Big Oak SEO Blog » Blogging

View a Random Post Plugin for WordPress

Shell Harris — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:34:34 +0000

Necessity, as they say, is the Mother of Invention.

As your blog grows in size, as it invariably will, your new readers will find it more difficult to know where to start. Sure, reading the most current posts are a given, but what after that? Of course, you should also have a list that displays the most popular posts so the reader can see what your best or, at least, what are the most viewed posts. But you can do a little more and giving the reader the ability to read a random post may be just the trick.

It was with this thought that I contacted a WordPress Developer, Lee Blue, to develop just such a plugin. And Lee has done a wonderful job. He has provided a simple, yet effective plugin that produces a link that when clicked loads a random post. Not only does this bring to light older posts that may have been overlooked but increases the pages read per visitor, which is always a good thing.

I did try some other plugins that claimed to do what View Random Post does, but none worked in all the browsers under both the Mac and PC operating system. Please try this helpful WordPress plugin, you won’t be disappointed.

From the plugin site:

This plugin will put a widget on your sidebar with a link to view a random post. There are a few other similar plugins already but we haven’t been able to find any that do exactly what we wanted. We were after a very simple way to put a link in your sidebar which, when clicked, will take your visitor to one of your published posts.

When your visitors click the link to view a random post, the plugin keeps track of all the posts they have viewed via the random post link so that it doesn’t send them to a post they have already seen until they have seen all the posts once. Then it won’t send them to the same post three times until they have already seen all the posts 2 times (and so on).

Download the plugin – View Random Post

PS – Lee has also written a helpful plugin for selling products on your WordPress blog. This WordPress Shopping Cart Plugin can be found here: http://www.phpurchase.com/

Protecting the Value of your Brand Name

Eric Gehler — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:56:09 +0000

We live in an information society with the internet at our fingertips though broadband, DSL and mobile phones. We also live in a society that is comprised of consumers that have the ability to publish their words, thoughts and ideas in seconds through websites, blogs, and web 2.0 resources including micro blogging platforms such as Twitter.

Understanding and realizing that our customers are more tuned in and wired in than just a year ago is vital to protecting our name brand as well as tapping into the evolving consumer base we are attempting to persuade.

Over the weekend a valuable lesson was learned by a Fortune 500 company, and will soon be adapted across all channels of business relationships.

You see on Friday November 14, 2008 several wired in mommy bloggers took offense to a video advertisement that was on the Motrin website. The ad was geared toward “Baby Wearing Moms” and was rather insensitive to say the least.

A viral ground swell of disgruntled opinion towards the advertisement was fueled on the Twitter Micro blogging network. The Tweets continued and bloggers voiced their opinions.

By Saturday Night and into Sunday AM, 100′s of blogs and 1000′s of twitter accounts were active in their dismay of the Motrin websites and it’s marketing message. A viral and virtual boycott was formed and the public perception of the Motrin Brand sank lower the President W’s approval ratings.

By Sunday night and into Monday afternoon, the Motrin website was taken off-line to attempt damage control. As of this post the site is back up with a Public Apology.

The lesson that should be learned from this account, is the your consumers have public voices, and monoritoring your Keyword and Brand Name can stop a landslide of public disgruntled behavior. If the people at Motrin had a Simple Google Alert for their Brand Name, or set up and monitored a Twitter Search for their keywords and brand name, they would have been aware of the firestorm that was headed their way. Motrin took down the ad 4 days after the incident developed into a Butter Fly Effect.

By monitoring and reacting, the Tsunami of bad publicity could have been avoided and damage control could have been set in place earlier than Day 4.

The several lessions to be learned are:
Know your market
Understand your market
Keep tabs on your Public Images via Google Alerts / Twitter Searches via Brand Name Keywords
and above all, never underestimate the power of a mommy, her keyboard, and a internet connection!
#MotrinMoms

Outside of the Box with Web 2.0

Eric Gehler — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:20:05 +0000

The power to make or break any website or blog is the amount of traffic and ROI (return on investment) that can be generated from month to month. When your livelihood depends upon your on site internet presence, it pays to think outside of the box and explore opportunities as they present themselves. Last week I introduced you to the Apple iPhones App for getting your blog iPhone ready and a quality back link from the Apple.com site.

Since it’s Friday and a gorgeous hello “Global Warning” day here in Richmond Virginia, I thought I would take the time to show you just another cool little thing I discovered in my mad labs here at Big Oak SEO – Richmond SEO Company.

I love the power of social media and Web 2.0 style sites, and one of my favorites has been Twitter. Yes that little tool that makes you get your point across in only 140 characters. However if you know how to use those 140 characters wisely it can pay off into huge dividends.

