The world of blogging is constantly evolving. Thousands of blogs are created and many perish. Growing is an important aspect of life. Whether you’re learning a musician instrument or learning a language – things take time to learn & master.
Blogging is a never ending learning experience. Depending on your goals and ambitions, it’s important to plan ahead to attain the results that you desire. When you work on your blog, always remember that you can be as successful as you wish – as long as you’re determined to put the effort in. If you’re looking to develop an online community, the principles are relatively simple. It’s not easy to do, but the theories are simple.
If you’re new to blogging and looking for ways to attain a new audience here’s how.
Write original & relevant content
Publish your blog article
Comment on other relevant blogs
Chances are people will comment on your blog to return the favour
Network like crazy
Tips for original & relevant content
Writing original & relevant is not easy. Many bloggers talk about producing a wealth of great content, but don’t seem to back it up. When I write content I look for metaphors that can be implemented.
Funny enough, I was speaking to my girlfriend on the phone for the 17th time in the space of a hour – and she mentioned that: “growing fresh vegetables is having a growing website. When you build a website watching the traffic grow it’s exciting!”
Anything you work on a consist basis and can have measured results, whether it’s: blogging, bodybuilding, playing the piano or completing an exam – each element of a project can be tracked as determined as successful or requires improvement.
It’s important to measure your successful. But the question is: “How do you measure a successful blog?”
There are a number of measuring factors including: conversions, returning visitors, bounce rate, new leads or even blog comments.
To summarise, focus on your results and develop a strategy for a successful blog.
Now it’s your turn
How do you measure a successful blog? What makes you continue blogging? If so I’d love to hear from you. If you’re reading this blog for the first time, please leave or comment and say hello.
As 2011, is not far away I wanted to share some relevant blogging articles with you. Over the festive season, do not worry if you leave your blog until January. It is a blessing in disguise. We all need a break from time to time. In life we all need balance. You can’t work on a blog constantly, otherwise you’ll become burnt out.
You don’t have to answer all your comments on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. People will understand.
Perhaps the reason you wanted to start blogging is to develop a passive income stream. It sounds amazing, where you can earn money whilst you’re not working. Passive income does exist in a variety of formats. In this article, I am going to clear the confusion surrounding passive income.
What is passive income?
Passive income is where you earn money in which you’re not actively involved in. Some examples of passive income include:
Royalties from music
Real Estate
Stocks, bonds and shares
Selling information products
Writing blog content is not a passive income stream. Running a blog is a full time job. It’s constantly ongoing and constantly needs redevelopment. You may earn commissions from affiliate links, but that’s not passive income. In developing a blog, you always working on developing information to gain you more traffic, more hits and more recognition.
Developing a successful blog is like a treadmill. If you stop running on the treadmill you will fall off and it is difficult to regain momentum. Blogging can easily become a full time job if you’re not careful. When you’re working on your blog, I’ll guarantee that you’ll work mostly for free until you get yourself established.
When you’re not creating content, you’ll be searching for new ideas and looking to take your online presence to the next level. Many hours of blogging will go unnoticed and unappreciated in the beginning. Only until you get noticed you’re online presence has a chance of making money.
Information products, computer software, DVDs or all examples of passive income streams
When developing a blog you need to have a product in mind to sell. You should create your own product. Look at Microsoft their wealth is generated from developing new versions of Windows. A vast majority of computers use Windows. The wealth is from creating millions of copies from that one master copy. It’s all about leverage.
People think that the blog is the passive income stream, it’s the information product that is passive. A blog is only a platform or vehicle. A blog is where you’re constantly writing information to attract readers or potential customers. The information product is the passive income stream. You only need to write the eBook or video course once and then you can sell the product multiple times over.
To summarise, blogging is a communication and marketing tool. Perhaps, you’ll make some money through advertising, however, you’re constantly updating you’re blog, which is active work.
Recently I launched an eBook for free called “The Mindset For Success Blogging” and people have been asking me: “James, why did you launch your eBook for free?”
Well, I had a variety of reasons for creating a completely free eBook. This book had taken about 40 hours to develop from concept to creation. Creating an eBook can be a daunting task. A majority of bloggers struggle to create articles ranging over the 1000 word mark. Once you’ve created one eBook the process becomes more streamline.
