Successful Blog

Success in a Blink and a Blink Test

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In 2005, Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book “Blink.” introduced the idea that we make make decisions about people and things almost instantaneously– long before we do the cognitive thinking about them.

Last week, Reuters reported that Canadian researchers have found that people make just such decisions about Internet sites, deciding in less than a blink whether they will stay or click away from them. Here’s a link to the article.

Reuters Screen Shot Article Link

I wonder what Reuters was thinking to write an article so short that you miss the whole thing if you blink?

A Blink Test

Before you blink away, you might try this the next time you bring up your blog or web page. Try to see your blog as if it were one you’d never seen it before.

  • 1. Close your eyes for a minute. Then open them once the page is up.
  • 2. Pay attention to where your eyes fall first. Is that where you want them to?
  • 3. Look at a blank wall or a blank piece of paper for a minute. Then look back again. What attracts or distracts you? Does anything make you want to stay or leave?

Use what you find out to make sure your blog gets a “yes” in that first blink.

THIS JUST IN:
Gary an SOB over at Blogoplex did a test on several blogs including this one . . . Click through to read his blink test results. See whether you agree.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Re;ated articles:
Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal
Five Design Basics to Never Forget
Blog Design Checklist
Great Photo Resources to Support Readers

Quick Traffic from Newsweek

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This tip from SOB Cheryl at Mad Baggage, who suggests we take advantage of the partnering of Technorati and Newsweek to get your blog noticed by a whole new audience of Newsweek readers. Cheryl has used it with stunning success. Within a short time of posting against a Newsweek article in the morning, she had traffic beating down her doors. Here’s what she says to do.

Go to MSNBC Newsweek, read the top story, read a couple of the related front page stories, and do a post linking to them all. Newsweek has a Technorati link page showing what bloggers are saying on the subject and as long as you are among the earliest or most recent to post on the matter, people click through in tens and hundreds. They don’t stay, they don’t come back, but they click through.

I tried Cheryl’s techniques on yesterday as a test. Check out the two Newsweek posts I ran–one about Martha Stewart and one about their column Blog Watch. Both were worth posting in their own right, but I was also testing whether the new Technorati-Newsweek partnering would work on my broken Technorati account. It did not.

However, if you click through to either of the stories and look down the right sidebar you’ll see how it works. A small section will tell you how many blogs have posted on this story so far. Then you can click through to see what the posts are and where they came from.

It seems to work for any, not just the top stories–though the top stories are surely where the most traffic would be. Still, I think I would go for the sections with stories and traffic that fit my niche–less traffic, but more qualified leads.

As for post not working, well, I’m just lucky I guess.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

chartreuse (Beta) Thinks Outside the Knee Jerk Reaction

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Chartreuse bottle image

Chartreuse. It’s a drink. It’s a color. It’s a drink. It’s a color. It’s a drink and a color. That’s not relevant here.

What’s relevant is it’s a blog called chartreuse (Beta). It’s also the name of the MAN who writes it. He’s a thinker, who brings original ideas to the table.

Winds of controversy have been blowing again. This time over a blogger who set up a site called Amblogger–to mean Amateur Blogger–and took the exact code for the design from Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger site. The stolen version is no longer up, but Darren has a screen shot in his discussion of the incident. I won’t recap the story that will be retold.

I want to tell of a new voice on the scene, chartreuse (Beta), who after analyzing all of the data, came up with a different read on what happened and with what could have been a more propitious response. He thinks outside the knee-jerk reaction to find the logical solution that works. Read his article which I’ve linked to the image below, and you’ll see what I mean. Boyhowdy, I like how this man thinks.

Link to Article at Chartreuse (Beta)

chartreuse (Beta), next time you’re in Chicago I’d like to buy you a drink–any color you choose.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Blog Improvements by Chris Garrett

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haqmmer 3

Chris Garrett offers a great post on Quick and Easy Blog Improvements over at Performancing. He features Sumeet Jain’s in-depth NoFollow article and gives hands-on, “use-right-now” advice that’s well worth checking out. I’m particularly taken with Number 4 which says:

Show your most popular or best posts – a new visitor to your blog needs help in deciding if this is going to be a blog they want to return to. Show them your best and brightest content. There is code available for WordPress and it is really easy to do on Drupal using the statistics module, others will have plugins or you can hard code it into your template.

