Blog To Great

Blogging Isn't All Good, Sometimes It Sucks

Blog Tips -  We've all read the numerous but great Top Ten lists with tips on how to blog better and most important, more profitably.  The lists keep coming and the top bloggers keep blogging and advising others.  Rarely do people address the other side of blogging - how boring, difficult and tiring it can be. In fact, blogging often sucks!

If you've been blogging long enough in order to earn some money from it, you've noticed that it can easily be a drain on your life.  But like any new business, long hours and little money are the best you can expect at the beginning of your venture.  As a good blogger you feel the pull of your blog and the need to consistantly post new content.  This is good for your blog and for your future as a pro blogger, but can negatively impact the other areas of your life (you still have a life, right?). 

You may also find your spending way too much time coming up with ways to promote your blog.  Great, get the word out and promote your blog but use your time wisely and target where you can have the most impact.

Keep your goal to have your blog stay natural.  By this I mean not to force your blog too hard.  Readers can tell thru your writing and blog design and friends will fall away from you if you're only "about the blog".  If you're not careful any success you gain won't be worth the price. 

Ben Barden' recently posted on the Top Ten Reasons why Blogging Sucks, check it out @ TopTenBlogTips.com.

Web Hosting and Domain Name Sales !!!

     BLOG TIPS - With Summer winding down, some great Web Hosting deals at 1&1 are about to end ! They're still offerring a 1 YEAR FREE promotion, but it ends Monday, August 31st.  Don't let the chance to save money and grow your web business pass you by !

And don't forget about 1&1's amazing domain name prices!  They're offering Popular Domains at special prices and the first year of registration on a .us domain is only $2.99! They also have .org and .info domains for only $4.99, AND .com, .net, .biz domains for only $6.99. And you earn $2.50 per domain package purchased!

Take advantage of these offers to create additional blogs and / or a full website to expand your blog presence !!!

BlogHer COO Talks Blogging !

     BLOG TIPS- The COO of BlogHer, Elisa Camahort Page, recently talked with eMarketer about blogs, blogging and monetizing blogs. She discussed current revenue generating models; advertising, sponsorship and affiliates as means with which you can generate income.  She comments that "It's a numbers game, " meaning great blog content, blog marketing, blog promotion will get you a bigger audience.  And with a larger audience comes more readers to support your blog thru click thrus or purchases.  BlogHer is well known internet community as a network and guide to blogs by women. BlogHer states their mission "is to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment".  Ms Page comments on the current economic climate, it's impact on blogging and how BlogHer continues to see new blogs being created.  Blogging is a great tool for self-expression that so easy to implement she says and notes that money is NOT the biggest motivator for new bloggers.  That's likely a good thing, because the passion to blog needs to be there first.  With that you can continue to grow your blog and monetize as it builds.  Grab that great domain name, and start a blog!

See story at eMarketer and continue to  Blog to Great !

BLOG Tips for Your Blogging Success

     BLOG TIPS- With the growth of Twitter, many have written off blogging.  But we know new bloggers are still starting blogs every day and use Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc to promote their blogs, and experienced blogs are always looking for tips, ideas and sometimes, reminders about basic blog tasks in order to have successful, profitable blog.  So, here are some blogging reminders from BtG.  After deciding to create a blog, the first thing that you do is make sure your blog URL attracts readers in your niche / market.  For example, if you're going to cover,  promote and drums at your blog, you want your URL to say drumkits.blogurl.com. You'll help explain what your blog does and pick up an advantage.  Better yet, regisiter a domain name of your own and direct your to it.  drumkits.com is better than one with a blog extension.

Fter that, customize your blog to your taste and feel. Don't go with the same style blog interface that others have.  It's important to have your blog memorable and unique.  In this way, it will help readers from getting confused with other blogs that look could look similar. There  many types of blog software available that having your own design isn't too hard or expensive.  Know your niche, and see what other bloggers in your catagory are doing.

Work on Keyword research, it's a important part of blog marketing. If you haven't used keywords that people search on, then chances are no one is going to find your blog. Have a fairly wide variety of keywords in your blog also.  And be sure to not use the same keyword over and over.  Remember that not everybody will the same term (‘drumkits’) when they're searching for gear. So, keyword research is an important marketing tool to learn more about, it'll pay off.

