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In this week's Quick Tips, I've decided to look at a few small points regarding the layout of your site. If you use Feedburner, AdSense, or Entrecard (or all three), these tips will help you.Condense your Feedburner information
I'm not a huge fan of big orange RSS icons, but I know many people like them. However, a newcomer may not know what on earth the icon is all about. Also, some people may not realise that clicking on the Feedburner counter allows you to subscribe to a site.If you're someone who is short on space, I'd ask whether a big RSS icon is actually going to benefit your readers. I prefer to keep things nice and neat - you can see what I do on my home page. And in case you want to do the same, here's the code you need:
<div style="width: 200px;">
<div style="float: right;">
Feedburner counter code
</div>
<p style="padding: 0 15px">
<a href="Feed URL">Subscribe to my RSS feed</a>
<br />
<a href="http://www.benbarden.com/view.php/article/911/what-is-rss-and-why-should-you-care">What is RSS?</a>
</div>
Replace the Feedburner counter code text with the HTML that you get from Feedburner to display the number of subscribers you currently have. Replace Feed URL with the address of the page that appears when you click on the Feedburner counter (if you're not sure, just try clicking on your counter and see what the link is).
If you'd prefer to link to your own "What is RSS?" guide then you can replace the link I've included. If you don't have a guide of your own, feel free to link to mine. I like it when people link to me, but that's not what this is all about - it's saving you some time, so you don't have to write your own guide to RSS.
Speaking of which, if you need to know what RSS is, read that aforementioned guide: What is RSS?
Where to place your Entrecard widget
I've heard a lot of mixed opinions about Entrecard. The problem is, a lot of the people who write it off don't give it a chance, and they also put their ad in a bad location.Basically, place the Entrecard widget so it is visible without having to scroll down. If you're worried about people who "drop and run", don't be - they're actually less likely to read your content if they have to hunt for your widget.
Remember, some people just won't be interested in your site - you can't please everyone all of the time. With websites and blogs, you just have to accept this and move on. Even the best sites on the web do not appeal to everyone.
Where to place AdSense
I'm not going to get into how to make money online - try reading a good make money online blog if that's what you want. This is strictly a layout tip.AdSense is an advertising program from Google that you can sign up for. I've seen a lot of blogs that say "if you want to make money online, forget AdSense". Just be aware of that.
However, I've also seen a lot of blogs that put AdSense in the wrong place, so they're not really in the best place to criticise it. I had badly placed ads for some time some time and I never knew it was an issue. Now I've found the right way to do it, I thought I'd share it seeing as a lot of blogs seem to miss this vital step!
Basically, you need put the AdSense code ABOVE your post. I originally put it out of the way at the bottom of the post but above the comments. If you put the ad beneath your post, the ads don't pick up the words in your blog entries. The whole point of AdSense is to display relevant ads, and not picking up the words you write defeats the whole purpose.
Remember, I'm not saying whether you should or shouldn't use AdSense - I haven't used it for long enough to say. If you choose to use it, you should be aware of where to place your ads.
What do you think?
Were these tips of any use to you?Are there any others you'd like to see in future?
Tags: quick tips, feedburner, adsense, entrecard
Posted by Ben on February 26, 2008 21:54 / Edited: February 26, 2008 22:41
Comments
Ben - good Entrecard tips. The card needs to be immediately obvious on opening a site. I really hate having to go hunting for it, especially if its buried right down the bottom or in amongst a wall of other ads.
I'll have to experiment with the adsense recommendations. I had mostly given up on it, but that was because I was not getting enough traffic for it to do much more than take up space and generate $2 a month.
As far as the entrecard part... Right on! I know when I have to search for the card I basically drop and run. When the card is up top and the sidebar loads quickly I tend to stay longer. If the blog is relevant to anything I do odds are pretty good I will read at least the first two or three posts before I leave and be much more keen on checking their updates when I return.
there must be some reasons, for the bloggers to put the entrecard down below his/her page. MAybe to let their readers read all their entry first before leaving.
If you put up there, a lot of readers will only read the first entry while drop their card, and leave when the first entry does not interest them.
adsense is profitable when you already have huge traffic,if not, just concentrate on your traffic first
This is where I struggle a little. You see, when I moved to self hosted I went almost instantly from around 20 feedreaders to 70 (and now over 100). I can't help but think that my large pink RSS button had something to do with that.
However, this then causes somewhat of a dilemma for me as I HAVE to have my blogher ads above the fold and I think it's important to have my RSS button above the fold which means I can't quite fit the entrecard widget above the fold. Decisions....decisions....
Very good suggestion with Entrecard. As an Entrecard user I am also less likely to read your content if I have to scroll down to look for it. I'm also a big StumbleUpon user, so if I see a post I like it, I will stumble it, but not if I have to hunt for the Entrecard.
Thanks for all the comments. :)
noob - I don't think people realise just how important design is. Yes, content is very important, but a poor design can really let a site down. I'm spending more time on Entrecard than I used to, but I'm also exploring a few other avenues to get new readers - stay tuned.
Ian - my thoughts exactly! Forcing people to hunt for the widget just doesn't encourage them to read the blog. It's a bit like only including a short snippet of a post in your RSS feed - it just means people don't read the whole thing. Sneaky tactics like this don't work too well.
Chris - let me know if you get anywhere with AdSense as a result of the tip. I got a couple of clicks within the first few days. I haven't had so many recently, but they come and go.
lankapo - if you read some of the comments here, you'll see this isn't actually what happens. You could ask in the Entrecard forums too, to see if people really do stay to read a blog just because the widget is hard to find. If people don't find a post interesting, either the site author needs to write better content, or they need to accept that not everyone will like their site. Simple really. If someone comes to my site and thinks "I don't care about blogging tips", is there much point trying to get them to stay?
Lightening - I don't like the big RSS buttons, but I'd like to try a compromise. A slightly more visible RSS image just above my Feedburner counter could be the best of both worlds. Watch this space!
Tyler - thanks for reaffirming what I have gathered from quite a few other blogs. Also, you might like my post about social bookmarking: Why social bookmarking links are usually a waste of space. As a StumbleUpon user it'd be good to hear your opinion on this. Thanks!
My blog is fairly new so some of my results could be a little skewed because of that. I had a text link to my rss feed for about a month. Once I switched to an image by RSS count jumped instantly.
My button isn't really large however. I also customized the button so it really matched the website.
I agree about the Entrecard widget. As far as placing the Entrecard at the bottom so people scroll down and hopefully read that isn't what I do. I always drop and then read. If it takes me too long to find the drop zone then I don't take the the time to even skim the page for information I want to read.
I've been contemplating adding adsense to my blog but wasn't sure where the best place to put it. I really appreciate the tip.
Ironically, the blog my user name linked to on the above comment doesn't use a customized button and in fact has a medium sized orange button. It's one of my blogs that hasn't been customized yet. Oops. So there is no customized RSS button.
I didn't think about the "blog's memory."
Hi Leisa, I updated your URL and moved your comments so they are all under LeisaWatkins rather than LeisaLWatkins. It's going to get confusing otherwise. Please contact me if this isn't correct.
Thanks for your comments - I'll be watching to see if my subscriber count goes up now that I have put a small RSS icon on my home page. Glad you found the tips useful.
brilliant post. it's like when your watching HGTV. my future wife loves that channel. anyway, spacing and layout and design is crucial. it's can either welcome the visitor or keep them from coming back. i noticed that you're working your way up entrecard. great job, i agree with you about entrecard. i think it has a lot of potential and being one of the most popular sites could only benefit if entrecard makes it bigtime.