Daily Blogging Tips

How to Kick-Start Your Email List in Easy 4 Steps

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:43:00 +0000

by Daniel Scocco

Most bloggers and webmasters know that an email list is one of the most profitable online assets they can have, yet few actually build one. I wonder why that happens, as getting an email list going is not that hard. In this post I’ll give you 4 steps to kick-start your own email list.

1. Get an email marketing provider

While there are solutions and software around you can use to power your own email marketing server I wouldn’t recommend it. A key aspect of having an email list is making sure people will receive your emails, and specialized companies are much better equipped to do that.
Sure, you’ll need to spend some money, but what is $30 or so monthly compared to the money you could make by selling your products, services or affiliate products to your list?
If you don’t have an email marketing provider check out GetResponse.com. It is one of the leading email marketing providers, and they are now offering a 30-day free trial. The cool thing is that you don’t need to put a credit card, so there are no strings attached whatsoever.
GetResponse also integrates with over 20 CRM and email management systems, so you can import and existing contacts and get your list populated right away.

2. Create a freebie to encourage people to subscribe

People care about their privacy and about their time, and they sure won’t give your their email addresses just for the sake of it. In other words, you need to offer something in return if you want people to give you the opportunity to communicate with them via email, which is one of the most personal channels online.
That something can be many different things. For instance, it could be an ebook, audio interviews, software, a template, a tutorial, so on and so forth.

3. Place the subscription forms on your website

Once you have an email marketing provider you’ll be able to create your subscription forms from inside your dashboard. The process and is pretty easy, and if you want to get a taste of it check out the form builder demo from GetResponse (they have over 500 templates you can choose from).
Once you have the code of your form ready to go you’ll need to put it on your site. There are basically two spots where you can display your subscription form: on top of the sidebar and below your posts. You can use both at the same time for maximum results.
Make sure to display an image of the freebie you are offering, and use a call to action as well. Something like “Join my email list and get this awesome free eBook!”.

4. Write some follow-up messages

Having subscribers on your email list is only half the battle. The other half is actually building a solid relationship with them. How do you accomplish that? By deliving content that will provide value to those subscribers.
Virtually all email marketing providers allow you to create follow-up messages that are automatically sent to subscribers at given intervals. I recommend you to set one welcome message to go out right after the person signs-up (you can use this message to deliver the download link of the freebie as well), and then another message going out 2 or 3 days later.
After that you can send weekly or biweekly messages, alternating two or three messages of useful content with one message promoting one of your products or an affiliate offer.
There you go, with those four steps you’ll have your list up and running pretty fast. Within some weeks I’ll post some more advanced tips, so stay tuned.

From:
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/how-to-kick-start-your-email-list-in-easy-4-steps/

10 Smartest Things You Can Do to Promote Your New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:57:00 +0000

This is a guest post by Christian Russell from Next Level Blogger.

The beginning phase of a new blog is the most fun, isn’t it? You’ve come up with a great idea. You’ve done your research, and you are confident that your new blog idea is going to rock. There’s a market, there are people spending money in that market, and you’ve found your niche. The possibilities are endless; the sky is the limit!

There is infinite appeal to the research phase of creating a new blog. Because as long as you’re laying the groundwork, as long as you’re researching and “finding your niche”, everything exists in a vacuum. But as soon as you launch this sucker, it’s going to get messy!

It’s like the old Chinese saying: “as long as you’re planning a journey, you own the journey. The minute you embark on that journey, the journey owns you.” Plan well, my friends! But don’t forget that in order to succeed, you have to get out there and work it! And that’s what this post is about.

The Importance of Doing it All

Some of us are great idea people. Some of us are great at executing. Some of us are great at design. Some of us are great writers, and some of us are more business-minded. If your ambition is to make your blog a success from a business perspective, it’s important to know that you’re going to have to wear all these hats at one time or another.

I say this because while I’m giving you a list of the 10 Smartest Things You Can Do to Promote Your New Blog, I know that most of you bloggers out there will do some of them…or most of them. But most of you will not do all of them. Reason being, you will find some of them fun and others plain drudgery. Still, I encourage you to do them all. Success comes out of hiding when you’re willing to do the things that others are NOT willing to do. The extra work is always what makes the difference!

Where Your Success has Been Hiding

We can complain about how success has eluded us, but of course complaining accomplishes nothing. It is simply a matter of digging it up, but to do so we simply have to be willing to roll our sleeves up and get our hands dirty. Basically what I’m saying is that if you want to make a lot of money from your blog, you’re going to have to work hard at it!

After 3 years of internet marketing full time and 9 years of sales experience and training over a thousand people to go out and increase their income, I can tell you one thing for sure. If you do the work, the results will come. I promise you! They may not come as quickly as you want, and there will be bumps in the road, and these are the reasons most of us fail. Not because we do not have what it takes. We just quit too soon, and it really is a shame.

Getting Started on the Right Foot

Here’s the deal: start off with an idea of what you want to achieve. Don’t go into your blogging endeavor blind, hoping to be “successful”. Because what the heck does that mean? Perhaps you want to simply share your ideas with the world. Perhaps you want 100k unique visitors every month to feel you’ve accomplished that. Perhaps you prefer to concentrate on income, and your main concern is making $100k next year. OK. This is doable. The point is to be specific.

I want to tell you with as much conviction as I can muster, that you CAN and WILL achieve your blogging goals if you’re willing to do the work to make them happen! Success in this or any field is not a mystical process. It is a predictable and manageable thing that happens as a result of doing what needs to be done over a period of time.

I cannot tell you you’ll make a million dollars within 18 months or give you any specific time frames. It doesn’t work like that. What I can tell you unequivocally, without a doubt, is that if you do the work that needs to be done on a daily basis over time, you will be amazed and delighted with your success, and you will see how un-magical it is. Perhaps money doesn’t grow on trees, but it IS out there for the picking.

I’m so excited about the opportunities that blogging presents us as business owners, and I hope that you follow this list and let me know how it goes!

