The internet may be a fast paced environment, but there are some blog strategies that remain the name even when it becomes harder and harder for average bloggers to keep up. Here is a reminder of some of the tips that don’t change when it comes to blogging.

When posting, avoid large blocks of text.

Your articles should be broken up into easy to read bites. Most people that use the net are scanning and skimming rather than reading everything. Make sure that you are using descriptive headers so that your post will catch their attention. Make sure that things are focused and kept short. Use images whenever possible to make your blog posts even more appealing.

Edit, Proofread and Check Spelling

Even the pros can misspell a word every now and then, and there is some leeway in the world of blogging. If you are an unknown writer, however, then your credibility really matters and making errors can harm that. If you do care about your blog and building a reputation for yourself as a good writer, you need to proofread and edit, eliminating spelling and grammar errors as you go.

Post Often

You should try and create a regular rhythm for posting in your blog. Not only is this going to interest your regular visitors, but it will also keep search engines interested, allowing their spiders and robots to return time and time again. Fresh content always equals a better search engine ranking, which leads to more readers and visitors.

Use Accurate Post Titles

The search engines read your titles, and they sort and rank your posts accordingly. The same is true for readers, who use your titles to know what your posts are about. This means that if you want to give search engines and human readers what they are looking for, your post titles need to be accurate.

Include a Date and Signature

Your posts are not always going to be timeless, and in these instances, you are going to want to let readers know when you made your posts. This will also let them know how long you have been posting, which can help you build more credibility in the long run. Posting a signature at the end of each of your blog posts is going to let your readers know exactly who wrote each of your posts, so make sure that there is a signature and a date for every post that you make.

To some, these blog tips are common knowledge. But still, it’s good to have the occasional reminder. These are the most basic blog tips that you can employ when it comes to posting for the benefit of your readers and the search engines that regularly spider your blog. Keep this list of tips handy, and consult it every time you make a post until you get the hang of it. This is the best way to make sure that your blog posts are constantly accommodating your readers in the best possible way.

Photo Credits: kevindooley

Originally posted 2009-08-24 05:49:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Here is part two in our series for learning how to increase blog traffic today.

7 – Sign It With Your Blog – Add a link to your blog website in the signature file for your e-mail accounts as well as forum accounts and other accounts where signature files are capable of being used. People will see your signature, and curiosity will get the best of them, enticing them into checking out what you have to offer.

8 – Link Your Website – If you have a website outside of your blog, every single page of your website should have a link back to your blog. For more exposure, you may consider linking your website in your blog posts as well so that readers can alternate back and forth between the two in order to find the information that they seek. The more links that exist on the internet pointing to your blog, the better your blog will perform in search engines.

9 – Newsletter Exposure – If you publish any kind of a newsletter or reach out to a mailing list or contact list in any way, then you need to make sure that you are creating a link to your blog in every single issue. When people see your blog address in print enough, it will help you increase blog traffic by enticing them to check out what you have to offer.

10 – Auto Respond – You should make sure that you are offering a link to your blog website as a standard offering in all of your outgoing correspondence including sales letters, auto responders, reports, white papers and any other way that you reach out to people. Just as freely as you offer your e-mail address, you should be offering your blog website address as well because just seeing a blog address is usually a motivator enough to get people to come and visit.

11 – Business Cards – You are also going to want to print the URL for your blog on your brochures, flyers and your business cards so that people who receive these documents and take them home with them can have a copy of your blog website address.

12 – RSS – Make absolute sure that you are offering a RSS feed URL that your readers can easily subscribe to at will. The acronym RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, and it is a type of document that lists updates from a blog or a website that are available for the purpose of syndication. These RSS documents, which are also known as feeds, can be read via RSS aggregators or news readers, and they may simply show headlines only, or they may show a combination headline and summary of each blog post or website. Offering an RSS option is one of the best ways for you to increase blog traffic, so make sure that you are making your RSS subscription option easy for your readers to find.

Photo Credits: DaveCrosby

Originally posted 2009-08-19 05:17:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

This is part one in a three part series dedicated to increasing traffic to your blog in a number of different ways. Now that you have your blog set up and you are beginning to post useful information in its pages, the next step is to start attracting useful readers and commenters to your blog. Just like any other type of website, promotion is vitally important when it comes to bringing new people to your website. In the next three posts we are going to address over a dozen different things that you can do to get the traffic to blog flowing in the right direction.

