The Mindless Following Mentality Of The Internet:

Want to know why its so hard to start up a new blog, taking months to grow the site as well as increase traffic? It’s because your a nobody, at least, not yet in the eyes of the average internet user. It just drives me crazy the amount of people that won’t even consider reading your blog or website, if you don’t have the credentials of some of these “SuperBloggers” that are on the internet today.

The only exception to this is search engine traffic, as they are clicking over to your blog to read an article about a specific topic.

To give you a better idea of what I’m talking about, heres an example:

Site #1 - Newly started blog, has no comments on any of their posts, has 5 RSS Readers indicated by the RSS Chicklet in the sidebar and puts a couple of “advertise here” boxes to try and generate some revenue.

Site #2 – Has been around for 2 years, has over 50 comments on each post and has 20,000 readers. They do not have any “Advertise Here” squares due to the amount of advertisers that are interested in buying ad space.

If Site #1 sees the success of Site #2, they will most likely work a little harder to get to the success level that Site #2 has, but what they don’t realize is the fact that the average internet user isn’t interested in a “Newbie’s” blog content. Why go to Site #1 when you can go to Site #2?

Which brings me to the conclusion of the mindless internet swarm that won’t give anything new a chance until they have the numbers to show that they are an authority in their niche. Being a blogger, this mentality just defeats the purpose of trying to start a new blog due to the amount of time it takes to grow it into something worthwhile.

In conclusion, RSS Inflation may not be that bad of an idea. Although most bloggers and webmasters can easily detect the inflation (due to the subscriber to comment ratio), the average internet user might see that and give your blog a second chance.

What are your thoughts on the average internet user, and the way that they stereotype blogs?

(I’m really curious as to what people think about this, as this is just one side of the countless views that people have.)

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So Brad.. What did you do today?

Screwed up my blog, and then spent the entire day trying different ways to fix it. Once fixed, I uploaded a backup of a theme that I stupidly didn’t backup until a week ago. Then I spent time customizing the theme to what it was before.

Brad – What The Hell Happened?

I woke up this morning with an idea that I was going to implement a “Brian’s Threaded Comment” system into my comment box. Doing this, people could see my reply to each comment, and would save me time from scrolling up and down my browser to reply.

I downloaded the plugin around 10AM this morning and fiddled around with the code until I decided to save it for another time. Somehow (I actually forget, EXACTLY how it happened) I read something about WordPress 2.7 having a way for the admin to reply to each comment.

So I was thinking.. Cool! Why not try that out? I currently had 2.6.2 and figured I might as well update.

So Why Was Your Site Down For The Entire Day?

I placed WordPress 2.7 on my web server and configured wp-config.php to match my previous installation. Thinking everything was good, I loaded up Bradblogging.com to find a nice PHP error staring back at me. It said:

Fatal error: Call to undefined function wp() in /home/brad5019/public_html/wp-blog-header.php on line 14

I started to panic a little bit here.. Thinking, “Alright, I must of messed something up“. Another Re-Upload of the files should do it.. The same error occurred.

At this point, I deleted all of the WordPress files and decided to install 2.7 via Fantastico (handy little program that is.. gets you up and running within seconds!) – Anyway, after configuring that, I tried to import my huge .SQL file that I had exported from my previous database. It was about 49MB in size (which is large for most blogs) and I tried to import it via PHPMYADMIN.

No Luck.. I had a timeout and the file didn’t save. So I tried copying and pasting over 10,000 lines of code into my “SQL Query” section of the database.. Only to have my browser crash on me.

Next I tried Cpanel’s “Database Restoration” service, only to get a blank .html page with nothing being done.

After that, I rinsed and repeated the above steps for about 3 hours.

Jeez.. Sounds like you were in a Pickle!

I had actually thought I had lost all of my articles, comments, etc.. which would of ruined me. Exhausted of options, I decided to turn to my web hosting provider. I submitted two tickets, and they scolded me for “Taking Advantage Of The Ticket System” – Sorry, when my blog returns nothing but PHP errors, I was a little frantic.

So I asked them if they could restore my MYSQL database into the new one that my temporary blog was using, they said:

We don’t help clients with Web Design Services – They are completely responsible for their own site. If your problem is with WordPress, try to contact their support.

Great help they were during this ordeal! I really liked how they took the time to help me with the situation I was in. You think 3 years of purchased hosting would make them care a little.. I could rant on, but I won’t.

So I finally turned to WordPress’s forums for help, they told me to re upload the wordpress files that I had done 3 times before. I didn’t feel like arguing so I did again.. With no luck.

If All Else Fails, Read The Instructions

So I did just that.. and forgot the fact that WordPress usually updates their MYSQL database structure. Within seconds, WordPress updated the database and I was sitting here typing this post about the Worst WordPress Update… Ever.

If you are interested in seeing my “Real Time” frustrations, see http://twitter.com/bradblogging.

Morals?

• Backup your theme files… Now.
• Backup your database… Now.
• Export Your Posts, Users, etc using WordPress’s export feature… You guessed it.. Now.

Have you ever destroyed your blog by trying to update WordPress? If so, How did you fix it?

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So what this post is doing is question whether bringing back old articles from your early blog stages (1 mos.-2 mos.) would be a good idea.. So that your new subscribers can get some articles that you have written, without having to go looking for them.

You would simply just copy and paste, perhaps deleting the old post to avoid duplicate content. The content would be delivered to all RSS Subscribers and Email Subscribers… Most will think it is a new article, the others that have read your blog for a while will know it’s a duplicate.

What your thoughts on bringing content, “Back from the Dead?”

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Liz Strauss Comment Counter is a highly configurable badge (very similar to the Feedburner one, except it’s more configurable) to show off the number of comments your blog has.

