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?

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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?

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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?

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