There are many different blog publishers that offer free basic blogs and all of them have slightly different features. Choosing a blog publisher that has all the features you need can be difficult and time consuming. This article is designed to make that process a little bit easier for you.

Before choosing a blog publishing application, here are a few things to consider:

• Ease of use – you want a blog publishing application that is straight forward.
• The purpose of your blog – what features will you need?
• Are you planning on monetizing your blog? If so, you need a platform that will allow for advertising.
• Do you want the ability to make individual posts private or password protected?
• Will you be featuring a large amount of photos or other media?
• If you want a personalized domain name, choose a blog publishing application that allows mapping with domain names.
• What aesthetic are you looking for? Different blogging applications have varied ’skins’ to choose from. Some are more customizable than others.

The Pros and Cons of the Top Four Blog Publishing Applications

The following free blog publishing applications are ranked in order of ease of use. As a newbie to the blogosphere, it’s best to start with software that will be easy to operate.

1. Blogger is a Google owned blogging application. It takes just a few minutes to create a blogger account and the interface is simple for the novice to navigate. But with a simple interface, you get simple features so if you’re looking to expand your blog and add a lot of plugins, this probably isn’t the best choice. Further, Blogger has limited media space (only 1 MB).
2. Wordpress is a little more advanced than Blogger, which means the user interface can be more difficult to figure out. A Wordpress blog is easy to open, but more difficult to customize because there are so many options. Wordpress does allow the user to choose privacy options per post rather than per blog. However, unlike Blogger, you must pay for an upgraded service to map a domain name to your blog.
3. Movable Type is a more complex blog publishing application. To use Movable Type, you first must download software onto your computer, which can be difficult and it takes up space on your hard drive. Movable Type allows the blogger to post future blog entries on a schedule, and it also allows the user to edit several blogs/templates at the same time. While these advanced features might be nice, Movable Type is created for people who have some knowledge of code and blogging.
4. GreyMatter is, like Movable Type, a server-side blogging service. This software requires a download before you can begin blogging, and it requires some coding experience. GreyMatter was one of the original weblog services, and provides many features that other blogs publishing applications don’t provide. Because Greymatter is no longer in active development, it is not a promising choice for a blogging application.

Whatever your decision, have fun! What blogging platform have you chosen?Related Posts:

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There are lots of blogs out there. 50 million or something like that. I’ve started freelance designing blogs, leading some of my friends to wonder if they should start blogs of their own (knowing they would get a massive friend-discount).

But is there a point to starting a blog when there are 50 million other blogs out there?

Is there any way to possibly break through the clutter of 50 MILLION blogs? First of all, that’s a silly question. Not all blogs are about the same topic, and I’d venture to guess that 40 million have been abandoned after a month or two. But even if you never rise to the likes of Mashable, or become a bald head of wisdom like Seth Godin, there are many personal benefits to starting your own blog.

1. Become an expert.

If you blog consistently on any topic, you’ll be an expert on that topic within a year. Sure, there might be some exceptions. Like organic chemistry or astrophysics. Or Latin. You might actually have to go to school for that.

But generally speaking, you will become more of an expert than the majority of individuals interested in that topic, and at the same time you’ll be learning yourself. There’s no better way to learn than to teach.

2. Let others know you’re an expert.

After a while, you will establish yourself as an expert. U Stand Out has definitely opened doors for me; my current employer was impressed with my blog during the interview process, so who knows where I’d be now without it? It’s also giving me the opportunity to start a freelance blog design business, and people email me, Twitter DM me, etc. to ask me questions about social media and blogging. Having your own blog will make others perceive you as an expert in your field.

3. Fuel your passion.

It’s so important to blog about something that you’re passionate about. Otherwise it simply won’t be fun. Blogging can be quite a chore, especially if you’re writing about something you don’t love 3+ days a week. But if you’re passionate about your topic, not only will you learn more about what you love, but your passion will resonate with your readers and your blog will be more successful.

4. Build your online presence.

These days, if you work in marketing having a blog is pretty necessary to establishing your personal brand if you really want to make it big. So why not in other niches? If your blog is search engine optimized, when people search for your topic in Google they will come across your content. Add an author box to the bottom of each of your posts to let readers know who you are, and you’ll gain loyal readers faster than you’d think.

5. Network in your industry or niche.

Once you build your online presence and establish yourself as an expert with your blog, it will be easier to network on sites like LinkedIn and Twitter. Prominently display your blog URL, RSS feed, etc. on your profiles, so that when you reach out to industry peers, they will look at your profile and see that you’re someone worth replying to.

6. Learn how to write

Blogging will help you learn how to write. For me, this is one of the most valuable benefits, since I’d like to write books someday (ebooks, novels, you name it). Writing is an important part of any career path, whether you’re an engineer, historian, marketer, chemist. Blogging will help hone your blogging skills, and can also help you find your unique voice.

