After publishing the Blog Profits Blueprint I received a lot of requests from readers who asked me to review their blogs. Obviously I can’t respond to everyone, but one person in particular, Mike Bonsall, has a blog that I think is typical of a lot of blogs online, one I thought was perfect for a case study.
I just sat down and recorded a 16 minute video run-through going over what I consider the major issues to address at Mike’s blog called In My Humble Opinion. Since the main recommendations I have for Mike are the same for a lot of other bloggers out there, I’m making this review case study public, with Mike’s permission of course.
I strongly recommend any people using the blogger (blogspot.com) system watch this video. I don’t cover every single improvement I could think of, but I do focus on the major points. This case study shows that it’s not “simple” to build an effective blog, yet sometimes it only takes simple changes to turn a hobby site into a serious blog.
Hi Yaro,
Nice screencast. Few points:
1) No need to pay $50 to have WordPress installed. Just head over to Free Script Installation Service
2) WordPress isn’t a software, it’s a server side script. Software is what you typically install on your computer 🙂
Thanks for the video. Although I think I have a bit more experience in blogging, still your comments were “on the money”.
I think in my blog, I’ve gone the opposite of this particular sample. I have TOO MUCH graphics and other elements 😉
I think I need to review all the elements on the site and make it more efficient!
Please, take a look and let me know what you think: shadzee.com
Just moved my RSS link up higher. Thanks for the tips. Site reviews are a good way to find ways to improve your site. Any chance of doing a little more advanced one? Perhaps one already on WP.
Yaro: It will be great if you could pick mine for your next review as Mike suggests.
Ha, ha! I was actually hinting at mine. Sridhar your site likes fine.
I see you can order a review for $200.
Hi Yaro, thanks for posting the video – its got some good pointers in it – particularly don’t get trapped into having a blogspot blog like me. After you build up a lot of links etc it makes it a lot harder to move to wordpress, best to do it from the start.
Also I wanted to say thanks, I took up one of your ideas a while ago about making my own advertising page and sold my first text link from it today. Hopefully the first of many!
Rob
Hi Yaro,
That was a Nice Case Study Video (I actually got the link from Sridhar – my Pal – comments above).
BTW, I don’t completely agree with your point that “Blogger doesn’t allow you to customise the look and feel”.
Well, I started with some basic customisation on my blog at http://jsbi.blogspot.com with some Banner changes etc. Guess what – I am now completely re-vamping the template at my Beta playground at http://jsbibeta.blogspot.com. Do have a look at that!!
I do agree with you point that running your blog at Blogger doesn’t let you own the Blog completely – You are at the mercy of Google. But the catch is that I don’t need to spend a penny on my blog and I experience very little (or completely NO) downtime when compared to paid hosting on Dreamhost, etc.
Keep up the good work!!
Cheers!!
Jason
DreamHost and downtime? Never.
oh and Yaro, I want to add that hosting at DreamHost is only about $4 a month.
See the details here and here.
To summarize:
Calculated for 2 years: $7.95/month x 24 months (2 years) = $190.80 – $97 (promo code) = $93.80 = $3.90/month.
You can use this promo code to get $97 off: Subtract97Yo
Hi Yaro
I was really relieved when you recommended wordpress. I have just moved a *make shift blog from my business website to its own domain using WordPress (a long story). However, I used another route… I used wordpress hosting with domain mapping.
I researched the pros and cons of having a blog on its own domain vs. with your business domain and decided this was the best route for me. I can use the export feature to move the blog at anytime. In the future I will move it either to my own business site or to its own server.
· The hosted wordpress blog is free at wordpress.com
· Domain mapping costs $10 per year.
Would you recommend this option for people who don’t want to pay hosting costs, or for people like me who may move there blog at some stage?
Regards
Lee Pritchard
Royalty free music blogMedia Music Now – Royalty Free Music with Quality & Service
I’ve got a scenario that I’m trying to get my head around, maybe some you can some shed some light.
