A Blog Is For Life!

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I don’t know if the new blogger just can’t resist all the bells and whistles, but there are certain elements of website wizardry that should be left on the back burner until the new website has built content, traffic and a readership.

Examples of my particular dislikes include:

1. a Feedburner button — “Readers: 1”
2. a Technorati button — “Authority: 3”
3. an Alexa button — “Traffic Rank: 4,689,417”
4. a Page Rank button — “PR (blank space)”
5. a widget stating “My blog is worth $4.82”.

These buttons and widgets aren’t intended for use in this way, they are supposed to be used to publicise positive aspects about the site’s traffic, authority or page rank, not proclaim loudly that it doesn’t have much of any of it.

Why do people do it? Do they just get carried away?

Something else that I find strange is when people start a blog, and sign up to Entrecard and start dropping cards before they have actually added any content. Just a couple of days ago, I saw a blog that displayed the Entrecard widget, but the only post on it was “Hello world, this is my first blog post”. That was it. Period.

Naturally, I appreciate people can become excited, and their enthusiasm is beautiful, but the blogger has to respect the time, and intelligence, of visitors to their website – each new visitor is a prospective long-term reader, don’t alienate them.

If you are new to blogging, or perhaps you’ve been thinking about starting your own blog, don’t jump the gun, and don’t get carried away with all the buttons and widgets. Build some content, enough to engage the visitor, and then start driving traffic to your site.

There’s no rush to do everything straight off. Building a website and its content takes time, as does building a readership. The more thought you put into the project from the start, the greater the rewards you’ll enjoy over time.

Happy blogging!

Reward Rebel

Filed under Blogging, Attitude & Focus | Comments (32)

Google Page Rank 2 Attained

I am in celebratory mood. Why? Reward Rebel is basking in the glory of having attained a Google Page Rank of 2, and from little acorns….

The timing is amusing, as it has popped up like an exclamation mark at the end of my previous post!

Although I haven’t been considering quitting, I had been thinking about a subtle, discreet amendment to the site’s direction, as well as building on new keywords.

But no such thoughts are hovering now. A Page Rank is just what the site needed, to reassure myself and my readers that I’m a competent driver, and am steering in the right direction!

Whoop-diddly-doo!

Reward Rebel

Filed under SEO, Making money online, Blogging, Internet Marketing | Comments (28)

Don’t Throw In The Towel!

As I often emphasise, blogging isn’t my ‘thing’, it’s part of my internet marketing ‘thing’ – a requirement of the modern online business.

During the past few weeks, I’ve been heavily involved in developing new projects, and haven’t been as active with Entrecard as I had previously been. However, during the past few days I have tried to allocate some time again to networking with the Entrecard community, as it’s been a good friend to this site.

To shake things up a little, I decided to open my Inbox and drop my card on blogs which had visited me way, way back when, but I was in for a surprise.

Within just a couple of days I have found myself time and again landing on a blog that hasn’t posted for anytime between several weeks and a few months.

When I first started building an online business, including blogs, I read about the high proportion of drop-outs after the initial 3-6 months. This is the first ‘wave’ of quitters I’ve personally witnessed, and it’s disappointing.

Did they just run out of things to say? Were they expecting to earn bucketsful of cash overnight? Have you tried making money online in the past and given up?

I’ve felt fed-up with it all sometimes, particularly the endless series of new technologies to get to grips with. I don’t have the residual funds to outsource, so when something needs doing, it’s me doing it, or it doesn’t get done!

I had to teach myself everything, and I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished so far, both in new skills and abilities, and the progress of my online business.

If you find yourself feeling like giving up, try to remember how you felt about making money online – whether via blogging or broader internet marketing techniques — back when you first became interested.

Remember your initial enthusiasm, and the plans you had for your life, which you felt an online business could bring to fruition.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself down, and start all over again. Keeping on, keeping on is the only way you’re going to succeed!

Reward Rebel

Filed under Making money online, Working from home, Entrecard, Blogging, Attitude & Focus, Internet Marketing | Comments (22)