JAN ALWAYS WRITES: blogging

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SIMPLE WAYS TO AVOID BLOGGER BURNOUT

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The time you started your blog, it seems easy right? because according to the blog posts from professional bloggers that you have read before about starting a blog, you just have to pay for a domain name, a hosting, some design and you are ready to go.

You're so excited that you didn't notice their special notes like: "Blogging may be hard, but you need to be consistent on giving value to your readers", "It's easy to start a blog but it's hard to grow and maintain what you've started", "When you want to turn your blog into a business, you need some consistency on producing great and shareable content" and so on. Did you notice some similarities among these given questions?

All of them are telling you to be consistent on the value or content that your readers are getting from you. But, what if you're too occupied on the things you do to grow your blog? Because as you and I know, blogging is not all about writing posts then waiting for a miracle that someone will read it.

What if you can't produce great quality posts anymore because you felt that there are too much work, sprinkles and glitters in your blog? Pretty hard right?

Do you experience these kinds of dilemmas on your blog? And I'm sure that you are here to know How I prevented Blogger Burnout? Am I right? Okay so let's get started!

1. Stop Everything Online

Just stop everything you do NOW here on the internet (but before you stop finish reading this post first.*wink*) and close your eyes. Try to remember the reasons why you decided to start a blog. Reminisce the challenges you've overcome just to reach the place that you are working on right now.

You can take a couple of selfies and browse through Facebook and check if there are news that you've missed because of your obsession of growing your blog. After an hour or two, you can go back on tinkering your blog. Yayy!

2. Spread Out Work

As you can see, my blog is just a new one. I re-branded my old lifestyle/travel blog into a blog about blogging, content writing and self-development. My old blog failed because of one thing, I am the only one doing all the work.

I take and edit photographs, post on social media, create posts, promote etc. It was so exhausting and finally, after I bought my domain, I instantly built a small team (a.k.a. my siblings). After I delegated work on my team, the work and responsibilities rested on my shoulders became lighter and I can focus more on taking writing projects from clients. Moving on, after spreading out the work, the things that I do now is to write blog posts, create attracting images for Pinterest, Facebook and Instagram (which is my most favorite part of my blogging routine), writing paid blog posts for other bloggers and businesses and eating some junk food while watching Clarence on Disney.

3. Set Working Hours

You just grew your blog and turned it into a full time job. Blogging really is a flexible job but puh-lease, could you set your working hours per day? How can you watch out your kids, do the laundry, buy some grocery and do some household chores when you're just staring at your computer and waiting for that single visitor or follower to follow you? As a professional blogger (self-proclaimed here!), my schedule on tinkering my blog and other stuff online is around 7:00 to 10:00 in the morning and after doing all those stuff, I just clean some dishes left in the lavatory and play volleyball outside when it's weekends and school days are set differently too.

Working all day is not the answer to your problem on how you can grow your blog. Setting a time schedule is the best way to be more productive and relaxed. You quit your full-time job because you hate working all day right? So why are you bringing it back?

4. Play Some Sports or Do Some Exercise Every Morning

This is one of the forgotten routines of a healthy human being. When a person becomes an internet entrepreneur, blogger, designer or anyone working online, he forgets that he also needs to go outside to stretch some muscles and burn some calories.

Studies say that starting your day with a sweaty routine can make you more productive because you started actively (wait! where did I get that?). I am a morning person so it is easy for me to wake up early in the morning to jog with my friends and play volleyball after. Try to find some fitness friends to accompany you in your healthy routine-like everyday!

5. Chitchat With Your Family and Friends

I'm not a loud person but this is my favorite part of having a close family member or a friend. I really love talking about life, work (blogging) and especially studies. Talking (and laughing very, very loud) with them can relieve your stress from the blog-osphere. Do this every other day if you are living by yourself and of course several times a day when you are living with your family or friends. You can tell them all your frustrations about blogging even though they are not that familiar with how things go around at the blogging world. They will lead the conversation from blogging to other topics that can ease the pain in your head.

6. Say "No" to Almost Everything

You are not an Sponsored Ads/Post whore right? And it's not your responsibility to publish all the sponsored post request in blog. So learn to say "NO" to almost everything. When there are 5 Sponsored Post request this month, say "YES" to only one of them or better say "NO" to every request because publishing sponsored posts consistently on your blog turn off your readers and make them leave your blog forever.

You can publish once a month or better once every two months because if you really want to make money with your blog and turn it into a business, you will not depend on Ads/Sponsored Posts but on creating products or offering services that can give you more income.
So always remember, don't be afraid to say NO to the requests of brands and bloggers. Your blog is a business and you don't want other products lingering in your store right?

7. Have a Day Off

Once a week, my brothers and I are having a Day Off. Every Saturday, I always start my day watching some television shows and just relax all day by browsing my feed on Facebook. Then the other day which is Sunday, we go to church to pray and worship our Supreme Creator.

Going to church is also a good idea to talk with friends about life that can lessen the burden you have. Spend your Day Off wisely. Never as in never, open your e-mail and other blogging related websites because it will distract you from relaxing and having fun.

Spend some quality time with yourself and your family, go to the movies or if you want, sleep all day and eat when it's time to. Just another friendly tip: Don't open Pinterest when you are browsing on your phone, because I personally hate myself from being too attracted to those pretty pins.

