PureBlogging

Last week, I looked at six reasons why it might be time to give up on your blog. If you’d prefer to keep on blogging instead, then this post is for you. There are several reasons why I maintain the blogs that I still have. Here are a few to be going on with.

1. Love Of The Topic

I could talk and write about writing all day. That’s the main reason why I keep blogging on Get Paid To Write Online. That is my main blog, and my pride and joy. I love finding new approaches to the topic and taking inspiration from other bloggers in this area. If you are writing about something that truly excites your passion, then keep on blogging, and people will flock to your blog.

2. Helping Others

Sometimes people need a little guidance as they navigate the blogosphere. Many successful blogs are based on providing the information that people need to do whatever it is they need to do. Problogger helps those who want to blog professionally. Anywired caters for those who work at home. My blog addresses writers who are looking to start or manage their writing careers.

3. Having A Community

Go to any successful blogging site and you will notice a sense of community. You often see regular readers and commenters who have got to know each other through comments and by visiting each others’ blogs. Look at the top commenters on this blog and you will see what I mean. As you meet other bloggers, not only do you build a community on your own blog, but you become part of the blog communities on other blogs. Not only is it fun, but it enriches your blogging life. I’ve got a bunch of regular readers on my blog and I value their comments, opinions and, in some cases, friendship.

4. Earning Potential

Money may not be the main reason you started your blog, but wouldn’t it be nice if it brought in some pocket change? That’s how I felt about Get Paid To Write Online, so when it started bringing in a bit of dosh, that gave me even more reason to keep it going.

5. Self Promotion

Blogs are a great way to let people get to know you and your work. Everything you do appears in the search engines, so even if you’re not thinking of your blog as creating an image, maybe it’s time to start. Use your blog not just for social purposes but for business purposes. People like to feel a connection with real people, so be real and keep that connection going.

These are five good reasons why you should keep your blog, and why I’m keeping mine. Got any to add?

I recently had the opportunity to meet a precocious young college student who opened my eyes to the fact that bloggers are people that younger generations might look up to. He had asked what I do for a living and his response to my work as a blogger was, “wow, I’ve never met anyone who actually earned money at that!” He had a whole slew of questions for me about my work, at the end of which he told me that he really looked up to me for the career I’d chosen and the moderate success I’ve achieved.

That conversation (and a look at some similar comments that I’ve gotten over the years) made me really stop and think about the ways in which bloggers can serve as an inspiration to people of younger generations. Like teachers and book authors, people who blog have the potential to educate and inspire anyone who comes to read their work. And the flipside of that is that they have the potential to discourage people who are just starting out in exploring their own creative and professional blogging potential.

After realizing this, I’ve set a goal to become the kind of blogger that teens and young adults can admire. Here are a few of the ways that I’ve identified that this can be done:

• Support a cause. Bloggers should do more than write about the latest tech gadget or the hottest celebrity gossip. These things are fine but bloggers should also support some social causes, using their blog as a platform for sharing information and encouraging others to care. For me, the issue is “green writing” but any cause that you care about would work.

• Stay positive. All too often, bloggers are negative in their writing. There is certainly a place for a good rant but there’s also a lot to be said for maintaining a positive attitude. That shows younger folks that it’s possible to articulate your views without seeming like you just have a chip on your shoulder.

• Share your secrets of success. Identify what has made you successful in your work, including what success means to you. I consider myself to be a successful blogger because I am able to set my own schedule and can afford to live in a city that I love because of my blogging income. Kids who are trying to find their career path need to see examples of the different options available to them. They also need some insight into how you did it. 

• Show your smarts. This is particularly true for women who work from home since they often get dismissed as housewives or WAHMs but it applies to everyone. Show a younger generation that intelligence doesn’t have to be limited to legal and medical careers but can thrive in any field, especially blogging!

• Serve as a Mentor. I’ve frequently encountered budding bloggers who had questions for me about beginning their careers. As a writing consultant, I easily could’ve said that I only provide that type of information for a fee. However, I think it’s important to use the wisdom of our own experience to assist others. As such, I answer those questions whenever possible. I’m even considering mentoring a budding blogger.

