Early February I briefly reviewed SiteHoppin.com as a way to efficiently drop Entrecards. I would like to revert to that service, since there have been some very important developments most of you would want to hear.

SiteHoppin.com is a browser within a browser that offers stumble functionality without you installing any software. Apparently it does a good job, as StubmleUpon has banned Sitehoppin.com and Sitehoppin.com/blog from its premises.

While it was previously appealing mainly to Entrecard users, as this service allowed to hop from one Entrecard participating site to another with a click of a button, now it sports a somewhat broader reach.

SiteHoppin.com has gone beyond its niche

Lately, Sitehoppin.com added a functionality that would allow users to exchange credits for traffic. This would appeal to every webmaster / blogger out there on their quest to drive more traffic to their sites. With this functionality, currently in beta testing, Sitehoppin.com has become quite an efficient traffic exchange service.

This is what is it about:

1. The registered user will receive 1 Beer Credit (BC) for one hop from site to site and 5 BC for rating a site, which would accumulate on his account.
2. At an appropriate timing, e.g. while promoting a new article or service, the user can turn on the traffic exchange functionality. When turned on, each 10 BC that has been accumulated on the account would be exchanged for 1 visit from another randomly selected user to a predetermined page.

My Opinion

I’ve been testing this new functionality during the last couple of days and I see great potential in its future. Not only I’ve seen incoming traffic to the selected page on my blog, it’s not been that hit-and-run traffic you’d expect:

• 1.86 pages per visit
• 57.14% Bounce Rate
• 00:08:12 Avg. Time on Site

This means that people were clicking through and reading my content, and that means good traffic.

The Chief Engineer, Mr. Max Lee, did a terrific job despite the humorous, drunken video posts on his blog, which are good entertainment. Trying to read between the lines, I’d say Max has got some big ideas, and he’s not going to let anything like StumbleUpon ban to stop him. Mark my words, in one month I will be reviewing a brand new feature on his site! (In one year I’ll hold 20% of shares in SiteHoppin Inc.)

Things I’d like to see:

• A limit functionality – the ability to set how much BC to spend at each time. I’ve lost almost all of mine during one peak hour.

• One exchanged visit per user – while testing I noticed that one user could be directed to a promoted site several times, resulting in debiting of BC’s but no impact on the site stats. And, obviously that user would just browse through your site since he’s been there before.

• No self-visits – while testing I noticed that a user could be redirected to his own site, resulting in debiting of his BC’s for his own visit.

• Several pages as destination – the ability to distribute incoming traffic to 1-3 of my pages.

And maybe a bit later down the road:

• Some Geo- functionality – the ability to decide from where to receive the traffic.

• Timer functionality – combined with the Geo, it would be a great idea to receive US traffic while they are awake… just kidding, that would make promotion campaigns much more efficient.

Ok, I guess that’s it. I will post updates if my testing will pop any more issues.

- Alex

Technorati Tags: traffic exchange, sitehoppin, traffic, blog, hop, stumbleupon

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Do Your Blog a Favour, Get it Some Traffic

As many of you probably already did, I noticed that traffic tends to drop during weekends, which got me thinking whether it was smart to post articles during those days. And if so, should a blogger post articles consistent with the usual, weekday, content or make them special in some way (see par. 2 below).

To Blog or Not to Blog… on Weekends

After a little bit of contemplation I came to the following conclusions:

1. First of all, if your posting schedule doesn’t include weekends to begin with, it is perfectly fine, as readers get used to it, and just wouldn’t expect any posts on a weekend. (Read more in my Most Important Tip for Building a Readership article)

   New visitors, on the other hand, would have plenty of content from the previous week to browse through.

 

2. Although less people are visiting, those who do will (probably) tend to be more relaxed, given the free time of the weekend, and take the time to leave a meaningful comment on the weekend post.
   So, this is nice, since you have an opportunity of meaningful discussion during the weekend. Darren Rowse is describing this further it in his post, My Weekend Blog Strategy.

   This is to be tested on any blog. I will try to use Google Analytics to perform weekend analysis somewhere down the road and post an article about it.

