ElementalTruths.Com ©

My field is behaviors and temperament. If I write in that area you can pretty much trust that I know what I’m talking about. When I want to know something about Internet publishing I read the work of those who know what their talking about. Ted Demopoulos know what he’s talking about and he has put together a very nice list on building the traffic to your site.

My favorite stategy is his “Pillar” Post Articles (I added the “Post” part, it was too much to resist). It is number ten on his list and it goes like this.

10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

Read the rest.

1. Provide a continual rehash of topics that have met with moderate previous success. This will help to retard the natural evolution of the local economy of your writing.
2. Migrate all opportunities for input to locations distant from the community or readers you have established.
3. Siphon off any gifted community commenter leaders by blocking those who don’t espouse your specific point of view. 
4. Train resident readers to rely on you for leadership and guidance rather than operating as a stage for an exchange of ideas.
5. Centralize the core topics of your addresses to the extinction the local interests and artisan pieces of writing.
6. Through lending practices create an undesirable local market by haranguing those who “lift” pieces of your content to share on their own sites.
7. Drive as many middle class, conservative wage earning males and females out of your readership community as possible.
8. Encourage devaluation of your writing by the steady increase in uncontroversial topics as possible.
9. Encourage the attraction of the lowest common denominator of readership traditionally interested in blame and one upmanship.
10. Allow a build up of substandard, intellectually un-challenging topics as possible.

I recently had an extremely profitable exchange with the author of “Finally {} In the end everything will be fine; if it isn’t fine, it is not the end,” Joseph Jude.

Joseph published a list of some of the web based publications that are currently on his reading list and why he chooses to read them. As a portion of his list he was kind enough to refer to Elemental Truths

See below for our exchange.

Joseph says:
ElementalTruths.Com: Reg Adkins is a behavioral consultant. I found his early writings to be very informative. I feel that recently, he has deviated from his core strengths. But I still keep reading him.

This really piqued my interests in all the basic need areas of control, inclusion and affection. I wanted to know if there were elements I could adjust that would make ElementalTruths more useful to Joseph (control). I wanted to bring him in to why I had taken certain writing approaches (inclusion). And I wanted to thank him for taking the time to reflect on and react to something I had done (affection). In order to take action, I went to Joseph’s site and left the following comment.

Me (commenting on Joseph home page)
“I feel that recently, he has deviated from his core strengths. But I still keep reading him.”
Not that is feed back I can use!
Can you be more specific about the type of content you would like to see?

Joseph immediately capitalized on the cardinal rule of building web publication readership. He actually interacted with his reader (me) by providing the feedback below.

Joseph (replying in his comments section):
Reg: I didn’t mean to offend. If I had, my apologies.
To answer your question, I enjoy every article on behavior management and temperaments. I didn’t understand your experiments with water (and so I didn’t like it). And sometimes I felt that you posted few articles just for the sake of posting.Probably it is a dilemma between what you want to write and what your readers come to expect.

Keep posting your articles. They have helped me a lot. In case I come across any entries in the category of ‘deviating-from-core-strengths’, I will email you.

That was absolutely some of the best feedback I had ever gotten. Joseph was very clear about what he did and did not like. The control aspect of my temperament was ecstatic. This was actually something I could take action on to improve my work and provide a better product at the same time. And I had to tell him about it. So, I wrote the following comment on his site.

Me:I took no offence from the comment.

I am sincere when I say this is feed back I can use.

I spend an extremely large portion of my time building, evaluating and conducting professional development training. So, what I write sometimes gets colored by the questions asked by participants. Their questions can cause me to stray from behaviors and temperament into other surrounding areas and if I don’t do a good job of connecting them for my readers it can definitely look like I’m doing “filler pieces.”

The water cure experiment is a case in point. In one of the behavior focused classes I was teaching the impact of environmental chemicals and stimulants and their relationships to temperament came in to question. The experiment was an attempt to explore how someone with my temperament might react, and cope with an arbitrary adjustment in their life. I chose liquid intake because it was the easiest to explore. But, as you point out, I didn’t do a good job making the connection.

Elemental Truths is about the readers. I want to provide something of value them. When I get feed back like yours, it gives me an opportunity to do that.

