(Image via CrunchBase)

One of the ways that blogs can be evaluated is the ‘Bounce rate’.

Any of you who have Google Analytics installed on your blog already know what this is all about. The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors to your site which read only one post and bounce away without looking at another page or article. The smaller the percentage the better –at least below 50%, 30-40% better, with 20-25% more like it and less even best.

1. The easiest way to improve the bounce rate is to add a plugin that automatically produces links to ‘Related Posts’ at the end of every article you post. It gives your readers options for more articles to read on your blog.

2. Another good tool is to have a ‘Popular Posts’ Plugin that will produce a widget prominently displayed at the top of your blog like this site or in the sidebar. It introduces new readers to your best ‘blasts from the past’ and provides them again with new reasons to stick around.

3. You could also provide links in your sidebar or make your own widgets to publicize any series or to list your best posts on a particular subject.

4. One of the best ways to ensure that readers stick around for a while is to provide internal links within the post itself to past articles containing important or related info. This one takes a little more time but the rewards are worth it.

5. The single best way to encourage visitors to stick around is to improve the load time. If a post takes too long to load (15 seconds or more) than chances are your readers will not take the time to load a second page. Website caching programs or plugins are a great help in this area. Here’s several posts with help on the loading issue:

-10 Ways to make Your WordPress Blog Faster 

-The Importance of Browser Checks 

-WordPress: What’s the best Caching Plugin? 

-Re: WordPress Plugins—What I’ve discovered (Some make the blog slower)

Ever wonder how your blog or website stacks up against all of the rest?

Here’s a tool that will evaluate your site in a minute or even less: <<Website Grader>>

It’s easy! Just go to the site and enter your URL, add an email address, and then click on the “GENERATE REPORT” button. It is amazing how much you can learn about your site in the comprehensive report that quickly follows.

I have been using this tool for a couple of years now and check up on the progress of all of my sites every 6 months or so. The grader points out all of the strengths and weaknesses of your site. I have found it to be very useful in helping me to see where I can make needed improvements.

See the nifty badge above? This blog scored a ‘92’ this time around –far better than the first time. My best blog scored a ‘99’ –hooray!

HubSpot is the sponsor of the grader and also gives you the opportunity to download a “Free Guide: Introduction to Search Engine Optimization.” The guide is business oriented but the basic principles are useful for anyone wanting to improve the effectiveness of their site.            *Top

(Image by DavidErickson via Flickr)

I know that I have broken some of these basic rules in grammar dozens of times while writing on the Web in the last six years. It occurs to me that if I could use a quick refresher in this area then maybe some of you might benefit from it also.

Here’s an article by Robin Nobles listing 10 of the most common grammar errors made on the Web:

“Top Ten Grammar Errors that Haunt Web Pages”

1. it’s = it is
2. Web site (or page) vs. web site/page vs. Website/website (page)
3. Periods and commas: do they go inside or outside of quotation marks, or does it depend on the sentence?
4. E-mail vs. email, plus what is the plural of e-mail?
5. SEOs or SEO’s
6. Spelling spot check
7. Hyphens
8. Additional spot check
9. Singular vs. plural
10. Commas

Follow the link and take a look at the explanation for each of these common errors. Examples of ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ usage are included.            *Top

(Image by Dan Patterson via Flickr)

Proofreading is probably a writer’s least favorite task. It is also quite necessary, entirely expected, and all of the ‘rewards’ are negative at best. What makes it particularly daunting and haunting is the obvious fact that all of us fail at it occasionally no matter how many times we re-read and edit our masterpieces.

How many times have you bloggers glanced upon yesterday’s article that you’re so proud of only to find an obvious error that the spell check missed or worse yet you used the wrong ‘their’ there. It happens to me all of the time.

Then what do you do? I go back in and change it. I don’t care if it was written last year and it’s all over the Internet in cached form.The error is going down.

This brings up an entirely different subject. There are some who say that once an article is posted on the Internet it is sacrosanct and should never be altered. Horse pucky! Those folks are just crazy and maybe even a little lazy. All of the best publishers will change their miscues in the 2nd edition even if it is a NY Times best seller.

I actually found today’s topic while reading the newspaper of all things, proving that fish wrap can still be relevant if not amusing. Particularly when it’s consumed with coffee and Cheerios. Stephen Wilbers writes a great syndicated column that appears in The Orange County Register: “Writing For Business”

Here’s a link to his website where you can subscribe and receive his columns every week by email if it doesn’t appear in your hometown paper: Writing for Business and Pleasure

Take a look around the site. There’s lots of good stuff to help you improve your writing and proofreading (look under ‘Contents’). Particularly take a gander at this one and the followup which is on today’s topic:

“How to proofread and never miss a single errror”

My greatest fear is that Dr. Wilbers will actually read this post and point out all of the obvious ‘errrors’ that I somehow missed. There’s bound to be several at least. When you find some let me know.              *Top

Image via CrunchBase

Practically everyone and everything demands an email address from you these days. Purchase flowers online, book a room or a flight, to access a news site, set up a blog, join a social network, download a new program, leave a comment on a website, or keep in touch with family or friends. Any or all demand your email address.

There was a time when I had just one but now I have multiple email addresses for a multitude of uses and reasons. First of all I found it necessary just to keep up with it all. I compartmentalized my e-life with a separate email addresses for the following:

1. Personal

Friends and family are the only ones with access to this one. Plus a few key financial ties.

2. Business

This one is for work only.

3. Blogs

I have a separate address for each one of my blogs.

4. Social Networks

A separate address for each one. Imperative to keep on top of it all.

