This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup and a cool highlight reel from Blog World Expo 2009 on kikolani.com.
The Resources Mashup
Here are some of the best articles I have stumbled upon, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.
Blogging / Writing
- Community and traffic takes time and patience – 8 things you need to know about building both for your blog.
- Become a playful blogger and inject some energy into your blogging – video and transcript of what to experiment with to get your audience excited about your blog.
- Creative social sharing to promote your blog – a look at social networking groups, repurposing content, ebooks, and more.
- How to build a reputation with your blog: interact with your audience – the third article in a great series about blogging and reputation.
- Long term blogging strategies: which ones are yours? A look at what will help you be successful in the long run.
This post is part of a weekly series, Fetching Friday, featuring the resources mashup and a little something personal on kikolani.com.
The Resources Mashup
Here are some of the best articles I have stumbled upon, retweeted on @kikolani, and read in RSS subscriptions this week.
Blogging / Writing
- How to improve your writing and SEO for better blog posts – this ebook has just what you need to compose more engaging blog posts for readers and optimized pages for search engines.
- 3 ways to keep readers on your site using Apture – how this popular toolbar plugin can help your site get sticky.
- 7 ways to cheat the 10,000 hour rule and still be a better blogger – did you know that scientifically, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be the best of the best in a field? This post shows how you can get there without that kind of dedication.
- Why you don’t need to blog everyday – a small case study on bloggers who write daily vs. those who do not.
- What you don’t know about blogging – what matters between niche, frequent posting, and content.
UPDATE: The price will increase to $29.97 on September 1st – grab it now at $9.97!
As you’ve probably heard by now, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger and Glenn Murray of Divine Write just released the Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers, a 100 point checklist of 63 key things to check before you publish to help you improve the quality of your blog posts.
If you’re insanely busy like most (working a full time job, writing for multiple blog sites including your own, etc.), the thought of going through a checklist for every blog post you write might sound a bit overwhelming. I know it did for me at first. But since downloading and reading through this 59-page ebook, I can give you these tips on how to use it more efficiently and get value out of it for every blog post.
What Does the ProBlogger Scorecard Cover?
In a nutshell, the main headings in this ebook include:
- 5 things to do before you start writing.
- How to plan your blog post.
- 5 ways to make the writing process simpler.
- 27 writing tips and things to avoid to improve your writing skills.
- 6 recommendations to make your post easily scannable to capture your readers right away.
- 10 ways to better SEO optimize your posts around your main keywords for better search rankings.
- 20 common grammatical mistakes made in writing (including affect vs. effect, that vs. which, and lay vs. lie).
Since the Apple iPad has come out, I have been dying to get one. One of my main reasons to have one is for when I am at seminars, such as the upcoming Social Media AZ, or when I’m at conventions like the upcoming Blog World Expo in October.
In the last few months, I have been following a great blog by a fellow Third Triber that has, thusfar, specialized in iPad news as well as entered several contests to win a free iPad (because I am currently saving up for a big trip next year, so I don’t want to buy it outright), but no luck in winning one so far.
