Forums are an efficient option to gradually get hold of quite a few long-term traffic to your website, on the other hand, the issue is that with forums, it may be way too straightforward to spend all day posting and rapidly it turns into a huge waste of time. Suddenly, you might be spending eight to ten hours each day posting on forums and just forming at first 15 to twenty clicks. How do you utilize all of the forums have to provide, how do you get a few of that visitors once more for your site without it taking all day? And the solution is to mix Google Alerts and forums. Google Alerts is a service that lets you display keywords that Google indexes on the internet.

For instance, you run a blog that talks about online gaming, and if someone mentions online games somewhere or they point out a selected game like Poker and you want to go and say, “I have Poker right here free of charge,” that’s an excellent feature. Correct? And it’s really time-consuming to each and every single day to search Google. As a substitute, do arrange a Google Alert. You arrange a Google Alert for the word “Poker”, and if any person mentioned the phrase “Poker” anywhere on the web, you may bounce in and respond to that.

With Google Alerts and forums, you’ll be able to merely reply that give the simple rapid answer, you might be able to provide analysis for improvements to make a brand new website, and you can also overcome well-liked objection other people have and are asking about on these forums. With the Google Alert, you put up alerts for “Poker” or possibly even your web page’s determine or your exact name. That manner, if anyone mentions them in any place, you can also bounce in.

With Google Alerts, you are able to set either an immediate alert or a once-a-day alert. You probably have a game to your website that may be highly regarded comparable to Poker, then you definitely can set a Google Alert for that to only email you as soon as possible. If there are hundreds of recent pages on Google with that word, you’ll only be notified as soon as possible and you may click on one easy link, go to the discussion board, and provide your response. I’d be putting inside the phrase you might be looking for plus the phrase “forum” throughout the Google Alert. It’s an easy means to leap in and no longer essentially have to freak within the forum frequently, simply go where you might be needed.

Next, you can conduct a research to improve the site itself. If any individual is complaining about the website online about the way it does that almost all internet sites don’t grasp over, then you can glance into changing up the tool or outsourcing an improvement in order that it shops a prime score. That may be how you can research enhancements to your existing products.

Another use for Google Alerts and forums is to overcome a typical objection. As an example, any individual might be posting on a discussion board, “I want to be a part of this game, but I don’t need them to start out promoting my address or sharing it.” If any person is citing that, then you’ll be able to jump in and say, “Effectively, that may be what other people most often think, however, I’m using this service that does not permit me to share and that is the proof, therefore, your email address is totally safe.”

They usually would offer you concepts for things to add to your autoresponder pre-sells or your sales page, simple problems going guess despite things in position, people don’t learn all of the pieces you write. It’s always a great idea for us to go to forums. If any person mentions a specific sport or online games or your website, particularly you can answer their objection and get further individuals be mindful of your website while disarming their objections.

That is how you mix Google Alerts and forums. Arrange Google Alerts for issues inside your website online, your niches, your identity, or your blog particularly the phrase “forum.” That way if it’s mentioned anyplace on the internet, you’ll be able to get notified, you’ll be able to jump in and send a simple solution, research an improvement in your site, or triumph over an objection to get them into your site.

Gary David is a full-time Internet Marketer that specializes traffic building. Learn how you can use the most advanced web 2.0 websites to drive maximum amount of traffic possible to your website. Find out exactly how you can start driving traffic today.

Original: Blogging >> How To Use The Power Of Forums And Google Alerts To Drive Traffic To Your Blog

Earlier in the week I wrote some advice for those wanting to pitch bloggers by making your pitch a win/win/win one. Not only do you need to get something out of it but so should the readers of the blog and the blogger.

Today I want to flip this over a little and share some advice for bloggers who are on the receiving end of bad pitches from companies or individuals.

In the past – most of the bad email pitches that I received from companies tended to get immediately deleted. A few I’d angrily respond to – pointing out how one sided the pitch was – but in most cases I simply deleted them.

The problem with this is that it ignored quite a few opportunities to actually develop a relationship with the company pitching me. While their pitch was one sided, unrelational, greedy and perhaps even an attempt at manipulation – by not responding or by responding in anger I was effectively closing the door to further communication and opportunity to work together.

My Advice to Bloggers Getting Bad Pitches

Don’t be afraid to push back a little when you’re being pitched in a one sided way.

If you don’t feel like a pitch is a win/win/win pitch don’t just delete the email or reply with a quick ‘not interested’ – see it as an opportunity. It’s an opportunity on two fronts:

1. 1. to educate the person or company pitching you. Show them that you take this seriously, that you treat your blog as a business and that bloggers deserve to be respected. I think many times companies just don’t think of us bloggers in this way and see social media as just something to get them free publicity. We need to take some ownership of fixing this and educate them.

    

   I think it’s also a little ironic that as bloggers and social media types we celebrate our ‘relational’ approach yet don’t reach out and help to educate those who don’t yet get it. Sure, when a company should know better I think it’s fair enough for us to push back harder – but many companies are still finding their feet and need a little education on how to do things.