8. Find a Blogger BFF

Having a best friend in real life is one of the best feelings that you can experience because you have a person to talk to about good and bad things especially the things that you can't tell your parents. This also goes well with regards to blogging. When you have a blogging friend, you can ask him/her some questions about how you can grow your blog or something related to blogging (obviously).

You can exchange thoughts about the designs of your blogs etc. It's best to have a blogger friend that you can always lean on. So find your blogger friend to talk with.

9. Organize Your Blog

If you really want to prevent blogger burnout, you should start by organizing your blog's overall performance. Start off with your blog goals, then write down on a notebook or on a blog planner the topics and ideas that you want to be posted on your blog. But always remember that your posts should be related to each other and they should not go out in your niche.

I am a fan of blog planners because it always keep me organized with the dates of my blog posts etc.

10. Treat Yourself Outside

This one can be combined with having a Day Off but I separated this because having a Day Off doesn't mean you're going outside always right? When you have time or when you successfully did something for your blog, celebrate!

Go outside with your friends and family so that you can relax and have fun. Don't hit yourself too hard with those queued blog posts. Forget it for a day and spend it by relaxing (e.g. window shopping, bowling, running, attending socialization seminars etc.). Buy some new pair of jeans, shoes or a new smartphone perhaps? Anything within your budget of course.

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10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE LONG-FORM BLOG POSTS

By Brotherly Creative

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Keep It Short and Simple (K.I.S.S.)

This only applies to some aspects of life. But in writing a blog post, the longer you make, the better. You may have even heard someone saying: “No one watches videos which can be over 3 minutes, so always keep your videos brief…”

At once, there have already been others on the market that have stuck with their strategy that was preached almost every time, “Keep it short and brief”. While others go with very long blog posts which is full of sub-content.

The facts are both styles of communicating can operate. Seth Godin averages about 200 words; Social Media Examiner in a post is usually in the 1500 words range, but both websites are extremely successful versions for content creation.

1. Content Arms Race Enjoys Huge Weapons

I began saturating their marketplaces with content and talking about the “content arms race” over last year and more than ever I see only how competitive businesses and businesses of sizes are beginning to compete with each other.

As this occurs, and businesses are consistently putting out new articles, videos, eBooks, etc.—there's one primary thing that distinguishes the average from those that stand previously—quality. And is the understanding that content that is longer is of better quality, but generally speaking, writers are given the chance to dive and educate on any given area by span.

Because they've been in this kind of competitive space, HubSpot has spent a good little bit of time over the past year creating content-rich eBooks to raise their pipeline, a thing that can be a great deal more strong after website post than only composing site post. Yeah, I understand, it’s not the most intimate analogy but it’s not false.

2. Return Of Investment

As those in advertising and sales start to comprehend the power of content they’ll also begin to recognize bigger and better content, when used up, can have a remarkable impact on prospective customers and consumers. Considering I make a 250-page eBook. Lots of folks will tell me it’s stupid to have a 250-page eBook because it’s not overly short and thus turns off most readers.

What these people don’t comprehend is the fact I know the eBook will remove lots of subscribers. Actually, I need that. Why? Because the eBook is meant for businesses that need to control online through content marketing. And because they would like to function as greatest, they’re not unwilling to put the time into learning about how these aims can be achieved by them. 250 pages might appear like an excessive amount of content for some, but for my company and me, it’s the key to then locating the appropriate customers and greatly training.

Because it’s a demand that the eBook is read by my customers, it's become my best single sales tool, qualifier, and filter. In addition, it ensures I’m working with businesses that are great on a regular basis. And isn’t this just what every company needs?

3. More Visual Abilities

It's become an established fact the more visual parts an article or piece of content has the more likely be read and it's to attract attention. Going back to Social Media Examiner, you’ll see that not only do they typical over 1500 words per post as I mentioned before, but in addition they have at least 5 pictures (and/or video) with every post too.

That is an editorial rule for SME writers as it ensures that textual and visual students can use up information within their preferred approach and it’s a great one to have.

This magazine-style strategy is powerful and quite computed, and it’s one of the significant reasons despite the fact they’re only over 3 years old.

4. Penguin, Panda, and Google Like Huge Content

When Google updated their algorithm with Panda and Penguin in 2012, the complete internet was turned on its head. Many of the Search Engine Optimization practices that were most disgraceful were coming back to haunt firms that had danced with the devil, and a brand new age of content quality” that was “ was born. Also, when one actually realizes how search engines work, additionally they realize that “time on societal shares and site” have become more significant metrics of Search Engine Optimization success.

If Google has a selection showing two posts for the exact same key word, which one are they going to pick? Now given, this really is one of many variables that order search engine positions, but I’m certain you comprehend my purpose. Google needs to demonstrate excellent content that provides their users a delightful encounter. That’s their target. And more content that does a deep dive into a topic definitely has an improved possibility of fulfilling this target.

5. Longer Content Gets More Societal Shares

I bet you have tried this. One blog post I made was over 2500 words and took over 8 hours to compose, but the time was worth it, and was more successful than if I'd written 5 other posts of small size and minimal impact. When people sense that the author has spent lots of time creating value, they may be considerably more likely than they would to share it if it was a smaller post— one of “quality.” that is equivalent Although I’d like to believe the posts I’ve composed that weren’t as long were still great, the fact cannot be dismissed that there's a direct correlation between duration of content and societal sharing—a truth that many companies and bloggers are beginning to be aware of.

6. Data Says It All

Yup, just like what this sub-topic says. Data says it all. And data does not lie. As stated on the intro of this article, Seth Godin has an average of 200 words per article. And look at the number of shares, likes, and feedback he has. You’ve probably been reasoning out, this is because humans have small attention spans, and people don’t wish to scroll through long posts. But you see, you are not Seth Godin. In fact, data collected by Google’s Top 10 search results show that it has allergy to short content.

Most people are creating fewer number of words per blog post, nowadays, so to stand out from that, put in that extra effort to write the more words than other. Don’t let yourself blend in with others.

7. More Social Exposure

According to studies, and data gathered, the longer the contents of a blog post are, the more social engagements it gains. More likes, more shares, more social interactions put the blog in publicity and exposure through the targeted readers or the keen eyes of the media. Having a large number of social feedbacks, creates an impression to others (customers, readers, media, other companies) that you are a big time blogger and you have a great number of followers or readers that mirrors the success of your blog.

From a study conducted by Moz and BuzzSumo, when they teamed up and analyzed millions of blog posts, long and thoroughly written articles, which contained information and helpful data were shared by readers to their friends and family while short articles were just left as they were, read or not. Analysis of data showed that 85% of web content, which is less than a thousand words long were not shared at all, or received low rate of social interactions. While the remaining 15%, composed of long blog posts, over a thousand words long, gained more social interactions with the readers and created more traffic for the blog. As a conclusion by Moz and BuzzSumo, blogposts having 3,000 to 10,000 words gained twice as much social interaction as short, less than a thousand word article do.

8. Long Content Gets More Links

Longer content ranks higher in search engines. While searching, people do not bother to even move on to the second page of the search results. Instead, they stick to the first ones that appear on the front page of the search engine. And guess what? The kind of blog posts that top the search engines are the longer ones, containing a thousand and more words. A few years ago, short content used to top the search engines, those blog posts containing 400-500 words only. But that’s not the case for today.

Today’s a lot different as the longer the articles, the higher it ranks on search engines. With a few exceptions of high-profile or authority websites. But you see, long blog posts are all the rage for today.

Brian Dean and Backlinko analyzed millions of Google search results and found out, that among the factors of being in high rank of search results, longer content topped the charts. Longer content beat shorter content in terms of ranking in search engines. And in fact, here is something to prove it, Brian Dean noted, “The average word count of first page Google result is 1,890 words.” And to back-up this fact, a study done by SerpIQ a few years back showed that results on the 10th page, have a 400-word count average while those in the first page have more than a thousand word count average. It is important to understand and keep in mind however, that longer data, does not always equate to higher ranks in the search engines. But this fact, however, gives an idea of how much words you need to make it to the top searches.

9. People Tend to Read Longer Content

While reading the sub-title of reason number nine, you are probably frowning as it’s a known fact that people do not like to read long content, but rather, they prefer shorter ones. But you see, there are a number of those people who are researching, looking for information, understanding things, and where else would they get this information from other than long and thoroughly written blog posts?

People who are searching for answers to their questions, would most probably want longer content with much substance. They are looking for a blog post that they can learn from, a blog post that gives them knowledge from such things that they are curious about. But sometimes, for people who just wish to past time, or just decided to read because they just passed over the content, they would wish to read something that is in between. Not too long, not too short. Just enough words that contain the right amount of information but does not burden too much.

10. Long but Contains Information

It is hard to write a long article. But a long article doesn’t necessarily mean repeating your words, re-wording it just so you could add to the word account. A long article should not only contain words but it should also contain some information and substance. People do not wish to read an article that repeats itself over and over again like a broken record. But instead, invest some time into writing long content by researching and actually including some helpful things inside your blog posts so that your readers can learn something from it. After all, the purpose of reading and writing is to learn something.

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NOT GETTING ENOUGH TRAFFIC? WHY DO PEOPLE IGNORE YOUR BLOG

By Brotherly Creative

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You are blogging! Likely because you have heard us (or innumerable other sources) tell you how important and valuable it's for a successful inbound marketing strategy. Why are not they coming?

Well, my friends, that isn't baseball -- or a film -- and sadly, that is not actually how it operates. Web blogs require good quality old fashioned elbow grease.

1 | You Just Found Your Site

Here's the matter, people: Your site is not going to begin getting lots of visitors. Building your readership up takes time. We never said blogging was not difficult -- but boy can it be rewarding if you stick with this.

2 | Your Website Content Is Not Optimized for Search and Societal Sharing

Among the reasons blogging is this kind of effective inbound advertising instrument is its direct tie to search as I suggested in my first point. The site content you create, the more chances you must get discovered by searchers because each site post you release is another page to get indexed in search engines. The truth is, the typical business will find a 45% increase in traffic when raising site posts that are absolute from 11-20 to 21-50 posts.

And the amazing thing is, since they will continue to get detected after they were initially released these blog posts will continue to drive results as time passes. But you will get considerably better results as you create content to your website if you are following search engine optimization best practices. Talking of social media promotion, you realize you are not the only person who can distribute your site posts via societal, right?

Add societal sharing buttons to every post you print to empower your visitors that are present to share your content, also. It's possible for you to learn the best way to create these societal sharing buttons. And to raise the odds your content will be shared by your visitors in the first place, you can find other things you are able to do aside from adding societal sharing buttons, like including crafting focus and powerful vision -grabbing names.

3 | You Are Marketing Your Products, Services, and Achievements Instead of Marketing Your Website.

If no one understands your site exists so just how do you build up audience? Well, have you been doing any advertising that is website? You know ... promoting your website? You must think with your site being the merchandise should you really need to get your website out there. Market your site posts in social media, contain site content -nurturing workflows, and send an e-mail that is committed to your own list to denote your site exists.

And what about in your web site? Have you got a link to your own website in your site's main navigation? When it comes to building readership does not the real content issue? First things quit blogging about yourself! That is not what your company website is for. With the aim of bringing new visitors on top of the funnel, you want your own site to supply value to the kinds of folks you'd ultimately like to convert in other words, your buyer characters.

They could not care less about your products and services, if your visitors understand nothing about you. So if you will want spot to talk about services and your entire wonderful new products, other accolades, and award triumphs, begin a different business news site, and set it all there.

4 | Your Content Is Not Valuable to Your Target Audience

Let us piggyback off amount six a little, since I mentioned "supplying worth," but did not precisely say what "value" is. In simplest terms, precious content is content that meets your market's interests, needs, or questions. So how can you understand what your market's interests, needs, and questions are? The key will be to begin with your buyer characters. You will have a much better comprehension of the kinds of content it is possible to create to appeal to them by knowing what makes those people tick.

And consequently, you will have created a destination that can draw in the kinds of individuals you really need as readers. Run an instant audit using the suggestions in this post, if you are still unsure if your content is really valuable for your market. Now, after you get these readers that are new for your website, you need them to stick around, do not you? The greatest method to try this is to make them subscribe, especially via e-mail, since e-mail subscribers get notifications right for their inbox when new content can be obtained in your website.

RSS subscribers, while precious, have the freedom of being a bit less active, since it is up to them to assess their RSS reader by themselves to find out about your brand-new content. So, show your e-mail subscription form conspicuously in your site, consider adding a call-to-actions within your posts add a site, and to encourage subscription subscribe check box all of which you can all learn about in this post. Turn those casual readers into supporters and committed subscribers of your content.

5 | Your Copywriting Is Dull

Let us handle the opinion in the parenthetical. Content that is quality begins with quality writing. And at the minimum, your writing needs the fundamentals down pat. Although you've got thoughts that are great but are not the greatest writer, consider hiring an editor. As well as if you've got writing skills that are strong and do not need a full time editor, make sure you have someone proof everything you print. In the end, everyone makes errors.

In terms of "mundane" copywriting, let us face it -- many folks are not just peddling the most alluring of products (you know, like advertising applications). But that does not mean our content has to be dull. The truth is, engaging and really fascinating writing is among the greatest methods to earn your site be noticeable from rivals' sites. If I had the choice between two equally insightful sites in an identical sector and the other had not considerably more delightful copywriting than one, it is possible to bet your buttons I Had opt for the one with the copywriting that is delightful.

Recall -- your content can continue to be helpful and credible without seeming like a stuffy academic paper. Be witty and conversational, tell stories, and seem like a person.

6 | Your Topics Are Too Broad

Generally, when first time bloggers start their blogs, they opt to write about topics that are way too broad for a reader’s writing. Such as the following mentioned topics used as examples:

(1) How to Earn Money Online
(2) Best Marketing Strategies
(3) How to Build Your Blog

While there is no problem with these types of articles, it’s just that these articles oftentimes fail to cover all the sub-topics included in the whole topic. These types of blog posts are usually discussed using few numbers of words, failing to actually talk about other aspects, or other things related to such topic.Instead, try to chop down these broad topics into more specific ones, and write an article an article focusing on the specific sub-topic.

This way, the sub-topics to be discussed gets their own blog post. Such as the example below:

(1) How to Earn Money Online by Doing Online Jobs
(2) How to Earn Money Online by Building a Blog
(3) How to Earn Money Online by Advertising

Right off the bat, these articles clearly fall on the topic, “How to Earn Money Online,” but on each sub-topic, it is specifically mentioned each different ways of earning money online. This way, you can include a lot of related ideas without making the article seem messy or out of the place.

7 | Your Blog Post Is a Dump – Figuratively

Long articles, everything’s all over the place, the paragraphs are not in logical order, it is hard to follow the thoughts of the blog post, you’re throwing everything at the reader all at once, it is a disaster. You don’t want your articles to be garbage dump, do you? The solution? Write down a draft, or, an outline. Before actually writing it all out, sit down first and draw an outline. Visualize how your blog post is going to go. Imagine in your head how you are going to execute the chosen topic. What’s your introduction? Are you first going to ask about your readers? Throw questions at them that you think are relatable? Or are you going to narrate about things that the reader will relate to?

Make sure your introduction is catchy to keep your reader reading till the end. How will you transition to the second part of the blog post? Quick tip, when transitioning in between parts or paragraphs, make sure that there is a linkage between the two, or use transition words (however, then, and, also, etc.) to shift paragraphs smoothly. If you will not include a link, or transition words, these paragraphs will look like they are not interconnected and your blog post will not seem cohesive.
How are you going to end it? Leave a compelling mark to your readers. Don’t let them forget your article or blur it with others.

