the secret of blogging is ...

Everything I've learned so far about blogging has lead me to one simple conclusion :

'Blogging is selling .'

Nothing more , nothing less . Every guide , every tutorial , every discussion , every book , every blog you've ever read about blogging is basically just another way of selling .

With the flow of information that the internet has allowed there is no longer a need to sell information . I doubt that there is anything anymore that you can't find online in several places . So blogging is no longer selling information . Years ago when blogging was just a kid sucking on a lollipop people read certain blogs because they offered information that they could not find anywhere else .

Today that is no longer a reality . The information that you can find in a place is most definitely available in other places as well .

Today you cannot come up with something brand new to say . So all you are left with is saying the same old crap ... but in a brand new way - your way .

And this is what I know about blogging . Successful blogging that is .

Absolutely everything there is to know about blogging can be summed up to one simple sentence :

'Blogging is about selling yourself .' 

That's it . And now you know it . The secret to a successful blog is simply knowing how to market yourself .

Now all you have to figure out is if you're a good salesman .

writing in an F-shaped pattern

Have you ever bought a book just because of it's hardcover and fascinating design ? Without knowing what it actually contains and how good or relevant the information in it was ?

I did . In fact , I bought many books just for their hardcover . I like books . And most of the times I don't even know if I like reading them as much as I like having them around . They have a certain ... je ne sais quoi that I absolutely love .

How do you ensure that your blog has that special something that keeps people coming again ?

There are a lot of design rules that you should follow . And most of the times you might just get away with breaking a few of them . Why ? Because of your content . Having good content lets you skip a few design rules . And in order for that to happen you need to make sure people read your articles .

It all starts with headlines . Visitors see an interesting headline and they click to read the article . And this is where the fun part begins . A few years ago someone ( I'm sorry I can't remember who or where ) invested in a study on internet users reading habits . And using some cool gadgets they discovered that internet users tend to read in an F-shaped pattern .

This means that when they see an article they first read in a horizontal movement across the top part of the article ( the first 2-3 paragraphs ) . This is the F's first horizontal bar .

Then they read in a second horizontal movement across the next part of your article , usually covering less horizontal space ( this means they will no longer read the far right side of your text ) . This is the F's second , shorter bar .

And finally they scan the text's left side vertically .

What does this mean for us ?

It means that after we have our killer headline that gets people wondering : 'What is he talking about ? I'd better find out !' , we need to write our article in such a manner that the first 2-3 paragraphs offer the most relevant information . This is what draws them further into the article . If we manage to get them excited in the first 2-3 paragraphs we have a chance at getting them to read the next part of our article .

Your article's should be divided in 3 parts . The top part should contain the most information in a clear , concise writing . The second part should contain add-ons to the first part . And the third part should contain various information that the user could do without .

Chances are you will not get your readers to read the whole article from top to bottom . But if you manage to send the message to them and make them understand what you are talking about while at the same time not stressing their eyes and not forcing them to read an entire article just to find out 3 rules of dating ... you will most definitely get them to return to your blog .

People love quick to catch , easy to understand information .

So , how do you stop a train with your bare hands ?

No . I'm not going to teach you how to stop a train with your bare hands . But that would be pretty cool , wouldn't it ? Maybe in a future post after I have been through a terrible science lab accident that left me with a bunch load of superpowers .

This post is related to Copyblogger's latest article by James Chartrand called 'The single most important thing your headline must do' . And they tell us what our headlines should do and that is : to promise something in return .

The article deals with a successful headline that promises to offer something weird , maybe funny or even emotional - “How a cashier stopped a train with her bare hands.” - as oppose to other headlines that simply deliver facts without promising anything in return - "Plane passengers survive shaky landing." .

So how do you make sure your headline stands out of the crowd ?

image by murat karakas

The key is to ensure your potential reader that when he has finished reading your article he will have learned something new , useful ... or maybe he will have had some fun ... or maybe ... well , you get the point .

"Hook readers with a promise and then seal the deal with your content ."

Fair enough . But we don't all have the skill or the experience to write a catchy headline just like that - poof - I have my headline . Some of us need some guidance . Some pointers , a couple of tips ...

Let's take that example :

"How a cashier stopped a train with her bare hands ."

