MelvinBlog

A blog that chronicles my journey on online marketing, blogging, social media, technology and life.

Blogging Experience

What Makes Your Blog “Not Just Another Blog”

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As almost all of you know, there are about over 100 million blogs in the blogosphere. And there will be more in the coming future as most kids/wives/other people will take interest into that especially with over a million blogs telling you can really make money online with your blog. Before school started I have been pretty much reading a lot of blogs related to my niche and alth0ugh I do read many, only few were able to catch my attention. Of course as old adage says “first impression lasts”. Most of the blogs that have caught my attention before are the same blogs that I keep on following so it speaks so much about it.

I would really like to make an emphasis on the importance of leaving a “sticking impression” with the brand of your blog. An impression that doesn’t just make a reader say “just another blog”. In any niche you can see its importance as they normally determine your future followers, subscribers or even customers. So now I put up some things here that make me think a blog is “not just another blog” and is worth following for. Please take note these are all aside from posting a good content which has been rehashed over and over again. 😉 Here they are:

  • RSS Subscribers – Now this is always hard to achieve when starting out thats why most people will tell you that the hardest part is when starting. But for most sites, I think seeing a blog with over 500+ feed readers make sense to me a lot. It goes to say people are following that blog and for a reason. Last year I was wondering why people are working so much growing their rss subscribers. I even never cared about my blog’s feed fluctuating just between 50-100 before. But now I have realized a lot of things about its importance. So try growing your rss subscribers first then a ton of conversion from curious readers to loyal readers will follow.
  • Nice layout and design – Design is an integral part of everything. Whether you are promoting a brand or what. Believe me, nowadays design is overcoming good content. There are many blogs right now that just have a “unique custom blog design” and yet they are followed well. I’m not really saying go ahead and go a custom theme (because I myself doesn’t have one), but you see there is always a distinction between a nice theme, simple and minimalistic from ugly and cookie-cluterred one. 🙂
  • About Page – When I visit a blog and I see a great post, the first thing I do is read the about page of that certain site. Although most people have their own About Me page, not a lot take effort to make it more than just being readable. Personally the About Page means “Why should I subscribe” to me.
  • Non – Intrusiveness – Ok lets face it, every douche blogger puts an ad on their blog whether its a sponsorship or maybe referral/affiliate links or so. But that doesn’t mean your site is intrusive and not user friendly. Sometimes when I see a blog with a lot of ads (especially in IM niche) and I mean really a lot I come to think  “Is this guy really want to make his readers learn making money online, or he just wants to make money from them?”
  • Interaction – Or more familiarly known as comments. I run a couple of blogs outside this dirty niche and I really love the interaction on some posts. I mean originally a blog really is a form to communicate and share each others views on certain things right? So basically getting to see some interaction in posts really makes a blog a better one. Let’s be honest, we are skeptic to comment if we don’t see a comment before us right? But then its a different case for bigger blogs.

Are you missing out those things? Start working for it now! It may be hard (for some its not seriously) but the rewards are so big! With all the blogs giving their best effort to stand out and gain traction, you may not want to go far behind…

The Real Gold In Entrecard

The Real Gold In Entrecard

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Update: This was posted two years ago and I don’t use Entrecard anymore so consider everything here in this post as outdated.

A lot of people really think using Entrecard is useless and they would rather just get rid of it than get frustrated with the way it brings traffic to their own blogs. Although I wouldn’t argue much on how sporadic the traffic from Entrecard can be, I can, however defend that Entrecard has other benefits way more than just a tool for blog promotion. Btw, here’s a screenshot of how Entrecard fared with this blog for a couple of months.

Entrecard Traffic

As you can see Entrecard wouldn’t really bring you much traffic and traction directly. In fact a lot of people don’t even reach with over 100 hits with their Entrecard!  The real gold within entrecard is on how you utilize the credits. If you look back on it a long time ago, it’s easy to notice that Entrecard has gotten so much better. They started having this ‘cashout’ thing where one can cash out his ec credits. They rebuilt their forums and marketplace w/c makes it more appealing to its users and more importantly they still managed to hold on despite all the critiques they have received the past year.

