Do You Know How Often Your Readers Want You to Post?

Have you ever asked yourself this question: “How often should I post?”

You probably have, maybe you came to the right conclusion, maybe you didn’t. In this post we are going to get through a couple of points which could change your way of writing blog posts and how many.

Quality over Quantity

Would you rather read 70 short and very bad articles each week, from a blog or 7 kick-ass articles each week?

Now not everybody can produce 7 kick-ass articles each week, and some articles are better than others.

In general you should find a balance where you feel you can provide value to people and still produce more than 3 articles each week. The length of the post doesn’t matter, but don’t publish an unfinished article. You need to get every single point written, before you hit publish.

You just need to think of it, how you would like yourself to have it. If you can publish 14 kick-ass articles each week, I think that you should stay with a maximum of 7-9 articles each week. Of course depending on your niche, but in most niches 7-9 kick ass articles will be just fine.

If you can produce those 14 kick-ass articles then I recommend you to write 4 guest posts each week and then schedule some of next week’s articles. If you are capable of doing that, you really are cool. I should be the first to admit, that I can’t do that.

I am not creative enough to come up with 14 different topics, maybe if I tried I could, but then I would easily get burned out, but again, if you can do that, then go for it. To publish 4 guest articles each week, really is powerful. You will be able to get something from those articles, you send to the blog owners.

So try to find a balance where you will not get burned out, or where the quality of what you write will drop. I think 6-8 posts is just fine. That is how I am writing, weekly.

It’s Up To You

That’s the truth. You decide how many times you want to post each week. The more frequent you post the better it is for building traffic and a better Google Rank, but what do readers really want?

Nobody can read 1000 words everyday if it is boring posts, if your posts are good then publish 1000 word articles each day, but you will at some point find it hard if readers skip your blog posts, because you simply post to many articles.

So finding the balance between you and your readers is probably what you need to do. You can try and explore what other people in your niche are doing. How frequent do they post to their blog?

Do you think by slowing a bit, down they would get more comments? Or do they need to post more frequent?

There is no exact “formula” you can rely on, it is completely different from every niche. Some niches just want loads of information, news etc (like the tech niche), while other niches are aiming for more story telling and so on – more experience based than news based.

So it depends on your niche, how often you should post.

How You Write a Great About Me Page

What Exactly is An About Me Page?

An about me page is a simple page, which explains who you are, what your blog is about. My about me page is one of the most frequent visited locations on my blog and 70% of all my visits is new visits. This proves that new readers want to know more about you.

An about me page is much like exchanging business cards, you want the most important things to be there.

What Should an About Me Page Include?

You know how to write an about me page, it is like every other blog post, this is just about yourself.

• Show your elevator pitch, an elevator pitch is an overview of what your blog is about. It should be quite sort, though it can be longer than a normal elevator pitch. You decide.
• Information that interest the persons reading, it should be something inspiring about you.
• Your goals, you could include your goals with this blog “help someone” or somthing like that.
• Who you are. A picture of yourself, links to social media profiles, etc. stuff that can help people know more about you.
• State your expertise. Show what you really are interested in, what you have acheived.

You could make your about me page in a “interview-style” – so you have a person who is asking you a couple of questions, that could be a great way to make an about page. Also a new way of doing an about me page and a funny way to do it.

Making Your About Me Page Fancy

I have few ways to make your about me page looks more like you are an authority and just make it look better in general.

• Make headings and sub-headings to make it scannable. Like “Who Is Mikkel?”, “What Is The Purpose With This Blog?” etc. just make it easy to read.
• Include testimonials, if you include testimonials people will know that other people recommend you. Somehow shows some kind of social proof.
• Photos with the big guys. This really doesn’t mean anything, but if you have a picture with you and one of the big guys in your niche, then put them up. That is also some kind of social proof.
• Link to blogs you like to follow and in that way they might feel obligated to link back to you, but they really aren’t. So don’t be mad if they don’t link back to you.

