PureBlogging

Hello, my name is David and I’m a feedaholic.

There are currently over 300 feeds in my Google Reader and I religiously read probably 150 of those feeds everyday. Funny thing is this is a recent development because until about 3 months ago I had never even used a feed reader. What can I say…? I’m hooked.

The good thing is, my new addiction helps me keep up with a lot of great blogs so I thought I would list a few blogs that I believe can help you become a better blogger. We all know about the established blogs (ProBlogger, John Chow, Quick Online Tips, etc.) but what about the new guys?

These blogs are all less than a year old and have already established themselves as great resources for the aspiring blogger. Take a few minutes to check them out… I bet you’ll be hooked too.

Here are my favorites in no particular order:

• Daily Blog Tips – My favorite blog about blogging. Not only is Daniel a really nice guy but he truly understands what it takes to be a successful blogger and shares that knowledge everyday.
• Dosh Dosh – If you are looking to make money with your blog you have to start with Dosh Dosh. In addition to the wealth of information on blogging, you will also find discussions on affiliate marketing, get-paid-to programs, advertising networks and social media monetization.
• Net Business Blog – Although not specifically geared toward blogging, NBB still provides plenty of tips for bloggers. Matt also provides pointers on all other facets of online business.
• Chris Garrett – Chris is an internet marketing consultant, writer, coach, trainer, web geek, and amateur photographer but somehow still finds time to dispense some amazing blogging advice and internet marketing tips. In fact, you may already know Chris from ProBlogger, CopyBlogger, or one of the many other places where he has contributed in the past.
• BlogTalks – He may only be 17 years old but Thilak Raj, the creator of Tech-Buzz, has already found fame as a successful blogger. At BlogTalks you will find blogging tips, as well as, discussions on WordPress, WordPress plugins, and other blogging tools.

What are some of your favorite blogs for bloggers?

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It doesn’t matter whether your blog is on the Blogger network or if you’ve opted to get your own domain, you’ll need to spice it up. First things first, though, if your blog is WordPress based, then have you chosen a theme?

Being that there are a ton of themes to choose from, you should give thought to what you’re looking for in a theme. How many sidebars? Do you need widgets? Does it play nice with Adsense? I generally prefer to read blogs that are very clean looking without a ton of color. Pick a color scheme that you’re comfortable with and go from there. (By a ton of color, I mean if the page is too loud, people will think it’s unprofessional.)

Concentrate on how much work you’re going to have to put into the theme, as well. Themes usually don’t come right out of the box looking just the way you want them, without any edits. A lot of the more popular themes are already being used by a ton of people. Take that into consideration. Of course you want yours to stand out.

Consider doing something nifty with the header image. A lot of things can be done with Fireworks and some free time.

One last thing of mention, of course, are plugins. You can check your WordPress dashboard to find updates on plugins. These nifty little gadgets will do some pretty amazing things for your blog. And if you’re a PHP novice (like me), then you’ll find that adding these to your blog, is most painless. There are plugins for top commentators, spam-killers, videos, you name it. Have fun with what you can do with your blog, that’s what it’s there for: an outlet.

Let me ask you this: Are you having fun with your blog?

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My name is Roberta Ferguson and I’ll be putting my two cents in here and there regarding the very basics of blogging. Even though a lot of you already know about some of this stuff, some don’t. My normal haunt is music blogging at Earsucker, but what I’ve learned in my journey in blogging, I’ll be telling you here.

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What’s the word? The word is your blog is whatever you make it. Meaning, whatever your topic of choice is what you blog about. You’re in control, so if the content is quality, readers will come. Whether it be music, making money, SEO, gossip, or whathaveyou.

If you intend to stick to one topic then tell your readers. If you don’t have many readers, see this post. Some people like to make several topics the point of their blog. This is a great idea and allows you enough space not to get bored with blogging.

Centralizing your blog to one topic does have it’s advantages, though. If your genre is blogging about blogging, then those who do just that, will often link to you, if you are experienced. I consider myself an expert in being a beginner, thus, I’m open to learning everything about everything. (You should see my rss feeds)

What I’m trying to communicate to you now is that if you are an expert on flowers, then blog about it. If you’ve had no experience installing car stereos, could you tell someone how to do it? I could tell you where the stereo should go, but as far as installation goes, I have no clue.

Blog about what you love and chances are, like-minded people will find you. It’s not as easy as linking to big named bloggers and hoping they’ll notice. I’ve went out of my way to find other music-related blogs and am currently trying to fill void in the music community. A lot of bloggers will not go out of their way to find you.

The moral of the story is, be interesting and the readers will be interested

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My name is Roberta Ferguson and I’ll be putting my two cents in here and there regarding the very basics of blogging. Even though a lot of you already know about some of this stuff, some don’t. My normal haunt is music blogging at Earsucker, but what I’ve learned in my journey in blogging, I’ll be telling you here.

