OK, I had a hard time coming up with a title. Anyway, Jamie Harrop has interviewed me as part of his Blogger Interview Series. Cue SEO anchor text: blog tips make money blogging.
Swing by and learn about my favorite blog promotion methods, who I’d like to write a guest post for, my favorite blog post, and a random blogging tip you don’t want to miss.
Image from Family Guy
There’s a famous juggler, well known for his dazzling performances, who once said “Your first 100 shows don’t count.” Meaning that while 100 shows sounds like a lot, it really takes that many just to warm up and start to find your way.
I think that’s how I feel, reflecting on my blog as I write this 100th post. A lot has certainly happened, but in many ways I feel like I’m just getting started.
First, let’s look at some things that have happened along the way.
It didn’t feel like I was off to such a great start when I had only 3 subscribers after my first month, and only 13 subscribers after my second. Now I’m up to about 300 subscribers (Feedburner admits that it’s not perfect at counting subscribers, but it showed a peak of 303 recently). It’s not very many in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a lot more than the 0 we all have to start with!
Likewise, I’m not making much money from this blog, but it’s moving in the right direction. It costs a few dollars a month to pay for the domain and hosting, and I also paid for a custom banner. I also paid for (e)books that I’ve reviewed here, if you want to count those. And if you include the cost of my time (even assuming minimum wage), this is a ridiculously expensive endeavor. But some money is trickling in now, mainly from AdSense ads, and I’ve also started making some affiliate sales recently.
I’ve written two ebooks so far: The Zen of Blogging and Memoirs of a Gaijin. The first was an absolute breeze to write once the idea struck me, while the second took way, way too long. And both were free, which was kind of nice for getting started, but it doesn’t exactly pay the bills either. I do think ebooks will be an important thing for me to focus on going forward, and I’m currently doing research in preparation for my next one. It’s gonna be good!
As for publicity, I received links from the following blogs with thousands of subscribers:
As a result of appearing in “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch, I’ve been getting searches on different variations of my tagline:
how to stop sucking and live a life of abundance
live a life of abundance
live sucking
show me live free sucking
stop scuking and live a life of abundance
stop suckin and live a life of abundance
stop sucking & abundance
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stop sucking and enjoy abundance
stop sucking and enjoy abundance randy
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stop sucking and live your life
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stop sucking and start living a live of abundance
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stop sucking and starting living life
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stop sucking at life and live abundance
stop sucking life abundance
stop sucking live a life of abundance
stop sucking live life abundance
stop sucking live life of abundance
stop sucking start living a life of abundance
stop sucking the last lecture
stop sucking up and live a life of abundance
stop sucking, randy pausch
stop suking and live a life of abundance
sucking abundance life
Apparently, a lot of people aren’t so good at typing what they read into a search engine. I’m sure there’s an SEO lesson in that.
Other amusing search terms that people used to find me:
10 reasons why indians should visit united states of america
I really think we’re open to people of all nationalities.
7 unique reasons why indians should visit japan
Hmmm, same guy, different country? And make sure the reasons are unique. No fair using any of them twice!
is japan a good place to live or is new york better
Or maybe Kansas, or Iceland, or North Korea? You know, these are very different places! Are you really that flexible about where to live?
i need a gaijin
I think you’ll get kicked out of Japan for saying that!
making money with hunter
Let’s do it!
how i won the lottery
Well, I did win $3, but I can’t really tell you how I did it.
what does amazon affiliate link look like
Are you on a scavenger hunt or something?
you can not make a living on adsense 2008
Yes, please give me the latest and greatest information on how to not make money with AdSense!
create residual income little effort
Well, I have an email from this guy in Saudi Arabia who wants to wire me $25 million and just needs $3,000 for a transfer processing fee…
reasons how people gain overnight success
#1: Work on having gooder grammar.
how to be a confident woman
Um, you’ve come to the wrong blog.
how to be the other woman
Do you really want to be the other woman?
a woman now
Yeah, I think you’re looking for a different kind of site.
pretending to be a woman for phone sex
Are you looking for a how-to guide?
men don’t like a woman to be wrong
Thank you for telling me that; I didn’t know.
how long does it take for a man to realize he wants to marry a woman
Stop googling and just ask him!
