Spice Up Your Blog

5 Strong Techniques For Successful Blog Writing

2013-05-21T20:06:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Kevin Demlon, Kevin has some well explained tips for bloggers of all levels.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Although it was coined in 1999, the term “blog” did not enter the dictionary until 2004, when it was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year. The dictionary defined it as “an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer.” Since that time, blogging has become a legitimate and sometimes profitable profession for some scribblers. But like most professions, few bloggers ever achieve wealth or even fame. Most write for a small number of faithful readers who share their interests. There are of course exceptions to this rule.

When the Huffington Post, a news blogging website, was sold to America Online (AOL) for $315 in February of 2011, it sent shockwaves through the blogosphere. Suddenly, everybody and their mother thought they could strike it rich by simply starting their own blogs. As you might expect, most of them fell flat on their proverbial faces. How do we know?
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5 Ways Your Blog’s Design Is Making You Susceptible To A Hacker

2013-05-17T01:36:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Stephan Jukic, Stephan lists how to to keep your blog safe from hackers.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Running a blog is often a work of love that takes a lot of work and creates something of enormous personal or even business value. This applies especially if you’re blog is old and loaded with thousands of posts that garner you thousands of visitors. Losing all this to hackers and intrusion programs over the course of a single day would be a serious disaster.

While no site or blog can be made completely and totally hack proof, you can limit the possibility for total damage by following the following crucial steps, and making sure that you do one other vital thing: Back up, back up and back up again! Do it regularly, never forget to do it.Click Here To View Full Post >>

Google+ Authorship: Where You Become The Link

2013-05-14T00:32:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Shannon Williams, Shannon is looking at how and why you should use Google+ authorship on your blog.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

You may have noticed the last time that you searched any newsworthy topic on Google—whether it be a recap of the Academy Awards or new developments on the latest iProduct—that some of the search results have a small picture of a smiling individual beside them.

That picture is likely the result of what is known as Author Rank. Sites with regularly updated content can add a specialized link onto each author’s name (a link that connects with the individual’s Google+ account), so Google crawlers recognize that this person wrote the content for the page. The more that author publishes, the higher their Author Rank.
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Comparisons Of Wordpress Theme Customization Methods

2013-05-09T15:29:00.002+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Brian L, Brian is looking at the best ways to customize your WordPress theme for a unique look.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Wordpress has become such a popular CMS that it's common to see "cookie cutter" websites that use the same theme. Fortunately, it's possible to dramatically alter the appearance of your Wordpress site through various customization methods.

The most common methods of customization include editing a Wordpress theme's code, creating a child theme, using a theme mask and paying a custom designer. In this article we'll go through these options in more detail, along with the pros and cons of each.

Directly Editing a Theme's Code

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How to Write Breathtaking Blog Posts with your Readers in Mind

2013-05-07T21:52:00.000+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Emmanuel Obarhua, who takes an in-dept look into article writing.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

The only way you can make your articles unique and mind boggling is to make a difference in how you write; your writing is the most essential part of blogging. It propounds how good you are, it brings paid writing opportunities, it reputes your blog and a million more... I guess you must have heard the blogosphere’s number 1 adage; “Content is king”. This cannot be attained by the length of an article, instead it either spoil the whole thing or delay the way you update your blog as you only want to write lengthy posts.

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Load Posts With Infinite Scroll On Blogger Blogs

2013-05-05T13:28:00.000+01:00

In this tutorial we have a new way for posts to be viewed on your blogs homepage, namely infinite scroll.Infinite scroll has been a popular trend in web design for some time and now you can have it on your blogger blogs.On Blogger we have on the home page by default 'Previous' and 'Next' buttons to load a new page of posts.Now this tutorial takes another step with adding Infinite Scroll to Blogger blogs.

This is user friendly and will cut down on load time.So I have the demo and a quick add button for you to add it to your blog in seconds.
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Stuck on a Blog Topic ? Use These Exercises to Get the Ideas Flowing

2013-05-04T01:58:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Cara Aley, Cara has some fresh new ideas on getting those creative juices flowing on your blog.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Writing can be a fabulous avocation, but all writers at times face the inevitable writer’s block. It can be extremely frustrating to feel as though you are fresh out of ideas, especially as a blog writer who is under pressure on a daily basis to write original content.