7. Have fun.

Sorry to disappoint, but “making money” is not on this list. Such a small percentage of bloggers actually make money from blogging that I honestly didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. You shouldn’t start a blog with the sole purpose of making money (though blogging certainly helps to market a company or product you’ve already launched). The point is to have fun and learn more about what you’re passionate about.

I recently came across a blog post about how bloggers should stop blogging about blogging. (Did you have to read that twice?) They have a good point in that social media is still under-utilized by the mainstream, so there’s so much opportunity for people who know how to blog to succeed in other niches. But if you’re passionate about blogging about blogging, then blog about blogging! Don’t let anyone tell you not to blog about a certain topic just because other people are doing it; who’s to say you can’t do it better?

If you choose a niche like blogging that has a lot of competition, pursue it anyway. What’s important is that you’re passionate about what you blog about. Just because other people are blogging about the same thing doesn’t mean that you can’t do it better, or that your presence in that niche community wouldn’t be appreciated. And you’d be learning more about what you’re passionate about.

What’s your top reason for blogging? Let me know in the comments below!Related Posts:

10 Reasons Why Part-Time Bloggers Shouldn’t Post Every Day
How To Create Content Worthy of Social Media Marketing
16 Ways to Improve Your Blog’s Bounce Rate

Thesis is an amazing Wordpress theme. I recently made the switch to the Thesis theme from the free Flexibility 2 theme, and I can already tell that it was a worthwhile investment. When I was looking for a new Wordpress theme, my main criteria were customizability, SEO friendliness, fast load times, and excellent user support. By choosing Thesis, I got all this and SO much more.

Download the Latest Version of Thesis >>

1. Fully Customizable

When it comes to customizations, the sky is the limit. Even if you’re a novice at programming and CSS, Thesis makes it pretty foolproof. Instead of having to modify core theme files and risk breaking your blog, like you do with most free Wordpress themes, you won’t have this problem with Thesis. The only two files you’ll have to customize are custom.css and custom_functions.php. This also means that when making future Thesis upgrades, your customizations will carry through to the new version, so you won’t have to redo all of your hard work.

As long as you know enough CSS and PHP to be able to take pre-existing code and modify it for your own needs, you can make your theme look EXACTLY how you want it. There’s also a nifty little plugin called Thesis OpenHook that lets you place your custom code anywhere on your blog, including before content, before or after sidebars, in the header, in the footer, etc.

2. Outstanding Support

This, in my opinion, is one of the biggest advantages of the Thesis Wordpress theme. The support is simply amazing. After buying the theme, future upgrades are free. And if you have any questions about the theme, the Thesis community forum is excellent about answering your questions quickly. The team answers anything from setup and implementation to plugin integration and advanced customizations, and usually within a couple hours (in my experience, and a  day at most).

The support team really goes out of its way to help people customize their blogs with Thesis, and you simply don’t get this with free themes.

3. SEO Friendly

The Thesis theme was developed with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. I’d have to say that most themes out there, especially the free ones, have so much code bloat. They prioritize fancy designs over SEO, and the code just weighs those themes down. Remember: it’s not the design that gets you search engine traffic; it’s the content and SEO. If you have tons of messy code above your content, the engine crawlers are going to see the mess first, rather than your high-value content.

Thesis has very clean code, and the only two files you need to customize are called from externally, so even the fanciest designs maintain a clean code structure. It also eliminates the need for the All in One SEO Pack plugin, as you can specify each post’s meta tags within the theme’s functionality.

4. Easy to Use

If you’re a true novice when it comes to coding, Thesis is good to go out of the box. The initial design is very professional looking, and the Design Options page allows you to make font, color, site layout, and image customizations. One feature I personally love is the ability to change the column layout without having to go into the code and risk breaking the universe.

All you have to do is choose between a two and three-column layout, and simply click the radio button next to the column order you’d prefer. And it was so easy for me to make other customizations, such as adding thumbnails next to my popular posts in the right column. Since making the switch to Thesis, my blog’s bounce rate has decreased nearly 20%, and I simply wouldn’t have been able to figure out how to make these customizations with a free theme.

5. Highly Successful Bloggers use Thesis

Having endorsement from very successful bloggers who use the Thesis Wordpress theme on their own blogs made a big impression on me. Here are just some of the top blogs that use Thesis:

• Problogger
• Chris Brogan
• Twitip
• Copyblogger
• SimpleMom

6. Eliminates the Need for Many Plugins

Because of the extensive customization options and outstanding support community, you can easily implement changes using Thesis Hooks that eliminate the need for certain plugins. For example, I was able to easily add page numbers to the bottom of my homepage and get rid of Pagenavi simply by searching the support forum for how to do this, and copy/pasting a couple bits of code into custom.css and custom_functions.php.

Eliminating plugins will reduce the amount of php calls on your blog pages, and increase your blog’s page load time.

7. Fast Load Time

Again, I really need to emphasize the importance of having a fast page-load time. With my last theme, the code was so bloated that my blog loaded so slowly, even after I eliminated all plugins to test out how fast it would load. Because the Thesis framework is so clean and SEO friendly, you also get the benefit of extremely quick load time (barring your use of certain plugins). Remember, the faster your page load times, the less frustrated your readers will be, and the lower your bounce rate.

