The economy crisis (we globally call it recession) in the United States have been so much affecting everyone else all around the world. Seems like some countries depend on USA in some ways.
The recession is still on. Obama hasn't eradicated it yet, right? I'm no US citizen but I look up to him to solve this global crisis.
Because of this recession we're experiencing right now, not only are offline businesses affected, but also those online! Just recently, PayPerPost bloggers have shrieked to their dismay to see that a lot of paid post opportunities have abnormally went down from around $5-10 worth offers to $0.50-1.25 worth offers.
What happened? Is this because of the recession or is there another reason for such occurrence?
Not all PPP bloggers are affected
Not all PPP bloggers feel negative about the pricing down of such offers. There are still numerous offers that go beyond the $5 line but they are either for:
Seeing this, we could tell that the ones greatly affected are:
Find Alternatives
I know you'd say, "Of course!" to this. PPP is just one of the many sites for online advertising/paid posting. There's still Blogsvertise, ReviewMe, SocialSpark and a lot more.
And if you don't want those, you could try other money making online schemes.
Final Notes
I know looking at those 50 cent worth opportunities in PayPerPost can be a bit discouraging and freaky. But just remember, PPP is not everything. The online world offers a lot of venues of making money.
And one more piece of advice, don't be a PayPerPost punk if ever PPP's ground is up again.
Photo by lilnekos
Note: Term PPP Punk courtesy of Slam Blogger
PayPerPost Punks: Punked?
Entrecard Myths Demystified
Entrecard is a fairly huge community. And just like any online community, there are different ways and paths to it. There are a lot of things to do in Entrecard and those vary much between individual Entrecard users.
And human nature it is that we make up speculations, conclusions and unwritten laws among ourselves in becoming successful in the EC feat. Some of those prove to be successful and necessary while some end up being useless ones. Let's see a couple of these so-called Entrecard myths that need some explaining.
One of the most common myths in EC. I once dropped 300 EC a day for my first blog. But now I don't as it is tiring. Anyways, exhaustively dropping 300 (and sometimes more) ECs everyday is no guarantee that your blog will get famous in an instant. Content is always king. And Entrecard rank isn't even in the royal family. What dropping 300 a day does is to increase the chances of your blog being exposed to a lot of bloggers or readers. It doesn't directly mean fame. Don't be dependent. But I don't discourage you from such actions. Drop 300 when you can. Just don't let it get along the way of some of your other priorities.
I really don't want to term this self-deception. Entrecard is not even half of the blogosphere. And your search engine readers don't come from Entrecard. I was once in the Top 50 Most Popular blogs in Entrecard for my first blog and I tell you, it is really a great experience seeing your blog side by side with the other top blogs. But let me stress this: your blog is not famous in general just because your blog is in Entrecard. Most blogs stumble and fall when they leave Entrecard. I'm telling you, be happy when your blog gets to the top in EC. But don't get confident too. That's the worst thing you can do.
True! How? Power dropping will make you drop 300 or more EC a day very fast. Think how fast hit-and-run is. Personal results are rewarding, but you may be screwing up other blogs' bounce rates. Careful, careful!
I once got fooled by this one. This is not so all the time. Although I attest that this is true for The Ad Master, I don't think all those with high prices can provide you more blog visitors from your ads. You actually have to measure if the price you paid is actually worthy of the amount of clicks you received. You can see this on the last table for the stats page of your Entrecard account. Listed on that table are the blogs where you advertised on and the credits per click, that is, the actual amount a click is given from that blog. It is better to base your ad purchasing on this than on the table that shows # of clicks. But it's all your choice. If you don't care, well, don't care about this too much.
Yes and no. Yes in a sense that you are assured that these guys do drop back. They wouldn't be there on top when they don't drop back on their droppers. But the bad thing is less exposure. Always take time to drop on other blogs using categories instead as a selector. It is always good to spread word of your blog's existence. There's a chance that a number of even those you drop less frequently would go back your blog often if they like it.
