Advice for newbie bloggers
I received a comment yesterday from the Workout Review asking if I could give some advice to help a newbie blog. I could easily write one hundred and one, or even one thousand and one pieces of advice, but I’m pushed for time and there are probably one million and one other bloggers more qualified than I am.
So instead, I wanted to write the top 3 pieces of advice I’ve picked up from my experience in just under a year of blogging. So here goes, I hope you find this useful Workout Review:
1. post regularly about stories that will interest your readers
Ever heard the expression content is king? Well that’s certainly the case in blogging. Find a niche, do your keyword research (read my post on keyword research) and stick to it. Going off in all kinds of directions is unlikely to please your readers.
2. Read lots of other blogs and contribute.
First of all this will help you to build your profile and meet new bloggers, which will in turn drive traffic to your blog. Secondly you will start to notice features you like and dislike in other blogs which will help you to customise your own. There’s an amazing array of options out there, especially if you decide to buy a domain and host your own blog site - the costs involved in this are literally only a few cents and the added functionality is well worth the investment.
3. Put the hours in.
Every successful blogger I read about invests a lot of time in their blog (see TechCrunch ), but be careful, plan what you want to achieve and don’t just rush in like a bull in a china shop. The best blogs seem to be on a mission to add value to your lives, the worst are always selling and never giving.
There’s really a heck of a lot of work that goes into writing a good blog, but for absolute newbies these few thoughts should help to get you on the road to blogosphere stardom.
Oh and Workout Review, I like your blog. Nice, simple, clean and what looks like the start of some pretty decent content. Anyone looking for some fitness advice, check it out here.
Tag:blogging Internet Marketing web 2.0comments
Get a great domain name
Correct me if I’m wrong here, but choosing a good domain name that hasn’t already been registered is hard work these days. If the domain you want isn’t already in use by a competitor, then it’s likely to be taken by a domain name speculator - someone who buys up domains in the hope they will resell at a premium price.
But fear not, if you’re struggling to find a domain name, I came across a fantastic service the other day. It’s from a company Picky Domains and essentially they will help you to find a great name for next to nothing. Well OK it’s $50 dollars, but that’s not at all bad. So how does it work I hear you say? Something like this:
1. you register with Picky Domains and deposit your $50 US dollars,
2. you tell them what your site or service does, NOT what the domain name should be,
3. you include a few guidelines, such as it needs to be made up of two words, without slang and with a .com or .com.au etc,
4. Picky Domains uses it’s army of creative people from around the world to generate ideas which are sent to you for consideration,
5. if you like a suggestion you can accept it there and then and you’re free to register it immediately. If nothing you like is suggested then you can get a full refund of the $50 dollars.
Simple and if I may say so, quite brilliant.
What makes this service that little bit special is that if you’re a blogger, the first time you use the service it’s completely free. Now isn’t that just the icing on the cake.
Tag:blogging branding Internet Marketingcomments
Customise your blog
I’ve been looking into the idea of developing a custom theme for my blog. On the advice of various IM blogs and Aaron Wall’s SEO site, this seems to be a great way to further develop a blogs brand identity and differentiate it from the rest of the pack. It’s also a great way to spend a bucket of cash, right? Wrong.
OK OK it can be and this is why I haven’t taken this step so far. But then I came across a site from Yvo Schaap with a Wordpress theme generator where you can build your own theme in minutes.
Well, not exactly minutes, it actually takes a lot of effort to create something professional looking. But what you will have is a unique, impressive, widget ready theme to call your own. Now that is something to be proud of. The best thing about it though, t’s FREE.
Thanks Yvo, that’s fantastic!
I just have to decide whether or not I have the time, or whether I might be better off heading to RentACoder…
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Cheap gig to increase rankings i.e. please join this Alexa link train
I was just reading the interesting Aglomerate blog and came across details of this link train which I’m hoping will help with my blog’s Alexa.com and PR rankings. So here goes, lets see if we get a jump in either Alexa (1, 510,003) or PR (0).
I’m inviting some of the guys who write blogs I really admire to participate, from internet and affiliate marketing heavyweights, to tech news and reviews. I hope they all get involved.
~Start Copying Here~
Alexa Redirect Train by Carl Ocab .
Rules:Put anything you like above this list – Chit Chat, talkies, introduce what this is. Something like that.
Start copying on the “~Start Copying Here~” and copy all the things listed without removing the links. (Of course, the train would be no use without those links.)
Move all the sites labeled “Newcomers” to the list labeled “Oldies.”
Add 5 sites that you want to include in the train and make their link like this: http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?www.example.com then invite them to join the train.
Visit all the listed sites! (That’s not much work! Remember, if you plant good seeds they will also grow good) and look at your high Alexa ranking next week!
Newcomers:
Gobala Krishna’s internet home marketing
Who is Andrew Wee
No Heat tech news
John Chow dot com
Oldies:
The Million Dollar Experiment Down Under
Make Money Online with LadyJava
Clement Nyirenda’s Blog World
Chemtech & Me
9 ways to earn online without spending a dime
JakelDaily
Dirty Little Secret
Things I Like
Money Maker Spot
Aglomerate
Trader Pinoy
the GrapeBunch
Project Agloco
GreenPhils
REFLECTIVE THINKING
Hundred Percent Katherine
Sa Iyong Pagbabalik
Mai Paul
Stentorized
Quick and Random
Female Gamer
Garry Conn
Pinoy Seminars
Bookmarks
Cafe Romanza
Blog About Money Online
Manila Mom
ScottPot
How to earn money online?
Quasi Fictional
Make Money Blogging!
Make Money Online 2.0
Nate Whitehill
Jozzua
Grow your Writing Business
CultureShiok
Gary Lee
Smart Wealthy Rich
TechZi
Make Money Online with a 13-year Old
Erik Karey: Internet Entrepreneur
Tjantunen.com
Hate The Grind
Earn Money Blogging
bajaenergyblog
Deden Amijaya Weblog
Mommyba’s Journey
~End Copying Here~
Tag:blogging Internet Marketing web 2.0comments
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