We Blog Better

Blog better by imitating a blogger who does it well

kieshaeasley — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:00:20 +0000

I’ve always been a visual learner. If you show me how to do something, I can often get it fairly quickly if I have an opportunity to immediately apply what I’ve learned. Blogging is no different – that’s why when I first started out, I sought out the high ranking blogs and tried to get a feel for how they did things.

I knew blogging was more than good design, I needed to know what it was that these bloggers did to stand out from the rest.

One day in my search for knowledge, I ran across Lisa Irby’s 2createawebsite blog and was immediately amazed and challenged. When I found this blog, I thought to myself, now that’s the kind of blogger I want to be.

I quickly realized that there were some aspects of blogging that I had all wrong. What’s weird is that these are things I already knew, but for whatever reason I imagined it differently online. I knew that people are more likely to trust you if you help them and offer them the information they need. I knew that the quickest way to get the desired result is by doing the same for someone. You know the old saying, “treat others as you’ll have them treat you.” Somehow I managed to overlook that in my early blogging days as I overpromoted my site day in and day out.

I wasn’t purposely trying to be an unethical blogger, but because my blog was missing some important components and too many ads, I can see how it might have come across as spammy.

Lisa’s site challenged me to go above and beyond and present something new; something creative and of value to my readers. I love her blog because she puts herself into her blog and she openly reveals how she achieved a commendable level of success. Her most popular post, How I Doubled My Traffic in 2 Months is probably the one post I can contribute to the success of Highly Favored. I wanted to succeed at blogging, so that meant I’d have to take cues from someone who’s already successful.

I’m not telling you to blindly imitate or copy someone else’s writing style (and plagiarism is out of the question) – what I’m saying is that when someone shows you what worked for them, you put those things into action in a way that meshes with your niche and your style of writing. Don’t run out and get the same WordPress theme; don’t start writing the same type of content, or promoting the same products. Instead learn from them and use it to enhance what’s unique about you.

Although Lisa basically tells it all on her blog, I still thought it would be great to interview her. I was almost too shy to even ask, but then I thought, the worst she could say was “no” and either way, I’d still admire her. To my surprise she accepted my request.

Join me tomorrow as I reveal her responses and tips for better blogging. Some of you may already know the ironic detail about her blogging success, but for those of you who don’t stay tuned…

Is there a blogger that you’ve tried to model yourself after? If so, who and why?

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Become a Better Blogger

Blogger must reads – Weekly Link List (20 links)

What a local blogger group can do for your blog

kieshaeasley — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:37:18 +0000

Guest post by Daniel Packer

Like many of you, I want to drive traffic to my site. I want to gain more subscribers, and eventually, I’d like to make money! We all have different experiences with blogging, and we all know what works for us and what drives traffic. For some, that means guest posting a lot, and for others it means getting lucky that someone big notices you and retweets your link.

I had an experience I’d like to share with you because it completely changed the way I think about blogging. I did my fair share of guest blogging, but only got a few visitors each time. I wasn’t growing enough and was getting discouraged. One day, it all changed. I was getting more visitors, more quality visitors, and I knew that my growth wasn’t going to level off any time soon.

What was the big change?

I joined a group of other bloggers who write about the same topic and have the same goals. Our goal is to improve our Alexa Ranking, but what has happened has been far more substantial. We drive traffic to each other’s sites. We interact outside the blogging world and everyone contributes what they can. I automated the process to retrieve rankings and post them every day. Another person set up a carnival that highlights other people in the group, and another person set up a link to highlight our favorite posts. Soon we’ll have a whole website devoted to this group.

The main thing I’ve learned is to be selfless.

Don’t worry about your rankings. If you do, you’ll never go anywhere. Interact with people. Do you love when people retweet your posts and comment on your blog? Get out there and comment on their blogs! Do you have a favorite group of blogs that you read every day? Propose a group that will help you interact better. You can share your tips that will benefit everyone and learn the best way to get advertising.

I go to a happy hour with other bloggers in the D.C. area once a month and guess what? My first advertising money came from a referral from someone I met the very first time! I wasn’t expecting it, but I learned a lot, had a great time sharing my experiences, and blogging suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

Whether your blog is stagnating, you’re just starting out, or you are comfortable with your place, get out there and interact with others. You will help others grow and they will undoubtedly return the favor!

Daniel comes from Sweating the Big Stuff, where he blogs about personal finance and is part of the Yakezie group, which advocates a mentality of selflessly promoting others for the greater good. To read more, subscribe to his RSS feed or follow him on twitter

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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To schedule tweets or NOT to tweet?

kieshaeasley — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:37:59 +0000

I recently submitted To Schedule tweets or NOT to tweet? to FamousBloggers.net and so far I’ve been seeing such an awesome response that I wanted to share it with you.

