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Thursday, November 29, 2007

Run Out Of Things To Blog About? Here’s Some Help…

Do you ever get “stuck” with not knowing what to write for you blog? Don’t worry, it happens to the best of us, believe us.

There are tricks you can put in your utility belt that can you can pull out when you need an idea. Here’s a few..

1. Blog about news in the industry. Go on over to Google news and do a search for your industry. Now simply write about your thoughts on that industry topic. Give your expert advice. Ask your readers to weigh in in the comments.

2. Pull up and old blog entry and revisit it. Compare something you wrote a long time ago to today’s world, and see if it stands up. Look back at old predictions and follow through on how accurate they were. Analyze your content.

3. Interview someone. Go out and interview someone in your industry, or even someone in your office. Post the transcript on your blog.

4. Create a list of resources and tools that you recommend and talk about them.

Remember, every blog entry does NOT have to be a journalistic piece. Sometimes the best content is short and sweet. As long as it’s helpful and valuable to the reader.

Posted by Pharos at 6:08 PM 1 comments

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What To Do When You Lose Your Blogging Mojo

Writing is nothing like computer programming. The latter is scientific yet was relatively easy for me, when I did it for a living. I could reuse code fragments and thus produce large, functioning programs in just a few days. Writing isn't like that. While hyperlinks are probably the equivalent of code reuse, writing involves a wholly different process. There is only so much "system" you can apply. In thirty years, I've never suffered coder's block. Ever. I used to brag that I've never suffered from writer's block, either. At least, not until I started writing full-time for a living. That is, multi-blogging professionally.

Mind you, it's not that I don't know what to write about. I've done a lot of research into what topics are popular and/or profitable, and my blogging contracts already define my topic parameters. So you think it'd be easy to write, right? Wrong. The problem is, there's more and more "invisible" pressure to be linkworthy, and when you write on as many blogs as I do, it's not easy. That doesn't mean that every one I write for is expecting linkbait out of each article, considering that most of what I write is a combination of news summary and my spin. So, in fact, much of the pressure is of my own creation, my drive to be a better blogger.

Still, if you let such feelings carry too far, you do suffer from writer's block - or whatever you'd like to call it. And then you end up with unproductive months, which is bad for your clients and bad for your business. So what do you do when you've got some sort of writer's block? Here are some suggestions that have worked for me in the past, and a few of which worked for me this week, after a month of bad writer's block.

