Here are the highlights from this week’s job board.

Best Article Contest

This posting is technically not a job, but a contest. If you are up to winning as much as $150, though, I suggest checking it out. Hey, even the smallest prize of $50 is worth a try!

Freelance Writer

March of Dimes, an entity aimed at helping to improve the health of babies, is looking for a freelance writer that can produce high quality pieces. You have to be based in White Plains, NY for this job.

Mom/Tech E-zine Writer

Women are some of the best workers these days, in spite of the fact that many of them have professional lives as well. If you are in a position to dish out advice to working women, this telecommute blogging gig is perfect for you!

Business Blogger

Do you friends call you a penny pincher? Can you give advice to small businesses on how to add to their bottom line? BuyerHive is looking for a business blogger on a telecommute basis.

Reality TV Show Blogger

Spend a lot of time watching reality TV? Think you’ve got the gift of gab? Check out this telecommute gig.

What’s amazing about today?!

Take a while to dwell in the present. Where are you? How do you feel? How does your location influence how you feel? Keep a logbook of daily thought-trains that you have and where they meander off to! When the dreaded writers block descends upon you, you can look back at your logbook for ideas

Yesterday I was in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester and it was a sunny day. I was drinking lovely Americano coffee whilst watching the sporadic fountains burst into life. One of the things I love about Piccadilly Gardens is the architecture, the fountains and the exuberant hum of positive energy that pervades the place. The fact that the sun was out enhanced that vibe. The grimmest of areas can look inviting when the sun is out.

Be Candid

Some of the most engaging and refreshing fiction and non-fiction I’ve read has been the most honest and candid.

I have read a lot of fiction by Irvine Welsh and the characters he depicts are, by and large, gritty and opportunistic. This makes it engaging and racy reading because there’s varying degrees of these traits in everyone. The mental chatter that populates our head day-to-day isn’t always favorable towards people we encounter but these thoughts are often stifled. Getting these thoughts out onto paper not only exorcises them (if that’s you’re objective) but it opens up scope for some darkly witty prose!

Read Some Biographies

Especially by people that are NOT celebrities. I have read some heartwarming and inspirational biographies. Every person has stories to tell and everyone has had an interesting life. The trick is being able to write about it in an engaging way that relates to your audience. There’s lots of narrative inspiration to choose from.

I am currently reading ‘A Street Cat Named Bob’ by James Bowen who spent many years living on the streets earning his money busking and selling the Big Issue. He struck up a friendship with a beautiful street cat named Bob and the book documents how their friendship developed and how they helped each other! This is a very magical story about the power of friendship.

Copywriting and blogging draws upon the skills needed for keeping a journal and writing a biography

So, to sum up the points, look for writers that inspire you, pay attention to their narrative style, and get into the habit of keeping a thought-journal. Following these tips will help us with our SEO copywriting tasks!

However, there were also a few people who gave me what would turn out to be terrible advice. Advice that, if I had listened to it, might have prevented me from as much as getting started, much less, make blogging a major part of my career.

So what were those nearly-disastrous pieces of advice? Well, there’s too many to count but a few have stood out over the years for just how wrong they turned out to be.

Best of all, they’re also pieces of advice just about any other blogger should work to avoid, especially if they know the truth.

1. No One Will Be Interested In Your Topic

When I first started my main site, Plagiarism Today, many people told me that no one would be interested in the subject matter. The idea of doing a blog that focused on content misuse issues that smaller content creators face seemed peculiar to many.

Many said that the issue just wasn’t big enough or that there wouldn’t be any one interested. However, by that point, I had already dealt with hundreds of plagiarists of my writing (mostly poems and short stories at that time) and knew well just how widespread the issue was. Also, in talking with other authors online, I knew many who had faced the same thing.

However, it’s important to remember that, just because there isn’t widespread interest in your topic doesn’t mean you can’t build a large audience. With millions of people reading blogs, you only need a small percentage of them to be interested in your topic to build a powerful audience.

In short, if you know an idea has interest and, after honest evaluation, think that it’s an under-served market, don’t let a few naysayers discourage you.

2. No One No One Reads Long Posts

Many sites on the Web will advice you to keep your blog posts under 500, 800 or 1,000 words. The idea is that people don’t like to read long posts and will shy away from text that is viewed as too time-consuming or “gray”.

While it is true that, all things being equal, a shorter post is a better one, all things are rarely equal. Many topics require a lot of words to cover in any depth and skimping on words just for the sake of brevity risks making the post useless.

Instead, it’s important that your posts not be unnecessarily long and, if they do have to be wordier, that you make an effort to break them up using images, subheads, blockquotes and other visual cues.

If you can do that, even a post with 2,000 words can be a breeze to read.

3. You’re Using the Wrong Platform

Though today setting up a blog on a WordPress installation is a very safe and controversy-free choice, when I started it was anything but. MovableType was still wildly popular and many other platforms were hanging around that have since gone the way of the dodo.

Several, in particular fans/users of other systems, were quick to tell me that I had made a bad choice with using WordPress, that it would never really work or that I couldn’t build anything worthwhile with it.

Fortunately, they were wrong.

The truth is that there great sites that use WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Blogger, Tumblr, Posterous and so forth. What makes a blog great isn’t what runs its backend but how the person creating the site uses it.

What’s more important than finding the “best” platform is to find the one that’s right for you and that you know best.

A platform is just a tool and, just like no one cares what tools were used to build a house, no one will really care what you use to build your site, so long as it works.

4. You Need to Take SEO More Seriously

Of all the bad advice I’ve gotten, this is probably the most legitimate. There are many people out there who believe that nearly all blogging activity should be directed at SEO. From choosing the topics to write about to how you write them.

While it is true that SEO is valuable, it is also true that the best SEO is writing good content people want to read and link to. While there are reasonable steps that you can and should take to ensure that search engines can easily and accurately index your site, many of the best ones are built in to most blogging platforms and require no effort at all.

Basically, improving your SEO is always fine, but when it becomes the sole direction for your site, it’s bound to push you into producing poor-quality content that’s written for machines, no people. This is also the type of content that Google routinely tries to punish.

5. You Need to Be More Like (Person X)

Finally, when I first started I was constantly told by well-intended readers that they would enjoy my site more or come by it more if I were more like this blogger or that blogger. They liked my site, but wanted it to be more like a site they were already familiar with, only different.

The problem with that was obvious from the outset. If I patterned what I was doing too closely after someone else, even if that someone else is more popular, then readers would have no reason to visit me. It’s important, when building a blog, to make sure that you have a truly unique offering and are filling at least a small void no other site is.

This means doing something truly different and that, in turn, means taking a risk. Being different means people might not like you but it’s better to be not liked than to be not visited. After all, no one cares what the audience that isn’t there thinks.

Bottom Line

When it comes to blogging, one of the hardest things you have to do is learn how to listen to the advice people give and know which pieces to take to heart and which to leave behind.

No one’s perfect at this, I know I accepted several pieces of bad advice and ignored several pieces of good one. However, if you learn to listen to what people say and understand that people mean well but aren’t perfect, you can take their advice and pass it through your own judgment filter.

That will at least help you avoid taking in some of the worst pieces of advice and making stupid decisions on other’s say. It won’t protect you completely, but it’s a huge step in the right direction.

The truth is, choosing a web hosting provider based on price and where it ranks according to a certain site isn’t a good idea. Many first-time website owners assume that it is the design and the content that will help a website sink or swim, and while these aspects are extremely important, the right web hosting provider should be added to that list. In other words, opting for an inexpensive web hosting provider could very well cause your site to fail.

Top Reasons Not to Go Cheap When Choosing Web Hosting Providers

Consider below some of the things that can go wrong if you choose web hosting providers solely based on price alone:

1. Bad Customer Service – If you’re new to owning a website, you are absolutely going to have questions and problems with your website. Many website owners are either great writers or great designers, but not all are IT experts. This makes customer service very important. If you get hit with some sort of spam and your hosting provider isn’t going to help, your website could be finished until you spend a lot of money to hire a real professional.

2. Lengthy Downtime – A cheap web host may not have backup servers if the server hosting your website goes down. If your website is down, even for a short period of time, you could very well lose a large number of visitors that won’t come back. Try and make sure you find a web host that offers 99.9% uptime.

