Blogussion

Monetizing Your Blog: Finance/Pension Annuity Rates Case Study

Charlotte Beckham — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:35:54 +0000

Building and maintaining a quality blog can be costly in both time and money. Many bloggers dream of creating fantastic content about the subject they love and perhaps even making some pocket money from their efforts.

In this article, we examine a case study of a banking/pension annuity news blog that had to find alternative ways of generating revenues to support its content creation after steadily declining Adwords revenues.

The blog: Banking Times

The Banking Times website has been online since 2007, writing original news stories on topics from the banking and finance industry. Recently it has had a particular focus on pension annuities, annuity rates, and pension provider news. It has a small team of three writers that each contribute around 5-8 posts per week, about half on banking and personal finance topics and the other half related to pension annuities.

According to Geoff, one of the editorial team, the site generates around 500 visits per day. In 2011, the team had to start exploring alternative ways of financing the site after seeing a steady decline in advertising revenues from Google Adwords. They considered the traffic that they were receiving and came to the conclusion that their audience was of value to some companies in the finance industry.

One of the editorial staff said he had a good friend who worked in the personal finance lead generation industry and that they would be interested in helping revive the site’s monetization methods. This company provided leads, including pension reviews, annuity quotes and IFA leads to Independent Financial Advisors throughout the UK.

The company suggested that the Banking Times install some lead generation forms on their website, such as an annuity calculator, pension providers comparisons, and an annuity rates form. Keen on finding alternatives to Adwords dependency, the Banking Times team jumped at the chance.

Successful Partnership

The deal meant that the Banking Times would get a commission from every qualified lead that was completed through the annuity calculator or annuities comparison forms.

So far, the partnership has been beneficial for both parties and allowed the Banking Times team to continue to focus on its main goal of creating great news content for its readers. “We have been generating enough money now to support the website running costs and provide a small regular payment to our writers for their efforts.”

Look for Alternative Revenue Streams

If you are in a similar position as the Banking Times was at one stage, consider looking for alternative ways to monetize your blog or website. Consider who your visitors are valuable to. For example, if you run a blog on fly fishing, you may look to companies who sell fishing tackle or tours and explore ways that you can help them reach potential customers amongst your traffic.

Even if your current revenue streams, be it advertising, affiliate schemes or otherwise, are providing you with enough cash flow to support your site, always keep an eye out for more options because you never know when they’ll come in handy.

It is always wise to diversify, particular in an environment as fast moving and volatile as the internet.

Image credits: Eyes4tech.com, Reviewandassesment.Com

Blog Ghostwriters: Must You Hire One?

Carmela@Blogussion — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:16:23 +0000

Hiring a ghostwriter for your blog may seem like an easy solution to dealing with the daily rigors of blog maintenance, especially when populating it with content. Business executives, prominent entertainment, sports, and media personalities, and online celebrities do it, mostly for the convenience it brings to their otherwise jampacked lifestyles.

But will it be more of a help or a hindrance to you in the long run?

Hiring a ghostwriter means you will entrust your blog to someone else to handle it on a daily basis. Make sure that the benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks before deciding that someone can handle your blog better than you can.

PROS:

It saves time and effort. Hiring a blog ghostwriter frees you from the daily grind of blog content tasks. If you own a blog network, or are simply burdened with several other tasks on a daily basis, then ghost writers may be a boon to your efficiency. You may choose your own level of involvement in his or her input, but the bulk of the labor is on your writer.

It adds to your online skill set. If you aren’t social media-savvy, hiring a ghost writer who is proficient in social networking, SEO, and other traffic-building strategies can help boost your readership.

It allows you to expand your reach. Again, if you own a blog network and you want to transcend language and cultural barriers, ghost writers can help you cross them by making your ideas relatable and understandable to their respective local audiences around the world.

It makes you look better. If you hire an expert-level ghostwriter, his or her work can boost your online reputation as an expert in your field.

It gives your blog a fresh perspective. A team of ghostwriters can offer fresh insights and content on a regular basis, which translates into better SEO for your site.

Also, it’s easy to find ghostwriters who are more than willing to work on your blog. You just need to be critical in handpicking the right people for the task.