Write a daily action plan: Every promotion plan requires daily action. Now, the size of your goals and how quickly you want to achieve them will weigh heavily on what daily activities you want to write into your plan. But it’s very important to have this written up and have it be something you commit to doing daily. Daily action is key. And your daily action plan has to contain tasks that produce results that will grow your business. Checking your Adsense revenues and reviewing your analytics, for example, while important, do not count. These are administrative tasks that do not directly produce growth. The point of your daily action plan is to write up a specific plan to perform specific actions every day…actions that will bring visitors to your site and grow your business. For example, I make 100 personal contacts daily and write 3 pages of content. I do this every day. Simple. Sometimes very difficult, and I sometimes fail. But it is the gauge I use to measure success on a day-to-day basis. It gives you something to shoot for that you can achieve every day. It should be difficult but doable, and it should contain actions that cause your business to grow.
Go 60 days without tweaking your site: After you get your first design complete, and your site is up, you will be constantly tempted to tweak it. And tweak it. And tweak it. Resist the urge. Make a commitment to launch your blog, and then do nothing but promote the crap out of it for 60 days. Don’t get me wrong. Design is important. But constantly tweaking your site is a distraction. At the beginning you have no community. You’re maybe getting 10, 20, 30 visitors a day. Get out there, network and talk to people. Brand yourself. These things are infinitely more important than making sure your logo looks just right. The ultimate design will come. It will happen, trust me! But if you’ve failed to build your readership, no one is going to care. Likewise, I can point out a lot of very popular blogs with designs that have much to be desired. Do you want to look hot, or do you want to BE hot? I think you see where I’m going with this!
Refuse to place ads: Here’s the thing. Advertising revenue is cool. But when you’re first launching your blog, you have a lot of work to do. Tweaking out different ad modules and trying to optimize your ads for a blog that is going to be making you $10 a month at best is a waste of your time. We’re talking about creating a winning business blog, no? So just skip the advertising business for now. Yes, you can make a few bucks, but the most valuable asset you have right now is your time. Don’t waste it on something that is only going to make you a few bucks. Instead, focus on building a real business and attracting a lot of people. Then, put up ads later if you want; when you’ll actually be able to make enough to make it worth your while!
Pillar content: The concept of pillar content is something I learned from David Risley. When you launch your blog, have an inventory of 20-30 killer article ideas ready to go. Fill your blog up with great content that truly drives home the focus of your blog, attracts targeted visitors and shows your true expertise. You’re laying down the foundation of your business here. Take some real time creating your pillar content. It will attract readers for a long time to come, and it will show your new readers what you’re all about. Put your best foot forward!
Schmooze: In other words, networking is a key business activity. Always has been, always will be. Internet business is a people business, believe it or not. Find the top 20-30 blogs in your space, and get acquainted with them. Read them. Get to know the authors of those blogs. Build relationships with them. Yeah, it takes time. Yeah, it takes persistence. It’s also very much worth it. One word of caution: I’m not talking about just blasting these people with spam, asking them to help you out. I’m saying get to know them a bit. You can learn a lot by hanging with people who are already successful in your field.
Link building: Aaron Wall and Andy Hagans over at SEOBook wrote a fantastic article about how to build links. I recommend reading their article several times and implementing these link building tactics into your daily routine. The art and science of link building of course is beyond the scope of this post, but link building HAS to be mentioned, because it’s a fundamental activity for anyone who hopes to build a successful business blog.
Blog and forum commenting: Anyone familiar with blogs is familiar with the activity of leaving comments on blogs. This is an essential activity for anyone building a presence online. Blogs and forums offer you a tremendous opportunity to become part of the conversation. Don’t wreck it by being over-promotional, leaving keywords instead of your actual name or any other spam-type activities. Just use your real name, leave insightful and helpful comments and genuinely participate.
Respond to your readers: I’m consistently surprised by how many internet business owners do not respond to messages or personally respond to comments. If it’s not your priority, OK. I just don’t know why it wouldn’t be. There’s a lot to be said about following the basics. In other words, check your email! And be responsive and appreciative to your audience. Every minute you spend interacting on a personal level with your readers is well-spent.
Immediately begin building an email list: From day one, make sure you have an opt-in box and encourage your visitors to sign up for an email list. There is an argument for waiting until you have more traffic, but I say that an email list of 10 people is way more exciting than you might realize. Think about how cool this is…people are finding value in what you do! Seriously, open the door to communication by email right out of the gate. Don’t wait. The sooner you begin conversing with people this way, the sooner you’ll see that it’s a great way to maintain a dialog with your readers. You will get comments, criticism and helpful insights that you wouldn’t otherwise get. Email is old school I suppose, but it’s here to stay, and it’s still the way most users prefer to subscribe.
Use the Power of 100 Rule: Coming originally from direct sales, I learned a rule from other top performers that has always served me well. I’ve gotten away from it over the last couple years, but I’ve recently gotten back into the habit of practicing this rule, and it works like a charm. It’s very simple. Make 100 personal contacts a day. Sending a personal email (not bulk email), responding to a message, a phone call, leaving a thoughtful blog comment, etc. Personal contacts…100 of them…every day. It often forces you to not watch TV, because you still have 35 more contacts to make before you go to bed. It’s a mechanism that gets your priorities straightened out without you even having to think about it. Practiced over time, you will be pleasantly surprised at how much business comes your way as a result of practicing the Power of 100. Bottom line: be social. The internet business really is a people business.

Bonus: Invest in your business. If you want big results, you need to take big action. One of the biggest things I’ve done that has expanded my network and enabled me to truly get my business off the ground is something that many internet marketers and bloggers do not consider. Travel. Conferences. Meeting people in person. Getting to know people and shaking hands with other successful business owners is a very valuable activity.

One trip I took to New York led to several relationships I still have today as well as an exciting affiliate program I’m still running today, three years later. Yes, the trip cost some money, and I came back with an immense hangover, but it has paid for itself many times over and continues to do so.

I do not recall a single networking trip I’ve taken that has not ultimately paid for itself many times over by bringing more business my way. It is this type of investment and commitment to your business that will make it “real” for you. I included it as a bonus, because I honestly feel it may be the most powerful of all. Internet business is real business! It’s not this nebulous process, involving “traffic” and “clicks”. These are peopleyou’re working with and people you’re selling to. In many fundamental respects, business has not changed all that much.

These business basics will serve you well. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that business is simple, and the simple stuff works!

From:

http://www.blogmarketingacademy.com/promote-blog/

30 Tips for Marketing Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 20:53:00 +0000

With so many blogs being created every day, it’s a mystery to many bloggers how to make their blog stand out. There are many types of blogs or purposes for blogs and a certain number of tactics are applicable to just about all of them.Some companies choose to hire a blog consultant, but others like to try things internally. For those “DIY” companies and individuals interested in practical tips for marketing and optimizing a business blog, try out the following list of blog marketing and optimization tips:

Decide on a stand alone domain name www.myblog.com or directory of existing site www.mysite.com/blog. Sub domain is also an option blog.mysite.com. Avoid hosted services that do not allow you to use your own domain name!
Obtain and install customizable blog software – WordPress and Moveable Type are my favorites.
Customize blog look and feel templates – aka design.
Research keywords and develop a glossary – Keyword Discovery, WordTracker, SitePoint, SEOBook Keyword Research.
Optimize the blog:
- Template optimization – RSS subscription options, social bookmark links, HTML code, Unique title tags, URLs, Sitemap
- Add helper plugins specific to WordPress or MT
- Create keyword rich categories (reference your keyword glossary)
Enable automatic trackback and ping functionality.
Create Feedburner Pro account and enable feed tracking.
Setup a Google account for Sitemap, validate and prep for future submission.
Identify authoritative blogs, web sites and hubs for outbound resource links and blogroll.
Format archived posts, related posts.
Enable statistics for tracking – Google Analytics, ClickTracks.
Submit RSS feed and Blog URL to prominent RSS and Blog directories / search engines.
Engage in an ongoing link building campaign.
If podcast or video content are available, submit to Podcast and Vlog directories.
Submit blog url to paid directories with categories for blogs – Yahoo, BOTW, bCentral, WOW, JoeAnt.
Optimize and distribute a press release announcing blog.
Request feedback or reviews of your blog in relevant forums, discussion threads. If you have a resourceful post that will help others, point to it.
Research and comment on relevant industry related blogs and blogs with significant centers of influence.
Post regularly. If it’s a news oriented blog, 3-5 times per day. If it’s an authoritative blog, 3-5 times per week, but each post must be unique and high value.
Monitor inbound links, traffic, comments and mentions of your blog – Google Alerts, Technorati, Blogpulse, Yahoo News, Ask Blogs and Feeds.
Always respond to comments on your blog and when you detect a mention of your blog on another blog, thank that blogger in the comments of the post.
Make contact with related bloggers on AND offline if possible.
When making blog posts always cite the source with a link and don’t be afraid to mention popular bloggers by name. Use keywords in the blog post title, in the body of the post and use anchor text when you link to previous posts you’ve made.
Use social networking services, forums and discussion threads to connect with other bloggers. If they like your stuff, they will link to you.
Remember when web sites were a new concept and the sage advice to print your web address everywhere you print your phone number? The same advice applies for your blog.
=============
If your blog’s goal is to promote you as an authority, interview other prominent bloggers in your industry. Your own credibility will improve by association.
Build out your online networks through services such as MyBlogLog, Twitter and Facebook and leverage them to promote particularly useful content on your blog.
Once your blog has 1000 or more subscribers, show your Feedburner badge
Host images with Flickr making sure to include an anchor text link in the image description back to the post where the image is used.
Use your blog to gain press/media credentials at relevant industry conferences and use the event to create content, connections and increase your knowledge.

From:

http://www.toprankblog.com/2006/06/25-tips-for-marketing-your-blog/

10 Techniques for Finding Blog Readers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 21:15:00 +0000

This post has been submitted by Yaro Starak from two of my daily reads – Entrepreneur’s Journey and Small Business Branding. He’s also working on a new site at Blog Traffic King. I’ve asked Yaro to write an introduction to finding readers for a blog – something which I’ll write more on also in the days ahead.

In every bloggers life comes a special day – the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else’s blog chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader – you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best mate about your new blog but that’s about as far you went when it comes to finding readers.

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called “traction”, which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

Top 10 Tips

10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.

You don’t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.

8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be series about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need a easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that’s the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you’ve done a good job!).

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger’s article you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry – it’s sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important – it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will likely come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.

5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival often enjoy a spike in new readers.

This concept can be confusing so I suggest you take a look at the Carnival of the Cats for an example. You can also find a list of all the carnivals and submit your articles at the Carnival Submit Form.

3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it’s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it’s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it’s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have – your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.

How you benefit is through what is called your “Resource Box”. You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.

