7 Ways to Avoid Blogger Burnout

by Mahesh Kukreja on February 10, 2012

This is a guest post! If you want to write for us, check out the Guest Post section.

Blogging isn’t an easy task. Creating relevant and inspiring content on a daily basis is exhausting, and no blogger—not even the best out there—is exempt from blogging burnout. It happens, it’s normal, and it’s easily fixed.

Blogger Burnout

Here are 7 tried-and-true tips I use to avoid blogger burnout.

1. Schedule your Posts

The easiest way to avoid burnout is to take a chunk of time to write several blog posts and then schedule them to post throughout the week. Not even the most ambitious blogger has the time to post every day, so if you write your posts ahead of time, you’ll be all set for the week, giving you plenty of time to brainstorm for next week’s content.

Additionally, with a set chunk of blogging time, you’ll be able to focus knowing you’ve dedicated that time to blogging. Your writing will flow more easily and your posts will feel less strained if you allot yourself set blogging time.

2. Focus on Quality over Quantity

How often you post is entirely up to you. If writing 5 days a week is too much, try writing 3 days only, focusing on the quality of your content over the quantity. Readers come back for engaging content, and if the quality of your posts suffers, it won’t matter how many times you post—your readers just won’t be interested.

3. Create a Series

If you’re having a hard time coming up with post ideas, try and think of a weekly or monthly series idea. That way you always have a set topic you can blog about, and it will be easier to brainstorm ideas for the post. Series also give your blog a schedule, letting readers know what to expect from you each week.

4. Swap Guest Posts

Find a fellow blogger and offer to swap guest posts! This allows you to not only swap readerships, but it also allows you to create a different kind of content for a new audience, which can be very therapeutic. When asking others to guest post on your blog, be sure to provide a topic and guidelines to make it easier for them to understand your expectations.

5. Rework old Posts

There’s nothing wrong with reworking an old post with a new spin or even creating a sort of “best of” list with past posts. You might find all the posts you’ve written on a specific topic and put them all together in one post as a convenience to your readers. Or you could do a monthly recap where you list your favorite posts from the month. This will also help your traffic as readers click around your site.

6. Keep a Notebook of Ideas

Keep a small notebook with you at all times to jot down post ideas that might come to you. Take it with you to work, school, or the store and always have a pen handy so you can record those flashes of inspiration that come to you. Then, when you sit down to blog, you’ll have a whole flood of ideas to inspire you.

7. Take a Break

Sometimes you just need a break. If you’re feeling particularly burned out, just take a week or so off from blogging. Then you can come back to your blog feeling fully refreshed with a new perspective on where you want to go with it.

The most important part of blogging is to just have fun. If you don’t enjoy what you’re writing about, your readers will notice. Stick to things you know and enjoy, follow these 7 tips, and let your blog take you wherever you want to go.

Author Bio

This guest post was provided by Russell Jensen, a writer for SatelliteInternet.com.

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How Can We Utilize Social Media To Build Lasting Relationships?

by Mahesh Kukreja on February 9, 2012

This is a guest post! If you want to write for us, check out the Guest Post section.

Facebook, Google+, Twitter and several other social forums have simplified the difficulties of building lasting relationships. Earlier it was very difficult to maintain contacts and relationships and there were less chances of getting opportunities. Now the media and technology has done a tremendous job. You can see and speak to any one in any part of the world on just one click. Here the question arises that how to use this social media to build lasting relationships. There are few factual lessons that you can learn and try.

Social Media Pillows

Post on Twitter and Facebook

Make sure that you post at least once a day, either on your Facebook page or Twitter timeline. This can be easily done in early mid morning. Develop a habit of doing so and see how you get comments and a daily follow up. Try making intelligent posts so that attracts others and enables them to stay in touch with you.

You can even schedule Facebook posts & Twitter tweets using online tools like HootSuite.

Pick interactive questions

Always try to pick some interactive questions. As you require a response from your followers, therefore they will soon get engaged in replying to your posts making activity. Posting along with an attractive or an interesting photo will rank you very high. Keep in mind that you have to get your things done through your social media and this might take time. Eventually you will get the right people to interact and work with.

