Archive for the ‘Tricks’ Category

posted by W A Blog Tools on Mar 13

GoDaddy is the registrar of several of my domain names. While I do think that their web hosting is crap, so far they have performed well as a registrar.

That being said, it looks like other people are not having the same luck with their services lately. Yesterday Mashable covered the story of a website that was suspended by GoDaddy due to “suspicious activity.”

Browsing around the web I also came across a website called NoDaddy, which is dedicated to report horror stories from users that got damaged by the company. Here is a quote from the homepage:

GoDaddy suspends accounts without due cause. They often even levy an arbitrary “fines” and hold your domain name ransom until you pay it. GoDaddy stores your credit card number when you make a purchase, allowing them to levy “fines” without your consent (example1, example2, example3).

For example, when Nick Berlette exposed a serious security hole in the website of DynaDot.Com, they apparently responded by persuading GoDaddy to shut down his blog rather than fixing their pathetic security [agiorlando.com]. GoDaddy of course complied immediately, and sent him this shutdown notice. Note that GoDaddy used the ransom approach here, saying he had two options: Pay a “$199 non-refundable reactivation fee” and GD will put his web site back up, or “if you choose to transfer the berlettefx.com domain name to another registrar, we first require that you pay a $75 administration fee … to cover the costs of responding to or “cleaning up” the situation caused by your web site.

Well, if nothing else I will be more careful from now on. GoDaddy should do its homework though, having such a bad publicity circulating around must cost big bucks, especially on the age of blogs and social media (NoDaddy was on the Delicious front page today indeed).

What registrar do you use? Have you had any problems with it in the past?

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posted by W A Blog Tools on Mar 12

I am a big fan of IM, and every once in a while I have those long chat sessions with friends on a wide range of topics. Most of the conversations rotate around blogging and online marketing, so I thought that perhaps it could be worth to save some of them and share with our readers.

This is just an experiment, so if you guys hate it we will not keep publishing them. On the other hand if you think there is some value we might turn it into a weekly feature.

Today we have a chat session that I had with Jarrod Hunt a couple of days ago. Jarrod is the owner of SponsoredReviews.com, and he has also being involved with online marketing and SEO for years.

Finally, if you want to connect with me via IM here are my contact details:

  • Skype: dscocco
  • AIM: dscocco
  • MSN: danielscocco@hotmail
  • GTalk: danielscocco

Now to the chat!

