Blogging on my mind

A Beginners Guide To Blogging

© Copyright 2008 Enkay Blog. All Rights Reserved

Blogging On My Mind

Table Of Contents

Introduction…………………..…………………………………………………..………3
What Is A Blog……………………………………………….…………………..……….5
Getting Started……………………..……………………………………………………6
Free Blog Hosting Services…………………………………………….. 7
Paid Blog Hosting Services.………………………………….…..……11
Blog Publishing Software……………………………….…..12
Hosting Options……………………………...…………….…..15
Why I Chose Wordpress…………………….…….….…………….…….....……24
Blogging Essentials…………..……..……….……………….……….……………..25
Social Networking……………………………..………………….………………….31
Blog Tips……………………….…………………………………..……………………...39
Consistency………………………………………………….….…………….39
Networking………………………………………………….…….………….40
Relating To Readers………………………………………....…………..41
Video Posts……………………………………………………….........……42
Designing Your Blog……………………….………..……………………….……...48
Branding…………………………………….…………………………………….……….52
Monetizing Your Blog………………………...…………………………….………54
Monetizing Tips…………………………………………………….………54
Monetizing Options………………………………………………….…..55
Feedback………………………….………………………………………………..……..61
If You Donated…………………………………………………………………..……..61
Can I Use Your Content?...............................................................61

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Blogging On My Mind
Introduction
This book is written by Nabil Khan who is a part-time blogger at
Enkay Blog. He is a 20 year old who decided at the age of 14 that
conventional jobs for teenagers such as working at fast food
chains or local grocery stores were too unadventurous. He then
decided to start his own web design company and over the course
of almost 5 years, he worked with over 25 small and medium
businesses to help develop their online presence.

This may not sound too convincing until you consider the fact that
Nabil also attended a prestigious public school while running his
web design company and graduated in the top tier with a near
perfect GPA. Currently, Nabil attends the University of Houston as
a full-time student on a scholarship. He is pursuing a double major
in Accounting and Marketing as well as a Masters in Accounting.
He still has a near perfect GPA and has been on the Dean’s List
each semester that he has completed at the University. All this
while still maintaining his popular blog.

This eBook was written mainly to help individuals get an insight
into blogging. It not only helps them get started with the basics of
setting up a blog but also provides them with tips and hints to do
so without any road blocks.

The concept of the eBook is derived from Nabil’s personal
experiences and hardships in starting up the blog. Nabil is known
for telling it like it is and this eBook will not paint any utopian
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pictures but will hope to give you a helping hand into the world of
blogs.

The eBook is free because I think that you shouldn’t have to pay
for something unless you really don’t know what it contains. It all
boils down to the fact that if you find this eBook interesting or
even half way worth it, I’d really like you to subscribe to my blog.

Furthermore, by not charging for the eBook I have another way
that you can “pay” for the eBook and that is by donating to Save
The Children. If you feel like this eBook should be worth
something, then I’d really like you to donate that particular
amount to Save The Children. If you’d like more information
about the organization, visit their website by clicking here.

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What Is A Blog?
A Blog is a shortened form of the word “Weblog” and when you
look up Blog in a dictionary you see the following entry:

a Web site that contains an online personal journal
with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks
provided by the writer

Today, Blogs are used for much more than thoughts on a web
page and in fact there are many ways that you can use your blog
as an avenue into a profession. It is a known fact that blogs are
now the main source of income for several people and in this
eBook you will see some ways in which you can monetize your
blog and you’ll find some tips on doing so.

Aside from blogs turning into money making machines, there has
been a branch out into what are called “vlogs” or video blogs
which are exactly what you’d expect. They’re blogs except in
video format where the author records a post or entry with the
use of a camera.

There are many other forms of blogs that you will find but
essentially, it is up to you as to what you decide the fate of your
blog is. Keeping that in mind, let’s move on the next step and talk
about how you can get started.

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Getting Started
Getting started with a blog can be very simple considering the
number of resources there are. You have an option when it comes
to starting your own blog. You can either go for a completely free
blog or buy a hosting package and manage the blog at your own
domain.

If you want to start a blog to see whether you will like it or not,
then I’d recommend a free blog hosting service as you can always
move on to a paid host later. The disadvantage of doing so is
losing any rankings and incoming links from other bloggers or
websites. However, if you feel that you can be passionate about
your blog and don’t mind spending $5-$8 per month, then paid
hosting options will help you in better planning for the future.

Let’s take a look at the free blog hosting services first and then at
the paid hosting options after that.

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Free Blog Hosting Services
Before we get into the free blog hosting services, lets take a look
at the Pros and Cons of using a free resource.

Pros:
 No out-of-pocket expenses – there really aren’t any costs
such as hosting or domain costs associated with a free
blog.
 Get to experience blogging – this is the basic concept of
try it before you buy it so if you don’t like it, you have no
regrets
 Worry-free in terms of hosting and reliability – you don’t
have to worry about having server downtime because its
all managed by the blog host themselves.

Cons:
 No real domain name – Your blog will always be
yourblog.something.com and all your rankings and
incoming links will be associated with that.
 No avenue of expanding your blog – After a certain point,
if you decide to grow, then the opportunities are limited
 Not truly customizable – There isn’t a really unique way to
customize a blog that is not hosted by your own host and
customization options are limited also.