how to be a good housewife
Vered, do you want to have a talk with her?
how to be a gurl that guys like
Let’s start by working on your spelling.
how to refrain from being sexist
Is it really that difficult for you?
i’d prefer to be a woman
I really don’t think I’m the one you should be talking to.
borders backgrounds whips chains
What exactly are you looking for?
acceptable reasons for leaving a job
You really don’t need anyone’s permission.
got sick at work and need to go home
Please, be my guest.
automatic blog posts
Sad but true. There’s actually demand for my automatic blog post rehasher.
can hunter be dodged
Never!
can we really dodge bullets
Of course you can dodge bullets.
i dont dodge bullets
That’s OK too. Do you wear a bulletproof vest, or do you just not have people shooting at you?
can’t stop the awesomeness
No doubt!
dc26e349e19c21aec3bb896e0cc7d56d03b551b8415546e6
Wow, my efforts to dominate the Google rankings for “dc26e349e19c21aec3bb896e0cc7d56d03b551b8415546e6″ have finally paid off, thanks to SEO School!
definition of people skills
Well, if you have to ask, you probably don’t have them.
difference between dream world & real world
I’m not sure there is a difference between the dream world and the real world.
do other people shape us or do we shape ourselves?
I think it’s a little of both.
ebook hunter share
Well, my first two ebooks are freely available!
2008 critical comments about steve pavlina
What kind of person searches for hot off the press critical comments about someone?
erin pavlina psychic fraud
Awww…poor Erin!
how to be a mail order psychic
Gee, that sounds reputable!
juggling to improve martial arts
Why don’t you work on martial arts to improve your martial arts?
favourite interview question and answer
I guess that would be “Why?” and “Why not?”
why introversion
Why not?
introverts and claims examiners
They go together like a horse and carriage, don’t they?
are introverts disturbing?
No.
people think introverts are dumb
They do?
why are they trying to label introversion as a disease?
Because they’re dumb (the labelers).
poor introverts how are we suppose to live yahoo answers
Oh, come on! It’s great to be an introvert!
personal life sucking
That’s a pretty broad problem. Why don’t we take it one step at a time?
what is you dream for the world
That’s a nice thing to be searching on. I guess world peace would be a good start.
finding enjoyable blogs to read
You can start with this one!
Perhaps most importantly, I’ve met a lot of wonderful people online that I never would have met if I hadn’t become a blogger. Blogging in a vacuum isn’t much fun, so it’s great to have kindred spirits to share your thoughts with. Here are my top 10 commenters over the past 30 days, ranked by number of comments:
#1 (tie): Barbara Swafford, Blogging Without A Blog
Where, oh where, would I be without Barbara? True to her blog’s name, she was encouraging me even before I started blogging. A wonderfully loyal commenter, she would have held the #1 spot outright if she weren’t taking a break from blogging to attend her neighborhood garage sale (the great risks of garage sales are overlooked by bloggers all too often). In the time I’ve known her, her comments section has exploded, and yet she still takes the time to respond to every single one.
#1 (tie): Catherine Lawson, Bold Advice for Business Success
Catherine started following me early on, and I started following her at the same time. She uses her years of business experience and her uncommon sense to help people avoid costly mistakes. She recently said she’s moving away from bold advice for business success in favor of a better work/life balance, so we’ll have to see what happens. But whatever she blogs about, I don’t think Catherine knows how to not be bold, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
#3: Marelisa, Abundance Blog at Marelisa-Online
I came across Marelisa pretty recently, and became hooked on her eclectic mix of topics related to abundance. She backs up her ideas by stuffing her posts full of research data that comes from all the books she reads. I guess reading a lot is typical for an ex-lawyer (yes, she was a lawyer, but a nice one).
#4: Vered, MomGrind – a Mommyblogger Wannabe
Another nice former lawyer (yup, there are at least two of them in the world), the very thin but NOT medically underweight Vered runs a mommy blog that is not really a mommy blog. She also writes about finance, feminism, happiness, and blogging, among other things. She always has interesting ideas, and I always look forward to her Wordless Wednesdays.
