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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www.TheEnhanceLife.com Is The New Domain

I am happy to announce that you can now view this site on its own domain, www.TheEnhanceLife.com.

It has definitely taken me a long time to switch to a custom domain. I finally decided it was time I took the plunge.

Why I decided to shift to a custom domain

1. Over the past few months the hours I spent writing a post has increased, beyond my wildest imagination(No, no not for this post!). I have come to a point where I consider blogging an enjoyable hobby; something I plan on doing for a while.
2. I want to build more credibility and a sense of professionalism around my blog. I didn’t think having a blogspot extension would measure up.
3. I like to create a brand. Something to call my own!

Factors I Considered when Choosing a Domain Name

Gosh, this was very difficult! I think naming a baby would have been much easier!
1. Blog Title
I wanted to go with EnhanceLife.com unfortunately this was already taken. My list of suggestions include
EnhanceLifeMore.com
EnhanceLifeDaily.com
EnhanceLifeNow.com
.....

I still have the list which has a collection of about 100 domain names! Then I remembered that if I change too much of the title I will have to change the blog header image as well.
Then I decided to take the closest to enhance life. www.TheEnhanceLife.com. It was my second choice, but I wasn’t too sure people could read it clearly when written in a url. www.theenhancelife.com.

2. Domain name length
I didn’t want it to be too long because the users would find it annoying to type. Not to mention, poor me, who would be using it a lot!

3. Memorability
Adding hyphens and numbers can make it tricky for readers to remember the blog name.

4. Speaking
I wanted the domain name to be "pronounceable". Related to the above, adding hyphens and numbers can make this complicated.

Anyway, this is just the start! There are more changes to come.. Positive changes ;-). Stay tuned! If you haven’t subscribed to the blog feed, subscribe now.

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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Why In The World Do I Blog
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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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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 ?

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Change - The Only Constant In Life

My regular readers will notice a major layout revamp. Apart from changing my original blog template, I also moved to blogger beta. All in the process of enhancing my blog!
What do you think of the new layout and structure?

I have been making a few changes in my life lately. (The visible change for you, would be my blog!) So, I thought it would be appropriate to pen a few thoughts on Change.

It is a common belief that people hate change. However, on a regular basis people do change. They change cloths, technology, hairstyles, jobs ..... and even spouses! Change, has become a part of our lives, we cant live without.

What makes change, so difficult?
#1. Fear factor
Moving from known, to unknown. Leaving the comfort sort. I am sure there are enough examples from your life, which could be added here.

#2. Accepting change originating from someone else.
When someone else suggests an idea (a change!), we sometimes tend to resist it.
We despise the suggestion even if we feel its the logical thing to do.

Change may not be a necessity always. Depending on circumstances, we have the option of staying where we are or say come what may. Sometimes, we tend to look at change from all negative angles, whilst ignoring the positive effects the change would bring.

From life experiences, I know that in order to change, the magic action is re-adjust. Re-adjust our viewpoint, re-adjust our mindset. Ernest Holmes couldnt have said it better.

Think Tank:"Change your thinking . . . change your life" ~ Ernest Holmes