Blogging for Dollars Blog

Your blog’s set up, you’ve made some posts, and now you’re ready for readers. How quickly you get blog traffic and readers is up to you – you need to promote your blog. Once you do, you’ll see your traffic statistics gradually rising.

Let’s look at four ways which will help you to get an ever-increasing flow of traffic to your blog.

1. Write Articles And Post Them To Article Directories

Web site owners are always looking for content for their sites, and article directories exist to provide that content. Write several articles, and post them to article directories for others to use.

Vital: spend some time crafting an effective “Bio Box”. This encourages people to actually visit your blog. However, don’t use the space for a bio. The people reading your article need a reason to visit your blog, so rather than telling them about you, tell them what great information you have waiting for them on your blog – give them reasons to click your links.

2. Post To Your Blog Every Day – The More Content, The More Traffic

The more pages (blog posts) on your blog, the more opportunities you have to be found via the search engines, so don’t stint on creating interesting content for your blog. Try to post to your blog every day. If that’s not possible, post at least a couple of times a week.

3. Ping Religiously – Set Up A Ping List In Your Blog

“Pinging” sends a message to blogging servers that you’ve updated your blog, and most blogging platforms have lists of these servers built in. Check out your blog’s configuration (see the Help file) to check which services your blog is already pinging when you make a post.

There are lots of pinging services, do a search for them. You can beef up your own ping list in your blog, but don’t be excessive – you don’t want to be accused of spamming.

4. Link, Link, Link! The More You Link, The More Traffic You Get

Link to other blogs and Web sites as appropriate. Your aim is to become known in your particular niche, and when you link to others, they will often link to you, which brings you traffic.

4. Use Social Bookmarking Sites – But Don’t Overdo it

It seems as if there’s a new social bookmarking site being launched every day, and these sites can provide great back-links for your blog.

When you write a great post, bookmark it on several sites. These sites are very popular, and they help people to find your content.

So there you have it – four ways to get traffic to your blog fast. You’ll get fresh readers and subscribers almost instantly.

New to blogging? Read my Blogging for Dollars ebook and create your own money-making blogs.

Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, pro blogging, get traffic, blog income, Blogging for Dollars, blogger, ping

If you’re new to blogging, or can’t get your head around the whole “online journal” concept, relax. Blogging is merely instant publishing. If you’re too concerned about the idea of an online journal, you’re missing the whole point about blogging. Think of a blog as a business tool.

Essentially, blogging is not about you. It’s about your audience, and what blogging will help you to do for them. Right now. Instantly.

Before you plunge into choosing a blogging service or platform, ask yourself some questions:

* Who’s my audience?

* What challenges will my blog help my audience to solve?

* What do I want to achieve?

* What challenges could blogging help me to solve?

Let’s look at these questions. Please write down the questions, and the answers, because the questions and answers will predict your blogging success, or the lack of it.

If you already have a blog, and you’re not happy about the way your blog is performing, the solutions lie in the answers you give to these four questions.

1. Who’s My Audience?

Who are you creating your blog for? If you’re running a business, who is the target audience for your business? This target audience is the audience for which you’re creating your business’s blog.

Let’s say you own a restaurant. It’s an up-market seafood restaurant. Your target audiences are your current customers, and potential customers.

2. What Challenges Will My Blog Help My Audience to Solve?

As an instant publishing tool, your blog can help your audience to solve their problems. Indeed, your blog MUST do this, if it’s going to be successful.

In our seafood restaurant example, the owner knows that his target audience is in their thirties, and forties, they’re well off, and they’re not only interested in good food, but they’re also in the age group where they’re starting to think about their health.

So the challenges he can help them to solve include helping them to learn more about food and wine so they can increase their enjoyment, he can also help them to learn more about eating well in order to preserve good health. Once the owner knows what challenges his audience face, many, many ideas for blog content will occur to him.

3. What Do I Want to Achieve?

Why blog? What can a blog do for you, or for your business? As an instant publishing tool, creating a blog is much faster than creating a Web site. A blog also has features which make it attractive to the search engines. Therefore, a blog is likely to get more traffic than a static site. Once you have traffic, you can convert that traffic into dollars in any way you wish.

In our example, our restaurant owner might have many aims. He may want to attract customers, but also to attract restaurant reviewers for free publicity. He may also want to become known in the restaurant industry so he can make industry contacts.

4. What Challenges Could Blogging Help Me to Solve?

Everyone has challenges. Make a list of challenges that you face in your business. Can blogging help you to solve a few of them?

Our restaurant owner has a couple of major challenges. His is the third seafood restaurant to open in the area, and he doesn’t have an established clientele. Advertising is expensive, but he needs to advertise constantly.

A blog can help him to get higher search engine rankings, and pick up new customers.

Take a few minutes to answer the four questions. It will be time well spent. When you have your answers, you will not only know why you should blog, but also how you can help your blog’s audience.

Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, why blog, blogging reasons, blog audience, instant publishing

Copyright (c) 2006 by Angela Booth

Have you started a blog? Millions of blogs have been created, but most bloggers abandon their blogs after a few entries. Of course, these are bloggers who have no blogging goal: they start a blog, but because there’s no lure (like money) to encourage them, they stop blogging.

If you’d like to get more organized so that you can blog consistently, here are ten blogging time management tips.

1. Create a file called Blog Ideas

There’s nothing more intimidating than a blank computer screen. Create a file and call it Blog Ideas. Write down any stray thoughts you have about blogging.

Do you have questions about your blogging topic? Your questions can start with: Who, What, How, When, Where and Why – just make a note of the questions. In your Blog Ideas file, these are triggers to get you thinking.

Read other blogs. Reading other blogs will stimulate your own thinking. Agree with a blogger? Why? Can you expand on a point made in another blog?

Carry a small notebook and jot down ideas which come to you at work. When you’re driving, place a digital or microcassette recorder on the passenger seat beside you to record any sudden inspirations.

2. Write five to ten blog posts at a time

Carve out time to blog on the weekends – a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon, perhaps. In that time, study your Blog Ideas file, and write a series of posts. These don’t have to be polished posts, just draft them quickly. They’ll be ready for you to post during the following week.

3. Audio blog

If you’re carrying a digital recorder, record some blog posts. This works well for business bloggers. Interview people at your company. Interview your boss, or a couple of your customers.

4. Ask for contributions from other bloggers

Bloggers help bloggers. As you leave comments on others’ blogs, and get known in the blogosphere, you can ask other bloggers to “guest blog” for you. Ask them to write just one entry, or to write five.

You’ll get lots of takers, because blogging for someone else is added exposure for bloggers, and many will take you up on the offer. Of course, you’ll need to reciprocate, and write the occasional entry for others.

5. Out-source – hire a blogger

You can hire bloggers at out-sourcing venues like Elance. This is a good solution for those weeks when your schedule is crammed with other work.

6. Get over perfectionism

When you’re blogging, you’re not writing a bestseller, nor are you expected to be perfect. If you read any blog, you’ll find typos, spelling errors, errors of syntax – part of the charm of reading blogs is their “home made” appeal. Even if you’re writing for a business audience, no one expects you to be perfect.

7. Think about your audience. What challenges do they have?

You’re writing for an audience, and that audience has challenges that you can help them to solve. Write about the problems that your audience faces. Whatever your topic, this ensures that you never run out of material.

8. Research blogging – get up to speed on blogging

A lot of blogging procrastination is just lack of information. Research blogging. Read my ebook. Take a course. You more you know, the easier you’ll find blogging.

9. Schedule blogging

Schedule blogging into your day, just as you’d schedule anything else that you have to do.

10. Write product reviews

Whatever your blog’s subject area, people are trying to sell products. Review some of the products. Reviews get visitors. Buyers are always looking for product reviews in the search engines, so writing reviews is a way of guaranteeing an audience, and it gives you something to write about.

Technorati Tags: time management, blog ideas, time to blog, save time, audio blog, out-source blogging, bad habits