Blog Traffic Through Blog Commenting - 7 Tips

People often recommend building awareness and traffic to your blog through leaving comments on other blogs. This can work well, but will work far better if you consider the tips below, which greatly build on the "write great comments on lots of blogs idea."

1)    Write great comments

The typical advice is to leave intelligent and insightful comments that add value to the reader. This is solid advice, but just a beginning on blog commenting strategies.

2)    Leave controversial comments

Controversy gets noticed, and you can build interest and traffic by politely offering different points of view in comments. Don't be controversial just to stand out, but only where it's reasonable and adds value.

Opinions are valued in the blogosphere, and as long as you have a legitimate differing view and can back it up, don't shy away from controversy.

3)    Use a consistent commenter name

Always use a consistent name when you leave comments. For example if your name is Robert James Smith, don't sometimes use "Bob Smith," sometimes "Robert Smith," and sometimes "Robert James Smith." Pick one consistent representation of your name so that people will get to recognize you.

4)    Append your blogname or other tagline to your comment name

You can append your blogname or other tagline to your name when commenting. For example, if you're Bob Smith and your blog is called "Feline Health," using the name "Bob Smith, Feline Health" will get you lots of notice on cat blogs. Make sure, as mentioned above, you use a consistent name, whether you include a tagline or not.

5)    Comment early

Early comments attract more attention than late comments. It's better to have the first or second comment on a popular blog than the 5th or 25th. The later comments tend to get buried and not read as often.

6) Comment often on the same blogs

Regular readers will be more likely to notice you if you regularly leave comments and will be more likely to visit your blog.

7) Leave comments on related blogs

It doesn't matter how great your comments might be, if you are a cat blogger your comments will work better on other cat blogs than on political, ,marketing, or other unrelated blogs!

Leaving comments is a great way to build blog traffic. By considering the tips above, you'll build more traffic than by simply using the common "leave great comments"strategy.

And for over 100 more tips on successful blogging, I invite you to grab your free copy of my ebook Secrets of Successful Blogging at http://www.secretsofsuccessfulblogging.com

Exciting Blog Posts - 5 Tips For a Steady Stream

Most bloggers write at least weekly, many write daily, and some write more than daily. How can a blogger keep finding topics to write on? Sometimes it's easy and there will be so much you can't blog on everything you want to, but other times you'll have difficulty finding a worthwhile topic to blog on.

Here are 5 tips to help keep you pumping out exciting blog posts.

1) Use the free Google Alerts or a similar service. Google Alerts tells you when it finds new relevant content on topics you blog about. You specify keywords and phrases you want to have tracked for you.

For example, if I blogged on flyfishing for trout, I might tell Google Alerts I want to know when any new content is discovered that contains the keywords "trout" or "fly fishing." I might also specify my name and blog name as keywords.

I get emails a couple of times a day from Google Alerts and I have 8 to 10 things that Google Alerts tracks for me. This helps uncover news and new content in my niche that I might blog about.

2) Read specific blogs in your area using a feedreader, also sometimes call a news aggregator, for example, MyYahoo or Bloglines. There are a lot of these out there, and they make reading lots of blogs extremely fast and easy.

If you are not familiar with these, they display all the new posts from blogs you follow on one page. You can quickly read the ones with interesting post titles, and skip the others. Again, you'll find interesting things to blog about.

3) You'll think of great post ideas at the strangest times, so always have something handy to take notes.

I use simple pads of paper which I have scattered around my home, office and car. When I get a great idea and write it down, I place that piece of paper in my wallet so I don't lose it or the idea.

4) Consider occasionally updating and re-posting some of your most popular posts. Some bloggers simply repost them as is, labeling them as classic hits, and others update or expand on them. Both techniques are valid.

5) Keep a few blog posts in reserve for when you just don't have any great ideas or are too busy. For example, if you write 3 blog posts on Monday and a couple are on evergreen topics, ones with timeless value, you might refrain from posting them immediately.

A steady stream of great blog posts on exciting topics will help build your readership and keep your existing readers coming back. Somedays it's easy to crank out a new and exciting post, other days it's a challenge. Hopefully these tips will help you maintain a steady stream your readers will enjoy.

And for over 100 more tips on successful blogging, I invite you to grab your free copy of my ebook Secrets of Successful Blogging at http://www.secretsofsuccessfulblogging.com

Blog Writing: 3 Tips to Improve

Bloggers write all the time, but few pay attention to improving their writing. Have you noticed the most successful bloggers tend to write extremely well? Practice, just writing a lot, helps, but practice does not make perfect. Here are three quick tips many find helpful to improve their blog writing

1) Read your post out loud before publishing.

If you are in an office people might look at you funny, but this works amazingly well. It is actually an old writer's trick and it will help find grammatical errors and typos as well as improve the flow of your writing.

I don't do this with every post, but I do it quite often. I almost always find something I can fix or improve that a quick proofread may have missed. I even read my entire books out loud more than once before sending them to the publisher, despite several other levels of editing to follow.

2) Occasionally have someone else critically read and comment on your writing. What do they like? What don't they like? They don't need to be a better writer than you; they are a second opinion.

I occasionally have my wife or a friend review what I've written and discuss it. I always get feedback, and while it's not 100% useful, there are always useful pieces and insights I wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

For my commercially published books I have an official editor, and their input is always valuable, even if I don't agree with or implement everything they suggest.

3) Consider taking a writing class. Most local community colleges offer them and you can also consider an online course.

These courses will most likely not focus specifically on blog writing nor should they necessarily. Many people are amazed how quickly their writing improves when they take a class. If nothing else it makes you focus and your writing gets a critical review and useful suggestions.

Writing is a critical business skill. Whether you blog or not, writing is something you want to improve. You don't need to be a great writer to blog successfully, but it can certainly help! The most successful bloggers tend to write extremely well. Improving your writing will improve your blog and make it more successful, and the best writers I know continually work on improving their writing.

And for over 100 more tips on successful blogging, I invite you to grab your free copy of my ebook Secrets of Successful Blogging at http://www.secretsofsuccessfulblogging.com

Making Money Online: 114 Tips

Making money online -- do people really do that or is it a scam?

Well, there are plenty of scam artist everywhere, and money making ventures are a favorite of them it seems, but many people do earn (I did say EARN) decent money online.

Some make a full time living working fulltime at it (often more than fulltime), and others like myself make a few extra bucks, enough to be significant, working anywhere from parttime to more than fulltime!

Leo has a list of 114 Things I Wished I Knew as an Internet Marketer When I First Started. It's slightly blog-centric in places, but most of what he says applies to standard Web sites as well. I look at it as 114 tips.

He starts with "Making money online is easy…making money online for a living…not so easy." I certainly agree, although I primarily consult and speak so my online presence primarily supports those pursuits. Any cash I make online is just gravy (and I wish I had more gravy!).

Leo obviously knows what he's writing about. I agree with most of what he says -- the parts I've experienced myself. Leo obviously has more experience making money online than me, yet I don't agree 100% with everything. No surprise -- we all have different experiences.

Anyway, I think I'll go reread 114 Things I Wished I Knew as an Internet Marketer When I First Started. I read it last night and I'm sure I'll pick out a couple more nuggets of thought provoking (and hopefully) wisdom.

#12 (the first #12 - you gotta read it to understand) is a gem - "Don’t discount what you are good at to make money online."

That explains my Navigating Security Certifications Web site. Yes, I'm making a few (very few as it's new) bucks from it so far, but it's something I'm good at and know well -- information (computer) security stuff including training and certifications.

And it also explains Fly Fishing For Striped Bass -- I'm pretty good at it, passionate, and have lots to share.

Famous (Ted) Quotes? Huhh?

I love a good quote, and there are some great ones by the likes of Oscar Wilde, Groucho Marks, Winston Churchill, and other famous people.

I'm certainly not famous, but apparently ThinkExist.com, a GREAT source of quotes online, finds me quoteworthy.

Are you or someone you know in there?

Oh, the quotes are . . . . (drumroll please)

“It's the closest thing we have to a personal word of mouth on the Internet. Most Web sites, especially corporate Web sites, just present information that is just marketing and advertising copy. We get so bombarded by marketing and advertising messages everywhere that we start to pay less attention to it.”

“I do a fair amount of security awareness training, and people usually need to get burned a few times before they make a change. Security awareness is like exercise -- you have to keep it up to benefit from it.”

How did I find myself on ThinkExist.com ??

Perhaps you've heard of this little tool called Google? First page results, and a surprise to me.

Thusly, Henceforth, & Moreover

Blogging (that works) is all about conversations -- and that means conversational language.

Are there words, patterns, phrases, etc. that you use in the written language that you never use in conversations, meaning never speak?

Drop them from you blogging language, in fact from MOST of your online writing!

Since I like to do what I preach, or at least try to, I shall thusly mediate my written patterns to adhere to my spoken norms.

Henceforth I shall only use colloquial language, or to incorrectly paraphrase the words of the comic geniuses Three Stooges, I shall NOT drop the vernacular.

Moreover I shalleth not useth goobledeegook, archaic language, nor overly formal anything.

Unless of course i am having fun with the language  . . . which is always allowed.

Can a Post Belong to more than one Category?

When you write a post can you add it to more than one category?

YES, of course! For example, I'm adding this post to my "Blogging 101" and "Weblogs" category.

Sometimes people wonder about the so called "duplicate content penalty from Google. Hey, there is NO duplicate content here! (besides, people in general freak out and don't understand this duplicate content thing -- most of you can entirely ignore it).

A long confusing thread full of misinformation and confusion on the Warrior Forum made me wonder if perhaps other might be confused by this?

It's simple: when writing a post, add it to all appropriate categories and just be done with it! Unless of course you are using one of the rare blogging platforms (like Blogger.com) that don't support categories)

Using the Social Web to Find Work

Chris Brogan has an excellent free ebook on Using the Social Web to Find Work.