2. it’s an opportunity for business and fruitful partnerships. If you don’t respond at all or push back too aggressively you could be ending any chance of the relationship with the company progressing into win/win/win territory. But if you’re clever enough you might just land yourself a sponsor, affiliate partnership or get some other fruitful interaction.

I generally try to reply with an email that:

• attempts to show the ‘pitcher’ that I’d love to work with them
• that sells my blog/community to them (pointing out readership stats, what our readers are like etc)
• that shows I treat my blog like a business and am looking for partnership and win/win/win interactions
• that suggests some ways we could move forward – I usually start out by pointing out some advertising and affiliate opportunities and share a few things we’ve done before that have delivered value to everyone

The reality is that not everyone will respond – some companies are just looking to manipulate the blogosphere and want free traffic/exposure – but you’ll find in time that some companies will respond and that opportunities which benefit everyone will arise.

Original: Blogging >> Turn Annoying Pitches into Opportunities

Of course blogs aren’t the only type of content on the Internet these days and more and more companies and individual business owners are asking for articles. These generally get distributed to websites that scatter them across ezines and other locations, so if you can adopt some kind of formula to write these you’ll produce professional results when you need them.

Most good articles present the facts in descending order of importance. This allows the reader the advantage of getting the most important information right away so they can make a quick decision about whether they want to read the entire piece or not.

This model also allows you to trim from the bottom of the story if you go over the allocated word count without changing the meaning.

The Lead Of The Article

The lead of the article should interest the reader by highlighting the most important parts of the story. It should be a maximum of one paragraph long for most of the articles that you’ll write for the Internet. Remember here that shorter is better; when most internet readers see large blocks of type they tend to shy away from reading the whole piece.

The Body Of The Article

The body of the article should develop the lead by providing more detail. This is the point where you can sharpen the piece by adopting a few tricks of the trade.

1. Remember not to cram too many diverse ideas into one paragraph. When you’ve got a lot of good information about what you’re writing about, there can be a tendency to want to share all of it at once to make yourself look thorough. Hold back a bit and try to use only one or two of those pieces of information. That way the reader has an easier time digesting them.
2. Paragraphs should also be limited to one to three sentences in length. Remember the average web reader will scan over the article for interesting information before deciding whether they want to read the whole thing or not. Providing them with short brief sentences helps them to digest the information.
3. 3. The right detail makes the article vivid.

She did a number of different things before becoming a writer.

sounds better as:

Before starting a career writing science fiction, she worked on a cruise ship and     as a short order cook in a fast food restaurant.

It’s also a good idea to use quotes when possible.  A good quote tends to change the flow of the article and provides the reader with an informative break from the text.

Finally you’ll need to tie things up at the end with some kind of summary or ending. If you feel that you’ve adequately gone through all the points that you need to in the body of the article, there are other ways of ending the piece other than the summary. A final note highlighting one final aspect of the topic of the article is a good alternate.

Original: Blogging >> Constructing A Good Article

Do you have contests on your blog? Do you ever wonder why so many blogs are doing contests now? One of the reasons is that, when done right, they are a win-win scenario. You can increase your traffic and readership, create excitement, and help promote companies and products.

If you are new to contests, you may be lost and wondering how to get started. Having run very successful giveaways for both national companies and smaller businesses on the MCP Actions photography blog, I have learned skills to make them even more effective. You can see some of my past blog contests and winners announced here.

Before running a contest, work on building your blog traffic and your presence ion social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. While there is no magic number, you want confidence that you will get entries, making it worthwhile for you and the sponsor.

Next, you need to find companies that want to give away products or services. After doing contests for a while, companies find you. But to start, you may want to try the following:

• Contact your advertisers – this is a great opportunity for more exposure than a simple banner.
• If you have affiliate ads on your blog, contact these companies. Again it is a great way to get them more exposure.
• Have a button on your website or blog that leads to a page explaining the benefits of donating prizes for a contest. You can see one in the right column of my blog.
• Make a list of items you feel your readers would like to win. For example, since I run a photography blog, prizes I look for range from lenses for SLR cameras, to Photoshop products, to camera bags, to marketing materials for photographers.
  • Once you identify these items, contact the company via email or even phone, and explain what you are hoping they will donate and what you will give in return.
  • Clearly show your web statistics, using a tool like Google analytics.
  • Explain how the contest will be conducted, links you will provide to their site and any advertising you will include.
  • Describe how you plan to publicize the contest.
  • If they agree to donate prizes, make sure to keep them posted during the contest. They may end up sending traffic your way too.
  • Send a thank you note when the give-away concludes.
• Use your own products for a give-away – if you sell a product, chances are your audience wants to win it. So make sure to give them occasional opportunities to win.

Once you have prizes, you need to organize the contest. How? What? When? Where?

