The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit
Blogging and Marketing Resources for the Average Blogger and Business
Blog Review: Lavender Greetings
Aug 23rd
Lavender Greetings Blog
Each blog review I’ve performed has of course been unique, consistent with the unique qualities of the individual blogs and their authors. Lavender Greetings is no exception. What is particularly noteworthy in this case is the relationship between the Lavender Greetings blog, an ecommerce site selling custom, handmade greeting cards, and an Etsy site selling the same cards. For this review, I will provide a perspective on each and hopefully some advice on pulling them together.
First, the blog. (After all this is a blog review!)
With Blogger as the hosting platform, the layout is organized and the graphics well done and VERY lavender! I’m not making light of the lavender theme. This creates an instant connection for the reader and is a strength I would like to see exploited in the eCommerce site, but more on that later. I am also very pleased to see not one animated gadget or widget on the site. As you’ve read in other reviews, too much animation is distracting and at times, annoying. But Karen has done an excellent job of providing straighforward information and an already extensive and useful Category/Tag collection for such a new blog property (first post Tuesday, June 9, 2009.)
While the lavender banner is quite pleasing, it takes up valuable “above the fold” space. The graphic shown here is what I see when I first access the blog. Note that only a little more than a paragraph from the top post is shown and so little of the embedded graphic, that without scrolling, it is impossible to see what it is. If the header were half the height (cropped carefully), all of the important elements could be retained, but the important content on the remainder of the page would move up into a more visible location.
One more comment about the banner: “Welcome to Lavender Greetings” is a pleasant message for new arrivals, but it still isn’t absolutely clear to me what the site is about. A tag line something like, “A place to explore handmade greeting cards” or “We’re talking custom, handmade greeting cards!” would further describe the site, confirming the visitor is in the right place.
I have an ongoing debate with a valued friend about the merits of Google Ads when trying to sell your own wares. My friend’s perspective fits this situation to a tee. In the top position when I captured the screen is Wedding Supply Superstore. Based on the Seahorse and Celebration of Love wedding invitations on the eCommerce site (again, more on that in a minute), Karen already has a good start on a beautiful collection of wedding “supplies.” Why earn a few cents for the click, only to have the potential customer leave the site? My recommendation is to look hard at the Adsense earnings. Unless it is a significant revenue source, I might suggest an alternative.
Traffic – quality traffic – is always the initial driver of success. Without quality traffic, nothing else is possible. For my blogs (Ultimate Blogging Toolkit, and a more casual, The New Blogged Word) I have been quite pleased with my combination of Entrecard and Adgitize as free networks that allow members to explore (and be explored!) in any number of categories. At Entrecard, there are currently 850 members in Women’s Interests, 2462 in Art, 305 in Romance, and 903 in Hobbies. What better environment to develop relationships and be exposed to others who appreciate crafting? With Entrecard, members earn credits for visiting other blogs and “dropping” your card on the site. Both the “dropper” and the “dropee” get a credit. Use credits to advertise on other blogs, gaining yet more exposure.
Adgitize Badge
With Adgitize, visiting sites is still the name of the game, but based on blogs visited, page views, ads displayed and posts made on your blog, actual money is earned. It’s not a lot, but I might argue that depending on the traffic currently received on Lavender, it may be comparable, or even better than Adsense results.
(Karen, if you click through here or on my Adgitize badge to the right, and join, I gain some ancillary benefits. Many thanks!)
Next, the eCommerce Site: Make it Lavender!
I am so impressed with the lavender “ambiance” when visiting the blog, I recommend capitalizing on that positive feeling. I know, easier said than done, because with many things, there are options. My job is to lay a few of them out for you.
Lavender Greetings on Etsy
“Recommended” Option A
Use Etsy as the primary eCommerce activity. It has a built-in shopping cart, ability to search the site, a unique presence, and easy “categories” to find merchandise. (See red boxes on graphic.) Use www.lavendergreetings.com for the Blogger site (choose Custom Domain in Blogger’s Settings > Publishing.) Make the blog the primary landing identity, blog about interesting new cards, creative uses by customers, or exotic locales where the cards have been shipped, then promote the Etsy store as the way to purchase. Yes, this means your eCommerce site goes away.
Regarding the Etsy identity, when planning the new banner for the blog, size it appropriately to be used as the custom graphic on Etsy. (Note: I’m assuming this is possible.) That way, when someone goes from the blog to Etsy, the same, familiar lavender “ambiance” that I really like is retained. It would make it appear that it is all one environment, unlike the very dissimilar treatments in play today.
Option B
Revamp the eCommerce site to make it look like the blog (lavender, graphics, fonts, etc.) This still maintains three separate environments (blog, eCommerce, Etsy) which confuses me. I’m really not in favor of this unless a serious change could be done. Navigation, fonts, colors – everything needs to be rethought if it is to be elevated to the simple elegance of the blog and solid functionality of Etsy.
