Written on November 30th, 2005 at 09:11 am by Darren Rowse
20 Type Challenge
Just got an email from the blogger behind It’s So Fantastic! who liked my 20 Types of Blog Posts post so much that she’s decided to start a 20 Types challenge where she’s going to take one ‘type’ of blog post each day for the next 20 days and post something that fits with it.
What a great idea - I wish I’d thought of it.
So if you’re battling bloggers block at the moment why not head over and join her in the challenge. I’d be really interested to see how people find the list adapts to their different niches.
PS: Thanks to whoever it was that put the 20 Types of Blog Posts post into del.icio.us - you’ve got me into the bottom half of the popular page - appreciate everyone’s support.
Written on November 30th, 2005 at 07:11 am by Darren Rowse
Start Writing the Middles of your Post - Battling Bloggers Block
Blog Tip 19. Start writing the Middle of your Post
If you’re anything like me, one of the hardest parts of writing a post is starting it. Introductions can be easy to get stuck on and so I often simply skip them completely and write the meat of the post first before going back to write the introduction. In a sense your introduction then becomes a conclusion…. at the start of your post.
This is how I was taught to write essays at school and think it applies quite nicely to longer blog posts. It’s especially good when you start out writing one thing and end up writing another!
Written on November 29th, 2005 at 05:11 pm by Darren Rowse
Google Firefox Referral Program goes International
Google have widened the availability of the Firefox referal program to now include international publishers. They announce it as follows on their What’s New page:
‘International publishers can now refer users to Firefox plus Google Toolbar through the AdSense referrals feature. As you connect your users with Firefox to improve their web browsing experience, you can generate earnings - up to US$1 for each new Firefox user who downloads and runs the product for the first time. To add a Firefox referral button to your site today, visit the ‘Referrals’ tab in your account.’
Thanks to all the readers who let us know about this news.
Written on November 29th, 2005 at 01:11 pm by Darren Rowse
Blog Values - How Much is your Blog Worth?
Jeremy just emailed me a link to an interesting article by Om Malik at Business 2.0 exploring some of the recent sales of web publishers. Of particular interest to me is the analysis of what the acquisition price was on a per user of the sites sold (I’m presuming that it’s daily users/visitors - although I can’t see ‘user’ defined in the article). update: Jon tells us in comments below that he’s confirmed that these figures are monthly unique users.
They have an interesting table which present’s these figures. The last six sales in the list give (the full list goes back to 1999) acquisition prices per user as follows:
- MarketWatch - $80
- About.com - $22
- Ask Jeeves - $44
- MySpace - $36
- Weblogs Inc. - $10
The average of these prices is $38 which later in the article they use to ‘value’ some other publishers including Slashdot’s owners, Gawker Media and Boing Boing.
While the $38 per user figure will probably be argued and it’s not really valid to apply it across the board like this (looking at my blogs I know for sure that different types of traffic to different sites generates vastly different amounts of income) - I thought it was an interesting way to look at things. I’m not taking the figure to seriously - but lets have some fun with it and play a ‘hypothetical game’:
The questions that come to mind when you see the $38 per visitor figure are:
‘how much is your blog worth?’ if you were to value it at $38 per unique visitor on a daily basis and ‘would you sell it for this figure?’
Here are my answers…
enternetusers would be worth $110,238. Would I sell it? It’d be a tough decision. The site doesn’t make me that much directly from advertising revenue but it’s valuable to me in other ways - probably beyond a $110,238 figure. update: with these being Monthly figures and not daily I’d definately have to reconsider this as it’d take it over 3.3million.
My total collection of blogs (not including b5media’s) average about 30,000 - 40,000 unique visitors per day (depends upon how much news is going around) which if we took it at a 35k figure would make them worth $1,359,389. update: Once again - I with the figures being monthly this would value my blogs at over $40million - I think it’s a pretty safe bet that I’d be selling :-)
Once again as I ask myself the question of whether I’d sell or not I’d be in two minds. While that kind of money would of course be tempting I’d also have to consider numerous other factors including the revenue those sites currently bring as well as their projected growth. Again I’m not sure I’d accept that kind of offer.
What are your blogs worth using the $38 figure? Would you sell?
Written on November 29th, 2005 at 10:11 am by Darren Rowse
20 Types of Blog Posts - Battling Bloggers Block
Blog Tip 18 - Change up your posting form - find new blog topics - In the same way that it’s easy to get ’stuck’ in always posting in the same voice - it’s also possible to get stuck in always writing in the same form or genre.
Yesterday I decided to look through a the 500 blogs entered in Australia’s Best Blog Competition (I didn’t view them all but looked over at least 200). I was amazed by the talent out there. I also came away from the exercise struck by variety of different approaches that people take to blogging - especially with the form of posts that they write.
