Three and Three

Today I am going to consider two sets of three things. The first set is three techie/gadget things that are proven as helpful to bloggers. The other three things are some ideas I've been throwing around in my mind.

Here we go with the first set!
#1: In this set are Follower Link Options. (FLO for short. My, that's a fun word!)  By this I mean the things that are naturally ingrained in any blogging service. These are RSS feeds, E-mail Subscription Boxes, Google Friend Connect, Networked Blogs, and such.

• RSS feeds allow a reader to get e-mail or phone or RSS service notifications whenever you write a new post.

• E-mail Subscription Boxes are simple and effective. If a reader doesn't want to publicly connect their name with your blog, they can simply enter their e-mail address and whenever you make a new post they receive an e-mail. 

• Google Friend Connect is a much more public following option. People who sign up for this often sign up with their Google profiles. Google Friend Connect allows for personalized notification options whenever you post, giving your readers a feeling of more control. And, we are all humans, right? We all like to have some control.

• Networked Blogs is an interesting system that allows for automatic link-posting on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. This system also allows for other bloggers or just readers to subscribe to your blog via its own "follow button.

#2:  Many blog hosting websites have options that insert a drop down archive menu. These menus often list the posts according to the previous and currents months. The reader clicks on the month he wants to look at and it drops a list down of all that month's posts.
Another neat gadget is a keyword wheel. This nifty thing displays all the keywords your blog posts have ever used. The reader then clicks on a keyword that interests him and it takes the reader to a list of posts with that keyword.

#3: Google AdWords has a Keyword Tool that allows you to research a keyword and see how many people search for it daily. You can use this to find which keywords (while ensuring they are relevant to your topic) are popular and use them to promote your blog in the search ratings.

The second set of three will be written up in my next blog post. Until then, goodbye!