Utho Jaago Pakistan

Theatrical Trailer (Ready)

2011-05-28T10:28:00.000-07:00

DESCRIPTION:
MOVIE:	Ready
LENGTH:	2 Minute(s) 8 Seconds
RELEASE DATE:	03/06/2011
PRODUCER:	Rajat Rawail, Bhushan Kumar, Nitin Manmohan, Kishan Kumar, Sohail Khan
STARCAST:	Salman Khan, Asin, Arya Babbar, Paresh Rawal, Mahesh Manjrekar, Akhilendra Mishra, Puneet Issar, Manoj Joshi, Sudesh Lehri, Arbaaz Khan, Zarine Khan, Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Kangna Ranaut, Manoj Pahwa
DIRECTOR:	Anees Bazmee

Fia Exclusive Interview with Fashion Central

2011-05-27T09:08:00.000-07:00

Fia Exclusive Interview with Fashion Central

Posted on May 17th, 2011 | Comments (0)
Pakistani Celebrities

1. What source of inspiration made your way to fashion industry?

Actually modeling was very unplanned for me ... I always wanted to become an actor but this happened to me and now, I'm into it :-)

2. What do you think is the best feature in you that keeps you standing among models crowd?

I don't believe there is only feature of a person that makes you stand out ! Its the whole personality that makes you stand out. That's why we are Model's ;-)

3. The best compliment you have ever received after runway walk?

Aaj to Dhaarti hila di.. Lol

4. 3 words to describe you as "Fia"?

Fast
Intelligent
Adorable ;-)

5. What profession other than modeling you ever loved to step in?

I used to help my father in his Textile business and I used to love it .. So, if than definitely something related to Textile or than maybe the total opposite of it do cheography.

6. 5 things people do not know about you?

I cook
I was a bartender and waitress for 4 year's.
I wake up at 6.30am daily.
I'm afraid of heights.
I still love to watch Tom & Jerry.

7. You have worked with many big brands; for who you loved the most to walk on ramp?

HSY, Kamiar Rokni, Ammar Belal, Nilofer Shahid and Nomi Ansari.

8. You look nice in bridal dresses, what extraordinary element, do you think, enhances your beauty?

I think every Pakistani Model looks nice in a bridal dress. We are desi! We know our culture and traditions ! We are the only ones who can carry these dresses with grace .

9. What is the secret behind your well maintained body?

Lots of stress, tensions, problems etc..... Hahaha just joking. I think you need be just active! Don't ask your maid for a single glass of water!! Get up and get it yourself yar ... !

10. Any plans you are looking for apart from modeling?

Let's see ;-) u never now ! I'm a spontaneous person! Time will tell!

11. Have you ever faced criticism, if yes then how you handled it?

Everyone of us has to face it.. Ok nowadays,its not that bad anymore but still ! It also depends what kind a criticism it is positive aur negative!? Sometimes it helps you grow stronger and sometimes it makes you weak !! It depends on every person's Bardasht ;-) .

12. The best thing you think only Pakistani fashion industry can have?

Karma,Charisma & Beauty

13. Who have been your mentors or gurus who have always guided you?

Omg ! I'm blessed with it , I have got lots of them

My father
Yusaf Salih
Iraj
Shehzad Raza
Khawer Riaz .... And the list goes on

14. In future, what career height you see for yourself in modeling?

I love what I'm doing.. So, that makes me feel on a height already ;-)

15. The strong competitor in fashion world you consider ever?

We don't have people who give you awards according to your talent! When right judgment will be done .. There will be competition !

16. What roles do fashion shoots play in modeling according to you?

Shoots are the base of Fashion .

17. Are you exhausted of fashion shoots or enjoy them?

I love my work :-)

18. How does your family see your profession, do they support you to be a model?

Here I'm blessed again ( Masallah ) My father is a script writer and poet. My brother is completing his degree in Film making and my Mom loves to watch us! So, full support :-)

19. The biggest fashion runway you dream to be part of?

Paris Fashion Week

20. Any inspirational advice for ordinary Pakistani woman?

Believe in yourself, Be confident and Fight for your rights !

Elle'mint Launched Clothing Boutique

2011-05-27T09:00:00.000-07:00

Elle'mint Launched Clothing Boutique

Posted on May 27th, 2011 | Comments (0)
Latest Fashion Events 2011, Pakistani Celebrities,Pakistani Dresses, Savvy PR & Events
May 23rd, 2011 to May 27th, 2011

Phase 5, DHA Karachi.