  1. Take a break and treat yourself.
    If you work from home, get up and get away somewhere. I headed downtown a few days ago to try out a new restaurant and treat myself to blank sketchbooks, a packet of original Moleskines journals, and some new rollerball and fountain pens. And you know what? It worked. I started writing this article you're reading on the bus ride home.
  2. Draw a diagram.
    Despite my writer's block, I've been producing a lot of diagrams lately, as well as screencasts. Your diagrams don't even have to serious, as this hilarious Venn diagram attests to. [via Digg] If you're not having any luck in this area, maybe you've got a spreadsheet that helps you in your daily blogging activities. Consider sharing that with your readers by using a web-based spreadsheet app such as ZohoSheet or Google Spreadsheets.
  3. Record a podcast.
    Do something other than writing. If you have something to say, try actually speaking it instead of writing it. You can find cheapo $1 microphones that do almost as good a job as a better $50 mic. Maybe not broadcast quality, but okay for an occasional podcast, or just for fun. And go get Audacity, the very well put-together cross-platform audio recording software for free, to help you record and convert audio formats. There are also a multitude of blogging platform plugins to help you publish your podcast files.
  4. Produce a screencast.
    If voice work isn't your thing, maybe you're good at using a piece of software and you can capture a screencast of how to use a certain feature. (Practice up, because later this year, I'll be looking for paid contributors to Tubetorial, which is a SplashPress site that I'm currently editing.) You can use the free Camstudio to record a screencast.
  5. Make a SplashCast.
    Have a number of images and screencasts that you'd like to integrate together into one presentation?
  6. Blog some TV.
    There's nothing like blogging a show while you're watching it to really fire up your creative juices. There's really very little planning needed - it's all stream of consciousness. Reality shows are good for this, and if you pick the right ones, you can build a bit of seasonal traffic to your blogs.
  7. Go see a movie.
    It's partially the simple act of getting away from your unproductive writing activities, but also the opportunity for some different creative input.
  8. Read a book.
    Since I started blogging full-time, I've barely read anything in print, and miss doing so sorely. I find lately, though, that if I actually take 15-30 minutes per day to read offline, not only does it relax me, but it doesn't seriously affect my work time. Do this and you can even blog about the book.
  9. Write fiction, lyrics or poetry.
    When I was a paid technical writer, between programming gigs, I found it very hard to come home after work and write fiction. They involve two different mindsets, at least for me, and the activities couldn't coexist on the same calendar day. But blogging is much more creative in nature, the way I do it, and can coexist with fiction writing. Try it. Start by creating a story premise, writing down a list of events in sequence (and which characters are involved) and see where your story goes from there.
  10. Write something irrelevant but fun.
    Make up something to write. Or try Jason Rekulak's The Writer's Block (non-affil.), which is a small, cube-shaped book of writing inspiration. There's also Naomi Epel's The Observation Deck (non-affil.), which contains an instruction book and a packet of flash-style cards to help spark your creative juices. When I remember to use these, they've helped me considerably.
  11. Write something important.
    Maybe you've never written your will. Or is there anything else important that you might write?
  12. Write a list.
    Write it point form, without details, and see what develops over time. It might turn into listbait, once you beef it up with details and relevant hyperlinks. (A list is only a list. Turn it into a useful resource to become linkworthy.)
  13. Write your future bio and/or obituary.
    Imagine that if you were, say, a subject of A&E's Biography show, what would people say about you? What do you want them to be saying? Write that down. Now go a step further. What do you want to be remembered for, when you leave this mortal coil? Write that down.
  14. Write summaries of other bloggers' posts.
    When I can't decide some days what to blog about, I start by reading a batch of posts by other bloggers, then writing a few sentences of summary for each post. A topic may catch my interest, and a post will form on its own out of one or more summaries.
  15. Laugh.
    Laughing relieves stress and tension, and brings down inhibitions. It's long been touted as a curative for many reasons. Laugh heartily and you'll see why. I make it a habit to watch at least an hour of comedy every day.

Posted by Pharos at 5:58 PM 0 comments

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How to Avoid Blogger's Block

Most bloggers know the importance of updating often. The last thing we want is for our traffic to drift off because we don't have anything to say. What happens if we experience blogger's block? How can we update, if we don't know what to talk about? Here are some tips for finding ideas.

Make a daily list of blog stops:

Subscribe to plenty of blog feeds. Not only those that are in the same niche groups but anything you find interesting. Expand on other bloggers' ideas or find ideas of your own.

Use your tools:

One of my favorite tools is Google Alerts I currently subscribe to at least a dozen alerts on anything from blogging to jobs to news about people I find interesting. What I love about Google Alerts is how it always throws out an interesting tidbit or two I might not have found on my own. Stumble Upon is another favorite, but it can also be dangerous as it's a great way to procrastinate.

Make lists :

Always keep a list of things to blog about and update often. If a blog topic doesn't immediately come to mind, consult your list.

We all suffer through a block now and then. The important thing to remember is that it's only temporary. Keep up with the feeds, read the news and use tools such as Google Alerts or Stumble Upon. Keep that content, and traffic, flowing!

Posted by Pharos at 5:53 PM 0 comments

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Blogging Tips - Hundreds of Resources for Finding Content for Your Blog

Blogging is great fun. It’s exciting. You start out with great ideas, full of motivation and inspiration. After a while, though, you run out of steam. The muse isn’t so amused any more and you start hunting for content, things to write about.

There are two aspects of finding content for your blog. First, it is to find the inspiration that generates original content on your blog. This can come from a variety of sources. Basically, it can be a news story, fellow blogger’s post, an interesting web page you stumbled across, something a friend said, or anything that interests you enough to research and write about it.

The second aspect is to find links. A lot of bloggers seem to specialize in finding interesting content and providing a link and maybe a few words to recommend to their readers that they check out the original content on someone else’s blog or site. While this isn’t so much about finding original content for your blog, it is about finding information and resources that is helpful to your readers.

