The Concept of PPC

Basically, it works when a searcher would search for some ‘keywords’ or ‘key phrases’ on Google or Yahoo. When these keywords are what you have had also focused on, your ads will show on the right side of the search engines, and once it catches the attention of the readers, they will click your ad and will be redirected to your website. They might or might not have the intention of buying your product. Hence, basically they will somehow talk about it with their friends and market your product for you.

How to make your Ad be found

This part is really tricky because you will need to give extra efforts regarding this matter. You will have to choose the keywords that your products/services are closely relevant to, and thus pave your way up towards making your ads on top of the search engines’ results page. You can do this through working with the different SEO tools that will help you analyze, manage and monitor the different keywords you need to deploy.

Ranked Ad

Google and most search engines give various standards in ranking websites. However, the most apparent of this is the payment you have chosen to avail in Adwords services. The higher payment you have chosen to bid the keywords with, the higher the possibility that your ad will be ranked first. Hence, you should keep in mind that your page needs to be consistent on all aspects. Should it be that the ads have presented some beauty niche, whitening soaps on it but it leads to some other things irrelevant to the ad, then this could lessen the probability of your ads being ranked at all, no matter how much you have paid for in the keywords bidding process.

Although these might be some of the basic things you need to know about Ad words, you also have to make sure that the clicks to your websites would add up to your sales. Commonly, most PPC newbie’s get many traffic for their websites, and thus pay for every single one of them but none of these clicks are added up to the business sales. One way to mediate with this problem is by availing Google Ad words services that can limit your payments per day. This would entail that your ad would stop showing once it reaches its quota and you no longer have to worry about payments getting higher. The flow would be like constant and stagnant maintenance. Nonetheless, you are still rest assured that your business is slowly getting more known by people.

The post What You Should Know about Adwords appeared first on Blogging Tips.

1.) Please tell us about yourself and how you got into blogging?

My name is Michael Chibuzor and I started blogging as a result of my basic knowledge in affiliate marketing at the time. I wanted to share my success stories, what worked and what failed in order to guide beginners.

2.) What is the focus of your blog and why did you choose that niche?

The focus of my blog is content marketing. I decided to choose that niche, because traditional advertising is gradually losing its flavor, and a dynamic marketing system that puts the target audience first had emerged.

The truth is that content marketing has always been, but now, it’s become more popular and in demand. I chose this niche to educate, inform and make a living creating products and services that truly helps others.

3.) How are you currently monetizing your blog traffic?

I’m a freelance writer, so my blog is a platform to market my SEO and writing services to potential clients, as well as provide valuable content to business owners.

4.) What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started blogging?

To be honest with you, I now know that email marketing is the most important part of running a blogging business. If I had known this earlier when I started, I’d have added an optin box on my blog to collect leads.

5.) What are three blogs that you visit almost daily?

The 3 blogs are:

marketingprofs.com
copyblogger.com
zacjohnson.com

6.) Can you give us three recommended tools/services that you use with your blogging? (search tools, keywords, content, social)

I use Google keywords tool almost every day.

I also use slideshare.net to publish quality powerpoint presentation

I also use vaultpress.com to backup my blog database and protect it against hackers.

7.) What advice would you have for someone who is just starting with their first blog?

The same advice I got when I started blogging (even though I didn’t abide by it).

Pick a niche that you’re passionate about and stick to it.

Don’t try to build multiple blogs at once. Establish a loyal audience and start profiting with one blog first, before moving on to build another.

Above all, challenge yourself to always write and publish “rich and informative” content.

Mediocre content can’t suffice in today’s people and SEO world.

8.) What’s the best advice or tip you’ve discovered about blogging since getting started?

Collect email leads and start building relationship with your subscribers.

Get them to love, trust and believe in you – then recommend a premium product and watch the sales roll in.

9.) If you only had $100 to start a new blog, how would you use it?

I’ll buy a domain name, get a reliable hosting package with hostgator and then, invest the rest on Getresponse autoresponder for the first 3 months.

10.) How can readers of the blog get in touch with you?

They can get in touch with me through my blog and twitter. Visit www.contentmarketingup.com.

Thanks again Michael for taking the time to share your advice and story with the Blogging Tips community. If you would like to learn about other bloggers and how they are finding success online, be sure to read through our blogger interview series.

The post Meet Michael Chibuzor of ContentMarketingUp.com appeared first on Blogging Tips.

You can’t succeed in blogging if your writing sucks.

You have to know how to write well when blogging

The surprising thing is a lot of people who don’t write well blog. Don’t get me wrong. Everyone is free to blog. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

My problem with this is many people call themselves “professional bloggers.” I’m not trying to minimize their experience, but I feel that bloggers need to write exceptionally well.

Personally, I look at blogging as a serious career. And someone who wants to do it has to have what it takes, just like applying for a certain job, one needs to have the required skills.

Tips on how to write well

So before you can become a professional blogger, you need to know how to write well.

Let’s cut this short and discuss the ways on how to write well.

Read a lot. Read everything from books to newspapers to fiction books to even print ads. This serves you two ways: first, it helps you learn different things that you can use when blogging. Second, it will show you how proper, effective, and compelling sentences are constructed.

