If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions, then the SubHeading WordPress plugin is for you!

1. Puzzle Social Network Icon Set

What grade school student doesn’t love puzzles?

2. Sewn Badge Icon Set

This set reminds me of badges on Cub Scouts uniforms!

3. Moleskin Icon Set

For the discerning student, only a moleskin notebook will do.  Are moleskin icons right for your blog?

4. Color-stroked Free Hand Icon Set

This is one of my favorite hand-drawn icon sets.  I wish my doodles looked this good, and I love the crumpled paper.

5. Hand Drawn Social Media Icon Set

Here is another option if you like the hand drawn style.  This one offers consistent square shapes with simpler designs drawn on grid paper.

What do you think?  Will any of these social media icon sets give your blog the bling it needs?

Follow the link to read more about back to school and blogging basics on Performancing.

While it is true that bloggers are, with good reason, expanding more and more into video and audio, at some point every blogger is going to have to write something. It might be a description, a bio or even just an advertisement but, at some point, a every blogger is going to have to put words onto paper.

But not every writer has the heart of a poet or the writing skills of a hard-hitting journalists. Bloggers come from all different backgrounds and styles and many have had little training or experience with writing prior to starting up their blog.

The good news is that you don’t need to be the next Shakespeare to be an effective and popular blogger, in many ways it helps not to be, but you do have to be able to write clearly and in a way that is engaging to your reader. It may not require a Ph.D in literature, but it does require that you work on honing your craft and make your writing as good as possible.

Failure to do so can sink an otherwise great blog and make your previous hard work a complete waste of time.

The Pitfall

Many bloggers, if not most, start out their sites obsessing over the content they are putting out over the Web. This obsession can sometimes reach unhealthy levels that can actually do more harm than good, but often times this drive leads to some very good writing and great attention to detail.

The problem is that many bloggers reach a comfort zone as their blog begins to grow, something of a holding pattern with the quality of their writing. They stop editing their work as much and take fewer precautions to ensure that their writing is up to code.

Mistakes begin to creep in, the writing becomes more awkward and less approachable. Visitors may not stop coming, but they certainly spend less time on the site and the search engines notice as the bounce rate begins to go up. People generally take the blog less seriously and enjoy spending time there less and it is only a matter of time before the blog’s clout begins to drift away and it suffers in its statistics.

Over time, it can become something of a ghost town, a shell of its former self, and it becomes a blog that is ripe for abandonment as motivation becomes harder and harder to come by.

However, it doesn’t have to happen and, in fact, is a form of blogging death that can be very easily avoided.

How to Avoid It

The easiest way to avoid this pitfall is to simply enjoy writing. If you like writing you’ll invest the time and energy needed into it not just out of desire to create a good blog, but also because it’s something you want to do.

However, for bloggers who perhaps only tolerate the writing portion of the blogging experience or perhaps just deeply hate the editing portion, there are a few things you can and should do to ensure that you don’t slouch in your writing duties.

1. Set a Writing Goal: Find a word count that you are comfortable with and shoot for it every time you write. Give yourself a range with a minimum and a maximum to aim for. This doesn’t mean you have to stick to it every time but that you should have a good reason for breaking the rule.
2. Create an Editing Ritual: Editing a piece of writing is difficult, especially if you are the one who wrote it. Most people find it hard to give their own work the kind of attention it needs to effectively proof it. I find it better to step away from my work for at least 15 minutes before editing to help me read it with fresh eyes. Create your own ritual to ensure you give it the proper attention.
3. Focus on Making Content Skimmable: An easy way to make your writing readable is to make it visually more appealing. Add lists to your post (like this one) and use subheads. Also, shorter paragraphs and a mixture of short and long sentences will make your content easily skimmable and readable without requiring too much effort.
4. Don’t Hesitate to Delete: When writing, make liberal use of the delete key. If a post idea isn’t working out, trash it. If a section doesn’t fit, delete it. Delete words, delete paragraphs, delete entire articles. Eliminating the garbage helps what’s left shine that much brighter and is the easiest thing you can do as an editor.
5. Read Everything Aloud: You can often times spot a good writer by whether or not their lips are moving as they write. Good writers sound out their articles to see how things “sound” in their mind. This also forces you to go through your work word by word, eliminating the tendency to skip around as we read.

But while all of these suggestions are fine, the most important thing to remember is that your blog is only as good as its last post. What you wrote two weeks ago or two years ago may be doing well in Google, but to your subscribers, your main audience, it is what you posted yesterday that counts the most.

That is why you can not rest on your laurels and have to keep up the pressure and drive to write good, high-quality content every day you sit down write.

Bottom Line

In the end, there is really no substitute for having a passion for writing. If you don’t like writing, it’s going to get harder and harder to make yourself take the time to do it well.

This isn’t to say that it is impossible, but that it is an area you will have to focus on and keep working on as you move forward.

Simply put, we all have areas of blogging we don’t enjoy but have to do, whether it is promotion, maintaining backups or something else altogether, we all have our least favorite parts.

The ultimate trick is to find ways to get yourself out of bed and to spend the time and energy to do those things with the same vigor and attention that you do the things you love.

If you can manage that, there is little that can stop you from creating a very successful and very long-term blog.

With bloggers trying to find new an innovative ways at generating revenue and promoting their brand, it seems many bloggers are now trying “innovative” ways to engage their audience.

While bloggers should always attempt to experiment with new ways to monetize their sites and appeal to the masses, they should avoid startling users with annoying pop ups upon landing on a post.

So regardless of whether you’re a blog novice or a guru, you might want to cease using these features, as it could result in a smaller pay check as well as a loss of readership at the end of the month.

Pop Up Ads

Loved by advertisers and loathed by the rest of the human race, pop up ads are making a comeback amongst bloggers in search of new income.

However implementing these ads upon your blog can result in bloggers enabling pop up blockers within their browser or (for the more tech savvy), blocking all of your ads altogether.

While you want your ads to be visible to your audience (as you have to eat too), you should avoid throwing one in their face (which truth be told is very annoying).

Pop “Under” Ads

Although not as annoying as pop up ads, pop under ads can leave a bitter after taste for users visiting their site after navigating away from your page.

Sometimes these ads will only become visible after a user closes out their main browser, catching the full attention of users (to the delight of marketers everywhere).

The last thing a user wants to do is close out extra windows after visiting your blog, which could inspire them install ad blockers within their browser (which means less revenue for you).

Pop Up Subscription Boxes

While bloggers should always encourage readers to subscribe to their sites via RSS or email, using pop up subscriptions is the wrong way to do it.

