Are you among the 99% of bloggers with this blogging problem?

By: King J. For

For many months I had this nagging problem with blogging. I knew that my blogging would never get off the ground and start making me the money I wanted until I solved the problem.

I feel it is pertinent to share this problem in this article with the hope that others that are having similar problem might have a way out.

Want to know what the problem is? It is "manually" posting PLR articles (or any such articles) to multiple blogs. I don't know about you but I would rather automate the process, rather than spend many long hours doing it manually.

You see, I love blogging, but not necessarily for blogging sake, but because it gives me a great way of getting the much needed traffic and high rankings to my multiple other websites.

So, my major aim after I had spent many months studying the power of blogs was to use them, not necessarily as a tool of reaching out to people and sharing my everyday experience or knowledge, but as a tool for pleasing the search engines so they would give me what I wanted - TRAFFIC and GOOD RANKINGS for any site I wanted. Big dreams, right? Of course, but possible to achieve.

So, call me a Blogopreneur and you will be right.

Anyway, as I was saying, I wanted to blog mainly for the money, like many out there are doing (whether they want to admit it or not). I was mainly interested in using blogs and the fact that they are presently Search Engines' favorites to achieve my Blogopreneuristic aims.

First I knew I had to have dozens or even hundreds of blogs. Sadly the process of registering and setting up a single Wordpress blog was a nightmare, to say the least. At first I had to spend many long minutes just to set up ONE Wordpress blog. After a few trails, I knew there had to be a better and faster way. Comon, who has time to spend MANUALLY doing in hours what can be done in minutes effortlessly.

I took my time and researched the market and was able to get special software (yes, whitehat software like WPManagerDX.com, not blackhat software like VoodooBlogger) that helped me create genuine and legitimate blogs in lightening speed.

Second, I knew I needed content for my hundreds of blogs. Note that the fact that I am blogging just for the money didn't mean I wasn't going to provide useful content for my readers. Far from it. Let those junk bloggers that fill up their blogs with junk content go ahead, I wasn't like that. The most important thing on my mind was to provide helpful content that not only the Search Engines would love, but my readers too would love.

The fact that I didn't want to spend endless hours writing content myself or spend thousands of dollars hiring ghostwriters, I found an easier way out --- PLR articles. Whew, what a time-saver, money-saver and life-saver, put together.

So I joined several PLR (Private Label Right) article membership sites and was receiving lorryload of articles each month to use on my blogs.

Next problem was then how to automate the painful process of posting these PLR articles to my hundreds of blogs DAILY. I tried it the first few days and almost died from frustration.

Here I was with hundreds of blogs created with lightening speed using WPManagerDX.com but now having to manually post my PLR articles to each of the blogs.

I almost gave up because of the tedious nature but as usual took my time and did my due diligence and EUREKA -- I found an automated solution to posting articles to blogs.

Note that I knew of software such as RssToBlogs that automatically posts RSS to as many blogs as possible but I wanted to post great content in form of well written, well researched and keyword-rich PLR articles to my blogs, NOT RSS feeds.

So RssToBlogs was out of it.

I was lucky to find exactly the kind of tool I needed and now use it to automate the posting of my articles to my dozens and hundreds of blogs. The name of the tool I found and now use is ArticleManagerDX.com.

Note that there are other solutions that help you automate the posting of articles to dozens and hundreds of blogs such as Blogologic, but most of them have several drawbacks that the tool I now use doesn't have.

With my automated posting tool, I am able to post as many PLR articles to as many blogs AUTOMATICALLY, thereby saving me endless hours I would have otherwise spent without it... not to talk of the frustration and physical trauma one would have to go through doing it manually.

Now, my goal of being a legitimate Blogopreneur has come true. I know have hundreds of blogs (soon to be thousands) and automate the posting of my PLR articles to each and every of these blogs DAILY.

You too can end your frustration of manually posting articles to your dozens or even hundreds of blogs by searching for and taking advantage of the best tools out there that help automate the process.

You ARE in trouble if you use these kinds of blogging software

By: King J. For

Are you into blogging for profit? If yes, then you obviously know you can't successfully make a killing from just one or a few blogs.

When it comes to making good money from blogs, you need to have a lot of blogs. Either you are paying for the content or you are buying PLR content to use you need to get a lot of blogs to be able to make a lot of money.

If you belong to that special brand of Internet marketers that are blogging for profit, then you are either using software to help you create and manager dozens or hundreds of blogs.

If you are not using software and yet have dozens or hundreds of blogs, then you could be like Jason Calacanis who pays huge sums of money to his staff of bloggers to manage his 85+ conglomerate of blogs.

It is obviously wiser to get started using special software to create and manage multiple blogs instead of paying staff to do this for you, especially when you are starting off with very little money.

This is because it can be very expensive to pay staff to create, handle and manage blogs for you. At least until you start making a lot of money like Jason Calacanis who was reported to make as much as $1,000,000 yearly from these 85+ conglomerate of blogs.

So, like I said, you can still create and manage dozens and even hundreds of blogs using software.

If you are already using software to help your blogging venture, the next question is - Are you using the right software for your blogging? This is a critical question that you should answer. Don't ignore this and continue using just any software even if it promises you big money with blogging.

Specifically, don't buy or use any blogging software that:

- Spams the search engines - There are many black hat software out there that bloggers use to, one way or the other, spam the search engines. Such software can get you into trouble with the search engines and eventually lead to your blogs to lose rankings or even get banned.

- Spams other blogs - Just as there are black hat blogging software that spams the search engines, there are also others that specifically spams other blogs by posting rubbish just to get backlinks. Such software not only irritate readers with their junk spam, but also cause a lot of problem for the owners of the blogs who have to go in there and manually delete the junk spam.

- Works with only one blogging platform - I am particularly opposed to any blogging software that can work only Wordpress and not both WordPress and Blogger blogs. It makes no sense to invest a lot of money on such software. Instead use the blogging software that can work with one or more blogging platforms.

- Costs an arm and a foot - No matter how good the blogging software is, it shouldn't be too expensive. The fact that it is a software is one of the reason why it should be affordable. The programmer should be aware that he can sell it to thousands of people without any extra cost in shipping or packaging. So this consideration should go into making the software affordable.

- Costs extra each time there is a bug fix and/or upgrade - With the ever changing nature of technology, there is always the tendency for certain changes, bug fixes and upgrades to be done to software. Ensure that you don't have to pay extra money each time these are done for your blogging software.

- Is not VERY easy to use - Even complete newbies should be able to effortless use the software to achieve their aims. It makes no sense if you have to practically kill yourself before you can use any particular blogging software. After all, you bought the software to be able to uncomplicate your life, not make it more complicated, right?

Conclusively, get blogging software that will make your blogging more profitable yet won't put you in any kind of trouble with the search engines or other bloggers. There are lots of white hat blogging software that are used to make blogging less complicated and more profitable. Do your due diligence and you will find such software.

The Importance of Blog Design

By: John Ugoshowa

Blogs have increased popularity over this past months. Many people have started to create their personal blogs to express their thoughts and feelings. Internet companies have also started their blogs to inform consumers on the latest product news and reviews.

Because of this, blogs are also being used as internet marketing media. Before, internet marketing is done by placing banners and links on popular websites, such as news and information sites. Links were also included on newsletters and marketing letters sent to the members of their mailing lists.

Many people spend time reading blogs. People read their friend's blogs, their favorite author's blogs, blogs on topics that they are interested in, and blogs on product reviews. With the increasing popularity of blogging, it is even feared that people rely on blogs to get the latest news.

While getting news reports from blogs isn't reliable, some people look for product reviews through blogs. In some cases, this is more dependable. While it is true that some media persons are being paid to write good reviews about a certain product, blog writers write about their actual experiences on products and services from a company.

Since there are many people who read and start their own blogs, blogs are a good medium to market a product. With the increasing blog traffic means increase in product sales.

Blog traffic can be increased by joining affiliate programs and sites, which will list your blog under a certain search category or name. You can also have your blog advertised in popular websites. This, however, will cost some money and is not advisable if you have just started blogging.

A writer who has just launched his/her blog will want as much traffic as possible to increase advertisements on the site. Also, some advertisers pay every time their link is clicked or the page that has their link is viewed.

When you have increased traffic on your blog, you should try to keep you visitors coming back and recommending your blog to friends and colleagues.

This can be done by having informative or amusing content and good blog layout and design. You may develop your blog's content or you can also acquire the services of a web content writer to provide you with the blog articles.

The blog's layout and design also plays a big role. While most of the companies offering free blog hosting offer pre-selected templates, there are also some that allows customization that if you utilize this feature correctly can increase your blog's traffic.

Here are a few tips to make your blog stand out from the millions of blogs out there that have standard designs.

* Customize the banner

The banner usually has the most generic designs that are common to the blogs from a blogging company or service.

You can personalize this banner by having a graphic with the dimensions of the banner. You can also edit the graphic so that it will also include the title of your blog.

In this case, you can create your own graphic or you can purchase professional looking graphics online for less than $10.

* Personalizing photos

Of course, most of the photos that you will be posting will be your own. However, if you don't customize the photos before posting them, you may miss maximizing the enhancing benefits graphics can add to the page. Adding photo borders can help the photo stand out from the page.

It can also add to the design of your blog. You can choose a standard border or you can also create your own border which can be associated with your blog's templates.

* Add a favicon

Don't you think sites with icons on the address bar before the website's URL are cool? Many people do. These favicons add a professional look to the URL. These easy to do using photo or graphic editing softwares.

* Check out blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins from sites

There are sites that offer free blog templates, layouts, backgrounds, textures and skins. You can make use of these so your blog will not look generic like most of the blogs hosted by the service provider.

* Include RSS feeds

This is a cool way to inform people with newsreaders about your blog headlines. Tutorials on RSS feeds are available on the internet.

* Audio makes your blog more personal

Not only does audio personalizes the blog; it can also keep your visitors coming back. You can try having streaming radio stations, mp3 file or playlists loading with your blog.

* Advertisements

If you have signed-up with Google Ad-Sense, which I am sure you would like to do, make sure that the ads are conveniently placed that these will not hinder your readers' ease in accessing the information on your blog.

Try using these tips and you can definitely increase and retain traffic on your blog.

The Blog Adviser: Mixing Business and Personal Encounters

By: Brian Yalung

Blogs are alternative methods of writing wherein most people can compose anything they want and in the manner they would want the mood to be set. A combination of a website with rich content in the manner and design that any person would want to be known, blogs have become a good source of therapy and income for the chosen. The latter of which may draw conflicting inputs since focusing on income generating content would sometime take out the true essence and meaning of the entire post. Notable here is the focus of people on the use of keywords, repeating them at will so that search engines can easily find them once queries for particular words are being sought.

Blogs are familiarly known as online diaries where people share their experiences and stored knowledge in the manner they want to express them. Nobody knew that blogs would eventually become a money-making practice for sites which want to expound on various topics and genres that their website is to be known for. Today, social networking services such as Friendster, Multiply, Hi5 and MySpace, have not only offered a chance for people to expand their network of contacts but also to hold online diaries for their colleagues and friends to see. Usually, life experiences, business knowledge, setbacks, accomplishments and photo images are the main contents of the blogs that these people make. Such a practice also allows people to hone their grammar and typing skills and further enrich their vocabulary.

The Blog Adviser, created in November 30, 2006 is a project that Orble made possible. The site is hosted by the Orble Network and its main purpose is to be able to provide information, actual experiences and business related content to share with Orble bloggers and other people seeking rich content information. Unlike most blog marketing sites, the purpose is to provide useful and colorful insights and expound them in the best possible way, not only through properly termed topics but also through actual experiences as witnessed and dealt with by the person who will be handling all the posts on a daily basis.

The Blog Adviser aims to focus on business related issues and information based on actual research work and strategic management practices from real life business management issues. With the actual hands-on experience of handling a local trading company and business consultation services to various local and foreign companies, the Blog Adviser is expected to be among the top sought after sites for information and explanations with regards to varying issues on the business and management side for professionals of today and tomorrow. Links and images will be used to coincide with the posts, not just to optimize the site but also to serve as supporting proofs with regards to the validity of the posts to be made.

On the side, The Blog Adviser will also provide some freestyle writing content from personal experiences that combine poetry and stories into one. While these posts are mainly for adding some counseling and advise to online people who want some pastime reading, especially the romantically inclined individuals, the freestyle writing section promises to give worthy and reliable actual experiences for people who seek answers from life.

Hence the Blog Adviser has commenced and started its part in contributing towards the blogging era and each visitor is expected to be satisfied in both the business and personal aspect. For more information, the Blog Adviser can be visited today at http://www.blogadviser.com .

The Art of Evangelizing a Blog

By: Sharon Sarmiento

So, you've got a brand new shiny blog. You lovingly tend to it, writing posts with the perfect mix of warmth, humor, irony and insight.

You write, you post, and you wait. Crickets are chirping in the silence as you start to wonder, "So now that I have a blog, how do I actually get people to look at it?"

If your traffic report for your site is like a flat line on a graph, don't fret.

Unless you're Guy Kawasaki or Seth Godin, it's not likely that your blog will shoot to the tippy top of Technorati overnight. For us non-famous folks, it takes consistent, patient, strategic work in order to build up our blog traffic.

Building blog traffic is all about creating useful content for your readers and making contacts within the blogging community.

It's kind of like when you move to a new city where you don't know anyone. Little by little you build relationships, you meet folks who introduce you to other folks, you make connections, make a name for yourself, and you become better known in the community.

It's the same with blogging, except it's a different type of party and you make your connections in different ways.

Here are 7 techniques that savvy bloggers use to make those oh-so-important connections and pump up blog traffic:

1. Focus on a targeted niche. Decide who you're writing for, what you're going to write about, and then stick to it. Don't be all over the place and have one post on marketing, another on dog training, and then another that's a review of the movie you saw last weekend. A blog with multiple topics is disorienting, not just to readers that stumble upon it, but to the search engines as well.

You see, the Google robots are easily confused. If they visit your blog and see that it's a mish-mash of information, they don't know what to make of it. But, if they stop by your blog and see that the words "marketing" and "small business" (or whatever) are sprinkled steadily throughout, they think, "Aha! This blog is about small business marketing. Whenever folks google the words "small business marketing", we'll know to include this site higher up in our results!"

Not only does having a very specific topic for your blog make it search engine friendly and result in higher rankings, but it also gives you the chance to become known as an expert in your field and have readers coming to your blog for their daily fix. The tighter you can make your niche the better.

2. Post as frequently as you can. When you first start your blog, it can feel a little overwhelming to have to write posts all the time. That's normal--you just need to focus on getting into a regular writing schedule. Trust me, after a few weeks your mind will start to think in "blogging mode", and you'll start to come up with ideas for blog posts everywhere you turn.

I've noticed that most of the pro bloggers post almost daily, and oftentimes several times a day, but don't feel pressured to mimic the pro bloggers Herculean blog writing stamina.

That would be like trying to go from couch potato to marathon runner overnight. Blogging is supposed to be fun, so don't hurt yourself. And really, if it's not fun, you're not going to stick with it, are you?

You can start off by setting a goal for yourself of writing 3 posts a week.

The posts don't have to be long essays. They can be short, compact posts that relay tidbits of info (often linking back to other people's blogs) that your readers find interesting and are great conversation starters (which causes folks to make lots of comments).

3. Link to other people's blogs. I try to link to other folks' blogs as much as I can. This means that I see a great post at so-and-so's blog, and then I write a post on my own blog that has a link to their post.

When my readers click on the link to go to the other person's blog, that blogger will notice that he's getting traffic from my site, and he'll really appreciate it! I've had a few bloggers contact me to say hello and leave comments on my blog.

There are 50 million blogs out there (literally), but the blogosphere can be an incredibly small world. When you show a genuine interest in what another blogger is writing about, then that peaks their interest in you. You've just built another link in your community. Linking to other blogs also helps with your search engine ranking.

4. Comment on other blogs. My goal is to post thoughtful comments on at least 5 blogs a week. (If this sounds too much to you, start out smaller. The important thing is to get into the habit of commenting on other blogs.)

I look for interesting blogs in my genre (online business, marketing, productivity). I keep up with what they're writing about, and when one of their posts catches my eye, I post a relevant comment. (You can research posts within your genre at Technorati.)

While some people like to post anonymously by just leaving their first name, I include my first and last name and a link to the URL of my blog. I do this because I want to build name recognition within these communities.

5. Use Trackbacks. A trackback is like leaving a remote comment on a person's blog. When you reference a post on another blog, you use the trackback address for that post and enter it when you're creating your post. When you create a trackback to someone's post, you'll see an excerpt from your post with your URL appear under their post in the trackback area.

Trackbacks are often the forgotten step-child in blogging, but I've found them to be the most effective means of making connections within the blogging community.

I've even had a journalist from a major newspaper contact and interview me as a result of a trackback I left, which led to another journalist finding me and interviewing me for her article, which led to me being featured in articles that were published in more than 20 different newspapers in the United States! How's that for a big time payoff for one trackback?!

6. Blogging customer appreciation. Whenever a new person leaves a comment on my blog, I send her an email thank you note to let her know how much I appreciate her input. And if someone is sweet enough to talk about me on their blog and link to me, I go to their blog and leave a comment thanking them for giving me the attention. Also, when people write about me on their blogs, I make a post on my own blog ("Look who's talking about me. Go see what they're saying..." sort of thing) to bring attention to it and send traffic back to the other person's blog.

7. Beef up your blogroll. I look for interesting blogs that cover similar topics to my blog, then enter their links on to my blogroll. When my readers click on those links, the folks on my blogroll can see that they're getting traffic from me. It works the same as when you link to other blogs within your posts. It's another way of letting the community know you're there and that you're interested in what they're saying. Some of the folks on your blogroll might even reciprocate by putting you on their blogroll. Who knows?

If the thought of implementing all 7 of these tips makes your brain hurt, don't fret. Maintaining a blog is an ongoing process, so start off by picking just a couple of these tips to work on, then when you feel comfortable start working on another.

Out of all of these tips, I would say that ones to start with are 1, 2 and 3-- streamline your post topics to focus on your targeted niche, post as frequently as you can, and link to other blogs.

I've heard pro bloggers say that it can take 6-9 months before seeing a noticeable increase in traffic, so don't feel disappointed if you don't see immediate results.

Evangelizing your blog is really an exercise in patience, with consistency and longevity being the keys. Thankfully, it's a fun, creative exercise, and if you stick with it you'll have a blog that's a source of joy for you, as well as being an excellent marketing tool for your business.