Over the coming month or two I’m wanting to get as practical as possible here at ProBlogger and as part of that I’m wanting to base as many posts as possible on real questions from readers.
So – the ‘question box’ is open.
I can’t guarantee that I’ll answer them all – but I’ll attempt to get through as many as possible or to find others who are better qualified than I am to do so.
Any topic is fine – but I’ll of course give priority to those that are on topic to this blog.
Fire away – looking forward to seeing what the ProBlogger community comes up with.
Note: If you don’t want your name/blog to be linked to your question feel free to ask it anonymously. Please submit the questions in comments below.
How do you present a single “feel” on a blog with multiple posters?
I have only been blogging for two weeks, and am finding that I’m actually nervous to make comments on other blogs. This is crazy because I strike up random conversations in public with strangers wherever I go.
There are several reasons for this timidity, but one of the reasons you (or others) may be able to help me with is this: What is the etiquette regarding commenting on/linking to old posts? Am I wasting my time to comment on posts that are older? If I just found them myself, they’re new and interesting to me. Are bloggers still responding to comments left on old posts? Do other readers still care to discuss old posts?
I currently have a Blogger blog with a confusing url. (My blog title was already taken, but inactive for several years, so I had to register my screen name.)
I registered a WordPress blog, because I wanted to reserve a better title for future migration. (reallifeblog.wp) I also have a domain (reallifeblog.net)
Would it be better to
a) keep my blogger blog, but redirect my domain name to the existing blog (and how do I do this?)
b) migrate to wordpress and use the wordpress hosted blog at my domain name (and how do I do this?)
I am happy with all aspects of blogger except the tech support, and I’m thinking WP has better support.
Was that too confusing?
I am building a blog that appeals to visitions who most often use a search engine. Should I hire a SEO specialists or try to do it myself. If the answer is yes, do you have recommendations and/or can you steer me to a site where I can find someone.
Thanks!
Thanks for creating such a wealth of information, Darren. I am in the process of launching a music blog, and I would find a resource center dedicated to launching blogs.
You have written many posts that pertain to components of launching a blog, but it would be great if you could gather them in one spot. It would also be nice to have something like a timeline or checklist to which a new blog could track its progress.
Darren, thank you for your consideration and all the great work you’ve done so far.
Hi,
I am new to blogging and blogging seriously and in my belief I write quality articles. My question is how many months or years it took for you to get success. I mean for getting steady flow of visitors to your website. Please let me know, else it is counting on my patience.
Thanks and Regards
K
My blog The Rock and Roll Report was drawing consistent hits (close to 1000 a day) and making a nice income from Adsense when I switched it from Typepad to a WordPress set up. Since then my hits and earnings have dropped dramatically. I attribute some of that from the slow summer months when a lot of my readers are on summer break and from Google having to re-index my site but how long should that process take?
Thanks
Hi Darren,
Classic marketing says “let people know what your point of difference is”.
I’ve just set up a links page on my website where I give each link a brief description (www.campfire.net.au/links). In my description I’d also like to say “how campfire is different is…” for each entry (for the sake of defining us – good marketing, yes?)
But somehow, I think I know “what Darren would say” about this! It comes across as stingy and a bit defensive – opposite to the idea of freely sharing. Can you see how I’m torn?
Would you recommend I DO describe my point of difference wherever I can – or let people work that out for themselves and “let it go” in a spirit of generosity, as seems to be so much of what your approach is about?
Richard
Great Idea to help other bloggers out. Some bloggers really need help for example bloggers like me…..who are not seasoned bloggers yet. I will become one through reading Problogger Thanks
Thanks for doing this, Darren!
I’m just now starting up a blog aimed at high school teachers. I’ve read many suggestions to have a few key quality longer articles as pillars and then shorter blog posts more often to refresh content. Should I create individual pages for those articles or just make them blog posts, but longer?
Thank you so much for the excellent series “31 days to a better blog”. It was SO informative! My question may seem extremely simple in nature, but I haven’t been able to find the answer: How do you schedule entries? I would like them to come out at the same time every day, but, of course, with real life, that’s hard to do! Is there some sort of scheduling program available? Thank you again for all of the help!!
hey darren , i have been blogging for 4 months now , i get pretty good traffic for my blogs age (around 1000 a day) , but i dont seem to get linkback’s from other sites ??? i am sure this is faced by many blogger’s , so could u plz give me a solution ??? thanks alot in advance
Hey Darren~
I’d love to know which conferences you think give the biggest bang for your buck. I like mixing it up with the guys too, so I’d like to know about some inclusive ones–I primarily hear about BlogHer.
Actually, how beneficial do you think conferences even are?
