This entry is all about Twitter, nothing too fancy. Just a general overview and some links.
Twitter is all about social networking and micro-blogging. You can create a status message of up to 140 characters in length which everyone (who is following you) can see. The service is very open and there are many apps and tools for it as well.
Some apps and tools are:
Desktop
Twhirl - A desktop client which enables you to connect and update your Twitter account. So far this one is my favorite as it provides everything there is on Twitter in a convienient accessible way in your desktop.
Firefox Add-on
TwitterFox - Don’t want to navigate away from your page? Easy, just install this in your Firefox browser and you’ll have some of the Twitter power at your hands, or more like in a corner of your window.
Cellphones
TwitterBerry - For all you people that have a Blackberry, this app is for you.Tweetie - And for all you people that have a iPhone, this app is for you.
E-Mail
TwitterMail - Here you provide your Twitter credentials, then they give you an email address which ends in @twittermail.com and then when you send an email to the email provided it updates your Twitter status.
Counter
TwitterCounter - Just like the Feedburner counter, this web tool counts how many followers you have.
Trends
Twist - With this service you can monitor Twitter trends
Now if you’re just starting out and you have no interesting people to follow, these are people I follow and they constantly update with useful stuff. So I suggest following them as well.
- @freshfocus
- @lizstrauss
- @garyvee
- @Ribeezie
- @Garcya
- @lorellewp
So that’s it for today, stay tuned for more articles soon.
Hey guys! I decided our old theme just wasn’t cutting it, so I decided to hire Corey Freeman from Deadly Clever Designs. I was looking for a simple yet elegant design. Nothing too fancy, too feature-filled, or any of that stuff. I was also on a tight budget, so I couldn’t afford all those expensive premium themes and whatnot. But Deadly Clever’s affordable prices where the light of my day.
So if you’re ever looking for good blog designs, Deadly Clever is the spot. If you’re tight on budget I assure you Deadly Clever can work something out, although don’t expect a very cheap price if you ask for too many things at once!
Concluding this small update. What do you guys think about Corey Freeman’s design? Feedback would be great!
This is nothing new, I’ve known about this for a pretty long time but hey, better late than never and this can apply those who still haven’t gotten news about this great service! Onto the matter. PostRank is the new brand of what was before called AideRSS.
This is a great feed filtering service. What it does is that it takes out the most important, read-worthy content out there and serves it right in your face for you to analyze and enjoy.More specifically, it ranks any type of articles, blogs, news, and feed items.
How do they determine their stats and filters?
They use certain web-sources as their way of engaging and filtering the content. Some are:
- Views - Counts the page views via the RSS reader.
- Clicks - Counts the number of clicks via the RSS reader.
- Comments - Number of comments on the item.
- Delicious - Number of bookmarks saved.
- Magnolia - Same as Delicious, number of bookmarks saved.
- Digg - Number of diggs on the item.
- Twitter - Number of tweets mentioning the item.
- Pownce - Number of times the item has been shared.
- Google trackbacks - Number of links that trackback to the item.
And if you’re a Firefox extension-lover, you’re going to love the Firefox PostRank Extension. With this extension you have greater ability to control and customize your RSS feeds, discover top posts, preview PostRank score, and easy feed management. All this without ever leaving the page you’re on!
So in conclusion, PostRank is a great way to just filter the content so you get good juicy blog posts, articles, and so on. I view it as my free weekly, daily, hourly, newspaper. So go ahead and try the service, if you’ve already tried it tell me what do you think of PostRank in a comment so others can see feedback on the excellent service.
Alright so we want to sell our blog, but wait a minute, how much do I sell it for? Well, today I’m going to explain how to value your blog. Have in mind there is no strict and direct way of valuating your blog to the most precise cent, but I’ll help you get close. Before (or after?) reading this, you should check out Tips On Selling Your Blog, a blog post I made before this one. It’ll help you understand the basics of how to sell your blog. 
Onto the matter. To value your blog you gotta have organization, so follow me through these simple steps.
Domain Factors
A factor in valuating your blog is your domain name. The more brandable it its the better. If you, for example, have a domain name like: www.the-real-big-money-maker-blogger.com then you’re probably not going to sell unless your blog is extraordinarily awesome.
On the other hand, short and sweet names like: www.johncow.com (Yes, John COW, not Chow) are very brandable and people can remember them more easily. Also, a .com extension is a must. Although not really necessary, most buyers are more attracted to this extension than a .info one.
Profit
Checking out how much profit your blog makes is a must. Buyers are obviously attracted to a higher money-making blog than a blog that generates no money. But as I said, since valuations are so unpredictable, you could easily sell a blog that has low a low revenue but high traffic or good quality content.
