It seems that more and more people are struggling due to the economy right now, and as the holidays roll around once again, this fact becomes more painfully apparent and stressful than at any other time of the year. You’ve got decorating, baking, traveling, and plenty of shopping and gift buying to do, and all that is simply added on top of your regular expenses. And with a tight budget, that can make the holidays even more difficult. But this time of the year should be about happiness, not filled with dread brought about by empty pockets. And that’s where making money online comes into play.

Most people spend a large portion of their time on the computer. And since you’re reading this right now, I’m going to safely bet that you’re one of them. But why not spend all that time doing something productive, and making some cash? And even still, considering you’re reading this, I’m sure that is something you are interested in doing and would like to learn more about. Making money online is something that virtually anyone can do with some determination to learn and a pinch of patience.

The simple thing about this is, you’re already on the internet, so why not put that time to a better use? Starting up your own online business does not take a costly budget, a lot of fees, hiring employees, or working all day long. It is the type of business that you invest a little time into, and it generally grows on its own after that, or with the help of others due to word of mouth. Another bonus is, there are so many opportunities out there for absolutely anyone with an online business. Put a little creative thought into it, and you can come up with something that will not only interest and entertain you, but could also potentially become something that generates a buzz for itself. On top of all that, it’ll be a money maker! There are thousands of undiscovered niches and ideas just waiting to be unfolded, and you have an enormous amount of chances right in front of you - more than you would have right away if you were to start a “real” business.

If you’d like to look into some of the ways you can make money online or start your online business, check out some of these related articles:

1.) Make Money Online With Your Talents
2.) Start Making More Money and Sell Your Own Ads
3.) Mantain a Site for a Month and Sell it For Thousands
4.) Make Money With Google Adsense
5.) 3 Ways to Make Money Online With Donations
6.) Gain Traffic and Make Money Online by Using Forums
7.) Advertising: Cut Out the Middle Man and Make More Money

You also might want to look into some articles about general blogging tips, promoting a blog, website traffic generation, and other make money online advice. If you’re interested in starting your own website, online business, or anything of that sort and you need some help, feel free to drop a comment or message and we’ll do our best to assist you.

Thanks, good luck, and happy holidays!

photo credit: *_filippo_*

Sure, visitors come from all over and for all sorts of different reasons. But the reason that causes them to want to check out your site over any other reason, as well as develop a trust in you and become a reoccurring visitor, is word of mouth. Think about it in simpler terms. Let’s say you’re in a new city and trying to find a nice restaurant to go out to eat. You could do this by walking up and down the streets until you come across something that catches your eye. You could do a little research on it. OR you could take some recommendations from a friend or two that’s been there before. Out of all of those options, most people would be more likely to take a friend’s advice and check out what they have to recommend.

Why is this? Because the information is coming from someone you trust, and therefore, you will obviously see it as trustworthy. Not only would they be more willing to check out the restaurant in the first place, but they will also be more likely to enjoy it, and more likely to return. The same thing goes for your website or blog. Word of mouth is key, and that is why building relationships over the web is so essential. If you are able to gather up plenty of connections that will spread the word about your site to THEIR connections, then your name or brand will continue to spread like wildfire, and your following will only continue to grow.

So that is your key traffic secret. After you get a good hold on it and base your traffic building around the concept of word of mouth, everything else will follow. Let your challenge for this upcoming week be incorporating this idea into your schedule. Build connections with people that can help you, and help them in return. It’s a complex balance, but it doesn’t take much work, and you will reap the rewards. Good luck!

Related articles by other bloggers:

7 Steps to Building a Genuine Relationship With Your Readers
Why and How to Boost Word Of Mouth With Your Blog
Blog Viral Marketing – Promoting Your Blog Through Word of Mouth
16 Things You Can Do Yourself to Create Word-of-Mouth for Your Business
Use Viral Marketing to Explode Your Site Traffic

photo credit: nyki_m

Twitter has been the newest and biggest thing on the web for some time now, and yet still many people haven’t signed up, while others don’t even know what it is. For a quick summary, read the definition of Twitter as found on their support page:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages. People write short updates, often called “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.

You can update and manage your Twitter account on the web, or even get an application for it to use on your phone or other portable device. This makes Twitter always available as a handy on-the-go resource, and you’re always able to keep in touch whenever needed.

Using Twitter, you can follow other users who you want to keep up with, as well as gather your own following. You can communicate with other users through private message or by @replies, which are done through the “tweet” messages themselves. As you see, Twitter is a great social networking site which can be used to do many different things. I will share some of the top reasons with you from a blogger’s point of view.

