Top Blogger Tips,How To Increase Blog Revenue and Visiter: September 2010

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Creating A Wordpress Blog With Fantastico

Blogging With Wordpress

WordPress is a free personal publishing platform. It is an easy to use, fast and flexible blog script. It comes with a great set of features, designed to make your experience as a publisher as pleasant as possible.

But Firstly, If you want to install a wordpress blog script you will need to have a webhost, in this tutorial I suppose that you already had a webhost, you know about the basic stuffs about it and you just want to know how to install the wordpress blog script on your website or webhost, besides, there are a lot of good webhost out there and you just need to find a good web hosting company that offer a quality service.

Note: Be sure that the webhosting company you are using offers a free Fantastico Cpanel plugin

What is Fantastico?

Fantastico De Lux is the leading auto installer for cPanel servers. With more than 10,000 installations, it provides more than one million end users the ability to quickly install dozens of the leading open source content management systems into their web space and that includes Wordpress installation.

Installing Wordpress

Step 1.) Log into your website’s cPanel account, then click on the Fantastico icon.

Step 2.) You will now be brought to the Fantastico user interface, scroll down until you see the Blogs section and just after it, you will see WordPress in the list. Click on WordPress

Step 3.) On the right side, you will be given with some information about the version of WordPress that will be able to install. Make sure that it’s up to date. and If all is OK, click on New Installation.

Step 4.) You should arrive at the first of three steps in the one-click installation process. Here, you’ll be able to determine which folder you’d like to have WordPress installed to, as well as some other blog information

Installation Location. If you want your blog to be your website’s homepage, ensure that you leave the space blank, otherwise type in the name of the folder you want WordPress installed to (make sure it doesn’t already exist).

Admin access data. Choose the username and password you’d like to use in order to access the WordPress admin panel after installation is completed.

Base configuration. Type a nickname you’d like to use throughout the blog. By default, the nickname is used whenever you leave comments or write an entry on the blog, so choose something you don’t mind the world seeing. The admin e-mail address is where notices, passwords, and other information about the administration of the blog is sent. Your blog’s name and description should be self-explanatory.

E-mail account configuration. You only need to worry about this if you plan to blog via e-mail. If you’ve set up a special e-mail account that you’ll use for blogging via e-mail, then enter the settings where applicable. (Bear in mind, you will need to enter an e-mail account password in order to proceed with the installation, simply use a false one if you don’t plan to blog via e-mail.)

When your blog information is complete, click on the Install WordPress button at the bottom.

Step 5.) Verify that the information you provided is correct and click on Finish installation. Fantastico will create a brand new database for you and create the necessary WordPress files.

Step 6.) When the process is complete, you will receive a confirmation notice with the details of the installation. If you’d like a copy of the report for your records, you’ll have the option to send an e-mail to an account of your choosing.

Make your Blog Professional

Image via CrunchBase

Having a Professional Blog Structure

Blog Logo

Somehow, amateur bloggers tend to have no concern to brand their own blogs, and probably that is because they are using the default "Text Title" logo for their blog, if you want to make your blog unique from others then make a blog logo, it's easy you won't really need somewhat like a graphic designer to design your logo for you, all you need is to search for an Icon that reflects on what's on your blog or what is your blog all about, then try to add some Text Beside it or something like changing the icon's color and there you go! you have your own logo for your blog.

Blog Theme Color

When you design your blog, decide on a theme color that your blog will follow, Familiar with facebook?(Of Course) although Facebook is not a blog but you can get an idea out of it on how a theme color affects the overall professionalism or look of the blog or website, consider using at least two color variations that reflects your blog, such as if your blog is about nature, why not have a theme color of green and yellow green? it will greatly impact the "look" and the "feel" of your blog.

Blog Favicon

Aside from having a custom Blog Logo and a blog theme color, you should also consider having a custom Favicon for your Blog, A Favicon is the small website or blog icon that appears on a browser's address bar and tab bar, we will tackle more on blog favicons on future posts (So stay tuned), for the mean time, if you want to create your own favicon for free you can go to Favicon.cc or go to Blogger-Bookmark - Custom Blog Favicon for a short tutorial about having a Blog Favicon.