Like many of you I’m not from the US (living in South Africa) so I want to target my local internet market, however I also want to play in the big pond (Yes, I want it all 🙂
If I register a local domain (.co.za) then my site gets indexed by Google SA and I can start some initiatives to start sourcing local traffic. This is good but at the same time, without a .com I feel like I’m missing out on a much bigger audience.
Is their anyone out there suffering from the same dillema?
Phil.
Does anyone have any thoughts on “Domain Mapping”, for example what about getting a blog at wordpress.com and then just domain mapping your registered domain to yoursite.wordpress.com.
Phil,
Google SA will index any domain not just .co.za if am not mistaken. So go ahead and take a .com.
@Yaro,
A screen cast is a digital capture of computer screen output, sometimes with audio.
A videocast is about real video recording output in digital form.
Podcasting is just audio.
Technicaly yours is a screencast, a good one as well.
Thank you for this review, I really like the part of the above fold placement section.
I think for my blog I have to look at the Top articles again, good call!
Great screencast of helpful blog tips. I love the case study approach. All of it made a lot of sense. I’m using another system other than WordPress, but I’m putting it on my list to learn more about WordPress in the future. I currently use a hosting system where I can create unlimited blogs, however I mainly use them as mini websites and password-protected areas for my students and class materials. Still there seems to be much more opportunity with WordPress.
Phil, I have just used domain mapping.
It seems to work fine. It is quite seamless and there is no mention of word press in any of the urls on the blog
Have a look http://royalty-free-music.info/
Yaro,
You are right, there are limitations with wordpress hosted. You can only use the selected plug-ins (widgets) that wordpress.com provides.
Also, you can’t drastically change the CSS, you can edit some elements of the CSS but you have to pay $15 per year for the CSS upgrade option.
Lee
I got the hint :-), but its sometimes good to educate others about simple things.
Well, Sridhar, I’m afraid I’ll have to counter your point. Didn’t you hear ? Dream Host was hacked recently and the hack was massive !! It got in the Digg frontpage.
And, about having a hosted blog, Yaro, what do you think about Typepad ? I’m using WordPress right now. But, I bet you know Amit Agarwal of labnol.blogspot.com. He’s one of the richest guys earning from blogging and he uses blogger.
Sreejith: Thankfully none of the 8 sites I have hosted at DreamHost were affected/hijacked. I’ll continue to support them.
Coming to Amit, he’s the epitome of ‘content is the king’. It doesn’t matter how your site looks or where it’s hosted. If one can write such useful posts day in and day out, anyone can become successful. But it needs unmitigated dedication, hard work and time. Amit is perhaps the most popular Indian blogger.
Your absolutely right Yaro/Sreejith – when you pay something like $8(or less) a month you can only expect this kinda service. Good for you Sridhar that your account at Dreamhost wasn’t hacked but more than 3,500 accounts were not as lucky as yours 😉 But you’ll never know!!
BTW, you can check DreamHost’s downtime here. The fact that DreamHost runs a seperate site like this speaks for itself 🙂
Well, well lets not get carried away with the debate on the poor service by DreamHost – I guess the forums do their job well.
@Yaro – What’s your say on other blogging platforms other than WordPress?
Cheers!!
Jason
thanks a lot, yaro, for providing us with your blogspot case study video. your newsletter (i love it – it has been a big help on my way to becoming a blogger!) probably mentioned most of the issues re blogspot and wordpress domains, RSS feed, best articles, profile w/photo etc. but we (at least I) can’t get reminded often enough. you made me think and contemplate my options again!
question to you ( i might have asked it in your blogtrafficschool. forum) and sridhareena:
why should i sign up for hosting with dreamhost anyways when ‘1and1.com’ hosts 3 sites at $7/mo for me???! thanks for your response. aloha, pua
Would it be any easier to gain readership to your blog if you were to start off with wordpress.com or blogger.com?
Creating a blog is easy enough for me, being a professional web designer, but I was just wondering if anyone has experienced quicker growth in subscribers or readership through hosted blogging platforms.
I know that if I build it, they will come. But I’m just looking for ways to make them come faster 🙂
Hi Yaro,
I think your point about having your blog on its own domain is so true. I had a couple of bogs on Blogger and then one day they were gone.
