Archive for the ‘Bloggers’ Category:
Tips for Writing a Great Ebook
Written by Jai on June 18, 2008 – 11:50 am - 3,110 views
If you are a blogger and have been thinking of writing an ebook for a long time, here are some tips to help you in your endeavor.
When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task. That’s why you have to break it down into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain. You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerous mountain?
There is only one way to climb a mountain ? Step by step.
Now think of writing your ebook in the same light. You must create it step by step, and one day, you will take that last step and find yourself standing on the summit with your head in the clouds.
The first thing you have to do, as if you actually were a mountain climber, is to get organized. Instead of climbing gear, however, you must organize your thoughts. There are some steps you should take before you begin. Once you’ve gone through the following list, you will be ready to actually begin writing your ebook.
Read more »
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Written by Jai on June 12, 2008 – 6:24 am - 2,288 views
A couple was holidaying in Florida to celebrate their first anniversary of marriage. One morning the wife saw the husband wake up and go to the toilet. To the wife’s amusement, he stayed there for a very long time. As time passed, the wife became suspicious, as there was no sound of running water or the husband singing a bathroom hit. As she knocked the door and opened it, she found him sitting on the pot with the laptop stuck on his lap. He was blogging over a wireless link.
Blogging has become the new way of livelihood for many and fun for the idle ones. But there are also people for whom blogging has turned into an obsession instead of being a harmless hobby.
Given below are some real facts that can help you see the real picture and also to justify if you are actually a blogging addict. Read more »
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Written by Jai on June 3, 2008 – 7:18 am - 9,062 views
If you are new to the blogging world and have recently thought of starting up your own WordPress blog, then let me give you a “success recipe” that every new blogger must follow to cook up some decent traffic. The following recipe might look overwhelming at the first glance but it can be essential for giving a solid foundation to your blog.
Ingredients required for this recipe :-
- A newly installed WordPress blog (Instructions here)
- A crispy theme (Free Themes - Premium Themes)
- 7 freshly written articles (How to write Articles)
- 4 spicy plugins :- All in One SEO Pack, Google XML Sitemaps, No Ping Wait, Related Posts
- $100 to spend on advertising (If you lack here, go with the free modes of advertising - explained below)
- Finally, a strong will to follow the recipe (I have no resource for this..you are born with it
)
I have spread this recipe through a week’s schedule, so be patient and take it easy. I can promise you that at the end of this period, you will see a good stream of visitors on your blog. So, munch on..
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Written by Jai on May 24, 2008 – 7:12 am - 2,820 views
The most static thing in this world is the term “change”. Why do I say so? That’s because things around us are changing constantly and thus, change is constant. With this note, let me continue with today’s article.
If you are looking for a second opinion or just some reasons to get your blog redesigned, you must read on. Getting a new design definitely has its own benefits. Some people even go to the extent that they change their blog template very regularly to keep things fresh. That is not really necessary but let me explain the reasons why you should redesign your blog at least once in a blue moon (even if its for experimental purposes).
Adding Extras
There is no such thing as a perfect theme for your blog. A redesign gives you the opportunity to extend the functionality of your blog by allowing those extra features that you always wanted. When making the new layout, you can create space for any additional components that have been missing from your blog so far. For example, Social Bookmarking Buttons, Feed Subscription Form, Subscriber Stats, Footer Content, RSS Buttons, Portfolio Showcase, Chat Window, Tags etc. While redesigning your blog, you will also discover new stuff that your competitor has been using for a long time.
Rearranging your Blog
Over the time, your blog might get cluttered just like your living room if its not cleaned regularly. You can remove the unnecessary elements that you don’t use anymore or shift them below the fold to make space for more relevant components that you want to add to your blog. A makeover also lets you focus on those parts of your blog that are getting neglected and not getting enough exposure.
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Written by Jai on May 13, 2008 – 1:23 pm - 3,503 views
I know that many of you readers come here, read what you want to, take what you want to, do what you want to without me knowing that you ever came here! So, if you have been a silent reader of my blog and want to know the benefits of leaving comments on a blog’s posts, let me give you some tips on why you should be doing it.
1. Do you know me?
If you regularly leave comments on a particular blog, it will make the blog owner recognize you and also your website. When you do this on multiple blogs, you will be socially recognized in the blogging community. Also, most of the blogs nowadays use Gravatars which can help in branding and getting some popularity for your own blog. I think that leaving comments on popular blogs is the best way to be known around the Internet.
2. Building Community
A community is built around people and their views. Leaving comments is a way of showing that you care and want to share your opinion with others including the owner of the blog. The comments can be a suggestion, feedback, appreciation or even criticism. They are good as long as they are not spammy or abusive. So, even if you are just stopping by, try to make that little effort of writing a comment, even if its just a line.