Daniel: Hello Jarrod
Jarrod: Hey Daniel
Daniel: How are things?
Jarrod: Monday.. crazy as usual :)
Daniel: Yeah, ready for those questions about Sponsored Reviews and blogging in general?
Jarrod: shoot
Daniel: Well first of all how is the paid blogging market evolving? Do you think it is growing as fast as some months ago?
Jarrod: Ya, we havent seen any slow down. User signups and revenue are still growing steadily
Jarrod: We just reached our 20,000th user the other day
Daniel: Oh that is big indeed :)
Daniel: How are you guys managing to the whole “disclosure” issue? You probably know that PayPerPost had a big turmoil with it back in the day.
Jarrod: SponsoredReviews has always been an open marketplace. Advertisers and Bloggers can make their own decisions on disclosure. While we do agree that disclosure is important, not all Bloggers or Advertisers agree. With that being said, the first rule a blogger will see about posting in our system is that “They Must be Honest”.
Jarrod: We do not allow advertisers to ask for dishonest reviews, and we regularly remove bloggers who feel they must lie to do a good review.
Daniel: right
Daniel: What about earnings, do you have any data regarding how much some of your top bloggers are making monthly from sponsored reviews?
Jarrod: We have quite a few bloggers earning in the thousands of dollars per month. These tend to be bloggers who own several quality sites.
Daniel: Cool. I used to take a look on your market place once in while, and there was always plenty of review opportunities. It means advertisers must be finding value on it as well?
Jarrod: Ya, and as we add additional features they are finding more value all the time. We have recently added compete.com traffic data and a few other metrics. Combined with our internal SR Rank, Advertisers can easily find higher quality sites.
Jarrod: Plus, the proof is in the pudding. Many advertisers are seeing a real return on their investments.
Jarrod: Whether it be in direct traffic, search engine rankings, or feedback.
Daniel: Right
Daniel: Not I want to hear your opinions on the blogosphere in general though. I know that you have a blog, and you also are in contact with thousands of others on a daily basis so you are qualified.
Daniel: now = now
Jarrod: sure
Daniel: Do you still see it growing as strong as some years ago, or do you think gradually we will reach a stale point?
Jarrod: Eventually the growth rate will decline, but as it stands people continue to find reasons blog. I know a lot of bloggers are simply getting bored with it and are quitting outright, but for now there are still huge segments of people who have yet to jump on the bandwagon. We are also starting to see a lot of bloggers diversify into multiple blogs/topics.
Jarrod: Besides, do blogs ever really die? :)
Daniel: Yeah I guess they just get discontinued.
Jarrod: I have a blog which will go months without any posts… then I’ll find something new to write about…
Daniel: What do you think of the argument that claims that Facebook/Twitter and company will take the place of blogs?
Jarrod: Well, I think there will be convergence over time. Many blog platforms are adding features that resemble the sort of features you would get with Facebook. In the future it may be hard to distinguish the difference. However, there are many different reasons to blog, not all of them require social networking sort of features. Business blogs for example, although….
Jarrod: Im struggling to think of an example of a business blog that wouldnt benefit from more community features unless it was meant for nothing more then internal announcements etc..
Daniel: Do you use twitter?
Jarrod: No, I’m a pretty private guy. I can see applications for Twitter, and I’ve seen lots of blogs using it, but I do not have an audience nor the motivation to provide that level of detail into my daily activities..
Jarrod: Speaking of blogs dieing, I think that is one of the biggest reasons.
Jarrod: A lot of people are starting to reject the idea of archiving their entire lives on the internet.
Jarrod: I’ve known people have lost jobs because of myspace. I’ve also seen some of my employees (Who are active on myspace, facebook, etc…) run into relationship problems because of information posted in pubic.
Daniel: Yeah I also tend to avoid going too personal on my blogs, let alone twitter what I am doing all day long.
Daniel: In fact I still don’t see much value on twitter, but I guess I will need to play more with it to give a more structure opinion.
Jarrod: I think its novelty will wear off soon, but Im sure some people will find good uses for it as well.
Daniel: Do you think blogs and mainstream media will end up converging as well? Or we will keep seeing them as separate entities for a long time yet?
Jarrod: They already are converging. As you know about me I follow politics pretty closely.
Daniel: Yeah
Jarrod: 2 years ago it was rare to hear a Main Stream Media mention of a blog.
Jarrod: Now we have sites like Politico who sponsor debates.
Jarrod: and sites like the Drudge Report which can literally make or break a candidate.
Jarrod: Mosts major news sites now have blog sections as well.
Daniel: Yeah but they tend to separate their blogs from the core publication
Jarrod: That is changing everyday
Daniel: but I agree we are already seeing a good deal of convergence
Daniel: right
Jarrod: CNN for example. It’s fairly common now to see a link to their blog op/ed section on the homepage, above the fold.
Daniel: yeah
Jarrod: I think one of the biggest issue with media these days
Jarrod: is the fact that real journalism is rare anymore.
Jarrod: The great thing about bloggers is that they tend to dig into a story
Daniel: You mean reporters going out and testing things and checking facts right
Jarrod: Mainstream news sites are getting wise to this, and are starting to closely track news on the blogosphere.
Jarrod: yep
Jarrod: hold on one sec. phone :)
Daniel: k
Jarrod: k back.
Jarrod: Ya I love the way things are progressing when it comes to the blogosphere and the MSM
Daniel: Do you think the Internet is playing a big role on these elections?
Jarrod: HUGE
Daniel: Well
Daniel: Ron Paul has a huge support online apparently, but it is failing to translate into real votes, ain’t this the case?
Jarrod: While Ron Paul may be very popular online, most people still get their news from the MSM. If a candidate can’t get airtime on the major networks, there is no chance of them winning, at least not yet. Why didnt he get much airtime on the major networks?… we’ll save that for another conversation :)
Jarrod: On the other hand, Barack is a great example of how a candidate was able to use the internet to break into the MSM.
Jarrod: its not just about the internet shaping the news
Jarrod: but also about fund raising
Jarrod: I’ve heard that Barack has raised nearly 90% of his money online.
Jarrod: Mostly from donors of $100 or less
Jarrod: That was unheard of 5 years ago.
Daniel: Yeah that is pretty significant
Jarrod: It’s also very tough for politicians to get away with anything anymore.
Jarrod: Every little thing they say is digested by millions of people then discussed on blogs and in forums
Jarrod: Eventually that news makes it to the major blogs, the MSM will then “Sometimes” pick up on it
Daniel: That is a positive result of the democratization of the access to technology and information, I agree
Jarrod: yep
Daniel: All right, we’ve wondered far and wide, some interesting points to think about.
Jarrod: Thats why we have to keep the internet “Regulation Free”..
Daniel: totally
Daniel: thanks for the chat Jarrod!
Jarrod: yep, anytime.