On election day, Nov 4th I was cruising around and saw that Yahoo had jumped into the Twitter arena. More importantly the folks that run the elusive Yahoo Directory. With a quick double check I confirmed it was the good folks at Yahoo and not some cyber loser and huge practical joke.

So I had nothing to lose and put my best 140 characters together and sent a Tweet to the folks at Yahoo – Directory.

a simple tweet: @yahoo_directory So you joined twitter, Check out http://www.parentinghelpme.com
11:53 AM Nov 4th from web in reply to yahoo_directory

Well the power of twitter and a decent website got the attention of the good folks at the Yahoo Directory and guess what…

Yup Today I got into Yahoo Directory from a single tweet. I didn’t even have to use all of the 140 characters twitter allows and I made it in with less than 80 characters and 3 days. Not Bad for an Election Day Result and Global Warming hitting Richmond Virginia this Friday November 7, 2008.

PS: You can Follow this site @BigOakSEO or me @bigebiz on twitter

Is your Blog iPhone Applicable?

Eric Gehler — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:22:16 +0000

Is your Blog iPhone Applicable?

With the recent craze of iPhone this and iPhone that and the Mac vs PC world of commercials it’s about time we make our own websites or blogs adaptable to the iPhone Apple Mac People. As you can tell I am PC guy and almost resemble the PC guy from those commercials. I learned on a PC and I am not usually accepting of change when it comes to my computer, but adaptable to markets and strategy. I was using Win 95 way past 98 and hit Win 97 around the time Millennium was out. That’s neither here nor there. This is about adapting.

Most blogs these days use word press, and a WP plugin has been developed to enable Iphone’s to easily read your blog. Click on the WPTouch link to grab this plugin. The plugin comes with it’s own CSS and themes for the conversion process, but all you have to do is install the Plugin into your normal Plugin Folder on word press and activate. The plugin takes care of the rest. If you are using WP-Cache or Wp Super Cache plugins then a few minor tweeks are needed.

Now that you installed the Plugin ready for the next coolest thing?

Because you blog is iPhone ready, you can submit it to Apple.com as a website app. You can see some venturous bloggers have already joined the race at http://www.apple.com/webapps/news/

To Join in, is rather simple actually. Go to Apple Developer and create a user account. Simple registration to grab yourself an account. After you are logged in proceed to https://adcweb.apple.com/iphone/

Fill out the details, descriptions and categories.
TIP – HINT: Your “Company Name” will Be a Live Linkable Backlink, so use your Web site or company name and a Major Keyword when filling in the “Company Name” section on the application

You will need a screen shot of you blog and an Icon in the dimensions shown below to successfully complete your application. ( 320 x 356 PNG – For screen Shot and Icon 128 X 128 with a recognized alpha channel )

Once and if approved by Apple your blog will appear in their iPhone Downloads section. Even though this whole process is way cool, I am still a PC guy, at least til 2012 according to my historical upgrade patten.

Top 5 Reasons to Comment on Blogs

Morgan Greenhalgh — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:13:52 +0000

By now, I’m sure you know the importance of creating fresh, quality content on your site. One of the ways you probably do this is through a blog. These days everyone has a blog, and why not? It’s an easy way to get articles syndicated and ensures you have fresh content on your site, along with many other benefits.

However, in this world of Web 2.0, just having a blog isn’t enough. You need to get out there and take part in your online community. You need to comment on other people’s blogs.

Don’t know why? Well, you’re in luck, because here are the top five reasons to comment on other people’s blogs.

Top 5 Reasons to Comment on Blogs: Get Known in the Community

The goal of SEO is getting your site to rank, which happens when the search engines view you as an authority on a subject. Before the search engines can view you as an authority, people need to view you as such. One of the easiest ways to make this happen is by leaving good, meaningful comments on other people’s blogs.

Think about it like this: No matter how good your content is, if the search engines don’t know about it and people don’t know about it, then you’re just writing for yourself. You need to go to the people. Go to a blog that has a large readership and start leaving good comments. This will introduce you to a large readership.

I promise, when you give beneficial comments, people will respond. The owners of the site will get to know you because of your comments, and users will come to enjoy how useful they are. This successfully accomplishes your first task — having the people regard you as an authority on a subject.

Top 5 Reasons to Comment on Blogs: Get Traffic to Your Site

Once people view you as an authority, they will click on your name to inspect your website. (You do put your website in when you comment right? I’m not talking about in the text itself, but associated with your name — you don’t want to look spammy!)

Most blogs have nofollow tags automatically turned on, so the search engine spiders won’t find their way to your site, but that doesn’t stop the people from clicking on the link. Then, once you get people on your site, they’ll see that you really are an authority.

