I know of three things you should pay attention to this week. Check them out in my video and get involved and engaging.

Your Turn.

Do you know of anything this week, or in the coming weeks we should pay attention to?

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One of the hottest topics out there right now is the Go Green niche. In an effort to find ways to help save the planet, people all over are working hard to do their part. And for some, that entails creating blogs around this niche market. What’s more is that it’s a pretty descent money maker too. The thing to remember is that it’s also fairly competitive so finding a sub-topic or two to focus on might be a good idea.

The easiest way to get started in the Go Green niche market is to ask yourself what you’d like to see done in this world. From there, it’s a matter of doing a little research. There are a lot of ways we can all go green and each one can be turned into a topic on its own. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Recycling and Upcycling
Most people will understand the concept of recycling, but many will wonder what upcycling is all about. It’s a new hot trend happening in the interior design world and it’s helping to keep a lot of reusable items out of our landfills. Upcycling is simply taking something old and turning it into something new. For example, you find an old lamp at a garage sale but it’s broke. However, it would make a gorgeous wall accent in your bedroom. You do a few minor adjustments and voila, you’ve just upcycled that lamp into something new. Television shows such as American Pickers and Picker Sisters are bringing this idea to the forefront of the Go Green movement and it could potentially be a huge money maker in blog form.

Alternative Energies
This one’s kind of a “duh” category, but it could be a huge niche field. This isn’t just an American ideal, it’s a worldwide need. And when we come up with new ideas on how to conserve engery and find new methods of keeping ourselves going, we’ve helped do our part to save the world. And by blogging about those ideas, we’re not only getting in on a hot topic, we’re working toward being part of the solution.

Conservation Techniques
Conservation is a huge issue for the Go Green niche. Yet most people think about this in terms of conserving energy, conserving oil deposits, or conserving our wetlands. Go a different route here and think smaller. I know we’re supposed to think big, but this might be one of those times to tone it down a bit. How can we conserve around the home? The office? At school? What can we conserve to do our part without having to think in such enormous terms? Scale it down and think of the individual person rather than the entire community.

Natural Alternatives
We’ve become a society that thrives on chemicals and man-made everything. One of the big things in the Go Green niche is finding natural alternatives to our daily needs. For instance, using natural remedies for minor ailments instead of popping a bunch of pills. Or canning our own foods instead of spending a ton of money on pre-canned items. Making our own baby food, making our own soaps and candles. Creating a niche around becoming more self-sufficient and implementing natural alternatives into our daily lives will bring in a wide range of people, including the mommy bloggers, naturalists, herbalists, and people who want to get back to the simpler side of life.

The Go Green niche is a very hot topic these days and it’s only going to get better. And by getting into this as a niche, it’s a two-fold situation. Not only will you be able to work it into a profitable niche market, you’ll be doing your part to save our planet.

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If you caught my post last week with an announcement that my business focus has shifted, you’d have caught that I am now a full time blogger and internet marketer (even if I’ve been somewhat forced into it).

I have been looking at my bio box and how I have designed it to do a couple things:

• Let people reading the blog I’m guest posting on know exactly who my target market is.
• A link to my targeted keyword through an anchor text.
• A link to my free ebook to build my email list.

That is the extent of fair linking in a guest post bio box without overstaying your welcome. However, at this point in my online business I am faced with having to start generating a little more income online than what I have been able to generate so far. So, having looked at my options I started putting to work a couple more blogs, a membership site and a small income project that could reap BIG monetary rewards.

As many online marketers may know, designing a product, crafting a blinding page with good copy and setting up the payment system is only 10% of the total plan. The biggest part of your income plan is driving traffic to whatever you are promoting. My new project is a blogging related project, so aside from pushing $500 into advertising it, there are some other free promotion tools I know of that I’ll be utilizing. They are:

• Commenting.
• Forum posting.
• Guest posting.
• A social media promotion campaign.

Please add your promotion ideas below, I’d LOVE to hear all of them. Getting a little bit more on topic I’d like to focus on guest posting. I’ve been guest posting everywhere promoting my self publishing blog. With my new product having nothing to do with it, I have to change my bio box info on some of the blogs I’ll be guest posting on so it drives traffic to my new projects.

So from now on I am going to split my comment promotion and guest posting efforts so that I drive traffic to different projects on different blogs.

So on one blog where I target people that want to self publish, my bio box would read:

Ivin Viljoen wrote his first book in 3 days and publishing it in 2 weeks. He has been blogging since 2006 and launched his self publishing blog in 2010 helping a blogger to become an expert. Get your free copy of his Self Publishing Revealed ebook on his blog and sign up for his blog feed

Then, to promote my new project, another bio would read:

Ivin Viljoen is an expert blogger promoting his blog to the top of his niche in less than 10 months. He is passionate about helping other individuals get started blogging and want to give you 3 free videos to help you set up your own. He also has a Dojo helping bloggers become more seasoned.

