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If you want to make money blogging, you have quite a few options to make that happen. You might work with CPM, CPA or CPC ad networks. You might sell private ads on your blog. You could sell other people’s products through affiliate links. But have you thought about selling your own information products (or services) through your blog? If you’re not, you might be missing out on some serious income opportunities.

Let’s talk about why it can be a good idea to sell your own products as a way to monetize your blog.

Why Sell Your Own Products Through Your Blog?

1. You might collect more per sale than you do with affiliate product sales.
2. You can launch your own affiliate program and have others sell for you.
3. You have more quality control over what’s being promoted on your blog.
4. Your links lead to your own conversions instead of someone else’s.
5. Your blog already provides a highly targeted audience to sell to.
6. You can build a residual income stream that doesn’t rely on the stability of any third party service, seller, or network.
7. Your products and services can lead to increased authority status, and therefore increased traffic to your blog on top of the sales benefits.

Beyond Products: Sell Services Through Your Blog to Make More Money

Is your blog a potential money maker? - Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

When we think of selling something of your own as a way to monetize your blog, we tend to think of information products like e-books. But you can also sell services. For example, many freelance professionals have blogs these days. The blogs are platform pieces that showcase someone’s area of expertise, attract prospects, and convince people the freelancer is credible enough to hire.

There are other types of services you can sell too. For example, it’s what we do here at DirJournal.com. We sell directory submissions — an Internet marketing and traffic-building service. Blogs support the income stream and vice-versa.

You could do something similar in your niche. For example, if you run a health blog you might attach a directory of healthcare providers as a resource for readers, a promotional tool for those providers, and an income stream for your blog. If you work in the music niche, you might have a band or record label directory.

Remember, this is just one example of the many services you could monetize. Here’s a bigger list of products and services you could use to make money blogging.

10 Products and Services You Can Sell Through Your Blog

1. E-books
2. Reports
3. Books (if you’re an author)
4. Online courses
5. Webinar access
6. Member-exclusive content
7. Freelance services (writing, designing, coding, SEO work, consulting, etc.)
8. Software / online tools
9. Coaching services in your area of expertise
10. Directory submissions

There’s nothing wrong with selling ads or partnering with ad networks or promoting affiliate products. But if you think your blog has the potential to earn even more, consider selling some products or services of your own. Many bloggers never figure out how to best monetize their blogs. You don’t have to be one of them. Making more money blogging starts with knowing your options.

Commenting on other people’s blogs is a great way to network. It allows you to meet people in your field and promote your own site or blog. However, you can’t go into commenting with self-promotion solely in mind. As a matter of fact, commenting is actually a fine art. Here are the dos and don’ts that will help you comment the right way.

Don’t get personal

Remember, the owner of a blog has the right to her own opinion. That said, you’re likely going to disagree with blog posts at times. In fact, sometimes they might downright piss you off. Which is fine. However, when commenting on the post, don’t get personal. If you resort to childish name calling or personal attacks, any point you were trying to make will get lost in the fact that you’re just plain immature.

Do offer logical reasoning

If you disagree, explain why. For example, say someone makes a post denouncing a law that recently passed. It’s not enough for you to post a comment that says “you’re wrong.” You need to provide some explanation. Something like “I think you’re wrong and here’s why. First, blah blah blah.” An argument with supporting examples is always better than an argument that stands alone.

Don’t just post “good post!”

Nothing says “hey yeah whatever just click on my link” like the two word “good post!” comment. Sure you might be commenting on others’ blogs in order to make a name for yourself and eventually drum up your own business, but can we be a bit less obvious please? If you’re going to respond on a blog, you need to earn your link. A good rule of thumb is that if someone reads your comment, they should find some sort of proof in it that you actually read the blog entry.

Do provide helpful links

Did you recently read an article that coincides perfectly with the post you’re about to comment on? Or maybe another article that would help you dismantle the bloggers line of reasoning? Either way, link it in your comment. You’ll be helping other readers out and building your own credibility simultaneously.

Don’t type your keyword instead of your name

Knowing that linking from your keywords is a valuable SEO strategy, some people will type their keywords in the name field rather than their actual name. Guess what this screams? SPAM! Use your name. You’ll still get your link and you won’t look like a spammer while doing it.