Have in mind the buyer will probably ask him or herself these questions:
- Where is this blog getting his/her profit?
- How hard is to get the profit?
- Can I earn as much profit?
- Profit, profit, profit.
As you can see there are a few questions the buyer may ask him/herself so be prepared to answer them correctly.
Design
Take into consideration the design of your blog. An ugly or free design has absolutely no value. So its a good idea to invest a bit of money into getting a custom design. And if you’re actually going to go ahead with the custom design, don’t be fooled. People that charge $500 for a design may look good, but there are people that for $300 can do the same or even better. So as an outstanding blogger suggestion I suggest to check out the designers portfolios thoroughly and compare each designer you have contact with.
Inbound Links
Your blog may be bought for SEO benefits. Blogs with natural links and no fake links, or bought links or any of those types of links who buyers may dislike are excellent.
Search Rankings
If your search rankings are high, then there is more value. Blogs that get direct traffic from search engines are more likely to be bought than any other blog out there. A SEO expert would definitely tell you that the more search engine friendly is your blog, the more value it has.
Audience
Having a loyal audience always gets the clients attention. On the other hand if you have a freebie-searching audience that’s unidentifiable then you’re probably going to scare away the client. Remember that the person that’s going to buy your blog, chances are that he or she wants to continue your work but in his or her own way. And if the buyer has an unstable audience, what good is the blog for?
Content
Last but definitely not least, content. Content as you all know, is king. I know I know, you’re tired of hearing that right? So sorry! But its the truth. I still wonder why there is still computer generated content, I mean, 1,000,000x$0=$0? Right? So why do this at all? Instead I advise going for the quantity vs. quality principle. Always choose quality. If you don’t have inspiration or whatever the case is, there are writing freelancers out there that usually get the job done. So I advise that before selling your blog you value your content, and if you feel like you need more quality content spend a few more weeks, or as much time as you need to write good content for the sale.
Remember guys, valuating your blog can vary a lot. There are many “depends on this” or “depends on that”. This was just a small post to guide you a little bit better in valuating your blog and a few other sub-tips I included for you. Anywho, the truth of the matter is that blog sales are really unpredictable, it all depends on the buyer’s status and your status as well. Valuations can be affected by many things, but the important thing is to be open to the buyers demands as well as being strict to what you believe your blog is worth.
This article is for those bloggers out there that for some reason or another wish to sell their blog. Now you’re probably wondering, why would anyone sell something they have put so much effort into? Well, there could be many reasons, but mainly its because they actually worked for that specific purpose, or they’re in some type of emergency/crisis and need the money right away. Blogs are like houses, as a matter of fact, the more work you put into them, the more value it receives. Ultimately, the truth of the matter is some bloggers just can’t stay blogging for a long period of time so they resort to selling their hard-worked blog just so it doesn’t go to waste or gets lost into the cyberspace.
When selling your blog, I suggest being civilized and polite and most importantly, open. Any weird or erratic behavior may scare away the client, and thus you loose a good opportunity for a blog sale. Another note, when selling your blog keep in mind the comment I made about blogs being like houses. Here are some tips for before the sale:
- Design - Make sure your blog has a good, clean, fresh design. This always attracts clients for a potential buy.
- Organized - Your blog should be organized first, this mainly applies to your categories. A good clean category section is always good for readers to find the content on your site.
- Spam-free - Verify that no spam comments (or any type of spam anywhere in your blog) got filtered through your spam protection method. This can really turn off potential buyers.
- Reader-counters - Reader counters like the Feedburner one here in Outstanding Blogger can either turn on or turn off the potential buyer. Unfortunately some clients don’t like seeing low reader-count, its unfortunate because its possible that they don’t know that these scripts aren’t always accurate and that this doesn’t have always have to do much with the actual blog quality. Meaning I can have a extremely potential/brandable blog, but then the client sees 2 or 3 people subscribed to the blog and goes “Hmm, must mean this blog is no good for me.” Which is wrong, so be careful with this.
Where To Sell Your Blog
These are some of the most popular places to sell blogs (and other types of website related content).
- Sitepoint Marketplace
- Digitalpoint
- Performancing
- eBay
Details To Include In Your Blog Sale
- Name and URL
- Date the blog started
- Profits
- Your blog auction info (action timeframe, price, and so on)
- Monthly/Daily and if it applies yearly unique vistors and page views.
- Inbound links
- Your hosting details
- Payment method
- The support you plan to offer
Feel free to include any type of extra information you feel is relevant to your sale. Also, remember to set a Buy Now price.
That’s it for the tips on selling your blog, on the next post I will talk about how to value your blog including:
- Audience
- Content
- Search Rankings
- Traffic
- Inbound Links
- Brand
- Profit
- Design
- Domain Factors
See you on the next Outstanding Blogger entry!
