PureBlogging

Have you ever come across a great blog and subscribed to the feed but later discovered the blogger didn’t update often enough, so you unsubscribed to their feed? Nodding your head, aren’t you? Well, stop nodding and ask yourself, “Do I update often enough?” If not, only you can change that. All you have to do is become a dedicated blogger.

When I first started my Life of a Writer blog, I wasn’t as dedicated as I am now. I think I updated my blog about once a month then, and I was always wondering why my traffic wasn’t increasing? I thought it had something to do with the fact that I only wrote a new post once a month, so I decided to dedicate myself to my blog by updating it at least once a week. As soon as I began updating Life of a Writer once a week, my traffic began to grow again. Then I started updating twice a week, and my numbers grew again. It was at that moment when I realized blog readers want to read blogs written by dedicated bloggers. Read on to find out how you can become a dedicated blogger and increase your traffic, too.

1. Schedule posts

First, study your blog’s stats. Check to see which days of the week you get the most traffic. Once you’ve discovered this information, determine how often you want to blog, and then schedule your upcoming blog posts for those days of the week. It’s best to dedicate yourself to blogging at least twice a week, but many of the pros — like Darren Rowse over at Problogger — update at least twice each day.

2. Outsource by hiring writers

Don’t have the time to dedicate yourself to your blog as often as you’d like? Do you fear too much blogging will cause you to suffer a “burnout?” The solution: hire writers to ghostwrite blog posts for you. If you’re willing to fork out at least $20 per blog post to a couple of writers each month, then it might just pay off for you in the end. Furthermore, paying writers $20 per blog post ensures that you’ll receive quality content for your blog.

3. Accept guest posts

If you can’t afford to hire writers at this time, advertise for guest posts. You’d be surprised how many bloggers enjoy writing guest posts on blogs relevant to theirs. By creating a guest post for your blog, they’ll receive a short bio with a link to their blog at the end of the post, and this gives them a backlink as well as some free promotion. In the end, it helps both you and the guest blogger.

There you have it, three ways to become a dedicated blogger. Apply the above advice to your blog and watch your traffic grow. Happy blogging!

Since the new eBay CEO John Donahoe has been in charge, a lot of changes have been made. His most recent change is that the eBay affiliate program will be moved from Commission Junction to an in-house solution. The eBay Partner Network is the new home for the service and all eBay and Half.com affiliates have until the 1st of May, 2008 to convert to the new network.

The eBay Affiliate Program claims more than 100,000 members globally. Thus, I’m not really sure why they used Commission Junction in the first place. CJ is great for small to medium advertisers , but eBay really doesn’t have this problem. However, on the other side of the coin this is a big loss for CJ, who will be losing one of their biggest advertisers.

Tutorials get links, because people find them so useful. But there are many tutorials on blogs everywhere. How will yours stand out and become a must-have resource? In this article, I’m going to cover some important tips and techniques to help you make sure your next tutorial blog post is a killer resource that your readers will link to and bookmark. Here’s what we’re going to cover:

1. Your Tutorial Must Meet a Need
2. Use The Three T’s
3. Address Learning Modalities
4. Taking Steps
5. Test Runs
6. Duration

1. Your Tutorial Must Meet a Need

You must create a tutorial about something people really want, or they will never link to it and bookmark it. You have several ways of finding out what people want to get ideas for tutorials:

• Emails your readers send you, asking specific questions
• Questions your readers ask in the comments
• Questions people ask on social media sites
• Paying attention to trends: for example, the trend in tutorial posts getting high numbers of links
• Your own observations about what is under-served… an under-served audience is likely to be appreciative.

2. Use The Three T’s

The Three T’s are:

1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them.
2. Tell them.
3. Tell them what you told them.

This is a deceptively simple yet effective way to structure your tutorial according to the adult learning model. I’ve spent over seven years as a computer training and courseware specialist, and it works. Let your audience know what they’re going to be in for, present the material in the same order, and simply review it afterwards. Telling your audience what topics will be involved in advance removes any surprises and gives your audience a mental framework to hold memories. It gives them a sense of anticipation of what’s to come and that helps to keep their attention.

When you present the steps of your tutorial, you will be meeting your audience’s expectations, instead of surprising them or violating them. This gives them the feeling that they’re in control and keeps them comfortable. Your audience is getting exactly what they expected, and they expected it because you told them what to expect.

After you present the main steps in the tutorial, you want to help your audience feel satisfied with the tutorial. You do this by reviewing the main points. This reinforces the tutorial’s main points in a way that aids in retaining the material, plus it helps to provide an emotional sense of closure regarding the information. Your audience will mentally and emotionally confirm for themselves that they got what they wanted and what they expected.

You will notice that this tutorial is, of course, following this format!

