Blogging Mistake: No "About Me" or Contact Information

Here's another blogging mistake I see sometimes:  no "about me" or contact information, or said information is very hard to find on the blog. 

Visitors often like to "meet" the person behind a blog--don't make it too difficult for them.  Some basic information about you (including contact information) should be just one click away from your main page.  It also shouldn't be too hard to find.  If you use wordpress, you can create a "static page" with your contact information. 

Blogspot makes this pretty easy--there's an "about me" widget that is often automatically linked to your new blog.  But there are other options.  You can great a blog post with your information, or even a separate page (like a free google page). 

Here's another suggestion:  you may want to put your email address on a picture file like this:

This will keep the spam bots from finding it but makes it easy for people to see it.  

Entrecard: No Credit for Receiving a Drop

Got this email today from EntreCard:

We have noticed that the total number of Entrecard credits in the system has grown rapidly. This has been due to the fact that more credits are being created than credits are leaving the system. If this inflation continues, Entrecard credits will be worth less and less. To ensure a stable credit economy and reduce the outstanding credits, Entrecard will no longer give Entrecard credits to the person receiving a drop. In other words, instead of awarding 2 credits for each drop (one to the dropper and one to the blog site owner), only 1 credit will be given to the dropper. This change will be effective September 1, 2009 and will last until further notice.

I didn't spend much time dropping back when I was using EC, so this further confirms my decision to leave. 

It seems EC just can't get rid of the credit inflation problem. 

Blogging according to Despair.com

Here's what despair.com has to say about blogging:

 

"Never Before Have So Many People With So Little To Say Said So Much To So Few."

100,000 hits@StrongandFit.net!

My fitness blog (strongandfit.net) has passed the 100,000 hits mark!

I started that blog in November of '08.  Things started off kind of slowly, but then they really took off the last few months:

 

I do have one theory as to why the traffic shot up around May/June (but I don't know if it is accurate).  I've always heard that google will not assign a page rank until your site is about six months old.  It seems that's when the traffic really started coming.  But I'm not an expert in SEO and blogging, so maybe someone else can explain it.

Regardless, I hope this will encourage all bloggers out there to stay with it.  If I had given up before six months I never would have reached this point.

Note:  By "hits," I mean page views.  

Blogging Mistake: Pop-Up Ads

Someone commented about annoying pop-up ads in my previous post (re: background music).  I agree--I would never advise a new blogger to use this kind of advertising. 

I don't think anyone really likes pop-ups.  We may tolerate them if there is a website that we really like, but even then, most of us would rather not deal with them.  In my opinion, a new blogger simply cannot afford to annoy his/her readers.   

Back in the day I used a software called pop-up stopper (or something like that).  Most browsers have them built in now. 

Blogging Mistake: Auto-Play Background Music

Here's a mistake I encounter among new bloggers: adding background music to your blog. 

It is rarely a good idea to have music automatically playing when someone opens your blog. 

I imagine 90% of readers will immediately find it annoying and try to figure out how to turn it off.  It also wastes bandwidth and slows down your page's loading speed. 

If you really want to ad music to your blog, don't set it to auto-play.