Do register for CommentLuv

CommentLuv is a blog plug-in that’s gaining popularity. In fact, they just celebrated their 250 thousandth download. You should be 250,001. You know why? Well when you use CommentLuv, links to your recent posts show up in your comments. That means other commenters will see your post’s title and be tempted to click over to your blog. And it’s perfectly legit.

What other pointers would you offer for commenting on other people’s blogs?

As the saying goes, “everyone’s got to start somewhere.” And blogging is no different. Everyone begins as a blogging newbie. And everyone makes mistakes. The key is to recognize where you went wrong, change it, and learn from it. Here are some blogging mistakes that make you look like an amateur. Avoid them at all costs!

1. Poor design—Sure blogging templates are meant to be shared. But that doesn’t mean you should pick one that screams “I borrowed this template!” In fact, do yourself a favor and don’t even use a template. Instead, hire someone with web design experience to make you a fresh design all of your own. Can’t afford it? Well maybe you can at least get someone to design a header for you.

2. Research paper-speak—Remember how in college you couldn’t say “you” in your papers? Instead of saying things like “you need to know this information” you’d change it to “one must need to know this information.” I call this research paper-speak. Well that may have served you well in college, but this isn’t the university. This is your blog. You know, where you’re supposed to foster conversation. And you do that by addressing the reader… with “you.”

3. Complex sentence arrangements—Contrary to popular belief, complex sentence arrangements are not the first sign of a good writer. In fact, all it shows is that you have a good control of grammar. However, a grammar guru doesn’t necessarily make a good blogger. Your job is to make your entries readable. And you do that by writing clear and concise sentences.

4. Collegiate-level vocabulary—Guess what big words are good for? Showing off. And if you’re a show off, no one will read your blog. Look, who really wants to have to search Dictionary.com every five seconds to make it through a blog post? Not me. And not the majority of your readers either. If you can find a smaller word, use it.

5. Rambling—Now here’s one thing you can use from your research writing experience. You need to stay on topic. How do you make sure you’re writing is focused? When you reread your article, ask yourself the following question after each sentence: “Does this have anything to do with my main idea?” If it doesn’t, lose the sentence.

6. Intimidating length of text—Big blocks of text are intimidating. Period. Break it up into smaller paragraphs. Use bolded lists, like I did in this post. It’s much easier on the eyes and more likely to be read.

7. Heavy on the syrup—Metaphors are cool and all, but don’t overdo it. I shouldn’t have to strain my brain to figure out what the hell you’re saying. Using too much figurative language will come off as showy and cheesy. Keep it to a minimum.

Are you making any of these amateur mistakes? Can you think of any that should be added to my list? Tell me about them in the comments section!

Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

Blogging can be a lot of fun. But what happens when you run out of ideas? Then it can become frustrating and more difficult to want to sit down and write. Don’t worry! No matter how much you’ve already covered in your niche, there’s always something else to say. If you’re feeling stumped for blog post ideas, let this list inspire you. These blog post ideas can be adapted to any niche, so give them a try!

Here are 20 things to blog about (or types of blog posts) that you can use on any blog when you’re out of ideas:

1. Share news — Search the news engines and see what’s going on in your niche or industry. If there’s news, share it with your readers. You could write a detailed post, or even just link to the news source and write up a brief summary.
2. Comment on news – If you have an opinion on one of those news stories you found, link readers to the original news, and then write up a blog post sharing your own viewpoint on the issue. It can be a great way to ignite some cross-blog or comment discussions.
3. Write a review – Every niche has something that’s available to review. Go to your library or bookstore and pick up a book that might be of interest to your readers. Review it. You can also review services, products, or even other websites and blogs!
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   Conduct an interview – Just because you don’t have something to say at the moment doesn’t mean others in your niche don’t. Find a credible source, and interview them about a niche or industry issue. Bonus — you’ll get to network with go-to sources in your niche!
5. Write a “top” list — Some people love them and some people hate them, but top 10 lists (or whatever number you want) can bring in links and traffic. More importantly, they can give you something to blog about when you’re feeling a bit stumped. For example, you could share your top 10 tips for “insert whatever your readers want to learn how to do here.”
6. Write a resource list – These are usually longer than top ten types of lists. They compile a large number of resources that readers would be interested in all in one place. For example, if you run a blog on blogging, you might list 100 places to find free blog themes. On a PR blog of mine, I created a “big list of free press release distribution sites” because it’s something a particular segment of my audience frequently looked for. Your audience is looking for something too. Help them find it.
7. Assemble a round-up post — Another list-style post, round-ups are often done weekly or monthly. Basically you put together a list of links to other blog posts recently posted in your niche. Sure, it’s a bit of a cop out but it keeps your blog fresh, brings your blog to the attention of other bloggers in the niche, and gives readers access to other material they might find interesting. I like these because they’re a way to show readers trends in what bloggers in a certain niche are talking about during a given week.
8. Answer a reader question — If you get reader questions via email, consider answering them publicly on your blog instead of responding to the email privately. You can remove the reader’s personal information (or share it if they don’t mind). This not only gives you something to write about, but it stops you from having to answer the same questions privately over and over again.
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   Answer a non-reader’s question — Don’t get many reader questions of your own? That’s okay! Look at answer sites like Yahoo! Answers or LinkedIn’s Q&As. Also look at comments left on other blogs in your niche. What are people curious about? What do they want to know? Share the answer to common questions on your blog, even if they’re not from your own readers. Chances are that some of your readers have the same questions, and they simply haven’t asked yet.
10. Update an old post — Do you have an old post that’s a real gem, but it’s so buried in the archives that no one sees it anymore? Consider updating it with fresh relevant information (especially if any details are outdated), and then change the post date so it goes to the front page as a new post again. Note: you might not want to do this if it’ll affect your permalink and incoming links and traffic, and you should probably note that it’s an update so long-time readers know why it seems familiar.
11. Highlight old posts – If you don’t want to, or can’t, update an older post you can still create a new post that brings it to the attention of newer readers. For example, if you run a business blog and you have a bunch of posts on handling the start-up phase, you might create a new post that serves as a hub linking to all of them (maybe with a summary of each).
12. Rant. Rant. Rant! — Does some issue in your niche or industry seriously get under your skin? Tell your readers why! Don’t be afraid to rant once in a while. Just know your audience’s tolerances for it before you do so you don’t get too offensive for your readers.
13. Have a cross-blog discussion — Did another blogger in your niche say something that caught your attention? Why not blog about it? Conversations in the blogosphere aren’t limited to the comment function. If you have a lot to say, link to their post so your readers can see it, and then post your own thoughts. Cross-blog debates can be fun, but it’s okay to share a post you fully agree with too. It shows support for an idea and another blogger.
14. Take a look at Twitter — Even if there’s no “official” news in your niche at the moment, that doesn’t mean there isn’t buzz about something going around. Do a search on Twitter and see what people in the niche are talking about. Then contribute with a blog post of your own (or highlight some interesting tweets).
15. Ask a question — We already talked about answering questions that others have. Why not ask your own? Asking a question in a post is a good way to build reader involvement, and you might get some new perspective on an industry issue (which might inspire another post!).
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    Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

    Get visual — Is your blog mostly text-based? Do something different and share a video or a photo that might interest your readers. It doesn’t have to be your own. For example, you might embed a YouTube video. Just make sure you have rights to share something like a photo before you do (a credit link alone doesn’t make it okay — or legal).
17. Get personal — Why not share a personal story with your readers? I’m not talking about something completely unrelated, but rather your own individual experiences with a situation in the niche. For example, if you blog about Web hosting and you recently went through the process of moving your site from one host to another, that might be an interesting story to share with your readers.
18. Find out what readers want — Use a tool like the Adwords keyword tool to find out what people are searching for in your niche. You might just find some interesting post ideas in there that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.
19. Share a blog update — Write a post that looks back on the history of your blog. Talk about what you’ve done, how it’s evolved, and where you’d like it to go.
20. Publish a guest post — If you still can’t think of anything to blog about, consider accepting a guest post from someone else in the niche. Generally this means giving them a link back (it’s a marketing tool from their perspective), but you’ll get fresh content for your readers.

There you have it — 20 blog post ideas that can work on virtually any blog! I hope you found something useful. Do you have ideas you’d like to share with other bloggers in addition to this list? Leave a comment and let us know what you do when you can’t think of anything to blog about.

Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

We’ve already established that linkbait is not a dirty word. But how can you make it work for you? More specifically, how can you create successful linkbait for your blog or website when it seems that everyone on the Web is doing it these days? After all, isn’t the point to stand out?