3. Address Learning Modalities

Successful tutorials address the different learning styles (modalities) people have. Some people learn best by reading, others learn best by watching examples, and still others learn best by hearing the words. Addressing more than one modality is important for your tutorial to be as effective as it can be. A common way to do this is to provide pictures to accompany the written text.

Now bloggers can add video and audio to their tutorial posts as well, plus a host of other methods for engaging the different ways peopel learn, such as slide shows (SlideShare) or animation (Animoto). The review portion of this tutorial will feature a multimedia SlideCast in addition to the text.

4. Taking Steps

Before a person can follow the steps of your tutorial, how should they prepare? Make sure you provide the proper set up information they need. When you’re providing step-by-step instructions, use numbered lists so people can follow instructions in the correct order. Keep any images or video that are tied to a specific step within that step’s instructive text–you’ll confuse your readers as to the correct order if you separate them from each other.

5. Test Runs

Just like people who create recipes must test them in order to ensure their results are reproducible, so too should you test your tutorial by following its steps through from beginning to end. Our tendency is to sort of gloss over this. “Yeah, yeah, I know all this! I wrote it!” The best way to do this is to step away from your tutorial for a day or two and then follow it with fresh eyes. You will spot some aspects that need to be changed or improved. Put yourself in the mind of a person who needs the tutorial, someone who doesn’t already know what you know.

Better yet, get such a person to test it out for you. Social networks are great for this. Your friends might be willing to help you out. Their feedback will be invaluable. If this seems like a lot of work, well, it is, but if you want your tutorial to be seen as a go-to resource, you’ve got to put the effort and time into it. You can’t just slap it together and hope people like it.

6. Duration

The time it takes someone to go through your tutorial is an important consideration. It should take no longer than 45 minutes at a maximum. Any longer than that, and people will begin to lose patience and their ability to focus will waiver. If what you’re doing is extensive, break it up into parts. Make sure your readers know it is in multiple parts, and that they understand what part they’re currently reading. Once all the parts are done, provide links to them all in each one (side note: stuff like this makes for great ebook material).

Tutorials Get Links if You Do Them Right

People love to link to tutorials in their own blogs and spread them via social networks such as Digg and Twitter. Let’s review the main highlights of this one, via SlideShare:

| View | Upload your own

Thanks for reading! If you have any tutorial-writing tips of your own, feel free to share in the comments! Happy tutorializing!

A few months ago I decided to include some banner ads on my primary blog. It was a difficult decision because I preferred to keep the blog ad-free, but the income from the ads allows me to devote a bit more time to blogging. Through this experience I’ve learned a lot about selling ad space, although I’m sure some bloggers with more experience selling ads have a different perspective. In the few months that I’ve had ads on the blog I have been able to fill all six spots pretty easily. Here is a look at what I have learned, I hope it can help you.

No Third Parties

First, I should say that I have no experience using third party services that help you sell your ad space and take a cut of the money. I have stayed away from them because I don’t think they’re necessary. I’m open to your opinions on the matter, but personally I plan to always sell the ad space myself and keep all of the money (well, all the money that the tax man doesn’t take). Third party services can save you a bit of time, but in some of my other points I’ll give you some advice for saving time in other ways.

Set Up an Advertising Page

It’s a good idea to have a page dedicated to providing information to potential advertisers. You can see an example by looking at the page David set up here at PureBlogging. Provide as many details as you feel comfortable providing and give potential advertisers a way to contact you. A detailed page will save you a lot of time responding to email inquiries.

Have an Email Template

One thing that I have quickly learned is that many people will email you asking for details even though your page is right there. Some people visit the page and some don’t. Almost every day I get emails from people who are asking me about the details of advertising, and most of their questions can easily be answered on the advertising page. I’ve basically created a brief template that encourages them to visit the advertising page and I provide a few additional details such as the recent traffic totals. Most of the inquiries I get are from people who are looking for something for free and not really interested in paying for an ad spot. In this case, I hate to waste a lot of time with emails, but I also don’t want to blow people off or make a false assumption. With the template I can save time and still give them the info that they want.

Have a Targeted Audience

One of the main reasons that I’ve been able to sell ad space pretty easily is because potential advertisers know who they are reaching when they pay for an ad on my blog. All advertisers are concerned about getting their promotional material in front of the right people, so a highly targeted audience is extremely attractive to them.

Encourage the Purchase of More than One Month at a Time

About half of my advertisers have purchased one month at a time and the other half have purchased anywhere from 2 to 6 months. This saves time for me and it means that I won’t have to worry about selling the space for a few months. As traffic has increased to my blog I have also raised the prices for ads, so I was initially hesitant to sell future ad space at the current price. I eventually decided that if they are willing to pay up front, I’ll gladly sell at the current price, and I haven’t regretted it at all. I would encourage you to do the same, but that’s a personal decision.

