Enhance Life Gets A Face-Lift; What Do You Think?

As you might have noticed, I have made some drastic changes to the blog template. I am happy to say that I did this all by myself! (Ahem.. Including the graphics!) I plan on writing a series of posts to share my experience. I will reveal how I re-designed the blog template (and did the implementation) myself. Yes, I purposely used the word "myself" multiple times! I had to burn the late night candle on both ends to get this done. So it feels good now that its finally complete. So what do you think? Do you like the new template better than the one I had before?

Changes Made - What I added

#1. Header (Obviously!)

I wanted to add a dash of the web 2.0 look and feel, which gave birth to the glossy header. When you look at it long enough, it sort of looks like candy you want to eat huh? Well, you must understand my mentality. It took me about two months to get the images and the blog design done. No, I didn’t work on this full time.

You can now click on the header image and it will redirect to the main page. (I almost forgot to mention)

#2. New RSS subscription buttons

I changed the subscription buttons in order to match the web 2.0 look of the header. The buttons are positioned on the top right for two main reasons.
1. It is a prominent place. The eye naturally goes to the header.
2. Placing the RSS button in the header meant more room in the side bar.

#3. Navigation Panel

In the old template, the introduction, achieves were all over the sidebars. My intention of adding the navigation panel was to give an area where all these are grouped together.

Changes Made - What I removed

#1. Sponsors (temporary)

There were affiliate links. I wasn’t getting anywhere with it. So I decided to discontinue it, for the time being.

#2. Side bars

I removed a couple of side bars which I thought were not essential.

To Do

This template re-design is far from finish. There are a few important things that I need to add.
1. Search bar
2. Footer
3. More cross browser testing

What I indented to achieve with the re-design

1. A professional design
I hate to admit it, but the previous template did look a bit amateurish.
2. Reduce the clutter
I had so many sidebars and I felt that it takes the focus away from the post content.
3. Better user experience.

I would like to receive your feed back on the blog re-design. Are there things I have overlooked? Any improvements you can suggest to improve this design?

Most importantly, if you come across buttons or links that are not working, please let me know.

Thank you.....
Shamelle

6 Things Simon Cowell (Of American Idol) Would Say About Your Blog!

1#. "If you've got a big mouth and you're controversial, you're going to get attention."

You can stir the pot with your posts. You are daring and different. You provide your blog readers with fresh thinking, that challenges pre-conceived and outmoded notions.

2#. "I thought it was very good. You set the benchmark"

You are a blogging idol. You can create an immediate visual impression of credibility and authority via color, design and content. Others take you as an example. You have a huge reader base.

3#. "It was a bit like ordering a hamburger and only getting the bun. The vital ingredient -- the bit in the middle was missing."

You have a great blog layout. The strong color scheme used weaves the page together. The blog design is professional and easy on the eyes. However, you lack unique, idiosyncratic and good quality content.

4#. "Absolutely on the money"

Your blog is considered to be a dependable storehouse in your niche. You have a firm purpose. You drive right to the heart of the matter with no off-topic meandering.

5#. "You are forgettable"

Visitors come to your blog. They read a few posts, then leave. They don’t come back; they don’t subscribe to your RSS feed. At the end of the day, they won’t even remember what they read about in your blog.

6#. "You have just invented a new form of torture"

Your blog design has too many sidebars along with unblended color combinations. There are so many animated advertisements. The blog takes ages to load. The visitors have a hard time finding their way around the blog. What you write, does not add value.

7#. “You have to show originality. I didn't see any. I miss your personality.”

You are a beginning blogger. You are someone who is trying to find your blogging voice. You find it difficult to connect with your readers on a personal level.

8#. "A natural. A total natural. And I like you."

You provide loads of good material for users to enjoy, absorb, and ponder. Your personal commentary, analysis, or opinion is included to make your blog more interesting and appealing. You try not to be all things to all readers.

So, what do you think Simon Cowell, would say about this blog? Leave a comment and let me know! Of course, it was entirely ad-hoc that #8 had to be, what it is! ;-)

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Intimate Details Of My Love Affair With Writing!

I was introduced to writing at a very young age. When I was about 6 years old, I had my first exhibition. My pieces of creativity were pinned to our home curtains! I would invite neighbors and my relations who lived close by, to come over for the exhibition. At the time, my motivation for holding an exhibition wasn’t because I loved writing or any style of creativity. It was because I used to get a few coins every time someone came to visit the "exhibition"! Looking back at it now, it all seems a bit embarrassing. Whenever there are family reunions, these things have a nasty way of coming to haunt me!

