The extra space also means we can resume work on the brand new Omni sites we’ve been dying to launch for the last few months! Good times!

But here at OmniBlog we’ve just learned a valuable lesson in just how important they are – the hard way!

We use – and are happy to recommend – a WordPress plugin called Google XML Sitemaps, developed by Arne Brachhold, which not only automatically updates your sitemap whenever you update your site, but also send the new information direct to Google and other leading search engines.

A few weeks ago we were alarmed to see our daily visitor rates to OmniFootball plummet by nearly 70%!

We couldn’t work out why, after all we were adding sites faster than ever, until we realised that the Google XML Sitemap plugin had stopped working due to a glitch in our site.

Well, having restored the sitemap to its full potential again, we are happy to report that visitors and pageviews are back up to their normal levels. An important lesson learned in the value of an up-to-date XML file we felt we should pass on.

We’re also passing on the news that UK memorial website Lasting Tribute has just launched a range of blog content widgets and are offering free links on their site to any blogs who take up the offer. Free content and a link from a site with a decent Page Rank. Worth checking out.

People’s Blog is a site with the kind of slick quality Everton manager David Moyes would like to see from his side.

The day’s headlines, from a team of writers, scroll on the front page in an attractive widget and you can also watch videos from YouTube direct from the site.

Editorially the site sensibly splits ‘real’ news from the Rumour Mill, though everything is written from the perspective of passionate Everton fans. They also hunt out the funniest Everton-related videos and songs to brighten up the day of fans.

From the horse’s mouth

We spoke to People’s Blog editor Dan Taylor to get the inside story.

When did you start Peoples Blog and what was the site like back then?

I started Peoples Blog back in Feb 2008 and it was basically after getting bored of all the moaning and backstabbing on other Everton sites. The site design was pretty basic, and as the name suggests was in the format of a blog. Just a place for one fan to air their thoughts.

How much time a week does the site take up on average?

On average is a pretty hard question to answer as that depends on what part of the season we are in, in the transfer windows and towards the end of the season it can be a few hours a day, but during normal season time probably a few hours a week.

Do you blog about anything else or is it pure Everton?

I did have other blogs to do with web design but I have since closed this as I use Twitter and micro blogging systems for this now.

Where else can we find your work / thoughts?

Nowhere at the moment as the company I work for has a exclusivity clause in my contract to do with design and development work.

What does the future hold for bloggers and blogging?

Blogging has grown massively in the past few years and it is becoming harder and harder to make in impact, certainly in sports blogging. I think the future for a new blogger could be to join up with a current site, as we are always looking for quality writers to come on board. There are some benefits too, I took some of our writers to Wembley for the semi-final last season as a thank you for their hard work. If anyone is interested in writing (we need opposition guest writers too) please email dan.taylor@peoplesblog.co.uk

And finally, how do you rate Everton’s season so far?

Indifferent/injury Strewn – not really been able to pass a judgement because of our threadbare squad being decimated by injuries to key players. Hopefully in the next few weeks we can see some of these returning and a push for the top 5 again this year.

• People’s Blog has been listed on OmniFootball since May 2009. Add your site to our listings to stand a chance of being ‘Blog of the Week’.

Our system uses tags (known as labels on some blogging platforms) to sort blog posts into the appropriate category. Tags are keywords you add to a blog post to describe the various subjects you are blogging about. If you use good tagging, you will appear in the appropriate category pages on OmniBlog sites. This means people will be more likely to find your blog posts, and it also has SEO benefits.

Pace yourself

Every post by one of our listed blogs is guaranteed time on the homepage of whatever site(s) they are listed on, which is great exposure. But the sites are updated constantly, so posts on the front page are soon replaced by newer ones. If you make lots of posts in one go they will all appear together and all disappear together. Spread your posts out during the day to catch different readers at different times of day.

Use descriptive / intriguing headlines and intros

OmniBlog visitors generally only see your post title and the first few lines of your article – this is all you have to tempt them, so make sure you aren’t too vague or too long in getting to the point. For instance, no one is going to click on a headline called simply ‘News’ as this could be about anything. Make good use of your title and intro also helps you appear in search results, both on OmniBlog and search engines.

Don’t fight us!

If you search for one of your own blog posts on Google to see where it appears in their search results, you might see an OmniBlog link above your own! Don’t be disheartened by this. Without wanting to boast, Google loves us – our sites are huge, updated constantly and have had expert SEO treatment. That’s why our links get such high ranking. But when people click on them, they are still seeing your blog, reading your words and looking at your adverts. You don’t lose anything by being beaten by us on Google, only gain. Small blogs cannot compete with the many big professional websites out there. That’s why we created OmniBlog – to help push bloggers back up the listings to where they belong.

Keep in touch

Even at OmniBlog things go wrong (understatement of the year!). If you spot an error, say for instance you notice that your latest blog posts have stopped appearing on our site, please let us know. We very rarely remove posts or feeds from our sites without letting the blogger in question know, so the chances are you’ve been the victim of a glitch. If you bring it to our attention will we do whatever we can to sort it out as soon as possible so you don’t lose out on any traffic.

• If your blog isn’t already listed on OmniBlog, what are you waiting for? Submit it now

Now when you click a link to read a post, you are taken direct to the post itself, displayed with our helpful information bar that shows you related posts and options to quickly share it with your friends.

And on the homepage we now have a ‘Hot Topics’ menu which shows you what bloggers are talking about most at the moment and letting you read the latest posts on those subjects.

Click here to visit Omni Writers & Artists or submit your site to be included in our listings.

Basically our system was ‘upgraded’ by our service providers, though we’re not sure error messages and vanishing emails counts as an upgrade.

Ho hum. We’re just about back on track now and have lots of emails to sort through, so please be patient if you’ve written to us or submitted your site in the last fortnight – we will get back to you eventually.

PS. If you’re expecting a reply from us and haven’t heard anything by the end of the week, please get in touch by all means as we can’t be sure we’ve got everything we should have.

Well, we’re nearing that milestone this week and we thought it would be fun to see where the smart money is by looking at the most popular categories on our busiest site, OmniFootball.

Arsenal bloggers are the most prolific with a massive 1,442 blog posts currently in our database! Second place in our league table goes to Manchester City, surprisingly ahead of their rivals United.

Top five blogging football clubs

Arsenal – 1,442
Manchester City – 471
Tottenham Hotspur – 448
Manchester United – 377
Aston Villa – 354

Help your club climb the OmniFootball league table by submitting your blog today – and remember you could still be in with a chance of claiming the £20 voucher!

We’re now approaching the milestone of 10,000 blog posts across our network and to celebrate OmniBlog is giving away a £20 Amazon voucher to the site responsible for the 10,000th post.

What do you have to do to win? Well, just keep blogging! We’ll announce the winning blog here when we reach 10,000 posts.

Even if you aren’t currently listed, you could still win the prize by signing up today, but hurry – we’re due to hit the target any day now!

• Read more about the benefits of listing on your blog on OmniBlog here

Now when readers click a link to one of our syndicated posts, they will be taken directly to the original site, making finding blog entries you want to read much easier and quicker.

An OmniFootball information bar will also display at the top of the page so you can find other posts related to the one you are looking at.

It’s all part of a steady development of the site as we creep towards our aim of being the best blogging platform on the web.

Please comment below and let us know what you think of this innovation.

PS. We’re also now active on Blerp, the latest social networking craze. We plan to use the service in a similar way to our Twitter account, to promote latest posts and encourage discussion amongst our readers.

Australian blogger Miles is probably still smarting from England’s triumph in the Ashes at the weekend, but at least he’s got somewhere to vent his fury.

Deep Fine Leg, a spin-off from the Ashes history site 334 Not Out, has been providing commentary on the whole series thanks to Miles and fellow writer Thomas Rooney.

As well sharing their views on the latest cricket news, they also review cricket related products such as history books and computer games. Occasionally they diverge into other sports, covering anything from “football to waterpolo”.

The gallery section contains treats for the eyes of connoisseurs of both paintings and the IPL Cheerleaders!

From the horse’s mouth

We caught up with Miles and asked him bowl us over with the ins and outs of Deep Fine Leg.

When did you start Deep Fine Leg and how did the site get going?

I started the blog in November of 2007. The idea behind the blog was to accompany the main www.334notout.com site (History of the Ashes) giving me a more relaxed style of writing and format, somewhere to allow me to post on all forms of the game rather than stick to a rigid Ashes theme.

What’s changed since then?

I have a couple of writers who write a piece every now and then, I like to try and keep it ticking over so if anyone out there wants to contribute let me know, there’s plenty of room! Apart from that, the style changes as it suits – I do like changing the themes!

How much of your time does the site take up?

Nowhere near the time the main site takes, but as the blog is still in its infancy it doesn’t take up too much time. Very manageable!

Do you blog about anything else or is it pure cricket?

Although it’s predominately a cricket blog I do blog other sporting news such as F1, Swimming and Athletics. As I mentioned earlier it’s a very relaxed blog and if I come across anything interesting I post it.

What does the future hold for bloggers and blogging?

The future looks good, blogging is on the up and tends to encourage feedback in a bigger way than websites do. From my experience readers are more likely to interact with a blog and that in itself makes it a more powerful and immediate tool.

PS. We did ask Miles for some predictions for the final Ashes test, but felt it would be cruel to post these after the event.

• Deep Fine Leg joined OmniCricket in May 2009. Add your site to our listings to stand a chance of being ‘Blog of the Week’.