This is a guest post by Frank Angelone.

It’s funny when you think about, why did you start blogging?  Well, like most people it’s because you love writing.  Although, as you write more and read other blogs and see that other people make money doing it.  At some point you ask yourself, “can I do this too?”  Yes, you can!  Although, it’s really funny the kind of cycle blogging has become.  Most people forget that blogging started because you love to do it and it turned into a career.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s really funny though if you take a step back and realize that there are a good amount of people making a career out of blogging.

This is something though that takes a long time to establish because you need to build your viewers that read your posts.  The important thing to remember is even if you don’t have a lot of viewers, you shouldn’t stop blogging.  If you are blogging just for the money, you are doing it for the wrong reason.  If you come into money from blogging, that’s a bonus.  I have always loved this quote from the movie Rush Hour, “Greed will imprison us all.” Could that be any more to the point?  I think it’s a perfect quote.  If you blog and all you see is dollar signs, then the content you publish on your blog isn’t going to be effective.

Why you may ask?  Well it’s pretty simple.  You are concentrating more on money than the content you are providing for your niche market.  To eventually start making money blogging, you need to focus on publishing solid content and finding ways to network with fellow bloggers.  Also, using the many tools to get your blog out there on the internet wouldn’t hurt either. These are perfect examples for internet marketing and the effective work of an entrepreneur.

Keep in mind, blogging was meant to be fun and a way to get your ideas out there.   It’s a way to relieve stress.  Don’t look at blogging as a money maker because you should be enjoying it.  If you make money blogging, well than that’s what we call an entrepreneur!  I don’t have a ton of followers on my blog at http://socialtechzone.com but that’s not the point.  I blog because it relaxes me and if I come into money doing it than I have the best of both worlds.  If not, I will still blog because it’s a passion of mine.  Keep this all in mind the next time you see dollar signs!

These are 10 useful plugins I personally use that I feel are being overlooked by others:

1. Insights – Powerful new way to write blog posts by integrating with real-time functions such as Flickr, Youtube, Wikipedia, Search Google, Search Google Images, Blog Search, Google Maps etc. It does all this using dynamic AJAX interface which loads the relevant information to your post in just a few seconds.
2. About Me Widget – An easy-to-use text widget that allows you to add an “About Me” to your sidebar.
3. Theme Tester – Allows you to test out a new theme while showing the old theme to regular visitors (so you don’t have to worry about your visitors seeing odd things happen on the blog while you’re testing with the layouts etc)
4. Blog Metrics – If you’re a stat junkie like me, this is the perfect plugin that allows you to monitor metrics such as average number of posts per month, words per post, comments per post without your own comments, trackbacks per post, words used in comments to post etc
5. GoCodes – Awesome plugin that not only shortens domain names but also tracks the number of clicks. Great for cloaking those long ugly affiliate links as well as reinforcing your brand. All done from the comfort of your Wordpress Admin Panel.
6. Comment Redirect – First impressions are important. This plugin identifies first-time commentors and redirect just those people to a specific page of your choosing (e.g. a page asking them to subscribe to your RSS feed and newsletter)
7. Minimum Comment Length - If you’re tired of those 2 word comments like “great article” or “thank you” then this is the plugin. If people then leave a comment of less than 15 characters, WordPress dies on them with the message “Error: Your comment is too short. Please try to say something useful.”, or whatever other message you decided to give to them.
8. TDO Mini Forms - A highly customizable form that allows non-registered users to submit guest posts. These are automatically turned into a draft and an admin can publish them.
9. Lightbox 2 - Used to overlay images on the current page and features auto-lightboxing of image links.
10. Yoast Breadcrumbs – This plugin allows you to add breadcrumbs to your theme. Great for membership sites and blogs with lots of categories.

UPDATE – 11. MaxBlogPress Optin Form Adder (thanks to Carl for mentioning this – awesome plugin) - Insert option form for your newsletter (e.g. GetResponse, Aweber) just by going through an easy 4-step wizard. Right now, it’s just 100% coding so this is going to make it a lot easier for me in the future

It happens with me. Sometimes I just stare at the blank page struggling to come up with stuff to write about, whether it is blogging, writing an article or creating a new information product.

Here are 7 easy ways to overcome writers block:

1. Freewriting

Just write what’s on your mind and don’t stop. Forget about the grammar, sentence structure, facts, research. The key to this is just to get everything in your brain onto paper. The more you get down the easier it becomes. Stopping mid-way to edit your sentence or researching something on Google will ruin your flow. In fact, this is what I’m doing write now as I’m writing this post.

2. Go Out And Take A Walk

Some of my best ideas come when I’m talking a walk – whether I’m walking home from school or just going for a quick exercise. It helps you relax your muscles and loosen your mind. You need to get your blood moving.

3. Save It For Later

You can always save that blog post or article for later. Save it as a draft and come back to it in the future. Who knows, a new angle may pop up and suddenly the block is gone.

4. Unplug The Internet

Close your email, shut your Twitter off and stop watching YouTube. There’s simply too much distractions on the internet if you’re going to overcome writer’s block.

5. Keep A Blackbook

This is extremely useful and powerful. You always keep a blackbook on or near you, so whenever a spark of genius pops into your head, you can immediately write it down. If you are outside having lunch and you suddenly come up with this awesome idea, there’s a chance you might forget about it by the time you get home.

The dullest pencil has a better memory than the sharpest mind.