3. Missing Updates – It is vital that a web hosting provider can keep up with software changes. Missing any updates could cause your website to be lost completely, and unfortunately it’s very easy for a web host to miss this important aspect of web hosting.

4. Limited Bandwidth – Although cheap web hosts may say that they offer unlimited bandwidth, this doesn’t mean that they have to be telling the truth. Lying about “unlimited hosting” is also fairly common, so make sure you get real feedback from real people if this was going to be a selling point for you.

It’s also important to realize that just because a web host is on the expensive side does not mean that it is great quality. On that same note, just because a web host is inexpensive does not mean that it is poor quality. Finding the right web hosting providers takes a lot of research, and you should find that only those that come at a cost can actually deliver.

Do you have any experiences with cheap web hosting providers? Let us know in the comments!

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to web design companies. She writes for an online resource that gives advice to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

In this article, we will tackle some questions that you need to ask yourself before you start blogging.

1. What do you really want to do?

Before you start setting up your blog, it will be essential for you to ponder on several matters first before pushing through with it. Ask yourself the primary reason or motivation behind your desire to establish your own blog. Is it just a spur of the moment idea? Or, do you really want to achieve something concrete through your blog?

A lot of interested bloggers want to enter the world of blogging simply because they want to be part of the blogging hype. Similar to fly-by-night business operations, these kinds of bloggers typically don’t last for more than two months. On the other hand, the more serious aspiring bloggers have a very strong motivation at the back of their heads. The top two motivations are usually money and education; and these reasons are usually more than enough for them to come up with a real blog.

To be able to feed your blog with constant posts and earn a constantly increasing audience, it is essential for you to come up with a blog theme that caters to a certain niche that is anchored on your motivation. This way it will be easier for you to come up with entries that focus on a certain subject matter that interests you.

Similar to any undertakings in life, it is important for you to come up with a solid foundation that you can build on while improving your blog in the long run.

2. What can you offer others that no one else can?

Needless to say, a lot of bloggers have already gone way ahead of you in terms of capturing their share of audience and establishing a name for themselves in the world of blogging. The challenge for you now is to come up with a blog that will not replicate their feat, but rather zoom way ahead of them by offering something fresh, unique, and different. Capitalize on your advantage as a new blogger by coming up with innovative ideas.

Also, do your homework. Research about your competition and determine what else you can offer to your audience that they do not. Fill in the void that they are unable to do so for their readers. Always remember that in this fast-paced world, people are always in search for something new. The blogger who is able to consistently satisfy this demand will gain the biggest share of audience in the end.

3. Are you willing to invest time and commitment?

Time is undeniably one essential resource that all bloggers must invest in their blogs. On the average, it takes 2 hours to come up with a quality blog post. It takes time to think, to write, and to edit your work. Aside from the actual time you put into writing, also consider the amount of time that you will need to invest on researching about the latest trends to create more relevant blog posts and for you not to run out of ideas. Ideally, a blogger must have at least two blog posts in a week. Of course, it’s better to have as much posts as possible. This is to ensure that the audience’s interests will not wane and they will come back to your blog regularly.

Furthermore, your willingness to invest time is just one area of consideration; you must also consider the extent of your commitment in terms of maintaining the number of hours you have set consistently week after week. Initially, you might be able to set aside 5-8 hours a week for your blog since you are still fired up with the whole idea of starting your own blog. But, how far can you go? Can you consistently allot 5-8 hours a week for the next six months or even a year?

The extent of your commitment to constantly update your blog will ultimately determine the success of your blog in terms of achieving your initial goal in the long run.

4. How do you intend to sustain the blog?

You might have the time and the commitment to pursue a blog. But, money is also a requirement. Think about your family’s finances. Are they more than enough to give you the freedom to enjoy blogging? To come up with a competitive blog, you must invest on graphics, plugins, and even online courses.

Professional bloggers earn money through blogging. However, it takes time to build a personal brand for your blog and develop a blog that readers will consider worthy of visiting regularly, which in turn will generate profits from advertisers. In your quest to monetize your blog, always remember not to sacrifice your personal brand and your reader’s trust.

Blogging is fun. Whether you simply want to try it out or want to achieve something concrete, the internet world will always have a space for your ideas and insights. It’s all up to you whether you have the passion, desire, and commitment to utilize the opportunity provided by that space.

Author bio:

Alexis Thompson is a former Mountain Backpacker and a 26 year old mother of 2 daughters, Sophie and Rhian. She is into almost all types of Music especially The Fray and Hillsong. She also has a passion in Singing and Scrap Booking. Follow her escapades on her Twitter.

No website actually wants to offer its visitors a 404 page. After all, it means that there is an error and a page cannot be reached. It looks unprofessional, it is a hassle for the site owner to fix and is an annoyance for visitors that might lead to them not returning.

Unfortunately, there is no way to really prevent it from ever happening. Errors occur, URLs are typed incorrectly or links become broken or outdated. Sometimes there is an issue with the server that will take time to fix. It is just a part of having an Internet site that cannot be avoided.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do everything you can to improve both your frequency of 404 page necessity and the page itself. Here are five tips on how to improve your WordPress error page as well as five tools to keep your visitors from encountering them as often.

The Tips

1. Be Creative

A 404 error isn’t nearly as annoying when you have something cool to look at to soften the blow. For example, there might be a beautifully crafted image that represents the page being found, like on this error page by artist Jeremy Viallard. Or maybe it is humorous, like what legendary game company Blizzard uses, claiming that the user broke the page.

1. Let Them Search

Sometimes a page has been renamed, which changes the destination link. While you probably fix this immediately on your homepage, people who have bookmarked it, as well as directories that are hosting an active link to the page, probably won’t know until they try to visit it again. Providing a search bar on the 404 page itself is a great way to let them find what they are looking for, as long as it still remains somewhere on the site. But an added benefit is that it offers other pages that are related, which they might find helpful or interesting.

1. Provide Links

   It is common sense to give a link back to your homepage rather than use a back button. But what about other links? For example, you can have a randomly generated list of links visitors might find helpful or interesting. More sites are doing this, especially blogs that have a great deal of updating content. You would simply write something like, “404 – The page you requested could not be found. But check these out!”

2. Go With an Animation

This is not done very often anymore, which is a shame. You can really spruce up a 404 page by adding an animation instead of a stationary image. It is better to do this without audio, as no one likes to be bombarded with sudden sound on a web page when they weren’t expecting it. But a simple, silent animation can really improve on the standard 404 page.

1. Make Reporting Easy

   A fair amount of the time, the 404 is going to be the fault of your website, either through a link or search error. You can find out for sure by providing a simple report button to alert you when the visitor reaches an error page.

The Tools

1. 404 Notifier

This is one of those extremely simple but endlessly useful WordPress plugins that you just have to have. Created by Alex King, it lets you know any time you have an error page on your website. It takes the guesswork out of it and saves you a lot of time – all because you don’t have to go through everything to find potential problems; it lists them for you.

1. Permalinks Moved Permanently

Another fantastic plugin, this one from Microkid, you can redirect automatically from a restructured permalink to a new link. That will keep all of your backlinks previously created from being wasted. A simple image replacement for the default picture on your 404 page.

1. WordPress 404 Images Fix

Another fantastic plugin, this one from Microkid, you can redirect automatically from a restructured permalink to a new link. That will keep all of your backlinks previously created from being wasted.

1. Free 404 Plugin

Create a customized 404 page that includes related alternate links and keywords, all for free and with minimal amount of effort involved.

1. Link Checker

Get past the most frequent site-liable reason for 404 pages with this link checker. It will find any broken links on your page, moving effectively through the website in seconds.

Conclusion

Occasionally, you are going to have a visitor reaching a 404 page. Maybe it is your site’s fault or a problem with the search engine used to find it. Or it could just be a mistyped URL. No matter what the cause, you want to be prepared for it. Use this article as a small checklist to make sure you are.

Tom Chu is SEO manager at PsPrint, an online printing company specializing in brochure and poster printing among other popular services. Follow PsPrint on Twitter as @PsPrint.

Image Credits: 1, 2.

Have an awesome weekend ahead!

Wellness Blogger

Do you have the time to churn out at least two blog posts a week about wellness? Add one press release to that, and you can go ahead and apply for this work at home position. It pays pretty well!

