Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

I'd be a liar if I said that the things I read on various other blogs had no effect on what I write about. The fact is that it has a lot of effect, some of it subconsciously. As I went through my feedreader yesterday, I happened upon a whole lot of stuff related to what I've written, some of it recently. If you've read my blog for more than just a few weeks, or if you've gone through the archives, you already know I like to link out to as many people as I can.

Let's take my previous article, Backlink Building with DoFollow Blogs and the CommentLuv WordPress Plugin, as an example. I'm positive I read about "DoFollow" on more blogs than I can think of, but the only ones I can specifically name are Andy Beard, Blogger Unleashed, and How to Make Money Online for Beginners. While it's nice to link to a blog, it's even nicer to link to a relevant article. That kind of linking will boost their article in the SERPS (search engine results pages).

While I'm not always successful in remembering where I learned something from, I always do my best. Recently, I spotted a few blogs that linked to no one for anything, and I know they didn't publish original thought or knowledge. Please, if you get your information from someone else, give them credit for it if you can. By doing so, you'll develop a level of trust while giving away content for free.

Link Thanking

I read a blog post somewhere, and I forget where, in which the author seemed a little upset by not being thanked or acknowledged for linking to a specific site. I'm not sure what he or she expected. I can understand and sympathize if the subject was about someone failing to reciprocate a link if that was an agreement of some kind. Otherwise, why be offended or upset?

When you include a link to another website, you're supposed to be doing it to provide your readers with some type of relevant information, not as a means to get links in return, thanks in your comments, or a payment of some kind. Unfortunately, that's exactly what some people are doing.

I don't expect anything in return for linking out, and I don't ask for it, not even in a subtle manner. I did it in the past, but it's something I didn't like doing and it will never be repeated. I know that if I create useful and original content, I'll get incoming links as a matter of course. That's what you should be working on the most; original content.

Future Plans

I was looking through my analytics search engine data last night and discovered that my "Hot Buttered Corn" post ranks #1 in the Google SERPS for the phrase "hot buttered corn" (naturally). It cinched my decision to start a humor blog in the next few days. I had a humor site up a year or so ago and took it down. It was a mistake on my part and I freely admit it.

My intention is to keep posting daily on this blog and my reviews blog, but I won't be doing so on the new humor blog or my video blog. Those two blogs aren't geared for socializing, so frequent posting isn't necessary.

I know some of you have multiple blogs already. I'm curious if you find yourself lacking the time to properly maintain them all. I'm only talking about the social blogs, not the blogs designed to draw traffic. I made the decision to do multiple blogs sometime last year and so far, I haven't had a problem. Of course, I don't have a job that takes me away from home either.

I and my wife discussed doing a joint blog, with me doing all the work of course. Vic over at Blogger Unleashed suggested more people should do local niche blogs and I really want to do one myself. The one we're thinking of doing would primarily be a photo blog of the local area, Olongapo City, Philippines and surrounding communities. We plan to use a cell phone (a Motorola RAZR) to snap the pictures with. We might even make short videos. All this won't take place, however, until we've completed some of our other goals.

Off-Topic Posts

Over time, you should notice me writing, on this blog, about things I normally wouldn't write about. There's a purpose behind it, I can assure you. While I like to write about blogging issues and monetization techniques related to them, those types of articles don't attract a lot of searchers. I want to attract searchers and the best way to do that is to write about things other than blogging.

The only problem I can see rearing its ugly head will be the idiots who report the links within the posts as paid links. I don't like putting "link condoms" on links and I only do it for links to sites like Google, Wikipedia and IMDB. They don't need my link juice. Anyway, I'm not doing sponsored posts anymore, even if a post may read like one (in my style, of course), so don't be looking to get me penalized for it — again.