Blog overhaul update … it’s all about communication!
Following my previous posts for How am I going to fix my Blog?.The migration of The IT Managers Journal to Jason Slater Weblog is moving along at a reasonable pace.
Recently I have addressed Mistake #9 which was "Don’t get caught up in traffic analysis or rankings". Whilst traffic analysis and ranking information is a very important tool to gauge the growth and success of a Blog, in my instance I feel at the moment it’s likely to work against me. As a result of this I have temporarily removed all traffic and ranking stats from my Blog.
There are two reasons for this.
- So I don’t get caught up tracking stats and instead focus on producing good quality content.
- So my Blog doesn’t give the wrong impression. Because I have migrated from another platform all of the great ranking information I had gained over time all got reset. New readers may therefore look at the Blog, see the very low ranking scores and make incorrect assumptions about the Blog.
In summary, the actions taken so far are:
- Move to a self-hosted Blog platform (Wordpress)
- Change the location of the Blog to a simpler URL
- More focus on article headlines
- Doing what it says on the tin - one of the reasons for moving from the IT Managers Journal to Jason Slater weblog is that I can cover broader topics whilst still maintaining my core interest in managing IT. At least now I don’t give the impression that this is purely a technology Blog.
- Writing more fluidly rather than lecturing ( still ongoing ).
- Refocus Categories to make them more useful
- Time commitment - I have reduced the number of posts I make. Some days I used to post 10+ posts but instead I am going aim to post fewer more in detailed posts.
I have also been looking around for peer Blogs that I feel set a great example to Bloggers and demonstrate great communication skills, some of these include:
- Life Hacker
- Elliott Back: Technology & Life
- Blah, Blah! Technology
- Next Gen Developer
- Terinea Weblog
- Steve Clayton: Geek In Disguise
- PaulStamatiou.com - tech news/reviews/guides
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Thanks for the link.
Brave step removing the stats, not sure if I could do that!
You might want to consider changing your RSS output to full posts, there is setting some where in WordPress. Its personal choice, but I’ve come across a couple of blogs post moaning about this issue. Specially if you use images to attract visitors.
I see the Monks are in colour!
Jamie
Jamie,
Yes - I am experimenting with colour ready for Monks 100th comic !
Thanks for the pointer about the blog posts I’ll take a look at it - presumably the option is in wordpress somewhere?
Jas
Hi Jason, and thanks for the mention, which is always appreciated.
It’s easy to get drawn into monitoring the ebb & flow of traffic through our ‘blogs, more so when like me it’s your job to monitor these things for your clients.
Another factor to consider is timing — being timely, as a new topic gets popular and then post to coincide can be a bonus.
BTW, I’ve just moved from Google Blogger to WordPress, and so far, all is well.
Good luck and thanks again!
[...] These days I have Google Analytics installed so any time I want to check on the relative success of a post or topic I can refer to that so what is Alexa doing for me? I also use Technorati from time to time as another useful measure though I tend not to check these sites as regularly as I used to - as most of my time these days is taken up researching or writing the posts (Blog overhaul update … it’s all about communication!). [...]
[...] As an example, take this paragraph from my website at http://www.jasonslater.co.uk These days I have Google Analytics installed so any time I want to check on the relative success of a post or topic I can refer to that so what is Alexa doing for me? I also use Technorati from time to time as another useful measure though I tend not to check these sites as regularly as I used to - as most of my time these days is taken up researching or writing the posts (Blog overhaul update … it’s all about communication!). [...]
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