Jeremy Adam Davis

photo credit: PPDIGITAL

Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

-Thomas Edison

I don’t know if you are like me, but probably once a week I have one of the greatest ideas a person could ever had. Seriously. These ideas are life changing and in just a short time I’ll be filthy rich with my own private island to prove it.

The problem is that they stay ideas. I might discuss them with a few friends and they might grow a little, but often they stay on paper or only a little bit gets done.

Time is always the enemy.

The reason most of these things don’t get done is because, “I don’t have enough time” or “I’m too busy”. Time is the scapegoat for all our foibles.

Now I’m not acting like I have the answer. I just recognize that I have a problem, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.

Here are a few things that I am going to do that should help.

Prioritize my ideas. Write down all my ideas and put some notes explaining the project. Then analyze them to see which ideas are the most doable.

Doable projects should be the ones that can either get done quickly or I have a strong passion for it. Some ideas of mine could take months whereas I’ve been putting off some things that could take one weekend. Some ideas are pet projects. Some are to help others. Some are to make money. I need to look over this list and pick the items that are most aligned with what I want to accomplish right now. If I am more focused on wanting to make money then I should complete those first. If I want to make some new community type site, I’ll do that one.

Set short deadlines. After I realize what I want to do most, I need to break it down into manageable pieces and set short deadlines to accomplish them. I’ve been reading Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week and this is a technique he recommends. It’s called Parkinson’s Law. It says that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” By setting short goals you don’t waste time on parts that aren’t needed to fulfill the goal. The short time frame causes you to recognize what parts are most needed for completion and get those done quickly.

Start it and Finish it. I’m pretty good at starting projects, but finishing them is the problem. Finishing a project always requires so much extra unplanned work that most projects don’t get finished. This joke I’ve heard about consultants applies here, “The first 90% of the project only takes 10% of the total time to complete it.” The trick to finishing a project is nothing magical; you just don’t give up until it’s done. Check it off your list and start on the next one.

This post in the fourth in a series where I am recording the SEO efforts of my site wiiifit.com. If you’ve missed the previous posts, you should view these first.

Here we are again so lets get to it.

Google finally came this week, and it actually paid a visit twice. So Google appears to recognized that the site is updated frequently. Yeah for me.

I added a robots.txt. It is the most basic one that just lets any robots in and disallows none. I doubt it affects the SEO in any way, but I just felt like it needed to be added.

Only a few more posts went up because most of the Wii Fit news related to it’s success in the UK this week, which really wasn’t anything I wanted to write about and most was the same info.

Here is how the site fared for the week.

Google Keyword Rankings for the Week

Doing a little better in some, and fell off the charts for one. Still nothing earth shattering.

Adsense Earning for the Week

I made $0.17 this week, making the all-time total $2.16.

Analytics for the Week

A few more visitors but worse results for the other metrics.

Things To Do for the Week

Well the site is still performing at a dismal rate. I think I am going to go through and pick out one keyword and add the <strong> tag to it to see how much influence that will have.

The pictures page is the second most viewed page, with the homepage being number 1. I think I will add a caption below each image to do boost the density for the site. Also since Wii Fit Pictures are so popular, if I have time I will see if I can get some Wii Fit Videos to put on the site.

I think a big hindrance to the site now is that their aren’t very many incoming links. Doing a Google search for link:www.wiiifit.com yields only 4 pages and 2 of them are from this blog. I’m not sure what I can do to get more incoming links, so that will be my homework for the week I guess. The only thing I can think of offhand is to add more technorati type sites to the ping list. This should be a breeze with just a simple copy/paste from this blogs list to wiiifit’s list.

If anybody has any ideas on some good ways to improve my rankings, please chime in.

See you at Chapter 4.

photo credit: barnoid

I used to be a big time computer hardware geek. I built my first computer at 16. I would paint my computers, add lights, fans and even cut the symbol from my favorite Star Wars character (Boba Fett, reprezent) into the side of the computer case.

Like most people doing this sort of thing, I tried to get the best stuff available. If I could get a 2.4ghz processor for only $100 more than the 2.3ghz, I did. If 1gb of memory was only $200 more than 512mb, I got 2gb. I could always find a way to justify getting the best hardware.

Well yesterday that changed and it weirded me out.

Like all people in this blogging/designing world that don’t have a Mac, I want one. Badly. A few days ago the iMacs got some hardware updates. Nothing crazy different, just a little better stuff than what was already in there. As I looked at the different hardware options, for the first time EVER I told myself that I would be completely content with the cheaper version of the 24 inch screen models even though the better version wasn’t a drastic amount different in price.

Here’s how I justified not wanting the latest and greatest, and why I believe that computer hardware for the average consumer is losing its importance.