1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

I hope you enjoyed my list of traffic tips. Everything listed above are techniques I’ve put into place myself for my blogs and have worked for me, however it’s certainly not a comprehensive list. There are many more things you can do. Finding readers is all about testing to see what works best for you and your audience and I have no doubt if you put your mind to it you will find a balance that works for you.

From:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/28/10-techniques-for-finding-blog-readers/

How To Grow Your Readership When You Have A Niche Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:51:00 +0000

Niche Blogging Made Easy

We’re all used to seeing post after post on how to grow your blogs readership. And while all these points are well and good if you blog about marketing, SEO, or design; are they really relevant to the niche bloggers amongst us?

A quick Google search will show you that there is a blog for pretty much everything. Whatever your weird, wonderful, or downright bizarre hobbies, there’s someone out there blogging about it. And these highly niche blogs all have a readership. So why are you finding it so difficult?

If your business has a website, you should be blogging. It really is as simple as that. Google’s algorithms are weighting pages with quality content higher than those without. So if you’re not bringing something new to the party, you’re going to get the door slammed in your face.

Your competitors are managing to drive traffic to their blog. They’ve even got readers who engage with and share their posts. So why haven’t you? Blogging when you’re a niche business holds more challenges than if you post about celebrities, or sports stars. But if you have a customer base, you have an audience.

The trick to growing your readership remains the same. It’s the way you play that makes all the difference. Here we look at some simple but effective ways to grow your blogs readership, no matter what niche you are:

1. Know Your Readers

Before you can drive a regular readership to your niche blog, you need to know who they are.Writing for a specific audience is easier than you may think. You already know who your target customer is, so write for them. Bear in mind:

What matters to them
What they want to read about
Why they visit your blog
What they need to see to come back again

If you know who you want to read your blog, it is easier to write for them. Use the language that they will understand, and speak to them on their level. A solid readership won’t happen overnight. But by writing for your target audience you encourage shares and return visits.

2. Industry Authority

The key to growing the readership of any blog is to become an industry authority. Whether you sell saddles or sails for ships, someone out there is interested in what you’ve got to say. To grow your readership, you need to be a figurehead for the industry. You need to showcase your knowledge.

This means being on the ball. You need to be one the first people to post about certain industry goings on. But not only that, you need an opinion on it. By putting your own individual stamp on moments of importance, you will become recognised for your authority.

Your blog readership will grow because people will trust what you say. Whether you put a humours stamp on everything, or just have a unique outlook; you need to make yourself stand out. Readers will come to your blog because they’ll expect you to be posting about the things that matter to them.

3. Vary Your Content

Niche blogging can be boring. You can run out of topics to post about very quickly, and there is only so many times you can rework your posts. With the Penguin algorithm targeting duplicate content, you can’t afford to waste time rewriting your blog posts.

Instead find ways to rework your content. You could turn a ‘how to’ blog post into an infographic which can be shared on your blog and Pinterest account. Why not film a video tutorial instead of writing one down?

However you choose to do it, mixing up your content is a great way to grow your readership. Different types of content can be shared in multiple ways. The more exposure you can get for your content, the more traffic you can drive to your blog.

4. Interact With Your Audience

Building your niche readership doesn’t just take place on your blog. You should be driving traffic and encouraging engagement in loads of other ways. Use social media, forums, and Q&A sites to interact with your audience. The key though, is to be natural. Don’t spend all your time being self promotional. On forums especially, you will need to build up a lot of trust before people visit your blog.

Join in with Twitter chats and hashtags to see what your audience are talking about. If there’s a particularly hot topic, blog about it right away and share with this audience. As long as you have something worthwhile and different to say, you can drive traffic to your site.

You should also make a conscious effort to reply to your blog comments. If someone has taken the time to read your work and comment, reciprocate the favour. Strike up conversation, and thank them for engaging. The more personal you are, the more likely your readers will be to share your content in the future.

When you start blogging on any subject, it can feel like you’re talking to yourself for a while. But even niche bloggers can grow a substantial and meaningful audience. Growing your readership is important, but you need to attract the right readers. If you view your readers in terms of their quality over quantity, you will improve your success no end.

From:
http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2012/08/tips-to-grow-a-niche-blog.html

21 Ways to Get More Subscribers to Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:26:00 +0000

by Bamidele

One of the major mistakes I made when starting out as a new blogger was not focusing my efforts on getting blog subscribers, most newbies still make this mistake and when they are ready to increase their subscribers they don’t know how to do it.

Your subscribers are your most important asset and even if you lose your blog you will still be able to get to them. Getting blog subscribers can be a challenge, especially if you are a new blogger, and this post gives 21 tips on how to get more subscribers to your blog.

1. Make it Obvious

Many people claim they don’t have enough blog subscribers without making it clear to their readers to subscribe. If you want more subscribers to your blog it is very important to let your readers know that you want them to subscribe by making your subscription forms and buttons visible.

You shouldn’t expect to get blog subscribers if there is no subscription option on your blog, let your subscription options be branded with your blog.

2. Make it Easy

People love ease and the easier you can make life for them the more they will corporate with you. You will lose a great deal of subscribers if you are telling your readers to enter their first name, last name, country, zip code, CAPTCHA etc. before they can subscribe. Asking for too many details make people irritated and it will cost you a lot of subscribers.

Try to make subscribing to your blog as easy as possible and make sure your readers don’t experience any problem when trying to subscribe.

3. Ask for It

The power of asking should never be underestimated. Your readers might not know you want them to subscribe no matter what you do and asking them to subscribe can do a great deal to improve your subscription rate.

When trying to ask your readers to subscribe there are various ways to effectively ask them to subscribe to your blog, don’t just write posts every week telling them to subscribe.

A great way to ask is by asking your readers to subscribe below every posts of yours, you can also ask them to subscribe on your about page or on your sidebar, ask in as many places you can, it doesn’t hurt.

4. Use Incentives

You can also increase your blog subscribers by giving your readers something if they subscribe. There are a lot of things you can give them to subscribe to your blog and it isn’t necessary that you should be the one to create it, it can be an ebook, a plugin, a podcast or a video – make sure it is of high value.

You should also make sure you deliver the incentive when people subscribe because if you don’t, they will end up unsubscribing from your blog. A great plugin to help you make something available to your feed subscribers only is the feedvertising plugin.

5. Leverage Viral Traffic

A more effective way to get more subscribers to your blog is by leveraging viral traffic to increase your blog subscribers. Not every blog posts are created equal and there are some blog posts that will go exceedingly viral while some won’t, you can increase your blog subscribers by leveraging the traffic you get to your viral posts.

Once a post of yours is viral try to include an intro below and above the post telling people who you are and how you think your blog will help them, also let them know what they will miss if they don’t subscribe and then include a link for them to subscribe.

6. Have a Landing Page

Having a landing page can be very effective especially if you are in a niche where people are not tech savvy. Your landing page will also be effective in increasing your subscriber number because it will be dedicated to subscribing to your blog only and there will be nothing to distract your readers.

When creating a landing page for your blog subscription it is very important to let your readers know what they will gain when they subscribe and also make sure you explain how they can subscribe without experiencing difficulties.

7. Comment on Other Blogs

I have never respected the power of blog commenting this much until now. Every now and then I do get an email from my readers telling me how they love my work and that they discovered my blog from a particular blog.

Blog commenting can be a great way to increase your blog subscribers if done effectively, below are some tips to increase your blog subscribers using blog commenting:

- Link directly to your landing page or your feed url in your blog comments, this will make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog.

- Be consistent with your blog commenting efforts. Many people won’t take you serious as a blog commenter but when they see your name pop up in the comments section of a particular blog every time they will be inclined to visit your blog – it worked for me!

- Use an avatar. If you don’t use an avatar people might find it difficult recognizing you but once they see your avatar repeatedly on the same blog they will easily figure out it is you commenting.

- Make professional comments. It is dangerous to comment on a blog (especially a popular one) only to say great post, people love someone who makes insightful comments always. Always make it a duty to impact lives and encourage engagement with your comments on other blogs.

8. Write Guest Posts

Guest posting can be a great way to increase subscribers to your blog. I have gained countless opportunities as a result of my guest posting and I can say that over 80% of my blog subscribers came from my guest posts.

You can also gain more subscribers by writing for other blogs, in most cases they will include a link back to your blog below your post and this will drive more traffic to your blog.

Not all guest posts are equal and there is a difference between guest posting and guest posting effectively, that is a different topic on its own so get my guest blogging guide for detailed info about that.

