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How social media mashups will give you an edge in both engagement and monetization

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:00:30 +0000

As bloggers we are constantly looking for ways to make our blogs more interesting. It goes without saying that it’s important to write well and to know our audience and focus on topics relevant to it.

However, these days it may not be enough to simply write good blog posts and assume that our readers will be sufficiently entertained. So what more can we do? I have found that creating new multimedia experiences for our readers by mashing together various social media content is an effective way to increase audience engagement and drive more traffic.

A picture is worth a thousand words

We’ve all heard the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words” it then would logically follow that a video has to be worth a lot more. Of course I’m not telling you anything new by suggesting that you should use video embeds in your blogs to pique your readers’ interest. We already know that embedding multimedia content such as web video, flash games and other widgets is an effective way to get your audience actively involved.

What I’m proposing is a different approach. Why not get more value out of your embeds by embedding more than one thing at a time? For instance you could enhance that YouTube video you were planning on embedding by combining it with a related Twitter feed. Thus, your YouTube video will come equipped with its own reader “comments”.

Your readers will not only get the opportunity to enjoy the video but they’ll be able to see what the Twitter community thinks about it as well. As a result your audience will likely be more engaged by consuming this YouTube & Twitter combination than by the “commentless” YouTube video alone.

Consider the multimedia mashup

You can also consider the multimedia mashup as a blog post contained within itself. It is sometimes a challenge to consistently come up with compelling content for our blogs. Why not use the creative energy of millions of YouTube and Twitter users to help us put together blog posts on current hot topics without investing a ton of time? You can write a short intro and supplement it with the YouTube/Twitter mashup. Your audience can enjoy the video and stay engaged by reading the endless flow of tweets.

The mashing together of multimedia content will not only increase engagement but can also help you monetize your blog. We can take that same YouTube video and combine it with the Amazon product widget. Your readers can enjoy watching the video and observe related Amazon products right next to it. It is the best of both worlds.

The viewing experience is not interrupted by having an advertisement intrude on the video in any way and yet the products remain highly visible. This particular YouTube & Amazon combination should result in a higher conversion rate than having the traditional Amazon sidebar which may or may not show content-related products and is not in the main view.

Making money outside of your blog

Another advantage of using the multimedia mashup over traditional affiliate marketing is the potential of making money outside of your blog. The Amazon widget contained within the mashup stores your Amazon affiliate code. As readers embed the mashup on other websites and blogs or link to it, your affiliate code travels along with it.

The mashup that started on your blog can now continue to work hard for you on other websites and help you get more value out of your affiliate marketing. In fact, this opens up a new way to take advantage of popular web videos. You now have a great incentive to leverage viral content by attaching your affiliate campaign to it. If your mashup goes viral that means your affiliate campaign just went viral as well.

My company uCubd.com (you cubed) was created to give bloggers and web publishers an opportunity to effectively leverage popular social media content. We have built a mashup platform that will allow you to add more value to your stand-alone embeds. The best thing about our technology is that it’s free and easy.

It literally takes seconds to create a mashup using our platform. All one needs to create a mashup is a YouTube embed code. Our system will automatically analyze the video and render related tweets from Twitter or products from Amazon next to it. Our mashups are not limited to YouTube, other embeddable video and widgets will work as well. We’re also currently working on building a variety of mashup templates that will offer users more options beyond Twitter and Amazon.

Give this a shot, have fun, make some money and let us know what you think.

A guest post by Marat Galperin, co-founder of www.ucubd.com. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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5 reasons why blogging is not easy

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 06:00:03 +0000

Daily millions of blogs are built in blogosphere, but most of them fail soon. The reason behind failure of blogs are different but it shows, it’s not easy to maintain a blog.

There are always two sides of coin and it is applied to blogging also. Apart from many advantages of blogging, there are few hurdles in blogging career which might keep you away from success and making money online.

This article is not to demotivate you rather it is to share the true facts about blogging so that you can prepare yourself to face all the challenges which you might experience in the field of blogging.

Here are 5 reasons which show why blogging is not an easy task:

Competition:

People are attracted to blogging and thus competition is also increased. All the bloggers work hard to get good search engine rankings, generate huge traffic and make money online.

To compete with so many passionate bloggers requires a lot of hard work as well as smart work.

Patience:

Even if you are working hard to make your blog successful, there might be chances that you won’t get good results soon or you might face few ups and downs.

But that’s the part of blogging, you need to keep patience, analyze the problems and keep moving ahead . The day that you lose patience you won’t able to blog with same passion.

Update Yourself:

Blogging is all about sharing knowledge and experience. Thus it is important, that you must have lots of knowledge relevant to your blog niche. For getting knowledge, you need to keep updating yourself with all the latest news and information.

If readers don’t find updated and current information on your blog, they won’t visit back.

Negative feedback:

There are chances that you might get negative feedback about your blog from your readers. It is possible that your blog readers might not agree with the information you provide or they might give you negative feedback about the design. These negative comments might demotivate you.

Try to listen to negative feedback if it is genuine and don’t let your passion down. Use negative feedback as a way to improve your blogging style. It takes time but once you learn to handle criticism, you are on the way to become a better blogger.

Active Participation in Blogging Community:

Blogging is not only about writing quality content, you need to spread the word. You can always create a community around your blog by various means like adding Facebook fan page, chat box, and most important commenting on other blogs.

Replying to all comments on your post will give personal touch to your readers and gradually you will have tons of readers who will be religiously following your blog.

As there is a lot of competition in blogging, you need to be very active to show your presence to others. You need to be social, comment on other’s blog, make community and regularly update your blog. It is important to have good online persona that can drive traffic to your blog.

Blogging is easy to start but hard to maintain. To be become a successful blogger you need lots of patience and passion to work.

What do you think about blogging, is it an easy career option or not?

This is a guest post by Harsh Agrawal who blogs at Shoutmeloud and also offer blogspot to WordPress migration service. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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The niche in the blogging haystack

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 06:00:03 +0000

Talk about being lost in the crowd, my chosen niche is filled with so much information on the web I’m surprised I’m at all where I am today.

My competition is multi billion dollar companies with their company blogs, Doctors, p.h.d. types, anything that ends in ‘pedia’, professors, and tens of thousands of little voices like mine all wanting your attention on just one subject.

My name Jerry and I blog about pest control.

Typing furiously all night only to have 16 hits the next day

I’m not sure what your blog is but if you were like me when you started you probably spent many an hour typing furiously all night only to have 16 hits the next day. What a terrible feeling that is.

Rays of hope were far and few between and I would be very depressed at times because I know that I am a great pest control technician and have owned my own company for years but couldn’t get anyone to read what I had to say.

Giving up was definitely an option but the one rule I kept reading about from all the blog gurus was content, content, content. So, I pushed on with my little blog and punished myself daily with my constant stat checks.

I began to be me and write the same way I spoke

What began to change for me is something I think can work for anyone whether you have a crocheting blog or you do nuclear fission. I began to be me and write the same way I spoke to customers who I serviced.

While most blogs were only spewing out information fit for an entomologist I decided to start telling my story. Not in any chronological order and not every day but I sprinkled in some of the craziest things I’ve seen and many of the off the wall ideas this sparked in my head.

Sure I still do the complete life cycle of the flea and the ‘How to’’ that is also popular but I knew that everybody was doing step by step instructions so it might take a lifetime to rank for anything like that. What I saw that was missing were the daily experiences and feelings that came with being a pest control technician and business owner.

Sparked a huge debate

The extreme lows that I felt when I started my business struggling to make the bills and the conquering exhilaration’s when I hired my first employee. I began talking about the people and what some have meant to me and how others still get me angry to this day.

All of the articles are bug related of course but you might guess otherwise when you read my poem about earwigs which sparked a huge debate as to whether one could lodge in your brain to lay her eggs or the morality of side jobs, I was called a thief on that one.

The other major factor was my increased use of forums and social sites. I used to skip these links when I used Google to find bug information because all they ever led me to was a forum where no reliable facts were.

No gestapo ever showed up at my door

Just people giving there bogus 2 cents worth for the most part. DUH ALERT. I realized that this is where I should’ve been all along after responding to just one idiotic person who used motor oil on her cat to get rid of fleas.

From that revelation I joined what ever forum I could and just kept slipping links in. I even got banned from one or two for breaking the advertising rules but since no gestapo ever showed up at my door I still join groups but I’m more careful now not to upset the moderators.

