Is timing all that important in the world of online marketing where information flows freely twenty four hours a day, seven days a week?

Some bloggers and users of social media are satisfied to hammer out a post or send a tweet whenever they can. Others stay up late editing the next day’s blog post and setting it to auto-post at 4 AM. Is there really any advantage?

In a word, yes. In two words: definitely maybe.

Online marketers and community managers want to know one simple thing: when can they put their information, products, and special offers in front of the greatest number of people at one time. By learning about the timing of blog posts and social media updates, they’ll be able to maximize their exposure relative to the time they invest and even capture audiences that online marketers have neglected.

When to Use Social Media

Many businesses focus their blog posts and social media efforts on the work week, assuming that their audiences are most attentive during week days. However, consider this statistic from a 2009 Wired Magazine survey: 54% of companies block Facebook and Twitter. That means a ton of readers will be looking for something to read in the evenings and on the weekend. With that in mind, let’s look at some advice on when to use social media and to post blog content.

Two years of research by Dan Zarella of the marketing firm Hubspot found that the morning isn’t necessarily the best time to use social media.

• All Social Media: Interaction levels remain fairly steady on the weekends in comparison to the week.
• Twitter: Click-through rates for links shared are highest between 11 am and 5 pm EST.
• Twitter: The most retweets occur between 2 pm and 5 pm. In order to monitor the effectiveness of your retweets, check out the website Tweet When.
• Facebook: Linking to your blog or website more than once a day will not bring significant benefits. In fact, posting too frequently on Facebook will back-fire.
• Facebook: Weekends and off-peak times are also effective for click-throughs since there are fewer links shared and many readers are still looking for good content in their off hours.
• E-mail Campaigns:  The highest open and click-through rates happen on Saturday mornings. If you send an e-mail newsletter or a digest of your blog posts, schedule it for 4 or 5 am on Saturday. Publishing professionals Jane Friedman and Michael Hyatt send their newsletters at that time and offer many tips valuable tips to her readers.

Whatever you do, you need to test the response of readers to your blog posts and social media updates. Different industries and users may respond in their own ways. For example, if you’re blogging in order to receive links from experts, Zarella recommends aiming for early in the morning.

One of the most important things to keep in mind for blogs targeting readers in the United States, the majority of the population is located on the East Coast.

If you want to dramatically increase your page views, you need to also focus on your post frequency. However, if you can’t keep up with one, two, or three posts a day, post timing will become far more important. In addition, entrepreneur and blogger Tim Ferris suggests that a lousy blog post can be far more harmful to your influence than no blog post.

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger wrote back in 2008 that his weekend posts are typically lost in the shuffle compared to weekday posts.  When he hosted Daniel Zarella to share his findings about blog viewing trends, his findings continued to hold true.  Weekday mornings EST are when blogs have the most readers.

This means that marketers can still reach a lot of readers on social networks on the weekends and in the afternoons. However, when it comes to attracting links and more blog readers, the majority of readers are looking for content on week day mornings. Though the audience on weekends may be smaller for a blog post, social media tools and a lack of competition and a companion e-mail campaign may make weekends a highly effective time to find readers and customers.

About the Author

This guest post is written by Lior Levine, a marketing consultant for a web hosting company that lists the best web hosting companies online. Lior also consults for the MA in political science international program at the Tel Aviv University.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

While podcasting is much bigger than it was a few years ago, it’s still not as big as a could be. Many bloggers have yet to get into the art of podcasting. Some are shy and aren’t ready to take that next step, while others want to, but just don’t know how to take that step.

Whatever your reason may be for not adding a podcast to your blog, you may want to consider the benefits. Podcasting is not just a marketing tool, it’s also a way to set yourself apart from the competition and really get in touch with your subscribers. So before counting it out, take a look over these reasons why you should add a podcast to your blog.

Educate Yourself

Having a weekly podcast can be a great learning experience for you because you’ll get to learn about new topics from the people that you talk to and interview. What better way to expand your knowledge than by talking to experts in that area? Your new-found knowledge is also a great way of increasing your authority and establishing yourself as a great source and leader in your industry. You’ll be able to expound in greater detail on the topics that you cover on your blog and build more trust with your readers.

Expand Your Reach

Through your podcast you’ll be able to network, connect and get noticed by new people. You’ll really get to do a lot of expanding because the people that you invite on your podcast will of course share the podcast with their network. It only gets better from there because some of those people will then share the podcast with their networks and so on.

Also, with the ability to publish podcasts for free on iTunes and other places, you’re bound to reach an entirely new audience. It’s a great way to build your brand and increase your exposure. People that may have never even heard of your will come across your podcast just by searching or browsing within your category.

Convenience

Your readers will now become listeners and they’ll really appreciate the convenience of being able to listen to your content on the go (via a mobile device) or while multitasking right at home or in the office. Listening actually takes less cognitive effort than reading, plus the Web has really made people more lazy. So, it’s only natural that your readers will enjoy listening to your podcasts because it will save them time and energy.

Build Relationships

Your podcast will give you the ability to improve your relationship with your current readers and build new relationships as well. It’s much easier to build a personal connection to a human voice than from writing; text can be so impersonal. Hearing your voice will let your listeners into your life and get to know the real you. You can also interact with them more and even respond to questions, remarks or feedback that they send.

If you’re now ready to take that next step, there are numerous resources on the Web to help you get started. Some methods are easier than other; so just be sure to find the method that best suits your needs and you’ll be a podcasting pro in no time!

About the Author

This post was written by Lior who advises to a live chat support software company called iAdvize. Lior Also works for an MA in Israel studies program.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Hello everyone! My name is Alex. Most of you, readers of Blogsessive know my name and clearly know what this blog is all about and that’s great. Others don’t and that’s fine too. But there are those cases in which not knowing who I am is a bad thing, and yes, now I’m talking to you Mr./Ms. Internet/Email Marketer. Unfortunately, I have absolutely NO idea what your big business opportunity was all about because I have just deleted your email. Why, you ask? Because…

My name is Alex

Not admin, not webmaster. I have a name and if you really want to reach ME, think of me as a person with an identity. I am not defined by my status in regards to how I technically operate this blog or website, but by my thoughts, actions, writing and virtually all that in the end constitutes my identity in the eyes of my community. You can start by simply using my name.

My blog is called Blogsessive

Not http://blogsessive.com, not ‘your website’ – the one that you ‘stumbled’ across by some sort of accident and decided to pitch me. Call me arrogant but I love my blog and have put a lot of work and passion into it. Show me respect by using its name, just like you should when addressing me. It is part of my identity and if you did not get it by now, I couldn’t care less about what you have to propose as long as you show that you have no idea who I am, what my blog is about and I’m basically just another ID in your database of contacts.

You did not pitch me with a win-win

The second you decide to pitch me it is clear that you have something to gain. In case you don’t realize, like it or not most times that puts me in a position of power. Make sure you clearly state what you offer and make sure it’s at least decent. Under certain circumstances I will promote stuff out of my own belief because you pointed it out, but statistics say that most likely I’m not running a charity, nor pushing big amounts of BS to my community. Thus, all you have to do is to follow these simple rules:

• Offer something of value to me and my community;
• Offer something of virtually the same value with what you are asking for;
• If you cannot provide any of the above, make sure you state why and think of alternatives.

