I recently completed a two-day test of a heatmap software with CrazyEgg.com  I have to admit that I’m not linking them in because the test went VERY poorly.  It didn’t start for almost 24 hours and when it did, the statistics it says I received were not in line AT ALL with my statcounter reports.

Here are links to the results from the CrazyEgg tests:

Top of page
Middle of page
Bottom of page

There are a few interesting bits about these maps.

#1 – no surprise most hits on a website come above the fold.  In the case of the heatmap, it clearly shows the *vast* majority of hits taking place in “Top of page.”  There were many clicks on the Tricks and Earnings categories but NONE on Microstock World, meaning perhaps I should remove that category and replace it with a more interesting category.#

#2 – the middle of the page actually had a LOT of clicks as well.  Not as many as the top but more than you’d expect.  Headlines and “read more…” links gathered the vast majority of attention here as there were fewer items competing for the reader’s eye.  There were multiple clicks on the “Comments (9)” but none on “Comments (0)” meaning people love to see what others write but are not as often willing to “go first.”  So comment on the blog pleaaaase!

#3 – I love these heatmaps.  I have now started a 7 day long test and I’ll see how it goes!  I’ve also changed from Statcounter to Google Analytics.  I think Analytics will provide me with “somewhat” of a heatmap so I’ll grab that soon.

The Internet isn’t as organized as say the NFL or Miss America. To know who’s “winning” requires some amount of research into a few things:

1) on what are blogs ranked?

2) how do you track that stuff?

3) who’s winning?

4) how much do we care?

This is Part 4 – How much do we care?

The last question is how high you want to go. This isn’t as difficult as it seems. There are 5 levels of bloggers according to Technorati and they are ranked according to Authority like this:

A List Blogs – 500+ Authority
B List Blogs – 100-499 Authority
C List Blogs – 10-99 Authority
D List Blogs – 3-9 Authority
E List Blogs – 0-2 Authority

Just for the record, that’ll probably change soon. The #1 blog has an authority of 29,213 as of today. To qualify for the top 100, you need Authority of 2451.

Where do YOU need to be for your market? A quick search shows that our Picture Infinity Blog is the #1 blog for Syracuse Wedding Photographer with an Authority of 5. This will be different everywhere. If you search Los Angeles wedding photographer, you need a 60 to be fourth place. First place is Jessica Claire with a 527 Authority.

For most markets, using your blog as a means of advertising means being a C List Blogger. D list works sometimes. C a lot more frequently. Being a B List blogger means you’re “usually” tops in your market.

SEO & Technorati, Part 1
SEO & Technorati, Part 2
SEO & Technorati, Part 3
SEO & Technorati, Part 4

The Internet isn’t as organized as say the NFL or Miss America. To know who’s “winning” requires some amount of research into a few things:

1) on what are blogs ranked?

2) how do you track that stuff?

3) who’s winning?

4) how much do we care?

This is Part 3 – Who’s Winning?

The “Who’s Winning” of blogs can be summarized very easily: multiple bloggers using one portal and a “newspaper” type interface. They are winning and easily. For your own blog, as a small business or solo photographer, winning isn’t as important as “beating your direct competition.” You’re not in competition with Huffington Post or Gizmodo.

What good does it do? Technorati Authority is based on a similar concept as Google’s Pagerank – how many incoming links go to this and how relevant are those links? This was easy in the past. I’d collect a list of links from each of you, we’d all post them, boom, instant Authority, rank and Pagerank. Good all around. Google now PENALIZES against “excessive link exchanges” – which really has no definition other than “if you have to create a link directory for it, it’s probably excessive.”

Who’s winning your market? Do a couple of searches on Technorati and see what you find. After you do an initial search (results will be in “Posts”) click “Blogs” to get results for which blogs hold high rankings in your particular set of keywords. See, it can function like Google too – but with the added knowledge of WHY someone is ranked so well.

SEO & Technorati, Part 1
SEO & Technorati, Part 2
SEO & Technorati, Part 3
SEO & Technorati, Part 4

The Internet isn’t as organized as say the NFL or Miss America. To know who’s “winning” requires some amount of research into a few things:

1) on what are blogs ranked?

2) how do you track that stuff?

3) who’s winning?

4) how much do we care?

This is Part 2 – How do we track it?

To track your blog on Technorati, you will want to claim your blog. You can do that by clicking the Blogs tab and then at the bottom of the page inserting your blog URL and following the steps from there. The important thing as far as having a Technorati account is simply having a way to monitor your progress and your current authority.

Once you have claimed your blog and logged into Technorati you will see the blogs you have claimed on the right under “My Blogs.” Click “manage my blogs” Here you can edit your settings (mainly description and tags). You can also grab the code to add faves but faves are a Technorati-only thing and do not help your Authority or ranking.

On the other tabs in Manage My Blog you may also change your Bio, Photos and such.

SEO & Technorati, Part 1
SEO & Technorati, Part 2
SEO & Technorati, Part 3
SEO & Technorati, Part 4

The Internet isn’t as organized as say the NFL or Miss America. To know who’s “winning” requires some amount of research into a few things:

1) on what are blogs ranked?

2) how do you track that stuff?

3) who’s winning?

4) how much do we care?

This is Part 1 – On what are blogs ranked?

The current standard for ranking blogs is Technorati (http://www.technorati.com). As of June 2008, Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs. Technorati is THE ranking system for blogs. So let’s check it out. Technorati measures a blog on:

#1 – Technorati authority

#2 – Technorati rank

Authority is the number of blogs linking to a website in the last six months.
Rank is calculated based on how far you are from the top.

If you click on a technorati link for a blog you find out both.
http://www.technorati.com/blogs/niltomil.com

You can see that NiltoMil.com has an Authority: 8 and Rank: 709,835. The lowest ranked blogs, those with no authority, are 4,704,172.

Blogs can be ranked on Google but you have to take into consideration keywords then and your results will vary. For “microstock blog” NiltoMil is ranked #4. For “microstock blogger” though, we are #1. You can use Google to determine a lot about your rating in that system but Technorati gives you an exact placement.

SEO & Technorati, Part 1
SEO & Technorati, Part 2
SEO & Technorati, Part 3
SEO & Technorati, Part 4

Google is all about content.  Forums are FULL of content.  A lot of microstock forums are full of REALLY bad “pimping” threads – where you show off your latest “X Topic” image.  “Show us your Red Balloons.”  Google hates those threads because a) nobody talks on them really and b) they have bad titles and no real keywords.  If you really want to “pimp your images” on a microstock site’s forum here’s the best way I know of.

Great title

Stock images of red objects

Great text

Looking for your microstock photos of objects in red, preferably new, interesting red objects please. We want both designers and photographers to post.

Now that’s how you do it for the best Google effect.

Then the replies should be Google friendly.

Here is my red balloon stock image for download.

If you REALLY want to pimp a certain topic, post a link to the forum link somewhere else.  Your myspace, blog, xanga, blogger – anywhere.  A simple link like <a href=”http://www.forumname.com/forum/topicid”>Royalty free stock images of red balloons</A>  The more times you post that on different domains, the more Google loves that topic.