Most to 10 reviews like David Letterman start with number 10 and move up to the big climax of number one, numero uno…with the drumroll and all. Instead of holding off the best till last, we will move directly to the top of the list and give you the best first.

Mashable recently reviewed and listed out the best ebooks for bloggers for 2007 and I wanted to go through them myself and review each one for you and give you the "goods" and ins and outs of these great books.

So here we go…

Number #1 as voted on by viewers like you is none other than the Authority Black Bookby Jack Humphrey! This amazing free e-book shares the best of the best of web 2.0 and has been downloaded over 20,000 times. It is a must have for any blogger who desires more traffic from the social networking communities. I learn more from the authority black book than 99% of all the expensive $97.00 ebooks that are now collecting cyber dust bunnies on my hard drive.

 

Authority Black Book

If you're new here and like what you see, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed or sign up for my free email updates. Thanks for visiting!

John Reese has announced Phase 2 of BlogRush at his Income.com blog.

He's using a carrot-and-stick approach to improve the quality of the BlogRush performance across the network.

Here's the carrot:

A cool new Dashboard that shows per-post statistics and adds a nifty “Buzz Meter.” As John says:

"Now you’ll be able to see how many times each of your posts is syndicated across the network and how many people clicked to read that individual post.

"Next to the statistics for each post you’ll see a “Buzz Meter.” This new meter will tell you if that post is HOT, COLD, or somewhere in between. The meter ‘temperature’ is calculated based on the average click-rates per headline for your blog’s category.

"This data, if used properly, can be extremely valuable for your blog — you’ll be able to know what types of posts are getting the most attention in your blog’s niche."

Here's the stick: widget performance monitoring:

"One of the biggest contributors to some of our low, average click-through rates (i.e. less traffic for our members) is due to some of our members giving the widget POOR PLACEMENT on their blogs. Some of our members have placed the BlogRush widget at the very bottom of their blog templates, or very low where most of their visitors don’t even see it.

"THIS IS ABOUT TO COME TO AN END.

"The BlogRush system is based on TWO things: QUALITY and FAIRNESS… If a member’s natural widget performance (the rate at which visitors click headlines and other factors we aren’t making public) falls far below the average activity of other members in their category…

"THIS MEMBER WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE BLOGRUSH NETWORK."

I've moved my widget up above the fold. He's not saying this is necessary (read his entire post), but I kinda like the look of it where I put it.

Hopefully it'll do its job and drive more traffic to my blog.

I'm looking forward to munching on my carrot.

blogrush John Reese

Ahmed Bilal has compiled one of the best lists I've seen (and I've seen a lot of lists!) for bloggers. If you blog, consider this REQUIRED READING:

"27 Tips for Building a Kick-Ass Blog"

I love each tip, but here are a few of my favorites:

4. Learn how to Position your Blog

More and more blogs are competing for attention. Most are instantly forgettable, simply echos of every other blog in their niche. One or two stand out and stick in your mind. Great content is one reason, necessary as great content is it might still be not enough. People have only so much time and attention to share, if they already have three excellent gadget blogs on their OPML why should they add yours? Learn how to differentiate your blog and make your content unique.

8. Start Guest Blogging

The one blog promotion strategy that I've always seen under-used is guest blogging. There are no downsides to it - guest blogging can, off the top of my head, help you build links, attract new readers to your blog, position you as an expert in your niche, acquire consulting gigs and help build close relationships with fellow bloggers.

16. Learn to Write Scannable Content

This is perhaps the one article that will make the biggest immediate difference. Visual display is to blogging like curb-appeal is to real estate. Bloggers should be constantly thinking about the curb-appeal of each article. It really makes a difference.