Organizer: Savy PR & Events

The launching event of multi label designer store Ellemint Pret in Karachi was organized by Aamir Mazhar of SAVVY PR & Events. Fashion designers making their presence honorable at event include Ayesha-Somaiya, Bailin, Pinx by Pinky Durrany, Saim Ali, Marvi, Nida Khurram, Sapphire Collection, Zahra Habib, Sana-Leena, Ayesha Khurram and Asima-Rushna. Fashiojn models showcasing for Elle'mint fashion house include Fayeza and Ayaan.

Katrina Kaif Hot Stills Etihad Next Stop Bollywood Dance Competition

2011-05-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

Katrina Kaif Hot Stills Etihad Next Stop Bollywood Dance Competition

Asin promotes Ready film at Provogue store

2011-05-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Asin promotes Ready film at Provogue store

Asin Promotes Ready Film At Provogue Store

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Tamanna Latest Hot Stills

2011-05-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Tamanna Latest Hot Stills

Very Attractive Picture of Amrita Rao

2011-05-26T22:14:00.001-07:00

Amrita Rao

Date of Birth: 7 June 1981, Mumbai, India

Birth Name: Amrita Deepak Rao

Height: 5' 5" (1.65 m)

Mini Biography

Amrita was born in the Rao family on June 7, 1981 in Mumbai, She speaks Konkani. She comes from a well to do Hindu family. Her dad owns an Advertising Agency.

Amrita did not want to purse any career with Bollywood as she wanted to graduate in psychology, which she eventually did.

Very Attractive Picture of Amrita Rao

Beautiful Pictures of Asin

2011-05-26T22:13:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Pictures of Asin

Asin

Date of Birth: 26 October 1985, Cochin, Kerala, India

Birth Name: Asin Thottumkal

Nickname: Queen of Kollywood

Height: 5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

Asin was born in Cochin, Kerala, India in the Malayalam-speaking Thottumkal family which consists of her businessman dad, Joseph, and mom, Dr. Seline, who practices in Ernakulam. She attended Naval Public School in Cochin, and after obtaining her Matriculation, was enrolled in St. Theresa's Higher Secondary School. After successfully obtaining her Higher Secondary School Certificate, she enrolled in St. Theresa's College to continue studying in the Arts Faculty. After obtaining a Degree in B.A. English Literature, she assisted her dad in his business (which includes software, export of furniture and antiques) and also took up modeling on the side. Her modeling assignments included Colgate Toothpaste, and Fairever Cream.

Beautiful Pictures of Asin

Very Sexy and beautiful Indian Actress Celina Jaitely

2011-05-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Celina Jaitley

Date of Birth: 24 November 1981, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India

Birth Name: Celina Jiya Jaitley

Nickname: Chinto

Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Celina Jiya Jaitley was born in Simla, India on June 9, 1981 to Punjabi-speaking Indian Army Colonel V.K. Jaitley and Meeta, an Afghani Beauty Queen-cum- Psychologist, specializing in children's problems. Celina has a brother who is also in the Indian Army.

She wanted to grow up and join the army just like her dad, either as a Pilot or a Doctor. Most of her childhood was spent in different locations due to her dad being transferred in cities and towns all over India - as a result she ended up studying in over a dozen different schools. The family is now re-settled in Kolkatta.

Very Sexy and beautiful Indian Actress Celina Jaitely

Very Attractive Picture of Deepika Padukone

2011-05-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

Deepika Padukone

Date of Birth: 5 January 1986, Copenhagen, Denmark

Height: 5' 8½" (1.74 m)

Mini Biography

Deepika Padukone, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. She is the daughter of former badminton Champion Prakash Padukone.

At the fifth annual Kingfisher Fashion Awards, for Indian models and designers, she was awarded the title of Model of the Year. Shortly after wards, she was chosen as one of the models for the Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for 2006, thus cementing her reputation as a supermodel. She also bagged two trophies at the Idea Zee F Awards in 2006 - female Model of the year (Commercial Assignments) and Fresh Face of the year.

Deepika is easily one of the most recognizable faces in Bollywood. With back-to-back monster hits like "Om Shanti Om", "Love Aaj Kal" and "Housefull", at such an early stage in her career, she is today a force to reckon with in the Indian film industry.