WordPress is awesome and the way to go.
Thanks for the video critique!
Greg
http://www.marketingsoftwaretools.com
Screencast is not working…
Hi Sridhar – Haha, if I said install the server side script wordpress on to your server most beginners would be like “huh?”, while on the other hand most people who use a computer at least know what software is.
Language is very important when you are trying to teach beginners and comprehension is more important than using the correct label in most cases.
Glad you liked the video (what’s a screencast?) 😉
Maybe in the future guys I can do another case study, although I’m more inclined to review the blogs of my students in Blog Mastermind, but you never know!
Lol, yes you can Mike – although it’s cheaper to join Blog Mastermind…
Hi Jason – You make some good points about blogspot. I don’t think it’s a bad service, but let me say if my blog now, currently making about $4000/m, was on blogger I would be VERY worried. At the very least I’d recommend a domain name right from the start so you own your blog and own the links pointing to it – that’s a VERY important benefit of owning your domain.
And yes, right you can hack into blogger designs, but compared to the abundant supply of wordpress themes, for beginners wordpress is an easier option if you want lots of options for design.
All that being said, if you just want to “practice” blogging, blogger, or wordpress.com for that matter, is a good place to start and can be a powerful, but limited option.
Pua: I’ll reply to your question about DreamHost on my blog soon and let you know.
Jason: “The fact that DreamHost runs a seperate site like this speaks for itself”. No, it shows how transparent and open they are w.r.t keeping their customers informed. You’ll realize the importance of this once you host with horrors like MidPhase (which is where unfortunately my main blog is hosted due to reasons beyond this post’s appropriateness).
Lee – Domain mapping a wordpress.com blog is not a bad option, at least you own your blog URL and the links that point to it.
The only issue with this method is the level of control you have over your blog. I’m not familiar with wordpress hosted, but I believe you don’t get complete control over design/plugins etc as you with an externally hosted version.
If you don’t have a need for that level of control, then it’s not an issue, however I do think you limit your blogs potential if you do it this way. If you weren’t going to realize that potential anyway (installing certain plugins and optimizing design elements for SEO etc), then it doesn’t matter.
Hummerbie – Thanks for that, although I think you may have missed my subtle joke in my post about “what is a screencast”.
It was in relation to using simple/common labels for things to aid comprehension even if they are not completely accurate. For example people know what a video is and maybe not a screencast – the same with software vs server side script.
Glad you liked my screencast!
Hey Sreejith,
Yes Dreamhost has had issues, they are definitely not perfect but I wouldn’t expect perfection for $8 a month! They are a good starting point, but once you get serious traffic you should probably invest in a VPS or dedicated server.
I’ve never heard of Amit Agarwal, thank you for pointing him out. I think there are always exceptions to a rule and in this case here is a great example of someone doing really well on blogger. The fact is a great blog is great because of the content and it doesn’t *really* matter what platform you are on BUT, why not make use of the best option available in your current situation?
Right now I don’t think blogger is a best option for anyone, but if you already have an established blogspot blog, like Amit Agarwal, then obviously his best option is not moving away from blogspot.
You made some great points in the video, thank you. I have already made some changes but I am stuck with blogger at this stage. As soon as my site is finished I am taking my blog with me!! Well, as much as I can.
Hi Yaro
Great video, particularly for beginners. I’ve been using WordPress for some time (a recommendation I got from you before) but I still have a blog on blogger.
I’m tempted to move it but… How can I keep any existing traffic – links etc if when the domain name changes?
Any help appreciated
6M Business Success
Tim – It’s working for everyone else so it must be your net connection or computer. Keep trying!
Jason S – I’ve only used typepad, movabletype and blogger and all of them are inferior to wordpress in different ways, however, they target different markets so it’s not always fair to do a direct comparison. For a serious problogger just look at what all the other serious probloggers are using – it’s wordpress.
My friend Nick loves Drupal, he says it’s better than wordpress, but I’ve never used it.
Jason – Quick growth won’t be strongly influenced by what blog platform you choose. There will be subtle influences, but really speed is all about quality of content and marketing, the software is just the tool.