As tempting as it may seem though, hiring ghostwriters may not be the best option for your blog, for the reasons below.

CONS:

It presents authenticity and transparency issues. You blog may have started off with the voice that you first established, but your ghostwriter’s individual style may lend an entirely different tone to your site.

It can harm your credibility. Once your readers begin questioning whether or not it’s you behind your blog’s voice, it can ultimately damage your reputation as a trustworthy source of information.

It may not maximize the use of social media. Aside from creating blog content, your ghostwriter may share it via social networking sites. But if you expect him to actively interact with your audience as well, it may be asking too much of him as a writer, not to mention that he’ll be using his own voice — not yours — to interact with your readers.

It makes you dependent. If you rely on ghostwriters to perform your writing tasks too often for far too long, you can lose touch with your blog, and ultimately your audience.

It is risky. Not all ghostwriters are willing and able to perform the tasks that you require, and generally you get what you pay for. If your blog is an SEO leader or bears a world-renowned brand, you cannot simply entrust your content and social networking activities to ghostwriters without substantial credentials, experience, skills, and a good work ethic under their belt.

If you are inclined to hire a ghostwriter, keep the following tips in mind:

Formulate a solid blogging and social media plan first. Make sure your strategies for these are clear, and clearly communicated to your ghostwriters, so you’re working in the same direction.
Be transparent. If someone will write for you under your name, you might as well be honest with your audience about it. It will help uphold your credibility and reputation.
Your ghostwriter is your assistant, not your clone. Make sure that he or she understands that their skills will be used to convey YOUR message to YOUR readers. If you want to ensure that your message comes through without writing all of the content, you can opt to co-author articles with your ghostwriter.
Your ghostwtriter is not your slave. Do not palm off all of your tasks to your ghostwriter. There is no point in running a blog, social media accounts, and your entire online marketing plan if you expect someone else to do all the work.
Exercise caution when hiring. A good ghostwriter can make your message and voice heard online. Mediocre ghostwriters simply write what you tell them to. Look for someone with strong communication and interpersonal skills, a strong work ethic, dedication to the job, a sense of initiative, and a sense of loyalty.

Good ghostwriters will complement your blog’s voice and spirit, and if you are fortunate enough to hire one, make sure you take care of them and reward them well for a job well done.

Image credits: Varstaffing.Com, Steve_NotReally on Photobucket, Allbleedingstops.Blogspot.Com

Bring Your Blogging Muse Back to Life

Carmela@Blogussion — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:19:18 +0000

If you feel that your blogging mojo is flagging, sometimes all it needs is a jolt — or a series of such — to kick it back into gear.

For many of us bloggers, dealing with the minutiae of our non-blogging lives and getting stuck in a routine are our biggest momentum killers. Sometimes it’s also self-doubt, running out of things to say, or other distractions that take the life out of blogging. It can be anything at all.

You’re in the process of brainstorming for new content and someone’s at the door. Or you’re drafting your umpteenth post and the phone rings. Or someone tells you that your blog sucks and you begin to question your worth as a blogger.

And just like that, your muse is dead.

Now getting yourself unstuck takes a lot of work and willpower. There are no shortcuts to getting back on track once you’ve hit a slump, but you can try these tips to help bring back the joy into your blogging, even if you have to do it one day at a time.

1. Post about what you like. It’s a cliche and this may be especially challenging for niche bloggers, but the trick is to figure in your interests in some of your entries — even if it means comparing your assigned subject (eg. trucks) to your favorite cheeseburger.

Making your interests relevant to your blog posts can remind you of what really motivates you in life, and it adds a fun challenge to your writing as well.

2. Practice typing fast. Slow typing can slow down your conceptualization process, because your thoughts have to keep pace with your fingers. Typing fast allows you to quickly see your ideas taking shape in a shorter timespan, so you don’t lose momentum. Take a typing speed test or use a timer.

3. Switch projects or schedules. If you write about different topics for different blogs at different times, switch them around. Schedule permitting, change the order of topics that you write, or change the time of day that you post. This is the equivalent of brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand; the point is to refresh your brain by readjusting its routine.

