Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

When you have not updated or engaged with your blog, you do lose some traffic. If you go on vacation or your life offline might be a bit more busy than usual, this can be frustrating. So what can you do? How can you keep your blog growing when you are too busy?

Here are some tips to help with that:

• Have back up posts or write posts ahead of time and schedule them evenly throughout the time you may expect to be away from your computer.
• Consider accepting guest posts. Make a regular call to your followers and friends that you need guest post because you are uncertain if you are going to be away from your computer. This will help keep content flowing and your readers’ interests. MyBlogGuest is a great place to seek guest writers. Other places to seek guest writers are on Twitter, a public annoucement post from your site, or even your site’s Facebook fan page.
• Make sure you have Tweet Old Post if you use WordPress. This will share articles that are older, but still great to share. Because there are so many people on Twitter, the first time you tweet a post, it might be missed. This plugin helps get that word out and you do not even have to lift a finger after installing it.
• Ask a good online friend to come by your website and engage with your readers who leave comments. This will keep the conversation alive and it also becomes a win-win as your site stays active and your friend who is helping out may bring in readers as well. And remember to return the favor when they are absent from their own blog.
• While you are away, create a poll or survey for your readers to fill out and give feedback about your website. This is great if you are trying to improve your site, but a perfect time to deploy some type of survey.

What do you do to keep your blog growing when you are too busy?

For anyone who does not know what KeywordLuv is, it is a plug created by Stephen Cronin that has promised blog owners that their reader’s comments on their DoFollow blogs can be rewarded by using a keyword, rather than the person’s name.

While this is great and there are plugins like GASP that have helped to reduce comment spam and false positives, KeywordLuv really does nothing more than encourage spammers. There are too many people jumping on the bandwagon that using a keyword instead of a name is great. For transparency and social media, this is not ideal.

Even back in March 2009, the very developer of KeywordLuv, a big DoFollow supporter removed KeywordLuv because of the spam.

The idea of KeywordLuv was great, but with CommentLuv already out there for years, rewards the visitors. While it is acceptable to see ‘Your Name @ Such And Such Company’, the keyword signoff, is seen as spam. It is not surprising to see even an accepted type of sign off be lopped in with the spam too.

While I know a lot of people would not agree with me, it really does not give much oomph for backlinks. Even if you make 100 approved comments on Google Page Rank 4 and above websites, you are not going to get much juice. Most of the meat and potatoes in getting link juice is within the article itself and not the comments. And unless I put the exact URL jump to a comment, or if someone else does, that will not matter much.

The comments should matter more for engagement, rather than SEO. This is where all the fake blog comment opportunities out there in the freelance world have gone wrong. The ones who get it, encourage real and substantial comments that can add to the blog post’s conversation, not look like spam.

Think about it.

• How many people are utilizing KeywordLuv when commenting on your site?
• Out of those who use KeywordLuv- how many of them are actually using it properly?
• Are their comments (on blogs using KeywordLuv) more substantial, or are you clicking delete on their comment because it seems like spam?
• Is it really necessary to add that extra plugin to your comment features that really do not do much rewarding in the end, especially when there are better alternatives like CommentLuv?

On Blog Talk Radio, I put out a segment called Intro to Engaging Followers And Getting Traffic for Your Website. I have to say, this one went a lot smoother than the first one.

I am still getting use to Blog Talk Radio, but I think putting out a weekly 15 minute show for now will at least get me use to speaking to people more. My first show, I did have a caller, but I had a problem with the switchboard. I am hoping not to have the same issues in the future. By the way, please note that I did remember to put my introduction audio up. The intro is about a minute and a half… and I love it! Hooch did an awesome job on my intro audio! Thanks Hooch!

Right now, I have planned to try to have a show every Saturday at 1:30PM US Central Standard Time. During those 15 minutes I will be live. However, there is also a chat room that if you cannot call in or do not want to, you can ask me questions there.

Please drop by and listen to Intro to Engaging Followers And Getting Traffic for Your Website

If you have a blog, you are pitching. How often have you heard that (even at conferences)? It is a very true statement. When you put up a website, you are most likely not hording it all to your lonesome. You are telling people about it.

Some of you might not understand this and be saying – ‘I have a personal site, so how can I be selling.’

You are selling your words.

Every time you share that blog post out on Twitter, Facebook, and all the social network sites out there, you are basically advertising- ‘Here is my post. Please come read it.’

There is no shame in that, but make sure your pitch is a clear one. If it takes a long novel to describe what your site is about, people will not be interested. Keep your pitch simple and between 3 to 20 words. This pitch is something you can use at your site’s description so when Google picks up your site, that will include exactly what you want people to know about your site.

For example- I use: “Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar” for Blondish.net

You will know I help people with their websites and that I hope to make sure their websites turn out awesome.

Try your pitch here. Tell me it and how you came up with it? If you do not have a definite one, do you need help?

Guest blogging has its link building benefits, but sometimes choosing the right site is better than guest posting at just any place. It is obvious if you are going to guest blog, you are going to get something out of it- even owners of larger and more popular blogs are going to know this.

Of course, it never hurts to write on smaller blogs. It just makes sense to make sure your guest post counts more since the authority and traffic is already established on larger websites.

Pay attention to a site’s traffic and rank. Whether you can analyze it with Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, or even the SEOmoz’s handy dandy toolbar, you want to make sure you are writing for sites that have a larger reach.
Put your best effort into writing. If you are writing and representing a company, make sure the guest posts you write are not something that was not even an interest. It shows and blog owners might not approve it.
Do your research on the website’s views and overall content. Before even submitting a guest post, make sure your material will fit well with the site. If it is off topic, or not in sync with what the views are on the website, your post might not be published. You probably should be a reader of the site first before even treading into writing for it.
Research the website’s guest posting guidelines. If you are getting paid to guest write for your company, and you decide to write on an active blog that the owner asks guest writers to be active in replying to comments, you need to know that. It is not uncommon to see a site owner take down a post that clearly says the writer did not care about the active community of that site. The extra replying may take a little time, but it really looks good and makes you care – meaning – your company that you represent cares too.
Search through Google, social bookmark sites and even MyBlogGuest.com to find sites that are looking for guest writers. Sometimes you only have to look for ‘guest write here’, ‘write for us’, ‘submit article’ or even ‘submit your post’.

Do you accept guest posts? If so, do you have any tips for people looking for the right blog to guest write for?

You know your niche, right? If not, finding topics for your site might be on the difficult side. However, it really comes down to one thing: your knowledge of the topics or that single topic.

Some niche are wide and you can get away with writing a lot, but some are so narrow, it might make coming up with posts a little difficult.

The solution: keep on top of your niche community by researching. If it is reading competitors’ websites, rubbing elbows with both newbies and experts, then do it. Participate in discussions, do interviews, do what it takes to make sure you establish yourself and your blog as a strong authority in your part of your blogging community. Be active about your blogging and put to the table new ideas for people to try out. It is important that if you really want to be passionate and blog about certain topics, that your knowledge can back you up.

For example, I was asked by a reader on how to help with ideas on writing articles and getting traffic to their web hosting site. I answered that he should write about topics from the types of web hosting available to consumers, suggestions for design, deals out there for business owners looking for good services (including affiliate links to those services if possible), and much more. The fact of the matter is that I wanted him to know that he can write about anything that involves web hosting. He just has to do the work to research or bring what he already knows to the table.

It is not the first I have been asked to brainstorm some writing prompts. I have been doing that ever since my high school days when I was co-editor of the school newspaper. (Wow – a long time ago! lol )

If your niche is way too narrow, perhaps widening up the focus of your website might be necessary. This will allow you to keep your site alive and include other topics that you might enjoy.

What advice do you have for bloggers a bit stumped? What niche have you found it a bit difficult to write about extensively because it was a bit too narrow to cover?

I did my first show, Blondish.net on Blog Talk Radio – Advice for New Bloggers.

It was a bit awkward considering it is my first time and it was through my telephone. I had to make sure to turn my own sound down because I would have heard myself talking and that would have messed things up. In fact, it just about it. So, learning experience.

I also had a lot of “um” moments. I am laughing after having heard it. AND, I thought the introduction audio that Hooch (@thehooch36 on Twitter) kindly prepared for me was something that automatically started at the beginning, so there was a late intro audio into the program.

That is what happens with total n00bs to Blog Talk Radio. However, it was not as difficult. I think it was due to being a bit nervous since this is a new venture I am trying to start as a dynamic addition to my website.

Please let me know your thoughts, suggestions for future topics. Also, WPAddict.net will gets its own weekly 15 minute show too. It might be a Sunday or Wednesday event.

Here is the show:

So, you have one blog, but being the awesome and full of surprises person, you would like to branch out and start another blog. It is no surprise that you would considering you probably have content on your first blog that you have so much more to say, but want to have a site focused on just that topic. That is okay, but really – when is the right time to take on building another blog.

Blogging can become time consuming, especially if you are passionate about what you know and want to share with other people. Juggling two or more sites is truly a talent. It takes trying to make sure both sites succeed, especially if your ambition is to be the best in whatever niche communities you try to develop an authority within.

The best time is really when you have a plan down on how you want to run your new website. A lot of people do put a site up on the fly, but sometimes those same sites burn out as fast as they started.

Successful sites take a good plan for the foundation that will leave the website open later on for any content re-focus that is necessary and any plans for strategically marketing to wider audiences.

Of course, time is a huge factor. Your investment on how much time you can spend can really be huge. While you could accept guest posts, when you build a site and start engaging with people in conversation, they are hoping to read your material. However, with careful planning, your guest posts can be that extra zing your site needs every so often to carry it to the next level.

Research is a huge key as well. Before you open a new website, you need to know your niche.

• Who are the bloggers that are the authority in your niche?
• What kind of topics or opinions can you bring to the table that is unique and interesting?
• How and who can you promote your new website to?
• Do you have the time to not just blog, but also return comments and perhaps even reply to comments left on your own articles?

Throughout the years, I have seen a lot of websites open and close. I have opened and closed a few myself. However, some of the blogs I have seen closed, the major issues were lack of time, lack of interest, and lack of knowledge.

While you can write the content, if you want people to read it, you have to tell people somehow.

What advice do you have for bloggers looking to branch out and start more than one blog?