20. Fire, Aim, Deal

The usual quote is 'Ready, Fire, Aim', meaning that you should get out of the blocks quickly and not worry too much about getting things right. However, I think we tend to take too much time in the 'ready' phase. Online, news spreads almost instantaneously. It is a far more viral medium than, say, spreading ideas person to person (unless you're a rock star performing in front of a million people, in which case send me a couple of tickets, will ya?) and you need to move very fast. An idea adequately executed today is better than a plan perfectly executed tomorrow. Being first, and being first in people's minds, is crucial if you want to capture mindshare.

Many of these tips aren't new or groundbreaking, but they are ALL worth repeating and following. Go to the original post and you'll also find more detailed links for many of the individual tips. And be sure to check out the Bonus tip with further resources!

Read it all… then ACT on it! Here's the link again for this fantastic resource: "27 Tips for Building a Kick-Ass Blog"

blogging blogging tips

I recently started thinking of my blog as a dog. (I named him Ernie.)

Why did I do this? Why should you do the same? Because a dog needs care and commitment to thrive. If you get lazy or distracted and ignore your dog for a few days, it will suffer… it may even die.

The same can be said of your blog.

If you want your blog to thrive, treat it like a dog!

Here are four reasons to think of your blog as a dog.

1. Dogs and blogs need to be fed.

Dogs love to eat. You should “feed” your blog every day, not just when you’re in the mood. Scraps are alright once in a while, but for best results, fill it with delicious and nutritious quality content. Keep it out of the garbage!

2. Dogs and blogs need exercise.

Dogs need exercise and they love to go for walks. They want to explore, to experience new sights and smells. If they’re male, they also love to leave their mark. You should “walk” your blog every day. Explore and experience other blogs, sites, social networks. Leave your mark by commenting and participating. Be sure not to leave any crap!

3. Dogs and blogs need to be protected.

Dogs depend on you to protect them from fleas, ticks, distemper, heartworm, rabies, pissed-off cats and other threats. You should protect your blog from spam, viruses, copycats, pissed-off commenters and other threats. Use protective plug-ins like Akismet. Back up your files with a service like Carbonite. Turn competitors into colleagues. Don’t be afraid to let your blog take risks, but be wary about confronting bigger, meaner blogs!

4. Dogs and blogs need to be loved.

Dogs bring us so much joy because they give us unconditional love. They are social animals, and they need love in return. You shouldn’t have a dog—or a blog—if you’re not going to love it. Like a certain football star interested only in the money his dogs could earn, your success will be short-lived if you are interested only in the money your blog can earn. Your readers will know whether you are passionate about your niche and truly love your blog. Show your blog love every day, or it may turn on you!

Treat your blog like a dog, and you'll enjoy years of slobbery, face-licking fun!

blog tips blogging

BlogRush this, BlogRush that!

If you're involved with Internet Marketing in any way, shape or form you have been subjected to (or perhaps succumbed to) "BlogRush Mania." I include myself in the "succombed to" category.

Damn that John Reese!

There I was… working peacefully at my home computer, immensely satisfied with myself for FINALLY resolving to FOCUS on my core web activities and stop getting DISTRACTED by all the exciting new gizmos and opportunities… when …

BAM!

… there's a message from John Reese announcing an Income.com launch of something called BlogRush .

Grrrrr!

John Reese is one of a handful of marketers who make me drool. When I see anything from him, I'm like one of Pavlov's puppydogs hearing the bell!

I can't help but stop whatever I'm doing and investigate whatever John is talking about.

To make matters worse, John's BlogRush launch was a total mess! Technical difficulties caused delay after delay… meanwhile I, and no doubt hundreds of others, continued drooling in anticipation as each hour ticked by and still there was no release (of BlogRush or our voracious hunger)!

Grrrrr!

BlogRush did finally launch in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The buzz is deafening, as normal for anything launched by John Reese.

Does BlogRush deserve all this drooling, anticipation, and buzz?

I think it's too soon to tell. But hell, it's FREE. All it costs to give it a try is a little space on your blog.

