Link Love Mad Libs for the Writing Community

Let’s talk about links.

For some reason, Google thinks links are the cat’s meow. When someone links to your blog, Google says “Hey, people like that blog over there!” And then whoosh — your Google rank goes up while you purr and drool all over your keyboard.

Google is so smart it actually ups your rank even more if the links to your blog come from a website with a lot of clout. And by clout, I mean a site that already has high standing in Googledom. So a link from someone like Dooce is going to make you purr a lot louder than say, a link from me. For now anyway.

Hopefully I don’t have to explain why you want to be on Google’s good side. What I would like to point out is that everybody wants to be on Google’s good side (not just you). You can probably guess where this is going.

That’s right, everybody wants inbound links. So if you have a blog, then you have the power to fulfill wishes and make dreams come true.

One way to do this is to write a review of something another blogger wrote or mention bloggers who have inspired your own posts. Another way is to create link lists. The point is, you find a way to link to the ones you love and it’s just like you’re blowing pretty little Google kisses their way.

So link lists are good but guess what’s better? Actual sentences and paragraphs. Yes, Google recognizes the difference between links in a list (they get a nod and perhaps a curt handshake) and links that are embedded in the body of a written post (these get a welcome-to-the-family hug). So, when you construct links in this manner, you’re not blowing kisses, you’re French kissing. What I mean is, links in sentences and paragraphs are WAY better than links in lists.

Recently, I’ve noticed a trend around some of the blogs I frequent, which involves the blogger writing a little story and plugging links (the French kiss kind) into the posts. This is a perfect writing exercise for people like us (that would be you and me) because we are writers and bloggers. It’s a lot like doing mad libs because you write a story and then fill in the blanks with blogs you want to make out with.

Here’s how it works:

Living in the Writing Community

My writing journey had been what you might call a sweet unrest until last September when I launched my freelance writing business because I was struck by one of life’s little inspirations. That would be to make a living doing what I love on my own terms.

Within about six weeks, I had launched my career and was happily writing the cyber highway. My blog helped me find great people within the writing community. And while freelancing paid the bills, it was not my life’s greatest ambition. For I had big dreams of writing a novel and having it published, but I harbored fears of the rejecter and publishers who would find flaws in my fiction.

I decided that in addition to peddling my writing as a service, I would embark on a mission to become a better fiction writer. How? Well I started by escaping reality. Later this year, I’ll participate in NaNoWriMo and write a novel in 30 days. Hopefully I’ll finish on time because as you know, punctuality rules.

Now my dreams are starting to manifest in the form of words and pictures. I pray that I succeed so that one day I might be able to buy a cottage of my own. I just hope I don’t end up on any of the Deep Friar’s rant lists.

Now that I’ve made out with all you fine people, try writing a link love mad lib of your own. It’s a great way to show your affection for other bloggers and a wonderful way to connect with the writing community.

In case you want to get all crazy with the Google juice, here are a few final tips for spreading the love:

• Don’t limit yourself to using anchor text that matches the blog’s title. Use whatever makes sense. [Anchor text is the text that contains the link. Usually it's underlined. Often, it's blue.]
• Likewise, you can link to posts on other blogs, not just to the main page.
• Sadly, you probably won’t fit every blog you love into your link love mad lib. I didn’t. (Sorry guys.)
• You have to choose whether to let the links you want to include drive your post or whether you want it to be story driven. I’m a writer before I’m a blogger so I went with the story.
• Be creative and have fun.

Now, let’s play spin the bottle!

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What I’ve Learned About Blogging

photo credit: Joanna Young

I’ve been blogging on Writing Forward for almost ten months now. Most days, I still feel like a rookie. But ten months is a long time in the blogosphere and in that time I have learned a lot, both about blogging and who I am as a writer.

Write what you know, blog what you love

Some say write what you know. Other say write what you want to know. When it comes to blogging, I say write what you love. A blog is a never ending project. It’s not an article you whip up and send off. It’s not a manuscript that you push through and (hopefully) finish one day. It’s a long term commitment. A marriage. Most bloggers don’t make it past the first three months. Many others don’t pass the one year mark. You’d better have more than a crush on your blog. You have to be madly, hopelessly in love with it. Otherwise you’ll wake up one day and find yourself totally divorced from it.

