the blog report

Custom Domains

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Thu, 04 Feb 2016 14:17:00 +0000

Back in the days of the blogging networks, blogs with domain names ending in Blogger or Wordpress domains were frowned on regardless of how good they were. Certain monetizing sites would not even accept a blog unless it had a custom domain. Like many, I saw no real need for a custom domain. My blogs have flourished and even made money since their conception without a custom domain. So the question remains as to whether a custom domain is really necessary.

Three years ago, I bought custom domains for two of my blogs but have never used them. With the return from my blogging hiatus of 2015, I'm planning on using those two domains. Well, actually I bought another one to simplify one I already own so now have three domains. Essentially all this will be doing is simplifying the URL for my readers.

Custom domains require registering the domain you want based on availability. A custom domain should be a short title of the blog. I chose a .ca domain so also had to validate my registrant information with CIRA and accept their agreement. Canadian citizens and businesses, organizations, and community groups located in Canada are eligible to register .ca domain names. Other countries will have their own criteria or you can use .com (commercial), .net (commercial/universities), or .org (organizations) if your blog falls into those categories. In addition to a custom domain, email addresses can be set up using the custom domain (eg. yourblogname@domain.ca).

Benefits of a custom domain:

shortened url
better SEO
domain specific email address
professional

I'm paying $19.95 annually for each of my domains. There is no limit as to the number of domains you can register and there is no time frame in which they must be used providing you pay to renew each year. I will be changing one of my blogs to a custom domain shortly using the custom domain instructions on Blogger Help.

Should a Blog be Revived?

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 15:00:00 +0000

As I was pondering how I wanted to proceed with my blogs, the question whether I should revive them arose. Mainly, this is self-doubt speaking. Some blogging experts would say no. Others would say yes. The bottom line is, it's really up to you.

An existing blog already has content so with a bit of tweaking, reviving it is merely starting to blog again. It will require pinging the blog to be sure the search engines are picking the blog up but other than that, simply start writing. An existing blog can have problems with poor content, poor design or a generic domain (eg. blogspot.com) but these are all elements that can be changed if desired. In some cases, you may not want to revive a blog but rather start fresh. That can be a hard decision but it may be best if the blog is such that you can no longer write content for it. The blog topic may no longer be of interest to you. In this case, it will be difficult to write good content to revive the blog.

Reviving My Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Sun, 31 Jan 2016 21:57:00 +0000

Oh good gosh, where did 2015 go? I've been blogging since 2006 and for most of that time, I was writing a daily blog post across all six of my blogs. It helped that I was an active member of a few blogging networks. Unfortunately, those networks have gone by the wayside. There is little real blogging support out there which helped contribute to an extended blogger's block. Even the bloggers who were members of the networks have moved on. By the time 2015 arrived, life hit in full force. Not that I hadn't blogged through moves, vacations and daily living before, it was more that my heart wasn't in it. It wasn't that I decided to take a blogging hiatus either. I simply stopped blogging. Once in awhile I would publish a post but not consistently.

My blogging hiatus has actually been a good thing. I'm ready to get back blogging so it's time to revive my blogs. I actually checked my blogs' stats today. Surprisingly, they are still getting traffic and still getting the attention of the search engines. It's not great traffic but for blogs, it's not bad traffic either. This really underscores the importance of content. All the years of blogging definitely helped during my hiatus. For now, I'm just going to focus on content. I'm not going to worry about anything else!

Page Rank is Dead

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Sat, 17 Jan 2015 14:30:00 +0000

When I started blogging in 2006, Google's Page Rank was a huge deal. This was a ranking system that gauged how good a blog was based on where it appeared in the search results. A page rank of 10 was excellent while a page rank of 4 which is what the majority of personal blogs could hope for was fair. The worst rank was NR meaning either Google had stripped the blog of its page rank or the blog was too new to gain attention from Google. Both meant the blog was not showing in search results. Every blogger had the page rank badge on their blog and they did whatever it took to increase page rank even if it meant resorting to dubious methods. Advertisers actually chose whether or not to advertise on a blog based on its page rank. If you had a good page rank then you had a better chance of attracting the advertisers that would pay so you would end up making more money from your blog. If you didn't have a good page rank, some advertisers would not advertise on your blog even if you had high traffic.