ESL Writer

Writers who have a passion for teaching the English language to others, listen up. If you have US experience, and you are looking for a remote ESL-related writing gig, this one is for you!

Freelance Social Media Writer

If you’re based in Hollywood Hills, CA, and you can’t get enough of social media, check this job out. If you’re enthusiastic about racing, running, and similar activities, that should be a plus.

Blogger – Career Development

Just because you’re a blogger does not mean you do not care about career development, right? If you are passionate about this topic, The Labor Academy wants you! Position is based out of Lansdale.

Writer for Guide to LA

How well do you know LA? If you can guide strangers through its streets in your sleep, you might want to snag this telecommute gig.

Although utilizing links for your small business online marketing sounds easy, there are actually quite a few things to understand about linking. In order to make sure that you are linking correctly, consider some of the different types of linking:

Online Marketing with Internal Linking

Internal linking refers to linking to other pages within the same site. For example, if you publish an article on your blog, you may want to link back to other pages of your website within that post. Internal linking is good for a few reasons:

• It makes it easier for visitors to navigate around your website. This gives you control and allows you to point your readers to the absolute best webpage you have for certain topics faster and easier.
• Internal linking can help improve your Google PageRank, which will help your site increase on a search engine results page (SERP).
• Search engines will be able to index your content more effectively if you have a lot of internal links.

Internal linking is considered the easiest way to use linking to improve your site. You are in charge of inserting the links, and all of the links go back to your page. In other words, there is no talking with different editors or writing special posts in order to benefit from internal linking.

Online Marketing with External Linking

External linking is when a link is found on one website and brings anyone who clicks on the link to a different website. I displayed external linking in the first paragraph when I gave credit to SEOMoz. External linking is a great way to use the information of other websites in order to make a point in an article you are writing for your blog because you are giving credit back.

External linking should also be looked at from a different angle. Instead of you linking out to a different website, you want other sites to do the same for you. In other words, you want other sites to refer back to your site. This works well for several reasons:

• If an authoritative site is linking back to your blog, it helps show that you have a reputable blog and gives you some credibility. After all, an authoritative site would not link to invaluable information.
• If another site is utilizing external linking and links back to your site, you could very well get an increase in traffic. An entirely new audience has the opportunity to click that link, you have a good chance of getting at least a few new visitors.
• The more pages linking back to your site the better in the eyes of Google. This will help increase your ranking on a SERP.

Many companies utilize guest posting in order to earn these types of external links. Many websites will give you a link back to your blog in exchange for great content, so it is an all-around win-win.

Linking in the Author Bio Box

If your blog is going to utilize guest posting in order for backlinks, there are two different things that could happen: you get your backlinks in an author bio box or you get your backlinks in the copy of the text. In the majority of situations, editors will give you an author bio box.

Getting backlinks in an author bio box is a great way to improve your small business online marketing and your blog’s SEO. An author box is usually equipped with a photo of you, the author, which further helps give you credit for your work. Google search engines and authors typically like these types of links.

Linking in the Copy of the Text

When guest posting, the second thing that could happen to you is that you get a link back to your blog in the copy of the text. Believe it or not, this actually holds more value than a link in the author bio box. Google gives this type of link more weight because editors have control over what types of links go inside the copy of an article. Because an editor can choose which links go inside an article, it is much more likely that those links are of value to a reader as opposed to links in an author box.

For this reason, it is much harder for an author to gain links within the body of the text. These links typically must be extremely relevant. For example, if you were going to guest post on a website about marketing best practices but your blog is typically about sports, you would not really be able to link back to something on your blog.

What Do All of These Different Types of Linking Mean to You?

It is important to be aware of the different types of linking available so that you know where to put your efforts. All bloggers should utilize a little bit of each kind of linking in order for the best SEO results.

Have you ever put thought into the different types of linking? What do you find to be most helpful for your blog?

Photo Credit: thinkgeek.com

Here are some common examples of the misuse of exclamation marks:

Look at me! I’m funny!!!

The amount of times I have read captions and short snippy one-liners containing the use of puns that are intended to be jokey or witty but are actually, to put it bluntly, a little dull and mediocre. To be fair, this is just a matter of opinion, and no-one is obliged to give a rats’ bottom about mine. But adding an overload of exclamation marks is a bit like giving yourself a round of applause, and the best humour (in my opinion) is unwitting, natural, and candid.

Urgent! You cannot afford to miss this opportunity!!!

A lot of advertisers are most guilty of this; Using capital letters and contrasting colours to hypnotise and demand attention from potential clientele, and of course the complimentary exclamation marks to overwhelm and convince folk that the amazingly cheap price / great offer / whatever is a good deal. SEO copywriters are constantly using techniques that will make their content stand to attention and hold the interest of the audience. Audiences will probably be impervious to tacky tactics like overuse of exclamation that make a business message sound juvenile.

Oh My God! The Drama of the situation!!!

This is done more in informal chats via email or SMS. Some people need telling that 7 exclamation marks aren’t necessary to enunciate the fact that they are in excruciating pain after stubbing their toe, or they can’t believe that so-and-so won X-Factor. The overload in marks of exclamation is not going to make me realize the gravity of the ‘situation’; it will just make me think you are a drama queen / king. Also, it looks like the messenger is shouting at their audience to demand attention; in much the same way as an overuse of capital letters does, so therefore comes across as arrogant and obnoxious. We have words to convey eagerness and strong feelings. Marks of exclamation should only be used when necessary.

Although to contradict my incessant whining about them, I’m not saying they are entirely unnecessary. Here’s how they could be used appropriately.

• Often one exclamation mark is sufficient to express enthusiasm and strength of feeling. If you feel that one underestimates the gravity of the message, use powerful language instead. This is how SEO copywriters write their content.
• For example, an arrangement to meet a friend for lunch will sound more joyful if you respond to an arrangement with “Great! See you soon”, rather than “Great. See you soon.” The latter sounds quite apathetic about the event.

History…

It has been theorized that the exclamation mark’s origin is a Latin declaration of joy as it comes from the term “note of admiration”.

Although the mark has been used in English printing since the 15^th century, it didn’t feature on typewriters till into the 1970’s.

So it may be worth remembering how overusing certain punctuation marks can actually repel rather than attract attention. If you want attention from your audience, just be yourself and let your content flow naturally then it will be easy to see what a competent bunch of SEO copywriters  we are!

Here are the highlights from this week’s Job Board.

Editor for Spanish Slang Workbook

Do you know your Spanish? And I mean street Spanish – slang. If you do, and you have no problems with “dirty” words, then check out this telecommute position.

Nursing Blogger

Here’s an urgent gig, so if you have some nursing know-how, get in touch with iTriage ASAP. They need a guest blogger for Nurses Week, and you just might enjoy it!

Journalists for Homeland Security Newswire

Are you passionate about homeland security? If you have some journalism experience, then Homeland Security Newswire wants you!

Wedding & Lifestyle Blogger

Obsessed about weddings and other lifestyle topics? There are so many other people like you, and they want to read about it! Why not move to the other side and write instead of read, and earn while you’re at it!

Social Media Content Writer

Still love social media like nothing else? If you are not suffering from social media fatigue, check out this offsite position.

But as tempting as it is to try and forget the bad movies, they often times offer important lessons that we can carry into other areas, including blogging. Thus, it’s important to take a moment and study them, look at why they were bad and what, if anything, could have been done to fix them.

Why is it that one multi-million dollar film created by industry veterans can be torture to sit through but a low-budget feature from an unknown can inspire, terrify or incite laughter? Why is it that movies we think should be bad, including b movies and silly comedies, can be so entertaining while movies that aim for something higher can often be so difficult to sit through?

While much of what movies you do and do not enjoy will come down to personal taste, there are some lessons that are more or less universal and they can be easily applied to blogging. With that in mind, here are just five of those lessons and what they mean for you.

1. Money Only Goes So Far

The Room is an independent film produced by Tommy Wiseau. With unknown actors, few effects and few locations, the film had a startling $6 million budget, an incredibly high amount for this type of film.

However, what was put on film is widely regarded as one of the worst films of the 2000s and was so bad that the film was re-billed as a dark comedy after it failed miserably as a drama.

The problem is that, though the film had all of the money it could want, Wiseau lacked the talent, creativity and originality to produce a great film. The entire movie was wrecked by bad acting, poor writing and sloppy storytelling.

