10/25/10

Questions About Blogging

I recently became a member of SeededBuzz, a website that specifically caters to promoting blogs through increasing traffic, popularity, and interaction between bloggers in general.  Since the first step is Planting a Seed - or rather, writing a blog post and inviting other SeededBuzz members to write their own posts on this topic and then link up to you, I thought I'd write a post of questions.  Questions about blogging.

At the risk of sounding too green to call myself a blogger, I have a few questions that I would love to ask those of you who are more experienced in the world of blogging.  Granted, my blog is something like a life journal.  My posts generally fall into one of the following categories: motherhood, education, fitness, writing, and art.  I've been at it for at least seven years (on various blogs), but have only just recently made it my goal to become a dedicated blogger.  Subsequently, I know very little about the ins and outs of blogging.  Whereas I don't see myself becoming a professional blogger, I have heard of several opportunities to make good money writing posts and would love to try my hand at this.  And I'm not just talking about putting up ads (although I've got to say, those Amazon Contextual Ads are incredibly useful when writing a post because you can link up to just about any product you want to discuss).  

One website in particular said they would only pay for posts that are published on blogs that have a Google Page Rank of 4 and above (regardless of whether the blog is your own or you are guest posting).  So I did a little research:

Wikipedia says that Google Page Rank was designed by Google for "the purpose of 'measuring' [the] relative importance" of each web page through "considering more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms."  Setting aside the obvious humor in Google rating their own pages based on a scale of 1 to 10 (are we in middle school?) - I must say I'm a big flabbergasted by the number of variables being considered here.  

None the wiser, I was redirected to The Google PageRank Checker, where I discovered that my blog falls into the category of N/A - "it is not possible to show any page rank now."  The possible reasons given were as follows: 

(1) The web page is new, and it is not indexed by Google yet.
(2) The web page is indexed by Google, but it is not ranked yet.
(3) The web page was indexed by Google long ago, but it is recognized as supplemental.
(4) The web page or the whole website is banned by Google.

My web page is relatively new in the grand scheme of things, but I've had it for almost three years now.  Since I decided to become a more dedicated blogger, I've been posting anywhere from two to six times a week.  I have no logical reason to assume my blog has been banned, so that leaves me with two possibilities here: I'm just not ranked yet, or I'm supplemental.

So I started reading Jim Boykin's blog about why web pages are considered supplemental.  Boykin says that there are three main reasons: the blog has duplicate content, no content, or is an orphaned web page (he defines this as "a page no one links to, including yourself").

Which brings me to my list of questions:

1.  What are the main variables considered when ranking a web page? 

2.  How can I make my blog meet all the main requirements to obtain a high page ranking?

3.  How often does Google actually rank indexed pages?

4.  Can you tell me anything about linking up with other pages to avoid being considered an "orphan"? 

5.  Also, do you have any recommendations regarding networking?  Anything goes here - I'd love to hear about your favorite blog networks, blog listings, blog advice and tips, etc. 

Please help!

9 comments:

  1. Whoah man. Whoah! I have no idea! I wish I could help!

    But I was just popping over to say hello Lauren! I have been following you as long as you have been following me!

    I'm Nicole- nice to meet you!

    I like your blog because you write it out! I love looking at people's photos, but I like your writing style and it beats cool photos any day!

    Nicole
    http://themermaidtracks.blogspot.com

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  2. OH hi! I'm sorry - I knew I'd had a Nicole following me, I guess I hadn't put it together that it was the same one! Plus I'm forgetful.

    Thanks so much! I love your blog too. I was meaning to ask you - what inspired your blog title?

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  3. I have always loved mermaid folklore- because (except for the Disney version of them) they are powerful and dangerous forces of feminine power. I like that. Plus they inspire thoughts of beautiful singing, and since I am a singer, I like that too. I came up with the "tracks" as a second half to it because I knew it was unusual enough to not be taken, and because it could either mean tracks of an album, or tracking an animal. I liked that it made people wonder if a mermaid would leave tracks.... Long winded, but that's the answer.

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  4. I have no idea and although my blog has a nice number of followers and other regular readers, I have no idea where it ranks in the grand scheme of things or how it could be used to make money.
    Bit of a technophobe so the gobbledegook confuses me so if anyone gives you the answers, let me know please.
    Good to see your blog and love the title

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  5. Nicole: Good reasons, all! I like your way of thinking!

    Kate: I will definitely keep you informed if I ever do come across the answers. It is indeed gobbledegook.

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  6. Well I saw you on seeded buzz, but I just joined too so Im still trying to figure it all out.... Only been blogging about a month so unfortunately I have all the same questions as you and not many answers!! May also interest you to know that youve actually taught me some things!! lol!! Anyway lovely little blog enjoyed reading and Ill be following from now on so Ill watch with interest :) Nice to meet you!!

    Nicki x

    Check mine out if youre interested.....



    http://beyondtheboob.blogspot.com/

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  7. Blogging is a complicated process. From my own experience, my blogs are just now starting to make a little bit of revenue. Page ranking takes a long time to achieve respectively. It won't happen overnight, in fact it can take years to get ranked at all. A few things you can do to get your blog out there and noticed, is to share on all the major link sharing sites, post quality content often, the more often you post the more visibility you achieve. Share links on twitter, stumble upon etc. If your blog is monetized, make sure you place google ads in highly visible areas on your blog.
    Link up to other blogs, you can link to mine, and you will receive some traffic from others. Post comments on the blogs you follow and leave your blog link behind.
    Keep pressing on, and keep fine tuning your blogs to improve how they look, and their function. Ask for followers, and in turn follow back, and over time you will create a network. I also highly recommend joining and posting your links to your blog on Redgage for extra traffic.
    Hope some of that helps and please feel free to look me up. I am big on showing support in blogging.
    Hugs
    Dawn

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  8. Thanks for all the lovely comments everyone!

    Dawn - this is INCREDIBLY helpful! Thank you so much. And now I'm off to do everything you wrote - wish me luck!

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  9. About the Page Rank. Google has not updated its PR system since April I think, and almost ALL bloggers are eagerly awaiting a new update (no word yet on when that will happen).

    I have had my main blog Frugality Is Free since June 2009, and I was PR2 when I finally figured out what PR was:) Then in August I switched to my own domain and I dropped to a PR0, and despite having quadrupled my stats I am still a PR0.

    My advice...have patience, and if there is an offer you really would like to take, but that requires a certain PR, consider whether you want to plead your case for getting it even without the PR.

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( hippies always welcome )