Using search engine alerts I find where people are talking about my subject and join in on Facebook or do it yourself sites and simply add a good comment or helpful tip and post my link. One such site called thriftyfun.com covers almost every subject you can possibly think of and a large section of my traffic comes from folks clicking in from there.

Get slightly depressed when I don’t hit 1000

I’m by no means any kind of blog guru like Marko Saric or some of the others I’ve read and my html knowledge is a big hinderance when I try to do the simplest things. I can however fulfill the one rule everyone seems to agree on of content and if the people won’t come to me right off, I create a way for them to find me through my forum post strategy.

These are not by any means the only things I’ve tried or still do but they are definitely my primary vehicles to promote my blog. Oh and the days of 16 clicks? After 2 plus years they are gone and although I’m not setting any records I now only get slightly depressed when I don’t hit 1000, I’m starting to catch on.

A guest post by Jerry who blogs at Pest Cemetery. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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10 tricks to get your readers commenting

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 06:00:08 +0000

If you’re like me, you’re a blogger that thrives on comments. Getting loads of traffic on a post is awesome, but if I can get a load of comments responding to my post, I do back flips (in my mind).

If you’re not like me, that’s okay. We’ll help you get some comments anyway.

Here are some tricks for getting more comments, that I’ve picked up throughout my experience as a blogger. They might just work for you too…

1. Challenge your readers to think about something differently

If you can do this well, nothing will get your more quality comments. Either people will refuse to look at something differently, and feel the need to express their commitment to their current beliefs, or you’ll open their eyes to a whole new way of looking at something. Even if you don’t believe in your stance, playing devil’s advocate is a comment magnet.

2. Start a list and ask for additions.

When you’re listing out tools, tips, tricks…whatever. Open it up to the readers at the end to submit their own tips. Hell, take it one step further, and when a reader comments with a good addition, edit your post and add it to the list with credit to the commenter.

3. Keep it short. Ask the questions without providing all the answers.

If you provide both sides to an argument, or answer every question, that’s awesome…just not if you want to get a lot of comments. Your readers want to be part of the discussion, so be sure to leave them something to talk about.

4. Don’t include tweets as comments. People see 72 comments and they’ll be less likely to comment.

If readers think their comment will be lost in the noise, they won’t comment. When I see a comment thread loaded with tweets (especially if they’re not separated) I am much less likely to comment. Also, if you include the “twitter mentions” in the count for # of comments on a post, people will be less likely to comment.

5. Ask for thoughts at the end of the post.

It’s a simple concept. Chris Brogan probably does this best. At the end of every post, ask for your readers thoughts. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to get a reader to share their opinion. It shows that you want to know what they think.

6. Respond to as many comments as possible.

The reason for this is the same reason as #4. People comment with the hope that their comment will be read. No one likes talking to a wall. I try to respond to every legitimate comment I receive so that whether you’re a first time reader, or you’ve been reading since day 1, you know I’m listening, and I care about what you think.

7. Ask for thoughts on Twitter

Everytime I plan to put a post that is meant to provoke conversation, I make sure to ask the same question on twitter before the post. Aside from getting comments, it’s a good way to gather some information and insight for your post. It also gets people thinking and talking about the topic so that when your post goes up, they’re ripe with opinions to comment on.

8. Continue the conversation off the blog

One thing I love to do is quote a comment in a tweet, and ask for thoughts on the comment. Once you get the conversation started on your blog, it can help to spread it to other communities. “Here’s what my readers thought, what do you think?”

9. Respond to a popular blog post that got a lot of comments

If a blogger wrote a great post that hit a nerve with their audience, drawing a lot of comments, you can share your thoughts on the topic in a blog post response. It’s clearly something that people care about so while your post probably won’t be as big as the original post, you can still drive a good conversation.

Make sure to link to the original post, and let your readers know that you’re responding to it. This sends some link love to the originator, gives your readers some context, and will probably leave a trackback comment on the original post leading people to your response.

10. Reward your commenters for commenting.

If all else fails, bribe them. Now this certainly isn’t a long term solution, but giving a prize away can inject a little life into your blog quickly. If you still want quality, say “whoever has the most creative response wins this awesome bag of potatoes!” or whatever you crazy kids are giving away these days.

