Blogging Networks : Top 5 Pros and Cons

The previous post of this miniseries was: What are Blogging networks and which ones are the best?

While doing my research on blog networks, I searched for posts dealing with the advantages and disadvantages. To my surprise there were very few on this subject. I tried to contact the networks through there emails but they haven't replied as yet. So, I went to some forums, dug up some discussions and got some ideas. To protect there anonymity, I wont mention the names but they were pretty useful.

This post will try to weigh the pros and cons of joining a blog network. I have also made it a part of the Top 5 writing project on Problogger, for better exposure. Here it goes:

Advantages of Blogging Network

• Shared Expenses

The funds required for a blog design, domain name, hosting etc are substantial. The blog networks take care of these expenses for you.

• Assistance and Feedback

Ranging from the technical stuff like latest blog hosting version to help for creating content, a blogging network will help you with everything. It will help you to notice a glitch on your blog or a way to improve the user friendliness. If you don't want to handle the technical stuff, they will do it for you and you have to create only the content.

• Makes you noticeable in blogosphere

Organizations pay more attention to bigger organizations. Whether it be sources, press access, freebies, review units or whatever.

• Money

Some blog networks pay you to blog which keeps you motivated. Indirectly, the increased traffic and exposure a network brings to your blog can be converted to money through Adsense and similar networks.

• Motivation and Friends

This is an intangible benefit which brings a sense of team or a group in your blogging. The people of your network have similar goals and want you at the top. They will motivate you from time to time and wouldn't let you slack as far as posting or quality is concerned.

Cons of a Blogging Network

• Loss of individuality

Believe it or not, people start calling you a member of the blog. Example: "Oh, that blog, yeah it is a XXX network blog, so it is good."

• Sharing the good times and money

If you want a blog network to pick you up through your bad times, it naturally will pick up a share of your good times. The ad space is another think that you will have to sacrifice for the support.

• Things might not work out

The blog networks have a lot of power in there hands. Suppose, you join a network and for one reason or the other, things don't work out. After leaving the group, there is always a possibility(however small) of hard feelings or even worst, revenge of some kind.

• You Become one of them

For me being generalized as a part of the group is the worst thing. When you join a network you have to follow some of their procedures as a part of the group. Whatever you do you will always be a part of the group. Wherever your blog goes, the network name will reach first.

• You have a Boss!!

You are the boss of your own blog. You write whatever you want, whichever way you want to. After you join a blog network, you are responsible to someone else for your blog. However good a network might be, you will still have somebody above you questioning you and your blog.

Post Roundup - April'07

The month of April has been quite good for me and my blog. My blog is just a couple of months old and my homepage got a Google page rank of 4.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support and suggestions you have provided. I will be glad if you can criticize my blog which will give me the opportunity to improve.

I would like to thank my Bmom Liz who has helped me a lot. She has always given me hopes and ideas whenever I was down. Thanks, thanks and Thanks.


Here are some of the best posts in April.

• The Be Original Project

This has been by far the best post I have written, atleast my readers tend to think so. It has more than 25+ backlinks already, still counting.

• 101 Ways to Create Original Blog posts:

  

This is the source post created from the Be Original Project. 40 ways to create your own original posts have been collected. The goal is to reach 101, you can contribute to the same r just sit back and apply these rules to make great posts.

• MBL Series:

This series had a coupe of posts namely:

1. How I made a Hot MBL community in a week
2. Become a Hot Member at MyBlogLog

• 5 Ways to set up your Blog posting schedule:
  

  

• 10 Ways to make your Blog Interactive:

  

Blogging Networks - Miniseries Part I

I have been hearing a lot about blogging networks since I have started blogging. Recently, I Googled each aspect of it and thought it is quite a powerful medium and is potentially the best way to give you motivation, tools ad readers for your blog.

In this miniseries I plan to discuss each aspect of blogging networks. This is a tentative breakup of this series:

• What is a blogging network?
• A list of blogging networks out there
• Advantages of a blogging network.
• Disadvantages of a blogging network.
• How to be a part of blogging networks?

What is a Blogging Network?

A blogging network is a group of bloggers working to achieve a common goal with there combined efforts.

Basically put, a blogging network is a community of bloggers that are loosely connected by theme, by ownership, by language or by any other factors.

Some networks actively organize topics, paying bloggers for providing fresh content. Others are groups of professional writers who band together for promotional purposes

If you are an active blogger and reader in the blogosphere, a blogging network gives you the opportunity to make friends for life who share the same motivation and goals as you do. The pros and cons of a network will be dealt in details later in the series. This is just an introduction.

List of Blogging Networks

Here is a list of blogging networks compiled by The Blog Herald. (list of blogging networks in alphabetical order)

451press

About Weblogs

Aratso

Blog Carnival

Bloggy Network

Blog Logic

Blogo
Italian langauge blog network

Blogpire Productions

Breaking News Blog Network

b5media

CommunicaGroup
Italian language blogging network

Corante

Creative Weblogging

Daily Pixel
Canadian blog network

Dutch Cowboys
Dutch blog network

Duct Tape Marketing
line ball on meeting the guidelines, but each writer has a seperate sub-domain and heading so it fits….just.