That's one of the ways John suckered me in. If he was charging money for this new traffic magnet, I'd probably have the will power to sit back and see what results others achieve before getting involved myself, even though the sooner you jump in, the better your results will be.

Damn John Reese!

I just couldn't resist, and now I'm spending time on BlogRush… signing up, getting it installed on my blog (you can see the widget in my sidebar), writing a post about it, inviting others to check it out… instead of focusing on the activities I'd just told myself to focus on! According to John, this is a good thing. I love John (as a brother, of course, since I'm happily married), and trust him when he tells me "do this."

He better be right!

I'll let you all know how this BlogRush adventure pans out for me. Either I'll see a dramatic increase in traffic to this blog… or I'll have wasted precious time getting sucked in. I expect it'll be the former. But if it's the latter, you know I'll be screaming:

"Damn John Reese!"

If you're curious about what this BlogRush thing is all about (and why I've been drooling), John has created a nice video that explains it. Go here to check it out: BlogRush

I'm gonna go find some paper towels now to clean up my mess.

blog traffic blogrush John Reese marketing

In a previous post, I mentioned I was experimenting with a particular keyword phrase ("home for sale Vacaville CA").

The reason I did that post (other than the fact that I do want to sell my house), was to demonstrate the power of blogs to the Realtor who is selling (trying to sell) my house, and whose website really, really sucks.

Within a couple of hours after publishing that post, I checked Google for that exact phrase and saw that my post was already the number 2 listing, out of 105 results.

(I'd show you the screenshot, but when I shrink it to fit this blog's layout it's unreadable… I gotta get better software for that. In the meantime, just do an exact phrase seach in Google for "home for sale Vacaville CA" if you want to see for yourself.)

Number 2 out of 105 results with just one post and within a couple of hours! Pretty cool, huh?

Not necessarily.

Those are the results for an exact phrase match — meaning the searcher would have to include quotes around the phrase when entering it.

A search for that phrase without the quotes will bring up 413,000 results. I have no idea where my post is ranked among those… I got tired of looking after scanning several result pages. I'm sure it's way, way down in the results where no one would ever find it.

So, while I can brag that I obtained a number 2 ranking for a great keyword phrase… it's virtually useless because 99.9% of searchers will not format their phrase as an exact match (they won't put quotes around it).

Be aware of this when others brag about similar accomplishments… especially if they're trying to sell you their "secret" on how to obtain these kinds of results.

As for my original intent of showing the power of blogs, I think I did make my point. An entire blog devoted to that keyword phrase (versus just my one post) would, I'm sure, obtain excellent search engine rankings in a relatively short time… and it would rank for the broad match; searchers wouldn't have to include the quotes.

By the way, when I restricted my Google search to BLOGS ONLY, my post came up in the Number 1 spot, out of 3,954 results — and this was NOT for the exact match; just typing the phrase in without the quotes.

Now THAT's pretty cool, right?

blogging keyword phrases search engine rankings

Maki has made a post over at DoshDosh that's got me thinking. (He does that with most of his posts, darn him!)

So here I am, blogging about a blog blogging about blogs that blog about blogging… and getting dizzy.

Fortunately, Maki offers four solutions to this affliction (he calls it meta-blogging):

1. View Blogs as General Websites.
2. Borrow Principles Elsewhere.
3. Don’t Think Like a Blogger.
4. Perform Unique Research.

Please read Maki's excellent post about this: The Problem with Meta-Blogging.

OK, now that I've done what he talks about too many bloggers doing, I'm thinking about my overall blogging strategy. I do blog about blogging. But I also do the four actions he mentions (listed above).

I don't do them enough, though.

I often fall back on what many other bloggers do: instead of coming up with something original and creative, I summarize someone's else's post and point readers to it with a link. Then I'll give myself a virtual pat on the back for adding a new post to my blog.

I tell myself I'm being helpful to my readers by sharing information I've found. But am I really just being lazy?