Though the movie has become a commercial success thanks to a cult following reveling in how bad it is, that doesn’t change what a stinker this film is held to be.

Lessons for Bloggers: Money can buy you great hosting, an awesome theme and even hire a few talented writers. But it’s no substitute for passion, determination and, most importantly, a powerful idea. Creating an executing a simple, but compelling idea doesn’t cost much, in film or in blogging, and it makes for much better work.

2. Know Your Limitations and Work Within Them

Birdemic: Shock and Terror is a low budget horror film by James Nguyen that tells the tale of a pair of survivors after a disaster causes all of the birds to go mad and start attacking people.

The movie not only holds a place on the IMDB bottom 100, but is widely regarded as one of the worst movies of all times due to bad acting, poor production quality and, most notably, horrible special effects.

But for all of the problems the movie had, one of the biggest was that Nguyen simply took on more than he could handle. His talent, budget and skills would not support an apocalypse-themed movie. A different, simpler approach to the film could have yielded at last somewhat better results (certainly one with fewer jokes about the special effects).

There might have been no way Birdemic could have been a truly great film, but it certainly didn’t need to be held in this much dishonor.

Lessons for Bloggers: It’s important to constantly push and expand your horizons and challenge yourself in new ways. However, you still shouldn’t center a project around something you know nothing about. Take a look at what you know and what your strengths are and start there.

3. Marketing Matters…A Lot

The Blair Witch Project is one of the most divisive movies I can think of with people typically either loving or hating it. Though it’s certainly not a bad movie in the sense of the others on this list, it has more than its share of detractors.

However, what’s interesting about it is that it was not the first movie to be filmed in that style with similar themes. Instead, it was the first major commercial success.

The reason largely comes down to marketing and to a carefully-planned buildup for the movie that encouraged people to think it was “real”. Though the reasons the movie was shot in such a way were largely budget-driven (see point 2) the marketing for the movie combined with a creative direction for the film itself turned this limitation into a selling point.

So, while The Blair Witch Project may not have been the first time budget filmmakers took cameras into the woods to film themselves and others being scared, the movie did it better and, more importantly, marketed it better than anyone had prior.

That explains why Blair Witch succeeded where so many others failed.

Lessons for Bloggers: Marketing is crucial to your blog and much of it is how you position yourself. If you’re knowledgeable about something but not an expert, you can turn that to your advantage by being a layperson and connecting with those outside the field. Be creative and aggressive with how you bill yourself, turn weaknesses into advantages that help you find a good niche.

4. Pacing, Pacing and… Pacing

Manos the Hands of Fate, a budget horror film from 1966 centering around an evil cult, is notorious not just as one of the most popular episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), but also for being one of the most boring movies ever put to film.

Notorious for it’s seemingly endless driving sequences and long gaps in the movie where little to nothing happens, the movie actually had to be heavily cut for use in MST3K because parts of it were too dull to make fun of.

Though the film suffered many other problems, one of its biggest was simply there wasn’t enough plot to fill a feature film. Even the severely cut-down versions released today seem to drag on. Without the MST3K riffing, the movie is widely considered unwatchable.

Lessons for Bloggers: Keeping your audience’s interest over time involves pacing and pacing, in this context, means two things. First, it means making sure you have enough content and interest to justify a blog and, second, it means giving your readers a good deal of variety. If every post is the same, no matter how great they are, eventually your audience will walk out.

5. Originality Counts

Currently, the lowest-rated movie in the IMDB is Titanic: The Legend Goes On…, an animated movie about a love affair between a wealthy woman and a blue collar man on the ill-fated Titanic.

If it sounds familiar, it’s because of the obvious parallels to the 1997 Titanic movie that was recently re-released. To make matters worse, the other characters in the movie, most of which are animals, seemed to come straight from other movies and stories as well.

The movie has been widely panned as a poorly-made knock off of better products, animated and live action, and currently holds an average of 1.3 stars (out of ten) on the IMDB.

In short, the movie gave no one any reason to see it, let alone look past all of its other flaws.

Lessons for Bloggers: Doing something truly new is a huge risk. It’s a frightening thing that others may or may not accept. However, if you try and copy an existing formula people will have no reason at all to read your site and, unless you can do it better, your flaws will shine all the brighter. People will give true originality a lot of leeway. In short, if you can’t do something unique and you can’t do something far better, why do it at all?

Bottom Line

When looking at something that’s considered bad, it’s not enough to say that it stinks and walk away. You need to understand why it’s bad, what went wrong and how you can avoid the same pitfalls.

There’s a lot more to be learned from something that failed than something that succeeded. If you can pause and take a few moments when dealing with something you hate, you’ll likely learn a great deal about the craft and, maybe, your own.

On that front, learning from a bad movie is a great way to turn a negative into a positive and a bad experience into a useful one.

However, there is actually quite a bit of SEO information available that could really help bloggers. If bloggers really understood SEO, they would better understand:

• Topics that have the opportunity to rank well on Google. This will help a blogger’s writing gain more exposure.
• The meaning of Meta data and how Google uses Meta data. Understanding this information will help again improve the SEO and overall visibility of an article.
• Any changes that are occurring with Google algorithms. These updates often change a website’s approach to content (usually for the better).
• Bloggers are more marketable if they really understand SEO.

I have found that the easiest way for a blogger to learn more about SEO and stay current in the SEO sphere is by doing what he/she does best—reading different blogs. Below is a list of my favorite SEO blogs (in no particular order) that could really help educate a blogger about the more advanced aspects of SEO:

Top 10 SEO Blogs for Bloggers

1. Higher Visibility – This blog always seems to explain SEO information in a way that is concise and easy to understand. In other words, it is a PR 6 blog for a reason.

2. Search Engine Optimization Journal – Managed by long-time SEO expert Nick Stamoulis, this blog is always looking to educate.

3. Search Engine Journal – This blog offers a wealth of information and breaks SEO down into different categories to help keep so much information organized. Also a PR 6 site.

4. SEOMoz – This is by far one of the most authoritative sites in the SEO world. The articles shared here are always incredibly detailed with step by step instructions and screenshots that help make sure you’re understand absolutely any aspect of SEO.

5. Search Engine Land – This is where I go to get all of my updates about any changes that Google is making. They talk with Google directly and always have the most up-to-date information the minute it happens.

6. Search Engine Watch – This PR 7 site offers top quality information featured on an easy to navigation website. Need I say more?

7. Search Engine Roundtable – This blog also offers breaking news in the SEO world, and you’ll often find this at the top of SERPs. Although only a PR 3, the content is top quality.

8. SEO Book – This site is also great for tutorials and screenshots in order to help educate. Aaron Wall is one of the top SEO experts in the field and manages this blog.

It is certainly not necessary for the average blogger to be keeping up with all of these different blogs, but consider finding one or two that you enjoy. If you can’t seem to find the information you need or something that interests you, move on to the next.

What SEO blogs do you read to help improve your SEO skills?

Photo Credit: topseolinks.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to 401k services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including document software to small businesses and entrepreneurs for a lead generation website, Resource Nation. 

And whether you like it or not, you’re already a part of it.

It’s a bold statement, I know. Maybe too bold. After the dust has settled, it’ll either be a celebration… or a bloodbath.

I’m willing to take that chance.

And why not? Launches are all about taking chances… and this post outlines a simple formula for launching, well, anything.

Over the past 90 days my wife and I have planned – with NASA like precision – the launch of our new site. We’ve boiled everything down into five simple steps, which you can use for your next launch.

Prepare for lift off…

5. Lay the foundation

Cornerstone content lays the groundwork for your site.

Before you start, write down the following:

• Who your intended audience is
• What they want more than anything (regarding your subject, at least)
• Why you can help them
• What common themes will you cover
• How you will structure your content

Now create content around each of these points. Whenever you’re stuck for ideas, refer to these five points.

How many pages do you need to launch with? It depends on you and your market.

For example, my wife and I launched our travel site with over 800 pages of content (because the site covers destinations around the world… can’t really have an empty continent section, can we?).

On the other hand, Jon Morrow launched his blog without a single post. Just a short video preview and opt in form.

And you know what? It worked.

These are two extremes. You’ll probably fall somewhere in the middle.

With your foundation in place it’s time to…

4. Fuel the rocket

Did you know the space shuttle uses over two million pounds of fuel for its launch?

