As I surf around the web, I have found many blogs and websites with awful color combinations. Since I am designing a new website, I started searching for good color combinations. In my search, I came across two great tools to help with my color selection at ColorsOnTheWeb.com.

The first tool is the Color Wizard. Start with one color and you will find many different color combinations. Let’s say blue is one of my favorite colors, hex #077EDD. I input this number and click on set. The color wizard shows me the hue, saturation and tint & shade variation for this color.

Plus, you can choose a monochromatic, analogous, triadic, complimentary or split complimentary scheme.

• Monochromatic. Variation in saturation and hue of one color. Easy to manage but lacks contrast.

• Analogous. Colors that appear in close proximity to your chosen color on the color wheel. Easy to create but also lacks contrast.

• Triadic. Three colors equally balanced on the color wheel. High contrast and looks harmonious.

• Tetradic. Four colors arranged into two complimentary color schemes. Very rich in color, but hardest to balance.

• Complimentary. Two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Better contrast but harder to balance.

• Split Complimentary. Uses adjacent colors and complimentary colors. Hard to balance.

The next tool at Colors On The Web is the Color Wheel. Simply spin the wheel and you will be provide various color schemes. Granted, some of the schemes are very ugly, but spinning the wheel is very addictive! I think I spent at least thirty minutes just looking at the results that the wheel gave me.

Have you made a list of keywords for your blog? Good for you! Now it is time to get your hands dirty. This part of the process can be frustrating and rewarding at the same time. It will take a little bit of patience, but once you get the hang of it the rest is cake.

Keyword Tools

Your first research project is to use a few keyword tools that will help you determine how often your keywords are searched. Let’s start with an online tool by Wordtracker.

Simply type your keyword in the Keyword: box and click “Hit Me” (there is an option to remove offensive words as well).

I typed in the word blogging and these are the results:

Noticed that the word blogging by itself generates 490 daily searches.  That word may be a little too competitive for my small blog.  Looking at the results, I notice that blogging tips generates 88 daily searches.  This might be a better niche.  Other phrases that interest me are blogging guides (66), define blogging (50), explain blogging (38), blogging advice ( 31), tips on blogging (20), blogging for dummies (17) and blogging how to (9).

This does not end my search for the best keywords for my blog.  I have to now turn to a familiar tool - Google.  Each keyword and/or phrase must now be searched in Google to determine how many pages exist for that particular keyword or phrase.   Here are my results:

Notice that the term blogging may have the most daily searches, but there is also the most competition for this keyword with over 61 million pages.  The next term - blogging tips - is also highly competitive with almost 2 million pages.  The third term - blogging guides - looks like a much better fit for me.  The term is searched 66 times a day and only 239,000 pages were found.   Some of the other phrases are also likely to be a good fit.  Stay away from tips on blogging.  With only 20 daily searches and over 31 million pages, this would not be a good phrase to choose.

My quest is not quite over yet.  I also check my results with Digital Point - Keyword Suggestion Tool. This tool will tell you the daily numbers for searched keywords from WordTracker as well as Overture.  You will notice that there are different keywords and phrases listed and that Overture has larger numbers.  The Overture data is based on more searches.

Again, look at the results, do some Google searches, and determine the best keywords and phrases for your site.

Here are the simple steps so far:

• Write down keywords and/or phrases for your blog
• Search those keyword and phrases in Wordtracker and Digital Point
• List the keywords and phrases that look good to you
• Use Google to determine which of these keywords and phrases have a lower competition rate and might be best for your blog.

Next:  How to use keywords in your blog.

Recently, I mentioned that using the post slug feature when writing a post can result in good search engine results for your blog.  How do you find the right keywords to use for the post slug or for a title for your post?   The answer is - Research!

There is no quick scheme for finding niche keywords you must relay on using keyword suggestion tools and good old fashioned leg (or finger) work.

