By this time, almost everyone has probably heard of RSS and RSS aggregators. Maybe everyone has even used them. In any case, sometimes it is still good to give people the option to get email notifications that you have a special feature on your blog.

There are people whose aggregators are already full of so many blog entries, especially when they were quite excited in tagging all those blogs one time. It could be quite overwhelming for the person reading them. (Maybe this is also why some are only subscribed to headlines.) In any case, you could point to an option wherein people could get the special featured entries or articles via email.

Email seems to have become an integral part of people who are online most of the time. There are those who have habits of checking them at certain times of the day. The nice thing about having those special features in their inbox is that they could still read what you wrote. And who knows? They might even directly interact with you via email.

As you put that option on your blog, you could choose to have only the excerpt of your special feature so that they could have something to look forward to when they visit your blog. Aside from this use of excerpts, you should also keep in mind that you must not abuse this option so that people won’t be turned off from reading your blog. Let’s face it, sometimes people don’t always enjoy what you write but if they know that you have something they’d be able to use or maybe inspire them, they’d go back to your blog regularly. I personally don’t read Joel Spolsky’s (alpha geek) blog all the time because he sometimes seems a bit too technical but I get emails about his special featured entries which inspire me or challenge me to think things through.

One of the major things you need to realise if you want to go pro with your blog is that a major chunk of getting your blog to success has to do with networking. You need people to read your blog but before they read your blog they need to become aware of your blog. Though the rare case of someone influential in the blog circles stumbling upon your blog and becoming really impressed enough to pass the word about your blog can happen you can’t rely on this strategy because it’s just like relying on winning the lottery to get rich. So to get people to be aware of your blog you need to reach out to them. You need to sharpen your networking skills.

Here are some tips to get you started with networking to promote your blog:

Tap your existing network – Promote your blog to friends, workmates, and anyone else you might know.
Go social – Join and be active in social media sites. Make sure you at least have accounts in Facebook, Twitter and MySpace or LinkedIn. If you don’t have time to maintain all just choose the first two.
Blog hop – Be active in other (related) blogs’ comments section.

The three above suggestions are the ways you can network to promote your blog but the more important thing is that as you network you target the people who are your target audience and that you know also know a lot of other similar people. Be strategic in your networking and be consistent in your efforts. Like everything networking needs time and effort if you want to see results.

As a pro-blogger you should have an edge to because you’re used to writing. Of course with the thousands of entrant used to writing won’t cut it. So as I said it’s time to come up with something compelling and write really well about it!

If you’re into blog monetization you should also realize that what’s at stake here isn’t just the expedition (although that alone should spur lots of people to join) but also because the chance to make your blog famous. Imagine going from a handful of readers to thousands, maybe even hundred of thousands of readers, soon as you win the competition. You can be sure at least that your jealous competitors will be checking out your blog. Not to mention the press you’ll be getting. So just a friendly advice: Join the contest and give it your all. Good luck!

Aaron Wall’s post on how FTC’s change in guidelines will not really produce the results needed to regulate fake endorsements also makes sense. As he puts it, “What is absurd (to me at least) is how inefficient this process is. What needs to happen is better enforcement on ad networks, search engines, and merchants. Follow the money downstream rather than hunting for nickels upstream. The people who are making fake sites are doing so because they are paid to… You will never track them down one at a time because many domains are internationally owned, anonymously registered, and some domain names only cost a couple dollars to register.”

So there you go. While legit bloggers that do not make big bucks out of paid posts in their blogs will have to start watching their words more closely the ones that are out to defraud the world will still manage to sit pretty.

So you’ve found a blog to host your guest post. Think the hard part’s over? Well, don’t. For some, it may very well be just the beginning. But do not be discouraged. Writing a guest post can be very easy as long as you put all of yourself into it. Here are some tips to help ensure that you come up with guest posts that will be most beneficial to your own blog.

Make an effort – a real one.
Just because you are not writing for your own blog does not mean that you should put any less effort than you normally do. In fact, one could argue that you should put even more effort since you are trying to show what you are capable of to a different audience. Bear in mind that you will be reaching out to more readers than usual and that this could be a potential goldmine for your blog later on. Your goal should be to reach the ranks of the most popular posts in that blog – and that, my friends, takes a lot of effort.

Don’t be afraid to link out.
This is one of your best bets to make sure that your blog gets some love. A word of caution however, do NOT link just for the sake of linking. Make sure that you are linking with relevance. Whether or not you are linking to your blog, relevance should be at the top of your priority.

Make your byline excellent.
Your byline is what might just make you famous – or attract tons of traffic. That is why you should pay a lot of attention in crafting your byline. Make sure that you include relevant info – who do you want to visit your blog? Why? What do you have to offer? Keep it sweet and short but full of info that will point appropriate readers to your own blog.

In the previous post, we took a look at how to find guest posters for your blog. Now how about taking a look at the other side of the coin? How do you find a blog that you can guest post in? How do you go about applying as a guest blogger?