Gawker Media

Goblog Media
Our first Indonesian language blog on the list

iFroggy

Ist network

Mink Media
UK blog network

Mazoo
Our first entry to the list of a Russian language blogging network

Metroblogging

Most Valuable Network

NinerNiner

The Podcast Network

SBNation

Seeking Alpha
Investing and financial blogs

Shiny Media
UK Blog Network

Social Media Group

Space42
German language blog network

Spreeblick
German language blog network

Weblog Empire

Weblogs Inc.,
The No.1 blog network from Jason Calacanis

Weblogssl
Spanish Language blog network

Writers Write

How to blog when you are disturbed

Recently, I have experienced immense mental trauma due to some personal anxieties. It is extremely difficult to concentrate and blog in such situations. If blogging is more than a hobby to you, you will certainly face the same situation, if you haven't faced it already.

Unfortunately, readers of a blog don't forgive the bloggers for inconsistency, whatever the reason might be. They will probably unsubscribe from your feed and will never come back. So, I decided to blog about the things that might help us blog through these tough times.

How to blog when depressed?

• Motivation from idols

  
  

This is something I did all this time. I have always found that the top bloggers that inspire me, have a tremendous posting frequency irrespective of the day. Have a look at the statistics on the left.

I am certain that these people go through bad phases as much as we do. But still they never give up blogging. I really admire the professionalism they bring to the table.

I asked my Bmom Liz about this. As usual, she helped me out. This is what she told me to do:

When I'm down I try get away from my computer, I go looking for things that we're made by people -- trees and sky and the lake and I look and I reflect until I don't have any words. I let the space fill me up until I can breathe again.

When I can breathe, then I think about what I will write

That's how I wrote this.

• Motivation from with in

You will only get to half the post and again crawl back into depression, if you aren't self motivated. You must force yourself to think why you started blogging in the first place. For me it is the traffic and readers' comments that keeps me going.

• Know what is at stake?

To cope up with the situation you will need to be a little strict with yourself, think about what you will lose if you dint write the post. Some of the things at stake are reputation, reader count, money count, blog credibility etc.

• How will it be good?

Show yourself the brighter side, the result, if you do make the post. This is another psychology which will give you a positive frame of mind, to make the post. Also, you will be able to put in a 100% since you will be thinking about the good which will come out.

• Watch a cartoon/anime

This is a personal tip which will be different for each one of us. Basically, you need to watch something that takes you to another world. I get a similar experience when I read Harry Potter in one sitting.

• Taste the money

Everybody is motivated by money. Some more some less. It works wonders for me. I go to a forum, people generally show off there earnings when they have had a good day. This invokes a competitive feel and shows you that it is possible for you to get there.

• Credibility is Blogging Money!!

If you don't care about any of the points above. This is the point you just cant ignore. The years or months of hard work that you have put in your blog can all go to waste in a single day.

The wealth you have earned is not Google Pagerank or Adsense Dollars, but it is the role you have assumed in the blogosphere. If you want credibility you have to work through the tough times, without losing readers.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

101 Ways to Create Original Blog Posts - Part 4

Read the 101 Ways to Create original blog posts:

Tips 1-10
Tips 11-20
Tips 21-30
Thanks to all of you for your valuable contributions and you can still contribute to this project after reading the rules.

101 Ways to Create Original blog posts Part 4:

31. I try to queue my posts which helps me create shorter, more frequent posts. If I know I'm only going to have one free night to play on the computer, I'll queue up several posts to publish in the future. My sister once told me ... By Michelle

32.I like sharing my projects. I think that just in itself promotes some originality in my posts. And certainly running in a pretty cool circle of bloggers provides me.. By Michelle

33. I have a cat named Atticus. He alone, is foder for many, many posts. When I first began my blog, he was usually my topic. He's funny, furry, likes to climb trees, and... By Michelle

34.Meditate daily.

As I shared in My Daily Habits for Success, I meditate daily. Among other things, I have found it to be very helpful for “tuning in” to my Higher Self, especially for... By Raymond.

35 .Ask my Higher Self.

Before an article (and after meditating), I try to use the power of a “beginner’s mind,” clear my thinking, and ... By Raymond.

36. Invoke an Emotional Response - This approach takes practice, and quite frankly, it takes emotion to pull it off well. To elicit an emotional response for a reader ... By Wendy

37. Reel ‘Em in Right Away - You must give the reader a reason to continue reading within the first paragraph or two (at the most). There is too much ... By Wendy

38. Industry Happenings-My job provides me with an exclusive view into the happenings of the scrapbook industry-when something tugs at me I share it... By Wendysmedley

39. Connections-I like to highlight other people and their accomplishments.
By Wendysmedley

40.I often write about current projects - whether that’s personal scrapbooking projects, magazine articles recently assigned/finished/published, or projects for my scrapbook marketing clients. By Angie.

