Archive for the ‘Tips and Tricks’ 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.

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.

In the world of blogging, professionalism is key. If you want anyone to pay attention to you or your blog, you 1) need a domain, and 2) need a quality domain. If you pick a bad domain, not only are you stuck, but you discredit your blog big time.

When I first started blogging, I made some bad choices, and some good choices, when it came to choosing domain names. Let’s talk about the consequences of each a good choice, or a bad choice.

Bad Choice

When I made a few bad choices pertaining to domain name choosing, it effected my blog more than you’d think. I got many complaints, many lost readers, and a lot of confused readers who thought that it made me look like an unprofessional jerk. The blog eventually fell apart, and I believe the biggest reason was the bad choice of names.

Good Choice

Ah, time for the good choice. Well, for one thing, MonkeyBlogger.com is a fantastic domain if you ask me. But besides that point, the good effects you can get from a great choice in domain name, or business name for that matter are endless. Publicity is one thing. When you have a good name, it gets around. And fast. When your domain name is brandable, you build a brand on and off the internet, and it adds an extra hint of professionalism in your blog and/or business.

So that’s it for today, just thought I’d talk a bit about this, I’ll be talking more about professionalism in other things in my upcoming posts, and you should fine it very interesting, so don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS to stay updated.

Well, the time has come. I am officially starting my first MonkeyBlogger Challenge! What is this crazy MonkeyBlogger Challenge I speak of?

Well, basically, in each Challenge, we will set a main goal, something to achieve. Then we we take all the neccesary steps and mini goals to reach that destination. Think “Make $500 a Month” but for real. But in this particular Challenge, it will be related to blogging. I will give you three options, and you all must vote. Whichever has the most votes in 7 days from the point I make this point, will win. Than we will try and achieve that goal together. Now, this is not just a case study. I will need your input every step along the way, and we will get this done! When the goal is achieved, all my readers will get a nice surprize. Here are the options.

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Once it has been chosen, every other day, I will write about the progress in much detail, and you will all learn how this is done. Now remember, I am not an expert, and I will make mistakes, and I will need your help, but together, we can all learn together and put our minds together and learn.

Well, how do you all feel about this? As another note, If I can see 15 comments on this post, (Very possible, we have more readers than that. :-P), than every reader will get yet another prize!

Today we’ll be talking about a subject many people fail to follow through with. When it comes to anything really, but especially blogging, you need to focus and achieve goals before you expand.

For example, many, and I stress the many, forget to have an established, and strong blog before adding another blog on your network if you will, and running dual blogs. In this regard, I don’t mean related blogs, but I mean separate ones. If you start a second blog before your first one has stable traffic and RSS readers, then your first blog has a better chance of not succeeding because you will be focusing on your new blog, which by the way will also have a bad chance of succeeding because, again, you’ll move on before it’s anything special. See how the vicious cycle runs on like that?

Let’s talk about a few ways to focus on your blog to stipulate growth, and also a few ideas for when and how to go about starting another blog.

Write content ahead of time

A lot of bloggers these days are catching onto this trend, and rightly so. It’s a smart idea to keep a small to medium sized stockpile of posts written up so that when the day comes that you can’t post for one reason or another, you have some content to fall back on to keep your blog flowing, with updated content. The last thing visitors wanna see is a blog update 9 days in a row, and then be un-touched for 5 weeks. Now, I completely understand sometimes you cannot post, but just make sure you keep your blog updated with fresh content, to keep your readers around. This is something that will cause growth and stability in your blog, which is something you need to make sure you have down before you start on a new project. Just keep in mind that if you write to far in advance, your stockpile of posts may become out dated.

Take time out for Your Blog

Running a blog is hard work. A lot of hard work, it takes someone with a lot of dedication and skill to keep one running for very long. You need to take out a lot of time for your blog if you expect it to grow, and running a second, even sometimes a third blog, can create a situation where you don’t have sufficient time for any of your blogs, which can contribute to their fiery downfalls. Just kidding.

But you still ask, ‘ When is it smart to start a second blog, and how can I keep the first and the second running smooth when this time comes?”

When should I start a second blog?

Some people will say immediately, some say never, and still others have a different viewpoint. I’m in the others among these three.

I feel that when it’s appropriate, starting a second blog can be a smart investment that can double, even triple your income and joy in blogging. But you need to make sure it’s time, as this can be a daunting task, running two blogs, and you need to make that you and your blog are ready.

As a rule of thumb for me, I feel that a blog needs to be firmly established with constant traffic before you start a second blog. When you feel you are ready, run a case study. See for one month if your traffic for any days goes down by more than 50 visitors. See how much you fluctuate. If it’s more than that, than hold off. If you think your ready, than go ahead.

But how to I keep them both running smooth?

There are a few ways to keep multiple blogs you run smooth, which is a tough task when just one blog can be tiring. We’ll list those ways here.

1. Hire a writer - Hire someone to take care of some of the writing, or even all of it!
2. Create an alternating posting schedule - Post every other day on each blog, alternating so you never have to write more than one post.
3. Get a friend to help manage things - This can include the advertising, upkeep, etc.
4. Automate as much as you can - Get OIOPublisher, set up autoposting schedules, anything you can to automate things to keep the work flow manageable.

Well, there you go! That’s it for today, and I think these tips will really help you out a ton when it comes to running multiple blogs.