A friend of mine suggested that the best way to create an eBook is to create the cover first. As a graphic designer, I enjoy creating visuals first and yes it does help to keep you motivated. A majority of eBooks I’ve read are boring. It’s not necessarily the content that bores me. It’s the layout.
You can easily develop a creative eBook in Microsoft Word. Consider creating a landscape eBook and break down your content to one idea or concept per page. Design is just as important as the content.
Reasons to write an eBook
Creditability
For a new website or blog, it’s important to build creditability. There are millions of websites and blogs online, the problem is many web owners and bloggers expect traffic for no work. It rarely works. I understand that if I was going to make a name for myself, I needed to make my skills and expertise known to the people that matter.
Developing a free useful resource builds rapport and creditability. Focus on solving problems and developing information that helps others.
Link building
Creating a free useful resource attracts links. We all enjoy a decent freebie, right? Look at some of the most popular sites online such as: Yahoo and MSN, they are popular for giving away free services. MSN and Yahoo are infamous for providing free email accounts, along with the latest news, discounts and offers.
If you create something worth linking to chances are you‘ll receive some back links. It’s important to develop free: services, products, offers and information to gain links. Do you get really annoyed when someone emails you from an SEO company for a link exchange? To me, it’s a time waster. I’ll never link to a site that’s crap, because it shows I don’t care about my target audience.
If you want to gain links you must do the work. Develop something amazing and then tell others about it. Web masters and bloggers will only link to resourceful and content that interests them.
An article that’s taken 10 or more hours to write, will be well researched and developed plus more likely gaining strong back links. Focus on quality. There’s a lot of content that is rehashed, reworded andregurgitated. I like to write information that serves a purpose.
A great sense of achievement
As mentioned before, writing an eBook is no easy task. Once you’ve done something that’s difficult you’ll be surprised how easy it’ll be the second time. If you’re planning to develop a blog to money, that’s what we’re all here for, right? You’ll need to develop at least one eBook in your online career.
Blogging is tough. Writing an eBook is a huge mountain for many. However, the benefits are worth it.
Have you downloaded my free eBook?
If you haven’t, please do so. You’ll gather some great hints and tips on blogging. The lesson that I want to share with you is focus more on giving. The more successful blogs are great givers. Give people a reason to visit your online presence. A great website or blog is like a city – there must be a variety of attractions, sights and things to do.
(To Save the eBook click on your right mouse button and select “Save Link As”)
Are you new to blogging? Are looking for an easy route to start blogging? I have created a completely free eBook for people to download and use. Yes, it is free with and you can download it instantly.
This free eBook covers:
10 reasons to create a blog
What makes a successful blogger?
The charactertisics of successful people & successful bloggers?
Ways to find creativity
The four principles of writing a successful blog articles
Search Engine Optimisation
Blog Promotion
Using Social Media
This 68 page eBook is completely free.
Please share. Please ReTweet.Please link to and please share this free eBook.
Learn how to develop the mindset for a successful online presence.
(To Save the eBook click on your right mouse button and select “Save Link As”)
Bloggers can benefit greatly from using social media. I’ve developed a number of social media training videos that are available with the free Better Start Blogging newsletter. I’ve decided to show you the first video of the social media video training course. This is a taster of the content you’d expect from the Better Start Blogging newsletter.
This is module video one. Modules two, three and four are only available from the Better Start Blogging newsletter.
Benefits of joining the free newsletter
You’ll get access to exclusive content that’s not published on the Better Start Blogging blog.
You’ll get professional hints and tips on how to grow your online presence.
You’ll learn more about new media, social media, web design from an industrial multimedia designer.
All these great hints and tips will be sent directly to your email inbox.
We will never share you’re information with anyone.
Plus you’ll receive the rest of the social media video training course with free instant access.
The Social Media Video Training Video Module One
Remember the benefits of joining the free newsletter
You’ll get access to exclusive content that’s not published on the Better Start Blogging blog
You’ll get professional hints and tips on how to grow your online presence
You’ll learn more about new media, social media, web design from an industrial multimedia designer
All these great hints and tips will be sent directly to your email inbox.
We will never share you’re information with anyone.
Plus you’ll receive the rest of the social media video training course with free instant access.
Sign up to the free newsletter today. You’ve got nothing to lose.
