Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

I am looking for a couple of bloggers for one my latest projects, called Tattoo Ideas Hub. The website is basically a place where people considering to get a tattoo can go and get more ideas.

I have put the basic structure in place, but now I need someone to expand the content, writing at least a couple of posts weekly and adding more internal pages too. If you are passionate about tattoos and want to write about the topic get in touch and we’ll discuss the gig. You can reach me on daniel@dailyblogtips.com.

And since you guys probably expect a tip on every post, here is one: whenever you are applying for a blogging job you should consider to add the following things to your email:

• a descriptive subject line (e.g, “Applying for the tattoo blogger position”),
• a brief explanation of your knowledge/experience around the topic you’ll be writing about,
• your availability (e.g., when you can start, and how many posts per week you can write),
• if possible include an article as well (one that could be published right away if desired).

The last point is the most important one. The best way to convince someone to hire you as a writer is to actually get him to read/publish one of your articles.

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

This is a guest post by Edward Khoo. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Most of the advice for bloggers online is given from other blog owners and blogging experts. Well, I would like to turn this around and offer you some advice as a reader. Below you’ll find a list of things I wish all the bloggers I read would do.

1. Be easy to understand. Maybe I’m an expert in your field or maybe I’m just trying to be. Either way, domain-specific words and acronyms can be daunting to the uninitiated. Since blogs are the gateway to getting initiated, please spare me from having to learn the language before I can read your blog. If I need Babel Fish to parse your writing, you’ve already lost me.

2. Be relevant. I’m going to read dozens of blogs today. That may seem like a lot but considering there are over 900k posts uploaded every 24 hours; it’s obvious I’ve already done some serious filtering. Even so, that’s a lot of reading for someone who has a real job. I’ve picked blogs that I think are relevant to my career or life in some way. You’ve gone through a process to select me as a reader and I’ve reciprocated by subscribing. Make sure your posts are written for the audience you’ve cultivated.

3. Be consistent. Nothing worse than going to my favorite blog and see they’ve taken off a week or two without notice. Should I stop going there? Will it ever come back? Is there a schedule I can follow? If you want regular readers, then be a regular writer.

4. Be interesting. Let’s make a deal: I’ll give you the most valuable thing I have, my time, and you give me something interesting. It doesn’t have to be funny, although that certainly helps. But it does have to be interesting or new or at least novel. This has as much to do with personality as it does with story. If your topic is one I’m already familiar with, like a well-covered news event, then at least give me a fresh take. It’s OK to blog about events with observations, but you better make sure your observations of those events are worth reading.

5. Be thorough. I get that blogging may not be your full time job and that you won’t be able to explore every topic fully, but I still need a resolution. Give me closure. On every single post. Don’t just introduce me to topics and then leave, like a person at a party who starts a conversation and then walks away mid-sentence. Respect the rules of composition and the anatomy of any good story: make sure your posts have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

6. Have authority. I appreciate that your interest extends past what your blog may usually cover. But you need to qualify your authority so I don’t question it later. If you run a tech blog and start riffing about politics you better know enough to stand up to the political blogs I’m also reading or admit that your opinion is unqualified. I respect that you’re an expert at tech blogging but that doesn’t make you an expert at everything. To paraphrase Colin Powell on what makes a good analyst: tell me what you know, tell me what you don’t know, and if there’s any time left, you can tell me what you think.

7. Be authentic. Considering there’s now tens of millions of people throwing up everything they’ve heard or thought about on the internets, there’s a fair chance that whatever it is you’re about to write already exists in some form or another. That’s OK. I’m reading you because I think your opinion is interesting or valuable. If I find out that it’s not really your opinion, but the opinion of your Master or Advertiser or Sponsor, you’ve lost me. If I want compromised corporate crap journalism I can go to a major newspaper. I’m reading you because you have a quirky opinion that occasionally flies in the face of conventional wisdom. I dig that about you. One that trust is gone, however, so is any appeal of reading your work.

