5 Indepth Blogging Tips
When I put together 23 Things I’ve Learned Blogging (with Carl‘s help) I received a lot of great comments. One of the comments was by George Manty of Can I Make Big Money Online. He stated that there were 5 of those blogging lessons that are most important.
1. What’s In It For Me?
For a blogger possibly the single most important part of running a successful blog is to set yourself apart. With millions of blogs on the internet, you HAVE to be different.
When I first started blogging and really learning (I’m still learning) how blogging worked I talked with my girlfriend about it a lot. How I could be better, reach more people, and in the end, make more money. She gave me golden advice to live by.
Why should someone read YOUR blog?
Since then I’ve done my best to set my blogs apart from the rest. This has involved promotions, giveaways, advice, information, advertising, guest posts, and probably even more.
2. Always Show Big Numbers
This is especially important when your main goal is to sell advertising or make money. In a niche like blogging or making money online, this also holds true. In this niche I wouldn’t show a RSS subscriber count under 100.
It may also be wise not to show how many visitors you get or how much money you make. I’ve followed some bloggers who have made a goal of it to make more money, which is okay. However, it’s almost embarrassing to display that you have made 14 cents on Google Adsense.
3. Act Now, There Is No Later
This is a perfect example of the John Cow blog that is now on the market for a buy now price of $45,000. I’m pretty sure they never thought such a silly idea would make them so much money.
Acting now could be anything from a new blog or design to learning about something that could benefit you. Since PayPerPost and Text-Link-Ads business going down the drain, I’ve had to learn about and join lots of affiliate programs to try to make up the difference. We’ve also explored ways to optimize for search engines.
4. Make A-List Blogging Friends
This is something I haven’t been able to do effectively, yet. You won’t see me in any pictures with John Chow or Shoemoney at a conference. Why? Because I have never been to one. A lot of the A listers that you know and read already have made money online, now they just put their face and content on a blog. I haven’t made my money, yet.
Even though you may not have A list friends either, there is no reason you can’t start getting in contact with them or any company for that matter. I have open communication with many different bloggers and company’s that have not only given me great opportunities, but a few awesome contests as well. All it takes is one message or email to get the ball rolling.
5. Make People Feel Important
I enjoy blogging and Blog about your Blog is by far my favorite blog, website, and/or idea. Our readers are great and I love every comment I get. 5,278 comments later (show BIG numbers right?) I still get excited reading each one. That’s why Comment Friday has to be my favorite.
I’ve gotten a little off-topic, but since I enjoy it so much, I want other people to as well. Often times simple questions from readers get turned into an entire post. Or comments get featured into a post, or mention. Anything really to show that my readers are important to me as well as what they have to say.
An interesting post that I put together was How They Started Blogging. I asked bloggers how they started blogging. They left comments, so I then took those comments and put them in a post. Interesting stories of how they started blogging.
If you had to share 5 blogging tips, what would they be?
Could Mixx Be the Next Digg?
Mixx is another user-driven social networking site, one of the many that are mushrooming lately. However Mixx is certainly not your average hastily-assembled Pligg clone sites. Barely less than 6 months’ old, Mixx has achieved a pagerank 6 and Alexa rank of about 5000. This in itself is incredible, but there is more. Let’s see why Mixx is a little special.
Mixxin’ It Up
Mixx is touted as a serious challenger to the long established No. 1 social networking site Digg. With new features being introduced almost every week and a more friendly and positive crowd on Mixx, there are many former Digg users who have taken refuge in Mixx and are staying put. There has been numerous rumors around that there are
burying troops and negative users on Digg. Negative comments, plus failure of good submissions to become popular and preference over more popular sites are also noticeable on Digg. There is none of those in Mixx. If you were to submit something decent there, you will probably be surprised to find how popular it become.
Another reason why Mixx is popular among former Digg users: it does not restrict Digg bashing and there is special group and people who like to take a swipe at Digg every now and then.
One of the most noticeable features of Mixx, which is lacking on other social networking sites is its group feature. Members are allowed to create any groups that they wish and you may name the groups you create any way you want (be sensible though, don’t put an offensive name). Submissions can be shared across the whole of Mixx or just in your personal groups of yours. These created groups can be private or public and you can keep them completely secret too as long as you keep the members of the groups quiet. Oh yes, this also means that you fantasy football addicts can actually form a private group of yours and share relevant stories only in that group.
Mixx Vs Digg?
Comparing Mixx to Digg is almost inevitable. On the front page of both, popular stories from different categories are listed. Undeniably, there are more things on Digg’s front page but there is an advertisement there too. In comparison, Mixx’s front page is less cluttered and free of whatsoever forms of advertisement, those 2 factors are essential in attracting new social network users and converting existing ones. New social network users will prefer simplicity to functions and fame any time of the day, period!