Although, I hadn’t really intended to enter the Guest Blogging Contest that the blog is currently holding, I was only trying to promote the Iron Blogger Contest and Birthday Celebration Contest I’m holding on my other blog, but I’m all for taking advantage of every opportunity that I can, so if you’ll be kind enough to drop by and RT and comment on my guest post, it would warm my heart immensely – and possibly help me win :)

While you’re at it, you might as well enter, too. If so, please let me know and I’ll be more than happy to return the RT and commenting favor!

Thanks! It truly is a pleasure to write for you everyday.

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The Iron Blogger Challenge Contestant Highlights

kieshaeasley — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:37:20 +0000

So far we’ve had several brave bloggers accept the “Oyster” challenge and they are pretty creative. It just shows that it takes a brilliant mind to blog. I’m impressed by the way each contestant has been able to integrate the word into a post related to their niche.

Today I want to present the contestants that I have so far, but remember entries are still being accepted until 11:59pm, Friday, March 12, 2010, so if you still haven’t entered and would like to, you’ve still got time. Don’t let these brilliant entries scare you away, remember that all contestants will receive a backlink, so it’s still a win/win situation.

I’m intrigued by the way each of these contestants took this one random word and found a way to merge it seamlessly into their writing.

Here’s what our contestants are doing so far (presented in no particular order):

Rebeccah @Becca’s Place wrote: “Oysters”

Arthur @Blockstandard wrote “From a Grain of Sand”

Chris @Crackerjackblogging wrote 12 Things Bloggers Can Do to Avoid the Oyster’s Fate in Alice in Wonderland

Joella @BlogswithWings wrote How Being an Oyster Can Help Your Blog Succeed

Lisa @ChristianSingleWoman wrote Oysters on the Half Shell: A Recipe for Christian Single Life”

As you can see, these bloggers are doing an excellent job. So what about you? How creative could you get with the word “Oyster“?

Send me your entry and join the Iron Blogger Challenge.

I’ll be announcing the winners on Monday, March 15, 2010.

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Become a Better Blogger

10 Blogger Must Reads – Weekly Link List

kieshaeasley — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:05:58 +0000

10 Tips to Boost Your Blog’s Loyal Readership

Brainstorming tips & techniques for bloggers

If you can’t run with the big blogs

7 Unconventional Tips to Become and Irresistible and Profitable Blogger

10 Writing Rules You Can’t Break…And How to Break Them

Is Blogging a Calling or a Career?

The Critical Mistake that Keeps Bloggers Broke

Headline Writing Techniques that Just Work

4 Ways to Overcome the Nobody’s Reading My Blog Blues

How to Keep Readers Coming Back to Your blog

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Blog Food Series: 4 Tips for whipping up fresh content

kieshaeasley — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:44:32 +0000

Tuesday we fed your blog with some simple tips that will help you blog with passion. Wednesday, we discussed the importance of creating a remarkable blog personality. Thursday we threw in some tips for adding the unexpected to your posts and today, we’ll combine them all together and stir up the blog mix with some tricks for generating content.

Each of these blog ingredients: passion, personality, and the unexpected are the essential for creating content that will stand out in a crowd. They are powerful because they require you to put your heart and yourself into the mix. Since there is no one else exactly like you out of over 6 billion people, it’s the best utensil for whipping up a unique web presence regardless of trends and popular topics.

I like this potluck strategy – just through it all in the pot and before you know it, you’ll have a deliciously bubbling blog content. I’m sorry, maybe I need to eat a snack :)

Anyway, like cooking, whipping up fresh content requires the necessary ingredients and a bit of preparation. Without a plan if will be difficult to manage all of the tasks associated with content writing and promotion. Without a plan it will begin to feel as if you are attempting re-invent the wheel everyday.

1. Make a topic plan for each day of the week

Although I’m currently in the stages of getting a recurring plan for this blog, I already have one set for my Christian inspiration blog. Every day of the week I address a different aspect of my blog niche. So Monday through Friday my readers can expect to see me touch on a different topic.

It makes it so much easier for me to write because it helps me narrow my focus to just one thing as opposed to an infinite range of possibilities. It also helps me stay ahead. When I’m in the mood to write a bunch of posts about Marriage (Mondays) it allows me to rest a bit during the week because I know I’ll have at least one day of the week already set. I can then concentrate on other posts.

