Just to remind anyone who hasn’t subscribed via email yet. Subscriptions will stop tonight at midnight (UK time).
So anyone who hasn’t subscribed via email yet, if you want to be entered for a chance of winning that free ad spot for a month, make sure you subscribe now to not lose out! 
Winner will be announced on the 1st of Dec!
Here’s a little checklist of practical tips I’ve compiled for you to follow on course to building, hopefully; a good blog. Going from basic to semi-detailed 
1. Purchase a domain for your blog. This will add professionalism and make your URL easier to remember. Using a free sub domain just makes your blog seem tacky. It’s almost like saying “I can’t be bothered to pay for a domain and host it” in effect showing no commitment to it. Also, some people use free domain extensions or sub domains and cover their blog with Adsense. This is even worse, it’s saying to your readers that YOU don’t want to pay for what you’re doing but you want to make some cash from their gullibility. Just buy a domain!
2. Brand your blog. Branding your blog gives it an identity, helps it stick in people’s mind more and associates you with a certain something. The best thing about branding your blog is the fact it makes it unique and helps it to stand out from all the generic blogs online.
3. Use a fresh design. Have a look around at other blogs. See what they’re using – in terms of themes and styles and then go with the opposite. Why? because this will make you, again; stand out from generic blogs. It’s the ultimate way to be noticed a.k.a going against the grain. Using a free theme is fine, there are plenty of great ones on the official Wordpress theme archive, just try and find one that suits you and one that is unique. Otherwise either design your own if you can do that or if you have the cash, pay a designer.
4. Post regularly. If you don’t post regularly people will unlikely subscribe. Or more likely subscribe then after a while – either unsubscribe or just not bother checking for posts anymore because they don’t expect them. If you can’t handle a post or a few posts a day then just be honest with yourself. Make a post every two days, or whatever. Just make sure it’s pretty regular and consistent. Some say one a week will do but to be honest, unless your content is absolutely amazing… I can’t see many people subscribing to a blog with that sort of posting timescale.
5. Make your subscription buttons noticeable. If nobody knows how to subscribe… they won’t. Make sure your readers and new time visitors can immediately see alternative ways to subscribe. These subscription options I would say are best above the fold, which for those who don’t know what that is. It basically means they are in instant view meaning the visitor does not have to scroll down to see them. Also experiment with novelty ideas and eye catching ways of making your RSS or email subscribe options visually original and accessible. Originality goes a long way online.
6. Allow readers to subscribe by RSS or Email. Give your visitors and current readers as many subscription options as possible. Meaning, for RSS make sure you are using Feedburner to syndicate content for all major readers. You can even, like some do; have the most prominently used readers as separate subscribe links beneath your main RSS button to catch the eye of those users. I don’t think enough people entice email subscription enough either. It’s not as popular with blogs but if you can build a sustainable list of email subscribers… it can be very beneficial for your future marketing and is good for reminding people of your blog.
7. Use easy navigation and layout. Make sure even the most ’simple minded’ Internet user can easily navigate your blog at first glance. You obviously can’t cater for everyone as opinion prevents that but cater for as many as you can. Don’t compromise, just keep it simple. A nasty or complicated navigation could flee off what could of been some of your most avid readers and contributors, don’t discount anyone. Treat 1 reader as 1,000 because just that 1 avid reader can keep your blog alive.
8. Activate Askimet plugin on Wordpress. This is a brilliant free plugin installed by default on Wordpress. Make sure you activate it via your Plugins page on your WP admin. Askimet has stopped around… 98% of all spam on this blog. There is the occasional 1 or 2 that slip through but overall it’s a brilliant plugin. Use it to make your life easier and to keep your blog free of spam.
9. Use plugins that will help your traffic and readership. Try and use plugins that not only add unique qualities to your blog but also benefit your readership to some degree. For example the Top Commentators Plugin. It benefits your readers by rewarding them with a backlink in view for commenting. This adds motivation and a reason to comment. Some people, even if they think a post is amazing… won’t comment. Because they can’t be bothered, or rather; they won’t be the first if there isn’t already discussion booming. So this simple plugin provides them with a reason to comment even if no one else has, in the long-run of course benefiting you by keeping your blog interactive and fresh. It’s win win.
10. Advertise when the time is right. I think this is more down to opinion. It’s personal preference whether or not you chose to put ads on your blog before it’s got a loyal readership. I think John Chow says that you should add them right away whilst Shoemoney says you should wait until the traffic is there. Well… they’re both hugely successful money making bloggers so maybe it doesn’t matter? Personally though, with a blog; I would agree with Shoemoney.
A blog is a place people like to revisit, not just a resource as a static content site is but rather and constant source of trusted information or opinion. If you put ads up right away then I think this can cheapen your motives in the eyes of the visitor. Especially if you blog within the niche of Internet Marketing, because your readers will know what is what, will recognize affiliate links and will know why you have ads there. But I think if you build up a loyal readership first; your fans so to speak have settled in so the well placed ads to come probably won’t bother them. So even if new readers get driven away in a certain percentage, you have your current readers to fall back on.