Post Titles Arrangements

This goes for both for your blog and post titles. This is a common mistake that most newbie bloggers tend to make. Why? Because when a user is searching for information they are looking for specific keywords that you may have written about — not your blog’s name. This will make a huge difference to your blog's professionalism and search engine optimization, This trick can be implemented on Wordpress using a plugin but on blogger, here is how to do it:

Go To Blogger->Dashboard->Design->Edit HTML and tick the box on "Expand Widget Templates"

(Note: Always backup your blog's template first before doing anything, so that you might not end up messing your blog.)

Then find (CTRL+F) this code:

and replace the code above with this one:

and that's it!

Default Template Icons

When you try to install a packaged blog template on your blog, whether it is a blogger template or a wordpress theme, it usually has some default icons along with it, chances are, that the template you are using have been also used by a lot of other bloggers for their blogs especially if it is a popular template and thus making your blog common to the reader's eye, if you want to brand your blog and make it professional then try to change those default Icons to other icons that is similar to it and has the same size.

RSS Newsfeed Subscription

Always have an RSS Newsfeed subscription option or button for your blog, it lets your readers get connected and updated about your posts or articles, if you would like to have an RSS newsfeed for your blog, you can use Feedburner , it offers a free RSS content management.

Social Bookmarking Widgets

If you really want your blog to be more interactive, "talk of the town", and to be more professional, then you may consider adding Social Bookmarking Widgets, such as Facebook Like, Tweeter Retweet or Google's Buzz This to your blog posts. These widgets will make your blog have an edge in the raging competition on the Blogosphere, there are a lot of free Social Bookmarking Services out there such as Addthis, ShareThis, and Add To Any.

Clean up Cluttered pieces

Being simple and clean does make your blog more professional, always try to arrange or clean up pieces, widgets, links and images on your blog so that it will not look cluttered and amateur, also, avoid using or putting too much widgets on your blog, widgets use javascripts from other sites, and when the server is down, it will affect your blog's loading time and slow it down.

Image Sizes

When you insert images on your blog, it is much nicer and professional to have a uniform image sizes, such as, Main images for posts are 350x350 pixels on size and advertisements images on the sidebar would be 250x250 pixels, it would make your blog look clean and much more eyepopping than a blog with scrambled image sizes inserted on their blog.

Indexing Your Blog On Directories

So, You have your blog, maybe with a flashy design, with worthwhile superb articles, decent number of readers and regular updates, great!

Now, you want to advance your blog, you want to show it to the whole world and your ready to compete and enter the exciting world of blogosphere competition, but you're confused on where to start?

List your Blog!

If you want your precious blog to be known and acknowledged, list it! Listing your blog to high profile Blog Directories gives you an edge an d opportunity to "Show Off" and get your blog noticed, consider visiting the top Blogs on the blogosphere, does their blog listed to Blog Directories?

Of course! because if the blog haven't even listed yet, how can you determine the blog to be one of the "Top Blogs", likewise if you don't even submit and list your blog to Top Blogging Directories, how can you expect your blog to be acknowledged as a Top Blog?

The Benefits of Listing your Blog

There are certainly a lot of benefits you get when you list your blog to Blog Directories, and the best hing about it is you can get all of these benefits for free!

Backlinks

Backlinks are like roads that connect to your blog from the broad highway of the blogosphere, if a lot of website links to your blog, then that would mean a higher probability for your blog to be visited or by a visitor or a potential loyal blog reader.

Connect With Bloggers And Have Readers

Submitting your blog to blogging directories gives you an opportunity to know and to be known by other bloggers on the blogosphere, thus having a chance to have blog readers and blogging friends.

Discover Blogs

Blogosphere is a new world to explore, and that means new blogs to be discovered, new articles to be read, new friends to know, you name it! Blogging really is not all about competition, so have time to visit and comment on other blogs, it also helps you to build your profile as a blogger.

Compete and Change

When you discover blogs that are similar to what you blog about, then it's a good thing to know about their blogs too! Observed and learned from the things that makes a successful blog and avoid the mistakes made by amateur blogs.

How do you plan to promote your blog

Why is it good to know this before you start your blog? Because it will help you decide where best to invest your time and effort when you need to build traffic to your blog.

You'll learn more about the methods to promote your blog when you subscribe to the email course below. Some of these tasks can be outsourced, while others you would have to do yourself.

Decide what you want to take on and look out for service providers to handle the other functions so you can start building traffic to your blog as soon as possible.

