Learn how to blog Here! If you have ever wanted to learn how to blog, here is the place for you. Step-by-step instructions on how to setup a blog and how to blog. No Snooze button can keep us from our Blogging

Everyone can get burned out every now and again.  Even if you follow most professional blogger’s advice and blog about something you love you still might get burned out.  That is when you should just take a couple steps back and take a break. 

It doesn’t have to be a long break, but just take some time to recoup, relax, come up with more material for your site, etc.  Read other people’s blog posts, read a book, it doesn’t matter what, just let your brain refresh for a while.

You may or may not want to come back to your blog if you do take a break though.  That is OK.  You should be blogging for you, not for someone else.  If you no longer find enjoyment in blogging, then don’t blog.  Most of the successful bloggers out there will tell you they started their blog because they liked to write about that type of information, and if they didn’t get any enjoyment out of it they would stop.  The same goes for you. 

Relax, it is OK to take some time off, any reader who has signed up for your RSS feed will come back to read once you start posting again.

Ben
Blogmaster General

Blogging like nobody’s business.

I have posted before on how to write a blog post, but today I wanted to send you to Neil Patel’s site, as he has written another one of his great posts.  The latest post on his QuickSprout.com site is about how to write a blog post.

As usual he gives great information, tips, etc.  I just wanted my readers to be able to see another point of view and another style of writing.  Many of the topics he mentions have been mentioned here, but sometimes we need another example or to read things in a different way. 

So head on over to QuickSprout.com and learn how to write a blog post.

Ben
Blogmaster General.

That's Blogalicious

If you are trying to make money with your blog, you will most likely need either a very targeted audience to pitch advertisements to (say Comic Books, and specific Comic Books at that since there could be several groups that are only loyal to certain brands).  You will then research the heck out of that niche and post as much information as possible.  You will also become “known” on other people’s blogs that are related to this niche.  You will then see very specific targeted users who could be interested in purchasing something from the niche.  The bottom line here is to Own the Niche.  You have to become one of the premier bloggers on the subject, you have to display your knowledge of the subject.  Interaction with the community is also a must, as the community builds you will be seen as an approachable expert.  How many experts do you know that you have access to?

Here is a list of items to cover to Own your Niche: Read More

Stop Comment Spam

If you are running a blog right now, you may have noticed some Comment Spam.  Comment Spam is one of the bigger problems with allowing anyone to comment on your site.  Don’t know what comment spam is? 

Here are some resent examples:

1. Hello, great site, I just followed you
2. You write great content, thanks for posting it.  On a side note, I run (some website) which focuses on ….. and ….  (this one has 2 paragraphs of what their site is about, and nothing to do with the post you just made).
3. Grood Infos, just subribed (glaring typos with short comments like that you will see all the time, usually with a url link that goes to a different country)
4. Free  xxxxx  tape,  (insert name of celebrity) caught on camera, ….. (this will go on for a while and basically be filled with links to porn sites). 
5. Good post, I will be coming back.  (What makes this Spam is that it is usually left on several posts, by the same person or similar person).
6. Repeatitive comments.  Comments that you see on several posts all with the same or similar text and from the same or similar person.
7. Anything that has a link to some strange site or the person’s “name” is weird

The best thing about WordPress as far as Comment Spam is concerned, is that there are several tools you can use to combat it depending upon your degree of infiltration.  Below are just a couple: Read More

Well, that is a very subjective question.  I have been writing on this blog for 6 months now, and even though I have advertising on it, I have made $0.  Why is that?  Most likely for the following reasons:

1.  My blog posts are more informative about how to start blogging.  Therefore I usually don’t put much advertising within the posts. 

2.  My posts are usually a little longer and I usually only post once a week.  This leads to fewer overall visitors since the regular visitors have already signed up for the RSS feed and thus know that I only post once a week.  One of the other blogs I write on has much more frequent posting and also has a higher traffic rate.

