Prelude: As I was trying to come up with a good title for this post, the words like “revenge”, “massacre”, “mercy”, “masochism”, “pack of hungry wolves” kept popping in my head. However, I decided to leave those thoughts for when I audit your blogs and stick with something friendlier for this special occasion. Go easy on me, in other words! š
Itās nice to have an extra pair of hands…
Youāve read and loved my Blog Audit Fridays for a while now.
Moreover, many of you took advantage of the very frank advice I so freely dispense and used it to improve your blogs - I am privileged to know that I played a part in that and love hearing about the incredible growth that can only come from taking action.
Since I am so good at bashing other peopleās blogs, you would think that my own blog would be just about perfect.
Of course, nothing is further from the truth.
Writing daily posts for TGC, as well as guest blogging, attending to several social media accounts, responding to hundreds of comment and emails per day, donāt leave a whole lot of time to actually tweak my blog and make sure I stay on top of my own advice.
However, I am the one who walks the walk, and thatās exactly why I decided to ask for your help and give me a push in the rear that I desperately need to move Traffic Generation Cafe forward.
So… without further ado - my blog and this mad Russian are at your mercy.
Letās start with some general stats about my blog:
TrafficGenerationCafe.com
Title: Traffic Generation Cafe | Generate Targeted Website Blog Traffic
Description: Traffic Generation Cafe: Plain, simple, cutting-edge knowledge and insider tips you can use to generate traffic to YOUR website, right now ā today!
Google PageRank: PR0 (from your comments: I canāt believe I am still PR0 either!
Alexa Rank: 14,280
Indexed pages in Google: 2,150
Domain Age: 7 months
**********
Here are some points that Iād like for you to hit when auditing my blog.
Mind you you donāt need to be an expert of any kind.
If you have SEO expertise, hit me with it - let me know what you see I need to change.
If you are web designer, let me know what design changes would improve my blog and increase conversions.
If you are a copywriter, give me some pointers on tho to write better.
If you are a techie, let me know what flaws you see and what improvements could be made.
If youād rather leave all of the above to people who know what they are talking about, just tell me your overall impressions of TGC: things you like, things that bother you, and what you would do differently.
Remember though:
When auditing someone elseā work, itās always good to not just point out the problems, but also provide solutions. I am not a big fan of “I donāt really like it, but donāt know why“.
First Impression
Pretty self-explanatory - just try to see my blog as if itās your first time.
1. What I liked about your blog
From your comments:
- overall pleasing style and colors;
- easy to read writing style;
- nice header picture, and yes, itās me;
- lots of other good stuff, in other words.
Now itās much more fun to see what you said below:
2. Design changes to consider
1. Navigation Tabs Font: Heather Hill says that the font in my navigation tabs and sidebar widget headings is too small and a bit hard to read. Agreed.
2. Social Media Buttons: Katherine Salt said that would expect to see social links nearer the top of the page.
My goal is always to bring followers from social media networks to my blog and keep them here; not the other way around. Thatās why the buttons are on my blog, but not too prominent.
3. Sidebar on the left: Adam Paudyal asks “Is there any particular reason(s) why you put the sidebar on the left and not on the right side. I was just wondering if it makes a difference if the sidebar was on the right and the content on the left?”
When you look at a webpage, where do your eyes go to? To the left top. Since thatās where my optin form is (and temporary out of order 
), thatās where I want the eyes to be. However, still need to split test it.
Also, an interesting post on that from Lisa Drubec How You Lost 20% Of Your Conversions - by the way, youāll notice her sidebar is on the left as well.
4. Header: Sandy from Composting reviews says “I love the header but it does take a large amount of space above the fold”. I agree, itās too big. Problem is if I changed the width, I would have to change the length… and then what? Dilemma…
5. Background color: Connie McKnight says that my background color could be a bit lighter, like the light color blue at the bottom of my header.
Iāve tried it before, but didnāt like the color combo. I think I should stopping guessing and do some split testing. š Thanks, Connie!
6. No picture in the header: Maky says “I am not a huge fan of personal photos in the header (kind of screams MLM marketing to me), I believe the one in the footer, your gravatar and in the āArticle by ā¦ā box is enough for me to know who owns the blog. You use the same photo everywhere which is good.”
DONāT agree with that. My face is a part of my brand. Plus, I am not even in MLM. š
Respectfully disagreed.
3. Navigation
1. RSS Button: Lisa thinks that the feed option should be more prominent towards the top of the page. The one in the header is small.
Hereās my answer: RSS feed ā I am thinking of getting rid of it in my navigation bar altogether. Two reasons: the first one is too long to explain and it has to do with how many people statistically read RSS feeds; second one has to do with the fact that I am displaying yet another link on every page leaking my PR that I donāt have .
I think I will make a post on RSS feed ā itās quite interesting.
2. Sidebar widgets: Donace says I need to reduce the number of links that repeat each other on each page, like “Home” link or all the widgets in the sidebar. Point taken.
Content/Niche Analysis
In case you havenāt noticed, I am in traffic generation niche.
I talked about anything and everything that can bring traffic to your site, and I mostly focus on free methods.
However, am I missing something? Is there something you think a blog like mine should cover, but doesnāt?
SEO Analysis
1. Keyword Density: Max says “I had a look at your keyword density of the page with SEO for Firefox. H1, h2, and h3 tags are fine, but none of your keywords get anywhere near the recommended density of 2-5%.”
Answer: keywords density hasnāt mattered in a long time. Tried to Google “does keyword density matter” and there will be an abundance of opinions supporting that.
Link Structure
Same as above; give it your best shot to learn all you want or can about my link building and identify my blind spots.
