New Blogger Talk And Tips

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.

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.

When you start your blog,there are lots of other bloggers who are at the same level as you,just starting off,because of this,it is hard to really place some value on your self,your blog.You just have to keep on working your way through,doing all the possible thing,the right thing to keep you on the right track.By progressing on the right track,in the right time will make you and your blog last longer.

Most of us start from nothing,from scratch,so there is no certain advantage to anyone really except for what you choose to blog about,but how come some make it and some don't?It depends on the step you make,the path you choose.Some bloggers push them self to make their blog better,getting traffic to their blog that they spend so much time on their blog than anything else.There are times when they realize they are going too fast,so they slow things a bit,but some bloggers just give it all up or start to ignore their blogs because they are not getting the results that they hoped for after spending all those time,making all those effort.

Blogging needs patience and persistence.It takes time to build your blog,getting traffic to it and with patience and persistence,your blog can be popular,you can be popular,but when you achieve this,there will be people who just hated you because you are popular,your blog are popular.Just ignore this type of people,you have done so much,gone through so much to be where you are,don't let this stop you from getting to the top.

After all that have been said,it is actually up to you to decide who do you want to be,what do you want to achieve,what kind of blog do you want to have.

I choose my own path..Yes..I have 3 blog including this,but I don't do what other bloggers do.Some bloggers choose to earn some money by joining PayPerPost,or SocialSpark,and then wonder why they suddenly get lower page rank.That is why I'm not doing it.Some bloggers want to make money using their blog by placing a lot of ads on their blog,but have no real content,and complain they don't get lots of traffic.People look for blogs to find something interesting to read,not to look at ads.I only have AdSense on my blog,and no ads yet on my personal blog.Bloggers really love to exchange links,but sometimes they don't really understand what kind of links that is actually useful for them,so they just exchange links with any possible bloggers who wanted to.I put other bloggers links that I find really interesting on my blog,and I never ask them to do the same for me.I always believe in myself,trust my instinct and even though what I'm doing,actually what I'm not doing may look odd,but that is just me.I follow my own path,and maybe leave a trail for others to follow.

Everybody..and I mean everybody can have their own blog,if you have access to a PC or laptop with Internet connection.These day everybody want to have a blog,especially when they know that somehow you can earn money just blogging.I don't mind if they have these on their mind when they start a blog because it is up to you for what reason you want to start a blog and what your blog is about.My concern is the lack of knowledge.Knowledge Is Power..but what kind of knowledge?You know what a blog is,you know it can earn you money..is that enough?Is that the only knowledge you have to help and guide you in your journey to earn money blogging?

I always like to look at blogging as an ongoing learning process,meaning you will learn more when you get involve,knowing other bloggers,looking at other blogs,reading other blogs,updating yourself with the latest news,but this doesn't mean you don't need some knowledge when you want to start.The most important reason people start a blog is because they want someone else to read it,they want lots of people to read it.That is why bloggers are concern about traffic,about their page rank,wanted to exchange links and so on.

I want to share some of the question that I came across in forums that I join,and you decide if knowledge is important to bloggers or not.

OK..I agree..some of these question do sound funny,but remember,this are real question posted in forums,not one that I created.I'm not an expert,but I do my best to answer to all those question based on what I know,what I've read and what I've done personally,and some other forum members share what they know too.

I learn a lot by looking at other blogs.If I find an interesting buttons or widgets,I just put my cursor there,and look at the website URL down on the left hand corner of my PC,write it down and when I have time,I'll visit the site to know more about it.

Basic things you have to know.

There are actually lots of things that you have to know like search engine,SEO,blog directories,links,social media and many more.Prepare yourself with knowledge,and keep on adding this knowledge if you're serious about blogging.The most important knowledge is how to get traffic to your blog,and to achieve this,you have to know lots of things..and one other major thing you must have is..PATIENCE.

It is quite disturbing to see the trends in forums now,especially from new members.They use forums to advertise their product or service,or just to promote their blog,this is what spam is all about.Most of them are too eager to show off their blog that they don't even bother to read the rules set by the administrator of the forums.Some just being ignorant to what forums is suppose to be.These are three current trend that I see in forums these days.

Comments.

Forums and comments are two things that can certainly help boost traffic to your blog,or website,but only if you do it right.If you're doing like what I said above in forums,do you seriously think people would want to visit your blog or website over and over again?We are not talking just any visit,but people who like your blog and would certainly come back to read,even subscribe to it,unless the thing you only care about is the number on the counter of your blog.Leaving comments on other blogs meaning you leave your signature,your calling card.By reading your comment,the blog owner will feel intrigue to get to know you,what kind of blog you have.If you comment I like your post..Nice blog..Very good..what does that tells you?If you ask me,I will simply say this guy is doing it simply because he reads somewhere you have to comment on other blogs to get traffic.It is not only about traffic,it is about networking,about friendship.Do you want the only traffic from that particular blog owner or you want to build friendship and later build a network of traffic from that blog to yours?If you build a good relationship with certain blog owners,giving insightful comments and your own blog itself is interesting,I won't be surprised if you will start getting that blog readers to yours.

