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Blogging Series Vol. 13 – How to improve traffic on the blog?

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So, if you follow me on the blog’s facebook page, you would have seen a particular status update. Actually what it was about was something on these lines.
Just day before yesterday, I was talking to my colleague. He was asking my opinion on a launcher or landing page he had created for his sister’s upcoming food blog. And, we got talking about blogging. Suddenly he asks me if I blog and without thinking I give him an affirmative answer. Well, if you are not already aware, no one in my close friend or family circle knows about my hidden hobbies. So, he was obviously interested in the domain name and what I blog about when my self-preservation instinct took over and I kept my lips sealed.
But, then the topic moved to hosting of the blogs and everything when I told him it is too expensive actually to host the blog instead of using blogspot where you get away by paying 10$ a year. Well, actually, let me say that this is not necessarily true but we will debate over this in some other post coz its highly technical. But, the whole point he said was the entire costing depends on how much traffic the blog gets. I was like yeah that’s true! And, then, he asked me about this blog’s traffic. I was like its 5k right now but generally its 8k a day. And, he was like wow! that’s awesome. It must have taken a lot of work and many years. I was like yup. It did. 3 years almost and then I realize its gonna be 4 this December. So, yup, we have definitely hit a good threshold and its all thanks to all my lovely readers who make me blog.
Now, coming back to today’s blogging topic, how to get traffic and what are the principles. Actually, the blog hit a major snag this Independence Day weekend. The traffic had a spike drop from 8 to 5k a day and its not raising up even though I am doing all what I have been doing. Well, we can always say that it might have been excess of spam visits in such a case but whatever it be, it is quite disheartening. So, to avoid such downward spikes in the blog, you can do your own bit.

Write the Content in advance
This has to be the only principle of blogging if life was easy but unfortunately its not! But, still, its the 90% stakeholder. So, write and write and write and don’t copy or plagiarize or steal. Create! The content might deliver the same message but give it your own voice. Tweak it to your style. But, whatever you do, make it your own.
Blogging remains exciting in the starting but after a while it can become monotonous so try out some different ways or diversify your blog enough that you do not go out of your niche or specialization but it keeps you excited enough to keep writing. And, I have also mentioned some of the ways to overcome Blogger’s block sometime back. Keep a chunk of posts in the drafts which you can publish or schedule when you don’t feel like blogging.  
Post regularly
Most of the bloggers are part-time! So, I would say daily but twice a week or thrice a week. Whatever you do but you should time your posts properly so that your readers get what they expect and a proper posting schedule gets registered with the search engines as well.
Of course, posting daily does keep the blog updated so it ranks higher in the searches. That is why you would find multiple posts on professionally managed blogs or community blogs. But, for a personal blog, it can be a bit ambitious to achieve. So, set targets which you can plausibly reach.

Here I would like to add that howsoever much you might try, sometimes its just not possible to put up the posts on a timely basis so expect a traffic crunch at that time. Do not be disheartened and keep trying. Also, scheduling of the posts works really well in such cases.
Spreading a Word
Publicizing your blog is obviously important. Use social platforms like facebook, google+, twitter to give regular updates. More your content is exposed, more traffic it gets. Now, this is something I totally suck at. I have hardly tried to publicize my blog and whatever meager efforts I have put have definitely borne results.
I have recently started posting status messages on the blog’s facebook page. But, let me also say that posting on blog’s facebook page is more to interact with your readers than to publicize the blog but that has also worked in my case. If you are using twitter or facebook groups, it then becomes a way to promote the blog to other audiences who do not know about your blog.
One of the simplest way to reach out is to comment on other blogs. But, always remember to leave a meaningful comment. No one likes to read great blog or this is amazing, follow me back! Create a relationship with the blogger. And, yes, it does take a long time so don’t be impatient.
So, I would again say that content is the key and it does take a bit of time to get faithful readers to the blog. And, stop comparing your blog to other blogs because they might be doing something which you are not and reaping those benefits. But, at the end of day, every blogger works hard whether it looks like it or not. 
What do you say? How do you improve your blogs traffic and statistics? 
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Blogging Series Vol. 12 – My Story of Blog Monetization!

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Blogging Series and Tips at Perfect Skin Care for you

So, two days back I get a mail from Roshni asking me how did I go about monetizing the blog. Ohk, so a long story short, content is the king whenever it comes to anything with blogging!! Now, let me start with my story.

