Posting Regularly is Important

May 19, 2008 · Filed Under blogging, marketing · 16 Comments 

If you are planning to be a serious blogger, it is important to set a blogging frequency for yourself. I have noticed that it is not easy for most bloggers to post daily and some days you might just have a blank mind.

Leaving too many gaps between posts is not a good thing as your blog will grow slower and you probably do not want this to happen. Another thing I have noticed is when I do not posts I get less visitors, like me you probably want your visitors count to increase daily and not the opposite.

I am sure as a blogger you must have asked yourself this question too. How many times should I post daily or weekly? I have checked around and found that many bloggers already wrote about this topic, this means blogging frequency is important if you want your blog to be successful. According to me there is no exact posting frequency as it all depends on the person who is writing, but it is important to keep posting at the same pace. Here are a few interesting articles about post frequency:

Post Frequency - How Many Blog Posts are Too Many?
Does the frequency of your blog posts matter?

And this one that I think is the most interesting, Why Blog Post Frequency Does Not Matter Anymore. It is true that if your blog is receiving more than 5k visitors daily and you already have over a hundred posts but if you are a new blogger it does not really make sense. Let’s say I am participating in social sites to bring traffic to my blog, what if I don’t have anything to give my readers?

Of course when I am talking about a good posting frequency I am not saying that you should post daily but at least 3-4 times a week is good to start with, but if you can post daily it is even better.

photo credit: The toys after purchasing a new laptop…

The 4 Main Types of Blogs

May 16, 2008 · Filed Under blogging · 3 Comments 

I was thinking about blogs the other day (I do that everyday but this time it was some deep thoughts). Why some bloggers choose a specific topic to write about while others will write just about everything. According to me, blogs can be put in 4 main categories. Categorizing them in these categories can help me a lot when I subscribe to feeds, how? This way I will have only 4 main category, of course each will have different subcategories and also I will not get confused too much as I usually subscribe to all the blogs I find interesting. What are these types of blog that I keep talking about?

The General Blogs

general blogMost blog will go in this category, I noticed that many blogger choose to blog about general stuffs as it is much easier to post more regularly if you don’t choose a specific topic to post about. These are often referred to as “niche-free” in the blogging world.

I guess for the time being this blog fall in this category too, since I am mostly posting about all and everything I can think of but at the same time I try in a way or another please the reader too. Servizot might go niche someday if I feel I know enough to post about the topic I am going to choose but I think having the opportunity to post about everything I want is the best that can do.

The Niche Blogs

niche blogThe most successful blogs go in this category. The blogger usually choose a specific topic and always write about it. Of course the topic chosen will have various facets of it to be covered, so if the blogs you read most often are niche blogs you don’t have to worry that the author will run out of ideas any time soon. Some of my favorite blogs in this category are: Problogger.net, a blogger who writes about blogging and ways to make money blogging, a must read for all bloggers. PerezHilton.com, a celebrity gossip blog with very addictive content updated everyday.

Why these blogs are the most successful is because the blogger is writing about a specific topic and since the readers know that at these blogs they will find what they are looking for, they will definitely come back often.

The Personal Blogs

personal blogThe online personal diary, if I can call it like that. It is not going to be same as the diary that you use to have where you wrote about your crush and all those secret things you do not want to share with anyone since you are sharing everything you write with the whole world. The personal blogs will most of the time be about the author’s life, the things he is doing everyday. These blogs can be a good way to keep friends updated about what you are doing but also many other readers since human is curious!

I did not choose to keep a personal blog since I do not really have things to say about myself and I am not the type of person who likes having attention on me but that does not mean I do not read other people’s personal blogs, I am human… I am curious too. *smile*

The Corporate Blogs

corporateYes businesses have their blogs too. It is the new trend in the corporate world, it is a good way to keep clients updated about how the company is doing, the latest projects and so on. Most online businesses I know already have a blog. If your company does not have a blog, consider starting one or you will be a left out. Having a blog for your company is almost same as the craze a few years ago for all businesses to have a website.

