Multiple e-mail addresses

Since I first started accessing the web, I have had multiple e-mail addresses. In the beginning, this was probably because I was testing out different e-mail hosts, but now I do it for security and privacy.

To keep spam mail down, or at least manageable, and to maintain certain privacy, it may be wise to use two or three e-mail addresses. I use one e-mail address for my business, one for friends and family and one to post comments and to sign up to newsletters and marketing material. Not only does this help me ordering my e-mail inbox, it also helps I restrict the spam I receive to one e-mail address. Some people go even further and with your own domain you can set up unlimited email addresses. So if I signed up to this site’s newsletter I would create and email address like joel-btg@mydomain.com. Then whenever I was sent an email to that address I would know where I submitted the email address and be able to tell if they sold the email on. I would never sell your email address on (I use AWeber to protect you), but some people do.

Everything in moderation

Comment Spam is another problem you’ll have if you have a blog. A good practice may be to moderate all your comments. This can be time consuming if your site attracts many visitors but it will pay-off in the end. Many blog hosts have a facility to allow ‘approved’ users or e-mail addresses and by using this, you will cut down on some of your work.

Word verification

Also known as CAPTCHA, many sites use this form of anti-spam to protect themselves (see my Contact form for an example). Using a combination of distorted words and letters, users are required to copy a certain word into a field to prove that they are actually a human and not a spybot or crawler software program.

Unfortunately, there are many users who will not post comments when required to use word verification. One way to get around this is to ask new visitors to register first; another form of moderation. Again though, this can reduce the number of commentators.

Anti-spam plug-ins

If you use WordPress, you will have heard of Aksimet. Akismet is a plug-in that analyzes all posts and using certain parameters, decides whether the comment is spam or not. Of course, this is not a foolproof system so you will need to check your Spam Box every now and then to ensure that legitimate comments have not fallen through.

Dead letters

Closing comments that are no longer live is another good way to prevent spam. When you have a post that is hot, attracting lots of comments, the post may be pushed higher up in the search engine results. This is brilliant for advertising your site but not so brilliant for attracting spam. The problem is that once the comments and backlinks die down, the link stays at the top of the search engine, attracting automated and manual spammers. One way to stop unwanted spam comments is to close the ability to add new comments after a certain time. By doing this, you will still keep your high search ranking but prevent new spam. WordPress can now do this.

Spam is everywhere these days but as long as we follow a few simple guidelines like these, we will keep the wolves from the door. Maybe…

Read the full post: Fighting Spam

Lurking is the act of following a blog, forum or website without commenting or posting your own opinions. It is a way of watching what is happening without getting involved. Lurking is not only a great pastime, satisfying our eaves-dropping gene, but it is also one of the best ways to see what makes a blog stand out from the rest.

Newbie or just plain curious?

Whenever I am interested in a new web craze, or I am just plain curious about something new, I always find a few blogs that catch my eye and hang about watching what goes on. When I first started lurking I used to feel a little bit seedy, like I was a Peeping Tom, but as I got to know the internet ‘dos and don’ts‘ I realized that this was something that was expected, even encouraged.

Lurking gives us a view of a subject that interests us without the pressure of joining in. This is especially useful when we are learning something new and we do not want to make a fool of ourselves. Once our confidence has grown and we feel we trust the site, then we can dive in and make our presence known.

Spying on the competition

If you own your own business and are blogging about it, one of the great advantages of lurking is studying your competition. It is an easy and anonymous way to see what attracts people to your competitors. What are they doing that you are not?

Another advantage is being able to study a successful blog by reading through their old posts. If a site you enjoy has been running for a long time, whose visitors are vocal and lively, observe what the blogger posts that is attracting so much interest. What information draws these visitors to your competitor’s site?

We all like things that sparkle

In life we are all initially attracted to things by what we see. This same principle works for blogs. What we see first, will influence if we are going to get more involved. So when you are lurking on the internet, make a note of the design of a blog and what attracted you to it. Did it have flashing images, interesting post titles or crazy widgets in the sidebar? Though we might not always realize it, all of these things sometimes draw us to a blog.

