Every time I list a new blog, I take the time to go to their blog. Not because I have to find a banner and a description to your site, but also to get to know you. I definitely have favorites out there. In the future, we will be rating blogs to let our users know which blogs really stand out.
One problem I have found, is that sometimes its VERY hard to distinguish what kind of blog you are. There is such a scattered amount of material, and to be honest, MomCentral is a bit driving me nuts with all their Strawberry and Wonderfall celebration posts. Its hard to go to 50 blogs, and 35 of them have the same “ad” on it. I would say that blog marketing definitely works, its exposure! But its not content….Make sure you add thier post and then add something that is completly unique and real content on your site if you want your visitors to return. Just a suggestion.
I want to make a few more suggestions.
1) Make sure you have a banner w/ HTML on the side of your blog so someone can easily grab a banner. I am having to take headers (which are not as precise) to include in your listing. Some moms have nothing at all that distinguishes them or a theme on their site for me to even take. If people cant link you, they cant find you. Make it easy for other blogs to share you! Make sure your banner is 125/125 or so. No one wants to re-size something that is 300×125. If you make it accessible…they will come! Just for you all…this is what you need to put in your left or right sidebar. That will make it appear like ours is on the left up there. Just add your own photo and Voila! (btw, it adds all these extra huge spaces, just leave one space where they are)
<p align=”left”>
<img src=”http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll201/momdot/listed.png” border=”0″ alt=”MomDot”>
</p>
<p align=”left”>
<form><textarea rows=”8″ cols=”15″><a border=”0″ <a href=”http://www.momdot.com”><img src=”http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll201/momdot/listed.png” alt=”MomDot” /></a></textarea></form>
</p>
2) Make sure there is something that tells people about your site! Not just about you (although that is nice..), but something that defines what your blog is about. For example: “This blog is about my trials and tribulations of my 14 children and our adventures of daily life in the Outback, while raising wild bears”. You get the point.
Having these items ready to go will encourage others to share your blog (meaning more visitors) and also make sure what you are putting out there is what you want to portray. Plus, your listing will be up faster, which makes MomDot happy! LOL
Have a wonderful weekend!!
Trisha
Thanks – you can always email it to me – jeatonne@hotmail.com
Thanks!
Renee, i think when i added it to the post, it changed it becuase its code. I need to find a way to list it in a post better. Im working on that for you!
I tried to add this banner to my blog without making any changes – the button where you can copy the code showed up but no image. I am at a loss. I would love to use this to make my own banner and button.
tina, make sure there are no spaces in the code. When you list it here in text, its possible its dropping spaces in the closing of the code becuase its coverting it here to sentences. Make sure the are right up at the end of everything..does tha tmake sense?
I tried putting the code about in my blog for my button and its not working i copied it exactly and replaced the add you photobucket image code with mine and still nothing.
LOL! There ya go..i was looking around going, surely the computer didnt make me blind..or maybe it did. HAHHA.
Looks great!
You caught me between changes in template! LOL It is there now!
Thank you, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thank you, Trisha! I made my own button! You gotta stop by and see! Now to make my blog look more like the button I made! LOL
PlummyMommy, It is in the right spot, thankyou! To make your own banner, you just need to open a square in a graphics program and insert a photo and text. I use PhotoFiltre, which is freeware on the internet if you run a search. They make it very easy!
trisha
Hello Everyone!
I inserted the banner on my blog. I am not sure it is inserted in the right place. How do I make my own banner? Are there any free template design sites?
Ciao
Oh boy…you got me trying to work outside the box now…ok I”ll go try it!!
Christi, im not sure what program you use, but I use wordpress and I did all this myself. I took a template I liked and I just messed with it until it looked good. Im still working on it..but im definatly NOT a computer programmer in the slightest. I use PhotoFiltre, which is a free graphics program.
Btw, we have two very talented blog designers donating full blog makeovers during our launch giveaway..come back and enter for those!
trisha
As soon as I have the money to get my blog personally spiffied up, I’ll all for it! Thanks for the tips and for the code!
Happy to Help Jessica!
DONE!! that was cool Trisha!! thx although Kim gave me the code I wasn’t sure where to put it until u said in the sidebar.