I’ve always been a big fan of companies sending free gifts to bloggers so when Sumo Lounge offered me a giant bean bag chair how could I resist?
The chair is massive and very comfy as you can see, they ship to the UK and even have an affiliate program so you can make money while you sit in the chair.
If any companies want to send free stuff then the address is here.
Usability is something that can make or break a blog but it isn’t usually the first thing that people consider when they start blogging.
In this interview we talk to Jen Cardello, User Experience Specialist at Nielsen Norman Group about how you can make your blog more user friendly. Jen works with Jakob Nielsen who is the worlds foremost expert on website usability.
First of all, many thanks for agreeing to the interview. To start with perhaps you can explain a bit about Nielsen Norman Group and what you do?
We help companies and organizations understand human-centered design, so they can create more effective products and services.We conduct many user research studies each year to understand how humans behave and why. The knowledge we gain from these studies informs our research reports, conference workshops and custom consulting.
One of the most controversial points in your Blog Usability Alertbox was the statement about bloggers on hosted platforms not being taken seriously:
Having a weblog address ending in blogspot.com, typepad.com, etc. will soon be the equivalent of having an @aol.com email address or a Geocities website: the mark of a naïve beginner who shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
Did you have any negative responses from the Blogspot and WordPress.com blogging community after the article was published? Do you still stand by the comments made in your 2005 Alertbox?
Of course, there are a few people who complained about the Alertbox, but there are always people who complain about anything. Bloggers should be familiar with that sentiment!
Yes, we stand by the earlier comments. User experience issues don’t change very quickly, because they are based on basic human nature. We base our recommendations on research with a broad base of users, not on the comments of a small vocal minority. This is not opinion.
While the statement above is controversial, what readers should pay more attention to are the two related points that followed:
1) ” Letting somebody else own your name means that they own your destiny on the Internet.”
Hosted platforms are convenient, simple solutions for bloggers who want to get publishing quick and are not yet comfortable with the technical aspects of the job; it’s a fine place to start and even stay. However, the limitations can be frustrating. If you are looking to monetize your blog or remove ads your host posts on your pages, expect to pay additional fees (some may not even offer this as an option).
Spending the time upfront to buy a domain, download/install a blogging platform and customize to your heart’s content can be hard work, but it is empowering and the options are limitless. As well, installs are getting easier and easier everyday. Many hosting services include quick install kits and will gladly do some hand-holding.
2) ” The longer you stay at someone else’s domain name, the higher the cost of going independent.”
This is, by far, the best reason to steer clear of hosted blogging solutions. Blogging websites make money two ways: 1) fees (if they have them) 2) Advertising on your published content. They have no interest in making it easy for you to port your content over to another platform, away from their environment — reducing their page count and “stealing” eyeballs. If you plan on being a prolific blogger, realize that if you ever decide to move away form the hosted platform (maybe to generate revenue on your own terms or customize your look and feel) you’ll need a serious plan and some time to move content, images, media and comments (if even possible based upon your agreement with the host).
Many bloggers have debated whether to use full posts or excerpts on their homepage. What are your opinions on this? Do readers want to be able to read the full post or are they happy to click through to the story to read?
There are two factors to consider:
1) How often you post: If you post 5 or more posts per day, excerpts are fine. Users can quickly scan the content and click into the posts that most interest them.2) Average length of your posts: If your 5 or more posts per day are a paragraph or two, then use the full post — no need to take the user to another page to read that last sentence or two.
And something else to keep in mind: Try both for a couple days and check out your stats (both on-site and RSS) — has anything changed? More/less reader comments? More/less time spent on the site?
Many experts, including yourself, have talked in the past about the importance of establishing a regular posting frequency. Is there a maximum and minimum posting frequency you would recommend? Do you think some of the larger technology blogs present a usability problem by posting 20-40 times per day?
Regular posting is important. Users will unsubscribe from blogs and feeds that either post more than they expected or not enough. Setting and meeting user expectation regarding frequency appropriate for your topic, your audience and your schedule is key.
As far as quantity, it depends on your topic and your audience. Some topics simply don’t require 20 posts a day. Some, like celebrity gossip and technology start-up news generate many, many stories. As well, some users don’t want to hear from you twenty times a day — they like reading your daily post first thing in the morning and then going on with their life.
Define a posting frequency that matches the topic and user needs/expectations.
RSS has gained significant adoption in the last 3 years and most blogs are read primarily in a reader rather than a browser. Are there any RSS usability tips we need to be implementing? Some bloggers link to categories and related posts in their feeds, is this a good idea?
The most important tip is to set up some RSS readers with your blog and check them on a daily basis to make sure the feed is working properly. So many things can trip up a feed – moving your blog host, updating the platform, RSS issues. Just be sure to check it on a regular basis across the different readers.
Categories and related posts are definitely useful since the RSS feed pulls your content away from any context supplied by your blog’s content or visual language.
The rise of web 2.0 sites has seen blogs and even the mainstream media adding a myriad of social bookmarking buttons below their stories. Sometimes the sheer number of buttons can be overwhelming. Are there any guidelines or recommendations you can offer to help bloggers decide which buttons to include?
Search the web for the most recent social bookmarking statistics and select the top three. Also, search for any social bookmarking sites that specifically serve your niche — it’s important to provide these buttons since it will significantly contribute to building your readership.
If you were setting up a new blog today what url structure would you choose? Should you include the date, category, post number or just the post slug like we do on Blogstorm?
Post slug is by far the most effective from both a usability and an SEO perspective. As far as search indexing on your blog, you may want to add the post number in case you are concerned about multiple posts with the same name. Otherwise, stick with the post slug.
Finally, what is your favourite self hosted blogging platform?
Sorry — I can’t name-drop, but I will say that my favorites are the ones that are actively improving their software from a usability perspective for both the bloggers and the readers.
Blogging is hard work and the platform needs to facilitate the task, not get in the way. Nothing slows a blogger faster than uncooperative technology.
According to a post by Louis Gray the importance of blog linking is in decline. Louis is finding that even when he gets a link from a giant blog such as Mashable, TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb the link sends only a few hundred visitors.
When you consider that these sites have hundreds of thousands of visitors it’s clear that something is going wrong.
The first problem is that big blogs don’t really have hundreds of thousands of daily RSS readers. The actual number of people reading the stories is probably in the tens of thousands. The next issue is that when somebody reads via RSS and clicks a link it shows the referrer details of the RSS reader they were using rather than the blog so it is hard to track.
The general advice handed out to new bloggers is that to be successful then need to do three things:
Unfortunately links from popular blogs are proven to send very little traffic, even if they have hundreds of thousands of readers. If you are starting a blog in a niche with very few major blogs then building any traction at all is going to be hard.
We know from experience that social media sites can send huge amounts of traffic but that the visitors barely hang around long enough to read your article, let alone subscribe to your feed.
So how on earth can a new blogger expect to build a truly popular blog?
The answer is extremely simple and amazingly difficult at the same time. You need to create a blog that people feel they simply have to subscribe to otherwise their life will not be quite as good as it could have been.
Perhaps your blog is very useful, breaks the latest news before every other blog, has funnier jokes, better pictures or higher quality SEO tips. Whatever hook you choose if you can make people think that by subscribing to your blog they will have a better life or make more money online then you have a chance.
Yesterday myself and a few other tech and new media bloggers were invited down to the offices of the Financial Times to get a behind the scenes look at how they run the FT.com website.
The discussions were remarkably open with no questions being off limits and no restrictions on what we could photograph and video on mobile phones. In attendance were Neville Hobson, Robert Andrews from PaidContent, Roo Reynolds Metaverse Evangelist from IBM, Andrew Donoghue editor of ZDNet UK and Sarah Blow from Girly Geekdom.
