Choosing a blog topic is the most important factor in having a successful, well-read blog post that attracts comments and attention. Here is how to choose a topic for your blog post.

The most basic way to choose a blog topic is to look for an attention-grabbing story in the news. This can then be used as part of the blog post and title. The title is the first thing that people read, and it’s the most important factor. As long as you grab their attention you will convince them to continue reading. Choosing a topic that is controversial will also help you to create a good blog post, as people love to read about controversy.

Create an angle on a popular blog topic. In order to do this, look for those topics in your marketplace that always get lots of comments and attract the attention of many blog owners in your market. You should then use the same broad theme but create an angle, in order to make it original. This is a very simple way to choose a blog topic and will ensure you have a market for your blog post.

Another solid approach to choosing a blog topic is to make it personal. People love to read about the lives of others, and are always interested if you reveal something about yourself. However, ensure that the blog topic is also related to the market and gives them information that can be put to use. You could offer a story of how you used a certain technique in order to improve your skills in something. Make it personal, reveal an unknown truth and then provide a solution.

If your market is one that enjoys humor then you can reveal a joke as part of the blog post. This will not work in all markets, but it is an effective method to choose a blog topic. The idea is to link something that your readers are interested in to a joke that they will enjoy. This has been done with great success and can be used to connect to your subscribers and readers.

One of the most popular blog topics is to make a list of seven secrets or tips. This is done every day and still works to generate attention and attract a lot of readers. When you create a blog post around seven tips, you will almost be guaranteed to have readers, comments and increased traffic.

Using the methods above to choose the topic for your blog post will make the process much easier and will ensure more readers to click and read your content.

About the Author

Pat Lindle is an avid writer and blogger for his metal deck / steel deck company in Phoenix AZ. When not writing and blogging about his passions, Pat enjoys scuba diving, mountain climbing, and vacationing with his family.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

The recent update made by Google (Panda) is the first major change since 2009. There were many blogs that were affected by this update. Some experienced a drop in their traffic, while some experienced a surge. Whatever change your blog experienced, I’m sure you have noticed a lot of buzz around these algorithm changes. What is Panda all about? Let’s take a look:

No gibberish

According to Google, the Panda update was made to enhance the quality of search results. This made spammy sites disappear from the results. Though there still are some gibberish sites on search results, there are many websites that were pushed down in the search rankings. The Panda update is not perfect, but it did make considerable changes.

The update targeted low quality sites with superficial and shallow content, and brought down their rankings. The websites that were hit the hardest by Panda were content farms and article sites.

Content farms

Talking about a content farm, many people generally ask what exactly a content farm is. This is actually a very hazy area. Following the definition on Wikipedia, a content farm is a website that uses a lot of freelance writers to write content in order to rank high on search engine results. These websites earn money by getting many page views and thus selling ads on those pages.

This definition brings all the article directories under the definition of content farms. There are many content farms that are still standing strong, though some were penalized.

If you allow guests to post articles on your blog, chances are that some people add low quality content just for some backlinks. If this happens, your blog might have been affected by the recent updates. Opening your blog for guest posts is a good way to encourage reader activity, but some level of moderation is required so that it does not become a content farm.

Keep it Panda friendly

There are some basic steps that you can follow to optimize your website for Google Panda. Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing CEO, prescribes four steps that can work with the post Google Panda update.

1. Evaluate your blog for these characteristics: low informative value, short form, too many ads or duplicate content. If some part is being duplicated, just remove it. If the content is not too useful, add bits of information. Remove extra panels of ads. Make sure the person doing this has enough web development expertise and SEO knowledge.

2. For subsequent blog posts, focus on high quality useful content that is not duplicated from anywhere else.

3. Promote your content in such a way that it attracts links from other blogs. You can do it by providing content in a way that makes people comment on it. When people get interested in your website, they will talk about it, or post links to it on other sites. This will increase your page rank. But remember- keep it original.

4. Offer users a chance to share your blog on social media like Twitter and Facebook. Social engagement will popularize your blog faster than other mediums. This will be useful for both your blog and your readers.

Though there are some legitimate sites that got caught up in the Panda update, it has proven to be a windfall for real content marketers – the blogs that provide great content to their readers. Continue to feed the Internet with the best content with less stress on the sales pitch, and you will stay good in the eyes of Google.

If you are looking for something that would let the Panda update work in your favor then use all the organic SEO strategies that you know, and stop building low quality links. Maybe some content farms have been spared by Google, but judging by the direction Google is taking, their next update might not be so kind.

About the Author

June Buckley is an SEO specialist and avid blogger. She likes writing about social media, business blog hosting, internet marketing and mobile technology.

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

Article writing is more than just sitting down and writing out your thoughts. In order to get people to keep on reading you have to almost instantly capture their interest. You must get your reader interested enough and curious enough to be able to get your message across to them.