It would be wiser for bloggers to write a post about subscribing to their blog via feed, email or a tweet account instead of repeatedly harassing them for permission to invade their inbox.

Pop Up Comments

Although popular back in the day (think Haloscan times), pop up comments have (thankfully) lost their appeal as many bloggers are adopting comments sections that slide out (when the link is clicked) or are visible from the beginning.

However a few third party comment services are attempting to bring back pop up comments from the dead, which means users will have another reason to install the add blocker.

Even though pop up comments will not annoying readers on the notebook, those viewing your blog on a mobile device may not be thrilled with scrolling in and out in order to fill the comment form fields.

Other Annoyances?

Although these pop up annoyances are probably at the top of the list for annoyances, what other “features” should bloggers stop using in order to avoid irritating their readers.

Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

(Image Credit: Wikipedia)

My point here is that you need to know when it’s time to give up the ghost. Sometimes there is a right time to accept defeat.

Perhaps your blog has failed.

I won’t define failure for you since only you can control what you feel is successful. But in my opinion, it’s time to let go of a blog if you are suffering from an evil trifecta known as “The 3 lacks.”

Lack of interest
Lack of time
Lack of traffic

I love blogging. It’s fair to say we’re hot and heavy. But there have been other things in my life (and in yours) that you have loved and eventually let go.

The old adage that quitters never win is bullsh*t. Stick with anything too long, let it be an investment, a job, or a spouse, and it will likely backfire in your face. You need to know when to fold ‘em as the song goes.

For those of you who own a used car, you know what a tough call it is to stop pouring money into the wreck and start over.

If you are thinking of throwing in the towel on your blog, look for these signs that your blog is on life support:

Infrequent posts.
Loss of unique voice.
Reliance on guest posts.
You stop examining traffic and keywords.
Copy and pasting press releases.

Sometimes a blog just need a to be remodeled, other times, it needs to be demolished. I hope you stick with your blog and make it a vehicle to your dreams. But if you do quit your blog, I salute you…as long as you find a positive way to use your time.

I might never throw a fast ball like my nephew, but my blog kicks his blog’s as*! I’ll take a victory wherever I can get it!

Before television, before radio, and before the internet, marketers used one form of communication to move products, offer services, and acquire customers: content. It formed the basis of every sales effort, the foundations of marketing for just about every business, and the backbone of almost every early company’s revenue stream. Without content, there wasn’t business to speak of.

Today, there are hundreds of ways to move products and push services. From pay-per-click online advertising to interactive mobile applications, the amount of space awaiting advertising or marketing in some form is truly staggering. But the oldest form of marketing out there – content marketing – still survives, largely because it is too effective for marketers to resign.

If you are having trouble getting the oldest, most reliable marketing method to stick, do not give up just yet. These three tips are designed to help you boost returns and increase sales without having to write more content or completely change your marketing plan. Whether you are a beginner marketer or a seasoned professional, apply these three tips, tactics, and strategies and you will see your conversion rates rise and customer acquisition costs bottom out.

Write with a purpose.

If there is a single clear sign of amateur writing – a smoke signal of poor content – it is a lack of purpose. Text that dawdles, diverts, and ultimately fails to deliver on any real goal is the opposite of any marketer’s goal. Commercial writing requires focus, and without it can negatively impact your sales.

Start your writing not with a sentence or a headline, but with a plan. By creating a structure for your content before you start, you will end up delivering more than just words to your audience – you will deliver a reason for them to invest in your product, service, or special offer.

Treat content as a part of the sales process, not the process itself.

There is a slight misunderstanding in the professional content marketing world. Amateur marketers fall into the trap of thinking that content itself is the sales process, rather than a mere part of it. Pages are written with no purpose other than to convert instantly, and thousands of sales are lost in the process.

Treat your writing as a part of the sales process – the first part. Draw attention and briefly explain what you can offer to customers. Content is not the entirety of your sales pitch, merely an interesting opening line – a method of bringing customers in the door, up to the counter, and ready to pull out their checkbook.

Don’t exclude, offend, or divide your audience.

That “dear friend” at the beginning of your sales content is not doing you any good if it is alienating your audience and making you look indifferent to peoples’ personal situations. Effective content marketers do not just skip out on judging their audience – they skip out on connecting with them negatively altogether. Aim to connect with your audience through your content, and eliminate any elements of your writing that could possibly offend, exclude, or divide your potential customer base.

This is a guest post by Roko Nastic, a webmaster and blogger who writes for Webmaster Format, a webmaster info website. He enjoys sharing his knowledge about web design, blogging, CMSs, writing and best web hosting companies.

It’s true!  There are tons of free widgets that you can add to your blog to make it fun, interactive, and even more useful.  Listed below are several sites where you can find free widgets that you can install on your blog right now.

Some widgets will display on your blog with ad content, but some widget directory sites offer an option to pay for a pro account and remove the ads from the widgets.

Keep in mind, not all widgets are created equal.  Read the reviews, check the star-ratings, and be prepared to delete the widget if you don’t like it or it doesn’t function properly once you install it on your blog.

Most importantly, make sure the widgets you choose to use on your blog match your blog’s topic, tone and your audience’s expectations.  For example, if you write a blog about finance and investing, the Magic 8-Ball widget (like the one shown in the image at the beginning of this post) might not be appropriate, unless your audience knows you for having a sarcastic tone or sense of humor.

Check out these sites and browse around the widgets available.  From countdown clocks to Etch-a-Sketches, there is a widget for everyone!

1. Widgetbox

Widgetbox offers a huge selection of widgets and several different types of accounts with varying price tags and features.  The basic account is free, and a free 7-day trial offer is available for the pro account.  You can follow the link to see current Widgetbox fees.

2. SpringWidgets

SpringWidgets is owned by Fox Interactive Media and offers a directory that includes tens of thousands of free widgets that you can add to your blog by simply copying and pasting specific share code.

3. Widgipedia

Widgipedia is owned by Vendio Services, Inc. and aims to be the ultimate widgets resource.  Widgipedia is free and you don’t need an account unless you plan to create and upload new widgets to the directory.

What do you think?  Are you going to spice up your blog with a widget?  Can you resist the mysterious allure of the Magic 8-Ball?

According to the story, Wrigley was on a train when another passenger asked him why he continued to spend millions of dollars when everyone knew his product and he had a virtual lock on the market.

Rather than answering the question, Wrigley responded by asking how fast the train was going. When the other passenger said, “About 70 miles per hour,” he shot back with the now-famous quip:

“Well, that’s fast enough, why don’t they unhook the engine?”

