Quick note: I updated this post to make it more clear for you guys (n’ gals)

For exactly two years of my blogging I ran on free themes and relatively cheap designs. Then one fateful night in Istanbul, I switched to a theme from Theme-Junkie.

In this post I’d like to show you how uploading a premium WordPress theme solved all my design issues and made me a richer man (skip to the end for that).

I hope this inspires you to make a worthwhile investment to level up your blogging!

NEED YOUR HELP: Please post a comment if you use Theme-Junkie currently or are considering joining this network I’m clearly passionate about.

Time for Change

So, why did I switch themes?

Among other reasons, I felt the look of my blog was not up to par with my content.

I wrote great articles and published guest posts from ~30 others but readers were not appreciating the content because the design was crummy.

I was actually lost. Considering ditching the blog and starting a new project. But I had heard premium themes made all the difference so – I was just a bit afraid to make this lean and initial investment – so I decided to do some Googling.

“Cheap premium WordPress theme” I typed into Google Search.

My Foray into Premium Themes

I searched around for about an hour but kept seeing the same problems. Too expensive, too many weird features, too confusing to setup.

Then I found something cheap that really fit my needs.

Theme-Junkie looked like a decent bet from the start and only got better as I browsed their products.

I was able to see they offered:

• Competitive prices
• Live demos of what your site would look like
• Instant upload and activation in WordPress

Pretty cool.

Check out this pricing chart that compares Theme-Junkie to other themes:

About the Chart: A price tag of $49 for a blog theme ain’t bad these days – most are even more expensive. But Theme-Junkie was offering 3 themes for that price, which reduces each Theme’s tag to $16.33. This deal sealed it for me. It meant that if one theme didn’t work out for whatever reason, I’d have two more in my back pocket. In other words, less risk that I’d waste my money and feel like an idiot.

(Having used Theme-Junkie for a while now I’d willingly pay $49 just for one theme, but that’s beside the point.)

The themes I ended up buying were Daily, Forester, and Garden.

Go ahead, browse through them real quick then let’s go over a few features you get at TJ.

Here’s what I got for $49:

Uploading A New Theme

This part is easy. Once you purchase your new theme you’ll be redirected to the user dashboard. From here, download the .zip file of your theme to your hard drive.

Then head to WordPress, and in Appearance – Themes – Install Themes you can upload and activate the new theme!

The theme will instantly start working. You can also instantly revert back to normal and dump the theme if you want, so no worries.

Back to My Story

Photo credit: My mum’s blog

After buying my Theme, I was up ’til about 4am designing.

It was a blast – feedback was already coming in.

“Nice!”…”Dig the new look!”…”Whoa bro!” were a few comments.

But I had to turn in. The next day we’d visit Troy (where the Trojan horse story actually took place) so I needed to be a real person.

I was elated to have a new look on my blog, and the $49 that came out of my PayPal already felt like a good investment. Ya know, those investments you’re instantly glad you made?

Covering My Costs and Then Some

So here’s the part you perhaps were waiting for.

In the days that followed, I found new advertisers were contacting me on the regular. Not like multi-million dollar deals, but about five to ten advertising emails per week as opposed to one, if I was lucky.

Trust me, when you’ve experienced the lows of blogging, seeing those little “can I advertise with you” emails is SO encouraging.

It seemed (go figure) that looking like a legit, respected website as opposed to “any old blog” made a big difference.

Of course, this meant more responsibility too. If you don’t want more attention on your blog, more emails, comments, etc, I guess I would not recommend buying a theme.

But within about a week I had secured 4 ad deals, with really awesome companies, and was paid on two consequitive Fridays.

Wahoo! Amazon shopping spree, here I come

My net income for the month (July 2012) looked roughly like:

$500 ad revenue – $49 for 3 new themes – $6 hosting cost = $445 profit

And again, I was on vacation

Have You Tried Premium?

As hopefully you can see, a new premium theme from any provider really can give your blog a facelift. Not only do readers respond positively but it’s a good move for yourself. I think investing in my own business pushed me to work a lot harder.

So, a good idea. Even if your wallet hurts for a day or two.

I’d love to hear from you if you have ever wanted to buy theme, and help you new Theme-Junkie users get setup! More the merrier.

Just don’t totally copy my look

Seeya in the comments.

The post Premium Blog Themes: Why Buying My Premium Theme Made Me Richer appeared first on Dear Blogger.

You might know my life changed recently, in a really good way.

The change wasn’t fun at first – hunting down real estate in New York City is actually an energy draining pain in the #%& and a hard lesson in how to not get screwed over.

But when all the dust had settled, I had a new flat, and much more space I’m now converting into my first personal blogging studio.

I can’t wait to tell you about it in this post, and at the end, if you don’t mind, please share how “change” has affected your own blogging and line of work.

Sorry for the fuzzy pics, they come to you from my trusty Android – click to enlarge

Why I moved in the first place

Note: Please don’t use this post to stalk me

My previous place was in a great neighborhood called the “Seaport” of Manhattan. It was a massive, tall building, with a roof (picture) that I loved blogging on.

I was super sad to lose that roof. What a gem.

But being it was a luxury building, I sort of got lazy. I would come home each day and just stay in, hit the gym (in building) then order food and lazily browse comments from the couch. Blogging from the couch is great – right Ramsay? – but you lose inspiration at some point.

Been there before?

I often found myself doing the same old pointless blog tasks, changing design only to reverse it back, instead of creating new experiences that could result in powerful new posts.

• Picture when I moved out

So that’s the first reason I moved, for a refreshing blast of the real world.

The second is that my roommate and I were basically living on top of eachother. In a rather hurried decision we decided to build a cheap wall and split a studio apartment. This got increasingly err, stressful as he constantly played loud music and smoked everything in sight.

What this means for me

Well, my move means a few neat things.

• I’m in Chinatown: New sights, sounds, and smells.
• Much more space: Time for a home-office! –>
• Peace of mind: Productivity up, stress down (I hope!)

And as you know, I’m not immune to stress and the usual internal struggles us bloggers go through.

So I’m expecting a lot of good things. I can start my day on the right note, without being loudly woken up. So far my mornings consist of brewing a cup of coffee and tending to comments from my posh living room, which is still a huge mess.

It also means I just am plain bored more, which I think will prove to be a good thing. Not having a roommate means you have to hunt down entertainment, make more plans, and make more to-do lists. I’ve already gotten more focused on exactly what I’m doing each day of the week, in both blogging and just self-maintenance.

And on the stress reduction topic, I’ve been playing tennis at the nearby slightly run-down but definitely beautiful in their own way tennis courts 3 times a week!

What it means for YOU

Any regular reader at this blog who’s enjoyed my first eBook will be as excited about my new blogging studio as I am.

“Why, Mr. Blogger?” Because I’m already at work on two brand new Dear Blogger eBooks for you.

• “Thanks, Google: A Blueprint to Ranking in Organic Search”
• “Starting Small: Getting Your First 250 Amazing Subscribers”

These two topics come at you as a result of – you guessed it – your questions.

I want to write on organic Google Search because it seems there’s a large gap between what Google tells us up and coming bloggers, and what we’re actually supposed to do to succeed online.

I talked about this with Ana in the comments of her recent Marketing Skinny – it’s just ridiculous how hard things have become for new blogs.

And I want to write on my 250 subscriber large list because I can’t stand those “How I Grew My Email List to 10,000 Subscribers Overnight” type of books (Sorry, Derek Halpern).

I just don’t think they are true, and those kind of number are overwhelming to beginners. It’s just a joke to tell someone they’ll read an eBook then somehow get that many subscribers.

So get ready for a couple new great downloads coming your way.

Note: Have not decided yet if I’ll give these away for free, or more likely, sell them for $5-10 each. Based on my first book, would you shell out $5-10 for one of my eBooks? Let me know!

How has change affected your blogging?

I’d really like to know how moves, job-changes, or major life-changes (expected or not) have affected your work as a blogger. Do you think that despite the initial setback that change has a good impact on things like blogging, writing, and productivity?

Post your thoughts in the comments, and hope you enjoyed reading about my move.

The post What Chinatown NYC and My New eBooks Have in Common appeared first on Dear Blogger.

Your blog goes live and…now what?

You have a blank slate of a blog with nothing on it, yet all the potential in the world!

Lately I’ve been helping so many people with the setup part of blogging that I’ve sort of forgotten the post-launch period.

So welcome to Part III of the 5-Part series on starting your blog first try, on the right foot. You may want to read Part I and Part II.

Right here, we’ll cover 10 critical tasks for you and your newly launched blog.

10 Tasks for New Blogs

Quick note: These are actual flaws I see on your new blogs and truly are things that if you do straight away really will jumpstart your blog. They apply to blogs and sites in all niches!