8 | Use Data to Be More Credible

Oftentimes, people tend to forget it. They forget to not include data, or actual research onto their written articles. The power of data is not to be underestimated. It is very different to read an article containing “67%” or “According to a study conducted by…” than an article which is only composed of words. Utilize the internet to your advantage and actually use the Google search bar to find credible data or sources to include in your written blog post.

This will make you seem more credible, and in the brain of a reader, it will sound like you actually know what you are writing about and they will tend to believe you more. And while you are at it, add some charts and graphical representations on your blog post to make reading easier for your readers. This is also to back up your points.

9 | Your Writing Is Too Formal

You see, writing in such a formal or stiff manner is not enjoyable at all, at the mere less, it makes your readers bored with the content that they are reading. And when boredom strikes, it is not far from your readers clicking away from your blog post and just completely forgets about it or your blog. Write like you talk, like you are conversing with your friends. Use a friendly tone when writing your blog posts. You are not writing a speech for the people of the United States of America.

You are not writing a news article for a tabloid. Instead, you are writing for your readers. You may use informal language, you may act friendly with your words. As an exercise, see the way I’ve written up until now? Write all the informal language, or all the words I used that you enjoyed. Keep that list nearby whenever you write so that you can refer to it anytime you want.

10 | Your Article Is Not Original, Not at All

You think you’re article is original? But the reality is that it is bordering plagiarism. There are many things why you would wish to not plagiarize anything at all. You could get sued, and end up paying jail fines, and that is utterly unpleasant. But most of all, your readers will turn away from an unoriginal blog post. They will have an impression that you are unprofessional, and therefore, will not take you seriously. If your content is the same as others, without properly crediting your sources.

They will blend your article in with others, completely forgetting all the important details to come back to your blog again. Your article will not stand out if your content is not original. So learn to properly credit your sources and do not re-type or copy paste works that you find in the internet. That is not hard work at all.

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BLOG ADS SUCK: WHY I DON'T PUT ADS ON MY WEBSITE

By Brotherly Creative

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We’ve all heard about it. Blog advertisements and how they can possibly bring more money for your blog. We come across blogs that are heavily-advertised; we read articles about people earning money through blog advertisements.

Even stories about how people earn money overnight through advertising. Or we even get e-mails, or invites asking us to join advertising systems.

It almost sounds too good to be true, isn’t it? Is there a hidden catch you didn’t read?

But what good things do advertisements bring to your blog anyway? Do blog ads have more advantages than disadvantages?

1 | Where Is Your Heart as a Blogger?

Let me tell you something. There are actually people who only make blogs to monetize the blog by putting a lot of ads everywhere in the website.

Not trying to generalize but there are some people whose only intention to make a blog is to gain money from it. This intention is not really nice. It may be clever but the “blogger” is lacking the love of blogging.

To blog is to write articles about your own hobbies, your own passion and share them with the world. Early bloggers in the fetus-age of the internet quotes, “I was only interested to share about the place I have visited to other people so that they can have information and decide whether they would like to visit as well.”

This travel blogger has good intentions, drive and passion to share about his interest.

If you have the passion about the topic you are writing in your blogs, your articles will become more enjoyable and interesting to people.

If you are only writing to be recognized, almost always that the articles you write are bad. Oftentimes, if a writer or blogger is not enjoying what he is doing, his words will sound unnatural.

And if you are only writing for recognition, and the thought of money, it defeats the purpose of blogging.

You would appear as a hypocrite and if your readers begin to notice your true intentions, they would stop patronizing your website – losing possible clickers to all ads you put in your blog.

2 | Advertising Only Pays You in Small Amounts

After reading the subtitle, you frowned hard, didn’t you? Contrary to popular myths that advertising can bring you tons of money overnight, well, the thing is – it doesn’t.

If you learn more about advertising, you will begin to realize that not all things you hear or read about advertising. Most of it are half-told lies and sugarcoated words.

As you read more about this method of monetizing your blog, you came to realize how pricing really works. And in order to get paid through advertising, you must create a lot of traffic for your site.

There must be people who will click on this blogs.

Per say, the pricing works this way – for every person who click on the ad, you earn $0.05. That means you will need 10 people to click on this ad to earn five dollars.

But the things are, only few people click on these ads. Some of them are smart enough to know that some ads contain virus, while some are smart enough to not click ads and only focus on the content of the website they are reading.

This will be extremely hard if you do not have a lot of regular visitors daily and you are still starting off in blogging and you still don’t have a solid reader base.

We get down to our conclusion that advertising requires a lot of traffic. And if you do have traffic on your blog, there are many better and much clever ways you can use to monetize this traffic.

3 | Advertisements Can Slow Down Your Website

Yes, according to studies by professionals, advertisements actually make your website load slower. Of course, many visitors do not like visiting slow websites.

People easily get annoyed when a YouTube video does not load fast or when it’s very slow it freezes. People are likely to click away when a website loads slowly and even freezes from time-to-time. Don’t let your readers go away just because of slow time-loading!

4 | Advertisements Can Be Distracting

If you are not a “blogger” who only blogs for monetizing your blog, or if you are actually a blogger who enjoys writing on his blog and has passion in writing – advertisements can compete to the hard work you are putting in your articles.

You spend 2-3 hours crafting the perfect and interesting article for your readers. You sit down in front of your laptop with your glass of coffee. You put so much thought into your titles and introductions to keep them interesting. Every word you write, you think twice about it. Some articles even take many drafts or so – taking up much of your time.