Watch a lot of movies and television shows. Similar to reading, watching a lot of these will teach so many things. Working as a professional blogger will require you to write about various topics. Part of writing well is knowing enough about a certain topic. You won’t be able to write a good post when you don’t know a lot.

Talk to a lot of people. Writing is like talking. The difference is you don’t verbalize words. You put them on paper. You are talking to lots of people by blogging–a huge number of people. It’s like public speaking. You certainly don’t want to embarrass yourself by saying something improperly and inaccurately. Talking to a lot of people will sharpen your communication skills. That has a direct effect on your writing.

Carry a notebook and pen all the time. Writers need to write all the time, so make sure to carry these all the time because inspiration will strike when you least expect it. Take it with you while riding the bus, cab, even the train. Have a notebook while dining out or taking a leisure walk.

If tablet devices are what you prefer, then so be it. These things have apps that’ll allow you to jot down any idea. Personally, I prefer the old-school style because it’s more convenient and I don’t have to worry about getting mugged.

If something comes to mind or even bothers you, write it down. This is why you need to have a pen and paper (or tablet) all the time. Sometimes, the best (and most profitable) ideas come unannounced. That moment may never come again. Don’t rely on your memory. It will fail you. Write immediately. You don’t have to write the entire article or post. Just jot down the idea and then go back to it when you have more time.

When you write, make sure to go all out. The minute you get in front of the computer, give it everything you’ve got. Don’t hold back. Write freely. It’s liberating and will help you come up with something awesome.

Follow authority blogs on blogging and writing. To know how to write well, learn from the experts. There are tons of really good blogs on writing and blogging that you can learn from.

If you have the means, buy writing guides and manuals. This is not required but it can be a huge help for those who are serious about writing professionally. These paid books/manuals/guides contain more in-depth information on how to write well and create killer content.

Find a writing coach. There are bloggers and high-profile writers who offer their services for a fee. But if you don’t want to spend cash on coaching sessions, seek out friends or family members who are very good in writing and ask for their help. It may be hard to do since not all we know are professional writers, but it’s worth a shot.

How to write well takes time–and a lot of initiative. It won’t come quickly. Even those who already write for a living still need to learn. I’m still learning. It’s tough when you have a lot on your plate, which is common in most of us, but if you’re dead serious about developing your skills, then make time for it.

No excuses.

You will only learn how to write well when you actually do it.

Hopefully, reading this is the first step in your writing journey. And I’ll be happy to help out. Stay tuned for more tips on improving writing.

The post Tips On How to Write Well appeared first on Blogging Tips.

I have multiple web sites and blogs and even though the basic principles are always the same, the content for the sites are not. Let’s take ZacJohnson.com and BloggingTips.com, for example. They are very close in nature, but if I were to always write about WordPress and blogging on ZacJohnson.com then my audience would not find as much value in the content. The same thing can be said for BloggingTips.com if I were to always write about social marketing or how to create pay per click ad campaigns.

The best way to know what your audience is looking for is to determine what types of content on your blog get the most views and comments. Tutorials, reports and case studies are always going to be some of the most successful posts on a blog and this is because people love to learn how to do stuff and see real life results.

What type of content are you creating for your site?

Every day I get asked the same old questions about what types of blogs people should create. The “make money blogging” and “how to blog” niche is extremely saturated. There are many different bloggers who write the same articles and content on how to start a blog and talk about the best WordPress plugins, and it’s a good bet that your traffic doesn’t find any value in these posts. Instead you should be putting a creative twist on your content and provide information on topics and tasks that haven’t been discussed a million times.

How to come up with creative and new content ideas

An excellent way for you to come up with new and attractive ideas for your site is to get active on social networks. There are millions of users in free blogging and internet marketing groups on Facebook and they are all talking about different topics every day. Lots of these discussions are on what’s hot in the industry right now. You can also ask these audiences what type of content they would like to see and have them contribute with their comments and ideas as well.

Keeping your blog following strong

In addition to using Facebook and Twitter for new content ideas, you should also be utilizing these social networks to grow your blog following. Through the use of a Facebook Fan Page and Twitter account, you can start to accumulate new followers every day and have your blog updates sent right to their social network feeds. This is a great way to automate the process and expand your reach in the process.

Optimization of your content is key

While optimization of your content is important, you shouldn’t make all of your content around the focus of “how can I make money with this”. Content IS and ALWAYS will be KING, but the makeup of the content is the value that people find in your content. Some of the best blogs in the world have never spent a dime on SEO or advertising and have become what they are today because they focused on creating amazing and killer content. Take the time and effort to create amazing content for your audience and it will continue to work for you for months and years to come.

I am blogging on behalf of Visa Business and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Visit http://facebook.com/visasmallbiz to take a look at the reinvented Facebook Page: Well Sourced by Visa Business. The Page serves as a space where small business owners can access educational resources, read success stories from other business owners, engage with peers, and find tips to help businesses run more efficiently. Every month, the Page will introduce a new theme that will focus on a topic important to a small business owner’s success. For additional tips and advice, and information about Visa’s small business solutions, follow @VisaSmallBiz and visit http://visa.com/business.

