Successful Blog

Get your Blogging Zest Back

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Are you still zesty?

get your blogging zest back

When you first start blogging, you are like a kid in a candy store with a million bucks to spend. Ideas flow readily, creative juices are on tap, and the world is yours. Who knows how many shares your next post will get? Maybe you’ll hit the bigtime and huge brands will knock on your door to advertise. Maybe you’ll get a book deal!

Time passes.

Many posts are written.

Daily demands start to distract you from your initial excitement.

You go three weeks with no comments.

No book deal yet.

It’s been a year or so, the magical tipping point, right?

Where are all of my readers? Why doesn’t my Google Analytics page view chart look like the Himalayas instead of a flatlining heart patient?

Stop the shame spiral, and stop torturing yourself.

How to Get Your Blogging Zest Back

Take a short break

Maybe you’re posting too frequently. If you are pushing to crank something, anything out several times a week, and it’s a chore, consider scaling back to once a week, or even every two weeks. If you need to get more drastic, tell your readers you’re taking a sabbatical of one month and stop blogging for a while. I promise the world won’t end.

Go someplace weird

Maybe it’s time to get out of your rut. When is the last time you tried something new, or went to a strange location? Stimulating our senses or intellect with new experiences is a great way to get a jolt. Take a road trip, go skydiving, start the cold shower regimen recommended by Julien Smith…anything that shakes up your world.

Have an at-home retreat

You know those corporate retreats where everyone does the trust exercise? You can do that for yourself. Set aside a weekend, or a couple of work days to focus, and revisit why you started the blog in the first place. What made you say, “I’m going to be a blogger?” Write down your reasons, and keep them handy.

Pretend you shuttered your blog

How would you feel? If it’s relieved, then it might be time to actually do it. Blogging should be joyful and rewarding. If you’re doing it right, it’s an outlet, not a draining slog. In fact, ask yourself if you would keep blogging even if no-one was reading it. That’s where you need to be.

Get an outside opinion

Talk to your friends or colleagues who have read your blog. Ask them why they read it. Do a quick survey of your readers (even if that’s only a small group of people) and find out what they think. You might find out that your writing is inspiring people. A lack of comments doesn’t mean a lack of impact. Read this amazing story about the power of 5 blog readers, if you don’t believe me.

Write for the trash can

Maybe you’re trying to live up to a blogging ideal that’s unrealistic. Take the chains off for a while, and just start typing. Write as if no-one will ever read it (hey, you already think no-one’s reading anyway). Get all of that stuff out of your head and onto the page, and then sort it out later. Sometimes a loss of zest is simply coming from an out-of-control negative voice. Shut that sucker down and get your groove back.

Share something personal

Even if you’re writing a pure business blog, you can let your human side out. Maybe you’re having a hard time because you’re trying to put on a facade of “corporate” when all you want to do is run through the sprinkler. Don’t go TMI, but try adding a personal story into your writing and let your community inside. Perhaps that will encourage your readers to come out of the woodwork and share their own personal stories too.

What do you do when you’re feeling squeezed dry?

Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out the Social Strata blog. You can find Rosemary on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee

Photo Credit: Patrick Hoesly via Compfight cc

What Google Added To The Link Schemes Document Found In Webmaster Tools

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By Matthew Schmoldt

Recently, Google updated the “Link schemes” informational document found in Webmaster Tools. The change was easy to miss. There were no large scale announcements.

Unlike a Wikipedia document, there is no easy way to see what was changed. Thankfully, the Internet has the wayback machine for such matters. The tool shows that two records have been kept this year for the page in question. One archive is from June 28th, the other is from August 5th.

As you can see, there seem to be significant changes. The June 28th version of the link schemes page had an opening paragraph that explained why external links were important and why Google uses them as a key influencer in search results. Now the document begins with a stern warning:

“Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”

To many, this paragraph is not only troubling but troublingly ambiguous. You will notice the use of the word “intended” in the paragraph. How does Google determine if a link is intended to manipulate PageRank? In the second sentence, is Google saying any link building efforts will be considered manipulation?

On July 10th, Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s webspam team, was interviewed and said the following:

“No, not all link building is bad. The philosophy that we’ve always had is if you make something that’s compelling then it would be much easier to get people to write about it and to link to it.”

Does the July 10th interview with Matt Cutts answer the questions of the August update to the link schemes document? My guess is, yes. Google seems to be preparing to take the webspam fight to the next level and has updated their official link schemes document with a hardcore and broad stance.

In the same interview, Matt Cutts said:

“I would concentrate on the stuff that people write, the utility that people find in it, and the amount of times that people link to it. All of those are ways that implicitly measure how relevant or important somebody is to someone else.

