Happy New Year...

...to you all.

See you next year - surely it will be a great one for further blog improvement!

/M

Don't Forget To Embed Those Goodies!

Just quickly want to mention something that I have recently begun using much more than before; The opportunity to find enjoyable material on the web and embed it in your blog post.

So easy, can be done really fast - and the reader's enjoy it! A win/win situation - especially if you are short on time (like we all seem to be these days).

Here is how you do it:

1. Find the embeddable object (for me it's mostly been movie trailers and free online games)
2. Mark and copy the provided HTML code
3. Open the HTML of your post (here at Blogger you choose "Edit HTML" when you are writing your post).
4. Simply paste the code where you want the object to be and you're done.

Things to keep in mind is that you should find an embeddable object of the right size for your blog. Usually there are some different sizes to choose from. And - as always - that you don't overdo it. Consider the amount of loading time for the object as well and don't replace your writing entirely with free content. Find a balance.

Good luck on making your blog more attractive by adding embeddable content. If you find handling snippets of HTML tricky, just let me know and I'll help you out or write a more thorough tutorial on how you edit the HTML code of your posts.

Will finish this post with an example of what such an embedded object might look like. Before that I just want to say

MERRY CHRISTMAS
and
HAPPY BLOGGING!

(Example of an embedded movie trailer)

Another Reader's Site To Visit!

Just received a friendly comment from this nice site on fridge magnet design:
laughingfridgemagnets

Do pay it a visit. Also let me know if you would like me to add your blog/site to me "reader's site list".

How Do You Catch a Reader?

Imagine that you've written your best blog post ever. You know that if only people would read this post, then they would forever be hooked. They would start every day for the rest of their lives by visiting your blog...you get the picture.

The problem is that no matter how good posts you write, what most people will go by when deciding which blog to visit is The Title. In just a few words you have only seconds to capture a potential reader's interest before he or she moves on to the next blog, mail, RL issue etc.

That is why the title is so important. Those words are what will be skimmed by that potential stream of traffic and has to make them stop, make them curious and take a look. 

Here are some of the concrete ways to do this:


* Begin your post with a statement (Like The best horror novel ever!)
* Begin with a question (Like The best comedy ever?)
* Begin with something exciting or controversial (Like Maggie's Near-death experience proves there is an afterlife)
* Begin with something funny (Like Feeling hot? This review will rock your socks off)
* Begin with something that your intended audience REALLY would like to know (Like How to start writing posts that will double your traffic in a week)

I try to think Newspaper headline and ask myself "What would make me interested in reading this post?". Usually I choose a combination of the above tactics. For this post for instance, I tried to find a title that was:
- A question
- Controversial (it's not allowed to catch another person is it?)
- Funny (somewhat absurd at least)
- Of big interest for my intended audience

Of course I don't always succeed and you can't rely to heavily on one set formula. Sometimes you need to use your own intuition and imagination. Think psychology. If I add a link and name it DON'T CLICK THIS LINK! it will be really hard to resist. That's simple psychology. Our curious human nature.

Hope these suggestions help you. Let me know if they do - or if they don't.

Happy blogging!

Site Update - Link to News Blog Added. Want a Link to Your Blog?

Just received a mail where I was asked to add a link to the following Indian news blog:
http://2daynewsupdates.blogspot.com/


Of course I said yes after visiting the blog to take a look at the content. If you would like a link to your blog or site, please contact me.

Make Images that Google can Find and Increase Blog Traffic!

Never forget to add images to your blog posts. Not only do they appeal to the reader of the blog, adding to the visual interest. They also bring a lot of attention to your blog since the images will be found by users searching the popular and evergrowing Google Images.

The problem is of course to find images that are not copyrighted. I have solved this by making all images myself for my main blog, Fantasytree. Don't know how to draw or paint? Fear not, free drawing lessons are available at Fantasytree and I will share everything I know about making digital images if you just contact me over there (or here).

If you really don't feel like making your own illustrations (nothing fancy is needed really, no matter how simple an image is it will be found by Google) then you can find stock images online, both for free and for a fee.

But why miss out on a fun and enriching creative hobby?

Happy blogging, drawing and painting!

Use Google Analytics To Make Your Blog's Content More Relevant!

In case you aren't, you should definitely start using Google analytics. This way you can gain all information you need about what readers like most about your blog, how many times each individual post has been viewed and so on.

I start each week by looking at which subjects have been the most popular, striving to focus just slightly more on such subjects that have received a lot of pageviews. Don't just write blindly, analyse and use strategy when writing for your intended readers.

Happy blogging!

A Blogger's Quest Now on Twitter!

I am happy to announce that this blog is now available on Twitter as well. New updates to this blog and microblogging from me can now be found there. As user Bloggersquest I'll be posting feeds and tweets at http://twitter.com/Bloggersquest.

See you on Twitter!
/Magnus

(Updated!) 22 Things I've Done to Increase My Blog Traffic

In this post I will collect all the different actions I've taken in order to increase traffic to my blogs.  Hopefully you will find some things you haven't tried yet and that will bring more traffic to your blog. I will only write about which step I've taken, not how or why. That will be developed in future posts - provided you as a reader ask for it. So don't forget to give me feedback. Which of these things would you like to see further explained and developed in future posts? Happy blogging!