• Where to host?
  • Blog – My contests work best directly on my blog, using the comment section for entries.
  • For short length contests, Facebook and Twitter are also great venues.
  • Forums – if you have a forum, this is an excellent place for holding contests. But remember, not everyone will be able to see it. It can be a great way to get people to join the forum if you publicize it well at other venues.
  • Mailing list/Newsletter – you can utilize your newsletter for contests, though where to have people enter can be trickier.
• When to have the contest? How long should the contest last?
  • When to start and end a contest: there is no magic to this. So much depends on your traffic.
  • I like to start contests on my peek volume days, Tuesday and Wednesday. And I usually end them on a Sunday, which is my lowest traffic day. I often take Saturday and Sunday off from blogging, so this is a “free” space on my blog. Plus it gets people coming to check when they might not otherwise.
  • I occasionally have vendors ask if they can do a 1-day contest, which I will allow. The perk to a one day contest is people feel they need to participate right then. Also, no other posts cover the contest up on my blog. This format works great on Facebook and Twitter as well.
  • I shy away from 2-day contests, since they would begin and end in prime time on my blog. I have not found a reason to end at a time of high traffic since these posts are often not filled with content.
  • Again, this is what works for me. You may find something completely different works well for you.
• How people will enter?
  • Darren wrote an article about competitions and said that keeping it simple is most important. And I agree with this, especially on the entry side of things.
  • On my blog, I ask a simple, yet meaningful question (or sometimes a few). To enter, people answer the question(s) and add your entry to the comment section.
  • Of course if you want to have a photo contest, for example, then you need clear instructions on where to upload photos to, etc.
  • Consider offering additional entries for spreading the word, joining your Facebook Page or following you on Twitter.
• How can you publicize the contest? Of course there are dozens of ways to get the word out. Assuming it is a blog contest, I usually do the following:
  • Make sure to link to the company providing the prize(s). Remember, you need to add value for the sponsor.
  • Post to Twitter.
  • Post to Facebook.
  • Post to any other social media networks you use.
  • Give extra entries to others that post to social networking sites.
  • For my biggest contests, I will send out a newsletter, but I reserve that for just a few times a year at most.
  • Thousands a day read my blog so many see the contest just by their regular visits or RSS.
  • Ask the person donating the prizes can also send out a post or tweet and Facebook about it.
• When will the contest winner(s) be announced?
  • Make sure to let your audience know where and when you will announce the winner(s).
  • You can announce winners in a blog post, or to get people on your social networking sites, consider occasionally announcing winners on Twitter of Facebook.
  • Announcements can be short or you can use them as an opportunity to talk more about the products and company that sponsored the give-away.
• How will you pick the winners?
  • In picking the winner, you can choose based on content, voting or random draw (and possibly other ways but these are the ones I have used).
  • For content, this could be picking the “best” photo or the “favorite” comment. This is subjective and sometimes can lead to frustration. But I see this done a lot on blogs.
  • Voting: On the rare occasion that I do a photo contest, I usually narrow down to the 10-15 best entries (in my opinion). Then I open it up for voting. The perk to this type of contest is contestants help spread the word for you. They tell friends, family and social networking contacts to come vote. This can be very viral.
  • Then there is luck… Picking based on random drawing. Most of my contests are this type. I use either a random picker (like random.org) or I have my kids pick X amount of numbers between 1 and the end number of the contest. This gets my children involved and makes things more personal. For huge prizes, like camera lenses and such, I tend to use the online picker so I can show the results in a screen shot.

This post was an overview on running contests. While it is not a full e-book on how to run contests, I hope you picked up some useful information. Please share what works for you in the comments and expand on ideas explained here too.

This post was written by Jodi Friedman, who runs a successful Photography and Photoshop Blog. Jodi is the popular creator of Photoshop actions and Online Group Photoshop Trainings for Photographers. MCP Actions provides great products and resources for both hobbyist and professional photographers who want to improve their post processing and take their photography to the next level. If you are serious about the quality of your images or your photography business, visit MCP Actions.

Original: Blogging >> The Win – Win Scenario: Holding Successful Blog Contests

Each week, Regator brings you a list of the ten stories bloggers have been writing about most during the previous seven days (click any trend to see a list of posts about it). And while blogging about the week’s hottest topics may help you snag some new readers, it also puts you squarely in the center of a massive crowd, all talking about the same subject. That’s why, along with the top ten lists, I always give examples of posts that covered the week’s top stories in interesting ways.

We’ve already looked at interesting formats that can inspire you and add variety to your blog. Today, we’ll look in more detail at one of those formats: list posts. Writing a list post is the assignment for Day 2 of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook because (among other reasons) list posts are scannable, succinct, visually attractive, persuasive, and have a higher than average chance of going viral. If you’re new to this type of post, get some valuable tips by checking out “10 Steps to the Perfect List Post.” Let’s see how some bloggers used lists to cover this week’s top stories:

1. Gulf of Mexico – By offering five solutions, Inhabitat’s Top 5 Green Ways to Clean Up Oil Spills ensures that readers know exactly what they are being promised.
2. Rand Paul – The Atlantic Wire’s 6 Ways Rand Paul Is Like Sarah Palin uses a bullet-pointed list to break up what might otherwise have been an unwieldy block of text providing comparisons between the two politicians.
3. Google TV ­– 7 Ways to Watch Web Video Without Google TV gives readers value through tips on products, along with the pros and cons of each. Using a non-round number such as seven can have the effect of encouraging readers to add to the list in the comments, which has happened on this Gadget Lab post.
4. French Open ­– The Bleacher Report’s 10 French Open Observations, provides tennis enthusiasts with ten scenes from this important event. As one commenter noted, the post keeps things “brief and moving along.”
5. North Korea – As demonstrated by PajamasMedia’s North vs. South Korea: How Bad Could a War Get? list posts don’t always have to be numbered. Breaking this story down into “The Good News,” “The Bad News,” “The Worse News,” and “The Downright Scary News,” dissects and simplifies a complex situation.
6. World Cup – Abduzeedo’s The 10 Stadiums of the 2010 World Cup is appropriately image-heavy and text-light for this design-focused blog and uses the round number 10, which (like 25, 50, or 100) lends the post a certain amount of authority.
7. Mark Zuckerberg ­– Agree to Disagree’s 5 Ways to Deal with Facebook’s Privacy Policy shows that the list itself might be only part of your post. Create the list then spend the rest of your post playing devil’s advocate or debating the pros and cons of each item.
8. Craig Venter – Jacks of Science used a bold, attention-grabbing, humorous headline to sell 5 Reasons Craig Venter Might Kill You. It’s not a brand-new post relating to Venter’s recent creation of the first synthetic life, but it does provide interesting trivia in a fun-to-digest format.
9. Series Finale ­– BuzzSugar’s The Top 10 Highlights From the American Idol Season Finale! uses the word “top” to create interest. Words like “top” and “best” lead your readers to believe that they’re seriously missing out if they don’t read your post and therefore tend to do very well in the titles of list posts. Techland’s 10 Ways LOST Shouldn’t End takes the opposite approach and looks at the worst ways the show could end rather than the best. Lists of the “worst,” “most awful,” “most disastrous” also tend to do well. Call it schadenfreude.
10. Shrek Forever After – Reelz Channel’s Top 10 “Wow, You’ve Really Let Yourself Go” Movies uses one timely story to illustrate a trend, presenting each list item with a clear subheadline in larger text and bolded phrase that hopes to intrigue readers into reading the smaller text.

How often do you use list posts? Under what circumstances to you think they work best? Let us know in the comments.

Kimberly Turner is a cofounder of Regator.com and Regator for iPhone as well as an award-winning print journalist. You can find her on Twitter @kimber_regator.

Original: Blogging >> Top 10 Blogosphere Trends + 10 Great List Posts

Over the last 18 months my blogging business has undergone a real shift in the way that I’m making money. While I first reached a six figure annual income 4-5 years ago based almost completely upon advertising revenue – in the last 18 months I’ve transitioned my business to close to a seven figure income by shifting some of my focus away from the ad game and toward launching my own products.

I’m not the only one who has done this – every week I’m seeing more and more bloggers releasing products, whether they be e-books, teaching resources, webinars, membership sites, software etc.

If you’re one of these bloggers today I have an exclusive teaching resource from product launch specialist Dave Navarro (pictured right) that I think you’ll find very helpful.

It’s a 78 minute video where Dave talks you through How to Turn Your Blog Into a Product Launch Engine.

I love the way that Dave approaches his online business. It’s all about delivering value, building a sustainable business (not just going for the fast dollar), acting with integrity (he’s very real and is not one of ‘those’ hyped marketers) and he’s very relational.

In the video Dave covers the following (and more):

• Why most products fail before they’re launched (and how to guarantee yours succeeds)
• How to stand out and get attention in a market saturated with “free” offers
• My simple 6-step process for a successful product launch – use it again and again
• How to make subscribers spread the word about your list so it grows quickly
• The one question about your customers you MUST get crystal clear on to make money
• What really makes people click the “Add to Cart” button (it’s not what you think)

Best of all – the video is based upon Dave’s insights just for ProBlogger readers – I sent him some questions that I knew readers here would find value in hearing answers about – it’s tailored for you.

In addition to the 78 minute video Dave’s also offering his four workbooks from the Launch Coach Library for free.

To get the video and workbooks all you need to do is sign up for his newsletter which I’d be recommending you do anyway as Dave’s constantly delivering insights and quality teaching.

There’s no obligation to do anything more than get the newsletter (which you can unsubscribe from any time if it’s not where you’re at).

Original: Blogging >> How to Turn Your Blog Into a Product Launch Engine

Here’s a quick tip for companies or individuals pitching to bloggers to link to their products, services, events, sites etc:

Make it a Win/Win/Win interaction!

A Quick Story

Yesterday I was pitched to on my photography blog by a company running training events for photographers. They felt that they had a useful training event that would help my readers and as a result thought it’d be great for everyone if I linked up to it and gave it a little promotion.

I went to the event page and it did look like a useful event – however I came away from the pitch feeling a little less than inspired to promote it because it wasn’t really a Win/Win/Win situation.

