أرشيف شهر مارس, 2008

59 Internet Marketing and Development Tips

Over on Coversation Marketing, there is a nice list post that breaks down some things that we should all be doing to optimize, develop and market our blogs. What is great about the list is that it isn’t too serious, and it has its funny moments, like the first item on the list:

If you have a Flash introduction on your web site, delete it. If you don’t agree, try this: Shove your head into a bucket of water. Stay in there, not breathing, for 10 seconds longer than is comfortable. That’s what you’re doing to your customers. Delete it, please.

Definitely an interesting read, and while I don’t agree with everything on the list, it has some great ideas that can be sifted through which should help most bloggers move upwards in traffic and influence.

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Looking for Weekly Columnists

Looking at all the blogs out there, and the continued growth of this site and the other sites I run, I am looking to add more content to this site, but I am going to get very busy over the next little while. I was hoping that you, my readers, might be or might know of some people that could work as weekly columnists on this blog.

What I am Looking For

I am looking for someone who is passionate about blogging, and has either come from a network paid or freelance paid blogging background. You must have worked or be working for a major blog (over 1k page views a day minimum) or a known blog network. If you’ve never written for a blog with more than one hundred RSS subscribers, then you probably aren’t what I am looking for.

The candidate should understand writing for the web, social media promotion, and be intimately familiar with WordPress. I am looking for someone that can write one five hundred word or more post every week that is the best work they’ve ever done. The posts will center on the writers expert experience, so if you know everything about WordPress theming and plugins, that’s fine too, but the posts have to fit the audience I maintain. I will be expecting the highest quality and will retain full editorial control over any posts submitted.

What Do You Receive?

Other than gaining access to my connections, and my advice, you will also be able to promote your own blog or outside work at the end of each post, as well as being paid a flat rate, to be decided, based on the experience and type of column written.

Get in Touch!

Jump on over to my contact page and send me a message. Please include a link to an article which you think shows your talent, as well as a paragraph selling yourself and lastly your expected rate.

3 تعليقاً

Nine Blogs Not in the Top 50 That Should Be

While compiling the new top 50 list for my recent post, I noticed some of the blogs I enjoy aren’t in that top 50, but I believe they should be, and so I am going to give them some recognition here today.

There are specifically nine blogs I would like to highlight that are all listed in the 45n5.com Top 100 list, but aren’t in the top 50, but do have some great posts, ideas, or writers. If you haven’t checked out all these blogs before, have a look today.

#55 – MEMWG
#68 – Slyvisions
#78 – Blogtrepreneur
#90 – Blogging With Cents
#83 – Derek Semmler
#95 – Shylock Blogging
#105 – Blogging Fingers
#114 – College Startup
#139 – The Blog Entrepreneur

If you enjoy these blogs, make sure you subscribe. While I don’t always enjoy their designs, or the advertisements they display, I have found the above list to include some great bloggers who produce some great content. If we, the community, support them, they will hopefully be in the top 50 by the next time I write about it.

Hopefully, they won’t push me out from my spot in the list though.

6 تعليقاً

Five Months Later: Top 50 Make Money Online Blogs Shuffle

Five months ago, I looked at how the 45n5.com Top 100 list changed due to a PageRank update. Since then Google has updated some PageRanks again, and I wanted to go back over the previous list and see where people stand today.

I am using my original list from the post entitled “An Entirely Different Top 100 Make Money Online List

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Analysis of One Thousand Comments

I recently posted about my excitement of seeing this blog reach the one thousand comments mark, and I wanted to go back and highlight a few things which I think could help bloggers figure out what seems to work, and what doesn’t.

World Problogger List – 60 Comments
15 Amazing Women in Blogging – 57 Comments
46 Things to Do Before Launching a Blog Network – 36 Comments
Cons of Being a Problogger – 24 Comments
Free WordPress Theme: Crystal – 24 Comments
My Problogging Setup – 23 Comments
Best Blogs Period – 19 Comments

From the list above you can see that list posts have done well for me, and that creating something new has done the best. WordPress themes are still a great way to gain attention, as well as pointing out your favourite sites. I also recommend mini-contests with a very low barrier for entry, as they seem to inspire people to both comment, and to link to your blog. The lower the barrier for entry, the more entries you will get. My recent domain giveaway doesn’t follow this rule, but I think the prizes are worth a bit of extra effort.

Another interesting statistic that I have found on this blog is that around 50% of all my comments come from the same handful of people. This means that they interact with this site on a fairly regular basis or did at one time. It also shows that, at least on this blog, if they come back and comment more than once, they seem to come back fairly often, or give their opinions on a variety of posts.

I am unsure if some are just hoping for traffic benefits as many of the repeat comments come from people authoring blogs in a similar niche, but I enjoy the regulars that come back more than once, despite knowing they are most likely ad blind or not clicking on ads.

I don’t have a plugin installed right now to tell me how many comments the “most commented” user has, but I would hazard a guess that it is Tom, a friend of mine from Ottawa who currently has 42 comments on this blog.

A side note for those that are interested, comments appear to have dropped considerably since I have stopped pushing my posts on social media sites. So that means my Alexa and Technorati Ranks as well as comments per month are all down since I stopped heavy promotion of this blog.

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Dropping Alexa and Technorati Ranks

Despite my ever increasing traffic, my Alexa and Technorati ranks seem to be taking a nosedive. The only real change I have made to this site that can account for that is the decrease in my social media promotion. I find it strange that not promoting my stuff all over the Internet has created such an issue. I didn’t think most social media users also were Alexa users, and I didn’t attribute my inbound links to the posts I promote on social media.