Adsense and Infolinks
I had applied for adsense (January 2010) right when I had started blogging (December 2009). Yes, I was ignorant that the blog needed to be 6 months old and few other restrictions when it came to adsense approval of blogs from India. So, obviously, they refused.
Then, infolinks came my way and it was easy to get accepted so there it was. I had started earning money right from the start of blogging. But, don’t be buoyed, it was a measly 1$ per month or something like that and it took almost a year and half (June 2011 to be precise and I had integrated it in January 2010) to reach the threshold of 50$. But, fortunately, all time I did not falter and was very regular with blogging and slowly the traffic got better.
Adsense and Chitika
In the mean time, I had again tried for adsense after making sure that all the clauses were fulfilled. My blog was 6 months old and I had almost 400-500 posts up and had a decent traffic. Again I was rejected 🙁
So, I signed up with chitika. It wasn’t really a great earner so I removed it quite soon. 
Finally Adsense!
And, suddenly in the start of January 2012, adsense accepted me just like that. The year had started on a good note. And, adsense is quite a good source for earning money according to me except the getting accepted business.
I have to mention that first year has been quite up and down in terms of money but it was decent.  
Private Advertising Networks
And, in this year, I have been contacted by private advertising networks which are also turning out profitable. In fact, they quite compliment the adsense income. I would not mention them because I am not really sure how their application and acceptance standards are.
Final Thoughts…
After so much struggle, I have understood one thing. Ultimately, it is the content which drives traffic which drives advertisers which brings money. Also, another thing I have learned is more content you publish is directly proportional to money you earn. 
This post is just about how I tried to monetize my blog. I shall in some weeks write about how to monetize your blog, some of its basic principles and other networks and ways to monetize but one thing you already know – content is the king!! And, patience the key. 
What other advertising networks do you think are great to earn money? Do you know of any which are better than the ones I have mentioned, not that I have mentioned many?
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Blogging Series Vol. 11 – Setting goals for the blog!

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So, I was just looking around in my draft for some unfinished post which I might be interested to get over with and of course some inspiration! And, I came across a set of notes in which I had set some goals for my blog.
Well, as you can imagine, I had very conveniently forgotten about it! But, when I just looked through some of the things I had set for myself, I quickly summarized that some of those goals have been realized long back which obviously is making me a lot happy and that is also why I am sitting in my office and typing away this post!
For any endeavor to succeed, you need to set realistic and just-beyond-the-reach goals. Aim for the moon by all means but the path to success is always defined by the smaller steps you take, right? So, same goes with blogging!
Reach of the Blog
May be you would like to see some new set of people gracing your blog so set such goals. Check out what is the current readership and increase a 30-50% margin and keep it as a next milestone to be reached with in the next 3-6 months depending on how much time you spend on the blog.

Money Earned
For many, motivation for blogging can quickly change to the bucks they see. Well, that is perfectly fine as long as you are true to your readers and catering to them! So, you might decide that since you have been consistently earning X amount, the next milestone should be Y within a T amount of time!

These are the two areas where I can think I would like to set goals but if you have some others, by all means go ahead. Also, always remember that the first and probably the only priority should be readers and you. Money and all the fame would automatically follow! Yeah, there is one milestone which you can probably set!
Amount of posts you would be doing every week.
Most of the bloggers are part-time and then one goes on vacations and sometimes life is just a roller-coaster ride because of which you hardly have time to tend to your blog. So, may be, leaving all exceptional circumstances, setting a minimum number of posts per week would be a great idea so that you at least have a set routine and your readers know what to expect when!
Also, a few other goals which you might like to set if you are too interested are to write a few guest posts or articles on hubpages or wikihow or ehow or any other such reliable forums and communities which might give visibility to your blog and improve your exposure.
These are my tips! What do you think? Should goals be set for blogging or it destroys the pleasure of the task and makes it more mundane and competitive?
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Blogging Series Vol. 9 – Reviving Old Posts!

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If you have been blogging for a year or more, you would realize that any old post is a bane for the blogger. If one has blogged about a trending topic, it is no longer in vogue. If one has talked about some beauty tip, one would like to make sure it reaches every new reader who joins the blog. And, so on. So, how does one make sure that all those previous posts receive equal viewership as well?
Granted that some of your old posts would be a legend and come what may, the traffic to those posts would always remain unbeatable. You would love to see those numbers for your current posts as well but somehow that never happens. That may be simply due to the fact that you have inadvertently placed great many number of keywords in those posts!
If you think I am speaking latin and greek, please excuse me. In laymen terms, once you have written and published the post, your responsibility with the old post is not over. You should consistently modify it and update it so that it is fresh and consistent with your current blog layout.

You must have already noticed my two previous posts, they were the long forgotten ones lying in the archives! In fact, they were the first two posts when I had started blogging. I had been thinking since quite long that I should bring out those posts again but could not find out the best way to do so. It was then I came across the simple tip of republishing the blog posts by changing the time stamp.
This ensures that your old post has been published as new without changing the URL of the post so that any backlinks to the post are not lost! Also, this ensures your readers get to read the things which they might have missed out on or have not come across since they have joined the blog!
But, doing this has one major disadvantage. Your blog layout and blog language might not remain same. If the post which you would republish is very old, like in my case, the language and the structure of the post would be very very different. At that point of time, you have two action items. Either rewrite the entire post, update it or create a new one. Or, edit the post with your current thoughts about it and publish it as it was. And, any changes you might have regarding the post, create a new one and give a backlink to the other post.
This way you would have created new content for your blog and the inter-linking among the blog posts helps boost the page rank. Ok, I have to say this that reviving the old posts might not be the best thing in the world. Why? You might actually get bored editing it or you would be shocked by how raw you were in your hey day!
What do you think? Does republishing your old blog posts really help?
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Blogging Series Vol. 8 – Read and Reread the Posts!

