Before I begin my review let me highlight a point made on the blog’s about me page. Blogriffic.com is written by Salwa and Salwa is a woman so if you decide to contact her don’t star off “Dear Sir”. I will break the review down in to several categories: Appearance/Design, Navigation, Content, Ideas For Improvement. Read more…
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Filed under: Blog Design, Blog Review
The biggest problem most sites run in to is trying to gain the respect of readers and other blogs in their niche. Knowing that in order to build up traffic, PR, and links you need to reach out to similar sites, but how do you go about getting them to care about you? This is tricky because if you hit up sites while you are in your infancy most will just ignore you because you don’t offer any real benefit in return, but how to you get to a point where you can offer something if you can’t get any traffic from them? I must have e-mail TMZ 20 times before they added me to their blogroll so you have to be willing to handle rejection. Read more…
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Filed under: Blogging strategies, Blogging tips
When starting a new blog the question will eventually arise as to when is the proper time to shell out some money and invest in a custom theme. No a custom theme is an investment and it can be critical in taking your site from a hobby to something more serious. The most important thing to do is to study your site, find it’s strengths and weaknesses, look at other site for inspiration, and find a solid designer. Read more…
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Filed under: Blog Design, Blogging strategies, Blogging tips
Have a post you think should be a Hot Link? Contact Us and let us know!
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Filed under: Blogging strategies, Blogging tips, Hot Links
Social Bookmarking sites like DIGG, Reddit, StumbleUpon, and many similar sites are the life blood of many websites. They can create a new influx of visitors, an exciting surge in traffic, and make you feel like you are achieving new levels with your site. There are certain things you have to remember when dealing with these sites in order to gain something from them without wasting your time. This took me time to learn and when I did I noticed great returns.
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Filed under: Blogging strategies, Blogging tips
With blogs growing at an incredible rate everyday you have to ask yourself if blogging is the best choice for you before you get started. The reason you see so many blogs hitting the net is because the cost of entry is anywhere from nothing to a few bucks a month, the software is free, and the content can be created easily. Too many people read sites and see stories of people getting rich online logging about random stuff and think it is a no brainer. Well what they fail to tell you is that the rate of success is extremely low and the failure rate of blogs is just the opposite.
Most blogs are often left for dead after a few weeks or months when money doesn’t start rolling in. You have to realize that in order to make money online you have to be willing to take some steps and devote time to building an online presence. Some thing to consider when deciding if starting a blog is right for you will be discussed in this post. Read more…
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Filed under: Blogging strategies, Blogging tips, Motivational
A new feature I will be starting up at Perfect Blogging will be Hot Links of the Day. I want to feature your stories and sites that relate to blogging, online marketing, web design, or anything you think might be of interest to the masses. Use the contact form to send over your story links and I will do my best to get a few up every day.
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Filed under: Site related
A problem some bloggers have is thinking small when it comes to their content. You have to remember that just because you think a topic might not be what people want to read doesn’t mean it still can’t be a big hit.
I will take another story from my entertainment site as a point of reference. I posted a story about Dorota Rabczewska. She is a popular singer in Poland and I only posted it because she had some sexy pictures. I figured none of my readers would care all that much, but I might gain some page views. To my surprise a large site in Poland picked up the story and it generated over 20,000 hits and sent me traffic for weeks.
Looking at that little story you can see how a post that you might think is alright can lead to great returns. As a blogger you have to remember that you aren’t just writing for your friends, your state, or your country because the web is everywhere. Staying on the topic of seeing the world as your user community don’t be afraid to reach out to sites in other countries for link exchanges or story proposals. In order to be successful on the web you have to be willing to think big. Part of thinking big is seeing the world as your target audience and generating a global presence.
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Filed under: Blogging strategies, Blogging tips, Motivational
It is true that when it comes to blogging content is king, but what if you have great content and no one cares? How often have you stumbled across a site and left without even checking anything out because nothing jumped at you? I know I have done it more times than i can remember because most people are very visual. People are easily distracted and if you can’t pull a reader in to your site you can forget about a strong return from those that do actually read something.
How do you go about separating yourself from the pack and creating a site that offer both strong content and an enjoyable experience for the reader? Some of these tips are common sense, but you would be surprised how quickly people drift away from the basics and need some reminding. I will try to provide you with some new ideas or tricks that might help increase page views, readership, and return visits.
I know it sounds silly, but people will stop to check out pictures before they read a word. Granted that on some sites this is more critical than others. My celebrity site is heavy on the images because people love to look at celebrities, but every site can use visual aids to draw people in to a post. Even if you say that your site doesn’t really lend itself to pictures you can always find something that is relative. Use images to draw people to a particular post to a critical section of a story. Use images to lead people to continue reading on another page or to take some action on your site. Images are simple to add and can pay off with great rewards.
