Blogging is fun. Especially when you’re blogging about your interests. How about spreading the love and blog on your friends’ blogs? Or maybe invite a friend to blog for you! But why?

• Comes with benefits. Most people aren’t willing to blog for nothing. They usually are offered a service or product or maybe even money!
• More exposure. Opened up a new blog and need more exposure? Guest blogging is a good way to let people know that there is a new blogger in the community.
• More friends. You have friends from your blog, and you have friends on your friends blog (where you guest blog). Isn’t that double the friends?
• Wider audience. Besides blogging for your blog, you’re also guest blogging, so your audience is twice the usual size!
• Gain experience. Experience is priceless… where else can you get an established blog with an audience who’s willing to read?

Hiring a guest blogger comes with many benefits, too, including:

• More opinion, different viewpoints. Surely, not everyone who reads your blog is objected to your opinion, but it’s nice to have different viewpoints once in a while to get their minds working on which side they want.
• More topics. Not a good accountant? No worries! Just hire an accountant blogger to guest blog for you! It gives your audience a wider range of topics to read about.
• A break. Everyone needs a break once in a while for something different.
• Less work. Relax! Have fun! Do something else for a change!
• New friend. Or improved relationship.

When choosing guest bloggers…

• See their previous work. Can’t risk having poor content! Even if they don’t offer it, remember to ask!
• Get to know them a little first. You should know the blogger at least a little, if you’re going to trust them to take your blog in their hands, even for one post.
• Have an idea of what they’re planning to write. Ask them about what they’re planning to write if they’re chosen. This way, you know for sure you get what you choose. (Or see next point.)
• Have them submit and article beforehand. This way can be a little hard, and can cause disputes if you don’t have a regular amount of readers; remember to state that once submitted, you have the right to use or not use the article, all rights given (or something similar).

Lastly, getting the word out to the world that you need guest bloggers may sound hard, but here are just a few tips.

• Announce it. You have a blog, so where else can you get free advertising?
• Tell your friends. Offline friends, online friends, friends’ friends. Tell anyone and everyone!
• Forum posting. Make a new topic on a forum announcing your news. Put it in your signature. Send it to everyone in your friends list. If you aren’t in a forum, search “Blogging Forum” on any search engine and they will come up.
• Visit others. Maybe if you offer to blog for your friend, they will do the same?
• Create a “Write for Us” page. This page should include the contact form, email, any terms and conditions you have, any benefits, extra information, etc.
• Do it on a special occasion. Sometimes, when there is a reason, people are more likely to volunteer, e.g. your birthday, because they will more likely be thinking they are doing you a favour in honour of the occasion.

Has anyone had any special guest blogging incidents? Please share!

P.S. Would you like to guest blog here? Subscribe to the RSS feed to be notified!

Be yourself! Be honest! Be real! Be opinionated! It’s your blog afterall. And be anonymous (safety first)! Don’t try to imitate another “popular” blogger’s style and don’t look at sitemeter all the time or try to cater to the “masses” in order to get “popular” or gain a readership. If you do, you’ll become a slave to other’s whims and you won’t be yourself anymore.
-Spit Out the Cat

This again, builds your character; how much do you want your character to be built or revealed? Do you want readers to know the real “you”?

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

Networking isn’t just for Fishermen.
-Bookie Monster

You will need to network even if you don’t like to fish! (And remember to throw in a little humor like a fisherman!)

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

There is no “dumb” question about blogging, if you don’t know ask.
-Nise Fun Pages

A lot of people are afraid of being called “dumb” so they keep their questions. But you learn by asking questions! So those people never improve. Don’t become one of those.

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

Your two most important tools – enthusiasm and dedication.
-The Gravel Pit

Enthusiasm and dedication are two very important tools! A very boring article doesn’t have enthusiasm and dedication. Try to implement these two features into your posting.

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

Don’t hold back.
-Aidan Mother

“Don’t hold back” can mean a lot of things. I asked the author about it and this is what she said:

What I mean by “Don’t hold back” is that you should post what you want, the way you want to.

• Don’t be afraid to post a review just because you didn’t like the book and don’t want to offend the author
• Be willing to ask the tough questions in an interview
• Try new things
• Go after the big scoop

This post is part of the Blogging Tips meme.