2. Get organized

Write first, promote and engage in social media secondly and set some time limits for these tasks. Some bloggers would argue for promoting first because without promotion, the content you write would mean nothing because no one would see it. But honestly, if you don’t have quality content on your site, you shouldn’t want anyone to see it because they’re going to get a bad impression of your site and may never return.

Also, I believe that it’s so easy to get lost in the social media time warp that you could be using to focus on your content. Maybe a good way to handle this would be to give yourself a time to write, say spend thirty minutes writing, thirty minutes brainstorming for other posts, and then allow yourself time to interact with other bloggers and promote your content. I do this because I know if I start promoting and interacting first, I might never get around to writing my content, just because there are so many intriguing things that beg for my attention.

3. Make association Lists

Returning to the Bubba Gump example from a few days ago – sometimes the mere act of listing everything you can think of about your niche to discuss and explore on your blog is a great tool to turn to when your mind is totally blank. If you have an ample list, there will always be at least one thing there you can get in the mood to write about.

4. Assess your purpose and audience

Writing without a clear purpose is like starting a meal without a recipe – if you just start grabbing ingredients from the cupboard and adding them with no regards to flavor or the amounts needed. On some days you may get lucky and it might taste okay, but on others, it actually ends up rather nauseating.

If you fail to consider who you are writing for, you could run the risk of serving succulent shrimp scampy to a group of people who hate seafood. You could end up writing the best blog content for the wrong crowd.

Get in the habit of asking yourself – why are you writing and for whom?

Are you writing because you want to address a problem? If so, then do your best to offer solutions or point your readers to links that may help them find the solution. You could also keep it open and ask your readers for solutions.

Are you writing to make a claim? Then back it up with evidence.

Are you writing to explain a difficult concept? Then be sure to offer clear and detailed examples.

Of course these are not the only tips that can help you generate a consistent flow of content, but if you get these fundamentals down, you’ll give your blog the best chances of survival. Stock these items up in your cabinet and you’ll have an endless supply of blog food.

If you haven’t already entered the Iron Blogger Contest, I encourage you to do so. Be sure to check out the details and enter to win free ad-space until the end of the month. Contest ends Mar. 12, 2010.

Photo credit: http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-egg-and-whisk-with-motion-blur–rimagefree157564-resi1329930

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The Official Iron Blogger Contest

kieshaeasley — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:22:10 +0000

A slice of the unexpected to take your blog to a new level

Inspired by today’s blog post Secret Blog Ingredient #3 and further encouraged by another great blogger, I’ve decided to make it official and invite all who are brave enough to enter.

In the spirit of one of my favorite Food Network shows, The Iron Chef , I’ll be giving you an unusual ingredient (a word or phrase) to work with. You’ll compose a blog post in which you somehow connect it to your blog niche. Read today’s post for ideas for using interesting similes, metaphors and analogies to add a slice of the unexpected in your writing.

The blogger with the best post will win the “Iron Blogger Award” and free Ad space until the end of the month. All contestants will receive a free backlink for participating, so it really is a win-win situation for everybody.

Iron Blogger Ingredient: “Oysters”

Contest Guidelines

Use the Iron Blogger Ingredient above and create an interesting post that relates the word to your niche.
Submit your post by Friday, March 12, 2010 before 11:59pm EST.
Use the Contact form to submit your entry.
Retweet this post.

That’s it! I’ll announce the winner on Monday, March 15, 2010.

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Blog Food Series: Secret Blog Ingredient #3

kieshaeasley — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:42:11 +0000

I love watching challenges on Food Network. I especially enjoy the Iron Chef. Each chef is given some strange ingredient to use to create something new and delicious. This causes them to stretch their imagination. They have to come up with an impressive dish with ingredients that many people believe are unappetizing and turn it into something flavorful that stands out from all of the rest.

Blogging is kind of like that. You’ve picked your niche, based on passion and expertise, but unless you add your personality and something special into the recipe, it’s going to turn out as bland as all the rest. You’ve got to drop in unusual flavors and ingredients that will get people wondering and thinking. You’ve got to stir up the blog mix with something no one else can produce, but you.

Take the first two ingredients I’ve given you this week: passion and personality and add…

Secret Blog Ingredient #3: A slice of the unexpected

This is going to require to you think back to school for a moment (just a moment, I don’t intend to induce any stupors). Remember those beautiful figures of speech called similes, metaphors, and analogies.

A simile is a comparison of two very unlike things, but in such a way the comparison causes the similarities (hence the term, simile) reveal a deeper meaning about the objects being compared. For example, in yesterday’s post I said:

“A new blog is like a new baby, it requires a lot of high quality nourishment at regular intervals.”