3. Getting What you Want
You should leave a comment because that’s the only way the blog owner can judge what the reader/customers want without getting a written e-mail or any other form of communication.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!How to Choose your Blog Hosting Service
Written by Jai on April 24, 2008 – 10:19 am - 2,300 views
Every blogger has got two basic choices when building his own blog— Either he can sign up for a hosted solution, or he can install a serve-it-yourself solution and take care of it on your own. Signing up for a hosted solution is generally easier (especially if you don’t already have your own website and you’re not terribly interested in jumping through a hoop or two to get one), while installing a serve-it-yourself solution can be more powerful.
Popular hosted blogging CMS (Content Management Systems) include Blogger.com, Typepad.com, Vox.com, Squarespace.com, and others. With these services, you simply access the site, go through a registration process and, in some cases, enter your payment information to cover the monthly fee. (Some are free, some require payment.) These are hosted services - somebody else worries about the Internet server, setting up the Web addresses and all that sort of stuff. You’re given a URL for your site (mostly a sub-domain), some online tools for editing your blog (and, perhaps, for editing the template and making some minor changes to the functionality), and you’re ready to go. With a serve-it-yourself CMS (like WordPress) you’ll need to do a little legwork. First, you’ll need some sort of web hosting account from an Internet Service Provider. You might already have something along those lines from the Internet Service Provider that you use for Internet access, or you may need to shop for a web hosting account that will support the specifications of your blogging software.
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Written by Jai on April 5, 2008 – 11:32 am - 3,264 views
There are many ways in which you can maximize your RSS subscribers. I have tried to compile some of the best ones here:
1. Making the most out of your blog posts
- Write descriptive headings for your blog posts – They should purely point to the content in your post and describe optimally about what is written and it is relevant to whom and what.
- Write articles for your post with a minimum of 150-200 words because too less content will dissatisfy your readers who are trying to find information on a topic (that’s why they subscribe to the blog).
- Put internal and external links related to your articles and it would also be better if the keywords in your title match the links you have posted with the article. It adds more relevance and usefulness to what you are informing your readers about.
- Make the post user friendly and your blog easy to subscribe. The new readers of your post, who liked your article, are willing to subscribe, should be easily able to find the ‘subscribe now’ option on your site.
- When possible, try eliminating the pronouns and putting more descriptive nouns. The sparking idea behind this is that when the search engines start searching for the key words, they identify the semantics in your article and thus the searcher can approach your blog site or article. It helps your post reach its highest potential.
2. Comments should be encouraged on every post of your blog. A well written blog entry invites more readers and comments from them. Make it known to them that you value their distinct comments and they herald an improving ladder for you.
3. Give people different options on how they want to subscribe as readers like e-mail and different RSS feed readers (e.g. Google Feed Reader). Some may even prefer feed readers depending on their Internet browsers.
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Written by Jai on January 28, 2008 – 1:58 pm - 7,385 views 
Here is a list of some very creative ways which can help you make your blog popular. If not popular, at least it will give you some ideas of what to post on your blog if you are running out of topics to write about.
- Start a controversy. Just remember not to cross the line.
- Start a contest. Make sure to end it too.
- Give away free goodies. People love them.
- Write about other bloggers to interest their visitors to read your blog. Keep it positive.
- Dress up your blog often (By dress-up I mean tweaking the design)
- Interview other bloggers and post the interview.
- Write about your personal life sometimes.
- Ask questions to your visitors.
- Share some secrets.
- Celebrate your birthday with your visitors. Think of innovative ways for doing this.
- Celebrate your blog’s birthday too.
- Write something funny or disgusting. (Don’t make it a habit)
- Make a bumper sticker with your blog’s name and stick it on your car. (Just make sure you drive often)
- Write an e-book and distribute it to your visitors for free.
- Introduce a commission based affiliate program.
- Tell your visitors about your latest fad or obsession.
- Post interesting pictures of your pets.
- Congratulate the top commentators occasionally.
- Encourage sharing of opinions.
- Donate for a cause or become a volunteer for a non-profit organization. Ask your visitors to join you.
- Put your blog’s ad in the local newspaper or the yellow pages.
- Hold blog competitions.
- Create polls.
- Hold an auction and let people bid for something useful (For example, advertising space on your blog).
- Write about your blog achievements.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!Happy New Year to Everyone
Written by Jai on January 1, 2008 – 12:11 pm - 4,681 views
I wish all the readers a very happy 2008 and a lot of prosperity in the new year. The same goes for all our blogs and websites as well. I also want to announce the winner for the custom theme contest declared earlier. There were a total of 35 blog entries made and I am happy to announce Kiro from Artswonderland.com as the winner of the contest. Congratulations Kiro for being the winner for a custom theme! Please send me your contact details on my e-mail, so that we can work on designing your shiny new theme.
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