This, to me, reinforces the fact that social media is a key component to a blogs success or failure as I was also getting many more advertisement requests on this site when my rankings were getting better and better, as advertisers no doubt assumed that they would continue to rise and as such they were getting an amazing deal.

I still believe there is great value in this site, its content, its archives, and its audience, but I have to admit that I am going to be gearing up for another social media push in hopes to getting this blog back on track with both Alexa and Technorati so that my rank on 45n5.com/top100 remains fairly high.

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Finding Focus

One issue I have been having lately is finding the focus I need to complete my daily work. I have tried many of the techniques I know in hopes of regaining the drive and determination to get things done, but it doesn’t seem to be working, and the work keeps piling up.

I have tried to get out of the house, move around the house, add variety to my day, exercise, listen to music that I enjoy, and the result is all the same.

The more work there is, the further behind I feel, and the more I just want to disconnect and run away from it all. I have been trying to vary between doing the thing I least want to do, and doing smaller tasks to try to get me in that working mind space, but it has been rough going.

Am I going through another bout of blogger burnout and just need a short vacation from it all, or is it because I am too spread out all over the place, and actually have too much work?

What is your best advice in finding focus? Have you ever experienced blogger burnout? Let me know in the comments below.

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Don’t Post About Holidays

I can’t tell you how many posts I saw about Easter. I understand that it is a holiday, and that it has a religious slant, but letting me know it is Easter, and hoping I have a good one is really a waste of a post.

There are so many other things you could do to separate yourself from the hundreds of others mentioning the holiday and wishing people well. Tell me something interesting about Easter or connect the Easter theme to your blog. Tell me how the Easter Bunny would make a great blogger, or what my favourite devices would look like if given the Easter colour treatment.

You are wasting time, space, and energy mentioning the holiday and not expanding on it. If you want to fade into the background, then feel free to post about the holidays. If you want to stand out, and capture my attention, use a holiday as a springboard into an amazing post.

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Why I am Different

There are thousands of “make money online” bloggers. There are even more bloggers that talk about blogging, but I feel like I am different than most, and if you are looking for someone to add to your daily reads, I ask that you chose me.

No Make Money Online E-Books

One of the things you have probably noticed on around a third of the blogs out there like this one are the downloadable guides that will teach you everything you need to know about making money online.

While some of them are well written, the blogosphere changes so fast that by the time these people have compiled their thoughts into a document, the information is fairly useless. There have been a few exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, you can’t follow the steps that someone else took and expect to become rich, it just doesn’t work.

No Heavy Affiliate Promotion

Some bloggers will spend all day formulating posts, only to stuff them to the brim with affiliate links. The more people they get signed up, the more money they make, and the wider the divide between you, seeking knowledge, and them, “providing” the knowledge gets.

Do you want to fill their pockets with money, or your own? While I do promote affiliate products from time to time, I am careful in doing it. I support products I enjoy, and I usually note what links are affiliate links so that you can avoid them if you so choose.

While I am here to make money as well, it isn’t my primary objective.

Less Than Ten Ads Per Page

With cost per click rates dropping, CPM deals drying up, more bloggers are stuffing their blogs to the brim with advertisements. Do they really need eight 125×125 pixel advertisements on every page, along with two or three AdSense banners and one or two other advertisements?

What do you gain as a user from more than ten advertisements on every single post, page, and area of their blog?

I Have Experience

A large percentage of “make money online” bloggers don’t have any experience in their field. While it can be interesting to discover things with them, it can also be frustrating and misleading.

I have been a full time blogger for going on three years. I have written articles for a variety of niches for a variety of people. I have worked with Darren Rowse, Paul Scrivens, David Krug, and many other interesting and brilliant Internet personalities. These bloggers know who I am, and have, over time, shared some of their skill, knowledge and abilities with me.

While I don’t consider myself an expert, I am not just starting out in the industry. I have knowledge of the way things used to be, and how many of the important people got to where they are now.

Also, the experiences I have had as a network backed blogger is very different than many of the freelancers out there. I have had consistent full time employment, and understand what networks are looking for in a potential writer, server administrator, marketer, advertiser, and more.

I’m a Geek

While I have spent a fair bit of time writing, I also understand WordPress, PHP, web development, basic server administration, proper backup procedures and a variety of other technical aspects that sets me apart from many of the bloggers currently covering this subject.

Do you think most of them have ever really developed their own WordPress theme? Heck, most of them weren’t even blogging back when WordPress began. I’ve been using it since version 0.72.

Conclusion

There are many great bloggers out there, and they have advice that might help you, but I will tell it to you how it actually is. I am knee deep in the trenches, and I can see where things are heading. While I dislike “tooting” my own horn, I just wanted to set the record straight. I am different than your typical “make money online” blogger, and definitely worth subscribing to.

4 تعليقاً

One Thousand Comments

Recently, this blog passed the one thousand comments mark. To me this is bigger and better than any other metric so far on this site, as it shows involvement. Having others interested in sharing their thoughts, opinions and views through the comments of my blog makes me so happy, and so excited.

I am looking forward to the next thousand comments, and want to thank everyone who has taken time out of their day to come on here and express themselves. I really appreciate it and hope it will continue.

This blog is more about sharing and learning than me just telling you all what I think, so your participation is the most important thing to the life of this blog.

Thank you all.

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