There are bloggers who care less about the correctness of their posts but there are those who are really conscious about it. Although I do not blame those who ignore it, I really admire those who are spending hours of double checking their articles before they post them. In addition, spelling and grammar checker are far away from proofreading it. This is because the checker will think it that these are what you really want to write. With this, here are tips that you may find useful when you proofread your post.
1.0 Have full concentration. Do not allow any disturbance when you are proofreading your post. This includes turning off the television, radio and cell phone. You can also concentrate more if you will write it on a piece of paper instead of reading it on a screen aloud. This is because your own voice can also be a distraction. Reading your post backwards can also help. I usually make a post when I am alone and if you will notice, most of them are posted during the late hours of the evening.
2.0 Know the potential source of mistakes. You should know where the possible mistakes may come from. Sometimes, we know the correct word or punctuation marks to use but our fingers tend to go the wrong way. A good example is the period and comma. In case you did not notice, they are placed side by side and they are small enough that you can barely notice the difference. Your worst mistake would be doing is that you did not type them at all. Therefore, you should also analyze the principle of your keyboard.
3.0 Know the confusing words. Homonyms or words with the same sound can really be confusing so you should be aware of the right words to use. Take note that MSWord cannot correct everything. There are also words that have a one-letter difference from the other but misusing it will create a misleading post. A good example of a bad mistake is writing one billion instead of one million. I hope you could imagine the damage of a 999,000,000 difference if you are writing about money.
4.0 Do not trust your self alone. It is common sense that you should trust yourself but asking others to read your articles before posting them will be a very big help. The more you check it by yourself, the more your confidence will have and therefore, you might not able to see the minor mistakes. You may not need to hire a professional proofreader to check your post. Sometimes, I got surprised when my 11-year old daughter sees the simple mistakes I did not see even after I read it multiple times.
Writing is also the same as speaking. It influences people and may change a life. You may not know the damage that has been created before you made the correction.
Related Post: How to Post a Good Post
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
Useful Tips in Proofreading your Posts
How to Choose an Attractive Pen Name
Image from Max Solbrekken World Missions
Some bloggers do not want to have their real names to be revealed in their blogs, and I am one of them. It is not that I am not proud of my real name or afraid to be exploited. In fact, there are some instances when I use it especially if I am submitting articles to top article directories. However, I choose to use a pen name for my blogs and when I join forums simply because I think it will attract more visitors rather than using my real name. If you decide to do it too, here are some useful tips that can surely help you:
1.0 Relate it to your blog. It is very obvious that all my blogs contain useful tips and guardian angels are identified as beings that help humans. If your pen name is not related to your blog posts, people will be less interested in viewing your blog. Remember that when you are joining forums, your pen name is what people will see first and not your blog. Moreover, there are great forums that do not immediately allow having your blog name included in your signature.
2.0 Make it easy to memorize. I noticed that there are bloggers who have their pen name very unique. Although it is alright to be original, your pen name should stick into the mind of the readers. If your blog is about sports, think of a familiar name in sports and choose a pen name that is close or sounds like the famous sportsman. Although you can also a personal one, do not use a hard-to-spell word or with confusing syllables. In short, you should use a pen name that can easily be shared to somebody else.
3.0 Do not play with it. Changing your pen name frequently will not only confuse you, but also your readers. Although it is nice to improve it to make it more attractive, avoid changing it every now and then. Moreover, inform your readers about the change so that they can still recognize you. It is better that you ask your friends about their personal views before changing it. As the saying goes, do it right for the first time.
4.0 Be wholesome. Your pen name also reflects your personality somehow. Take note that you are not only selling your blog, but also yourself as a person. I am quite sure you do not want to be popular by having a bad image to the viewing public. In addition, there are also youngsters who blog and if your pen name is not good to the ears, you might be influencing them to be like you. Bloggers are public image and I believe we have a responsibility to our audience.
Our name is the sweetest sound we will ever hear so make the most out of it.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
What to do When you Cannot Think of a Good Post
It has been almost a week, but still you cannot think of a good post. You are sitting in front of your PC for hours but your mind seems not to be working hard enough. The longer you sit, the more pressure you feel. Although you have something in mind, but your sentences are just going around without having the right content you want. This happens to every blogger, even to the most experienced one and of course, I am not exempted. Just when you thought you have done enough but still a failure, here are some helpful tips that you may not have not tried yet.
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Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
How to convince Blog Owners that you are a Good Guest Blogger
Photo credit to tedfoo
Although there are a lot of bloggers who want some guest bloggers for their blogs, you are a bit hesitant to apply because you are afraid that your hard work might end up nothing. It is very disappointing to know that someone has rejected you which can make you loose your confidence. Chances are you will not apply again to avoid further humiliation. But since it is your dream to become one, you must plan carefully and prepare your self. So before applying, here are some good points to consider.
Prepare an advance post
Having the right post for guest blogging is different from your usual ones. It must be well crafted and refined carefully. Blog owners may not have time to correct your grammar and spelling. Besides preparing an original post, it should also identify you as yourself and not as the blog owner you wish to join with. Do not imitate his style just to make you look impressive. You must be interested in his topic. Never apply for a guest blogger for the sole purpose of self-promotion.
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You can also visit my latest blog - Father Blogger dot Com as it is being updated daily. Well, almost.
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Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
Why some Bloggers Disable their Blog Comments
Comments from your readers are helpful in analyzing yourself if you can create an interesting post or not. Although there will be negative ones, they can also help you somehow. However, you might be wondering why some site and blog owners decided to disable their blog comments. Before making any wrong conclusion, you might want to understand that enabling comments is optional. Every blogger has his right and views about comments. Furthermore, you yourself might think of doing the same thing one day. But before deciding to keep it on or off, please allow me to share to you my thoughts about enabling comments:
1.0 It diverts your focus. Let us say you are in the middle of creating your next post, when suddenly you received a comment to one of your previous posts. You cannot help but read it and reply on it. Although the comment is a simple “Thank you for this tip, I learned a lot” Being a good blogger, you will reply with a simple “You are welcome” Now, when it is time to continue your work, you will find it hard to focus again. In basketball, it is often called momentum. Now, imagine doing this at least once in all of your posts.
2.0 It is time consuming. If you are receiving a lot of comments on your blog, by simply reading them will take out your precious time. Of course, you will also get interested to reply to some of them which will add to your lost time. In addition, there may have some follow up questions that you have to answer. When I say lost time, I did not mean it is useless to reply on comments. It only means that you have more valuable things to do to your blog like improving it.
3.0 It can be annoying. There are people who love debate. If you are this type of blogger and you receive a negative comment, chances are a debate will start and it will go on and on and in the end, no one will win. Unfortunately, it will be you who will loose more since it is your blog that served as the fighting ground. In addition, there are some comments that are not related to your posts and intended only for blog promotion. In short, you are being used without your approval.
4.0 It does not generate traffic. Having comments on your blog posts is a good form of communicating with others, and can attract your readers to come back and talk to you again. But you must remember that your readers will still come back if they find your posts interesting to read, whether they can post a comment or not. Therefore, we can conclude that it will not help you to increase traffic. There are a lot of high traffic sites with their comments being disabled.
I am not encouraging nor discouraging you to disable your comments. I am rather giving you another choice and this is the more important thing.
Related posts:
How to Reply on Comments
How to make your Readers post a Comment
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
Steve Pavlina dot Com: The Smart Site that can make you Smarter
It is very seldom that I talk about a site or a blog. This is because I want to be careful in what I am sharing. I do make mistakes but I try not to add them especially when it concerns in endorsing people. Another thing, I only want to endorse blogs that are really helpful or serve as an inspiration to me not only in blogging but also as a person. Now, here is a site I think some of you has viewed and are familiar with. But for those who have not learned about this, I am strongly suggesting you visit his site. Here are some of the good reasons why:
1.0 He started as a junk. This is a not a pleasant introduction for a man who has 1.8 million visitors a month in his site. But this is true; he has been jailed for stealing things at the age of 19. In the middle of nowhere to run, he chose to survive and he did. He may not have the same religion that you most of you have but his writings will definitely amaze you and make you think for a while and question yourself. His long but very detailed About Steve Pavlina says it all. This is the most comprehensive and inspiring human life story I ever read.
2.0 He will teach you how to read. Just like some of you, reading long articles might make us fall asleep, that is if you just read and never stick into your mind what you are reading. I must admit, I feel it is a waste of time reading every word that people write in their site. I am not a wide reader per se. I feel that experience can teach me more rather than just reading. But this man changed my views somehow. When I started reading his articles, I realized that reading is a must and this is more sensible than working long hours in an office just to make others richer.
3.0 He has a forum for humans. This may sound offensive for other quality forums so I have to clear myself. His forum talks about the real problems about being human. Parenting, relationships, personal problems that you cannot mention to your parents and spouses, personal development, technical knowledge and did I mention earning money? There are other important topics that are being discussed in his forum that makes humans to live decently, and it will be space consuming if I mention all of them.
4.0 He is a normal blogger. His site has no big banners and flashing and irritating ads. But he is making a very comfortable amount of money and that is what makes him normal. I do not mean to be rude to John Chow and Problogger because both of them have equal quality sites in their own rights. The truth is I am an honest to goodness member of their numerous subscribers. However, it is the simplicity and originality that strikes me to Steve Pavlina’s site, as well as to all kinds of bloggers rich and poor, Christians and others. In short, he talks, blogs and response in a normal way.
5.0 He will make you change by yourself. Change is the only permanent thing in this world, and people change every now and then. Steve Pavlina’s site will not convince you to change through his writings. If you will analyze the contents of his writings, he is not selling something very obviously. He is just telling what is happening to his daily life including his shortcomings. What he is always trying to say is that to check ourselves by sharing his ideas and experiences. In short, he will not make you a better person. He will make you look at the mirror and ask yourself, do I really need to change?
With this, I am personally inviting you to visit him at Steve Pavlina.com.
I am an NOT an affiliate of Steve Pavlina and even if there is an opportunity to sell him, I will still do it for free. This is because I truly believe that the free things that you receive, you should also share it for free.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
How to convince Entrecard Users to read your Blog
Entrecard users are almost everywhere and numerous contests are being held to give away Entrecard points just to get visitors to their blog. If I may say it correctly, more bloggers are promoting Entrecard more than promoting their blogs. It is unfortunate that it is actually happening. For the record, this is not what Entrecard man Graham Langdon’s appeal when interviewed by Darren Rowse of Problogger. With this, here are some suggestions you may want to think about.
1.0 Re-locate the Entrecard. Place it in the middle of your blog, and not on the top most. By doing this, your reader can have time to glance your post before dropping a card. Do not let that small card be more attractive than your blog. After all, your readers know that there is an Entrecard in your blog. I now seldom see a blog without it.
2.0 Make your blog faster to open. I must admit, I am one of those who drop a card and click on it even before the blog finally opens. This is because it took my patience off waiting while there is a chance to drop a card. I suppose all of us know the importance of the first eight seconds of a blog, with or without an Entrecard.
3.0 Make your contest more sensible. Many contest holders are giving away Entrecard points by simply asking them to promote the contest and mind you, leaving a comment is a requirement. Now, where does the king content go from there? I just hope the next contest that I will see has deeper sense so I can religiously join.
4.0 Use your card properly. If your Entrecard is being advertised on a blog that is not within your category, your posts will not be even be noticed. The reader will then click on the card or simply back off. Furthermore, dropping a card to a blog that is not somehow related to your blog does not make sense. You may have a lot of visitors but not to read your blog, but just merely a card dropper.
5.0 Maximize the card. The card is only 125 x 125 and it will be useless if you do not maximize it. Although it looks attractive when you use wonderful pictures or caricature in it, but again your purpose is for your readers to read your post, not just a place for advertisements. It is much better if you include your blog title or a phrase that would define the content of your blog.
