Clipmarks | sweetsfoods's Blogs collection

9 Little Known Traits of Successful Bloggers

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:04:55 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

We all know the “rules” of blogging. Produce consistently high-quality content, position yourself as an authority, cultivate relationships with your readers and other bloggers.

But some of the best and most popular blogs have traits that might surprise you. Here’s how being negative, angry and stupid (in the right ways) can create breakthrough success on your blog.

1. Don’t over-explain

2. Don’t know everything

3. Get mad once in awhile

4. Don’t be overly consistent

5. Break unbreakable rules

6. Repeat yourself

7. Be negative

8. Get a little stupid

9. Don’t pay too much attention to “how to blog” articles

Tags: blog, blogging, tips, writing

10 Prolific Bloggers Share Tips on Generating Conversation on Blogs

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:48:07 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: www.problogger.net

10 Prolific Bloggers Share Tips on Generating Conversation on Blogs

Yesterday I gave 13 tips for having great conversations on a blog. As a followup to that I shot an email to a number of bloggers that have a habit of having active comment sections to ask them how they make their blogs more conversational.

As expected - their responses were rich and full of goodness! Here are their responses.

Leo Babauta

“Conversation on Zen Habits is as important or more important than the posts themselves.

Gala Darling

“People always say that you need to start conversations on your blog in order to foster community, but one of the main problems is that some people try to do it just because they think they should —

Duncan Riley

Liz Strauss

Timothy Ferris

Jason Falls

Jeremy Schoemaker

Chris Garrett

“There are three types of conversation that I see on blogs.

John Chow

Lorelle VanFossen

The synergy of like-minds keeps the conversation going.

Tags: blogs, blogging, tips, blogger

Building a Popular Social Media Profile: Seven Essential Characteristics

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:21:06 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods
clipper's remarks: Highly recommended!

Clip Source: www.doshdosh.com

Building a Popular Social Media Profile: Seven Essential Characteristics

If you’re a new or not yet established brand, how should you use social media to build a reputation for yourself?

Apart from making sure your product/website is relevant to the social media channel, it is also useful to participate in social media communities as an end-user or brand representative.

How to Build a Popular Social Media Profile: 7 Helpful Characteristics

1. Strong Profile Visibility: Developing Brand Recognition

2. Active Participation: Maintaining a Continuous Presence

3. Practice Reciprocity: Seek Win-Win Outcomes

4. Effective Communication: Conversations are Important

5. Support the Community: Putting the Collective Before Oneself

6. Provide Value Above All: Gaining Trust and Attention

7. Demonstrate Integrity

Tags: social media, blogging, blogs, howto, internet, selfdevelopment, social networking, tips, technology, branding

How to Promote Your Blog through Networking

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 16:36:11 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: www.problogger.net

This week I’ve been suggesting five ways that I’d promote a new blog to new readers if i was starting out again.

Today I want to turn our attention to Networking as a great way to promote a blog.

If I were starting out in blogging today knowing what I now know I’d invest significant time each day into connecting with others online. The old adage of ‘it’s not what you know it’s who you know’ rings true in blogging.

A number of suggestions that I’d make in networking with bloggers:

Be generous

Don’t Expect too much too quick

Look for the B-listers

Prove Yourself First

Persist But Don’t Annoy

Look in Neighboring Niches

Ask Questions

Become a Go-To Person and a Connector

Have an Elevator Pitch

Look for Points of Synergy

Looking forward to hearing more about your own experience of blog networking and how it’s helped your blogging grow.

Tags: blogging, blogs, technology, tips

Can Poor Writing Skills Overshadow Good Content?

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:46:32 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: www.problogger.net

Can Poor Writing Skills Overshadow Good Content?

Considering that I am not a native English speaker, I wish that the answer to this question was “no.” Unfortunately the opposite seems to be true; poor writing skills do can affect your otherwise witty and useful content.

Grammatical mistakes, misspelled words, incorrect punctuation and poorly structured sentences can make your content confusing, if not utterly unreadable. If you then consider the fact that we have hundreds of blogs on every niche these days, you can see that the writing quality could be the difference between a loyal and a lost reader.

How does one improve his writing skills, though? Below you will find 3 points that can help you with this task.

