So you’ve decided to build/create the next great blog. You’ve gotten several ebooks from the Big Guys giving you their step-by-step instructions on how to create a successful money making blog. You’re all set, right? Well, probably not. The one thing I’ve found to be lacking in these blogs is the mention of a learning curve.

I’ve read my share of blog building ebooks from the experts. The information is invaluable, so please don’t think I’m claiming it isn’t. What I didn’t expect, and maybe it’s my fault for being naïve, but I didn’t expect it would take so much time to learn the basics of the systems they use.

BUILD YOUR LIST

One of the main tips you find when starting your new blog is to capture emails–get a reader subscription list started from day one. Build that list right off the bat. It’s a great idea. What I haven’t found is the mention of “training” time this will take.

Yes it is simple enough to set up an account at Aweber or Constant Contact or other email marketing site, and it’s relatively easy to get your first form created and put on your site. But there is still a learning curve to get all the bells and whistles out of it. Maybe some people have the time and brain power to absorb all of this in one day. Some of us don’t. Some of us need to schedule daily “lesson” time to go through tutorials to find out exactly how all of this works.

My best tip here is, “Don’t expect to build Rome in a day.”

PURCHASE A PREMIUM THEME

This is another great tip. I agree that you want a theme that jumps out at people while looking professional. What I’ve learned–and I’ve used Wordpress for years–is that these themes come with a learning curve too. If you get a theme based on the Genesis or Thesis framework, there will be tweaks you need to figure out. I know a lot of readers here are just a whiz at these things, but since this site is to help newbies, it should be mentioned that you will also need to schedule time to learn the ends and outs of the theme you’ve chosen.

My best tip here is, “Don’t expect Rome to have perfect navigation and a road map.”

SOCIAL NETWORKS

All the gurus suggest using social networks to promote yourself, your blog, your products, your brand–the whole nine yards. This is great advice. However, you will be busy learning all of this other stuff, so don’t expect to have a lot of time in the beginning to get overly social. Build the blog, learn your theme, learn about email marketing, and then concentrate more on social networks. They come with their own learning curve as well. Most are really simple to use, but it does take time to build followers.

My best tip here is, “Don’t expect the people of Rome to fall at your feet in groves until you can devote the time to being the Pied Piper.”

In Don’t Do What They Say, Do What They Do, Kevin gives some very good advice for following and “imitating” top bloggers. Yes, they give you a ton of great information, but remember in building your own successful blog there will be as much busy work in the beginning, as there is productive work. You will go through some learning curves, especially if you are completely new to building a blog of magnitude.

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The Learning Curve


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

I just returned from Evo’10 Conference or rather The Evolution of Women in Social Media Conference. This was held in Park City, Utah this past Thursday – Sunday. While I am still a bit wiped out from all the fun and the altitude I did want to pass along some great networking tips for you when you attend a conference. And you should attend conferences, they really help you break out of the everyday ruts we all tend to fall into.

10. – Be Yourself – I know it is cheesy and played out as advice but you really should be as real and authentic as possible. Being yourself will help everyone in the long run.

9. – Be Helpful – Conference organization is really a grueling process and the organizers have done a ton of work even before the first person arrives to the registration booth. Be on the lookout for ways in which you can offer to help the conference organizers. This will get you noticed in so many positive ways.

8. – Talk to everyone that you can. Standing in a corner by yourself is not going to bring people to you so you have got to go to them. My friend Kim tells me that she sometimes challenges herself to talk to every person wearing a specific color. It may sound silly but you never really know who you are going to meet and if you have set up this personal challenge then you already have an opening icebreaker.

7. – Take Photos – If you are at a Social Media Conference take lots of photos. Also ask if you can take photos of people’s name tags after you take their photo, this way you will remember who they are when it comes time to tag photos on Facebook. Remember take care to post only photos where people look good, people like to see good pictures of themselves.

6. – Get into Photos. If you see someone who is taking photos make sure that you get into a few of them. Most conferences now have a Flickr Page or Facebook page and if you are in the photos then more people will see you and be curious as to who you are.

5. – Attend the after hours events. Even if you show up for a little while it is well worth your time to attend the after hours events and network with your peers. This is also a great way to make informal connections that can lead to greater networking.