The story is , obviously , about a cashier . A cashier that does something extraordinary . Stopping a train is not an easy task , unless you're the mechanic , but stopping a train with your bare hands ? And all this while being just your average Joe - a common cashier ? Now that is something amazing .

There is no story you could extract from the headline . You know that the headline must have a catch . I mean , there is no way that could happen ... so there must be some underlying story that goes with it . And this is were you get hooked . You get curious about how that phrase relates to something real , to a real story ? And you click .

A good headline needs a good story . You cannot have a good headline without a story that allows that headline . Think outside the box when it comes to writing your headline but don't overdo it .

Write a headline that gets people wondering : 'What could he mean by that ?' . Better yet ... when it comes to blogging ... you could even write headlines that have nothing to do with the content of your article . Write epic headlines promising amazing battle's with dragons and fairies . And deliver . Not the battle but the excitement , the reward . Headlines are a tricky thing . Make sure your article delivers what the headline promises .

People that visit your blog already have a general idea on what you are blogging about . So they suspect that the article with the weird title must be something related to your blog's topic . But what could it be ?

25 free ebooks for your blogging needs

I originally wanted to post these by category but it's too damn late now and I have to wake up early in the morning so I will post them in alphabetical order instead .

So , here they are : 30 free ebooks / reports that you may already know of . If you do ... good for you . If you don't I suggest downloading and reading them . Some of them are pretty old ( in internet years ) and some of them are not , some of them have a lot of valuable information , some of them don't . But all of them offer , more or less , useful information which might just make the difference between success and failure . But only if you listen carefully .

If you know of any other ebooks/reports that you found useful don't hesitate to share .

The 8 Step guide to podcast marketing basics by Christopher S. Penn

Excerpt :

There’s a lot more to podcast marketing and marketing in general than this short little eBook guide can offer. This guide is intended only to give you a broad overview of some of the basics of podcast marketing. I’m intentionally giving a miss to more complex marketing topics such as affiliate marketing, viral marketing, etc. because the basics need to be in place before you can do anything else.

Download .

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279 Days to overnight success by Chris Guillebeau

Excerpt :

How I Became a Full-Time Writer in 279 Days

The Complete Revenue Estimate for my Personal Site in 2009

The World Domination Strategy for Establishing Your Brand

Avoiding the Vampires Who Want You to Fail

Why Adsense (and most other Web Advertising) Sucks

How to Stay Off the Digg Home Page and Still Get All the Traffic You Need

Download .

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Authority Rules - The 10 rock solid elements of effective online marketing by Brian Clark

Excerpt :

Authority is powerful stuff. Authority can be abused and it can definitely corrupt … But it can also build trust, admiration, and respect . And when it comes to online marketing … Authority is what works .

Download .

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Blog profits blueprint by Yaro Starak

Excerpt :

What you are about to read is the result of three years of blogging and seven years of hands-on Internet business experience. This advice is unique because it comes from someone who knows BUSINESS as well as blogging and who has applied business principles to make money from blogs.

Download .

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Effective internet presence by Ted Demopoulos

Excerpt :

A reporter from Investors Business Daily interviewed me yesterday. It was obvious he had googled me online before we spoke. If he had found nothing or nothing interesting, we wouldn’t have been speaking.

Download .

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Enduring the road to success by Eric Hamm

Excerpt :

My point is this; whatever I put my mind and energies to, I expect success. But not because of a blind ambition, but instead, I expect this because of a formula of enduring the road to success that’s worked time and again and continues to show its value as I push ahead.

Download .

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Get viral - Get visitors by Jim Burney

Excerpt :

Viral marketing is a term used for marketing which spreads itself , and so is named after the same convention as a human virus which spreads from one person to another person and so on . The point of viral marketing is that certain computer users who have been selected to receive targeted information will then choose to pass it on to others with a similar interest of the product or service .

Download .

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The Insiders guide to becoming a rapid e-learning pro by Tom Kuhlmann

Excerpt :

This ebook provides an insider’s perspective on getting the results that make you a rapid e learning pro. In it, I’ll share with you the proven methods and techniques I’ve developed after 15 years of building e-learning courses.

Download .

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How to start an internet business and make your first $1000 online by Yaro Starak

Excerpt :

Learn how to start your own Internet business and stay happy , healthy and balanced as you do it .

Download .

