Itã¢â‚¬â„¢s Not Always Easy to Show Up for Yourself but Itã¢â‚¬â„¢s Always Worth It

by James Martin

So you’ve started a nice new blog, you have a funky domain, some content and you’re all up and running. A few weeks later you magically come across a blog by the name of ProBlogger run by Darren Rowse. You find out that he works from home and earns a very respectable income from blogging.

Your mind goes into overdrive, maybe I can earn money from my blog – but how does he do it?

For you Successful-Blog readers, I’m going to briefly delve into the wonderful world of Adsense.

WARNING – this covers a very basic guide, however I will reveal a few tactics that you may be unaware of…

Introduction to Adsense

Adsense is a publisher’s god send. Google Adsense is a contextual advertising system that allows publishers (people who own/run websites, blogs) to place advertisements on their site. When people click an advert, the publisher will be paid for that click.

Signing up is easy; however you must have an already established website with real content. Click here to signup for Google Adsense.

Once your site has been approved you will be able to select an advert type, color and shape. Below I will list some tips that you should try and stick to when choosing these options.

What works:

1) Blend the ad into your content as much as you can. If your blog background color is white, make your advert background color and border white as well.

2) When considering a â€Å"link color”, try making it the same link color as the links found on your blog. If your blog has links in the content, what color are they? Apply the same color to your Adsense adverts.

3) If you’re unsure about what color to use for links, stick with blue. It’s a standard across the web and when people see text that’s blue, it screams â€Å"click me”.

4) Location is important as a well placed advert can be the key to success. 468×60 adverts work well above your blog content; horizontal link units work well too.

5) Another 468×60 advert works well under the first post, click here to learn how to place an advert under your first blog post. (WordPress only!)

What doesn’t work:

1) Skyscraper adverts don’t work too well on a blogs sidebar; they just scream â€Å"I’m an ad!” and generally don’t attract much attention.

2) Ads with borders. Though some people have success with them, the majority don’t. You could always test it, on one week, off the other.

3) Bright, ugly colors. Don’t go there.

Big No-no’s

1) NEVER click your own adverts. This is a big no-no and Google have devices in place to detect fraudulent clicks.

2) Never ask your readers to â€Å"click on your adverts”, or have headings that state â€Å"please click my ads to support this site”. This is strictly forbidden as per Google’s terms of service.

How much will I earn?

The question that gets asked the most is how much will I earn or how much should I be earning. The trick to this question is that different content will receive a different CPM. (Cost per thousand impressions). There are keywords that will attract a higher CPM, while others won’t.

There are people who write content specifically designed to include high paying keywords as to attract higher earnings. But that is a whole new story and generally isn’t considered true blogging as the user is publishing content made for Adsense, and not the readers.

The general consensus is to create content that is valuable and useful to REAL surfers. MFA (made for Adsense) content won’t make you rich overnight and with so much competition, you’re better off creating real content that you love writing about.

I’m sure Liz will agree 🙂

James â€Å"Jamsi” Martin

__________
Check out James' blog, Workboxers. His approach to business blogging is refreshing, inquisitive, and intelligent. Workboxers a great read, packed with information in the right size nuggets. I always catch myself remembering his posts long after I've read them.

–ME "Liz" Strauss

Want to Be a Guest Writer?

John Cox, Guest Writer

I suppose that I can be described as the post-modern Slacker. I am not that lazy when it comes to work as I have kids to feed, but I am always looking for something to fill my limited attention span. However, I tend to be rather lazy when it comes to finding new sources to read. Using the OPML option with Bloglines is the easiest way I have found to discover new reading material from folks that have the same interests as I.

OPML is similar to a table of contents of your RSS feeds. It shows what you are subscribed to, and how you have it organized. If you have a peek at my OPML file you can see each of the blogs that I am subscribed, as well that I am a rather unorganized person that just leaves them in my root folder. This is the file that I have generated from my Bloglines account, and is just a collection of blogs that I have found over the years by downloading others OPML files.

The process is rather simple on Bloglines on utilizing the OPML of others to find some outstanding (and some not so outstanding) reading. I would assume that it is rather simple on other RSS Aggregate tools as well, but you need to consult the documentation for the tool that you are using. Here is how I go about it. (You might want to open this article in a second window if you want to go through it with me.)

Find a blog that you enjoy in Bloglines. We will use Successful Blog as our example. From Bloglines we can see that there are 74subscribers that read this blog on that feed. If we click on the "74 Subscribers" link you will see that of those 74, there are 28 souls that leave their blog reading list public. On that list is "niceguyeddie" which is my subscriptions (I am a fan of Reservoir Dogs, and have absolutely no taste in reading).

When you click on my nickname the left frame changes to my subscriptions. This is where it gets fun. If you scroll down the list you will see a link for "Export Subscriptions". That should bring up my OPML file in the right frame (or if you chose to open in a new tab / page then you know where it is going). Simply right click on the right frame and "This Frame -> Save Frame As" in Firefox. The instructions are similar for you 7 IE users left, as there is a "Save Frame As" in IE as well. Simply save the frame as an XML file to your desktop or folder that you use for working files.

We now how the OPML file from our like minded reader on our computer. This is only half the process, as we now need to import the feeds into our account so that we can enjoy and track them. Get back into "My Feeds" and you should see a link for "Reorder / Sort" in the left frame. Simply go to that link, and at the bottom of the left frame you will see a link for "Import Subscriptions". When you click on that link your right frame will change to an OPML import where you can upload the OPML.xml file that you just saved to your desktop or working directory. Once imported, it may take some time for the feeds to end up on your reading list, but generally I have found that it is almost immediate.

What I have found is that most folks have subscriptions to their own Technorati watch lists for vanity reasons (I do as well). I generally unsubscribe from those immediately and sift through all the new blogs that i have found. On any given import, I tend to find ten or so blogs that interest me enough to remain subscribed and to follow with some interest.

This technique might not work for you as far as finding new reading, but it is worth a try when you feel that you are in a bit of a reading rut.

—
When SOB John isn't showing us tricks at Bloglines. He's at Wyome. com definitely NOT slacking. Check out his blog.
Thanks for a great post, John!–ME "Liz" Strauss

Guest Writer: James Shewmaker

I'm delighted to present this article on Blog Usability, written at my invitation, by James Shewmaker.

If you're a regular reader at Successful-Blog, you've seen James' insightful comments throughout our discussion threads. James is a visual branding consultant in Atlanta, GA. His business, which he began in 2001, is Qwerty – "Helping Businesses Become Unforgettable," and his business blog is Qwerty.us/blog/.

Blog Construction–What"s Your Function?

Design is more than decorating. Design has to do with functionality. The form of whatever is designed needs to serve the purpose or function for which it was made.

Many bloggers are more concerned with article writing than they are with the functionality of their blog. There are a number of design factors which these bloggers overlook. However, readers are affected by how they experience your blog, and the reader's experience is a result of how well the blog functions. If a car looks great on the outside but its engine has no power and its steering feels like driving a motor home, buyers are going to avoid this car. The same is true of the functionality of your blog.

Here are five suggestions for improving the usability of your blog.

1. For the visitor who does not have your web assets in her browser's cache, how long does it take for your blog's main page to load? The visual aesthetic of your blog must be balanced against load design. This balance is determined by the purpose of your blog. If your blog is devoted to visual design such as MocoLoco or CoolHunting, then you will sacrifice speed for visuals, but if your blog is devoted to the discussion of philosophy, you should sacrifice the aesthetic for the reader's speed of access.

To test the load time of your blog, first erase your browser's cache. In most browsers this can be done in the preference settings, or you can use a utility such as iClean by Allume to erase your browser's cache. Next use a LOW speed internet connection. Just because you have broadband does not mean that your readers do. Now using a stopwatch (or a watch which tracks seconds) see how long it takes for your blog to load into the browser.

2. Are your graphics fully optimized and have you chosen filenames and alt tags which will aid your visitors and improve your search relevance?

Optimizing your graphics refers to using a graphics program to reduce the file size (kilobytes) of your graphics to the lowest size possible for the reader to see that which is being shown. Again the size of the file is determined by the purpose of your blog. If the purpose of your blog is not graphical, then a good target size to aim for is approximately 10 kilobytes.

Unless you are a professional photographer, a jpeg in a blog should never have an optimization setting in the 80s or 90s. This refers to the quality of your jpeg. The best quality and largest size jpeg has an optimization setting of 100, while the lowest optimization setting is 0. In most general purpose blogs, an optimization setting somewhere between 50 and 75 should suffice. If you are producing your own images using a digital camera, it is usually advisable to take the best quality picture and then use a graphics program to optimize the quality.

Image file names should use words from your posting separated by underlines where spaces would be.

Alt tags not only provide text for broken links. Alt tags also provide rollover feedback in some browsers. In some browsers. placing your mouse over an image causes a small rectangle to appear which displays the content of the alt tag. This is what is meant by rollover feedback.

Alt tags also are used by some search spiders. Search engines use programs known as spiders to index the content of websites. Different spiders use different criteria for determining web page relevancy. Alt tags are used by some spiders in evaluating the relevancy of a web page.

3. Are you using redundant code instead of using CSS? Redundant code refers to code which contains unneccessary duplication of the code declarations. The longer you blog, the more the updating and archiving of your blog is going to be affected by bloat code. Try to eliminate table coding and font declarations as much as possible. CSS reduces the source code necessary to display your blog to a minimum.

Using HTML to define your blog's fonts or using tables to create your blog's layout is the main cause of redundant code. Bloated code is often created by WYSIWIG editors, such as Frontpage, Freeway, and MSWord. If you are importing code from one of these editors into your blog's editor you are creating bloated code.

