Best of Daily Blog Tips in 2011 - DailyBlogTips |
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Is Tech Blogging Dying or Evolving? - DailyBlogTips |
| Is Tech Blogging Dying or Evolving? Posted: 29 Dec 2011 03:57 AM PST
According to Jeremiah Owyang, a tech and market analyst, it is. He published a post titled End of an Era: The Golden Age of Tech Blogging is Over, which is gaining a lot of attention lately, mainly for the controversy it generates. According to Jeremiah the 4 trends that demonstrate his point are:
In my opinion those are all important and relevant points, but they signal that tech blogging is evolving, not dying. That’s also the opinion of most tech bloggers (not that they are trying to toot their own horn…). For instance, Sarah Lacy responded to Jeremiah with the following article: Golden Age of Tech Blogging Done? I Couldn’t Disagree More. Here’s a quote:
Anyway if you are involved with the tech/online publishing industry make sure to check out those two articles. Original Post: Is Tech Blogging Dying or Evolving? |
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Have You Played with Google Insights Already? - DailyBlogTips |
| Have You Played with Google Insights Already? Posted: 27 Dec 2011 08:05 PM PST
Where do you go if you want to find whether the interest around a particular name or keyword is increasing or decreasing lately? Most people would say Google Trends. While this is a pretty neat tool, I think Google offers an even neater one. I am talking about Google Insights for Search. The overall idea is quite similar, but Google Insights gives you more tools to tailor and customize the data you are trying to understand.
For instance, you can compare search queries from specific regions, search type (e.g., web, image, video, etc), categories and so on. The interface is not as simple as the Google Trends one, but understand how it all works is straight forward. Overall it’s a nice addition to your online toolbelt, to check it out. Original Post: Have You Played with Google Insights Already? |
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Winterizing Your Blog (And Yourself!) - DailyBlogTips |
| Winterizing Your Blog (And Yourself!) Posted: 26 Dec 2011 08:04 PM PST
December can be a slow month for blogs. A lot of people seem to lose energy and trail off in their posting. With the holidays coming up and the weather getting colder, it’s easy to do. Last winter, I went into a big seasonal slump with my blog. I lost all motivation and felt tired and draggy all the time. I could barely think of anything to write, and what I could think of seemed crabby and self-centered. This year, I’m determined to use this low-energy time to make my blog better. You can, too. Here’s how. Use the low-energy times for mindless stuffWe all have maintenance tasks we’ve been procrastinating. It feels great to get those checked off the to-do list, and there’s no better time for this kind of task than when you’re low on creativity. If you’ve been meaning to install security or monitoring plug-ins, update software, set up automatic backups, or clean up broken links, now is a great time. You may even be so proud of yourself for conquering these dread-magnets that you feel inspired to write! Brush up on your knowledge and skillsSometimes a great way to get energized is to learn something new. Do you wish you knew more about writing well, marketing, generating traffic, SEO, running a business, or social media? Check out some of the many free resources other bloggers are offering, revisit information products you may have lying around your hard drive, or go to the library. Get inspirationBreak out of your routine–seek out experiences that are different from what you usually do. You might try going to an art museum, watching the sun set, or taking a day off for a road trip. Even reading a genre you usually wouldn’t read can help. Talking to other people and bouncing ideas around is even better. Spruce upStep back and take an objective look at your blog. What’s missing? What do you want to change? Do you still like the design? Is there anything you want to add or take away to make it look its best? Consider the number one action you want your readers to take–is it share your posts, comment, subscribe, buy something? Whatever it is, make sure it’s prominent and easy to do. It’s also a good idea to get rid of any clutter that might be distracting for readers. ReassessSometimes the lack of energy or creativity can come from a lack of direction. How long has it been since you thought about your goals for your blog? Where do you want it to be in six months or a year? What do you need to do to get there? Making a plan may kickstart you into action. Optimize for impactWhen your energy is low, it’s more important than ever to prioritize. What tasks have the most impact? What will make the most difference in getting you closer to your goals? Do those first. Making visible progress toward your goal can be very energizing and inspiring. GrowThere’s nothing like an influx of traffic to give you a lift. We all want to be read–otherwise why write a blog? But the things that will get us more readers often get pushed aside by more urgent tasks. Since this is traditionally a down season for many bloggers, it’s a great time for your writing to stand out! Two of the most effective ways to get more traffic are guest posting and writing content to go viral. You can also get good mileage from hosting a webinar on a topic in your niche or publishing a free report and getting others to help you promote it. CelebrateIt doesn’t take much energy to throw a party on your blog–just break out the goodies! People love fee stuff. Contests and giveaways are a great way to get attention and to give back to your readers. The cheer you spread can’t help but come back to you. ConnectOther bloggers can be a great source of inspiration, support, ideas, and solace, but it’s easy to fall out of touch as we’re all busy with our various projects. Make a point to drop a short note to your blogger friends and other people who have helped and inspired you. Ask what they’re up to and thank them for being there for you. By surrounding yourself with others who are working toward the same goals and keeping in touch, you can feel included and supported. You might even start a mastermind or other accountability group to help you stay motivated. Take care of yourselfMost bloggers have a lot of responsibilities, projects, and deadlines all the time. The faster your want your blog to grow and the more projects you have, the more you risk exhaustion and burnout. It’s crucial to take time for yourself. Exercise, eat right, and get enough sleep. It sometimes feels like there’s not enough time for these things, but taking care of yourself pays off in more energy, better focus, higher quality work, and enjoying life more. And really, what’s this all about if not enjoying life? It’s easy to get stuck during the holiday season slump, but you can turn it around and make this this most wonderful time of the year for your blog. What will you do to stay inpired to do great work? Cara Stein writes at 17000-Days.com about remembering that life is short and making your best days a common occurrence. Her new book, Getting Unstuck, came out Dec. 15. Original Post: Winterizing Your Blog (And Yourself!) |