I don’t need more hard drive space because

The hard drive sizes that come standard on computers are more than enough to install my required programs and hold my music/movie library. I keep most of my pictures/movies/music on a external hard drive anyways so I can carry it with me if need be, but even without that external drive I could use a browser to keep up with my stuff by having

• Pictures get stored on Flickr.
• Videos get uploaded to YouTube.
• Documents go on Google Docs.
• Music come from Last.fm

Read the rest of this entry »

I just got finished reading this How to Grow Your Blog post and found the poem at the end very inspirational.

If for some strange reason you read this blog and not problogger, here’s the poem.

So you want to be a writer
Charles Bukowski

if it doesn’t come bursting out of you
in spite of everything,
don’t do it.
unless it comes unasked out of your
heart and your mind and your mouth
and your gut,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit for hours
staring at your computer screen
or hunched over your
typewriter
searching for words,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it for money or
fame,
don’t do it.
if you’re doing it because you want
women in your bed,
don’t do it.
if you have to sit there and
rewrite it again and again,
don’t do it.
if it’s hard work just thinking about doing it,
don’t do it.
if you’re trying to write like somebody
else,
forget about it.

if you have to wait for it to roar out of
you,
then wait patiently.
if it never does roar out of you,
do something else.

if you first have to read it to your wife
or your girlfriend or your boyfriend
or your parents or to anybody at all,
you’re not ready.

don’t be like so many writers,
don’t be like so many thousands of
people who call themselves writers,
don’t be dull and boring and
pretentious, don’t be consumed with self-
love.
the libraries of the world have
yawned themselves to
sleep
over your kind.
don’t add to that.
don’t do it.
unless it comes out of
your soul like a rocket,
unless being still would
drive you to madness or
suicide or murder,
don’t do it.
unless the sun inside you is
burning your gut,
don’t do it.

when it is truly time,
and if you have been chosen,
it will do it by
itself and it will keep on doing it
until you die or it dies in you.

there is no other way.

and there never was.

This post in the third in a series where I am recording the SEO efforts of my site wiiifit.com. If you’ve missed the previous posts, you should view these first.

So another week has gone by, but unfortunately not many results to show for it.

I did everything I mentioned I was going to do in Chapter 2, but googlebot didn’t come by and index any of the new changes so unfortunately there wasn’t much improvement.

I noticed that Google Webmaster tools told me there was an error with one of the pages in my sitemap. I deleted the sitemap and generated another one, so hopefully there won’t be any more problems. I’m not sure if googlebot decided not to visit because there was an error in the sitemap or because it had more important people to attend to.

The only improvements in the SERP is most likely from this blog being indexed and giving some link juice back to the Wiii Fit site.

Here are the weekly results.

Google Keyword Rankings for the Week

Adsense Earnings for the Week

I made $0.74 this week, bringing the grand total to $1.15.

Analytics for the Week

Again, the site is doing a good job of keeping people there and they are looking around at different pages, but I need to get more visits to really get some monetization going.

Things To Do for this Week

I don’t feel like there is much that needs to be done to the site. I want to wait until Google starts to index more pages before I think about adjusting much. So far I get an e-mail from Google Alerts with all the Wii Fit headlines. I go through them and put a post up for the ones I think are relevant. Apart from keeping up with those post the only element I will add this week is uploading a robots.txt file to the site.

Here’s hoping Google decides to pay a visit this week.

See ya at Chapter 3.

Pardon me while I channel my inner Seth Godin, but the thought struck me and I’m making any effort to give this blog more transparency than it has been in the past.

So why do DVDs use the term “deleted scenes” when they are promoting extra features on the DVD sleeve. Things that are deleted are typically errors and mistakes. The word “delete” has the connotation of trash being discarded.

While most scenes that are cut from the movie and worthy of being deleted (except anything from The Office. I swear they shoot an hour-long show and just cut out half in post production.) I would still think the marketing of the DVD would list them as “extra scenes” or “unreleased footage”.

Delete = screwup

Extra = added value

This post in the second in a series where I am recording my SEO efforts of my site wiiifit.com

Ok, I’m ready to get down to business.

If you haven’t already be sure to read the Introduction post to see what my plans are and what tools I will be using to manage my SEO efforts.

Google Keyword Rankings for the Week

I’ve chosen 25 keywords to monitor. Here’s a quick breakdown of the keywords.

There are

• 2 one-word phrases
• 7 two-word phrases
• 11 three-word phrases
• 5 four-word phrases

Here’s where I currently rank for them.

Adsense Earnings for the Week

I have currently raked in a whopping $0.41

Here’s the full breakdown.

Analytics for the Week

Here are the starting numbers for the sites analytics.

A good low bounce rate, long average time on site and pages/visit, but I need some work on visitors.

