This is a guest post from Gary Kohler from the free life insurance quote. Be part of this engaging community by following the guest blogging guidelines.

There are lots of ways to find writing ideas and inspiration from your daily life. Translating that into great blog posts is another story but lets look at the basics first.

Start by carrying around a notepad or have a file saved on your smart phone that you can use to save good ideas that you get during the day.

Finding inspiration in real life is the key so here is a list of places in the offline world where you can get ideas for your blog.

The newspaper

• They write short headlines that are supposed to catch your attention.
• They write 200-500 descriptions of current events and things that are interesting to lots of people.
• They need to continually entertain and inform, otherwise people will stop reading it.

Bingo! The newspaper is a great place to start and find ideas for things to write about and stories that will interest others.

Your friends

What are you and your friends always talking about? What movie are you excited about seeing? What hobby are you interested in that you know a lot about and that you like to share with others?

These are all real world examples of things that you enjoy. If you can get excited about them in conversation then that can likely translate to your blog.

Write about something that you’re passionate about and your readers will be passionate about your writing.

Television

People that watch a lot of television share a trait with people that spend a lot of time on the internet: a short attention span. Just like television commercials and clips for TV shows, you need to catch your reader’s attention right away.

You can also use TV to catch up on news and events that you can write about on your blog. You can also use video elements in your blog posts… so study up on what makes a good video and then give it a try!

Your job

This is likely an indirect inspiration but your job can be a great idea factory too. Many jobs leave people with some free time during the day. You should be jotting down ideas for blog posts and articles during this time.

If your employer is pretty relaxed you can probably write down ideas all day in your note pad. Perfect, you can get paid and work on your blog at the same time.

Nature

Sometimes being inspired and coming up with new ideas requires an empty mind and this is where nature can come in handy. Get out of that house and into the great outdoors.

A weekend away from your computer can be great for your health and for your creative juices too. You might even find that at the end of a weekend of camping, you want to start a blog about camping!

How to Find Blogging Inspiration from Real Life is a post from: Blog Godown

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Today I want to introduce you to Andew Rondeau of We Build Your Blog. He has been blogging for almost 3 years now and he is earning a living from it. He recently started his Income Blogging Guide in order to help bloggers who are not able to make any money out of their blogs. In this Interview I would be asking him about his blogging experience and also some questions regarding his new guide.

The Interview

Gautam: Andrew, I would like to know about your blogging journey. What inspired you to start blogging? Which was your first blog?

Andrew: For the first 30 years of my career I worked for large corporate companies. The corporate world allowed you to work hard and get well rewarded – which I was. I ended up managing large IT departments.

But I’ve always thought about making it on my own. Over the years I was always looking for something that would make me more money!

I thought that if I worked as hard on my own business as I did in the corporate world – I could make it work.

Then, ‘out of the blue’, someone said to me, why don’t you write a book on Management and sell it on-line?

I started to investigate and quickly got excited. I knew I could write the book due to my experience and I naively believed the hype and thought I’ll make millions on-line by selling the book and retire!

This was 3 years ago.

I found a mentor, online, (I knew nothing about being on-line), and he helped me. He told me exactly what to do, and I invested my earnings from the corporate world into it.

I created a website and a free management guide to start building my own customer list, and then my management book. I did all this in the evenings while staying away from home in the hotels and while traveling in the corporate role.

I finished the sales page and launched, expecting hundreds to sell. I sold about five in the first week, but I was expecting 5,000!

I quickly sucked the mentor dry – he couldn’t help me anymore – I had all his knowledge now, so I found a more experienced mentor, and he helped me in the marketing and we created two more products to sell.

Then I got into blogging and created several blogs and more products.

So now I had a variety of products to sell and my knowledge of making money on-line was growing. I invested thousands of dollars in my education, and it was taking over – I really enjoyed the excitement.

Eighteen months ago, I decided to leave the corporate world and decided to take the plunge and work for myself, full-time.

Since then I have created my own course helping others to build their on-line business.

Gautam: As I can see from your experience, though, you had a great product to sell, you weren’t able to make that much money in the start. Many bloggers and online entrepreneurs think big, but they are not able to reach their expectations. What major mistake do they make?

Andrew: Major mistakes they make include believing all the hype about ‘how easy it is to make money on-line”.

It isn’t easy. It takes hard work, passion and knowledge.

They create products that they THINK will sell rather than do some thorough research and what people want.

They try and do it all themselves. You can’t. Find someone to help you who are better than you and more knowledgeable than you.

Gautam: Andrew, you recently came up with the “The Income Blogging Guide“. Before I ask about the blogging course, I would like to know whether you are generating a good income from blogging?

Andrew: I suppose that depends upon your views of ‘good’!

I generate enough income to live comfortably but it is not just about the money…it’s about the freedom. I love the fact that if it is sunny outside I can choose to go and enjoy the sun – play Tennis or whatever. I work when I want to. Sometimes that might be late at night or 5 am in the morning. That freedom is worth a lot more than a huge amount of income…for me anyway.

Gautam: The best thing I like about your guide is the sales page of your guide. It is simple and crisp with all the information that is required. Could you tell me, who all would benefit from your income blogging guide? What can they expect from blogging guide?

Your Income Blogging Guide is a blogging course, but how do you think it is better than other blogging courses already available in the market?

Andrew: In my experience many of the other course include these types of problems:

They take certain things for granted…like your ability to create a blog or generate traffic. You need to have to be technical savvy in order to follow their “steps”. If you’ve never built a web site before, or have very limited experience, this can be one of the most daunting parts of starting a blog.

Many of the courses say, do this, do that – which is all well and good but our course tells you the ‘how to’ as well.

You may be told to “set up the pages for you to sell your products”. What you are not told is the “how to”. We show you’re the ‘How to’ via videos and screen shots.

Very often you buy the product and then you’re on your own with the information. If you don’t understand a part of it, you can usually submit questions, but there’s not a “go to” resource for figuring out part of the process.

Many e-course designers or marketers are more than happy to help…to a degree…but don’t have mechanisms built in for very involved technical help.

At times, you may even be referred to alternative courses designed to help you tp complete these steps. Who wants to spend even more money when the course was supposed to be step by step?

BEFORE, we created the course, we asked our visitors and customer lists what they wanted from such a course.

51% wanted the course to be easy to follow and use. We provide everything you need to build your own on-line business built around blogging. It’s not just about blogging…it’s about getting traffic, building your own customer lists, creating your own products, copywriting and outsourcing.

You don’t have to buy any other course.

Plus, 26% of the people who completed the survey wanted support mechanisms in place. As my business partner, Joel is the technical blogging mentor to some of the most famous bloggers in the world, we decided to go over-board with the support.

So we have a weekly live teleconference, a private members forum AND members can write to us directly (in case they want to keep things private).

77% of our members have stated that the course far exceeded their expectations and our refund rate is very, very low.

Why? It’s all about customer service. If the member gets really stuck, we go in and make the changes for them or have a one on one skype chat with them.

We want our members to succeed on-line and therefore we help as much as we can.

Gautam: Thanks Andrew for taking your precious time out to participate in this Interview and I think Bloggers would find your Income Blogging Guide Really Useful.

Andrew: Gautam

It was a pleasure. Thanks.

If you are interested in the Income Blogging Guide by Andrew, Take a look at it.

Learn how to increase the profitability of your Website with Andrew Rondeau is a post from: Blog Godown

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This is a guest article by Hadley of My Dog Ate My Blog. Wanna be part of this great guest blogging community? Take a look at our guest blogging guidelines.

Are you knee-deep in the blogging world and want to talk to some like-minded individuals? Check out some of these fantastic conferences around the world. Not only will you learn a plethora of new information to improve your blog, but you’ll get the chance to talk to individuals with the same passion as you.

BlogHer Conference: BlogHer runs a blogging conference August 6-7 in New York City. It focuses on helping female bloggers gain a presence on the Internet, as well as how to turn blogging into a paid career. It also has a focus on political and social blogging.

BlogWorld and New Media Expo: Running October 15-16 in Las Vegas, this conference focuses on general blogging and Internet businesses.

Blog Indiana: Blog Indiana runs from August 20^th to the 21^st, and focuses primarily on how to gain viewers and use a blog to promote non-blogging interests, as well as on general social media.

Netroots Nation: Running July 22-25 in Las Vegas, this blogging conference promotes using the Internet, including blogging, in order to foster liberal and progressive causes. This year, Senator Al Franken will be speaking.

Blissdom: Blissdom already had its 2010 conference in February, but it is usually a yearly event so be sure to check back in later. Like BlogHer, this blogging conference is primarily for female bloggers. Blissdom also specializes on supportive, positive help for female bloggers looking to follow their “bliss,” or passion. It also has a Canadian conference.

Wine Bloggers’ Conference: This organization actually runs two conferences: one, in Virginia, on July 22-24 in 2011, and one in 2010 in Vienna, Austria, October 22-24. The conference seeks “to discuss the convergence between the culture of wine and the web.” If you blog about wine, this is definitely a must for you.

South by South West: South by South West, which also goes by the acronym SXSW, is a general new-media conference that will be meeting next during the week of March 11-20 2011 in Austin, Texas. However, it does have some blogging-relating content, like “The Broke Diaries: Using Blogs and Twitter to Live Cheaply”. This conference would be fantastic for any current bloggers looking to expand outside of the blogging world.

Northern Voice: This conference is held in spring in Vancouver, British Columbia, and specializes in personal blogging and social media, rather than blogging for profit. Its 2010 convention has already happened, but it will be back in 2011.

Type-A Mom Conference: This conference, held September 24-26 in Asheville, North Carolina, has a focus on “mom bloggers”. It also emphasizes using blogging and social media to make money. People willing to volunteer may get free or reduced-price entrance into the conference.

Latin American Bloggers’ Convention: Held November 12-14 in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, this conference focuses on, as its name implies, bloggers from Latin America. It also has general information for beginning bloggers and is a great first step for anybody looking to break into the blogging world.