Those are actually some of the common Entrecard myths that some of us usually do treat as dogmas. Entrecard is actually a very good community. I'm saying amidst the negative sides I see and I'm being unbiased. Entrecard is very supportive. But like any other system, it is imperfect. Those myths can actually be cleared if you are being critical on your thoughts about Entrecard. The myths nor the truths behind it are not the standards. Like any other community, do what you love doing just as long as you follow their general guidelines. Other than the guidless, it is up to you. Happy dropping droppers!
Photo by Tim & Chrissie Home
A Look At Micro-Blogging Sites
Being a blogger, I've always encountered the term micro-blogging. And maybe you too. The first time I learned what micro-blogging is, I instantly realized I was already doing it.
What Is Micro-Blogging?
Micro-blogging, as the name suggests, is blogging in the micro level. To make it clearer, it is sending brief text, photo, audio or video updates through the use of a variety of means. Mobile messaging, instant messaging, e-mail or simply the web are some of the means on micro-blogging. Some people actually term it "shout outs" or simply "updates". Take note that micro-blogging can also be spelled as microblogging (in the blogosphere) but not in the dictionary. Listed next are the most popular micro-blogging platforms.
Twitter
Twitter is the number one micro-blogging site across the web. Well, that's what co-bloggers are also saying. Twitter is both a micro-blogging and social networking site. From Wikipedia, Twitter had by one measure over 3 million accounts and, by another, well over 5 million visitors in September 2008, a fivefold increase in a month.
Twitter is simply great and useful not only for bloggers but for the whole world as well. News has taken a different course nowadays and Twitter is one of those. Twitter is also available in SMS for some countries which makes it easier to send tweets (Twitter updates). Twitter also has a Japanese version which is second most popular to the English version.
You can find me in Twitter!
Plurk
Plurk is one of Twitter's big competitors though right now, Twitter is far far away from Plurk's level already. Plurk works exactly like Twitter except that updates are not listed ordinarily but comes in a cool timeline. Your plurks (Plurk updates) can also be replied by co-Plurkers thus starting a thread or conversation. In my personal opinion, Plurk is for a network of close friends while Twitter is for a network of business peers or contacts. Twitter's air is sort of serious. In Plurk, I had fun with people.
You can find me in Plurk!
Jaiku
Jaiku is another micro-blogging and social networking site. It works exactly the same as Twitter but you can ONLY join Jaiku through an existing user's invite. You need to be invited to join the network. I can't say much about Jaiku for now as nobody invited me to join such network. And Jaiku is less heard than Plurk in my observation. I guess the invite-only scheme is non-user-friendly.
Other Micro-Blogging Sites
Indenti.ca - Identi.ca is an open source social networking and micro-blogging service that works like Twitter. Looking at the site, it really looks like Twitter's child. This is based on Laconica.
Facebook - Facebook is more of a social networking site but its 'What are you doing now' feature gives it the micro-blogging touch.
MySpace - Yes, like Facebook, MySpace has micro-blogging as a side dish through its "status updates" feature.
Friendster - Like the previous two, through its "shout outs".
LinkedIn - LinkedIn is a social networking/micro-blogging site made for businessmen and professionals.
XING - XING is a social software platform and is not well-known.
MXit - Mxit is a free instant messaging software app using 3G/GPRS mobile phones. This is used in South Africa.
Final Notes
Those are some of the many micro-blogging sites that are being used by bloggers and non-bloggers alike. Bloggers use it to gain and spread information as well as to gain traffic and exposure. Non-bloggers usually use it to get updated on things.
Micro-blogging is good. I see no huge negative effects in using it. Its potentials are wide ranged. But wide as it is, we must also know how to utilize the features and services in the right and most effective manner.
A micro-blogging site is like your blog's business partner.
Photo by whiteafrican - Microblogging, Location and Emergencies
Turn Your Readers Into Your Friends
We bloggers believe that there is the art of making money online, right? Would you believe that there is also the art of making friends online? And do you think you'd become a better blogger when you combine those two? Well you may have to answer the questions together with me.