In my opinion…

We all love giving our opinion on something and a truly successful blog, will have posts that are jam packed with visitor comments. What makes one post attract more comments than another? Is it controversial? Is it funny? By lurking, we can follow these popular posts and see what posting trends attract more comments than others do.

Though the word ‘lurking’ does sound faintly sinister, it is in fact an accepted pastime. So now you have been given permission, get out there and start lurking!

Read the full post: The Beauty Of Lurking

My design is a wonderful custom design by Nate from Unique Blog Designs and I didn’t want to lose that. With Headway I didn’t have to and hopefully not many people have noticed that I’ve even moved.

So why switch?
There were a few reasons. Being a geek I wanted to see if it was possible. Not just from a technical standpoint but from my own abilities. I customize sites all the time for clients and I wanted to see if what I thought I could do, I could. I’m glad to say I was right!

I also recommend Headway to a lot of people and I wanted to get more hand on experience on how it works and what it does when you ask it to do something. I also wanted to see how easy it was for others to change elements. With 1.7 things are getting easier and easier, and more intuitive.

Can you transfer your site to Headway?
I’ll be lying if I said my transfer was easy. It was straightforward, I had a list of things that needed to be done, and with a few minor hiccups I achieved them. But it wasn’t easy and took about 6 hours. However it’s unlikely that you will be transferring to Headway and wanting to keep exactly the same theme as you have now, like I have. The beauty of Headway is that you can easily make a different layout or design to what you have now and you have ultimate control over colors, fonts, layouts and more.

You can see a video of me taking a quick look at the new features for Headway 1.7 (early September) below. Additional features include a quick start wizard, leaf templates, automatic upgrades, SEO improvements, speed increases and much much more.

Read the full post: Blog Tech Guy Now Runs On Headway

Make signing up easy

I can’t count the number of times I have found a blog that really interests me and then have spent ages trying to find the RSS feed button – or in some cases haven’t found one at all. When you are setting up your blog, make sure the RSS feed button is right at the top of the page – or as near to the top as you can place it. If you place it at the bottom of the page, you will get fewer subscribers and probably no mobile ones at all. There has to be a really good reason for someone visiting your blog, via a mobile phone, to scroll all the way to the bottom of your list of posts.

Get shorty

Once a mobile user has found your feed button, the next problem they will face is your feed URL. Many blogs will place lots of data, or even a description of your blog, in the URL. This means that the URL can run to fifty or more characters, which is not a great sight to be greeted with. The best way to overcome this is to use a URL shortener to make your feed URLs short and easy to work with. Many online sites offer free URL shortening applications, WordPress 3.0 has one built in for it’s own posts, or a free plugin like Pretty Link can help.

Bigger isn’t always better

When writing a post, especially a post aimed at mobile users, use bold snappy headlines and keep your paragraphs short. If you have ever tried to view a blog with a mobile phone you will understand what I mean. Many bloggers will use one main heading and then paste a single block of text into their post. This is so frustrating when viewed on a mobile because it is easy to lose your place in all that text. With bold headers and short paragraphs, even if you scroll too far or get distracted, it is easy to find your place again.

Picture this

It is always good practice to host your pictures and buttons yourself (or on an account you own, like Amazon S3) and not to rely on third-party services. The simple reason for this is, although it might not affect page loading when you are on your home computer or laptop, it really slows things down when using a mobile phone. Another good tip when using pictures is to limit not only their size but also their dimensions. Anything above approximately 100kb is just too big for mobile phones to handle at the moment and an image that is too wide, or to long, will really cause problems for you when scrolling.

Keep yourself mobile

Finally, subscribe to your own mobile content. Many bloggers forget this simple step and it is the easiest and quickest way to see whether your blog looks good on a mobile phone. If you are signed up to your own feed, you can make tweaks and changes quickly, before visitors have the chance to see your feed.