Marketing Takeaway
I am absolutely looking forward to your feedback.
As I read through your comments below, Iāll be looking for valid points that can improve my blog and my readers blogs, and fill in the blanks above - with DoFollow links to your blogs. Great opportunity to network with me, and made yourself known to my readers.
Take advantage of this!
Ana, I did not know that having ‘Homeā page displayed actually reduced PR rankings. There is so much more I need to learn about what matters in so far as blog design, layout, and link building.
It seems that every time I get closer to learning and implementing all of these tips, the major search engines make changes to their algorithms and then I need to learn more.
My blog is much better now than it was a year ago and the time you helped me analyze mine was much appreciated!
Not entirely sure what you mean by displaying “home” page, Danielle.
And yes, we all are always learning!
In the menu, I see you show the ‘Homeā page on TGC. I show it on most of my sites. It is the page that you land on when you type in trafficgenerationcafe.com or danielleparsons.com. Is there any issue with page rank when you have the Home page on all the internal pages of site?
Not really, Danielle; Google expects to see that button on virtually any website.
On the other hand, if you manage to code that button with some keywords in it, that would definitely benefit your SEO efforts.
I think I talked more about it in this post: https://trafficgenerationcafe.online/first-link-priority-rule/
Got to have them - I hate it when I am at someoneās blog and canāt find their Twitter button.
Need to have them, but I am with you - they shouldnāt be the first thing everyone sees. š
Iām on iPhone so will be quick.
What is the primary keyphrase you are targeting here?
Canāt comment until I know š
Btw, BRILLIANT IDEA.
And your Alexa rank is phenomenal!!
Kudos
Hello, sunshine - always respect people who can type a comment on the phone; I am more of one-liner and I am done. š
You see my philosophy is that not every post is meant to be ranked for something.
Since I blog daily, it takes too long to actually SEO everything. Half of the times, I donāt even do keyword research. š
I do all that for the post I THINK matter.
Makes sense?
Sorry, I meant across the site as a whole. You see I am looking at the meta tags you provided and wanted to know if you are trying specifically to rank for Traffic Generation or Targeted Website Traffic?
As for your philosophy, I think its a great one. Trying to rank every post is not only pointless, it can also result in the leaking of your frontal lobe onto your keyboard, and this is NOT covered under warranty.
Thanks for getting back to me so promptly, I know full well how many comments you have to respond to each day š
Right now I am going for Traffic Generation.
Believe it or not, with so much SEO stuff I teach, I have absolutely no time to do any link building, so other keywords are on my list! š
Now, tell me what you are thinking…
PS I always pay special attention to comments from special people and try to answer them quickly, since I get a lot of good pointers out of them. Or at least a good laugh. š Needless to say, you are one of those people, Alex.
Ah Ana see what I have missed. I took the weekend off to my parentās home and here you have let people to audit your great blog!!! Well, I see that many people have already said what I would say.
The praises:
1. The one of your kind you are. Hence is your content. No one can beat you. You donāt offer bullshit. You offer original, useful and applicable content.
2. When I come to your blog as a stranger for the first time, I know what I can get from it. You clearly spell it out.
3. Blue and red welcomes me and makes me warm and tells to me that you are warm too. But I know TGC is not for the cool guys (I know I am neither praising nor criticizing you ;)).
4. You give a lot of link and keyword luv. I donāt know may be that is why you are still at PR0. But that doesnāt matter. You are being loved by real people; never mind the stats.
Some tough things-
1. As many have pointed out the social icons could go up. Even though you donāt have much space over the fold, I would suggest the top-right corner (above your big coffee cup) of your header to have those 4 coffee cups in small size (may be 32X32).
2. The FB like box is now causing a bit of clutter to your sidebar, which used to be cleaner before. Do you really need it?
3. Please please for Godās sake donāt change your sidebar to the right. I know you wonāt.
4. Your navigation bar is dull and doesnāt grab attention. Might try and different color background and some font change.
5. You could put your contributor badges at the footer below your “About Ana” stuff. Again this makes little bit cluttering at the sidebar.
As you see, I mainly comment on the design aspects. The stats, I wouldnāt talk about them. You have great numbers.
Hope I have helped you a bit, if not to a great extent.
PS: I was just wondering while using websitegrader.com (thanks to Lisa). I see that both of our blogs rate almost the same in terms of the grade (given that your blog is about 1.5 months elder than mine ;)). The two big differences are the number of sites linking and the number of pages crawled by Google. But could never figure out what makes these differences!
Jane.
Glad you came by to catch up, Jane! š
Thanks for the praise and letās go over the “tough” part:
1. I am not sure why I need to display social icons high up. After all I want my readers to stay on my blog and not wonder off looking me up elsewhere.
For those who are looking for them, they are easily found. What do you think?
2. You think FB widget causes clutter? I do want to have it there for social proof and because I want people to be connected with me there as well. I might move it all the way down.
4 - 5. Points taken.
Thanks, Jane!
Mark
I would just like to say that I have been following Ana for some time now, but havenāt been here for awhile and I apoligize! Ana is like finding a four leaf clover! She is honest and tells it like it is! The content on this site is exceptional! Although I havenāt been here in awhile, I will be coming back.
Thank you so much, Mark - I know how busy you are and appreciate you taking your time to visit me.
Ana
It looks like maybe FB fan pages are messed up right now…the same blank box is on my site too.
Turns out that your FB widget wonāt work on your blog if you choose to use FB as your fan page - the new feature of FB.
I guess they have a lot to iron out with that one…
First impression / Design
Nice looking blog with cute coffee cups, I like the contrast between the background color and the main page. Nice choice of colors too. I am not a huge fan of personal photos in the header (kind of screams MLM marketing to me), I believe the one in the footer, your gravatar and in the “Article by …” box is enough for me to know who owns the blog. You use the same photo everywhere which is good. (except on YouTube!)
It does not really matter on which side your content is so long as you code your website such that the spiders see your content first (for good SEO) and looking at your source code, I see that youāve done exactly that so u are fine. Your story that you put ur vertical nav on the left so people can see your opt-in first is well … funny! Is subscribing the first thing I do when I come to a blog? NO. If I like a blog enough to want to subscribe, I will dig out the opt-in form wherever it may be!
Attention Grabbing
I love your post titles and how you play with the words and this is what makes me want to read the post but from SEO point of view, I have always wondered if thereās any penalty for reusing such phrases as “Blog Audit Friday”, “Link Building” etc in your post titles. How do search engines view all the different posts with the same phrase in their title?
I love the one line paragraphs with all the white space. This is the No 1 thing that makes me read to the end of each post! Maybe the font can be made a tad bigger?
Opt in
Even though I did not subscribe thru it, I saw your pop-up opt-in form only once and I like that. I know a lot of bloggers say they have success with that when used repeatedly but I guess it is more with people who think that for them to get access to the blog, they need to register rather than with people who know they can close it without subscribing. You only register after you have made sure that the blog has what you are looking for.
I am wondering if you can place an opt in form somewhere after the article. I personally will want to take action after I have read a post, not before, and I guess it is the same for a lot of people.
Thatās all! I donāt have all the fancy tools that will check ur links and image tags but I am hoping you are practicing what you are preaching in those areas š
Pls donāt break anything!
1. Disagree on the first point. š
2. Sidebar on the left is for the users, not SEs.
3. Thereās no duplicate content penalty on using the same words in titles. And thanks for the compliment!
4. Love white spaces as well, makes it easy to read.
5. Opt-in forms - my point exactly. If I am hit with one within 2 seconds of being on the blog, whatās the point? I donāt know anything about you or your blog…
6. I actually used to have an opt-in form after each posts, but it wasnāt converting well at all. Maybe I should rethink that.
Always walking the walk! (well, most of the times. š
Thanks for your feedback, Maky!
Hi Ana,
I feel totally unqualified to critique your blog…not at all my area of expertise. I CAN say that I like your blog and you and your readers make me feel like you know what youāre talking about…so, I listen.
My favorite color is green, but…
Lou
Green is color of money. š However, blue is color of trust.
Ana - There seems to be a lot of discussion about your sidebar being on the left-hand side of the page. Years ago I took a desktop publishing course. The one thing that I learned that has stuck with me all these years is that the most important spot on a page is the upper left hand corner. I would assume that information should be the same for websites, so if you have your important information on the top left, it should definitely get our attention. I love your site, especially the header. The only thing I would change would be to change the gray on the outside border to match the strip under your header. I find that to be a much warmer colour. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. I look forward to reading your new posts.
Thatās precisely why my sidebar is on the left, Connie. š
I actually did try to go to warmer blue, but didnāt like it.
I will split test the colors; see which one works best.
Thanks for your input!
Ana, frankly I dont see anything at this point that I would change about your blog. The only thing I noticed was there was no longer an opt in…. but after I felt proud of myself for finding one itsy bitsy thing, I read that you were aware of it! š
To be honest Ana, I think you ooze professionalism. and had no idea how you manage to be so on top of everything, including copy writing and writing bang up posts.
The only think I do intermittently have a problem with is load speed. I have mentioned this before and sometimes the loading speed in excruciating… but having said that, it sometimes corrects itself. After the last time we spoke on this, I asked Devesh to check. I am not certain that he did immediately but when he did respond he said that you site is very fast. So… not sure if itās my computer or not. Sometimes I have “given up” and clicked off because Iāve had your header sitting on my screen for ages with nothing else.
other sites seem to load fine…..
not even sure where I would look on my system to fix that.
Today however, your site loaded instantly!!
BTW… I did get your last emails/responses and yes, I did write a post linking to your 202 bits sized pieces… will send the link, but Devesh is hopefully working on my blog, so it might not be visible.
you also asked me to forward specific questions based on a blog audit you did not long ago. I will do that and might I forewarn you they may be very elementary!!
Keep up the great work Ana… if things come to me I know you are always ready to embrace or at least consider input openly.
In the meantime, I shall work on walking in your footsteps.
Thanks
Jayne
I did notice the occasional loading speed problems, Jayne.
I think it has to do with some of the social media buttons I have. If the site they are connected to is down for whatever reason, it takes forever to load.
However, this is still a problem and one way or another needs to be corrected. Iāll take a look at it - thanks for reminding me!
Ana,, I just thought I would mention this to you… as you may or may not recall, I am having my site redone by Devesh as the other was well… plain ugly, but worse than that it too went through some reaalllllyyy slow loading. (no kidding) and so was yours on my system. (Iām talking a couple of minutes or worse for the rest of the site to load).
After Devesh changed my Theme, I decided to play around and I noticed that it was still not loading properly so I took off the Aweber form on mine too. All of a sudden “bang” site loads in a millisecond.
Is it not curious how your site now loads in a spit second too on my sytem… now that we both got rid of aweber.
I always noticed at the lower left corner of my screen… on both your site and my own it would always say “waiting for form: Aweber” …so… just thought Iād share this.
Hope you are having a great night.