Very Attractive Picture of Deepika Padukone

Very Beautiful and lovely Pictures of Esha Deol

2011-05-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

Esha Deol

Date of Birth: 2 November 1981, Bombay, Maharashtra, India

Birth Name: Esha Dharmendra Deol

Height: 5' 6" (1.68 m)

Mini Biography

Fluent in English, Hindi and Tamil, Scorpion Esha was born on November 2, 1982 to Hema 'Dreamgirl' Malini, and Dharmendra 'He-Man' Deol. She has a younger sister, Ahana, and two step-brothers, Sunny and Bobby, both well-known Bollywood super-stars in their own rights. Bobby is married to Tanya Ahuja, and has a child.

Esha studied in the Jamnabai Narsee School, excelled at football, then went on to attend Oxford University and obtained a Masters Degree in Media Arts and Computer Technology. She also learned classical dance forms from her mom, the daughter of Jaya Chakraborty.

Very Beautiful and lovely Pictures of Esha Deol

Very beautiful Actress Geeta Basra

2011-05-26T22:04:00.001-07:00

Very beautiful Actress Geeta Basra

Very beautiful Actress of india Isha Koppikar

2011-05-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

Isha Koppikar

Date of Birth: 19 September 1976, Bombay, Maharashtra, India

Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m)

Mini Biography

Coming from a Konkani-speaking Mangalorean family of learned academicians, Isha has herself completed a course in Life Sciences from Ruia College, and was born on September 19, 1976 in Bombay, India. She has a younger brother.

After completing her college course, she contested the 1995 Miss India contest, and won the Miss Talent crown.

This win got her lead roles in two 1998 Tamil movies 'Kaadhal Kavidai' and 'En Swasa Katre' opposite Prasanth and Arvind Swamy respectively. Both movies got her a lot of positive reviews, and she even won the Best Female Debut from Filmfare for her role in 'Kandhal Kavidai'.

Very beautiful Actress of india Isha Koppikar

Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards Photos

2011-05-16T22:31:00.000-07:00

Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards Photos

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Zarine Khan Hot Wallpapers Zarine Khan Hot Photos Pictures Amp Images

2011-05-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

Zarine Khan Hot Wallpapers Sexy Zarine Khan Hot Photos Pictures Amp Images

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Fashion Show of Bollywood Beauties

2011-05-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

Fashion Show of Bollywood Beauties

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Marijuana Found at Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad Compound

2011-05-16T06:44:00.000-07:00

Marijuana Found at Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad Compound

Here's an item of note about the recent events in Pakistan: Over the past 24 hours it has been widely reported that ganja was growing along the outside walls of Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad. We'll let CNN, who first broke this little nugget of knowledge, explain the specifics:

My immediate reaction: It's a plant that's indigenous to that region of the world. So... who cares? Whether he was smoking pot or not doesn't mean he's any less of an evil, murderous son of a bitch. Nor does it mean that weed should be further stigmatized because of its proximity to an awful human being. That's just a ridiculous non sequitur.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Stockholm 2011

2011-05-16T04:44:00.000-07:00

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Stockholm 2011

Jan 31st, 2011 to Feb 3rd, 2011Comments (0)

Venue: Berns Salonger, Stockholm

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week provides a platform for Swedish style at famous Berns Salonger in central Stockholm. Mercedes Benz organizes fashion weeks twice a year, and for 2011 fashion this great event by name Mercedes Benz fashion week 2011 was a tribute.

The Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 one of the featured fashion weeks that provided a great platform for Swedish fashion to represent style at international level to compete in the latest 2011 fashion for both genders. Mercedes Benz Fashion Week is getting popular and successful day by day in the list of leading fashion weeks of the world. The Government agencies are also supporting this great fashion week twice in year according to the seasonal trends.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 was again an effort to promote the Swedish designers in the leading fashion industry of the world; The Swedish Institute is active to organize fashion events with collaboration of Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Stockholm. Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 brought forward the latest designs by the leading fashion designers like Altewai Saome, Ann-Sofie Back, Beckmans College of Design, Boomerang, Busnel, Camilla Norrback, Carin Wester, Cheap Monday, Dagmar, Diana Orving, Dr.Denim, Filippa K, Hernandez Cornet, Hope, Ida Sjöstedt, Josefin Strid, Karin Malm, Karin Säby, Lexington, Ljung, NAKKNA, Noir et Blanc, Odeur, Oscar Jacobson, Post Fire Dew, Rodebjer, Stylein, Tiger of Sweden, Ubi Sunt, Whyred, and Woolrich. Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 provided excellent opportunities for Fashion Models of each country to present their styles.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 proved as a significant stage to aspire Swedish fashion designers. Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 took initiatives like "Max Factor Award" and "Mercedes-Benz Young Fashion Industry Award". Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 was a great event of aspiring Fashion Shows by famous Fashion Designers who showcased their designed work through Fashion Models catwalks. Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 presented the latest trends for 2011 fashion.
The Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 was an event that worked great to contribute in the growth of up to date trends designed by the fashion designers at Stockholm. Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 2011 supported fashion since 2005 and was committed for 2011 fashion sponsorship for the development and growth of international fashion weeks. Get trendy and dashing with Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2011 collection designed for you to look modern.