8. Show you enjoy writing. You don’t have to smile when you blog, but you should enjoy writing. You don’t have to love it every day but you should enjoy it enough to be good at it. Every day. The day you stop having fun writing a blog will be the day it becomes less fun to read. Our relationship is built on mutual satisfaction and it’s more fragile and transparent than you may realize. It’s OK to not want to blog for a day or two. Or even longer if you give your readers a heads up. Better than tossing up forced content that makes your readers the worse for reading it.

9. Be accessible. Regardless of the teachings of our social media czars, blogging is still largely about one person publishing so many people can read it. Occasionally, however, you’ll blog about something that inspires the normally uninspired to want to interact with you. Do yourself a favor and be accessible. This doesn’t mean having to respond to every comment or mail but it does mean at least taking part in a conversation you may have started. If you’re not willing to interact with readers who are looking for conversation, someone else in your space will.

10. Be something other than a blogger. As good as your writing may be, much of the value to your readers comes from your knowledge and experience in other areas. This doesn’t mean you have to “Hemingway” all over the world to bullfights and battles so you have fresh content; it does mean, however, keeping people interested in what you’re doing and thinking will be much more challenging if you never do anything interesting. Most of the blogs I read are an output of lives so full they crave to be documented, not random musings from people bored with television.

One of the best ways to improve as a blogger is to be a prolific blog reader. Hold yourself to the lofty demands to which you hold your favorite bloggers.

About the Author: Jonathan Brill is the owner of Prolific247, a company that has been building and managing business blogs since 2007. The company has a collection of best practices and current information for corporate blogging. If you’d like to learn more, you can reach them at blogger@prolific247.com.

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

1. The book: The Purple Cow is about being remarkable (and how this is essential to make your business prosper). Have you ever seen one, after all? If you had you certainly wouldn’t forget it! The book has 137, and it is very easy to read. Seth

2. The content: Initially I thought that writing a whole book to give out a simple message (i.e., you got be remarkable) was a waste of paper. After reading it, however, I can say that it is not the case.

Seth did a wonderful job explaining the whys and hows of being remarkable, including real life examples and case studies to help you understand his points better.

I also really liked his writing style. It is clear and succinct, which is the style I strive to achieve with my own text.

3. What I liked: What I most liked in the book were the real stories that Seth shares. For example, he tells you how Herman Miller managed to transform a somewhat commoditized segment – office chairs – into one with space for premium products. He did that by creating a purple cow, the Aaron chair.

4. Who would benefit from this book: Anyone who has or is planning to build a business. Be it an offline or an online business. The message of this book is one that all entrepreneurs should learn by heart.

5. Favorite quote:

You can’t make people listen. But you can figure out who’s likely to be listening when you talk, and then invent the right combination of Ps to overwhelm them with the rightness of your offer. Even if someone is listening your offering of “a little bit cheaper,” “a little bit better,” or “a little bit easier” is just a waste of time. The influential sneezers, the people with a problem to solve – they’re open to hearing your story only if it’s truly remarkable; otherwise, you’re invisible.

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

This is a guest post by Aseem Kishore. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Back in March of 2007, I started a personal blog using the Blogger platform so that I could create a knowledge base for myself. Two and a half years later, I now run two blogs that generate more than double the income of my current job.

Over that time period, I’ve gone from never hearing of a blog before to managing several writers, switching between multiple hosts, interacting with lots of bloggers, etc, etc. Though it’s been a great experience, it has not been without its share of pains either.

Those pains, however, are what can either make you lots of money or make you frustrated and give up early. There were several times when I was sure that blogging was over for me, yet with some luck and helpful people, I managed to make it through.

Here are six lessons that I personally feel can make a difference for anyone who wants to become a successful blogger. If you feel differently, feel free to post your thoughts in the comments.

1. Backup everything – Yes, before passion and content and everything else, make sure you back up anything and everything. That includes the database, the images, and any other files that comprise your website or blog.

Even if you get zero traffic, that content can still be valuable, you may just not know it yet. Make sure you have several backups and backups of the backups.

2. Learn Search Engine Optimization – I agree that great content will get you traffic, but it’s still essential to have basic knowledge of Search Engine Optimization. Permalinks, post titles, keywords, sitemaps, etc. You should know about these things and implement them.