You did not pitch me with something fit

If you take a moment to browse my blog, you’ll see what it is all about and see if your proposal fits in. I will not go out of my way to help you with something and by doing that, disrupt the flow of this blog. Make sure you pitch me with the right stuff.

So, the next time you pitch me via email and don’t get a reply, know that it went straight to the trash bin and that’s why I have just deleted your business opportunity email.

What should you do?

Other than following the 4 common sense rules above? You could first consider the following relational pattern: Me <-> My blog <-> My community. If you get that, I’m sure you’ll be able to personalize your business opportunity email in less than 5 minutes and chances are that I’ll read it and reply. Also, let me give you an example of how it’s done.

A couple of days ago I was approached by a person offering a subscription to a pretty major website, asking for a review of their service. They used my blog’s name in their pitch and their offer clearly stated what I had to win out if it. A decent free subscription. Yet, their service is not that new to me as it relates to my job of over a decade – a web designer. Being a member of similar services, out of courtesy and respect of their approach I replied back asking for a similar subscription to offer one of my readers too in a contest after I’d review their site. Of course, we came to an agreement and everyone will be happy. It’s just a matter of common sense. And with this, stay tuned to Blogsessive in the next couple of weeks as I’m preparing the contest I previously mentioned.

Photo credits to Dan Mulligan

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

In most industrialized nations, literacy is well over 98%. This means that nearly everyone is capable of reading and writing and, as such, are capable of being writers.

However, only a very small fraction of people who can write ever attempt to actually become serious writers and, of those who do, only a fraction ever become successful at it.

There are many reasons for this, some of which include natural talent, time and other issues over which there is little control.  However, there are several habits that separate those who become successful writers from those who never go anywhere with their writing.

In short, while taking on these habits may not guarantee that you’ll become a successful writer, not having them will virtually guarantee that you won’t. As such, they are crucial for any writer to have if they want to make a career or even a reputation out of their writing.

1. Writing

Successful writers write almost constantly. It’s important to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) at least once a day to keep your mind in the writing mindset.

Try to set a word count goal for yourself every day, even if it is a low one at first, and try to hit it. Not only is this a great way to tackle longer projects, such as a novel, but it forces you to write even if you don’t have a deadline looming, letting you work on projects along and along rather than rushing to completion.

2. Editing

Most great writers are also avid editors. While it’s important to have others read your work and to take their suggestions humbly, you have to be your own best editor.

Learn how to edit your work carefully, reading the words aloud as you go back over it or even reading it backwards to ensure you take your time and look at what was said. Very few great works come out as diamonds in the first draft and most need a lot of polish to make them shine.

3. Reading

To be a successful writer, one has to read as much, if not more, than they write. Reading not only lets you see what works and what doesn’t but also lets you feel the natural cadence of the written language and bring that into your work.

It’s important, however, to read a variety of content. Newspapers, books, blog posts, etc. all have different styles and different elements that you can incorporate into your work. Exposing yourself to all of the content you can is crucial to having a broad understanding of writing and being able to bring in the best of all worlds.

4. Focus

Writing is hard work and there are many distractions that can cause you to lose your focus. Finding ways to keep on target and keep putting words on the page is crucial to completing projects, which, in turn is essential for being a successful writer.

Whether you use a full screen word processor or just sheer willpower, finding a way to stay focused on your words will help you immensely as you try to hone and improve your writing.

5. Self Promotion

This one is a problem for many writers as marketing is not a skill that comes naturally with writing talents. However, in order to go from being a talented writer to a successful one, one has to be prepared to tastefully trumpet themselves.

Marketing and promotion is far from easy, but the quicker one masters it, the faster their career will grow.

6. Delivery

Finally, all of the above habits mean nothing if the writer isn’t capable of delivering what they promise on time every time.

A writer who hasn’t submitted a completed work hasn’t written anything at all. So getting into the habit of meeting deadlines and constantly turning out excellent work when you do is the habit that will build your reputation and help you climb the ladder of success.

Conclusions

All in all, there’s no real magic to becoming a great writer. It’s all about working hard at your craft and constantly churning out high quality work in a timely fashion.

However, these are not skills that one develops so much as they are habits, habits that become ingrained by making an effort to do them over and over again.

Once that happens, there’s almost nothing that can stop you from finding success as a writer. At that point it is only a matter of time and patience.

About the Author

This was a guest post by Lior who works for an applicant tracking software and who also advises to a neon signs store.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Not a single blogger exists that was not at some point an immature blogger. Even the current A-List bloggers started off being immature – the fiercest lion in the jungle was once a cub chasing butterflies.

It is part of the process, before you can become a mature blogger you need to go through the immature stage. You cannot skip this step. You cannot go straight to mature. Blogging is a learn as you go endeavor. At the beginning everything is new and you make mistakes.

You cannot avoid it, but you can be aware of it. First step is to admit you have a problem and only then can you start to heal.

During the two years that I have been blogging I have slowly moved towards maturity. Here are some changes that occur when you become a mature blogger.

You Forget To Check Your Statistics

For the first few months you are addicted to statistics.

How many visitors in the last couple hours? Even though there are never any surprises, its always two new visitors, you check anyway. Two visitors is not a lot but its better than nothing. You get a slight rush from seeing the visitors number increase. Unfortunately what you do not realize is that your mother, who is so proud of you, visits your website at least twice every couple hours.

It has been one hour since you checked your Adsense revenue so you check it again. And again you see the big green $0.00. Everyday and six times a day the zero is waiting to greet you. You know that it is going to be there but you do not care – you need to see it with your own eyes. A nervous goose constantly standing and checking whether her egg has hatched – nothing there but a goose egg.

The mature blogger knows that checking statistics once a day is plenty. And if you are lying in bed and suddenly realize that you forget to check your statistics, no problem, you will check them in the morning.

You Can Delete Content

Of course when you start your blog what you lack most is content. So you write. Driven by enthusiasm and excitement content spews out like ground meat. Every word is precious – the more words the more content.

At the end of your first month you look at the big pile of words and pat yourself on the back. Look at all my words, its amazing that I did all this in a week. Only a squirrel perched on top of his mound of acorns could be happier.

The mature blogger knows that it is not about the amount of words, its about the quality of words. A well crafted four hundred word post is a lot better than a two thousand word vomit. A mature blogger will never hesitate to delete words because he realizes that its not about the amount of words, its about what they say.

For You Three Months is Not A Long Time

The internet sends information at the speed of light. A nobody becomes somebody in less than fifteen minutes. On the internet things go viral – within days a video can go from being viewed by fifteen people to being viewed by millions.

New bloggers assume that everything works this fast on the internet, including their blog’s rise to the top. They believe that all they need to do is create content, let a few people know, and the internet will do the rest. They believe that to start an avalanche all they need to do is to roll a snowball down a mountain and gravity will do the rest.