Dubai Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

2011-05-16T04:38:00.000-07:00

Dubai Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

Oct 24th, 2010 to Oct 28th, 2010Comments (0)

Venue: Asateer Marquee at Atlantis The Palm Hotel, Dubai, Dubai

Dubai Fashion Week and big names of the fashion world are all set to unveil their latest collections 2011 starting on the 24th of this month.

Dubai Fashion Week and big names of the fashion world are all set to unveil their latest collections 2011 at the end of this month. Dubai Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011 will take place from 24 to 28 October in the Asateer Marquee at Atlantis The Palm Hotel, Dubai. This year will see Manish Malhotra, Furne One and ‘Neon Edge”s Mona Fares at DFW S/S 2011. Now in its 8th season, DFW will welcome a total of 40 fashion designers set to delight attendees with their creations.

DFW is overseen by fashion and industry experts comprising of an advisory board. The fashion week enables local and regional fashion designers and fashion houses to present their collection to global and regional buyers, media, fashion professionals and the general public. Fashion designer Manish Malhotra was also the famous participant of Dubai Fashion Week 2009.

The Middle East is home to a burgeoning fashion scene and it is important that this obtains global recognition. Designers include: Sachin Gada, Niteesh Singh Chauhan who are both based in India, and Dubai based Susan Jacob, Nova Krishnan, Samah Ali and Nasrine Dechache while last year Mariam Al Mazro, Salma Khan, HSY with his Autumn/Winter 2009 Collection, Ekta Singh, Walid Atallah and many others were also the participating designers.

These six exciting new designers were selected from a shortlist of twelve and will each debut five runway designs at DFW SS11, in addition to an exhibition stand providing them with a platform to interact with business-driven associations.

While famous designers Hajra Hayat, Sobia Nazir, Satya Paul, HSY, Amber Feroz and Ekta Singh were also very famous participant of Dubai Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2009.

The competition was judged by the DFW Advisory Board of prominent personalities in the fields of apparel retail, fashion design, journalism and the corporate sector. Judges included: Aiisha Ramadan who was very famous designer of Dubai Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2010 with Barbie designs, Rohini Gehani, Samara Punjabi, Marc Robinson and Mariah.

Portland Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011Collections

2011-05-16T01:42:00.000-07:00

Oct 6th, 2010 to Oct 10th, 2010Comments (0)

Venue: PFW Plaza, Portland

The five night Portland Fashion Week kicked off this year's schedule on Wednesday night, with a refreshing change of pace with Spring/Summer 2011Collections.

The fashion week from 6 to 10 October, 2010 kicked off with an installation format presentation show, staged by a select number of high profile artisan fashion designers like Adam Andreas, La Vie by Michelle Decourcy, Amai Unmei, Nelli Millard, Jesica Milton and Amelia Toro representing Portland’s independent spirit and strength in art & fashion. Catapult, the much anticipated emerging designer competition take place the following evening, when audience and panel voting will award the coveted best designer prize. The anticipation is well founded and in line with Portland’s reputation as a hotbed of emerging talent, which has been nationally apparent with the Portland area producing two of the last three winners of Project Runway, and both of them being affiliated with Portland Fashion Week the last year collection of Portland Fashion Week 2010 was also very stunning.

PFW Plaza is your introduction to the Portland Fashion Week experience. Upon entering the venue, attendees find themselves in this vibrant square. Throughout the week, guests rub elbows with movers and shakers, see and be seen, and compare fashion notes over a cocktail while touring the booths and display spaces set up by PFW sponsors and vendors. PFW Plaza is open for all visitors.

When it comes to eco chic, sustainable clothing, eco responsibility, and green fashion designers their catwalk of choice is bamboo at Portland Fashion Week. Eco-friendly designers and labels from abroad and across the country come to the green building in Portland, Oregon for their fashion shows.

Friday’s show at Portland Fashion Week showed a glimpse of fashion future, it will make happy to report that Spring/Summer 2011 in Portland will be filled with easy, wearable and for lack of a better descriptor super cute clothes that anyone can pull off.

Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011 Collection

2011-05-16T01:23:00.000-07:00

Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011 Collection

City: Paris

Paris Fashion Week presented the beautiful designs of Spring/Summer 2011 Collection in Paris.

Paris Fashion Week brings each season's hectic schedule of fashion shows to a close, capping off a whirl-wind tour of International fashion weeks that starts in New York, moves through London and Milan, and ends in Paris. It occurs twice a year, taking in the Autumn/Winter and Spring/Summer seasons.

This seasons Paris Fashion kicks off with its latest Spring/summer collection 2011 on Tuesday, September 28 to celebrate nine consecutive days of fashion and style till Wednesday October 6, 2010. A string of young and talented designers including Dries Van Noten, Nina Ricci, Christian Dior, Sonia Rykiel, Givenchy, Stella McCartney, Ellie Saab and many others will be showcasing their Spring/summer collection 2011.

Milan Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

2011-05-16T01:13:00.000-07:00

Milan Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2011

Fashion Week wraps up today with its enchanting, heart hitting spring/summer collection in MilanFashion Week 2011.

Seven consecutive fashion filled days that kicked off on Tuesday, September 22 in Milan Fashion Week wraps up today with its enchanting, heart hitting spring/summer collection. Myriads of new trends are seen in this fashion week with Giorgio Armani took the lead with its cool, deep blue collection personifying the mesmerizing loneliness of dessert.

The collection was opulent in its textural richness and intricacies of cut. Dolce and Gabbana transformed lacy, flowy curtains and bed sheets into classy, fairytale like white frocks that looked just impeccable and perfect choice for summer romance. Dolled up in dreamy, tribal, embroidered tulle dresses, with laced seams and mile long, flat ironed extensions, Robert Cavalli models were looking very sexy and seductive. The hip-hugging bell bottoms or long, webby skirts worn with tied-on tattered tops that left hips, bellies and backs exposed were sensually heart hitting. Gucci definitely rocked the catwalk with its ‘Sophisticated Seduction” collection that was mesmerizingly colorful and sweetly sophisticated.

Indian Wedding dresses for groom

2011-05-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

Indian marriages are praised and embraced all around the world. Indian matrimony is a unique experience that symbolizes eternal bond of two individuals even after marriage. Among them, Rajasthani wedding promises a royal reception for its guests. Rajputs are famous for their lavish and grand weddings where huge amount of money is spent on decorations and food during the wedding. It is one of the most royal affairs where rituals are performed with seriousness and all the ceremonies contain the essence of Rajput culture. They endorse and support marriages within the community.

Rajasthani marriage is usually arranged between the bride and the groom where the families decide their sons/daughters life partner and tie them into matrimony. The women get married in their early 20?s and become housewives after marriage. The men usually take care of their family business and they also get married in their early or mid 20?s. Elders of the family hold great respect which every Rajput must obey. The auspicious dates for marriages for Rajasthanis are between May-July and October-January which they consult from their pundits.

Rajasthani bride and the groom get dressed in traditional clothes on their wedding day, but with changing times women generally prefer lehengas while the men have also given a modern touch to their wedding attires. The lehenga of the bride is colorful attire which is a three piece garment. It has a blouse, a long skirt called ghagra that is generally in silk along with a net dupatta having broad embroidered border on the edges. The colorful dresses contrast well with the dull sand across Rajasthan. The traditional bridal wear is mostly red in color but many other colors are also popular such as orange, pink and bright yellow.

A Rajasthani bride is adorned with lots of jewelry on her wedding day. She wears Rakhri (a circular piece of jewelry for the forehead), hanging earrings, the chooda (a set of ivory and gold bangles), the timaniyaan (a choker studded with uncut diamonds) or other ethnic kundan jewelry. A bajubandh or stone-studded armlets, bichuye and gold anklets are worn around the feet and lastly the bride wears a nath or a nose ring. The look of a bride is very different from other Indian brides as some of the jewelry are very unique and only wore by Rajasthani brides.

A lot of gota patti work is used on the bridal wear along with intricate embroidery which portrays the true traditional Indian bride. The bride looks angelic in the wedding attire and the look gets enhanced by the mehndi that is applied a day before the wedding on the hands, palm and feet. The henna is applied by professionals and ethnic Rajasthani motifs and designs are made.

The Rajasthani groom also looks a royalty where he is adorned in brocade Achkan embroidered with golden thread known as zari work. Majestic orange turban is worn on the head which is ornamented with kundan and rubies. On the bottom churidar is worn along with regal Rajasthani shoes known as juttis. The groom wears expensive and heavy necklaces and also wears ornamented cummerbund (waist band) that gives him princely look. Some of the grooms also carry hand printed stoles known as gujari art on the right shoulder and holds a sword in their hand. The groom then leaves for bride’s home for the wedding ceremony.

21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic

2011-05-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

A considerable portion of my consulting time has recently revolved around the optimization of corporate blogs (or the addition of blogs to revamped sites). As usual, I find a pattern emerging in the strategies that need attention and the pitfalls that must be avoided. So, rather than charging $400 an hour to give advice on the subject, I thought it would be valuable to share many of the most common pieces of advice here on the blog (business part of Rand fights with open source Rand, but loses, as usual).

Choose the Right Blog Software (or Custom Build)
The right blog CMS makes a big difference. If you want to set yourself apart, I recommend creating a custom blog solution - one that can be completely customized to your users. In most cases, WordPress, Blogger, MovableType or Typepad will suffice, but building from scratch allows you to be very creative with functionality and formatting. The best CMS is something that's easy for the writer(s) to use and brings together the features that allow the blog to flourish. Think about how you want comments, archiving, sub-pages, categorization, multiple feeds and user accounts to operate in order to narrow down your choices. OpenSourceCMS is a very good tool to help you select a software if you go that route.
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Host Your Blog Directly on Your Domain
Hosting your blog on a different domain from your primary site is one of the worst mistakes you can make. A blog on your domain can attract links, attention, publicity, trust and search rankings - by keeping the blog on a separate domain, you shoot yourself in the foot. From worst to best, your options are - Hosted (on a solution like Blogspot or Wordpress), on a unique domain (at least you can 301 it in the future), on a subdomain (these can be treated as unique from the primary domain by the engines) and as a sub-section of the primary domain (in a subfolder or page - this is the best solution).
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Write Title Tags with Two Audiences in Mind
First and foremost, you're writing a title tag for the people who will visit your site or have a subscription to your feed. Title tags that are short, snappy, on-topic and catchy are imperative. You also want to think about search engines when you title your posts, since the engines can help to drive traffic to your blog. A great way to do this is to write the post and the title first, then run a few searches at Overture, WordTracker & KeywordDiscovery to see if there is a phrasing or ordering that can better help you to target "searched for" terms.
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Participate at Related Forums & Blogs
Whatever industry or niche you're in, there are bloggers, forums and an online community that's already active. Depending on the specificity of your focus, you may need to think one or two levels broader than your own content to find a large community, but with the size of the participatory web today, even the highly specialized content areas receive attention. A great way to find out who these people are is to use Technorati to conduct searches, then sort by number of links (authority). Del.icio.us tags are also very useful in this process, as are straight searches at the engines (Ask.com's blog search in particular is of very good quality).
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Tag Your Content
Technorati is the first place that you should be tagging posts. I actually recommend having the tags right on your page, pointing to the Technorati searches that you're targeting. There are other good places to ping - del.icio.us and Flickr being the two most obvious (the only other one is Blogmarks, which is much smaller). Tagging content can also be valuable to help give you a "bump" towards getting traffic from big sites like Reddit, Digg & StumbleUpon (which requires that you download the toolbar, but trust me - it's worth it). You DO NOT want to submit every post to these sites, but that one out of twenty (see tactic #18) is worth your while.
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Launch Without Comments (and Add Them Later)
There's something sad about a blog with 0 comments on every post. It feels dead, empty and unpopular. Luckily, there's an easy solution - don't offer the ability to post comments on the blog and no one will know that you only get 20 uniques a day. Once you're upwards of 100 RSS subscribers and/or 750 unique visitors per day, you can open up the comments and see light activity. Comments are often how tech-savvy new visitors judge the popularity of a site (and thus, its worth), so play to your strengths and keep your obscurity private.
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Don't Jump on the Bandwagon
Some memes are worthy of being talked about by every blogger in the space, but most aren't. Just because there's huge news in your industry or niche DOES NOT mean you need to be covering it, or even mentioning it (though it can be valuable to link to it as an aside, just to integrate a shared experience into your unique content). Many of the best blogs online DO talk about the big trends - this is because they're already popular, established and are counted on to be a source of news for the community. If you're launching a new blog, you need to show people in your space that you can offer something unique, different and valuable - not just the same story from your point of view. This is less important in spaces where there are very few bloggers and little online coverage and much more in spaces that are overwhelmed with blogs (like search, or anything else tech-related).