The most important ingredient in putting together an article is creativity. Some people are just naturally very creative, while others go crazy while suffering from a seemingly endless bout of writer’s block. It can be extremely frustrating and aggravating when the words that you are looking for just don’t seem to want to come. But you must learn to relax and let them come.

Writing words that magically transform themselves into an image in the mind of the reader is an art form in and of itself. Your words need to be crisp, clear, and concise. You can use metaphors to help yourself out, but the way an article is woven together word by word and sentence by sentence is how it develops its essence and personality.

You are sitting there and you just can’t seem to get any words to come to mind, what do you do now? Since the beginning of the written word, all writers have faced this situation. There is no perfect or guaranteed answer to the problem of writers block. One secret that I use, as well as a lot of other writers, is to keep a notebook near you at all times and write down any ideas as they come to you. Write down everything you think of, everything you see, and everything you hear that might prove useful. You can use this notebook for future reference when you are in need of an idea.

Another thing that you can try is to simply relax and empty your mind. We all from time to time end up with a head full of life’s little worries. If you are having some sort of problem or difficulty in your life it will make it very hard for you to concentrate and keep focused on what you are trying to do. Every time you sit down to write, take a moment to relax and clear those troubling thoughts from your mind.

The area in which you work is very important and can have a direct effect on the quality of your work. A cluttered workspace can be a distraction and hinder your productivity. This doesn’t mean however that you have to have a sterile and drab work area. Put up some pictures that inspire you. Place some small objects on your desk the bring back those kinds of memories that you just can’t help but smile when you think of them. A peaceful work area will greatly increase your output.

Figure out how you work best

A good place to start is the speed with which you write. Some writers once they get going, the words just fly across the paper. Other writers are much slower and more methodical. You need to find your own pace. Some writers having a never-ending cup of coffee always on the desk, while some have been known to sip on a glass of wine or put away a few beers while they write. There is no right or wrong way, there is only you finding your own way.

And if it all gets to be too much, and no matter how hard you should try the words just won’t come, get up and walk away from it. Take a break, go for a walk, do something that is unusual and will break up your normal routine. Once you have let go of all those little things that are bothering you, the writing process will flow effortlessly.

About the Author

Thomas Alling runs a blog where he writes about how you can make money from blogging. He also writes articles in the internet marketing niche. To read more from Mr. Alling, visit his blog MakeMoneyHelper.com

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

For those people who have been using WordPress for years, the first plugin that they would recommend anyone starting out with the WordPress format would be the All in One SEO Pack. All in One SEO Pack was one of the first comprehensive WordPress plugins and since it was launched has been downloaded over 8 million times. It is without doubt the daddy of all WordPress plugins and the one most people download first when they set up their WordPress blog.

All in One SEO Pack allows you to quickly and simply configure the meta tags, meta description and Title for each and every post that you write for your WordPress site. This is particularly useful because WordPress will use your blog tag as a keyword. Thus the plugin is brilliant for customizing every post or webpage to get the maximum benefits of optimization. This automation of the SEO process is brilliant for beginners, because it not only generates the correct tags but it also avoids duplicate content.

However, the problem with being the top dog is that someone always comes along and tries to steal your crown. And lately another SEO package has been getting a lot of attention. The WordPress SEO by Yoast is the most recent, and certainly most discussed, SEO plugin around. Boasting a whole raft of new features it promised to be less high maintenance than All in One SEO Pack. And it comes with a good pedigree with Yoast and his team being a reliable source and having been downloaded a great deal as well.

Indeed it is well designed and very easy to use with a bunch of great options for tweaking your search engine optimisation settings. The page that takes the place of the old All in One SEO Pack page works extremely well and allows you to simply customize the titles for differing page views, with numerous options for flexibility. However, there are also some problems with Yoast at this stage, that still need ironing out. Some category tags and templates didn’t work once the plugin was enabled, and after the installation of the plugin the category permalinks also stopped working. In addition there were problems with sitemap functionality and a few other minor teething problems that still need to be sorted out.

To be fair Yoast’s SEO plugin has not been around anywhere near the same length of time as All in One SEO Pack so it needs some time to bed in. But for a plugin that does one basic job – generating and organizing meta description, title and keyword tags – and does it well, All in One SEO Pack is still the only plugin worth installing.

About the Author

Alex Simmonds is a copywriter and journalist based in the UK.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Facebook and blogging, if both are done right, can be a powerful combination. Linking up your Facebook Page with your blog is a great way to get your blog readers more involved with your Facebook community, and it’s also a great chance to let your Facebook fans know what’s going on over on your blog.

It’s not difficult to link up your Facebook Page and your blog, in fact some of it can be set once and then will automatically continue to work for you. It’s just a matter of getting the pieces in place so that both your blog and your Facebook Page are communicating with each other and your people can easily connect with you where they are most comfortable interacting.

Let’s start with some things you can do on your Facebook Page.

Automatically Post Your Blog Updates

Every time you write a new blog post, you can have Facebook automatically publish that on your Facebook Page. This is a great way to let your fans know that there is new content over on the blog, and they can get a quick sneak peek to see if it’s something they want to check out or not.

All you need is a Facebook Page app that posts from an RSS feed. RSS Graffiti is a good example of one that is completely free and easy to set up.

Blog Directly In Facebook

Most bloggers will want to continue to have an external blog outside of Facebook, however, Facebook’s Notes app can act like a blog inside Facebook. With Notes you can write and post an article, include images and links, and post it right to your Facebook Page Wall. The Notes app is automatically added to any new Page, so you can easily find it by going in to the Apps section in your Edit Page backend.

The Notes app can also be used to import your blog and works great if your blog is primarily written. {Videos do not import properly, so if your blog has a lot of video, then I recommend just using the RSS Graffiti app for your blog.} The Notes app will import your new blog posts right into Notes, so that it’s now in your Facebook Page and your fans can comment on it there.

There are also a number of things you can set up on your blog to point to and connect to your Facebook Page.

Facebook Share Button

There are a number of good plugins for WordPress that add a Facebook Share button to each post on your blog. You can have one that shows the number of shares, or one that simply has the Share button with no count.

A Facebook Share button is a quick and easy way for readers to share your post if they like it. They are able to add their own comment, and Facebook pulls in the title, URL, short description and thumbnail, so it gives your blog some great exposure to the Share-er’s friends.

Facebook Comments

Adding Facebook comments to your blog can be a great way to bring some more interactivity with Facebook to your site. Facebook comments sync between your blog and Facebook so that user’s comments are posted to their Personal Profile when they comment.

Readers who are not on Facebook are not able to comment, however, so some people use Facebook Comments alongside the regular WordPress comments, or only use the Facebook Comments on certain pages of their blog.

Facebook Like

You can also add a simple Like button to each blog post. When readers click Like, it publishes a quick story to their profile saying that they Like it. The Like button also typically shows readers if any of their friends already like the post, so it can be a great way to show them that their friends are already interacting with your blog {if they actually are, of course}.

The Like button doesn’t let them add a comment or share the actual post, but it does give your post just a bit of visibility on Facebook. And visibility equals new fans and more interaction from current fans. Use it as well as the Facebook Share button to give your readers two easy ways give you some Facebook love.

Facebook Page Icon or Like Box

Many of your blog readers would love to be fans on Facebook, as well. Give them the option to do so right from your blog with a Facebook Page Like Box, which has the Like button right on your site, so they don’t have to leave your blog.

Or if you prefer to have them leave your site to go to Facebook, then use a Facebook icon that links to your Facebook Page. You can use just a plain text link, too, but if people are looking for how to connect with you on Facebook, they’ll be looking for the blue Facebook “F”. Don’t be shy about displaying that icon!

How to Find Apps and Plugins

If you’re not familiar with finding and installing new Facebook Page apps and WordPress plugins, just start doing some searching. You can use the search bar in Facebook to search for apps – just start typing what you’re looking for and Facebook will show you a list of suggestions. If looking for WordPress plugins, you can do a search on WordPress.org for plugins.

And don’t forget that Google is your best friend. You can search for Facebook apps and WordPress plugins right in Google, as well, and will find recommendations from others, as well as the actual apps and plugins on Facebook and WordPress.

Your Turn

Are you already using some of these tools and techniques? Which new ones are you going to start implementing? And are there any other techniques that you would like to add to the list? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below.

Image Credit: Anirudh Koul

About the Author

Jess is a quirky entrepreneur who helps fellow quirks EXPLODE their business on Facebook. She loves all things Facebook and being able to help business owners learn how to build an active audience to grow their business through Facebook. If you’d like to learn more, you can attend her FREE webinar, The Facebook Explosion Blueprint, or join The Facebook Explosion community on Facebook. You can also follow Jess’ blog and website over at www.jessilicious.com.

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

New technology seems to arrive at the speed of thought, and it can be difficult for the casual web user to keep up with all of it. If you have ever shied away from a conversation that steered toward anything web-related or have ever shrugged your shoulders when you heard terms like social networking, tweeting, status updates, wikis, blogs, or social media, you are not alone, and this guide should help you get a basic overview of what social media is and how it is used.

A clear definition

The first problem with social media is that it means different things to different people, but it is important for someone trying to understand it to have a clear definition of what it means. Social media, in this context, refers to any site on the web that relies on participatory input and interaction among its visitors. Part or all of the content is created by the users.

Social media has taken over the web in a very short amount of time. Nearly all of the top sites on the web are participatory in essence, excluding the search engines, and nearly all sites have at least some participatory elements (such as comments).

