Archive for the ‘Blogging: How To’ Category
by Susan Gunelius on July 22nd, 2010
Blog post titles are like little ads that can do three things:
1. Entice people to read more.
2. Encourage people to click away.
3. Lull them to a state of inaction.
If you want your blog to grow and be successful, then you want your blog post titles to achieve #1 in the above list — entice people to read more. In other words, your ad should intrigue people enough that they stop what they’re doing in their busy days to keep reading. It’s not as easy as it sounds, but if you learn to write great blog post titles, you’ve reached a success milestone that many bloggers aspire to but never attain.
The key to writing great blog post titles is to avoid doing the things in crafting titles that achieve #2 and #3 in the above list — encourage people to click away and lull them to a state of inaction.
With that in mind, following are 3 ways your blog post titles ruin your blog. Avoid them at all costs!
1. Ignore keywords.
Search engine algorithms value keywords in blog post titles highly. While you don’t want to stuff post titles with keywords or use keywords in titles where they don’t belong, it is important to try to include them when it’s appropriate. They can make a difference in sending some extra search traffic to your blog. Not only that, but those people who arrive at your blog post via a keyword search are likely to be interested in your post (assuming the post title appropriately used that keyword) and stick around to read more.
2. Trick people.
The classic bait and switch is detested in blog post titles just as much as it is anywhere else. Don’t promise people something in your blog post title then deliver something completely unrelated in your post content. People won’t fall for that trick a second time. In fact, they might spread the word to their friends and online connections. That’s a reputation you don’t want to get.
3. Bore people.
Your blog post titles need to capture the attention of people who are quickly clicking through web pages and have little time to spend on anything that doesn’t appear to immediately meet their needs or set off the “Hey, this is cool” bells in their heads. A boring blog post title will get looked over, ignored, bypassed, and any other synonym for skipped that you can think of. Don’t let readers get away! Instead, pique their interest with blog post titles that stop them in their tracks and make them curious.
What do you think are the worst things bloggers can do when writing blog post titles? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To
Tags: blog post titles, blog seo, blog writing tips, increase blog traffic
by Robyn-Dale Samuda on July 3rd, 2010
There are many habits and practices that affect our abilities to truly succeed in blogging. For many of our bad habits, we are not aware of them until someone points them out to us or we see others complain about them. Thus it is very important that we are aware of all that we are doing by conducting some critical self analysis.
Truly successful blogging requires the same effort as would any other goal or vision; and many of us are experiencing failure because we allow bad habits to creep in and take over. One of the deadliest habits we could ever allow and become complacent with is procrastination. Continuously putting off those great post, product or service ideas for later will inevitably cripple your blogging efforts.
Here are some highly effective tips for defeating this deadly disease to help you experience ultimate blogging success. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To
Tags: Blogging Tips, Procrastination, success
by Robyn-Dale Samuda on June 26th, 2010
For many bloggers, a comment is 
a very valuable thing, especially for new bloggers who are looking for confirmation that their voices are being heard and visitors are actually engaging their new blog. Its very satisfying when our articles are well received by our audience and we begin to build a vibrant community of dedicated readers.
The truth is that blog comments can provide a greater purpose than just feeding our egos and offers a wealth of information that can help to propel us further on our blogging journey. Blog comments contain clues to the things we may be doing wrong and what our readers really want to see.
Let us take a look at what we can learn from our blog comments. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To
Tags: Blog Commenting, Blog Development, Blogging Tips
by Susan Gunelius on June 24th, 2010
There will come a day when a comment lands in your moderation queue that you don’t want to publish. Of course, it’s your blog, and you have complete control over what you do and do not publish on it. However, if you’re trying to develop a popular and successful blog, then simply deleting every comment that offers an opinion which differs from your own is a mistake.
The best blogs allow open conversations and encourage visitors to voice their opinions. However, that doesn’t mean your blog should be a free-for-all where anyone can say anything they want and you’ll publish it. Instead, you need to use your best judgment to edit or delete comments that detract from the user experience on your blog.