The Best Blogging Conferences in the World is a post from: Blog Godown

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This is a guest article by Ben Johnson of Logoinn and he shares his tips on building a better business website that earns you dollars while you sleep.

First of all, what do you think a perfect business website is? Well, to me, if your business website takes your financial worries away, then it’s a perfect business website. This way you don’t have to work for anyone, you don’t have to worry about attending office everyday and you don’t have to worry about being punctual either. A perfect business website helps you earn bread and butter and gives you complete peace of mind.

Having said that, now we need to discuss that which vital elements ought to be incorporated in your business website to make it perfect.

It Must Be Appealing As Well As Relevant:

This is a misconception that you just create a website and it will start making you money. It’s a completely false notion. You have got to make your website attractive if you seriously want to win the trust of your market. Secondly, ensure that your website design is relevant to your business model.

It’s the quality of your web design that tells your market that your products will be of high quality as well. If your design is of low quality, you won’t be able to win the trust of your market. So, ensure that you make it attractive as well as relevant.

You Must Provide User-Friendly Navigation:

How much time would you spend on a site where you will see hundreds of confusing links all over the page? Well, you won’t spend more than a few seconds. The same thing will happen to you if you don’t create user-friendly navigation. Your website visitors or potential buyers won’t spend any time on your website and will most likely leave in less than 10 seconds.

Ensure that Your Copy is Benefit-Oriented:

What converts your visitors into customers is your copy. Your copy must highlight  all the benefits clearly and concisely. It should tell your market why you should be trusted. It should entice your market to prefer you. So, you will need to take some time to write a compelling copy or hire a professional copywriter to do the job for you.

Choose a Readable Font Size and Style:

A lot of websites don’t care about their font-size. They make it really small. Small font-size is not easily readable. If you visit a website and find it difficult to read, then you will leave immediately. Your visitors will do the same thing if you don’t select a readable font size and style. Also, try avoiding grey font. Black is the best in terms of readability.

Strategically Organize the Content and Graphics:

Don’t make your website look like an unorganized place by having text and graphics everywhere. Organize everything in a nice and professional manner. Ensure that your website doesn’t look messy at all. Once you create the site, look at it and determine if it gives you a refreshing feeling or not. If it doesn’t, then you need to analyze your site and end the flaws.

So, these are some powerful tips that will empower you to create a perfect business website…for your business!

If you have any tips, please do share.

5 Tips for Creating a Perfect Business Website is a post from: Blog Godown

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Working Offline can be Really Productive

In this guest article, Michael Collins explains a method which you can employ to blog which can make your blogging highly productive. If you want get in front of readers, take a look at our guest blogging guidelines.

When you first start a blog, you might be able to stay committed, and designate a specific amount of time each day to work on your blog. In the beginning, at least, blogs require a large amount of time before they gain a steady flow of traffic. Because of this, many people get burnt out before their blog really takes off. Most people manage their blogs online. Although that might sound like the only way to manage a blog, the internet has millions of potential distractions. How many times have you been writing a post, only to be distracted by a social networking site, or a flash ad? All these distractions add up, and prevent you from working as efficiently as you can.

You might think it will be nearly impossible to run a blog offline. A blog is hosted online, and most blogging platforms have the dashboard set up in a way that allows you to do everything in one place. However, almost all of these things can be done offline, as well. For example, writing posts takes a lot of time, and with distractions, it can take hours to get a decent post done. However, if you just set your mind to it, and use a word processing application to write your post, it will be done much faster. If you’ve never tried to write a post offline before, try it. You’ll be able to see exactly how productive you can be, and how quickly you can pump out a quality article.

If you use SEO for your blog, you can also do most of the major planning offline. That way, when you go online, you’ll have a plan ready, and you can accomplish it as quickly as possible. If you plan on messaging web masters, you can type all the emails out before you go online. You can plan out a link building strategy, and execute it once you get online.

Working offline can greatly increase your productivity. If you’ve never tried it, give it a shot. For starters, write posts offline, and plan everything out before you get online. This way, once you start using the internet, you know exactly what to do. You can copy and paste the posts in, and you can send all the emails. This way, you will become much more efficient, and be able to accomplish much more in every work day.

How Working Offline Can Help Your Blog is a post from: Blog Godown

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Think of Blog Writing as a Continous Process

Good Blog Writing is one of the essential attributes of a great blogger. You can take any A-list bloggers for that matter and you will see that there style of writing might be unique but the quality of writing is up to the mark.

It doesn’t mean that an average or poor writer cannot be good blogger. This is a fact, some good bloggers were not good writers, but they improved in their blogging journey. Blogging is a process which evolves us as human beings. If you are an experienced blogger, you might have noticed that blogging teaches you many lessons. These can be life lessons as well. Blog Writing is one among the many lessons you learn from blogging.

I know I am not a very good writer, but the scenario 3 years back was grimmer than it is now. I had to waste a day to write a 100-200 word article and that was the best output I was able to get out of myself. Also, my writing was not good and at that point of time I didn’t care about any grammatical and typographical mistakes. But, now the situation has completely changed and I am able to write long blog posts in a matter of few hours and which are almost free from errors.

Now, you can see that I have evolved as a writer from blogging and I am still evolving. This can happen to you too!

Similarly, blog writing is a process and each and every person is capable of becoming a good writer if he or she takes the right direction. If bloggers follow the right techniques, they will become better writers in a short period of time.

Improve Your Vocabulary

Most bloggers have a very limited set of words that they employ in their writing. This is because they have poor vocabulary. A great way to increase your vocabulary is to perform a simple technique while reading. Whenever you find a word that you haven’t seen before, note it down on a piece of paper. Once you have a list of some of these words in the end of the day, you can refer to the dictionary and find the meanings of each word. I personally use Oxford Dictionary for English vocabulary, but you can also use refer to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary which is equally good. Also, you can note down the words and their respective meanings in a workbook which you can refer each day and then memorize each word. This daily habit will help you build your vocabulary.

Correcting your grammar

Learning grammar is really important for conveying your message. Grammar helps to create a flow of writing. An error in the placement of a full stop or any punctuation can entirely change the meaning of the sentence. I don’t mean that you have to become a master of grammar, but you should try to learn the basics. If you are able to manage that, you will be assured that you are able to convey your message properly. You can refer any good online resources for improving your grammar.

Read Other Blogs, News and Magazines

Learn how to write by analyzing how other renowned writers write. The first place to find great pieces of writings are newspapers and magazines. These articles are free from any errors (They are edited before they are published) and they can teach you how to structure your thoughts and convert it into a presentable piece that is understood by your readers.

Also, you should refer to other blogs and analyze their writing. Compare it with yours and see what you are doing wrong and you have to make sure that you take a corrective action.

Experiment with your Writing

I know it might sound a little odd, but experimentation is really important to find the writing that works for your readers. Each blogger has a unique style because each of them has a different audience. You have a different reader base too, so you should try to vary your writing and monitor their responses. The ones that work best for you, should be your permanent style of writing.

Following each and every step of this writing process is equally important, if you really want to become a good writer.

What do you think about your writing? Self-Inspect and tell me about your positives and negatives.

The Process of Becoming a Good Blog Writer is a post from: Blog Godown

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Is your blog social media ready?

Are you taking social media marketing seriously? If your answer is yes, then you need to make a move to make it social media ready and get your blog in the limelight. Social media has a lot of traffic potential for your blog. The quality of traffic depends on the type of social media, but it is definitely lower than search engines. By quality, I mean the visitor/subscriber is low compared to guest blogging. But there is way to increase the conversion rate by optimizing your blog. Social media users are always bombarded with more information than they can actually handle. Therefore, to avoid wasting a lot of time, the users don’t read the entire article but scan through it. If they don’t like the article, they move on and if they like it, they usually share it with others. If your blog articles have a bad first impression, then chances are, that there will be a poor conversion of visitors to subscribers It doesn’t mean that social media marketing is a waste of time. It only means that you have to try to increase the conversion rate by optimizing your blogs and make it social media ready.

Readable Design

Before you kick off and write an article or perform any other type of optimization on your blog, make sure that your design is readable (Although, an impressive design will always be a better option). If you are not a designer, you can always buy a premium theme from a good theme club like WooThemes. A readable design does not strain the reader’s eyes and hence, it facilities fast and strain free reading by having an appropriate line size, font size and type and also a readable theme. It makes it simpler for the readers to judge the article in the little time they have. Some More Tips on Creating a Readable Design:

1. Don’t Ruin Your Smashing Web Design with Poor Navigation
2. 5 Conversion Rate Optimization Tips for Bloggers

Sparky Title & Hypnotic Beginnings

In any social media website, the first thing that shows is the title of the article and after that is the beginning of the article. Hence, the title along with the beginning paragraph is of utmost importance, as it decides whether your article is worth taking a look or not. It is the part of the article, which has to grab maximum attention. A catchy title can bring more attention than the old boring way of writing articles. You need to play with your titles and add adjectives that are catchy and are able to grab more eyeballs. Also, you need to write a hypnotic beginning which is able to glue the readers to your blog. You can try quotes or questions in the beginning so that you are able to generate more interest in the reader. More Tips:

1. Smashing Tricks to Writing Eye Catching Titles
2. Hypnotic Beginnings

Structured Content

As these social media enthusiasts are always in a hurry, they prefer blog articles that are structured i.e. the content is formatted in such a manner that a reader can get a brief idea of the article by scanning through it. The article should be formatted into various paragraphs and also have different heading sizes to have a hierarchical structure. More Tips:

1. How to Write Structured Articles

Add a Vote Button

Many of your blog readers are a bit on the lazy side. They don’t want to strain themselves by taking an initiative and sharing your articles. If you don’t add a social media website vote button, chances are, that number of social media shares is very low and hence, it will not be able to drive as much social media traffic as it should. You will see your results change dramatically, if you add a vote button (A vote button saves a lot of time, when you are sharing an article on social media website). A vote button can start a chain of social media shares. People see the number of social media shares on the social media button. If they think that the number of social media shares is high, they might be motivated to share the article, themeselves which converts into a chain reaction. A simple retweet button can increase the number of retweets by ten times.