Wrigley understood that advertising and promotion was a key to growing his company and it is also key to growing your blog. However, most bloggers only focus on promotion during the earlier days and months of a blog, let it coast to hopeful success later. This can cause growth to slow to a crawl and, in extreme cases, even stop.

The Pitfall

Whenever we launch a new blog, we are initially very eager to promote it. We tell our friends, our family and anyone else who will listen. We leave comments, we get active in the community and swap links whenever we can. In short, we fight for every visitor and celebrate every comment.

However, as sites grow we become less aggressive about that fight. We don’t promote as actively, ignoring our Twitter, avoiding leaving comments and not working with other webmasters. A lot of it is pure practicality. It takes more time to run a busier blog (more email, more comments, more spam, etc.), thus reducing the time available for promotion, but much of it is that bloggers feel they have move past promotion, as if it were just a phase.

Unfortunately, some bloggers take this to an extreme and rest on their laurels a bit too hard. They stop promoting, they stop producing top-flight content and they effectively cut off the engine that has pulled their blog to where it is. The result is that blogs carry on for a time, then slow down, then stagnate and eventually begin to stop.

For bloggers who have traffic as part of their goal, this can be a very devastating problem to have and a stagnate blog or one losing traffic is at much higher risk of abandonment than one that is actively growing.

So how do you prevent this from happening to your site? The answer is quite simple.

How to Avoid It

The simplest way to not “cut off the engine” of your blog is to quite simply remain dedicated to its promotion, even if things seem to be going great.

This may not mean that you use the same promotion tactics that you did on day one, that would be foolish, but that you don’t give up on promotion. nor do you completely abandon the steps that got you to where you are.

In short, while you may have to change and hone your tactics to find more relevant ways to promote yourself as grow, you can’t rest comfortably on your status. Consider the following steps:

1. Focus on Quality Content: Good content is still your best promotion. It ranks well in the search engines and brings you new, targeted visitors daily. Keep writing good content and keep trying to outdo your previous best with every post.
2. Force Yourself to Promote: Make sure you spend at least a few hours per week promoting your site. This can be about maintaining your Twitter feed, leaving comments, writing guest posts or just about anything other than blog writing and maintenance.
3. Shift Tactics: As your site becomes more popular and you build a stronger name, you might not want to use the same tactics. Focus on broader-reaching methods of promotion such as email lists, Twitter, etc. and less on more targeted methods.
4. Don’t Forget Your Network: That being said, continue to reach out to individual bloggers and sites as time allows. Though posting comments and sending personal emails may not be very efficient, they are important steps as no site is an island and relationship building is still crucial.
5. Remember, There Are Always New People to Meet: Finally, remember that, no matter how popular your site gets, the majority of the people in the world have not heard of you and always at least some in your field who don’t know of you. There’s always new people to reach out to, it’s just a matter of finding them.

All in all, this is a pretty simple pitfall to avoid. Don’t stop promoting, refine your strategies as your needs change and don’t let your relationships slide. It’s simple. The hardest part is putting in the time and energy into keeping it up, especially as other areas of blogging take up more and more of your time and promotion is, generally, one of the least favorite blogging activities.

In that regard, blog promotion is a lot like going to the gym to get in shape. Almost everyone recognizes what they have to do, but many, if not most, simply aren’t able or aren’t willing to go through with it.

Bottom Line

The real problem with blog promotion is that, for most bloggers, it is one of the least enjoyable part of the blogging experience. Most bloggers get into it because they have a passion for their chosen topic, which is rarely marketing.

Still, when most bloggers start they have a rabid enthusiasm for promotion and are eager to get their names out there by any means necessary. However, that enthusiasm becomes more tepid once some level of success is found, making it seem less necessary and giving the blogger other things to do.

Everyone has to keep working to get themselves out there. Complacency is the beginning of stagnation and nowhere is that more true than blog promotion and marketing. If you think your job is done, then it probably is, but only because your blog is in a holding pattern and likely soon to start coming down.

Some users have even boasted that they back up their data to their email account or home computer, two choices that should NEVER be options (feel free to ask why in the comment section below).

Since everyone’s budget is different, here are 3 inexpensive ways to back up your blog without breaking the bank.

Mozy

Believe it or not, many web hosts provide an option for bloggers to backup their data to Mozy.

Although the feature comes in 2 flavors (free and professional), most bloggers will probably only need to use the free option which allows you to back up to 2GB (the premium version is unlimited and costs $5/month).

While Mozy is not exactly optimized for blogs (as that is not their specialty), you can at least retrieve your data with the help of a few helpful plugins (like Automatic WordPress Backup for WP fans).

blogVault

Created by Inactiv Media Solutions, blogVault is an inexpensive option for WordPress users seeking to securely backup their blog without hassle or fuss.

The site is very similar to VaultPress in many ways, as it allows bloggers to make hourly backups as well as store their blog’s database upon Amazon’s servers (via their S3 service)

Prices for blogVault start at $29/year per blog (for 1 GB of storage), although the company does offer free trial backups for the first 30 days (50 MB max until you purchase a plan).

BlogBackupr

BlogBackupr is a service by Triop that is not only designed for bloggers, but works with most (if not all) major blogging platforms including Blogger, WordPress (both WP.com and WP.org), Movabletype, etc.

The site currently has no premium option (and their currently is no indication of when one will launch), although the service is suitable for professional bloggers who are on a very tight budget.

Similar to blogVault, BlogBackupr has an automatic restore feature, although the service is only available for WordPress.com, WordPress (self hosted) and Blogger fans.

Any Others?

As far as backup services go, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of options available for bloggers, although regardless of which service you choose you should ALWAYS backup your blog.

For those of you who do backup your sites, what services would you recommend users using? Feel free to enlighten all of us in the comment section below!

Blog Action Day, an event coordinated by Change.org, a social media site that raises awareness about important causes and empowers people to take action, is slated for October 15, 2010. On that day bloggers across the world will unite to help raise awareness for a significant global issue.

Over 13,000 bloggers from 156 countries were involved last year, and if you give a hoot about the planet, we encourage you to get involved.

There are currently six international discussions being evaluated and voted on. Honestly, they are all worthy of your blog’s attention – but you can help choose the focus of this year’s event.

* Water: The UN recently declared water to be a human right, but millions around the world still lack even the most basic access, causing widespread disease and the possibility of military conflict over access to clean water.

* Human Trafficking: From prostitution to forced labor, more than 27 million people are modern-day slaves, making human trafficking one of the most overlooked man-made tragedies in the world.

* Women: The most discriminated against group in the world isn’t a minority: it’s women. From inequality in schooling to reduced economic opportunities, women face a disproportionate degree of adversity all over the world.