Blogging Tools-Box #01

As a blogger you need many tools. The best way to find them is by surfing. Most of us dont have time to do that. I am particularly lucky, as I get to know of the new tools through many social sites I am a part of.

So, I decided that it would be too selfish to keep these to myself. I would update you with the new finds possibly each week. Here are some of the tools:

Blogging Tools-Box #01

• User Interface Engineering:
  

Make your site user friendly with great tools and quality articles. This is one of the best articles I found: 5-Second Tests: Measuring Your Site's Content Pages

• Avoid Grammatical Errors

If you want to make it big, you must improve the way you write. We all keep learning grammar all our lives, still noone is perfect. Here are 10 flagrant grammar mistakes that make you look stupid

• Make your own great Graphic Buttons using Gimp

Here is a sample button which you can make using this quick and easy GIMP tutorial.

• HTML Code Tutorial
  

If you have launched a new website or a blog, you must be looking forward to customizing your webspace. For this, a basic knowledge of HTML tags is a must. This site also provides a quick taglist of all the HTML tags you will ever need.

• Talkr- allows you to listen to text-only blogs on your iPod.

They give you a free podcast of your blog. With the audio blogs on a high, you may want to consider providing an audio feed of your blog. Just a few clicks on a user friendly, intutive site is all you need.

101 Ways to Create Original Blog Posts - Part 3

Read the 101 Ways to Create original blog posts:

Tips 1-10
Tips 11-20
Tips 31-40
Thanks to all of you for your valuable contributions and you can still contribute to this project after reading the rules.

101 Ways to create original blog posts Part 3:

Tips 21-30:

21. Talk about my kids. By Kim

22. Offer recipes for home beauty treatments or yummy eats. By Kim

23. Post photos, and the details of them. By Angela

24. Post scrap pages and the details and products used on them. By Angela

25. Hobbies -- for me this means gardening, reading, travel, photography, pets or cooking.
By Debbie

26. My tool - I keep a MS Word document that lists the days of the week for a month. I try to sketch in my blog post topics for the week so I have... By Debbie

27. I share my puny perspective on Hollyweird. I know you guys love reading about the blow-up dummies they use in crowd scenes!! By ZeeLV

28. I talk about whatever I've done over the weekend. This forces me to either have a pretty fun weekend, or have a really shitty one--so that I can tell you all about it. For instance... By ZeeLV

29. I share kid-related stories. It gives the reader a better feel for who my kids are and how I interact with them on a daily basis. By Gina

30. I share cute craft ideas to hopefully inspire other Moms (and Dads!) to be more hands-on with their little ones. By Gina

Become a Hot Member at MyBlogLog

The following guest post was submitted by Kuanyin. Read her blog at Blog-Blond.

Do you use MyBlogLog? It is an absolute must to establish relations in blogosphere. It gives huge traffic too. If you have been a member, its possible that you have gone through the "hot members" profiles and missed many others.

Kuanyin, is currently a hot member and she shares with us ways to reach the top and become a hot member. Here it goes:

• Be Audacious

Click on other bloggers as your contacts even if you don't know them. Some people view social networking in a fearful light. They see someone collecting contacts like a squirrel & stashing 'nuts' for a long winter.

However, I have a pragmatic approach: the more fishing poles you have in the water, the more fish you're likely to catch, i.e. the more visitors which will likely visit your blog and hopefully will become regular subscribers and readers. This is the reason I am audacious. I want blog readers! My Blog Log is a great fishing hole.

• Take advantage of your daily maximum 15 communities and 15 contacts on MyBlog Log.

I wish I had done this from the get-go, but I didn't grok at that time what a VALUABLE resource MyBlogLog is. I finally paid attention to the visitors coming from MyBlogLog and now make time daily for MyBlogLog browsing and networking. MBL management always cuts me off just as my appetite is aroused. Drats! Management needs to raise the maximum for hungry hunters/fishers like myself.

• Keep hot on the trail of other hot members at MyBlogLog

These hot members may be connected with someone you need to know. They may have been around the watering hole/block more than you, so you can learn something from them. Don't let yourself get caught up in comments and replies when you're fishing. Do that later.

• A catchy avatar on MyBlogLog is an important tool

My avatar happens to be me, and it seems to be working. Avatars whet my curiosity. Who are the REAL people behind the fake Paris Hilton or the giant breasts (you KNOW who I'm talking about!) avatars? You may want to know as I do.

Make your avatar appealing, even if you aren't particularly photogenic. This is your blog business card in a matter of speaking, so take time choosing one that will attract attention and invite others to check you out.

• Carve a niche for yourself among the most popular MyBlogLog categories

'Blogging tips' is a popular category, and there are lots of excellent blogs who offer blogging tips. Blog-Blond is a humor blog with blogging tips--a rare bird. I attempt to use my quirky and *weird* humor with my*Blog-Blond* persona in replies to others on MBL to spark curiosity and sell my humor blog concept.