Here we provide some ideas in for how to get those ideas flowing when you simply feel fresh out.
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5 Creative Ways To Get To Know Your Blogging Audience In Real Life

2013-04-28T20:59:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Garrett Moon, who has some interesting views on how you can profile your audience.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Many of us think that we know who we are writing to, but do we really? The problem with identifying and understanding our blog audience is that we resort to dated techniques that don't help us understand who they really are. Sure, our audience might be made up of 25-35 year old females, but who is that, anyway? What keeps them up at night? What makes them happy? How can we, as bloggers, motive them to read and share what we have to say?

What Really Matters

For starters, you need to understand what matters to them. I have been an advocate for completing basic audience profiles. The goal of these profiles is to get a sense of how your audience thinks, rather than just who your audience is. In these profiles, you will identify a few key things:

What is their name?
What do they do?
What keeps them up at night? (i.e. What are they worried about?)
What motivates them to read your stuff?
What do they need most from you? How can you help them?

The goal is to complete several profiles and then use them as you write new posts. As you write, you should be talking directly to one of your audience members. You should have them specifically in mind. When we write TO someone rather than simple FOR someone we can do a much better job of relating to them on a human level. But, sometimes even this exercise isn't enough.Click Here To View Full Post >>

Complete Guide To The New Google+ Comments On Blogger And WordPress

2013-04-26T18:19:00.000+01:00

It's been a week since Google launched the new Google Plus commenting system for blogger.In this post we will look at how to use Google+ Comments on Wordpress, Bloggger and the custom blogger templates.

With Google Plus trying to compete in the social network scene with Facebook it's no surprise like Facebook they launched their own comment system.The question for us bloggers and publishers will be "Should We Use Google Plus Comments ?".

The thing that first struck me was the fact once implemented only people with Google plus accounts would be able to comment on your blog.With the current blogger treaded comments or indeed Discus and Intense debate readers had a number of options as to how they wanted to comment.I think the real let down with Google+ comments is the lack of an option for people that don't have a G+ account to comment either as anonymous or with name and email.

So the other comment systems defiantly have the advantage of choice but that is just one aspect.Google plus comments do look great, are lightweight and Google+ is a fast growing network.

If you think Google+ comments is for you below we have information on how to add them to Blogger and Wordpress.
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77 Billion Wordpress Spam Comments To Date ! Are You Protected?

2013-04-26T03:32:00.000+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Jason Roiz, Jason is looking at keeping spam comments to a minimum on Wordpress.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

77,430,232,104- That’s the number of spam comments prevented by Akismet to date. Unbelievable but true! Are you wondering how many of these were directed towards your blog? If yes, then it’s time to quit thinking and start acting!

Spam commenting is at an upsurge. At the time of writing, 52,453,722 spam comments had already been detected for the day! It is the easiest way for attackers to compromise with the security of your Wordpress blog. So, what do you do? Akismet will obviously do its job, but as a blogger how will you decipher between ‘ham’ and ‘spam’? Let us help you. Enlisted below are some ways to give spammers the boot.Click Here To View Full Post >>

7 Reasons Why Acting Goofy On Your Blog Helps Business

2013-04-21T20:07:00.002+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Brianne Walter, here Brianne explains why you don't have to be serious on your blog at all times.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Bloggers, like any other business owner in the world, take their blogs very seriously. Every bit of information they put on there and every post is somber and serious and high on information. Not many would ever want to tamper with the serious image that they have created in front of their audiences. However, as many successful bloggers know, acting goofy on your blog could be a great alternative to always being super serious. Here are a few reasons why you should consider bringing out your goofy side every once in a while on your blog.

1. It helps you and your content team relax

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A Slick New Featured Posts Image Slider For Blogger

2013-04-15T18:06:00.004+01:00

In the past I have provided Blogger users with a number of different Image sliders or featured posts sliders.Recently while working on a blog design job I had a client looking for a very specific slider to display some of their best images.The slider needed to have some specific specifications which were not covered by my previous efforts.I also needed to make the slider lightweight and easy to edit so the client could quickly change the images and links.