The post Writing Killer Content that Speaks to Your Audience appeared first on Blogging Tips.

Google+ is one of the freshest members in the growing world of social media networks. Its being on trial for 90 days before setting it off live made a lot of active and addict social media users all hyped and excited especially with Google only sending out invitations in limited numbers. If you are still one of those who are completely unaware of what the Google+ is all about, here are 15 of the most important facts you should know about it.

• It poses a great effect on Google’s search results. This means that the content of those who are in your circles are expected to achieve higher page ranking in your own conducted searches. This works well the same for you too in other s’ circles. Hence, if you need page ranks that are higher, work on building your circles, making sure you settle for those who share the same interests and niche.

• Did you know that in just about 30 days, Google+ already achieved 26,000,000 users who are all formally registered?
• If you will have a Google+ account, you will get a chance to enjoy unlimited storage space for your photos in Picasa. But if you will use the photo platform directly, then the maximum space you will only get is 1GB based on the regular type of subscription.
•  To have a Google+ account can help you make better of your rates through clicks. It includes your branding or your logo right next your name and your profile, as seen in the search results of Google. This is how it can increase your chance of click via rates.
• Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of top leading social network site,Facebook, has joined Google+ too right after the launching. He became the number one user of the site garnering a total of 485,286 followers. Take note, he was not following any single user at all.
• Google+ has offered an About portion that allows you to include links, pictures and even those which have QR codes.
• Its Circles permits you to organize your target audience. It is for one the most powerful aspect of Google+. Compared to Facebook, you can choose who in your circles can get to view some of your contents. This is because you can separate your contacts from personal, business, and a lot more.
• The Google founder, Larry Page, follows Zuckerberg on the list of most friends in circles with 290,601.
• Google+ is made for those after the Android experience. This also means a lot of more options for your OS choice if Google+ continues to soar high.
•  Google+ has a killer feature called the Hangouts! This permits you to stay connected with your circles through video chatting which is done in a casual fashion. It is compared to Skype videos, but been presented way cooler than the usual. Other companies are even eyeing it already to use for their own services and perfect to be utilized for webinars, demos and even group brainstorming.
•  Google+ is also unique since it offers more than two gender options: Male, Female, and the last one is the Others.
•  Google+ is the sole reason behind the reason and purpose of the presence of those +1 buttons in Google searches which made everyone wonder so much. The real use of the buttons though were only noticed right after the official launch of the site.
•  It is a perfect tool for making others find your business much easier. This is made possible since Google+ is connected to Google Places. If you have a location based business, then set it up with a Google Place page and have it linked straight to your Google+ page too. This will surely improve your ranking especially among your customers and you can take advantage of it while others are still not into it yet.
•  Each user at Google+ is only limited to having around 5,000 friends as the maximum limit.

Google+ is very convenient to monitor and track down. This is all due to the help of the presence of Google Analytics which help a lot in measuring the impact that the +1 buttons are making for your online traffic. When you take the time to have a closer look at Google Analytics, you would discover the number of visitors you have engaged and the number of +1s you have received as well along with the particular pages. You can also monitor traffic coming in straight from plus.google.com. 

All these 15 important facts are just some of the many other essential things worth knowing about Google+. It is of real time value since the pages you share are indexed in a more organized way while it also allows you to save all your searches. You use it like some kind of Google Alerts to search through various topics or interest. You also need not worry about your privacy since you have the power to change the default settings of your profile which is set for everyone to see at first.

There are many resources that you can find online these days which can help you get through the wonders of the every aspect of Google+. But to know all these 15 important facts can already serve as a good head start for a beginner like you. It may still be too early to say that Google+ will beat the other giants in the interactive world of social media, but it definitely has the potential to survive in the competitive world of online technology.

All you have to do is register, try it out and analyse yourself its own possible drawbacks and advantages that you and your business can get from it. Who knows with all the help it can render you, right?

The post Important Facts of Google+ appeared first on Blogging Tips.

Pinterest is today an ‘addiction’.

Whether you want to reach out to a new audience, connect with influencers in your niche, promote a brand or attract traffic to your blog, spending some time on Pinterest will be truly worth the effort.

So, how do you achieve success on Pinterest as a blogger? Given below are four essential tips that will be of great help to you.

#1. Add Images to Every Blog Post
If you are an active blogger, the first thing that you need to do is include engaging images to each of the posts that you publish on your blog. Depending on the topic you are writing on, you can always find one or two images that would be good enough to be pinned by others.  You can also create your own pinboards and pin these images yourself to your account.

Pinterest is basically a social platform where users share all the wonderful images (and videos) they find across the web. By being a little more creative, you can benefit from this opportunity as well, in many different ways.

#2. Pin Content from Other Blogs Too
If your pin boards feature content (images and videos) only from your own blog, it might not look credible to others. In order to win the trust of your audience, you should never hesitate to pin images from other blogs on the same board where you have pinned your own images.

By pinning content from other blogs in your niche, you can also build connections with influencers and fellow bloggers.

#3. Run a Contest
One of the best ideas to attract tons of eyeballs quickly is to run a contest or competition on Pinterest. First, you’ll first need to go through all the Pinterest terms so that you don’t violate the rules in any way. Second, you’ll need to choose a right type of competition – Best Pinboard, Most Repins and Sweepstakes Entries – and create them with your important goals in the mind.