4. Sharpen your writing skills. Whether you’re a novice or a seasoned blogger, you will benefit from engaging in writing exercises from time to time. For novices, this is a great way to polish your grammar and vocabulary, and for experts, this helps refresh your skill set. This also helps boost your confidence about producing quality content.

5. Move! If you have the luxury of changing your writing location, do it. Take your blogging device with you to a coffee shop, a library, outside of your house, or just switch rooms and work there. Again, this is to shift your mind’s focus from the familiar to the new. If you’re short on space, face another wall.

6. Try a different blogging style. If you usually resort to bulleted or itemized blog posts like I do, try two-liner blog entries. Or publish your post in a letter format. Or use pictures instead of words. Or publish a voice recording. This can help you discover other communication methods that might just work for your blog.

7. Remember your reasons for blogging. Sometimes all we need is to take a moment to remember and reevaluate our blogging goals, whether it’s to help support our loved ones, to help us earn enough money for that gadget we want, to become well-known, or even simply because we’re good at it. Recalling the main driving force behind our blogging activity can rekindle love for it, the way remembering a first date or a first kiss can rekindle a tepid romance.

Other tactics you can apply are redesigning your blog site, putting keywords together, doodling your ideas, solving mental puzzles, and reading through your best and favorite blog posts.

The key to reviving your blog is to engage in activities that reenergize your mind while keeping it focused on your blogging tasks. Taking a break from blogging may also be helpful to an extent, but done too long or too often, it runs the risk of detaching you completely from meeting your goals.

My favorites from the list are 1, 3, 4, and 7, plus solving puzzles at random and reading about blogging success stories. These help keep me inspired and grounded during those off-days. And boy, do I have off-days!

Have you tried out these techniques to kick up your blogging activity? If you have other helpful tips to share via the comments section, I’d be glad to try them out!

Image credits: Pinterest.Com, Candaceroserardon.Com, Insurancemarketinghq.Com

Proofreading And Editing For More High-Impact Blog Posts

Charlotte Beckham — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:08:19 +0000

There are few bigger turn-offs for readers than grammar and punctuation flaws in a piece of writing. Such mistakes indicate to the reader that the article has been written in haste, lacks attention to detail and/or has been completed with little effort. As such, it is critically important that you take the time to proofread and edit your blog posts and any other texts you write.

How to proofread your own blog posts

Proofreading and editing your blog posts need not take substantial amounts of time and effort. After all, managing a blog is already a demanding process that requires determination and at times sacrifice, particularly if you are juggling this with work or study.

Here are some simple tips and techniques for proofreading your posts in an efficient and effective manner:

Read your writing as though you did not write it yourself.

This will help you to be objective and critical with your editing. Furthermore, it is very easy to skim your writing and read it as you had intended it to be written and not exactly as it appears. If you do not read it objectively you will miss out on grammar mistakes and punctuation flaws so be careful.

Consider if your writing makes too many presumptions as to the readers understanding of the subject.

Make sure that you consider your audience not only when writing the article but also when you proofread and edit. It can be easy to get absorbed in your writing and make assumptions about the readers’ knowledge of your article’s subject, especially if it is an area in which you have expertise in. The proofreading and editing stage is a good time to fill in any gaps of information that you may have missed for the readers.

Consider the presentation.

As most bloggers know, the presentation of text on a digital device is best optimized for the reading experience differently than that of print media. Shorter paragraphs, bolded text, and bullet points all make writing in a digital context more digestible for readers. This is the stage upon which you should work on the layout and presentation of your text to make it more reader-friendly.

Send the post to a friend or colleague for feedback – if time permits.

If you’re struggling with proofreading and editing, or just plain hate doing it, you can always send it to a friend or colleague for feedback.This method proved extremely fruitful for Jamie, a writer for the annuities infozine iAnnuityRates. “I found it difficult to be objective when reviewing my own writing. By sending it to a friend, also in the writing profession, I gained a lot of useful feedback and insights which ultimately improves the article significantly,” explains Jamie.