So we were looking for the slider to be :

1. Full Width - so it spans the entire width of the blog but also for this tutorial I wanted the width to be easily changed.

2. Auto and manual scroll - We wanted the slider to scroll through images automatically, the slide would stop on hover and also visitors would have the option to scroll at their own pace.

3. Two ways to scroll - We wanted to have the classic Next/Previous buttons but also bullets below the slider to skip to any image.

4. Easy to edit - The HTML code for the slider can be accessed via the layout page rather than buried within the template.

So in this post I have to tutorial to add this new slider to your blog.You can see a live demo of the slider by following the like below :
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List Of Useful Traffic Monitoring Tools For Bloggers

2013-04-11T23:08:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Teyona Dame, who lists some of the best traffic tools for you.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Do you want to make sure your blog stays in the limelight? Do you want to be certain that it remains almost always in the top 20 stats of any search engine? Then you need to get seriously cracking with the hottest traffic monitoring tools on the net today.

Monitoring traffic, and applying the stats gathered in bettering your blog gives it that extra zest needed to attract more traffic. Tracking visitor traffic and analyzing the information you gather thereby is essential in measuring the high and lows of your SEO tactics.

In today’s digital domain, where the race for fame extends across the waves of a different medium altogether, the following traffic monitoring tools should prove of immense help to bloggers.Click Here To View Full Post >>

Blogging Tips For A Niche That's Not So Exciting

2013-04-08T15:09:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Lauren Smith, in this post Lauren tackles the problems faced when writing for niches seen as less exciting or boring.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Hello, my name is Lauren Smith and I'm an online editor for safe retail website, ADCSafes. I have been reading Spice Up For Blog for a little while now, and have been wanting to contribute a blog post for a while, the only thing that has been stopping me so far is not knowing what to blog about. I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to blogging, I'm 19 and have a couple of years experience in SEO and Wordpress, so hardly an online guru, I have, however, had experience of writing for a small variety of niches, some of which have been easier than others.

The content I find easiest to write is content that is relevant to my interests, and maybe not even necessarily my interests, but broader interests of people from my demographic. For example, I don't particularly like Nicki Minaj, but I'm pretty sure that with a little research I could write a killer article on her. Why? Because there are plenty of other people surrounding me who do like her, and know a lot about her, so it's easy to find a target audience and thrive on it.Click Here To View Full Post >>

5 Deadly Sins I Committed With My First Ghost Writing Client

2013-04-04T20:35:00.002+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Kingsley Agu, in this post Kingsley has some tips for freelance bloggers.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Do you still remember that moment when you check your email or facebook inbox, and you come across a mind boggling email or message, specifically from a soon-to-be prospective client? Yeah, I know how happy you’d be then - especially if this particular message is your first from any client online.

I think I can relate very well with the short remembrance above; since I can still vividly remember how my first ghost writing client contacted me from facebook; asking me to write for him.

This story goes on and on. But it’s not the story I want to tell you about - it’s about the mistakes and glitches which I did as a newbie who just met his very first client.

I also think you can learn from this story as well; because it practically address problems which newbie freelance bloggers encounter, and how they can possibly avoid such problems.

These were the mistakes or should I say - deadly sins which I committed with my very first client-Click Here To View Full Post >>

Not a Professional Writer ? An Amateur Writers Guide to Sounding Like an Expert

2013-04-01T14:00:00.001+01:00

Guest Post - Our host is Gina Smith, the majority of bloggers are new to writing content but as Gina explains in this post that does not mean they can not write like the pros.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

The thought of writing a Blog intimidates a lot of people. Why? Most often, people think they have to be a professional writer to sound articulate and knowledgeable. While details such as proper grammar, spelling and word use is important with any type of writing, the beauty of Blogs is they can be written in your preferred writing style. In fact, it is actually recommended that Blogs be written using a more “informal” language. Therefore, if you focus more on what you say rather than how you say it, it’s not very difficult for an amateur writer to be viewed an online expert.Below are some great tips for the amateur to write like a professional.
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3 Productivity Wordpress Plugins To Easily Improve Your Blog Content

