Technically Easy

Search results for: “label/Web Site – Review”

  • Free Web Site or Blog Review

    I have been thinking about how generating backlinks is a great way of getting exposure for your web site or blog. It takes time and effort to generate backlinks to your web site, and it is a never ending experience.

    I have decided to help out those who have a web site but are having trouble getting others to link to them. I’ll even go one step further than providing a backlink, I’ll write a full review about the web site in a future post.

    The details about getting a review of your web site can be found in this post.

    Requesting a Review

    To get a review done about your web site, you simply need to contact me in the e-mail address provided on Technically Easy. When you do send an e-mail to psalmon12@gmail.com, include the following:

    • Your web site name.
    • Your web site URL.
    • A description of your web site.
    • Your name and e-mail address. (Don’t worry these won’t be published in the review).
    • The subject of the e-mail should read Free Web Site Review.

    I’m interested in relatively new web sites and blogs to help them out, but I do have my limits. I won’t review sites that only have a few pages (less than 10), or blogs that have few posts (less than 10). I will review sites only if they look like the owner has put some time and effort into the site, and not some quickie, spur of the moment site.

    I can’t give a timeline on how quickly your site will get reviewed, but I’ll try to create a review on a regular basis. Depending on how many requests I get, it could take some time to post a review of your web site. I’ll send you an e-mail once the review is available.

    Review Criteria

    I have decided to rate a web site on the following elements:

    • Design – Is the look and feel of the web site pleasing to the eye and easy to navigate? Does the entire site seem to flow or is it a jumbled mess?
    • Focus – What is the focus of the web site? Is it easy to determine or does a visitor have to hunt around for one?
    • Content – I’ll read through some of the content to see if it matches the focus of the entire web site. I’ll check to see if it is easy to read and understand and make note of any content that stands out.
    • Spelling and Grammar – I’ll see if the content is well-written by checking the spelling and grammar. Having bad spelling or grammar can make the content more difficult to understand.

    There may be other criteria in the future, but these are the main elements that I will be targeting. I will rate each element out of 5 stars, and then rate the entire site overall out of 5 stars.

    I will be honest with my reviews but will mention both the positive and negative aspects of the web site. Don’t get angry with me if your site doesn’t receive a high rating. I am just one person, and another may have a different opinion about your web site. Keep in mind that I’m writing a review for free.

    Summary

    Generating backlinks to your web site is one of the best methods you can do to increase the exposure, and eventually traffic, to your web site. It takes time and effort to generate backlinks, but I can help to make it easier for you. I will write a free review for your web site and post it on Technically Easy.

    I will review several elements of your web site and rate them out of 5 stars, and also rate your entire site out of 5 stars. If you would like a review, simply send me an e-mail that includes the information outlined in this post, and I’ll visit your web site and write a review.

  • A List of Common Tags in a Blogger Blog Post Header

    A List of Common Tags in a Blogger Blog Post Header

    There are many labels and fields that can be modified to change the look of your Blogger blog’s post header. You can choose to use all the available fields, some of the fields, or none of the fields. Since the fields are related to each blog post, you can even display them anywhere on your post, even the footer.

    In this post I will list some of the most common data tags you may find in a Blogger template. By using the tags in the list, you can control what information is displayed in each of your blog posts.

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  • Review: Water Garden Guide

    Up until this point in my review writing campaign the Web sites that I have reviews have been various types of blogs. For this week’s review I have the opportunity to review a non-blog Web site, which is a nice change.

    The focus of this week’s Web site is on water garden’s, what they are, how to create them, and other important information. After visiting this site I can easily tell this is on well planned, thought out and maintained Web site.

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  • How to View Your Web Site as Search Engines See It

    For many who start out in web site management, they learn quickly from the experienced webmasters about search engine optimization. Such things as layout and keywords are usually discussed with many tips and tricks offered to improved a web site’s earch engine ranking. There are many web sites that are made up mainly of flash or images which can cause problems with search engines since they have difficulty reading either format.

    One of the biggest tips is good unique content with lots of text. The text is what search engines use to rank a web site. In this post I will show you a quick method of viewing your web site as search engines may see it. This will allow you to determine if what the search engines see is how you expect them to see your web site.

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  • Review: Moviecat

    I enjoy reading blogs and Web sites that are humorous, mainly because life can be serious at times, so reading something funny is a change of pace. Many of the funny Web sites, however, can have recycled content, or content that I have seen many times before.

    This week, I review a blog that, if you are a cat person, can be seen as amusing. I, myself, am more of a dog person, but I still found this week’s site rather impressive. I review the blog Moviecat (no longer exists) this week.

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  • Grouping Posts by Categories in Blogger

    Grouping Posts by Categories in Blogger

    I recently had questions regarding adding categories to a Blogger blog. Although it doesn’t appear like Blogger supports categories, it in fact does and they can be added easily. In one of my recent posts titled Blog Designing Tips for New Bloggers, made mention of categories and that all new blogs should include a listing of them in their sidebar.

    In this post I will explain what categories are, and how to incorporate them into your Blogger blog.

