Better Blogging

One Animal Trait That Will Keep Your Blog From Extinction - Mimicry

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:26:50 +0000

First, to set the tone for the rest of this post, I would like to start with a definition of mimicry from AccessExcellence.org that I want the reader to keep in mind as they read on:

“Mimicry is one of several anti-predatory devices found in nature. Specifically it is a situation in which one species called the mimic resembles in color, form, and/or behavior another species called the model. In so doing, the mimic acquires some survival advantage.”

There are many examples in nature where you will see mimicry, one notable example being the Monarch and Viceroy butterflies, where one mimics the looks of the other butterfly because it is known to taste horrible and therefore avoids being eaten by predators…. Read more (via Problogger)

Banned by AdSense

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:24:56 +0000

Getting banned on your AdSense account by Google is by far a serious issue and every blogger’s nightmare.Most of the time, Google has a valid case in suspending the account, as the webmasters tries to ‘game’ the system by clicking their own ads, or using bots/script to inflate in their daily earnings

The are of course horror stories of how a blogger AdSense account was banned, but it wasn’t the blogger fault when in fact it was other people ’sabotaging’ the account by clickbomb for example

Well of course, they’re not at fault and I’m sure by bringing your case to Google Support, they will expedite a solution

I’ve been with Google AdSense for quite sometime now and my first advice for newcomers to AdSense is to read their policies and terms of condition

Read it and in general most of the time you won’t get into any trouble with your account

Sometimes people get banned over reasons they thought was alright to do

Below itself is some of the measures I took and some recommendations if you want to safeguard your precious AdSense account. … Read more (via Sha Money Maker)

10 Tips for Novice Bloggers

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:23:25 +0000

Recognize that any deep thoughts that might wander into your posts won’t draw as many visitors as blogs featuring cute kittens.
Ruthlessly manage your time.
Write well but don’t imagine that you’re competing with Tolstoy.
Be kind. It wears well…. read more from Execupundit

Color Theory Primer Part 2 - Color Harmony and Context

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:21:32 +0000

The second part of the Brandcurve Color Theory Primer will discuss color harmony and context. In part one, I talked about the color wheel, which provided a basic understanding of primary, secondary and tertiary colors. In part two, I’ll discuss how those colors can be used together to create “harmonious” designs and visuals.

Color harmony theory tells us that there are certain colors on the color wheel that will look good together. There are three main ways to choose colors for your brand color palette that will look harmonious together…. Read more (via Brand Curve)

Blog Marketing and Home Businesses

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:20:33 +0000

Blog marketing is something that all blog owners do. They market their blog so that they can get readers, and make a profit from their blogs. Marketing their blog means to get it out there so that others that are interested in it can find it and read it. It is also a great way to sell things by using affiliate links and programs. Blog marketing can very well become a home business if that is something that you are interested in.

Having a home business by blog marketing would definitely entail that you have more than one blog. If this is something that you are considering, you will want to make a list of markets that your blogs can cover. You will find that your blogs will do best when you only have one market per blog. For example, if you have a blog about cats, you will not want to include anything on the blog about kitchen appliances. This is because the readers that read your blog and visit your blog to learn more about cats and what you have to say about them will not be interested in learning anything about kitchen appliances. Once you have overcome the relevancy issue, you will be ok. You can however, have a blog about pets, and then blog about all of the many pets that you want to include…. Read more

What it Felt Like to Have No Blog for 8 Days

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:19:57 +0000

Friends have asked me what it was like not to have a blog for the last eight days. It was interesting. First, I felt like I was without a voice. Sure, I had Twitter, but I didn’t have any place to really stretch out and share my thoughts. Yes, I could utter or make media in other forms, but I felt like my main voice was completely taken away.I felt deaf, too, because the conversation that I’m used to hosting here at [chrisbrogan.com] was somewhere else. It was on other blogs, all over the place, and sometimes, I’d participate, but other times, I felt like I missed everyone else’s opinions and feedback. I felt like I couldn’t hear you as well, because you weren’t able to simply connect through here…. Read more (via Chris Brogan)

advertising as content

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:19:00 +0000

Last week I wrote about the dichotomy that exists in advertising: consumers ignore ads, but ads still work (albeit subtly). I then asked if this is the way it has to be and invited readers to comment. I still welcome your comments, but wanted to kick off this series with an idea.

Picture this scenario: you are browsing yahoo news and you notice an ad that says something like, “Did you miss the last episode of The Office? Click here to watch it”. You click on the ad and a player pops out and starts playing the episode of The Office that you missed. You can either watch the entire episode in full screen or leave it on in the background as you continue to browse the web….. Read more (via Advertising for Peanuts)

15 Reasons Why Blogging Matters More Than Ever

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:17:31 +0000

During the session on Wednesday, I told the participants that Blogging is still the single-most important thing any of them can do in Social Media and Web 2.0. I’ve been reflecting on this thought, and I believe it to be true.

Here are 15 reasons why Blogging matters more than ever:

1. It brings ideas out to the public - a lot of people have some pretty unique perspectives. Now, we all get a chance to hear those ideas and explore them.

2. You can get something off your chest - imagine if violence in the world went away because more and more people used their Blogs to express themselves (good, bad and ugly)?

3. There are multiple truths - the old saying, “there are three sides to every story” obviously came out long before Blogging. We know there are millions of truths (aren’t there?).

4. New ideas - A lot of Blogs are riffs on other people’s ideas, but once in a while you come across something new, brilliant and beautiful - knowing full-well that this idea would never had seen the light of day if mainstream media was the only place you could publish your idea for the world to see. … Read more (via Twist image)

3 Reasons To Start A Blog Post Series

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:16:23 +0000

Blogging is a great way to build a good fan base. To have a good fan base, your content should be good and extremely helpful to your blog readers. So what if you go out of content ideas? My suggestion to you is to think of a topic in your niche and start a blog post series. Think of what all you know about that topic and list them. You can give tips, ask questions, mention the advantage and disadvantages of following that topic (say you can write on what are the disadvantages of commenting on all blog posts with a single word comment) and you can also interview the bloggers who are known for that topic. I had a blog post series in my blog called “Blog Commenting Series” in which I wrote about the merits, demerits, and also how to do commenting in the right way. I interviewed Caroline Middlebrook as she is known for her blog commenting.

Here are the three reasons for you to start a blog post series in your blog: … read more (via blogging tips)

Improving your earnings with PLR content

Martin — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 01:07:02 +0000

Lots of people shy away from PLR content for their websites. While I do agree that PLR articles can cause you some issues, its also a great way to utilize your time most effectively. I very rarely use private label articles on this blog, but I do use it a lot on other sites with success. Where a lot of people fail with PLR content is they are lazy. PLR articles by their very nature can be rewritten. This is the step that most people fail to do. PLR is meant to be a helper for creating content, not to be an all out method of not writing.

At the minimum you need to rewrite at least 25% of the article and I would say this number should be closer to 50% in order for you to receive the best result. There are some methods you can use to rewrite an article in a minimum of time… Read more (via Bruce Hopkins)