Thanks,
Michelle Cepeda
When you want to use a keyword in your url that’s already taken in .com .net .info etc. do you think going with .pro or .md would work?
For example, I’m sure that all the variations of dictionary.com, .net, etc are takem — but one can probably get .md — would it be the best move?
Thanks for your good work —
Hello Darren,
I feel like my question is the dumb one of the year but I keep reading about links but really don’t understand them. What happens when I set up a link on my site? My goal with my blog is to attract readers that may then eventually go to my web site which sells my book, MIGHTY MERRY TOO. Thanks,
Mary the Antique Sailor
Ooh, if I may add one more (inspired by Bloggrrl’s question): are there any decent web/blogging conferences in Australasia or are they all in the US?
Which would you promote more: RSS feeds or newsletters?
Thanks,
Simmons
Are you planning on coming to the Australian Blogging Conference?
If you haven’t heard about it see http://www.freedomtodiffer.com/blogoz/
What’s the best way (or is there a way) to change the domain name of a blog while keeping the content, SERP, backlinks and other particulars in place?
My blog needs a face lift and a new web 2.0 look!
Thanks!!!
Darren –
I’m a huge fan of the blog, thanks for what you do!
I’m looking into attending SEO conferences? Which ones would recommend that are well worth the value?
Thanks!
Hi Darren,
Would love to know, if I can put tabs on my blog, segragating the topics, Movies, books, tech, etc.. I have a blogger account
http://mokshjuneja.blogspot.com
Offline Blog Editor
Dear Pro Blogger,
Your blog is a jewel. It contains lots of info. I am an Internet Newbie, sorry if this question has been posted before …
Currently, I am using Blogspot (free). Is there a good Offline Blog Editor that I can upload photos to my FREE blogger account?
I have tried Windows Live Writer, RocktetPost, etc but cannot upload the photos.
I like Offline Blog Editing because I can write many post and set them to post at future dates.
What is a good offline blog editor with the above mentioned requirements which you recomend?
Thank you and kind regards
Hi darren, Why do advertisers prefer bloggers with own domain over free ones like blogspot, wordpress…etc?
Hi Darren,
When starting to display Ads on a blog, is it better to start running Google Adsense or go in search for private advertisers.
Assuming, the blog has some nice pagerank, traffic, which is the best place to look for private advertisers ?
Thanks,
Hari
Hi! I was wondering how to go about tracking the numbers of people who have visited your blog, and where they came from…any help, please write back! Thanks!
what will you do if you haven’t something to write ?
In the past two or three months, I have received queries from companies that would like to advertise on my blog. I haven’t said yes to any of these requests as I don’t have any system, or any idea how to start one, to handle invoicing, payments, tracking impressions, etc. Do you have any thoughts to share on that, or any recommendations as to where to find such information?
I am very frustrated by statistics tracking systems that I am using. I use the WordPress plug in Stat Trac (self hosted) and Feedburner stats plus Google Analytics, but the stats from each thing are so disparate that I have no idea what my true numbers are. Feedburner is obviously low. I have emiracle proof of that. Google’s numbers tend to be slightly higher, but even those tend to be 50% lower than my wordpress number.
I have read what you have written on ProBlogger, and that lead me to try Site Meter, but my sitemeter stats are even lower (or sometimes higher) than my Feedburner stats.
I have told all systems to not count bots and not to count me.
Is there any way to get accurate stats or do you suggest which one I should believe.
If you run your feed through Feedburner, does Google own your subscriber list? Can they use it? Doesn’t that make your blog infinitely less valuable?
Can you do a series on steps toward selling your blog for $50 million dollars?
My (current) blog is a mix of technical and personal posts. Probably more personal.
Do you think it is worth cleaning the current blog up to delete non-relevant items leaving only technical posts with a view to monetizing and popularising it?
Or is it best to start a new blog – with a new, more relevant domain name and move the technical posts to that?
Hello,
Google pulled my Adsense because, as they said, it racked up over $40 in 2 days.
Now, I was carefeul not to click my own stuff (I’m not clueless) and my friends are computer-savvy enough not to do it. A web designer said it could have been a spammer.
Question: How do I explain that to Google and get my Adsense back or is it possible? Or do I want my Adsense back!
Thanks
What is the best way to make money on a site without a niche?
I started my blog using Drupal because I got hosting for free on the web server at my day job and that is what our company web site was built on.
Now I really want to switch to WordPress because it is a much better blog platform than Drupal.
Can you post on any platform migrations you have done or that others you know have done in the past? Are there any services or people that do these types of migrations or am I on my own to figure it out?
Hi Darren!
I started publishing post one week back on some topics.
