Good Blogging Advice

Although admittedly, not ALL my blog posts have exactly been from the heart... many may lack finesse and prose and even sincerity...nonetheless, I was interested to find that this is my 873rd ever blog post in a little under two years. In fact I have already completed two posts that will be published next week, so I guess you could say that this is my 875th... I have no idea how many of those were paid posts, although I do know how much I have made through paid posting in that time, and I may be prepared to expand on that at the end of 2008.

My point is though, after all this time I should have come a long way from those first tenuous forays into the world of blogging - my first blog was about my experiences building a website, and is geared towards websites, SEO and related topics. It wasn't 'til March 2007 that I started to get into the world of paid blogging with this blog.
My intention for this post was to give a few pointers from my experience of a little under 1.3 posts per day over two years... at this rate I should have completed 935 by the end of 2008.
So here's my ten blogging pointers:

1. Unlike this blog, niche blogs get better traffic and can earn more from adsense.
2. It is not easy to get on-topic paid blogging opportunities for niche blogs - although you may get some decent paying offers if you can get a decent PageRank.
3. You may be throwing away your PageRank if Google detects paid posts or links.
4. Leave lots of relevant comments on blogs operating in the same niche.
5. Give your readers something good to read - opinion is fine, but how about helpful tips and useful links too?
6. Make sure your blog is good to look at, but don't change the look too frequently.
7. When starting a niche blog, make sure you pick a subject that interests you
8. When starting a niche blog, if you are blogging for money, make sure that you choose a subject that can be well monetised.
9. Resources are important for niche blogs, both physical and online magazines can be invaluable, but always do good research using several sources and write the article with your own angle.
10. Finally if you write paid posts, make them fit your niche, often the client is just looking for the anchor text in the link, the rest of the post should be well written but does not have to read like an advert, try to keep it natural...

Well, I hope this is useful to someone, please feel free to leave your own tips in the comments.

Free eBook for bloggers

Ellie from the PinkC has released a new eBook called 101 steps to becoming a better blogger. Ellie is an experienced blogger who is an expert on configuring a Wordpress blog to get it looking exactly right. She tags herself as the ultimate geek girl and has a wealth of knowledge that she is willing to share for free in her new eBook.

Not only should you be taking advantage of this free offer, you should also make regular visits to this blog especially (but not exclusively) if you are using Wordpress. Ellie has used a host of plug-ins and knows exactly how to tweak a blog to get it running smoothly. Not only that but she knows how to write a good blog - always something fresh and new at the PinkC...

Blogging tip

I have noticed that I go through a ritual when posting on a blog, and I wonder if enough people do this? I first write the article, and more often than not, go looking for a suitable image to post alongside the article - a picture is worth a thousand words and all that... If the blog has a themed look I will probably import the picture into fireworks and manipulate it accordingly - which usually entails cropping, applying a colour tint and shrinking it to an acceptable size. If the picture is crucial, I might then host it myself so that a reader can click on it to expand it - otherwise I let blogger host it for me.
I make sure that there are tags - on my niche blogs I only ever add a new tag if I really must, mostly I pick from the existing tags. On my latest blog I also add some links to similar articles at the end of the post - this achieves two goals; good practice for SEO to link similar articles on any website, and also it gives the reader somewhere to go if the subject interests them - after all, I am hoping to get some search-engine traffic and where one blog post has been picked up in the search results (rather than the home page) - it makes sense to draw the reader in with your closely -related content.
When all of this is done, I will post the content (often I have posted the content, and then decide to add some links to other pages), and crucially I will then proof-read the whole post, and this is the thing that I notice other bloggers have not done sometimes. I will correct all the spelling and grammar mistakes and maybe change something that doesn't scan properly, then post again and read again until I am happy that it meets my standards.
This does not mean that my posts are faultless, but it does mean I am careful to give a good impression. I am put off by 'lazy' posts that do not scan properly, have bad spelling or use text-speak and I would expect my readers to be equally critical. If I want to establish a style and demonstrate my writing skills, proof-reading will help to give me an extra edge.

Paid posts or non-paid posts

That stalwart of paid posting programs PayPerPost has definite rules about the ratio of paid posts to non-paid posts that you are allowed on a blog. The reason for this is fairly obvious; you are not likely to have a great readership if your content is all advertising. Everyone knows that if you buy a magazine or get one of those free papers posted through your door, that there will be a certain amount of advertising - and there should also be a decent amount of content otherwise why would you bother reading it at all?
I have seen blogs that are pure monetisation and NO other content, and I spend less than two seconds working out that there is no value in re-visiting. Other sites have an identifiable amount of advertising, but enough content to keep you returning. In light of this, PayU2Blog have also requested that bloggers do not use their blogs entirley for paid posts offering no content of their own invention.
In my experience readers return to a blog for a number of reasons which include:

• they like the style of writing, the humor or prose used to get a message across
• they find valuable information about a topic in which they are interested
• they 'connect' with the writer

If you are not actively trying to at least one of these things then your blog has little value either as something people would want to visit, or as a platform for advertising revenue.
This is not to say that a blog cannot be 'used' as a service site purely for generating links, but if this is the case, the content should still form part of that strategy and only having paid posts will not satisfy that criteria. I have seen some blogs that are full of widgets such as the Creamaid and the dNeero ones, these can take ages to load and if there are more than two on the homepage, there is every chance that a reader will immediately browse away rather then wait for the widgets to load.
Please note that PayU2Blog have stopped short of imposing any rules on this, but they have indicated that these 100% paid posts blogs are likely to get very few opportunities in the future.

Christmas Ideas

Thinking of buying me a present?... I thought not, but just in case you're struggling for ideas I love cooking even though I rarely have time to do much. I made pasta for the family today and would love to branch out into Spanish cooking if I had a paella pan. Paella is a traditional dish which varies from region to region but in it's finest form holds a whole host of absolutely amazing ingredients including shellfish and snails.
Having watched Paella being made in a huge pan, I am keen to have a go, but I have tasted snails before and I really would not recommend them. I am always keen to try something new and I will happily eat mussels or winkles, but believe me, snails are not in the same class. If you think of a snail as a slug with a shell, I can believe that snail actually tastes pretty much like I would expect slug to taste like... YEUUCH!!

Clever Google

Despite the fact that Google rules the world of the internet, I have to admit that I am a BIG fan... I don't know how we could have survived without it. I'll give you an example:
I have a vague memory of when I was younger and going to a number of comedy nights around my home town of Birmingham (UK, not AL). I saw all sorts of people who are now considered British comedy greats as they honed their performances. I remember seeing Newman (as in Newman and Baddiel), and Jack Dee as well as a confusing encounter with 'Vic Reeves Big Night out' which, when you see it for the first time leaves you thinking 'what was that??' - it's only when you see it for the second or third time that you start to get it. There was a bunch of people at the front of the stage who knew what was going on and they were shouting 'what's on the end of your stick Vic?' and other responses which to the uninitiated seemed very funny, but you couldn't work out why....
Anway I digress, as part of this venture into comedy as the new rock 'n roll, we went to some smaller venues and I remember one in particular where a comedian invited a member of the audience up and got them so ill (smoking something questionable) that they had to be taken home in a taxi. I remember the night was hosted by Frank Skinner (in the days where if you didn't swear fifteen times a minute, it wasn't comedy) and for years I wondered whether the comedian in question was American Denis Leary, but couldn't figure out why he would have been in Birmingham all those years ago (I reckon it would have been around 1987...). Anyhow, on the off-chance, after seeing a news article about Denis Leary, I 'Googled' Denis Leary and Frank Skinner to see if there was a connection and sure enough there was, they used to share a flat!

Mystery explained, no doubt Frank got him the gig and it really was Frank Skinner and Denis Leary me, my mate and a motley bunch of random Brummies all those years ago in the upstairs room of a pub watching this poor girl go through her first experience of getting stoned live on stage, in an act which clearly had little rehearsal, but was nonetheless pretty funny in a raw kind of a way.
I have long suspected that it WAS Denis Leary, but you know what it's like when your brain suggests unlikely memories, and you start to doubt your memory banks. Thanks to Google I can confirm that I have not mis-remembered the details of that random night twenty years ago.

Activities for children

Being responsible for a child means being in charge not only of their health and their education but also their entertainment. It's very easy to stick the kids in front of the TV or DVD player and I will own up to relying on this medium heavily to free up some time, but kids also need regular external stimulus.
There are any number of options to choose from and in my estimation a child should have two or three regular activities per week to look forward to. Currently for us, this is:

• Gymnastics on a Monday
• Swimming on a Saturday

and in the past we have done Tennis and plenty of trips out. some I have considered for the future are learning an instrument, horse riding (if we can afford the horse supplies), and sports like soccer or netball.

More diet pills...

Every couple of weeks I see websites claiming to have the best diet pills and offering the best advice. I would stress that plenty of independent advice should be sought (preferably from a health professional) before embarking on any sort of medication. It is important to understand exactly how the treatment is going to affect you both in positive and negative ways before you subject your body to something new.
A good diet plan includes healthy eating and regular exercise, medication taken should fit into a whole lifestyle plan, after all you don't want to medicate after your diet is over so a healthy lifestyle is essential.
Not all treatments are suitable for all types of people, for instance some medical conditions will preclude you from taking certain types of diet pills, so it makes sense to get some advice from your GP before buying medication over the internet.