Mixx maintains a unique karma reputation system, there’s not a famous service that uses a similar system to that of Mixx. In Mixx, submission is the order of the day, where members with most submissions (on Mixx as a whole, and also in any groups) are identified and given honor badges (there are also badges for group thought leader, most opinionated, hyperactive, etc.).
In the Mixx Lounge, you can easily see the authority or leader of Mixx, the top 10 users are usually active and you can even make friends with them. Anywhere else can this happen? The karma system will award points for submissions and comments made but it should be modified to also award points for good submissions or submissions made popular.
There are enough reasons as to why Mixx is special. However for Mixx to be truly considered a contender of Digg, a few improvements are needed. Firstly, it needs to attract more users, organize contests or lucky draws, and expand its influence. Technology wise and ease of use can be further improved by introducing Mixx toolbar, something like StumbleUpon’s and perhaps an automated Mixx vote count button.
You should be checking out Mixx by now. There is an unofficial Mixx forum . There you will see that the members are really passionate about Mixx, they even live, eat and celebrate Mixx!
How to Retire at 21
With the internet booming with bloggers and new websites everyday, more and more people are finding a way to make an income online. Some of course better than others. One person, Michael Dunlop, has seemingly made it his goal to show you how to retire at 21.
Young Retirement
“In the world of retirement, 21 is the new 60.”
The concept is a little fuzzy for me, I haven’t been able to tell if Michael Dunlop is actually “retired”. However, he writes about and interviews many of young entrepreneurs that are making tons of money online, at a very young age. He even offers a Free Ebook full of tips to make money online.
The Retire@21 web page is very well laid out to help you find what you are looking for. Diving into this website for the first time I can’t figure out which part is my favorite, so I will tell you about them all!
Interviews
Michael has put together an amazing list of interviews with young entrepreneurs. There are currently about three pages, with many more to come I’m sure, since we haven’t been interviewed yet (hint).
Most bloggers should recognize the names Nate Whitehill, Tyler Cruz, Jonathan Volk, Aaron Wall, and Yaro Starak. All have been interviewed by Michael at Retire@21. Each interview asks about 10-12 questions of internet related questions.
Two Great Toplists
I am a sucker for anything that ranks websites, I always want to be included. Michael has put together two great toplists to be apart of.
The first is the Top 21 Young Run Websites. This includes Facebook (age 23), Runescape (age 28) and WordPress (age 23). It even includes Entrecard, which is run by 21 year old Graham Langdon.
The second toplist is a version of the Top Making Money Online Blogs. Michael has purchased reviews from several different blogs. The list is compiled of which blogs were best for the money including how many clicks, words, and comments were received. Currently Tyler Cruz is at the top of the list, however Michael is still continuing his experiment.
Now Can You Retire?
Retire@21 is a resource website and blog with plenty of information. The layout is pretty simple, however there isn’t a search bar so I couldn’t find everything I wanted to. The website flow is very busy, but it’s pretty clean, the balance is very nice.
I can’t find really anything bad to say about this website, which is why I have subscribed to the RSS feed and you should too! Don’t forget to grab the Retire at 21’s FREE Secrets to Making Money Online Ebook.
Contest Roundup: April 13th
Today something different from the contests world. Let’s try to win only by using your email, simple and easy as always.
Cash and a 4GB USB Drive
Wikigiz is a great community blog about gadgets and technology. Join his easy contest, you only have to subscribe to his RSS feeds by mail. Three winners and three prizes: $50 cash, a 4GB USB Drive and 1 Year 125×125 AD spot on the site. Take a look at the Gizmo-meter: when the meter reaches 100%, a winner notification box in RED will be spawned randomly and you have won! Current prize is a 2GB Mp3 Player!
Ends on June 30th.
$100 from Buy Established Websites
Buy Established Websites wants you to read his blog about buying and selling websites. To ensure they get a few extra readers, they are offering $100 to one lucky winer. Simply subscribe to his RSS feeds (by mail or reader).
Ends on April 30th.
3000 Entrecard Credits
Earn Blogger is offering 3000 Entrecard Credits plus free 125×125 AD space for one month. Just subscribe by mail to his blog to enter. You’ll get five more entries if you write a post about this giveaway, but it’s optional.
Ends on April 30th.
And don’t forget to visit About Blog Contests, your daily source for the latest, simplest and greatest blog contests around the net!
Comment Friday for April 11th
It’s been a fast week, I’ve been keeping pretty busy. My weight loss is going great, from 215 to 197. I’m also starting a new gardening project that I’m very excited about.