Types of Social Media

While there are many forms social media can take, one can basically divide them into five categories, and each category has several sub-categories with accompanying examples:

1. Collaboration:

• Wikis — Easily editable encyclopedias. Often open to any users, although some are more restrictive.
  • Example: Wikipedia
• Open Content — Content licensed for reuse and sharing
  • Example: Creative Commons
• Social Bookmarking — Sites that allow users to bookmark, share, and discover websites.
  • Examples: Delicious, Google Bookmarks, Stumbleupon
• Social News — Share links to news and comment on stories
  • Examples: Digg, Slashdot, Reddit

2. Communication:

• Blogs — Services or software for easy user publishing, comments, and more
  • Example: WordPress, Blogger
• Micro-blogging — Very brief blog updates, often shorter than 140 characters
  • Examples: Twitter, Identi.ca
• Social networking — General social interaction, sharing, and friendship building.
  • Example: Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn

3. Multimedia:

• Photo sharing — Publish photos for the world to see, comment, and share
  • Examples: Flickr, Smugmug, Picasa
• Video sharing — Publish your own videos online
  • Examples: YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion
• Live streaming — Stream live videos
  • Examples: Livevideo, Justin.tv, USTREAM
• Audio and Music sharing — Share favorite music streams
  • Examples: Last.fm, Like.fm

4. Reviews and Opinions:

• Product Reviews — Rate products for quality and price
  • Examples: Epinions
• Questions and Answers — Anyone can ask and answer questions
  • Examples: Yahoo Answers
• Employer/Educator reviews — Find out how good an employer, professor, or other authority figure is
  • Example: Rate My Professor
• Real Estate — Rate apartments, houses, neighborhoods, and commercial property
  • Examples: ApartmentRatings, Neighborhood Scout

5. Entertainment:

• Virtual Worlds — Create avatars and live out virtual lives
  • Example: Second Life
• Social Gaming– Play games online with other players
  • Examples: Browser-based games like Farmville and MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) games like World of Warcraft

Beyond websites and services specifically designed for social media, many personal, non-profit, and commercial websites incorporate social media elements. For example, many shopping sites like Amazon.com and eBay allow users to review products, rate them, and even resell items. Most news sites, even from corporate media, now give readers the ability to comment on articles, audio, and video. Furthermore, many sites incorporate elements from established social media sites. For example, a site may have a Facebook “Like” button or a Twitter sharing button. Some may even allow you to share their content on several different social media sites.

Although social media as a concept is relatively new, the actual implementation of online participatory elements predates the term. Bulletin Board Systems (BBS), for example, date back to the 1970s, and chat rooms have been a part of the Internet from the beginning. With a steady evolution, most interactive features of the Internet (such as email) are now integrated into the web. Because of this, some people use computers and never close their web browsers.

According to web experts at UK dedicated hosting 34SP.com, when the web was created, it was intended to be a participatory tool that anyone could use to create and innovate. Social media is just a step in the direction of realizing that vision of a participatory culture, where a free exchange of ideas and knowledge flourishes.

About the Author

Tavis J. Hampton is a librarian and writer with a decade of experience in information technology, web hosting, and Linux system administration. His freelance services include writing, editing, tech training, and information architecture.

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

A few weeks ago I was driving down the highway. It was late at night and I was tired. The radio was starting to put me to sleep. Suddenly a song come on that woke me up – I could not believe what I was hearing. The song was that bad.

I am no expert when it comes to music. The last time I played an instrument was in grade 6 music class. It was the xylophone – I simply had to hit a a couple keys with a wooden mallet whenever the teacher pointed at me. I do not know anything about timing, rhythm or beat. But I do know how to listen to music. I know what music should sound like.

What I heard on the radio was not music – it was painful noise. No rhythm, no beat and the singing was nothing more then a girl squealing forced rhymes. I listened to the whole song just to find out if it was some kind of joke. Would the DJ admit that it was something his 5 year daughter composed and asked daddy to play on the radio? But at the end of the song the DJ only said, “… and that was The Shaggs”

The Shaggs

The Shaggs were a 3 girl band from the late 60′s. The girl’s ages ranged from 18 to 22. They had no intention of having a band, their father did. He had visions of being a big shot manager for the next big thing in music – his daughter’s band. He pulled them out of school and made them practice and play. He spent the family savings to buy instruments and record an album. The albums where distributed by the father to all the local stations.

Of course success did not come as the father had anticipated. And the reason is obvious – the music is terrible. It sounds like the instruments and singer are being thrown down a long flight of stairs. No tempo, erratic and completely off-kilter singing. The lyrics are about Halloween, a two legged dog, and how great parents are. It is simply bad music.

When I got home I was curios to find out who The Shaggs are and how they got on the radio. As shocked as I was when I heard how bad the music was, it was nothing compared to my amazement when I saw that on Amazon the album has a customer rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 and 131 reviews.

How Did The Shaggs Get On The Radio

They did not have thousand’s of hours of training, they did not have a million dollar promotion campaign, they did not have brilliant lyrics. How did they do it? How did they get popular enough to be heard on the radio?

