by Ana Hoffman 62 comments

Blog Audit Friday: Why FREE Is (Almost) (Never) Better



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blog audit hosted wordpressDid you know that every time I do a blog audit for one of my email subscribers, I find the same problems on almost every blog – whatever the size, age, or niche?

It’s true.

We can read great posts on how to improve blogs all day long, yet without applying it to OUR sites, the information is just a bunch of useless data polluting our already limited brain capacity.

This post is not starting too well…

I’d better let my video blog audit do the talking.

Blog Audit Friday: Jackie’s Book Reviews

Today we are looking at Jackie Paulson’s blog Jackie’s Book Reviews.

Jackie won this blog audit fair and square in my recent April blog audit giveaway (join my email list to get your chance to be the lucky winner next month).

jackie paulson blog audit winner

Watch, learn, and apply.

Please apply.


==> Click Here to Join my Email List

Brief Video Overview

1.   Free is almost never better.

If you have a personal blog or just want to give your offline business a simple online home, then going with WordPress.com is absolutely fine.

This free platform provides all the structure you need to build a quick and efficient site for the grand cost of $0.

However, if you are online to build and monetize a business, don’t even think about starting your blog on any platform other than WordPress.org (notice the “.org” part at the end.)

It’ll cost you under $10 per month and you’ll actually own your business vs relying on a whim of a free platform like WordPress.com.

Here’s some additional reading from the horse’s mouth on why you shouldn’t even try to monetize your free blog:

If you have already made the mistake of starting your blog on a free platform, don’t wait much longer to move it to a self-hosted platform.

Here’s a quick video on how to install WordPress on Hostgator, which is what I use for Traffic Generation Cafe:

If you think that Hostgator is a good choice for you, I’d appreciate it if you used my affiliate link to get it:

==> http://bit.ly/anahostgator

2. Your blog is not about YOU.

Sure we are all narcissists at heart and think that everyone’s world rotates (or at least should rotate) around us.

However, somewhere deep down we know better.

Each reader who comes to our blog is the axis of their own world, and the sooner we realize it, the sooner we start catering to it, the better.

For them. For you. For your business.

Do you really think I wrote posts like Today I Feel Like Quitting… or Baa, Baa, Black Sheep for my own sake?

Think again.

Even your About Me page should be all about THEM.

That’s why mine is titled:

3.   Negative social proof.

When I come to your blog, I don’t want to see any of these:

one vote only image

or these…

networked blogs widget

or these…

no tweets image

Trust me, I understand that you might have a brand new blog and a few lonely readers.

All the more reason to get rid of anything that desperately screams “No one likes this blog; ruuuuun!”  and do this instead:

Tools I Used during the Blog Audit

There are really only two internet marketing tools I currently use for all my keyword, competition, and backlink research:

  • SEMRush - an awesome tool that allows me to find out what keywords I am currently ranking for (the only one I know of that does that), what my competitors are ranking for, and find great ideas of keywords in demand.

See why I love SEMRush and how I use it to increase SEO traffic for Traffic Generation Cafe, read my SEMRush review.

  • Market Samurai - despite all the latest controversy, MS still remains my SEO tool of choice; mainly for SEO competition and backlink checking.

See why in my latest Market Samurai review.

Marketing Takeaway

There’s always room for improvement for ANY site.

There are always things that could work better.

There are always new ways to increase website traffic.

There’s always more money to be made with our businesses.

Jackie: I hope you found this audit helpful and will put my tips to good use.

All other readers: ditto.

And if you want a chance for me to audit YOUR site, don’t forget to join TrafficGenerationCafe.com community. Now.

traffic generation cafe

Image source: Painting by Karol Bak


traffic generation cafe comment below

{ 62 comments }

sally brown July 25, 2012 at 9:16 am

Hi Ana,

I love to come to your blog because you have so many wonderful tips. I’ve just had my site revamped by Justin Germino or dragonblogger.com. He has done such an awesome job and is a wonderful mentor for me in furthering my learning wordpress.

