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Getting readers to click on your RSS button is a lot harder than it might initially seem. While you may have great content and update your blog on a regular basis, getting a reader to subscribe to your blog is a matter of winning their confidence.
To build a loyal base of subscribers, you may want to consider some of the following points to make it a regular attraction to those interested in your niche: Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, we posted 50 inspirational quotes to help you blog. But sometimes some words just ain’t enough. Blogging can be tough work, especially when you’re under pressure to deliver consistent posts and keep within the confines of specific subject matter. Luckily, we live in the information age where inspiration is to found around every corner. To help energize your blogging adventures, here are some of the best sources of inspiration that bloggers can draw on when creating captivating content.
To help jump start your creative engines, we thought we would present to you a compilation of inspiring quotes, some humorous, some profound, some instructive. Hopefully one or two of them will resonate with you, give you some food for thought and help you positively approach your blog.
The following list is divided by themes that we thought were pivotal to achieving success online. Enjoy.
“A well-executed blog campaign is not rocket science. It is, however, an act of love. That’s what gets in the way for some people. Love is scary stuff.” Hugh McLeod.
Previously on Apollo’s Blog, we discussed 5 reasons to make blogging a habit. The main point here was that posting on a consistent basis makes your blog more attractive to both new and returning visitors. But sitting down to write brilliant, reader-worthy posts on a consistent basis can be so overwhelming that it leads to procrastination…and more often than not, giving up on the whole endeavour!
Inspired by reader Tiffany’s comment, this post covers how you can harness your creative energies and move forward with a plan for frequent posting. Here are several methods that you can pick and choose from so you can create your own strategy for developing a blogging habit:
Commenting on other blogs is a crucial step towards establishing successful relationships within the blogosphere and is a great way of drawing substantial traffic to your own blog. Valuable and insightful comments not only expand the conversation on the blogs they are featured on, they also present an opportunity for you to showcase your authority on particular subject matter and draw referrals from that blogger. Who knows, you can even be invited to provide a guest post or collaborate with others depending on the frequency and usefulness of your comments.
Now there are many bloggers out there who simply comment to shamelessly plug their own work. They may just write one or two sentences that only serve to promote their own blog, without providing anything substantial or relevant to the conversation. If you want to become a professional and credible blogger, you have to resist the temptation to merely plaster your blog’s name all over the place and learn to make valuable comments, earning the attention of other bloggers through your integrity, openness and honesty.
“Oh, so they have Internet on computers now”. Homer Simpson.
Sometimes blogging inspiration comes from the most unlikely places. While magazines and newspapers can teach you about creating captivating headlines, and books can teach you about proper sentence structure, tone and writing style, nothing can spark your creative energies like a quick trip into Springfield. What state? Which ever one the Simpsons are in, of course.
The following is a compilation of some of our favorite quips, catchphrases and odd-ball remarks uttered by
“Me fail English? That’s unpossible!” Ralph Wiggum.
The Hidden Beauty of Typos and Made Up Words
Since this line was first uttered many years ago, it has become one of Ralph’s signature displays of stupidity. That’s because ‘unpossible’ is instantly memorable, immediately grabbing people’s attention with its torturous mangling of proper spelling and grammar.
Made up words and deliberate typos are often a clever and playful way of grabbing the attention of your readers, creating a ‘mental hiccup’ in their minds that will either get them to laugh or push them to engage your content. Consider Nick Cernis’ “Made You Thunk” piece on CopyBlogger, where he discusses how purposeful typos, misquotes and made up words have worked to draw in readers and provoke responses from them. When used with caution and diligence, mangled writing Read the rest of this entry »
Flickr is one of the premier photo-sharing sites online that allows you to post your favorite photos, organize them into albums and share them publicly with a vibrant web community. Also, by tagging your photos, people can find your photos based on their content, comment on them, and even invite you into groups specific to the subject matter in your work.
Flickr is a great way to find exciting images, connect with other photographers and artists, and promote your photographic abilities. Flickr’s popularity can also be attributed to its easy integration with users’ blogs and websites, with attractive ‘Flickr badges’ that display your most recent, or random, pieces from your public albums right on your page. Having a Flickr badge adds another visual element to your blog and showcases your latest interests, travels and activities, letting your readers get to know you a little more.
One of the key features of any successful enterprise - be it a business, service or product - is its brand. Branding involves the name and image or unique qualities that people come to recognize and associate with a company or group.
We see brands everywhere we go: on advertisements, in stores and in our homes. Where would McDonald’s be without the golden arches? Or Nike without the swoosh?
Avid blogger Skellie has written an impressive post on How to Write Posts that Set Stumble Upon on Fire for Problogger.com, explaining the significance of this social bookmarking tool and providing strategies for optimizing your blog accordingly. As she can attest, Stumble Upon is an essential source of referrals, sending loads of traffic from regular users captivated by resourceful, catchy and valuable blog posts.
Skellie is quick to point out some of the nuances that make Stumble Upon unique amid the likes of Digg and Reddit, and offers practical strategies of drawing in positive stumbles and new, loyal readers. Here is a summary of her findings, with a few tips of our own:
Read the rest of this entry »
More often than not, I get terribly frustrated when I begin to write blog posts. I can try and emulate the style of other great bloggers, and while this process can be helpful, it can end up feeling like a forced and tiring exercise. Often I get the ball rolling by starting a conversation with my peers or co-workers about my writer’s block. As we go back forth in the dialogue, we end up revealing our own personal experiences about writing and collaboratively come up with solutions for generating ideas.
The most revealing aspect about these conversations wasn’t the specific points we discussed, but the fact that we engaged in storytelling to make connections and map out our ideas. As we talk about our experiences, we actively ‘show’ our viewpoints rather than merely stating them. When we illustrate our thoughts through examples, we help our listeners relate to our subject and encourage their input, drawing the discussion down new and unexpected paths.
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