How to Increase Your Blog’s Subscribers

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The number of subscribers a blog has is a direct indication of its success. The more people who follow your blog, the more traffic you'll receive and the more conversions you'll make. But how exactly do you entice visitors to follow your blog? Host a Sweepstakes There's no easier way to attract new subscribers to your blog than by giving away a free gift. If you run a website about dogs, for instance, perhaps you could host a sweepstakes where visitors subscribe to your blog for a chance to a win a free dog bed or leash and collar. The monetary value of this gift is minimal, but because i...
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6 Things to Consider When Choosing WordPress Themes

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If you use WordPress as your blogging platform, you have an almost limitless number of WordPress themes from which to choose. Many are free, and are fine, but you might want to consider these things before you decide which theme to use for your blog. Is It Responsive? Given the fact that more people now use mobile devices to access the Internet than traditional desktop PCs, it's essential that bloggers choose a mobile-friendly theme. Thankfully, there are hundreds of mobile-friendly "responsive" themes available for WordPress. Responsive themes use a combination of CSS3 media queries and p...
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GoDaddy Announces Plugin Program for WordPress

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GoDaddy has announced a new plugin program for the WordPress content management system (CMS). The new program is designed to improve visibility and enhance blogging among WordPress users. While the exact number remains unknown, some experts estimate there to be more than 40,000 WordPress plugins currently online. These plugins add a plethora of features to WordPress blogs and websites, such as the ability to define custom Meta tags, automatic sitemap generation, automatic insertion of relevant links, SEO keywords, and more. While most of these features can be hard-coded directly into ...
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How to Find Awesome Guest Bloggers for Your Blog

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Still writing each and every post for your blog by hand? Then perhaps you should connect with guest bloggers. Allowing others to produce content for your blog will free up resources and time that could be spent elsewhere, such as marketing your blog. But where exactly do you find guest bloggers? Third-Party Broker Sites One of the easiest ways to find guest bloggers is to use a third-party broker site, such as MyBlogGuest.com. These sites connect guest bloggers with blog owners who are in need of content. After setting up an account, you can browse through a list of guest bloggers, choosi...
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Microsoft’s ‘Live Writer’ Blogging Tool Now Open Source

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Just in time for the new year, Microsoft's ten year-old blogging tool Windows Live Writer is now open source. The company announced earlier this month that it was releasing a variant of the what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) blogging tool under an MIT open-source license. Because it's been several years since Live Writer was last updated, developers agreed that making it open source will allow users to update it as needed. What is Windows Live Writer? Windows Live Writer was launched in 2006. After Microsoft had acquired Onfolio, it rebranded its blogging tool as Windows Live Write...
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Is Your Blog Prepared for the Next Penguin Update?

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It's been more than a year since Google released a new Penguin update, leaving many webmasters and search marketing experts to believe it had ended. However, there's new evidence indicating that Google is planning to launch a new round of Penguin updates within the next 12 months. If you are a blogger, you should take this time to prepare for Penguin. What is Penguin? In addition to being a cute black-and-white, aquatic bird, Penguin is the name of a ranking algorithm update used by Google. The Mountain View company launched Penguin 1.0 back in 2012, affecting an estimated 3.1% of all sea...
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Why Your Blog Fails to Generate Revenue

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Among the most common reasons for starting a blog is to make money. Of course, this should come as little-to-no surprise given their near-limitless earnings potential. Michael Arrington's TechCrunch blog, for instance, is believed to generate nearly $15,000 per day in advertisements, while Huffington Post generates nearly $30,000 per day. If you're struggling to turn a profit with your blog, you should first check to make sure you aren't making one of the following mistakes. Ads are Poorly Blended Ads that "stand out" from a website or blog's native content are less likely to be clicked. Thi...
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The Do’s and Don’ts of Moderating Blog Comments

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One of the many reasons why blogs are such a powerful SEO tool is because they encourage visitors to leave comments. Each time a visitor leaves a comment -- assuming it's a legitimate comment -- it creates fresh new content for the blog, which search engines love. However, there are a few things you should know about the do's and don'ts of moderating blog comments. Do: Moderate Comments for Approval Wouldn't it be great if every comment left on your blog was legitimate and came from an actual human visitor? Well, this isn't the case, as a large portion of comments are generated from autom...
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Blogging Trends to Watch in 2016

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Blogging is an ever evolving entity, so it should come as no surprise that we can expect to see some new trends in 2016. Let's take a look: Increased Frequency of Posts There's a growing trend in the blogging stratosphere towards more frequent postings. According to a study of 1,000 bloggers conducted by Orbit Media, more than half of all bloggers are publishing at least one post per week, some of whom publish two or even three times per week. The study also found that 6% of bloggers are publishing more frequently than they did just one year ago -- a trend that will likely continue in 2016...
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WordPress 4.4 Now Live

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The world's most popular blogging platform and content management system (CMS) WordPress just received a major facelift. WordPress 4.4 - New Features Earlier this month, developers released WordPress 4.4, introducing a new theme, along with numerous features, improvements, and bug features. Whether you currently use WordPress or are thinking about using it, you should take note of the recent changes made to version 4.4. Dubbed "Clifford," in remembrance of the late jazz musician Clifford Brown, WordPress 4.4 places an emphasis on speed and responsiveness. Twenty Sixteen Theme Among the ...
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