Give Your Blog Credibility with Age
Like a sort of fine wine, we all know that a lot of things will improve with age. And on a day, like today, I thought it’d be quite relevant to talk about what age and credibility can do for your blog.
I hear you asking, why today? Well, you see, your favorite blogger (that’s me, by the way) is celebrating her 27th birthday. And because of that, there’s no time like today to talk about age.
New visitors to your blog will typically glance at a few things to determine your credibility as a blogger. And because this is a matter of preference, let me say now that one of those things for me is age. Based on the information your blog gives about its age will relate in my mind to exactly how credible you are.
When your blog is showing me, based on your archives and other factors that you’ve only been blogging for a couple of months, I’m going to be less likely to take your word for it. Not that I don’t trust that you have correct information but because I don’t know how long you’ve really been working at it.
So, when you’ve got a younger blog, it’s important that you take extra measures to show your visitors your worth, or experience based on age. Here are some tips to giving yourself age credibility on your blog.
Archives
I may not dig through your archives, in fact I probably won’t. But I do like to take a look so that I can get an idea of how long you’ve been blogging. And when we’re talking about niche blogging, this gives me a rough estimate on how long you’ve been publicly talking about this niche. Make sure that I can find them; I’m not going to go digging through 10 pages to find your archives!
Categories
Even with a niche blog, I want to know what your topics are based on how your categorize posts (I so hate WordPress’ default category of “uncategorized”). Be generally specific with your categories and don’t be afraid to use child categories to display the various different topics within a category.
Scanning through a blog’s categories will give visitors an idea of what they’re most likely to find on that blog. And if I’ve only read one post, this just may be what talks me into subscribing to your feed (you do want that, don’t you)?
Reference
Even the bigger bloggers will link, from time to time, to other blogs as reference of their knowledge. I like to see that if we’re talking on the same subject, there’s a chance that I can reach out to you when I make a blog post and that in turn, you might do the same when you notice me.
Plus, the addition of reference links throughout your blog whether internal or external links shows me how you’ve written about this subject before or how I can get some history on the subject that you’re now writing about. This tells me you’ve got some experience and with age comes what? EXPERIENCE!
About
Who are you? Where did you come from? What do we have in common? How can I relate to what you’re posting about? What do you know exactly that I’m going to want to come back and what gives you the experience and knowledge to discuss your posts?
About page, make it, update it, and provide useful information. Experience and knowledge is a sign of age and when you want to be creditable, you’ll have some age!
Self Host
This is a biggie for me! If you’re on a free WordPress.com or Blogspot blog, I won’t be visiting. I don’t care what you know. Something inside of me tells me that because you will not invest in your own blog’s name and give it some worth with a domain name and hosting, you’re not serious. It doesn’t matter what you know, if you won’t invest in your own blog, I won’t invest my time in you. (The exception however is people who will purchase a domain name but use Blogspot as their platform, this is OK to me). I’ll discuss this again really soon.
See my comment for more on this… it seems I have hit a hot button for some people.
Blogroll
Who do you pay attention to? Based on scanning your blogroll I can get an idea of who could influence your posts. It’s not at all uncommon to reference back to a blog post that we’ve read to expand some thoughts on. If your blogroll displays another blogger that I enjoy reading, I’ll probably subscribe and pick you up for awhile to see if we have something in common. Just a few good articles coming at me from your feed and I know if you’re a good match for me to read.
There are a lot of things you can do to build a blog’s age and credibility. It’s a matter of just taking a few minutes to actually do it. It’s hard, you build momentum, you get going and somehow, some of the basic blog setup steps have been lost along the way. Your blog’s age is going to tell your visitors a lot about what you have to offer. When you’ve established your know-how, push those great articles out and network. Pushing your name (or blog’s name) out there will also help you establish some know-how to your increasing age.
Remember, wine takes time to become fine. So does your blog. Patience is a virtue (that I don’t have).
Your birthday wishes can be posted below. :P
Technorati Tags: Credibility, Age, Birthday, Blog Experience, Archives, Categories, Self Hosted, Pages, About, Domain Name, Hosting, Blogroll, Links, Reference, RSS, Feed, Networking
Sarah Says:
One note on archives, for those who have them in the sidebar: USE A DROP DOWN MENU!
*sorry*
The long freaking sidebars, especially for those who have been blogging for years, drives me BONKERS.
*smiles*
Posted on February 20th, 2008
Graham Smith Says:
And Sarah didn’t wish you Happy Birthday, shameful! :0)
Well, Happy Birthday, I’m only a decade older and now Im really feeling it thanks to you… darn.
But joyous birthday greetings aside, this is one of those posts that I really opened my eyes to.
For me, I try to get the point across that I have just under 20 years experience in print, design, apple macs marketing and advertising, oh least I forget, life.
So although my Blog may be only a month old, my experience most certainly is not. So on that count, I hope that I would come across as being somewhat knowledgeable about what i do. And hope that the freshness of my blog would not be used too much against me.
What do you think about that? Should I make more of a thing of detailing my practical experience in my About Page, to reinforce my niche skill set? Almost an online CV of sorts?
But anywho, really liked this post, got me thinking.
Graham Smith
ImJustCreative
Blog & Web Ramblings from ‘my’ Gutter.
Posted on February 20th, 2008
Katy Says:
Posted on February 20th, 2008
beeker Says:
Happy 27th!
I recently worked on consolidating my categories and wrote out an about me page. I now have 13 categories versus 72. I made a newb mistake by confusing categories and tags and creating an about me page with just my email address.
I am wondering about the value of resource directories. I noticed a few sites that had a page devoted to resources they use. I recently deleted my blogroll because I felt it was too long and seemed to have turned into a resource directory. What do you see the purpose of a blogroll as?
Thanks!
Posted on February 20th, 2008
Lori Says:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOUNGLING!
I really should update my “about me” page. It’s been the same since I started blogging 1 year ago:(
I’ve also consolidated my categories into what I feel are more appropriate ones.
I moved my blogroll to it’s own page that is private because it mostly cosisted of exchanged linking. I do have a small blogroll of bloggers that I favor and feel and feel my readers may gain some insight from.
I’ve got a freebie page that has resources for blogger blogs and wordpress. It also had some useful tools and free ebooks that some may find of interest. It’s actually a popular page according to my statistics!
Anyways, HAPPY B-DAY GIRL!
Posted on February 20th, 2008
Sarah Says:
@ Graham: I remembered. I sent her a birthday card, if her junk mail filter didn’t block it :P
Posted on February 20th, 2008
Graham Smith Says:
Oh! Hoooooow convenient for you to subsequently say so. BLAME THE JUNK MAIL FILTER, why not. Everyone else does…
(Joke). :0)
Posted on February 20th, 2008
Sol Lederman Says:
Happy Birthday, Katy!
I used to recommend showing off your subscriber count, if you have over 50 feedburner readers, but feedburner lately has been particularly flaky in how it reports readers. So, I’ve taken the counter off of my blog, even though I had over 400 readers a few days ago.
Regarding self-hosted domain vs. free Wordpress or Blogger domains. While I generally agree with you that self-hosted domains make you look more serious, I recommend you not be so smug in that judgment. One of the few outstanding blogs for learning about how to make money online is http://makemoneyforbeginners.blogspot.com/. Yup, it’s a free Google-hosted blog. With your criteria you’d discard this blog in a heartbeat. The blog’s owner is purposely using blogger as his platform to illustrate a point. Check out the blog and see if you can see why he’s using blogger. It’s not because he’s a newbie and it’s not because he’s trying to save $10 a year by not registering a domain name.
There are lots of A-list blogs that are really social blogs, that are absolute crap when it comes to specific information. And, they’re all self-hosted. So, use your discernment when deciding to discard a blog as not being any good because it’s not self-hosted.
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Karen Says:
Belated Happy Birthday!!!
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Michelle Says:
Happy Birthday Katy!
Good points. I chose blogger as my platform mainly due to Google and getting organic links to bring folks to my main domain. I never considered how it would affect my credibility until now.
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Katy Says:
As far as detailing your skills on your about page, absolutely! Like you’ve said, you’ve got years of experience and are just new at sharing that experience in a blog. I think that’s a very important trait to share with your readers.
Beeker » Thank you!
