threelilprincesses.com

Tag: blogging

Ever wondered what WordPress plugins everyone else is using?

Photo credit

WHEN I started out in this bloggy game, I always wondered what plugins everyone else was using. Over time I’ve borrowed, discovered and tweaked the plugins I use. While I have previously blogged about all the WordPress plugins used here, I realised since then how much they’ve changed so thought it was time to share again.

Akismet:

This is one of the best ways to protect your blog from comment and trackback spam. Atlhough, beware, sometimes it sends non-spam comments to the spam folder. So keep an eye on it.

All in One SEO pack:

This is one of the reasons my posts keep making it onto the front page of Google. With a little help from some SEO basics too.

And the winner is…:

This is one of the easiest ways to draw your giveaways. Forget ever having to count how many entries you have and then using Random.org. With it coming to light via Nikki from Stylish You about the whole game of chance Vs game of skill, this one is in revision here at Three Li’l Princesses.

CommentLuv:

A lovely way to give some promotion to fellow bloggers, this one displays their latest post (or an older one if they choose) when they leave a comment on one of your posts.

Comment Reply Nofication:

I’ve long been a ReplyMe supporter, but recently stumbled across this one. It looks much neater when the comment reply lands in the reader’s inbox. A reply plugin is important if you want to try and build a relationship with your readers.

Facebook Like Box:

Yes, I have a Facebook Like Box, but as you’ll noticed I did a bit of tweaking with the help of fellow blogger Louisa Claire so it wasn’t a great big box with hundreds of faces showing. If you want to know the code to make your Facebook box more minimalistic, I’m happy to pass it on.

Fast Secure Contact Form:

Every blogger should have a Contact page to allow readers, PR and others to contact you easily. Along with having a contact form, I also think it’s important to provide your direct email address on the page along with it. You can see mine to see what I mean.

nRelate Related Content:

This is the little boxes under each post which recommends what other posts you might be interested in. This one is pretty spot on in its matching of other posts to the one you’re reading. You can display this one in a few different ways, but I like the photo option.

SexyBookmarks:

These are all the little icons down the bottom of the page that allow you and readers to share your post easily via platforms like Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Delicious etc. Hint hint!

WordPress Editorial Calendar:

If you want to get organised with your blogging, then this one is a must. It will allow you to see what your blogging schedule looks like and you can easily move things around.

WordPress Firewall 2:

It was thanks to this little plugin that the 10 attempts to try and hack my site over the weekend failed. Enough said.

WP Social Blogroll:

If you look in my main sidebar from the homepage, you’ll notice a list of blogs I read (currently in the process of being updated). This one is more about me and being able to keep on top of all the blogs I love to read, but has served as a great way for others who visit here to discover some fabulous blogs too.

WP Touch:

With more and more people now viewing blogs on their mobiles and smartphones, you really need to be able to give them the option to read you while on the go. This one provides a mobile-friendly version of your blog.

XML Sitemap Feed:

This is also another reason I’m doing well in Google. That’s about all I can tell you about this one. Just a little clueless here.

What are your favourite plugins? What work for you?

December 5, 2011
The writing of a Pick-A-Path post

Back when a sandwich was tempting

EVER read those Pick-A-Path books (also known as Choose Your Own Adventures) when you were a kid? I was so obsessed with them, I even wrote a couple myself. I was about 10 at the time, so they were stellar reads. One was about a birthday and never actually went anywhere. No wonder a publisher didn’t pick it up.

Anyway, last night I felt like escaping my world for someone else’s. My day had consisted of taking Princess Ella to the doctors after her condition saw her not eating for nearly 24 hours. Finally throwing nutrition out the window to concentrate on sloppy, but highly desired food by a pre-schooler, I opted for Snack Packs. Remember those from your school lunchboxes? Yes, we’re stuck in the ‘80s today.

Well, it seems, when a snack attack hits you, you know you’ve got the facts, ‘cause nothing does it to you like a. Snack. Pack. True story, because Ella ate the lot.

Anyway, back to wanting to escape my world. I’ve stumbled across a version of those Pick-A-Path books, but in blog form. It’s not exactly genius, but this is how it works. You pick your path via whichever comment on a post most appeals to you. Who knows where you’ll end up.

Laney from Crash Test Mummy

Laney stops at a roadside cafe, sitting in one of those big vibrating massage chairs just as bub needs a boobie juice. So she whips one of her girls out. Can you guess what happens next? Click to find out. Then, either pick your favourite comment from her comment section or come back and follow my choice. Which path will you choose?

