Wayne Liew Dot Com

Wayne Liew Dot Com is all about simple blogging tips, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed to get yourself free blogging tips updates.

20 Ways to Get Constant Post Level Links [Part 1] got quite a good response and with this post, I hope most of my blogging readers out there can utilize these methods to build more incoming links via post level links.

Photo by: dcJohn

As I have mentioned in the previous part,

Bloggers don’t simply link to other blogs since linking out sends readers away and not only that, bloggers will suffer a hit to their reputation in the niche with a bad recommendation.

Post level links are easier to sought for compared to blogroll links on the sidebars since in every new post on a blog, 2-4 or even near to 10 links for link posts can be included in a blog post.

Links come with traffic but links also bring traffic and this is why you should continue reading on the other 10 tips on how to get constant post level links.

Continue reading 20 Ways To Get Constant Post Level Links [Part 2]

Blog clean up must be done once in a while. Some parts of your blog tend to be used over and over again, without realizing that some unsung heros behind it are actually gathering dusts because the last time you visit them is probably the day you set your blog up.

Photo by pedrosimoes7

Today I would like to share with you a few places of your blog that you might need to pay a visit to pump in fresh air to these places. These places won’t annoy your readers at large but you might lose some of your readers who entered your blog via other points rather than your main entrance.

Another reason for a clean up is to boost server loads. Every time your page loads, it might be slowed down by some "behind the scenes" elements which I will show you in this list as well.

10 Important Clean Up Sections For A Blog

Plugins

When we stop using a plugin or a plugin seems to be bugging our blog, we tend to deactivate it. Considering the fact that we might need to use the plugin in the future, we did not delete it from our FTP folders. The longer you blog, you tend to experiment and discontinue the service of certain plugins, adding more and more deactivated plugins to the list.

Since the introduction of Wordpress version 2.3, Plugins section in our admin panel will tend to have a reminder column under a plugin if we did not update the plugin to its latest version. Deactivated plugins tend to have such reminders as well if they are not updated, making the list long and messy.

Continue reading Vital Sections for a Blog Clean Up

You might have noticed that in my previous post, Blogosphere Summary - Week #1, I have make a slight revert to the style I used to write my articles here, which is using the <!–more–> tags. RSS feed readers, don’t be shocked since you will still be offered a full RSS feed.

Drawbacks of promoting full article on home page

My intention to offer a full RSS feed urged me to stop using the <!–more–> tags in my blog posts. However, I found a few drawbacks which are listed below:

• Long home page. I am always not the fan of long scrolling home page. When I read blogs which are in chronological order, I sometimes don’t force myself to scroll down to the blog footer because it is just too tiring for my finger.
• Massive link giveaways. Links can be given in articles but having a full article on a blog’s home page is making the homepage giving away too much links and this will not only make my blog surpass the Google Webmaster Guidelines on the amount of outgoing links as I am a frequent link giver, it will also devalue the links I am giving out on my homepage, including the link juice I passed on to my top commentators.
• More showcase of work. Previously, I have too long articles on my home page before showcasing 6 titles of my other articles at the bottom of the page. The long scroll to the bottom has made these articles invisible to my periodical readers.

Continue reading Full Text Feed Plugin - No More RSS Feed Cut Off

Starting from this week onwards, Wayne Liew Dot Com will be featuring weekly round up posts which will be having outgoing links that are pointed to some blogging tips and blog happenings around the blogosphere.

A few reasons that have prompted me to have this new type of posts on Wayne Liew Dot Com are as follows:

Photo by sunshinecity

• Link giveaways! Thus, from now on, if you have any nice blogging tips or blogosphere happenings that you would like me to know about, just contact me to get your articles featured on Wayne Liew Dot Com.
• Wayne Liew Dot Com is incapable of having all-in-one tips. Obviously, I am not "know all blogger" and many other blogging blogs out there have been providing comprehensive blogging tips which I guess would help my readers a lot.
• Slowing down everything. I am still finding trouble to post daily and hopefully with this, I will find my time to plan for more useful upcoming posts. Stay tuned and subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed.
• Networking. I have said in my blogging resolution for Year 2008 that I will seek more chance to network with fellow bloggers and by giving away links, hopefully I  can build some relationship via cross-blog conversation.