In any case, you should not forget to promote your Pinterest contest so that you can attract the maximum number of participants. With such contests, you can market your brand or product quickly, engage the target audience and attract lots of blog traffic within a short period of time.

#4. Use Analytics Tool
Google Analytics is a nice tool to find out which of the pages on your blog are getting the most traffic from Pinterest. With this tool, you can also check out which of the images on your site are being pinned the most. Such valuable data will help you tweak your Pinterest strategy.

Apart from Google Analytics, you can also find many other tools that are specific to Pinterest. A good example is Curalate.

Are you on Pinterest? How are you using this visual pinboard to your blogging benefits? Feel free to share your opinions.

The post 4 Essential Pinterest Tips for Bloggers appeared first on Blogging Tips.

List of free and easy file sharing sites

1. Dropbox: Dropbox is, currently ranked among the top online file sharing service providers available. With this you can synchronize your files very easily and then share it with anyone using its public or shared folders. You can create an account to manage your files and talking about size, you can upload individual files up to 300 MB file size to a maximum limit of 2 GB, which can be increased to multiple times also.

2. Windows Live Skydrive: Microsoft isn’t quite famous in the market of web applications, but a few of the giant companies are exceptionally good at serving you the purpose, like the Microsoft’s Skydrive service, that allows you to send and receive large files via the internet. Here you can create an account and then enjoy 25 GB of free online available memory space to be used for sharing your files worth 50 MB of each file limit. Also, you can create personalized folders to restrict rights for users.

3. ADrive: ADrive is the leader of the industry of the online sharing and backup creating service providers. They lead the industry due to the availability of the largest amount of online space to use and the simplest interfaces making the use of this website easy and fast.

4. Oosah: Oosah is another website that provides an easy and fast access to the sharing purposes online. Apart from this, oosah serves its users with its rich in features website and also allows users to manage their content that may be any personal or private, might be photos, videos, music or other audio files.

5. Mozy Online Backup: Mozy is a leader in the industry for providing secured service for the backup of your files including your important files, documents, pictures and other files in a simple and easy to use automatic manner. You can upload your files to make an online backup or you can share links for downloading the files to your friends or other known persons you want to share your uploaded files with.

6. Fileai: Fileai is a website that provides you a secure way of sharing your content with others online. When a file is uploaded to this site, it isn’t uploaded to any server, rather, it is encrypted and sent directly without any storage online.

7. Sharesend: Sharesend is a free and easy to use service providing website for sharing your files instantly. In this service you don’t need to create any account to upload your files and then share them with others. Here you simply need to upload the file, after the completion you will get a link, which allows others to directly download the files.

8. Gigasize: Gigasize is another name in the list when it comes to easy and fast online sharing of your files. Large sized files, that cannot be uploaded or sent via emails can be uploaded to generate a download link by just a click of the mouse.

9. Filebanker: Filebanker is a solution to online sharing, when it comes to sharing files that have a very large size. You don’t need to sign up for any paid options, nor you are irritated with repeated messages to use paid services. This site allows a spam free service with a storage capacity of 10 GB.

10. Dropsend: Dropsend provides a fast, simple and a secured online service to send and receive files. Other than sharing, you can also store your files on the website.

11.  Badongo: Bodango is an online community allowing users to share large sized files by sharing a simple link and also it allows to create a network to access each other’s files on the network.

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Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management refers to the practice of monitoring a business reputation when it comes to addressing negative publicity that are damaging to the organization. This practice shall be the one to help your business get out of the hole that it is in lately. They will help influence the masses not to be deterred with the negative comments that some customers are saying.

How do online reputation works?

To keep track of what your customers are saying against your products they will use customer feedback. These feedbacks that your business is receiving will show early signs to reputation problems. Once situations like this occurs, online reputation management usually focuses on pushing down negative search results by publishing more articles or blog posts saying positive feedbacks on their products. Usually internet produces articles or blog posts that are published the latest. Thus the negative posts will show up in the latter pages of the search engine results.

In addition, online reputation management helps bridges the gap between businesses and their clients by helping businesses notice the difference between how they see themselves and how others sees them. It is very important for businesses to know that not everyone is entitled to agree with what you say about your products. You don’t have to feel bad about it. You cannot please everybody. What you can do is focus on your clients who are continuously patronizing what you’re selling. They should be the one you need to take care of.

Can negative publicity be avoided?

Negative publicity cannot be avoided as you cannot control what others have to say against your product. It is their right to express their feelings. However, you can avoid the situation from getting worst. First, never argue with your clients online. Even if you don’t agree with the opinions of your clients, learn to control your temper. Instead, apologize to them and ask them what you can do to make it better or offer them freebies to appease their frustration. Once you lose your temper, you might say something insulting thus aggravating your customers more. Keep in mind that other people can read what you are writing. If they see that you do not have the capability to handle your customers, you will start losing them one by one.