• Stick to your beliefs. It doesn’t really matter what your specific code of ethics is but you should stick to it in your blogging. For example, if you believe that marriages should last forever then you shouldn’t be doing blogging work for a dating site geared towards affairs for married couples. And if you believe that a successful blogger must work 9-5 then you shouldn’t be taking three hour naps during the middle of the day. In other words, you should constantly challenge yourself to be the blogger that you believe in because you never know who might be watching what you do.

We all need others to look up to in our lives. These people inspire us, show us different ways to live and motivate us to make the choices that are right for us. Bloggers have the opportunity to be those people that younger folks are looking up to. In my opinion, that means that we have a responsibility to true.

Question of the Day: Do bloggers have a responsibility to act as role models for the people who may be reading their work?

When deciding between CPA (Cost per Action) or CPL (Cost per Lead), which do you believe is more effective? To help you make the right decision, I interviewed a few bloggers who make a decent living off affiliate marketing and discovered that CPA has been the most effective for them. CPL can be effective as well, but again, according to the pros, CPA is the one that brings in the majority of their income.

After you’ve decided between CPA or CPL and selected the advertisers you want to feature on your blog, your next step will be choosing the products and services you want to promote. When you reach this step, you will want to select products and services related to your niche. If the product or service you choose does not relate to your blog, then you probably won’t do well at all.

Tiffany Washko said, “I always try to use affiliate links where I get anywhere from a 4-50% commission on the sale.”

Even though a higher commission is great, Darren Rowse from ProBlogger cautioned, “If you recommend rubbish you’ll lose the respect of your readers. Only promote quality products — every recommendation you make not only is a money making opportunity but it says something about you.”

What happens when you discover advertisers that carry the same quality merchandise at the same price? Which one should you choose then? When Michelle Madhok finds herself in this situation she said, “We choose the one with the higher CPA?”

Not sure which affiliate programs perform well? Try one of more of the following programs. When I asked bloggers what affiliate advertisers generate the most income for them, these four came out on top:

1. Google Adsense
2. Chitika
3. Amazon Associates
4. Tribal Fusion (requires a minimum of 2000 unique users per day to qualify)

Ad placement plays a big role in affiliate marketing as well. If you do not place your ads in the right locations on your blog, then they may not generate the income you’d like. According to the professionals, the best places to place ads are above the fold or near the content, at the bottom of the post, and 125×125 banners near the top of the right sidebar. Many also said that writing reviews and placing a direct link in the review performs well. You could always contact the advertiser and request the product to review. Or, another option would be to buy the product, then write a review; sometimes you have to be willing to invest money to make money.

Jonathan Volk advised, “When promoting affiliates via a blog, it’s important to outline the benefits of the program and make sure that you’re coming across as honest. On the Internet, there is so much deception that any bit of truthful, genuineness seems to convert very well.”

Darren Rowse agreed with Jonathan. “I find that readers respect when I give both the positives and negatives about a product — again, this is about creating a readership that will stick with you for the long haul.”

The above advice on affiliate marketing is sure to help you get started, but no matter what advice you follow, Joel Comm and Zac Johnson were 100% on the money when they said you have to test everything to determine what will work best for your blog.

If you’d like to learn more about affiliate marketing and making money with your blog, you can check out the newly released ProBlogger book by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett.

Are you great at affiliate marketing? Then please share your affiliate marketing advice in the comments area.

Last week I wrote Kill Your Blog Now! to shock you into thinking about your blog in a new way. Honestly, I think I might have scared some people away with a headline like that! But you see, I’m on a mission to fight against boring blogs! I see them EVERYWHERE, they are an ocean of mediocrity.

Don’t let your blog be one of them!

I said I’d have more fantastic blogs to show you as examples this week, and they are below. But before I get to them, let me explain my thoughts about this so that you have a framework onto which to build your own thoughts and ideas. As Steven Snell pointed out recently, many bloggers are working in intensely competitive niches. As he rightly pointed out, extending your reach in the blogosphere is a great way to stand out.

