Seven Blog Essentials
January 16, 2008 · Written by Melissa Donovan
With millions of blogs out there and just as many widgets, plugins, and features, sometimes it’s hard to assess what’s really necessary, what’s beneficial, and what is just fluff on the face of a blog. I believe in starting at the beginning, so I present to you my list of seven blog essentials, those features and functions that every blog must have from day one. Don’t agree with me on these? Leave a comment and share your opinion:
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1. Subscription Options
- Content RSS
- Comments RSS
- E-mail Subscription Option
2. Statistics Tracking Software and Tools to Determine Blog Rank
- Recommended: Google Analytics
- Technorati (claim your blog!)
- Google PageRank (Google toolbar)
3. Advertising (choices depend on your niche)
4. SEO - Search Engine Optimization
- Sitemap
- Meta keywords and descriptions
- Post tags and keywords used consciously throughout posts
5. User Friendliness
- Clickable header
- Custom 404 Page with search feature
- Open comments section (no registration requirement)
6. Free Marketing and Networking Services (my top three favorites)
- Tool or widget (ShareThis) which allows visitors to vote for your site or a particular post
- StumbleUpon
- Entrecard
7. Last but Not Least
- Intriguing, informative, or educational posts
Do You Write the Cyber Highway?
I’d like to thank Michele, over at Writing the Cyber Highway who has posted five tips on how to be a better blogger, and who tagged me with this challenge. Michele has provided some insightful suggestions, so do check out her post!
Moving Along and Tagging My Victims
Muhahah. That’s my evil laugh. Now I get to pass the challenge to some unsuspecting bloggers out there. However, I feel there are enough blogging tips in cyberspace to keep us all occupied for the rest of our lives, so I’m going to change the topic (Michele, I can do that, right?). I’d like the following bloggers to write posts explaining the top five reasons why you love to write.
Brad Vertrees - your blog was one of the first that I discovered and truly enjoyed in the writing niche. Months later, it’s still one of my favorite reads, and I’d love to find out why you love to write so much.
Jaden - one of my dearest and closest friends (we go way back), and one of the few writers I know outside of cyberspace. Jaden joined the blogosphere just days ago with a whip in her hand and a wicked smile on her face. I suggest anyone who’s interested in screenwriting get over there and check it out.
Deb - because I feel right at home in your cottage. I can tell that you love to write from the way you write; now I’d like to find out you you love it so.
Um, I Have Something Else to Say
Michele originally referred to this challenge as a meme. Now, a few words about that word. Yikes, I hear nails on the chalkboard when I read it, when I type it, and when I try saying it out loud. I confess, something about that word just doesn’t sit right with me. When I first discovered the word, many months ago, I thought it was a typo. Don’t laugh — I’m a writer, not a human dictionary. But I did turn to a dictionary to find out what the word meant, and found this from dictionary.com: “a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.” Sounds more like sex than a blogger’s challenge. Transmission of genes? Hmph. So, I will refer to this as a tag or challenge, and nothing else.
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Ho, Ho! And to think I was wondering to myself at 45 minutes to deadline just last night “Now why is it that I love to write?”
Thank you for making me think this over in a more rational state of mind; I think.
I have a background in computer science, so allow me to opinionate on your post
1. Subscription Options. Content RSS is great. Comments RSS is nowhere as useful as bloggers think. Most people seem to prefer a checkbox with “notify me of follow up comments via e-mail”. That is something you really do need. E-mail subscription is hardly used nowadays and you should only have it if you’re writing serious articles all the time.
2. Statistics Tracking. While knowing your Google Pagerank is useful, the Google toolbar is a huge waste of space. And Technorati seems to be plummeting in popularity.
3. Advertising. Not sure about Blogspot, but Wordpress.com explicitly forbids any advertising on your blog that you get paid for. Make sure what you’re allowed to do when going for a free blog provider.
4. Search Engine Optimization. Well. Any kind of search engine optimization is pretty much outdated nowadays. Reason being that spammers used it too much, so we all gotta pay the price and if you try to optimize too much, you might one day discover that your website’s been removed from Google. That said, tagging is useful, but not for SEO. Tagging is good for usability so that your readers can find other similar articles.
