Making friends will take your blog to new heights (Photo: notsogoodphotography)

Whether you write for fun or if you do it for monetary gains, owning your own website or blogging really only gets interesting when you have your own pool of visitors diligently following your every update. Constant traffic to your blog will not only increase the influence of your website, but will also help to boost your morale and earn you even more profits (if any) from your blog. As Kanye West succinctly puts it, “Once you become popular, you can’t become un-popular“, so all you really need to do is learn how to get constant traffic to maintain your blog’s popularity status.

Tip 1: Blog SEO-Friendly Posts

Most of us are pretty used to searching things up on Google or any other search engine almost every day, which means that your blog will probably attract plenty of visitors if it was to become a high ranking page on the most popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing. The most important thing to remember is, the title of your blog posts will hold the most influence. So, you’ll need to give them SEO-friendly topics with a keyword or two.

Search engines like backlinks, so be sure to link to other posts on your blog and external links as well to create the impression that you do have an air of authority regarding the subject matter. Most blogging platforms also come with the tagging function, which you should diligently apply to every blog post to make it easier for both you and the search engines to filter through. For instance, if your blog post is about politics, then you would file it under the politics tag, as opposed to the other tags about flying ants or corn syrup.

Finally, you should also begin familiarizing yourself with Google Insights as this free web-based tool can help you search for popular keywords to be included in your blog post title and boost up your traffic. It may sound like a lot of work, but the benefits definitely outweigh the cons as when done right, you will be receiving plenty of traffic flow, for free!

Tip 2: Update Your Blog!

When it comes to page rankings, the blog with the freshest content is always given top priority so help your blog inch higher in popularity status simply by diligently posting new articles as often as you can. While the jury is still out on how many times you should post, uploading a post once a day should be sufficient to help you gain popularity not only with the search engine, but also with random visitors to your blog.

If you find yourself stuck or are far too busy to update frequently, I suggest that you set aside some time to write several blog posts at one go, which you can then schedule to publish periodically to keep your blog updated. You can of course find guest bloggers to help you out.

Tip 3: Get on the Social Network

Did you know that there are over 800 million active users on Facebook, with the average Facebook users having 130 friends? This makes Facebook an attractive advertising tool, so do consider building your own following on Facebook and on Twitter (which also happens to have over 100 million registered users). This may take a lot of work and you might get disheartened midway, but you are bound to come across site visitors who will like your content and help to spread the message. When done right, one simple posting can potentially turn viral over night too, as Rebecca Black has demonstrated.

Tip 4: Make Friends

Look up other similar sites to that of your blog, and be brave enough to introduce yourself. You can then exchange traffic with other sites of the similar niche, which benefits you in the sense that readers from other sites will then be exposed to your content whereas the other sites will enjoy better SEO rankings as well. However, do be wary about who you link to as corroborating with a bad site (like scam sites) can make you just as unpopular simply by association.

The great thing about making friends with blog owners of the similar interest is that you can now share readers and you might also want to consider guest blogging on each other’s websites to further promote readership. Blog owners who are friends with each other also help create the impression that you are a group of aficionados in the subject matter, thereby effectively increasing your influence too.

Tip 5: Make it Free!

The Internet is full of free stuff, so charging your readers for anything, even if it really is only just $0.99 will seem expensive to the average Internet user. Unless you are already an Internet celebrity, I advise that you stick to giving out freebies instead.

In this context, freebies may refer to tangible objects such as a free iPhone or it could also be free advice and tips to help your site visitor better their lives. The important thing to remember is that whatever you’re giving out must be sufficient to attract new visitors and ensure that loyal visitors will keep coming back for more.

Tip 6: Go Offline

The reason why most bloggers overlook offline promotion methods is because it used to be a hassle to have to read about a blog and then access it from the computer. Thanks to the advent of smart phones, the tablet and the QR Code, accessing the Internet at any time of the day has become a breeze, so never overlook the possibility of getting your blog printed out in handouts, stickers or business cards. If you prefer to not spend any money on promoting your blog, you might want to contact magazines or newspapers instead and offer yourself up for a free interview.

There you are, 6 simple tips which you can use to increase traffic to your blog. Let me know if you use any of these tips, and if you have any other method which you use. I like sharing and also like to learn new methods. Happy blogging!

