Successful Blog

Think Before You Intra-link

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You show your CD collection to a friend. She mentions that a certain CD is her favorite. You say, “If you like that, you ought to hear this. . . . ”

It’s the same when you’re writing a post, and you realize what you’re saying ties neatly with something you wrote last week, last month, or last year. You have to link to it. Your readers deserve to hear about it.

The Value of Intra-Links

Internal links or intra-links have three key values.

  • They offer readers more content on a subject they’re interested in.
  • They increase your page views when readers follow them.
  • When you use well-thought descriptive anchor text, they help search engines interpret the content of your blog.

Well-Thought Descriptive Anchor Text

Am I choosing for myself or for my readers? A random survey that I did shows that just about everyone could be better at anchor test. Text that says click here or this is not choosing for readers, nor is it well-thought, descriptive anchor text.

Well-thought anchor text states where the link goes so that when readers arrive, they’ll know they’re in the right place. The strongest anchor text uses keywords to show the relationship between this page and the next. The anchor text lets the reader and the search engine see the content connection–the relevancy–between the two documents.

Well-thought linking adds structure and context to how people and search engines see your blog.

Example 1: See my earlier post called “Think Before You Link,” which also talks about thinking through your link choices.

Example 2: You might also be interested in reading about using intra-links as blog promotion tools.

Intra-links draw readers further into your blog the same way they draw in search engine spiders. Readers become more involved and more a part of your blog with each link they follow. The involvement leads to a comfort-zone, a sense of belonging.

Who doesn’t want to look, when a friend says you have to see this?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

[via Aaron Matthew Wall, SEO Book]

Blogging Hypothetical Question 2

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For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a bloggy-life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week, I offer this BloggingHypotheticality.

Here you go. . . .

You receive an email that reads like this–only yours is from a real domain name.

Dear Sir/Madam:

Would you like to link to us?

Website: http://www.ilinkwithstrangers.com

Thank you very much.

What’s your opinion of this practice?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Want to Be a Guest Writer?

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There’s a new Be a Guest Writer page in the sidebar. Here’s what it says.

Community and Conversation

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Successful-Blog is community in conversation. That’s why the header says Successful and Oustanding Bloggers. Bloggers are constantly talking and trading techniques and strategies for how we keep our blogs and our businesses growing. . . . When we find one, it’s hard to keep quiet. We want to know if someone else knows more about it than we do. . . . Imagine the benefits of a community thinking and talking together–a wealth of resources right here. Not to mention the friendships made. –ME Strauss

Want to be a Guest Writer?

Have stories to swap or ideas to add to the conversation?

  • Is there something you do that works really well?
  • Have you had a success you’d like to share?
  • Have you figured out a useful trick or two?
  • Have you got a tool or tip we don’t know about?
  • Have you figured out the hard way a pitfall to avoid?
  • Have you written an article you’d like to submit?
  • Have other ideas how we might collaborate?

Here’s what you do:

Write your submission in your own words.
E-mail it Liz at lizsun2@gmail.com.
No attachments please. Thanks. Feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

Know that I write and edit for a living and that people which means, I might make minor changes in what you write. It’s the editor’s curse. We can’t help it. You can take heart that professional editors don’t change meaning without talking about it, nor do we make writers look bad in print.

Have a post already written that you think should be here?

Got a post filled with fresh, relevant content that readers here would enjoy? Something that adds to the conversation?

  • Does your post talk about something that we haven’t covered about yet?
  • Does it explore a new angle on an old subject?
  • Do you have a post about a tool or strategy that belongs in the Survival Kit?
  • Is it a post about your early blogging experiences that might help a new blogger?

Here’s what you do:

Read your post over. Dust it off to make sure it’s still current. Write a brief description and send that description and a link to Liz at lizsun2@gmail.com. Please don’t send the post text. No attachments please. Thanks. You’re welcome to ask questions first if you have any.

Again, that I write and edit for a living and that people which means, I might make minor changes in what you write. It’s the editor’s curse. We can’t help it. You can take heart that professional editors don’t change meaning without talking about it, nor do we make writers look bad in print.

I’m delighted to share the space with a well-voiced article on a topic appropriate for Successful-Blog readers. I’m ooking forward to adding your voice to the Successful-Blog list of Guest Writers.

Most articles appear on the front within days of when I first read them. When will your article be in Successful-Blog?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 5 SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

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Brightmeadow logo

Freshblog logo

Qwerty logo

Usabilityworks logo

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this badge’s validity, send him or her directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Leaving a Guy a Place to Stand

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Whenever I give myself room to breathe, everyone around me gets nicer.

It’s an odd thing to write under the masthead Successful Blog. It’s such an opportunity, such an “Okay, Big Shot,” moment. It’s a chance to model best practices, not just write about them.

The writer’s credo is Don’t tell, show. How much closer to that could I get than this?

I can talk about building community by answering comments relentlessly, but it’s so much more powerful when I do it and my readers actually experience how it feels. I can explain how to correct your public mistakes, but again how much greater impact it has when I actually do what I say. If I do this job right, everything I do has the potential to have a tiny positive effect on the blogosphere.

So I share with you my learning curve at the end of one month. I’ve learned.

  • That people respond positively when you treat them like people who are worth talking to. They pitch in, share ideas, and form a community that’s fun to be part of.
  • That when someone takes a negative viewpoint, it works better to take the conversation offline.
  • That the blogosphere doesn’t need me to keep it working right.
  • That keeping focus on my readers takes care of almost every problem. (Except how I’m going to pay for my son’s college. 🙂 )

In 1972, a friend said to me “You always leave the other guy a place to stand.”

That advice has served me every day since. It works with everyone from 6 to 106. We all need a place to stand–no matter how scary we look. It can be the smallest thing. Here’s a fun read about Giving the Other Guy a Place to Stand that explains what I’m talking about.

If I could choose one best practice to pass on, that would be the one–that everyone in the blogosphere leaves lots more room for the other guy to stand.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

To the Readers of Successful Blog

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It may not seem so when you watch me blog, but I have a big self-conscious streak. I don’t mind people looking at my work, but I get a bit shy when they’re looking at me. It’s been a problem since I was short and small. I have to look past that to write this post. I have something important to say.

Today is November 24. It’s one month since the day I met all of you at Successful Blog.

You have been the best friends, readers, and colleagues a blogger could hope for. You’ve given me time to adjust to the culture. You’ve shown me the most enthusiastic support. I’m proud to be working with you, learning with you, and doing whatever it is that we do here.

I heart box the readers of Successful Blog.

Thank you. I mean it. Thank you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

That heart still isn’t big enough.