In school, the form of writing was essays. I didn’t like writing essays. Possibly because English Literature was the only subject I didn’t get an A! Then there was university. Every assignment was followed by report. That was when I began to realize that there was no escape from writing. Then it finally happened.

I was in my final year at university and I had to write my BSc thesis. I was really in love with my project. It was a software project on web services;WSDL,UDDI (never mind, if you are not aware of the technical jargon.) That was when the web services concept started to lift off. A lot of people were interested about the project and their interest was very encouraging to me. In order to get my idea across, I had to write. This time it was different because I was writing about something I loved. It didn’t seem like "just another assignment".

After graduation, I began my career as a software engineer. Again, No escape from documentation and writing. In the mean time, I was also doing my Master in Computer Science. Again, it required a thesis. That’s where I discovered the world of blogging and the beauty of "having my own mic"! Once I finished my MSc thesis, I had some time on my hands and started blogging on Enhance Life.

Grammar in The New World (=Body Language Blunders!)

The deal here is that my expertise is judged on my ability to communicate. I have realized that if I want credibility from the written word, I need to master grammar, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. With every post, I dedicate my self to master the craft of writing. This is an ongoing learning process; please bare with me.

There are two vitamins that I take on a daily basis to nourish this writing affair.
1. Grammar Girl. Her podcasts are easy to listen, very informative and answered most of my grammar uncertainties.
2. Brain Clark at CopyBlogger taught me everything about writing magnetic headlines and more....

How I please my partner (=YOU)

In any affair there is always a partner; in dangerous and daring love affairs, there are many partners! I may fall into the later. Now, don’t let naughty thoughts enter your mind. I am referring to my writing people!

So how do I please you? It is very simple to put into words, really. I try to find out what makes you happy and keep doing it. Applying it in everyday life is a totally different story altogether though.

A few months ago, I was a bit obsessed with what other "popular" bloggers were writing. Here I was spending a fair amount of time on my writing, but didn’t see any positive results from a numbers point of view. I tried to imitate their writing style. You know what, it didn’t work! The numbers told the same pathetic story. I suppose, a partner knows when their better half is trying to be someone, he/she is not. I gave that up and just concentrated on being me, before it led to a break up! This time around, the results are encouraging. Yes, I am going to keep on "being me" from now on.

I would like to take this opportunity to appreciate all my devoted partners (=YOU) ;-) Thank you very much for putting up with me. Your communication, encouragement and help, has definitely taken my affair with writing, to unimaginable heights.

Stirring the pot (=Come away with me!)

Writing has always been (and will be) my way of discovering the "gifts" I have and then finding ways to share them with others. If you are not part of my ever growing writing affair, it is not too late to join. Please consider subscribing to my RSS feed. You can also subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.

Note: This post was written as part of Joanna Young’s group writing project My Love Affair With Writing.

How did you come about the habit of writing? Do you have a story to tell?

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Fake It and Flaunt It? (Even Personal Development Bloggers Do It!)

This may be old news for some of you but I thought I would write a post for the benefit of those who may not know about it. After all, until today, I had no idea that things of this nature are happening around our blogging world!

As a practice, I take time each morning to visit the blogs that have linked(trackbacked) to my blog/blog post. You must have noticed the bottom left sidebar link, "Blogs that link here". I like to see what others say about my blog. In the process, I do find some really worthy reads, which I add to my feedreader.

Here I was, making my routine round trip when I came across a peculiar looking blog. I don’t want to make any blogging enemies, so I won’t mention the blog name. In spite of everything, this person did link to my blog! (If you are really interested, have a look at the blogs that have recently linked to Enhance Life. You should be able to figure it out yourself!) This particular blog had a preposterous layout (I should know I am a software professional!) and dull content. I believe the blog in question, falls into the personal development niche. However, I felt it didn’t have much to offer to the reader.

Yes, I am aware that there are many blogs of this caliber. However, the noticeable difference between those and this blog was the FeedBurner feed count. On the top right, was a heading subscribe to my rss feeds, and along side it displayed an image with a text indicating 2621 readers. I wanted to find out how this blog managed to get so many subscribers which such mind-numbing content. I didn’t even see a single comment for the 5 recent blog posts.