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posted by W A Blog Tools on Mar 11

Over at DailyBits we have an interesting article titled 11 Undiscovered Website Ideas to Steal and Make You Rich. If you are always thinking about innovative and clever ideas to create a website and make money with it (I am…), it should be a good reading. Here is a quote from point two:

2. Community Consulting

The mini pitch: “Yahoo Answers for website owners.”

What it is: A place where website owners can pay for advice and get opinions from a wide community of experts, dabblers and end-users.

How it works: Website owners use credits to post a screenshot with a link to their site, together with a list of their goals. Community consultants give advice, and credits are dished out between them accordingly. Credits can be cashed in or spent on questions.

Why it’s hot: Opinions and advice are essential to improving your site. This concept would shift the balance from whopping consultancy fees for one person’s opinion to micro-payments and group-thinking. It also puts a value on your own opinions and sagely advice at long last!

Where the money is
: Website owners buy credits. Perhaps it costs 25 credits for them to submit their site for community consulting. You could take 5 credits, and get them to spread the remaining 20 between those who respond.

Check out the other 10 points and let us know what do you think. Have you come across any interesting or weird website ideas lately?

Partner: MakeUseOf.com Amazing Websites and Tools you Never Knew About

posted by W A Blog Tools on Mar 10

I love quotes, what can I say. Below you will find some that I gathered recently. Some of them are thoughtful, others funny, others yet polemic. All of them should be worth a reading though. If you have one to add, just let me know.

bloggingquotes.jpg

1. “Breathe. Know that the Internet has no eraser.” (Liz Strauss)

2. “I’ve long advised that bloggers seeking to make money from blogging spread their interests across multiple revenue streams so as not to put all their eggs in one basket.” (Darren Rowse)

3. “All you future Google Whores might want to pay attention to what I’m about to reveal.” (John Chow)

4. “The fact of the matter is, if you can start up a local blog about the independent hip-hop scene in Seattle or the financial side of the restaurant business or the intersection of immigration and entrepreneurship, you’ve got a far better shot at becoming a leader in your field.” (Rand Fishkin)

5. “I think I am about 5 for 500 when it comes to successful ideas vs flops.” (Jeremy Schoemaker)

6. “Readers subscribe to blogs when they provide an informational or entertainment value so great that it would be a loss to not subscribe to it.” (Maki)

7. “I think the pleasure of completed work is what makes blogging so popular. You have to believe most bloggers have few if any actual readers. The writers are in it for other reasons. Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn. All you get is the pleasure of a completed task.” (Scott Adams)

8. “And it occurred to me that there is no such thing as blogging. There is no such thing as a blogger. Blogging is just writing — writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology.” (Simon Dumenco)

9. “When it comes to building your business, there are 4 words that should be echoing in your mind throughout the day; they are Do it Fucking Now.” (QuadsZilla)

10. “Without the New York Times, there is no blog community. They’d have nothing to blog about.” (Malcolm Gladwell)

11. “I am, in full disclosure, a member of the Media Elite. I’m a Conde Nast editor, run a glossy mainstream magazine, spent much of my career at The Economist and consort with known journalists. But nothing annoys me more than the oft-heard assertion within media circles that without us blogs would be nothing.” (Chris Anderson)

12. “Making money from blogging requires you to do only two things: drive a lot traffic, then maximize the income from that traffic.” (John Chow)

13. “Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.” (Brian Clark)

14. “OK, I’m starting a blog. Why shouldn’t an officer of a public company start a blog? Hey, life is short. At some point, take RegFD to its logical extreme, and this is how we’re all going to be communicating anyways. Think about it.” (Jonathan Schwartz)