We bloggers just NEED to reach some type of zen when we’re about to write an article. I’ve been blogging for a while and I’ve noticed certain things that affect me when I’m writing depending if “x” or “y” thing is there or not. To write an article we have to have the fundamentals, the understanding, and… zen. Writing and publishing an article on your blog can always either give you a step forward, or a step back. We want the forward. So how do we prevent going back?
Let me open your eyes and see that your mind sometimes plays tricks on you and you don’t even realize this. While you’re sitting on your chair there are many factor which can prevent you from doing your work correctly. Work these days is very important, and you want to make sure whatever it is that you do, you do it right. Since this is a blog about the blogosphere let’s pretend this work that you do is, well, blogging.
I will list things to keep in mind and/or to analyze and correct. The point of the list is to reach writing zen.
Factors To Consider & Correct
- Sleep - You need sleep. Now this was a bit obvious right? Well let me go into this furthur. Some people actually don’t sleep. They rely on coffee, products like Redbull, or some other measures. I don’t recommend doing this, sleep helps the mind relax, protects your health, your body to clean itself, and so on. What I do recommend sleeping 6-8 hours, and after than you can have your cup of coffee to be more active. Note: Sleeping in excess doesn’t help, it relaxes you more than you need and then you’ll be tired. So there’s no point in sleeping in order to try and achieve a state of full energy.
- Clean Desk - A clean desk is a happy author. Keeping your desk clean helps remove any stuff that may distract you or anything that may get in the way of typing, looking for materials (like a book you want some reference on) and so on.
- Desk Chair - Huh? What does the chair have to do with anything? Yes, the chair is a factor in this. You need to level your chair in a way that will perfectly balance you and the keyboard and mouse. Not being leveled can sometimes incommode you, you start moving and trying to force yourself to type well. In my honest opinion a chair with wheels is better than a chair with just 4 legs just making you sit there still, making your mobility a limited one.
- Music - This can vary, some people work better with audio, but generally music or other sounds are highly distracting. Although if you select some ambient type of music its more probable that you will relax and thus help you reach writing zen.
- Exercise - The mind works better when oxygen is flows through it. What better way than walking or jogging for 20-30 minutes? This not only helps send oxygen to your brain, but it stimulates alertness and helps for a more healthy body.
- Glasses - Last but not least, glasses are important if you need them. You may think that since the monitor is right in your face glasses are not need, but this is wrong. The computer screen is likely to affect your eyesight, therefore almost everybody that sits long hours in the computer needs glasses (although this can vary). Glasses are proven to help you stay focused, so this is an important factor in our discussion.
There you have it, 6 tips to reach writing zen. It won’t hurt to try them and see if you get results (although trust me you will). You have to set the lazy in you apart and start working seriously, since I take blogging as a serious matter I do these 6 steps daily, and it not only helps me with the writing but in other things in life as well. It’s just a matter of you finding your own type of writing zen.
Good luck, and keep your blogging zen and spirit up.
So I have been looking for ways to better my blogging techniques, skills, and so on. But mainly I’ve been looking for ways to get my name out there and I think I’m gonna go with freelance blogging. I’ve read a lot about the topic so let me enlighten you about this exciting and fun way of blogging.
Freelance blogging is a way you can earn money and build reputation by writing on other peoples blogs instead of your own. Starting out you’ll probably earn the minimum, which should be around $10. As your reputation goes up and your writing skills improve you’ll be earning 10 to 20 times that amount.
First step should be, once you think you’re ready (and your audience as well), then on your blog set up a page stating you are for hire. People that read your blog are probably the first ones that will hire you, seeing as they know you better than the rest of the people that randomly enter your blog and thus have some sort of trust in you.
Second step, apply to online job ads. There are quite a few job boards, but I’m just going to present you with some of the best I know.
But site owners don’t just search for any old blogger, they often ask themselves these questions:
- Can they write original content?
- Does their style suit my audience?
- Will I get more value back than what I payed?
So its your job to fit… the job!
Now, maybe you’re asking yourself, why would they hire me? Here’s a detailed list of why:
- Simple, they want to increase visibility, traffic, and search engine rankings.
- Increase sales and repeat customers
- To supply constant content
- Build credibility and authority
To sum it all up, freelance blogging is basically a great way to build netowork with other site owners, build reputation, and make money. If you’re just starting out, you might not want to charge anything but instead do a guest post. Else, you’ll look like you’re just a money-hungry writer. Which isn’t cool! Just do things patiently and step-by-step and you’ll see how it works out.
Now go search blog directories, search for the most promising blog that suits you and start blogging as if it were your own blog.