Di from Mummy Di-alogue

Laney’s friend Di feels she’s losing her cooking mojo after overdosing on too much Junior Masterchef. Aren’t we all! She recalls those days when someone’s cooking ineptitude was equated to not being able to boil an egg. Or water in some cases. One morning she tried to cook a boiled egg and failed. Twice. Do you know what she ended up having instead? Go read her story, then decide if you’ll continue with one of her commenters or come back. Choose your path.

Anne from Domesblissity

Di has a friend, Anne, who likes to kick up our heels – with kids TV/movie songs. You’ve Got A Friend In Me from Toy Story 3 is on her happy feet list. Just excuse me for a while I have a little listen…. OK, back with you. Can you guess what else might be on there? Go see if your fave’s on there, then pick your path.

Jennifer from A Sampler

Anne leads us to Jennifer, who continues in the arts sphere. Jennifer steps inside her own neighbourhood to share a piece of street art. Not hers, by the way. One of the messages written on the wall is “Rest in Piece’’. Like Jennifer, I’ve got no idea if ‘Piece” is a spelling mistake or some new term going down with the youth today. I’m still stuck in the era when things were “rad’’ and “sick’’. Can you tell what “Rest in Pieces’’ means by looking at the art work? Feel free to keep picking commenting paths and make your own journey. For me, this is the end of the road tonight.

It seems “narly” art and muddled spelling were all I needed to brighten my night. I chose just the right path for me. Till tomorrow night’s journey…

Did you read Pick-A-Path books? Where has your blog comment hopping taken you lately?

October 11, 2011
GUEST POST: Your blog is important to us
Glenys Power of Cupcake City

Hi, I’m Glenys Power, owner of Cupcake City. This is a guest post to follow up on Kellie’s “Working with PR post”.

Whether you are just starting a blog or have been running one for a while, you are important to online business. Specifically WAHM businesses need your assistance. Most mummy businesses are run on, as my dad says “The smell of an oily rag”. There is little, if any, room for a marketing budget. There is, however, almost always an item or two that can be given to you to use as a prize for a competition to help promote the business.

So bloggers and businesses can help each other. In fact I think we have a great synergistic relationship.

Businesses can provide bloggers with:
- A featured post that you didn’t write yourself
- A guest post on a related topic to your blog
- Products to give away
- Money through banner ads
All these things can help to both fund your blog and create interest for your readership.

Blogs provide businesses with:

Third party recommendations – your readership trust you. As a business we know that word of mouth sells better than any other marketing tactic you can name. If you honestly like a product and recommend it you will help drive sales.

Links – Links are vital for a webpage to rank well in search. Using my website as a case study for illustration; let’s suppose I want to rank on page 1 of Google for the key-phrase “cupcake stand”.

Now for Google to believe that this cupcake page is in fact about cupcake stands, they look for links that have text in them that substantiates this. There is nothing better than a link that says.. “you can buy this fabulous cupcake stand from Cupcake City. AND the words “cupcake stand” links to the page that is about the cupcake stand.

This type of link is gold, so if you find yourself working with a business make sure to ask them what the anchor text should say and refrain from the old “click here” link. It also helps if the link is in the standard “link” blue that we are all used to and if it is in a slightly larger font size.

I really encourage you to be open to working with more businesses. Be brave! If there is a business on facebook you’ve used or noticed then approach them. Let them know you’re a blogger and you’d like to.. run an article on them / do a product spotlight featuring an item / have a giveaway… whatever suites you.

It will help if you have a media kit that tells the business a bit about you and your websites statistics, but don’t be put off if you’re just new. It might mean that you really can only ask $5 to run a feature article instead of $25. It’s a start and your price can always go up as your readership does.

Glenys Power is a wife, mother to two small boys and the proprietor of the online cupcake supply store, Cupcake City. Cupcake City can supply you with lovely cupcake decorations, wrappers and more. She has also been helping other businesses with their search engine optimization for the last 2 years. If you would like any information on either Cupcake City or help with your own SEO, please contact her at admin@cupcakecity.com.au
August 15, 2011
BLOG: The secrets behind my blog growth

Ironically, I had little sleep the night before the Colgate bloggers brunch due to someone teething!

