Welcome back! Today’s tip is, “be personable”.
We’ve all read articles by journalists. We’ve all read articles by business people. We’ve all read articles from bloggers that seems fairly cold. They’re not being personable.
What do I mean by “be personable?” Simple. Interact with your audience. Help them realize you’re a real person. Talk a little about your life (as much as you feel comfortable). Tell some personal anecdotes/stories. Invite conversation. Ask your readers’ opinions. Involve them.
Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome back! Today’s tip is, “write from experience”.
If you have a blog, hopefully you’ve got experience in whichever topic you’re choosing to blog about. Use that experience. Explain to people where you’re coming from, how you got your knowledge, and what you’ve done with your knowledge.
Ever notice how often in this blog I give examples relating to myself? That’s not out of narcicism. That’s showing people where my experience lies. (Well, okay, maybe it’s a little out of narcicism.) Don’t have anything but bad experiences? That’s even better. If there’s 100 people looking for the right way to do things, 500 people will be looking for the wrong way (to make sure they don’t repeat the mistakes). You can take your “oops” experience, and explain how you learned the correct way of doings things, the hard way.
Read the rest of this entry »
Unless you’re brand new, or have been hiding under a rock, you know that Google’s AdSense program allows you to track your ad unit performance by using channels. In other words, you can assign specific names to specific ad units, so that you know where on your site they are, and which are getting the best CTR (Click-Through Rates). Unfortunately a lot of people aren’t very intuitive in their channel naming scheme, and often forget what they’re calling a particular channel, or have so many channels
they don’t know what to do with them.
Welcome to a brief primer on my version of a channel naming scheme…
Where I come from: I use AdSense… a lot. I run four blogs, one forum site, a few single-page AdSense pages, and a website specifically designed to make money via AdSense and affiliate links. I’ve been with AdSense since early 2005, most of that in the blogging arena. I’ve learned a lot since I started, and have spent a lot of time playing around to get the most out of what AdSense offers.
How I do things: My naming scheme is very, very simple (yet the explanation is a bit complex, heh)…
Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome back! Today’s tip is, “post long posts, occasionally”.
By “long posts,” I mean more in depth and involved posts. Often these posts will have headings, sub-headings, and a bit of research going into them. Think of them as my series posts. I don’t mean you have to do a series, but spend some time writing a more in depth post.
By “post occasionally,” I mean at least once per week. I suggest twice a week, but at least once. Why? Long posts are usually the ones that impart knowledge, incite conversation, and last and last. “Evergreen” posts, if you will. Write a tutorial, or its more simplified cousin, a how-to. Write an explanation of how you did something, or what you think about something. That sort of thing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome back! Today’s tip is “post short posts, often”.
Some of you are already saying, “I knew that! I post at least once a day in every blog, and I try to make it short and easy to read.”
…WRONG…
Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome to the Tips for New Bloggers Series. This series is designed to provide you with several tips (37) to help you with blogging. From drawing in traffic, to your theme, to advertising, these tips are designed to enhance your, and your readers’, blogging experience. Unlike some of my other series, these posts will not be as long, or as involved (most of the time). I also won’t be using as many subject headings, etc.. Each post will contain a single topical tip for you.
The series begins tomorrow, so stick around!!
Commission Junction - everyone’s favorite affiliate system - has announced today that they will be updating all of their affiliate links to be javascript links, in the future. These links will display the same as the current link types, however they will be in javascript format, only.
This presents a couple of major problems. 1) Every person will have to modify each and every single CJ link they have. 2) Affiliate links/ads will not be visible to people who do not have Javascript.
First and foremost, it will be a time consuming, and annoying task to have to change over every single link code you use. I am set with several affiliates, and use multiple link types across fifty or more HTML and PHP pages. I will have to update each and every one by hand.
Secondly, viewers who do not use Javascript will not be able to see the ads.