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Blogger is probably one of the most popular free blog resources
out there. It is very easy to get started and it literally takes five
minutes.

Blogger offers the following features:
 Easy-To-Use User Interface
 Ability to Publish Photos
 Several Template Designs To Choose From
 Ability To Access Using A Mobile Device
 Easy and Quick Sign Up Process

Blogger was started up in 1999 by three friends from San
Francisco and was later bought by Google. It’s one of the largest
free blog hosting companies out there and Is known for its ease of
use. If you’d like to sign up for Blogger, click here.

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Wordpress.com is operated by the Wordpress Blogging Software
which is a highly popular blog publishing platform.

Wordpress offers the following features:
 Very Easy Sign Up Process
 Several Great Looking Themes
 Auto-Save Features To Prevent Loss of Posts
 Add Photos & Videos
 Easy Widgets To Incorporate Flickr, Meebo, del.icio.us
 Ability To Create Pages
Wordpress was started in 2003 and although it is not quite as
popular as Blogger, it is still a great resource to consider if you
want to later move on to a paid hosting service. If you’d like to
sign up for Wordpress, click here.

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LiveJournal is not as popular as Blogger or Wordpress but it is still
has millions of users. They offer free and paid services however if
you really have to upgrade, you might as well look into paid blog
hosting.
LiveJournal offers the following features:
 Ability To Create or Join Communities By Category
 Comprehensive Page To Display Friend’s Posts & RSS
 Voice Posting & Text Messaging Supported
 Create Customized Designs
 Insert Youtube & Photobucket Images

Live Journal was also founded in 1999 like Blogger by a high
school student. It is currently run by a Russian company called
SUP. If you’d like to sign up for Live Journal, click here.

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Paid Blog Hosting Services
When you opt for hosting your own blog, you will need two
things. A blog publishing software and a good host. Lets take a
look at the breakdown of the different blog publishing software
and hosts that you will find in the next few pages.

Blog Publishing Software:

 Wordpress
 Movable Type
 B2Evolution

Hosting Options:

 1and1
 Host Gator
 BlueHost
 StartLogic
 Host Monster
 ix WebHosting
 Dot 5 Hosting
 BlueFur Hosting

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Blog Publishing Software – Wordpress
Wordpress has grown to become one of the most popular blog
publishing platforms out there. Its highly customizable designs
and large plugin database is what makes Wordpress popular,
apart from the fact that most bloggers who don’t have a custom
platform,use Wordpress.

Download Wordpress: Click Here
Installation Documentation: Click Here

Pros:
Large Plugin and Theme Database
Very Customizable
Regular Updates
Impressive List of Features
Multiple Author Support
Quick & Fairly Simple Installation

Cons:
Not as User-Friendly For Beginners

Rating:
Wordpress gets a rating of 4.5/5 mainly because its not as user-
friendly for new users. If you want to customize the design, you
have to know how to work your way around PHP. Other than that,
it’s one of the most powerful blog publishing softwares out there.

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Blog Publishing Software – Movable Type
MovableType is one of the oldest blog publishing softwares and I
used to personally use it about 6 years ago. The fact that Movable
Type includes several Wordpress plugins out of the box is also a
big plus. Also being around longer than Wordpress means that
theres more help available if so needed.

Download MovableType: Click Here

Pros:
Fully Featured Out-Of-The-Box
Simpler <$MT> Tags Instead of PHP
Multiple Blogs On A Single Installation
More Help/Documentation Available

Cons:
Long / Annoying Installation Process
Unattractive Default Design
Spam Protection Not As Powerful

Rating:
Movable Type gets a rating of 4/5 because there are only a few
things that set apart Movable Type from Wordpress. Movable
Type’s downsides are the installation process that can be difficult
for beginners as well as spam protection that isn’t as full featured
as the Akismet plugin for Wordpress.

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Blog Publishing Software – B2Evolution
B2Evolution is not as popular as Wordpress or Movable Type but
it is an option if you are not satisfied with Wordpress or Movable
Type. B2Evolution is not as popular due to the lack of
development but is still useful for smaller blogs.

Download B2Evolution: Click Here

Pros:
Ability To Host Multiple Blogs
Easy Installation
Easy-To-User Admin interface
Contact Form Out-Of-The-Box

Cons:
Available Designs/Skins Are Dull In Comparison
URLs not as pleasing
Weak Spam Protection

Rating:
B2Evolution gets a rating of 3/5 stars because its user base is not
as active meaning that the plugins and skins that are available will
not be able to compete with those of Movable Type or
Wordpress. The lack of development has led people to move from
B2Evolution. It is still a powerful publishing tool but if you want to
develop your blog, pick Movable Type or Wordpress.

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Hosting Options
When it comes to looking for hosting, you have to rely on
recommendations and ratings from other bloggers and users. I
have selected eight of the most popular hosting companies that
most bloggers use. I only have personal experience with a few of
them but I will be providing ratings unbiasedly based on average
ratings provided by current customers and best bang for the buck.

