2 Elements of Every Post
April 29, 2009 by BloggerNewbie
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“2 Elements of Every Post”
What is one of the most important elements every post should contain?
Links:
Every post you write should have a link to one of your past posts. In some circumstances you just have to toot your own horn! The linked post should obviously related and pertinent to the topic discussion.
It gives you the opportunity to share some hidden posts that are still of interest and current.
If you follow this hint and tip you will be well on your way to increasing your blog traffic. Not only will you link to one of your posts but if you have added links to that post you will now be looking at sharing lots of your own posts with your readers.
What is the other most important element every post should contain?
Links:
Every post should contain a link to another blog, site, article, etc. For a couple of reasons:
- You are sharing your awesome discoveries with your readers. Your readers usually appreciate that. Most people like sharing!
- Linking to other blogs or articles may get you noticed or at least appreciated.
I have been told, linking to other blogs or sites that have a high page rank helps with your own page rank. Dan Scocco of DailyBlogTips wrote on post earlier this month on a google page rank update .
I enjoy linking to my past posts, rereading them and digging them out of the archives. I also like sharing great finds I discover in the blogosphere. So fellow bkoggers, get out there and share your stuff, share your finds.
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“Strive for excellence, not perfection…”
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
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Popularity: 11% [?]
Developing a New Community
January 14, 2009 by BloggerNewbie
How do you develop a new community?
I have lived in the same community all my life. I worked in the insurance industry for about 21 years. The first 12 years I was a partner in a local agency. For various reasons, I decided to start my own insurance agency. Many people told me that it was extremely difficult – next to impossible – to start an agency from scratch. Others told me that the one thing our town did not need was yet another insurance agency.
I, of course, did not listen. I had to see for myself, I had to try. Maybe it will work for me. What is the worst that could happen? I decided the worst that could happen would be that I would fall flat on my face and I’d have to look for another job. I could live with that.
As many of you know, I am often inspired by quotes. Quotes Motivate me and inspire me to action. An encouraging friend offered me the following quote to think about:
“The best thing to do is the right thing,
The next best thing to do is the wrong thing,
The worst thing to do is nothing!”
~ Author Unknown
In the offline world in my little town I have a large circle of influence in which I mingle. I have many friends in many different areas of my life.
~ Business associates and friends
~ Golf friends
~ Lodge of Elks friends
~ Motorcycle friends
~ Yes, even some John Deere friends
Well what is the point of this tour down memory lane in smalltown USA? The reason I was successful in starting an agency from scratch in a small town inundated with insurance agencies was because I had a circle of influence from which to draw from. My circle of friends and contacts offered not only support but were a great source of business.
I built these relationships over time. I joined organizations, social groups, participated in community events, etc. I became well known in my little world. I knew people by name when they came in. They were made to feel comfortable. This was not some stuffy, starch white insurance agency. Come in, sit down, tell me about yourself!
So how do you develop a new blog community?
I have lived in the same community all my life. I bought my first computer complete with the internet about 25 years ago. I didn’t know anyone who had the internet or anyone who even knew what the internet was. I was one of three people in our town who had the internet. For various reasons, last year I decided to start a blog. Many people told me that it was extremely difficult to make money with a blog. Others told me that that I would be one in a million amongst other blogs. Well thank you. Some didn’t know what a blog was but thought it was a waste of time anyway.
I, of course, did not listen. I had to see for myself, I had to try. Maybe it will work for me. What is the worst that could happen? I decided the worst that could happen would be that I would fall flat on my face and be out the $9.95 monthly web server fee. I could live with that.
The offline world is a different from the online world yet the same. People are still people. So what do we need to do to be successful?
- Build relationships over time
~ Blogging associates and friends
~ Writing friends
~ Forum friends
~ Twitter friends
~ Social network friends
~ Niche friends
- Encourage community
~ Treat people feel like they belong. Treat your visitors as friends and they will come home again and again. Sounds too simple, too basic? Think about how you like to be treated when you go to a blog. Do you like to go to a blog when your comments aren’t even acknowledged? Feels like you are talking to yourself. Didn’t we get enough of that when we first started our blog?
