Let me first start by saying there are no major changes in store but I have made a couple of changes and will continue to made some additional adjustments as the year progresses. The first thing you might notice is that it is Sunday and I have not have posted my Sunday’s Best Top Blog Posts. I am going to give the round up a rest for a while. I am thinking that I will continue it on another blog that I own that I will be working on this year.
I also made a subtle change to my “do follow” commenting policy. In order for a link to be do follow you must have had at least one prior approved comment. I did this to avoid the drive by commentators who see my blog on some do follow list and just come by once to suck up my link juice. I was thinking about bumping it up to two or three comments. [stextbox id="info"]Please comment and let me know your thoughts on that.[/stextbox]
I have also been considering switching up my theme. I am using an Elegant Theme and I really like it but I am thinking that I want kick it up a notch. Let me reiterate, I think Elegant Themes are awesome but to me it is like the first step into a premium theme. I want to take this blog to the next level and I have been looking into Thesis and Headway Theme. I am leaning towards Headway but I still am undecided. I know there are a lot of Thesis fans out there, anyone using Headway. [stextbox id="info"]I would love to hear your thoughts on your experience with Thesis or Headway.[/stextbox]
Like I said at the top of the post, only some minor changes. The one thing that will continue is that I will attempt to create useful content and add 3-4 new posts per week, some weeks more. After all content is still the most important, right?
@ Greg Ellison, you are absolutely right, whatever that works for them, must be right. and just as long as they do not break any rules. But thank you too Dan for the wonderful article.
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Blog tactic: what do you mean by sucking out the juice? does this affect your hits or something if there are do follow comments? I usually do that in mine..thank you for sharing it. So, what do i have do next? Please help me out too. Thanks
Sorry for the previous comment, contains typos.
Blog tactic: what do you mean by sucking out the juice? does this affect you hits or something if there are do follow comments? I usually out that in mine..thank you or sharing it. So, what do i have do net?
I gotta ask the same question – what do you mean by sucking up your link juice? Anyway, I don’t mind if do follow blogs like yours bump up the approved comments to more than one. It does effectively eliminate all the useless spammy comments without losing the traffic you generate from them.
My plugin is set higher then that.
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Anything to cut down on the spam comments is always a good thing. I look forward to reading and learning more from your blog in 2010.
I have no idea about Headway, but you can see I’m using Thesis theme, I recommend Thesis. It has a lot of settings where you can edit your theme with just a click and make the changes.
When it comes to optimization, it has a lot of tutorials on the web where you can follow easily.
Perhaps Headway is good, but I have no experience with it.
Cheers,
Lee
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Feel good to know about the change in do follow comment policy.
Well Dan, if there is any group that understands the need for change it would be bloggers wouldn’t you agree? So I say go for it! I do like your current theme and I don’t know what I would do to change a thing. I have been coming here for several months now and it still feels like I am visiting an old friend.
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Dan, some good changes about the DoFollow. I can relate to what you have described and decided on. You need to do whats best for you and your site.
About a new theme, I agree that you need to step it up now and make a change and give it a new look and feel. You know I’m into Thesis theme, so I can help you if you decide to use it. As for Headway theme, don’t really know much so I can’t help you out there. Maybe someone else knows and can give you the pros and cons.
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I see someone reading extreme john’s blog.
What ever works for the blog owner. I think it is a good policy.
Greg Ellison
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DO-FOLLOW comment policy does suck your link juice but that the prize to pay to get more traffic.
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Dan, that’s an awesome idea (about the comments becoming dofollow after a previously approved comment). It certainly will keep your comments’ overall quality high, although I would predict maybe a slight drop in the number of comments. By the way, how do you plan on doing this tho? Did you develop some custom plugin for this?
Regarding you question about a new theme framework, I have prior experience with Thesis and can say that it is quite a strong theme. However, nothing beats a completely unique theme hardcoded. Thesis and Headway are cool, but personally, I think they are built more for those who can’t deal with the dirty backend stuff on a day-to-day basis when editting their themes.
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Hi Dan, was wondering, what do you mean by sucking up your link juice?
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