Yesterday, I wrote about Selecting Blog Design Options and discussing the pros and cons of free/premium/custom themes. Today I will discuss which screen resolution is best for your blog. When you are picking a theme you have to analyze all aspects of it. So therefore this can be considered as a sequel post for selecting a blog design.

Screen Resolution

Screen resolution is a value in pixels that can be displayed on the monitor screen. There are many different sizes of screen resolution. Few are listed below:

• 800 x 600
• 1024 x 768
• 1280 x 800
• 1280 x 1024
• 1440 x 1080

Statistics

According to Wikipedia

Higher than 1024×768 – 38%
1024×768 – 48%
800×600 – 8%
Lower than 800×600 – < 1%
Unknown - 6%

What do I think about these Stats? I personally think that stats can vary from site to site. For example, if you are targetting a web audience you are safe to avoid 800 x 600 resolution. I will go as far as saying that majority of the people are on or above 1024 now a days because of the new computers. But there are still a small proportion that is on 800 x 600.

The Ideal Design

There is none! Because there will be always someone that will be unsatisfied. If you want to maintain the quality of the design than you will have to make some sacrifices to satisfy the MOST.

Majority of the sites that I see now a days are running on a fixed design that ignores 800 x 600 audience.

Yahoo.com – 950px ~
Cnn.com – 1000px ~
Youtube – 880px~
Ebay – 945px~
Amazon.com – 990px ~

These are one of the most visited sites in the world. All rank in top 50 Alexa. Eventhough alot of people don’t believe in alexa but we have to agree that these are some well known websites. Do they not care about their users to miss them out or has the standards upgraded?

Before the standards were to be compatible in screen resolutions of 800 x 600 and 1024 x 768, but now as time progresses and technology advances, we are getting higher screen resolutions and smaller screen resolutions are getting outdated. Therefore I think we need to upgrade.

So what are your options now?

Fixed Width Design

Fixed width design is the one that have fixed width. Duh! I think if you look at the sites that I mentioned above all of them are under 1000px and above 800. As a designer I know that the quality of a design improves significantly when I design in 1000px rather than 800px. 800 limits the space. Therefore these companies have decided to give majority of their audience the BEST, and let few of their audience suffer.

Solutions to make an optimized fixed layout

• Select your width below 1000px if you are targetting the majority (1024×768) users. So they don’t have to scroll horizontally.
• Place Content on the left, so even if 800 x 600 users have to scroll, they will see the content. Interlink your posts, so they can visit other posts without the sidebar.
• Rss Button exposure can be an issue because users won’t scroll horizontally, so they won’t scroll. Therefore you can add your RSS link in your posts. Use your vertical space wisely.
• If you have 3 columns in your layout than put the useful links on the left sidebar.

Just remember your goal is to avoid horizontal scrolling for your users. So if you need to optimize for 800 x 600 than set the width to be below 800 so it fits the dimension in the browser. Because you have to consider the scroll bar taking up the width. Same with 1024. Make it 1000 or below.

Fluid Width Design

Fluid designs, also known as liquid designs, are the one that is compatible with all dimensions. Meaning none of the dimensions will have to scroll horizontally. Sounds like a perfect solution right? But it is NOT!

Downside of the fluid designs are:

• You don’t have control over all dimensions. You can’t put alot of images. It must be CSS for the most part if you want it to look good in all dimensions.
• It doesn’t look good in higher resolution (which is the future) because the text line is too long.

So are they good for anything? Yes they are. They look very good in smaller resolution but now you are entering the next age of technology with higher resolutions. So more people will have higher resolutions and your site won’t look good on those. (well the text won’t)

Now the choice is yours.

Are there any other options? Yes there are and that depends on the creativity of the designer. Because you can have the header to be fluid while the content to be fixed width like Balkhis. (We are working on new look)

What resolution are your sites running on?
What are your opinion about the web resolutions?

One of the starting steps to starting a blog is picking a blog design. There are three options that are available. Free Designs, Premium Designs, or Custom Designs. Now as you all know that I am a strong supporter of Wordpress, so examples on this post will be wordpress related only.

There are pros and cons for each option. So lets review them.

Free Blog Design

Free themes are the ones that are available for download for free. Alot of designers are releasing free themes in order to gain backlinks therefore you will see that in most free themes there is a designer link and sometimes sponsor link also. You are required to keep those links as the terms of service. Check out available free WP Themes by Balkhis.

Pros

1. It’s FREE – Well they are free and cost effective. Duh.
2. Good collection – There are too many free ones available. So you get to pick from a wide collection.
3. Change for Free – You can switch your themes around alot. Because too many new ones coming out.
4. If its free like Pimp My Blog than you are good to go.

Cons

1. Not Unique unless it is from Pimp My Blog.
2. You get Designer and Sponsor links on majority of them. But there are alot out there that only have designer link.
3. Your blog will never catch the eyes of a reader because there is another one that looks just like it. Unless you use a very crappy theme. Good themes get used by alot of bloggers.
4. Usually you get no support on free themes.

