Most Bloggers Forget This Simple Rule. Do You?

When I wrote “most bloggers” in the title, I was including myself. In fact I forget this rule 80% of the time probably. Want to know what rule I am taking about? It is this one:

Include one image on each blog post you publish.

This rule is important for a couple of reasons. First of all adding images to your blog posts will help you capture the attention of distracted readers and encourage them to read your post.

Second, having images around will improve the design of your blog and make it more appealing.

Third, images can be a good source of search engine traffic, especially every post you publish has one (i.e., over time the combined traffic you’ll get for your images will add up).

So why do most bloggers forget this simple rule? Probably because they get lazy over time. That is my case at least. The solution is to force yourself to add those images initially, until you develop the habit.

Where to Find Images for Your Blog

“Where do you find images for your blog?” That is a question that I get asked quite often, therefore I decided to write about it.


The interesting thing is that the quality and sophistication of the images that I use grew gradually with my blogging experience. When I started blogging, I would just use Google Image Search. Some of those images were really awful, and some were even copyrighted. I used them nevertheless, thinking that both my readers and the authors would not care that much…

Over the time I discovered better places to find images. Royalty-free ones, which is more important. Below you will find 3 sources that I use often.

iStockphoto
I started using iStockphoto (referral link) only recently because I was reluctant to pay for images. “There are free resources out there, why should I pay then?” That was my reasoning, but I changed my mind after taking a look at the quality and variety of their database.

For most blogs the small format will suffice, and they cost $1 a pop. I think that is a reasonable price, specially if you consider that the quality of the images can separate your blog from the pack.

Stock.Xchng
While I like iStockphoto, I also like to save money. Most of the times before going to their site I will check some free resources to see if I can find a suitable image. My favorite one is Stock.Xchng.

The site has a smaller database, but the quality of the images is good enough. Another benefit is that you don’t need to register up (unless you want special image formats), just right click and “Save image as.”

Yotophoto
Yotophoto is a search engine that will look for royaly-free images on several places around the Internet (including Stock.Xchng, Flickr, Wikipedia, Morguefile and others).

The quality of the images is not so good, but it can be useful if you are looking for something very specific

3 Crucial Elements of Well-Written Blog Posts

The feeling of finishing a great post is without compare. Just before clicking the publish button you’re filled with the ecstasy of newlyweds, anticipating comments will roll in and your trackback list will circle the globe many times.

Your ecstasy vanishes, however, when you notice the low number of click-throughs and tweets your post has received because you didn’t fulfill one of the three requirements that skilled and successful bloggers implement every time.

Let’s take a look at them…
1. Is my headline great?

Those few words at the beginning of your blog post can be the difference between the post being read and spread like a virus through the web like a wild fire and it languishing in your archives, barely noticed. ~Darren Rowse

Never publish before you’re convinced your headline is effective. If you say to yourself, “I think it will do,” then delay publishing your hard work until you come up with one you’re certain is effective.

Here are my three Jedi tricks to help you craft great headlines:

A. Every time you read a post from a blog known for writing great headlines, read the headline aloud. Ask yourself why it’s magnetic and compels you to click it. If you ask this question with enough headlines, the answers will start to pour into your mind and your headlines will soon begin to reflect the tactics that those headlines use.

B. Open your reader and visualize your headline being immersed in all the others. Does it compel you to click it?

Another thing you can do is make a list of effective headlines from blogs and paste them into a word document. Now, sandwich your headline among the proven headlines. If you were scanning these headlines, would yours stand out or at least compete? If not, devise a better one.

C. When I’m having difficulty coming up with a good headline for an important guest post, I sometimes ask a skilled writer for advice on the ones I’ve crafted. He or she will give me an honest critique and then offer some suggestions as well. This strategy is worlds better than relying solely on yourself if that means settling on a mediocre headline.

Now that you’ve checked off having a great headline, let’s move onto…
2. Does my opening draw the reader deeper into my post?