Some bloggers offer a discount for purchases of longer terms, and this can be very effective. I choose not to do this because I feel that if my prices are increasing they are essentially getting a discount by locking in for a longer term, as compared to buying each month individually.

Actively Pursue Advertisers

Although I have sold all of my ad spots, they haven’t all come to me. I have sent out a few emails to those who I thought may be interested and this has been surprisingly effective. I like to visit other blogs and websites that target a similar audience as mine, and I click-through on the ads. Then I’ll find a contact form or an email address and send a brief email with the details of my traffic and the prices that I’m offering. I’ve been surprised at how well this works. About 1/3 to 1/2 of my advertisers have come this way, and I’ve sent about 2 emails to get 1 advertiser on average.

Keep Your Prices Competitive

I think one of the reasons that I’ve been able to fill all of my spots each month is that I’m not asking an outrageous price. Of course, the price depends on the specifics of your blog and of the offer. If your prices are higher than the competition you’ll have to spend more time finding advertisers. Personally, I’d rather make a few less dollars from each advertiser and spend less time on it. Good prices also encourage advertisers to lock in for several months at a time.

Be Flexible

If you’re running out of time to find your last few advertisers, why not offer a slightly lower price? I haven’t had to do this yet, but I was one day away from doing so. I’d rather make sure each spot was filled even if it means giving a cheaper price. I’ve had poor results with banner ads for affiliate programs, so they’re not a good replacement option for me.

Ask Your Current Advertisers for a Renewal

If your advertisers are not contacting you to purchase another month, don’t assume that means that they aren’t interested. Try to get in the habit of thanking your advertisers and asking them if they would like to continue. If they’ve seen good results, most likely they will.

Keep Track of Contact Info for All Advertisers and Potential Advertisers

I have a folder in my email with inquiries from potential advertisers that didn’t pan out. Next time I need to fill a space I have a list of warm leads waiting for me. These people have already shown an interest, they just haven’t taken that final step. Also, keep track of the email address of your current and past advertisers. Those who have advertised in the past may be interested in doing so again in the future. Every now and then you can send them an email to see if they have any interest in starting up again. I’m planning on eventually starting another blog on a similar topic, and when I do I’ll already have a list of potential advertisers to contact.

Don’t Hold Spots

You’ll quickly see that some people will ask you to hold a spot for them or tell you that they are going to send payment in a few days. I politely remind these people that I can’t hold a spot and I’ll gladly give it to them if a space is still available when they send payment, but if someone else pays first they will get the spot. There have already been a few situations where I could have missed out on selling a spot because of this reason. For me it is a first come pay, first served approach.

Have a Good System for Tracking Payment

I quickly learned that with 6 advertisers each month it can be a lot to keep track of. I set up an Excel sheet with a different tab for each month. When someone sends payment I go into the sheet and enter them into how ever many months they paid for, plus I record the date of payment and the contact information. Additionally, I like to keep the receipts of payment from PayPal. Now I can look at a tab for a month or two down the road and see how many spots I will need to fill.

Keep it Relevant to Readers

If the ads on your blog can provide some type of value to your readers they can actually be a positive. On the other hand, if the ads are for products or services that are of no interest to your readers they will be an annoyance. Keep it relevant and it will be better for you, your readers, and the advertisers.

I’m a writer. I write for a living.

Well, OK, that’s not true. I don’t write for a living. At least, I don’t just write for a living. Much of my time is spent writing things down in notebooks, to develop into ideas later. As you can probably imagine, this never happens. Because for me, the vast majority of these notes are nearly impossible to understand later; much of my notebook is filled with incomprehensible chains of words that were clearly written in some sort of caffeine-addled haze, such as “short story idea: MAGLEV TRAINS ALONG THE MAGINOT LINE!!!!!!” or “VAMPIRES on a SPACE STATION!!! WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?!?!?!?!” There are always exclamation points, which is particularly sad, because it indicates a level of enthusiasm that makes me feel sort of a cross between embarrassment and pity for my past self. I wish I had a time machine, because I’d go back in time and calm myself down. “There, there,” I’d say. “There, there.”

But every once in a while there’s a little gem, and by “little gem” I mean “comment that isn’t quite so nonsensical as its companions.” It had to do with bloggers and fictional characters.

If literary theory has told us anything, it’s that the number of really original fictional characters out there is fairly small. Jack Sparrow is essentially Han Solo, who was essentially Robin Hood, who was essentially, I don’t know, Promethius or someone. It’s all true and totally verified by prominent literary theorists, so you don’t have to waste your time Googling it or anything.

And just like most fictional characters can be boiled down to a few basic archetypes, most types of bloggers can be represented by a few basic fictional characters. So: What kind of blogger are you?

Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding. Otherwise known as “Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption,” this was the guy who could get you anything you wanted. Even though he was in prison, his network of professional connections could provide his fellow hoosegow residents with anything from tiny hammers to pinups of increasingly attractive movie stars. The blogger version of Red constantly makes you say, “Where does he find this stuff?” How did he find a version of “We Are the World” performed entirely by Japanese game show contestants? Or Weng Weng?
Examples: Grow-a-Brain, the guys at Mental Floss

Ignatius J. Reilly. This blogger is all the hell over the Internet. Sometimes you think the Internet was made for this kind of blogger. In his self-appointed mission to point out everything that has ever gone wrong with the world, the Ignatius blogger just can’t figure out why everyone is so freaking stupid. If people would just take his very simple advice, things would work out just fine. Jeez.
Examples: About half of all political bloggers, the good folks at Reason.

Jack Sparrow. You may have fans out there on the Internets, but rest assured, dear blogger, few of your fans’ ardor matches that which you carry for yourself. You’re more bearable than the Ignatius J. Reilly blogger because you’re less of a sourpuss and produce much higher quality work, but you risk turning readers away because you’re just so enamored with yourself. A good deal of your time is spent Googling yourself and wondering why so many people think “narcissistic” is an insult. The annoying part is, you actually are fairly cool, and you run a damn nice blog. Dammit.
Examples: Cory Doctorow, Jason Kottke.

Sherlock Holmes. Sweet locks of Samson, is there anything you don’t know? You may be one of the most knowledgeable bloggers in the world, and you never hesitate to share your expertise with your readers in a way that makes them think they probably should have thought of that themselves. You’re not condescending about it, though. No, you’re cool. You’re so cool.
Examples: CopyBlogger, Seth Godin

Lindsay Nagle. Ever watch The Simpsons? You know that generic business lady who always shows up and spouts random corporate nonsense? Yeah, her. The Lindsay Nagle blogger is the blogger who’s just in it to monetize, who sees the Internet as an easy place to sow lots of seeds and part fools with their money. Their blogs are often little more than reprints from ezinearticles.com and generic advice, cribbed from better blogs, on how you too can use SEO to make millions on the Internet. Avoid this blogger.
Examples: Oh, I think you know who you are, deep down in your ugly little heart.

NEXT WEEK: Which Winnie the Pooh Character Are You? Or possibly something better.

Is your brain an empty vessel? Have you got a blog post to write? It happens to all of us eventually. Sometimes the drought may last only a couple of hours; at others it may last for days or weeks. When you’ve written thousands of blog posts, one day you’re bound to think: what will I write today? Luckily there are ways that you can find ideas for content that will be useful to your readers, even if they’re not that creative.

Reviews

If you can’t think of anything new to say, review what someone else has said. Have you read a blog that made you sit up and take notice? Maybe your readers would like to know about it. I review other writing blogs on my freelance mentoring blog, Get Paid To Write Online. I don’t do it often, and I only review blogs that I like and subscribe to. However, I don’t always do them the minute I think of them. I just add them to a list, so that I can remember to write the review when I’m short of inspiration.

Linking To Others

Even if you can’t find a whole blog worth reviewing, there’s always something around that makes you think. Sometimes a particular post is so thought provoking that you need to write a whole post of your own in reply. If not, you can simply let readers know that you find it interesting. Although I have posted long lists of links in the past, I think it’s most useful to readers when I put links into context. Mostly, I do that by putting links together thematically, though others have used the linkfest concept much more creatively.

Linking To Yourself

Even if you feel that you’ve said it all before, it doesn’t mean that your readers have read it all before. Pick out a few gems, explain why they are relevant and add a bit of recent context. If your blog has been going for a while, you can do this around particular themes or categories. Don’t use these all at once, but save some for a rainy day.

News Reading

Find out what’s going on outside the world of blogging. Perhaps it will give you a content idea. Take astrology, for example. How do the qualities that are ascribed to you relate to the content of your blog. Major world events might also give you ideas. If you’re searching for inspiration, broadening your focus might get you back on track. Once you’ve found something, posting an excerpt with a commentary will get you off the hook and add value for your readers. One of my most popular posts last year was a link I posted to a blog post on freelance pay.

Surfing

When you work online, sometimes you forget to browse and see what’s out there. There are all sorts of ways to find blogs that will inspire you, no matter what you write about. My three favourite blog discovery tools are StumbleUpon, Entrecard and BloggingZoom. Used right, they can help me find blogs that will inspire me, both within my niche and outside it. I’ve already discovered some great blogs on writing and blogging through these tools, and I’m now looking to take a pot luck approach and see what I find.

Whichever technique you use (and why not use all of them), the important thing is to make sure that you’ve posted something you might like to read yourself. Then you can be sure that you have provided something valuable for readers, even if it’s not creative.