Are you wasting time blogging?
By Allan Gardyne |
Published 03/1/2007 |
2007 Newsletters |
printer friendly version
Four ways to make blog posts that get results
Associate Programs Newsletter #321
Are you blogging, reblogging or merely chicken scratching?
Here are four ways to make blog posts which achieve something useful.
CONTENTS:
1. Are you wasting your time blogging?
2. How to watch our feeds on Google
3. How to watch our feeds on Yahoo
4. Linkbait case study: Links and rankings soar
5. Thought for today: Attempting the impossible
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1. Are you wasting your time blogging?
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I keep an eye on quite a few blogs by scanning blog headlines on my My Yahoo page. It's a very easy, fast way of seeing what's happening on blogs, whatever industry you're in.
I was searching for something today, got distracted and wasted three hours, checking out a bunch of blogs written by affiliates. It was a frustrating, depressing experience.
I was reminded painfully how many totally pointless posts are being made on blogs.
Are you wasting your time blogging when you could be doing something more effective? When you could be generating decent revenue instead?
Are you blogging constructively with a purpose in mind, or are you just chicken scratching - energetically kicking up dust and straw but hardly ever finding a worm?
I'll make my bias plain here. I don't own a blog. Maybe one day I will, but I've been earning my living online quite happily without one ever since I quit my job in 1998.
If I DID own a blog, here's what I'd do.
Before I wrote each post, I'd ask myself: "What reaction am I aiming for? What do I want the reader to do after reading my post?"
For example, you can...
* Review a product, giving specific details which explain just how useful the product is, leading the reader towards making a decision to buy through your affiliate link. The result: Sales and commissions.
* Publish a helpful how-to article. Result: You give your business a face and a voice. You build credibility. If you're doing this, I hope you have simple, easy to understand instructions telling people how to sign up for your newsletter or RSS feed. Once you've impressed people, you should be adding those new fans to your database. Otherwise, what's the point? They'll probably just quickly forget you and chase the latest buzz.
* Make an insightful comment on news in your industry. I mean a really insightful comment, not just a reblog or someone else's opinion. Result: You build credibility.
* Publish linkbait, aimed mainly at attracting hundreds of links to your site. This makes pages throughout your site rank higher in Google. For a detailed case study on linkbait, keep reading.
Before you make your next post on a blog, ask yourself, "What's the point? What do I want to achieve?"
You should ask the same question before you write every article for a website.
[UPDATE, 2008: Professional blogger Yaro Starak doesn't just "blog for money". He has cleverly combined a blog, email and automation to create a 6-figure business. He describes exactly how he does it in his Blog Mastermind coaching. For details, see my Blog Mastermind review.]
By the way, although we don't call it a blog, we do have a sort of blog...
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2. How to watch our feeds on Google
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You may not have noticed, but the whole of AssociatePrograms.com works like a blog. It has ever since our big revamp last year.
You could call it a blog without blather.
You can keep up to date with what's happening in any sections of AssociatePrograms.com - in the affiliate forum (well, there IS some blather there as well as very good stuff), or the affiliate directory, the newsletter, new articles or News - by subscribing to any of our dozens of RSS feeds.
It's a hassle-free way of keeping up to date.
You can find our RSS feeds here...
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/pages/RSS-Feeds%7B47%7D-Syndicate
(If I'd known the new system was going to create such an ugly URL, I would have named that link differently.)
You can subscribe to any of the site's sections - the forum, the latest 10 articles, or any particular category you're interested in, such as "Super affiliates", "Recruiting affiliates", "Residual commissions", "Getting traffic", "News", and so on.
Some sections seldom receive new articles, so a good choice is "latest 10 articles". It includes all the site's new articles and new newsletters. It doesn't includes News. You may want to subscribe to it separately.
You can choose to subscribe to just one section or a dozen, or more. It's your choice.
Here's an easy way to subscribe - without needing an RSS reader. Just add the feed to your Google HomePage. If you haven't set up a Google HomePage, don't worry. It's very simple.
How to watch AssociatePrograms.com RSS feeds on Google:
1. Go to our Feeds/Syndicate page:
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/pages/RSS-Feeds%7B47%7D-Syndicate
2. Choose the RSS feed you're interested in, for example "Latest 10 articles RSS".
I recommend that choice.
3. RIGHT-click on the link.
4. Click on Copy Shortcut (Internet Explorer) or Copy Link Location (Firefox).
5. Go to Google HomePage - http://www.google.com/ig
(If necessary, click on "Make it your own" and set up your Google HomePage.)
5. Click on "Add stuff" (It's at the right of the page).
6. Click on "Add by URL". (It's at the top, near the search box).
7. Do a Ctrl-V to paste the RSS feed URL you've chosen into the box and click "Add".
That's it.
One big advantage of using My Yahoo and Google HomePage is that many blogs make it very easy for you to use these services by clicking on a "MyYahoo" button or an "Add to Google" button.
Subscribe to your favorite blogs this way and you'll be able to monitor them all quickly and easily on one web page.