15. “People have often described me as a blogger. I generally shy away from the term because, to me, bloggers are boring, self obsessed narcissists who use their website mainly as a means to discuss the inconsequential minutiae of their day to day lives.” (Anonymous writer)

16. “I believe the term “blog” means more than an online journal. I believe a blog is a conversation. People go to blogs to read AND write, not just consume.” (Michael Arrington)

17. “It’s funny that when people reach a certain age, such as after graduating college, they assume it’s time to go out and get a job. But like many things the masses do, just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.” (Steve Pavlina)

18. “But there’s a bigger trend I’m seeing: people who used to enjoy blogging their lives are now moving to Twitter.” (Robert Scoble)

19. “I guess my point is, if you’re one of these people considering giving up on blogging in exchange for paying more attention to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace, or whatever they throw at us mere mortals, bear in mind you are giving up on something rather unique and wonderful.” (Hugh Macleod)

20. “When I started writing this blog more than 3 years ago, it was in response to traditional media’s habit of twisting interviews to fit the headlines they wanted to create.” (Mark Cuban)

21. “I’ve developed some deep relationships over the past couple of years blogging and I realize that those relationships manifest themselves in the links I find when I do my 28x a daily ego search over at Technorati.” (Jason Calacanis)

22. “The Lazysphere - a working definition - is a group of bloggers who I won’t name by name, but you can spot them a mile away. Rather than create new ideas or pen thoughtful essays, they simply glom on to the latest news with another “me too” blog post.” (Steve Rubel)

23. “Game changing innovations are few and far between. They are usually simple concepts to describe but when they arrive it takes time to fully realize their importance and impact. Television was a game-changer, mobile phones were a game-changer, and blogging is also one.” (Collis Ta’eed)

24. “While some bloggers in networks are making pennies per the hour the network CEO’s and support staff are raking in huge salaries and getting VC Money to help furnish their homes. I don’t like it. It smells funny.” (David Krug)

25. “The bottom line is that blogging is like sex. You can’t fake it. You can’t fake passion. You can’t fake wanting to engage with the public. If you do, it will ultimately be an unsatisfying experience for both the blogger and their readers.” (Kevin Anderson -)

26. “Blogs, social networks, newspapers, any other form of publication - all have social aspects to them. It is a spectrum really, with social networks at one extreme and a 19th century novel at the other. But there’s room for all types of social publishing platforms.” (Richard MacManus)

27. “I read blogs every day, for all sorts of reasons, but I turn to blogs especially when I want to hear alternative viewpoints — for example, information on a particular medical treatment from the viewpoint of patients receiving it, rather than doctors administering it; reports from the battlefield seen through the eyes of soldiers rather than politicians; thoughts on a particular technology from the standpoint of engineers rather than executives.” (Jim Buckmaster)

28. “In truth, the real opportunities for building authority and buzz through social media have only just begun. You simply have to look and see where things are going instead of where they’ve been.” (Brian Clark)

29. “Blogs are already moving upmarket and improving. The term “Professional Blogger” is no longer an oxymoron. Some in the traditional media realize this – ESPN, for example, recently purchased the popular basketball blog TrueHoop.com to complement its other online news offerings.” (Luke Langford)

30. “So forget about blogs and bloggers and blogging and focus on this — the cost and difficulty of publishing absolutely anything, by anyone, into a global medium, just got a whole lot lower. And the effects of that increased pool of potential producers is going to be vast.” (Clay Shirky)

31. “It should feel genuinely good to earn income from your blog — you should be driven by a healthy ambition to succeed. If your blog provides genuine value, you fully deserve to earn income from it.” (Steve Pavlina)

32. “The Internet destroyed most of the barriers to publication. The cost of being a publisher dropped to almost zero with two interesting immediate results: anybody can publish, and more importantly, you can publish whatever you want.” (Dick Costolo)

33. “The more popular a person thinks he is in the blogosphere, the thinner his skin and the thicker his hypocrisy. This should be exactly the opposite: the higher you go the thicker the skin and thinner the hypocrisy.” (Guy Kawasaki)

34. “If this prinicpal thinks blogging isn’t educational, he needs his head examined: he should be seeking out every student blogger in the school and giving them special time to blog more — and giving them extra credit besides.” (Cory Doctorow)