Let’s first look at finding a blog. It really is quite simple. All you need is to do your regular blog visits. From these blogs, you will certainly get an idea as to which blog you can offer your services to. If there is one thing that I would like to point out, it is this: make sure that you KNOW the blog that you want to write for IN and OUT. There is nothing worse than someone offering his or her services as a guest blogger only to find out later on that he or she does not really know much about that blog.

More so, knowing the blog will increase your chances of getting published. This is because you will find out a lot of important information that will be useful in creating your guest post. In knowing the blog you will be writing for, you can follow the tone and topics of the guest posts that are published.

Also remember that before you send in your e-mail to the blogger, make sure that your guest post is ready. It would be so much better to send your application e-mail with your post rather than to say “Hey can I write for your blog?” without having anything to show.

In the next post, let’s look at how you can maximize your guest post to benefit your blog.

So you’ve been looking at hosting a guest post (or two, or even more) in your blog. You’ve probably read about how guest posting can open up new possibilities for your blog and introduce you to a wider audience range as well. These are both true and are both very good reasons to actually have someone publish a guest post in your blog. But how do you go about it? How do you find a guest poster?

Quite obviously, one way to do so would be to write an “ad” in your own blog. Write a post inviting other bloggers to apply to be a guest poster. It goes without saying that you have to craft your post very well and make it clear as to what you want out of your guest poster. Here are some points you might want to highlight:

1. The topic or range of topics that you will be considering.
2. The tone of the post.
3. The length of the post.
4. Formatting and other similar requirements.

Aside from inviting posters through your blog, there are other avenues from which you can look for expert guest posters. This is quite important if your blog focuses on a specific niche and you want to make sure that the blogger you will be hosting is well-versed in the topic. Here are some ideas by which you can find expert guest posters:

1. Magazines: look up the best writers that you like and contact them. This is a very good idea because the chances are that you will be finding authors who are not bloggers. The content will be fresh as well as the perspective.
2. Other blogs or web sites: look for niche blogs or sites and pick out the writers whose work you like.

One last thing – make sure that you are clear as to what you can give the guest bloggers in exchange for writing in your blog.

Have you ever thought of posting on another blog as a guest poster or having someone else do a guest post on your blog? If you have, then you are on the right track. You see, guest posting is one way to increase your readership.

For the benefit of those who do not fully understand what guest posting is, it is the simple practice of having another person write on a blog as a “guest blogger,” hence the term guest blogging or posting. If you do a regular visiting of various blogs, you will actually see a lot of examples of guest posting.

So why should you consider guest posting – either you as the guest blogger or someone else as a guest blogger on your site?

One main reason is that the guest poster can provide fresh content and a different point of view. Fresh content is always a good thing for any blog. On one hand, we have the search engines to consider. The search engine spiders are always on the lookout for something new and if you do not have enough time to create fresh content, having a guest blogger do it for you is definitely a plus. On the other hand, your readers are looking for something to new read as well. Injecting someone else’s thoughts can provide that “newness” that you may be looking for.

Of course, if you are considering to host guest posts in your blog, you have to have certain considerations and requirements. Let us look at those in the next post.

One thing about bloggers who consider blogging as a profession, you have to make sure that you blog at a regular pace. Some may not give it much thought but following a schedule can really help them keep track of when to place a post and when they can pass it off for another day.

There will be times when bloggers rely on their memory for last posts. But do remember that if you want your blog to flourish, you have to maintain a regular blogging schedule, daily as much as possible if you want it to gain notice. This of course includes citing relevant topics like current events and press releases to really be counted among searched terms over the web. But just the same, all of your ideas may become useless if you don’t know the frequency of your posts hence it would be best to keep a schedule through worksheets like Microsoft Excel or your organizer to remind you of needed posts.

Such is a problem for some bloggers and in most cases they turn to cramming and changing the dates to make sure that all days lapsed are covered. This would be a good ploy if you are aiming for keyword optimization. But if you are the blogger who wants frequent updated and daily visits, such is a bad strategy and you may end up seeing your blog go down in the ranks.

Just apply the methodical scheduling approach and you will be fine. Blogs are abundant so it is best to be up to date for your blog not be left behind.

As far as blogging is concerned, frequent updates on your blog can put you in better standing as far as SEO and marketability is concerned. People who become regular followers of your blog are bound to be waiting for new updates and don’t be surprised if this was done on a regular basis. Subscribing to feeds and widgets are sure to be their first intent as new posts are what they will be waiting for.

But while posting is a plus, using the right keywords is equally important. Blabbering and typing away what you want without any sense makes the whole ordeal of blogging a useless effort on your end. So while you have a lot of ideas on your mind, organize your thoughts and compose them a way to which you will get the reader’s ire.

Blogs are supposed to be short. Going over 300 words is practically like article writing. It may be hard but the fact of the matter is that this is how you differentiate a blog from an actual article.

Blogging is not hard. You just have to focus on the focal points of the ideas and the message you are trying to deliver. While it seems that it is impossible to do that when you blog, stick to the facts and limit your wordings. Don’t go around the bush and just stress your point. Readers will appreciate you better that way.