Forums and comments can help increase traffic to your blog,but you must do it the right way,take your time to do it,build your reputation and credibility in forums,build relationship with other blog owners.All this takes time,but you will certainly find the results very satisfying.People can judge who you are by reading your forum post,your comments and by visiting your blog so don't let all this ruined your online reputation that you only just started to build.

A blog sometimes have a very short life span.Most people give it 3 month,other are bit generous and giving it 6 month.No..a blog doesn't have any serious illness that given the seriousness making it life span that short.What determine the life span of a blog is its owner..you,me and any other blogger.

A blogger starts a blog,write the first post and publish it for the rest of the world to see..but after three days there is still no one reading it except for mom and dad,little sis,big brother who says what silly thing you wrote on your blog..well..at least you got your first comment even though he gave it straight in the face instead of writing it,which if you set your comment to be moderated will certainly have no chance to get publish on your blog.What about the rest of the world,didn't they like your blog,you have spent hours of what you consider your valued time to make it look nice.Being a new blogger there is no wrong to be naive,you search the web to look for answers.It says you have to join forums,submit your URL to major search engine(And you thought only cars have engines!),submit your blog to blog directories and so on.Hey!You found Entrecard,BlogRush and BlogUpp too while searching.You think the hard part is to make your blog looks nice and write an article,seems that more hard work waiting for you.

The first month..You got 300++ visitors!You're on the right track to become an A-List bloggger,so have to do what an A-List blogger would do..You do contest for your readers with great prize..what should it be..PS3,Wii or XBox?But your readers have to subscribe to your blog or your newsletter to be eligible to participate.Traffic increase by double fold and you are extremely happy.Later on you learn about social media..Digg,Stumbleupon..you just have to get your article there..and amazingly somehow you manage to do it..it certainly increase traffic to your blog,this time by thousands..you have made it,all this just within 2 month of blogging.

But during the 3rd month,your subscribers starts to decrease so does traffic to your blog,and the decrease is very drastic that it worries you..what are you going to do?You can't actually write good article because you started a blog in a niche that you knew little about but you still do it because it is a popular one.You take a drastic step and wrote about what is hot at the moment,but have nothing to do with what your blog is about..it backfires,more and more of your readers leaves you..until you decided..it is time to let go..

It doesn't have to be that way..

After having your own quality readers to your blog,you can start doing..

Don't let your blog have such a short life span because you don't know how to make it live longer.Having a blog and keeping it going for a long time needs patience,determination and hard work.Good luck to all of you and to me too :-)

This posting is inspired by a post in Problogger,written by Jeff from BuzzMyBlog.com

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.

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.

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.

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.

I hope you all like my posting yesterday about RSS Awareness Day.I know,some of you might think that it is just a way to promote a blog..in some way I do agree,but its up to you how to promote your blog.Some do contest,with prizes,some do polls.Daniel at Daily Blogging Tips initiate RSS Awareness day,to create awareness on the benefits of RSS and I support his cause because most of us still doesn't subscribe to RSS feeds,or didn't make it available to our readers although it brings great benefits.Maybe he will gain a few extra new readers doing this,but that is because of his brilliant idea to create it.

The first real blog that I've read is Problogger by Darren Rowse,and I found it while searching on how to make money blogging.From his blog I learn about RSS and I immediately subscribe to it because of all the information available from his blog about blogging.So,instead of looking for ways to create an income by blogging,I turn myself into a blogger who wanted to have a great blog,a blog which can be helpful to other bloggers or readers,a blog which in some way can bring value or meaning to other bloggers or readers.I enjoy reading Problogger because there are times where certain people guest blog on it,and I personally like stuff written by Gala Darling and Skellie.

What Is The Benefit Of RSS?

To me there are two ways it can be beneficial :-

My Personal Opinion.

As I've already told you,I subscribe to Problogger,and of course Daily Blogging Tips,that's how I know about RSS Awareness Day,and Remarkablogger..all this blogs is for my latest info on blogging and there are lots of it.Problogger is more on building a good content,making your blog better,Daily Blogging Tips is my resource because it has list of Blog Directories and other resources that is vital to blogging,especially for me since I am in the proses of building my blog and Remarkablogger,well,since he is a Blog Consultant,tips on how to maximize your blog.

I read their posting to get an idea for my own stuff.Don't copy the whole of other people content!There are certain people who do this,it is wrong and not ethical.If you want to take some part of it,mention where it is originally from.I do take some pointers from all these blog,but I present it in my own way,with my own perspective.

I do subscribe to another blog,Mashable..it is more about things happening on the Net,and it is good because it keeps you updated on the latest news.

I like to subscribe to more blogs,if I find it interesting and worth reading,and most importantly,it adds value and provide valuable info,not only about blogging,but other things that I'm interested in.To me by subscribing to these other blogs,it gave me a lot of resources to work on my own blog,and it is a great thing.