Simple Tips to Get Traffic to your Blog is a post from: Technshare

Want more readers and action happening on your blog? (Of course you do)

I’ll let you in on an open secret – you’ve got to pick the right blog topics to write about.

If you’re a copywriting genius you may just get away with talking about the weather and keep your readership (maybe, maybe not).

But for the rest of us, this one important ingredient is easy to fix…

Here are 7 ways to pick great blog topics and guarantee that your posts will meet a better reception, and your readers will keep on coming back for more…

1. Controversy

Be the ‘Myth-Buster’. Let the cat out of the bag. Topics which matter to people and get them emotionally engaged are a great way to stimulate visits to your posts, and responses too. Make sure to stay respectful though – not everyone may share your views.

2. Up to the Minute News

If you’re the first one to report that Steve Jobs is now inventing iHarps for the angels, or Facebook has sold for $100billion – people will jump across and read the news. Gotta be right on the crest of the wave to make this one work though. Yesterday’s news is… well…. Yesterday’s news.

3. Solve those problems!

In touch with what your target readership really wants and needs? Give them solutions. Offer them hope and explain what they can do to fix what needs fixing and get the results they desire.

Obviously this will be based upon your niche, but the ‘big 3′ which really crack it here are making more money, improving relationships, and better health.

4. The Good Old ‘How to…’

As long as it’s based on what your readership want to learn, explaining how to do something they can’t yet do is a godsend, if it finds the right people at the right time. Easy to break down into a nice, digestible post as well. ‘How to’s’ are always a safe bet.

5. Turn on, Tune in…

Whatever your readers are talking about, asking and bringing up is going to be great fodder for juicy blog topics. Take note of comments on your other posts, listen in to what’s being talked about on Twitter and other social media, engage and interact as much as you can on niche forums and communities.

6. Start With Keywords

Do some keyword research based around the core topics your blog covers. Expand the results to find long tailed key phrases which people are actually searching for and turn them into blog posts.

Added bonus here is that you’ve got a built in potential traffic source at the very heart of the blog posts that are born this way.

7. Fill in the Gaps

What hasn’t been explained or explored enough in your niche? What terms, concepts or strategies need to be defined more clearly to your new readers?

Whole posts and even post series can come from simple things like explaining how SEO works, how to set up a blog or how to use Social Media to Drive Blog Traffic.

Identify the gaps and fill them!

So what are you waiting for?  Put these tips into action and you’ll have no trouble coming up with quality blog post ideas to keep your blog topped up with top notch content.

Still not enough ways to find stuff to blog about? Check out my post about 25 Ways to Discover Good Blog Topics in any Niche

Thanks for sharing this article with your social networks – it’s what keeps the blogosphere turning!

How to Pick a Blog Topic Your Readers Will Love is a post from: Technshare

Starting a blog or learning yoga requires the right attitude (Photo: dollen)

My body screamed in agony.

I blinked hard as sweat poured into my eyes, burning like pickle juice and vodka. My legs trembled, then shook violently as my body contorted in a most inhuman way. As I exhaled the shakes began to dissipate. Welcome to yoga.

All the cool kids on the interweb seem to be doing yoga these days. As a former champion in submission grappling, my body is wracked with old injuries. Hunching over a keyboard sure doesn’t help. I made the decision on November 4, 2011 to be a cool kid. I bought a sticky purple mat and searched the Youtubes for some yoga videos.

What does this have to do with blogging?

My cocky ego was so out of whack. I was confident I’d have this yoga thing licked in a couple of sessions. I was the same way when I started blogging.

Within minutes I was completely lost. There are as many flavours of yoga as Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. How would you decide what kind of yoga to do?

Social media to the rescue. I met Claudia Altucher in one of my G+ circles. She is the better half of a former Wall Street hedge fund manager who now works with Mad Money’s Jim Cramer. Claudia is a popular blogger and Amazon author. And she is gifted at yoga. I reached out to her, and to my surprise she answered. Claudia gifted me a copy of her book, 21 Things To Know Before Starting An Ashtanga Yoga Practice. Beautiful. Now I had a starting point.

What was your starting point with your blog?