• I could see how dPS promoting it would be a win for the company running the event – we have 3 million or so readers and a certain % of them would sign up for the event.
• I could see how promoting it might be a ‘win’ for my readers – they learn something about photography.
• But I struggled to see the ‘win’ for me and the site. Yes, helping my readers could have some benefits for us as a site – however there was no direct win really.

The thing I fed back to the event organiser was that I’m asked to promote events most days of the week so I’m a little selective in what I promote partly because I don’t want to overwhelm our readers. I’m also ideally looking to promote things that provide value for readers (and so reject some events simply because they’re irrelevant or don’t see to be high quality) AND also want to see some benefit to my site also as a result of it.

I fed back to them that while that might seem a little greedy and self interested – that I’m running a business here (as they are) and if I’m promoting a commercial event then I have an expectation that not only the organisers of the event should benefit. I’m looking for mutually beneficial partnerships.

How to Make Your Pitch a Win/Win/Win Pitch

If you’re pitching bloggers – don’t just look to get something out of it for yourself – you need to be pitching in a way that the bloggers readers will benefit (this is mainly about promoting relevant and high quality products) and hopefully where the blogger/blog itself will benefit in some way.

This doesn’t just mean financial wins for the bloggers (although that should certainly be considered if you’re benefiting financially) but it could include numerous things. Here are a few ‘wins’ for bloggers that might increase your chances of a successful pitch:

• advertising – one obvious type of financial win is to buy advertising on the site. Whether this be a banner ad, an in-post ad, a newsletter sponsorship or some other kind of ad – this at least compensates the blogger for promoting your event.
• affiliate deal – paying the blogger for a conversion/sale is a good way to go for you because you’re only paying for conversions and good for the bloggers as it gives them real incentive to promote your product/service/event.
• promotion – an exchange in terms of promotion could work – if the blogger is promoting you, why not agree to promote them back either at your event, on your site etc. Promoting them as a sponsor or partner won’t cost you anything but helps the blogger to do something that they’re on about – growing their blog.
• product – many bloggers will accept products either as payment or to give away to their readers as prizes. In a sense this is payment (and most bloggers will want to disclose it) but it’s going to cost you less while still delivering value to the blogger for their promotion.

I’m sure there are other ways you could bring some value to a blogger (feel free to share some in comments) – the key is to find a way to not only deliver value to yourself and their readers – but to them also.

Original: Blogging >> How to Pitch Bloggers – Make it a Win/Win/Win Situation

Do you want your blog to grow, increase your readership and subscriber numbers, have your content constantly spread, and make more money? Then you need to convert your blog visitors into dedicated readers.

Visitors are those that stop by your blog, skim through an article or two, and then leave – never to return. Boo. They’re of no use.

But dedicated readers regularly read your blog, spread your articles, leave high-quality comments, and buy your products. Yay! More of these, please.

Your mission is to convert your blog visitors into dedicated readers.

What good is 1,000 visitors a day if most of them don’t return? Traffic figures alone might make you feel good, but it doesn’t get you any desired results.

It’s all about quality over quantity. 100 dedicated readers beats out 1,000 passer-by visitors.

Here are 10 ways to convert your blog visitors into dedicated readers:

1. Be Yourself

This is slap-in-the-forehead common sense. But some bloggers try to be someone they’re not just because that type of personality is successful.

Just be yourself. Not only is it easy when you don’t have to force an unnatural persona, but you’ll have a 100% genuine and desirable voice.

On my blog Lifebeat, I’m completely myself. And it’s so easy not having to worry about projecting a certain image. I just write how I talk. Very relaxed and informal. I keep it simple and to-the-point. I inject jokes and music references. I constantly share personal examples. And since I’m a huge anime fan, all my articles have anime images rather than Flickr or iStock Photo ones.

Are you funny? Be funny. Serious? Be serious. Angry? Be angry.

Just be yourself.

2. Put the Reader Experience First

What makes you return to a restaurant? Chances are it’s not just the food but the experience.

Great articles alone aren’t enough. You also need a great reader experience. If you want visitors to convert into dedicated readers, you need a website people want to regularly return to.

That means don’t do anything on your blog that’ll compromise the reader experience. Translation: don’t annoy your visitors.

Common offenders: too many popups, ads, social bookmarking buttons, and subscribe links.

Just look at some of the most successful blogs: Daily Blog Tips, Problogger, Copyblogger and so on. No popups, and very light ads, social bookmarking buttons, and subscribe links.

I designed Lifebeat to put the reader experience first. Very clean, very simple, and the content is at the forefront. There’s no popups, no ads, no anything that would detract from enjoying reading one of my articles.

If someone really wants to subscribe or share your article on Twitter, they’ll do it. Don’t annoy and turn them away, losing what could’ve become a dedicated reader.

3. Focus on Benefits to the Reader, Not Your Features

If you want dedicated readers, your blog should focus on what the benefit is to the visitor. Not just your thoughts and ideas but value to a visitor.

Answer the “so what” question for new visitors: what’s in it for them? Why should they care?