After a few drafts, you are satisfied with your article and post it on your blog – hoping people would enjoy the articles you have written and even give feedback and constructive criticism.

A visitor sees your article and easily gets attracted to the catchy title you put so much effort thinking. Great job! The visitor actually gets attracted until the middle of your article.

But what’s this--? The visitor sees a blinking red box on the side of your website. Oh no! The blinking red box attracts the visitor’s attention and he forgets about your hard work article. He clicks on it and completely neglects the article he had only half-finished.

Isn’t that disappointing and such a waste?

Advertisements are actually designed to be attention-seeking. Oftentimes in really eye-catching and obnoxious colors and graphically designed to take attention away.

If you are making content and actually want people to take that content seriously – advertisements are not the best way to go.

5 | You Are Not Your Boss Anymore

Bloggers are the own bosses of themselves. You can freely pick the time you can work. You can pick your own day-off, without asking anyone for permission. But if you run advertisements, you’re not exactly the boss anymore.

You don’t like how much you’re getting paid? Well, bad news for you but you can’t ask for a raise. You would even need to reach a minimum amount or quota for your blog.

And what’s worse? If you accidentally slip up and violate the Terms of Conditions, guess what? You lose everything you have.

You might want to avoid running advertisements if you do not like being bossed around. Which, a vast majority of bloggers have as an attitude.

6 | People Will Become Lazy and You Will Too

As people click on your site, the first thing they would notice is the colorful parts of the blog – probably your header and the advertisement boxes lining your website on the sides.

If your visitors see that you have ads running along your website, they would assume that you are immediately selling them something.

Taking it into the real world, someone tries to ask for your money even if you’ve just met them a few moments ago. Now, isn’t that just weird and creepy? You would immediately back away and avoid the person as much as possible.

Visitors would do the same to your blog. They wouldn’t even do a once-over on the content of your blog (even if you do have amazing content). And they would immediately back away, close the tab and forget your website altogether.

At the same time of managing your blogs, you also manage these ads. And sometimes, you even forget that you are running a blog and your purpose to post great content and blog about your passion. You don’t exactly keep your label as a “blogger” but instead, you also become a part-time advertisement manager which could be a distraction for you, as a blogger.

If there are many things going in your hands, it is impossible to create quality work equally and all your time and effort will be invested on the advertisements and not the blog you worked so much to build.

7 | You Risk the Reputation of Your Blog

Having the blogs on your website is selected randomly by the algorithms that run your blog. Say, Google AdSense for an example.

And what if a defective product or service, or even a not-so-well company suddenly appears on the side of your website?

You don’t even want to use such defective product. But actually having it posted on your website can imply that you’re are endorsing it and recommending it to others.

What if someone used that product and it did they harm than good? Wouldn’t that greatly affect your reputation, especially if you had already built a good reputation for your website?

You can’t do anything. You can’t remove it on your website and just watch it there, displaying itself and hoping that it does not affect your reputation or hope that nobody tries it.

8 | You Look Like an Amateur – Even If You Are Not

Say, you’ve been a blogger since the early days of the internet. And you can actually consider yourself someone who is knowledgeable and almost an expert about this field.

You’ve been blogging for years, and you’ve already mastered the tips and tricks on how to get around this business.

And then you suddenly heard about advertising and thinks that it is a great idea! You apply it to your blog and then, you get feedback about being an amateur and having a mediocre blog?

If visitors see your website, they would easily think that you are actually thinking the few bucks of advertising are actually worth it. Would these visitors still give your content a try?

They would but it is very unlikely that they would still give your blog a chance.

Visitors often have the mindset that blogs with ads are made by amateurs and you do not like that.

9 | There Are Other Ways to Monetize Traffic on Your Blog

Even if blog advertisements are a popular way of monetizing your blog, don’t let yourself be pulled in by the bandwagon effect and instead search for other ways in which you can make money from your hard work.

You may actually sell your own products. You may sell your visitors' merchandise, such as t-shirts or tumblers, or even sell them e-books or even physical books that contain your content such as life advises or business-related advise.

And of course, do all of your will to advertise your own products, just don’t go overboard.

You may even offer such services to your readers. Of course, the services you offer should be related to your content. There are many ways you can monetize your blog, so sit down and think about it.

10 | You Do Not Achieve the Goal of Your Blog

If you focus on adding advertisements to your blog, instead of actually focusing on improving the content of your blog, you are slowly forgetting about your goal – to share to people your passion, to write about your hobbies and interests, to entertain people, to tell people about something.

This does not exactly happen if you have ads running around in your blog. You want to keep your visitors, but at the same time you post ads on your website, rubbing it on your reader’s faces.

These are very contradicting ideologies. The ads take your readers away from your site, which you work hard to not happen.

You put all your effort to keep your readers binge-reading about content in your website. But as you display ads everywhere, you are not achieving your goal – or any goal either.

Note: I have no problems with Cost-Per-Click & Cost-Per-Impression Ads or something, these reasons are only my opinion about the said topic.

Also, this doesn't mean that I will not put advertisements on my blog; I will only put direct product advertisements that I have used and really recommend rather than accept ads with third-party companies. Ciao!

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10 THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN STARTING A BLOG

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IS BLOGGING FOR YOU? HERE ARE WAYS FOR YOU TO KNOW

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I’ve been blogging for 3 years and now I really know that blogging is the right path for me to pursue. Blogging is not an easy job. It takes time, money and commitment for you to grow a blog and turn it into a business. But the real question that needs to be answered right now is “Is professional blogging the right career for me to pursue?”