We know that on a literal level, a blog is not a baby, but if you think about how often a baby must be fed, how much attention must be paid – and that a blog can’t take care of itself, you might gain a deeper understanding of the importance of writing daily posts, even if short and sweet, to keep it growing.

A metaphor is basically the same as a simile except that the word like is omitted and the object is treated as if it has morphed or changed into the unlikely object. For example, I’ve been referring to this blog as if it were a living being that breathes and eats and I’ve also been treating this blog as if it were a cooking class all week. No, there is nothing baking in the oven, but hopefully the temperature is rising in your brain and your thinking molecules are all bouncing around trying to figure out how you will take your blog to a new level and do something out of the ordinary.

Analogy is a comparison based on similarities as well. It’s like assuming that if there is a likeness in one area there will be likeness in others. It uses one object to teach about another. When you use life experiences to make a point in a blog post, these are usually analogies.

Okay, so now you’ve got your quick and dirty English lesson, now what should you do with it when writing your posts?

When you write for your blog, look for ways you can use similes, metaphors and analogies to add a slice of the unexpected to spice up to your posts. The more unusual and unexpected the better. Not only will it cause you to think more deeply about about how to write about your niche in new ways, it will also cause your readers to have more engaging “Ah-ha!” moments that will keep them returning to your blog to see what’s next on the menu.

Take this challenge: Pick a random topic, for example “Oysters”, and see how you can relate that seemingly unrelated object to your blog niche in a way that sparks a eureka moment for your audience.

I’d love to read about what you come up with. Maybe I’ll throw in some free ad space for a few weeks for the one who can develop the most creative blog post based on today’s Iron Chef Ingredient: “Oysters”

Be sure to return tomorrow for the last blog ingredient of the series…

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Blog Food Series: Secret Blog Ingredient #2

kieshaeasley — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:53:18 +0000

Yesterday’s post Blog Food: A Recipe for a Better Blog I talked about an essential blog ingredient: passion and discussed ways to measure whether or not you have enough for your chosen blog niche and what to do to reignite fizzling passion. Passion is a necessary component, but it won’t matter how much passion you have if you don’t actually convey that in your writing.

Your blog is constantly hungry, and while it may be tempting to feed it any old thing, you might want to consider the nutritional value of what you’re putting into it. Especially in the beginning phases. A new blog is like a new baby, it requires a lot of high quality nourishment at regular intervals. Every day or so you’ve got to mix up something new for your growing blog. The good news is, though, as your blog grows and gets older it will require less frequent feedings, but even still if you don’t want to go too long between posts and run the risk of raising a malnourished creature.

So in order to create content with substance, you’ll need to stir in a healthy helping of this next ingredient.

Blog ingredient #2: personality

Blogging is not the time to have a personality crisis – you don’t want flip-flop based on whatever trends are floating around – you don’t want to be that kid that can’t decide who he wants to be and change up your personality based on whichever group he’s hanging out with that day. Of course, you are free to change your mind about things, and you may even choose to use your epiphanies for blog posts, but there shouldn’t be an abrupt change in your writing style and opinions without explanation. Develop a consistent voice and style that your readers will come to recognize and like.

There is no need to develop the Madonna complex about this, you don’t need to reinvent yourself for every album (I mean blog post). Just do you – whatever it is that makes you YOU. And I mean YOU, the YOU that you are when no one else is looking; the YOU you are when you’re friends are not around and when you’re not ashamed to walk around scratching your rear in moth-eaten socks. Yeah, that YOU. Be that. Anything less than the real YOU will make you just as boring as everyone else.

So here’s 4 tips for adding your personality to your blog.

1. At least once a week, write about what you want to write about, not what trends or search engines are telling you to write about, but instead write what you feel like writing. Some days you just don’t have an appetite for meatloaf and you wouldn’t force yourself to eat it just because your neighbor is eating it – not when there’s other tasty items available. Take cues from what you feel like writing and relate it to your blog niche in a creative way. Keep in mind though, that this is not permission to run off on a super nutty tangent that will leave your present followers lost in the spaghetti sauce – you still have a niche, that hopefully you picked as a result of having passion – so try to stay within some recognizable boundaries.

That’s what I did this week, I wanted to mix things up and I challenged myself to make the connection between blogging and food. It was easy enough, I love blogging and I love eating food – so I put them together and got this Blog Food Series. You can do the same thing. Truthfully if you think about the unlikely similarities in things, you can make just about anything relate to your niche if you inject enough personality and a little critical thinking. Add a little extra brain steam and you’ll be surprised how quickly you can use an unlikely comparison to convey an idea.

