Making Project Management Better
Alec Satin’s effectiveness blog with a people skills focus. 8 Things done really well that you can do too.
Plugins Are A Wonderful Thing
Content isn’t the only thing that drives visitors to your site.
Recently, I stumbled upon the CommentLuv plugin.
CommentLuv is a great free WordPress plugin that enables us to reward you whenever you leave a comment by automatically including a titled link to your last post (or a different one if you prefer).
You get to place a free text link of your article on our site that encourages other readers to click through and bring more traffic your way.
Wherever you see a CommentLuv badge on a site any comment you leave will be accompanied by an active link highlighting the title of your last post.
Introducing Alec Satin’s Blog – Making Project Management Better
Long story short, when I was searching for CommentLuv Contest participants in November 2008, I came across Alec’s blog Making Project Management Better – a blog using the Thesis Theme for WordPress.
Eight Things Alec Does Really Well
1. Reference The Important Stuff
Alec uses the footnotes plugin WP-Footnotes 3.3 by Simon Elvery (url). This plugin allows a user to easily add footnotes to a post.
When you use footnotes, readers are confident that you are quoting from a source instead of making it up as you go.
While unique, value added content is important to create your site’s identity and your credibility as a writer – when you mention things like the new “Charter for Compassion” – you need to give people the option to check what you are talking about. This is how you build trust.
2. Build Trust By Sharing Something Personal
In the About section of Alec’s blog, he gives a link to his resume. This may or may not suit you, but for a blog about project management I was suitbly impressed that this guy has awards, certification and relevant industry experience.
He even goes so far as to share his Myer-Briggs’ personality type. Alec’s target market is comfortable with this level of detail and would relate well to this. I personally thought, “This guy has put effort into his career and personal development and knows what he is about.” Once again, for those readers who want more information about this subject area, there is a link to Wikipedia to help with their further internet explorations.
3. So What, What Now?
Alec gives the reader a way forward at the end of his posts by reminding them of what they can do after reading the article. All options encourage the reader to come back and maintain their interest in his blog. The handy social bookmarking icons add a touch of flare.
4. Share The Link Love & Google Juice
Alec uses a 3 column format that allows him to display latest comments and links to “Bloggers with something worthwhile to say”. This strategy often encourages more comments because people can see their name and contribution ‘up in lights”.
5. Focus On Achievements & Downplay Developing Aspects Of The Blog
Alec uses multiple tags on all posts, prominently displays a tag cloud and uses sidebar widgets that show popular, featured and most commented-on posts to ensure a range of earlier and recent content is displayed on the front page. This gives the reader the impression of lots of relevant content and helps search engines index his site appropriately.
What was absent was a site map or archive pages. This could be because the site is reasonably young, Alec is still working on the structure of his site, or for a multitude of other reasons. Without the addition of a tag cloud, twitter list, comments and links to other sites – there may only be (as at 17 Nov 08) no more than 20 posts.
This strategy is excellent for developing blogs and even mature blogs that have so much content that they don’t need to rely on earlier content.
6. Share What PlugIns Are Used
Alec displays a link in his footer to a “List of Plugins”.
This link takes you to a list of how many WordPress plugins are being used or are currently inactive.
If you would like to incorporate this feature into your blog, Alec uses WP-PluginsUsed 1.31 by Lester ‘GaMerZ’ Chan (url)
This extra disclosure is great for those of us learning the ropes and wanting to emulate best practices of successful bloggers.
7. Tell The Reader What The Blog Is About – Somewhere Obvious
It is surprising how many blogs forget to do this. Readers will be in and out in less than 10 seconds if they think they don’t belong there. Tell them who you are targeting in clear and simple terms and if they are meant to stay they should at least take a brief look at your recent offerings.
8. Lighten The Mood On Serious Topics
Project management (PM) is dry, even boring at times. I can say this because I too have qualifications and experience in PM. Don’t lose readers by being too serious when the subject is already serious.
Alec has done his best to lighten the mood in three main ways:
- By including a whacky tab “Is it Alec or Alex“. You should have a look to see what is behind this. Hint: it has nothing to do with project management!
- By adding the Twitter bird – colourful, progressive and comical – unlike PM.
- His mug! An Australian expression for face. Alec could have used some boring image of a GANTT chart or pencils, but no – his lovely fresh, clean shaven mug appears in the header and again whenever he leaves a comment. This personal branding gives the site a much needed personal touch.
For Alec’s Consideration & Comment
Do you have a pair of colourful boxer shorts on underneath that suit jacket and tie?
My only comment regarding improving the appeal of your site would be to add a bit more colour.
- Perhaps you could use more images and/or select images with more than grey overtones.
- You may consider changing your link colour or simply bolding your headings when using coloured fonts.
Overall, I think Alec Satin’s blog Making Project Management Better is a wonderful addition to the Thesis Theme Users Community – great ideas, clever use of features and one to watch in the future.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Somone,
Thanks for your review of my site. You’ve keyed in on the primary intention – which is to provide a place for project managers and other information technology types to find helpful information to make the daily grind a little easier.
Will definitely take your advice about color/images to heart.
Wish you well,
Alec
This was a great review. I love how you broke down what he was doing on his site. BTW, Alec, I agree with the review, I think adding some colors would really improve your site :)
Danielle’s latest artistic creation..Do You Have a Big “But”?
I agree with the review too but I think he has to add more pictures!:))
This is a good breakdown of what makes a good blog work. I think number seven is probably the most overlooked in many blogs and when I visit a page if it takes more than a few seconds to figure out what the blog is about I am outta there.
Great article and great blog.
it is really a nice review but u need 2 improve on d color of ur site