#5: Evelyn Lim, Attraction Mind Map
Evelyn has all kinds of training and certifications in things I barely understand. She combines knowledge with inspiration to help people tune in to greater abundance in all areas of life. Very honest and sincere, she shares both her successes and her struggles in walking the path to peace and prosperity. (Hmmm, don’t there seem to be a lot of women in this list? Nothing wrong with that, I’m just saying…)
#6: Akemi, Yes to Me
Akemi has shown plenty of courage in leaving her native Japan for the U.S., getting married and divorced, moving across the country, and starting a coaching and Akashic record reading business. Through her business and her blog, she helps people live their life purpose and achieve spiritual growth.
This tiny woman can throw a man three times her size and keep him on the floor indefinitely. Cool, huh? She writes about martial arts, exercise, nutrition, meditation, and so forth, and she has a knack for having insight into lessons learned from cool cheesy movies. (Where are all these women coming from? As soon as I can, I’m writing a post about Scarface to restore a little balance.)
#8 (tie): Al – 7P Productions – Dedicated to Achieving Goals and Dreams
Al’s humble site is about making dreams come true. He has a bunch of interesting, creative, and entertaining stuff on his blog, and he leaves very thoughtful comments. I won’t give it away, but you can visit his about page to find out what the 7 Ps are. (Finally, we have a guy on the list!)
#8 (tie): Shilpan – Success Soul – Abundance and Simplicity for Mind, Body, and Soul
An ambitious, purpose-driven guy, Shilpan believes that success is the result of positive thinking followed by action. He also believes that every one of us can achieve abundance through belief and hard work. Although his blog is fairly new, it’s done incredibly well on Digg, with his latest post currently showing 1,887 diggs.
And now we get to the point where I would normally list #10 and be on my merry way, but as it turns out, we have a 7-way tie for the 10th spot. Seven? Anyway, I’ve got to run soon, so I’ll just list the seven bloggers, and you can feel free to write your own bio in the comments.
#10 (tie): Avani Mehta, Food For Mind
#10 (tie): Dave Navarro, Rock Your Day
#10 (tie): Hayden Tompkins, Persistent Illusion
#10 (tie): Jamie Harrop, Young Entrepreneur
#10 (tie): Mary Jaksch, Goodlife Zen
#10 (tie): Matt H., The Freewheeler
#10 (tie): XiongShui, Teehaus – Stammtisch
What does the future hold?
If we knew that, then life wouldn’t be much fun, would it? But I can say that plenty of new posts are on the way, including a new series that I should be starting soon. I’m also going to be having some contests, so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on your chance to win a prize!
You may have noticed that I’ve been posting more often than usual lately. It’s mainly because I’ve had a lot of book/ebook/product reviews to write. And while I don’t want to hijack my blog with reviews, I still have six more to do (and I don’t review everything I read). I also have one ebook I bought almost a month ago that I haven’t even read yet. Ironically, it’s Dave Navarro’s “What’s Holding You Back?” Hmmm, time management, methinks?
I’m going to try to slow down a bit with my posting, because I don’t want subscribing to my blog to be too big a time commitment for you guys. I’ve also found it a bit too hard to keep up with my favorite blogs, gather fresh material for my posts, work on my ebook, and enjoy this supposed life that exists outside of work. It’s just hard to slow down because so much is happening, you know?
That’s all for now. Thanks to everyone for making it a fun journey. Now, on to the next 100 posts…
Do you have a Squidoo lens yet? I don’t, but I’m thinking about creating one (or more).
I usually don’t jump on the bandwagon right away. I wait until I hear enough good things about something before I take a look. And I think I may have reached that point with Squidoo.
For those of you who don’t know, Squidoo is the creation of marketing guru Seth Godin. It’s free and easy for anyone to create a “lens,” or web page, on a particular topic. But why would you want to do that?
If you currently have no online presence, I’d generally recommend starting a blog before branching out into things like Squidoo. But if you already have a blog up and running, Squidoo can help give you a traffic boost.
Marelisa mentioned in a comment here that her Squidoo lens called “100 Things To Do Before You Die – Create Your Bucket List” is giving her 5 to 10 visits to her blog every day. That’s because Squidoo is one of the 300 most popular websites in the U.S., with a mammoth Google PageRank of 7. Create a good lens, and you’ll probably get some people clicking through to your blog.