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Introduction to good usability by peterpixel

Excerpt :

This guide is especially handy if you haven’t done a lot of webdesign yet or if you are involved in webdesign but don’t do any of the real work. I hope to shed some light on some common interface elements and mistakes people often make with them.

Download .

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Marketing Apple by Steve M. Chazin

Excerpt :

APPLE DOESN’T HAVE SOME special place where their marketing secrets are kept, unless of course you count their charismatic CEO’s brain. The five secrets I offer here are careful deductions, empirical results and the product of my career as an engineer, sales rep, product manager, marketing executive, parent, son and avid consumer (although not necessarily in that order) . These secrets are super condensed learnings from my nearly decade-long tenure at Apple about how and why people spring to action.

Download .

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Marketing is a contact sport by V.K. Singh

Excerpt :

To hardworking marketing professionals and small business owners. In the new era of Internet Marketing 2.0, there are better ways to reach out and touch some one. The time you invest in reading this book will be the best investment in marketing and growing your business.

Download .

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The membership masterplan by Yaro Starak

Excerpt :

This report outlines the lessons learned and the process I implemented to successfully plan, create and launch my membership site. It is my hope by following the steps in this document you will be able to replicate my system and launch a membership of your own and add an extra $100,000 or more to your bank account within the next 12 months.

Download .

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The plot thickens : Why case studies create new customers by Charles Brown

Excerpt :

Charles Brown is a freelance copywriter who specializes in writing case studies, white papers and SEO web content for business clients. The author of over 200 articles, Mr. Brown lives in Fort Worth, Texas.

Download .

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A primer in social media by Eric Karjaluoto

Excerpt :

Social media represents a broad change in how people communicate with one another. This is exciting for businesses as it presents new channels and methods of reaching consumers. As such, early adopters have encountered both successes and failures in developing strategies that incorporate this new paradigm. smashLAB advises groups to remain strategic and pragmatic in employing social media.

Download .

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We have a website . Now what ? by Craig Rentmeester

Excerpt :

Practical Advice to Improve Your Online Marketing Efforts

Download .

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SEO for Wordpress blogs by Carrie Hill & Mary Bowling

Excerpt :

Blogs, by their very nature, are search engine friendly and give you built-in advantages in optimizing for the Search Engines. For a variety of reasons, nearly all SEOs agree that WordPress provides optimization benefits other blog platforms do not. By following our simple tips and using our recommended plug-ins, you can have an easy-to-use content management system which also ranks well in the Search Engines.

Download .

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Stop slogging , start blogging by David Walker

Excerpt :

I created this guide to not only help a complete newbie get their blog up and running as quickly and painlessly as possible, but to also show exactly how the pro bloggers earn six figures per annum from their efforts.

Download .

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The outsourcing conspiracy by Jon Morrow and Brian Clark

Excerpt :

haven't you heard? outsourcing is changing everything. you don't have to work the 9–to–5 anymore. you can stay tucked away at home, surfing the web from your skivvies and only subjecting yourself to a couple hours of actual work per day. all through outsourcing. you can even work on things you want to do. isn't that something? Just take everything that's confusing, boring, or otherwise undesirable and delegate it all to someone that's happy to do it. all through outsourcing.

Download .

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The social web analytics ebook by Philip Sheldrake

Excerpt :

“...The social web will be the most critical marketing environment around."

“...The social web will become the primary center of activity for whatever you do when you shop, plan, learn, or communicate. It may not take over your entire life (one hopes), but it will be the first place you turn for news, information, entertainment, diversion.”

Download .

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The Zen of blogging by Hunter Nuttall

Excerpt :

If you're into Zen and you're into blogging, read and share this ebook.

If you're into Zen but you're not into blogging, share this ebook.

If you're not into Zen but you're into blogging, read this ebook.

If you're not into Zen and you're not into blogging, read it twice.

Download .

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A geek's guide to promoting yourself and your online business in 140 characters or less with Twitter by Geekpreneur

Excerpt :

Perhaps the question should really be—do you twitter? And if you don’t you soon will do. This guide is going to show you exactly what Twitter is all about, and how to make the most of it. You may well have heard of it before, but you may not have realized just how useful it can be when it comes to spreading the word about your business online.

Download .

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Viral copy by Brian Clark

Excerpt :

Viral Blogging.

Link Bait.

Tagged.

Dugg.