It’s really important to remember that the reason you’re writing an article for your blog is to entertain, inform, or persuade the reader – perhaps even a combination of all three. The clearer it is for the reader to absorb, the more high-impact your writing will be. As such, it is very important to spend that extra 10 to 15 minutes to check your writing for grammatical mistakes, punctuation flaws, and any other shortcomings to ensure that you make the most out of your blog posts.

This is a guest post by Charlotte Beckham, a freelance proofreader and editor for PSUK and Proofreading.org.

Image credits: http://cdn3.fiverrcdn.com/photos/519426/medium/proofreading1.jpg?1323712500, http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EcaWHWTbCuw/TmtxYj9A_5I/AAAAAAAAAXQ/FIzLnLrL4dc/s1600/proof+reading.gif

Why You Should Use — Or At Least Try Out — The WordPress Pinterest Theme [Sponsored Review]

Carmela@Blogussion — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 04:41:52 +0000

Since Pinterest first made its way into the social sharing scene, it has rapidly gained popularity because of its highly visual nature and ease of use.

Because of this, Apptha has come up with an elegant Pinterest Theme for WordPress, and unlike any other Pinterest Template you can find out there, this one exactly mimics the original social pinboard’s design.

Home page:

Entry page:

Each featured entry or ‘pin’ provides ample space for descriptions and admin-controlled user comments. The theme also boasts of a multi-column layout, where you can add any number of images to the pinboard. Users do not need to be logged in to leave comments or ‘like’ a pin, though they need to login to WordPress via Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.

The Pinterest WordPress Theme is optimized for SEO, which can easily be integrated with third-party plugins. It’s also compatible with IE7+, IE8, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. Just like with Pinterest, image loading is fast and in real time, and its versatility makes it a great choice for practically any image-based blog.

Of course, if you’re running a photoblog or a business blog that features plenty of products, then this premium Pinterest WordPress Template is ideal for your purposes.

View the live DEMO.

As a frequent Pinterest user, I think this stylish theme would showcase your best photos and images beautifully, because of its eye-catching and dynamic design. What mainly keeps me hooked on the site is the ease with which I can browse the content, where I can skim several posts in one fell swoop.

How about you, do you suppose this would be a valuable addition to your template arsenal? Do feel free to share your thoughts on this!

Photo credits: http://www.apptha.com/category/theme/Wordpress/pinterest-template, http://blog.edisonnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/pinterest-logo.jpg, http://i.imgur.com/tjQeQ.jpg

How Can Installing the Rich Snippet Rel=Author Benefit Your Blog?

Jay Buerck — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:35:20 +0000

It has been close to a year since Google introduced the rel=author markup to the world, have you implemented it yet? For something so simple it sure has the potential to be a game changer for your blogging niche as well as your personal brand building online.

By connecting your Google+ profile with the content you create and publish you are essentially building your authority as a trusted voice. You are also adding credibility to those searching that you are a real person creating the content they crave and consume. While there may be some bloggers and companies that take the time to create sock puppet accounts most will not as it is time consuming and difficult for most to gain much of a return.

Installing the rich snippet Rel=Author can help add to your blog’s credibility and visibility.

This markup language is also beneficial to your reputation management strategy. By connecting the content to your Google+ profile it will identify this information as being authentic and associate it to your name and give you more real estate for searches involving your name.

How to Set Up Rel=Author on Your Blog

To add the Rel=Author markup you will need to link to your Google Profile and your blog.

Let’s look at linking your blog to your Google Profile first. Linking these two allows Google to know that you are an author for this blog. This may be a link from an author page, about page, or it could be a link from your byline.

Your next move is to add a reciprocal link from your profile to the site you are updating. Inside your Google+ profile you will need to click on the about tab and scroll down to “Contribute to” section. You will add a custom link and in some cases it will be the URL of the author or about page rather than root.

Here is how you would do all of this in real life:

So this is how a Google+ profile URL might look like: https://plus.google.com/101570221368373054249/

You would then need to add rel=author to the end of it and have it look something like this: https://plus.google.com/101570221368373054249/?rel=author and link it to your bio or byline.

Then you would go into your Google+ profile and edit the “About” section. Go to “Contributor To” and add the site. If for instance it is a one-off post you would add the direct URL for that post, if it is a site you contribute on, you add a link to your author profile, and if it is a a site like ORM, I added a link to it on the “About Us” page.

For more details, visit Webmaster Tools and learn how to implement it.

You can test all your hard work with Google’s Rich Snippet Testing Tool.

Increase Your Content’s Visibility

There was a time before rel=author that individuals logged in might be able to see something that might have been tweeted or shared by you but only if they were connected with you.

Once you implement the rel=author markup, everyone will see your name and image to left of your own content. This is a huge advantage over the other search results that haven’t quite figured out how to add the rel=author markup.

Higher Click-Through Rates

Since the inception of rel=author, studies have shown that having your image next to the content actually increases the click-through rate of the given search result. Having a photo next to your listing gives the result authenticity and a greater chance that it will be clicked on.

Personal Brand Building

Pick your image wisely as it should be an image associated with your blog. As the visitor clicks on your result and begins to navigate through your content they can associate your face and name to the content.
If you engage in guest blogging, this markup could also increase your brand by connecting all your content to your profile. You can begin to have a singular voice and become more recognizable in your niche.

Future Search Benefits

By creating these power-user accounts it adds value to your blog and becomes a safe signal for Google. The increased belief that Google+ and author authenticity will play a significant role in future organic ranking should move you to make the necessary changes to your blog today.

Photo credits: http://www.virtualsocialmedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Online-Reputation-Management-Services.jpg, http://www.dentalheroes.com/wp-content/uploads//2009/12/online-reputation-management.jpg

Going Viral: Tips on Generating Infectious Content

Carmela@Blogussion — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:10:24 +0000

Sometime around the other week, I chanced upon this meme in one of the blog communities I frequent:

Then a few days later I found out that the photogenic man had inadvertently grown popular online as – wait for it – Ridiculously Photogenic Guy. Not only did he turn into a blog meme, he even got interviewed on a popular talk show, along with the photographer who snapped his picture, Will King. After that, the video clips of his interview like this one quickly circulated the ‘Net, with almost a million views and still counting.

In a matter of days, Ridiculously Photogenic Guy Zeddie Little went ridiculously viral. And it all started from a photo!

Creating viral content can be highly achievable if you know how to reach your audience in the right way at the right time.

In the social context, going viral is the ability for information to be transferred at a rapid rate through a particular culture. That information then becomes a meme. It’s infectious. And thanks to the Internet and mobile technology, the dissemination of such is incredibly easy and effective.

If you’ve noticed, not all concepts that reach mass popularity are profound. In fact, the simplest of ideas are those that make the greatest impact on the audience because they are generally visceral in nature.

So how can you increase your blog content’s virality?

It’s not enough that you advertise your blog on every social networking platform available. If you can’t offer content – specific, well-timed, and well-thought out content — that can make an impact on your audience, then it will be hard to make a dent.

Understanding what your audience wants is critical, as well as the following considerations:

Inherent value

Your content must be able to provide immediate value to your target audience. Again, it doesn’t have to be profound. But it has to be innovative, easy to remember, and it has to be important to your audience.

Shareability

Providing value to individual audience members is good. But it’s much better if your audience gains extra benefits from sharing your content with others (e.g. funny meme gifs, file and folder sharing).

Embeddability

In the case of images, audio, and video formats, your content has better chances of going viral if it can be easily embedded onto your audience’s respective pages and websites. Your audience can then enjoy a sense of ownership of your content while making it more accessible to others.

Communication transfer

You know the ‘via@website’ tag that appears on shared media? It serves as an advertisement for your blog once your audience shares your content.

Targeted needs

Aside from finding out what your audience wants, it also helps to tap into their needs. The greater the audience’s need, the better the chances of virality. Examples of this would be bored Internet surfers (who need to be constantly entertained), social networking enthusiasts (who often need to find reasons for keeping in touch with friends), and hobbyists (who are compelled to share and gather information about their pursuits).

The ‘cool’ factor

This is extremely tricky. Predicting the next cool thing out there requires keen instincts, sharp observation skills, and more than a bit of luck. The ultimate goal here is not to ride the trending bandwagon, but to create a new trend.