Some things to note:

 Just because a hosting package is more expensive per
month, doesn’t mean that their service is just as good.
 Average Customer Ratings are derived by my research and
reviews by current/prior customers.
 The best bang for the buck is a rating based on the number
of features you get for the price you pay. It is not an
indiciation of how good the company is.

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Hosting Options – 1and1
Price Range For Hosting : $3.99 - $19.99 per month
Price For Following Options : $4.99 per month

Feature List :

 2 Free Domains
 120 GB Space
 1200 GB Bandwidth
 1200 Email Accounts
 $100 in Marketing Vouchers
 PHP & MYSQL Included
 90 Day Money Back Guarantee

Bang For The Buck :
Avg. Customer Rating :

Sign Up For 1and1 Hosting

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Hosting Options – HostGator
Price Range For Hosting : $4.95-$12.95 per month

Feature List :

 1 Free Domain
 350GB Space
 3000GB Bandwidth
 Cpanel Included
 PHP, MySQL, Perl, CGI Included

Bang For The Buck :

Sign Up For Host Gator Hosting

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Hosting Options – BlueHost
Price Range For Hosting : $6.95 per month (One Option)

Feature List :

 1 Free Domain
 Unlimited Hosting Space
 Unlimited Bandwidth
 CGI, Perl, PHP & MySQL Included

Bang For The Buck :

Sign Up For BlueHost Hosting

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Hosting Options – StartLogic

Feature List :

 1 Free Domain
 Unlimited Email Accounts

Bang For The Buck :

Sign Up For StartLogic Hosting

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Hosting Options – HostMonster
Price For Following Options : $7.95 per month (1 Year Contract)
$6.95 permonth (2 Year Contract)

Feature List :

 1 Free Domain

Bang For The Buck :

Sign Up For HostMonster Hosting

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Hosting Options – ix WebHosting

Feature List :

 1 Free Domain

Bang For The Buck :

Sign Up for ix WebHosting

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Hosting Options – Dot5 Hosting
Price For Following Options : $5.95 per month (1 Year Contract)
$4.95 permonth (2 Year Contract)

Feature List :

 1 Free Domain

Bang For The Buck :

Sign Up For Dot5 Hosting

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Hosting Options – BlueFur Hosting
15% off with one year contract
20% off with two year contract

Feature List :

 1GB Hosting Space
 50GB Bandwidth

Bang For The Buck :

Sign Up For BlueFur Hosting

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Why I Chose Wordpress
I personally use Wordpress on my blog and there are several
reasons why I picked Wordpress and why I like Wordpress. I
picked Wordpress because:

• Most of the blogs I was familiar with used Wordpress and I
figured that if I ever needed help, I’d atleast know
someone to assist me.
• I felt it was much easier to install compared to
MovableType which was the blogging software that I had
previously used.
• Although the user interface is now similar to Movable
Type, at the time that I started to use it, I felt it was more
easy to navigate for a first time user.
• There were many great pre-designed themes available for
me to download unlike the B2Evolution themes that just
pale in comparison. Furthermore, Installing those themes
was very simple on the Wordpress platform.
• The Wordpress plugin database allowed me to customize
my blog with features that I wanted.
• I felt that the PHP based template system compared to
Movable Type’s MT Tags was easier to customize.
• Their spam protection was superior to the other blogging
platforms and over half a million spam comments later,
I’m thankful for it.

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Blogging Essentials
There are several blogging essentials that you need to get familiar
with and these include everything from blog popularity tools to
social networking websites. Signing up for these websites really
helps you advance your blog by not only allowing you to see how
you progress, in terms of ranking, but also build a network with
your readers and your peers.

Technorati
Technorati is a great tool for all bloggers because it helps you
keep a track as to who has linked to your blog and is also a
ranking tool in case you decide to monetize your blog later on,
which we will talk about a little later.

Technorati allows you to “claim your blog” by authenticating that
you are the owner of a particular blog by either placing a hidden
link or providing them with your username and password. When
someone links to you, it displays it on your Technorati page as a
“blog reaction” and your ranking is adjusted accordingly.

You are provided an authority which is a way of showing how
many incoming links you have. The greater the number of
incoming links you have, the higher your blog reaction and
authority are. If the website that is linking to you has a greater
Technorati rank, it has a greater effect on your ranking.

The higher your authority, the better it is for your overall rank.
These rankings are used by many companies as a way to

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determine the price of ads, reviews or anything of that sort.
Below is an example of Technorati rankings:

Click here to Sign Up for Technorati

Alexa
Alexa is a company that is owned by Amazon and provides you
with a ranking based on the amount of traffic you have. Alexa has
also received a lot of criticism regarding its ranking method but
nevertheless, it is also an essential tool used by companies in
calculating the price of advertising. Usually, most people just wait
for their Alexa rankings to display however there are many ways
that you can help expedite this process. For example, my first blog
took 5 weeks to finally receive an Alexa rank however by following
the tips listed below I was able to receive an Alexa rank within 10
days on one of my newer blogs. Lets take a look at these tips:

1.Submitting a link report - The first thing you should do is
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perform an Alexa link report. By doing so, your website will get
added to Alexa’s database much faster and that way you can start
improving your traffic faster.