In general, in what position are the ads when you click on them? What do you usually click on? (text link ads, banners, in-text ads, etc.)

Let’s look at some details…

The F Shaped Heat Map Theory

Left to right: “about us” section of a corporate website (far left), an ecommerce product page (center), and search engine result (SERP; far right).

This heatmap shows the way people read webpages. The reddish parts are the most/first read, and fading into blue. Notice that they are in a distinct F shape.

The way you position your ads depends on how you are paid… Per click? Per view? Per month? Per click means you get a certain amount of money for each click. That is the way affiliate programs such as Adsense and Bidvertiser work. Per view means you are paid a certain amount of money for every number of views the banner gets. If you are paid $1 per 100 page views, you would get $10 for 1000 page views. Per month means you get a certain amount of money no matter how many clicks the ad gets.

Position Your Ads

If you are paid per month/view, you will need to write very good blog titles to capture your reader and not let him/her wander away. The first two to three paragraphs should capture the reader.

The most effective place for banners (standard size) usually would be right before your main content. That is the place where people usually look before they read your content; to “anylyze” your layout, etc.

If you are paid per click, try to follow the heatmap theory; which is somewhat accurate. More details on the heatmap at Jabob Nielsen’s site. You will want to put your ads near the reddish parts in the heat map.

My Adsense ads are usually before, after, or in the cut of a post. The cut of a post is a good place to put ads, as the reader views the ad when he/she is interested in your post.

Comment posted by Weekend Links 06/15

at 6/15/2007 2:58:56 AM

[…] Grace discusses the most effective place for ads. […]

Comment posted by LISTIKAL

at 6/19/2007 3:02:45 PM

I really need to dig deep and figure out ways of getting better CTR. I’m getting quite a few page views now, but am still not making much money through Adsense.

Buy Me A Beer WordPress plugin from Ankesh Kothari allows you to add a link to the end of your posts and your sidebar saying “Buy Me A Beer”, and it takes you to a secure PayPal payment donation page. “Buy Me A Coffee” is also available to those who do not drink alcoholic drinks.

Why add a “Buy Me a Beer” button instead of a simple “Donate Money” button?

Past experience shows me that asking people to donate money by giving them a specific reason increases donations by 200%!

I have installed the plugin on NeonScent.
If you like this blog, Buy Me A Coffee. I want to see if my blog is loved. (Did I mention that link-love will be given?)

Rhinoplasty in Washington DC at RenuDC.com. Rhinoplasty is the reshaping of one’s nose. “Trust your face to a plastic surgeon.”

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PPP introduces PPP Direct! PPP Direct is similar to SponsoredReviews and ReviewMe, where you can sell reviews on your site.
Pay Per Post’s Announcement

With Pay Per Post Direct you can reach out to advertisers, even those not currently in the PPP network, and advertise your own blogs and content. We’ve found in the past that advertisers often want to directly hire good bloggers to write about their products or services and with PayPerPost Direct that’s now possible.

Payment
While you receive only 50% of your payment in ReviewMe, 65% in SponsoredReviews, you get 90% of your payment in PPP Direct. I expect them to be charging more than a minimum of 10% service fee in the near future, since PPP Direct will surely be expanding.
You can set your own minimum prices for reviews. The default minimum review price is $5.00. You put the PPP Direct button on your blog, where advertisers can offer their price, and you can accept or decline.

How to Qualify for PPP Direct

1. Sign up for Pay Per Post as a “Postie”.
2. When your blog is accepted, go to your Blogger Dashboard, Opportunities, and click PPP Direct. There, you can install a code on your blog.
3. Once installed, wait up to 2 days for PPP to check the codes on your blog.
4. After that, you can start accepting reviews!

San Diego day spas at discoverd.com. Completed with maps and directions for you to enjoy.

Starting next Monday, I will be starting a new system called Monday Linking, where I link my regular blog readers and commenters’ useful posts as my reward to them for reading my blog. Every post will feature 5-15 links to blog posts for now (may change with notice), and a little description on the particular post.
This will continue on every Monday for one month, and I will see how the system goes; it may stay or it may go.
The more commenters, the bigger chance you get your useful blog posts linked! You also get a link on the sidebar if you are a top commenter.
Happy commenting!