Also, check out a plugin called Commentluv. It will add a link to the commenter’s last blog post. It’s a win win.

David Spinks is the Community Manager for Scribnia, where the world’s bloggers and columnists are reviewed by their readers. He also blogs at The Spinks Blog about business, careers and professional communities. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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10 must use tips for beginning bloggers

admin — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:00:04 +0000

The humble blog has come a long way in the last decade. What was once merely the hobby of the amateur working away in their basement has morphed into one of the defining themes of Web 2.0.

Some of the most highly trafficked websites on the Internet nowadays are blogs. It’s a flexible way to deliver information and at the same time interact with an audience.

For those just starting out, here are a few tried and true suggestions for making your own personal blog a success.

Know Your Audience

And more importantly, write for them. You can’t write for everyone, so don’t even bother.

While fostering true debate and the free exchange of ideas is terrific, you’ll want to get a feel for who your core demographic is and what they care about. Are they liberal or more conservative? Urban or rural? Country or rock-and-roll? You get the general idea.

Pick A Focus, And Stick With It

Unfortunately, you can’t be an expert on everything. And if you attempt to write about every idea or issue that pops into your head at any given moment, your blog will come off as schizophrenic and lack direction. Choose one area of interest that you’re truly passionate about and explore it in-depth.

It’s All About Networking

An important aspect of the social web is that’s it’s, well, social. Interacting with not only your readers but also other blogs and webmasters is a great way to get feedback as well as newh2 subscribers to your blog or RSS feed.

Backlinking is a crucial component of driving unique views on your blog, so comment on other well known and highly trafficked sites and leave a link in your comment back to your own site.

Function Over Form

Aesthetics are important, and you’ll find yourself judging other people and other websites based on appeareance alone. While you try not to be superficial, it’s simply a part of human nature and you can’t really help it.

Your blog doesn’t have to look like a million bucks right off the bat, so focus on great content over shiny graphics and layout. You’ll have plenty of time to fiddle with your site’s look later.

Choose Your Plugins Carefully

It’s easy to lose focus on what you’re blog is actually about and supposed to be doing if there’s too much visual information and tools clogging the page.

When you work with a CMS like WordPress or Drupal, it’s easy to keep slapping on plugins for everything from a RSS Feed Manager to a World Clock and everything in between. Just go with the essentials and keep it simple.

Turn Your Blog Into A Community

Make your readers feel like they’re participating in a discussion rather than just reading a blog. Reply to comments, start conversations, and create forum capabilities on your blog when you get enough followers.

Accessibility

Later, you may well want to consider creating a mobile-only format version of your site for those looking at your blog on a cell phone or tablet computer. While it’s true that they can access the syndicated RSS feed via their e-mail, it’s still a good idea to widen the accessibility of your site.

Don’t Go Overboard With Ads

Monetizing your blog is important and you have every right to make a few bucks off of it. Just keep the ads to a minimum and don’t push the popups and what not in the faces of your readership.

Be Consistent With Your Output

In other words, publish regularly and often. Don’t skimp on quality, because it matters. Just know that if you want to create a following, you need people to know that there will be new content on your blog on a consistent and regular basis, so pace yourself.

Make It Unique

There are many blogs out there and you need to make yours stand out from the crowd. Develop your own unique style and voice, and write creative and interesting articles and you’ll get more readers and followers than you know what to do with.

These tips should give you a good idea of how to start out, but from there it’s up to you to make the most of your blog. Tweaking the format is pretty simple and there are plenty of tutorials online about web design and development if you want to add new features and functionality.

The most important thing to remember is to have fun and enjoy the blogging experience. If you like what you do, it will come through loud and clear in your writing and resonate with your followers.

Melissa Tamura is Editor at Large of the Zen College Life directory of online degrees. She most recently wrote about online EMT training. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here

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5 reasons why you need to print your own business card

admin — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:01:17 +0000

Though your mindset as a blogger may lead you to discount the impact of offline promotion, there are five important reasons why you should still invest in a set of classy business cards.

So you have something to hand out during networking opportunities

Meeting with other bloggers, internet marketers, or other people who are online authorities gives you valuable opportunities to represent and pitch your blog to them in a very direct and personal way. Not having business cards handy when one of these opportunities come up, by surprise or otherwise, is a waste. Besides, how sure can you be that they’ll keep that scrap of paper you scrawled your name and blog on, and not throw it in the trash or leave it limp and damp in the laundry chute the next day?