Let’s Get The Week Rolling…

Continue reading Blogosphere Summary - Week #1

The number of RSS feed subscribers has become an important measurement for a blog. This can be a good thing since the number represents loyal readers that a blog has and the traffic is normally high for a blog with a high amount of RSS subscribers.

Photo by Torchondo

Problems Using RSS Subscriber Numbers As Blog Measurement

However, RSS feed or the some other mediums have their flaws just like anything else on the Internet. Ways to boost the number of RSS subscribers has been happening on blogosphere which the following significant events:

• Scot from RSSxplosion.com pops into the blogosphere by trying to sell RSS number boosting services to bloggers like John Cow.
• Evil ways of faking the number are being uncovered by Adrian Cooke of Net Business Blog via Stealing Feed Counts Is Lame.
• Recently, another fake RSS feed numbers saga appears which someone appeared to be subscribing to his own feeds excessively or buying them. Unluckily for him, his acts are being exposed on Feedburner Hacked or just plain Cheating!? and Lushable.com lies to our faces, BUSTED!.

I have been following these news and have discovered a nice tool that helps maintaining or at least raise the integrity and accuracy of a RSS feed number published over the blogosphere.

Wonder Tool on RSS Feed Subscriber Analysis

Feed Analysis, currently on Version 1.1, is a great tool that helps you to analyze you and your competitors’ feed statistics, know where to optimize and of course, uncover possible fake RSS numbers. I came across this tool while following the latest event on number of RSS subscribers scam.

When I first use it and got myself the results, I knew I must share this with you all. The tool displays all the information about your RSS feed mostly in the form of charts which is quite easy for many bloggers out there to read the information well.

Number of Subscribers Per Month and The Increase

As you can see from the chart above, it shows the number of RSS feed subscribers that Wayne Liew Dot Com Blogging Tips Blog have from the day it was started. The orange part represents the number of subscribers a blog had in the previous month and the yellow part represents the increase of subscribers on that particular month.

Number of Subscribers, Hits, Views and Clicks Daily

You will notice that a line chart will be provided to show all the figures about the number of your RSS feed subscribers. Please note that if the subscribers are human being that reads your feeds via a reader, the number of hits will normally be higher than the number of subscribers.

One thing I wanted to highlight with this piece of data is their prediction tool which is up to 12 months in advance. It somehow shows a prediction based on the current percentage of growth which I think is appropriate but what if a blog suffers an unpredicted event such as a death or a mighty RSS competition?

Anyway, the stats gave me a motivation to blog better with the predicted amount of RSS subscriber lingering at over 10,000 at the beginning of next year (triple of what I have expected for myself in my 2008 blogging resolution).

Number of Total Subscribers on Week Days in Percentage

This shows what day is it when most subscribed to your blog. Wayne Liew Dot Com gets subscribed evenly over the week. Surprisingly, my best day is Sunday and the worst will be Saturday. I start the week with full of energy but always got tired with everything at the end of it I guess.

Version 1.0 to Version 1.1

When this tool got mentioned by Darren via A Tool to Help You Analyze Your FeedBurner Feed Statistics last month, I did not give it a try since it requires extra work for me to download my blog’s CSV file, reupload it onto this tool before it can show me the results.

Now, it is already in Version 1.1 which only requires you to type in your Feedburner feed URL (if you have one) or your blog feed URL and it will do the rest!

Feedback on The Feed Analysis Blogging Tool

Feed Analysis definitely is one of its kind and it stands out by having nice charts that are pleasant for human eyes.

What is your opinion on this tool? Based on the information that it has provided you with, from which side do you think you can improve your blog? Which part of this tool can be improved to be more user-friendly? Are you looking for something which this tool haven’t provide?

Also, always remember not to cheat. The Internet is getting more transparent now with the this tool and the launch of IZEA recently.The consequences of getting on the EXPOSED!! headlines is terrible and it will be a blow to your name (if you use it online like me).

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed to get more blogging tips update on blogging tools.

Post level links are links that are generated within a blog post. Whenever such links are pointed to your blog, you will get noticed of it via Technorati or if it is pointing to one of your blog posts, a trackback will be generated.

This is another two-part article series following 20 Tips for A Personal Blog Success and 10 Ways to Fill Up Blogging Idle Time. Remember, this is a two part article and if you are interested to read more on what are the ways (some are cheeky ones) to build get post level links from blogs, subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed immediately to get them delivered to you after the second part is out!