There are also some potential financial benefits. Squidoo automatically puts ads on all lenses, which generate revenue when someone clicks on them. 5% of the revenue goes to charity, 45% goes to Squidoo, and the remaining 50% goes to either you or a charity of your choice. I wouldn’t count on making more than pennies though.
Do you have a Squidoo lens? If so, feel free to give your link and tell us about it in the comments.
Image from Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
After you figure out whether you’re a Gryffindor or a Slytherin, it’s time to figure out whether you’re a Jedi or a Sith. So head on over to Remarkablogger and read my “guest post” Are You a Jedi or a Sith Blogger?
I put “guest post” in quotes because it wasn’t really a guest post. Instead, Michael took a question I asked and used it as the basis for a post. A good deal for both of us!
I asked Michael “What’s the best way to make it as a blogger? The way of the Jedi, or the way of the Sith?” You may recognize these terms from Star Wars, but I defined a Jedi blogger as one who focuses on providing value, and a Sith blogger as one who focuses on tactics.
Just to be clear, this is not the difference between good and evil. A Jedi asks “how can I help my readers?” while a Sith asks “how can I help myself?” As a Sith is thinking about what tactics will work best, they will consider options without regard to whether they’re evil.
I consider myself to be mainly a Jedi blogger in that I focus on value creation. For example, I choose topics without consideration of how much the relevant AdSense ads will pay, I respond to all comments (for now), and I link to low-ranking sites if they’re relevant. But I consider myself partly Sith, in that I put my sidebar on the left because that’s where people look, I sometimes put numbers in headlines because I know they grab attention, and I’m considering Ezine Articles to get more traffic. None of these things are evil, but they don’t come from a perspective of “how can I help my readers?”
I asked Michael which is the best way to make it as a blogger, and I left the door open to the possibility that the answer might be somewhere in the middle. So go on over to Are You a Jedi or a Sith Blogger? and share your thoughts.
Points for participating in the blogging discussion. Bonus points for realizing that this has nothing to do with blogging.
Many of the people who read this blog are bloggers themselves. Some of them are running blogs that are much more successful than mine, but many of them are struggling to get off the ground. This is not unusual. In fact, less than 1 blog in 1,000 earns more than $20 a month.
If you want some guidance on how to create a successful blog, I highly recommend the free ebook Blog Profits Blueprint by Yaro Starak. If you haven’t heard of Yaro before, he’s an Australian entrepreneur and internet marketer who has gone from being a complete unknown on the internet to making over $15,000 per month as a result of his blog, all while working as little as two hours per day.
I read Yaro’s blog regularly, and there’s no denying that he knows his stuff. I admire his high level of practical knowledge as well as his refreshing transparency and integrity. He’s really hard core on the marketing side, and since what I love is content creation and not so much the marketing, some of his stuff is a bit beyond my level of understanding and interest. But his ebook is very accessible to people who are not internet marketing experts.
By the way, if you’re looking into starting a blog but you’re confused by the technical complexity of getting set up, Yaro has put together some wonderful instructional videos with his friend Gideon Shalwick at BecomeABlogger.com. These videos will be too basic for established bloggers, but they’re terrific for beginners.
Anyway, back to Yaro’s ebook. It covers his personal story, how blogs make money, choosing a topic, attracting attention, what kind of content to write, how to market, different kinds of traffic channels, networking, monetization methods, and so on. It’s by far the best ebook on blogging that I know of. Well, OK, I’m still partial to my own ebook The Zen of Blogging, but the Blog Profits Blueprint is far more practical!
Downloading Yaro’s ebook requires opting in to his newsletter. He runs his newsletter using AWeber, so you know you can safely unsubscribe if you don’t like it, but I’m still on his newsletter after reading his ebook months ago. If you want to get a better idea of what Yaro is about before downloading his ebook, I’ll give you some details here.
What follows is an article that Yaro wrote and gave me permission to repost (though I’ve made some cosmetic edits – sorry, can’t help myself!). If you like what he has to say, then you’ll probably like the Blog Profits Blueprint. I’ve included my own comments in his article, so you can see my take on things. Apologies for the 4,000-word post, but since not all of my readers are looking for blogging information, I thought it was best to put a lot of stuff in one post that can simply be skipped by those not interested.