Just one thing...
If you're watching RSS feeds via My Yahoo or Google HomePage, you need to know that new posts do not appear instantaneously. I haven't done an in-depth study, but when I checked yesterday and today, blog headlines seemed to be appearing faster on Google HomePage than on My Yahoo.
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3. How to watch our feeds on Yahoo
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As well as having a Google HomePage, I have a My Yahoo page, so I can watch how these two behemoths compete with each other.
Here's how to watch AssociatePrograms.com feeds on My Yahoo:
Follow Steps 1 to 4 above.
5. Go to My Yahoo - http://my.yahoo.com
If necessary, follow the simple instructions to set up your page.
6. Click on "+ Add Content" (The link is near the top left-hand corner).
7. Click on "Add RSS by URL" (It's near the Find button).
8. Do a Ctrl-V to paste the URL you've chosen into the box, and click "Add".
There are many other ways of monitoring RSS feeds. Jay Stockwell discusses some options in this article...
RSS demystified
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/articles/468/1/RSS-demystified
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4. Linkbait case study: Links and rankings soar
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Daniel Tynski of SEO company Voltier Inc has written a superb case study of linkbait and its effect on a site's traffic and rankings in Google.
The catalyst was a totally off-topic article, "8 Diseases That Give You Superhuman Powers", which was hidden on an inside page on a car dealership website.
It was posted on Reddit and Digg. Traffic soared.
Within five days, the site received almost 234,000 unique visitors.
"We knew from the beginning the traffic would absolutely be worthless... The purpose was to help a site that was relatively unknown get a little bit of authority. It was the backlinks we were interested in," Daniel says.
Look at the links the site received...
Before the Digg: 207 backlinks
3 days after Digg: 1,270 backlinks
5 days after Digg: 2,642 backlinks
7 days after Digg: 3,545 backlinks
"We already know that untargeted backlinks are not nearly as effective as targeted ones from authority sites with similar content. The Digg did, however, produce links from many sites with authority in areas that are not entirely unrelated, and in some cases, from some sites with very high traffic and trust," Daniel says.
"Google's latest crawl (7 days after the Digg) resulted in a huge increase in our rankings for our targeted keywords. We jumped up anywhere from 20-300 places, with most of our most important keywords ranking in the top ten (many in the top 5). Furthermore, Google has increased its rate of indexing, has increased the number of our pages that appear in the index, and have released over a dozen important pages from the supplemental results."
Unfortunately, we're not all as clever as Daniel at writing linkbait. I imagine he'll receive a lot of business as a result of his post.
Here's the full story, plus comments...
Anatomy of a Super Digg
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/anatomy-of-a-super-digg
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5. Thought for today: Attempting the impossible
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"The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible - and achieve it, generation after generation." - Pearl S. Buck.
All the best
Allan Gardyne
Spread The Word
22 Responses to "Are you wasting time blogging?" 
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baloot said this on 02 Mar 2007 8:16:15 PM EDT
whoa..!! this article helps me as blogger full timer. Sure, after this, im not wasting my time again. I will blogger like a pro after this..!!
DIGG IT...!! |
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iris said this on 12 Oct 2007 5:52:18 AM EDT
This is very informative, i really like the article "Are you wasting time blogging" it's an added knowledge for me and i love learning. Thanks for sharing.
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Vijay said this on 22 Oct 2007 2:39:57 AM EDT
This Is Very informative For Me Thanks A Lot For Your Valuable Articles..!
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Norma said this on 26 Nov 2007 2:05:33 PM EDT
Thanks so very very much. I am new to this, and you have helped me to understand so much. I am a 62 year old retired widow with so much time on my hands. I pray that you have a long and fruitful life helping others to be as successful as you.
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Rob said this on 07 Jan 2008 3:11:07 AM EDT
Hi,
not sure if I'm posting in the right place, but I am a complete newbie pensioner and have been checking out what's available on line for those of us wanting to make some money. I signed up with SBI (their 2 for 1) deal, but have not started with it yet as it's been a bit of info overload for me. In the meantime I wanted to join an affiliate program (a set and forget one with a premade and preloaded site) and wondered if it was alright to ask about certain ones that I was considering for some reassurance that the direction I was heading in was o.k. If others from this forum had had any bad experiences and so on. There is so much out there and I'm finding it really frustrating coz there is so much unfamiliar stuff to learn. Any suggestions? Thanks [Go to the top of the page and click on the link to our affiliate forum. Join the forum (it's free to join) and ask your questions there. (This spot here is for comments on an article about blogging.) For long-term success, think about building something useful that adds value to the Internet. Think of affiliate marketing as building a business. There's a lot to learn in any business. Just take it in small bites. Learn something new every day. Do something to improve your business every day. Forget about "set and forget" dreams. However, once you've done the hard work, it gets a lot easier. Allan.] |
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Dr. Ethiopia said this on 16 Jan 2008 8:56:51 PM EDT
Just came through this article. Enjoyed it, loved it. Very helpful
http://www.abesha.wordpress.com |
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kriangsak C. said this on 11 Apr 2008 6:54:32 AM EDT
Hi, I 've learned many things here, particularly the keywords.
Thanks, From a real Newbie. |
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Deb Kenyon-Roberts said this on 13 Apr 2008 10:47:24 AM EDT
Hi Allan,
Just surfing around, as you do, and I ended up here. Very glad I did. Even just this one article is very cool and full of excellent info which I think is really going to help me. I've just started up my own online venture, y'see. I'm blogging about my experience in trying to turn a sale (or several) from the internet - not least cos I eventually want to move away from working for others and be able to do my own thing. And hopefully in the future be able to help others do the same too. And I really wanted to see if it *is* possible to make money online. I know it must be because I know of a lot of people who are. But what about us beginners - can we do it too? (Business, marketing, etc. are really a passion of mine so this seemed to me a cool experiment to undertake.) Blogging is, I know, a very effective tool - used correctly, so information like this is really helping me and others see what works and what doesn't. Thanks very much for posting it. At the moment on my own blog I'm just following one plan, one system. But I know I need to become more effective, learn more, and build that learning into what I'm doing. It's all such a work in progress though! Great site, Allan, I've added it to my blogroll (for my future benefit, and others') and I'll be back to learn more soon. Do feel free to drop by at my blog too, I'd love to hear your comments on what I've been up to so far (but please go easy on me - I've only just begun!). Thanks once again. All the best, Deb Blogging about My First dollar Online www.onlineinfobiz.com [Good luck! That's an intensely competitive niche you've chosen. One thing you could do is go to the Site Review section of our affiliate forum and ask for a site review. Allan.] |
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baruch Okpulor said this on 27 Jun 2008 6:04:35 AM EDT
Allan, I think that this article is very captivating and revealing. It gives you a good focus on how to really get traffic blogging not just a cramp stuff.
This is quite cool. http://www.wealthworld.co.uk |
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Angel Moreno said this on 01 Dec 2008 2:02:38 AM EDT
An eye opener for us bloggers. Blog with a definite purpose and focus on a definite goal.
I'm also taking a look at link baiting. Thanks for sharing. |
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vnhan2008 said this on 26 Jan 2009 5:48:55 AM EDT
The way to boost blog using google and yahoo RSS.
I love your post. http://freshhome.wordpress.com |
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Pamela Ashworth said this on 28 Jan 2009 9:39:40 AM EDT
I am new to this, I found your article very imformative - good advice!
Thanks |
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muzamil said this on 01 Feb 2009 9:25:19 AM EDT
Thanks for the info will try as you explained
my blogs are www.moneymagnet4u.blogspot.com www.makesense4adsense.blogspot.com |
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Lee Johnson said this on 13 Feb 2009 11:19:07 AM EDT
This was a very informative article. I had considered starting a blog about rust removal using little understood non-hazardous rust removers. Instead, it makes more sense to write a 'How To' article about these latest technology products for more exposure. Thanks for the advice and ideas. Keep up the good work!
Lee http://www.rustdepot.com |
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Hooshmand Moslemi said this on 25 Jun 2009 9:36:10 PM EDT
Blogging is a phenomenon that most people have not yet discovered its power. Many think it is like a news resource where they can read the latest news of the industry.
While blogging could be used for publishing news, as well, we must not ignore its power for leveraging the market. Take an affiliate review site for example. If we are passionate about a special product or know a lot about it, we could build a blog around that topic and start writing and posting. We can review the related products and services, share our experience, announce the latest news, provide how-to articles and so on. That way, blogging could become one of the best income streams generating a nice cash flow. However, there is something we must know about blogging: Becoming Authority. When we generate a high-value content for our readership and over-deliver the needed information, people would consider us as an expert in the industry. That way, people would give us credit and believe in what we are going to say. Otherwise, blogging could be a wasting time and it's not worth it. Blogging is a long-term business opening a lot of better opportunities in future. Thanks Allan for this wonderful article that opens our eyes and helps us think about blogging more seriously. To Your Success! Hooshmand Moslemi |
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Daisy_mediaxcer said this on 21 Jul 2009 4:40:39 AM EDT
yes, i really find myself like chicken scratching every day on my blog.
It seemed to be useless. You help me greatly. www.mediaxcer.com ( my blog ) |
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hawk said this on 04 Aug 2009 5:22:41 AM EDT
i think i was wasting my time with blogging also..
especially when posting without hesitation of the circumstances ahead.. except the part i put my notes where i can refer to it later of the day.. i could have be done it better.. :) |
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Lin said this on 10 Sep 2009 9:23:19 PM EDT
This article is a great eye-opener for new as well as struggling bloggers. We can write all we want, but achieving the result that we want is a different story. Thank you for this wonderful article! Your site is great.
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Rebekka said this on 01 Oct 2009 4:52:27 PM EDT
This is a good article that I passed onto many other people. Keep up the great work...
www.d-rust-it.com |