In your case, the fuel comes from people.  Hopefully you’ve already got connections, but if not, that’s cool. You gotta start somewhere.

Here’s how you should start networking:

Find influential people. Here’s a list of  North American and Global journalists on Twitter. Technorati’s directory is full of influential bloggers organized by category.

Build a list of prospects. I like Excel, but Google Docs work too. Include columns for the following: website name, contact info, date contacted, URL where they link to you (if they do) and any other info you think could be important (e.g. fun facts about the person, their interests, etc.)

Add metrics to compare them. I personally use SEOMoz’s Domain Authority as a metric. The higher the number, the more influential they are.  (Tip: Download this toolbar to see a site’s Domain Authority right in your browser).

Pull contact information from their sites. Email works best, but Twitter, Facebook and other social sites work, too.

Comment on their blogs/social networks. Kinda self-explanatory, right?

Contact them with three unique, personalized pitches for their website. Promise to deliver the content in HTML (with links and photos) so all they have to do it copy and paste it into WordPress (or other CMS). For the bigger blogs, skip the pitch and just give ‘em the post.

Follow up with valuable stuff. Notice a broken link/typo/glitch on their site? Send them an email – you’ll almost always get a thank you.

As you probably noticed, all these methods are online. The best method is to go out and meet influencers in your market. Brian Clark from Copyblogger and Tim Ferriss discussed this topic in a great interview.

Whether you’re pitching guest posts, interviews or features try to schedule all of it to go out the same day. It pays to contact people two or three months beforehand to make sure you can coordinate it.

The next step is to…

3. Set up ground control

If you use WordPress, install a plugin which checks for broken links automatically.

Create accounts on all major social networks. You can do this yourself or outsource it via Mechanical Turk. Flesh out the profiles by adding pictures and short descriptions about you.

Test every aspect of your site – comments, opt-ins, purchases – thoroughly at least a week in advance.  I highly suggest you go through this pre-launch checklist to make you don’t miss something crucial.

2. Lift off

Launch day. Make sure all systems are go.

Set up a Google Alert for your site’s name and monitor where you get mentioned. Jump in conversations to let people know you’re available.

Then, a day or two later send follow up emails to everyone thanking them for promoting your launch.

Use Twitter Search to find who tweeted about you and follow them. Chances are, they’ll follow you back.

1. The View from Orbit

Now that the launch is over, it’s time to review.

Check your traffic stats, conversion rates and social mentions. Like the moon, you want to revolve around your business and observe it from every angle.

Ask yourself:

• What content was shared the most?
• Where was it shared?
• What problems did people have with the site/product/service?
• What sites/methods sent the most traffic? Conversions?
• What one metric can I most easily improve?

Bonus: (Re)Launch

Launches are great for new websites and/or products. But what happens after that initial burst of interest burns out?

Many people try to “pace” themselves and put out a steady stream of content on other blogs.

Does it work? Yes… but it could be better.

Instead, consider a five day “burst” of activity. It pays to be everywhere for a short period of time, then go back to focusing on your own site for awhile.

Try working in 90 day batches. For example…

Day 1 – 30: Pitch guest post ideas to other sites

Days 31 – 60: Write all the content and submit (ask for it all to be published on the same day)

Days 61 – 90: Contact other websites for interviews, social media mentions, etc.

Then ask other people in your network to mention your new piece of content/product in their social circles… all on Day 90.

The experiment

Like I mentioned before, you’re part of an experiment. And the experiment is this: how many launch ideas can the Copyblogger Tribe come up with?

What specific tactics do you use to launch new sites or products? What really works and what doesn’t?

Alright ground control, have at it!

###

About the Author: Adam Costa wrote this post as part of a launch. Two, in fact. The first is Trekity.com, a different kind of travel site. The second is Travel Blogger Academy, which shows how to make money with a travel blog.

Images from:

tech.701panduan.com

middlegeorgiaart.blogspot.com

Here are the highlights from this week’s job board. Good luck!

Wedding Bloggers

Wedding dresses, destination weddings, wedding trends – do you know all about these? Do you like giving others advice on these topics? If so, this telecommute blogging gig will make you a happy camper.

Freelance Bloggers

LimeLife is looking for bloggers who have a solid and wide entertainment knowledge base. If you’re always up for some quirky or odd news, you will fit right in. If you know CMS and SEO, then you’re all set.

Green Living, Home Improvement, and Respiratory Health Writers

Sylvane is a leading indoor air quality company and is looking for writers who have a passion for green living and home improvement. If this is you, then go for this telecommute job!

Part-time Content Freelancers

Are you based in New York? Remezcla.com, a local guide to cutting-edge Latin culture in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Francisco, is looking for freelance content writers. If you think it’s a fit, go get that gig!

Freelance Journalist

Intelligent. Resourceful. Driven. If those three words describe you, and you are a journalist, then SimplerMedia wants you on the team. While the position is telecommute, preference is given to those in the East Coast.

• Someone happens upon the blog and notices some great writing. They may want to do a bit more research to discover more about you, the owner, and your writing background in order to determine if you are right for a position.
•  You put a link to your blog in an email or on an electronic application. This will put your blog right in front of a potential employer on purpose.

No matter how your blog helps you in the job search, it is important to realize that there are ways to optimize your blog for that potential new job. You do not (and should not) have to change the essence of your blog, but there are a few tweaks you can make to give yourself that extra push.

Top 5 Things to Consider When You Use Your Blog as a Job Search Tool

It is important to realize that many major voices in an industry have some sort of blog or website. Whether you created your blog for this reason or not, it will be a great way to show that you are on your way to really becoming someone influential. You know how to connect with people, write content, and run a website; three things important in any business. Consider some of the ways you can optimize your site even more for that potential employer:

1. Be Appropriate – There are of course some blogs that link to offensive articles or make inappropriate jokes, but these are not the blogs that will get someone a job. It is completely fine to do what you want with your blog, but don’t assume that you’re going to get a job out of owning that blog. Be mindful of what you put online if you’re open to the prospect of new employment.

2. Guest Posting – If you have done a lot of guest posting in order to help your website rank well on a search engine results page (SERP), create a page with links back to all of these articles. This will give employers extra articles to check out and will let them know that you are comfortable reaching out and talking with other editors.

3. Social Media Buttons – Put links back to your social media channels somewhere on your blog. This will make it much easier for someone to do extra information on you as opposed to having to blindly search around the networks.

4. Resume – While most people will have some sort of social media buttons on their blog, few have a link to a resume. However, this is a very quick and easy way for those checking out your blog to learn more about you. Creating a page that details all of your past work experience offers nothing to readers, but having a little link on an “About” page can’t hurt.

5. LinkedIn – This is, of course, the virtual resume. Although your LinkedIn profile can be another social media button on your page, it is a good idea to mention this social networking site more than once. Link back to your profile and in a few different places on your website, ask people to find you on LinkedIn. People will be much more apt to click on LinkedIn than a link to a resume or even another social sharing button.

For many, the thought of opening up doors to a new opportunity isn’t a concern. There is nothing wrong with going about your blog or your website as if no one is watching. After all, blogging began as a sort of virtual diary. Using a blog as a job search tool is just one way to optimize your site, and it is up to the owner whether or not that is something he/she finds valuable.

Have you ever had a visitor to your website ask you about a potential job? Let us know in the comments!

Photo Credit: sheltonstatecareerservices.blogspot.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to accepting credit cards. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including document software to small businesses and entrepreneurs for a lead generation website, Resource Nation. 

While there was no simple answer at that time, it seems a lot of people chose Tumblr in the past 2-3 years. Lately, the Web has been talking about how, if the current trends continue, it’s likely that searches for the word “Tumblr” could outpace searches for the word “blog” by mid-October this year, a day I’ve taken to calling T-Day.

Simply put, Tumblr has had a meteoric rise since late 2010 and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to slow down. It has long since passed “WordPress” as a search term and, given the recent attention to Tumblr, T-Day could be even sooner than the comic predicted.

But would it have any significance? Does it matter if it comes before or after it’s predicted? The answer is simple: Probably not.

Because as interesting as Google search trends are, they aren’t the only source of data and they are easily skewed. However, it is still impressive what Tumblr has managed and, as such, it’s probably worth a second look as a blogging platform.

