How to Create a Viral Blog

By: Glen Hopkins

If you're ready to enter the world of blogging, you have lots of options available to you. One is Blogger. Blogger is a simple and easy way to get started for free. It's a service provided by Google and geared toward beginners. This is a good option if you are new to the world of blogging.

Wordpress is also free and extremely flexible. It builds your entire site for you, allows you to use or modify existing designs and lets you create as many categories as you choose. It also integrates RSS (more on this in a moment) into your site automatically.

Another option is Movable Type. This publishing system is the most popular business publishing platform and has many features a system such as Blogger lacks. This is a more professional program and is a paid service.

Typepad is an alternative paid blogging service. They host many of the world's most popular blogs and are easy to use.

It doesn't matter which service you choose. The important thing is to pick one and get a blog started as soon as possible. But unless your blog posts contain a combination of certain components, you can not and should not expect it to become a viral blog.

People simply won't talk about blogs that bore them, so you must give people something to talk about. You do that by keeping these five things in mind when writing your blog posts:

--Candor: be blunt, bold and truthful. Say exactly what you mean without trying to "beat around the bush." When you're honest and straightforward, people know exactly what to expect from you. They may not always agree, but they will respect you for your frankness.

--Urgency: be in demand NOW. Create a sense of urgency within your posts by being the first to break a news story within your niche, introduce a new product or interview an expert. Give people a reason to visit your blog immediately.

--Timeliness: be relevant. Keep up with the news of the day in the world, in your area and especially in your niche. Know the current trends and use your posts to enter the conversations people are already having. No one wants to read an outdated blog.

--Concise: be brief and to the point. Your readers don't have time to scroll through pages and pages of content. They're in a hurry AND have lots of other sites to choose from. But if you can save them time by getting straight to your point within a few paragraphs, they'll keep coming to you for information.

--Controversy: be different. Challenge the status quo. Talk about issues others in your niche are afraid to discuss. The best way to generate traffic is to stir people's emotions, especially when those emotions are anger and fear.

If your blog posts contain at least four of these five components, you are creating the right kind of content that has the power to attract massive traffic to your website.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Glen Hopkins specializes in teaching struggling entrepreneurs how to turn their small Online businesses into thriving money machines all while working less and earning more. To get more information, including Free Reports, Videos and CDs, visit: www.GlenHopkins.name

4 Great Blogging Tips For The Freelancer

By: Jo Han Mok

Blogging is one of the best ways to start a Freelancer business because it is so easy to get going. However, that does not mean that it is easy to make money from your blog. Don't start a blog and expect to see money rolling in immediately.

Blogging is an activity that will take time to build up to a profit level. It's a good thing to start while you are working on other Freelancer opportunities to let it build to a profitability level. With time and attention, your blog (or blogs) will grow into a business.

When you are blogging for profit, you'll want to pay close attention to how you present yourself in your blog. There are literally hundreds of thousands of blogs out there, and there may be several hundred blogs that are related to your topic. If your readers can't understand your blog and have trouble reading it, they'll just move on to the next one. The following tips can make your blog more user-friendly and help you gain consistent readers.

1. First, pay close attention to the format of your blog. Readers want to understand how your blog works right from the start. Most blogging platforms have similar formats, with links and tags on the left or right margin, and the most recent post on top. Make sure to use the links wisely. Only put links up for blogs or content that is truly related to your blog's topic. The point is to give your readers additional information on your topic. Keep the list short and sweet. There is no reason to overwhelm them with links to other sites.

2. Also, take careful consideration when choosing your blog's background and font color. Although there are a lot of color choices that blogging programs offer, its best to stick with a light background and dark text. Studies have shown that the human brain can process this type of format better than light text on a dark background. Think about this before you commit to a black background and white text. It might look striking, but readers might not want to stay there for long. Also, use a solid background color instead of trying to use a pattern or design.

3. Proofread your entries before you post them to your blog. There is nothing that reduces your authority in the eyes of your readers more than bad spelling and grammar. The online world is a world of text, so take some time to learn commonly misspelled words and grammatical errors.

4. Keep your blog fresh and interesting by posting at least once per day. With so much information available on the Internet, your readers may go elsewhere if you aren't supplying daily content. If you aren't sure what to write about, try posting a poll, a link to another blog, comment on a news story or post a list of helpful tips. Not every post has to be long and complicated, but you do need to post something everyday.

These tips will help keep your blog readable and interesting to your visitors. The more visitors you get, the more your blog will grow in profitability and importance. Just make sure to present yourself in a professional way and keep your readers coming back for more new content each day. In no time, you'll have a profitable blog and then you can move on to create two or three.

Article Source: http://www.articlehighlight.com

Jo Han Mok is the author of the #1 international business bestseller, The E-Code. He shares his amazing blueprint for creating million dollar internet businesses at: www.InternetMillionaireBlueprints.com