35. “Blogs can help bring humanity back into the workplace. We have become so concerned with communicating numbers and processes that employees have forgotten how to build relationships. How can companies ask employees to provide superior service and innovative thinking when everything they see and hear flies in the face of that? Blogs help create a culture that supports those behaviors.” (Michael Wiley)

36. “The sad truth is most bloggers, even those who incessantly work on monetization strategies, end up sitting around the few dollars a day mark and find it difficult to rise above this level.” (Yaro Starak)

37. “Just as we don’t spend a lot of time worrying about how all those poets out there are going to monetize their poetry, the same is true for most bloggers.” (Seth Godin)

38. “One company I work with showed me how the traffic on his company’s site doubled since they started blogging. In fact, the blog (inexpensive) has more visitors and views than the corporate website (expensive). Well, there’s some measurable ROI in that case.” (Mike Sansone)

39. “I found myself declaiming, full flower, for an hour on the “utmost importance and urgency” of Blogging, telling him in no uncertain terms that, especially in a high-end niche business, Blogging is “the premier way” to have “intimate conversations” with his Clients. Funny thing, I believe it!” (Tom Peters)

40. “In China, blogs enable millions of citizens to express their opinions with reduced political risk simply because of the sheer number of like-minded opinions online. Facing these independent voices, the old ideological machine starts to crumble.” (Xiao Qiang)

41. “The currency of blogging is authenticity and trust… you pay folks to blog about a product and you compromise that. I would almost care about this, but it’s so obvious to everyone that this is either a joke or an idiot that there is nothing more to say.” (Jason Calacanis)

42. “Looking back on the event, I find myself thinking there are three approaches to journalism represented here. One is the “cool” approach of traditional journalism, including network broadcasting (in which NPR is no exception). One is the “hot” approach of talk radio, which has since expanded to TV sports networks and now Fox TV. The third is the engaged approach of weblogging.” (Doc Searls)

43. “Some blogs have become the best check on monopoly mainstream journalism, and they provide a surprisingly frequent source of initiative reporting.” (Harold Evans)

44. “Yes, blogging is entertainment. It is performance. Each blog post a show, sometimes an opera, sometimes a 30 second commercial. Like a show, it may start with a bang, lead you along from song to song, have a great climatic moment, then leave the audience wanting more.” (Lorelle Van Fossen)

45. “As I have repeatedly written in one form or other, blogging is not about writing posts. Heck, that’s the least of your challenges. No, blogging is about cultivating a mutually beneficial relationships with an ever-growing online readership, and that’s hard work.” (Alister Cameron)

46. “The reason blogging is often put into the passive category is because if you use direct monetization through Adsense, banners, etc, you earn while you sleep.” (Chris Garrett)

47. “Unless you restrict your reading habits to a really small segment of the blogging population, or you are a blogging machine like Robert Scoble, a feed reader is only going to give you a small window of what is happening in the blogosphere.” (Andy Beard )

48. “To be sure, the blogosphere is subject to all of the same risks as the Internet itself. Many blogs are loaded with vanity posts, half-truths, rumors, and even intentional distortions.” (Christopher Cox)

49. “In at least one way we are atypical bloggers. That’s because we just keep on posting. The typical blogger, like most people who go on diets and budgets, quits after a few months, weeks, or in many cases, days.” (Stephen J. Dubner)

50. “Blogging is good for your career. A well-executed blog sets you apart as an expert in your field.” (Penelope Trunk)

Partner: MakeUseOf.com Amazing Websites and Tools you Never Knew About

posted by W A Blog Tools on Mar 10

Web design, typography basics, expanding your blog and more. Another round of useful links from around the web.

  • Desktop Blogging Clients: If you are considering to use a desktop client to edit and publish your posts, check this extensive list first.
  • Web Design Resources: Solid compilation with 25 links to resources and tutorials around the web focused on improving your design.
  • Expand Your Blog: Want to add a new section to your blog? The Self Made Minds blog has a post with 10 ways to do so.
  • Crawl Rate Tracker: WordPress users now can use a plugin to track the crawl activity of Google, Yahoo! and MSN search bots on his blog.
  • Web Typography: Ever wondered what contrast, spacing and size you should use on your fonts? If so, read this basic web typography guide.
  • Blogging and Social Life: TechCrunch discovered a study affirming that blogging is good for social live.