4. – Recap – Write a blog post recapping your experience. Many people never get around to writing up their conference experience and the sooner you do it the more traffic will come to your blog. After a conference people want to look back and relive what happened so if you write a good recap then they will come to you.

3. – Follow Up – Follow up with the people you meet. Most likely you have come home with a stack of business cards, if you were smart you would write a little something about each person on each card. That way when you send a follow up e-mail you can easily remember to reference the experience you had when meeting them.

2. – Offer Feedback – Fill in any surveys that come your way, this helps to improve future events and lets the organizers know that people cared about the work they did.

1. – Thank You’s. Make sure that you write up thank you’s to the conference organizers, sponsors and anyone else who had anything to do with the conference. Taking the time to show that you appreciated the efforts that they made not only helps to ensure that the conference happens again but by thanking sponsors you can show them that their contributions made a difference and that may make it easier for the organizers to recruit sponsors again in the future.

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Networking Tips for Conferences


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

Last week I showed you 10 of my favourite <a href="http://www.bloggingtips.com/2010/06/21/10-beautiful-blogger-templates-part-1/" Blogger Templates. The list included popular WordPress templates which had been converted to Blogger such as Imprezz, Iirresistible and Twitter Blogger.

This week I will be showing you another 10 beautiful blogger templates. Enjoy

10 Beautiful Blogger Templates

1. Acosmin Tech

Info & Download | Demo

2. Firebug

Info & Download | Demo

3. Photoplus Light

Info & Download | Demo

4. Daily Notes

Info & Download | Demo

5. Community

Info & Download | Demo

6. Grunge Floral

Info & Download | Demo

7. Zinmag Remedy

Info & Download | Demo

8. Gallery

Info & Download | Demo

9. Mainstream

Info & Download | Demo

10.

Info & Download | Demo

I hope you enjoyed part two of my beautiful blogger templates series. Remember to Subscribe to Blogging Tips as I will be showcasing another 10 beautiful blogger themes next week.

Good luck

Kevin

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10 Beautiful Blogger Templates – Part 2


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

As you can imagine, writing for the internet is different than writing for other mediums like print. Although the basics like grammar don’t change all that much, there are a few things that are generally considered proper when you’re writing online.

Watch Out For Repurposing

Of course a lot of people who write web content get their sources from print and other media, but it is generally not acceptable to just cut and paste a document and change a few words so it can pass Copyscape. Everything that you see written on the Internet comes from somewhere but you need to add a bit of flair to it and a personal touch.

As well, you need to lay it out a little differently when it’s going to be online so the content is visually appealing. One of the first things you’ll need to remember as a general rule is the fact paragraphs need to be shorter online than they are in print. Now while there are a few exceptions, people are more intimidated by large blocks of type in cyberspace.

Layout And Design.

It’s important to remember the layout and design are critical factors on the Internet. Make sure that you pick a suitable font size for whatever you are writing because one of the first attractions people have to any body of text is visual. Remember that for most readers a text will appear as a visual block before they even start reading.

That’s where bullet points and subheads become especially useful for longer pieces. They break the information up into easily digestible chunks.

Meta Content

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It’s important to remember that thanks to a lot of the broadcast media we’ve grown up with people have shorter attention spans now. That means that the subheaders and headlines needs to encapsulate a large part of the meaning of what will follow. It’s also good to consider proper seo elements like keywords that can help with much needed page rankings.

Remember that it’s also a good idea to use links in you web content. There’s an old adage on the Internet that 100% of the Web content out there today is created by 25% of the people. It’s also good to keep in mind that people like to interact with the Web and they enjoy links that can take them from point A to point B rather than have you explain it all to them.

Use The Inverted Pyramid

Not everything about content writing is new. Using the old newspaper inverted pyramid style is a great way to ensure that people who just scan through the web get all the most important information at the top of your story.

And of course you want to have compelling writing no matter what particular project you’re working on. It’s always best if you use the active voice and remember to be as consistent as possible through the entire text.

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Writing For The Web


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

Rdio is an amazing music application that I’ve had the pleasure of trying out for their 3-day free trial period. I learned via their Twitter account that you will have the option to extend your trial to 10 days once the 3 days is up — nice to know. Although this is not a free application, when you think about the benefits of using it you may just feel that it is worth the monthly fee. This app not only lets you listen to your music from everywhere but the mobile app helps you save time and space.

