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Blogging – How Often do I Post?

By Frank Breinling in Featured

Many bloggers, especially new bloggers wonder how often they should post on their blog. Do they post at a furious pace until their fingers bleed? Do they post only when the spirit moves them? The answer is somewhere in between.

Bloggers need to have a general idea of how often they plan to post. Consistency is more important than volume when it comes to posting. If you start off with great passion and post 5 or 10 postings every day for a month then suddenly lose steam your followers will recognize this and wonder if you are losing interest in your own blog. If you lose interest so will they.

How Often to Post – Gain Momentum

You are always better off gaining momentum rather than losing steam. Start off your blog by adding postings at a pace you know you can keep up with. On days that you are feeling particularly prolific you should create extra posts and save them in your admin panel without actually publishing them.

You can build a stockpile of posts that can be used on days you have nothing to say or are unable to sit down and focus on your blog at all. This is a good way to make sure that you are prepared for any unplanned writing absences.

How many posts you start off with per day will depend on your blog’s focus. If you are a corporate blog you can likely start with one very good post per day. If you have an entertainment blog you probably want at least four or five short postings per day.

What is my Starting off Point?

The best way to determine your starting off point is to look at the competition. See how often they post and how long their postings are. You do not have to duplicate their effort but you do not want to be too far below it.

You must also consider quality. Quality should not suffer for the sake of quantity. If you find that some of your posts are not good enough for your blog because you were focused on getting out extra posts you should consider scaling back a bit and sustain a volume that is comfortable for you.

The bottom line is you need to keep your blog updated and current with content but you do not want to become a slave to it. Try to find a realistic pace that can grow over time.

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Frank Breinling is a recognized expert in Affiliate Marketing. Here you can go for Affiliate Marketing Ideas http://bestcommissionsystem.com , his newest Project about Blogging you can find here, http://thebloggingmastery.com.

The FTC Needs to Shut Up!

By Pace Lattin in Featured

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is one of the most unique parts of our government. It has a wide range of powers given by law, which encompass among other things the ability to pass rules and regulations against unfair and deceptive acts or practices. The FTC often issues “guidelines which are no more than notices that they will push for prosecution or civil action against individuals in violation their guidelines. Although these guidelines are often up for public debate, they are not passed by any governing body such as Congress, yet affect us often more than any newly passed law would. While many people see that the FTC is a consumer rights entity within the government, a growing number of people see that the FTC is a part of a growing, overreaching government that is interfering with the ability of businesses and often individuals to conduct business in this market economy.

Hey Bloggers! Let’s Hear It For Government Regulation!

By Catharine P. Taylor in Featured

There was a certain air of inevitability to the Federal Trade Commission’s edict earlier this week that bloggers have to disclose when they have a relationship with advertisers. And, even though there are those who would prefer that the industry self-police, I’m with the FTC on this one: Just as ads dolled up to look like editorial or infomercials dolled up with sets to make them look like “The Larry King Show” have to disclose their true nature, bloggers need to account. Many do, many don’t, and thus, the FTC needs to be involved.

I know that’s not what everyone wants to hear, but we’re now living in a world where we are all, prospectively, endorsers, and where industry self-regulation starts to get much more complex than it was when there were a limited number of media outlets. (I’ll leave to one side, for the purposes of this column, how the FTC will actually pull this off from a logistical point of view – although no doubt a few good algorithms will help.)

If self-regulating were entirely up to advertisers, that would be one thing – I’m normally a supporter of self-regulation. But in social media, as we’ve learned time and time again, the message is essentially out of advertisers’ control, and while one would hope, via self-regulation, advertisers would monitor those with whom they have a relationship and what they are saying about a product or service – indeed that’s the point of having such a relationship in the first place – the actual endorsement is out of their control. Can an advertiser actually reach into someone’s blog post and add in disclosure where it doesn’t exist? With the exception of adding a comment into the discussion thread, the answer is no, unless I’m missing something.

The onus has to be put on bloggers to an extent, and with the advent of these new endorsement guidelines, it is. (While, we’re on the subject of disclosure, I admit I didn’t wade through all 81 pages of the FTC document, but you can right here if you want to.)

People I know, and like, don’t necessarily agree with me on this, but I don’t view the guidelines as really being about what we generally consider to be the marketing/social media/advertising industry. To us, the fact that bloggers should disclose that they are paid by an advertiser, or gets free product from one, is obvious. To not do so shoots down one’s credibility, which is the coin of the realm in social media.

But the people who read this column have all grown up being schooled in this tradition. As social media tools come into broader use, more and more people without that grounding are going to become part of the conversation. If the history of so-called “mommy bloggers” is any guide, advertisers will reach out to them.

That said, I still think there’s ample room for some of the initiatives already out there to help develop a code of conduct for blogging, such as Blog with Integrity. (I tried to get in touch with Liz Gumbinner, who is one of the bloggers behind it, to get a few thoughts, but she is currently out of the email sphere.)

There’s still a need for bloggers to let it be known that not only do they play by the FTC’s rules but also are being honest and transparent, no matter what the topic. Thankfully, that’s something no government organization can regulate.

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Catharine P. Taylor has been covering digital media and advertising for almost 15 years. Contact her here.

Bloggers Checklist

By Jennifer Horowitz in Featured

Below are some of the crucial items you should have on your Blog. Take a look at this list and your Blog and see how you measure up. I can tell you that I did it myself and I had to create an action plan to fix my own Blog.

You see, just because I know what needs to be done doesn’t mean I always have time to implement it myself.

It is like the shoe cobbler’s children going to school with their shoes falling apart. I am so busy helping clients, I don’t have time to work on my own things.

The same may be true for you. You are so busy but you know you want to, actually you need to, Blog. So you start it and don’t necessarily have everything in place.

That’s OK. The key is to find out where you are lacking and create an action plan so you can take steps towards getting everything in place,

So, here is your checklist. Do you have:

A strategy in place? Do you know why are you Blogging? What are you hoping to accomplish? Do you know how often you have to Blog, what types of posts you need in order to accomplish your objective?

A posting schedule? Ideally you should have at least 2 new posts a week, and up to 5. Less than 2 is too little, and over 5 is often too much (unless you are a great writer and have lots of news and information to share, so you aren’t just writing fluff).

A comment policy? Do you moderate? If so, how long does it take to approve comments.

An ‘About Us’ section? Since Blogging is about connecting, sharing information and creating dialog to form relationships, you need to be sure to tell people who you are and what you are all about. Including contact information is a good idea

A Blogroll? Be sure to include NON company links. Point your readers to sites/blogs that you think THEY would be interested in reading. Yes, you can add your website, but please mix in some non-company sites as well to show people you are truly interested in being a resource for them.

RSS subscriber buttons? Give your readers a way to subscribe to your Blog, via a feed reader. Feedburner is a quick and easy way to get this done.

Photos, graphs or charts to create visual interest.

Videos to engage users.

Personality and opinions so people feel they are really hearing your voice and not just some regurgitated industry news.

Links back to relevant pages on your website.

A custom header graphic that doesn’t take up too much space but shows that your Blog is uniquely yours and not just some out of the box Blog platform that has no customization. Some people choose to have their header match the look and feel of their main site.

So go check out your Blog right now and see how you measure up.

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Jennifer Horowitz is the Director of Marketing for EcomBuffet.com. Since 1998 Jennifer’s expertise in marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has helped clients increase revenue. Jennifer has written a downloadable book on SEO and has been published in many SEO and marketing publications. Check out “Blogging For Dollars” for more Blogging tips and advice. http://www.searchenginewebpromotion.com/home/a/

Source: http://www.submityourarticle.com

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