8. The “Big Ass Save Button”

When I first installed Thesis and went to one of the customization pages, I literally laughed out loud when I saw the save button:

I mean, really, that’s just awesome.

In Conclusion…

This doesn’t even cover all of the unique features Thesis has to offer. But one hesitation that many people have about Thesis, including myself, is the price tag. The personal option runs at $87, and the developer’s option is $164. I chose the developer’s option so that I can implement Thesis on all of my blogs, and so that I can offer Thesis to clients at a much smaller licensing fee. (So if you want to hire me to set up or improve your blog,  consider yourself having saved $87.) I personally decided that the theme would ultimately pay for itself, as it’s now so much easier to monetize this blog, and you can probably apply the same logic to your own blog. It’s simply worth it.

Disclaimer: Yes, all the links to Thesis in this post are affiliate links. If you do decide on purchasing Thesis, I would appreciate it if you used the links.

Related Posts:

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Now that you know why you should lower your blog’s bounce rate, let’s cover some easy ways you can reduce the bounce rate of your blog.

First, it’s important to understand what a bounce rate is, and to analyze your current bounce rate using Google Analytics. So if you don’t already have Google Analytics installed on your blog, install it and wait at least a week to accumulate some stats and determine your blog’s bounce rate. And keep in mind that blogs tend to have a higher bounce rate than other types of websites.

Definition of Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate is the percentage of readers that “bounce” away from your blog after just one page view. According to Google expert Avinash Kaushik, your bouncing site traffic won’t even give you five seconds of consideration; that’s not much chance to impress! You can find out your blog’s Bounce Rate right on the Dashboard of Google Analytics. The formula Google Analytics uses to calculate bounce rate is:

Bounce Rate = Total Visits With Only One Page View / Total Visits

A reader can bounce, or exit, your blog by:

• Clicking the back button to leave your blog
• Closing the tab or window of your blog
• Going to a new URL from the browser’s URL bar
• Clicking a link to another site
• Session timeout (when a user only has one page view, but leaves the browser open for 30 minutes on that page)

How To Improve Your Blog’s Bounce Rate

1. Highlight popular posts above the fold

Many blogs make it difficult to find the highest quality posts, so the users quickly get bored and leave. With the oversaturation of content on the Internet, it’s important to prominently display your most popular posts from your blog above the fold where they can be easily seen, such as on the top of your sidebar. You can use Google Analytics to learn what your most popular posts are. This will spark the reader’s interest to click and read more on something you already know your readers find interesting.

2. Use post excerpts on the homepage

If each of your blog posts are too long, you may only be able to fit 2-3 blog posts on your homepage. If your first-time visitors don’t find one of those few posts interesting, it’ll lead to a higher bounce rate. This is where blog excerpts come in handy. Display only a paragraph or two of each post on the homepage. This way, you can fit anywhere from 10-15 blog posts on your homepage, which gives readers a much greater likelihood of being interested in one of those posts.

3. Share related posts on each post page

Traffic from search engines or social media sites will usually land on a single post page. This kind of traffic tends to have a higher bounce rate. Listing 4-5 related posts on the bottom of each post could help keep these users interested. You can manually add these links at the bottom of each posts, or if you have a Wordpress blog, the Wordpress plugin Similar Posts will automatically generate five related posts to list at the bottom of each post.

4. Interlink within the content of each post

If you are writing a post and find yourself referring to something you’ve previously written about, link to that older post using relevant anchor text. If you look at the first paragraph of this blog post, you’ll see that I’ve linked to my previous blog post 5 Reasons to Lower Your Blog’s Bounce Rate. There, I’ve just done it again. Have these links open in a new window so that your readers can get that clarification from your previous post, and then return back to the first post to keep reading. Interlinking will also improve your blog’s SEO.

5. Provide obvious links to homepage

If your first-time readers are landing on a single-post page and are interested in your blog, they will want to see your blog’s homepage. So make your header image link to your homepage. It really surprises me how often I see the header image NOT link to the homepage; this should be an automatic setting on every blogging platform. If the link to your homepage is hard to find, your readers might get frustrated and leave your blog entirely. Provide another link to your homepage in the navigation.

6. Have clean navigation

Make your navigation clean and easy to spot; try not to clutter the navigation area with Google AdSense or affiliate ads. And keep it simple; your top navigation should link to your homepage, about page, contact page, archive, and perhaps a few other top-category pages.

7. List the your blog categories

Include a list of your blog categories in your sidebar. This way, if a user is interested in a particular topic, he can easily navigate to a page that will list all of your posts on that topic. Utilize the setting that displays the number of posts you have in each topic to peak interest.