Readers and Visitors are Readers and Visitors
True. Our blog visitors and readers contribute much to our traffic. But they just remain visitors and readers when we don't try to interact with them. We all want our visitors to come often but we want it more when they comment and engage in meaningful discussions with us and with their fellow readers.
How To Make Friends With Your Blog Visitors
- Answer to their comments
- Visit their blogs and drop some sensible comments
- Find them on social communities
- Regularly engage in conversations with them whether in your blog or even in Yahoo! Messenger or somewhere else
- Treat them more as your friends than your blog visitors
- Be reasonably friendly all the time
- Meet those in your locale
Why Turn Your Readers Into Your Friends?
There are many reasons why each one of us would want to turn our readers into our friends. It all depends on what we want to do or achieve. Possibly the best effect that this could bring is that you will strengthen your online presence more. You would also get more unforced and sensible comments. From analysis, it is obvious that your friends would visit and comment more on your blog than just regular visitors who may be considered as mere passers-by. Take this real world example: who would be likely to comment on your new shirt, strangers or friends? The answer is obvious. In the blogosphere, friends will not just comment for the sake of commenting but will comment for the sake of suggesting, clarifying or affirming ideas.
Choose Your Friends & Know Your Boundaries
But like the real world, making friends don't come in a snap. It is also best to consider who to make friends with. You may end up on people shooing you away. Find those whose interests are compatible with yours - at least you won't find a hard time striking up conversations interesting to both parties. You could find those with the same niche, same age, same gender, same hobbies or whatever is the same in both of you.
When making friends with somebody online, always make sure you know your boundaries. Be careful not to be too fast in opening up personal issues. And by the way, making friends online don't only mean the professional way. You could be friends - the real meaning of friends.
Final Say
You don't have to befriend everyone. Trying to befriend everyone is not a good move. You end up befriending no one at all if that's the case. Again, it is your own preference whether to convert your visitors to your friends or let them stay as they are. We can say that in real life having many friends brings very many good things. It is time to test the theory in the online world. Just don't forget to be real all the time.
Thanks to Jesse for suggesting the post topic
Photo courtesy of ingirogiro and rabataller Continue Reading...
Top Reasons Why Subscribers Unsubscribe
Blog subscribers are just like customers. Without them, your blog's life is down. As said, it is better to have one subscriber than nothing at all.
Every subscriber matters. For new or starting blogs, an increment of one in the subscriber count is a big achievement already in a day. But for popular blogs, a constant increase in blog subscription count is what matters. But nonetheless, whether you're new or a veteran blogger, there's still the danger of losing your subscribers anytime. Would you want to see a drop in your subscriber count? Who does?
I have asked around blog owners who also are at the same time subscribers to other blogs on what usually discourages a subscriber from receiving more updates on a certain blog. To make this description short, here's a list of the common reasons why subscribers quickly unsubscribe to a blog.
The keyword is consistency. Blog about what your blog is about. If you are too inconsistent with the topics you post on your blog, chances are readers won't like it when they receive it through their readers or e-mail, more especially if they expect your posts to be about your niche most of the time.
The secret is to take it slow. Posting once a day is the least ideal you can do. Above that would now depend on the subscriber's patience. Always remember, if you have nothing good to post, don't post anything.
The cure? Well if you do paid reviews, expect nothing good about your subscription count unless you've got a number of close peers. For ads and affiliate links, moderation is the key. Don't sweat it out. Your affiliate victory would come in no time anyways.
Would you continue reading an e-mail update that says "I don't know if their here already" or "He don't know me". Well sorry, I won't.
Those are the most common reasons why subscribers would leave us bloggers. Actually all of those can be avoided or counteracted. It is within us blog owners to ensure that our subscribers are also happy about what they regularly receive from us. Subscribers unsubscribing on your first few attempts on blogging is actually common. When that happens, you could assess yourself in what aspects did you lack focus on. Through these kinds of experiences, we could actually make our blogs better than before.