Between November 4th and December 28th I practiced yoga 27 times. The full Primary Series of exercises takes about 90 minutes to complete. I never made it through fully even once. There are poses called Standing Poses. I constantly fell over, once so badly that I knocked over a shelf. The practice is driven by deep breathing. I never realized the hummingbird shallow gasps I took because of my life glued to a keyboard. I was a complete and utter novice. A rookie. A noob. And I loved it.

Then something happened on December 29th. At the points in the routine where I had previously quit with gasping and dry heaving, this time I focused on relaxing and breathing instead of trying harder. Victory! For the first time in my young yoga practice, on attempt 29 I made it successfully all the way through.

Congrats noob. You finally made it to the starting line.

What does this have to do with blogging?  

This yoga stuff is different than anything I have ever tried before. It’s non-violent. It’s not competitive. It’s practice oriented. How refreshing!

Yoga teachers say stuff like, “I remember when my hips were tight like yours. Don’t worry, in about 3 or 4 years they’ll open up.”

3 or 4 years? (Just like blogging!)

That’s when that little voice inside my heads starts. He’s about 3 feet tall, light green, with a slight Irish accent.

“That’s right Mr. FNG, you funny new guy. They’re all going to laugh at you. Better quit now before it really gets hard.”

Have you ever thought about quitting blogging?

Seriously…at night when you’re tired, do the voices come for you?

I have fought that little green bugger’s voice for the past 30 years. Steven Pressfield in his brilliant book, The War of Art calls that voice The Resistance. Geoff Colvin describes it a little differently in his book Talent Is Overrated. Naked nerve endings slowly get coated with a protein called myelin in order to speed up responses to familiar routines. You’ve heard that practice makes perfect? Colvin thanks the coating of myelin for the saying “perfect practice makes perfect”.

That’s why I share this essay as “A Warning To Bloggers”. The greatest threat to success in your career is your own brain. Not your parents. Not your enemies. Not the government. Definitely not other bloggers. It’s the 3 pounds of grey stuff on top of the neck that determines the outcome of the game of life.

Did you catch that?

Success in yoga is similar to success in blogging. Attitude determines altitude. A practice mentality will help a struggling blogger survive the brutal first year. My best guess is blogging has a 90% failure rate within 12 months of start. That’s higher than insurance salesmen and real estate agents!

You probably know the typical blogger, perhaps intimately. They hear about all the money you can make as a blogger. It’s cheap to get into, and seems pretty easy. They go hung-ho the first month, blogging a couple times a week. Then in a few months the posting rate drops to weekly, then bi-weekly. It seems as the posting rate drops the number of advertisements on their blog increases proportionately. Sadly within 3-6 months over 9 out of 10 new blogs are nearly dead and collecting internet cobwebs.

Sound familiar?

That was me. I started blogging in 1998. I have started and stopped many times. Then one day when I was cutting my lawn I had a Eureka! moment.

I’m not a blogger.

The very definition of my job description was incorrect. It was like being an astronomer in the days of Galileo. An astronomer back then was someone who studied the movement of the Sun around the Earth. This job description caused a little friction between Galileo and the nice man in the pointy hat. My job description was creating a similar friction in my life.

It was the decision that changed everything for me. I quit calling myself a blogger.

I am a writer.

When I changed my title, my life changed profoundly.

My life is different now. Every day I get up and practice my writing. I don’t check stats on my blog. I don’t check emails. I wake up, pour a coffee and I write.

Yoga has become a practice for me, 6 days a week for a total of 36 hours a month.

What about writing?

Writing has become a daily practice for me, 16 hours a week. In both yoga and writing I do not compete with anyone. I practice for the love of improving my practice. That love of practicing has given me the freedom to receive the benefits of practicing.

As K Pattabhi Jois, the father of modern Ashtanga yoga says, “99% practice. 1% theory….Practice, and all is coming.”

If you have a friend who is a dissatisfied blogger, encourage them to try on a new hat. Perhaps changing job descriptions will be a source of inspiration and new energy for them. The subtle shift from blogger to practicing writer did for me what Morpheus did for Neo.

Let me know how it goes. Good luck in your practice, and remember to breathe!

