Australian blogger Olive Riley, the “world’s oldest blogger” may have died on the 12th of July at the age of 108, but her blogging continues to live on with the help of friends like Eric Shackle.

Shackle, a retired Sydney journalist, was the one who gave her the idea to blog. Riley’s last posts were written with the help of Shackle, where she wrote about her declining health and her obliviousness to the passing of time confined in her bed. “Heartwarming emails expressing affection and admiration for Olive and sympathy to her family and friends have poured in to her proxy website, World’s Oldest Blogger,” says Shackle in a post. “They came from dozens of countries, from young and old, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and atheists, united in their love, admiration and sorrow at the passing of a simple soul with a mighty spirit.”

Shackle has this to say about blogging for Riley: “It’s funny to say this, but doing the blog with her, doing all the typing, the photographs, the movies, has been a big part of my life this past year, something that many friends couldn’t quite understand. ‘Why all this effort for an old lady? They’d ask, ‘Are you in a hurry to age yourself? (Me being 70 this year).’ Quite the contrary, Olive Riley’s been keeping me young,” Eric posts in Riley’s blog.

Riley, who began blogging in February 2007, wrote about her early years struggling as a waitress and her life during the two world wars. Her blog The Life of Riley, continues to have a good following. She even has an ABC documentary about her life and blogging efforts.

Shackle’s blog, LifeBeginsat80, and those of her friends who have gladly continued to post in her spirit, can be found on her blogroll.

Past blogs of mine have floundered because of infrequent posting habits. Is it any surprise? In the magazine world, editors tend to write only small amounts of content for their publications. For the rest of the content, they hire freelance writers for specific stories, or they count on stories from their contributing editors, who usually hand in a story per month.

You can do the same thing with your blog. In fact, you should be doing this if you feel your infrequent posting is having an adverse effect on traffic and reader loyalty.

Some alternate ways of approaching this problem?

Start a blog network. If your blog is general enough to allow for further paring down into sub-topics, you may want to consider starting a blog network. A blog network is a cluster of blogs all working under one central banner. Some examples are Gawker Media, b5media, and LifeRemix. If you have several blogs all covering different aspects of one larger topic, the pressure will be taken off of you. You, in turn, can concentrate on your own sliver of topic. Similarly, why start your own network when you can just join one? Being part of a blog network will bring you traffic, income, legitimacy, and more.

Start a group blog. This is different from a blog network in that it is a single blog powered by multiple writers. This very blog is one such example. There are many blogging platforms that allow you to authorize multiple writers.

Feature guest bloggers. In the magazine world, magazines such as People and US Weekly are always trying to beat each other to the scoop. The blogosphere — while still competitive (see Gizmodo vs. Engadget) — allows for a heckuva lot more interactivity and collaboration. Chances are, if you’re blogging, you’re also most likely reading other blogs specializing in your topic area. Approach bloggers you respect via e-mail, asking them if they would be interested in writing a guest post…or even a week’s worth of guest posts! Not only will you be easing your load and creating an alliance with a blogger you admire, but you’ll also attract readers of your guest’s blog!

Encourage pitching. Post a call for writers, or even place a permanent query on your About page. In this digital world, many writers are just as interested in pitching story ideas to blogs as they are to magazines and newspapers.

Ah…the world of fashion blogs…they can provide a multitude of services to their style-conscious readers.

Some fashion blogs concentrate on finding the most budget-friendly items for their readers, while others highlight fashion finds on the other end of the spectrum, providing web surfers with products worth lusting after. Other blogs leave no trend un-talked about, even offering forums where readers can gossip and give advice. Still others provide style guides, a database of shops, and even bookmarking and tagging capabilities.

Today, the Style Observer acts as a good example as to how making your content searchable in a variety of ways can aid readers who are looking for a quick fashion fix.

Founded by Jean Pratt, this group blog shines with collage-like imagery and style how-tos, such as How to Dress Your Black Dress for Summer and 7 Keepers for Fall. Just as mall goers are sometimes on a mission, however, web users are also often looking for something very specific.

Within the left sidebar of Ms. Pratt’s blog are — first of all — categories and subcategories. The general topic — “fashion” — is split up into the most obvious areas: clothing, accessories, and jewelry. These areas are broken down even further. For example, the “jewelry” category includes bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and rings.

This isn’t the only way Ms. Pratt organizes her content, however. Readers can also search by price ($-$$$$$), or follow tabs in the top-of-the-page menu to pages organized by designer, trend, or look.

The fashion industry lends itself to such categories and subcategories, but you should consider ways in which you could similarly organize your own blog. Think about your content, and the ways in which readers might like to search through it. A books blog could be organized by author or genre. Foodie blogs could be organized by type of food, or expense of restaurant. If you can find ways to make site navigation even easier for your readers, they’re sure to appreciate it.

Blogroll of Other Fashion Blogs: The Budget Fashionista, I Heart Luxe, My Fashion Life, Style Bakery, You Look Fab, stylehive

It used to be that Good Keywords was the popular choice when it came to search volume data, but ever since search engines like Yahoo! blocked access to the numbers, such programs went from useful to useless. But now, you only need to go as far as the Google AdWords site to do some metrics research on high-ranking search words.

Enter the new feature of the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. Now, users can also get search volume data alongside keywords. The addition is a result of advertiser clamor and demand for search volume data essential for site search engine optimization (SEO). The data provided include both actual numbers and approximations. Google claims that the information should give a better idea of keyword search volume averages than previously possible.

Trevor Claiborne of Google says in the AdWords blog that the tool provides more than one type of keyword-metrics data which should be useful for the proper selection of keywords to help in the effectiveness of specific ad campaigns. “You can easily view data on advertiser competition, search volume trends, estimated average CPCs, and estimated ad positions for keywords.”

The new Keyword Tool feature is expected to make SEO easier especially for novices, but it should also increase competition and make advertising online more niche-specific.