Photo from Qwurky
This is my 5th time that I am writing about a blog. Please note that this is not a blog review and I am not getting paid to do so. If you will check my side bar, I am using Blogs I Admire instead of Blogroll. This is simply because I really admire them, and Daily Writing Tips is definitely one of them. Actually, I learned about them when I was looking for a blog that can help me improve my writing. Now I can say that I found the right blog and here are some of the reasons why.
1.0 Grammar 101. This is our most common problem, I guess. There are some bloggers who request me to visit their blogs and ask me to check if their grammar is correct. This is because they thought their English is bad that drives their readers away. I felt glad somehow because this means that my grammar is correct. Not until I start browsing Grammar 101. I discovered some confusing words like shall and will. If you are not sure on what to use, you better visit this category.
2.0 Correct spelling. Actually, I was hesitant to visit it at first. I thought I am already good in spelling and besides, I can always use the spelling checker at MS Word. However, I was amazed how they are discussing the topic. They always seem to remind me about my elementary teacher. It is funny that now that I am writing articles, I forget the correct spelling of simple words. Actually, they had this small spelling quiz and I cannot believe that my score is only 80%. You have to check this out.
3.0 Common misused words. I must admit, I have older posts that have misused words. This is because I thought I was using the correct ones. Sometimes if we use a word many times and no one corrects us, we already thought we are correct. One good example is the word famous; it is only recently that I realized that it should not be used for people who did bad things like murderers. So what is the right adjective to describe them? If you are not sure with your answer, research deeply instead of making a wild guess.
4.0 Punctuation marks. Are you using them correctly? How long is your sentence? How many punctuation marks are in it? This problem is sometimes being ignored since readers may still understand what you are writing even if there are some mistakes in punctuation. I remember I mentioned in one of my previous posts that comma and period are beside each other in keyboards. With this, I strongly suggest that you review your posts again and again before submission.
5.0 Vocabulary. Most of the times, our readers may get confused with the words we used. In worst cases, they will stop reading our post even if it has an interesting topic. This is because there are readers who like simpler words while some don’t. Readers admire bloggers who has the ability to choose words to suits the sentence. That is why frequent reading is also important. Improving our vocabulary is endless Remember it is the words that really convince first time visitors to visit again. It is our cream and crop.
With this, I am recommending this blog to all of you even if you think you can write well.
If you want to make your content king, then improve your writing skills.
If you want to receive my future posts regularly, please feel free to subscribe in a reader or by e-mail. If you have concerns, please do not hesitate to Contact Me anytime.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
Daily Writing Tips – An Effective Guide for Effective Writing
How to Get High Traffic from your Resource Box
By definition, a resource box is simply the author’s signature usually found at the end of an article. This indicates where the article came from. If someone likes your post and adds it on their favorite social bookmarketing sites, your signature will come along and other readers can trace the original source through the link.
If you are to place it at the end of your post on your blog, make it short and simple. You can just include your name, blog title or unique pen name that can easily be familiarized with. Be sure that you add some words that can identify that it as your resource box. You can check mine at the end of each of my posts.
If you are submitting your article to article directories, the approach should be totally different. This is simply because you have to attract readers to visit your blog. Although your article can be interesting to read, they will not visit your blog if they found it dull and boring. Here are some useful tips on how to do it:
1.0 If you have more than one blog, put only the one that is related to the article so that the readers will not be confused. If you fail to do this, he might be going to the wrong blog. H will be upset and decide not to visit the correct one. Besides, it is annoying to see too many links in a single signature. You can link your blogs with each other on your side bars anyway.
2.0 If you are into business or offering paid services, you can include some contact numbers, email address and other related information. But do not be too flashy because visitors might be distracted with them. Moreover, do not also show overconfidence like telling that you have the best product in the world.
3.0 Although you must sound like a competent businessman, you must not exaggerate the words and include only what is the true content of your blog. Your readers will confirm it and if they cannot find any, you can be sure that they will not come back again.