Well-positioned credibility

Producing popular content still calls for an anchor to keep it going around. If your blog offers a venue for your audience to enjoy lively interaction – and it should – make sure that your main material conveys the idea that you mean business. Otherwise, your audience won’t take you seriously in the long run. (Even gag and humor sites are serious about their content, to show that what their visitors want is important to them).

Seeding and sharing

Your content will not share itself, and you’ll never know if it can go viral if you don’t plant it out there first. If you can afford it, you can seed your content, which is paying a social network-savvy group of Internet and mobile users to share your material to targeted communities. Or if you’re on a tight budget, you can simply share your content yourself to an interested audience.

Not all of us will be able to generate viral content, and that’s okay. But it’s certainly worth a shot, because with a basic understanding of what makes people tick coupled with persistence, you just might transform your blog into a blockbuster.

If you’ve already gone viral, how did you do it? Do you have other tips you’d like to share? We would love to hear from you!

Photo credits: http://writelife.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/gossip.jpeg, http://followfanpage.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Fotolia_14998397_Subscription_XXL-200×200.jpg, http://www.webpronews.com/ridiculously-photogenic-guy-is-ridiculously-photogenic-2012-04, http://cdn.ientry.com/sites/webpronews/pictures/photoguy.png (Photo by Will King)

Unemployed? Try Blogging!

Carmela@Blogussion — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:26:29 +0000

You’re unemployed. Suddenly, your 40-hour week is a vast void of uncertainty and minus your daily home routine, you are left with plenty of idle time on your hands. Like the aftermath of a breakup, passing the time becomes horribly uncomfortable when you’ve got nothing much to do.

So why don’t you try blogging?

Whether you’re still seeking a job or have been handed the dreaded pink slip, one of the ways you can survive the current economic crisis is by blogging.

Back in 2004 I had to leave my copywriting job to take care of my child. While my unemployment was borne out of choice, it still proved financially and psychologically taxing for me and my family. My hands were full with domesticity, and there was no readily available creative outlet for me: I had not discovered blogging yet.

When I finally returned to the workforce in 2007, my lack of work-related pursuits during my hiatus left a gaping hole where three years of my professional history could have been. Until hands-on, full-time parenting becomes widely recognized as an economically viable skill, that gap will remain unfilled.

But I digress. Given the current economic status, many are now suffering its backlash on several levels. If I had been able to find an online outlet back then, it’s likely that I would have been able to build a considerably more substantial work portfolio and even land a few sources of online income while raising a toddler.

Here are a few good reasons why blogging can help you through a financial crisis:

• You can build your brand.
• You can augment your professional portfolio.
• You can find ways to earn money online.
• Blogging can keep you occupied with a productive and single-minded goal.
• Blogging can help keep you focused on your professional direction.
• It can help stave off depression from unemployment.
• It can help you build a professional network by establishing your expertise to interested readers in the same field.
• It can help entertain and destress you.
• It can serve as a site for creative expression.
• You can discuss your own personal experiences with unemployment, and in the process, gain insights from your own and other recession bloggers’ experiences.
• Your blog can be a valuable addition to your resume or professional portfolio.
• Blogging can help maximize your social media usage to your advantage.

What can you blog about?

Your profession. Basically you can discuss anything in your line of interest, depending on your blogging goals. One thing to keep in mind though, is that it’s advisable to primarily discuss topics that are relevant to your professional field or career of choice, to help increase your chances of landing a related job later. Should you aim for entrepreneurship or earning additional income online instead, your blog can serve as your personal advertisement by which you can assert your expertise, and eventually build a professional network from.

Your experiences and opinions. There are also some who put up ‘recession blogs’ which tackle the author’s experiences with unemployment, or speculations about the national economy and political landscape. They are generally created either to be in touch with friends, relatives, and former work colleagues, or to touch base with potential employers, business partners, and fellow recession sufferers. Most of these blogs serve as beacons of hope for their authors, being a venue where they can express their thoughts and sentiments to a sympathetic audience.

Your personal interests. Lastly, you can blog about well-loved pursuits, you can join a blogging community, or you can simply regale your readers with a daily compendium of your activities and thoughts, and be entertained likewise. After all, blogging is also good for the weary soul.