Perhaps. Most days it's just too darn difficult for my tired, overworked brain to write posts that are:

Read more

blogging meta blogging

While I wouldn’t go so far as to say blog categories can make or break your blog, I will say they are a crucial component to your blog’s success. When used effectively, blog categories can help you achieve three important goals:

1. Your blog will be more user-friendly.
2. You blog will be more attractive to search engines.
3. Your blog will be considered an authority site.

Here’s how to use blog categories to achieve each of those goals:

Read more

blog categories

Dean Hunt at Marketing What Works has a great idea. Well, I'm sure he has more than one, but here's the specific idea I'm referring to: Say No to Google PageRank.

My buddy Dave at Affiliate Profit Center gave me the heads-up on Dean's post.

Dean starts his post with:

"This is a war cry to all webmasters who have better things to do than to be listening to endless threads, blog posts and nonsense about the upcoming Google Pagerank Update."

Yeah Dean — I'm with ya!

So I'm following Dean's instructions:

"All you have to do is copy the info below, and put it into your site/blog. Then email me at : contact@deanhunt.com and I will update the list with your website/blog link.

"As this spreads your site will be mentioned on hundreds, perhaps even thousands of sites."

You should do this, too!

Step 1: Highlight the links below, right click, then click “View selection source”
Step 2: Paste the “Say No To Pagerank” list into your blog or site
Step 3: email me at: contact@deanhunt.com
Step 4: Get a mention and link here at DeanHunt.com and every other site that plays the game
Step 5: Update your list daily to reflect the new websites and blogs that join in

***
SAY NO TO PAGERANK, YES TO LIFE WEBMASTERS LIST***

Buzz Marketing Blog
Young Entrepreneurs Blog
No Nonsense Business Advice
Sell your blog
CS Developer
Aplliance Journal
Madkane Humor Blog
Find New Leads
PHPied
UK SEO Directory
Bikinifigur: Abnehmen ohne Hunger
Bob Meets World
BlueJar Webmasters Guide
All Sux Dot Com
CodingPad
The Next Post
Tech Blog
Reality Wired
Tom Wilson Google Blog
Price Filter
a few loose screws
Clickon Web Design
Woody Maxim
Crystals Quest
What Simply Works
Affiliate profit center
Internet Marketing Blueprints
Cash 4 blogging
Hits USA

***List Ends Here** - UPDATED DAILY *** Please update your lists

I definitely think Dean's onto something here:

WHILST EVERYONE ELSE IS TALKING ABOUT PAGERANK, WE CAN GET BUSY IMPROVING OURS

Google pagerank seo

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you may have noticed a change during the past couple of weeks. The quantity and quality of my posts haven't been at the stratospheric level you're used to. (Insert self-deprecating laugh here.)

Here are my excuses:

Read more

blogging mid blog crisis

There's a new social bookmarking site vying for your attention, links and votes (or as this site refers to them, "bullet points").

The site is Elistic and it doesn't call itself a social bookmarking site–it prefers "social link-listing site" (gotta get the "list" from its name into its description, you see.)

However you wish to describe it, it's got an interesting twist to it. Unlike most other sites of this kind, Elistic analyzes the ratings you give to linked sites, and then makes recommendations of other links/sites you might like based on that analysis. It sounds something like a cross between Netscape and Stumbleupon.

Because the site is new, there isn't much activity yet. But it does include a discussion group element, and the buzz is starting to grow.

I suggest you add Elistic to your list of places to promote your articles, posts, sites and/or blogs. With less competition at the moment, your links are likely to get more attention.

Of course you'll want to list links and vote for sites that are NOT yours, as well. You know… like this one!

elist social bookmarking social link listing

Chris Garrett recently answered the question, What is a Blog Meme? with details and examples… and then invited his readers to experiment by creating their own Meme:

"I have an experiment and an offer for you. If you think you would like to start a Meme, tag me along with anyone else you want to take part. The best ones I will complete and tag some others and let’s see how far it will spread. As well as the obvious benefits of links, if I like your Meme and take part, to sweeten the deal I will send you a free preview copy of my much-delayed next ebook."