 

3. Although it is a weekend, and you probably have interests other than the blog, i.e. family, friends, studies, etc., it is crucial not to let your post quality deteriorate.
   I believe it is ok to change your style on a weekend, as many post the so-called link festivals, consisting of useful or otherwise interesting links. But, don’t forget to have your personality injected into the post. Write a paragraph or two or add your opinion on the linked sites. Don’t just slap those links and consider it done. Same goes with videos and photo weekend galleries.

 

4. If you still feel that you’re posting without real feedback, keep in mind that the weekday visitor will go through all of you new posts, especially if it is a subscriber, so your weekend post will not go unnoticed.

Summary

• If you are not posting on weekends, don’t start now (see par.1)
• If you are already posting on weekends, keep doing that with par. 2,3,4 in mind.

Enjoy your weekend!

- Alex

Technorati Tags: weekend traffic drop, traffic, blog, rowse, blog strategy

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Reasons (Not) to Blog on Weekends

The old header was only a temporary place-holder for the real stuff, but, now I’m working on a header that would serve as a real intro to my blog. Just as a cover on a book gives the reader clues and teasers as to what is inside, so is my idea to make the header the cover of my blog.

A few tips for a good header

Several things I would like to see in a good header, and hence change mine accordingly:

1. The title of the blog should be proudly placed in a visible uncluttered spot of the header.

2. Did I say uncluttered spot? A good header will have enough whitespace to allow the visitor to take in the whole of the header “in one shot”. I would attempt to make my header do just that, since I’m seeing a lot of volatile traffic from Entrecard and StumbleUpon (read more on my 2 Kinds of Bad Traffic article).

3. Besides the title, brand logo or other graphics, the header could contain sneak previews into the content of the blog. Things such as a list of the 5 most popular articles, upcoming interviews, featured reviews, etc.

4. The colors of the header should match the overall color scheme. A red and yellow vibrant color theme would not look appropriate for a pastel, soothing blog theme.

5. A very thin header wouldn’t allow for any information to be delivered to the reader. A header that is ridiculously high is not acceptable for a blog, as you have to leave space for above-the-fold items. So I believe a 200-250 pixel high header is ok, and will be big enough of a container for all your stuff.

In a nutshell…

Basically, besides the technical stuff (i.e. color scheme) your header must answer the following 3 questions:

1. What’s this blog’s name?

2. What’s this blog’s purpose?

3. What’s this blog’s content?

If you succeed to answer those within the restrains of your header, then before the next Entrecard chain-dropper leaves your blog in a cloud of dust, he will surely glance on the header. And when he does, and if he is interested in your niche (otherwise what’s the point of having him as a reader), the chances of him bookmarking or subscribing would be increased tenfold.

Most importantly, don’t forget to have fun writing.

- Alex

Technorati Tags: header design, blog, cover, teasers, whitespace, weblog

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3 Answers to Expect From a Good Header

This is another article for my Blogging Guide.

After you are all set with your platform you could start posting immediately. But, and this is a big butt, your blog will lack personality. It will be like every other blog created by the mercy of WordPress default.

Don’t worry, though, you won’t be required to do any coding to change the appearance of you blog. As I already mentioned in my Establishing Net Presence (3) article, WordPress has the advantage of hundreds of (free) themes and plugins that exist, and even more that are being conceived in the minds of WordPress patrons as you read these lines. Therefore, all you have to do is choose your theme from the available selection.

Decide on your style

In order to decide between the hundreds of themes you have for your disposal, you have to know the design guidelines you are looking for.

• Are you going for a simple and clean design with one sidebar?
• Do you want to make a striking impression on your readers with a red/black theme?
• Would you like left sidebar or right sidebar?

After you know exactly what you are looking for, you will save at least 60% of your time searching. WordPress has a theme directory with a convenient search module that will help you to find what you need. You can, however, Google for a free+wordpress+theme and to find something different.

I’m sure that you will have quite a lot of fun searching for your theme. Choose several. Installing and switching themes is such a breeze in WordPress that you could get 20 themes and just try them on during the next week.

Installing your theme

You can read WordPress’ guide to find out how to install your theme. It’s easy.