Jayne
Very good point, Jayne…
I wonder how we can speed it up…
HI Ana, regarding the Aweber forms… though I do feel we do wait for them occasionally, I have to now confess with a certain amount of egg on my face that my system may have caused a good portion of the speed issues between your site and mine.
After you sent the last response “I wonder how we can fix it”… I submitted a ticket to Aweber and give them three of my site addresses. All of them had the same issue originally - with the exception of my blog because I have removed the form.
Anway, they advised me to to clear my cache and cookies.
After I saved my stored passwords, I realized it was worth trying… but did not put any stock in their suggestion due to my technophobial illiteracy.
I am pleased to say however, although a little sheepish, that MY system was to blame for the most part.
After i cleared cookies and cache everything seemed to load a lot faster than it had in weeks.
Iām sorry for seeming to cry wolf… I just didnāt know that cache and cookies would have issues with ‘formsā loading, etc.
Sorry for the loooong confession and explanation. I will know for the future and will keep an eye on things.
Hope youāre having a great day.
Jayne
Sometimes the simplest explanation is behind everything. Glad you told me, Jayne!
Now go clean up those eggs and I will try what you just did! A good clean up never hurt anyone. š
Max
Just a couple of brief comments, Ana (round 2 - here is a tip: never use the SEO for Firefox add-on to check a site while writing a comment; it wipes out your text š ):
I also wondered about the sidebar on the left. Would you opt in without first checking out a site? Thatās what a left sidebar suggests to me.
On the other had, sidebar on the right lets the visitor read first and his/her eyes come to rest at the end of the line, quite naturally on the right (at least for English and other left to right writing languages). Seems a more sensible location for the opt-in box (when itās there).
I had a look at your keyword density of the page with SEO for Firefox. H1, h2, and h3 tags are fine, but none of your keywords get anywhere near the recommended density of 2-5%, but then this test may perhaps not have been such a good idea as comments take up way more than half the space. Just a thought.
Otherwise, I love the theme and layout (why else would I have chosen Thesis for my sites?) and, of course, the content.
Keep it up, please.
Thanks, Max.
Left sidebar? Converts better.
Keyword density? Iāve ranked for keywords before that werenāt even mention on the page. Keyword density is not really a metric that I am ever concerned about. Plus, not every post is meant to rank, right? š
Thanks for the feedback!
I love the header but it does take a large amount of space above the fold and the top of the sidebar is um, vile. You could use that space much better. Iām impressed by the typography and especially the drop caps.
Please donāt be tempted to follow the advice above to get to the point in the minimum number of words, be as tangential as ya like honey.
Its YOUR blawg!
I am a very new reader and donāt really care about much else than the quality of the writing…and the drop caps!
š
sandy
Glad you are keen on my drop caps, Sandy. š
Point taken about the header. Sidebar - ignore it; I change some things around and never got to finish the project. š
Hope to see you back soon!
Jeannie Barker
I love what you have done visually with the thesis theme and I love your portrait in the banner. Itās an unusual and eye-catching shot with the red of your hair echoed in the site theme, but… it isnāt you!
You look quite different in your latest videos so I would suggest using an updated image in your banner.
Yes, it is me, Jeannie, and just because I change my hair color and length, I would change my whole blog design. š
marlon
Ana,
I love the precision of your tagline “Easy Strategies To Increase Your Website Traffic Today”. It exactly tells what the blog is all about. It really walk the walk. As of this writing, youāre blog is ranked by Alexa at 13,929 Worldwide and 4,336 in USA. And your site is relatively young! My blog is about the same age but itās no where close to that feat!
Iām glad I found your blog. I actually got to it through http://www.thefriendlyblogger.com.
Iām looking forward to learning from you more!
Welcome, Marlon - glad to see Lisa is spreading some traffic love! š
I appreciate the thumbs up; hope to see you back soon.
Hi Ana,
I like everything in your blog except one thing. Your PR is 0 donāt know why?? You have very successful blog but still PR 0, very difficult to digest. Ana can you explain it??
Hereās another prime example of a blog where the comments are as important, if not more important than the post itself. I learn every time I visit your blog. And all the great tips from the commenters! I actually feel pretty good right now - my blog isnāt the only one that suffers from technical glitches. š
I am of course not versed enough in blogging to critique your blog but I will offer my impressions, what I would change -if it was my blog.
It is immediately obvious that this is a professional blog. The header is professionally done, top notch. The coffee cups really class the coffee/cafe theme
up. I remember the time you gave someone the info on where to find them, how-to use them. I like them so much I tried to figure out a way to use them on my blog. But they just didnāt fit. š
Layout, sidebars, it all looks great.
The ONLY things I would change would be the sidebar colors and the ‘font balanceā, the ‘perception balanceā for lack of a better term.
The colors are easy reading, classy, but the upper area of the left sidebar looks kinda blah to me. Itās OK, but itās not strong, it doesnāt pop. And maybe you donāt want it to pop, but the background blue and the coffee brown just sits there.
The other thing - and the thing I noticed right away is I think your post font is actually smaller than any other font. Especially the sidebars. And the footer. To me, that says the information in the sidebars is more important than the post itself. Well, of course it isnāt, especially your great info you always put out. So why downplay it?
Thatās the ‘balanceā consideration I mentioned. The frame of the blog - this size, this font. The actual informational post, the meat of the blog - a smaller font.
Maybe boost/balance the colors of the overall blog, and boost the post fonts, or all fonts . . .make it all a little stronger? I think it will still be as inviting as ever, your friendly picture and the coffee theme insures that.
I canāt wait to see your final product, Ana!
I tell you, Gibson - it seems like every day I have a new glitch I need to fix! š
I think using “coffee cups” in your headers works best in Thesis theme - thatās why I love it; there are so many things you can do with it!