Yes. Yes it is.

Fortunately linkbait can still be very effective, and it’s still possible to stand out amongst the crowd. It’s all in how you look at it.

The Two Types of Linkbait

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Linkbait is often talked about in a negative light because of one type of linkbait — the sensationalist variety. These are articles and blog posts that use very hyped up headlines to get your attention and attract almost automatic links and sharing (because let’s face it, sometimes people really don’t read past the headline). For example you might see a post called “Facebook Now Commands 41% of Social Media Traffic.” The key with these types of posts is that the content rarely backs up the title’s claim (and you can see a more detailed breakdown of that issue in the post linked above).

But hold on. Before you judge linkbait too harshly in general, remember that there’s another type — a more effective type in the long run. That type of linkbait is the good old standby of “quality content.” Let’s focus on that for a bit.

What Makes Quality Content Linkbait Material?

The idea of linkbait is actually much older than the name. There have always been two sides to the content game, both competing for eyes (and usually ad dollars). Think of the differences between a serious newspaper and your favorite gossip rag. “Linkbait” is just the same thing taken to the Web. Can the sensationalist variety work? No doubt. But for most sites, getting a reputation for hyped up headlines that you don’t deliver on means it won’t work for long.

At the same time, simply writing decent content isn’t enough. A lot of people are producing quality content. To make linkbait effective, you have to go beyond that basic “high quality” status.

Here are some things you can do to turn your quality content into successful linkbait, no matter how much competition you have:

• Take a new approach. — Want to write a piece on a hot topic for your blog, but you’re afraid it will just get lost in the mix? Make it stand out by taking a different approach. Find a new twist to the story, or try covering the topic from a different angle or perspective, even if it’s controversial (especially if it’s controversial).
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  Make people laugh. — People love to be amused. Take a normally serious topic and find a way to make it funny. If you put a smile on people’s faces, you’ll have a better chance of having them pass it around.

• Back up your claims. — In more serious linkbait posts where humor isn’t really appropriate, make them fact and source-heavy. Don’t just make a serious claim. Link to a lot of other reputable sources to help prove your point. Not only does it make your own piece more authoritative (and therefore more worthy of links), but you might get the attention of people you cited, and they might help spread the word by tweeting about or linking to your post as well.
• Add visual elements. — The Web is full of text-based content, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you want to cover a topic where that’s all people can find, do something different with your presentation. Create a video. Design an interesting infographic (people love these things — just put your stats or other information into a visual display that helps to make your point).

These are just a few things you can do to make your already high quality content work more effectively as linkbait. Worry less about the competition and the fact that everyone is out there trying to get links. Worry more about finding ways to keep your audience’s interest and in the long run they’ll stand by you, link to you, and share your site with their own networks and audiences.

What’s your favorite type of linkbait? Do you intentionally focus on linkbait creation, or does it happen more organically for you because you’ve always focused on quality and making your site stand out? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Photo by TrueFalseFilmFestival

Storyboards are visual aids generally used when creating a movie. They lay out the major action within different scenes of the film and make a movie look like a graphic novel while in its pre-production stage. This helps the director and cinematographer plan out the various shots needed to make an interesting and well thought out film that is unified in its presentation and has scenes that work only to push the movie forward.

So what does that have to do with a blog? Have you ever thought of your blog as a graphic novel or movie, with each post as its own scene within the overall ‘movie’?  Or even thought of each post as its own mini film in a series of shorts? You can easily do so by drawing out some rudimentary panels (representing your individual posts or categories) on a whiteboard and adding to it occasionally. It doesn’t have to be very complex and you don’t have to be an artist to achieve the desired effect.  There are some very compelling reasons to do this including:

Storyboards can keep a blog focused: If you have a business blog then you have a single, unified purpose for blogging. But within that purpose there are a lot of small, offshooting topics that may seem unrelated to the umbrella purpose. If you storyboard your blog, you can figure out how to keep all topics united and relatable to others so that you present a collective experience to your readers rather than a frenetic disarray of opposing themes.

A storyboard can help flesh out the climactic point of each post: If you are attempting to effect social change, professional growth or other compelling movement with your blog, then you need an exciting climax within each post that gets your readers moving and works to the collective message. By storyboarding your individual posts as well as your overall blog you can help to figure out the most compelling points for the climax and you can plan the post-by-post build-up to them so that they will have the most impact possible and not just get lost in the overall noise of the blog.