‘Expert blogger’ would link to my main blog, ’3 free videos’ would point to a free video site and Dojo to a project that won’t be done for a month or two.

Your Turn.

Are any of using this method of having multiple bio boxes on different blogs when guest posting and is it at all effective?

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Conducting blogger interviews is an excellent way to promote your blog and bring in more traffic.

Recently I have been doing a lot interviews and from both sides of the coin, and I can tell you first-hand, that they are a win-win situation for everyone involved, including your readers.

You both get exposed to each others audience of readers and your audience of readers, gets to know more about you and make a personal connection.

Before you begin, here are a few points to consider.

Interviewing other bloggers:

First, decide what format the interview will take. Here are your choices:

Written interview

Of course this is the most basic style of interview. You can send the questions to your guest via email and give them a deadline for when you expect to have the responses

Audio interview

Arrange a time to conduct the interview and use Skype or a site like BlogTalkRadio with a  smart phone or traditional land line to place the call. You can also send the interviewee the questions ahead of time so they can prepare

Video interview

Video interviews require a higher level of expertise on your part and special recording software. Once again, you can use Skype for this but you need a plugin if you want both you and your subject to appear on screen. You can also consider using the Google + Hangouts feature to create your video interview recording

Being Interviewed by others:

When the time comes, you might be asked to give a interview. This request might come from one of your friends or from someone who has heard about your achievements. It might even come from a reporter (imagine that) In that case you want to be prepared so that you can respond intelligently and try not to appear nervous.

Check out these suggestions:

1. Obtain a list of the questions or topics ahead of time
2. Add the interviewer to your list of contacts on Skype, Twitter, Google + and other networks
3. Make a few notes of key points and people that you want to mention
4. Keep your voice even, and remember to be natural
5. Be sure to smile – so that your voice sounds energetic and upbeat

Consider incorporating blogger interviews into your regular routine or as often as you can. Hook up with your friends or people you feel comfortable with and practice ahead of time. That way, you can ease into the flow of responding to questions on the fly. Who knows, you might end up being interviewed here at Blog Engage one day!

Let’s hear from you! What do you think about blogger interviews? Will you give them a try?

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You have a great winning idea for a new blog, you’re an ace writer, and just to make things even easier for you, you have the graphic design experience to make your new blog look as good as a Spielburg movie. So what’s with the lack of traffic?

Just because you have a blog, that doesn’t automatically mean that people will be flocking to your new domain to read your mind blowing content. Building an audience takes time, and the blogosphere can be a rough place, especially if you’re a newbie; but don’t fret! Here are some tips that will help you boost the traffic on your blog, whether it’s a few years or a few weeks old.

Leave Comments On Like Minded Blogs

While we would all like to think that we are the only person on the planet who had the brilliant idea to start a blog focused on ______, unfortunately that isn’t the case. Odds are, there are a few blogs out there that are somewhat close in subject to yours and this is something that you can use to your advantage. Visit these blogs and become an active member of their comments section. It’s not polite to blatantly advertise your blog on someone else’s comment board but, leaving a link to your site after a well written clever comment never ruffled anyone’s feathers. Get your name out there the right way.

Article Directories

Post relevant articles to an article directory and (again), be sure to link back to your blog.  This is a great way to increase back links to your site as well as up your Google ranking.  The best part about having your work included in an article directory is that your article continues to work for you long after it has left the front page in your blog for the archives.

Keep A Schedule

One of the main reasons readers abandon a blog is lack of frequency when it comes to new posts. Readers today want their information fast and often, and if you can’t keep up with the demand, your blog will find it difficult to maintain it’s current readers, and even more difficult to attract new ones.

Design

A poorly designed blog is a major turn off for most readers. Why would someone stay to read your latest blog post if your blog is over run by obnoxious pictures and difficult to see text? Make sure that your blog is designed well, easy to read, and easy to navigate. A menu bar that lets your reader move backwards, forwards, and to the home screen, should be easily accessible on every page.

Guest Posting

Guest posting is a great way to direct new traffic to your site, especially if your blog is the new kid on the block. Like I mentioned before, there are sure to be some sites that cover similar material to yours out there somewhere. Take some time to familiarize yourself with these blogs, and once you know the lay of the land, write the author and ask if they would mind if you wrote them a guest post. Or better yet, write the guest post and then send it to them with the request. This will show them that you mean business and, if the post is worth it’s salt, they will have no reason not to publish it. Don’t forget to offer them a chance to post on your site as well.

Respond To Comments

Readers respond very well to blogs where the author takes an active role in the comments section. It lets your audience know that you support conversation, debate and community among your readers. Make sure to visit your comments section regularly, if for no other reason than to thank your audience for taking the time to read your posts.

Driving traffic to your blog isn’t difficult. All you need is respect for your audience, a sense of community (not just your own) and patience. Good luck and keep blogging.

Developing our blog takes time and dedication. Understanding how to grow an online relationship is a unique and interesting task. When we initially meet a new blogger, like in real life we’re automatically being judged.

Instead of it being our physical appearance and our attire it’s the look and feel of our blog and public profile. Joining Blog Engage will allow you to develop your brand and increase your blog traffic. Our community will get you prepared for a successful online blog marketing campaign.

Blog Engage is the foundation to your online blog marketing strategy. Don’t start alone like I did! Join the Blog Engage community, start meeting new bloggers. Once your relationships on Blog Engage start growing move to other networks searching out the same network of friends.

Once you start this method of marketing you will continue to branch out and reach more people. Assuming you have a good blog with great content you can almost guarantee success. Remember blog engage is the “Key” to this online marketing success!

Join a Blog Engage group and share niche specific topics with the members of those groups. Add them as friends and get to know them and what they like reading. Visit their blog and make sure to connect on Facebook and Twitter. Remember to build your network connections at all time.

Engage with our members and earn points. Set your goal on becoming a Top User! Your image is displayed in the sidebar linking to your profile along with the top results on the Top Users page.

Join Blog Engage today!

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Thanks,

Brian

Official June 2011 Monthly Guest Blogging Contest Post #13
Contest Article

We have a lot of social networks such as Facebook, Friendster, myspace, Twitter, and many more that we have heard about and we can connect with old friends as well as find new friends. But what about the social network for bloggers? Here are a few that I know of: Blog Engage, Technorati, Bloggers.com, Bloggeries.com, etc. What do these websites do? For all you bloggers, you probably already know that these websites is where you can submit your blog and post your blog articles, have them voted for and so on depending on what features the website have. Besides that, by joining these websites, I can say that it is one of the easiest ways to promote your blog to increase traffic and also to build your social network with other bloggers, be it successful bloggers or those bloggers who are new to the blogging world.

Yes, I do believe that bloggers (especially new bloggers like myself) can learn a lot from older successful bloggers. But I seem to have one problem about joining the social networks for bloggers. You see, I have joined a couple of websites such as Blog Engage, Technorati and Bloggers.com and maybe a few more awhile ago. The problem is, I can’t seem to keep up with all of them. Currently, I find myself attached to Blog Engage (may be because it seems so addictive to me). I ‘visit’ Technorati and the other websites once in awhile.

As for me, I get ‘engaged’ in Blog Engage and read articles, vote, etc and that is how I spend my time on the internet other than updating my own blog, Facebooking, checking my mail and just browsing through the net. By the time I need to go offline, I realize that I did not check on other social networks for bloggers. And if I think that I’ll check them out the next day, here’s what I’ll do: The next day, I’ll go to the websites which I went the previous day and check for updates. Along the way, if I find links that interests me, I’ll view the link, get carried away and at the end of the day, the same thing happens as I realize that I haven’t visited the sites which I was supposed to for the day.

So people, my question is, especially for those of you who have been blogging for quite awhile now, I would just like to know how it is for you keeping up and updating yourself with the few bloggers’ social network which you have joined? I do believe that active bloggers join more than one social network. I find it quite difficult for me as each and every website on the internet, be it a social network for bloggers or not, have their own specialty and for some websites you have many links to explore!

So, I’ll leave the topic there for now. Now, it is your turn. What do you have to say about this?



Last week I started a short series of learning from other bloggers. I think it’s a great way for many of us to see what makes or breaks a blogger. As you know many of our blogging members all have similar behaviors that lead them towards blogging success.

The three bloggers in today’s article are very well known and have developed an amazing online brand reputation for quality content, social media marketing and more. My hopes is to introduce you to them and for you to follow them as they continue to grow their blogs. learn from what they do and practice it on your own blog.

The first blogger I want to talk about is Justin aka The Dragon Blogger. Justin has been a member of the Blog Engage community for almost three years. He’s is the perfect example of how to build a strong online brand using the Blog Engage community. One of the most important aspects to know about Justin is his dedication to his blog and readers. You can look at any comment thread on Justin’s blog and he is always providing quality feedback and support to anyone that leaves a question.

The next blogger I want to talk about is Wong from The Bad Blogger. Wong has also been a member of the Blog Engage communtiy for some time, September of 2009. Wong fully understands what’s needed to build online relationships and a strong brand. If you have been following Wong you may have noticed has integrates sex as an element into his posts. This is either done with a picture of a woman or something along these lines. Wong ensures us it does in fact increase traffic and overall engagement on his blog. Sex sells baby!

Our next blogger is by far the newest to Blog Engage out of all mentioned in our article. Andrew has been a great addition into our community. His experience online with social media marketing has proven time and time again to benefit everyone reading the engage blog. Andrew has many writers on his blog always keeping the content fresh and interesting. If your wanting to learn more about marketing online, content marketing then definitely take a few moments of your day and visit his blog.

I hope you enjoyed the article! Make sure to check out these bloggers and learn from their marketing activities! Engage with them and build online relationships. If you have any feedback or questions I’m always here to talk about it so leave a comment!

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Be sure to add me as a friend, bbrian017

Twitter, bbrian017

Thanks,

Brian