Puzzle Photo
Man Photo
What to Learn From Successful Bloggers and their Blogs
We can't deny that there are already a lot of notable bloggers and their blogs that are making it big in this online industry. Bloggers like Dosh Dosh, John Chow, Carl Ocab and Darren Rowse have proven to the world that blogging is not what other people think it used to be. Blogging is a career and we have to thank these guys for imprinting that to the world's mind. Now, blogging also don't require a ripe age; Carl Ocab's the proof. He's younger than most of the bloggers yet he's more famous (and richer too). Since they and their blogs have been up and successful for some solid years and are already tested by time, there's a lot to learn from them. A lot.
Personality-wise, virtue's the man
Why are they successful? Luck? A pinch of it. But what contributes most to their achievements are two virtues: hardwork and patience.
Blogging is all about hardwork. Hardwork. Should you write it down? Of course not. It is on its own, logical. Do you think these big bloggers are slacking off during their idle times and still made it to the top? Maybe now, yes, but when their blogs were in the growing stage, I don't think so. Even if you'll rebutt that they have a lot of connections, it still needs hardwork to maintain those connections. So, remember, h-a-r-d-w-o-r-k, hardwork.
Patience, the virtue most of us lack. The virtue patience is like a slow turtle. Slow. Without patience, how would they reach the top? We know that blogging takes time and the rewards of your hardwork (yes! virtue number 1!) don't come out overnight. Some may come out months or years after. Patience, to make it short, will kindle over and over again the excited blogger in you.
On the technical-side of things
Here are some things we might learn from these big bloggers just by looking at their blogs:
Mimicry is the best form of flattery
I'm not urging you to copy and do everything that you see on these big blogs. They are theirs. You have yours. You don't have to be exactly one of them to make it far. Notice that these big bloggers' blogs are unique from each other. Yes, so make nobody a standard. The reasons why I don't only mention one blogger is that you learn best when learning from a lot. Thesis + Antithesis = Synthesis. What I meant with that philosophical statement is that one can learn from John Chow and see that Darren's idea is contradicting so in the end you actually saw both sides and learned from both sides too. Simple. You don't get one side of the things only.
So again, be original.
This post is just suggesting to everyone to make these big bloggers their guide, inspiration or mentors on their way to success. We have a lot to learn from them, I included. It's not bad to have somebody to look up to. This is one key to a healthier and meaningful blogging life. Hope to see you on top soon!
Photos by bratan and scrappyfran
Tips On Becoming the Ultimate Twitter User
Twitter, as bloggers know and notice, is a very powerful online marketing tool as well as a traffic generator. Twitter's member count is humongous! Everyone online is getting their Twitter accounts up and running already. Should you be left behind?
Here is a list of tips to guide you on becoming the ultimate Twitter user.
Tip # 1: Upload the best image you got and get a nice theme
But what image attracts more followers? Keep in mind that bloggers are still human, not robots, and most of us would prefer seeing a face rather than Barney in the profile picture or thumbnail picture. But if you are too shy to show your face, upload something relevant to your blog. An ad-like image could work. For the theme, you can choose from the default selection. Changing the background and colors is optional. Though it is always best to be unique in design.
Tip # 2: Add followers to infinity
The purpose here is to benefit from the Twitter community. What will you get with 10 followers? A little but not enough or none at all. Just keep on adding more and more followers. Find the pro bloggers (not just Darren of problogger.net) and follow them! Aside from getting their latest tweets, they could also follow you back. So when do you stop? Never? And add me of course!
Tip # 3: Follow back
Keep checking your followers list. If you see accounts who followed you but you've not followed yet, follow them immediately. This is a sign of thanks as well as something one SHOULD do when being followed. I followed Unique Blog Designs the other day then they followed me the next day. I like that.
Tip # 4: Talk, but not too much
In other ways, be active in your account. Don't be shy. You are not restricted to things very work-related only. It is usual to see some Hi's, Good morning's and anything else personal on the homepage. And they're not irritating unless you've said Hi ten times. Oh yeah, don't spam. Spammers are hated in every walk of life, Twitter included. Make tweets but don't overdo it. You may fill up another account's homepage. And you get un-followed next. Another thing, don't be foul-mouthed. Be sensitive. Some may be okay with bad words, but some just aren't. So be on the safe side of things. Always remember that young bloggers also exist.
