We Blog Better

How I increased my Alexa rank

kieshaeasley — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:00:47 +0000

…and what I did with my blogging knowledge

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post: What’s your blogging story?

I’ll get right to the point – when I finally began posting everyday, that’s when I started seeing immediate improvement in traffic and reader engagement. To add to the effect, I also did a few guest posts on high traffic sites and made my rounds to leave authentic comments on popular blogs. My Alexa ranking began to soar. Everyday I was excited to discover a lower and lower numbers.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not simple enough to think that a high Alexa ranking is the sole judger of blog quality and traffic. Because I’ve visited seven digit blogs that clearly had tons of visitors and reader engagement. I know Alexa ranking isn’t everything, but it is an indicator that your blog is moving in the right direction.

Once I learned how to make a difference with my blog, people began to notice. I told an acquaintance about my blogs and how well things were going and she asked me if I help her get more people to her website. I gave her a few links to the usual social media sites and gave her some very basic seo tips. When she returned a few weeks later with an astounding report, a light bulb went off in my head, and I decided that if I could help her, a person whose site couldn’t even be found if you typed in her name and the name of her blog, maybe there were others that I could help.

What I did I do with my blogging knowledge to create new streams of income

I didn’t begin consulting right away. Instead, I began the seeding process. Whenever I spoke to people who had a business or a website, I told them about the results I was seeing on my blog and with my friend’s.

No sales pitch, no “let me help you” speeches, just information about what I was doing and the result I was seeing. Then one day, I got an email from a woman who needed help with her website. Then she referred a friend, and they referred a friend of a friend who referred another friend and I think you get the point.

I had no clue when I started out a year ago simply trying to make some Adsense revenue that I’d ended up in a whole other place that I could never have imagined and one that would never have been possible otherwise.

Although my experience was a bit rocky in the beginning and in some area I’ve experienced failure, I also learned that wonderful things come when you rely on your God-given talents and passions. Apparently writing is my gift and ever since I’ve decided to make the most of it by blogging, writing for others and consulting I’ve been getting closer to my dreams everyday. Whatever your gifts are, look to those because that’s where you’ll experience true success.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not writing as if I’ve arrived. There is still a long road ahead of me, but that fact that I’m headed in the right direction gives me great comfort. I could’ve given up after the second month that I didn’t make any money, or the six month, but I decided that before I could quit, I actually had to act on everything I’d learned first – that’s when I’d be able to safely say that I’d given it my all.

Since I haven’t done that even as of yet, I’m not allowed to quit. There’s still too many adjustments to be made and too many actions yet to be taken. So until then, here I am world!

So what unique income opportunities have you created for yourself since you started blogging? If you haven’t created any, why not? I believe it for myself that anything is possible in the blogosphere, have you experienced your share of the impossible yet?

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What’s your blogging story?

What’s your blogging story?

kieshaeasley — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:15:35 +0000

How and when did you start blogging?

A year ago today, I started my very first blog on Blogger. It had a very plain, blogger template and had absolutely nothing special going for it. I had no friends in high places and no social media experience other than my late 90s experiment with a social media site called BlackPlanet. You heard me – no Facebook, no Twitter, nada! Yes, the roof of my house does resemble a rock and had been living under it for quite a while, thank you very much!

So I started a blog based on the only thing I had a deep passion for at the moment, and that was Christian inspiration. I had been doing research and I wanted to make a little extra money from Google and Affiliate Marketing, but I hadn’t really thought about how I was going to apply that to a Christian blog. I put up some Google Adsense and some very general affiliate ads, but for the most part, I just enjoyed writing for it and hoping someone would see it.

I didn’t know what to do with myself the day I got my first visitors. Naively, I quickly pulled up my stats and was sadly discouraged by the discovery that they’d left my site without clicking or buying one thing. When more weeks rolled by to no avail, I decided to start another blog.