6. Read Topics of Interest

Go read articles and blogs related to your topic. For example, if your blog post is about “How to teach an old dog new tricks” maybe you can go read dog training blogs. That way you are able to absorb a wider range of knowledge and able to give you more ideas to write about.

7. Take A Nap

Sometimes your brain just needs a rest from exhaustion and stress. Take a nap and usually the block is gone.

What My Twitter Followers Thought…

I also asked my followers on Twitter how they overcome writer’s block and got almost 30 awesome responses!

1. Use the ‘What Will Seth Godin Do’ plug-in to encourage people to subscribe.
2. FeedBurner can send RSS to people’s emails if they prefer and some do. Highlight that you can do this.
3. Write short posts every now and the reminding people about the feed that you have available.
4. Promote your feed on your other sites and mini-sites, in email signatures and so on.
5. Don’t hide the Feed away – position it somewhere that it cannot be missed.
6. Give any who signs up a bonus or gift.
7. Add lots of images to your site to attract your readers into signing up

1. Contextual Advertising
2. Direct Advertisements
3. Sponsored Posts
4. List Building and RSS Feed
5. Affiliate Marketing
6. Donations
7. Information Products (ebooks)

Blogging has been around for a few years now. Most people use blogs to record their thoughts and lives, while the select few use them as a free way to make a fortune.

One guy who uses this to his advantage is Rob Benwell. Last year he dished the dirt on the tips and tricks to making a fortune using blogging. But as time passes the old systems become obsolete and new techniques are required. This is where his brand new, fresh off the press blogging to the bank 2 system comes into play.

For those who know who Rob Benwell is like me, you’ve probably made a killing using blogs.

For those who don’t, he’s the story:

Back in 2005 he was struggling to make any profit online, had dropped out of college and was getting deep into debt. He was trying all the techniques the gurus tell you and wasn’t getting anywhere fast. All of that went in the bin and he started using his own techniques and started making more and more money using simple blogs. In early 2006 he shared this with the world and had a great ebook called blogging to the bank. Tons of people got rich from using these techniques (including me). He then spoke at Online Marketing Legend Yanik Silver’s underground Seminar where he revealed even more of his underground strategies.

But as I said earlier, the techniques used in that ebook are now showing there age. Some of them are not even working in the slightest! This is where blogging to the bank 2 comes into play.

It’s full of great new techniques that work online right now! Everything is explained in plain English with all the fluff cut out. I got hold of an advanced copy of the book for a much higher price than what it actually sells for and it has been worth every single cent! I got it in the afternoon and by the evening I was creating new profitable blogs. Within a couple of hours of them being active I had made a nice little profit.

Blogging To The Bank 2 teaches you Robs new step by step blueprint to creating highly profitable long term niche blogs using the newest optimization techniques. There’s even a section on advanced Search Engine Optimization. Most people think SEO is difficult but Rob explains this nice and simply so even the blogging newbie will understand it.

Blogging To The Bank 2 is a breath of fresh air and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to make easy money online. Click below for more information about this system

http://www.stanleytang.com/recommends/blogbank

[tags]problogging, blogging, blogging to the bank, rob benwell, make money online[/tags]

Today Internet blogs are becoming a popular way of getting the word out about services and products or whatever you want to say. You can increase blog exposure by following these several steps.

The first step to increase blog traffic is to make sure you have enough keywords in your posts so that people can see them when searching for something. You will increase blog exposure if your posts are all about something in a consistent pattern and are frequently referenced. Tagging is a similar method you can use to increase blog exposure in that it involves creating keywords that your articles will be read under. By using this websites like Technorati that search blogs will help to increase blog exposure for you.

Next, you should submit your blog to RSS readers. This helps to increase blog exposure because when you send your RSS to a website like Google or Yahoo your blog will be indexed by that site and will be notified when it is updated. Also, you can send your blog to individual search engines like AltaVista. Ping sites help to increase blog exposure. Whenever you add a post to your blog you should ping it so that a ping site like Ping-O-Matic will be able to recognize it as updated.

There are ways how you can make it easier to send your blog to RSS readers in order to increase blog traffic. For example, a general directory can help you to increase blog exposure. A directory like DMOZ can help you to make your blog more relevant in searches on Google and other online search engines. However, the best way to increase blog exposure in terms of your RSS feed is to send that feed to as many RSS search engines as you possibly can. You can use software programs like RSS Submit to help you in the process.

Link trading is a good way to increase blog traffic. By using a program like Zeus you can increase traffic by creating a link directory for your blog. If you trade links with other users you will be more likely to increase blog exposure as a result. This makes link trading a good option. Also, if you reference another blog in your post use a track back so that the blog you referred to can be accessed from your post. This helps to increase blog exposure because the blog you link to will recognize you and promote your blog as a result.

You can also communicate with other blogs so that you can increase blog exposure for yourself. By leaving good, well-dictated responses to other blog posts visitors will feel that you may be an interesting blogger, and this will help to get them to your site and increase blog traffic as a result.

Advertising can be a good way to increase blog traffic. For example, if your emails can allow for signatures remember to put a link to your blog on the signature of your emails. You can also sign up for newspaper ads or promotional materials that can be sent to people on the street to promote your blog. Using forums to help post responses to topics or even creating your own topics can help, as you can advertise your blog on your signature. A group on a server like Usenet can be used for you to increase blog traffic when you t

I’m evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they’re letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

• The best blogging techniques.
• How to get traffic to your blog.
• How to turn your blog into money.

I’ll let you know what I think once I’ve had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it’s still free.