Striking an iron when it is still hot is good. But if you do not know how to strike it, then your arm might be hit.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
How to be an Effective Co-Author
Being a co-author of a blog is somehow different from a guest blogger. As the name implies, a co-author is also the author of that blog while a guest blogger is just a guest, and not the author. Another thing, guest bloggers ask permission first from the blog owner for the review of his post while co-authors can post any time he wishes. This is the aspect of being a co-author that makes it critical. Although you can freely post a topic, an effective co-author has other important tasks to perform and here are some of them:
1.0 Assist the original author. Provide helpful suggestions to improve the blog like arrangement of posts, rules and regulations and the like. Remember that you also own the blog whatever agreement you had. Communicate with the original author and help him if even if you are not being asked. Do not just make posts and leave the original author alone. Treat him like a business partner.
2.0 Submit quality posts regularly. This is your main task, to post quality articles regularly. If your posts are not helpful to the blog, then you might be the first one to ruin it and the original author will decide to remove you as a co-author. Posting regularly is also a must to prove to the readers that you really are a concern co-author. It is not necessary to post all your articles from your blog, just choose the best posts that you have.
3.0 Submit posts effectively. If you just post a picture or a link to your own blog, then you are not helping the blog. Instead, you are just using it to promote your own blog. Consequently, readers will not be interested in reading the whole post even the content is useful to them. The best thing you can do is to put a teaser with two to three sentences that can be attractive to readers to click the link to the original post.
4.0 Promote the blog. Invite others to visit the blog too. Although you may have only a small share of the blog, you must also promote it like your own blog. If the blog has a widget, place it on your own blog if you have one. You can also include it on your signature on e-mail and forums. It is also helpful if you write a post about the blog. Share your expertise to make the blog grow.
5.0 Protect the blog. Do not allow anyone to destroy the blog. Ensure that the rules agreed upon are being followed, and report anyone who abuses the blog. Contribute in anything that you can to make the blog stay alive. Although you may not be the only co-author, treat the blog like your own too.
I am a proud co-author of Pinoy Entrecard and I am cordially inviting you to visit the blog by clicking the waving Philippine flag on the top rightmost of this blog.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
How to Manage Multiple Blogs Effectively
Managing a single blog will need your countless effort and focus. Not to mention that you may have other important things to attend to. But what if you decide to have more than one blog? Although you really want to blog about other things you are interested about, you are hesitant to do this because you think that you cannot make it. Being a multiple blog owner myself, I would like to share how I am doing this, and somehow they may also be applicable to you:
1.0. Promote them fairly. On each of your blogs, you can show to your readers that you have other blogs by placing their titles with a link, on your sidebars. Once in a while, mention them in one of your articles if applicable. But never promote them directly unless it is related to your post. This will loose the appetite of your visitors and they will never visit again. However, it is not practical to include them in your e-mail or forum signature if you have more than five blogs.
2.0 Relate them to each other. If your blogs has totally different topics from each other, it is quite hard to promote them fairly. It will also take a longer time to submit to article and blog directories since they will fall on different categories. Having a common denominator among your blogs will make you easier to promote them. There are a lot of ways to do it if you will be creative enough.
3.0 Do not pressure yourself. If you rush your posts just to update your blogs, you may tend to make a useless post, which can easily be noticed by your readers. Remember that it is not necessary to post everyday. Posting at least three times a week is more than enough keep all your blogs alive. If you are relaxed, you can think a lot of wonderful ideas to make your posts attractive to readers.
4.0 Have a lot of useful resources. It takes a lot of time to make a good post; and multiplying that to the number of your blogs will be equal to very long hours if you do not have enough resources. Do not rely on your ideas alone. If you have a topic on your mind, using other articles as your reference will make it faster. However, just be sure that you will be making your own version and not just copying all the content.
5.0 Make a showcase. A showcase is like an article directory where you can put all the articles from different blogs. However, instead of placing in different categories, quote each post or put the first three sentences and the rest with a link to the original blog where the post came from. In this way, you are promoting all your blogs simultaneously.
