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How Do You See Blog Comments: ‘Bullshit’ or ‘Democratic’?

Obaidul Haque — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 09:00:43 +0000

I’ve written several articles on the benefits of blog commenting. And I couldn’t resist writing one more. Recently, a lot of debate has been going on as to whether it’s worthwhile to allow commenting on one’s blog.

There are some who think of comments as mere ‘bullshit’. There are others who support commenting as a ‘form of democracy’. Let’s have a look at what MG Siegler (a columnist for TechCrunch) has to say.

“Here’s the thing: while some try to paint comments as a form of democracy, that’s bullshit. 99.9% of comments are bile. I’ve heard the counter arguments about how you need to curate and manage your comments — okay, I’m doing that by not allowing any.”

From the readers’ point of view, commenting provides them with a great feeling of participation. It also creates a sense of belonging, around which the entire concept of blogosphere revolves. On the other hand, listening to people’s views via comments motivates the blogger to work even harder so as to deliver what the former are actually looking for. That’s exactly the reason blog comments are seen as a ‘form of democracy’.

Still, many people would call blog commenting to be nothing more than a waste of time. Let them have their own opinions. Supporters, however, don’t see comments as something worthless or vile. Though, at times, commenting tends to get noisy, you will certainly miss out on a rich experience by turning off comments or not allowing people to share those ‘little tendrils of thought’.

I think permitting readers to comment on your blog is as much democratic as it is for you to freely share your own views by publishing posts.

If Commenting is a ‘Form of Democracy’, It can be Misused
It’s obvious. ‘Power to People’ can be misused. But that’s what rules and policies are made for. Instead of shutting out people from commenting, a serious blogger should find ways to optimize the discourse so that it adds value to the conversation (which is the soul of a blog) that strikes up after a post is published.

It’s simply unacceptable or immoral to deny democratic freedom to others while you’re enjoying it yourself. If you’ve got the freedom to express your opinions publicly by publishing blog posts, you have no right to prevent others from sharing what they think about a particular topic. Not giving people the right to comment is like ‘ruling as a dictator’.

Not Allowing People to Comment is Highly ‘Unsocial’
How can you afford to be unsocial when the entire world is fast turning into a global village? Video chats are creating global classrooms. A new era of interactive advertising is about to begin. Searches are getting social. Regardless of their size, businesses are focusing more on the ‘listening’ part of the customer acquisition process. A blog is one of the best social media tools that you can use. You can never imagine to use a social media tool without being social yourself, can you?

Do you support or detest blog comments? Let us know by casting your vote in the tweet poll below and commenting.

Your browser doesn’t support iFrames Vote for this poll here.

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Why Bad Writers Don’t Necessarily Make Bad Bloggers (and Vice Versa)

Chris Help — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:00:04 +0000

Thinking about getting into the blogging game but afraid that since your college professor always gave you D’s on papers that you won’t cut the mustard? Here’s a little secret for you: there’s little connection between how good you were at writing papers in school and how successful of a blogger you can become.

The fact is, you don’t have to be a good writer, technically speaking, to be good at blogging. Here’s why:

You can get away with sloppy mechanics—You’re English teacher isn’t going to be reading your blog posts with a red pen in hand. In fact, chances are almost no one will be checking out your mechanics. And in some cases, grammar errors can actually enhance your writing. Unless your mechanics are so poor that they take away from the meaning of your posts, you’re probably going to be okay. Sure there may be a few commenters who give you a hard time (see: grammar Nazis). But you can just tell them to go to hell.
You don’t have to have an SAT vocabulary—Back in school, it was all about flexing your vocabulary muscles. The bigger words you used it seemed, the better grades you received. However, when it comes to blogging, the rule of thumb is to keep the vocabulary to a junior high level. That way you can keep things conversational and make sure people of all reading levels can join the conversation.
Complex sentences are frowned upon—Again, when you write online, the idea is to keep things simple. You should only do things to enhance readability, not detract from it. One way to go about it is to keep your sentence structure relatively simple. That means weaving together 3 line long sentences with subordinate clauses and conjunctions and blah blah blah simply is not necessary.
It’s more about voice than anything else—What it comes down to is does your personality come out in your writing? Furthermore, do people like this personality? Is it witty? Knowledgeable? Approachable? If you can answer yes to these questions, then you’re going to do just fine.

What might be more surprising here is that often people who were “good writers” before will attempt to enter the blogosphere and go on to suck it up. Why? Because they’re style is too stiff. A good blogger needs to be able to bend and not break. He needs to be able to make the words work for him—not the other way around.