Storyboards can help your blog posts work together to move the blog forward: Your blog is going to grow professionally as you do. With a storyboard, you can make sure that all your posts work toward that growth in a sensible way that makes it easy for your readers to not only witness the growth but to also enjoy it with you. Your storyboard can help you map out the best time and way to create these posts to accomplish your goal.

A storyboard can help you explore different angles of your post: Sometimes, looking at something in a different way than you are used to helps you see your point of view and others differently. When you create a storyboard for your blog or posts it can help you anticipate criticisms that others may have and help you refute other points of view within each post in an efficient way.

Remember, your storyboard doesn’t have to be stick figure drawings relating to your posts, it can simply be a visual resource to direct your blog. This can consist of something as simple as a flowchart. As long as you have a changeable visual element directing your blog you will have better control, clearer communication and more consistency.

Logo credit: WordPress.org

WordPress is a blog platform. But did you know it can be used as much more than that? You can use WordPress to run just about any kind of site you can imagine — blogs, static-looking business sites, forums, directories, membership sites, and more. With flexible templates and a huge collection of available WordPress plugins, it’s really capable of serving as a fully-functioning content management system (CMS).

One of the biggest benefits of using WordPress to manage a business site or professional portfolio site is that a single installation can manage both a static-looking professional website and a fully-integrated blog. The blog doesn’t have to appear on the homepage, and the pages on the site don’t have to follow the blog’s formatting (such as listing blog categories in the sidebar).

Let’s talk about why this combination (or hybrid) type of WordPress site can be beneficial to business owners and independent professionals. Then I’ll share an example (my own business site and corresponding blog), including some tricks and tweaks you can use to achieve the same thing as simply as possible.

Why Would You Want to Run a Hybrid Site on WordPress?

There are several reasons you want to consider hosting a “static” business site and your blog together on a single WordPress installation. Here are some examples:

• You only have to login to one administrative panel to update everything on your site and blog.
• You only have to make design updates to one site and one set of template files (or one stylesheet) rather than doubling your work by having to repeat it on the main site and then the blog separately.
• You can update everything online — no need to update your static portion offline and upload the changes each time.
• You can easily integrate dynamic blog information (like your latest post titles) onto static-looking pages.

It’s really about simplicity and flexibility. If you want those things, a hybrid WordPress site and blog might be a good option for you. Now, on to the next question: how do you set it up?

How to Set up a Static Site with a Blog Using WordPress (Self-Hosted)

Let’s use my business site (ProBusinessWriter.com) as an example. This is an ultra-minimal design I put together to keep the focus on the copy (I’m a writer after all — your focus might be very different depending on what you do). Here are some of the things I personally wanted in my own hybrid WordPress professional site and blog:

• A static-looking homepage that could be formatted differently than the blog and internal pages
• Static-looking internal pages to highlight my services, portfolio, client testimonials, etc., without having the blog sidebar present — full-width pages
• An attached blog I could update with the same login, which could be seamlessly featured alongside the rest of the site content

You can see screenshots below of the current homepage, an internal page, and the blog layout.

Customized Homepage of ProBusinessWriter.com

Internal WordPress Page of ProBusinessWriter.com

Blog Page Format for ProBusinessWriter.com

I went with the simplest options I could think of at the time to make the site and blog appear the way I wanted them to. Here is a step-by-step look at how you can do something similar (assuming that you already have your self-hosted WordPress installation setup — if you don’t, follow these 5-minute WordPress installation instructions).

Note: This tutorial assumes that you understand basic HTML and CSS, as you’ll be editing your stylesheet and template files for your WordPress theme. If you’re a complete newbie to coding, your best option is to hire a designer to create a completely custom site for you, or hire a coder to handle alterations on an existing theme.

1. Choose a theme (any theme) and install it. — You can create a combination static site / blog for your business using any theme you want. You can use free WordPress themes. You can use premium WordPress themes. You can use a custom design. Just choose one that you like and install it. If you aren’t sure how to install your WordPress theme, follow the instructions that came with your theme — often in a Readme.txt file — or follow the instructions from WordPress.org on adding themes to your WordPress installation.