8. Post high-quality content

Content is always king. You will read this everywhere (at least, from authors who know what they’re talking about). Good content = high traffic. Good content = high viral sharing. Good content = lower bounce rate. If you’re looking for easy ways to get tons of traffic, you might be sick of hearing this. But it’s so true. Having good content isn’t always easy, but if you focus on turning out high-quality posts a few times a week rather than short, crappy posts every day, you will reap the rewards.

9. Improve loading speed

Users might get frustrated if your blog takes forever to load. If you use a blogging platform with plugins, such as Wordpress, try keeping the amount of plugins installed to below 15. And if there’s one plugin that slows down your blog significantly, consider finding an alternative. Also make sure all of your images are compressed so they load quickly.

10. Remove anything that autoplays

Videos, music, or any sort of media should never autoplay. There’s no better way to get a visitor to click the back button than by having autoplay media on your blog. The user should opt into any media on your site via a play button..

11. Provide ways for users to interact

Prompt your readers to comment on your blog posts by asking questions at the bottom of each post. Have a blog commenting system that is visually appealing and easy to use. Also, include polls, surveys, or other interactive plugins to keep your visitors on your site.

12. Be smart about monetizing

Most bloggers try some methods for monetizing their blogs. This is great, but don’t overfill your blog with ads. Not only does your bounce rate increase with each ad click on the first page view, but too many ads will make for a frustrating user experience. Anything that might frustrate your readers will give them a reason to click that back button.

13. Rethink your sidebar

Try removing some of the external links from your sidebar. If your blogroll doesn’t include extremely relevant links to your niche, remove it. If you see that not many people are clicking through to your MySpace page through your sidebar, delete the link.

14. Research using Google Analytics

Google Analytics is an extremely useful and completely free tool; take advantage of it! You can find out all sorts of cool nerdy things like which traffic sources yield the highest bounce rates. For example, traffic from StumbleUpon might have a bounce rate of 88%, but traffic from your Facebook fan page might have a bounce rate of 60%. This way, you can learn which traffic sources to focus more of your marketing efforts on. You can also see the bounce rate of each and every page on your site and optimize accordingly. How awesome is that??? (Yes, I’m a dork.)

15. Optimize older blog posts

Don’t just forget about your older blog posts as time passes. If you elaborate on a certain point you made on an older blog post, go back to that older post and link relevant text to your new post. If that text doesn’t exist, make a slight modification to add it in. Make these tweaks and then note the changes in Google Analytics to see how effective your interlinking really is.

16. Test, test test!

To build on #19, after you make optimizations to reduce your bounce rate, wait a week or two and then look at your Google Analytics stats to see if your optimizations were effective. Don’t be afraid to tweak and try new tactics; you can always change things back.

What other tips do you have to reduce bounce rate? Have you implemented any of these tips? If so, how have they worked for your blog?Related Posts:

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Did you know that lowering your blog’s bounce rate can get you more subscribers? Or that your Google page rank might be partially determined by your bounce rate?

Unlike regular or ecommerce websites, blogs tend to have higher bounce rates because of several reasons, including the nature of blogs (readers only find value from a single post), affiliate marketing tactics (encouraging users to click ads to external sites), and methods bloggers often use to promote their blogs (social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon). As such, bloggers tend to overlook the value of implementing tactics to reduce their blog’s bounce rate at all.

First, let’s cover the basics:

What is a Bounce Rate?

Bounce Rate is a percentage of visitors to your blog that “bounce” away to a different site before visiting a second page on your blog. The formula looks like this:

Bounce Rate = Total Visits Viewing Only One Page / Total Visits

A visitor can bounce from your blog the following ways:

• Clicking a link to an external website
• Closing the window/tab for your blog
• Entering a new URL
• Clicking the back button to leave your blog
• Session timeout (30 minutes of staying on the first page and leaving the browser open on that page)

Why You Should Lower Your Bounce Rate

1. Visitors Will Consume More Content

You should focus on tactics to lower your blog’s bounce rate to keep visitors on your site and consuming more content. The more pages they look at, the more interested they will be to ultimately subscribe to your blog and come back for repeat visits. The lower your bounce rate, the more valuable and loyal readers your blog will inherently have.

2. Increase Viral Growth

The more content your visitors consume, the more likely they will be to share your content with their connections. This personal endorsement for your content can be more effective at bringing in traffic than some of the tactics to increase page rank, such as link sharing or buying.

3. Increase Engagement and Blog Comments

Once visitors read more content on your site and read other users’ comments, they will become more likely to comment themselves. And again, subscribers and repeat visitors will be more likely to comment on your posts.

4. Increase Conversions

The longer a visitors remains on your site, the more opportunities the visitor will have to click on those Google AdSense ads or affiliate links. Or perhaps you’ve written an eBook; the more interested a visitor is in your content, the more likely he will be to purchase that eBook to find out more. Additionally, getting a user to become a fan of your Facebook page through your Facebook Fan Box or follow you on Twitter is still a valuable conversion because of the free advertising opportunities later.

5. Improve Search Engine Rankings

It’s been speculated that your bounce rate can affect your search engine rankings. According to this article on Search Engine Land – Do Search Engines Use Bounce Rate As A Ranking Factor – a website’s ranking can be impacted by significant changes in bounce rate. Search engines like Google want high-quality sites to appear higher in their search results, so sites with a higher bounce rate might indicate low-quality content or a poor site experience. Again, this is a big MAYBE, but it’s still worth keeping in mind.

In a couple days, I’ll cover some ways you can improve bounce rate on your blog. Have you implemented any tactics on your blog to decrease your bounce rate?Related Posts:

16 Ways to Improve Your Blog’s Bounce Rate
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Introducing the New Google Search Results Page

Google Buzz is the latest hot topic in social media. Whether it will ultimately be a hit or a flop, many blogs are already incorporating the button into each post, just like Tweetmeme’s retweet button and Facebook’s sharecount button.

There are several plugins and methods you can use to add the Google Buzz button to your Wordpress blog, at least until Google comes out with an official button. Here are the best methods I’ve found for adding Google Buzz as a share count button, a sidebar widget, and a social share chicklet:

Google Buzz Share Count Button: WP-Buzzer

Although there are several varieties of Wordpress plugins, WP-Buzzer by Hameedula is the must customizable button in terms of placement of the button in your post. This is important to bloggers who want to line up the Google Buzz button with other share count buttons (such as Tweetmeme and Facebook sharecount). As you can see below, I’ve chosen the default “float: right” position, so the button will line up with my other Twitter and Facebook buttons.

How to line up Google Buzz button with Tweetmeme’s Retweet button:

If you already have the Tweetmeme button installed, this Google Buzz button doesn’t line up correctly at all. Additionally, the button is kind of clunky; you can see the pixilated edges. We’re going to fix that.

1. Upload the wp-buzzer plugin to your blog. Do not yet activate it.
2. Save this png file to your computer as googlebuzz.png:
3. Upload this image to the folder /wp-content/plugins/wpbuzzer
4. Go to your installed plugins page and click “edit” under the wp-buzzer plugin.
5. Search for the following text: background-image: $style = ’style=”height: 58px; width:50px;  background-image: url(‘ . WP_PLUGIN_URL . ‘/wpbuzzer/wpbuzzer-google-buzz-big.png)
6. Change “wpbuzzer-google-buzz-big.png” to “googlebuzz.png”
7. Add “padding-top:12px;” after “width:50px;”
8. Click save. That should be it!

Google Buzz Sidebar Widget: Google Buzz ER

The Google Buzz ER widget will display your public Google Buzz content on your blog. Simply upload the plugin to your blog, and in the plugin settings enter your Google username, create a title, and define how many Buzz posts you want to appear in the widget. Then go to your widgets page, where you can drag and drop the widget wherever you want it to appear.

Google Buzz as a Social Chicklet: Light Social

I’m sure all the major social bookmarking plugins will soon include Google Buzz as an available social chicklet (I use SexyBookmarks here, and they have not yet). The Light Social plugin is one of the early adopters to add the Google buzz button. Plugins like this automatically insert a set of social chicklets, or share links, at the bottom of each of your blog posts.

Have you integrated Google Buzz into your blog yet? Which Google Buzz plugins are you using?Related Posts:

How to Add the Official Google Buzz Button to your Website
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Obtaining a high page rank isn’t something that happens overnight. It takes time, effort, and patience. You may have read advice that tells you to comment on other relevant blogs, build relationships with dofollow bloggers, participate in forums, and guest blog. And while that’s all good advice (great advice, actually), some of us don’t have as much time as others. And these things are very time consuming.

So here are some simple SEO tips you can use without having to leave your own blog. And remember: even though it’s good to put yourself out there and be an active participant in the blogosphere at large, your blog’s content (quality, quantity, and relevancy) truly is the main factor when it comes to getting traffic to your blog.

1. Content is King

I can’t emphasize this enough. The quality and richness of your content make more of an impact on page rank than any of the tips to follow (though they do help move things along). Strive to have unique and frequently updated content on your blog, and it will drive up your ranking.

2. Link Out

Link out to at least one external site in every blog post. Establishing site relevance is a huge factor in your page rank, so link to pages and sites that are relevant to yours.

3. Links Should Have Meaning

Update your anchor text (the text acting as a link) to have better keyword value. Both internal and external links should have meaning, and stay away from using “here,” “click here,” “this,” etc. as links.

• Incorrect:  If you’re looking for Twitter badges for your site, click here.
• Correct: Here are some Twitter badges for your site.

4. Optimize Your Permalinks

Include the post category and post name in your URLs. Use keywords in your URLs, keep them short and sweet, eliminating words like “and” or “the.”

• Incorrect: http://UStandOut.com/?p=123
• Correct: http://ustandout.com/twitter/beginners-guide-twitter

5. Create a Sitemap

Having a sitemap will make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your blog. Read more about creating Google Sitemaps, and if you have a Wordpress blog, install the plugin Google XML Sitemap Generator.

