Archive for blogs
Blog Regularly To Keep Your Audience Captivated.
Posted by: | CommentsBlog Regularly To Keep Your Audience Captivated.
By: Alice Coaxum
Blogs used to be just a way for people to express their thoughts, feelings and knowledge with the whole world. Blogs were used solely as a tool for communicating. Today that is still the case, as there are many interesting blogs that you can subscribe to and read that still offer all kinds of information and opinions without asking anything of you in return or promoting anything to you.
These are the blogs that you see without any type of advertisements, links or optin boxes, which I don’t recommend, because there is nothing wrong with monetizing good content.
There are so many blogs available on the internet, devoted to all kinds of topics like weight loss, how to be a better writer, frugal living, green living, moms with children, family life and the list goes on and on. While some blog writers may have affiliate links and banners on their blog to help offset the cost of their blog or to earn money in general, some really do blog just for the pure enjoyment of it.
However, these days, it’s perfectly acceptable and now even expected that blogs will be used for business purposes. Businesses use blogs to help keep you up to date with what is going on with their company, let you know about about the latest and hottest deals and sale and also to promote their products. Blogs are a free or low cost marketing tool that can really help your business to reach a wider audience. With a self hosted blog you have total control of what goes on your blog.
If you don’t have a blog of your own yet, you should put it on your to do list —> to get one A.S.A.P. If you happen to have a blog, but really aren’t using it to its full potential, you should take the time to revamp your blog by adding new interesting niche appropriate posts.
Starting a new blog is like purchasing a home that is built from the ground up, with no prior owners. You decide how many rooms your home will have, what color the rooms will be and what type of furniture you will place in each room.
It’s the same principal with a blog. You decide how many pages, the decor of the blog and what you will write about on specific pages and posts of your blog.
A blog is truly your home on the internet. You want to make it appealing and inviting, just like a real home so other will want to visit often. Just as you wouldn’t neglect your home, letting everything get dusty, broken and outdated, you would want to keep your blog in tip top condition by: making sure that your blog looks neat, testing the links to be sure they really work and updating your information as technology changes when applicable.
The key to being a successful blogger is staying consistent with promoting your blog on a regular basis and not allowing your blog get stale or tired. You have to keep sharing fresh and insightful information to captivate your readers and keep them looking forward to the next post. Give them something of value every time they read a new blog post of yours.
There are many blogs that I enjoy reading and not all of them are marketing related, however I must feel that I am getting some type of value or enjoyment out of the post or I’m clicking the X and moving on faster than you can say “new blog post.” I view my time as valuable and so I’m not going to waste it on reading things that I don’t enjoy or that are of no value to me.
While you are in charge of when you will post and how often you shouldn’t allow your blog to sit dormant for too long as your regular visitors may get disappointed due to the lack of content and stop visiting. Try posting at least once or twice a week. Some may say that you should post daily but that just might not be the right schedule for you, blog as your schedule permits. It’s your blog, so do it your way. Just be consistent!
There isn’t an exact quota for blog posts per week as that really varies from person to person, but they should be meaningful, and not just filler crap content, posting for the sake of posting. Each post should have a purpose and the reader should be called to some type of action, whether that action is:
- For the reader to learn more about what your speaking of.
- For the reader to purchase something.
- For the reader to join your emailing list.
Your blog posts should motivate the reader to feel more inclined to read your next post. You want your reader to feel that they have received something of value by reading your post.
There are so many blog available online, so why should the reader take time out of their day to read yours?
You can also use your blog to build a responsive list by adding an optin box in a visible spot, preferably above the fold, since many won’t take the time to scroll down very far unless they are actually reading a post or thoroughly checking your blog out.
You can further monetize your blog and earn a little extra cash by:
- Promoting your own product that are relevant to the post or creating a separate post to your blog if it is relevant to niche that your blog is in. You wouldn’t want to advertise a social media marketing product on a blog devoted to the care of fish. Your product must be relevant to your audience.
- Placing Adbrite, AdSense or some other advertising network banner and text ads in the sidebars of your blog. These type of ads can work well when the advertisements are relevant to your niche.
- Promoting relevant affiliate products within your posts. Promote quality products that would interest someone who is interested in reading that particular blog post. Example: One who is interest in reading a blog devoted to cooking tips would probably be interested in buying various cookbooks. Keep it relevant.
Your blog is the perfect way to boost your brand and reputation by letting others get to know you through your thoughts, opinions and knowledge . You can create a blog that reflects your YOUnique personality and still showcases your products and opportunities in a tasteful way that builds your public image in a positive way.
Blogging Tips
To make your blog successful you will need to:
- Create a blog that’s easy to read and navigate. Nothing will turn a potential reader off faster than not being able to navigate your site easily. Make sure that your colors and fonts are easy on the eyes.
- Make sure that each post is well written. Put your spell check to good use to avoid unnecessary spelling errors. If you are using PLR, fully read the article first and add your spin on it, giving the content your voice. Speak up when you don’t agree, share facts, stats, quotes and images. Straight copy and paste isn’t your only option with PLR! You can use it as a starting point, tweaking and editing the content to make unique and reflective of your voice.
- Offer something of value to the reader. Readers don’t want fluff or crap. This will keep your readers coming back for more.
- Keep your blog fresh. Readers will not come back to see the same old posts if you never have anything new to offer. Give them a reason to visit your blog and share it with others. That was a problem that I used to have with blogging. I was too sporadic and now I strive to make sure that I post at least once per week. I want my readers to know that I’m here and willing to share my thoughts, feelings and knowledge with them and I can show that by staying consistent with my postings.
- Invite people to interact on your blog by allowing your readers to comment and share their own thoughts with you. Respect your readers rights to tastefully disagree with you on different topics. Agree to disagree when conflicting opinions are shared.
Blogging may be a little time consuming, but will be worth it in the long run as you begin to compile lots of interesting posts that draw your readers in again and again.
If you are ready to start your own WordPress blog, swing on over to my web hosting site, Wahms Online Hosting, where you can get your website cPanel hosted at an affordable price. 3 options available + easily install WordPress through the easy script installer included with each package. http://wahmsonlinehosting.com
Already own a domain? Great, bring it over! Purchase of a domain isn’t required to make use of my web hosting.
Warmly wishing you success,
Alice Coaxum
How To Create And Recognize A Good Blog Comment
Posted by: Alice Coaxum | Comments (4)Leaving a meaningful comment on someone’s blog post is a great way to create organic backlinks to your website or blog. I say meaningful because the comment you write should mean something to you and not be a run of the mill bot posted comment, seen everywhere in the spam portion of the comment section to countless bloggers, in an attempt to scam for backlinks.
Nowadays you see so many packages offering thousands of backlinks. You can build your own organic backlinks. This way you build them slowly and naturally. One way to do that is to comment on quality blog websites.
Because spam is so prevalent in the blogging world, many blog owners wisely set their comments not to auto approve. A blog can literally receive thousands of spam comments. How can you ensure that your comment will make the cut and be approved? Here are a few tips to help you create meaningful comments that stand out from the rest.
1. Read the entire post. Do not skim. There are key elements you may miss out on if you rush this step and not get the full understanding of the post. Your comment may not make much sense if you don’t have all of the facts. It will be obvious to the blog owner if you read the post or not. You also won’t take anything from the post which is the point of reading a blog post to begin with. Look at the link you can place with your comment as just a perk and not the total reason for commenting.
2. Think about the post before you write. What emotions did the information you read invoke, if any? Did you learn anything? Was there anything you especially liked or didn’t like about the blog post? Does this blog post directly apply to you? Have you seen anything like described in this blog going on recently? Asking yourself these questions will help you to express yourself through meaningful blog comments.
3. Draw your comment from your thoughts as noted in #2
Example #1 ______________ is what I am trying to implement right now because ______
Example #2 I really appreciated this post because __________
Example #3 I enjoyed your post because ___________
*Remember that these are just samples. You do not have to include the above mentioned word into your comment.
4. Do leave your email address in the slot asking for it. Many won’t approve your comment without it.
5. Add your link in the slot asking for it. The blog owner or readers may decide to click on your name and you link is connected to that. This provides a backlink to your blog or website and could bring traffic to you. Google also picks up on comments and that could bring traffic to you.
6. Make sure to comment in full sentences, using proper English. If you are commenting on a non English blog, use full sentences in whatever language the blog is written in. Exclude slang, profanity, text talking, advertising (unless the blogger specifically asks you too) and vulgar speech. This will give you a better chance of having your comment approved.
What not to do ….
Example #1 I like dat rite derr. (Leave the excessive slang for talking for when talking to your friends.)
Example #2 LMBO, I think this blog is good bcuz ur a good ____________. Blog comments are not the place to text talk. Some people may not even know what the abbreviations mean with the exception of LOL which means laugh out loud. You want your comment to contribute to the blog post, not leave others confused as they try to figure out what you mean.
Example #3 Good blog! What does that really say to the writer or the readers. Nothing at all. What does this show that might make someone interested enough to click on your name which will take them to your blog or website? Nothing! It’s okay to incorporate praising the blog post into your comment but it shouldn’t be your whole comment.
Example #4 This post is telling the truth and if you come over to http://I-am-spamming-you.com you will see a hot product that I just want you to buy! Don’t do it, because it’s a waste of time because no one takes these comments seriously and most bloggers who are attentive to their comments would delete this without giving it a second thought. Don’t waste your time on methods that aren’t effective.
The same quality that you should put out when commenting on someone’s blog is the same quality you should look for when accepting comments on your blog. Using the tips above will help you to recognize good comments. You don’t have to settle. No comments are much better than crappy ones. Low value spammy comments bring down the value of your blog, so don’t allow them. Value your blog comment section and others will too.