May 24, 2007 21:52
Category: Blogging
[]
[To Blog Main]
If anything, Chitika's free ebook, Deep Secrets Of Successful Blogging is an excellent reading. It has 30 posts from 30 renowned bloggers from April 1 to 30, later compiled as the ebook.
The ebook is a kaleidoscope of what the bloggers feel as the most determining factors for successful blogging. There is good value to be had from the ebook, and it offers a rare insight on what goes to make a blog a success.
Since choosing content writing as a profession, I've advocated how websites, and indeed blogs, can climb the ladder to higher visibility with lots of fresh contents.
Looking at the various posts in the ebook, I believe there is good reason to consider contents as the main source of providing stickiness to a blog.
At the same time what equally needs to be stressed is to let the contents be mildly suggestive instead of trying to force issues. This is a valuable lesson for me because for long I believed that writings ought to be rather pushy, almost assuming the tone of that of a stern teacher.
Since I want my readers to genuinely benefit from my blog so that they feel like coming back often, I cannot afford a writing style that puts them off. Because, in reality, however compelling the reason is, no reader wants to be 'lectured'.
Some opinions in the ebook are quite helpful. In this article, I'll venture into discussing some selected great insights offered by the bloggers:
Liew Cheon Fong, LiewCF
Liew is from Malaysia and was only 25 when he turned a full time blogger. He received good support from his family even though others were a bit skeptical at his decision. As he says, there are people who discourage your 'dream'. Ignore them he suggests.
Chris Pirillo, Lockergnome
Launched in 1996, Chris is the brainchild behind Lockergnome. He later launched The Chris Pirillo Show in 2005.
Of his 9 tips, 3 that appeal to me are:
» Watch the big trends.
» You can't be a player unless you go out and play.
» Don't show all your cards to your readers.
The Manolo, Shoe Blogs
Manolo suggests writing lively, entertaining prose. His ace is to not shy away from creating a little stir every now and then. If that means a touch of eccentricity, so be it. The moot point according to Manolo is to liven up your blog. After all, you're just blogging, not carving the wisdom of ages into stone.
David Ponce, Oh Gizmo!
David branched into fulltime blogging after being a computer salesman for a while. He knows gadgets only too well - their innovation and design. And now he is considered an authority in blogging.
He deals at length on placement of ads for optimum performance, but I guess the most valuable suggestion of his is to respect readers when writing posts. He iterates that to underestimate you blog readers is perhaps the single worst mistake to make. Words of wisdom, I must say.
Joel Comm, JoelComm
Joel Comm is straight to the point. After all, wouldn't you like your blog to be a money-churner as well? I'm sure you'd, and so Joel's suggestions feel so 'wholesome'. Joel's book on AdSense is a huge success, and as I've mentioned in an earlier post, AdSense Revenue - Earnings Galore!, he is a fabulous AdSense earner too.
Joel suggests Chitika's eMiniMall as a good source of earning revenue, and feels that cleverly juxtaposing eMiniMall with Amazon and AdSense ads could fetch decent income. It ought to be, for Joel has solid record to speak for him.
Neil Patel, Pronet Advertising
I like reading Neil's blog. It offers close-to-ground tips on online marketing. Here he lends valuable suggestions on how to use del.icio.us to propagate blog and bring in traffic. A brief but succinct account, it is helpful.
Aaron Wall, SEO Book
I dare say anyone who deals on search engine optimization will find SEO Book's voluntary tools a good help. I've had a few occasions to put a view or 2 across at Aaron's Threadwatch, a lively forum frequented by SEO veterans.
Aaron's take is rather simple. Let your blog create a buzz around, let it in everyone's mind. He says it rightly (I quote): Attention, subscribers, traffic, mindshare and links are all signs of quality.
Daniel Scocco, Daily Blog Tips
Daniel's first off suggestion is to make posts search engine friendly. His is a genial writing loaded with valuable inputs as to what are necessary to optimize contents. As of this writing, Daniel is looking for co-authors for his blog. This can be a good opening for writers who are in need of exposure in the blog-world.
Lee Odden of TopRankBlog suggests as much as Daniel does, though somewhat briefly.
Darren Rowse, Problogger
Problogger is one of my close favorites. One reason I believe that attracts me to Darren's blog is his engaging style of writing. He may be dealing on just one point or two, but after reading him you'd feel filled up with a lot of input.
His article here is an aggregation of his rich experience in blogging. I'm especially enamored by the suggestions he gives under the heading, Learn To Leverage Big Traffic.
A tip here and one there, plenty of them as a sum, in a sense that's what Darren's writings are about. Something is there for every aspiring blogger. Tune in to Problogger, it can be rewarding.
Keith Dsouza, Techie Buzz
Perhaps I read Keith's article with more interest because he hails from India. Well, not now though, for he has shifted to US. Nonetheless, his post is a good read because it traces the coming of blog as a powerful medium on the web that now nearly rivals mainstream media.
Keith opines that one of his biggest mistakes has been to consider blogging as a moneymaking tool. That may be the case in its early days, but today earning money through blog looks like the number one motivator for many (including me).
For example in Daniel's blog, there is the case of blogger Pchere, who feels a blogger ought to start looking for money from Day 1.
Keith perhaps cannot be erred because he rightly holds the view that a blog has to first appeal to human visitors instead of trying to make money.
Herein lies the fine line that separates a good informative blog with moneymaking attempts and a not-so-engaging blog with the same motive.
Winner is one who has the ability to attract viewers on the strength of writing, and then capitalize on their visits by making decent sum as affiliates.
All in all, Chitika's ebook is a gallant presentation that helps understand what a blog is in the eyes of successful bloggers. Pity, not all blog enthusiasts can hope to partake of free snacks and drinks at Chitika's meet-up on June 9 in New York and meet fellow bloggers.