A new blogger’s typical three month plan:

• Month 1 (pack the snowball) : Create blog, write content.
• Month 2 (start to roll the snowball down the hill): Market blog. Leave comments on other blogs, join forums, tweet all your friends about it. This will put your blog out there and people will notice. They will tell their friends and their friends will tell their friends.
• Month 3 (cheer as your gigantic snowball causes an avalanche): Quit your job and move to Beverly Hills.

Matures bloggers wipe away tears of laughter as they hear these kind of plans from new bloggers. Mature bloggers know better, they think in years not months. They know that just like in the real world, persistence and patience win the day on the internet.

You Are Not Concerned With Fame Or Money

New bloggers are always prepared for the future.

They know exactly what they are going to say after the audience quiets down and Opera Winfrey asks them to tell their story. They know they want to go on a luxury cruise and then want a jet ski for the cottage – not the other way around. They realize that a Manhattan penthouse on fifth avenue is close to shopping but a mansion in Bel-Air is an ideal place to have a olympic size pool.

Fame and money lure many into blogging. They start their blog motivated by the prospect of a pile of money and adoring fans. They work hard and long hours believing that the internet will pay them handsomely for their effort.

The mature blogger know that the internet can’t care less about your efforts. The internet does not owe you a dime. Being hit by the ugly stick of reality, the mature blogger writes posts because they enjoy it, not for some crazy dream of chatting with Opera.

Are You A Mature Blogger?

I admit, I am still have some immaturity left in me. I still check my statistics way more than I really need to and I want a big pool. How about you? Are you a mature blogger?

About the Author

Roman Jelinek from How this Website Makes Money has really matured in the two years since he started his site. Although he will be the first to admit that his addiction to statistics is very hard to outgrow. If you find the article interesting, do take the time to subscribe to his feed. Roman has guest posted for Blogsessive before and you can read his other article here: How a Great Backlink Can Make You An Instant Success

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

The niche of blogging tips is a crowded one and no wonder it’s that way. Blogging is so “the new black”. It gives you freedom, the perspective of making a few (or more) bucks and why not, for some might be just a way to vent. So, what better way to reach a constantly growing and renewing audience than by providing tips on how they should blog. The problem is that sometimes bloggers in this niche forget to be original and get stuck in the same circle of clichés.

Let me take you through my personal top 5 list of the most annoying blogging clichés.

5. Content is king

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that reads this almost daily on some blog or Twitter. It gives me the feeling that people keep on discovering the wheel over and over again. We all know that content is king, but there’s so much more beyond that. How many or the articles you read on this topic go further into exploring the ways to give your content the deserved spotlight? My take is that without due promotion, aesthetics and a good network, your content is nothing but a king without a kingdom!

4. How to overcome a writer’s block

Are there any more ways to overcome a writer’s block? I’ve read so much advice on this, but fact is you only need to know/do 3 things:

• Step aside from what you’re trying to write.
• Get out of the house, do something different. There’s life outside blogging too!
• Ask other people for their opinion. You might consider it or not, but a fresh perspective is always welcome.

Other than this it’s all a matter of personal habits, of things we love to do and things that relax us.

3. Top X lists

He he, I know I’m guilty, but can you blame me? We all love lists! The trick is to know how and when to do another list post. Lists are such an easy way to get some new content published without worrying too much about creative writing, but please don’t overdo it. Have a good balance between in depth articles that will encourage your readers to think and react and list posts. Consider them a way to give your readers a moment to breathe.

Also, make sure you don’t copy other people’s lists, which is hard because lists are about mass-appeal, and if you chose a topic, chances are other bloggers have already been there and already done that, most probably in just the same way.

2. (How to) Make money blogging

Hype. Everyone wants to be the next 6 figure blogger (hate the term) and so many people state they can help you. Fact is, even if they could, they rarely do. I mean, have a look around at most of the crowned kings in the make money blogging niche and answer me this: how factual are their tips. Or better yet, how many tips, other than generic stuff they share? It’s all about “I’m affiliate to this, I’m affiliate to that, try it too.” Of course, through their affiliate links. I’m not saying you cannot make money online (God, please don’t smite me!). I’m just saying that there are only a few things you need to consider and not expect someone else to do it for you:

• Put great content out there. Nobody gives a poop (stop smiling, I’m just using decent language!) about how much you make if you don’t help them make that too.
• Try out different services. Some will prove to be money makers, some won’t, but there’s no generic recipe that will fit every blogger and his unique blogging style and topics, and most importantly their particular audience.
• Network like crazy! It’s the one big secret you rarely read, but if you watch closely, networking it’s all there is to it. Call it affiliate marketing, call it promotion, call it whatever you want. In the end it’s still multi-level marketing and it cannot be done without strong partners and happy followers!

Or, you might just want to create a brand for yourself that you can leverage to promote and distribute your own products, but that’s a path that requires work and where the fun in that when we could just expect money to fall from the sky.

And now for my all time favorite…

1. Stand out from the crowd!

I’m guessing I should be in perfect health right now from all the standing gymnastics I’ve done. No really, how many times a week do you read this? I know it sound nice, it even rhymes, but seriously, ain’t that the reason you blog about blogging, to help your readers achieve uniqueness and greatness? Should you add another generic “stand out from the crowd” post just to catch a damn long-tail keyword in search engine rankings?

Every time you use a blogging cliché…

You’ll make Mr. Newman sad, and seriously, see for yourself how sad he already is!

Jokes aside, consider this post as an advice to keep away from the blogging clichés. I know it’s hard since the niche is crowded and topics tend to come back into spotlight regularly, but if you must write about it, please try and get a fresh perspective or at least add some depth to your perspective. People rarely get down and dirty dissecting topics because using a cliché is just that: an easy way to get something out there. Why would you want to complicate your life? Really? Then I’d ask you: Why would you want to waste my time making me read the same over-recycled content?

Over to you

Tell me which are the most annoying blogging clichés you’ve come across in your blogging adventures? Drop me a comment, or better yet, write a post about it and give it a nice twist. Link it back here and if it’s really interesting I’ll include it in this post as a sample of “what others think”.

The cute sad pup in this photo is Bob aka Mr. Newman, which unfortunately passed away (one more reason not to upset him) and the shot was taken by Christopher Michel

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Nothing helps set a blog and its author apart and give them the visibility they need more effectively than a unique blogging voice, one that’s easily recognizable in each post you publish. Both general and niche blogs need their style to help them stand out. It’s an easy way to gain loyal fans, authority and reputation.

How exactly can you find your blogging voice and make sure it is recognizable in everything you publish? Here are a few tips:

1. Identify your blogging voice

Each person has their preferences for certain phrases, expressions, ways of building phrases or of presenting arguments. This personal style needs to be inserted into your blog writing and maintained throughout each post. You need to experiment to first come to understand which is your blogging voice, otherwise you’ll just stumble around blindly, picking up influences from who ever you might think is hot and popular at a certain point. It has to be your inner voice, not a fabricated one, as its being genuine will make it easier to maintain. It will be something that comes naturally when you write, not a forced tactic meant at setting you apart that you might overlook when getting into a topic you’re passionate about.