What about you? Have I planted a seed of faith inside of a would-be blogger?

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Who Wants to Win $1,000 in Cash?

Gerald Weber — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:00:55 +0000

Regular readers probably know the following two things about me:

First, I’m a big fan of guest blogging contests. Not only do I like the fact that they give participants an opportunity to win cash and all kinds of great prizes, but I also think they’re a great opportunity for a writer to be exposed to a new audience. Whether a writer is an active blogger or someone who owns a business, a guest blogging contest can connect them with readers that may have otherwise never known about them.

Second, I recently launched MySEOCommunity.com. Because it brings together everything that I’ve been working on for the past few years, I view it as “my baby.” Although I’m well aware that it’s not the Internet’s first SEO community, I think that it has several features that set it apart from the rest. You can read about the community’s unique features on its About page.

As a result of my love of guest blogging contests and the launch of MySEOCommunity, it’s only logical that we’re celebrating the launch of the site with a new guest blogging contest:

The Mad SEO Scientist Guest Blogging Contest – Grand Prize $1000. Cash!

Since a great SEO guest blogging contest has to feature a great 1st prize, the maddest SEO scientist in this contest gets $1,000 in cash and a lifetime premium membership to MyBlogGuest.

If you check out the official announcement, you will see that the prizes for the contest’s other winners aren’t too shabby. In fact, this contest has over $2,000 in total cash prizes, as well as some other awesome goodies from all of our sponsors!

If you’ve participated in any of our other guest blogging contests, you know there are two parts to the recipe for success:

-Write a killer post
-Promote the heck out of it and interact with the post’s audience

Since the new site is all about community, we’re really emphasizing the social aspect of this contest. So, not only will you want to Tweet your post out once it’s published, but you will want to engage with everyone who leaves a comment on it. Additionally, if readers start discussing it on channels like Google +, be sure to interact with them there as well.

The deadline for this contest is March 5th, so it’s time for you to head to your lab and start cooking up an amazing post!

And a huge thanks to all of the sponsors who made this contest possible:

$1000. Sponsors

Next Digital is Asia/Pacific’s largest full-service digital agency. They specialise in creative, marketing, strategy and technology, leading the new digital age to discover what’s next! Digital Marketing

$150. Sponsors

WordStream, provider of ppc software and a better Google Keyword tool

Search Engine Marketing Group SEO Link Building services

$100. Sponsors

Julie Joyce www.LinkFishMedia.com

Doc Sheldon The Clinic

Create amazing blog using our Awesome Thesis Child Themes

A professional website design copmany Helping you create a unique brand image

ShellShock UK Content Strategy Link Building aka Content Marketing

Ash Buckles www.SEO.com

$50. Sponsors

Brian Waraksa Houston Internet marketing

Jacob Share Group Writing Projects

Ajeet Khurana About the Web

The people at Top Web Design Schools, a directory of web related college programs

Customer Paradigm Magento Developers

BestGardenGifts.com Best Garden Gifts

HotTubVariety.com Hot Tub Reviews

EarthCareGreenhouses.com Wholesale Greenhouses

GoGardenGuides.com Home & Garden Social Bookmarking

USA Greenhouse Store Greenhouses

Bob Jones Perth SEO

NewsPuff.com News Puff

MiniGreenhouseKits.com Commercial Greenhouses Supplies

OurCrazyDeals.com Our Crazy Deals

www.Zoomit.com Canadian News

David Leonhardt SEO Ottawa

John McElborough SEO Agency

Contest Media Partners

www.Blokube.com

www.famousbloggers.net

Free Blogengage Account $29.95 Value blogengage.com

Ana Hoffman www.TrafficGenerationCafe.com/

Non-cash SEO Prizes

David Harry A full years membership at SEO Dojo, a value of $250.SEO Training Dojo

Lifetime membership to: My Blog Guest. MyBlogGuest.com is the free guest post exchange community where users meet to exchange guest posts and network.

Link-Assistant.Com SEO PowerSuite Enterprise (max. functionality license) SEO tools

SEMrush.com – the best tool to spy on your competitors ($210 value) www.semrush.com

WebSEOAnalytics.com 1 Year subscription to their Professonal SEO tools

www.Hostgator.com 1 Year Business web hosting

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When to Ask for a Guest Post

Kristi Hines — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:00:47 +0000

Guest blogging is a great way to increase authority in your niche and beyond as well as build some great backlinks to your blog, business, or website. Sometimes, especially when it comes to larger site, the big question is when should you make your move. The following are great opportunities to get a guest post on one of your favorite blogs.

