TRAVEL BLOG

I am going to share a little secret with you. DarkIcon is right.

Those of you who read his rant understand why he is upset. It is the sheer repetitiveness of the topic that numbs your senses. That is why the FAQ was created. Unfortunately, though the site’s most-read articles are part of the FAQ, the most Frequently Asked Question is not answered definitively. DarkIcon dispatches his edict most sagaciously, leaving no doubt as to the quality of our collective literary abilities and its impact on our collective financial aspirations. In so doing, he lit a flame that will not soon go out.

That is actually a good thing - for three reasons: first, newcomers asking that question will most likely be pointed to his post; second, a lot of contrite bloggers (including me) have discontinued a self-defeating practice (and newcomers, hopefully, won’t start); third, the secret behind the power of a blog is revealed. It is this third benefit that DarkIcon may have unwittingly unleashed upon us.

I am sure that this is nothing new, but it has flown under my radar for some time:

It’s not necessarily what you say, it’s how you say it that matters.

Robert Kiyosaki, in chapter seven of his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, relates a story about an interview with a reporter. He tells her that, if she wants to be a best-selling author, she needs to learn how to sell. The reporter, who held a Master’s degree in English Literature, was offended. Feeling the need to defend his statement, Kiyosaki picks up one of his books and points out that the cover refers to him as “Robert Kiyosaki, best-selling author, not best-writing author.”

Seth Godin, a blogger whose opinions I respect, puts the nail in the coffin of the fast-buck blogger, with his excellent article, Monetize This. Essentially, Godin states that you should blog for the love of blogging and, if you figure out a way to profit from your blog, then that’s fine. Just don’t put the cart before the horse.

I believe that the problem at writingup is that visitors and new bloggers don’t understand the marketing model. Please take a look at the sub-title at the top of your web page:

Write. Share. Earn.

It is prioritized for each and every one of us. We understand the Write and the Earn, but are we failing to focus on the Share? Well, that should change. When you understand the marketing model, you can see that sharing is the linchpin that keeps the cart tethered to the horse. DarkIcon’s post shows this principle quite clearly. The power in DarkIcon’s post is wielded not only with the sword of righteous truth, but also with the shield of absolute conviction. The truth slices through all of our pre-conceived notions, while the shield protects us from hopelessness. DarkIcon holds out hope like a coat-of-arms - for, buried beneath the mangled bodies of lies, hype and misinformation are gems of insight, nuggets of advice and a golden needle in the blogospheric haystack:

Gems

“… we don’t want to seem like a bunch of ‘make money fast’ asshats who just discovered blogging yesterday.”
“… it takes THOUSANDS of hits a day to make significant advertising revenue on the internet.”
” Making even 1 dollar from Adsense is a MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT if you’re just starting!”

Nuggets ” Have something interesting or informative to say on a consistent basis…”
” The definition of ‘a long time’ can vary depending on how good a writer you are, what you write about and what you’re doing to promote your site …”

The Golden Needle

You won’t find this typed anywhere in DarkIcon’s epistle. This rare find is actually an epiphany. Consider this: the article has been read more than 300 times. According to the top pages web log, over 150 unique visitors hit that page. In addition, there are nearly 40 comments about this article. By the time you read this, the numbers will be even higher. The message is not obvious until, like a mental flashbulb exploding in your head, you realize that DarkIcon’s post has the blogger’s equivalent of a triple-double:

A Powerful, Eye-catching Headline Compelling Content Buzz

I believe that, if you take the time to digest all of this, you will begin to see why I refer to DarkIcon’s seminal post. It actually teaches you how to do all of the things you need to do in order to see an increase in your AdSense revenue. First, your headline has to catch the eye of the visitor. Next, whatever you have to say, make it interesting. Being provocative is good, if your sword is sharp and your shield, sturdy. In other words, tell the truth and offer solutions. If you have done your job, the Buzz will take care of itself.

A final, technical point must be made. You must think of ways to keep your posts in the Vertical Blog Tunnel* as long as possible. As the site membership grows, headlines will fly off the front page before they can grab any eyeballs. You need to attract a group of dedicated readers who are also bloggers. By linking to each other’s content (not just the blog), new visitors have a chance to read your older posts. This idea was pointed out to me by blogspinner’s post. The beauty of this is that you don’t have to force it. People here do understand the value of linking and will most likely reciprocate.

Write. Share. Earn.

Blogs can be business related or personal. The blogger may choose to write about what’s going through his mind at that time or he may post something about the work he does. In any case, it is one should optimize the blog for readers as well as search engines because it is imperative that readers keep returning to the blog.

Most blogs run on standard blog platforms or are hosted on other domains. As a result, optimizing a blog differs from the standard website search engine optimization (SEO). There are also design issues that can be unique to blogs which impact blog rankings. When you optimize your blog, you also make it easy for users to return and engage in your blog.

Some tips towards effective blog optimization are:

1) Make it pleasing to the eye: Create a distinctive look for your blog using templates and/or color schemes. Color upgrades and unique logos also help customize your blog. It should be kept in mind that the color scheme chosen should suit the content. Flashy colors are not a wise choice for factual blogs whereas subtle shades complement personal/philosophical blog postings.

2) Providing RSS, feed subscription and e-mail: Most viewers won’t bother to subscribe to your blog if the process is tedious. A potential subscriber will seek the orange RSS logo or logos of other standard aggregators. It is thus conducive to put up RSS links in the most obvious locations whereby people need just a click to subscribe to your feed. Various hosted blogging solutions do not provide RSS automatically. But it is imperative that the effort be made as it yields greater subscriptions. There may be viewers who don’t get RSS. Accommodate them by giving them an option of getting your blog posts by email instead.

3) Offering Full or Partial Feeds: This is a very individual decision, but also depends, to an extent, on the market space you are blogging in. You can offer two feeds, one including the ads as well as the RSS, and the other being an ad-free snippet copy of the feed, where readers will have to view the blog to read the full entry. While using snippets, it should be kept in mind that they are engrossing. It isn’t necessary to pick the first few lines of your piece and put those up. The excerpt should be compelling enough to draw readers to the blog.

4) The Content and Presentation: It is important to remember that the content should not bore the reader. It should be precise as well as comprehensive. Moreover, it should be presented properly. It isn’t a good idea to choose highly stylized fonts or layouts. Sometimes, everyone may not have all stylized fonts installed. In that case, they’ll view your blog in the simple fonts. It is thus preferable to choose simpler fonts which can be viewed by everyone.

5) Quick Response: It is important that your page doesn’t take time to load. Not all readers would bother to wait! This should be remembered while adding widgets to your blog. Too many javascripts tend to slow down your site. Thus, add only those that are necessary.

6) Importance of your Title: You should ensure that your title complements your content and doesn’t make the reader wonder what blog entry could be about. Initially when you are relying on search engines for your readers, it is important that you optimize your blog and use a great title. Using the proper keywords in the title is a good idea.

7) Blog Regularly: The more regularly you post, the more are the chances of Googlebot and other bots stopping by on a regular basis. If you post once in a blue moon, it might take a while for Google to stop by and see your updates.

Spread the Link: It is a good idea to link up your post to an original story, if any, or to commentary’s on the same topic. By doing this, you make those bloggers aware of your blog. There may be a chance that they will in turn link back to you on that story or some other time in the future. When you link to someone’s blog, make sure you link well. Rather than writing a direct ‘click here’ it will be more effective to create a link on some content in your post. The best way to get links to your blogs is by posting something original and innovative. When some blogger likes it, he may link to your post and eventually your work may go viral!

9) Putting a Related Posts Plugin: This allows readers to view older posts which may have got buried under newer posts. You also have an option to deeplink from your current page to older entries you made.

10) Ping other sites: Sites like Technorati and FeedBurner allow you to ping when you make a new post on your blog. This leads to faster indexing on search engines. Blog platforms like WordPress and MovableType give the option of automatic pinging. It is a good idea to ping and update!

11) Manage Your Trackback & Comment Spam: It isn’t very nice if spammers can link to irrelevant sites through your blog. It is thus important that you use the necessary tools to fight spam and manage comments on your blog.

Did you know that blog communities are constantly growing all the time? Blogs are the best way to convey ideas and comments about common interest. Blog communities are simply a group of people who connect with each other using blogs to discuss common interest. It can be a lot of hard work putting together a blog community but once you have everything set-up and running smoothly it can be a very rewarding experience. A blog community can revolve around any subject such as the following: Retirement, Knitting, Teens, Religion, Politics, Vacation spots and so forth. As you see the options are limited by your imagination only.

The first step in creating blog communities is by having a blog people are interested in. This means that you need to offer a topic that other people will want to read about and comment on and then you need to stick with that topic. If you start straying you will lose loyal visitors and will not be able to maintain a successful blog community. The next step is to increase the traffic to your blog community. You can do this by providing great content that is updated regularly. Set-up simple and easy ways for others to comment on your blog and add content they feel is reverent.

You should also develop a relationship with several other bloggers because when you show a real interest in what others have to say, they will be more interested in joining your community. Do this by making comments on their blogs but make sure all of your comments are sincere. No one wants to receive a lot of comments that have no real meaning to them. You can also join forums to create relationships with others. You do need to make sure that you stick with forums and blogs that are closely related to your own topic or you will not have a common interest.