Links are still the best way that we’ve found to discover that, and maybe over time social or authorship or other types of markup will give us a lot more information about that.”

It is clear to me, that link building is quite appropriate and still legal. But, shift from thinking about link building to the idea of link earning. High quality links from high authority links should be the target. These sorts of links are earned and not built with a few clicks of the mouse.

What else was changed in the link schemes document?

Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link

The above paragraph seems to be fairly black and white. Google doesn’t want people to sell links for money or for products. But, what If you sign up for a Chamber of Commerce and pay a fee. Have you just purchased a link from their site? Should you request a nofollow of your link just in case?

Matt Cutts has said that you should only pursue a link if it is something you would have built or pursued if SEO did not exist.

Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking

The use of excessive and exclusively are ambiguous and troubling in this new entry in the document. It is impossible to know where the line is with this rule. But, remember, Google wants you to do things naturally. They want you to do things that make logical sense. If you are a flower shop, it makes sense to have a linking relationship with the local chocolate shop. It may make sense to link to the local cookie shop, to the local wedding dress store, etc.

Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links

The ambiguous word here is “large-scale.” To me, I refer back to my rule of link earning and not link building. If the link is too easy to get, it’s probably not the kind of link that is desirable. Removing the easy to get links removes most of the ability to create a large-scale link building operation. The hard links take time to get. Also remember, Google is targeting keyword-rich anchor links and not generic links in articles.

Using automated programs or services to create links to your site

This seems to be the one area where Google was decisive. Do not use automated means to build backlinks. If you are tempted to use automated programs, don’t. Google is constantly indexing the Internet and can detect a sudden and unnatural increase in backlinks.

Author’s Bio: Matthew Schmoldt is an Internet marketer who has been published at Yahoo and Moz. He has four years of SEO and social media experience. He is the owner of Cool Things To Buy Inc. His website features amazing gadgets other neat stuff.

6 Advantages “BYOD” Brings to a Business

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By Miles Young

One major trend in business now is BYOD, or “bring your own device.” This basically means that employees are responsible for buying and choosing their mobile device. It allows businesses to save money, while keeping employees happy at the same time.

There are also several other business advantages, such as fewer headaches for the IT department, more employee choice and freedom in their devices and a better connection with today’s consumers. Businesses that are newly introducing BYOD do face some roadblocks, but it is worth the effort once the transition is complete. Take a closer look at the advantages to BYOD and what it could mean for your business.

#1: Your Business Saves Money with BYOD

Successful businesses always look for ways to save money. Reducing monthly spend on employee mobile devices is one of the best and easiest ways to do this. In a true BYOD business environment, employees cover the full cost of their devices, including minutes and data usage. This saves businesses thousands of dollars each year. However, most companies offer incentives to employees through discounts or usage stipends, especially at the beginning of the transition.

Only a few short years ago, employees would have complained a lot about BYOD. However, a recent Good Technology State Report shows that 50% of employees are more than happy to cover the costs. This is for several reasons, but the biggest is that it gives them more freedom to choose their own device and upgrade as desired. Many people are dedicated fans to specific platforms, so this allows them to remain loyal to their favorite brand of device. As more businesses turn to BYOD environments for its cost savings, employees will get more used to the idea.

#2: Employees Can Choose the Device They Like

People get very attached to their mobile phones. As a matter of fact, one Mobile Mindset study showed that 73% of mobile phone users admit they would go into a panic if their phone went missing. This obsession is one reason most employees prefer to choose their own mobile device — they have an intimate relationship with it. Everyone has a different preference over the brand of phone they like and what features are must-haves. Businesses can keep their employees happy by allowing them to choose their own mobile device with a BYOD policy.

#3: Businesses Stay on the Cutting-Edge of Technology

Typical smartphone users want to have the latest and greatest technology. This is a major advantage to businesses because employees usually upgrade to the newest phone as soon as they are eligible for an upgrade. This is especially true if you have a younger workforce. Having technology-savvy employees translates to more efficiency for your business, which is why giving your employees more freedom with BYOD is such a good idea.

Additionally, many businesses have spent a lot of money on creating a mobile infrastructure, such as putting business information in the Cloud so it’s easier for employees to get access to. By allowing employees to choose their own mobile device and other gadgets, it encourages them to use the infrastructure your business has spent so much money to create.

#4: Employees Only Have to Manage One Device

With BYOD initiatives, employees no longer have to worry about carrying separate phones for business and personal use. This was a major hassle for employees in the past, and it often meant missed calls because employees only carried their business phones during business hours. With a BYOD environment, your business will have fewer missed calls because your employees will have fewer gadgets to juggle. Plus, the phone will be with them whether they are working or not.

Managing only one device also increases employee productivity, because they only have to get used to one phone. Every mobile phone works a little differently and there is a learning curve, even for technology savvy employees. If your employees are allowed to choose their own device, they will be more motivated to learn how to use it effectively, which has all sorts of advantages to your business. Increased productivity means more profits for your business.

#5: Your IT Department Has Fewer Headaches

If you don’t have a BYOD policy, your IT department probably spends a lot of time fixing mobile phones and plan issues. With BYOD, employees have to seek help about their phones from their cell phone carriers. This means fewer headaches for your IT department and less wasted time. Of course, your IT department still has to find a way to make sure everyone has good security to protect your business information.

All smartphones today have the basic features businesses need, such as access to the Internet and email alerts. So, there’s no reason a business should have to require all of their employees to use the same device, except for security purposes. Your business can make BYOD recommendations about security, such as requiring all employees to use the RIM platform, but there are also other ways to make sure employees have the proper security on their phones. This includes things like requiring two layers of passwords and encrypting all business information. Security is a major issue for IT departments, but policies can be put in place to protect your business.

#6: Employees Care More for Their Device

Another advantage to BYOD is that employees will take better care of their devices if they are responsible for the costs. Your business won’t have to worry about replacing phones or paying for insurance policies related to gadget use and ownership. This saves money and it also means that your business information will be protected with more care.

According to an ARCchart report, 65% of business owners have already transitioned to a BYOD environment or have a plan to transition in the near future, while only 11% have no plans. There are obvious advantages to BYOD if you can successfully get your employees on board with the idea.

Has your business already made the BYOD transition? Do you have any advice for others that want to follow suit? Leave a comment below.

Author’s Bio: Miles Young is a tech geek, business blogger and all around cool person. Follow him on Twitter @mrmilesyoung.

5 Tips On How To Choose The Right Layout & Design For Your New Blog

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By Reena Cruz

Everyone has a reason for starting a blog: passion, hobby, business, information sharing, you name it. Whatever compels you to the blogging dashboard, you’ll find yourself wondering how your blog layout and design can best attract your target niche.

Different themes and layouts will work well with certain goals, for example, and some won’t. Thus, you need to decide on the best blog design that will work with and emphasize your main goal. It may sound easy, but any veteran blogger can tell you that it isn’t.

Visually and technically planning out your blog’s design requires a lot of testing and refining. So to help ease the process for budding bloggers, we offer some basic advice to help you start achieving your blogging goals effectively.

Blogs Focusing On Sales & Ads

For most, blogging will be considered a business first and foremost. Or your blog could be a business, itself, selling services and information. As such, affiliate links, sponsorship ads, Adwords and advertising are all things you’ll be aiming to fit onto your pages. Though many people are turned off by these, if you’re discreet and highly selective, you can work these into your layout.

The location of ads is crucial to a user’s reading experience. It’s everything. Take a look at the home page of TechCrunch.com for instance. Their blog contains ads and sponsored links, but only features them in five visible places and in two spots on the side bar. No more.

In the posts themselves, ads are located in secondary places (the header above the title and below the article before the comments section). These locations don’t interrupt your reading and actually catch your eye in logical places as it naturally moves across the page. So carefully consider where you should put your ads or sponsors and how many you should have in direct visible competition with your written content.

Blogs On Design, Graphics & Images

The design and image oriented blogger should consider a clean, minimalistic approach to put more emphasis on the visual content and eye-catching artwork. After all, if you’re showcasing graphic design work and high-res images, you don’t want to bury it in text or have it compete with other content elements.

For this, try picking themes that are highly customizable and allow for easy image viewing, like ones that offer the ability to add image sliders or ones where you can specify the size of posts on your home page. Keep content on the sidebars to a minimum, as well. And don’t forget the social media sharing buttons to popular image sharing networks like Flickr or Pinterest. Check out sites like Abduzeedo and Colossal, popular design blogs that put these tips into practice.

Social Media Oriented Blogs

Social media blogs are all about sharing, networking, interacting with multi-media, and spotting the latest viral post. You can get the same interaction on your blog, but with a few careful decisions.

We know that you want all the social media extras, but select ones that effectively serve a purpose for your readers. For instance, you may want to include social sharing widgets that indicate the virality of the post, allowing users to easily fish out popular posts. Or, to spark some social interaction, choose commenting systems that include ranking, pingback, and replying features.

Social media and pop culture blogs like Mashable.com or The Verge are great examples. Notice that their sharing options are carefully chosen to include one-click sharing to certain social networks—not every single one out there. In addition, their content is laid out Pinterest-style, encouraging users to visually pick out what they want to read. How your content attracts the user’s eye and lets them interact with it will play a big role in your blog’s design.

Professional Company Blogs

These kinds of blogs are great as they can act as a built-in platform for customer interaction, sharing helpful information, and promoting services. As such, you want to keep your blog professional looking.

Eliminate ad elements like Google ads or sponsored links, that is, unless your company is in partnership with some of them. Keep social media buttons available for easy sharing. To convey a sense of professionalism, your blog’s theme should work with the same layout and colour palette as your company’s website. Also, consider adding subscription buttons to update your customers automatically.

In short, be sure that your blog is in line with your company’s overall message and goal. Companies like Intuit and Hubspot have blogs that are good examples of this. They’re businesses with blogs that tie in professionalism, social sharing, and related content (both in posts and sidebars). In short, each blog element works to tie in the company’s brand and services.

Blogs Geared Towards News Sharing

It’s common for bloggers to want to share the latest news in their niche. For this, you may want to consider adding a feature that keeps buzz worthy news stories highlighted. Related ads to quality services will also be a good element to add if your readers welcome the resources. Interaction with posts via comments is also a necessity. And make good use of your web real estate by keeping it organized.

Big tech news blogs like Macrumors.com and GigaOM take different approaches. In both cases, each has some of the same elements. They highlight recent articles and have trending content in the sidebar. For comments, Macrumors uses a forum community for lengthy discussions; GigaOM gives users the ability to share their comments on social networks. Lastly, because news can cover so many topics, each blog breaks the content down into different categories. So decide how you want to handle the never-ending onslaught of daily news, first. Then you can decide on the easiest way your community can consume it and form discussions around it.

Conclusion

It’s ultimately up to you to decide which layout and design works out best. No matter which direction you choose for your blog, ensure that its theme is practical for presenting content, interacting with it, and achieving your main goal.

As bloggers and blog readers, what advice do you have?

Author’s Bio: Reena Cruz writes for the Investintech.com blog, where she shares tips about PDF converter technology and software in general. As a tech-geek, she enjoys learning about new tech trends and sharing productivity tool tips online. You can find her on Google Plus.

3 Point Website Usability Checkup

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By James White

When it comes to Internet marketing, many people get so caught up with how to bring visitors to their site that they forget about what to do with them once they arrive. Since traffic isn’t all that useful unless it can be converted into leads, registered users or customers, you want to ensure that every visitor has the best experience possible.

If you’re interested in improving your site but simply don’t have time to go through the process of a complete redesign and overhaul, the good news is that’s not necessary. Instead, there’s plenty of low-hanging fruit that you can knock out. And even though the changes may not seem huge, they’ll have a significant cumulative impact.

To get a better idea of what usability changes you can handle on your own, here are three options for getting started:

Break Up Content

Having lots of useful content on your site is definitely a good thing. The only problem is if most of that content is in the form of big blocks of text, the majority of your visitors may click away before ever reading any of it.

Luckily, there’s a simple remedy to this common problem. All you need to do is break up your content into shorter paragraphs. Include images or graphics to get your point across. And since usability studies from different sources have all shown that online readers do a lot of scanning, use subheadings so they can get the key points before diving in any farther.

Make Everything Easy to Read

Small font sizes can look cool and sleek. And while you want people to think that your site looks good, it’s even more important that they’re able to read your content. If you’re currently using very small font sizes on your site, strongly consider updating your CSS style sheet to utilize larger fonts that are easier for people of all ages to read.

It’s especially important that all your tabs and links are obvious that they link to another relevant page. Easy to read font also means color consideration. Create attractive contrasts with your text and background but remember not to go too crazy. Lime green or similar bright colored backgrounds will turn people off to your site. Use calming colors that reflect the style of your brand.

Rethink Your Navigation

There’s a chance that your site may already have the perfect navigational structure. If that’s the case, feel free to give yourself a pat on the back. But the reality is most sites have room for improvement. Even if there’s not a major problem, small tweaks can make it easier for your visitors to get where you ultimately want them to end up.

If you’re not sure where to get started with this change, looking for patterns in your Google Analytics data can give you an idea of how visitors are getting around your site and if there are any parts of your navigation that don’t fully address your visitors’ habits.

Another way to decide on navigation is to look at websites you like. For example 12 Palms addiction rehab center has an excellent navigation system that only goes three layers deep and their interlinking is perfect.

If you have the money or talent to go big, Coca Cola’s revamped site is a great example to follow if you are looking to push your content marketing. For more e-commerce sites, check out Empire CAT for how they organize and group their products without having the site cluttered.

You’ll notice in all three examples, there is a simple and clean feel to the design. It also has just a few links on the homepage to help you get started finding what you want. Study your favorite sites and then apply what you learn to your own.

Author’s Bio: James is a freelance writer and founder of InfoBros. In his free time, he enjoys hiking, cooking, and blogging about health, tech and communication. Connect with him on Twitter at @JGtheSavage.

How to Avoid the 6 Most Common Business Blogging Mistakes

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By Landon Lourell

If you have your own business, then you’ll definitely want to make sure that you use all of the tools available to you in so that you can reach as wide an audience as possible and start building up a platform. One of the most powerful platform building tools out there today is blogging.

Before you jump in and unleash your first blog on the business world, you’ll want to make sure that you’re doing it the right way. Put your excitement to the side for just a moment and do some research to see what makes a blog popular and what makes a blog a complete waste of time for you and your audience. There are six mistakes in particular that a majority of bloggers seem to make that can tarnish your business blog.

1. Neglecting to Include a Bio

It doesn’t matter how magnificent, insightful and informative your blog posts are, readers want to know who you are and what kind of business you have. Be sure that you have a full ABOUT US page somewhere on your blog, preferably in a location that’s easy for readers to see. On the ABOUT US page, include a bio and either a picture of you if you’re the sole proprietor of your business, or a picture of you and your staff. Doing this allows your readers to connect with you and your business instead of you just being a faceless, nameless blog.

You should also be sure that you have either your name or the name of your business prominently on your blog. The header is one of the best spots for this. By including your name in the header, you’ll make it easier for search engines to find you and your awesome blog posts. Your name and the name of your business are your brand, always remember that.

2. Lack of Contact Information

Think of what it’s like reading one of the best blog posts you’ve ever read and wanting to get in touch with the author only to find no sign of contact information. Readers shouldn’t have to spend time going over your blog with a digital fine-tooth comb trying to find an email address, website address or phone number where they can reach you or a representative of your business. You never know how many valuable business connections you can make with your blog, but you won’t make any at all if no one can reach you. Be sure to add contact information on your ABOUT US page.

3. Lack of Information About Your Services

Let readers know what type of services you offer. Be as specific as possible when describing your services, so that you don’t confuse anyone and make sure that your blog posts are relevant to the kinds of service you offer and the industry that you’re in. You’ll get a lot of raised eyebrows if you’re an economist writing blog posts about how to put antique cars together.

Your blog should be a place where you share information, interact with your audience/potential customers, and offer free tips. Readers don’t want to feel like they’re reading a sales ad for your business every time they visit your blog. There’s nothing wrong with a plug here and there, but focus more on giving than getting.

4. Having Too Many Blogs

There’s no need for you to have multiple blogs if you have multiple services; all that does is give you more posts and things to write about on the one blog that you have. If you decide to have multiple business blogs, one or more of them is sure to be neglected. Some blogging platforms give you the option of having more than one page for your blog where you can post about different subject areas. Readers don’t want to have to bookmark all three of your business blogs when it’s better and easier for the both of you for you to just have one blog. If your readers receive an email notification every time you post a new blog and you update all of your blogs on the same day, you’ll clutter up their inbox, which is a huge no-no.

5. Not Including a Link to Your Website

Be sure that you include a link to your business website on your blog. Think of your blog as another chapter in your novel. Give your readers a table of contents so they know exactly where to go when they’re in need of a certain type of information. With links, you’ll want to be careful that you don’t have too many of them as this can potentially scare readers off. In today’s fast paced world where most people have a short attention span, who has the time or the desire to click through ten different links? Besides a link to your business website, include links to any articles or guest blog posts that you’ve written or that your business is mentioned in.

6. Making Commenting All But Impossible

Making readers jump through a variety of hoops just to leave a comment will more than likely frustrate them and cause them to abandon the whole thing. When you get a sizeable audience, you might have to be more diligent about keeping out spambots, but in the beginning you don’t really have to worry about them too much.

While these are the most common blunders to avoid on your business blog, a few more you’ll want to avoid include filling your blog with unnecessary graphics, having long load times for your blog and blogging inconsistently. Have fun with your blog and make it your own, but make sure that you have a few ground rules in place before you start.

What are some of the most glaring errors and missteps that you’ve noticed on other blogs, business or otherwise?

Author’s Bio: Landon Lourell is a marketing associate with MonsterDisplays, an online source for trade show displays. Landon is passionate about all things business marketing related and enjoys sharing his knowledge with others through blogging.