To be successful in any industry you must set yourself goals and challenges. The best way to become a successful blogger is to start blogging and moving towards your goals. There are times you’ll become burnt out and struggle for ideas, however, this is never a failure. Failure is a lesson. The more lessons that you have, the more likely you’ll succeed. Every car journey consists of a number of: gear changes, starting points, speed restrictions and opportunities to accelerate. Driving is exactly the same as any career. You’ll have high points and low points.
Challenge yourself to succeed
Deadlines are an important part of life. You must get used to that. To be a successful person we need to create goals and challenges for ourselves. Give yourself 30 days to reach a worthy goal. 30 days isn’t long.
Consider this, when you constantly do something over 30 days you’re creating a habit. These habits can be empowered for the good.
Some examples of things you can do over 30 days:
Walk 30 minutes a day
Read 30 minutes a day
Write an article everyday
Communicate with one new person everyday on Twitter
Spend five minutes a day keeping your work space tidy
These are all simple goals that can be achieved daily. Consider what you would gain from doing these daily activities. Focus on what you’ll gain.
Issuing a challenge to your blogging community is a great way of maintaining determination and motivation. You want to be reliable, don’t you? If you let others down, you let yourself down. Focus on developing a system where you’ll never back out. As a blogger your reputation is at stake.
Some examples of 30 day challenges
Matt Cutts – 30 Days
Matt Cutts the head of Google’s Webspam team has a 30 day challenge every month. Matt decides to let his audience vote for the next challenge.
Some of the challenges were:
1. Try one new thing every day
2. Learn to play the guitar
3. Take a photograph everyday
One of the most amusing challenges included: writing left-handed instead of right. I am left handed so it would feel weird for me being right handed.
This is a fantastic way of letting the audience choose what you should do.
Steve Pavlina is one of the world’s top bloggers in the area of personal development. The raw food diet or Vegan diet is one of the most unique challenges to date. Of course, this is a massive lifestyle change, but the information that’s given to the readers was incredible.
If you created a 30 day challenge to improve your online presence, you’ll see some amazing results.
How to become a successful blogger
Top personal development coaches from the late Earl Nightingale to Tony Robbins suggest you can improve your life in just 30 days. Just think how you could grow your blog in 30 days?
How you could improve your online presence in 30 days
You could:
Write high quality content more often
Develop a better linking strategy
Create a social media campaign for your blog
Read five blog posts a day
Lower your Alexa ranking
There are many ways to improve your online presence. The most important thing is that you take action.
Your turn
Give yourself 30 days and what could you do to improve your blog and yourself? I am interested to hear your suggestions.
When you start blogging there’s so much to take in. You’re constantly learning new content and you must. To assist you with your blogging journey here are 20 blog articles that I feel relevant for your success.
There you have it some powerful articles to enhance your learning. Still want to learn more? My social media marketing course is free for all. Sign up today and improve your online presence.
We all want more blog traffic, don’t we? We all would love to see our Google Analytics accounts filled with a high number of visits, right? Of course, we all want successful blogs. For some, having a high number of page views is critical – especially if you’re looking to make money with advertising or Google AdSense.
In this article, I’ll give you a variety of actions that you can apply to your own blog. When you start blogging your main focus is to generate great content and get noticed.
What are page views?
Page views are the number of pages that a reader will visit during their time at your blog.
The mindset needed for more page views
Three stages of blogging
Content
I know you’ve heard this a million times that “content is king”. When new bloggers start creating content there blog is small and have a low number of articles. Over time, your blog will begin to grow with content. However, if you’re thinking of starting a blog – write 10 to 15 great articles first before you launch your blog. When you start promoting your blog readers will have something to see. Unfortunately, we are all eager to develop our blogs and get online. If there’s no content to share – your blog will not seen as resourceful. When you have over 50 good articles your blog will start becoming noticed and you’ll have some great resources for people to view.
Visit sites like: Twitter, Yahoo Answers and read other blogs to see where people are having problems. Then start planning articles that relate to their problems. Content that solves problems is always in demand. Look at the number of self-help forums and blogs that are very successful.
Contribution
How are your levels of contribution these days? Do you give more of yourself? Successful bloggers and business owners’ contribute a lot more and offer more value. As a blogger, you need to contribute a lot more too.