WHEN you’re asked to speak at a Colgate bloggers brunch, it’s hard to smile when your once pearly whites are now tea stained. So chances are I mumbled a lot of my speech.

Anyway, thankfully my talk had nothing to do with teeth and everything to do with the theme of the brunch – trust. Last Thursday Colgate was announced the Most Trusted Australian Brand by Reader’s Digest. We heard about trust being something that’s built over time. So here I was in a room full of seasoned bloggers and I’ve only been at it for six months. So the question was: how had I built my blog so quickly? Let me fill you in on a few of my secrets:

Existing audience:

I have to confess, I already had a (small) audience when I started this caper. I had comments on posts from day one. My advantage was I started a humorous column about being “up the duff’’ with Ella, which led into my now three-year-old daughter’s first year of life. That reached 90,000 newspaper readers. Once it ended, I was constantly stopped by people in the street asking if this was “THE Ella’’ from the paper and how much they missed reading about her. And so the blog was born. Although, I must admit, probably only a miniscule percentage of those readers still realise this blog exists.

Giveaways:

They have been my biggest drawcard for traffic. A lot argue those readers are too fleeting – and it’s true of some. However, there are others who become regular readers. Without those giveaways, they would never have come to the blog in the first place. I’m also conscious of aligning myself with reputable (ie highly regarded and trustworthy) companies and those that are a good fit for my blog.

It’s not just about the giveaways, but also the reviews attached to them. “Review’’ and “how to’’ are two of the most commonly searched words on Google. Which leads me to my next point.

Search engines optimisation (SEO):

One afternoon, when Ella and I were looking for something to do, we decided to build a doll’s house. Unfortunately, the only box we had was a beer carton. That post still receives a strong number of hits per day via Google. I can just imagine how disappointed those people are when they finally arrive at the post.

Then there are news items. The Royal Wedding meme and Royal Wedding Pyjama Party live chat received an average 30 hits a day for weeks after Prince William and Kate Middleton’s big day.

I’ve also been a strong advocate for The Wonder Weeks book, which recognises the developmental leaps babies go through every few months – aka, when your baby turns feral. I mean, fussy. I’m now on the front page of Google for the book and get 2-5 hits per day. I’ve had emails from readers saying they are now loyal readers after discovering TLP via those search words. These aren’t posts that garner huge comments on traffic on the day of posting, but they’re a consistent performer over the long term.

YouTube

Which brings me to the second biggest search engine – YouTube. A video of Baby Holly having a giggling fit got 6500 hits, because it was coincidentally timed with a similar clip promoted in the mainstream media. We’re now doing a series of videos of Ella teaching me Auslan sign language. It’s simple things like this that build trust with readers. I could tell you she can do Auslan, but would you believe me? If I show you, then there’s no disputing it. YouTube is still trial and error in terms of driving traffic to our blog though.

Memes or blog hops:

It has taken a while to find the memes that fit best with the blog. However, the ones I’m now attached to (including co-hosting a giveaway linky with Tina Gray) has increased traffic and comments. Again, it’s attracting bloggers and readers who may not have ordinarily come to the blog in the first place. And, in turn, it’s allowed me to “meet’’ bloggers who I wouldn’t have discovered without the meme.

Clickable headlines:

I’m not always successful with this one, but for example I have some exciting news… was a headline people couldn’t help but click on. Curiosity killed the cat and all that. A Mother’s Heartache pulls at any mother’s natural instinct to help others. Then there was The Bloke in The Shed’s Bras are for boobs. Now, what on earth could that be about? However, don’t overpromise in your headline and under deliver in your content, or you’ll lose your readers trust very quickly.

Be personable:

People now know me and my family. I use our names and show photos of us. Not everyone is comfortable with that, but it’s helped people feel part of our family and I love that connection.

So there you have it. That’s how I’ve been able to build my blog. Oh, and I should mention I comment on other blogs like there’s no tomorrow, aim to have entertaining or informative content EVERY day and participate in social media – Facebook, Twitter and Google+. And The Bloke in The Shed would be grumpy if I didn’t mention that having a dad regularly posting on the site helps too (according to him!).

Oh, just incase you were wondering what Baby Holly was doing during my speech, here she is.

Mrs Marsh and Baby Holly

Yes, being nursed by THE Colgate lady Mrs Marsh.

What have you done to help grow your blog?

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July 25, 2011
FEATURE: I’d rather you didn’t all comment on my posts

Oh Mum, not more spam!