Promoting Your Blog/Site

Twitter can be used nearly better than any other social networking system to promote your visibility and reach on the web. Gathering a stream of followers is simple if you have people who are interested in what you have to say, and increasing your amount of followers is as easy as word of mouth and updating. Not only that, but putting yourself out there in front of all of these users is more simple than posting a 140 character message. If you’ve already got a blog, converting your current visitors to Twitter followers won’t be too hard.

After you have people who are keeping up with your Twitter account, you can share information about your blog and posts you have made by “tweeting” them, which in turn draws more visitors and pageviews to your site. And apart from that, it also increases the interactivity and closeness you have with your niche and your readers.

Twitter can also be used as a source to draw in new readers to your blog, not just as a way to provide interest for the old ones. As your presence on Twitter grows, so does the amount of traffic and new readership coming in to your site.

Getting to Know Your Readers

Twitter can be a fantastic way to develop relationships with other bloggers and your visitors. Don’t just make Twitter an extension of your blog, make it something a little more – bring your activity there down to a more personal level. Let your readers get to know another side of you there. And make sure you focus on your readers as well, and get to know them too. Ask questions where you value people’s honest opinions, and whenever you receive a message or a reply, take time to read it and respond if you can. Help as many of your followers as possible. Use any feedback you get to better your blog, your content, and what your site provides.

Learning New Things

And last but not least, use Twitter to broaden your knowledge and experiences. Keep up with and follow any person whose updates teach you about things you didn’t know before, and ask questions whenever you need to. If you have a following on Twitter and you need help with something or would like an opinion, just post an update discussing it. Twitter is one big caring, helping community. Give as much as you can to your followers and they’ll be happy to help you out whenever that time comes.

To learn more about how to use Twitter alongside your blog, read How I Use Twitter to Promote My Blog. And if you’d like to follow SuperBloggingTips.com on Twitter, you may do that here. Post your Twitter profiles in the comments box so we can follow you as well! And if you have any questions, feel free to ask. :)

A couple of weeks ago a contest began here at SuperBloggingTips.com, in which there would be two lucky winners who each received one month’s worth of 125×125 advertising here at this blog. All you had to do to enter was subscribe to the feed via email (all subscribers prior to the contest were automatically entered). If you want, contest details can be viewed here.

This contest ended on Friday and I’m very happy to announce our two winners:

shindevijaykr [at] gmail [dot] com
jennybeth [at] mindspring [dot] com

If that’s you, you’ll be receiving an email from me in which you must respond to to claim your prize. If I don’t get an answer from either of the winners within a week, then another winner will be randomly selected in their place.

These two winners were determined by using a randomizer, after giving each person in my email subscribers list a unique number. Randomizer.org was used to generate two random numbers as the winners.

Thank you to all who subscribed. Keep on the lookout for other contests like this in the future! And if you haven’t subscribed yet, you can do that here.

Don’t forget that the deadline for the contest I announced a little while back is coming up very soon. In fact, it’s on March 13, which is Friday - giving you just a couple of days if you’d like a shot at the prize.

Up for grabs are a month’s worth of two 125×125 banners featured in the sidebar of SuperBloggingTips.com. These prizes will be awarded to two different randomly selected subscribers (EMAIL ONLY) of this blog.

If you’d like a chance to win, subscribe here. Hurry, you’ve got until Friday, 11:59 PM EST. Thanks and good luck!

(See HERE for Details)

Hey, guys! I’m glad to be finally be back and updating SuperBloggingTips.com on a regular basis again, so I thought I’d show that with a quick little giveaway. This is also a big thank you to everyone who’s stuck around, and of course any new readers as well. If you’ve got a blog or a website, or even if you have a friend who does or any organization you want to get the word out about, here’s your chance at a grab for a little free promotion. Absolutely anyone can enter!

There’s not much involvement in this one; all you have to do is subscribe to Super Blogging via email. You can easily do that here. After that, all you’ve got to do is go the email you used and confirm your subscription - then you’ll be registered to win. And if you’re already subscribed by email, then your entry still counts and you’re ahead of the game. ;)

This simple contest will end two weeks from today’s date, on March 13. After that I will go through the list of subscribers by email and choose two random winners to each receive a free 125×125 banner that’s worth one month of advertising. Everyone has an equal chance, including YOU, so get in on it now by clicking here.

What are the bonuses of subscribing to Super Blogging via email? You’ll be among the first on the web to receive new updates and content conveniently in your inbox. That way you’ll never miss out on a thing.

Thanks, and I cannot wait to announce the winners. Good luck to you all!

Most sites that you see in the blogosphere these days are excessively “Web 2.0″ with shiny colors and gradients; rounded edges; Flash; Java; complicated layouts; and widgets, forms, videos, and graphics all over the place. This kind of design can look very impressive and, if implemented correctly, can really set your blog or website above the rest. But when is it just too much?