Premium Themes

Premium themes are the one that are a step above free themes. They are paid themes that will never be released for free. Most Premium Themes are better than free ones, but there are some which are not. Check out Balkhis list of Excellent Free and Premium Wordpress Themes.

Pros

1. Less people use it, so you will have a semi-noticable design.
2. Most Premium Themes come with support from the designer.
3. They are more advanced than the free themes. (Not all but most)
4. Cost effective because you get a theme for only $40 – $90 which works like a custom theme.
5. Some don’t even require a designer link.

Cons

1. They are still not unique! So you will see blogs that use those.
2. Popular themes like Revolution are used by alot of bloggers.
3. Some are not similar but RIP OFFs of a popular site..

Custom Theme

Custom themes are the ones that are created just for your blog. Providing your blog a unique touch and more. Get your Custom Themes from Uzzz Productions.

Pros

1. Your site looks UNIQUE. No other site will look exactly like yours unless they rip your design off. Most Designers are honorable and they don’t create the same theme more than once.
2. You get Support – Depends on each designer and the contract.
3. You attract alot of readers. Excellent way of Branding.
4. Usually custom themes look better than the rest, and they are customized DUh.

Cons

1. They are usually more expensive. A custom blog theme can range from $250 to $4000. It depends on what style of theme. It depends on who is the designer, and more factors determine the price of a theme.
2. Can’t really think of another Con for a custom theme. Can you?

Above are my thoughts on the options that you have when selecting a Blog Design. Personally, I believe that when a blogger starting a new blog they should try to invest about $300 in getting a custom theme because that will give your blog a cool look, and it will attract readers. But each blogger have their own opinion.

Which option do you think is the best? and WHY?

I wrote a post in the past about Link-baiting but at that time I was still getting adjusted with the blog. After reviewing it, I decided to do a better version of that post. I think I didn’t explain everything correctly. Besides this article will be more in depth.

Definition

Link bait is a powerful technique which consist of having interesting content that attracts users to give you a back link, or as Matt Cutts defines link bait: “interesting enough to catch people’s attention.”

Image credits ToonRefugee – Copyright 2008 James Cook

Advantages of Linkbaiting

There are two major advantages of linkbait which can lead to alot more advantages.

Traffic – Traffic to the website increases tremendously due to linkbait. This traffic is insanely high during the early days of the content. Such as my post about 13 ways I promoted my blog to success recieved over 2500 visitors within the first 24 hours. The sudden rush of traffic means:

• Increase in New Subscribers and Readers.
• Increase in People bookmarking your sites because you got more readers now. (More mouth to mouth advertisement).
• Increase in revenue from advertisers.

Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERPs) – Linkbaiting is getting you alot of backlinks. And you should know by now that tons of backlinks mean higher SERPs and higher PR. Your blog pages will start ranking for long-tailed keywords. Which means more traffic to those pages and more traffic to your blog in general. Balkhis rank well for alot of competitive keywords in the industry (Which I can’t share for obvious reasons). But ranking good for some terms gets you alot of new readers. Also higher backlink count, higher pagerank, higher traffic means your site is now worth more, therefore you can charge more for private advertisement.

Linkbaiting Techniques

Linkbaiting is for people who have vivid imaginations. The techniques are unlimited. You just have to open your mind and see them. There are some that are very commonly used among the webmasters. Feel free to use any/all of them at your own discretion.

1. Contests / Giveaways – are one of the best linkbaiting techniques I have seen online. If you haven’t seen most contest ask users to write about the contest to get alot of entries in the drawing. I have seen almost all contests do that. Why? Because you are giving away a valuable prize people will write about it. *For instance if you are to give away a Macbook Air which cost $1800. You get 100 people to write about your contest (Permanent Backlinks). Then you get tons of traffic from social media and a big boost in your readers. You get well worth return for your investment*
2. Free Tools – Creative tools are always a good way to get alot of backlinks and exposure in the webworld. Take iWebtool for example. They got tons of exposure for their tools. People writing about them left and right. This is another good way of linkbaiting.
3. Lists – I have seen people who make lists also tend to get alot of backlinks and traffic. For example 45n5. He made a list of top make money online blogs and he gets tons of backlinks for it. Like this one. I was also speaking with Nabil from Enkay Blog who have a list of top 100 Female Bloggers which apparently gets alot of traffic. If you know of a female blogger nominate them at Nabil’s list.
4. Controversy / Attacks – Controversial posts tend to grab alot of attention toward the site. I wrote once about HostGator committing a federal offense which grabbed alot of attention (Sadly they still haven’t fixed it). Also attacking companies and other webmaster/bloggers can also get you alot of backlinks, but I would prefer not to take that route because you burn your bridges that way.
5. Be the First – I have mentioned it numerously that being first in a niche puts you at a big advantage. It also gives you a boost with linkbaiting also. Even if you are the first one to write about a new story, you will get the results. *For Instance if you are the first one to write about an event, most likely than not you will be the one mentioned at other places*
6. Usefulness / Good Content – Like always a useful post and good content will always grab readers. So if you are a blogger and you write a useful post than most likely than not you will get good traffic to your website or that article. Tutorial posts help alot in these sort of things. Such as my Vlogging 101 Guide.
7. Accomplishments – I have seen that listing about your accomplishment also plays a significant role. It will get you more backlinks and more exposure. Like when I was published in the newspaper or sharing the google PR, Alexa, subscriber count, revenue or any other accomplishment your blog made usually will get you backlinks.