(Granted, they may do the same to your business cards, but at least they will survive the abuse long enough to still be there when the person changes his/her mind.)

Printing business cards can actually help you be a more sociable blogger.

For branding

Some people may have seen or heard of your blog before, but haven’t come back to it lately because they forgot how to get there, or why they should. A physical reminder like your business card will help them get back on track. Your card will also refresh their memory constantly for the duration of its stay in their business card holders, just in case they dare to forget you again.

People will remember you better

Handing your business card to people is like shaking their hand; you have the opportunity to make a memorable impression, stronger than if they simply saw your blog or an image of your face online. The process of presenting it to them doesn’t have to be as formal as presenting a meishi, but you can take a hint from that Japanese custom and recognize the potential impact you can make with this simple act.

It can pave the way to unexpected opportunities

I once saw a comment online from a blogger who gave away his business cards in a unique way. He’d give two to each person, saying something like, “One of them is for you. If you like me, you can give the other one to a friend; if you don’t, you can give it to an enemy!”

Humor aside, this is one good reason why you should find opportunities to hand out your business cards as much as you could – without being annoying, of course. You never know if the next great blog sponsorship offer, high-paying freelance writing job, or free iPad you can get will come from someone who knows that person you talked to at the airport bar.

It can help increase your blog traffic offline

Blogging for Business co-author Ted Demopoulos listed business cards as his first tip to increase blog traffic offline in his guest post on ProBlogger. Just as submitting your old posts to article directories, being active in forums, and making your posts rank on Google can help you get traffic while you sleep, printing your own business cards for people to remember you by can do the same.

Need some business cards for your own blog?

Leave a comment below on why you need some business cards and we will pick 5 winners by the end of the week. Limited to US residents only.

This is a guest post by Jennifer Silverman; she writes for the UPrinting Blog on topics ranging from small business marketing to print design inspiration, on behalf of UPrinting.com which specializes in business card printing. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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Candy Bar Content: Making your blog posts shareable, linkable, pleasing and attractive

admin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:00:04 +0000

Shareable, linkable, pleasing and attractive. Want to take a guess at what kind of blog posts get the most views in the shortest amount of time?

When you think of content, a lot of people imagine troves of information in a compressed 3000 word blogified essay giving the visitor the most useful information around.

Interestingly though, some of our most popular blog posts are actually the ones that are brain dumped and slapped together like a easy mac and cheese microwave meal.

There is a middle ground though (thank god) and it’s an area where you can really capitalize and gain massive amounts of traffic in a short period of time.

What Is Candy Bar Content?

Some of Marko’s most popular posts here on How To Make My Blog have headlines starting with “12 Ways To” and “6 Reasons Why”.

Why is that? What is it about these attractive headlines that pull us in, and what is it about how are these blog posts made that makes them so shareable?

I call them Candy Bar Content.

Candy Bar Content has a unique structure that I’m sure 90% of you have already used without knowing it’s name.

A Candy Bar post is shareable, linkable, pleasing, and attractive.

Attractive because of a great headline that really draws you in.

Pleasing because just like a Candy Bar, it’s information is wrapped nicely, and delivered as promised and in a way that is easily consumed.

Linkable because it’s pleasing and attractive, but also because the information is actually useful.

And …

Shareable, in a “Omg, dude you gotta check this out!” kind of way, because it’s simply that good that you have to show your friends and make them see and understand as well.

So we know the anatomy of Candy Bar Content, but how do you make it more shareable, linkable, pleasing and attractive?

Learn From The Masters

The best way I’ve found for replicating the right kinds of post is to template it on something you know actually works.

Here are 5 fine examples of Marko’s Candy Bar Content that have been incredibly popular that I think you should steal copy learn the format of and adapt your own content to.

Look At Me! This Is How You Get Attention!

To kick start the natural effects of Candy Bar Content you have to find ways to get it into the right people’s hands and get them to interact with the content.