Second, whatever articles, blog posts, or comments you submitted online can never be deleted. Hence, you have to avoid from arguing your clients online. Even expressing political opinion might do some damage to your image thus affecting your business. Not all might agree with what you have to say. Therefore, refrain from being too expressive online as any subject related to politics is very sensitive.

Third, provide good customer service. Customers would want that their questions or complaints are addressed to immediately. If you can provide answers or solutions to their problems as soon as possible, you won’t have to worry about negative publicity. In addition, never make an excuse for your lapses. Customers always expect that you should know everything or have prepared solutions to all possible scenarios that might happen in the future. They never accept excuses even if it is a reasonable one.

Making a strategic plan

To come up with good business strategies, you need to create a strategic plan; a plan that covers all aspect of your organization such as goals, objectives, budget, and finance. If every detail is written and has a plan of action, rest assured that when you experience situations where your organization receives negative publicity, you will know what to do.

The post How to maintain your business credibility appeared first on Blogging Tips.

How important is online reputation management?

Online reputation management comes in when a business organization experiences some damaging publicity. They are the ones who will take action in making certain that negative commentaries are contained. Basically it is their job to come up with a plan that counteracts the current condition and pushes down the negative publicity.

How to ensure that your business reputation stays intact?

With the evolution of internet, communication is made easy. It is because of this that once you post your products and /or services online many individuals would automatically recognized it; provided that you are using the right tools to make it happen. What makes it more interesting is that whatever you post online will forever stay online. Hence, you must be very careful with what you say on the internet. To avoid facing unnecessary problems caused by negative publicity, here are some tips for you to ensure that this does not happen.

Be mindful with what you say online

The internet has a very distinct memory. Unlike people wherein they sometimes forget what they say, the internet does not do the same. Whatever comments or pictures or videos you post online stays there indefinitely. It does not forget nor can it be deleted. Therefore, you have to learn to be careful with whatever you do online. One minor mistake and it can do great damage to your business’ reputation.

Never argue online

If you encounter customers saying negative remarks against your product, do not argue with them. The right action you should take is to apologize and ask them what you can do to make it better. Remember, you cannot please everybody. Out of 10 customers that you have, 7 might agree with you while the rest do not. Hence, you must learn to control yourself not to lash out to these types of customers. Part of being a reputed company is providing good customer service. How can you give them these good services if you do not know how to placate irate customers?

Immediately address all complaints and/or queries of your clients

To ensure that your customers are always satisfied with your services, answering their complaints and/or queries within 24 hours is a good plan of action. Be polite and courteous to them even if you think that your clients are asking questions with obvious answers. Be cool and never lose your temper. Once you lose your temper you tend to say hurtful words or opinions that might insult your customers. Although expressing oneself is okay, do it with tactfulness.

Create a strategic plan

One of the best ways to avoid negative publicity is to create a strategic plan. Included in that plan are guidelines on what to say or how to act in the event that such incident does occur. You must always stay ahead of the game so that you will not be taken aback once problems like this arise. If possible, create different scenarios and make an action plan for each scenario. In the event that one of the scenarios you have created indeed shall happen you will know exactly what to do.

A path to a successful online business

By following the tips mentioned above, you won’t ever have to undergo problems in dealing irate customers and negative publicity. As much as you hate other people saying negative comments about your business you cannot prevent them from doing so as it is also their right to express themselves. The reason why these guidelines are mentioned is for you to be aware on what you should do and how you should react in the event that you might experience it in the future. This is just one of the many circumstances that you would be facing in your quest to make your business a success. Therefore, take it all in stride. Never falter and strive hard to work on your goals.

The post Guidelines for your business’ online reputation management appeared first on Blogging Tips.

The app, which can be found in the Apple App Store, allows users to manage multiple social media accounts across Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn from anywhere at anytime.

The app includes access to the Viralheat Stream where users can view and engage with social conversations in real time. All the normal engagement actions are offered including: reply, retweet, favorite, comment, like, share, and email content from the stream. Other advanced features available with the Viralheat iPhone App include the ability to schedule posts in advanced, publish across various social media platforms, account analytics, and the option to create and save custom stream views based on user’s preference.

The new app makes staying on top of your social media efforts easy with its user-friendly and on-the-going design.

To learn more about Viralheat’s social media marketing suite, visit their website. And download the free iPhone App through the Apple App Store, available today!

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1.) Please tell us about yourself and how you got into blogging?

My name is KJ, and I am 23 years old. I am an internet entrepreneur. I first started my online career as a Freelancer in January 2010, before that I was working as an call center agent and had really tough times, which lead me to look on the internet for alternate income sources. As I was already familiar with website development and design, I started freelancing on freelancer.com. I can still remember I spent countless sleepless nights bidding on projects, as I invested the money I had in my pocket into buying internet connection etc. So it was a do or die situation for me. Thankfully I did it! Anyway, Later on, a client introduced me to affiliate marketing and I started making good money with it. I loved what I did so I wanted to share my experiences with other people so I joined a few well known forums in order to do so, how ever I kind of felt that without having your own blog or your own site you can`t always share your opinion openly. For example, I posted about an affiliate who was spamming and I personally received their spam mails on a well known forum, In return I got a warning from a moderator of the forum and that was the time when I really thought about starting my own blog.  And thus in October of 2011 I launched kjrocker.com.