The FT has a number of popular blogs and even uses WordPress which is always nice to see. They have a unique business model in that readers can view 5 articles a month before having to complete a free registration. Once you have viewed 30 articles in a month you need to subscribe to subscribe at a cost of £98.99 per year to get full access.
Of course this paid subscription model will limit traffic but it actually makes the FT more profitable because advertisers are willing to pay a much higher CPM to reach premium subscribers than casual visitors. Next time you see news sites boasting about traffic figures remember that the fact they are getting a million visitors from Digg and other social sites every month might not actually be adding much to the bottom line.
My strategy for the FT would probably be to try some kind of model offering users of popular social media sites free access like the WSJ does with Digg. Social media users are highly unlikely to ever register to read anything and the forced registration stops sites like the FT becoming popular on social sites.
Robert has posted some video of the newsroom and some comments from FT.com editor James Montgomery about how the AP was “heavy-handed” in sending cease and desist letters to bloggers.
Big thanks to the FT for inviting us and thanks to Hotwire PR for arranging it.
Apparently blogging can be a dangerous activity. Luckily the folks at Berocca are giving away free Relief Packs to help us through the difficult times.
Simply fill in the form and they will send a stress ball, USB “stress” button, bubble wrap keyring, pen holder and a pack of Berocca.
Apparently it’s designed to “help Britain’s bloggers be at their best, both physically and mentally”.
In todays increasingly litigious society it is very important that web publishers, bloggers and consultants have the right insurance cover.
In the last 12 months I have had threats of lawsuits based on the opinions I write on Blogstorm. Luckily I’m always very careful about what I write but the threat is still present.
Branded3 manages the blogs of several high profile clients and we also have insurance to protect us in case we write something defamatory on those blogs. In addition we have the usual IT consultancy companies professional indemnity & employers liability insurance.
Blyth Valley handles these policies for us and was particularly helpful in arranging insurance to cover any libellous statements made on Blogstorm or the other blogs we write for. If you want to arrange insurance for your blogs or SEO consultancy please read the details below.
Protect your business from the Cyber risks it faces
Using the internet, email and any business network exposes you to hacking, fraud, viruses and information misuse. Expensive lawsuits, lost business and damage to your network and reputation could cost you more than you think.
Last year, a study backed by the FBI found that 90% of companies surveyed had detected computer breaches, at an average cost of £94,000 per incident.
Blyth Valley Professional Indemnity and Internet and Email insurance can protect you financially if someone brings a claim against you arising from your use of the internet, email, intranet, extranet or your website. Our plain-English policy working includes:
- Breach of privacy – compliance with government regulations requires you to safeguard customer information from misuse. This means you must protect electronically-stored customer details from hackers and any employee mishandling. If something goes wrong, you could be held responsible. Our policy will protect you against breach of confidence and infringement of your customers’ rights to privacy.
- Damage to your network or website – a serious interruption to your network or ecommerce capabilities can cripple your business, just as damage to your website can harm your reputation. If you are hacked and your data is deleted or stolen, or if your network, system or website is damaged, we will pay the repair or replacement expenses.
- Fraud – we cover you for the fraudulent use by an employee of our electronic signature or external email.
- If you have a blog or forum we will provide protection against the risk of defamatory statements.
- Virus Attack – we cover you for your inadvertent transmission of a computer virus.
- Worldwide cover – Through Hiscox we can provide cover on a worldwide basis which reflects the worldwide nature of the internet.
The premium payable will depend on your turnover, your website and the level of cover required: all payments are by interest-free monthly direct debit.
To get a no obligation quotation or to gather further information on how we can help you please call Gemma Hicks at Blyth Valley on 0845 370 9030 or email gemma.hicks@blyth-valley.co.uk and quote the reference ‘branded3’ to ensure you have the benefits expressed above.
For full details of this insurance and a quotation please get in touch.