Everything Steven said is dead on, but there is an even better way to really stand out, get noticed, and get the most important asset of all in today’s world: attention.

What is this way? The answer is both very simple and highly complex. It is both easy and extraordinarily difficult at the same time:

CREATIVITY

I even have a l simple yet amazingly effective trick I’ve been using myself at Remarkablogger that I will share with you. But first, let’s take a look at these inspirational and highly creative blogs:

Stuff White People Like

Stuff White People Like is one of the most original and funny blogs I’ve seen in a while. I am one of the whitest people on the earth, and enjoy a good laugh at myself. There is some comedic talent here, no doubt. This is a great example of an unconventional idea and a difficult one to pull off. Satire can too easily veer into preaching and criticism, which nobody likes. Stuff White People Like keeps it humorous and light.

Photoshop Disasters

Photoshop Disasters has found a great way to reach the thousands of Photoshop users around the world in a way none of the other hundreds of Photoshop and design blogs have managed to do: By showing the worst commercial work imaginable! The examples are often hilarious and cringe-worthy, especially if you’re adept at Photoshop. This unconventional blog scores high on creativity for its subject matter and its writing.

Dear God

I saved the best for last. Dear God is an idea so simple, so astounding, you’d think someone would have thought of it before. Yes there are confessional sites and there is the famous Post Secret, but this site is a masterstroke, combining great design with both comedy and tragedy. And I don’t exaggerate on that count. I have both laughed out loud and been brought to tears by this blog. This is amazing stuff.

And now the secret…

I hope you had fun visiting and subscribing to these fantastic blogs (you will notice that not a single one is about making money online–yawn), but remember I promised you a simple trick to ultimate creativity? Here it is:

Every time you have a good idea, don’t stop. Keep saying: “Wait — what if we…”

We have a tendency to cease our efforts once we feel happy enough with something, when the truth is we have only just begun to get to the good stuff. So the trick is to keep going. Keep pushing. Keep saying, “Wait — what if we…” until you get the ultimate in creativity from yourself.

How does this work? Let’s say you’re about to write a post, and conceptually, it feels like (and would probably read like) a million other posts on a million other blogs. You want to do something different and creative, but what? Something comes to you, an inkling: instead of writing it like a boring lecture, you will write it out as a story to teach your point. But rather than dive into that you stop and say “Wait — what if I… made each of the people in the story into a type of person we’re familiar with online and when they talk it explains concepts to people.” But you don’t start writing yet! You say, “Wait — what if I… made the story a riff off the classic ‘three men walk into a bar‘ joke?

Or, say you’re about to shoot a video post. You set the camera up in front of you… no, wait! What if you filmed yourself saying parts of your video post at different locations and at different angles, and you edit them together? No more boring talking head videos! What if you were going to talk, but instead, you decide to play guitar and sing?

So there you have it

Inspirational creative blogs as examples, and a trick to help you push yourself deeper into your own creative power! All that’s left now are to subscribe to PureBlogging and then leave a comment below! Wait — what if you…

Imparted your own creativity tips? We could turn this post into a hub of creative blogging tips!

Wait — what if you… wrote a post about your creative tip, linked it back to this post here, and then linked to it in a comment here! You get multiple links back to your own site from the comments and trackbacks!

See how this works?

The past two weeks I posted about SEO topics of Google Page Rank and using some older Best Practices when marketing your web site.  I also want to give you a reminder of Rule #1 for blogging: Don’t forget your readers!

One way for a blog to move up the search listing is to focus on a few keyword phrases, then hammer on those phrases.  As the posts accumulate, Google starts to see more relevance, and the Big G will reward that relevance.  The keyword phrases start to add up, and internal links from posts with the same keyword phrases eventually will do their trick, and your pages start ot appear more often on search engine listings.