Google then announced that they would be penalizing blogs that tried to manipulate the page rank system. Bloggers were also penalized through dead, bad or undesirable links including those in comments as they basically created a hole in their page rank. Bloggers being concerned over this change either refuse to take exchange links with what they saw as undesirable websites so essentially were masking the natural linking process. The problem with links has always been that the blogger can only control accepting that link, not what the link eventually points to. Content can easily change or the link go dead without you knowing so that made a lot of extra work for bloggers who had to constantly check links or risk a fall in page rank.

The quality of links still of concern however with page rank gone it opens the door to being a bit more laid-back with the links. While you still don't want to link to sites contrary to the TOS for any advertising you are running or sites that promote certain activities or products, there is no longer the problem of linking to a good blog with great content that compliments yours but only has a page rank of 1. Now you can simply link to it. More importantly with the demise of page rank it means there is less concerned over where your blog is going to fall when somebody clicks on the search engine and more emphasis on producing quality blog posts.

Basically what this is done has taken blogging into a level where you're concerned about the quality of the post less concerned about search engine results, specifically Google search engine results. There have always been a number of search engines and yet Google was the only one that apparently counted with some bloggers. There has been a growing concern over tracking via search results so there has been a movement away from using Google search which tracks your every movement to search engines like Duck Duck Go that protects your privacy with no tracking. If you concentrate on good content the other search engines going to include your blog in their search results.

Using Dictation to Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Fri, 16 Jan 2015 15:00:00 +0000

I recently wrote about using Blogger mobile so this time I'm trying out dictating a blog post using Siri on Blogger mobile. There's a few pros and cons to using Siri as far as I can see but it is a good start for writing a blog post when you're thinking of something to write about and really just don't know where to start. You simply start talking about your topic of choice then edit from there. You have to go back and correct any spelling and grammatical errors as well as add in punctuation and capitalization. Customizing text with bold or italics can also be added later. However, you can write the basics of a fairly extensive blog post quickly simply by just dictating.

Using dictation (eg. Siri) to write a blog post is something new to me. I think it's going to be something that I like using for basic posts and creating a framework that can be extended later in the website editor. It will be particularly useful for those times when I have a great idea on the tip of your tongue that I forget to write down or because it's inconvenient to write down at that time. This way I can get the idea down in in writing and then expand from there. I think dictation will prove to be a valuable blogging tool for me!

Controversy, Yeah or Ney?

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Thu, 15 Jan 2015 17:17:00 +0000

Back in the heyday of blogging networks, one of the recommended blogging strategies for building blog traffic was controversy. The technique is still recommended to some degree today. While using controversy may be somewhat effective, it does tend to drive the wrong type of traffic to your blog. It is a difficult technique to maintain as well and certainly does not lend itself effective in all blogging niches. It may be effective in a blog focusing on current events, or hot topics like religion and politics but for the types of blogs I write, there really isn't much controversy to talk about. Granted, I could stretch a couple of them to include a bit of controversy but there really is no need. My position is that most bloggers do not need to use controversy as a blogging strategy. I understand that some bloggers need or want to use controversy as a strategy. This is entirely up to them and they are more than likely aware of the risks they take.

Some have taking the technique of discussing controversial topics to such a level that their blog is defined solely by the controversy. This may or may not be a good thing. It could be good in that controversy gets folks talking and thinking outside the box. In most cases though, the controversy brings negative repercussions like dealing with online trolls but in some cases it brings much more like catching the attention of law enforcement, stalking that spills over into personal lives, government involvement and that type of thing. Even though you may think the thoughts, it is not always appropriate to put those thoughts in writing because of the controversy they might cause. They can be misconstrued as threats, blasphemy, libelous, inciting illegal acts, hate speech, treason or simply picking a fight when in fact that may not have been your actual intention.

In the News: Raif Badawi

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:08:00 +0000

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is a liberal activist blogger and founder of the Free Saudi Liberals website. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prision, 1,000 lashes and a fine of 1 million riyals for insulting Islam and religious authorities. He started his blog in 2006 and went offline since his arrest in 2012. His case is a clear example that bloggers can and do get themselves into trouble blogging. Saudi Arabia obviously felt threatened by Raif's writings that they view as dissent!

Back At It

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:51:00 +0000

I jumped back into blogging with both feet. So far, so good but it is clear that writing a blog post a day for each of my six blogs is not really feasible. Or at least it won't be feasible when life gets busier in the spring. I best get busy writing blog posts!

The Old Comment Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Mon, 05 Jan 2015 13:00:00 +0000

Even though I took a blogging hiatus, I have still been micro-blogging. Twitter is my favourite social media outlet! A few days ago, one of my peeps tweeted that they had disabled comments on their blog. The reasoning was rather valid in that blogging has changed. At one time, comments were a must in order to build blog traffic and retain readership. With that came comment spam and trolls to downright nastiness including online stalking. There were two work arounds to this this problems. Either disable comments or use comment moderation. I chose comment moderation. I'm the only one who sees any spam or trolling and while both can make for an unpleasant moment or two, I treat them accordingly and move on. On a positive note, I have established a nice relationship with some of my readers by allowing comments. I'm not writing business or professional blogs and am moving closer to not monetizing them at all so for me the comments are simply a nice way to connect with my readers.

Getting Back to My Blogging Roots

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Sun, 04 Jan 2015 15:00:00 +0000

Somewhere along the line, blogging became a chore, no longer fun. I was constantly trying to write good content but focusing less on me, the blogger and more on driving traffic to my blogs. In hindsight I lost the joy and excitement of blogging. It's a lot of work trying to drive traffic to advertising that is at best going to pay pennies. Don't get me wrong as I was earning a nice income for a couple of years blogging but the blogging community has changed. Those who were blogging as a secondary income have moved on to greener pastures leaving two main categories of bloggers, personal and business. I'm considered a personal blogger because none of my blogs are associated with a business. I run a few ads on my blogs but quite frankly, that may be changing soon. I want to get back to the thrill of blogging simply for the creative outlet it offers. This will be the direction my blogs will be taking, blogging when I can and for the sheer joy of blogging!

Like Coming Home to an Old Friend

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 19:02:00 +0000

Yesterday, I sat down to make new signature graphics for my blogs. I had them finished within a half hour, if that. Then I uploaded the graphics and changed the html on my blogs. As I completed the changes, I opened each blog before writing a post. My gosh! It felt good to be back blogging. The posts were short and sweet, but I was back blogging. It was like coming home to an old friend. So far it looks like my blogging hiatus has paid off. We shall see if the momentum continues but for now it is time to ride the wave!

'Tis That Time of Year

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 02:58:00 +0000

Here it is a brand new year for blogging. That means a bit of behind the scenes tweaking updating copyright notices and checking links. Blogging has been hit or miss for me for the past six months but surprising, it took little time for me to update and upload new signature graphics. It's taking a little longer to include a brief post on each blog but at least my readers will know that I haven't abandoned ship. Cheers to the new year!

Happy New Year! Welcome 2015

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Thu, 01 Jan 2015 15:45:00 +0000

Wishing each and everyone of you a very Happy New Year! Welcome 2015...

Blogger Mobile

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Tue, 09 Dec 2014 03:44:00 +0000

Oh my gosh! It dawned on me that Blogger might have an app for blogging on the fly using a mobile device so I checked the App Store. Sure enough there is an app! I downloaded it to check out.

This post was written using Blogger mobile app. It's a rather slick app! After signing in, simply scroll to the blog you want to manage. Clicking on new post shows the editor window to write your post. Easy, peasy blogging on the go right from your mobile device 😄

Rekindling the Fire

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Wed, 06 Aug 2014 10:01:00 +0000

My blogging has been hit or miss since the new year. Call it a case of major blogger's block or perhaps I'm simply losing interest in blogging, but whatever it is, my blogs won't survive much longer without new content. The reality is, content is king when it comes to blogging. So today, I'm picking up a bit of the blogging creativity and starting again in the hopes the shear act of starting will rekindle the fire. And so it begins...

Dealing With Inappropriate Comments and Those Who Make Them

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 11:00:00 +0000

I quickly learned that allowing comments on my blog would result in undesirable comments at times. These comments fall under two categories - spammers and inappropriate. Readers of blogs are usually familiar with unmoderated and moderated groups. Anything goes on unmoderated groups like usenet although certain things can get the poster into hot water with their ISP. That meant an abundance of usenet trolls and folks who thought they could be as offensive as possible under the guise of anonymity. Moderated groups and forums attempted to circumvent the problems of unmoderated groups. Moderators would watch the posts, screening out spam and problems before they started. If a poster proved themselves they would be unmoderated only to be reigned in if they started causing a problem. When blogging came onto the scene, the general consensus was allowing comments would help the blog traffic grow. However, it quickly became apparent that if you cared about quality comments, comment moderation was a must.

Comment moderation doesn't stop the spammers or inappropriate comments, it only stops those types of posts from going live without being approved first. Some readers, feel it is their right to make whatever comment they want on a blog WITHOUT realizing that commenting is a privilege not a right. They have no problem trying to attack or provoke other commenters or the blogger themselves. They have no problem being rude, nasty or threatening. If comment moderation is in place which it should be, these types of posters will in many cases escalate leaving multiple comments because they don't see their original comment posted.

Bloggers DO NOT have to tolerate this type of behaviour on their blogs. You, the blogger, own your blog so ultimately it becomes a 'your blog, your rules'. Keep comment moderation turned on. In most cases, after a few attempts, they will move on to greener pastures simply because they have no idea whether their comments are even being seen by the blogger or simply filtered to the trash. In the event a reader becomes rude, nasty or threatening they can be reported to their ISP. This type of behaviour is against most AUP and TOS so their ISP will act on the complaint. If it persists, you can block their IP from accessing your blog. If the person is targeting only one or two posts, turn off commenting on those posts until the problem is resolved. You can also turn off commenting for your entire blog if the problem is severe but in most cases you shouldn't have to do this. At no time should you ever engage in a battle of words with them or communicate directly with them via email or otherwise. Remove your contact information on your blog so the only way they can communicate with you is through the blog commenting system.

Keep in mind that the comments are from someone seeking attention so don't take it personally. If they don't get a response from you they will quickly move on to somewhere that they will get attention. It is just a matter of carrying on as usual without giving them the satisfaction of attention.

Reporting Back on Solution for Technorati Spam Comments

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Wed, 23 Apr 2014 11:39:00 +0000

I recently wrote about disabling comments on one problematic post. The post in itself is not the problem as it is only a maintenance post with my Technorati code. The problem is this post that is of no interest to readers has for some reason gained the attention of spammers or more specifically their spam bot. After a couple of weeks of receiving multiple daily attempts at spam commenting on this particular post, I finally disabled commenting. I am pleased to say the problem is now solved. It has six days now with no further attempts on that post but more importantly, the spam bot has not been diverted to other posts on that blog. This confirms my belief that it was a spam bot not an actual person trying to leave the comments. Peace has been restored to my inbox!

Disabling Comments on One Post

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 18:44:00 +0000

Yesterday, I wrote about the amount of comment spam one particular post on one of my blogs was drawing. Considering it is a post for the Technorati code only there is nothing of any interest for any reader so no reason for comments. I opened my mailbox this morning to discover several more pieces of this type of spam. The good news is because of comment moderation the spam never sees light of day but by now even deleting the spam from my mailbox is getting annoying. So, I went to that blog's posts and pulled up the post, clicked edit then in the right side bar, clicked on options and turned off comments then hit update for the change to go into effect. Essentially what this does is prevent the spammer (more likely spam bot) from leaving a comment on that post without affecting other posts. Problem solved!

Turning off comments can be done prior to the post going live or anytime after the post has been published. This handy little feature is something I haven't used enough but in all honesty until this past couple of weeks, really did not have a big need for it. However, there are some posts that may be best with comments disabled if they have the potential to draw a lot of negative or spam comments. I don't have many posts across my blogs that fall into that category but it is something to keep in mind.

Technorati or Not

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 16:26:00 +0000

Back in 2006 when I was setting up my first blogs, I added a post with nothing but the code for Technorati. This code tells Technorati that the blog is mine and to track it. Technically, since it should be getting no attention other than from the Technorati bot. Well, over the past couple of weeks the Technorati post on one of my blogs has gained a lot of attention. I'm not kidding! The spam comments on this particular post are rather impressive, coming in at four or more a day. I suspect that the spammers think linking their comment with any "Technorati" post will gain a bit more attention even if it is only a blog maintenance post. It would be quite easy for spammers to set up a bot targeting any post that mentions Technorati.

This is just one more reason to keep comment moderation in place. In the long run, it saves a lot of time in having to remove comments posted without moderation. It also prevents the creation of a huge PR hole. Had I not had comment moderation in place, those comments would have been instantly published. All of them contained links that definitely would have created a PR hole. The real problem would have been had I been away and not had comment moderation in place! I suspect many a decent blogger has lost PR because of this very problem. At this rate, there has been no harm done. I'm just curious how long the onslaught of spam comments on the Technorati code post will continue.