This is an oldie but a goodie. People love lists! Television, magazines, and radio are full of lists they get people hooked because you need to see how a list ends and if you don’t you feel like you missed something. A list within your post makes it easy to skim over and find points of interest. It will get visitors looking through your posts since it won’t require a lot of effort to find the meat of a story. Most people are going to be somewhat lazy when it comes to getting information and if you can make it as easy as possible for them to find what they want you might find a loyal visitor.
Who doesn’t like getting free stuff? This can be a great way to gain readers, but it has its dangers. Running a contest or offering some form of reward system for loyal visitors has to potential to bring in a solid influx of traffic. The dangers with this method is that once the contest ends you usually end up with an inflated RSS base since most contests require subscribing to a sites e-mail feed, your traffic will usually drop off, some people will doubt your honesty with running the contest, and unless you find sponsors it will cost you some money. When you weigh the good and bad about this method you have to do your homework and decide if a contest is for you.
By the way i will be putting a contest together on PerfectBlogging.com to officially kick off my ownership. i am just waiting for a new theme to be completed so stay tuned!!
This goes beyond simple link building and getting on some site’s friend list with 100 other random sites. Sometimes getting your posts noticed is done by having other sites link directly to them for you. I use “Links Of The Day” posts to build a relationship with other blogs in my niche. They in return do the same back for me. Remember that the Net is big enough to allow for many sites in the same niche to be successful so working with other similar sites is not a bad thing. Find out what sites are at the top of your blog topics and reach out to them. The worse thing that can happen is they never write you back. Most people are very easy to deal with and can be used as a great resource.
This one is easier said than done because a series post is difficult. For those that aren’t sure what I am talking about when I say series I mean a post that is split into several different parts that would go live on different days. the theory behind this method is that readers who enjoy Part 1 will have to come back to find out what you will say in the upcoming parts not yet published. This is a great method, but you have to take your time. You need to select a topic that lends itself to a multi-part series, a topic you have a broad understanding of, and a topic that you can create solid content for. Pick the wrong topic and you have a post that will waste three days of your time and valuable site space. Pick the right topic and you will see a nice bump in readership.
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Filed under: Blogging strategies, Blogging tips
This topic always seems to come up when you talk to a new blogger or a blogger trying to get to the next level. Most people will start out a blog with one of a few theories on how to best create their site. Some people will write for themselves and their friends with no thought of the outside world. Others try to write for everyone else and lose the personal touch a blog should have. The trick is to find a balance that allows you to be yourself, but also allows readers to connect with you. The question is how do you accomplish this?
I believe when you look at the ways to create your voice you have to first investigate what you are trying to accomplish with your site, who you believe your readers will be, how you can draw them in and make them return, and finally how do you create user interaction on your site. If your site doesn’t offer anything to visitors why will they stick around or spread the word of what you are saying?
This step is critical if you are going to be taken seriously with your site. Your topic has to fit your skill set or it will come off as a waste of time to serious readers. If you are creating a site about financial advice make sure you have a strong financial background. If you are starting a cooking site be sure to have a solid knowledge of the subject. If you do not have sufficient knowledge your site will lose steam quickly and become a lost cause. Remember that wanting to do something can only take you so far without knowing how to do it properly.
Aside from having knowledge of your topic your writing style has to fit also. Creating content to match what you believe readers are expecting is crucial. If you want to be taken as a leading expert within a niche make sure you are able to back that up with your writing. If your site is designed to be carefree and loose try to avoid being overly critical or serious. i find people frequent sites that they believe will provide consistent content. Look at the sites you frequent most often and ask yourself why? In my case I hit sites where I know i will get the information i want or sites I enjoy reading. Where does your site fit?
Once you have decided you have a niche you have a passion for, are knowledgeable enough to generate content, and have decided the feel of your site make sure you remain consistent. This is very important if you decide to incorporate guest writers, paid reviews, or you expand. Once you have gained an audience don’t alienate them by becoming something that your readers don’t want. I am not saying to be afraid to take some chances or drift a bit, but just remember that there are a lot of sites covering the same topics and losing readers is easier to do than gaining them.
A big advantage of the blog is the user interaction it is able to generate. Don’t be afraid of criticism you might get because that is sometimes the most useful information you can receive. Also users tend to make suggestions on way to improve a site or make it more interesting. A lot of times they will bring up thing you never thought of or overlooked in your zest to get content on to your site. Interact with people and you will find it beneficial to you in the long run. On my Celebrity site I contacted people that commented and found many owned similar sites which led to link exchanges, story ideas, and in the end increased traffic.
Read that again! If you can’t be yourself when you are writing your content your site is doomed to fail. if you trying to create an original, entertaining, informative site you have to make sure to stay true to who you are and not what you think you have to be. If you are able to do be yourself while providing quality content that peolpe will care about you are well on your way to creating a successful site.
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Filed under: Blogging strategies, Blogging tips, Motivational
