Taking Your Blog To The Next Level

If you already have your own blog, or are thinking of setting one up, you've undoubtedly read one or more of the beginner's guides to blogging that frequent the Internet. Blog often and provide unique, fresh, entertaining, accurate, and relevant information. That's the content of virtually all of those articles, but this information is only going to get you so far.

The information they provide will help you drive traffic to your blog, as long as you stick at it, and some of the more in depth articles may even give you a basic shove in the right gold paved direction. However, there will come a time when you're ready to take your blog to the next level.

Wordpress And Why We Believe It's Essential For A Successful Blog
First off, I feel this has to be said - if you're not using Wordpress then it's highly likely that you're missing out. Wordpress has the biggest collection of plugins, themes, and other features of any blogging platform and, of course, it's free. Rather than spend money on using another blogging platform, save your dollars to pay for a custom design or get help with marketing.

What Plugins Do For You
Plugins represent the greatest time saving addition to your blog, as well as the greatest opportunity to add increased features and functions that will help you take your blog to the next level. To really succeed in blogging for money, you need to start treating your blog like any website owner treats their website. This means you have to look at it like a business.

A Small Selection Of Top Notch Plugins
Wordpress plugins offer a huge range of different functions and features that you couldn't otherwise obtain. We've listed a few of what we believe to be the more important here but there are many others:

Google Sitemaps - The Google Sitemaps plugin automatically creates an XML sitemap, which can be submitted to many of the major search engines. It will also automatically inform them (ping) when you add any new posts or pages to your blog.

Firestats - There are several in-depth stat packages available as plugins but our personal favorite is the Firestats package. It is crucial that you track and act on the stats for your website. Knowing how your readers found your site can help you with promotion and improve your profit levels by giving you a clearer picture of exactly what your visitors are looking for. It's also good to know the topics that are working out and those that aren't.

Social Bookmarking - The social bookmarking plugin adds the links to the bottom of your posts that lets readers quickly and conveniently bookmark a post with their preferred social bookmarking site. Some of these sites can help you generate traffic and even improve your search ranking.

All In One SEO - The All In One SEO plugin enables you to add a title, description, and keywords to each of your posts. These can help improve search engine results and make your posts appear cleaner in the search results. It can also be used to ensure that visitors are highly targeted.

Related Entries - It's important to get traffic flowing around your posts because the more of your site a person views, the more likely they will be to click affiliate links or Adsense links. If your blog is entirely related to your business, they will be more likely to buy your products or pay for your services.

Adsense Deluxe - Don't let the name fool you. Adsense Deluxe provides a fast and efficient method of adding Adsense code to any post or page, with just a single tag, but it also does the same for Yahoo Publisher Network (YPN) ads.

Comment Subscription - The big benefit of a blog is that you can often persuade interested visitors to keep returning to your corner of the net. The comment subscription plug in further enables them to sign up and be notified of any responses to comments they have added.

Monetizing Your Blog
If you want to make money from your blog and you have a reasonable amount of traffic then the methods of advertising you use will quickly become an important topic to you. There are a lot of different ways to monetize a blog, and it would be damaging of me to try and tell you exactly what method will work without knowing at least a little about your blog. However, there are some things we will willingly share.

Don't Sell Out - There's a temptation for those with more mature blogs to write a post and review an item, website, or service and get paid for doing so. Our opinion on this can be summed up in pretty much one word or two; "don't" or "do not". You might think that you can write a genuinely informative piece and be completely open and honest without your readers ever realizing what you are doing but it is highly unlikely that this is the case.

Sponsorship - Sponsored advertising is a great way to monetize some blogs. Generally speaking (and there are exceptions), the more specific the topic of a blog, the more likely this will prove to be a viable advertising solution and it may be easier to bag sponsored ads than you think. And, because this is Wordpress, there are plugins that help you do it too (AdServe is a good one).

Affiliate Data Feeds - Most affiliate networks have some form of data feed or affiliate feed. If you intend to promote affiliate programs then make the most of these, but ensure that the feed fits with your site. Don't just slap up a bit of code and expect it to miraculously turn your hobby blog into a multi-million dollar, award winning blog because it takes careful planning, ad placement optimization, and some trial and error to get the best results. Guess what? There are numerous plugins to use with the Amazon affiliate program and other programs so make the most of them.

Blog Networks
The final point we're going to cover in this, now extensive, article is whether or not you should join a blog network. A blog network is, unsurprisingly, a network of blogs. The overall aim and the method that connects the blogs differs with each network. Some may be connected by having different subdomains on the same main domain. Others may simply use the same banner. Similarly, some networks are established to bring profit to bloggers and (understandably) to the network owner. Other networks want nothing more than to promote a near state of hippie euphoria over one particular topic.

To Join Or Not To Join
It seems to have become a habit but we can't honestly tell you whether you should definitely join, or definitely not join, a blogging network. They work out for some by providing traffic, improving search rankings, and even helping out with the general blogging process. However, other blogs would fare better on their own, especially the more popular ones. Similarly, some networks are so powerful that they can generate thousands of hits to a blog instantly before you even submit a post, while your blog may carry a smaller network if you have good traffic levels.
The reason that a lot of bloggers do join a network is so that they can network with other bloggers. It provides a sense of belonging and can help develop blogging relationships. If you get invited or accepted into a particularly large network then you should consider trying it because it really can pay dividends but be warned that the large networks have pretty stringent guidelines that you must adhere to in order to be accepted.

What's Next For Your Blog?
This article covers some of the blogging factors that you need to look at when you consider taking your blog to the next level. Simply posting good content will often help you build traffic, but that's really all it will do. You need to monetize that traffic, and where possible, keep it returning over and over again. You should also employ some methods of further building your traffic, other than posting good posts.

Visual Marketing Strategies to Help You Rise Above the Crowd

You have a message to communicate to your prospective customer. Unfortunately, they're so overwhelmed by advertisements and other promotional information that the chances of your message getting across are slim to none. Indeed, studies show that the average consumer in this country is bombarded with nearly 3500 commercial messages a day.

So what can you do to make sure your target market takes notice? What can you do to make sure your organization is presented in the best possible light?

Speak Directly to Your Customer
Use delivery channels that allow for one-to-one communication. For example, it's more difficult to target a prospect or client through a mass media vehicle like television, versus direct electronic mail where your audience volunteers to hear from you. Untargeted, mass-marketing efforts are often disruptive to a prospect (think of the commercials you're thrown to when you hear the familiar, "right after these messages" from television game show hosts).
Media that allows you to communicate more directly to your audience, like variable-data printing (VDP), allow for the customization of text and imagery in print and electronic media. For example, with variable-data and digital printing, it's possible to retrieve an individual's area of interest from a database so that the photography and text in a brochure is tailored specifically to their needs. Always consider media channels that allow you to speak to your audience on their terms.

Be Unique
Make sure your visual marketing is as distinct and individual as your organization. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you see (or hear) a commercial for an automobile dealership? There seems to be an unwritten rule that they must all be loud and overbearing. You know which spots we're talking about: 20 font styles with 20 different colors; flashing, flying and spinning video and graphics; and an extremely loud voiceover. Does the similarity of these commercials help one dealership stand out from the others?
The same holds true for visual communication efforts that use templates, clip art, or overused formats. You deserve a visual presence that is as unique as your organization. Don't follow the crowd--rise above it!

Keep It Clean and Simple
Keep the visual design of your communication uncluttered and approachable. Whether it's on your website, a company brochure, or a billboard, less is usually better. This is particularly true for communication that is introductory in nature. Until a prospective customer becomes interested enough to dig deeper and learn more, present your message in an easily digestible format--most people get overwhelmed when they are presented with too much information. A clean and simple design helps them more easily find what they're after.

Be Consistent
Use a family of typefaces, colors, backgrounds and graphic elements for your communication pieces. Be consistent in your identity marks--make sure your logo is consistent in its presentation, including any associated type treatment. Make it easy on yourself--there's no reason to reinvent the wheel for every new communication piece you develop.

Email Marketing Success-Optimization

It's a common trend that internet marketers do whatever they can do to get the e-mail address of the people visiting their site. Online, you have a really small window of opportunity to convert a visitor into a client and if they're not ready to buy whatever they're browsing on your site, it's a good idea to at least find out who they are so that you can try a different sales approach on them on another day. Just because they're not interested in what you're selling today doesn't mean you can't find something else to tickle their fancy.

There are many ways to do this such as:
- Offer a free report with information they'll find valuable
- Ask them to opt in to your newsletter or subscribe to your website for update
- Intrigue them with entry into a free draw for a prize.

Once someone has signed up for something you've got a valuable e-mail address that you can use to build your list of potential customers. Once you have that e-mail address, you want to be very careful with it because otherwise it won't do much for you.

How do you stay out of the spam filter?
It's a good idea to have someone confirm before you give away anything. Many will put in a fake e-mail address just to get something for free. You can require them to confirm by receiving an e-mail from you and clicking a confirmation link. Remind them to check their junk folder and if they mark your message as not being Spam, their email software could then automatically whitelist you so that you don't land in the spam folder in future. By requesting a confirmation, you also ensure that you are getting a real e-mail address.

Autoresponder software is a good investment for anyone marketing online. Buying into a package AutoResponsePlus or something similar will help you easily manage your mailing lists. The thing is, once you have a mailing list in place and a plan that includes autoresponders, you need to work on your email content and deliverability.

Each communication you make in future with prospective client should do two things:
1) The e-mail needs to offer them something valuable otherwise they'll unsubscribe. Give information or tips or helpful information that will have that person anxious to open future emails from you.
2) You need a call to action line at the end which will entice them to do something you want after they close the email. This could be to visit your website with a handy link, sign up for another service, refer their friends to you or even offer a purchase link so they can buy what you're selling.

Deliverability is definitely a key factor. You want to know that your e-mails reach their recipient's email box so here are a few things you can do to increase the likelihood of your target audience actually opening your e-mail. People are fed up with Spam and using all sorts of programs and techniques to ensure they're not having to sift through spam to get to the important e-mails.

People make use of domain keys and SPF records so that they aren't getting phishing e-mails by those posing as their bank or PayPal.

People use spam filters and this helps them build the trust in their incoming messages. Once you make it past that filter, you're set.

By getting yourself whitelisted, you can increase the likelihood of being delivered to an e-mail inbox instead of a Spam folder and by buying an autoresponder product that's hosted on your own server, you can more easily get past Spam filters because if you've done your bit to get whitelisted, you'll be trusted by your recipient's e-mail server which will increase the chances of your brilliant and persuasive copy being taken seriously