Wow, 72 categories! I recently modified my categories as well using child categories when possible. Prior to blogging about blogging, this was a personal blog. And while I didn’t want to get rid of those posts, it was important for me to condense them so that others can see the new direction here. Tags verses categories would sure be a great post! :D
For me, blogrolls show who you, as the blogger commonly network and read are. They tell me on other sites that you could have influenced posts based on what others are writing (which I see as a good thing) and it let’s me know that we have something in common when you’re linking to someone I already read.
If your blogroll is getting a little long, check to see if your theme template has a “links” or “blogroll” page template. This will allow you to place your blogroll into different categories on its own page. Much easier to maintain!
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Katy Says:
Thank you for the birthday wishes!!
Sarah & Graham » Birthday card received from Sarah… just haven’t had a moment to read it yet. I knew you wouldn’t forget Sarah, we’ve been friends too long. Plus, your favorite web designer (me) might kick ya in the butt for it! LOL!! You both are crazy, I love it!
Sol » Your comment isn’t displaying and I’m not sure why. But I liked what you had to say and you’re right, by seeing right away that the blog is not self-hosted I may miss out. This is something that someone has shown me many times. I try to not be so snobbish about it. But I have other points to this as well that I’ll discuss soon in a post.
Karen » Thank you!!
Michelle » Thank you! You and I have talked about your blog before. I have a different perspective with you though because your blog is centered around your business site, I felt you’d be more visible connecting it to your domain. :D
If I missed saying it in my reply to you, thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. I had a great day. But, I’m ready to get back at it now. :D
Posted on February 21st, 2008
martin Says:
Happy Birthday :)
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Katy Says:
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Sue Says:
Wow, sorry to hear you can’t take a blogspot seriously. I’ve been working my butt off trying to make enough money to move my blogs to my own domain. I was on the road to that little dream of mine until the g00gle smack. I run into this issue quite a bit and it usually takes the wind out of my sails for a day or two. I don’t mean to be confrontational but why would you discriminate against someone that doesn’t have much money and is struggling to better themselves?
Will you continue to stumble and drop Entrecards on my blogspot blogs?
Happy Birthday
Sue
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Katy Says:
There have been several occasions that I have seen companies promote themselves using a free blog service. To me this displays a lack of professionalism and/or not being serious about using their blog as a means of promotion for their company. To me, it’s a turn off.
The other type of free blog situation that bothers me is those who boast about how much money they make online. Yet, they won’t spend any money to invest in their blog. Sol pointed out a blog that did this to demonstrate a purpose and I’d have to look at it to see it’s purpose.
On the flip side, there are a great deal of blogs using free services that are more on the personal side. Such as yours, Sue. Those blogs I don’t find any issue with.
It’s possible however, that I have been exposed to a great deal of these company blogs because of another website that I own (link directory). When they submit their blog to our site sometimes, I just roll my eyes about it. How can I take a company serious when they won’t invest in themselves for their marketing and promotion. The other fair amount of submissions that we see on that link directory are splogs… want to guess where they are hosted? Blogspot!
The other points are this: with free blogs, unless you jump through hoops and talk to Alexa you’re not given your own Alexa rank because you’re a sub-domain. You’re unable to accurately see your website statistics, know where your visitors are coming from, and see how you can better promote yourself.
There are limitations to these free services which to me, above all make it more difficult for those who want to be seriously involved. Sure, for some there are financial limitations, I get that. But as a personal preference, I want to know where people are coming from, better understand my traffic using different metrics, and use services that are more available to self hosted blogs and not free blogs. (WordPress.com for example doesn’t allow you to take sponsored posts, you’re losing money with that… if you’re interested in sponsored posts).
The statement wasn’t meant to imply that all blogs that are free are bad. It’s meant to imply that when you’re asking someone to take your knowledge seriously, especially as far as money and business bloggers are concerned, you should invest in yourself first.
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Tokio Says:
Nice post, it’s interesting hearing about what other bloggers pay attention to.
I, personally, rarely pay attention to the ‘About Me’ page. I don’t think I even added one until month after I started my blog because it’s not something I pay attention to.
Also because my real life and my online life are separate, so I don’t like sharing too much information about myself.
But I’ve heard a lot of people care about About Me pages so I threw up a quckie one.
For free blogs, I’m half-half on it. For professional/business blogs then I think it looks better to have your own domain. However, if the content is good I’ll still read it. The content is what I’m there for anyway.