The answer is what bloggers call a great backlink.

The famous musician Frank Zappa heard the album and publicly stated that the Shaggs are “better than the Beatles”. Why he thinks so or what he was on does not matter. What matters is that he said it. Suddenly The Shaggs were in the spotlight. People started to buy the album and listen to the music – it started to be played on the radio. Thanks to all the resulting publicity, in 1996 the Rolling Stones called the album one of the 100 “most influential alternative releases of all time”.

Terrible music but a big seller, all thanks to Zappa.

Focus on Getting the Zappa Backlink

The mantra you hear over and over again is that you need backlinks. The more backlinks you get the better chance you have of success. You might have the best blog in the world but without backlinks nobody will ever see it.

You are suppose to submit your blog to directories, make comment on other blogs, and submit articles. Accumulate as many as you can,the more the better.

True, this will increase the number of backlinks to your site. But even a hundred of these backlinks do not compare to a Zappa backlink – a backlink from a major player in your niche.

Get a backlink from the top blogger in your niche because it is worth more then the 100′s of backlinks from blog comments and directories. A nod of approval from someone famous and respected will instantaneously bring your blog into the spotlight. If they have a following of a 100,000 then suddenly 100,000 eyes will be on you.

How To Get the Zappa Backlink

Obviously the problem is getting the Zappa backlink. It is not easy and there is no step by step process to getting one. Nobody can give you advice on how to get it, there is no formula. You have to be creative and original. You have to find a way to get the attention of a big player and get them to mention you. There is the chance you will get lucky and receive one without trying, but more likely you will have to work hard for it.

A perfect example of a great backlink is this guest post. This blog is very popular with 1000′s of visitors a day. By putting in the time to create this guest post and having it accepted I suddenly get lots of exposure. The backlink from this high page rank blog can turn out to be my Zappa backlink.

You have a choice: you can either diligently spend a hours every week accumulating little backlinks that might make your blog a success over time. Or you can spend those hours going after the big score. The one big backlink that is worth a 100 little ones.

About the Author

Roman Jelinek is a new webmaster with a blog and website describing in detail what is involved in creating, maintaining and profiting from a site. Charts and statistics are used to reveal How This Website Makes Money Online. If you find the article interesting, do take the time to subscribe to his feed.

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Becoming friends with popular bloggers is an important goal for all those just starting or wanting to get their blogs into the spotlight. After starting to comment on the blogs you love, you’ve realized guest posting on those very same blogs would help tighten the relationship and also bring you increased exposure and new waves of visitors. So you’ve added a new task on your blogging calendar.

Now that you’ve made up your mind about guest-posting, you’ve come up with a list of popular blogs in your niche and in related fields where it would be great for you to be featured as contributor. And an important question arises: how to convince the blog owner you’d add value to his or her blog through your guest entry?

First, get acquainted with the topics and general style of the blog. Yes, you read the blog almost daily. But have you really asked yourself why exactly you like what you read, how the topics are chosen and how they are related with past entries? Have you thoroughly analyzed the views and style, or have you just enjoyed the reading without realizing what exactly was causing your state of mind? Being thorough will do wonders and lead you to pitching a great post idea.

Second, get to know more about the blog owner’s views and requirements on guest posting. Are there other guest posts on the blog in question? Has he or she ever guest posted on other blogs? Is there a page with guest posting guidelines, an open invitation to submit fresh content or an editorial calendar or a monthly theme of sorts? Once you find the answers to these questions, you should start thinking of topics to cover.

Don’t start writing at once! Instead, think of a short list of possible entries, draft a headline and a paragraph explaining the main idea and the chosen form and then contact the blogger. I know some advise you to just submit your work and let them choose. But what seems like acting against their wishes is actually a time saver: if they don’t like the ideas, you don’t waste time writing it and they don’t waste time reading too much. Plus, if the story sounds interesting but it’s not exactly what they need, they might in turn suggest something better.

When contacting them, remember the old story: make it about them and the potential benefits for their blog, not about you! I know you’ve read this everywhere, but as there are still so many forgetting this important detail, it’s better to point it out.

Bonus Tips

These guidelines should help you close quite a few guest posting deals on top notch blogs out there, but if it’s not enough, here are some bonus one liner tips:

• Blend your personal style with the style of the blog you’re guest posting on;
• When you thing you’re done, proofread and edit again;
• Consider carefully all positive and negative feedback from the blog owner;
• Stick to your deadline unless something really big happens;
• Post-publishing: remember to thank the blogger for welcoming you on the blog;
• Post-publishing: help with post promotion and reply to all comments;
• Post-publishing: get a “portfolio” of guest posts together for your next pitch.

