How to Make the Time to Blog
?How to Make the Time to Blog
What’s the perfect job? How about a job where you are your own boss, you set your own hours, work right from home, never have to deal with unreasonable deadlines and get to do something you love doing? Sound good? Well that’s the job description of a blogger. That, however, is the not the whole story! There are very, very few bloggers who have nothing else to do but work on their blog and even fewer who have a blog that provides a decent source of income so blogging is, for most, a second or even a third “job.”
There are two basic types of bloggers, the casual blogger and the serious blogger.
The casual blogger may have a basically well balanced life and a blog that is primarily a hobby. The casual blogger will start writing a post, work at it for awhile and then stop to get some other things done until he or she feels like writing again. If a finished post doesn’t get many comments, that’s OK; the post expressed just what the casual blogger wanted to say and its out there if anyone is interested.
The serious blogger’s situation is quite different from the casual blogger’s. The serious blogger has a blog that he or she considers to be a job — a job that may be competing with other important elements of life such as a primary job, a family, a social life and adequate rest. The serious blogger is committed (almost to the point of an obsession) to maintaining his or her blog and feels it is an essential element of daily life. The serious blogger feels dejected if any post sits on the blog for twenty-four hours or so without generating a comment or if the blog’s “hit counter” does not register a certain number of visitors every day. That kind of commitment to blogging may take a big hunk of time out of the day and can easily create some serious conflicts between blogging and the rest of life — to avoid this, the serious blogger needs to be organized and efficient.
Time management for the serious blogger! Anyone who feels that the day is too short needs to understand and implement the basic principle of time management: setting priorities. Some things are obviously more important than other things but some important things may be left undone unless you are controlling your schedule and not having random events control you. You need to set priorities and live by them.
Make a priority list! To begin setting priorities, make a list of everything you need to get done — everything including things you’ve committed to doing, things you want to do, things you know you should do and things that you really don’t want to do but are on your mind. Be honest and put everything on the list — take a couple hours or more to put it together if you need that much time, it will be time well spent because you are about to get organized.
Important: You will be using and modifying this list every day so create the list using some program that will allow you to move list items around, add items, remove items and save the list. Just notepad or your word processing program will do nicely but there are other more specialized programs available — they may even be free, check out: Tucows at http://www.tucows.com/.
Categorize! Now carefully consider each item on the list and put each one into one of the following five categories.
Must get it done today
Must get it done this week
Nice to do and might be beneficial
Nice to do but not really necessary
Unnecessary
Now you have a decent priority list. Start every day with this list and every time you become aware of a new task add it in a proper place to the proper category. As the “must do” items are accomplished and moved off the list, some of the nice-to-do items may be moved up, but only if their priorities can honestly be changed.
Too many must-do things! If the list of items in the two “Must get it done . . . ” categories is overwhelming, reconsider each item’s importance and re-prioritize if you can, if not select the items that you really don’t have to do yourself, things like fix-it projects, business phone calls, business letters, editing and proofreading jobs, etc. — some of these things may be able to be done just as well by someone else. Find a friend, family member, co-worker or a freelancer to do it for you.
Five Things to Try to Defeat the Blogging Blues
Five Things to Try to Defeat the Blogging Blues
There are times when a blogger, like any other writer, will ‘loose the muse.’ Every idea that comes to mind seems either trite or dull or, worse still, no ideas come to mind. What’s a blogger to do? Here are five tactics that just might clear away the cobwebs and allow you to find an inspiring idea for another great post:
Start with the news! Open up your favorite news page or open a newspaper and see what catches your attention. What are the politicians up to today? Any pending legislation that worries you or flat out scares you? Or perhaps someone is running for office or proposing a law that you may want to publicly support. Some celebrity is sure to be in trouble again; have anything to say about that? Maybe you have an idea about who should be dating or marrying who. Who died? A nice memorial post for a nice person may be in order. What happened “On This Date” in past years? Some past events are worth researching and writing about. Are you into sports? Many bloggers or blog readers are sports fans and they might be interested in your take on the playoffs or the players. Don’t forget to check the editorial page and the letters to the editor — do you agree with the opinions? Tell the world why or why not.