-
You may have noticed that I did not have a category for professional blogs since they are in the niche category. Also I wrote about category of blogs and not bloggers since a blogger can have blogs in more than one category that I listed above. So, in which category does your blog fall in?

photo credit: a little black & white, when everything is possible, satisfied satisfying single day, signing the deal

Rihanna - Take A Bow Music Video

May 15, 2008 · Filed Under entertainment, music · Comment 

Enjoy the video:

I really like Rihanna, I have been a fan of her since Pon de Reply. Take a Bow is another great song from her, also her short haircut suits her very well. Do you like it?

And here is the lyrics if you want to sing along with her:

Oh, How about a round of applause, Yeah
A standing ovation
Oooooo oh, Yeah
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah
You look so dumb right now
Standing outside my house
Trying to apologize
You’re so ugly when you cry
Please, just cut it out
[Chorus]
Don’t tell me you’re sorry cuz you’re not
Baby when I know you’re only sorry you got caught
But you put on quite a show
You really had me going
But now it’s time to go
Curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining
But it’s over now (But it’s over now)
Go on and take a bow
Grab your clothes and get gone (get gone)
You better hurry up
Before the sprinklers come on (come on)
Talkin’ bout’
Girl, I love you, you’re the one
This just looks like a re-run
Please, what else is on (on)
[Chorus]
And don’t tell me you’re sorry cuz you’re not
Baby when I know you’re only sorry you got caught
But you put on quite a show
You really had me going
But now it’s time to go
Curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining
But it’s over now (But it’s over now)
Go on and take a bow
[Bridge]
Oh, And the award for
The best lie goes to you (goes to you)
For making me believe (that you)
That you could be faithful to me
Let’s hear your speech, Out
How about a round of applause
A standing ovation
But you put on quite a show
Really had me going
Now it’s time to go
Curtain’s finally closing
That was quite a show
Very entertaining
But it’s over now (But it’s over now)
Go on and take a bow
But it’s over now

Get Rihanna ringtones on your phone

lyrics via: metrolyrics

The Power of Sharing

May 14, 2008 · Filed Under blogging, marketing · 8 Comments 

shareBlogging is all about sharing, the more you write the more readers and comments you will get to your posts. Is it not a great thing to share your knowledge with others and have the feeling you have helped someone out there? Well, this is the feeling I get when I post about things I found around and thought it might be useful to others or well researched posts. Before we continue let’s make something clear, sharing does not mean copying other bloggers posts, if you happen to do it just quote part of the post and leave a link to the original article from where you copied it. Never forget to give credit whenever you want to quote an article.

Let’s now see what are the things you can share and what not, assuming you want to be a clean blogger (by clean I mean you don’t usually post about porn, warez or whatever other illegal stuffs on you blog). Good news is everything is worth sharing, I am not going to teach you ABC but at times you need to use your common sense before you click “post”.

Very often I have seen people posting sensitive information then later feel they should not have let others know about it, they will take the post down trying to cover up but it may too late, those information might still be available on search engine cached page, webarchive.org or other people may have already blogged about it. It is best to think twice before posting about anything you think can cause you any kind of harm.

Also be careful when you post about information that requires research, for e.g. giving statistics, if you are not sure search for it and if you cannot find anything it is best not to post about it at all to avoid confusing your readers. One thing you can do is to poll your readers, this will be a win win situation for both party.

On a positive note, it only while blogging that you can get to know other people that have the same taste as you do, and it is such a great thing when like-minded people can get together. So, sharing your thoughts in blog posts is great but always moderate yourself.

I have always been among those who likes to share everything with others, whether it be ideas, something I learned or anything that I think can be useful or helpful to others. My sister sometimes get angry with me when I share my ideas since I usually have good ones but even if I love my sister dearly I can not keep myself from opening my mind to others, this way I know I will have to keep my brain working to find new ideas to share.