Google; the king of search engines. King of the Internet.
Google seem to be invincible. They just ride head and shoulders above their competition and never show any signs of decreasing or even standing still.
What started off as just a search engine has expanded into a brand name mothering a whole host of Internet tools.
Gmail is just… huge but admittedly the best webmail service out there. It definitely deserves to be as big as it is, as does Google.
Google Earth, Google News… the list just goes on and on…
Question is:
How big will Google get?
Share your views in a comment!
Also, check out this video from CNN discussing Google’s growth
Ever since… well, since the success of MillionDollarHomepage copycats have been flooding the web. Internet marketers have been attacking the idea from every angle and changing one thing at a time to try repeat it’s success.
Latest in the evolutionary line of novelty advertising buy-ins is RssHugger. Which I presume spawned from the guy who made WordHugger. PAYING for words on a site with no rank or traffic? obviously the novelty of it slowly attracts traffic, or with some novelty sites – quickly attracts.
And People like me slightly having a go at sites like this in posts will just get them more backlinks and traffic and a percentage of visitors will buy a word or an ad or whatever and this will slowly have an exponential exposure and financial effect. So sites like this really have nothing to lose.
I’m not really having a go at this site or others as they’re just as valid as the original given that they’re still just novelty advertising sites trying to make money. Then again MDH was something special. New and well timed. Big, big sites bought into that but I don’t think the creator walked away with anything near a million dollars due to advertising / exposure costs obviously.
Also, there’s a top 100 RSS feeds on that RssHugger site but… they’re just bought! they’re not actually the top 100 RSS feeds so I think it’s a bit manipulative to say they are…
So… given that we’ve all seen these novelty copycats or even just novelty newbies make money. Why don’t we all start pushing out the novelty. Make your own novelty site and see what happens
Finally, incase you haven’t seen any…
A Few Copycats:
I never do any competitions here but I think it’s a good time to start some.
If you are reading this and aren’t subscribed to this blog then consider subscribing for a chance of winning a free month of advertising;
If you want to enter – simply subscribe by Email to be counted.
My current email subscribers can also win
How the winner will be picked:
The winner of this competition will be picked randomly. You only have a chance of winning if you subscribe or are already subscribed via email.
Quick Terms and Conditions on ad content:
- Your ad cannot be pornographic, explicit or hateful
- Your ad cannot contain any sort of ’sick’ or ‘vile’ images
Apart from that, it’s fine. But I suppose the most of anyone who reads this blog will be Internet or up and coming Internet Marketers anyway.
Entrance for this comp ends on the 1st of December, so do it now for a chance of winning the free ad space!
PS. You must also activate your email subscription to be counted as entered so make sure you use a valid email address.
1. Old news – Blogs that just repeat news that has already gone big get nowhere. They are just basically content rippers. Yeah they may give their own take on whatever it is but unless said person is already known for something… who’s going to listen?
2. General lack of effort – When it’s obvious no effort has been put in to build, improve and/or maintain a blog then it’s pretty hard to take it seriously. In terms of a first impression, it will be a poor one if little effort is obviously at hand. Get a good design, write good posts and lay everything out well.
3. No originality – I think quality alone can hold out over originality completely but originality can still help a lot. Just by doing something a little bit fresher than the average blogger has an instant effect on most readers. They notice it because they’re not used to noticing it. Do something different, something new. Original.
4. Too much – This may sound a bit contradictory of common advice to do more than is expected of you. But I think TOO much can have a negative effect. If I saw a blog that had mental post rates like… 20 a day, I wouldn’t read it. Because it’s too much to handle on a sensible time scale. Basically I only read about 3 blogs regularly but even those I only check… once maybe twice a day. So imagine if the average person checks your blog once a day and you post 10 a day. They’ll probably miss the majority and not bother catching up. Post quality but in sensible chunks. Ironically the breakdown of this very point is, too much.
5. Ads everywhere – I don’t mind ads at all. I’m not bias toward non-ad blogs. Because I advertise and sell advertising so why would I be like that. Equally most people probably aren’t, either because a) they know why you need them or b) they don’t know they’re ads.
But one thing I can’t stand is an absolutely packed blog, or rather a blog or site which is trying to goat me into clicking, so many ads that they try to trick you and force you. It’s annoying, can ruin a blog and kill off readers. Advertise within reason.
6. Too generic – This is sort of a tie in of the originality point and the old news point. Basically, make sure you’re coming up with fresh stuff which either hasn’t been said excessively or at least has a fresh take. Not a predictable or provoking one.
7. Manipulation – I hate blogs about making money online for example that try and trick you into clicking their affiliate links. If you have a massive blog like SH or JC (they’ve been mentioned enough) then obviously link to your affiliates because as a whole a mass amount probably won’t mind or notice. But if you have a fine amount of readers… don’t ruin it by plastering your blog with disguised links and built-in manipulation because people will eventually catch on. Especially if it’s a make money online blog by the way. If you know it, others do to.