In Conclusion

Blogging is not for everyone. It's just another form of communication, but you can use this type of communication to have an edge on marketing.

Don't get so hung up on the technology that you end up ignoring more appropriate ways of communicating your message and some things may be easier to communicate face to face, in a conference room, or even through the good old telephone.

But if you asked yourself all the questions above and decided that blogging meets all your objectives, then a blog for your business surely is a lucrative choice. so what are you waiting for? start a blog now!

Blogging For Your Business

Image via Wikipedia

A blog can also be a superb tool for marketing your business online, it gives you an advantage to connect with your customers or to market your goods online.

But with so many marketers jumping on the blogging world, few people are giving a thought to whether blogs are really up their alley, or taking the time to consider the best ways of going about it.

If you are planning to start a blog for your business, then try to ask yourself with these questions before you plunge into blogging.

Do you really need a blog?

Writing and maintaining a blog takes surely needs a commitment, as well as a passion for stringing words into a post that your customers may have a reasons to comeback. If you don't enjoy writing that much, you could always create an audio or video blog (or let others write for you).

But would your business objectives really be served by starting a blog? Or would you prefer to use other methods to market your business?

Whom do you want to reach with your blog?

The first step on reaching your audience, is understanding them and where they go to find information about your products.

If your audience largely consists of people who live in your town or use products that they search for in the newspapers, offline advertising might be more suited to your purpose such as Flyers and banners.

However, your target audience belongs to one or more of these segments, a blog might be just the thing to boost your business.

Internet users

Does your target potential customers would really need to use the internet to be encouraged to purchase something you sell? If not, then starting a blog will just be a huge waste of time and effort.

Blog readers

Does your target audience read blogs? Or do they prefer to get their information in their inbox? If the latter is true, then an email newsletter might be a better option than a blog.

Search engine users

If you already have a website for your business, A blog is an excellent way to boost your search engine rankings and get listed for a lot of your target keywords to market your products online. If you know that your audience uses search engines to find information, a blog will increase your chances of getting their attention.

What do you want to achieve with your blog?

There are a lot of things that a blog can do for your business. Blogs can help you:

- Increase your products visibility

- Brand yourself, your products, your services, and your company

- Build a community and connect to your customers

- Expand your reach to those outside your current sphere of influence

- Build up your Business’ profile

- Reach out to potential customers

Deciding exactly what you want to achieve with your blog can help you get focused, so that you can spend your time and effort in activities that help, without hindering your business objectives.

How much time can you spend on your blog?

Time is a valuable resource that is equivalent to money, if you’re serious about blogging about your business then you must decide how much time you would spend on your blog.

What blogging platform will serve your needs best?

Deciding your blogging platform is an important step that you should take only after becoming familiar with the features and benefits of each option.

The reason it is so crucial is because it can be extremely difficult to migrate an established blog to a new platform once you have started it. Moving your blog can result in you losing your data, search engine listings and readers, so don't take this decision lightly.

Decide which platform will best meet your marketing objectives, time constraints and personal preferences before you make your first post.

Blogger and Wordpress are some of the best blogging platforms, you can refer to "Creating A Blog With Blogger" and "Creating A Wordpress Blog With Fantastico" posts on how to create a blog with blogger and wordpress blogging platform.

Developing your Blog

Image via Wikipedia

You've finally created a blog and you've made your first post. Now how do you get people to actually read what you're blogging about?

Here are some tips on promoting your blog.

Quality Content

Interesting content will keep your readership returning. Update your blog regularly. Google-bot, which is Google's web-crawling robot loves content. The more you update your blog, the more frequent the search engine spiders will return to it.

Marketing on Forums

Take part in forums that are related to blogging. Ask other bloggers for their opinion on your blog and take their suggestions to heart.This helps you have an audience for your blog and build a relationship, even before your visitors read your blog.

Publish an RSS/Atom/XML feed

If you're using Blogger, you can turn on RSS feed by clicking on settings in your dashboard and then clicking on site feed and make sure that your settings are set to yes.If on other blogging platform such as Wordpress, you can use free RSS feed services like feedburner.com.

Carefully choose your post titles

Taking into consideration what other internet users may be searching for, Use keywords in your posts title.keywords are the main texts that is preferably considered by search engines as the main topic of your posts.

Technorati.com , is a blog search engine that also lists the top search words. The more targeted your keywords are, the greater your return in search engines will be.

Involve yourself in commenting on other blogs

You can gain a loyal readership just by offering feedback to your fellow bloggers. some blogs has the comment feature that allows you to add a link back to your blog as well.

Link Signature

Be sure to include your blog address in forum signatures and in your email signature. it helps to promote your blog's link.

Submit your blog to directories

As previously posted "Indexing Your Blog On Directories", submit your blog on directories, such as Google, Yahoo, Bing and other Top Blog Directories such as BlogTopSites.

What is a Dofollow and a Nofollow Blog

Image via Wikipedia

Many blog writers have discussed and debate over the question "What is better; a DoFollow Blog? Or a NoFollow Blog?, certainly many of them answered DoFollow, and only a few answered Nofollow, but what is the real reason of this debate? This is my own opinions and views:

A Dofollow Blog leaves a space and grants access to their visitors to have a backlink on their blogs, the effect is that whenever somebody leaves a link on the blog, both the author of the blog and the one who interlink backlinks will be benefited, because it will affect and adds up both of their blogs or websites' reputation and search engine ranking, so you see the good effect there?

But a one big disadvantage of this technique is that; what if you have a high reputaion and a high pagerank blog or website? And the one who made a backlink at your blog has a website or a blog with a bad reputation(sites that are related to hacks, pornography, etc)? Such as their blogs may be out of your niche, have bad credit, full of spams, has malicious contents, etc. Would you still want to unite your blog's well earned reputation and credit to a bad reputation blog? Well think again.

Many spammers liked blogs who has a property that grant them access to put their own links, and they will try to put no quality comments , familiar with "hey thanks!", "nice post!", "great!", "blahblahblah", some bloggers comment just to have a backlink on your blog.

A NoFollow blog is a blog or a website that restricts their visitors or readers to have a backlink on their website or blog, at first it may sound greedy or selfish but what they are really doing is their protecting their blogs from spammers who tries to spam their way just to have a backlink.

Many newbie bloggers get the wrong reaction to NoFollow, because they think a DoFollow is much useful for their blog, and maybe their right! But have they observed high reputation and pagerank blogs? Most of it has a NoFollow property, because they want to control the contents and quality that links to their blogs.

In conclusion, both Dofollow and NoFollow property has their own advantages and disadvantages, but in my own opinion, when you have just newly started your blog, you can try to implement the DoFollow system because it will help your blog get up to the seo(search engine optimazition) ladder, and later when you have build up high credibility you can then change this property to NoFollow, to control the quality that links to your blog.

If this sounded greedy to you don't worry, because you can tell your blog readers that you will link to them if they have a good credibility blogs and quality comments on your blog, this is also a way of building relationship with your loyal readers.

How to Remove Blogger's Navbar

Blogger; an easy interface with an advance options for making your blog has a default NavBar widget on every blog,

When you try to browse on a normal blog hosted on Blogger with a default template, you may noticed the top bar just above the blog's title or header, which is called the Nav Bar, the navbar is a feature of Blogger for bloggers to easily sign-in/out with their account, share the blog they are reading, or follow the blogs that they like.

While this maybe helpful and has some benefits but it leaves mark of an "unprofessional look" on your blog, remember the "Make Your Blog Professional" article earlier? so if you want to have a website look or professional look on your blog, you can follow the steps on how to remove or hide Blogger Navbar below.

Step 1: Sign in to Blogger.

Step 2: On the Blogger Dashboard, click on the "Design" link of the blog that you want to disable the NavBar.

Step 3: Under the Design tab, click on Edit HTML tab to view the template’s HTML code.

Step 4: Then Search for the following line of code: (You can use control+F function of your browser for faster searching):

How to keep your blog exciting

There is nothing worse than stumbling across a an unexciting and boring blog. The difficult thing is that what is boring to one person might be interesting to another.Therefore, you really need to focus on your readers when creating new text and posts for your blog.

If you want your blog to be successful, you cannot simply expect your day to day activities to be enough information to keep the readers interested. If you post that you went to the grocery, came home, and then ate dinner, you can expect the readers to be bored out of their minds(unless you're a superstar). If you find humor in your activities or if you tell them in an interesting manner, you might keep their attention even when using the same day to day activities.