I started an affiliate marketing blog. I researched as much as I could; I wanted to promote products that taught people how to get into affiliate marketing because those seemed to be the ones that were paying the most money. Then came the problem – I’ve never been a salesperson and I’ve always been leery of get-rich-quick schemes, so needless to say, I found myself at a loss for anything useful to write about.

I don’t know how I managed to make a few sales and some Adsense revenue, but the gaps in between kept me wondering and attempting to rethink my whole approach. I really didn’t like the idea of making some guru rich, so prompted by my research, I set out to offer my own service.

I began ghostwriting for website owners. I set my price at a competitive rate and offered crackhead-priced packaged deals. At the time I was still in grad school, so a hundred dollars here and there was a welcomed bonus to my very puny income. Orders started pouring in and I was writing day and night.

Offering my own services created more income potential for me. I didn’t realize how many people hate writing. Things were going well, but I got the nagging sense that if I had just put that same effort into my own blog perhaps I’d finally start seeing the results I was hoping for. So I finished up my last batch of orders and started focusing on writing for my own blogs.

I came to the conclusion that without passion, I wouldn’t be able to sustain that last blog, but the passion I had for writing inspirational and encouraging posts fueled my writing for my Christian blog everyday. What I did over the course of a few months made the biggest difference. My Alexa rank rose from approximately 700,000 to 198,889 within months and what I’ve learned over the course of a year is astonishing.

Tomorrow I’ll reveal to you how I did it and what I’ve learned that has allowed me to use my blogging knowledge to earn income offline as well. But that’s it for today. I hope you will join me in celebrating Highly Favored’s birthday!

I’d like to leave you with a writing prompt for your next blog post: If you haven’t already written your blogging story I’d like to know:

“How did you get your blog to the point it is today?

What’s your “How I started blogging” story?”

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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No related posts.

Scheduled Tweets vs. Automated Tweets: There’s a difference

kieshaeasley — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:00:29 +0000

I schedule tweets so that I don’t annoy everyone else

I recently wrote a guest post entitled To schedule tweets or not to? Two Reasons and one of the comments I received helped me to come to the conclusion that there’s a difference between scheduling tweets and RTs and totally automating your tweets – so I wanted to elaborate on that. The commenter seemed to think I was encouraging people to totally automate the tweeting process and completely abandon the social aspects of social media or at least that’s what I got from this comment:

“Whats the point of social media? Being social, having dialogue… Whats the point of sending out scheduled tweets? Getting your name out there in front of people and having monologue. You can’t automate engagement with people and do it with sincerity. If the whole point of being on twitter is to create new relationships then you’re going about it the wrong way through automation.

Now don’t get me wrong – there isn’t anything wrong with having one or two pre-set tweets here and there. But when your entire existence relies on twitter feeds and scheduled tweets you’re doing more damage than good. What do you do when someone sees your tweet and tries to strike up conversation about that link? Maybe tweet at them 18hrs later?

Yeah that looks great…” – Ross Simmonds

While yes, this may cause a delay in the response, the beauty of social media to me is having the ability to engage and respond at a time that’s convenient. I don’t mind getting a response from someone a day later, the point to me is that they respond. Of course, there are times when people are expecting to hear from you right away and that sometimes a timely response is necessary, so I’ll admit that there is a valid point to this.

That’s why it’s important to schedule and not simply automate your tweets. There’s a critical difference.

Here’s the difference:
Automated tweets are just automation in the absence of human engagement. Automated tweets are those that repeat at regular intervals, with no interaction, mentions, replies or anything else in between.

Scheduled tweets, are different. I schedule many of my tweets and even RTs in order to spread them out. I’m still present and active online, but I use the schedule feature as a courtesy to my followers so they don’t feel as if I’m dumping tweet after tweet into their stream. I also try to spread things out so that my followers who aren’t presently online might also see my tweets at a later time and also when I’m unavailable. This doesn’t mean I’m not socially interacting and engaging people. It doesn’t mean I’m not checking in regularly.

Whenever there’s something pressing, I respond right away. If it seems like it can wait until later I’ll schedule it.