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As the author of multiple blogs I often times find it difficult to determine exactly which blog to publish a new article to. Especially as I continue to build content on certain blogs that are still within the “launch” phase of their lifecycle. More often than not, we follow our instinct and publish to that new project, hoping that this is the article that will bring an increase in traffic.

As you continue to build your blog portfolio this can become an increasing problem and one that can cost you dollars. Google’s AdSense has a wonderful tool to help make this decision easier: ad channels. If you aren’t using channels I highly encourage you to take some time out this weekend and establish channels for all of your ad units, across all of your blogs.

After you have established your ad channels you can now go look at what makes the most sense to your checkbook when an article’s home is in question. Out of my two blogs, my personal blog has a higher click-through rate and is therefore the prime target for some of the more questionable articles I write.

Of course, maintain your niche – and think of your readers as well. I definitely wouldn’t abandon Betaflow and post a review of the hottest new web 2.0 application on my personal blog just because I might a little more. But, in times when you just don’t know – ad channels can really help. I recently published an article title “Windows Software You Need,” which would have fit in easily over at Betaflow, but after a quick review of my ad channels it was clear where that article needed to be headed.

Not many of us are blogging to pay the bills, but that is no reason to intentionally hinder yourself. Use all of the tools available to you to determine what best suits your budget, your niche, and your readers.

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Michael Wales is currently a Senior Airman in the United States Air Force awaiting a June-July promotion to Staff Sergeant. Michael also writes a blog at http://www.betaflow.com/ about Web 2.0 companies and new media.

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I’m going to start out with a very basic blogging series. A lot of websites or blogs are more geared to the more experienced blogger, but I wanted to give some tips for those of you out there that don’t know what to do to get started and what the next steps are.

First of all, you have to ask yourself: Why do you want to blog? For the readership, for the blog fame, or for the money. If you’ve answered money, ding ding ding! Stop right there and push yourself away from the keyboard. While many can attest to the fact that there is money to be made from blogging, what you see on their websites comes from a serious dedication to the hard work and experience that comes with blogging for a long time. What you’ll find from that particular example is that the blogger in question didn’t just come up with the idea yesterday.

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your blog.

If there is something that you are truly passionate about and feel that your personality should be heard through a blog, then I’d highly recommend starting out at either wordpress or Blogger. Both are free and they will help you realize both what your passion for blogging is and whether or not you have the stamina to blog, blog, blog.

Write about something that you are very interested in and always voice your opinions and let your personality shine through. If you post enough, readers will come. The money part comes later.

The moral of the story is that blogging is neither for the weak or the disinterested.

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My name is Roberta Ferguson and I’ll be putting my two cents in here and there regarding the very basics of blogging. Even though a lot of you already know about some of this stuff, some don’t. My normal haunt is music blogging at Earsucker, but what I’ve learned in my journey in blogging, I’ll be telling you here.

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It seems that the moment internet marketers discovered that My Space was a profitable business tool, social networks geared toward business began popping up. I’m not saying it’s a new thing, but lately there have been some great social networks opening that are designed for internet marketers. Though the networks vary in features, they are all based on the same general concept of other popular social networking sites. The two I’m discussing in this article – Apsense and Free IQ – are my favorites of the new IMSNs (Internet Marketing Social Networks) popping up all over the internet.

Apsense

This new IMSN is in pre-launch right now. You need an invite code to join (the link above includes one) for free. If you’re one of the first 2,500 members you will be given the chance to upgrade to a VIP membership for free for one year. The VIP membership costs $19.95 a month. That’s a $240 savings without spending a dime. I honestly can’t figure out what the benefits of the VIP membership are, but I’m guessing it has to do with an increased number of times your ads are shown and/or the number of groups you can create. The site says “click here” for membership comparisons, but there isn’t a link attached.

Aside from the standard social network sites features of messaging, adding friends and customizing your own page, you also have the option to blog on the site. On social networking sites, I tend to create one blog post linking to my main blog. It’s a good way to build some links and also you won’t spread yourself too thin trying to post on several different blogs daily. I think being a member of social networking sites is a great way to build your business, but it’s also very important not to overextend yourself. Be careful that you don’t get caught up and spend too much time on social networking sites. They can be fun and addictive so make sure you remember that you’re there for business.

Apsense has some interesting extras that make it unique. Apsense Express is an application you install on your desktop to serve ads. Desktop marketing tools (like Desktop Lightning) are becoming more popular as people become less wary of willingly installing advertising applications on their PCs. These programs aren’t adware or spyware, they are legitimate viral marketing applications that allow you to broadcast directly to your network. As more and more of these types of applications are created, more people will realize that this is not malicious software. It’s really just the next logical step for internet marketing; joining together traditional ad formats with the ability to deliver instantly and to a targeted audience.

For a site in pre-launch, Apsense is very promising. There are some features that aren’t very clearly explained, but I’ll give the creators the benefit of the doubt and assume that’s because the site is still in development. Overall, I’d recommend joining now so you can get in on the ground floor and watch this site really come to life.

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