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Link Intelligently
When you link out in your blog posts, use convention where applicable and creativity when warranted, but be aware of how the links you serve are part of the content you provide. Not every issue you discuss or site you mention needs a link, but there's a fine line between overlinking and underlinking. The best advice I can give is to think of the post from the standpoint of a relatively uninformed reader. If you mention Wikipedia, everyone is familiar and no link is required. If you mention a specific page at Wikipedia, a link is necessary and important. Also, be aware that quoting other bloggers or online sources (or even discussing their ideas) without linking to them is considered bad etiquette and can earn you scorn that could cost you links from those sources in the future. It's almost always better to be over-generous with links than under-generous. And link condoms? Only use them when you're linking to something you find truly distasteful or have serious apprehension about.
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Invite Guest Bloggers
Asking a well known personality in your niche to contribute a short blog on their subject of expertise is a great way to grow the value and reach of your blog. You not only flatter the person by acknowledging their celebrity, you nearly guarantee yourself a link or at least an association with a brand that can earn you readers. Just be sure that you really are getting a quality post from someone that's as close to universally popular and admired as possible (unless you want to start playing the drama linkbait game, which I personally abhor). If you're already somewhat popular, it can often be valuable to look outside your space and bring in guest authors who have a very unique angle or subject matter to help spice up your focus. One note about guest bloggers - make sure they agree to have their work edited by you before it's posted. A disagreement on this subject after the fact can have negative ramifications.
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Eschew Advertising (Until You're Popular)
I hate AdSense on blogs. Usually, I ignore it, but I also cast a sharp eye towards the quality of the posts and professionalism of the content when I see AdSense. That's not to say that contextual advertising can't work well in some blogs, but it needs to be well integrated into the design and layout to help defer criticism. Don't get me wrong - it's unfair to judge a blog by its cover (or, in this case, its ads), but spend a lot of time surfing blogs and you'll have the same impression - low quality blogs run AdSense and many high quality ones don't. I always recommend that whether personal or professional, you wait until your blog has achieved a level of success before you start advertising. Ads, whether they're sponsorships, banners, contextual or other, tend to have a direct, negative impact on the number of readers who subscribe, add to favorites and link - you definitely don't want that limitation while you're still trying to get established.
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Go Beyond Text in Your Posts
Blogs that contain nothing but line after line of text are more difficult to read and less consistently interesting than those that offer images, interactive elements, the occasional multimedia content and some clever charts & graphs. Even if you're having a tough time with non-text content, think about how you can format the text using blockquotes, indentation, bullet points, etc. to create a more visually appealing and digestible block of content.
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Cover Topics that Need Attention
In every niche, there are certain topics and questions that are frequently asked or pondered, but rarely have definitive answers. While this recommendation applies to nearly every content-based site, it's particularly easy to leverage with a blog. If everyone in the online Nascar forums is wondering about the components and cost of an average Nascar vehicle - give it to them. If the online stock trading industry is rife with questions about the best performing stocks after a terrorist threat, your path is clear. Spend the time and effort to research, document and deliver and you're virtually guaranteed link-worthy content that will attract new visitors and subscribers.
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Pay Attention to Your Analytics
Visitor tracking software can tell you which posts your audience likes best, which ones don't get viewed and how the search engines are delivering traffic. Use these clues to react and improve your strategies. Feedburner is great for RSS and I'm a personal fan of Indextools. Consider adding action tracking to your blog, so you can see what sources of traffic are bringing the best quality visitors (in terms of time spent on the site, # of page views, etc). I particularly like having the "register" link tagged for analytics so I can see what percentage of visitors from each source is interested enough to want to leave a comment or create an account.
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Use a Human Voice
Charisma is a valuable quality, both online and off. Through a blog, it's most often judged by the voice you present to your users. People like empathy, compassion, authority and honesty. Keep these in the forefront of your mind when writing and you'll be in a good position to succeed. It's also critical that you maintain a level of humility in your blogging and stick to your roots. When users start to feel that a blog is taking itself too seriously or losing the characteristics that made it unique, they start to seek new places for content. We've certainly made mistakes (even recently) that have cost us some fans - be cautious to control not only what you say, but how you say it. Lastly - if there's a hot button issue that has you posting emotionally, temper it by letting the post sit in draft mode for an hour or two, re-reading it and considering any revisions. With the advent of feeds, once you publish, there's no going back.