Social Media Integration

You can link Rdio to your Facebook, Twitter and/or Last.fm accounts. This way you can share your favorite songs and playlists on your Facebook wall and Twitter stream. You get to choose which songs you want to share and on which sites (as seen below). You can even recommend the song to a specific friend (on Rdio or Facebook). Linking your Last.fm account will allow you to scrobble your music and track what you’re listening to.

Rdio Desktop

You can download their Adobe AIR application to match songs from your existing library on iTunes or Windows Media Player. “It reads through your artists, albums, and songs and all the ones available on Rdio will be added to your Rdio Collection.” No files are transferred during this process.

The desktop application also lets download music that you buy directly from the Rdio website. When the download it complete it is added to your iTunes or Windows Media Player library. Lastly, you can even play music using the desktop app without needing to have the browser open. Just fill up your queue, close your browser and enjoy your music.

Rdio Mobile

You can currently get Rdio on your Blackberry, iPhone and iPod Touch; Rdio for Android is coming soon. Having access via mobile lets you sync music from the website to be played on your mobile device. I have tried the app on my iPod Touch and it works wonderfully. You can view your collections, playlists and even search through your music.

Your music is synced automatically upon opening the app and once it is synced you can listen to your music no matter where – no Internet connection is needed.

I really find the iPhone app useful because you no longer need to add music to your device; you can simply sync it through Rdio. If you’re someone who has a lot of music on your device, this is space that can now be used for other things like apps, images or videos. It also save you time because now there’s no need to connect your device to your computer and then wait for it to sync; Rdio does this flawlessly and within minutes – no chords needed.

Observations

The website is very easy to use and navigate. There is a search bar for finding music but you can also browse new releases, top charts and recommendations. You can also see activity and stats for each song like number of plays, number of collections it has been added to, number of playlists it has been added to, etc. You’re also able to add reviews to songs, albums and artists. I also love the ability to add songs to a queue. I use Blip.fm quite often and this is something that they do not have but I wish they did.

One downside is that there doesn’t seem to be a large selection of music; I was unable to find a lot of the songs that I was looking for. Their content partners are currently Universal Music Group, Sony Music, Warner Music Group, EMI, The Orchard and INgrooves; they say that new music is constantly being added.

Subscription

Rdio Web $4.99/month – Unlimited web access

Rdio Unlimited $9.99/month – Unlimited web access, unlimited mobile access, sync to mobile phone

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Enjoy Your Music Everywhere You Go with Rdio


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/

I’m sitting here having one of those moments; close approaching deadline, million things on my mind, deer in headlights syndrome. You can call it whatever you like, but the truth is I don’t have a topic for today. So, I decided to read some blog posts that were backing up in my inbox. Fellow contributor here at Blogging Tips, Sharon Hurley Hall, almost had the answer in her post 10 Ways to Break Through Freelance Writer’s Block, but with a looming deadline, I don’t have time for most of her suggestions. It’s a great read though.

I then remembered something Sharon did a week or so back, she posted an extensive Link Love Fest on her blog. I can do that!

So, I’ve decided to share some of the posts here at Blogging Tips that I found to be interesting or very helpful.  And I’d like to showcase some of the regular contributors here too. I hope you enjoy!

3 Simple Ways Bloggers Sabotage Themselves by Jonathan Bailey.

Tie All of your Social Networks Together with Social Flow by Charnita Fance.

Why You Need to Add a Blog to your Website by Rob Starr.

Partner with People who are Better than You by Kevin Muldoon.

The Secret Weapon Every New Blogger Should Have by Larry Brooks.

It All Went to Hell, Now What by Ben Sparks.

Build Your List with Squeeze Theme by Michael Kwan.

Blogging Tips has been around for awhile now. There are some awesome bits of information in the archives. If you find yourself merely reading the first page of a blog this size–you’re missing out on a lot. Take time to poke around in the old stuff. The latest trends are social media and social networking, but there’s a lot more in the background where you can learn all about blogging, writing, productivity, and ways to promote your blog.

It’s also a great way to get over writer’s block or spark a topic for your own blog. If you’re just sitting there racking your brain trying to come up with something, you might as well spend that time learning something too.

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Blogging Tips Archives and Link Love


A selection of e-books to help you improve as a blogger. Find out more at www.bloggingtips.com/books/