You may not have to be always fair to all your blogs. But make it a point to be fair to your readers because it is your obligation to them.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
Useful Tips in Effective Article Directory Submission
Submitting quality articles to article directories is another way of increasing traffic and income. Just like submitting your blog to blog directories, it has also some similar restrictions but quite harder. Not that it is difficult to follow, but it requires unique strategies and hard work. Remember that your articles are being distributed to various publishers with different tastes. To understand more what I mean, you may want to check these items:
1.0 Correct use of title. The title is the most important since this will be the first thing publishers and search engines will notice. Although there is really nothing with the title “How to be a Guest Blogger” but most quality article directories would rather accept “The Right Time to be a Guest Blogger”. Another thing that makes a title worst is the ALL CAPITAL LETTERS title, as well the use of exclamation point.
2.0 Correct grammar and spelling. Most article directories will inform you that the article you submitted articles contains a lot of wrong spelling and grammar. Some of them will not even accept it until corrected. If the directory is not strict with these items, this means they are not effective and your articles are probably thrown on low quality publishers.
3.0 Proper use of punctuation marks. Arranging your sentence is very important to article directories. Most of them do not allow improper use of ownership such as “your child’s pediatrician”. It would be better if you write it this way, “his pediatrician”. You will notice that the apostrophe is not used in the second phrase. Another bad example is the “his/her” ownership wherein it is much appropriate to use “his or her”, or better yet avoid using pronoun.
4.0 Do not put affiliate links. Affiliate links are not supposed to be anywhere in your article or in the resource box. However you can use words that identify your product indirectly, or put a link that directs to the page where the affiliate link is. Publishers are not interested in the products you sell. Remember that you are selling an article, not a product.
5.0 Re-write your articles. This is not usually being mentioned in the submission guidelines, and most article directories allow the same articles in your blog to be submitted to them. However, re-writing each paragraph of your article will be very helpful to increase your traffic. This is because search engines hate duplicate content. If your articles are being duplicated many times, only one will be credited since it is not practical to see the same articles in the engine search.
To learn more about this topic, you can visit Article Marketer University and they have tons of free and paid article making tips.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
Blogging: Make it towards Responsible Journalism
People around the world who turn themselves into bloggers are increasing rapidly. However, the sad part is that blogging is not being regulated the same way newspapers and magazines are. Although there are a lot of blogging experts who are sincere in assisting the new ones, very seldom that we heard of someone teaching how to blog the humane way. Most of us are here focus on how to earn money more than doing it the right way. With this, I would like to share some of my ideas on how to convert simple blogging into a more responsible form of journalism:
1.0 Write quality articles only. Although there are common topics being discussed by bloggers,it is how it is being presented that makes it high quality article. Choosing the proper words and format is totally different from just merely creating a post. Just like delivering the news they must also be properly examined and proven correct. Note that blogging is sharing information, not a monkey business.
2.0 Blog like a good parent. A good parent will never allow his children to be hurt or even bitten by a single mosquito. He will cover all possible passage where even small insects cannot sneak. If only all bloggers will treat his readers like his own children, then we will not be worried that our hard work will be wasted. The next generation of bloggers will be enjoying it more than we are now and this will be continuous process.
3.0 Make your blog sugar-free. Although sweets are delicious, too much sugar can cause diabetes and is not healthy to our teeth. A blog with too much attractive banners and flashy pictures tend to entertain visitors rather then educating them. Instead of wasting your time to find the best banners, choose the right title to make the post interesting to read.
4.0 Watch your move. Sometimes, we feel pressure when our mind is not in the mood to write, but we think we must so. We get afraid that our loyal readers and subscribers will leave us if we do not update our regularly as we used to. However, posting a bad article will not only deteriorate our image in front of our followers but also would inspire other careless bloggers to do the same. Bloggers have their own moods too and readers can understand that.
5.0 Guard each other. If someone will accept any blog to join his community or group in a social book marketing site without confirming that it is worth to be a member, then one of your goals is missing and that will make this industry not long lasting. Therefore, we must take time to analyze carefully its intention instead of just admiring its popularity and number of subscribers. Feel free to report the abusive ones.
Blogging is an industry where only responsible people should belong to. Let us unite to make it more sensible.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
