What is a Tag?

A tag is a keyword or a descriptive term associated with an item as a means of classification.

Tags are typically used in a dynamic, flexible and automatically generated internet related environment and do not follow any specific defined classification scheme.

Illustration

Let’s try to understand the concept of tags with an example. For instance, a blog server which supports tagging might have the tags Broadway, Tickets, Phil Colner and Premiers.

A reader will be able to tell the purpose of the page quickly by scanning the list of tags. The server would list the tags in a list on that page, with each tag being displayed as a web link. This link would lead to an index page listing all web pages which use that tag. This process, in turn allows a reader to quickly locate all pages which are associated with the term Broadway.

In case the server supports tag searching, a reader would be able to find all pages that use a specific set of tags, such as Broadway and Premiers. To further reclassify the page, all that will be required is to change the list of tags and all the connections will be automatically tracked and updated by the software.

Forms of Tagging

There are two types of tagging patterns for blogs. The form of tagging you decide to implement in your blog depends on your blog and its goals.

However, it should be noted that whatever form you opt for, do it carefully, because once implemented, to change the form of tags later involves a lot of complicated exercise.

Here we discuss the two main types of tagging for blogs to facilitate your decision-making:

• Internal Tagging - This form of tagging capitalizes on the content on the

site and provides internal linking which is basically good for both, search

engines and your readers.

Internal tagging fundamentally uses the flow of conversation approach. The approach highlights that the flow of conversation is not only linear, but is also multi-topical and interspersed with other aspects of conversation.

• External tagging: External tagging is implemented by outside services like Technorati, Flickr or del.icio.us and gives the process an edge of external exposure. Bloggers who use this form of tagging do so because they already have categories for internal use and meanwhile tagging allows them to feed the subjects to such external tagging services.

External tagging facilitates a lot of broad exposure on individual entries but carries the risk of being unable to tie similar conversations together internally.

How to Implement Tags?

Most of the blog platforms do not support out-of-the-box tagging services. However, most of them provide support for plugins or extensions. Here we list a few examples:

• Ultimate Tag Warrior (WordPress) – This plugin provides a wide set of options for internal and external tagging both. This service allows the blogger to display tags in a lot of ways and is thoroughly documented. External tags have the provision to get linked to Technorati, Flickr, del.icio.us, Wikipedia and the like.

• Jerome’s Keywords (WordPress) – This plugin is the easiest to reverse mid-way as it implements tags as keywords.

• Simple Tags, (WordPress) - This particular plugin carries the basic Technorati tagging capability on a per-post basis. However, it does not carry the internal tagging functionality.

• TechnoratiTags (Moveable Type) – Similar in nature to the above two, this plugin feeds keywords to technorati as tags.

Introduction

The world of blogging by its very nature demands dynamism and innovation in its output.

From the style to language, tone and the forms of posts; bloggers are expected to incorporate an element of variety in their posts on an ongoing basis. It then becomes the need of the hour to experiment with the various forms of genre.

Forms of posts

The famous ‘Bloggers Block’ haunts almost all bloggers at some point in their blogging course. Here we list the 10 best types of posts intended to tackle the concern of variety faced by the blogging community.

1. Informational – These are the blog posts that carry information on a topic. The knowledge provided in the post could range from a simple definition to a longer explanation of some aspect of the category you are addressing in your blog.

2. Instructional – The instructional posts are typically the ‘how to’ posts. These posts provide guidelines on how to do something. The ‘Tips’ posts are the most common form of instructional posts. Such posts are a huge attraction both for long term readers as well as first time visitors.

3. Lists – Lists such as ‘Top ten ways to….’ Or ‘5 most common mistakes by……’ might be quite difficult to put together, but are a sure hit with the readers. These also get some of the maximum links from other bloggers.

4. Reviews – The review posts cover feedbacks and opinions on almost every product searchable on the Internet. Reviews are one of the very few types of posts that can be very powerful in their impact and also have a great longevity.

5. Interviews and Profiles – To provide your readers with a whiff of fresh air, it is always a good idea to post an interview or a profile of someone famous, whom your readers will like to read about.

Alternatively, profile posts also talk about famous personalities, except for a single difference. While in a profile post the blogger writes on his own about the individual, in an interview post, the blogger actually publishes an interview with the person concerned.

6. Link Posts – One of the favorites of many bloggers, a link post is all about finding a quality post on another site or blog and linking up with it. The post explains why the link was setup and what was it that made the blogger do so.

7. Comparison Posts – These are the posts that present a comparison between two or more products or services. The post outlines the negative and positives of the concerned products and services in detail for the reader’s benefit.

8. Venting Out – These posts are highly subjective in nature and are used by bloggers to say just what is on their minds. The nature of such ranting posts can become quite volatile at times, with the bloggers blurting out quite intense emotions in the heat of the moment, leading on to a burning conversation.

