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How Blog Review Can Help to Improve Blog Traffic

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blog Traffic, Blogger Tips, How To, Social Media Tool, Tracking | Posted on 16-01-2010

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A lot of resolutions been talked about lately. How many of you have set up goals based on what you’ve learned in the past? Now I must admit, initially I have no intention to do a blog review based on performances in 2009. To dig up old archive seem troublesome and it’s much better to save effort for a much productive work, right? Wrong.

Measuring blog success isn’t just about bragging how good you are, but identify how much you could or should have done to improve blog traffic. Bottom line, if you are serious to increase blog traffic, a review is needed for:

  • Periodic goal-settings
  • Understanding own potentials and ability
  • Measuring current blog status and progress
  • Knowing parts to improve and avoiding repeated mistakes
  • Following up on lost comments & connections

Based on these 6 ways to track blog success, I can have a general idea how my blog survived all the way from March, 2009 (1st post about social media). During the process, I immediately realized the first and utmost lesson is to involve Analytics and Feedburner more in my planning instead of just a casual check monthly.

Popularity and Blog Traffic Review


Results are ranging from 17th March, 2009 to 6th January 2010 (my 1st day of work in 2010):

What I love about tracking comments is to find out which post type attracts the most discussions; what matters to the readers when they visit and the content that stands out from the rest. Engagement is a big deal here therefore I’m blessed to have a group of loyal readers who are taking comments very seriously! May the spirit continues in 2010. Of course, in order to obtain more accurate results, social media strategies and time factor are to be taken into considerations as well.


Other criteria that helped in commenting: Do-Follow, CommentLuv (Reasons To Love), Blog Promoting via Social Media

Top 5 Famous Posts via Google Analytics:


13 Facebook Applications to Promote Your Blog
How To Pick Up From Your Blogging Downturns
How Seriously Do You Take Blog Comments?
16 Social Bookmarking Plugins to Promote Your Posts
16 Misconceptions About ‘Serious’ Blogging

The results are slightly different but undeniably, Facebook is a hot topic here. The post was only written in October, 2009 but it overtook other posts and came first in Analytics. Also, it made me realized which type of posts are search-worthy; which are favored in social bookmarking sites and so on.


My Top 5 Traffic Source in 2009





I’m only active in Stumbleupon after migrating to wordpress in July. SU brought me a lot of new visitors but its bounce rate was still among the highest comparing to other traffic source. In order to capture the right audience in StumbleUpon, do make sure the submitted post is tagged correctly. Here’s a great post of 5 Tactis to drive in traffic from StumbleUpon, old tricks but good tips. As for Google Search that improves to rank #3 out of no where, no doubt that WordPress plugins such as All In One SEO helped me a great deal.

I believe migrating to WordPress from Blogger is the smartest decision I made in 2009 to increase blog traffic.


Power of Twitter & StumbleUpon in Promoting Blog Posts


Even though I started to blog in August, 2008, I only switched to social media blogging in March, 2009. Between my first and last social media post in 2009, I found 2 spikes happened in May and September respectively. It was during the time when these 2 posts were published:

a) The Best of Twitter Desktop Clients – Secrets Revealed!

- (61% direct traffic while 21% Twitter.com)

I remembered clearly it was the magic of Twitter that drove in the traffic. Loic from Seesmic tweeted about this post and soon the tweet went viral! You may be surprised why Analytics showed most of the visits are from ‘direct traffic’ instead of Twitter.com, this is because some clicks from Twitter clients such as Tweetdeck, Twhirl etc will not be counted in Twitter.com but as ‘direct traffic’ to your blog.

b) How To Pick Up From Your Blogging Downturns( 85% stumbleupon)

I was very surprised with this result but I think part of the reasons is the kind support given by my blogger friends. Could it be due to the Su.pr evolution and easy-to-adapt toolbar for browsers which made stumbling quick and easy? I think so too since I’m also an active stumbler in the same way. Everyone can easily participate in more than one social media sites nowadays so it will definitely help if we manage to assist one another in post-promoting. That’s the beauty of integration and networking.


Now It’s Your Turn…


What is your most popular post and which social media site has been your main traffic source so far? Share your post link and ideas in the comment below.

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How To Autopost from Multiple Blogs To Your Facebook Fan Page

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blog Traffic, Blogger Tips, Facebook, How To, Social Media Tool, Web Application | Posted on 07-01-2010

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Are you a prolific blogger who owns multiple blogs and eager to share everything on your Facebook Fan Page? If yes, congratulations! This post is dedicated to you.