If you include a few of these things you should have a quite good about me page. Just review yours if you have already gotten one.

How to Become a Good Teacher

The first thing I’ll tell you, is probably the most important thing you will hear today. If you take nothing away from this blog post (and you better take a lot more away from this blog post.) I tell you that teaching isn’t about what you know, it’s about how you lead.

And of course you are all leaders here.

You are leading your students (blog readers) the path to information and independence. And that’s the path that only you knows.

There’ll be days where you aren’t in the mood of teaches your blog readers, especially in the start. You will feel like you lose the control of your blog.

When you aren’t in the mood of writing, (which you probably will be someday) then it’s okay to take a break. For one of more days, but you should just be aware of that it can affect your blog’s traffic. That’s probably the only consequence of not writing everyday.

If you write everyday then your blog’s development will be much faster than if you were

It’s all about habits. When you write blog posts, like science, instincts can be used. So listen to them. Understand what they are telling you.

Habits are so important in blogging, I have talked about that before. But really if you are going into an awesome period where you are just writing like crazy, you know? When you are in a mood like that, then don’t stop, promise me that. Just keep writing.

Ultimately, what characterizes any good teacher – every good leader, is his faith in himself. With trust comes the confidence of others. Of course it also helps to be right

How to Write a Great Opening Line

Do you want to make sure that your entire blog post gets read?

The headline is definitely the most important thing for attracting readers to your blog posts. Definitely the most important factor, when it comes to getting people to read your blog posts, or just considering reading your blog post.

While that isn’t the only thing you want to focus on, when you are getting people to read your blog post. I believe that opening lines is and will always be the second most important  thing, when it comes to this. The opening line’s purpose is to get people to read the next lines.

There are lots of ways you can write a great opening line. I will only demonstrate a few of them, the ones that I find most relevant.

Arouse the Curiosity with a Question

We could start out with a question-type of opening line. The question could be anything, there is different ways of lay out questions for your opening lines.

Photo by Apoxapox

1st Type of Question to Ask: Ask a question where everyone would answer ‘yes’.

That’s a technique lots of copywriters have used for a long time and it works. An example of a question could be: “Do you want to be an a-list blogger?”

If the reader answers “yes” to this question, then he is wants to be an a-lister (simply). This means the reader wants to read on, because you have his attention.

With this opening line, you will get the attention of all those bloggers who is wannabe be a-listers. The thing is, your opening line should have much relevance to your headline. thus, this opening line would go very well with the title “how to become an a-list blogger?” – it would be perfect, because the reader can relate to this opening line.

I think you have the general picture of how to make a “yes” question as an opening line.

2nd Type of Question to Ask: Ask a question that makes people wonder what the answer is. Make them interested in reading beyond the opening.

This is yet another technique that people in copywriting have used for quite a long time. A great example of a question would be: ‘How did I Jump From a PR1 to PR8?’

Start the Post With a Quote

A quote can be very effective, no matter where it is on the post. When the right quote it chosen it is deadly powerful in the opening lines. If you use other people’s words you could build some authority or credibility around your blog post.

It is very hard to find a matching quote for a post, especially for an opening line. It’s much easier to build a post around a quote, than to find a quote to fit around your blog post. If you want to have a quote as an opening line, I would go out and find a quote and write a blog post around that specific quote.

Statements

I have “studied” a couple of blogs, which I read daily. Blogs on how to blog and a totally irreverent view on blogging.

When I looked at their opening lines I saw the same thing, over and over again. I am definitely not saying that, that is wrong (though variation is good). I saw statements in almost every single post, and I know that most of my opening lines is statements too.

Statements is very powerful (when used correct) and really lead the reader on and make them read the entire blog post.

What I would do to make the statements much more powerful than some of them are now.

• Make it sound conversational
• Deliver it with confidence

That would be the two main things to improve your statement opening lines.

