Showing posts with label Content.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Content.. Show all posts

Should Bloggers Use Widgets On Their Blog?

No Comment - Post a comment

There are a lot of widgets that you can add to your blog to make it more attractive,something that can be useful for your readers,something that can provide extra information and something that can be used to interact with your readers.Most of this widgets are free and some of it are really useful,like the visitors counter.

What exactly are widgets?It is a small bit of code,usually in JavaScript that can be paste into your blog template.It serves fresh content from other servers.

Should you add widgets to your blog?

It all depends on what type of widget you want to add.If it can be useful to both you and your readers,it is recommended to add it.There are a few widgets that you can add to your blog because it is useful not just for you but also for your readers.
  • Visitors counters.Not only it can track the numbers of visitors to your blog,some even provide stats about those readers.
  • AdSense,eBay,Amazon - Well AdSense so you can make some extra cash when it get clicked,your readers can find further info related to your blog from it.eBay and Amazon widgets listed the latest product from their store,it is best when you are an affiliate to either or both programs.
  • Blog roll,headlines,top blogs,news break - You can share with your readers which blog you like,the blogs you subscribe,latest news headlines.
  • Blog directories and communities - It is for reciprocal links and also to inform your readers which blogging community you join,maybe they are from the same community and this will help them network with you.
  • Chat box - Not my favourite but I see more and more bloggers are adding it to their blog,it is a way to communicate with your readers.
Before you add all sorts of widgets on your blog,do remember this,
  • Performance - Some widgets will slow down your load time,especially flash widgets,it may look nice,but not all people browsing the Internet have fast connection.If it takes too long for your page too load,they will just leave.Add widgets that will not effect your site loading time.
  • Usefulness - Too many widgets will make your blog page look crowded,readers want to see and read your content.Add widgets that you find are really useful for you and also your readers.
  • Only what you need - Add widgets that you need like AdSense,visitors counter.Don't add widgets just because you see other bloggers are using it or just because it look nice.
What really matters is actually your content,some widgets are only for first impression.When your blog look nice with lots of graphic on it,people will want to look more but if they find your content is nothing to shout about,that will be the first and last time they visit your blog.

 

Labels: , ,

Posting To Your Blog.

No Comment - Post a comment

A blog is not a blog without content,the difference between a blog and a website are a blog is regularly updated with what is supposed to be fresh,quality content.It is not hard to come across a blog that is not updated for a month,a few month or even a year.It is also not hard to see blogs without quality content too,especially if the blog is about a certain niche.

I've written many times before on why you should blog about topics that you know to be able to write regularly about it.What I want to share this time is about how to write your article,or making a post to your blog.
  • Topic.Write about things related to the topic of your blog.You can write about something else once in a while,maybe something about you personally,but keep it to the minimum.People subscribe to your blog because they are interested about the article which are relevant to your blog topic,but if you wandered off this topics to many times or constantly writing something unrelated,don't be surprised to see your subscribers declining.
  • Knowledge.You must have knowledge about your blog topic,and you can share your knowledge,experience by writing it in your blog.Knowing what you write will leave an impression among your readers that you know your stuff,earning you credibility and will certainly make you an authority figure about that particular topic.You can always add this knowledge,and get latest news by doing research and reading.Read and research your blog articles.
  • Keyword.An important aspect that you should not leave out while writing your article.Mixing related keywords in your articles will help boost your SEO,but don't fill your articles with keywords until your article become meaningless,write good informative article and blending in nicely all those necessary keywords into it.
  • Title.Some write the title and then the article,some wrote the article and then choose a suitable title,which ever it is,give your article a good,attractive,attention grabbing title.That is how newspaper are sold,the title attract people to buy it,they just have to know what is the story behind the title.
  • Points.If you have an idea about what to post to your blog,write it in your notebook or on a piece of paper in point forms.Write your post according to those points,elaborating about it as you write.
  • Formats.Write your article and break long post into paragraph.Use numbering or bullets when giving breakdown,align your post to the left or justify it to make your posting look neat .
  • Fonts.Choose the right font and the right font size for your article.Use simple font and a good font size so it is not too small or too big.
  • Highlighting.Highlight important words by making it bold,or using italic on names or title.Only use coloured text when it is really necessary,because sometimes readers will confuse it as links,and don't use colourful text if it is a niche blog.You can find it normally on personal blogs,but I don't see the reason in doing so.
  • Be yourself.Write the way you want to,as you like and as you see fit.You are not submitting the articles to get exam grades or writing an English Literature.Some people will complain about your grammar,or how bad your English is,you have no flow in your article.Take it all in your stride,everybody loves to be a critic,it is easy to give critic and the most important thing is,nobody is perfect.The important thing is readers can understand you.
Writing an article,posting it to your blog is something that you have to get used to.Once you do it regularly,routinely,the flow will come,and it won't be as hard when you first start writing.

 

Labels: , ,

Are You An Organized Blogger?

1 comments - Post a comment

Do you do your posting depending on which ever time you have to do it?Do you have any certain daily schedule that you follow or you just do things depending on your mood,on your available time?Do you have any certain priority things that top your daily list of things to do?Do you even have a Things To Do Today notes attach anywhere near your workstation or you don't even know what it is?