Instead of putting the spotlight on what features my blog has, I focus on the benefit to visitors: helping you maximize your life. Ideas and strategies to help you do more of what you love and are passionate about. Not only do I state it in the About page and anywhere else, but that’s the focus I have for each article I write: how can I help and provide value to you, the reader.

Visitors care what you can do for them (benefits), not what thoughts and ideas you have (features). Focus on benefits, not features.

4. Write for Humans, Not Search Engines

Who reads your blog? People. So write for them.

Some bloggers make the mistake of writing articles solely based on highly-searched keywords. That results in nothing-new, unremarkable traffic bait. They might get search engine traffic, but very few visitors will be converted into readers.

The best search engine optimization is amazing content. Not website tweaks. Not a WordPress plugin. Not meta whozawhutsit. But amazing content.

If people like your articles, they’ll share it on social media, blogs, email, and even word of mouth. You’ll get higher-quality links, too, since it’s interested people linking to you. And, as Daniel here or Darren of Problogger and Brian of Copyblogger will tell you, high-quality backlinks are the ultimate SEO.

Now, optimizing for search engines can help with search traffic. And if you find a keyword phrase that happens to fit what you were going to write about anyway, go ahead and use it.

I don’t consider searched keywords when writing an article. Only once I have an idea down, I’d use the Google keywords tool to see if there’s a wording for the topic that people use most often. If not, I don’t worry about it at all. I never once let keywords dictate what I’ll write.

But put your message first – don’t compromise it. Make search engine considerations a distant second to writing what you have to say.

Write for people first, optimize for search engine traffic later.

5. Be Consistent

Choose a posting schedule and stick to it no matter what. Build a cache of articles or schedule your posts if needed.

I clearly state that I post a new article on Lifebeat every Monday and Thursday. I’ve stuck to that schedule ever since I started and haven’t missed a day yet.

Consistent readers need consistent updates to return to. Provide it for them.

They’ll know when to expect a new article, just like how people regularly check in to their favorite webcomics and news sites on certain days.

6. Make It Easy for Visitors to Subscribe

The more you have to work to get something, the less likely you’ll take the time to get it. Right? Don’t even try to deny it. That’s why iTunes is killing it in music sales: it couldn’t be easier to find and download a tune.

Be like iTunes on your blog. Make it clear and simple for visitors to be able to subscribe via email and RSS feed. Remove as many doors for your visitors as possible.

A visitor who subscribes is much more likely to convert into a dedicated reader. This is because your visitors can read your latest articles from the convenience of their email inbox or RSS feed reader. Your stuff is sent to them, so even after they forget about your blog they’ll still get your new articles, increasing the chance of them reading regularly (and maybe even sharing or buying your stuff).

Putting an RSS and mail icon in a sidebar isn’t enough. Make the subscribe option on your blog as non-cryptic and easy as possible.

Only a small percentage of your visitors will actually know what what an RSS or mail icon mean. Spell it out for the rest of your visitors, including why they should subscribe (it saves them time and energy because new content is delivered directly to them).

And people love free stuff, so don’t forget to mention that visitors can subscribe for free. Magazine subscriptions still have some thinking that subscribing to anything means paying.

I have a simple design on Lifebeat, so the subscribe buttons are in plain sight and clearly marked. I also explain in a short sentence what it means to subscribe and why a visitor should do it… and of course I mention that it’s free.

7. Be Remarkable

Be unique. Be great. Amplify yourself.

Don’t try to be the best in some field where you could never dominate. Instead, do what Seth Godin says: create your own category and dominate it. Analyze and figure out your unique traits, then crank them up to a 10.

People aren’t going to be interested in yet another productivity, personal finance, time management, self improvement, or whatever blog that says nothing new. Use #3 (Be Yourself) and amplify your unique traits.

I’m a writer, electronic musician, and adventurer who’s following his unconventional passion in life via non-conforming means. I never followed societal rules and found my own way. I also have child-like curiosity, not limiting myself to how I “should” act – an eternal kid in an adult’s world. I combine all of those traits and more into what I hope is an always-improving remarkable voice that can offer something interesting, something fresh, something game-changing and disruptive.

Would you return to a blog that bores you or doesn’t excite you? Of course not. So be interesting to read, and visitors will start converting into dedicated readers.

8. Talk With Your Visitors

It really is that simple: talk with your visitors. Reply to their comments and emails, send thank-you notes if they leave a comment or subscribe, or whatever else.

Use what works best for you (and doesn’t compromise your personal style – remember, be yourself). Email, comments, Twitter, whatever. But use at least one method of communication, so that visitors can form a relationship with you and feel like they’re reading from someone they know (or know that they can contact, at least).

I’ve never been comfortable on social networks and instant messenger, but blog comments and email have been natural for me. So I focus on posting and responding to comments and sending and replying to emails as my forms of communication with my visitors and readers. I also try to regularly send out thank-you emails.

People regularly return to something that they’ve formed a relationship or connection with. Think about it: you care way more about what your friends are doing than strangers.

9. Be Unconventional

Say something new that gets people thinking, motivated, and/or take action.