If you know what those words mean, you’re likely looking to do the first, create the second, and have the third and fourth happen to something you’ve written. If you don’t know what those words mean, relax. They’re simply new terms for a timeless concept you likely already understand.

Publicity.

Download .

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The new rules of viral marketing by David Meerman Scott

Excerpt :

Imagine you’re the head of marketing at a theme park, and you’re charged with announcing a major new attraction. What would you do? Well, the old rules of marketing suggest that you pull out your wallet. You’d probably spend millions to buy your way into people’s minds, interrupting them with TV spots, billboards by the side of the highway, and other “creative” Madison Avenue advertising techniques. You’d also hire a big PR agency, who would beg the media to write about your attraction. The traditional PR approach requires a self-congratulatory press release replete with company muckety-mucks claiming that the new attraction will bring about world peace by bringing families closer together.

Download .

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What is social media ? by Antony Mayfield

Excerpt :

Social media is best understood as a group of new kinds of online

media, which share most or all of the following characteristics:

Participation - social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between media and audience.

Openness - most social media services are open to feedback and participation. They encourage voting, comments and the sharing of information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of content – password-protected content is frowned on.

Conversation - whereas traditional media is about “broadcast” (content transmitted or distributed to an audience) social media is better seen as a two-way conversation.

Community - social media allows communities to form quickly and communicate effectively. Communities share common interests, such as a love of photography, a political issue or a favourite TV show.

Connectedness - most kinds of social media thrive on their connectedness, making use of links to other sites, resources and people.

Download .

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are pillar articles nothing more than dinosaurs ?

We've all heard the term 'pillar article' . And most of us have a vague idea of what a pillar article is . But now seriously , do we really need them ?

From what I know Yaro Starak first used this term and now I ask you : Do you think that a year after Yaro first used this term , a new blogger knows that Yaro used it first ? Or did this new kid on the block get lost amongst the thousands of 'pillar article' related articles that sprung like mushrooms in a matter of days after Yaro's first use of the term ?

A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article that ... is that really relevant ? It took just a few weeks before completely different definitions of pillar articles appeared from various bloggers .

So ... again ... do we really need pillar articles ? Do they offer anything of value ? For us , not for our readers - by definition a pillar article is supposed to offer value to the recipient .

A study released a good while ago , unfortunately I can't seem to track it down - I first read about it over at copyblogger , showed that more than 50% of students could not properly understand a table of blood pressure and exercise or a newspaper editorial's arguments . And this happened while at the same time these kids we're more literate than the average US adult .

What does this tell us ?

It tells us what we've always known about the average internet user : the attention span is very limited while online . Apparently , this lack of focus may be crossing the line from virtual to real life .

We all know that twitter has known an incredible success in the past year or so ... limited by 140 characters . Requires little attention , little concentration .

A pillar article is , by definition , a complex piece of writing with the sole purpose of offering a clear , concise definition of a concept/software/mechanism/etc . But most of the time ... this explanation requires more than 140 characters , doesn't it ?

Where do pillar articles fit in the developing micro-blogging age ?

image by neoheaven

focus manifesto

Focus : A simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction .

This is the description you will find for Leo Babauta's ( ZenHabits ) latest book called , obviously , Focus .

Now why would I write a post on this book that is still in dippers ? Because of Leo's original approach on writing it . Now I'm not sure if he is the first one that's done this or not ... but this is the first time I see this kind of writing . In other words , here's how the book is going to be written in Leo's words :

Write just the core content, in short chapters.
Publish this on the web in "beta" form. Share it with a small group of readers, for free.
Ask them to comment and even make contributions. I'll decide what goes in, of course.
I'll revise and expand on the book, based on input from early readers. Will publish new versions as they're done.
More readers will be invited, and more feedback welcomed. More revisions will come out.
Finally, the book will be done, freely available on the web to read. Credits included for contributions from readers.
Will turn into an ebook, also freely downloadable, encourage people to spread it widely.
Will get a publisher to publish and distribute the print version, or failing that, self publish. Will sell this for a fee.There might be some additional info in the different versions, to encourage people to check out all versions if they like.

I find it to be an excellent idea that was due to arrive . It's definitely not going to change the way we write books , and it shouldn't , but it will prove to be an interesting project for some of us that might give a go at it . A chance to challenge our writing skills , our life views and , why not , get a little fame alongside .