Things To Do for this Week

I’m going to focus on getting better rankings on the 3 and 4-word phrases first. They should be the easiest to get and increasing them will have a reciprocal effect on the 1 and 2-word phrases.

So here’s the play by play

• Rework my meta keywords and descriptions for each page.
• Make sure I have proper header tags around some keywords.
• Bold some keywords in the copy.
• Clean up the Wii Fit News and Wii Fit Reviews page and link the article titles to a single post page.
• Add more copy to all of the pages to get a higher keyword density for those pages.

That’s All Folks.

If you have suggestions and recommendations please let me know. I’m very new at all things SEO and any advise would be greatly appreciated.

See you next week at Chapter 2.

About 8 months ago I purchased the domain www.wiiifit.com (3 i’s). I didn’t have any real goals for it. I bought it just because I knew someone was going to do it so why not me. If you aren’t sure what Wii Fit is, it’s supposed to be the next big Nintendo Wii video game involving fitness and exercise games. More info can be found on my Wii Fit News site or on the official Wii Fit site.

Anyways, I decided to actually do something with the domain last week. I thought it would be a good test site to play with SEO and see if I can get some decent traffic (read: Adsense Earnings) to the domain. So once a week I will discuss any changes to the site and show the earnings and traffic reports.

Here’s the basic setup.

I put the site on Wordpress because

• it gives me very useful plugins to help with SEO and images
• I get a nice design for zero work
• I have a few elements that are updated and WP just makes it easier with no FTPing
• I’m working on my Wordpress as a CMS skills. Along with general WP skills.

The basic setup took about 5 hours from start to finish.

I used Nick La’s iTheme for the basic setup and modified it heavily. I used the Featured Content Plugin from WPelements for the large rotating images on the homepage. I also used WPelement’s Fancy Zoom Plugin for the Wii Fit Pictures gallery. That’s about it for design.

Then I littered the design with Adsense. I need to spend more time learning Adsense administration because I want to be able to see which sections are generating the most click-thrus. I also used Amazon Associates on the Wii Fit Purchase page. I hear Amazon doesn’t convert well, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

That’s about it for the initial setup.

I set up a Google Alert for the term “Wii Fit” so whenever I get news about Wii Fit I will post it on the site. That’s about the only updating that will happen. Maybe a few more pictures.

I have 20 keywords that I will see how I rank for in Google. This is super easy thanks to SEO Book’s Rank Checker Tool.

I also just learned about the SEO Quake Firefox plugin and will run it on the site to track keyword density and page rank.

That is all for now. See you next at A Wiii Fit Story: Chapter 1.

1. Your Homepage is Your Magazine Cover

The goal of every magazine is to get me to purchase it, but the problem is that it only has a few seconds to entice me as my eyes glance around the magazine stand. Your homepage should strive for the same goals. Show the best of yourself in a few seconds. If it doesn’t look nice or if I can’t see what I’ll find inside, I’ll bounce right out.

Helpful Reading:

First Impressions Matter

2. Navigation Shouldn’t Aggravate the Reader

One of the most frustrating types of magazines are the ones that have intriguing article titles on the front but you must search through 30 pages of ads just to find the table of contents. I don’t even bother looking for the articles in those types of magazines anymore. Your blog’s navigation should be effortless. Different readers might want to search your blog in different manners also. Plan accordingly.

Some navigation ideas: most recent posts, most popular posts, posts by category, posts by date, and search bar.

Helpful Reading:

Book: Don’t Make Me Think

3. Work Your Tagline

You aren’t “Just Another Wordpress Blog” and your tagline should tell your readers that. Your tagline should be brief and tell what your blog offers.

Notice how a few of these magazines use their taglines.

• Maximum PC, “Minimum BS” - The magazine caters to a more advanced reader. It strengthens that with its tagline, and it gives some personality.
• Consumer Reports, “Expert, Independent, Nonprofit” - It says the quality of content and that it is from an unbiased source. Very effective use of 3 words.
• Computer Music, “Make Music Now” - Portrays an idea that the articles can be used immediately to accomplish what is desired.
• Open Office.org, “Excellent Alternative to Microsoft Office” - Explain what it is by juxtaposing itself to a known competitor and offers itself as an excellent alternative.

Helpful Reading:

How to Create Rock-Solid Taglines

The Importance of Blog Taglines

4. Talk to Your Target Audience

While perusing, I noticed these phrases on a few of the covers, “Jargon Free” or “Plain English”. These magazines knew they were catering to beginners. They also know that beginners biggest fear is not being able to understand what is being written. Get a grasp for who is reading your blog. If they are beginners, explain things in more detail. If they are more advanced, don’t waste time on the basics.