Also scheduling doesn’t mean I’m scheduling it hours later or way ahead into the future. Sometimes I schedule things to tweet 5 or 10 minutes later to allow someone else an opportunity to tweet. I don’t want to overexpose myself since I’m quite annoyed when I see others tweeting several tweets in a row, especially when they are the @mention lists such as the #Follow Friday lists. I like to allow some time to lapse between them.

So I use a combination of live and scheduled tweets and retweets and sometimes even @mentions. I don’t know maybe I’m just a weirdo for doing this. What do you think about this? What are your tweet scheduling habits? Are you a scheduler or an automator? can you see the value in scheduling some tweets or does it totally defeat the social media purpose?

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Iron Blogger Contest Results

kieshaeasley — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:00:05 +0000

As promised today I’m announcing the winner of the Iron Blogger Contest. It was an interesting mesh of entries and the decision-making process was hard. There were a couple of entries that I kept going back over because they were that good, but ultimately I can only choose one.

I chose the winner’s entry because this blogger went beyond merely, mentioning and talking about oysters, but actually used it to create an insightful analogy, which was the point. You know you’re a proficient writer when you can take almost any subject and create a teaching analogy that conveys deeper meaning and adds element of surprise to your writing. Being able to write in this fashion will enable you to keep your writing fresh and original and will help you stand out in the crowd among thousands of bloggers.

Anyway, I don’t intend for this to be a drawn out post so without further delay…

Winner of the Iron Blogger Award is

Arthur Pledger from Block Standard Network for this awesome post:

From a Grain of Sand

You may proudly display this button on your site.

If I could…

choose a second and a third place, those winners would be:

Joella Molson from Blogs With Wings for How Being an Oyster Can Help Your Blog Succeed

Lisa Powell from Christian Single Woman for Oysters on the Half Shell

All contestants may display this button on their sites.

Backlinks:

As promised all contestants received a free backlink to there site – a link to your sites can be found in this post: Iron Blogger Challenge Contestant Highlights

Winner: Your free ad space is ready and available as soon as you submit your 125×125 button. I’ve decided to allow your ad to run in my rotating sidebar for 30 days, so send me your button asap. Great job!

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Blog better by taking the advice of a better blogger

kieshaeasley — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 10:48:32 +0000

Lisa’s Traffic Secret

I thought it would be nice to finish off the weekend with a video from Lisa Irby of 2Createwebstie. The following video is one of her most viewed and is one that I found very useful when I first started blogging.

If you don’t know who Lisa Irby is, please take a moment to read Blog Better by imitating a blogger who does it well (How I learned to blog by following the blogging advice offered on her site) and Blog Better by interviewing a better blogger (An interview with Lisa Irby – she offers some great tips for beginners).

Enjoy!

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Blog better by interviewing a better blogger

kieshaeasley — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:11 +0000

In yesterday’s post Blog better by imitating a blogger who does it well (in hindsight “emulate” would have been a better word choice) I explained how helpful Lisa Irby’s site has been to me since I’ve been blogging and as promised, today I present the responses to a recent interview.

Who or what motivated you to start blogging?

I started blogging because I wanted to drive additional traffic to my main website.

What obstacles have you had to overcome?

My biggest obstacle was driving traffic to my blog. When I started blogging I didn’t have a clear strategy for what I wanted to do with my blog other than use it to drive traffic to my main site. So I made the mistake of re-writing/paraphrasing articles on my site and publishing them to my blog. I also had no strategy for how often I was going to publish content to my blog. Sometimes I would write three posts per week, other times I would write twice per month. So I never really established a rhythm.

What strategies or steps did you take to reach your goals?

Once I discovered Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net, I realized I was doing a lot of things wrong. If I was going to build a following I needed to start writing more frequently and putting more effort into topic selection. So instead of just paraphrasing articles on my site, I began to write about current/newsworthy topics in regards to my niche. In addition, I began to add a lot of my own personal experiences in my posts.