We all are aware of how easy it is to autopost from A BLOG to facebook account. You can have plenty of app choices even among the 13 Facebook Applications to Promote Your Blog. However when it comes to multiple blogs, sometimes we are forced to input them manually or rely on combination of apps such as Notes, Social RSS to make it happen. Actually there’s an easier way!

Here’s a request earlier from a blogger friend who posted on my blog’s fan page :


As much Wordbook sounds promising, we know it is not capable enough to post for multiple blogs and to Facebook Fan Pages. Truth is, you don’t have to add any WordPress plugins. The answer lies in the hand of NetworkedBlogs and I’m gonna show you how:


Register Your Blogs to NetworkedBlogs


First requirement is you need to make sure all your blogs are registered to NetworkedBlogs and you’re following them individually (skip this section if you’ve done that already):

1.  Add NetworkedBlogs to your Facebook application.

2.  Then click ‘Register a new blog’. Fill up the details required.

3.  At ‘Blog Feed’ section, click ‘Pull Now’ to import all posts from your blog. Refresh the page if needed.

4.  Verify your account for each blog (either way) following the instructions given (Repeat step 2 – 4 for your multiple blogs) :


Configure Your Facebook Fan Page For Autoposting


1.  Go to your Facebook Fan Page. Click ‘Edit Page’ to enter management page.

2.  Scroll all the way down to locate ‘Networkedblogs’ and hit ‘Edit’.

3.  All the blogs you’re currently following will be displayed in the Page Settings. Select the blogs you wish to import to your Facebook page.

4.  Grant permission and Save your settings.

Done. Now whenever your blogs are updated with new posts, they will be published on both Facebook page and personal account.

But, what if you wish to prevent personal account from receiving blog updates?


Some people may not like to harass their real life friends with business related info, here’s what you can do:

1.  In NetworkedBlog, look for ‘Feed Settings’ at the right sidebar to change your feed-posting preferences.

2.  At ‘Fan Pages’ section, click ‘Configure’ and mark the ‘Auto-Publish blog posts to Page Wall’ ; whereas for Personal Profile remained un-ticked.

That’s it! All can be done within Facebook Fan Page! Import as many entries you need to enhance blog traffic.

Recommended Read: How to Import Twitter Favorites to Facebook Page
(More ways to import blog posts to your facebook Page with RSS feed)


Here’s A Great News…



We reached 100 members today so we got ourselves a custom URL ~ facebook.com/SocialBloggingTracker ! YAY! You guys rock and can’t thank you all enough for the participation. If you haven’t join us, by all means! It’s a perfect place for all readers/social media enthusiasts to meet and get inspired!

Do you find the tutorial useful? If you know a better way to autopost from multiple blogs to Facebook Fan Pages, do share with us in your comment. :-)

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3 Easy Ways to Share Selective Tweets on Facebook Pages

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blog Traffic, Facebook, Seesmic, Social Media Tool, Social Networking, Twitter, Twitter Desktop Clients, Web Application | Posted on 20-10-2009

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Facebook fan page & FB profile


Having trouble separating social lives between leisure and work? Let Facebook Pages help you out.

I’m on Facebook Page for days now and glad that I don’t have to bombard my own profile site with updates my friends find annoyed *chuckle*. But being active on Twitter, wouldn’t it be fantastic if we get to publish selective tweets between personal and Facebook Pages? Good thing that’s now doable in various Twitter platforms and I’m going to show you how.


3 Easy Ways to Share Selective Tweets on Facebook Pages


Tweetdeck (v0.30.5)


1. Go To Tweetdeck Settings > Accounts > Add New Account > Add Your Facebook account.

You will prompt to add your Facebook Pages as well. Isn’t that convenient?