In every blogger’s life comes a special day – the day they first launch a new blog. Now unless you went out and purchased someone else’s blog, chances are your blog launched with only one very loyal reader – you. Maybe a few days later you received a few hits when you told your sister, father, girlfriend and best friend about your new blog, but that’s about as far as you went when it comes to finding readers.
Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers. These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next to no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.
It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually, once you establish enough momentum, you gain what is called “traction,” which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers. Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.
[Hunter's comments: This may be less true than we'd like it to be. Skellie said the same thing in The Butterfly Growth Model, that once you get to 500 subscribers, your readers will do most of the promotional work for you. Later, she said she found that it wasn't working as well as she'd hoped, and she wasn't getting many new readers without doing her own promotion. I think there's certainly some truth to the butterfly growth model, but it may work better for some blogs than for others.]
10. Write at least five major “pillar” articles. A pillar article is a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice. This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good “how-to” lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn’t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight. The more pillars you have on your blog, the better.
[Hunter's comments: While Yaro is the one who coined the term "pillar article," it has a slightly different meaning for me. I think a pillar article need not be a "how-to" lesson. To me it's any post of exceptional value, original insight, or essential to understanding your blog's core message. It might not have "lots of very practical tips or advice;" for example, it might serve to instill a powerful mindset, and not offer any practical tips at all. My pillar articles tend to be 1,000 - 1,500 words, and my Boot Camp consists of my most important pillar articles (and by the way, I still have quite a few more to add...someday).
I agree with Yaro that pillar articles are essential. Of course I write plenty of lighter posts too, but without pillar articles, it's very hard to stand out in a competitive niche. And while we're on this topic, I don't use the term "article" when referring to my own writings. I call them posts, whether they're 200 words or 2,000. To me, an article is something you could submit to a magazine, something that adheres to strict rules of style and content. I write with my own style, not like a journalist--and I mean no disrespect to journalists! Some people use the terms "post" and "article" to refer to different quality standards in the blogosphere, but I don't. They're all posts to me.]
9. Write one new blog post per day minimum. Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new. This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed.
You don’t have to produce one post per day all the time, but it is important you do when your blog is brand new. Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming, but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical, so the more content you can produce at this time, the better.
[Hunter's comments: With all due respect to Yaro, this is ridiculous. And I know that many successful bloggers will disagree with me, but I think feeling the need to post every day puts undue stress on a blogger, and is a major reason why most blogs suck. At least Yaro says it's not necessary after the first few months, but he's clearly showing his preference for super-frequent posts. If you're a full-time blogger, maybe you can come up with a good post every day. If you're blogging part time, and perhaps not even as your main part time activity, it's very unlikely that you're capable of cranking out that many thoughtful, original, and entertaining posts. That's why we see all these rehashed posts (e.g., "Top 10 Ways To Be Happy," pic of someone jumping, #1 Drink more water, #2 Exercise, #3 Be a vegetarian, etc). Even if a post isn't a pillar, I want every post I read or write to be good.
What if you get hit by a bus and end up in the hospital? Are you going to hop in your wheelchair and rush over to the internet cafe, where you frantically try to scramble some guest posters? Or are you going to take your time to recover, trusting that your readers are smart enough to realize that unsubscribing will not result in them getting more posts from you?
Even if you have time to write a great post every day, your audience doesn't have time to read it. They only have so much time available for reading blogs each day, and yours is not the only one they read. Your loyal readers don't want to miss anything you write, but they also want you to be respectful of their time. Regular content keeps you fresh in their mind, but at some point it becomes annoying. There are a couple of blogs that I'm reluctantly subscribed to even though they post more than once per day, but I just scan the titles and usually mark them all as read. I would read more of their posts, comment more, and link more, if only they posted less often. So where is their return on investment?
I realize the importance of putting significant time into your blogging, but a good chunk of that time can be spent on responding to comments, commenting on other blogs and forums, doing research, writing ebooks, etc. And some of my posts have taken well over 10 hours to write and edit. When writing on your own blog, you don't get paid per post.]