Solve a Problem, By Identifying It

You should begin to see the power and importance of identifying the reader’s need or solve a problem. It is a key for you, if you want to write a killer blog post.

Of course you should never (ever) tell them how they solve the problem in the opening line, but you should tell them, that you will solve the problem later. If they want to solve the problem, then they will most definite read on.

What Was Your Most Effective Opening Line?

I have shared my experience, I’m still on my journey. Everybody is. That means that there is methods that works better, or equal. I really would like you to make a good opening line, the best one from you so far?

Learn How You Should Improve Yourself

Yesterday when I was trying to fall a sleep after I had chatted for, too long, with some bloggers then I thought. “How Can I Improve Myself Online?”

I figured out that I could improve, lots of things. The first thing I did was that I noted it on my iPod Touch, so that I was able to remember it today, when I woke up today I checked my iPod Touch and then I wrote my “schedule” for today. What I needed to do, and how, now these things is done.

I have made some changes on my email list and I really think that I have done the right things. I have removed the report completely from my email list and I will start to write some more quality content to the subscribers in the hope of new and better relationships.

So if you aren’t subscribed then you should subscribe now, I feel like this is going to be big. So subscribe, my biggest recommendation, for you today!

What Can You Do?

I think you should do the same. Brainstorm, what can you do better? When you get the result, then do it. Instead of just knowing it. You really should take action. Action is a key when you are doing anything online.

It could mean a lot to your business, to make some major changes. I have done some changes, you know here and there. I think if everybody did stuff like this every month, then they will be much more successful, because they will be able to improve a blog much better. Because they sit down and just think of some problems. “What Do I Want to Improve?”

So do a monthly “what can I do better”-thing, with yourself and your business.

You could also ask someone else “What do you think I could do better?”

If you think everything is perfect, then ask someone else. Not everybody know how they can improve. So they have to ask someone else. If they are honest with you, they will always be able to think of something you can improve.

You shouldn’t, of course, just go change what they’re saying, you should look honest at what he/she is saying, if they are right, then do the change. If not, then don’t change anything. Really be critical, here.

Sometimes it will help if you ask two or more persons and then they will tell you, because if they are telling you the same thing, then they’re probably right. I think that this is a key point, if you ask them and get their opinion, of course their honest opinion, then you will be able to change something.

Try do it and take your time, thinking of it, It is important that you are not making any hasty changes. Think them through, before taking action. – If you still can’t find any bad things about your blog, post a comment and I will happily do a case study for you.

If you want to see the refocus of my email list, subscribe to my list:

New Stuff on DaneBlogger: Case Studies

From now on we are starting on something new here on DaneBlogger.

What we are starting with is case studies. I will do a case study for your blog for free, really, for free.

Your blog doesn’t need to be a blog about blogging. Actually I would appreciate if I get some other blogs than just blogging blog. I’d rather go for a cooking blog or something.

The only thing you need to be aware of, is that I’m going to review your blog. The review can be good and bad at same time. You will be aware of your rights and wrongs.

So when you are requesting a case study it will be focusing most on the wrongs, to tell the people what you really do wrong, so they can do that better. Of course you will also be told what you do right. But definitely the wrongs the most and how you can improve that.

What Exactly is a Case Study

I define a case study as a way for others to see how a blog could be improved. Much like a review for a blog, but just focusing on how to make the blog better, than it already is, that’s the short definition.

So that’s also how you could expect the case study to be. I will upload the case study, to a video sharing site, so it’s going to be video, so I can explain what I really mean and so on.

I have already gotten two blogs to be case studied, so I have some in my queue. I will not take blogs to case study, without the permission from the blog owner. I wouldn’t mind if someone case studied my blog, but I think others wouldn’t like that.

When You Submit a Case Study

When you submit a case study, should you either use the contact form, Twitter or Skype, to contact me. I have a few questions I’ll ask you.