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Use a Content Production Line for Fast, Effective Writing - DailyBlogTips |
| Use a Content Production Line for Fast, Effective Writing Posted: 25 Dec 2011 07:01 PM PST
What does your blog-post writing process look like? For many bloggers, it’s something like this:
… and so on. If you’re lucky, you come up with a decent idea and you manage to get a post written. But you’re likely to spend a lot of time gazing into space – and you may well find yourself putting off writing the post until another day. There’s a more efficient way to work, and that’s using a content production line. On a production line, one task is accomplished at a time. Think of how a factory uses batch production, with multiple items going through the same process at the same time. Instead of trying to go through the whole writing process in one session – from idea to editing – you can split up your post-writing into several steps, and batch those steps together. Let’s assume you can spend an hour a day on your blog. Instead of struggling to write a post, or producing something half-hearted and forgettable, you could do this: Monday: Come up with a list of topics and then titles for blog posts. Tuesday: Write outlines for each of the posts Wednesday: Draft 1 – 2 posts (depending on length) Thursday: Draft 1 – 2 posts (depending on length) Friday: Edit the draft posts and add in any formatting There are several benefits to this method:
If you’ve never tried a content production line, give it a go. A great way to start is to pull up a blank document and write a list of ten possible post topics. Let us know how you get on in the comments! Bio: Ali Luke is a writing coach and blogger, and writes a weekly column for DailyBlogTips. If you'd like to improve your writing painlessly, check out her ebook The Blogger's Guide to Effective Writing today – DBT readers get a 25% discount on all the Blogger's Guides until December 31st with the code DBT2011. Original Post: Use a Content Production Line for Fast, Effective Writing |
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How to Increase Blog Revenue with Retargeting - DailyBlogTips |
| How to Increase Blog Revenue with Retargeting Posted: 23 Dec 2011 12:08 PM PST
Retargeting is one of the fastest growing forms of paid advertising on the Internet. What is it? Retargeting is the process of serving ads to past visitors of your website. As a website owner, you can put a little snippet of Javascript on your website that anonymously drops a tag in each visitor's browser. Within an ad network, you can then bid to show ads to all of your past visitors. For example, if you sell shoes online, you can tag everyone that visited your website, as well as everyone that has purchased shoes. You can then choose to only show ads to people who have visited your site in the last 7-days and who haven't yet made a purchase. As an advertiser, this one of the most targeted forms of advertising. You know that all of these people are in-market for shoes. Because these ads are hyper targeted, advertisers often bid two or three times more per click to serve ads to these people than they would via contextual ads. So How Do You Make Money with Retargeting as a Blogger? If you are running ad network placements on your blog, chances are, your site is already filled with retargeting ads. In almost all cases, this is a good thing. Ad networks are experts at optimizing your effective CPMs. If a retargeting ad is generating higher clickthrough rates than contextually targeted ads, then the ad network will automatically show more retargeting ads. This will bring up your effective CPM. If you want to boost your revenue from retargeting, make sure to include both text and image ads are enabled on your site. Most retargeting advertisers will run both text and image ads, so you want to be prepared to be able to show more retargeting ads in the event that these types of ads generate the highest clickthrough rates. Secondly, consider attracting more US traffic. Retargeting is particularly popular in the US, and many advertisers in the US are trying to increase their retargeting spend, and the only way to do this is to bid more per click, which increases the retargeting ad revenue per click even higher. Other Ways to Use Retargeting There are all kinds of nifty tricks you can use to build blog awareness while paying next to nothing. For starters, with retargeting on AdWords, you only pay per click, so even if you're paying for one or two clicks per day, you can still generate thousands of free banner impressions in the process. While building blog awareness, consider highlighting your Twitter account, Facebook fan page, or newsletter. Often, people won't click on your ad, but instead, navigate directly to your presence on another site. You can also do cool stuff like promote your advertising opportunities only to people who have visited your advertising information page. Similarly, you can promote eBooks or other paid product to your past visitors. When retargeting your own traffic, clickthrough rates tend to be abnormally high, keeping your cost per click down, making these campaigns highly likely to generate a positive ROI. About the Author: Alex Holmes is the co-author of The Hidden Audience, a practical guide to retargeting. He also runs a retargeting ad network called Y Audience. Original Post: How to Increase Blog Revenue with Retargeting |
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