Bloggers Round Up

A Great Community For Bloggers

Zani — 2008-07-18T14:02:21-07:00

Many bloggers like to build a community. Knowing you are in the company of fellow bloggers can make all that time writing those well-crafted posts a much happier experience. Loneliness as a blogger is not a great experience for most of us. We need somewhere to go where we can share our thoughts on the blogging world and of course the World in general.

Well, now there is a blog where all types of bloggers can chill out and share a thought or two.

That blog is called The Piss Biscuit|A Bloggers Soapbox

And don't be put off by the title. The Piss Biscuit domain name began as a personal joke. But PB tells the story much better than I can... And when you think that a domain name like this can become a very successful bloggers community, then you can see that PB is an excellent community blogger.

But let's head on over to The Piss Biscuit and read the posts...

Interesting stuff: Blog Design; Wordpress Theme Tweaks; Building and Selling New Websites; Great SEO Advice; Advice on How To Make Money Online; Competitions; Freebies; and occasional Rants from PB, all of which can provoke a whole range of responses.

The comments at The Piss Biscuit are great too. Blogging tactics are discussed and thoughts on many subjects are aired. The comments are almost as interesting as the posts at times (and most of those are great). The occasional argument ensues too, but it is amazing how The Piss Biscuit Community works. Even long-held disagreements in the Make Money Online niche can resolved here.

And now PB is building a brand new site for bloggers called BlogFluff, where bloggers can find everything they need to build a better blog and make money blogging. And this will all be for free. There is even a Blogs Classified Section, where you can advertise your blog for free, or find other blogs to buy. It's early days, but PB is a fast worker and it won't be long until BlogFluff is fully in action.

All great stuff and just what a blogging community is all about. You don't have to agree with everything PB says, or with other commentators at The Piss Biscuit, but you can comment there and be listened to and taken seriously, while reading great advice. I wish more blogging communities were like this!

But now PB has given us bloggers a dilemma. His latest post is about the Piss Biscuit being up for sale. Is The Piss Biscuit For sale? PB says no; the rumours are incorrect. I hope he doesn't change his mind.

But PB is a busy man. He is a leading web producer and running a blogging community alongside his work, plus helping many of his community members with their blogs, has taken its toll. At times like these, a blogger needs to know his work is really appreciated.

So go on over to The Piss Biscuit and join in with this great community of bloggers and let PB know that all his hard work is appreciated.

I'm sure this friendly and helpful blogger will give you a fine welcome.

Bloggers With A Sense Of Humor

Zani — 2008-07-15T15:02:23-07:00

When you are blogging everyday, life can get a little serious, so sometimes it's a good idea to check out the humourous side of blogging (or bloggers with a sense of humor, if you are American). So I have done a quick search of humour blogs to see what I can find.

The first humor blog I found was by Akbar. It's called Humor And Jokes and, as well as posting some very humorous stories (check out the latest post on Spiritual Sitings on a Garage Wall for a post full of irony), Akbar is also interested in the importance of humor in our lives and The Key To Fnding Hilarity In A Boring World spells this out . I like Akbar's humor blog. It brightened up my day.

Another great humor blog is the Office Humor Blog, described as "Office pranks, jokes, news, videos, and other work distractions". The writer, Jeremy, posts from "random things around the internet such as fun downloads, links, and news that are found on other sites". He finds some great sources of humor and embelleshes them with his own personal and often ironic comments.

I particularly like the recent entry Firearms Instructor Quits After Shooting Himself During Class and Jeremy's comments on the entry Job Hotline Wrongly Advertising Sex Line Number Instead. If you love humor with a personal touch, you will soon become a fan of the Office Humor Blog

And if you are looking for something completely different, why not check out the Mental Health Humor blog? It contains "Mental Health Humor Mental Ilness Humor and Cartoons by Chato B. Stewart". As the author says:

Are you feeling down? Do you need a Laugh? Mental Health Is Serious, and Humor can help.