Be Controversial

Adding an element of controversy to your articles is always a great technique get massive social media traffic . Controversy can be straight out, burning a person or company’s image which can lead to many positive and negative comments. If you can handle this type of controversy, then it is best, you do it more often. But if you want lesser bad effects of controversy (negative comments) and more good effects (Traffic), try subtle controversy. Add your opinion but don’t criticize somebody and participate in healthy debates rather intensive name calling. I, personally prefer subtle controversy than straight out controversy. Which type of controversy you would like to use is your personal choice.

Branding

Branding your website is essential to have a higher conversion rate. When you present your website as a brand, people start identifying your websites with it. Hence, when your website articles are shared again and again and they see your brand, the reputation of the website increases. The improved reputation leads to more sharing and this becomes a exponentially increasing trend. Take an example of twitip or mashable, they have become renowned on social media due to massive sharing on social media and also because these websites are properly branded. If you follow these 6 steps, you would be able to create a social media ready blog which will attain a higher conversion rate from social media traffic.

How to Create a Social Media Ready Blog is a post from: Blog Godown

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Hypnotic Beginnings - A method to attract your readers like magnets

Living in a metro city has its advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage is that you get plenty of choices on each and every product.  You, as a customer have an upper hand i.e. you have the power to choose. As there is intense competition in the market, each competitor is trying their best to grab the consumer’s attention. You see billboards everywhere around you. Some are good, some are bad and some are really out of the world.

You don’t give attention to each and every advertisement. There are some ads that really stand out and make an impact on you. This impact converts you into a  potential customer.

Magnetic Headlines along with Hypnotic beginnings, if combined together, work the same way and they act as an advertisement for your articles. Visitors are busy people and they might be following many blogs. They are not interested in reading each and every article (they don’t have that much time). They are actually flicking through all the articles. What they read is the first paragraph. If they like the idea, they will read further. If not, then they will move to another blog.

Whether you are able to make it or break it – It all depends on how well you are able to send the message across. If you are able to make an impact from the Title and the Beginning Paragraph, then you have a chance of converting many visitors into loyal readers.

Hypnotic Beginnings are an opening to your articles. Bloggers can use it as a tool to generate interest in the reader.

Have you seen an opening ceremony in a global level competition like Olympics? Isn’t it grand. A big celebrity line-up and many fantastic performances. You should keep that in mind when you are constructing an introduction to an article. Don’t think of good, think of Grand.

Questions

Questions are really intriguing and they can manage to generate lots of traffic. Questions are trying to cater to the inquisitive side of a human’s brain. If the reader is able to relate to the issue, then he will surely read the rest of the article. Questions are basically intended to enquire whether the reader has experienced the same thing. Whether it is a burning issue or a major problem. Questions can help establish the connect between the reader and the content.

If I had to start this article with a question, it would have been something like this:

Have you skipped an article just because the beginning was not convincing?

Quote

Starting with a quote or saying is a good way to give weight to what you are trying to say. If a famous person has said anything relevant about the same issue – that you are trying to write, then it can help you prove that your article is about an important issue.

Alternatively, quotes are there to inspire readers so that they are set in the right direction when they are reading the rest of the article and they actually follow what is actually been said on those articles.

Summary

Yes, summaries are usually at the end of the article. Here, i am trying to say that articles can start with brief points and ideas which will be described in the later stages. It is basically used to familiarise readers with the concept, so that they are able to understand the rest of the article and they don’t end up confused.

Also, readers can make a decision on whether they want to read it or not, based on the summary provided in the beginning paragraph.

These three techniques can be used by the blogger according to his choice. But, bloggers should ensure that whatever technique they use,  they should make it a point of using it appropriately and make an impression which is Grand

Hypnotic Beginnings is a post from: Blog Godown

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1. How to Create a Social Media Ready Blog
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Have you ever considered planning before you write or planning your blogging schedule?

Riches do not respond to wishes. They respond only to definite plans, backed by definite desires, through constant persistence

Napoleon Hill

So, if you want to be a be a six figure blogger or whatever maybe your blogging goals, it cannot happen without prior planning. Planning is really helpful when you are dealing with adversities. At that time you might see your careful planning bearing fruit and helping you out in times of immediate need.

Facing Writer’s Block

Bloggers don’t give importance to planning as they think of blogging as a spontaneous activity and they try to write according to their mood. But what if you get trapped in the writer’s block and you are not able to write at all. This will seriously impact your blog posting frequency and will keep your readers at bay. You cannot predict a writer’s block type of situation, but you can control the situation by planning some basic backup articles (which you might have written earlier) which can be used in times of utmost need (like this one).

Time Management

There will be times in your blogging career where you might have a full day for blogging and there will be times when you have a few minutes.

If you don’t plan wisely and manage time properly, you are going to lose on articles for your blog.

If you have a full day for blogging, why not write 2-3 articles for that day? You might as well use the spare time to some good use rather than just checking out your analytics or the amount you earned (I know that’s important, but content should be your first priority).

You can treat the extra articles as backup articles. I call them backup articles because they prove to be useful when you are usually facing a time crunch.

Guest Blogging – More Free Time

Guest blogging is great!. You get some free content in exchange for the exposure the blogger gets. When you receive a guest article, you have to write for one less day or week. This means more spare time. Why not motivate yourself and start writing.

Listen, more content never goes waste. If you’re articles start piling up, then you can use them as guest articles for other blogs. Or you can start a new side blog of the same niche and publish these articles on the new blog.

Taking Breaks from Blogging

We bloggers are real people, like you and me. We love to spend time and have fun with our friends and family. We love to go on vacations. But, what if we have to go for long vacations? What would happen to our blogs? Will it be totally abandoned?

If we had some articles ready beforehand, we could have scheduled it and still had fun. No one would notice the difference that you have gone for the vacation and you will still be retaining the readers of your blog.

Notes

Planning articles does not mean that you have to write full articles. Writing notes on a piece of paper is also a part of the planning process.

Whenever you have a Eureka! moment, you can write your ideas on a piece of paper. The next time you can do the mind mapping and add some basic points to it. Basically, you can follow a logical sequence of writing so that you have a mix of fully prepared and semi-prepared articles. This logical sequence can be your blog posting workflow or any other technique you follow.

The semi-prepared articles can reduce the time to write an article by almost 90%. This means that if you have very little time, you can still think of completing an article.

Discussion

According to me, planning ahead is a wise choice. But what do you think about it?

Preparing Posts – Advanced Planning is a post from: Blog Godown

Related posts:

1. 3 Great Ways to Get Rid of Writer’s Block
2. Backing Up your Blogger Posts and Comments
3. Mind Mapping Exercise for High Speed Blogging

Newspaper's First Page Has Article Excerpts

In this article Karan Singhal of Trafficke wants to solve the battle between excerpts and full sized posts on the blog homepage. You can express your unique blogging view or blogging tip by following our guest blogging guidelines.

A widely debated issue in the blogging community is the question of leaving your blog homepage with full-sized posts or excerpts. Should new visitors see a preview of your posts, or should they be able to read each of them easily by simply scrolling down?

The best choice might seem, at first, to keep full-sized posts enabled, but if you look closer you’ll find this is a big mistake for your blog.

Implementing excerpts is definitely, and I mean without a doubt, the best choice for your blog, no matter what niche you’re in. Here’s why:

Too Much To Handle

Have you ever thought of the possibility that full-sized posts on your homepage might just be too much for a new visitor to handle?

A visitor who is overwhelmed at the first sight of your blog is very likely to close out and never come back. You don’t want your visitors doing this. The only way to keep it simple for your visitors is to use post excerpts that give the reader an option to read more.

Difficulty For Visitors

Even if you’ve managed to pull in a few dedicated readers that have become used to your (stupid) overwhelming homepage, all is not well. At least for your visitors. Have you ever thought of how hard it is to keep on scrolling through posts that you really don’t want to read? (don’t laugh at me, I’m serious) By putting full-sized posts on your homepage, you are creating huge difficulty and potentially setting yourself for a higher bounce rate.

This too, can turn your blog into a waste of time for your readers.

Benefits of using post excerpts:

Bite-sized nuggets of information – By providing excerpts instead of posts on your homepage, you are providing quality information that they can easily swallow, and if they aren’t interested, scroll down a little for more. If they are interested, they can just as easily read more by simply clicking on a link for the full post. By doing this, you are making your homepage manageable for your traffic, especially for new visitors.

Pull in more visitors to your content – If you use post excerpts, you’re making your content much more inviting. I always feel much more attracted to a small readable paragraph instead of a huge 500-word full sized post. And most likely, so do your readers. After all, which would you like better: getting a small taste and being invited for more, or getting the entire meal at once? I think the choice is clear, for you and your readers.

A better opportunity for you – Excerpts are what your visitors will read. Post excerpts give you an added opportunity to pull in the traffic your posts were made to get. This means a better performance for all of your posts. But you can also add to this opportunity by really spending a good amount of time writing you excerpt so that it brings even more traffic to your posts.

There are many reasons why you might want to use post excerpts on your homepage instead of simply leaving the WordPress default of full sized posts. This post has just listed a few. To summarize, just know that using post excerpts decreases your bounce rate and reduces clutter and difficulty for your website traffic, especially new visitors. They also help your posts perform better and attract much more traffic.

Thanks for reading! Please retweet, I spent a lot of time writing this article for you!

Blog Homepage: Excerpt vs. Full Size Post is a post from: Blog Godown

Related posts:

1. 2 Ways How To Find Blog Post Ideas
2. The 21 Worst Things To Have On Your Blog or Website
3. Why Rejection Isn’t A Bad Thing In Blogging

This is a guest article by Dana of Blogging Tips Blog where he shares his experience with nasty plugins that deteriorate the blog’s performance and why you should uninstall a particular wordpress plugin. You too can join in by following our guest blogging guidelines

In my opinion, WordPress is the best platform for blogging because there are so many WordPress plugins available that can be used freely to optimize your blog’s functions. WordPress plugins allow bloggers to use many advanced blogging functions without the need to learn “how to code”. Bloggers only need to find a suitable WordPress plugin (which is easy to find), upload, and then install it. There is no need to do coding like in the other blogging platforms. However, since the WordPress plugins act as a third party application, it may not work well for our blog sometimes. It may slow down our blog, produce a broken layout, or cause any other blog problem.

