My first step was knowing what topic I could write about daily, an entity that would keep me stimulated and encourage me to network. You also have to ask if you have a level of expertise on a subject matter and the foundation of good original content. If you are tying your blog into your business (which you should) it should be relatively easy to write about your line of work. If you are lucky enough to be doing something you love it’s easier than that, it will be a passion you are happy to share.

Creating a blog that can generate both good traffic and relevant visitors comes down to three things: Planning, planning and planning. You have to formulate a strategy before you start – and we can help with that incidentally.

Let’s say for example your business sells bicycles. Who is your market? What do they probably want to read? What keywords might lead them to your blog? How can you network to initiate interest? How can you tie your blog (and your expertise) into the fact that you sell bicycles?

You then have to ask yourself about your site layout and design. What’s easy to navigate? What categories should you use? How important are images and video? How can you interface the blog with your website? How strong is your branding?

With a strategy decided upon and a design in mind you then have to ask yourself how often will you blog? 3 posts a week with original content is more valuable than seven unoriginal ideas per week. A ‘how-to’ or informational post is more valuable than a simple opinion. An exclusive and interesting post is the most valuable of all.

Next I’ll explain how to start the blog running and gaining traffic once these key planning issues are addressed.

At Green Seed Web Design we are able offer superb web development and coaching – we’ll be happy to help.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

Putting together 300-600 cohesive words on a regular basis is obviously as important to blogging as wind is to to a kite. However 2 years ago I had the wind but no string for the kite and it was night time.

I tried, I really did, but back then I felt I was writing to the goldfish we have, opening a word document and typing would have felt as worthwhile. Sure I got the occasional traffic and even now some of those posts are still online getting a few visits here and there. I wasn’t quite sure where I was going and my efforts dried up.

Four months ago the idea of blogging again raised it’s head as I felt I had a topic to write about that has been a part of my life now for 30 years. I also was now changing career paths and fully understanding the true value of a blog was becoming more apparent every day. Four months ago I made some excuses and put it on the ‘to-do’ pile, a habit I have to break. Spring turned to Summer and the more I learned about blogging the more my idea was making me itch.

Part 2 tomorrow, I’ll explain how a start up blog has gone from zero to 1,000 page views per day in just 24 days. It wasn’t a ponzi scheme – it was subject expertise, networking and creativity. It also helped so much that the blog looks amazing.

For Green Seed Web Design to be able offer superb web development and coaching it was crucial that I had been my own guinea pig. Twitch Twitch, til tomorrow.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

I need to apologize for the lack of posts the last few days, I vowed not to blog if it was above 110f outside, and now I realize I can’t change the weather. It was 113 today and here I am blogging.

Initially I was a bit skeptical about making a web design almost ‘too big’ but the more I see the more I like. Here’s a great example of what I mean of over-sized. However if you marry the right background and images to the big as houses font it can be an effective combination. If you picture the same structure but scale back the grandeur you’re left with just another site.  In the competitive world of web traffic ensuring the visitor who lands on your site makes it beyond the first few moments is critical.

Naturally this option isn’t a solution for all designs. Consider the content of your website, can you convey enough information to captivate the viewer and still make it clear as to the purpose of your site when you may only have room for 10-20 words on the page landing? If so then a big design like this one is not only possible but worth considering.

Think bold, be bold, if you need consultation on a new design just send us a message.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

There are of course a mountain of ways to tackle the issue of blog traffic, I’ve found that WPscoop might be on it’s way to rivalling Digg for getting your blog appreciated and ‘out there’. The concept of the site is similar to Digg, the twist being that the site is very much aimed toward bloggers on the WordPress platform.

You can submit your content to WPscoop and exisiting member will be able to vote (scoop) or comment on your articles. When a certain threshold of scoops has been reached your blog entry will be placed on the Upcoming page on WPscoop and gain further exposure.  The diversity of options for someone searching the site is as broad as you might expect with views ranging from 24 hrs / 7 days / 30 days and so on.

With the WP firefox plugin an article can be submitted to scoop with a simple right click. Videos are also able to be submitted.

The membership profiles are also a nice feature allowing you both promote your own blog but in turn reciprocate with 3rd party reviews you have submitted. For blogging to grow takes both commitment and a marketing strategy. Scoop should be a part of your approach.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign.com

I’m consistently impressed with the range and scope of plug-ins and custom themes that are being developed. From the simplest theme to ever increasingly difficult applications the WordPress platform can be a strong solution to get you up and running. We offer the ability to then develop the theme to give it the branding you seek. Please contact us for additional information.

I’ve fallen in love with this gallery and if you feel especially bold there’s always this one. The navigation (especially on the former) is lovely and doesn’t detract from the images being the focal point.

A holiday weekend beckons, hope you all enjoy it.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

I recently started a new blog and after just a week I’ve seen visitors using 18 different browsers/versions of browsers. Did you know when all versions of all browsers are considered there are more than 50 potential browser programs someone landing on your site may be using.

I dare say my blog is like many other sites, 82% of all my traffic are using either IE or Firefox. What to do with the other 18% then? I’m showing Safari, Seamonkey, Mozilla, Opera, Chrome and others. The best way to check if your site appears ‘normally’ on most browsers (all is probably optimistic) is to run a check.

Browser Shots offers a free scan of your url, you can preselect all or some of the known browsers prior to running the scan. Results can take a while so brew some more coffee while you wait. When you get back you can see if your site by definition is due a serious overhaul or not. The older the site the more potential for that being the case, especially when you consider how many versions of each browser have been released over the years.

Again, the key to deciding what to do with your site is knowing where it stands in real terms. Hopefully checking browser views will help.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

Check out Tweet Tabs – this very simple application allows you to filter tweets related to specific tabs you set up. For example if you want to see anything related to gold investment / precious metals – you can set up the your tabs and scroll through tweets that will pertain. I tried the tool this morning and the filtering while not perfect does make it easy to identify and then follow those who are discussing what you might be selling/marketing or simply interested in. I can use it daily!

Tim @ greenseed

This is the first suggestion in a series of ideas to improve your current web design. If your site isn’t performing as it should it’s critical to assess if navigation and other  improvements will provide a benefit or if you might be better starting fresh.

Modifying an existing site (especially as it ages) can often take more design/programming hours than just cleaning the slate and building something new and (importantly) contemporary. So…it’s best that you take the time to review what you have and make an educated decision.

Feedback Army have a solution that involves people (yes…real people) who will review the site and answer questions that you set! You can submit 3-6 questions (some examples are provided) and for a fee you will get responses specific to a review of your site. They advertise it as risk free so it’s a good place to start.

We’ll provide the same service for you at Green Seed Web Design if you have a site that needs a facelift, has poor navigation or perhaps a replacement completely. Our initial consultation will provide suggestions and recommendations and is free you contact us. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’ve done the hard work of having someone arrive at your site it’s business suicide to have a site that doesn’t keep the visitor engaged.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

This is a JavaScript User Interface (UI) and the variety of applications are all listed on the site. With this you can build borders that give off light and an effect similar to flash. The visual appeal is that with an effect similar to filtered glass the dominant color of the page refects back into the pop up window.

Again, the images captures the use better than my description so I’ll need to dig into a thesaurus for better words than translucent. Needless to say it’s Open Source and has been tested with Firefox2 , IE 7, Firefox 2, Opera 9 and Safari 3.

Just worked it out….it’s like looking through frosted glass!!

Tim at greenseedwebdesign

According to surveys one of the biggest reasons a person departs a website is due to ‘weak content/copy’. Lack of well written quality content can result in a bounce rate (people leaving your site with no exploration) being higher than the norm. After working on SEO and design it seems rather a pity to lose a potential client due to the written content within the site.

Dependent on the amount of content/type of site you need we would suggest you either hire a content writer (we can assist). There are certain ways to present information within a website that create the best results.

At the very least ensure at least 3 different people (the author being one) examine the content literally sentence by sentence.

Common mistakes include:

• Poor grammar and spelling errors
• Repetition
• Incomplete thoughts
• A presumed existing understanding of the subject matter by the reader
• Lack of a natural flow and focal point to verbiage
• Rambling explanations and inconclusive detail as to what you can provide
• Too much detail on the home page
• Insufficient detail on inner pages
• Contradictions within the same website

The list goes on but the outcome will be the same. Cutting corners on content can mean a site far from optimal.

Tim at greenseedwebdesign