a1-fan-fun

Christmas is here and I thought it was time to offer my readers a little gift. Here it is: I’m open to StumbleUpon requests. Leave a comment and I’ll visit your blog, spot some good posts and stumble them. Alternatively, you may ask me to stumble specific articles, but in this case I reserve the right to say “no.” So it’s safer to just let me browse through your site and pick posts myself.

Please note that this offer is NOT open to sites containing any of the following: hate speech, racism, pro-violence and pro-war stuff, stolen content, warez, hacking, personal attacks, trolling, stalking and anything else that is illegal or otherwise highly objectionable. Since I keep my StumbleUpon profile as work-safe as possible, I won’t be stumbling adult-oriented stuff either. Finally, I’ll only stumble written content. No photos and no videos for the time being.

If I feel inspired enough, I may blog about this experience later and link to all stumbled posts. This is not a formal promise though, just a possibility.

Of course I’m not the only blogger offering gifts this week. Take a look at this post published on Retired Pay World and you may be pleasantly surprised. All I can say is that it’s something that could help you in your blogging efforts.

Happy holidays!

P.S.: I originally intended to thank my visitors for everything, but I’ll save this message for a future post. Meanwhile, consider yourselves thanked.

Most bloggers — if not all of them — have some (or many) goals in mind for 2008. In order to participate of Daily Blog Tips’ latest group writing project, I am supposed to write about my own goals here.

This is my problem: I’m very reserved, hence I’d rather keep my blogging goals to myself. On the other hand, if I do it I won’t be able to take part in the writing project. It seems I’ll have to open my mouth this time… (Damn! They shouldn’t do this to a shy woman like me! *whines*)

Let me see if I can find a way to reveal my aims without exposing myself too much. Hmmm…

All right, this is what I have for you: after much pondering, I could only conclude that all of my blogging goals for 2008 are directly or indirectly related to my wish — and need — to become a better writer.

I could spend weeks and weeks working on a thousand ways to drive more traffic to my blogs, get more backlinks for them, increase their Alexa Rank, find them some advertisers and so on. But the truth is that I already know how to achieve it all. So there are really two things that hinder me from starting a more aggressive promotional campaign: persistent lack of time and a rather limited ability to produce compelling content. The former depends on things that I don’t have total control over, thus being out of this post’s scope. The latter, on the other hand, is my fault and no one else’s.

I have devised a little (perhaps not that little, now that I think of it) plan to improve my writing skills. Putting said plan into practice is the most important step that I must take to accomplish my blogging goal. If nothing goes wrong, by the end of 2008 I’ll have learned how to write that kind of content that makes blog readers come back for more. Then I’ll open the traffic hunt season.

This year I learned that I’m definitely not the worst blogger on Earth. Next year I’ll do my best to reach a higher blogging quality level. But I don’t want to do that alone. I want you, my dear readers, to follow me during this journey. So be nice to me and click here to subscribe to a1-fan-fun’s RSS feed. *grin* Oh, and don’t forget that your supportive comments are welcome. *double grin*

John Chow has recently asked the following question on his blog:

How many posts do you show on your blog’s front page and what is your reasoning behind it?

Much to my shame, I’ve realised that:

a) I’ve never paid too much attention to the number of posts displayed on my blogs’ homepages.

b) There’s no reasoning at all behind it.

I had already spent some time thinking about the subject, but I hadn’t come to any conclusions. Besides, I thought I had more important blogging decisions to make, so I kept on neglecting this matter.

Perhaps it’s time to think about it again. It may not be a major issue here, because most a1-fan-fun’s posts aren’t too long. But on Abaminds I tend to post longer articles. This habit may be affecting my visitors’ browsing experience somehow when they arrive to the frontpage. Hmmm…

Mohsin has recently published an article that all procrastinative bloggers should read: How To Kill Procrastination For Good – No Kidding!

I liked his tip so much that I’m putting it into practice, starting today.

Writing this post was the first thing I did after turning my computer on. In order to avoid distractions, I wrote it before connecting to the Internet. Then I logged on, copied his article’s link, inserted it above and published this post.

Now I must write a new article for Abaminds. As I’ll have to revisit over 60 blogs to write that, I won’t be able to perform this task off-line. I hope I won’t get (too) distracted. Let’s see if I’ll manage to keep focused on my new post or not.

I’ll try Mohsin’s anti-procrastination technique for some weeks. Then I’ll report the results here. Regardless of the outcome, I must make it clear that procrastination is only one of the several issues that affect my blogging efficiency (or lack thereof). Consequently, I don’t see this experiment as a “magical formula” that will turn me into a superproductive blogger. There are other things to be solved, and some of those are out of my reach and control. But every small step that I take will help me somehow.