2. While you’re at it, throw in a few cups of humor (but only if it’s a natural part of your personality) and try to stay on the positive and lighter side of things whenever possible.

3. Leave your readers with a sense of hope that whatever problem they have can indeed be solved. Avoid rant posts that will leave people feeling doomed. Instead, mix in several ounces of encouragement and motivation.

4. Liven things up by interacting with your commentators and followers periodically. You don’t have to respond to every comment, but make at least some effort to let your visitors know that you appreciate them – after all they could have hit the back button instead. That’s how you get their attention and keep them coming back to your site. That’s how Rob at www.robswebtips.com does – whenever I visit his site, if I post an authentic, well-thought comment, I know at some point, I will get a response. Just that small gesture let’s me know that there’s a human behind the profile pic and makes me feel welcomed into his blog’s community. So I visit the site often just to see what’s cooking.

Be confident developing content for your blog. Put your stamp on the package and it won’t matter what topic you choose, it won’t even matter how many other people have already written about it, they can’t write it like you can because they can’t see it exactly how you see it. Change up the recipe and add your secret ingredient – your personality.

What secret ingredients do you throw into your blog recipe? How do spice things up and keep your blog content fresh?

Be sure to return tomorrow for the next secret blog ingredient…

Image: Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Blog Food: A recipe for a better blog series

kieshaeasley — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:05:08 +0000

Is your blog starving to death? Are you not providing your blog the basic essentials it needs to stay healthy?

The rest of this week, I’ll be bringing you tasty morsels of food for your blog. Each day I will reveal a different ingredient that will help you cook up a better blog.

This is a basic blog recipe that anyone can add to, enhance and personalize. The best chefs are known for taking a basic recipe and adding a twist to make it their own. That’s a lot like what bloggers must do everyday when it comes to the challenge of baking up enough fresh content to sustain a blog.

Blog ingredient #1: Passion

Without this first ingredient, no matter how many substitutes you attempt to make, at some point you’ll loose steam and the batter will collapse. That’s because if you don’t love what you’re blogging about eventually you’ll come to a point where you can’t force feed it any longer – you’ll get tired of the same old thing and before you know it, you’ll throw that pot right out the window.

Passion is what will keep you motivated even when things aren’t working out as planned. It will inspire you when you least expect it and will enable you to enter a state of flow that will let you to work for hours on end without ever getting tired or even realizing that amount of time has passed.

But how do you know if you have enough passion to feed your blog?

Here’s a good test, remember Bubba from Forest Gump and how passionate he was about shrimp? It took him weeks to list all the different ways you could add shrimp to a meal…shrimp gumbo…shrimp stew…fried shrimp…shrimp salad…

When you have passion about something, you can think of infinite ways to add zest to the same old shrimp and you would never lose your appetite for them.

What does this have to do with blogging? If you can’t think of more than a few ways to discuss the topics associated with a particular niche, then perhaps you just don’t have the passion for it. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you, it just means you don’t have the palette for that particular niche, so just pick something else that you truly care about.

Measure your passion for a topic with by creating a brainstorming web – this shouldn’t be new, you’ve probably done this in school a thousand times. Simply start with your topic and draw a line to every subtopic you can think of, then repeat the process.

If you’re not comfortable with that you can simply create a list of possible topics and just keep adding to it like Bubba did.

Everyone has passion

I believe everyone has a passion for something. You’re probably thinking, I’d like to write about XY&Z, but that niche isn’t as profitable as AB&C. I believe with the right volume of passion, you can make any niche profitable, but you’ll have to think outside the box for creative ways to monetize your blog.

Sometimes the income your blog earns happens offline. I don’t really care exactly where the money comes from as long as it ends up in my account. Most of the income I was able to generate last year was NOT from adsense or affiliate sales. I maintain my Christian blog solely because it’s my passion. However, I made most of my income doing freelance writing for websites and local business owners who were impressed by the writing on that blog and was a direct result of maintaining and producing quality content. If you were to look solely at sales generated online, you’d think my blog was a flop, but I know otherwise.

How do you turn up the flame on passion that’s fizzling out?

Sometimes you need to get fired up by reading controversial topics surrounding your niche that you disagree with. You could write a series of new posts that refute the argument. Stirring in a good helping of emotion is a great way to spice things up.

Sometimes you need to open up the deep freeze and through all the cold hurt and useless items. It’s easy to get attached to old ideas, we don’t want to throw them out because we’ve been intending to use them – sometimes you just need to start fresh. Remove the clutter in your head associated with

Sometimes you just need to gain new and fresh perspective. That may mean you need to dig a little deeper and do some more research.