1. Avoid the common mistakes

Five Grammatical Errors That Make You Look Dumb

Six Common Punctuation Errors that Bedevil Bloggers

Do You Make These Mistakes When You Write?

2. Proofread

3. Expand your vocabulary and master the grammar basics

Tags: writing, grammar, blogging

99 Sites ALL Designers Must Know About

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:32:28 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods
clipper's remarks: To see the full list inside the original site......

Clip Source: justcreativedesign.com

99 Sites ALL Designers Must Know About

Below is a list of 99+ graphic design resources, in English and (and a few other languages), that all designers must know about.

It is sorted by category (click to go to category):

General Design
Web Design
Resources
Show Cases
Development
Flash and Flex
Typography
Video and Motion
Personal Design Blogs
Web 2.0
Relaxation
Various

General Design

1 Spunk United

Web Design:

14 Noupe

Resources:

24 Float Design

A digg like site for design related subjects. Must know!

Show Cases:

32- Command Shift 3

Have you heard of hot or not? This is like that but for web designs, you choose the best website of 2. Great for inspiration.

Development:

43 - Problogger

Tips on blogging in general. Must have for any blogger.

Flash & Flex:

51- Labs Adobe

New technologies and development from Adobe.

Typography:

60 Swiss Legacy

Video & Motion:

65- Stage6

Personal Design Blogs:

Tags: design, photo, pics, pictures, writing, software, blogs, blogging, resources, video

Productivity by Elimination

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 13:32:13 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: www.skelliewag.org

Productivity by Elimination

True productivity is not about doing more in less time. It’s about doing less in less time. It’s about defining what is truly worth doing and sticking to that alone.

I’m not suggesting that you do all the below, but I’d like you to ask yourself each question and consider the pros and cons of your answer. How much time would you save? What’s the trade-off? A mental exercise rather than a prescriptive list, I want you to start thinking about where elimination fits in your blogging routine.

What if you stopped moderating comments?

What if you paid someone to moderate comments for you

What if you stopped reading feeds?

What if you mastered the art of short, polite and to the point email?

What if you checked email less?

What if you sorted email by importance?

What if you only checked stats once a week?

What if you posted less?

What if you stopped using social media?

What could you eliminate from your blogging routine?

Tags: blog, blogging, blogs, tips, productivity

Six Tips for More Creative Blogging

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:33:19 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: www.problogger.net

Creative lapses are one of the biggest blog killers out there. Every blogger spends time staring at a blank screen searching for inspiration at some point, and few niches provide a steady stream of juicy news on which a blogger can instantly provide outpourings of captivating opinion.

My suggestions for creative blogging bliss, in no particular order are:

1. Move around

2. Make a mess

3. Integrate blogging with the rest of your life

4. Talk about your blog

5. Take a complete break

6. Stop writing and start reading

These pointers may not work for everyone, but the basic principle holds true - give your brain some freedom and exercise and it’s more likely to reward you with brilliant new thoughts. There is no complete recipe for creativity, but actively managing your blogging habits and environment can give you the very best chance of developing great ideas and great content.

Tags: blogger, blogging, blogs, blog

How Stressful Do You Find Blogging?

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:09:44 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods
clipper's remarks: To continue on the blog...

Clip Source: www.problogger.net

Some people find blogging relaxing, a release and an outlet; many others don’t. It often depends upon your reason for blogging.

Before I go any further, I’m going to define “stress” as anything that takes your body of homeostasis (normal, balanced state of functioning). This means then that even when you don’t ‘feel’ stressed, your body might be.

Some of the things I personally find stressful about blogging are…

The pressure to earn something - for me, this is mostly indirectly rather than directly from my blogs
Receiving unpleasant and negative comments
Meeting deadlines for writing posts (my own and others)
Constantly coming up with killer content
An unhealthy obsession with stats and figures

Typical symptoms of acute stress are:

Rapid heart beat
Rise in temperature
Short, shallow breathing

Typical symptoms of chronic stress are:

High blood pressure
Increased allergies
Depression
Weight gain or loss
PMS and hormonal disturbances

1) Treat blogging like a business not a hobby.

Tags: blogs, blogger, blogging, internet

4 Ways to Get Banned from the Technorati Top 100

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:47:13 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: www.blogstorm.co.uk

The Technorati Top 100 list is probably the most accurate blog ranking system available but most people don’t realise how much hand editing is involved.