    About Categories

    Blogger Logo

    Each post on a blog is usually about a specific topic, and a blog may have several topics overall. When you create many posts about a topic it would be nice to allow the visitor to view all posts that are related to that topic. This is where categories come into play.

    A category is simply a tag, or label for a post. When you add a post to a category you simply begin to organize your blog in a meaningful manner. You then list you categories on your blog and when a visitor clicks the category link, a new page displaying all posts in that category is shown to the visitor.

    It is important, however, not to create too many categories. I believe roughly 15 categories is a good number to have on your blog. Too many and your listing would be too large to read easily.

    In the next section I will show you how to implement categories in a Blogger blog.

    Labels = Categories

    In the Blogger world you can attach labels to each post that you publish. These labels can then be listed in your blog’s sidebar as links. When a visitor then clicks one of these links, it will take them to a Web page that displays all posts that are assigned that label.

    To add labels to your blog, use the following steps:

    1. Log in to your Blogger account, and then click the Layout link to the blog you want to change.
    2. Click the Add a Page Element where you want the categories to appear.
    3. From the list of page elements, click the Add to Blog button under Labels.

      4. Add Label Element

    4. Enter a title, and then click Save Changes. This should add the new Labels element to your blog.

      5. Label Element Properties

    5. Now when you create or edit a post, enter some labels in the text box labelled Labels for this post. Each label should be separated by a comma.
    6. When you publish the post, a label will show up on your blog with the number of posts associated with it.

  • Free Web Site Statistics

    I have seen many posts in various forums regarding where to get Web site statistics. There are many statistics package that can be purchased and installed on a Web server, but many Web site authors are on a host that they don’t own.

    The two most common online statistics packages available are Google Analytics and StatCounter. I have used both in the past and will be reviewing them in this post.

    Google Analytics

    Many people recommend this as their choice for keeping track of their Web site statistics. It provides a very detailed look at the visitors to your site, and is completely free to use.

    The statistics are organized into different sections: Dashboard, Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content and Goals. With the exception of Dashboard, the remaining sections all have subsections that provide more detailed information.

    The first view that is shown when accessing Google Analytics is that of the Dashboard. This page provides an overview of your Web site statistics over the past month. Items such as traffic, visitors, popular content and traffic sources are summarized on this page.

    The next sections are summarized as follows:

    • Visitors – This section provides an abundance of information about the visitors to your Web site. Information such as the number of new and returning visitors, maps, browser capabilities and network information can be found here. This information can be useful because it gives you an idea of the tools and connection speeds that your users are using when accessing your Web site.
    • Traffic Sources – How are your visitors getting to your Web site? That question is answered in this section. Such things as referring Web sites, search engines and keywords searched by your visitors are shown here. This information can be helpful to optimize your site by review the keywords entered. Many bloggers create posts based on what keywords visitors used to get to their Web site.
    • Content – If you would like to know the pages on your Web site that are the most popular, then you should have a look in this section. This section contains information on the pages that visitors first see when they visit your Web site, as well as the pages they leave your Web site from.
    • Goals – If you have a business Web site then you can set metrics to measure how much your site fulfills its business objective. Goals measure the conversion rate of your Web site, such as when a client completes a purchase of a product from your Web site. Many Web site authors may not use this section.

    I find Google Analytics provides very detailed information regarding visitors to my Web site. I do, however, have trouble tracking how a visitor moves through my site. There may be a way of doing this, but I don’t it very easy to do. Google Analytics also takes some time to update its statistics. From my experience, it can be several hours before you see the data.

    Overall, I use Google analytics because of the information that it provides, especially for past data as it seems to keep a lot of historical data.

    StatCounter

    Along with Google Analytics, the other big player in the free Web site statistics package is StatCounter. I have only recently used their service, and found that they offer a really nice, detailed statistical information.

    StatCounter doesn’t have as many different reports as Google Analytics does, but it does have very detailed reports. They do provide the same information as Google Analytics, such as entry and exit pages, keyword analysis, and visitor system information.

    The one thing that I like about StatCounter is the ability to easily see how a visitor navigated through your site by viewing a Visitor Paths report.

    I have a lot more experience with using Google Analytics, than with StatCounter (actually I just signed up StatCounter about a month ago), but I find myself using StatCounter just a much because the reports are easier to understand. They provide charts with several reports including the data in a tabular form below the chart.

    The one thing about StatCounter that you should know is that it will only keep track of the last 500 page loads for the free account. You will need to upgrade to a paid account if you would like to track more. Once the log is full, the next page load will be recorded and the oldest data will be deleted. For many people, such as myself, 500 may be a large enough value. I believe the log file contains information about the visitors, as I have been able to pull up my site stats for a month ago.

    Summary

    Both statistics packages mentioned in this post are great for providing information about the visitors to your Web site. Each package has a different look and feel, but both provide a lot of information that could help you manage your Web site. I currently use both packages as each one provides information that the other does not. If you would like to choose one, then I suggest you try both and see which one you like best.

  • What are Web Sites, Domain Names and Hosts?

    I recently received a question regarding the difference between web sites and domains. I replied the best I could without including too much information as to make the answer confusing.

    The person asking the question was new to web site management. As there are probably many more out there that would like to start a web site and are new to this online world, I decided to create this post to explain a few things.

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