Okay, I know people hate the word research – so let me rephrase: spend some time reading what other people have to say about your niche. Visiting other blogs is a good way to start, but don’t forget to visit the library sometimes. You’ll find lots of overlooked material there simply because people have gotten too lazy to get up and go to the library.

A lot of what I learned about blogging, came from actual books I found in the library. Just make sure to limit your reading to books that have been published in the last 1-2 years – you can extend that to five years if you can’t find anything within that time period.

Here’s some posts to get you started with research for developing passion, but before you go, please add some suggestions that might help new bloggers recognize and fire up their passion for blogging.

How passion can transform your blog

5 Simple ways to find your passions

Be sure to return tomorrow for the next essential blog ingredient…

Image: Suat Eman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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I'm also available for blog design, coaching, and consultation services.

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Blogger must reads – Weekly Link List (20 links)

kieshaeasley — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:30:34 +0000

The Mr. Rogers Guide to Blogging from the Heart

22 Blogs accepting guest posts only the best ones

How to take your blog to the next levelSocial Media Buttons: Give Explanation for Each of them

What’s your best performing adsense unit”

9 Ways to become an exceptional Guest Poster

What is most important at your blog?

Field of Dreams Myth

What it takes to start a successful blog

13 Ways to Move your Facebook Fans to Action

Why Ideas are like sperm

Optimize a single post on your blog for SEO

The Ultimate Formula for Success

A Neat CSS Trick for Multiple Browser Compatibility

Is your Social Strategy Proactive or Reactive

Staying Motivated

Don’t forget your mobile visitors

Don’t read this if you want a boring low traffic blog

Where did all the unique blog content go?

A Roadmap for Building an E-Learning Course

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Blog more efficiently with the Zemanta Google Chrome Plugin

kieshaeasley — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:57:53 +0000

Ms. Ileane Speaks wrote this great informative guest post highlighting a great Google Chrome plug-in. I hope you will take a moment to watch the video as she briefly shows you how Zemanta can save you time and help you blog more efficiently.

Zemanta Extension for Google Chrome

Guest post by Ms. Ileane Speaks

Google Chrome is one of the hottest new offerings from Google. Because of its lightening fast speed and extensive library of Google Chrome plugins (also called extensions) many users are making Chrome their browser of choice.

I decided to send out a Tweet to see what some of my followers favorite extensions are. One that stood out above the others came from fellow Blog Engage member Hairunizam. He recommended that I try the Zemanta extension. A funny story is that I remember the first time I saw “Related articles from Zemanta” on someone’s blog I was thinking “who in the world is Zemanta, is that an alias or something?” Don’t laugh, because you might have been thinking the same thing.

“Zemanta is a revolutionary new platform for accelerating on-line content production for any web user” (taken from the Zemanta About page).

In other words, it’s a really cool way to add content to a blog post without leaving your blog editor.

Take a look at this screencast tutorial I created called Tutorial for Zemanta Chrome Extension – Ms. Ileane Speaks Episode #019

Tutorial for Zemanta Chrome Extension – Ms. Ileane Speaks Episode #019 from Ileane on Vimeo.

Zemanta works with almost every browser and blogging platform so you don’t need to download the plugin. I find that Zemanta is also an excellent too to use for discovering new blog articles. Get all the answers to your answers questions here on the FAQ page.
So, what about you, do you have a favorite Google Chrome extension? Please share it in the comments.

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Become a Better Blogger

5 ideas for an engaging video blog post

kieshaeasley — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:04:33 +0000

In yesterday’s post I gave you some ideas for blog post alternatives that you can use when you just don’t have time to write. One of those suggestions included posting a Youtube video, but what exactly should you make a video about? If you’re already boring people with your written content you certainly don’t want to put them into a coma with your video? So what can you do to make sure it’s engaging? And why should you bother in the first place?

What are the benefits?

The great thing about videos, is that they help keep visitors on your site longer and simultaneously help optimize your blog. When search engines see that people are clicking on videos that have the same title as those keywords you’ve been aiming for, it increases your ranking for those words as well. This encourages them to send more traffic to your blog.

This benefit alone is well worth it, but videos also saves you from having to write another post. So if you’re suffering from a bit of blogger’s block – a video is a good way to go.

Just as a rule of thumb, videos should be short. I know Youtube gives you about ten minutes, but really you don’t want more than 5 minutes. Most people spend no more than 2-3 minutes reading a blog post, so keep that in mind.