If this is your first Comment Friday we give one lucky person a free weekly blogroll spot as our “blog of the week“. Along with that we are also giving that winner 200 entrecard credits.
This week I just want to know whats new with your blogging. Whether if it’s a new ad service your using, a new plugin your trying, or a whole new blog I want to know about it.
After you leave your comment head on over to Economtricks. They blog about a variety of topics, lots of internet, blogging and marketing related articles. Find out How to Get Noticed by Movers and Shakers, instead of writing a simple email that can just be deleted or never even seen.
Google Reinclusion: Get Your Pagerank Back
Lots of bloggers have suffered a loss in PR from selling links that pass PR (and some that weren’t). We’ve lost one point, then had a PR 0, now we are back to 3. I still wish it was higher.
How to Request Reinclusion
To do a Google reinclusion you need to register your blog for the Google webmasters tools. Its important to have regardless. This is how I removed several old URLs (when we had a forum) that was hurting our search engine rankings.
After you register your website or blog for webmaster tools, you then must “request reconsideration.
Google Reinclusion Tips
I’ve filed for Google reinclusion three times. The second time the reinclusion gave us a PR 0. Our reinclusion request wasn’t very long and didn’t say very much. That was a huge mistake.
I have read many “success” stories of people getting their PR back and they all pretty much did the same thing. You basically need to say 3 things.
1. What you did wrong. Whether it was using payperpost or selling links, tell them what you did.
2. That you have corrected the errors. Now that you are following Google’s terms tell them how you did so. You either removed the links, posts, or added no-follow to them.
3. That you won’t do it again. A statement that you are no longer using paid to post services is a good start. Or that your advertising page clearly states you won’t pass pagerank.
Remember to give Google time to process your reinclusion. I wouldn’t recommend doing it more than once every 1-3 months.
Is getting your PR back important to you? If so which steps have you taken to get it back?
Promotional Items for Your Blog at Vista Print
A powerful way to advertise your blog is on t-shirts and other off line advertising. I’ve looked into buying and making t-shirts for this blog, with very little luck. After calling several places the cost per shirt ended up being way too much. I have a BAYB t-shirt made on Printfection, however that costs $16 per shirt.
Vista Prints Free T-Shirt Offer
Unless you are buying in bulk, it’s hard to find a good price on custom t-shirts. Vista Print is offering a free customized t-shirt. You don’t have to purchase anything, all you have to do is design your shirt and pay for shipping.
Even one shirt can help you market your blog and get off line visitors, online. I like to wear my custom shirts whenever I go to places with a lot of people, like the mall etc.
More Free Promotional Items
Not only does VistaPrint offer free t-shirts they just sent me an email with many other free and discounted offers. Whatever you can customize they seem to have it.
They have free promotional items like:
- 250 Free Business Cards
- 10 Large Magnets
- 1 Pen
- 1 Notepad
- 100 Postcards
If you decide to purchase any of these products they are at low prices, better than Cafepress and other sites I’ve seen.
If you don’t want to wear or use your promotional products, they could be a great prize for a contest for your blog. Who wouldn’t want a Blog about your Blog pen?
Project Wonderful Not So Wonderful for Bloggers
After entrecard adopted project wonderful many bloggers seemed to adopt the same system. We gave it a try and wrote a Project Wonderful review.
Project Wonderful in Re Review
I gave project wonderful a pretty positive review, stating that it was a great resource to use for monetizing your blog. However, don’t expect much money from it. I ended up running Project Wonderful for nearly 2 months and barely got to cash out twice ($20).
For the first week or two, our price was up to $2.20 per day. By the end we could barely get .30 to .40 cents per day. I would actually be losing money if I would take Project Wonderful over a private ad ($20 per month for a banner).
I don’t think Project Wonderful is very good for monetizing your blog. However, for advertising, it can be golden.
Advertising on Project Wonderful
If you are a bargain hunter for advertising, project wonderful may be just what you are looking for. Some websites and blogs cost as low as .01 per day (some are even free). Just by getting one click on your ad, that’s already a steal.
Two of my favorite blogs to advertise on have been Ninja Success and It’s Write Now. The cost per day is pretty low and my cost per click is only a few cents. It’s been a perfect way to use up the rest of my Project Wonderful leftover funds.
If you aren’t trying to squeeze out every dime, you can do a huge bulk order and advertise on 100’s of blogs if you want to. HomeBizBlogger has written his experience with Project Wonderful Advertising Campaigns, that could be of interested if you want to bulk advertise on Project Wonderful.
Do you reinvest the money you earn on Project Wonderful? If so which websites or blogs do you advertise on?