Body building

I am more into regular exercise than muscle building, but if I needed to build muscle I would need bodybuilding supplements as my natural frame is slight, and I don't have any spare bulk (ie. fat) to turn into muscle.
If fitness is your thing, then moderate use of supplements with a regular exercise regime and a really good diet should help you to get to to a good level of fitness. It is important however to get good advice and take things steady. It is too easy to get carried away in the early stages and do yourself some tissue damage by going at it too hard. Muscles are developed by the existing muscles actually tearing and then reforming in a larger form. Steady tearing will be reasonably painful, but is to be expected, excessive exercise can give you long-term problems.
It is important to understand exactly what the supplements can do to your body in both positive and negative ways before you start using them.

PPP revival

Having moaned at the fact that PPP dropped munny4hunny, I should point out that they were quite justified in doing so, and I will be able to limit paid postings on M4H to just PayU2blog opportunities.
You have to complete 10 posts on a PPP blog before you can add an extra blog to your PPP account, once M4H was removed, I was left with one blog registered with PPP which only had three paid posts on it. I have had to complete another seven posts just so that I can register another different blog for PPP opps.
On one hand it was a bit of a pain, but as it happened I managed to find posts quite quickly and of course, it means that I have generated some PPP revenue this month which will help to boost the monthly earnings.
I will take more care of the paid post ratio in the future, but would point out that if you plan to use PPP and PayU2blog on the same blog, you are going to have to generate an awful lot of content to keep the paid to non-paid ratio acceptable for PPP. Hence I will not be mixing these two schemes on the same blog for the future.
Those blogs that I may use PPP on, will have regularly generated new content anyway so there will be less pressure to scout around for fresh material. However, they both have a PageRank, so it will be interesting to see if the PR will be sacrificed as has happened previously.

What's next?

You have started to make a bit of money on the 'net, so what's next??
There are a million different directions in which you can go, some remain internet based and others move out into the high street.
I have watched a few different career paths and would say that there is no one particular formula, it's more about your vision and ability to realise your dreams that makes you successful. I know some internet entrepreneurs who have started with a blog, expanded into several blogs and then launched into forums and websites for income generation. As with all paths, some plans work out and some lead to dead ends. I have come across very successful bloggers who have maintained a decent income by remaining with blogging for earnings but just expanding into several blogs, others I have seen develop into 'paid-to' start-ups and progress their earnings that way. Once you have gained a bit of self-confidence from your initial projects, you can develop by putting your money into franchises or some other start-up business, even creating your own franchises if you are successful enough.

Football or Soccer

The UK and the US are often described as two nations divided by a common language, and nothing illustrates that as well as the confusion over the use of the word 'football'. For the rest of the world, football is absolutely synonymous with soccer. For the US, football refers almost exclusively to that peculiar game with the wrong-shaped ball, which is neither soccer or rugby or recognisable as any sport played elsewhere.
The popularity of what the rest of the work knows as 'American Football' has ebbed and flowed on foreign shores. Occasional games are played abroad to publicise the sport internationally, and many countries have their own specialist leagues. These leagues are hardly mainstream, though naturally they have their own football trophies and league tables.

ShopWiki a new shopping experience

Shop Wiki is a shopping search engine which searches the web democratically rather than just showing results that have been paid for. For instance, Christmas is not that far away and you might need to find a good deal on an XBox 360 or DVD recorder.

The site gives lots of information on your potential purchases and compares prices to make it easy to find the best deal. You can narrow each search down by price or brand, or even color if it's appropriate. I narrowed my DVD recorder search by brand (Sony) then selected a specific unit (VRD-MC5) and was offered 41 on-line stores to buy this one product from - each one with the price clearly marked, so finding the best deal was really easy.
Not only do you get all these listings, but there is an overview of the product at the top of the page indicating the price-range and giving all the technical data. If you don't have a specific model in mind, then you can take a look through one of the wiki guides like the Computers and Software Wiki which outlines differences between desktops and laptops and covers hardware and software issues. Even if you don't really know what you are looking for, ShopWiki can help guide you through the whole process giving you lots of gift ideas.

Shift of emphasis

Over recent months I have been exploring niche blogging as a way to raise revenue and have reached the point where I am beginning to get some results. I have discovered that niche blogging is largely a trial and error pursuit, some niches work and some are a washout or need to be exploited in a specific way.
I have broadly looked at the areas of sport, travel and finance, and of these the finance niche has given the best results, but each blog has it's own market and personality stamped on it, so simply pointing to 'finance' as being a successful niche is really only a fraction of the story.
Any niche can be successful if approached in the right way, and the following points sum up my approach to this type of blogging for the future:

• It is far better to blog on a dot com with a strong branding which will help people to remember your URL without even using their 'favourites' - this is becoming increasingly difficult as more domains are being sold each day...
• Integrate monetisation and adverts into the blog so that they flow and look as professional as possible (Adsense etc..). Try to keep adverts/links within your niche.
• Have good resources available to use for research for your posts - but write everything in your own style with plenty of your own opinion and personality showing through the content. This includes any paid postings you might be doing. Customise your template so that you are not simply using a 'look' or template that your visitors will have seen before on a hundred other blogs.
• Don't forget to go and find like-minded blogs and sites, leave your comments and offer links and link exchanges to the best ones.

Using these methods I have discovered that you can get reasonable Adsense earnings from blogs, I was previously of the opionion that this was only possible with a full-blown website... I still do earn more from my website (I also get more traffic to my website), but I am discovering for the first time that I have at least one blog that is contributing well and enabling me to currently be paid by Google around once every two months or so. I will probably let this particular blog run for a few more months and then do some meaningful studies to see if there are specific lessons to be learned that I can share...

Job Description - who are you?

Job descriptions help to define us, not only in a work context but also in society as a whole. You can be sure that the nagging question a stranger will always want to ask you soon after starting your first conversation is 'What do you do?'
What they really want to know is what your job title is...

I happen to have a job that has multiple roles, I can be working on the technical side maybe on a construction site all kitted up with safety gear. I could be at my laptop submerged in a website adding content and optimising for SEO. I could be on the 'phone offering sales and technical support to our customers or in the workshop helping to develop new products...

I struggle when it comes to providing meaningful job descriptions as my role frequently changes not just from day to day but often hour to hour.

Quality car parts

Quality cars are worth keeping on the road, but few of us are in a position to buy one of these vehicles with a comprehensive warranty. Those that would like to own a car such as a Mercedes or BMW will often have to rely on aftermarket sales, and take a risk that the car has been well-maintained and is not about to need some major repair work done. The last thing you need to hear on your first trip to the garage is that you need a new Mercedes gear box or a BMW steering rack. That's where (if you are unlucky enough to need one) a non-dealer independent supplier can be invaluable.
Having the prestige auto is all very well, but paying dealer prices for the parts can be financially crippling. Those in the know will find a good source of replacement parts before buying a car that they cannot afford to run...

Do slimming pills work?

There are a host of slimming aids on the market and it is probably true to say that although all of them may aid weight-loss, not all weight issues can be solved by simple diet pills. Everyone serious about weight loss should first of all consider their intake of food and the amount of exercise that they take on a regular basis.
First of all, you should consider the fat and sugar content of the foods that you regularly eat and consider changing to healthier foods, cutting out some of the worst sugary and fatty foods altogether. Next you should look at introducing gently exercise into your daily routine building up into regular strenuous exercise over time. Vigorous regular exercise and good eating may mean that you don't have to take any steps towards a diet, after lifestyle change will be more effective than a crash diet. Only after looking at the food you eat and your exercise routine should you consider medication and then you should get the best medical advice you can before you start on a course of pills.

Earnings Sept '08

Much in line with recent months, September has yielded approx $100 in a mixture of paid postings on various sites and Adsense income which is an ever-improving source of revenue. I have received payment today for my latest Adsense earnings making this the third payout received in 2008 and am over half-way towards the next payout already.
A tiny proportion of monthly earnings can be attributed to surveys etc.. in view of the lack of significant contribution from these I will probably review these schemes after each one has actually reached payout.
I aim to have another blog on PPP hopefully sometime next month, which may give me more options for paid blogging. The main problem with earnings from blogs is that you can only make a reasonable level of earnings if you have a good number of blogs and the time to constantly update them. Currently I am running four reasonably active blogs, and one considerably less active, along with two websites which generate passive earnings - one of which should be regularly updated, but rarely can I find time to do it.
The $100 quoted covers earnings from blogs alone, other earnings include fixed adverts on various websites ($70) and other Adsense which probably nets altogether another $100 a month. I aim to look into increasing passive earnings again this month and have looked at three fixed-advert schemes to see whether I can squeeze any more income from these. I currently host a total of 11 fixed adverts on various pages which accounts for the $70 monthly income, I will post more about these schemes in the coming month.

Pop-up TV's

The world of entertainment is changing on an almost daily basis with the advent of flat screens, plasma TV's, digital TV signals, DVD, hard disk recorders and Blu-ray to name but a few recent innovations ...
In order to accommodate all this new kit, our living-rooms must change to suit the new equipment. The days when an entire corner of the room was dominated by the old cathode ray tube are gone, nowadays the flat screens are easily accommodated simply by hanging them on the wall like a mirror, or in one of these pop up tv custom-made cabinets, many of which actually incorporate a lifting mechanism which can be remotely activated. Ironically, these state of the art entertainment systems can now be incorporated into a high quality piece of furniture which itself is timeless and would fit seemlessly into decor that was centuries old.