How to Hire Bloggers and Start Your Own Blog Network - Part 2
How to Hire Bloggers and Start Your Own Blog Network - Part 2
By Iszuddin Ismail
This is Part 2 of this article. In Part 1, I told the story how I ended up having a telephone conversation with Paul Short, talking about how to hire blogger and start a blog network. And I explained about one the things that we talked about which was how to find your blogger.
If you don't know who Paul Short is, he's an awesome blogger who also owns a blog network, Gomaud Media.
We talked about so many things during the call. Apart from how to find your blogger, we also talked about how to prepare your blog. When I asked this, what I wanted to know if there's any special method that Paul uses in preparing his blog before a launch.
- Are there any specific plug-ins that you need to use?- Are there any special steps that you need to take?- Are the blogs designed in a specific way?
Those were the questions that were floating in my mind.
And Paul's answer was rather interesting. I thought that for a blogger and a blog network owner like Paul, he would have developed a system for all of his blogs. But the interesting this is, Paul mentioned that all of his blogs are unique.
To Paul, your blog doesn't really have to be in a special way. The most important thing is to make sure that visitors know how to find their way around the blog. What's important is the web usability. Looking at similar blogs within the same topic would also help you understand how you should design and structure your blog. In other words, spy on your competitions.
But Paul did mention a few things that he found to be helpful. Most of his blogs would normally have certain plug-ins which make the blog a lot more sticky and helps visitors get around. To make sure that visitors stay a lot longer, and browse deeper into your blog, Paul installs plug-ins like Recent Posts and Related Posts. This also helps with generating more advertising revenue because visitors would browse more pages that contain advertisements.
As for search engine optimization, Paul only does the basic things like setting up the Permalinks so that your blogs have a search-engine-friendly URL. Optimizing the title tag in the template is also a wise move. Generally you would want the title of the post to appear in front of your blog name in the title tag.
And one other thing that Paul mentioned when it comes to launching your blog is to have enough content. For Paul, he would at least have posts that occupy at least two pages before starting to promote the blog. I would translate to having about 40 posts in your blog. The last thing that you want is visitors having a bad first impression of you.
I have to say that I am not the expert here. And we can't actually discuss about how to start a blog network without having to write an novel. But somehow, I hope this has helped.
Paul and Iszuddin (Kidino) talked over an hour about how to hire bloggers and start your own blog network. They segmented their discussion in seven topics - 1) choosing a topic for the blog, 2) preparing the blog, 3) working with bloggers, 4) writing your blog, 5) promotion, 6) managing your blogs and 7) monetizing. And one interesting thing that Paul shared was about a little-known monetization tactic that is bigger than Adsense. To learn more about starting a blog network, head over to http://www.BloggingBig.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Iszuddin_Ismail
How to Hire Bloggers and Start Your Own Blog Network
How to Hire Bloggers and Start Your Own Blog Network - Part 1By
Iszuddin Ismail and Paul
Looking at the number of blog networks that are around, I wonder what it will be like to start one of my own. I am sure you are familiar with names like 9rules, b5media, Gothamist, Weblog, TechCrunch and more. Yes, they are all blog networks.
Now, don't get the wrong idea here. At the time of this writing, I haven't started a blog network of my own, but I wanted to know how it can be done.
While browsing through a list of blog network that I found online, I came across a familiar name -- Paul Short.
Paul Short and I were advisors at a private forum about a year back. Paul and I each have our own unique expertise when it comes to running an online business. I do a lot of list building and affiliate programs, while Paul is a master at blogging and search engine optimization.
And little did I know, over the past one-year or so, Paul has been quitely building his own little blog network. It's called Gomaud Media.
When I learned about this, I sent Paul an email and asked if he'd help me with this issue. I want to know how to hire bloggers and build a blog network. I wasn't sure that I'd be doing it, but I sure want to learn how it can be done.
So he replied and later we got on the phone talking about that one thing -- how to hire bloggers and start a blog network.
The call lasted for over an hour. And Paul shared interesting things about starting your own blog network. One of the things was about where and how to find a good blogger to blog for you.
It's hard training people how to write and how to blog. When you want someone to blog for you, it's best to get an actual blogger. Maybe there are few things that you can teach the blogger, something about how many posts they should do a day and things like that. But in general, you want somebody who is already blogging because they are already familiar with the technology and the culture.
And to do that, you can look at sites like Technorati and Digg. These two sites index the content of blogs from all over the world. What you need to do is just search for blogs within the niche that you are pursuing.
Now, here's a tip when looking for a blogger. Look for a blogger that has her/his own voice when writing. What I mean by this is that they must have opinions on things and not just sit on the fence all the time. Why? Because bloggers like this will attract a lot more readership. People would always want to know what you think.
Now that you have your blogger, you can start building your blog.
How do you work with your blogger? From what I understand, if it's your blog, you need to prepare the blog, do the hosting, get the domain name, do all the designing, do all the optimization, install all the plug-ins, do all the marketing ... and your blogger, will just login and blog.
And how much do you pay a blogger? Well, there are lots of models that you can use. But for Paul, he offers around $5 per post and expects around 60 to 100 posts. But when revenue from the blog grows to a certain level, they might go into a revenue-sharing model. But I guess, by the end of the day, you need to discuss this with your blogger and agree on something that the both of you are comfortable with.
I think that's a fair deal.
Of course, Paul and I talked about more things during the call. We talked about how much to pay a blogger, how to promote your blog, how to monetize your blog and a lot more. But I can't tell you everything that Paul shared with me without having to write a novel.
But I think, getting a blogger is a step closer starting your own blog network.