I am with you on the sidebar - I never like it and itās due for some “playing with”.
Font… Itās actually standard font size for both sidebar and content, but I do see your point about the footer.
I think Iāll try to make the content font a touch bigger - see what it looks like.
Thanks, Gib!
Just tried 14px - too large. Most blogs use 12 or 13; I think Iāll go back to 13. š
I think itās an optical illusion. I didnāt have any way to measure it - It just ‘seemed smallerā. Interesting the effect the whole thing has on the eye.
Glad to see ya back -hope you enjoyed Colorado.
Ana
I donāt really want to repeat what everyone else has said but your site is very welcoming and the design is great…etc.
I did look at the source code and I could not tell what your targeted keywords are. From a seo point of view it was not obvious as there was no consistency.
Plus do you look at the words you use for the ‘serpsā? In some cases they could be more enticing.
Andrew
Are you talking about meta keywords, Andrew?
If so, I always put only the most generic ones there. Google doesnāt look at them any longer, but competition does. If you add your real money keywords there, youāll save me a lot of keyword research trouble. š
Also, Iād love for you to explain what you meant by “Plus do you look at the words you use for the āserpsā? In some cases they could be more enticing.” Please? š
Ana
I am referring to your primary targeted keyword phrase you want to be high in the search rankings for.
I couldnāt tell what it was as I couldnāt see any consistency on keyword phrases you are using in your title, description and keywords.
Re: serps.
When you do a search, under the actual website link is the description for that page. The description that is displayed is the ‘serpsā. The serps for this blog post is:
“Prelude: As I was trying to come up with a good title for this post, the words like ārevengeā, āmassacreā, āmercyā, āmasochismā, …”
That doesnāt do the blog post justice. I would add something more enticing to make people want to click on the link.
Am I making sense?
Andrew
Gottya…
You see my philosophy is that not every post is meant to be ranked for something.
Since I blog daily, it takes too long to actually SEO everything. Half of the times, I donāt even do keyword research. š
I do all that for the post I THINK matter.
Makes sense?
Good point!
Lali Sandhu
Well I like your blog it is filled with absolute value and stuff. Your is one of the few blogs I regularly visit. Now if you asked me this question “what I miss here” and that is more entertainment. For Ex I loved Jason Betterās blog. I mean I waited everyday for his post to come. He was funny and many times he was just raving about common problems that the networkers have but the way he wrote the content would hook me. He made a cartoon profile he made a readerās experience enjoyable too. If you can work on this nothing like it. I love to have fun too.
Yes, I remember Jason Better - of course, he was a fictional character invented by the guys from BetterNetworker.
He was funny, although I disagreed with some of the information he was publishing.
Hello Ana,
Not having experience in the mechanical/technical aspects of web page construction it is clear from the other comments why I find your page appealing.
I want to ask; why such an empty, almost blank stare for your choice of photograph. I have seen other photos and some of your videos and I feel I have missed “the point” of what this one attempts to infer.
TimHiggins
I agree on that point - your site feels nice - smile about it!
Simple, Steve - when my designer was working on my blog design, I had a very narrow time window to get it done.
Since I used to do modeling, I just sent my designer a bunch of pictures I had on file and thatās the one he chose.
I might be biased, but I still love it; I think it looks sophisticated and makes you want to see what I am all about. š
Ditto!! When I fell into a conversation many months ago at Serpd…it was about your photo..so of course I came over to see what all the hubub was. Itās brilliant marketing in my opinion!
Thanks, Lisa - that pic brings in a lot of traffic; whether people think itās great or weird. š
Well well well, looky here! Seems the shoe is on the other foot now, eh Ana?! š
All kidding aside, WHERE IS YOUR OPT IN FORM??! It has vanished. Anyways, I simply love your blog. I dont think people could take your audits seriously if you didnt already walk the walk.
Having said that….ewwwww, are you shaking yet?! I think the feed option should be more prominent towards the top of the page. The one in the header is small and I also think an email subscription would rock too. And just as has been mentioned already, the SEO traffic category link is broken.
I honestly think your navigation is flawless…hence the awarding of 8 sitelinks to your blog. Your internal link structure is rock star status, period. And your SEO is stellar seeing as you rank pretty well for some great keywords.
2 out of 30 images without alt tags. Pretty dang good. Your blog has a MozRank of 5 Ana, so PR —-phooey!
I think you may have a canonical issue though. I know doing a quick spy shows some links left on the table due to that and possibly needing a 301.
And your copywriting?! PLEASE…..top notch. You draw us in, keep us here and send us off edumocated. š
Im done. I think. No, yea Im done.
Cheers,
Lisa
Ana, Iām dropping in under Lisa. Remember you asked me to write specific questions regarding a blog audit, and I said that whenever you mentioned the fellows name… I heard my name… but so much of it was Greek to me.. and then you responded and said “Jayne if you have so many questions, why not submit them?” ?
Well, here is the thing… many of my questions is what Lisa said. then my question is what DID she say?
How on earth does a person see how many alt tags on images?
Cononical ? Say what issue?
“301” ?… oh yea baby… gotta love the lingo…
“Doing a quick spy left some links on the table” - say huh? How does a person ‘spyā and know what links are left? what on earth would you look for…
Im not interested in spying, but I am interested in ‘knowingā what to look for on my blog.