I like how Blogsolid divides their blog into 3 different categories that cater to different types of readers.

5. Practice What You Preach

As I was looking over the magazine rack I noticed how beautiful the cover was for Advanced Photoshop. This makes sense. If the cover can’t convey that they have design skill then why should I read content that wants to teach design skill. To borrow the old saying, “You can talk to the talk, but can you walk the walk.” Make sure the things you are telling your readers are things you actually do yourself.

6. Layout and Design Must Match Your Goals

Different blogs have different goals. Some want to get readers, some want money from ads, some want to sell a product, some want to promote an idea.

Magazines also have different goals. The ones that want you to subscribe have loose mail in forms throughout the magazine. Some offer exclusive reading materials for subscribing to the magazine. They show the advantages of subscribing. Other magazine attempt to be one-stop resources around a topic such as DVD burning. They don’t try to get continue readership, they try to get as many people to buy the magazine by attempting to answer all the questions people might have when it comes to burning a DVD.

Too many blogs look similar to each other even though they might have different goals. Take a little time to see if your blog’s design is matching what you want to get out of your blog.

Helpful Reading:

Make Sure Your Blog Design Communicates Your Voice

Final Thoughts

Although magazines and blogs have different mediums, much can still be learned from the long-established print industry that can be used in blogging. Take a look around your local bookstore and see if you can find any patterns that could help your blogging. I noticed that the day after I drafted this post Copyblogger posted Blogging Lessons from Newspapers.

A Blog is a Blog is a Blog. Right?

Wrong. Each blog can have different goals and can cater to a different audience. Each blog needs to focus on different things to be optimized for success. Let’s look at the two broadest types of blogs and explain their differences.

Flagship Blog

Flagship blogs attempt to be a go-to resource on a broad topic. They attempt to educate readers on its topic and do not use very technical terms related to their topic in order to reach the widest audience.

• Traffic - Loyal readers comprise a majority of this types readership. Much traffic can also be generated from social networking or other blogs by the use of linkbait. Search Engine traffic can be had, but to a lesser degree.
• Monetization - Visitors have developed Ad Blindness. When they view a page that has some common form of advertising on it, such as Adsense, their minds blank it out. Popular solutions are to have 125×125 ads and sell monthly space on them. Another popular method is to charge for reviews. A popular service to do this is Review Me. Affiliate programs are also good monetization solutions.
• Content Goals - Posts should be frequent and should cater to the types of content that was used to get your loyal readership in the first place. Flagship blogs benefit by leveraging a blogging voice. Longer posts can also be used effectively.
• Subscription Method - Most people that are frequent visitors to flagship blogs are blog-savvy, meaning they know what RSS is and the will probably read your blog through their RSS reader.
• Requirements - To get the type of readership a flagship blog desires, the blog will have to promote itself among the blogosphere. This can be done through networking with other bloggers or generating good linkbait. Quality content is a must. Post types should also vary to ensure that the writing doesn’t get stale. Some ideas for alternate types of posts can be list-type, satirical, open-letter, photo-centric, humorous or perhaps an interview.
• Design - A typical flagship blog will consist of the following: Advertiser spots, RSS button somewhere near the top right of the site, Categories, Popular Posts, Recent Posts and some form of Search. Extra work should be put into making sure the color and layout of the blog are done well so as to making reading your blog effortless and unobtrusive.

Niche Blog

Niche blogs are focused on a specific area of a broader topic. They are experts in their topic and, depending on how narrow of a topic they choose, might be the only source available for their topic’s information

• Traffic - A large majority of traffic will come from search engines. Depending on how large of a niche has been chosen will determine if other traffic will come from related niche blogs and how effective linkbaiting will work.
• Monetization - It’s assumed that niche blog readership isn’t as influenced by ad blindness as flagship blogs are. PPC methodologies such as Adsense should work well. Another strategy is to do product reviews with links to purchase a product that will give you a portion of the sale, such as Amazon Associates.
• Content Goals - Many readers will be bounce readers, meaning visitors exit right after viewing the post. So a large emphasis should be placed on trying to convince people to visit other areas of your blog that they might find useful. That being said, most people found your blog because they asked a question to a search engine and your blog showed up, so make sure you answer their question.
• Subscription Method - RSS might be something that these readers do not understand. More emphasis should be put on letting visitors subscribe to your blog via e-mail.
• Requirements - Niche blogs need good SEO to succeed. Niche bloggers should also follow trends in their niche and try to write timely posts about breaking news in the niche.
• Design - A typical niche blog should consist of the following: Subscribe by email area, PPC areas, Related Posts, Popular Posts and an obvious search bar. The design focus should be on getting people to stay longer, so the contrast of certain blog elements should be experimented with to determine what types of content the readers most enjoy.