Being organized is an important factor that you might want to consider if you want to be a successful blogger simply because..
  • It will help you perform your daily task more efficiently.
  • Since you are doing your task more efficiently,you can concentrate more on giving your readers good content.
  • You can add more task like having another blog,or doing post for other blogs.
  • You can have more time doing other non blogging related things,like your health and your family and even quality time for yourself.
My daily "Things To Do" arrangement are like this.
  • Read Emails.
  • Read feed from reader.
  • Moderating comments.
  • Take a break.
  • Research.(For my post content or just as common knowledge)
  • Notes(For my post,normally I do this on weekend and write about 15-20 post points)
  • Posting to my blogs.
  • Schedule posting(This is still new to me)
  • Take another break.
  • Visit other blogs.
  • Spend time in forums.
  • Social networking/social media(I seldom do this but have to put more effort and time doing it)
  • Time to rest.
How you spend and organized your time depends on whether you are blogging part time or full time,but still it is important to keep thing organized with a schedule that you have to learn to follow.Learn to have a pen and a small notebook as a companion where ever you go,you never know when the idea will suddenly come,I've wrote about this before and you can read it here.

When you have some ideas,write it in point forms,this way you can easily have points for about 15-20 posts.You can elaborate while you write your post.It won't be easy,but once you get used to it,you will find it exciting.Being prepared and organized will definitely bring your blogging experience to a new level,you will feel more relax,your ideas will come more easily because it has taken the stress out of your blogging life.

 

Labels: , , ,

Be A Successful Blogger.

No Comment - Post a comment

There must be a reason you start your blog.You want to share your thoughts,experience or views with others.You learn how to blog,how to promote it,getting traffic,getting subscribers.Instead of just a hobby,it becomes a passion,to some it even become a profession.So what are the things that can help you become a successful blogger,even if you're doing it out of passion or as a profession.I read about this topic in Blogging Tips,written by Andy MacDonald.He shares some very interesting tips and I added some too.
  • Be real.Some bloggers have no specific topics,and they wrote just about everything.You can choose to talk about more than one topics,like my personal blog,I wrote mostly about blogging,sports and life.Blog about something,not just everything.
  • Be Passionate.Some bloggers starts it as a hobby,or for fun,or because their friends are doing it,but soon they become more passionate about their blog.Being passionate meaning loving what you are doing and it is easier when you are doing something you love.
  • Update.What more can I say,a regularly updated blog with good quality content will certainly be a hit among readers.People won't wait for one week to get new material from you,unless you are a celebrity or something,they have a lot to choose from,and they will look for frequently updated blogs with great reading materials.
  • Links.Bloggers links with other sites for 2 reasons,because their interest in the subject or their respect for the site owner.Links can also help with your SEO,but it must be done correctly.Learn about linking and SEO,it will certainly help expose your blog.
  • Comments.We talk about this often,yet I see that some bloggers don't really understand its importance.I got one last week on my personal blog..Hey dude!Whats up!Nice blog!It won't help your credibility leaving comments like that and it certainly won't benefit your blog one bit.
  • Have fun.Don't look at your blog as though it is a chore!Have fun with it,enjoy doing things with your blog.If you're passionate about blogging,about your blog,you will be having fun with it.
  • Be creative.Do new things,add new things to your blog.Be creative,be different.
  • Ping.Use a pinging service to ping your blog each time you wrote a new post.
  • Feeds.Allow readers to subscribe to your blogs using RSS or emails,if your blog is good,you will be surprised how many people subscribe to it.
  • Great titles.When you write your post,think of attractive and meaningful title,this will attract readers to read your post.
  • Be yourself.Always do things your way,don't be a copycat.
  • Believe in yourself.Don't feel you are inferior,don't let what other blog or bloggers achieve bothers you.Just do what you want,as you like and you can be successful too.
  • Patience.Lots of it,not only in building your blog,waiting to taste success,but also when confronting critics,other bloggers,rude comments etc.You will meet a lot of people,all with different taste and thoughts,some can really be annoying and mean,so be patient,don't let them bother you.

 

Labels: , , , , ,

Is Blogging Easy?

