Blogging is an addiction it makes you start things in a jiffy…sometime ending nowhere..sometime taking you places. Though many believe that content is still the king (been there for quite some time), there are some things that decide your blogs “image” even without the content hmm well…with less content.

Many young bloggers while starting their blogs make this mistake of not placing the basics right. I’m very keen on this point - if these basic points are well in place, provided there is great content (coming up), you can be very sure that you are going to be a super hit.

Now the disagreement with the “Content is King” strategy is that young bloggers are put to shame. They are looked down upon simply because they have a young blog and the number of articles or content is less compared to the big guys. What a pity! Does that mean that young bloggers always remain young while the early birds get to enjoy the “big boy” status?

Well, not really. I am a big believer of the ideology that “new” things are better than old. Keeping the fundamentals in place, I cannot see why a new blog that has wicked content with lesser posts than an established blogger is not superior in any case. To me the new blogger is more promising and can even cut through the old bloggers readership base, provided he has the right tuning done.

So, when you first spot a young blog, what are the things that you look forward to judge whether it is going to be a future “super hit” or not?

• Fresh new perspective
  A fresh new perspective is always refreshing to see. I bet we are tired seeing the same stuff again and again doing rounds on the internet, but we pause at once when we see a new perspective to the same old thing we’ve seen once. It is this element that helps me judge whether a new blog is going to be successful or not.
  
• Unique design
  Everytime I see the usual blogspot template or the naked wordpress blog template, it yells at me “Get out!!”. Hence proved.
• Unique ideas
  Give the age old blogging ideas a break. Try something new, like the cartoon mascot on JohnCow.com. People will get instantly hooked to it.
• Impressive growth rate
  One look at the feedburner count and a second look at the blogs start date (on the archives) will tell you whether this guy is the future promise or not.
• The awe factor
  Overall, when you see a new blog, it should instantly ring the bell, be it the design or the freshness of posts, one should feel “Damn! Why didn’t I think about this earlier?” and that’s when you’ll know that this is a superstar you’re looking at.

There are some great articles around that I found interesting… Sramana writes about the death of Indian outsourcing, which I think is a very honest article on the “outsourcing bubble”..The interesting fact is that though there are disagreements on some ideas, overall it’s a very transparent and “in your face” kind of ideas. Very true and honest.
Here are top rank blogs 5 reasons why corporate blogs fail, a good read although I can’t possibly agree with all the reasons. Lee has his own convictions though.
Ever thought what would happen to SEO’s and Google (the relationship) five years from now? Hell yeah! Slightly shady SEO has some “calculated predictions”.
Is your site social media friendly? Search Engine Land has some suggestions, for ya.
Have you been using Digg? Here are five tips from Manish on being successful on Digg.

What is Blog Outreach?

This might be a lesser talked about article but I’m sure all of us are aware of it, experienced it and involved in it in one way or the other.

Blog outreach is the derived new channel in the New Media, which is the process of targeting and connecting to specified audiences through the medium of bloggers and blogs that are specific authorities to particular categories of a large market.

Well, simply put, a marketer using the power of a blogger to sell his product is basically blog out reach.

For example, a cell phone company using the power of a technology blog like TechCrunch to sell/advertise/get the buzz on it’s new product is a form of blog outreach.

Blog outreach is a much more sophisticated form of media channel these days. Where it would have been an easy guess that a technology review blog would be the best medium to reach out to tech savvy online users, these days more and more products and services are getting online and the necessity for more specified blogging authority channels are required.
Of course technology is the best and most common channel on the internet. And there are more technology/review blogs than anything else.

Problems with the Traditional online marketing.

But think about it when a detergent powder company like Ariel or Surf comes online and wants to make a buzz about it. As the traditional methods suggest, Ariel or Surf can go for banner ads, paid ads on Google and “assume” that they have the visibility covered.

The problems are less obvious and transparent but clear from the results.

- A blind strategy like banner ads can get you traffic but it is necessarily not the best target. If it was all of the should order a packet of detergent powder online. That rarely happens.
- A CPC ad campaign on Google can get you ‘X’ number of visitors for ‘Y’ number of ads shown for ‘Z’ amount of money blown away. But apart from numbers how much value would it bring to you? And if you are in a competitive market, just to make sure you are on the right spot, you’d have to pay more than your competitor even if your budget didn’t allow it.
- The failure in connecting dots
Online marketing is different from other forms of marketing that there is no room for error or you’ll burn your hands. In traditional marketing, if you have the luxury of putting up billboards on the road, where everyone passes by, here in online marketing you can only put up a billboard at places where your audience exists. And that’s a utopian concept.

In blog outreach, you have precise information on who your audience are, what is they behavior and in what number would your product would be sold. This is extremely vital for marketer. In fact, that’s what he needs.

What is the scope of Blog outreach?

Incredible. People are moving more online (almost done isn’t it?) and the scope of delivering content to them is almost humongous. It’s like the cable TV industry. Remember the confusion and excitement that came along when it came first ?

Examples of Blog outreach

There have been numerous examples of blog outreach. You might have been involved in it knowingly or unknowingly like the Proto.in free pass thingy discussed here.
TNX have been buying bloggers to write about them.
Nokia have been gifting bloggers with mobile phones to get the buzz.
Online companies give all sorts of promotional items to bloggers to write about them.

How can bloggers make sure they are a part of the whole phenomena?

- Have a blog
Well, that’s the basic step. Have a blog and write your thoughts there. The world is a platform for everyone today, everyone have their own piece of audience. So start blogging today.

- Be an authority
Whatever you blog, be the best in it or join the league of the best. When someone wants to select you as their partner for selling products, wouldn’t they want you to be the best guy? So be an authority. Only an authority will have a following, and he will be a credible guy.

- Find niches
You can’t be an authority in everything. You can’t be the best in everything. So choose a smaller area, which you are comfortable of. If you are good in reviewing movies be a movie reviewer and if possible find a specification in it as well. This helps to remain focussed.

- Be honest and write for your readers first
Once you have a lot of readers, learn to respect them and write for them rather than for the guy who is paying you to write a review. The internet audience is very sensitive and has a bad temper, so take no chances and don’t fake. Right from the start, be honest in your reviews and attitude. If you fake it, everyone can easily make it out and won’t value you.

Someone who doesn’t want his name published asked me this question -

What are different ways to earn with different type of advertisements for an average blogger, and would like to know what are other sources of income for an average blogger other than advertisements.

Average blogger here means who does not have large amount of traffic coming on his site and also who is not popular.

This sounds very interesting to me. I was wondering why he wouldn’t google down the information. Because there are already thousands of blogs on “making money online”. Well, I did the same and found that all the information on the web is not really helping the “average blogger” as he puts it. An average blogger is someone who doesn’t have loads of traffic and doesn’t enjoy a “guru status”.

So every money making guru us speaking of monetizing using affilate ads, adsense and image ads, but how effective is it on a blog with less than 100 uniques a day? The guys who advice this is probably enjoying a thousand uniques a day and it makes all sense for them to put up a chitika minimall ads or an ebay affiliate ad, but not for an average blogger.

So let’s get down to the facts.

First off, a little clarification on the “money making theory” and the “buy a Ferrari with your website” dreams.

There are two models of monetization models available as I see it. (let me known if you have more.)

Plan A.

Create a website that’s targeted to the search engine traffic.

Plan B.

Create a brand, that will get you popular with the knowledge you share.

Plan C.

Create a combo of both. Brand and search engine traffic.

Plan A - works well and helps you make loads of money if you get the basics right.
It works like this -

Phase 1 (Reaping Traffic)
Do extensive keyword research => Find out the best high paying keywords and the top searched ones related to your niche => Write great articles on them => SE optimize your site that it get’s on top of SERPs for the targeted keyword => Get the traffic

Phase 2 (Content hook)
Once the heavy traffic is around, you got to make sure that it converts in to clicks (money) and page views (retention).
For this a hook is required on the content. Make sure you write more reviews. Make sure that you give less links on the content, so that people get attracted to the ad links. Also, give directive information, not an extensive one like the wikipedia, but one where the information is available, but it will leave the reader looking for more of it.

The idea is that the search engine traffic are predominantly “information seekers”. And they are on the lookout for finding the thing they want from all around the web. And they are the perfect target for you.
- They are likely to click on links.
- They like product/service reviews.
- They like shorter articles.
- All the AdSense gimmicks like above the fold, blending ads etc works on them provided they aren’t ad-blind.

Shortfalls
The problem with this model is that they may not give you “value traffic”, there will be higher bounce rates and less subscriptions. You can curb that by providing “out of the normal” delightful content, and standing out from the rest, like Labnol. But sometimes it’s also possible that if you don’t SE optimize the site, you end up having a website that’s not attractive to the search engines as well as genuine readers.

Plan B
This is a much more relaxed environment where the focus is not on money but content and knowledge sharing. The author or the admin focuses more on delivering quality content and this itself becomes the marketing pitch for the blog. You may not get loads of traffic from the search engines because you are not writing about the gadget that was released yesterday, but you are writing about something you are comfortable with and you have expertise on.

Here, you may not get great CTR on the ads, but the following will be loyal and if you are selling a service or product, it’s easier to sell your services.

Now, having discussed about the two models - Let’s see how a low traffic blog can monetize it.
Honestly speaking, traffic is good. If you can manage traffic somehow, it makes sense for the advertiser to advertise on the blog. But this is not always possible, and you have to go through a phase where you are building traffic, and is not really up there, but still you need some sort of advertising.