We may be forced to uninstall a plugin to overcome a particular blog problem or if the blog’s state is very bad or it needs to improve it’s performance. Here, I share six reasons why you should uninstall  WordPress plugins from your blog:

Reason #1. You Can Do It the Manual Way

WordPress plugins are used to do certain advanced blog functions without coding in the first place. However, there are many WordPress plugins that perform very simple functions. These kind of WordPress plugins  load our blog with unnecessary additional interfacing and increase the load time. Also, we can replace these simple WordPress plugins with simple programming code. Therefore, I suggest that we always use the  manual way instead of using a WordPress plugin for simple functions since the code will be very simple. It will be able to reduce the blog fault problems and load time significantly.

Reasons #2. Slow Down Your Blog

I already mentioned it in reason #1 but I think it is better to discuss it in a separate section. It is because of this reason is extremely important. Since WordPress plugins act as third party applications and also, they usually need database resources, sometimes there will be a significant reduction in blog speed. It is always true that too many WordPress plugins will surely slow down our blog. The bad WordPress plugins are the major cause behind the slowing down of blogs. Therefore, we should uninstall all the WordPress plugins that significantly slow down our blog.

Reasons #3. Find A Better Plugin For The Function

There are so many WordPress plugins out there and some of them provide the same basic function. It means that we can always replace one plugin with another plugin and still enjoy the same functionality (with more features and advanced functionality). Therefore, it is normal that we uninstall a WordPress plugin and replace it with a better WordPress plugin. Improvement in blog performance is a good reason behind a plugin change.

Reason #4. Conflict With a More Important Plugin

If we use many WordPress plugins, there is a big probability that a conflict occurs – a conflict between two or more WordPress plugins. I, myself experienced this WordPress plugin conflict. The conflict which forced me to uninstall some of the WordPress plugins. In this conflict situation, we will be forced to sacrifice some WordPress plugins for more important WordPress plugins. It means that we uninstall the less important WordPress plugin so that the important one can run smoothly. We can remove it forever or search for another plugin that does not conflict with the important plugin.

Reason #5. Feed Up The Blog Resources

This reason is related with our web hosting service. There are many bloggers that use cheap web hosting service which allow limited resources to be used. If our resources feed up, our hosting account may be blocked or disabled. It is legal because it is already mentioned in their web hosting contract (Term Of Service/TOS). Therefore, we  need to a keep the resources’ usage below the threshold. For this, we may be forced to uninstall our blog’s WordPress plugins since there are some WordPress plugins which demand very high resources to run properly.

Reason #6. Create Too Many External DoFollow Links

As we know, too many external dofollow links can harm our blog rank in search engine eyes. It is because too many external dofollow link make search engine determine our blog as link farm site. Therefore we need to be careful and always in full control of our blog’s external dofollow link. In this case, we may need to uninstall our blog WordPress plugin since there are some WordPress plugins which require dofollow links from users.

Final Words

In my opinion, the best thing about WordPress as blogging platform is that there are many WordPress plugins available to help bloggers who do not have deep knowledge in programming. Therefore, it allows Bloggers to have advanced blog functions without the need to do coding. However, sometimes, there are reasons to uninstall our WordPress plugins. In this blog post, I already shared six reasons to uninstall WordPress plugin from our blog. If we look at the relationships between all of the reasons that I mentioned in this blog post, all the reasons are related with improvement in blog’s performance.

That’s all the updates this time, wait for the next update!

6 Reasons Why You Should Uninstall A WordPress Plugin is a post from: Blog Godown

Related posts:

1. 7 Must Have WordPress Plugins
2. Why you should convert your Blogger Blog to Self Hosted WordPress
3. Learn More about People Who Contact You (WordPress)

Build Trust that binds your Reader

Building trust is a difficult task. You can build trust by delivering good content and marketing it ethically. The author of the post is Shahul of the UK broadband comparison (www.broadbandsupplier.co.uk.) website who will explain how bloggers can build trustworthy blogs. You too can join in by following our guest blogging guidelines.

Blogging has become a fashion to publish thoughts, scratch and sell ideas mostly for money. But sadly being a professional blogger would take more than this. A real pro-blogger is admired, respected and trusted since he is more powerful from his mind. The act of marketing online would be more natural that he gains a reader out of every visitor. I am sorry, if you are unaware of this being a full time blogger yourself. If you wish to earn your daily bread out of blogging or dream of something even more from blogging, better built the trustability of your blog right now!

May be others can stop reading and switch to some other post…….

Clarity of thoughts is what most bloggers lag behind. Don’t start a blog just because you wanted to or because a friend of yours makes good money out of blogging. Be clear on why you wish to start a blog, be clear on what you know and be clear on what extent you could survive.

Not all blogs earn good money or not all blogs fetch more visitors. It’s the power of a blogger and his words that fetches readers and money.

Don’t be too serious, just be responsible. I personally believe that bloggers can’t be serious. You write on what you think- don’t insist on someone to believe it. Write what you believe and have your readers follow you.

Also bloggers can win even if they write about a lost match. It’s not about when you write, it’s about what and how you write. A reader believes in you only when he actually feels that you have taken an effort to craft the post. Instant posts are like scribbling on a wall while crafting is art of exhibiting your attitude towards the topic. However that isn’t enough.

Make an action plan. There isn’t anything like POST PUBLISHING day, for a blogger to write and publish a day. Maintain a to-do-list for all your posts. Keep writing all your ideas- collect materials, photographs, write every piece of information as a draft. When you think you have got enough, write, read and rewrite and publish.

You are unqualified to start a blog if you do not have at least 50+ post ideas. Make it ready and schedule them at least to get published weekly twice in the beginning. So you get enough time to work for increasing the number of posts per week.

Be consistent and creative with your posts. But do not expect all your posts to go viral!

Make your blog lively to ensure that a reader can inhale the essence of a blog. It makes him feel that you are responsible and can be helpful to him any time.

I never feel like reading something which is monotonous, neither you. Images can speak a lot than words. But just photographs won’t do. Create graphs, scribbling, screenshots, videos etc and make your posts interactive. Check yourself, if you have all that you need for blogging.

An internet connection, a computer loaded with ms-office isn’t enough. Being bloggers we talk about tools, gadgets all the time. Use ‘em up as much as possible. Blurry videos and pictures would show your sense of urgency and carelessness.

May be you have something else which is more important than this!

One tip which I suggest is making posts interactive. Do not give out all answers for a question in a single post. Make your readers think. Don’t try to be too smart by asking something that most of them don’t know. Your questions should provoke a reader to search for an answer.

Do not over do things. This mistake is mostly done while using social media. Either bloggers don’t use social media or over do it. It’s not possible for someone to look after and run behind a customer where you find them.

Check out where your target audiences are and maintain a regular interval of availability. There are N numbers of plugins that can help you customize, integrate and schedule your social media works.

Be there to read all the user comments and respond them appropriately. Take time to research the questions of your readers and answer them in depth. Be the first to compliment your and suggest your readers.

That is not all!

Being original is what a professional blogger requires. Sharing of knowledge tends to re-write. Do not write about something as soon as you read them. Give some space. At least a week’s time and then recollect your memories. Write your views, things that attracted you, why you felt great, etc. Now correct your post may be you can verify facts and analytical data. Rest should be original.

I would be more than happy to get your original thoughts on the topic! Happy Blogging!

How to build trust in your Blog? is a post from: Blog Godown

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1. How to Build Reputation for your Blog
2. How To Build A Community Of Readers Who Want To Do Business With You
3. Creating Top Quality Blog Reader Relationships

Don't be disappointed

Guest Bloggers face rejection if their article is not appropriate for the host’s blog (according to the blog owner). Many bloggers are not to handle rejection well and they eventually give up. Karan of Trafficke SEO Services thinks that rejection is a good thing as it helps bloggers in improving their blogging abilities. You too can join in by following our guest blogging guidelines.

Contrary to popular belief, rejection doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. Actually, in blogging, it’s a great wake-up slap and it helps you improve in a variety of aspects. How will you ever improve as a blogger if you don’t know what you’re doing wrong? You can’t. That’s why it’s important to get rejected once in a while. (but not on purpose, of course )  Let’s see,  how rejection can actually help you in your quest to become a professional blogger.

Guest Posting

‘These days, I’m putting a lot of focus on guest posting. I submit at least 3 or 4 per week, without losing time for posting on my own blog. In my opinion, this is a great way to promote your website. So much traffic potential, so many new prospects, a whole new community to share your content with, all in exchange with the simple task of writing an article. My posts usually get accepted, but often, when I’m asking A-list blogs like ProBlogger and CopyBlogger to publish my content, I get rejected. Not because my posts are bad. (at least I hope not ) But more because that so many guest posts reach Darren’s inbox each day that you really do have to be a “pro blogger” to get a guest post on his signature blog.

So, rejection happens. Sure, my goal when I sent Darren my guest post was to get it published, but it isn’t really his fault that he can’t publish it, so I’m not angry or anything.

But besides that, when I get rejected, I’m not sad, I’m not angry. I’m actually eager to find out what was wrong with my post.

Was it on a level that the readers of the blog would feel to be too easy? Is the post structured badly? Is the post boring for the reader. Maybe, maybe not. These are all good questions and the only way to find out the answer is to ask. And the only way you get this amazing opportunity to improve your writing and get personal tips from some of the top people in your niche, (in my case, blogging and SEO) is rejection.

So, don’t be afraid of seeing an email that says that your post can’t be accepted. Because, rejection is more than what’s on the outside. It’s how you can improve as a blogger. If every guest post intended for the best blogs on the internet that you wrote was accepted, you’d feel no need to improve. Rejection is there to change that and helps you become a better writer, and as a result, a better blogger.

Pretty much anything else…

Pretty much anything you can do as a blogger that involves other people may lead to rejection in some shape. So pretty much anything you can do as a blogger that involves other people may lead to you improving in some shape. Seriously.

For example, even if it’s a small and insignificant one, blog commenting. If your blog comment isn’t accepted by a blog, you may rethink about your comment. Was it really valuable? Did it add to the conversation? Did you do anything other than repeat what other commentators have already said? These questions won’t come to mind if you don’t get rejected. See, how rejection helps you to improve in all aspects of blogging, and not just guest posting?

Rejection doesn’t have to be a bad thing. And if you know how to handle it calmly and properly, you’ll only benefit from it. Rejection acts as a wake-up-call and it slaps you into improving yourself. So don’t be mad that your article wasn’t good enough for that A-list blog, and don’t be mad if your comment wasn’t good enough.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed reading this article, please share and retweet!

Why Rejection Isn’t A Bad Thing In Blogging is a post from: Blog Godown

Related posts:

1. Guest Blogging – A win-win situation
2. How to Become a Blogging Idol
3. How To Deal With Blogging Failures

Are Guest Blogging Contests Worth It?

In this article, Melvin of MelvinBlog.com gives his take on guest blogging competitions which have sprung up recently. Join this guest blogging community.

I’ve said many times, guest blogging is one of strategies I’m seriously implementing even from the start of the year. I’m actually working super hard getting as much high quality guest posts as possible to big blogs and see how I can reap all the benefits.

But then another thing happened. And those are the growth of these guest blogging contests. These are just like the normal guest blogging but instead of the normal one, what it does is kind of incentivize the whole thing. Of course like any contest, many were enticed to join.

I was eventually one of them and although I know I didn’t work as hard as most people do, it’s all worth it. It’s ironic because just couple of days back I blasted these guest blogging contests and stated my reason why I dislike them.

In that post briefly I covered that the main intention of guest blogging becomes different with contests. Instead of providing superb content, the guest blogger would try to win the contest. On the flip side, there’s also a massive change in reader’s anticipation. With normal guest blogging, people read the articles as it is. While with contests, most of the readers are contestants as well hence they really wouldn’t read it, instead they’d observe. In short, the benefits a guest blogger can get is non-existent with these contests.

Enough rant. It’s not that I hate it, in fact I like it just with some doubt in my mind with the results. But then I learned these things after winning the contest here in Blog Godown. It somehow changed my perspective on guest blogging contests because of the things I’ve realized. Anyways here they are:

• Competition is there, whether you like it or not- When you are part of  a competition, one thing I observed is that the other contestants are usually the commenters of your guest post first and fast. They’re accommodating, there will be times when they’d give you a pat at the back. But the truth behind it is that they’re tracking their status and the overall progress of the contest. Competition is so tight in any contests. Even if its just commenting contests or whatever type of contests. And, hey! you would have realized that its fun competing!
• You get into these friendly circles – I always preach that blogging is all about establishing relationships. The good thing with guest blogging contests is that it puts you instantly into the little community of a blog. The first time I actually heard about Blog Godown is when the contest started and honestly I never had an idea what the blog was all about. So what eventually happened is that I started connecting with these people who joined this contest and boom, I have a new reader in them!
• You will learn (surprisingly) – A lot of people use this phrase a lot and to be honest I’m not too big on it. But with Blog Godown’s contest, I learned a lot of things. As I’ve said, I never heard of Blog Godown before and I thought it was just another blog filled with ads and etc. So when the contest started, I thought I was the only qualified contestant (sorry, I’m arrogant). Long story short, as I was reading all the entries I realized that hey I’m learning a lot with these entries. Eventually I bookmarked some of them for future reference.
• If you win – great, if not – move on and improve - One of my mistakes is always my crappy grammar. I’m not a native speaker and so sometimes I get messy with my statements. But by writing more and more and more, we improve. I get a lot of emails everyday asking for tips on how I get to be able to publish so many guest posts. My answer is “just write your article”. I mean instead of worrying about so many metrics and stuffs, why not just sit down and write. Over time you will get better and in this business, good writing means a lot.

These are 4 small things that I learned specifically by joining the contest here in this blog and I’m sure you have your own stories as well. Guest blogging is a deadly technique to get massive REAL traffic to your blog. I always like to use Viperchill as an example and for right now not a lot of people are doing it right.

By constantly doing things, we improve and with these contests, it gives another layer of reason why we should do it more. What is your say?

Innovative Things I Learned With Guest Blogging Contests is a post from: Blog Godown

Related posts:

1. Guest Blogging Contest
2. The Guest Blogging Contest So Far and Blog Godown Newsletter
3. Guest Blogging – A win-win situation

Have you compared two articles, one whose title includes a number and the other which doesn’t include a number? Have you noticed the difference in the amount of comments or traffic these type of article get?

Articles that have numbered titles like 75 Beautiful Free Social Bookmarking Icon Sets have something that attracts more eyeballs. From my experience, I have seen readers liking these type of articles more than the usual type of articles. Also, if i use seventy five instead of 75, the total advantage of having a numbered headline will be nullified.

As a reader, I love numbered titles. I don’t know, but there is something in numbered titles that makes it irresistible and you are forced to read the article. Even if the quality of content is not up to mark, but numbered titles are still able to do their job by bringing a lot of traffic.

The real question each blogger wants to be answered is: What is in numbers that attract huge attention? Because, if we get the right answer to it, we can utilize it in other areas and attract a even bigger audience.

I don’t think there is a sure shot answer to this question, but I would like to give some theories that supports the fact that people are attracted to numbered titles:

1. Readers love collections

Usually articles with numbered titles are collection of ideas in the form of list posts, or they are collection of articles in the form of roundups.

Roundups and list articles can be thought of a collection of many small articles in a bundled form. People love information which is precise and is available at a single place (i.e. they don’t have to search for more information).

Take an example of a person searching for a certain piece of information available in files. There are two ways to collect all the information.

First method: The person can scan through 20 different files and note down the relevant points from each file. These files may have overlapping data and therefore, the person may be wasting time in reading the same information repeatedly. Once all the points noted down, he has to remove the redundant information and note the most relevant points.

Second Method: The person can scan through a single file and get all the information in one go.

Which method will you choose? Obviously, the second one, because it saves you time and effort.

Similarly, articles with numbered headlines are treated as well rounded tutorials which can be thought as good resources. That is why readers prefer reading these type of articles rather than reading many articles as it saves them time. After all, all readers want to sit back and relax and have some free time to have more fun, right?

2. It’s a Brain Problem

I think the reason why we are attracted to the numbers may be because our brain may be sensitive to the numbers. There may be a centre of the brain that grasps numbers easily. As numbers take less space than words, they are easy to assimilate by the brain.

A particularly interesting thing to note with numbered headlines is that rounded figures usually have an upper hand. Using 1000 instead of 999 is preferable. 999 is considered as a number in the 900s in our brain whereas 1000 is considered in 1000s although the difference between them is just 1. Hence, a round figure has a higher appeal and therefore, it is used very often in headlines.

3. Structured Articles

Many bloggers forget the importance of articles that can be scanned and skimmed with ease. Bloggers ruin their blogs by making these common mistakes of improper formatting and structuring articles into logical boxes.

Structured Articles are easier to read and understand. Some bloggers fail to put their point forward as they are not able to structure their ideas.

Articles with headlines are already divided into numbered blocks and hence, it is given that the articles will be available in structured form and they will be easier to interpret.

4. More the Merrier

The numbers in headlines are important. People always want more money and land. People are always wanting for more. An article without a numbered headline may seem as an article covering a single topic. On the other hand, articles having numbered headlines are perceived as articles covering more than one idea and hence, they have more information to offer.

The higher the value of the number, more is the appeal attached to it. An article with number 100 will be considered better than the article having a number 50 or 25.

5. Lucky Number

Some people might associate some numbers as their lucky numbers. These numbers, if found in articles are usually read by people who believe in lucky numbers. (7 is the classic example. It is considered by most.)

This is a just theory not a fact. You can have your own little theory about it.

What do you think is the actual reason behind this number obsession? Are you attracted to articles having numbered headlines?

5 Reasons why Readers are Obsessed with Numbered Headlines is a post from: Blog Godown

Related posts:

1. Smashing Tricks to Writing Eye Catching Titles
2. How to Write Structured Articles
3. Hypnotic Beginnings

I find many bloggers complaining about writer’s block, they are just not able to write their articles (They get stuck). They face problems when they are searching for blog post ideas. Whenever they think of an idea, they reject it because either the idea is not good enough for their readers or they don’t have enough expertise to write about it.

In my opinion, the reason they end up in the same situation again and again is because their approach is just not right!

They approach writing articles by thinking of an idea and they just start writing about it. By the time they reach the middle of the article, they are totally out of points. They don’t know what to do next and they get frustrated in the end. This situation is not very healthy for bloggers. Bloggers usually quit blogging for the sole reason that they frequently face writer’s block.

This situation had to occur because they didn’t invest enough time in thinking or brainstorming on the concept.

Bloggers should approach each article by performing a mind mapping exercise. It would be a structured approach towards blogging and it would certainly cure writer’s block.

Mind Mapping Exercise

Mind Mapping is a really interesting exercise, because it needs only one resource – your Brain. Brain has a fast processing speed and therefore ideas come in fractions of seconds.

In Mind Mapping you have to create a mental map of related keywords and ideas. This map will thus act as a reference when you are writing articles for your blog.

1. In mind mapping you need to think of certain keywords, which will act as a basis for your article ideas (for eg. article writing, copywriting, blogging tips). If you are a niche blogger, then you can think of keywords related to your niche. These keywords may be very general in nature or they can be highly specific.
2. After selecting keywords, you have to brainstorm about ideas revolving around the keyword (for eg. Blog Marketing for beginners for the keyword Blog Marketing). These ideas can be very specific and if, in your opinion, the idea has many aspects to it and it would become a really long article, then you can always try to break the idea into smaller chunks, which means more articles from the same concept! (eg. You can break blog marketing for beginners into guest blogging and social media marketing).
3. Think of an appropriate title for your article. The title is usually a starting point or the foundation for the article. Once you have an idea you can easily visualize the article. I spend most of my time in deciding the title of my article, and everything that follows, it  becomes really easy.
4. Once you have a title in mind, you can think of certain points you would like to include in your articles. These points can be thought of a summary of the article. These points will be elaborated while you are writing the article.
5. Though, this is a mind mapping exercise, it would be advisable that you write each and everything on a piece of paper ( or as Alex does – by using a Blackboard) because mind has a limited capacity and it would overflow in no time. You may forget certain key points which might be required when you are writing the article.

Why Mind Mapping

Why should bloggers perform the mind mapping exercise, when they are able to manage writing their articles without any problems?

Why follow such a long procedure just to search for blog post ideas?

I think bloggers should still give mind mapping a try, because it has certain benefits which outweigh the use of normal writing approach:

• Easier to start: Instead of writing straight away where you have to think a lot, mind mapping is a lot easier and can become even easier with practice. Consistency is the key to super fast mind mapping.
• Less Time Taken: With mind mapping, you already have the title and the important points in your hand, which will be covered in detail in the article. By this method, you are definitely cutting on the excessive time spent on repetitive brainstorming of points while you are in the middle of an article.
• Plenty of Ideas: If you even spend a day on mind mapping, you can get ideas for a whole month.

What is your take on mind mapping?

Image Credit

Mind Mapping Exercise for High Speed Blogging is a post from: Blog Godown

Related posts:

1. Do you Follow a Blog Posting Workflow?
2. Preparing Posts – Advanced Planning
3. How to Find Blogging Inspiration from Real Life

Worst things that can annoy readers

This is a guest post by Chavah Kinloch, a WAHM (Work at Home Mom) of four young children – She’s an artist. You can regularly find Chavah at her blog, Creating My Reality, and you can find her here on Twitter. Be part of this community and check out our guest blogging guidelines

1. Flash – Can we say 1990′s? No one likes sitting there while it loads and then having to click past an intro just to arrive to some more flashing photos.
2. Music – Please, please, get rid of it or make it optional to start. People will either click away as soon as they hear the music or go insane as they try to find the window that’s making that crazy noise.
3. More ad’s than content – If your ad’s are taking centre stage, you will get no credibility.
4. Pop up’s – I can handle pop up ‘join my mailing list’ ads but anything other than that means I will never again return to your site. In saying that though, let me at least read what you’ve written so I can choose whether you’re worth following or not.
5. Really Bad english – A little bit of error can be tolerated but if it is glaringly obvious that you’ve never had to speak english to communicate for the sake of survival, you should probably be looking to outsource your writing or write in your native language and use something like Google Translator.
6. Loooong Blog Posts – If it’s going to take forever to say it, break it up. Create a series.
7. Broken links – Check, check and triple check! Or install this if you use WordPress.
8. Making people register to comment – You’re likely to lose many commentors if you choose to go this route.
9. Spam – Take precautions with your blog to ensure as little spam as possible gets through.
10. Bad content – Reading a post about something we’ve read a hundred times before isn’t interesting.
11. Writing like a professor – No one wants a lecture!
12. Lack of images – Try to include a photo in each of your posts.
13. Caps lock – I can’t believe I still come across this. Caps in text is the equivalent to yelling, SO USE IT WITH CAUTION.
14. wRiTiNg LiK dIs – Wow. Just wow. Really? Need I say more?
15. Writing about how perfect your child is – I see this a lot as well. It’s great to be proud of your child, I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t be but make sure you don’t overdose your readers with how wonderful little Jamima is at everything. I mean goodness… I have four. I know the deal.
16. Your site is ugly – There are some extremely bad tasting blog and website designs out there! Search for a talented designer. I use Swish Development.
17. I click on a link I thought was part of your site and suddenly I’m somewhere completely different – A reader should only leave your blog if they choose to.
18. The design of you site changes on each page – Only use one template for your all over design.
19. Slow loading pages – Keep images small and minimise posts on your homepage.
20. I can’t read the first post on your blog without clicking through – This is a big pet peeve of mine. I want to be able to read at least one post by landing on your blog’s homepage.
21. There’s no search function for your site – Sometimes people come back for a specific post. If you don’t have a search tool they have to scroll through pages and pages of posts. This isn’t likely to happen so instead you lose the reader and a possible link back.

The 21 Worst Things To Have On Your Blog or Website is a post from: Blog Godown

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2. 5 Tips for Creating a Perfect Business Website
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What should be the Ideal Blog Posting Frequency?

This is a guest article by Dilip. Be part of this community and check out our guest blogging guidelines

The other day as I was replying to a few comments on my blog, I found a comment from one of my readers commenting on the frequency of posting that I was using. After about a couple of days, I found an email in my inbox from one of my subscriber, who decided to unsubscribe. She had written a detailed email and as I read the email, I was surprised at the reason she had mentioned for unsubscribing.

This was what she had written -

“Your blog is very informative and I liked reading your posts. But for the time being, I have to unsubscribe from your feeds because I do not want to lose my focus. Your blog covers a wide variety of topics, which includes 2 of my interests. I get about 8-9 posts on an average every week and find short of time to scan through your posts to find posts of my interest. I might want to subscribe some time later once I have set up my online business“.

I was startled at this revelation. I had always read that the more frequently you post the better it is and that it keeps your blog fresh. This was contrary to all that I had read. I wondered as to what had changed in my case?

The blog posting frequency is a debate that has been going on since long. Browse through 10 different blogs posts and you will find 10 different suggestions and advices. Some say that you should post at least daily. Some of them advice that you do it once in about 2 days and yet others would advice that the blog posting frequency should be at around 2 posts every week.

Confused??

What is the ideal posting frequency? How many posts should you write and how often?

An ideal posting frequency

There is nothing called as an ideal posting frequency. Your posting frequency is determined by quite a few aspects and these aspects guide you on the number of posts that you should make in a week.

Your posting frequency should be based on the following critical aspects of your blogging.

1. Blog topic – This is one of the most important aspects. Your blog topic should decide the number of  blog posts. If your blog is about internet marketing or, making money online, then there is quite a few things that you can write on. Your readers would also want to read more and more information, hence calling for a higher frequency of posting.
2. Blog type – Though this might sound same as the first aspect, it is actually different in the sense that this means the personal, professional or, a combination of both. For e.g.: Shoemoney is a combination of both, whereas Daily Blog Tips is a professional blog and Daniel might have a personal blog for things that are less professional. As is the case of Shoemoney, you might want to push out a couple of posts every day because you are not just discussing business but everything including something interesting happening in your life.
3. Subscriber count – For a blog that has a few hundred subscribers, the subscriber interest base is not wide and you might not want to bore your readers with content every day. It would be difficult for them to remain up to date with your blog and they might choose to ignore your blog. But if your subscriber base is as huge as that of daily blog tips, your subscriber interest is wide and you have an option of publishing more than one post on the same day as well.
4. Blog authors – For a blog that has a single author, it is preferable to stick to about 2-3 posts every week. More posts would mean a stretched schedule for you and lack of research time which in turn could lead to poor quality posts. For blogs that have multiple authors, you can choose to publish one post every day.
5. Author credibility – To a great extent your posting frequency should also be determined by your credibility. I as a reader will ensure that I check back every day or, check my feed reader every day for posts from Daniel. At the same time I would not mind skipping a couple of days before checking back on a blog from an XYZ who is not that credible in the blogosphere.

You decision on posting frequency should be based on a combination of these factors and not on individual aspects.

I had once read in a blog post that a tenured blog can afford to go without posting a single post for a week or, two because the search engines would not mind it. Neither would the readers, who knows that the blogs churns out exceptionally good content. The search engine rankings also will not be affected too much. They will more or, less stay at the position they are. But if the blog is less tenured then one should churn out a few blog posts every 2 days at least in order to keep it fresh with content.

Though I agree to the fact that fresh content is required regularly and you need to keep your blog fresh in order to keep the search engines happy, I do not see too much of an advantage that a tenured blog can get in this aspect. That’s just a personal opinion, though.

What’s your opinion on blog posting frequency?

5 Ways to Decide on How Many Posts to Write! is a post from: Blog Godown

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1. How to Write Quality Blog Posts That Engage Your Readers
2. Why Rejection Isn’t A Bad Thing In Blogging
3. 5 Ways to Make Your Readers Return

Trying to Impress your Audience

Do you write articles keeping readers in mind? Do you think that the content of the blog should answer reader’s questions? Well, then you have come to the right place. It is but natural that you want to keep your audience satisfied and in order to do that you try the old school blogging techniques to target your readers and write articles that solve their problems.

Reader’s Mindset:

Readers are always looking for articles that can inspire them to write better and also motivate them to pursue to their passions. They are looking for articles which are complete and act as tutorials. Also, they are looking for something that could solve the problems they are facing each day.

Blogger’s Mindset

A Blogger thinks of his blog as a product or a service and he thinks that the best way to sell his product is to give what readers want, i.e. articles that help them solve their problems.

Slow, Old Blogging Approach

There is nothing wrong with this approach. Most bloggers use it to attract readers. But there are many bloggers  are actually doing the same thing and they may be more experienced than you. So, if you continue this old style of blogging, it will take you years to be successful as a blogger.

Super Fast, New and Unique Blogging Approach

Yes, this is the one. The one you are always trying to find. The one, for which you pay thousand of dollars in blogging products. The actual key to success is right in front of you. And, it does not cost money, but it actually requires focused efforts. Now, that is not hard, right? It can be hard if you are very lazy in your approach towards blogging. And I hate to say that, but you can never achieve appreciable success, if you remain lazy.

Once you have a focused approach. You need to think about your writing style and the content. I would like to quote a dialogue from a famous movie “Bruce Almighty”. In this movie, Jim Carry (who is the acting GOD) grants each and every person’s wish without even thinking even once. The result: Chaos and Mayhem. So Jim Carry asks GOD, what went wrong and he replies:

People don’t know what is right and wrong for them and you have to think logically and do what is best for them.

Similarly, your readers usually don’t have much clue about what they want to read. What they think is right, may not be the best for them and you as a blogger have a duty to write content that is the best for them.

Let me exemplify this situation:

A blogger who is eager to make money will search google for money making websites which will help him make him an extra buck. He will read articles about the best ways to make money online by choosing the best ad networks. Now, he has got the information about making money through his website and so he will move on and monetize his blog. Do you see something lacking in his approach? He didn’t find out how to actually make money from these ad networks. If he doesn’t get hold of this extremely critical information, he will not be able to make money even if he chooses the best ad network.

As a blogger, you have to take the high road and guide your readers and teach them something new. Something they will need, but they are not looking for it. This approach will enable you to write unique and informative articles. This uniqueness will be your Unique Selling Point, as you will stand out among the crowd. Also giving readers what they weren’t looking for but they actually needed, it will totally surprise them and it will make your blog a favorite among your readers.

This approach guarantee’s success and a very fast one. I didn’t use the word “Instant”, because there aren’t any ways to get instant success. If there were any, everybody would have been successful by now and you would not have been reading my blog or any other blog for that matter.

Now, you should consider revising your blogging approach and think about your writing. Ask yourselves simple questions like whether you are providing the best?, or you are just providing a solution? If you are providing a solution, then you need to step up and write the best.

Writing For Your Audience – Is It Right? is a post from: Blog Godown

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If you are anything like me, you would love reading entrepreneur success stories! Naturally, you might have come to the conclusion that you should be an Ex-Googler or a college dropout to be an entrepreneur . But there is another category of people, suitable for entrepreneurship, Bloggers!

Who can be an Entrepreneur?

When people hear “Entrepreneur”, most think of BIG money; Seed funding, venture capitalists! Forget all of that, you don’t even have to come up with a company to be an entrepreneur! Nowadays, most of the medium and high profile bloggers offer services like SEO, Blog migration etc. They too are entrepreneurs. Anyone can be an entrepreneur if they have something to offer.

Being an entrepreneur doesn’t mean you have to invent something new either! Having a solution to a common problem or finding a way to do something differently also puts you along the track.  Troy Rhodes Jr , a college graduate and founder of MyBookBorrow.com built a business out of a common problem he was facing, overpriced textbooks!

So What gives Bloggers a Head Start?

First of all, if you have been blogging for some time, chances are that you have a loyal reader base! So, while others have to find potential clients, you already have them! Plus, you are passionate about your niche and know what your users want!

The Benefits

Have you noticed Crunch base? TechCrunch’s app that displays info on companies and start-ups. Or Mashable’s Blippr ? They are all examples of innovative services which not only had carved up their own user base (and money!) but also aid the blog! Your blog sends out visitors to your product and People, who find your product by other means, visit your blog! Either way, YOU benefit!

The Downside ?

It is NOT EASY! Launching a product or providing a service demands

• Hard work
• Understanding what your clients want
• Your undivided attention
• A blog with a good reader base .

Also managing your blog and your services hand in hand is really HARD! And you have to work day and night to build your product ! Moreover the amount of stress and tension it gives you is enormous . So only choose this path if you are ready to face the consequences .

So are you ready to turn into an entrepreneur ? Spill your views here!

This article is a part of the guest blogging contest. If you liked this article, then help in supporting this author by retweeting and commenting on it, which will enable the author to win this contest. By the way, you can be a part of the contest, it is still not late

Why Bloggers should be Entrepreneurs? is a post from: Blog Godown

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Being a young blogger can be hard, as people don’t think you are capable enough or they think you are just not as experienced as the ones who are older than you are. Being in college has been an enriching experience for me. College has taught me skills which have enabled me to become a better blogger and also to write better. These skills are not only good for blogging but for life as well but they especially worked for me when I was blogging.

Constant Learning

In college we are always looking to gain more and more knowledge which would broaden our spectrum and would help in further studies and also in our career. Similarly, blogging requires constant learning. You need to learn aspects about blogging each day. One day it may be about improving your writing skills and the other day it may be about monetizing your blog. Whichever may be the case, you always need books or learning material to move ahead. I prefer blogs by eminent bloggers or ebooks for learning about basic topics related to blogging.  The best part of blogs is that they are totally free and they can offer you a wealth of knowledge.

Experimentation

There is no right and wrong way to blog and it totally depends on you, how you want to blog. Each and every blogger who is at the top, has his/her own distinctive technique to blog. In our practical classes, we constantly try and try until we get the right solution to our problem. Same is the case with blogging, you need to try and experiment with your writing. After a few trials you will get to know what works for you and what works for your readers. Also, you need to experiment in order to stay ahead. The technique that worked 5 years ago may not work now, because blogosphere has changed rapidly in the past 5 years and so, you have to change your blogging technique according to the circumstances.

Time Management

The most important factor that determines your productivity is time management. As a college student and a blogger, I had to divide my time in such a manner that I am able to do justice to my blogging work and also maintain a daily study routine. If I fail to do this, then I will lose on either my academics or my passion (blogging). I started using a daily blog posting workflow which decreased the time spent on blogging and also increased my output.

Competition

Being a part of a prestigious college is not a piece of cake. Even clearing the entrance exam is very difficult and there is intense competition. This competition has enabled me to always stay ahead and grow. I try to think of some bloggers as my competitors and I try to compare my performance with them. On comparison, if I find a technique which has worked for the other blogger, I try to use it in my blog and see if it works for me. This technique helps me improve my blogging skills.

Being Productive

Due to the time management, I usually get a small amount of time for each task and I have to maximize the output in the minimum time possible. To achieve that, I constantly improve my productivity. In college, if I had exams, I had to do away with distractions like online gaming. Similarly, while blogging, you have to get rid of distractions like social media, skyping and chatting to improve the productivity. Apart from that, you need to structure your work by dividing your blog post into sub tasks. For eg, a simple post would include sub tasks like brainstorming, writing notes, adding descriptions, seo and then publishing it.

Multitasking

Sometimes, you have to do multiple things at the same time. Like reading and writing at the same time. Similarly, blogging requires you to be a multitasking person. So you may be responding to comments as well as writing your blog posts. Though, I would say that multitasking may not be very productive for everybody and sometimes performing a single task is a lot better than multiple tasks. It totally depends on you and how comfortable you are with multitasking.

Motivation

There are times in college when you just want drop out and start your life in a whole different direction. And, to prevent such a situation to happen, you need to be constantly motivated. I think of the life after college and see a great future if I work real hard and this motivates me to stay in college. Blogging is also very taxing and sometimes you just want to stop writing anymore. To keep myself motivated I usually read success stories of bloggers who have made it big on the blogosphere. If they can do it, so can I.

Inquisitiveness

Being inquisitive is a quality that helps me gain more knowledge. There are lot of things in my field that I don’t know. I just ask a question to my professors and get lots of information that I wouldn’t have got if I didn’t ask the question. Blogging was something I was really bad at. But after asking many questions to successful bloggers, I started understanding what blogging really is and how to do it.

You’re One Among Equals

When I entered college, I thought that I was the king of the jungle and it will be a super easy thing to top college. A point to note is, never underestimate others. It may seem to you that others are not as good, but they all have passed the same entrance exam and so they are on equal footing with you. In blogging arena, each and every person is on the same level and you can reach the top with sheer hard work and strong will.

Image by FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How College Taught me to be a Better Blogger is a post from: Blog Godown

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I want to make a little question to you. Please do not cheat on that or i may haunt you forever. Every single one of you have been to google.com, probably thousands of times. Since you have seen the Google logo countless times, please tell me, what is the color of the third “o” letter in this logo ? I’m quite sure that you would most probably not remember that. Of course, this is not weird, if you actually do remember it, you are some kind of freak or maybe you are working on google (in that case, Hello Mr. Cutts).

People Watch But Do Not Observe

Our senses are triggered constantly. Lots of visual, hearing or mental stimulations happen for each one of us minute after minute. It is only sensible that we actually do not remember the brand of our television, even if we have been watching every one of the “Lost” episodes at it. The truth is that such details do not really matter. Who would need to pay attention to all the little details that come up daily ? It would be devastating. However, if you begin to train yourself a bit into observing more the things that happen around you, you will understand things that may have never occurred to you.

8 Supermarket Marketing Techniques That Trigger Your Buying Instincts

It is quite certain that the vast majority of people reading this post will not have observed the graciously crafted supermarket marketing techniques cast upon people every time the go shopping. These large stores are actually the quintessential of marketing and as a blog marketer, it would be a very good idea to study them and learn from them. Let’s take a look at why supermarkets are well defined as Super Markets :

1. Fruits and Vegetables Are Always There to Welcome You

Every time you enter a supermarket, there has to be something that instantly grabs your attention. In most cases, fruit and vegetable stalls are placed near the entrance. Of course, this is not just a coincidence. The vivid colors and powerful smells are there to relax you, to make you enter a better buying mood. Moreover, people are very busy nowadays. Getting them to calm down and shop in their own pace, not hasting about it, requires that they feel comfortable and cozy.

2. Easy Going Music For Easy Going Shoppers

There is always some slow music going on the background. There were actually some researches about the type of music played in supermarkets. There have been claims that some used tunes that would trigger a visitor’s brain so that he feels well and is more prone to buy.

3. Ambient Lighting Makes For Better Visitor Experience

Eye stimulation is the most important element to exploit. Have you noticed that almost every stall is lighted in a way that the items there seem to glow ? Once more, this is not done by pure chance. The way your brain perceives quality has a lot to do with the way your brain interprets what you see. The fancier the product is, the more you tend to buy it.

4. The Well Known Brands Are Always In The Shelves That Meet The Eye

How is that you can easily find well known products, just by taking a quick look at the corresponding isle ? Branding is important and supermarkets definitely know about it. They also know your buying habits. You are not the only one who buys Starbucks coffee, hundreds of people do. Therefore, this product has to be clearly visible. When products are arranged in shelves, the top sellers are always in your line of sight, most probably right where you would look naturally (that is in the middle and a little bit downwards).