Add Facebook Pages to Tweetdeck

2. Approve the authorization to connect with Facebook by logging in.

Integrate Facebook account to Tweetdeck

3. Tweetdeck will display all Facebook Pages that you are administrated.

Select Facebook pages to be added to Tweetdeck Update Panel

Pick either or all for your preferences; publish posts or comments without repeated logins:

Synchronize accounts

4. Now your can update your Facebook account or Page(s) via Tweetdeck.

Selective Tweets to Facebook accounts


Seesmic Desktop (v0.6.2)


1. Go to Control Panel > Accounts > Click the ‘+’ sign & Add your Facebook account.

2. Click at the newly added Facebook account, you’re optional to have either or both included for:

a. Administered pagesFacebook Pages you’re an admin of.

b. Fan Pages – Pages you followed.

add Facebook Pages to Seesmic

3. Make your selections after you’ve authorized and integrated Facebook Pages with your Seesmic Desktop.

automatically post activity to Facebook Pages from Seesmic

4. Configure the Extended Permissions to have posts/comments published via Seesmic Desktop without repeated prompting.

allow Seesmic publish posts without prompting

Facebook Connect Extend Permission setup

5. There! Add as many Facebook Pages you like and start your selective tweeting.

Facebook Pages in drop down menu


Twitter Web Page Interface


If your computer system is not compatible to either one of the desktop client above, Facebook has a plugin that’ll work just fine with Twitter web page interface. Introducing:


Selective Twitter Status – choose particular tweets to be published on either Facebook profile or Fan Pages. Make sure your Twitter updates are NOT protected on Twitter. Put ‘#fb‘ at the end of each selected tweet as shown below:


a. Put #fb at the end of your tweet, for example–
Your message here http://your link #fb

b. have #fb followed by a space then a link, for example–
Your message here #fb http://your link

Add the Selective Twitter Status to your application. Remember to click ‘Add to Page’ first before proceeding to your Facebook Pages setup.

Add application to page

During the configuration, you can have either Your Profile or Your Fan Page(s) to integrate with Twitter account. We’ll look at the Fan Page configuration first:


1. Go to ‘Your Fan Pages‘. Only pages you’re an admin of will be displayed. Make your pick.

2. Type in your Twitter username > Save Changes.

configure update status for pages you are an admin for

3. In order to have BOTH Fan Page and personal account compatible with the plugin, you need to grant permission for Fan Page first before doing the same for profile.

grant permission for updates

4. After ‘Grant Permission‘, you’ll be directed to allow status updates as illustrated.

Choose your Fan Page first and click ‘Allow Status Updates‘ before you do the same for your profile page.

allow status updates

But make sure you have filled in your Twitter name first before authorization.

configure Facebook profile to receive Twitter updates

5. This is how the updates will appear in Fan Pages:

updates shown on Facebook fan page


Isn’t it great? Problems solved! Now you can post however and whatever you wish interchanging your Facebook personal account and Fan Pages.



Recommended Read: Use Google Reader to Import selective Twitter Favorites to Facebook Page

It’s Your Turn To Share


What other difficulties you faced while trying to integrate social media with one another? Do share your thoughts. And if you’re on Facebook, why not say hi and let’s connect at Facebook Page.


Can you do me a little favor to share this post with your network? ^^

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StumbleUpon Had A Makeover!

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blog Traffic, Social Bookmark, Social Media Tool, Web Application, stumbleupon | Posted on 13-10-2009

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overview

It has been 5 days since Stumbleupon had a makeover, or, plan to.

Stumbleupon has long been my favorite social bookmarking site & blog traffic source. Ever since the emerge of Su.pr & firefox plugin, I hardly log in to its main site except to check on messages and friends’ submissions occasionally.

Enough said. You must be wondering what’s new?

The 3S – Simpler, Searchable & Sociable!


Simpler



add a site

New skyblue-ish interface is now towards simplicity. Upon logged in, you’ll notice main options ‘Discover, Favorites, Stumblers’ are arranged systematically on top. No more distracting tags splattering over the page (listed in dropdown menu of ‘Topic’). When selected, sub-tabs of each main option will display horizontally as shown. Neat and easy to navigate. The grid & list options stay.

Page submission and tagging much easier done through SU toolbar plugin. Take notice, as the current Stumbler URL is listed as www.stumbleupon.com/stumbler/username instead of username.stumbleupon.com. Maybe the SU team will auto-update it for us in November. Will look into this.


Searchable



SU search the favorites

It is said that new Stumbleupon is much search-friendly now. You can have the keywords search not just within your own favorites, but friends’ or everyone’s as well. Amount of page views shown for each stumbled page; suggested search terms will be given if no match was found. With Best Match & Recently Rated options, you can have all the scoops related to your niche in no time.

I’ve tested but found out present interface has more accurate search results comparing to new. Perhaps may upgrade after the full implementation? We’ll see.