I encourage you all to start taking small — or maybe not so small, depending on your possibilities — steps towards your blogging success right now.

I’ve been thinking a lot about it lately. Comment moderation is a very common practice around the blogosphere. But for some (obscure) reason I’m not totally sure that I should keep on moderating comments on my own blogs.

Comments on a1-fan-fun are all moderated. On Abaminds I took a different approach: only the first comment is moderated. Once it’s approved, the future comments left by the same reader should be displayed immediately. Two blogs, two systems. (This is one of the advantages of having more than one blog. I may write more about it someday.)

This blog gets much more comments than the other, for Abaminds is newer and I haven’t promoted it properly (yet). Therefore I still can’t make comparisons to base my decisions upon.

That being said, I came up with 2 short lists of pros and cons of comment moderation.

Why should a blogger moderate comments?

1. To control spammy messages not caught by anti-spam plugins: this is actually the main and best reason why anyone would want to read all comments before they are published.

2. To be able to edit comments before they go live: good if you suspect a certain comment to be spam but eventually decide to allow it. You may “punish” the supposed spammer by deleting, modifying or no-following the links he/she has left before they can be seen by other readers.

3. Because you want a chance to solve some delicated matters before they become public: if an usually friendly reader overreacts to a post of yours at first, he/she might need some time to calm down and realise his/her comment could have been toned down. With comment moderation turned on, you’ll have the chance to contact him/her privately and try to work things out. Or he/she might take the initiative.

I wonder how many bloggers actually put #3 into practice. I confess I don’t… There was an occasion when I could (perhaps should) have done it. But I had the feeling that trying to keep things “secret” would just make the commenter’s annoyance grow. Hence I chose to approve the comment as it was and respond it right away.

Why shouldn’t a blogger moderate comments?

1. Because some readers don’t like waiting: they want to be sure that their comments will actually be published. Just don’t ask me why. There must be a psychological mechanism that determines this behaviour. Maybe a need for reassurance? Who knows?

2. To show that you trust your readers: perhaps it’s a dangerous way to see things, with so many spammers out there. Nevertheless, it might not be a totally bad idea, if you know how to take advantage of it.

3. Because you may have to spend some time off-line: if that happens, you won’t be able to approve new comments and your blog will look too quiet.

After rereading my own lists, I still haven’t come to any conclusions. So here comes the part when I ask you to leave your comments on this post (you saw that coming! ).

What are your views on comment moderation? Have I forgotten to mention any good reasons why one should or shouldn’t have it turned on? As a blog reader and commenter, how do you feel when your comments are queued for moderation?

Your opinions are welcome and I appreciate any input you can give me.

This isn’t the topic I was planning to write about today. But it has come to my attention that some people have been deactivating dofollow plugins on their blogs. Among those there are some bloggers I admire and respect, such as Terry and Monika. There’s also a sort of alert post written by Grizzly, another great blogger.

Terry’s, Monika’s and Grizzly’s blogs are much more succesful than mine. And they make much more money than I do. Will I follow their steps?

No way.

You must be thinking I should, right? After all, if they are more successful and make more money, the wisest thing to do would be to apply their techniques to my own blogs.

Still, there’s this stubborn inner voice that tells me not to deactivate Lucia’s Linky Love (which is the dofollow plugin I use on my blogs).

Why?

Because I’m a very idealistic person. I believe that instead of immediately saying “amen” to everything Google (supposedly) wants from us, we may try to do things our way — and still earn an honest living online.

I’m also very curious. I really want to know where this dofollow issue will take me to. If the consequences are negative, then I’ll have to bear them and change my tactics.

As you can see, I know this decision of mine may be risky. But one has to take some (perhaps many) risks if she wants to do what she believes to be “the right thing.” And for me the right thing is to avoid becoming a slave to Google. Especially when there hasn’t been any official announcements regarding their views on dofollow stuff. And most especially when that search engine doesn’t send me any noticeable traffic (I can’t remember the last time my sites have gotten a single hit from Google). I’m always ready to change my opinions and behaviour though.

Let me make one thing very clear: this post isn’t meant to criticise the bloggers who’ve left the dofollow movement. They all have their (good and valid) reasons for doing that. Although I disagree with them and I think their acts are a bit exaggerated — after all, no one can tell for sure whether Google is really willing to “kill” the dofollow movement or not –, I sincerely respect their points of view. If I didn’t, how could I expect them to respect mine?