1 comments - Post a comment

I saw someone posted this question in a forum.It get lots of replies from other forum members,most of them saying blogging is easy,the hard part is getting traffic to your blog.I'm not an expert about blogging,nor have I been blogging long enough to know everything there is to know about blogging,but I would like to share some of my opinion and experience regarding this.
  • Why do you want to have a blog?This is an important question I ask myself before I started my blog.Is it going to be a personal blog,doing it for fun,as a hobby or I want to be a serious blogger,maybe in some way monetizing it or maybe I should start a business blog.Most personal blogs is done for fun an as a hobby,but somehow because of ways to monetize it,some of it has become blogs for the reason of monetizing it,either by using ads or doing paid posting.You will earn some money from it,but most probably your credibility and popularity will also suffer.Ask yourself this question,do you want to blog for short term or long term?
  • Topics.Personal blogs doesn't concentrate on certain topics,it can cover a lot of different topics depending on the blog owner.More targeted blogs or niche blogs normally are done for long term benefits,of gaining popularity and monetizing it and business blogging are blogs supplementing the blog owner business and it is done to help promote and creating awareness.
  • Content.A major factor of a blog development and progress.You can write your own articles or maybe get it free from article directory sites.The best is to write your own article,and a well written article can help bring quality traffic to you site and help with your SEO.
  • Design.There are lots of templates to choose from,or you can create your own.A blog design will have some effect on how well your blog is received by others.
  • Traffic.Everybody wants it and want lots if it.You have to learn how to bring traffic to your site,and this can be time consuming and sometimes will get you frustrated.Keep on learning,do all the possible things to help bring traffic and have a lot of patience.SEO,link exchange,tagging,Entrecard are all things that you can learn and do to help increase your traffic.
  • Updating.It is not always about your content.You have to update your blog regularly with new articles,but you have to keep on tweaking your blog,changing the layout to make it as nice as possible,add a few important things and getting rid of unnecessary ones.
  • Motivation.There are times when you will find that you have no idea to update your blog,you find it is taking a lot of your time,your effort without getting the desired results.That is why it is important to really know why you want to start a blog,do you have what it takes to keep on going,what will keep you motivated to carry on.If you have a certain goal,a certain target,no matter how hard it is,it won't stop you or hold you back.When The Going Gets Tough,The Tough Gets Going.
  • Monetizing your blog.It is completely different from a business blog.A business blog is about using a blog to promote,market and popularized your business,but monetizing your blog is getting income directly from your blog,through ads mostly.To really have a good income,you have to have a certain amount of loyal readers,and this won't and can't be achieved in 3 month.If you really want to monetize your blog,set it for long term,build your blog,build your credibility and popularity and you will get a chance at it.If you think it can be achieve in short terms,than you will be frustrated.
  • Subscribers.Allow people to subscribe to your blog by adding RSS button or email subscription.Write good and valuable content,and you will get people subscribing to your blog,and by providing good,fresh,quality and valuable content,you will see your subscribers increase with time.
  • Blogging platform.There is Bloggers,Wordpress,TypePad and others that you can choose from,you can have your own domain,your own hosting for it too.It is all up to you which one to choose.
I never consider blogging to be easy,even if I have a personal blog.Starting one is certainly easy,but to maintain it,updating it regularly with good content,exposing it are not,but even though it is not easy,I feel it is fun to do,because you always learn new things,blogging to me is an on going learning process,you will make mistake along the way,but it is for your benefit if you learn from your mistakes.You get to know other bloggers,build your own bogging network with fellow bloggers,learn from them,they will learn something from you,sharing new things.The most satisfying results after the effort,the time you spend on your blog is the readers you have,how your blog have developed over the years.You will get the satisfaction if you have set a target,and you finally achieve it.Blogging is not easy,you need to work hard,have lots of patience,but if you really love doing it,it will be fun and rewarding.

 

Labels: , , , ,

Want To Make Your Blog Popular?

No Comment - Post a comment

I've compiled this list which I gather from a few blogs of successful bloggers which talked about how they achieve their status now.The list is long,but I just took the more important one and share it with all of you here.Hope we can learn from it and apply it to our blog.
  1. Good domain name.Choose your domain name wisely.Make your domain name one that is easy to remember,relevant to your blog topic and if possible have the certain targeted keyword that are related to your topic.
  2. Regular posting.We always see this advice,yet there are certain bloggers who doesn't seem to understand the importance of posting regularly,consistently.Write 3 or 4 post and schedule it to appear on your blog if you have to go some where for a certain period of time.
  3. Forum signatures.This is why bloggers are encourage to join forums,other than getting your blog expose by having your blog links in your signature,it will also help with your search engine optimization,but be sure you are an active member and always lend your thoughts and helping other forum members.
  4. Link trading.One of the popular things among bloggers,but make sure you trade links with blogs that are relevant,then it will help with your SEO.Linking with bad blogs,or blogs that are link farms can do damage to your blogs,so choose your link trade partner wisely.
  5. Social bookmarking sites.Submit your blog to social bookmarking sites to help it gain popularity.You can submit it to Digg,del.icio.us and mixx.
  6. Comments.Another popular advice,even though it is one of the oldest way in helping to make your blog popular.Give good comments,and other bloggers will notice you,but if you spam other bloggers comments,or give simple comments like "Good article",it won't do you or your blog any good.
  7. Replying your mails.When you have come to a certain level of blogging,you will start receiving mails from your readers,commenting about your blog,giving ideas or just about anything,take some time to reply it.This shows that you care and value their thoughts,their feelings,and you make them feel welcome,and that they are part of your blog.Remember,your readers are the one that help make your blog popular.
  8. Logo.It is good to create your own logo for your blog,a trademark that is easy to remember,when people look at it,they will immediately associate it with your blog.This will give your blog an extra edge over other blogs.
  9. Font and background colour.Choose the right font and background colour if your blog is not a personal blog,make it look professional.Even if you have a personal blog,you don't want to turn people off by choosing some colourful fonts and background colours that didn't match.
  10. Image.Adding image to your content can certainly help make your blog look more attractive and interesting,but remember to choose the right image that is relevant to your post and your blog.
  11. Join blogging communities.The most popular one that I know and that I join is Blog Catalog and MyBlogLog.By joining can certainly help expose you and your blog to other bloggers in the communities.
  12. Pinging services.Use pinging services like Google Blog Search,Technorati and ping-o-matic to help expose your blog.If you use feedburner FeedFlare,it will automatically ping certain social bookmarking sites each time you make a new post to your blog.
  13. RSS.Allow readers to subscribe to your blog by providing this service.Let the readers choose to subscribe through readers or emails.It is surprising that awareness about RSS feeds is still lacking among bloggers,and even if they do,they seldom educate their readers about its benefit.
  14. Advertisement.Don't put too many ads on your blog,this will turn readers away,because it seems like you are more concern in getting ads revenue rather than having quality contents.Most common bloggers mistake is thinking that by putting as many ads possible,and putting it all on top of their blogs will help them earn money.Write good content,attract as many readers as possible,then you will earn some decent income from ads on your blogs.When your blog is popular,it will become hot property,advertisers will offer to put ads on your blog,and you can charge monthly fees for a spot,which one would you prefer?
Have you done all there is to make your blog popular?Or do you have any other method that maybe I didn't mention?Leave a comment so we can share.