The down side is that readers like a little variety in what they read.  They don’t want to read the same old thing day after day, week after week.  Once they reach a point where they know what you are going to write, they stop visiting your blog, and they will move on to someone saying something a little differently.

The other part is from a writer’s perspective; I get bored with writing on a topic that becomes too narrow.  When I write SEO articles as a freelance writer I can quickly lose interest in writing multiple variations of the same keyword phrase articles.  It can become even worse when writing for your own blog and you are relying on your own self-discipline to sit down and write.  It’s hard to be fresh and sound excited about you topic when you feel like your just restating what you’ve already written before.  You need to spread your wings a bit and explore other areas in order to stay interested, and to engage your readers.

And that is the dilemma: Google love a one-trick pony.  With the potential that Google has to send so much free traffic your way, it’s hard to ignore.  But it is hard for an independent blogger to be able to take advantage of the long-tail potential of the internet.  It doesn’t really matter how long the tail becomes if it is buried so far under all of the other tails that no one ever finds you.  But if your tail becomes too short, you lose the interest off your readers.

The closest thing I have found for an answer to this dilemma is plan on growing slow.  Focus on a narrower topic that you can keep coming back to, but mix in enough other content to keep your readers interested, and to grow that tail longer over time.  Follow the best practices of SEO and blog marketing, but do it in a way that doesn’t leave your readers behind.  After all, they are the ones that make it worth blogging.  Without them, there is no reason to blog; you might as well just write in a diary.  And with out readers, you certainly won’t make any money.

No matter how far off on different subjects we wander, it keeps coming back to solid content.  Without that, you’ve got nothing.

Many of us participate in niches that are characterized by intense competition. While I don’t feel that bloggers who cover the same topics are distinctly competing against each other where one wins and one loses, there is a sense of competition for traffic, subscribers, and attention from the target audience. For those of us who do blog in highly saturated and competitive industries, extending the reach of your blog can be the difference from being incredibly successful as opposed to simply being lost in the crowd of similar blogs.

Even if you are not blogging in a crowded niche, extending the reach of your blog can help you put yourself in front of a new audience. Regardless of your situation, your blog needs to impact your target market in more ways than simply publishing content on your blog.

Before you attempt to extend the reach of your blog, here are some ways to set yourself up for success:

Have a clearly defined purpose - What is your blog about? Why does it exist? What does it offer to readers? Before your visitors can know what your blog is all about, you must decide this for yourself and make it evident through the approach that you take to blogging. A clearly defined purpose can be the difference between a focus effort that connects with readers and a scattered, unorganized approach that lacks results.

Have a strategy - Once you have determined the purpose of your blog, set up a brief strategy for acting on that purpose. How will you reach readers that will want to see what you have to offer? What will make visitors become subscribers? Your strategy will most likely change over the course of time as your blog develops, but it is helpful to always know what direction you are heading so that you can take the necessary steps to get where you need to be.

Welcome visitors - As first-time visitors arrive at your blog. Take the time to develop navigation that will allow them to easily find what they are looking for, and consider highlighting your best content so that it is frequently seen by new visitors. They should know what your blog is about almost immediately upon arrival.

Use a design that promotes your RSS feed - If you hope to have long-term success as a blogger, you’ll need to build a loyal following of subscribers. Be sure that your RSS feed and email subscription options are easily visible to anyone who visits. If people have to work to find your subscription options, they typically won’t subscribe.

Methods of Extending Your Reach:

Guest posting on other blogs - In my opinion, writing guest posts is absolutely hands-down the best way to reach large, new audiences. There are plenty of bloggers who are willing and interested in receiving articles from other bloggers, and this is an incredible opportunity. When I started promoting my primary blog this was one of my points of emphasis, and I feel that it was very effective. Not only will you be able to get your name and your writing in front of a new audience, but guest posting is an excellent opportunity for networking with other blogger.

Freelance blogging - The difference between guest posting and freelance blogging is that you are paid for freelance work, but you typically won’t get a brief author bio and a link like you would with a guest post. For me, I fell into freelance blogging unintentionally through guest posting, but it has been a great way to consistently build my name and reputation (although I obviously still have a long way to go), not to mention that the additional money is nice.