Search Engine Optimization and content have a kind of symbiotic relationship in my mind, where both get benefits if the other is around. Also, you don’t have to know a ton here. Personally, I’ve never hired an Search Engine Optimization and probably won’t, but it may not be a bad idea to go to a Search Engine Optimization conference or take a class. For me, just reading online was good enough.

3. Write consistently and often – Unless you start making more money from consulting gigs, book deals, or selling your own products, then you should make sure you write consistently. I’ve written 1 to 2 posts on Online Tech Tips every single day for more than two years.

Granted, I now have writers, but this was after a year and a half of writing by myself. Matt Cutts of Google has publicly stated that it’s best to add content to your blog on a daily basis, if possible. This makes a difference, I promise.

4. Get good help – Another reason I believe I’ve been able to do well in blogging is because I can rely on some really good people to help me in areas I don’t have an expertise in.

Frankly, most people are not Linux or programming gods who can type commands away to configure their own servers or modify their themes. If you can’t do something yourself or don’t know how, it’s best to connect with someone who does, even if you have to pay.

Having a really good technical person you can rely on is very important. If you can do it yourself, great, but if not, reach out to other bloggers or friends and see if there is someone you can trust to help you.

5. Build links intelligently – Firstly, make sure you don’t buy links or do link exchanges or write posts for money. Now, if you have great content, you’ll probably not have to do any link building after a certain point.

However, in the beginning or if you’re not getting much traffic, you need to get people to notice your site and content. Write guest posts (like this one), submit your site to directories like DMOZ and Yahoo, share news on social networks, link out to other blogs in your niche, join blog carnivals, etc.

6. Relax & take breaks – Finally, try to keep yourself from becoming a miserable person. Blogging can do that, no matter how much money you make! It can be frustrating, annoying, tiring, and plain stressful.

Do not become obsessed or compulsive otherwise you’ll drive yourself crazy. Take breaks with family or friends and try not to think about your blog for sometime. Of course, don’t neglect your content, but make sure your life is balanced.

That’s it from me! Maybe these were not the most mind-numbing new lessons you’ve heard of, but they were absolutely key for me. And I’ve learned that reading something and implementing something are two very different things. When you implement, you’ll see the benefits.

Aseem Kishore is a blogger and Internet entrepreneur who blogs at Online Tech Tips and Help Desk Geek about technology, software, and computers.

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

A couple of weeks ago I was negotiating with some freelancers who were interesting in writing for a new website I am developing. We were discussing what kind of articles I needed, the length of each article, frequency and the like. The main point of the negotiation was the pay rate, however.

Most of the freelancers were replying to me asking if I knew how much the market was paying for similar gigs, or how much I was already paying to my other writers. Initially I replied to these emails with a number, but that made me a bit uneasy, because the first person who throws out a number usually loses the edge on the negotiation.

After thinking more about the issue I came to the following conclusion: what does the market rate has to do with how much I will pay to that freelancer in particular? Even if the market average for writing gigs is $15 per article there are people out there charging $2 per article and people charging $100.

How do those freelancers come up with how much they should charge? Usually by calculating how much they make per hour doing similar or alternative jobs. For example, if a freelance web designer makes around $50 hourly from his normal activities and you ask him how much he will charge to design your website, he will calculate how many hours the job will take and multiply it by $50 (a bit more if his plate is full, a bit less if he is lacking work).

From this point onward I changed my negotiation strategy. Whenever freelancers asked how much I was paying to other writers or how much the market was paying for similar services, I replied asking how much would make the job worth their time. Any professional worth his salt will know how much his time is worth.

Most of the writers replied with a number, and then I was in a much better position to evaluate the expectations of each and to negotiate with them.

But I am curious to know what you guys think. Do you agree that it makes more sense to start with the earnings expectation of the freelancer in question rather than with the market average? What is your strategy to negotiate pay rates with freelancers? If you do freelance work, how do you negotiate with your clients?

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

It’s a bandwagon that took off with startling speed, one that all and sundry wanted to get on. Most did get on the blogging train, but there were very few who tasted the kind of financial success that they dreamed of. Others fell by the wayside while the determined still plough on, making what little money they can and yet sticking to the path because they are passionate about what they do.

