ECommerce Home Shopping - 6 Business Web Design SEO Tips

Ping (blogging), Wikipedia Definition

"In blogging, ping is an XML-RPC-based push mechanism by which a weblog notifies a server that its content has been updated. An XML-RPC signal is sent to one or more "ping servers," which can then generate a list of blogs that have new material. Many blog authoring tools automatically ping one or more servers each time the blogger creates a new post or updates an old one.

Open ping servers, like VeriSign's Weblogs.com, let other web-services subscribe to a list of blogs that have recently pinged them. Blog search engines can provide fresh results very quickly by polling only the newly-updated blogs. Similarly, aggregators use results from ping servers to tell subscribers which items on their subscription lists have fresh material.

In addition to open ping servers, there are an increasing number of proprietary ping servers that gather information only for their own applications. Most of the major blog search engines operate such ping servers.

Unlike open ping servers, proprietary servers with their own subscription applications have no incentive to share their received ping data directly with other servers, which may offer competing services. As these servers do not share their data, bloggers have to ping a large number of individual servers to receive the desired publicity. As a result, bloggers have turned to services such as Ping-o-matic, which pings multiple proprietary ping servers." -- Wikipedia

Analytics of Your Blog

I have decided that I enjoy the method that Google Analytics tracks my blog data.

Some of you may have varying opinions on the subject, so please comment.

Google Analytics

The things that I like about it are that you have a complete analytical dashboard.

This dashboard is interactive and complete with line graphs showing dates and visit numbers for your blog, the number of visitors, a map overlay of the locations of your visitors, a pie chart showing where your visitors are coming from, and a content overview section so that you can evaluate what content to continue writing about based on the number of visits.

Within these areas you can get really detailed reports.

We'll just take one example of the detail reports that I happen to enjoy..."Visitors".

I click on visitors for any of my blogs and it give another dashboard with stats for the site.

I can click on "Visitor Trending" and see anything from "Pageviews" to "Time On Site".

Clicking on "Visitor Loyalty", I can find out how many are return visitors versus how many are new.

If you want to know something about your readers it is on Google Analytics.

Don't forget to use the Ping locations that I mentioned in my December 10th article. Unless you network and ping your site, the traffic is not just going to come knocking automatically.

"Blogsessive"

Someone clued me into a blog that may be of interest to others attempting to gain traffic to their sites.

It's called Bloggsessive and it has many interesting points.

Points of interest are the following.

Importance of blogging constancy...why it is important and how much it affects your blog.

How can you insure your blogging constancy?

What do the search engines say?

These are all important pieces of the pie when considering your blog.

Holiday Break Ciaos

It's been a challenge to keep blogging while my kids have been home from school over this holiday break...when is school back in session? Just kidding. I really enjoy my kids being home all day, but the balance gets way off and by the time you find new balance they go back to school again. I guess it's one of the fun challenges and the enjoyment of being a parent.

A site called Social Media Trader.com has some great information regarding social, news, and bookmark sites, statistical analysis of Digg "top" lists, and other networking information that I found informative and helpful.

Here is the link.

Click Here



I like this site because they include a link to each of the networking sites, as well as $ value. They are listed in order and it can never hurt to check each of them out.

I have a blog set-up in www.newsvine.com to test the waters there and enjoy those networking contacts.

I also use www.digg.com religiously.

I check into www.technorati.com weekly and my "authority" there is rising steadily...I have no idea how or why...I think it is due to the "ping" factor.

I check into del.icio.us and www.stumbleupon.com weekly as I find that my efforts to do more than that don't pay off for traffic to my sites like it does with Digg.

Regarding the other networking sites, it can be all-consuming to network, however I think that I may try out a couple of other sites in the next couple of weeks to see if the formats they use are conducive to my content and interest.

Here is a page with some interesting statistics regarding the "Top Diggers" from July on seomoz.org.

Click Here

I learn something more about the networking sites all of the time.

