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3 Tips for Rising Above the Basic Blog Post

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We’ve all seen one: a basic blog with paragraphs and paragraphs and bland, boring text and nothing else notable to draw your attention. The topic could be interesting but was poorly executed, you have no idea how or where they got their information, and you’re falling asleep as you scroll down pages and pages of black and white copy. Yikes.

While many bloggers and businesses alike are trapped in this bad version of content marketing, it’s actually easier than you might think to break the basic mold of blogging and create a champion-worthy blog that viewers will delight in reading, sharing and interacting. So to help get you over this hurdle, here are three tips for rising above the basic blog post. [Read more…]

Originally posted on January 5, 2016 @ 12:27 am

Ways To Earn Money Through Blogging

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I have to admit it: there are many people who jump into the blogging bandwagon because they think that they can get rich off of it. There has been too much hype about making money off of blogging that, inevitably, misconceptions have arisen. Of course, to a certain degree, one can reasonably expect to make some money with a blog. You do have to be realistic about your expectations, however; and that is what I am here for.

Yes, you can earn money with your blog, but don’t turn in your resignation letter just yet. There are some people who make it quite big in the blogosphere, but sad to say, there are even more who do not really earn much. Let’s try to be positive here and look at the ways that you can make money through your blog, shall we?

Get paid to blog. This is one of the most common ways by which you can make money through your blog. It is also called “pay per post” blogging, and is quite popular with personal bloggers. Basically, you sign up with a company that assigns you certain posts on topics and they pay you an agreed amount for each post. You’d have to include a link and/or talk about a product or service. This kind of scheme has created a lot of controversy, mainly because of transparency issues. Still, it provides a small but steady stream of income for bloggers.

Advertising and affiliate programs. The idea is to create a niche blog that focus on a “popular” topic. When I say popular, I mean a topic that is searched a LOT online. Think loans, weight loss, and the like. You will have to focus on these topics and write posts about them. Also, your blog has to achieve a decent PageRank (Google’s way of ranking web sites) in order to attract advertisers.

Alternatively, you can join Google’s Adsense program. The income is lower over a period of time UNLESS you optimize your blog for it; THEN, you can earn a considerable amount. Of course, you have to realize that you need a large amount of traffic in order to make hefty earnings.

As for affiliate programs, think of these as a sales job online. You get a certain percentage of the sales made if someone clicks on an ad from your blog and buys a product or service from your affiliate partner.

I have to clarify something here – your blog does not have to be a niche blog in order to sell ad space. Indeed, a lot of personal blogs have ads.

Contract blogging. For the lack of a better word, I used contract blogging. Basically, what you can do is hone your writing and blogging skills and then join an existing blog network. What’s going to happen is you sell your services as a blogger and you get paid under some sort of scheme. The advantage of this is that you get a relatively stable income and you get to enjoy what you’re doing more!

So, if you want to blog for the money, check out these methods and see which suits you best!

Originally posted on December 7, 2009 @ 8:50 am

How To Promote Your Blog

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I was just talking to a friend who has been blogging for about a year now. Last week, she decided to shut down her original blog and create a new one. The big difference is that this new blog is open only to people she chooses – and she has chosen four. It occurred to me that she needs this blog for personal purposes only and that she does not have to worry about promoting her blog to get more readers. That’s great for her, but for a good number of bloggers out there, blog promotion should be at the top of the list.

If your goal is to make your mark online and get as many readers as you can possibly get, then promoting your blog is important. While you may have that much confidence in your ideas and writing style, it may not be enough to catch the attention of potential followers. After all, there are millions of blogs out there, what are the chances of a person stumbling upon your blog?

How can you promote your blog? Is there a right way to do it?

To be honest with you, I don’t think there is ONE way to do it. However, you can put into practice some activities that will help you market your blog. Let us look at some of the most practical ones that actually get results.

Facebook
If you had written this more than a year ago, the first item on my list probably wouldn’t have been Facebook. However, we all know just how big this social networking site has become, and it is a very effective way of getting the word out that you have a blog that you want everyone to read. You can publish links to your posts on your Facebook status. You can create a page on Facebook for your blog and invite people to become fans. You can even pay for ads if you are willing to.

Comment. Comment. Comment.
Two things: make sure you comment in relevant blogs and that your comments are NOT solely to promote your blog. Commenting in other blogs is a great way to meet new people who might be interested in what you have to say. However, simply leaving a useless comment and putting your blog URL is not acceptable. That’s spamming, period. I have made quite a number of friends over the years through my personal blog; and how did that start? We discovered each other through blog comments.

Blog Communities
Practically every blogger I know wants others to discover his/her blog. I suppose that this desire has brought about the need for blog communities such as MyBlogLog and BlogCatalog where bloggers can come together and promote their blogs. The good thing about these communities is that you can also discover likeminded people with similar blogs. It’s easier to do this as part of a community – with tools already set in place – rather than manually looking for blogs through a search engine.

Forums
Much like leaving comments in other blogs, you can participate in forums focusing on topics related to your blog. While blatant self-promotion is usually not allowed, you can always make mention of your blog when relevant.

Originally posted on December 6, 2009 @ 8:23 am

Kinds Of Blogs

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If you’ve read the introductory article on what a blog is, then the idea of different kinds of blogs will not be new to you. Blogs, just like other web sites, have their own special characteristics that may set them apart from one another. In this article, let us look at some of the common types of blogs that you will encounter, or that you can create.

Wikipedia provides a very useful list of types of blogs, depending on the content as well as the means by which the content is delivered. WordPress, perhaps the most popular blogging platform these days (which is what we are using, by the way), also provides its own list of different blog types. Another good list is from The World of Blogs. I have compiled their lists into one compact reference material for you.

The Personal Blog
This is perhaps the most common and broadest type of blog that you will encounter. A personal blog is what a lot of people think of when blogs are mentioned. It is the earliest form of blogs, and basically consists of anything and everything that the blogger may think of. Topics range from personal issues to milestones to music to politics to love life – practically anything! This kind of blog gives the blogger the most freedom with regard to the content and design of his blog.

The Business or Corporate Blog
Obviously, this kind of blog is created and maintained for a purpose other than to write down one’s thoughts. The business or corporate blog is used by an individual or a company to make their presence felt online. Blogs of this type may be used privately – for internal communication – or as a tool to market the business or the professional.

The Non-profit Blog
Technically, this kind of blog may fall under the corporate blog, as the aim is for non-profit organizations to extend their reach. However, one big difference is that this kind of blog focuses more on the awareness part and not the profit part, although of course, raising funds is part of it.

The Topical Blog
Also a blog categorized based on genre. This type of blog has a very specific focus with regard to the topic. It is easy to see that there can be as many kinds of topical blogs as there are topics in this world. Some of the most popular topics used for these blogs are travel, music, art, cooking, health, parenting, entertainment, real estate, and sports.

The School and Research Blog
The sources I mentioned above make special mention of school and research blogs. These blogs are used for academic purposes and related activities. Updated information about the educational institution may be presented in the blog. Alternatively, students may interact with each other with regard to their academics. Professor-student interaction is also an option.

These are only some of the common kinds of blogs in existence. It’s a good place to start, but don’t think for one moment that all blogs can be labeled based on this list. Who knows, you may even be able to create a category of your own? Whatever type of blog you choose make sure you select the right hosting provider as blog hosting is also one important factor to take into account while making a blog.

The Eatonweb blog directory is one of the oldest directories on the web and another place where your blog needs to be listed!

Originally posted on November 11, 2009 @ 4:03 am

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