1 – Bloglet – Visit http://www.bloglet.com and set up a bloglet subscription form on the pages of your blog, inviting everyone that is in your blog network to come and subscribe including your family members, your friends, your colleagues and the people that you work with.

2 – MyYahoo – Visit http://www.my.yahoo.com and set up a MyYahoo feed so that your website is regularly being spidered using the Yahoo search engine. Yahoo is a unique search engine because it is hand spidered, rather than spidered using complicated algorithms. If you want to increase traffic to blog, working with Yahoo on a consistent basis in this way is definitely going to be a good idea.

3 – Read and Comment – Find other blogs that exist within the same niche that you are targeting, and visit them regularly. Read the blog posts, get to know what the bloggers have to say, and leave worthwhile comments in your trail. Your comments should be useful and intelligent, and they should contain a link to your blog so that bloggers and readers can find you and read what else you have to say.

4 – Ping O Matic – Visit http://www.pingomatic.com and make use of Ping o’ Matic to ping blog directories every time you publish a blog post, making it more easy for everyone else on the internet to find your newly posted blog entries. Ping o Matic is a great way to let people know when you are posting new content, making it a great way for you to increase traffic to blog.

5 – Submit Fire – Visit http://www.submitfire.com and submit your blog through this service to reach the more traditional search engines including Google and MSN. The more search engine exposure that you get, the better off your blog will be in the grand scheme of things.

6 – Top 55 – Submit your blog to all of the top blog directories. You can find the most comprehensive list possible of directories by visiting http://www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55 for an outstanding jumping off point in this process. Here is an extra tip: Create a form that you can use in order to track your submissions. Start a schedule that you can use to submit to a few directories every day until you have reached the end of the list.

Photo Credits: Zigar

Originally posted 2009-08-17 05:20:23. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

This continues from part one and is part two in a two part series on what bloggers are doing wrong when it comes to blogging. Here are some more ideas for you to consider.

Editorial Calendars and Patterning Audiences

Chances are you don’t do it. Dosh Dosh writes a fantastic article on this and you should read it, bookmark it, and refer to it repeatedly.

You want to do things seasonally, annually, and regularly, just like a newspaper. Failing that you want your readers to understand at a glance what they’ll find in your article.

I personally subscribe to the idea of article images. I created a set of them so that there was one for each unique and special feature on my blog. Each image had text calling out the special feature and instantly let the reader know what the general idea of the post is.

In addition, my website has a section for recently published posts (as I’m sure yours does too, it’s pretty standard.) But I also have a section for upcoming posts. It’s just a bit of code and it let’s readers know what to expect in the upcoming days on the blog. It’s nicer than the mini calendars on most blogs that require clicking dates to see if anything is there.

Article Length and Formatting

Online readers (like me) have attention spans the size of a gnat. I’ve heard we glance at a website in an F shape format, (I can’t find the article again or I’d link to it) so the most read part of the page is the top.

Before posting ask yourself a few questions:

• Can your blog post be split in two? If you say yes, then do it.
• Is it interesting? If you say no, why are you posting it?
• Do you have blocks of text? If you say yes, break them up.
• Is your article less than 125 words? If you say yes, write more.
• Does your article have pit stops? If you say no, add headers and bold formatting!
• Would you share the article with 10 people you personally know? If you say no, rewrite it.
• Is your text warped wrapped around a bunch of images? If you say yes, take a few out.
• Is the article helpful? If you say no, reexamine and fix it so it is.

What do you say? Would you add anything else?

Keira runs a book review blog for readers by readers on romance novels entitled Love Romance Passion. She’s been reading romance since she was in her teens and began blogging about romance so she could share her passion for her favorite genre. She loves reading paranormal, Regency, historical America, and highlander most of all and completely adores blind and wounded heroes.

Photo credits: felipe_gabaldon

Originally posted 2009-12-14 03:30:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Blogging for money is quickly becoming one of the more popular reasons for why people blog. Setting up a blog is relatively easy and straight forward, and turning that blog into a money maker does not take much effort either. By monetizing your blog, you can make it possible to earn money when you write blogs through various different means. The following is a basic guide to blogging for money, including how you can get started doing it and which methods will best address your needs and your individual blog as well.