Spammers Making Multiple Attempts to Comment

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:30:00 +0000

Some spammers don't understand the concept of comment moderation. Over the past week, a spammer has tried several times to get a comment posted on one of my blogs. I kid you not, the first round of attempts numbered seven. The second round was only four. Now, it gives me a bit of pleasure thinking of some moronic spammer wasting their time, shaking their head and freaking out because they know they hit the publish button but their comment is not visible. Frantically, they repeat the process. Then again and again until finally they collapse in a heaping pile of frustration that their comment has not been published. If only that were the case. Sadly, it is likely a bot making comment attempts set up to try a certain number of times then move on to the next blog. If successful, multiple spam comments will appear on that blog until the blogger notices but these days with so many abandoned blogs, the comments may stand for eternity. This is all the more reason to keep comment moderation on your blog!

Matt Cutts Announces the Death of Guest Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 18:54:00 +0000

A very common strategy for some looking for exposure to their site or blog is to offer to write a guest post with a link back to them. I get several of these requests per week but as interesting as they sound, I have declined for several reasons. First, a guest post does not always capture the flavour of the blog they are requesting to write a guest post for. Second, quite often a guest post request content simply doesn't mesh well with the blog. Third, for me this is very important, if a guest post request is for a product that either I haven't used or I've had a negative experience with, I cannot in good faith say yes to that guest post. Finally, I really don't get a benefit out of a guest post other than not having to write a post myself. On the other hand, with good traffic the link in the guest post will get exposure and continue to do so again at my expense. So, I haven't accepted guest posts on my blogs which apparently has turned out to be a good call. Matt Cutts has announced that guest posts with their nofollow links are spammy, so guest posts are dead. What this means is bloggers accepting guest posts will now be penalized by Google. This might be a good time to go through and remove any nofollow links just to be on the safe side.

And So It Goes...

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 01:24:00 +0000

I sat down to write about our experience at a celebrity chef's restaurant in the fall. That involved going through the multitude of pictures, selecting the ones I wanted to use then preparing them for my blog. Once they were ready, I uploaded the pictures. Then, it took me almost four days to write the post! I'd write a little, putter around, get side tracked then write a bit more. Honestly, that post should have been a lot easier to write than it was and yet it proved to be a rather challenging post. Go figure! And so it goes...

I Need a Personal Blogging Trainer

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 20:21:00 +0000

A month before the holiday season, I embarked on a get fit plan. For inspiration with some of the exercising, I have apps that actually do the count down, tell you when to take breaks and cheer you on. As I was doing my squats today, the thought came to mind that there should be an app for blogging to help get into a better routine of blogging, keeping you focused and meeting your blogging goals. The occasional pat on the back would be nice especially upon completion of that difficult post you've been struggling with for quite some time. Just saying...

Setting Blogging Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 04:04:00 +0000

In my quest to get back on track with my blogging, setting goals may just be an option. I don't think they need to be carved in stone or on a schedule, just something as simple as planning a blog post daily on at least one of my blogs. Or perhaps a goal of blogging each morning. Actually the blogging each morning sounds like a plan! Now to put it into action and see where things go from there...

Changing How to Monetize a Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Garden Gnome) — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 12:00:00 +0000

When I first started monetizing my blogs, I followed one the two examples set by fellow bloggers. Essentially, bloggers were monetizing their blogs by displaying and writing paid posts. I didn't get into the paid posts and glad I didn't as they quickly were looked down on by other bloggers. Like many, my introduction into monetizing my blogs was with Adsense. I've used other advertising networks in addition to Adsense. The biggest problem with networks like Adsense aside of all their rules and regulations is they don't pay much.

Back in 2010, the blog advertising networks (eg. Entrecard, Adgitize, CMFAds) were all the rage. They networks popularized the 125 x 125 badge although they did offer banner advertising as well. Somewhere along the line and if I recall correctly, it was through the Entrecard system, running your own 125 x 125 advertising was encouraged. This put the selling and displaying of ads directly with the blogger effectively sidestepping the middleman. If you sold advertising space for $10, you kept the entire $10. What that led to was the bloggers so interested in making money they set up splogs filled with networks and private ads. It was hard to find the post for the ads. That was about the time I started simplifying, pulling advertising off my blogs leaving just enough for a bit of income to cover my internet costs. It was also about the same time, tweeting for money came to be.

Fast forward to today. I love the cleaner look of not running a lot of ads on my blogs so aside of a few Adsense units across my blogs, I stick to the direct sales of ads. Things have changed a lot though. While it has always been true that you need the traffic to earn money from the networks, it really isn't true for the private ads. It's about exposure. If the buyer gets a little traffic they are elated. Quite often the private ads are not by bloggers either. It's normal to have a company buy a year's worth of advertising for a spot on one of my blogs. However, displaying ads is not the only way to make money with a blog these days. There is selling your brand AND in my opinion that is where the real money lies in blogging!