I like a guy who cares about readers.

Thank you, Chris.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles:
No More NoFollow
Blog Construction–What’s Your Function?
Five Design Basics to Never Forget
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist

Community Writing Opportunity

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For all who write, here’s a change to promote yourself and your business:

Do you know the Writer’s Blog Alliance? If you’ve never been, you should check it out. All blog writers are welcome but particularly suited are those who publish writing blogs. One of the founders, Deborah Woehr, also publishes:

The Writers Buzz
A blog on promoting what you’ve written

Prosperity
Deborah’s Novel–a great read with strong plot and characters

DeborahWoehr.com
Deborah’s Personal Writing Journal–some great writer’s tips from this pro

Now Deborah is putting together an anthology to which I’ve already submitted. I think that you should know about it.
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From Deborah : Seeking Submissions for the 2006 Writer’s Blog Anthology

Whether you’re a professional writer, a part-time freelancer, or a beginner, here is your chance to submit your best blog post for inclusion in what we hope to be the start of an annual tradition. We need submissions for the following categories:

Journalists
Columnists
Freelancing
Fiction
Non-fiction
Litblogs
Graphic Novels
Poetry

At this time, we are not offering any payment for submissions. This is a volunteer effort.

Deadline for Submission: January 31, 2006

Guidelines for Submission

1. All submissions must be in well-written English. No excessive slang, profanity, violence, etc.
2. Your blog must be at least three months old.
3. Include your real name, the name of your blog, the link to your blog, and a thumbnail image of your blog.
4. Include the post that gained the most response from your readers, adding a short paragraph that summarizes their reaction.
5. Don’t forget your byline, where you can include links to your other blogs, books, business websites, etc.
6. Please do not submit any more than two entries. There is no guarantee that both entries will be accepted. If you do submit a second entry, it must be from another blog with a completely different subject from the first (ex. a fiction blog and a column blog about politics). All double submissions with similar subjects will be rejected.
7. Submit your entries to deborah@writersblogalliance.com
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Check out the Writer’s Blog Alliance and what they have to offer, and do throw caution to the wind and give Deborah’s Anthology a chance at your best work for her anthology.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thank you, Blogarithm–But Why?

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Remember when I spoke of backlinks that were totally bogus?

Well this has me totally confused. . . .

In checking my backlinks for Letting me be . . . random wondering and philosophy I found this link to Bookarithm.com, a page that says their subscribers subscribe to me. Being a visual person, I was taken by how the page on which I’m linked at a glance seems to imply that I am a subscriber too.

blogarithm page

We know I’m fair and I’m nice, but I’m not necessarily the most savvy chick. Until I checked my links, I didn’t know that this blog existed. At least I thought I didn’t, but maybe I had subscribed. The info said date added 10/25. Added to what? I wondered. Did I add it to Blogarithm and not remember? I’ve made mistakes before. You know that.

Thinking perhaps my memory was slipping, I decided to check whether I had signed up for an account–one that I didn’t remember. I tried to login. Here is the message I got.

blogarithm setup

Nice to know my memory is still in tact–or at least that theirs is as bad as mine is. I put on my detective hat and did a little blog-digging. Went straight to Wholinkstome to see what this blog was about. Here’s what I found.

blogarithm wholinkstome

Now I am totally, completely, undeniably, and utterly confused.

Why would a blog with a PageRank 7 need to link a little blog like me? I appreciate the benefit of the Google Juice, believe me. Thank you, Blogarighm, but I’m not sure I understand why.

I just got !!! The subscribers are likely to subscribe to Michael Noggs blog not to Blogarithm–I knew I was making a mistake in here somewhere.

As my friend Nancy says, “Liz, sometimes your so fast, and sometimes you’re sooooo sloooow.”

–ME “Liz” Strauss