6. Use Header Tags

Use header tags <h></h> instead of bolding your headlines/subheadlines. Since header tags aren’t the prettiest in terms of formatting, use CSS to override the default look. For example: H1 { color: red; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 18px }.

7. Use Title Tags

Title tags (<title></title>) determine what that page will be called in the search results. Be sure to use rich keywords in your title tags. For those of us who use Wordpress or another blogging tool, this will be automatic, so be sure you’re using those keywords in your blog titles.

8. Use Description Tags

The description tag (<meta name=”description” content=”Description tag here.”>) determines the text that goes below your page’s title in the search results. These should be no longer than 160 characters in order to show up completely and correctly on Google.

9. Use Alt Tags on Images

Every image on your site should have an alt tag, especially if the image is relevant to the content of the page. And don’t simply give it the tag “screenshot” or “image.” Make the tag keyword rich. For example: “The Tweetdeck Application for Twitter.”

10. Don’t Try to Fool Google

You’d think this was a no-brainer, but I see it all the time. Do not try to fool Google. Do not stuff keywords in invisible text, do not purchase links, do not partake in “link swapping,” and do not take any of advice from those blogs encouraging you to cheat the system. Your site will be flagged, and your page rank will be lowered. Bloggers that actually do have good content often hurt their page ranking because they’ve attempted these tricks. Just don’t do it.

What SEO tips can you add to the list?Related Posts:

How to Improve Your Website’s SEO Using LinkedIn
8 Ways to Optimize Links To Get More Clicks
How to Add Google Buzz To Your Wordpress Blog

Disqus is a commenting system and moderation tool for your site or blog. It’s pretty amazing; I use it here at U Stand Out. It’s super easy to use and is packed with neat features including social network integration, powerful moderation/spam filter tools, and connection to an entire discussion community. Disqus V3 is being launched today, and now offers a management system for the commenters themselves.

Disqus already had advantages to both commenters and publishers, but especially publishers. With features like integrated Facebook Connect and the ability to sign in with other social networking accounts, including Twitter, publishers don’t have to worry about configuring comment registration themselves. In case you haven’t tried it, installing Facebook Connect yourself and actually getting it to work can be a major headache.

So what’s so cool about V3?

Disqus Profile

Not to worry; the Disqus Profile is not another profile you have to manage (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc ^infinity). It’s a management tool for commenters to control all their comments, subscriptions, and profiles, all in one place.

You can browse your comment history, and view, edit, or delete comments without having the visit the specific site or blog. You can also add your various social profiles (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to your Disqus profile and syndicate your comments through Disqus to all or some of those networks.

The advantage of catering to users in addition to publishers isn’t only that it makes the system more efficient (which is definitely true), but that it will encourage users to be more active commenters. This is good news for bloggers out there who have Disqus installed, and is also a good reason to use Disqus on your own blog if you’re not already.

Disqus Comments

Disqus Comments was amazing even before V3. In case you have not used Disqus before, here are some of my favorite features to begin with:

• Comment format: threaded comments and replies
• SEO Friendly: comments indexable by search engines (which as an SEO nerd makes me very happy)
• Social Login Capabilities: allows users to sign in with other social network logins (Facebook Connect, sign in with Twitter, Open ID, etc)
• Moderation: powerful moderation and spam filtering tools
• Auto-sync: easy to import existing comments and backup comments
• Subscription: easy-to-use subscription and RSS options help you keep your readership numbers
• Discussion community: Connection with a large discussion community, which leads to increased exposure and readership. I get lots of traffic through Disqus

Here are some new features V3 has to offer:

• Moderation interface: has been redesigned to an inbox-style that makes moderation super easy
• Filtering options: You can now filter by comment, thread, or search term
• Word filter: enter words that will trigger moderation if mentioned in comments
• Whitelist or blacklist: ban or always allow email addresses or usernames to comment
• Customization: includes nicer styling options for your comments section

The one problem I have with Disqus is the inability to change your username. Now that V3 allows you to have your own Disqus vanity URL (mine is http://disqus/dianaf86), I care more about changing my screen name created last year to my more universal dianafreedman screen name. Upon asking the people at Disqus if I could switch (I already made sure to snatch up dianafreedman), they informed me it wasn’t possible. Hmph.

What do you think of the latest version of Disqus? How do you manage comments on your site? Do you think you’ll use Disqus to manage your own comments?Related Posts:

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Getting back to reality after a vacation in Disney World is no easy feat. I returned from the “happiest place on Earth” last week to a dreary and snowy Boston. I can’t even count the times I’ve been to Disney World/Land on my fingers anymore, but even as an adult it’s as magical as ever.

It’s not just an amusement park with overpriced food and even more overpriced merchandise (though it has both). If anything, I don’t mind laying down  $40 for a t-shirt I’ll never wear outside the parks. The environment they’ve created makes me forget about my worries from the real world. It’s not just about Space Mountain. Young or old, the Disney brand makes you start to believe that fairy tales could be real, and dreams can come true.

This perception really got me thinking. Even in a suffering economy, Disney remains packed with people willing to fork over hard-earned cash for tickets to wait in long lines. They’re doing something incredibly right. So what Disney traits can anyone (CEO’s, entrepreneurs, bloggers, etc.) use to make their products more successful?

Here’s a breakdown of what I think makes up the Disney magic, and how I will aspire to apply these characteristics to my blog in 2009.

Be a great storyteller

One thing that makes Disney unique from other amusement park is that each ride tells a story. Splash Mountain is more than just a drop into water; it’s a story a rabbit escaping from a hungry wolf. Expedition Everest isn’t just an intense, awesome roller coaster; it’s a story about a team of hikers killed in the Himalayas by the legendary Yeti. Even the parks themselves tell a story. The Magic Kingdom is a fantasy land, EPCOT is an appreciation of the world we live in, MGM (now called Hollywood Studios) is about the entertainment industry, and the Animal Kingdom takes you on an African safari adventure. It just doesn’t get boring.

So tell your visitors a story. These days, no matter the topic of your website or blog, it’s probably been written about before. What you can offer that nobody else can is your own unique perspective. Don’t just do your research, spit out facts, and call it a blog post. Craft it into something that people can understand, use, and find so interesting that they’d come back to read it again. Don’t drone on with fact after fact; tell it like a story, and develop your writing voice. A good rule of thumb is to create content one day, then leave it alone until the next day so you can go back and edit, and make sure it’s an interesting read.

It’s still important to remember that your opinions won’t resonate with everyone. It’s impossible for every single person who reads your content to agree with you. But crafting a story will spark discussion about what you’re selling, whether it’s a product or blog post. If you’re sensitive to criticism, just think of it this way: all publicity is good publicity… right?

Have quality content

Although I can’t speak for all of their live-action films, the animated classics are amazing. They resonate with audiences generation after generation, and have translated to rides in the park, spin-offs, costumes, toys, you name it. When you see an animated feature prefaced by the Disney logo, you know it’s going to be good.

Having high quality content comes from being a great storyteller, but it also means doing your research, staying current or ahead of the trends, and not rushing content. Creating high quality posts is often a challenge for bloggers with full-time jobs and time constraints, such as myself, so posting every day might not be ideal. Spending the time to focus on quality will drive traffic to your site. It has the potential to go viral (via Twitter, social networks, and bookmarking), and will increase profitability in the long run as future users find and share your content. When I’m in my goove, I like to write 3-4 articles a week. Half will be shorter articles on social media applications I think are useful, and the other half will be longer, more opinionated posts that will (hopefully) get my readers to think (like this article).

Keep your customers happy

Ever go to Disney and realize that despite the large amount of little children around, you don’t really hear any screaming or crying? Sure, I bet it’s partially due to the environment and the fact that the parents aren’t quite as stressed out as usual. But I’ve heard from past Disney employees that if a child starts crying in a store, employees are encouraged to give that child a free toy. I’ve also heard that if someone steals something from a store and the employees are aware of it, they still won’t come after you and create a scene in front of other Disney guests.

Keeping your customers/readers happy may seem obvious, but really make an effort to do so. If someone bashes something you wrote in a comment, don’t get defensive. Instead say, “That’s an interesting point. Can you tell me more about why you think XYZ?” And then go on to support your point of view.

If you run a company, be aware of what people are saying about your brand. Provide comment forms where people can give feedback, and reply to everything with at least an “I appreciate your suggestions,” even if you don’t plan incorporating the feedback into your business. Also, create profiles on sites like Twitter, and connect with individuals who mention your company. Make it apparent that you care about your customer’s opinions, and they will come to respect your brand.

Be consistent

Every time you visit the Disney parks, you know the parade will be at 8pm, the fireworks will be at 9pm, the Haunted Mansion will always be there, It’s a Small World will get stuck in your head. Not only that, but the branding is consistent. Ever since the 1930’s, when Snow White got her happily ever after, Disney has convinced fans that their wishes can come true. They’ve been consistent in their messaging for 70+ years.

Websites tend to go through redesigns when they start getting significant traffic, and that’s ok if it improves the user experience. But you should have a reason to overhaul your site. Your readers/customers have been coming back to your site for a reason, whether it’s the subject you write about or the voice you write with. If you’re a beginner and plan to add advertisements to your site, add them now. Don’t be ad-free and then bombard your readers later on. Dramatically changing things can hurt you.

For bloggers, if you write a post once a week, continue to do so. If you write three times a week, continue to do so. Being consistent and sticking to a schedule is important for keeping your repeat visitors and subscribers who are expecting to hear from you. I haven’t written in the past two weeks because of my vacation, followed by a week of extreme catch-up at work, and this certainly wasn’t ideal. My plan is to create some backup content before big trips or commitments, so I can simply schedule the article to be published using Wordpress.

