1. Don’t just put the name of your site with maybe a nice little picture. Instead, give the reader a reason to click or a “call to action”. What valuable, not-to-be-missed product or service are they going to learn about on the other side of the ad? Just the name of your site is probably not compelling enough.

2. Don’t use the same colors everyone else is using, or even the same shape. Instead, check out the site(s) you’re considering placing ads on. What colors do the other ads use? Choose a main color that will pop out from the group of ads. Are all the other ads squares? Try rounding the corners, or even going with a more unusual shape.

3. Don’t overload the ad with text. Instead, keep it simple. Clear, concise messages are the best. You do not have much time to grab a reader’s attention as they glance over the ads on a page. Lots of text generally becomes too small to read at a glance, especially on a 125px ad.

4. Don’t bore the reader. Instead, make them curious, surprise them, amuse them, and do anything you can not to be just another average ad. The ad that Text Link Ads has been using that says “Easier than getting Arrington to link to your site” increased their click-thru rate by 1000%, despite the less than attractive picture they used.

5. Don’t put to many steps in the animation or make your ads too “blinky”. Instead, again, keep it simple. You have a reader’s eyes for a fraction of a second, so remember that if you must have animation in your ad. Two steps would be the max I would recommend. If you follow #4 and make them curious with a question, answer it in the next frame. I don’t even allow animated ads on my site, because blinking ads are hard to look at and are distracting as someone is trying to read my content. If a reader is annoyed by your blinking ad, there is little chance they are going to click on it.

What do you think?  Are you ad blind?  What kinds of ads actually get your attention?

When you decide you’d like to invest in a professional design, you’ll want to work with best designer you can for the money you have budgeted. Once you have arranged to work with someone, there are some things to remember if you want to maintain a great relationship, and to ensure that the designer will be willing to work with you again when you have future needs. To accomplish that, I have some tips, from a designer’s perspective on how to be a client that anyone would enjoy working with.

How to get the designer you want:

1. Be clear, concise, professional and friendly in your initial contact.

2. Explain your project in enough detail to pique the designer’s interest.

3. Give them adequate time to respond (at least 5 days). You can then follow up with an e-mail that quotes your original and reiterates your desire to work with them.

4. Understand if they aren’t able to begin your project right away. Someone in high demand obviously has other clients already in queue.

How to be a great client to work with:

1. Clearly define for the designer what you’re trying to accomplish with your site, what impression you’d like to give your visitors and what “brand image” you’d like to project.

2. Use lots of descriptive adjectives to help the designer understand what styles appeal to you. You can even provide some examples of sites that appeal to you to give further guidance.

3. Don’t say “I’m not sure what I want, so I leave the design completely up to your expertise” unless you really will be happy with whatever they create for you.

4. Don’t be afraid to provide constructive feedback about the design concept(s) presented to you. Designers know they’re not always going to hit on the perfect look for everyone on the first try, and expect feedback to help them ensure you’re perfectly satisfied with the outcome.

5. Expect to pay at least part of the design fee up front.

How to be a client they’ll want to work with again:

1. Be responsive and respectful of their time. A good designer will return the favor.

2. Recommend them to others. Write a post on your blog about your new design and link to the designer’s site.

3. Pay promptly.

Many of these tips seem like just common courtesy, don’t they? It’s surprising how common courtesy isn’t so common anymore. Being easy to work with is really not all that difficult, and you will definitely reap the benefits.

Networking

Above all things, networking with other bloggers will do more for your blog than anything else you can put your time into (besides writing great content of course). Spend time developing relationships with other bloggers. Link to others in your niche at every opportunity. Write posts about bloggers you admire. Spend time in forums connecting with bloggers, both within your niche and outside of it. Find ways to be helpful to others with no expectation of anything in return. All of this effort will pay off in the end. Eventually, providing you are writing quality posts, these bloggers will link to you and add you to their blogrolls, which will help build momentum for your site and gain new readership.

Self-promotion

You may write the most interesting stuff in the world, but it won’t do you any good if no one knows about it. Use the relationships you’re building through networking to promote your content. Send e-mails to other bloggers letting them know of posts they might be interested in. Submit your posts to social networking sites and ask your friends to help promote them. Use your Twitter account to promote your posts. Don’t be obnoxious about it though- a little self-promotion goes a long way.

Design

The design of your site gives an instant impression to visitors. When you visit sites like NorthxEast or FreelanceSwitch for the first time, for example, you have an immediate impression that the content is probably going to be worth reading. Of course, not all of use have the money to spend on a professionally designed, custom theme, but there are many very reasonable premium themes available that will give your site a custom look for little expense. There are also many excellent free themes that can be easily customized with a logo or other touches that will give your site a unique, sharp, professional look.

Consider two candidates for a job who are equally qualified and interview equally well – if one is dressed inappropriately or sloppily, and the other arrives dressed professionally, the professionally dressed candidate will be the obvious choice for the job. In the same way, the design of your blog can make all the difference in your ultimate success.

1. De-clutter: Get rid of all the junk in your sidebar. Toss those silly widgets that promised to send thousands of new visitors to your site and never really delivered. Get rid of all blinky things unless they’re making you a ton of money in ad revenue. Go through your blogroll and delete blogs that are now nothing but “zomblogs”. As Lorelle said recently,

Just like the cliché that a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, a cluttered blog sends a big message. Many messages. And excuses for not cleaning it up.

2. Clean out your feed reader: Just like the list of blogs I’m subscribed to, there are probably some in your list that you get very little value from. Time to stop wasting valuable time on them — unsubscribe.

3. Upgrade: If you use a blog system that provides regular upgrades, have you been been putting off doing it for fear your blog will come crashing down? This is the perfect time – people are busy with holiday stuff and you’ll probably be seeing a drop in traffic. Nothing else to do New Year’s Eve while you’re waiting for the clock to hit midnight? Celebrate by finally doing the upgrade you’ve been putting off for so long. Just be sure to back up your blog first.

4. Back up more regularly: Speaking of backing up your blog, now is a good time to put in place a regular schedule for backups. Just imagine what would happen if it were suddenly all gone. All those posts you’ve put hours and hours into… lost forever.

5. Focus on SEO:   This is one of those things that I always put off, as something I really need to take some time to improve upon, but never quite get around to it. There are several basic things we can do to improve our overall SEO, and there’s just no excuse for putting it off any longer.

6. Spend more time [genuinely] commenting on other blogs:  This one is easy to forget in the push to create more unique, quality content, but it’s not something to lose sight of, no matter how successful your blog becomes. Building relationships with other bloggers is important, no matter what your Technorati rank is. And, when you comment, stop using those keywords you’re trying to rank for like “Las Vegas Real Estate”, and instead use your name. The Google juice you get from doing this on blogs that have turned off no follow is really not gaining you as much as you think it is, no matter how high the page rank is because the page rank passed to your blog is divided up among all the links on the page. Plus, it is really annoying to the blog owner and might even get you blacklisted.

What have I left off the list? What are you resolving to do as we look forward to 2008?

The first service is called Social Media Marketing. This service will drive massive traffic to your site through viral content designed to gain links from major sites and put you at the top of the search engines and social media sites.

The second service is called Blog Management Services. Under this heading are 3 services: Blog Launch, Blog Reboot and Blog Maintenance. These options include design, implementation, management, writing, promotion, etc. that will maximize the effectiveness of your blog

The third service is called Authority Builder. Establishing your site as an authority is key, and this 12 month plan will provide all you need to accomplish just that. Including monthly social media campaigns, blog redesign and exposure to mainstream media among other things, it is a complete package that will ensure your online success.

Even if you’re not in a position to take advantage of these services, it’s a good site to look over for ideas and areas to focus on that will take your site to the next level. It’s also a good example of how networking and teaming up with other bloggers and online professionals can create business opportunities that one person alone could not accomplish.

{disclaimer: the BlogHerald and Performancing are both owned by Splashpress Media}

Or, do you believe that it’s your blog and therefore it’s up to you to decide which comments remain and which get deleted? In a recent article on Performancing, Deb Ng discussed how to handle nasty comments, and mentioned that there are some who feel that deleting comments is tantamount to “stifling free speech”. I think that’s a bit of a stretch.

I am frankly surprised at what seems to be a common notion that one does not have the absolute right to delete any comment left on their blog. Certainly, if one is going to publish a blog, one has to be prepared for some disagreement and it can make for a more interesting blog if there is lively discussion in the comments. However, I don’t believe someone has an inherent “right” to pollute your blog with whatever they like. In fact, I think it’s important not to give the trolls a voice at all. If all blog owners stamped out that kind of behavior wherever possible, maybe they’d give up.

If you delete a nasty comment, what are the drawbacks? Are you afraid that person might stop visiting your blog all together? Is that really the kind of person you want trolling around your site anyway, just waiting to spew more garbage at you and your readers? In fact, not deleting nasty comments can impact your readership more, as they can make your readers uncomfortable.

Bottom line: it’s your site. You can delete or edit any comment that is left. Don’t give the trolls a voice.

There are several ways to approach it:

1. Plan for it. Be aware that the time is coming when you will be bored to death of your blog and keep lists of post ideas, half-written posts or even complete posts that are ready to publish.

2. Take a break. Sometimes, when you’re burnt out on blogging, a break will help re-energize you. Tell your readers up front that you are taking a hiatus, and let them know how long you’ll be gone. For most readers, this will be no problem at all as long as you let them know before you stop posting for a period. It’s very important to make them aware up front. If you don’t, they will think you’ve just disappeared and may unsubscribe and stop visiting all together.

3. Set a new goal. When things go really well, and your blog achieves some success and the goals you originally set for yourself have been surpassed, it can take the wind out of your sails a bit. That’s the perfect time to set some new, ambitious goals like doubling your subscribers within a set time period, or getting to the Technorati top 500.

4. Follow a pre-set blogging schedule. Sometimes a schedule that takes some of the decision-making out of the process that help you get over the hump and back into creativity and productivity. Set your own, i.e. how-to post on Monday, opinion post on Wednesday, speedlinking with comments on Friday, etc., or follow the excellent series at ProBlogger, 7 Days to Rediscovering Your Blogging Groove.

5. Ask for help. Tell your readers you’re having slump and ask what they’d like to read about, what problems they’re trying to solve, what questions they have for you, etc. You can even call for guest posts from your readers and bloggers you respect, to help fill the gap. Tell your blogger friends you’re feeling bored and ask for suggestions or just a kick in the pants.

6. Quit. Did you think you’d really enjoy blogging, and even had fun at it for a while, but now you dread sitting down at the computer to try and pound out a post? If you’ve tried everything and it still just isn’t any fun, then stop. Thank your readers kindly for all they’ve contributed to your blog and move on to something you do enjoy.

What are some other solutions for getting through a blogging slump? Give us your ideas so we’ll be ready for it when it hits.

Common blogging wisdom says that the more often you post, the more visitors you’ll receive and the more subscribers you’ll have. So, set a high standard, and determine to write as many posts per day as possible. You’re brimming over with ideas right now and there is no reason to think you’ll ever run out of things to post about.

2. Make earning a good income from your blog top priority. Have high expectations with regards to the income you’re going to earn through Adsense, especially if your blog is targeted towards a tech-savvy audience.

The idea that tech-savvy readers are ad-blind is just a myth. If the ads are relevant, they will be clicked on, especially if you really make them stand out in your design. Make them a different color than your site’s color scheme so they’ll really pop off the page. Also, include as many Adsense blocks as you possibly can, and be sure to get some nice blinky ads, so that readers are sure to see them.

3. Consider every other blog in your niche a competitor, and try to avoid ever linking to them.

Why would you send YOUR readers to another site that covers the same topic? You are the ultimate authority in your niche and there is no need to network with or link to anyone else. If you link to other sites in your niche, those authors wouldn’t appreciate it anyway, and there is nothing to be gained by giving out link love to your competitors.

4. Choose a topic purely based on the income potential you believe it has, rather than your interest in the subject, and don’t worry if there are already 1,000 blogs covering the same “money niche.”

It doesn’t matter if you know nothing about the topic you choose to blog about. All that matters is the money you stand to make. Even if you’re not interested in the topic at all, you can find things to write about by doing a little research and some discrete content scraping. The huge amount of money you’re making will keep you motivated when the topic is boring you to tears.

5. Start 5 or 6 blogs at the same time, because you’ll certainly have time to focus on each one enough to make them successful.

You’ve started one blog and are having no problem maintaining it, and now you’re hooked. Blogging is addictive and there’s nothing wrong with buying a few more domain names even if it means you’ll be spreading yourself a little thin. You enjoy it so much that those late nights trying to get that 5th post for the day up on each one won’t even feel like work.

6. Don’t bother to respond to comments- you’re too busy maintaining your posting schedule.

Readers really don’t care if you respond to their comments at all. The conversation will continue in your comments whether you participate or not, and really, lots of commenting on a blog is totally overrated. Who cares what your readers think? It’s what you think that matters right? Isn’t that why you’re writing on the blog in the first place? They come to your site to learn from YOU, not the other way around.

7. Expect your site to be extremely successful within a matter of weeks or months.

That thing about most blogs taking a while to get off the ground and establish themselves as an authority does not apply to you. Build it and they will come.

8. Never take a break from blogging. Fresh air and exercise are for those wimps who can’t stick to as grueling a schedule as you’re able to maintain.

How is getting away from the computer supposed to help anyway? The only way you’re going to be successful is to keep plugging away, because there are only so many hours in the day. You can’t fritter away your time walking around outside no matter how much your back hurts from sitting in the same chair all day long. Sleep is also overrated. 4 hours a night is enough.

Here are some ways to find a memorable name that will stand out from the crowd:

1. Be unique – Make up a word (like Dooce), leave out a vowel (like Flickr), or deliberately misspell a word (like Pownce). Your name can work well, especially if it’s not an extremely common name, but only use it if you’re not planning on selling the site in the future.

2. Be amusing - I ran across a Jewish scholar’s blog called the “Velveteen Rabbi” some time ago, and I have never forgotten the name. Use a play on words to put a smile on the face of visitors and they’re more likely to find you again.

3. Be odd - Sounds like strange advice maybe, but the goal here is to be memorable. Defective Yeti is an extremely odd name for a site, but you’re unlikely to forget it quickly.

4. Hack a domain name – del.icio.us and blo.gs are good examples of hacked domain names. Take a look at the list of top level domains and see if you might create a unique name using one of the many country codes. For example, strikeitri.ch is currently free. Any takers?

For me, the best place to start when choosing a name is with a sheet of paper and thesaurus.com. Brainstorm words that are related to your topic, then go to BustAName, which is a great tool for searching for available names. With it, you can enter multiple words and see a list all available combinations of those words, including popular prefixes, suffixes, plurals, and hyphenated options. There is a thesaurus function built in as well.

Do you already have a domain name that you know is rather unmemorable, but at this point you’re stuck with it? Try adding a catchy tagline.

Here are some basic guidelines to remember as you consider your site’s typography:

1. Thou shalt not have long lines of content that make the reader work too hard to read. Lines should have a maximum of 15-20 words. Any more and the reader cannot scan it quickly. Fluid width sites often guilty of this, as the body content inevitably gets stretched out to ridiculous lengths depending on the screen resolution readers are using.

2. Thou shalt not squish the letters together using negative letter spacing. Spare use of this in large headings is passable, but in most cases, it makes the words difficult to read.

3. Thou also shalt not squish the lines together too closely. Give the lines room to breathe. This will help the readers’ eyes track the text better. Set the line height using a percentage, rather than pixels, as readers may have their font sizes increased in the browser settings. A line height of 140% is a good rule of thumb for body copy.

4. Thou shalt rarely style your fonts using the bold font weight. It rarely looks nice on the screen. Instead, increase the size of the font.

5. Thou shalt never use more than 3 fonts in a blog design, and should probably stick to just two. Try styling the fonts you’re using differently rather than using multiple fonts. For example, use Georgia in various ways, such as the font-variant: small-caps for headings and italics for the post meta data (category, date, author, etc.).

6. Thou shalt use colors that provide plenty of contrast on the screen and consider very carefully before putting light text on a dark background. The latter can be done effectively, but in general it is easier to read dark text on a light background.

7. Thou shalt only use fonts that are widely available across both Windows and Mac OS. This one is a no-brainer it would seem, but you’d be surprised how often it is broken.

8. Thou shalt allow plenty of space between items on the page. There should be at least a 50 pixel gap between the end of one post and the start of another, or a divider of some sort, so it is very clear where the next post begins.

9. Thou shalt not make the text teeny-weeny so that readers must strain to read it. This also seems like a no-brainer, but people persist in making their readers strain to read their tiny text.

10. Thou shalt never, never use Comic Sans font unless thou wouldst like to be labeled an idiot.