2. Use catchphrases

Everyone recognizes Midnight Caller’s “Good night, America… Wherever you are”. And if you don’t know this one, who on Earth does not immediately associate Bugs Bunny with “What’s up, dock?” or Porky Pig with “That’s all folks!”? They are used in movies, by writers, by radio show hosts. A certain turn and twist of a famous phrase, a typical start to to your posts’ conclusions, a personally developed way of inviting others to comment, an interjection that’s all you, supporting your blogging structure with such catchphrases will make your unique voice and style recognizable to your blog readers. It will become part of your brand.

The secret to a good catchphrase is to choose one that actually fits all and any post you might think of publishing and stay away for overused, cheesy catchphrases. For example, the overused, Pantene invented “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful” might not make you seem unique and have the exactly opposite effect, resulting in a rolling-eyes gesture from readers that’s actually bad for your blog. Though that might be good for Kanye West!

3. Get your readers accustomed to receiving something extra from your post

If a catchphrase that fits all your articles is harder to pin down, you can create other writing habits that will later define your unique blogging voice to your audience. Start or end your post with famous quotes or lyrics, book recommendations or a quick roundup of other blogs debating the subject that are relevant to the topic you’re debating.

4. Using themes or blog series

Joanna Paterson over at Confident Writing further defined her unique blogging voice by choosing a theme for each month of blogging. All the posts published in a month would further expand the chosen theme. If you don’t have enough material for a monthly theme, you can choose a weekly theme or have a blog series published each month. State the theme at the end of the month and publish one or two parts each week. Also, try and come up with a unique and appealing name for your series.

5. Create your signature group writing project or award

While there is nothing new or impressive about group writing projects (GWP) or awards per se, creating a unique, signature GWP or system to award others will help readers better identify you and your blog and it will set you apart from the millions of blogs out there. Think of how we immediately connect the “What I learned from...” monthly GWP with Robert Hruzek. Or how the weekly list of new SOB badges says Liz Strauss and Successful-Blog.com to all of us!

And while we’re debating the unique blog topic, you might travel back through the archives and read this post too: What’s behind a unique blog?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

We’ve already established that how you act on Twitter is paramount in determining your success when using this microblogging platform. What you say, how you engage others, how you act towards them, all these matter in positioning you as either an ideal Twitter user to follow or a nuisance.

The following question is how to effectively choose people to follow on Twitter. There are literally millions of options to choose from and in most cases you know nothing of that user prior to seeing their Twitter profile page. What should you look for, what criteria are there to be used to decide if clicking the follow button is a good choice?

Again, this does not necessarily apply to people you know or whose work you follow. If your favorite bloggers are tweeting, of course you will follow them. You will probably also follow some friends and relatives for diversity. But these are people you already trust or look up to and the value of their tweets needs no further proofs.

1. Check out the numbers

How many people do they follow? How many follow them back? How many tweets have they posted already? If for example the person you want to follow has been tweeting for a week, has 3 tweets, follows 1500 people and only 5 follow them back, of which 3 are bots, that user is not someone you should follow.

If on the other hand they follow 10 people and tens of thousands follow them back, they won’t be a valuable Twitter connection. The most common scenario is that you’ll follow them, they won’t follow back, you will never engage in a meaningful conversation with them.

2. Check out their content

Is what they tweet interesting to you or your own followers? If the content they post is not in any way related to the fields or activities you’re interested in, following them makes no sense. Some people you follow for the great information they post, relevant to your job or line of business, some you follow because they cover your hobbies or passions, some you just follow because their tweets are a great way to relax. Of course, the reason you follow them might be the same for which other people follow you and retweeting their messages might be valuable to you. But if what they post is something you may as well leave without, the logical decision is to continue to ignore them.

3. Check out their conversations

Do they retweet other people’s stuff? How many people to they exchange replies with? If you’re on Twitter, you’re there to exchange ideas with other people, share tips and offer advice and be introduced to fresh content to users you might not be introduced to otherwise. If the only thing you get from following someone is fresh news from a field, there are dozens of other services that broadcast constantly.

4. Check out tweet frequency

If a certain user has not posted an update to their Twitter account in over three months, they probably won’t use that account again. They might come back later, but following them just to add a number to your counter has little value of any kind.

If they post on a regular basis, also check out how many tweets they post each day. Some people are power users that post a few updates every 5 minutes. If that does not bother you, then follow ahead. If you cringe at the thought of too many messages flooding your stream, step away from their profile

What do you check before deciding who to follow on Twitter? Which are the best criteria you’ve used up to now?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

It’s been already established that Twitter is a great channel to form relationships, network and connect. Moreover, it is a great tool bloggers have to promote their writings. If your followers read the stories you tweet about, retweet them to their own connections, it translates into more traffic, more comments and leads for the business part of your blog.

While some get great results when using Twitter, others fail to see any positive outcome from their 140 character writing endeavor. Who are these users that get all the attention and added benefits of traffic, always more followers and business success? Let’s see how ideal Twitter users look like!

They are not self-absorbed

Twitter users with steady crowds reading fervently their every update don’t think the world revolves around them. They don’t exclusively tweet their own stuff, urging others to worship them. The only such users that actually are successful are the stars and wannabe stars in the entertainment world, and they are the exception to the general rule – narcissism does not work in social media!

They value conversations

Twitter is not just broadcasting your own products and services. It’s about engaging in meaningful conversations with your network. Be it to find out how they’ve been, to advise them or share some useful piece of news, popular Twitter users talk a lot with their followers.

They are the first to offer something

Power users know that the examples they set will most likely be followed. If they engage their online friends, if they answer their questions, if they retweet their stories, the same will happen to them. You cannot simply show up on Twitter, post a few updates and expect everyone to drop everything and concentrate on you. Most of them follow hundreds of people and need to notice you first. What better way to discover you than a reply or a retweet with a valuable comment.

They respect their followers’ interests

If you’re an expert in a field, have an unusual hobby that you tweet about, have a niche blog, your followers most likely read your tweets for that very reason. You can mix it up with personal updates, funny videos and other such casual conversations, but most of your tweets will be about your topic of interest, the one generally described in your Twitter bio.

If people have followed you because you initially posted a lot of great resources for small business and you switch to ranting about unimportant, unrelated details and only write a useful tweet once a week, they are bound to leave.

In conclusion, the recipe for success is not complicated, at least not in theory. All you have to do to be a successful Twitter user is to get to know the community you are about to join, find out what their interests and preferences are, then join the conversation and try to help whenever you can. The rest is mostly based on reciprocity and being nice.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Despite being a trend these days, the Do It Yourself concept – referred to as DIY from here on – is nothing new. It’s been around since the Stone Age, ever since people decided to use sticks and rocks as tools and weapons. So, if you think you’re one inch cooler than the next guy, forget it, you’re getting the whole concept wrong.

Who should go for DIY?