1. When the Blog Advertises the Need for Additional Contributors

Do you have your sights set on guest posting for a particular blog? Then one of the first things you should be doing is following that blog religiously. This means subscribing to them via RSS and following them on social media via the top networks (Twitter, Facebook, and Google+). Aside from getting to learn more about the blog, you will be the first to know if and when they invite contributors to their site. Whether they ask for guest bloggers or freelance writers, either invitation means they are looking for more content which makes it a prime time to strike!

2. When the Blog Features a Guest Post

When following your favorite blog, you might notice a day when they specifically say they have a guest post by someone who is not a regular on the site. This is a great opportunity to say that you have been following their blog for a while and were excited to see that they accepted guest bloggers. Could you be the next? You’ll get extra bonus points if you know one of the recent guest bloggers and you get them to introduce you to the blog owner.

3. When the Blog Has Mentioned You

If you have been commenting and interacting with a blog and its owners/writers/editors on social media, chances are one day, they might mention you in one of their posts. So long as the mention is in a positive light, this might be a good chance to jump in. Try sending them a personal email saying thanks for the mention, and then ask if you can write more about the topic at hand in a guest blog post!

4. When You’ve Been Listed

Just recently, I was listed as one of the 20 bloggers to watch in 2012 on ProBlogger. This was a pretty exciting acknowledgement, and one that I could easily use as part of a guest post pitch to another site. It’s essentially a very public testimonial!

5. When You Have a String of Successful Guest Posts Elsewhere

Think about approaching a guest post opportunity like you would a new job. Your first impression on that employer might be your portfolio of work samples. Present the blog that you are pitching a sample of your latest work – make sure those samples are within the same industry and (preferably) on sites that are just as well known. This will show the blog owner that not only have you written for other similar sites, but you had successful posts on those sites as well. There is nothing that a blog owner wants more than posts that will be a hit with their audience.

Have you found other times when the moment was right to ask for a guest post and you succeeded because of perfect timing? Please share your experiences in the comments!

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How to Find Out When a Blog Post Was Published

Kristi Hines — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:00:02 +0000

Maybe it is just me, but does it annoy you when you can’t find a blog post’s date? Sure, the advice to remove the date from your blog post was given by well-meaning people who wanted to help your content always look fresh, but let’s get real. For some niches, where the information is timeless, that isn’t such a bad thing.

But if your blog covers coding, SEO, social media, technology, health, etc., then there should be a date. Then there’s nothing worse than not being sure when something was published, especially if it is advice that could have stopped working about two application versions ago or doesn’t fit the new search engine algorithms. If you’ve seen a blog post with a screenshot, then went to the site and found everything has changed, you probably know what I mean.

So how can you find out when a blog post was published? Here are a few ways, starting from the easiest to the most time consuming.

1. Check out the URL

Sometimes, even though the blog post itself doesn’t have a timestamp, the URL does. You might at least get close enough to a month and a year.

This isn’t always a sure bet though, as most people don’t use a date.

2. Look at the Comments

While many blogs may find the way to hide the timestamp on the post, some of those might not have figured out how to remove it from the comments. Try to find the oldest comment on the post – that should be the closest date to when it was published.

3. Search Using Wolphram Alpha

For blogs that say 601 days ago, 6 months ago, etc., you can use the Wolfram Alpha search engine. Just type in the time period stated, and it will convert it into a date.

4. Google It

Try to search for site:domain.com intitle:keyword in Google. Sometimes the search results will display the date of the post.

5. Subscribe in Google Reader

If you really want to know when something was published, subscribe to the blog in Google Reader. Nine out of ten times, it will show you the post date. You might have to search for the post in question using the search box if you don’t want to scroll, but you should be able to get the date this way.

Some blogs, for some reason, will load only the latest 10 posts, all with the same date. If that happens, leave the feed and come back again… it might just take a few moments to populate all of the data.

The Alternative to Removing Your Post Date

What is the alternative to removing the date from your post and keeping your blog’s content fresh? If you can’t keep up with the post frequency, look to outside sources including guest bloggers and freelance writers. So long as you at least have one post per week, you should be set!

Does a missing post date drive you nuts when you find an article through search? Do you remove the date on your posts for a specific reason? Please share your thoughts and any additional ways to find a missing post date in the comments!

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