2. Installing The Widget - Usually once you are able to see your
website/blog on Alexa after performing the link report, you are
faced with an inactive graph because your rankings are not high
enough. The way to help your rankings is by including the Alexa
widget which you can see below:

If you click on the image above, you will be able to view what the
Alexa page for my blog looks like. This widget can be created by
clicking here and have worked for most bloggers in helping their
rankigns.

3. Installing The Toolbar - The third tip is to install the Alexa
toolbar. If all else fails, then installing the toolbar is another way
that you can boost your rankings. This method seems to have
worked for many individuals who were not able to get their
website rankings to go up. Although I haven’t had to use this
method the last time, it is definitely recommended to use if your
rankings remain stagnant. You can download the Alexa toolbar by
clicking here.

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MyBlogLog
MyBlogLog is a great tool that many bloggers implement on their
websites in order to maintain a sense of community. The basic
idea with MyBlogLog or MBL Is that you get to put a face to the
name of the readers on your blog. Almost all blogs have a MBL
widget that looks like this below:

MyBlogLog also allows you to create a community so that readers
who really enjoy your content can join in and communicate with
you. There is a plug-in that we will discuss later called MyAvatars
that will allow you to integrate the avatar of your readers next to
a comment that they leave on your posts. Personally, I find MBL
very useful because now I don’t even have to look at names to

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realize who has left me a comment. Usually I just look at the
avatar and I am able to tell who it is. It helps create a sense of
community and lets you better connect to other readers by way
allowing me to associate an image with a name.

Click Here To Sign Up For MyBlogLog

Feedburner
As the name might suggest, Feedburner has a lot to do with your
RSS Feed. The number of RSS Feed Subscribers you have helps
determine how much the price of advertising will be on your
website, whether its banner ads, 125x125 ads or even a review.
Feedburner is a tool that allows you to do more with an ordinary
feed.

My first suggestion would be to not use your actual RSS feed URL
to get people to sign up but to do it through Feedburner instead.
When you sign up for Feedburner, you will provide them with
details regarding your website and they will create a new RSS
Feed URL for you. The URL should look something like mine:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/enkay

You will get to pick the phrase or word that will go at the end of
the URL instead of “enkay” since that is the phrase I picked. Now
that you have your Feed URL, Feedburner allows you see how
many total RSS Subscribers you have and all the statistics
associated with that such as where they’re from, what kind of RSS
reader they use, etc.
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Aside from that, you will also have access to several other
features which I’ll be talking about below:

 Allow your feed to be compatible with most of the
different typed of feed readers out there
 Add icons to digg, email, stumble to your posts. There are
many more icons you can add but those are the most
popular.
 You can start offering email subscriptions allowing you to
expand from the conventional forms of subcription which
is through a feed reader
 You can have them automatically ping services such as
Yahoo, Bloglines, Technorati and Alexa, among others, to
let them know about your new posts.
 You can display a ticker that shows how many total
subscribers you have

All in all, Feedburner is almost a requirement for every blogger. If
you already have a Wordpress blog and you don’t have
Feedburner integrated but fear that switching over will cause you
to lose your current subscribers, then don’t worry. There is a
plugin calling FeedSmith that we will be talking about later that
will help transfer over your current RSS subcribers to your
Feedburner generated Feed.

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Social Networking
Social Networking websites have been very common and the
more you look around, you’ll see bloggers using them to
communicate with their readers. Many of the social networking
websites I will be mentioning will help you stay in touch with
readers and communicate with them on a more personal level.
Some of them you may already have and use but others are
newer but we will be discussing all of them. I will also be providing
links to my profiles on these networks so that you can add me and
send me email or messages. Anyway, lets start by looking at our
first social networking website called Twitter.

Twitter
Twitter has been one of the fastest growing social networking
sites and is especially popular amongst bloggers. The basic
concept of twitter is that it allows you to write short messages as
to your whereabouts so that people know what you’re doing. It
sounds very simple but its another way for people to keep in
touch with each other. Twitter is also accessible through a mobile
device using wifi or text messaging and so you can be constantly
updated no matter where you are. You can follow people who you
like and in turn others can follow you so that they will receive
updates as to what you are upto.

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That is how you actually update your twitter page and your
friends and followers can even reply to your update. Now lets
take a look at what an actual twitter page will look like:

Now that you have seen what Twitter is like, you can sign up by
clicking here. If you’d like to follow me on Twitter then , click
here.

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Plurk
I was first introduced to Plurk by Syed Balkhi from Balkhis.com. It
is similar to Twitter however it’s a newer social networking tool so
there aren’t as many common faces, as you will discover. Plurk is
different because it allows you to see updates made by fellow
friends by way of a timeline. Plurk also allows readers to gain
Karma points which is a way you improve your rankings on plurk.
You gain Karma points by writing updates, referring friends,
posting smileys/pictures, etc. It is quite a user friendly interface
just like twitter and is also accessibly through a mobile device
which makes your updates on the go that much easier. Its an
interesting concept and I actually prefer how users can respond to
updates on Plurk when compared to Twitter. Here is what that
looks like:

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Now that you’ve seen that, lets take a look at my Plurk page so
you can see how the time line fits in.