Where the headline is the most important part of your post, the opening is the second most important.

You can have the most awe-inspiring copy in the middle of your post while having an opening that makes the idea of studying the dictionary more appealing. If you want people to continue reading after they’ve finished the first few lines, don’t mess this part up.

A great headline mixed with a lame opening is like inviting someone into your house, only to slam the door in their face as they approach ~Brian Clark

I’ve recently learned that it’s not imperative to write the introduction prior to beginning your post. In fact, being adamant about doing so can compromise your productivity. If you’re having trouble coming up with a killer opening, skip it! First write the rest of your post and then as Carl Natale says, “go back and write the introduction that fits into the whole writing.”

It’s never worth having an amazing post that’s tainted by a lackluster opening. Make your entire post exude greatness.

Now you’ve got the reader by the throat, awesome! But what about the ending…?
3. Does my ending leave pleasant residue?

While the headline and the opening are vital to your post’s success, don’t underestimate the importance of the close. If your whole piece is a work of art and ends with a lame final sentence, you’ve just tarnished what could’ve really wowed your readers.

The positive reason for ending well is that a good last sentence–or last paragraph–is a joy in itself. It gives the reader a lift, and it lingers when the article is over. ~William Zinsser

A good ending leaves residue. Whether that’s writing something unexpected, posing a question, or leaving with a compelling last thought, you know when it’s done right.

6 Simple steps To Setting Up Autoresponders With Your Free Gmail Account

Dont pay to get this.Real ly,i wonder how you will survive in internet marketing without autorespo nders.How ever,let me try and dive some vital informati on to those newbies who dont know anything about it and thereafte r.i will teach you steps on how to set up your own autorespo nder with your free gmail account.
If you own an internet marketing or online business,you've probably grown tired of answering the never ending amount of emails you get on daily basis.Mos t companies get hundreds of emails a day,many of which are questions from clients and potential customers .If you"ve grown tired of answering emails-you should look into an autorespo nder and discover how it can work for you and save you a lot of precious time.
When someone sends out an email,they expects to get an instant reply.Alt hough you can meet this demand with some emails,it can be very hard to send an email to over 100 people-especially when you have hundreds of other things to do with your day.
You can always hire additiona l staff to answer emails,or work longer hours yourself. These option may be good for some although many decide to use the power of an autorespo nder instead.
What many fail to realize is the facts that autorespo nders have many other uses than just answering emails.Th ey also give you the opportuni ty to email potential customers and clients about future products,special offers,free samples,and anything else you feel would be important to your visitors. You can also offer advice andtips to affiliate s as well,helping them to sell your products and services. On top of this,autoresponders are also a great way to build trust and a working relations hip with your visitors and customers .
When you load up your autorespo nders with content,you can make the material long or short,although you should make sure that your readers can follow along and keep up with the material you are sending.W hen a potential buyer or current customer signs up on your list,you should always let them know what it is that they are signing up for.
When you send out your first email,it should be a welcome email to first time subscribe rs,letting them know what they can expects to receive from you in the future.Th is way,customers will anticipat e your emails.If you give them high expectati ons,they will anticipat e your emails.Yo u should always make your messages enticing,letting readers know that you are offering them great content with your autorespo nder for the best price of all-free.
Email is one of the best tools you can have with marketing and business,although autorespo nders have the power to take e-mail to an entirely new level.Thr ough the use of an autorespo nder,you can instantly contact hundreds of thousands of customers,as many times as you wish,with the click of a button.Yo u can learn many things about your autorespo nders-all you have to do is play around with it and let your creativit y take over.
6 SIMPLE STEPS TO FOLLOW:
STEP ONE:Log into your Gmail account and look for the link 'settings' on the right corner and click it.
STEP TWO:Scroll down the page and click on (Vacation responder on).
STEP THREE:Supply the subject matter or your informati on or sales copy.
STEP FOUR:Supply your messages/sales copy or informati on you want people to access.
STEP FIVE:Click on save changes.
STEP SIX:Text what you have done by using another of your yahoo email account to send a request to this autorespo nder you have just created.
Read the message you have created.I f you need to edit it then go back into the autorespo nder message and do so.
However note that this gmail autorespo nder will not give you the privilege to cue message and also send broadcast to your list.
I hope this helps.
cheers..

