Kim Peek was a famous savant in America.

Having the magnificent capability of remembering everything he ever read, he was literally a walking encyclopedia. Nearing the end of his life he could easily recall the information from any of the 10,000+ books he had read.

Due to his phenomenal abilities, the movie “Rain man” was even created based on his life.

I remember watching that movie for the first time and being utterly amazed at what the mind is capable of doing. It stores memories. That alone, is a miracle. The brain is able to store, assimilate and recall thoughts, words, smells, sights and more.

To me, the brain is fascinating.

If Kim Peek were still alive today, I believe the following might be some of the advice he’d give in regards to crafting endless blog content.

“Christian, I don’t have anything to write about. Where can I get blog content ideas?“

I’m asked this question over and over again.

For quite some time, I really didn’t have a specific answer. In my mind it was a foreign thought to think there wasn’t enough to write about. Isn’t endless blog content everywhere we look?

If you ever get a sneak peak of my blog’s dashboard you’ll see I have almost 300 draft posts. My Evernote is filled to the brim with hundreds upon hundreds of songs, notes, blog post ideas, thoughts, opinions, worries, inventions & beliefs. Anyone who knows me personally will notice I keep a spiral bound notebook with me almost everywhere I go. Journals litter bookshelves.

So, the question remains. Where do I find my endless supply of blog content?

Let me tell you.

Let’s get a list going. Let’s make it endless.

To paint a better story of where I find blog content, I thought it might help to give you a list of examples.

Visual examples through words are one of my favorite ways to understand abstract concepts.

• Your blog niche is gardening. Let’s follow the example of Kim Peek and go read a book; the first place I’d check is the library. Once you get to the library find every book related to your niche. Bring those puppies home and read, read, read. Write notes. Think. Analyze. Without plagiarizing, use your new information and skills to compile more blog posts.
• Sometimes when the sun is about to set, I’ll take a moment to find a spot where I can watch it. Thoughts and ideas usually flood to my mind during a setting like this. I never forget to have my notebook with me.
• Remember that often, you won’t have the same spark of genius twice; so write everything down.
• Read other blogs. You’d be amazed at how much you learn by becoming involved in your niche.
• On the same front, be sure to comment on other blogs. When you post a blog comment, you’re helping your brain to remember what you’ve learned. As you ponder and process the blog post you’ll also have many more thoughts and ideas come to your mind.
• Use Amazon. I love buying books and after I finish each one I write a book review blog post. Bam! Another piece of content.
• Don’t forget to use your friends and family as a resource. Ask them to help write for you. Maybe you could create an interview with them that you’d feature on your blog? Ask them, “What’s it like living with a blogger? How do you feel about this hobby of mine?” The question possibilities are endless.
• At the moment I’m taking some college courses. It’s a great way to refresh some of my web development skills, while also gathering an ample supply of notes upon which to draw blog content from. There are many blog niches, of which have a matching course to take at a local community college. For example, if you write about art – have you considered taking a class in a medium you’ve never worked with?
• Be sure to have lots of desk toys. Every 25 minutes I try and take a few minute break. If you know me well, you know I have lots of desk toys. Squishy things, putty, NeoCube and more. Get your hands working with something and often the blog content will flow naturally.
• It sounds a little counter-intuitive, but you’d be surprised how often blog post ideas come to me while watching TV. It happens. A lot. Just don’t make this your excuse the next time your husband or wife comments on how much TV you’re watching. “It’s okay, sweety, Christian told me it would be good for my blog project!“
• Browsing through the daily news pertaining to your blog’s niche is a great way to “spark” the mind with new blog content ideas.
• Have patience. Some days you’ll have no ideas, while other days you’ll pump out ten posts. Just as the seas ebbs and flows, so are minds do too.
• Hit up Google Images. Enter your niche as the search term and become inspired by the photos that pop up.

Now, here’s the “takeaway” secret that comes after you start using all these blog content ideas:

If you start compiling a list of draft posts, notes & thoughts – you’ll have the comfort in knowing you’ll never be without blog posts. Have the urge to publish a post? Pull up one of those drafts you’ve been saving, spend 15 minutes editing the content, and you have a great post in a jiffy!

Some Parting Thoughts

The brilliant part of putting these practices to work, is something I cannot teach through blog post.

You’ll learn. You’ll grow. You’ll think. You’ll write.

By continually searching for new blog content ideas, you’ll really start to see the endless pit.

There are ideas everywhere.

They’re contained within books, our hearts, thoughts, friends, family, television, theater, movies, poems, ballads, songs & the internet.

So get out there and start writing!

Where do you find blog content ideas? Do you believe the blog content “pit” is endless? If you’re struggling to come up with post ideas, share your concerns in the comments – and myself and others would be happy to give you some feedback and thoughts.

Jeevan Jacob John is a young blogger who blogs about networking, marketing, social media and traffic generation. He tries to come up with new analogies and perspectives to make it easier for others to understand and apply. Find him at his blog – Blog Networking 101.

We hear the word Creativity a lot of times. But, most times, the word is misinterpreted. Let me ask you: What is creativity?

As I understand, Creativity is just a simple act of looking at the familiar in unfamiliar ways. Everyone in this world is creative, whether they agree with it or not.

We use creativity in our day to day life. But, each of us use it in different measures. Some, like artists use it to express themselves through different colors and shapes. Others like writers (like me and you) use words to express our thoughts (are we really expressing our thoughts?).

The extent to which we use it is what matters.

We should try to use “more” of our creativity; be more creative.

I mean, you don’t have to take paint brush to paint or read books or write more articles or whatever.

All you have to do is “do things differently“.

For instance: Try using your hand to brush your teeth instead of your tooth brush. Yup, that’s creativity

As I mentioned before, Creativity is the act of approaching things different. Let’s say that you are going to check Facebook. Instead of doing your daily activities, do something different. For example: If you daily activity is to comment on your Friends’ wall, then stop yourself from doing that. And interact with your fans on Facebook Page (As a blogger, that would be a great thing to do ).

The Apple.

Last week, my Art professor asked all students to draw an apple – from our mind. All of us drew a nice little rounded apple – red in color (We didn’t color it; but if we were to, it would be red).

She gave us some time to work on it (say like 2 minutes). And then she told us to stop drawing and to compare our apple to the apple she drew. And yes, our apples looked similar.

After that, she took out an apple, that she brought along with her, and told us to compare our apples with the real one.

Of course, we noticed lots of differences – the real apple is not perfect in shape, not fully red in color – it had some green and yellow, didn’t have a petal of leaf and many others differences like in texture.

And then came the important part. She told us that what we drew were our mind’s “concepts of apple“. Our mind constructs a concept for every little thing that we see. And when we are asked to think or draw it, we usually think of that concept.

The reason why I gave you this example is to signify the importance of mind’s concepts (and to allow myself to be creative – it has been a long time since I have included a personal story in one of my blog posts ). We usually do things based on these concepts. Whether we are blogging, painting, cooking or even knitting.

Let me explain what we can do, as bloggers:

Spend more time doing things that you aren’t used to doing.

For the past week or so, I have been spending a lot of time on reading and commenting blogs (Usually, I don’t do much commenting). Well, I did that for a couple of reasons:

• To Be More Creative
• To Get More Blog Post Ideas
• To Engage With Other Bloggers
• To Get More Link backs
• To Get More Traffic
• To Motivate Myself to Guest Post on those Sites

The list goes on (the longer the list, the stronger my motivation, the easier I can keep up with it).

I have also been writing every day for the last few days (The first time I am doing that for blogging).

What things do you do usually for blogging? Writing? Commenting? Reading Blogs?

There are a lot of things you can do instead:

• Write for your subscribers – Write tips for your subscribers only.
• Interact with your subscribers
• Engage on Twitter and/or G+
• Etc.

Well, it depends on who you are on and what you do every day.

You could so something new or do the same thing that you do in a different way.

For example: If you are going to write for your blog, stop that, and guest post. Or you could write on a topic that you haven’t written for a long time.

Or start a personal blog and write on a different niche.

Or write a blog post without any planning.

If you are going to comment, stop that and engage with people who commented on your latest posts (via Twitter, G+ or Facebook).

The possibilities are endless. You just have to choose one that helps your blog in a beneficial way.

Do things creatively.

Do things differently.

Do the things that you do in a different way.

Be a Creative Blogger!

P.S. I think I have been creative with this blog post too. Because usually I don’t like this. A change is good. Isn’t it?

P.P.S Like the article? Will ya help me out by writing your thoughts or marketing it to the world? Thanks a lot!

Jim Blogger loves fitness. He was a jock growing up and he never gained his “freshman 15” in college, where he majored in journalism and minored in sports medicine. Now he teaches weightlifting classes at the local gym, and writes a fitness blog with really good articles. But he has a problem: Even though he has great articles, he doesn’t make that much money from his blog.

Sound like anyone we know?

Like Jim, most bloggers are like come from writing backgrounds or were interested in their niche before they started blogging. This means that even though many bloggers make great content and know a lot about what they write about, few have the business know-how to make money off their writing.

I’ve worked in online marketing for over a decade so I know a thing or two about how to make money with a blog. I want to help other bloggers succeed, so I’m sharing a few ways that you can make money blogging:

Affiliate marketing

Merchants (also confusingly called advertisers) will pay bloggers money to get people to sign up as leads (a lead is someone who’s either signed up for a trial or registered their personal information, such as their email address, to a merchant) and/or buy products. Usually, you will get a percentage of the product sold if you’re getting paid to sell products. You get paid a flat amount for each lead you sign up.

Newsletters

The most common way bloggers run affiliate programs is by placing banner ads on their site. However, it’s also common for blogs to allow people to sign up for their mailing list, and send out a newsletter each week. Instead of selling people’s email addresses to spammers (which decreases the value of the blog) or sending them spam yourself, email them relevant information that they’ll actually read. This will increase the value of your blog to your readers, make them tell their friends about you, and gives you an excellent opportunity to place some affiliate links. Make sure to choose high quality products: Readers won’t want to read your blog anymore (and certainly won’t click on any of your affiliate links) if your newsletter points they feel like they are being pointed to products that are rip-offs.

Pay per click ads

Pay per click ads don’t work well in newsletters because you’re not being paid that much per click. As a result, many of the people clicking on your ads need to be people new to your blog, not your hardcore readers who’ve signed up for your newsletter. That’s why pay per click ads don’t work in newsletters but they work great as banner ads on your site. Pay per click banner ads on a website are usually less targeted than affiliate ads for a hand-picked product in a newsletter to a very narrow niche (such as people who like weightlifting, as opposed to people who like fitness in general) audience, so you need a lot more clicks to make the same amount of money. However, Google AdSense tailors ads based on an individual reader’s search history, so AdSense pay per click banner ads can be more profitable than affiliate banner ads.

Don’t stop here!

I’ve shared a few ways to make more money on your blog, but this article’s by no means the end-all be-all of content monetization. To make even more money, you should look for more articles online and watch webinars about content monetization, like mine on Friday the 27^th of January. Space is limited so register ASAP!

This is a guest post by Murray Newlands. Murray and his company Influence People do blogger outreach for a variety of clients, such as INTENTclick.

If you are a beginning blogger or are a seasoned blogging vet, you may occasionally need a blogging tip to help you create content or to get you back on track.

However, if you are a new blogger you might need a lot more help.

Regardless of how long you have been blogging, the following dos and don’ts can help you to be a bigger blogging success.

• DO post regularly. This blogging tip may be old news, but if you are a new blogger you may not really know what regularly means. You should try to post at least once a day, maybe even more.
• DON’T put a ton of ads on your blog. If you are a beginning blogger, this might not seem like a good blogging tip because you want to start making money. Your visitors don’t like ads, and if there are too many, they won’t click on any of them because they won’t come back. Put up a few pertinent, discretely placed ads to have readers and income potential.
• DO tell people you are blogging. If you are a new blogger, a quick way to initially get visitors is to tell people you know that you have a blog. Let folks know via your social media networks and tell the folks you know in real life, like family and coworkers. Even if you have been blogging for a while, let these people know about your site, as they may become your biggest fans.
• DON’T have music or video autoplay on your blog. If someone clicks on a link to your site while slacking off at the office and the newest Rihanna hit starts blaring though the speakers, he or she will be embarrassed and won’t come back. Even if the aforementioned scenario doesn’t play out, music and other audio like this is annoying.
• DO comment on your comments. A new blogger often doesn’t think of blogs as social media, but they very much are. If you comment back on your comments, readers will come back more often because they feel like they are in a discourse with you. If you don’t comment, they will feel ignored and may stop visiting.
• DON’T post just for posting’s sake. If you are trying to build a legitimate blog, this could be the best blogging tip on here if you are struggling to post one or more times a day. If you don’t have anything relevant to post, don’t toss just anything up. Your readers may not appreciate a scattered blog with off-message content and may stop visiting.
• DO comment on other blogs. And leave links to your site when you do so. Make sure that these are pertinent, honest comments about the other bloggers content. Your comment will lead to some folks clicking to your site through this comment, and it could cause your blog to squeeze just a centimeter up the search rankings.
• DON’T use spammy methods to get visitors and readers to your site. There are plenty of black hat SEO tricks a beginning blogger may be willing to try to get instant success, but don’t do it. If you do things that are funky, fishy and maybe a bit spammy, you won’t get off to a good start. Your blog could end up with a bad name, and you could even get it blacklisted from search sites. Ouch!
• DO subscribe to your own blog. You need to know what your readers see through their RSS feeds. If something is difficult to read, you will know before your readers start running away.
• DON’T forget share and social media buttons. This blogging tip is a big one. These share features let you readers market your blog for you. Without these you are severely limiting your blogs potential and drastically cutting down on the amount of people who will be exposed to your amazing work.

This article is provided by Kevin Moor who writes for different sites, which inter alias are working to find perfect uninstaller.

If you know me well, you know that sled dogs are one of my passions.

Having been involved with the sport of dog sledding since I was a young boy, I have a fond love for the sport.

I have three huskies. Kia, Keeva & Cabo.

We also have a chihuahua named Chiquita. She’s the official ”Hollingsworth Huskies” kennel mascot. During the winter months you’ll often find my brothers and I training the dogs and enjoying the cold of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

For the sled dog community, I thought I’d publish a list of currently available domain names revolving around the topic.

There’s a gold mine of available domains below if you wanted to start a sled dog blog or racing kennel website. 