* Sustainable Food: Industrial agriculture has overtaken the world’s food supply – creating obesity in the developed world and spreading genetically modified crops and oftentimes undercutting local farmers in the developing world.

* Hunger: While many of us may take healthy, nutritious food for granted, more than 1 billion people around the world see it as an unattainable luxury.

* Oceans: Overfishing and pollution have decimated untold species of fish and other ocean life over the past few decades, and recent oil spills have shown how vulnerable aquatic life is to man-made disasters.

Make your choice here or you can even suggest a topic that is near and dear to your heart.

For all of you bloggers who are just starting out or see very little action on your blog as far as traffic or comments: do not be discouraged. You have a voice and the power to make a difference! Participating in a great event such as Blog Action Day can not only help you “give back” but it also can put your blog on the map.

During that time, our blogs, including this one, have scored some great content.

But there’s still a problem.

The majority of people who reach out to me do not supply topic ideas. This is a game-changer when it comes to trying to get published on a major blog. This post is not to spank anyone. Rather, it is to give you some insight as to why providing specific blog post pitches is essential to getting published on external blogs.

1) You make the blog owners life easy. Bloggers are busy. The majority of us have full-time jobs, family obligations and a social life (as miniscule as it might be), on top of our blogging responsibilities. Bloggers love getting “free” content, but if it takes them five email “back and forths” to get a post, it becomes not worth their time.

2) You have a unique voice. The idea of having guest bloggers is so that a group of strangers can help you come up with fresh content ideas and fill in the voids that you can’t cover. Bloggers can write about anything, but sometimes, coming up with post ideas is the hardest part. Don’t miss Ann Smarty’s 10 Steps to Writing a Killer Guest Post.

3) When you solicit a blogger and tell them that you can write about “anything,” you are turning them off. Would you want a girlfriend who is willing to be with anyone? Of course not. We all have a specialty; an area where our writing is at its best. Flaunt it.

4) Follow instructions. Every blog has own its own set of rules on how they expect blog posts, how many links you can include, etc. If a blog owner gives you instructions, follow them.

5) Except that the blog owner has more power. The reality is that an established blog with a solid PR ranking has more power than an individual blogger (there are a few exceptions). Your post might be amazing, but you still get a valuable link back, which gives you the better end of the arrangement. Bloggers feel this way. While no one expects you to bow and “kiss the ring,” it is important to be courteous when approaching a blog owner. The reality is, they don’t owe you anything, and you shouldn’t act as if they do.

I hope this doesn’t come across as a lecture. I am merely giving you the view from my seat as I sift through hundreds of blog guest offers. The great news is that the people who have submitted a guest post have been exposed to thousands of page views and hundreds of clicks – and it’s only been a few weeks!

If you are interested in writing for BloggingPro or one of our brother blogs, please learn more here.

No matter how experienced of a blogger, web designer or webmaster you are, redesigning a website is a huge undertaking. In many ways it is similar to remodeling a home in that if the internal structure of the site is compromised, the whole thing will come crashing down. Here are some items for redesigning your website that will help the process run smoothly, leaving you with a finished product that comes in on time and under budget.

Go In With a Plan
You don’t start off a kitchen remodeling project by rushing in with a sledge hammer, swinging madly at any wall or appliance that gets in your way, so why would you do that with a website redesign? Even if you are completely dissatisfied with your current look, not everything has to go. Perhaps your logo needs upgrading or your color scheme reminds people of the 1980’s, but you have to know exactly what you want changed or there is no way you will come in under budget. Your refrigerator might not have an automatic ice maker, but as long as it still runs and doesn’t clash with the rest of your kitchen, there might not be a need to replace it.

The same goes for web design. First determine your budget, then what you ideally want and evaluate the cost. If getting everything you want puts you over budget, then you have to prioritize. Maybe cut out a piece of Flash here or leave the rollover menu the way it is. Basically, create a comprehensive plan before you start redesigning the site.

Don’t Dilly Dally
You have a plan, now don’t waste any more time. You wouldn’t put in the kitchen cabinets, then wait a couple months and redo the countertops would you? The same goes for redesigning a website. Updating the menus one month and then changing the color scheme the next, not only adds a lot more work to your plate, but it muddles the entire design process, making it difficult to track just how much progress has been made. Make sure that your budget allows for you to make all the changes at once because slowly implementing pieces will put your site (or home) out of commission for much longer than necessary. Again, this stresses the importance of having a plan before going in, so that everything can be completed, sewn up and launched without skipping a beat.

Have a Backup Plan
I have seen so many home remodeling projects stalled because of one minor discrepancy in the color of the custom cabinetry, the wrong sized appliance was ordered or the grout didn’t quite match the color swatch at the design center. I’m not saying that these aren’t important issues, because the client should always get what they want. What I’m saying is that you need to have a backup plan for anything that could go wrong in a remodel or redesign. Temporary fixes are crucial in the home remodeling industry as you and your team figure out how to provide a more permanent solution. In the web-world, the fact that the dropdown menus don’t sparkle when you mouse over them could make your client go up in arms, but that doesn’t mean that they should go without a menu while they wait for you to jazz it up. Make sure that the functionality of the site is not compromised while you research a better solution than the one being utilized.

If all goes well, your website will be your pride and joy. You will be able to proudly show it off to guests & visitors, brag about its unique features and feel confident that you aren’t losing a single customer due to an outdated design. Follow these steps and you will insure that you finish the project on time and under budget, without any major mishaps on the way.

This is a guest post by Aaron Garcia, a project manager for MorePro Marketing, a search engine optimization and marketing consulting company in Phoenix, Arizona.

Of course, talking about what’s in bloggers’ sidebars isn’t a new topic, but perhaps because I was watching TV, the next thing I thought of after seeing the Capital One commercial was that Seinfeld episode where George couldn’t bear to part with anything in his wallet until it became so huge that he hurt his back carrying it around and sitting on it, and finally, it exploded.

So you’re probably wondering, “How does this relate to blogging?”  Here you go…

There are two ways to look at your blog’s sidebar:

1. The Capital One version

In Capital One’s commercials, the company tries to differentiate its brand from its competitors by creating a perception that it’s product is stronger and better than other credit cards.  If you have a Capital One credit card in your wallet, you don’t need anything else.  Now, I won’t discuss the merits (or lack thereof) of Capital One in this post, but the point about blogging is this — you can use your blog’s sidebar to differentiate your blog from the competition.  Everyone puts links to their post categories, some ads, and subscriber buttons in their sidebars.  What can you add to your sidebar that truly adds value to the user experience on your blog, and how can you use your sidebar to make your blog stand out from the crowd?  Surely, you try to do this with your content, but you can do it with your sidebar, too.  Don’t be afraid to get creative!

2. The George Costanza version

George Costanza’s wallet is so full he can’t find anything in it.  Is your sidebar so cluttered that visitors can’t find the useful information between the useless information?  Is it flooding with ads, bursting at the seems with links, and twice as long as your actual content?  Just as George’s wallet hurt his back, your sidebar can hurt your blog.  Keep it streamlined.  Get rid of the old stuff you don’t need anymore, and replace it with things that users want to have at their fingertips — the things they can’t get through the day without.  This means you’ll need to change your sidebar as your readers’ needs and interests change.  Be prepared to experiment and resist the urge to be a pack rat.

So which one are you?  Are you Capital One or George Costanza?  There is no better time to change than the present!

Image: Flickr

1. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

The more great content people are exposed to on your blog, the higher the chances are that they’ll find something they like causing them to return to your blog again, share your content with their own online connections, and ultimately, drive additional traffic to your blog.  YAARP is a great plugin for automatically including a list of related posts at the end of each of your blog posts.  The Link Within widget is another alternative.

There is much more to writing a blog than just simply putting out new blog entries. Even ignoring promotion, communication and other activities all bloggers do, there is a simple truth that, for the most part, a great blog can not be simply a great blog.

Nearly all great blogs are something else too and it is important to be thinking about that both as you work to develop the idea for your site and as you grow it. Rather than focusing merely on the daily grind, you need to make sure that your readers have other reasons to both first find your site and keep coming back.

After all, blogs are a dime a dozen on the Web, without something more, your site may not be worthless, but it can sure feel that way.

The Pitfall

Simply put, most bloggers don’t pay much attention to why they read the sites that they do. This, unfortunately, really hinders them when trying to create a blog that others will enjoy and find value in.

As we write our daily and weekly blog posts, it can be easy to assume that blogging is nothing more than the process of creating new posts, editing them and publishing them. Throw in some Twitter work and some email, and many feel that their blog will take care of itself.

While this may be a tempting illusion, mainly because it makes blogging seem to be a lot easier than it is, it simply doesn’t pan out in reality. Instead, it is a sure-fire way to ensure that no one beyond your family and friends reads your site and that your blog languishes in obscurity, just waiting for abandonment.

The Danger

The problem is pretty simple. Most people who read blogs don’t view blog reading as purely a pleasure activity and they don’t actively seek out new blogs to read. Instead, they stumble across interesting blogs while looking for other things on the Web and then, if they are interested and willing to make the commitment, subscribe.

And for a reader, subscribing is a commitment. Many already refer to their RSS reader as their “second inbox” and some have even designed feed readers around avoiding the guilt associated with it.

Having a good blog is not enough to ensure that you get a good reader base and it is important to find ways to reach out to potential readers and to ens are the ones who come by. Otherwise, your blog traffic is not going to grow nor will your subscriber base and that, in turn, it going to make it very difficult to not abandon your blog as motivation to write will be very limited.

In short, if you want to keep your blog growing and keep yourself excited about it, you’ll need to do something to ensure that it is more than a blog, but rather, something that is unique and compelling for your readers.

How to Avoid It

The solution is simple. Try to describe your site as succinctly as possible without using the word “blog”. If you can’t do that easily, it may be time to rethink your strategy. If you remember that the term “blog” represents the format of a site, not necessarily a type of site, it becomes clear what you have to do.

Instead of focusing on being a blog, you have to find a way to use the blog format to make a site that is independently interesting and/or useful. There are many different ways you can do that. Here are just some of the easier ones to impliment:

1. Be a News Site: Don’t be a blogger, instead, be a journalist or an expert. If you’re niche-oriented, focus on covering the latest and greatest news in your field and providing good commentary. People interested in the topic will subscribe.
2. Be a Personality: Perhaps you are so interesting that a blog by and about you can work, but it needs to reflect you and be your voice. More importantly, it must be a way for people to interact with you. Those who find you interesting and compelling will subscribe.
3. Be a Resource: Use your site to teach people things, offering tutorials, techniques and information relevant to a particular topic. If you can make learning something easy, people who are interested in your subject will subscribe.
4. Be a Voice: A blog for a company or organization can provide a powerful and compelling voice for that group. If people are independently interested in said group, they will subscribe to the blog to get the latest news and information about it.
5. Be Entertaining: If you have a talent for comedy, music, art or something else that you can express in blog format, using a blog to display that talent can make sense. People who find your work compelling will subscribe, though understand that this is the most dangerous route as often times people who are interested in other forms of art aren’t interested in reading blogs at all.

Remember that none of these are mutually exclusive and the most successful sites are able to combine two or three of these or other elements to reach the highest level of success possible.

But regardless of the path(s) you choose, you have to do one of two things. You can either create a different type of site and put it in a blog format or have something independently interesting and exciting that will make people want to read your blog.

Most readers simply will not add a new blog to their RSS reader without some very compelling reason and it is up to you, the writer, to give them such a reason. Sadly, “It’s my blog” is rarely a good enough excuse.

Bottom Line

With so many millions of blogs out there, you have to find a way to make yours stand out. If you’re fine with just your friends and family reading your site, then by all means don’t bother doing anything other than filling out post after post on whatever you feel like.

However, if you want strangers to read your blog and to grow your traffic, you have to go a bit beyond that and offer real, compelling reasons to subscribe. Your blog has to become a sales pitch with a subscription being the desired transaction.

If you can do that, you’ll likely find that your blog grows much more quickly than it would otherwise and you, in turn, will be much more motivated to keep writing. Don’t, and even though you are writing what you supposedly want to, you will likely find it harder and harder to maintain interest and passion as blogging becomes a very thankless chore.

Give your readers a reason to come back and they will thank you, don’t and you will be wondering where things went wrong.

What was not addressed however were the general rules one should follow when blogging upon your own domain (regardless of whether you choose to self host or blog upon service hosted platforms like Blogger, WordPress.com, Tumblr or Posterous).

Although there are general rules you should follow when selecting a domain, after you’ve secured your online presence you should heed these 3 laws below or face the consequences.

Ironically the first law is one many bloggers are guilty of breaking (this author included), and while costly, one should resolve the problem as soon as possible.

Thou Shalt Separate Thy Domain From Your Host

Despite the fact that you can always secure a great deal financially by bundling a domain with a host, truth be told this is dangerous affair as your host can hold your domain hostage.

This can happen if your blog exceeds its bandwidth limitations (thus increasing your bill) or raise their monthly or annual rates without notice and demand a “fee” before releasing your domain and data.

If your domain is on a separate register, you can always pull your data from your backups, and have your blog up and running while you dispute your bill behind the scenes.