I'm definitely taking him up on it, so here's my Meme…

Instead of just limiting my Meme to one question that people may–or may not–be interested in answering, I'm going provide FIVE questions and let the participants PICK ONE.

Here are the five questions — just pick one:

What person (alive or dead) has inspired you most, and how?

What talent or skill would you most like to have?

What advice from your mother or father do you wish you’d heeded?

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

What book or movie had a positive impact on your personal or professional life?

If you'd like to participate in this Meme, consider yourself "tagged."

Just answer the question of your choice in a post on your own blog, provide a link back to the originator of the Meme (that would be me), and then tag five other bloggers. (I think it's best to individually notify those you tag, in addition to linking to them from your post.)

Here are the bloggers I'm tagging for this Meme:

Chris Garrett
Jeremy Palmer
John Wesley
Yvonne DiVita
Jane May

There ya go… now go Meme yourself!

Blog blog meme meme mutliple choice meme

Lynn Terry is a full-time, work-from-home Internet marketer. Her ClickNewz blog displays the tagline, "Internet marketing ideas, tips and reviews to help you succeed in your online business," so you immediately know what her blog is about.

I like the functionality and navigation (including the handly links at the very end of each post), the clean, fresh look of her blog template… and the natural-looking yet professional photos of her which change as you change pages.

Her blog categories include Internet Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, RSS & Blogging, SEO & SEM and so on… the usual topics you'd expect for a blog about internet marketing.

But does she know what she's talking about? Look at the following stats and judge for yourself:

According to SmartPageRank, ClickNewz has, at the time of this review:

* a PageRank of 5
* an Alexa ranking of 62,103
* more than 30,000 backlink pages
* and more than 850 blog pages indexed by Google (more than 1,000 indexed by each of the other major search engines).

These are impressive stats. In my opinion, they're adequate proof that Lynn not only knows a hell of a lot about SEO, blog promotion and getting traffic–she practices what she preaches.

Many of her posts are of the "how to" nature, written simply and well in nontechnical terms so even the newest newbies can easily understand what to do… yet also including details on various strategies and techniques so that experienced readers will also benefit from reading them.

While she doesn't go into as much detail as some bloggers (such as Darren Rowse of ProBlogger), you'll definitely learn a lot by reading her posts. You'll learn even more by noticing how she incorporates links in those posts. She uses internal links to her other posts, which guide readers to other useful information and also helps with SEO. She uses external links to affiliate products (monetizing her posts), to her SSWT discussion forum, and to other blogs.

You can tell that networking and building positive and mutually beneficial relationships with other bloggers is one of her priorities. This is what blogging is all about.

Glitches

Lynn changed her blog format recently, and I think it still has a few glitches that need to be worked out. On her About page, I could see at the bottom that there were 13 comments, but the page view was truncated and I could not scroll down to read them. BUT… when I clicked on the barely visible link of the first comment, then went back to the About page, I COULD scroll to see all of the comments. The same sort of glitch plagues her archived post listings. Her Internet Marketing category, for example, shows 182 posts. But I was only able to access about 20 of them–no posts beyond Page 3 of her archived listings for that category–had a link to "Previous Entries" (as there was at the end of Pages 1 & 2). Then I checked the Work at Home category archives and I couldn't get past Page 1. BUT… if I clicked on a post title, then clicked on the Back button, the "Previous Entries" link appeared at the bottom. So clicking on a post title seems to fix the glitch. Other category archives worked fine. Perhaps it's an intermittent problem.

Those glitches could be minor or major, depending on whether her blog visitors will click on titles and links that will then "fix" the problem and allow additional viewing.

In Summary

ClickNewz is a winner. Good design, good content, by a knowledgeable and experienced blogger who is truly interested in helping others to succeed with their online business.

blog review blogging ClickNewz Lynn Terry

I've been experimenting with PayPerPost.