Another reason for avoiding redundant code and bloated code is that it can overtax the servers on your webhost. If a webhost's servers become overtaxed it can either slow down the access to all the blogs on that server or even cause the blog service to crash.

4. Minimalistic design in blog templates is more effective than attempting to dazzle with the exception of visual creatives, such as photographers and graphic designers. That which distracts irritates readers.

Allow me to illustrate this by contrasting the main article page of the Wall Street Journal's Startup Journal Online with the print article page of the same article. The print article page removes everything which might distract the eye. I am not advocating that you strip your blog's design to this degree�even the navigation system is eliminated from the print page. Instead I am illustrating the difference between a complex page layout and a minimalistic page layout. The complex layout distracts the eye from the article content. While the minimalistic page layout, makes the text of the article more accessible and important.

5. Always keep in mind that a large percentage of your audience will be reading your content off RSS or Atom readers and syndicators�design your blog so that the textual content can stand on its own whenever necessary. For example, do not reference something in your blog's sidebar without providing a link in the article text.

If you would like more suggestions on improving your blog's functionality, Jakob Nielsen writes excellent articles about Web Usability.

And for a construction connection of another kind. If you are nostalgic about ABC’s Schoolhouse Rock, here are the words and the site connection to “Construction Junction.�

Thanks, James.
I know I couldn't have said that better.

James will be back again soon with more.

–ME "Liz" Strauss.

From: D. Keith Robinson

Knowing (or trying to figure out) how often to post to your blog is one of the most common questions many bloggers have. It's a hard question to answer and it really depends on the kind of blog you're writing and who your audience is. There are as many answers to the question as there are bloggers out there.

Basically what you need to do is figure out what works best for your own situation. And there are lots of factors that go into finding that optimum frequency of posting. I'm afraid I don't have a "one-size fits all" answer for you, but I'd like to discuss some of the options and the pros and cons of those options. As well, I'd love to get your take on this age-old blogging question.

Post as much as you can! A common response.

In general I think most feel that the more you can post—the better. And, in general, I agree with that notion. But it really depends on the kind of blog you're writing. For example, if you're a link or news blogger, you might want to post several times a day at least. During my stint as guest editor for Lifehacker we had a posting quota of 12 posts a day!

Needless to say we didn't make it everyday. But then again, I'm not that kind of blogger. My posts tend to be more like articles and so I feel that more than one a day is usually overkill. But again, it's dependent on the blog, the audience and your own writing style.

If you';re like me, and post more original content, and you're able to come up with something good to talk about for you blog every day than good on you! Post away. However, I've found this to be very challenging for the kind of blogs I write for. In fact my goal is 2-4 posts a week and I usually don't make that. Then again, I've got a few sites and together I average about a post a day.

One could easily argue I'm spreading myself too thin when it comes to posting frequency. But then again, there is the opposite argument.

Infrequent posting and success

I realize this stuff also depends on your definition of success, but I know many bloggers who've found success by posting as infrequently as twice a month. No joke. The theory here is that you're posts are of a higher quality and when you do take the time to say something, you really mean it.

You can have success, again depending on what kind of blog you run, with infrequent posting, but it's a rare situation.

A recommendation and a caveat

My recommendation for most bloggers trying to build and keep and audience is to try and post at least three times a week. However, this should be a goal and not a requirement. Again, there are exceptions. I run a product/recommendation blog and it might seem that my goal there should be to post several times a day. I'm no where near that. In fact I've not posted there in quite awhile. But then again, my goals for that site aren't what you'd normally expect for that kind of blog.

As well, there are times of year, holidays and summer, where I find my posting naturally slows down. This usually doesn't seem to have a large effect on my success. In the summer months I tend to have less time and less energy, so I post less. But my audience seems to read less as well. I notice a dip in traffic across all my sites that doesn't appear to have anything to do with how often I post.

Consistency is more important

I think what's more important is that you post on a semi-regular basis. One thing I recommend to new bloggers is they start with a weekly wrap-up of their chosen topic. This gives them something to post about every week, and something their readers can come to expect. Over at Asterisk I started a weekly music post. I've been doing that for over two years now, with only a few breaks, and it's something that helped draw people to my site early on.

Do what works for you

There is no absolute formula for how often you should post. I'm of the opinion that quality content is more important and if you can write well and write often, you should. If not, don't let the stress of getting something out overwhelm you. Experiment, talk to your readers and try to find a frequency that you can work with and that will meet your goals.

If you falter, don't worry too much, just get back to writing and do your best. It is possible to bring a dead blog back to life and sometimes you'll need to choose between blogging and something more important.

Related articles:
Audience is Your Destination
Blogging and Perseverance
10 Ways to Become a Miserable Blogger

ramireztatifechand.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.successful-blog.com/1/author/guest-author/page/109/

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