Either way, when the well runs dry, where do you go to find more content to keep the river of babble flowing on your blog?

I’ve put together a huge list of content resources for you to peruse and investigate for possible blog content. It certainly isn’t a list of all the content, resources, and information out there, but it is designed to get you thinking about all the content, resources, and information out there for you to blog about. And there is a lot out there.

Top News Stories

The news is probably one of the most popular resources for stories. Many people monitor or to keep up with what is going on around the world or in your backyard. While the “top 10 news stories” may be intriguing for some, there is a lot of news out there to digest and dig through, finding potential stories. I’ve collected a few interesting and more unusual places to find news, often news that doesn’t make the main headlines, to help you start thinking about where and how you find news to write about on your blog.

Industry News and Resources

If you are blogging about a specific subject or industry, monitor the news stories coming out of that industry. There are many industries to choose from, and they are not always all encompassing. For example, if you are interested in the blogging industry, not all the information on blogging might be of interest to you. You might only be interested in bloggers blogging in Japan or China, not the whole world. So your need for news resources covers a very wide industry but narrows to a specific focus.

The following is a general example of some industry news and resources available online. For a specific industry, hit the search engines for your industry keywords. Whatever your blogging topic, the odds are that there are one or more industries which support it. So search far and wide to find good resources for your blog stories.

Tag and Social Bookmarking Services

Tags and social bookmarking services are similar but different. Social bookmarking actually is the term that refers to users recommending which topics are most popular with them. This is done through votes and by tags.

A site or software tool that collects and stores your recommended or “bookmarked” sites is called a Social Bookmarking Manager. Some Social Bookmarking Managers are private, but the ones that will usually serve you better are the public ones, which show the world what you think is important information, and asks others to “vote” for your recommendations as you vote on theirs, and the winners rise to the top.

Tags are mini-categories for blog content, tagged by the blog owner or visitor. Used in combination with social bookmarking, you can search through tag services for the most popular posts within a specific tag category based upon traffic, voting, or other recommendations.

Tags and social bookmarking help Internet users talk to each other, sharing favorite posts and articles. They also help let you, the blogger, get a feel for what topics are popular at the moment. If it is popular enough, you may want to blog about it. By monitoring these “most popular” lists, whether by overall category or tags specific to your interests, you can keep a finger on the pulse of public opinion.

Most Popular/High Traffic

There are many lists online that list the “most popular” websites, blogs, topics, news, products, services, and more. By monitoring these sites, you can stay on top of what is attracting the most attention.

Most popular lists are based upon a variety of criteria. For a few, it is just what is most popular to them, the individual or group, as they see it, often with their own criteria. For most “most popular lists”, though, popularity is solely based upon measurable data such as actual purchases or highest visitor traffic.

For high traffic sites or blogs, there is a lot to learn as well as be inspired by. What are they talking about? How are they talking about the subjects? Where are they getting their information and resources? Should you be following their lead? Use high traffic and most popular sites and blogs as resources for possible content and ideas.

If you don’t see a specific “most popular” topic of interest to you, in a search engine type in “most popular” with a keyword for your interest, like WordPress, and the search results will include the most popular WordPress Themes, plugins, tips, techniques, blogs, and other WordPress related most popular items. From here, you can find sites to monitor for the “most popular” topics for your blog.

Top Search Results

Another method of finding content is to find out what people are searching for. Search engines and other search engine monitoring resources are always keeping an eye on what topics are most popular by counting up the top search keywords and phrases.

There are several different types of reports for tracking top search results. Old style but useful lists include top search keywords and phrases from seardh engines. More modern style top search results show you live, as-it-happens search action, which may or may not reflect the most popular searches but shows you what people are searching for in the moment. Which ever method attracts you, there is a lot of information and inspiration that can be gleaned.

Research: Reading What Other People Wrote

There is so much being written on the web, it can be overwhelming. Yet, one of the most important ways of finding something to write about is to find out what other people are writing about. This goes beyond news or most popular stories. It is the monitoring and reading of what other people are writing about to help inspire you to write.

