RosalindGardner.com

Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner

7 Methods to Boost Your Writing Skills: Tested

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When I first started blogging, I hoped that I would get everything at once. Bigger traffic numbers, wider audience, more engagement. However, many of my posts seemed to be unnoticed by both, people and search engines. What was I doing wrong? Well, many things, actually. The reality is you cannot become a good blogger (journalist, writer, or whoever you want to be) without improving your writing skills. Only after making hundreds of mistakes, you will figure out how to write the content that will get you noticed.

The good news is that with a few proven tips and tricks from my own experience, chances are you will get through this faster than I had to. Today I’m going to share with you several methods I used to boost my writing skills. They helped me, and they are sure to help you too! [Read more…]

Blogging Equipment I Use in My RV Office

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Blogging equipment needs to be kept to a minimum if you're an RV lifestyle or travel blogger, or someone who works in a VERY small office. 🙂

I've been blogging from our RV for the past year, and I thought it would be fun to show you the office I've been working in, as well as provide you with a list of my blogging equipment, both necessary and nice-to-have.

[Read more…]

3 Fabulous Food Bloggers

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food-bloggers

Friends and family whom I don't see on a regular basis might faint from shock when they learn I've recently acquired an avid interest in cooking – precipitated primarily by nearly 35 pounds of weight gain over 9 years due to eating Ed's delicious, yet oh so fattening foods. (I'm down 10, 25 to go.)

As I can't keep too many cookbooks in the RV due to weight considerations – I've added enough tonnage already – I usually try recipes I've found on a food blogger's site.

Being a blogger myself, I also enjoy checking out the workings behind a good blogger's blog, such as their:

  • Monetization techniques. None, affiliate programs, own products?
  • Social media strategy. Is their social media strategy successful?
  • Google rankings. What makes their site come up in the Google listings ahead of others with similar recipes?

To that end, I thought it would be interesting for my readers (YOU!) to take a look at what makes certain blogs in the food blogging niche particularly successful.

My choices for this short list of food bloggers (no worries, there will be more) are based on some very simple criteria:

  • The blogger is obviously passionate about cooking.
  • The blogger must publish recipes on a regular basis.
  • Their food blog is very popular, i.e. they've captured media attention.
  • The food blog is a one or two person operation, i.e. not a magazine-style / corporate blog.
  • The food blog is, in part at least, monetized using affiliate marketing techniques.

So, here in no particular order of preference is my first list of 3 fabulous food bloggers.

[Read more…]

A Good Blogging Day

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great-day

Just for fun, I thought I'd write about a really good ‘day in the life' of this blogger.

  • Awoke at 6AM (after 7 hours of multiple sleep interruptions – the downside to being 55?)
  • Fed Jasper, my 5 1/2 year-old Chocolate Labrador.
  • Made a coffee (So NOT a coffee snob, I drink Nescafe Instant).
  • Returned to bed with coffee and read “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall for an hour on my iPad. AWESOME book.
  • Snoozed again until 8 AM (trying to get in those 8 hours of all important rest).
  • Got up and did a little yoga to get the muscles stretched and warmed for the day ahead.
  • Ate a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast (which Ed made) while watching the news.
  • Washed the breakfast dishes.
  • Took Jasper for his morning constitutional.
  • Did some cleanup around the RV and sorted through things in preparation for our trip down to Arizona in mid-October.
  • Checked email.
  • Attended to a few administrative matters – bill payments, etc. Get those pains out of the way first!
  • Responded to customer service emails, blog comments and emails from folks with questions about blogging and affiliate marketing.
  • Checked my Facebook profile and Facebook page. Enjoyed many good laughs and responded to questions posed on those venues.
  • Built the BackStory on my Aboutme. account.
  • Re-connected with an old room-mate from my early air traffic control days.
  • Prepped slow-cooker (crockpot) borscht for dinner.
  • Helped Ed try to set up our new satellite modem. I held the phone, while he talked to Galaxy Broadband and tried to get the satellite pointed properly to pick up our satellite Internet connection. Ed gave up on the setup after awhile – we will try again tomorrow. Fortunately, we do have another Internet service that we use here on the lot.
  • Took Jasper for a 1.5 hour long hike in the local mountains.
  • Returned and took a long hot shower – which is a real treat when you're living in an RV. 🙂
  • Wrote this blog post.
  • Created a title picture for the post.
  • Published the post.
  • Shared the blog post on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.
  • Sent a quick note to my subscribed readers about the new article via Aweber.
  • Re-checked and responded to email.
  • Talked to my mum for half an hour without incident. MAJOR victory.
  • 6PM – Had dinner while watching the news.
  • Took Jasper for his evening constitutional.
  • Watched Big Bang Theory and Just for Laughs ALL Access (mostly upside-down) while stretching on the floor.
  • In bed by 10PM.
  • Read until 11 PM.
  • Sleep.

