Posts

Feed Me! Moving Your RSS Feed

Feed Me RSS redirectHave you ever thought about moving your blog? For many of us as our blogs grow, we think about moving to a different URL or to a self hosted site (like using wordpress.org which allows you to use the wonderful framework and blog designs of wordpress while having your own personalized domain) if we are not already self-hosting. But if your blog has been housed at one location for a while, how do you move it without losing your feed subscribers? This is a question a lot of people don’t ask until they are faced with the issue. So if you are asking this question then you have likely moved your blog and discovered that your subscribers are no longer getting their RSS feed.

I have moved blogs before and I spent a lot of time looking into the best way to redirect the URL. I was concerned that people who knew my web address would have difficulty finding the site. Plus I did not want any outside links to unlink because I moved my blog. Eventually I chose to do a 301 redirect. What this does is when you go to the old URL it takes you to my new site automatically. Using the 301 redirect I don’t lose the SEO work I have done, page ranking I have gained in search engines and people would still be able to easily find my blog. However, that 301 did not seem to work on my RSS. Now that is strange.

The research that I did indicated that it would. However, though some feedback from subscribers I found this not to be the case. That is because I was using feedburner to manage my RSS. Apparently the 301 redirect does not affect the feedburner feed because that feed is through an outside source and you cannot redirect a feed that is not your own, though if you are not using an RSS manager the 301 will work perfectly well.

Thankfully, there was an easy fix. I grabbed the feed URL for my new domain name and replaced my old feed URL with the new one. This then solved the issue of my existing subscribers missing out on my feed. Now my new website is feeding to the new feedburner RSS and the old one. So new subscribers and existing subscribers alike will be able to read the feed.

Your domain name is an important part of your branding, but taking care of your existing audience is also important. You want to make sure if you do a domain change that you are not losing the audience you have built up!

 

 

Porn Stars Can Write?!? Duh.

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Nina Hartley

Nina Hartley is a great example of an adult star who is also a gifted writer.

Many people are surprised to find out that porn stars can write. There is a public misconception that adult starts are stupid and uneducated.  Well, this is plainly not true. There are many very smart and very talented writers in the adult industry and blogs are giving them a voice where they did not have one before.  Because some porn stars have created blogs, many others are wondering if they should begin one as well.

Blogging is one of the big things you hear people talking about as a necessary addition to any website.  I would argue this point.  There are good and bad things about blogging, but the crux of the issue comes down to the blogger.

You should have a blog if:

  • you like writing
  • you have something interesting to say
  • you have unique content
  • you are willing to make a committment

You should not have a blog if:

  • you don’t really like writing
  • you are only doing it because you think you should
  • you just don’t think you have the time

What you are trying to accomplish?

  • establish authority
  • connect with your audience
  • add value to your website
  • build your brand

As an adult site, blogging becomes a more interesting question.  There are usually one of two things that you want to develop:

  1. Personal Branding
  2. Company Information

If you want to work on your personal branding, a blog is a great way for your audience to get to know you. You can share stories and pictures from behind the scenes from movies and photo shoots. You can give sex tips, modeling tips, workout tips.  You can present your thoughts on the industry and how changes in the industry affect you as an adult star. You can also just be yourself and blog about your life. Many people in your audience want to get to know you on a more personal level. They may feel more of a connection with you if they know what is going on in your life.

If you are using a blog to put your company info forward, you can use your blog to talk about movies you are shooting or the next photo shoot. You can share behind-the-scenes and insider information, even sneak deals in for people who read the blog.  Ultimately you can use it as a way for your audience to get to know your company on a more personal level. This helps create loyalty and trust.

Either way, you are focusing on adding value. If you do not think that you can add value with a blog, don’t do it.  If you cannot be consistent, getting your blog out on a regular schedule (minimum of once a week) do not do it.  If you can’t string two words together without swearing or being incoherent, then don’t do it.  But if you can commit to your communication, and you can add some value to your website, then jump in and start writing!

Hold on to your pantyhose, it’s time to rebrand!

Dita von Teese wearing stockingsHold on to your pantyhose, it’s time to rebrand! That sense of panic when you realize that you probably need to consider rebranding can be paralyzing. But this is a serious issue.  For many of us, when we get started online we think we have our thumb on the pulse of our niche. We think we have found a terrific topic and a great name and are creating a super brand.  Well, maybe you have and maybe you haven’t.  Really, the only way to tell is to give it  time.

I have found that our initial efforts are not necessarily wrong, but what ends up being the goal of those efforts changes over time. Maybe you thought that your blog was just going to be a good source of information on your site. But over time you realize that you have started focusing on your blog and want to use that to be your primary traffic driver. Maybe it is time to spin off your blog and rebrand it to work in tandem with your site.

Maybe you thought that videos were going to be your cash cow but your unique brand of photography is pulling in more people.  Is it time to change your focus and use video to support your photography rather than the other way around?

One of the biggest shifts people currently make is from company branding to personal branding.  Many times we start off branding ourselves with our company or studio.  We are one piece of the whole.  If your popularity gets big enough, then personal branding might be the shift you need.  Look at Jesse Jane, she is one of Digital Playground’s hottest stars. She is branded there as one of their girls. But she has also created her own branded empire.  When you think of Jesse you think of her first and Digital Playground second.  But that would not have happened if she did not brand herself.

As I am sure Digital Playground would attest, Jesse’s branding feeds into Digital Playground’s branding.  The two are not mutually exclusive.  The more successful Jesse’s branding, the more traffic and business Digital Playground will get.

Over time you will see the reality of what is working for you, what is driving traffic, what is driving sales, what is most popular and what you want your focus to be.  This is often divergent from what we started with.  Don’t be afraid to shift gears. Rebranding is not easy, but the payoff can be more than worth the effort.

How often do Porn Stars do it?

How often do you do it?  You are a porn star.  The biggest question on everyone’s mind is: how often do you do it?  Once a day? Three times a week? Once a week? Once a month?

Yes, I am talking about blogging.  How often do you post?

If you want to get traffic to your site, frequency counts!

It is pretty simple. The more often you post, the more traffic you will get.  This is a case where quantity counts more than quality. I am not saying that you can post complete crap. You need to work on your writing. Make sure it is grammatically correct and that it is spell-checked. Get someone to review and edit it. Make sure that your topic is relevant to your blog subject and that it is interesting.

Some tips for writing often:

  • Write short posts

    A post that is about 300 to 500 characters long is plenty.  It is enough room to get an idea across but you are not writing a novel.  When it comes to reading blogs we have short attention spans.  So write something short, sweet and to the point.

  • Write a long post and break it up

    Many of us can’t write short posts. When we sit down to write, we write a lot.  This can be great for increasing your frequency. Take your long post and divide it up into two or more posts. Maybe one topic can span several posts.

  • Build a blog bank

    A blog bank is a reserve of blog posts that you have ready to go live at any moment.  This is really great if you are blogging every day or even multiple times a week. Lets face it, sometimes life gets in the way and we don’t have time to write. If you have a blog bank, you can pull from that for your posting.

  • Blog ahead

    I don’t usually blog bank, I do something similar. I blog ahead.  I will write up to 10 blogs ahead and get them scheduled.  I try to continue writing to keep up my scheduled reserve, but if I fall behind I know that I have wiggle room because I already have them scheduled.

  • Guest bloggers

    If you are posting frequently it can be hard to keep up with your own posting schedule. A way to help relieve some of the responsibility is to have guest bloggers.  This is a great way to expand your readership, grow your network and give you an occasional break from writing.

Nice Form Baby! Too bad I can’t read your blog.

bedazzled pubic area and it spells <hr/>

Sexy HTML code: <hr/>

Form over function?  This is an essential life question.  But let’s just look at this question in relation to your blog or website.  A website is a balance between form and function. You want it to look beautiful but you want it to be usable. If you cannot read it, can’t navigate it or can’t understand it, then what is the point?

Navigation is a key issue everyone talks about.  People have to be able to move easily around your site. They have to be able to find where they are supposed to go.  Selling products? They must be able to figure out how to buy.

Ads can clutter up a page.  We have all seen sites where there are so many ads we cannot distinguish the site content from the advertising content. 10 years ago that might have worked – to get people to randomly click ads as they were trying to find their way to the content they were looking for – it doesn’t really work now.  We are all much smarter than that. Most of us know not to indiscriminately click on ads in a web page and if we see a page that is so overrun with ads as to be confusing, we just leave.

Content is King. Ultimately, once people have figured out how to move around your site without being bombarded with ads, then your ability to convert your people into readers, subscribers, followers, fans, clients, sales, customers and colleagues is the quality of your content.  It must be relevant to your topic, informative and interesting. It must be written well and checked for grammar and spelling.

If you are an adult star you might be thinking, my content is primarily video and images.  The same rules apply.  The parts of your site that include text must have good text.  The part of your site that has images must have good images.

Images. Your images must come through. They need to be sized properly for fast loading and if they link, the link must be good.  A bonus you could add would be to write good alt tags, so that screen readers can read  a good description of your image to a blind viewer.

Frequency. Quantity is almost as important as quality. If your site is based on communicating information and you update sporadically you will not build a solid audience.  You need to be regular with your updates, even if the information is pictures or video.  Set a schedule.  If people know that you update weekly, three times a week, daily, twice a day, then they are more likely to come back to see your updates (here is where quality comes into play). This will build a loyal audience which can translate into a loyal customer base.  But they have to be able to rely on you before you can rely on them.

Though form is important, function will ultimately prevail.  Your audience will stay longer and come back more often if you provide them with quality content. If your site only has a pretty face then you might get someone who comes once, but they won’t come back.  A pretty face will get people to the door; it won’t deliver the sale.

25 Ways to Know if You have a Sexy Blog

lipstick kiss marks on a computer mouse25 ways to know if you have a sexy blog

  1. You blog about sex
  2. Your images need censorship bars
  3. People read your blog in private
  4. Your blog becomes my Friday night date
  5. Girls get jealous when their boyfriends read your blog
  6. Everything is tagged #NSFW
  7. Someone got fired reading your blog
  8. Your blog spices up my marriage
  9. Your blog is the other woman
  10. I get tingly thinking about your blog
  11. I have to use four letter words to describe your blog
  12. I light candles to sit down and read your blog
  13. Me, my boyfriend and your blog make a three-way
  14. My new fetish is your blog
  15. When I want my girlfriend to talk dirty to me I have her read me your blog
  16. Even my computer gets hot when I read your blog
  17. I slip into something more comfortable before reading your blog
  18. You blog makes me blush, repeatedly
  19. I don’t want to know if my mom is reading your blog!
  20. Teenage boys hide your blog under their bed
  21. I sound like Kathleen Turner after reading your blog
  22. Your blog dates a Baldwin (unless it’s Steve)
  23. Your blog is on a book cover with Fabio
  24. Chris Isaak serenades your blog
  25. Your blog has its own lingerie line