If you piss them off, that’s great too – there’s no such thing as bad publicity, and controversy gets visitors interested (just ask Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, or Steve Pavlina).

I’m constantly pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone and become even less self-conscious by writing about unconventional topics (or at least an unconventional perspective on something). Heck, even I would get bored of my own writing if I played it safe.

If your article is no different from the latest blurbs that day, your visitors will treat it at such: a quick skim-through and then move on.

Get visitors thinking and talking and you increase the chance of them coming back for more (and maybe even bringing some friends along).

10. Have Fun

A blog isn’t a cubicle job, so just have fun.

People want to enjoy what they consume. If you have fun writing an article, chances are people will have fun reading it. And people tend to return and consume more of what’s fun and enjoyable.

I have so much fun writing and making music on Lifebeat it should be illegal. Like, I’ll be writing an article or creating a new tune or mix, and an alarm will sound. Woo woo woo! It’s the fun alarm: someone’s having way too much fun.

Have fun, and your blog will be fun – and visitors will start converting into dedicated readers.

Maximize Your Blog Visitors

Maximize your blog visitors by converting them into dedicated readers using these 10 ways.

Your blog to grow, your readership and subscriber numbers will increase, your content will be constantly spread, and you’ll make more money from more products sold. Now who doesn’t want all that?

Have these 10 ways helped you convert your blog visitors into dedicated readers? What other ways have worked for you?

Oleg Mokhov is a writer, musician, and adventurer who explores unconventional life-maximizing ideas and makes energizing electronic dance music at Lifebeat. You can read more about maximizing your own life in his Life Maximization Guide.

Original: Blogging >> 10 Ways to Convert Your Blog Visitors Into Dedicated Readers

1 – Not Starting A Mailing List From Day One

Without a doubt, my biggest blogging mistake when I started was not getting up a mailing list from the get go. This mistake has cost me hundred of thousands in lost income. When I started the blog, it was meant to be a personal blog to ramble about stuff that I was interested in it. I never intended the blog to make any money. Because of that, I didn’t applied my usual online money making methods on it. The number 1 method for making money online is:

YOU MUST HAVE A MAILING LIST.

I didn’t start the list until over a year into the blog’s life. Had I started from day one, the blog mailing list would twice the size it is today and blog income would be pushing $100,000 per month.

If I were to give one piece of money making advice to new bloggers, it would be start your mailing list from day 1. Don’t wait until your blog “makes some money” before doing it. While many people think/want everything on the Internet to be free, the truth of the matter is you have to be willing to spend time and money on any worth while venture.

My list is the reason the blog makes the income that it does. The ads you see on this blog accounts for only a third of its income. The rest comes from its backend email system. When done right, an email list will never cost you money. I have never failed to not cover the cost of my list hosting. The income the list generate more than pays for the cost of running it.

My recommended email list service is Aweber. I’ve been using them for years and they are by far the best in the business. Aweber works seamlessly with with most blog themes and its web interface allows you to access it from any computer, anywhere in the world.

Aweber offers a $1 trial account for all new customers. The account is just like a normal Aweber account and includes unlimited email campaigns, newsletter, broadcasts and follow ups. It’s a great way to test drive Aweber to see what it can do for you. Your satisfaction is guaranteed. If you find that email marketing is not for you, contact Aweber within 30 days and they’ll give you the $1 back.

2- Using My Own Name As The Domain Name

As I’ve stated before, I never intended to turn this blog into a commercial operation. It was just suppose to be a place for me to talk about whatever was on my mind. Most of the early readers were friends and family members. The blog was a great way for them to keep up with what’s happening in my life.

Because of a case study to see if money could be made by blogging, the blog went all commercial. In doing so, it attracted a ton and new readers but my family members hardly read it anymore. Were I to do it over again, I would have kept John Chow dot Com as my personal blog and did the case study with a brand new blog using another domain name.

Branding Is Easier With a Commercial Name

When it comes to branding, it is generally easier to brand a commercial name than your own name. I had an advantage in that I was already known in the technology circles so it was just a matter of extending my brand into blogging. However, for the average blogger, branding your own name is extremely hard. You’ll have a much easier time branding a trade name than your own name.

You Have To Do Most of The Work

When your blog bears your name, you have to write most of the posts. Sure, you can bring in a guest blogger every now and then but for the most part, your readers will expect 90+ percent of the blog posts to be written by you. Contrast this with the dozen or so bloggers that write for Blogging Tips. Most people don’t even know that Blogging Tips is now owned by Zac Johnson, who has never made a post there since he bought it.

It’s Next To Impossible To Sell

How much is John Chow dot Com worth if there’s no John Chow? According to the business Opportunities Weblog, my blog is worth over $3 million but realistically, no one will pay that much for it unless I agreed to stay on (even then I doubt they’ll pay that much). However, if I’m going to sell, I want to cash out and leave, not stay on and work!

In the end, I can never sell this blog because this blog bears my name and I want to maintain control of my name. If you’re blogging for money, then I recommend you do it with a trade name instead of your own name. You should definitely register your own name as a domain name but keep it for personal use.

