free hit counter

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

Adsense Blog Says How to Blogmitize!

Filed Under Checklists, Marketing, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Gooogle adsense logo

This via Darren at Problogger, who shares my taste in graphics. :)

Google’s popular Adsense Blog,which covers it’s advertising program, has a post that gives the how-to of key points of action when monetizing your blog.

Google adsense Graphic

Then the adsense folks leave the door open for you to email questions.

If you’re using Adsense already, it’s worth a look to review the basics. If you’re not, take a peek to see what it’s all about.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Success in a Blink and a Blink Test

Filed Under Audience, Checklists, Design, Marketing, Strategy, Successful Blog, Tips | 14 Comments

In 2005, Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book “Blink.” introduced the idea that we make make decisions about people and things almost instantaneously– long before we do the cognitive thinking about them.

Last week, Reuters reported that Canadian researchers have found that people make just such decisions about Internet sites, deciding in less than a blink whether they will stay or click away from them. Here’s a link to the article.

Reuters Screen Shot Article Link

I wonder what Reuters was thinking to write an article so short that you miss the whole thing if you blink?

A Blink Test

Before you blink away, you might try this the next time you bring up your blog or web page. Try to see your blog as if it were one you’d never seen it before.

Use what you find out to make sure your blog gets a “yes” in that first blink.

THIS JUST IN:
Gary an SOB over at Blogoplex did a test on several blogs including this one . . . Click through to read his blink test results. See whether you agree.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Re;ated articles:
Blog Promotion: Checking Out Curb Appeal
Five Design Basics to Never Forget
Blog Design Checklist
Great Photo Resources to Support Readers

Great Find: Tlog Blogging Tips Series

Filed Under Basics, Blog Review, Checklists, Great Finds, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 2 Comments

Great Find: The Tlog Blogging Tips Series
Type of Article: A Growing Series of Articles on Setting Up and Running a Blog
Permalink: The Blogging Tips Series
Target Audience: Any blogger who wants to think about blogging or rethink the direction his or her blog is going.

Content: Pedro Timoteo, the Tlog owner and developer of this series is a network administrator. I’ve read through these posts and they put out in sequence the step-by-step basics of blogging. It’s well worth looking over for a thorough blog review. The organization has a programmer’s knack of parsing out knowledge in manageable chunks. They are delivered in language that is clear, accurate, and respectful of the reader. This belongs in everyone’s survival kit.

Look at this list.

Tlog Blogging Tips Series

What’s not to love about this? The thought that went into this series shows in the list alone.
AND there’s a whole blog beyond this.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles:
Blog Review Checklist
What Is Content that Keeps Readers?
How To Beat Writer’s Block
Why Dave Barry and Liz Don’t Get Writer’s Block

A Blogger’s Personal Narrative Checklist

Filed Under Checklists, Content, Successful Blog, Writing | 1 Comment

Successful bloggers write well. As a professional writer, I have a few tips, tricks, techniques, strategies, and of course, checklists that I use to keep me on the right path. It’s time I started sharing them.

Almost everyone uses personal narratives. They’re the stories we tell to our families and friends. They’re the incidents we relate at work about meetings we attended. A personal narrative is any story you might tell about something that really happened to you. Bloggers do that all of the time.

Use this short checklist to review your next personal narrative to add value and polish to it.

Personal Narrative Content Editor’s Checklist

Taking a minute to review the narratives you tell will kick them up a notch. Your writing will be just that bit more entertaining. It might be the difference that makes readers bookmark your blog to come back again.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles:
Editing for Quality and a Content Editor’s Checklist
What Is Content that Keeps Readers?
SEO–Five Traits of Relevant Content
Turning Reluctant Readers into Loyal Fans

Checklist for Starting a Directory Listing

Filed Under Checklists, Community, Links, Strategy, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Have you ever thought about starting a small topical directory of blogs in your niche?

Done with consideration, a small directory of resources that you’ve hand-picked with your readers in mind can be a real service. The service, often called “pre-selection,” saves readers time when they’re looking for something they need. Here’s how to do it well.

    1. Study your niche to determine the resources your readers might find useful to have in one place.

    2. Determine the strategy for defining your listing–Will it have one or more category of resources? How many blogs do you wish to include? What choices you will make for readers? How many options will you offer them of each kind of thing? Know where and how you will set up your directory listing. Know how you will tell readers that the directory is available to them.

    3. Use the Checklist for Linking to Quality Blogs here at Successful Blog or develop your own set of criteria for deciding whether a blog should be included. You want your directory to be small and to have a reputation for quality and relevance.

    4. Invite publishers of appropriate blogs to join your directory. Be prepared to explain tactfully why others in your niche might not fit in the mix. It’s important that you hold the line here, not allowing links or friendship to tempt you to include blogs outside your strategy. You always have the option to reconsider by expanding slightly once the directory is known and its reputation is established.

    5. Wait for at least three months, but begin planning how you might expand your directory list in logical ways outward from the resources you currently offer.

Keep in mind that quality needs to be top-notch as always, and you need to choose your links carefully. Your challenge is to prove that you’re not making a directory only for the links they bring.

Done right and well, however, a professional listing can offer readers a resource they come to depend on. Your own credibility will be enhanced by the value of the listing you’ve given them.

You’ve built a community center at the very same time. That can’t hurt, now can it?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

« go back — keep looking »

Copyright © 2005-2012 ME Strauss • WordPress Theme designed by SeanHQ.com
Successful Blog is a Liz Strauss blog.