SEO Hosting Blog

Growing a blog takes time, patience, and a lot of focus. You can’t just set it and forget it. You have to work on building your blog every single day. Of course, this can be much easier said than done. That’s why so many blogs fail. The blogger starts off with great enthusiasm, but over time, he loses focus and the blog begins to die a slow, painful death.

Here are 3 tips that will help you stay focused on your blog.

1. Create a posting schedule—It’s important to have fun while blogging, but you also have to treat it seriously if you want to get results. One way to do this is to create a posting schedule and stick to it. You don’t have to publish new content every single day, but you do need to create a consistent publishing schedule that works for you. Whether that’s daily, 3 times a week, or weekly is up to you.
2. Make a list of essential daily blog management tasks—What are the things you need to do to maintain and grow your blog? You need to write content, schedule it to publish at the right times, manage your comments, interact with readers, and drive traffic to your blog. Spend some time each day focusing on these essential tasks. Make it part of your daily schedule so that you don’t neglect it.
3. Set milestones—If you’re blogging without any goals, you have no direction and subsequently you’ll lose focus. You need to have something to shoot for so you can stay focused each day on inching toward your milestones. Set goals for the number of subscribers you want to get, the amount of daily traffic you want to average, etc.

What do you do to keep your blogging focus? Share your best tips by leaving a comment below.

You can’t have a blog without having content, and if you want to grow your blog over time, you have to keep publishing fresh, interesting content on a regular basis. This content isn’t going to appear out of thin air. Someone has to create it, and while you might be thinking of tackling this task all on your own, you may wish to consider the benefits of hiring a freelance blogger to help.

Here’s a look at just some of the benefits you can enjoy when you hire a well-qualified freelance blogger.

• Better quality content—Are you a professional writer? Probably not. The truth is that most people aren’t great writers. While you might think that the informal nature of blogging means you don’t have to be a good writer, that’s not the case. Good writing has nothing to do with formality; it has to do with the writer’s ability to connect with the reader in a meaningful way. A professional freelance blogger will be able to create better content than you’re able to.
• Frees up your time—Do you really have time to write blog content on a regular basis? You’re probably already wearing enough hats as it is, so there’s no need to don the blogger hat as well. Save yourself some time by letting a freelance blogger shoulder the content creation load.
• Only pay for the work you need—Thinking of hiring an in-house writer? You’ll have to pay a full-time salary, benefits, and everything else that goes with having an employee. By outsourcing your blog writing to a freelancer, you only pay for the amount of content you need…nothing else. It’s a cost-effective way to get new content.
• Fresh perspective—Sometimes, you can be too close to your subject matter. You’re so close that your perspective is greatly narrowed. By hiring a freelance writer, you can get a fresh perspective to tired topics.
• Avoid blogger’s burnout—Let’s face it, when you’re the only one writing on your blog day in and day out, it can get tiring quickly. If you’re all on your own, there’s a good chance you’ll get burned out and eventually give up on your blog. By hiring a freelancer to help carry the load, you can keep your blog going strong.

Do you have any experience hiring freelance bloggers? Tell us about it by leaving a comment below.

Guest blogging is a topic I’ve spent quite a bit of time writing about. I think it’s an important thing to talk about, because many people are finally starting to realize the benefits guest blogging has to offer, and they’re jumping aboard the bandwagon. That’s great, but you have to make sure you’re approaching guest blogging in the right way if you want to get the most out of it. More simply stated, you have to make sure you’re not a bad guest blogger.

How can you tell if you’re a bad guest blogger? Here are a few warning signs.

• You act like the blogger owes you something in your pitch—I’ve received pitches from guest bloggers who come across as alarmingly entitled. They pump themselves up and try to bully me into accepting their guest posts. It’s insane just how clueless some of these guest bloggers are. News flash: nobody owes you anything. You don’t deserve any guest blogging opportunities.
• You don’t take time to learn about the blog—A good guest blogger spends time researching the blog, reading old posts, learning about the blogger, and interacting with the readers in the comments before making a pitch. The better you understand the blog, the more able you’ll be to pitch a topic that’s a good fit.
• You write your guest posts as quickly as you can—If you’re just interested in cranking out as many guest posts as you can so you can build tons of links, you’re in this for the wrong reasons. It’s your duty as a guest blogger to provide the very best content you’re capable of creating. You owe it to the blogger who’s publishing your content, the readers, and yourself (your reputation is on the line!).
• You change the topic you agreed to write about—If you tell the blog owner that you’re going to write a guest post about a certain topic, that’s what you need to write the post about. You can’t change your mind without notifying the blogger and turn in a post on an entirely different subject.
• You don’t respond to comments—Don’t be the guest blogger who turns in a post and disappears. Part of being a guest blogger is interacting with the readers who respond by leaving comments. You need to stick around after your post is published and create meaningful conversations with the readers. And while you’re at it, help promote your guest post too.
• You don’t thank the blogger for letting your guest post—It’s common courtesy. Send over an email thanking the blogger for publishing your guest post.

Are you a bad guest blogger?

You might be sick of seeing them by now, but the fact remains—list posts work. People love reading and sharing good lists. A good list post contains useful or entertaining information in an easy-to-read format that promotes discussion.

Here are 5 easy ideas for list posts that you can create for your blog.

1. Favorite people in your industry to follow on Twitter—I’ve written multiple “Top (insert industry) People to Follow on Twitter” posts on different blogs, and each time, the posts have been a remarkable success. Twitter is a very popular social networking platform, and your readers are always looking for new, interesting people to follow. Put together a list of some of your favorite industry people on Twitter.
2. Best blogs in your niche—Show some love to the other blogs in your niche by creating a list of your favorites. Don’t be afraid to link out to “the competition.” If your content is great and unique, your readers aren’t going to leave you. They’ll enjoy checking out the other blogs, and the bloggers you link to will be grateful for the shout out.
3. Most common mistakes your customers make—As a marketer, I often write about the costly marketing mistakes businesses make time and time again. These posts are effective for multiple reasons. They educate the reader, giving them information they can actually use and benefit from, and they increase the author’s credibility, helping to position him as a thought leader.
4. Biggest myths related to your industry—Every industry is plagued by misinformation. This blog is focused on internet marketing and SEO. Think there aren’t a few SEO myths out there that need busting? Make a list of the biggest myths in your niche and set them on blast!
5. Predictions for the future of your industry—It’s still early on in 2012, so you have time to make your predictions for the future of your industry in the coming year. Don’t be afraid to make some predictions. Just make sure you provide solid reasoning for each of your picks.

What are some other good ideas others can use for list posts? Share your best ideas by leaving a comment below.

Blog comment spammers have been around as long as blogging itself. It wasn’t all that long ago that “blog comment marketing” was seen by some as a great way to build links and drive traffic back to targeted websites. Personally, I always thought it was a spammy tactic, and most people now agree with that sentiment.

That’s not to say that I don’t think there are any benefits to leaving comments on other blogs. On the contrary, leaving thoughtful comments that add to the conversation can be a good way to increase name recognition, build your credibility, and grow your network. But the way some marketers approach blog comment marketing (leave as many comments on as many different blogs as possible) is what irks me.

Are you a blog comment spammer? If you do any of the following, you might be one.

• You use a keyword as your name—If you’re going to leave comments on other blogs, use your real name. Don’t be the guy who uses a keyword in the name field so that you can build a keyword-rich link back to your website. It’s spammy, and the link will carry little value anyway.
• Your comments add no value to the conversation—Comments like “nice post” or “this was really interesting!” are meaningless, spammy, and add no value to the conversation. If you’re going to leave a comment, take the time to come up with something that gets a conversation started. Share your real opinions on the subject. Respond to something specific in the post. Engage with the author and the other commenters.
• You blast the exact same comment out to dozens of blogs—Blog comment spammers are notorious for coming up with a few generic comments and posting them on every blog in their niche. Comments should always be specific to the post at hand. If you’re not addressing something that was brought up in the post, you’re more than likely a comment spammer.
• You pitch your products or services in the comment—The comments section on someone else’s blog is NOT the place to advertise your products and services. If you want to advertise on someone else’s blog, pay for an ad slot. Otherwise, stop spamming.

So, are you a blog comment spammer? What are some of the other things comment spammers do? Share your thoughts by leaving a (non-spammy) comment!