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I would like to find other blogs with the same theme as mine. Tag Surfer does not return as many blogs as I expect, there must be more than what I get.
I don't know if others have had the same experience and I would like to know.
For my part, I would like to see categories already created by WP where we could go and click for "photographs", "Drawing", etc. Everyone would have to register their blog under one category at least and in that way they would be easier to find.
Nice idea but if folks can't use the categories correctly, what makes you think having them register under categories is going to work any better?
Best bet would be to visit your favorite search engine and add in site:wordpress.com when you do a search. Your results will remain on the site.
i think good blogs ought to know how to categorise to maximise their audience and if they don't, they'll learn if they are serious in blogging. =) you could always search for other tags in the wordpress tags page and see what comes up.
I do not want answers from people blindly defending wp. Users will always categorize as they see fit, but the s/w should help. Good or bad blogs.
"Good blogs": I am not talking about the qualities of the blogs. I am talking about all blogs.
" what makes you think having them register under categories is going to work any better?"
-- Nothing, I just think it is better. What makes you
think it will not?
"... serious in blogging."
-- We don't have to be necessarily serious in blogging
to expect a better blog,; not that WP is bad, I am
using it because I think it is better than most.
Who said that?
Why don't you just find the name of the designer or theme, whichever is more unique, and go to google and type in, for example:
Beccary site:Wordpress.com
That should get you all the WordPress.com blogs designed by beccary, for example.
I think by theme, he meant "blogs with similar interests", not "blog theme".
@helio: Mike wasn't blindly defending WP. Categories/tags are messy by nature, and having people mark themselves as a "tech blog" or whatever isn't going to make it any better.
He was correct to suggest typing www.google.com/search?q=site%3A*.wordpress.com&btnG=Google+Search
and then putting in search terms for your specific interests.
Users will always categorize as they see fit,
No they don't. Stick around here for some time and you'll see how often I try to explain that cateloging is a good thing and that only marking your post as 'News' isn't.
You'll also note that I will send folks elsewhere when what they're looking for isn't feasable with wordpress or wordpress.com. I've lost count how many times I've suggested phpnuke or back-end or even drupal.
Not sure why you think I say what I do 'blindly' and I've got to admit I'm rather insulted by that.
edit: Oh, and trust me. I could be doing much more important thing right now instead of trying to help folks where I can.
@drmike,
Now, now ... you don't really want your most appreciative fan quoting that now, do you?
{ARGHHH!} insult ignored ... not noted ... ;)
drmike....why is marking your post as 'news'...bad???
I'll explain in the morning. The library's closing for the evening.
Someone please bump this for me. :)
Because your post will be lost in a river of hundreds of thousands of other posts using the same tag. Being specific helps people find you. Being that general does not. And I speak as one whose top ten referrers generally contain at least seven WordPress Tag pages.
@drmike
noted - will do
ummm ... would you also explain "tag pollution" tomorrow
{nod to raincoaster}
Tag Pollution is when somebody tags their post with pretty much every tag in existance even when they don't apply. The thinking goes, "More people will read it if I use more tags...gee, the first word starts with "A" and so does "Alligator" so I'll use the "alligator" tag...now what else can I add"
I've seen posts ten words long that had more than twenty tags.
Tag pollution is one of my pet peeves.
I, personally, don't mind it because I like it when people who are eedjuts show that right up front. It spares me time paying attention to them in the future.
thanks
I really despise general tags like "Life", "My thoughts" etc. As raincoaster noted, it does save time though.
There are bloggers who use tags like the ones you have described on every post they make as well as useless tags like "random". The point is that tags are meant to be specific and those who are with the program will understand that log strings of tags do not get their blogs more "hits" like they think they will. Moreover, any experienced bloggers who do hit on a post with a huge string of tags behind it shake their heads simply click out.
Example: of tag pollution
Posted in Uncategorized, personal, blogging, news, news and politics, religion, life, commentary, blog, media, reviews, writing, opinion, entertainment, politics, faith, family, television, political, feminism, thoughts, women, economics, USA, culture, current events, education, children, Blogroll, money, spirituality, philosophy, government, community, human rights, theology, taxes, Gore, activism, America, poverty, Inspirational, homeless, teens, hillary clinton, teenager, feminist politics, working poor, informed voter, women's isssues, teen politics |
Uncategorized is a default category that should only appear if (1) you forgot to tag the post or (2) if it does not "fit" into your Categories.
The first half dozen tags you use are very important and spamming the tag pages pretty much means the spammer is wasting their time. The software is programmed to cope with being spammed so going nuts with strings of useless tags and putting the most meaningless of all of them up front means the blogger is shooting actually shooting herself in the foot.
When it comes to assigning Categories and tagging the more specific and fewer is the best approach to take ie. less is more. Understanding that is an advantage when it comes to getting hits.
Edited example: The following are the only tags the post above requires: homelessness, poverty, United States, working poor
Actually, I get a LOT of hits when I used the Uncategorized tag. It's weird.
ISTR that you used to be able to search WP usernames; I found a few equine blogs that way. I wish they'd bring that feature back. *hint* *koff* What I mean is, if I went to the forums and did a search for 'horse', it would return not only the use of the word 'horse' in the forums, but all the WP usernames containing 'horse'.
I am annoyed at bike people using the 'riding' tag. ;)
Agree on the tag pollution. I know on my own WPMu systems, the Uncategoried posts are averaging about 70% of what's being made. It's actually an issue that I need to address because my tag system looks pretty bad because of it.
The use of categories also helps the search engine spiders categorize your posts. Using 'News' just doesn't do anything to help.
Though I am not a journalist, nor do I aspire as such, I have posts labeled "news" because I don't want to create categories that will have only one entry. For example, I created a post about Barak Obama wherein I was pondering a question about his experience. Mine is not a political blog, so I don't want to create a "politics" category. I may never post about Obama again, so I don't want to create an "Obama" category. If I created categories for every subject that only garnered one post, my sidebar would become polluted.
(1) a. News - USA (or Belize, Canada, Denmark, UK, etc.) IMO is a useful category structure that assists people to find relevant blogs by location.
b. News - Australia - Local (or Regional, State, Federal) IMO is a useful category structure that assists people to find relevant blogs by location as well.
(2) a. News - Arts (or Church, College, Crafts, Culture, Entertainment, Environmental, Family, Health, Recreation, Science, Technology etc.) IMO is a useful category structure that assists people to find relevant blogs by topical content.
b. News - United Kingdom - Computer Technology (or Arts, Baseball, Crafts, Culture, Entertainment, Environmental, Family, Health, Music, Photography, Recreation, Science, etc.) IMO is a useful category structure that assists people to find relevant blogs by both location and topical content.
In contrast just "News" is a useless head-banging on computer screen category that makes me want to scream "ABOUT FLIPPING WHAT?" you dodo brain.
That's "gecko brain", timethief. A dodo is a bird, not a lizard :)
Point taken. Perhaps as I develop from newbie to experienced, I'll develop more useful tags for my posts.
This is an off-topic thread so if you find what I say of value then use it. And, if not, we can still be friends. :D
BTW my experience dates back to only 9 months.
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