The good thing about keeping it short though, is that it gives you more opportunities to create more videos. You can always divide it up into parts and review each part in a new post over the course of a few days. Just be sure not to end abruptly in the middle of a step. Each video should feel complete even if the next portion will be presented later. Also, be sure to let your viewers know when you will be posting the next part and encourage them to subscribe so they won’t miss it (oh yeah, increasing your subscriber list is another beneficial way to use videos, but I’m sure you already knew that…I digress)

So here’s 5 ideas for creating an engaging video blog post:

(Since every niche will vary, I’ve intentional left these a little vague, so that they can be applied universally. Feel free to send your questions my way if you need clarification.)

Create a “How-to” video. You could make a video that shows your audience how to do something. Show them step by step and talk them through it. This is probably the easiest kind because you’ll talk to them as if they were right there with you. Simple enough, right?
Create a review video. Make a video that shows how to use a product you’d like to promote, or one that demonstrates all of the beneficial features that the ordinary consumer wouldn’t know about. Think of this as an “insider’s secret” kind of video.
Create a documentary style video. This could be a travel video where you document important events or trips related to your niche. Show your viewers a brief glimpse of the setting and then focus on the highlights of one main event per video. If you’re going to a conference and can’t record it, you could do a news report style recap video in the lobby.
Create a testimonial or an interview video. Get out and ask people questions related to your niche. Develop some questions as you would for an interview post, but allow the conversation to flow naturally and add or omit questions as necessary.
Create a freestyle video. Cut the camera on and start talking about what’s new in your blog niche. Then go back and edit it to give it focus.

So what do you think? Can you add number 6, 7 or 8? What video post ideas do you have to share? Let’s help each other out.

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Become a Better Blogger

How to ensure your blog is never found

kieshaeasley — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:43:35 +0000

Another tip for your blog

Here’s the one and only tip you’ll ever need if you don’t want your blog to be discovered by Google or anyone else for that matter …are you ready?

Tip: Stop writing

That’s it, that’s all you have to do if you’d prefer to keep your blog hidden under a virtual rock or in a hole. That’s right, stop writing and let your content stagnate, turn green, and grow fuzz just like the science project growing in the back of the refrigerator. You know the one, it’s in the container than no one wants to open or touch with their bare hands, yeah the one that stinks…

Okay, okay, so you think this tip is absurb…and it is. Yet, this is what happens to the average blog. The owners start out super geeked about starting a blog and at first they start out posting every few days, then it dwindles down to once a week.

I’m not having a schizophrenic episode – I know that last week I gave you 1 Tip that will help you blog better that encouraged you to periodically take a break from blogging, to help you refresh your mind and most importantly, live your life, but that tip was by no means to encourage you to take extended breaks that border abandonment. In my opinion, 3 – 5 posts a week are enough to maintain your readership, but you don’t want to go weeks without writing.

I don’t want to stumble on your site and find a post like this:

“Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while. Life is just so crazy right now…blah…blah…I’ve been dealing with some serious issues…yada yada… but I’m back now…here’s an update…”

This kind of post is acceptable when you announce it ahead of time, or when it’s not a habit. If I visit your site a month later and I almost choke on the cobwebs, that’s pretty much a sign to me that you’ve left town for good. I probably won’t visit you anymore.

This is not to reduce or make fun of anyone’s hardships or life’s issues. I’ve experienced periods where I’ve had to post one of those messages. If you have a life, it’s bound to happen, but here’s my point:

Whenever you stop writing, after about three days of nothing your blog looses life for everyday that you don’t post anything. Every day that nothing new appears, it makes it harder and harder for people to discover the valuable information you do actually have on your blog. When you don’t write some new, it lets the millions of other bloggers who are writing – no matter what the quality – gain leverage that could’ve belonged to you.

When you stop writing, it reduces your chances of ever being discovered by that CEO of that multi-billion dollar company who is looking for people just like you. When he set out to do a search, Google decided to present him with a list of blogs that had the most recent posts. Even though your posts were more in tune with what he was looking for, he missed it because let’s face it, people rarely click on to page two of the search results which is where your blog could be found. Instead that CEO chose another blogger who will now receive $5000 a month just for posting one entry a day. Tsk, tsk, tsk…

This is not to discourage you if you can’t do more than a few posts a week – we all have other responsibilities besides writing for a blog. Instead, I encourage to find more creative ways to present something new to your audience everyday or at least every other day.