For other blogs, I don’t really care. I know some people who own websites but use LiveJournal for blogging because it’s easy, saves space, free, and has a community. In fact, I have a Livejournal myself because of the community.
There are also some people who are underage and their parents won’t let them buy things online, so a free host is really their only option.
Anyway, nice post and I like your layout. Very pretty.
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Metaller Says:
Belated Happy Birthday!!!
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Poker Stars Marketing Code Says:
Thanks for the tips!
Posted on February 21st, 2008
skeet Says:
I’ve been enjoying your posts on blogging skills and thought it was time to tell you so. Sorry I missed your big day. Happy Belated Birthday - I hope it was grand!
Posted on February 21st, 2008
Katy Says:
Good point about using LiveJournal for the community. I suppose they have the opportunity to have instant readership over there. My first blog, 7 years ago, was on LiveJournal. Didn’t really ever get into the community aspect of it.
Metaller » Thank you!
Skeet » Thanks for letting me know, hope something has been useful to you. :D
Posted on February 22nd, 2008
Tish Says:
I hope you had a fantastic birthday!
Very nice to find another female blogging about blogging. It’s a male dominated niche, so we girls have to stick together. :)
I’ve been blogging since 2004 on my personal site, and since June 2007 on my blog review site, but only since December 2007 on my site for blogging tips. It sure is difficult to manage three blogs while working a full time job!
Have a great night!
Posted on February 22nd, 2008
Manda Says:
Your posts are always insightful Katy and always the exact opposite of what Im doing. Great points as always.
Posted on February 23rd, 2008
solidcash Says:
nice post Katy, although I started blogging just last January, I’ve been online since 2000. I just got curious about this blogging craze and I’m a decade older than you. Happy birthday to you!
Posted on February 23rd, 2008
Sarah Says:
So not on the topic of the post, but DANG GIRL!! Love the new look :)
Posted on February 24th, 2008
Katy Says:
Good luck managing all those blogs with a full time job. That’s one of the reasons I’m incredibly thankful that my full time job is here at home, designing.
Manda » Thanks and I like how you pointed out that it’s always the opposite. Question I have for you is this, is the opposite working for you? I’d like to know the other point of view.
SolidCash » Thanks for the birthday wishes. Nice, blogging is a craze. I love it, how about you?
Sarah » A post about the design will be up today. Thanks for the compliment! :D
Posted on February 24th, 2008
Graham Smith Says:
Hi K.
I am sure I am going to make myself quite unpopular here, but no offense is meant here. It is just my own humble opinion, and after all, feel free to delete the comment. No offense. :)
I just really like the previous design. For some reason this design does not speak to me the same way at the previous one.
For me it’s lost some of the personality, freshness that you had. Truthly, it was one of the sites that I really took too the moment I saw it and you know I really commended you on it. :)
I think for me it’s just a personal reaction to lots of colour.
The other site just really suited the site and the sincere tone that you impart in your posts and your comments.
Just a quality heads up here. On a Mac, using a LCD and Firefox, One of the things that strikes me is the quality of the banner image, it is visibly ‘pixelated’ towards the top of the image in the darker blues. The changes in gradients are not at all smooth and it really does show.
I am really sorry, I was reluctant to say anything, after all it’s not my place. But I hope you can see it as just my opinion, prefer your previous design by far and just pointing out a small quality ‘hitch’ which I know you can easily sort out.
I know you like to tinker, as do I. Just can’t keep still with anyone design, and my header image is always changing. So, I can’t talk I know.
I obviously believe the world revolves around me! :)
ImJustCreative.com - Blog & Web Ramblings from ‘my’ Gutter.
Posted on February 24th, 2008
Katy Says:
In the meantime, I’m still tweaking some images and you see some change to anything that was pixelated now. :o)
Posted on February 24th, 2008
Graham Smith Says:
Katy
That’s perfect now, the graduated blues looks all smooth and yummy. Just how a rainbow should be…
It’s amazing how something like that can really make a big difference to how things are perceived.
Thanks for not getting ‘grumpy’. :)
Gee.
Posted on February 24th, 2008
Graham Smith Says:
On a sidenote, you know, that the image you have used, I think in it’s entirety would make a fabulous desktop image, certainly full of life and vibrant colour. Something to bear in mind, maybe create some various size desktop images for download.