- Alex

Technorati Tags: blog, personality, wordpress themes

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Give Your Blog Personality

I know, it is labeled as “a journey through the online money-making land”, and indeed, I was sticking to the subject throughout my posts. But, who wants to read a personal diary of a make-money-online blogger anymore? There are so many of that kind out there that a certain antagonism could already be spotted among certain readers.

I am a dreamer. And, I do have a dream plans of monetizing this blog. Moreover, I have plans of doing it in the near future, for as stated in my first post and the ‘about’ page, my bank manager is not going to be a happy camper in a few months.

Monetizing demands sufficient readership, which is attained with time, and with good content. No point of slapping on your AdSense and your affiliate banners everywhere when there isn’t anyone to be interested, right?

You have to have your readers going home with something. I plan on trying to achieve this with my every article. During the last couple of days I was writing fairly usable advice articles, and I have to tell you, I enjoyed it quite a bit. I enjoyed introducing readers to potential problems and offering ways of solution, or ways to avoid the problems altogether. And, I enjoyed even more the fact that I got positive feedback from readers. Should I start an advice column?

So, I’m going get myself a cup of tea, listen to a favorite tune, and try to figure out what am I doing first thing tomorrow with my blog.

- Alex

Technorati Tags: blogging, online money, readers, advice, monetizing, blog, adsense

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Blogging about Blogging about Blogging

I was submitting my newest posts to Blog Engage, they were never published, and my frustration grew by the minute. I was considering giving up on this service. 
But, yesterday, one of my submissions got published. Champagne for everyone people!!

Now that I’ve joined the club, I will share with you what is needed to get published, be hit and commented on Blog Engage.

1. Mind your title. To get people to choose your submission from the flow of others you have to have a title that will draw attention. I have limited time to review others, so when browsing through articles I obviously skip those that have bland titles.
2. Useful content. When posting an article try to provide information that is unique and useful to the reader. I’m still learning, my articles are short and wobbly, but I’m always mumbling the “What am I giving to my readers” mantra.
   Moreover, you must deliver the promised content. IMO, the worst sin in the blogosphere is when the content of the article doesn’t match what’s promised in the title, which is used only to lure readers inside. This reader will never click on any of your articles again.
3. Engage others. They will be able to see you in their “Who Engaged” section, and there is a good chance they will check out your posts and return the favor.

Drop me a line if this helps to any of you get published on Blog Engage.

- Alex

Technorati Tags: article, promoted, blog, blogengage, comment, votes, content, hit, published, reader, title

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The 3 Musts to Get Published on Blog Engage

What I like about this project is that I found myself being committed to it. I have already invested my money in this, and I’m not going to quit until I see results. 
I don’t know anything about html and I was pretty clueless about what to do next. My blog hopping showed many bloggers were using WordPress. Visiting WordPress’ website revealed that it is a publishing platform that you can install on your hosting and start publishing with the same ease as a hosted blog platform (e.g. Blogger.com), but with much greater flexibility of features and design. I discovered a huge community of people developing plugins and themes, and this is the support I thought I am going to need. Great!

Part of my strategy is to see what others do well and do the same, so, WordPress was going to be my platform.

When looking for a hosting provider, see if they have Fantastico among their features. I know that many do, and HostMonster is no exception. Fantastico is an auto-installer that can install many applications for you on the server. WordPress is one of the applications on the list and it takes under a minute to install.

At the time I didn’t know about this and was installing WordPress manually. This is not very difficult, but you have to create a database on your hosting, use an FTP client to upload the files, modify a .php file (I was really freaked out at this point), run the installation script and hope for the best. Each step took me about 10 minutes to figure out, so I was beating myself on the head with a frying pan when I found out (and tried) Fantastico.

Anyway, after 40 minutes of messing about with databases and php files (who would have thought) I was the proud owner of my own self-hosted blog.

Now I was out there.
Despite having only the default WordPress theme and the “Hello World!” example post, it felt good. It was like walking into a house you just bought, when it is a mess and smells really bad, but you feel on top of the world, because you know you this is now yours.
It felt really good.

- Alex

Technorati Tags: domain name, hostmonster, blog, making money, project, wordpress, strategy, fantastico, house

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Money Online, The First Steps – Establishing Net Presence (3)