To end I would like to share this nice quote with you

There is no delight in owning anything unshared

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, I would love to hear what are your thoughts about it.
—–
photo credit: sharing

We love Blogcatalog

May 2, 2008 · Filed Under marketing, social media · 6 Comments 

blog catalog homepageAs we are new to the blogging world, we have been looking for some ways to get some traffic to the blog. We know that we do not have enough good posts yet to attract readers but sometimes seeing your statistics with zero visitors can be very discouraging. So, we decided to join blogcatalog and see if we could get a few new friends on our blog. Our blog was accepted was accepted within two days and it felt nice to start seeing visitors from blogcatalog.

As you can see from the image on the left we are already getting daily visitors coming ffom blogcatalog. To our visitors: thank you very much for visiting guys, we will visit your blog too. We thought it would be cool to add those who visits our blog to our friend list, this way we can visit their blog just by checking our friend list at blogcatalog.

We stated earlier that we joined blogcalatog so that we can get visitors to our blog and also get new friends from the blogosphere. Of course if you want to have more friends you need to keep your account active, that is do not just create the account and wait for others to come. You have to go to other blogs too, leave comments on their blog, in short I mean the whole socialising thing. Back to us, we are really having a nice experience with blogcatalog and will surely get to know a lot of other bloggers from there.

If you wish to add us as friend on blogcatalog, here is the link to our profile or you can also join our neighborhood.

And yes one more thing I forgot to add. We are sure a few of you who have visited our blog have already noticed, we will be adding those who visits our blog to our friend list at blogcatalog and will be regular visitors to your blog if your blog is interesting of course (kidding).

We hope you are going to enjoy blogcatalog as much as we do.

Blogging is not for everyone

May 1, 2008 · Filed Under blogging · 6 Comments 

I already see a few getting mad just by reading the title but please don’t be :) This post is mostly for those who hasn’t started blogging yet and asking themselves whether they should do it or not.

If you are going to start a blog as your personal online diary, most probably this post is not going to be be for you but it’s best that you set a goal before you start a blog. Before starting a blog you should bear in mind that it will be visible to the whole world, and people might not share the same thoughts as you. It will be best if you ask yourself a few questions before starting a blog whether it be a personal or business blog.

1. Why you want to blog?

Seriously, why? If your best answer is “because everyone has a blog” then I guess you should not start blogging right away. It’s easy to set up a blog but what matters most is to know what you are going to have on it. Without content a blog is not a blog, it’ll just be another page that has been set up online and will be left as junk.

2. What are you going to write about?

Before you start a blog, it is good to know what you are going to write about. This way you will also get an idea of who are going to be your readers also if you are blogging about something you know about most probably your blog will not die in a few months. So, better choose wisely.

3. Who are your target readers?

Many people start blogging without this in mind then gets frustrated that no one is reading their blog. Before you start your blog, I’d suggest you to spend a few minutes thinking about who your readers are going to be, what age range, sex. If you choose a good subject for your blog, you will not have a hard time to determine this part.

4. Will you post regularly?

This is one of the most important question you should ask yourself. As I mentioned in the answer to the first question, setting up a blog is easy but will you be able to fill it up, that is, will you post regularly? Now by regularly I don’t mean you should post daily but at least 2 - 3 times a week, you should not leave a big gap between two posts.

5. Will you be there for your readers?

Many might take their readers lightly but, they are the one that keeps your blog alive. You should not leave them without interaction. Let them know that there is a “human” who is behind the blog, reply to your comments. If possible take a few minutes to read their blog too.

I think these are the five most important questions anyone should ask themselves before they start blogging. Blogging can be really fun but are you ready for it? That is the big question.

Now that you have successfully answered positively to the questions above I think you can start your blog with a clear mind. Happy blogging! :)

Here are 2 posts I found related to this topic:
101 Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start A Blog
7 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Starting A Business Blog