Now, I know the author took a while to create the plugin to open up to the WordPress community (And to get some trackbacks/links am I wrong? ) which I think is good. But seriously.. What is the use of it?

It’s supposed to replicate Feedburner’s interface to show R.S.S Subscribers (which helps you in turn, gain them to your feed – read more about that here) but what does the plugin accomplish? More comments? A better reputation because people have chosen to say their piece on your post?

If I saw that on Problogger or Shoemoney.. I would say something along the lines of:

Wow. They have over 1 million comments* over a course of their entire blog life…

* – Not actual number, just my exaggerated estimate.

I think this plugin would result in sidebar/above the fold clutter that really doesn’t help your readers or visitors see or accomplish anything. Whats your thoughts?

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Time and time again in my email, I see blog posts that highlight interesting posts from other blogs on Sunday. I just took a moment to think, “How could that help somebodies blog?”. I mean sure it gives back-links to other blogs, but theirs no real benefit to doing it for yourself. Then the answer suddenly hit me.

Why Linking To Other Articles Benefits You:

2 reasons come to mind after thinking of reasons why this is good for your blog.

• The first one is that it gives your readers something to read on your blog while you think of more content to write about. You could also call it a, “A filler post” until more original stuff gets written. That way, you can choose what you link to and provide the readers with articles that are related to what you blog about.

• The second one is that being a blog owner and getting a link from other blog is unexpected and pleasantly satisfying at the same time. Obviously, when you see a new link in your blog dashboard, it only gives around 20 words where you link was used. So then the owner will likely want to see where and why his/her link was created, generating traffic and perhaps a, “Thanks for the link!” comment. I like to think that what “Goes Around Comes Around“, so it never really hurts to give it a shot.

Is there other reasons why you would post some links for your readers to read on other blogs?

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A long story short, the “Underground Text Link Seller” offered Darren $400 a link totaling $2400 and he still denied it. Anyhow, until all of us bloggers get to that stage of 6 figure blogging, we can look at the link sellers first proposal. $1000.

Pros:

• You get $1000 to spend on whatever you want! (Wooo!!!!)
• If the links are written well, people barely notice them.
• You make a estimated profit of x50 on your domain name (perhaps + hosting?)

Cons:

• Google will slap you across the face in their search engine results.
• Lower traffic because of first point, lower Alexa ranking and perhaps less advertisers.
• Shows that you can be bought for the “Right” price.

I’m actually teetering on the whole prospect just because of the numbers that are involved. Unless you actually know how to make money online with blogs, this could be a major payday that could be used to help you in all sorts of life’s situations.

Then again, they are getting the best deal on the internet because over time, the cost of that text link for the buyer decreases with each passing month. Since you agreed to the terms, it would be dishonest and negligible to take the link off or charge them more.

What would you do if the situation arrived with you and your blog?

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My personal spin on it is that both of those blogs are right and wrong at the same time. Jakonrath is right at the fact that a large portion of how you judge a blog is the content when you actually read it. If the design is annoying with ads and the entire lot, then chances are you won’t even get to the content.

Problogdesign does fight a good argument saying that the design of a blog grow faster.. but they can’t grow fast if the content is just sponsored ads, or R.S.S feeds from other blogs. Even if the design was so unique and you WOULD not find it anywhere else… Who would stick around for another terrible post?

So I think I’ll be the first person to say that a good blog has the following:

1. A Easy-to-Use Interface & Content that is original. (Hah! 2 points in one!)
2. An uncluttered sidebar only showing what is necessary for the reader to have a better experience.
3. A Nav Bar with at least: Home and Contact links

What did I forget? Nothing in my opinion, but thats only one of the 6,798,093,473 people on earth. Whats yours – What makes a good blog?

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No it cannot. Have a good long weekend everyone. Expect to see:

• 3 useful WordPress Plugin (As part of the series that I am writing) posts +
• A Free Weekly Website Review +
• Quality Articles – That are not forced just because of a time limit

in the next couple of days.

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I have decided that I am going to travel in Europe for this week and hence will not be able to post as often..

I will be posting some pictures of all the great sites that I saw, just be paitent!

Thanks for understanding!!

See you later

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After an afternoon of visiting other peoples blogs and leaving comments, I was delighted to see that my Google Pagerank went up to 2 today!(Well technically its not 2 months, since this domain was bought on the 25th of December..But that will be our little secret) It was at 0 for the longest time!!

My friend over at Datmoney.com (Jay… Some of you guys might know him) had his Google Pagerank increased to 4 recently, which he was very delighted to see as well. Not all the news was jolly for this Pagerank update, as penerjemabbashasa.com [Edit - Link was incorrect, sorry Tnerd!!] experienced a major drop (PR – 4 to a PR – 0 ). To point out that hes not the only one, He created a list of major bloggers that also experienced a drop (http://www.penerjemahbahasa.com/stories/…).

So what does this mean on a long term scale? Nothing is going to change.. Its just nice to see that Google puts a positive value towards my blog as a whole.

Now your probably thinking, “Wow.. This guy brags to much. Whats Up with him.” Not to fear, I’ve developed a history of what I’ve done to make this blog up to that ranking…

• Submitted to Link Directories under the CORRECT Categories
• Used the same name in all of my comments on other blogs (Some of which have No-Follow Removed which would help the link-Building)
• Have NOT bought links, Paid reviews, etc. (Why buy stuff, when you can do it yourself, organically)
• Created useful posts for the world to read
• Have given free weekly website reviews for 4 weeks, which often result in a link back, comment, or R.S.S Subscription

If you follow these steps, I would be very surprised if you didn’t get at least a Google Pagerank 2 because thats what I have done and have received. If you want to get higher, you’ll have to turn to another source..

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