The aim of the author of Mental Health Humor is to add cartoons on many different subjects of Mental Health to this blog, and he is doing a great job. Check out the post Ask Dr. Bob, Bob - How do I leave my house? for the great cartoons on Agoraphobia. And before you say "this is stigmatizing people with mental health problems", take note that the author himself suffers from the illnesses he describes and this is his way of dealing with them.

If you are easily offended, then the Mental Health Humor blog may not be for you, but if you want something a little ironic to cheer you up when you are feeling low, then I highly recommend it.

I'll finish with a few words from Akbar:

Let's face it. We all love the Internet and its wealth of quick knowledge and information but it has also caused us all our fair share of misery ... So in order to not let the world of fast information get you down, it is important to stay in touch with your sense of humor, especially when you are stuck behind a computer all day.

Makes good sense to me :)

Make Money With An Honest Blogger

Zani — 2008-07-12T14:40:39-07:00

In the make money online blogging niche you have to be extremely careful about which blogs you take advice from. In my post on The Best Make Money Online Blogs, I mentioned 3 guys who I consider to be reliable and helpful. However, there are many bloggers in the MMO niche who are not.

If you want to make money from blogging and not get scammed you need to be able to find honest bloggers and that's sometimes a tall order!

However, it gives me great pleasure to be able to tell you about another blogger I have discovered who will do his best to help you make money online and not scam you. This blogger insists on telling his readers How To Make Money The Honest Way .

The blogger's name is Terry Didcott and the link in his name is to his personal site, where Terry talks about being a constant blogger and how he makes money using his Freelance Writing skills. His article on how to make money from article writing is well worth a read as it is full of good advice for budding internet writers.

Terry has a number of excellent blogs, but his flagship blog, and the one I recommend most of all is The Honest Way Blog, where Terry gives excellent advice on how to make money online . Newcomers wanting to make a living on the internet have their work cut out, but Terry's blog and his site The Honest Way provide a host of advice and ideas. As Terry says:

The Honest Way is a free information website dedicated to helping newcomers to the world of Internet Marketing to get their businesses off the ground the right way so they don’t join the other 95% of all Internet Marketers who fail.

And Terry wants to help newcommers do the very best they can, so he not only offers great advice himself, he also has no qualms about offering links to other bloggers he knows will give good advice to new readers, as his latest post How Can I Make Money Online shows.

The Honest Way Site offers a host of articles, resources, products and a free ebook to help you make money online and it has a great forum too. All set up by someone who knows his stuff in the make money online world.

So, if you want to make money online and you are looking for an honest blogger to help you achieve your goals, then you could do no better than take a look at Terry Didcott and in particular The Honest Way. You will definitely not be disappointed.

A Reggae Blogger With Soul

Zani — 2008-07-10T07:53:17-07:00

If you love Reggae Music, like I do, then you will really like the new Reggae Artists blog. Fresh on the blogging scene, Reggae Artists is written by a Reggae aficianado who knows his stuff.

And if you thought Reggae was just about the legendary Bob Marley, Rastafarianism, Weed, and Jamaica, then think again. Reggae Artists shows that this is a whole culture and lifestyle, spanning a variety of beautiful islands a strong belief in the good things of life and a wealth of musical heritage produced by a host of Reggae stars.

This is a new blog, so it is still in the early stages, but already you can find a History of Reggae Music, the Politics of Reggae Music, posts on Bankie Banx and Daddy Roots and some great video clips to go with the posts.

And if the Reggae lifestyle appeals to you, as I'm sure it will, Reggae Artists is doing a trip of Reggae Islands, with video clips to show you how beautiful they are and how you can enjoy the Reggae music and culture there.

As the writer of Reggae Artists says:

I have blogged and I have blogged but never with joy and never with passion. In creating reggae-artists I hope to share with you all the joy of reggae music and the lyrics behind the melodies that you all know so well.

And he does a fine job, which you can tell is with the passion we would all like to bring to our own blog.

Reggae Artists is something different in the blogging community; a blog written with passion, insight and knowledge that the writer wants to share with us all.

I highly recommend it.

