Blog To Great

Blog Commenting- A Key to Your Blog's Success

     Blogging Tips - As new blogger, or someone that's setting up a new blog, leaving meaningful comments on other blogs is a established method for gaining new traffic and readers (and hopefully subscribers).  But, besides choosing a few blogs you know of that are the same niche as yours, is there anything else you can do?  Of course there is. One other great blog method is taking time researching for specific posts that are ranked high in Google for your related keywords, and leave comments on those.  Let's say that you write about “marketing skills”, ”PR campaigns” or “dance music cds”.  What you should do is search Google for these terms and review all the blog posts that show up in the first results.  With your list, visit each blog and leave a comment on the topic.  It's always important to add value to the discussion, so show your expertise and link to one of your posts where you covered the issue in depth.  Avoid the "great post, thanks" type comments at ALL costs!   The reason to go thru this exercise is that these highly ranked posts are already getting many visitors from search engines.  These visitors are looking for some specific information, and if they read your comment and find it of value, there's a strong possibility that they will follow the link to your site to learn more about you and your blog.  Your comment becomes your introduction to a whole new audience for your blog, so write engaging comments to attract the reader that has already shown interest in the topic.  Makes sense, right?  Give it a try, and let us all know how it works for you.

Comment well and Blog To Great !!!

New Social Network Unveiled

     Blogging News - The New York Times (NYT) announced its new TimesPeople social network, which will allow registered users to create profiles, add friends, and launch news feeds that lets others know when they have recommended or commented on a NYTimes.com story. This feed can then also be added to a reader's Facebook profile. You know the benefit of properly uses social networks to popularize your blog, so I expect that TimesPeople will offer some great opportunities if your blog audience fits the NYT readers profile.  The Wall Street Journal is also updating its site to include social networking, it seems that newspapers are getting very social lately.  We'll see who attracks an audience and can stick. The number of participants in TimesPeople is not being disclosed, a Times spokeswoman said.

Blog Posting Questions You Never (or Always) Asked

     BLOGGING TIPS - As a blogger looking to earn money thru your blog, you’ve likely asked yourself (and some experienced bloggers) these questions:  Should I write long or short posts?  Should I write only original content or can I write about somebody else's content?

While many bloggers argue that long posts are the way to go, it really depends on what you are trying accomplish.  A "How to" post that deals with with complex issues will most likely have to be long so that you can properly convene the information to the reader.  Conversely, it's certainly possible to communicate powerful points with only a few sentences when they are well written. This will depend on your writing skills and again, the topic.  You can do it either way, but have to re-read and make sure you're truly making your point/s.

Technorati's Blog Report Card-"State of the Blogosphere"

       Blogging News- Technorati released the first of their five segments of the new "State of the Blogosphere" study.  The report can give you a great overview of the current state of blogging.  It's a very encouraging report, showing the continued growth of blogs and bloggers!  They report, as we already know, that blogs are here to stay (with over 77.7m blog visitors in the US alone) and that bloggers are a diverse group!  Of interest to most of you; the majority of bloggers they surveyed currently have advertising on their blogs. And, among those with ads, the average annual investment in their blog is only $1,800, but it’s paying off as the average annual revenue is $6,000.  For those with 100,000 or more unique visitors per month the average revenue is $75,000, indicated that it's still possible to be a pro blogger!  Check out the full first day report, here.

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Does it Matter if You Don't Post Often???

     BLOGGING TIP- One of the most frequent questions I get from new bloggers is how often bloggers should post new content.  Does it make a difference whether you post weekly; a few times per week, daily, or several times a day (WOW?!?!?!).  Many feel that since content is King, I should only post fabulous, pillar posts when I can.  Others feel, the more I post of anything, the bigger my readership will be.  Well, YES, post frequency does matter, and, it’s obvious that it will have an impact on your blog's traffic.  BUT WHY IS THAT ?  Your blog posting frequency effects your blog in three main ways :

• More posts equals more indexed pages equals more search engine visitors which equals more pageviews (also applies to blogging consistency and staying with your niche)
• More posts equals more content for your readers to take in which equals more pageviews.
• More posts equals more resources for the your readers which equals a better chance that they’ll return to your blog which equals even more pageviews and publicity (and links)

Google Expands its Blogging Scope

     BLOGGING NEWS- Continuing its worldwide efforts, Google has recently acquired Korea-based blogging software platform company TNC.  TNC says its platform is used by over 400,000 bloggers, including 65 of Korea's top 100 bloggers.  TNC co-founder Chang Kim said in a blog post that the company's platform is Korea's version of Automattic's open source WordPress blogging platform.  Google said in a statement published by VentureBeat.com that the deal will "broaden its portfolio of locally-focused products, further encourage creation of openly accessible user-generated content, and improve search experiences of Korean users."   Google also owns the popular Blogger platform.

What blog platform do you use, are you satisfied with it ??  If you're looking, check out TypePad by clicking the ad on this page for some cool offers !!!

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Social Network Sites to Fill Your Needs

     BLOGGING TIPS-  An interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal Independent Street blog on "specialty" social network sites.   If you're a business owner and read Blog To Great for tips on how to start up or improve your business blog, there are several social network sites to connect you with other small business owners.  It's a great way to make contacts, share ideas/problems unique to small businesses, etc.  Check out Sta.rtup.Biz, StartUpNation.com, and YouNoodle.com.   Check out the full WSJ blog post, here.  Let me know if you're using social networking sites for your business, which ones, and if they help.  Comment below.

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How to Increase Your Blog's Feed Subscriptions

     BLOGGING TIPS - Returning readers are key to your blog's success.  A steady base of subscribers and returning traffic will increase visits to your blog and it's ad revenue.  Energize your existing readers and make it easy for them to receive your feed.  Otherwise, what happens if all of a sudden the main search engines reduce or removes your pages?   You never want to rely on Search Engine traffic to find you readers.  Instead, you need to make the most of the traffic you receive and already have. Get your readers to bookmark your RSS Feed into their reader. How?  Following are some great ideas to help you get as many new feed subscribers as possible.

How Great is Your Mind for Blogging ?

Only great minds can read this, do you have one?

It's weird, but interesting!, give it a try -
 
fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerd r the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

TOP 10 GREAT BLOG WRITING TIPS

BLOGGING TIPS

     After viewing the blogosphere for any length of time, I'll bet you can spot a great blog as well as the "bad" blogs after only a few seconds.  It's always easy spotting others.  But, more importantly, can you recognize the properties that separate the dull from the great in your own blog?  That's the real test.  Be impartial and look at your blog as if it was the first time.  If you're brand new and haven't started a blog, think about the best you've seen and the worst.  Decide which you want to be... And, together, let's look at a few qualities that your blog must have in order to truly succeed in the blog world.

1. Be True

Your readers need to know why you're qualified to make the statements your do.  So, without bragging constantly, you need to inform them to become credible. Why should reader believe you?   Project credibility through your writing, with your design and by professional conduct. If you have a "claim to fame", of course, let the readers know about it; your experiences, contacts, etc, but support it with good writing.