There are three types of people that should go for DIY, and three only:

• Industry PROs;
• Industry savvy people;
• Amateurs.

Let see what each of them can achieve through DIY.

Industry PROs & DIY

Clearly, being a professional in the field you’re looking to apply DIY is a major perk. You’ve got what it takes, you have the knowledge, you have the skills and obviously the results are going to be of pro-level.

Industry savvy people & DIY

Being savvy with the online environment – for example – might help you get decent results through DIY. You’ve got the love for it, you’ve got some basic aptitudes, but don’t expect professional results. Such results are achieved through hard years of learning and working. Don’t get me wrong, pro-results can be a reality, but with a lot of time invested and quite a few trial-and-error mishaps.

Amateurs & DIY

If you’re looking to DIY and you know you’re an amateur at it, expect nothing else than amateurish results. Period.

Who should NOT go for DIY

If you’re not in any of the three categories above, then DIY is not for you. If you believe that you can boost your professional image (as a PRO in another field) by doing an amateurish DIY job, you’re wrong. It’s only going to hurt your professional appearance. Get some cash, settle a barter and let a PRO handle it. Do you think that a professional cars salesman (really good at his/her job) can benefit from a poorly executed DIY website? I don’t.

In my experience – and yet I let other people judge the level of my skills – it took me about 11 years to reach my current level of expertise, 11 years of being a web designer and more recently blogger. Where I lacked the formal training for it, I compensated with self-education, reading and lots of trials and errors.

Now, tell me what’s your story with DIY?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

OK, I’ve been dying to write about this for a while so bear with me for a little rant-type of post in today’s schedule. With the explosion of all social media websites and platforms like WordPress and Blogger, nowadays everyone has access to publishing and networking. The more time passes, the more such “Internet Marketer” and “Social Media Expert” profiles seem to rises around us, invading our Twitter accounts – following – and our Facebook accounts – connecting.

In a tough economical climate and with the rapid development that has always been the online’s industry trademark, it’s only natural for people to try different ideas and approaches as means to create either an extra income or a stable full-time income in this field. That’s understandable, but what I simply don’t get is where do these “experts” come from?

It’s a job like any other

Being an Internet / Social Media Marketer is a regular job, not much different than being a teacher or a policeman, for example. So if it’s just a job, I’m yet to see that person on Twitter – let’s say – that describes his/her job position as “Junior Internet Marketer”. Have you seen any? Let me answer that for you: NO.

We’re living in a world where being and Internet Marketer is not a qualification, but rather a personal decision, and where the “Expert” title is not earned by the appreciation of others or results of your work, but rather a catchy term that acts like a “nice bling” on your profile.

In a world where a self-titled Social Media Expert follows 3000 people on Twitter and has 4000 followers you know you’re bound to waste time and money if you put your trusts in the wrong hands. And to further express my worries about this topic: Have you ever looked at some of these Experts’ websites, blogs or even their big-bold-italic-red-titled-dash-bordered-money-back-guaranteed sales e-letters? Maybe I’m just crazy, but tell me in which universe a person that doesn’t put up the money to get a decent design (an investment in his/her own image – self-marketing/self-promotion) would qualify as an expert to teach us or promote our products/services?

Open your eyes

Take a good look at the reality around you. Want to see how a real Internet Marketer looks like? An expert? There you go: Chris Brogan, and if you don’t agree with me, check the stats:

• ~60.000 blog subscribers (not counting daily casual readers);
• ~145.000 Twitter followers (can you imagine the exposure?);
• Marketing business owner/president;
• Published book author;
• Top 5 in AdAge Power 150;
• Speaker at countless industry events and workshops;
• And the list could go on and on…

Now, if everyone else is an expert, what should Chris do? Start a religion? And before it passes your mind – NO – this post is not sponsored by Chris, although I bet he pays decently.

What needs to change?

The answer is so simple: We should all exercise our decency. Truth and honesty about our own abilities and performance would take us further than a faked-blinged-out profile. The road from spare-time blogger or work-at-home blogger to Social Media Marketer / Expert is long, and although many take it, less than a handful reach the end. Just remember that along this path, there are crossroads that we call stages, and through which you have to go. You cannot jump to the statute of Expert just because you wish to.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

There are a lot of bloggers out there that write great content and even if they get a decent amount of traffic, some of them don’t seem to have a lot of interaction with their readers. On top of that, some of them might discover your site from the search engines and never come back again, even if they liked it. Seriously, they could have forgotten your URL or website name.

Your goal is to grow as much as possible with your current traffic. There are many different ways to get more traffic to your blog or website, but why not establish a better connection with your current readers from the start. Master this and then you can work on getting more unique visitors later on. So listed below are some ways to accomplish this and brand your website or blog:

1. Email Optin Newsletter Form

One of my favorite suggestions is to display an email opt in newsletter form on your site. If you’re using a WordPress blog platform, then you can place it in a widget on the side. In order to get an opt in form, you will need to sign up for a email service such as Aweber, Constant Contact, along with multiple others out there.

Another tip is to choose a newsletter form that is eye popping and has a good call to action. Then once you got a large list of email subscribers, you can easily email them about a new post that you made. This is more direct than having them subscribe to an RSS feed because the message is sent straight to their email address. RSS feed subscriptions can also be powerful and should be used along with email newsletters. Also, RSS is free so don’t forget to display a RSS feed on the site as well.

2. Subscribe to Comments Plugin

Another favorite tip is to use a free plugin called “Subscribe to Comments” for WordPress. Quick Online Tips uses this itself as shown on the bottom of the comments section and all they have to do is check the box. This allows readers to get email notifications after they submit a comment. That way they don’t have to keep checking up on the blog to see if someone answered their question.They just get an email that shows any comments placed after them and it gets more exposure to your blog so they are more likely to reply to the conversation. It gets them coming back to your blog.

3. Social Media

This has been discussed before, but you sometimes need to do more than the average person does. Instead of posting to social media sites and expect people to start following you, go out and read other peoples information and leave comments. You should look for targeted and similar subject areas. For an example, in Facebook you can do a search for your topic and register on a fan or group page. Sometimes there are thousands of people registered on one fan page. By interacting with a large fan page and leaving a link to your site in the signature can help get people to notice you.

4. Conversations with Readers

My third tip is to actually interact with your readers on the blog. Write a sentence or two at the end of your blog post telling them how much you would appreciate a comment or tell them to ask a question. Then come and reply to their questions or think of some to ask them. Usually having them ask questions will help lead you to more blog post ideas because some people start to become stuck with new ideas to write about. So this can be a big helper to keep your blog fresh with ideas and the readers will be more eager to come back for the whole post.

I hope this has helped and if you implement these tips you will see your blog grow. With that said, please share your own experiences, or thoughts or any question that you might have. I appreciate any feedback or if you have a tip, leave it in the comments section. Thank you!