Should I Put My Photos On My Website or On Flickr?

I blog about animal training, and end up with quite a few good photos I’d like to share with my readers. I put a few photos in my posts every now and then, but would really like a place a reader could go to view a collection of my photos.

Here’s my question– is it better to self-host my photos on my site or use and outside site, such as Flickr?

I think both methods can be useful, depending on your goals and business model.

For a photographer who makes money selling his photos or doing freelance work, for example, it would be important to have both things. He would need to have a website with samples of his work and a portfolio, but he would also need to have a presence on social networks where people share images (Flickr is the main one, but Facebook could also help). This presence on social networks would help him to expose his work to more people, to network with other photographers, to meet potential clients and so on.

If your goal is to make money directly with your website (e.g., by selling advertising or related products), however, then hosting the photos yourself would be a better idea, because those might bring more traffic and increase your earnings.

This seems to be the case of the reader who asked the question, so I would put most of the photos on the blog itself.

She also mentions the idea of creating a gallery. I think this can be useful for the user, as it facilitates the browsing of the images, but I would make sure that each photo also appears inside an individual page focused on a specific topic. For example, if you have a picture about teaching a dog how to sit, place inside a place where you explain how the process work. The combination of a relevant title tag, a unique piece of text and relevant keywords will make the image rank better in search results.

Finally, here is a tip for those who are not playing with images yet: images can drive a lot of organic traffic, because Google is integrating image results on most search queries. In other words, creating a niche website or blog around a topic with plenty of images (e.g., celebrities or sports images) could work well.

Blogger or Writer: 3 Ways to Nourish Your Writing Roots

Everyone knows you can make money writing; authors of books, newspapers, and magazines are all presumably paid for their work. But people are consistently intrigued with the idea of earning money blogging. Why is this, when a blog is basically a series of self-published articles? A blogger is a writer that goes above and beyond to do their own publishing, marketing, and monetization.

The lifeblood of blogging is the writing craft. Too often we hear the “content in king” cliche and accept it as the final word. We decide that our topic is important or interesting, and therefore that we have the content part nailed. But content is not so much the information provided as the manner in which it is conveyed. We tend to forget this, and pour more effort into the logistics of the enterprise than into the literary backbone.

I have fallen for the blogger-writer distinction about as hard as anyone, starting with little writing experience. This made it blatantly clear to me that I had some work to do. Reading had given me a feel for good writing, but creating it did not come as easily. The blogosphere of course has many tips: you should write write list-posts, follow your interests, and create snazzy titles — but such tips will not correct serious deficiencies. The most compelling advice I’ve encountered points to practices that take time and dedication. I have found the following three most helpful towards the blogging platform.

Practice 1: Develop a rich vocabulary. Almost all good writers use a diverse set of words because it allows them to express finer shades of meaning, state ideas succinctly, and adjust the sound and rhythm of the writing. You do not want to concoct ridiculously ornate prose, but the right word at the right time can pack a powerful punch — whether it is to motivate, persuade, inspire, or entertain. As a bonus, you will sound more intelligent, for we naturally intuit what formal studies prove: vocabulary sizes correlate very strongly with IQ scores.

Practice 2: Practice imitating styles. Your favorite bloggers or writers probably have distinct voices formed by their sentence structures, word choices, and emotional appeal. Do they lure you in with short anecdotes, or jump to the main ideas? Do they employ metaphors and imagery, or state ideas plainly? Is the voice conversational, or formal and journalistic? Practicing writing in other voices helps you stretch your capacity and better understand your own mechanics. See if you can make your writing indistinguishable from that of whom you emulate.

Practice 3: Reduce the number of words as much as possible. Concise language is clear and vibrant. It forces you to use a decisive, active voice, rather than meandering around topics on which you have little to say. Try taking a post and cutting the words in half, without sacrificing content. Even if you think the piece is irreducible, commit yourself to this exercise. I think you will be surprised, as I often am, how much extraneous writing surrounds your core ideas

About the Author: Brad in the author of Word a Day Wonder, a site that teaches vocabulary using fun and interesting facts.

The top 10 Social Bookmarking websites of 2010

This is really a super short blog post. I was doing some researching when I came across this post about the top ten social bookmarking websites of 2010.

Here is the original article: http://www.seowat.com/2010/02/11/the-top-10-social-bookmarking-sites-of-2010/

Here is the list:


1 . Twitter Inbound Links: 12,572,670

Alexa Rank: 12

Page Rank: 9/10


2. Digg.com Inbound Links: 33,477,840

Alexa Rank: 98

Page Rank: 8/10


3. Yahoo Buzz Inbound Links: 432,836

Alexa Rank: 3 (Inc Yahoo.com)

Page Rank: 8/10


4. StumbleUpon Inbound Links: 21,636,190

Alexa Rank: 231

Page Rank: 8/10


5. Reddit.com Inbound Links: 594,462

Alexa Rank: 335

Page Rank: 8/10

6. Delicious Inbound Links: 1,137,520

Alexa Rank: 357

Page Rank: 8/10


7. Mixx Inbound Links: 3,707,449

Alexa Rank: 663

Page Rank: 8/10


8. Technorati Inbound Links: 3,805,617

Alexa Rank: 916

Page Rank: 8/10


9. Propeller Inbound Links: 1,012,324

Alexa Rank: 1,810

Page Rank: 7/10


10. Fark Inbound Links: 1,310,432

Alexa Rank: 2,291

Page Rank: 4/10


The rankings are according to alexa the web information company

Trouble Explaining What You Do For a Living? Well, It Is a Good Sign!

A couple of months ago I was chatting with one reader of this blog. He told me that he wanted to build websites and blogs for a living, to which I replied “Go for it. Working online is great.” Then he told me that he had one big problem: his parents and friends couldn’t possibly understand how someone could make a living from working on the Internet, so he felt a lack of support.

Obviously my initial reaction was to tell him to not care about what others were saying and rather to pursue what he thought was right. In other words, the fact that other people couldn’t understand what he wanted to do for a living was irrelevant.

These days I caught myself thinking about this issue again, and I came to the conclusion that the fact that other people can’t understand what you do for a living is not only irrelevant, but it can also be a good sign.

I am not sure where, but sometime ago I read the following sentence: “If you can explain to the average guy sitting in a bar what you do for a living, you are half way through commoditization.”

It made sense in general, and is particularly suitable for people who work on the Internet.

A commodity is a good that does not have differentiation in the market place. Sugar is a good example. Sugar is sugar, after all. When you go to the supermarket, there is a good chance that you’ll pick the cheapest product, or pick one without even caring to compare it. As a result, companies producing sugar compete mostly on price, and profit margins decrease over time.

People can become commodities too. Production line workers are commodities. Companies pay the same (low) salary to all of them. If one particular worker is not happy with the conditions, the company will invite him to leave and replace him with a similar worker the day after. Why is that? Because performing production line work is trivial, and there is plenty of supply for it (i.e., workers).

When you are not a commodity, on the other hand, you can differentiate yourself. This means that you are be able to develop your brand, to charge a premium price for your services or products, and that you are harder to replace.

Bottom line: If you work with blogs, websites, affiliate marketing, search engine optimization and the like, well, you will certainly have a hard time explaining to the average Joe what you do for a living. But hey, that is not a bad thing at all. It is a sign that you are not becoming a commodity.