So how do you utilize your credits? Many, many things. Sponsor a contest with EC? Not possible?  You bet it is! How many blogs and sites can start linking to you in exchange for just a couple of thousands credits? How many people would start clicking your link by knowing you sponsored this amount? The truth is, there are endless possibilities. I had few blogs that I’ve seen jumped from 0 to PR3 just by sponsoring couple of contest using Entrecard.

And how about their marketplace? If you haven’t paid a visit in their for quite a while then make sure to do it know. The  new EC Market is just not about selling ad spots, reviews, stumbles and diggs or whatever (w/c is what it used to be before). The market also puts up good listings of actual goods that you maybe interested as well. And how about those talented designers who are willing to accept credits for their services? Yes  the sky is the limit.

To conclude this one, we can say that Entrecard didn’t really meet up the expectations most people had. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a look or useless. Like whatever asset, it’s use and value can depend on how one utilizes it. How bout you? What is your experience with entrecard?

Blogging And Facebook

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Ok, we all know that (probably) all people who are aware that the internet exists do have their own facebook accounts. But not all are concerned on having their own blog. I’m all fine with that as I really don’t recommend blogging to everyone and it depends on one’s interest whether to enjoy it or not. Although blogging and facebook (alongside Twitter) seemed to be somehow connected with each other, we can all agree that both can be time-waster’s as well. Here’s my take on their advantages and disadvantages:

ADVANTAGE

The good advantage of having a facebook account and an own blog is that it already sets your own stage online. It gives exposure to who you are and what you do best. Some may think its retarded but the truth is when you meet people or when you are applying for a job or a position, a company will always do a Google search for your name to see who you really are, yep its so true! Having both accounts (or even just one) is already a big plus if you’re trying to carve out an online reputation for yourself (or even just a personal brand).

DISADVANTAGE

Ok, like the ones we’ve talked about lurking in forums a couple of weeks ago, both can also waste your time. Most people that have their own blog and do online business would waste it by ‘blog-hopping’ or maybe by caring too much about the looks, designs and metrics of it. While facebook on the other hand has a ton of applications/games embedded into it that could mesmerize one, hence it’s easy to get distracted, just enjoy it and neglect other responsibilities. Those who don’t have an online biz or stuffs can also ‘lurk’ in facebook too much (w/c is harmful as well). I have talked with a lot of my friends and they shared to me that facebook takes 90% of their time in the internet (by playing third-party games and taking stupid quizzes and stuffs). I really don’t have anything against it but if you’re a student or someone who does something , then probably you can be better doing your own stuff. Oh well, maybe just my 2 cents.

As for every online property, entity or whatever, they have their own disadvantage for their use. Sure facebook is fun and so is blogging but at the end, it’s not really hard to figure out whether either of them is hurting your productivity. Or maybe its just me. If you agree w/me then add me on Facebook. 😀

This Thing Pisses Me Off With Bloggers

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Bloggers can either be amiable or despicable, no doubt about it. In my 2+ years in blogging I can say I have seen all types of bloggers. While most of them are really nice and great to be with, there are certain portion of bloggers (or qualities of them) that really make me pissed off. What is it? read on…

For some reasons, some bloggers piss me by commenting on posts while not reading it. Ok, we all know that most ‘guru’ bloggers would suggest you to comment on as many blogs as you can for two things, 1). to get traction and traffic and 2). for backlink purposes. I don’t oppose that. What I do oppose is the fact that a lot of bloggers overdo that and the result is that they actually don’t really read the content of the post and their comment is totally unrelated. That is what pisses me off.

