Blog Tools Compared

While I struggle to improvise on the basic level of optimisation for this blog (Refer below :  https://mydaysinlife.wordpress.com/2009/10/10/28/ ), let me compare some of the blog writting tools available :

 

The comparison for “WordPress” is with wordpress.com and not the tool available at wordpress.org.

The tool available at wordpress.org is far ahead of times and as it says for an “open source” – upgrades are available every second. I shall compare wordpress.org tools and wordpress.com in the coming days and how each of them help in SEO.

Choosing a blog tool – depends on one’s requirement and the comfort level of using the interface. Hence, barring wordpress.org tools, which is excellent, comparison does not make any sense.

Learning the SEO Pyramid to increase visitors

 While peeping through various sites and text to increase the traffic on my blog, I came across some interesting facts at a forum in www.webproworld.com . The forum discusses about SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).People serious in the business make their contributions. One such link took me to a site www.seomoz.org .

Interestingly, the concept has been described in the form of a pyramid with “Accessibility” and “Content” at the bottom.

 

 

My effort would be to build a strong base for the blog where I am scribling.Only Idea is to increase the number of visitors.

Let me check how much I fair in the base requirements by the elite in the club(starting from the base of the pyramid) :

Unique Text Content : Yes it has to be. I am writing as I learn and do not care about mistakes in text of the past.

Bot Accessibility : “Bots” or the “Robots” as they are called – look for :

a) Each Document having Its Own URL.

b) Create a logical hierarchy and categorize groupings of similar subject matter.

c) Proper Labeling and Legible URLs. Since there is only one static page no question arises for labeling. These would be applicable in case of server generated pages.

My Blog does not have a PDF, Flash or Ajax Archive. I can understand that Flash and Ajax Archive are difficult to index but PDF can be indexed by the bots.

 Internal Link Architecture:

1. Promotional Content Sections – I do not have those. As my blog is not seasonal and does not discuss the sensational issues or eye popping sales schemes .I  do not have the most searched tags.

2. Internal to External Link Ratio – I am trying to increase the values on both sides as the day progresses. A Crawl test done by any tool would help you find the result.

3. Create Cross Referencing Navigational Structures

Assume that A,B,C….. are keywords. , also

Assume that 1, 2, 3, … are keywords.

If you have a page on each of the above subjects, we should consider placing the navigation for A-Z in the sidebar while using links and brief descriptions for 1-10 as the content of the page. If people search for a 3 or b 6 that cross referencing page will be relevant.

In my case cross referencing will only apply when the size and number of pages in my blog increases. Need to keep this mind.

Site Maps :

What are Sitemaps? (Refer – www.sitemap.org )

Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling. In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can more intelligently crawl the site.

Web crawlers usually discover pages from links within the site and from other sites. Sitemaps supplement this data to allow crawlers that support Sitemaps to pick up all URLs in the Sitemap and learn about those URLs using the associated metadata.

My blog does not have a site map, currently.

Server Response Code – Why is it Important?

This is important for the Search Engines to index. The crawlers check for the code. eg a 404 if returned indicates a missing page and is not included in the index.

Check out the Server Response Code using the tool at :

                http://www.searchenginepromotionhelp.com/m/http-server-response/code-checker.php

I checked out mine and got a server response code of 200.It’s perfect.

URL Structure: My blog’s URL structure is static and does not require the crawlers to use their best algorithm. I have also named the URL based on its Information Architecture.

So on 10/10/2009, my blog’s status is as follows :

Unique Text Content	Perfect
Bot Accessibility	Perfect
Internal Link Architecture:	Satisfactory and Improving
Site Maps	Not Present
Server Response Code	200 ie. Perfect
URL Structure	Perfect

My idea is to go for the next level only when I am convinced about the strength of the base.

Look , I am getting the answers.

 Will these result in the ultimate aim of increasing visitors?!

Blogging… – Why?!

Recently, it is a fashion to write blogs.All the more tweeting has been the most in-thing after Shashi Tharoor travelled in the “Cattle Class¹” (Synonym for which can be found by following him on twitter)

But –

a) Why do we Blog ? Is it that we are lonely and we write something to spend our time? Or we find ourselves as a “gyani”  to  start our “pravachan” on the net?

b) Amitabh Bachhan blogs , Aamir Khan blogs – Can I blog ? Who would read those?

c)Where do we write our blog ? Which is the best blog writer available? Spaces , Live Journal , rediff , indiatimes , blog.co.in , blogger , wordpress, myspace, typepad….?

d) Are we not expressing ourselves in the social networking sites  like orkut , facebook etc.? What difference shall I make by blogging?

e)Micro blogging is for the people who carry N9x or the E-Series !!

Having said all the above, some facts about blogging (Source – base less-It’s your choice to believe it or not):

a)  A blog is created every half a second.

Every half a second we give birth to new writers. Most of them belong to the “cattle class¹” in which I belong and am proud of!! Was it possible in the 20^th century?

 b) 2/3 rd of the bloggers in India are males.

Freedom of expression is still not balanced after 62 years of Indian Independence.

 c) Only a very small percentage of people blog for money. However blogs can be a money spinners.

Either those bloggers do not know how to raise money or they are saints of the 21^st Century. Who doesn’t love money? Even If WordPress does not allow ad space for revenue generation , I would use a feed burner to get some bucks out of the feeds. Shhhhh… nobody reads my scrap!

 d) 70% of the bloggers are between the age of 18-34.

No wonder ratio of the blogs written on sex, love , social networking are very high. We have the future Nobel  laureates in literature. Some day this prize would be given for  literary achievement on a blog!!!!

 e) Indians have written more than 1 million blogs.

Tell me who on earth will not believe that?! Are we not the best amongst story tellers?!If you still have any doubt, ask your boss.

 f) According to a research report people trust bloggers than a journalist or sales person.

Check out for the blogger’s profile. Many among the fraternity have turned bloggers.

g) 90% of the bloggers do not care what people have to say about their lines.

Are they writing with their actual names?! 

h) If you are honest in writing your blogs people would definitely follow you.

Is it so?!                                                          –           Will continue  finding the answers