It’s a very neat looking page and if this sparks your interest then
consider signing up for Plurk by clicking here and adding me as a
friend by clicking here.

Digg
Its hard to have been on the internet for even a few months and
not come across Digg. Digg is one of the most popular social
sharing networks out there. The idea of Digg is that you and
millions of other users share interesting articles, pictures or videos
that they come across on the internet and other users are allowed
to vote on your picks. Each vote is referred to as a “digg” in the

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sense that “do you digg it or not?”. Getting on the front page of
Digg means that millions of visitors will be able to see your
content and provide you with feedback. Lets take a look at the
front page:

Signing up for Digg is a no brainer and there really isn’t much to
explain considering Digg was almost purchased by Google for
$200 million earlier this year. Signing up for Digg, digging articles
and submitting articles will help you in the long run. So if my
testimonial has already made you consider signing up for Digg,
then do so by clicking here and visit my Digg page and add me as a
friend!

StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is similar to Digg in that it helps showcase
interesting websites, videos, pictures and other sorts of media

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however the big difference is that StumbleUpon only displays
pages that are listed as your interests. You install the Stumble
Upon Toolbar which allows you to click the “Stumble” button and
displays a website based on your interests. Clicking the button will
direct you to a new website and you can give it a thumbs up or
thumbs down. Your vote along with the votes of million others
determine what is best for you. Here is what the toolbar looks
like:

If a post on your blog gets Stumbled that automatically means lots
of traffic and new readers. The idea is to contribute to
StumbleUpon and create networks online with other members so
that when you submit articles to StumbleUpon or “Stumble” other
pages, then you build up that many more contacts. I would
suggest StumbleUpon as a great tool for gaining exposure.

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If I’ve got you interested, then sign up for StumbleUpon by
clicking here and check out my StumbleUpon page to add me as a
friend.

Facebook
If you have kids or you go to school or college, then you should
have heard about Facebook. Facebook was the idea of Mark
Zuckerberg and started off as a networking tool for friends who
have gone off to college and universities in different states and
countries. Today, Facebook is open to everyone and allows you to
network with other bloggers and internet entrepreneurs by
sending messages, writing short notes or even chatting online.

Facebook has grown tremendously over the past couple of years
and is a very robust networking tool. It allows you to create a
community and members of Facebook are able to join in that
community. Many bloggers have created a community for their
blog on Facebook which not only brings them more exposure but
helps them reach a larger audience of potential readers and
subcribers.

Facebook also features a chat feature where you can chat one-on-
one with other Facebook friends when they are online. The
advantage with the Facebook chat feature is when you come
across other bloggers and internet entrepreneurs as it allows you
to communicate with them and talk about matters of mutual
interest. Without further adieu, here is what my Facebook page
looks like:
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As you can see, it’s a very well laid out page and in my opinion, it
helps me stay in touch with my friends easily. If you’d like to sign
up for Facebook, click here and add me as a friend by clicking here

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Blog Tips
Considering that I’ve been on the Internet for over 8 years now
and I have had a few blogs in the past, I think it would only be
useful to you if I can help pass on some tips to help you become a
good blogger. I’m not here to teach you how to make your
millions BUT consider this, if your blog is not appealing to a reader
then there is no use in implementing techniques and programs to
make money off of it. Its almost a waste of time if you think that
you’d be able to lure in cash cows while running a crappy blog. I
don’t want your blog to be crappy and so this section will have
some of my favorite tips that I give to new bloggers.

Consistency
Consistency is one of the key reasons why most blogs fail. You
have to create a schedule to blog and you really can’t blog only
when you feel like it, as long as you want to be successful. If you
write one post a day, then do that. Don’t write 3 posts in one day
and no posts for the next two days. There are a few reasons why
consistency is such a big issue and how you can help resolve the
issue:

1) First of all, your readers have developed a certain expectation.
If you posted every day and went on to posting only once a week
after that, then your readers realize that they don’t need to visit
every day. Think about it, why waste your time when you realize
that the new posts are only made once a week. Sooner or later,
they’ll just stop visiting.

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2) Create a schedule to help you out if you need it. I created a
schedule and I have a set time that I blog even when I have
school. Your schedule isn’t always supposed to be strict and you
can change it depending on work or school or other commitments
but always remember to save some time for your blog. Don’t
ignore it otherwise it will be too late.

3) If you come up with several good ideas for a blog post then
don’t blog about it all at once or put it off until later. Write the
posts are “timestamp” it so that you don’t overload or deprive
your readers. Timestamping allows you to basically create an
alarm where you pick a date and the time in Wordpress and your
post will automatically be published at that specified date and
time. This allows you to not let good posts go to waste.

Networking
This is one blogging tip that most bloggers fail to mention
however, networking plays a big role in how well your blog does.
Who you communicate with, send emails to and blogs you
comment on, help you gain exposure based on that. I have
already mentioned quite a few social networking websites above
and its essential to sign up for them and add your blogging
friends. Why? Why you ask, well lets think about this.

Lets say someone visits your blog and comments on one of your
posts. If you don’t take the time to go to their blog and see their
content, then whats the point of them visiting and taking the time
and effort to post a comment? If you visit back and write

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comment then they’re more likely to return and comment on
other posts. It helps create a sense of community.