2013-03-29T14:16:00.000Z

Guest Post - Our host is Annie Wallace, in this post Annie lists and reviews three plugins for Wordpress that can help your blogging productivity.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Wouldn't it be nice if running a blog was easy? You could just hop on and feel inspired immediately, knocking out posts and having everything work out smoothly with limited stress and effort. We could all have blogs and fit it into our regular lives like a glove. Then enjoy all the benefits of having a successful site with tons of readers enjoying the content provided.

The sad truth of the matter is that this is never the case. It is a great deal of work to run a blog, and it takes a lot of time. Which is why so many people burn out before they really get started, unable to work it into their busy schedules despite the dream of owning a successful social hub.

If you want to know the trick to a good blog, it is weighing high quality content with productivity. You have to be able to remain consistent, without compromising the helpfulness of what you post. A balancing act that can be hard to maintain. Unless you have a few tools to assist you, that are designed to bring out the best in you.

There are many Wordpress Plugins out there, especially now that blogs have become so prevalent as sources for official news and content. But these three are definitely the best I have found.Click Here To View Full Post >>

How To Use IFTTT For Blogging And Internet Marketing

2013-03-27T14:12:00.001Z

Guest Post - Our host is Matthew Woodward , In this post Matthew 'Winner Of The ProBlogger One To Watch In 2013 award'explains a popular new tool he is sure will help Bloggers called IFTTT.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

As any internet marketer knows, time is money! We are busy folks with a never ending to do list so anything that can help us save time is essential.

What Is IFTTT?

IFTTT (If This Then That) is a fantastic free tool that lets you connect web services so they can talk to each other.

It works like this-
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Top Social Media Tips For Bloggers In 2013 And Beyond

2013-03-26T12:32:00.002Z

Guest Post - Our host is Chris Hickman, Social media is a huge part of Blogging from social traffic to SEO.In this post we look at how Bloggers can best use social media in 2013 and beyond.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

There are several paths that bloggers and marketers take in order to increase links and web traffic. Social media is one of them. Five popular social media sites are taking the web by storm: Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. This article will explain how social sharing enhances SEO (Search Engine Optimization) through link building and strong social signals. There are actionable tips provided in this article that explain how readers can use social media to drive traffic to blogs and websites.
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A Fresh Look At How To Make Money From Your Blog

2013-03-24T17:55:00.000Z

Author - Our host is Raducu Roman, an ever popular subject for bloggers is "How to make money from my blog" in this post we take a fresh look at the topic.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

If your a blogger or you might be among those few, who don’t have a blog yet but they’re eager to find out what’s all about and ready to start one.You have probably heard great success stories about how a blog helped many people to improve their financial status, or helped entrepreneurs to develop and to brand their personal businesses.

Either that's the case, or you're someone who has something new and great to share with the world, you should or actually must nowadays have a blog of your own and start self-publishing (blogging) and self-marketing (social media).

Know Your Audience

Start by identifying your audience, what problems they face and most important what can you do about it. The thing with blogs is that everybody can write one, but most certainly just a few will get revenue from it. And there's a simple explanation for that: you have to put value in what you write. If your posts are relevant to your followers meaning that by writing them you reach your audience's needs, the chances are that your blog will be successful.

One way of finding your niche (and one of the most popular) is to ask yourself what do you like/know most ? In what area of interest are you feeling most comfortable talking about? After reaching a conclusion you then need to put that against what will most likely answer to a reader's problem. Once you've climbed the three this far, you can start enjoying the fruits. From the plethora of monetization models available, you'll find below a handful of solutions that will make your blog sell.
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5 Headline Formats That Are Sure to Attract Readers

2013-03-21T15:22:00.001Z

Guest Post - Our host is Debbie Allen, here Debbie has some great suggestions on choosing headlines for your blog posts.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

The goal of every blogger is for their blog posts to be read by hundreds or thousands of readers. But in most cases, that only happens in a dream world. The reality is that many articles are posted only to gather dust.The reason is not because the posts are poorly written or even because they are not interesting. In most cases, the reasons these posts do nothing more than sit around being unread is because the writer neglected to give the article an effective headline.