You can find details about it at ZenHabits or visit it's home page at FocusManifesto .

the what , the why and the how of viral content

In my last article I was talking about digg'like websites and how to get them to work for you . And my suggestion was something in the realm of simply following the web , as much of it as possible and putting in the work . Submitting various slices of web and hoping they create a buzz . Which in turn will bring you the title of Big Kahuna on the block and a considerable amount of followers . Once you've done that the key was to write a digg'worthy article and submit it thus getting a considerable amount of visitors to your blog .

Sounds good in theory , right ? Well , it does . If it works - I don't know yet . As I said in my previous article this is just a theory . But assuming that it works and you can manipulate a digg'like platform in your advantage ... what would a digg'worthy article look like ?

We are , obviously , talking about viral content . So what is viral content ? Content that everyone talks about and everyone wants to see , right ?

image by talk2frank

There are 2 main categories of viral content out there . And they can be distinguished by the type of feedback they get .

The first type of viral content . This one gets emotion . Cut your arm and film it and it and people will want to see that ( although I strongly advise against that - you may still need your arm ) . Catch a crazy thing on film and post it . People will want to see this . Chances are it will get hundreds of thousands of views on it . This example belongs in the first category of viral content . It does not offer anything of real value , but some crazy laughs or something to that effect . It offers emotion , be it laughter , tears etc , etc .

And the second type of viral content is content that offers some information , offers value and gets people's attention ( e.g. a great tutorial on creating a wordpress template ) .

This is the kind of content we are interested in . This is what you need to provide . And , if you get your buzz and followers , this is the kind of content you will want to create . Why ?

It does 2 things . Let's take the wordpress template tutorial as an example . It's content of interest . There are a lot of people who want to know how to do that . The beauty of this kind of content is that it will create some instant buzz while at the same time building up over time , becoming a sort of : 'ahh , you want to do that ... then go there' .

This type of content has many things in common with the timeless posts that I discussed a while back , so I suggest you read that as well .

But enough chit-chat . Let's get down to the point :

What is viral content ?

• It's easy to understand ( needs no further documentation to understand , no background check ) .
• It's engaging , it makes people talk about it , creates buzz ( read lateral action's latest post for an overview on the right kind of buzz ) 
• It's worth sharing ( offers a certain level of reward to a person that shares it - something like 'thanks for sharing this with me , it really helped me/made me laugh/made me think/etc ) .
• It's relevant ( needs to be relevant to people that receive it , something they can either identify with or that affects their life's on some level , or that helps them ) .

Why viral content ( this is obviously the 'why would I provide viral content once I get my authority set' ) ?

• If it's viral , it's engaging . If it's engaging , it encourages comments . Comments are , as many people say , life source of a blog .
• Generates buzz around your blog which in turn brings inbound links . And we all love inbound links .
• Viral content is , by definition , made for sharing . And social media is all about sharing . You get what I'm saying , right ?
• If you've read the article on timeless post then you know what a timeless post is . And if you know what viral content is and you know what timeless posts are and , by some miracle , you manage to create content that has both of those qualities ... what do you get ? Large streams of traffic over time .

Now that we know what viral content is we have a better understanding of what digg'like content is . And we are one step further to getting our followers .

One more piece of advice is : keep your eyes on the front page of these sites . See what circulates . See what gets . But I already said this ;) .

Ohh , and assuming that you managed to get your followers and you are ready to create some viral content that will get you thousands of visitors and millions of dollars and that brand new home and the hot blonde with big boobs ... here's the How :

• Check out everyone else's viral content and see what works . There must be some clues that you can get from them , something they all have in common . 
• It's all about value , value and some more value . Stuff as much value as you can in as little space as possible . Avoid explanations and quotes and beating around the bush ( not the president , the actual bush ) and get straight to the point . Focus on what really matters .
• Try to be today not yesterday . Don't offer content that was relevant yesterday , no matter how funny or interesting it is . 
• It's all about quality . And quality does not necessarily mean just the content . Make sure your article/video/etc is in tip-top shape , starting with the title to every word or fade out you have in there . Spellcheck your article , make sure there are no pixels visible in your video , and so on .
• Ohh , did I mention the title ? Get a mind blowing title for your content .
• Make sure your article can be read and understood without further documentation . I already said that , didn't I ? Well , also make sure you offer relevant links and further info for the few people that might want to find out more .
• And , at last , just spread the word .

part II : all aboard the social train

In the previous post we've established that you need authority before promoting your blog . And this is a puzzling concept cause reason tells you : 'How the heck do you get authority before promoting ? Doesn't authority come after people know about you ?' .

And , as always , you are right . The only catch is that we are talking just about digg'like websites . There is a whole mix of promotion/building authority that you need to perform ... at the same time . And we will cover them all here , hopefully .

But for now let's just focus on the matter at hand : promoting your blog on digg . So , as I was saying in part I in order to get something real out of digg promotion you first need authority on these sites . And authority means followers/friends - call them what you will .

How do you build a network on digg ?

Simple as pie : provide quality content . ANY quality content . What's different is the way you provide it . My point is that , in order to build a network of followers , you need to become a social beast . To know what happens , when it happens . And so on .

And this , as you probably have already guessed it , involves work . A considerable amount of work . Again , if you want fast success , you cannot achieve it by working just 1 hour a day . I honestly don't believe in that . I return to this idea : I've been surfing the web for a decade now and I still haven't found any decent get rich quick method that works . Of course , you can trick people , you can spam , you can steal ... but I believe in decent money . In providing good service/information/etc .

In the previous post I was talking about a method of getting authority on digg so getting back to the matter at hand ...

One thing you could do is analyze the front page a bit . See what works . What gets the high number of votes . Now all the results you will find on a google search of 'internet trends' tend to be ... well , kinda irrelevant . If you know any resource regarding trends and trend analysis please let me know . I've been unable to find one so far . One that actually worked .


The other thing you could do is go the decent way and simply follow the internet . Get yourself a dedicated rss client and subscribe to pretty much anything that provides quality content . Especially from your niche . But that should not be an important criteria .

Give people what they want and they will follow you .

I'm pretty sure some personality said this at some point in time but my history skills are not that good . What matters is that it's true .

If you provide people with what they want ... they will follow you . And when they do ... only then you have authority . And when you have authority ... you can successfully promote your blog on digg .

After you've subscribed to as many websites as you can follow ... you need to learn what a digg worthy piece of web looks like so that you can identify it and be the first to provide it . It doesn't matter that you didn't grew it , that you didn't make it big . What matters is that someone else with decent pull comes after you've submitted it and gives it a vote . And after that , if it's quality content , it should snowball .

And when you get a couple of hundreds ( or thousands ) votes on a piece of information ... everyone that sees it will see your name under : 'Posted by' . And what is the first thing that will come to their mind ?

You know what it is . This is how you can build a real , functional network of followers .

Next time ... how does a digg worthy piece of web looks like .

Remember to read Part I .

all aboard the social train : part I

Content is king . Right !? You all agree with me . Everybody says that , everywhere . I'm gonna come and add a little something to that truth : ANY content is king . Anyone here understood what I am saying ?

In 'promote yourself' I didn't mention the use of any digg'like website ( in this article I will be using digg to refer to any site that is similar to digg.com for the simple reason that it's faster to type 'digg' then 'stumbleupon' or anything else like that ) . Well , I didn't mention this promotion tool for 2 reasons :

1 : I consider this method to be similar , if not - almost the same , to 'Article submission' . You submit your article and hope for the best . The only difference is that you only submit a short description instead of the entire article or , in some cases , just a link to your article .

2 : This method of promotion , although a subcategory of article submission , truly deserves an extra degree of attention .

On most blogs , from my knowledge - and if I'm mistaken please correct me , you only see stuff like : 'submit your article to digg , stumble upon , etc' .

But no one truly tells you : 'Look dude , this is how this works and you should do this to get your slice of the web' . Now I have a theory about this and about how you can get yourself some authority on digg  and I will share it with you tomorrow .

Please keep in mind : this advice has not yet been tested so I don't guarantee anything . It's just a theory .

There is a great free report from Brian Clark ( founder of Copyblogger ) called Authority Rules . I recommend reading this report because it talks about something that most bloggers tend to forget . This is one of the main reasons , in my opinion , of failure when it comes to blogging . Bloggers get all mixed up with promotion ( granted - a very important part of blogging but not the only part of blogging ) that they , most of the times , forget to promote that which truly matters : themselves .

If you build authority then people will find your blog/s . But if you are nobody they will simply move on . And , of course , by authority I don't mean just slapping your name everywhere you can . Authority in your niche is about proving that you have the skill , the knowledge . Proving that you can lead . That you can teach .

This is in fact a criteria for bloggers . If you don't yet have the ability to lead , to control ( and I'm not using 'control' in the negative way ) then your blog is doomed .

The same principle applies to digg'like networks . It's all about authority , about building confidence . About getting people to say : 'Where the heck does he get them ? Jeez , this dude is everywhere . I should follow him . He knows his stuff .'

If you intend on taking this route ( as oppose to the route of promotion ) you need to first establish authority , and only after you do that , start promoting your blog . ( While at the same time making sure to do the minimum of promotion , of course - sign with your blog address and so on )

We all know how powerful a site like digg can be for a blogger . It can literally boost your visits by 200%-300% or even more if you have an established account over there . With one condition : that you have quality content .

Providing ANY quality content will let other users know that you have the ability to ... oh well , provide . They will know that you know what's going on , even if you don't create , you still get the cool stuff before anyone else , and after all - this is what the internet is about : being the first at ... anything . Once that is established you need to let them know that you have the ability to create . This is the second part , the part where you start promoting your grade A articles using your already established authority .

Get yourself a viral article and it will travel the web faster than you can say : 'Make me rich' .

Let's assume , for the sake of argument , that you already have the skill to put together such articles .

All you need to do now is make yourself famous on a digg'like site ( simple , right ?! ) and boom , there are your couple of hundred ( to say the least ) visitors at a click of the button .

So , we've established that you need to build authority amongst your internet peers and only then you can promote your blog to them . 
We've also established that not only 'content is king' is true , but also 'ANY content is king' . And we've established that quality content attracts authority .

Now I will stop this article here and I will continue it tomorrow . Give myself some time to take it in , and give you some time to digest it . I know this all sounds simple ... but I guarantee you that by the end of your first month as a blogger most of you will forget this concept . And you will stand to lose because of this .

Good night now and see you tomorrow for the second part of this article .

when is seo bad ?

So , when is SEO bad for your blog ?

I trust that everyone knows what SEO is ... and because everyone knows what it is most of you might answer :

'SEO is never bad for your blog .'

And some of you might even add : 'You must be crazy dude ...' .

But since most of you know what SEO is then it means that most of you also know how difficult good search engine optimization is . It's not something that your grandma can accomplish . And it's definitely not something that you can learn in one day .

So , again , when is SEO bad for you ?

Well , SEO for your blog/site is useless when you are not SEO'd for the web . This means that no matter how good your keyword density is and no matter how much time you spent designing the perfect meta data and so on and so forth , you still end up NOT on the first 10 pages of search engines because your blog/site is not optimized for the great wide web . If you don't have enough pull on the web , then all your SEO efforts are useless .

I know this sounds bad ... but it isn't . Well , not that bad anyway . One of the reasons I started this blog was that I was tired of big red headlines reading : 'Get 1000 visitors in one week' and so on . It doesn't work like that . And I intend on giving only down to earth advice on the matter .

To get high rankings in searches you need to have some weight first , which means your blog/site needs inbound links that tell the search engine : 'hey , this blog/site has relevant information on this topic' . Without this pull ... you will never end up on the first pages of search engines .

And the only way to get this pull is to promote yourself and pull your blog alongside .

So , I trust you understand what I am saying and we have established that SEO is useless unless you already have some pull on the web .

'Useless ok , but why bad ?'

Well , as we all know SEO is a bit of an art and to truly understand SEO you need to do more than just read a couple of articles on it . SEO is bad because if you're a new blogger then holy crap , you've put yourself in a pickle . It's time and energy consuming and it may make your hair jump up in terror .

And all this ... for nothing .

So , in conclusion , SEO is bad for your blog when you've just started because it doesn't help and it takes a lot of time . Time that may be put to better use in spreading the word about your blog and getting links to it .

Grow your blog a little , and make sure you get links .

The only thing you should worry about in the first 1-2 months is that your blog is included in search engines and that it shows up high for your domain name ( this way people will be able to search your blog if they forgotten your exact address ) .

And to do this just work up a unique domain name and include some meta titles .

dealing and scheming with trackbacks

A few weeks ago when I was still very much active on this blog I wrote a little slice of advice called : 'Why you shouldn't promote your blog' . And in it I made a list of things you can do to promote your blog . After that I wrote another article that was , in a way , describing the first method that I listed in that article .

Today I decided to do a follow up and deal with trackbacks , the second method that I was talking about in the first article .

( And just like that : I got myself 2 trackbacks on my own blog - these types of 'in-blog' links are very useful for search engine optimization and you should use them as often as you can without going overboard of course . But we will discuss about SEO in future posts . )

One thing that people seem to forget about trackbacks is that trackbacks are , in a twisted way , just comments . That's it . 

And because they are just comments you should respect the rules that apply to comments and that is :

 - post something useful .

 - whatever you write , write from start to finish . ( don't just throw in an idea and move on , explain yourself and your thoughts so that people will understand them ) .

As with comments , be very careful not to step into spamming . No one likes a spammer . You see this with articles that are basically just links to various articles . Say what you will but that is just a cheap way to get some trackbacks . That is just spamming .

So ... the following 2 rules ( I don't think there are more than 2 - if you know something that I don't please let me know ) apply when working for trackbacks :

1 : Don't write for the trackback . Write cause you need to write . Don't just write an article and then , somewhere in there , throw in a link to a site dealing with something related .

For example don't write an article about search engine optimization and then link to an article about trackbacks just because you have the word 'trackback' in there .

This spells out : 'desperate' .

You might say to yourself : ' But it's good , I'm doing this to offer more info to my readers . '

No , you're not . If you we're doing it for that purpose you would have linked to a wiki page describing trackbacks , for instance .

Best possible trackbacks you can get are those that are focused on a precise article . You read an article on some blog and that article sparks an idea . Instead of posting a comment you write a complete article dealing with the very ideas written in the initial post .

This brings us to the second rule in trackback'ing :

2 : Fish your potential readers .

This means 2 things :

 - make sure to use a certain title for your post , one that spells out : 'this article is related to what you are currently reading' .

One might use : '5 more ways to write a book' for a trackback to an article that is titled : '10 ways to write a book' .

 - some blogs ( in fact , a lot of them ) allow a short excerpt of your article . This usually is the text around the link . So make sure you post your link within a paragraph that is eye catching .

going up when life points down

I've always believed that blogging is truly an organic experience from start to finish . And it's time consuming and it's brain chewing and , ultimately , it's an integral part of your life .

It's been 2-3 weeks since I last wrote anything here . In fact , it's been 2-3 weeks since I last wrote anything anywhere ( I've mentioned this somewhere - I own several blogs ) .

Now I am not going to try to justify myself . I believe that there is always time to write for a blog . Even if you write just one article every couple of days it's still good enough .

But time is not a bloggers problem . No matter how hard they try to use that excuse . The problem is energy , or - to be specific : lack of energy .

You ignore your blog not because everything is crazy in your life and you don't have the time to write . You ignore it because you throw your energy at everything else in your life except for your blog . And when you get an hour or two of free time you no longer have what it takes to write a quality blog post .

In the past 2-3 weeks I've moved twice , I got a new job , I've spent some serious time at the vet's office ( with my dog which is healthy now , thank God for that ) and I've broken up with someone and met someone else ... and , oh well , you get the big picture .

And after doing all these things and , at the same time , completely ignoring my blogs I realized one crucial thing : I had time to write . I only lacked the energy to do it .

And I realized one other thing : it's crucial that you maintain your rhythm when maintaining a blog . Because if you don't you risk falling into this crazy downward spiral that seems to have no end . Unless you say : STOP .

I've experienced , first hand , this endless drop when , with every passing day , you end up further away from your blog , from what you enjoy doing . Because there will always be something ELSE to be done .

But today I said : 'Stop' .

And what you do when you say 'Stop' ?

You simply write .

I've read dozens of guides and tips on getting out of this kind of slump . But I honestly think that the only way you can do it is ... by simply DOING IT . By pushing through . Good or bad - write . Good or bad - press that frightening 'publish' button .

You will gain momentum and after a few articles you will get back to being your brilliant self again .

So ... in conclusion : when you don't have the time to write ... stop it . Don't lie to yourself . You can make time to write . 

What you lack is energy . And how can you get energy to write ? Well , unfortunately there is no RedBull specifically designed for writers so the only thing you can do is simply write .