4.0 Include the URL of your blog and make a hyperlink on it. This is more applicable if your URL is not the same as your blog title. By doing this, you are telling your readers that you have such URL. Although they might not click to the link now, at least they will have an idea about it.
5.0 Since you can add at the most of three links, you can also include the link of the original article source besides leading them to your homepage only. However, take note of the limit of the number of letters or words that you are only required to.
6.0 Never use the words CLICK HERE. Besides the fact that you are hiding your blog title, this can annoy your readers. It is a very unethical phrase anyone could use because it looks very informal. It is like giving command to the viewer and you do not give command to your customer.
After I did some experiments on my resource box, I finally arrived at this one in which I think is very attractive. Here is what I have been using recently.
I am a Filipino engineer who found himself more comfortable in writing letters instead of numbers. For more quality articles about blogging tips, internet marketing techniques and article marketing strategies, please feel free to visit Humane Blogging Tips at http://www.wherebloggersandhumansmeet.blogspot.com.
Related posts:
Useful Tips in Effective Article Directory Submission
How to Choose an Attractive Pen Name
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
Guest Blogging: The Effect of Good Article Writing
I would like to reserve this post to thank Kevin Muldoon of Blogging Tips who gave me this great experience to be a guest blogger to his very informative and clean blog. This was my first time for me to be a guest blogger, and I am very enthusiastic about it. For the record, I have been viewing his blog for a quite some time. In fact, I am also planning to submit this blog to his directory just like I did to my parenting tip and marriage tip blogs. But for now, I would like to share to all of you how I felt when I saw my post on his blog:
1.0 I felt like a professional. If you are a new blogger, being a guest blogger in a huge site will make you feel like a professional. This will upgrade your status as a blogger and you will strive to write more good quality articles. It can also make you more competitive, and you can now think that you have a space in this blogging industry.
2.0 I felt challenged. If you can write just one good article, you can write a better one next time. You will not be contented on a single result. Therefore you will be stricter in your writing style and you will be able to face new challenges in writing good articles. You also tend to be more creative to be able to surpass your first time.
3.0 I felt dignified. It will be such a great honor when someone better than you are will trust your ability. Take note that not all bloggers are given the chance to be a guest blogger. Since the site has more readers than you have, it will be a step ahead for your blogging career.
4.0 I felt confident. Sometimes, it is frustrating when you think that your articles are good but no one seems to notice them. By being a guest blogger, it will add confidence to your self and you will realize that you deserve to be noticed. However, confidence must only be in your heart, not in your mind.
5.0 I felt I belong here. Sometimes, you might be wondering if blogging is really for you. You have been blogging for months but your traffic is still low as well as your earnings. You have tried all the possible blogging tips but it seems nothing works for you. Do not loose hope, for it is one of the painful reasons why some bloggers quit.
With this, I am cordially inviting you to view my post entitled “The effects of Good Article Writing” and you can see it now live at Blogging Tips. Please feel free to apply to be a guest blogger and you can be sure of his kind assistance especially if this will be your first time.
You can also submit your blogs to his growing directory, or you can join the forum.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
The Right Time to be a Guest Blogger
Guest blogging is another effective way to increase traffic. It opens a window for you to be recognized especially if you are still new in blogging. It is also a proof that you can be good article maker. However, finding the right time to do it is quite hard because there are a lot of you waiting for the approval of site owners. Therefore, you must analyze yourself first, and here are some useful clues.
You can write well
This is the top requirement among them all. This is how you will be judge. Being very fluent in English is not really a must, but choosing the right words is very essential. Readers have a high expectation and you must attract the readers like the site owner does.
You are an analytical reader
You should put yourself in the shoes of site owners and their followers. Reading a lot can help you to learn the proper words to use, and can gain you a deeper knowledge about the topics you choose to write. It really helps if you are a wide reader.
You must be creative
You must also possess a creative writing capability, beyond how you usually write on your blog. You must be on a higher level of writing because the site owner will be spending a page just for you. He is looking for the uniqueness of a post. This is because there is more to loose from him, than from you.
