Determining Which Crap To Take Off Your Site
February 19th, 2007 by TatmanI start my blogs with an assortment of widgets and buttons and … stuff. In the beginning, I will put up anything that I believe serves a purpose or brings me more traffic.
Later? Not so much. Over time, I decide that if it’s not honoring a committment, bringing me traffic, reminding me to do something, or making me money, it has to go. Those four things are good yardsticks, though the order may vary for you.
I like to give most things two weeks to a month to take root, but if it’s not giving me one of those four types of booty, it’s bye-bye no matter how much it hurts.
MyBlogLog is on its last legs but it stays. It sends me enough traffic to be worth the headache at the moment. I’ll probably test the speed of the site without it later - right now, BumpZee is beating the pants off it as far as getting visitors is concerned, and they do page views, not just home page visits.
The BumpZee commmunity is less about “visit my blog and I’ll check out yours” and more about whose blog is good, and that’s part of what makes it smart to target a site like not just to marketers, but to an area of marketing. BumpZee stays (it’s really BUMPZee but I’m lazy) and may go up higher on the page.
That Blogroll button? Gone. Number 13 with them, not one visitor. Bye.
Carnivals widget. Bye. Doesn’t match the site, so I’ll have to remember to enter carnivals another way.
The rest of the Special Appreciation area stays. The buttons are small enough not to be obtrusive.
Maybe I’ll put an abbreviated tag cloud right there.
As far as additions, I’m gonna look for a better, possibly smaller MyBlogLog widget. I saw one that was just faces the other day. And I’ll be figuring out how to implement social media without making the page look like crap.
==>Sidebar, long one.<== I decided not to go with the hassle of trying to make the bookmarking sites launch in another window. You’re smart enough to come back if you wanted to, and whenever you bookmark a site in a shared area, you’re thinking about returning And bringing new people with you.
New windows within posts are different - I lose my place while surfing all the time and then get distracted, so I consider it a service, but it occurs to me that you might not. If you find it annoying, holla back. Your opionion is what matters.
Posted in My Internet Marketing Secrets, internet marketing how-tos |
February 19th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
BumpZee stays (it’s really BUMPZee but I’m lazy).
Cool!
And actually, it’s BUMPzee!
I’ve been thinking of changing the official spelling because I’m lazy too. I usually just spell it Bumpzee.
February 19th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Thanks for correcting me. I kinda like the capital BUMP, maybe keep the official spelling on the graphics? Thanks for commenting, Scott. I really love BUMPzee.
February 19th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I’m of a similar mind, though maybe closer to the end result than you. I’m pretty sure MyBlogLog will be gone by the end of the week. I started out a big fan, but, well…
BUMPzee, on the other hand offers more value with less overhead, and has a very proactive and responsive developer.
Now, I have to go back to badgering Scott to launch a couple off communities a wee bit more toightly in synch with my blogs. lol.
February 20th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Hey Dane, I appreciate you commenting.
I came onto MyBlogLog kind of late - what kind of peeves did you have with it besides the load time? I saw one post about code vulnerability at ShoeMoney.
BUMPzee really does it for me though. It’s actually sent me four times as many visitors as MyBlogLog, without as much constant involvement and interaction. I like interaction, don’t get me wrong, but it seems like it’s reciprocated more in the BUMPzee community.
I’m off to visit your site.
February 20th, 2007 at 1:14 am
My biggest peeves with mybloglog are the people who hit the be a friend or join a community just to get their link in another place. No consideration is given to relativity. I can get that at myspace.
The widget is slow to load, or doesn’t load at all.
And I get hit with messages and joins and coauther requests that are plain out spam. Technorati favorites give you nearly everything MBL does without the spam, and BZ gives you all of it without the spam.
February 20th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Yeah, that’s a big one, why join if you’re not really going to the site. I also hate seeing someone come to my site for just one page view. Don’t come at all.
Same with the widget.
I get spam but since I’m rarely on my profile page I don’t notice it as much - it must be rough with a really popular blog.
February 20th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
Hey Tat - Great article, although, I really hope Scott does not change BUMPzee! to Bumpzee because I have spent so much time writing it with the caps and even with the ! - bang on the end. I like the image of that graphic
I dig the article, it is a good idea, and a good reminder for affiliates to realize that it is okay to change the look & feel of your site as long as it enhances it (enhancement does not always mean adding more!)
Ciao dude & thanx for the article.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Thanks Mark. I appreciate the comment, glad to have you by. Maybe we should do an entry at BUMPzee to help Scott decide? The capped BUMP does give extra zing. I’m off to check out your blog.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Check out the blog ( http://www.bloglyne.com ) - I have a survey article up there right now based on this article - Let me know if the survey is working right…
February 20th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Cool, I’ll take a look.