1) Delete the pre-made features

WordPress comes with several initial “things” in place to show you what you can create. From the “First Post” to the Sample Page, Archives, Meta, and Recent Comments sections these all look rather pointless at first. So delete them.

You can fill the space with actual pages, archives, etc once you create a few blog posts. For now, simple is best and these pre-made features will only distract people.

2) Change your theme immediately

On WordPress it’s quite easy to change the entire theme (or look, or design, whatever you want to call it) of the blog. Just go to Appearance – Themes – Install Themes – Upload, then find your theme.

You can also search for free themes by criteria, or can browse premium themes (these are paid options) at a place like Theme-Junkie.

I’ve personally used a premium (costs money) theme Theme-Junkie for about a year now, and wrote a premium theme review tell you how my theme helped jack monthly revenue to the moon.

3) Create a working title

Working is the key word here!

Either just title your blog, or upload an image banner containing your title. Please do this soon, readers will run for the hills if you don’t.

4) Write a welcome message

A welcome message, just in MY humble opinion, should be your very first post. It tells readers why you started and gives them an idea of what’s to come.

I think you should have a blast writing one.

5) Do your best to show signs of interaction

When I wrote about the popularity contest that is social proof, I mentioned how showing interaction on a blog leads to…more interaction.

Grab a Twitter dialogue box, a simple Google Plus badge, or ask a few friends or family members to be your first commenters. This will make a huge difference going forward.

6) Create an about me page

Also in the fun category, do this literally right away.

Say I’m a reader curious about what your blog, or website covers. I’ll either read the welcome post or this about me page to find out. If it’s missing, I’m gone.

Spend about an hour making this personable, and really, really good. I know a lot of you won’t even listen, but this page really is critical. It’s good for getting subscribers and customers too.

7) Research your niche

A big part of our guide to planning your new blog was niche research.

If you didn’t research other blogs or websites like yours before beginning you should really get on that now. Knowing what’s out there will help you tailor your content to be original, and you might even meet some helpful blogging friends along the way.

8) Put on some comfy clothing

I really could have put this up at number 2 or 3 but I’m just thinking of it now. These jeans are not broken in!

9) Get a logo

You should have a logo that explains your purpose and includes a motif or two.

You should do some preliminary research on what logos are working on people nowadays (usually Google images is good enough) then ask one of your design-savvy friends to create a working logo. Or open up Photoshop and tackle it yourself!

I say working again because it doesn’t have to be perfect! Which brings me to my last point.

10) Ditch the perfectionism

Throw it right out the window of your apartment, because being a perfectionist will really hold you back in blogging.

You have to make mistakes to learn, we know this.

But in blogging, you have to actually put yourself out there, online, and get your hands dirty. You have to learn code, try out writing styles, totally botch the design, and generally be goofy.

If you expect things to run perfectly your blog will go no wehere at all. And, the good part is nobody is judging!

The Usual Discussion

Now to the comments we go. Wonder who will be first…

1. Do you agree first impressions on a blog are crucial?
2. What’s the first thing you do post-launch?
3. Did you just start a blog and find this useful?

Post your thoughts today right below.

The post 10 Things to Do After Your Blog Goes Live appeared first on Dear Blogger.

So as I wound up Spring Cleaning, I stumbled upon a plugin called Sticky Widgets WordPress that I’m really glad I integrated into the blog.

The actually name of the plugin is a bit odd so I’m just going to rename it to make it easier for you to remember, ha. Why can’t great WordPress developers also be great at being catchy?

How to Use this Plugin

This plugin makes widgets in your WordPress sidebar essentially hover in the sidebar as the reader scrolls down. I think I originally saw it in action over at Mauro DenAddres blog Blog-Growth and was pretty curious what he was using.

The point is this plugin lets you keep whatever item you want in your readers vision while he or she reads your blog posts.

Plugin installation: To use, just go the plugin page, hit download, then in WordPress go to plugins, add new, upload, choose file then find the plugin in your downloads, install now, activate, and voila.

Example

Try out scrolling down on this post to see what I’m talking about.

The plugin is activated on two widgets, one which is higher up in my sidebar, and the higher widget basically floats down to “catch” the lower widget which is activated as well.

Cool, huh?

Benefits of this Plugin

I think I enjoy this plugin for a couple reasons.

For one, previously on this blog when a reader would be enjoying a post, there would be nothing in the sidebar. If a reader’s attention wandered to the sidebar, they would see nothing and might get so bored they left the blog

Now, I have something I control and can make attractive to keep next to the reader’s vision.

Another reason I like this plugin is the ease of use. It was extremely easy to “use” because a little checkbox comes right into my widget boxes without me having to edit in code or really make any adjustments.

Easy is good. See that arrow in my “torn up” image above.

And lastly I like this plugin because it meshes with what I’m doing here. I’m trying to provide a lot of blogging answers to readers usually in a short time frame as your visits here average about 5-10 minutes maximum.

With this new feature I basically ensure more reads and more clicks per stay, which (and you know I love this) should lower bounce rate even more!

More reads on older posts is a really good thing. There’s nothing to say an older post, especially of the evergreen kind I try to write here for you guys, is off lesser quality.

Let’s explore this thought a little more…

Great Plugin for Evergreen Content

Do you feel your older content get’s lost? That some posts you maybe wrote 2-3 months ago were great and should still be in the spotlight?

I had felt like this at times but wasn’t sure how to re-highlight older posts without totally changed the structure of the blog, so I basically gave up.

Well we clearly have a solution here.

Just pop open a Text widget and write in the HTML/CSS for a section called “Recently Popular Posts” or whatever you’d like to call it.

Or, if you have a pre made widget just use that, though I generally avoid premade widgets as you don’t really know what code they use, if it will slow down your blog in weird ways, etc etc.

Are “Plugin Posts” a Good Idea Here?

As I close my thoughts for this plugin post I’ll give you a heads up I may be publishing a few of shorter posts featuring plugins I use here and I want to get your opinion on that.

The idea would be to introduce you to helpful plugins you can use on your blog too.

Do you think shorter content of this nature, especially in light of recent Google algorithm shifts, is a good idea? Would this help boost our credibility in the WordPress community? Please let me know.

Conversely, would love to hear how you’re using the Sticky Widget’s WordPress plugin as well. Post a comment and let’s get a discussion going.

The post Sticky Widgets: A Great New Plugin appeared first on Dear Blogger.

Dear Bloggers,

A blog can ALWAYS improve, level-up. This very idea helped rapidly build Dear Blogger and push it to the forefront of the blogosphere.

Lately I noticed a few weaker areas on the blog. Places I could get clicks, more conversions, you know. So around midnight last night, I went into my code and made some changes.

Spring cleaning, Dear Blogger style. You might want to make these changes on your blog too, so I’ll explain them all and my reasoning right here.

And apologies to those who really relied on the older design. Feel free to yell at me

SIDENOTE: A comment or two on ways this blog could improve FURTHER would be really helpful from my community, hint hint!

If you’re ready, read on. This could change a lot.

What exactly did I change the other night

Okay, here’s a rundown of the tweaks and adjustments I made.

Sidebar About Me: I made my photo smaller, moved it to top position, and shortened the text. This should provide a quicker intro, and result in more clicks through to read more.

Viral Last Week: Each week certain posts get more attention than others. I want to welcome new users to the site with a list of my best, so they understand Dear Blogger’s growing klout.

Message Section: I want the blog to have a current, up to date feel. I actually don’t show dates on posts like most bloggers because I like the idea of posts never getting old. But this section will reflect my feelings on global and blogosphere events.

Aweber Sidebar Form: Picture of “Bye-Bye Bounce Rate” back in, and a bold statement of exactly what you get when you join and how to join. Already seeing increased conversion rates here.

Global Guest Posts: I’ve been meaning to list all my guest posts in one place, if not for you then so I can remember what I wrote way back. Now you can find out where I’ve been when I’m away for a while, and can get a sense of my prized backlinks without going out and buying some worthless junk like Market Samurai.

Note from Greg: Idea here is basically, shamelessly, to remind readers to setup WordPress blogs via my guide in the hopes I earn a commission.

Blogging 101: This page always seems to be changing, but I felt “Blogging 101″ was just the catch-all term I needed for a page on every aspect of blogging.

Give me some feedback

That’s about it unless you noticed any other changes (?). Thanks for reading, and again, sorry if these new changes surprised any of you. I’d be more than happy to field feedback and implement any requests you have.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

The post Spring Cleaning at Dear Blogger appeared first on Dear Blogger.

Welcome to my First Blogging Bootcamp. Click the link to read more from this series.

Even wanted to take an ordinary blog, or online business, and covert it into a brand?

Have a knack for cooking, or travelling, and even an online presence, but don’t know where to go now?

In this (long overdue) post, I’d like to show you exactly how I used simple things at our disposal, like domain names, logos, social media, missions statements, and more, to convert a standard WordPress blog into a fairly recognized name in blogging.

If you’re ready, read on. This could change a lot.

This is a long post

Apology: I’m going to be pretty long-winded here, especially when I talk domain names. The reason is, I have a lot to say. You probably know by now that I love brevity, but I just wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I made this post a quick one. I’m sick of lame branding guides. Fluffy nonsense telling you to start a Facebook page, and get setup on LinkedIn. I know you want more. You want to create a brand for yourself that actually stands out, gets traffic to your site, and says something bold. And you can. You really can. They don’t call this the Golden Age of Publishing for nothing. If you’ve got a little dose of persuasiveness, a hint of creativity, you can do a whole lot in the world of online branding. So, sit back, grab the coffee, and dig into my first official post on branding…

Understanding what a brand is

I figured this basic question was a good place to start. What is a brand?

I pulled up Google Keyword Tool, which is usually how my posts begin, and type this phrase in.

BAM. 24,000,000 others were searching “What is a brand” each month. Every month?! That’s a lot of people curious about branding, and also a pretty darn good phrase for my permalink

Anyways, good ol’ Google told me this:

“A brand is a type of product manufactured by a company under a particular name” – Google

I mulled this over for a while, then realized the operative word here is “product”.

Forget about the “company”, forget about the “particular name”.

Forget about the darn fluff, because it’s the product that keeps people coming back for more.

All the great companies and names you think of, say Folgers, Sony, Adidas, you name it, they all started with a great product, and that’s why we love them. I don’t care that the Adidas logo is cool, I care about those Stan Smiths I had back in the 4th grade that could withstand ANYTHING. Those shoes were my life, my identity.

So back to the point guys, defining your product is a good place to start as you build your brand. Ask yourself these questions:

• What product do you provide?
• Who wants it, is there demand, and what’s the audience?
• How is it different?

That’s a lot right there. Let’s take DearBlogger.org for example:

I provide: Blogging answers for free
My audience: Up and coming bloggers
How am I different: I don’t know anyone else providing blogging answers like this, do you?

Pretty decent answers if you ask me They’ve been good enough to get this blog off the ground and into the, well, more fun parts of the blogosphere.

That last question is tricky though.

“How am I different”…Heck, this question can stop most of us in our tracks, and prevent us from even beginning our million dollar ideas! You see some bloke doing the same thing, way better, way further along, and sit back on your couch all depressed.

But ya know what, that bloke wasn’t the first on Pilgrim’s Rock. Not at all.

I’d actually bet you a whole lot of money that someone else out there is providing blogging answers right now, just like me, just in a different way.

Do you think that stops me, NO! Heck no. It doesn’t even matter!

It doesn’t matter if someone is already doing what you’re doing, because the web is a consumer choice environment. If 4 different parties all sell shoes, say, Stan Smiths, you can be the 5th to sell those shoes too. You might even be the 100th.

And, you’ll sell if people like you. If your name comes to their mind when they think “I need some shoes.”

The point is, when considering your brand, and when building yourself up from scratch like I did, it’s way more important to look at what YOU can offer, than looking at what the other guys already offer.

Because you can offer a lot, and who the heck cares if you’re just starting out.

Can you as one person be a brand?

The thing many bloggers and writers in general don’t realize, is that you don’t have to pretend to be some company to define yourself as a brand. You don’t have to write “we” when it’s just you over there at your little laptop.

Like I said above, a brand that is just you is totally okay.

Most brands do just start as one person with an idea (think Apple). That company would be nowhere without the stubborn determination of Steve Jobs.

Here are some general rules that will help you stick to principle when building your brand on your blog:

Anytime you can write your story, do so
Tell your readers about your life, your struggles, your history in your niche. Be honest and how weakness. Let them know you’ve overcome hurdles and have been faced with as many struggles as you have successes. This builds a personal rapoore with your audience.

Include real pictures of yourself
Use real images of yourself on the blog, be open. Don’t expect people to know you and assume you’re a cool brand just because you think so. Instead, convince.

Avoid contact forms
I hate contact forms. I usually wonder, do you really take yourself so seriously that you can’t put a nice email or some other form of personal networking on your own blog?

You can easily to all this if you run a blog or have full control of a website. Ehem, self-hosting anyone?

Creating the perfect domain name

Now for the part I promised (warned) would be really, really long.

It’ll be worth it.

A great domain name is essential to an online brand, because it’s what we remember, what we type in, and the first phrase we associate with your company.

Now, you guys often ask me “how do I create the perfect domain name” and my response is this. Select from the 5 criteria, and try for all of them:

1. Keywords
2. Catchiness
3. Brandability
4. Exact match domain (EMD)
5. Buyer’s phrase

That, and it’s best to choose a .com, .org, or .net if possible, because these are standards conventions consumers have grown used to.

Now let’s break the list down into what each of these words actually mean.

Choose good keywords

Keywords are anything that really define your niche. If you blog about food, for example, these words could be things like “eat, meal, fare, or just food”. Putting them in your domain name is a good idea because it tells people what your niche is, and it tells Google. Google looks really closely at a domain name, and at entire links, when it tries to return the right search result to a user. So if you people searching “delicious food in nyc”, then including those words in your domain name is smart.

DearBlogger.org has keywords in it, both the word “blog” and “blogger”. I didn’t want to go so far as to include “answers” or “community” in my domain name, that would have been too long. The “dear” part adds a friendly vibe, and the .org says community. So, that’s my rationale for you on a silver platter.

Make it catchy

Catchiness means people hear your domain name a few times, then think “Hey, I’m into that!” Think about “YouTube” for example. What did you first think when you heard of this “YouTube” place? It sounds bogus to me. A Tube…for me, and my videos? Why would I want to put video on the web, and isn’t that like really complex? Anyhow, YouTube spoke volumes to a lot of people. It’s utter simplicity, quirkiness, and catchiness seriously worked long term.

Brandability

Brandability is a tough criteria to nail down. Why is this? Because sometimes domain names look really awkward at first, but actually hold tremendous brandable power. It’s only after you see them, and hear them, and have a whole marketing team put them out into the web, that this brandability becomes apparent.

Check out Twitter’s Wikipedia page, for a little blurb on brandable domains. In the History section, read how Jack Dorsey came up with “Twitter”.

Using exact match domains (EMDs)

Now, if you’re wondering “which domains rank best for SEO?” then here’s your answer. Exact match domain names still rank the best for SEO. Despite Google shifting of the algorithm to place less value on the keywords in a domain name when returning a Search result, exact match is still your best bet for SEO.

Now, warning, I’m going to digress into a bit of a high level explanation…

From Google’s standpoint, a domain name containing the exact words in your search query may be exactly what you want. Say you Google “Seamless”. You’ll get Seamless.com as #1. How about Googling “Home Depot”? You’ll surely get HomeDepot.com.

You get a domain name that has your search terms in it as the number #1 result, because domain name is one of the first thing Google examines for accuracy.

Thus, whoever realized EMDs were so powerful was a genius. The strategy goes like this:

1. Find a phrase LOTS of people search, like “olympics final what time” or “best places to eat in new york” or “cure depression” or “get a promotion” and go and register those exact words in a .com.
2. Then, build some SEO around the domain name with backlinks, social media, etc.
3. Now, hopefully when someone searches “cure depression” they’ll get your site, curedepression.com, instead of a more reputable source, like maybe psychology.com, or even ask.com.
4. The idea is to get #1 is Google Search, and milk traffic that searches an exact phase

As I mentioned above, Google caught on that people were doing this, and lowered the value they place on the words within your domain name when trying to return the most relevant Search result.

So, EMD isn’t as powerful, but still a good technique to employ, at least partially, in the selection of your domain names.

What are buyer’s phrases?

Now, let me introduce you to something called the “buyer’s phrase”. A buyer’s phrase is a search phrase buyers are searching. Ha, duh.

Something like “get a Kindle” is a buyer’s phrase because the person searching plans to make a purchase at some point during their visit. “Cure depression” isn’t likely to be a buyer’s phrase, unless there’s a new drug on the market that person is looking for.

Combining the last two topics…

Exact match domain + buyer’s phrase = profitable website

That is, if you know how to create good landing pages. Good landing pages will convert your random visitors in subscribers, paying customers, or whatever it is you really want.

Now, I can here your grumbles. Why didn’t I know this years ago? And it’s true, if you had had this information 10 years ago, you would have stood to make a lot of money. The web was wide open back then, and not so much anymore.

But, the neat thing about domain names is there are an infinite amount of them. Even if you don’t find you .com, choosing a .org or .net is just as good for SEO. Google won’t hold that against you.

You just have to hunt a bit more today than you might have 10 years ago.

Write up a mission statement

Mission statements are sort of like cover letters. As a brand, a business, you have to have one. But, you can either create a crummy on that just takes up space on the web, or you can really make a good one that tells people you actually care. I know, sounds cheesy? It’s not.

Here are some mission statements from brands I support:

• Nike
• Apple
• Honest Tea
• Urban Outfitters
• Fiji Water
• 3M

I’ll admit, a lot of major company’s mission statements are total copywritten nonsense – words that hold little meaning. But it’s still fun to see what might have gone on in the brains behind a company’s PR efforts. That, and the buzzwords companies use might be helpful to you.

Go try to write out your own mission statement. It’s tough, guarantee you’ll crumple up the proverbial piece of paper at least a few times. But it’s a good exercise to learn why you do what you do. When it’s done, water mark it with your logo (hint: alter the opacity).

Design a simple logo

I get a lot of of questions on whether this logo looks good, or that logo is better.

Disclaimer: I’m not a logo designer.

While I can use Adobe CS better than the average bear I’m by no means a professional. But, as with most things, I know a few steadfast principles to adhere to with you logo:

Here’s what I know works for logos:

• Simple: Don’t over complicate with lines, shapes, and other confusing objects. Many major blogs and publication us alphabetic logos, where all there is to the logo is one letter, a box, and a bit of color and styling. And it works great.
• Motif: Pick an item you mention in your writing. I talk a lot about coffee, caffeine, blogging all-nighters…so the coffee cup works well.
• Repetition: A logo needs to be seen several times to sink in with a user. Most logos are socially rejected at first, then gradually gain acceptance. Think Twitter again, or maybe Nike.

That should be more than enough to get you started. Additionally, don’t feel rushed on the logo thing. It’s better to not have a logo and focus on content, then put one up once its ready, than to rush a logo into it’s awkward existence.

Develop your content style

Style of course is something else we all need, but it doesn’t come right away.

Michael Jordan didn’t release the Air Jordans before dominating the court with the Chicago Bulls for 7 years, and nobody knew Mark Zuckerberg had swagger until he had his own movie. That was a joke.

Style for us bloggers takes a few forms, but here’s how to begin developing style.

♨ How to develop style: Start with some bold trial and error. Try different fonts, post lengths, and titles. Call your work something different (I call my blog posts entries sometimes) and make sure your readers see you in a unique light. Once you’ve tried about 10-20 different strategies, evaluate what worked and try to tighten things up. Do more of what worked, and cut off the ideas that didn’t connect with anyone.

Again, be open to trial and errors and be experimental. Your style will follow, trust me.

Working out a social media game plan

Socia media will be one component of your branding that takes time. It’s unfortunate actually, the Facebook pages that starteD at the boom of Facebook pages had a much easier time getting likes than the rest of ours. I’ve actually spent zero time building this blog’s Facebook presence in the interest of more important social proofing factors, but hey, good things come with time.

Here are three things you should focus on with social media:

Keeping your brand messages consistent

I’d like to sort of cap this post off with a message about consistency. Being consistent with a message, a product, a brand, is often the key to it’s ultimate success.

Brands are born to be contested. No major brand we know of today started out a household name. People are skeptical, negative, and counter culture.

But by being both consistent in your brand and confident it will make it through (hey, haters are a good thing) you stand to really take any idea to…

Who knows?

End with an awesome short video

It’s a pretty fantastic branding video, with cool facts about many companies we basically worship with our dollars.

Sorry again for the whole long-winded thing, but I hope it was worth it.

Now, get out there and start branding whatever you make online.

And to the comments!

The post Build a Brand: A Complete Guide to Domain Names, Logos, Social Media and More appeared first on Dear Blogger.

Welcome to my First Blogging Bootcamp. Click the link to read more from this series.

The blogosphere is composed of people. Real people like you, who have wants and needs.

True, traffic pours in from Google and seems random, anonymous, robotic even. But if you truly want a blog to go anywhere, you’ve got to learn how to network with real people, give them what they want, and bring them on board your operation.

If one thing is clear here at Dear Blogger, it’s that a community is powerful thing. When you bring in lots of bloggers, the potential is a lot more than I could create on my own.

So without further ado, here’s the full email 9 part email template I used when building up my network right here. I really hope this inspires you to contact more bloggers around the web to strength your own empire.

Why email is still #1

As content builders in an online world we have about 14 thousand ways to communicate with each other. These methods of course vary in effectiveness, purpose, and privacy.

While Tweeting is fun and Facebook messaging is often enough to get the job done, email still remains the most effective way of reaching out to other bloggers and content developers.

We won’t exactly tell you it, most recognized bloggers start out our campaigns by sending out highly targeted, almost pleading emails to web-people in positions of power.

Heck, I even emailed Seth Godin at one point to partner up! Read his short response.

Anyways, funny moments aside…

In the word’s below I’d like to show you how to write the best possible emails possible. I’m talking emails that turn a one-off shot at success into a world full of opportunity, and set you up for future success.

Initial steps

As you plan out your strategically genius networking email you’ve got a few things to consider.

What’s the purpose?

Are you asking for a guest post, a job, a mention, a back link? Maybe just a good old fashioned blogging answer. If that’s the case you know how to get at me

Who’s receiving it?

Say you want to contact Blog X to write a guest post, but can’t for the love of blogs find an email address! Google “write for us guidelines for Blog X” and more times than not you’ll find their guidelines for writing in. I’ve done this for probably over 100 blogs (including crazy ones like Inc.com and Reader’s Digest, to date). Hey, Google is your friend.

But, WHO is receiving it?

If at all possible, do some research on the actual individual who needs to flag seas of emails. Learn their interests and find their Twitter. This will allow you to inject some empathy into your words and may result in a quicker response.

What are your other angles?

If a massive publication posts an email address or even a contact form (which I rarely fill out, shoot for the emails guys) they probably get too many responses to read. So, be clever. To show you’re really interested in a gig, send a few tweets at the blog or person and like some of their Facebook content. Do this for a whole week before sending in your message. Sounds like a small factor, but not at all.

The ultimate template: revealed

Here’s my email template, totally candid and revealed. It’s what I’ve used to snag power 150 guest posts, the web dev job I have now, and other cool things like a flat in a decent neighborhood.

Note: I always modify and tweak, but this is the bare bones you can use too

Remember, this is a first time email. Once you have a communication going it’d only be insane to right programmed emails. You’re totally on your own at that point…

1. Greetings 1 sentence
   The hello portion should be brief and sensitive to the type of email. A general “Hi” often works best, but if the recipient is particularly alternative minded there’s no reason not to try out a “Howdy, Hola, Bonjour” you get the picture.
2. About you 2 sentences
   The first question that recipient is asking if you’ve never written to them before is “who the heck is this shmuck?” The next question is, “what have they accomplished to make them important?”. So, you’d be wise to answer these two questions.
3. About their work 1 sentence
   Ok, now we’re getting more serious. To really write a great intro email you need to do your homework. Write a heart felt sentence about the recipients published work. This is where you can either totally lose or totally gain their attention, so be spot on and specific.
4. Where your work meshes with their work 1-2 sentences
   Now, it’s time to take a big swing at the nail and drive in. You’ve been buttering up your recipient, and it’s time to briefly state why you two should work together or collaborate. Think ways that person stands to gain and try your best not to sound generic. It’s always better to stand out here than make a bland, shy statement.
5. What you want 1 sentence
   Ready? It’s time to tell the person why you’re writing, what you want. Hopefully they have some idea from reading the 5-6 brief sentences above. Prepping is done, ask away right here and be bold.
6. Links to your work 2-3 links
   You’ve done your best to connect and now it’s time to show the recipient your best, more relevant, jaw dropping work. If the above has been good enough they’ll have a quick click. It’s really crucial you put this after the “what you want” because this is meant to supplement that request, not over exaggerate it.
7. Request for a respond and directions 2 sentences
   Possibly the most important aspect of closing an email is being really clear that you want a response and telling the person how to respond. You would be amazed at how many more responses this little clause produces.
8. A thank you for their time 1-2 sentences
   Pretty standard, but like you introductory lines be heartfelt but not creepy.
9. Signature 1 sentence
   A final shot at being professional. I like putting a short sentence here but there’s definitely an argument to be made for including contact information like a phone number.

That’s really it! Of course, the words you put in this template will totally make your message, but at least you know have a structure to operate with.

Before sending

After your email is drafted it’s important to think up a great subject line, aka a headline. For a really good guide to headlines, read The Copybot’s recent post.

Headlines will get people’s attention or fail to. Often times the best email are lost due to poor headlines or lack of time spent devoted to them.

It only makes sense that we want a good headline when deciding if we should read an email or not. We all have limited time, and simply put we all want to read stuff that adds value to our lives.

A final thing to consider is who the email is from. It’s obviously from you, but what does the receiver see? Your full name? Your first name? You absolutely must know this, because it’s as important if not more so than the headline. Lowercase names, typos, or other oddities will scream spammer straight away.

Conclusion: Your turn to write

I know the community out there is filled with good, persistent networkers and of course great writers. So, I have a few questions just for you.

• What sorts of struggles and successes have you faced when writing networking emails?
• How do you make it work?
• Are emails best for you?

Add your thoughts to the comments and let’s learn about strategic emails.

The post The Email Template that Works on Anyone appeared first on Dear Blogger.

Welcome to my First Blogging Bootcamp. Click the link to read more from this series.

I used to wonder…

What sort of links does Google prefer? What links are best for SEO? Is there some secret I’m missing out on? It was a lot of wondering…and trial and error, before I figured things out.

Truth is, despite Google’s idealistic view for a level playing field in SEO, there are still strategies you can take to get an advantage on organic SEO.

You’ll learn a few of them right here.

At the center of it all, is creating SEO friendly links that pull in Search traffic while you sit on the beach, at your desk, or sleep in (I’m usually the third one).

If you’re ready to see your view counts (↖) soar, read on, and make sure to ask a question for us in the discussion…

Click play

So there’s no confusion: I’ll use the terms “URL, link, and permalinks” interchangeably here.

Let’s begin with a video I whipped up on how to write really clear URLs, and how to find keywords to put in those URLs. It’s a good watch for anyone starting to get serious about SEO.

After watching the video, it’s time to take action. I’ll explain an awesome plugin and a free Google tool for keyword mining.

Custom Permalinks

Custom Permalinks is one of those plugins that let’s you do exactly what it’s name says. Using this plugin is, IMHO, the first step to creating SEO friendly, SEO flawless links, because it lets you put whatever words you want in your links.

It’s free, and one of those WordPress plugins I could not live without.

Once you download, install, and activate the plugin, you’ll see that when you start writing a post title a little box appears under your title for a permalink you can select.

Having this flexibility is key for a few reasons:

• You can give one post a different type of permalink than another post
• You can change URLs for posts going forward, and leave old ones untouched
• In general, you can insert whatever words you want into the permalink

In the next section we’ll see exactly what words go best in your permalink, but first I think it’s worthwhile to tell a quick story of a major error I made in link building.

Story: When I destroyed a valuable permalink…
I remember when I first started messing around with permalinks I made a major mistake. I had a blog post on HonestCollege that was bringing in a massive ammount of traffic, more than any other post. But I had moved everything from Blogger to WordPress and thought I’d try to make that specific URL more simple. Simple is better, right? Well not always.

Thinking I was clever, I removed the .html from the end of the link. I updated my post and opened it up in horror. All the likes and tweets were gone. No comments. Then it hit me, this post was a different post now. New URL = new post = all your backlinks pointing to that post totally worthless. Users would see a 404 error when they clicked from all the higher PR places it was linked. It was 10 minutes of panic for me.

But there’s a silver lining. If you change a URL like this and lose data, you don’t actually lose it. As long as you revert the URL back to what it originally was (with Custom Permalinks or maybe in WP Settings) your data comes right back. Do this right away, duh, before something massive like a Google update.

So in the end, I didn’t lose anything, and actually gained a valuable lesson.

Adwords Keyword Tool

The second part of your nifty video above, the Keyword Tool by Adwords is what I use to find SEO friendly keywords to insert into my permalinks.

The first step is to have a blog post you’re writing.

In the video above, I take you behind the scenes of my blogging success post and show you why I chose “be-a-success” for the tail end of my permalink. Again, Custom Permalinks lets me put these words in.

Searching around on the Keyword Tool, I realized “be a success” got a heavy amount of searches, way more than similar phrases. This tool is cool because it literally records data from real Google searches in practically real time.

Given I wanted readers searching for “be a success” in any context, this keyword phrase, simple as it may appear, was definitely good enough for my post.

Putting a good phrase into your permalinks does a few things, but mainly tells Google about your post. When using the Keyword tool you have to select phrases that describe your posts, and it may end up that your best phrases gets less searches than you want.

That’s fine, but play around. I consider myself pretty good at predicting what phrases are hot, but of course, I’ve been using the Keyword tool for a while now and it helps.

Make sure to hit “Only show ideas closely related to my search terms” to get refined results, and sort by either Global Monthly Searches or Competition. Ideally, you want phrases with low competition and massive global monthly searches. These can be considered more “open” phrases that haven’t been bought out, and can still be ranked well for organically.

I hope that makes sense, this is definitely heavy SEO artillery, the kind of tool SEOs and consultants would pay big bucks for even if Google charged for it!

If any of this doesn’t make sense, don’t hesitate to ask a question right now because this is urgent stuff.

Simple links

Google loves simple. If you blog on blogger, good for you. Blogger rules, I still love it and miss it. But sadly, your links aren’t as good as they could be.

You want permalinks on your posts and pages to be as simple as possible while still telling Google enough about your content.

You don’t want unnecessary, fluffy words in there if you don’t need them.

You’ll notice how in some of my posts the links are really simple, while in others they are a bit longer. In each case, a lot of careful thought has gone into choosing a link.

As I mentioned in the video, I usually pick links that draw as much free, organic traffic to my blog as possible. I do this because while I do want a target audience, random visitors can often be just as awesome if shown the right content.

I suppose we’ll talk more about that later

Interlinking

You also want to use rich keywords when you interlink your blog posts and pages. Ideally, use action verbs like “learn, discovery, join, sign up” etc. then include a few smart keywords too.

Here is an example sentence (link actually works) you might see on this blog: If you are finding you are a bit low on Facebook Likes and Twitter Tweets, you may want to read more about social proof.

Just like you’d want keywords in your link anchor text if another blog was linking to you, it’s a good idea to have this going on your blog too.

Domain names

Where does an awesome link start? Of course, it starts on the domain name of your blog. Every link on this blog starts with http//www.dearblogger.org/ so, obviously that initial part of the link has to be as good as possible.

Unfortunately, we’re going to save this topic (how to create amazing domain names) for another post. That one will show you:

• Why great domain names will always be available
• How to pick the right keywords for you domain
• What sorts of domains rank well
• How Google reads domain names
• And more

It’ll be another good one

Conclusion: How are your links lookin’?

If you learned something here about links, I’d love to hear so in the comments.

This week is pretty blogging intensive with lots of new content coming out, so make sure to comment right away if you have anything to say.

If you don’t, this post might get buried away. Though probably, not, the permalink I’ve chosen should ensure steady traffic

The post How to Create SEO Friendly Links on Your Blog appeared first on Dear Blogger.

Welcome to my First Blogging Bootcamp, where I publish 1 post/day for 1 week. Get involved by tweeting me your best ideas, joining the club, or just posting an old-fashioned comment.

Blogger or WordPress.org?

Where should you start? Which is best for blogging, SEO, traffic, and everything else we want?

It’s a hot debate, for sure. New bloggers love Blogger, experienced bloggers use WordPress…

Let’s settle this right here with a points system.

From you: Any experienced bloggers out there who have used both platforms, your expertise is needed here. Please post some advice in the comments.

My journey

A good blog post starts with a story, so if you want my full journey through blog platforms then here it is:

(I guess it’s here whether you wanted it or not)

• Circa September 2010: Spill coffee on WordPress book
• Take book home, start WordPress.com blog
• Get bored within 1 week
• Start Blogger blog
• Attract guest posts
• Design custom logo, banner, blog post style
• Register domain name
• Blog for 2 years…
• Move to self-hosted WordPress
• Realize I need to expand empire
• Start a few other WordPress.org blogs
• Start DearBlogger.org
• Present time…
• …Conquer world with own blog platform “GregNotes”

Clearly I enjoyed Blogger. I did not enjoy WordPress.com, just too limiting and clearly features I wanted were payment-gated which I hated. I want to make it clear I am not reviewing WordPress.com here because I don’t recommend using it.

Evidently, I only review things I do recommend you use.

Nowadays I’m fully on WordPress.org via hosting from HostGator and would never switch back. Learn how to self-host your own blog.

Blogger

I thought a points system of +1s and -1s would be helpful in deciding which blog platform is best for beginners. Notice how I write beginners here! It’s pretty clear once you have good blogging experience under your belt WordPress.org is optimal, but that’s not the point of this post, duh.

So, let’s begin.

Easy to get started

+1 point

When you began a Blogger blog you are literally blogging in minutes. After creating a blog name and choosing your “.blogspot” domain name you’re taken instantly to the blog creator.

We all like fast. Blogger is fast. It’s easy. You can rearrange blog widgets as easily as you drag icons around your computer’s desktop.

So, the ease is a big factor.

Cloud storage

+1 point

Blogger is low maintenance – everything exists in the cloud. All your files (blog posts, images, videos, HTML and CSS) are stored on Blogger’s servers are require zero maintenance from your end.

You won’t have to do File Transfer Protocol (FTP) on Blogger. Instead it’s really easy to upload, edit, and rearrange files.

HTML/CSS

+1 point

Blogger blogs come with a stylesheet where you can modify the HTML/CSS that dictates how your blog looks. It’s easy to create backup copies, play around, and add little modifications.

I felt like Superman making my first successful code modification, which just sectioned my homepage into three different post pages uses could choose from. But the fact that it worked was a major accomplishment for me.

In time I learned to code Facebook/Twitter buttons into the blog and replace pre-made Blogger widgets with HTML/text widgets I coded on my own.

Removal

-1 point

Blogger owns your blog and can remove or suspend you. Their platform, their rules. Cry about it later.

Adsense

+1 point

Blogspot blogs let you run Adsense. While it takes time to get approved, more so than 2 years ago, you at least can post ads and earn some revenue. WordPress.com doesn’t allow this.

Merging with Google+

-1 Point

Blogger has spread a few rumors on Google blogs about blogspot blogs being forcefully moved over to Google+ in some manner. Given the recent changes to Blogger’s backend, this looks like a possibility.

However, Google has always been good about preserving old interfaces (unlike Facebook) for those still in need of the old system.

Even so, a changes like this would probably be opposed by Blogger users.

Cheaper

+1 point

Really the only cost you face on Blogger is the domain name. You can pay Google (via GoDaddy) $10/year to remove the “.blogspot” from your domain name. This effectively gives you your own domain name and helps with SEO.

Web hosting is taken care of by Blogger so you won’t have to worry about that.

Secure

+1 point

Finally, because Blogger is in the cloud there are fewer angles for a hacker to target your content. You just have one password to remember and all your files are stored in one easy to manage location.

WordPress.org

Now let’s shift our focus to WordPress.

Customization

+1 point

WordPress is far and wide more customizable than Blogger. You can upload “plugins”, pre-made features that do anything from count post views publicly to add Facebook buttons to notify Google of structural site changes.

You can also edit WordPress coded files via the editor. This is definitely more hands on, but in general a more satisfying process and WordPress codex walks you through most common edits.

Better SEO

+1 point

WordPress allows you to control what your URLs, the links on your blogposts, look like. Seems like a small issue huh? It’s not.

The words on a URL (aka permalink) dictate how Google sees your post and ranks it in Search. This can mean hundreds more or less visitors to a post and to your blog. WordPress custom permalinks is a great tool for this.

WordPress also allows SEO optimizing plugins, like the XML sitemap generator I use. This plugin let’s Google know when your site changes structurally and keeps your site fresh in Google’s mind. It’s a good one to have running in the background.

Themes upgrades

+1 point

When I covered the best premium WordPress theme I talked about how Theme-Junkie themes were a great find for me.

But, which ever you chose, your premium theme is a brandable, valuable component of the blog. It gives you your look and your users a feel. There are thousands to choose from and most cost mere chump changes compared to how much your stand to earn with a good look.

Costs more

-1 point

A domain and and hosting package runs for about $7/month and is typically paid off for 1 year upfront. This certainly ain’t much for some who plans to blog for money or has a bit of a budget, but it’s more than Blogger costs.

More to learn, more to enjoy

Neutral

WordPress offers you a lot more features and therefore takes longer to learn. But if you invest about a week’s time into WordPress, you’ll learn the features and soon feel the true power of blogging.

In general, more power

+1 point

Finally, WordPress offers you as the blogger more power. You have more control of your blog and can make it a powerhouse community or a simple, streamlined, beauty.

WordPress powerhouse example: Traffic Generation Cafe

WordPress simple example: Mnmlist

More power is hard to truly define, but think more earning power, more networking power, larger subscriber communities, corporate recognition, an Amazon seller presence, book launches. These sort of things are all enjoyed by the better bloggers on WordPress.

Conclusion: Who wins?

Let’s tally up those points…

Blogger – 4 points
WordPress – 4 points

Yikes! Looks like Blogger just barely edged out ranked the same as WordPress here. What do you think, fair or unfair?

Note: If you add a valid point in the comments I’ll edit it in with new points totals

My story began on WordPress.com, moved to Blogger, and now continues on self-hosted WordPress. There is a LOT more left to write, explore, and learn.

Your story might be totally different…

I’ll end with one of my favorite videos from Google’s Webmaster help. Matt Cutts talks SEO but goes on to elaborate on why people should choose WordPress or Blogger.

Where have you blogged? Feel strongly about a certain platform? Post your intelligent thoughts in the comments.

The post Blogger or WordPress: What’s The Best Place to Start a Blog? appeared first on Dear Blogger.

I have a confession to make. It’s why I don’t publish enough, despite how much you all inspire me each day.

Confession: My writing standards are way too high.

I want to publish more…I always do. But I constantly start a post, trash it, start over…

I thought I already found my confidence

Plus, I love discussions that follow a new post. It’s a major reason I blog and a major reason I started this Community. So why not recreate this feeling again and again?

In this post I’d like to look at what makes bloggers self-critical to the point of insanity and discuss how this hurts our overall productivity.

As usual, your opinion will really help.

The questions I ask before hitting publish

As bloggers, our work is as good as we make it. We all have routines and rituals we practice from linking images to styling the first letters of our posts.

But in terms of the content, how do we know when it’s ready?

It’s hard to say. Anyone with a few bucks to spare can start a blog. Themes are cheap and advice is commonplace.

It’s the blood, sweat and tears that goes into our posts that really makes a blog. Even if our audience is small, pleasing them is just as important if not way more important than pleasing a large audience.

Here are a few things I always consider before hitting the blue button.

Warning: I can be obsessive.

Does it flow?

A great copywriter Demian Farnworth has written on what makes a post flow, what makes it vibe together. Without flow our points risk getting lost in a sea of text. And that’s a major problem.

So probably the biggest question I ask myself before hitting that blue button is does the entire post make sense? Does point A flow to point D, or is it like some bizarre game to telephone where no one knows where things began? If I find I’ve gone on too many tangents and lost my path, I’ll usually start over. This causes serious delays.

Is it complete?

Yet another grey line in blogging, completeness is always subject to debate. Leaving a post incomplete is actually something some bloggers advocate (crazy I know), because you then leave ideas for your readers to arrive to on their own. These ideas are usually discussed in the comments, creating a more complete post after the discussion, which is actually great.

But when I think complete, I think more in terms of effort. Did I give a post all the information I have at my disposal? Did I half-ass (the horror) one section? If that’s the case, it’s back to the editor for a good strong reworking. Oy vey.

Does it work for my target audience?

This blog is only about 6 months old at the time I write this, but it’s already got a very firmly defined target audience: up and coming bloggers. Yep, that’s you

My audience is smart, motivated, and curious. I can’t just pitch common words into space and wait for the virality to ensue. Instead, understanding if “it works for the target audience” is a massive combination of 1-1 discussion in the comments, Twitter chat, and Analytics mining. I want to know what people want, and what they want more of. I would only hope that each posts gets better and better, and if I can not just hope but know, then all the better.

Of course, this takes hard work. I doubt folks would like a random movie review, or summary of my weekend, though they are quite fun!

Is it something only I care about?

A weird question for sure here but a relevant one. At times, I’ll commence a post with the inspiration flowing through my blood like Capri Sun. Moments later after jotting down 300 words, I’ll realize…wait. This post is going nowwhere because it’s something only I have a passion for.

Self-judgementalism sucks, but I think having a bit of self-awareness is important to blogging. Knowing that what you like might not be what the masses want can help you actually find what folks want and in get a lot more traffic over time.

These are questions I ask in my often vain efforts to write a masterpiece. But even with a good analysis, sometimes the product doesn’t get out the door because of perfectionism.

Blog-fectionism: Why I don’t publish a lot

I’m not a perfectionist in most things. My life is actually usually a mess and my roommate always yells at me for leaving the hot sauce out and leaving it on him to take our the trash (it’s 85% his anyways).

But I am a perfectionist on the blog. I’ll often log in to see:

• A typo….
• An image is off center
• My coffee icons don’t look nice!

I’ll instantly need to fix the minor issue and this takes time. It takes away from crafting another post or two you could enjoy.

Then once I do began writing at last, the above questions can create so much self-judgement that the post ends up in the trash bin.

I guess I’m a blog-fectionist. Anyone else?

Anyone who’s dabbled in perfectionism knows it can prevent you from creating. You try to rid the page of mistakes and pretty soon there’s nothing left to show at all. It’s like the story of the kid who tried to shape the perfect heart for his Valentine. He keeps cutting around the corners thinking his heart is getting more beautiful, but pretty soon it shrinks so small it’s hard to tell it is a heart at all.

Given this, it’s important to find a balance. I know if I write when I’m relaxed and confident I’m more happy with the result, and more likely to publish. Maybe this works for you?

Without this balance it’s almost impossible to maintain productivity.

When are posts good enough to publish

When I was flown of to San Francisco on behalf of Adobe, I remember asking Adobe’s CDO (design officer) a question. The guy made logos for each product, like the logo for Illustrator.

“When do you consider a logo good enough to use?” I asked over a panel of bloggers.

These products go to millions of customers, massive corporations, and stakeholders who want things looking just right.

“Well. When I think it’s good enough,” he said, smiling.

“And there’s a whole checklist of things, too,” he added.

Clearly this guy had the authority to deem a project done with or complete. Afterall, someone has to have the final say.

In blogging, we can’t just create our best work every single day. If you can, please tell me your secret.

I know for myself, I write better at 1am than at 12 noon.

And, I write better on Fridays than on any other day of the week. How inconvenient! When I wrote my first post at ProBlogger, it only took me about 1 hr research, 1 hr writing, and 1 hr editing. I knew after those 3 hours that it was perfect.

How do you know when a post is perfect? On larger blog projects, when is it ready to get out the door and go live?

Things like weekly routine, external pressures, and environmental stress all control how we blog. Then there’s the internal things, like work style, drive, and determination. Equally valid.

Hear from you

I guess I’ll polish this off with a few questions because I’d really like to hear from the Community on this whole issue of self-critical-writing-isms. I feel like this will be one of those posts where the discussion outweighs the article.

• When are you least likely to be self-critical?
• When do you know a post is good enough?
• Perhaps most importantly…
• Why do you think some writers are able to produce more great content than the rest?

Let’s see, post a comment and tell us about your writing standards.

The post High Standards: When is a Post Good Enough to Publish? appeared first on Dear Blogger.

The SMS service of the internet…short bursts of unsequential information…chirps from a bird!”

“Twitter” has got a lot of meanings.

For us bloggers, Twitter = traffic. But also, interestingly, Twitter is microblogging.

I’ll show you how to do that a bit further down…

In this post, I’ll offer a little bit for everyone, beginners to advanced. As usual, post a comment with your 2c.

Twitter officially began…

Twitter became a reality in March 2006, when Jack Dorsey (@jack) wrote the very first tweet. “Just setting up my twttr” he tweeted to his small development team at New York University.

By April 2007 Twitter was it’s own company, and it was in a South by Southwest Interactive conference that the application blew up. By placing screens around the conference rooms with live tweets from prominent attendees, Twitter staff allowed everyone was able to keep up on what folks were doing. This inspired signups, and boosted tweets to about 60,000 a day. Bloggers at the conference spread the word like wildfire.

People seemed to like brevity; the Twitter team won a handful of awards but even more so entered the global stage. People knew about Twitter.

By February 2010 Twitter users were sending 50 million tweets per day. In the 2010 NBA finals and World Cup, the site hit over 3000 tweets per second.

Who knows where future growth lies. Some say it’s Twitters new video app Vine, which I have yet to use. Anyone?

How to Use Twitter

There are 3 core components of using Twitter and I’ll break them down here.

Now I’ll admit, I’m no Twitter expert guru sensei. I don’t have 1 million plus followers or even 100k. What I do have are 1 thousand awesome followers and a strategy for long-term niche growth.

Twitter contributes the 3rd most traffic to my blog, behind Google organic traffic and the elusive (direct)/(none) source of traffic. So I take it seriously. Moreover, my followers rock. Just look at that pages/visit stat above. They make this fun.

Just for fun, here’s what my followers have been saying:

@gregnarayan Awesome bio. Awesome blog. Awesome writing style! I like you.

— Tarryn Scales (@TarrynScales) March 6, 2013

Thanks Tarryn, like you too!

@gregnarayanYou are unbelievable. Wow 150 tweets/coffee. Teach me how Master

— Nancy Avila(@NAvila408) March 6, 2013

I know I know, Nancy Well, I can start here!

@gregnarayan Thx for the follow,Greg! I’ll check out your dearblogger site. I’ve never heard of it before!

— Danielle Chan (@danchan_mktg) February 20, 2013

Welcome, Danielle, glad you found us!

@gregnarayan Thanks for the follow. I’m new to this & appreciate your advice.

— Stacy (@ManagingMemLane) February 19, 2013

Anytime, Stacy! Hope I deliver!

And here I joined Twitter under 1 year ago thinking I’d be lonely. These awesome responses are sometimes just what you need to keep on blogging.

Thanks guys (gals rather).

Now let’s look how to get setup, branded, and traffic-overloaded on Twitter. Think of this as your Twitter-to-do checklist.

And don’t tell me you’ve already done this all!

First, make your profile pop with a…

a. Bio
You have 160 characters to describe yourself in your Twitter bio. While many users jam as many acheivements into this blox as possible, I say go simple. Take a look at what highly successful tweeter put here, and I bet you it’s brief. Try writing one succinct sentence that describes how you want Tweeters to see you.

b. Photo
This small photo should definitely show your face. You can set it to align perfectly with your header (oops was going to put @copyblogger here but he changed it up) or just pic a cool photo.

c. Header
A header is optional but it’s a background to your photo. You can conveniently drag this around to your liking. Without one your header space will be black, which looks okay to me.

d. Name
Your name can be whatever you want, while your @name is subject to availability and cannot change. For best results, and so people can remember you, you may want to make your name and your @name the same.

e. Location
In the sky, behind my laptop, outer space, on the court, New York, get creative here.

f. Website
It is really smart to just put one link on your profile. That is, if you want clicks. Two or more links can confuse people. Put that link here and make it sync with what your bio says. You want your link to make sense, based on who you are on Twitter.

e. Themes
You can choose a pre-made theme for your background with a cute leaf or some nice colorful swirls if you want. Not necessary. but fun.

f. Background
Nowadays you can make a custom background (see example @markosaric) or your can just choose a color. I like plain white.

g. Links
Select a link color that vibes with your profile design and with your blog (don’t have one yet? get one here)

Now, Engage and connect with..

h. Follows
When you follow a someone on Twitter, two things happen. You see their tweets in your homepage stream, and they are usually notified of your follow via email. Following is oftentimes the best way to get someones attention, say hey, and get a follow in return.

i. Unfollows
When you unfollow a user they don’t find out, unless they have an application to tell them this. You’ll see one less in your following count and won’t see their tweets anymore.

j. Trends
Trends are denoted by the # symbol. One your Twitter homescreen you’ll see trends in the lower left. So, start hashtagging words and see if you can get them in the trends section!

l. The @ symbol
The @ symbol is used to denote the subject, or recipient, of your tweet. You can “at someone” in any part of a tweet, and they’ll receive a notification once you hit send.

m. The # symbol
Used to mark trends. Useful for getting your tweets found, so use the hashtag on common words your tweet (like the word ‘blog’ or ‘love’ or ‘hilarious’).

n. Tweets
Posting tweets can be hard at first. What exactly do you say? You can @ folks in your niche to start discussions, or you can just send your thoughts to the Twitterverse. If you said something new, clever, or particularly relevant, folks will @ respond or retweet (RT) you.

o. Retweets
Retweets are a restatement of your tweet. It’s like a Facebook share in that it pitches your original tweet to the followers of the re-tweeter. Folks will often thank you for retweeting them, as everyone loves a retweet.

p. Favorites
Favorite a tweet if you want to remember it, find it funny, or plan to use it for whatever reason (say embed it in a blog post like I did above) later on.

q. Lists
If you have a ton of followers or just like staying organized, you can add certain Twitter users to lists you create.

r. Messages
Messages on Twitter are not very effective. Direct messaging used to be a good networking tool, but these have long since become a spammy tool use to just get clicks on questionable links. Avoid messages.

Lastly, get found…

s. Target audiences
You target audience finds you Twitter, and you find them. The best way to find a target audience is to find a major noise maker in your niche, and follow their followers. Or, search for common words in someone’s profile like “blogging” or “cooking”.

t. Twitter button
The twitter follow button can be added to a website in a number of ways. It’s available as a stand alone button, within a WordPress plugin and more. This lets users follow you without actually visiting your Twitter profile.

u. Social proofing
Once you have a decent following going (over 1K is a good reference) it’s time to let folks know. Post your follower count and show off your social prowess.

How to MicroBlog on Twitter

As usual with social networks there are the mainstream ways of using them, and the other, perhaps more interesting ways.

On Twitter, micro-blogging can be used to draw significant hype to a post before and after it’s published.

The best way to do this, is to post tweets about a post. I like asking questions. Before I publish this post, I might tweet “Think you know how Twitter began? Think again. #Newpost on it’s way.” Doing so generates hype.

Or, something like “The last post on #socialmedia was such a hit that I wrote another at the #blog. Publishing soon…”

After the post is up, I might tweet whole sentences from this post. That’s legal, after all, right? Of course that tweet will include a link to the post itself

I’d argue that both micro-blogging a post before and after it’s moment of publishing are equally important, but what do you think?

Once you’re found, you’re unstoppable

Twitter is a tool that produces if not rapid, at least dependable growth. Your Twitter followers probably aren’t going anywhere, especially if you keep tweeting interesting, relevant content.

So get on Twitter, grab some followers, and teach them your very best. Twitter is in many ways the best tool for an average joe to become a total celeb.

Good luck, now tell us what’s up in the comments!

The post How to Use and Set Up Twitter appeared first on Dear Blogger.

Let me make a far-fetched assumption:

If you blog on WordPress you probably want to feel popular online.

You want the likes, tweets, and +1′s. Nearly all of us do.

In this post I’d like to break down something called social proof.

I actually don’t think anyone aside from Wikipedia has covered this to date so I’d really like to hear your thoughts on this in the comments.

What is social proof?

A lot of my readers have asked me questions surrounding the issue of becoming more popular online. I just never had a concrete term for what we were talking about, until now.

Even Googling around for “social proof” I didn’t find much. So it must be a relatively new subject in the blogging world.

And that makes me absolutely ecstatic to cover it. I love being at the forefront of what’s going on in the blogging world. It takes a lot of digging through the daily junkmail but it’s definitely worth it.

So, what does “being social proof” really mean?

If you are social proof then people assume you are correct, popular, or otherwise worth their time. You’ve made it, at least in your niche.

It’s more than just getting likes and tweets because it’s doing larger things to create an aura of popularity on your site.

An Example:
Think back to middle school for a painful second. Do you remember that kid who cracked any joke he wanted, often in the teacher’s face, and got away with it. He was social proof. His antics were irresistible and it resulted in a lot of popularity in most aspects of life.

It’s like a landslide effect. You do a few things right, others notice and approve then the popularity freaking snowballs until you’re unstoppable!

And why do I even care about it??

Because being socially proof is like reaching the holy grail of blogging!

I want my eBooks to go viral.

I want to write “Good Morning” on Google+ and get 500 pluses.

And, I’d go so far as to assume you want similar.

To show you how important this whole mess is, let’s go see who out there in our blogosphere is socially proof, then, look at how they are using their social status to grown an empire.

Some Socially Proof People on the Web

Who: Guy Kawasaki

Guy is a former Apple employee who now runs his own businesses, like Alltop. He has close to 4 million followers on Google+.

What do they do?

Guy’s uses his social proof to publish books on publishing books, and on Google+. His audience and reach are so humongous that you can bet he brings in sales with the drop of a hat.

Who: Allie Brosh

Allie Brosh is an artist. She is hilarious – and it’s pretty clear she sees the world uniquely. She created HyperbolandaHalf to showcase her…cartoons. They are fantasticly funny and I recommend everyone read them, at least this one.

What do they do?

Allie has a humongous Facebook community she uses to sell merchandise related to her artwork. Yes, I’ve bought a shirt.

Who: Glen Allsop

Glen is a rogue internet market who’s been around since the early days. He runs a viral marketing workshop that teaches online marketers how to create their best content.

What do they do?

Glen sells a WordPress plugin he built and in a ridiculously tight market consistently tops the charts. I remember when Glen put up a Facebook page button, and within days it was over 1K.

Wonder if Glen will notice this little plug? And bud, post some better photos

Who: Darren Rowse

Darren is widely regarded as the godfather of blogging and you may have seen his bald head and wide smile around the web. He’s got a huge Facebook community and ranks 1st in Google for many competitive blogging terms.

What do they do?

Darren leverages his social proof to sell wildly popular eBooks on a variety of blogging and photography related topics.

Who: Greg Narayan

Greg Narayan is the author of this post He’s becoming more prolific each day as he appears everywhere around the web and is known for adding a “community feel” to anywhere he blogs.

What do they do?

Greg shares his knowledge of blogging topics and often finds himself answering a large volume of blogging queries when he’d rather just be sleeping

Now let’s move on to the good stuff.

How to Create Social Proof on Your Site

If you’ve made it this far in the article you’re probably curious. You want to know how to social proof your own site.

Well, disclaimer:

There’s really no exact science behind social proofing and some people are just plain better than others at it. Kinda like basketball.

Here’s how the definitive 4-step guide to social proofing the heck out of your site. Having written posts with 100+ likes and 50+ comments I like to think I know a thing or two about this, so please listen up.

Note: Notice how there’s only 4 steps? This isn’t an exhaustive list, it’s a comprehensive plan you should follow and refer back to each day!

Step 1: Empowering and Sharing

The first step to building social proof is to give valuable content that empowers your readers to go out there and accomplish things.

Things like unseen information or even a free eBook.

Do this and you’ll create an initial relationship.

And think about it, if a blog gives you something amazing, more likely than not you’re at least going to hit “like” a few times.

This is social interaction 101. Giving…

Obviously there will be those who always take and never give, but they’re typically a minority.

The next step here is to make your content shareable from reader to reader. Because, as I explain, readers are the ones who grow your blog. You can only do so much as a lone content creator.

To get the reader-reader interaction going you have to do everything in your power to make your blog an interactive space of learning. Make the comments attractive, encourage the discussion, and most importantly create an insider feel for subscribers.

People should feel your blog is both welcoming and has exclusivity to it.

Weird, I know. Creating an email list one way to accomplish this, or maybe you really up the ante and give your followers access to a forum (something I’ll be talking about in a future post).

Step 2: Be Extra Personal

The next step to earning social proof is to be hyper-personal.

Don’t forget this. You probably ever heard this before, but people can get their information anywhere on the web today!!

It’s true. People have to like you enough to choose to return to your blog for whatever you’re pitching.

Fashion advice, cooking lessons, tech reviews, or like me, blogging advice. These niches are all so freaking beat up they look like the cast of Jersey Shore after a long weekend of acting like animals.

So that’s the lesson for this section.

Being extra personable, even if you have limited content, and you’ll set the foundation for social provenness to come.

Step 3: Use Hard Sells

Why would I put “Hard-Sells” in a post about social proofing?

Because it shows respect.

Hard-sells tell someone a) you mean business and b) you respect their limited time.

Mutual respect is huge in social proofing. You need to respect the reader and deliver epic content and the reader must respect you in return.

There are a million ways to earn respect, but my favorite is just interacting with my readers and solving their problems in the comments.

Content creators are finding more and more nowadays that soft-sells just don’t work, so go practice how to use hard-sells.

Finally for this section, the socially proof people above use hard-sells!!

So, mimic them! Driving your deals in firmly will even convince readers you are already socially proof!
Look at that.

Just think, what sorts of content on the web do you connect with? Wishy-washy “maybe this will help you out” crap? Nope.

Step 4: Always Deliver

The final step to social proofing is to always deliver on your promises and on the expectations.

Yes, this may seem like a burden. It’s reality.

If you create two amazing YouTube videos that get lots of views and likes and the your third one is a flop, people may wonder what happened.

Is this guy giving up?

Likewise if you write three great blog posts, the fourth one better be good too!

Of course, one aspect of social proof is the ability to cruise. What I mean by this is you can produce average content and it appears amazing because of your past, socially-awesome, reputation.

But don’t use this freebie move too often.

Remember, people are busy. People are selfish. People want quality content often. Even if you just publish once every two or even three weeks, if you deliver consistent quality and value folks will return and help social proof your work.

That’s it, social proof in a nutshell. You’re welcome, now go use this.

Now, I want to get personal

Now that I’ve armed you with tools to social proof your site, it’s time to get personal.

• Do you consider yourself social proof?
• Are you popular in your niche?
• How did you get there?

I know a lot of members of the Dear Blogger Community work hard to build popular blogs. I’d love to hear from you guys.

Join the discussion and post a comment today.

The post Social Proof: How to Pass the Popularity Test appeared first on Dear Blogger.