Archive for July, 2008

Very cliche huh?

Either way, I found this great video that covers the basics of making money with a blog.

Very good, and worth checking out!

Well, last time, we spoke about niche choice. We went into detail about exactly what niche I had chosen, and all the reasons for doing so.

Today we are going to talk about another very important factor when starting a blog, especially when you plan to sell at some point. Your choice of name, and you choice of domain.

When it comes to blogs, you want to be able to achieve as many loyal readers and visitors as you can. One important yet simple way to do this is to have good domain choice. If someone can easily remember your blog’s name and domain, it is more likely that they will return at some point. But if you name is off the wall, hard to spell, or confusing, people will very easily forget.

For example, if you have a tech blog, and you call it www.techblog.com, you will get a lot of vistiors to return due to the draw of your domain, making it easier to brand your name, which is something I have talked about before. But if you call it, www.scorpiansden.com, a lot of people are going to forget what your blog was called. See, many people do not subscribe on the first, second, or even third visit. A lot of them read your blog for quite some time, and then decide to sign up for your RSS feed. So you at first need to get them coming back a few times if you want them to eventually subscribe to the RSS feed.

So when choosing your domains, make sure they are somewhat related to your niche, or at least something very brandable. In my case, www.monkeyblogger.com doesn’t really make you think “Tips and Tricks for Internet Professionals”, but it’s very brandable and easy to remember, which can catch a reader’s eye.

For our chellange, considering we have a tech blog in the works, we want to go with something related to tech obviously. Also, trying to stay with .com and .net is preferable, other extensions are harder for some to remember.

I have a few ideas for domains myself for this challenge, but I would like to hear what you have to say! In the comments, leave ideas for what you think my domain should be, and if any one of you get picked, you’ll get a special prize! So just leave a comment with your ideas and with your opinions on this post and this challenge, and we’ll move on to the next step in this challenge, Set up the blog, organize, customize, and optimize.

Yes, you heard right!

My hit series, “The Freelancer’s Guide” is becoming an eBook!

The eBook version will contain new content, examples, and more! This eBook will be sure to get even the most lazy person with artistic ability on their way to freelancing!

I won’t give a release date just yet, but I want to get your guys opinions on this. I think it’s a great idea, and it will be a great eBook. I’m thinking free for subscribers, and a small price for others, but we’ll see. This might lead to another case study, so we’ll see.

I also want to mention that tomorrow we will have the next p ost in the MonkeyBlogger Challenge, I promise. So don’t worry about that, you’ll get you MB Challenge fix.

Well, I’m taking a one day break from the MB Challenge, and tomorrow we’ll talk about name and domain choice. But for today, we’re going to go over a subject that needs to be hammered into the heads of every blogger. Regardless of niche, popularity, and other factors, there are 5 things (I’m sure you can think of more, but I like the number 5 ) that you should go over before pressing that pretty little “Publish” button in your Wordpress admin.

The problem that most bloggers have is that they rush their posts, they skip editing, they skip spell checking, and they end up with poorly formatted posts with bad grammar, misspelled words, and more. They are simple “Publish Happy” if you will.

Let’s list each of those 5 things, and talk a bit about them all.

1. Spell Check your posts

Well, this is a pretty straight forward one, but I’m bringing it up anyway. You need to use the spell check feature of Wordpress! It’s included, just choose your language and toggle it on/off. Obviously, we want on. So many times have I come across an otherwise great post on a great blog, but, what’s this? Ovviously? That’s not a word! You see my point? When you don’t have good spelling, it can really detract from a post that would have been just fine. Spell check your posts. Right now. Go ahead, do it.

2. Check your Grammar

Besides the fact that good spelling is needed to make a good post, grammar is right there too. When writing a post, it’s important that people can understand exactly what your saying, or what you mean. Sometimes if you don’t finish sentences, or you mix up some words, it can leave a reader going, “What did I just read?” “I’ve got no clue what this guy meant!” There is a cool tool I use called SpellChecker.net. All you gotta do is plug in the text of your post, and you get a great grammar check in a pop-up, and it can help you fix up those posts real quick.

3. Edit out the Fluff

Now, I won’t give you much fluff in this point, wouldn’t be fitting. Basically, if a reader has to go through 400 words before you get to what that post is about, then you have a problem. You need to get to the point, get what you need to say out, and finish the post. No rambling. (Unless your post is a ramble or if your blog is ramblings. ) Either way, no one needs to read tons of content for nothing, so try and cut it out, or at least keep it to a minimum.

4. Ask yourself if the post is helpful

A bit related to point 3, but is something that needs going over. Sometimes, I’ve written a post, and thought to myself, “My readers don’t really care about this subject.” Or, “My readers may not understand where I’m getting at with this.” See, you need to look at the post from the perspective of your readers, not you. Maybe you get what you mean, but will they? Think about it.

5. Sort out your permalinks, categories, and tags

Ah, something a bit more technical here. But, it’s something that can potentially make or break your SEO presence, especially when it comes to getting traffic to your posts, not just your home page. Adding Tags and separating your posts up can make it easier for readers and new coming visitors to search through your blog, and find what they really want. Categories are great to, they can make navigating your blog, and finding what you want to find easier, and it just organizes everything, which is always good. Lastly, and also the most important one for SEO. Permalink structure. I personally set the permalinks to show the posts name with each name separated by a -, and this sort of permalink structure is great for SEO, and can boost your site and inner pages in the SERPS.

Well, there your go! 5 things that are essential before pressing that coveted “Publish” button.

Well, I got some great input, and did a lot of research, and I’ve decided on which niche I’ll be doing.

Technology.

For sub-niche, I’ve decided that I’m going to go with a general technology blog.

My reasoning for this is simple, but I’ll go into detail regarding what swayed me to go with this.

For one thing, technology is something that I’m interested in. When it comes to blogging, and anything else really, you need to be motivated. To be motivated, you need to be interested. If your not interested in the subject your blogging about, and I’ve talked about this at length before, you just not going to succeed. Because deep down, the money you might make will not be enough of a motivator for long.

Another reason why I went with technology is because it’s a big money making niche. Because of the fact that it is such a large niche, it will be easier to find advertisers for a technology blog as opposed to a blog about hairbrushes. Along with this is the fact that many people are interested in technlogoy, making it an easier niche to find readers for.

But, there are not just Pros to this niche. One con is the fact that there are already a ton of blogs on technology, such as TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Engadget, etc. For this reason, it will be touch to break out onto the scene. But I have some unique ideas and plans for this, so I think we’ll be fine. More on that later.

One other great thing about a technology niche blog is that I can find a lot of things to write about, so we won’t be stuck with nothing to write about.

Well, that’s it! My reasons for my niche choice. Now remember, thsi doesn’t automatically mean that you should go with a technology blog, but there just tips that you can use. Look at all the pros and cons of your niche. Write them down even. Be 100% sure that’s what you want to do before you commit yourself, and right off the bat, you’ll set yourself up for success.