5 Smart Blogging Tips

How To Choose Your Blog’s Domain Name and Hosting

The success of your blog depends greatly on your choice of web hosting and your blog’s domain name as your domain name describes your business.  Though free domains are tempting, it’s better to get a paid domain for your blog as they are a more reliable option that makes you work harder at establishing your blog as you had paid for its domain.

Choose a domain name that has something related to your business to help people easily recognize and remember the niche of your business. Your domain name should be short, clear and memorable so that people can easily remember them to type into the browser while looking for your business. You can use your name as your domain name if you run a personal business as it makes it easier for you to build your online image.

It’s always better to choose and use a search engine friendly domain name so that you can compete with others to get a place in the top page search engine rankings. While choosing your web host, it is important you choose one that supports the script you use in your blog lest you end up spending more time correcting technical issues instead of blogging.

Sign up only with reliable hosts who have a competent customer support crew to help you, so that you don’t end up wasting time fixing any problems you may have. Choose a host based on your blogging needs, preferences and the intended purpose of your blog as some people use blogs as a personal journal while others use it to make money.

If you don’t know much about coding, it’s better to choose hosting companies that offer simple and no set-up blog interfaces. With the help of these tips, you will be able to choose the right domain name and hosting services that will help project your blog’s online presence.

How To Choose A Niche For Your Blog In 3 Simple Steps

Learning how to choose a niche for your blog is one of the most important things that you can do to get your blog setup for long term growth and success.

The good news is that this can quiet often be done in 3 quick and easy steps as we shall see.

Step 1 – It is important that you choose a topic that you are interested in because you either already know a lot about it or it should be a topic that you have a strong interest in learning about The reason for this is because to be successful blogging you will need to spend a lot of time immersed in your topic.

This could involve doing keyword research and writing articles for your niche or it could be doing link building by making forum or blog post with helpful comments that drive traffic back to your blog. This is why it is very important to learn how to choose a niche for your blog before you make the mistake of choosing a niche solely for the purpose of making money.

Step 2 – Next because we do live in a money based society, you should do some market and keyword research to make sure that there is a large enough buyers market with low enough competition, for it to be profitable for you.

Step 3 – Look for a way that you can be a unique and valuable contributor to this niche. It is important that you identify what will set you and your blog apart from all of the other blogs currently online This could be something as basic as your commitment to high quality information or your ability to tell things in an interesting and exciting new way.

By starting with these 3 simple steps you will develop a very good understanding of how to choose a niche for your blog.

 

How to Position Yourself As the Expert Using Your Blog

Have you ever wondered how you could make yourself stand out as THE expert in your niche?

Some people think it’s all about using long, difficult words to impress their readers with their immense knowledge.

It’s not.

In fact, studies have shown that readers in general see people, who write in a way that is hard to understand, as stupid. If you can explain a difficult topic with simple words, you will show your expertise in a way that your readers will appreciate.

But there is more to it. Can you imagine going to a lawyer and ask him a tough juridical question about an incident that is only likely to happen once in 1,000 years, and then get an answer straight away without him consulting books or other lawyers?

If a lawyer behaved like that, would you see him as a true expert?  Or rather like someone who has a very fragile ego, and who feels threatened by others? It’s a strange fact that by using other people’s opinions on your blog, you stand out as the expert, because it shows that you dare to face opponents. Using other people’s opinions on your blog in between your text has a name. It’s called “curation”.

One way to use curation is to first find a topic, you have a great deal of knowledge about. Pick one issue within that topic. Let’s say your blog is about dog training, and you want to stand out as THE expert when it comes to stopping your dog from barking. Find quotes or videos that agree with your way of training a dog, and find opposing videos or quotes.

Write your blog post like you would normally do, using simple words, and then point to opinions who are contrary to yours, and tell your readers why you disagree. Then add the opinions that second your point of view, and tell your readers why you agree with them.

Summon it all up with a conclusion. A blog post written that way will position yourself as the expert, especially if you write a lot of other blog posts about similar topics.

How To Form JVs With Other Bloggers

Nowadays, having a blog JV with other bloggers is crucial for increasing your “mini- internet empire”.

A good JV with other bloggers means “you’ll promote my stuff and I’ll promote yours.” Before finding bloggers to form JVs with, you should see if your blog is professional enough and has a relatively good PR and Alexa Ranking.

Find other bloggers on Google that are willing for a JV and send them a message or leave them a comment on their post, asking if you two could collaborate. Each blogger is specialized in a field, so try to mix up with other bloggers that know better than you what to do in the field you are a beginner.

Collaborating with other bloggers is the easiest and the fastest path to success, because two or more are powerful than just one. You should have at least one expert blogger on article marketing, who can easily increase your traffic and sell your products or services to the “online eager customers” You need to find trustful bloggers to form JVs with, people who won’ t change your password whenever they want or even worser won’ t steal your work to sell it to other bloggers.

Forming  JVs With Other Bloggers is a much easier and faster way to learn, especially as you have expert bloggers to teach and mentor some tips you don’ t know yet. And lastly, keep in touch with your blogger mates and try to know them personally, making them your close friends.

 

How To Beat Writers Block For Bloggers

After you’ve blogged for a while you can start to feel that things are getting a little stale, and you need to figure out how to beat writers block.  You may have heard about famous writers who had no trouble churning out a couple of masterpieces but all of a sudden couldn’t get a word on paper.

For a blogger, it can be tough coming up with fresh ideas, and the advice for prose writers with a blockage is good for bloggers too, but it doesn’t go far enough – learn to relax your mind, keep a dream journal, and so on.  Bloggers have special tools at their disposal, special talents, and special needs, so here are some tips on how to rid yourself of blogger’s block.

You should keep a list of topics and themes in a nearby notebook or on the computer so you can jot down ideas as they occur to you – you don’t want that great niche notion to slip away by clicking on the next link and forgetting it.  Let your mind and mouse wander through your favorite blogs and forums for the latest trends, hot topics, and new ideas – but try going to new sites too.

Amazon’s bestseller lists are a potential treasure trove of ideas – scan the lists in all kinds of categories, not just the ones you’re familiar with, for new products – you never know what you’ll find.  Once you know how to do keyword research (and don’t use just your favorite – try out others), you can use it as an idea tool – search on a broad topic or concept and scan the results for a mental reboot, taking notes of course. One way for all you slow typists out there to break through a dry spell is to use voice recognition software to transcribe yourself talking, or use the old-fashioned method of recording and transcribing – some bloggers talk faster than they type.

Finally, if you’re really stuck, go to a real bookstore, get a good cup of coffee or tea, and scan the shelves and titles for new subjects, and twists on old ones – after all, those writers probably had writer’s block at some point too.