Option C
This may be a longer term strategy, but Karen, you may want to consider WordPress as a content management system. It is a great blog environment (The Ultimate Blogging Toolkit uses it) and it is easily customizable. If you don’t want to learn to customize it, there are many, many people who do that sort of thing. Since it is quite common, customization services are usually not very expensive. That way, you could eventually incorporate blogging, the eCommerce site, and the Etsy store functions all into one web property.
This of course would require you to purchase your own hosting. Just like I’ve shamelessly plugged Adgitize, BlueHost is what I use and I’m quite pleased. Joining through this link gives me some benefits here as well. Thanks.
Karen, the URL you own, LavenderGreetings.com is perfect; hold onto it. Regardless which way you decide to take this activity, you will benefit from it.
For everyone else, Lavender Greetings has wonderful products made by someone who seems to be very passionate about her craft. Blogs, URLs, WordPress, hosting – all are very necessary “evils,” but they are secondary and will evolve over time. Karen has the right product, the right color and the right attitude to be successful. My hope is that this review will help in a small way with the necessary evils.
Dave
Blog Review: Owning a Cafe
Aug 14th
Owning a Cafe - The Ins and Outs of the Philipine Internet Cafe Industry
One of the many interesting aspects of blogging, is learning about other points of view, other interests, and even aspects of living in another part of the world. One thing I’ve noticed in recent months is the extensive blogging that takes place in the Philippines. More to the point, and with a connection to the Ultimate Blog Review, is the Philippine Internet Cafe industry. Today, I am reviewing Owning a Cafe.
Owning a Cafe is actually similar in philosophy to the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit. I have used my blog to share what I continue to learn about blogging with fellow bloggers. From the Owning a Cafe “About” page, it appears the same motivation exists: to share the author’s insights about the Philippine Internet Cafe industry, presumably with other cafe owners.
I have enjoyed my exploration and education. For example, it has provided interesting perspectives on the state of broadband in the country. A quote from one post, ”The number of Internet broadband subscribers in the country will reach two million (2M) by the end of 2009″ is a very telling statistic about the potential for growth that still exists in the Philippines.
On to the review.
My first observation when I received the request for a review was a disconnect between the site’s identity and web address. ”Owning a Cafe” is an excellent name with a very descriptive tag line of “The Ins and Outs of the Philippine Internet Cafe Industry.” Unfortunately, the web address, or URL of xicowner.jefmart.com misses an opportunity to promote the site. With a PageRank of 2, the site is doing very well for itself. Exploiting some promotional opportunities with a descriptive URL may help that further.
Don’t let this cast a negative light on the site. There is an enormous amount of information provided. From accounting and insurance to regulations and technical, Owning a Cafe clearly contains a wealth of information from someone who appears to be quite experienced. One recommendation I would have would be to separate the non-cafe related topics. Content related to blogging in general, business opportunities for young mothers and information on products such as organic mosquito repellent are all quite important, but seem to take the focus away from the depth of “cafe” information that exists.
The site layout is clean with not an excessive number of widgets and gadgets that would cause distraction, as is too often the case. The animation in the page peel ad in the upper right corner a somewhat “busy” but tolerable. There is one aspect though that really should be reviewed: the use of pop-up ads when hovering over keywords. Even the “Ins and Outs” tag line contains one. From many things I’ve read on this technique to serve up advertising, many people share my opinion that the accidental hover that causes the ad to display is distracting, frustrating and for some people, actually annoying. Many, including myself, usually leave a site when they see those in line links. Personally, I hate to see it here because of the quality and quantity of very valuable Internet Cafe resources that are contained on the site.
Owning a Cafe is a valuable resource for anyone, in any country, who needs information about the industry and practical advise on setting up or running an Internet cafe.
Dave
PageRank as a Measurement Tool
Aug 9th
PR Checker Badges
Recently, I offered to provide free blog reviews. I am very pleased to say that the response has been great. I have several in the works and will be posting the next one soon. Thank you again. Where appropriate, I’ve been showing that blog’s Google PageRank (TM) as a way to further define their success. Since this is a great tool for getting a quick read on how Google sees your blog (or anyone else’s in which you are interested), I decided to place the tool here for your convenience.
What is PageRank, you say? Let me explain.
Many of you already have a badge on your blogs showing your PageRank, but you may not know what drives the number. First, there are many sites that measure and provide statistics. The one I use, PR Checker, is simple and has the best looking selection of badges.
Let’s start with how Google describes it. After all, it’s their trademarked and patented tool. (In the spirit of full disclosure, notice the TM above for every reference on my site.) Google says,
“PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages ‘important’.”
Of course, it is much more complex that this, but in essence, “the higher the ranked sites that link to your site, the higher your PageRank.”
As I often do, I turn to our friends at Wikipedia to dig deeper. This entry is about all the detail I care to consider – or serve up. If you have trouble sleeping at night, I’m sure you can find even more detailed descriptions on the web.
A while back, I posted about the value of relationships in a post comparing online and offline businesses. This is probably the number one piece of advice I could give. Visit blogs, engage in the topics, provide clear perspectives, make your visit there valuable, and they will reciprocate. A relationship is built, a link back may ensue and you’ve just added some PageRank juice to your site.
Dave
Blog Review: Dogs Deserve Freedom
Aug 2nd
Dogs Deserve Freedom - A Canine's Advocate on the Net
Blog names are an interesting collection of emotion, identity, whimsy, and sometimes surprise. My initial reaction to the name of this blog, “Dogs Deserve Freedom” caused me to wonder if this was a dog lover who was on a mission to free every canine held by owners and set them loose to run free. Well, I got the dog lover part right.
But this fondness for our four legged friends goes way beyond a dog lover. Emily at Dogs Deserve Freedom is an advocate for not only appropriate, but caring and nurturing treatment of dogs. She volunteers at her local Humane Society, trains those hard to adopt, and helps others improve dog treatment through a wide variety of informational posts on her blog. From dog foster homes, to features on “special needs” dogs to simple reminders about the dangers of closed cars on hot days, she consistently serves up important, actionable information for fellow dog lovers… pardon me… advocates!
The snapshot shown here is not the most recent post, but it was when Emily first requested a review. I remembered the photo of the featured Vizsla and just had to use it. Based on my exploration of Dogs Deserve Freedom, this picture perfectly describes the love Emily invests and should be considered a runner-up to what appears to be a black lab in the title badge.
“Appears” is the key word. Granted, I have an older 17 CRT monitor, but I have the brightness on 100% and the badge picture still looks dark. An improvement may include a simple brightness boost with an image editing program, or maybe changing the lettering to a lighter color – maybe both. Not only is the possible lab hard to distinguish, the name doesn’t seem to pop out either. (See below for another option for our buddy, the lab.)
The basic Rounders 3 Blogger template is wonderfully simple and a great tool, but it does have limited real estate for gadgets on right side panel. Here’s a few suggestions to make the best use of the limited space:
- Create an image similar to the “lab badge” for the Dogs Deserve Freedom header, replacing the solid blue background and moving all the right side gadgets “up” accordingly. In the header text, place an html tag of <br> in the text where a line break is needed. Then, the lab’s image can appear on the right side of the header without the text encroaching on the photo. The William Wilberforce quote could appear there as well.
- The above suggesion is based on the assumption that due to the gadgets displayed, blog monetization is of interest. The two with the most potential are Project Wonderful and Adgitize – and they should both be at the top. The above suggestion frees up valuable space “above the fold” to entice advertisers accordingly.
- Project Wonderful: By promoting a $.10 ad, that is apparently too rich for many advertisers. A suggestion would be to not display an amount (Project Wonderful control panel setting) and allow ads with zero cost. This will prevent the “empty restaurant parking lot” syndrome by showing ads and not “your ad here.” Then, bidding activity should naturally increase the bids.
- Animal Blog Roll: This is a very, very comprehensive list of other blogs, but it is devouring very limited and valuable side bar space. My suggestion would be to pick the 10 blogs that best complement Dogs Deserve Freedom, and call it the “DDF Top 10″ or something similar. This adds more value to them rather than being part of a 67 blog list (yes, I counted.) If you really want to publish all 67, call the list the “DDF Top 10+1″ and add a link to a post that you make that has the remaining 57 listed. Then, the visitor sees your top 10 as well as a full additional library of resources. Valuable space is saved.
- With the wide variety of post themes, you may want to consider using “Categories” and showing them near the top. This way, if someone wants to see all the “Featured Rescue” posts, a single click on that category displays just those posts. This would require going back and tagging each post with an appropriate category or categories, but the improved result would be very worthwhile.
As indicated in Followers – One Hundred, there are many people who see the same value in Dogs Deserve Freedom as I do. Add the Google Page Rank of 3 and you have a solid blog, with good traffic, loyal followers and now, a review with some helpful suggestions. Truly, an Ultimate Blog.
Dave
Yes, It’s Been A While
Nov 29th
Posted by Dave in Uncategorized
5 comments
First, if you are reading this, thank you for being patient. I appreciate every one of you who follow. I’ve been developing some other project ideas and I’m now in a position to move them forward – and the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit will be a part of them. Stay tuned.
Secondly, for those of you who have asked about a Free Blog Review, again, thank you for staying with me and yes, I will be conducting each and every one of them.
Again, thank you and look for some new concepts to be introduced as part of the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit. I’ve missed this interaction, but very excited to be bringing you fresh perspectives in the near future.
Dave