One more item for this post...

I ran across a great article about the top women in blogging that I thought I'd share. It starts with "A little while back someone said to me that blogging is a “man’s game”...I then made it my mission to compile a list of some absolutely amazing women in blogging."

Because I feel it's important that blogging is a level playing field for all sexes, I love this article at eXtra For Every Publisher(xfep.com)and include the link here.

Click Here

Keep blogging, even when the balance gets off, and the consistency will eventually pay-off and you will reach your goal(s).

Happy blogging!

Google Analytics

I have decided that I enjoy the method that Google Analytics tracks my blog data better than FeedBurner, thus far.

Some of you may have varying opinions on the subject, so please comment.

Google Analytics

The things that I like about it are that you have a complete analytical dashboard.

This dashboard is interactive and complete with line graphs showing dates and visit numbers for your blog, the number of visitors, a map overlay of the locations of your visitors, a pie chart showing where your visitors are coming from, and a content overview section so that you can evaluate what content to continue writing about based on the number of visits.

Within these areas you can get really detailed reports.

We'll just take one example of the detail reports that I happen to enjoy..."Visitors".

I click on visitors for any of my blogs and it give another dashboard with stats for the site.

I can click on "Visitor Trending" and see anything from "Pageviews" to "Time On Site".

Clicking on "Visitor Loyalty", I can find out how many are return visitors versus how many are new.

If you want to know something about your readers it is on Google Analytics.

Don't forget to use the Ping locations that I mentioned in my December 10th article. Unless you network and ping your site, the traffic is not just going to come knocking automatically.

New Stuff, New Tweaks

As you can see, I've decided to change to a different template.

I hope that it is agreeable with my readers.

The reasoning behind the change is my disappointment with the inability of the previous template's flexibility with regards to widget size and placement. Additionally, the previous template caused my blog archive list to stretch extremely far down the sidebar, as well as any other text that I added to that area of the template.

I'm not sure that I love this template because there is not as clear a division between posts, however, I do feel it is an improvement from the past template.

I may change my template at Issues On Call as well, as I am not extremely pleased with its appearance. However, I have been working with the colors and layout over the past week, as well as the ad layout.

I feel that learning, based on the option of these templates, gives me a greater understanding of the details I will desire to develop on my own web domain, when the time comes.

I hope that viewing my learning process helps others in their blogging journey and that it doesn't annoy those who subscribe to my blog.

Thank you for your patience.

With regard to Feedburner...I have been able to integrate AdSense with Feedburner and that allows for additional ads to appear at the end of each "newest" post. This location is supposedly a prime location for readers to view and curiously click, however, my results have still been minimal, which is frustrating.

If you look at my Issues On Call site, at the end of each post, Feedburner has placed the ads there as well, however, with the FeedFlare option (where the ad option was first located), there is an option to include things such as, technorati, sphere, digg, etc. This shows up on my Issues On Call site but somehow doesn't show up on my Max Your Ping site. So, this will be something that I'll need to troubleshoot...Ahhh the frustration of inconsistency...probably something I did or didn't do correctly.

Additionally, my Headline Animator from Feedburner continues to circulate the titles and dates of my posts, which in turn interests my viewers in clicking on the widget. From clicking on the widget the viewer can subscribe to my post...an additional subscription option. Within the Headline Animator section, you can choose to advertise your site through Headline Animator, however, the budgets begin at $25 per month...something most bloggers are not in the blogging business for. Certainly, right now, I'd love to see my $25.00 in a check to me...lol

I have added my name to another location as well...Newsvine.com. I'm just getting the hang of it, but it seems to be a pretty serious site...not one made for match-making, but for serious article writing...right up my alley (not that you can tell from the tidbits I write here).

Here is my link so that you can see what it begins to look like
Click Here

I am still getting to know the ropes. They are pretty strict. I'm trying to find out if I can actually add any ads to my articles through Google Analytics or Feedburner, as Newsvine uses different rules which include the longevity of the user and the amount and quality of your articles and interaction.

