How To Make Your Blog Stand Out

Posted on April 17, 2015April 19, 2015 by sitemanager

While the exact number remains unknown, it's estimated that there are more than 150 million active blogs on the Internet. This includes personal journals, political, entertainment, social, and even crossover e-commerce blogs. With so many blogs currently online -- and more being created each day -- many beginners struggle to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Why Your Blog NEEDS To Stand Out There are several reasons why you should create a unique blog rather than following in the footsteps of other bloggers. For starters, it gives visitors a reason to choose your blog over you...

Choosing a WordPress Theme

Posted on April 10, 2015April 10, 2015 by sitemanager

One of the perks of using WordPress as your blogging platform is the wide variety of free and paid templates (known as themes) it offers. Rather than attempting to hard-code a new design from scratch, you can simply download and activate your preferred theme. This allows bloggers to instantly change the look and function of their blog without messing with code. But with tens of thousands of different themes available, how do you know which one to choose? Free or Premium? The allure of a free theme may sound enticing, but it's usually best to spend the extra money and invest in a premium the...

Easy Ways To Promote Your Blog

Posted on April 8, 2015April 10, 2015 by sitemanager

Traffic is a direct indication of a blog's success. Without traffic, no one will see what you are publishing, and thus your blog will fall into the abyss where countless others lie. If you're struggling to generate traffic to your blog, check out some of the following methods of promotion listed below. Submit Your Blog To Directories Before you start submitting your blog to thousands upon thousands of directories, it's important to note that there's a difference between between high-quality and low-quality directories. Submitting your blog to the wrong directories could actually hurt your ef...

How To Manage Spam Comments In WordPress

Posted on April 3, 2015April 18, 2015 by sitemanager

One of the perks of choosing WordPress as your blogging platform is the ability to engage directly with your visitors. WordPress has a built-in commenting feature which allows visitors to share their thoughts on posts/articles. While you can always disable this feature, it's usually best to keep it turned on. Each time a visitor leaves a comment, it creates unique content for your blog -- and search engines love fresh, unique content. Unfortunately, though, WordPress also attracts comment spam. You may notice generic comments like "Great blog, I'll grab your RSS" or "This was a wonderful bl...

Why Self-Hosted Blogs Are Better

Posted on April 1, 2015April 3, 2015 by sitemanager

One of the decisions you'll have to make when starting a blog is whether to use a hosted or self-hosted platform. Two of the most popular blogging content management systems (CMS) -- WordPress and Blogger -- offer both of these options. While many beginners automatically assume hosted is the best option, spending the extra time and resources to set up a self-hosted blog will prove far more beneficial in the long run. Custom Domain You can always tell if a blog is hosted or self-hosted by looking at its domain name. Hosted blogs are restricted to subdomains, such as yoursite.wordpress.com...

Can You Really Make Money Blogging?

Posted on March 27, 2015April 3, 2015 by sitemanager

The short answer to this question is yes, you can make money blogging. But it takes more than just throwing up a WordPress site and a couple of short articles to produce any sizable income. Blogging is highly competitive industry, with millions of active blogs currently online. If you want to succeed, you must differentiate yourself from the rest while providing something of real value to your readers. So, how can you make money blogging? Dozens of different opportunities exist, one of which is writing blog posts for high-traffic blogs in exchange for a flat per-post fee. It's not uncommon ...

Google Publishes SEO Advice For April 21 Deadline

Posted on March 27, 2015April 3, 2015 by sitemanager

Google is expected to roll out a major change to its search ranking algorithm on April 21, 2015. The update, dubbed "Mobilegeddon" by some, will focus on improving the quality of Google's index by raising the rankings for mobile-friendly websites (hence the name). Google has taken a keen interest in mobile compatibility lately, encouraging websites to update their websites and blogs so they are compatible for smartphone users. To better prepare webmasters for the upcoming Mobilegeddon, Google has published a guide on common mobile mistakes. The Mountain View company first tweeted the guide ...

Why Small Business Owners Should Blog

Posted on March 20, 2015March 31, 2015 by sitemanager

Many people assume blogging is only useful for personal purposes, sharing with world your political views or movie critiques. While there are literally thousands of blogs that fall under these categories, blogging can also be used to promote and grow a small business. To learn more about the benefits of blogging for small businesses, keep reading. Builds Authority Arguably, one of the greatest benefits of blogging for small businesses is the simple fact that it helps to build authority and credibility. Your target audience will read your blog's content, at which point they will view you ...

Common Blogging Pitfalls and How To Avoid Them

Posted on March 18, 2015July 6, 2015 by sitemanager

Thinking about starting a blog? Thousands of people make the decision to launch their first blog every month, but only a small fraction succeed. This week we're going to take a look at some of the common pitfalls of blogging and how to avoid them. Generic Cookie-Cutter Template If you're serious about blogging, you should invest in a custom template (or theme for WordPress sites). Using the same web design as hundreds of other blogs sends the wrong message to your target audience. Readers will view your blog as being unprofessional and generic, and they may even mistake it for another bl...

5 Ways To Improve Your Blog’s Readership

Posted on February 27, 2015March 5, 2015 by sitemanager

#1) Social Media If you aren't publishing links to your new blog posts on social media, you're missing out on one of the easiest ways to attract new readers. Facebook alone boasts more than 1.3 billion monthly active users, making it an excellent source of traffic, and readers, for your blog. Whenever you publish a new blog post, try to get into the habit of immediately publishing a link to the URL on your social media accounts. #2) Syndicate Content Another simple way to improve your blog's readership is to syndicate your content. Syndication basically involves publishing either part...

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