Get more comments on your blog
If you do not have an established reader base for your blog, you may find it difficult to get people to comment on your posts. You should not feel bad that you aren’t getting any comments – just take a moment to realize that it takes a while to get a blog established.
There are things that you can do to encourage your readers to leave a comment. The first thing you might consider doing is adding a few “dummy” comments to some of your posts. This will make your blog look active and may encourage others to add their own comments to your blog. Sometimes people just don’t want to be the first to comment! If you don’t have the time to create these “dummy” posts, there are writing companies out there that you can pay to do this for you!
The next thing you might want to consider is establishing a system that rewards your readers. This is easier than you might think. There are plugins for WordPress like “Top Commentators” that will allow you place a widget in your sidebar. This widget displays the names of the commentators who have posted the most. You can adjust certain settings on the widget, including how frequently it is reset and how many names are shown. Once you set up this widget, it pretty much takes care of itself. You may be surprised how many people want to see their name in your sidebar!
The last thing you always want to make sure to do is reply to comments. When you see the comments start to roll in, make sure you take the time to respond to them. If nothing else, thank the person for stopping by!
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Filed under Blogging, Blogging Tips
How do I get people to start posting on my forum
I have already discussed why linking to a forum is a great idea, but my intention here is to talk about how to get one started. Starting a forum can be intimidating and this is why many people never even try. It might be easy enough to create one and get it ready for posting, but how did you get people to post.
The bottom line is that getting people to post on your forum takes a bit of time and effort. Some people enjoy being one of the first members to join a forum. It gives them a bit of prestige once the forum becomes popular. These are the people you want to attract in the beginning. They will happily post and over time others will follow. Attracting these posters may require a bit of luck so don’t be too disappointed if things start off slowly.
Another way to get things started is to recruit your friends and family. Have them join your forum and start posting so things look active. I have used this particular method in the past and it was surprising how quickly other people found and then joined and became active on my forum.
There is a third option that many bloggers use to get their forum started. You can actually pay people to post on your forum. A flat rate for a predetermined number of words is typically charged. You can then choose how many times a day you want people to post. This is a great way to get things started, although I would consider this a last resort.
If you do go with this option, just take the time to monitor your forum and make sure the people are posting according to your agreement. Also make sure that the content of the posts matches the tone that you are wishing to portray.
Filed under Blogging, Traffic and Blogs
Benefits of linking a forum to your blog
There are a number of reasons that make forums a great addition to your blog. If you have ever posted on a forum, you already understand their value. Forums are simply a great place for people with a similar interest to gather and discuss a variety of different topics.
There are plenty of free forums available that just about anybody can get up and running in a matter of hours or days. Popular forums even offer skins that allow you to customize the way they look in order to integrate it seamlessly with your blog.
One of the major benefits of adding a forum to your blog is attention. If you can start a successful forum with a number of active posters, you will greatly boost traffic to your blog. More readers can lead to more people clicking on your ads or buying things from your blog. If you aren’t trying to earn money by blogging, more readers also mean that your posts are seen by a wider number of people.
Adding a forum to your blog also has another great benefit. If you are placing advertisements on your blog, a forum will give you more landscape to tinker with. How many forums have you visited with at least one advertisement at the very top of it?
Filed under Blogging, Traffic and Blogs
Give new changes to your blog a chance to flourish
In the process of getting your blog up and running, you will probably make a whole list of different changes. You may change the color scheme, where you have placed your ads, how many articles are seen on the first page, and any number of additional things you can think of.
The problem with making a change to your blog is that it might affect how your readers enjoy the site. Now if you are making changes, you are probably hoping to increase your readership. Some changes will work while others will not.
In order to determine the effect of the changes on your readers, it is important plan accordingly. Make a list of the changes that you want to make on your blog and then implement them one at a time. Of course if you have a bunch of little changes like typos and things of that nature, you can go ahead and do them all at the same time. Changes like that are generally best corrected immediately!
For bigger changes, you want to allow each one at least a few weeks time before you can expect to see any differences. If your site is already very popular, you may notice differences very quickly.
Once you have determined if your change has been successful or not, you can move on to the next item on your list. If you implement all your changes at one time, you will never know which ones are successful and which ones have stunk!
Filed under Blogging Tips, Traffic and Blogs
Do you click on Google Ads?
I was recently reading an interesting article about Adsense earnings and why they fluctuate so much. While I have already talked about Google’s explanation of the fluctuation, this article mentioned that it could have something to do with your readers and not Google’s targeting system.
Once upon a time when blogging was new and Google Adsense was first getting off the ground, it was not as common to see advertisements littering every page we came across on the internet. Today I feel like it’s almost rare to find a blog that does not have at least one Google ad strategically placed somewhere just waiting for us to click on it.
With Google ads so popular today, the article I stumbled on suggested that our readers are simply ignoring the ads altogether. That forced me to stop and think about my own browsing habits. How frequently do I click on ads?
The answer was actually a bit of a surprise. I rarely click on Google ads. I don’t even think it has anything to do with how common they are. Occasionally I just might see an ad that captures my attention, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to click on it. For the most part, I just open up a new tab on my browser and visit the site directly. I have no idea why this is, but I rarely click on the Google ad intentionally.
What I am definitely guilty of is accidentally clicking on a Google ad. This is always really annoying because I have to take the time to close the ad and navigate back to where I was before. Chances are I’ll get side tracked and move on to something else in the process.
So I have to ask, do you click on Google ads?
Filed under Make Money Blogging
Strategies to organize your blogging information
Blogging is a pretty addictive hobby that can quickly become complicated and out of control. This is particular true for bloggers that run more than one site. For each blog that you operate, you probably have several accounts associated with each one, tons of files, and lots of research.
If you want your blogs to be successful, it is a good idea to organize all of your information. This will also help to make your life a lot easier because you don’t have to spend all day looking for a particular password that you scribbled on a piece of scrap paper that you unfortunately spit your gum into and threw it in the trash.
Take a look at your computers desktop. Do you have files related to your blogs scattered all over the place? If you do, you need to create a single file on your desktop called “blogs.” Inside of this folder, create individual folders for each blog that your run. Inside of these folders you can create additional folders for images, articles, blog themes, and whatever else you might need.
Tip: I just mentioned a folder called articles. As an additional step for keeping my blog backed up, I keep a copy of every article I post saved in its own separate file on my desktop.
I also like to keep an account file in each of the folders for my individual blogs. This account file includes a list of every relevant account that I have created to support the blog. This can include a password to an affiliate program, an email account, or even information related to a social networking account.
Once you set your file structure up, you can start shuffling all of your files into their corresponding folders. You’ll quickly notice how easy it is to find things and you’ll never spend hours hunting for that lost password or account information again.
Filed under Blogging Tips