Now you’ve gone from leaving good comments on other people’s blogs, to having their readership checking out your blog — all because you left a comment or three!

Top 5 Reasons to Comment on Blogs: Get Backlinks

While most blogs have nofollow tags on, not all do, so you’ll get some in-bound links right there. However, if you’re only hoping for backlinks from the comments, you’re thinking too small! When webmasters see that you keep leaving good, solid comments, they will check out your site.

After they’ve inspected your site, if they’ve decided they think you’re a solid enough resource, then they might just write a post about you! This will then get you a solid in-bound link that their readership will click on and that the search engine spiders will follow.

And remember those people who were already checking out your blog because of the good comments you left? Yup, they might already be linking to your site. Seriously, get out there and comment already.

Top 5 Reasons to Comment on Blogs: Get New Ideas for Your Blog

When you comment, other people will comment not only on the post, but they can also comment on your comment. This opens up the dialogue to you. It might even spark an idea that you didn’t even realize or consider — an idea for a blog post of your own!

This is why it’s so important for you to take part in your online community! Readership is one of the most valuable aspects of commenting on blogs. Everyone who is commenting has similar interests, but they have different perspectives. And those different perspectives will help your own blogging!

Top 5 Reasons to Comment on Blogs: Get New Subscribers

That’s right, when you comment on other people’s blogs, you might just get new subscribers to your own blog. Think about all of the other reasons to comment. You’ll get known in the community, you’ll get traffic to your site, you’ll get backlinks and you’ll get new ideas for your blog. Put that all together and what do you get?

A stronger better blog for you! And with a stronger, better blog, more people will be interested in what you have to say. When they’re that interested, they’ll subscribe to your blog, which is exactly how this whole online community thing works! The best information is rewarded by other people finding it, and when more people find it, the search engines take notice — and when the search engines take notice? You guessed it, then you’re going to start ranking higher.

Now get out there and start commenting!

The Best Blog Directories

Shell Harris — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:48:40 +0000

Okay, I fully admit I got this from Search Engine Journal. It was written by Loren Baker, Editor. So be sure to read the original list there with full content. Thank you, Loren.

I put the list I here so I would always know where to find it, since it is our company blog. I did abbreviate the content and I plan on adding more. I hope if any readers find better blog directories, that are particularly excellent, they will add them by commenting below. If they are really good I’ll add them to this list officially.

Best of the Web Blog Search La Crem de la Crem, Best of the Web’s Blog Directory is very selective and only lists aged and valuable blogs.
EatonWeb Blog Directory is a real jewel with many aged inbound links and a blog rating system.
Blog Hub offers a drop down category and member blog list.
Upon visiting Bloggernity, you find a crisp, clean, and easy to navigate site.
Blogarama has an impressive listing of over 65,000 blogs.
Blog Search Engine is owned by Performancing’s parent company and serves search results powered by IceRocket.
Blog Catalog features a vast directory of categories, from academic to writing, while offering the ability to search by country, language, or user.
Globe of Blogs has too many features to list. In order to be listed on the site, the blog must not be commercial.
Blog Universe is the perfect place to promote your video or podcast themed blog.
Bigger Blogs is a relatively new blog directory with only a few blogs registered. The blog is intertwined with a business directory.
Bloggeries has the best categories and subcategories home page on the internet
Bloggapedia has an interesting and eye catching homepage.
Spillbean is a well-designed blog directory site with categories such as health, society, internet, and personal.
Blogging Fusion is a blog with over sixty categories.
Blogflux is not only a tool for bloggers, but a directory that has the listings in alphabetic order.
Bloglisting are fun, colourful, and catch the attention of the reader.
Blogio may be a small blog directory with few listings, but it worthy of a submission.
Blog Explosion claims to be the largest blog promoter on the internet.
Super Blog Directory is a great site that offers tools to posters that others do not.

Link Advertising Overload with Chitika Contextual Ads

Shell Harris — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:25:58 +0000

While doing a check for backlinks to our wildly popular SEO Comic, I found this blog post (http://filehostfactory.com/site/8/?p=7268). What intrigued me the most was the overwhelming number of link ads (contextual ads) being placed in the post. If you look at the screen shot below you can see what I mean.

I counted 171 words starting with Filehostfactory and ending with “your own site.” Out of those words, 34 are being sold as Chitika ads. That is 20% of your content being sold to advertisers. Wow! And it doesn’t make reading it any easier either.

According to Chitika big money by top bloggers is a certainty so this type of in-your-face link advertising may be more prevalent as small-time bloggers seek a bigger piece of the blog advertising pie.