Tip # 5: Make update tweets for your blogs
Whenever something happens in your blog, like a new post is published, tweet it. That's the purpose, to get traffic. Make your tweet contents very catchy though or else it would just pass by and get nothing.
Tip # 6: Do Tip # 2 again until you think there's nothing more or it's already enough
Once you've gained thousands of followers, you could try on relaxing on Tip # 2 already and maximize your time for Tip # 5. This is the time when Tip # 5 will be at its most effective. Of course, given that you make good tweets. Having 100,000 followers is a very very big plus and advantage. Once you have it, use it!
Final Tips: Find the followers of pro bloggers. Follow them and they'll follow back surely. And always make sure to reply to your @Replies. It's always good to make friendly connections.
Twitter is an epitome of a revolutionized online marketing strategy. We are nearing its full growth (are are we in it already?). It's always good to utilize social media tools such as Twitter to fully establish yourself and your blogs in the blogosphere. This is effective, both theoretical and actual. Tweet now!
Blogging 101: The Basic Ways Of Monetizing Your Blog
Blogging has become extremely popular all around the world. And it did not became so because it is cool or it is a fad but because people know that they can make money online with it. People will always be lustful for money and they see blogging as a potential.
But a lot of blogger-wannabes don't know where to start. Many would say that they know blogging can bring in money but most of them don't know how. Here's a list of the basic ways of earning money from your blogs:
- Pay Per Click Ads
- Paid Reviews or Paid Posts
- Affiliate Marketing
- Product or Service Selling
- Donations
- Surveys
Pay Per Click Ads
These kinds of ads will bring in money whenever they are clicked or have been viewed by a lot of people (impressions). The most popular is Google AdSense. Others are Bidvertiser, Yahoo! Publisher and ContentLinks.
Paid Reviews or Paid Posts
Probably the most popular among money making schemes through blogs. Payments can be as small as $5 but can be as high as $200 depending on your blog's statistics. However, this kind of scheme has ringed in a lot of controversies like how Google penalizes blogs doing this kind of thing. Paid posts can also bring down a blog's over all quality. The most popular and controversial among these is PayPerPost. The rest include several networks like Blogsvertise, ReviewMe and Smorty.
Affiliate Marketing
This is next to paid reviews but probably the hardest to be successful in without proper training and guidance. Affiliate marketing needs hardwork and effective skills. If you mastered this kind of marketing, you'll reap big rewards. Affiliate marketing offers are scattered everywhere and some are not localized. The most common include being an affiliate for a web hosting company (like Hostgator) and being an affiliate under Motive Interactive.
Product or Service Selling
Selling your products online can be a good thing. Internet marketing is very effective. (Visit DoshDosh.com for upper-level details) If you also have skills (programming, writing, handicraft), you could advertise yourself, your achievements, etc. through your blog. Online marketing's full growth is one reason why a lot of businesses turn online nowadays.
Donations
Sounds hilarious but possible. When you write extremely good content and the rich came upon your blog and somehow got inspired or changed or their problems solved, they would possibly donate some amount if they see a Donate widget (e.g. from PayPal). This is not really popular though.
Surveys
Some surveys like dNeero require you to post the surveys after application somewhere, and a blog is one of the options (aside from social sites). After five days of posting it live on your blog, you get an amount of money. Simple.
Those six are the ways to earn money from blogs explained in a brief or basic manner. Always remember that a poorly-established blog won't do good even on at least one of those. Always put the blog's health in top priority. Money should be second as it won't come in without the first one.
Do you know any other way to earn money from your blog? If so, please leave a comment and we'll tackle it. If you have more in-depth questions regarding the basic ways to make money through blogs, also drop by a question on the comment area.
Photo credits: jenn_jenn Continue Reading...
Entrecard Screws Up Your Blog's Bounce Rate
While many bloggers using Entrecard get so happy and proud of the thousands of traffic they receive every month, others who are keen and conscious of their blog metrics on quality get disappointed and end up leaving. Entrecard may provide a blog with 300 visitors a day but nonetheless, it would still screw up a blog’s bounce rate.
