Taking Advantage of Popular Search Trends

One of the techniques of driving traffic to your website or blog is to write about keywords that a lot of people are currently searching.

There are a lot of tools on the internet which could help us determine these keywords like Google’s very own Zeitgeist or through keyword tools and wordtracker tools.

I read somewhere that a blogger was able to increase his traffic because he happened to post about a popular TV show at the time.

Of course a site or blog trying to maintain a theme or niche could not simply write about any popular keyword that would come along. But there is still a way to take advantage of this technique like simply blogging about a popular keyword that falls within your theme.

Anyway here is a guy from a Business 2.0 article who was very successful doing this.

A Tribute to a Kind Soul

Last April 8 Miss Julia Campbell decided to visit Batad in Banaue, one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the Philippines.

Ironically, it is also here in what is considered one of the most peaceful and crime free places in the country that she met her demise. She was a victim of a crime.

Normally, she would just be another statistics but I have been to that place and I could swear by its reputation. This was actually a first time that something bad happened there.

At first, I also doubted the news and dismissed that she might just have fallen off a ravine. It was reported that she was still talking a walk at five o’clock in the afternoon before she disappeared. And I knew that it could get pitch dark in that place at six in the evening.

But next day the army found her body in a shallow grave. It was confirmed that she was a victim of a crime.

I was very much intrigued and followed the news on television and in the internet.

Intrigued quickly turned to sadness.

You see Miss Julia is not your typical person. She left the comforts of New York to be a US Peace Corp Volunteer and spend time among the least fortunate in the Philippines.

In an interview her mother, Linda Campbell was quoted saying, “It was after 9/11 that she decided that it was time to make a difference, a real difference to her, and she decided to go into the Peace Corps.”

Reflecting about it now, I get an eerie feeling: a beautiful place, a crime-free place, a crime, and a soul with only good intentions. It feels too perfect.

As if this thing happened to magnify all the good deeds she has done until that time.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it produces much grain.” The great teacher, Jesus Christ once said.

Before the news she was very much unheard of. But now complete strangers are talking about her and pouring into her blog to know her and the good things she has done.

I write this piece for personal reasons. I have never met nor ever knew her personally but I wouldn’t want to forget a person like her.

To Miss Julia Campbell, Fellow Blogger, Humanitarian, and Hero.

This is for you and thank you for caring.

-Anthony

Is Blogspot Bad for Bloggers?

If you have been reading alot of blogs you have probably come across people who are evangelizing that being on Blogspot is bad.

The common arguments to support this claim are that
1. Most blogs hosted in Blogspot are spam.
2. It is hard to configure.
3. Your blog will not take off with Blogspot.
4. It gives bad representation.

I personally have nothing against these people. And I am neither Blogspot biased because I both have blogs that are hosted in Blogspot and some that have their own domains.

I just find these claims funny because when I look at my own data I find a different picture.

Let's tackle these claims.

1. Most blogs hosted in Blogspot are spam - We'll this is not exclusive to Blogspot because there are also a lot of websites in the internet that have their own Domain and yet they are spam.

A blog spam is not as bad as an email spam. Blog spams are unobtrusive. You can always ignore them and never come back. With email spams you can block them all you want but they always come back. And they could bring your network down with their sheer traffic consumption.

2. It is hard to configure - We'll if you are in Blogspot, Wordpress, TypePad, your own Domain, etc. configuration and design is hard that is why you hire web designers and web developers to do it.

If you don't want to hire you can still use these platforms using the provided template designs or
you could learn HTML and XML tagging and hack these templates yourself.

3. Your blog will not take off when you are hosted in Blogspot - Again I would like to believe this but personal research reveals a different picture.

Take a look at this list.

There are three blogs in the top 100 that are hosted in Blogspot. One of them of course is Google's own blog.

But as you can see you can still make it to the top regardless of where you host your blog. What actually matters is that you're blog is either useful or interesting.

4. It gives your blog a bad rep - My answer is the same as number 3. What matters is usefulness and being interesting.

Lastly, let me share with you my personal blogging experience. As I have said earlier, I have blogs that are hosted here in Blogspot and some that are hosted in their own Domains. And I regularly compare their performances.

I have one Blogspot blog that outperforms my dotcom blogs. In terms of revenue, it has earned thrice of what my DotCom blogs have earned so far. In terms of traffic, it has gained 3000% percent more traffic than my DotCom blogs.

So what makes this blog different from my other blogs? As much as possible I only blog about useful subjects. This blog I am talking about covers a technology that have very sparse reference material available.