I know that ‘maybe’ I, myself have somehow done that but I think I have never ever commented on a post w/o understanding (worst, reading) it. Most of the times I skim the content but then i always grasp the concept first before actually putting my piece into it. If you’re a serious reader of my blog then probably you might have found some totally douchebag unrelated comments. Much more if you’re an avid reader of famous blogs in the industry like johnchow.com, shoemoney and etc. A lot of comments there are just junk comments (different from spam ones), ones that were created for the sake of futility. 🙂 It even pisses me more to learn that those comments are actually legit and not trolls, just totally unrelated…

Oh well, just my opinion about it. Again its your own blog and there is a whole lot of freedom of expression within the blogosphere. Just make sure you don’t hurt yourself and the image of your blog by being a douche. Remember, the real value of comments in blogs is not about the quantity or the proper use of anchor text, it’s the quality and image that can make your blog standout.

Losing Interest On Monetizing This Blog

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So today marks the last day for about 4 ad placements in this blog and obviously they wouldn’t want to renew anymore. Many people who buy the book I created about monetizing make money online blogs usually ask me how I manage to make that amount of money with this blog. The truth is I do have *other* make money online blogs that have lesser readership, yet makes more money than this one. As always, I do believe this blog is more of a personal blog rather than a niche site so I monetize it depending on my mood. Btw back to those other blogs, I believe I have purchased them a couple of years back (some are last year), and had a great deal with a superb freelancer w/c happened to be also a great friend of mine. To keep it short, I do basically outsource everything as much as I can.

Back to this blog, when I started this I always dreamed of like kinda making $1000 with it someday. But as time goes on I did realize that blogging is more fun when you use it spontaneously rather than pressuring yourself trying to maximize its potential. Luckily, letting the flow go natural still made this blog earn three figures a month. Honestly I really I don’t care that much (unlike before) if this blog earns or what or not. I’m just more elated to have a couple hundred of readers reading this blog everyday, happy to have people commenting, glad spammers keep on spamming me and for me it’s what makes me keep blogging despite all other profitable projects I have currently (and the fucking intern as well).

Anyways just sharing, I know some of you can connect with me. Who knows? Maybe after quite some time, I would realize what direction this blog is going profit wise. And to consider, who doesn’t love passive income? 😀

Is There Such A Thing As Overrated Blogs?

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When blogging started almost a decade ago, no one really perceived it as something ‘useful’. Since blogs are just diaries that convey confessions and love stories, a lot of people don’t pay too much attention to it. Fast forward, blogs now have become a source for useful informations, a must-read if you’re going to make a decision or going to do something. Because of its evolution, people are now putting a high expectations in it. If you started a blog the right way, then all of a sudden get stucked with stuffs and started posting those ‘oh so personal’ posts, then people would now call you and your blog OVERRATED. Nowadays, people always EXPECT something.

Over the years a lot of what used to be good blogs are getting started to be labeled as overrated blogs. Name it, techcrunch.com, time.com, icanhazcheeseburger and plenty more others… The criteria for them is simple for ruling out that a blog is overrated. If a blog is well-trafficked, has a ton of good press around the internet yet its not really showing up good content for what it gets, then it’s easy to label the blog as overrated. For example shoemoney.com is a famous blog for this niche. It gets a ton of comments per post, sold out ad spots and humongous rss list. But it hardly (varies for different type of people) gives out helpful tips that are related to internet marketing (maybe except now, because he started the x thing membership).  Does that make it overrated? You judge!

I have a mixed take on these so-called overrated blogs and the whole concept of this overrated thing. After all they are only blogs. And blogs aren’t required at all to post useful/helpful content right? It’s also not their problem that they got famous for posting personal stuffs or pictures of cat.s After all it seems like blogging goes back to what it really is before content-wise. Just play w/the game of blogging… My piece of advice as always is that never ever claim to be an authority. Unless you can commit to it for life..

How bout you? What are the blogs that you think are overrated? You think yours is overrated? or mine? 😀