All around a truly GREAT day!

So… What constitutes a GREAT day for you when it comes to running your blog / blogging business?

Did you enjoy this article? Please share it with others! If you have a comment or question about these WordPress tips, please leave a comment below!

Cheers,
sig-ros

Blogging Partners: Two Heads Can be Better than One

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What I wouldn't have given to have a blogging partner (or two) of late.

I just moved out of a house that I've lived in for 11 years. The 6 weeks preceding the move consumed more mental and physical energy than to which I'm accustomed… much more.

Because we hadn't yet hired a contractor to build a house on our lot, each and every item needed to be evaluated for its destination. Should it be sold, given away or packed? If it was to be packed, would it go into long-term storage, storage at the new building site or into the RV… for who knew how long? We had a garage sale, sold stuff online (eBay and Kijiji) and ran about a hundred trips to Value Village. By moving day, (poorly labelled) packed boxes lined the walls of almost every room.

boxes

And despite thinking that everything had been well organized, each day in the RV has involved a litany of ‘where is ____?' and ‘I can't find ____'. Add to that the “Hot as Hades” factor (42.5C/108.5F), an RV air conditioning unit that barely keeps up AND not one but TWO spotty Internet connections (satellite and MiFi).

42point5

Worst of all, I neglected my blogs for a month during the moving fray. I had wanted to queue up a bunch of articles that would be posted while I was busy. Turns out that ‘wanting' doesn't necessarily amount to ‘doing'.

I began to feel somewhat envious of my friend, Todd Farmer, who with his partners Tricia Meyer and Eric Nagel operate the Wine Club Group blog.

Think of the advantages of having a blogging partner or two.

partners

  • With input from more brains, the knowledge quotient should increase. That could mean brainstorming more and better ideas for topics about which to blog, and/or saving you the hassle of having to contend with the technical side of blogging if one of your partners happens to be a geek.
  • The time and effort you invest in your blogging business should be reduced relative to the number of partners you have.
  • You would also split all the business costs.
  • Partners can motivate each partner to be more productive and therefore generate more revenue over the long term.
  • Partners can attend conferences together, see every speaker during the event and later share what they learned with their other partners.
  • You could plan breaks and vacations in advance and enjoy some relief in knowing that your blogging business will be handled if you need to tend to personal matters during an emergency.

Granted, blogging partnerships won't work in every case.

  • Some folks might not be keen to share revenue.
  • Distribution of effort might be unequal, leading to disagreements.
  • Disagreements can happen between the best of friends / partners and ruin a business, as happened to Audrey van Petegem who wrote about her experience in an article on the Huffington Post.
  • Partnerships probably won't work for those who blog is in their name. For example, this blog's URL is in my name, so a true partnership is out of the question. What works best for my blogging business model is guest bloggers.

All things considered, a blogging partnership might work for you, especially if you are just starting out and have concerns about your motivation, technical knowledge or writing.

