Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

When it comes to sitting down to write a blog, one issue crops up for bloggers time and again.

Even when we’re passionate about our subject, at one time or another we’ll draw a blank and wonder what to blog about. This article aims to show you a few sources you can use for inspiration as well as a few of my own ideas on how to find and/or create some good content that people will actually want to read.

OK, first things first: The idea that there’s nothing to write about is nonsense. Really, it is.

Think about it. There are hundreds, thousands maybe even millions of very specialist blogs out there (just search on Technorati) that all manage to produce information about their topic day in and day out. There are also thousands of news networks across the world who can produce enough news to fill their bulletins. If there’s that much information out there, surely you can find something to write or comment about in your own niche or area of interest.

What’s really required is a shift in the way you think about what to write in a blog. Rather than thinking about what you can tell people, look at what people want to read or consume. If you master that, you’ll never be without a topic again.

Here are some ways I use to discover what my potential readers want to read and therefore what to blog about:

• In the spirit of researching your readers, look at your own blog and see which of your posts got the most feedback. This can be in the form of sharing your posts on Facebook or other social sites, or simply the fact that the post got the most comments or views. Google Analytics will give you the information about the number of view you’re getting. If you blog using WordPress (as I do) then you can use a plugin like WordPress Popular Posts to get the lowdown on what’s popular on your site.

• If you’re looking to attract new readers (and who isn’t?) then go to the top blogs in your niche or market and see what they’re writing about that’s getting lots of comments. If they’ve started a discussion about a topic, see if you can start a similar discussion on your own site. It doesn’t have to be about the exact same topic, but perhaps you can take an aspect of it and expand upon that in a way that the top blogger didn’t. You could even link your post to theirs, saying that you were inspired to write your post after reading theirs. This gives them some love from your site (which they’ll appreciate) and also lists you in the pingback section of their blog post (usually close to the comments section) giving their readers a way to find your blog and expand on the discussion.

• You know how I mentioned the news channels earlier? Read the rest of this entry »

If you’ve looked into your website statistics using a tool like Google Analytics, you’ve almost certainly come across the words ‘Bounce Rate’.

But, you may be asking, what does bounce rate mean?

Incidentally, if you happen to be reading this and have never heard of Google Analytics, it’s simply a way in which to measure the stats for your site, enabling you to see what pages are working well and which ones aren’t, as well as your traffic sources, the keywords people are using to find you and a ton of other useful information.

If you haven’t installed it on your site, sign up for free and start tracking your site. There are good Analytics plugins for WordPress if you use that to manage your site or blog.

Bounce Rate Explained

According to Google Analytics, the bounce rate is simply the percentage of single-page visits to your site, i.e. where the visitor arrived at your site, looked at the information on the page they landed on and then left without going onto any more pages. It doesn’t have to do with the time they spend on the site. The visit can last a second or 10 minutes, but if they only visit one page before leaving the site, it’s considered a ‘bounce’.

Now, that said, it doesn’t always mean that the visitor left because of the content on your site. It may be that they stayed on that page to read the entire page, post or article, got the information they were looking for, then left.

Generally speaking, it is received wisdom that the higher the bounce rate, the worse the site is performing. However, that isn’t necessarily true. Read the rest of this entry »

I was chatting to my friend Penny Snowball earlier today and she mentioned that she had a few readers in Russia who were interested in translating the site, in order that she could help/reach more people.

Incidentally, Penny’s site is all about her journey from being a drug addict to getting clean and taking control of her life. It’s pretty uplifting reading, showing how you can take control at any moment in your life.

Anyway, one of Penny’s readers in Russia had a real breakthrough thanks to her writing. So it makes sense for her to ‘go global’ and find a simple and inexpensive way of translating her site.

Enter Matt Duggan, stage right…

I had a little dig around and found something that’s ideal for what we wanted.
Read the rest of this entry »

As you may know if you’ve read my blog before, I enjoy going to offline events where I get to meet and network with those who are creating the lives they want with internet marketing.

In fact, many of the best relationships I have online were formed at offline events, either randomly bumping into internet marketers or going there specifically to meet them. Some of the most interesting people are those marketers who are still ‘underground’, working away in the background, earning good money just doing their thing, not shouting about it.

Some of them are revealed on stage, but many are just walking amongst the crowds, unknown (for the moment). Ben Hulme is one example of an up-and-coming marketer who makes very good money online and who will doubtless be a star of internet marketing in the future.

However, I’m getting slightly off-topic…

One of the most remarkable marketers I’ve met was a quiet, unassuming guy I met at an offline event. The event was Mark Anastasi’s Clickbank Masterclass.

We chatted and he mentioned that he was bringing out a product or two in the very near future. I took his card and wished him luck with it.

There was an intensity about him that intrigued me. Read the rest of this entry »

Following a comment from one of my subscribers (and friends), I’ve set up a contest to find the best method of adding personality to internet marketing.

That might sound strange, but I explain it all in this video:

Here’s the link that Luke sent me. It’s pretty interesting and shows the extent to which blogging can create a great income online (if you go about it in the right way:

http://technorati.com/blogging/article/day-4-blogging-revenues-brands-and/

For the contest, simply add your comments below, telling me the best way of adding personality to internet marketing (both e-mails and blogs). I’ll create a prize for the best suggestion, and of course, I’ll share it right here so that everyone can use it to increase the impact of their marketing.

The contest will close on the 6th August at 12pm.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ you may be thinking

‘Free traffic? Whatever…’

But bear with me. If you’re a blogger, you’re leaving money and traffic on the table if you’re not doing this.

OK, first of all, you might have heard of my friend and blogging consultant, Chris Garrett. He wrote the Problogger book with Darren Rowse.

Well, he has a new e-book out that tells you everything you need to know to get quality authority links and a boost in traffic, all through a quick and easy approach to guest blogging.

http://www.adventuresininternetmarketing.net/guest-posting

Guest blogging is simply the idea of making a guest appearance on someone else’s blog in your market. You write them an article that provides great quality content for their readers and subscribers. In exchange, at the end of the article, you get a link from their site back to yours. This does several things
Read the rest of this entry »