Great Way to Find Guest Bloggers to Add Content to Your Blog

   Blog Tips-  Need a guest blogger, someone to cover for you while on vacation, or swamped with other matters?  Frequent, fresh posts are one of the keys to successful blogging, so you know you need good content often.  Regular posts will help your Google and search engine placement, so can ad web services, so post often!  But if you have too much going on, or want to add more blogs to your network, you could sure use guest blog authors.   I came accross a new service to help you find another blogger to "guest post".  Until now, you had to network on your own to find other bloggers to guest.  Well,now you can join the BloggerLinkUp list and to get emails once or twice a day, Monday through Friday. The email alerts will list bloggers looking for expert sources and requests for guest posts. The lists will also show  bloggers and web masters who are offering guest posts, and PR reps and others seeking reviews of products. When you see a request that you can handle, just respond directly to the requester.

And, if you submit a request, and it will be forwarded to the list to help you find a guest blogger.  All this, at BloggerLinkUp is a completely free. And they've promised that your email address will never be used for any purpose other than sending the request emails. Sounds easy, give it a try and let BLOG TO GREAT readers know how it works for you.  BloggerLinkUp was created by Cathy Stucker, the woman behind, IdeaLady.com.   More info, and sign up at BloggerLinkUp.com

Great Blog Domain Names That Are Under-used

     BLOG TIPS - Your blog's domain name is not the only key to your blog's success, but a "perfect" domain name is great to find.  We're happy with the  Blog to Great name and have many positive notes about it.  Though it gets more and more difficult these days, as most "great" names are already registered, keep searching, be creative and register your domain name.  With so many cheap domain name registration companies out there, folks have registered names with no intention of using them.   Knowing the importance of a good domain name, it's even more frustrating when you find that excellent blog domain name is taken, and under utilized. Seems that Andrew over at The Blog Herald  has noted the same thing and posted a short list- of "Under used" domain names-

Blog.com - Blog hosting company I have never heard of.

Blogging.com - Filled with questionable ads

Blog.net - Nothing - registered in Tokyo

Blog.org - A UK-based individual’s blog

Blogger.net - Google seems to have abandoned it.

Blogger.org - Google seems to have abandoned it.

The Blog Herald reports that several premium names have been sold-

problogger.org = $5,000
faceblogger.com = $20
betterblogger.com = $200
1blog.com = $10,000

What domain name would you like to have, but can't, and found that they are dormant and not properly used?  Comment below...

From Blogging to Business Owner ?

       BLOG TIPS- With this down economy worldwide, many new bloggers have written about their thoughts of starting a new business and continue on with blogging on a part-time basis, since the hours are flexible.  Their blogs have kept them "sane" and allowed them to stay currnet, grow, learn more in their field and create a new revenue stream while making money on the internet.  But, the draw of a "full time" new business is stong.  Yes, it can be a great opportunity or a money-drain depending on your skills, finances and desire.  But, I'm nervous when folks open or buy businesses out of need and not of desire to be an owner or entrepreneur.  If you think a blog requires a lot of time and you haven't maintained it properly, owning a business is far more intensive.  Before you dive in because you're out of work, spend sufficent time investigating the industry you plan to enter and make sure you truly know what you're getting into.  Know that owning a business is different from working in that industry.  In the meantime, continue to improve and expand your blog to maximize the revenue at each stage and try other "home based" opportunities  before committing to a business.   For more, see this helpful post at,  IndependentOperator.com.

Check out these Great Web Hosting Deals (ad)

25 Best Blogs 2009 - Time Magazine's List

      Blog News - Once again, we present the brand new Time Magazine's list of "25 Best Blogs 2009"and, just as interesting, the Top 5 Overrated blogs.  The Top list has no surprises, we find Talking Points Memo, Huffington Post, Mashable among others. You may not be familiar with all of them, check them all out on the full list at 25 Best Blogs.  Always interesting are lists of "worst of", or in this case the "most over-rated blogs" (glad we're not on that list).  The winners (losers ?) are -

• TechCrunch
• Gawker
• Jim Cramer
• PerezHilton
• DailyKos

We're surprised at DailyKos, though we understand Time's comments that with a new administration in charge in the USA, what is Kos' purpose now??

What are your favorite, and most overrated blogs?  We'd love to know, comment below...

Typepad Upgrade Blog Bugs

    Last month Typepad upgraded their Compose feature with some handy new features.  Check out their original Typepad Compose upgrade post on their site with details.  Since then, there have been many happy, but also unhappy blogs & bloggers as a result of several problems in the upgrade.  Now there's a new Known Issues blog from TypePad to keep customers informed of their progress in correcting the bugs.  Keep checking it for updated information.