Paul and Iszuddin (Kidino) talked over an hour about how to hire bloggers and start your own blog network. They segmented their discussion in seven topics - 1) choosing a topic for the blog, 2) preparing the blog, 3) working with bloggers, 4) writing your blog, 5) promotion, 6) managing your blogs and 7) monetizing. And one interesting thing that Paul shared was about a little-known monetization tactic that is bigger than Adsense. To learn more about starting a blog network, head over to
http://www.BloggingBig.com.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Iszuddin_Ismail
A Great Idea For a Blogging Web Site is No Longer
A Great Idea For a Blogging Web Site is No Longerby Morris Trahan
Because there are so many blogs and web sites about blogs on the internet, it can be tough to distinguish your blogging web site from all of the others. Whether you are starting up a new web site aimed at bloggers or whether you are looking to make your existing blogging site more distinctive, the key to building and maintaining a site that will capture the interest and attention of the blogging community is finding your niche. If you can fill a unique need in a way that no other web site does, you'll be able to build a lasting readership among web surfers. Once you have discovered a niche, you will still have a lot to do, but finding your place in the blogosphere is the place to begin.
Every great blogging web site starts with a great idea, and you can't build a successful site that will last without one. There are many great sites aimed at today's bloggers, and competition for the attention of this growing demographic is fierce. To make your blogging web site stand out from the pack, you will need to offer something that no other site is currently offering, or you will need to do the same thing that an already popular site does but in a more impressive or valuable way.
One way to discover an ideal model for your blogging web site is to look at the sites that have successfully captured a blogging audience already to determine if you can appropriate some of their strategies to help realize your vision. Of course, you will also need to add a unique flair to your project in order to stand apart from your competition. Many people agree that the web sites that do the best in today's market are the sites that have the most personality. The fiercely individual surfers who are bloggers are a demographic that responds especially strongly to personality, so consider how you can give your site a unique and attractive feeling by lending your own voice and sensibility to your site's design and content.
Once you have a great idea for your site, have pinpointed a special niche that you are well equipped to fill, and have infused the site with personality, the next step is figuring out how to get the word out to bloggers. In the long run, a great idea just isn't enough to propel your blogging web site to success. You will need to draft a smart and realistic marketing plan in order to draw readers to your site. Once you hook a blogger, your great content will keep them coming back, but it is vital to get that first glance or your site won't have a chance to shine.
-------------------------------------- Online shopping made easy! Stop searching from one site to the other: Products, Resources, Services, Affiliate Opportunities. Ebay, Amazon, Clickbank, All on one site. Check it out NOW! -------------------------------------- http://www.infogomall.com
About the Author
I am a retired Accountant, i started my online career after i retired. I have had some success with my new online career thanks to the online friends i have made. Hope you are enjoying my articles as much as i enjoy sending you the information. I wish you all the success in your online ventures.
To Your Success: Morris Trahan
Everyone Can Blog
Everyone Can Blogblog-free-freeby BlogMyWay
Blog is the prefer way and is a modern way to share personal experiences with the world wide web audiences and the masses. Blog is also a very good way for big corporations to announce their important news to their clients and prospects. Beside meeting face to face with their clients and prospects, blog helps big corporations convey their messages in a very personal aspect.
To read a blog is to read a short message, a long story of an event, a misspelled paragraph, a gibberish message, and everything else you can considered of. Blog is not your normal medium where you know beforehand certain standards are apply. For example if you read everyday newspapers, and you know how certain headlines are present, and sometime the headlines are convey enough meaning that you do not need to delve further into the detail. To read a blog you got to take a different approach because the headline of a blog sometimes mean everything, and sometimes it means nothing; so you have to really digging into the details after-all.
It's quite annoying when certain blogs are fun to read but the blogs' creators decide to stop updating their blogs. It's also mind blogging when there are millions of blogs and bloggers popping out of the thin air and the search engines grabbing them up daily. Google's blog search engine is a very good example.
Blog is unlike newspapers and other mediums, because blog is for the ordinary and extraordinary people alike. Blog do not fit for particular groups, but blog fits for all groups. Sometime people fear to write blog because they look at themselves as bad writer. Blog is not really meant for only good writer. After-all, blog is the tool for you to communicate your personal experiences and whatever else that you want to convey to the public. Blog is not your grammar teacher and it does not let anyone judge you as a good or bad writer, because it's only meant for convey your messages to the masses.
To write a blog you need a blog host or you need a web space where you can upload your blog to. It's quite cumbersome if you do not have a blog software or a blog content management system. People who write blogs usually update their blogs quite frequently. Meaning that they have to write a lot and with the lack of blog softwares, you have to do quite a lot of work to update your popular blog.
There are a lot of free websites that allow you to open a free account and use their blog softwares. One good blog web host website I know of is http://www.blogmyway.org. They got excellent tools and features for you to open up a blog and blog to your heart contents. Such features they have are normal text blog, upload photos to your blog, upload photos to your albums, mobile blog (e.g. Use your mobile phone and blog), podcasting (e.g. Audios and videos format), and many other available features when you open up an account with them. Don't worry about any fees when you open up an account with blogmyway.org because blogmyway.org provides only free blog hosting service. Another thing I like about blogmyway.org is that they do not put their advertisements or third parties advertisements onto your blog pages. Though they always welcome you to put up your own advertisements or adsense (google's advertisements) so you can make extra cash as your blog gets popular.
This article is written by one of the http://www.blogmyway.org staff member. Anyone can copy and distribute this article in any form. Do not modify the article in anyway! © Copyright 2006 BlogMyWay.Org. All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
We provide blog hosting service. Everyone can open up a free blog account and start a blog. Mobile blog allow, and it's free. Podcasting is allow and it's free.