Mind the little details

I once went on a behind-the-scenes tour at Disney World. The amount of detail that goes into making sure the guests stay happy is unbelievable. The edges of the sidewalks are painted a certain shade to make sure guests looking down at their maps don’t trip. Garbage cans are strategically placed where people would be expected to finish eating their hot dogs. Workers repaint the horses on the carousel, benches, lampposts, etc. just about every night. They fan cinnamon-scented air onto the sidewalk outside the bakery to draw you in. And if you pay attention, there are “hidden Mickeys” all over the place. It’s all about the details.

So when creating your blog or website, pay attention to the little things, because they all add up to your big product. Take the time to brush up on your keywords so readers can find what  they’re looking for easily, and so you get more organic search traffic. Make your ads and affiliate links relevant to your content, and pay attention to ad placement and design. When writing articles, link to relevant articles you’ve written in the past, and other blogs in your niche, so your visitors will always have more to read. Also, make it easy for your visitors to spread the word by adding social bookmarking buttons.

Leverage the newest platforms and technologies

From the animatronics in the parks to acquiring Pixar, Disney is always ahead when it comes to technologies. And so should you. Keep up with industry news by reading other blogs in your niche frequently. Comment if you have something insightful to say, even if you’re not a blogger. Give visitors a way to submit news and feedback, whether by comment form or simply providing your email address with a request for industry tips.

Although you might not be able to provide an escape from reality like Disney can, modeling the Disney way might help you create content that readers can lose themselves in. I love getting comments and emails from people saying they’ve just found my blog and read the whole thing because they found the content so interesting. This is my goal, and though I’m glad to see results already, there are definitely areas I want to improve in.

I’m not claiming that Disney is perfect. As a company, it’s had its fair share of scandals, pushes timeshare marketing a bit too hard, and underpays its theme park employees. But Disney has a timeless appeal, and its parks are always full and movies are always a success in the box office. So for the most part, you can learn a lot about success from Disney.Related Posts:

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Branding can make or break your website, whether it’s a business or a blog. Your readers should connect with the theme of your site with they see your logo elsewhere. One way to increase your brand’s visibility is by creating a FavIcon. FavIcon is short for “favorite icon,” and is the small icon that appears in the URL browser bar. They’ve been around for a long time now, and it surprises me how many popular blogs and sites out there still don’t have a favicon.

FavIcons also appear on certain browser’s navigation tabs and on a reader’s bookmark list if he has bookmarked your site, so having a unique FavIcon can help readers easily remember your site. Try to use your site’s logo, initials of your website, or some prominent image that appears on your homepage. Having a FavIcon will also make your site look more professional; all the big sites are doing it.

Creating a FavIcon for your site is really easy. But since so many sites still haven’t taken advantage of this neat little feature, here’s are instructions on how to do it:

1. Decide on an image

A FaviIon is only 16 x 16 pixels, so you’re not going to have much room to work with. That’s why you should stick with something small, like a logo, initials of your site, or a small but prominent image on your site. The color of your favicon should reflect the main color of your site so that readers will more easily associate it with your site.

2. Create the favicon.ico file

There are many tools out there you can use to create a favicon, but here’s a simple way to do it.

• Use any photo editing software, like Photoshop or Gimp (which is free) and create a new 64 x 64 pixel canvas (so you can see what you’re doing without the image being too pixilated)
• Open your logo or image file and drag it onto the 64 x 64 canvas
• Scale the image and move it around until it fits in the 64 x 64 space
• Resize the image to 16 x 16 (if you’re using Photoshop, select Image Size > Resample Image so the small image doesn’t blur)
• Save the file as favicon.ico.

Or, if for some reason you can’t get your editing software to save in the .ico format, or the 16 x 16 image becomes blurry:

• Save the 64 x 64 file as a gif, jpg, png, or bmp
• Use the Dynamic Drive FavIcon Generator to easily create a 16 x 16 pixel .ico file from your image

If you’re still stumped by creating a 64 x 64 pixel canvas, just crop the image your want to use and upload it in the Dynamic Drive FavIcon Generator. But this method might stretch or squeeze the image, so I recommend making sure it fits in a 64 x 64 pixel space.

3. Upload favicon.ico to your site

Once your FavIcon is ready, place the favicon.ico file in your root directory, which is the directory where the index file is located.

If you are using software with templates that already have a default FavIcon, such as Wordpress, simply replace the favicon.ico in your theme’s folder with your favicon.ico file. After doing this, you don’t need to proceed to the next step.

4. Insert header code

Place the following code within the <head></head> section of each page of your site:

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”/favicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />

5. Make sure your FavIcon appears

Clear your cache (this is important!) and refresh your browser. You should see the new favicon in the URL browser bar. Please note that some browsers, notably Firefox, don’t immediately show the new FavIcon. You haven’t done anything wrong; just make sure you clear your cache and restart your browser. You might even have to wait a few hours or days to see the changes.

For advanced users, http://www.favicon.cc/ is a great site. You can import your 64 x 64 pixel or 16 x 16 pixel file, and create an animated Favicon that will really stand out. You can even browse through other users’ FavIcons if you’re stumped and need some ideas.Related Posts:

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