top dating sites

I ike what you did on your site. I, too, recently revamped my site, reorganized, recategorized, and redesigned the interface. These combined improvements have led to significantly increased traffic (5 – 10 times more unique/new visitors each day) and page loads (almost 20 times more per day — so many, that I thought my stat counter was malfunctioning).

One of the biggest compliments I’ve received is modularlizing the content into more discreet categories and organizing that content on pages dedicated to that type of content — as opposed to the let’s-put-a-link-to-everything-on-the-home-page-approach I used previously.

It’s nice to hear about your experiences. I find I learn from fellow bloggers daily. Thanks for sharing.

Scott Abel
TheContentWrangler.com

This week I restructured my categories — I finally felt like I had a grasp of how topics clustered in my writing, and I was able to consolidate 20-odd categories down to 10. I’ll probably collapse a couple of the current categories next week.

I’m glad I gave myself permission to sprawl when I started out, and I’m equally happy to have a more compact category set. Easier to write to, easier to search on, and tidier.

Once again, thanks for elucidating the how’s and why’s of blogging!

+ Beth +

I have some other initiatives underway in which I will be more of a typical blogger.

I assume we won’t learn what you have planned until you launch it? Can you give us any hints?

You also wrote,

I’m not consumed by my digital reflection in the web browser mirror as so many other bloggers are.

I agree that some blogs seem navel-gazing. Some people like to parade in their own spotlight. However, writing in first-person does not automatically make a blog self-obsessed. Actually, using the first person to write is a move toward authenticity and realness. Our opinions are ours regardless of the point of view (first person or third person).

Blogging is heavily built around the individual’s voice. I think your blog would be stronger if, instead of just publishing information, you gave us your honest evaluation of some of these technologies.

A lot of people read your blog because you are an authority on subjects, esp. content management. But when you announce a new technology in a post, I’m often looking for Scott’s opinion on it. Is this technology or service worthwhile? What does Scott think? Instead, this evaluative element is often left out, and I’m not sure why. For example, you’ve been pretty silent on the RoboHelp resurgence.

As you say, you are a very opinionated person. Of course stating your opinion will turn some people off; on the other hand, it will also create appeal for readers too.

Your blog is highly successful, so I’m not about to tell you to change your angle. I’m just saying that blogs are social spaces where first person writing is welcome if not the norm.

Thanks again for your comment.

Tom

I write in the third person (not always, but often) because I want my site — TheContentWrangler.com — to be an authority, not me. TheContentWrangler.com is more of a news site than a blog. It’s a site that anyone can read and benefit from if they are interested in the topics I cover. Sometimes, I add a little opinion to the mix. It’s fun. But, I’m not consumed by my digital reflection in the web browser mirror as so many other bloggers are.

Bloggin, let us not forget, is done for a reason. Most often, for attention.

Opinions, especially mine, tend to piss people off. I tell it like it is and don’t mince words, as anyone who has had a conversation with me knows. If I were to spout off like that on my blog, I wouldn’t be attracting the audience I do.

I use blogging tools to publish content. I don’t care about the blog as a pure way of communicating in a certain way. I care about it as a free (or almost, in my case) tool that allows me to communicate with a worldwide audience.

And, I’ve made a pretty decent living as a result. I earn far more money than I used to sitting in a cubicle farm or working as a pure play consultant.

In reality, my blog is a fast track to Google and therefore I get traffic the more content I produce and the more topics I write about.

Additionally, my blog is a filing cabinet for things I don’t want to forget. Or, those things I want to be able to share with others.

I have some other initiatives underway in which I will be more of a typical blogger. I’ll be spouting off about things that are important to me. And, perhaps some others will find it interesting. Maybe not. Either way, I’ll write content to fill that blog because it gives me some other type of reward that is not monetary. I guess it’s podium from which to shout.

As you are well aware, blogs are nothing more than web-enabled authoring and publishing tools. They are delivered using the SaaS (Software as a Service) or hosted software model, which I whole-heartedly support. I am involved in other content businesses outside of the techcom space that utilize SaaS because that is where the action is.

Today, I am creating websites (with the help of blogging programmer) for conferences and magazines that can be easily duplicated and resold, over and over and over again. It’s single-sourcing with a twist. Write the code once, and reuse it. Tweak the colors and the logo and you’ve got a new billable client. Of course, those websites need top quality content, and that’s where I make additional revenue. I charge to write content. But, I’ve been doing this for years. That’s what technical writers do. The only difference is that now I have a whole world of possibilities, not just the local tech writing market. And, I prefer it that way.

In fact, I’ll be changing it to a magazine format (that also includes user-generated blogs) later this year.