Archive for the ‘News’ Category

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.

We’ll be talking more about the challenge later today or tomorrow, but I wanted to make a quick post to clarify something.

Apparently, some of you think this is a competition of all of us trying this and seeing who “wins”, or who can sell first with the goal or whatnot.

I just want to clarify, it’s a challenge for me to see if I can do it, and you guys are helping me, which helps you learn the process and see what works, and what doesn’t. Obviously, you can take the knowledge you learn from me and from this challenge and do it yourself, but it’s not a competition between us to see who can do it the fastest, or make the most money.

Just thought I’d clarify that.

First off, I want to apologize for the delay, but my grandma has not been doing well at all, and I’ve been at the hospital almost every day, so it’s been tough on the family. But I’m taking time to write this up, as it’s important I think.

The time has come for use to move onto the first step of the MonkeyBlogger Challenge. Picking a niche. Now, this is one of the toughest, and most crucial steps when it comes to starting a blog or website with the goal of selling for profit.

So for our blog, that’s the first thing we want to figure out. What is it we want to do with this blog? What do we want to promote? A product? A service? Is is a news blog? Thes are all things we need to consider.

I’ve done a lot of research and thought regarding this, and I’ve decided to go with a news blog. But the next step is choosing what type of news blog. Considering there are many news blogs, I don’t want to be too general with my niche.  For example, I wouldn’t go for a blog like www.tuaw.com, which covers everything Apple, but something like www.appleiphoneapps.com, which covers just iPhone apps.

So I’ve picked four general niches, and I’m looking for the help of my readers to pick which one to go with, and then what sub-niche to go with. So, in the comments, leave which of the four you think I should choose and why, as well as some sub-niche ideas. I’ll consider all and then choose what to go with, and we’ll discuss that in another post.

So without further adu, here are the four niche choices.

1. Technology
2. Music
3. Television
4. Sports

Now it’s time for your input.

Hey guys, sorry I couldn’t tell you, my family and I made an unexpected trip up to Orlando this weekend to stay with my sister, I will be here a week. over the weekend I had no access to a computer, but now I’m good, so don’t worry, tomorrow will bring aome great tips you all can use in your blog.

In other news, the voting for the MonkeyBlogger’s first challenge has ended, and it seems that the choice “Create a blog and sell it for $500 profit”, has come back to win.

So that will be our challenege, and we’ll get that underway in just a few days, so stay tuned! So sorry for the content delay folks, didn’t know I was coming up to Orlando, but I’ve alotted time for my blog, so no worries! :)

Just a little rant that’s making me a bit angry.

If anyone read about it, John Chow screwed Shoemoney’s team in Top Affiliate Challenge. He went into their account, made a post on their blog saying that they were going to lose, and then changed the password so they couldn’t log in.

What the heck man? That’s so cheap, not even funny, and very immature.

Does a guy who makes over 30k a month just from his blog really feel that threatened? Jeez.

And on the other hand, look at Bill Gates. Quits Microsoft, (sort of) to commit his life and money to malaria and other diseases and charities. Wow. That’s just great! I’m very proud of Bill for doing this, and at the same time John Chow is pulling stupid stunts like this and buying useless tech things and dinners at fancy restaurants that he doesn’t need.

I know I may sound like a “crazy” here, but it just urks me how some people with so much money can be so cheap, stingy, and selfish, when people accross the world need that money just to survive. I can tell you right now, if I made $30,000 a month plus like he does, I’d donate 1,000s a month to different things.

Well, I guess that’s it, tomorrow we’ll have some great content, so stay tuned for that.