Target your market silently

No matter what your profession is, but you surely have some goals. All you have to do is to contact with the right people so that they push you nearer towards your goal. It is not difficult as long as you are using the tools of social forums in the right way.

Write blogs that target your market

You can write articles that target your market. You will slowly start getting positive response from your followers. The interested ones will like or comment on your blog and slowly they will be doing this job daily. This is the time when you will know, which person is correct for your job and then you can develop a lasting relationship with him.

Keep a record of your methods

Make sure that you keep a record of all the methods that you are using to target your market. This record will help you in future. You can add or subtract something to your idea and you will come up with something new and interesting next time. You have to keep a record of the comments that you received from the followers, so as to remember that which of your method really rocked.

Be responsive

To build any kind of relationship, one has to be responsive. There are many people you do not like, yet you have to meet and greet them. Instead of getting annoyed, change your strategy of thinking about them. Interact with them to achieve all that you want in life.

Social media is a direct and a fast method, all you have to know is to use this medium in the best possible way.

Author Bio

I am Susan Hannan from Examsking. Looking for Examsking.ca exam assistance? Let’s take benefit of Exams King self-paced CCSP Certification training material and clear your IT certification on first try.

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Top 3 WordPress SEO Plugins to Help Keep Your Articles Alive

by Mahesh Kukreja on February 6, 2012

This is a guest post! If you want to write for us, check out the Guest Post section.

You could write your absolute best article, get it posted at the absolute opportune time, and get an absolutely huge number of social shares, but then it’s over. You have about one week where people see your article, it gets pushed to page two of your blog, and it’s over. Now granted you probably gained some visibility and quite possible made a few connections via social media, but the article sometimes dies after the initial spotlight. For this reason, writers and blog editors use search engine optimization (SEO) when uploading articles into WordPress.

SEO WordPress plugins

SEO helps revive a dying article because it can help the article continually appear on Google search engine pages for specific keywords. For example, if I were to write an article about “credit card processing,” I could optimize that article for the keyword “credit card processing.” This way, when someone types the keyword “credit card processing” into the Google search box my article could potentially show up. There is of course competition when it comes to keywords, so you will want to make sure that you do a little bit of keyword research if you’re really looking to have your article rank highly with Google. You can learn more about keyword research by visiting Blogging Pro.

Once you know you’re ready to optimize an article, an SEO plugin is extremely helpful. There are a lot of things to remember when it comes to optimizing an article:

  • Put your keyword in your title, preferably at the beginning
  • Put your keyword in all of the subheadings of the article
  • Put your keyword in the first paragraph of your article
  • Make sure your keyword appears a lot in the text
  • Make sure the keyword is in the meta tag

It can be tough to remember all the things you need to do to optimize your article, so an SEO plugin will help make sure you do everything you can for that article. The plugins will also give you a number and let you know whether or not you’re on the right track. Consider some of the SEO plugins below:

SEO Plugins to Help Your Company Stay on Track

1. SEO Yoast

SEO Yoast plugin is a little bit newer, but it is quickly becoming one of the most popular (and my personal favorite). It’s a free plugin and will keep track of all the components of SEO. All you have to do is fill in your keyword and then fill in all your usual information (article, Meta description, SEO title, etc.). The plugin will then let you know whether or not you have met all the SEO goals and what you need to do to fix them. Below is an example of the WordPress plugin:

SEO Yoast

As you can see, this page is somewhat optimized for Google search. It lets me know exactly what I need to fix and what I have accomplished.

2. SEO Smartlinks

SEO Smartlinks plugin works well because it helps you interlink efficiently. In other words, once you specify keywords it will do the linking for you. This will help you with your affiliate relationships and make things easy for you so that you do not need to go in and do everything manually. This will also improve navigation for your readers, and the plugin is completely free. Below is a screenshot of this plugin:

SEO Smart Links

3. All in One SEO Pack

All in One SEO Plugin plugin will also help readers improve their SEO by letting them know what they need to improve and what they have done correctly (much like Yoast). The basic version is free, although the service does offer more advanced, paid versions of the tool. It allows you to insert a custom HTML had tag and is a good compliment to Google Analytics support. Below is an example of what the plugin looks like:

All in one SEO Pack

SEO plugins are typically easy to install and easy to use, so they work great for someone who needs a little bit of help in the SEO department. Knowing how to optimize an article is a great way to make sure that the article is seen time and time again. This is the absolute best situation for an article.