The detective inside me started to come alive. Even though I don’t have that many RSS subscribers, at least someone leaves a comment on every post!
My curiosity led me to investigate the HTML code of this blog. I also searched the web and found out a way to check the number of subscribers. All you have to do is type the following, on the browser.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~fc/feedname

Replace the feedname, with the actual feedname of the blog. For example, If you want to check how many readers I have, the link would be http://feeds.feedburner.com/~fc/EnhanceLife

As expected, the blog I was dissecting, returned a very low number; 18 readers to be exact. I was amazed to find out that this HTML code snippet was in the code. It took me a few minutes to realize that this person has swapped the feedname. The name of the feed was another blog’s feedname. I kid you not!

Why Do They Fake It?

I think it is because the feedcount lets the visitors know how popular the blog really is. By showing a larger subscriber count, new visitors might feel that the blog is worth subscribing to.
Statistics wise, I know it can be frustrating when you have a new blog. Blogging stardom doesn’t happen overnight! Thus, some might consider it to be a good ego boost and show off a high number of readers.

Does A Fake Feedcount Really Help Promote Your Blog?

My personal opinion is that it depends on the blog and how fake the feedcount is. Obviously, the blog I visited had not thought of the later!

When you visit a blog for the first time, in most cases, what happens is that you read just two or three articles, and then you look at RSS count. If the content and the RSS count impress you, you subscribe.
How many times has this happened to you? When you visited a popular blog the first time, noticed a high feed count of say 10000, and asked yourself - “Why haven’t I subscribed to this blog? 10000 RSS readers mean the blog is definitely worth subscribing!”
So, if you have a pleasing blog design and some decent content, I think you might get attention from your visitors with the fake feedcount.

However, if a reader finds out that the blog they read were faking their FeedCount, they would surely unsubscribe. They may even blog about it. Which might lead to controversy. We all know that creating controversy is a great way to get publicity! Is the risk worth it? Is your conscience up to it? Also, it is a matter of trust. My mindset is, “If I can’t trust that the number of subscribers shown is true, then how can I trust anything you say?”
Looking a bit deeper into the other side of the coin, if you’re planning on selling adverts on your blog, then it can be construed as fraud or misrepresentation. If I advertised on a blog that had faked its subscriber counts, I would demand my money back!

Would I Fake My Feedcount?

Having said the above, I have never faked the feed count on this blog and will never do it. It is my belief that it is unethical and wrong. One could achieve the same (if not better!) results, and keep the readers longer, using other much more ethical social proof ideas.
As tempting as it may be, I do not think it is a healthy way to attract more subscribers. I write a personal development blog and I stand by honesty is the best policy. I try my best to practice what I preach. I am a strong believer that dishonest activities like this will usually come back to bite you!

It doesn’t mean I don’t care about the statistics. I do! I love to see my numbers grow, but I have no desire to fake the readership. Even if I just have one reader today (Thank God I have much more!), I will still be happy knowing that at least someone is reading what I have to say. I would rather have an honest, engaged and small audience than a huge, fake or indifferent audience.

The blogging road trip, which has led me to today, hasn’t been easy. It has been hard work every step of the way. So I take great joy and pride in watching my subscribers grow- naturally. I admit, it is a slow process, but I am not going anywhere! If you like what you read here and have not subscribed to this blog yet, please consider subscribing to my RSS feed ;-)

Would You Fake The RSS Feedcount?

What about You? Have you ever considered faking the feedcount? Would you do it? Please leave your comments.

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Why Read Books When We Have Blogs?

This was one of the lunch table topics yesterday. I know it’s a bit geeky for a lunch time conversation. But hey, I work for a software firm!

Anyway, I thought I would take the discussion further by writing a post about it. Here are some thoughts by my fellow colleagues.

* Most people who write books have blogs. They use the blog as a means of advertising for the book. In order to create an interest about the book, the blog entries revolve around book.

* A blog post can be read and done with in quick time. It was argued that it is sometimes a summarized version of a book.

* Blogs are free, books are not!

My 2 cents on the matter
* Books are generally centered around one main goal or rather a central idea. Every chapter in book is structure in a manner to achieve that goal. (Generally speaking of course!)
*Unless it’s a series of posts, blog entries are rarely inter-related.

* Not everyone who has a blog write a book. In terms of sharing ideas, the possibilities are endless.

* For novels/ fiction etc you NEED books. I can’t picture myself reading a novel on a blog.

* Books are more portable and hazzle free!

My Conclusion: we need the best of both worlds. What your view on this?

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Do You Know The Most Important Parameter For Building A Better Blog?

Lately though, I have begun to notice that most of the advice given in these articles revolve around one key “parameter”. What does that mean? Well, advice is all well and good… In most blogs ;-) . However, if we are to successfully improve, I would say we need a good balance of ….
There are plenty of blogs, blogging about building a better blog. They offer numerous ways of improving your blog. I have also contributed my share of blogging guidance.