- * Affiliate Marketing: Bloggers are capable of blogging for money by way of affiliate marketing. When you sign up with an online affiliate marketing program, you are given a unique link that is yours and yours alone, and you use this special link to promote the affiliate products. If any sale is made through your unique affiliate link, then you earn a commission from the affiliate program. This is a really popular option for bloggers that are looking into blogging for money because there are thousands if not millions of different affiliate products out there in every niche under the sun.

- * PPC Ads: Bloggers are capable of blogging for money by way of Pay Per Click or PPC advertising. Bloggers are more than capable of generating a lot of income through PPC or Pay Per Click advertising, which is provided by major advertising networks including Yahoo and Google. Applying for an account is easy, and money is generated through advertising in your blog, which makes it relatively simple to participate over time. Contextual ads are placed on your blog and relate to the keywords used in your blog, meaning they are targeted to your readers for better results.

- * Bloggers are capable of blogging for money by way of product reviews. Many merchants are actually looking for bloggers that are willing to review the products they are selling. Providing reviews on products in your blog can earn you between $25 and $200 dollars for every review, and even more if your blogs earn more traffic, making this an excellent opportunity for blogging for money.

- * Bloggers are capable of blogging for money by way of membership programs. Memberships are a great way for you to generate regular income online on a repeated basis. You can charge visitors to visit your membership. If you want to charge money for a membership, you should have a separate membership website in addition to your blog and you should offer something truly unique that your readers will be interested in signing up for. By integrating a membership into your blog, you will increase the conversion rate between visitors and members, helping your blog to earn a repeated or residual online income, which is a great way to go about it if you can.

There are only some of the ways you can blog for money. What other ways can you come up with to earn money through blogging?

Photo Credits: Pink Sherbet Photography

Originally posted 2009-08-14 05:40:41. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Blogging is about more than just putting your thoughts down in words, because blogging is capable of sharing news, spreading messages, facilitating conversations and so much more. Learning how to publish blog posts more successfully is one of the best things that you can do if you want to get the most out of your blogging experience. The following is a connection of tips that will help you improve your blogging capability, because when you publish blog posts more successfully, everybody benefits.

- * Post Titles: Your post title needs to be capable of grabbing the attention of readers, and it may also be able to help search engines find you as well. Every blog post needs to have a title, and yours should be strong and concise and keyword oriented as well.

- * Post Introduction: You should start the actual entry of your blog with the same keyword or keyword phrase as you put in your title. This will help to reinforce your theme, helping your readers know exactly what you intend to talk about.

- * Information: Your blog needs to be informative, you need to be teaching the people that are reading your blog. Share your knowledge with them, help them make decisions that are educated and informed, and do not just advertise in your blog when you can teach instead.

- * Be a Resource: Through blogging effectively on a consistent basis you can establish yourself as being an authority or an expert in your area, no matter what your area happens to be. You should be presenting all of your blog posts in such a way that they facilitate conversation and discussion so that readers can contact you. You should be a resource for information online.

- * Make Your Blog Dynamic. You should be encouraging feedback, because a blog that has discussions, comments and feedback is going to create more visitors. It will also establish your blog as being interactive and dynamic, which will interest more people in what you have to say. Blogs that are static and never changing are far less effective as marketing tools even when they do have good things to say, so make sure that your blog is dynamic and constantly evolving as a result.

- * Think Search Engines. When you are blogging, make sure that you are keeping search engines in mind because your content should be keyword oriented in nature. You should make sure to have plenty of fresh content, and your fresh content should be rich but not overbearing in keywords in order to keep search engines in mind while you are blogging for the best possible results.

Keep these things in mind and you will be able to publish blog posts more easily and more effectively than ever before, increasing traffic to your blog as a result.

Photo Credits: Unhindered by Talent

Originally posted 2009-08-12 05:26:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Blogging has developed a serious place for itself in the internet community for many different purposes including personal use and business uses. As a result, it has evolved into becoming a truly essential tool for people who want to build communications, deliver up to date news and information and otherwise bring information and conversation to the masses quickly and easily. Choosing the right blogging tools, as a result, has become vitally important in making the world of blogging easier and straighter forward.

So what are blogging tools all about?

