Ah, today I will make this short and sweet! I ran across a blog which caught my eye… I do like the style of this particular blogger, as he gets right to the point, no matter the subject. When it comes to entreprenuership, you really ought to take a look at what Peter Shankman has to offer in the art of teaching others about Social Media. An entrepreneur, author, speaker, and worldwide connector, Peter is recognized worldwide for radically new ways of thinking about Social Media, PR, marketing, advertising, creativity, and customer service.

Peter may be a little crazy when it comes to getting a point across, and PR Week Magazine has described him as “redefining the art of networking”, but his methods appear to be quite effective. So if you are striving to become a successful entrepreneur, and would like to sift through Peter’s blog to find some helpful tips, be sure to take a few moments to visit The Home of Peter Shankman. If nothing else, you are certain to find a bit of entertainment to lighten up the moment.

A great way to get a feel for the blogoshpere and to get to know your fellow bloggers is to visit their blogs. Not only will you learn what other people are blogging about, you can also make some valuable connections, and find some new friends in the process.

I am always browsing around to see what is happening elsewhere. I love to learn about the world around me, and I love meeting new people. There is so much to see and do on the net, and the wonderful ideas floating around are just waiting to be discovered!

It is very important to be courteous when visiting the spaces bloggers provide by taking a few moments to comment. Remember to leave true comments relating to the material you are viewing. Just saying “Hello” or “Nice blog” without following up with the real reason you like someones blog is bound to get your comment deleted for the totally impersonal way those kind of short comments sound. You really want to allow the blogger to realize you are a real person, and not a bot leaving spam all over the blogging community.

Of course some blogs aren’t even there for the value they are meant to offer others. These are the blogs that steal other peoples content and paste lots of google ads, among other things, just to earn a quick buck. No sense even wasting our precious time on these blog suckers, right?

And truly, some blogs are truly just someone’s personal space, and are meant to be respected as such.

This has been a crazy year for me in 2009, thus far. Here I was all ready to jam into the New Year with all my fantastic ideas for blogging, homeschooling my daughter, and learning new ways to enjoy my Life. Next thing I know, personal tragedy hits me right in the bootie, and I am so far off track as to make one cry.

Now, I am really big on making promises and keeping them. When I say I am going to do something, you know I am going to follow through. My friends and family admire this trait in my personality, and I consider it a personal honor to keep this aspect of my persona alive and well. But when life sends us so far off our chosen path, and our goals and dreams begin to slip away like so much sand through our fingers, it is time to take a deep breath and back up just a bit.

Blogging is a hobby, but it is also a passion for me. I love to write, and I love to learn new things about this world, and the people and creatures who inhabit the Earth. I love to share that which makes this Life interesting, and magical. Lately I have fallen short, and my blogging shows how little time and effort I have allowed myself to expend on this joy of mine. I have offered up some great tips and advice on this blog, and shared many experiences on my other blogs as well. Yet I have been distracted to the point of nearly giving up on my passion and love of writing.

I do hope any visitors who happen along can understand that my lack of information and consistant posts of late do not reflect upon my abilities to create a space worth visiting. Life happens, and the awful personal experiences in the past few months took all of my attention to find a good way through. I do not wish to give the impression that I am easily distracted from my purpose.

I shall strive to make up for lost time, and provide a blog worth visiting, and shall point the way to other blogs and bloggers I find interesting and helpful as well. As you have read thus far, I am grateful and thankful for allowing me to share your valuable time.

When it comes to any business or project, it is important to develop a descriptive pitch which will catch the listener or reader’s attention with as few words as possible. If you don’t accomplish this goal rather quickly, you just may miss your chance. In today’s busy world, we usually have a very small window of opportunity to attract visitors who will be interested enough to stay on our blog to read more. Knowing how this is done can be quite beneficial, and is a very good first step to focus on when creating a space worth visiting.

When we give a clear and well defined view of what our blog is all about, either in our tag line or on our About page, we give the reader an idea of who we are and what we have to offer to them. This way they can decide immediately whether they will find our blog a place of interest or not. If we are fuzzy about our goals, mission, or subject matter, then it is most likely that a visitor will recognize this right away, and look elsewhere for whatever it is they are searching for. An elevator pitch is just a short, sweet, and simple way to describe your blog with as few words as possible while being quite clear.

I am following some helpful tips from a professional blogger who has proven his methods work. As mentioned in my previous post, Darren Rowse is offering up his 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge, and although I was away from the blogging spere I would like to point you in the right direction to visit Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog [Day 1 -31DBBB] to get the full scoop on this first tip from Day 1 in Darren’s challenge.

I will be updating this blog, which is clearly a blog about blogs, blogging, and the blogosphere, with Darren’s awesome tips during this 31 day challenge. If you want to recieve updates directly from Darren Rowse, then feel free to sign up and catch up on this, his latest challenge.

Meanwhile, happy Blogging!

What is an Elevator Pitch? - “An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds or 100-150 words).”

If there is one person who comes to mind when I think of blogging, it is Darren Rowse. He has proven his blogging skills a hundred times over, and his willingness to help others is quite commendable. He knows his way around the blogosphere, and is a blogging pioneer worth following if you wish to gain access to the blogging realms in a successful way. Following his tips can save novice bloggers a lot of time, energy, and heartache. It is not always easy stepping into a realm which is rapidly becoming saturated with people thinking they can make a quick buck without doing their homework, or thinking they don’t have to work at all.

Darren Rowse is offering 31 Days to Build a Better Blog starting on April 1st. He assures us that this is no fools joke, and I tend to sit up and take notice when the experts offer a great way to improve ourselves. Darren is challenging us to take positive action to improve our blogs. If we set aside a specific time to accomplish our goals, we are more likely to succeed. In this way, we cannot keep saying ’some day’ when it comes to taking care of business and moving forward in a positive way.

Perhaps you have been blogging for a while, and just need a few tips on how to improve your current blog/blogs. Either way, I would encourage you to hop on over and see what Darren has to offer. He explains The Idea, How it Works, and How to Participate. I will be taking advantage of this great opportunity to improve my blogging skills, and learn something new!

Thanks Darren.

I love to blog. I have 5 blogs, and until quite recently I had plenty of time to maintain and grow all of them. I have many interests, so this is not a huge challenge for me, although at times it does present a fair challenge when time gets away from me.

I have a lot of helpful tips and advice on this blog. Unfortunately I have fallen behind, and in doing so, I am falling short of one of my own suggestions. To blog on a regular basis is very important. Even if to just check in and let people know we are still around, and active. A personal battle to keep my family intact, safe, and happy, has kept me so busy and distracted, that this once I shall allow myself this small lapse. This is a lesson for me. I shall just have to be more dilligent, and prepare some posts in reserve for if this happens again, which I am certain it will, as Life tends to throw a lot of unexpected (and sometimes expected) suprises our way.

We just need to be prepared, and take advantage of the quiet, smooth moments to supply our blogs just like we would our homes. You never know when a storm will arise, and wash away our well thought out plans. That is when we take stock of the situation and make the best of what we have to work with.

So if any visitors have popped in lately and noticed my huge lapse in posts, I do apologise. I am still here, and I hope you find some great tips to help you navigate through the blogging sphere, as well as some great blogs to visit. We are all part of a giant web which connects us, and together we can create a world full of interesting topics to explore, share, and enjoy. Life to me is one great adventure, and each moment brings something new to explore. Let those moments be good ones, and remember to bring your best self forward.

When it comes to making money online, it is good to check out what those who are already amazingly successful are doing. If they have some sound advice to pass along, I tend to listen up. I am in a mood to spring clean around the house, and the same goes for my marketing and blogging adventures. If I have missed something, well then I am pretty grateful to get a heads up so I can clean up my blogs, or add a feature which will maximize my earnings.

Truly I have been in information mode, so as to create a space worth visiting, on most of my blogs. So the monetizing aspect hasn’t been my primary focus. It doesn’t make sense to throw up a blog just to make money, especially if the content is practically non-existant. Although I do have a few ads, and an affiliate link or two within my posts, I like to wait until I am well established before focusing more on promotions.

Once we reach the point where we are getting more visitors, and potential customers to our affiliate or business blogs, then we need to step it up a bit and pay attention to our marketing tactics. Since I do have a good amount of respect for John Reese, I would like to pass along some great advice for business or affiliate bloggers. If you are interested, then visit this post –>The easiest way to Make More Money on John Reese’s blog. You may just thank John for his advice in the long run. It truly pays to touch all your bases.

It is good to take the time to check our links and banners upon occasion. I like to do this about once every week or so, just to keep things fresh. Sometimes we need to be even more diligent, especially if we are promoting a special offer which may be time sensitive. It is a good idea to keep everything up to date, for the sake of appearances. People tend to notice if we are sloppy with our links and banners, and it does not look good.

I tend to browse through my older posts ever so often to look for active links as well. If a page, blog, or certain site we have given reference to, happens to disappear or is no longer in service, it is good to catch it before it creates an image of unprofessionalism. None of us are perfect, so it is okay if we miss something, yet it helps if a visitor points out our dead link so we can take care, of or modify it, as soon as possible.

Another thing I like to do is rotate my banners. Also, keeping tabs on the banners people tend to visit most will help us to provide that which people are searching for. Tracking our links and banners whenever possible is how we weed out the good stuff from the bad. Of course our banners and buttons must have some sort of relation to our blog topic and content, as personally I am not of the mind to turn my blog into an online shopping mall!

Okay, now that we have the great tip on keeping our links and banners fresh and relevant out of the way, I have one last little detail I feel is important to pay attention to.

When people click on your links and banners, do you wish them to navigate away from your page? Absolutely not! I like to make each link or banner open in a new page whenever possible. I can do this with just about everything I add to my blog, except for the Google ads. I add a nifty little snippet to my link or banner code which enables people to open a new page when the click on my links or banners. I like to do this with images as well. This keeps our blog or site open in its own window, so people have the option to return and peruse our content some more if they so wish.

Enjoy!

Teri
~

Are you a blogger who has run into a seeming dead end? Are you struggling to find new ideas to blog about? It happens to the best of us. We start out with really great ideas and a fine list of topics. Then there comes a day when we come up blank… and it drags on for days, and nothing seems come to mind. Panic may start to set in at this point, as we feel we are going to lose those valuable readers who up to this point have been pretty happy hanging out in our blogoshpere.

If this has happened to you, and you need to energize your blog with some fresh content, while getting some great ideas on blog topics, well then I may just have the place for you! Blog Energizer is a new place where we can connect with other people who want to blog for you for free! Not only that, but you can learn about some interesting activity ideas you can do on your blog to bring in new readers, and bring back previous readers.

Blog Energizer has the resources to introduce you to bloggers who would love to feature your posts on their blog. Perhaps you want to find someone who’s looking to promote your blog or product, for free?

Here’s some more really good news! Lynette Chandler and Alice Seba wrote this “12 Buzz Topics You Should Blog About Now” guide, designed to supply you with blog ideas that get a reaction from your readers, make them talk about you, share your post and link to you. So you not only fill your blog with quality posts, you bring in more traffic too. This download is free, so take advantage of this great gift.

Hopefully this blogging tip will prove to be helpful in pumping up your blogging image with some totally great energizing action! I have already greatly benefitted from the ideas I have learned about through this awesome team of helpful bloggers. As the net grows and changes, it helps to stick together with those who offer up some valuable resources. Blogging can be fun and very productive in promoting our businesses, products, or just sharing some great tips on our favourite hobby or subject.

So let’s get out there and Energize our Blogs!

Today I am honoured to feature a fellow blogger who touched my sense of natural living the most this week. Since I am totally into all things natural, and my self as well as my lifestyle commits to nature in a very personal way, I can truly relate to and respect the choices and natural tips offered up by earthmother. She maintains a blog which allows a glimpse into her journeys as she shares that which has helped her to regain a healthy, happy body.

In The Raw is earthmother’s story of how she got to the natural state of being in which she enjoys today. And I mean the raw fruit and veggie path… not the other natural state of being… LOL It was not always so, and she is brave as well as generous to give some great tips on living a raw lifestyle, with some pretty vivid detail into her personal journey. I love stopping by her space to get new recipes or ideas on how I can enhance my own fruit and veggie regimine, as well as encouragement to keep myself on a pure and natural path. I have learned about some highly nutritious foods that I wasn’t even aware existed, and the variety of methods of creating new dishes brings a delicious twist to my culinary delights.

Alrighty then! If you are like me, and love to delve into the earthly treasures to be gleaned through our fellow blogging enthusiasts, well then you just may like to visit earthmothers blog and get the raw scoop. Your body will thank you!

This is a good question. The answer depends upon the type of blog one is maintaining. If it is a personal blog, it is up to the individual, as they blog about how they feel or what they are up to and wish to share. Business blogs should be loaded with information about their business, so when they are first created they really need to get a lot of information out there to be credible. Adding a post every day, or every other day, until the blog carries enough information to satisfy visitors and answer pertinent questions about the business is essential. Then one can post every 3 - 7 days to keep fresh content flowing through, as well as to alert the reader to the fact that the blog is still active.

Established Blogs

Once a blog has become well established with enough content, which will take at least two to three months, then we can relax just a bit if that is our wish. I usually try to get a post out every three days, yet if I become too busy or otherwise occupied I will be sure to get my bootie in gear and post some relevant and hepful content if I notice that 7 or more days have gone by since my last post. It is perfectly fine to post every day if one so wishes, and even to add more than one post per day. Each person develops their own method, yet I would suggest not letting more than a few days go by without posting. I maintain several blogs, and I do not like to fill in the blanks with irrelevent or quick filler posts, so I like to research quality information or share personal experiences to allow the reader to get a glimpse of who I am and where I am coming from.

Gaining a Readers Interest with Fresh Content

The important thing to remember is that people are fickle creatures for the most part. If they do not get a good first impression when they visit our blogs, they may never return. If our content is not somewhat orginal, and consistent to a point, then they will quickly become disinterested. If our blog is stale, with no regular fresh content to pique the readers interest, then we are doomed to annonyminity. The key is to create a unique atmoshpere with helpful or entertaining information which will bring the reader back for more, and maybe even encourage them to talk about our blog. Word of mouth (or keyboard) is a great way to become viral.

Am I Search Friendly?

Another thing to consider is the search engines. They absolutely love fresh and unique content. Our blogging status in cyber space will greatly improve as time goes by if we give those spiders something to gobble up. We want people to find us, and not just other bloggers in our social networks. What better way than to travel our way through a search term which leads them to our blog? After all, when we offer a solution to someones problem or give them a similar situation to relate to, then we are satisfying their need. This is what feeds our blog and helps us to grow, so it is worth our time to do a little research or pass along our great individual storehouses of information to those of a curious nature.

Happy Blogging!

Here is a courtesy post written by Alice Seba, my Coach at IMBloggingBootcamp.com

Even if you love blogging, the one thing that most business bloggers complain about is how much time it takes to keep their blog up-to-date.

But if you have a system – the truth is, blogging can take as much or as little time as you want it to – and you can still have great content on your blog. This short report, outlines an easy-to-apply system for you and other tips to make blogging a whole lot quicker.

A little while back, I was feverishly working on scheduling my blog posts so I’d have plenty of content before the birth of baby #3. I had managed to schedule 20 posts in about 2 1/2 hours and some of my Twitter friends were dumbfounded. They said 1 blog post could take them up to that much time - how could I do 20?

If you’re interested in making fast work of your blogging, here are my 3 important steps for getting more (GOOD) posts done in a short time.

3-Step Quick Blogging Plan

1. Plan your topics and make notes ahead of time. I regularly get my notebook out (no, not my laptop…an actual paper notebook) and write down my ideas ahead of time. I keep the notebook with me at all times and I plan posts a few weeks (or in my recent case, a couple months) in advance.

If you prefer to use your PDA, go for it, but I do recommend getting away from the distractions of the computer to start your brainstorming. If you need to do research, that’s fine…but do your
final planning away from that computer.

2. Keep it Simple And Realize Novels are not required. There is no length requirement for blog posts. In fact, some of my shortest ones are the most popular with my readers (ex. the whole Tough Question Tuesday category). Sure, sometimes you have a lot to say on a subject, but overall - keep it short, sweet and to the point. Your readers will likely appreciate and you don’t have to be chained to your computer for just 1 blog post.

3. Use the scheduling feature of your blog and post it in bulk. You probably do use your scheduling to some degree, but really take advantage of it. If you plan a few weeks in advance and realize you don’t need novels, you can load up your blog with plenty of fresh content to roll out over the next few weeks. Just doing everything in chunks (a bunch of planning and then a bunch of writing), makes it a whole lot easier.

Simply trying to blog when an idea comes to you is perfectly fine – but you may not get as much posting done or you’ll have to work even harder to get done what you can by doing your research, writing and scheduling in bulk.

More Tips for Making Your Blogging Quicker

Follow the three steps outlined above and you’re sure to see things get a lot easier and faster when it comes to blogging…but here are some additional ideas to make your content creation even faster.

1. Comment on blog posts or articles on other websites. They’ve done the hard work – now you just need to share your thoughts.

2. Invite guest bloggers to post on your site. If you have a blog with good exposure, you can find people who would love to post. Provide them with a profile and other perks on your site to make it an attractive offer.

3. Publish reprint articles. For example, you can try ezinearticles.com for content or the affiliate programs you have joined may also have reprint articles for you. If you’re blog is conversational, you may not want to simply post a reprinted article. Instead you can publish the article elsewhere on your site and link to it, include an excerpt and your own comments on the content.

4. Publish PLR (private label rights) content. You can approach PLR the same way as reprint articles, but because you have full editing rights, you can do more with PLR. You can take excerpts, change the content to suit your personal opinions, etc.

5. Hire a writer. You can simply have someone ghostwrite short posts for you that you then publish on your blog. Or you can hire a writer (with their pen name or real name) that writes for your blog and takes care of the posting and scheduling.

6. Answer questions from your readers. If you have someone email you or post a question in a comment on your blog, turn that into another quick blog post.

7. Keep a notebook, PDA or handy. As mentioned in the 3-step plan, you’re going to preplan all (or most of) your topics, but keep something close by where you can jot down ideas or whole blog posts on the fly. Some of the best blog post ideas come when you’re out in the real world – instead of in front of your computer screen.

8. Try photos. Sometimes pictures REALLY are worth a thousand words. Share a photo with your readers. It can be funny, give a little peek into your personal life, intriguing or just plain word. A good picture needs very little else said to get it’s point across.

9. Break it up. There’s no rule that says you have to give all your thoughts on a subject in a single blog post. If it makes sense to break the topic up, do so.

Blogging does take conscious work, but it doesn’t have to take over your life. Set aside time each month or week to dedicate just to your 3-step blogging (and don’t forget the 9 additional tips to make things even easier) and you’ll be golden.