Blog Statistics Pt. II

WordPress changed the user interface some time yesterday. You all can’t see it but I sure can! Overall I think it’s a good thing but it makes finding stuff harder until I learn where they moved everything. In addition, they either added new stuff or made it easier to find. Anyhow, if you are in the market for a dynamic blog platform that’s free I recommend it. You give up a *little*customization but the trade-off is a much more dynamic and professional looking blog. In addition, for very reasonable pricing you can purchase add-ons:

• Custom CSS for $15 a year
• 5GB extra storage for $20 a year
• 15GB for $50
• 25GB for $90
• More than 30 private users for $30 per year

My only annoyance is I can’t tweak my sidebar, header, or footer without paying $15 a year. You can customize the image header on the template that you select so I’m happy about that. In addition, everything in my sidebar can be rearranged via drag-and-drop which is very nice. They also have a healthy selection of free “widgets” which you can add to your sidebar. Finally, if you are on Blogger as well as many other platforms it’s pretty easy to import all your old posts to WordPress.

After my last post someone e-mailed me and suggested I add del.icio.us to my sidebar so I did. Right now I added the blogs I read the most. However, I plan to slowly start adding sites from the Toplist. Apparently del.icio.us is yet another way to promote your site. So if you have not done so please consider registering for an account and experimenting. Also, please ADD ME if you are already on del.icio.us and I’ll do the same for you! I figure if we infected Toplist we can do the same at del.icio.us and maybe even pick up a few new martial arts’ bloggers.

Finally, one more shameless plug for Nathan’s Convocation of Martial Arts Forum on Google Groups. If you have not done so please consider getting a Google Account and join in the fun. It’s easy, it’s free, it’s a good way to promote your blog and network, and you just might learn something new!

From the new user interface I have a new way to look at my site statistics:

Top Posts

Chuck Norris Sues…, 762 views

Human Weapon: Taekwondo, 707 views

Chi Debunked?, 308 views

Top Searches

ppct, striking thoughts, crash test dummy

Given I’ve only been on WordPress hosted for about three months now I don’t know what this information really means. Still, I find it mildly humorous that people find my blog after searching for crash test dummies. That may well sum up three year’s worth of blogging!

Another person e-mailed me and asked me for some blog promotion advice. My first tip is to just conduct a search and read through the many articles on the topic. Past that here’s my list of recommendations:

• Push your blog to a few ping services. When I self-hosted I had about a dozen of these set up in WordPress. Now WordPress hosted does it for me!

When you post we send a ping to Ping-O-Matic - http://pingomatic.com - which then distributes it out to 15+ different services, all automatically. We want things to be as easy as possible for our users, so it’s another thing you just don’t have to worry about.

• Set yourself up on Technorati. Even if your blogging platform automatically pings them it can’t hurt to have an account.
• Post consistently. You don’t have to post every day but at least set a modest goal of once per week and then aim for quality. A model example of this tactic would be Martial Views. He’s also good about keeping them short with good content. Let’s face it: Most people don’t like to read a lot so you have to catch their attention some how!
• Go with a theme or niche. Examples include TDA Training (excellent training advice); Black Belt Mamma, Amanda Takes Off, or Fist in the Frost (they bring a human touch); Dojo Rat, Mokuren Dojo, or Martial Thoughts (they all have strong opinions and don’t back down from controversy).
• Post on a few different blogs regularly and maybe involve yourself with at least one online community. Even if you do this a couple times per month you’ll see the benefit in traffic.
• Get listed somewhere! I used to be listed on about a dozen sites but after a while this becomes a pain because you have to usually display a graphic and also remember another darn password. So, since having established this blog and then moving it to a hosted platform I’m only on del.icio.us and Toplist.
• Add something interactive like videos. Many of the good blogs (TDA Training, Dojo Rat, etc.) will actually post original content. If you can’t do that try to end your post with a related video. Or feature a series of thematic videos each month. This way you can speak to the people who do not like reading.
• If you like to ramble on like I do be sure to have a few shorter posts with quality content (again Martial Views is the model here) or be sure to occasionally feature a video. This way you keep those people who don’t like to wade through all your hot air.
• Make sure you have an easy to find RSS feed on your page so people can subscribe.
• Consistently use tags.

My themes are these:

1. Martial science and a scholarly angle
2. Training advice and my weekly training diary
3. Practical self-defense
4. Embracing a dash of controversy
5. Weekly martial news from around the Internet

Recently I added videos to my bag of tricks. Overall I think this has helped bump up my numbers. If I can I usually try to end a post with a related video to tie my topic altogether. Past that I try to feature a series of thematic videos each month.

Oh and yes, one last piece of advice: Don’t take yourself too seriously and have a sense of humor. It’s just a blog.

~BCP