Take a look at the famous blogger John Chow and his site’s homepage, for example. I believe that a new first-time visitor to his site would be very overwhelmed. At the top you’ve got the horizontal and floating pop-out ad box hovering there, as well as several buttons, widgets, links, and yet another rectangle ad for PepperJam Network. You see the “Featured Articles” box that scrolls through five different posts too quickly. There’s a push for a free “Make Money Online” ebook, encouraging you to fill out the form and sign up to get your copy. Then you scroll down a little more and see nearly a dozen excerpts of his recent blog posts, all stacked one over top of the other. Beside that is the featured video, a large graphic advertisement for a premium sponsor, five lines of recent photos that light up as you hover over them, ads for TTZ media, and then an excerpt of a biography of John Chow himself. Even further toward the right of the page are eight 125×125 advertisements, a large chunk of link advertisements, recent Tweets from John Chow’s Twitter account, a poll, a top commentators list, and then half a dozen links to his social networking profiles. Below these three columns, at the bottom of the page, is even more “content”. You’ve got a box linking you to all his blog’s categories, and three more boxes for recent comments, a MyBlogLog community widget, and a blogroll linking to many other sites. Last but not least, the page ends with copyright information and a small line of other important links.

Whew, that was a mouthful! At first glance John Chow’s site looks like it’s full of content, but so much of what he displays is just a filler and not truly relevant. Upon visiting his blog even I don’t know where to look or to begin, and it’s not only intimidating but also somewhat frustrating. As a reader, where do I find what I actually want to read? John Chow only gets away with this because he’s, of course, John Chow. He can write hundreds of posts about food and cars and have a migraine-inducing design but still have thousands of beginners flock to read all about what he says. If someone starting their new blog or someone lesser-known tried to pull this off, they’d get dozens of complaints and little visitors.

So instead of trying to be all flashy, think about going with a minimalistic design. Everyone has a different idea of what classifies as minimalism, but in the end you should try to eliminate unnecessary elements while still managing a beautiful look and feel. Choose or create something with a simple color and font scheme. Don’t get too complicated with the organizational system. A main column and a sidebar will usually suffice, apart from four different sections divided into three columns apiece with a large header, footer, and sidebar to boot.

Apart from all else, only include the content and information that is absolutely relevant and necessary. That would be things such as your navigational links, header, your blog posts, RSS subscription area, search bar, categories, and advertisements if you have any. Of course you can add more, considering what I listed is normally the bare minimum. But going all out with all kinds of images, widgets, and unneeded areas will only hurt you. If there is something you’d like to show on your blog but isn’t essential to most or all your visitors, then put it on a separate page that only someone who is interested has to see. Less is more! All of your readers will thank you for minimalizing the clutter and making your blog easier on the eyes.

Good blogs with minimalistic themes that I read include Traffikd, Vandelay Design, Court’s Internet Marketing School, Skelliewag, and BlogStorm. I have also chosen to go in the direction of minimalism here at Super Blogging. Another good resource is the compilation of beautiful minimalistic themes over at Vandelay Design that you can use for inspiration.

It’s also possible to have a clean and simple theme while still adding other aspects and have a good-looking blog. This is demonstrated at Pro Blog Design, Anywired, and Freelance Folder, among others. They choose to cut the clutter and only show what is necessary, but spice it up to make it a little more interesting.

Basically, the importance is to keep a good balance. You can’t have your site looking so bare and bland that no one remembers it, but even more so, you shouldn’t have it too overdone and cluttered as to annoy or frighten away your visitors. If you can land right in the middle you’ll be on the road to success and your site will be appreciated by all. Appearance and readability of your blog is essential to making that first impression and capturing a new reader.

Coming up with a new domain name is usually quite difficult, and most all bloggers have gone through that struggle at least once in their lives. You’ve got to come up with something catchy, memorable, and preferably short. It obviously should be relevant to your site’s topic and contain a good keyword or two. Your domain name should reflect your site perfectly and always have the capabilities of being very marketable and doing well in the search engines. So with all of these aspects in consideration, and also knowing that once you make up your mind you cannot change it, figuring out a domain name is a stressful task.

Luckily, there are some free handy tools to help you along this tough path. Whether you’re struggling to come up with good keywords to begin with or you already have an idea but would like some variations or want to know what else is available, these domain generators are tremendously helpful. I hope that this list compiled here will help you in your journey. And, as always, if you need any advice or suggestions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and ask.

1.) NameBoy - This is a helpful generator which allows you to enter keywords and ideas and comes up with a unique and intelligent combination for your domain name. It also has a couple checkboxes such as allowing hyphens or rhyming. When it gives you your results it shows the possible extensions that the domain is available in.

2.) Domain Name Generator - This is a very intelligent tool which comes up with great name creations based on the criteria your provide. It is very detailed and offers options for languages, prefixes and suffixes, character length, and more. Highly recommended.