Read some blogs! Start surfing your favorite blogs. What are they talking about? You might have a different perspective on the latest hot topic that might just be interesting to your fellow bloggers or a perspective that might make them mad (BTW, never worry about making bloggers mad — most of them love having something to gripe about). If you can’t find anything that inspires you in your favorite blog, surf through some of those blogs that always make you mad; the ones that seem to promote everything that goes against your lifestyle. Anger is always a good blog motivator but don’t get so angry you get irrational. Comment on some blog posts and then expand your comments into a post on your blog. Also try logging onto Blog Explosion, Blog Clicker or one of the many other blog traffic generator programs — there are lots of ideas out there that are worth writing about from either a pro or con perspective.
What have you been watching or reading? Have you read any good (or bad) books lately? Write about your latest read — recommend it, blast it or even write an abstract for your blog (but don’t give away ending). How about movies, the great ones or the pitiful losers might be worth some good or bad words — you could make movie or book reviews regular features of your blog. The same goes for television shows. Start a series that follows your favorite TV show, there might be quite a few fans of the same show that will be interested in your take and appreciate your summary of episodes they missed. If there is a book, movie or TV show that you thought was great there is sure to be a reviewer who panned it. Find the bad review and write a post countering the reviewer’s opinions.
What have you been doing? Your work place, your co-workers, you bosses, your home and your family members are all fair game for your blog — keep it short and amusing and you’ll have a great post. Once you introduce a particularly interesting person to your readers you may want to do some sequels. When was your last travel vacation — write a travelog about where you’ve been or do some research on some places you’d love to go to and write about them.
Do you have a special skill? If you can make something that is unique or something that is common but made special because of what you know, there may be people interested in knowing how to do it. Give away tips on cooking, sewing, cleaning, fix-it projects, pet care, child care, beauty secrets, personal care or organizing tips. Make it a regular feature on you blog. If you have a digital camera find an interesting subject, take some pictures and then write something based on the subject. If you found it interesting or comical or sad its likely to interest someone else.
Traffic Counts How to Know if Someone Visits your Blog
?Traffic Counts ??” How to Know if Someone Visits your Blog
For those who blog, or write in online journals, keeping track of visitors can be a great way to see who visits a particular blog. There are many ways to keep track of blog readers when you blog. Blog hit counters; visitor tracking, referrers and keywords all can help you know if someone has visited your blog.
When you set up your blog, you will probably have already decided on the type of blog you will keep. Some web blog hosting sites will offer there service for free, but have a minimum of features. Other blog sites might cost, but will offer bloggers services to keep track of visitors. There are many reasons to track the visitors that read your blog. Understanding who visits you blog will help you know what your readers are looking for. Successful blogging starts with interested writing and will appeal to your readers. Another reason you might want to keep track of the visitors that come to your site is to increase traffic. This is especially important for blogs that are for companies. Companies can use their blog for inexpensive advertising. Knowing who visits the blog site will help a company understand if they are reaching their target audience for their services or products.
A blog hit counter is one way to keep track of the amount of visitors that read your blog. Blog hit counters are usually small boxes at the very end of a web page that updates a number every time your site is hit. Some blog hit counters can give site owners site statistics, reports and graphs to illustrate blog activity. These counters can also show you where your readers are finding your site. If your blog hosting site does not offer a blog hit counter feature, one can easily be downloaded or added to your page from another site. There are many free sites that offer counters for blog pages. Blog writers can register on the hit counter site, download and install directly into the blog template. This will give an accurate count of how many visitors you have to your blog. If you are not worried about keywords or details information about your readers, then a blog hit counter is the easiest way to track your readership.
If you want more advanced blog features, then you can add tracking options to your blog. There are several ways you can track your readers. One is by keywords and the other is a visitor tracker. Keyword trackers are ideal for those who need to know what keywords people are using to locate a blog. This could be important for businesses that need to reach potential consumers. A good keyword tracker can also help you organize your blog site to determine which keywords are most popular with readers. It can also help get your site listed on search engines. Keyword trackers can be downloaded for free in many cases. If your site relies heavily on readers, then a keyword tracker could be a good choice.
