Helping You Rock Out Your Site Like A Rockstar!

There are so many tools out there for new bloggers to try and use. Unfortunately, for those who have already passed the ‘just born blogger’ hump, you learned that it took some searching to find what you needed. It also probably took extra searching to make sure what you found was not off the wall information.

So many bloggers who have put a few months under their belt are eager to jump on the bandwagon and show newbies the way. This is great! Go for it, BUT do it right!

How can you advise a newbie blogger the right way?

Every blogger has their own tone of writing, but sometimes your readers may take something the wrong way because they are reading the words ‘as is.’ Unless you do a video, they are not going to hear the humor or light heartedness versus the seriousness in the tone of your voice. They will not see your facial expressions. Written communication does not always turn out the same as verbal. It is not uncommon to hear about some kerfuffle online that started over a misunderstanding from just reading another person’s words at face value.

Well, considering all the personalities that you will ever encounter, you have to meet it with a friendly, yet informative tone. Never seem “know it all” and in your face. The Internet is always changing, so you need to have an open mind about things and anything that is in your face is not going to attract regular readers.
People do not learn by having content seemingly shoved in their face. It is often a put off and encourages people to argue, rather than work for a civil solution.

Be prepared to update information when it changes and present it to your visitors so they can relate to it. Rather than tell them that they “you need to do this, and this, and this” – show them the way. It is the same as telling directions. It is much friendlier to show the way, then just point the way.

Be prepared to back up your information from more notable bloggers in your niche that can agree with you that what you share has been tested and confirmed as working. These notable bloggers are people that may have covered similar topics that may even be more relatable to your visitors. This allows your visitors to see that you care that they get the right information.

If you do not know the answer, refer the newbie to someone you believe does. This is the best thing that you can do. It makes you resourceful.

The first few months a blogger has been building their website is crucial. Like a kid, they are impressionable because they see or perceive that other bloggers they follow are the ones they need to learn from. Newbie bloggers do not need fancy words. Tell them the story straight up.

What other advice do you have for established bloggers who want advise newbie bloggers?

Donating money is usually something that as an individual, you look at the service provided and access what it is worth before giving an amount of money away. This goes for anything, including donations of bloggers.

I have seen bloggers putting up a donation module of some sort, whether it be Chipin, Paypal itself, or some other module that accepts payment. Considering some of the sites I have visited, I really do see a point to give some money, especially if I have learned or taken away something from the website.

It works much like web developers who offer free tools that other users online can use. This gives an extra appreciation to the developer to create more great programs for others to use or to improve upon what is already offered.

For bloggers, this could be an extra boost from readers to say they appreciate the blogger or have actually learned from the blogger something that has made their business or website successful.

For me, I think donations for bloggers are acceptable as long as the blog owner is not literally begging for money. It is one thing to put up a message to ask, but another to constantly bombard visitors with the message.

There will be loyal visitors who come and might want to support your site. Whether it is through donating up front, or advertising, sponsored posts or links, or social network sponsored post (through Twitter and Facebook), it is okay. For blog site owners, never expect it to be something common. I can attest that it is not a frequent happening.

However, it you have a few dollars (or whatever your monetary value may be named), think about supporting the blog that helps you the most in a unique manner. You never know, with the power of blogging, the thanks in return could be fruitful.

Have you donated to a blogger because you learned from them? What do you look for when supporting a blogger monetarily, other than commenting, pay for advertising, linking, social bookmarking or other means?

I love to receive guest posts. However receiving and publishing them are two different things. While I am pretty welcoming about allowing people to register in order to submit a guest post for review, nearly half of the articles submitted have been rejected. So, I decided to put together a small list on reasons a site owner will not approve your guest post.

1. You spammed. Simple as that. You decided to advertise your business or the one you are getting paid to blog for. In the end you just embarrassed your company. Might be harsh, but bloggers want transparency, not something fake. If you want to advertise a company, perhaps inquiring if the site owner allows sponsored posts and how much might be a more respectful thing to do before submitting.
2. Your topic has nothing to do with the site. Kind of embarrassing, huh? Well, before even considering to submit, make sure to research the site. It will make things far more efficient and your post’s chance of being approved a lot higher.
3. You failed to follow the site owner’s directions when signing up and submitting an article. If they have an author box and do not want you to put a byline, or if you should have a gravatar or enter your social network handles – these are important to take notice of.
4. Your article does not coincide with the opinions of the website or the information is wrong. If the article is suppose to have good information, it needs to at least coincide with the views of the website or it will not be welcomed.

   If the site owner believes in one method, it is important to bring your side to the table before submitting and perhaps the blog owner may approve your article if it sounds logical to them. Some blog administrators are fairly lenient in articles written with opinion, but if it is pretty far fetched, it might not be posted. As for false information – pretty understandable that you will not be approved as it will reflect negatively on the site.

5. Your article was not understandable. Language barriers sometimes get in the way, and some grammar issues are easy to fix, but if your article is not in the least understandable, forget about being published.
6. Your article seems to be a duplicate copy. Big no no!!! Do not copy your post from another website. Always create a fresh and unique article!
7. You plagiarized. Simple as that. No one wants a content theft’s work. It is not hard to search and find if article has been stolen. If you are a person who paid another for a guest post, make sure to check the article before submitting or you will look as bad as the person who copied.

If you are a site owner who accepts guest posts, what other methods would qualify for the guest’s article to not be approved? Any guest post stories? Have you ever had anyone submit plagiarized material to your site?

I have been noticing a trend going on with people using keywords instead of their name. While I understand it might be some link juice in the making, I do understand that it would literally take thousands of comments from one person to even try to amount to something. Have you actually seen the chart for how the link building works on that?

If so, pretty much pops the air out of your balloon, huh? I also find that people who only use keywords are more than likely to hit my spam filter first, which makes me have to moderate nearly on a daily basis.

Personally, I believe if you are going to use keywords, especially when you are behind that brand, perhaps using:

Your Name – Keyword/ Keyword Phrase

Example:

If I were to try my method, it would be -

Nile Flores – Blondish.net

For all I know you could have a worker going around doing comments. Guy Kawasaki has people who do tweet on his stream for him. Many celebs do to. And with so many zine style blogs with a staff, I would not be surprised.

I say – Stand up and be proud for your company, your brand, and yourself.

While you could have a few keywords, it would be far more meaningful to state your name. In the early days of the Internet, it was the cool thing to seem anonymous or hide behind a username. Social media today has totally blasted that out of the water by encouraging people and companies to become more transparent.

I am not saying you are a person who is lying. I could care less if you were a kid, elderly, or even ugly (I know that the last sounds harsh, but I am trying to convey that I am not shallow.) I do not even have to know your address, phone number, your parent’s names, your kids names, or what you had for breakfast. Just keep it real.

Nothing fancy needed. KeywordLUV is a nice and handy plugin, but not really the most necessary one to have in anyone’s plugin arsenal.

So when commenting, think hard on how you will brand yourself. In five years, you might find that what you added as keywords no longer fit or probably could have been done better.

Comments should be important for the engaging factor as that is what keeps the site alive. Any owner can admit that it is their visitors that have helped make their site a success. The way you want to introduce yourself in that name field on the comment form does make an impression.

While I know my opinion may be different, I would like to know your thoughts about using keywords for your name when commenting? If you are a blog owner, how do you differentiate between a real person using keywords for their name versus a spammer? What should be the etiquette? For any that use this method, what is your advice to others who might want to try it out?

Personalizing content for visitors is making sure to check your stats to see what your visitors are looking for on your website, and creating content (if it is relevant), so you will not miss a potential regular reader or customer.

For those who have personal websites, this really does not do much as you might only be keeping a journal. However, if you do have a website that has interesting information that people can use (like blog advice sites, design tips, financing tips, making money online, and more…), you can use your stats to your advantage.

Usually by looking at what keywords are being searched and most visited pages are great indicators of your readers’ demands.

When I thought about this subject, I thought about a quote I heard in the the animation movie, Robots. (note, the thumbnail is courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios.)

See a need, fill a need.

It is important to make sure you try to cover as much as you can when you see that people are looking for a specific topic. Make sure to add a way on your 404 page so if your site search comes up empty, so visitors can send an inquiry to you. You do not have to put a contact form on your search page if the search turns up empty, but you can leave a link to your contact form at least.

You can have related articles and all sorts of tools to maximize your own in-house search, especially with WordPress, but that means nothing if you do not make the effort to open the door and encourage visitors to contact you. Asking your visitors what they are looking for and providing an extra way to contact you is a huge bonus.

When you fill the need, you are making your content more personal for your visitors and telling them that you are very interested in hearing their need for specific information.

Have you filled the need of your visitors? What other tips do you have to personalize your content for Visitors?

There are a lot of good and bad things about guest blogging. Some blog owners are not certain if it is something they want to take on, so I have put together some pros and cons. As a side note, I accept guest posts, but I am very picky about what cannot go into an article so it remains pure of spam.

The Good of Guest Blogging

• You get free content to share with your readers.
• You get some extra time to either write future articles, and even network with readers.
• You are building a good relationship with other bloggers in your niche and overall blogging community, even helping some bloggers gain a better reputation.
• You learn a lot from your guest bloggers through the new topics they bring for you to publish onto your site.

The Bad of Guest Blogging

• You open up your blog to possible security issues, especially if your site is not set with roles for users to deny access to specific areas of the website.
• You open your site up to spammers. This works in two ways. The first is if spammers registered with your site and the second is from guest writers trying to sneak in articles that are spam.
• You will have to check articles and spell check. From experience, I have had to correct some spelling and grammar problems.
• You may have to seek out or create thumbnail issues and format articles to fit with your blog’s style. For example, you might have to set keywords, and make sure html heading tags are properly done.

Guest blogging does take a little more time. It is nearly like the old days of getting a job when you walk in a place, say you want to get hired, and usually after a brief interview, you might be given the job. In this case of guest blogging, it is signing up to a site or contacting the website owner, submitting the article, and then waiting for it to be approved to be published.

Not everyone has the time, but those who do, guest blogging can be a blast. I have learned a few new things from all of my guest writers and for me, that is a huge thing. I know I am not the only person who things so.

Deciding whether guest blogging is for your website is not to be an intimidating decision. Consider what time you have and the direction you want your site to take. If you are not sure, discuss it with someone in your niche who does have their site open to guest blogging and see what they suggest.

If you have guest blogged or are a site owner of a website that allows guest posts, what are the good and bad of guest blogging that you have discovered by experience?

You can now have your site seen with a friendly user- interface with the plugin WordPress Mobile Edition. The creator of this nifty plugin is Crowd Favorite.

According to the FAQ for the plugin, it does support touch phones like the iPhone and even supports your pages. This is great since smart phones are on high demand.

To install, you only have to upload a plugin and a then a theme that is compatible. Here is a live version of WordPress Mobile Edition in action. You can set the plugin to detect certain mobile browsers so when a person accesses the site, they will get the correct view.

The only thing that is pointed out that may be a bit disappointing is the fact that users do not have a login interface with this. Perhaps in the future, Crowd Favorite might come up with one? Just a thought I might throw out there. This is a great way to extend your blog’s accessibility. There are other WordPress plugins that are listed under the mobile tag in the WordPress plugin repository to check out just in case you want to see more that are available.

Do you use a plugin to make your site accessible on cell phones? Which one do you like the best? Did you design your own mobile theme or use one already available out there?

This WordPress plugin allows you to put a widget on your site in order to translate your pages into many different languages using a variety of online translator services like Google Translation Services and BabelFish. The plugin was created by David Pozza and has been around since 2006.

This plugin boast to be able to translate over 41 languages. The list of languages includes are: Italian, Korean, Chinese (Simplified & Traditional), Portuguese, English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Dutch, Bulgarian, Czech, Croatian, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Catalan, Filipino, Hebrew, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Albanian, Estonian, Galician, Maltese, Thai, Turkish,and Hungarian.

When you click on the flag that represents the language you want to translate your page, the translator will go right to work and within a few minutes, a new page with the translation of it is posted.

My issue is that if you use several templates and different dynamic sidebars, you can only use 1 instance of this plugin unless you put it into the layout before the dynamic php function. Another thing is that the flags are so close together. Perhaps a special css file to space these out would be great. In fact, I may redesign my own flags. Also, I am all for credit, but it is kind of annoying to see the link to the creator. I think an option to remove it would be great.

Another issue is problems when translating occurred that the layout was altered. For example, in a client’s site that translated English to Hungarian, somehow only 1 part of the layout would shift in the translated cached page.

Overall, I think this plugin is really useful. It might not be totally correct in translating pages, but it would be a great help for those needing a quick translation. If you want to be totally accurate, it might be best to manually type and translate the pages.

Have you tried this? Does this seem like something you might use?