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About a gazillion people have blogs today. Devoted to anything from garden gnomes, celeb’s plastic surgery to the life of living in Papa New Guinea, blogs have become an easy way for average Joe to share his daily contemplations with the world. But with so many blogs, at least a couple of hundred per niche, you might need some help in sticking out.

As you can see we have taken the liberty to list five things that will help your blog reach great heights. All tricks below are equally useful and are hence not listed by worth.

1. Update with weekly content

A common expectation on a blog website is frequently updated content. Popular blogs normally have a high percentage of returning visitors through personal bookmarks or RSS feeds. If that is your ambition, you have to make sure to give your visitors reason enough to come back. New spaced out blog posts normally do the trick.

2. Create unique interesting content

Mentioning the importance of quantity and frequency above it is only fair to list quality as yet another important blog preference. And much like this article you should focus on bringing unique, practical and useful information to the reader. Internet users also normally tend to go mental over “How To”-guides and “Top 10″ listings. Quality blog posts will generate more RSS feeds and loyal visitors.

3. Search engine optimization

A must for any website. Onsite and offsite search engine optimization gives your blog the best chances of ranking high in Google, MSN Live or Yahoo. Researching popular search terms and including them in your blog post titles is a good example of relevant onsite SEO.

4. Engage in the blog community

There are several good and well-visited online blog directories where you can submit your blog. It will not only generate traffic but also help you create an awareness of your blog. Get on Twitter, Digg, and StumbleUpon but remain active in those communities, don’t leech

5. Get proper web design with premium themes

If you have WordPress, you also have a smorgasbord of web designed themes to choose between. There are the ones that cost nothing and normally have the traditional “diary” structure and graphics. But if you want to increase your blog’s credibility and give a real professional look – WordPress Premium Themes is the way to go. You will get away from always being associated with a simple blog and join the big boys as a dynamic and serious website.

And it goes without saying, quality content is essential. If you spend time writing crap then you are doomed to fail no matter what. And this does not mean boring topics. If you are writing about dull topics to your audience, try to spice them up. There are many programming websites, theoretical academic sites, and even the mundane web hosting sites that are lively and well designed for their audience.

About the Author

Brian Franklin is the proud owner of several websites and has been active in the web hosting games for many years. You can read more interesting posts on his website hosting blog, where he writes about hosting, platforms and performance, news and random bits and more.

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I believe that educated clients, who understand your job as a SEO specialist, are good clients. That way you avoid misunderstandings, many frustrating situations for you and your client and you may work more efficiently.

A client that nods their head just to get rid of you. on the other hand, needs more time to work on, more time to explain anything and thus, you lose time that you could spend on implementing the SEO strategy. And even then, you are never sure if the client actually agrees with you or still wants to get to their own business. You simply waste time and money with that kind of attitude.

Teaching your clients about SEO

That’s why, before starting a SEO campaign, you should educate your client in SEO/SEM. I’m not talking about deep training, basic things should suffice. If you don’t work directly with your employer, but with a certain team (marketing or web design agency) you should focus on giving them a glimpse on what SEO is (and what is not).

You may prepare a document describing SEO, that you will deliver to those involved in the project, and especially in the SEO process. Keeping it short and simple should prevent people from taking it lightly from not reading it.

You may also spend 2 hours to meet them in person and talk about the SEO strategy. Now, that is much better as they will interact with you and ask questions if you manage to startle their interest. They will be also happy to have 2 hours off work, when you do the job and they listen. Get some cookies and coffee, make them feel relaxed, not stressed. You don’t want to scare them with your knowledge or with what you have to say.

Don’t talk too much about details, but if you see they want more, go for it. Explain them what they need to know and of course, what they should know about SEO.

If you are working as a freelancer or on distant location, do a phone or Skype conference. A video conference is even better as you may see your audience and they can see you. Discuss the benefits of having a SEO strategy and make them feel involved in the process, just as if you were a team.

If your client is a hopeless cause, you need to find a way to reach him/her; and since all clients are different, you’ll need to come up with different approach techniques. Don’t try the same tactics and expect them to react the same way. You need to be active and creative about delivering information and knowledge about SEO.

Good luck!

And now, how do you deal with your clients? Do you educate them? Or maybe they know what SEO is and there is no need to get into details?
Share your experience with us!

About the author

Paweł Szulencki is a SEO/SEM certified specialist and the owner of the Search Engine Optimization & Marketing blog SEOBlogr.com. Make sure you visit his blog for more information on SEO, Marketing, Google and all things search engine related.

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Everyone gets all excited about WordPress when they find that nearly any feature they could want can be added through a plugin system, but there are issues with depending on plugins that people should consider before loading up on additional features.

Delays in Releases

One of the biggest issues that occurs in the WordPress plugin world is that the plugin developers can’t keep up with the developments in the WordPress core. A great example of this is PodPress, a very popular podcasting plugin for WordPress that still, after two months, does not have a new release to work with WordPress 2.6.