Hey everyone. I was surfing Digg and I found out about an article from former Lifehacker contributor Tamar Weinberg who did an entry called The Ultimate Productivity Toolbox for Creative People on Lateral Action (he is now an associate editor over there).
Its a great post for creative and work efficient people who strive toward being able to raise the quality of their work. I’m always searching for web tools on the Internet (Google, I want to thank you for many successful searches). See, everyone needs help once in a while and that is why developers bring you these tools. So you can excel in all your areas of interest. Don’t just depend on yourself, don’t sit there and use whatever tool first comes installed in your operating system. No. Search for tools and use them to your advantage.
Of course, some tools require payment. But this shouldn’t prevent you from moving forward. No, dear reader, I’m not going to say you should download the tool illegally. Support the tools! Anyways, I know some tools are just too pricey, but don’t get mislead by the price. Some tools are very expensive, but at the end they just don’t deliver. Now, the trick is simple. Bookmark the tool you want to buy, study it. How? Search for reviews, ask people that are using the tool, e-mail the product’s creator and/or the company that created it. Its simple really, always be smart when buying on the Internet.
So don’t wait any longer, go find tools that will make your Internet experience an excellent one.
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Hello everybody, today I present to you Internet Marketing Masterminds from Australi Media.
What is this you ask? Well, they are an Australian company that is offering a paid-course on how to be a great and successful internet entrepreneur.
As part of our Internet Marketing Masterminds group, we’ll empower you with the tools and knowledge to ensure you stay ahead of your competition online, and lift the veil of secrecy off what’s really working in social media marketing, and why.
Sounds amazing, no? And believe the hype. Because even big blogs such as ProBlogger.net are recommending them. They have online classroom-like sessions, a private group discussion forum and mailing list, and exclusive access to a group knowledge base.
The sessions include:
- Participation
- Brand / Industry research
- Advanced research and monitoring
- Blogging
- Strategic decisions
- Visitor interaction
- Social Networking
- Facebook Advertising
- Twitter
- Internet Marketing
- Integration with offline marketing
- Viral video
- Killer Content
- Post construction
- Using images and video
- SEO & Keyword Research
- Industry & competitor keyword analysis
- Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC)
- How PPC works
- Campaign integration
- Linkbait
- Blog themes and plugins
- Articles and white papers
- Crowdsourcing
- Objectives and strategy
- Platform vendor selection
- Idea management process
These are just highlights out of MANY more topics they provide. Courses start on November 12th and is limited to only 150 members. The course lasts throughout all of 2009. So you can imagine how much stuff you’ll be learning. All this is being done by none other than Alistor Cameron and Ben Galt. Who have over 15 years of experience in the web industry.
The faster you act, the cheaper you can get in. Prices rise with each 25 members joining!
Good luck everyone!
Hello everybody, I’m deeply sorry for the extreme lack of updates. But as you may or may not know Outstanding Blogger is part of my company Avalith Media. This means this is just one of many things I must manage and administrate. Currently I am working on creating an online avatar community. I’m very excited about it since things are going well.
But let’s talk a little bit more about blogging and less about me.
I’ve noticed how my RSS reader count has been going up and down in the earlier weeks I’ve been absent. I don’t know if FeedBurner is that accurate or not but I do know this. Readers have kept coming to the blog to check out what is new.
So I ask myself this. What is a loyal reader? And how to you get readers to become loyal? I’ve come to a very simple but wide at the same time conclusion. You scratch readers backs, and they may scratch yours. My lasts posts were all about how to blog, and also I even did a post where I linked to some very sweet themes. People liked that. So if you help the readers move forward, they may help you move forward as well.
Now now, that lousy “may” I keep saying gets annoying, right? I mean, you want strong concrete information. Well, let’s see if this helps.
To prevent the “may” thing from happening, you need to write content that will prove to your readers that you can execute what you write about. To transform a normal reader into a loyal one. You can do many things, such as:
- Comments - Always respond to comments, this helps create interactivity between you and the person.
- Questions - Ask questions in your posts, even the most simple question can create a dynamic conversation.
- Freebies - Alright alright, we can’t “buy” loyal readers. But. We can give them things to show them that you appreciate their readership. If you’re not a fan of freebies, then why not a contest?
- Even this - You can even do a blog post dedicated to your readers. After all, readers are sometimes the source of income, motivation, moral support, etc.
At the end, you’re the one who really knows your readers. So only you know how to make them happy. I’m just giving you the basic tips to accomplish that important task. So go ahead, go talk to your readers, offer them freebies, show ‘em some love! Prove to your readers that you care for them, don’t ignore them.
Note:
Oh and if you’re wondering why I suddenly got back to blogging, its not only because I found some free time on my hands but because of this small post from Komodo Media. Read it, its really motivational. Got me back to thinking about my readers. Enjoy.