Those are:

What are you traffic sources?

Example of an answer: 70% search engines, 20% referral, 10 % direct (this answer can be found in Google Analytics)

Would you like to make money from your blog?

Example of an answer: yes, $300 a month.

I don’t need to know how many visits you get, it’s okay if you include that. I wont mention the amount of traffic if you don’t like, but if you mention the amount, please tell me that I can’t tell it in “public”

You can tweet me @DaneBlogger, or use the contact form here, if you want my Skype just ask me on Twitter and you’ll get!

Have an awesome weekend!

What is RSS?

RSS is a simple technology that delivers changing web-content (e.g. blog articles), so it can be downloaded and presented to users. RSS really is global. You don’t need a computer to access a RSS feed, you can access a RSS feed on a iPhone, a regular Sony Ericsson cellphone. Email newsletters can easily be automated with RSS feeds.

For Whom?

How can you benefit from using RSS? RSS kinda solves a problem. It makes it much more easier to follow lots of blogs. So when using RSS you are getting a lot more productive. You save your time, because you don’t need to visit each blog manually, you can just subscribe to their feed.

What You Need to Read a RSS Feed

A feed reader software allow you to read various rss feeds, by subscribing to a feed the software will be able to display the content of the blog, even if you do not visit it.

There is lots of feed readers on the Internet. Some as desktop application some as web applications. For a desktop application I recommend Amphetadesk, it’s easy to use and manage. For a web-based application I (as many others) recommend Google Reader. It’s probably the most used web-based application.

Once you have a feed reader, you can start finding blogs that syndicate their content through RSS feeds. Almost every single blog, has a RSS feed. Every Blogpost, WordPress, TypePad (almost every platform) is capable of delivering content through RSS. Also my blog, you can subscribe to my blog with this link.

How do You Set up Your RSS Feed?

So if your blog is a WordPress blog, no worries. You already have a RSS feed. You can go to your RSS feed by adding /feed/ to your domain name.

So mine will be http://daneblogger.com/feed/. Yours will be http://yourdomain.com/feed/.

In May 2007 Google bought a service called “FeedBurner.” It’s a service that gives your feed another location+you can watch how many subscribers you’ve got. The best part of FeedBurner is, if you want to move your blog to another location (new domain etc.) you can change your Feedburner feed to take content from another RSS feed.

So you can track your subscribers and easily move your blog location and still not lose all your RSS subscribers. I highly recommend setting up FeedBurner.

Actually it is not that hard as it sounds, just log in to Feedburner using a Google ID (something@gmail.com) then add your site. To get as many subscribers as possible, you need a WordPress plugin to redirect the old RSS feed url to Feedburner. Done easily get the Feedburner plugin from here.

How to Install Feedburner Plugin

1. Dowload the plugin (from the link above) and place file, “FeedBurner_FeedSmith_Plugin.php” into the plugin directory “wp-content/plugins/” (using FTP)
2. Activate the plugin, from the plugin tab.
3. To start the configuration of the plugin click on Setting (tab) and then FeedBurner .
4. Fill out the forms and then click Save

This really will help you track how many readers you have, included those who are subscribing. Anyway, you can subscribe to my feed by clicking the link or on the image.

Setting Your 2010 Goals Using Free Software

Well yesterday, I thought I really needed a plan. A very detailed plan, so I started mind-mapping.

I first tried to do it in an Excel worksheet, which wasn’t any success, so I tried to make it happen in a free mind-mapping program, called FreeMind, its open source which means that the source code is available for download, so everybody can see the code of the program, in that way everybody can benefit from it.

Well I started and figured out that, if I wanted this complete plan over the first quarter of 2010 I needed to be clearer that just some marketing strategies, and then blog commenting. I needed which blogs and so on.

So I explored this free mind-mapping tool and I found a way to make notes to every cloud, which gives us the opportunity to place a very detailed plan of every strategy. By that we can really follow those steps every single day, it really gives us som great opportunities.