The Importance of Post Level Links from Blogs

Bloggers don’t simply link to other blogs since linking out sends readers away and not only that, bloggers will suffer a hit to their reputation in the niche with a bad recommendation.

Photo by mikelens

For bloggers who are lost on why post level links in blogs are so important, I will list out the few reasons that will prompt you to read on.

• Targeted traffic
• Technorati rankings
• Relevance of links
• Increase Google Page Rank and search engine keywords ranking
• Coverage for blog and brand

10 Ways on Getting Constant Post Level Links from Blogs

Definition articles

Definition articles are articles that list out all the meanings of technical jargons in your niche and will be linked to whenever such terms are being used in your posts so that you will not need to explain it in each and every one of your posts.

Not every blog has its own definition post. If your blog has one and it is known among the bloggers in your niche, the post will be linked over and over again by them whenever they include words they find it hard to squeeze in the explanation within their posts.

Great blog design

You might not be having great contents but you can have a blog design that is really standing out to deserve the mention. Blog designs can stand out in many ways, this includes unique usability such as scrolling sideways instead of vertically and bombastic graphical elements.

I am sure many of you have seen bloggers compiling great web designs from time to time such as 60 Elegant and Visually Appealing Designs by Smashing Magazine and 20 Websites With Unique Layouts by Steven Snell which gives out link credits to these blogs. You will only need to make sure that your blog screenshot and the design will make visitors go WOW on first impression.

Get your blog or articles featured on big blogs, FREQUENTLY

Pitching top bloggers in your niche is always an interesting and rewarding effort. Once one of your articles gets featured, the chances of it getting mentioned in many other blogs and getting onto a social media site are high.

Posts such as Ending Do-Follow for Google and Malaysians’ PayPal Dream Comes True has been featured by some top blogs and viral effect is surely something you will want to see daily happening to your blog. If you think you have produced something that you think is of quality, always try e-mailing big bloggers about it. It might be a selfless act but a great content is to be shown, not to be kept unknown.

Give out links

Karma always happens in blogging. One way to get people to know about the existence of your blog is by pinging them via a link to their articles. They will hop over, take a look at your blog and a link from them is possible if your posts are interesting to them.

Be a stingy link giver and others will be stingy towards you as well. Apart from linking to top bloggers, one should place effort on finding small blogs with equal or greater contents to be linked as these bloggers will pay more attention to you.

Thank the linkers

When a link is pointed to your articles, a trackback will appear in your blog comment section. A new link pointing to your blog will also be featured in the information page of your blog on Technorati.

Take a few minutes of your time to hop over and appreciate those who linked you. Also, other than posting a simple "Thank You" message in their link giveaway posts, you can actually comment on the articles recommended by the posts as well.

Ongoing linking contest

A popular way to get links is to hold a linking contest on your blog. No matter the prize is a link being featured on your PR4 homepage or a cash prize of $500, there will be some who are willing to participate.

Photo by daveynin

However, to get links all year round with this method will consume a lot of resources if the prize if something material to you. Thus, this is not a recommended way to get links for new blogs. Also, such a method will only bring in non-targeted traffic, meaning they link you not because of your contents, it is because of the prize.

Participation in blogs giving out links

It is easy to identify such blogs. Constant link giving blogs often have a link giveaway post during the weekends. A check on their Archives will reveal this. Commenting on such blogs will get the bloggers’ attention and if they are interested in your articles, a link might be given to you.

Networking with link givers

Make friends with link givers, interact with them. Of course, this might seems to be cunning but when you actually interact with the right way without just pushing for a link to your blog, you will get links constantly for your blog.

Remember, don’t go to the extreme on demanding for a link. The blogger might be put off by you and leave you no chance of getting near the blogger ever because of the bad impression you have set for yourself.

Make yourself an icon within your niche

Being an icon can be easy for some but difficult in a saturated niche. However, once you are a well-known icon in your niche, when people wanted to write on something within the niche, they will seek relevant information from your blog as reference because of your known expertise and authority to produce a quality post.

Photo by Markyboy81

When they use your articles as reference, a link is often given from the articles that they have produced. I am always impressed by authority bloggers because of their ability to influence so many bloggers with one post and will have at least one link to their posts that they have written.