As I surfed I jotted down some of the different types of posts that I came across. Experiment with some of these and you might find it helps you in your battle with Bloggers Block. I came up with 20 types of posts - but am sure there are more. Feel free to suggest your own in comments below:
20 Types of Blog Posts
• Instructional - Instructional posts tell people how to do something. I find that my Tips posts are generally the ones that are among my most popular both in the short term (ie loyal readers love them and will link up to them) but also in the longer term (ie one of the reasons people search the web is to find out how to do things and if you can rank highly with your tips post you can have traffic over a length of time).
• Informational - This is one of the more common blog post types where you simply give information on a topic. It could be a definition post or a longer explanation of some aspect of the niche that you’re writing on. This is the crux of successful sites like wikipedia
• Reviews - Another highly searched for term on the web is ‘review’ - I know every time I’m considering buying a new product that I head to Google and search for a review on it first. Reviews come in all shapes and sizes and on virtually every product or service you can think of. Give your fair and insightful opinion and ask readers for their opinion - reviews can be highly powerful posts that have a great longevity.
• Lists - One of the easiest ways to write a post is to make a list. Posts with content like ‘The Top Ten ways to….’, ‘7 Reasons why….’ ‘ 5 Favourite ….’, ‘53 mistakes that bloggers make when….’ are not only easy to write but are usually very popular with readers and with getting links from other bloggers. Read my post - 8 Reasons Why Lists are Good for Getting Traffic to your Blog for more on lists. One last tip on lists - if you start with a brief list (each point as a phrase or sentence) and then develop each one into a paragraph or two you might just end up with a series of posts that lasts you a few days. That’s how I started the Bloggers Block series.
• Interviews - Sometimes when you’ve run out of insightful things to say it might be a good idea to let someone else do the talking in an interview (or a guest post). This is a great way to not only give your readers a relevant expert’s opinion but to perhaps even learn something about the topic you’re writing yourself. One tip if you’re approaching people for an interview on your blog - don’t overwhelm them with questions. One of two good questions are more likely to get you a response than a long list of poorly thought through ones.
• Case Studies - Another popular type of post here at enternetusers have been those where I’ve taken another blog and profiled them and how they use their site to earn money from their blogging (eg - one I did on Buzzmachine - the blog of Jeff Jarvis). Sometimes these are more like a review post but on occasion I’ve also added some instructional content to them and made some suggestions on how I’d improve them. Case studies don’t have to be on other websites of course - there are many opportunities to do case studies in different niches.
• Profiles - Profile posts are similar to case studies but focus in on a particular person. Pick an interesting personality in your niche and do a little research on them to present to your readers. Point out how they’ve reached the position they are in and write about the characteristics that they have that others in your niche might like to develop to be successful.
• Link Posts - The good old ‘link post’ is a favourite of many bloggers and is simply a matter of finding a quality post on another site or blog and linking up to it either with an explanation of why you’re linking up, a comment on your take on the topic and/or a quote from the post. Of course adding your own comments makes these posts more original and useful to your readers. The more original content the better but don’t be afraid to bounce off others in this way.
• ‘Problem’ Posts - I can’t remember where I picked this statistic up but another term that is often searched for in Google in conjunction with product names is the word ‘problems’. This is similar to a review post (above) but focusses more upon the negatives of a product or service. Don’t write these pieces just for the sake of them - but if you find a genuine problem with something problem posts can work for you.
• Contrasting two options - Life is full of decisions between two or more options. Write a post contrasting two products, services or approaches that outlines the positives and negatives of each choice. In a sense these are review posts but are a little wider in focus. I find that these posts do very well on some of my product blogs where people actually search for ‘X Product comparison to Y Product’ quite a bit.
• Rant - get passionate, stir yourself up, say what’s on your mind and tell it like it is. Rants are great for starting discussion and causing a little controversy - they can also be quite fun if you do it in the right spirit. Just be aware that they can also be the beginnings of a flaming comment thread and often it’s in the heat of the moment when we say things that we later regret and that can impact our reputation the most.
• Inspirational - On the flip side to the angry rant (and not all rants have to be angry) are inspirational and motivational pieces. Tell a story of success or paint a picture of ‘what could be’. People like to hear good news stories in their niche as it motivates them to persist with what they are doing. Find examples of success in your own experience or that of others and spread the word.
• Research - In the early days I wrote quite a few research oriented posts - looking at different aspects of blogging - often doing mind numbing counting jobs. I remember once surfing through 500 blogs over a few days to look at a number of different features. Research posts can take a lot of time but they can also be well worth it if you come up with interesting conclusions that inspire people to link up to you.
• Collation Posts - These are a strange combination of research and link posts. In them you pick a topic that you think your readers will find helpful and then research what others have said about it. Once you’ve found their opinion you bring together everyone’s ideas (often with short quotes) and tie them together with a few of your own comments to draw out the common themes that you see.
• Prediction and Review Posts - We see a lot of these at the end and start of the year where people do their ‘year in review’ posts and look at the year ahead and predict what developments might happen in their niche in the coming months.
• Critique Posts - ‘Attack posts’ have always been a part of blogging (I’ve done a few in my time) but these days I tend to prefer to critique rather than attack. Perhaps it’s a fine line but unless I get really worked up I generally like to find positives in what others do and to suggest some constructive alternatives to the things that I don’t like about what they do. I don’t really see the point in attacking others for the sake of it, but as I’ve said before this more a reflection of my own personality than much else I suspect and some people make a name for themselves very well by attacking others.
• Debate - I used to love a good debate in high school - there was something about preparing a case either for or against something that I quite enjoyed. Debates do well on blogs and can either in an organised fashion between two people, between a blogger and ‘all comers’ or even between a blogger and… themselves (try it - argue both for and against a topic in one post - you can end up with a pretty balanced post).
• Hypothetical Posts - I haven’t done one of these for a while but a ‘what if’ or hypothetical post can be quite fun. Pick a something that ‘could’ happen down the track in your industry and begin to unpack what the implications of it would be. ‘What if….Google and Yahoo merged?’ ‘What if …’
• Satirical - One of the reasons I got into blogging was that I stumbled across a couple of bloggers who were writing in a satirical form and taking pot shots at politicians (I can’t seem to find the blog to link to). Well written satire or parody can be incredibly powerful and is brilliant for generating links for your blog.
• Memes and Projects - write a post that somehow involves your readers and gets them to replicate it in someway. Start a poll, an award, ask your readers to submit a post/link or run a survey or quiz. Read more on memes.
As I wrote above - this is not an exhaustive list but rather just some of the types of posts that you might like to throw into your blog’s mix. Not every one will be suitable for all blogs or bloggers but using more than one format can definitely add a little spice an color to a blog. Lastly another technique is to mix two or more of the above formats together - there are no rules so have a bit of fun with it and share what you do in comments below.
Written on November 29th, 2005 at 08:11 am by Darren Rowse
New Perspectives inspire Fresh Content
Shawn emailed me to tell me about a post he’s written Bloggers Block where he simply moves his desk and finds that it gives him a fresh perspective.
Written on November 29th, 2005 at 03:11 am by Darren Rowse
Six Figure Blogging Course - Home Study Version Released
I’ve been getting emails every day for the past few weeks from people asking when the Home Study version of the Six Figure Blogging course that Andy Wibbels and I ran a couple of months back will be available. Well the time is here.
Andy’s been working his butt off on getting transcripts finished and putting it all online and we’re now really happy to be able to offer Six Figure Blogging for you to use at your own time and pace.
You can read the full details of the course, testimonials of participants of the live version and listen to the hour long free preview call here.
Enrolling in the course gives you access to six 1 hour calls where Andy and I tackle a different aspect of blogging for money in each one. It also gives you transcripts of each call (over 220 pages in total) with the links we mention. You also get some worksheets for each call to help you put into practice what you hear us talk about. You have access to all this indefinately.
We’ve decreased the price of the course to $245 (US$) as an introductory offer until midnight of 2 December (the full price of the live course was $325).
This equates to $41 per hour of the course (or $1.08 per page). It’s not a freebie but it’s full of information that has the potential to earn participants income from their blogs - so we feel the price is fair we feel it’s fair. The feedback we got from participants who did the course seems to fit with this also - in fact the main ‘critique’ we go from them was that there was too much information and that they would keep coming back to the calls over time to digest it all.
I’m not going to harp on about this course every second post - enternetusers isn’t a blog about driving sales - but wanted to let readers know about the course as there were so many people asking and there has been such a high level of interest in the course.
Affiliate Program - If you want to enter the affiliate program for promoting the course you can enroll in it at Andy’s Blog. If you generate a sale you’ll earn 50% of the sale’s price.
There are a couple of comments of previous participants on the information but here are a couple more of extended ones:
‘I found the course well worth the money, and what I really appreciated was both Darren and Andy’s honesty throughout the course. I liked the way Andy and Darren emphasized building a relationship with people on a blog, which is what they are both doing on their blogs. I liked the way they talked about finding a niche that will be fun for each of us to do - no sense in having a blog just for the money because it becomes too much of a chore. Since taking the course I now have a lot of respect for those who make their income from blogging. Since I’ve started work on my own blogs, I can see that it takes a lot of dedication and many hours of work. Thank you very much for the course Andy and Darren. I found it very useful, and the money was all worthwhile. I’m fairly new to blogging and I know enough now to be able to make an income from it. And, now I understand that it takes a little time too, just as any business takes time to build. Thanks again!’ Julieanne
‘”Being a newbie blogger, the course enabled me to get up to speed in blogging in less than eight weeks-and provided the platform and motivation for me to make a concerted effort at building a blog network that I believe will generate a decent sum. Within 8 days I have 7 domains, blogging sw installed and am blogging on a number of niche topics, so the cost of the course was probably mitigated by the time I saved getting up to speed. I think that says something about the value of the course.”‘ - Nick (URL withheld)
‘The Six Figure Blogging course blew my mind with ideas on how to make my blog a money machine AND it gave me ideas for new blogs as well. With what I learned from this course, I discovered how to “remodel” my blogs in a way that not only allowed me to create more money but to create more of a community of readers.