One caveat, however. Before you decide to disclose details of your former professional life and opinions on controversial issues, make sure that what you say won’t backfire against you. Venting out about how you felt when you lost your job is fine; denigrating your former employers, colleagues, and clients is not.

No matter how hard times may be, no matter how harsh your former work environment was on you, anything you put on your blog now will say more about you than it will about your professional past or extraneous conditions. Choose your content carefully.

The best way you can make your blog work for you is to treat it as if it were part of your resume, or as if it were a message of support, authority, and information to your audience. Even if your blog is mostly meant for creative catharsis, you can always get those ill feelings off your chest in an inoffensive, neutral, objective, and even humorous manner. The point is to make your blog your ally through these trying times.

Photo credits: www.confirmbiosciences.com, www.republicmedia.tv

What is Blogging for You?

Carmela@Blogussion — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 05:16:54 +0000

I love blogging. I love being able to share my thoughts with a global audience, and reading about other bloggers’ ideas as well. For me it’s like peeking into the minds of other people I am not likely to meet in the flesh, at least not in this lifetime.

Knowing and understanding why you blog helps keep a clear vision of your direction and goals, as well as your needs.

At first, it wasn’t easy to freely write online. The idea of being vulnerable to millions of strangers all over the world was incredibly daunting. Still, I had to persist to help overcome one of my greatest hurdles: self-expression. I noticed that my writing often tends to gravitate toward an expository and informative manner rather than from a personal standpoint. Cold, hard facts posed no threat to me, as opposed to speaking from the heart. That was my greatest challenge.

So I blogged. And I blog still.

Being among other creatively expressive bloggers is comforting, not only because some of us share the same blogging interests and goals, but also for the mere reason that we’re dedicated to the act of blogging itself. Also, it’s cathartic. And it gives me a playground for my otherwise constipated thought and emotional processes.

But that’s just me. We all blog for different reasons that can be narrowed down to the following:

Connections

Blogging allows us to start conversations, discuss ideas, and keep in touch with people from around the world, both on a personal and professional level.

Identity

Many bloggers, myself included, blog to discover, shape, and reinforce our own identity, and doing this includes expressing one’s self and finding one’s own voice.

Creativity

Blogging can be a wonderful creative outlet, whether it’s playing with prose and poetry, photos and images, audio and video, or designing the blog itself.

Wealth

While blogging solely for money is quite difficult, it can generate plenty of revenue with hard work, commitment, patience, and skill. There are many bloggers who have already successfully earned much from blogging, either from brand selling, advertising, online marketing, SEO, e-commerce, or other blog monetization methods.

Education

Blogs are a gold mine of knowledge, and being active in the blogosphere can keep both the blogger and his readers informed and updated on their subjects of interest, as they share and exchange resources. Blogging can also help develop literacy and communication skills within a 24/7 learning environment.

Authority

Closely linked to education, blogging can also serve to establish one as an expert in his field of interest and influence thinking trends or at least teach interested readers, which in turn could also serve as an avenue for earning money online.

Service

There are bloggers who are dedicated to using their site as a platform for providing assistance and support to others. One such blogging site that has evolved into support groups under several interests is Tumblr.

Ability

We blog because we can. Period.

Positivity

Blogging is an enjoyable activity in itself, and it also helps supplement other leisurely pursuits not necessarily related to blogging. It allows one to entertain others and one’s self. For some, it’s also not just fun but a labor of love that feeds one’s soul. And for others like me, blogging can be a source of inspiration, motivation, self-reflection, and healing.

After joining a blogging community in which I could read about shared sentiments of other bloggers and contribute some input of my own, I gradually became less afraid of my humanity. Learning to articulate my ideas and feelings online also helped me get through and recover from a very difficult period in my life. So in essence, blogging to me was and still is therapy. In many ways, it could even be better than therapy.

You may have other reasons for blogging aside from those listed here, and it would be interesting for us to hear how they have shaped the way you blog. So what is blogging for you? What’s your story?

Photo credits: www.gsnlists.org, www.moreinmedia.com

Do You Suffer From Blogger’s Blues?

