Today I got to thinking about another area of opportunity in blogging- displaying popular posts. You might want to manipulate what your readers are looking at on your blog, and displaying popular posts is the best way to do so.

You could let your readers sift through page after page of posts until they find something they like. You could even hope that they search for something they are looking for with your built-in search tool. But sooner or later, you are going to take a look back and laugh at the way you used to do things. That’s right. Without a clear list of what is important on your site, the reader is literally lost. But don’t let that get you down, I will show you the way.

What happens when you arrive at a site and get done reading the interesting post that led you there? You either see something interesting at the bottom/top of the page or you leave. So place a Popular Posts Plugin and you’re set. And you don’t even have to put a whole lot of thought into what you lead your users to, as long as they stay on your site.

Some things to consider when showing you most popular posts are the following:

• You can now change what you visitors are looking at. If something isn’t as popular as you like, move it to the ‘Most Popular’ list and have the visitors assume it is.

• Show comments or views to let your users know how popular it is. Numbers always seem to attract views.

• In my own personal opinion I think that a component such as this will function best if it is very noticeable. Instead of placing it to the left with standard hypertext format, try creating a different unique area at the top of your page (I know my design does not yet reflect this, but it soon will).

What do you think? Too much thought, or not enough…

There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.
-Winston Churchill-

In the past few weeks or so you may have noticed a few major blogs changing their design. If you visit more than one of these sites you also may have noticed similarities in design…

ProBlogger.com

JohnChow.com

I have included Shoemoney.com to show the similarities even though he did not update recently.

In the past few weeks or so you may have noticed a few major blogs changing their design. If you visit more than one of these sites you also may have noticed similarities…

Here are Trends and Changes I Noticed with the New Designs:

• The faux columns design is a thing of the past with the new designs. Even though it made things seem orderly, that space is money.

• More visuals. Definitely more pictures and items to look at with the designs. The creative use of a new car image on JohnChow.com also forces the eye to look downward at content.

• I have a feeling this ad placement on the bottom-right will catch on. I can honestly say that I now actually look at the ads. I assume the change with this ad placement was made to make more money off of more ads. In the past on JohnChow’s website you may have noticed there were but a few ads which stood out at the top of the page. However the new design almost hints the ads on the bottom-right by slightly cutting off the images- something that made me want to scroll down to see more…

• The top portion of the screen is now being utilized more so than before. Once again, the past designs left space at the top which seemed to go to waste. Take a look at the images I have grabbed for you and notice the changes with all the borders.

• RSS is now being placed in the top right hand corner below navigation. We already know the importance of RSS subscribers and now the authors are making it easier to find.

• Popular articles are now a whole lot easier to find. A weakness of John Chow’s site used to be the difficulty of finding these popular articles. With the new design, everything is laid out right below the picture at the top of the page.  Even though Problogger was already doing this, I am fond of the side bar blog and ‘Best of’ on the front page.

• I am a big fan of white space. It makes everything feel open and gives your mind time to transition between each item you see. ProBlogger seems to have maintained this concept quite well. But John Chow seems to be running a little low on it at the top of the page.

Do you remember those groups that everybody in High school used to hang out in? They are called, “cliques,” and if you don’t exist within one, consider yourself lucky.

Do you remember those kids who were the ring leaders of the cliques? They ultimately controlled what you thought, felt, and did during your High school career. These people didn’t create lasting relationships known as friendship, but rather abused their peers to achieve some sort of satisfaction.

Today I read a ReviewMe at JohnChow.com and was reminded all to well of that High school drama. In my own moral opinion John should not have accepted the ReviewMe. Yes, John does own JohnChow.com and also has complete control over what he does with it. Yet even if John Chow wanted to teach all non-quality sites a lesson, he shouldn’t have taken $400.00 to do so. John could just have easily created an article about sites such as this submitting their ReviewMe requests.

If you read the responses to John Chow’s article you will notice the negativity towards the person who requested a ReviewMe. As I write this there are already 78 comments. Now I’d say that is a great response to this article. Or is it? I think the comments are showing something else. They are showing the amount of people who are willing to agree with anything.

How often do you look up and realize where you are being led? It may be cliché but I’ll say it anyway, “If your friend jumped off a cliff, would you?” There are not rules to figuring out what is good and what is bad. It all comes down to morality. What does your gut tell you about what is happening? Forget what other people are saying and take a few steps back.

Personally I tend to distance myself from sites that create or allow one sided criticism. It is not constructive and leads to everyone feeling bad. I have also stopped frequenting certain forums for this very reason.

Today I watched a commercial by Verizon and I must say that it was of completely poor taste.

The commercial starts with a man working on his Fios Internet and he is immediately greeted by a Verizon representative.
“I always pictured you with a beard,” states the customer. Here Verizon is making a joke. Verizon portrayed as all powerful God. At the top of the screen in a set as white as heaven’s white pearly gates is a Verizon rep in a white bucket lift. Okay, I get it. Real funny Verizon.

Yet why should they stop here at displaying how powerful they are as a company? Next the customer needs help with his computer. The Verizon man sticks out his hand to make a ‘make it so’ gesture, and the computer quickly fixes itself.

Now I am usually fine with the advertising methods used by companies such as this, but this is too much. Verizon is clearly depicting itself as God in the commercial. The fact that the comment is said in a third-party format is meant to defer Verizon’s ownership of the actual viewpoint. So you might find yourself at first watching the commercial and telling yourself, “they didn’t just say and do that…”

The last thing Verizon did is respect us as a customer in this commercial. Even if the commercial doesn’t bother you very much, you should at least ask yourself this- At what point is a company pushing the limits on what it says or does? Verizon wasn’t breaking any law here so it is up to the consumer whether this goes on any longer.

Sit down in a quiet room and try to write about something out of the ordinary. A topic you have never written about in the past. Even if you don’t know what you are talking about, make something up.

Meditation. Sit in a room void of all distractions and noise and close your eyes. If you have never done this before, that is completely fine. Basically what you are trying to do is ‘clear your head.’ Most of the time it is very difficult to be creative because we have too much to think about with all the other things floating around in the back of our minds. Spend a few minutes thinking about nothing but breathing. After which you can tackle your problem with a fresh and clear mind.