I can write short stories. I cant exactly understand the purpose of blogging.Someone told me its to improve your writing skills.What are the purposes of blogging?what opportunities does blogging has for ur??what type of transactions are done from blogging.??
i want to know details,knowabout about blogging from scratch level…Is it of any kind of help to me.
Here’s one for you Darren:
When responding to multiple comments, is it better to respond in individual comments of your own, group them together in small batches, or all at once in a big lump?
I’ve opted for the ‘small batches’ of no more than 3 or 4, with the commenter’s name bolded. I settled on this because it’s a balance.
I was concerned with sending too many notifications to readers subscribed to comments, looking like I was the only commenter on my own site, and keeping my comment stats somewhat normalized. I’m not sure if I’ve taken everything into account, though.
Your thoughts?
What’s a good mix for new vs. returning readers?
I know the % of new visitors to my blog thanks to Google Analytics…but I’m not sure what I should be aiming for.
Any suggestions, Darren?
I run a corporate blog in Spanish.
Do you think it makes any sense to generate links from blogs in other languages? (i.e. English)
I am looking for something for the school I’m at. It is a cloth-ribbon contraption that hangs from the ceiling. Performers climb on it. I was wondering what it is called and if possible a price range. Thanks.
Hey Darren! I figured I should jump on the train. I’m running three blogs now in my spare time, and although I know I have the hours to do them in addition to my job (night hours, I blog before work), I’m finding making a schedule different?
Before you went pro, how did you schedule your days? I’ve seen how you work your hours now that you do it full-time, but how do you squeeze all that into a few hours a day?
Thanks, and keep on keepin’ on.
Darren,
I’ve been blogging for 3 weeks. I just checked my page on Technorati and realized there was a comment about me on another site so I went to the site, and it’s really strange. My website title and link are just thrown into the middle of his page, out of context, and for no reason. Also, the VID101 link to the right of mine is a page I have visited and bookmarked on delicious, but not on Stumble, which his page seems to be about. I also had that website saved on my desktop for about a week.
This seems weird to me. Is this something I should be aware of? Anyone?
You can see the technorati comment here: Taylor’s Technorati
It goes to this page: page I don’t know or understand.
A related question is:
I also have a different page listed as a referring page in my wordpress stats that I don’t recognize and which has no reference to me on it when I go there. That page is here.
Also, what is /?p=80&preview=true
this is something I don’t recognize either, but Google Analytics said that page was viewed 580 times yesterday.
I hope this wasn’t confusing. It sure is to me!
I appreciate anyone’s help!
Thanks a million for your excellent blog, Darren!
Taylor
Q. Which part of blogging do you enjoy the most?
Money, traffic, engaging with readers, writing or something else
As your blog is so famous so don’t you think you should be registering few doimans which are similar to your current domain. To name a few:
http://www.porblogger.net/ http://www.porblogger.com/
http://www.probloger.net/ http://www.probloger.com/ (already registered)
and many more of such types which can easily be used to drive traffic to there blogs and earn money with ads…!
Q. Darren – I’ve been reading this site now, for awhile, after we first met @ living room. My question is about naming conventions for images – what is your format of choice for images? Some people say hyphens between words – others use _ between words. What is the best for SEO?
Q. What made you decide to drop Google Adsense when you redesigned Problogger?
Q. Most sites offering tips on blogging focus on North American and European Bloggers. What have you done to attract bloggers from other countries?
Hello,
Do you happen to have some decreases in traffic and in comments ? Do you this feeling of : “nobody is reading my stuff anymore ?” and how do you manage this ?
It can be quite disturbing when you put the same amount of effort in every single post.
First of all: Thank you very much for the very informative articles you wrote and hopefully will write on this blog. If someone deserves to earn his money with blogging, than definately you :)
My question is (feel free to translate it in correct English ;))
I recently started a blog and I want to write about a lot of things but specialize on let’s say 3 main topics. What is your advice? Should I start two or three blogs with only one main topic (nokia phone software for example) or would you recomment writing my content in one blog?
I’ve the feeling if I would seperate my blog content in more than one blog that – if one topic is more interesting to me at one time – I would lose readers on the other blog and vice versa.
On the other hand I think that some of my readers would not be interested in every blogpost I write if there is only one blog. Would be great if you could give me advice.
When did you first decide to get a professional design instead of rolling your own? Was there a point where you said “OK, it’s time” and how did you select your design firm?
Darren, my blog is becoming more and more popular everyday. I think that it is getting the right exposure it’s suppose to get. My question is: how do I go BEYOND this? What else can I do to expose my blog other than getting linked to my blog?
It’s like I have to keep posting the great articles I write just so that I can get readers coming back. But I feel that there is something missing. Something that I think I am not doing which is keeping my blog an average blog. This might be a really confusing question, but hopefully you know what I mean.