A Journey “Home”
Dear Reader, I came home yesterday. Home being Minnesota. The land of 10,000 lakes and many more mosquitos. They don’t like me though. My folks are moving again – soon this will all just be memories. I even gave away…
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Make Money Blogging: The Only Strategies You Need From The Blogs We Love
2022 has been a crazy year in terms of upending the blogosphere. It seems like almost everything absurd that could have happened, did. From a Twitter takeover, to our favorite bloggers retiring with new bloggers fighting to take their spots, to several crypto currency coins being looted, to Mr. Beast going off-grid to Antarctica, it's taken a lot of us by surprise. But one…
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Blog Themes: Why Buying My Premium Theme Actually Made Me Richer
For two years of my blogging I used free designs. Then one fateful night, I switched to a theme from Theme-Junkie. In this post I’d like to show you how using a premium WordPress theme solved my design flaws and…
What Chinatown NYC and My New eBooks Have in Common
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…
10 Blogging Steps To Do Before You Launch a Blog
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…
Build a Brand: A Complete Guide to Domain Names, Logos, Social Media and More
Dear Reader, 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…
How to Create SEO Friendly Links on Your Blog
Dear Reader, 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…
High Standards: When is a Post Good Enough to Publish?
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…
Twitter Basics and “All is Well so Far”
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…
Social Proof: How to Pass the Popularity Test in Blogging
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…
Create an eBook: Everything You Need to Publish Your First eBook
What’s on your blogging agenda this week? New post tomorrow? Post some more blog ads? Get a few more Likes? Be serious. It’s time to finally publish your first eBook.
Success: What Bloggers Must Do To Promote a Blog on the Home Front
Anyone who frequents Dear Blogger knows I try to keep the focus of my blog posts niche narrow. Specific ways to master weird facets of blogging, like upsells or G+. But every now and then I’ll come out with a…
Honest or Sketchy: Who Do You Think Sells More?
Does any of this sound familiar? “Instantly jack up your sales!” “Earn money the easy way!” “Lose weight overnight!” I love that last one. Who wouldn’t want to wake up 5 pounds lighter? It’s sad people still buy into this…
Why Blogs Fail to Get Traffic
The days of easy Google traffic are over and I hear the complaints all the time. How can I attract more traffic? Will Google ever notice my blog posts? Well the answer is YES, you can attract great traffic and…
The 7 Facets of Confident Writing
Some days I look at my blogs and absolutely hate them. I wonder why anyone would ever hit "Like" or consider commenting. I'll write half of a new post, then trash it, then repeat 4 more times. Truth is I'm…
Google Plus: An Easy Guide to the 3rd Social Network
I know I already disclosed my New Year’s resolution to the email club (it’s to “ask for more” this year). Here’s another one: Totally dominate Google+ in 2013 Why? What’s the point when Facebook and Twitter already waste huge chunks…
The Shot Glass Technique: How to Upsell for More Conversions
In 2011 the cast of MTV’s Jersey Shore sold merchandise to crazed fans and tourists. It was reported they sold nearly 500,000 shot glasses in one summer, which Adweek says helped Viacom (the guys who own MTV) seal off a…
The Landing Page Strategy I Should Have Sold
When I began Dear Blogger a few months ago, I really wanted to get people excited about what I was doing here. I had information on how to reduce bounce rate, new blog posts, even an army of guest posts…
Brief Blogging: How to Get More Points Across with Less
I had a revelation last week. It struck me like a highly charged doornob of static electricity. Youch! It had to do with my blogging, and yours too probably. And I just couldn’t not write it down.
How I Got Google PageRank 3 in 3 Months with Only 28 Backlinks
This post (published Nov 9, 2012) was inspired by a conversation I had with blogger Ehsan Ullah. Thanks, Ehsan! In this post I’ll answer a ton of questions regarding building PageRank. I’ll explain what Alexa Rank is, talk about why…
On Comments, The Golden Age, and a new Social Media
Sometimes life throws you lemons and they hit you square in the face. This past week, I was sent running, actually running, from my NYC apartment as Hurricane Sandy approached. My apartment lies in Zone A, the Hurricane’s wheelhouse. I…
The Truth about Premium WordPress Themes
If you’re a serious blogger you’ve probably heard of these things called “premium wordpress themes”. They’re luxurious, flashy, and often expensive. Maybe you’re searching for one right now, or maybe you’re flat out intimidated by them (like I was at…
How To Make a Niche Review Site that Earns You $1000/Month
What's a review site? Why do bloggers love them? It's a blog or website where you write about your favorite products, like coffee machines, Mac laptops, or even cat toys. Wikipedia has a slightly better definition. One of my best blogs…
Email Marketing 101: All the Basics to Getting Blog Subscribers
What’s the most important thing you focus on as a blogger? Ads, writing posts, Facebook and Twitter? Sure, these are all important aspects of blogging. But the one factor that will sustain a blog through think and thin? That’s email…
How to Create an Everlasting About Me Page
As I mentioned in my Playboy post at Darren’s blog, the most successful writers on the web do one thing really well. They make every attempt to connect with their readers. Why is this important? Why is this worth spending…
How to Blog for Money
Update: This post was published in Fall of 2012. Since then it’s helped lots of bloggers and even non bloggers earn good money online. As it brings in lots of rather interesting traffic, I’ve had to close comments to prevent…