Now that I am in the middle of Thesis being installed… as per your suggestion (and link I might add)… I have played with it on a blog I have never posted to. The set up and customization seems not bad … but the terms such as ‘canonicalā and all the SEO lingo is what I have problems with. Some of the other comments here are from people who know their stuff but in some cases you do speak in a foreign language to people like me.
to expand on future posts, you might be able to make two out of one. Write as you always do… as we can always pick up great info regardless. Then… write a dummy version for the technically challenged.
sorry for going on and on like broken record… while it is fresh in my mind what I donāt understand and noticed how so many do… i thought that rather than pretend I could do an audit… I would tell you why I canāt!
thanks, Jayne
Jayne darling!!
Okay, let me see if I can explain what I did to make Ana quiver in fear!! š
First, do you have the seo toolbar installed for Firefox? If not, check it out here:
http://tools.seobook.com/seo-toolbar/ Thatās where the “spying” comes into play. You can basically view anything and everything about the guts of a site. (email me if you need help with it.)
Then, like Ana mentioned I used a website grader (which she had rock star results) I might add.
If you go to http://websitegrader.com/ and enter your site, it tells you about all the goods like images that don;t have alt tags. I know Ana has a post on alt tags, I just cant find it!! š But the alt tags are keywords that optimize your images for the search engines because search engines cant read images.
Canonical issues is whether your site is indexed as www. or without www. This should explain it better:
https://trafficgenerationcafe.online/www-non-www/
This also explains the links left behind. If your site was indexed one way and got links, then you changed it…you can lose some of those links you built.
Which also explains a 301 redirect. If you change your domain, format, permalinks, you should do a 301 redirect and send your traffic to the new way of your site.
Jayne, when I first began this journey, I was so lost…I would get angry at all the jargon that went straight over my head. I realized the only way I was going to learn was to do exactly what you did…ask people!!
And you are in good hands with Devesh. I had to realize that there were limits to what I could do and when to hand over the reigns. Hence, my trust in Dev.
I hope this helps! I think I rambled enough. š
Lisa
Lisa, have I told you lately that I love you?
Thanks so much for explaining some of our ‘kewlā lingo. Everything you said makes a lot of sense to me, which is probably a good thing knowing that I can picture what you mean. Come to think of it, six months ago, even this awesome explanation may have had me scratching my head.
I will look at that toolbar tomorrow. It is 11:44pm and time to get horizontal otherwise I will never get the kids off to school! š which could be a good thing… but I digress….
I hope I didnāt come across ‘angryā… or overly frustrated. Iām not… not in a bad way anyhow. Just perhaps frustrated at my own limitations and wishing more things would stick.
As far as Devesh, yes… I feel good about him.
Itās true I would love to know more about these technical aspects, just so I can in the future have a better handle on diagnosing my own blog problems, and perhaps in some cases have the freedom to make my own necessary minor changes. I am not particularly interested in being a technological genius by any means, I would rather leave that to the experts and do what I feel I do best…. but it is nice to be able to explain things properly rather than refer to things as ‘thingyāsā…LOL
Loved and appreciated the explanation. I know that between Ana, Devesh and you I am in awesome hands.
Thanks to Ana, for allowing us to feel comfortable to use this site as a forum for my shortfalls!
Thanks Lisa, I will take you up on the opportunity to email you with hurdles…. fasten your seatbelt! See you soon.
(You too Ana) š
How can I not love every time you come to my site, Lisa! You brighten up my day. š
OK..
RSS feed - I am thinking of getting rid of it in my navigation bar altogether. 2 reasons: the first one is too long to explain and it has to do with how many people statistically read RSS feeds; second one has to do with the fact that I am displaying yet another link on every page leaking my PR that I donāt have :).
I think I will make a post on RSS feed - itās quite interesting.
Opt-in form… yes… need to fix some things in the report before I can offer it to my dear readers. Itāll be new and improved!
2 images without ALT tags? Could be the smiley faces? š
Sounds like you ran a websitegrader on my blog. Am I right? Yes, it does show a problem with canonicalization, but I have no idea what it is - everything seems to be fine, except for about 600 links that need a 301 redirect. š I am getting to it… some day…
If you have anything more concrete on that, by the way, let me know - there might be something I am overlooking.
Edumocated… Love it so much that I am going to use it somewhere and claim I came up with it! š
Thanks, Lisa!
you know….like the little email envelope or the “get TGC” in your inbox!
First of all - Jayne and Lisa: get a room! (or a blog…) š
Lisa: I think you actually need to take out that email subscription form; it distracts readers from your opt-in form (after all, whatās the difference) and they might choose neither.
Ana,
Okay, here we go…I am not an expert in the list above so this is just what I see.
1. I know exactly what your site is about when I arrive. Your Title and tagline are prefect.
2. I like knowing who I am dealing with and I know that upon arrival too.
3. You have made good use of the Thesis theme. Very clean and very professional.
4. Colors are pleasant and professional for your niche.
5. Your site is very easy to navigate. I can easily read a full post or leave comment.
6. You have made it easy to bookmark your site. I like the sliding share bar.
7. The important information is above the fold. And it is consistent with with your over all site.
8. Your graphics are consistent with your site. Your favicon and subtitles are fun and consistent with the cafe theme.
9. You have made it easy to connect with you on the social sites like twitter.
10. You have done great with your blog title and description. You are #2 on Google for at least one of your major keywords. I found you on page 1 for several other keywords , on your site. (Just guessing on what you are going for)
11. One thing about a good theme like Thesis is that your H1 and other title tags have been put to good use.
12. Your content copywriting is clean and clear. Lots of white space, easy to scan.
13. Good deep linking to posts in your site with a good disbursement of your affiliate links.
14. Your Alexa rating has been increasing fast…good for you.
15. Who knows on the PR. The list for getting PRank is long. Age of domain? Lots of do follow out going links? Those are the two that come to mind. I am not an SEO expert so take it for what is worth.
