Don’t forget the Comment Contest this month!

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I’ll tell ya what, if you think the never ending Do Follow/No Follow debate is madness, then the “How links should open, same window/new window” runs a really close second.

If you’ve been reading blogs for more then 5 minutes, you’ve ran across several debating this issue…maybe even been involved yourself.

On the off chance you have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the gist…

When a blogger links out in an article, whether it be an internal link to another article on the same blog or an external link to another site altogether, he/she can either set up  the link to open in a new window or leave as is to open in the same window.

It’s a usability issue; what’s easiest/less irritating for the visitor. As with most debates of this nature, the results are almost always split 50/50 or pretty darn close…aggravating, I know.

Don’t forget the Comment Contest this month!

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Back Story:

You may recall a couple weeks ago I wrote about unsubscribing from ALL blogs, in my never-ending plight to streamline my blog commenting efforts.

I told of how all the emails were finally getting to me and were very distracting. I told of my DESPISE for feed readers because I never remember to check them. I told of how I was going to a clickable spreadsheet format…a nice tidy list of all the URL’s all in one place on my desktop.

It would be a lot tidier if I was able to put them in alphabetical order automatically, but I digress.

The Problem:

Don’t forget the Comment Contest this month!

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I want your secrets!  – err – I mean my beginner readers want your secrets! Yea yea, that’s what I meant.

Lets be clear here. I’m not referring to overall (home page) blog SEO. Every time you write a new blog article, you optimize it for the search engines, or perform SEO…at least you should be, but that’s another post.

Here’s my list so far, this is what I do *per post*, in no particular order…

1. Linking - Internally to other relevant articles on my blog(s)/Externally to relevant articles on other blogs – I consider both SEO, others might not.

2. Bold/Italic/Underline words & phrases where appropriate – I’ve heard this helps, others may not think so.

3. Change Permalink; removal of unnecessary words.

Don’t forget the Comment Contest this month!

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OK then, an interesting question on a Monday to start your week… To be more specific, Must You Title Every Word In Your Blog Titles?

I see them done many different ways, but it seems the largest percentage, myself included, like to do just that. Others might simply title the first word as in a regular sentence, some go every other word, some leave out the “it’s/and’s/of’s” and so goes the list.

What’s the overall ruling on this? Is there one? How do you prefer to do it?

D.

Updated - I’m still promoting this post through my blog commenting. There are sure to be more articles above, so don’t leave right away!

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OK boy and girls, a comment contest is upon us, and it’ll last until the end of March! This one however might seem a little…..different. Read all the way to the end.

Note: Top Commenter plugin can be found on the right in between the two large ad spaces. It looks a little stupid, but remember I’m still building.

The Contest:

Pretty much like any other comment contest, if you’re on the list at the end of the month, you win. You may comment on any post, new or older. Not so tough eh? Well, we’ll see.

The list is set to ten people and EVERYONE on it at the end of the month will win…..$10 each, via Paypal. Pretty straight forward, eh? Well, we’ll see.

The reasons for the following post are 2-fold…

1. Accountability for me. I must get these things done, so I make the to-do list public with adjourning posts for each mission accomplished, if applicable.

2. Some of the things listed will directly impact at least a few of you.

Due to the fact that some of these will in fact have adjourning posts that will need promotion, everything listed may take a week or two or more to get through.

This makes me glad I have unsubscribed from everyone; not having 50 articles per day nagging at me to read and comment on until I’m ready will be quite helpful. Bloggers OCD don’t-cha know.

Here goes nuthin’, and in no particular order…

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1. Due to an awesome comment on one of my theme customization posts, an important feature of this theme has been altered and will be unveiled. Adjourning post.

OK boys and girls we’re going to take a short break from theme customization in order for you to read something that’s ultimately important for EVERY ONE OF YOU; if not now, then eventually. Now that might sound really big-headed of me if the article was written by me, but alas, it was not.

Are you looking at things wrong? Did you know there was a BIG difference? Leo Dimilo does, and he shows you point by point in an awesome guest post for Kristi Hines, my own personal social media professional. (OK so shes not ALL mine )

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I must agree with 99% of his article. I had a few words to say about his take on bloggers SEO which you can see in the comments, but other then that he blew me away.

Yes yes here we go again! In the midst of everything else, I am forever attempting to streamline my blog commenting routine; something all hearty blog commenters should do BTW.

Some of you, especially those that are new and haven’t followed me from DSWM, might be wondering why I announce this. There are two reasons…

1. I only subscribe via email, never feed reader. There is an option in your Feedburner account (which I will write about) that enables you to be notified if email subscribers unsubscribe. I know this can be a little nerve wracking, wondering why someone unsubscribed.

2. Between new blog posts, comment replies, regular mail and spam, I wake to 200-500 emails every morning; and that’s just when I first log on, not counting email throughout the day. As I become more and more serious about what I do, this becomes more and more of a PITA (pain in the ass )

I’m having a real dog of a time here figuring out my primary keywords for this blog. I’m not ashamed to admit, KW research is a real arch-nemesis of mine. For the most part, I just don’t get it. Many have tried; I understand the basics I think, but not a whole-hell-of-a-lot.

Seen me write much about it?…other then it’s important. Well, there ya go. lol

This is a quick post. I’m not getting into much here or in the comments. In fact, all I need you to comment with is, yes you can help me or no you can’t…actually no you can’t is pretty much a wasted comment. LOL. We will go on from there privately.

I will choose 3-5 of you (maybe more), and I already have 2 in mind to ask personally. We will work via Email, Yahoo messenger (AIM if it’s a must), and even phone if you wish.

Just a quickie for now as part of my theme construction. I need the best Twitter re-tweet plugin and a good contact form plugin.

1. Twitter - I’ve heard the most praise for TweetMeme, but also hear it’s a good hog and can seriously slow down a system. While I’ve always had speed in the back of my mind, never more so then now since some Googler got the bright idea to add it to their ranking algorithm.

Recommendations? (For those still wondering, yes, my next step is to get myself back on twitter so I can re-tweet yours too! )

2. Contact Form – As I mentioned in my last post, I have my email address and Yahoo messenger info there now, but it’s not enough.

I’ve heard the most praise for contact form 7. I need something simple for users, yet features for me, the admin. I’d REALLY prefer NO CAPTCHA attached, but if I have to, I have to…it better be simple. lol