It is an interesting site. I suggest reading up on it as another option in networking, however...let me tell you that these are serious WORK, serious ARTICLE, serious EVERYTHING networking groups and it isn't like Digg. You really have to work hard to get people into your networking group.

My StumbleUpon Tool Bar doesn't seem to work half the time, so I have a hard time integrating with that site. Plus, it seems that it is not quite the serious networking site that I'd like to be involved with, however, from time to time I still visit it and check on my friends there and network a bit. It is somewhat between Digg and MySpace. You can have some people that want you to see their work and others that want you to SEE their work...if you know what I mean. So...just an FYI.

The Yahoo networking site is one that I have not figured out AT ALL yet. It is still in Beta and I think it has a long way to go. However, I have to say that I have given the others a better try so I will cut it some slack...for now.

Digg seems to be good sometimes, and then sometimes it seems to be too much work. I get Digg burn out. I feel that there is a lot of junk that gets "shouts" to my login, mixed in with some selectively "real" news, tech, interest, etc. type stuff. However, the catch is that if you don't respond to most of the people sending you shouts in some way, you may not get the response that you want when you want something publicized. Kind of crazy. I guess it is representative of the globe, however, and I take the interesting ideas that come over as, just that...interesting.

I had one day following the writing of an article Issues On Call - Article
where I suddenly earned $13.00 on adsense from a bunch of clicks and have no idea how they came about, since I have been doing the same procedure of sending out my pings and promoting my articles this whole time. That is the most I have earned.

The earning is becoming a great deal of frustration, as I am sure it is for many bloggers. I ask myself what I am doing wrong, what I am doing right, if my articles are good enough, if my articles are the right topic, if my production is sufficient, etc.

What else can I do? If someone who is reading this has suggestions and has seen my other sites, please let me know. I am in this for the long-haul and would love some tidbits of advice on earning.

I did receive some emails tonight from affiliate groups who I sent applications to showing that I am approved, however, it may take me a couple of days to go through all of their information to make sure they are legit. I will update you and let you know the sources once I find out the results.

I find myself staying up until all hours of the night (actually into the morning) working on this investment into mine and my family's future and so, since it is now close to 1am I must sign off, hoping that this is good feedback, based on my recent experiences and frustrations.

Let me tell you something about the frustrations...they only drive me more, knowing that I can succeed because I have the drive, ambition, and best of all the TECHNOLOGY :-)

Happy Blogging!

New Social Media Submitter Tool, YouTube Partner Program

New SEO - Social Media Submitter Tool Doesn't Perform...

Submit Your Site To Social Media!
This tool is supposed to link you to the following sites.
Blinklist
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Mixx
Newsvine
Reddit
You fill in the URL of the Site/Story, Title, Description, etc. and Submit and it is supposed to just get it out to all of them.

Unfortunately, this tool does not work. It would be great if it did, so that we all didn't have to take so much time networking and could use more time writing our blogs. Not so.

However, this does enable you to have a link to each of these sites to try them out for networking, if you wish. Let's look on the positive.

----------------------

On the positive side of news and news of opportunity...

YouTube is offering an expanded YouTube Partner Program.

Earlier in the year they launched a pilot to enable some of the most popular creators in their YouTube community a way to receive a portion of the revenue generated from the ads that run next to their videos.

Since it was so successful, they have expanded it to anyone living in the U.S. or Canada. To apply to become a partner, click on the following link and read the information and click to apply.

YouTube Partner Program Expands

Have a great Tuesday!

Optimize Your Ping Time

Optimize Your Ping Time...

Here are the sites that Ping-O-Matic will "ping" for you each time you post.