Here’s 6 ways to kick start the share effect and get people to interact with your Candy Bar Content:

Kick start the comments by showing your mates (bloggers or not!) and getting them to comment first. If an article already look popular, people will more likely want to share it further.
Point out and promote the fact you have social buttons just below the post begging to be clicked and used.
Share it around the place on all of your social outposts, multiple times over multiple platforms on multiple days. It works, trust me.
Write headlines like your life depended on it. If it gets clicks you’ll get shares.
Contact bloggers directly, become friends. It’s worth connecting, don’t be afraid – we don’t bite. Friends like to share their friend’s work.
Leave comments, especially on blogs that utilize the CommentLuv link sharing system. More inbound links to your attractive Candy Bar article the better, you’ll be amazed at how much traffic you really can get this way. Be omnipresent, people will start to recognise you.

Use It, But Don’t Rely On It

Candy Bar Content is the opposite of pillar articles, or cookie content and it works best when used sparingly.

You can’t build a blog on this stuff, but you can use it for a purpose. It’s good at one this, bringing visitors to you.

So what do you have waiting for those visitors when they get there?

A guest post by Josh Kohlbach. Josh is the owner of Code My Own Road a blog about his projects and experiments in creating multiple streams of income. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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Blog Ego Armour (Why You Need It and How to Get It)

admin — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 06:00:37 +0000

Gone with The Wind was rejected by 38 publishers AND won a Pulitzer.

I repeat this fact to myself on a regular basis. It’s part of my ego armour. I have a guest posting strategy. It’s fraught with rejection.

I keep rejection letters, as though they were prizes or trophies. They remind me that one day I will look back on them and be smug. One day I will be proud. One day they will amuse me.

Not on the day I receive them of course. On that day, it’s always personal. Because it has to be. It’s my words, my thoughts, my ideas. And only one thing protects me on those days. Ego armour.

The thing that allows me to keep writing, keep inviting rejection, keep believing that if I have 1 reader I could just as easily have 100 or 1,000 or 100,000.

Like a venus fly trap

Guest posting is a great way to lure new readers, like a venus fly trap to your blog. New audiences, new people who will comment, share and extend your network. And in the age of Twitter and Facebook, where less and less of the conversation is actually happening on your blog, it is even more important.

And for some stratospheric talents it is easy. Everything they write is accepted. One post sparks something and all of a sudden they are virus-like everywhere. But for the rest of us mere mortals, you need to be able to be comfortable with rejection.

I’m not saying that you should be blind to the flaws in your own work, put your head in the sand and start singing at the top of your lungs to block out the negative noise that is filling your head. Because rejections do tell you something. Sometimes they say:

It’s not good enough.

Sometimes it might be

It’s not consistent with the style, theme or audience of the host blog.

But mostly it just means that it’s not good enough. Because if it was, it wouldn’t matter how many guest posts were planned, if something similar was written recently or if it’s slightly off topic. If it was good enough, it would be featured.

Not good enough for a guest post?

So how do you balance the fact that you are awesome enough to have 100,000 readers, but not good enough for a guest post?

Keep stories of rejection which result in ultimate out of this world success close to your heart
Don’t think about it, as soon as you get that rejection, send it to someone else. You can wallow about their lack of vision later.
If they do have time to give you constructive feedback, take it with both hands and examine it with the cold efficiency you don’t really possess to see what you’re going to absorb into the development of your work
Take the time to treasure your positive feedback. It might be a comment, or a tweet or an email. It deserves to be relished.
Actively ignore stories of success that don’t involve a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears. Sure it happens, but we don’t need to dwell, or twist ourselves into knots of jealousy.
Be generous. Acknowledge people. Give the kind of comment love that you would like. Share what you enjoy. Forge the kind of friendships that will make you not care about the harsh realities of blog stats, readers and followers.
Realise that your writing isn’t going to be everybody’s cup of tea. And blogs are benevolent dictatorships. Some bloggers will feature you over and over because they connect with your way of storytelling or dig your content, and others won’t because it doesn’t speak to them.

In the meantime, hoard those rejection letters. In the end you might end up with an even better rejection story than Gone With the Wind.

A guest post by Zoey Martin. Check out Zoey’s blog on adventures in parenting at http://goodgoog.com. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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Lessons Learned from major campaign launch – London Blog Club

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 06:00:17 +0000

London Blog Club, of which I am one of the co-organizers, returns with the June edition on 8th June at 19.00.

We started back in February 2010 with 12 London bloggers attending and it has grown a lot since with 52 bloggers attending our May meetup.