These steps are in no particular order:

- Submitting blog to blog portals
- Being active in forums about the particular niche, linking to my blog in the signature
- Submitting blog to search engines
- Joining Google AdSense
- Analyzing with Google Analytics in order to write more about things my reader were particularly interested in within my niche.
- Pinging
- Focusing on writing "pillar articles"
- Becoming an affiliate
- Opening an aStore
- Posting a lot of selfdrawn/painted images (show up regularly in search engines)
- Linking to and commenting on related blogs
- Providing free lessons and tutorials
- Forwarding feeds to social networking sites
- Making a YouTube video, with reference to my blog
- Search engine optimization
- Taking time to answer comments
- Offering to feature and recommending other bloggers on my blog
- Providing "Quick links" to my most popular blog posts
- Linking to websites with related content
- Making an effort to be as broad as I possibly can within my selected niche
- Building a network at social sites with people sharing the same interests
- Linking to my aStore from other websites

(List updated November 2009)

Updated and Added a Store to My Main Blog

Indeed it has been a while. But now that I will try to post more often at and have added an aStore to my main blog,
Fantasytree
I believe I might share some words about the journey from time to time, adding valuable links and such.

I currently have two main ways of making money on that blog:
- Google adsense
- Amazon.com (affiliate program)

I recommend both of these. Especially become an Amazon associate if you feel like adding an aStore to your site. So simple and loads of fun picking products for it etc. Always enjoyed making list so I have really enjoyed building this store selling products related to the blog.

Site update: Quicklink added

Added a "quicklink" to the most read post about writing (the one about choosing language).

Site update: New blog added

Added another Swedish blog (in swedish) to my list with blogs by friends and relatives.

Site update: New link collection created

Created a new link collection, one about the important aspect of looking at "Traffic ranking". Added Alexa.com to that new link list.

Site Update: New Promotion Links Added

Added links to Delicious and Socialmarker in the Promotion link collection.

Site update: New Blog Portal Added

Added links in the "Blog directories" link collection

Lesson #2: General - How To Use the Links at This Site to Improve Your Blog Part I

Apart from the actual posts at his blog I hope readers and aspiring bloggers will also consider this a good starting point when looking for other useful sites that can help making their blog better.

In a series of posts I will describe the different kinds of link collections I have added here and how I use these links myself.

The link collections that can be found so far include:

- Blog portals

- Blog forums

- Promotion

- Visual appearance

- Other sites about blog improvement

- Successful blogs



Blog portals

A regularly updated list of different international blog portals (for blogs written in English) that I have submitted my own blogs to.

More about the other link collections will follow in part II. Same blog, same writer. See you.

Lesson #1: Writing - Which Language Should I Choose?

The process of writing a blog actually starts BEFORE you have written even one single word. The reason for this is that you have to decide whether or not to write in your native language (possibly spoken and read by a minority of the world's web users) that you can write more fluently in. This of course makes the task of writing easier, but you probably won't be read by as many (unless you are fortunate enough to have one of the biggest languages as your native one).

Since I'm from Sweden (Swedish is a minority language) I early on decided to write in English, a language I'm not quite as proficient in - for natural reasons - but a language that can be read by most of the people online.

I will try to sum up the two choices by doing a "pros" and "cons" for each of them

Writing in your native language

Pros:
- More fluent, bigger vocabulary
- More attractive to others from your country (that may include your friends, parents etc. so you early on have to decide whether you're writing for yourself and the ones closest to you or whether your hoping to reach the entire world)

Cons:
- Only attractive to people from your own country
- You won't develop your second language

Writing in a global language

Pros:
- You can reach A LOT more people
- Great language practice - you develop your second language

Cons:
- If you're not very good at the other language this obviously will restrict the level of your writing.
- Probably easier to "disappear" among the innumerable blogs written in this global language, which means:
- You will probably have to spend more time adding your blog to blog portals, participating in forums etc. at least if you're trying to reach a wider audience

To wrap this first lesson up the most important things to ask yourself BEFORE you start writing is:

What is the purpose of this blog?
Which audience am I hoping to attract by writing it? You are obviously writing for someone more than yourself (otherwise you might as well stick to a classic diary). Who?

Of course this can be decided by simply writing and seeing who reads it. BUT, from my point of view it is important to decide how many people you wish to include/exclude in sharing your posts. If you feel comfortable writing in - or wish to really improve - a global language I would encourage you to write in this. Especially if you are aiming for that HUGE audience.

Hope this post has been useful to you. Feel free to comment or mail me.

Best wishes and good luck with your blog
/M

Welcome to this Blog about Blog Improvement

Hi and welcome to this blog about blog improvement.

Here I will write about my struggle and insight - the lessons I have learned - while trying to create the blog of my dreams:

(take a look at it by clicking the banner above or HERE)

Every post here will include at least one valuable realization I had along the way, a lesson and an advice that can hopefully help you as well to create the blog of YOUR dreams.

I will try to divide the different aspects of blogging into a few important main subjects, such as: Writing, Layout, Add-ons etc. and in case a post falls under more than one category I will include it under more than one.

To make this a good starting point for high quality blogging, I will add links to some of the blogs that are considered the "best" according to different blog lists around the net.

However I would also like to add links to blogs written by followers of this blog. If you would like me to add a link to your blog, simply become a "Follower" and I'll check your profile to find the address. If you have more than one blog, however, you have to tell me which one you want me to add - otherwise I'll just pick the one I find most interesting.

If you have any opinions or suggestions I hope you comment directly on this site or email me at

blogavsinne@hotmail.com

Best wishes and good luck with your blog.