Use a Mobile plugin

There are a couple of plugins that you can use to transform your site into a mobile friendly version. WPtouch is one and WordPress Mobile Edition another. Both are good but do transform the look o your site completely but optimize it for mobile devices.

Read the full post: Making Your Blog Mobile Friendly

I’ve known Gideon for just about two years now, he actually introduced himself to me online and we formed a friendship. I still do work for him today (though had no hand in this product at all just to be clear!). He’s a master at YouTube and creating compelling, high quality videos and all his products so far have been top quality.

Because you’re smart you will have guessed, or heard, that the free report is a lead in to the launch of his Rapid Video Blogging course. As part of the launch he has some great content, such as the free report of course, and also you’ll get access to some free videos:

Behind-the-scenes: This is a behind-the-scenes look at super fast video creation. It’s 30 minutes long, so not a quickly thrown together video with no content! It takes you behind his home studio setup, showing you everything from lighting to editing to ‘getting comfortable’ tips.

Case Study: This is a real life case study of someone making a full time income from YouTube and her blog – 4,000 to 6,000 bucks per month and again is full of content at over 35 minutes long.

If you haven’t already downloaded the report you can do from the video pages too.

Now I really believe in Gideon’s teaching and his method and have personally seen a small part of what he plans to provide for the course. He has put together a very comprehensive video course that shows you, exactly step-by-step what you need to do to help you successfully implement your very own Rapid Video Blogging system.

My bonus to you

It could be called a bribe, but as it’s extremely complementary, they’re almost two parts of the same whole.

My Income Blogging Guide course that I run with Andrew from We Build Your Blog teaches you step-by-step how to create an income from your blog, monetizing it, and creating your own products for sale. It covers building the blog that Gideon uses as one of his three foundations for your “Video Domination Hub”, and also one of the other three parts (see his report for what that is!).

You see, we contacted Gideon and he said that he doesn’t go into the detail our course does for blog building. “Your course would be an excellent companion as a bonus for people.”

Check out what our course offers by going here: http://blogtechguy.com/go/ibg, plus it includes a free premium WordPress theme and the best support in the business.

But don’t buy our course… get it for free by grabbing Gideon’s course.

How to claim your bonus

1) Join Rapid Video Blogging using this link only http://blogtechguy.com/go/rapidcourse
[By signing up with this affiliate link I do earn a commission.]

2) After buying Gideon’s course just send us your ClickBank receipt and we’ll get you hooked up to our course immediately. Email us at support@incomebloggingguide.com with a copy of your receipt and we will set you up with access within two days.

Please note: If you cancel your Rapid Video Blogging membership, it will also cancel your Income Blogging Guide membership.

That’s it. Buy one course get another free but only if you buy via this link http://blogtechguy.com/go/rapidcourse.

If you have any questions at all please contact me and I’ll do my best to help.

Read the full post: How To Make Money Video Blogging

Reducing the costs of advertising

Whichever way you look at it, creating and maintaining a blog is cheaper than splashing out on a costly advertising campaign. However you choose to go about starting, whoever you decide to use, there is no other package that is as cost effective as using a blogging service.

Enhancing communication capabilities

Probably one of the greatest advantages is its ability to reach thousands of people all over the world instantaneously. There is no other media currently in circulation, which can be as effectively accessed as a well built and well maintained blog. Newspapers and magazines are all bound by geographical locations, where as blog has the potential to reach anyone, anywhere in the world. By using effective tags and keywords, within seconds, you could be placed at the top of search engines across the globe.

A website can offer the same coverage, but it tends to lack the interaction that a blog can offer. A blog offers your client an informal, but direct, place to chat with your company in a real-time situation. You are also able to keep your clients updated with the latest company information and products, without making them feel that they are under any hard sale pressure to buy – an important factor that puts many people off approaching companies.

