I suggest you check them out or share your own posts in the comments area – all are much appreciated!

1. Blog Like a Cartoonist – Six Stunning Secrets to Help You Break Through Bloggers Block

Rather than using a lengthy post to describe this process, this post covers the main points in a cartoon format – very nice and creative!

2. Five Dimensions for the Growth of Your Blog (Series)

A great series of posts that you should check out if you want to become serious about blogging, covering numerous topics surrounding blogging.

3. The Mass Guest Blogging Strategy: Can You Do It?

Essentially, rather than spreading out the number of posts you write for other blogs, you can instead write more and garner more exposure and readers.

4. 21 Tips for Driving Traffic to Your Blog or Website

Sure, the title is catchy, but some great tips are also included within the post for driving more traffic to your site.

5. What Lance Armstrong Can Teach Us About Motivation

While not specifically about blogging, this post is great if you want to become inspired and motivated to continue following your passion(s).

6. Why Ego is Your New Best Friend

Having a big eco can help you stay motivated, especially as your blog grows to new heights.

7. Why Bloggers Matter to the Publishing Industry

Even though the publishing industry is said to be dying, Publishing 2.0 may suddenly grow, and bloggers may be able to benefit.

8. WordPress.com Introduces Import from Posterous

This feature will allow you to import content from Posterous (say if you started with Posterous but want more features with WordPress.com).

9. Why You Should Disagree with Your Blogger (If You’re Not Feeling the Love)

Sometimes it is better to tell a blogger why you felt the need to unsubscribe from their blog – this is the point of blogging after all, to improve as writers and bloggers.

10. Free Speech and Freedom of Information: Advice for Bloggers

An in-depth look at several aspects of information/freedom on blogs, such as personal vs. business blogging, censoring your own blog, and more.

I hope you enjoyed this collection of excellent articles for this week and feel free to share others!

Like increasing subscribers, you’ll want to use a natural approach to increasing the number of followers you have. For example, you won’t want to simply follow everyone and hope they follow back, as you’ll have a low “engagement rank.” In other words, relatively few people will actually read your tweets and connect to you.

While there have been hundreds of posts written about increasing subscribers, we’ll instead look at how you can use the followers you have today to grow your network into a force the “probloggers” of the web would be quite envious of.

Use Shorter, More Optimized URLs

The first step to increase your exposure on the web is to use shortened URLs that also say something about your brand. For example, Google uses goo.gl, which is a few characters shorter than their main URL, and also says something about the link. Bit.ly, the leading shortener indicates the URL is shortened, but lacks the ability to brand (at this time). It might be ideal if you can pick up a shorter URL of your domain or one that can be associated with your site. It’ll make the next steps in your social networking strategy easier.

Keep Your Message Consistent

Many bloggers have a separate Facebook or Twitter account for their personal use. For the most part, your readers shouldn’t be reading about the party you went to over the weekend. Updates like these should be kept off your “public” profiles. Additionally, your message should be as consistent as possible. If you have a stance on an issue, it shouldn’t be changed to suit the opinion of your readers – you have the opinion, and these readers look for it!

…But Be Personal

Although you can effectively manage a personal and “business” account for Twitter, it isn’t uncommon for bloggers to combine some of their personal thoughts on their business account. Doing this gives your account a more personal feel, and if your readers see this, there is a better chance they’ll feel connected to you. As a result, you’ll see a higher engagement ratio, with more retweets, comments, and responses of other formats.

Respond, Respond, and Respond Again

When your readers see the connection you are trying to achieve with your readers, there is a higher chance they’ll join in the conversation. If you are a member of Twitter or Facebook, and a reader is already interested in your blog (deciding whether they need to follow your tweets/status updates), and they see you are sharing links from other bloggers, there is also a greater chance they’ll follow you.

Another good point to keep in mind is that if there is any problems with your site (server downtime, error messages, etc.), there is a good chance your visitors will catch it faster than you. Having the ability to reach out to your readers via Twitter will ensure your downtimes are quite brief.

Develop a Niche

Many niches have already been carved out, but there are niches that still don’t have a clear leader. Having a good branding strategy will help others associate your brand with the niche. Connect all your social profiles together, and try to get the same name for each. I wouldn’t want to get a Facebook url of facebook.com/blog.tipz, as it breaks the uniformity between accounts. Make it simple for readers to find your profiles on these sites, not more difficult. It can be even more effective if you include a word related to your niche in your website name.

Persuade Your Readers to Share

Sharing is key on the social networking sites. If you are able to garner a hundred retweets of an article, there is a good chance you’ll see more than a thousand clicks through this link directly from Twitter and the other sites aggregating content from the site. With each new retweet (depending on the user), you’ll see more clicks through to your site. Persuade your readers to retweet by making the process simple, and even use a “please retweet” text with posts that you feel should do well on the site. Keep in mind that this should rarely be done, only when you feel you are adding value to your readers.

Follow the Trends

Keeping on top of news stories will help you become better informed, and your readers will realize this. There is a much greater chance that they’ll follow you if you can be one of the first to break developing stories than if you are writing discussing an even that happened last week. The Internet moves at a fast rate – a story that generated a huge response three hours ago may be overshadowed by another one just a short time later. If you’re aiming to generate more of a response on your own site, use a category and append a hashtag to your tweets for breaking stories.

Before I look at the features, it might also be worth looking at where the service stems from. There are many services only that provide these bookmarklets – links you drag to your bookmarks bar to shorten links, share links, or get information about websites. When each has a specific function, it can dramatically clutter an area that you want to keep as clean as possible, defeating their purpose. Shortwave is a similar service, but doesn’t contain nearly the same level of functionality out-of-the-box.

As you can see in the screenshot above, even the website where you can find the bookmarklet is extremely simple to navigate and use. While the service is meant for everyone, it is intended for serious Internet users who need to quickly access a large number of “command line” functions. It won’t slow down your browser like other plugins/extensions, and has been made to be easy to use. For more experienced users, it can even be expanded to include more functions/shortcuts.

Below I’ve listed some of the common commands that can be used (many great for bloggers).

• codex – Search the WordPress codex.
• plugin – WordPress plugin search.
• wp – WordPress function search.
• archive – Check archive.org for the current page.
• gdb – Search Google Blogsearch for links to the current domain.
• bitly – Shorten current page with Bit.ly.
• evernote – Clip current page with Evernote.
• db – Bookmark the current page in Delicious.
• tn – Tweet the current page.
• s – Twitter search.
• t – Twitter user.
• tumblr – Share on Tumblr.
• post – Share on Posterous.

Check out the service, and let me know how it has come in handy (or what you may be using it for). Again, you can find the bookmarklet at quixapp.com.

Even though visitors may not be interested in this content, there is a much greater chance that they will click on them, as there is more emphasis placed on these areas.

On one of my other sites, I created an image that pertains to a specific category. I was normally receiving about 50 visitors clicking through the specific categories per day, but once I implemented the new category-specific images, traffic jumped nearly 250%, and may continue increasing as time goes on.

This technique is quite simple, as it makes your visitors really want to explore your content. However, it may also work better on “static” pages, where you don’t need to place as much emphasis on your latest posts.

Let me know what you think of this technique and whether you’ve had any recent success stories like this.

The trend has repeated for a noticeable portion of the last six years, and it can also be seen in the news reference area (bottom graph). What this means for you, as a blogger (if you are still interested in blogging) is that many bloggers simply call it quits towards the end of the year.

How to Avoid the Great Dilemma of Returning to Your Blog

I covered how to de-stress while blogging, but there are certainly other ways that you can get back to blogging after an extended period. Even some of the largest blogs take a break over the December to January transition, so it isn’t something you need to be extremely concerned about.

1. Have several posts ready before you go on “break” and have them scheduled to be posted when you would normally post – for example, every other day. It’ll give your readers the appearance that you have still been active. However, it’ll also give you some more time to think of new topics or to get back in the swing of things.
2. Being active elsewhere will greatly improve your ability to return to blogging. Assuming you already have profiles set up in forums and are able to comment on other blogs, it may be a good time to promote your blog, too.
3. Become inspired by other blogs. There are still plenty of blogs that published content during the holidays, so this content can help provide some inspiration for your own blog.
4. Set new targets or create a new strategy. Doing this will ensure that 2010 is your best year yet for blogging. Nothing will prevent you from achieving this except you. If you misunderstand where you need your blog to go, then you will also forget what made your blog successful (to any degree) in the past.
5. Just think about how everyone else may have trouble getting into the swing of things again. You are in the same situation as them, and they have been able to return, so why can’t you?

Conclusion

The reason for this post is due to the fact that I have seen a large number of popular bloggers become absent from blogging since the transition to the new year (some of them after more than three weeks). Just because a new year has arrived, it doesn’t mean it is time to call it quits blogging, but a time to get a fresh start.

For most of us, Twitter and Facebook are the two primary methods of connecting with our followers and friends online. Considering that these two networks have some of the largest communities, there is very little reason to stop using them, or move to a different service. However, they can also be great for developing a friendship with the people who have doubted you for years.

Reasons Behind Doing This

Moderately successful blogs have several thousand Twitter followers and daily readers. These blogs are obviously doing something right, but you can also leverage the visitors who are staying at your blog, but willing to leave “hateful” comments. These comments range from “your blog sucks” to “I’ve seen the same thing written hundreds of times before on your blog and elsewhere.” We’ve all seen these comments, but few are able to leverage these visitors.

In the long-term success of your blog, each of these individual readers might not mean too much, but in the immediate future, and in the beginning stages of building your blog, these are extremely important visitors. While you can never achieve a 100% success rate of turning these commenters into long-term readers, there is something you can do to leverage them back.

• The people who are negative about your blog or brand are often the people spreading misinformation around. Capturing their attention may reverse their opinion of you.
• Building your brand takes time, so why not take an approach that cements into a proven brand that’ll last more than a few days?
• Anyone you are able to convince to subscribe, follow, or continue visiting your blog will likely promote it through their own blog, or mention it on Facebook or Twitter.

How to Connect with those Who Detest You/Your Brand (Blog)

One of the best ways to connect with those who feel as though you don’t provide any value (unless you really don’t) is to communicate with them. Assuming they’ve left a legitimate email or web address, you’ll be able to address them through this method.

The second best way to address them is by simply replying to the comment. There is a small chance they will return, but it is better than simply avoiding the comment or deleting it. Other readers will see that you are committed to developing relationships with everyone who visits your blog, instead of just the people who have blogs and regularly promote you.

Often, we focus solely on keeping the regular readers. There is a good chance that they will visit the blog daily for regular updates, so there really isn’t a need to keep doing this. The main point is that you extend your reach and connect with the community you are missing – the people who have written off your blog.

This post was created to help welcome you to the new year, a new decade, and a new era of blogging.

Celebration of Light 2007 by jonrawlinson

No Goals Set? Use These for Inspiration

If you’re like me, you might need some inspiration to help you get started setting your goals. Here are some basics, which can be expanded upon and changed to suit your own blog.

1. Reach new levels of subscribers/readers or Twitter followers.
2. Enter into a new category in terms of traffic, and meet new people along the way.
3. Develop a longer-lasting relationship with your advertisers and increase profit.
4. Become profitable, if your blog hasn’t already.
5. Set more time apart from a busy life for blogging.
6. Popularity on social networking sites (more re-tweets, diggs, etc.).
7. Be a better overall blogger, by responding to comments, etc.
8. Subscribe to less blogs. This can be a challenging one, especially if you have become connected to the blogs over the years.

Your Personal Goals

Please let me know what some of your personal goals are. While I have provided some suggestions, I will skip publishing specific goals, and simply focus on changing what I was doing wrong previous years. By doing this, I will remain focused on what needs to get done, rather than the minute details.

If you have a post published that covers some of your goals, you can leave it in a comment below, otherwise leave your comments and thoughts on your goals.

I hope you all have a great 2010 and beyond!

I’ll assume you have never accepted guest posts before on your blog, as that is the reason you are reading this post. Guest posts can be a great source of traffic for both parties, as new readers will come to your blog looking for an alternative source. However, they can also lead to more stress on your part, as you aren’t in complete control.

Step 1 – The first step is to create a post that explains the requirements of a guest post and what they will receive in return. Generally, guest posters want at the very least, a link back to their website in return for the time they spent writing the content. Don’t say you will do this and then fail to provide a little background on the author.

Step 2 – Spreading word about the opportunity can be were some miss the opportunity to gain a lot of extra guest posts. Write a post on your blog so everyone can see it, post a link (temporary) in the footer area of each post above the comments, and include links wherever possible. Having more guest posts will bring positive energy to your blog.

Step 3 – Be sure your contact form works properly. It can be difficult to contact bloggers at times, so you need a contact form or email address listed on your Contact page. Having this will allow easy submissions. If there are any requirements for posting photos to the posts, please list them on this page, or include a method of sending attachments.

Step 4 – Wait for the guest posts to arrive. When they have arrived, read through them, and determine whether they are worthy of being published to your blog. If they are, insert the “about” message, and publish them when appropriate.

Step 5 – Keep in contact with the author. Doing this will allow the line between you to be open, in the event you need more guest posts. It is also somewhat courteous of the guest poster to respond to comments on his or her post, as they were the ones who wrote them, so they have the main ideas.

Conclusion

If you feel I am missing any steps, or if you want to give your own tips on how to properly prepare your site for guest posts (as the main blog), please let me know in this post’s comments area.

Photo by kevindooley

Within this post, I’ve showcased some of the best ways that you can avoid “blogging burnout” in order to remain successful no matter what stage you are at blogging.

1. Take a Break from Blogging

Taking a break for an hour or a week can be just what you need after writing on your blog for several hours or several months straight. While blogging allows us to be more flexible than many other jobs, there are still a lot of requirements to keep our blogs running and receiving enough traffic to maintain a level of revenue.

2. Think About the Future

Dream about where you might be if you can just continue publishing. Sure, the short-term results might not really be evident, but you’ll begin to see them in the future, when you have a larger number of followers and subscribers. The key is working for the future, but living in the present, publishing content. It takes a lot of time and hard work to get tot his point.

3. Work in Mini Shifts

I like to get done entire posts in one sitting, but this is only my preference. Unless I can come back to a post within three days, it usually ends up in my “drafts” area and I end up deleting it a few months later. It’s just the way I like to publish to blogs, and it is a personal preference. If you are like this, it might help if you separate a longer post into mini shifts, publishing a section of the post every day, but doing multiple posts at a time, to keep yourself focused.

4. Develop a Proven Routine

Having a good routine that you are able to stick to will allow you to become more productive, eliminating the times where you need to publish a lot of content. All of these tips center around being more productive and eliminating the wasteful instances. Personally, I like to check my email inbox, respond to comments, filter through my RSS reader, then get to publishing on my blogs. For you, there might be a different routine that works better.

5. Write Your Thoughts Down

If you want to spend some time away from the computer/the Internet, it might be a good idea to jot down some notes in order to retain a stream of thoughts. This is also useful for brainstorming, as I’ve talked about in the past.

6. Relax

Point number one covered “taking a break,” but more important than taking a break might be relaxing. If you are stressing out about everything, what will you be able to accomplish, honestly? Not too much. You need to have a clear mind to blog, and when you don’t, you’ll suffer blogging burnout much, much faster. Perhaps you can listen to some relaxing music, do something you enjoy, or break away from your regular cycle to become more relaxed.

7. Create a lot of Content

What may solve blogging burnout faster is if you get the content portion of your schedule off your chest. It might be useful if you write a few posts, then save them as drafts (just a few edits away from publishing), as this will give you some free time in the immediate future to allow yourself to refocus on what needs to get done.

8. Find Someone to Help You

The blogging community is quite diverse. There will likely be someone out there who will be able to help you fill the void while you are suffering blogging burnout, whether from publishing too frequently, the repetition, or from the lack of ideas. The key to getting guest writers is having a good deal of traffic flowing to your blog and some form of credibility within your niche.

9. Switch Your Topic/Niche, or Simply QUIT

Seriously consider where you are and where you want to go before “hitting” the quit button. Blogging can be quite rewarding, but it certainly isn’t for everyone, and this could mean you. If you got into blogging simply because there were other people who saw success, and you have no interest in what you are currently writing about, then you might also want to consider changing your niche or your overall focus. Doing this may inspire you to continue – at least until you make a more conscious decision.

10. Have Trust in Yourself

Without having at least a little trust in yourself that you will see success, where will you be able to go? Trust yourself, and you’ll be able to go a lot further. It’ll help you through the hard times, the times where your blog’s traffic is declining, and when you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Conclusion

I’ve brought forth some of the more popular ways to avoid blogging burnout, but I now need your suggestions. What do you do to solve blogging burnout, and what do you think about the ideas above – which points were your favorite?

Let’s assume we’re talking about WordPress for this discussion, rather than other platforms, as it is one of the most popular. These ideas certainly apply to other platforms that have evolved, but I am sure many of you are quite familiar with WordPress.

Traditional Websites

By definition, traditional websites are those that required you to manually create pages, then using FTP, you could upload them to your website. With some more complex initial setups, you could enable automatic updating, but much of the work still relied on the end-user creating the pages and designing/inserting the content where appropriate.

Today, you don’t have to know any of this to blog with WordPress, let alone create a fairly complex blog/website. So, the question is: is it really necessary to install WordPress (or any other platform) in order to communicate through a simple website?

What CMS Systems Are Capable Of

If you want to create a simple landing page for your product with its own domain, you might consider designing the website, and then uploading it using the “traditional” method. However, when you consider the alternatives, there really are other options.

This website that you have designed (either from scratch or using a pre-designed template) will require you to manually update each page if you happen to be using a desktop editor. Choosing to use WordPress for a simple website is the clear choice, as everything can be done online with ease.

Managing content used to be challenging, unless you were using once-popular CMS systems like Drupal or Joomla. These were designed around modules and managing the look of the template without having to re-design everything when you were aiming to only change minor details.

The Advantages and Disadvantages

When we look at the advantages and disadvantages of using a CMS like WordPress compared to a more manual/traditional route, there really is a clear solution.

Advantages

• Easy to change and modify your existing content.
• Easier to add new content to your site.
• All the basic page editing, comment abilities, and settings are within the back-end.
• Thousands of plugins and themes available with a one-click installation process.
• Better support – you aren’t dealing with simple HTML, but a system provided by a community/company.

Disadvantages

• Easier to setup a basic HTML-based website, especially if you have already designed and populated the website with content.
• WordPress (and other systems) can occasionally have database issues that can wipe out your entire blog.
• Basic sites don’t really requite the advanced features of WordPress, but this is also an advantage.

Your Choice

Now that you’ve seen some of the benefits and disadvantages, you need to make a choice. Simple HTML editor or a full-fledged CMS system?

In all honesty, the CMS system will do more for you, if you want to build the site out with more content in the future. HTML editors can do fine if you have a few custom pages, but won’t work too well if you want to include the ability to leave comments.