Women Bloggers - A Marketing Sista

Zani — 2008-06-21T19:17:38-07:00

There are plenty of women bloggers on the internet; they often produce the best blog posts too. Some women make money from their blogs just like many male bloggers. Nevertheless, women are still in the minority when it comes to internet marketing.

What holds many women back from turning blogging into a money making career is their lifestyle. Despite some improvements in legislation regarding women and work and changes in attitudes to women in western societies, it is still often the case that women are considered as the home makers and child carers in a family.

This is not a political debate, by the way, more a reality which many women accept as their path in life. But the other reality which goes alongside this is that a woman who wants to be a successful internet marketer will often find she has less time to devote to this career than her partner.

However, this is not necessarily all about time. It is more about time management. It seems that many of us women are very bad at this. The result is that we find it hard to be successful internet marketers.

Now there is a woman on the internet who wants to help us change all that. Her name is Deb George and her blog is called Profitable Sistas. Deb describes herself like this:

"I’m a sassy and determined female internet marketer who is determined to take internet marketing industry by the horns and bring thousands of women along with her for the ride."

And the ride is informative and fun too. From offering help with HTML and PHP, to showing us women (and men too) just what we are doing wrong when we set out to be internet marketers with her 8 Simple Tips To Not Make Money Online, Deb knows how women think and what we need to do to succeed and actually make some money online.

I really enjoyed reading Deb's blog and her Free 4-Step Guide To Online Success: For Women Only (offered by email) is clear, well-written and actually helpful, which makes a great change when compared to most free ebooks out there.

This is one Sista who should see success on the internet. She really deserves it too!

Social Bloggers - Building a Community

Zani — 2008-06-20T16:07:38-07:00

Not all blogs are designed to be social. Blogs created solely for Adsense or to sell products to search engine visitors often do much better by remaining out of the reaches of Stumblers, RSS subsribers and the like.

However, blogs are an ideal platform for communication, for the blogger to share his or her thoughts with others, or to promote their business online. This is why so many blogs are still very much social entities.

The best social bloggers are also the best communicators. They find their audience and gear their posts towards them with content designed to produce empathy and provoke response. Successful social bloggers are so confident of their reader's participation, they produce many of their posts specifically to get a response. They pose questions, which, whilst displaying an opinion, demonstrate they are open to a range of possibilities. And, in case the odd reader doesn't 'get' the requirement to comment, the blog writers end their posts by asking their readers "What do you think?"

One of the most skilled bloggers of this type is Leo Babauta, writer of the hugely successful Zen Habits, whose blog is "about setting and achieving goals", thus finding its place perfectly within the Wellness, Self-Improvement and Productivity niches, which in themselves are great places to build a community of like-minded and positive individuals.

Having a strong reader and commentator base is a boon to many bloggers. Not only does this provide their blogs with authority, the copious thought-filled comments at the bottom of most of their blog posts also provides extra fodder for the search engines and, if the blog owner can keep the subject on topic (as is usually the case with Leo), the words used by the commentators provide further keywords appropriate to the niche they are writing for.

And when you have nothing much to say or you are unable to blog, but a post is still required, a popular social blogger can get his or her readers to do most of the work for them, via the comments.

Leo Babauta's latest post is very much a case in point. Leo is on honeymoon as I write, so he is ensuring that Zen Habits remains updated with a series of prepared posts, round ups of previous posts, and short blog posts where he asks his readers questions and relies on their comments to keep the community going. Today's post is Ask The Readers: Best Off-the-Wall Productivity Tips? and Leo's readers are very happy to oblige because they feel an important part of his community.

You can visit Zen Habits for a variety of reasons: to get ideas for productivity, organising your life more efficiently, or any number of ways to view life with more positivity.

However, if you are not particularly into becoming more self aware or self-motivated, but are nevertheless interested in setting up a blog with its own community, then I recommend you still visit Zen Habits anyway, to see how a truly popular and well-crafted social blog works.

Celebrity Bloggers

Zani — 2008-06-19T18:11:07-07:00

There are a huge number of celebrity blogs on the internet, covering 'insider gossip' and posting the latest news and pictures of celebrities all over the World.