9. Motivational – The inspirational or motivational posts normally tell a story of success or a series of good news. Readers are generally pleased with such pieces as these motivate them to persist in their respective pursuits.

10. Research – Authentic research oriented posts take a long time to write due to the amount of study and analysis it requires. Nevertheless, if done well, these posts can earn a lot of links for the bloggers’ posts.

The Basics

The underlying principle of the design of a weblog is utility and functionality, aimed to contrive for a specific purpose, through planned and systematic graphic representation.

Contrary to the common definition of design, blogosphere defines design as a method to make things work to their best ability, instead of merely enhancing the visual effect.

Design Guidelines

Here we list a set of key guidelines to follow and implement when designing a weblog:

1. Goals and Aims – It is of utmost importance to keep the basic purpose and goals of the weblog in mind. Every aspect of the design, ranging from the frames to colors, is influenced by the basic aim of the weblog.

Whether the purpose is creating awareness or rebuilding an existing weblog for better SEO results, the designer will have to decide on the key elements keeping these objectives in mind.

2. Target Audience – All the factors related to your planned targeted audience play a crucial role in deciding the basic ingredients of the blog design.

Factors such as ethnic background, educational levels, professional aspirations, financial abilities and geographical locations of your target audience should ideally be kept in perspective while finalizing the blog design.

3. Bloggers’ Needs – The blog designer needs to be aware whether the blogger in question has some specific needs such as flexibility to revamp the look for freshness or add some vital updates in future.

In such a scenario, the designer has to provide in-built features allowing scope for further amendments to the design, as per the need.

4. Rough Layouts – It is important for the designer to first draw out wireframes in order to experiment with element placement and layout.

Several programs and software can be used for drawing these wireframes or rough sketches, including the likes of OmniGraffle (mac only). Infact, most of the new weblog designers often commit the blunder of treating this step as redundant and hence skip it. This ultimately adversely affects the whole concept in turn.

5. Build a vision chart – Develop a collection of imagery and put it up all together on a board to see what the visual ideas look like.

Such a mood board should carry an amalgamation of images, colors, type etc. that seem to be in sync with the project in hand. An ideal mood board

should reflect the summary of the idea of the weblog’s design, according to the blogger as well as the designer.

6. Elementary Design – Having dealt with the entire above requirement, it is easy to put together the basic outline of the blog’s design as visualized.

An important requirement at this stage is to ensure that the designer leaves adequate ‘white space’, which refers to the empty space around the individual elements.

7. Take a print – Once you’ve put together an initial draft, take a print and see what the basic design looks like.

At this stage, it’s worthwhile to think how you are going to structure the html of the planned design.

8. HTML and CSS – This stage entails actually working out the HTML code and laying out the CSS guidelines of your design.

Once you’ve done this, you will have a clear estimate whether the original concept of the weblog’s design has a practical viability. Otherwise, a certain amount of tweaking and alteration can be brought in to achieve the desired results.

Introduction

Inbound Links are the most powerful and prominent off-site factors for Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for blogs.

Off-site factors are those which primarily operate from outside the site and influence the blog’s ranking in search engines.

Link Generation

In this section, we discuss the ways and techniques a blogger can adopt in order to generate quality inbound links.

1. Create quality content- The first principle to generate quality content is

to create content which the readers will genuinely want to read and follow-up. Ofcourse, as a blogger you can adopt a lot of methods, such as solicit links with others, sign up for different link building programs or buy text links on other sites.

Nevertheless, producing a fine output remains the safest and most economical as you will end up creating a host of inbound links as others link to your quality content.

2. Get enrolled in directories – One of the most result-oriented methods is to submit your links to the blog directories. Reports reveal that the first thing webmasters do when starting a new site is to search the directories and submit links to key pages with appropriate keywords in the links.

3. Inform fellow-bloggers – It is not advisable to badger the other bloggers and ask for links. However, if you have written a quality post on a topic that might be of interest to fellow-bloggers, it’s beneficial to write them a short and polite email informing them of your post.

If they link up, you end up enhancing the direct traffic that link generates as well as building your own page rank in the search engines.

4. Testimonials – Another upcoming trend is to trade a testimonial in return of an inbound link to your site. Forward a testimonial to the site owner about the good experience you’ve had with the site’s offers/content or purchases. If it does get published, you’ll end up getting your site linked in return.

5. Multiple linkings – A lot of contemporary bloggers are participating or establishing blog networks to experience the advantages of multiple sites and writers working in tandem. Such inter-linking of blogs will give you more control over how your sites get linked amongst multiple domains.

6. Free offers – You can also offer a vast range of free offers in return of a link. The items you can offer free include a free e-book, articles, an article directory, tools, tips and resources.

7. Buy links – Buying text links is an approach many professional web masters are adopting. Infact, they have a special budget to purchase links from other highly ranked and relevant sites.

8. Swap Links – Sometimes done by default, swapping of links is another effective method to obtain inbound links. In other cases, the links are strategic ones and formally arranged between site owners.