In fact, I will probably use our entire exchange (with your credit of course) in a post about temperament behavior and product continuity.

Thank you and God Bless,
Reg Adkins

Folks, you can’t BUY this kind of open honest feedback. It is only available when readers like Joseph take the time to reflect about something you have done. That means they have no ulterior motive, it is an open, honest reaction. If you bread and butter is temperament and behavior, it just doesn’t get any better than that. Ted Demopoulos himself could not have contrived a better client provider exchange.

This is why I don’t understand how some authors can say they are about providing something of value to readers and yet have no method for readers to comment and provide input.

If I could figure out how to get feedback from readers like this on a consistent basis I’d be writing about it every single day.

Rangers aren’t the only ones who lead the way.

At one time knowledge for the sake of knowledge was the vogue for our culture. Those who were accumulators of wisdom were held in high esteem.

Then were underwent a major paradigm shift. Knowledge was only held of high value if it solved a problem right now.

We began the devaluation of knowledge which held no immediate marketable value.

This has had a particularly profound impact in the field of the sciences. Science itself is named for the Latin word scentia which means knowledge.

As I sat down to compose this article I began to wonder what became of those who found the enhancement of knowledge reason enough to push forward and to seek further.

Then it dawned on me. They became bloggers.

Where have you chosen to enhance your knowledge or that of of others?

I received this message when I opened my site management page today

“Akismet has caught 1,041 spam for you since you first installed it.”

This is February and I installed Akismet in December.

I know many of those who read my work are vastly more knowledgeable in this area than I. So, here is my question. How do comment spammers make money?

I really don’t understand it. Even I my screener didn’t catch the spam, most of the messages don’t make any sense anyway. They are usually just a string of unrelated links. I can’t see what would entice anyone to select any of them. They don’t even relate to the content of my posts.

Here is an example I’ve copied and pasted here. I’ve replaced the actual links with strike throughs.

Jspwirwd | diwisahc@danywilde.net | danywilde.net/map.html | IP: 206.53.55.74

East are of ccluding pharyngitis modified by keflex
xanax pictures expectancy leads approx. Understanding cultural by video singulair munchies patients they medroxyprogesterone acetate indirectly. Citizen believes patients they buy clomiphene drug at variouslosartan interchange absorption. As malpractice also scattered capsule histex orange white laugh at zyloprim manufacturerrestoril for agitationpdr entries for the drug baycol meet minimum attorney baycol wisconsin needs. Two major insurance industry coreg affects on blood sugar will require toprol xl 25 mg side effectsmarezine versus meclizine congested. Association between midnight on course of tussionex ingredience the next prozac divorce gain. Following oral attitudes toward erwoid ecstasy vault neurotoxicity death rate of ruralbuy malco flextra in sidney ducks. Most but controlled deliveries metrogel topical antibiotic and management buy zebutal from the online drugstore expectancy. Plan when to subsidize losartan trial for duchenne to escape tricor thyroidism good start natural estrogen compared to premarinpolicy. Singapore used reflects lyavandia drug description rosiglitazone maleate healthscout duty of finasteride salesduty teracted ecstasy. recognized as potential. Glycine and laws in

It looks like gibberish to me.

Another type that puzzles me is the…

“I don’t understand all of the post you wrote on (insert post title here). But, it looks interesting. I guess I just need to do more research.”

Now, the first time I admit, this got past me. But, I still don’t see how this kind of bait could generate much traffic either.

On the other hand, I realize that as a student of human behavior I may be a bit myopic on this one. Somehow, a desired result must be achievable or it wouldn’t continue to happen.

 I passed the question along to my friend Ted Demopoulos who is quite well versed in this area. The following is Ted’s reply.

Hi Reg,A lot of things spammers do make no sense. Sometimes they are just trying things, experimenting, to see if something works.
For example, if they leave 100,000,000 gibberish comments will 1000  people click to their site? From their perspective, maybe it makes sense?I have friends who spend pretty much full time (as in obsessive) looking at malicious traffic on the Internet as low as the bits and bytes levels, and often they are mystified as well.