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

P.S. The ‘dogs' picture is of Kuper (on the left) and my dog, Jasper the Chocolate Labrador who would excel at partnerships because he shares so freely with his ball and other toys. I think he knows that sharing is good karma and at the end of the day he'll STILL have all the food and toys he could ever hope for. 🙂

21 Types of Blog Posts

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blog-keysNow that you know how to come up with endless ideas for blog post content, let's look at a number of different ways that your content can be shaped into information your readers will find both useful and entertaining.

  1. How-To Tutorials

    Teach your readers how to do something or reach a goal, either by writing an article or creating a video. The majority of posts on this blog are how-to tutorials and they are also the most popular.

  2. Product Reviews

    As an affiliate marketer, product reviews are ‘bread and butter' posts that link directly to your merchants' sites and products. You can review a single product or do a comparison of two more products. These posts can be referred to from almost any other type of post on your blog. Tag those posts with either ‘product review‘ or ‘review', so they can be found easily within your tag cloud.

  3. Lists

    Everyone loves list posts — readers and writers alike. THIS post is a list. They tend to be easier to write, read and understand, as the list points are brief but comprehensive.

  4. Solve a Problem

    Every so often I stumble across an issue with my blog or business that needs to be resolved. Knowing that my readers may face the same or a similar situation, I often write a blog post about both the problem and the resolution. Here is an example – Plugin and Broken Links Could Kill Your Affiliate Business.

  5. Rebuttals

    Has someone ticked you off or taken you to task about something you've said on your blog? Write a rebuttal. These posts can be highly cathartic and attract a lot of reader response. To Link or Not to Link: The Grocery Store Analogy is by far my favorite rebuttal post on this blog. 🙂

  6. Warnings

    I have a category devoted specifically to warn affiliate and internet marketers about scams and other troubles associated with doing business online. While ‘problems' with your niche may not be your favorite topic, your readers will applaud your efforts to keep them advised of trouble they may face. They'll also appreciate your honesty which helps to build trust in a big way.

  7. Question and Answer Post

    A simple post that offers answers to readers' questions about everything and anything, without having to be related to a specific blog post topic, is always much appreciated.

  8. Pose a Challenge

    Set yourself and/or your readers a challenge, i.e. post to your blog every day for a month. At the end of the month you can write another post about your experience and ask your readers' to share theirs.

  9. Profiles and Interviews

    Is there someone in your niche whose work deserves high praise? Profile their achievements in a written post, or better yet, interview them. I suggest that interviews be recorded and then transcribed, using Freelancer. That way you get 2 types of media and save your interviewee the hassle of having to answer your questions in writing. (Note: Requests for interviews are often rejected if the person being interviewed is expected to communicate in writing.)

  10. Inspirational and Motivational Posts

    Everyone can use regular injections of inspiration and motivation to keep working at their pursuits. You can write about your own experience, relate someone else's motivational methods or create a list of helpful books.

  11. Personal Portrait

    Jasper BlogsShow your readers who you really are. Tell them about a day in your life, your perspective on a particular event or how your dog helps with your blogging. Yes, that is my blogging dog, Jasper. He has his own Facebook page too!

  12. News

    Has something exciting just happened within your industry? Quickly post a brief news article with your readers and link to the article where you first learned of the news.

  13. Events

    There are dozens of blogging, affiliate marketing and Internet marketing conferences throughout the year. I maintain a current post of those events, linked to from my sidebar. What types of events are held within your niche?

  14. Sale, Coupon and Free Stuff Posts

    Help your audience save money on the products and services you promote by letting them know when your affiliated merchants have a sale or a new coupon available. Offering free stuff can be even better than sales and coupons when your merchants know how to convert those customers. For example, Chemistry.com frequently offers ‘free communication weekends' which I post on my dating site. Those free trials often end up in sales.

  15. Hold a Contest

    Contests are an excellent way to engage your current readers and increase your subscriber numbers at the same time. For example, I held the Lightbulb Joke Contest: Win a Copy of “Insider Secrets To Marketing Your Business On The Internet”. By asking readers to respond with a comment on the post, you also enjoy the benefit of additional content which you didn't need to create! When the contest closes, be sure to revise your post accordingly.

  16. Surveys and Polls

    Surveying and polling your readers is both fun and informative. After you've accumulated a respectable amount of data, you can then blog about the results.

  17. Glossary

    A glossary of terms related to your niche is super simple to create. Make sure to include a link to your glossary alongside your FAQ and other essential posts on your blog. This blog has a glossary of Internet Marketing Terms.

  18. Checklist

    Checklists are composed of tasks necessary to reach a goal. On this blog, you'll find the “148-Point Affiliate Marketer / Blogger Checklist“.

  19. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

    If you've been working / blogging in a particular industry for any amount of time, you will know what questions your readers ask most often. Create a list of those questions and answers (a FAQ), add to it when necessary and make sure that a link to that post is included somewhere in your sidebar or footer. I use the (now out-dated) FAQ-Tastic plugin to create the FAQ on this blog, but your FAQ can be a simple Q and A list.

  20. Holiday Greetings and Gratitude

    Holidays are a wonderful time to send greetings and a wonderful opportunity to express how enormously grateful you are to your readers.

  21. Video / Audio

    Almost anything you write about can also be turned into video or audio that can be posted to your blog. Posting videos to YouTube may help drive traffic back to your blog when you include your URL within the video description.

So, what type of blog post will you write next?

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

How often should I post to my blog?

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keyboardFor the first few years after I started writing about Internet and affiliate marketing in 2001, I posted one article and sent out its corresponding newsletter to my email subscribers pretty much faithfully, every Tuesday.

Writing and publishing one article per week was all the time and energy I could devote to this blog, in order to leave time for my affiliate marketing efforts on 101Date.com.

Pushing myself to write more often would have resulted in lower quality content – of which Google does not approve. 🙂

In other words, low quality content results in lost readership which Google notices and then lowers your site's organic search result placement.

Writing weekly worked well for me as my readership / subscriber numbers grew steadily week by week.

Then life got in the way. Family, health and other issues made it impossible for me to write once a week. I've been lucky to be able to generate one worthwhile article per month over the past few years.

The result?

Stagnation.

As defined in by Dictionary.com/, stagnation is:

  1. the state or condition of stagnating, or having stopped, as by ceasing to run or flow:
  2. a foulness or staleness, as one emanating from a standing pool of water.
  3. a failure to develop, progress, or advance:
  4. the state or quality of being or feeling sluggish and dull:

Foul, failure, sluggish… UGH!

So, in 2015, how often should a blogger post articles to their site to achieve growth and happy pats from Google?

That depends on the blogger, their topic and their audience.

If you are motivated and have the time to write great quality content every day, I'd say do it.

Some bloggers choose to write short posts daily. Check out Seth Godin's blog – he gets tweeted over a thousand times every day for his pithy daily posts.

There is a downside to posting every day, however, especially if you've set up your autoresponder account to send out email notifications each time you post. Your readers will either get bored or overwhelmed with information.

Think about the last time you signed up for those “daily ____ tips”. How long did you keep that subscription? Two weeks, a month – 3 months at the outside? Now think about why you cancelled your subscription and apply that logic to your own content creation and delivery plan.

Daily posting may work well for jokes, quotes, inspirational notes and celebrity news, but it won't wash with the a dog training or fly-fishing site readership, who might need some time to digest the information you share.

If you can write good quality content every day, consider placing it in the WordPress queue for delivery every second day, twice a week or even weekly. You will be well-stocked with content for those times when you take a vacation or just need a break from writing.

So, how often do YOU blog and how's that schedule working out for you? Have you tried different posting frequencies?

As for me, I'm returning to my once-per-week-on-a-Tuesday plan… more often if the situation warrants. 🙂

Comments, questions or suggestions? Please leave a comment below!

Cheers,

Ros

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