Think about the time when you need someone to Digg a post of
yours or Stumble it, then asking your readers and contacts can
help you get that accomplished. This even applies to things such
as asking someone for help or feedback. Your readers and will be
more likely to assist you If they feel that you have made an honest
effort in communicating with them.

Either way, it never hurts to mingle with others in your profession.
You can always discuss things that affect both of you. In this case,
that can comprise of things such as an advertising opportunities,
blogging tips, new ad networks, etc. It helps you stay more
informed and get reviews regarding certain programs, ad
networks and the like.

Relating To Readers
Relating to readers is something that helps create that initial
networking with your readers. If you write a blog post, then
relating to your readers would be to ask them a question at the
end or ask them for their opinion or input. Doing this allows them
to be more open in expressing their opinions.

Your duty as a blogger is to read their comments and respond to
them so that they know that you are listening to them. If you
constantly ignore comments or don’t find it necessary to really
respond then they feel that they cannot connect to you or relate

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to you, for that matter.

You need your readers to be able to relate to you otherwise they
won’t find it necessary to visit your if their opinions and
comments are unnoticed. Don’t appear to be “better” than
anyone because that will only hurt your readership in the long
run. Your readers want a personable and human figure rather
than someone who is sitting on a throne.

Video Posts
I have extensively talked about video posts on my blog and I have
even done quite a few video posts. For refernece, here is my first
video post that you can visit. Since video posts can become a big
part of any blog, I’ll be breaking this section down into
subsections to make it easier to follow along. First, lets discuss the
challenges of video posts.

Challenges of Video Posts
1 - Video Posts Take Time - Its true that a 4 minute video could
take an hour to put together mainly because of the time it takes
to record the video and edit it. You have to willing to put forth the
amount of effort into editing the video to make it not only look
better but also so that you can include such things as names of
people or urls onto the video frames.

2 - Small Things Matter - Small things such as the lighting, how
fast you talk, the tone of your voice all make a difference. The
lighting of a room can lead to a video looking dull or if the light
source is behind you then it makes you look like a silhouette.
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Things such as how fast you talk also result in how well your
message is communicated to your audience. You have to watch
for these things with videos.

3 - Body Language Adds Into The Equation - When you blog,
theres only the text aspect that your reader sees but when you
have video, your body language becomes a part of your message
too. How your body responds to a message can send your reader
a sense of connection to the message. If you’re body language is
low and you look disconnected then it shows that you’re not truly
committed to the topic at hand.

4 - Using Your Voice For Emphasis - This is something that goes
unnoticed but some bloggers use bold terms or italicized terms to
emphasize something but when you have a video camera in front
of you then the emphasis to such items depends on how you
stress it by using your voice.

5 - Third Party Noises - I call this third party noises as it can be
anything from noises resulting due to action of people around you
or environmental noises such as birds or rain, etc. You have to
watch for these as you want to be able to hear yourself during the
video playback. There was a video that someone had posted
where you could clearly hear the vacuum cleaner in the
background and that causes a diversion of attention which you
want to avoid.

Advantages of Video Posts
1 - Video Is More Visual - Well the simple fact of the matter is that
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video is more visually appealing. It can show a reader whats
happening instead of having them visualize something by reading
a post in text format.

2 - Helps You Network/Connect Better - It really helps to see the
person behind the blog. It gives readers a face and a voice to
recognize compared to just writing style. The idea of having video
can eventually help you connect better to your readers if they are
able to see you and how you speak, act, etc.

3 - Helps Get Your Point Across Faster - Its true! Video Posts that
are 3-5 minutes long usually get your point across faster than a
post thats a page long. Its the idea that people would rather
watch and listen to something than read it for themselves.

4 - Keep Readers Longer - Video posts also keep readers on your
page for longer than usual. As you saw in point #3, Video posts
help you get your point across faster but usually when you have a
post in text format, people read some and skim some and
disregard the rest. With a video post they tend to watch all of it
and therefore they stay on your page longer. The longer the stay,
the better it is for you.

5 - People Tend To Remember Better - Isn’t it true that when you
hear something its easier for you to remember it? Ex. If you were
listening to a song theres a higher probability of you remembering
some of the words rather than reading the lyrics directly. The
point is that when you hear someone talk, rather than reading

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something, you tend to remember it better.

Lighting In Video Posts
This is the last section that we will discuss under video posts and I
will help you visualize the errors people make in terms of lighting.
The proper method of lighting is where the camera is placed
between the light source and the person. Here is a diagram:

Scroll to the next page to see some images of how you can make
errors by not using lighting to your advantage.

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Now lets look at some examples of how you can make an error.
Lets start by taking a look at a room in which there was no lighting
at all or very low lighting. Here is what that looks like:

Now lets take a look at a room in which the light source was
behind the person. This usually makes it very difficult to see the
person when the light source (such as the sun or a lamp, etc) is
behind you. Here is an example of that:

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Now lets take a look at my first video post as a good example of
using the light source properly. This is an actual screen shot from
the video so here it is:

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Designing Your Blog
There are several places where some designers go wrong. I have
extensive experience in the web design field so I know what is
generally acceptable and what is usually frowned upon. There are
many things aside from the content, such as design, that can
affect how successful your blog is. Since, this is my ebook, I want
to give you the tips to help you, so lets look at several design cues
that you need to keep in mind to avoid making your blog look
unprofessional and to help gain readers.