First of all, let me tell you that everything in this post will be written from a strictly personal point of view. I won’t imply in any way that my thoughts are also the thoughts of your other visitors. It’s very possible that I belong to the minority, that is, most of your visitors may act in a totally different way when it comes to submitting your stuff to Digg. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean that no one else in the world thinks like me. So try to see this post as an opportunity to get to understand some of your visitors’ behaviour a little better. After reading it you may either ignore my words or feel motivated to implement some small changes on your site in order to get more diggs.

Now that I’ve made you read this boring — yet necessary — introduction, let’s go straight to the 2 reasons why I probably won’t digg your stuff:

1. I’d hardly be the first person to Digg any given story. Don’t count on me to do it, unless your story is clearly suited to any Digg category. Alternatively you could tell me which category you want me to submit your page to. Why should you do it?  Because Digg’s range of categories is rather limited and, even if I like your stuff a lot, I may have a tough time trying to classify it according to Digg’s standards.

I’m going to insist on it because I feel it’s very important: I often find posts that I’d love to digg. I like promoting good stuff and I sympathise with those who look for more traffic, as I’m one of them. Many people dream of making it into Digg’s front page, and I’d be more than happy to help them if I believed them to deserve it. The point is: no matter how much a story deserves to be promoted, if it doesn’t fit one of Digg’s current categories then things get a bit trickier. Submitting off-topic content is a violation of Digg’s TOS (have you ever taken the time to read it?). While your stories may not be exactly off-topic, sometimes it may be (very) hard to tell where they’d fall under. So, please help me help you, if you know what I mean.

2. Are you asking me to digg actual stories?  I’ve seen many forum threads where webmasters, bloggers and marketers require and exchange diggs. Many of the links listed in such threads don’t lead you to stories, but rather to homepages or, even worse, to sales pages! How can you expect me to digg those? They just don’t fit Digg’s purposes, audience and topics.

A final note: no, writing about Digg doesn’t necessarily mean that one wants to have her post dugg.

While I like meta-blogging a lot (maybe even more than I should…), I certainly have other interests. Like looking for cool images on the Internet. Although a1-fan-fun isn’t intended to become a photoblog, it doesn’t mean I can’t share links to pics from time to time.

Below you’ll see photos, paintings, drawings and digital art in several different styles. Enjoy!

Balloon I by tormented-feet

Boy meets Girl by tormented-feet

Gaara Drawing by LexKujo

Lost Symphonies by 3xg

:ThOuGhTs: by 3xg

There by filipemcosta

Fish me the sun by filipemcosta

To be free by filipemcosta

Just my Imagination by AtarAtis

Jessica Alba by RealStyle

Stand Out by fridabjo

Winter by fridabjo

HK I – Peak View by cody29

Phaeno III by cody29

Reach – You by burningbush

He’s got the whole world…. by burningbush

balance by burningbush

Torres by ~rev3nant

The axe lodged in my head by Cat-of-the-Shadows

Fish by PedroEscamoso

Motorcycle by madijams

Cycling by madijams

Guinea pig by Jayms-Fallen-Angel

The White Flowers by second-lobsters

Ice Love by second-lobsters

Glooves by theMary-go-Round (thumbnail not available)

WB Cover by theMary-go-Round (thumbnail not available)

Crazy funfair by ArtIsterik

No signal by ArtIsterik

Conscience by ArtIsterik

the new age by Broken-Lithium

Summer’s Gone by Broken-Lithium

beautiful nature by baker2D

Mouseketeer Generations by hyenacub

the way of thunderbolts by atut

burned car by atut

T h e F e n s e by ThirteenEyes

S e a D e f e n c e by ~ThirteenEyes

T h i r t e e n P o s t s by ThirteenEyes

I didn’t plan to update this blog again today. I’d just verify the comments in the moderation queue and take a look at the stats. In fact, I did both things. There was only one comment to be approved (thank you, Simonne!), so that part was fast. Then I proceeded to check the stats out.

This was when I got truly scared.

I noticed a HUGE change in the traffic’s graph. As this blog gets around six daily visits, I calculated it should have gotten 30 or 40 today, hence the visual difference. Of course this was right before I saw today’s actual traffic: 318 views so far.

My first thought: “StumbleUpon.”

And I was right: almost all of those hits came from that site.

This wasn’t the first time I had a post of mine stumbled. So I knew how it was like to get some (much appreciated) increase in traffic thanks to StumbleUpon. But my previous experiences cannot be compared to this one. This wasn’t a mere “increase in traffic.” It was much more like an explosion.

I confess I wasn’t ready for this, because it was totally unexpected. I had no way to guess that my previous article on blog readability would generate so much interest. Now what am I supposed to do?

I don’t know! I vaguely recall having read articles about the things a blogger should do when she receives massive traffic from a social media site. But guess what? I’m so surprised and confused that right now I just can’t remember any single piece of advice about this!