Dropping support

One day the plugin that you enjoy using might just disappear. The developer giving up on supporting it, and if it isn’t very popular in the wider circles, then there will most likely not be anyone there to pick up where they left off. This looked like it was going to happen to the very popular All in One SEO plugin, but at the last minute, someone else committed themselves to furthering the plugin.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting performance issues is nearly impossible if you are like myself and install multiple plugins all at once. Then to find where the bottleneck in performance came from you have to deactivate them. Sometimes though, issues don’t arise until a combination of plugins are active, or you do certain things that they weren’t developed for.

An issue I had on College Crunch, a WordPress powered blog, was that I had made many pages, rather than posts, and in doing so, a plugin that effected how I managed pages started having issues, causing the page management screen to be blank. I deactivated every plugin that I thought interacted with pages, but it was one that was related to searching and SEO. I didn’t realize this until someone else turned it off resolving the issue immediately. I would have never guessed, and so I had blamed WordPress, the web host, and everything else. I definitely felt like I had egg on my face after that, and will definitely endeavor to blame WordPress plugins before anything else.

Conclusion

The more plugins you add to your WordPress blog, the more chances you’ll have to expose yourself to one of the many downsides of a community oriented plugin system. I love WordPress because of its plugins, but I have had my share of frustrations due to them as well.

About the author

David Peralty is the owner the “eXtra For Every Publisher” blog, also know as XFEP. He’s got a strong background in the online environment gathered while working with companies such as Splashpress Media and PicApp. He’s currently a Project Manager over at CollegeCrunch.org. If you still haven’t subscribed to his blog, you’re really missing out on things that you shouldn’t miss.

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Alina Popescu, owner of WordsOfABrokenMirror.com has been a long time reader (once guest poster) of Blogsessive, and also a very good friend. It’s been a pleasure for me to contribute to her blog and I encourage you to go read my latest post there, Who Cares What “Simon Says”? and subscribe to her feed as you’ll find a lot of interesting PR and Marketing stuff there.

Here a small excerpt from the post:

The list of blogs and online magazines offering tips and advice has been growing exponentially every year. [...]
With all the hype created around this type of blogs and the (in)famous “make money online” blogs, people seem to overlook one significant thing: these blogs offer tips and advice, but encourage you to experiment.
Click here to continue reading.

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Since Alex has been kind enough to allow me to contribute a guest post on his blog, I thought it would be appropriate to write about, well, guest blogging. I believe guest blogging should be a top priority for anyone who is serious about building their online presence. After all, what better opportunity is there to expose your name to a new audience that to post on someone else’s blog?

Finding the Right Blog

I know people like to say that there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but you want to make sure your guest blog contributes to your overall goal of brand building. For this reason, you should conduct careful research to find a blog suited for your needs. If you’re an offshore welder, you probably wouldn’t get much benefit from posting on a blog about flowers. But that’s common sense, right? So, the first step is to find a blog you can contribute your expertise to.

After discovering a few blogs in your niche, you want to find one that has a following. If you’re going to take the time to create a well crafted guest post, you want to make sure at least a few people are reading it. And with so many fly by night blogs out there, it’s hard to find one with a loyal audience. The best way to determine if a blog has a good following is by checking out the comments. If all of the posts consistently generate a few comments, you’ve probably found a good blog to post on.

Getting to Know the Blogger

Before you jump right in and ask the blogger if you can contribute a guest post, you should settle down and get to know the blog. Study the old posts, and subscribe to the RSS feed. This will help you get a feel for the general theme and tone of the blog.

Furthermore, you should become a regular in the comments section. And, no, saying “good post” after every entry doesn’t count as being a regular. As readers of Blogsessive discovered in a recent post, you need to make your comments stand out. Doing this will get the attention of the author, and you can create a relationship this way. It also helps you get a more intimate feel for the blog’s audience, which will help you craft your post should you become a guest blogger.

Ask the Author

If you wait around long enough and you write enough comments, the blogger might eventually ask you to contribute a guest post. Then again, he might not.

That’s why the best way to land a role as a guest blogger is to come right out and ask for it. As an example, I’ve been a loyal reader here on Blogsessive for a few months now, and I shot an e-mail to Alex asking if he needed someone to contribute a guest post. As luck would have it, he was going to be out of town for a few days, and he needed someone to step in. Now, here I am.

All you have to do is ask. The worst they can say is “no”.

Making the Most of Your Opportunity

Now that you’ve landed a spot as a guest blogger, the real work comes in. You have one chance to impress this new audience with your knowledge, ability, and personality. It really is a lot to tackle. This is why many guest bloggers fall flat on their faces.

Don’t over think your guest post. If you try too hard to be smart and witty, the audience will spot you for the phony you are. Instead, just be yourself. Write a post that shows your knowledge and that fits in with the general theme of the blog.