3.  The subject matter is less conducive to selling a lot of products. 

Blogging is only a function of having Hosting, a Domain, and then installing WordPress (which is free).  After that, you are just looking for material so now I can throw magazines in the mix.  www.GoDaddy.com

This sort of limits my options. BlueDolphin.com, America’s Magazine Superstore

So to answer your question, how much can you make with a blog, it depends on a number of factors.  You have to be able to write great content, have a subject matter that allows you to do reviews of products which usually would lead to a sale or two, and you have to do a lot of it.  The bigger your audience, the better.  But keep in mind, volume doesn’t necessarily mean money.

The blog I mentioned earlier that had the higher traffic level, I had a spike of 162 visitors one day and did not get any sales off that.  The normal traffic level for this blog is about 2-5 a day if that.  As you can guess, 2-5 visitors just won’t cut it if you are trying to make money.  I also have less time to comment on other people’s blogs since I write on 5.  So each morning is essentially taken up coming up with new information for my readers instead of being able to promote my site elsewhere. 

How much money do you want to make is the real question.  Take that number and then start doing so math.  How many sales per month will it take to reach that number?  How many sales per day?  Is it reasonable to assume you will have that many visitors?  Do you already have that many visitors?   I would not assume more than a 1% conversion rate which means you will have to have a ton more visitors to your site than the number you are calculating will actually purchase a product.

Does this help?  How much do you want to make?

Ben
Blogmaster General

So, you have WordPress installed, you viewed the How to Install WordPress Plugins video a couple weeks ago, and now you are thinking you want to change your theme. If the answer to that is yes, then I have a video for you. This is from Kit Elliot at SuperAffiliate just like the last video was.

Ben
Blogmaster General

sorry for the short post today, my Motorola modem from AT&T died last night, and after an hour on the phone w/ AT&T the resolution was “we have no record of selling you that modem, so you will have to call back and ask for billing, but they don’t open for another 2 hours.” Even though I had a copy of the bill in front of me where they charged me $62 plus fees & taxes. So now I wait. Last time it took 3 days to get another modem and then another day to reconfigure my home network.  I am less than a happy camper today

Yes, I Blog

Based on the “If a Tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound?” quote, the title of this post may be applicable to many of us out there that have few visitors / readers.  This is acutally the main reason behind writing about something that interests you.  By writing about what you are interested in, you are writing more for you own interest than just to have people read and comment about your articles.  Building a following and a userbase takes time.  I have been writing each week since mid-January and I have about a handful of visitors each day.  Very few comments, but I am writing to help others learn how to blog, learn how to use wordpress, and learn about what types of tools are available on the internet to further their reach.  Knowing that it takes a long time to develop a large audience, I am not concerned at this point of the lack of audience. 

If I wanted a huge audience quickly, I would have tailored my articles and the subject matter to something controversial that would get people fuming and then try and have it picked up by mainstream media.  Nothing gets your face in the news faster or provides more coverage than a good old fashioned controversy or gossip.  Take two recent examples.  Read More

To some, the word Blog has a connotation of some dude sitting in his mom’s home typing away at the computer expressing his thoughts on old school star movies (wars, trek, fighter, etc.).  Those people dismiss blogs as some hackjob website filled with ramblings.  Others view blogs as simply personal diaries and thus devoid of real information.  These folks are the same ones who hold the NY Times and the WSJ in high regard as some of the more prestigious newspapers. 

Well, newsflash – NY Times, WSJ, CNN, CNET, Fortune, Speak Without Interruption and many other newspaper and magazine websites are all using Blogging software.  Read More

Notice that the title has the word READ in capital letters?  If you are going to comment on other people’s blogs, you should read the article first.  I also like to read the other comments, as it will give you more information about the tone of the conversation, if someone else already posted a comment about what you were going to write, other ideas to comment about, etc.

Bottom line is that the comment section is a place to start a conversation about a specific article.  It is a way to interact with other users and hopefully with the author him/herself.  When you comment, you join that conversation.  The same way you would join a conversation at a party, by having some input into the subject, is how you join this conversation. 

One of the purposes of joining a conversation (commenting) could be to get people to come over to your site and have them read and comment on your articles thus building your readership.  One thing you should not do however is interrupt the conversation by saying something like  -  “come over to my website and check out my latest post…” or anything similar that is not adding value to the conversation. 

But how can I get people to come to my site w/o mentioning it in my comment? Read More