Obviously I don’t expect the party to last for long. I know it’s improbable that these casual visitors become regular readers. But let’s see if there’s any detectable changes in average daily hits, feed subscriptions and backlinks. I’ll wait some days and then I’ll report the results. Even if I get no results at all.

At first this happening made me worried. I thought that from now on I’d have the “obligation” to write fantastic posts in order to keep my audience interested in this blog. However, I quickly realised that was a silly thought.

First of all, my previous article was all but fantastic; in reality it was rather lame. Besides, as stated above, those visitors are unlikely to return (unless I have another page successfully stumbled, but that would be another story). So, while stumblers will always be more than welcome here, I won’t go out of my way in a desperate attempt to please them at all costs. Instead I’ll stick to my original plans and continue to write my usual posts. This blog may eventually be taken to a different direction, but I don’t think the moment for it has come yet.

Now I’m really curious to know who’s the woman who discovered my post. I’ve read at StumbleUpon that she was from Romania. Simonne? Was that you?

As promised in my previous post, here is my analysis on the blogs whose reading level I’ve verified:

- Contrarily to my beliefs, being a non-native English speaker isn’t necessarily a disadvantage. Simonne is Romanian and her blog got a “High School” level; Lars-Christian’s blog was rated as “Genius” and the author is Norwegian. On the other hand, Jenna Glatzer is a professional American writer but her blog’s reading level is “Elementary School.”

- Speaking of writers, I expected blogs aimed at this target-audience to get the highest scores, because both professional authors and wannabes use to be careful of what and how they write. However, C. Hope Clark’s blog was the only one in this niche to reach the “College (Undergrad)” level.

- There was a group blog (Wrimo Buddies) among the writer-oriented ones, and its “High School” score made me wonder whether the amount of writers might affect a blog’s readability or not. Well, among those featuring more than one author, the level appears to vary between “Junior High School” and “High School” (Go Media Zine is the only exception). Not so bad, huh?

- Sadly, I’ve never been to college. However, I don’t find any difficulties in reading the blogs rated “College” (not even the “Postgrad” ones).

- As you all can easily tell, I’m not a genius. Far from it. Yet, I can fully enjoy all of the blogs that reached the “Genius” reading level. No, I’m not saying this to sound smarter. I can really read and understand their articles. Now will you please stop laughing at me? ¬¬

- Can the posts’ length influence a blog’s reading level? More or less. Apparently the blogs featuring shorter articles (see Internet Marketing Sucks!, for instance) tend to be rated “Elementary School.” But having longer articles won’t necessarily help you surpass the “Junior High School” score.

- Having your blog hosted for free won’t affect its redability. Not in a negative way, at least. There’s even a blog rated “Genius” among the freely hosted ones. And many of the privately hosted sites got low rates.

- Talking about blog hosting, it’s interesting to notice that blogs hosted under directories — instead of root domains or subdomains — tend to get lower rates. For instance, TheWritersManifesto’s main page scored “Junior High School,” whereas the blog (which is hosted under a “/blog” directory) was rated “Elementary School.”

How reliable is this analysis?

Not as much as I’d like it to be. Keep in mind that it was based on 39 blogs only. How many blogs are there on the whole Internet?

Please also note that each blog’s readability has been evaluated by an online tool whose criteria is still unknown. It’s safe to assume that blogs displaying several images in their posts are prone to get lower rates, because pictures can’t be read. Other than this, I have no idea of what factors can actually influence the results.

Maybe the test’s creators are still working to improve the tool. The first time I tried to evaluate Steven Snell’s blog, I got a message telling me it wasn’t possible to read it. I made a second attempt a few days later and got the same message. This is why I listed Vandelay Website Design’s main page instead of its blog’s URL. But today I tried once again and I finally got a result: “Junior High School.” By the way, this is lower than the homepage’s reading level, and seems to reinforce what I wrote about the (sub)domains vs. directories issue.

Is it all meant to belittle any blogs?

Of course not!

I have the feeling that some people weren’t exactly happy to find out that their blogs got low rates in the test. However, I don’t think they should take offence in it. Much on the contrary: they should be glad. As many commentators have stated, a lower reading level may actually be an advantage: your articles can be read and fully understood by a broader audience.

The owners of the highest rated blogs shouldn’t worry either: in most cases a reader doesn’t need to be a genius to understand a blog post.

Finally, I must say that many of the test’s results seem to be distorted and/or exaggerated in some way. All in all, this is a cool topic to write — and think — about, but nothing to lose your sleep over.

UPDATE: Liz Strauss has left a very interesting comment about readability here. Make sure to read it.