Thou Shalt Always Select Auto Renew

Athough the brain is one of the most advanced machines in the universe known to man (and woman), doesn’t mean it isn’t liable to forget a few minor details (like renewing your domain).

It doesn’t matter if you purchase your domain for a year, two years, 5 years or (for some hosts) 10 years, you should always auto renew your domain as well as manually put the renew date in your calendar.

Failure to do so can result in your blog being picked up by a rival or (worse) a spammer, who will turn your hard earned traffic into future clients of growth enhancement products.

Thou Shalt Use Domain Privacy

Despite the joys of living on Earth, there are always a few individuals who enjoy harassing the masses beyond the comment section.

Since ICANN requires that all contact details of your domain be accurate, failing to enable domain privacy can result in some nasty phone calls at 3 AM or even a “fan” who wants to inquire why you don’t put your personal life online.

Many sites like WordPress.com allow you to enable domain privacy through their service platform, although you should always ask your domain register about the cost of hiding your contact details (and yes, its well worth the price).

What About _____?

Although there are always more rules one should follow after purchasing a domain, these 3 laws are ones that every blogger should follow regardless of hosting software or service platform.

For those of you who have purchased domains for your blogs, what other advice would you give to new comers (as well as guru’s). Feel free to share your tips in the comment section below!

(Image Credit: DailyClipArt.net)

Plumbers have it easy; the world understands what a plumber does. Maybe not every detail, but enough to get the gist.

These days most people know what a blogger is, but do they really understand what a blogger does? Not every writer can be a blogger and vice versa.

Many people think job titles are all B.S., and in the corporate world, I would not argue with you. But when you are a freelancer, and you have more control where the next pay day is coming from, it’s important to label yourself correctly.

So let’s gather ’round fellow bloggers and chat about what title makes the most sense. I’m talking about the several words that describe what you do on your business card. The title that you use on your email signatures, and so on.

How do you label yourself?

Blogger
Freelance Writer
Community Manager
Website Editor
Digital Media Pro
Written Word Technician
Editorial Producer

Add the other alternatives in the comments section below and let us know what you think is the best way to get across what you do to the masses.

I love blogging simply because I love interacting with people. The more the better and this is a great attribute when it comes to building online traffic, because that is the name of the game when it comes to becoming a good blogger. I also have a very active imagination and really enjoy getting involved in the unconventional methods.

So it wasn’t long before my mind started to stray to what could I possibly do that would be shocking in the blogger’s world and gain the attention I need and want. With my innovative mind I came up with lots, so I figured I would share four out of many with you, so you could put them into action and build your own traffic as well.

Famous blogger sons
There are some pretty famous bloggers online and lots of them have kids. Most often these kids are sort of taking the back seat to the online fame that their mom and dad have earned for themselves as expert bloggers. So why not give them a chance to step into the spotlight and write a guest post on your site. This would sure give you both a win-win situation. The bloggers sons are going to be able to make their own blogging mark on the Internet world, and you are going to draw a ton of traffic because of the name. Pretty clever don’t you think. So, don’t waste time, get those invitations out to the blogging guru’s offspring now before someone else does.

A feature film
You’ve got a lot to offer in the blogging world but others just may not know it yet. Besides, you’re not shy so why not put your blogging talents to the test and display them for the world to see. Set a record challenge by writing 10 blog posts in a arrow live and then don’t stop there, broadcast it on ustream.com. A great attention getter, I am sure you will agree.

Reverse thinking
Almost anyone can write a basic blog post, and that’s the whole problem. It’s pretty stiff competition when it comes to blogging…BUT…. Not everyone can write a reverse blog! You may be wondering what the h….is that? It’s a chance for you to write a blog post starting at the end and working to the beginning. Wow! Talk about a tongue twister…this is a blog twister for sure that is going to grab you a lot of attention. Just think of how many times this blog would have to be read before the reader got the jest of it.

Make it last
People are always challenging their durability. Just take a look at the Guinness Book of World Records which is always a hot best seller. Okay set your own blogging record. Tout the title of being the world’s longest blog writer and write the longest blog post ever. You are very likely to kick off a hot new trend here. Who knows maybe you will set the path for a yearly championship event for the world’s longest blog post writing contest.

So there you go just a few suggestions to put the fire into your blog. Go for it!

Lior Levin is a blogging and SEO expert consulting to couple of Internet stat-ups such as Producteev, a task management start-up from new-york and a nursing wear company called Milk Nursingwear.

The majority of bloggers do not have the good fortune to blog full-time. That means there’s the likelihood that when we blog, we are doing other things at the same time. Bad move. It’s time to usher in the era of unitasking!

Multitasking is defined as “the concurrent operation by one central processing unit of two or more processes.” It’s a term that was originally coined for computers. Last time I checked, we all had beating hearts. We deserve more than a process that was intended for lifeless computers. And so do your readers.

To get the most out of a blog post, I recommend compartmentalizing each process.

Most bloggers I speak to start writing based on an idea or a sentence and watch it grow from there. After they clank out a paragraph or two, they wind up popping open a browser window to research something they are writing about, add links, or confirm facts. These are all an essential part of blogging success! But I am suggesting that you try writing the blog post, as completely as you can, before turning your focus to the other parts of the blogging process. They all have their place, and most of them can be conducted after the first draft is written.

You already know that I try my best to blog like a Buddhist and a big part of that lifestyle is to concentrate on one thing at a time. Put all of your thought and effort into the present moment and you will truly understand the implications of your work.

So when you write a post – write it.

When you search for an image – only search for an image.

When you proofread your work – print out the post and step away from the computer.

One thing at a time, my friends. At least try it ONCE and let us know how it feels.

I’m not trying to be vague with that answer, but your blog is your little place on the web and the honest answer to this question is that it’s entirely up to you to decide what you want to publish on it.  However, if you want your blog to grow and have a chance at being well-trafficked and popular, then there are some general guidelines that you should keep in mind as you write your blog posts.

First, blog posts are typically written in a more conversational, casual tone than articles, newsletters, websites, and so on.  Just as you wouldn’t want to drone on and on during a verbal conversation, you don’t want to bore your readers with what many bloggers refer to as bloggorhea (i.e., the blogging version of verbal vomit).

Second, people who consume content online usually prefer to digest small snippets of content that they can read and respond to quickly.  Save the lengthy paragraphs and pages and pages of the written word for a white paper or research report.  Keep your blog posts short and sweet.

Third, too much scrolling is never a good thing online, and that applies to the length of your blog posts, too.

So how long should your blog posts be?

Again, it’s up to you and depends on your goals for your blog.  If you want your blog to have a chance of attracting and retaining a sizable audience, then keep your blog posts succinct.  Lengthy posts can be broken into a series or edited to a blog-friendly word count.

While there is no magic number for blog post word counts, I’d recommend keeping your posts under 600 words.  In fact, if you can keep them under 500 words, that’s even better!  It’s important to write at least 250 words or so for search engine optimization purposes, so don’t write posts that are excessively short.  However, if your post is over 800 words, shorten it or break it up into multiple posts.

For example, this post is just over 400 words, but I’ve made my point.  There is no need to bore you with more details.

Bottom-line, don’t try to communicate too many ideas in a single blog post if doing so makes your post lengthy.  A focused blog (like a focused brand) is a stronger blog.  The same theory holds true for blog posts.  Focus is better than trying to be all things or do all things for all readers.

What do you think?  How many words are too many for a blog post?

Image: stock.xchng

The answer is that it isn’t terribly important. There are successful blogs that update dozens of times of day and successful blogs that update weekly or even less. Though you should probably try to keep a weekly schedule at least, what is much more important than the exact schedule you keep is that you actually keep it.

Getting off your blogging schedule is an easy pitfall that bloggers face and, in truth, is one that pretty much every blogger will fall into at some point. After all, we are only human.

However, avoiding this pitfall and recovering from it is essential because one of the most sure-fire ways to prevent your blog from being successful, or existing at all, is getting off your blogging rhythm and letting both yourself and your readers down.

The Pitfall

It will happen to virtually every blogger at some point. You are plugging along with a nice, comfortable blogging schedule and life happens. You go on vacation, you have an emergency, you make a trip or otherwise do something that throws you off that rhythm.

However, you quickly learn that the world doesn’t end when you don’t blog for a week nor does your site die off. Sure, traffic goes down some, but not too bad and subscribers are likely actually up. Best of all, you are still doing as well with the search engines so it seems to be business as usual upon your return.

Unfortunately, sometimes this “I can skip a while” mentality sometimes sinks in a bit too deep and bloggers begin to slack off on producing new material. Soon, the schedule is hit or miss at best and, eventually, blown completely.

Once that happens, things usually begin to go awry.

The Danger

There are three key reasons for avoiding losing your rhythm. Though breaks are ok, routinely missing posts or adopting an erratic pattern can have a some serious negative impacts.

1. Reader Expectations: Whenever you get subscribers to your site, they have an expectation as to how your site will fit in to their lives. Yes, it’s a minor role, but when they don’t their regular Monday update or it comes on another day, those expectations are ripped apart and that forces them to reevaluate. If your readers don’t know what to expect, they don’t know where you fit in and are likely to bail on you eventually.
2. SEO Issues: Google and other search engines value fresh content. If you start routinely slacking off and not posting new material, you’ll find, over time, that those same search engines put less and less value on your work.
3. Blog Abandonment: Losing your rhythm and not being able to get it back is one of the key causes of blog abandonment. In short, when you get off your own rhythm, much like your readers, it becomes harder and harder to see exactly how blogging fits into your life and that makes walking away from it easier and easier.

In short, at the very least, ignoring your schedule will frustrate your readers but it can also hinder your performance in the search engines and, depending on your determination, turn you away from it as well. This is certainly not what anyone wants to have happen with their blog so the question becomes what one can do to avoid it.

How to Avoid It

Technically, this is an impossible pitfall to completely avoid. If you are human, you’re going to miss a few days of blogging here and there. You are not and have never been a blog posting machine and life has to come before blogging. As a result, you’ll miss a few days here and there.

However, that doesn’t mean your site has to suffer, it just means you have to plan for it.

1. Set a Reasonable Schedule: When starting a site, it’s a good idea to set a schedule for yourself that is roughly half of what you think the most you can do is. This prevents burnout and makes it easier to follow the schedule over the long run. If desired, you can up the number of posts later as it is much easier to increase the load than to slow down.
2. Write Backup Posts: It is often a good idea to write and save a week’s worth of non-time-sensitive posts to have them “in the can” should you need them. This way, if you go on a sudden trip or have some other crisis, your site can live on.
3. Turn to Guest Bloggers: If you can’t post for some reason and have enough time to prepare, consider bringing on some guest bloggers to take the load during that time, a friend you trust can be a great asset in these times.
4. Warn Readers of Downtime: If you know you’re going to miss a few posts and it is unavoidable, warn your readers before doing so. You don’t have to do this on your blog as you can also use Twitter or other means if you you know your readers will likely see it.
5. Return to Form ASAP: Once any downtime is done, get back on track as soon as possible. It can be very tempting to slack off for a week or two after any extended outage but the quicker one returns to form, the better their site will do.

In short, the key is to prepare as much as possible for the inevitable missed posts and return to form as soon as possible after the time away is done. It might seem simple, but most people get so caught up in the day-to-day posting grind that they forget that eventually they’ll want time away, making those times stumbling blocks they easily trip over.

Bottom Line

Since we’re all human we’re going to miss posts, no matter how well we plan. Everything from power outages to vacations can keep us from our blogs. However, the key is to prepare for those downtimes the best we can and then recover from them quickly.

The fact that we’re human is what makes our blogs interesting and exciting. We call blogs created by machines spam blogs and with good reason. However, there are limitations to being a human and we have to accept them.

As such, life trumps blogging and sometimes you have to take some unplanned time away. However, this doesn’t mean that life has to kill blogging, only that we have to plan ahead and remember no one is perfect and no schedule infallible.

Despite the abundance of tweet buttons from various companies across the blogosphere, Twitter is possibly launching an official button this week, which could spell the end for companies like TweetMeme (a service the Blog Herald uses) in the not so distant future.

Twitter is launching an official Tweet Button for sharing articles on websites and counting how many times a URL has been shared, according to documents Mashable has obtained. The Tweet Button could launch as soon as this Thursday.

Unfortunately many users have yet to take the platform as seriously as Blogger (or even the micro blogging service known as Tumblr), despite the fact that Posterous does present a few advantages over many of its rivals.

For those seeking to turn their Posterous blog into a full fledged problogging service, here are ten tips which can help you not only improve your blog’s appearance, but also earn revenue via Adsense (yes, you can do this on Posterous folks!).

Use A Custom Domain!!!

As simple as this sounds, many problogging Posterous fans have yet to implement this step for various reasons.

Posterous makes it “dead simple” to register a custom domain, or even connect your Posterous blog to one that you already own.

If you have yet done this yet, make sure this becomes your first priority after reading this post.

Customize Your Theme

Although Posterous has a thriving community, its theme selection (as of this post) is still relatively small when compared against Tumblr, WordPress or Blogger.

Facts aside, Posterous does provide users with the ability to install public themes, although you should customize your theme using the basic theme editing tools or (for geeks) advanced settings option.

Either way never settle for the default template appearance (lest you be lost in the “sea of me’s”).

Use Pages Wisely

Just like every other platform under the sun, Posterous enables you to create pages (such as an about me, contact or social page).

However, what you should avoid doing is creating a page that automatically redirects users off site (i.e. having example.com/twitter redirect users to @example).

Since many (if not most) readers do not enjoy “surprises” in their browser, you should instead merely link to your social profiles on your site.

Enable Social Commenting (But Watch The Gates)

Although Posterous does boast an open commenting system, you should allow users to comment upon your blog using their Facebook and Twitter credentials.

However in order to keep the comment section clean, you should consider moderating all comments posted upon your site due to the rise of human spam).

This last option should only be utilized if you are noticing a large number of “generous comments” posted on your site, especially if these “friendly visitors” post links to family unfriendly domains.

Autoshare Everywhere (But With Care)

Posterous enables bloggers to share their posts to friends on Facebook and Twitter, as well as other blog platforms such as Blogger, WordPress, Xanga and Tumblr.

The latter feature is useful if you have fans of your content who are unwilling to visit your site outside of their bubble.

However if you do auto share upon other blog platforms, make sure that your other blogs are not searchable upon Google or Bing!, lest your Posterous blog be penalized for “stealing content” from your other former platforms.

#End The Email Signature Madness!!

While this tip is very simple, it is often (sadly) ignored to the embarrassment of many aspiring blogging pros.

If you (or your contributers) are emailing posts to a blog, make sure that you use the #end hashtag before your email signature lest your readers be exposed to extra information that can make your site look tacky.

Social Email Posting

If you desire certain posts to reach certain users (say Twitter or Facebook) simply email twitter@posterous.com or facebook@posterous.com to share your posts to specific audiences.

This is useful if your posts will only be relevant to certain audiences (example: your geek readers use Twitter while your non-geek ones use Facebook).

Google Analytics Is Your Friend

Instead of reinventing the “blog stats” wheel, Posterous instead makes it very simple to insert Google Analytics within your blog.

For those of you preferring to insert additional analytics system, you will need to open up your advance theme editor and insert the third party analytical code near the bottom or in the “header” of your template.

FeedBurner Is Also Your Friend

Just like Blogger and Tumblr, Posterous allows you to track RSS subscribers using Feedburner, which will help you analyze who is actually reading your content (as well as from which services).

AdSense For Posterous (Yes, It’s Possible)

Officially Posterous does not support Adsense, or rather has yet to make easy enough to insert without having to delve into the code.

Fortunately a Posterous guru by the name of Shimono from Brazil has created a unique way of inserting AdSense within a Posterous blog, although it involves creating a Weebly account (another blog service).

If his instructions are too technical (or undesirable) for you, then you might want to consider using affiliate links instead (although you may have to manually insert these within).

Any Other Tips?

Do you use Posterous as a main blog? If so, what other tips would you suggest guru’s and newbie’s utilize? Feel free to enlighten us in the comment section below!

That simple statement is the foundation of millions of businesses around the globe. In a world of supply and demand, you need to be sure that the product you deliver is something that fills a void and is wanted.

Blogging is no different.

If your blog already has an audience, and you are not regularly evaluating your on-site search queries, than you are doing your readers a disservice and missing a golden opportunity. That little search box not only helps your readers find what they are looking for, but should also steer the blog owner/writer down the right avenues.

Idea Leads
Sales people often live and die by the strength of their leads. It’s obviously easier to sell something to someone who has already expressed interest in a product or service. Your on-site search results are good leads – they are the GlenGarry leads!

This information is the equivalent of a reader knocking on your front door and telling you what they want to read about. Your search logs are like market research. And the best part is, it’s free!

Identify Trends
Analyze your search results on a weekly basis to see if there are any trends within your niche. Don’t allow your blog to live and die by people’s search queries, but do not be afraid to “play the hot hand” and create content designed around popular search trends. The market is constantly changing around you; ignore your search results and you could miss it. Be careful not to be reactive and jeopardize your readers’ trust.

Piggyback Success
Many bloggers are content machines, that means we haven’t a clue what we wrote about last year (or even last month for that matter!). Searches that take place on your blog can remind you of yesterday’s successes, and get you thinking about how you can build upon that traffic.

How often do you look at what people are searching for on your blog?

Guest blogging has taken off…marketers know the potential value of providing valuable content on a regular basis. But, there are thoughts as to if this great marketing strategy of guest blogging to build links has been overdone, thereby losing its effectiveness. Well, I’m part of the camp that believes it’s still alive, strong, and effective in its capability of link building.

The monkey wrench that was thrown into the mix is spammers who use poor quality content to produce volume rather than quality. And, it’s true these spammers are a menace to legitimate businesses. But, to say that all marketers who use guest posting pitches are part of the spammers, is unfair to legitimate and professional entrepreneurs.

Not all marketing strategies will work for every type of business. Different types of sites have different business models; e-Commerce sites and consulting services are two different businesses; one type of marketing strategy may not be as effective for one as it is for the other.

In the e-Commerce arena, a variety of marketing avenues are used to build links, and not just to build links, but to produce effective and legitimate links, and profitable conversion rates; taking advantage of guest blogging is one of them. When a legitimate marketer approaches a high-quality site and gives a guest posting pitch, he must provide a strong reason why it should link to his site. Part of the pitch may include links to other guest posts he has completed that have effectively used keyword rich quality content to attract readers and links.

The manager of a well received and high-quality site can, and should at a glance, determine if a particular guest blogger is a spammer. The fact that many marketers provide guest blogs for free has nothing to do with the quality or value of the content—it is a business decision, and a cost of business, especially in the e-Commerce business. Marketing budgets are ever increasing due to the overwhelming number of businesses vying for a customer’s business. In many business arenas, providing free guest posts are, again, part of the cost of marketing. It may be provided free to the target-site, but it is by no means without cost to the marketer.

The name of the game is visibility; guest blogging with quality content creates quality visibility, thereby potential customers, and is beneficial for all involved. Yes, those utilizing this method of marketing may be interested in building links, but that does not mean that’s all they’re looking for. Smart marketers look for a number of benefits such as building trust, and positioning themselves as experts in their field.

Write a guest blog post for this website!

Jacob Maslow is the Marketing Manager for Allergy Be Gone, which sells allergy control products. Jacob and his writing team constantly updates the Allergy Relief Blog.