9. Write Viral Ebooks

This is one strategy I am presently working on and you should be expecting some great set of ebooks from me in months to come. When I am talking about writing viral ebooks I am not talking about ebooks that you will use to build your list but ebooks that you will give to people without collecting anything in return.

Try to write great and informative ebooks in which you will include a link to subscribe to your blog while encouraging people to share it with their friends. You should also submit and upload your ebook to various file sharing sites, document sharing sites, forums and as many places as you can. Make sure the ebook is downloaded thousands of times and this will lead to more traffic and blog subscribers for you.

10. Network With Influencers

Till date, my writing has been featured on Alexa top 1000 blogs likeReadWriteWeb and Business Insider, the advantage of these features is not the traffic but the reputation it helps me build. People will give me a higher level of respect when they see I have been featured by such great blogs, this will lead them to telling others about me which will build more reputation and bring about viral traffic which will eventually lead to more subscribers for me.

Try to network with other bloggers not because of any other benefit but because of the type of reputation that could give you. If people see you networking with people like Darren Rowse, Brian Clark and Daniel Scoccothey will begin to see you as someone of high status thereby increasing their respect for you, they will also be more inclined to subscribe to your blog. People will also take what you take more seriously.

11. Write Pillar Articles

Never underestimate the power of pillar articles. Without counting search engine traffic the two most popular post on this blog are this and this and I saw a sharp increase in my subscribers after writing them.

Not all articles are equal and you are not a content machine so you can’t be expected to come up with super articles always. Try to write pillar articles once in a while, it can be once in a month or twice in a month, you will be amazed to see how this can help increase your subscriber count.

12. Email Signatures

Many of us send and receive a lot of emails every day yet we do not make effective use of this opportunity. You can also increase your blog subscribers by including a subscription link in your email signature, anytime you send and reply an email others will able to see it and in most cases subscribe to your blog.

A great advantage of using email signatures to increase your blog subscribers is that email is more personal and people tend to subscribe more if they have a strong personal relationship with you or you have already gained their trust.

13. Invite Guest Authors

The most popular guest post on YoungPrePro is on viral traffic from Lye Kuek Hin. I never thought the post will be that popular but it also helped increase my subscribers after it went live.

I am in no way a professional english speaker and my english is one of the worst out there but thanks to some of the wonderful guest authors who have impacted YoungPrePro with their professionally written articles. Not all your readers can relate with you and it often gets boring when they are hearing from you and you alone. Try to introduce guest authors and opinions on your blog because this gives your readers a new perspective and it also help cater for various audience thereby leading to more traffic and subscribers for your blog.

14. Use Full feeds

Another great mistake many people make when trying to increase their blog subscribers is using partial feeds. I have unsubscribed to all blogs I am subscribed to that are using partial feeds not because their content is bad but because I only subscribe to feeds to read posts in my inbox. I read all my posts by visiting the websites but there are times when I read posts from my mobile phone and in cases like this partial feed is useless, the same applies to many other subscribers.

It isn’t a must for people to come to your blog, what matters most is that everybody receive and read your content. Using partial feeds can be very dangerous to your blog and you will be amazed to see a great increase in the number of your blog subscribers once you start using full feeds.

15. Use Social Proof

I am not a huge fan of this because I love keeping a lot of things about me secret, nevertheless, I wouldn’t fail to admit it works. Social proof communicates value to your readers because once you show them that hundreds or thousands of other people are subscribed to your blog it makes them more inclined to join the crowd and subscribe.

If you are using feedburner it has a chicklet that allows you to do so but I will prefer not to use it and input my numbers manually until the feedburner subscriber count becomes stable – there is usually a huge drop in the number of subscribers nowadays which can cost you your credibility

16. Improve Your CTA

CTA means Call to Action. Your call to action can affect how many subscribers you get to your blog, if you use call to actions that make it look like it is not necessary to subscribe to your blog you will end up losing some subscribers but if your call to action communicates urgency to your readers it will have a great impact on the number of subscribers you get.

17. Try Alternating Your Content

Due to poor internet connectivity in my country (Nigeria) I might not be doing what I preach in this regard.

Don’t stick with one content format because you will have different types of readers, those who prefer audio to text and those who like watching videos throughout the day.

Try alternating your content and always make sure you deliver content to your readers using various mediums, it can be video, podcasts and any other medium you think can have an impact. A great example of someone who does this effectively and is benefiting from it is Pat Flynn fromSmartPassiveIncome. Take a look at his blog subscribers and you will notice it is increasing greatly everyday.

18. Educate Your Readers

A lot of non tech-savvy readers don’t know what RSS is and this can cost you a large percentage of your subscribers, I didn’t know what RSS is when I started as a blogger and the same applies to a lot of people, educating your readers about using RSS and its benefits can go a long way to increase the number of your blog subscribers.

You don’t need to spend days writing a post about RSS and its benefits, you can direct them to WhatIsRSS.com for more info on RSS.

19. Lay Emphasis on Subscribing to Your Blog

Another great way to get more blog subscribers is by laying emphasis on subscribing to your blog. Always make sure you include an option to subscribe to your blog in as many places as possible on your blog. Put your subscription options below posts, on the sidebar, on the about page and everywhere possible, once people are coming across your subscription options over and over again they will be more inclined to subscribe to your blog.

20. Your About Page

Aside my subscription page my about page is the most popular page on my blog, I don’t link to my about page in my posts, in my guest posts or in any other place yet it is this popular, this proves a lot of people want to know who you are.

Don’t ignore having an about page on your blog, try to include as many details (not too personal) as possible that will make people know more about you on your about page, this will lead to your readers trusting you thereby increasing the chances of them subscribing to your blog.

21. Use RSS Plugins

A lot of things can now be automated and it is amazing how plugins can do a lot to help our business. You can also gain more subscribers by using RSS plugins that help lay more emphasis on subscribing to your blog like WP Greet Box and Referrer Detector, this plugins display a welcome message to new visitors (or old – depending on your preference) telling them to subscribe to your blog if they enjoy your post.

What Next?

We can talk on how to gain more subscribers for years but there is little you will gain if you don’t take action, it is not about what we say but what we do. take time to implement the tips in this post to increase the number of your blog subscribers.

Also, make sure you share this post on your favorite social networking sites using the buttons below, you can also link to this post from your blog.

Onibalusi Bamidele is a 16-year-old entrepreneur living the internet lifestyle, subscribe via email or RSS for updates. Also get my guest blogging guide for more info on guest blogging.

Image by: Shutterstock

The Real, #1, Most Obvious Reason No One’s Reading Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 20:16:00 +0000

I’ve come across possibly hundreds of articles from prominent sites around the web that tackle the 10, 15, or 101 reasons your blog isn’t getting the traffic it deserves. But the interesting thing is that none of the ones I’ve found mention the real reason, the core reason, as to why no one is reading your blog.
This isn’t a stretch, in fact, we all know it. It’s not even something that we’re oblivious to. In fact, it’s obvious but we tend to forget it often.
The simple reason is entitlement. Let me explain.

Your mom is the only one reading your posts

That’s great. I’m glad she thinks you’re awesome. I mean, my mom reads mine and she thinks I’m awesome. At least, I think so. But that’s a problem.
It would be perfectly okay with me if it were her plus, say, 400 other people every day. But that’s not the case. So how do we fix it?
It’s a mindset thing.

The real problem is this

You are writing awesome, compelling, new-to-the-world content that will change the course of history, yet no one is reading it. Except your mom. And the reason is that we forget that we’re not entitled to anyone’s attention. Not any more.
We forget that everyone else thinks they are just as awesome as we think we are. It’s really a problem. We forget to ask permission to talk to them and then wonder why we’re losing followers on Twitter when we post 30 times a day about our recent blog post!
Seth Godin, who I’m a huge fan of, talks about permission marketing. He says that in order to market these days, we have to get people to want us to market to them. And we have to keep that promise forever.

“Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them.”—Seth Godin

The interesting thing is that Dale Carnegie wrote about this in 1936. This is nothing new. The book is called How to Win Friends and Influence People. It’s amazing. But in it, he talks not about marketing a company, but about getting along with people. He references incredible people like Abraham Lincoln, who was known as “Honest Abe” for a reason: he was honest!
But the key takeaway from that book, for me anyway, was this.

“There is only on way under the high Heaven to get anybody to do anything. Did you every stop to think of that? Yes, just one way. And that is by making the other person want to do it. Remember, there is no other way.”—Dale Carnegie

The two takeaways from that quote are:

The other person has to want to do it.
Remember.

