Blog Sky Diving, Live On The Edge!

Today we are going to talk a little bit about taking some chances with your blog and how they can pay off in the end. It baffles me how many bloggers stay safe and never implement features into there already established blogs with hundreds of rss readers.

I want to find out why from you so please comment below, while I wait for your comments to come in here are a few of my thoughts on why they don’t take any chances.

- Afraid Of Losing Readers: Can you believe it, they are actually afraid of losing readers for implementing features that most users will probably appreciate. As a blogger I believe taking chances is just part of the game, the saying “Go Big, Or Go Home” resides deep in my heart and of many other successful bloggers. While some features don’t always work on every blog a large percentage of them do!

-Not Sure What Will Or Won’t Work: A lot of bloggers are unsure what will work on there blogs so they never try, the don’t like going into uncharted territory in fear that they may fail or lose money in the process of branching out. If this is one of the reasons you have possibly held back then maybe you should create a post on your blog asking your readers what would help them access, read and see your blog better for them. They would know better then anyone since they are after all your readers!

- They Listen To Much: Its sad but true, bloggers tend to listen to people to much (the only one you should be listening to is me, JOKING). Its time to break loose of those old habits and ways simply because somewhere down the road someone said you couldn’t or it wouldn’t work. I am here to say that you should never be afraid. I would go so far as to say that I am not afraid of anything, almost to the point of being foolish at times but it takes that to make a dream happen. If you don’t have a dream that is bigger then your current circle of life you will never achieve anything more then what is inside that circle. Its all about expanding the circle baby and doing it today!

Well there, these are just a few of my thoughts on the subject of why some people don’t take some chances with there blogs. As you can see it pretty much comes down to fear and what people tell you, you should experiment yourself and see what works. Also never think because one thing fails that everything will, blogs are different and each blogs readers have and want different things, learn to cater to them and you will see gains in every area of your blog!

Now that we have seen a few reasons why people don’t take chances you may be wondering exactly what sort of chances I am talking about. So below I am going to make a simple list you can follow of (some) chances you could take with your blog!

- Add Ads To Your Blog: You may already have ads on your blog (Great!) but are they turning you any income? Do you have blank ad spots for sale on your blog right now at this very moment because you know you shouldn’t have empty spots! Think of it this way, when a potential advertiser looks at your blog and they see empty slots they can pretty much assume 1 of 2 things instantly.

1. They can see empty spots and be put off by them thinking you don’t get many ad sales, probably because you don’t have much traffic or the CTR % is bad and most companies don’t want to deal with you until you change your ad positioning.

2. They see them and they say oh great, they have ads for sale now let me order one!

If it was me I would 9/10 times go with option number 1, while you may miss some smaller individuals who don’t see the buy these ads now image you will be doing yourself a favor by at the very least in your advert slots placing affiliate program ads. They can turn you a nice profit and the big companies will still contact you when they are ready. Trust me it works!

- Redesign It Baby!: For just a couple bucks you could pay someone to redesign your blog and get it looking pro, or if your a decent coder / designer you could do it yourself and save a bundle. A new design will spark interest on a blog, now I know you may worry about losing readers over a redesign but to calm your fears you only need to remember how Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net changed his design entirely and it made the world of difference!

- Start A Video Cast: You could start a video cast for your blog, make it hip, unusual and different from anything else to grab attention and new visitors! Just be sure and include your website URL on the video so people can find it at any time!

Look At Your Blog In The Mirror

Today’s post is more of a pep talk to get you busy on some things that your blog may need doing. I do this myself for my blogs on a regular basis, it keeps me on my toes and helps me to continue improving every day.

Here is what I want you to do, load up your blog and sit down in your chair. Grab a drink and just stare at your blog the way visitors see it when they first enter, I want you to look at it. Every little detail should be looked at, spend at least 15 minutes just looking at your blog in amazement of everything from design to the content seen at the top of the page.

Are you done? OK, now that you have looked at every facet of your blog I am sure a few things come to your mind that you either want or need to change. Perhaps nothing comes to your mind, if that’s so I will list a couple of things down below that I see on one of my blogs.

• Blog Design Is Kind Of TOO Blue.
• My Blog Has Way To Much Going On Aside From Content Which Is The Most Important Thing.
• The blog looks to much like another blog I visit.
• The advert slots are everywhere and look unprofessional.

The Blog content is great but basically the design needs serious work but like some of you I got so busy busting out kick butt content that the design suffered therefore leaving me with a blog that didn’t attract anyone and it limited my ability to get subscribers as well as sell adverts.

I believe if you take the time to look at your blog from another persons perspective you will see the flaws, it takes a good 15 minutes to see the flaws and never be afraid to redo this exercise as soon as you fix some of your first mistakes. Doing this will eliminate problems and help you get where you want to go quicker.

How To Make Your Blog Stand Out!

In the daily grind of blogging we often overlook the fact that we need to be different, have our own voice and be unique with our blogging. Sure you have those certain pioneers who just got lucky but that doesn’t happen much these days.

Today we are going to dissect what makes a blog truly unique from design to how your portray yourself as a blogger. These tips should hopefully spark your interest and keep you from becoming just another one of the bunch. Lets get started, you ready?

Voice - When we blog we should have our own distinct voice that no one else has. While many pull this off easily for some of us (me) it can be tough unless we are joking around constantly. However after blogging for some time I have realized the importance of being different and in the case of blogging its good to be different.

With all of the blogs out in the blogosphere these days we need to remember that being different is our hook, line and sinker to gaining readers. If we don’t offer something different or at least present it in our own way we will only go so far in our blogging abilities. Since we all want to grow our readership to unparalleled heights this is one point we must take to heart (me included).

Design - In the past I have talked about a blog’s design and how it can make or break your blog. Nothing has changed and I still feel that without a custom design on your blog you will have difficulty separating yourself from the crowd. Looking at all the major bloggers like Darren, John Chow and Cow, Tyler and even Daniel we can see how different and unique they’re blog designs are. Most are very pro looking or simple in nature to highlight content of the blog.

From these pro’s we can see that every one is unique and different but always in a positive way. Also notice that not one of them has a DARK design. Darrens ProBlogger is probablly the darkest colored one and guess what its also the biggest. Take it from me, a medium to light colored blog will always win when it comes to design!

Post Titles - So many times I see poor quality titles on blog posts around the web. Bloggers use the title in a way that doesn’t help them maximize clicks. Remember when creating a blog post your not the only one who see’s it. Take some extra time to think… What does this title say to me when I read it, does it catch my attention or does it even make sense?

If you cant find a really good answer to both those questions then more then likely your title needs to be reworked a little bit. For sake of example lets say you were making a post on “How To Make Money Online” that sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Sure but everyone and their brother says the same thing, why not take it a step further and tell them how they will make money online in the title. Perhaps using something like “Learn To Make Money With Adsense Online!”. To me it still catches my attention but it also delivers a message not seen hundreds of times on other blogs before.

Pictures - One great way to help seperate yourself from all those run of the mill blogs is to use pictures to draw your readers attentions to the post and even smaller thumbnail images to bring they’re eyes down further into the post. This helps increase time spent on site because they sometimes will read more if they see some pictures.

Additionally pictures allow you to explain things via screenshots or even video. I use pics and videos on many of my posts but refrain from using them on posts that don’t call for them. No need to clutter space with pictures if its really not needed. Just my 2 cents!

Content - Last but certainly not least is the content your blog brings to the table. Content could and probablly is in the eyes of your readers the most important factor for your blog. People want to be given information, they love to learn and by learning they improve.

By learning to improve your content, writing skills and by just being yourself while blogging is what will draw people into your style of teaching. Whether your a blunt to the point or a beat around the bush kind of teacher you will find that many people will follow you and your blog if you continually deliver content they not only want but also what they need!

And yes, sometimes people need a good kick in the rear end to get them going (including myself). So feel free to blast me away if you feel strongly about something, you can do so by commenting on any of my posts. I read every comment my blog gets so its truly the best way to get my attention.

SEOMODZ Forum Review

The following is a review and is completely of my own opinion and is not influenced in any way. If you’re interested in having me review your site or product, please view my advertising page.

Today’s review is for the winner of the BzImage.org website of the month award, as soon as SEOMODZ was submitted into the contest I got excited because I have seen and used the forum before. It is a valuable growing resource that could someday take the top spot for an seo forum.

While it currently lacks traffic and a big member base it has some great topics and sections to talk with like minded SEO’s in. I am going to break down the forum and suggest a few ways it could improve to get more traffic, sell adverts better and hopefully out of that everyone will learn some better ways to market a forum (without further adieu lets get started).

- How To Get More Traffic SEOMODZ: Getting traffic is obviously vital if you ever want to gain a member base / readership or if you ever want to sell advertisements. Traffic simply put “generates income”, sure you may get a few sales here and there but all the big boys are getting steady constant traffic that allows them to sell the adverts for longer periods and customers tend to renew after the current contract is up.

Since we know that traffic is so vital to success via money and members its only natural to figure out ways of obtaining it and quickly at that. I have written multiple safe traffic marketing articles that everyone should read and see for themselves. Traffic is easy to get once you know some basic principles, one of which is having a good product / site to get return visitors.

I believe SEOMODZ has a great product in there forum, its design is simply awesome and it makes you want to sign up because its easy on the eyes and very organized for discussion.

- Sell More Ads SEOMODZ: Lets assume for a minute that SEOMODZ had a member base of around 2000 members and around 25K visitors per month generating around 150,00 page views. Most of us would be happy with those results (some already have the numbers) but to sell ads on a regular basis you will need to do more then just have decent traffic.

That’s right, having the traffic is simply not enough so to begin I want to emphasize how important it is to assemble a advertising page. Keep and eye out for a post from me later this week on the importance of it and how it can help your visitors / potential clients!

Another tip for SEOMODZ and the rest of my readers is to learn how to grab the attention with your current open advert spots. If you currently have any spots open to be purchased why sit around and wait for someone to contact you about buying it for the next month? Why not take the initiative and email some medium to small businesses or companies of your niche explaining you have a slot available on your blog at an affordable rate. Be sure to compliment there website and never be afraid to add the fact that you can design a banner for them if they don’t have one readily available.

With those two tips alone you should start making money right off the bat, but for those who want more just read the rest of my blog and especially the General Marketing section. I have countless articles on ways to improve your site to sell ads better! Its as simple as trying things out and eliminating the ones that don’t work out!

- Back To SEOMODZ: As I said earlier I believe SEOMODZ is looking great, they just need to make some moves to obtain more traffic and a bigger member base! I know they can do it and I can’t wait for the day when I can say see… I told you it was going to be big!

Do Press Releases Work?

So the other day I contacted a company who I am having create a press release for me. I am having them create it that way I know its done right and not just some flyby hope that it is done right myself. So I have been waiting and waiting and the release was finally finished, approved by me and then sent to PRWeb of which they also approved it!

I am going to create a series of posts pertaining to this press release test and show you all my results. This first post I am just going to show you my press release. In later press release test posts I will show you how a press release should be created by breaking down each section of mine and showing you the ropes. I had a pretty good idea of how a release should be created but to be on the safe side for my first one I wanted a pro to do it. The confirmed my thoughts on how it should be done, so without further adieu here is my press release all done and how it was sent to PRWeb as well as other local news agencies!

19 Year Old Blogger Becomes Mentor to Hundreds of Followers

Just over three months ago, Shannon Lilly started InfectedByBugs.com with the intention of showing others how they could make money online. In this short period of time, InfectedByBugs.com has already become one of the authorities in the industry.

San Antonio, TX (PRWEB) April XX, 2008 — When it comes to making money online, few people have the experience that blogger Shannon Lilly brings to the table. For more than 8 years now he’s been working as a Web designer and SEO expert, but these days Lilly is the author of a popular site that specializes in teaching others how to make money online, the catch . . . he’s just 19 years old.

His site is called InfectedByBugs.com (http://www.infectedbybugs.com) and in just over three months it has become one of the most visited sites in the “make money online” industry. Everyday Lilly posts new tricks and tips, which motivate and educate his readers (who all share the same goal).

“I started the site as a way to chronicle my attempt to make money from a blog,” said Lilly. “I quickly gained a reader base of people all looking to do the same thing. So I naturally started to post tips and tricks for them to try, all of which had worked for me in the past. I’m really surprised at how fast the blog has grown and people are telling me all the time how it has helped them to make money online.”

For the readers of InfectedByBugs.com, it’s the possibility of one day saying goodbye to their nine-to-fives, which makes Lilly’s blog a daily read. As for Lilly himself, he plans to continue sharing his tips for as long as his readers find them valuable, but as he teaches others, he doesn’t keep all of his eggs in one basket.

The entrepreneurial spirit runs deep in the blood of Lily, who not only maintains InfectedByBugs.com, but a number of other popular Web sites. One such site is BzImage.org (http://www.bzimage.org), a Webmaster forum which is home to more than 2,800 members.

“You’ve got to always be looking for ways to expand your money making possibilities,” said Lilly. “Work smarter, not harder. If there’s only one thing visitors of my blog remember, I want it to be that.”

For more information on Shannon Lilly and InfectedByBugs.com, please visit: http://www.infectedbybugs.com

Contact Information:

Shannon Lilly
support@infectedbybugs.com
http://www.infectedbybugs.com

And they’re you have it, my completed press release! What do you think? What are your thoughts on press releases, do they really help spread the buzz about a site or blog?