February 7, 2012

Blogging Tips

We have a special treat today.  Lynette Chandler has offered to write guest blog posts on blogging tips, and I definitely wanted in!  You had to submit 5 interview questions which she would answer in a post.  Those who submitted the 5 questions are also entered into a contest, and the interview with the most votes wins some pretty great prizes.  So, without further ado, here’s the interview with Lynette.

Question 1: Could you explain the concept of earning money for page views of your blog?

When you join an advertising network or are taking advertisers who pay a certain amount for every thousand views the ad receives. So the more page views you can get, the more you will earn. Of course this is not an easy thing to do. Typically page view ads work better for the publisher who has a very popular blog or a network of blogs that can help make up the minimum views without much effort. If you display Google Ads, some advertisers choose the pay per thousand campaign too which is why sometimes you may find you made some money with no clicks. The bad thing about it is you can’t quite dictate which type ads you want.
But regardless, it all boils down to traffic because the number of visitors and the number of views are proportionate. The more visitors you have, the more views you get so overall I think it is a good idea to work on that traffic. Getting new people and bringing people back. The views will follow in its heels.
Question 2: What are some tips for engaging your readers so they will participate and comment?
Write open ended posts. Posts where people feel compelled to add their two cents to. Topics that aren’t factual, black and white, controversial or strong opinion tend to do that.
Ask people for their input. What do they think. What do they recommend, What are their problems, How have they solved a similar problem, What do they use to solve it.
And that leads to creating ‘crowd sourcing’ posts. Like putting up a question sent to you you can’t answer and asking the readers to help a fellow reader.
While you’re at that, consider interviewing or featuring readers.
Brainstorm ways to get readers roped into an activity. For example, on a foodie blog. Challenge readers to create a new dish based on 2 or 3 ingredients. Take a picture and share their recipe.
Question 3: What’s the best way to keep your blog fresh and interesting?
Keep creating great content
Like before, think of ways of getting people involved an activity where you aren’t the only one talking.
Accept guest authors to break up your voice
Change the way you deliver content. Add videos or audios.
Give people things they can download and enjoy away from the blog
Work with other bloggers, like what we are doing with this Interview Project
Change your pace up once in a while. Increase your frequency sometimes.
Question 4: Can you talk about ways to monetize your blog that actually work?

I am a big believer that the people who buy from you are usually repeat readers who are either subscribed to your feed or your email list. So encourage people to subscribe. If you have a product, put your product’s banners on the blog and make them more prominent than affiliate offers. But banners are not enough. Review the products you use or get customers to share their experiences on your blog. Put your offers on the blog if there is a special or coupon, let people know.
Since the nature of blogs is to feature new content, reviews and offers can get buried. Bring them up again and again. Think up of different ways you can write about the product. Have you found a new way to use the product? An unexpected benefit? Can you think of how it has improved your work or life? Can it be added to a list?
Question 5: Where do you get good pictures to use on your blog besides Istock (preferably free images?)
My first sources are SXC.hu and Flickr where you search specifically for Creative Commons pictures. These are pictures where the photographers have graciously allowed you to share and use. I usually find what I need between the two and don’t mind providing a link back. In particular Flickr, one of the conditions is you link back. There are other sources which I have not checked out and I’ll list them here for your convenience:

FreeImages.co.uk http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
Stockvault.net http://www.stockvault.net/
Every Stock Photo http://www.everystockphoto.com/
iClipart.com http://www.iclipart.com/
OpenPhoto http://openphoto.net/

Did you like this interview? Then let us know by voting for Laurie at http://blogenergizer.com/teip-vote/

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