What is bounce rate?
Bounce rate (totally different to Exit Rate), used mainly for website traffic analysis, is the percentage of single-page visits in which the person left the site from the landing page. The term “bounce” is given because such actions depict a bounce in a viewer’s visit. Take for example this blog (www.bryankarl.com). The following are considered as bounce and will be added in the bounce rate:
- Clicking on a link to another blog or website e.g. clicking on “Follow me on Twitter”
- Closing the tab or the browser window
- Typing a new URL
- Clicking on the Back button
- Session timeout, usually 30 minutes i.e. being idle in this page for 30 minutes or up is considered a bounce
Entrecard’s part in the process
Entrecard is all about dropping. Sounds related, right? Dropping and bouncing. Imagine yourself as the Entrecard dropper, the floor the blog, then you drop a rubber ball, and obviously it bounces back. You then proceed to other floors. Clearly a big bounce. Because many of the Entrecard-ers care much only about dropping, dropping and more dropping, bounce rates of blogs that take part in the said community have near 100% bounce rates. Terrible. Some may argue that bounce rates depend only on blog content, usability and layout but inside the Entre-community, it’s not.
So how do we deal with this one?
I’m not suggesting we leave Entrecard. I’m not a hypocrite; this blog is also part of the Entre-community. To reduce bounce rates, find other sources of traffic where visitors will not only care much about dropping on the widget. Here comes content. Writing attractive posts with equally attractive titles could steal your EC-dropper-of-the-moment’s attention. This is a way to lower that figure (bounce rate). But never expect a low number on your bounce rate especially if you are still with Entrecard. There are just those droppers who are frenzied with dropping.
Final say
Bounce rate is a figure every blogger must be attentive to. Fluctuations in it may be good news, but a regular increase may prove to be a threat. That is why regular updating and optimizing is an essential task.
Photo by Flickr user Smile My Day Continue Reading...
5 Widgets A Blog Must Have On The Sidebar
It is stated in Google's guidelines that a clear and proper navigation and linking is one way for a blog to do good in search engine results and rankings. The sidebar is an area to practically place anything from links to humongous banners and any other thing that can be placed on that section. However, some blog owners just stuff their sidebars with any widget they encounter, not taking into consideration the ease by which their users could freely move on their blog and the usefulness/uselessness of such widgets. I am not suggesting the stripping down of your sidebars but I am openly suggesting a deeper look of the real reasons of why such widgets are there. And does your sidebar really deserve the presence of such widgets?
Here is a ranking of the Top 5 essential widgets a blog's sidebar must have. Reactions and suggestions are all welcome on the comments area. If your suggestions give very strong points, this entry will be updated to include yours.
Those 5 don't sound very special. Yes, but they are 100% essential. A blog is not a blog without those. Some blogs manage to get a huge amount of traffic even with one or more of those lacking because they offered another efficient way of linking out to their other post, and that is through a Sitemap or an Archives page. But with or without a Sitemap on its own page in the domain, those five still prove to be necessary to maintain a blog's health. Other widgets are optional and relative and it is up to the owner whether to place them or not.
Photo by Flickr user getawayplans
BKDC's First PageRank
My 2009 started with a very good news! I have to thank Google so much for the wonderful first gift that I received. I started this blog just last December 12, 2008 in hopes for a blog that is different in direction compared to my first blog, Bryan Karl | Everything Online. I was reading some blogs just moments ago and I noticed that a lot have been so happy with the PageRank update that is happening right now. So, to make the story short, Bryan Karl dot Com is now officially PageRank 1. And I'm proud and so grateful that I got it even before I reached my first month of blogging on this blog. PR 1 is better than nothing or N/A, that's why I'm so happy. So, that's my short news. I hope my readers would always come back to check on my blogs so I'd go on the left arrow and not on the right (see image). Thank you and Happy New Year!
Photo by Flickr user zaraki.kenpachi
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