If you do, make sure you do a wide screen version for my 17″ MacBook Pro, (1680×1050) would love to have something like that on mine. :00) Cheeky I know.
One other thing. Whilst I keep looking at it, there is somthing that in my mind may make quite a big difference. As a thought, creating a more darker starting colour from the top. To more mimic high in the sky, and to give it more of a natural frame as such. Hard to describe. I think it feels a little ‘flat’ so a darker blue quickly going to the bright blue you have may make the whole thing stand out heaps. Say a real dark/black blue, with a small gradient set to multiply in photoshop and it would only need to end about where your ’strapline’ starts I think that’s what is missing (yes, missing for me and it’s not my site).
And no, im not a control freak… or am I? I know I know you did’t ask for opinions or suggestions. Am sorry, just can’t help it. :)
‘Gee’.
Posted on February 24th, 2008
Katy Says:
Check out the latest post to see my thinking behind the design. :o)
Posted on February 24th, 2008
Graham Smith Says:
Morning K
A little off subject here, but talking more about the personal aslepects that you are obviously proud to share.
Simply, my Brother is also gay. He is 28 now, but was only able to come out with it around his 22nd birthday. Up and till that point he had struggled with his own identity and doubts about ‘which way he swung’ so to speak. :)
For one, I was incrdibebly happy that he confided in me, I was not totally surprised. After all, a good looking and well weducated chap like Matthew staying ’single’ for so long did peek my curiosity from time to time.
But all that history aside, he is now a proud ‘official’ gay policemen for the infamous London Metropolitan and actually represents the Police Force on these issues, euch as Gay Pride which is held in Brighton. If you don’t know about Gay Pride, Brighton Katy, please do google it. It’s like a gay mardi gra! Wonderful.
His partner Greig also is in the London Transport Police and is senior Family Liason Office for the more unpleasent aspects of police work, notifying families of less pleasurable aspects.
Through his bond, he has found a whole network of gay policement and woman in the force, and it’s a damn big force and a damn big group of gay’s we are talking about. :)
Anyway, just wanted to share that as you share a lot about who you are, and on my level, all be it somewhat removed, I do have some personal experience of some of the things you talk about.
Back to the design. After a good’s night sleeps, I logged on to you site and was greeted with a beautiful fresh design… I love it, really do. ALl makes sense, and even it it didn’t (RE your reasons for changing) in it’s own right it now to me looks beautiful.
Another reason to visit, along with your ‘average posts’!!! Joke.
Gee
Posted on February 25th, 2008
Tina Kubala Says:
Welcome to your late 20’s :-)
I use my blog roll for my blog reading list… is that unusual?
Posted on February 26th, 2008
Katy Says:
I don’t think it’s unusual for you to use your blogroll that way. But, instead of that kind of trouble, why don’t you subscribe to RSS feeds? Just curious!
Posted on February 26th, 2008
Anca Says:
Useful info, thanks. And Happy Belated Birthday to you!
Posted on March 19th, 2008
Katy Says:
Posted on March 20th, 2008
Jason Pearson Says:
Great article. I tend to do the exact same things when I am visiting a blog for the first time, but never really thought about it while I was doing it. Thanks for spelling it out and giving concrete tips on how to give my blog credibility.
Posted on March 21st, 2008
Taryn Merrick Says:
I am coming in late on this conversation, as I only recently discovered your blog. I have been blogging for a few years and am considering removing some of the earlier archives as they don’t truly reflect my current sense of self and my niche. However, based on this post, I may leave them there so my readers can see how I’ve grown over the years.
When I look at new blogs, I do “judge” them based on the first few most recent posts, but after I get hooked, I dig through the archives. Like I’ve done here :-)
Posted on June 29th, 2008
Katy Says:
Posted on June 29th, 2008
Taryn Merrick Says:
Hi Katy!
How very true. I will leave those oldies in there. I am still living in fear of 301 redirects :-)
I am very soon going to be converting my static site to a WP blogsite and incorporating in my existing blog. I would love to read any posts from you on that subject. Hint, hint :-)
Posted on June 30th, 2008
Katy Says:
Posted on July 1st, 2008