16. I get a 404 page when I click on the SEO TRAFFIC link just under your title. There is a plugin for Link checking, but it picks up your MBP Ninja links so you might want to turn it on once a month as a blog check.
17. I noticed your permalink was not change…did that on my post today too. Boo.
18. I like that fact that your site knows I have been here before. I do not get a popup or if I come from twitter I now bypass the twitter intro page.
Best Wishes for continued success.
LOVE your feedback, Sheila - just my style, bulleted and easy to read.
I know - forgot my permalink on this one; sucks, but once you start building links to it, you are stuck. š
Fixed the category bug - not sure what caused it, but thanks for checking out my blog closely enough to notice!
Hi Ana,
How fun to get feedback from others. I truly loved my experience as your first victim/victor for your blog audit Friday! I have to say that the only thing Iād change about your blog, (which youāve changed somewhat lately) is that Iād love to see more posts with video.
Since the beginning of the year when I started to see you in video (I think your Christmas message was one of the first I saw on your blog) Iāve felt even more connected to you. I loved the Sunday coffee video that I watched a couple of weeks ago too. š Youāve got an awesome message and your posts are out of this world, but your video is too, and my feedback would be to add more!
Awesome as always!
Heather
Thanks, Heather!
You know I used to do a lot of videos, but for some reason stopped. Looks like I am back, although gotta tell you - my accent sounds a lot thicker on videos. š
Hello Ana
Before I even start I would expect you would have a hundred times more suggestions for my blog than I could have for yours. I havenāt been blogging that long so the below are suggestions from a bit of a novice.
1. I really like the cafe theme and the way you have used the coffee cups for the Facebook etc links. I did expect to see social links nearer the top of the page but hey you only have some much room up there.
2. If would be nice to see a email sign up, I know you have the free guide but some people might not realise they will get updates from your blog that way.
3. when I am half way through an article and see something I want to read on the left I click on it immediately (I know I have no focus) it woudl be helpful if it opened in another window so I could zip about. Or maybe I should just learn to finish one post before I start another. :o)
4. You Tube - when I clicked on the link it looked like I was take to an unrelated channel, I know there is a big pic of you but the title is yournetbiztraining and I am easy confused.
5. For beginners - it might be useful to have a little collation of blogs for complete beginners. If you have no idea what you are doing it would be great to easy navigate Social Media Examiner have a nice one http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/getting-started/
This is so true esp #5. Iād love a compilation of blogs for beginners too.
Tosin
Beginner or not, your feedback is much appreciated, Katherine!
1. My goal is always to bring followers from social media networks to my blog and keep them here; not the other way around. Thatās why the buttons are on my blog, but not too prominent.
2. I have several ways for my readers to stay in touch with me - via an opt-in form, in several places, I might add, and RSS subscription, which includes email updates. I donāt think I can make that part any more obvious. š
3. Thatās an interesting point. I never realized that those widgets open links in the same window. I think most people do read one article at a time, so this hasnāt been an issue, but I will definitely check into it! š
4. Just because the YouTube channel was called something other than TrafficGenerationCafe, doesnāt mean itās not my channel. Since it takes too long to rank a channel, I am not currently thinking of starting a new one.
5. This is not a blog for beginners for the most part, but I do have some articles that might benefit the beginning bloggers. I will look into SMEās tab and see if I am add one to my site - thanks for the suggestion!
Ana
Well I found your site Yesterday after a RT on Twitter
So I signed up and got your Ebook and emails
- The Emails loved the Style a nice change from what you normally see
- The Ebook was great and I learnt loads ( just now I have got a lot to do )
The Site
I Found it Very easy to find my way around reading your posts , I probably spent 2 or 3 hours doing so last night . I found it easy to read with a nice flow to your writing style.
I canāt see much wrong with the site but then I am pretty new to blogging ( well November ) and I have made some horrible decisions with mine recently .
Thanks
Sam
Thank you for encouragement, Sam - I always hated to get the same old stuff on all the blogs and my inbox.
Sorry to hear you made some bad decisions in the past, but you know what - thereās always tomorrow. š
Welcome to my blog!
TimHiggins
my 10 cents worth as a freelance SEO writer/web designer from oDesk.com:
Firstly your site is quite good and offers some great info…
Put your ads on the RHS of the page. People read from left to right and their attention can more easily be grabbed at the end of a line, rather than at the beginning.
Also that is where most people park the mouse as they read; thats where the scroll bar is.If you want people to click on ads, the more “convenient” the placement related to mouse position the better…
On the left, Ads are always receding from view. On the right they are always approaching the eye so more visual exposure is gained.
The only other comment is that the background grey is a lil sombre, try “bluing” it up a bit - blue being the color of trust btw….
Oh and on your main ad - make the “Teach me the secrets” button more obvious - green or orange and shiny - theres nothing to draw the eye there at present.
I am a saddo when it comes to all this but conversion is everything in my game!
Hope that is of some use… š
And thatās why all the heat map test show that people donāt look at Googleās ads. š
Julia Angel
All I have is a positive feedback. I love clean lines, uncluttered design and easy navigation of your site.
Love your Traffic Hunting Must section, enticing post categories, such as Anaās Picks, or Readersā favorites. Something definitely to implement on my blog.
My personal favorite are the awespme Connect buttons. They are so unique and yummy!
Here, youāve got an opinion of a person who chooses her gadgets by the cool color:)
Thanks so much, Julia - good to know someone appreciates the little details. š
Hi Ana-
Now you know, I have next-to-no SEO, web design, and tech creds-I am the OGL (Original Gangsta Luddite).