Partner: MakeUseOf.com Amazing Websites and Tools you Never Knew About

posted by W A Blog Tools on Feb 5

The WordPress blog just revealed that WordPress 2.3.3 is out, and it is supposed to be an “urgent security release.” Here is what it is about:

A flaw was found in our XML-RPC implementation such that a specially crafted request would allow any valid user to edit posts of any other user on that blog.

Honestly I think that these constant security updates are starting to get cumbersome. The good thing is that this time and can update only the xmlrpc.php file.

Finally, there is also a bug on the WP-Forum plugin which is already being exploited, so check the upgrade if you use that plugin on your blog.


Copyright Daily Blog Tips: Visit the site for more blog tips!

posted by W A Blog Tools on Feb 5

Almost every blogger aims to grow their blog and reach a larger audience. Unfortunately, most new bloggers don’t know much about promoting a blog when they are just getting started. The good news is you will learn pretty quickly if you are consistently involved and working at promoting your blog. Here are ten things that I have learned to be true from my experience.

1. Building Significant Search Engine Traffic Will Take Time

New blogs generally take several months, at least, before they gain enough trust from search engines to produce any type of significant flow of traffic. If you are planning to focus on search engines as your primary source of traffic, you would be well advised to also focus on some other sources of traffic, especially in the early months.

Building a blog that is search engine-friendly is critical if you want to maximize search traffic, so take care of that from the start and focus on creating great content that others will talk about and link to.

2. Not All Traffic Is Equal

No two sources of traffic are quite the same. I get a good percentage of the traffic at my blog through social media, and I can attest to the fact that social media traffic is generally less responsive and less likely to stick around than visitors from most other sources. Focusing on stats without looking at the true results can cause a bit of an illusion. Sure, visitors are great, but are they leaving after being on the blog for 30 seconds and never returning?

Search engine traffic is highly sought after because these visitors are actively looking for what you have to offer. But other types of traffic have strong points too. Visitors who are referred from another blog will generally be more responsive since they have been recommended by someone they trust. Every source of traffic has pros and cons, so try to take these things into consideration when you are promoting your blog and analyzing the results.

3. Consistent Posting Is Key

Most bloggers need to keep publishing new posts in order to keep traffic at a certain level. Some bloggers are able to generate large amounts of search engine traffic to older posts to the point that traffic will be fairly sustained without new posts, but this is pretty rare. New posts keep subscribers coming back, they keep social media votes coming, and they keep adding new pages to search engine indexes.

Posting consistently doesn’t mean that you have to post every day, it simply means that you need to publish content on a regular basis, whatever that may be. Almost every blog that successfully draws traffic is publishing new posts with some consistency.

4. Consistent Traffic Is Almost Impossible

Although posting needs to be consistent to keep traffic levels up, that doesn’t mean that it will keep traffic levels consistent. Every blog has ups and downs and two days are rarely the same. This is a natural occurrence and it should be embraced or else it can become very frustrating. Make sure that you enjoy the times when traffic is high, and keep on plugging away to get through the slower times. Blogging would almost be boring is traffic levels didn’t fluctuate like they do.

5. Repeat Visitors Should Be the Goal

Yes, it’s great to see an impressive number of unique visitors arriving at your blog, but how many of them will be back? Repeat visitors are the lifeblood of blogs. Subscribers, of course, are most likely to keep coming back, so focusing on subscribers is typically a good thing.

Repeat visitors will not only help to improve your overall traffic flow and stats, more importantly they will be your most responsive visitors in terms of comments, social media votes, sales, and just about anything else. As they keep coming back and reading your blog, you will be earning more of their trust and your network will grow.

6. Links Help In Several Ways

Building inbound links is a priority for most bloggers, and for good reason. They drive click-through traffic from other blogs, they increase your exposure around the blogosphere, and they help to boost your search engine rankings. Link building is often prioritized because of search engine rankings, but the other factors should not be overlooked. If you blog in a competitive niche, recognition and exposure will be critical in convincing visitors that they should pay attention to you. Getting a few links from respected blogs can help with search engine traffic, but the added credibility that you get can be just as important, especially for newer bloggers.