Inspiration comes in many ways from reading. It begins by reading about what people are writing about in your industry. If they wrote it wonderfully, then you can cite them on your blog with a comment or two to encourage your readers to visit their site and read the article. If you want to talk about what they wrote, you can cite their post and include a blockquote or two from the article, and then say what you want to say. If you like what they wrote, but you think you can write it better, use their article as inspiration to write your own. Reading what other people also write helps you to keep up with what is going on around you, the trends and the news.

You never know where a bit of inspiration will come from, so keep your mind open to all possiblities. The following includes a wide range of resources for finding articles and archived articles. I’ve also included a list of some aggregators, sites that display content from other sites to help you keep track of what is going on through blog feeds. Some of these you can personalize and customize, while others are just lists to read through.

Search Engines, Search Blogs and Search Feeds

There are times when the most popular, highest traffic, or top stories just don’t give you the material you need for creative composition, or you need more collaborating evidence and research for the topic you are working on. That’s when you turn to searching.

Sometimes just putting in a few words that sum up your industry or a topic that interests you can bring up interesting story angles and perspectives that you haven’t thought of before. Sometimes, just typing in a word and hitting the “Surprise Me” button that some search engines have will take you to new places you never thought to look before. Either way, search engines offer tremendous information, resources, and inspiration if you just start looking.

Everyone has their favorite search engines, but this list also includes a variety of search services that might get you more specialized results on your topic. Among these more specialized searches, you can also search just blogs, feeds, or specific topics.

Tracking Stories

Sometimes you want to be the first blogger on your block to cover a particular story. Then there are times when everyone else has covered the story but you want to know what has happened to the story now, after the news has turned their headlights away. There are also times when the headline news doesn’t tell the whole story and you want to tell more. This is when it is time to start tracking the story beyond the headline news.

While there are a variety of sites that track stories and news, there are three methods for story tracking services and sites. First, there are sites whose goal is to simply to list blog or site content or press releases from subscribers or whatever resources they monitor. They are glorified information lists. Some showcase odds and ends, while others specialize in a specific industry. These work well for general interest subjects you are researching or investigating.

The second method is known as “website trackers”, software, online services, or utlities that will notify you if there has been a change in a specific website or blog. If a new post is published, you get an alert via your browser, email, or when you visit the website tracking page, showing you which blogs or sites have new content.

The third method is to use search engines and feed services as well as tagging and social bookmarking services to track stories. Search the story subject, title, or keywords to generate potential sources. Check these to see if they allow you to create a feed from your search results so you can track the story. See the lists above for those services.

Whatever reason you want to track stories, I’ve put together a list that includes both groups.

Facts and Statistics

There comes a time when you just need the facts. Or, you stumble upon some facts that so amaze you, you want to check them out so you can write about them. There are so many facts and statistics out there, I couldn’t possibly list them all, but here are some of the more popular resources for facts and figures for the US and World.

Internet Traffic, Web Trends, and Page Rank

Whether you blog about the Internet, the web, or blogging, you are still working within the Internet industry by being a blogger. No matter what your blog topic is, it helps to understand your Internet audience, where they are coming from, how they blog, and how they search. If you have advertising on your blog, then it is important to understand what is going on in the blog business in order to help you blog better and make more money. It also helps to keep an eye on the top web hosts and traffic in general so you know what is going on around you in the Internet world.

By watching which blogs or websites are top of the charts for traffic, you can pretty much guage which topics are popular with most Internet users. Here are some resources for lists of the most popular websites and blogs online, as well as tracking web trends and traffic.

So what are some news or resources you monitor frequently to find stories and content for your blog that I have missed? Wanna share?


Posted by Pharos at 5:34 PM 1 comments

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How to Overcome Blogger's Block

Blogger's Block, much like the traditional Writer's block, is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to continue blogging, usually due to lack of inspiration, creativity or even motivation.

If it occurs for a day or two or even a week, it should not be a cause of concern because as bloggers, we all suffer from Writer's block at some point of time. However, if our inability to post new content extends for a longer duration, it may be something to worry about because of three reasons:

1. Our regular readers would return disappointed when they don't find anything new our blogs and if the cycle repeats, they may completely abandon reading the blog [you know how tough it is to get readers but it's so simple to lose them]

2. Google may be indexing your site at frequent intervals but if the Googlebot is unable to find new content on your blog during consecutive visits, it may decide to decrease the crawling frequency.

