MelvinBlog

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

Blogging Tips

Being Nice To Your Readers

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Intro: If you guys don’t know it yet, Lax is running a cool contest in his blog where one can win $100 per month by just commenting. Must-see! Anyway’s this is not a paid plug or stuffs. I just thought its worth a mention 😉

For today’s recipe I would like to talk about my experience of communicating to my readers and if I am being nice or not. When I was just getting started with this blog, the blog didnt really had much traction and attention from other people and I was receiving very few PM’s and comments. But anyways I did respond to them just as like as how I respond to people now.

This blog has been up for about 2 years (?) and I’ve had tons of experience with dealing with different kinds of people. Sure there are those who were really annoying, some are so arrogant, some are douche, and some are too nice that I’m not sure it’s for real! I also made some mistakes in the past and have really adjusted with it.

The main point of this short post is just remind you guys to try as much as you can to be nice to your readers. Sure, it’s hard to make yourself look godly when you’re really not but I think there goes a threshold where we, bloggers have to be professional in the way we communicate. I know some of you would say “hey Im not a pro-blogger”, but since blogging is just everywhere, being more approachable to a wider sense of people can still be the “better” thing.

I’m going to be the first one to tell you that it’s hard. Yes, it is. I myself is a hardcore criticizer, someone who mocks the misery of an idiot, a guy who makes fun of any hilarity, and a frequent user of slang destructive terms to people. But does those stuffs evident here? Partly yes, but I bet you’d noticed it. Not being nice to douchebags is never a good thing although Im not saying the contrast is the best thing. My point here is that your audience/readers is generally flawed. They ask questions that are totally written in a post, they demand too much, and they can just be annoying to a certain degree. But what we bloggers can do is just simply try to interact with them, the most polite way we can.

I’m sure all of us, at each certain times, used to be annoying as well. And maybe that experience is something that we can use to deal with it this time. How’s your take against it? Is there a point here when you think I was being too harsh to you, readers?

Your Blog Can’t Survive This Year

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Early this year I made a challenge post about if your blog can survive 2009. The post was made specifically asking my readers and partly the blogosphere if they can sustain their blogs up to the end of the year and hopefully for life. Although most bloggers really can, there are several factors though that can still make it the other way around. Blogging is so cheap that any man making a minimum wage can pay for it without having a problem at all! The problem I think lies on other factors like lost of desire and passion, or simply being too busy and stuffs.

Well I was scanning pretty much of the blogs that used to be a loyal reader and some blogs that I used to visit and notice a lot of them have died (literally)…  Here’s the long list (blogs in mmo niche) of them (most of you know them) and the reasons and stuffs:

  1. SuiteJ.com (stopped blogging)
  2. MoneyBites.com (stopped blogging, heck I even one several contests with this blog)
  3. BlogSmartly.com (The owner was a promising teenager but for some reasons he just stopped posting)
  4. SplendidKid.com (The owner was a fellow Filipino. It looks like he either had his blog hacked or database corrupted (no backup), hence has to start over.
  5. BloggerVenue.com ( The blog was a promising one but he decided to sell it and the new owner just totally sucks.
  6. TheGermz.com (Another student who has been super duper busy)
  7. Blogsessive.com (Not died, but decreased his posting frequency to once a month, wtf?)
  8. MakeMoneyDynamo.com (site had a thousand subscribers. Eventually, it looks like Jason just completely abandoned it… sad)
  9. Flimjo.com (The guy was one of my first blogs to read because he blogs interestingly about how passive income and the usual misery of having a day job.. Stopped posting for a long time)
  10. Courtneytuttle.com (Another established blog that seemed to just vanished off)
  11. InternetBabel.com (I love this blog! Even when there’s a change of ownership I thought the posts were still great. Apparently Dave’s lack of posting and interaction (and theme change?) killed the community. from 60K alexa to 1M+ today, sad)
  12. TheBlogEntrepreneur.com (Stopped Posting as well)
  13. Green-Flamingo.com (The guy had struggles with maintaining this blog and have seemed to be tentative since then)
  14. Blogriffic.com (The owner is experiencing health problems, get well soon Salwa)

I want to keep that longer but that’s it for now. Although it’s been stressed many times that blogging is just blogging and cannot be put ahead of more important things, it still feels sad to see a former blogger/reader stop blogging or struggle with it. The blogosphere is a tight and enjoyable community and that’s the main reason why it’s sad.

For the case of Blogsessive, CourtneyTuttle, DoshDosh, they really don’t need to post everyday, every week and stuffs. These blogs are authoritative blogs and they can go on w/o posting that much and still rank below the 50k mark of Alexa w/o any problems at all. My bet is that they’re getting a ton of organic traffic because they have their blog indexed really deep (both quality and quantity) on search engines.

But in most blogs, it’s really kinda sad. Of course we can’t say a blog is dead until it’s domain is already parked, but a blog w/a dead atmosphere and community is 3/4 dead anyway! The surprising thing is when you ask people time from time, they usually respond saying ‘yes they will be patient and can hold on with their blog for a long time’. At the end it just goes to show you how really unpredictable things are. Today, you’re blog is in top 100, the next month it’s for sale, the next few months its nearly dead, in a year all the content is completely wiped out and the domain is not even renewed. Things move very rapid. It’s profitable, all of a suddent its not. Of course, it’s still nicer if there’s such a thing as farewell post every time a blogger kills his/her blog. But that happens very rare…

What say you? Any other blogs to add in the list? Or if you’re one of the bloggers listed above, any reasons why you’re blog got killed?

Why Most Blogs Couldn’t Just Get It Going..

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One reason why the ‘blogging tips’ niche is growing larger and larger and becoming more and more profitable is that because there’s still a huge number of persons/market that consume/need it. It’s no secret that a lot of people who have a blog or who is just trying to have their own blog is seeking to become a problogger, and make tons of money from their blog just like famous guys do. While there is an overflowing of good stuffs and content about blogging, a lot of people still couldn’t have it going.

While the rule of ‘reading too much, implementing less’ still follows, I think still almost 90% of the bloggers are not satisfied with the way their blog is performing. Either they feel they aren’t making that much money, or not a lot of people reads their blog or for whatever reasons. The truth about blogging for fame and for money these days is that providing good stuffs alone is not enough. I have read some blogs with really superb content yet they’re not getting the traffic (I think) they should deserve. They say content is the king but experience and observation tells otherwise. Here are some of the things that I realized why most blogs don’t just fly:

  • Bloggers are just idiots – No offense to the statement (I was thinking of a better way to express it). What I mean is that everyone starts out from scratch and is an idiot himself. Two to three months later, it’s either that a blogger has learned a lot (hopefully implemented what he learned) or is still an idiot just like when he started. The basic explanation in this is that blogging is like schooling. Some people never get to pass on some levels primarily because of their lack of knowledge (and drive maybe).
  • Lack of drive and determination – Please do take note that bloggers like Darren Rowse, Shoemoney and Chow had blogged for over a year without being recognized and now look where they are now! I could even testify that making a blog popular and profitable is easier these days rather than before. If you’re entering the blogging business, then make sure you have the necessary juice of determination and patience to keep it going for a long time. Do you really think you can handle blogging for a long time?
  • Not enough Marketing – Blogging is internet marketing, remember that! Carving out a successful blog includes giving out good content first, then finding a way to reach the most number of audience as possible. Sure it’s not hard to create good content but marketing and promoting what you got is something to really focus on. Content is the king no more! 30% content. 70% marketing.
  • No clear goal – This one should’ve been written first I guess. Anyway, everytime a person starts a blog and has no goal, it’s like driving without a map or like shooting the basketball with a blind fold. Make sure to set your objectives and goals on blogging. Are you going to just create a personal blog? Are you going to create a flagship blog that would boost your online brand? Or you’re just creating a blog to be flipped soon? Either way, a blogger really has to be clear on this one. Saying ‘I just want to start a blog period” is a retarded statement. Believe me.
  • Proper funding – Starting a blog is a low-risk investment I must say. But when one does start a blog that he intends to monetize later on, he must understand that a blog may not get its initial income return on it’s 6th month or even a year. I do really feel bad for a lot of my friends who do start it out alright, provides good content and then flop afterwards because of lack of budget. It’s either the site got suspended by its host or the domain just not renewed. $100 for a year is the safe number of budget needed. You’re gonna be needing more of course when you want to fast track your progress.
  • Afraid of trying Out New Things – Assuming you are NOT one of those things listed above, then you must not be afraid to try out new things. If you have a blog and its consistently getting 50-100 pageviews a day and is doing good interactions, are you just gonna stop there? Why not take your efforts a couple notch higher? Or try to experiment new stuffs? It’s a common misconception that when an experiment fails, expect tons of drawbacks. Don’t be afraid to try untested things, or to do something different. If you fail miserably, then chances are you’d benefit more in the long run, unless you’re an idiot. 😉
  • Not Building Relationships – In my guest post on ThouShallBlog about using  blog as a reputation tool, I stressed how a blog can make you reputable and do a lot of good things more than just making money from it. Blogging is a very large, yet tight and accomodation community. I have met a lot of bloggers, talked with them and shared insights with them. Like any other business, building relationship with other bloggers within your community is a key. If you’re not then you’re missing a  lot.

Building a ‘good blog’ takes more work than what you think, yet it’s not as rocket-science as building your own company or making a male baby. Remember the 7 things I listed above and make sure you enjoy what you are doing. If not, then maybe you should re-assessed whether blogging is for you. Feel free to share your own piece please.

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?

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.