Most people reading this blog understand that having a blog is a good idea. Unfortunately anybody that has tried blogging before will know that keeping it updated is a time consuming task.
In the last couple of months we have noticed a steady increase in the number of clients wanting us to handle their day to day blogging. Thanks to the addition of 2 new full time content writers we are now able to scale up this service and offer it to companies who aren’t currently clients of ours.
The service we offer is designed for premium sites who don’t want to worry about poor grammar and low quality posts. Here are some of the benefits:
So, if you want to outsource the content writing and social media marketing of your blog contact me via Branded3 today for a bespoke quotation.
We have a minimum £500 per month order and prices range from £30 – £60 per post depending on the complexity of the project, the amount of social media marketing and the number of posts per month required.
A new service that allows bloggers to sell links in their blogrolls has arrived today. It might have arrived a while ago but John Chow mentioned it today so it suddenly has the attention of the blogosphere.
There are several problems with buying blogrolls links, the first is the fact it is incredibly shortsighted. If you have to buy your way onto somebodys blogroll doesn’t that say something about the quality of your site? Perhaps investing the time into creating a site that can get blogroll links on it’s own merit would be a better idea.
Also if you are thinking that commercial sites can hide their links away in blogrolls and not get caught then you don’t give Google enough credit. It is quite easy to see that a link in a blogroll with any anchor text other than the name of the website is unnatural. In fact if I was Google I would devalue the anchor text of all blogroll links and just count the PageRank of the link anyway.
Finally do you really want to have your blog publicly listed as a link seller?
Some of you might be wondering why it is that blogs always seem to do better than e-commerce sites. The reason is quite simple.
SEO is all about links. Even the most well optimised sites need lots of links to get good rankings. Blogs differ from commercial sites in one major way and that is the fact they have links to and from their competitors.
Have you ever seen an e-commerce site with a list of links in the sidebar pointing at their competitors? Blogs link to other blogs all the time and, in return, usually get a load of links as a result.
Commercial sites are usually too short sighted to give out links – they want to get lots of links without doing anything in return. People who say that blogs rank because they are content rich are partially right but sites like Amazon seem to do OK based on lots of links and a few product reviews.
If you are starting a commercial site why not break the trend and start blogging and linking to your competitors. By working together you can get much higher rankings than by staying on your own.
Hitwise is reporting today that Engadget is a much bigger blog than Gizmodo.
The stats are interesting reading but Gizmodo must really be taking their eye off the ball somewhere so let’s see where.
Last week, Engadget attracted a 6 times larger share of US Internet visits than Gizmodo. I should point out here that we are tracking website visits. This means we are not reporting on readers that consume content via feed readers (i.e. Bloglines or Netvibes). Engadget ranked 3,645 among All Categories of websites last week and Gizmodo ranked 25,519. Among Blogs and Personal Websites, Engadget ranked 44 and Gizmodo 289.
The interesting thing is that Engadget gets 60% of their traffic from search. If Gizmodo could get a similar level of traffic they would probably more than double their market share.
Both sites rely heavily on search engines for upstream visits. Engadget received 60% of visits from Search Engines last week and Gizmodo 47%.
Engadget.com has 2.2 million pages while Gizmodo has just 200,000 so that gives Engadget maybe 10 times the traffic straight off. Engadget has 8 million links while Gizmodo has 6 million so they both have the links – Gizmodo just doesn’t have the content.
RT @randfish: Correlation between link metrics and higher rankings quantified: http://t.co/OMtSmh6B via the @openalgorithms project
@patrickaltoft / about 3 hours agoCheck out this presentation : SMX London - Tools for Pulling Rank http://t.co/yHKGoCE6 via @ipullrank
@patrickaltoft / about 9 hours ago@AnthonyHaniff DMCA directly from your lawyers to their host
@patrickaltoft / about 14 hours agoAlso they spend $30m on Facebook marketing outside ads !
@patrickaltoft / yesterday
