The Write Spot, LLC

Blog outsourcing: concentrate on writing your blog and leave the rest to the professionals

As I left for Las Vegas to attend BlogWorld Expo a few months ago, my expectations were that I’d be learning about this year’s hottest blogging trends from the gods of the blogosphere like John Chow of johnchow.com, Darren Rowse of Problogger, and Brian Clark of Copyblogger. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that everyone is going back to old school blogging techniques:

• Write good content and blog often.
• Read other blogs in your niche.
• Leave quality comments on those blogs.
• Network by commenting, guest posting, engaging your audience, and going to conferences.

Like so many things in life, it goes back to what you learned in school – to be successful and popular, follow the Golden Rule and do your best work. This is not to say that all those things that drive new bloggers crazy like analytics, monetization, hosting, design, and so on, aren’t important. They are.

How bloggers get noticed by companies

Friends ask me how I get the opportunities I do, like going to the Quaker Oats Living Proof Event, attending the Sony Mom Blogger event, or getting approached by companies to review their products.

Honestly, it’s a guess. I try to write well and often on my four blogs. I also try to read blogs in my various niches, and leave comments on them. I also get to know other bloggers in my niche by going to conference like BlogHer.

It’s also about giving back. I try to reaching out to newer bloggers with advice and help other bloggers get jobs. I also make sure I’m professional when I deal with publicists and companies, no matter how small they are. After all, you never know who’s bringing your next big blogging gig, cool reviewing opportunity, or big media buy. Having a good LinkedIn profile, being on Twitter, and being known as a good writer helps, too, of course.

However, I believe companies find me because of the blog networks I belong to.

How companies find bloggers

Six Apart’s Blogs.com featured my blog post, How Computers Have Impacted My Family's Life on their Top Ways Technology Impacts Moms page. It even made the front page of Blogs.com.

My post is highlighted in yellow.

Moms Cliq magazine launches

MOMS CLIQ, the official magazine of the Mom Bloggers has just released its first issue.

Yours truly has an article in it – How to Squeeze Blogging into a Very Hectic Schedule.

The rest of the FREE online magazine features everything from the big news happening in the mom blogosphere to mom essays about blogging and ways to attract more blogging success.

Good stuff, check it out!

Doesn't every office need an iPod dockable HD Radio?

I have a friend whose husband put $5,000 into a fancy sound system in a home office the size of a large closet. She and I both thought he was crazy. Why didn’t he get an iPod dockable HD radio like the Jensen JiMS 525i instead? You can use your iPod or iPhone and play your favorite music.

It’s also an HD Radio receiver. Many HD Radio stations now are broadcasting new music stations, digital channels called HD2 and HD3, all subscription-free. Of course, you can listen to regular AM and FM, too, but with digital quality - FM sounds as good as your CDs and AM sounds as good as FM usually does. Reception is better, too.

The Jensen also comes with a very cool feature called iTunes Tagging. With an iTunes Tagging enabled HD Radio receiver, when you hear a song you like on your local FM HD Radio station, you simply hit a “tag” button. The song’s info will be saved from your HD Radio receiver to your iPod.

The songs will then show up in on a “tagged” playlist in iTunes the next time you sync your iPod with your computer. Then you can purchase and download the songs you want directly from the iTunes Music Store.

The Jensen JiMS 525i is also a clock radio and can be used bedside, in the kitchen, in the home office, or at work. For $149.99 at HDRadio.com, it would make an excellent holiday gift, too.

What ad network should I use to monetize my blog?

You’re interested in monetizing your blog with an blogger ad network. What kind of things should you consider when reading over their contract?

Payout: What do they pay out per thousand page views (CPM)? Is there an ad revenue share? Do they pay CPM only or CPC (cost per click) or CPA (cost per action), too?

(CPM counts the number of times the ad was viewed. CPC measures ad clicks. CPA measures activity, like signing up to purchase a product or membership.)

Remember, some networks don’t tell you what they pay initially, so you’ll have to give them a trial run to see if their numbers work for you. If that’s the case, make sure you can get out of your contract and stop using them at any time.

Ad Placement: Does their ad have to be at the top portion (“above the fold”) of your blog? Do their ad sizes fit on your blog? If not, will they create one for you? How many of their ads will you have to run – just one or two or more?

Free, crystal-clear, digital radio, what's it all about?

HD Radio technology enables AM and FM radio stations to broadcast their programs digitally. FM stations have CD-quality sound and AM stations broadcast with with FM-quality sound. The reception is better and there’s no audio distortion.

It’s free – no subscription like satellite radio. Plus you get new kinds of programs you’ve never listened to before – new artists, new music from other countries, and new experimental formats that no one has ever heard before.

Of course you need an HD Radio Receiver to receive digital HD2 Multicast programming. You can buy receivers as tabletop systems, shelf units, car stereo systems and even ones for your boat.

Many of these receivers come with iPod tagging. When you hear a song you like on your local FM HD Radio station, you simply hit a “tag” button. The song’s info will be saved from your HD Radio receiver to your iPod.

Go to the HDRadio.com website to discover stations in your area. All you need to do is select your state from the pull-down menu that are on-the-air with HD Radio technology. To see an example, check out Texas High Definition Radio stations. My state has a lot of HD radio stations, too.

For the music maniac in your life, an HD radio upgrade would make an excellent gift.

Tech for Obama

I saw this video on Tech for Obama (not affiliated with the Obama campaign). This is the first time I’ve seen any information on what either candidates thinks about when it comes to technology, broad band access, the democratization of technology, and net neutrality.

With the price of gas going up and the economy in the toilet, I can see a lot more people working for home – either for themselves after getting laid off or for their employers to save on energy and office costs. Having affordable, broad band access makes this possible. It’s important that all Americans have it.

See Tech for Obama for more information.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Why small businesses still need printed brochures in a Web 2.0 world

In an online world, why does your small business need an old-fashioned printed brochure? For the sole reason that not all your customers are online.

Recently, a friend opened a professional recording studio in his basement. (He’s a sound engineer and has been working for other companies for years. This was his first freelance business.) He did the normal things like create business cards and a website. He also created a brochure, so he could have it displayed around town at places he hung out at, like the karate studio where he took lessons.

He and his wife designed the piece, and used an online printing service for their brochure printing. The results were professional and have helped him market his business since many of his potential customers are not web savvy.

Which online printing service should I use?

There are many online printing companies to chose from. One you may want to consider is PsPrint.com. They offer several paper stocks and folding options, allowing you to create full color, multi-panel brochures. They also provide consistent color printing quality, fast turnaround time, and convenient Integrated Mailing Services, a fast, affordable, and convenient way to professionally mail out your marketing pieces.

They also offer instant online quotes, which should help determine how many features you can get – full color, glossy paper, heavy paper, etc. – for the amount of money in your marketing budget.

PsPrint can also create and print business cards, calendars, and greeting cards. Remember, the holiday season is almost here! (See my post, Sending Out Holiday Cards, to find out why even small businesses should market themselves this way during the holidays.) Look to an online printing service like PsPrint to take care of all your printed marketing materials.

Using Guest Blogging to Increase Blog Traffic

In last month’s Northern Colorado Writers newsletter column, I wrote about the pros and cons of joining a blog network. I concluded that unless you were hired by a quality network and were receiving a healthy monthly stipend along with the ad revenue share, you were giving away your writing for free.

However there are times when giving away your content is a good thing. One example is guest blogging.

Why should you guest blog?

Guest blogging is when you write a post to be published on someone else’s. When you guest post, your host’s readers will be exposed to your work, maybe for the first time. If they like what you wrote, they will follow the link back to your blog, like what they see, and become regular readers. This way you increase your traffic and recruit new readers.

How to get the gig

You want to get the most out of your guest blogging efforts by posting at blogs that get better traffic and have a higher Google page ranking than your blog. But if you’re a beginner – basically a nobody – how do you get asked to guest post on a popular blog? It’s all about getting their attention.

Let’s say you want to do a guest post on “Joe Cool’s” blog? (Let’s call him Joe for short.) You could contact him, of course, and beg. But he probably gets thousands of emails a day, and many guest posting requests. Instead, you need to find a way to get on Joe’s radar. Well, one way is to send him a big check. All kidding aside, you need to read Joe’s work, comment regularly on his blog, and participate in all the things he offers from free e-book downloads to signing up for his enewsletter.