3. A site that isn't updated for a long period may not look very attractive to new visitors who stumble upon your site via search engines, forums and other places. You are missing an opportunity to convert a casual visitor into a return visitor.

Therefore, a Writer's block, or specifically Blogger's block can sometimes be bad news for your blog. So here are 10 ways to prevent or even overcome Writer's block:

1. Ditch the laptop and try to note your ideas on a paper notebook. You can always post them online later.

2. Explore your hidden treasures [old blog posts] which are lying somewhere unnoticed in your archives. Also read the user comments on your old posts. This may motivate you to write more wondeful posts.

3. Remove all the clutter and unused icons from your desktop. Start your blog editor in a simplistic mode where you see just the text that you type - no distractions.

4. Try to change your work environment like move to a different room or change the direction of your desk.

5. A good family picture with an indoor plant on your desk may help you concentrate better.

6. This is may sound funny but if you chalk out a blogging timetable, like the own you had while you were in school, it may help you stick to your regular posting schedule.

7. If you are writing a blog post but that doesn't seem to go anywhere, just save it as a draft and start working on another article. You will always get new ideas for your previous post later.

8. Sometime the room environment is not conducive enough for blogging. Unplug the laptop and blog from your terrace or even the garden.

9. Don't miss the family dinner just because you are under pressure to post a blog entry. The discussions at the dinning table would make you feel more rejuvenated and your mind will be filled with ideas.

10. If none of the techniques work, it may be time to take a quick shower and sleep. You can resume blogging early morning tomorrow.

Posted by Pharos at 5:32 PM 0 comments

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10 productive things to do when you don't feel like blogging

On one particular day of your blog life,you wake up and you don't feel like blogging.But you still don't want to feel or sound or look lazy.So what's the way out.How about a productive break?Here are a few things you can do which don't require tremendous effort from your part but will add points to your blog.

1.Submit your blog&feed to directories.
This one would be an efficient use of time as it increases your chances of being discovered at the same time gives you a bit more exposure in the blogosphere.You can find some directories for blog and rss submission from rss-specifications.com.

2.Format your posts.
You can do spell checks,change the picture positions,validate the links or add more useful links to your existing posts.Dividing long posts into short paragraphs will give a classy look to the article.Or you can consider adding bookmarklets below your
posts which will make it easy for your reader to do social bookmarking.

3.Modify the template.
Play with your blog template.You always wanted to do it,right.Change the banners,backgrounds,the css buttons,sidebar positions etc.This will add a fresh look
to your blog.

4.Tweak the ads.
Tryout new positions for your ads.Position them at points where the would get maximum
exposure.Change the ads background and link colour.Try to make those boring ads a lil
bit eyecandy.

5.Analyse your growth.
Combine the data about you blog and its traffic from Google Analytics,Feedburner,Technorati etc. and get a big picture of your blog's progress.Check out how your ranks have improved and find out where your loyal readers
are from.

6.Create a ravishing avatar/favicon.
Why spend time on creating an avatar?Now as communities like Mybloglog have evolved,there's no wonder if you find your picture on the blog you're reading.Mybloglog widgets are now on almost every blog.So creating an avatar which defines you or your blog will be a good investment of your time.Same are the reasons in the case of a favicon.

7.Check out the top100.
Find out what the top blogs are upto.Skim through their presentation styles,the templates,the boasting numbers and the fat subscriberships.There's a lot to learn and
more knowledge will do only good in the blogosphere.

8.Build relationship with other bloggers.
Make someones day by commenting on his blog.Commenting on blogs related to your subject of expertise will be a good idea,since it elevates the chances of pulling inbound links.But don't forget to leave your blog title and url along with the comments you make.

9.Get some motivation.
Reread your most applauded articles,the inspiring responses,the thanks messages.If you still don't get that punch,remember that you've a reputation to keep up with.

10.Surf around.
Surfing around other blogs or news websites will help you find subjects you would be interested in blogging about.Make a 'To blog' list and do some research on items you'll be blogging about.

Posted by Pharos at 5:17 PM 0 comments

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