Your posts attract comments
Besides being creative, having comments on your articles should also be your target. Remember that it is not your site that you are writing for. This time, the readers are different from your blog visitors. If you cannot attract comments on your blog, it is not yet time for you to be a guest blogger.
You must have a strong personality
This should be the first impression of the site owner, and it will be seen through your blog posts. You must maintain a good composure in every article that you make. It does not matter if you have been denied a couple of times. What matters is that you are getting stronger every time it happens.
Being a guest is like having a second home.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
TOP 10 Free Article Directories According to Alexa and Google
If you are interested in submitting your quality articles to top article directories, here is a great list for you, together with their page rank and some of their unique submission guidelines:
Ranking as of December 26, 2007 and may be changed from time to time…
1.0 Ezine Articles Alexa Rating: 671; Google Pagerank: 6
1.1 Article must have a minimum of 250 words and no more than 5,000 words. For us, an ideal article size is 400-750 words.
1.2 Example of a Bad Keyword TITLE: Top 9 Ways To Acquire Fractional Jet Ownership
1.3 Example of a Good Keyword TITLE: Fractional Jet Ownership - 9 Strategies to Help You Acquire Your Private Jet
1.4 Example of an invalid URL: Your-Company-Name.com, www.your-company-name.com
1.5 Example of a valid URL: http://Your-Company-Name.com/
2.0 GO Articles Alexa Rating: 7,717, Google Pagerank: 3
2.1 Submit your article to one category only.
2.2 Submissions that are less than 100 words will be removed from the database.
2.3 Article Title: maximum 150 characters.
2.4 Article: maximum of 15,000 characters or roughly 2,500 words.
3.0 Web Pro News Alexa Rating: 8,031, Google Pagerank: 6
Sorry, no restrictions and FAQ found. But this site is all about BIG NEWS about the blogging industry and I think this is not for simple bloogers like me, not yet. This is a good site to visit though.
4.0 Search Warp Alexa Rating: 8,453; Google Pagerank: 3
4.1 Content must be original material that is solely owned by you.
4.2 Articles which have been given to multiple people to distribute are not accepted.
4.3 Articles must be substantially unique. We do not accept articles which have just been rearranged or have had a few words changed here and there.
4.4 Pictures of authors must be actual images of the author. No graphical representations or logos are allowed.
4.5 Author biography Must contain no more than 2 links or website URL’s.
5.0 Buzzle Alexa Rating: 8,959; Google Pagerank: 6
Although they do not have any requirements of their authors per se, you will be expected to submit original, quality articles written by yourself and owned by you. They also expect you to consider your author status a privilege and therefore they expect that you will make a commitment to submit articles with some regularity.
6.0 ACS Publications (American Chemical Society) Alexa Rating: 9,321, Google Pagerank: 7
No detailed restriction but you may want to view their Ethical Guidelines.
7.0 Articles Base Alexa Rating: 10,589; Google Pagerank: 4
7.1 Article Title must have a maximum of 150 characters and Minimum of 2 words. But it is highly recommended up to 80 chars for search engines better indexing your articles.
7.2 Article Body must have a minimum of 125 words and a maximum length of 12,000 characters.
7.3 Author information may include up to 3 self serving links only.
8.0 Article Dashboard Alexa Rating 10,589; Google Pagerank: 6
8.1 Articles submitted will not be approved if they contain links in the body belonging to the author, but you can use the resource box to link back to your site.
8.2 Articles containing more than 3 links in the resource box will not be approved.
9.0 I Snare Alexa Rating 16,498; Google Pagerank: 3
9.1 Do not use your domain or site name as your article's pen name or author name.
9.2 Articles must have at least 500 words and at most 2000 words.
9.3 Only 5 articles a day for normal members and 7 articles a day for Platinum members. Platinum members are members who paid the platinum membership fee of $59.95/month.
10.0 Amazines Alexa Rating 18,433; Google Pagerank: 3
No unique guidelines but the usual ones like posting your original articles.
Since I only name a few of their guidelines, I am strongly advising you to read their FAQ or Submission Guidelines carefully before submitting; so you do not get upset if your articles will be disapproved.
Article Source: Humane Blogging Tips