1. Subscriptions
Traffic and subscriptions are related but subscriptions are more valuable and appealing than traffic to advertisers. Subscriptions means that there are people following you and they value your ideas. So if they recommend a product/service those many people following you would be trying out the product. So getting a good number of subscribers is a good idea to woo in advertisers.

2. AdSense Ads
AdSense is the friend of everyone. Since they don’t take into consideration your traffic details for approval, anyone can use them. Now the problem is that, if you don’t know how to utilize it, you better not use it. So if you don’t have heavy traffic, you might want to focus on high pay out ads that give more money on lesser clicks and lesser impressions. You will have to find out ads related to those niches, and blog about them. This is totally your call because it might piss off your already existing reader base, so you may want to do it elsewhere, it’s up to you. But they key is to get more money from less traffic.

3. Image Ads
If you are an expert on your niche, then chances are that even if you don’t have heavy traffic, there might be advertisers interested to advertise their product/services on your blog. This is just because whatever little traffic you have, it is loyal, which is attractive to the advertiser. Small ads with the 125×125 pixel do well these days, and they are much sought after too.

4. Product and Service Reviews
If you have a good following and some authority on the topic you are blogging about, there is the option of paid reviews where you can review products and services. It is not good to offer links for paid reviews as Google does not entertain it. But if you can “nofollow” the links and do honest reviews, both your readers and your advertisers will be happy about it and you can make some good money. The basic idea is that you should have some authority in the field, whatever it is.

5. Offer a service
Many people want quick money with no or less efforts and for the same reason this is an often neglected method. But I very much recommend it. Find out what you can do for others like for instance if you are good at writing, write blog posts, if you are good at social networking , try to build a good network that you can sell off. The idea is to find your USP and sell it online through your blog. There are professional guest bloggers, professional Digg specialists and Stumble Upon traffic generators available and they are paid well for doing what they are good at. Think about it.

So essentially, these are the main branches of methods to make money online, there are lot more available but all that makes sense only if you have a decent amount of traffic. Though I believe that there is scope for making money with less traffic, it is suggested that your efforts be to make your blog unique with rich content and unique followers, because if a blog stays without traffic for a long time, I don’t think anyone would be interested in it.

There was this interesting thread on Sitepoint forums, where a travel blog was advertised as for sale. It’s PR 6, so I thought I may buy it and headed to the details. Found that the site is www.richardsturner.com and immediately dropped the idea.

Okay, that was a fast forward of what really happened. Let me unfold the story.

Sitepoint is a great place to buy and sell online properties. If not tried it yet, do have a look. What interests me there is the “Established sites for sale” thread, where lot of great online resources are for sale (I thought I already told you that.)

Now, if you are trying to make money online with AdSense and some SEO work, there is an alternative to your “post daily - earn daily” methodology. Of course, you know that building a great website will take almost 6 months time and that too with good posting frequency and steady traffic. But, if you are after the money part, this is a risk you take. There is no guarantee that the site will do well and your hard work may not pay off, well if it does the world will know you, but yea, just thinking otherwise.

A better alternative is to find a great website, on a niche you are comfortable working with, and buy it with both the hands. Now, that’s smart work ! Well, before you buy, you may have to check a few basic details.

Now, the point here is (regards to the earlier case), the blog was on a good niche - Travel, something that I always wanted to experiment with and also the site had a reputation. PR6 is not too bad, is it?

Well, the prob here are two things.

1 - The site had a personal touch to it.
Richard Sturner, in whose name the site is about, is no longer associated with the blog. Boooooo ! That put me down in the first place. I’m not sure if readers will associate with the brand after the sale or not.

2 - The site had been selling links on TLA.
Boooooooooooo!! So that means your page rank is going to get screwed and you might be taken off the SERPs, and that’s indeed a huge risk.

So essentially, if your site had a personal brand, like your name/photo, on your blog and worse if you had your name as the domain, it’s better you not sell the blog. It makes sense to keep the domain to yourself, but if at all selling the blog, let that not be public. Because, your readers may be sticking to your blog because of your expertise and once it is not there, readers simply don’t see the point in following it.

Taking a look around, (some people completely miss that out, while obsessively getting stuck to watching their own blog time and again) I found some interesting articles from friends around. These guys are worth a read.

• Some addictive habits of bloggers to kick this season - From Daniel.  Cool one !
• Things you got to keep in mind while moving your site - Must read from the Google Team.
• Brett has eight ways to remove negative search results - Good points there.
• Zac has an awesome article on improving your landing page - Must Read
• Wired has a good article on how to fight splogs - Must Must Read
• Why big brands need SEO - Good question, well answered by Lisa Barone

And there were some changes and news in the Social Media space, you might have missed or already knew.