8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging, be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog, you need an easily rememberable domain name. People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that’s the offline world, you remember that place, right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL. Try and get a .com if you can, and focus on small, easy to remember domains rather than worrying about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and an easy to remember name, then you’ve done a good job!).
[Hunter's comments: I agree about the .com name. It's generally better than .net or .org, and definitely way better than something like blogspot. If you want to make money from your blog, you need to treat it like a business, and that includes giving it a real name.
I'm not sure how often blog referrals happen offline, but a memorable domain name always helps. His point about keywords is that having them in the domain helps with SEO by giving you better rankings and bolding the keyword in the search results to grab more attention. But as he says, it's more important to have a domain that sounds good to people. If you can do both, that's great.
Some people (like myself) use their own name as their domain. While not appropriate in all cases, it can sometimes be a good choice. For me, I have a very broad "niche," if you want to call it that, and it would be hard to think of a name that fits my blog well. Besides, what if I want to change my topics 10 years from now?]
7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles, your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people’s blogs. You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours, since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.
Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say, then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.
[Hunter's comments: This is a very easy way to get exposure in the beginning. It takes time, but it's not hard. Try to be one of the first commenters so more people will read your comment. And try to avoid saying "great post!" That phrase has been ruined by all the people who have left comments saying only that, so I try not to use it even as part of a substantial comment. Be a regular commenter on some blogs to build a reputation, but also try to branch out and comment on new blogs to reach new people.]
6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger’s article, you can do a trackback to their entry. What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry – it’s sort of like your blog telling someone else’s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.
This is a good technique because like leaving comments, a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important – it gets the attention of another blogger. The other blogger will likely come and read your post, eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours, or at least monitor you, and if you are lucky some time down the road, they may do a post linking to your blog, bringing in more new readers.
[Hunter's comments: I don't think this is particularly effective at getting traffic from the other blog. I rarely click on trackback links, definitely less than I click on comment links. However, it's extremely effective at getting the other blogger to notice you. Bloggers always appreciate links because it helps their traffic, especially when you have good things to say about them. I wouldn't do it in expectation of a return link down the road, but that may very well happen. Another benefit is that your readers will appreciate you for pointing them to a good post.]
5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog, then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers, so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about. To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.
[Hunter's comments: Asking a question shows that you welcome input from other people, and it makes it easier for them to figure out what to say. In sales and marketing, this is known as a "call to action." If you tell people what you want them to do, they're much more likely to do it.
Responding to comments makes the commenters feel appreciated, and it can generate a good discussion in your comments section. Sometimes the comments can be more interesting than the post itself! The downside here is that it can be very time consuming. If you get very few comments, you have time to give a thoughtful reply to each one. If you get lots of comments, people will understand that you don't have time to respond to many. I'm at that awkward stage in the middle, where I can reply to each comment but it can sometimes take a lot of time. I'm looking forward to the point where I can say I just have too many comments to reply to each one, so some of the pressure will be lifted and I can reply only when I can easily think of something useful to say.]
4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival often enjoy a spike in new readers.
To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at blogcarnival.com.
[Hunter's comments: I've submitted posts to blog carnivals a couple of times, but I certainly haven't done it consistently. Since I write about a wide range of topics, it would be annoying to look for the right carnival each time. And I'm not sure how effective they are. If one edition of a carnival features 30 posts, would you read them all? However, you'll definitely get some traffic, as well as a link, so it can be a good idea, especially if you have a tightly focused niche and you know of some carnivals you can submit to each time.
I've seen a number of people recommending carnivals, but so far they haven't interested me enough to really look into them. I think I'll do better with guest posts, which I'm surprised not to see on this list. You can choose the audience you want, steal the spotlight and have all eyes on you, and write slightly outside of your niche if you want.]
3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest, this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers, but it’s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it’s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog, and submit it. You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on your blog so you can rank, and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique, but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!
[Hunter's comments: I hadn't heard of this site before. As I was reading this tip it didn't sound very worthwhile, and I didn't like how it requires registration and putting code on your blog, as well as picking a category (since I tend not to fit into any). But 1-10 readers per day? That's huge for a new blogger! I'm not sure what kind of traffic this is though. If it's the same quality traffic as you get from StumbleUpon, I don't think it's worth it. Has anyone tried this before? And Yaro, really? This makes your top 10?]