About the Author

This is a guest post by writer Eric Woolf from the Pixels and Dots web design team. Please leave him your comments below or on the Pixels and Dots blog.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

You know me, I always encourage you to experiment, to learn new things, to reinvent yourself, but sometime the wheel doesn’t not need to be reinvented. Sometimes the best thing to do is to learn from the experience and wisdom of our “elders”. Such is the case of today’s blog post. Instead of sharing some of my own tips with you, I’ll leave you in the company of some of the world’s most famous authors and only interpret their teachings in the art of writing.

Easy reading is damn hard writing.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
Matthew Arnold

It’s easy to get lost in words and ideas. It’s harder to keep your writing concise and to the point, to make it clear and easy to read. Focus on getting your ideas across, to your readers, in their most natural form. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Matthew Arnold both agree on this.

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.
Richard Bach

If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
Edgar Rice Burroughs

Writing is a continuous activity. You experiment constantly. You learn and evolve. The more you write, the better the chances to put something good out there. It’s “trial and error” until it becomes “trial and success”.

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London

It’s something I’ve always preached. Keep your eyes and ears open to the world around you. Look for inspiration in every single thing you read, hear and see. There’s actually no such thing as a “writer’s block”, but rather failure in finding a good starting point.

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.
Anne McCaffrey

Stories… even simple news have a story behind. Give people a story they can relate to. Give them a story they can understand and let them draw conclusions themselves. Give them the tools and let them build their own result.

The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.
Ernest Hemingway

I try to leave out the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard

Being a good editor is also a must for a good writer. Proof-reading and “shit detecting” as Hemingway calls it are required in order to make sure you get the best possible copy out there. What’s harder to achieve though, is being neutral, looking at your own work from an outsider’s perspective.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.
Samuel Johnson

When 20 people are writing about the same thing, the only one to “make it” is the one putting it in a new light. There’s no point in doing the same things in the same way. Find your original angle.

What is written without effort is in generally read without pleasure.
Samuel Johnson

And your original angle comes from within your original voice. Put your heart and mind into your writings. Put passion into writing and passion with be reborn into reading.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Happy Halloween folks! As you might have noticed, Blogsessive has changed its “clothes” on this special occasion. Don’t worry, the nerd will be back tomorrow, when Dracula “leaves the building”.

Now, since this is a special occasion, the topic for today’s article has been inspired by a comment I received on part 6 of the Corporate Blogging Guide:

I think we all start our blogs worried people might not like us and when they do, we don’t want to change for fear of losing readers. I’ll take experiments to stagnation any day.
David Walker

The moment I read David’s comment I knew he made a really good remark. It is fear that keeps us in place. It is fear that keeps us from “spreading our wings”. We abide all the rules and all things that we know for sure will work and hope to be the next blogging “rockstar”. But, do you really believe those “rockstars” we all follow are there because they are copycats? Because they follow rules? Or might it be possible that they are the ones creating new rules? Might they be the ones revolutionizing the concepts?

Do you want to be a better blogger? Then…

Don’t be afraid to stray from the pattern!

What worked for other people, might work for you. But it might not also. Do you want to be another face in the crowd, or “the inspiration” for the crowd? If you want to inspire, then find the unexplored paths. Lead people to places they did not visit before! Try, try, and then, try again. Who cares if an experiment fails? You lost 3 subscribers? OK! Move on, fight to find that something that will get you 300 subscribers in return!

Don’t be afraid to be yourself!

It’s your blog! I’m not saying you should be an a*s, but if you have an opinion, put it out there. If you’re not comfortable with your own views and opinions you should not blog. Blogging is about being personal. You need to have your own voice, different than the voices you hear in the crowd around you! Out of 10 people that say the same thing, only one will go down in history for saying it the best way, his way!

Don’t be afraid to lose battles!

No one is victorious every time. It’s all about winning the war, right? I’ll give myself as an example here. I’m still “fighting this blogging war”. I lost battles. You’ve noticed the time I spent away from the blog. It was a lost battle. So, I took the time to find the right resources to continue “the war” and I’m back. Have I lost something along the way? A couple of email subscribers. I do get why they are not subscribed anymore, but those who believe in you and support you will be there, for better or worse. (Thanks again folks!) Everything that you lose, can be built again. We’re not born with these. We’re born naked. With the right mind set on it, we can overcome loses.

Don’t be afraid to dream!

Dream. Hope. Believe! If you don’t set your mind to the higher target, you’ll never achieve it. Know your limits, and when you know them, set your standard above them. It’s the only way you can actually reach your limits, because it’s hard to avoid falling in the trap of indulging into small victories or sufficiency.

It’s Halloween folks, but on this day, you should NOT be afraid!

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Regardless of the blog type you choose, be it personal or corporate, the following pieces of advice are meant to guide your steps in your future blogging activity. These are the most important blog tips you’ll need to follow when starting a new blogging adventure!

1. Look for ideas at any time and in any place

A conversation in the subway, a debate or piece of news heard on the car radio, anything can turn into a new topic for your blog. Keep your mind open and tune your hearing, combine them with good analysis skills and you will have some killer weapons in your arsenal.

2. Raise and maintain interest

An attractive first paragraph is not enough to maintain the reader’s interest throughout your blog post. “Start big, finish bigger”. Provide new hooks in small doses to keep your readers interest throughout the article.

3. Generate the conversation and take part in it

Often times, bloggers are compared to journalists, and their blogs to newspapers (usually tabloids, not broadsheets). Yet blogs and online newspapers differ exactly where they are also alike – the comments section. Newspapers use the comments section to allow users to express their frustrations and almost never moderate them. The classic journalistic style rarely requires an answer or any feedback, usually being limited to presenting the facts or expressing an opinion.

The main ace bloggers play is their power to start conversations and to keep them going by being part of them.

4. Make sure you provide quality information

If your new blog post is based on personal opinions, make sure they have the required features to become points of reference. If you’ve used other sources for it, make sure you check their credibility and quality first.

5. Never promise more than you can give

Failing to deliver everything you have promised will lead to a significant decrease in a blog’s credibility and popularity. Teasers do work, but only if what you were teasing readers with becomes reality.

6. Offer help

Nothing pleases blog followers more than getting help from a field expert. Whenever you have a spare moment, help those in need of your professional help. Make sure to reply their comments and their emails.

7. Links are sacred

Are you quoting a source? Then link to it! Are you publishing survey results or statistics? Link to those who have created them. Are you expressing your opinion regarding something that has been published on another blog or online outlet? Link to the initial article. Why?

1. Because it helps prove the quality of the provided information and places them in a broader context;
2. Because it is a nice way to thank those who have inspired you to find a new topic for your blog.

If you have already discussed a certain topic in previous posts, link to them at the end of the current article. This helps those interested in the topic to get more details on it.

Additionally, a solid inbound and outbound linking policy will help your blog rank better in search engines.