The Problem With Search Trends

Search trends are often important for SEO but they aren’t very useful as a barometer of overall popularity. The reason is that people search for (and don’t search for) things for odd reasons at times. This is why SEO experts look at trends, not just to understand what is popular, but how exactly people are trying to find it and how those trends are changing.

Tumblr, for example, is not just a blog network, but it’s a social network, a company, a service and much more. Blog, on the other hand, is a fairly generic term for a broad type of site (or sections thereof). The term, thanks to the growth of blogging and the wide variety of blog types, has become almost meaningless, giving users little reason to search for it even as blogging has continued to grow.

This problem is exasperated by how mainstream blogging has become. Nearly every new and popular site either is a blog or has one as a part of it. These days, it’s more peculiar to see a site without a blog than with and that makes search for “blog” akin to search for “website”. Which, for the record, has a lower search volume than both “blog” and “tumblr”.

Another issue is that Google Trends is more a tool for tracking buzz than practical popularity. For example. If you compare Tumblr to Pinterest, it seems that Pinterest has about half of the popularity as Tumblr but, when you look at the statistics, Tumblr has many times more users and visitors. Likewise, it appears that Tumblr is many times more popular than WordPress but, in truth, WordPress powers approximately 40% more blogs when you compare their numbers to Tumblr’s.

The reason is that being an established player in the field counts, even if it doesn’t make you new, exciting or buzz-worthy. While everyone online seems to be obsessed with what’s new and trendy, the truth is that, even online, there’s far more prominence to be had in longevity, which is what the broader blogging community, what Tumblr is a part of, has in spades.

However, this isn’t meant to slight Tumblr’s surge. As a blogger, you can’t simply ignore the rise in popularity of the service and the benefits it brings.

Rethinking Tumblr

Looking back at my 2009 article, it’s clear that Tumblr has grown by leaps and bounds and it has something new to offer bloggers considering it: A huge built-in audience and community.

Having gone from 12 to 41 million blogs in 2011 alone and is currently, according to some sources, serving at least 16 billion page views a month. That is not traffic to take lightly.

What Tumblr has done in terms of growth and community is impressive but this still doesn’t mean that every blogger should jump ship as soon as possible. Though Tumblr is more flexible than Twitter or Facebook, it still falls far behind WordPress and Blogspot in terms of user freedom.

As such, Tumblr sites tend to fit a fairly specific format. Even if you can break the mold, since it’s the format that does well on the site and it’s what people expect, there’s little benefit to doing it.

In the end, the advice I gave in 2009 remains more or less valid: If Tumblr is the right platform for your site, then you should definitely consider it – Now more than ever. But if it isn’t, it may not be a good choice for your main blogging platform.

The one thing that has changed is that, even if Tumblr isn’t right for your site, you may still benefit from having a presence there. While it’s not as large from a user standpoint as Facebook or Twitter, it’s a community that consumes a great deal of content, of all types.

It might not have the largest audience, but it is still a great place to get read or viewed.

Bottom Line

In the end, the world isn’t going to change much on T-Day. Blogs aren’t going to suddenly become irrelevant and Tumblr won’t suddenly become the only platform that matters.

But that isn’t to discount Tumblr either. The service has had explosive growth and it is a platform well worth serious consideration from bloggers, whether as a platform for their main blog or merely as a place to keep a presence.

In short, Tumblr is definitely worth a second look for bloggers and even I am rethinking my Tumblr strategy for a few projects, but it doesn’t mean that you should jump ship completely from whatever platform you are on now.

Blogging will remain relevant and people will still be visiting sites that use WordPress, Blogspot, Drupal, Joomla and countless other platforms. What you do with your site, not how you build it, will determine how relevant you are moving forward.

So, as impressive as Tumblr’s growth is, it’s not some apocalypse for blogging. It may be an evolution, but it isn’t going to wipe the slate clean.

In many cases, yes, choosing a photo is as easy as looking at something and seeing something you like. However, it is important that every bloggers knows how to use photos correctly and where to find the photos to use. Bloggers use photos for several reasons:

• The most common reason a blogger uses a photo is to set his/her content apart from the rest. Photos are easy to remember.
• Enhance the meaning of the article. For example, a post with a lot of screenshots will be easier to understand than a big block of text.
• On that same note, readers get overwhelmed with nothing but content. A photo helps to give a blog post the illusion of being manageable.

Understanding why photos are important to a blog post is one thing, but it is quite another to put these reasons into action. Consider a few of the things you should keep in mind when looking to get the most from your photos:

Formatting and Uses for Blog Photos

Just as with content, slapping together a photo isn’t a good idea. In other words, just putting whatever photo you like wherever you want might not give you the best results. There are a few things a blogger can do to help make sure photos are used correctly:

1. Captions – Putting keywords in your captions will help your article when it comes to being indexed by a search engine.

2. Location – It is always best to place your photo at the top of the article. This ensures that a reader will see the photo and it makes sure that the photo will be remembered with your article. In general, most blogs find that a photo in the top left hand corner works well.

3. Screenshots – Screenshots work great when you’re trying to teach someone how to do something. These are the types of photos that will go inside the copy; however it is recommended that you still have a feature photo near the top.

4. Size – If you are just going to have one photo at the top of your blog post, most bloggers recommend around 200X300. However, if your photos are the entire blog post (little content), you will want your photos to be much bigger.

Ultimately the way that a blogger wants to use a photo is entirely up to the blogger. I have seen many very successful blogs that add large photos above the article (such as The Credit Letter), and I have seen blogs that place photos

Free vs. Paid Blog Photos

When it comes to finding a photo, you have a few different options. Bloggers can purchase stock images from sites such as Shutterstock or iStockphoto for as low as $1 per photo. These photos are typically better quality and have a bigger selection than the free photos available.

Nevertheless, free photos work great for many bloggers. It is important to keep in mind that if you are going to use a free photo, you must give credit to the site where you found the free photo. Sites such as stock.xching or freedigitalphotos.net offer a wide variety of free photos. Both sites are easy to use, yet they may not have the specific photo you’re interested in using. If this is the case, it’s best to splurge a little bit and buy the photo that is really right for your blog post.

Photo Credit: tweetingandbusiness.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to merchant services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including document software to small businesses and entrepreneurs for a lead generation website, Resource Nation.

One feature that many users seem to be unaware of is a Twitter Chat. This is not like your traditional chatrooms where people gather for live conversation within a designated location. Instead, it is a conversation held by people who are part of your your “Twitter Party” and use #hashtags to attract updates from others invited to the same chat.

You can, of course, organize your own. Many blogs with some Twitter following have started creating conferences, lectures and basic social gatherings using this method. Since you can automatically use any hashtag on Twitter, all it takes is an announcement to the people you wish to participate, along with a date. The conversation should last through the day, and sometimes for several days depending on the topic.

But if you want to know about regular chats already being held on Twitter, check out these websites and their schedules. Each is specifically aimed at bloggers, and offer advice on how to create a blog, increase popularity, keep posts fresh and more.

1. BWE Chat

BlogWorld has started to do a weekly chat thanks to the popularity of their Twitter discussions. Using the tag #BWEchat, you can join in on various topics, with guest speakers from around the blogosphere, such as Kelby Carr. Their chats are every Wednesday, so you can just jump right in. Or, you can check their official chat page to see what topic they are discussing for the next several months worth of conversations.

2. Mack Collier BlogChat

Popular blog consultant and social media guru Mack Collier has been holding Twitter chats for awhile now, under the hashtag #Blogchat. Using a tracker, he was able to count more than 8,200 users participating in blog chats under that hashtag, either related to him or not, within a couple of months time. You can check his website for details on upcoming chats on Twitter.

3. MyBlogGuest

You probably already known about My Blog Guest, and the way we hook writers up with blog owners who need content written on a post by post basis. MyBlogGuest is also a handy place to learn tricks of the trade.

We have started holding a weekly guest blogging Twitter chat every Thursday 11 a.m. EDT (3 p.m. GMT) under #MyBlogGuest. Our Twitter chat evolves around content creation, brainstorming, guest post link tracking tips, etc. If you want to become a power guest blogger, you should definitely be there! If you are still in doubt, read our weekly chat summaries and transcripts to get idea of what we are talking about there.