I would love to have an audit by you, but not sure what the price is. Please let me know. I was out sick for a while and lost 4 months and some traffic. I’m now playing catch-up. Things are going well, but could use another person’s input on how to build my traffic. However, I know I need to be able to give something back to the person who is doing this help for me. Thanks so much for all the information you share with your readers. Sally

Ana Hoffman July 26, 2012 at 8:32 pm

Welcome back, Sally.

The one thing I’d suggest you do on your blog is get rid of one of the sidebars.

Right now the two of them make the your blog top-heavy and empty after a couple of scrolls.

Avi June 21, 2012 at 11:24 pm

I think you’re right Ana. I had a blogger blog an it took 1 year to reach 700k alexa rank but now i have moved to wp and i reached that rank within 2 months. I also see many advantages here. Again free themes are also not good so I’m thinking of moving to thesis themes.

Ana Hoffman June 25, 2012 at 7:16 am

Glad you support my point of view from your personal experience, Avi.

Katrina Moody May 31, 2012 at 2:40 pm

Ana – you are ALWAYS a fount of knowledge. I still remember the time you took to look over my blog way back when (and I still want to return that favor sometime – send me an email!) — I have the most trouble with my sidebars – even as I have cleaned them up.

Your tips, however, have really helped me guide some of the changes I’ve made. My site started as a personal blog, and now I have advertisers interested in working with me. It’s both a challenge and an exciting thing. I don’t think I would be there without the advice and help of some of the amazing folks (like you!) I have met along the way!

kayus May 18, 2012 at 8:13 am

Ana,I run a free blogger’s blog. and i have been on it for the past one year. I see my blog ranking for some keywords even till this moment. Are you saying that all free blogs are crappy blog or wouldn’t fetch me the money if i promote affiliate products on them?

Ana Hoffman May 9, 2012 at 9:12 pm

Similar to all the “SEO experts” that run SEO blogs and come to me to ask the simplest SEO questions.

David May 2, 2012 at 5:52 am

Great post again. I hope Jackie didn’t mind you publishing your review too much! I’m sure she did not. The tips are solid.

You have a very solid point with the notion that each blogger is interested in their own world and not ours. That is something we should all write down and pin to our desktops / calendars.

Thanks again Ana.

Ana Hoffman May 9, 2012 at 8:37 pm

She asked for it, she’s got it. lol

Daniel May 1, 2012 at 5:11 pm

Nice Blog audit, Ana….now put away those knives!

Just kidding….

The Wordpress Theme Jackie is using(or a similar variation of it) is said to be quite good for SEO, and all that stuff…

The twenty ten, twenty eleven, etc WordPress theme series….which if I remember correctly, is the default theme when starting your first WordPress Blog(site)….

Regarding Blogs and websites, etc as you have said, free is the easy way to go, and it would be nice to be able to make plenty of money online with a totally free route….

Though, the harsh reality is that, in the end it will cost money to make real money online….

We can suffice with a free Blogger blog and just slap some ad-sense ad units onto it.
And, if done properly, we will pull in a few dollars here and there…maybe even more than this.
Though, if people are wishing to open up their possibilities in regards to making substantial money online, then the free option is not a wise choice…

This will become apparent sooner or later….

Ana Hoffman May 7, 2012 at 7:58 am

It certainly makes a lot more sense to do something right from the start, Daniel.

I’d rather use a free theme on wordpress.org than spend money on customizing a Blogger blog.

Micah May 1, 2012 at 9:21 am

Social proof is huge, and it’s something that a lot of new bloggers seem to overlook. The solution can be as simple as removing the share buttons that no one is using, or just getting better at networking.

The more time you spend building relationships with other blogger, the more blog engagement you yourself are going to get.

Just remember, it’s give and take, not take and give ;)

Ana Hoffman May 7, 2012 at 7:29 am

Exactly right, Micah – first, we need to reach out and give; getting it back will come naturally.

Jane April 30, 2012 at 7:45 pm

I’ve had enough trying out free stuff. They waste hell a lot of my time and a lot of effort! That’s one of the very crucial lessons I learned in my blogging career.

Ana Hoffman May 9, 2012 at 9:23 pm

lol, Jane; sometimes the best way to learn something is from our own mistakes.

Jackie Paulson April 30, 2012 at 6:33 pm

Hey Anna,
I learned more from you than anyone in two years…so valuable. Since I will take what you say to heart, I have to make some serious changes. I do appreciate the time you spent to help me out. I will be back to tell you how I changed my blog from what your audit said. I appreciate the comments here too. Thanks for all of you.

Ana Hoffman May 9, 2012 at 9:24 pm

Any time, Jackie.

Thanks for taking my advice; let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

Richard Goutal April 30, 2012 at 1:32 pm

Free tools are promoted heavily to aspiring marketers and I believe it just leads to trouble. Of course many free tools are great and can be used to good advantage. But encouraging free tools creates a subtle message that you can get free profits, a kind of “get rich quick” perspective instead of a “develop a sustainable business” perspective. Such messaging creates not only a misunderstanding of what works, but a misuse of free tools. It is like getting “free” business cards printed up, the ones with an advertisement on the back for the printer, or someone else. What message does that create rto your own prospects or customers. Likewise, if you set up a sales page with a free tool that contains a message from the tool creator like, “Get your own free sales page from SchlickPages.com” – you have created a negative message.

It’s important for aspiring marketers to get a general understanding of business, of their own purpose, or their target group, and so on. Then they may have greater wisdom in choosing the free tools that come without a downside. And that will slash quite a few from any “master list of free tools.”

Ana Hoffman May 1, 2012 at 8:37 am

I agree, Richard – the key word here being “BUSINESS”.

I have no idea how this whole notion of building an online business for free started, but it certainly has no merit.

Thanks for sharing your views!

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca April 30, 2012 at 1:04 pm

Whoa… hard core audit, Ana :)

There’s lots and lots of actionable advice in there.

I agree for the most part, and I’d like to expand on something.

I often hear “know your market, your blogs about them”, I also hear “you gotta do what YOU love”.

I’m pretty passionate about this, because these two ideas confuse people.

It’s one or the other… right?

No.

It’s both.

Business is relationships – that means two or more people, co-operating.

Publishing + performing is relationships too – that means a publisher and an audience.

Focusing heavily on 1 or the other is generally a short-term solution, but a focus on the co-operative blend is a powerful long-term solution.

Anyway, thanks for the space to share, and I’m sure you already get this, but not everyone reading might :)

Ana Hoffman May 1, 2012 at 8:34 am

Personally, I am not too big on “do what you love concept”, Jason.

If you want to do what you love, start a personal blog.

If you want to build a business, find out what your readers want.

Liking the niche is important, I agree. Loving it is a luxury only few of us can afford.

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca May 1, 2012 at 9:59 am

Interesting… so you’re more “DON’T do what you lve?”

That’s pretty refreshing, Ana, could make a good post lol. Speaking of, I sent ya mine :)

And are you telling me you don’t love quite a number of things about online business? And isn’t that what TGC’s about? :D

Ana Hoffman May 7, 2012 at 7:31 am

In theory, I’d love to do what I LOVE, Jason; however, too many people are obsessed with it. Loving what we do doesn’t happen to the majority of us, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t still have a business.

Haven’t seen your post; have you emailed it to me?

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca May 7, 2012 at 7:55 am

Haha… I see what you’re getting at :)

I e-mailed it, and I’m sure it’ll all work out. Re-sending :) Confirm if ya get it please :D

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca May 1, 2012 at 10:03 am

And interestingly, hyper successful Amber Rae (worked with Derek Sivers + Seth Godin) latest post is all about how she didn’t do any of the “audience-pleasing” stuff or niche-selection stuff.

I’d love to know your thoughts on this quote:

“So many people approach me and ask about how I created a following. They ask about my “content strategies,” “audience building tactics” and how I “optimize through SEO.” The truth is, these concepts make my head hurt. The only strategy I’ve used is being myself and sharing the ups and downs of my journey. I write to understand and share what moves me, hoping that it might make one person smile or think differently or take action on what matters. ”

http://tumblr.heyamberrae.com/post/21846631213/find-your-voice

Ana Hoffman May 18, 2012 at 6:52 am

In many ways I agree with the quote, Jason.

However, no great writing will attract a following without some sort of promotion. There’s just no way around it.

Someone has to notice you first. Then they have to be willing to spread a word about you.

Multiply that by hundreds and you’ve got yourself a following.

Too bad it just doesn’t come out of thin air.

Jason "J-Ryze" Fonceca May 22, 2012 at 4:51 pm

Interesting perspective, Ana. And I tend to agree :) Promotion is a key ingredient, and it doesn’t come “out of thin air”.

It can be done easily and naturally though, which it sounds like Amber did.

Steve April 30, 2012 at 9:17 am

Ana,

I totally agree. I can understand starting out on a free hosted blog and getting a little bit of experience. But eventually you have to move on.

It is like taking the training wheels off of a bicycle. Eventually you have to move beyond someone else’s control and get all the advantages of self hosting.

Ana Hoffman May 1, 2012 at 8:32 am

Exactly, Steve.

And I still don’t understand how people have an expectation of building a viable business for free. No one would ever think they could do it offline…

Anne April 30, 2012 at 6:22 am

Great audit, Ana. I can see everything you’re saying. I thought some of the very same things too when I clicked through to Jackie’s blog, especially about the title bar. I know I made a lot of mistakes when I just started out (and still do). Jackie, I’ve been there too. I think we all have. Girl, just get in there and work on that blog. You can do it!
Let me ask this, Ana: do I have to re-register each month to be in with the chance of a blog audit or not?

Ana Hoffman May 9, 2012 at 9:26 pm

Thanks for checking out Jackie’s blog, Anne.

Yes, I do a new giveaway each month and you need to enter it as I send out an email each month. That’s the best way I figured out to do it.

Sire April 30, 2012 at 2:16 am

From day one I’ve always hosted my own blogs, partly because I thought it was the professional thing to do but mostly because I wanted complete control. Control to write whatever I want and to express my own opinions without fear of having the rug pulled out from under me.

Having said that I do have a blogger blog and a WordPress.com blog but I hardly ever update them. I basically started them up just so to see what they were like and to get a few extra backlinks ;) I also used a few other free blogging platforms but they no longer exist which just shows how important it is to host your own blog.

As to review, its good to see that your completely honest when doing them as anything short of pure honesty wouldn’t be doing the reviewed any favours.

Ana Hoffman April 30, 2012 at 5:54 am

I think many folks start a free blog because they don’t know any better and because it’s free, Sire.

I was fortunate enough to do a bit of research on different platforms before I started my first blog. A little common sense usually goes a long way. lol

Thanks for coming by!

Ricky Strode April 29, 2012 at 7:45 pm

I think it is great how you are so honest. I think pretty much everyone except Google is in the dark about what to exactly do about the new update to retain SEO value. However, it is hard to go wrong when you are putting good information out there, like this site does. The rest is really getting it noticed. Sooner or later Google and the other sites are going to have to make sure that accounts for something or they really are not doing their job. If it really all about the visitors, then it is about content first, then everything else. I think even after any hit you might have taken, your content will still rise to the top, because the cream always rises. This site is definitely the cream of the crop.

I have benefited so much from this site. I have learned so much about SEO and traffic generation, which I really had no clue about. This is especially true since most sites have you running around in circles searching for the rest of the information they only briefly mention or vaguely reference. I cannot simply say thank you enough. I have already almost doubled my daily traffic. I still have not even implemented all the stuff you have said yet. However, I am working on it.

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 9:50 pm

Truly appreciate the compliment, Ricky.

Cream will always rise to the top… Love that.

Sunny April 29, 2012 at 1:40 pm

These are some great tips, I have used free blogger blogs for years and now I am interested in setting up my own self-hosted wordpress blog, I have experimented with some templates and got going on covering celebrity gossip, but the thing I notice is that it is harder to get traffic or people engaged with the content. I will try out your suggestions and see how it works out. Thanks again.

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 9:47 pm

It’s definitely the way to go, Sunny.

Thomas April 28, 2012 at 3:07 pm

Hi Ana
Very interesting video Ana. I am sure that Jackie got a lot of tips for improvement. I would love to win one of your Blog Audit’s for my blog one day. I guess we all could use some fresh eyes to give our blog a little audit.

Thomas April 28, 2012 at 3:11 pm

Oh, by the way SEMRush.com looks awesome. Always great to visit your blog and learn something new Ana :-)

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 9:45 pm

I am definitely addicted to SEMRush, Thomas. I wasn’t very keen on spending any money on a monthly service, but those folks proved me wrong.

Here are a couple of quick suggestions for your blog:

1. When I first come to your blog, it’s hard to know what it’s about.

Your tagline is blue color, hard to spot and read.

Your AdSense ads were unrelated – at the time of my visit it was an ad for Saks Fifth Ave. Those kind of ads most likely confuse your readers even more as far as figuring out what your blog is about.

The slider doesn’t help much. It has that black footer with post titles/excerpts and reminds me of AdSense ads in YouTube videos. Once again, could be a turn-off for any potential readers.

2. I think I am going to stop here… lol

Thomas April 30, 2012 at 12:29 am

Thank you so much Ana.
When you work with your own blog you just can’t see those thing yourself that are so obvious for other people. I will try and change the color of my tagline to white. When I go to my blog I mostly see ads about IT services or smartphones, but I guess I see other ads in Denmark than you do in America. Thank you very much for checking out my blog Ana. Much appreciated :-)

Ana Hoffman April 30, 2012 at 5:51 am

Very true, Thomas; it’s always hard to see our own work objectively.

Glad I could help.

Marlon April 28, 2012 at 8:12 am

Ana,
We are all travelers in the blogging world.
While most of the people went the wrong way along the journey, they left traces that most people pick up.
But doing what other people do doesn’t make it right.
Having social buttons, shares and votes on blog is good – but it doesn’t mean that it is good for your own blog. – which is exactly what you said Ana.

Quick tip to others – watch the entire video, and other audit video of Ana and take notes. Yes take notes. Create a checklist. And walk your way to improving your own site.

I used this slow but sure technique when I was starting to create blogs for my clients. It is not easy – but one should not take shortcuts. Because shortcuts will just lead us nowhere – where traces of successful travelers are nowhere to be found.

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 7:33 am

You are so very right, Marlon – one size never fits all when it comes down to our sites.

However, there are certainly plenty of tips that can be applied to many blogs, whatever the niche, so I completely agree with your advice of watching entire blog audits and find bits that apply to your blog.

Obinna April 28, 2012 at 6:55 am

Looking forward to your next Blog Audit, hope to win and learn loads of stuff from you.

By the way, I couldn’t help noticing on my Alexa toolbar that your Alexa ranking has dropped. Hope you were not hit by Google’s recent search algorithm updates.

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 7:31 am

I mostly definitely was hit by Google’s updates, Obinna – it pretty much wiped out my SEO traffic.

Go figure…

Obinna April 29, 2012 at 7:42 am

Sorry to hear that. I hope you work on it.

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 9:46 pm

I’ll figure it out. lol

Lou Barba April 28, 2012 at 5:59 am

Hello Ana,

It is clear that Jackie has some decisions to make and a lot of work to do. But, if she does the work, she’ll get more traffic. I have about five times the SEO traffic since I implemented changes you recommended on my blog. Now, if only Google would cooperate and let us know what people were looking for when they found our blogs on Google. :( Ah well, can’t have everything, can we.

Lou

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 9:56 pm

So glad to hear you made such great use of my audit, Lou; many people hear, but few listen.

Harleena Singh April 27, 2012 at 9:03 pm

Love your audits Ana!

I think that these audits are a great learning experience for everyone, for me at least. Even though you pick up any one blog, it teaches all of us a great deal, especially with your frankness about how and what’s lacking so that we get better. It reminds me too that there are some things that I also need to work on my blog as well!

And putting up these sudits on the videos make the understanding all the more better.

You are absolutely right about paying for your blog instead of going in for a free one, something that I learnt very late. But yes, as soon as I got more aware I switched from my free Bloggers to a paid Wordpress one, and I do see the difference, even though I’m not all that much into affiliates as yet.

I am also a whole lot confused regarding the latest Google Updates and the SEO and what is really the ideal keyword density we should use or not. I guess there are so-so many different views all over, beside the fact that we should not overstuff our posts with keywords. I am trying to analyze my own posts and check out where what is going right or wrong, I guess that’s the only way to learn yourself and get better. :)

Thanks so much for sharing and helping us learn.

Have a wonderful weekend :)

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 10:00 pm

It’s amazing how many people still don’t realize that the least they can do for their businesses is spend $10 per month on hosting, Harleena.

Always appreciate you coming by and encouraging me.

Have a blessed week.

Elizabeth Saunders April 27, 2012 at 9:01 pm

Thanks, Ana. I have a long way to go, but I know I’ve improved my blog a lot over the past month. I’m trying to focus more on niche content. But I did clutter up my sidebar when I monetized the site.

… OK, at least I got rid of the “archives.” :-)

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 7:30 am

It’s always hard to find a balance between what’s useful to our readers and what is just clutter that makes them run away.

If you haven’t seen this post yet, I go into depth on how to discover what to keep and what to let go of in your sidebar: http://www.trafficgenerationcafe.com/conversion-optimization-improvement/.

Julie April 27, 2012 at 4:44 pm

Ana,

I loved hearing your voice :) What can I say, I am a weird American with a corresponding accent.

I love the idea of doing book review on Amazon (I’ve read them all already in my niche, why not review!) and I’m off to declutter my sidebars.

I have no idea what Google is up to, but I agree 100% about making friends. That’s half the fun of blogging anyway, and there’s nothing like having people there for you when you need them.

Ana Hoffman April 30, 2012 at 5:59 am

You can imagine why it’s not easy for someone like me to do videos, Julie – some people are just immediately (often subconsciously) biased against people with accents.

Amazon reviews would definitely work great for your niche.

Also, as far as your blog is concerned, I’d figure out a way to “separate” the sidebar from the content. Right now, the fonts are all black and everything kind of just flows together.

Sean King April 27, 2012 at 2:37 pm

Haha! You’re dead on with the negative proof. Sad how our minds work like that. It’s hard not to stumble upon a blog and judge it by it’s active community. (Or lack of)

All the reason I don’t put up any social shares or commenting on my brand new blog – just yet at least! Thanks for the reminder Ana.

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 10:10 pm

Looks like you are doing more than one thing right on your site, Sean – just got back from it; interesting!

Welcome to TGC, by the way.

Dave Lucas April 27, 2012 at 12:06 pm

Don’t come near my blog, you analyzer you! ;)

You’re always right Ana – one day I know the plug will be pulled out from under my little blog – but I’m ready – I back up frequently so that I can set up elsewhere if disaster strikes.

Now you’ve given me an idea! I’m going to research a write a post about having a contingency plan for one’s blog. Bookmarking trafficgenerationcafe.com would be a good start…

Blog On! (by the way, one of those snooty blogging gurus stole that tag line from me! Is nothing sacred?)

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 7:27 am

I think I just about spoke my peace to you in our past conversations, Dave. lol

Why not move your blog to a self-hosted platform preemptively?

Which tagline are you talking about?

Ryan Hanley April 27, 2012 at 10:49 am

Ana,

Good audit… I simply want to reinforce your point about Negative Social Proof.

Think about when you visit a blog like Social Media Examiner and you get to the bottom of the page there are 458 tweets… Most people think to themselves “Wow, everyone else is tweeting this I should too!”

Then when you see a blog that has Zero shares you think to yourself, “There must be something wrong here.”

I am not ashamed to say that I hit all my social shares buttons at least point when I first publish an article to get the ball rolling…

Thanks!!

Ryan H.

Ana Hoffman April 29, 2012 at 7:24 am

You are so right, Ryan – even though we hate to admit it, we are all sheep who strive to “follow the leader”.

I still press all those social media buttons when I first publish a post. lol

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