There’s no doubt that blogs are here to stay, but if you are thinking of hitching a ride only now, you need to be aware of a few ground rules. So, before you start your blog, it’s best to:

1. Be realistic: Yes, there are many people who blog for a living; they don’t have regular jobs, and they make all the money doing what comes best to them, writing for an audience and making money off it. But, you must be realistic when you start to write and know that you cannot expect such stupendous success, at least not for a few years. If you’re hoping to make huge amounts of money right from the word go, then you’re in for disappointment.

2. Don’t quit your regular job: Because blogs make money randomly or not at all, especially when they’re new, it’s not wise to quit your regular job and sit at home in front of your computer hoping to strike the mother lode instantly. Instead, set aside some time every day to work on your blog and popularize it.

3. Enjoy what you do: Only if you truly enjoy blogging will you be able to stick to it and make it work. If you’re in it just to make money, you’re not going to be able to keep your enthusiasm going when you don’t see the dollars pouring in like you’d envisioned. So write on something you’re passionate about, something that you can sustain on a daily basis over a long term period.

4. Focus on a niche: Blogs that focus on a niche tend to do better than those that just prattle on about any random topic under the sun or those that are more personal in nature. So choose a niche that you enjoy and one which you can portray creatively so that other people will be interested in reading what you have to say.

5. Know that patience pays: One thing you must remember when beginning a blog is that you must be patient in order to see even a modicum of success. It takes a long time to popularize a blog, and even when that happens, it may be some more time before you start to see monetary results. You must focus on quality rather than trickery to market your blog, because that’s what will sustain it in the long run.

Adrienne Carlson writers regularly for OnlineDegree.net. You can also reach Adrienne at her email address: adrienne.carlson83@yahoo.com.

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

In this article I look at four kinds of social media SPAM, or anti-social media marketing as I sometimes call it.

I also share several ideas for coping with social media SPAM. Although we cannot stop SPAM, we can try to mitigate its effects.

1. SPAM Messages – These are the unsolicited commercial messages sent to your Facebook inbox, appearing in your Twitter replies, or plaguing you on other social networking sites. You should block the scoundrels, and report them too if they appear to be really awful.
2. Comment SPAM – These are ads or links on your profile pages, blogs, forums or guest books. Beware of innocent looking blog comments such as “Great post. Keep up the good work.” The commenter is only looking for the link back to his site which most blogs (including mine) do provide. Require approval of all comments and use a SPAM filter (such as Akismet for Wordpress blogs) to help you with the job.
3. Social Bookmarking SPAM – This is when someone bookmarks only his or her own content on bookmarking sites (such as StumbleUpon or Sphinn) which prohibit this. Be careful not to do this yourself.
4. SPAM Blogs – These are blogs that aggregate search results (for profitable keywords) using feeds from services such as Google Alerts, and then publish these search results. They exist in order to spam search engines and other blogs and boost their own sites’ search results. If you have a blog, you’ll receive comment SPAM from them indicating that they’ve linked to you. They hope to get a juicy link back from you. If your SPAM filter fails to kill off their comments, be ruthless and do it yourself.

Creating SPAM blogs is often called autoblogging by the spammers.

In a November 2006 article, What is Autoblogging and How Does It Work?, Gobala Krishnan stated:

No matter how good you get at autoblogging, you’re never going to produce high quality sites that attract a loyal fan base using autoblogging methods. Nothing beats content that is original and written by a human being.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Sharing is Caring!

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com

If you have been blogging for a while, you probably noticed that it is a time consuming activity. Writing the content alone will take a lot of work. If you want to make your blog popular, though, you will also need to promote the blog, work on the design, interact with your readers to build your community and the like.

Thinking about that I figured that we could have a poll to discover how many hours most of us are working weekly on hour blogs. I opted for the weekly time frame because I know many bloggers who also have a 9 to 5 job do most of their blogging on the weekends.

These days I am working around three hours per day on the blogs, by that is seven days a week, so I am in the “20 to 40 hours” bracket. What about you? Have your say in our poll and feel free to leave a comment as well.

How Many Hours Per Week Do You Work On Your Blog(s)?(polls)

Original Post: Poll: How Many Hours Per Week Do You Work on Your Blog?

Post from: SocialMarketingReport.com