There are variety of ways to contribute you can:
Create videos
Host interviews with successful people
Create podcasts
Create an eBook and giveaway for free
Write guest posts on certain blogs
Provide an content-rich newsletter
Develop a series of tutorials that provide great value for the reader
Outstanding contribution provides: creditability; high quality service and further opportunities. Blogging is a long-term vehicle. This is not a “get-rich” scheme, although some of the gurus will tell you anything as long as it lines their pockets.
Community
Successful people value their communities. A community is where people share and contribute: ideas; values; skills and beliefs. Businesses rely on their communities and networks to keep their business going. Serving your community is the most empowering way of becoming successful. The more value you add to your contribution and community – the stronger your blog will become.
Focus on lowering your bounce rate
A low bounce rate is a sign of a good blog. If I bounce a ball against a wall you’ll notice that the ball doesn’t stay on the wall for long. The same principle is applied to your blog pages. If Iclick on your blog page and don’t click on anything else – I’ve bounced off your blog. In essence, your goal is to attain my interest. A good bounce is about 25%-30%.
Consider your home page to like the front page of a magazine. Have a variety of things to do and click on. Pick up a magazine and look at the front cover. What grabs your attention?
Why should I stay on your blog?
The only thing I care about is: “if you can help me with my problems?” If you can help me with a problem I am more likely to stay. This is why the top bloggers succeed. Egos can destroy you if you’re a blogger. Focus on what’s important – the reader!
How to increase your page views
1 – Create “pillar content”
Pillar content is information that draws in blog readers. Pillars keep buildings from falling to the ground and the same principle applies to blogging. Pillar content is generally information that’s packed full of useful hints and tips. Usually pillar content is over 1000 words and has lots of great value. In addition, pillar content is referred as link worthy. You want to make your blog as resourceful of possible. Your aim is to encourage your readers to visit frequently.
Focus on developing a resource for your blog that’s information wealthy and provides the reader with answers.
2 – Interlink you posts
Wikipedia the Internet’s most popular encyclopedia uses internal links constantly and consistently. Good referencing is an excellent method of obtaining more page views.
When you create a new article, review your previous articles and find out what content is relevant. The beauty of Wikipedia that is constantly interlinks information. If you’re trying to increase your search engine ranking for a certain article, try interlinking your content together.
Google loves natural linking. You have the distant advantage of interlinking of your posts together and using key phrase rich anchor text.
Remember to strike a balance when interlinking your posts. Avoid applying too many links in your article – otherwise your reader will become distracted from the other original article.
3- Create a list post of your best blog articles
This is an easy method to round up a variety of articles that you feel are relevant to your reader. List posts also provide opportunities for your readers to click through further on your blog. Plus this method allows you to showcase some of your classic posts.
4 – Add a Sitemap
Usability is so important. You must install a sitemap plug-in. I suggest using PS Auto Sitemap. It’s easy to install. You may have a monthly archive in your blog side bar – it’s not user friendly – all it tells me how many articles you’ve created in a month. Blog readers are lazy. Help your blog readers out. You must be more concise.
A sitemap is the index of your website. A good sitemap is displayed in logical order to make it easier for you. Google loves sitemaps too. The search engines can crawl you content faster and it’s a win-win situation for everyone.
5 – Use Relevant Categories
If you’re going to display links in the sidebar use categories, because it’s relevancy that your readers want. Don’t make the reader think! Thinking requires effort. Usability is crucial. A good blogger or web designer understands the importance of usability.
Relevant categories will provide clarity – not only for the reader and for you. You must focus on making a streamline blog where articles can be linked. Categories are excellent for readers, because they can search for relevant criteria in one area.
6 – Give away something
To create a successful online presence we must contribute. Create something for free. Yes for free! Don’t even expect an email address back. You’re a new blogger and you’re unknown to the rest of the world. It’s going to take some time become noticed. However, if you create an eBook for free and begin some heavy promotion, chances are you’ll become noticed, if the eBook is well written.
An eBook doesn’t require any hardcore design skills. This can be easily created in Microsoft Word. No need to use Quark Express or Adobe InDesign. Creating a successful reputation takes time to build. Giving anyway some freebies is a great way to promote your blog and traffic.