4. BrandChat

Using both the #BrandChat hashtag and TweetGrid (which they have set up already to allow you to use by clicking the link featured on their page), this site does a weekly chat on Wednesday mornings, starting at 8 AM PST.

5. CommentHour

If you are a blogger who wants to potentially get some visibility, this is a good way to go. You sign up with your Twitter ID and blog link. Twenty five blogs are randomly featured from the applicants. On Wednesday at 6:30 PM PST they will post the first selected link and you go to the blog, read the post and comment. Then go back for the next. There will be an hour of this until all chosen blogs are there. Not only will you potentially be featured, along with the hashtag #CommentHour, but you will be seen as a commentator which can help build a reputation over time.

Conclusion

Bloggers can really benefit from using Twitter chats, whether their own or participating in others. Are you holding one? Let us know in the comments, including date, time and hashtag.

Overview

The future of social media will involve an ever-growing number of users and that may be fueled by the increasingly common requirement for all high school graduates to display basic proficiency with online tasks. At least 12 states have passed laws encouraging online education over the last two years. Virginia is the most recent state to require high school students to receive an online class component, joining a list that also includes Florida and Idaho. Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell signed a bill on April 5, 2012, requiring each student to pass at least one online course to receive a standard or advanced high school diploma. This bill also calls for students to earn a credit in career and technical education in order to obtain a standard diploma.

Virginia’s requirement goes into effect for students who enter the ninth grade during the 2013-14 school year, and will not affect current students. Online education has been part of McDonnell’s platform since he took office in 2010. The purpose of this requirement is to prepare students for the modern job market and to ensure they possess the technical skills required in so many professional positions today.

Structure

Learning in a traditional school is generally a shared experience, whereas it’s often a solitary one in a virtual school. Students download lessons online and progress at their own pace. The self-led instruction and separate locations of the students result in much larger classes, with 60 students being a common class size for a virtual school.

Virtual education for the primary grades relies heavily on the role of the parent as a coach to guide the student through lessons away from the computer. Books and other physical materials provide the majority of the instruction for students in primary grades. On the other hand, pupils in virtual secondary schools already have the basic skills needed to complete most of their learning online.

Some online courses attempt to duplicate practical lessons such as dissection in order to provide pupils with a “real” classroom experience. Teachers at virtual schools typically interact with students via Internet chat, email and phone, allowing them to monitor students’ progress and grade work from home.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of virtual schools for primary and secondary students is becoming clear. The United States Department of Education has performed an analysis of virtual schools for elementary and high school students and found that online students actually perform moderately better on average compared to their peers in traditional classrooms.

The trend toward online classes for secondary education students has profound implications. Students will gain greater exposure to using technology and social media platforms for education applications, rather than as mere vehicles for entertainment and gaming.  An influx of younger students to an online education environment may also function as a catalyst for their increased likelihood of pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees online later in their academic career. And if more students gain exposure to technological skills and aptitude with social media platforms, they’ll be better prepared for an increasingly complex and sophisticated work force where companies hire the best and brightest to keep them out in front of the competition.

About the Author: Jon Dawson is a lawyer and professional writer living in Indianapolis. He is a frequent contributor to legal, health, and technology related blogs.

Before you enjoy the weekend, here are the highlights from the job boards for this week.

Senior Technology Writer/Blogger

Are you an experienced B2B technology journalist with a solid grasp mobile security issues like data loss prevention, network management, and secure mobile app development? If you can produce thought-provoking pieces, check out this telecommute job.

Freelance Writer – Feature Stories

If you have the magic touch of converting interviews and research material into feature stories that will engage your readers, you might be the person for this freelance telecommute position. Topics cover services such as education and auto insurance.

iPhone/iPad Review Blogger

Bloggers based in the United Kingdom, listen up! If you can’t live without your iPhone or iPad, and you regularly download new apps, this blogging stint will make you happy!

Travel/Fashion Bloggers

Here’s another listing for UK-based bloggers. If you have a blog focusing on travel or fashion, a Berlin-based company might have something interesting for you. Shoot them an e-mail.

Tech Writer

Tech Zone Reviews is looking for writers from all over who can write content, reviews, guides, etc. related to tech. If you are a walking tech encyclopedia, this job should be a breeze.

For this reason, many SEO experts are left speculating. Although it could be quite some time before bloggers understand just what constitutes as over-optimization in the eyes of Google, it’s still important to try and keep your site from being over-optimized. This can be done by looking at what some experts are assuming as well as why the algorithm change was created in the first place.

What Constitutes as Over-Optimization According to Google?

Although Cutts never comes out and gives a clear answer, he does explain why this penalty is an important one. This penalty is supposed to “level the playing ground” when it comes to sites that put a heavy focus on SEO and sites that are smaller and maybe just creating great content. Google wants great content at the top of their SERPs, not just content that is optimized for SEO. Cutts said that Google “start[s] to look at the people who sort of abuse it, whether they throw too many keywords on a page or whether they exchange way too many links, or whatever they’re doing to sort of go beyond what a normal person would expect.”

This leads many to believe that Google is not completely against a website optimizing a page for SEO, but too many keywords are going to become more of an issue for the GoogleBots. Although penalties for things such as doorway pages or other black hat SEO tactics were already in place, the new announcement leads many to believe that this is going to be a bigger issue for Google in the very near future.

So what can you do to prepare for this new over-optimization penalty? Consider some of the ways you can make sure your page is not over-optimized and how to make sure it stays that way:

How to Make Sure Your Pages are Not Guilty of Over-Optimization

The best thing you can do to make sure your pages are not over-optimized is read your content. If it sounds like it’s written for a robot, you’re sure to get flagged with this new penalty. In situations where your content sounds strange or sounds like it was written for SEO only, it’s very easy to tell that you need to make a change. However, if you cannot tell whether or not your page is too optimized, consider some of the following tips:

• Your keyword density should be between 3 and 5 percent.

A keyword density deals with how many times the keywords you are trying to target show up in your content. If you have an article with a keyword density of 10 or 20 percent, Google is likely going to pick up on that and penalize you.

• Don’t have too many advertisements above the fold.

Although this was never a good idea in the first place, it’s likely going to be more of an issue now that the new penalty has been brought to surface. You want to make sure that the majority of your valuable content is above the fold and your advertisements are toward the bottom.

• Generic domain names are not the best idea.

Oddly enough, Google isn’t a fan of generic domain names. If you have a domain name that is related to a business brand name, you could get penalized. Many people choose their domain names based upon keywords, but this is likely going to be a target for the new Google algorithm.

• Guest blogging is likely the best way to get backlinks.

Guest blogging ensures that you are getting a backlink from a quality source as opposed to certain directories and other sites that allow you to buy a backlink. Google will not see this as over-optimization because you are offering valuable content to readers.

The best thing that you can do for your site is create as much valuable, original content as possible. Although it may take a while to see results, this will ultimately pay off in the end.

Photo Credit: AZblogtips.com

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to merchant services. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including payroll processing services to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading lead generation website, Resource Nation.

There are various factors that need to be taken into consideration when building a house, and the elements involved are not too dissimilar to how you would construct a successful SEO campaign.

Find a Contractor

Although you may have dreams of putting bricks and mortar together yourself, you will no doubt need some professional help to ensure there’s no risk of your house falling down. With this in mind you will need to look around to find a contractor that can assist you in turning your dream into reality.

When you begin your SEO campaign, it can also be tempting to tackle it yourself. However, this will mean that you may not get the results you need because you won’t have an understanding of what Google is looking for. So, ensure that you find the right SEO Company to help with your campaign, and you can rest easy knowing that somebody else is looking out for your business. Furthermore, they will have in depth information surrounding the subject, and

Materials

Whether you live in a stormy climate or are fortunate to have sunshine all year round, your house needs to reflect this. During the construction process, you should ensure that you find materials that will be durable and long lasting.

Choosing the right keywords for your SEO campaign can be a difficult task, and you need to ensure that you grasp what your audience are looking for before you hit that coveted number one spot. If you choose the wrong keywords your campaign will fall flat on the ground, much like your house would if you built it with straw and mud on a river bank.

Finishing Touches

Your house is complete and you’re ready to move in, and with keys in hand you will no doubt be excited about buying the finishing touches that transform a house into a home. From carpets to curtains to cabinets, these last additions to your property are what make it a comfortable environment for you and your family to grow in, and undoubtedly you will pick pieces that show off your taste. However, your home will never be completely finished; as you continue to add furniture and other aspects throughout the time you live there to keep up with the changing trends in design.