~ Help your fellow bloggers and social network buddies. Promote your friends sites. Offer help without expecting anything in return. Build your relationships. There is nothing more annoying than a “taker”. You know the kind. Always asking, asking 10 times to your 1, not in any hurry to help back.
Get to know people by name when they stop over to your blog. If they stop at your blog don’t you think you should visit their blog? Make them feel comfortable. This iss not some stuffy, starch white blog. Come in, sit down, tell me about yourself!
You can’t buy a community, you have to nurture it – develop it. Community doesn’t happen overnight. Relationships take time. What is the key to your success in building community? Be sincere. Be helpful. Be polite. Be business minded as well as friend minded.
Toodles -Blog Happy!
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“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community,
and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can…”
~ George Bernard Shaw
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Popularity: 41% [?]
Good Things To Come
January 10, 2009 by BloggerNewbie
“Good Things To Come”
Blogging can be wonderful. It is challenging, rewarding and fulfilling.
Aside from being able to express yourself with writing, you are a member of a wonderful community. It feels good when you have a core group of friends who are always there to support you.
Blogging can be stressful so it is comforting to know you have some great colleagues you can turn to when you need assistance and advice.
In the early days, you wonder if anyone is reading your posts. It feels like you are talking to yourself. It can be discouraging because you want to share your thoughts and writing with others.
At some point, it is discouraging enough that you may even contemplate giving up! Then you start getting visitors and commenters. There is an exchange of ideas; great conversations take place and you started it!
Good things start happening! Your RSS readers increase, your visitor numbers start steadily climbing and then you start winning Blog Awards!
BLOG AWARDS?
Ian Peaty from Quantum Learning bestowed me with the honor of the Butterfly Award.
This is a virtual award titled ‘Coolest Blog I know’ and it’s passed from one blogger to another. How cool is that?
There are, of course, requirements for the award.
The Rules
1) Put the logo on your blog 
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you 
3) Link 10 other bloggers of whom you want to give this award to.
Now I get to bestow this award on 10 of my favorite blogs!
Ian didn’t say if I could re-award the award back to the original bestower! (That can’t be correct) I would bestow the Butterfly Award to Quantum Learning as Ian’s posts ALWAYS make me think. Sometimes I have to give the post some serious thought before I can comment.
Without further ado, in no particular order – drum roll please – I bestow the coveted Butterfly Award on the following Bloggers:
- (Anti) Social Development
- Kim Woodbridge is the Blogger at this site. Her blog name suggests that she is anti social but that must be a paradox. Kind of like nicknames – Shorty for a tall person, tiny for a large person, etc. Kim is very social, not to mention very knowledgeable. Her mission is WordPress and I can tell you from “hold your breath” experiences, Kim’s posts have saved me more time than I care to mention. Stop over and pay her a visit, you’ll be glad you did.
- AverageGal
- Rachel Holmgren is the young lady behind AverageGal. She also writes for, owns and operates two other blogs – FullGlassLiving and DivineSteals. In her spare time she is a stay at home mom with two little girls (ages 2 & 3). Rachel always has something, new, positive and fresh to say. Her bubbly voice comes through in her writing.
- Debo Hobo dot com
- Her tag line is “A place to make travel plans, steer clear of travel quandary and enjoy quirky articles”. I enjoy the quirky articles, she makes you feel at home!
- Green & Chic
- Carla has a very informative blog that compliments her business. The theme is very colorful and easy to read.
- SmartAdvi$e.info
- Shri’s tagline – “Blog Traffic 101-Tips, Strategies On How To Increase Blog Traffic”. She certainly has good advice and is always willing to help. Thanks to Shri, my Alexa ranking went from 808,473 on October 13, 2008 to 123,972 on January 9, 2009.