I’m not talking about hobby blogging wherein you only blog just to unwind feelings and share rants on your personal space online, we’re talking about blogging professionally, blogging to give value and content to your potential clients and customers, sharing your expertise online through written words and most of all blogging to gradually transform it into a business.

1 | You Love to Write

Obviously, you will not last in the blogging race (and you will not start either) if you do not love to write about the things you’re most passionate about.

It can be about travelling, fashion, cooking meals or baking desserts, and like this blog, blogging (a blog about blogging, pretty funny eh?). Writing is about 30-40% of the blogging process that is exercised by many pro bloggers online.

Writing a post that will be published online is not like writing a piece on a textbook. Your blog posts should have a voice, a voice that will be easily heard by your readers.

Your posts should be in a conversational tone so that your readers will be easily engaged with the topic that you’re talking about in a certain post.

So if you still doubt if blogging is really right for you, ask yourself, “Can I write and write every day or a few times a week without being freaked out?” If your answer is a big fat YES, then you can check a worry out of your chest.

2 | Spending Time Surfing the Web Gives You Pleasure

Who doesn’t love surfing the web right? If you’re like me who spends 5-7 hours every day to browse Social Media handles. There are plenty of pretty photos and smart ideas you can get from there, right?), other blogs about finance, business and work at home, and most of all YouTube that gives me relaxation every time I engage myself into a video marathon.

When you want to pursue your blogging career, you will spend all your working time online wherein you will update your blog consistently, talk to your clients and most of all cater your customers with all the informational products you can offer affordably.

You know what? In my experience regarding blogging professionally online, surfing the web gives you more ideas on the content that you can post on your blog.

Also, it can give you the opportunity to interact with other bloggers and learn marketing strategies from them.

Do you enjoy surfing the internet? Are you a teen who spends time by surfing the social media?

Although surfing the internet can be considered a lazy, and unproductive hobby, turn it into your own job, and impress people by making money and doing what you love by just sitting for hours.

3 | You Are Passionate

When you don’t have the passion on what knowledge you want to share on your blog, you should not think of starting one.

Blogging needs some huge writing and promoting sessions and without passion, you can’t do those two important things that can really help you grow your blog.

If you do not have passion, your blog will just be another waste in the online world. You should be passionate on what you really want to cater to your potential customers and clients.

Your blog will not grow in itself if you don’t work, work and work for it every single day. Without passion, it will not grow into a successful business that you wish to turn it into.

A perfect example is when raising your children. Your kids will not grow into fine, successful individuals if you will not take care of them, put your time, effort and love into caring for them and guiding them through their way in life.

The same goes for your blog. Treat it like your baby, like it’s a part of yourself and it will flourish into a successful one.

4 | You’re a Risk Taker

If you want to turn your blog into a business, if you want to grow your blog and make it very popular in the whole wide world, and if you want to reach out to those customers and clients to drive more sales to your products – TAKE A RISK!

Taking risks are not only applied in the offline world but also online. For you to reach your goal, you should take risks and try everything you can to make things happen.

If you want to hire a Virtual Assistant to help you grow your blog, you are in doubt if it will be worth it but this I tell you “Falling down will really happen so why not take the risk and feel the pleasure of trying and learning from it”. Am I right?

Blogging is not something that is definite. There is no instruction manual when it comes to blogging. The ending is indefinite. Your blog may be a success.

Your blog might be a failure, and if it might, pick yourself up and start again. You will never know. So TAKE A RISK!

5 | You Want to Be a Blog Boss

Professional blogging will be right for you if you have the mind set of being the boss of your own. Before I started blogging I already have read blog posts that you can really make money using your blog through services, membership sites, selling products and affiliate marketing.

I am not one of those cliche bloggers who started blogging as a hobby. You can really see the difference of those people who started a blog with a business plan in mind than those hobby bloggers online.

So bringing you back to the topic, professional blogging is right for you if you have an entrepreneur spirit aiming to reach his/her goal to be a Blog Boss.

6 | You Want to Send a Message

One of your main purposes to start a blog is to send a message to your readers. Do you want to inspire them? Do you want to help them?

If you answered yes to both my questions, then, you are might just be tackling the right path that is perfect for you.

If you love writing as a blogger, then, there is a big chance that underlying your written words is a message, a mission or a moral between the lines in your blog post.

You not only write with the thought and prospect of business and money. But you also write, because you want your readers to learn something from your writings.

You want to leave a mark on them. You want to be an advocate, or you want to help people starting out the path that you’ve now cross.

Those were just a few instances in which a potential blogger can send his message. Ask yourself, do you want to send a message, too? And if yes, how do you think you will do it?

If you are only blogging for fame or wealth, then, better not blog at all as it may only end badly.

7 | You Have Self Discipline

Now, I know we are not learning Values Education for us to learn self discipline. But contrary to popular belief, self discipline plays a valuable role in blogging.

To be able to start a blog, to be able to update regularly, to be able to interact with your readers you must discipline yourself.

With all the hard work that comes in package with blogging, your schedule is bound to be packed. You will not even have time to eat or sleep anymore during the more intense and busy stages of blogging. Not even time to bond with your family.

But in order for things to be organized, you must keep with you a schedule.