2. Create a homepage template (optional). — If you want your homepage to look different from internal pages (like your About page), you’ll need to add a template file for it. You can model it on the code from your basic page template (generally called page.php), so you just make changes rather than having to code it from scratch. In my case I actually left the page.php file alone for the blog page format (you’ll see why below), and I created two new page templates — one for the homepage and one for my internal pages. For example, you might remove the call to display the sidebar content (or you might create a separate sidebar template file to be called on pages, while the default sidebar appears only on the blog). If you want your homepage formatting to be the same as other pages on your blog, you can skip this step completely. Remember that when you create a new page template, you have to include the following code at the very top of that template file (but insert your own template name):
   

   <?php
   /*
   Template Name: YourTemplateName
   */
   ?>

3. Create the actual homepage. — Once your homepage template is ready, it’s time to create the actual homepage. Do this in the same way you would create any WordPress page (not post). Just click the “add new” link under the “Pages” heading in your WordPress admin area’s sidebar. Here you’ll add the text and images that you want to appear on your homepage. If you created a new homepage template, look for a drop-down menu on the “new page” form while you’re writing that text. It will be under a heading called “Template.” This tells WordPress what page formatting to display this particular content on.

4. Set it as your front page. — Once you’ve created your homepage and added the content or marketing copy, it’s time to tell WordPress to use this page as the front page on your site (instead of displaying the blog automatically). Under the “Settings” menu in the sidebar of your WordPress admin area, click on “Reading.” You’ll see an option to use a static page for your homepage. Tick that option. Then choose the new homepage you setup from the drop-down list next to where it says “front page.” You’ll also notice a “posts page” option. That’s the new location where your blog will display since it’s no longer going to show up on the front page of the site. We’ll create a new page for that next, so just leave it alone for now.

   

5. Create a blog page. – Create another page. Call it “Blog” or something similar. You shouldn’t have to change the associated page template for this one. This is the template your blog’s main page will show on, so you’ll still want it to include the sidebar information more than likely.

6. Set the default blog page. — Go back into the “Reading” settings. Now you can choose your new “Blog” page from the dropdown list next to “posts page.” This will add a “Blog” link to your page navigation on the front-end of the website (where will depend on your theme; each theme is different).

That’s really all there is to it! You’re just creating two pages, changing two settings, and possibly adding a new homepage template file if you want the homepage to look different than everything else. Now you’ll have your customized homepage showing up when people visit the main page of your site. They’ll be able to browse your pages like they could on any static website, and they can access your blog posts simply by clicking a link in your navigation. Very easy.

If you’re well-versed in WordPress sites, PHP and CSS, you can pretty much make the entire site work in any way you please. Even if you’re a relative beginner though, you can still very easily have a static homepage on your business site while still featuring a blog.

Do you have a combination professional site / blog hosted on WordPress? Share a link in the comments and show us!

One of the most common excuses bloggers give for a lack of updates is that they just don’t have time to blog. The truth is almost everyone can find the time to blog. The problem is most of us aren’t very productive writers, so cranking out a blog post takes way longer than it should.

To help you blog more in less time, I’ve come up with a list of simple tips and tricks that can make you a more productive writer.

• Keep a journal with your ideas—Trying to come up with ideas for a blog post can be time consuming. So, don’t wait until you have an open word processor to figure out what you want to write about. Instead, keep a list of your ideas in a journal or somewhere on your computer. Ideas strike you all the time; make sure you write them down so you don’t forget them. This way, writer’s block will never be an issue, and you can hit the ground running whenever you’re ready to write a new post.

• Outline your posts—I like to create a basic outline for my posts before I begin writing them. I find that this keeps my writing tighter and more focused. With an outline, I basically just have to fill in the pieces of each section to write my post.

• Write first. Edit later—Don’t try to edit yourself as you write. This takes up too much time, and it will cause you to lose the conversation tone and flow in your writing. Once you get in the writing zone, ride that wave all the way to its completion. Then, once your post is written, you can start to do some editing. Otherwise, you’ll end up starting and stopping over and over, never getting any momentum built up.

• Use the egg timer writing method—I believe it was Chuck Palahniuk (author of Fight Club and other great novels) who first came up with the egg timer method of writing. Here’s how it works: Get one of those little kitchen timers, and set it for a certain period of time…let’s say 30 minutes. Then, for that 30 minutes, focus only on writing. Don’t surf the web. Don’t answer the phone. Just write. Once the timer rings, you’re free to take a break or to stop writing altogether. This keeps you focused, allowing you to get a lot done in a small amount of time.