8. Never, ever…

Do any of the following:

1. Attack someone else’s stand on an issue if you are not 100% sure of your own. Make sure to provide arguments to sustain it;
2. Publish someone else’s content without having their permission to do so.
3. Start open conflicts with your blog commentators. Keep your cool!
4. Allow the needs vs. solutions balance incline towards the former in your posts. Provide more solutions than debates over what’s needed.
5. Shy away from commenting on similar or competing blogs. As long as you don’t do it to shamelessly plug your blog or attach the author, your contributions will be valued and will direct more readers towards your own posts.
6. Take all blogging advice as laws. They are only pieces of advice. Experiment with them and see which work better in your case.
7. Fill your blog up with plugins, widgets and other useless elements. We are ultimately talking about a corporate blog. You really do not want to compete in MTV’s “Pimp my blog” competition!
8. Postpone for too long your blogging platform and plugins update. Don’t be the first to do it either, to make sure bugs are found and solved, but don’t be the last one either!

9. And the most important piece of advice…

….I’m going to ever give you is to never be afraid of EXPERIMENTING. Experiment with different tones, new post types, new topic approaches.

Stay fresh!

Other chapters of the Corporate Blogging Guide

Chapter 1: Introduction to Blogging
Chapter 2: Critical Questions Before Launching a Corporate Blog
Chapter 3: Setting up Goals and Blog Positioning
Chapter 4: Types of Corporate Blogs
Chapter 5: Blog Editors & Editorial Policy
Chapter 6: Blogging Tips to Get You Started (current)
Chapter 7: Blog Performance Tracking Tools

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Tweetmeme buttons, plugins to show latest tweets on blogs, Twitter accounts linking to the owner’s blog, new posts being tweeted, and blog addresses and twitter links in signatures. If that’s not enough, I don’t know what else would show that blogging and tweeting go hand in hand for tons of people. If you think of names, blogging and microblogging, you kind of see the connection. If you think microblogging appeared later, you’d think much of the blogging knowledge is applicable. But how can you be on both platforms and make them work individually and as a team?

1. Spot the similarities

Blogs and Twitter are of the same species. They come from the world of the social web where the same rules apply. You know, give before you ask, be nice, share relevant information, never, ever, ever limit yourself to broadcasting, be conversational, help out. It’s not rocket science and it’s definitely not new. To make it more clear, here’s the example section: comment on other blogs before you expect comments – or – retweet before you expect your followers to retweet your 140 characters of content.

Catchy and interesting content is crucial for both. If your blog post is a big hit, make your tweets the same. “New blog post + link” won’t make a lot of people click. “Star Trek is real! We can all now teleport! + link + Fresh from the blog” might work a lot better.

They both need frequent updates. If you’re planning to create a blog and never post after the first time, you’ve failed. If you’re planning to get a Twitter account to say hi and have a cool button on your blog without ever doing anything more, you have failed. People expect updates from both bloggers and microbloggers.

Both need monitoring. You need to check responses, reactions and trends to be on top of your game. And if you’re blogging and tweeting right, that will take a whole lot of time.

Your blog and your Twitter account need to be welcoming and make it easy for visitors / followers to take action. Login required, captchas and about three other levels of security make it difficult to comment. Protected tweets make it difficult for new followers to 1. decide if they want to follow you and 2. actually do the following. It all has to be easy and accessible.

2. Acknowledge the differences

Blogs and tweets need different frequencies in updates. While it’s OK to post a couple of times each week on your blog, that might not work that great for Twitter. It’s more like a few posts per day. Yes, it takes time. It does take less time than to write a blog post. Plus content is readily available: your posts, industry news, tweets from those you follow. Add a few replies and you’ve got a quite active Twitter stream!

140 characters vs. virtually no limits. You need to adjust what you want to say to the platform you’re posting it to. Keep ideas short and sweet for Twitter and develop on the blog. Yes, we’ve all seen the huge ideas split into 4 consecutive tweets… But if you follow a few hundred people, you’ll see how fast the meaning gets lost in between tweets.

Different pace, different tempo! It all happens faster on Twitter. Yes, you can reply to a comment after two days. But if you reply to a tweet after the same amount of time, you have 90% chances that the person getting the response will have no clue what you’re talking about.

3. Fuel the team spirit

If it’s a team, it has to look like one! You are in the end promoting the same brand, so make sure to have common visual elements on your blog and Twitter page.

If it’s a team, it should feel like one! The style on the blog and that of your tweets need to be somewhat similar. People have to sense the same spirit behind it all; otherwise the connection between the two will be feeble. They’ll stick to one or the other, and your plan to make them work together would have failed.

If it’s a team, it should have the same purpose! Be it to promote your business, stay in touch with friends, position yourself as an expert, you need to have a common goal for both platforms. You can’t try to drive leads your way with the blog and talk about raising kids on Twitter if you have any plans to promote one through the other!

Over to you!

As it happens to just blogging, just tweeting, blogging and twitting, or any field for that matter, the pool of relevant information is always bigger than one person. What tips and tricks have you come across while trying to make your blog and twitter work like a dream team? Do share your advice in the comment box!

About the Author

This is a guest post by Alina Popescu, PR Consultant & Founder of Mirror Communications. If you’re looking for a fresh voice, balancing unique views on life with original PR and marketing tips, head over to her blog at WordsOfABrokenMirror.com, or better yet, subscribe to her RSS feed.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Let’s play! Today’s post is a fun, creative exercise that I’d be happy to complete with your help through the comments section. What is the exercise about? Blogging tips, of course.

This post is part of the change I wish to bring to Blogsessive and get closer to you folks, your needs and thoughts!

What I will do: Using the ODD letters (A, C, E, G, I, K, M, O, Q, S, U, W, Y) of the English alphabet I will list 13 blogging tips, each in a sentence starting with that letter.

What you could do: Share your tips and views by completing the sentences starting with EVEN letters (B, D, F, H, J, L, N, P, R, T, V, X, Z).

I’m sure that each and everyone of you has something to share with the community, so let’s get creative!

The Blogging Alphabet of Blog Tips

A. Acknowledge the latest trends in your area of blogging. Always stay up to date, informed.

B. …

C. Connect with other people, with bloggers in your niche. Offer help. Network. Friends are some of bloggers’ greatest “assets”.

D. …

E. Experiment with different approaches in your written speech. Depending on topic, you might find that different “voices” impact people in different ways. Push your communication skills.

F. …

G. Guide your audience through your content, through your posts, or posts’ paragraphs. Make your content accessible and readable.

H. …

I. Innovate. Don’t go on the same routes as everyone before you. Find your strengths and build a unique brand upon them.

J. …

K. Know when it’s time to let go. If an experiment or an idea doesn’t prove effective, leave your feelings aside and let it go before you’ve invested too much time and resources.

L. …

M. Mix your posts. Every once in a while add a small drop of fun. Informal and educational posts are great for your audience, but too many such posts in a row can become boring. Remember when you were in school. Your favorite teacher must have been the one that knew how to make learning fun!

N. …

O. Organize yourself. From writing habits to files, contacts and even structure of your blog’s categories. Create a pattern that will save you and your readers time!

P. …

Q. Quiz your target audience from time to time. Run polls and ask for views and opinions. Or make it even better. Run a real quiz and have some cool prizes ready. It helps getting more engagement from your community, as well as loyalty.