- Thinking Out Loud Blog
- The blog name says it all. Valerie a/k/a Natural doesn’t usually hold her tongue or keyboard in this case. Her posts are always interesting and humorous.
- TumbleMoose Productions
- George, George, George. What can I say? He’s like the class clown yet the smart kid combined. George is a freelance writer. His blog focuses on inspiring writers.
- WebDesignServers
- Ciara has a great tutorial blog. Step by step detail in all of her “how to” posts. Posts you can actually understand and follow. When you follow her steps, it actually works!
- Will it change you?
- Yes it will. If you read the posts Ross writes, it certainly will change you. Ross is very inspiring and his posts are very thought provoking. He also just published an eBook – Jump Start Change. I just bought the eBook and I am very excited to get started reading it.
- Writing for Your Wealth
- Lindsay offers a wealth of knowledge for writers. If you want to learn about writing and how to make money writing, this is the site for you.
These blogs are a good mix of writing, people, messages, and community. I subscribe to them all and read them every time they post. They are all very much “The coolest blog I know”.
Thank you Ian, for bestowing me and my blog with the “Butterfly Award”.
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do…”~ Epictetus
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Popularity: 37% [?]
Stumble Your Way To Success
January 7, 2009 by BloggerNewbie
{ Click here to follow me on StumbleUpon }If you are a blogger you are no doubt familiar with this logo! StumbleUpon – one of the many, many (too many) social networks in the blogosphere.
What is a social network?
Social Networks are just that ~ social gatherings for people to network and connect. Social Media – What difference does it make? Social Media makes all the difference.
Being involved in the social aspect of blogging has many benefits.
- Make great friends
- Share and connect with your peers
- Get help – give help
- Find resources -share resources
Great idea ~ Sign me up!
Okay, so how do you get involved in these social gatherings? Well, you join of course. You can join any of the dozens of social networks. The vast number of social networks can be overwhelming. There seem to be as many social networks as there are blogs sometimes. It is important to pick and choose only a few sites you can focus on.
Once you join a network, you have the opportunity to meet different people.
Take Twitter for instance. Twitter, Twitter, Twitter ~ I have met many great people on Twitter. I like to use the social aspect of Twitter for the most part. I throw out my newest post every so often but the majority of time spent on Twitter – social. I joined Twitter and didn’t know what was going on for months! I can’t say I entirely know what is going on now, but it is what it is. I think that is the best way to describe Twitter. It is what it is.
One of my other favorite social networks is StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon is a free service that helps you discover and share websites with others who have similar interests. The more you use the service, the more likely it is that you’ll “Stumble” across pages you like.
To get started on StumbleUpon:
• Start Stumbling on from the home page using the Web Toolbar to become familiar with the service.
• Create an account to save your favorites and to connect with other members.
• Download the Toolbar to access all the features available and to share sites you discovered.So how do you Stumble your way to success?
The business of the online world has various similarities of the business of the offline world. You tend to do business with friends or people you like.
That is one of the advantages of StumbleUpon. You discover, review and share sites that you “stumble upon”. If you are going to benefit from StumbleUpon and take advantage of the business influence then you need to know how this whole social network operates. If you are not already a member of StumbleUpon it is time to get started.
First things first. Sign up for StumbleUpon. Click on the graphic below and go sign up for StumbleUpon then come back.
Second – Download the tool bar. Click on the graphic below and download the toolbar for FireFox. You do use FireFox don’t you? If for some crazy reason you do not use FireFox as your browser, StumbleUpon has toolbars for others as well.
The toolbar makes it so easy to “stumble” your favorite sites. StumbleUpon is a collection of sites that are matched to your interests. If we break down each section of the toolbar, it will be easier to understand how the toolbar will help with your searches.
