I was talking about this the other day, about what the actual value of a tag cloud is and if anyone had implemented it really well.
My initial reactions were ‘of course’, ‘they’re everywhere’ and something to the effect of yes they’re very clever.
Of course only some of my thoughts were gathered for this conversation and I did go away and really considered the effectiveness of a tag cloud specifically for blogs and why I generally warm more to a tag cloud than a list of categories.
I’ve embraced a tag cloud on my site pretty much from the moment I discovered a plugin to do so. Â Maybe it’s just the way my mind is wired but I’ve always liked the look and feel of them. Â So when I was able to I had to have one.
The only thing is that originally I don’t think I used it well, it wasn’t very well integrated into the site. Â Tags were an afterthought if I was feeling particulary thorough on the day.
My categories were my bread and butter, you want to read about my thoughts on a television show then you have to go and have a look at the television category (or use search, never forget search!), but who knows from the title ‘television’ which shows I was talking about. Â I’m talking Star Trek and 24 and you were hoping for Gilmore Girls. Â If instead of my category list you were looking at a tag cloud you may notice Star Trek and Jack Bauer in the cloud but no Rory or what’s his name who has the baseball cap in Gilmore Girls.
This is all very well and good but I have somewhere in the vicinity of 200 plus tags and they show up randomly in my tag cloud so this isn’t the best way to navigate my site, if you are really interested in reading my thoughts on Ghost Rider it’s probably best to do a search unless it’s his turn to show up in the tag cloud.
But how do you know that I might be writing about Ghost Rider if he doesn’t show up immediately in the tags or the categories. Â Well this is where the real value is, and this is something that I discovered on the Aussie Blogger’s Forum (which is celebrating its six month anniversary too btw). Â Your tag cloud is a great summary of your blog.
You see I was working on my about me page at the time and I was wondering if my site was focused and on topic enough. Â Speaking to someone on the forum I mentioned my concerns and they went straight to my tag cloud and said it paints a pretty clear picture that you write about popular culture, sure enough there it was, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Comics, Iron Man, Sci Fi, books etc.
Now it becomes clear how important the tag cloud is to your first time readers who will very generously give you something like four seconds or something to be convinced to stay. Â If your tag cloud has keywords and topics that grabs my interest I’m more likely to bookmark the site and come back or even continue reading there and then!
Mmmmm I’m thinking of a template refit and maybe I’ll bump my tag cloud higher.
Popularity: 12% [?]
17/06/2008 at 10:49 pm Permalink
ok. My head just exploded.
Actually, this is one of the only things that I don’t like about the WP upgrade - the tag/cat thingy isn’t next to where I’m nutting out my blog posts, isn’t even on my page unless I scroll down and I’m finding that I’m frequently forgetting to add the bloomin things.
Bettinas last blog post..Screw Up Tuesday
17/06/2008 at 11:06 pm Permalink
What do you mean your head exploded!? I don’t ALWAYS have to talk about Iron Man!
My tag field is immediately underneath my post field so it is pretty handy. Do you have other plugins that push it down further?
I also use the HeadSpace2 plugin which suggests tags too which often helps me too.
17/06/2008 at 11:26 pm Permalink
no, you don’t always have to talk Iron man, it’s just the whole bloggy technical stuff topics make my heart hurt
tags/ catagories, SEQ, niche, blah blah blah………
Yeah, my tag field is below the post one, but it’s not on my screen unless I scroll so I forget about it. I’m a very visual kinda girl.
Bettinas last blog post..Screw Up Tuesday
18/06/2008 at 2:20 am Permalink
I like the tag cloud, although I have no choice about placement at the moment, as I’m still using wordpress.com, so it gets to stay in the minor column.
However, here’s a use for the tag cloud you may not have thought of. If your blog subject is a finite, narrowly defined one, or you’re writing in a niche, then the tag cloud is a good way of checking to see if you’re covering all aspects of the topic evenly.
I gaze at my cloud every now and again to make sure I’m not getting to heavy-handed in any one area. It’s a good visual measure.
Thanks for the tip about the Aussie Bloggers Forum…can expats join?
Tracy
Tracy Cooper-Poseys last blog post..A cure for Monday Morning Blues.
18/06/2008 at 7:37 am Permalink
Oooo, geek speak.
I use categories, the Tag clouds look messy to me.
Widdle Shamrocks last blog post..Lullaby
18/06/2008 at 11:48 am Permalink
Congratulations. You’ve inspired me to change my tags display. Maybe this will help users find my stuff more. I’ve been trying to figure out how to increase the Pages/Visitor stat recently.
Jeffs last blog post..Happy Father’s Day
18/06/2008 at 1:11 pm Permalink
Bettina - you’re just going to have to go buy yourself a larger screen
18/06/2008 at 1:21 pm Permalink
Tracy expats are most certainly welcome at the Aussie Bloggers Forum, I think we have a few in there already actually. Your tag cloud is a really good summary of your site too - “quitting your day job” certainly got my attention
18/06/2008 at 1:23 pm Permalink
WS - it does show that people have different ways of exploring someone’s site though because I’m the opposite but I wouldn’t abandon my categories and do try and make them relevant.
18/06/2008 at 1:27 pm Permalink
That’s good Jeff I just went and looked at your tag cloud actually and it reinforces my theory seeing film and tv (as well as sci-fi) as your big tags which is exactly why I read your blog.
18/06/2008 at 3:20 pm Permalink
Hello, It’s a small world. I was missing Tracey from Quietpaws, she hasn’t been around bloggodom for a while and while I was at her site I saw this link to you. I hope she’s okay, and on the subject of small worlds, I am in the Aussie Bloggers Forum too. Bloggodom is vast and tiny at the same time. Have a great day, and if you see Tracey say hi! from gingaTao! Thanks.
Pauls last blog post..A Shadow in Winter.
18/06/2008 at 5:33 pm Permalink
hmm gotta give all kinds of blogtech some attention as soon as I’ve got holidays (1,5 weeks) oh and the Netherlands win the European Championship football of course (at least I hope)!
Arjans last blog post..Going’s on
18/06/2008 at 9:31 pm Permalink
Hi Paul, Tracey laughed when I said you’d shown up in my neck of the woods and says a very big ‘hello’. She’s fine, I think she’s having a Mexican stand off with her blog, but she will be back eventually.
To illustrate what a small world it actually is - before the Aussie Blogger Forum started one of the originals used to be in MyBlogLog with me and through her site I found another blog that occasionally I’d visit - I found out after Aussie Bloggers started that she was the wife of my best friend from grade 5 and I didn’t know!
Vast but tiny indeed!
18/06/2008 at 11:22 pm Permalink
Arjan - it’s always nice to have a bit of a fix up on your blog to repair or tune up bits and pieces that have some wear and tear.