The Importance

You should sit down and compile some goals ASAP (I think it’s like first time I use those words in my life ), if you get your goals fixed you know what you’re aiming for in 2010 and how you should accomplish those goals.

I think it’s important that you also, write how you are going to do your goals, because it may not, be that obvious when you read it, as it was when you wrote it.

So when you have written your goals, you’ll be ready to conquer the blogosphere, or at least something like that!

You really need to get those goals, it’ll help you stay motivated and focused also make a cloud for some posts, that you think need some more thought. I have such posts, normally my most viewed posts, but I also take my time for thinking about them.

In the end it really is important.

Typical Goals, That Works

I have made a list, of goals that I use myself and that I know could be one of your future goals.

• Reach 1000+ rss subscribers
• Get a raise in traffic by 15%+ (not below)
• Write an ebook (eventually sell it – if sell it then at least 100+ copies)
• Post at least 100+ entries (not below)
• Post at least 2000+ updates on Twitter (definitely not below, should be like 10,000+)

That’s like at least some goals you should consider to try to achieve. Well I think that the Twitter one is quite, hard, because you never know when Twitter is going off the trend – and therefore will not be such a strong marketing tool as it is right now.

When you have a goal, let’s say the Twitter goal. 10,000 tweets for a year. How many tweets is that each day? That’s 27 tweets each day, that should be quite possible, if you are on Twitter just a bit.

But just remember do not try to locate some goals that you are not able to achieve. Even though almost everything is achievable.

You can download FreeMind from here, it’s available on Mac, Linux and Windows of course.

How to Brand Your Brand

The first live show/webcast I held, was about the topic ‘personal branding’ and well I forgot to hit the record button, which means that it was only the viewers who actually got those “secrets” so, I am now going to share frankly everything I said on the live show and maybe even more than just that.

Personal branding is your name in my case Mikkel or DaneBlogger, let’s say that I want to get the name DaneBlogger out, so when someone is seeing the name “DaneBlogger” they will instantly think of me.

When you have a brand it will:

• Deliver the purpose of your blog, clearly (because people know who you are)
• Give you a quite nice level of credibility (simply because people know who are)
• It certainly, gives some user loyalty and will increase your readership

Stand Out From the Crowd

One way to do that is to stand out from the crowd. Write some unique, which none have ever seen on the web before. That’s really “stand out from the crowd” alike – but the web has been around for a quite while, so that’s quite difficult, to be honest.

But it isn’t impossible, if you get a nice idea, or something like that. It’s quite rational, if you stand out from the crowd in that way, people will link to your content, because it’s innovation, especially if it also is inspiring content. Then people will love to link to it.

Build Relations Every Single Day

If you build relationship with people on Twitter, Facebook, you name it. You will much more likely establish a brand online, because people know who you are. Of course you can not have a relationship with every blogger in your niche (if you can, it probably is too narrow)

But when you build relations every single day, you will get quite lot known in your niche. And therefore people who knows you well, will link to you. Simple as that.

Advertising

People will follow you on Twitter, be a fan of yours on Facebook  or simply subscribe to your newsletter. When they do that, you will be able to promote your blog, your brand etc.

Of course you should not go and promote the heck out of your blog. But once in a while just do it. It wont hurt unless that’s the only thing you do.

So just promote your blog and brand once in a while on all these social profiles, newsletter etc. That’ll help your brand radically!

Take care!

Alternative Blogging Promotions – 3rd Live Show

Yesterday (18th of December, 8 pm EST) I was online 3rd time with my live show. I am talking about alternative ways of promoting your blog.

Hope you enjoyed this show! If you liked it, please subscribe to my “Email Reminder for DaneBlogger’s Live Show” You will only receive an email the day before I go live and then some hours before and no more emails.

It’s not loaded with anything else than short reminders. No promotion for anything else than the show.