How To Add HTML Code On Blogs

Image via CrunchBase

Web Language

If you will dig dipper on how web sites are created you will know that it is made up of hundreds of words or so called HTML, HTML or Hyper-Text Mark-up Language is a set of tags or codes that is interpreted by a web browser to display a website.

HTMLs On Your Blog

Sometimes when you would like to add widgets on your blog, they will require you to insert a set of HTML codes on your website or blog, and it maybe confusing at first especially if your new to the blogging platform you use.

With the overwhelming aspects and configurations of different blogging platforms such as Blogger, Wordpress Joomla, Livejournal and Tumblr adding an HTML code can get you dizzy if your not familliar with it.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Key to Successful Blogging

Over the last month several hundred bloggers in the SitsGirls and TheBlogFrog communities have come together to tackle 31 Days to Build a Better Blog together. The 31 days are coming to an end this week and I’ve been so excited to see how working through the workbook as a large group has helped so many bloggers.Almost every day since the challenge started I’ve had participants tell me that their blogs have been growing as a result of participating.

I’ve chatted to a number of participants in the last few days to get their feedback on the workbook and to try to get to the bottom of why it has helped them

Almost every person I’ve talked to has said most of the teaching and exercises in the workbook are things that they already knew that they should be doing. The problem was that while they knew it – they were not doing it.

For example – Day 5:

Day 5 of the challenge is to email one of your readers. The idea is to give someone a little unexpected personal attention, to get to know them and to help them in some way beyond what they might expect.

The principle is simple and the concept wouldn’t be foreign to any blogger. It’s something most of us know that would be a worthwhile experience but yet its something that so many bloggers would write off as not important enough to really do.

The reality is that if you did this once a day over a year that you’d have 365 readers (each with their own network) who you’ll have made an impression on.

The impact could be significant, particularly for a new blog, yet for some reason many bloggers are content just to have the knowledge that looking after readers and giving them some personal attention could help their blog – but never take action on it.

Example 2

This same theme came up as a result of the ProBlogger Training Day here in Melbourne two weeks back. Much of what we covered on the day was not particularly new or revolutionary (although for some it was). However this week I’ve had 3 emails from attendees saying talking about how they’ve already grown their blogging business (two doubled their readership and one told me that they’ve just started experimenting with affiliate marketing and are making over $150 a day!).

In each case I asked the blogger what it was that helped them and in every case they told me that they started doing something that they’d always said that they’d start doing.

This post is not a pseudo sales page for my workbook or training days (although sometimes when you pay for something you feel more accountable to take action) – the principle applies whether you use one of my products, read the free posts on ProBlogger or work on your blog alone. The key is to not be satisfied to KNOW how to improve your blog but to move beyond theory and do something.

What should you DO?

There are many things that help to grow a successful blog. In the 31 Days workbook I covered 31 of them but the list is almost endless.

One exercise that you might like to do today is to grab a notebook and pen and jot down as many things that you already know to do to improve a blog. Don’t go looking for ideas or reading more theory today – but make a list of things that you already know that could improve your blog and identify some that you will implement today.

For you it might be increasing your content creation (for those of you who’ve let your posting levels slip), for others it might be paying some more attention to current readers, for others it could be reaching out to other bloggers in your niche, for some it might be about developing that eBook that you’ve been saying you’ll do one day…. the key is to move beyond the theory and do something.

Blog Content Strategy

1. Setting Content Goals

Every good blog meets a particular need for a given audience. Your content goals are the place where, on paper, your audience members’ needs can be aligned with your business needs.

For example, imagine I run a blog on chicken keeping, and my audience is backyard poultry keepers — families and others who aren’t exactly poultry enthusiasts or breeders, but want to have a few hens scratching in the backyard. And let’s say I want to generate an income of $1000 per month from my blog six months from now.

The only way I’m going to achieve my goal is through content: by providing my audience with the information they need. Whether I join affiliate programs, conduct paid product reviews, sell ad space or sell ebooks about chicken keeping, if I don’t publish the content, I won’t have an audience, and I won’t generate an income.

Content translates to pageviews, audience growth, engagement and loyalty — all the things that bloggers need to monetise their blogs. So my content goals might cover:

publishing frequency
per-post, per-month, or per-category traffic objectives
topic emphasis, post type, or media used
the quantity and quality of comments, discussions and feedback

Even if your blog isn’t a financial concern, content goals will help you stay focused on your blog’s unique advantage — its point of difference — and make the most of that with every post you publish.

2. Conducting a Content Inventory

A thorough content inventory involves listing each piece of content on your blog, and noting its publish date categorisation, tags, and any other metadata associated with it.

Through this process, you’ll find outdated posts, incorrectly categorised or tagged posts, broken links, spam comments, typos — all kinds of issues! Once you’re finished, you’ll also have a clear idea of the strengths of your existing content assets, as well as the weaknesses. And by considering your content inventory in light of your content goals, you’ll quickly be able to find content gaps: areas in which you lack the content that will be required to achieve your goals.

If one of my goals is for my chicken keeping site to be the recognised authority for backyard hobby poultry keepers, I’ll need the content to back that up. My content inventory will undoubtedly reveal some areas in which my content is lacking, incomplete, amateurish, or fails to represent best-practice approaches. They’re my content gaps for this goal.

3. Reviewing and Amending Content Treatment

The information you collected on your content’s metadata during the content inventory also needs to be analysed in light of your goals. This might reveal other gaps — perhaps you’ve overlooked some important tags, or the tags you’ve used don’t reflect the terms audience members usually search for. You’ll want to identify those issues and address them, creating additional tags, making sure your content is categorised as logically and intuitively as possible, and ensuring that the mechanics of your content are closely aligned with your content goals.

One of my chicken keeping blog goals was income, and I’ve decided I’ll use good organic search placement as one technique to build my readership. My content inventory shows that I’ve tagged all my content about poultry housing with the tag “hen houses”, but my research shows that searchers most commonly search for the term “coops”. I might add that tag to my site — and all related posts — to boost my position in those search results. I might also change the navigation label on my blog that leads to specliaised content about hen houses from “Housing” to “Coops” so that when the users I’ve attracted reach my blog, they see exactly the thing they’re looking for.

This step is really about looking at the ancillary information that allows users to find and contextualise the information you present, and making sure it’s optimised for your user and blog goals.

4. Identifying Content Tasks and Responsibilities

If you’re a solo blogger, the second part of this step will be easy: you’ll be responsible for everything! But just what is “everything”?

How often will you publish new content? What tools will you use to publish it? Where will you source it and what requirements will you place on every item published on your blog? Who will follow up on any copyright issues and check the factual accuracy of each post? Who will run the spell check? Who will schedule the posts and who will hit the “publish” button? How will you work out, or know, when you need to add a category or tag to the site? And how will you populate that new category with content?

If your blog is time-relevant, you might need a plan for retiring old content, but every blog contains some content that will become outdated in time. How will you manage that? Where will you redirect users who try to access retired content?

These are just some of the questions about tasks and responsibilities that you’ll want to answer through your content strategy. The guidelines you’ll want to set at this point will depend on the nature of your blog, and where you want to take it in future. For example, in developing my authoritative chicken keeping blog, I might decide to request guest posts from well-known breeders. This decision has implications for copyright, publishing schedules, consistency of style and voice, and so on. I’ll need to try to anticipate and answer those questions in my strategy.

5. Setting Your Plan

The work you’ve done so far forms the basis for your content strategy. You’ve defined a focus, audience and goals, and reshaped your blog (and its underlying process and management) so that it’s in the best possible position to achieve your goals as you move forward.

The final step involves setting out action plans to implement strategies and tactics that will help you achieve those goals over time.

That might involve tasks like:

filling large-scale content gaps
trying new content-sourcing tactics, post types, and media
recycling, reusing or repackaging evergreen content to achieve the greatest possible return on your investment in it

When you work with content all the time, it can be difficult to step back and see your blog as a whole. That’s why comparatively few bloggers have developed content strategies for their blogs. But a good content strategy can help you to focus, and build your offering strategically using content assets that appreciate, rather than devalue, over time.

Become a Playful Blogger

How to Outsource Your Blog

You don’t need to be a big-time blogger to need to outsource some aspect of your blog. A beginning blogger with a serious business plan might want to contract a designer to create a skin for their blog. A entrepreneurial blogger might want to outsource some writing, or have an agency provide social media strategy for the blog.There are plenty of reasons why you might outsource some aspect of your blogging. But once you’ve identified the need, how should you proceed?Don’t make your first step trying to find good candidates! Before you go hunting for help, you need to do your homework. Here’s the process I’d recommend.