Weblogs.com
Weblogalot.com
Technorati.com
Feedburner.com
PubSub.com
Blogdigger.com
Moreover.com
Icerocket.com
Blogrolling.com
Bloglines.com (just added)

You can also choose to "ping" specialized services (see list on link)
Ping-O-Matic...Click Here

The advantage to this is your site gets more coverage faster than going to each of these locations separately. It helps to have an account set-up (free) at each of these locations to maximize your "ping" coverage potential.

Other "ping" coverage options are as follows.

Google Ping Service
"What is the Google Blog Search Pinging Service?

The Google Blog Search Pinging Service is a way to inform Google Blog Search of weblog updates. These updates are then published and shared with other search engines to allow them to discover the changes to your weblogs. In addition, Google Blog Search will add submitted weblogs to the list of blogs it needs to crawl and index."

Google Ping Service...Click Here

Pingoat
Pinging Services
A back-up to use in the case Ping-o-Matic is not available.
Click Here For Link
They "ping" the following, as well as special services listed on the link.

technorati.com
icerocket.com
weblogs.com
newsgator.com
blo.gs
feedburner.com
blogstreet.com
my.yahoo.com
moreover.com
newsisfree.com
syndic8.com
topicexchange.com
blogdigger.com
pubsub.com
coreblog.org
blogpeople.net
blogrolling.com
catapings.com
effbot.org
holycowdude.com
octora.com
veneblogs.com
bitacoras.com
technorati.jp
bakeinu.jp
blog-search.net
cocolog-nifty.com
bloggers.jp
blogoon.net
blogstyle.jp
amagle.com
gpost.info

Note: Some of the above list include foreign blog pings (not a bad thing). Additionally, I did not include in the list those pings which have been showing up as connection incomplete or error in connection.

The more exposure your blog receives, the more your advertising will pay-off.

You must remember that you need to sign up with each of the sites listed above that you would like to see yourself actually "pinged" at. They need to verify that you are, indeed, a true blog site. It is time consuming, but well worth the time.

Happy blogging.

Opportunity Knocks

Here are some interesting opportunities for anyone trying to make money on their sites.

"What is Pay per Play?
PPP is a brief audio advertisement that is purchased by major branding and direct response content advertisers on a "per play" basis. A website owner places the PPP code on any web page where it is appropriate for a visitor to hear audio advertisements and is paid on a per play basis.

There are 2 ways you can get involved and earn:

By placing the PPP code on individual pages of your website you will now share in revenue that was formerly distributed to major television networks across the world.

By referring other website owners to place the PPP code on their website(s) you will earn a percentage of everything they earn on a residual basis.

This is a limited opportunity. Once we create our core marketing group then nobody else will be able to market this opportunity to other webmasters and earn off of their effort. This is a time sensitive offer and it costs nothing to get involved."
Click Here


Pick Bee
"...free icons with quality is sometimes hard to find. Look no more, because now we’ve selected free, quality and well designed icons that scattered on the net especially for you."

"Icon is one of important visual element for web design or application. Appealing icon can easily draw your user attention and telling message in more effective way, therefore by using them properly you can help your user quickly find information that they are looking for. A well designed icons and proper use of them surely will help increasing your website or application value which lead to increase in profits for your product and business."
Click Here


Plug-N-Profit Site
PlugNProfit
a site that is somewhat misleading, seeming that you can choose affiliate options that are free or minimal cost, however, once you get down to the bottom of the form, etc., you find that you must sign up to have them create your webpage and manage it at a cost.


Hope you enjoy these options for opportunities.

Manage Your Networking Time For Your Blog

Please visit natashacall.blogspot.com for this article.

Thanks for visiting!

The Daily Update..."Where's the Fire?"

I did my daily work on the networking sites and on research regarding marketing and such today. Here are some of my results.

