Blogging and Marketing Resources for the Average Blogger and Business
Posts tagged Traffic
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: Molly Lee Cards
Jul 25th
Molly Lee Cards
Prolific blogger. Creative genius. The most unique, fun and interesting cards the likes of which you’ll not find anywhere else.
That’s Molly Lee Cards.
Molly Lee’s blog is an exciting and energetic lens into her creative card business. Through her ETSY store (an online “crafters mall), she sells animated cards that are terrific. While I could go on and on about the cards (I’m a previous customer), the purpose of this post is to review her blog. You can visit for yourself and have all the fun I’ve had with her creations. One important note: as you can see from the screen capture, she has broken into Powell’s Books in Portland. (Not literally – her work is so good, they’ve given her a chance to sell her cards in their retail setting. An excellent endorsement of her work.)
Back to her blog.
Molly Lee Cards is housed on Blogger and is a simple, yet very effective design. In previous discussions with her, I know Molly has previously dabbled with advertising on her site, but has simply focused on her work (which is great!) and the art and science of the blogging itself. I might suggest that she reconsider. Here’s a couple reasons why:
Molly Lee Cards is a PR 2!
First, Molly has achieved a Google Page Rank of 2 according to PR Checker. This is no small feet, caused by consistent posts over a good period of time, inbound links and a significant following. With 25 followers registered on her site (and who knows how many more check in regularly) she has a community following on which she could capitalize. Since a Page Rank of 2 includes a fair amount of traffic, Google’s Adsense may make, well, sense.
Secondly, Google has improved Adsense for Blogger users with a more integrated design and more ad placement options. This has made it easier to insert ads between posts and more flexible throughout the layout. One of the topics I’ve posted about on the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit has been to Diversify Your Monetization Strategy. This would be a good time to take advantage of increased visibility and diversify her revenue stream.
In addition to the wonderful cards discussed on her blog, Molly has promoted a Crafty Space Makeover Challenge. Here, she has applied her creativity (and her Industrial Engineering background) into re-engineering her personal work space. Her crafting skills are now unbridled. Look out. But in doing so, she invited some of her crafter colleagues to join her. She inspired them to improve their own work spaces and in doing so, helped them improve their own operations.
It is a treat to see someone who is passionate about what she does, produces a very high quality product of enormous creativity, and inspires others to do the same. I wish her continued success.
Dave
The Move to Monetization: No Google Adsense
May 26th
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No Adsense
As you recall from my previous posts, Cover Your Adsense and Reinstating Adsense, I talked about the misguided decision by Google to terminate my Adsense account some time ago. This was on my first blog, which has evolved into The New Blogged Word.
Based on a pattern of ad clicks that I don’t even begin to understand, they believed fraudulent activity. My only thought is that due to very low traffic on that initial foray into pay per click advertising, someone decided to torpedo my account through repeated clicks that ultimately brought down my account. It didn’t take very many bad clicks on a site with low initial volume to trigger the bad boy algorithm and summon the Termination Police. I have submitted appeals on multiple occasions only to receive denials and most recently, no response.
With appreciation to Neville Medhora at Neville’s Financial Blog, I have used his image depicting his very early decision (May 2005) to eliminate Adsense.
A number of things have been brought to my attention, over the last few months. Mainly, I’ve come to the realization that Google Adsense isn’t the only game in town. Let’s recap, shall we?
Point 1. Google Adsense seems to only make sense when there is substantial traffic coming to your site. The purpose of the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit is to assist “average bloggers” with growing their sites. If they already had substantial traffic, supporting the notion that the small percentage of visitors will click an ad – and that is enough to put bread on the table – then they have no business wasting their time with the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit. I should be learning from them.
Point 2. In growing a nascent blog presence to one that as I’ve said before, turns an avocation into a vocation, I don’t want to necessarily direct my traffic to another site. One click and the visitor is gone. Yes, I know, you’re saying, “isn’t that what happens when someone clicks on an Entrecard ad or an Adgetize badge?” Yep, but with a twist. Those are specific communities; ones where visitors continue to come back frequently because that is the point from where they usually start – their community.
Point 3. There are many, MANY, MANY, MANY ad networks out there. Sure, Google’s Adsense it the big gorilla in the room, but I’ll do just fine with the other apes, chimps and orangutans who I’ve already found to be quite pleasant.
Point 4: I’m tired of defending myself for a transgression that I did not execute. I’m done.
So, what’s your favorite ad network? What’s the best for a blog with low to moderate traffic?
Dave
A (Slightly) New Look
May 24th
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Spring Cleaning the Layout
After adding my Entrecard widget and my new Adgitize ads, I decided the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit needed a bit of a layout clean-up. Taking a queue from a blog I recently began following, Cromely has shaken up his design and it has inspired me to do the same.
With ads in one panel and support tools in the other, it should make it easy to find what you need and not be distracted. Does it work for you? If so, please share why. Even more important, if it doesn’t, please share that perspective!
In spite of the site not being overly crowded, it was important to me to keep a simple, orderly design. I’ve seen too many blogs that have so many toys, gadgets and widgets that I’m erring on the side of conservatism. Many of these sites have so many “do dads” to load, the page bogs down and I close the tab – and bypass the Entrecard drop and the experience that may have been. There’s not enough hours in a day.
Many of the excessive “noise” on overly widgetized pages are simply annoying. Scrolling ad boxes, in-line links that pop up an ad box when you inadvertently move your mouse across them, interstitial pages that come up when the page loads – requiring you to close it before proceeding… ENOUGH!
Sorry for shouting, but you get the point.
What about you? What are the most annoying irritants that you see on blogs? Which ones should we stay away from to keep our valued visitors coming back?
On the other hand, which one’s can’t you live without? Which ones draw traffic to your site? Which ones actually further your traffic and monetization goals? In two words, “what works?”
Share your ideas – we’ll all benefit.
Thanks,
Dave
The Move to Monetization: Entrecard
May 23rd
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Entrecard Monetization
Until now, I have been content with my Entrecard experience to simply visit new blogs, evaluate them, revisit the ones I like and ignore the ones I don’t. All the while, I’ve been growing a small base of regular visitors to the Ultimate Blogging Toolkit, experiencing a wonderful variety of new blogs and building a balance of Entrecard Credits (ECs). With my newly acquired and safety net in my EIN, I am now ready for the Cashout Program.
Entrecard recently allowed members to apply for cash payout in exchange for a portion of their ECs. Of course, as I indicated in The Move to Monetization: Safety, Entrecard requires a taxpayer identification number. Well now, I’m ready.
Entrecard will be considering the following balance of six activities to award payouts:
- How many cards you drop and how frequently
- % of paid ads you approve
- % of Entrecard ads you approve
- Listings you create and completed sales in the market
- How many credits you transfer to others (indicative of contests, tips, and generosity)
- % of credits you spend on Entrecard ads
They are justifiably not publishing the details of the algorithm used to prevent gaming the system or worse, fraud. But the move to their own monetization model has not been without controversy.
There have been a number of Entrecard members who post and comment about the acceptance of paid ads into the network being seen as a “sell out.” It appears that in my post called Entrecard Paid Ads Confusion, I posed the question about how viable an environment can be long term without a revenue stream. All of us getting awarded ECs for visiting each other seems to have a somewhat limited shelf life monetarily. At least one person has expressed strong opinions. Based on the numerous other posts I have read, that person is not alone in their feelings.
For now, I have applied for the Cashout Program. Understanding that there has been intense interest from other members, I realize it may take a while to get approved. Not a problem. When that happens, it will simply be the next step on that journey from avocation to vocation.
Dave
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