Pls keep in mind, Iām looking at your blog from a psychological POV, or someone who is “always in the wrong class,” and not necessarily trying to fit in (Iām quite comfortable in my little therapist skin) but to understand this other world.
First impressions:
~Love the look, the header, the coolness, and the blue and red. Somehow, this color scheme could construe cold and aloof, but not here.
~The header pic: I always assumed it was you, altho u look somewhat different in various profile pics, and on video. But then yesterday, I saw someone on Twitter w/the same gravatar. Hmmmm..did they jack Ana? Maybe sheās gaming us? Regardless, it totally works, and ur beautiful, so who really cares if itās you or not. So, is it you…?:).
~Engagability: I donāt know too many other A-listers who commit to answering comments, sincerely helping, offering the awesome Blog Audit Fridays and broadcasts. I think ur in a class by yourself, here. Hope it lasts, but if not, Iām not mad ‘atcha.
~Personality. I was really watching your first Sunday Coffee broadcast (or first for me anyway) from a therapistās POV. B/c I didnāt know much of you then, I thought “let me just sit back and watch her in action. How do I feel in her presence. How does she engage? Is she sincere? Why is she doing this for free?”
I was looking for something ‘salesyā but didnāt find it. Then ur beautiful daughter came in, and you were so calm as she interrupted (in a very age-appropriate manner;)), and you won me over b/c it takes a lot of grace and poise to conduct business and calmly explain to your child that “mommy is working.”
~Authenticity: which I have to say is a mainstay for the psychotherapy profession, and hugely pre-dates the blogosphere. Love the honesty, and the no b.s approach. You remind me of Naomi Dunford of ittybiz on that front, and I really value it.
~Cred-the numbers speak for themselves, and you canāt fake that funk, baby.
In a nutshell, those are characteristics I look for when choosing to spend my limited emotional energy, and sorry that I couldnāt find any tech problems, but for me, thatās not as important as other stuff.
So there you go, my 1/2 ass-psychological audit of your blog.
Keep on rockinā the traffic generation!
~Linda
Love your off-the-beaten track feedback, Linda!
Yes, that is my picture in the header. And yes, somebody, several people actually, brought it to my attention that someone else was using it for their profile picture on Twitter.
So naturally I wrote Twitter folks asking them to do something about it and hereās what they said:
By the way, it was signed by “TheCaptain”. š
The rest - of course loved getting the praises and who could blame me!
By the way, let my husband read that bit about my daughter walking in on me; he said “is this my wife and daughter she is talking about?” š
Loved your psycho-audit, Linda; very refreshing and original.
Mark
Hi Ana, I have been trying to leave a feedback on facebook, but some how it doesnāt go through! I will try a little later, off to install a energy saver!
Seems to be working, Mark - try again.
Jennifer Medeiros
I have only been to your site a few times, and I am defiantly learning things. One of the things that keeps me coming back are you interesting titled emails. I feel as if you are personally engaging me. I like how you answer your posts. It makes me feel like someone in cyber space really cares about what they are preaching and not just spewing trash to get page hits. I like what you have to stay and I DO learn something each time! I am thankful I stumbled upon you and I am currently putting what I am learning to use on my own site slowly but surely!
Ahhh, thanks, Jennifer! And here I was - all ready to take on criticism. š
Thanks for coming by, for reading my emails, for learning from my blog. Much appreciated!
Heather Hill
Hello Ana,
This is my first comment as Iāve been lurking for a long time! š
I have one design suggestion and that is for your navigation font/text.
I find that compared to the rest of your blog, that text and font is much smaller and sometimes hard to read?
Other than that I really enjoy the site and thank you for the real information your provide!
Cheers!
Completely agreed, Heather - Iāve had it on my list for months now! š
Thanks for coming out of the “lurking closet”!
Hey Ana,
How does it feel to be in the hot seat for a change?
Iām quite disappointed as I was expecting to see a ton of comments today. Anyway…
As one of the few people who witnessed the birth of Traffic Generation Cafe, Iām really thrilled to see how your blog has grown within such a short period of time. It really goes to show that you practice what you teach š
I love everything about your blog. No, Iām not biased - the truth has to be told. The design is excellent. I always find what Iām looking for with ease. Your content is out of this world. I love your personality and attitude: no sugar-coating.
The only thing I have just picked up: you forgot to edit the permalink for this post. I know youāre on vacation, so Iāll let you off š
I love what you do, Ana and Iām sooo glad I found you when I did. Keep up the awesome work!
(((Hugs)))
Mavis
P.S. Thank you for all your help and support - very much appreciated š
I know, Mavis - I totally did forget to change it and I noticed it after I already “spread the news” around social media networks. š
I am really privileged to have you stand by my side for such a long time; itās been a fun (and exhausting š ) run!
Adam Paudyal
Ana; What a feat you have achieved in such a short period of time; Very remarkable!
Obviously you are real good at the things you do. I simply love your blog; design, contents - the whole nine yards.
I do have a question though Ana - Is there any particular reason(s) why you put the sidebar on the left and not on the right side. I was just wondering if it makes a difference if the sidebar was on the right and the content on the left (O:
Thanks
Good question, Adam: I still need to split test it, but hereās the idea behind my sidebar.
When you look at a webpage, where do your eyes go to? To the left top. Since thatās where my optin form is (and temporary out of order š ), thatās where I want the eyes to be.
As I said though - need to put some research behind this theory.
Remains a mystery… I also have 8 sitelinks - the most a site can get, yet no PR.