WITHIN a short space of time I’ve amassed a bevy of wonderful, loyal readers. Some just pop in, check that I’m still alive and then go about their day. Sort of like my Nan does with the personal classifieds in the newspaper. Except she’s checking the death notices to see if she’s still alive.

Then there are those who leave warm and fuzzy comments that truly brighten my day or pass on words of wisdom to help me through this parenting maze. It’s the part of the blog I love the most. And you’ll notice, I’m a big one for responding to comments too. I love the whole idea of having a “virtual conversation’’.

Except there’s a few of you I’m having problems with. A few of you who leave comments and I’d rather you didn’t. I’m talking about you Heather. And let’s not forget Kayden, Polly, Roxanna and Marlie. I don’t want you commenting on my blog, even if it’s to say “Touchdown! That’s a really good way of saying it’’. Then there’s Calinda, who kindly said: “I didn’t realise forum rules allowed such brilliant posts’’. I’m gushing, really, but I’d rather you keep your opinion to yourself.

Then there’s Bruce, who keeps telling me about credit loans. I’m fine, thanks Bruce. Then Debrah (strange spelling, Debrah) who “stands back from the computer in amazement. Thanks!’’. Really, Debrah? And let’s not forget Kayln, who said: “it’s spooky how clever some people are’’. Thanks Kayln. But how about you get a real name and a real job. OK, that was harsh.

To top them all off, there’s Bruce. Bruce told me that what I had written was “a foolish idea’’. And here I was thinking a picture-based `to do’ list for my daughter was pure genius.

The worst part of it all is having to moderate all 100 of you this morning. And then put you straight into the spam folder. So thank you, but no thanks.

What measures do you have in place to combat spam and do they work? What’s been your favourite pearl of wisdom from a spammer, either on your blog, Facebook or Twitter?

Linking up with Where’s My Glow? for FlogYoBlog Friday.

June 21, 2011
BLOG: Plugging my (WordPress) plugins

Image credit

WITHIN the 15 steps to building a mummy blog post, I only touched on the plugins I use here on Three Li’l Princesses. As I was uploading all my TLP plugins to the new Mum PR site, I realised I really should share the full gamut.

So here they are:

Akismet: This one checks to see whether your comments are spam or not. If you don’t make money from your blog, then this one is free. However, if you run advertising, then you will have to pay. Hmm, if only I was making enough money to actually pay for it.

All In One SEO Pack; This has made all that SEO mumbo jumbo so much simpler. After completing each post, just add your post title, a few lines about your post (I usually just take the intro) and some keywords. So, for example, the keywords for this post will be: plugins, blogging, mummy blog, widgets.

Facebook Like Box: This has been handy to allow people to like the TLP Facebook page without actually having to find me via Facebook itself. As of last night, the page has grown to 297 fans in a short few months. To think, it wasn’t that long ago my goal was simply to reach 50 fans! And by the way, feel free to help me get to 300.

Fast Secure Contact Form: This contact form lets readers send me a quick email message and blocks all common spammer tactics. Spammers, be gone. Real people, step this way.

ReplyMe: I love responding to comments on the blog. In the early days I’d copy and paste my answer into an email and personally email it to the reader. Yep, I’m a sucker for hard work. Now the blog has grown a little, it’s just not achievable anymore. So this plugin instantly sends my reply to the commenter’s inbox.

Social Media Widget: I’m not sure if anyone’s ever bothered to click on my social media buttons up there in the top right hand corner, but they’re there just the same. If anything, they look pretty. And, to be honest, they’ve come in handy when I’ve needed quick access to my StumbleUpon page.

WP-Polls: Having a poll in the sidebar has been a bit of fun. This widget is really easy to use and can be placed inside posts too. You can have a multiple selection of answers. Feel free to click on the poll there in the sidebar. Go on. Do it.

WP Render Blogroll Links: I tried out quite a few blogroll plugins and have to say this one looked the best. While I love how in Blogger you can see what the latest post is from your favourite bloggers, unfortunately I haven’t been able to find something similar in WordPress.

XML Sitemap Feed: I’d love to be able to tell you about this one, but I’m not 100% sure how it works. Apparently it creates a feed that is ready for indexing by Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask and others. Well, that’s what it says next to the plugin name, anyway. Sounds good to me.

What are your favourite plugins?

June 7, 2011