David Ledoux is the author of half a dozen books including How I Went From Welfare To Millionaire Without Winning The Lottery. He coaches entrepreneurs, owns several businesses and writes a witty and irreverent blog at http://davidledoux.com.  His newest book, 10 Quick & Easy Strategies For Successful Living is available for free at his website.

What Yoga Taught Me About Being A Better Blogger is a post from: Technshare

How To Write Magnetic Content (Photo: deathtiny42)

If you want written content to go viral, there needs to be something in the article worth sharing. Even though you may think that you have found something important, others may not feel the same way. As you consider each of the things that help create compelling content, you may find that some types of content are more suitable for your site than others. That said, if you find that other methods are not resulting in a suitable degree of content sharing, you may just need to use options that aren’t initially appealing.

Add Current News Information

Many people looking for additional information about breaking news they see on tv, they will immediately start searching online for anything that might be written by bloggers at the scene. If you are able to write a good critique or offer some valuable insights about a current event, it may just be something that visitors to your site will forward to others. Unfortunately, once the event in question passes, far fewer people will be interested in reading, let alone sharing your article. That said, you can still use one or two articles like this on your site, as well as ones dedicated to seasonal issues.

Give Away Free Advice

This is not as difficult as it seems, most of the time people ask questions because they are not sure where to look for the answers they are looking for and that’s where you come in and provide the answer and advice them on the topic in the form of a useful post.

Make sure you research well about the topic before you give any advice, you want to make sure you give the right advice. The best research tools are Google, you tube and forums.

When you give away free advice, you will achieve the following goals:

• The person in question may feel compelled to do something nice or useful for you.
• Even if they are not interested in buying anything on your site, they may share your site with someone else that will.
• Individuals that got something useful out of what you wrote will be more likely to return to your site. At that point, they may just decide to buy something that appeals to them.
• Work sales pitches into advice points. No matter whether you are trying to sell a product or service, this is a perfect opportunity to talk about your experiences as well as find ways to make yourself look like an authority on the subject.

Take a Stand

Oddly enough, there are few things more compelling than taking a stand on any given issue. While some people may be offended by what you write, others that resonate may be more willing to share you content. Chances are, you would also be surprised at the number of topics that lend themselves well to taking a stand on everything from politics to lifestyle choices. If you hit the right tone, you might even become one of those bloggers that attracts a regular following of people that agree with your opinions and values.

You may even find that some people who disagree with you intensely will also follow along just to keep abreast of what you are saying. In their own way, these people can make your site even more popular than those who are sympathetic.

When you want people to share articles from your site, they have to find something of value to pass on to others. It is important to realize that sharing your information is as good as an endorsement. Therefore, you should at least strive to offer something that each person will feel good about transmitting.

How to Write Magnetic Content that People Will Share is a post from: Technshare

Plan ahead by having back-up posts ready (Photo: pickinjim2006)

One of the main reasons why most website owners attach a blog to their site is because a blog is much simpler to update and maintain. Good blogging software such as WordPress provides all the necessary tools to make updating simple and easy. A blog can also get away with a less formal writing voice, thereby allowing it to function as the fun corner of any official website. Similarly, leisure bloggers also prefer the blogging platform due to its layout simplicity and user-friendliness.

Regardless of whether you are blogging to keep your customers up-to-date about your business or if you are blogging simply because you enjoy it, one thing that remains true is that blogs must be frequently updated in order to be popular. The problem is that blogging requires a consistent supply of fresh information, which usually requires hours to collect, draft, blog and upload. Hence, unless you’re practically paid to blog or you are actually earning a good amount from your blog, spending too much time on blogging could be detrimental to your wallet, time and social life.

This then begets the question of how frequently should we blog in order to achieve the equilibrium between a lively blog and still having enough time to do other things as well. The answer is that the preferred blogging frequency varies depending on the purpose of your blog.

Company Blogs

If your blog is attached to a company, blogging once a week would be more than sufficient as nobody really wants to read about the latest staff meetings or what your boss wore to work! Your biggest challenge when it comes to running a company blog is more likely to keep consistently updating it on a weekly basis as you would eventually run out of company products and services to blog about. When stuck, I recommend posting relevant news and information relating to the company’s portfolio.