I also established a rhythm of 1-2 posts per week instead of letting too much time go between my posts. Once I started doing this, my traffic and comments began to increase.

How do you structure your time for blogging activities throughout the day?

I don’t really spend a lot of time blogging. I actually have more static websites than I have blogs. So since I only publish to my blog once a week now, I typically begin planning for my next post a few days before I launch it. I start by drafting my post in WordPress and polishing it until I set it to launch the night before.

What is/are the most important lesson(s) you’ve learned or want to share about blogging?

Establish a rhythm. You may have to experiment and see what works best. For example, if you find 4 posts per week is hard and your quality suffers, try scaling it back to two or three.

Know what your audience likes. Once you discover what those “hot topics” are, take advantage of them and create posts with different angles. For example, AdSense is a hot topic for my audience. These posts tend to get the most comments, so I try to write about AdSense as often as I can.

Ask For Opinions. If you can’t think of something to write, let your audience do it for you. Every now and then post an opinion post. This gives your readers a chance to chime in, and it gives you a break from writing.

What opportunities have opened up for you solely as a result of blogging?

Since I started blogging, I’ve gotten a lot of requests for interviews. I’m not sure why, but I never got this many requests through my website. The interviews have helped me gain even more exposure throughout the blogging community. I’ve been featured on numerous blogs and participated in a few joint ventures here and there.

How did you make your blogging breakthrough – as far as acquiring traffic and developing your blog’s community?

The formula was simple. I just kept writing and became very selective about what I wrote about. I began to realize what my audience wants to read (based on comments and lack of comments) and I give them what they want. Staying engaged with your audience is key!

What are your blogging essentials that you believe every successful blogger needs?

A true passion for the topic so your content stays fresh and current

A basic understanding of CSS and HTML so you are free to update your blog without relying on someone else

Flexibility. You need to be willing to adjust if something is not working. Just because you have an idea for a blog, doesn’t mean it’s the best idea. So instead of quitting if things aren’t working out, you have to be ready to look for other alternatives to make it work.

What qualities do you admire in your favorite blogs?

All the blogs I read….

Do a great job of taking popular topics and giving them a fresh perspective

Have good writing and delivery

Inject personality into the posts

Respect their readers

If you could only choose one, which would it be: High-quality fresh Content that’s not fully Search engine optimized or fully optimized mediocre content? And why?

I would choose high-quality fresh content that’s not fully search engine optimized.

Search engine optimization is important, but your writing and delivery are what keep people coming back to your site. Not to mention, you can always learn to better optimize your content from an SEO perspective.

Any miscellaneous tidbits you’d like to add?

Becoming a good blogger is an ongoing process. I learn a lot from following other successful blogs like ProBlogger.net and Copyblogger.net. So I would highly recommend following respected bloggers in your niche because you can learn a lot from them.

Also, make sure your CONTENT is the focus of your blog. It’s easy to get caught up in the coolest sidebar widgets or to flood your blog with ads. However, the content is what builds loyalty. Don’t distract people with things that take away from your writing.

The surprising irony is that Lisa doesn’t really consider herself a blogger, yet she does it so eloquently. I also find it inspiring that she admits to not really having direction in the beginning. I’m glad she’s so willing to share how she worked through her challenges. That just goes to show that with a little determination, you really can turn any blog around and make it successful.

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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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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”

Dr. Kal @Dr. Kal’s Weight Loss Tips wrote Oysters and their Health Benefits NEW!

Laura @Skip the Scams wrote A side trip to Joe’s Oyster Bar NEW!

Liz Bolton @Centers and Squares wrote Oysters in Cambridge MA NEW!

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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Become a Better Blogger

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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I'm also available for blog startup, content writing and consultation services.

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Become a Better Blogger

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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Become a Better Blogger

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

Would you like to subscribe to my feed or subscribe to my newsletter? Or perhaps follow me on Twitter.

I'm also available for blog startup, content writing and consultation services.

Visit my other blog, Highly Favored for Christian inspiration and church newsletter tips.