You may not always be able to respond to every comment that you receive but it is wise to do so once in awhile. Your visitors need to know how you feel about their comments and that you appreciate hearing from them. Make a point to keep all of your comments and your blog community professional. This is an important feature that will gain you a lot of respect. Don’t allow yourself to get impatient because sometimes it takes a while to build a lasting relationship even where blog communities are concerned. Using these tips for starting blog communities will help you to be successful and enjoy all the rewards that this type of community has to offer.

Blog marketing has taken the internet by storm and for good reason. Compared to using a ‘conventional’ website a blog platform offers many advantages. But it is fair to note that with those advantages also come drawbacks that discourage many from getting involved in the blogging business. Seasoned online entrepreneurs know that becoming one of the most popular blogs in any niche requires commitment and an abundance of patience. In a society dominated by an ‘instant gratification’ mindset the patience required in the blog building process is not what many are looking for. Nonetheless the blogging business does hold definite advantages for those with the patience and work ethics required to succeed.

Here are 3 incomparable and very distinct advantages associated with using a blog platform as your primary marketing site online.

Search Engine Friendly

Whether you are a fan of SEO or not ranking higher in the search results is a definite advantage for anyone with an online ‘presence’ they are trying to promote. Blogs are ‘naturally’ search engine friendly due to the fact that the content is updated more frequently than it is on a website.

As you post new information for your readers to view you are also inviting the search engines to come crawl your site. The more often they find updated information relevant to the site itself the higher your ranking will climb.

Blogs Are Interactive

Readers have the ability to leave comments about your site which empowers them insofar as they feel more involved with the blog itself. Their comments may be in regards to the layout or a post but having the opportunity to participate in this way is a satisfying feeling. In fact it is always a good idea to encourage this activity since it breeds more participation which is a chief contributing factor to the popularity of a blog.

Easy to Build

Blog building is a relatively easy thing to do that requires little or no technical skills. Formerly technology was a barrier for many wanting to get more ‘involved’ online but blogging has really helped to ‘bridge’ that divide. Now it is possible to start a new blog site on a whim since the investment of time or skills is no longer a factor.

Blog marketing is obviously not a way to do business online that will soon reveal it to be just a passing fad. Both online entrepreneurs and customers acknowledge that the unique ability to interact and share in the blog building process makes the overall experience more gratifying and rewarding for both sides. Ultimately the need for the blog owner to possess the patience it will require to build the blog must exist. Additionally allowing the readers to participate in the building process by responding and reacting to their comments will only help in accelerating the growth of your blog. In the end the net result will be your site becoming one of the most popular blogs in the niche.

Often most people around us don’t understand why there is such huge fuss about this thing called Blogs. In fact most of who have even heard of blogs don’t realize its full potential. Blogs are great money making machines and even you can make a lot of money by blogging. Don’t believe me? Well you’ll believe what I am going to tell you here below.

A blog is just like a website but with a few limitations. There is a limit on the size of the material you can upload, there are fewer fancy things that you can do to your blog etc. But all this is simply immaterial. A blog is basically something where you can showcase your talent, discuss an issue with people or just express yourself.

You must have seen advertisements on various websites and also on the various sites like MSN, yahoo and just about every popular site. But why? I know it might sound foolish to a few when I ask why, but it is very important to understand why somebody chose to promote his or her product through a website. It is not just because they want to promote their product but also because the website through which they are promoting their product has a huge visitor base and a good name amongst netizens.

All these websites are no longer sticking to the pay per click advertising model but have adopted a fixed fee model. So if you are popular in your community, professional or social circle, even you can start blogging and make money through advertising.

But don’t start dreaming of a million dollar mansion right now. There’s much more left to do. A blog is popular only as long as you keep it alive and abuzz with activity. You need to keep updating the content every now and then, answer the questions that people put forward, participate in debates and/or start new ones. You must be able to deliver some value to the reader who takes time to visit your blog and make sure that they return back to keep your blog making money for you.

Most of the advertisers will be reluctant initially because they want to be sure if you really have a loyal visitor base. But over a period of time if you can manage to keep your visitor base strong and loyal, you’ll win over the confidence of the advertisers and then you can directly get in touch with them and ask them to advertise on your site for a weekly or a monthly fee. But it does not mean that you cannot make money in the meantime.

While your blog is still in the nascent stage you can get in touch with Google AdSense and ask them place ads on your blog. These ads will bring income on pay per click (ppc) basis. So whenever somebody will click on the advertisement on your blog Google will get some money for it. In turn because the revenue has come through your blog and efforts Google will pay you a part of it.

One thing that you must always take care of while blogging is that you must know your subject well because just one wrong or misinformed comment can often be all that it’ll take to shoo away all your readers and followers. Also make sure that your readers can always freely ask you questions about the subject that you are blogging about. And when you are trying to find advertisers for your blog the best ones would be those who will derive some value out of it. So if you are talking about some topic related to pest prevention at home, a pest control company would most easily pay you for advertisement.

I came across this guide to car rental today and felt I should set the record straight on some of the issues raised as it was misleading (just like my title, no *** here I’m afraid).

RUMOUR: You probably won’t get the car you booked.

TRUTH: Rental companies do not guarantee specific models - we cannot guarantee you will get a Hyundai Getz 1.5L for example, but if you pay for an economy car, manual transmission with air conditioning - you will get an economy car, manual with air conditioning (unless of course you get an upgrade!). Our reservations are based on car SIPP codes, vehicles are given as examples only.

TIP: Book based on SIPP code, not actual vehicle. Peugeot Leasing is an exception - models ARE guaranteed.

RUMOUR: It’s likely you’ve paid too much.

TRUTH: Walking off the street to pick up a car in a foreign country, you probably will pay more. Book before you go to ensure the best possible price and remember to compare like with like when researching prices. Look closely at what the price includes, what is extra and how much the extras will cost. Often, an all inclusive rate may appear more expensive but can save you money as there is no more to pay when you pick up the car.

RUMOUR: Your “fully-inclusive deal” won’t be as comprehensive as it sounds.

TRUTH: An Insurance Excess is applicable in the event of any accident or theft to the rental vehicle, regardless of fault. The Excess amount varies between countries and car group. The additional insurance offered by the car rental company is optional and is charged per day on top of an inclusive rate. Read more about insurance excess here.

TIP: You may be covered through your own insurance so double check before you book.

RUMOUR: You may face hefty add-ons.

TRUTH: There are some extras that will be added on to your bill e.g. children’s seats, additional drivers, young driver surcharges and GPS units may be charged separately and on a daily basis, which can add up, especially if it is a long trip. You should be made aware of these charges before you agree to anything, so be aware of how much exactly you have to pay.

TIP: Always ask what the extra charges will be before you agree to them.

RUMOUR: Breaking down could be a disaster.

TRUTH: Not when you book with DriveAway! Our rates all include 24 hour roadside assistance. We also have 24/7 customer service with a toll free number from across the globe so you can speak to someone (in English) no matter where you are.

TIP: Book with a reputable company who have a number you can call in the case of an emergency.

RUMOUR: You could be stung by cancellation penalties.

TRUTH: Not at DriveAway! We do not charge amendment or cancellation fees on car hire.

TIP: Always check at the time of booking if there are cancellation fees in case of an emergency. Sometimes it can be as much as the price of the rental if it is within a short time frame.

Always read your inclusions very carefully when you book a rental car (DriveAway list the inclusions with each vehicle during the booking process online and our reservations consultants will inform you of these if you book over the phone). Terms, conditions and costs all vary depending on the supplier and location. Remember to read your rental agreement carefully before signing it.

Holidays are precious. Researching and organising your car rental before you go can save you headaches and money.

There is a trend to have a blog only instead of a Web site and a blog, although that is certainly not for everyone or every organization. Most traditional businesses are expected to and should have a Web site. Could you image going to Walmart’s site online and only finding a blog? Probably not. Then again, if I went to my auto mechanic’s site and found a blog with hours, directions, and other info in the sidebars, and a post on seasonal car care tips, that would work extremely well.

Here are two examples of people who would just start a blog if they started anew. Guy Kawasaki, has mentioned that if he did it all over he would just start a blog, and in the sidebars of his blog he would have links to all the “brochure type” and other information he has on his website. He almost never updates his website, but he updates his blog almost daily. Also Michael McLaughlin, who is the co-author of “Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants,” started both a website and a blog to promote his book but if he did it again, he also would just start a blog.

Most companies however will need a Web site, perhaps even more than one. Most people are familiar with traditional Web sites, and that’s what they expect to find. Also Web sites are better than blogs for many purposes, for example a retailer who has many different products available, and sites that contain primarily “evergreen” material that is rarely updated or added to.

Me personally? I am keeping my website as well as my blog. Traditionally I have some very large corporate clients, some big Fortune 500 companies, and they certainly expect and understand websites very well. That said, when considering engaging me for a project, they almost always find my blog and enjoy looking at it and getting to know me a little bit before they contact me.