7. Balance Is Important

Diversity in traffic will help you to avoid losing a huge percentage of your visitors if something unforeseen happens. Search engine rankings are not permanent, especially with Google being so ready and willing to penalize blogs who they feel have violated their guidelines. If you rely too heavily on search engine traffic you could find yourself losing a big portion of your traffic at any given time.

Also, social media traffic is extremely inconsistent, so just because you have been getting decent traffic doesn’t mean it will continue. The best approach is to spread things out and focus on growing traffic from several sources rather than just one. That way you will always be safe and you won’t depend on a particular source for your livelihood.

8. Smaller Sources of Traffic Shouldn’t Necessarily Be Ignored

Not all sources of traffic will send thousands of visitors, but that doesn’t mean that they are not valuable. For example, participating in forums is likely to drive some traffic to your blog, but not tons. However, those visitors can be very valuable because they have met you or learned from you through the forum and they’ll be more likely to subscribe and become a loyal reader.

Likewise, leaving comments on other blogs will bring some traffic, but it is rare that any one comment will bring a lot of visitors. Still, this traffic is valuable because many times they have clicked through due to something that you said catching their attention.

Don’t simply assume that traffic is measured only in terms of numbers. Smaller sources of traffic have been instrumental in building many successful blogs.

9. Networking Is Critical

All successful bloggers are surrounded by a strong network of other successful bloggers. This is something that I didn’t really think much about before I started blogging, but I quickly came to realize the importance of networking.

A strong network will provide you with friends and colleagues that can be a help when you need some advice, they can provide links to your blog, they can give you social media votes, they can be an inspiration and encouragement to you, and they can even wind up being your partners in future projects. Being a strong networker is all about being willing to help others and being proactive in meeting others.

10. Blog Traffic Can Be Bought for Relatively Little Money

If you are interested in getting some extra promotion or growing your blog quickly, there are a number of affordable advertising options that will drive real traffic to your blog. Pay Per Click ads can be very effective and inexpensive (depending on what words and phrases you bid on). StumbleUpon advertising is another option. You can purchase their traffic for just $0.05 per visitor. Even banner advertisements on other blogs can be relatively cheap. Running an ad for a month or more will give you exposure to a new audience and if you were to calculate a cost-per-click it is usually pretty low.


Copyright Daily Blog Tips: Visit the site for more blog tips!

posted by W A Blog Tools on Feb 5

This Sunday we have some Photoshop and WordPress tutorials, a Digg-like WordPress theme, two interesting SEO contests and an article about attracting loyal readers. Enjoy!

  • 100 Photoshop Tutorials: If you use Photoshop to draw images, comics and other type of art, you should check out this list.
  • The Digg Theme: Garry Conn created a WordPress theme based on the Digg look. It comes with several Adsense units integrated, so you could use it to make money from niche websites.
  • SEO Contests: If you are trying to learn or improve your SEO skills, you could participate on some contests. SEO Noobs will reveal a keyword that competitors need to rank well for within a period of time (with their own websites), while Maki Karthik is giving $250 for people that will manage to improve the ranking of keywords within one of his sites.
  • WordPress Tutorials: Brian Gardner and Cory Miller just launched their new website focused on Premium themes. Apart from the themes, they also created a useful collection of WordPress tutorials, check it out.
  • Attracting Loyal Readers: Some basic yet useful points on how to attract more “subscribers and heavy users.”

Copyright Daily Blog Tips: Visit the site for more blog tips!

posted by W A Blog Tools on Feb 5

I used to be a fan of a little Firefox extension called Snapper. It allowed you to easily take screenshots of selected areas within the browser window. The extension was not compatible with Firefox 2.0, however, so when I upgraded my browser it stopped working.

A couple of weeks ago I finally managed to find a replacement. It is an extension called Screengrab!. After you install it, you will see a small icon on the bottom right side of your browser. When you click on it, it gives you three options: to copy the complete window, to copy only the visible area, and to copy only a certain area selection. You can also directly save the screenshot with the PNG format.

screenshotswithfirefox.jpg

Another option that I came across is called FireShot. This extension comes with several advanced features, including: the ability to add text and captions to the screenshots, more formats supported (PNG, JPEG and BMP), vector graphic tools and more.

fireshot.jpg

If you just need to take simple screenshots once in a while, Screengrab! should be enough. If you do web design or handle images often, perhaps FireShot would be more suitable.