How I made a Hot MBL community in a week

MBL is MyBlogLog.

It is probably the biggest community with regular activity which has the potential to bring thousands of daily visits to your blog. Once you create a community for your site it is all about getting it popular. My hits went up from 125 odd a day to as high as 422 for 5 days.

The best place for a community in MBL is the "Hot Communities" section. It features six communities and drives enormous traffic to them. I was able to make it to the esteemed list a week after I started my community. The answer to how I made to hot communities in a week can be answered in a few steps:

• Know MBL in and out

It is just like life, before starting anything you should know it in and out. You will learn things as you go along but it is important not to miss any opportunities. There is a huge collection of how to's on MBL, just google for "MyBlogLog" or "MBL" and read everything you find. I did it for 5 days. The best thing I learnt about MBL while reading is:
People on MBL need blogging tips, adult blogs, money making tips and colorful pictures(in that order).
So if your blog is one amongst the above you should definitely tap MBL for traffic.

• Keep Clicking
  

This might be unethical for some but this is what it takes. Go to the new member's area in MBL and open profiles in new tabs. You dont even need to look at them (if you dont want to), since you leave a trail in the Recent Visitors. The person will think that you did visit his homepage. Most of the time people do comeback to check your profile. This drives traffic to your page and possibly to your community. Also, click the "Who's reading What?" and "New Neighbors...". The more profiles you click, the more visits you get.

• Catchy Avatar

  
  

This is what I believe is very important. Recently, MBL decided to ban animated gifs so that is out of picture. I chose an avatar of the girl from "My Sassy Girl" and everybody seems to love her (I knew it). Following are some of the options:

• Beautiful girls pics
• Targeted avatars- eg. If you visit anime communities use an anime character
• Adult Pics - Personally, I hate this one but it seems to work for many. Be careful it will offend many people too.
• Child Photos- Cute baby pics or something that will count as "cute" to the ladies.

There are infinite avatars available online, just google it.

• Make Friends
  

Everywhere, friends help you out. I made a couple of friends who helped me out. They had been on MBL for long time and they helped me out. They even provided link to my community on there communities which gave a boost.

• Publicize your community

Post a link to the community on your own blog and make a catchy icon (see my right sidebar). Make it visible and people might join.

• Join My Community, Get a Link

Yes, you might even try this. Get people to join your community and get them a free linkback in return. Its upto you how long you want to run it. It is to give you the initial 50 members, so that people dont see a barren community when they go to your community page.

• Use the 15 Community and Friend joins

In MBL you can join max 15 communities and make 15 friends a day. I tried to utilise this to the fullest. Whenever you add a contact or join a community leave some interesting message which will bring them to there page and they will join. Dont leave a "I joint yours, please join mine" kind of a message. People dont read it and they wont come to your page.

This is almost everything I can tyhink about right now. If you have any queries, feel free to contact me. In the next article I will show you how to convert this page traffic to your blog traffic.

How can you boost your blog's credibility?

Whenever you are trying to build an online business, it is of prime importance to earn the trust of your readers. Whether you are trying to sell a product online or trying to build a loyal readership for your blog, you must yearn for an image that your readers trust.

Stanford University has compiled a list of 10 guidelines for building website credibility. These guidelines are based on three years of research that included more than 4,500 people.

If you are serious about your blog you should read each point in detail and try to apply them to your blog. Make it a checklist which you go through every once in a while.

The detailed report: Stanford Guidelines for Website Credibility

The main points, if you want to skim through them (unrecommended) are as follows:

• Always cite references: The user should be easily able to crosscheck the information you have provided.
• Post a physical address, mail, photo: Whatever level of personalization you choose, your readers should be able to see a physical existence behind your blog.
• Cite Credentials: If you have won any blogging awards make sure to show them. Traffic graph, feed subscriptions, number of comments, blog position in technorati are some of the many ways you can instill faith.
• Contacting you should be easy: Emails, phone numbers, or physical addresses will help.
• Visual Design: The appearance of the site holds a lot of importance when people judge a blog. It should look professional, or better stated; The visual should match the concept of your blog.
• User Friendliness: Don't just cram up every hack or new technology you find. The blog should be easy to use and fit several criteria for being user friendly viz loading time, browser compatibility, color scheme, font size etc.
• Update regularly
• Separate Ads and your content: If possible, avoid ads completely. But, many people would like to put ads on there blogs. In that case, you should clearly differentiate between your content and the ads.
  
• Avoid errors: Typographical errors, misquoted statistics, incorrect English should be avoided at all costs.
  

This is just a short list. I have seen people going to extremes to assure users of there credibility. All these rules might not be applicable to your blog, but most of them are easy to apply. Have you used any such measures on your own blog?

101 Ways to create original Blog posts - Part 2

Read the 101 Ways to Create original blog posts:
Tips 1-10
Tips 21-30
Tips31-40
Thanks to all of you for your valuable contributions and you can still contribute to this project after reading the rules.
101 Ways to create original blog posts Part 1:
Tips 11-20:

11. Networking: Sometimes suggestions for topics to address or products to review come to me from friends, companies or readers who send me information on things they think might be interesting to me and to Scrapbook Update's audience. By Nancy

12. Development: I try to make sure that I follow a story as it changes from what I initially wrote, and report new updates. This happens especially with news stories such as the closure of PaperKuts Magazine, or the sale of the Primedia Enthusiast publications. Once the initial pieces were written the follow-ups were natural to write. By Nancy

13. I keep a notepad handy to jot blogging ideas down. I often get the best ideas when I'm not near my desk and writing them down helps me remember them. So the notebook travels with me. It makes a great reference for those days you just can't think of anything to write about or when you are planning your posts. By Susan

14. Plan out my weekly posts. Yes, I know it sounds a bit obsessive/compulsive but it works. Often I'm trying to fit blogging into an already tight schedule so knowing what I want to write about makes it much easier.......By Susan

15. Random stuff that happens throughout my day. Just things I experience, both weird and mundane. By Latharia

16. Issues that have been floating around in my head for a while. Mostly existential stuff, some of it prompted after reading a book or visiting a website.By Latharia

17. Discuss my daily life. You just can't get more original than that one - lol! One of the things I enjoy about reading other blogs is the small "peek" you get into what daily life is like for someone else... By Katie

18. Post Layouts. Um, I do call myself "Katie the Scrapbook Lady" so I think my readers probably like to see some scrapbooking in action! When I share my creations I am (hopefully) putting ideas out there for others to enjoy and use.....By Katie

19. When something really pisses me off ................I blog about it. By Simplystated

20. When I have a question and need general advice..............................I blog.By Simplystated

Article Submissions and SEO

Since, I have started blogging, I have been told the importance of writing articles time and time again. Recently, I had a conversation regarding the same on a SEO forum. Finally, I have decided to start writing articles which I hope you will read.
I will be checking the potential advantages which article writing has. If you have already tried it out you are welcome to share you experiences. Here are the "told" potential advantages of article writing, which I will try to confirm in next few days:

• Choice of anchor text in inbound links: The inbound links from the articles (through your resource box) are very important for SEO. The added advantage is that you can choose your own anchor text. PS: If you don't know these technical words, just read this: Article Marketing 101: The Perfect Author Resource Box
• Deep Links: After a certain amount of time some your older posts are lost without incoming links; nobody will read them. Articles help you to link to these deep pages and keep the site alive. This is again very important for you site to feature high in the search engines.
• Many incoming links: There are many people who use articles as building blocks for there blogs. If your article is good enough there is a pretty good chance that people will take it and write about it, giving links to you in the process.
• Give a boost to rank: It is very important that you give sufficient time to write each article and put in enough keywords in it, which are relevant to your blog. A well written article can get you on the front page of Google, with a boost in traffic and possible Page Rank.
• Huge Traffic: Perhaps this is the major attraction for me. At the moment, I am just not getting enough readers. Articles can bring people to your blog, if they find it useful they might subscribe to it.

Here are the top five article submission sites:

• Articlesfactory

• Ezinearticles

• Articlewheel

• Goarticles

• Featured-articles

I also found a list of more than 500 article submission sites, which I am going to use. You can download the text file here: 500 Article Submission sites for SEO

Do make it a point to try it out. Article writing might be the thing which can bring you the much wanted readers. IF you do give it a try feel free to ask any queries or share any experiences.

Keep Blogging!

Add a blogger sitemap to Google

I was always told to add a sitemap to Google for better indexing and possibly my blog would be more Search engine optimized. The problem with my blog is, it is on blogger, and I dont have access to my site folder. Hence, I was unable to upload a sitemap to google. But, recently I got to know a way.

Every blogger blog has already got a sitemap. The sitemap to your blogger blog is :

http://Yourblog.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Where, you should replace Youblog with your blog's name. For example, my sitemap location is:

http://bestblogbasket.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Finally, go to the Google Webmaster page and read the instructions to upload the sitemap. Done.

Keep Blogging!

101 Ways to create original Blog posts - Part 1

It has been a week since the "Be Original" project has been started. Thanks to all of you for your valuable contributions and you can still contribute to this project after reading the rules.
As I had promised, I will now make a super resource post which will help bloggers and readers alike. It will have a staggering 101 ways to create original posts from some of the best minds in the blogosphere. Hopefully, we all can create more original content till the project comes to an end.


101 Ways to create original blog posts Part 1:
Tips 1-10:

1. Write about what I love. This is probably the most important step. If you write about something you’re not very interested in, it will show. If you write about something you passionately care about, that you read about on a daily basis, that inspires you to write, it will shine through. And more often than not, it will be original, because the original part is the passion in your writing, not necessarily the information. By Leo.
2. Put myself into every post. It’s incredibly difficult to come up with an original idea, as so many great thinkers have come before us. Most thoughts have been thought before. But there has never been a “me” before, and if I put my thoughts, experiences, hopes, fears and deepest desires into my writing, it will be different, at least a little, from other writing. By Leo.
3. Google Alerts. This the best resource for keeping abreast of what's going on in one's industry. The down side is the flood of information I get, but I'm pretty good at scanning and picking the one thing that jumps out at me. I keep a running list of blog ideas and blog posts as inspiration. By Patsie and Denise
4. Questions and Answers: As blog and marketing consultants, we get a lot of questions from clients and others about how to do stuff. I could simply reply by email, and I usually do. But then I will often use the Q and A as a blog post. I'm a big fan of repurposing content. By Patsie and Denise
5. Selectively read other blogs- I used to have a huge list of scrapblogs I subscribed to via Bloglines, but this became difficult to maintain, so now I have chosen a few choice blogs - the ones which give me the news as soon as it’s announced. These are normally by industry leaders (not necessarily celebratory scrappers either) and digital store owners / designers, or about the blogging industry itself. I subscribe to several newsfeeds, with simple search tags such as “scrapbooking” or “digital scrapbooking”. Many of these can be delivered to my normal inbox as they are found, others can be subscribed through a blog reader (mine is bloglines). By Michelle
6. Selectively read forums and communities dealing with the topic of interest. For me, this is normally digital scrapbooking communities at the moment, and you never know what thread started by someone will pique my interest, and what one may not. By Michelle.
7. Listen to original music and get inspired ( I love Jimi Hendrix, Eminem, Green Day, Mozart ...). By Steli Efti
8. Be bold ( say what you wanna say the way you want to say it - it´s your blog). By Steli Efti
9. Interaction with the Real World: I write a lot about tools I use in my real life. If I use software, buy a piece of equipment, discover a new site or read something useful in a magazine, I post about it. If I find it useful or interesting then chances are that someone else will too. So I share. Nothing more original than good old real life (as opposed to the surreal feeling I get while reading dozens of blogs one after the other in my news reader. Know what I mean?). By Kim.
10. Things I Want to Say to My Friends: Given that some of my very good friends can barely browse the web without getting help (really!) I post about things I would tell my friends if only they were HighTech friends. I find this helps my posts to have that friendly voice I want to have. While this may not actually help me come up with ideas, it does help me present them better. By Kim.

Tips 11-20
Tips 21-30
Tips 31-40

Section Targeting : Control the Adsense Ads displayed on your blog

If your site or blog contains posts on various topics, the Ads displayed by Adsense are sometimes vague and useless. The problem is, Adsense by itself ignores page content as such and focuses what the overall blog is all about. But, Adsense supports section targeting which allows you to specify what sections you want your Ads to be focused on.
If you are unaware of what section targeting actually is, here is the definition from Google:

Section targeting allows you to suggest sections of your text and HTML content that you'd like us to emphasize or downplay when matching ads to your site's content. By providing us with your suggestions, you can assist us in improving your ad targeting. We recommend that only those familiar with HTML attempt to implement section targeting. Read more on Inside Adsense Blog.

Here is how to apply it:
The working is pretty simple. You can mark as many sections of your post as "Ad relevant" as you want.

• Step 1: Type your post as you normally would.

• Step 2: Use these tags to highlight whatever you want to emphasize:

Your Whole post

De emphasized Text for ads.

< !-- google_ad_section_start -->
Text highlighted for ads.
< !-- google_ad_section_end -->

De emphasized Text for ads.

De emphasized Text for ads.


< !-- google_ad_section_start(weight=ignore) -->
Ignored Text for ads
< !-- google_ad_section_end -->

End of your post

• Step 3: Just publish the post you normally would. Note that it might take 2-3 weeks for your relevant ads to show up, as specified by Google.

I have started targeting my ads starting today. You should try it out since people say that they have increased there payouts drastically using this technique. Let me know if you face any problem applying this to your blog, I will be happy to help y

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How to hack: Add tabs to your blogger posts

See this post for the final effect, which basically looks like this:

The advantages:

• You can keep your post length short and still add a lot of content to your posts.
• The tabs are loaded along with the original article and it wont take anytime (zero time) for the user to switch between any of the pages.
• Can be applied in 5 mins.

Request: Please dont remove my sitename from the hack.Here is how to do it:

• Step 1: Go to the Template-->Edit Html---> Click download full template to take a backup of your original template in case anything goes wrong.
• Step 2: Add this code just before the /head> section of your template:
  

<script src='http://mp3mohit1.googlepages.com/tabbed.js' type='text/javascript'>
</script>
<link href='http://mp3mohit1.googlepages.com/tabbedstyle.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css'/>

• Step 3: Go to Settings--->Formatting-->Post Template and enter the following:

<div id="cyclelinks"></div>
<p class="dropcontent">
Content 1 here.
</p>
<p class="dropcontent">
Content 2 here.
</p>
<p class="dropcontent">
Content 3 here.
</p>
<div id="cyclelinks2" align="right"></div>

Never touch the div tags. The code is self explanatory. The Content 1,2 and 3 are displayed in Pages 1,2 and 3 respectively.

• Step 4: Save the template and you are done. Whenever you create a new post you will see the above layout.Just put the contents accordingly. If you dont want any pages in a post, simply delete all the above code from the new post.

• Step 5: Changing the color of tabs:

Download the js file from: http://mp3mohit1.googlepages.com/tabbed.js and open it in your HTML editor. Find and change the following lines accordingly

var showrecords=1 //specify number of contents to show per tab
var tabhighlightcolor="white" //specify tab color when selected
var taboriginalcolor="lightgrey" //specify default tab color. Should echo your CSS file definition.

After you are satisfied with the changes, save the file and upload it to your location choice. Remember to change the link in Step 2 accordingly.


If you have any doubts, I would be more than happy to help you out. Just drop a comment below or use the contact me form to send a mail to me. I will appreciate it if you dont remove the link to my site, since it is harmless to me and valuable to me.

Source

How to : Grasp your reader's attention

"Eyetracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe."
Users first read in a horizontal movement, usually across the upper part of the content area. This initial element forms the F's top bar.
Next, users move down the page a bit and then read across in a second ...
Read More on the F shaped findings

I think this can help us all in writing content which can be read better by the user. Here is a list of what I learnt to do from this study:

• Content on left: Always set your template so that the widgets and other things are on the right column and the main content is on the left side.
• Show popular posts: As you can see I have placed the popular posts right on the top right, the first horizontal bar which people read.
• Use lists with meaningful bolds: More often than not, the reader is likely to scan through your page at amazing speeds. Make it a point to make your content scannable by writing in lists. Also, the title in bolds should be enough to get the gist of the post.
• Use Images and Videos on the right: The right vertical is mostly ignored by the readers according to this study. So, I think the images and videos which capture the attention of the user should be used on the right instead of the boring no image texts.
• Use Taglines on header: This is like the first impression thing when you meet somebody. Its the most prominent part of the "F" and should be used intelligently. Use keywords, dashes or commas, anything which gets the message across. Choose words which state the purpose of your site the best. You might offend some people who love there language by using dashes, but it will be benificial to most. Here is an example:
• Our solutions are:
  Scaleable and Robust
  Modular and Integrated
  Efficient and Cost-effective
  
• Learn to write effective headlines, titles: The attention span of a reader is less than a teenager. You get just 50-60 characters to convince people to read your article. It is even worse on a search engine when your post is listed amongst 1000 other posts. Its better to note to use the below as a checklist whenever you write a headline.
  
• Clearly explain what the article (or email) is about in terms that relate to the user.
• No puns, no "cute" or "clever" headlines.
• No teasers that try to entice people to click to find out what the story is about
• Skip leading articles like "the" and "a" in email subjects and page titles
• Make the first word an important, information-carrying one.
• Do not make all page titles start with the same word: they will be hard to differentiate when scanning a list.
  

I believe this study only strengthens what we all already knew. The good thing is it has given us another chance to get our basics in line and start writing better content. After all, we can force nobody to read what we write.

Be Original

Being humans(and bloggers), we always relish anything that is original and has a new scent to it. Seeing the vast size of blogsosphere, it is very easy to believe that no original data can be created . Strictly speaking, that is not always true. I have ways to create original content and I believe, you have many ways too.
With that in mind, I have decided to start a project that will benefit all of the bloggers who participate, as well all of the readers of those blogs.

I am calling it "Be Original" and here is how it works:

1. In a new blog post, list and write about 5 to 10 methods you use to create original posts. It has to be a method you use regularly. These should be the best, quickest and easiest to apply methods.
2. At the start of your post, tell your audience (briefly or at length) what you are doing with the "Be Original" Project and put a link and/or a trackback to this post, for the purpose of giving them the full rules and for me to compile the master list of all participants that I’ll link to in a future post.
3. Be sure to also put a link/trackback to the blogger who tagged you for "Be Original" in order to let your readers follow the conversation around and to spread the link love.
4. Sharing your "Be Original" methods with your own audience, will also share them with the blogger who tagged you and the bloggers you tagged, as well as their whole audience!
5. Pick as many bloggers as you want and “tag” them to take part in the fun. You will be helping their exposure by linking to their site from your blog, and they will return the favor by having a link to your site in their initial post. After all, that is how a meme works (a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another.)
6. As Aaron says "Sit back and watch the[Be Original] and the crossover audiences start rolling it!"

Once I feel that all methods have been listed, I will tally all of the habits that were listed by the bloggers who participated and put those habits in the "101 Ways to Create Original Posts", categorized by popularity. It will have a master list of links to all of the bloggers who participated.

Here is a note to the "A list bloggers":
Please play along if you get tagged. It is quite possible that you have the best ideas in the business (making you the A-List). So, why not help all bloggers and readers by creating the original content which we all relish.


My "Be Original" methods:

1. Build up and improvise on existing posts: I try to add value to what people have discovered. Example: Suppose , today somebody discovers magnets (assuming it hasn't been discovered before). The point is you have to use that magnet and improvise. So, one can help blind people find there keys with this magnet.Sounds better than a stray magnet . Just attach the magnet at the end of the cane for blind people (ignore practical constraints for now).
2. Use Your Experience/ Life Stories: This is something which each and everybody of us is capable of. We have lived lives in different ways and have had strange and rare and unique experiences. Use Them, all the time. Whenever you read a piece of news, blog post or anything, try to think if you have experienced something related or analogous to it.
3. What makes you think?: We think all the time, even about the simplest and most mundane things. Sometimes, I get a great idea by thinking over things which we easily ignore, like; Why did blogging start?; Why is Apple(the company) called Apple?
   
4. I am a News Junkie:I read a lot of news. It is a great way to create original content. I am amongst the first few to discover it, so I can get the scoop. Also, it gives me a chance to demonstrate my potential , if I am able to build upon it.Such post has a huge potential to be linked and commented on.
5. Use the product: This works well for me when I am reviewing a product. It gives me a thorough knowledge of the product. Also, almost all the time you find something that others haven't found. Then, I compare or merge it with similar products I have used.
6. Participate in forums, blogs: I am a part of many forums and try to participate in discussions which interest me. Almost always, a new idea pops up whenever you are discussing something. Keep note, and you get new posts :).
7. Use comments on your blog:Another place where you can find great ideas to find a new posts, is in comments of your own blog. Your readers are your best friends, and you get ideas from them. Participate in the comments and use the discussion as a building stone.
8. Untouchable Content : Tackling all of the content that many other publishers find difficult or uncomfortable. A controversial or difficult to write content is overlooked, that is a challenge and a great opportunity to create a new post and possibly a scoop.
9. Start Campaigns:Just like I started this one. It keeps everybody on there toes. It is a little difficult to start a campaign because often they end up being overlooked. So, start a campaign for something you are passionate about, and which interests your readers.
10. Lists: I write lists all the time (__ Ways to __). They work. Easy to skim through in a glance and easier to digest. Don't copy the points from others, try to come up with an original list and it might do wonders.

These are the 10 methods which came to mind. There might be many more methods which I might be using, but these are the ones I use most often.

You can join in on the fun too. If you don't have a blog, you are welcome to leave your methods in the comments section.

I TAG

This is the first list and I decided to tag all of my favorite bloggers and people who are active readers on my blog. If I missed you, I apologize, but you are more than welcome to get in on the project, the fun, and the master list that I will put together. Don’t forget to link or track back this post so that I can tally up the results and add you to the master list.

• Steli Efti: The Supercool Blog
• Liz Strauss - Successful and Outstanding Bloggers
• Alex Shalman: Practical Personal Devlopment
• Aaron Potts - Today is That Day
• Gleb Reys - Personal Development Ideas
• Divya Uttam - Blogging to Fame
• Lyman Reed - Creating a Better Life
• Shauna & Ophelia - Breathing Prosperity
• Patsi Krakoff & Denise Wakeman - Build a Better Blog
• Travis Wright - Cultivate Greatness
• Chris Garrett - Chris Garrett on New Media
• Leo - Zen Habits
• Brian Clark - CopyBlogger
• Priya Shah - Marketing Slave
• Darren Rowse - ProBlogger
• Drew McLellan - Drew’s Marketing Minute
• Patricia - A Better You Blog
• Ben Casnocha - Ben Casnocha: The Blog
• Joe Vitale - Beyond Marketing
• Brian Kim - Invest in Yourself and Make it Happen
• Steven Aitchison - Change Your Thoughts
• Kathy Sierra - Creating Passionate Users
• Scott Lee - Dirty Mechanism
• Edward Mills - Evolving Times
• Scott Ginsberg - Hello My Name is Blog
• Guy Kawasaki - How to Change the World
• Henrik Edberg - The Positivity Blog
• Sania Wyatt - Inspiring and Helping Others Achieve Happiness…
• Steve Pavlina - Personal Development for Smart People
• Tony D. Clark - Success from the Nest
• Ilker Yoldas - The Thinking Blog
• Steve - The Fast Lane
• Gretchen Rubin - The Happiness Project
• Raymond Salas - Zenchill Power Tools Blog
• Murtaza Baloch -
  
• Ann
• Hummie - Hummie's World
• Ashish Mohta - Technospot Blogs
• Maki - Make Money With Dosh Dosh
• Merlin - 43 Folders
• Essential Keystrokes
• Nipul Pravin - Googlr
• Daniel- Daily Blogging Tips
• Broc- Existential Ventures
• Tegas.i.Prasojo - My Daily Thoughts
•