On Technorati, their version of "hot topics" called "Where's the Fire?" has been down for well over a month. This makes the sight less attractive because there are virtually no new topics to vote on or ability to submit hot topics. Therefore, the only functions, as far as I can evaluate, are that of owning a profile, listing your blogs (having them "pinged" each time you post), and adding favorites. Posts from your favorites will flow through your home page and you can see news on the home page of Technorati. As far as favorites, thus far, I don't see that mine are networking on Technorati, due to lack of reciprocal response. I may not really know all of the ins and outs of this site exactly, however, I hope that the functionality of this site becomes more beneficial soon.

I started working in StumbleUpon today. Again, each site takes some getting used to and navigating. I haven't really figured out this one completely, or finished setting up my profile, however I did find an interesting post ( I haven't figured out how to post yet though). This post showed an interesting link

http://labs.google.com/

"Labs.google.com, Google's technology playground. Google labs showcases a few of our favorite ideas that aren't quite ready for prime time. Your feedback can help us improve them. Please play with these prototypes and send your comments directly to the Googlers who developed them."

It looks like a pretty cool link with items like...

...a whole section of great usable stuff that has "graduated from the lab"
...Google Mars (maps of Mars)
...Google Page Creator (Web Page Creator)
...Google Music Trends
...and more

Sounds like a fun playground! Have fun with that!

Until next time, happy blogging.

Introduction, Tools For Blogging

The following was a post I wrote on my blog at...

http://issuesoncall.blogspot.com/

I decided to start this site with it, giving a glimpse into why I decided to dedicate a blog to this type of information.

When starting a venture into weblogging, many bloggers wish to share their weblogs with the Internet Universe.

How do you get your blog past your immediate friends and family members?

Of course, Digg is a great site for networking. However, the following are other sites that have given me a plethora of additional information to add to my networking collection.First, here is a site with a ranking list of networking locations for your weblogs.

Blog Network Lists

http://www.blognetworklist.com/topnetworklist.php

Second, here are some more networking opportunities to maximize your blog coverage.

Technorati http://www.technorati.com/

Yahoo Publisher (Beta) http://publisher.yahoo.com/

Alexa http://www.alexa.com/

http://www.alexa.com/browse/general/?&CategoryID=1422529

Google http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=data+network&ie=utf-8

MSN Spaces http://home.services.spaces.live.com/

In addition to the sites listed above, articles from the following locations deal with maximizing weblog coverage and monetizing your blog.

If your like me, you really feel like your writing is an output of your reading (or other hobby or trade) and you're learning the weblog technology as an creative outlet.

The monetizing will be "icing-on-the-cake", so to speak.

My real goal, is to consistently improve my writing skills and to create a network of others with the same interests to gather writing material from and to present my writing material to. (This, in addition to my competitive nature of watching the numbers increase of those reading my materials on my site and constantly trying to maximize that number:)

Here are the articles of interest for maximizing your weblog.

I placed them on Digg when I first published this post. I hope they help someone who may have some of the same questions and/or curiosities as I have had.

Creating a New Blog Network - Hiring Bloggers
http://www.sohaibthiab.com/index.php/archives/129
Blogging Done Right
http://www.paolomendoza.com/2007/11/blogging-done-right.html
http://blog.icalvyn.com/freedomain
Many Titles from this location...
http://www.problogger.net/

Obviously, there is much information out there, and there are many different styles for each blogger.

The lessons I am learning are many, including some of these simple ones...

...pay attention to the quality and content of your writing
...pay attention to the comments from readers, as it is a signal of your writing content and quality needing improvement or change
...pay attention to your ads and their content, daily, along with the traffic they are bringing to see when you may need to adjust them to bring in more revenue
...pay attention to the traffic flow to your weblog and use daily time to network your site
...pay attention that you balance your investment in time that it does not take your passion away from your writing and/or from the topic(s) you wish to share.

I thank all of those who have been so brilliant in creating the technology so that I can meet a network of great and generous minds on a global scale.

Without the work of the technologically savvy, I would not be able to get to know such great people as I am now able to interact with.

Thank you for reading my articles and for being a part of this journey. I hope that this information is helping you as much as it is helping me.

Have a great evening!