I find that choosing keywords for a blog differs from a website.  First of all, your blog may be about many different subjects.  You may have blogging tips, recipes, personal stories and news items spread throughout your blog.  This is very different from a website whose only goal is to sell pet supplies.   However, you should come up with at least a dozen different keywords that describe what your blog is about.   For example, I might choose words such as blogging, blogging tips, beginning blogging, etc., for my blog keywords.  I open up a text editor and type each of these terms in the editor.

In that same text editor, I also write down keywords of topics that I would like to use in future posts.  For instance, this post is about keywords.  I might write down keywords, choosing keywords, seo, search engine optimization, etc.  Since I will probably write more than one article about keywords and search engine optimization, part of my research will be done for future posts.

You should now have a good list of keywords.  Your next step will be to research the keywords that you wrote down.   Stay tuned for Part Two of this series which will cover using keyword tools and search engines to narrow your choices.

You may have noticed that you have comments waiting to be approved that look rather mysterious. I am not talking about the tons of viagra, cialis and porn spam every blog gets, I am talking about a trackback.

A trackback (or sometimes called pingback) is a method to allow to posts to reference each other. For example, if I write a post on my blog about Jane Smith’s article on blogging and include a link to her article in my post, a portion of my article and where it came from will be sent to Jane Smith’s comment section for her blogging post.

The problem with trackbacks is that spammers use them to. For instance, I received this trackback on another blog of mine:

1. John McCain | link here | IP: xx.xxx.xxx[…] McCain is not as conservative as everyone thinks […]

   Jan 25, 9:07 AM

However, when I clicked on the link, I was taken to a site that had a lot of pictures, mostly unsavory ones, and then the actual post hidden in an obscure place on the site.  Do not automatically approve trackbacks before checking out the sites.  There is not much you can do if they do link to you, but you don’t have to give them a link back!

I have been reading a lot about Pillar Posts lately. A number of bloggers are advocating that you, as a blogger, write these Pillar Posts.  A post is considered a pillar posts when it is long (over 750 words),  informative and original.  A Pillar Post can includes lists (such as “50 Ways to Improve Your Blog”).  My advice, Pillar Posts can be both a good thing and a bad thing.

The Good.

• Pillar posts are likely to attract links.  If your article is well written and informative, the chances that you will attract links from other bloggers is high.
• Pillar posts make good articles to submit.  If you are looking for the perfect article to submit to bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon or Technorati, a pillar post is perfect.  It will contain enough useful information that readers will want to see it do well.  A post that is only 100 words, usually won’t do so well at bookmarking sites.
• Good Pillar posts will receive lots of comments.  The more comments you receive the more traffic you are generating to your blog.
• Pillar posts will make you seem like an authoritative blogger.  Just make sure that you have all the necessary information and facts in your post.
• A series of pillar posts is even better.  Think of a good topic that you are knowledgeable about and split the knowledge into three of four parts.  A recent series of posts I found was How To Modify A WordPress Theme.  The posts were well written and the information extremely useful.

The Bad.

• Pillar posts take much longer to write.  These posts are not something that you can write in ten minutes.  Do your research, use your own experiences and make the posts as informative as possible.
• Don’t just copy what everyone else is doing.  If you have an idea, but it has been written about before, put your own personal spin on it.
• It is hard to come up with new ideas.  Focus on your niche and start lots of drafts.  You will use some and discard some.

The Ugly.

•  Don’t make all of your posts pillar posts.  Short posts and personal stories are good for your blog.
• Don’t make your posts too highbrow.  If I can’t follow what you are saying, I won’t read it!
• Don’t just ramble.  I have come across a number of blogs with lots of lengthy posts.  While some of the information is good, I am so tired of reading on and on to get to the point.  I don’t have time to read long posts every day.

My first attempt at a pillar post, Blogging and Working From Home, probably did not hit the mark as well as I would have liked, but I have learned a lot over the past couple weeks and now I am ready to dig into writing some informative pillar posts.