• emushingblog.com
• sleddogssite.net
• esleddogs.com
• mysleddogblog.com
• sleddoginfo.com
• mysleddogs.net
• mysleddoginfo.com
• emushingspot.com
• mysleddogtips.net
• sleddognews.com
• thedogsledding.net
• mysleddogspot.net
• thesleddog.com
• sleddogsinfo.com
• esleddogspot.net
• esleddogsite.com
• sleddogsnews.net
• emushing.org
• mymushingsite.net
• esleddogsspot.com
• mushinginfo.org
• mushingsite.org
• mushingspot.com
• esleddog.org
• sleddogssite.org
• mushingnews.org
• sleddogsspot.net
• sleddogsnews.org
• mydogsledding.org
• esleddogsblog.net
• sleddogsite.net
• mymushingtips.net
• mushingblog.org
• esleddognews.org
• emushinginfo.org
• mushingtips.org
• mysleddogs.org
• esleddogblog.org
• esleddogsspot.org
• mysleddogsite.org
• mydogsledding.net
• emushing.net
• esleddogblog.com
• mymushingspot.org
• esleddogsnews.org
• mushingspot.org
• mymushing.org
• thesleddog.org
• esleddog.net
• themushing.org
• emushingnews.org
• mysleddognews.org
• emushingsite.net
• mysleddogsblog.org
• mymushingspot.com
• mymushingsite.org
• mushingsite.com
• sleddogspot.org
• sleddogsspot.org
• thesleddogs.net
• mysleddogsspot.org
• esleddogsinfo.org
• mysleddogtips.com
• esleddogsblog.org
• mymushingblog.org
• sleddoginfo.net
• sleddogstips.org
• sleddogsinfo.org
• sleddoginfo.org
• edogsledding.org
• emushingspot.org
• emushingtips.net
• emushingsite.com
• emushing.com
• emushingspot.net
• esleddogspot.org
• sleddogstips.com
• sleddogsspot.com
• mysleddogsinfo.com
• mymushingnews.net
• mushingblog.net
• sleddogtips.com
• thesleddog.net
• emushingnews.com
• esleddognews.com
• mushingblog.com
• emushinginfo.com
• edogsledding.com
• mymushingblog.com
• mushingtips.net
• mysleddogssite.com
• esleddogstips.com
• sleddogsblog.com
• mysleddoginfo.net
• mushingnews.com
• mysleddogsnews.com
• sleddogsite.com
• esleddogsblog.com
• themushing.net
• esleddog.com
• emushingblog.net
• esleddogssite.com
• mysleddogsinfo.org
• mysleddogspot.com
• mushinginfo.net
• mymushinginfo.net
• mysleddogsblog.com
• mysleddogsnews.org
• themushing.com
• esleddogs.net
• mushingsite.net
• emushingnews.net
• mysleddogsite.net
• sleddogsblog.net
• esleddogsnews.com
• esleddogblog.net
• mymushingblog.net
• esleddogsinfo.net
• mushingnews.net
• mysleddogs.com
• mymushingspot.net
• mushinginfo.com
• sleddogssite.com
• mydogsledding.com
• emushingtips.com
• esleddogstips.net
• mymushing.com
• thedogsledding.com
• esleddoginfo.com
• esleddogspot.com
• esleddogsspot.net
• mymushingsite.com
• esleddogtips.net
• mushingtips.com
• sleddogspot.com
• mysleddog.com
• mysleddogblog.net
• mysleddogsspot.com
• mysleddognews.com
• sleddogsinfo.net
• esleddogsite.net
• edogsledding.net
• mymushingtips.com
• esleddogssite.net
• mushingspot.net
• sleddogspot.net
• sleddognews.net
• mysleddog.net
• sleddogstips.net
• esleddogtips.com
• esleddognews.net
• thesleddogblog.com
• mysleddog.org
• thesleddogs.org
• sleddogsite.org
• esleddogsite.org
• esleddogtips.org
• sleddognews.org
• esleddoginfo.org
• esleddogstips.org
• emushingblog.org
• mymushingnews.org
• emushingsite.org
• thedogsledding.org
• mysleddogblog.org
• mymushinginfo.org
• esleddogs.org
• mymushingtips.org
• mysleddogtips.org
• mysleddoginfo.org
• mysleddogspot.org
• sleddogsblog.org
• emushingtips.org
• sleddogsnews.com
• esleddogssite.org
• mysleddogstips.com
• themushingspot.com
• mysleddogsnews.net
• esleddogsinfo.com
• mysleddogsinfo.net
• sleddogtips.net
• mysleddognews.net
• mymushinginfo.com
• esleddogsnews.net
• emushinginfo.net
• mysleddogsite.com
• mysleddogstips.net
• mysleddogstips.org
• thesleddogspot.com
• mymushing.net
• esleddoginfo.net
• mymushingnews.com
• mysleddogsblog.net
• mysleddogsspot.net
• sleddogtips.org
• mysleddogssite.net
• mysleddogssite.org
• themushingsite.com
• themushinginfo.com
• thesleddogsite.com

The above sled dog domains were available as of January 3rd, 2012.

rose·bud – an unopened flower of a rose.

There shall be no Citizen Kane spoilers here, but if you’ve seen the movie you’ll understand in greater depth my reason for choosing “rosebud” as my one word theme for the new year. As inspired by Mari Smith.

Apart from cinematic meaning, I choose the word rosebud because of the physical object of which it represents.

The unopened flower of a rose.

To be blunt, I feel unopened.

During the past year I’ve had my share of incredible blessings, discoveries, advancements and achievements. I’ve also felt the opposing force of life. Health difficulties caused by disease of which I am still trying to fix, and other ailments.

Simply, I feel like a rosebud.

Within, is my soul. Waiting and ready to open itself. To live for more and become the beautiful rose of which it was intended.

I’m not about to make a long list of resolutions of which I won’t accomplish. I’ve tried that method multiple times in the past and it doesn’t seem to work for me.

Feel, is really where I thrive.

I’ll feel out this year. Within the recesses of my mind lie countless dreams, aspirations, goals and lists. I know what they are. I know how to accomplish all of them. The past week has consisted of dedication to prayer & meditation in coming to know what I might do this year.

this year I will let my dreams unfold (like a rosebud) with the help of constant determination, hard-work & a constant desire to be a light in this world.

The world of blogging is my playground of which I bounce around like a giddy child. Laughing and learning. Continually cataloging what I learn in life; sharing the lives of others & finding joy in the process. This year will be no different.

The rosebud is ready.

The beautiful sunset photo was provided by Lozula. That man has wicked talent.

If you’re a regular blogger, you probably already know that staying organized can sometimes be a hassle.

From time constraints to cluttered blog posts, it can be easy to let your own blog overtake your sanity. However, by following some simple steps, you can not only be more organized in your blogging endeavors, but you can also save time and produce better quality posts.

1. Write Topic Ideas Ahead of Time

If you find yourself unsure of what to blog about, or you find yourself jumping from topic to topic, you might be able to benefit from writing out post ideas ahead of time and then using the list for future reference.

Doing this can also help you to craft the overall theme of your blog.

Instead of jumping from topic to topic, having a clear set of ideas already chosen can allow you to deliver a more focused message. Of course, if your blog is based around random happenings through the day, you can still keep a notepad around to jot down ideas you want to cover.

2. Keep Up with News/Current Events

Another way to stay organized is to keep up with news and current events.

By doing this, you can avoid rehashing old information and weed out clutter, all at the same time. An example of this would be if you ran a political blog. Because things change on a regular basis in politics, it’s important to keep up with what the latest news is so you can avoid posting old info that just becomes clutter on your blog.

3. Set Aside Specific Blogging Time Each Day

In order to avoid posting poorly written material, set aside a specific time each day to blog. This helps you avoid feeling rushed, leads to better writing and allows you to organize your thoughts more effectively.

Make sure you come up with a writing schedule and stick to it.

You may want to let your friends and family know that you are not to be disturbed during this time so that you can devote all of your attention to organizing your thoughts.

4. Utilize Mobile Blogging Technology

Mobile blogging lets you get info out as the event is taking place, leading to better organized material.

With all of the laptops, smartphones and tablet mobile devices out there, it’s important to take advantage of blogging on-the-go. Mobile blogging is great for organization in that it allows you to update your blog in real-time, meaning you can get information out while it’s still fresh in your memory.

Of course, if you don’t have access to these tools, you could always carry a pen and pad around to take notes on, but that means you have to piece together details later.

Mobile blogging lets you get info out as the event is taking place, leading to better organized material.

5. Work with a Team

Working with a team is a great way to stay organized, as each team member can have their own special page dedicated to their area of expertise or interest.

Instead of you trying to run the whole show, and instead of posting about topics that you’re unsure of, having a team to work with allows you to each have your own separate areas on a blog, leading to more organized information.

6. Organize Posts According to Topic

Many blog providers allow you to categorize your posts using tags.

Tagging your posts gives you the chance to organize them in a way that they can easily be recalled later.

For instance, if you want to reference or link to a post you made years ago, it would be much easier to find that post by searching for key terms instead of scanning post after post for them yourself.

Organizing your posts using tags is also a great way for readers of your blog to find similar posts on topics that interest them.

7. Be Concise

While it may be easy to just let go and start typing out a post, before you know it, you may have a novel on your hands and you’ve drifted from one point to another.

Try to remember that concise writing is the key to good information organization.

Before starting a post, you may want to write out an outline to stick to, allowing you to organize your information before you even stroke a key.

James is employed by a British printer cartridge website where he works with accessories like Samsung toner. James mostly spends a lot of time blogging and creating content, as well as keeping up with all the latest news on the web.

Do you realize the amount of information you are exposed to while you are blogging? It’s immense, something you would probably never be able to reach if it wasn’t for the all this connection.

It is incredible how, for the first time, we have a private teacher for each one of us. For the first time, one can learn whatever he wants; when he wants; at the speed he wants. It’s incredible.

You are exposed to hundreds of people’s thoughts and perspectives – you are exposed to old philosophical or psychological works. If one joins that to his critical thinking and a small dose of skepticism, one can develop theories and ideas about almost everything one sets his mind to.

In my last article here “Why I Won’t Stop Blogging” I rambled through what blogging meant to me and how it changed my life. Today I want to approach a different but not exclusive idea – the idea that blogging helps you in becoming a better human, a better person.

By blogging, and being exposed to all the information we become better human beings, we evolve, we develop ourselves.

“I just think that fiction that isn’t exploring what it means to be human today isn’t art.” – David Foster Wallace

I am going to be bold here and say that David Foster Wallace’s affirmation can be applied to all types of writing, or even all types of art. I believe that if you are not writing something that makes people reflect, think and evolve, it’s not worth it.

Writing should be solemnly about conveying information from people to people and not about fame or popularity, and there are bloggers who are consistent in presenting extremely valuable writings.

We Develop the Intellect

The amount of information that is available on the Internet, for free, is the best way for one to develop one’s intellect. We are exposed to studies, theories or essays we can read. We can become knowledgeable of the history of whatever we want. Or about the modern topics we have a special interest about. This is a straightforward benefit of blogging or, at least, reading blogs.

Developing the intellect with a dose of skepticism and critical thinking is essential for educating humanists, that are disappearing in today’s world at a fast pace. You can argue that developing the intellect doesn’t necessarily make you a better person, you’d be right, but you can’t argue that developing the intellect develops us as human beings. At least, at its fundamental level.

The consequences of developing the intellect can be tremendous. By doing this we can challenge dogmas or pre-conceived ideas, argue theories or even make an impact with an important discovery. You never know what you’ll find in the web.

When I started reading Art of Manliness I was injected with a large dose of culture and a whole new perspective about life that really changed it for me. I had one of those “Ah ah” moment. I sent an e-mail to the owner of AoM just to thank him:

“Hi,

My name is Hugo Martins as stated above and i’m 17 years old. Also just to beat the odds once again, I’m from Portugal (a country in Europe).

I just wanted to say that from the minute I’ve discovered your blog i’m hooked. I can’t get out of it, I’ve literally spent hours and hours reading and re-reading your posts. I think i’ve finally found what I was looking for in this world. As you may understand guys my age don’t usually have this kind of concerns about the state of the world’s manliness but that was something i was always searching for answers and never found them.

So i just wanted to make sure you knew that you helped a boy in his evolution towards becoming a man in a very positive way, and for that i thank you.

Best of luck with the blog for years to come.

Sincerely,
Hugo”

The English was not very good but it worked. I got an answer and a free poster that is now properly displayed in my manly room. Since then I’ve challenge myself daily in order to learn something new every day. I’ve started reading much more, and writing. I’ve challenged myself to grow into what I wanted to be.

Had I never started blogging or reading blogs I’d have never found the Art of Manliness blog and probably wouldn’t have placed such an emphasis on my education at such a young age.

Social Interactions

It may sound like a paradox but emerging into the Internet can actually improve social interactions, why not?

I’ve recently (couple of months) found a great blog called 30vanquish that documents the journey of a guy in becoming social more capable. The goal is destroying all social barriers. It’s a crazy website because its author Matt actually does all the social experiments he preaches. He was a simple guy with lack of social skills and now has evolved into a guy who has no problem in approaching a girl and asking her what she’s reading, just for the sake of destroying social barriers.

He inspired me to start making social experiences too and I’ve been happier and more social ever since. Not much more though. Small steps they say…

Like this blog, I’m sure we can find several others that help people battling their problems with social interactions.

Another cool perspective is that while you are wandering through the Internet, you are bound to meet new people, if you really want to. You just need to take advantage of those opportunities.

Becoming better in social interactions can only benefit us. Mind that you don’t have to be popular, just be friendlier.

You Learn To Help Others Not Expecting Anything In Return

While this is not necessarily true, most times it is. When you comment, retweet or simply share someone’s content, you are helping them without wanting them to do anything for you. You just share, probably, because it is worth it. When you are doing it for the sake of obtaining something you must not be normal, you are selling your reputation (sharing content that possibly is not good enough or adequate for your audience) for cheap links or comments. Don’t do that. Learn to share and help other people just for the sake of feeling better with you. You comment on a blog and they don’t comment back – don’t stop commenting. Commenting should not be a transaction. It’s something you do because you feel the author deserved.

The same goes for retweets. Don’t retweet if you are expecting someone to retweet back. It just doesn’t work that way.

Likewise, if you believe you are producing valuable content then you must surely be helping people without wanting anything from them, right? Just keep at it.

Blogging Is The Art Of Becoming A Better Human

Bring back the spirit of the old days. The days when people shared with other people their reflections, thoughts and opinions, and together they reached new conclusions. Blogging is, for many people, the only way to do what they really love. For most of them, their jobs occupy most of the time, and blogging is the only way to truly be them.

I’m not saying no to monetization. People deserve to be paid if they are doing something great that occupies most of their time but you have to deeply care about what you are doing and about the people who read you first, and then monetize.

Gary Vaynerchuk gave an interesting presentation about this topic in 2008 that it is still relevant today.

Some Great Blogs I’d Like To Share

• Brain Pickings
• Almost Bohemian
• Andrew Caldwell
• In Over Your Head
• The Minimalists
• Mark Robertson

I bet you can find something that you’d be personally interested in every single one of this blogs. Whether you visit these blogs or not, I have a small favor to ask you: please share with me your favorite blogs and share your opinions about how blogging can have a positive impact in humanity.

Thank you.

This post was written by Hugo Martins. Hugo writes about freethinking and life at his blog Connected.

When I say “He” understand that I’m talking about “He/She”.

Matthew Hooper helps people, small businesses and individuals build an internet presence. Don’t forget to get his free report, “A Beginner’s Guide To Building An Internet Presence”. He has also just launched a step-by-step video training course called “The WordPress Course” so that you can learn WordPress in a single weekend.

As WordPress users we are fortunate enough to have tens-of-thousands of plugins at our disposals which help us to customize our WordPress blogs and websites. Since there is a countless amount of plugins out there, it is sometimes hard for us to figure out which plugins are worth testing out and which ones are better left in the WordPress plugin ether.

Below is a list of free WordPress plugins that I often install on my sites or on websites that I build for other people. These are also the first plugins that I recommend to people that I teach to build WordPress websites.

Maintenance Mode

The Maintenance Mode plugin adds a landing page to your website that will be seen by all visitors that are not logged in. You can customize the landing page, use one of the basic templates or use the default countdown page.

You can do some maintenance on your site, rearrange sidebar widgets, or anything else for that matter, without visitors seeing a website that is in an unfinished state.

Theme Test Drive

Theme Test Drive will let you test out different themes on your website without actually having to make the theme the active theme on your website.

As a logged in user you will be able to see what a theme looks like on your website while your visitors will still see your regular theme.

Simple 301 Redirects

Sometimes when we make changes to the URLs of the pages or posts on our websites we forget that the URL is what people link to. Whenever we make changes to these URLs, the URLs become broken links and the people that follow those links get the dreaded 404 error.

If you’ve found that you made this mistake, then this plugin you can easily add a redirect that will be useful to your future visitors and to Google.

Tweet Old Post

If you’re someone that posts everyday then you probably see constant streams of traffic to your website from Twitter. If you’re like me, every time you create a new post on your site, you post a link on Twitter. On those days you probably see a lot of traffic from Twitter.

Tweet Old Post will randomly tweet a post from your archives to Twitter automatically. The interval can be set to whatever suits your needs.

W3 Total Cache

The great thing about WordPress is that it is dynamically generated from a database. Unfortunately, this can also make WordPress very slow. The best way to improve the speed of your WordPress website is through caching.

W3 Total Cache creates a cache of the pages on your website so that your sever doesn’t need to create them every time a new visitor comes to your website. There’s a lot more to this plugin but that’s the one sentence summation. Additionally, there are a lot of caching plugins out there but based on my experience through testing and general use, I’ve seen the best performance with W3 Total Cache.

WordPress SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is something that too many people get hung up on when they are just starting out, especially when they should just be focusing on creating the content on their websites. However, this becomes one of those “chicken or the egg” situations. I usually suggest to people that they focus on content but keep SEO in mind. This means that there are certain steps that you should follow while setting up your site but you will only see the benefits after you have been creating content. At this point, it’s often very difficult to go back and correct it.

That said, the WordPress SEO plugin from Yoast is one of the best SEO plugins that I have seen. Again, this is one of those types of plugins where there is a ton of similar plugins out there. I use and recommend this plugin since I really like the features it boasts and it works best for me.

WP Smush.it

The WP Smush.it plugin is a plugin that will optimize your images for the web as you upload them through the WordPress media manager. You don’t have to do anything different than you usually do but the images on your website will load faster. You can also go back and “smush” your existing images. Remember, visitors often leave sites that take too long to load.

WP to Twitter

WP to Twitter does one thing and does it well. Every time a new post goes live to your website, it automatically gets posted to Twitter. This means that if you ever forget to post links to Twitter, or if you schedule posts on your site, then you will never have to remember to post the links to Twitter again.

Digg Digg

A fantastic way of getting new visitors to your website is through social networking sites. Digg Digg adds social sharing buttons to your site for as many of the more popular social networking sites as you want. It’s easy to go overboard with sharing buttons so try to keep it below half-a-dozen.

BackWPup

There is a saying that goes something along the lines of, “there are people who have lost data and there are people that will.” As someone that has lost data in the past, I see the importance of backing up everything. The BackWPup plugin makes it easy to schedule and create offsite backups which will hopefully ensure that you never lose data from your website. By offsite, I mean off of your website’s server. This is a precaution against hacking or even against server problems.

There are a lot of commercial plugins that will do this but this is the best free plugin that I have come across. I get my databases emailed to me on a weekly basis and I get full backups of my sites sent to my Dropbox account every month.

After Post Content Box

This is a plugin that I had created in order to scratch my own itch. I wanted a simple way to add content that will appear after every post but only on the single post pages.

You can add an email opt-in box after posts regardless of the theme or blog configuration without having to touch the code every time you wanted to make a change. The After Post Content Box plugin will let you manage this content.

Lightbox Plus

WordPress has a great system for uploading images and automatically creating thumbnails. However, if you just click on a thumbnail, you are taken to the full size image but that’s it. Lightbox Plus creates a great looking lightbox that appears over your website content and allows your users to flip through the other images within that post or page.

I prefer this lightbox plugin to others that are out there since it gives the best results on smaller screens and mobile devices. Plus this particular plugin also has some preset lightbox styles that look really slick.

That’s All (for now) Folks!

As I said at the beginning, there are a pile of plugins out there and they do a lot of different things. These plugins can add a lot of functionality to your website but if you add too many, it can also slow your website down. Weigh-out the pros and the cons of each plugin and customize WordPress to suit your needs.

One last thing, all of the plugins above are free and I use them on sites I do for myself and for others. This means that I am confident in recommending them to you.

What are some of your favourite plugins? What are some duds that you want to save us the hassle of ever messing with?

Branding is a science.

It’s also full of creativity.

I tend to make my bed in the room of Creativity. Occasionally I spend the night at the home of Science.

As so often occurs, cobbler’s children have the worst shoes. I spend so much time on company campaigns, branding and marketing that I often let my own projects fall through the cracks.

Lately I’ve had a need for a new blog tagline.

Instead of spending a day brainstorming, I’d like to incorporate the involvement of everyone who reads the blog.

And why? You read the blog. You know what type of information you crave and need. I respect your opinions.

Let this also be a simple guide in helping you create a better tagline for your own blogs!

Help Me Choose A New Blog Tagline

As you may have noticed, currently the title of the blog is Smart Boy Designs.

It’s not a perfect, brand-able name. The blog has evolved into much more than just design.

I’ve kept the name more for the sake of nostalgia than anything else. It was one of the first domain names I ever registered as a young kid. When I’d fix a computer problem or build a new website, my grandparents would always respond with, “You’re such a smart boy!”

But I’ll be keeping my baby (e.g. blog name).

What I need help with now is a visionary tagline. A tagline that compensates for past, present and future goals of the blog. Currently the tagline includes the following…

Make money online. Change lives. Grow brand visibility.

I feel it could be something different.

Just so you get an idea of the direction I’m taking the blog, here are a few bullet points with goals and direction.

• The topics involved on the blog vary greatly. Topics may include design, digital marketing, interviews, Twitter, making money online, branding, how to blog, coding, etc.
• I’d like to continually branch out into other areas of digital marketing and web development. I visualize news being presented, more reviews of current books, design tutorials, interviews with business owners & more.
• My job profession has evolved into more than just building websites. My official title and services fall along the lines of Digital Marketing Consultant. Reasoning being that digital marketing covers all aspects of web development, blogging & social media marketing.
• I envision the tagline being multi-faceted. Combining the mission, goal and vision of Smart Boy Designs as a whole in a simple statement.

So there you have it.

The task is to create a simple, concise tagline that helps explain what Smart Boy Designs is all about.

Are you up for the challenge?

What does the winner get?

After taglines are submitted (you have a week to submit your tagline choice via the comments section) I’ll choose the tagline.

Will it be yours?

If so, you’ll receive the following…

• A copy of the Blogging Bible eBook
• Backlinks toward your blog
• A special post talking about your blog, projects & you as the tagline winner
• The honor of knowing you created the Smart Boy Design tagline! I’ll mention that fact often.

So there you have it folks!

I’m really excited to see what you’ll come up with. As mentioned above, I respect you all for various reasons. You’re smart, beautiful, successful, funny, friends and business owners. Cumulatively, you inspire and bless my life in rich ways.

I’m honored to know you.

*By submitting a tagline below you are agreeing to give all rights, use and permissions of the tagline to Smart Boy Designs. Specifically, you’re revoking your ownership and use of the tagline.

105,223 people now follow me on Twitter.

I didn’t expect the “100k” number to come so quickly. A combination of new support from various countries, appearances in local media and professional support led to the increase. I’m overwhelmed and humbled. Not many words describe the intense feelings that occur within me now.

Ranging from the United States to New Zealand, these followers come from all walks of life. Philosophers, fathers, marketers, friends, networkers, technology fans, writers, givers, linkers, bloggers, consultants, strategists, thinkers, teens, entrepreneurs, teachers, moguls, enthusiasts, cooks, gamers, lions, sprouts, freelancers, mothers & dog fanatics.

Now, the great question most everyone asks is, “How did you reach 100k followers?” I’d like to leave that answer for another post.

In this post I’d like to focus on feelings.

More Followers = A Mixed Bag of Feelings

As it so often seems, I feel like a broken record.

I find myself keeping a Twitter stream of thank yous and mementos of gratitude. It’s hard for me to let kindness and support go by without notice.

With more followers it also seems the difficulties occur along with the blessings.

The most pressing being the lessened ability to communicate one-on-one with each of you. I feel like a student with many friends, but with the problem of having to choose only one seat at lunch time.  I’ve become concerned with my little family online. The pressing need to care for and love each of you, individually, is a topic of my internal mind’s discussion.

Because of You

Let me be personal in saying first, just a few things to express that love.

If it wasn’t for your support I would not be seeing the level of success occurring in my life.

• At 21 I own and operate my own business. Because of you.
• I now mull over the achievement of 100k Twitter followers. Because of you.
• Each day I’m inspired. Because of you.
• I’m able to share words, music & thoughts with millions of people. Because of you.
• Windows of opportunity are opening with each day. Because of you.
• I smile. Because of you.

You know who you are.

At times I do not understand the why of this universe. Why do you love me enough to share? Why do you care to support? Out of all the people in this world, why do I have 100k Twitter followers?

You are followers whom I know and love. Followers with real-life trials, successes, problems and songs. Followers of which concern my mind often. I spend many sleepless nights striving to know what I might share in order to increase the success of your businesses. How to better teach others how to blog. I crave your success.

I want joy for each of your lives.

Let’s Do Things As A Family

So what, might you ask, shall I do to battle my original problem?

I’m going to follow the example of large families.

In order to stay unified and keep personal contact with all members of a large family (I have five younger siblings), you must do things together. Whether it’s shooting clay pidgeons or surfing in Santa Cruz, our family has always been doing things together. It’s been my father’s motto to remember, “The family that plays together, stays together.”

So that, my friends, is what we must do. The answer to my problem.

We must do. Together.

• Where possible I will link to your magnificent content.
• I will do my best to deliver quality, accurate information. I understand I am not perfect.
• We will be joyful and positive.
• If I see a need that I have the capacity of meeting within the community, I will make all aware of the circumstance and situation. Social media becomes a powerful weapon in making changes for good in this world.

Together, we will do.

A time of celebration. Share your Twitter account in the comment section below!

Now is a time of celebration.

Although I am the same person independent of “follower count,” I set out with the goal this year of reaching 100k Twitter followers. A way by which to measure the effort I put into this blog and other social media efforts. It’s exciting. Worth celebrating! Joyful! I’m grateful to have this wonderful tool in order to promote your services, businesses and products.

A tool, built through you.

First, we must start the celebrating by honoring Twitter.

Below (as comments) I want for you to answer all or none of the following questions:

1. First, use the blue box to link to your Twitter account.
2. Why do you Tweet?
3. Why should others follow you?
4. What goals do you hope to accomplish within Twitter?
5. Are you satisfied by what you’ve done online and off?
6. What do you hope to see on Smart Boy Designs?
7. How else should we celebrate?
8. Invite a friend to join us.

I really love connecting with each of you. Let this be a time to do so on a deeper level!

I open my heart to you.

Know these as my raw, unadulterated feelings.

I honestly care about you, and hope to show that commitment.

I want to help you achieve your goals, dreams and aspirations.

I understand I am young. I don’t know it all. I don’t claim to know it all. I simply have some skills, and I have a desire to help.

I’m full of gratitude.
Life shines bright.

Your friend,
Christian Hollingsworth

We fear the unknown.

And why? Humans fear what they cannot control, or do not know how to control. For example, think of sharks. A widely feared animal. Much due to the fact that we feel in little control in the ocean. It’s vast. It’s unknown. A domain suited perfectly to sharks.

On another front, when settlers came to the Americas, there was a fear for the native people. Why? The people were unknown, and thus, not trusted. Many felt the only way to overcome the problem was to bully, push and exterminate. Just take a moment to look back in history, and you’ll notice we’re very good at destroying what we fear.

When we fear, we turn our back.

I sit here talking with a new blogger. Her blog is setup, and she’s determined to begin blogging. She walks to her office, sits down poised to type, with the intention of blogging. A stumbling block.

What, might you ask, is the stumbling block one faces when blogging for the first time?

• Opening your soul to the public.
• Not writing well enough. Especially those in the teaching industry, to know that your writing capabilities will be critiqued.
• Words will be read out of context.
• Expectations for self are high. Vision is huge and afraid to tackle it.
• Afraid of technology.

Here are a few thoughts for those of you with some of these “fears.” Fears that keep you from starting your blog. You have something to share with the world! Something grand every person needs to hear.

It’s not that you “can’t” blog. It’s that you’re afraid you won’t do a good job of it.

Inch by inch. Foot by foot. Mile by mile.

Often when you begin planning for your blog great expectations are developed, and the task becomes overwhelming. In one’s mind you start to build up a grand menagerie of success, and wonder where you might even begin. I’ll tell you one thing now. If you don’t start, you’ve failed.

The general rule in blogging is that you won’t see the fruits of your effort until after six months of continuous work. That for one, is just one reason why you must choose to blog about your passion. Otherwise, you won’t make it to the six month mark. And where does that six months success start? With the first blog post. Inch by inch and post by post, you’ll craft a beautiful tapestry of words. Your blog will become an archive of “self” where, within, your soul has been unveiled.

You think too much about what other people think.

In my opinion, a small dose of criticism helps to push you to work harder. Michael Jordan didn’t make his 7^th grade basketball team. Stephen Spielberg wasn’t admitted into filmmaking school. We see these stories around us constantly.

I remember when I was ten years old, and had just started Smart Boy Designs. I posted information online about HTML, my thoughts & how I was growing. There were a few individuals specifically, you told me to give up. Their exact words were, “You will never amount to anything online and should give up now.” I remember pushing past the hurt of those words and doing my best to reach deeper.

I don’t know the exact reason as to why we’re so concerned about the thoughts and opinions of others. Do we place too much of our value in the respect and admiration of others? Although I feel we need to be good, virtue filled individuals; we shouldn’t let the fear of other’s thoughts keep us from producing our most beautiful work.

Our creative work and thoughts from the soul.

You’re about to jump into the blogging world. A world filled with the most beautiful, supportive, kind and loving people I’ve been able to associate myself with. These are people who know the object and opportunity of giving. It’s amazing to see direct competitors share one another’s work. A true indicator of a friend is someone who can be happy with success you’ve found.

Those are the types of people you’ll be surrounded with in the blogging world. Don’t let them wait too long. Do your best to push past your fears, and jump right in.

If fear is still a concern of your mind, know that there will be many bloggers who will be happy and willing to help you get past this stumbling block.

You can and will do it.

A good friend of mine, almost like a fourth grandmother, sits next to me now as we go about discussing a name for her new blog.

This week as I’ve been at her home I let her know I’d help her setup her blog. That’s when her mind started working like mad. Nightly she’d wake up, with blog name ideas, and write them down. Constantly looking for inspiration and guidance on what she should name her blog.

She eventually settled on a name. Whimsical Wisdoms. As a school teacher, and living in the mountains, she felt this gave her a great blog name to work from for all the thoughts she’d like to eventually put to post. Not too restrictive, a name likes this lets her talk about worship, wisdom, wellness & more.

Before settling on your own blog name, let me give you a few items to ponder.

• First and foremost, don’t settle on a name just because it’s worked for others. I feel, however much advice you receive, deciding on your blog name is a very personal choice. A choice made through thinking, pondering & maybe even some spiritual guidance. Feel the name choice.
• Simple and concise. Don’t let your blog name get too long and rampant.
• Use the tools available to you for guidance and inspiration. Take a look at a dictionary or thesaurus and find fun replacement words you might enjoy.
• Don’t let your title become too restrictive. For example, “My Thoughts on the Pythagorean Theorem” would be a very small niche to work towards, unless the Pythagorean Theorem is the only thing you want to discuss on your blog.

All in all, let it become a fun process. Many affiliate marketers have found success in making their own name, their blog name and brand. Others use a special subject or experience from their past to develop a good blog name. Still, others enjoy a simple play on words.

Let this process come from within, as it’s an important step in developing a potent brand, blog & successful stream of thought.

Your blog topic will either kill or accelerate the growth of your blog. It’s extremely important.

There’s been a trend the past few years for bloggers to jump into blogging and choose a topic that they believe will make them the most money. They jump into blog topics such as medical health, affiliate marketing & real estate; all in the hopes that those topics will convert to profit.

This isn’t always the case.

Although there are many bloggers who make a viable income through these topics, it’s not for everyone. You’ll find that choosing a topic based solely on its potential isn’t the best route. You’ll run out of content and drive quickly.

Choose your blog topic based on two things.

• What are you passionate about?
• What do you know most about?

I place passion before your knowledge on a topic due to the sole fact that passion can often drive an individual to overcome their lack of knowledge through diligent study and research.

So think to yourself what you’re most passionate about. Maybe it’s horses? Do you think about dancing, night and day? Does a day go by without talking about the latest vegetables growing in your garden?

What’s on your mind most is often your best choice for the topic you should be blogging about.

Blogging is now a mainstream activity. It’s everywhere. No matter where you turn (whether business or personal) there’s a blog in existence.

And for good reason too.

Blogs are a fantastic way to share information with the world. Businesses use blogs as a way to generate community and action in regards to their products and services. Individuals on the other hand, often will blog out of pure hobby. They share the happenings of the day or the latest activities involving the cat Spot.

All blogs have a reason.

This leads to the question to work through today as your very first step towards a successful blog.

Take out a pen and paper and start writing down your reasons for blogging. Is it to share your passion? Maybe you want to make money? Do you have a message to share with the world? Did your best friend convince you to try it out?

Spend at least a few minutes contemplating your reasons.

These reasons will become your goals. Don’t forget them. Put them in a place where you see them often. Over time they may change – but identifying your reasons for blogging will carry you through the difficult parts. The times when you can’t think of anything to write for your next blog post. When you’ve decided you just might give up.

Remember your reasons for blogging…and then be prepared to share your passion with gusto to the entire world.

You might find this rather humorous.

Years ago, before Gravatars even existed, I would “inflate” my blog comments.

What I’d do is use a few of my different email addresses, and post comments on blog posts with pen (fake) names. I’d chat back and forth, and get the conversation flowing. Little did people know, those first few comments on blog posts were all posted by yours truly. I thought I was rather tricky.

A few months ago I was looking through old blog posts on some old blogs, and found that those comments now had Gravatar images attached. And behold, they were all images of me! Due to my Gravatar account now linking to those email addresses.

So there I was, under multiple pen names, but caught because of my avatar image.

I giggled and giggled and thought to myself how funny it is to get caught.

We always think we’re outsmarting, but really, we’re just giving karma some time to catch its prey.

Building a website and drawing traffic to said website for the first time, is an exciting experience.

Unfortunately, it often leads many to explore different spam techniques.

I remember, ten years ago, when I started my first website. It was a free Yahoo! Geocities website account. Simple space to upload and manage your own site. At the time, I was working on Christian’s Animal Care Sheets. A place where I’d share my thoughts on how to take care of all the animals I had. Guinea pigs, bearded dragons, corn snakes, horses, chickens and more.

Two of the tactics, I remember in particular, went as follows.

• Reciprocal linking. Obviously this form of linking still exists, but it was at an archaic level in the past. You’d email a huge load of webmasters, and ask if they’d be willing to “reciprocate” links. You place their link on your site, and they do the same on their end. It helped to draw in a lot of traffic, but archaic nonetheless. Now, hopefully, links are shared in a more appreciative fashion.
• Topsite lists. They’ve petered out, but were all the rage years ago. You’d register for involvement with a bunch of topsite lists, and drive traffic in that fashion. They still exist, but not as prevalent.

These are just two of the many traffic generation tactics I can think of using, when I was young and first becoming involved on the internet. Although not quite spam, certainly pushing the boundaries.

What traffic tactics do you remember using? Would you consider them spammy, now? How do you drive traffic in a different way now?

WordPress, as many of you know, is one of the most popular blogging sites (and free blogging platform software) allowing you to create a mini website or blog.

Now for quite a few, WordPress has many key advantages over the other blogging companies and products available to most bloggers. But the real question remains…

How does one tap the power of WordPress to make the most out of a blog?

SEO off the hook!

First you want to ensure that your blog is applying SEO.
Also known as Search Engine Optimization.

SEO is basically how well search engines can read the content on your site to assess its relevance to the searcher’s keywords.

A well SEO’ed blog will give you a better page ranking in the search engines. This might not seem important but when you are a game blog posting reviews, sneak-peaks and giveaways, having a high Google page ranking can mean the difference between high traffic and low traffic and quite frankly, people actually being able to find your site in the first place.

There are many fantastic WordPress plugins out there to help you with the intensive task of making your blog more search engine friendly. Be sure to use…

• A good SEO plugin. I’m using All In One SEO Plugin at the moment.
• Be sure your images are producing relevant ALT tags. SEO Friendly Images plugin works well for this purpose.
• Use the Permalink capability within WordPress to produce URL’s that contain keywords versus shortcodes.

Although the details of SEO far outweigh this post, with a little research, you’ll be on a quick path to perfecting your search engine viability.

Monetize Your Hard Work

Next, what’s the point of having a lot of traffic but with no means of making money off your site? The purpose of a blog is to share a message, promote a product or to monetize traffic. We all have many reasons for blogging.

With tremendous effort in driving traffic to your blog, there must be a reason in doing so.

Fear not. This is were Google Adsense and other affiliate marketing/advertising products come into play. To extract the full potential of your WordPress site, you may want to add ads to your site. Whether your goal is to make a full income blogging or not, a few ads could potentially pay for the outgoing money you’re spending to keep your blog running. For anyone, this could be motivating.

Other affiliate marketing programs, such as selling Amazon products related to your posts, allows you to earn a certain percentage of the sales from each purchase referred from your blog.

Many bloggers produce a potent income via affiliate marketing.

Ads are commonplace in the blogging world, although those who truly harness the power of blogging have come to understand that building relationships first is what truly matters. Focus on building your community, and monetize later.

Don’t trade pennies in the beginning for success down the road!

Go away spam!

Now that you have a good blog that has been well SEO’d and geared for potential revenue earning, what you want to do is ensure that you don’t have annoying spam-bots posting spam on your site.

Spam deters potential readers and gives a bad look to your blog. It also potentially lowers your page ranking within search engines, lessening your chance to drive more traffic to your blog.

The two WordPress plugins I use with great effect on my WordPress blogs in order to cut down on spam are:

• Akismet
• Growmap Anti Spambot Plugin (also known as GASP)

Using this combination of plugins offers a powerful spam protection service. Take a look at each plugin’s page, research, and identify what might suit you best.

Harness the Power of Networking

The next thing you want to do is to have people access your blog via Facebook pages, Tweets and bookmarks.

WordPress.com has presets which allow you to link your Facebook page, Twitter and even allow people to bookmark your site directly. These are crucial, especially if you’re a blog. People, using these tools, recirculate your articles and drive traffic as a byproduct of sharing!

If you’re using a self hosted WordPress system, the following plugins may be of interest to you. All the following are being used here on Smart Boy Designs.

• FlickrRSS
• googleCards
• Social Media Widget
• Subscribe to Comments
• Top Commenters Gravatar
• TweetMeme Retweet Button

Sharing tools are especially beneficial if you’re a news source competing with others, and you want your blog to have the latest breaking news brought to the public first.

Remember, focus on quality plugins that offer tools to promote community, sharing & networking with others. This functionality will be used well and met with interaction from your community.

When searching for good plugins to use on WordPress.org, I tend to look for a certain plugin function, and then check to see how many people have downloaded each plugin. The ones downloaded most “tend” to be the most versatile and usable.

You’ll notice “sharing” buttons on the bottom of each post here on Smart Boy Designs, which were hard-coded into my Thesis theme via Thesis OpenHook.

The following code will produce a Twitter, LinkedIn, Digg & StumbleUpon share button. I thought I’d share that code with you, in the hopes that you might benefit from it.

<p><div id="fb-root"></div><script src="http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#appId=128265190605349&amp;xfbml=1"></script><fb:like href="" send="true" width="500" show_faces="false" font=""></fb:like><br/><a href="http://twitter.com/share" data-count="vertical" data-via="SmartBoyDesigns">Tweet</a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><script src="http://platform.linkedin.com/in.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script type="IN/Share" data-counter="top"></script>

<script type="text/javascript">
(function() {
var s = document.createElement('SCRIPT'), s1 = document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT')[0];
s.type = 'text/javascript';
s.async = true;
s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js';
s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1);
})();
</script>
<a></a>

<script src="http://www.stumbleupon.com/hostedbadge.php?s=5"></script>
</p>

Analyze & Track

Lastly, you want to keep track of how many people visit your WordPress blog, and which articles are the most popular.

Enabling WordPress Reports allows you to do this with ease. It tells you how much daily, monthly and yearly traffic you get. From here you can see which areas of your site do well and which don’t to improve on future articles.

For those with a self-hosted WordPress blog, Google Analytics is incredibly powerful.

Run with it.

These are just some of the many ways in which you can be using the power of WordPress to benefit you and your blog.

Continue your research, take time to learn & network with other bloggers.

You’ll quickly find yourself understanding WordPress with ease.

So now you have set-up a blog and all set to get started. But how do you produce a blog with content?

Content for posts must be compelling and prove to be a good read for visitors. Most people land in your blog when searching for information online. So the information you post, should also be useful. Writing content that’s compelling and attention retaining is more of a pursuit of passion. Really!

When you write content for your blog putting in efforts and spending time in making it perfect, that’s what visitors will love. Put yourself into the shoes of the reader, while you write. That’s one sure-shot way to writing well.

Write High Quality, Keyword Dense Posts

As a rule, one should never place form over content. -Manuel Puig

If you are a company with a blog that is being utilized for advertising and linking purposes, content must be very high quality and have the right keyword density. Only then it will be listed by search engines and readable for visitors. Irrespective of whether you are a company, or an individual wanting to earn from blogging, quality content is what fetches more traffic to your blog.

When we talk about quality of content, uniqueness and creativity is given priority. It is important to note that, content posted on your blogs should be original and unique, for the search engines to index them. It may be difficult to produce unique content every other day and maintain different styles. In such cases, professional help or writers can be hired.

Always remember, when it comes to keywords, content and blogging – readers come first!

Choose A Proper Niche

Before we move to other aspects, deciding on the blog theme and subject is important. That’s actually the first step you need to do and should be accomplished before choosing the blog name. This will make the name of the blog relevant to the subject chosen. The subject chosen should be interesting, useful and also easy to write. You can also link the content to relevant sites, which will open doors for earning from the blog.

Company blogs will not have a problem of choosing a topic, because it should belong to their niche. When it comes to blogging for non commercial blogs, it is difficult to choose a topic.

Be A Viral Blogger!

A second hurdle to overcome is starting strong. Caption is what makes a reader navigate away, or read further and also comment if necessary. A captivating beginning is always needed for holding the interest of an individual. If your post touches a social issue and influences them to act upon something, then it will have more hits.

Posts must be able to compel readers for participation in a dialogue by making use of a commenting facility. This will increase the hits your blog gets each day.

Conclusion

Blog writing is only a part of blog management and can be outsourced to offshore centers in part or full. When you choose to opt for professional services, content for your blog is submitted with inclusion of keywords that identify your niche.

When you’re writing your producing your own blog content, do your best to be unique and let your voice shine. Your readers will connect and gravitate towards the thoughts you offer.

How do you produce content for your blog? Where do you find the most inspiration? How often do you write blog posts?

Sunset photo by wonderferret

Today I’m cutting the tape. I’m officially releasing a brand new (free) service to and for bloggers around the globe. What is it?

www.YouDoFollow.com

I’ve been working on this project for a few weeks now, preparing for its release, and I’m excited to finally make it available to the public. Although it will still be in its beta development phase, your cooperation and support will be much appreciated during this time.

Why YouDoFollow.com?

DoFollow blogs are blogs that pass “link juice” or validity to other blogs when they create links. Every time you post a comment to a blog, your name is hyperlinked to your own blog.

Blogs who enable the “dofollow” attribute have chosen to share their link power through that link to your blog – and thus raise your rankings in the search engines. Those who don’t allow the passing of validity through links are considered NoFollow blogs.

After browsing the internet looking for DoFollow blogs, I found most directories to be full of spam and outdated blogs with NoFollow enabled, thus voiding their listings in the DoFollow blog directories.

YouDoFollow will be a place where quality DoFollow blogs will be gathered and manually approved and checked for the dofollow quality.

How do you use YouDoFollow.com?

A blogger who takes the time to write quality, genuine comments on a few hundred DoFollow blogs and then have their names link back to their own blog – will find that it’s rather easy to rank quickly in search engines.

All those DoFollow blogs will share their link power with your own blog.

That’s precisely the reason YouDoFollow will quickly become a valuable resource. Why?

• You’ll visit the directory
• Find quality blogs in your niche
• Leave quality, genuine comments on those blogs
• Watch as the link juice flows to your own

With effort in becoming involved in blog post discussions, you’ll quickly find that your blog is being reviewed and networked by many other bloggers.

How can you help?

YouDoFollow will remain a free service.

No payment or reciprocal backlinks are necessary for submitting your own DoFollow blog to the directory. If you feel YouDoFollow to be a quality service, then link backs and donations are greatly appreciated.

Here are a few ways you might help:

• Share YouDoFollow with fellow bloggers
• Link back to YouDoFollow.com
• Write a blog post about the free service
• Donate to the cause
• Suggest new categories in the directory structure
• Let us know of blogs in the directory without DoFollow enabled

Your support will keep this project going with full force and intensity. The goal of YouDoFollow is to provide a resource for bloggers to become involved in active discussions, and in turn develop quality backlinks to their own blogs. It’s a win/win for all involved.

I’ll be using my time to spearhead this project, and know that I’ll give it my best in producing a quality, free resource for all involved.

Submit your DoFollow blog link now!
No registration required.

Your friend.
Christian Hollingsworth