Socialble



stumblers

Apart from email import, new Stumbleupon is facilitated with Search for stumbler option. Friend request is no longer available. Site-sharing will base on Accept shares to my toolbar setup or mutual subscribers. So be your friend’s SU subscribers if you plan to receive their recommended sites.

Similarity meter is gone for good, replaced by We both like.


It’s Up To You Now…


Go ahead and taste the switch. You can switch old interface back anytime before November. Dislike it? Feedback to SU team to have them review the changes.



If you like this post, kindly share it with your friends:

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13 Facebook Applications to Promote Your Blog

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blog Traffic, Blogger Tips, Facebook, Social Media Tool | Posted on 07-10-2009

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Request: “Hope you can write about FB applications to promote blog in future ! Thanks !”

Do you own a Facebook and a blog? If so, think you’re going to enjoy this week’s discussion. Thanks to S.Pradeep Kumar for bringing up the question during his visit at 16 Social Bookmarking Plugins to Promote Your Post. I’ve started a little journey digging through Facebook in past weeks, hoping to find some relevant ideas on how to promote your blog using Facebook applications. Before we’re getting into any of those, make sure you fill up as much information on your Facebook Profile as possible — digital name card for first timers:

facebook profile

13 Facebook Applications To Promote Your Blog

There are ways to frequent your blog’s visibility within Facebook network. Do bear in mind you don’t have to use ALL of them or keep your Wall busy with all the blog updates – especially if you are a productive daily-blog-poster. It may get a little annoyed and your friends may secretly switch off your news feed reminder so be smart on picking the ones that suit your network.

Basic Features:

1. Links & Updates

Facebook link & updates
- Share your blog / post link with your friends to have them feedback or comment on it. Or easier, announce an update to have them all aware of the blog launch. Just a snap!

2. Notes

notes
- Copy and paste your individual blog articles or import the entire blog feed into Notes so your friends can read them, either through link sharing or by tagging them. They can spread the notes on your behalf or comment on it as well. The notes can be viewed in Full or Compact (shown in pic) mode.

Blog/Posts Exposures via Additional Applications:

3. Facebook Pages

Facebook fan page

- Facebook Fan Pages can be a good idea for blog promoting when:

a. You plan to keep your personal Facebook account separated from your blogging community.

b. You can have discussion board, customized applications while sending email updates to ALL fans, as I like to call them supporters instead.

I have just setup my blog’s Facebook Page. Hope to see you guys there!

Social @ Blogging Tracker


Suggested Read: you may be interested in 16 Facebook Applications to Boost Popularity of Facebook Fan Page

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4. Networked Blogs

networkedblogs

- The most-used application to promote your blog on Facebook with the ability to network with other blogs easily through ‘follow’ option. Followers can post comment, rate the blog and enjoy meeting other followers. Not to mention it equips the ability to autopost from multiple blogs to your Facebook Page too! I had my Social @ Blogging Tracker all fixed up in NetworkedBlogs. It’ll be a privilege to see you there!

You can have your networked blogs visible at the sidebar, underneath your Facebook Profile or on your Facebook Pages. Displaying yours and other blogs you’ve joined or liked, served as an active blogroll apart from blog promotion.

5. Social RSS

Social RSS
- Provide RSS feed subscription for your blog through Facebook. Make your Social RSS visible by setting it appeared as box tab or at the sidebar. Tag the RSS with a familiar name like ‘blog’ so others will notice. Configure and fill up the required fields before activate it. The feeds will update automatically in accordance to your latest post.

6. Simplaris Blogcast

add to info

Add To Info

add to profile

Add To Facebook Profile

- Display your latest or chosen posts with or without graphic on your Facebook Profile (box tab or sidebar) or on Facebook Page. Normally latest posts will be displayed on your Facebook Wall as well if you preset it. Visibility is what Simplaris Blogcast do best, however the updating is quite slow sometimes and require manually setup (free version).

Indirect Methods:

7. Blog

Blog
- How about a little indirect method to promote your main site via ‘Blog’ on Facebook? This application allows you to blog directly on Facebook – by unmark the ‘private’ option you can make the post public in ‘Explore’ section to whoever is using the application. Extra audiences, why not? An idea I picked up from those who are using Tumblr and Posterous to promote their main blog.