This button on the toolbar, when clicked, will bring web pages that match your interests from the categories that you chose when you signed up. After you have stumbled a few sites, your interests will be tagged by the number of sites you like in any given category. If a number is shown next to the Stumble button, someone has sent a site to you that they think my be interesting. Click on the number and you will be brought to the site that was sent to you. This is where your Stumble friends usually send you the posts they wrote hoping you will vote in favor of their site. When a site is sent to you through the toolbar, there is also a message line that you can reply to.
You either like the site (thumbs up) or it’s not for you (thumbs down) or you simply don’t vote for the site. Either click the number again or click the Stumble button to move on to the next one.
This button allows you to “tag” a site with categories. When you are searching for sites you like, the tag is how they are categorized.
Do you have a brilliant post that you want to send to some of your friends? This is the button. When you are on your post or on a site you want to share, simply click on “send to” and all of your StumbleUpon friends are listed. You can simply click on your friend’s name and a message box will pop up allowing you to enter a short message about what you are sending.
Channels – you can choose your sites by channel – news – videos – popular sites, specific interests, etc.
Just like it sounds. This button will bring you to your favorites or recently viewed sites in your StumbleUpon account that you indicated you liked . It is a great way to keep all of your favorite sites in one place for later review.
Your friends are just a click away. You can see what all your friends are stumbling. Hopefully, your site is among some of their picks!
The usual utility section. You can change your settings, add features, remove features, etc.
How does this relate to your success as a blogger?
One of our readers here at BloggerNewbie – BusinessX – wondered just that very same thing.
You discover, review and share sites that you “stumble upon” with all of your friends. When your blogging buddies stop by your site and read wonderful posts, they Stumble them and share them with all their friends. Your site now has the exposure of all of your friends’ friends. If ten of your friends like your post and they stumble it, then ten of their friends see your post. You now have exposure to one hundred people. Can you see the snowball affect and increase in traffic?
Having the toolbar installed on your browser makes it convenient to send websites, particularly yours, to some of your friends. When you write an extra interesting post you can click the “send to” button and the list of your friends will be shown. Click on one of your friends, a message box will pop up, you can type in a little message and click send. Your friend’s toolbar will show a number next to the Stumble button indicating someone has sent them an interesting site. When they click on the number, your site will come up and your message. You can send a message back from the toolbar if you like.
A few words of wisdom
- Everyone loves you and everyone knows you are brilliant. Please don’t send every single article or post you write. For one thing, it can be overwhelming to your friends. For another thing, not every single article or post you write is stumble worthy (sorry). You will get traffic for days from stumbling one post, even weeks. If you inundate someone, you will get lost in never never land.
- If you stumble every post you write or every post you read, you could be suspected as a spammer by the powers that be at StumbleUpon and your account can be terminated.
- Some friends will send you sites that are just not your interest. Don’t stumble it. You don’t have to stumble everything you come across. You can click on the thumbs down, not for me tab. I usually just continue on to the next one. I don’t stumble anything with profanity in it. Just my personal preference.
Skelli from Skelliwag wrote a great post on ProBlogger with some great tips on how to grow a young blog with StumbleUpon. I am still reading referrals to that post. ProBlogger also wrote a post and listed 271 StumbleUpon ProBlogger readers and their username to connect with.
How do you use StumbleUpon? Do you find it helpful for traffic? Do you just use it for personal use of keeping your favorite sites in one area?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose,
the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it…”
~ Napoleon Hill
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Popularity: 40% [?]
The Feed Reader Debate
December 24, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
We had a lively discussion in the comment section of a previous post – RSS Reader or Website? The previous post pondered whether you read posts in a reader or whether you go directly to the website? Do you prefer to read the post in the reader? Some bloggers make that decision for you. Some offer only the title of their post in the reader while others will give you a little sneak preview with an excerpt. Of course there is always the option of the full post being available in the reader. This choice is set up by the blogger, not by the reader.
I thought we would further the discussion in another article after a little more research. I decided I would examine all of the blogs in my reader. I wanted to get a consensus as to which option is more widely used.