Blogging tools are different types of software that make it possible for users and bloggers to create and publish their entries more fluidly or easily. Some blogging tools make it simpler to add photographs to a blog while others are designed to make uploading video run more smoothly. There are also blogging tools that make posting widgets, tickers and other unique gadgets easier, or to completely personalize the look of a blog. Blogging tools, in other words, allow the blogger to completely and fully customize his or her blog in order to get more out of it.

Different blogging tools are capable of employing a variety of different types of features depending on what they are meant to do, and who they are specifically meaning to target. Some software blogging tools are only meant to include basic features because they are designed to cater to beginning bloggers with only a little bit of experience. There are also more advanced blogging tools that offer more complicated instructions but a myriad of additional features that bloggers can take advantage of.

Here are some must have features of blogging tools:

• The ability to create and publish posts, which is the most essential of all features for blogging since the main and most important purpose of blogging is to post content,
• The ability to upload videos, photos and sound, which is good for more advanced bloggers that want to bring their blogs to life,
• The ability to display content in a unique user interface, which makes a blog more easily readable and more visually appealing,
• The ability to customize the design and the layout of the blog, allowing the user to customize their own unique theme,
• Blog statistics, so that the blogger can tell who is visiting, where they are visiting from and what they are doing while on the site. Blogging statistics are vital for keeping track of the performance of the blog, allowing the blogger to see how much traffic is actually being generated and there are numerous blogging tools that are capable of providing this information and much more.

These blogging tools are vital for the success of any blog, regardless of what its purpose is.

Photo Credits: geishaboy500

Originally posted 2009-08-10 05:21:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

That’s right, I said it. You’re not blogging correctly. This two part article series will expand on my previous post, 4 Things Bloggers Do WRONG!

There are a ton of blogs that are already established and a ton of new blogs getting started every single day. You won’t stand out by making the mistakes other blogs make. Below are some things that I see wrong and avoid like crazy because they drive me crazy and I’m sure you’ll agree:

Hodgepodge Blogs

This is why you niche out your blog. Pick a topic. Write on that topic. End of story.

Do not post about your life unless your life has to do with that blog topic. If you’re a fishing blog I don’t want to see Project Runway on your blog unless you ran into a cast member fishing and they caught something or did something silly and you have proof of it (e.g. a photo or video clip). If you’re not a political blog I don’t want to read about Obama and what you think of the latest happenings in Washington D.C. Why? Because I simply don’t care, and neither do your readers.

You are not a lifestyle magazine. You are not a newspaper. Let me repeat – stay on topic! That’s right, no off topic posts for you. Keep your personal opinions on life in general and random thoughts off the blog unless your blog is about those things… and honestly, unless you’re somebody famous it shouldn’t be. Personal blogs are not something I subscribe to. I want information and clever articles about the topics that interest me from the people who write them.

Blog Article Titles

Even though you’re not a newspaper, you’re not excused from bland titles. You lose more readers than you know with generic titles. Why do you think headlines are so important? The bigger font isn’t there to just look pretty it’s there to grab your attention.

I skip right by a lot of posts in my Google Reader because nothing in the title made me think it was worth spending two seconds clicking the link to go see the post. That’s right I view my blogs rss feeds in List Format. You have to when you subscribe to as many blogs as I do.

So what are bad titles?

For example, I hate seeing posts entitled: SOMEBODY’S NAME Guest Blogs or some variation of the same. I have no idea who that person is and why would I care if they guest blogged? Why don’t you give me a title that refers to the topic of their guest blog?

Similarly don’t get cutesy. If you’re reviewing a product, give me the product in the title of the post not the name you would have called it yourself if you were on the naming committee. How will I ever know what you’re really talking about at a glance?

Keira runs a book review blog for readers by readers on romance novels entitled Love Romance Passion. She’s been reading romance since she was in her teens and began blogging about romance so she could share her passion for her favorite genre. She loves reading paranormal, Regency, historical America, and highlander most of all and completely adores blind and wounded heroes.

Photo Credits: Lori Greig

Originally posted 2009-12-11 03:24:04. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

In the last two blog posts, we talked about identifying and banking on your strengths, and identifying and banking on your sources of traffic. Any time that you find a significant source for blog or website traffic, there are almost always going to be ways that you can build even further on that traffic, which is a key to blogging for profit, or any type of blogging for that matter.