3.) Whoix? - The Whoix? Domain Name Wizard is great if you already have an idea of what you’d like to call your site, but you need plenty more suggestions and variations. It’s simple: all you do is enter in a domain name and extension you would like, and Whoix? offers you other ideas. Quick, easy, but immensely valuable.

4.) NameDroppers - With this, you can quickly search for, create, and register your domains if you’d like. There are a lot of options you can select through, including keyword order, character length, excluding numbers and certain keys, what extensions you’d like and which ones you don’t, and more. There’s even the ability to choose whether you’d like to view only nonexistent domains, already registered ones, or both.

5.) Domain Name Generator - This one is extremely simple to use. You only have to fill in one box, which is your relevant word or phrase, and it offers you possible domain names and alternatives. On top of that, this site also has some other great tools, so check them out as well!

6.) SnapItNow - This neat domain generator has nine options, including ones for keywords, categories, hyphens, flip-flopping your keywords, hiding taken domains, choosing certain extensions, etc. There’s not much involved so it makes your job a whole lot easier.

7.) Name Generator - And last but not least, there’s the Web 2.0 Name Generator. This one is different from all the others but it still has something to offer. Instead of coming up with domain alternatives, this one randomly gives you unique names that you can use to title your own site or blog. Upon clicking the “Generate Name!” button it offers you a new choice, so you can go through them until you find one you love - and then when you do, you can click another button to check its availability. And so you don’t lose any names, it neatly lists all your previously viewed ones in the sidebar. Try it out!

Other places to find great tools and resources: VandelayDesign.com, Traffikd.com, SmashingMagazine.com, SEOBook.com, SEOChat.com.

I’m asking you this question because I’ve come to realize that I am subscribed to so many blogs that just rehash topics and things that have already been said elsewhere, or write new content that their readers don’t even need, just to have something else to publish on their blog. I want to make sure that Super Blogging can be a site of quality in which you’re always able to learn something new and not waste your valuable time on.

That being said, what you like to see covered on this blog? What do you think there needs to be more of? I am open to all suggestions, whether it be a general topic or even a very specifically planned case study. Please share your opinions; I am looking forward to hearing them and I’ll also be glad to link back in a follow-up post to every site and blogger that shares their thoughts in a comment.

Thank you, and don’t forget to subscribe to Super Blogging so you won’t miss out on all the great content that’s to come. (:

Attention: This is a guest post by Jason - Jason Pereira blogs at The University Kid… grab the feed!

Without traffic, your blog is worthless.

Okay… while it might hold a personal value to you, it’s probably not going to fetch more than a few dollars if you put it up for auction. All of us want our blogs to grow as big as possible, as fast as possible… but what if you don’t have the money to buy exposure?

Yes, you could run a contest… but if you’re new in the industry without much credibility, you probably don’t have the funds for prizes or the pull for sponsors to donate prizes. No one’s going to join a contest where the main prize is advertising on your two day old blog with no traffic, especially if you want them to follow the rules of a regular contest (subscribing, blogging about it etc).

You could guest post, but what if other blogs are tied up and can’t accept your posts at the moment, no matter how good? Guest posting tends to work better if you do high quality guest posts in bulk, and this isn’t possible if your blogging neighbours won’t take your posts.

The next option… and an option I’ve used well in the past it to start things off by writing a controversial post. If you pick a topic that people love to discuss, and go against the common belief (or over-support the common belief) people are going to get riled up… and if they do, you gain instant exposure… especially if you manage to annoy a person established enough who gets ticked off enough to link to your website.

A friend of mine once wrote a post criticizing the grammar of a few top bloggers – guess what, he got featured on both sending him quite a bit of traffic. There was also another incident shortly after where a startup blog criticized Shoemoney’s SEO techniques, which again got a mention and sent traffic (I believe first month uniques for the blog were 90,000, which isn’t bad at all!). Obviously do not go out of your way to be an annoyance, but if you see something you don’t agree with, mention it and who knows… you just might be able to send some traffic your way.

The two hot topics in the blogosphere, especially in this niche tend to be John Chow or Entrecard… write up anything that displays something other than a neutral feeling and you’ll get people annoyed – those very much in favour and those very much not so. Although posts about the latter have died down, the former is still very much a hot topic… write about him tomorrow and see the reactions you get.

Of course, you can’t just expect people to find your controversial post of their own accord; a match will not light itself. If you promote it at the various social places – for example, Twitter, Blog Catalog’s discussion section and related blogging forums, well who knows – your post may set off a bit of dynamite. Do not be scared to explore the art of writing controversial posts; it is a difficult art to master, but if you do so you are guaranteed some debate… which is always a positive for your blog.

photo credit: kevinmarsh