Your SEO campaign is an on-going process that needs working on consistently to ensure that you are always performing, and by adding extras such as article marketing or social media you will ensure that it’s always fresh and unique. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for the changes in Google’s algorithms, as this is where you will find the shifting trends in SEO.

Building a house can be a stressful task, however by putting in the care during the construction process you will ensure that you have a home to last you a lifetime. Take the same care with your SEO campaign, as it’s only as successful as you make it.

This guest post was written by Sally Powell, a Content Writer for a leading SEO company who specialise in article marketing, web design and PPC.

Reactive or Proactive?

One of the issues that I’ve seen crop up time and again (so often in fact, it’s a case study of mine for new clients in certain industries) is the idea that we only use services when we need them – not as a preventative.  Hiring security experts after hacks, hiring web designers at the last possible minute before launch and sometimes need to push back launch.  Then, what about copywriting?

Better Returns

The concept of expenses aside – because there are so many arguments surrounding whether a company should hire a copywriter on financial grounds (short answer – the return is always better than the cost) – copywriters are the experts you need to sell your product or service.  It’s important to understand, of course, that the needs of your company may or may not be met entirely by a standard copywriter, but most copy that most companies need can be produced by robust copywriting services.

Proactive hiring of copywriting services should start at exactly the same time as your web designer – which, ideally, should be two months out from a launch or re-launch, perhaps more depending on the content and services that you want.  It’s critical to understand that good copy isn’t just words on a page – it’s shaped depending on what the site needs.  What the product calls for.  What the services speaks as.

Copywriting Services Are Your Voice

Just like needing to consider your words carefully when taking to a client, the permanence of content online means that you’ve got to ensure that your voice matches the information you’re trying to project.  Right down to tone and authority.  And while it might seem easy to do so – just write it as you would say it – it’s something that many businesses miss the mark on, and lose sales because of.

For example would you buy from:

Stories are our stock and trade – take a bite from the Apple

Or

Words and content are the food of the Gods – grab your Apple today

The answer is – probably either – depending on what you’re looking for.  The first slogan appeals to those working in blue collar areas – they understand the idea of selling, and how a story can sell, and relate to the idea that it’s something we deal in.  The second has a touch of luxury – of mysticism about it.  It speaks to those dealing in luxury – that and the idea of being all powerful in our content and our construction.  But you wouldn’t buy from ‘Words do it for others – our apples are the tastiest’ because you can’t tell whether we sell apples, or words, and what the words are.

As a tweet though, both of the above examples work – and longer content can be built around it to reinforce the message.  Either way though, it’s content that sells – words, to the right length and brevity – and though many clients are experts in the fields they sell in, words aren’t a crop that can be harvested and arranged in any which way.  They speak to readers and motivate them to buy – or to reach out and contact you.

Author Bio

Copywriting services are something you can’t gamble with – feeding your clients the right words at the right time will make, not break your business.

Editor for Marketing Material

This editing gig is for our Toronto-based readers. A manufacturer of Tibetan rugs – which we know are some of the most beautiful in the world – needs someone to edit their marketing material. The project pays by the hour.

Sports Writer

If you are based in Coon Rapids, MN, and you have some experience in sports writing, go for this job! It is a part-time reporting job for high school and community sports.

Freelance Music Critic/Features Writer

How well do you know music? Can you provide high quality critiques? How about features about the music scene and artists in New York City? If you think you have the chops for this kind of work, get this chance to write for the New York Post!

Copywriter – Interactive Gaming

Do you have the skill and talent to write for an interactive game and bring forth a unique personality to the experience? Check out this one-month (approximately) project based in Atlanta.

Home and Family Blogger

Mom writer? Dad blogger? Or maybe you just know what can be known about home and family life. This telecommute job might be a great way to share your knowledge and make you some money along the way.

From choosing a domain, to building a theme and consistently writing great content, there is nothing about blogging that is simple. That is, if you want to do it well.

Sure, parts of it are more enjoyable than others, though which is usually a matter of opinion. The fact remains that none of it is easy and nearly all of it can and will wear you down.

But the hardest part of blogging isn’t anything technical. Anyone can build a site and anyone can write content for it. For some the challenge is greater than others, but it’s never the most difficult thing you’ll do with running a blog.

The hardest part about blogging, and the reason most people quit, is the simple fact that posting online, at times, can be the loneliest place in the world and it can take all of your hard work and make it disappear faster than you can hit “Publish”.

The Silence is Deafening

Many people assume that the hardest part of building a site is the risk of putting yourself out there on the Web. On the Web, you’re naked before the world and your work can be judged by anyone. Considering how cruel we all know the Web can be, this is a tremendous risk.

But criticism and cruelty aren’t the hardest part of blogging, at least not for most bloggers. There are only two types of critics out there, constructive ones that can help you grow and non-constructive ones that are just people below you trying to pull you down. If one can listen to the former and ignore the latter, pretty much anyone build a thick skin and move past the trolls and hatred.

But what happens when, instead of shouting at you or calling you names, the Web responds with silence? It can be incredibly difficult to spend the time to build a website, grow a social media presence, write the perfect post, launch it at the right moment and promote it as fully as you can just to have no one notice.

It can make the time you spent on your site feel like a waste and, even if it was fun, like there was any number of better things you should have been doing instead.

The truth is though that every blogger has misses, including posts they threw everything behind. Just like every artist has a potential masterpiece that turns out to be a dud or a musician an opus that goes nowhere, even the best blogger, from time to time, will swing for the fences and miss.

As such, even the most successful blogger has to battle these moments. No matter how big their audience is.

However, while it might seem like things should balance out with your successes, that isn’t always the case. In fact, for many it rarely is.

Losing for Winning

The opposite of working hard to discover that the audience isn’t there is posting something you didn’t work hard on and finding that the whole Web seems to come to your door.

In my blogging, there have been several times that I’ve woken up, realized I had nothing to write about and pulled a post from my story idea archive that I could get through quickly. Usually, I expect it to be interesting for my core readers, but not something for a larger audience.

However, after posting it, I come back a few hours later I find a flurry of tweets, Facebook likes and a flood of traffic at my door. The post, to at least some degree, has gone viral.

For a blogger, this might seem to be a great act of karmic balance for the times they broke their back for nothing but it often doesn’t feel that way. In fact, it often feels more like dumb luck than skill and can create other concerns, such as whether you adequately understand your audience, that can hinder the joy of a newly-found audience.

In short, sometimes hitting an accidental home run is just as difficult as striking out. However, if you blog long enough, both are going to happen.

Moving On

The truth is that every blogger is going to have bad days, weeks and even months. It’s inevitable. The secret to getting past it isn’t just getting up and trying again tomorrow, but keeping up your enthusiasm and putting just as much energy into it again and again even if it feels like you’re punching a brick wall.

This is why it’s important to have a blog that you’re passionate about or that fulfills some other need in your life. If your work is all about your audience, your money or your fame, the bad days are going to kill your drive. How can you pick up and move on effectively if your reason for writing isn’t there?

If you have a personal reason for blogging, the bad days will still hurt, but they are quickly forgotten. Online, you can’t wait for time to heal your wounds, you have to be able to work hard in spite of dealing with disappointment and doubt.

If you’re not emotionally invested, it will show and all of the technical, social media and writing prowess in the world will not make any difference.

Bottom Line

In the end, the easiest way to summarize the hardest part of blogging is this: It’s almost impossible to predict what the Internet wants.

People on the Web don’t care about how much time or energy you put into something, just how useful, appealing or entertaining it is. If that appeal is accidental, so be it.

Millions of dollars have been sunk into trying to find why some videos go viral and, so far, no one has cracked the formula completely. The same is true for blog posts as well.

You can learn your audience, do the best job you can and improve your odds greatly, but it’s always going to be a roll of the dice after you hit “Publish”.

However, when you’re gambling with works you’ve invested a lot of time and heart into, it can be crushing to come up short for seemingly no reason. This is why you need to have something more valuable and more important driving your blogging.

Without it, blogging can get very lonely and very cold. If you don’t have some fire burning within, you’ll freeze your site and your audience, it’s all just a matter of time.