Advertisement Placement
The biggest mistake you can make is to get “ad happy”. Meaning,
don’t cover your page in ads. Limit yourself to a few ads and a few
ads only. There are many of us that will agree that when we come
upon a blog where there are too many ads, even if the content is
good, we probably won’t come back.

1. Make sure that your ads aren’t covering up your content either
because that gets really annoying, really quickly.

2. Skyscraper ads are okay as long as you don’t have them several
of them in your sidebar.

3. Pop-over and Pop-under ads are pretty much unacceptable on
blogs and I wouldn’t recommend you using them.

4. Six to eight 125x125 ads are acceptable. If you have more than
ten then you need to reconsider doing away with a few of them.

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5. Its not really considered good advertising if you have a lot of
empty ad spots saying “Advertise Here”. If you don’t have
advertisers to fill the spots then reduce the number of spots till
you have enough advertisers because you can always add more
spots later.

Navigation Bar
There are a few things about your navigation bar that is similar to
the RSS button location. It has to be easily visible on your page
without the need for much searching. Think about this situation
for example, an advertiser visits your blog and wants to send you
an email through your contact page but they can’t seem to find
your navigation bar. This will most likely result in them turning
away and you don’t want that. So here are some tips to help you
avoid such situations.

1. Keep your navigation bar visible and towards the top without
any unncessary graphics or flash as you don’t want people who
don’t have flash to not be able to see it. Also make sure that your
text in the navigation bar stands out against the background
instead of blending in with the background.

2. Remove any unncessary links from the navigation bar. You only
need the important links in the navigation bar such as Home,
About, Contact Us, Advertise and anything else that is important.
There isn’t a need to put links to other blogs in your navigation
bar.

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3. Don’t place ads directly under your navigation bar hoping to
make a quick buck because you may just lose your readers if they
find it too obtrusive.

RSS Button Placement
Your RSS Button is critical and 99% of established bloggers would
agree that your RSS Button should be visible and be located in the
top fold of your page. This means that as soon as I load up your
blog in my browser, I should be able to see your RSS Button
without having to scroll down the page to find it. Heres an
example of my blog so you can see the placement I’ve used:

You can see how I’ve placed the RSS button in the upper portion
of the page and made it easily noticeable. You shouldn’t expect
readers to scroll or hunt for your RSS button so the best location

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would be at the top of the page. If they read a post or two and
they figure they should subscribe then make it easy for them!

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Branding
Branding is used by many bloggers to help identify themselves
with their readers. The way you brand your blog determines how
you are remembered and so this is one of the most important
things if you want your visitors to return. So lets take a look at a
few tips related to branding.

1. Your branding should be distinguishable from other bloggers.
Trying to “copy” or “imitate” other bloggers in the way you design
your logo or brand will not help you in the long run. Be unique
and stand out from the crowd.

2. Use yourself as a brand for your blog. My picture has become
the brand of my blog. Most people see my image and know who it
is. You can use a picture of yourself and use it to create your
branding.

3. Using a mascot is another popular method. Some bloggers use
animals or cartoon designed versions of themselves to create the
brand. This method is very popular and has worked very well for
the bloggers that currently use mascots.

4. Your brand has to be related. This means that you cannot use a
picture of a cat as your brand image if your blog is about
technology. The two things don’t go together. Make sure that if
you use a particular image as part of your branding strategy that it
is somewhat related to the topic of your blog.

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5. Make your brand memorable. Its like when you see the logo for
your favorite fast food chain, you immediately link it with its
name. That’s how you need to design your brand. You need
people to be able to recognize it just by looking at the logo or a
picture of you. It will help you become more recognizable as time
goes on.

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Monetizing Your Blog
Monetizing is a step in your blogging career that is very important
for many new bloggers. It is probably one of the more exciting
phases as you start to get advertisers onto your blog however
before we get into the different advertising websites and methods
out there, lets talk about a few monetizing tips.

Monetizing Tips
1. Don’t monetize your blog too quickly. If you started a blog
today, you shouldn’t expect to have ad spots and ad blocks by
next week. It’s a gradual process and should only be started when
the time is right and you have created a place for yourself in your
niche.

2. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. You shouldn’t just rely
solely on one method of advertising for your income. Spread it
out between different advertising networks to help diversify your
income source.

3. Experiment with different ads. When you delve into monetizing
your blog, experiment with different types of ads and ad networks
before you start picking out the ones that work for you best.
Don’t knock something before you try it. See what works best
with your blog and use that. You don’t have to keep ads on your
blog that aren’t performing well.

4. Give It Time – Don’t expect results overnight. Be patient and let
the ads sell themelves. You shouldn’t check your earnings every

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couple hours. Your earnings will slowly pick up only if you let it.

5. Don’t Beg for Clicks – Its usually not a good idea to ask or
request people to click on ads for you. Its most probably
unauthorized by your ad network and plus its not really smart on
your part. It shows that you’re desperate for money and that’s
not a good thing.