Time

I wish I had endless hours to work on my blog. Sadly though, reality speaks otherwise. Unless you are full time blogger, you might squeeze a few minutes here and there to write a post. In most cases, it reflects on your post.

In order to reduce the time spent on a particular post, most of us purposefully compromise on perfection; Yes, quality indeed.

Proof reading
Some people are blindly sloppy. Others, simply “compromise” on proof reading. I am guilty as charged. On rare occasions, I just glimpse through once and then press the publish button.
Pardon me!

Content
You can’t transform yourself into a creative, free thought maverick everyday! Ideas are hard to come by sometimes.

I generally don’t write when I don’t have anything “moving” to add. However, I have come across a couple of blog posts, which are written for the sake of writing! Written for the sake of keeping the blogging rhythm ticking.

Spending a little more time on a headline, image or even structure… could it ultimately make your blog post better?

Blogging relationships
Do you take the time to reply your email, comments? Hm…


Well, those were a few examples that are somewhat obvious, I am sure you can think of more. What can you do about them? Hm……

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Places To Fish And Find Great Blog Post Ideas

Since I started blogging, one question that I am often asked is, "How do you get ideas to write?"

One of the toughest things that I encounter as a blogger, is the fact that I need to find great ideas. A post idea that will make the reader’s time worthwhile; one that will make a difference; An idea that will enhance your life. A very tough ask! I try my best, and you bear witness to it ;-)

Do you wonder how my little brain(yes, I have one! But I sometimes wonder!) comes up with what I write? It is no secret anymore, here it is.

1. Get floating thoughts out of your head and into your post
If you are to execute this eloquently, you NEED to have a notebook and a pen with you at all times! Write about anything that comes to your mind, however stupid you may think it is! Not much of that goes into my posts, as soon as it is written. I ask myself, "What more should I add to make this a blog post?" With time, I build upon the things I have jotted down.

Examples:
Why Do Smart People Do Stupid Things Sometimes?
Our Lives Tick Off One Second At A Time

#2. Make time for 'Idle' time
When you are involved in many things that require your attention, you might not have any time for floating thoughts. In these situations, you can utilize the time you spend on traveling, waiting in a queue or even taking shower! It works for me. (No, No I don't take a notebook to the shower!)

#3. Participate in ideas that propagates itself.
Blog meme's, tags or group writing projects come under this one. What I like about this is that the topic is handed to me. Thus, I only need to concentrate on the actual content. To a certain extent, it brings back memories of my school English teacher, who used to give me an essay topic to write about ;-)

Top 5 Ways To Make Your Week-End Last Longer , Group writing project on “Top 5”
Tagged: My Simply Successful Secrets
Year 2007: An Invitation To Enhance Your Life - My contribution to “what is the ONE important question a person should ask himself or herself in 2007?”

#4. Surround your writing around your reading
Much of what I write is influenced by what I read. Books, blogs, Magazines, news papers etc .You might want to elaborate on a certain topic that you just read, write a book review or even a book excerpt.

Examples:
Re-imagine by Tom Peters (Book Review)
The Heart Of A Leader By Ken Blanchard (Book Excerpt)

#5. Draw inspiration from your hobbies
Television, Sports, Music …. Can you share something about these with your readers? Well, I have.

Practice What You Preach! - Was related to a Larry King interview
Face The Facts; The Ex-Files My thoughts on an episode of Tyra Banks show

#6. Dissect your day
Yes, it is a summarized version of most of the above points. Basically, random stuff that happens throughout my day. You get a 'peek' into my daily life!

Who Borrowed Your Time Today? – When I was at a lecture
That's A Fake Smile; Say Cheese! – Inspiration from my best friend’s wedding
A Journal Doesn’t Have To Be A ‘Dear Diary’ – Occurred while I was cleaning!

#7. Share your knowledge/tips
When you stumble upon interesting reads, share them with your readers.

A Solution To RSS Information Overload
Best Practices In Naming And Managing Files
Health Watch: Posture Matters!

#8. Listen to your readers (audience)
The comments section, the emails you get could be the source for your next post!

The very fact that I am writing this post is because several people asked me, "how do you get ideas?" :-)

#9. Ask questions
Are We Blogging For Attention?
Are We There Yet?

#10. Expand on already written posts
It can be your post or someone else’s post. If it is someone else’s please make sure you give due credit, by mentioning the author/ blog and linking to the post.