Without an effective headline, an article will do little to attract readers, much less get them to read the post. As everyone has heard repeatedly, content is king, but if you can’t get readers to read beyond the headline, they will never know that you have provided quality content for them.In effect, this can create a negative image in their minds, and therefore, it can potentially impact your business in a negative way. On the other hand, the more readers you have who continue to return to and read your work, the more likely your profile is to soar.

Headline Formats That Work

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Giveaway - Enter to Win a WordPress Theme or a Joomla Template

2013-03-18T22:28:00.000Z

We’ve teamed up with TemplateMonster to offer 5 premium web page designs for free. We hope you will find the giveaway useful, especially those of you who love WordPress and Joomla. Please, read on to learn more about the prizes and how to get them.

Important - This Giveaway has closed we will have a new giveaway soon.

About TemplateMonster

TemplateMonster is a US based web design company offering a huge choice of WordPress Themes, Joomla templates, Magento themes, osCommerce templates, HTML templates, Flash templates, and many other products. What is also important is that TM provides 24x7 support for their clients.

What Can You Win?

- one of five templates from TemplateMonster (it can either be a WP theme or a Joomla template)

Note: you can choose from more than 1800 WordPress themes and more than 1000 Joomla templates which are available at templatemonster.com.

How to Win?
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Battle Of The CMS Heavy-Weights In 2013

2013-03-18T06:33:00.000Z

Our host is Robert, last week we looked at the Best Blog Platforms so to continue in that theme we will look at the best Content Management Systems.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

When preparing to launch a website, one of the main questions one will ask – Which content management system should I use?

There are various Content Management System (CMS) options available for new website; but the most well-known names today are WordPress, Drupal and Joomla! All these 3 CMS are open-source software formats, free to download and use, as well as easy to customize. Each has a broad range of add-ons, themes, plug-ins, templates and extensions. Each CMS has their own loyal user following. And of course, all 3 CMS have their share of pros and cons.

Let’s try and better understand them and see which is the best choice for you in 2013.
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The Top 5 Reasons People Aren't Reading Your Blog!

2013-03-16T22:21:00.002Z

Guest Post - Our host is Amy Harris, Amy is trying to get to the core problem of why people are not reading your blog.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Building a great blog is hard work. It takes hundreds of hours of your time and an unrivalled dedication to your subject. But what if, after all of that hard work, no one ever visits your blog? Or worse, you get streams of traffic but none ever stays or engages?

After all, you write for the outside world and you want them to hear you. Whatever your reason for starting and maintaining your blog, it can be disheartening to feel you have worked for nothing. But don’t worry. There are some very common reasons why people aren’t reading your blog and this article will help you address common blog issues and allow you to enjoy a growing readership.
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Choosing Your "Mentor" To Become A Writer: Whose Works Can Inspire And Teach Writing

2013-03-15T03:15:00.001Z

Guest Post - Our host is Martha Buckly, in this post Martha takes and in-dept look at mentors in writing and as a bonus look out for the inspirational writing quotes at the foot of the post.See How To Become a guest author on Spice Up Your Blog.

Often times one of the hardest things to deal with as a writer is a blank page. When faced with it you may find yourself looking for inspiration just about anywhere-your neighbors, the kids, the backyard, and of course the Internet. A good Google search can be your best friend when the first paragraph of your piece seems almost impossible to conjure up.

And in addition to these assistants, at some point or another a writer may also crave the support and inspiration of other writers. This is a pretty common occurrence. It may happen just due to the commonality of occupation, similar recounts of obstacles and victories, or just the overall connection that is present when you share the same experiences as someone else.

Likewise, the opportunities to connect are numerous.Sometimes it may be through a circle, group or forum, or a more personal encounter such as a writing buddy, friend, coach or mentor.

Choosing a mentor

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