Theme database

Site creation, especially blog launches is booming today. Many searches are done on search engines today to dig out a proper theme for their blogs and sites. Posts like 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes is very successful even though it does not offer self-made themes.

Photo by Phil BF

You need not to be a theme designer to build up a theme database. You can collect "free to distribute themes" out there, make them downloadable on your site, write up a compilation post of themes or sponsor a theme which allows you to have a link somewhere in the theme pointing to your blog. A link will be referred when the database is being recommended by others.

Feedback on The 10 Ways to Get Post level Links

That’s all for today, my readers. The upcoming 10 ways will be up on next week so make sure that you are subscribed to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed to keep yourself updated of it.

What other ways that you can think of to get post level links? Share it with me and a link might be given to you in the upcoming post. Also, what have you did to your blog so that it get post level links constantly? Any comments on the ways listed above?

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed to get the latest blogging tips on link building.

Have you been interlinking or internal permalinking your own posts when writing a blog post? If you have not, you should start doing it now because you can control what are the words that describe your pages with the anchor text used for the links. Also, it allows readers to get deeper into your blog, indirectly extending the time they stay on your blog.

The Fuss About Self Pinging Trackbacks (Internal Permalinking)

When we have a link in our new posts to our old posts, the new posts will always ping the old posts, giving extra trackbacks on the old posts. Some reasons why bloggers don’t want this to happen because of the following reasons:

• It clogs up the comment section (Trackbacks tend to have long "names").
• It serves no interaction in a comment section discussion.
• It can be seen as a cheat to boost comment count.

For various reasons, bloggers delete such pingbacks from the comment moderation section. Some bloggers might act smart by marking internal pingbacks as SPAM which is a TERRIBLY WRONG MOVE!

A trackback on posts by other blogs can help to get attention from the blogger and might also nick some traffic over to your blog if the excerpts shown is relevant to the blog posts.

Marking your own pings as spams will send your trackbacks right into Akismet section on administration panels of other blogs! Thus, don’t mark internal as "Spams"!

Solution to Stop Self Pinging Trackbacks

Photo by michale

Posts such as Wayne Liew Dot Com - Looking Back on Year 2007 have tonnes of internal links and you can imagine the number of internal trackbacks that it has caused onto my older posts. Deleting the trackbacks might cost some precious time and it will not be the case any more.

No Self Ping Plugin by MDA will stop this from happening to your blog. This plugin might seem to be a simple plugin created by a person with a simple blog but its function can save lots of your time if you frequently linkback to your old post. It also won’t require any settings or a Options page for you to work through. Simply activate after uploading it will stop the internal trackbacks from showing again.

Feedback On No Self Ping Plugin and Internal Pinging

Do you frequently link to your old posts? If you do, how do you treat your internal trackbacks? After having it installed on your blog, does it work as promised?

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed to get more updates on Wordpress plugins and themes.

Bloggers always network or needed to network for the sake of information sharing or getting ourselves heard. We make friends, whom sometimes we don’t even meet before via such networking. A simple interaction such as an enquiry or a discussion can link two or more bloggers together.

Photo by StuSeeger

Making more friends, especially friends that share the same interest - blogging, has benefits that are being mentioned time after time. Today’s blogging tips on blog networking will be on what are the don’ts to avoid when interacting with your blogging pals.

You might think you know your blogging pals a lot but the truth is never be seen until he/she eventually become your real life friend. Thus, there are certain measures that you will need to uphold in such interactions.

10 Hindrances in Blogging Pals Interaction

Read me, link me, write about me!

If you are a Digg user, you will probably encounter this. People add you as a friend just to shout you their story so that you can Digg for them. Don’t shoot your blogging pals or contact them just because you want their attention for the benefit of your blog. This is just plain annoying and not only that you won’t successfully achieve what you are trying to achieve, you will also break the relationship that has been formed.

Back-stabbing

You can talk bad things about A to B but you’ll never know that B actually knows A and probably their bond is even tighter than yours with A or B! The safest way is to avoid back-stabbing. Talking bad things behind others’ back is immoral and you will lose two friends at once when your back-stab plan is being foiled. Anyway, why do you back-stab in the first place?

Be a busybody

When it is said that a subject is a secret or not to be mention again, don’t go all out to dig for it! Also, when your friend has already mentioned that something is personal, don’t ask why or what! You might think that you are being caring but you are more like an intruder into other person’s life.

Don’t know when it is time to stop

Anything has a limit. The number of times you seek help, demand for explanation, requests for discussion and even a joke, there is a limit. People don’t provide all the time in their lives for you. Be considerate. Ask them questions sparingly. Whatever interaction that you make, know the limit and know when to stop!

Photo by dboy

Being emotional

Sometimes we are controlled by our emotions. Incidents such as a theme editing mistake that spoils our whole blog, frustration because of no response by your friend will sometimes change the tune of the language we use. Refrain yourself, tell yourself that your pal might just be busy with something or they just accidentally miss out your message. Give them some time and nudge them after some time if an event is urgent for their attention.

Being sarcastic

When your blogging pals are sharing with you their success encountered in blogging or a discovery which they have found in a delighted mood, don’t break the scene with a "So what?" or "People found that ages ago". Come on, you might be telling the truth but adding in a complement is not too much to ask from you right?

"You are a complete dumb!" in an interaction

Every person has their own ego. In an interaction, explain yourself in a form of discussion rather than you dictating the whole process. Give your pals chances to talk. When they are wrong, don’t make them shameful of themselves! Put in your thoughts and a line such as "My findings are not quite consistent with yours, maybe we can perform some investigation on this?" will correct them and not make them felt ashamed in front of all people.

Improper use of language

Yes, what I am meaning here is foul words, bad words or not-so-nice words. Avoid using them in any way. The Internet is an international medium and is being reached by millions of users with different cultures. The famous four letter word might be a common word in your community but it might not sound too good in somewhere else. Build up your vocabulary on words to express feelings such as anger and disappointment rather than just foul words.

Faking

Be honest with anyone when you are online. Having things that are contradicting with your words being poked out by someone is the last thing you want to happen to cause a massive blow to your credibility. Keeping bad things is difficult but keeping a lie from being discovered is even difficult! Don’t fake and be transparent in any of your interaction. Maybe this is why it is important to show screenshots of earnings to make people believe that you are making a lot of money.

Photo by jurek d.

Use them as a tool

No one likes to being used and I would hate it! Don’t ever brand your blogging pals with names like "SEO Expert", "Content Promoter", "Code Troubleshooter" or even "Ideas Provider" so that you can always use them for your own benefit. This is not the way you treat a friend! You might think that they are completely frowned to your usage but if the day comes when you realized that they have been knowing this, it might be the day they stop replying your mails.

Definition of A Blogging Pal

It is hard to define whether a blog visitor, a person who contacted you, a commentator or a blogger whom you visit his/her blog frequently is your blogging pal or not. I have blogging pals that are formed from all the above categories since networking is so important in blogging nowadays.

All I can tell you is that when they are your pal, you will take the extra time to put in extra effort when they need your help. Someone that is interested in befriending you will show you the following signs for example:

• Contacting you frequently
• Commenting frequently on your blog
• Praising and giving constructive opinions on your plans and works
• Offering their help free of charge

Don’t feel obliged to return the favor if you don’t have the time but at least have a group that will support you all the time is a motivating factor in blogging.

My Stories on Blogging Pals

From the day I started to turn my old blogspot blog towards a blog with ads, I started to make friends all over the blogosphere. I will not mention here via linkbacks as it will make this post a long one. Wayne Liew Dot Com actually made me more friends than before.

I get to know more people who are devoted to blogging (this is a blogging tips blog), people who are willing to help, sponsor and provide opinions. Most people can be my friend but if you meet me in real life, no long and elaborated blogging tips please.

I make friends and I will try my best to keep them. They are the best ever "asset" that I have. They can be everything. They can be by source of inspiration, they can be a motivator and most important of all, they remind you that you are not alone in this difficult blog eat blog world.

Photo by ktylerconk

Feedback on Blogging Pals and Your Interaction With Them

Blogging pals can come and go anytime. You might not know everything about them and this is why it is important to uphold the few tips above when you interact with them until you are more confident about the relationship.

Don’t tell me that you don’t have any blogging pals. If this is so, you should get one now immediately and Wayne Liew is available!

Do you consider yourself to have a lot of blogging pals? What will you be aware of when interacting with your blogging pals? What will be the point when you consider them as your real friend? What exceptional experience you have when knowing blogger friends?

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed to get the latest blogging tips on blog networking.