5. User Friendliness. I agree with everything you said.
6. Free Marketing. I would also like to add Reddit and Digg to that list.
7. Content is king
Regarding memes. The definition you dug up is clunky. Think of memes as “ideas that spread among groups of humans (like viruses) and can influence the behavior of infected humans (like parasites)”
Richard Dawkins originally coined the word “meme” to build a theory of how the spread of ideas works in our civilization. He first used it to better understand religion by thinking of it as an idea with various properties.
@Melissa - I agree with your seven blog essentials. Perfect for those just starting out.
@Elver - Thank you for the description of meme. Like Melissa, I hated it, but now that I know it’s unclunky definition, it makes much more sense.
Sometimes it’s sick how much I love your blog :p Great post… dugg it, stumbled it, and blogged it. Everyone should read this.
@Deb, Great! I can’t wait to read your post!
@Elver, I go for the comment subscription because my e-mail is cluttered enough. It’s nice to offer visitors the option, but if and when I revise this list, I’ll definitely add the e-mail comments option to it.
Do you have any suggestions for determining ranking besides Google PageRank and Technorati? Alexa perhaps?
SEO - So, does that mean all those SEO companies are going to close their doors?
I’m kind of down on Digg. Reddit is pretty cool though.
I still don’t like the word meme. Hmm.
Elver, thanks for your feedback. It’s extremely useful!
@Michelle, Thank you! I actually came up with this list while helping a friend of mine get her blog up and running, and I wanted to cite the basic necessities for getting started.
@Trisha, Wow, thanks so much! You flatter me. *blushing*
PageRank is fine. As for SEO companies, then, well… They’re not really selling search engine optimization. They’re selling a warm and fuzzy feeling to managers who don’t know much about technology. There’s always a market for stuff like that.
Hi,
I found your blog via entrecard and can tell very quickly you have content I would enjoy and find useful. So I’m about to subscribe.
Excellent points, Melissa. It’s ok that you don’t like the word meme. It’s not my favorite either but I always seem to jump on board when I’m tagged for these “challenges.”
Thanks for sharing your wisdom!
I agree with all points
I turn green when I can’t add a RSS feed on a blog I like
I’m still working on figuring out the point with the content adding to stumbleupon and others, but I will manage to get to the right spot in my CSS one day without killing my whole site layout (which needs revamping anyway…..)
And I have the same feeling towards the word “Meme” - *grin*
I arrive at this blog via EntreCard and have subscribed to your feed as I like the content and your writing style.
So you could say #1 & #6 are doing well for you.
I cannot stand having to register and login before I can make a comment, I usually skip leaving comment even if I have some thoughts to share.
I would like to add that a contact form is also essential to a blog for readers/author communication.
@Elver, That’s scary!
@Lightening, Thanks very much for subscribing!
@Michele, I guess we all have words that rub us the wrong way. I’m getting over the whole meme thing, so we’ll see… I find it interesting that it doesn’t pass the WordPress spell check. Then again, the word “WordPress” doesn’t pass either…
@Nicole, Yep, providing an RSS feed is one of the first things a blogger should add to their site. That’s why I love Feedburner!
@betshopboy, EntreCard is very cool. I’m new to it, and enjoying it very much, though it can be pretty distracting. If a blog requires registration in order to comment, I run for the hills. That’s no way to treat readers. As if we didn’t have enough IDs and passwords… Contact form, very useful. I agree.
Great post!!
Seven Brilliant Blog Essentials although I haven’t achieved all of them and I’ve been at it for months. One I know is holding me back is the keywords and descriptions for each post. I have the plugin but need to go back over my archives to meta tag them all. Not to mention adding those post tags.
I’m still waiting for that google page rank. Your new domain is brand new and ranked 4 already. HOW DO YOU DO IT!?!
Now, what IS EntreCard??? I’ve never heard of it but WOW it sounds impressive. In the comments of this thread alone you have new readers from there. *goes on a hunt for more information and wonders why you didn’t link it up from the post*
Oh, and I LOVE the Notify me link. Can’t stand comment RSS because it’s an information overload but I can read and delete emails very quickly or choose to respond. If they don’t have a notify me option I probably won’t remember to check back for replies.