The following people are all deserving of a Top 100 ranking based on blog reactions but have been removed from the list because they didn’t get there “naturally”.

Create a popular plugin

Create some blogging software

Design a popular blog theme

Web developer Alex King runs by far the most popular blog in the world. His Technorati Authority of 87,909 dwarfs Engadgets authority of just 31,201. Technorati has decided that Alex isn’t worthy of being the number 1 blog in the world and has removed him from the top 100 list.

Be evil & exchange links

John made the mistake of asking his readers to write a review about of his blog in exchange for a link back which resulted in his ban from the list.

Matt has been unceremoniously banned from the Technorati Top 100 because his links come from the default Wordpress blogroll.

Tags: technorati., blogging, internet, social networking, social media

A Quick Introduction to Twitter for Bloggers

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 19:39:39 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods
clipper's remarks: Very interesting guide!

Clip Source: performancing.com

Quite a few times recently I have been asked why if I am ditching social media sites such as Facebook I am still putting so much effort into Twitter. Well, the simple answer is I get a lot of enjoyment and a reasonable amount of professional benefit from the service. You just have to know how ...

As I say, I find a lot of value in the service, both for information (breaking stories) and networking. It wasn't always this way, in fact to begin with I dismissed it. Only after taking a second look and working out the wrinkles did I find its true worth. To save you the hassle, here are my Twitter tips:

Read first

Audition

Just like with a blog, do not launch into connecting with people on Twitter until you have done the preparation work

Do not be upset if someone does not follow you back! People have limited attention to spare so can not follow everyone.

Post information, links and questions

engage people in conversation

Tips From Twitters

Tags: social networking, networking, twitter, blogging, internet, social media

16 Ways to Expand Your Blog’s Reach in 2008

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 21:32:12 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: www.doshdosh.com

It’s 2008 and you’re looking forward to growing your blog even more this year. You are eager to build a large readership and maybe even make a full-time income from blogging. You want greater influence and a stronger reputation. What you need is an expansion plan.

16 Ways to Expand Your Blog’s Reach in 2008

Create Multiple Channels

User Generated Content

Localize Your Blog

Build a Blog Network

Set up a Forum/Social Network

Establish an Email Newsletter

Clone Your Blog

Participate in a Social Community

Optimize For Social Media

Bring in New Writers

Sell a Product or Service

Create Premium content.

Create an Industry Event.

Partner with Other Blogs

Make Your Blog Mobile.

Start Doing Video/Podcasts

Tags: social media, blogger, blogging, blogs, web 2.0

7 Types of Blog Posts Which Always Seem to Get Links and Traffic

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:42:59 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods
clipper's remarks: Here’s a really good question: what kinds of posts should I write to get more links and traffic?

Clip Source: www.problogger.net

It’s a question every blogger asks themselves. I want to answer it here by outlining 7 content methods that seem to work wonders on social media while also generating a lot of grassroots in-bound links.

1. Resource lists.

2. Lists of tips.

3. Good advice.

4. Arguing a popular point of view.

5. Anything with a killer headline.

6. Q&As with high profile people

7. Best-of list

Tags: blogs., blogging, blogs, blogger, writing

Networking - The Right Way

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 20:06:07 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods
clipper's remarks: Whether you are a born networking genius or a person trying to learn the ropes, we all know networking is the key to success and is critical to any business and the same goes for your blog, whether you run it as a business or hobby. Here are some tips on networking that I have found quite useful which has helped me gain contacts that are both influential and helpful when it comes to my blogging career.

Clip Source: worknplay.net

What is one thing that we need to do in order to be known? What is the secret to building contacts? How do we get to know people whose interest are similar to ours? How do we find people who can help us boost our business and/or traffic? You guessed it right - Network!

1. The key to effective networking is to figure out how you can help others before you ask for help

2. Keep track of your network

3. Listen, listen and keep listening

4. Before you start networking, identify yourself.

5. Explore,explore and explore.

Networking is an art, some were born with it and some learn as the time goes by. I still have a lot to learn as I know for a fact it’s not an inherited talent, atleast not for me. I hope you found these tips helpful, they sure have helped me out a lot when it comes to knowing the right people at the right time.

Tags: networking, socialmedia, blogging