It's a quick read, and worth it even if you're not looking for work. Unfortunately this is pretty timely for many of us.

Chris as usual nails it.

He starts talking about LinkedIn, which he uses slightly differently than LinkedIn suggests, and moves on from there. Personally I think all professionals should be in LinkedIn.

Click here to check our Chris' ebook

Building Traffic: 6 Tips to Publicize Your Blog

You need to publicize your blog. Write it and they will come won't work. Even if you are famous, even if you are Madonna or Osama Bin-Laden or Bill Gates, if you start blogging no one is going to read it if they don't know about it.

1) One technique is simply to tell people about your blog.

For example, email them and tell them about it. Guy Kawasaki e-mailed ten thousand people when he started blogging. Now Guy is a best selling author, one of the original Apple employees who evangelized the Macintosh, and is a columnist for Forbes.com -- you probably don't know as many people as Guy and neither do I. However do let your friends, colleagues and other contacts know.

2) Use your email signature. 

An email signature is a little block of text that is appended to every email that you send and all modern email programs allow email signatures. You can include your blog information in your email signature. I suggest you experiment with different text. Some people may be more likely to visit something that says that it's a blog, while others may be more likely to click on something like "Ted's thoughts and opinions on whatever" you are blogging on. 

3) Link prominently from your website.

If you have a Web site, link prominently to your blog. Don't make it hard to find. It always amazes me when companies or individuals start a blog and it is very difficult to find.

There was a local gourmet food shop whose blog was written up in a local paper and it was almost impossible to find. They should have had a link from their home page on their website and from any other pages that were appropriate, but they didn't. With some difficulty, I found it via Googling around and I shouldn't have had to gone to that difficulty. They certainly didn't do themselves any favors.

4) List your blog anywhere you list your website.

This includes online as well as offline materials such as letterheads and business cards, in any advertisements, on your fax header page and so forth.

I don't currently list my blog on my business card although I probably should. I notice a lot of people do, but some don't. Most people which don't are pretty much in the same boat as me. I printed a couple of thousand business cards about ten years ago, and I simply don't go through them that fast. But the next time I print business cards I am going to guarantee you my blog will be prominently featured there.

5) Another way to build traffic is to enter carnivals. Carnivals can really help to publicize your blog.

A carnival is a "best of list" of posts on certain topic, and carnivals move continuously to new host blogs - that's the carnival aspect.  Examples include Carnival of the Capitalists, Carnival of Entrepreneurship, Carnival of Marketing, Carnival of Business, and so forth. The best way to find them is via the Search Engines or blogcarnival.com, which currently lists 787 blog carnivals. There is probably one your blog could be included in. And every time I get listed in a blog carnival, I do get some additional traffic.

6) List yourself as the author of your blog and include it your bio and other places. For example, let's say you are a petunia consultant and have a blog called Petunia Power. You could list yourself as Ted Demopoulos, author of Petunia Power (assuming your name is Ted Demopoulos, which is probably isn't).

Now that sounds impressive! What is Petunia power? Is it a book? Is it a website? Is it a blog? Well, it really doesn't matter. It sounds impressive and it is because you're writing regularly on a topic.

Write it and they will come won't work. You need to let the world know about your blog. These tips will help you get the word out.

And for over 100 more tips on successful blogging, I invite you to grab your free copy of my ebook Secrets of Successful Blogging at http://www.secretsofsuccessfulblogging.com

Business Blogging Success and Passion

You should blog on something you are passionate about and will remain passionate about. People will sense your passion. Passionate bloggers tend to be successful bloggers.

What aspects of your work are you passionate about? Make a list. Not merely what you feel strongly about, or what you strongly recommend, but what you have an active long term interest in. What parts of your work or your profession never seem like "work"? These are potential areas to blog about.

As an example, a big reason why my Blogging for Business blog is successful is because I am passionate about using blogs for business purposes and it shows. People reading my blog can sense my passion, my excitement.  Those who share my passion, whether as extreme or not, tend to become regular readers.

Passion will keep you going; it's not the 4th month that may be difficult, but the 14th month, and passion keeps you writing effectively and keeps your readers engaged.

Conversely, as a security professional I talk a lot about the importance of patching software, of keeping software up to date to avoid hackers using known flaws to compromise your systems. It's extremely important. I feel strongly about it, but I am not passionate about it. I probably couldn't blog effectively on keeping software up-to-date. For starters since there is no passion, there is not much excitement and I don't really want to do it. Readers would notice this and be less likely to become and remain long term readers. There are people passionate about patching software, indeed about just about everything, and they are potential star bloggers in those areas

Passion is extremely important in blogging. You need to blog on a topic you are and will remain passionate about. It not only will keep you going, producing great content, in the 14th month and beyond, but readers will sense your passion and be more likely to engage, take action based on your blogging, and of course become regular readers. Your blog will be more successful, however you may define success., when your blogging focus and passions intersect.

And for over 100 more tips on successful blogging, I invite you to grab your free copy of my ebook Secrets of Successful Blogging at http://www.secretsofsuccessfulblogging.com