I’ve been getting more spam comments lately too. A few make it through the filters but not many

Ted

–
Ted Demopoulos, Demopoulos Associates, I consult, I write, I speak, 603-659-0500
Safely and Securely Profiting from the Information Overload Age
SANS Institute Certified Instructor
Effective Internet Presence (now required for success in business and life)

I also got a very insightful response from MT That MindTweaks Chick (aka Tori Deaux which is also a pseudonym I suspect), that I wanted to share. Bye the way, is reposting a comment to the body of a text plagiarism? Ah well, it will be worth the sacrifice.

Here’s my eddycated guess…

Most spam comments aren’t about directly increasing traffic, but in the hope of the links improving their search engine rankings. Most modern blog/journal software makes comment links “nofollow” by default, so they don’t count towards ranking anyway, but spammers work off the high volume approach. I’m just tossing out numbers here, but…. Spam a billion blogs, and a million of the comments might get through spam protections. Of those million, 100,000 of those blogs might not have “no follow” turned on in their comments. Not a high percentage results wise, but 100,000 links, will shoot search engine rank way up.

There are probably a few companies out there paying spammers for traffic per click, too… in which case the spammers don’t care if the click was from a visitor to your site, or from you, checking to see if it was spam. It still counts towards their numbers - and again, it’s all about volume, both for the spammers, and the companies that pay them. 

mindtweaks.com

So, my friends, what do you think? Are Ted and Tori spot-on on this one? How is this type of spam a profitable venture?

Humans are predisposed to find simplicity of design both pleasing and eloquent. This holds true across the spectrum. That which is simple and practical becomes symbolic of timeless quality.

Men with square jaws are considered the ideal of masculinity by women. The simplicity of a toned, trim physique is preferred to a “muscle bound” body by most women.

Men also prefer the simplicity of symmetry in women. This is particularly apparent in the proven preference for women who have a wider hip than waist ratio (WTR).

It is of no great wonder then that the most popular blogs are those that appeal to our behavioral desire for simplicity and symmetry.

Consider LifeHacker not only is the page laid out in a simple format, but the profile of an attractive female is incorporated in the page header.

Google, the most popular search engine holds absolutely nothing on it’s page other than the search box window and the Google logo centered above it.

Some of my favorites Blogging for Business, Make it Great!, MindTweaks, Steve Pavlina and Best of Mother Earth are so free of guided lilies they might have been written by Thoreau.

When it comes to finding identifying what people want by observing their behavior it is clear, that the great majority prefer the beauty of eloquent simplicity.

In working with behaviors I must ever be on the alert for opportunities to learn about the human condition. As a result, I have the great good fortune to connect with many talented and gifted people.

I continue to reap great benefits from making the acquaintence of Karen Hanrahan. Today she shared the link to a site called Levite Chronicles written by Jon Swanson with me. When I arrived at the site I discovered it was authored by an individual who is able to bring words straight to the heart with a gentle yet direct voice.

If you ever were interested in self discipline and will power you will find very quickly where Jon Swanson finds the strength for his.

As I was surfing (a term I don’t love by the way. Can’t someone come up with a more descriptive term? Maybe ”mining for value,” “Seeking for Truth,” “Prospecting for Positivity.” Something that indicates the true nature of what seeking on the Internet truly is rather than such a passive couch potato image. Wow! That got off topic) I found a link link to a wonderful site called Best Wellness Consultant on a comment form someone with the moniker Mother Earth. I followed the link and found the site of Karen Hanrahan, a nutritional consultant who was celebrating 13 years of business success!

I was so impressed with the flow of her writing that I posted a comment to her site telling her how absolutely blown away by her work I was and humbly (I hope) asking her if she spare the time to drop by Elemental Truths and give me her perspective on how I could enhance my value as a behavior consultant.

She graciously accepted my request and provided me with some invaluable feedback. One of her observations was candid enough to point out the elephant standing in the middle of my room.

1. HOW CAN I EXPECT TO GROW MY SERVICES AS A BEHAVIORAL CONSULTANT IF PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WHAT A BEHAVIORAL CONSULTANT IS???!!!!

2. ISN’T ELEMENTAL TRUTHS PREDOMINANTLY ABOUT THINGS I HAVE A PERSONAL INTEREST?

3. WHY DON’T I NOTE THE SOURCES FOR MY DATA?

Aaaaaarghhh…………the light……it burnnnnss!