I know some bloggers don't like the idea of accepting money in exchange for posting about a sponsored site. If you're one of them, you probably won't be interested in this post, and that's fine. To each his/her own.

If you're here to pick up tips on earning money with your blog, though, this is what I've found so far with PayPerPost.

The top earner has raked in more than $10,000 so it's worth checking out, right?

Here's the basic concept for getting paid to post — you register your blog (it must be at least three months old). Once it's approved, you're able to select from a list of posting opportunities offered by advertisers. These opportunities tell you what they'd like you to post about, the links you'll need to include, the minimum number of words for your post, the tone of your post (i.e., positive or neutral), etc., and how much you'll be paid if your post is accepted.

The highest paying opportunities are restricted to the highest quality blogs… high PR, high Alexa ranking, etc.

This makes sense. Obviously an advertiser would pay more to have John Chow write a post about their site than they'd pay me.

Unfortunately, posters with a relatively new blog (like me) do not qualify for as many opportunities. And the ones we do qualify for pay less than $10 per post.

Typically there are about 60 opportunities available… and my blog qualifies for maybe 10 of those, on average.

But I "disqualify" myself from most of them. I'll only apply for opportunities on topics that I would likely blog about anyway, whether I was getting paid or not.

So I will NOT do posts about subjects such as online dating, gambling, mortgage loans, etc., even though those advertisers tend to pay more than those whose topics I am interested in posting about.

Here are the posts I've been paid to write so far:

Handy SEO Glossary — I earned $10.

Blogger's Choice Awards: Awaiting Your Votes — I earned $10.

Do You Backup Your Files? — I earned $5.

But Wait! There's More! — I earned $8.50.

So that's a total of $33.50 for four posts spread out over about a month, on topics that are more-or-less on target with my niche.

Obviously I'm not going to be one of the top earners, but it's better than my Adsense revenue from this site… and I (hopefully) did provide some value in the content.

If you have several sites, high-ranking sites, and/or aren't picky and will post about anything, you can earn a LOT of money with PayPerPost.

If you're more like me, you'll add another revenue source that will likely grow as your site does.

If you decide to give it a try, be sure to read the Terms of Service. I had 2 of my 4 posts rejected (temporarily) because I didn't read and follow the rules. Their site is incredibly slow; I didn't feel like exploring.

The first mistake I made was quoting a bit of info from the site I was posting about and linking to. That's normal for bloggers, but a no-no for PayPerPost. The second mistake I made was publishing two posts on my blog without a non-paid post in between… another no-no. If you make a mistake, they'll tell you about it and give you the opportunity to fix it, which is what I did. Ultimately all of my posts (so far) have been accepted.

One more thing… you might want to consider becoming an Advertiser. I have not done this myself. But if you have a site about mortgages, for instance, you know how much competition there is… and how expensive Pay-Per-Click advertising can be! For the same (or far less money), you could list an opportunity at PayPerPost and pay bloggers to write about your site and services… 200 words per post gets you a lot more bang for your buck than 2 short lines in a typical online ad. And your site will benefit from the incoming links, as well.

Here's where to go if you'd like to sign up: PayPerPost.

get paid to blog payperpost

Looking for interesting new blogs to read, or excellent blog examples to borrow ideas from?

One indication of a blog's success is the number of people who subscribe to its RSS feed.

Al over at Self Made Minds has created a Top 100 list of the sites with the most subscribers according to Feedburner. His list includes only Feedburner sites that have elected to publicize their subscriber counts, so some heavy hitters may not be on the list. Still, it's a great list!

The number-one site — with a whopping 577,000 subscribers — is Engadget. No big surprise there. But I bet you will find a few surprises among the 100.

View the entire list here: Blogs With the Most Feed Subscribers

blogs RSS feeds top 100 blogs