• When you notice that there is a lot of traffic coming to specific posts in your website from Google, then it could be helpful for you to optimize those specific pages for the types of keywords that people seem to be searching for in order to increase your traffic even further. Look at your keyword density, link to that page from other pages on your blog using good anchor text, and try tweaking your titles as a way to get started.
• When you are noticing that another blog is linking up to yours, then what you have is an opportunity to create and build up a relationship with that particular blog. You should strive to get to know the writer better, thanking them for their link, and you should submit other blog posts that they may find useful, and make an attempt to link up to them as well.
• When you are noticing that a social media site is sending you traffic, then this is a signal that you need to get involved on that social media website. Do some analysis regarding the types of content that perform well on the site, and add a voting button on your site so that you can encourage your blog readers to go to the site and vote for your content so that you can perform even better than before.
• When you are getting a lot of traffic in the search engines for specific keywords, then that can be a hint that you need to write more blog content on that specific topic. You should be paying particular attention to the types of questions that people are searching for in these search engines as you can convert them into post titles and topics that you can write about.

Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your blog

I have shown only two types of weaknesses and strengths that might be built upon in a blog, but there are plenty more of course. The principles that apply are the same – once you have identified something you are good at, something that people really respond to on the blog, keep at it. This does not mean you cannot look to other areas or improve weaknesses, it means you should spend as much time building on your successes as you do fixing those weaknesses. Do this, and you will be onto a good thing.

Photo Credits: pheezy

Originally posted 2009-12-09 03:33:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Blogging is all about building: building friendships, building links, building content, building readership. It’s not for the fainthearted and it should only be taken up by those who have a passion for the topic they wish to write about. Without drive there is no real purpose in getting started. Blogging is a massive undertaking. It’s important to start out on the right foot and to not expect things to come quickly. If you’re blogging for quick monetary gain, you might just want to go out and buy a lottery ticket instead. So how does one build a blog?

Building Friendships:

You should already know of a few bloggers in the field you’re looking to blog about. Their blogs might be part of your daily internet dosage. You might be subscribed to their blogs. Whatever is the case it is time to stop lurking and start commenting. Email the blog owner and tell them how much you liked/loathed a particular article. Offer to write a guest post for their blog. Make yourself available and useful and above all be polite and respectful in all your dealings. Don’t harass!

Friendships are not always about the other bloggers in your niche either. If you’re a sport blog endeavor to make friends with the people in your sport from referees to coaches to athletes, etc. It’s easier with book blogs as you can find ways to contact publishers and authors directly. Be a little creative and be honest. Don’t give up!

Building Links:

Start by asking those bloggers with whom you made friends for links. Give them something worthwhile to share with their readers. More permanently, would they be willing to give you a link on their site for one of yours? This is called link exchanging and your link is usually filed under blogroll or a similar heading. Additionally, search for more blogs discussing your field and offer the same deal. Link exchanges are a useful way to share readership and increasing your ranking in search engines. Big blogs need links just as much as new small blogs. It doesn’t hurt to ask – the worst they can say is no thank you.

Building Content:

There’s no point to build links and friendships if you don’t have good strong content. If you’re stuck for ideas consider writing an opposing view point, making a list, explaining terms, offering opinions on news related to your field, look for people to interview or profile, create a guide, share what you like/dislike, confirm/discredit rumors etc. Take a look around you – everything is copy – or available to you to write about. Be open to ideas and they will come.

Building Readership:

The holy grail in blogging is establishing a strong (and growing) readership. How does one do this? By writing engaging content, sure, but also by making yourself available that’s how. You’re not writing down to your readers – you’re opening dialogue with your readers. Make every reader feel special. Respond to comments and emails! Be accessible; start a Twitter account! Be friendly and be yourself. If you’re a snarky person or a shy person use your qualities to the best of your advantage. Don’t try to be funny if you’re not naturally. Don’t try to write thought provoking posts if you’re more inclined to be light and jovial. Readers respond to sincerity.

These tips are just some of the many things you can do to build a better blog. What would you add?

Today’s blog post was written by Keira. Her blog about romance novels, Love Romance Passion, is for readers by readers. Check it out whether or not you’re a fan of the genre!

Photo Credits: madnzany

Originally posted 2009-04-11 10:11:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter