DannyDang.com » Blog Tips

Update: Week 2 (Progress!!)

Danny — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 07:15:32 +0000

To my surprise, dannydang.com is now Google search results ~~#1 & #2!!~~ (As of April 17, #2 & 3) The poker guy probably thought he had a good few months before he had to worry about this Dang.

Week in review: I have done a lot of tweaking to the site. I have added Brian’s awesome Threaded Comments plugin, but I am still working on the placement of the MyBlogLog avatars. Also this week, I decided to join the Dofollow movement.

Some of you may have noticed that the site was down on Saturday for a bit. I wanted to correct a mistake of installing my blog at dannydang.com/blog. Reading up on all the posts I could find on moving Wordpress, I thought I was prepared. Boy was I wrong! The Wordpress site has a great step-by-step on Moving Wordpress. After following the steps and reloading the site, to my horror all I got was a page of error messages. Luckily for me a I had a backup. I can’t stress enough to backup all your files and databases before doing any major work to your site. I highly recommend Austin Matzko’s Wordpress backup plugin, which can automate the process for you lazy bloggers.

Enough geek, on to the good stuff…

Week 2

Feedburner Readers: 14 (+12)
Technorati ranking (-454,371)
Alexa – 978,638
Google Search Page: #1 & #2

Now that I have reached one of my goals and can scratch another item off the dot com mogul requirement list, its time to set a new one! Why settle for #1 and #2, its time to dominate. The only Dang you should be seeing WILL be me.

Unique Visitors: 58.14 Daily Average (+50.97)

What’s that huge spike you may ask? It’s all the Will Ferrell fanatics in search of his latest viral video, “The Landlord“. I was lucky enough to stumble on the video early on and someone submitted my site to UniqueDaily. It’s not the best kind of traffic as only a small percentage of visitors will actually come back, but its good exposure to a relative new and unknown site.

That wraps up my quick week in review. I learned a lot this week from trial and error (isn’t that the best way?), and have lots in store for this blog. Thanks to all the new faces visiting and also to the bloggers that have help point me in the right direction!

Update – April 17th: One day can change a lot.Â I am now ranked #2 and #3 for Google Search results, but I am #1 on Yahoo!Â This is just going to make me work harder to dominate these pages.Â

Jump on the Technorati Favorites Train

Danny — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 07:11:06 +0000

The always fabulous MsDanielle has tagged me in another link building exchange involving Technorati. If you’re not familiar with link building exchanges, think of it like a big networking party where everyone is exchanging business cards. Mr. Gary Lee puts a spin on this by adding a link train to the concept. I recommend you read Dosh Doshâ€™s Ultimate Technorati Favorites Exchange: An Interactive Experiment! and add him to your Technorati favorites, too.

Hereâ€™s how it goes:

1. Click Here and Add me to your Technorati Favorites List
2. Leave a comment on this post that youâ€™ve added me. Put YOUR Technorati Favorite URL in the comment so I can add you too.
3. Iâ€™ll add you to my Technorati Favorites list once I receive your comment.

Then copy and paste this stuff and follow the directions:

***Start Copying Here:***

Here are the rules:

1) Write a short introduction paragraph about how you found the list, including a link to the blog post that referred you to it.

2) Copy the rules and entire list below and post it on your blog. To avoid duplicate content and increase the number of keywords to each site, change up the titles of the blogs. Just donâ€™t change the links.

3) Take the â€œMy New Favesâ€ and move them into â€œThe Original Favesâ€ list along with your site. Make sure all links are working properly.

4) Add 3 blogs to your Technorati Favorites and link them in the â€œMy New Favesâ€ section. Donâ€™t forget to add the â€œFave Meâ€ link next to the new blogs (i.e. http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://www.yourfavesdomain.com)

5) Add Everyone on this list to your Technorati Favorites List by clicking on â€œFave this Site.â€ Those who want good kharma will fave you back. If not, you will for sure get the benefits of faves from the bloggers who continue this list after you.

My New Faves

LeoChiang – Fave this Site
AndrewKuo – Fave this Site
The Details – Fave this Site

The Original Faves

***End Copying Here***

So many great blogs to read, so little time…

NoFollow No More.

Danny — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:27:48 +0000

Over at Julie’s Journal, she has joined the D List movement. It’s a complete list of all the blogs that use the dofollow plugin.

Wordpress, by default, has automatically been adding the “nofollow” extension to all links from comments and trackbacks. This is done to combat spammers. As I do choose to moderate all my comments at this time in conjunction with running the Akismet plugin, I want to give out as much link love as possible. Join the list and pass the love around!

***Begin to copy here***

1. Write a short paragraph at the beginning of your post and link back to the blog that put you on the list in the paragraph. This isn’t a suggestion. You need to break up the duplicate content. Someone took the time to add you so the least you can do is give them an extra link back.

2. Copy the list of originals below COMPLETELY and add it to your blog. If you would like a different keyword for your blog then change it when you do your post and it should pass to most blogs with that keyword.

3. Take the adds from the blog that added you and place them in the Originals list.

4. Add at least 1 new blog that you KNOW us using the DO FOLLOW plugin to the list in the My Adds section. (Add no more than 5!) Let the people you’ve added know, so that they can keep the list going!

My Adds:

Andy Beard
SearchGrit

The Originals:

Danny Dang
Jimi Morrison’s Head
Mr. Gary Lee
No Average Mom My Single Mom Life
Julie’s Journal
The Passionate Ailurophile
Thoughtprints
My thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings
CassKnits
Priori Incantatem
Just Julie
The Pond
Domestic Geek
GeekySpeaky
Simple Kind Of Life
3DayMom
BuyMeBlog
The Hockey Dad
Midlife Musings
Utterly Geek
Whatever I Feel Like
My Dandelion Patch
Surviving NJ
BizMark Tech
Two Dog Zoo
TDZ Travel
Body, Mind & Solar
Just Not Martha
Craftblog
Footprints On the Moon

***Quit Copying Here***

My Obsessive Thoughts

Danny — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:37:17 +0000

It looks like I’ve been tagged by Ms Danielle in a online game known as “Obsessive Thoughts” where you list five obsessions and “tag” five more bloggers to list five obsessions of their own. This is a great linkbait opportunity. So, in no particular order, here are five things that I obsess over:

1. Music. I am obsessed with collecting music. I love all types of music. From old school Rhythm & Blues to classical. What I listen to will change depending on my mood. Some days I want to listen to Punk and Alternative, then another day I’ll listen to folk. I used to have over 150GB of music stored on my computer but a major hard drive failure wiped most of my collection. I am in the midst of rebuilding my collection. Also, everything must be tagged and categorized in my iTunes library. I know, thats geeky!

2. Technology. I love new technology. I use to be in the telecommunication industry, and I would get to test and play with all the latest cellular gadgets. I had more mobile phones then my female friends shoe collections, and some of them had dedicated closets! Fortunately, I have slowed down my technology spending and have sold off majority of my phone collection. My current phone is a dated, dented, Sony Ericsson T616 (4+ years old). I’ve yet to find a phone that fits all my requirements, and I am in no hurry.

3. Building and Fixing Things. I love tinkering with things. I can remember the first computer my parents bought me when I was little. To their horror, I had disassembled it and had parts all my desk. My dad owns an auto body repair shop, so I get a good fix of taking things apart when I have time to help out. Every car I have owned has gone through major modifications from engine to audio systems, all done myself. Current project has me helping my friend Harry integrate a computer into his car. I would love to start home renos, but the Vancouver real estate market hasn’t been to kind to me. One day!

4. Cheese. Not the cheddar. I love making people smile! People who know me, know that I love being silly. I’m a type of guy who enjoys going the extra mile to find or do something that is important to someone else. From delivering cupcakes 400km away, searching the city for that special collectible, to creating a kick-ass poster! Cheesy… yes, but cheese is always makes thing better.

5. My blog. Reading a post about the requirements on becoming a dot com mogul, I googled “Danny Dang“. How many sites about “Danny Dang” could there be? I thought I would be on page 5-10… Page 11… nope. Minutes pass, then days go by… Page 538458702, nope. Forget making money from my blog. My current obsession is to knock off that poker guy from top spot! Do I have to get on The Real World to have any chance??