7 – Develop a series of articles
Just like a soap opera, each episode continues for the previous one. Consider developing a variety of articles that become a series. If you’d made a 10,000 word article that could be ideally broken down into segments – break it down. A three or five part series will also give your readers an opportunity to subscribe to your RSS feed. Provide cliff hangers to your blog series articles and give your readers a reason to return.
8 – End with related articles
You’ve created an excellent post. You’ve engaged the reader and they’ve left a comment. You’ll always find that some readers want to know more about a certain subject. Help is at hand. Install the Yet Another Related Posts Plugin for WordPress – this handy plug-in displays relevant links at the bottom of your article.
9 – Create an FAQ page
Every industry has its jargon and especially the Internet. Do you think your readers know what an RSS feed is? Create information that educates your readers. Plus interlink those jargon terms to a glossary.
Some readers won’t be familiar with terms like: PHP; conversion rate; bounce rate; SEO; Google Page Rank or PPC. A glossary can be an easy method to educate your readers.
10 – Display your popular articles
There are a variety of methods of displaying popular articles. You can use an: image slider or you can display popular articles in your side bar. However, you choose focus on highlighting great information for your readers.
11- Useexcerpts
On your home page of your blog, avoid placing huge streams of text on your blog. You want readers to click further into your site. Remember your home page is like the front page of a magazine.
Usability is vital for a successful blog and to generate page views. Apply these techniques to your blog today.
What have you done to your blog to improve its usability?
Name three things you could do today to improve your blog.
If you like this article subscribe to my RSS feed, there’s plenty more great content on the way.
Reviewing web stats is an addiction and you’re wasting valuable time, where you could be crafting creative content that generates traffic. We all love those web stats bars to increase on our websites and blogs, right? We all want more traffic, more sales and more enquires, right? We all want to have high search engine rankings, right?
Of course, you do. But constantly reviewing your web stats hourly isn’t going to help. Unless we take action! We live in a world, where we expect immediate results. You may have bought a weight loss product and expected to loss body fat. Having this amazing product isn’t going to change your life, unless you use it!
Build it and they will come. Yeah, Whatever!
When I was studying web design in 2000-2001, I focused so much on the developing a visually attractive website. I was amazed with the skills of HTML and using Photoshop. I was so excited when I purchased my own hosting plan and I would sometimes stay up until midnight to see how many people were visiting my blog. To realise that only 3 people have visited the site. Mostly, it was “me, myself and I”. My friends would visit the site and say, “wow that’s amazing, then they’d never return back to it”. Your family and friends will just agree with you, because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.
I want content now
The internet is content on demand. Nobody checks out yesterday’s newspaper, unless there’s a coupon for a discounted product.
Why would you constantly check you web stats if you haven’t made any effort to promote your content? Do you need to check your stats 30 or 40 times a day. Seriously, what’s going to happen to your website or blog in that amount of time? Did you get a promo on a national radio station and expect your server to crash?
Never be disappointed with your web stats again
A constant check of your web stats creates disappointment. The best way to avoid disappointment is to view your web stats on a daily basis. There’s work to do. You realise that generating traffic is about developing useful and up-to-date content, then broadcasting this information to many outlets, right?
The Four Principles of Creating Great Content
1: Planning – What are you going to write about?What is the purpose of this piece of content? Who is your target audience? Planning is important. You wouldn’t build a house without foundations, would you? Research your content and develop a strategy. Write down the overall message. How’s your information going to provide value to the reader?
2: Production – Now we’ve got our idea, let’s get to work and write the best content possible. Review your plan constantly. Are you meeting the needs of your audience? How much value are you adding? Are you using metaphors? Can you add more value?
After you’ve written your article, re-edit and evaluate your work. Use keywords in your titles and in your articles. Add some images to make your article more visually appealing.
3: Promotion – Promote your content to the masses. Use Twitter. Retweet your article. Inform your blog readers about your content. Do you use Social Media sites like: Stumble Upon; Technorati and Blog Engage? Focus your efforts on marketing. Not enough bloggers focus on marketing. It’s important to have your message broadcasted as far as possible.
4: Persistence – Creating web traffic is a never ending circle of planning, production and promotion. Focus your time and skills on developing and marketing information that serves your blogging community. You’ll get to your destination a lot faster if you start creating valuable information and marketing it to the masses.
Your Turn
Do you spend too much review your stats? Successful sites require work and lots of it. What are your thoughts on traffic generation?