Has anyone had monetary success with this type of advertising? It would seem to drive viewers away in my opinion.

I do appreciate the link to our comic.

Experiment with Technorati Authority

Shell Harris — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:26:33 +0000

I was checking into our blog’s external links and found this blog post: http://www.ciao9to5.com/increase-technorati-rating/.

The author, Will Harrison, is trying to increase his Technorati Authority and thereby his rating. His method to do this is to link to 5 blogs, his own and 4 others he enjoys and pass it along. Big Oak SEO blog was one of the 4 he chose (thank you). If he has linked to you and you find the post with the link, a request is made from the post that you do the same.

Sounds much like a chain letter of sorts, which I’m not a fan of, but for the sake of the experiment, I’ll try it. As of today, Jan. 10, 2008 my Technorati Authority is 35 and my rank is 231,062. I’ll report back if any noticeable increase happens.

Here is a snippet from Will’s post:

This makes Technorati seem like an easy enough place to increase your rating. All you need for authority are incoming links.

How are we going to get those incoming links? Glad you’ve asked. I found this method called ViraLink. What happens is: I will post the link to 5 blogs I enjoy, including my own, under this post. Those 4 blogs that aren’t owned by me will see their Technorati ranking increase and look to find out who linked them. Actually, it would probably be best to link smaller blogs that will look to see who linked them. Anyways, when they find this post, they are to copy the post and add another 5 blogs onto the list. It kind of starts a chain.

I see no harm in trying it out, so here is Will’s 5 blogs with my 5 blogs added:

I hope the 5 blogs I added will benefit from this as well. They are all worth reading.

Committed to Commenting

Shell Harris — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:28:17 +0000

I have started doing something I hope catches on in the blog community: Commenting with purpose. Being the owner of this SEO blog I’m always delighted to see comments, especially since this means someone thought enough of what I wrote to read it and then comment on the content.

It can be discouraging when a commenter is taking advantage of the fact that I do follow comment links, but if they have said something worthwhile I feel it is a small price to pay if I give away some link juice. It can also be disheartening to see I have three comments on a post, but the total word count for all three comments is about 30 words. Sometimes three simple comments like, “Nice post, I agree with your thoughts,” can be nice, but more often I would rather have one comment that says something more and even challenges what I have written.

So, I have committed myself to commenting with purpose. When I visit other blogs I will make every effort to make an intelligent, thoughtful and interesting comment that actually adds to the post. It may not always be lenghty, but my comments will never be boiled down to a “Nice Post” comment.

I hope those commenting on my blog will try to do the same, and I also hope my readers will not feel pressured to write more than they want. After all, I would rather see a short post with gratitude than nothing at all. Thanks for reading and for commenting. And when you do comment, use your name, not your keyword, it cheapens the comment, in my humble opinion.

Update: Well I’ve made one comment per day this week and I feel good about my contributions. Here is one of the comments I made on a post by Jill Whalen about changing urls.

WordPress Plugins Help Google Index Your Blog – SEO Tip 48

Shell Harris — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:14:45 +0000

Having the best blog in the world, won’t do any good if no one knows it exists. Make sure Google visits and indexes all your posts with a few simple plugins. These are for WordPress only, but why would you be using anything else? The following WordPress plugins will help provide numerous links to older posts on your blog that might otherwise be buried. The added benefit is your blog readers will also be inclined to read more posts when using these plugins.

Similar Posts
URL: http://rmarsh.com/plugins/similar-posts/
This plugin will search the text of all posts and display other posts which are similar or related. This will help provide links to older posts making them more accessible to the reader and to the search engines.

All in one SEO Pack
URL: http://wp.uberdose.com/2007/03/24/all-in-one-seo-pack/
This plugin is a must have SEO plugin and combines all many SEO features in one plugin, where beforehand you needed two or three. You can control the following options with this plugin:

Define your home page title, description and keywords
Define your post, page, category, archive, tag and search title formats
Use categories for META keywords
Avoid indexing of duplicate content (prevents indexing of category, archive and tag archive pages)
Autogenerate descriptions

This particularly replaces the SEO Title Tag many blogs use.

Top Posts
URL: http://www.macalua.com/2007/02/01/top-posts-by-category-plugin/
This plugin will post your most read blog posts automatically a blog page, providing a good starting point for new readers. While giving new readers some direction if you have an overwhelming number amount of posts, this will also provide the search engines with a direct link from a top level page to deep posts in your blog. Think of it as a super sitemap.

You can also create a smaller top post list that can be shown on every post of you blog in the right column.

Making sure your blog is well read by readers and well known by search engines is a critical step towards increasing your blog’s popularity.