So there you have it, those are my current 5 obsessions. I have others but, those are the main ones that come to mind.

This part is where I call out five more bloggers.

Harry Chow – see what China can’t!
Baba – Amazing talent to paint a picture with just words
John Anthony & Jane May – Awesome site for Professional Development
Shankar Ganesh - Only 15 years old, but so much internet knowledge
Iker Yoldas – Great place to kill some time

[Remember, you don’t have to be on the above list to participate. Just link back to my post if this is where you first saw the meme. Thanks!]

Selfish Promotion of My Blog: Name in My Domain List

Danny — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 05:35:52 +0000

Following yesterday’s theme of getting more exposure for my little site, I decided to join a list called Name in My Domain List I saw on Ms. Danielle’s site. This list was original started by a man they call Mr. Gary Lee. If you’re egotistic and vain, or just lack creative flare on picking domain names… don’t be left out, get yourself added to the list!

The Rules
To be included on this list – the real name of the author must be included in the domain name. I was thinking about saying that you have to include your whole name in the domain, but honestly, it’s the Name in My Domain list, not the Full Name in My Domain list. Also, subdomains of your current sites do not count for sure. That’s just cheating. Good thing I remembered to mention that! You will see what I’m talking about as you see the list below.

The Instructions

***Start Copying Here***

1) Write a short introduction paragraph about how you found the list and include a link to the blog that referred you to the list.

2) COPY the ENTIRE list below and add it to your blog. To avoid duplicate content and increase the amount of keywords your site can accessible for, you can change the titles of the blog. Just don’t change the links of the blog. Add your site to “My Originals.”

3) Take “My Adds” and move them into the “My Originals” list.

4) Add 3 Brand New Narcissistic Bloggers that you know of

My Adds:

Harry Chow
Tyler Cruz
Steve Grimmett

My Originals:

Danny Dang
MsDanielle
Derek Semmler
Kelly Cho
Gary Lee
Ed Lau
John Chow
Nate Whitehill
Stephen Fung
Michael Kwan
Jeff Kee
Stuart Hannig
Hannes Johnson
Nomar
Jimi Morrison
Nathan Drach
Saman Sadeghi
***Stop Copying Here***

If you decide to join the link, let me know and I’ll link to you too!

Selfish Promotion of My Blog: Technorati.com

Danny — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 06:03:19 +0000

What’s the point of having a Blog if nobody visits? Most people won’t find your site by chance. You need to put some effort and promote and network yourself. Its like going to a party and standing in the corner holding your drink and expecting the girls to come to you.
What is Technorati?
Technorati like Google or Yahoo! is a search engine. How it differs is that it indexes Blogs. Instead of a 24 hour turnaround for a post\event to be indexed, they claim under 60-second turnaround.

Currently it tracks approximately 74 million blogs.

The Process

Step 1 – Sign-up
It is a quick and painless process to setup Technorati. You must first login and setup your profile. I recommend you fully complete your profile and add a picture as it adds a personality behind your site.

Step 2 – Claim what is rightfully yours!
Login to your account, and go to the Blogs tab. Here you type in your Blog URL in the box as shown.

Step 3 – Verify Your Claim
Technorati offers 3 ways to make a claim to your Blog. Quick Claim, is uses your Username and Password of your blog to verify. They do not store this information. Post Claim, allows you to write a quick post and include a special link to your Technorati Profile. Lastly, if your more comfortable diving into your Blog’s code, the last option is to Embed a widget to your template.

I’ve added a Technorati Favourites button to my sidebar as another avenue of traffic.

Tag you’re it!
Just as any search engine, tags and META keywords are extremely important. Technorati and Wordpress support tags within posts as well as your Blog profile. I will elaborate the usage of tags in a future article.

Current Ranking
This is my ranking as of April 1st, 2007.

This is also a great tool to see who is linking to you. I currently have a couple references on 3 other sites. Let’s see if we can get that number higher.

What Did I Just Do?
Now that you have claimed your Blog, every time you make a post, it sends out a message (ping) to Technorati. “Hey, look here! A new post…” Now you can get out of that corner and go show the world what your made of!