successful home working
Posts tagged website
Spreading a little Commentluv between home workers
10
My partner and IT adviser A is always spotting new ways to improve our blogs and on his suggestion I’m trying out Commentluv. (I know the name alone will offend those of you who, like me, try to maintain standards of spelling and grammar in the face of the txting masses, but let’s try to put that to one side!)
The good thing about Commentluv is that it allows you to link to a post on your site when you leave a comment on mine and add my post to Google+, like it on Facebook or tweet the link.
So you are adding to your backlinks, which helps with your SEO, especially as this blog has a Page Rank of 4 (and rising!) Other visitors might check out your blog for themselves, especially if the selected post is related. So you benefit both from improved SEO and from extra visitors.
There are 3 boxes to fill in with your name, email address and website (put ‘http://’ in front). You type your comment in the large box as usual, click on the title of the post you want to link to, check the box to confirm you’re not a spammer (the cheek) and post the comment.
Underneath your comment is an invitation to read your selected post, next to a little red (luv?) heart. Hover over the heart and a box appears with links to more of your posts. There are other features too, but I think that’s quite enough to get your head round to start with.
Confused? Check out A’s post about Commentluv and have a look at the comments beneath before you have a bash yourself. And of course let me know if you luv it, or not.
Home working blog hits
103 months ago
by Judy
in Social media
Visits to my blog usually drop off noticeably at weekends. After all, most people want a change from their weekday routine and to stop thinking about work. So I couldn’t believe my eyes when I checked my stats on Saturday evening (yes, a bit sad, I know!) and there was a sharp spike in visits.
It turned out all these extra people were being referred by the Filofax blog, which had found my recent post about stationery being one of the pleasures of home working. Despite being listed mid-way down and with the rather crucial word ‘work’ omitted from the entry, lots of people were finding their way to my site.
I’ve noticed before that lots of retweets on Twitter or comments on my Work from Home Wisdom Facebook page can result from what were casual, spontaneous tweets and posts. Whereas often when I think I’ve come up with a corker and smugly click Send in anticipation of a big response, absolutely nothing happens.
So what conclusion to draw? I think it’s something to do with being authentic, writing about something because you are genuinely interested, and not because you are hoping it might impress. Sometimes something off-the-cuff and not particularly polished hits the spot far better than something you’ve reworked over and over in an effort to make it ‘right’.
As usually happens when I get a mention on a popular blog, the visits dropped off a bit the next day but I’m still getting extra traffic. Have you noticed a similar pattern with your own tweets or blog? What are your thoughts on those apparently random posts that have a big payback?
Under construction for home workers
8
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m currently on Daniel Priestley’s KPI programme, and he’s working us hard! This week I’ll be putting the finishing touches to a free ebook and podcast called The 7 Things People Never Tell You About Working from Home. They will both be available here on the site soon.
I’m also working on a new programme for people who are making the shift from corporate to home working, to support them during that challenging first year while they find their home working feet.
If you’ve begun to work from home within the last year and would be prepared to have a phone or Skype chat about your experiences, please tweet me @judyheminsley or e-mail me.
I’m double-checking that I’m including the right content for the programme and so far the people I’ve spoken to seem to have enjoyed talking about the pros and cons of their new lifestyle!
Thank you, thank you
101 year ago
I’m a bit late starting the blog today, as the Radio Somerset bus is in Frome, and I was invited to be a guest on the Morning Show with Emma Britton. She does a slot called Have Your Say to discuss a news topic, and asks listeners to phone, email and text with their opinions. Today’s topic was whether terminally ill patients should be able to ask doctors to end their lives. Rather sobering for so early in the morning – it sure puts home working problems into perspective – but now I’m home and getting on with my day, fuelled by a large cuppa.
It’s Thankful Thursday again already. How quickly the home working week whips around! Today I’d like to thank all the people who comment on blog posts and pages, send me their photos for the home office and home working style pages and engage with me on Twitter and Facebook.
I really enjoy getting the feedback and hearing other people’s opinions and experiences, and your comments often brighten my day or make me think. What you may not realise is how helpful they are to other home workers, who might be in exactly the same situation and find something that makes them feel better or pushes them forward. It doesn’t have to be anything profound either; sometimes a chance or silly remark is just what we need to read!
So thank you for sharing your thoughts and pictures (love the pictures!) and making me feel part of a home working community of talented and generous people. Have a thoroughly good Thursday!
Navigation, navigation, navigation
141 year ago
A comment by marketer Christine Davey about finding the Home Office page made me realise how much home working information there now is on the site, and how easy it is for me to concentrate on telling you about the new posts and pages and neglect those that have been there for a while.
There are a number of ways to find what you’re looking for, apart from using the menu bar and the search box on the top right. If you scroll down to the dark grey box in the right-hand column and click on the little green folder at the top, you’ll see all the categories of posts.
The blue label brings up tags, another way of organising content, while the clock shows the blog archives by month. The orange star lists posts in order of popularity (working from home wardrobe and image top the bill), and the orange speech bubble displays the most recent comments.
This saves you from having to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, where all these sections appear again – click on the light grey arrow to move them along – plus a box to click on if you want to tell a friend about the site.
Clever stuff, and it all comes as part of the WordPress theme. Several people have asked me lately if I’d recommend WordPress and I don’t think I need say more.
My home working hero
91 year ago
Several people have said to me recently that I’m very lucky to have my own IT department in the shape of my partner, Andy. I am indeed, and he is the power behind the site, keeping me on track with everything from setting up Skype calls to improving SEO, as well as working as a very insightful trainer and coach and dealing with his new and unexpected sideline, helping people set up their blogs.
Not only that, as he also works from home, he’s on hand to act in all kinds of other capacities, including chauffeur, gardener, chef, diplomat, musician, housekeeper, Reiki practitioner, comedian and supplier of all kinds of emotional and practical support.
This weekend we will have been together 18 years, although it hardly seems possible, and so I’d like to use this Thankful Thursday to acknowledge and appreciate his amazing help.
Lots of people contribute to making home working successful – spouses, partners, employees, friends, colleagues, mums, offspring…
Who is your working from home hero?