• Know your best writing times—Some people like to write late at night. Others are better early in the morning. Find the time that you’re best suited to write, and schedule your blogging during that part of the day.

• Unplug your laptop—I remember reading this in an article for freelance writers a long time ago, and it has stuck with me ever since. Unplug your laptop, and start writing. Your laptop’s battery can only last for a certain amount of time (usually 2-3 hours), so you can’t screw around. You have to focus on writing before your computer crashes.

• Think about what you want to write—Even when I’m not writing, I’m always thinking about ideas for new posts and things I want to say in my blog. The more time you spend thinking about what you want to write, the easier it will be to get it out once you sit down in front of your computer.

What are some other productivity boosting tips you’d add to this list? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

In the past, we’ve talked at length about the reasons for and benefits of guest blogging. Now, if you’re considering getting into guest blogging, you’ll probably begin your search for opportunities in the usual places. You’ll turn to some of your blogger friends, and you’ll also target well-recognized blogs in your niche.

And that’s a great start.  

Today, however, I want to talk about looking outside your niche for guest blogging opportunities. No matter what you write about, there’s a good chance you can find guest blogging opportunities on blogs that, at first glance, have nothing to do with your niche.

Don’t know what I’m talking about? Let me share an example from a story I heard recently. There was a band that put out an album that had a lot of songs about love and relationships. While the band of course sought coverage on music blogs, they also had the brilliant idea to grab the attention of love and relationship bloggers. This put the band in front of a whole new audience, getting them far more buzz than they’d have been able to create by just targeting music blogs.

So, how can you find similar unique guest blogging opportunities? Here are a few tips to get you pointed in the right direction.

Ask your readers what their other favorite blogs are

What’s the best way to figure out other blogs your audience likes to read? By asking them…duh. You can create a survey or poll on your blog to find this out, or you can just straight up ask your readers what some of their other favorite blogs are. You can also ask your followers this question on Twitter, and I’m sure you’ll get a number of good responses.

Once you’ve compiled a list of blogs outside your niche, visit these blogs. Start thinking of how your expertise connects to the main topic of this blog. Come up with unique story ideas and pitches for each blog, and submit them to the blogger.

You should also spend time getting to know the readers of the blog. Interact with them in the comments. Figure out their likes and their dislikes, which topics tend to generate the most discussion, and how you can best connect with them should you submit a guest post.

Brainstorm connections between your niche and others

Most of us just don’t spend enough time brainstorming anymore. We’ve lost our creativity. Spend some time with nothing but you, a pen, and a piece of paper. Start jotting down every connection you can think of between your niche and others. No idea is too crazy or farfetched to put down. I think that no matter what niche you’re in, you’ll find that it has a connection to dozens of other topics.

Once you’ve come up with a list of these connections, start searching for blogs in these other niches. When looking for guest blogging opportunities, you might be tempted to look only at the top blogs in each niche. While you certainly want to reach out to these, you shouldn’t ignore the smaller blogs that have loyal bases of readers. Those blogs are often easier to get guest posting gigs on, and their readers are often fiercely loyal, meaning they’ll pay attention to what you have to say.

Try MyBlogGuest

MyBlogGuest is a really cool website where bloggers and guest bloggers connect. Blog owners who are looking for guest posters can submit opportunities and connect with eager guest bloggers. This is a great way to find guest blogging opportunities both inside and outside of your niche.

Have you ever guest posted outside your niche? Share your experiences by leaving a comment.

Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

As a blog reader, do you come across some issues in blog design that leave you scratching your head? “Why would they do that?” you might think to yourself. I have those moments too. Now to be fair, I’m far from a fantastic designer, so it’s not my place to be overly critical of someone else’s blog design. But if they want to keep me as a reader, there are some mistakes they simply can’t make.