One warning: there is so much juicy and alluring information in this course that you may feel a little crazed with giddy glee and great ideas. I know I will be mining the gems of this course for at least two more years.’ - Nancy
‘I really enjoyed the Six Figure Blogging class with Andy Wibbels and Darren Rowse. I think their presentation was highly informative and professionally delivered. The notes that were supplied were fantastic and I took three times as many from the lectures. I’ve never received so much value packed into only 6 weeks and I’m starting to work in the suggestions on my own TypePad blogs which are under development. In addition, both Andy and Darren made themselves fully available for questions about any of the material throughout the course. I don’t know of any type of course which offers such a level of service. I highly recommend Six Figure Blogging to any one who wants to take their blogging to another level.’ - Tara
‘We decided to take the course as we both fear our significant others wrath and want to continue blogging. The lessons learned may be self evident for others, but when you are looking at turning a blog from a hobby to an income producing venture, it would be hard not to recommend these two. They laid out the different money making tools available, insight on how to use these tools, and anecdotes that provided a comfort factor that empowered the participants to start using the tools effectively.’ - Tom
If you have questions feel free to contact Andy or myself.
Written on November 29th, 2005 at 02:11 am by Darren Rowse
Change your Blogging Voice - Battling Bloggers Block
Blog Tip 17. Write in a different voice
It’s easy to get bored and stale with one tone of writing so it might be worth mixing it up occasionally and experimenting with a new voice.
While you don’t want to do this all the time (it’s important to establish a voice and develop some consistency in a blog) - it can be refreshing to do from time to time.
Write something in the third person, write a rant, inject some humor, write a fictional scenario etc. Change your voice or tone a little and you might just find it creates a bit of a spark in you (and your readers) that spawns a whole new aspect to your blog.
I noticed the impact of changing your voice a while back when I let loose with a little bit of a rant post - I got email from a couple of readers saying that they saw a different side of me when I did it - a bit of a change from the ‘nice/goodie goodie’ label I seem to get from time to time. I also found that it got me thinking in a different way - something that brought a bit of energy back into my blogging.
Read the rest of the battling bloggers block series
Written on November 28th, 2005 at 02:11 pm by Darren Rowse
Chitika to Launch ‘Local eMiniMalls’
Chitika have been promising a localized eMiniMalls for a few weeks now and it seems that it’s about to happen. The localized eMiniMalls will find UK ads for UK readers initially and gradually will roll out ads for advertisers in other countries across Europe in the coming weeks. This should lead to more satisfied advertisers (ie UK readers are more likely to buy from UK retailers) and hopefully a higher CTR as readers will see prices in their own currency and online stores that they are more familiar with.
Source - Chitika UK Launches Tomorrow, Europe Follows at Threadwatch.org
Written on November 28th, 2005 at 09:11 am by Darren Rowse
Macro and Micro Posting - Battling Bloggers Block
Blog Tip 16. Macro and Micro Posts
Most niches have both big and little picture aspects to them. Good bloggers have a grasp of both and are able to expand upon them in the one blog. For instance in the Pro Blogging niche some big picture issues include topics like How Bloggers Make Money from Blogs (a broad sweeping overview of the blogging for money ‘industry’) where as a micro post might be something like How to Use Keywords in Titles (very focused upon a minute (yet important) aspect of the whole niche).
It’s a worthwhile exercise to surf back through your past few months archives and to analyze what type of posts you predominately focus on. Are you a Macro or Micro posting blogger or something in between?
Don’t beat yourself up about being one or the other - we each have our own personality types and are drawn to different aspects of our niches - it’s OK to be one or the other - all I’m arguing is that to switch over to the area that you don’t normally focus upon can be one way to get past bloggers block.
If you predominantly focus on broad sweeping topics try breaking it down and examining one small part of it at a time - perhaps you could do this as a series of posts over a week or so.
Conversely if you always blog about the details take a step back and consider a post that talks about the whole industry that you are involved with. What is the state of your niche? What are the issues that it is currently facing? Where is it heading as it moves into a new year?
Diversifying your posts in this way can not only help you find new topics to blog about - but it can give your blogging a new dimension and help to show your own diversity of expertise on the field in which you blog as people see you have a broad handle on the topic.
Read the more of the Bloggers Blog Series
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