And we forget.
I have no idea why, but we forget that no one owes us their time, or their money, or their attention. We have to make them want to give us each of those. That’s the only way anyone is going to buy your product or read your blog. You have to make them want to read it.
Seth Godin and Dale Carnegie are a good two generations apart, but they understand the same core tenet of getting people to do something. The same is true for our blogs.

(Luckily) The solution is simple

Well, it’s not really simple in action, but it’s simple in terms of what to do. We need to remember a few things everyday, regardless of the day.

Not one single person on this planet owes us their attention, not even your mom.
We must make the other person want to read us or share us with their friends.
We must never take readership, friendships, or relationships for granted.
We must fulfill our promises, forever.
We must never feel entitled to anyone’s time or resources. They are finite.

But how do we implement this?

It takes work. It takes lots and lots of work. I’m not going to define a step-by-step list here because I believe every person and every situation is different. I think it will take some trial and error and some serious creative thought.
But I will leave you with this.
The road to gaining more blog readership is long. I’ve just begun, and it’s slow and hard. But I believe that getting rid of entitlement thinking is the core way, the number one, real way, to get more traffic to your blog.
Sure, there are other things that go along with that, many are on those lists I’ve read plenty of. But, when we get rid of that mindset that people owe us their attention, we open up a door to endless possibilites. And behind it we will be more willing to share content, give free stuff away, ask for permission, and get creative in building a tribe around our platforms.
Will you commit to this mindset? Sign up in the comment area by saying a simple “I’m In!” Feel free to tell us any ideas you have to help others. Post articles you may have stashed away that are great insight into building a blog. And all with the core remembrance of “I’m not entitled to anyone’s attention!”
Jared Latigo is a designer, writer, speaker, and passion guy. As a bonus, an exclusive ebook “The Big Blog Push: How to Turn Your Struggling Blog Into an Empire” has been written for you. Grab yours at JaredLatigo.com/problogger! You can also follow him on Twitter and read his posts on his blog.

From:
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2012/08/24/the-real-1-most-obvious-reason-no-ones-reading-your-blog/

Choosing a Blog Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 25 Aug 2012 20:03:00 +0000

This post talks readers through some of the issues that they need to think through regarding choosing a blog platform.

‘Which Blog Platform Should I use?’
‘Should I use a free Blogger.com blog or get my own hosted blog on my own Domain? Which Blog Platform is best?’
‘What are the Pros and Cons of going with Typepad instead of WordPress as a blog platform?’
‘Should I start out on a free Blogging Platform and Upgrade later?’

These are just some of the typical questions that I get asked each day from bloggers starting out and attempting to make a decision on which blogging platform or tool they should choose.
I’m not going to tell you which blog platform you should use because, as you will see, there are good reasons for choosing most of the available platforms depending upon the goals of your blog.
In fact as I look at some of the most successful blogs there are examples of most of the platforms mentioned in this post – that’s the great thing about blogging, success is not reliant upon the tool you use – it’s about how you use it!
What follows is my attempt to flesh out some of the factors a new bloggers might like to consider in deciding on a blog platform. It is probably impacted by own experience of blogging over the last three years and the preferences I’ve accumulated in this time. I invite readers to add to this post in comments below with their own ideas and experiences so we can have a more balanced and useful collection of tips for readers considering such a choice.

Some Questions to Ponder Before Deciding on a Blog Platform

As with making any important decision it is worthwhile to take your time with this decision. There are MANY competing blog platforms on the market (check out the results of a poll I did on the platforms ProBlogger readers use to see just some of them). While you can change your blog platform at a later time (many of them have ways of importing and exporting your content later) there are usually some costs associated with such transfers (and I’m not just talking money – ie changing from a free hosted blog service to a self hosted one means changing your domain which has implications on Search Engine traffic etc). I guess all I’m saying is that it’s best not to rush into the first option you find – take your time, do your research and you might find a blog platform that will last you for a long time. Start by answering some of the following questions and you’ll have every chance of getting on the right track:
What are Your Goals – Probably the most important thing to do when starting the process of choosing a blog platform is to consider your aspirations for your blog. Of course complete first timers might struggle a little with seeing the future of their blogging, but to the best of your ability attempt to answer some of these questions:

Is blogging something I see myself doing long term?
What will the main purpose of my blog be?
Is my blogging more of a hobby or does it have some professional application?
Do I foresee putting ads on my blog?

Of course there are many other questions you’ll want to ask (I’ve written a series of posts on thinking through blog strategy here) but the answers to these sorts of questions are worth keeping mind as you research blog platforms as some platforms are much more suited to the hobby blogger and others to more professional blogging applications.
A Note about WordPress.com – if you’re going to use WordPress.com (note again, it’s different to wordpress.org) you need to know that at the point of writing this they don’t allow you to monetize your blog. If your goal is to make money, don’t choose WP.com. They do allow some of their bigger blogs to run advertising and affiliate programs but not smaller blogs. They say they may allow this in the future, but there are no guarantees and you should probably consider another option.
What is Your Budget? – As with most things in life, blog platforms come with a variety of price points ranging from free through to more expensive options. There are three main things that you might pay for:

The blog platform itself
Hosting for your blog
Domain Name

Different blogging platforms offer different levels of service. Some like Blogger.com and WordPress.com offer both the platform, domain name and hosting for free. Others like WordPress.org (note this is different to WordPress.com) offer the platform for free but you then need to find and pay for your own hosting and domain name. Others still, like MovableType charge for a license for the platform (depending how many blogs you have and whether they will have a commercial, personal, educational or not-for-profit use – they do also have a free version) and then you need to arrange and pay for your own domain name and hosting.
Other costs you might like to factor in at an early stage include:

design – all platforms come with free templates (some more professional looking than others) but if you want a more individual look you’ll either need to have some design skills, know someone who does or be willing to pay for a design.
blog tools/metrics – there are any number of tools you can pay for to help you in your blogging. These might include stats packages (again you can get free ones but can also pay for more features), offline blog posting tools etc. If you’re a beginner you might not need any of these – but down the track you might find them useful.

How Technologically able are you? – This is a crucial factor to consider when choosing a blog platform. If you’ve never had any experience in creating a blog or website before and are not a technologically minded person then there are some blog platforms and set ups that will be much more suited to your needs than if you know a few of the basics, or at least are willing to learn them.
The other option of course is to find someone who is a techie to help you out (either paid or as a friend). One of the great things about blogging and most of the platforms out there is that there is a wonderful communal knowledge out there and many forums dedicated to helping people get the most out of their chosen platforms.
What Blog Platforms are Others Using? – While I am always advising bloggers to make their blog their own – when it comes to choosing a platform it might be worth finding out what others are into. Over the last few years different platforms have come and gone and I suspect they will in the years ahead also. My recent poll on the topic might be helpful to get a handle on recent trends – but as this post gets a little older you might like to do some research of your own.

Hosted vs Stand Alone Blogging Platforms

With the above questions in mind it’s time to consider your options and ask yourself one of the key questions that you’ll ask in this process.

Will you go with a Hosted Platform or a Stand Alone Platform?

I’ve already mentioned above when talking about budgets that there are a few options with what platforms offer but there are two main camps of blog platforms (and a few that offer a combination of the two – just to make things confusing).

Hosted Blog Platforms

This is the type of blog that many bloggers start out with, simply because they are easy and usually quite cheap (if not free). Probably the most popular of these systems is Blogger.com – but there are others like WordPress.com and MSN Spaces. TypePad also runs hosted blogs – although have the option to go with a type of standalone option also through remote hosting..
These systems are ‘hosted’ blog platforms because they ‘host’ your blog on their own domain. After what is usually a pretty easy set up process they will give you a web address (URL) that will usually be some combination of their own URL and the name of your blog. For example a popular WordPress.com blog is AtariBoy – who’s web address is www.atariboy.wordpress.com. You can see the structure of that address has two elements, his blog’s name first and then the wordpress.com extension. This means that this blog is being ‘hosted’ by WordPress as opposed to the blogger having to organize and pay for that himself.
Pros and Cons of Hosted Blog Platforms
Pros:

Cheap or Free to run – most hosted options are free (of the four I mentioned above, only TypePad charges).
Relatively easy to set up - most of these types of blogs can be set up with a basic default template within minutes. The set up is usually just a matter of filling in a few fields with your options and choosing a template design.They are ideal if you know nothing or very little about the technological side of blogging.
Simple to Run – Once you’re through the easy set up process hosted blogs are usually pretty simple to run. You will obviously need to learn some basics, but these days most blog platforms come with very user friendly features. Posting is as simple as filling in a few fields and hitting publish.
Updated Automatically – if the blog platform updates it will automatically do so for you. Instead of having to upload new software onto a server, these updates happen much more seamlessly.
Indexed in Search Engines Quickly – one of the advantages of many hosted blog platforms is that they are put onto domains that have good page ranks already. While your blog won’t be indexed in search engines when you start, most bloggers notice that their blogs get picked up and ranked pretty quickly. In the long run they probably don’t rank much higher than other blogs on stand alone hosting – but they are a quick way to get into SE’s.