Regarding the discussion of webhosts – I’ve had my ups and downs with Dreamhost but I keep an account with them still because it’s so cheap. I also have two virtual private servers and a dedicated video streaming server.
Webhosting is a ridiculously competitive industry and in my opinion the speed/helpfulness of support is more important than downtime, unless downtime becomes very common.
Hi Yaro.
Your screencast was just awesome. I am newbie to blogging, and your provided me the ‘real’ basics that I needed to get my blogging feets wet.
Started my blog with Blogger.com, but after your advices I did 180 degree blog turn around and now I host my own blog. Really cool.
Already reached nr.1 spot on Google with my blog. And that only one day after I published it. Could not ask for more then that.
Next step will be to get figure out how to get some comments.
One request for you Yaro, would you consider offer some traning for podcast.
Cheers.. Are
Revamped Home Biz Make Over
Well, Brian of Copyblogger and Chris of Pearsonified hosts at Midphase. They’re doing fine too. And about WordPress, I think its the best CMS available with Matt and crew updating very often.
But, I think Jason is right. You can get fast popularity with a blogger or even a WordPress.com blog. I used blogger for 4 months and I got about the same number of visitors I have right now which 6 months and more of blogging.
I think the “blogspot” tagline really makes interests in some of the fanboys out there because from my personal observation, a lot of my visitors in my Blogspot blog had a blogspot blog too. Anyway, whats your take guys ?
Well, actually, I’ve never used a paid host. I’m on a free host at http://www.aonservers.com. I’ve started a donation box in my site to collect some money to buy hosting. Wish someone put in some amount. Even $1 will be precious to me because my site ISNT CONVERTING.
Yaro, I’ve been writing for this for more than 8 months and still, I earn only some $2 a month. I can’t understand where I went wrong. My site is http://www.webmaster-dome.com. Can you look it up, Yaro ? I would really appreciate it.
My readers love you. I mean, I’ve been having you in my blogroll for some time now and many of my visitors love your site and my blogroll. Anyway, what do you think about free hosts, guys ?
Wizzer – When it comes to links if they point to a domain name you don’t own then unfortunately there isn’t much you can do. Just buy yourself a domain as soon as possible and then you will be good to go from that point forward.
Regarding the comments about Midphase – I have to say I wasn’t happy with their services and left. I originally joined after following Brian’s recommendation.
Some of my sites were having DNS issues, and with the help of some friends I eventually found out the problem. There was a configuration issue with my server set-up, which wasn’t exactly midphase’s fault, but the midphase support team were not the most helpful in solving the problem, so we moved to a host that had a support team that are much better (knownhost.com).
I think hosting in general is something that is quite random. Some people have great experiences with hosts while others don’t. You just have to find one that works 99% of the time for you and stick with them.
Dreamhost has really made me angry sometimes with downtime, but 99% of the time the service is good.
Midphase didn’t work out.
Knownhost have been great.
But that’s just my story…
Sreejith,
You can sell some text links on your blog at http://forums.digitalpoint.com and make money.
Enjoyed the screencast. I haven’t moved from Blogger to WordPress and my own domain yet although I appreciate the comments. I did immediately go to my blog at http://www.onefloridiansblatherings.com and add RSS feed buttons and social bookmarks at the top left sidebar. Thanks for the tips!
Oops..
Just realized I had to browse a little around on your web site Yaro. Forget my podcast request, discovered there was lot of great podcast recordings here already. So much for paying attention.. sorry..
Cheers.. Are 😉
RevampedHome Biz Make Over
Hey, I never thought about that. Good thinking Sridhar. And, what about your blog ? Do you earn much from it ?
Hey, guys !! Come on. Spit it out. Do you earn money from your blogs ? 😉
Hi Yaro. I’m just getting started. That was a great screencast w/lots of very helpful tips. I would like to use screencasts as well. Would you mind telling me how you did yours? Thanks, Gene.
Gene: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp.
Hey, good news. There’s a new screencast recorder for Linux. lol. Thats a relief. I’m planning to work on some videos for my audience. Anyway, you didn’t tell me your earnings, guys !! 😉