5. Ministry

A separate address for use at church and in ministry.

6. False Flag

A ‘throwaway’ address to give when demanded but care less about and don’t want to be bothered.

Here’s a tip for keeping track of it all.

I have nearly a dozen on Gmail alone that I can access and check up on going to just one log-in site: gmail.com. It really doesn’t take that long and is much easier than working with 2 or 3 different addresses like I use too and having to wade through all sorts of unrelated junk mail and spam.

At least now I can determine where everything is coming from a whole lot easier than I use to. Plus I can more readily find what’s really important.    

For those who continue to make fun of all the Millions ‘Tweeting’ away their lives, now even the Pope tweets. 

Pope Benedict XVI sent out a message on Twitter to publicize the launch of the Vatican’s new website-  News.va, The following was the pope’s first message:

"Dear Friends, I just launched http://t.co/fVHpS9y Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus XVI"

The message was prepared for him a head of time so all he had to do was click and send. The occasion also marked the 60th anniversary of his ordination as a priest.            *Top

The video introduces the whys and uses for Google’s new “+1 Button”. It is somewhat similar to the “Like” button on Facebook but is intended to be used all across the Internet.

Plus according to those in the know, the button will be tied into the Google search engine so it will be important to tool up your blog or website to provide the new app. It is designed to give your blog posts better visibility on Google.

Take a look at the bottom of this article on the right side and you will see what it looks like. I put it on this site by installing the new WordPress Google +1 Button plugin. It is not only easy to install but gives you options for where you want it placed- before or after the post, or both and on the right or left hand side.            *Top

(Image via Wikipedia)

The Barna Group has completed a new study showing something that all of us directly experience- that families are more technology and media dependent than ever.

They conclude that modern families by and large are negligent in applying concepts of Biblical stewardship to how much of their time is spent online, watching TV, and on various digital devices.

Also, nearly all of those surveyed say that they have never received any kind of teaching at their church concerning how they can be good stewards of media, entertainment or technology.

The study also shows something you might not expect that parents are nearly as involved with tech as their children and teenagers. Not only that, but by nearly a two-to-one ratio, parents think of technology as actually making their family life better rather than worse.

Barna Group president David Kinnaman draws the following conclusions from their research:

“Technology is shaping family interactions in unprecedented ways, but we seem to lack a strategic commitment to the stewardship of technology. Parents, tweens and teens need more coaching and input in order to face the countless choices they make regarding how technology affects their attention, interests, talents and resources.”

Response: It is interesting that churches have substantially ignored this growing situation among modern families in America. Again, technology seems to be dividing the generations with each doing their own techno thing.

My own family is not that much different. I’m on the computer right now writing this article while my wife is in the same room watching TV. Earlier I was watching TV and she was transferring family pictures on the computer to an online account, checking her Facebook site and playing Farmville. Not to mention that the grandkids were here today playing video games and the oldest one, 13, was texting his friends while listening to his ipod and watching TV at the same time.

Nothing like it was in the 50′s when I was a kid and the entire family gathered together around the TV.  All the social commentators and preachers at the time said that TV was ruining the American family. At least we were all in the same room together watching the same show. Plus there was even time for short conversations during the commercials.              *Top

                  (Image via Wikipedia)

Ever thought about adding a forum to your website or blog? bbPress is one of the best and it is free: bbPress

Plus it has thousands of folks constantly upgrading the program and making it better. There’s even a forum about the forum with all sorts of help available on the bbPress website.

If you are running a WordPress blog it is now as easy as adding a plugin: bbPress  (Right now it is in beta 2b)             *Top

(Image via Wikipedia)

When I started blogging over 5 years ago, very few blogs actually had images, pictures, or videos incorporated into their posts. If there were pictures or images they were usually in the heading or on the side bar.

Now images are pretty much expected if you are a serious blogger. It is even more important for those trying to do some kind of ministry on the web. First impressions are very important and images now play a large part in that ‘first look’ equation along with the website itself.

Here are two recent articles I found with good info on the art of adding images to your blog posts. The first one is by John Saddington of Tentblogger:

“The Complete Guide to Using Images in Your Blog Posts”

John has tons of great information for those starting out and even for folks who have been around a while. The article is part of his “Developing Great Blog Content” Series. He gives a complete ‘hows and whys’ on images. Look at his blog and you can see that he knows what he is talking about –very helpful.

The second one comes from Build a better Blog by Denise Wakeman:

“4 Ways Images Enhance Your Business Blog [Free Report]”

Denise gives some great reasons why you should put up images in the first place and then provides a link to a more definitive article on her suggestions about how to effectively pull it off.

My Own Suggestions and Experience With Images

I have found that coming up with the right image sometimes can take nearly as long as writing the post itself, but I believe that it is worth it. I have cut that time significantly through the use of several ‘old standbys’ which I have found to be particularly helpful.

Personally I use a lot of images from Wikipedia which is a great source for ‘free’ use public domain images particularly when it comes to pictures of famous people. Plus I have come to rely on Zemanta as my number one source simply because this app/plugin offers possible images on your editor while you’re in the midst of writing a post plus provides a great search engine for ‘free’ public photos. Here’s an article I wrote about this free service:

“Need Pics and Links?–There’s Always Zemanta!”

Another good source that I have found for relevant media, particularly for video is Apture. The beauty with this app is that you can add pictures and media to a post after you have already published it:

“Capture with Apture”

Finally here’s my own definitive article on the subject which contains lots of links to possible sources:

“Dressing Up a Blog with Images and Pictures”

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