There is no right or wrong way to blog

Okay, that’s not true. There are many wrong ways to blog but the good news is that means there are also a lot of right ways. Plenty of blog “experts” will tell you that you should blog on a set schedule, that you should blog at least five times a week, or that you need to find a niche that is underpopulated so you can rake in the big bucks. I’ve learned this is all hogwash. Ultimately, you have to find what works for you and your readers. Five times a week might be too much (people have other blogs to read, you know), and the underpopulated niches might bore you (which is why they’re underpopulated). Unless you’re running a strictly business blog, relax and have fun with it. Experiment. Eventually you will find your pace.

You may not get it right the first time

Before Writing Forward, I had a couple of other blogs. In fact, I had a “weblog” back in the mid-nineties but it had no focal topic and I rarely updated it. That was before blog software, so it was manually coded and maintained. What you see here is my third attempt at a blog. If you are really interested in blogging and the first one doesn’t work out, then try again. Maybe you didn’t pick a niche that you could commit to, or maybe you were pushing yourself too hard (or not hard enough) to post regularly. Allow yourself a few failures and know that if you keep trying, you’ll eventually find your way.

Community is everything

This is the juicy cherry on top of the sundae that is blogging. Community. It’s the cheese on the pizza, the wasubi on the sushi. Forget networking. Focus on building a community. In the past ten months I have connected with many talented writers and knowledgeable bloggers. I’ve connected with people who have become clients, friends, and co-writers. This part of the journey is what makes my heart go pitter patter and makes my insides tingle with warm fuzzies. It’s why commenting is critical. Let’s say that again, commenting is critical. Seriously, the comments section of my blog and the blogs I visit is where friendships are born. Incredible.

The technical stuff belongs in another post. Or another blog.

I could, at this point, probably write a manual on both the design and technical aspect of blogging. Plugins, widgets, and ads, oh my! This stuff matters a whole lot because it makes your blog a nice, friendly place to visit. Open your home to the world and they will come in bearing many wondrous gifts. In short: make it pretty so it doesn’t hurt people’s eyes. Offer RSS and email subscriptions in a clear, visible spot near the top of your blog. Open comments and remove hoops like verification forms so commenting is quick and easy for your readers. Respond to comments and pay it forward by commenting on blogs other than your own. Use plugins. Plugins are your friend: Akisment, CommentLuv, ShareThis.

Now it’s your turn

What have you learned as a blog reader or as a blogger? What do you want to learn? Is there any part of this post you’d like me to explore at greater length in a future post? I tried to cover the basics, but I could delve deeper into specifics if you wish. I am at your command.

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Seven Blog Essentials

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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Bookmarking Blogs? Subscribe Instead!

In a comment on 11 Hot Tips for Writers with Blogs, Kathy Garner had this to say:

I’ve bookmarked so many great blogs. Any tips on keeping things organized?

Yes! I do have tips on keeping things organized: subscribe, subscribe, subscribe! There’s no need to clutter up your bookmarks or favorites with all those great blogs. Instead, use RSS subscriptions to access, track, and organize your daily reads.

What is RSS?

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and that’s exactly what it is: a really simple way for bloggers and webmasters to syndicate their site content, and a really simple way for readers to quickly and easily access the content in which they’re interested. Basically, it’s a technology that grabs and formats text and images from a site and feeds it into your browser, feed reader (also called an aggregator), or sends it straight to your e-mail inbox. It’s quite useful and extremely easy once you get the hang of it.

How Do I Use RSS to Subscribe to a Blog?

Most blogs offer a quick and easy subscription button or link. The orange and white image above is the standard RSS image. When you see that image on a site, it means you can subscribe. Other indicators of subscription options include linked text (subscribe), and often a field in which you can enter your e-mail address, just like the one in the upper right hand corner of the page you’re reading now.

All you have to do to subscribe is click on the RSS image or subscription link. You’ll be taken to a page that offers you some choices about how to subscribe. I use the Mozilla Firefox browser and when I click on a subscription link, I’m presented with a drop-down menu, which allows me to choose the reader I want to use to access the feed that is opened.

Choosing a Reader and Accessing Subscriptions

There is a rather large menu of feed readers (also called aggregators) from which to choose. I recommend trying a few different readers to determine which one you like best. If you’re a Google user, you might prefer the Google Reader, which seems to be pretty popular. You can also subscribe directly through your browser.

I use Bloglines and have been pretty happy with it so far. What I like best is that I can easily organize my subscriptions into folders, which are easy to manage and peruse. I’ve also set up my browser to include Bloglines as one of my home page tabs, so my subscriptions are up as soon as I launch Firefox.

I found this list of feed readers, which you might want to use to start exploring your options.

Extra RSS Goodies

• There’s a good chance your mobile phone or PDA has a feature which allows you to access your subscriptions on the go.
• Many blogs also offer an option to subscribe to comments as well as posts.
• If you’re a blogger, you can consolidate your feeds using Feedburner, which is a very powerful tool for managing feeds and subscription statistics.

For Bloggers

If you don’t have an RSS feed for your blog, get one now. Giving visitors the option to subscribe is an absolute cornerstone of successful blogging. Your blog software should either automatically include a feed, or should offer a fairly clear tutorial on how to add it to your site. A simple Google search including your blog platform and the term “RSS” should tell you everything you need to know about making your feed available to readers.

Speaking of readers, do the Writing Forward readers have anything to add? Which feed readers do you use? Do you use Feedburner and if so, how do you like it? How many blogs are you subscribed to anyway? Me, I’ve got 85 feed subscriptions and it seems to go up every day!

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2007 Milestones and Top 5 Posts

Writing Forward is only four months old. Sometimes I feel like I’ve had this blog for years. Other times, it feels like just yesterday I was developing the concept and trying to find a decent (and available) domain name. As I look back on these past four months, I’m happy to report that the blog is actually performing just a tad better than I would have expected at this point.

After learning as much as I could about blogging, I established a set of milestones, each marking one step toward a blog’s overall success. Though still in its infancy, Writing Forward has already reached two of those milestones. Also, a few posts have done extraordinarily well and I’m learning what readers prefer in terms of content.

Milestones

Writing Forward reached its first milestone when one post took off and soared above the rest. “The 22 Best Writing Tips Ever” became a StumbleUpon hit, and appeared on many other blogs (both in its entirety and excerpted or reviewed). In fact that single post has been viewed almost fifty times more than any other page on this blog. It also made a huge contribution to increasing my ad revenue, and that makes this blogger very happy!

Just last week, I crossed the second major milestone. I was flattered when I received an invitation to join the JCM Enterprises writing team. It is quite an honor to be asked to join the writing team of one of the top ten writing blogs on the Internet! It also tells me that this blog is doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing — showcasing my writing ability and attracting job offers. I couldn’t be more pleased!

Top 5 Posts of 2007

Some posts get a lot of hits, a significant number of comments, or a large number of links. My top five posts for 2007 enjoyed a combination of these factors:

1. The 22 Best Writing Tips Ever - by far the most successful post on this blog, it helped me to reach one of my blogging goals, was republished, reviewed, and received a whole lot of attention from StumbleUpon users.
2. Is it Farther or Further? - The grammar category performs well as a whole, but this post definitely topped the lot. I guess a lot of folks out there want to know when to use farther vs. further because this one beat out all the others in the Google search results.
3. Stop! Thief! - Copyright infringement is not a good thing. In fact, it’s illegal. Since it’s common out here in the blogosphere, this post brought in traffic as well as comments.
4. Stumbling November - I was actually really unsure about this post, but I decided to brave it, and was relieved when people embraced the idea of Stumbling readers as a way to say thanks.
5. 11 Hot Tips for Writers with Blog - Most blog readers are bloggers themselves. I think that will change over time, but for now, readers seem to appreciate any advice on blogging, which is a form of writing after all.

Originally hosted at melissadonovan.com, and titled Writing for Writers, the site moved to its current domain at writingforward.com, was renamed Writing Forward, and received a design overhaul in mid-November.

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