1. Define what you want.

“I need help with my blog content” is not a clear directive. If you’re going to source help, you need to know what to look for, which means you need to have a clear idea of what, specifically, you want.

Don’t just think in terms of contractor skillsets. Think in terms of your audience. So you want to have a new interface designed for your blog. Great. But what do you want it to do? Do you have a visual identity you want the design to reflect or match? Are there interactive elements — like social media buttons or a subscription box — that, in accordance with your readership objectives, you want to prioritise in your design? Do you have user and usage stats that can help to drive the technical specifications you provide to a designer?

Work out what you think you want, and why, before you start thinking about who might do the work.

2. Make it measurable.

The word ‘measurable’ really gives the game away — if the first step in this process was to define specific objectives, the next one is to make them measurable.

Some tasks are difficult to measure — the “success” of a new homepage design might seem like one of them. But look a little closer and, whatever the task you’re setting, you’ll likely find ways to assess the results. Perhaps you’ll assess your current traffic metrics and set new goals that you expect the new site design to help meet. Perhaps you’ll require the designer to show you the results of usability testing.

Alternatively, your goals might be internal — related to your time or operations. Maybe you want to save time — say, two days a week — by outsourcing some of your blog post research and writing tasks. Fine. But make sure you’re prepared to track the time you spend managing your contractor, to make sure that you haven’t simply replaced two days’ writing with two days’ contractor management!

As part of setting measurable goals, don’t forget to apply a timeline to each! This is the most basic way for you to assess whether your outsourced work is on track.

3. Set a budget.

Now that you have an idea of what you want, and what benefits you need it to bring, you should be able to translate those benefits into a dollar value, and decide on the investment you’re willing to make to achieve that goal.

You might want the new design for your blog to increase average per-session pageviews by 1.5 within the first three months. Great! What will that do for your advertising revenues in that time? And how much can you afford to invest to generate this return?

Setting a budget is an essential step in the process. This will help you to qualify candidates early in the process, and save you from spending time talking to “prospective” contractors who really aren’t in your market at all.

4. Seek recommendations.

Unless you have experience in a given market space or discipline and believe you have the skills to select good talent off the bat, you might consider asking peers and colleagues for talent recommendations. Whether you’re outsourcing blog content production or your accounting tasks, personal recommendations are the best way to have some assurance that you’ll get what you expect.

Alternatively — or additionally — you might call for expressions of interest through your blog, your social networks, your professional networks, and other likely sources. To me, these approaches are still better options than advertising blindly on freelance networks, or scouring the web in an effort to find that needle in a haystack — good help that you can afford and trust. Recommendations are best.

5. Research the provider.

However you obtain recommendations, research the provider before you contact them. Conducting your own research is important — you never know what information a quick web search will turn up. Hopefully it’s the same information the contractor in question will provide to you, but if it’s not the kind of detail they’d likely share, you’ll be glad you looked into their work yourself.

If the contractor is local, your peers or colleagues may know them, so again: ask around. Encourage people to be candid and to give you their honest opinions, but also be sure to find out the bases for those assessments. Try to remain as open-minded and objective as possible at this point, so you can create a shortlist of at least two — but hopefully three or four — providers you believe might suit the job.

6. Make contact.

Make careful observation of each shortlisted candidate from the moment of your first contact. Everything they do and say will provide clues as to how well you may be able to work with them. If something makes you uncomfortable, try to work out what it is and why it’s a problem.

Again, it’s important to try to remain reasonable and objective at this point. The fact that your potential designer is wearing a suit and tie doesn’t mean he’s not as creative as the previous candidate, who rolled up to the meeting in ripped jeans and cool runners.

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Blog Tips 2010

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Sunday, September 5, 2010

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Thursday, September 2, 2010

For example – Day 5:

Example 2

What should you DO?

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1. Setting Content Goals

2. Conducting a Content Inventory

3. Reviewing and Amending Content Treatment

4. Identifying Content Tasks and Responsibilities

5. Setting Your Plan

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1. Define what you want.

2. Make it measurable.

3. Set a budget.

4. Seek recommendations.

5. Research the provider.

6. Make contact.

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