R. …

S. Seize opportunities as soon as they come up, especially if you’re an internet marketer. We’re living in an extremely fast world and what today is opportunity, tomorrow might be old news.

T. …

U. Unburden yourself. Learn how to delegate or outsource certain tasks while you focus on those you’re more skilled at or more time/cost effective.

V. …

W. Write. Write every day. Even if it’s not going to get published on the blog. Write as an exercise. Train your creativity and your writing habit until it all comes much more natural.

X. …

Y. Yield the best results by investing in your blog. Blogging consumes resources: time, money, energy, creativity. Be prepared to use them in order to succeed.

Z. …

Contribute to the alphabet

Leave your tips and contributions in the comment area and please use your NAME, not keywords. The best contributions will be selected for at PDF mini-ebook that I’ll make available for free download on the blog, and all contributions will be attributed to their authors with name and website link.

Sounds cool? Then jump in and let’s have fun!

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Your introductions are not that great. Sorry to be rude, but you could be getting ten times the readers if you only wrote better opening paragraphs. If you’re wondering how this is possible, consider the opening to this post. How did I grab your attention?

Your blog could have the most informative content on the internet with a design that blows others out of the water and still not get a lot of readers. The reason for this is that your introductions just aren’t sucking readers into your content. You need to get them hooked on your posts, right from the start. To do this, you’ll need to pull a few tricks out of your sleeve.

Five Sure-Fire Introduction Formulas

The Hypothetical Situation

Imagine this: you come across a blog post that assumes you have $5,000 to spend on a start-up website, and asks if you think you’d blow it on the wrong things. Sounds like you’re interested in your budgeting now, huh?

The hypothetical situation is great for drawing attention from specific types of readers. It takes some imagination to put yourself in the shoes of readers, but once you’re there, they’ll follow you wherever you take them.

The “no offense” Introduction

This is where you start your blog post with an “honest truth.” The same technique is used in the intro paragraph above. Explain to your readers (kindly) what they’re doing wrong, and why. Then proceed to the solution. This should be used with some light humor.

The Overwhelming Factoid

The overwhelming factoid technique involves digging up a seemingly startling fact, such as “50% of twitter users are spam bots!” or “40% of Blogsessive readers are actually non-bloggers.”

When using the overwhelming factoid, it’s best to use either percentages or a seemingly large number, such as “Google makes 1.2million selling T-shirts!” Since Google makes billions, this really isn’t that startling. Still, it brings in some readers.

The Startling Rhetorical Question

You like making money, right? Well if you take advantage of the Startling Rhetorical Question, you’ll be making lots of it from visitors who desperately answer “yes!” to your question. Try starting a blog post with a question about your readers’ desired outcome. Would they like to gain 200% more traffic? Of course they would.

The Personal Admission

I have to be honest – these tips really work. The Personal Admission will have readers interested in your content because they connect with you. Personal admissions range from “to be honest – I don’t think this works” to “to tell you the truth – this changed my life.” A personal endorsement is the most powerful form of marketing, and you can use your own authority to your advantage when crafting great posts.

Introductions can often be overlooked by even the best blogger. However, writing a great introduction can just about double your reader engagement. These techniques can even be combined and mismatched in the body of the post to keep your reader’s attention. Sounds awesome, right?

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Ever since blogging has become “mainstream”, companies have discovered a new marketing tool in blogs. Some took blogs even further and transformed them into brand elements and it proved to be a winning decision, as blogs have the power to give a voice and a personality to a company.

But even so, corporate blogging has not always been the best choice for some. Just as with any other marketing tool, it needs to fit your company’s profile, needs and expectations in order to be truly effective. Is a blog really going to help your company? Ask yourself these 3 essential questions before taking the step and launching a new corporate blog.

This post has been revised and included in the Corporate Blogging Guide.
You can read the revised post here.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

There are billions of blogs in the blogosphere. People always say that creating another blog might not be the better thing since almost everything online is saturated. Of course, that’s a complete baloney! Fortunately 60-70% of blogs don’t get traction and just couldn’t seem to make progress. And it’s because of several reasons which I wouldn’t want to talk about here.

Most people fall into this big misconception about blogging. This misconception is about “post and publish”. People think that the key to getting traffic is by creating a killer post, then publishing it. We all know it’s not the case. If no one reads your blog, then no one is even going to notice you created a good post! Obviously the one thing you have to do is to let people know “you” exists in the blogosphere. How? By spreading your content. Today I would like to talk about how you can possibly triple your traffic by spreading your content. Without further “fluff” here they are:

• Social Networking – I don’t understand why a lot of people are so much into the saturated social bookmarking when they have the whole social networking sites to work from! Look, how many of you have accounts in Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, Bebo, etc? I have, and I have an average of 500 contacts on each of them. If you can let your article reach them without sounding spammy then it can bring you a lot. I have done it with my blog and so far I don’t see any saturation in what I am doing.
• Your Article into Podcast – Seriously I am flabbergasted with podcasts nowadays. I always thought before that it’s lame and doesn’t really make much sense to me. But look how a lot of people are using (and consuming) it now. Now you can use a little service known as Odiogo. What Odiogo does is turn your posts into podcasts and have them downloadable. It also has a nice WordPress plugin that you can easily integrate in your blog.
• Your Article into PDF’s – A lot of people hasn’t used this method and frankly I haven’t yet but I think it worths a mention here. Post2PDF is a little WordPress plugin that turns your posts into PDF formats. And it doesn’t end there. You can then go to some famous forums related to your niche and spread it in the freebies section. Now make no mistake about it, people absolutely LOVE free eBooks and stuffs (just look at the forums). If you’re content is a hit, then prepare for truckloads of traffic and subscribers.
• Your Article into Video Posts – Unfortunately there is no software that can possibly convert an article into a video, but you can always take some time to do it yourself. Do a video on one of your killer posts, then submit it to TubeMogul. TubeMogul basically submits your video to famous video directories like YouTube, Vimeo and a lot more. Signing up for an account is free and it’s a very nice tool to get viral very easy.
• Tweet It! – Since Twitter has been one of the most talked about web application nowadays, I can’t help but talk about it too. Twitterfeed is a very cool plugin that basically posts (automatically) the latest article on your blog. Twitthis is another cool tool which enables your readers to tweet the post for you. Whether you have just 100 followers or 20K+ followers, these tools can really get the job done for you.

You can see that the key to getting traffic is getting viral and spreading yourself in as many places as you possibly can without being annoying. The truth about blogging (in my opinion) is that what you can get is based on how much “smart” effort you exerted on it. By doing the steps above, maybe you can get your blog known for a wider audience and have your traffic increased. What say you?

About the Author

Melvin Dichoso is an 18-year old internet marketer who’s been working in the internet for over a year. He’s currently taking up BS Computer Science and is planning to work in internet full-time sometime in the future. He blogs at Melvin Blog dot com where he shares his personal tack on internet geeky stuffs. If you find the article interesting, do take the time to subscribe to his feed.

Blogsessive is always open to guest posters. If you feel like your articles do match Blogsessive’s line of content and quality, contact me.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive