Blogging Beat

Msn has recently launched ‘adCentre‘ a pay per click network. Similar to Googles Keyword Tool and Yahoos Keyword selector tool, adCentre also has a nice assortment of handy tools, nicknamed ‘adCentre Labs‘ The adCentre tools are very similar to pre-existing tools webmaster tools with the exception that the the Keyword Forecast also gives statistics such as gender and age of people searching a particular keyword. I prefer to use text view as it is easier to interpret the amount of searches and demographics. To change the view click the text button located next to the flash and image buttons.

Take notice of the disclaimer at the bottom of the page “The information, tools, and results shown here are based on a sampling of real data and are provided to demonstrate only a proof of concept. They may not be in production yet and are designed to produce anecdotal or generalized information.”

I wonder if they manipulate the data for certain keywords…

Before we start with the discussion, lets first define the term ‘launch’. My definition is a launch is when marketing commences.  Below are some reasons why I won’t launch until my blog is a bit more established.

• Content - what’s the point of launching a blog with no content, it’s like releasing a cd with only one song. Visitors who come to my site only to see one piece of content won’t stay long. This included editing the about page which I still have not done.
• Features - everyday i’m adding new plugins and features. Even on the second and third day i’m still adding new plugins, setting up feedburner and working on more categories.

Launching and advertising a blog that is not ready to go is a huge mistake. If someone visits your website and thinks the content is bad and it’s hard to navigate next time they see a link to your blog, they might not be very inclined to click it.

I have chosen to use the traditional k2 theme. I was attracted to this theme for a number of reasons which I will outline below.

• Functionality - As the theme has been out for a while and had numerous release candidates, there are hardly any functional errors.
• Design - k2 is especially easy on the eye with nice soft colors and some cute icons.
• Readability - The typography is excellent in every way possible. The font size is perfect, the font is easy to read, titles stand out and it is easy to distinguish links.
• Versatility - One of the best features of this theme is the fact that it is easily edited. Once the theme is installed, you can choose between using k2s sidebar manager or the default wordpress sidebar widget manager. Custom headers are especially easy to edit to with just a simple upload.
• Navigation - After manipualating the sidebar using k2s sidebar manage, content is easy to find. The search button, recent posts, archives, blogroll and rss are all close together, yet are not cluttered.

Webmaster blogs are definitely one of the hardest topics to get into. The fact that there are already hundreds of pre-existing established blogs can be very discouraging. Although in every topic there’s always room for new competition and new ideas. Hopefully this blog can assist bloggers in their goals, whatever they may be.