The most important thing to know about successful blogging is that Google acts like the police of the internet. Anytime someone uses techniques to game the system, Google smacks them down one way or another. To understand what I mean, you first need to understand how Google works and the impact of Google on your blog. This what your traffic might look like if Google caught on about your bad habits (or if you changed jobs, stopped blogging for a while, and then moved to WordPress and forgot to install your Analytics property ID).
Let’s take a search term like “chocolate” as an example*. If you have a blog where you write about chocolate, you want to come up in Google when people type in that word. Google organizes the search page by what it thinks people want back as a result and creates a SERP, or search engine result page. It decides who gets on the top of results by a number of different factors.
What you need to know as a blogger is Google cares about the following a whole lot:
- Original Content
- Natural and Real Sounding Content
- Popular Content
So let’s go through these three big factors one by one to figure out what they mean and the ins and outs of what Google looks for. (more…)
If you’re in the middle of America, you’re probably as upset as I am at the recent weather. As soon as I came home from my trip to what I normally call the Frozen North, it started to freeze here in Arkansas. We even woke up to snow on May 2nd, had a snowball fight, and made a snowman in the backyard. Meanwhile, my parents’ have been experiencing 70 degree temperatures. And lording it over me while sending photos of their dogwood blooming in the front yard. Those Yankees just aren’t nice, I’m telling ya! You give them one day of good weather and they take it to the bank.
This weather has me wanting to hunker down for the winter again and eat hearty stews of beef and potatoes. Totally not Spring, y’all!
So here’s some links to savor while daydreaming about Spring:
If you’re a regular here at The Made Thing, you’ll notice some big changes in the design as well as some other things! It’s not just another redesign, folks. I moved my Blogger blog to WordPress successfully without breaking it (though there were moments when I thought I did!). I’m going to share a tutorial on how to move your Blogger blog registered with Enom to Go Daddy later next week so check back soon if you’re interested. (more…)
Although I live and blog from Arkansas now, I’m a Massachusetts native and grew up in a small college town outside of Boston. I spent a good deal of time in the city growing up, exploring museum and neighborhoods like most kids from outside of Boston do. During a summer in college I lived in a rented room in an old Tudor house and tromped around the city in the off time from my first “real” job as an intern for a publishing house. (more…)
This weekend we went to the Arkansas Young Democrats Convention which is held every year in April in Little Rock. It’s always great to gather all of the young Dems in one place, especially considering that most people involved in politics are much older (go to any meeting and you’ll see what I mean!).
After the drive down to Little Rock, I camped out in a Starbucks and got some work done and felt like a real freelancer. I mean, come on, obviously you’re not a real freelancer unless you’ve worked once in a coffee shop, right? (more…)
One really neat thing about living in the South is we get some really impressive storms. I’m still super scared of them, honestly, and often make a “go bag” in case of a tornado. Call me over zealous but when my boyfriend is glued to the internet watching local news coverage from areas west of us where there are funnel clouds, I get a little antsy!
But when storms are east of us, they can sure be impressive. A few weekends ago we took these shots of a few thunderheads that passed by us just after sunset.
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Hey y’all! Don’t forget to go visit Twin Stripe Magazine this Spring! I’m a contributor and wrote about some awesome tips for when you head to the Farmers’ Market this season.
Spring sprang. Then unsprung. It was lovely weather on Saturday and Sunday but has since been rainy and cold but today promises to turn out better. We’re planning on eating lunch outside today so cross your fingers!
I’m finally getting settled into my new routine for work and play. I’ll be converting this blog from Blogger to WordPress this weekend (as well as posting a tutorial on how to do that!) so if you see my blog isn’t working spectacularly well, that’s why! Sit tight and be patient while I make things pretty and more efficient. I’ll explain later in my tutorial why I’m switching to WordPress so check back if you’d like to find out my thoughts on the matter. (more…)
I’m blogging from Oklahoma today after yet another day of work and play. Boyfriend has this week off for Spring Break and since I can work from anywhere, I decided to tag along. Working from home has the benefits of being really flexible, meaning I can get up and go straight to work in my jammies and get things done early so I have time to spend with my friends and family!
Today after almost a full day’s worth of work that started at 6:40 a.m., I stopped in the early afternoon and did some un-fun things (health insurance paperwork, retirement rollover plans, taxes, etc). But then we all hopped in the boat here at casa boyfriend’s parents’ and ventured out to the lake. (more…)
I’m feeling blogged out, you guys. But in a good way!
It’s the marker of my first week of working full-time as a professional blogger. I’ve been spending 10 hours a day for the most part writing, writing, and writing some more. It’s fantastic and I love it.
But man, it’s like my boss’s favorite expression “the cobbler’s children go barefoot.” I probably won’t be able to seriously dedicate time to blogging for personal use for at least a bit more, till things really settle in at work. (more…)
Boyfriend and I are traveling down to Hot Springs, Arkansas from our home in Fayetteville this weekend for some fun times with the Arkansas Democrats.
I’ll be posting all kinds of updates to twitter and instagram. So be sure to follow me so you can check in on the action!
Soooo…. Very very soon things will be calming down (thank god!) and I’ll be back to blogging for myself. Until then, here’s some links to hold you over.
I loved this piece: In Which I Fix My Girlfriend’s Grandparents’ Wifi and Am Hailed As a Conquering Hero
“The Big Fear” and doing it now: Be Wrong as Fast as You Can
If you haven’t seen already, this guy is all over the place: What is Life like after being in prison for decades?
I’m big on seeing the good in the little details of life: 32 of Life’s Most Underrated Activities
Mark Landis is what I imagine Truman Capote was like, in a way: Meet Mark Landis
As a nearly 25 year old who’s in a committed relationship, I sometimes worry I’ve “aged” too fast. But then I read things like this: Why Your 20s Matter
I’m obsessed with the stories behind artists & how they got where they became well known (In college, I spent a lot of time reading letters of authors at research facilities!). This is so interesting: Artist posts work from Age 2 to Age 25
This woman is so intriguing: Finding Vivian Maier
For all my sewing notion loving readers: Favorite Place Video
