How Long Should This Article Be?

If there’s any one question that beginning, intermediate and advanced online content writers grapple with on a daily basis, it has to be this: “Exactly how long should this article be?”

The simple answer, of course, is “only as long as it needs to be – no longer, no shorter.”

To this, you may say: “Alright then, exactly how long does this article NEED to be?”

And so, the cycle continues. In reality, there are a lot of factors at play when it comes to determining the appropriate length for your on-site article or blog post. Contrary to the beliefs of some, SEO considerations only account for one of these factors. To determine the rest, you’ll need to ask yourself some questions:
Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Content Creation, Freelance Writing, SEO Copywriting | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Using Homemade Graphics to Spice Up Your Blog

Every good blogger knows that her site will be incomplete without pictures. Photos and graphics break up the written content, help to illustrate difficult concepts that would otherwise require paragraphs of text, catch the reader’s eye, and add a certain flair, flavor and uniqueness to your site or blog, setting it apart from the competition.

Unfortunately, the classic advice regarding blogs and images goes something like this: Unless you double as a graphic designer, it’s best to outsource image creation to a professional. As a cheaper solution, you might purchase generic images from ShutterStock or a similar service… and this is where your options end, right?
Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Content Creation, Internet Marketing | Leave a comment

8 Values And Characteristics Every Successful Blogger Possesses

Many new blogs are started each day, but most are unsuccessful and posts are stopped after a short period of time. Anyone can start a blog, but there are certain characteristics that make a blogger successful. Here is a list of 8 characteristics and values that most successful bloggers possess.

Personality

Most people will stop reading a blog very quickly if the content is dry and uninteresting. Bloggers should put personality into their writing so that it’s informative as well as fun to read. Great bloggers choose a subject they are passionate about because it will be easy for them to write about and their passion is often contagious, making blog readers return to the site and recommend it to others.

Continue reading

Posted in Blogging | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Pros and Cons of Popup E-mail Opt-Ins

“You expect me to believe popups can be useful?”

In a word, yes. Although it may seem counterintuitive because “everyone hates popups,” there is truth to the statement that popup e-mail opt-ins can be useful for certain businesses. Perhaps there are people who visit your site all the time, and are active in the message boards and article comments, but somehow have never signed up for your valuable e-mail list. This could be due to ad or banner blindness, a less-than-flawless site design, or a lack of incentive. Regardless, popup e-mail opt-ins could be just what you need to boost your business. For example, popups helped Hesham Fathy from Famous Bloggers increase newsletter sign-ups by around 400%.

Continue reading

Posted in Internet Marketing | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How Conservatives Can Maximize Their Power Through Social Networking

Guest Post by William Harwood

First the good news: we conservatives don’t completely stink at social networking. In fact, in certain cases, we’re actually pretty good at it. Take, for instance, the last mid-term elections, the 2010 round in which our side pretty much swept the field. True, much of our success can simply be attributed to a widespread rejection of the policies of Obama and his Hollywood overlords, but a lot of our success can also be attributed to our superior use of Twitter. That’s right, Twitter. Some of us tend to think of new-fangled social networking as a kind of voodoo that liberals do so well, but a recent University of Michigan study showed that conservatives were the top Tweeters in the 2010 national elections.

Continue reading

Posted in Social Networking | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment