Three hard facts that every blogger has to know

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There are quite a few ways to get your blog up to speed and I decided to share them here today. I will discuss these first ones that easily come to mind. The rest, you will pick up as you read through my posts.

1. Start your blog development by reading other blogs
This is a no-brainer. You simply have to look around the blogosphere for ideas to boost what you have passion to blog about. This will help you develop your ideas into wonderful blog posts. As you visit other blogs, you will come across some "dope-headed" blogs that are almost unconcious, while you will see others that are very vibrant, have a lot to say and are on the go. The artful blogger must clone ideas from the best blogs they visit and add to it to produce new original content for their own blog.

The interesting thing about this aspect of blogging is that some of these blogmaster will be willing to help you with ideas to improve your blog. The blogosphere thrives on goodwill and to get it you have to be humble and pro-active.

2. Not all top-rated Blogs have the originator in-house

Many newcomers to the blogosphere often want to develop their blogs into top-rated blogs and sometimes are lured into copying top blogs erroneously. I am sorry to tell you this, but I have to. Not all top blogs have their originators in-house. Often times the originator of the blog has moved on and sold the blog. The business model may have changed into something that cannot move a new blog up, but can only sustain an old one with status. If you copy such a blog's business model, your blog may never get off the ground.

I want to encourage you and to say that your blog will get to the top if you stay the course and read this blog regularly (RSS is available). There are loads of tips and give-aways that you will get from here to help you grow. Mashable recently highlighted six simple tools to rate your blog's success. Keep your focus on these and with time, success will spill all over you.

3. Traffic exchanges and social sites are part of blogmaster school
Some bloggers do not like traffic exchange for the simple reason that it reduces Google Adsense Pay-per-click and increases bounce rate. Others believe it gives a flse sense of traffic when the traffic is just bouncers. I have to tell you that being part of a traffic exchange is an essential aspect of blog education. You have no choice. If you can afford it, you can advertise on CNN.com or WSJ.com. You could even buy front page on Yahoo. If you can not afford it then go to school organically.

Some traffic exchange programs like LinkReferral (see sidebar) force you to review other sites that you visit in order to gain points and position. Others just put that blog 'in your face'. I belong to Entrecard also and I would encourage newcomers to quickly get registered and start dropping their cards here. My blog and several other blogs even offers a streaming feed of recent card droppers. that way with Entrecard, you get prime position for just dropping your card with me. Many of the blogs in these exchanges are at your level. They are hardly A-listed, though many are on their way there.

The beauty of it is that you are exposed to a wide array of sites, probably more than you would visit in a normal browsing day. You see things you like and things you do not like. You find out those you can associate with and those you want to run from. Traffic exchanges give you an opportunity to see a lot of niches that you would have never dreamed of.

The best aspect of the exchange is this subtle educational opportunity to meet people of like or varrying interests and learn from them. If we do not go to school, we still meet people, probably at church or some cousin or neighbour's place. School does significantly increase socila contact, interaction and bonding. My advice: Go to school, join link exchanges. You can even team up to form advertisement groups and leverage on each other to swing good bargains.

When you outgrow the networks, you will know and you can move on. Come on, you need that traffic. If you have good content, you will convert some and there you go on your way to stardom.

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Part 2: The best kept secrets of blog traffic building

Socialize it
Socializing a blog involves some of the most time-consuming efforts in blog management. You have to first visit the social sites of which there are many. There you have to join groups and form alliances. then you have to visit the blogs of these new-found allies and 'endorse' some of their works. Some, usually less than 30% will reciprocate, as their eyes will be trailing the big fish bloggers, not you rookie.

Is it right to do this? Well, it is all relative, but a little bit of this would not hurt. However, one must not forget the primary business of the day:blogging. Do not lose sight, just continue to blog. New quality content. The internet will find you. You do not need to spend all your time seeking social sites and not have good quality content at home. If you do that, you may get visitors to your blog, but they will leave disappointed and will never come back. Put sticky content that people can not do without on your blog. Even if it has been said before, say it in a different way.

RSS Virus
This virus is more potent than anything I have heard of. You must have an RSS feed....whether you like it or not if you want your blog to survive. In addition to having one, encourage visitors to subscribe to it. Mine is powered by feedburner and I want you to subscribe. It is at the upper left hand corner of my page. If you do, you will always get the latest entries on this blog.

Include an advanced RSS burner or reader that will allow you to sign visitors up by email too. The RSS virus is so viral and we usually can not tell where it will get to in the blogosphere. When a virus carries your information, rest assured it will get to many continents. Blogs fail if they fail to concentrate on stuff like this.

Watch your Stats
If you blog, you want traffic. I am often amused when 'experts say, do not get obsessed by traffic. Apart from content, trafic is the most important aspect of blog development. Traffic validates content. If you remember in the first part of this post, I said that your blog is just numbers, 'one's and 'zero's sitting somewhere. If nobody reads it, it is useless. when you watch your stats, you see how things that you do daily, affect your traffic.

Wordpress has excellent dashboard stats. You can also use google analytics which is free. I have a link to site meter also as backup. Look at it closely, visit those that have sent you traffic, learn from them too. Mahalo actually gives excellent tutorials on the tool. Do those things that drive you traffic more.

Read your blog, read other blogs, get 'hot'content
This must sound crazy, but I am saying it. Read your blog. A must read for others is also a must-read for you. there will be hidden typos, 'nuke' them. read other blogs to get great ideas and blog about them. third is to hunt for hot news. Your blog is not necessarily about news, but being the first, or among the first small sites to blog about some new remotely or closely related news activity or development has a way of getting you ranked really high on searches.

Do not hesitate to blog at 1 am. You may find something from an Australian blog and there you are. Also, a blog like Techcrunch has mid-night bloggers, so be the first to comment/link to one of their articles. They do publish your trackback and that could inch you up the ladder too.

And the beat goes on.....
. There are many other tips and secrets, but I have shared the experiences I have had with blogging in my first 30 days. This post is definitely non-exhaustive, so expect more guidance as we move along. the best is yet to come.I can continue, but I will stop here so that we will have space in the concluding part of the series to discuss where blogging is going. thanks you for stopping by and please link to me. You can visit my first blog here.

The best kept secrets about blog traffic building

In this 3 post series, I will outline certain principles that should guide you if you want to build a blog from the scratch. I will also explain why many blogs fall by the wayside and why blogs are the future of mankind.

In the begining:

I started my wordpress blog and approximately 30 days later, we recieved our 1500th unique visitor. By some standards, that is mediocre, while with others that is very impressive. Personally I am impressed. I am sure some readers are guessing that this is my umpteenth blog, no no no. My first blog.

Start

If you want to build blog traffic from the scratch, you have to start. Go to wordpress dot com and get a free blog. It is easier than getting an email address. Other alternatives include blogger, typepad and a zillion others out there. There are differences between the various platforms and wordpress dot com seems to be very advanced and user-friendly, especially with their continuous upgrades. The down side is that you are limited in terms of flexibility and if you hope to make money from blogging with advertisements, then this is not the free platform for you. Blogger dot com allows free users to insert adverts, so go there if you are keen on that.

Looking for content

Many advisers and bloggers will always tell you: "create your own niche", "be an expert in your niche" etc etc etc. While that is a valid fact, how many experts will there be? If I like techy stuff, how will I keep up with Techcrunch, Gizmodo and Lifehacker? There are editorial teams blogging about everything and anything on the web. I decided to blog so I have to start with what I have. Simply, you have to blog about the things that interest you online. With time, it will take shape and you will morph your blogging technique into what you really are best at. For some other topics, it may be a struggle. Do not stop. Let your target be at least 200 words, 500 would be better.

Many bloggers want to read as many blogs as possible within a short time and who has time for a 3000 word essay. Go straight to the "money". If you have a picture or a video, include it to give your blog some color. Even after writing, review your essay and correct any typos identified. If you run out of ideas, find out what the top blogs are blogging about and spin a variant of that. Let your personality reflect in what you write. I do not think one can get it wrong, being one's self.

Looking for readers

The best blog posts are just ones and zeros on some remote computer in a room being cooled by giant cooling systems in some high-rise building, somewhere out there. If theses numbers are not accessed by the blogger, they do not become blogs and are never read. Just like the customer, the most important person in the blog equation is the reader. Go and get them.

I looked for them in several ways for my Mcneri Wordpress Blog. I first sought to use the best background colors I could find:white. The most successful websites have white or almost white backgrounds, so I waded through wordpress themes until I got to journalist theme and stopped.

I activated my Feedburner for RSS. There is also an email subscription box available. I joined BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. I submitted my posts to Digg. I signed up with Technorati. I also included my link in a couple of forums that I belong to. I also submitted my posts to Google submit url the moment I finished posting it.

Starting the buzz

Your blog has to give something to the blogosphere, if you are expecting anything in return....naturally. I have initiated a complimentary service where I will highlight one website per week as site of the week. We have recieved a few entries and soon our first site will be show-cased. The how to become a world class section is also a new addition that guides readers on aspects of their career.

The traffic has not been fantastic, but has steadily increased. I did not spend any money on adverts, backlinks or link exchanges. I have attempted exchanges, but it has not yielded much and I am not keen anyway.

I have also commented on several blogs and some pay me a visit in return, while others do not even allow a link back to my poor little blog. We learn everyday. I have also tried to respond to any comments on my blog. Not too many for now so I have managed well. I guess, anyone with more than 200 comments in a day will have a real difficulty responding. However if you are small fry like me, make sure you respond to the visitors, promptly.

Monetizing the blog

This is an important aspect of blogging and I believe that since Google and Microsoft are making money, everyone that contributes to the web should. How do I do that? Juggling a full time and a half job leaves me very little time after family to blog, so I am taking it easy. Now I have started this blog on blogger. We have Google Adsense and Amazon Associates ads there. I may even be able to add Text Link Ads. I will then be positioned to monetize my blog. that is why there are very few links out of this blog post.

To be continued