2. Submit your articles to EzineArticles.com. This is another tip that doesn’t bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it’s worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have – your pillar articles. Once a week or so, take one of your pillar articles and submit it to Ezine Articles. Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter.
How you benefit is through what is called your “Resource Box.” You create your own resource box, which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article, you can get a lot of new readers at once.
[Hunter's comments: I haven't done this yet, but I've heard good things about this method. I've also heard about Article Marketer, which, for a fee, lets you submit your content to many sites at once. I'd be interested in hearing what others have experienced with these services. What's the best way to do it, how much traffic did you get, and did you notice a duplicate content penalty?]
1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers, however, all of the techniques I’ve listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them, if you do everything above you may bring in readers, but they won’t stay or bother to come back. Aim for one solid pillar article per week, and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.
[Hunter's comments: Absolutely. I think that the single best thing any blogger can do is focus their attention on writing great content.]
I hope you enjoyed my list of traffic tips. Everything listed above are techniques I’ve put into place myself for my blogs and have worked for me, however it’s certainly not a comprehensive list. There are many more things you can do. Finding readers is all about testing to see what works best for you and your audience, and I have no doubt if you put your mind to it you will find a balance that works for you.
[Hunter's comments: These are some very good tips for new bloggers to consider. Don't take my comments above to mean that I don't respect Yaro's advice. On the contrary, I think he has rightfully earned his reputation as a blogging and internet marketing guru. I just have my own strong opinions about blogging, and I think a little constructive debate is always in order. Like I said before, his Blog Profits Blueprint is easily the best ebook I know of about blogging.]
This article was by Yaro Starak, a professional blogger and one of my most trusted sources for blogging advice. He is the leader of the Blog Mastermind mentoring program designed to teach bloggers how to earn a full time income blogging part time.
To get more information about Blog Mastermind, click this link:
There are some technological advances that you can safely ignore without being considered an outcast. If you don’t want to have a BlackBerry or an iPod, you can simply pass on them and be just fine. But there are some tech waves you really want to catch. Just like you don’t want to churn your own butter or ride a horse to work, pretty soon you won’t want to admit that you don’t have a blog.
Conrad Hees has lucked into a couple of links here by writing some great posts on topics I was about to cover. In Why You’re Nobody Until You Have a Blog, he reflects on how cell phones were rare ten years ago but are considered essential today.
Remember the movie Cellular? As recently as 2004, a cell phone was considered novel enough to be used as the basis for a movie starring Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, Jason Statham, William H. Macy, and Jessica Biel. It appeared to be set in L.A., you know, with all those crazy people who thought phones didn’t have to be plugged into the wall. But who doesn’t have a cell phone today?
And look at how far the internet has come, as well as the average person’s ability to use it. In my computer science class in 1996, I was talking to someone about Lycos, and we wondered if they had a home page (that’s what people called websites back then). We put our heads together and figured that if they did, the address might be lycos.com (no, this wasn’t obvious). We had used web browsers before (though we didn’t know that term), so we opened up the browser that owned 90% of the market share at the time, Netscape Navigator, and painstakingly typed in http://www.lycos.com (being careful to get the slashes going the right way).
This was in a computer science class at what was then the #1 public school in the country (University of Virginia). Nowadays, pretty much anyone can find a company on the web without thinking about it. It’s instinctive.
Every respectable business knows they need their own website for potential customers to get information and buy from them. Now the trend is rapidly spreading to individuals. More and more people are starting their own website, which usually means a blog. Two new blogs are created every second!
People no longer ask “Do you have a phone?” or “Do you know what a phone is?” They ask “What’s your phone number?” We’re getting closer to the day when people will presumptuously ask “What’s your blog’s URL?”, although I think it might take a while. But we’re definitely going in that direction, so why not be sure you’re not late to the party?
The word “blog” is short for “web log.” Essentially, it’s just a website that’s usually run by one person, who posts new content on a regular basis. There are blogs out there on practically every topic, and blogging technology has gotten to the point where you no longer have to be a techie to run one.
This is not a blog about blogging per se, but let me list some things you might use a blog for, and point you to where you can get more information.
I make a distinction between what I call hobby blogs and professional blogs, and it’s essential to decide up front which category your blog(s) will fall into. A hobby blog is one that you do just for fun. You can start a blog about any topic that interests you, such as politics, hockey, fashion, or travel. You then write posts on your blog because you enjoy sharing your thoughts with people who have similar interests. It’s sort of a high-tech version of joining a book club or playing poker. You can also have a hobby blog that’s not about a specific topic, but is personal in nature, such as a blog to keep your friends updated with what’s going on in your life.
Professional blogs are used for purposes other than just having fun (although there’s no reason you can’t have fun with them as well). They’re often used for personal branding, as a way of building a reputation in your industry.
Imagine that you’re at a job interview, and you ask the interviewer to bring up your blog, which is basically your online resume. They see plenty of examples of you showcasing your expertise, backed up by many people leaving comments to say how helpful you’ve been to them. How are you not going to get that job?
A professional blog can help you develop what Napoleon Hill referred to as a mastermind, which is “coordination of knowledge and effort in a spirit of harmony, between two or more people, for the attainment of a definite purpose.” All successful people surround themselves with like-minded people, and a blog makes this much easier to do. You can easily interact with wonderful people all over the world, people who would never even know who you are without a blog.
A professional blog can have monetary benefits, both directly and indirectly. A blog can generate income by running ads or selling products through affiliate programs, making it just about the easiest type of business there is. While most blogs generate very little income, a growing number of people have been able to create a part-time or full-time income (or more) from their blog. Sometimes this income is earned indirectly because of their blog. For example, if you position yourself as an expert on a particular topic, you might be able to do consulting work, write a book, or get speaking engagements.
If you know exactly what you want to blog about, then by all means jump right in. But if you can’t immediately think of the perfect topic, then don’t force it. Lots of blogs get started in haste, only for the owner to abandon them a few months later after they find that they have nothing left to say. I read up on blogging for 8 months before I started this blog, mainly because it took me that long to think of the right topic. You don’t need to start a blog right now, but I do suggest you start thinking about it right now. If blogging is on your mind, you’ll find your voice sooner or later.
There are sites out there such as WordPress.com that will host your blog for you and make it very easy to get started, but hosting sites are best used only for hobby blogs. One reason is because your URL will look like http://yourblogname.wordpress.com, which doesn’t look too professional. Another reason is that you’ll have less control. For example, you might not be allowed to run ads on your blog, or you might have a very limited selection of features and templates.
For professional blogs, it’s a good idea to use self hosting. This means that you’re renting a web server to use however you want. You install a blogging platform on it, or the hosting company can often do it for you. The clear leader in blogging platforms is WordPress, available from WordPress.org (different from WordPress.com!). You get your own domain name, such as http://www.MyGreatSite.com, which looks great and helps to build your brand. It takes a little money, but just a few dollars a month for a small blog. It also takes some technical know-how, but you can either learn as you go, or find someone to do it for you. It will all seem very complicated at first, but you just take it one step at a time, as lots of other people have.
Here are some blogs about blogging to help you get started:
In his post Are You Missing Out On Your Biggest Self-Marketing Opportunity Ever?, Conrad Hees talks about the importance of buying the domain [yourname].com to use in your personal branding, and I couldn’t agree more. You definitely want to get your own name as a domain name right away, before someone else does. [yourname.com] might eventually be where your professional blog is hosted, or it might simply redirect to another of your sites (probably not a hobby blog, though). But don’t worry about that right now, just buy the domain before it’s too late. I got mine a year before I had a site to point to. Don’t make the mistake that Bill Gates and Alyssa Milano did (someone else beat them to their domain names).
I use GoDaddy.com (affiliate) for my domain names and web hosting, and their customer service is unbelievable. If you don’t mind watching French maids, you can watch GoDaddy’s French Maid TV video to get an overview of buying a domain name, as well as a code for 10% off your order.
No matter who you are or what you do, a blog is a great way to build your personal brand and create opportunities that don’t exist otherwise. Blogs are really for everyone, so if you’re not on board yet, start thinking about creating one of your own.
