How to Read WebPageTest Results and Improve Your Blog's Speed
Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on June 14, 2020.
Disclaimer: This Week in Blogging uses demographic data, email opt-ins, and affiliate links to operate this site. Please review our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
One of our favorite services to look at our blog's site speed is WebPageTest. This free service provides a wealth of data about your site and really lets you dive down into the individual components that make your blog tick.
In running a test, we know that the amount of data returned in this one can cause information overload. To help, we put together this guide featuring some of the most important elements we look at when optimizing our blogs, what they mean, and potential fixes that you can implement on your own blog for speed improvement!
Note: All website owners can run a test on WebPageTest and analyze results, but some of our recommendations below are targeted purely towards WordPress users.
Using Your Blog as a Platform for Change – An Interview with Carol Cain
Published by Chris. Last Updated on June 24, 2020.
Disclaimer: This Week in Blogging uses demographic data, email opt-ins, and affiliate links to operate this site. Please review our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
We started This Week in Blogging with the idea that it was our duty to cover what was happening in the blogging world week by week. During this past week, of course, we've seen the meteoric rise of the Black Lives Matter movement – a movement that we at This Week in Blogging fervently support.
As we began to write about the movement in this week's newsletter, as well as the coverage of the BLM movement, it quickly became apparent that our voices, as two white males, weren't the ones that needed to be heard at this particular moment. In short, it was easy for us both to recognize that there are so many individuals, particularly bloggers of color, that could speak to how this movement connects to blogging at large better than either of us could.
We are committed to using our platform to highlight that which needs to be highlighted, and understand that sometimes that simply means making space for the right voices to be heard.
In light of that, we reached out to Carol Cain, an award-winning blogger and founder of Girl Gone Travel, as well as Cofounder of Brave World Media to discuss how bloggers can use their platforms to promote positive change in the world.
We're grateful to Carol for taking time to so thoroughly and thoughtfully answer our questions, and we're honoured to use This Week in Blogging to share her thoughts and comments.
What Does it Mean to Start a Niche Blog in 2023?
Published by Jeremy. Last Updated on January 9, 2023.
Disclaimer: This Week in Blogging uses demographic data, email opt-ins, and affiliate links to operate this site. Please review our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
For many years, blogging experts have been screaming “niche down, niche down” to encourage those looking to launch a new site to claim ownership of topics where they can shine as experts.
This was done for many reasons, with the biggest simply being that the internet is running out of space. I'm serious. Gone are the days where you can start a general blog, put a little effort in, and succeed. Today blogging is an organized industry, with established best practices, and successful blogs covering nearly every topic there is- often multiple times over.
To translate, this means that competition is fierce. Niching down is a way to stand out amongst the sea of bloggers and allows you to have a clear topical advantage right from the start.
If you're looking to start a niche site in 2023 (or even overhaul your existing site), this guide highlights the important points you must consider.