I must admit that sometimes the celebrity scene leaves me cold. I really couldn't care less whether or not Paris Hilton is Getting Fat and I do tend to agree with the writer of The Choroform Rag, when he wonders "why do celebrities get so much clout when it comes to healthcare issues?"

But I must admit to sneaking a look at some celebrity stories, such as David Beckham's latest photo shots for Armani Briefs.

All in the course of research you understand :)

After all, when Victoria was quoted as saying that 'Goldenballs' has a penis "like a tractor exhaust pipe" . You somehow feel obliged to check it out...

Freelance Writing Blogs

Zani — 2008-06-19T10:22:00-07:00

If you are a writer, what better way to advertise you skills as a freelance writer, than on a blog where you have the chance of reaching readers and possible clients all over the world.

Nevertheless, as the author of Writing-Resource pointed out a couple of days ago, blogging to promote your writing skills does put you under pressure to produce the best written content possible at all times. You cannot just throw together any old post and hope it will work.

Writing-Resource manages this well. It is a relatively new blog, but it still manages to provide a great deal of useful information for others who want to become a freelance writer. Well worth a look and a return visit to see how the owners of this blog are getting on later down the line.

However, if you are looking for someone who has been providing some excellent posts on how to be a freelance writer for some time now, I highly recommend The Writers Manifesto. This blog is filled with useful tips for freelance writers and the author has a friendly and upbeat style which will encourage even the most reticent writers among us. An excellent read and well worth bookmarking, not only for freelance writers, but for anyone who enjoys reading a well-written and professional blog.

The Best Make Money Online Blogs

Zani — 2008-06-18T18:39:34-07:00

There are thousands of blogs in the Make Money Online niche. Most of them are poor and reading them will not help you learn how to make money at all. Every day, new blogs are 'born', with their writers either saying they 'can tell you the secrets of how to make money online', or that they are 'blogging newbies', who will 'tell you how they are learning to make money' as they go along, but fail miserably.

Nevertheless, there are some helpful blogs in the MMO niche, some of which actually tell you how to make money online. Their advice is not what everyone wants to read, however, because they will tell you that what it takes is hard work. No 'get rich quick schemes' here.

The most helpful blogs I have found in the make money online niche are:

Make Money Online - Blogger Unleashed. He is hard on 'scammers' and some find his direct approach too much. But if you really want to earn some money, I highly recommend Victor Franqui's blog.

How to Make Money Online For Beginners. Grizzly is the very best teacher I have ever found for showing people how to make money with Adsense. He is kind and helpful and commands great respect in the Make Money Online niche. Well worth checking out.

Courts Internet Marketing School. Courtney Tuttle is an extremely successful web marketer, with vast experience which he is very willing to share with his blog's readers. Court's 'Keyword Sniping' post is the best I have read on using keywords correctly to make money. Another must.

There are other excellent bloggers in the make money online niche, but they are few and far between. I'll post about these other MMO bloggers very soon.

Subscribing to Bloggs By Email

Zani — 2008-06-18T16:21:44-07:00

Before I begin my Bloggers Round Up, I have a plea for all you bloggers out there:

Please, let me subscribe to your RSS Feed By Email.

Of course, if you do not want regular readers, that's fine. I quite understand that if your blog is a niche blog designed for Adsense you may not want me to subscribe to your RSS feed. You want organic search engine traffic, not me or others commenting on your posts and lowering your CTR. No problem. If I see a blog built for Adsense, then I most likely would not subscribe to it in the first place. Nevertheless, I guess there are some who might... including spammers and scrapers...

So, in this case I do see your point.

But what about all you other bloggers who want to share your posts; who want people to join in a content-enriching discussion on your comments?

You know the best way to make that happen don't you? Ask your readers to subscribe to your RSS feed, but by email if possible, because many of us blog readers have so many blogger's feeds in our RSS readers by now, that yours could well get lost... unless you remind us when you post. With an email message from Feedburner, or Feedblitz or whoever you prefer.

Please. You know it makes sense :)