Link building - Most bloggers are attempting to get links from other blogs in one way or another. You could be participating in link exchanges, blogroll exchanges, developing linkbait, or any number of other approaches. Getting a few links from blogs with large audiences or with audiences that are very similar to your own can be an excellent way to reach new readers.

Commenting on other blogs - Many new bloggers spend lots of time visiting other blogs and leaving comments in an attempt to get noticed and bring some traffic back to their own blog. This can be an excellent approach if you leave insightful and intelligent comments and if you focus on the right blogs.

Participate in blog carnivals and group writing projects - If you’re not submitting your posts to blog carnivals you are missing out on some easy links. Blog carnivals are essentially a collection of links to blog posts on a common topic. You can find a huge list of current carnivals at BlogCarnival.com. Group writing projects are just about the same as blog carnivals where one blog hosts a bunch of links to other bloggers. From time-to-time you may see some other blogs in your niche hosting a group writing project. If so, take a moment and submit a link to one of your posts. Carnivals and group writing projects won’t attract thousands of new visitors to your site, but they can help you to build links to your blog and increase your overall exposure.

Social media - Most new bloggers get excited at the opportunity to draw huge amounts of traffic from social media sites, and rightfully so, but many only submit their posts to major social media sites like Digg. While these sites have the potential to send the most traffic, there are also thousands of other bloggers attempting to become popular on these sites. If you’re going to target major social media sites, you should also be focusing on creating excellent content that appeals to social media users and building a network of friends that will vote for your links. Don’t simply target Digg because it has the largest audience. Smaller niche social media sites may be more appropriate for certain types of content (I wrote an article on ProBlogger about targeting the right social media sites that you may want to check out). If you’re looking for social media sites in a particular niche, try this categorized list of over 400 social media sites .

Advertising - Most bloggers are hesitant to spend any money on their blog that’s not absolutely necessary, but if you look at your blog as a business and you’re willing to invest some money in attempt to get more out of it, consider placing some ads on other blogs in your niche. Most blogs now sell advertising space, and you should have no problem finding some reasonable advertising options. Having your banner ad on other blogs will obviously help to get your message in front of a targeted audience and to draw some of those people to your blog.

Interviews on other blogs - Interviews are common throughout the blogosphere, and you don’t necessarily have to be an A-list blogger to be interviewed. I have interviewed a few others on my blog because I felt that they would have something relevant to say to my readers, not because they are ranked in the Technorati top 100. If you’re interested in doing some interviews on other blogs a good start would be to post your availability for interviews on your own blog. Some of your readers may be interested and take you up on the offer.

Networking with other bloggers - One of the most crucial activities for bloggers, in my opinion, is networking. A strong network can help you with just about any of the other items mentioned on this list (especially social media marketing, link building, and guest posting). As you build a network you will be increasing your exposure to others who are in a position to be able to help you. For more information on networking, see Expanding Your Blogging Network .

Community Sites - Whatever industry or niche you are in, chances are at least a few community websites exist for those who are like you. These types of sites are excellent for expanding your reach through networking and building name recognition. If you know of any community sites that are relevant to you, be sure to visit a few times each week and make an effort to get involved.

Forums - Web forums are a great place to meet others in your niche and help others with problems that they may be having. If you focus on providing value to others rather than sending traffic to your blog, forums can be very effective. For more information, see Using Forums to Grow Your Blog .

E-Book Release - I’m sure you’ve seen many bloggers use free e-books as a way to attract subscribers, and when done well it is extremely effective. Not only can an e-book help you to increase in numbers, but more importantly, it can build your reputation and establish your name as an expert in the field. PureBlogging author Michael Martine is a good example of this. He offers subscribers a free download of his e-book How to Start a Business Blog. While writing an e-book will take time, it is an effective way to increase your reach and promote yourself as an expert in your field.

What’s Your Opinion?

What methods do you use to increase your reach? What have you found to be effective or ineffective?