8. Blog Box

setting
- The efficiency of writing a post on Blog Box (similar to no.7: Blog) or import from your existing blog. If for the latter, it will update every 6 hours checking for new post on your main site. Unless you prefer to spend some dime on Pro version that may save time on the updating, for me that’s unnecessary. Blog Box is said to be visible outside Facebook too, so people can add your blog to Google Reader freely.

compared with pro

9. Blog It

setup Blog It
- Ability to inter-posting between your social media sites and Facebook. Choices ranging from microblogging to various types of blogging platforms. I’m more into using it for microblogging instead of blog posts but that’s just the matter of preferences. Some similarities shown as Mirror Blog application.

10. Tumblelog

Tumblelog setting
- The ability to display content from your Tumblr blog on your Facebook profile. If you own a Tumblr blog this application is worth a shot.

Extra Facebook Features:

11. Create Facebook Groups

- Create a group that you’re passionate about and have like-minded people to join in. Have on-going and active discussions, connect with members often. You may even find some new members interested in your writings too.

12. Facebook Ads

- If you’re willing to pay for publicity, another idea is via Facebook Ads. You can create a campaign to drive in traffic to your website or your well-known Facebook Page and more. The idea of reaching out to targeted readers varied by age, location, interests is what Facebook Ads do best.

13. Social Media Integration

- Ever since Facebook has decided to open up and willing to integrate with other social media and microblogging sites, sharing a blog post or promotion has never been easier. Through a well-written post you can gain massive exposure on Facebook when blog readers submit your post to:  Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Twitter and have it shown on their Facebook Wall ! As you’ve noticed I’ve tried a few on my Facebook, along with LinkedIn account info and Twitter updates:

a. Social Twitter

add to profile 1
b. LinkedIn

LinkedIn Profile

Now It’s Your Turn…

If you have any experience gaining popularity to your blog using Facebook applications, feel free to share in the comment section. If it’s relevant I’ll be including it in the post and credit you a mention.

If you like this post, kindly share it with your networks:

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16 Social Bookmarking Plugins to Promote Your Posts

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blog Traffic, Blogger Tips, Social Bookmark, Web Application | Posted on 03-09-2009

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great-way-to-share-blog-post

How would you like your blog posts to go viral?

Ask any blogger, he/she will tell you: Submit your posts to social bookmarking sites; promote them on social networks.  Sure, but have we optimized our blogs for that challenge yet? Do your readers ever bother to use those lovely social bookmarking plugins beneath your post?

Educate Readers To Utilize Social Bookmarking Plugins.. HOW?


Since self-submissions are prohibited, it lies in the hands of our readers. They may like your post so much but no idea how to share it. What you can do is :

1. Increase visibility of your social bookmarking plugins. Make a post to showcase the tool if you have to.

2. Announce your newly adapted plugin or a social network you just joined; encourage readers to try/join as well.

3. Make a summon at the end of each post to whether ‘stumble/tweet’ the post if they like it. Needless to sound pitiful or demanding, just a friendly reminder that makes them realize  ‘Ohhh.. I can do that! ‘

4. Create a poll. Ask your readers what are their likes/dislikes in post-sharing.

I enjoyed Darren’s latest post about The Myth of ‘Great Content’ Marketing Itself. Post-promoting is a part of content-seeding. If you don’t care about that little post-sharing plugin, your readers won’t either. Remember,

“A Quality Content is Nothing Without Audiences!”


16 Social Bookmarking Plugins To Promote Your Posts


Before that, let me share with you a plugin-check I had on blogs I subscribed (nearly 60% of them are the frequent visitors of my blog). Although the figures do not represent the majority but at least they show the behavior of those who I am networking with for the time being.

social-bookmarking-plugins

Good to know that most of them are using social bookmarking tools, but how about 25% who aren’t? Do they aware of the plugins or simply not planning to include one? Thanks to Christie and the discussion we had in one of her posts’ comment, I decided to test the WordPress plugins myself. Instead of going into lengthy reviews, I decided to share them visually instead — the images can speak well for themselves.

Expandable Plugins vs. Displayed Social Bookmarking Icons

Expandable plugins required mouse-over or a mouse-click to expand the bookmarking list, usually supporting up to 50 to 100+ bookmarking sites; while displayed social bookmarking icons are more focus and visible, but limited choices. If you’re a visual type of visitor like I am, probably you are more into the latter. There’s no exact right or wrong pick, simply self-preferences. If you don’t own any just yet, now it’s a good time to grab one!

Expandable Plugins — A Click/Hover to Expand


1. Share This

sharethis

2. AddThis

addthis

3. Socialmarker

socialmarker

socialmarker21

4. Sexy Expand Bookmarking

sexy-expand-bookmarking

5. Add To Any

addtoany

6. ibegin share

ibegin-share

7. Social Bookmarks

- The setting is ‘hide’ in default, meaning you need to click to expand the social bookmarking icons. You can preset the preferred icons to be shown:

social-bookmarks

social-bookmarks-expand

Or you can have the icons displayed without hiding (arranging from 1 to 5 lines) :

social-bookmakrs-1-line

social-bookmakrs-5-lines

Displayed Social Bookmarking Icons — One Clear View


8. Tweet This

- Plenty of social bookmarking sites to choose from, come in various styles, colors and sizes. Settings available to tweet your latest post.

tweetthis

9. AddToThis

- Simple is better. 5 nice-looking icons as shown below:

addtothis

10. Bookmarkify

- Can reposition the plugin on top or bottom of the post. The ability to display all the icons chosen (multiple sites to choose from):

bookmarkify-display

Or prevent them from crowding the area by adding a ‘More’ option for expansion.

bookmarkify-more

11. diggZ-Et

- The familiar, good-old Digg button on top of your post.

diggz-et

12. Social Bookmarking RELOADED

- Exactly how they will show up underneath your post:

social-bookmarking-reloaded

13. Social Dropdow

- Preset your favored social bookmarking/media sites and have them appear in each post. Adjust the drop down width according to your likings. Do aware while activating this plugin, you may need to embed a code as instructed in ‘other information’ to have them displayed properly:

socialdropdown-display-no-expand

Too many of them? Configure it for 1-click expansion instead, or ‘more’:

socialdropdown-aft-embed

14. SocioFluid

- Absolutely one of my favorites for fun visual effects. Not only it has plenty of social bookmarking options, but including the flexibility to resize the icons (16, 24, 32, 48) and adjust placements (top/bottom). Below are the examples of 16px and 48px respectively:

sociofluid-16-x-16sociofluid-48-x-48

Or better! Have it configured as when hovering you get to see the fluid-movements from small to enlarged. Pretty neat huh?

sociofluid-hover-enlarge2

15. Top Social Bookmarking Buttons

- Yes, only 7 sites provided. If that’s all you need, why not?

top-social-bookmarking-buttons

16. Tweetmeme

- Not only it comes with analytics, but visible and easy tweeting with just one click. If you’re a Twitter fanatic, you’ll agree this is a must-have.

tweetmeme1

Now Is Your Turn


What is/are the criteria(s) affecting your choice in social bookmarking plugin? Kindly share your experience or likes/dislikes while sharing posts.

One more thing…

If you like this post (or this blog), can I ask you a tiny favor to vote for me on Famous Bloggers Club contest? No pressure though, it’s all Free Will. ^^ I advanced my thanks to your support.

I’m Participating on Famous Bloggers Club Exclusive Contest!

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How Seriously Do You Take Blog Comments?

Posted by Ching Ya | Posted in Blog Traffic, Social Networking | Posted on 24-08-2009

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blog-commenting

We all read other people’s blogs. And often the case we’re advised to leave our digital footprints in ‘comments’. Hoping by doing so, while gaining some link juice (from Do-Follow blogs), the author or visitors will be kind enough to, maybe, return the favor? That’s the general idea of commenting as one of the traffic-magnet and relationship-building strategies, is it not?

I am NOT someone with the highest ability of commenting, but just how serious we should take blog comments? I know there is a need to be succinct so we could have links spread on 100 new blogs daily! However, what if all the efforts went down the drain just because we didn’t  apply QC in our commenting?

There should be an awakening on …

Treating Commenting as Micro-blogging (Quality over Quantity)

Even I, made the exact same mistakes! Came across a perfect post that I have nothing else to add but to compliment on the effort. Then it makes me realize, “Gosh, I’m doing the ‘You’re great’ type of commenting!” Then I’m in dilemma – shall I comment at all? Does the author bother to check out who am I?  Of course you can, but you may need to do it differently. We’ll be discussing about that shortly. But first:

What type of posts attract comments?

Ask yourself, what do you like to read best? Here are just some that probably have crossed your mind:

  • Informative & thought provoking.
  • State out a problem, providing solutions, asking for more opinions and added ideas.
  • An inspirational story that makes people go teary eyes, strike the emotional cords.
  • An honest confession / experience that teaches a lesson.
  • List post that’s one of a kind – resourceful, entertaining or different.
  • Self made comic, poetry, vodcast – there’s a risk for putting yourself out there, but surely there will be tons of feedback on it. Be prepared as some may not ‘enjoy’ it as much.
  • Tool-type reviews – How cool/ effective is the tool? Sometimes it requires more than just a brief content to evoke comments. Otherwise people will be more into ‘great review, I’ll consider using it’. Don’t blame them for doing so. They may read through them just not in need of using it for the time being.
  • Totally Out Of The Box!

My Personal Favorites:

Informative + personalized postings = while absorbing the useful information I could learn a bit more about the author as well — personality, creativity, his/her art of blogging… It matches my goal in learning while building a relationship with the author through commenting.

What type of comments that least likable by authors?

a) Covering 80% of the already limited sentences with same-meaning vocabs — ‘great, love, good’ or ‘bad, sucked, hate’.

“This is great. Love your blog. Good job!”
“This sucks! Dislike the idea and really bad!”

— Kindly prove your point a little bit more? Otherwise..

b) Not speaking straight to the point, left the author hanging with ‘HUH?’

“Thanks for sharing 8 great ways to drive in traffic. Can you explain how to get more traffic to my blog?”

— Do you mind to read the post beforehand? Or do you need particular elaboration? Try to be clear.

c) Translated comments from software with no further modification.

“I really like you to write the article..”

— Some direct translation might sound unnatural. Modification is needed otherwise the author may think you’re a bot.

d) Too extreme with self-centered opinions, with disrespectful tone.

“That’s stupid. No way that would work! I have a much better solution for this problem on my post ‘ABC’ (with link). I explained it more thoroughly on how to deal with problem XYZ with cool examples. So you guys do head over to my site and catch the real deal!”

— Seriously? Kindly be respectful and more specific instead of just self-promoting for people to visit your site.

e) Repeated ideas without strengthening your point.

“I like your point A. I also use point A to deal with Z problem. A is really a good way. We shall all apply A.”

“Others have given good ideas. I have nothing else to add.”

— Alright, A is good, but how did it really help you? Kindly elaborate on that. Nothing else to add? You gotta do much better than that to get approved.

How To Comment and Leave an Impression?

quantity-comments

  1. Be personal with your comment. Share you opinions/insights as you are microblogging.
  2. If disagreeing, kindly be respectful and provide advises to assist author in strengthening the point. – you come to build relationship not to ruin one.
  3. Needless to be over-used with vocabs, make it plain and understandable.
  4. If ‘Me Too’, type anything but the two words.
  5. State your interest/gratitude for the provoking story as it helps you in what ways.
  6. Request for explanations for your doubts, respectfully.
  7. Can you be humorous and unexpectedly entertaining? Even a ‘Me too’ comment attracts with a simple twist.

What If the post is too perfect and I have nothing else to add??!!

post-to-social-bookmarking

Bookmark the page, tweet it or stumble it! An action speaks a thousand words. Whether you meant it genuinely or to ‘bribe’ the author, doesn’t matter as you’re doing a good favor. A little act of kindness is always a beautiful thing to do, why not? It’s just a simple click away nowadays.

Should I notify the author? It’s up to you. I don’t see the harm in doing so but in reasonable frequency. Don’t ‘hard sell’ your effort and do expect nothing in return.

Commenting is a type of social networking

Drop the author a note at the social media sites, complimenting him/her for the great work. It’s much better than just a ‘I love your post’ comment — such visibility may not be in much help since no constructive comments are given. Or you can try Add/Follow the blog author in social media sites. Be initiative.

As of the authors,
Obviously, we still need to provide quality content or else, show people some personalities. Sometimes don’t just blame the commenter as maybe we need to improve our content firstly.

Here are some links that may help you in proper managing your comments and encourage feedback:

30+ Plugins for WordPress Comments
WordPress : Combating Comment Spam
WordPress Plugins for Comments

I don’t plan to use all of them for now, but plugins like Akismet, CommentLuv, Do-Follow, Recent Comments, Subscribe to Comments are the ones activated in my blog.

It’s Your Turn..

Do share you opinions on how to manage your blog comments. What are you likes/dislikes and how us, as visitors could improve our commenting skills over time? Love to hear from you.

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