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Archive Effectively
The best archives are carefully organized into subjects and date ranges. For search traffic (particularly long tail terms), it can be best to offer the full content of every post in a category on the archive pages, but from a usability standpoint, just linking to each post is far better (possibly with a very short snippet). Balance these two issues and make the decision based on your goals. A last note on archiving - pagination in blogging can be harmful to search traffic, rather than beneficial (as you provide constantly changing, duplicate content pages). Pagination is great for users who scroll to the bottom and want to see more, though, so consider putting a "noindex" in the meta tag or in the robots.txt file to keep spiders where they belong - in the well-organized archive system.
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Implement Smart URLs
The best URL structure for blogs is, in my opinion, as short as possible while still containing enough information to make an educated guess about the content you'll find on the page. I don't like the 10 hyphen, lengthy blog titles that are the byproduct of many CMS plugins, but they are certainly better than any dynamic parameters in the URL. Yes - I know I'm not walking the talk here, and hopefully it's something we can fix in the near future. To those who say that one dynamic parameter in the URL doesn't hurt, I'd take issue - just re-writing a ?ID=450 to /450 has improved search traffic considerably on several blogs we've worked with.
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Reveal as Much as Possible
The blogosphere is in love with the idea of an open source world on the web. Sharing vast stores of what might ordinarily be considered private information is the rule, rather than the exception. If you can offer content that's usually private - trade secrets, pricing, contract issues, and even the occasional harmless rumor, your blog can benefit. Make a decision about what's off-limits and how far you can go and then push right up to that limit in order to see the best possible effects. Your community will reward you with links and traffic.
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Only One Post in Twenty Can Be Linkbait
Not every post is worthy of making it to the top of Digg, Del.icio.us/popular or even a mention at some other blogs in your space. Trying to over-market every post you write will result in pushback and ultimately lead to negative opinions about your efforts. The less popular your blog is, the harder it will be to build excitement around a post, but the process of linkbait has always been trial and error - build, test, refine and re-build. Keep creating great ideas and bolstering them with lots of solid, everyday content and you'll eventually be big enough to where one out of every 20-40 posts really does become linkbait.
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Make Effective Use of High Traffic Days
If you do have linkbait, whether by design or by accident, make sure to capitalize. When you hit the front page of Digg, Reddit, Boing Boing, or, on a smaller scale, attract a couple hundred visitors from a bigger blog or site in your space, you need to put your best foot forward. Make sure to follow up on a high traffic time period with 2-3 high quality posts that show off your skills as a writer, your depth of understanding and let visitors know that this is content they should be sticking around to see more of. Nothing kills the potential linkbait "bump" faster than a blog whose content doesn't update for 48 hours after they've received a huge influx of visitors.
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Create Expectations and Fulfill Them
When you're writing for your audience, your content focus, post timing and areas of interest will all become associated with your personal style. If you vary widely from that style, you risk alienating folks who've come to know you and rely on you for specific data. Thus, if you build a blog around the idea of being an analytical expert in your field, don't ignore the latest release of industry figures only to chat about an emotional issue - deliver what your readers expect of you and crunch the numbers. This applies equally well to post frequency - if your blog regularly churns out 2 posts a day, having two weeks with only 4 posts is going to have an adverse impact on traffic. That's not to say you can't take a vacation, but you need to schedule it wisely and be prepared to lose RSS subscribers and regulars. It's not fair, but it's the truth. We lose visitors every time I attend an SES conference and drop to one post every two days (note - guest bloggers and time-release posts can help here, too).
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Build a Brand
Possibly one of the most important aspects of all in blogging is brand-building. As Zefrank noted, to be a great brand, you need to be a brand that people want to associate themselves with and a brand that people feel they derive value from being a member. Exclusivity, insider jokes, emails with regulars, the occasional cat post and references to your previous experiences can be off putting for new readers, but they're solid gold for keeping your loyal base feeling good about their brand experience with you. Be careful to stick to your brand - once you have a definition that people like and are comfortable with, it's very hard to break that mold without severe repercussions. If you're building a new blog, or building a low-traffic one, I highly recommend writing down the goals of your brand and the attributes of its identity to help remind you as you write.

Best of luck to all you bloggers out there. It's an increasingly crowded field to play in, but these strategies should help to give you an edge over the competition. As always, if you've got additions or disagreements, I'd love to hear them.

Inside Osama Bin Laden Compound: Video

2011-05-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Video shows the interior and exterior of the compound where Osama bin Laden was hiding and killed.