2.) What is the focus of your blog and why did you choose that niche?

My main focus is Affiliate marketing and to be honest, that`s where my passion is. I love what I do and I love telling others what I do.

3.) How are you currently monetizing your blog traffic?

To be honest when I started my blog my aim was only to share my experiences and my ideas I never had any intention to monetize my blog, or in simple words I was n`t blogging for money. However, later on as it started getting famous and people started liking that`s when affiliate marketer inside me suggested me to monetize my blog. Now I monetize my blog by Paid ads, and by promoting products and services which are related to my niche for example courses , competitive analysis services etc. However, I only promote genuine and useful products, it is not about the money, it is about quality and my passion.

4.) What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started blogging?

Building relations with other bloggers is very important and I wish I knew it when I was starting out. Your relationship with other bloggers is what helps you most in order to gain more traffic and more exposure, I was always a kind of shy person and was very hesitant to contact other bloggers, thinking they are too big, whereas I am just starting out. So that fear of being just a newbie in blogging kept me away from increasing my reader base. But to be honest there is nothing different and super bloggers are also humans and most of them are really nice people, so I wish I knew that at start.

5.) What are three blogs that you visit almost daily?

zacjohnson.com, dukeo.com, shoemoney.com , copyblogger.com

6.) Can you give us three recommended tools/services that you use with your blogging?

First of all I would recommend all bloggers to have yoast SEO Plugin this plugin  is really amazing. After that I would suggest bloggers to use Content Delivery Network, as it makes your site load faster and increases your site performance. Adding to this, seomoz in order to track your all SEO performance.

7.) What advice would you have for someone who is just starting with their first blog?

For new bloggers I would say go where your passion leads you and target those niches which you have personal interest in. I have seen many people getting confused over what to write about and what topic and niche their blog should cover. I always suggest to follow your passion and in this way you won’t ever have to worry about content.

Also being a blogger your first priority should be your readers, so make sure you give them correct information and what you know best. It’s a fact that we all need money but we will only make money if your readers are happy with you and they trust you, so try your best to never hurt their trust. For example let’s talk about the affiliate industry, just for a few bucks some bloggers won`t even hesitate to review and suggest a network which never pays its affiliates. Always value your visitors more than anything else and specially money.

Socialize with other bloggers participate in get-togethers conferences and always try to have a friendly relation with other bloggers.

8.) What’s the best advice or tip you’ve discovered about blogging since getting started?

Consistency pays, No matter what you do in your life, If you are consistent and you refuse to give up, You will succeed. That`s guaranteed! Nothing is impossible in this world, everything is possible.

9.) If you only had $100 to start a new blog, how would you use it?

After domain and hosting costs I`d buy aweber subscription to build a mailing list and start publishing content on my own blog, but also I would start guest posting on other related industry blogs and build my reader base of loyal blog readers.

10.) How can readers of the blog get in touch with you?

I love to connect with my readers and they are always welcome to get in touch with me through my blog contact page.
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/imkjrocker
Twitter : https://twitter.com/kjrocker
Google Plus https://plus.google.com/u/0/109354601972176427604/

Thanks again KJ for taking the time to share your advice and story with the Blogging Tips community. If you would like to learn about other bloggers and how they are finding success online, be sure to read through our blogger interview series.

The post Meet KJ Rocker of KJRocker.com appeared first on Blogging Tips.

Content Is King

First off, you need to make a decision about the length of the piece that you’re writing well before you start to make any decisions about where to place keywords and links. The conventional wisdom for blogs is the pieces should be anywhere from 200 words to 1000 words depending on the subject matter, but there are no hard and fast rules.

Just remember that most people reading your blog online will be scanning and not looking to read the piece in its entirety in one sitting. That means shorter paragraphs are better than longer ones and bullet points and subheaders neatly categorize the work so readers can get to where they need to be quickly.

Be Clear and Concise

It’s also important that you learn to be clear and concise when you’re writing. Getting straight to the point is one of the quickest ways to hold your readership’s attention. Meandering all over and getting off point will have people clicking away from you and on to competitors’ websites. Learning a few rules of self-editing can be invaluable as this technique will help you cut down on the words that are unnecessary in a sentence or even a paragraph.

Adding those keywords

All the while you should be aware that keywords need to be placed in the right locations. Usually, one keyword per every hundred words of text is a good marker to go by, but that hint only provides part of the picture.

Finding the right keywords is a process in itself that involves research and deciding on which target market is in your best interest. After you’ve gone through that process, it’s best to blend the keywords into the text as much as possible so they don’t stand out.

Remember that writing killer content involves a few different variables so that in the end you have a complete package that scores with the search engines and your target market at the same time.

The post Some Great Tips for Writing Killer Content appeared first on Blogging Tips.

1.) Please tell us about yourself and how you got into blogging?

Very briefly about me: I’m a 28 year old CPA who lives in Chicago, and I have a little over 4 years of experience working at an accounting firm.  I like what I do, but I’ve always felt that there was more I could be doing outside of work.

For me, blogging was initially inspired by the book “The 4-Hour Workweek”.  I knew I wanted to create some kind of income outside of my “9 to 5″ job, and I wanted a blog to document my journey.

So, in 2009, My 4-Hour Workweek was born.  Although the blog has grown in popularity over the past few years (now hovering around 25,000-30,000 visits per month, with over 8,000 subscribers between RSS and my Aweber e-mail list), I’m still a regular guy with a regular job.  I mention this not as a point of pride, but more as a partial explanation for why I haven’t achieved the great success that many other bloggers have (who you have interviewed in this series).  As much as I hate to admit it, my job as a CPA still comes first.

In a way, one of my goals is to show people that you can have a very time consuming “day job” and still make some significant money online.

2.) What is the focus of your blog and why did you choose that niche?

The focus of my blog is really about my journey to create sources of online income (preferably passive income).  You could call it an “internet marketing” blog, but it’s really much more than that – and I definitely don’t consider myself an internet marketing “expert” or “guru”.

I like to think that one day, if/when I “make it big”, someone else or I will be able to look back at all my posts and clearly see what led me to success, and more importantly, where I failed along the way.  I chose this niche because it allows me to discuss everything that I’m doing online to make money, all in one place.

3.) How are you currently monetizing your blog traffic?

Because I don’t sell ad space or use PPC ads like AdSense, my blog traffic is almost exclusively monetized using affiliate links.  My top income source is usually Commission Junction, where I earn affiliate income through hosting services, peer-to-peer lending, and other services/products offered through CJ (that are relevant to my readers).  Because my blog was not intended to be a source of my income online (it’s merely supposed to document my journey), I don’t aggressively try to monetize it.  However, it still happens to be the most lucrative part of my online business.

One of my recent successes was with this page that I was able to rank on page 1 of Google for the highly competitive phrase “make money online” for the past 6+ months.  The ranking fluctuates quite a bit, as you would imagine – at one point, I was ranked #2 on page 1, and currently, I’ve fallen to the second page (depending on where you look).  The crazy part is, I had no intention of ranking for that phrase, but nevertheless it turned out to be a great source of my blog’s income.

4.) What do you know now that you wish you knew when you first started blogging?

The importance of working hard and sticking with it despite slow growth initially.  It’s so easy to give up when you’re first starting out and not seeing results.  I know my first year of blogging was nearly wasted because I didn’t think anyone would ever read my writing.  If I would’ve put a little bit more effort in early on, and started many projects sooner, I probably would be a lot further ahead today.

5.) What are three blogs that you visit almost daily?

1.  Smart Passive Income
2.  Quick Sprout
3.  Niche Pursuits

6.) Can you give us three recommended tools/services that you use with your blogging?

Because I know most bloggers use WordPress, here are 3 plugins that I find helpful:

1.  WordPress SEO by Joost – This is probably the only SEO plugin most blogger’s need, as it makes just about everything SEO-related easier for you.
2.  Tweet Old Post – A great way to give some love to your older blog posts automatically – I use this on a few of my blogs, and it works quite well.
3.  Sharebar – An attractive way to add sharing buttons (Tweet, “Like”, etc.) to your blog posts.

7.) What advice would you have for someone who is just starting with their first blog?

1.  Keep pushing forward.  As I mentioned above, it’s so easy to give up when you’re starting out.  Success (except in very rare occasions) doesn’t happen quickly.  And even those who appear to succeed quickly probably had many earlier failures that you just aren’t aware of.

2.  Work hard and be consistent.  This probably applies to many areas of life, but it’s especially true with blogging.  Fight the urge to be lazy – if you planned to blog three times a week, hold yourself to that schedule.  And as a side note, don’t sacrifice quality just to publish a blog post.  Once you’ve start putting out quality content with a level of consistency, you will find that your audience will return with consistency.

8.) What’s the best advice or tip you’ve discovered about blogging since getting started?

Build relationships – even though most of your online relationships are virtual, they can have a very real impact on your blog’s success.  You can build relationships by starting small and doing something as simple as leaving a comment on another blog in your niche.

Get to know people, and don’t immediately jump on the opportunity to ask for something.  Strong relationships are built on a two way street, and the best thing you can do is offer value without expecting anything in return.  Don’t worry, good things will come.

9.) If you only had $100 to start a new blog, how would you use it?

I would probably buy hosting, a domain, and good keyword research software (such as Market Samurai or Long Tail Pro).  You won’t know how to use it right away, but there is plenty of free information out there to show you how to use it.

I wouldn’t spend a dime on any eBooks or training courses (with a few exceptions) – again, there is a wealth of free information on the internet, and if you’re willing to invest your time, you can do most things without spending any money.

10.) How can readers of the blog get in touch with you?

Blog: http://www.my4hrworkweek.com
Twitter: @My4HWW
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/100898169973038258562

Thanks again Eric for taking the time to share your advice and story with the Blogging Tips community. If you would like to learn about other bloggers and how they are finding success online, be sure to read through our blogger interview series.

The post Meet Eric Gati of My4HrWorkWeek.com appeared first on Blogging Tips.

The good news is it’s a really fun and fulfilling job. The bad news is it’s not easy to do at first.

No, don’t think that I am discouraging you from blogging. What I’m simply trying to say is you have to brace yourselves for the hard work required. Don’t get me wrong. It’s challenging especially at the beginning and you’ll even face some as you go along your blogging journey, but if you really like it and have what it takes to succeed as a blogger, then these challenges should not be a problem.

Once you’re in, it’s important that you don’t forget some really important tips on  blogging.

Don’t forget to implement these tips on blogging

Write regularly. To be a successful blogger, you need to be consistent. Write regularly. It can be daily, weekly, or even monthly. The important thing is to write regularly. Whether it’s your own or someone else’s blog, regular posts are necessary. It shows your commitment.

Spend a lot of time researching for facts. A post that doesn’t have anything to say is useless. Make sure that your posts are backed with accurate facts. Research is a very important skill for a blogger. Nothing attracts readers more than blog posts that have relevant, useful, and accurate facts.

Have something to say and say it differently. In this age, almost everyone has a blog. That’d also mean the topics we blog about have already been written by others. When you blog, make sure to say something different. Tackle every topic differently. Find a new angle and write about it. That’s going to help you stand out.

Always put your readers in mind. If you’re a businessman, you’ll want to give your customers everything they want. That’s how you’ll make money. Similarly, bloggers need to put readers’ needs first. When you write, make sure to structure your post according to what your readers want.

Some helpful tips on blogging effectively for your readers include these questions: What do my readers want to know? What kind of language are they comfortable with? How can I present technical terms and facts in easily?

Stick to your schedule. This is similar to the first item on the list. Sticking to a schedule is important. The last thing you want is for your blog to sit for days and weeks without a new post.

Know how  to identify relevant images. Images can add so much appeal to blog posts. Make it a point to include a photo in all blog posts. The most important thing here is images need to be relevant. There are sites that will allow you to use their  images for free as long as you attribute properly.

Know the benefits of interlinking posts. Interlinking posts is beneficial for SEO, so don’t forget to do that. This will also allow you to promote other posts that are not doing as well as you expected. It can improve traffic and linkjuice. Part of interlinking posts effectively is using the right anchor texts.

Keyword research is an important skill. Blog posts have to be centered around a certain keyword. Know how to pick the best and most profitable keywords by using Google’s Keyword Tool. If you have cash to spare, you can purchase keyword research tools that are just as effective and even offer other features.

Plan your posts. An editorial calendar is a must-have. This will make your job easier. Also, knowing what you have to write will give your blog a sense of direction.   

Encourage reader interaction. At the end of your posts, it won’t hurt to write a short line encouraging readers to share the post or add a comment below. You’d be surprised at how effective that can be.

Respond to comments promptly. When people do comment on your posts, make sure to respond promptly. This will let your audience know that you’re sincere in establishing a relationship with them, which is very important in obtaining a loyal following for your blog.

Go all out. Give as many advice as you can. Whenever possible, give away freebies. Or point your readers to other places where they can find useful stuff. They’ll thank you for it and to compensate, they’ll stay loyal.

Cite other blogs/bloggers in your posts. This will not only add more credibility to your blog posts but encourage relationships with more established bloggers. Obviously, when you link to them, you’re helping increase their link juice and traffic. They’ll also thank you for it. This will help you get the attention of famous bloggers.

These tips on blogging should help make it easy for you to become a successful blogger.

The post Best Tips on Blogging for Newbies appeared first on Blogging Tips.

Not choosing the correct category where they belong.

They are mostly the people who actually choose a category they like, not the one they could work on. Like take me for example: two years back I actually took a category of health, and not only health it was about “home remedies for skin treatment and beautification”, just because I went to an Ayurveda’s saloon twice or thrice; I thought I knew enough to tell others about it. Well no it was a decision I still regret.

My point – if you don’t know about rocket science, don’t write about it. Write what you can, even if it is about football. People are there searching for everything. And it is better to write more about something you know you are sure about rather than writing less about something you don’t know.

They don’t spend time on correct issues. (Or maybe they just don’t want to work a little more)

Second most common reason for their failure is because they just spend too much time in just making the website look better, yeah I know look and feel of the site does matters but; what’s the point if you are spending your time ONLY on the outer beauty what about its soul, where is the content. Don’t just spend every minute on its design, post something – something worth people visit it for.

The best way to drive traffic is from search engines and I definitely know they don’t go over your sites body and see if it’s black or blue. Write “Quality Content” about the topic you choose and write more. Search Engines eat on content, it’s what they and their users want, but to post something that is not in your niche will not only make you a false information provider, even your regular users may decrease. Never write something that is not under your category, only if that affects you.

They have lost the spirit of sharing.

Another most important reason is the point of sharing that they don’t understand, they think- they can do it alone, but it’s the world of internet, you have to share to get into the top league, no one stands out. “Everyone needs everyone” – remember that. Most of the bloggers including me share our links, articles and even our strategies sometimes. No one is perfect and has to help others and they return the favor when you need them.

P.S: If you are trying blogging, and are not getting results, be patient and most importantly be determined; not only in writing but also in finding new ways to promote. It’s the age of social media anything can click and any working formula can fail. No sure shot way to anything.

The post Common Reasons: Why Most Bloggers Fail at Their First Attempts appeared first on Blogging Tips.