Here’s 6 alternatives for what you can do when you’re not able to write:

Make a video instead – if you upload it to Youtube (this is actually most preferable), you can draw in loads of traffic from that site. It also keeps visitors on your site longer and sends search engines the message that you’ve got something good on your site. I’m sure you’ve already heard this one a thousand times by now. If so, I’m probably repeating it because despite having the little built in camera in your laptop, you still haven’t done it yet. :) If you’re shy, get a friend or a relative to do it – or you can simply leave yourself out of the video and simply talk in the background as you record relevant visuals. For example, if you’re blogging about RC cars, record the cars as you talk about them in the background. You can also select a relevant video from Youtube to embed in a post – just be sure to write an intro so your readers will understand its importance. You don’t want it to be obvious that you just slapped a video up there because you just didn’t feel like writing that day.

Create a photo-post – use photos and few captions to tell the story or make your point. Include a brief into to orient your readers to what’s going on. This can work for comic strips or other graphics if you obtain permission to use them.

Make a PowerPoint e-course or record an on screen demonstration with Camtasia Studio software to create a how-to video. This is especially useful if you’re doing a software review. It’s also great because you can offer this course later as a subscriber incentive or even sell it if it’s good enough.

Allow someone else to write a guest post for your blog or go to ezinearticles.com to find a relevant article from the directory. If you choose this option, don’t just go there and grab any old article. Choose one that’s well written and has the least amount of links to other sites. Once you’ve found a good one, write your own intro to the article explaining either why you chose it, why you like it, or why is relevant to your blog. Then create an original, but related title for your post (don’t tamper with any of the article’s content or you’ll violate copy right). You can even close the post by posing your own questions or other notes.

Create a link list post – You’ve seen this a thousand times, pretty self-explanatory. See Not-so-big Weekly Link List for Bloggers if you need an example.

So that’s at least five days worth of alternatives right there – but don’t use them all in one week. Instead, save them for when you’re in a pinch. Pick one day out the week for posts like these and then alternate your choice over the course of several weeks. These can be powerful alternatives if used appropriately.

Do you have any ideas to add? Do you have a unique way of dealing with those days that you just can’t seem to crank out any new written material? What do you do when you’re in a pinch?

Image: Bill Longshaw / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Become a Better Blogger

Original blog content vs. original ideas

kieshaeasley — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 11:19:18 +0000

Does it ever seem like almost every other site is discussing the same topic as you are? It’s like the same group of topics are circulating from one blog to another, and we’re just passing them around like hot potatoes. You write something you thought was a light-bulb moment for you, only to discover, another site just wrote about that yesterday? The titles are even very similar – it’s quite disturbing and makes you wonder if people will see you as a copycat.

I had several of those moments happen to me over the last week alone. So, me being the nosy person that I am, I had check out what they had to say about topic. I noticed that even though we had some of the same conclusions about the topic, the way we relayed them were very different. I tend to go by personal experience while others tend to be a little less specific and maybe more abstract. Their writing styles were still very good and impressive, yet despite our similar topics our content was different and therefore, still original.

That reminded me of my experience as an English instructor. I had students who worried when others selected the same topic for a writing project. They were afraid that it meant they weren’t thinking critically enough of originally enough. My response was always, it doesn’t matter if every student in here chooses the same topic, everyone will have something different to say. Even if everyone had the same overall opinion about a topic, the way they would present the content would still be different.

If you write from within yourself, everyone has a unique voice and perspective formed by infinite an combination of economic backgrounds, ethnicity, age, sex, and every other dividing Category. Who we are colors the way we write and how we express ourselves.

So it doesn’t really matter if it’s the same idea, topic, or title – when you write using your own personal experiences and put your heart into what you’re writing for your niche you will always have original content to write because no two people experience the same circumstances the same way.

It may be true that there aren’t many original ideas floating around, but there are infinite ways for you to write about those ideas. So don’t let that discourage you from writing. You never know, you may be the one person to write about to about how to use Twitter for marketing purposes who brings new clarity to that over discussed idea. We all know by now how to use Twitter to market, but you may write about it from an angle that produces a eureka moment for a newbie or an overlooked facet for an advanced user.

Back when I when I was teaching, I did however have some topics that were off limits for my students. I had heard all I could stomach about topics such as abortion, gun control and capital punishment – these are topics that have already been assaulted from every angle and there really isn’t anything new that can be said about these topics. There are a few topics like that on the internet, but the wonderful thing about the blogosphere is that things evolve and change so quickly, that if given enough time, maybe something new can be said about making money online – you never know.

Anyhow, don’t worry about trying produce original ideas that no one has ever heard of before, just focus on producing original content that no one has read before, using lessons you’ve learned firsthand, and your readers will love you for it.

Do you ever feel like the topics you want to write about are being covered already all over the internet? What do you do to try to stand out from the crowd? How do you put your unique mark on your original content?

Image: Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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