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.