There is just one big problem. You don’t want to be accused of controlling the conversation on your blog, and that’s where having a Blog Comment Policy is essential. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging Tools, Blogging: How To
Tags: blog comment policy, blog policy, blogging guidelines, comment policy
by Robyn-Dale Samuda on June 19th, 2010
Personally, having dedicated readers 
engage my blog by asking questions, providing feedback and coming back for more are some of the basic goals for my site. User interaction and engagement is a great sign that you are producing content that sparks the interest of visitors and is an excellent indicator for sustainable growth of your blog’s audience.
Among the many different goals bloggers may have, user interaction and engagement should be among the top on your list. Whether your goal is to increase affiliate sales, e-book sales, drive traffic or become a leader in your niche, an inviting and user-friendly blog is key for all these achievements.
Let’s take a look at some of the basics that will capture the interest of all types of readers. Read More
Categories: Blogging Sense, Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To
Tags: Blogging Tips, Reader Interaction, User Friendly Blogging
by Jennifer Brown Banks on June 17th, 2010
For the first time since his death, I was finally able to sit down and view the last taping of Michael Jackson’s life via the come-back concert, “This is Itâ€.
I was a big fan, and the thought of this loss was too great to pack the theaters with his “groupies†when it was first released.
I’m glad I did.
After viewing this 2-hour film, one thing is for certain.
Love him or hate him, Michael Jackson leaves an indelible mark on pop culture.
He had presence. He inspired millions.
And it was obvious to see in his work that here was a man of passion that enjoyed bringing joy to his fans and followers all over the world.
Today’s blogger should take note.
In fact, there are many lessons to be learned from his career. Today I’ll capture the most important ones.
Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To, General
Tags: Blogging Moves, Blogging techniques, Michael Jackson's artistry
by Jennifer Brown Banks on June 14th, 2010
The unenlightened blogger often brags (in his posts) about the number of weekly visitors he receives to his site, as if it were the “ultimate†qualifier for success. Don’t get me wrong, site traffic is an initial indicator that perhaps we’re at least doing something right in regards to our blogging efforts.
But, it shouldn’t be our end goal, or final destination on the road to success.
Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To, General
Tags: Blogging followers, Blogging retention
by Robyn-Dale Samuda on June 7th, 2010
Blogging is one of the easiest activities to get 
started online to make your voice heard. Especially now since web hosting is more reliable and affordable; and with the free, robust and user-friendly blogging platform, WordPress, we see over 100,000 blogs being launched daily.
Since I’m always an advocate for going the extra mile to stand-out there are some proven techniques that can help you get noticed through the eyes of your prospective employer. Blogging is no longer not just a pastime but an activity that can launch you towards your desired success.
Here are 7 simple guidelines and techniques for landing your desired job. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To
Tags: Blogging Tips, Careers, job search
by Robyn-Dale Samuda on May 31st, 2010
Putting motor vehicles aside, there is a such a 
thing as good traffic and there’s nothing quite like waking up in the morning only to realize that there’s a spike in traffic to your blog from dozens of different sources you never even expected or even knew existed. As exciting as this sounds, achieving this can be quite difficult at times to achieve and eludes the average blogger, especially the newbies.
So, I’ve decided to share some easy traffic generating techniques that are guaranteed to lift you higher up the blogging ladder and bring you that feeling of fulfillment in seeing your blog’s popularity increase. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To
Tags: Blogging Tips, link building, Web Traffic
by Jennifer Brown Banks on May 31st, 2010
Lights, camera, action!
Each time you prepare your words
for online viewing and hit the “publish†button, you’re on stage.
A virtual stage. Before a crowd of thousands, potentially millions.
Will you rock them? Will you be worth the price of admission?
Will you cultivate new fans or fall short of expectations?
You decide.
It all depends on your blogging “SWAGGERâ€.
What’s swagger? No, it’s not a dance.
Swagger is defined as one’s style. One popular dictionary describes it as, “to walk or strut with a defiant air.â€
Some even call it the “it factor.” Michael Jackson had it. Madonna had it. Cher had it.
Now that you’re on board with what it is, here’s how to use it to advance your blogging game. Read More
Categories: Blogging Tips, Blogging: How To
Tags: Blogging confidence, Blogging Style, Blogging Tips
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