News Blogs

News blogs include blogs which discuss the latest fashion trends, events and gossip, besides news in general. As news gets around pretty quickly these days, it is best to update this blog as often as possible. In this case, your issue would be finding enough waking hours in a day to spend on blogging! News blogs are best run by a team of bloggers as the blog will require constant updates 24/7. After all, news readers have no reason to repeatedly visit a news blog which is outdated.

Personal Blogs

Personal blogs are OK to have sporadic posts as these blog readers are a lot more understanding and patient. However, a personal blog should at least be updated once a week in order to keep the interest in the blog afloat. Setting a fixed time to upload your blogs also gives your readers something to look forward to every week.

The Secret Ingredient to Frequent Blogging

Blogging might seem easy, but the truth is that it requires a serious commitment from the blogger to consistently produce quality blog posts. If you are new in the art of blogging, we suggest that you start out with only posting up one blog post every day, as opposed to firing out ten unreadable blog posts in 24 hours. In the end, the value of your post should take priority over the frequency of your updates.

The secret to blogging consistently is to simply plan ahead! Always have several drafts of blog posts ready just in case of emergencies (which are bound to occur). To curb writer’s block, train yourself to write regularly at the same time and place every day. While it may not look like it, writing can be a strenuous mental marathon, so begin with just one blog post a day and slowly work your way up to the desired number of posts you would like to upload every day.

Everybody has their own opinion on how often you should update your blog, but the truth is that it really depends on your level of commitment as well as how much time you can afford to spend on your blog. In the event that you do miss several blogging datelines, do not be discouraged and spend long hours drafting an apology blog post. Instead, buck up and get back to blogging as soon as you can!

How Frequently Should You Update your Blog? is a post from: Technshare

Measure your goals. (Photo: Claudio Matsuoka)

Blogging has emerged as a competitive ad innovative process of mass communication. The information required to set up a successful blog is all over the internet. Yet, the success rate of most blogs is quite low and there are more failures every day.

Of the many causes that can be attributed for this occurrence, setting unrealistic goals or in some cases not setting up any real blogging goals at all, takes a major share of the credit here. It is vital to have realistic blogging goals; they are your guiding lines to keep your blog on track even when you are confused with the numerous details related to your blog. It is just as mandatory to monitor the psychological aspect of blogging as the creative or technical aspect.

Realistic and reasonable blogging goals are the measures of an efficient psychology to support your blogging process.

You are the one to decide the specific boundaries that you consider realistic when you measure your goals. Here is a rundown of points based on which you will evaluate this decision.

Be specific with your blog goals

Vague goals do not set up a finishing line, which means it is difficult to gauge when you have satisfactorily achieved the intended results and you need to stop. Specific goals are necessary because the process of creating a successful professional blog resembles the working of a charged machine. You have to be specific to keep the time management, technical details, and creative outflow in the perfect working balance.

Quantify your blog goals

The vitals of your blog goals need to be quantifiable. Simply deciding you need to increase your subscribers‘ growth might not be enough to motivate your endeavors to make that happen. However, if you mention a precise quantity of intended subscribers’ rate for a precise period, you are more likely to get results.

The important part is these results will be comparable with the next period target or evaluated against the previous batch of results. This sort of comparison helps gather information that can create a comprehensive analysis of your blogging efforts. It will definitely help you pick up the slack in areas that need immediate attention.

Goals should specify target action

Orienting your goals to match the related action just simplifies your task in the schedule. Non-targeted goals require on the spot research where you will be frantically cramming up information to understand what you have to do to meet the target requirements.

Instead, complete your research and go through the information to understand the specific action required. Mention the relative action with the desired goal when you plan your blogging goal schedule.

Measure of realism

Always weigh in your desired output against the estimate of possibility. It is vital to set blog goals, but in the wake of a list of impossible goals, your only sure outcome will be disappointment. Setting achievable goals will ensure you are motivated throughout the process with each rolling success and lesser chances of the entire thing tanking down due to failures.

However, you should have a realistic approach; this does not mean you set over easy targets for your blogging process. Maintain the difficulty level but balance it out with target-oriented efforts.

Allot a definite time frame to each goal

This is probably the most important assessing feature of a blogging goal schedule. You need to allot a clear period for each goal. This will help you manage the complete schedule without the process overwhelming (or taking over) other aspects of your life. Try to stick to each allocated timeline.