Examples:
Make Money, Not Excuses!
Nine Ways to Dwindle Productivity

#11. Write about latest happenings
You can write a post, based on special days, latest news, the current tech Buzz etc

So This Is Christmas
Can You Survive For 24 Hours Without Your Computer?

#12. Voice your opinions
This can be about something you feel strongly about. It can be contributing your insights to someone else’s blog post. Perhaps you agree, or disagree about a certain post.

The Strongest Principle Of Growth Lies In Human Choice
Begin With The End In Mind
You HAVE TO Love What You Do

6 'American Idol Ways' To Enhance Your Blogging

1#. Don't tell me how talented you are, show me!
At the beginning of each season, the judges weed out the truly unworthy. We see quite a number of contestants, who are not selected for the next round. More often, they plead by saying that they are good. Then again, the judges don't see it that way!

Many of us are talented in numerous ways. I might not be good at what you are good at. Which doesn't mean I am not talented! Each of us are gifted in unique ways. Do you know what your talents are? Are you using them? Can others see it?

#2. Appearance matters!

If you follow the show week after week, you will notice that the contestants change their hairstyles, clothing style etc. Sometimes, I even find it difficult to recognize the person! Most of the time, they dress the part. Their clothing reflects the song they sing.

Coming back to blogging, the look and feel of your blog goes a long way. It creates a foundation for what you write. How are the element in your side-bar arranged? Does it give a wow impression to the first time reader?

#3. Learn from feedback

What ever you do, where ever you are criticism will always be there. We need to be able to filter out the constructive criticism and do something about it!

#4. If you don't win the audience, they won't vote for you

Apart from the contestant's talents, their sense of humor, the way they smile goes a long way towards retaining a place in the next round. It's about making a relationship with the audience. Basically, the more liability personality you have, the better change you have of surviving.

#5. Content takes center stage
You would have heard the judges comment, "That wasn't a good song choice for you".
Content is…
-The way they vary the tone of the voice
-The contestant facial expression when they sing the song
-The way they make eye contact with the audience
The list goes on..

It is no different in blogospere. The content you deliver to the reader, should be worthy of the time he/she spends reading it. What do you say?

#6.It is a lot of hard work!
In order to bring to production a classy performance every week, I bet the contestants have to practice a lot. I know, they make it look so.. Easy!

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Using Constructive Feedback To Polish My Mirror

My blogging lifespan has been only 6 months todate. I am constantly on the look out for constructive feedback to improve my blog.

I am someone who is on the look out for feedback-in any aspect of life. I like hearing what I did right (don't we all!) and what I can improve on. My previous boss said that he really admired that fact about me! Ok ok. MPHOT (Monkey Praising Her Own Tail!) -Sorry

Anyway, my blog life span is around 6 months to-date. I know I have a lot to do, to improve the blog. Meanwhile, I would also like to know what I am doing wrong. So I sized an opportunity given by Business Wire. It had this wonderful concept called the SOAP (Scratch One Another Program). Simply put, its where I give my constructive feedback/ advice to one blogger assigned by Business wire itself. In return, someone he assigns does the same to my blog.

I was honored that my blog was reviewed by an outstanding blogger. He is non other than Douglus from The Marketing Technology Blog.

Indeed his feedback has been very useful to me. If you look around, you will notice that I have made a few changes to my blog, based on his advice.

I really like the way it had conveyed the review. He had categorized into 4 main areas.
Here goes….

1. Who are you?
Yes, I am aware that there aren’t too many details about me, on the "About" section. The truth is for a long time, I was even a bit "shy" to reveal my name. I know that must sound really stupid, but it took me a while to get "comfortable" with my blog. Does that make sense? Never mind, if it doesn’t!

So I guess I have to really get out of my "shell" if I want to put a picture of me. Hm… fingers crossed.

As for my credentials, I thought I will dedicate a separate post for that. Stay tuned!

2.Content Layout
Yes I too feel that the sidebars are a bit disorganized. I have been toying with different sections, moving them from left to right, however, I don't think I ever got the "right" combination.

I know, I know, the RSS button is too huge. I read somewhere that if you have a large, eye-catching RSS Button that people will subscribe. Looking at feedburner stats, I have noticed a sizable increase in subscription. However, I have made the RSS button slightly smaller, in an attempt to make it less over powering. What do you think?

3. Theme
Give more prominence to the content as opposed to the side bars. I have been trying to do that for some time now. Unfortunately, my experimentation with this blog template hasn't taken me far. I want to make the right side bar a bit slimmer and make the post content a bit wider. I there is anyone who can help me out with that, please let me know.

A border for images, is definitely something I can add.

4. Where is everyone?
Comment on other blogs. Again, something I want to do. Its just that I am a bit tight on time. That's a lousy excuse I know. But it is the truth. My day job doesn't leave me with too much time to make blogging relationships. Nevertheless, I want to and I have to device a way to make it more effective.

Douglus, thank you very much for your valuable advice. I really am grateful and appreciate it.

Now, I request for feedback from you, my dear readers. What do you think about Enhance Life? What are the things you like over here? What can I improve on?

Why In The World Do I Blog

The Why I Blog meme has caught up on me. I am a regular reader of Life Optimizer.Imagine my surprise, when I saw yesterday's post mention,
"Now I’d like to asks these great people to share with us why they blog" and then a link to Enhance Life.

Initially when I started blogging, a lot of people asked me why I started blogging. As result I wrote 7 Reasons - Why I started blogging. Looking back, it has been about five months since I started blogging. My reasons for blogging, still stand grounded.

Once again, if I am to iterate a few points from my 7 Reasons - Why I started blogging post,

I Learn, therefore I blog
If you have been a reader from the birth of Enhance Life, you surely would noticed the way my writing has grown. I have learnt a lot on, how to write headlines, structure posts … etc all because I started blogging.
Apart from blogging related learning, I also learn from the background research I do on articles. And Yes, I learn from fellow bloggers as well.

I want make a difference, therefore I blog
I once read somewhere, the you don't have to be Mother Theresa or Bill Gates to change the world. Now, I understand that it is so… true. I can make a difference…. One person at a time. Your comments, email .. the words of encouragement and the site meter traffic during these five months, makes me realize that I make a difference.

Now, that I have said Why I blog, let me also say
I don't blog for money. Look around, you will not find any advertisements. I do have other means of making money :-)
I don't blog to "show-off", or to be famous.

Well, that was the honest truth.

Let me nourish the chain of Why I Blog meme and invite these wonderful individuals to share their reasons.

Matty from Running On Empty
Mark from The Naked Soul
Desiree from Let's Change The World
Janie from Colloquium
Barb from A Chelsea Morning

What Every Blogger Ought To Know About Outstanding Bloggers

A couple of weeks ago John wrote a post titled Blog Success Awards for 2006, where he applauded a few Outstanding Blogs of 2006. His exact words were, "They were able to find a unique niche in cyberspace and fill a void."
I too have been a regular reader, of some blogs mentioned in his list and acknowledge John’s awards.

These days though, the latest buzz in bloggosphere seems to be the Z-List. I was first introduced to the z-list by The Viral Garden. As I see it, the Z-List is simply a way of promoting "undiscovered" yet outstanding blogs.

The above mentioned articles motivated me to observe, some patterns that distinguish all the outstanding blogs versus the ones that are struggling to take off. Some of it may be obvious to you, I am mentioning them anyway!

#1. Outstanding Bloggers Have A Great Blog Layout
All outstanding blogs have a very simply yet effective user interface. They also have the essential features in the side bar such as subscribing via email or RSS feed, popular posts, Site Search, categories and so much more.

#2. Outstanding Bloggers Write Quality Content
Easier said than done! However, when it comes to outstanding bloggers they establish an area of expertise and write posts within that boundary. They provide the reader with timely and useful posts, with a dash of their own approach of uniqueness. Generally, these posts are comprehensive and complete. I believe they strike the perfect balance between a mix of short and longer posts, with none too long.

#3. Outstanding Bloggers Write Irresistible Headlines
They seem to have consistency in writing irresistible headlines!

As Lorelle meticulously points out.

Your post title is more than just a namesake for your post content. It is a mini-representative of your post content that goes out to announce your post to the world. As a representative, it should speak well of the content it represents. So let’s look at how a post title is used on the web.
1. The post title is often shown with the blog title in the title at the top of your web browser’s title bar.
2. The post title is shown with the blog title in search engine and tag search results on the top line.
3. The post title is the title stored by bookmark managers, social bookmarking services, and other link storage and share methods, which may also include the blog title.
4. Trackbacks from your blog to another blog you link to and vise versa include the blog title and post title in the trackback link.
5. Links and recommendations to your article or post typically feature just the post title or a combination of your blog name and post title.
6. Feeds feature post titles, post titles plus excerpts, or post titles plus full articles. Feed readers often feature feeds by post title in a separate list as well as an additional view of the overall feed.
7. Recent Posts, Related Posts, Most Popular Posts, and similar lists of posts on your blog typically feature just the post title.
8. Feed aggregator services and blogging networks which pull feed excerpts from their featured blogs highlight the post title and blog name prominently,occasionally with a post excerpt.

#4. Outstanding Bloggers Are Great At Interacting With Their Readers
Most often, it can be seen that after each post, they invite people to comment. When they do get comments they acknowledge them with a reply.
From personal experience I know that some even take time to reply to emails as well.

#5. Outstanding Bloggers Post Regularly
Need I say more?

#6. Outstanding Bloggers Links Generously to Others
Blogging itself is a network of linking. Outstanding bloggers are generous with their links to others. These links are usually worthy of the click too!

#7. Outstanding Bloggers Interlink To Their Own Posts
Where relevant, they provide a link to a previous post. I see this approach as a way of making the readers aware of other posts that have been previous written.
In return, the readers are made aware of other quality posts written.

I have shared my incidental gleanings relating to outstanding bloggers today. Do you agree with the me ?Is there anything obvious, that I have left out of this list ?

Related posts
7 Reasons-Why I Started Blogging
Are We Blogging For Attention?
5 Tips - To Create Your Own Blog

6 Things about me, you don’t already know

I have been tagged by Ms.Qand I am summoned to reveal 6 things about me, you don’t already know.
Ok. So here goes.

#1. When I was 12 years old, I slipped, fell and knocked my face on a chair, while playing with my dog, Casper. The fall chipped off parts of my teeth and had to be replaced with fillings!

#2. I can play five musical instruments (Organ, piano, guitar, clarinet and the recorder) with dignity intact! I didn’t count the trumpet and drums because I drive people nuts when I play them!

#3. My birthday is on the 2nd of Dec. Happy belated birthday to me! If you really want to know my age, you will have to tag me again!

#4. I can uplift my spirits by listening to music. My main preference, Michael Learns to Rock, Chicago and Brian Adams.

#5. My family consists of me, myself and I. In other words, I am the only child. (No, that does not mean I am spoilt. Grrrr)

#6. I hail from the techno junky industry. Jargon aside; I work for a software company. (Now you know why some of my posts are technology savvy!)

Must-Have Things That Should be on Your Blog's Side Bar

In my previous post Change-The Only Constant In Life, I did mention that I have done a major layout and structure change. You surely must have noticed the
three column layout with two sidebars on either side!. I knew I needed to put more information, but was unsure about what I should include.

That's when I came across 10 Must-Have Things That Should be on Your Blog's Side Bar at SEO For Bloggers . Out of these ten, I only have nine. Can you guess which one I left out?

#1. RSS Buttons
I am not a RSS fan. I have added a few RSS buttons though.

#2 Your Other Projects/Blogs
To be honest, I don't have any other projects or blogs. However, I do have a few articles, which have been published in magazines. I made a section titled "features" and added the links to the articles.

#3 Short About Section
I didn't have this one before. I took a fragment of my very first post, Welcome to Enhance Life and placed it in the about section.

#4. Contact Info
I didn't think that contact information was that important. SEO For Bloggers convinced me otherwise. Now my email is located in the side bar, top right corner. You can write to me directly!

#5. Most Popular Posts
I analyzed a few reports from sitemeter and google analytics and figured out the most popular posts.

#6. Blog Categories
I wanted to categorize my posts from the day I started blogging. However, blogger's workaround way of categorizing seemed a bit too much of a hassle for me. Now that I have switched to
blogger beta, I try to make good use of the labels.

#7. Recent Comments
Blogger beta has a widget, to add recent comments. However, it can't be done directly with the classic template. No, I don't want to switch to their customized template. So, I had to restrict to showing just the user and the date. If any of you know how to add recent comments (more descriptive than I have here) to blogger beta, please let me know.

#8. Blogroll
This is nothing new to me. I have had the blogroll since the day I started the blog.

#9. Archives
Blogger gives the archives as default. No worries here.

#10. Site Search
I thought the search should have been given more prominence. Why is it the 10th?

If I were to write my list of 10 Must-Have Things That Should be on Your Blog's Side Bar I would have also included Email subscription. I have a moderate amount of users that have subscribed to Enhance life. (Then again, it won't be 10 things! )

All of the above mentioned side bar content, mainly depends on the blog. Or rather the blog type. For example, if I were to keep a personal blog, all 10 of these may not be "Must have" side bar features.
Hopefully this post helped shed a little light on how you can customize your sidebar, to improve your blog's usability and gain you more readers.

Are we blogging for attention ?

Yesterday, a colleague of mine implied that people blog for attention.
The line of reasoning was some make up stories to grab attention; some neglect their families to blog; some dont have anything better to do, so they blog etc

Excuse me, If I may interject my opinion here.....

All of those reasons could be affiliated to online-chatting, e-mail and many other things as well right? In every aspect of our world, we come across the genuine and the deceitful. Blogging world isn't any different.

In a previous post 7 reasons-Why I started blogging , one reason I stated was- "The simple fact that I am reaching a global audience". True, I feel good, when I look at the site meter summary, and realize that the average number of page visits have increased. I feel good, when people write comments and contribute to the post. ....

Does that stereotype me as Blogging for attention?. My answer is partially yes, and partially no. If you are a blogger, I would like to hear your point of view. Do you agree with me?

As for me and my blog being genuine... I write, you decide!

Blogging motivation!

I received a few blogging motivation vitamins during the past couple of days!

* I am honored to be the blog of the day !

* My post on 7 Ways - How not to annoy people was recently featured on Top 7 Business.

5 Tips - To create your own blog

Before the launch of my blog, I had to swim through several search engines to obtain necessary information. So today, being the first month anniversary of my blog, I thought it would be appropriate to share my blogging gleanings with you.

These were the steps I took, to get my blog up and running.

#1. Find a blog publishing service
To me, the battle was between blogger, typed and wordpress. If you are willing to spend a few dollars there are other contenders! The following articles helped me decide, on one.
* How to blog has a comparison between MovableType vs TypePad vs Blogger vs b2evolution vs WordPress.
* Blogging on the free web has a few thoughts built upon How to blog.
* Andy Wibbels discuss the structure of a few popular blog platforms.
* Kingsley Tagbo has an interesting post on how to compare blog software

#2. Choose a template
There are number of fancy templates out there. I did browse through the under mentioned sites, even though in the end choose to stick to the simple blogger template.
* Thur's Templates is a templates showroom, with a good selection.
* Blog Fashions has some free blog templates are compatible with Movable Type.
* Blogger Templates offers templates dedicated to Blogger.

#3. Write!
I'll admit, writing the first post was very difficult. It took a considerable amount of time and effort. I have written several posts thus far and I can honestly say that writing has become a lot easier and enjoyable along the way.
Most blogs are dedicated to a specific area. I would advice you to find an area that you are curious and interest about. Once you get started it will be like typing email!
* Lifehack.org has a post on 50 tools which can help you in writing. I highly recommend that you visit this one!
* website101 has Top 10 Blog Writing Tips
* How to write for the web contains a few short and sweet tips.

#4. Motivate yourself
Isn't that the case with most things these days! You need to identify the factors that motivate you to keep writing. E.g. comments, the number of visitors
* A-Z-of-professional-blogging is a list of valuable resource links.

#5. Hibernate
Try always to provide the visitors with content worthy of their time. However, adhering to that, is not easy! There comes a period where you just run out of ideas. Ideas will eventually return, until then don't post anything. Basically, don't write any posts, if you think they are not "up to the standard".


Think Tank: "What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing" ~ Aristotle

7 Reasons - Why I started blogging

Over the past few days, several people have asked me "Why do you blog?". (It seemed a natural question since my blog is new.) So far I’ve just given a one sentence answer and escaped. Can you guess? "To enhance my life and others"!

Anyway, I couldn't get the question out of my head. Now, here I am, posting the elaborate answer.

#1. In order to write things, there's a fair amount of background reading that I need to do. In the end, I too learn a lot about the subject.

#2. I want to improve my writing. I spend a lot of time writing, and even more time erasing! The right word would be, refining what I write.

#3. I like to know what others think, about areas that intrigue me.

#4. Putting thoughts into words, puts things into perspective.

#5. Freedom! To write what I want, at my own pace.

#6. The simple fact that I am reaching a global audience. Every time I look at the bottom right panel, it puts a smile on my face.

#7. I like to make a difference -for the better! If my entries, help you enhance your life, then I've achieved the goal i've set out for.

If you are not a blogger, I hope these reasons motivate you, to start your own blog. Do you still think its a waist of time ?
If you are a blogger, why did you start your blog ? Are the reasons, same as mine ?

Think Tank: “Anybody can have ideas--the difficulty is to express them without squandering a quire of paper, on an idea that ought to be reduced to one glittering paragraph.” ~ Mark Twain