New Year is transition time. Transition from one year to another, marking another cycle completed in our little blue-green planet’s journey around the sun. The world is changing, the blogosphere is changing, and Blogger’s Alchemy is changing with it (mutating even…) This post aims to round up, sum up, and summarize some key pieces of the Blogger’s Alchemy puzzle from 2011, and share something of the direction it’s moving in as we head into 2012 – the Year (no doubt) of the Blogger…
Blog Post Length is an eternally open debate, there’s no final answer as to exactly how long a blog post should be. Ultimately, each blogger must answer this question for themselves. These guidelines will help you find suitable post length for your blog, and each post you produce.
These blog writing tips are based upon observing the way people read blogs. Use them to deliver more value with more impact in your blog posts. Experiment with them, combine them, play with them and learn to write more effectively for your readership – more people will read your posts, comment, share, subscribe, sign up and return to read your blog again.
Every successful blog is built upon on a consistent flow of good blog topics to keep their content fresh and interesting, readers coming and returning, buzz happening, and income coming in (kerrrching!). Without relevant topics to post about and interesting subjects to tackle, all those elements tend to dry up like a desert wasteland (cue tumbleweed). BUT fear not! Blogger’s Alchemy is here with a fool proof set of questions to help you identify good (even great!) blog topics whenever you run out of ideas.
There’s a world of different avenues to successful blogging. You could go the ‘massive value posts’ direction. Or the ‘regular bite sized blog tips’ way. Or a combo of both. Direct and informative, chatty and entertaining… It’s up to you. But whatever you’re trying to achieve with your blog, there’s a few things which you should diligently avoid at all costs – unless of course you’re keen on trampling your blogging credibility into the dirt (I’m sure you’re not…)
There’s the fine art of writing great headlines. And there’s the noble pursuit of SEO. Combining the two effectively? Bit more tricky… The fine and noble discipline of writing effective SEO Headlines. This post is here to tell you how it can be done.
Sometimes Blog Post Ideas flow thick and fast, like a roaring river forging from the mountains down to the valley below. Other times the ideas are thin on the ground. Tumbleweed. Dry, dusty, cracked-earth river beds with not a Soul to be seen for miles and miles. This is partly why I recommend you build up a list of post topics ahead of time – but sometimes there’s simply nothing that fits, or you don’t have much time but need to meet that all important posting schedule.
The importance of Effective Headline Writing cannot be overstated. Magnetic headlines attract readers to your content. Limp, dry, boring headlines don’t. Question is, how can you learn the fine and profitable art of headline writing, and apply it to your blogging?
I love leveraged activities. Do them once, and the rewards keep coming back to you over and over. Submitting your Blog RSS Feed to Feed Directories is one such an activity. Get your blog set up right by submitting your feed to the sites on the Free Blog RSS Feed Submissions Directories listed in this post. It’ll bring in traffic, and build backlinks to your site.
How to Get A Gravatar (and Stop Looking Like a Spammer)
Since implementing my Comments Policy, I’ve begun to request that my commenters get a Gravatar. For those who aren’t sure what a Gravatar is, how to get one, or why I’m asking you to get one in emails or replies to your comments, this post is for you! (Includes Ninja Gravatar Tips)