Another mistake guest authors often make is to give a sales pitch. In their mind, this is their big chance to get on stage in front of a new audience, and they have to make the most of it. Unfortunately, there is no quicker way to lose a reader than to try to pawn your product off on them.

Instead of viewing your guest post as a chance to sell something, think of it as a chance to build your name and reputation. In my opinion, the biggest benefit of guest blogging is you get to extend your network and gain some authority in the process. Authority and respect are things money can’t buy. And, yes, that inbound link you earn from guest blogging is nice too.

About the author

Eric Brantner is a business copywriter that has served clients from virtually every major industry with freelance copywriting services. Make sure to check out his website at EricBrantner.com and his contributions on the SeoNoobs.com blog.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

Why is it that when we hear of blogging we tend to link it almost instantly to post comments? Because the conversation blogs harbor, the ingredient that makes them part of a community, what turns them into a critical part of social media, the instant feedback and interaction, all that makes blogging so wonderful is mostly powered by comments.

Yet, there are blogs that choose to have no commenting options. Is that something we define as wrong? Does that make the whole 2.0 aspect of blogs simply disappear? Well, it depends. Just as enabling comments does not guarantee a meaningful conversation with your readers (if there are any readers), not having them does not imply there’s no way to build great relationships with blog visitors.

Given these many shades of gray, I thought analyzing both options might be quite helpful for both new bloggers and those who have been an active part of the blogosphere for quite a while.

What to Do when Comments Come Your Way?

Having or not having comments is not the only decision you’ll have to make. There are other questions heading your way, such as:

• Should you moderate comments?
• Should you ask readers to login to comment?
• Is a comment policy necessary?
• Should comment links be “no follow”?

I think moderating comments and having an anti-spam solution such as Akismet is a great idea. Alternatively, you’ll have to closely monitor your blog and delete spam. Leaving spam messages hanging around your blog has a pretty bad impact on you and your posts, it makes you look careless and some might even think you leave spammers be to brag with more comments on each post.

Asking users to login is seen as a way to prevent spam and to filter irrelevant comments. In my opinion, it just makes you look lazy. If you have an anti-spam-comments tool and also moderate comments, no junk should shadow your meaningful exchange of thoughts with readers. Besides, let’s take an example. There are millions of Blogger blogs. Do you really believe a spammer wouldn’t waste 5 minutes to create a Blogger account and spam them all? I can tell you from experience, they take those 5 minutes out of their busy spammy life.

This also brings me to the “no follow” issue. No follow comment links were used so that people wouldn’t comment for link love alone. And let’s face it, having replies such as “Great!”, “Good job!”, “Touching, please visit my blog now” bring no value to the issues you want debated. But moderation doesn’t take that much time, and rewarding frequent commentators and those bringing fresh and insightful perspectives to your story with some link love is quite an incentive to spark conversation.

Now if you asked me, having a comment policy (as a separate page or as part of an existing one, About, General Policies, etc) is not at all a must. But it’s something you should work on when you find the time. It makes you seem open, transparent and happy to show readers how things work around your blog. It is more than fair to let people know you don’t like spam and won’t tolerate it, that you won’t publish comments that say nothing and just crave for the link, that you will delete all insults targeting you or others visiting your blog. It will also spare you from explaining your actions over and over again to noob-readers.

With comments comes great responsibility. Cheesy, but true. You can’t just have people comment and that’s it. If you’re really committed to getting to know your readers, to find what their opinions are, to having them share their ideas with you, then you need to actually reply to your comments. And as for the actual comment, a “Thanks, come again” reply won’t do. The purpose is not just to get the conversation started, but to also keep it going.

No Comments, No Glory?

As I said earlier in this entry, comments are definitely not the only way to open dialog and keep it going. Seth Godin has been doing just fine with no comments on his blog what so ever. The secret? As someone once said on my blog, he encourages readers to write their thoughts and opinions on their blog and to email him. He also makes a point from replying to all comments emailed to him.

Emails are a way to do it, instant messenger IDs are another one and, why not, Twitter accounts. The idea is to let people know how to get in touch with you. Have your contact details posted somewhere on the blog where people can easily see them and put them to good use. They’ll get bored soon if they have to look around for too long.

But there are downsides, of course. As with being required to log in, if the compose window doesn’t just pop up and you have to log in first and then type your comment, some might choose to just not comment. They might make an extra effort if you keep offering great content and know when and how to ask the right questions. Then again, nothing guarantees they’d take the time to comment through an actual comment form. Also, you should keep in mind one aspect. Having to write an email or a twitter entry is an efficient way to filter comments that say nothing at all. So what works best for you is the highly recommended option.

Having no comments is OK at times. But having no open channel of communication is not such a great approach. You’ll just have a website with articles in reversed chronological order and nothing more. You’ll miss the true essence of blogging, which is having a community of like minded people to rely on. And comments or no comments, this is what you should set as goal.

About the author

This is a guest post by Alina Popescu, PR Consultant.
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.

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