 

Labels: , ,

Good Habits For Your Blog Success.

5 comments - Post a comment

Most bloggers already know what it takes to be successful.There are many blogs out there out lining what you should blog about,how to get traffic to your blog,how to monetize your blog,etc.But then there are others who are still searching for what should they blog about,what to write,how to get traffic,lots of other how to..What I consider the most important rules that you must know before you even start a blog is to understand the need to start it.Some started a blog,but then lost direction on what the blog should be about,this is the most important thing that you must first determine before you start,no matter it is a personal blog or which ever type of blog you intend to start.

Once you have that all sorted out,you already have a set a goal of what your blog is about,what you want to achieve with it,you might want to consider this good habits that can help you and your blog grow and become successful.
  • Frequent posting.It doesn't mean that you have to make a post everyday,but try to have a schedule and try to stick to your schedule.Some bloggers write a post,left it there for 3 or 4 days,write another post,and leave it again for 4 or 5 days,or maybe left the blog unattended for 1 or 2 weeks.This is not good for your blog.If you have attracted some followers,by not getting new,fresh post,they might leave,and for new readers,noticing that you have not been updating for sometime,might just turn them away.
  • Commenting.The best possible way there is to expose your blog,network with other bloggers,yet people still are reluctant to do it,sometimes even when people leave comments on your blog,you just don't take the time to return the favour.Make it a daily routine to visit at least 10 blogs and leaving comment,you can increase this later.This will certainly help other bloggers to notice you,and can help expose you and your blog,but remember to give good and valuable comments.
  • Personality.Your blog represent your personality.Interacting with your readers by replying their comments,their emails shows that you care about them and value their contribution to your blog.
  • Patience.Most bloggers lack patience,they want to see results and they want it as fast as possible.Do you realized you are in competition with how many blogs?Do you know how many blogs are being started daily?Do you know how many blogs in the same niche as yours?Be patient,stay focus and you will soon see the rewards.
  • Content.Content is King,so they say,and it certainly is,but not all content.Valuable content will help your blog grow,something that can be of value to your readers,maybe the impact is small,but still with each post you give value and knowledge to your readers,that is important and that is the reason they will keep coming back.
  • Honesty.Be honest to your readers,they will value you for this and will help build their trust and help with your credibility.
  • Goals.As I said earlier,you must set a goal on what you want to achieve,as you progress,check your goals and see if you already achieve it,set new ones to keep you motivated to go on.
What do you think?Do you have any other good habits to share from your own personal blogging experience?

 

Labels: , ,

Do You Use Free Articles?

2 comments - Post a comment

Do you know that you can use articles written by others and use it on your blog or websites?These are free articles and it covers a lot of topics and I am sure you can find topics related to your blog very easily.A very popular place to look for this free articles is at Ezine Articles,where authors submit their article because they wanted to promote their blog and gain some good search engine rankings.When this author submit their articles,they can put their link to that article and anyone using those articles are required to put that link on their blog or website,helping the original author getting backlinks.The author get to expose his blog,get some backlinks and help his search engine rankings and you have an article for your blog,it is good for everyone involve,so you think.

Free articles actually can do your blog more harm than good.Yes,you can easily get an article for your blog,but starting a blog is suppose to be about writing your own stuff,about things that you like and that you know,so why use free articles?
  • A blog is suppose to deliver useful information,from your own knowledge,or maybe you read it somewhere and wanted to share it with your readers,something that is written by you,not something written by someone else,and maybe you are not the only one using that article.
  • A blog is suppose to be about your personal thought,your personal view regarding the topic of your blog.By using free articles,you are using your blog to show somebody else view and thoughts,not yours,and certainly there is no originality.You can write about topic that others have wrote about,but write it yourself,in your own way,your own style and maybe you can add something that is missing from what others have wrote,or approach it from a different angle.
  • Search engine love unique content,if you are using free articles,there is nothing unique about it,because hundreds or thousands other people might be using that same article.You might end up getting penalized by Google because of "Duplicate Content" and it won't help your search engine rankings one bit.
  • A blog is suppose to give value to the readers and by using free articles you certainly are not doing this,you are cheating your readers.Imagine your readers reaction when they found those same articles at some other blogs?It will certainly send your credibility tumbling down.Your readers want to read what you wrote,your view,your thought,not something written by someone else,and some of those articles are not even worth reading,if you don't believe me,go have a look.
  • People resort to using free articles because they start blogging for all the wrong reason.If you start your blog about things that you know,that you like,will you be having trouble to make a post?
I've read in Internet Marketing books,use a blog to start making money online,if you don't know what to write,don't worry,you can always use free articles,maybe this is one of the reason why people use this free articles.

 

Labels: , ,

Conquering Your Insecurity.

1 comments - Post a comment

We all feel insecure when we first start blogging I think..do you?I know I do..but because of the need to get it started is more overwhelming,we get past it and started our blog.Then the feelings start to creep back in,right after you finished writing your first article..you read it maybe 20 times,changing something each time you've done reading but you just can't get your self to hit the publish button..Why?
  • How will I ever get noticed?
  • Will people read it?
  • Will they like what they read?
  • Can I always write like this every time?
Sounds familiar?It does to me..even after all those post I've made,I sometimes feel this way.The best thing to do is ignore it,just write what you want to and then publish it.Thinking about those things won't get you anywhere,you will end up not posting anything until you feel really sure that it is what people want to read.How long do you think it will take?How about forever?

Do you know what is the best thing about a blog?
  • You can write whatever you want,and nobody can stop you from doing it.
  • Normally people will read your article,will like it and will like your blog,because these people share the same interest.This is a common thing.
  • What you write is kept in your blog archive and people can still read it long after it was first published.
  • You're responsible for what you write,you also have a freedom to change your mind.Maybe today you will give your view on something base on current event,but later when there is a new development,you might want to change your view because of it,go ahead,maybe some of your readers might disagree,but it is your blog,and I believe the number of readers disagreeing with you is so much less than the one that agree.
Don't look at other blogs and start comparing yours with it,it will make you feel more insecure.Let them do what they want with their blogs,and let them enjoy the success of it.Concentrate on your blog,especially the content and soon you too will find success with your blog.

 

Labels: ,

What Is Your Greatest Fear?

No Comment - Post a comment

We all have our own fear.Fear of height,fear of failure,fear of being rejected,fear of flying to name a few.What does fear have to do with blogging?I think a lot.Some bloggers fear of failure,fear of not getting noticed,fear of not getting traffic,fear nobody will read the blog,fear the blog is not as best as other blogs,fear of writing the wrong thing..fear,fear and more fear until it makes you want to quit,or maybe not even start even though the urge is strong.

My greatest fear when I wanted to start is not about failure,not getting traffic or my blog will not be as good as someone else blog(This is because I've seen so many blogs,some I even consider very poorly done that I keep telling myself I can surely do better than this!).No..my greatest fear is not doing it the right way.Sure,there are no certain rules or guideline that you have to follow that says you're doing it right,and no,no blog police will give away summons if you don't.Some seasoned bloggers say do it this way,some say don't do that!Because of feeling unsure what the right thing is,I only started blogging in April this year instead of January as I have planned.

So what did I do from January to March?I did my research on blogging.I surf the Net looking at as many blogs as possible,finding out which blog is in the top list,look at this blog and see how this top and seasoned bloggers do it.I download free ebooks about blogging and reading it religiously(I normally read 1 book everyday and sometimes up to 3 or 4 depending on the number of pages),all this to look for the right way to blog.

After that three month,I came to a conclusion that it all boils down to this three things.
  1. Blog about topics that you're really interested in because if you don't,it will be hard to motivate yourself to keep on blogging when you ran out of ideas.
  2. Presenting fresh,quality content with every update you make to your blog.Fresh,quality content doesn't mean the kind of article that will each time be on front page of Digg or Stumbleupon,but content created from your own original ideas and presented in your own unique way.
  3. Updating your blog regularly.It doesn't mean you have to update everyday or every two days,but doing it frequently,not 1 article in January,4 in February,2 in March,0 in April,18 in May.The reason to update your blog regularly is it will do good for your ranking among search engine.Search engine just love regularly updated blogs,and having a good page rank can really help in bringing traffic to your blog.When readers see your blog and see that your blog has not been updated regularly,they will think that you're not serious about your blog,I always think that way.Readers won't bother to revisit this blog.
Blogging is actually an ongoing learning experience,you'll learn new things everyday,learn new way to enhance your blog,keeping it up to date.Blogs started with only written content,then you can add photo's,later on audio's and now you can even add video's to your blog.There is always new technology to enhance your blogging experience so we will never know what next that is in store for us,but whatever the changes been made to further add the excitement of blogging,bringing it to another level,never ever forget about those three core element that a blog should have.

Sharing your view on this will be very much appreciated.Leave a comment and share your thoughts.Have a great weekend and Happy Blogging.

 

Labels: , ,

Exchanging Links.

2 comments - Post a comment

Most blogger,especially new one are very keen in exchanging links.The reason is,by building links can help improve your blog page rank,and in this process help boost traffic to your blog.Can we link with just anybody?Most bloggers I see are ready to exchange links with who ever that they can get,and most of the times they will get what they want because all this other blogger are also very keen on exchanging links.Before you go on searching every corner of the Net looking for others who might want to exchange links with you,reading this can surely help.

8 Tips On Exchanging Links.
  1. Related links - Link with other blog within the same niche.
  2. Domain and Page Authority - Links with page that have good page rank and an authority in its niche.
  3. No follow - Links with no follow command can help built your rank,while links with no follow command can only help in directing some traffic to your blog.
  4. Number of outbound links - Link with blog with fewer links.
  5. Older blog - The older the age of a blog or sites,the higher the value of linking with it.
  6. One way links - One way link are highly regard compare to reciprocal which are link- for- link exchanges.
  7. Page content - Link with blog that have a mixture of content and links rather than links only.
  8. Updated pages - Link with blog that is updated regularly and frequently because this kind of blog will be spidered or crawled more regularly by the search engine.
Does this criteria fits well with the blog that you ask to exchange links?Build your links gradually rather than all at once because it will look natural and will have bigger impact on organic search engine.Good luck in building your links.

 

Labels: , , ,

Getting Ideas For Your Post.

2 comments - Post a comment

Some people have all this idea when it comes to post an article to their blogs,some people doesn't.They search the web for ideas or any other place they can think of.Some people say it is easy to write,some say its hard.I personally think it is not that easy,and not that hard.Not that easy because you must always remember there will be people reading it and and we can never know what their actual interest is.Sometimes you write an article that you considered very good,but you get less reader and don't even have anybody commenting on it,but when you post something simple that just pop up your mind at that time,it get lots of people reading it and leaving great comments.Not that hard because you can always write about what you feel about something and it is related to the topic of your blog.You can easily find topics by browsing the Net or reading your mails or reading your feeds.

I have been keeping this little notebook of mine since maybe 2 years back.Back then I just wrote whatever that I find interesting daily especially things in newspaper or on TV or things I came across in my life.Nowadays I've been jotting down ideas for my posts,interesting topics on the Net,topics from my feeds,reading other blogs.Whatever that I find interesting,I wrote it in my notebook.I have two notebook actually,one that I use to just simply scribble whatever comes to mind,or see.The other one is where I write back what I wrote in my first notebook,but make it into points form,making it easier for me to elaborate when I used it to make a post to my blog.

I find this a very good thing to do since there are days that you just can't think of what to post to your blog,the ideas you wrote in there can certainly help.The notebook where I just scribble anything is small,so I can bring it anywhere I go,and I make a point to write everything I just wrote to it to my other,bigger notebook each time I reach home after a day out.Today I found the relevance of keeping this notebook after reading my feeds.A posting in Daily Blog Tips by Steven Snell mention about this,but Steven call it his journal.Journal or Notebook,it is still the same thing and it is certainly what I think most bloggers must keep for their own convenience.

In his post Steven lay out 9 important keys to maximize the effectiveness of your journal or notebook if you already have one.
  1. Available when you need it.That is why one of mine is small,so I can bring it along anywhere I go.
  2. Organized.Writing back notes in my small notebook,to the point form in my bigger one is to keep my entry to it organized,and I even put a date to every entry.
  3. More idea than post.You don't have to write about every idea in your notebook.The point of having it is to help you when you don't have any idea what to post to your blog,and not every idea you have in it is for publishing purpose.
  4. Ongoing.If it is always available to you,adding entry to it is certainly an ongoing process.The more entry you made,the more ideas for posts.
  5. Free flowing.Just write down whatever you find interesting,or whatever comes to mind.Don't judge it right away.Sometimes what you wrote will make great posting for later time.
  6. Experimental.By having many points in your notebook,you can experiment using which material can make your post better.You already have an outline for what your post will be,just a matter of picking the right points,the best points to be included and how to present it to your reader.
  7. Individualized.Don't copy how others are doing it.It's your own journal,do whatever you find suitable for you.What Steven wrote and that I added are from our own experience.Some of it may apply to you,some don't.Choose whatever that you feel works for you.What works for me might not work for you.
  8. Updated.Keeping your notebook or journal is important,after writing many blog posts,you surely don't want to write about it again.Mark those ideas that you have turned into a posting to your blog,but you can always write again about it when in the earlier post it is not relevant,but have become relevant again in maybe months to come.Add new perspective to it,approach it from different angle.
  9. Prioritized.Certain ideas can be use immediately,some maybe not relevant at that time.Use your own way to prioritized your entry,so you know which one is more relevant.I normally highlight the title of the more relevant ones.
If you haven't have your own notebook or journal,maybe this is a good time to start one.If you already have,I hope by sharing Steven experience,and my own experience in keeping a notebook or journal can help all of us when we have problems finding ideas to write a post and hopefully to create better and great posting.

 

Labels: , , ,

Is Blogging Addictive?

No Comment - Post a comment

I do find blogging addictive..actually I find Internet is addictive.I spend almost 14 hours everyday on the Internet!I must admit it is part of my life,and blogging is something that I love to do.Like to share what Steven Snell of Daily Blog Tips said about addictive habits of blogger and the way I look at it.

8 Addictive Habits Of Bloggers According To Steven.
  1. Obsessing over subscribers.
  2. Checking stats constantly.
  3. Chasing social media traffic.
  4. Excessive use of social media.
  5. RSS feeds.
  6. Forums.
  7. Rankings.
  8. Email/IM.
My opinion.
  1. I do look at my visitor counter every morning to check how many people visit my blogs,and I received a report every week detailing my visitors data,to see which day I had the most visits and which article attract readers to.With this data I can make improvement to my posting.
  2. I just occasionally check my stats because I have my weekly report,so it don't bother me much.I'm still new and looking at the rate my blogs are doing,I think it is way beyond what I expected,and I'm still in the process of trying to establish my blogs.
  3. I'm not much of a social media person,but I do check out Stumbleupon and Digg once in a while.I also have MySpace account which I rarely open.Maybe it is because the nature of my blog that I don't look much at Social Media compare to people who really wants to make money using their blogs.
  4. As I said,I don't really use Social Media sites.
  5. I subscribe to 5 blogs,and those with interesting topics for that day I will mark with a star,and spend about 30-40 minutes reading it later,with my notebook ready to jot down any good points.
  6. I spend about 1-2 hours in forums,normally I just look at the home page,looking for interesting topics.I will be alerted through my mail if there is any new reply in threads that I have posted.I will only join in if there is something that I want to add,or I want to ask.
  7. Being new to blogging,ranking certainly don't bother me much,and I actually don't look at it much because it doesn't really tell your performance.I will still be blogging no matter what my rank is.
  8. I only reply mails that I think have to be replied,other than that,I don't waste much time on it,but sometimes I do look at items I received if it is related to my blogs to get some points for my postings.
My Suggestion.
  • Manage your time properly,if you can do this,you will never feel that 24 hours a day is not enough.
  • Have a proper time table for your daily routine on the net.
  • Counters,rankings are just numbers.It doesn't really tell your blog is a failure or success.Don't let it makes you feel dejected.Sometimes you posted a very good article,but few people visit to read it,let alone leave comment.Never give up!Keep on posting good article,one day it will get notice.
  • Don't spend time on things that have less importance,instead spend more time visiting other blogs,leaving comments,look for resources for your own posting.Visiting other blogs sometimes will give you an idea what to write in your next post.
The moral here is not to let those things distract you from your real goal,that is to have a good blog.If you spend more time building your blog with frequent posting,good quality article,you will find success.But if you use more time thinking about how to increase your rank,how to attract more traffic,how to earn more without making proper emphasize on the quality of your blog,it all will come to waste.

This is just my view.What do you think?Is this bad habits really bad for your blog future?Leave your comment so we can share.

 

Labels: , , , ,

Blog Content Vs Blog Layout.

No Comment - Post a comment

If you see most of the blogs these days,more concern are being emphasize on the outlook of the blog.Is this wrong?If you ask me I don't see any wrong,because your blog outlook is what first attract people to your blog,a nice color,nice layout,not so many ads,no out of place and unimportant widgets,nice logo,nice blog title and tag.All this makes a blog..beautiful,excited and attractive.

Your Blog Looks Empty And Lack Colour!

Actually this are comments and reviews I received about my blog.My first response was..Why do you care..Its MY BLOG!!!Not a nice response actually,but I didn't let it out,just saying it to myself.After a while,after browsing other blogs,and looking..I mean really looking at my blog,yes..it really look kind of plain and dull!I will change the template,add more colour to it,work a bit on things in the sidebar..make a few adjustment.

People Are More Concern About Looks Than Content?

People that visit your blog are readers,they look at it,read your post.Some people have an interesting layout but lack content to match it.It attract readers,but some of them won't come again.I received a number of reviews about my blog which comment about my blog layout,but still they find the article interesting,but a lack of attraction might just turn them away in the first place.There are people whose concern is more on the look of the blog.Some are more concern about the content,and there are some who just doesn't seem to care about both!I am in the more concern about content group!

Which Is The Best?

Well..to have a really nice and good blog,I must say its a mix of everything,starting from your domain name.I list it down for you.

  • Domain - A good,possibly short,easy to remember and interesting domain name.
  • Title - A catchy title will certainly do the trick.
  • Logo - If yours is a business blog,a good logo will be good for your blog.
  • Header - An attractive header will surely make people interested.
  • Template - A nice,simple template is good and much better with a great colour mixture.
  • Ads - Not to many ads,especially image banners.
  • Widgets - Just add all the necessary widget.
  • Content - A good,fresh quality content and posted regularly is the most important part.
Summary.

  • Not one thing can contribute to blog success,but a mix of a lot of things.Things on your blog itself,and most importantly,your contribution to make it a success.You can start a blog,put everything into it to make it look nice and attractive,but if you can't put your time and effort in writing good articles,it just won't work.
  • Reviews and comments are from your readers,don't just throw it away because you think they don't have the right!They have every right,because they want something that is best for them.If the reviews or comments is for the benefit of your blog,to make it better,accept it,and tweaked it.
  • Review your blog after 3 month,or 6 month to see if it needs any improvement.Change your blog with time.
  • The first impression is important.
But then again,what kind of blog do you have?Personal blog might be more colourful,business blog have to be simple and straight forward.Whatever the type of your blog is,I believe making it better is still your number one priority.

 

Labels: ,

Do You Have Problem To Write A Post?

2 comments - Post a comment

There is a reason why I ask this question.No..it is not because I face this problem,and I do hope and pray that this will not be a problem to me in the future because it can bring some effect to my blog and have to make me think back if this is certainly the things I want and love to do.

The Reason I Start Blogging.

Before I start about the title of my post,lets just share a few things.I started blogging early this month,not with this blog,but with another that I started because I was thinking of making money with it.After two weeks doing it,I found out that it is not that what I really want.No..I didn't stop and abandoned it after just two weeks,instead I still write my post once in every two days just like when I started it,the only difference I made is in the content.Rather than writing about how to make money online,I write about things you must expect if you want to make money online,and reminding people not to become victim of scams that make believe you can make money fast and easy online.

The Reason People Start Blogging.

When I see other people blogs,I look for when it was started,how frequent the posting was,what the blog is about,the quality of the post,what is there on the blog.Through all this,I came up with this three reason why people start a blog and keep on blogging.

  • They want to share things happenings in their life,or things that they find interesting and share it with others with the same interest.Most of this blogs have been around for at least a year.There are a few new one too,and some of it I find interesting.
  • They start blogging because it was taught by the Internet Marketing Guru's as the best way to start making money online because blogs are free.They write randomly and with variety of contents because they don't have any specific interest other than making money.Their blog have less or non quality contents,and even if it has,it might be articles from other sources.It is full of ads banner,text ads and links to money making sites.
  • They first started blogging because they love to,but seems to be getting nowhere,or lost interest on their blog,and make a turn around when they realize that blogging can actually get you some cash through GPT programs(Get Paid To..click an ad,surf the web,do surveys,read emails.you can even get paid to post!)
Do You Have Problem To Write A Post?

I came across this girl problem in one of the forum I joined.She ask if any one can gave her any suggestion on what to write on her next post.Two things come to mind immediately.

  1. She really needs help.
  2. She is using the forum as a platform to promote her blog.
I respond because of the first,and I will give my view on the second later.I view her blog.Looks nice to me.Her latest post was about her thoughts on something,what interest me is the variety of her posting.It is a new blog,she has post about a movie review,book review and other things.I think she hasn't decide what her blog should be before she started it,and by looking at it,I think she is trying to imitate what other blogs is about,and try to squeeze it into her blog.There is nothing wrong about it,but looking back at her question,and looking at her blog,I think she must look back at the reason why she started her blog.

  • Don't start a blog just for the sake of having a blog.
  • Don't start a blog having it will make money for you attitude.
  • Don't start a blog to imitate what others are doing.
  • Don't start a blog if you actually don't have anything to share.
  • Do start a blog if you have something that interest you and you know there are lots of people who you would like to share it with.
  • Do start a blog if it is really something you love to do.
  • Do start a blog if not getting anything from it doesn't bother you,and even after getting some rewards from it you still do it because you love to,not because to gain more rewards.
The reason you start a blog will actually have an impact on what you will achieve with it.

What People Will Do Just To Get Attention(And Traffic)

People join forums for a lot of different reason,but most of all is to get traffic by exposing yourself and your blogs to other forum members.Some would do just anything to gain this,by posting simple question like that girl did,by replying to as much thread as possible,and in the shortest of time(They hope people will look up to them because of the number of post/their status in forums),self promoting threads(Some forums doesn't allow this and you will be banned),and so much more.Join one and you will know what I mean.

One thing that I see most people forget is,you won't have such a big problem to drive traffic to your blogs.You can have any approach,with or without ethical value,its up to you,and you will see results.But what is the point of driving thousands of traffic if you don't have anything to show?Most people that are seriously trying very hard to drove traffic to their blogs,or websites are people involve in making money programs,because the Guru's taught them TRAFFIC = MONEY!What a lie and who would be a fool to believe this.Traffic means people VISITING your site,if you cannot turn them into CUSTOMERS,you don't get MONEY!If your site are just like thousands or millions other site promoting the same thing,what makes you think you are different,and that people will buy or join from your site?

Blogs are about content,and people everyday are looking for contents that interest them,can add value to their life,or to the knowledge they already have.If you can provide this,and provide it consistently,then you will have TRAFFIC and LOYAL READERS.

I certainly have to thank that girl,because of her forum post,I can make a post to my blog today!Just my point of adding how looking at things you do daily can provide source for your blog.


 

Labels: , , , , , ,

Older Posts
Newer Posts
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)