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This is one of the most important tips when you are blogging. This is something I used to not really focus on earlier because I think there was no preview option when I started blogging or may be I was too lazy. 
But now that I have that option, I always keep on checking how the final post looks and accordingly I can make the adjustments to the pics sizes and correct any spelling and grammatical mistakes which always occur.

Keeping a check on how the final product looks shows that you are more serious about blogging. And, good language is very very essential. Otherwise, it can be a huge turnoff for people. No one likes excessive grammatical or spelling mistakes. One or two per post is forgivable but if it keeps on occurring in every paragraph, while focus of the reader goes to the next mistake instead of what you are trying to convey.

Also, one of the key tips while writing is to be as precise and short as possible. Try to keep the posts short to 300 to 500 words and wrap up everything in that. If it goes beyond that, turn it into another post. Keep the language simple and easy to understand. 
And, keep using the preview option till you are satisfied with the final look of your post. Yes, it takes time but it is satisfying when you see the results! Also, when you reread your post, the ideas start flowing and the shape of your entire post changes as it did with me for this particular post!!
Do you read your posts again and again till you are satisfied with it?
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Blogger Series Vol. 7 – Should you give feedback to your blogger?

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This is not for the bloggers but for the readers! So, you all have your favorite blogs and not so favorite blogs. No assumptions over there. But, no blog is perfect. Sometimes, you might have some readability issues or slow loading issues or some other issues with any blog. 

Now, many of the readers don’t even bother to give any feedback. If they like a blog, they continue reading and if they do not, they can just move on! Well, that sounds very practical. But, what if your favorite blogger has some real issues with her/his blog?

These issues can be technical in nature or may be in her/his writing skills or in pictorial representations on the post or may be a lack of detail in the post. The issues can range far beyond what I have stated. So, have you ever thought that by letting the blogger know about your issues, you might help her improve the blog?

Your feedback is extremely important to any kind of blog – big or small. As a reader, you would be doing a favor to the blogger. Now, how the blogger reacts to your feedback is something which lies in their jurisdiction. So, do not take it personally if they do not respond back or do nothing!
Many readers or rather I would say it is a problem in real life that we never think of reporting the problem. We just love to sit back and crib. So, take some action. Go ahead and report your issues. But, yeah, one more thing is do the thing gently and diplomatically because some times your wording may sound very rude, whether you want to or not. 
And, whatever the blog, if it is made for the readers, they would DEFTINITELY listen to you! So, do not be skeptical. Aah..let me also add that please, PLEASE do not expect the answer immediately. Very few bloggers are full time and they might also not get time to reply to your suggestions or in general any query immediately. Please give me them time and if they do not, it is quite possible that they have missed your message as much as is possible that they have ignored your message!
So, how many times have you helped your favorite blogger improve her blog?
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Blogging Series Vol. 6 – How to design the layout of the blog?
Blogging Series Vol. 5 – How to time the posts?
Blogging Series Vol. 4 – How am I able to try out so many products and its affects on my skin?

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Blogging Series Vol. 6 – How to design the layout of the blog?

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So, layout is something which you would have seen a lot of changes in if you have been reading this blog since quite long. And, I am quite proud to say that I am happy with the current layout. 

I have definitely received many comments saying it is not girlish enough or its too bland and not colorful or some other things. So, let me acquaint you with the first rule of design.

Some Pointers
white background, preferably!
minimal elements
ad placements should be not very obvious
font size should be decent (18 is the new 12)

It is good to have a really intricate design but when it comes to blogs, there are varied kinds of people, who would be reading it, with various tastes. And, it is not easy to make everyone happy. But, the least you can do is come up with a design which would be easy on everyone’s eyes. 

Readers are fickle. Trust me! If they would not find your blog easy to read, they would happily go to someone else’s. So, try to keep the design layout of your blog as simple as possible with minimal elements. 
Also, there is an issue of page loading and page speed which contributes to the user interaction in a major way. If your blog takes forever to load, people would be tired of waiting and not open it again!
If you keep a lot of widgets and gadgets on your blog which might be fun but take hell of a time to load, it can make anyone testy. So, try to keep the elements in your blog simple and as less as possible. 
And, also, the design or layout of any blog is not perfect. You can only try your best. There can be thousands of things which can do with bit of improvement. So, always be patient with your blog and learn to play around. And, always remember, things always evolve over time and so will your blog. You wouldn’t get it right the first time!!
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