In case there is a deficit you can always schedule in separate time for covering them. This will stop you from over compensating for the schedule and effectively keep your blogging process on track.

Motivate yourself with positive rewards and reaffirmation

When you make substantial efforts towards creating a successful professional blog, the reward waiting for you at the end of the line is the blog and the revenue that you generate with it. However, down the line, the track can get a little tiring and stark without regular motivations.

Creating positive reinforcement for the small but significant achievements can encourage you to want the bigger outcome more fervently. Set aside some time to analyze the day’s output and reward yourself for every point of success.

The journey of creating your pro blog is majorly self-motivated, so you have to step up and take charge of your blog goals and keep track of your achievements and failures. However, the journey is also a great experience so remember to savor it every step of the way.

Jane also writes about useful discount coupon deals for bloggers as that of photos.com promo code and istockphoto promo code. Apart from writing at Problogging Success, she also writes for a discount coupon blog that features photos.com and istockphoto discount deals.

The Art Of Setting Realistic Blogging Goals is a post from: Technshare

Source: Flickr

Guest posts are turning out to be an important internet marketing tool and almost all internet marketers are using this tool to boost their marketing efforts. But, not all of them get it right. In fact, a large percentage gets it wrong. They get it wrong because they look at guest blogging purely from a marketing perspective and do not give it the respect that it deserves. It’s important to understand that guest blogging is just another means of marketing for an internet marketer, but for a reader, a guest blog is a means of getting quality information.

There are plenty of aspects that you need to keep in mind when it comes to guest blogging and though this might come as a surprise to you, it’s important that it not be looked at from a marketing point of view, even though it is a marketing tool.

Here are seven ways that can help you become a respected guest blogger, in turn ensuring that this activity gives you the desired results from the marketing perspective.

Choosing the Right Sites/Blogs

It all begins with the kind of blogs that you choose for your guest blogging efforts. Here are a few questions that you need to answer for making the right choice.

• Is it addressing the needs of your target audience?
• Does it tackle topics that you are comfortable with?
• Are the categories on the blog, in any way linked to the kind of information, products and services available on your website?
• Are your comfortable with the writing style of the blog?
• What is the page rank of the blog?
• What is the number of visitors to the blog?

The answers to these questions will tell you whether you have made the right choice or not.

Getting a clear idea about Writing and Submission Guidelines

Every blog that you want to contribute to, will have specific guidelines for writing that you will need to follow to the letter. One such guideline can be in the form of acceptable word count. While some blogs will only accept posts that are more than 500 words, others might only accept posts that are 1000 words or higher while there may still be others where the word count doesn’t matter at all.  All blogs that allow guest posts will want you to be original, creative and write in a manner that fits the existing style and tone of the blog. You will also need to follow the submission instructions in detail to ensure that once written, your blog is submitted for approval successfully.

Keep reaching out to Blogs

In order to make your blogging strategy work big time for you, you will need to reach out to blogs. You need to get in touch with them and ask them whether they would like to publish your content. Many a times blog owners don’t trust the content of people they don’t know or who aren’t regarded as an authority in their domain. This might become a problem if you are just starting out as a guest blogger, so, it’s always a good idea to build a relationship before you ask them to post your content. One of the ways that you can do this is by posting comments on the guest blogs and also sharing their blog content through Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.  You can even mail them about the finer points of a certain topic or subject that you want to discuss with them.

Over time they will trust your knowledge enough to respond positively to your request for publishing your guest blog post. But, even if you don’t want to go through the whole process of relationship building, there are plenty of blogs that will publish your blog purely on merit. So, don’t worry.

Choosing the Title

Once you choose a blog that you want to contribute to, the crucial part of the whole exercise begins. You will need to write the blog post. The title of your blog post will determine if the post is able to grab eyeballs. So, put some thought into it as it’s the title that in part determines the impact of the post as a whole. Don’t go in for lengthy titles until and unless absolutely required.

