Competing With Other Blogs
I find myself trying to bring this blog back to life. While doing so it seems like there is even more competition. So how do you compete with other blogs, other bloggers, and the internet in general?
Set Yourself Apart
That is always the key with any blog new or old. Answer the question, why should I read this? If you can do that for your blog, thats important. Many bloggers have run gigantic contests to ‘get ahead’ in the blogging world. However, with so many going on every day, even that’s not enough.
Incentive
Even though there are lots of contests, you should give your readers incentive to read, comment, and share your blog. Whether it’s directly paying them, offering something in return like a service, or just noticing them in a special way.
Build Relationships
This is another important factor. While this blog was thriving I was constantly in contact with other bloggers via email and IM. We’d read each others articles, comment, and share them. I’ve noticed my IM list get smaller, and fewer emails going out. That has directly impacted the traffic levels. Feel free to drop me an email or AIM me at tinka5787.
Motivation
Without it, your blog can die. I haven’t been motivated to post, and I’ve dropped the ball on several projects. Maybe it’s time to lighten your load to get back into the swing of things. I have contemplated selling off a few domains and websites to hopefully get me motivated again and improve this blog as well as my others.
The It Factor
You know, some bloggers, just have “It”. They have the dedication, determination, and motivation to run a successful blog. Some bloggers have been able to surpass my success in less time and done a lot better. They have ‘it’. The internet savvy to really rise to the top, interact and engage readers, and take it to the next level.
Do you have It?
Logical Media Referral Contest
Logical Media has become my favorite affiliate network in the last few months. After joining a few months ago, I’ve already been able to earn nearly $1,000. It fits perfect with the kind of niche sites (freebies) that work for me. I’ve also been able to find success with running PPC campaigns on their offers.
Referral Contest
Logical Media is giving away $5,000 just for referring members. Each time you refer 5 new affiliates to Logical Media on or before Dec 22nd, you will be entered to win. There will be only ONE winner of the $5,000!
Even if you don’t win you receive 5% commission for every affiliate you refer.
I wish they would of offered this BEFORE I got all of my referrals!
It’s a great network and I strongly recommend joining! 🙂
Nominate Your Fav App!
The 2008 iDezy Web Worker Award recognises the number web app or tool you can’t live without!
Now’s the time to head on over to the awards page and nominate your favourite tool or app so it can be judged by the panel of experts. Judging this year is Darren Rowse from ProBlogger, Veronica Belmont from Revision3 and Chris Garrett from Chrisg.com.
Plus you can win one of 5 GoDaddy gift cards or an all access pass to animoto if you nominate an app.
I encourage you to check it out and go nominate!
Who Still Uses MyBlogLog
I’m interested to know who still uses MyBlogLog – the once popular tool which allowed you to create a community around your blog and showed you who had recently visited your blog.
It seems as thouh it has almost completely died as im not seeing it on many blogs. So heres the poll, are you still using it?
P.S Hit me up on Twitter and send me your blog url as I will be doing a few reviews over on my blog. I would love to checkout your sites!
Making Money With Twitter
I don”t think trying to monetize your Twitter profile is a good idea. Even using it to repost your blog posts is also not good. But I have noticed that a few options have become available for those looking to bastardize their Twitter profile and thought I would mention them here.
First up is Magpie. Magpie will insert an ad every “x” number of tweets. These are listed as “sponsored” tweets and payment is based on how many followers you have. I have noticed a few Magpie ads on Twitter, however I don’t think there are many advertisers using the system.
The second option is Twittad which is a marketplace to sell your Twitter background. This concept is even more flawed than Magpie as on Twitter the majority of people don’t actually see your background (you usually just see your own, and the majority of Twittering happens offsite through the API). However, a number of backgrounds have already been sold on the site.
Let me know if you use any of these!
P.S – Make sure you follow me on Twitter. Plus hit up my blog
I’m That Guy Who Blogs
Pearls Before Swine has quickly become my favorite comic strip and they’ve been doing a bit about blogging.
Blogging has caught fire lately references to it in commercials, radio, movies, tv shows, and comic strips. Not only that it has evolved into an entire thing of its own. WordPress isn’t just for blogging anymore, you can really do anything with it. Reviews, recommendations and more.
Along the way I hope they continue more clever things about blogging like this.
Read all the great comics at the site I found for them, Comics.Com. You can search for different things, such as blogging or blogs. I thought its a great resource to share, and it can be a perfect additional to any of your articles.
How Not to Interact Online
The web we use these days is all about being social and interacting with others. Whether its posting a comment on a blog or Tweeting on your Twitter account, every action you make has an impact on your personal brand. And seeing as your brand is your most valuable marketing tool, its in your best interest to look after it.
Here are my tips on what NOT to do online.
- Post generic comments on blogs – “nice post” may sound like your complementing the blogger, but really you are just leaving a lifeless, generic comment that adds no value to the conversation. Keyword “value”!
- Post comments promoting your products – there are plenty of other more suitable places to do this. And besides, your comment already links back to your site.
- Respond to Trolls – Trolls are those who comment with the sole purpose of being negative and trying to milk a reaction from you. Get over your ego, ignore them and don’t honour them with any response.
- Only post about your site on Twitter – Its easy to post about yourself. Why not do something challenging and post about others. Talk about others and they will talk about you.
All of this has been said before – in fact its probably said better here, but the big point I would like to make is adding “value”. If you can contribute to a conversation no matter what form its in (blog, comment, tweet) you are on the right track.
Make sure you follow me on Twitter, check out my blog or you can contact me anthony@feint.me – I would love to hear your thoughts on interacting through social media
Do You Own A BlogSpot Blog?
I like doing polls for two reasons. One I get to see what people think and the other is just to simply ask questions. I’m always curious in the minds of bloggers.
Lots Of People on Blogger
My most recent poll was, “Do You Own a Blogspot Blog?”. You may not know but some great blogs started out on Blogger, such as Dosh Dosh and of course, this one. Should you move off blogspot? Yes! But it can’t hurt to have blogspot blogs. You can use these to build links to your main blogs, or really just start a project.
I recently just made another blog on blogspot, My Healthy Info. This is to test to see how my content would do, and if I could make money with this health blog. I enjoy writing the articles so it’s all in fun.
Blogger also offers easy ways to redirect a custom domain from your .blogspot domain. This is perfect for beginning bloggers, and exactly what I did with several blogs in the beginning.
Poll Results
Out of the 47 votes we have, 68% of bloggers own a Blogspot domain. Well I guess you don’t really “own” it, but they have one. This simply shows that Blogger is a huge blogging platform that is perfect to start your first blog on.