Original: Blogging >> My Two Biggest Blogging Mistakes

You work hard to build your blog through traffic and content strategies, but are you working equally as hard at converting readers into paying customers? As Darren demonstrated during his week-long, $72,000 ebook launch, having your own product available for sale can help you generate an impressive revenue stream.

To get to the big numbers, however, you need more than just a high-traffic blog – you need a way to contact your readers via email, because that’s what really drives the sales. Let’s talk about why this is true (and how you can start using your blog to build a list who will buy from you).

The Blessing (and Curse) of A Blog Audience

Blogs are an incredible way to build a connection to your audience. People get a chance to sample your content, get to know you, and establish trust in you, all at their own pace. Your loyal readers can spread the word about you, creating “social proof” and an ongoing stream of new readers. It’s a beautiful thing.

The downside, though, is that a blog audience isn’t necessarily a “real time” audience, meaning that readers may not be keeping current with your content on a daily basis. And this will kill you when it’s time to do a promotion or sale.

You may be running a 5-day special on a new product or service, but what if readers only catch up on their RSS feeds once a week? They may miss out. Or, if their feed reader is too cluttered, they may never get to it at all. You run your promotions, and sales flounder.

But having a growing number of people who are subscribed to your mailing list turns the tables on this problem. If you’re releasing a product today, your subscribers will hear about it via email today – no matter what.

The Advantage Of An Email Audience

Unlike feed readers or tweet streams (which people often skim through, ignoring most of the content), email commands attention in a different way. Readers are used to opening emails in order to figure out what to do with it (read it, save it for later, or delete it), and they’re a lot more likely to give it a look – and click the links inside – within a few hours of it being sent.

So if you’ve got a promotion going tomorrow, you can let all your readers know about it tomorrow. Some may decide to ignore it, but they’ll have at least seen it, because their inbox gets looked at in detail at least once a day.

And if you’ve been doing your job using your blog to warm up your audience, they’ll be more likely to open that email soon after receiving it.

So let’s talk about a few field-tested strategies for getting your readers on your list.

How to Get Blog Visitors On Your List

To get blog visitors on your list, you need to have a reason for them to join up – and in most cases, people offer a freebie such as a special report or audio/video content as an incentive. The challenge with this, however, is that everybody’s doing it.

Years ago, just having something for free was enough to get people to join your list. But these days, people are inundated with free offers so you’ve got to do something more to stand out. Whatever it is that you give away needs to better than good – it needs to be spectacular.

The good news is that making this happen is pretty easy to do. All you need to do is create one small, product-worthy resource that solves one of your potential customers’ biggest problems. It doesn’t have to be a gigantic undertaking – just a resource that represents some of your expertise specifically positioned to solve a reader’s issue or help them become smarter than they were before.

I recommend you actually create a workbook for this free resource, because it’s a format that isn’t used too often and will more readily capture attention. “Special Reports” are a dime a dozen, but most people are accustomed to paying for workbooks, so your offer will automatically appear higher-value.

Why The “Free Product” Model Works So Well For This

Giving away a product-quality resource is an incredible list-building tool because it takes people by surprise – they’re not used to getting something truly substantial for free. And workbooks are particularly powerful because they contain the promise of some fairly immediate results – when the reader gets through it, they’ll either have a particular problem solved or they’ll have more information around a topic that’s important to them.

That promise of immediate results is a powerful motivator to get on your list, get your workbook and go through it. And once your reader finishes that workbook, they’ll be pre-sold on the idea that you are a person worth buying from in the future (after all, if your free stuff is product-quality, how much more impressive will your paid products be?).

One other benefit to this “over the top” free offering is that very few of your competitors will have the guts to do this. Just having this resource puts you at a competitive advantage.

What To Do If This Seems Like A Scary Amount Of Work

By this point you might be thinking that you don’t have the time to make a product-quality offer for your list. But it’s actually easier than you think. You don’t have to create a 100-page PDF or 6 hours of audio – all you need to do is pick one specific pain point your audience has and create a resource that lets them get one step further than they are now.

And to show you just how simple it is, I’ve put together a free workbook that steps you through how to put together a product-quality resource in a weekend (or even one day, if you’re ambitious). It’s not that difficult to do, and the payoff can be huge. I’ve personally used this free workbook strategy to drive over 3,000 people onto my list over the last seven months, all by adding additional free workbooks to a “library” on my blog.

(And the best part is, you can reuse the strategies in the free workbook to create additional products you can charge for after you get people on your list.)

When You’re Ready To Begin Building Your List, Here’s What To Do

What would it do for your blog’s reputation to have a product-quality resource available for free download? And how strong of a good first impression would you make on your readers if you offered it?

Take a look at the free workbook and decide what kind of resource you’re going to create to pull people into your mailing list.  One weekend is all it takes, and it could be the tipping point your blog has been waiting for.

Dave Navarro is a product launch manager who specializes in teaching smart blog owners how to build responsive email lists and create their own high-demand information product platform at his blog, The Launch Coach.

Original: Blogging >> How To Convert Blog Readers To Paying Customers