My Opinion

Sometimes people ask me whether Linkbaiting is bad? My answer to them is YES and NO. Some techniques such as attacking others are BAD in my opinion. Whereas techniques such as useful content, contests, being first is not always bad. Linkbaiting can be a very effective promotion technique if used wisely. But abusing it can hurt your reputation.

I know I will get comments that will point out the negatives of linkbaiting, and all I will say to that is like everything there is a good use of linkbaiting and a bad use of linkbaiting.

Note: I have some what used all techniques listed above. They are not mentioned in any orderly fashion. Sometimes I have used the techniques just to gain backlinks other times, backlinks were not even my main concerns, it just kind of got the hit. No these are not the only 7 linkbaiting techniques. There are plenty more that are listed online, and more that comes with your imagination.

What do you think about Linkbaiting?
Do you think its good or bad?
Have you used any of the techniques above? If so share how it worked out for you?
Do you have any other technique which I didn’t list? If so share it with all of us.

Blogging is fun. Why? Because it gives you freedom of speech. A way to share your thoughts with your family and friends. Thats how Lifeofblogger.com came in place.

Lifeofblogger is about a 4 year old blogger named Zain Balkhi. Yup thats my youngest brother. Zain is the youngest member of Balkhis Crew. He is the first 4 year old blogger who was featured in the newspaper. He is also the first 4 year old blogger who have a wordpress theme and phpLD theme named after him. Zainu Theme.

Zain is also one of the 4 year old bloggers who is listed in Google. Top 3 are about him.

Zain has been recieving gifts from companies. First one was Market Leverage, who sent him a Future Blogger shirt which he loves alot.

Zain has shown alot of interest in computers and making graphics. He loves to paint and run his remote control cars.

I was being asked by many when will my Future blogger start? Well this is the time. When he is 4. I have registered lifeofblogger.com. This blog will contain fun and embarassing moments of his life. The only real competition I see for his blog is Sallychow.com. But Lifeofblogger is already a step ahead because of the cool custom design that was done by Uzzz Productions.

Another reason why I started this blog was because I have family in many different countries who would like to keep up with Zain’s life. So this will be a way they can see him grow up. This is the way you can see a future blogger grow up. I am hoping that this blog stays live for about 10 years until he is completely sensible. Than he can do whatever he likes with it.

I have given him a head start. The blog will be updated periodically. With zain’s video. Right now the videos are being published by my sister, Sameen. I bought her a new laptop just because of that. Zain and her shares their new Vaio.

If you see some babblyboo language than it means it was zain who wrote the post. Since he is starting Pre-K now, he should be able to write well. Atleast better than me

Lifeofblogger is still not entirely done, because I need to give Zain’s website it’s identity. Meaning Favicon. The blogs promotion needs to be started. Well it is being started with this post.

Here is how you can help. I mean I know you all love him, and this is something cool. So write about it on your blog. Digg this post, stumble this post, add it to all of your social bookmarks. Show some encouragement for a 4 year old blogger. If you like to see him grow up (which is exciting) than subscribe to his posts. You won’t recieve emails daily. Probably weekly

Visit LifeofBlogger.com NOW. If you don’t like zain, just visit to see the design

Do you really think I have 1000 subscribers. NOO because I am not trying this technique below. My subscriber count has gone up to 658 readers, but atleast I can say that my readers are genuine. The sole purpose of this post is to educate my users about the bad tricks that they shouldn’t try.

Recently there is a buzz in the blogosphere about bloggers teaching their readers how to increase their subscriber. Like this one:

Well all this will get you is a fake number. A number that won’t even matter because at the end of the day your Analytics or Sitemeter will still show 125 visitors a day and adsense= $5 / month. But wait your site displays 2500 subscribers.

Let me think, this is just a temporary hack. One day or another feedburner will fix this. Than what will happen? Your count drops from 2500 to 55. How will you explain that to your users.

If you have seen this video and thinking about trying it. Don’t waste you time!!

Instead of doing this you should concentrate on:

Writing Quality Content
Be active on Social Media
Comment on other’s Blog

Or even try the 13 ways I promoted my blog.

While numbers matter, sometimes it is just too obvious. You have a 3 week old blog with 2500 readers? Doesn’t make sense eh. It is too obvious that you are lying.

Don’t try this technique !! And thats the Bottom line because Syed Balkhi said so. Lol this statement is a rephrasement of famous WWE Start Stone Cold Steve Austin