Author Bio

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to 401k contribution limits. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including small business loans to small businesses and entrepreneurs for the leading business directory, Business.com.

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Bathing With an iPad: Review of 3 Waterproof Cases for Tablets

by Mahesh Kukreja on February 5, 2012

This is a guest post! If you want to write for us, check out the Guest Post section.

You are probably wondering why anyone would go into the water with a smartphone or a tablet. Besides more obvious activities like reading e-books while taking a bath in a Jacuzzi, there is a whole range of situations when routine usage of a device may result in it getting wet: reading the news poolside, rowing a boat or taking a ferry ride (no way without a favorite gadget!), and the list goes on. Here’s an even more trivial situation: outdoor recreation during a rainy season. Would you constantly drag the tablet along if it was in a waterproof case? We have prepared a small review of different ways to save a tablet from drowning.​

iPad

[via Flickr]

​There are two types of waterproof cases (also called aquaboxes): rigid and flexible. The latter option is reminiscent of a plastic bag, and the former is quite rare since it is not versatile and is quite bulky.  Rigid cases can handle only a particular model of tablet. On the other hand, with flexible aquaboxes, things get more interesting; there is more of selection and more applications.

Large Whanganui Waterproof iPad Case

Large Whanganui, a product of the company Aquapac, is the first one we put to the test. A mid-sized bag can hold any modern tablet or a bunch of small items combined. Such a case can contain, for instance, a cell phone, documents, papers and other small things that should not get wet.

Large Whanganui iPad Case

After packing the device inside the case, turning 3 latches is all that is required for safely walking out into the rain or going to the lake. Not a single drop of water will get inside the case, and for added comfort, a shoulder strap is provided. This solution wins over with its simplicity and a compact storage size. On the downside, the tablet is not secured inside and constantly moves inside the case. By the way, do not be concerned about the combination of a film and a touch screen – they work great together and even allow for writing tweets from the bottom of a pool. The main thing to remember is not to dive deeper than 5 meters to avoid excessive pressure exerted on the iPad. This novelty is available at its manufacturer’s online store for $46.60.

DryCASE Waterproof iPad Case

​The American company DryCASE also offers aquabox cases but with a more fundamental approach to the problem. Besides the basic features of the bag such as being waterproof for up to 30 meters, the DryCASE Tablet also includes an air cushion with a hand strap and the ability to plug in headphones, as well as an air removal device.

Dry Case Waterproof iPad Case

Thus, one can engage in water sports while listening to music, and if the device is dropped into the water, there is no need to dive in the water to get it back. What is especially pleasant is the ability to remove excessive air from the bag so that the gadget fits snugly inside the case. Due to this capability, the device will not dangle inside the case, allowing for comfortable usage. Such a vacuum also increases the quality of the photos taken with the device; a transparent polyethylene layer will fit the camera lens closely, thus helping to avoid blurry photos. To be sure, this case allows for the device to be used to its full capabilities. This new product can be bought on the manufacture’s site for $59.99.

Tunewear Waterwear for iPad

Another interesting “baggie” is called the Tunewear Waterwear. This time, the manufacturer proposes to seal the device hermetically in the usual aquabox while rolling up the open end and securing the roll with fasteners and latches. This may seem the same as the first variant, but here the designers have put more thought into the comfort involved in using the device inside bag. Thus, they have added a plastic fixing panel for the tablet, which restricts the movements of the device inside.

Tunewear Waterwear iPad Case

Additionally, one can fasten a strap on top of the box for easier transportation. Since there is a fixing panel in the lower part of this case, it is harder to fit some other things there, but we are looking to secure the iPad in the first place, right? Tunewear Waterwear seems like an optimal product in terms of price and quality if the ability to listen music is not critical to you. Tunewear aquabox is available at their website for $39.95.

Conclusion

​Whichever case you choose for water-related fun, do not forget that these cases are not designed for any kind of significantly deep dives. However, at least one does not need to be worried about a device’s safety during summer recreation or during calm fishing trips along the forest lake.

Author Bio:

The post is written by Alexander. Read more of his posts here:

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