There are some benefits, however. First and foremost, the Javscript links will auto-update if the image changes. Additionally, it will be a single link format across the system, and the new Javascript links will automatically be able to change with the times - i.e. they will be able to handle rich media, etc…
Secondly, they keep your search engine rank from being degraded by affiliate links (little known fact, affiliate links can degrade your search engine performance, somewhat. We’ll all notice a bit of a jump when it comes to SERPs, once these links are implemented).
Get ready, because they roll out Javascript links on June 23rd. Those of you who have partnered with advertisers prior to June 23rd, will still be able to use “legacy” links (the current style), for a limited time. Get ready to make some changes, folks.
More information, direct form the CJ FAQ, after the jump…
Read the rest of this entry »
This is a pretty hard entry for me to write, as it means a lot of changes to this blog. First and foremost, I will be changing some of the ad schemas, and whatnot. That’s no big deal. The big deal is that I will have very little time to blog.
Certain events have unfolded in my life, the past few weeks, that will soon result in my having very little time to devote to blogging - at least for a month or two. Ultimately, I will be moving to another state, later this year - probably in August or September. Until then, I have to concentrate heavily on - and devote the majority of my time to - my company, GEL Web.
What does this mean for MindBlog? In short, I’m not sure. As always, if any of you are interested in guest blogging, please feel free to let me know. So long as you wish to blog on any of the topics listed at the end of this entry, there should be no problem. Additionally, I will be contacting specific bloggers in the next few days, and asking if they would mind writing at least an entry a week, here at MindBlog. I hope to bring in some powerhouse bloggers, although I doubt I’ll
be able to get Darren Rowse or Duncan Riley. heh. Again, if you’re interested in joining the MindBlog team, please, let me know.
If I have any spare time (after work, blogging, and spending time with my fiance), I will be devoting it to two project blogs I have in the works. They are:
-
MindFaith - a blog about faith, spirituality, self awareness, and soul searching. This will be a community-style blog, with semi-open membership.
-
(To Be Named) - a blog, by men, for men, about men (and no, we’re not talking an LGBT blog, either).
I also have one other project in the works, and that’s the creation of a new blogging network, dedicated to the amateur blogger. The new network would allow amateur bloggers a place to showcase their talents, get insight and help from others like them, potentially get discovered by larger networks, and even earn a little money while they’re at it.
The project blogs are semi-long-term goals (two to four months). The network creation is a long-term goal (six to twelve months, or more). I wish all of these could happen much sooner, but the fact is, I simply won’t have much time to dedicate to them, at least for the next month. Rest assured, my loyal participants, this isn’t a lull because I don’t want to blog. I’m not burnt out… If anything, I’m way hyped about the ideas I have. This is something that boils down to three things.
-
I have to make something happen with this company.
-
I have to get myself and my life ready to move.
-
I have to ensure some sort of future for my fiance and myself.
(Those are actually in reverse order of importance.)
There you have it, folks. That’s the conclusion of this little heart-to-heart. I hope you’ll understand if the blogging is spotty until I can find some folks to help fill in the gaps. I really hope you’ll be willing to stick around and see what happens when I can really put nose to grindstone in the blogging arena. Until the next update and progress report…
((( Topics acceptable for guest bloggers:
Read the rest of this entry »
Wow, folks… it’s been a while since I’ve posted. My apologies for that, life has taken some unexpected twists in the past couple of weeks. I’ll be back to full speed, very soon. Until that time, I’ll try to post at least once a day.
For starters, I’m going to be rolling out the latest MindBlog series: 37 Tips for New Bloggers. Actually, the tips are valid for both new and old bloggers. I’ll be making a post each day (once we get going, probably on Monday) for 37 days, each with a different tip. Some of the posts will be very short, as the idea contained within will be rather self-explanatory. Some of the posts will be a bit longer, and - I hope - will give more insight. At any rate, I’m confident it’ll be a helpful series.
Read the rest of this entry »