Recently, with the launch of Nufflets and GrabMyAds (both are local (Malaysian)ad networks), I have seen more and more Malaysian blogs endorsing to more ad networks.

Photo by laughlin

Such act is causing more harm than benefits to you and your blog. You might be following the trend or you just want to try them out. First of all, do you know that you have more than 70 ad networks out there (not taking into account for recent launches) waiting for you to join?

Read along and you will find out why I don’t recommend you to endorse ads from every ad networks out there.

6 Reasons Not to Join All Ad Networks

Tracking and Optimization Take Time

When you start to blog, content creation right down to marketing your blog take a lot of time. When you want to earn a lot from ad networks, you will start to track their performance on your blog and optimize elements such as ad placement for better performance.

Photo by kaerast

Don’t you think you will earn better with one ad network which you fully focus on the optimization rather than spreading your efforts all over? It is for sure than it will kills your productivity and also optimization cannot be done properly. In the end, nothing good was accomplished.

Be Selfless, Put Yourself at First

One mistake I have seen bloggers did was to eat up the promise by some ad networks. Every new ad network promises great earning opportunities and varieties of ads but they always say they need your help. Wait a minute, is your blog doing very good that you have the time to help them instead of your blog?

Wake up, that is their company and if they don’t do well, it is their problem. Thus, DON’T HELP THEM! When they started a blog advertising company, they should plan out how to attract sign ups and gain publicity. Good companies will eventually survived the cold shoulder but if you unluckily "helped" a weak advertising company that failed, you might end up wasting all your efforts, regretting the fact that you are working for them more than for your blog.

Reaching Cash Out Limit Faster

All ad networks have their own cash out limit. If you are earning $100 over 10 ad networks and all their cash out limit is set at $50, you can’t feel the cash in your pocket because you just can’t cash out! Focusing and optimizing on only two or three ad networks will help you reach the cash out limit faster.

Photo by jenn_jenn

This might not seem to be a problem for those who have the though, "We will eventually get the money sooner or later" but let me tell you this, feeling the cold hard cash earned by your efforts in your hands is a great motivation to push you in blogging. The longer it is for you to get the cash, the higher the chances of you giving up blogging.

Risk on New Startups

I have experienced this once with the "sounds great" Advert-Revenue. Once this money maker failed, I learned my lesson. New startups always face problems such as payment throttle, lack of advertisers, admin panel bugs, and even bad customer support.

Why you want to go through tough times with a startup company? I am sure there are more established ones out there waiting for you to try out. They have been proven their earning capabilities and have improved over time compared to new startups.

Every Blog is Different

Some bloggers tried out an ad network because they are following the trend or their friends asked them to. After knowing what your blog is covering and the availability of ad placement on your blog, only you yourself know what is the best ad network for your blog.

Some ads might look good and work pretty well on certain blogs but when applied to your blog, they are not as good as you have seen on others. With this in mind, don’t always follow the trend. Only sign up for ad networks that you think will make money for you.

Your Blog is Becoming an Ad Board

Some bloggers is getting hyped up about signing up onto various ad networks and placing ad panels on their blog without noticing that their blogs is becoming more and more like an advertisement board. Every space is being used. You will see ads between posts, on the header, at the footer and for some creative-minded bloggers, right at the side of the comment editor.

Photo by miss pupik

Please do keep in mind that if your blog (does not need to be a spam blog) seems to be or becoming a spam blog by new readers and existing readers, they will click the X button on top before they even read any text.

Appropriate Amount of Ad Networks to Participate

My instinct tells me that this question will be asked by some so I am answering it here now.

If you have this question in mind, always answer the following questions or follow the steps:

• How many spaces that your blog allows for ad panels?
• What will be the response of your readers upon increase or decrease of ad panels in your blog?
• What is the performance of current ad panels?
• Are you nearing the cash out limit for participated ad networks?
• Always provide a space for new ad network experiment but always experiment one ad network at a time.

Last but not least, don’t go for only one ad network after reading this blogging tips. The consequences of getting banned by that one ad network is equally bad to having more than 10 ad panels from different ad networks on your blog.

Why Ad Networks Should Not Blast Me for This Post?

First of all, I am not that influential.

Secondly, don’t you think it is a must for companies and business of all kinds to try their best to impress the market? Getting endorsement from authority bloggers, giving out cash upon sign ups and holding activities are some ideas which have worked successfully for some ad networks.

Blog advertisement networks need bloggers for their success. Bloggers are their resources and they should fight for it, just like bloggers trying to impress our readers.

Feedback on Participation in Ad Networks

How many ad networks that you have joined? When you look at your blog, how many ad networks is your blog endorsing? Do you think that you should always support a new ad network? What are your considerations before joining and adding another ad panel from a different ad network onto your blog?

Subscribe to Wayne Liew Dot Com RSS Feed to get more blogging tips on blog monetization.

Photo by the plunkmaster

Blog footer are said to be the least accessible place for average Joe blog surfers. Webmasters or fellow bloggers might be reading the footer to check out your stats (research on your traffic) and theme resource link (they want your theme).

Conclusion from the statements above shown that whatever the frequency and types of readers reaching your blog footer, there are still people viewing it.

Readers often arrive at your blog footer after finishing what your blog home page has to offer. At this time, what they are looking for is how can they continue surfing or should they close down the window. This is why a blog footer is extremely important for containing blog readers or reaping benefits for you.

9 Item Options for A Blog Footer

Adverts

Ad panels can be placed at the footer. The blog footer is a good place for pay-per-click ads because when readers wanted to quit your blog, they can click on these ads. However, placing CPM ads in your blog footer is not recommended. CPM ads provider often pays better if the ads are placed above the fold since the ads will get more exposure.

Photo by sylvar

Affiliate or sales page links

When readers got attracted with your information offered and a message like "We got more offered at XXX so check it out now" pops up, readers will certainly check the link out. This improves the conversion rate of your sales (if you have your own products) or your affiliate marketing activities.

Reminders

Readers are often idle when they reach your footer. Thus, give them something to do! A simple reminder to bookmark your blog or subscribe to your RSS feed can be placed at the footer since readers is not distracted by contents or your sidebars and thus, more inclined to perform the actions reminded.

Back to top

Some blogs is long in terms of length and this means it will be a long way down, which also means a long way up if the readers want to. Having a back to top same page link will help the readers get back to the header fast. This should be done if for example, you have an opt-in box or an event which requires attention at the top. To do this, you must also make sure that your header is capable of getting into the subconscious mind of readers so that they will click on the link.

Search engine manipulation links

Due to the fact that most blog footers are least accessible by readers, some had made the place as a link farm by trading links or having link exchange deals to boost their Page Rank and search engine ranking positions. However, this is not recommended by me as Google and other search engines has been more powerful than you think it is. Irrelevant links from your site will only raise their curiosity rather than reaching your aim with that action of yours.

Outgoing links

Relevant outgoing links do not only act as a tool to get the attention of bloggers that you have linked to. Also, it can be a good resource list which readers might come back again just to refer to the list. This is because most readers don’t bookmark a long list of sites. Making these links opening in a new window will stop you from giving your readers away.

Internal links

Internal links improves the stickiness of your blog. Readers will stay on your blog longer as you offer them more information. They got more fascinated with your blog and this improves the chances of turning these first time readers into your loyal readers.

Navigation bar

Navigation bar are often seen on top of a blog. They consists of pages such as "Featured Posts" and money making page such as the "Advertise" page. All these pages have benefits for you when a reader of potential advertiser visits it. A navigation bar at the footer will serve as a reminder as well as an exit point for such readers.

Miscellaneous stuffs

Don’t feel like having anything of the above as your blog footer item? Well, there are plenty of other items that can be placed in your blog footer such as:

• Blog stats
• Various widgets
• Copyright policy and information
• Relevant videos
• About the author section

Such stuffs might commonly be placed in the sidebar but they got neglected since the contents is there attracting the attention of readers. Free up the sidebar for more useful stuffs and put these into your footer!

Conclusion on Maintaining a Blog Footer

There are more than 9 things as listed above for you to place into your blog footer. However, stuffing your blog footer with all of them is not a wise move.

First of all, you will need to know what is the main aim for your blog. If it is to make money, place PPC ad panels there. If it is content-orientated like this blogging tips blog, place links to your articles.

Blog footer is often neglected by bloggers and now, with the list of items that can be included has been provided, I hope you can revisit your blog footer so that it can be improved.

Feedback by Readers

Have you been paying attention to your blog footer? When you visit a blog, will the blog footer get your attention? What other items that exist in your blog footer but not covered by my list?

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