• Digg has a new account on Twitter - Mutual symbiosis?
• Alexa announced it’s new ranks with new algorithm - Check your Alexa stats if you haven’t. There might be a surprise around.
• Now you can import your Digg stories on to Facebook profile page - Don’t ask me why you want to do that.

So it all happened like this.

Heard someone is making lot of money blogging. Impressed.

So, checked out a few blogs. John Chow, Amit Agarwal, Shoemoney….all of them. (Ahha, these dudes are writing basically s***t. I could write better than them.)

However, can’t ignore the fact that they are making money. Shoemoney can’t be lying to the whole world with that cheque image!

Checks out the blog, the contents and a few posts. Hmm impressive!

But now, what’s the big deal? I can do what Amit is doing. I can write better than John Chow.

Searches for free blogging platforms. Okay Blogger seems to be cool and with the Google support, let me not look further.

Starts up with a brand new blog. Selects a damn good template.

Writes the first post. Sends out email to friends and guys on IM.

All of them say - “Wow! You have a blog? Cool.”

Tries out posting another post. Sends out email to friends. Same reaction.

Repeats the above last point quite a few times, there is no difference apart from the fact that some of the guys on IM have started to avoid you by not responding.

No traffic. No attention. Demotivated.

Now, this my friend, is a typical bloggers story who sets out to conquer the world in 1 or 2 days. He sadly ends up in despair getting no attention to his blog because he hadn’t done the homework and hadn’t adopted a process.

A strategy and a process is essential in getting you to your target. Haste, shortcuts and smart work will only help you in the short time and will take you away from your target.

As I see it, a major problem with all the budding bloggers is that they are reluctant to adapt to a process or a strategy. This is a fatal mistake.
Dreaming big is cool. But to get there, you need to take calculated risks and adopt a strategy.

John Chows’ strategy is to show himself as a wicked guy. He is comfortable doing that probably. But he is successful in branding him as a smart, clever wicked guy (in the right meaning) who mints money doing clever tricks and short cuts. He probably knew that a large part of the internet actually will identify themselves to it.

Since the guy came in at a later stage to blogging, when there was already Brian Clarks and Darren Rowses reigning as probloggers, John was right in branding him as the clever guy in the bunch.

The point here is that John himself had a strategy. He probably knew that he’s going to be penalized by Google once he asks everyone to link to him. But he went boldly advertising the competition getting the maximum backlinks. But on the other side he also made sure that he’s getting a lot of attention as the clever marketeer.

Had John thrown an image of an angry guy or a pissed off guy to Google, he wouldn’t have had the fan following as much as he enjoys now.

So essentially, the point is -  we all need to device a strategy unique to us. That will helpn us brand ourself as a unique blog, as a unique service, as a unique product as such. And work towards it with a set time frame in mind. Popularity and fame does not come in a days time, it takes more time and effort, but once it’s come to you, it’ll stick around.

Coming back to the article. Why aren’t you getting the attention that you needed ?

It’s because you haven’t created

- a unique blog,
- unique content
- and doesn’t have a brand of it’s own.

It takes time to achieve all the three. There are exceptions when some blogs have excelled well in either one of the categories, but I’d suggest that you use all the three points in positioning yourself as a blogger and over the period of time, people will find the value in you and give you the attention that you deserve.

Like someone once said - “Attention is gifted not bought.”

(Okay, I cooked that up)

Here’s a nice email forward I received today which clearly “suggests” how funny Google can be at times.

Hey, last week orkut made a small yet significant change. Orkut now allows to search and add your friends from outside the Google circle. Like AOL, Hotmail and Yahoo ! After all, it has probably discovered that all your “old  school buddies” are on other networks, while Gmail was not there. Good thought there.

SEO guru Eric explains to you how you can win over social media websites using authoritative content, and why  funny images does not bring any value to your business.

Recently, Google was spotted showing sitelinks for many websites.Erick Daffron reports that Google even lists the URL’s blocked by robots.txt in it’s sitelinks. lol

Read write Web has a nice interview with Mark Zuckerberg - I like this guy somehow!

Anthony (The OldschoolSEO guy) has posted some interesting Stumble Upon commandments at his blog. It’s worth a read and probably a stumble !

Donna has got a nice little link building tip for you over here. See if it will work for you.

Some geeks in Kerala, and around Technopark, have been thinking about this for quite some time now, and they have come to a conclusion.

The Blogcamp Kerala is suggested to be in June 2008, and things are going to be bigger than ever.

While the team is not teling us anything more than that there’s surprise around the corner, I’m assuming that’s going to be sweet. There have been invitations and replies flying off from outside the country even. Hmm…sounds really big! And I also hear that talks are out with Kerala Tourism guys for a major sponsorship.

Check out the buzz and the participants here, here, here and here.

I think I’ll make it this time around.

And, I coudn’t resist designing these posters.

Photo credits - Charles Haynes,blackfin2,Martinthomas1