comments and questions are welcomed.

More on widgets [2:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Technorati Tags: sidebar, sidebar widget, style sheet, widget, wordpress widget

Using Adsense on your blog

Jan 07, 2009 in questions, traffic

I have been adding more content here and less answering questions so back to the questions.

Today’s question:

Mike, Two quick questions: What is the name of the drop down menu RSS subscribe plugin that you are using on this blog? I like it. The BIG one: I saw your wonderful interview with Liz Tomey. You said that you test different Adsense placements with different WP themes. In your testing, have you found that a certain theme and/or placement combination works well. So well, that you use it as a benchmark to start your other sites? Example: I got the Revolution Magazine theme (not cheap) and it is beautiful. Great content, good traffic – but the Adsense click thru is so very bad. Pretty ain’t always the best. Many thanks, and keep up the good work. Robert

The first part is easy. I use Subscribe Me plugin for the drop down feed buttons. I like it because it makes a one click to add to the reader’s preferred feed reader. For example I use Google Reader and if I click the Google button it adds it to my reader in a click (as long as I am logged in which for me is almost always).

The second part is much harder.

My best results for ctr on Adsense usually come from having the ads embedded in the post itself. There are plugins that will do that but I prefer to hard code the Adsense into the theme itself.

Sidebar Adsense has never done well for me for click throughs compared to having it in the article.

Now I don’t intentionally create Adsense blogs as a primary monetization. They come about by testing.

I start with Adsense and if that is converting I will start to test affiliate offers. As I am converting over though I will move the Adsense to the bottom of the post until I have proved out the affiliate promotions.

I use Adsense primarily for testing new niches as it does give me a good idea of how profitable it is. Adsense is never the primary monetization unless the niche does not prove out for affiliate marketing or my own products.

If it proves out then I switch to affiliate offers or create my own product as that is more profitable in the long run and the Adsense goes away. I will keep it up with Adsense only if it makes more that way than with affiliate offers.

If it is a dud I kill it and let the domain expire.

Hope that helps explain it better for you.

As always your questions and comments are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

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Technorati Tags: adsense, affiliate marketing, blogs, google, rss, wordpress

RSS feeds for traffic

Nov 13, 2008 in traffic

This is the last post in the blog traffic series this time through .

Quite often I see people not use the most powerful part of their blog – the feed.

Here are just a few places and sites that you may be using where you can add in your feed and give people a chance to find your blog from things you are already doing. (This is not an all inclusive list by any means.)

Facebook Profile
Friend feed
Squidoo pages
Hub Pages
Wet Paint pages

In almost all of these you just need to add the url to your feed and they will start updating your listing on all of those pages each time you update your blog.

If you have not set up feed burner or done anything special with plugins the default feed url for your self hosted WordPress blog will be http://yourdomain.com/folder/feed.

Now if that is not your feed look for the feed link, right click and check properties and you can see exactly what your feed url is.

Adding your feed into all these places will give more people the chance to find your blog while just doing what you normally do anyhow.

Even better especially for the various sites like Squidoo, et al your lens is getting new content added each time you post to your blog. Gotta love things that allow you to automate updating and we all know how much Google loves fresh content when the spiders visit.

As always your questions and comments are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

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Technorati Tags: blog traffic, Facebook, FriendFeed, hub pages, rss, rss feed, squidoo, traffic

Comment Luv Contest – your chance to win and get more traffic

Nov 12, 2008 in traffic

Earlier in the traffic series I discussed blog commenting. Blog commenting is one of those win win situations. The blog owner wins because they get more fresh content and the commenter wins because they get a link back to their site and potential visitors clicking through to their site.

Caveat – This is based on quality comments and not people just spamming for links. Yes actually add value with your comments. Nuff said!

Also the default for WordPress is to use no follow links for commenting. Reward your commenters by using the do follow plugin so they get the benefit of the link. I do.

Comment Luv is a plugin I use here and on other blogs to reward commenters. When you add your url it will go look for your latest post and if it can find it will add a direct link to it as part of your comment.

This gives back a bit more to the people that are helping you by adding additional quality content to your blog.

Well to help promote the use of this plugin the creators have started a contest and you can win by simply using the plugin and registering your blog with them. This means that anyone leaving a comment here has the chance to win a prize from comment luv because this blog has been registered there.

You can read the full details at The Great Comment Luv Contest.

The contest is run by the owners of Comment Luv and while we participate here we have nothing to do with the rewarding of any prizes and are not liable for any part of it.

So take care of your commenters by using Comment Luv and Do Follow and increase the interactivity of your blog.

As always your question and comments are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

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Technorati Tags: blog comments, blog traffic, comment luv, comment luv contest, do follow

Twitter and blogging – get great additional traffic

Nov 11, 2008 in traffic

If you are blogging Twitter is a must. It incorporates quite well with any blog traffic strategy. Twitter is basically micro blogging. You can post as often as you want but have to keep your post to just 140 characters.

It makes you get your thoughts into a very compact format. This makes it perfect as a lead in to your blog and like all social media others blogs.

Now lets look at how you can get traffic for your blog from Twitter. As there are books written on all of the ways that you can use Twitter for promoting you we will stick primarily to promoting your blog.

First like all social media you need to be participating in the community not just promoting your blog. Otherwise you are nothing but a spammer and people will not continue to follow you and no one will see your message. Nuff said.

There are some tools that can help automate the posting for you. Tweet My Blog will automatically post to Twitter and also allow you to show your latest “tweets” on you blog in the sidebar. You can also use Twitter Feed which will automatically post when it monitors a change in your RSS feed. There are probably others but those are two that I have used.

You should also remember like bookmarking it does not hurt you to “tweet” about posts that you have commented on. All of these can bring you increased traffic and enlarge your circle of influence.

Like all social media it is a matter of being a good resource and not just promoting your items solely.

As always your questions and comments are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

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Technorati Tags: blog traffic, traffic, tweet my blog, twitter, twitter feed

Using MyBlogLog and others for traffic

Nov 09, 2008 in traffic

MyBlogLog is a social site for bloggers. Started originally as a straight social site they have continued to add more items to it. You can join it free.

Now how do you get traffic from MyBlogLog?

MyBlogLog allows you to add a widget to your blog that will let you see who is visiting your blog that belongs to MyBlogLog. More importantly you will show up on other blogs showing the widget that you visit. These link to your MyBlogLog page and allow people to find out more about you and the blog/s you have.

You can add others as contacts through MyBlogLog just as you can add friends at Facebook or MySpace. It is another way to connect with others.

The real power though is that you can add your other social sites to MyBlogLog. Sites like Facebook, Stumble Upon, Digg, Furl, Twitter, YouTube, etc.

The nice things is that each of these creates links that Google finds that go back to your various blog/s from these social sites.

Here is an example by just looking quickly at my profile this am. The following links were created and do get indexed because they show up in my Google Alerts all the time.

4 Stumbles I made yesterday
A comment I made on someone else’s blog
A new video I added at YouTube
5 Twitter conversations
Feed of my latest blog posts
Latest updates at Facebook

So just by using MyBlogLog all of the other things I do to create backlinks gets amplified automatically. That is the real power of MyBlogLog.

I can also look and see the latest things that all of my contacts have done too. (So add me as a contact so we can interact.)

You get to network with others and create extra links on autopilot. Definitely worth the time to set it up once to help you generate more traffic.

There is one more thing about MyBlogLog though. If you upgrade they provide you with some excellent tracking of what is happening on your blogs. You will be able to see how people found your blog, which pages they viewed and what links they clicked.

Free members get to see the top 10 but paying the $25 a year lets you see all of the stats available to you. Truly invaluable information to help you improve your blog’s performance.

There are other similar type sites like Blog Catalog but noen that are as powerful as MyBlogLog.

As always your questions and comments are welcomed.

Mike Paetzold

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Technorati Tags: blog traffic, commenting, linking, mybloglog, traffic