The Body of the Post

A number of people are unable to lend their blog a certain kind of personality. The content doesn’t come out naturally and looks forced, which is a recipe for disaster and non-acceptance of the guest post. So, plan a guest post with care and don’t just write for the heck of it and to earn some quality backlinks. Write because you want to share some valuable information with people who need that kind of information. Even if your sole objective is marketing centric, you still have to take care about how you write, the relevance of the body copy with respect to the title, its engagement quotient, clarity, grammatical quality, word play and various other things that will put your content into high gear.

Make Regular Guest Posts

When it comes to successful guest blogging, you need to be a regular. You can’t just stop at one or two posts. You need to keep making regular blog posts across various sites to ensure that you are able to leverage its potential to the utmost. It should become an inherent component of your internet marketing campaign, and you must decide on the amount of guest blog posts that you want to make per month. This will help you track the feasibility, viability of guest blogs and also help you monitor the results of your guest blogging activity.

The above pointers are definitely not the be all and end all of how you can make the most of your guest blogging efforts. But, they are definitely steps in the right direction. There is no doubt that it requires a whole lot of effort to ensure a successful guest post on a reputed blog. But, once you get the hang of it, there is literally no end to the marketing rewards you will be able to earn.

6 Great Ways to Improve Your Guest Blogging Efforts is a post from: Technshare

Source Flickr

As a web based freelancer there are certain resources that allow us to make our jobs easier, faster and or more manageable. Everyone has a set of tools they rely on daily and recommend to others, below is a list of my top four tools and why I use them along with how you can use them too.

The tools below are all free, accessible to anyone and relatively easy to use. A simple download, registration and or sign up is all that is required to use and or access them along with a strong desire to succeed. If you use any of these and something tells me (since you’re most likely a freelancer or aspire to be one) that you might be a regular user of at least one of the tools on my list, do leave your feedback below in the comment area.

1. Google Docs – this is one of my most widely used tools and it encompasses a variety of tools under the one umbrella. Google Docs is a comprehensive web based resource for word processing and creating spreadsheets among other types of documents. It’s feature rich and just about any type of word processing can be created using this neat and 100% free resource. I use it for writing my blog posts then transferring them to my sites, writing guest articles for my clients and also to create various spreadsheets where I keep track of certain freelance activities. If my laptop should fry, freeze or otherwise not become operational I am not dependent on it for my articles. I just go to Google Docs on ANY computer or laptop and there my docs await. This can be very refreshing since I depend on my articles and my word processor to put food on the table. Amen. I switched over from a traditional computer-based word processing format to web-based about a year or so ago and haven’t looked back since.

2. WordPress – in my humble opinion, the best CMS of all the CMS systems on the block. With WordPress, I can create any type of blog or website including an e-commerce shop, a company website, a blog, a portfolio and anything else I could wish for. The software is 100% free to download, use and upgrade. There’s a slight learning curve to get started as it’s a robust and powerful system, however once you get the initial set up out of the way, it’s smooth sailing and really all CMS systems are – learn as you go. Best thing to do should you want to learn WordPress and use it to create your blog or website, is to find a blog you like, see if they use WordPress and send them an email. If the blogger has been around for close to year or longer, odds are he or she will know the system well and would be happy to guide you along. That really is your best bet for training and or help with WordPress, another blogger.

3. PayPal – how would freelancers get paid without PayPal is a mystery to me. PayPal opened up a can of awesome, when it landed across freelance desks everywhere. About 60% of my income is processed through PayPal as I am a freelance writer and the companies and or clients I work for pay me via this method. Yes there’s a fee and this stinks however PayPal makes up for it in convenience, accessibility and ease of use. Is it right for you? One way to find out is to visit the PayPal site and see how they stack up against the other options available to web based freelancers.

4. Twitter – social media is also a great tool for web based freelancers as it connects peeps from all walks of life and every corner of the globe. Twitter is great for networking, chatting, socializing, content sharing, research, jobs, leads, information, press and so much more. There are many articles on the web discussing the many ways to best take advantage of this tool and how best to get benefit from it. I would start by looking up how to get Twitter followers, how to tweet, best tools for Twitter, etc. Twitter is also great for following those you genuinely have an interest in and want to know better.

Share with us below in the comment area what are some of your must have tools as a web based freelancer? I await your responses below and see what other goodies we can discover together.

Four Cool Tools For Web Based Freelancers is a post from: Technshare