Improving research abilities

With a blog, potential clients are able to research your company and see the latest products you have to offer on a daily basis. There is nothing worse than looking for something and having to trawl through mounds of useless information. It is able to present information in an ordered and concise way, a valuable tool for any company.

Generating valuable and targeted feedback

Are you worried that you are not stocking the right merchandise or that you need to improve certain areas of your business? If you are, just ask! Within the blogging culture, feedback plays a huge role and this can be used to your company’s advantage. Whenever something comes up that you are unsure how to handle, turn to your blogs visitors. It is the one place where you will get an honest and swift response.

Enhancing your online reputation

Many companies have a big corporate personality that surrounds them. By creating a blog, this can be translated into a one-to-one, hands-on image. If you let your clients see how you regard their opinion, you will certainly start seeing the benefits. There is nothing that can hook a customer quicker than openness and honesty.

Blogging for your business is simple and cost efficient. It has the potential to build the reputation of your company on a global scale and is a fun and easy way to promote openness and trust between you and your customers.

What more could you want from an advertising department?

What are the other advantages of blogging for business? Let me know if you have any!

Read the full post: The Top Five Reasons Why Blogging Increases Your Business

You can see a good example at my Income Blogging Guide page. This uses the Squeeze Theme from Unique Blog Designs (and converts fantastically by the way!), but what if you don’t what to change the entire theme of your blog and want to create a squeeze page on your current site? This is where the Squeeze Plugin comes in.

Rather than explain in text, I’ve created a short video of me using the tool for the first time. As usual, demo’ing a product I’ve never used before has mixed results….

So while my design isn’t great (I could sort that out in a few minutes), the ease of use is fantastic.
Why do all the smartest marketers create squeeze pages on their site?

1. Squeeze pages are the most effective way to build a list of targeted customers.

2. It’s a great way to provide free or special offers to those who matter most.

3. Squeeze pages are proven to convert as well or better than any other form of info collection.

4. The list that you build is full of people who want to buy what you’re selling.

5. You’ll make more money!

This is great news because everyone knows building an email list is the #1 thing to do for ANY website. Squeeze Plugin will allow you to build powerful squeeze pages on any website running WordPress, you can buy here for $97, but you can use a 15% coupon code for you: B7E77 I’m not sure how long the coupon lasts but it’s valid now.

I would recommend creating a new page template for the Page you wish to use for the plugin, that not only removes the sidebar like the template that comes with the plugin, but one that removes the navigation bar and any footer links or widgets. Besides that Squeeze Plugin will make things much easier.

Read the full post: Simple Squeeze Pages

Finding an original angle for your blog

In any industry or field of business, you can guarantee that there will be hundreds of internet entrepreneurs jostling for space and attention when it comes to blogging about it. Only a very few manage to create a site useful and interesting enough to put themselves ahead of their competitors and become an authority in their field.

This means that you have to select your topic of choice carefully when first setting up within your industry. For example, while celebrity gossip sites are notoriously popular globally, you’d have to have a real link to the industry to produce valuable content which is ahead of all the other sites out there. Similarly, technology blogs on SEO are hugely popular, which means that once again you need to come up with an interesting new take on the many ideas out there related to the industry.

This means we have a choice as bloggers. We either pick a niche market which has yet to be saturated, which is tough in itself, or we have to remain within a popular industry and try to make ourselves that little bit more competitive than everyone around us, who is doing the same thing. The disadvantage of blogging to a niche market is that you have fewer readers who will search out your content. This is where you weigh up the pros and cons of going mainstream, or selecting to target one single area of your industry.

How do we gain a competitive edge?

There is one simple way of ensuring you produce original content, amid a sea of other bloggers writing along similar lines. This is by choosing to write about things which you are passionate about. When you sit down to produce an article, you can only get really enthused if you care about your subject. When we feel enthusiasm, this transmits to the reader in the form of lively, passionate and engaging articles.

People who outsource the majority of their writing tend to lose passion on their blog. I am the first to recommend outsourcing some work to make your load easier as a business owner, but it is only by staying close to your blog and fueling your passion for your industry that you can create completely original work.

How good writing happens online

Good writing is intelligent, informative and interesting, and some of the best posts I have read have been produced by people who really really care about what they are saying. They want to inspire you, change your opinion about something, sell a product which they firmly believe in, and show themselves to be experts in their field.

What does this mean for you, as a blog owner?

If you are feeling disillusioned about the prospect of writing for your blog, the chances are you are not writing about something you feel passionate about. It may be time to change tack and go down a different route – the thought of which gets you flexing your fingers ready to pour out some words. This will ensure you stay lively and engaged with your blog, encouraging your customers to feel the same way.

Read the full post: How Do You Remain Original Online?

This is a follow-up to my previous post of Do Your Digg It?

A good scenario for any blogger is to have a lot of hits, a number of subscribers, and a huge amount of comments and feedback. To achieve the maximum success in terms of these measurable benefits, it’s worth harnessing the power of Digg to lend weight to your online marketing.

What exactly is Digg?

Digg describes itself as “a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users.” In essence, Digg is an online popularity contest for good web content. If someone likes a news item or article that has been published anywhere online, they can rate it on Digg and share it with other online readers.

The more people that ‘Digg’ an article (rate it positively), the more popular the article gets. This means that hitting the front page of the Digg popularity rankings could potentially bring you and your blog a phenomenal amount of exposure and traffic.

How to use Digg to your blog’s advantage

• Use Digg as an enhanced RSS feed, which keeps you updated every minute about what is going on, online. Find trends, and match them on your own site to increase traffic.
• Get ideas from articles on Digg when it comes to generating your blog articles. You can then share them on other platforms.
• Connect with people through Digg, by identifying networks which share the same interest as you. If people rate your article on Digg, take a moment to find out who they are, check out their site and see if there is anything you can do in return.
• Put some of your more important links on Digg, and add friends so they can make the most of the page as a hub for your business information.
• Advertise your articles, once in a while. If you do this too often, you risk being dismissed as a spammer on the site, but it doesn’t hurt now and then to Digg your own writing.

If used well, Digg can really help you as a blogger both through the site itself, and search engines that pull up highly-ranked Digg articles. By writing a snappy headline, producing high-quality articles and carefully selecting keywords, you can start to make Digg work for you. Ask friends and colleagues to Digg on your behalf, and also make the most of social sites such as Twitter and Plurk to promote your content. When used effectively, the site can bring you more readers, more connections, and higher online visibility.

Further reading: How To Get A Story To The Digg Front Page.

Read the full post: Using Digg To Enhance Your Online Success

Blog Stats
RSS Subscribers
Email Signups
Email Subscribers
# of Comments

Ranks
Google Page Rank
Alexa Rank
Compete Rank
Quantcast Rank

Search Engines
Google Indexed Pages
Yahoo Inlinks
Bing Results

Social Media
Twitter Followers
# of ReTweets
Delicious Bookmarks
StumbleUpon articles
# of posts Dugg (Digg)

Google Analytics
Pageviews
Unique visitors
Pages per visit
Bounce rate
Top content
Top referrers

Plus there are other analytic services out there, like Woopra, PostRank, Clicky and WordPress.com stats. Some services like Klout focus on specific services (in this case Twitter). The list goes on and on.

How often do you check these stats? Daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly? It’s not easy to know what to follow, what is important and what to measure and even remember to keep track of it all. So how do you do it? I don’t know is the answer! Some people do it manually by simply remembering, some use spreadsheets, some get reports emailed to them, some have their assistants compile info for them, some have complicated systems involving gathering pieces of information ad-hoc and automatically from various places.

Most of us I guess just check them when we remember and have the time. Do you? What else do you measure? Ad-clicks? New acquaintances? Backlinks?

Read the full post: How Do You Measure Success?