And you must have self discipline in order to follow this strict schedule so that you aren’t missing out on your blog and at the same time, you are still in contact with your family.

8 | You Have the Time to Blog

And speaking of time, you must have the time to build, manage, and keep eye of your blog. You must have time, time, time, TIME! Without time, otherwise, how will you take care of your blog for it to sprout into something big?

Before blogging, ask yourself questions:
(1) Do I have work? And how long do I work in a day? Or in a week? Do I have free time during the weekends? If you’re answers are all negative, then, there are two choices.

Blogging might not be right for you or you may give up your work and start to blog, but you see, your blog doesn’t have a guarantee sticker that it’ll be successful. Which brings us back to TAKING A RISK.

(2) How much free time do I have? How do I normally spend this free time? If you spend your extra time by doing unproductive things, it is probably right for you to take this time and create money from it.

(3) Do you have other commitments? Maybe you’re a church volunteer or you are already managing a Facebook page. Examine your other commitments if you can juggle multiple things at once.

9 | You Have the Patience to Wait for It

Having a successful blog does not happen overnight. It is not an easy process. And at the mere least, it is a very difficult and challenging process for your blog to start from rags to riches.

So you must have the patience to wait for it. Patience is a virtue, they say.

You must have the patience to work hard for your blog. You must have the patience to watch people approach it. You must have patience to do things for your blog’s benefit.

Because otherwise, without patience, your blog will not become successful.

10 | You Have the Confidence That People Will Like You

If you think people will come to like you, because of your personality, don’t even think twice with blogging.

If you are naturally friendly and surrounded by people all the time, then, there is a big chance that success will come to your blog. Having a nice personality will already set you apart from other bloggers.

Now, you might be confused as people will not know you through blogging, it’s not like you are running a YouTube channel or something.

But, your personality will reflect on your words. As stated earlier and on previous blog posts, writing like you are talking in a conversational and friendly manner is the way to go.

And without good humility and nice personality, your writing will only become dull, flat and boring.

But with a person having bright and cheerful personality, the words are bound to be enjoyed by the readers as they will have dynamic and enjoyment in them. This is the kind of writing that readers will prefer.

And in the cases of public appearance, of conversing and interacting with your fans in real life, you must have a nice personality to be able to create a pleasing atmosphere that they will come back to.

So before you even start buying domain names, web hosting or other shenanigans, you should compose a business plan that will really boost your spirit and encourage you more to really push your blog and turn it into a business.

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SIMPLE WAYS TO AVOID BLOGGER BURNOUT

1. Stop Everything Online

2. Spread Out Work

3. Set Working Hours

4. Play Some Sports or Do Some Exercise Every Morning

5. Chitchat With Your Family and Friends

6. Say "No" to Almost Everything

7. Have a Day Off

8. Find a Blogger BFF

9. Organize Your Blog

10. Treat Yourself Outside

10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD WRITE LONG-FORM BLOG POSTS

1. Content Arms Race Enjoys Huge Weapons

2. Return Of Investment

3. More Visual Abilities

4. Penguin, Panda, and Google Like Huge Content

5. Longer Content Gets More Societal Shares

6. Data Says It All

7. More Social Exposure

8. Long Content Gets More Links

9. People Tend to Read Longer Content

10. Long but Contains Information

NOT GETTING ENOUGH TRAFFIC? WHY DO PEOPLE IGNORE YOUR BLOG

1 | You Just Found Your Site

2 | Your Website Content Is Not Optimized for Search and Societal Sharing

3 | You Are Marketing Your Products, Services, and Achievements Instead of Marketing Your Website.

4 | Your Content Is Not Valuable to Your Target Audience

5 | Your Copywriting Is Dull

6 | Your Topics Are Too Broad

7 | Your Blog Post Is a Dump – Figuratively

8 | Use Data to Be More Credible

9 | Your Writing Is Too Formal

10 | Your Article Is Not Original, Not at All

BLOG ADS SUCK: WHY I DON'T PUT ADS ON MY WEBSITE

1 | Where Is Your Heart as a Blogger?

2 | Advertising Only Pays You in Small Amounts

3 | Advertisements Can Slow Down Your Website

4 | Advertisements Can Be Distracting

5 | You Are Not Your Boss Anymore

6 | People Will Become Lazy and You Will Too

7 | You Risk the Reputation of Your Blog

8 | You Look Like an Amateur – Even If You Are Not

9 | There Are Other Ways to Monetize Traffic on Your Blog

10 | You Do Not Achieve the Goal of Your Blog

10 THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN STARTING A BLOG

It Is Not Free to Blog.

Determine Your Target Readers.

The Blogging Process Requires Time and Effort.

Have a Social Experience.

A Clever Design Is Essential.

Quality vs. Quantity

Learn About Issues Concerning Copyright.

Know the Basics of SEO.

Know the Basics of HTML.

Be Unique and Original.

IS BLOGGING FOR YOU? HERE ARE WAYS FOR YOU TO KNOW

1 | You Love to Write

2 | Spending Time Surfing the Web Gives You Pleasure

3 | You Are Passionate

4 | You’re a Risk Taker

5 | You Want to Be a Blog Boss

6 | You Want to Send a Message

7 | You Have Self Discipline

8 | You Have the Time to Blog

9 | You Have the Patience to Wait for It

10 | You Have the Confidence That People Will Like You

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