Here are my top ten pet peeves in blog design and usability:

1. No contact information or author details — If I’m reading a blog, I want to know that there is an actual person behind it. Tell me who you are. Post some information about yourself once in a while. But most importantly, have contact details on the blog! Let your readers know someone’s really behind it all, and it’s not just another splog littering the Web. If you’re not comfortable posting an email address, use a contact form. Your address is hidden so it can’t be harvested, but your readers can still reach you.
2. No dates on posts – Okay. This really drives me up a wall. It can actually be pretty infuriating as a reader to arrive at a post and find no date on it. Is this new information? Is it outdated and irrelevant now? Um, I don’t know, because you couldn’t be bothered to include a date! This is how bad information gets spread on the Web (just think about all of the outdated SEO “advice” floating around on blogs — would you want to follow advice that’s five years old?). Please. Post a date. We shouldn’t have to dive into previous comments just to get a rough idea of when you posted an article.
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   Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

   Where’s the subscription option? — Every now and then I can’t figure out how to subscribe to a blog I like. While rare, some bloggers leave the RSS button off completely. More frequently though, the problem is that the blogger thinks they’re being cute design-wise with a super-duper creative RSS button. I don’t want cutesy. I want to know where to friggin’ subscribe to your blog! It’s fine if you want to get creative. But keep some familiar element to your subscription button so people recognize it for what it is.
4. Poor content formatting – This is another rare one, but an issue that really makes me want to leave a blog and never come back. The paragraphs all run together (like with line breaks between them instead of paragraph breaks, so there’s no space between each paragraph). When this happens it’s generally an issue with the theme. Here’s a tip. If this sounds like your blog, fix it! Either fix it yourself, get a coder to go in and adjust the stylesheet, or use another theme. You’ll annoy your readers a lot less that way.
5. Too many ads – I run blogs as a part of my business model, so I do understand the desire to monetize them. I also have my limits as a reader. If you have two huge ads before the content starts, you just lost me.  If you have a lot of text link ads throughout your content, you probably lost me there too. Strike a balance.
6. Irrelevant ads – This can be worse than having too many ads. If I visit your small business site, I really don’t want to see ads for adult dating sites. I really don’t want to see it. If you can’t find something relevant to advertise, then you’re probably in the wrong niche if you want to make money blogging.
7. Lack of transparency – The FTC might have weighed in about disclosing blog sponsorships and affiliate relationships, but your readers who are what really matter. And guess what — we’ve wanted transparency and disclosure all along! If you’re going to post an affiliate link, disclose that fact. If you’re posting about a client or sponsor, tell your readers that. We deserve the full truth so we can decide how much we trust the opinions shared in that post. You’re much better off telling readers about the relationship up front than having them make purchases based on your post’s information only to find out later that you might have only said those glowing things because you were profiting from them. Readers appreciate honesty. And just for the record, being up front and honest can lead to more affiliate sales rather than fewer sales. It might not seem like a usability issue on the surface, but it is. Transparency (or a lack thereof) influences how your readers behave in relation to your content.
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   Credit: BigStockPhoto.com

   Registration required in order to comment — This is another huge pet peeve of mine, and I have a strict policy — I will not comment on a blog that forces me to sign up or register on the site. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. If you force registration on me, I’ll rebel. Worse, I’ll probably leave my comments on my own blog, pointing out the obnoxious behavior of your own (not to mention that I’ll probably turn to a competing blog instead of yours in the future).
9. Blogs trying to be everything to everyone – From the usability perspective, some bloggers simply try to do too much. That makes navigation more complicated for readers. For example if you want to offer business advice, share entertainment gossip, and post book reviews of novels, they probably don’t all belong on the same blog. It makes readers interested in one topic area frustrated when they have to put up with content in other unrelated topic areas just to find the “good stuff.” Use different domains. If you don’t want completely different blogs, you can keep the same theme, but install it separately on different subdomains of the same main domain — treating it more like a blog network than a single blog trying to offer too much.
10. Link preview pop-ups — This is a pet peeve of mine, but I do know some readers like it. Basically, when you mouseover a link, a preview of the site it points to pops up. In theory it’s not a bad idea — I get to see where you’re sending me before I click and leave your site. No surprises. However, I like to mouseover to view the URL in the status bar, and sometimes my mouse pointer just happens to fall over a link when I’m scrolling. In those cases, the pop-up is unwelcome. It takes over my browser, blocking portions of the content I’m trying to read. In my opinion, being able to view the target URL in the status bar is perfectly adequate. After all, it’s not like you get a great view of the site in the previews anyway.

Those are some of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to blog design and usability from the reader perspective. What are some of yours? What features or design faux pas make you want to leave a blog? On the other hand, are there design features you really love that keep you coming back? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.