My picture on the right hand side was taken by Keith Errington at one of the recent meetups.

Lessons learned from the Born HIV Free campaign

London Blog Club June speaker is Richard Millington, the online community builder of the new charity campaign by The Global Fund, Born HIV Free.

Born HIV Free campaign was launched in late May 2010 and you have most probably seen their videos on YouTube.

It was started by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and has much mainstream support from Google/Youtube, MSN, Orange and Yahoo. One billion free media impressions were donated to create awareness and sympathy for the cause and musicians such as U2 and Amy Winehouse have lent their support.

Richard Millington will be at London Blog Club June meetup to present how the campaign has gone so far, what outreach with bloggers has worked, what hasn’t and general tips on how to build a community as a blogger.

Richard has much experience with online communication including working with Seth Godin and working with the United Nations Refugee Agency.

London Blog Club video introduction

Wondering how it all looks at the London Blog Club? See this introduction video from one of our recent meetups:

London Blog Club June takes place on June 8th at 19.00. The location is Theodore Bullfrog, 26 John Adam Street London WC2N 6HL (next to Charing X Station). The event is free to attend and you can sign up via London Blog Club Meetup page. Hopefully I will see you there!

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My name is Marko Saric and I help bloggers succeed. Subscribe to the RSS feed to join thousands of bloggers and get all my blogging tips for FREE!

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7 tips that will make your blog stand out

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 06:00:20 +0000

Let’s be ultra-honest here; most blogs are boring as heck. They look like any other blog, their content is like any other blog – and they are as forgettable as any other blog.

Great blogs stand out because they have unique brands behind them ! There’s only one Gary Vaynerchuk, one Chris Brogan and one … YOU!

Blogging in an overcrowded world means to you have to move beyond the crowd. Be a brand that’s so ridiculously unique that it attracts people like an iPad launch.

Buckle up, clear your mind and inhale the following tips that will make your blog stand out!

Write like no one else! Forget about copying other blogs; that’s not cool in this life and it won’t be in the next one. Be uber-creative with the way you blog: invent word combos, play with the grammar, use epic words (heaven, oblivion) or write in third person. Anything goes.

Be a little “too”. Gary V is too loud, iJustine is too silly and Perez Hilton is too brash. What can you do that’s a little bit “too”?

Try out new stuff. I constantly come up with strange blog concepts and pages. Some of them work, some don’t. It doesn’t matter, my readers like what I’m doing and they want to see more of it. By trying out new stuff you’ll find out what works and you’ll excite your readers along the process.

Have a kick-ass logo. I almost love my logo more than my mother. Every cool brand on this planet has a logo – it’s their essence compressed into the form of symbol. A remarkable logo sets you worlds apart from your competitors.

Put your face out there. I swear to heaven, too many blogger hide behind their banner. Dang it, show us your face! Use it for your Twitter profile, your avatar pic and grace your Facebook fan page with it. This will establish an emotional connection between you and your reader, and that’s what we all want, right?

Never compromise. This one should be the 11th commandment: Find your style, and sharpen it like a battle sword. Strange word choice? Make it stranger! Tendency to mention food in your post? Food ‘em up! Like cussing? Be a cussionator! Seriously, censoring is for the average, only remarkable blogger stay true to themselves!

Change the status quo. Almost every blogger uses lists. Almost every blogger makes interviews. Well, you are not any blogger! Maybe you should do an interview, where you challenge your candidates. Maybe you should use oversized pics to boost your blog post design. Whatever everyone else is doing is already done, so it’s part of the establishment. Look at what they do and then do the opposite!

You know what’s worse than being hated? Being ignored. It’s the kiss of death in the blogosphere. But by flavoring your awesome blog with your unique personality, you’ll dramatically stand out from the crowd and burn your personal brand into our global consciousness!

What are YOU doing to make your personal brand (and your blog) stand out??

Mars Dorian is in love with blogging and personal branding. You can find him at marsdorian.com Inhale his RSS feed today. Want to guest post on HowToMakeMyBlog? See more info here.

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Thanks for reading HowToMakeMyBlog.com

My name is Marko Saric and I help bloggers succeed. Subscribe to the RSS feed to join thousands of bloggers and get all my blogging tips for FREE!

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