Copyright Daily Blog Tips: Visit the site for more blog tips!

posted by W A Blog Tools on Oct 9

Ebook on a laptop

As more people begin to realize that blogging for ad dollars and other free content strategies might not be the best way to make money online, I’m getting more and more questions related to creating information products.

Producing information products is almost entirely an exercise in marketing. Everything from the topic you choose, to how you position it, to the copywriting strategy you use to sell it boils down to figuring out what people are willing, and even driven, to pay for.

As far as ebooks go, the first question you have to ask is whether or not the ebook is the format you should be using at all. The humble PDF seems to be the first thing that comes to mind when people consider developing a product, but it’s often the least useful and has the lowest perceived value—at least when you want to charge for it.

Is the Ebook Dead?

While the format is still alive and kicking, the basic ebook is a pretty weak substitute for a real book. It has none of the tangible attributes that make books the portable and convenient information vessels they are, and the only real advantage the ebook has is that it is instantly deliverable.

Plus, for any topic where there is already a “real” book available, you’re most likely going to lose the sale, instantly downloadable or not. People trust Amazon, and whether fair or not, they consider “real” authors to be those who are delivered in ink on dead tree material.

So if your goal is to write a 200-page book, you might just go ahead and try to get a publisher, or even have your work self-published. People who read books tend to love books themselves, so it makes sense to give book lovers what they want… a real book.

Ebooks That Sell Solve Problems

The good news for people interested in making money from ebooks is that the ones that sell best are nowhere near 200 pages. In fact, you can often turn a sweet profit from a document that is only 10, 20 and up to 50 pages long, as long as those pages solve a problem that people will pay to have the solution to.

Contrary to what you might think, it doesn’t matter if the solution to a problem can be found by even simple online research. “Normal” people don’t like to do in-depth research online and are often skeptical of free information sources. Do the work for them and demonstrate that you are a credible person (or partner on the ebook with someone who has the necessary credentials), and as long as the problem is real, you’ll make sales.

There are so many ebooks out there that try to tell you that the key to successful ebook creation is “write what you love” and the money will come. They use that angle because that’s what people want to hear, and it sells a lot of ebooks about ebooks. But that doesn’t make it true.

Desperate Buyers Only

There’s only one ebook that provides clear guidance on how to research, develop and sell these short problem-solving documents, and it’s called Desperate Buyers Only by Alexis Dawes. This no-fluff guide quickly dispenses with the biggest myths about ebooks, and then takes you step-by-step through:

  • identifying a potential profitable topic
  • researching the viability of developing the document
  • discovering buyer hot button issues, and
  • understanding how the problem is framed in the mind of the prospect

Alexis then walks you through her five-step variation of the problem-agitation-solution copywriting technique for creating empathy, demonstrating credibility and closing the sale. But it all goes back to the fact that you started with a highly motivated person with a problem, and therefore the “instantly downloadable” aspect of the short ebook becomes a strong selling point.

I once commented on a review of Desperate Buyers Only that this is the ebook about creating ebooks that I would have written had I been inclined, so I have no problem recommending it to you (and using my affiliate link). It not only tells the truth about what it really takes to make money, it reveals several concrete strategies that I’ve used for years to make a great deal of money.

Some of these strategies I still use; I just no longer use them to create ebooks.

Moving Beyond the Ebook

If developing brief information products that solve problems for people in dire situations isn’t for you, but you still want to explore creating content that sells, you’re in luck. There are huge opportunities, both now and into the future, for creative people who can effectively communicate ideas to others who are more than happy to pay for it.

But you’ll need to move beyond the idea of the ebook.

When you consider that 42% of college graduates never read a book again and that most people who actually purchase a book never make it past the first chapter, books just don’t seem to be the answer these days. That’s especially true online, where we have all this wonderful interactive ability combined with multimedia to create better learning environments for buyers, and more lucrative publishing arrangements for you.

It will take more than a blog post to cover that topic, though. But since I haven’t released a longer white paper or report since Viral Copy back in the spring of 2006, I suppose I can’t let 2007 get away without doing another one.

Now, if I can only get it finished… but I think it’s almost there. So, look for a free report with much, much more information on developing paid content in the very near future.

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