A visitor tracker works much the same way as a keyword tracker. The difference, however, is that a visitor tracker will provide you with information statistics about your blog visitors. Usually, this information is given in easy to understand graphs and tables. If you need to see where your visitors are coming from, then a visitor tracker can be quite beneficial. It is a little more sophisticated than a hit counter, but works about the same way. When a visitor enters your blog site, their information is saved onto the visitor tracker. When you are ready, you can log in and see exactly who your visitors are. Many times not only are you able to see the statistics on your readers, but you can also see reports for current visitors and those that have visited the site in the past.
One other way that a blog writer can keep track of their readers is to include a comment section at the end of your blog page. Not all visitors will want to leave a comment, but this is a good way to gain feedback about your site. You will better understand the type of readers that frequent your site, but also understand the kind of content that they want to read.
Five Ways to Find Winning Ideas for your Blog Topics
?Five Ways to Find Winning Ideas for your Blog Topics
Blog topics are an important part of a successful blog. Some bloggers simply write about whatever is on their mind, creating an online journal of sorts. Successful bloggers know however that to have a great blog, you cannot always write about what you want to write about. You must also keep the interests of your readers in mind when writing. After all, if you want a successful blog, you have to depend on the readers to show up often. To keep your blog as fresh as possible, consider using these five ways to find winning ideas for your blog topics.
Do Your Research
Smart bloggers know that each day there are popular search terms listed on large search sites. Bloggers can use these search terms to help them get more traffic to their blogs. Each day a blogger can look at these popular search terms and creating posts using them. If the blogger is lucky, they will increase their traffic due to more people looking for that term. By researching the topics that are hot with readers each day, bloggers can create things specifically for the readers. Doing research may take a little time and you might never be writing about what you want to write about, but you will likely have more traffic than ever.
Ask Around
If you have been blogging a while you might have began to hit low points where you really have no more topic ideas left. Some writers call this “writer’s block” while others just see it as a small hurdle to be surpassed. When you have come to this difficult point, the best thing to do is ask around. Talk to interesting people you know. You can ask them what topics they find most interesting at the time. If you would rather be a little more subtle, simply bounce a few topics off of them to see which ones they respond strongly to. Use the topics that they respond strongly to in order to gather ideas for posts.
Use the News
The news is a great place to gather topic information for your blog. News teams research and investigate for hours to gather their topics. By using similar topics, you can skip all of the hard research work and still be a success. Never use their ideas exactly, just take them and use them to develop your own. For instance, if there is a major political issue going on in the news, consider creating a post about what you think about it. You don’t have to use the news story, just the topic idea along with your own words.
Follow the Lead of Others
When you are looking for great blog topics, consider visiting popular blogs to see what they are talking about. Don’t steal their ideas, but use the visit to stir up great ideas of your own. Sometimes when you see others working at their highest potential it can spark new potential in yourself. You can see which topics get the best response for their blog and decide if you could get the same response with a similar topic.
Sleep On It
If all else fails and you are still trying to come up with a list of interesting blog topics, consider this interesting strategy. Go to sleep each night with a clear head. In the morning, before you even open your eyes, target the first thing on your mind. Write it down immediately so you don’t quickly forget. Then use these things to develop interesting blog topics. You would be shocked at how inspiring our first thoughts can be. They are so interesting because they are not clouded with any outside stressors from reality. They are simple thoughts typically that can be used successfully on a blog.
These five ways to find winning blog topics are proven to be among the best. A blog topic is one of the basic important aspects of your blog. Be sure that you pay attention to which topics get the best response on your blog so you will know which ones are most effective. Use all or some of these tips to help you get on your way to better blog topics right away!
Before Blogging Five Things You Should Know
?Before Blogging ??” Five Things You Should Know
So you want to join in on the blogging phenomenon? Before you get started, there are a few things you should know about blogging. Blogging is a lot like an online journal. There are thousands of bloggers online posting each day. It is a trend that started in 1997 and has continued to grow steadily. If you are interesting in blogging, but have not yet began, read over these five things you should know before you begin.
You Can Be Personal
Many times new bloggers are really not sure what to post. They know that their blog is a personal space, but they are afraid to make their posts personal in any way. The best bloggers do put themselves out there via their posts. They will post what’s on their mind and their views or opinions on pressing issues. They may do so in a humorous manner or be quite serious. Sometimes new bloggers are afraid to post their true thoughts because their blog can be commented upon. The fact is however that not everyone will agree with your thoughts and posts, but you should not let that hold you back. These are people who don’t personally know you, so their comments really don’t matter much anyway. Don’t be afraid to let your true feelings show on your blog, after all, that it what an online journal is all about.
Don’t Be Too Personal
Although it is fine to be personal in your posts, you might not want to be too personal in how much you disclose about yourself. For example, including your phone number or address in a post or on your profile is probably not a good idea. You should think smart and only allow people to know things that you want them to know. For your own safety, you might not want to post your last name either. When someone has a lot of information about you, it is easier for them to victimize you through identity theft, harassment, or other crimes. So, stay safe and never post really private information.
Never Use Real Names
When you are posting, and keeping it personal and real, there can be times in which other people in your life come up in topic. Be very careful including other people in your posts. First, never use their real names. This is a huge mistake. Unless the person gives you permission to write about them, you should never do so. It will only lead to trouble. If the person you mention reads your blog, they could get offended that you are writing about them. Even if the post is positive, it can be seen much like talking behind their back. Try to keep the posts about you or celebrities or other public figures. Let everyone else’s business remain their own.
Keep It Fresh
One of the best things you can do as a blogger is to keep your blog fresh. This means that you should be posting often and changing things around when doing so. Post on different topics so your audience can stay interested. Also, post at least twice a week. People who will become fans of your site will want to read as much as possible on your blog. Updating your blog regularly will allow them to be entertained. If you only post once a month, chances are no one will remember to keep checking your blog and your traffic will not be impressive.
You Can Blog For Free
Before you pay an arm and a leg for a blogging space, you should know that there are sites where you can blog for free. Yes, for no charge at all you can set up your own blog. These sites are great for the new blogger. If you want something a little more sophisticated, you might have to pay for it. The free sites are very well maintained however. They are easy to use and offer several different templates for you to use when designing your blog. They automatically update your posts for you, which make them a breeze! Remember, you should not pay a large fee for your blog, especially if you are new to blogging. Do your research and find the free sites!
Bada Bing Bada Blog How Blogging Markets your Business
?Bada Bing, Bada Blog ??” How Blogging Markets your Business
Now that blogging has become so popular among everyone from the novice writer to the most experienced journalist, businesses are starting to take notice. A well-written and frequently updated blog can help market almost any type of business. Blogging can help target readers who are interested in a company’s product or service and businesses can keep track of what their readers are looking for through blogging. In addition, blogging can help link together companies that compliment each other very easily.
There is a lot of talk about blogging. Some feel that blogging is just a passing fad, but others feel it is just the beginning. Some business analysts feel that blogging does not significantly help a business market the company. Many businesses feel that this is not so. Blogging can be a beneficial way to mark a business, build an audience and help link in other companies together.
Blogging can help almost any business expose their readers to their services and products. Sometimes with new products, a blog can create interest in something new. Blogging is helpful because it can talk in depth about the product, and it can also give step-by-step instructions on how a certain product can be used. A reader, who is interested in the product after reading about it on a blog, will be more inclined to research similar products on the Internet. This can lead to a more informed consumer and can save a consumer time when shopping or researching a new product. In turn, a company may save time because customers who have read the blog are already informed about the product. These customers can also read reviews on these products and services, which can be helpful in the buying process.
Another great thing about companies using a blog for their products and services is that a blog enables the company and the customer to communicate effectively. A customer can read the blog and comment on it right away. This provides good feedback to the company and they can know what the customers want. Usually blogs will provide places for readers to leave their comments or send emails to the writer. This is a good marketing tool for businesses. People enjoy communicating about products and services that they have had good or bad experiences with and blogging provided the opportunity to do so.
Blogs can also help market a business because it will be included in search engines. When people enter certain keywords, blogs that contain those words will show up. When blogs are updated frequently, search engines can provide your company with a lot of hits. This can lead to many people looking at the company’s blog who might not otherwise have done so.
When companies use blogs, it also has the ability to create a sensation around a product and influence public opinion. This is an excellent tool for companies to use. Because of the huge popularity of blogging, this can be a more effective tool than some forms of advertising. Readers are more likely to share interesting blogs with their friends and this can help companies get the word out about their product.
Another way blogging can help market a business is that blogs often help a company position itself as a leader in a certain field. This means that those who blog can show their expertise about certain subjects and then updates this information on a regular basis. Blogging can help generate leads and send a positive message about your company without spending a lot of money for advertising. Readers can look at these blogs and know that they are dealing with a quality company.
Companies also use blogs to help network with other companies that compliment their business. This is beneficial because they can easily share their links and readers will see all of the blogs that relate to what they are searching for on the Internet. Link swapping is often used in blogging, especially with businesses.
Blogging is proving to be a beneficial marketing tool for businesses all over the world. While it’s a fairly new way for companies and customers to communicate with each other, blogging provides an immediate and unique form of advertising for the company. Customers are able to read and research products and services through blogging and companies can better understand what their customers want.
Five Common Mistakes that Can Bury a Blog
?Five Common Mistakes that Can Bury a Blog
Too often bloggers complain that after a great start, a year later their blog is as dead as can be. This is a common problem that almost always revolves around a small list of common mistakes made by the blogger. A blogger can sit back and expect the blog to do all of the work for him or her, which is a terrible way to approach blogging. A successful blogger would tell you that great blogging takes a certain amount of dedication and hard effort to make it work. You have to put effort into a blog to sustain it, especially after the first month or so of completing the design. Many people work so hard during the initial design phase that they get lazy after it is complete. To avoid this happening to your blog, check out these five common mistakes that can bury a blog.
Infrequent Updates
One of the biggest mistakes a blogger can make is to “forget” about posting. The most successful blogs are updated with new posts at least once a day. Some larger blogs are constantly being updated. You should try to create new posts as often as possible. If you miss a day here and there, it will be no big deal. However, if you miss a week or more without posting, you might as well consider the blog dead already. You have to take a few moments, even as few as five, a day to create interesting posts or content. If you are writing short and concise posts like you should be, this should not be that challenging. It is easy to keep your blog updated, if you make it a priority.
Too Much Advertising
Most bloggers today do want to make a profit from their blog. This is a trend that can get out of control quickly however. If you are interested in adding ads to your blog, do so with caution. There is nothing wrong with a few appropriately places ads that offer viewers links to places that correlate with your blog’s content. However, adding a massive amount of advertisements on your blog is a mistake. If you have a bunch of flashy ads on your blog, your content will get lost within the hoopla. Therefore, you should always limit your ads to three or less per page. Make sure you place them in appropriate places that let your content shine through. Don’t allow enormous ads to fill up your pages either. They will simply annoy readers. Be smart about including advertising on your blog!
Unprofessional Look
Looks do matter when it comes to your blog. The more professional and crisp your blog looks, the more your readers will take you seriously. If you are interesting in boosting traffic, you should try a more serious layout or presentation for your blog. If you can afford to hire a professional, you should. If you choose to do it yourself however, you must make sure the end product is good. If you have a sloppy blog that looks “homemade” you will not likely have a great response. Try different layouts and approaches to see what gets you the most traffic.
Graphics Overload
Pictures can add a ton to your blog and draw in more readers. However, when done excessively, much like ads, pictures can drive people away. The main reason too many pictures can ruin a blog is because there are many web surfers who still use slow internet connections. When they try to load your page, it will take an excessively long time to do so. This in turn will likely drive them and anyone else with this problem away. Try limiting to a few pictures per page.
Inappropriate Content
Everyone knows that the web is a place where you can freely express yourself. However, if you want your blog to survive, you might want to think about that freedom of expression. Although you should always say what you feel, you can do so in appropriate manners on your blog. There are ways to say anything on your mind, without using profanity or any offensive lingo. If you want your blog to be successful, you cannot be inappropriate with your content.
Familial News Family Blog Fun
?Familial News ??” Family Blog Fun
Blog is the hot word on the internet in recent years, and with good reason: they are taking over the internet and information exchange as we know it. As you may or may not know, blog is short for web log. It is an online journal that can be about anything or anyone with topics ranging from personal reflection to political news to sports. Of what value is a blog to you, though? Family blogs are becoming increasingly popular because of the way they allow you as a family to keep up with members all over. You can keep members of your family that are located anywhere in the world up to date on happenings in your immediate family including births, deaths, and even marriages. In addition, a family blog is just a good way to get down the things that happen in the day to day life of your family. If you are considering a family blog, then there are some things you should probably pay attention to. Here are a few tips on how to maintain a good family blog.