5. A Bonus Card is a Really Versatile Marketing Tool

The bonus card is a great marketing technique for many reasons. An important one is that you are rewarding your buyers with better prices. If they keep buying from you, they are in for more discounts. It is a win-win situation for the supermarket and the clients. Probably equally important is that the they are able to log your buying habits. Do not be surprised if you get a new marketing mail in your inbox next week, about a new set of tennis rackets. After all, you were the one who bought tennis balls 5 days ago and used your bonus card to get a discount for.

6. Why Do The Staff Always Look Busy ?

If you are searching for a product, good luck finding it. The staff always looks very busy. So busy that you do not want to interrupt them to ask where the pepper is located. Well, they have to. You entered the supermarket, you are expected to buy more than just pepper. If you find what you want immediately, chances are that you are on your way to leaving. However, if you browse the isles a little bit, you are most probably off to buying all sorts of random things that come up to your sight.

7. Who Would Actually Buy Caramels While Not Waiting to Pay ?

Now, tell me the truth. Would you go to a supermarket to buy caramels ? (that is if your throat isn’t soar). Not really. Probably your kids would, but with a little trickery you can keep them of the caramels/candies isle. The problem is that you have to pay before leaving the supermarket. And what would you get while peacefully waiting for your turn to pay at the cashier ? A great fancy collection of all sorts of gums, caramels and candies, right next to your kids. Cunning, isn’t it ?

8. Nothing Costs 4.00 Dollars, it Costs 3.79 or 3.88

This is a pretty standard marketing technique, heavily encountered in supermarkets. It is a subtle way to form a better price for the minds of people. Everybody knows that 3.88 dollars is actually 4 dollars. However, the first form seems better. The human brain is weird and exploitable.

Transform Your Blog to a Supermarket

Now that you know of some nice tricks, why not put them into practice for your own blog ?

1. Your blog’s fruits and vegetables are images. Use them to grab a person’s attention.

2. Your easy going background music and ambient lighting is your blog design. Make it relaxing and smooth.

3. Your popular products should be easily available. Use a popular posts plugin and bring them up by internally linking to them heavily.

4. You have to reward your readers. Provide a bonus card for them, in the sense of free reports, ebooks, software or even news of the trade via a mailing list.

5. Providing the information that people ask for is great. What is even greater though, is that you give them ways to browse more of your posts. If they came to read a post about Adsense tips, that’s awesome. But, you want to get them going with more posts. Internal linking to other posts is a good idea. Moreover, right in the end of your post, include a link to related posts, or even directly suggest that they read another post, after finishing the one they currently read.

6. When monetizing, whether that is a product of your own or affiliate ads, remember that people are never actually looking for ads. They are looking for solutions. And the solution is what you are writing in your posts. However, as a side candy, an ad that lies inside the content of a possible solution, is probably the actual solution itself. Market effectively by making your ads seem like great solutions.

7. There is something about 27$ or 47$ products. You will notice these price tags many times around. Little less than 30 dollars or little less than 50 dollars sounds pretty good, doesn’t it ? Use smart pricing techniques for your products.

What’s Your Current Food Supply ?

Maybe it would be a good idea to pay a short visit to your nearest supermarket, especially if you are running out of food. When you come back, please be honest. Did you only buy what you went there for ?

This article is a part of the guest blogging contest. If you liked this article, then help in supporting this author by retweeting and commenting on it, which will enable the author to win this contest. By the way, you can be a part of the contest, it is still not late

Image Credit: Steve Crane

What Supermarkets Teach Us About Blog Marketing is a post from: Blog Godown

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Blogs are all over the place. Take a look around you and you will know exactly what I mean. 5 years ago, the number of blogs is nowhere near the number today. In every market you go, there is always at least a blog covering that subject.

However, do you know that LOT of bloggers commit one BIG mistake that is drastically ruining their income? Though not every blogger is after the money (although a lot are), I’m sure anyone can surely appreciate the extra cash that blogging can bring in.

The big mistake I’m referring to is that a lot of bloggers do not build a list of subscribers. This is especially true in markets that are outside of internet marketing or make money online.

Yes, I’m talking about putting an opt-in form on your blog where you collect your visitors’ email.

No Leverage

NOT building a list of subscribers is a BIG mistake because you can’t LEVERAGE your previous hard work and effort.

You engage in marketing activities (seo, blog commenting, forum marketing, social media, ppc, etc.) and you drive 100 visitors to your blog today and you make a sale. In order to maintain your level of income, you need to do the SAME tiring and boring work the next day so that you can drive another 100 visitors to your blog and make another sale.

The cycle continues in a never-ending loop.

If you spent all your time doing blog commenting and forum marketing, when are you going to have the time to grow and manage your business?

Work ON Your Business

As cliché as it may sound, you want to work ON your business instead of IN your business. You want to have an aerial or bird’s eye view of your business so that you can see the big picture instead of immersing yourself in minuscule details.

By building a list of subscribers or leads, you can contact them whenever you want simply by emailing them. In other words, you can command traffic at will.

You might say: “But I have a RSS feed that readers can subscribe to.”

Not everyone uses RSS readers to read your feed, especially in markets where the audience is not tech-savvy.

Everyone (even those in non tech-savvy markets), however, has an email address.

Use An Email Autoresponder Service

By the way, when I said putting an opt-in form on your blog, I meant using an email autoresponder service like AWeber or GetResponse, not using a ‘subscribe to this blog by email’ feature from FeedBurner or some other similar applications.

Asking your audience to subscribe to your blog by email whenever a new post is made is different than putting up an opt-in form on your blog where you give them a valuable freebie in exchange for their email.

The former scenario (subscribe to blog by email) means you ONLY contact them via email whenever you create a new blog post. If there is no new post, you can’t contact them.

The latter (subscribing via an opt-in form where you give them a freebie) means you can contact them whenever you want.  Even if there is no new post, you can still contact them. Want opinions and suggestions from your subscribers? No problem. Just send an email to ask for their feedback. Want to sell them your latest product? You got it.

This article is a part of the guest blogging contest. If you liked this article, then help in supporting this author by retweeting and commenting on it, which will enable the author to win this contest. By the way, you can be a part of the contest, it is still not late

Image Credit: Zack Clein

Bloggers: Are You Making This BIG Mistake? is a post from: Blog Godown

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According to comScore,  online video viewing in the UK reached 5.5 billion in the UK in February 2010 representing an increase of 37% on the previous year.

For inspiration

For money

For promotion

In Conclusion

This article is a part of the guest blogging contest. If you liked this article, then help in supporting this author by retweeting and commenting on it, which will enable the author to win this contest. By the way, you can be a part of the contest, it is still not late

Why Bloggers Should Use Videos On Their Sites is a post from: Blog Godown

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Blogging is not always easy and you don’t taste the fruit of success each and every time. It’s like life “there are good times, and there are bad times”. Success and failures are part of life and they are bound to happen. But problems come when you have to deal with blogging failures. This situation can be compared to a “Break Up”, where it hurts really bad when you get to know that someone has fallen below expectations. And coming out of a break up is really difficult and it can be resolved by dealing with full strength. Similarly blog is a place where you write for full passion and devotion and once you face a failure you are dumbstruck!

Deal With It

You have to deal with failures by being strong and not letting yourself down. Blogging Failures doesn’t mean that you have failed as a blogger, or you have a terrible writing. It just means that it didn’t bore the result that it was expected to bear. And by letting yourself down you are only decreasing your productivity and also demotivating yourself. And that will lead to no good, it may actually sabotage your blogging career or it may force you to quit blogging. Treat failures as a part of life’s milestones which you have to cross to reach success. Take all these in your stride.

Identifying Blogging Failures

Identifying failures is very important. How would you get to know if you are doing something wrong if you don’t identify your failures. Blogging failures may be different for different people. It is very subjective in nature and what may seem a failure to me, may not seem a failure to you. I consider things like negative comments, traffic decrease a major blogging failure, but it may seem to a blogger as a perfectly normal occurrence. Whatever may be your blogging parameters, make sure that you check them regularly and make a note of any failures that occur.

Search For Grey Areas in Blogging

The first task that you should perform before even moving ahead is to know what went wrong. What is the actual reason behind this failure? Was it due to a recent event or due to piling up of many events altogether. All failures have a cause and finding the root cause should be your mission. Why? Because you need to make sure that the same thing doesn’t occur again, because you don’t need many failures occurring in succession.  Sustaining many Break ups is very difficult, so is the case with blogging failures.

Some Possible  Gray Areas of Blogging:

• Bad Marketing Strategy: Blog Promotion is a crucial aspect for a blog’s growth. It helps in getting more eyeballs to your content through website traffic. Marketing strategy should not be over the top, i.e it should not be all shameless self promotion and using words just to grab attention. Marketing should be done in a subtle manner so that it is not over the top and still able to grab the attention of the reader.

• Bad Content: Bad content can be due to a lot of reasons. It can be due to lack of research about the particular concept being expressed in the article. Or it could be due to inappropriate tone and major mistakes in grammar and spellings. Content is the lifeline of any blog. Without content, blog is a body without soul. Fixing content issues should get the highest priority because they have a direct impact on the blog readers.
• Shabby Design: A design is the outer appearance of a blog and this one thing should be good or even better than good, it should be excellent. Many bloggers make a mistake of using a shabby design for their blogs. This not only is a deterrent for readers, but it is also spoils if you have to offer great content.  If you don’t know how to design, you can always get free themes or you can also try to buy designs or even better is to outsource the design work.

Learn from Shortcomings

No Human in the whole wide universe is perfect. “To Err is Human” i.e. humans make mistakes and there is nothing unnatural about it. Each and every person has some fallacies, some gaps that need to be filled up. Dealing with blogging failures is like a learning experience, through which you can grow as a person and also improve upon on your skills and ability. Once you have found out your gray areas, you need to ensure that you learn from your mistakes and you need to improve upon areas where you are either lacking skill or expertise.

What have been your blogging failures?

Image By: m_bartosch

How To Deal With Blogging Failures is a post from: Blog Godown

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