Monetizing Options
Now that we’ve talked about the tips, lets look at the different
types of ad networks you can look into.

Adsense
Google Adsense is usually the first monetization route that most
bloggers go. It is probably one of the easiest in terms of
implementation and payments are made after you reach a certain
amount. There are a variety of options to pick for in terms of ads
such as the size of the ads, the colors, text or image. All these
options make it easy for anyone to implement Adsense.

Another big plus about Adsense is that most readers are
somewhat used to Adsense as long as you don’t over do it. Most
bloggers have a 300x250 Ad block embedded in their posts and
that is very common. When you add Adsense, it won’t be
something that your readers will despise.

Sign Up For Google Adsense

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ReviewMe
ReviewMe is probably the most popular paid-to-blog services. The
concept of ReviewMe is that advertisers can pay you a certain
amount of money to review them or to write a recommendation
for their product or service. With ReviewMe, however, an
advertiser that has come by your blog can decide to buy a review.
This is different because usually you, the blogger, has to sort
through a list of offers and decide which one you want to blog
about. ReviewMe is very simple and pays by Paypal. Here are a
few payments I’ve received from ReviewMe.

Sign Up For ReviewMe

SponsoredReviews
SponsoredReviews is similar to ReviewMe however you get to bid
on review offers. The way this works is that you see a list of offers
from advertisers who would like you to review them. Once you
pick an offer you can decide the amount that you will accept for
the review. This gives the blogger more freedom in deciding what
price is the best for them.
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To avoid price gouging, the price of a review is valued on your
blog so you cannot bid over that amount. Also, recently,
SponsoredReviews allows advertisers to counteroffer and in my
opinion, the counter offer has generally been much less than most
would expect. It is still a great way to diversity your “paid-to-blog”
income source.

Sign Up For SponsoredReviews

Text Link Ads
Text Link Ads is one other way to add to your income stream. As
the name states, you sell text links on your website which are
usually placed in your sidebar. Text Link Ads has been around for a
long time but lately most bloggers are opting to do away with
them and sell text links on their own which is basically cutting out
the middleman. This step can be difficult for many new bloggers
so Text Link Ads may be your only choice.

I actually was able to sell one link through Text Link Ads when I
had them and that too was for only 2 weeks. Here is proof of

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payment from Text Link Ads when I did sell an ad. The payment
came in portions but it came on time so either way, I didn’t mind.
I do have to mention that it did take quite a few months before I
sold an ad.

Sign Up For Text Link Ads

Kontera
Kontera is a different type of advertising known as “in-text”
advertising. The way this works is that when you hover over
certain text, an ad box pops up and if your reader clicks on it, then
you get paid. Here is what it looks like:

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The reason that some blogs won’t use Kontera is because it can
get frustrating for your readers. I have used Kontera for the past 6
months and it works fine although I still get questions about why I
use it. It depends on whether you want to use it or not but I don’t
seem to mind it at all.

Sign Up For Kontera

InfoLinks
I was contacted by InfoLinks a few months ago as I was previously
using Kontera and was offered a really good deal with them. I
jumped onto the InfoLinks bandwagon and have been quite
content. InfoLinks seems to pay higher than Kontera although it is
not as popular since it is quite new. InfoLinks also has ads that
look very similar to Kontera

InfoLinks may have ads that are slightly larger so its all up to you
to decide which one to go for, InfoLinks or Kontera, or whether
you want in-text advertising at all. Either way, if you’re going to
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give it a shot, then both of them will be able to satisfy your need.

Sign Up For InfoLinks

Market Leverage
Market Leverage is one of the hottest affiliate marketing networks
out there. They have the best staff and their offers are very
tempting. I was contacted by them a few months ago and ever
since then, I have been committed to them. They really look after
their publishers and make sure that they are satisfied. Affiliate
Marketing is a little bit more involved when compared to some of
the other methods but it can lead to a much bigger payout. It also
requires an input of money however the returns are more than
worth it. I know several individuals who are making several
thousand dollars a month with affiliate marketing. Whenever you
decide to give Affiliate Marketing a change, definitely consider
Market Leverage.

Sign Up For Market Leverage

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Feedback
This concludes my ebook and I want to know what you thought of
it. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to visit
http://www.enkayblog.com/ebook and use the contact form to
send me feedback about the book.

If you need any help or have any questions about anything that
I’ve mentioned in the book then I am gladly willing to help you
with anything that you may need. Feel free to send me an email
through the form on my ebook website or send an email to
enkayblog (at) gmail [dot] com.

If You Donated…
If you have made a donation to Save The Children after reading
the ebook, please send me an email stating that you have done
so. That way, I can add your name to the ebook website and
Thank you for your generosity in helping those who are truly in
need.

Can I Use Your Content
If you would like to use any portion of this ebook please include a
link back to the ebook website or to my blog. Any violators will be
prosecuted for the reprinting and republishing of content without
permission.

Also, I would appreciate If you could send me an email with a link
to your blog so that I can stop by and maybe subscribe!

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Thank you for reading my eBook. I hope it helps you accomplish
your goals in blogging.

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