Carmela@Blogussion — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:48:30 +0000

“Writing is a lonely job. Even if a writer socializes regularly, when he gets down to the real business of his life, it is he and his type writer or word processor. No one else is or can be involved in the matter.”
– Isaac Asimov, I, Asimov: A Memoir

If you have actively and professionally blogged for at least several months, chances are you’ve encountered blogger’s blues: the creeping sense of isolation and loneliness that generally comes with regular blogging. Whether you blog full-time, as a freelancer, or as a hobby, sooner or later you are bound to ask yourself: what am I missing out on out there?

Dealing with this is a tad easier if you already have a solid and active following that you interact with on a daily basis. But for many bloggers without extensive online networks, the vast silence that meets their blog posts can eventually dampen momentum, and later, self-esteem.

Even full-time professional bloggers and diehard blogging enthusiasts encounter this social dead end. You begin to wonder whether all the trouble you take into crafting and perfecting your blog is worth it, and you end up questioning your own capabilities as a blogger, and more importantly, as a writer. So how do you handle this?

Consider the following angles:

You are blogging for the wrong niche.

Although you can’t always choose what topic you can blog about – and this is particularly true for professional and freelance bloggers – you can still make some adjustments to a certain extent. Thorough research can fill up the information gap, and you can tweak your style accordingly.

There are limits to how far you can stretch, however. Perhaps the subject at hand disagrees with your personal preferences or values, your current subject matter requires more time than you can allot, or maybe your client’s work ethics makes you question yours. Either way, perhaps a niche switch could be the answer to this, especially if you enjoy blogging per se.

Blogging is simply not for you.

Hobbyists have fewer problems with this, because most of them start off with the clear understanding that they do want to blog, and that they are fairly equipped to communicate their information via their platform of choice. Should they decide that blogging isn’t working for them, moving on to another avenue is relatively easy.

When it comes to earning money online, though, blogging begins to demand more and more of your skill, time, and commitment to the craft. If you see yourself faltering in any of these in the long run, then you could consider other online money-making choices – maybe you’ll fare better posting in social networking sites, where returns are quicker, and community-building is easier.

The truth is, blogging isn’t for everyone, so if you aren’t happy with it, try to explore your options.

You are experiencing mental fatigue.

Perhaps you enjoy blogging, but lately you feel less and less motivated about it. Even with ample source material, a niche that you love, a great boss or client, and a growing audience, you seem to be on the verge of burnout, and you can’t understand why this is happening.

Most likely this is caused by the mental fatigue that stems from hyperfocusing on your blog. When you do something repeatedly and constantly, even if it’s something you absolutely love, it will tire you out. Since blogging is a solitary activity, you won’t just feel tired, but also alienated from the rest of the world.

The solution? Break your routine. Go out, make arrangements to be with friends, take 24 hours off the Internet, or indulge in a fun activity that you miss. The point is to refresh your mind with new information so you can return to your blog, energized about posting again.

You’re still learning the ropes.

You don’t have an audience yet, and you’re required to keep plugging away at your work blog. Or you don’t have an audience yet, and you feel compelled to keep your personal blog alive with regular posts. You’re still quite new to the craft, and quitting now just wouldn’t be right. So on top of learning the ins and outs of blogging, you’re also wrestling with low to nonexistent activity on your blog. What to do?

Accept that the initial months of blogging will yield little to no returns. Don’t take it as an affront to your skills; this happens to all startup bloggers. Rather, take this quiet time as an opportunity to research on blog design, blogging styles, and social media strategies that would work well for you. This is also the perfect time to hone your writing skills. And as far as your audience is concerned, this is your chance to start building an online network to which you can promote your blog later on.

Almost all bloggers undergo some sort of downtime that leaves them a little lost, confused, and lonely. But remember, you aren’t alone.

Crafting a good blog takes time, and a case of blogger’s blues is simply one of the challenges you’ll face. Once you prove that you have the commitment, dedication, and skills to overcome this, more impressed readers will come flocking to you — and you’ll finally have your own active and interested community to interact with.

Image credits: 4wesomness.blogspot.com, www.marketingprofessor.com, www.schoox.com