Cons:

Less Configurable – My first blog was on a Blogger.com blog – the reason I moved from it within months was that it was so limited in terms of features and ability to design a professional running blog. Of course this was 3 years ago and Blogger.com has improved significantly – but one of the biggest frustrations with hosted blog owners are their limited options for customization. This does vary from platform to platform within the hosted options. For example WordPress.com has quite limited design options (for instance you can’t ad ads to templates making it a poor choice to make money with), Blogger.com doesn’t give the option for categories and TypePad has different options depending upon which level you buy in at.
Default Design Limitations – While this can be true for standalone blogging systems also I find that many hosted blogs end up looking very similar to one another. This is because the default templates get used over and over again and if you’re a beginner they can be difficult to adapt. For instance with Blogger.com to make changes (and you can make your blog look quite unique) you need to know CSS and HTML to edit your templates (something you need to know with other platforms also it’s worth mentioning).
Less Control – Another common complaint I hear regularly from hosted blog owners is that they are frustrated by not having ultimate control over their blog. While they do own the content, the URL is not technically their own and they are somewhat at the mercy of their platform in terms of whether their blog is working or not. For example there have been times in the last few months when TypePad bloggers have been frustrated by their blogs being down for periods of time (something Blogger.com struggles with from time to time also). To be fair on TypePad – they did compensate their bloggers for this down time.
Generic URL – having your own URL can give a sense of professionalism and memorability to a blog that hosted options might well go without. While there are some very successful blogs on hosted platforms some bloggers believe that having your own URL is much more professional if you are using your blog in a professional way.
Upgrading to Standalone can be Tricky - Probably the question worth asking before you go with a hosted option is what you’ll do if your blog gets big or you get the blogging bug in a way that won’t let you go? One of the issues of starting out with a hosted platform is that if there comes a day when you want to go with a standalone one that you have some work cut out for you in retaining any traffic that you’ve built up. I’m not saying it’s impossible to do (I’ve done it myself) but there are implications of changing domains later in terms of taking regular readers with you, having to climb the search engine rankings all over again and redirecting traffic from one blog to another.

Who would use Hosted Blog Platforms?
If you just want a blog and don’t care much about having your own unique domain, are not too interested in tweaking your blog or getting all the latest and greatest features then hosted options are a completely valid choice. In fact it’s worth keeping in mind that while some may scoff at hosted blog platforms and say that serious bloggers don’t use them – there are some popular bloggers who use them very successfully. For example one of my daily reads is Robert Scoble has a WordPress.com blog, Post Secret is on a Blogspot blog (blogger.com) and Hack MSN Spaces is obviously an MSN spaces blog (all of these and others are highly ranked blogs in the Top 500 at Feedster).

Stand Alone Blog Platforms

The other type of blog platform is that which is hosted under your own steam on your own domain/URL. This is what I do with all of my blogs these days (apart from one or two which I started just to see how the hosted platforms work). So you’ll see that ProBlogger is hosted at ProBlogger.net and is powered by WordPress.org. I also use MovableType, for a number of my blogs. Other Stand alone blog platforms that many use include PMachine, Greymatter, B2Evolution, TextPattern and Expression Engine (to name just a few).
Pros and Cons of Stand Alone Blog Platforms
Pros:

Full Control of Design – Depending upon your ability with web design standalone blogs generally are very adaptable. I am not strong in this area personally but am constantly amazed by some of my colleague’s abilities to create incredibly diverse and clever designs. Of course those bloggers with little ability in this area may either need to use default templates (with the same limitations as default templates of hosted blogs) or get others to help with this.
Adaptability – One of the things I enjoy about WordPress here at ProBlogger is the vast array of developers who are coming up with all manner of ‘plugins’ which extend the ability of the basic WP installation. Similarly many of the other standalone platforms have communities of developers producing similar arrays of plugins (check out the plugins that ProBlogger readers use here for some examples of what is being developed).
Free Platforms – while you end up paying for your domain name and hosting systems like these are usually free to run. Some do have license fees if you’re having multiple blogs or using them for commercial purposes – but many are open source.
URL – Having your own domain name is great for many reasons. For one it’s easier to remember, secondly it’s more professional and hirdly it is more easily brand-able.

Cons:

Complicated Set Up – once again this depends upon your technical abilities and web savvy but when you move into stand alone platforms the complexity of set up tends to increase. It often involves arranging hosting, setting up databases and then downloading the platform onto you own computer and then uploading it via ftp onto your web hosting server. There are good tutorials around for most of the platforms to help with this process but for many it is a daunting thing. Once again it’s not my strength so I generally get by blogs set up and designed by a professional designer (although recently have been learning to do it a little more myself). NB: one way around this is to find a web host that will install your blog platform for you. This is becoming increasingly popular. Some platforms even recommend hosts that will do it for you (eg see MT’s recommendations and WP’s recommendations).
Cost – While the blog platform itself might be free you need to factor in the ongoing costs of having your own domain name (a yearly fee plus a one off registration fee) and hosting fees (again yearly). There are many great deals out on these so it need not cost the world – although if your blog gets a lot of traffic the costs do go up and you might want to consider going onto a more professional and expensive plan.
Updates – Most blog platforms go through different and versions over time. Updating from one to another can be complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Hosting Issues – I mentioned in the cons of the hosted platforms that you have ‘less control’ over your blog and are at the whims of your platform’s hosting being up or down. Of course this is also true for any hosting as from time to time different hosting solutions can have their own problems. Whether you use a hosted solution or a stand alone solution it’s important to back up and be aware that from time to time things do go down. Choose a reputable host if you go the stand alone route to ensure maximum uptime.

Who would use Stand Alone Blog Platforms?
Stand alone blog platforms are ideal if you want a little more control or flexibility with your blogging. They can be configured to look and run very professionally and to be adapted into configurations that are limited only by your imagination. Of course just because you go with a stand alone blog doesn’t ensure you will have the perfect professionally looking blog. In fact if you don’t have the ability to set these blogs up correctly (or know someone who can) standalone blogs can be messy and non-professional looking blogs.
Examples of these types of blogs are many – The vast majority of the top 50 or so blogs at Feedster are stand alone blogs.

A Word About Remote Hosting Options

Some blog platforms allow a combination of hosted and stand alone blogs via remote hosting. TypePad and Blogger.com are two examples of this. They allow you to run your blog on your own domain and hosting but still using their system to publish your blog. I’m not too familiar with how Blogger.com does it but have seen it used effectively with TypePad. The beauty of doing this with TypePad is that if you are a beginner blogger and are not too confident with running your blog it gives you the ability to set up a blog without too much trouble but on your own domain name from the very beginning. This will make swapping platforms later a lot easier.

Summing it all up

This has been a fairly long post and I hope I haven’t lost or bored you along the way but it’s an important topic for new bloggers to think through.
To sum it all up I generally advise this….. If you’re wanting to develop serious blog and have aspirations for it to be used on a professional sort of level (whether as a business or corporate blog, as a blog to build your own profile or a blog to earn income from advertising) I’d recommend you go in the direction of a stand alone blog. Even if you are not highly skilled in this area it’s worth spending a little money to get it set up with a designer or even better still, to learn how to do it yourself.
If you just want a blog for fun and to keep a record of your life for your friends and family and you don’t have the time, money or patience to put into it then a hosted option might work well for you too. They are instant (it’ll take 5-10 minutes to set up) and while they might not have quite the same level of features, in effect they may well suit you every need. Of course many hobbyists also go the stand alone option because tweaking their blog is part of their interest.
Do keep in mind though that as I mentioned above there are no rules. There’s been many successful blogs over the years which have not been on their own domain or hosting!

How to choose a blog name

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 10:44:00 +0000

by Daniel Scocco

There are three simple rules to follow when choosing a blog name:

1) It must describe your blog: it is probable that lots of people will see a link to your blog before having the chance to actually read it (in search engines, for instance). Guess what, if just by looking at the name they can figure what the blog is about they will be more likely to visit it.

2) It must be easy to remember: suppose your blog talks about cycling, fitness and health advice in general. Naming it “The Cycling, Fitness and General Health Advice Blog” would offer quite an exhaustive description of the blog, but would it also be easy to remember? Stick with simple names.

3) It must be equal to the domain name: this rule is often ignored by people, probably because finding a suitable domain that has not been registered yet is a difficult task. Still if your domain name does not match the blog name you will probably lose some readers along the way. When people visit your blog through a link they will just read the name of the blog. Should they decide to revisit the site a couple of days later they will just type that name followed by a dot com. If they do not find your blog once they hit enter they will just go somewhere else.

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/how-to-choose-a-blog-name/

Unemployed College Graduates: Blog Yourself a Job

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:50:00 +0000

by Guest Author

Being unemployed is perhaps the most stressful situation anyone can experience, particularly if job prospects are slim in your field. As unemployment in the United States remains painfully high, particularly among recent college graduates where 54% are unemployed or underemployed, the competition is fierce for the few good jobs that become available.

Job markets in some areas are so competitive that thousands turn up to apply for a handful of cashier jobs. People with impressive resumes are becoming a dime-a-dozen and many don’t know how to distinguish themselves from the pack. It’s even more difficult if you’re fresh out of college with little experience.

Are you one of the thousands of unemployed college graduates in America drowning in debt and living at home with your parents? It can be a hopeless feeling, right?

Well, at some point you have to stop hoping someone takes pity on you and gives you a job and go out and create your own opportunities.

One of the little known ways to do just that is by setting up a blog to broadcast your availability.

A blog can serve as a multifaceted resume that displays your talents to a potential employers that they could never attain from a piece of paper with words on it. In fact, if your blog is impressive enough, few may even care that you lack work experience.

A blog can show off your knowledge in a certain field, your writing and research skills, your personality and presentation skills, your eye for design, technical skills and so much more. It also proves that you have the ability and initiative to build something of value from scratch which requires tenacity and problem-solving skills.

And, as an added bonus, if you’re diligent about working on and promoting your blog, it has the potential to make you a nice income by itself.

Setting Up a Blog to Attract Employment

How to blog yourself a job really depends on what your employment goals are. But, first, it starts with creating a blog related to your field or whatever you’re passionate about. The process of setting up a blog is pretty straightforward and free on popular blogging platforms like Blogger, WordPress, or Typepad.

If your goal is to promote yourself or your services, you must create a detailed “About Me” page on your blog that essentially serves as a short-form resume. You may also consider making a video introducing yourself. Additionally, create a page called “Hire Me” or “My Services” that goes into more detail about what you can offer clients or companies.

Be witty and creative in your “About Me” section in how you present yourself. In other words, don’t just give your vital statistics. And instead of the dry information of names and dates that typically fill out your paper resume, offer a colorful portfolio of past work and experiences. Use images and video wherever possible. In place of references, be sure to include as many testimonials about you and your services as you can drum up.

It probably goes without saying, but try not to appear desperate. Be enthusiastic about your profession and confident in your ability.

How to Blog Yourself a Job

If you desire a full-time position, it’s best if your blog is more personal and geared toward the exact type of employment you hope to attract. For example, suppose you have a teaching degree, include blog content specifically about your teaching philosophy, your experiences, how you would handle certain challenges, commentary about current events in the school districts that you’re targeting, and so on.

On the other hand, if you seek freelance work, it will be more beneficial to write informative posts about your industry as a whole. For instance, if you’re a graphic artist, writing about the importance of branding, how colors affect psychology in marketing, different techniques and technologies used by designers, etc. In short, the material should be less about you and more about your craft.

Whether you seek freelance work or full-time employment, the type of content that will garner the most attention will be commentary about recent news, new technologies, or groundbreaking studies in your field. Internet traffic is driven by what’s trending, so after the foundation of your blog is established it’s best to focus on current events.

Make sure that you only post your very best work. Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a great writer, there is no excuse for grammatical errors. Word processing programs are terrific at catching mistakes and it’s smart to always have someone else proofread your articles before posting them. Finally, be professional in every aspect of your blog.

How to Get Noticed

So you’ve set up a blog and added some content, now what? How do you get potential employers to notice you?

Most people get a job because they were referred by a friend or colleague. So, the more friends, colleagues or customers you have that know what you’re capable of professionally, the higher chance you have for finding a job. As your blog audience grows so do your chances of reaching people who know people. Therefore, your goal for self-promotion is about getting more traffic to your blog.

Self-promotion may not be your strong suit, but with a blog you’re not exactly tooting your own horn face-to-face. Instead you’re simply promoting your blog content in the cyber world. It’s not as if you’re saying “look at me, look how great I am” either, rather the quality of your content should do the bragging for you. So don’t be bashful in sharing your blog.

Promoting your blog is about getting your work in front of as many people as possible. There are several techniques for increasing your traffic like syndicating your posts to relevant websites or places like Yahoo Voices or Squidoo, and sharing them on all social media outlets. But perhaps the most effective way to reach a bigger audience is by writing targeted guest posts for large websites in your field.

It’s vital to include in your short bio at the end of each article with your professional title and your employment goal, especially for your guest posts. In other words, you want to let the readers know what you do, that you’re available, and where to find you. For example: John Smith is a Sales and Marketing Specialist for hire. View his credentials and portfolio at his blog.

For personal encounters with people you meet on the street, have business cards made up and hand them out at every opportunity. They can be as simple as saying the following:

John Smith

Sales and Marketing Specialist for Hire

www.JohnKnowsMarketing.com

The purpose is to get them to visit your blog to see what you’re capable of. Business cards that promote your blog are also terrific to staple to the front of your physical resume when applying for jobs. Employers may skip the boring job-history information and look you up online. At the very least, it will most certainly set you apart from the other applicants.

Finally, as you continually add content and followers to your blog you may be surprised to discover that you can actually make money blogging, which may eventually negate the need for a job altogether. So if you’re a recent college grad who remains jobless, do yourself a favor and create your own job opportunity today by creating your own blog.

J.P. Hicks is a professional blogger, editor of BlogTips.com and author of Blogger Secrets.

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/unemployed-college-graduates-blog-yourself-a-job/

25 Best Free Templates For Blogger From 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:32:00 +0000

Now it's time to see the Best Blogger Templates released this year.We are well past the half way stage of the year and as always Blogger Template Designers have been hard at work.They are of course all Free Blogger Templates and you can click the name of each to get the demo and download details.

Included are all styles like the classic Magazine design and a few unique and niche styles.

25 Best Free Blogger Templates Of 2012 List

Flexor Magazine - Pro Blogger Template

Flexor Magazine has a three column design with a right sidebar.A featured slider and fixed read more with two columns of post on the home page are among the features
.

Unite - Pro Magazine Blogger Template

Unite has a professional magazine design.A drop down navigation menu in the header is followed by a full width featured slider.

Portfolio - Minimal Gallery Blogger Template

A great template for portfolio and photo blogs with a minimal design.A two column layout with a white color scheme.

Gadget Web - Technology Blogger Template

A great design for your Gadget or Technology blogs.A stylish magazine design with fixed read more and thumbnail display on the home page.

Metapami Magazine - Dark Retro Blogger Template

A pure magazine template with a dark color scheme.A 2 column with right sidebar layout the features include a full width slideshow.

Simple Red - Three Column Magazine Template

This is a bright 3 column template with 2 right sidebars.The design is professional with a beautiful slider and much more.

Lummoxie - Fluid Blogger Template

Lummoxie has a fluid width retro design.Custom fonts and special post date and comments displays are among the features.

Music Plus - Music Theme Blogger Template

This template has a design for Music themed blogs.A modern dark design with image slider and more.

Hector - Gallery Magazine Blogger Template

The Hector template has a huge image gallery slideshow with static gadgets section below.Other features include numbered page navigation and four footer columns.

Mangos - Magazine Blogger Template

The Mangos template has a full width featured posts image slideshow.The home page posts have a magazine style fixed rad more.Other features include a drop down menu and numbered page navigation.

JEmber - Advanced Gallery Blogger Template

This gallery template is packed with features.A special grid and list view option on the home page and posts by label lists are two of the unique features.

Church - Religion Theme Blogger Template

The Church template is designed for religious blogs.Different religious images give it a holy feel.

Abstract Vector - Colorful Blogger Template

This is a colorful retro template.The template has a featured slideshow and three footer columns.

X7 Black - Unique Grunge Blogger Template

This template really has a very unique design.A dark color scheme with large bold sections.The header has a fixed scroll feature.

Casino Nights - Gambling Theme Blogger Template

This template has a classic gambling style for poker, betting and gambling blogs.

Elite Minima - Free Premium Blogger Template

This is a minimal design template for your Blogger blogs.The main color is white with lots of features and a professional design.

London Creative - Portfolio Gallery Template

This is a great looking design.Another Gallery or Photo blog layout with a bold color scheme.

iPhone4S - Technology Theme Blogger Template

This templates design is based around the iPhone.With different iPhone, Apple and app imagery.

Weight Loss - Health Theme Blogger Template

This is a health and weight loss themed template.A bright design with a two column layout.

JK - Professional News Site Blogger Template

This template has the classic news blog design.Posts or latest news are displayed in a number of ways including tickers and gadgets.

Design Office - Office Theme Blogger Template

This is a stylish template with an office theme.A featured slideshow and footer columns are among the features.

Kiosk - Blogger Shopping Store Enabled Template

As the name suggests this template is set up to act your online store.It has a bright design with a shopping cart and is PayPal enabled.

Colorite Design - Bright Magazine Blogger Template

This is a very colorful abstract Blogger template.A two column layout with right sidebar and magazine style.

Gossip Show - Celebrity Theme Blogger Template

This template is set up for your Celebrity Gossip blogs.A bright 2 column design with a featured posts slider and auto read more and thumbnails on the home page.

Game Zone - Gaming Magazine Blogger Template

This is a gaming themed template with a magazine design.The template is packed with features and ads ready.

That's the list thanks to all the designers and make sure to check out more of our Blogger Templates Lists.Have you a favorite ?

Taken From: http://www.spiceupyourblog.com/2012/08/best-free-blogger-templates-2012.html

Drop Your Comments And Questions Below.

5 Most Profitable Niche for New Bloggers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 23:11:00 +0000

Introduction

Blogging is really a great way to make money online. As a matter of fact daily thousands of people join as a blogger and the number is growing day by day. However in blogging you do not start making money overnight.

You have to create content for months and months then you start making money. So you have to decide beforehand that on which topic you are going to blog for next 6 to 8 months. You have to choose a topic on which you can write without breaking the rhythm.

At the same time the topic must be profitable, that means it must be popular enough, so you get more values for your ads. Here I have listed 5 such topics which are profitable at the same time you can write about them continuously.

Let’s discuss them one by one.

Blogging

The first topic would be blogging itself. As I said there are millions of bloggers around the world. Many of them are new bloggers and they do not know much about blogging. These novice bloggers are looking for help of all sorts.

You can start blogging and give them simple tips like blog designing, templates, content etc. Blogging industry is growing daily and you can get many ads to show. These ads are very profitable and are here to stay for a long time.

Internet & Technology

Second topic you could choose to blog is Internet and various other technologies related to it. This can be about how to make money online, playing games, free software downloads etc. Again I must say all these topics or niches are very easy to write and at same time very profitable.

You can always find news about latest technologies that is related to desktop and mobile devices. You will never run out of content. If we talk about profit then Google Adsense ads pays you very high for this niche. Moreover everyone knows about Internet and basic technology related to it. Therefore you can create content freely without any hassle.

Gadgets

Next topic you can choose is Gadget. Before I tell more about this let me give you a suggestion. Creating content around Gadgets niche is bit difficult. Although it is a very profitable niche and ads can pay you huge dividends.

But to create content you must have Gadgets like cellphone, laptops etc present with you. For writing reviews or features you need to experiment with them. So you may require money to buy some of these Gadgets. I recommend you to listen YouTube videos as you get more insight.

Facebook & Twitter

Facebook & Twitter is a social media platform. They are very popular and people using them want to know more and more about these platforms. So you can share tips about using Facebook and Twitter.

There are many blogs that caters only Facebook and Twitter. They give more insight about Facebook interface and its marketing value. You can also start a blog on this niche.

At the same time it is very profitable also. You can get ads from many other third party providers.

Google Products

Your maximum profit for ads will come from Google adsense. Google offers a lot of services through its various products. Let me guarantee if you are creating a blog that spread information about Google and its products then Google will definitely like you.

Google Ads pay very high dividends for their ads shown on content that is written for Google products only. You can write on search engine, Gmail, Google docs, YouTube etc. All of them are very popular and new and interesting blog posts written on these topics are always going to appeal larger audience.

I recommend you to start a blog on this niche as it is very profitable and simultaneously very easy to create good content.

Conclusion

In conclusion I would say that if you are confused and not able to decide the niche of your blog then you can take my 5 recommendations. The first niche to choose is Blogging, second is Internet & technology, third is Gadgets, fourth is facebook & Twitter and last is Google products.

You can choose any one of them because they are very profitable as well as easy to write.

This post is by Pritam Nagrale who writes about SEO, internet marketing and work from home ideas. If you’re looking for more outlets for making money like affiliate marketing, AdSense then you must go to the blog Jobs8Home here you could find hundreds of best ways and tips to make money online.

Source: 5 Most Profitable Niche for New Bloggers http://www.homebiz.bukiki.com/5-most-profitable-niche-for-new-bloggers/#ixzz24ODHaYu9

Daily Blogging Tips

How to Kick-Start Your Email List in Easy 4 Steps

by Daniel Scocco

1. Get an email marketing provider

2. Create a freebie to encourage people to subscribe

3. Place the subscription forms on your website

4. Write some follow-up messages

10 Smartest Things You Can Do to Promote Your New Blog

This is a guest post by Christian Russell from Next Level Blogger.

The Importance of Doing it All

Where Your Success has Been Hiding

Getting Started on the Right Foot

30 Tips for Marketing Your Blog

10 Techniques for Finding Blog Readers

Top 10 Tips

How To Grow Your Readership When You Have A Niche Blog

Niche Blogging Made Easy

1. Know Your Readers

2. Industry Authority

3. Vary Your Content

4. Interact With Your Audience

21 Ways to Get More Subscribers to Your Blog

by Bamidele

1. Make it Obvious

2. Make it Easy

3. Ask for It

4. Use Incentives

5. Leverage Viral Traffic

6. Have a Landing Page

7. Comment on Other Blogs

8. Write Guest Posts

9. Write Viral Ebooks

10. Network With Influencers

11. Write Pillar Articles

12. Email Signatures

13. Invite Guest Authors

14. Use Full feeds

15. Use Social Proof

16. Improve Your CTA

17. Try Alternating Your Content

18. Educate Your Readers

19. Lay Emphasis on Subscribing to Your Blog

20. Your About Page

21. Use RSS Plugins

What Next?

The Real, #1, Most Obvious Reason No One’s Reading Your Blog

Your mom is the only one reading your posts

The real problem is this

(Luckily) The solution is simple

But how do we implement this?

Choosing a Blog Platform

Some Questions to Ponder Before Deciding on a Blog Platform

Hosted vs Stand Alone Blogging Platforms

Hosted Blog Platforms

Stand Alone Blog Platforms

A Word About Remote Hosting Options

Summing it all up

Further Reading on Choosing a Blog Platform

How to choose a blog name

by Daniel Scocco There are three simple rules to follow when choosing a blog name:

1) It must describe your blog: it is probable that lots of people will see a link to your blog before having the chance to actually read it (in search engines, for instance). Guess what, if just by looking at the name they can figure what the blog is about they will be more likely to visit it.

2) It must be easy to remember: suppose your blog talks about cycling, fitness and health advice in general. Naming it “The Cycling, Fitness and General Health Advice Blog” would offer quite an exhaustive description of the blog, but would it also be easy to remember? Stick with simple names.

Unemployed College Graduates: Blog Yourself a Job

Setting Up a Blog to Attract Employment

How to Blog Yourself a Job

How to Get Noticed

25 Best Free Templates For Blogger From 2012

25 Best Free Blogger Templates Of 2012 List

5 Most Profitable Niche for New Bloggers

Introduction

Blogging

Internet & Technology

Gadgets

Facebook & Twitter

Google Products

Conclusion

by Daniel Scocco

There are three simple rules to follow when choosing a blog name:

2) It must be easy to remember: suppose your blog talks about cycling, fitness and health advice in general. Naming it “The Cycling, Fitness and General Health Advice Blog” would offer quite an exhaustive description of the blog, but would it also be easy to remember? Stick with simple names.