The first thing to keep in mind with your family blog is safety. A blog may seem safe enough since it is nothing more than words on a web page, but keep a few things in mind. First of all, once you put something up on a blog, it becomes essentially public. Always remember that before you post anything anywhere on the internet, blogs included. Along those same lines, make sure you limit anything that may give readers a hint as to where you live specifically, or any personal information about your children or family in general. Keep addresses, phone numbers, and even email addresses off of the blog because you never know who is looking. Keep safety in mind first, and you are well on your way to a fun and successful family blogging experience.
Once you understand the safety needed with your family blog, you can start adding content. Your content doesn’t have to be anything in particular. Your blog is whatever you want it to be. Keep it updated regularly, though. The reason is that you want to keep those who you want reading the blog doing so with regularity. If you are not updating it regularly, they may stop checking in and that defeats the purpose of your family blog. You want to keep fresh news, ideas, and information that will keep your distant family members reading regularly and with interest. Also, you may want to have some sort of schedule. For instance, you always update on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. That way the readership knows when to check in for new news and information on your family. It will also keep you focused if you have some sort of schedule to go along with it.
Some blog applications include a board for readers to write messages to you or to discuss what is in your blog. If that is the case of the blog you are choosing, then you owe it to your readers to keep an eye on it. If they are posting questions or comments, make sure you are regularly acknowledging or addressing them. If you are working on a family blog, then many of these messages will be from family members that are located far away and so will be a good way to stay in contact with them. Even if they are not family members, your readers will have gained an interest in what you are reading so, with safety in mind, you should still acknowledge them and their questions and comments.
Blogs have become all the rage on the internet in recent years. If you want to get in on the craze, a family blog can be a fantastic way to do just that. A family blog is a great way to keep other family members and far away friends up to date on the happenings within your family as well as some of your personal thoughts and feelings on any number of things. However, there are a couple of tips you should keep in mind as you work on your family blog. Make sure that you are safe and smart with personal information, update regularly, and acknowledge responses to your family blog. Follow these simple tips and you should be able to fully enjoy your family blogging experience.
Blah Blah Blog Expressing Yourself through Blogs
?Blah, Blah Blog ??” Expressing Yourself through Blogs
Picture these three scenarios:
You are at a costume party in a room full of strangers. You are dressed as an 18th Century dandy; you’ve studied the mannerisms, have affected the perfect accent and you charm every partygoer you meet. Beneath the facade, outside the realm of this party you may be a banker, a steel worker or an unemployed poet but here and now you are Monsieur Baudelaire, the fop who speaks of temperament and style as the be-all and end-all of a meaningful existence.
You are at work where you are always the no-nonsense professional, respected by peers and underlings and depended upon by your manager to perform your tasks with skill, technical proficiency and a pleasant demeanor — an expectation that is hardly ever unmet.
You are at an informal get together with family, close friends and neighbors; you talk about sports, literature and fashion with people who know you and who understand your opinions, your quirks and your few flaws — there is no facade, no pretense, you are unabashedly you!
These scenarios that represent three versions of you in the real world are also three (of many) approaches you can take to presenting yourself to your readers in the virtual world, through your blog: as a character of your creation, as the professional at whatever you do, or as the real, unadulterated you, complete with flaws. Your blog and your blogger persona are your creations and are limited only by your choices. Consider also that whatever it is you write, in whatever form, even if it is spoof or satire, it will be considered by your readers as an expression of your true feelings.
People express themselves in many ways and for a growing number of people the need for some sort of public expression of thoughts, feelings, style or creative expression is filled by blogging. Expressing your thoughts in written words, however, is not as simple a task as it may seem to be; many people, in fact, find that it can take hours to accurately transfer the most seemingly simple thoughts to the written word. Thoughts and feelings do not require the organization or structure that is required by the expression of those thoughts and feelings.
Some things that make the task of expressing yourself through your writing much easier are improving your grammar, improving your vocabulary and practice, practice, practice.
Grammar! As a rule you should always write to your audience — they are the ones who need to understand you. Perfection may be necessary when you are writing for an audience of scholars and grammarians who require it but, regardless of your audience, the better your grammar the better you will be understood and the easier it will be for you to transfer those thoughts to paper. There are literally hundreds of English grammar guides available online and very reasonable English grammar guides available in bookstores; good grammar is a tool you will never regret learning to use.
Vocabulary! Finding the right words to express your thoughts is much easier when you have more words in your armory to choose from. You may be tempted to learn some suitably obscure words to impress your readership but too much of that will only confuse them and turn them away from your writing. Research has shown that the average adult in the U.S. reads at an eighth-grade level so arming yourself with a recondite vocabulary will not be helpful (nor was our reference to a ‘recondite vocabulary’ unless you knew that recondite means “difficult to understand”). Arm yourself, instead, with a good dictionary/thesaurus.
Write Often! Practice makes perfect or, to be honest, it at least helps you approach perfection. Try to make a meaningful entry in your blog every day, that may not always be possible but do try! Two of the wonderful things about blogging are its flexibility and availability — your blog will always be there (baring computer problems) when you need it and you’ll find that the more you write, the easier it will be to write. Keep in mind, however, that even a professional writer who writes for hours every day is seldom completely satisfied that the words that came out adequately express the thought that went in so don’t allow yourself to get too frustrated, take a short break and then try again.
Energize your Blog Optimize it
?Energize your Blog ??” Optimize it!
In order to make money from your blog, you want to make sure it is getting traffic. More importantly you want to make sure it is getting the right kind of traffic. So how do you energize your blog in this way? Simply put, you have to optimize it. Optimizing your blog means that you find ways to drive profitable traffic to it via search engines and links from all over the internet. To that end, here are a few tips that just might serve you wall in your question to add a certain energy to your blog through optimization.
You may have already decided to submit your blog to many of the directories. That is a great idea for driving traffic to your blog, but you should also know what you are doing before you get that far. Once you get the traffic, you want to make sure it is the right traffic. You can do that by further optimizing what you are putting into it. The idea is to get the best keyword placement in the major search engines.
So first of all, choose lucrative keywords. Basically you can go a couple of ways with your blog keywords. You can choose general keywords that generate high traffic but give you basically no chance of showing up anywhere near the top of a search, or you can choose a keyword that results in lower traffic but in higher subscriber and sales rates. The second is going to be the most lucrative in most every situation, so think hard about the keywords you are going to use.
Secondly, don’t get confused. Often bloggers believe that higher traffic automatically means higher profits and ad clicks. That is not necessarily true. Some of the sites in the world that are the most profitable are the ones that have only moderate traffic. However, as was mentioned above, they target high rate sales keywords. They have an audience in mind and go after it so that their percentage is high even if their traffic is not.
It is not just keywords and searches that will get your traffic to you. You want to target your blog at two or three word phrases that are going to get you the traffic you want, but that have little competition. That may sound impossible with the size of the modern internet, but it isn’t. There are studies from a number of sources that indicate that there is a higher than expected number of search queries that had never shown up before 2004. As long as new product show up on the internet, new services are invented, and people are developing there will always be new terms, new phrases, and new markets to target with your blog.
It comes up time and time again with blogs, but the importance of updating regularly cannot be emphasized enough. The more you post to your blog, the more the spiders (the software that finds information for search engines) have to look at each time they visit your site. In fact, if you post often enough, you will notice that you are updated at the search engines more and more often. That is because if the spider knows you have new content every time it visits your site, it will come back more frequently. In some cases, it may come back more and more just to keep up with your updates so that you are updated several times a day even. The software is advanced and knows when you have new content so make sure you give the spider software something to see that your website will be at optimal level to show up on the search engines those spiders are seeking.
If you want to make money with your blog, you know that you have to be a result when people go looking on search engines for information. The best way to make sure that happens is to set up your blog so that it will be optimal to the search engines. You should target keywords that are profitable, and not necessarily ones that just generate high traffic. Also, update regularly and make sure you are being specific with your blog and with individual posts. Be diligent and focused and before you know it you can have your blog ranking high all over the internet.