I have 100 blogs in my reader. I know, how do I have time to do all that reading? Well a majority of the blogs don’t post on a daily basis. In my Google reader, the posts are sorted by the most recent update. As you can see from the following graphic, the name of the blog is first, the title of the post, then the date or time.
I view the title and choose the most interesting ones first. I have a few blogs that I visit whenever they update. I click on the title and don’t necessarily even read the excerpt or any of the post. I like to click straight through to the site. I like to check out everyone’s site, see what they are doing different and join in the conversation.
Often, I make decisions for my blog based on my own preferences. I prefer to go directly to the blog to read the posts. Therefore, I list the excerpt for my post in the reader. I don’t trust my talent that the title will be enough and I don’t want to list the whole post as I want my readers to come to my blog. I reviewed each blog in my reader and I was very surprised with the results of my research.
Title only ~ 1% of the blogs in my reader list the title only. No surprise there. You would have to be overly confident with yourself to list just the title. The title is the only part bringing your reader to your blog. For the record, I rarely click through to that site.
Excerpt ~ 11% of the blogs in my reader list just the excerpt of their post. For the blogs that I read on a regular basis, I click through to the site regardless of the excerpt. In fact, I don’t bother with the excerpt, I just click through to their blog. I like to see what, if any, changes they are doing with their design or ads. It is also a sense of community and I like to join in the discussion if possible.
Full Text ~ 88% of the blogs in my reader list the full text of their post. To my surprise, an overwhelming number of blogs choose this option. I have all types of blogs in my reader from beginner to the seasoned pro. Choosing to use the full text went across the board. Again, this is neither a benefit nor a deterrent to my routine of reading blogs. In the discussion on the original post ~ RSS Reader or Website? Tsunami and I exchanged a few comments on this topic.
Tsunami and I were both of the same opinion in regards to using the excerpt. My thinking is that I hope to use a creative title to get readers to click on my post in their reader then my second hope is that the excerpt is interesting enough to get the reader to click through to my site. I want to encourage readers to go to the site to build community and hopefully create loyal readers.
I have since changed my opinion of how my post will be listed in a reader based on my research for two reasons.
The first reason is the overwhelming number of blogs that offer the full post. 88%? That speaks volumes. In my reader, 21% of the blogs I subscribe to are categorized (by me) as the “A” list. ALL of them offer the full post. With the combination of their years of experience and their thousands of readers, I try to follow their lead.
The second reason is the choice of clicking through to my blog should be the readers choice not mine. The majority of the reason we all write is for people to read our brilliant words, right? So shouldn’t that be a blogger’s main objective? If the post is compelling enough, the reader will click through to your site. Wouldn’t it be nice if the reader had control over the option? Give that option to your reader.
One other interesting “factoid” I discovered – only 17% of the blogs in my reader have ads in their posts. I thought that was low.
Wow, this post was interesting to research and quite an eye opener. I am glad we had this discussion on RSS Reader or Website?
What do you think? Has this research changed your mind? Do you have any thoughts to add? Any arguments for or against this debate? Keep the discussion open!
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“Things should be made as simple as possible, but not any simpler…”
~ Albert Einstein
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Popularity: 39% [?]
Blogging Success According To My Favorite Guru!
December 17, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
How in the world did I land in the blogosphere you ask? Well, funny you should ask.
I was searching the internet for “how to make a living online”, not the fast buck but the career type venture. I tried one scam after another for a year or so. Ahh, the scam artists paints a pretty picture. After being stung a few times
, I became a little more cautious. I scrutinized every detail of every claim!I landed on some sales page that discussed blogging. I survived raising three daughters who were all teenagers at the same time. I will investigate most stories. I understood blogging a little. But, this character wanted to sell me some secret that would allow me to gain entry into the blogosphere.
Of course I googled his name. Surprise, yet another scam! I was getting very discouraged. Why do 9 out of 10 (more like 99 out of 100) ventures all have to be scams? Forget this internet business stuff. I’ll think of something else. After all, I am an entrepreneur at heart.
I researched blogging a little further…
I went to the website of Darren Rowse – ProBlogger and I was bit by the blogger bug. I got it and I got it bad. I never looked back.
I was so excited, I worked on my site for hours every day into the wee hours of the morning. Yup, I was going to make some serious money. Now you know. I started blogging for the money. I am not afraid of hard work so I knew I could do this. I bought my copy of ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.
As many of you are aware, I am at the 6 month point of my blogging “career”. This is one of the checkpoints in my business plan. At 6 months, I evaluated the progress of my goals to date. Am I where I want to be, where I thought I would be? Do I need to re-evaluate the plan and adjust?
Being that I had very little knowledge about blogging, my business plan was somewhat vague. I know how to run a business and how to write a business plan but blogging is a little different then what I am used to. After 6 months I do have a much better grasp on the reality of blogging.
I originally thought that all I had to do was write a few good posts, put up some ads and wala – I’m in the money. Doesn’t quite work that way. I am happy to report that I am not in the blogging business for the money. It is simply a love affair. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to make money at blogging but that is secondary.
I am in the process of revising my business plan. I went to my favoirte Guru for some advice. I asked Darren Rowse the following questions:
- Do you think a blogger can make a living with just AdSense type ads?
Yes – it’s possible. It really depends upon the type of blog that you start as to what type of monetization works best. Some work great with AdSense, others do better with affiliate programs, others better with direct ad sales. The key is to experiment and see what works best.
- Do you think a blogger can make a living with just one blog?
Again – it’s possible and many bloggers do it – but not all do. Some bloggers take the approach of building a few smaller blogs rather than one big one.
- What do you consider the top 5 picks of Social Media?
Depends a lot on the type of blog you start. The key is to find out where your readers (or potential readers) hang out in social media and join them there. For me that’s been Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, LinkedIn and Digg mainly.
- If you could only pick one avenue or company for monetizing your blog, what would it be?
Really tough question. I’ve made more with AdSense than any other ad network but it depends upon the blog. It’s a good starting point and can work well but in the long term on a successful blog direct ad sales will probably work better.
- What do you consider the one thing that contributes to your success?
Staying at it for the long haul. Posting something every day for 6 years has not been easy but it’s paid off.
I had questions from the answers too but that will have to wait another day. The one big message I received from this interview is – patience. You need patience and time to nurture your blog. 6 months is not a significant amount of time to invest in a blog.
You need to test your advertising plan just like any other business. You don’t necessarily know what works until you try it. What works for you might not work for me. It also takes time and patience to build your social network. Again, the same advice applies to the typical brick and mortar business. Thank you Darren, for your wisdom and advice.
Is Darren’s advice an eye-opener for you? Are you more motivated now knowing that success is possible?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and
an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen…”- Frank Lloyd Wright
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Popularity: 56% [?]
Who Reads A Blog On A Cell Phone?
December 16, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
“Who Reads A Blog On A Cell Phone?”
Do people actually read blogs on a cell phone?? I don’t know about you, but my cell phone is barely big enough to read text messages. I cannot imagine reading a whole post on a cell phone. Come on – I must be missing something! I actually don’t have internet access with my cell phone. Well, if I do, I don’t know it. I know, technically challenged. Well to the blogosphere I am technically challenged but to my family and people in my little world I am an esteemed computer geek!
So what could be so important that you would read a post on your phone? Is there really anything that interesting or compelling?
Probably 10 years from now you will read a post on BloggerNewbie promoting – “Extra, extra, read all about it, get your next BloggerNewbie post on your cellphone today!”
Some people think if the cell phone rings they have to answer it. When I work outside clearing our property, mowing lawns, trimming around everyone of our 100 trees, I always have my cell phone. This type of activity is my therapy. Usually there is no one around, I have my loud equipment and large tools. So why the cell phone in my serene environment of nature? Well I do have some dangerous equipment I work with so the phone is for “just in case”. I never answer it during my nature therapy.
Caller ID? he he. I know way too many people who can’t stand an unknown number on their phone. Or if there is a phone number they don’t recognize, they call it. If you can’t leave a message, then whatever you want (and yeah, most likely you want something) can’t be that important, or you will call back.
I’ve had friends or family members tell me they called, they must have shown up on my caller id, why didn’t I call them back? Because you didn’t leave a message. And, this is so and so, call me back, is not a message.
Are we getting just a little too connected? Do you think access to information 24/7 is a little too much? I feel inundated now. I have enough stress without bringing more with me. If posts are available on your cell phone do you or would you read them that way?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“If it is true that there is always more than one way of construing a text,
it is not true that all interpretations are equal…”- Paul Ricoeur
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Popularity: 30% [?]
What Would You Do Different?
December 9, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
“What Would You Do Different?”
I started a series a couple of weeks ago called Question of the Week? Vote in our Poll! I asked you what questions you would like to see debated in this series.
Rachel from Averagegal.com asked “In hindsight, what would you have done differently when starting your first blog?” Rachel is no “average gal”. She is a forward thinking young lady as well as very ambitious. Rachel has, I believe, three blogs. She is always adding or changing something at AverageGal.com. Keeping your blog fresh and new will keep people coming back looking for something different.
I couldn’t come up with a poll type question so I decided to just throw the question out for discussion.
What would you have done differently when starting your first blog?
My blog is only a little over six months old so I don’t have a great length of time to review. I had my brick and mortar business for 20 years so I had an abundance of experiences to review. I have often contemplated the “what I
would have done differently” in regards to raising my children. In retrospect, with both of these examples there is a significant amount of time to be able to discuss lessons learned. Once you see the outcome of your actions it is always easy to have 20/20 in hindsight. Now both of those subjects could each be a book on their own!Looking back over the last few months I would say one mistake I made would have been joining too many social networks too soon. If you can’t participate in the social network with good faith then you shouldn’t be there. If you are there for business purposes only, then you should make that clear. I don’t think you will get too far but you should be upfront about your intentions.
Another observation is in reference to monetizing the blog. It is not very productive to have countless sources of advertising. In hindsight, I would have taken a closer look at advertising and narrowed them down and chosen just a few.
So now over to you – “In hindsight, what would you have done differently when starting your first blog?”
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes…”
- Oscar Wilde
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Popularity: 20% [?]
Let’s Make Lots of Money Blogging!
December 3, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
“Let’s Make Lots of Money Blogging!”
I had a great idea! Not a new idea, but a great idea. My Blog was 6 months old on December 1, 2008! Yeah, Happy Anniversary to me…
I have put countless hours in blogging. From my design to writing to marketing and promoting. I love my blog, I like the look and feel. I am proud of my accomplishments thus far. I have learned more in 6 months blogging then I think I did the entire time in college! Maybe not.
I am in it for the long haul because first and foremost, I enjoy blogging. I adore writing. The social aspect of blogging is time consuming but the best part. I have made several acquaintances, a considerable number of peers and some really great friends. I admit, I started blogging and found blogging as I was searching for ways to make money online. I am not afraid of work. I have the 5 P’s of a successful blogger.
I am well aware that making money from blogging is long term goal. I realize that. Is long term a relative term? Like anything else – Its all relative!
I thought after 6 months, I would be making..
Instead, I am making..
Having said that, I decided it was time to review the plan here! What’s going on, what am I doing wrong or not doing? I decided to take a look at the A listers..
I was trying to find something that the “big guys” or “gals” as the case may be have in common? What is it that makes them successful? My observation was that they all had the “usual” – passion, creativity, ambitious, longevity, etc. I have all that. Well not the longevity. But that comes with time, literally. So do I just keep doing what I’m doing and let time take care of itself?
Another conclusion I came to all by myself was that there must be more to making money blogging then by just creating a blog, writing good content, then throwing up a few adsense ads. I don’t even see the familiar adsense ads on some of these blogs! What are they doing? Writing e-books, offering e-courses? I was going to investigate further by going straight to the source.
My plan was to put together a short list of questions (maybe 5) and ask 5 or 10 of the top bloggers to share their wealth of knowledge and experience in an email interview type format.
I started my draft post, wrote a couple questions, got distracted and started visiting my RSS reader.
Darren Rowse of Problogger wrote a post regarding the very same topic! Can you really make money blogging? He must be reading my mind. It is a great post and you really need to read it and get your reality check. I still have my questions about making money blogging though. I am going to formulate my email interview and will post what information and feedback I receive.Do you have any questions you would like answered from the A list of blogging? Do you have any secrets about how you make money?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“A billion here and a billion there,
and pretty soon you’re talking real money…”- Everett Dirksen
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Popularity: 25% [?]
5 Tips To Increase Blog Traffic
December 2, 2008 by BloggerNewbie
“5 Tips To Increase Blog Traffic”
Oh No! Not another blogger posting about how comments will increase blog traffic! That has been beaten to death. We all know commenting is somewhat an effective approach to increase blog traffic. Having said that, I am not going to include commenting as a way to increase your blog traffic in the “Five Tips” for this post. This post is a little different from the other assortment of posts in the blogosphere about increasing blog traffic! Actually, commenting should be part of any method to increase blog traffic. It “goes without saying”, so I’m not going to say it.As part of my research for tips I discovered what track-backs are and how they work. I know - hello! Where have I been? Well, I just called them something else.
Obviously, there are more than 5 tips to increase blog traffic and these tips might not bring in an onslaught of hundreds of thousands of visitors but… but I would like to discuss the following 5 tips.
- Use a signature. Subtle but effective. Put a link to your blog or even a post at the end of your email address. When you join forums, end each discussion with your link. When you join social groups, be sure to provide a detailed profile. Tell everyone all about you!
- Create your reputation. Get people talking about your blog. Give your readers something to talk about. Do you have something unique to share? If your blog has a character of its own, people will talk. Does your blog maybe have a welcoming feeling? Do you encourage your readers to comment? Are your posts conducive to interaction? Maybe they will tell two friends and they will tell two friends and so on and so on.
- Get discovered. Write. Write well and write frequently. And write something people want to share and promote. When I first started blogging I would stumble every post I wrote. Bad idea. First of all, you are going to saturate your friends with what will feel like spam even if it is not your intention. Sorry, every post is not “stumble worthy”, and visitors come in for days on posts that are shared. Think about your own usage of StumbleUpon. You cannot possibly read and stumble everything sent your way effectively.
- Collaborate with your peers. Join forces with your peers. Offer to guest post on their blog or for your peers to post on your blog. You will gain exposure to new readers and you will have fresh, different writing for your readers. When you write, link to other relevant posts. You will be sharing additional information for your readers as well as leaving trackbacks on the blog of the post you are linking to. Trackbacks, in turn will leave an excerpt on the post you are referring to. Trackbacks and links continue the conversation and add many dimensions.
- Craft your Titles. Let the search engines find you. Write relevant titles that are timely. Find out what people are searching for. Go to Google and ask questions. Find out how your topic is searched for then craft your title.
Comments – I know, I said I wasn’t going to use that as one of my tips to increase blog traffic, but it’s not what you think – read on. If you are using commenting on other blogs as a way to generate traffic you may be disappointed. Commenting to simply to leave your link will possibly generate some traffic but not the kind of traffic that you really want. Leaving a comment should continue the conversation. Ask questions, add your thoughts, contribute and advance the exchange of ideas.
What do you do to increase your traffic? What has worked for you? Do you have any fun or creative ways that you want to share with us?
Toodles – Blog Happy!
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“People with goals succeed because they know where they are going…
It’s as simple as that.”— Earl Nightingale
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Popularity: 23% [?]