TNX is a service for publishers and advertisers that helps you sell links for your site and helps guide advertisers when it comes to purchasing links…
Design – I really like the design of TNX, I think it looks clear and definitive and is all the site needs. It’s professional and all the essentials are in view.
Navigation – Simple navigation. Nice and easy to the average user and everything is in easy reach. I think navigation and simplicity can make or break an instant impression and TNX’s navigation is a good one.
Service – TNX does what it says on the tin. They show you stats about your site, what links you’ve sold etc. and it’s all in clear view once again. As a whole they’re a good alternative to similar providers.
Overall TNX gives you a reason to use them, they’re smart, clean and reliable and are just another option to you as a publisher or advertiser. A good alternative to for example: Text Link Ads. There’s not much bad to say about them so give em’ a go if you want to sell some links.
This review was a paid review.
Supposedly John Cow has been hacked. If you try and visit the blog it redirects to a page saying the blog has been hacked and the ‘hackers’ want $100 within 24 hours or the cow gets done.
Considering the PayPal button is linked to a payment page to be payed to cownapper@johncow.com… this looks like a tactic from John Cow to gain more traffic, presuming people will blog on this (like I’m doing now!) and post it about.
Also the image of the ‘hack’ writing message is located on his domain so…
Maybe he even wanted people to know it was a tactic so it would gain more blogesphere expsoure from people talking about the fake hack as if they’ve caught him out?
who knows…
I’ve actually got a 300 by 250 ad in rotation on Cow’s blog though so if this is him doing it, not too happy about that as I’m not receiving exposure of my ad whilst this is happening!
Previous post:
Over the last 2 days I’ve received about an extra 300 – 500 uniques from StumbleUpon.
Not from submitting myself, maybe some people must of stumbled some of my articles.
StumbleUpon really can be a very decent traffic source if used correctly.
Read my StumbleUpon Case Study here
Edit:
Wow. StumbleUpon traffic just keeps on coming, it’s been going up by the hundreds so far.
I’ve had about an extra 500 uniques today alone from it.
Definition: Writer’s block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.
I’m sure anybody who owns a blog and attempts to write content of a consistent quality on a regular basis can relate to this.
Writer’s block will happen to most people who attempt to write a lot. The only difference is how you handle it.
Here are some simple methods for overcoming writer’s block:
1. Music and Movies – Music can be enticing. It relaxes the brain. Sooner or later you should actually start to notice creative ideas popping in your head, simply due to the fact your brain is in a relaxed state and your listening to a creative medium. Movies are on a similar level and obviously or usually, connect more than just music. The fact your brain is in an engaged state of entertainment allows it to sort of ’sit back’ and enjoy what it’s enduring. Allowing for creative ideas to accumulate and when you get back to write… you’ll most probably find that you can suddenly think of a ton of new ideas.
2. Schedule time to write on a regular basis – Although relaxing your brain is a good thing to allow thought to be processed. On the other hand, a period of time in which you know you should be doing something can also create a mental routine sometimes allowing for smoother transaction of thought to paper. Or in a blogger’s case, thought to post.
3. Take a break – Again, playing on the relaxing method. Relaxing can just help you get out of the previous struggled mental state, take into consideration other things around you and inspire thought to which you previously may not have imagined.
4. Take your time – At the end of the day. Who cares how long you take. If you start to write a great post but you get stuck on a certain section, instead of deleting it and risk a vital chunk in a good post. Simply save it and go back to it in a day or two, with a fresh… or, refreshed outlook on the matter.
5. Reading – Obviously, many things you can read. You could as I’ve said in previous posts – go and look at other bloggers in the bloggersphere or bloggers that you particularly like, to inspire post ideas. You could also go look at related news headlines, spin off those and give your opinion on them. Or simply report the news item itself, if it’s not been overdone.
6. Write freely – This is quite a strange but useful technique. If you just actually keep typing without careful consideration, it can allow for a much more unstable but creative output of thought. Simply because you’re allowing your creative side of your brain (the right) to become more prominent than the left (logical side). All you do is simply keep on typing, just type and type and let ideas flow, be careless with grammar and all. You can then go back and make the required changes to make it more readable and accurate.
I’m obviously not a Psychologist, although I do know a bit from years of doing card magic, general magic and a bit of mental magic. Psychological consideration is part of it. But these ideas are more common sense and a little reading into from myself, but more assumption and common sense.
Some people will actually make the problem worse by trying to think too hard, in effect… simply pushing their brain to hard. It’s almost like with a computer. If you run too many processes and the RAM can’t handle it, it will obviously start to slow down and trying to proceed with any other actions or opening of programs will usually be immensely slow, sometimes won’t happen at all. Same applies with your brain, relax!
So if you ever get writer’s block again, try some of these
SEO News