She abosolutely nailed me dead to rights.

1. I cannot expand my services beyond my present level if it isn’t clear what a behavioral consultant does and how I can help others.

A behavior consultant works with teachers, parents,  school systems, businesses and private clients to provide insight into the nature of human behaviors. Why we may struggle with situations that require us to process information and emotion in ways that are not comfortable for us, and the mal-adaptive behaviors that may develop as a result. The issues around the negativity that can develop when we seek to meet our needs for inclusion, affection and control in inappropriate ways. A behavioral consultant is neither a psychologist nor a minister but may capitalize on the strength of both of these in aiding a client.

2. Elemental Truths, at first blush to the new visitor does look like it is about my personal interests rather than a service tool.

Because of my failure to adequately introduce each topic in relation to how it is incorporated into behavior motivation, assessment and adjustment many of my articles seem disconnect and without a central theme. This is an editing issue I plan to begin to address right away, in fact with this very article.

3. Because I’ve gotten lazy in linking to research sources it doesn’t look like I have data to support everything I write about.

This is yet another short-falling that is whole due to my egocentric assumption that everyone who happens upon this site has followed it long enough to see how everything is interconnected (or should be). This is also an issue I plan to begin addressing right away with appropriate citation and links.

Karen Hanrahan has done me a great service in her frank, yet perfectly cordial input. I am placing her site among those I read daily and strongly urge you to do the same.

Has your site ever been included in a “Best of” list?

Over the past few months Elemental Truths has showed up on a few such lists. One was Phil Gerbyshaks, The Make it Great! 125. Before that Priscilla Palmer included me in her professional development resource list.

In case anyone wonders if being included in such a list adds to your visit depth, I did some reader trend maintenance research and found some guests who visited my site from the lists stayed for 20 minutes, at least when the list was first published. Odds are that kind of reader will be coming back to Elemental Truths if I continue to pony up with the initial quality they met.

But, does being included in such a list increase my traffic?

The answer is, it depends. It depends to a great extent on how the author publishes or markets the list. And to an even greater extent, it depends on how big the list is.

For example, I find I’m much more likely to pick up extra traffic on a list of top five sites than I am a list of top 100 sites. Readers view list of much more than 10 rather like chain letters. It is a basic of human behavior analysis. People just don’t have the time to devote to checking out all the sites listed.

Have you ever compiled a best of list for publication? If so, how many sites did you include in your recommendations?

Have you ever been curious as to the amount of education necessary to read and understand your work?

Not the  education or talent of the author, but the level of education the reader needs to be able to put your work to good use.

I calculated mine based on a standard readability formula. It’s a fairly simple straight forward calculation.

• Calculate the average number of words you use per sentence.
• Calculate the average number of syllables per word.
• Multiply the average number of words by 0.39 and add it to the average number of syllables per word multiplied by 11.8.
• Subtract 15.50 from the result.
• Algorithm: (0.39 * average_words_sentence) + (11.8 * average_syllables_word) - 15.9

But, if you are not a math fan and trust the calculations of others The Blog Readability Test site will do it for you if you past in the site address. Here is the link if you want to check your own.

Here are the results of the readability scale of some of the sites I read on a regular basis. Bye the way, the results change with every new addition of material. So, a college level site can on one day can be a junior high school level site the next day.

1. Blogging for Business - Junior High School.
2. Make it Great - Junior High School.
3. Converstations - Junior High School.
4. MindTweaks - Elementary School
5. Kyles Cove - Junior High School
6. JD’Blog - Genius Level
7. 37 Signals - Elementary School Level
8. Ians Messy Desk - Junior High Level
9. Lifehacker - High School Level
10. ElementalTruths - Junior High Level
11. Steve Pavlina - Genius Level
12. Seth’s Blog - High School Level

I monitor my site pretty closely because I want to keep my writing simple and clear enough so that it is easy to undertand and yet precise enough to give the background information for further growth. Junior High level is about that level for most people.

Consider that, Moby Dick, Macbeth, Of Mice and Men, The Once & Future King, and Treasure Island are all written on the Junior High to High School reading levels (right around 8th grade, actually).

What reading level is needed for the sites you read, and if you are a writer do you take the reading level into consideration when you work?