Managing multiple blogs is a complicated task. It requires patience, a rigid schedule, a huge time commitment, and a lot of passion. If you have more than one blog, then you need to constantly be on your toes to ensure that everything, everywhere, is running smoothly. The following guide will help you manage your blogs efficiently and painlessly.

1. Create Clear Goals
It will be impossible to maintain multiple blogs without clear goals and a sturdy vision for each blog. It’s important to write down the name of the blog, the objective or vision, the tone, and the desired frequency of updates. Put this information into a simple chart and refer to it as often as necessary. It will help you keep your blogs clear and organized.

2. Streamline Management
Responding to comments and emails about your blogs can become an overwhelming task. One way to simplify this task is to use one central email. This will allow you to devote a chunk of your time to answering all emails and responding to all comments on your blogs. Having separate email accounts for each blog will require constantly logging in and out of accounts and failing to address comments and issues in a timely manner. Instead, forward emails to one account where you can quickly filter through them.

3. Search Engine Optimization
In order to drive traffic to each blog without getting bogged down in advertising, it’s important to optimize your blogs so they rank highly in search engines. This is the use of keywords, titles, images and optimized copy that allow your blogs to show up at the top of search results for high trafficked search phrases. It’s important for anyone maintaining multiple blogs to master SEO in order to build traffic and revenue.

4. Reach Out to Guest Bloggers
If you find that you’re getting bogged down and don’t have the time to write new posts for all of your blogs, it may be helpful to reach out to guest bloggers. Even though you many have to pay a small fee for the writer’s time and work, they will allow you to relax a little and get your other blogs up to date. There is one small caveat and that is that it’s important not to overuse guest bloggers, however, as blog audiences tend to like consistent voices.

5. Cross Promote
Whenever possible and relevant, cross promoting your blogs is an excellent way to drive traffic to your less popular blogs. If you’re writing about a related topic, even loosely, place a link in your post that will send readers to another one of your blogs. You may also want to use some ad space on blogs to promote your other blogs.

6. Pace Yourself
It’s important not to create multiple blogs at one time. When you first create a blog you will have to spend a lot of time and energy promoting and writing. In the first few months of a blog, it’s important to write new posts as often as possible. This makes launching multiple blogs simultaneously almost impossible (unless you plan on taking on staff writers). Set up one blog with a consistent and stable viewer base before moving on to additional blogs. This will ensure that your blogs are popular and financially stable. Multiple unsuccessful blogs will be less lucrative than a single successful one.

7. Scheduling
It’s important to establish a schedule that will allow you to devote enough time to each blog that it can become a success. Each writer must establish their own schedule that works best for themselves and their blog. If you need to post blogs daily, than consider segmenting the day. This will help you devote a certain amount of time to each blog and move on when it’s time to move on. If your blogs need posts less frequently, it may help to devote each day of the week to a different blog. A solid schedule is absolutely vital in maintaining high quality blogs.

This guest blog post was brought to you by a UK based writer call Tom Walker who writes a blog about design and advertising for an online store specializing in ink cartridges and other print supplies.

Related posts:

1. Day 26: Guest Star on Niche-Relevant Blogs to Boost Your Exposure
2. Tips for Making Money Online, Part-time
3. Day 14: Checking Cross-Browser Compatability – Making Sure It All Works

Global unemployment rates are rising faster than our debt, as the United States recently hit an 8.5% unemployment rate that is projected to climb to over 10% in a few months. Consumer confidence is at all time lows, down 74% from levels we saw back in 1985 (when tracking was started). While economic conditions crumble in the United States, Canada, India, Western Europe, Russia and all around the world… many people search for a way to create a secondary income, but have trouble executing their business plans themselves.

Jimvesting Welcomes You to the Build-A-Blog Workshop!

Creating a weblog (or “blog”) on the internet is not only an awesome way to network and gain some instant fame online, but it is a lucrative business! Heck, I’ve pulled in over $5,000 from this blog alone… a project that was originally a simple resume builder. This is something that I do in my spare time completely, so it really isn’t a strain on anything. I am convinced that anyone in the world can take a blog that they spend a mere 30 minutes a day on, and make at least $10,000 annual in sales off of it!

I am going to take you all from step one to a completed (and profitable!) blog in just thirty days. Best of all, I will be working just 30 minutes every day on this blog, and showing you exactly what I am doing. I would be labeled in this industry as an “expert” blogger… and while I would never claim this title, I’ve gotten my feet wet and know the proper ways to get you to profitability fast. I’m going to show you every last detail of how I am starting and marketing my blog… so you can follow along and make money.

HostGator Sponsors Five AWESOME Contest Prizes

As many of you know, Jimvesting is proudly hosted on HostGator servers. I originally transferred to a plan at HostGator after having problems with my freebie hosting for a long while. I’ve really never regretted this decision, as you pay few little for high-performance, great customer support and an awesome deal that keep your wallet full! HostGator is one of the world’s top 10 largest web hosting companies with more than 1,300,000 hosted domains. They have over 200 employees to provide around-the-clock superior support, and are “the perfect choice whether you are looking for business, personal, or even Fortune 500 hosting.”

How good is HostGator? They’ve agreed to sponsor 5 HUGE Business Plans (worth $180 each) to 5 participants in Jimvesting’s Build-A-Blog Workshop!!!

Option One: Take The Course!

The first way to win the Net Fool’s Build-A-Blog Workshop contest is to take the workshop along with us! This is a very good idea for any aspiring entrepreneur, and it will give you awesome exposure right off the bat. If you decide to follow along with the course, not only will you be entered to win a great free hosting plan from HostGator… but you will get free mentions on Jimvesting on a daily basis.

• If 1-6 people enter the workshop: We’ll give away 2 Business Hosting Plans!
• If 7+ people enter the workshop: We’ll give away 3 Business Hosting Plans!

This is a fantastic opportunity for an instantly successful blog from a professional. Better yet, if you purchase your first hosting plan through my referral link (you can simply tack on a year of hosting later), I will buy you your own domain name and install everything you need to get started! I challenge you to find a better deal.

Option Two: Promote Our Contest

Do you already know the ropes or aren’t interested in starting a fresh new venture? No Problem! We have another opportunity to those of you that this applies to, and will give away from 2-3 FREE HostGator business hosting plans to two random entries (depending on above participation) to people that help out.

Prizes will be donated through racking up entries; entries can be gained in a few ways:

• 5 Entries – Blog about the contest, at least 400 words, and link back to this post
• 3 Entries – Advertise our contest with this promotional image
• 2 Entries - Link Back to the contest (blog’s pagerank must be >2)
• 1 Entry – StumbleUpon this post & comment on the stumble
• 1 Entry – Follow Me On Twitter & tweet about this contest
• Required - Comment on this page to let me know what you’ve done!

Another thanks to HostGator for sponsoring us this time. The Build-A-Blog Workshop will be starting on April 17th, 2009. If you plan to work alongside us, just drop a comment and we will get you listed! No need to register a domain name or anything like that, we will be completing all of that in the workshop. Remember, you must be subscribed to Jimvesting’s Email RSS Feed to win a prize! We’ll be updating the blog once a day with what I did in my allotted 30 minutes of blogging, this should be a fun one-month of activity.

Stay Bullish On The Net!
-Jimvesting

Related posts:

1. Win FREE Web Hosting with HostGator!!
2. Build-A-Blog Workshop Day 3: Purchasing Web Hosting and Finding the Best Deal
3. Jimvesting's Build-A-Blog Workshop is Under Way!

Way back in March of 2008, I wrote up an article on the “top wordpress plugins” to monetize your blog with ads. Since then, all but my #1 choice, OIO Publisher, have pretty much fallen down the drain… no longer updating their services or running support. Also since then, a few other tools have come up that are supposedly “reputable” ad management services for WordPress blogs. I want to use this time to once again recommend OIO Publisher to you. Why? I’ll give you five reasons!

1. The Un-Disputed #1 Monetization Tool for WordPress
There is really not much of an argument here. If you look across the top blogs in the “make money online” niche, pretty much EVERYONE has gone ahead and bought OIO Publisher to manage their ad space! It’s really a no-brainer at this point in time, since they are working around the clock to improve their services, always offer rapid support and have developed quite the time-saver! Personally, I tend to stick to the products that are the proven leaders in their industry… and OIO Publisher is that product.

2. Easy to Use, with Great Support
The WordPress blogging platform prides itself on being user-friendly, and one of the easiest systems to install in order to own and operate a website on your own… even with limited knowledge. It would make sense, therefore, to have your plugins be just as easy to use and configure. While many of the add-ons to WordPress are confusing by nature, you will find that OIO Publisher is surprisingly easy to manage and deal with. From a simple installer page, it seems at times almost TOO easy… especially with the amount of features it supports on its own.

3. Worth The Money
If WordPress is free… why would you pay for a plugin? I was hesitant at first… but after making over $100 the first month after I bought OIO Publisher, I understood exactly what made it worth the money. Advertisers look for easy access to ad-space on the internet, and typically don’t mess around with blogs that don’t have a system in place. When you have OIO Publisher, you have a system that manages everything automatically. Advertisers can simply click on an empty box on your website, and they will be directed straight to a professional order page. Once payment is received (PayPal works best), their ads are automatically placed on your site! It’s that simple… and it’s the fastest way that I have ever made money on my blog. And hey, I was in the black on this purchase after less than a month (when I had under 100 RSS subscribers too!).

4. Consistent, Powerful, Automatic
I love the fact that this plugin has generated $1000s in revenue for me, and keeps working without me doing a thing. I have it set up to notify my whenever a purchase is made so that I can approve it manually. This works nicely for me, because I like to make sure that all of the banner ads and text links that go up are aesthetically pleasing. Additionally, OIO Publisher allows you the flexibility to sell pretty much, well, everything! From banner ads to text link ads, to digital downloads and in-post advertisements… this plugin can cover all of your bases.

5. 90% Referral Commissions for January!
So why am I recommending this now? Because for a limited time, they are graciously giving away 90% of the referral commissions in January. How do you sign up to the program? Well… you have to have bought the plugin already. It’s well worth the buy, PLUS you can then promote it and make your money back through their affiliate program (in addition to selling ads). This offer is simply too good NOT to take action on… so get in on it now while the offer lasts.

If you are just starting a blog or even if you have been blogging for a while, I want to encourage you to buy OIO Publisher now! I used to put purchases like this off… thinking “oh, I’ll just buy later”… but this is the wrong way to do business. The price, simply put, won’t be falling anytime soon. Plus, the sooner you buy this plugin, the sooner you will bring in revenue from your blog and look a bit more professional. Truth be told… advertisers and readers alike think that blogs with ads up are more professional (weird, eh?). For this and the reasons above, I think that OIO Publisher is indeed an essential plugin to boost your profits!

-Jimvesting

Related posts:

1. Day 20: Creating an Ad System and Putting Up Advertisements!
2. How to Attract Advertisers to Your Blog – Get Your Site Noticed, and Get Paid!
3. Top Five Must-Have WordPress Plugins

Nowadays, it’s no secret that you can make money online blogging. In fact, just look at how many blogs we have now talking about making money online. But anyway, most are just stupid to think that by talking about making money online, they can make money online. Honestly, if you look at most “make money online” bloggers nowadays, they just run a blog hoping to make money by talking how they can make money online… but the truth is they never have any idea how to really make money themselves. Sorry for ranting!

Now, I just feel that I have to talk about a thing that most people don’t really get about having a successful blog. By saying successful, it means that it isn’t just about the income it generates. If you look at the successful bloggers today, shoemoney, johnchow, darren rowse and etc, many like to duplicate what they have done and have those people as their inspiration. But how did they really reach that lofty stature? Ok, I hate to give thrillers and drumrolls… so I’ll say it, patience!

The Number One Quality in Successful Bloggers… Patience!
Of course there are other reasons like, expertise, humor, perseverance and more… but honestly, I am surprised at how many people don’t see the value of patience. Look at what all those bloggers I have mentioned have in common… it is that they are blogging for more than 3 and 1/2 years now. 3 years is a very long time, and they are still alive and kicking. Another thing is to try to look at their archives, let’s take ProBlogger for example. You can see that he has started out writing “high-quality” content, even when he was just getting started… but he didn’t have any comments for at least the first 100 posts. I mean, can you see it? I’m sure it’s hard to swallow writing a post for an hour or two… having no one care to say their piece on it. But taking this into account, look how famous he is now!

You can say the same with others. Shoemoney wrote about his ramblings before, and no one really cared about them… but now he writes his ramblings, and look at how many comments he gets! In all, it looks like sometimes… we just have to be patient with things. Most modern bloggers start their blog and get quite excited with it (which there is nothing wrong with). After three months, if they see that no one is interested in commenting and reading… then they might want to call it quits already! If your blog is not getting what you think it should be getting… simply work harder. It might not work for the first few months… but believe me, it will make sense for the long run. Sometimes, we all need to look past what is happening in the short term, and focus in on the long run. Besides, what do you think is the first thing that makes a site successful and popular? The answer is so simple. It is because they have been there, hanging in for a long time

-Jimvesting

Related posts:

1. Build A Blogging Empire with Deception – The TRUTH Behind Successful Blogging
2. So You Want to Make a Sales Video? The Key Elements to a Successful Pitch
3. Increase Your RSS Subscribers By Trimming The Fat – Focus, Focus, Focus!

[...] I just stole your traffic! [...]

Money?! Really!?

That’s right. Hitting trackbacks is an all too common blackhat SEO method to secure lots of traffic in a small amount of time. It’s quick and effective (when done correctly), and can really leech a good portion of your traffic. Because of this, I’d like to spend the day today to explain to all of you exactly what the function of a trackback is to your blog… and how you should go about deleting or accepting them to your website.

What is a Trackback Anyway?

Trackbacks were actually originally developed for the “MovableType” blogging platform. Since then, the technology has been adapted in WordPress and Blogger blogs to increase their functionality. The original creator, SixApart, wrote: “In a nutshell, TrackBack was designed to provide a method of notification between websites: it is a method of person A saying to person B, “This is something you may be interested in.” To do that, person A sends a TrackBack ping to person B.”

So yeah, a trackback is essentially an alternative to commenting. Anytime you mention someone else’s post and link to it, they will receive a “trackback” notification (also called a “ping”)… basically letting the original blogger know that someone else is plugging them. This is a very useful tool, and it makes my Sunday Link Love all the more popular and useful. The only downside is that trackbacks make it quite easy to score a free link. It is an attempt to create a sort of “authenticity” to comments, but has been skewed (and even faked entirely) as a spammers tool in many cases.

The WhiteHat Use of Trackbacks

Trackbacks are the most useful thing since sliced bread, and make blogging so much more interactive than it would be ordinarily. So naturally, the WhiteHat use of trackbacks is two-fold. It is now possible that any time you write about someone else’s blog post, you will be leaving a real time link on their post back to your more recent article. The other side of the coin is that it creates a very authentic and friendly blogging atmosphere where people can get some attention where they wouldn’t ordinarily.

Say I am writing about this or that (as I do) and someone comes along and writes about my post, recommending it (or bashing it!). Because of the trackback feature, I am going to notice that you wrote about and linked to my blog. Since you helped me out, I’m likely to check out what you had to say. This is a fantastic way for smaller bloggers to reach out to the big boys and gain some media attention for free. By being a bit generous about your linking, it won’t be long before you are getting friendly linking activity from other bloggers in your niche interest area.

The BlackHat Use of Trackbacks

A little disclaimer: I don’t do this, and do not advocate you doing this either. The following methods I am about to outlay are considered BlackHat and could potentially get you banned from Google or otherwise disciplined.

This is why you come to Jimvesting, isn’t it? I am not going to pretend like everyone here is using WhiteHat trackbacks to be responsible bloggers. Not at all. In fact, there is a mass exodus of bloggers that use the functionality of pinging posts just to gain a traffic boost where it is not deserved for their sole benefit. Let’s talk about the other side of things, and how a lot of people are using trackbacks to make money.

The beauty of trackbacks is that few people actually understand how they work. This is one of the reasons I am writing this today, to inform! Since nobody knows what a “ping” is, very few bloggers actually delete the trackbacks that come in… believing whole-heartedly that someone actually enjoyed what they wrote and linked to them! What fools!

Using blog commenting to spam is out of touch, since people will always realize a spammy comment… but won’t necessarily pick up on a spammy trackback. Links created by trackbacks are two-way reciprocal links, and this is a problem that BlackHat folks have to deal with since two-way links do not hodl the same “link juice” that one-way links do. So, BlackHat’ers have had to devise a way to manufacture one-way trackback links to optimize their linkage.

The primary program used to automate the task is “Trackback Spider,” while there are some other slower tools like the manual form on Wiz Bang Blog. After you find a blog with the trackback feature enabled openly, you could potentially generate a whole slew of trackback links that are one-way pointing to your blog. This is basically, well, cheating. Which is exactly why so many people doing this get busted.

Arm Yourself With Knowledge!

Obviously, now that you know what people are doing with trackbacks, it is going to be a lot easier for you to defend your blog from these traffic leechers. There are two ways to defend your blog from ping attacks… spam guarding and completely disabling your website. Obviously, option one would be to turn off trackbacks completely… which you can do in your admin panel options settings. I don’t really recommend this unless you are getting absolutely pounded by trackbacks on a daily basis and can’t keep up with your spam protection. As was implied, the other method is to install a spam plugin to blog any potentially hazardous comment or ping that comes in. I use Akismet, which works quite well!

Bottom Line: Trackbacks can be a great blogging tool, or your worst enemy. If you are a BlackHat SEO kind of person, chances are you are using trackback pings to send big inflows of traffic to your blog for free… getting you lots of hits, which translates to lots of money in your pocket. I use trackbacks to send out link love to deserving bloggers, and I absolutely love the tool’s functionality as an emerging blogger’s best friend.

Related posts:

1. Day 25: Making A "Hit List" (and checking it twice!)
2. Top Five Ways to Boost Traffic to Your Blog for Free
3. Three Ways to Create Artificial Demand for Your Blog – The Fast Track to Blog Traffic

My experience has been that blogging seems to be a hobby that many want to try, but nobody actually gets off the ground. While you may have heard of the popular services like Blogger.com and WordPress.com, there is really no comparison to owning your own blog so that you can really customize and control what appears on it. The terminology and expertise can get very confusing, so here’s where I come in!

The Blog Domination Package is now FREE!

Coming from a guy that’s owned and operated many successful blogs, I have worked with my sponsors and have arranged a way to offer my Blog Domination Package (retail $150) for a whopping $0.00 to you! Let me take you from start to finish with my professional blog services, where I do everything from configuring your server to optimizing your content.

Here’s What You Get:

• Free Web Server & Hosting Configuration
• Free WordPress Installation and Setup
• Free Website Theme Consulting & Installation
• Free Custom Header / Logo with Source Files
• Select from a variety of custom-fit templates
• Free Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Service
• Free Custom Plugin Setup and Configuration

How can I offer this for free? I have worked with my main hosting affiliate HostGator, arguable the best web hosting company on the internet (and where theNetFool.com is hosted), to get you a competitive package that allows me to effectively work for free. All of my services come 100% free for new customers to HostGator that act as my referral, and I will even discount things to $75 for those of you that just need a hand setting things up and optimizing your existing setup.

Pricing Plan
Jimvesting’s Blog Domination Package is 100% free when you are signing up as a new customer to HostGator. All you need is a copy of your receipt to prove that you ordered a package, and ordered through my referral link. If you are already a HostGator customer, you may purchase the Blog Domination Package for a discounted $75 (1/2 off!) for a limited time.

Coupons: Use “WORDPRESS” to get your first month for a penny
Coupons: Use “GREEN” to get your overall package 20% off

All About HostGator
When I was faced with the move into premium hosting, I already had my preexisting stereotypes of each web hosting provider in my mind. Of course, HostGator is known for their top notch customer service, so they were on my list from the get-go. But in all honestly, HostGator will get you the most bang for your buck and has some of the fastest servers around. There is a 20% off promotion pretty much every month, so the prices are ultra-affordable, and they are a great company to work with.

Steps to Order the Blog Domination Package:

I want to help everyone that wants to blog, but simply doesn’t understand the system process a chance to hit it big online. I will be providing you a high-quality blog with optimized content that will more easily get you some attention (if wanted). Here are the steps to take in order to qualify:

1. Order HostGator web hosting using this link

2. Wait for the official receipt to come in your email inbox

3. Use theNetFool.com’s “Contact Form” with “Blog Domination” in the subject line and include your transaction # for verification purposes

4. I will contact you and start consulting and building your new blog for free!

Check out this SAMPLE of a blog you can get set up for absolutely zero cost through the Blog Domination Package. The Almost Millionaire was set up for zero cost!

“Jim just performed this service for me and I have been EXTREMELY HAPPY with the deal.  He walked me through the process start to finish and timely completed all tasks that were too technical for a newbie like me! I highly suggest anyone who is using blogger or a non-hosted service to take advantage of Jim’s expertise and upgrade your online presence. Thanks Jim!” -The Almost Millionaire

Summary of the Blog Domination Package

I decided to start offering the Blog Domination Package as a way to get all of you readers who like my content, but don’t have blogs, in the game. It’s a fantastic idea to form a blog if you are interested in sharing your insight or making a bit of supplementary income. With Jimvesting’s Blog Domination Package, you can get the professional consulting and optimization services that you would normally expect from a paid service… for free! I like the sound of that.

-Jimvesting

Related posts:

1. Jimvesting's Blogger Stimulus Package – Want to Start a Blog? Let Me Help!
2. The Fool is Working Hard – And We're Launching Another Stimulus Package!
3. Looking for an Alternative? Check Out Web Hosting Hub!

Dump the large lists of WordPress plugins and focus on the essentials. Sure, there are some awesome plugins that you should install on any blog you ever own… but there are plenty of plugins that work better if you have a photo blog, a stock market blog or even a collection of essays. So without further ado, here are my personal “Top Ten WordPress Plugins That You Need,” followed by a few high-caliber plugins that you should install for various niche blogs.

The Top Ten WordPress Plugins That You Need!
You might be writing about politics, or you might be writing about animals… regardless, you are going to want to install all of the following plugins to boost your reader participation, increase traffic and boost your blog to the top of the rankings.

1. Akismet
Naturally, the self-proclaimed “king” of spam catching has to be your number one plugin. I’ve caught about 15,000 spam comments on theNetFool.com with this plugin and absolutely love the fact that it is catching about 95% of the junk that comes through. Best of all… it’s completely free to obtain a license!

2. All In One SEO Pack
If you are trying to boost your Google Search Engine Ranking Positions (SERPs), it’s important to optimize your entire website so that it is better received by major search engines and news agencies. Make this a priority. WordPress by default is terribly organized, so set up AIO and max out your traffic.

3. Google XML Sitemaps
I’m a big proponent of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Google absolutely gobbles up websites that make an updated “sitemap” available. The Google XML Sitemaps plugin does this for you, so you’ll have everything ready to go.

4. Brian’s Threaded Comments
Threaded Comments is the most recent plugin that I have installed, and I couldn’t be more pleased. This adds the functionality of having your guests respond and interact on a whole new level in the comment area. By embedding “replies” inside of the original comments, we no longer have to sort through a laundry list of comments to read a conversation.

5. Subscribe Remind
Want to boost your RSS subscriber numbers? Sometimes, this really is as simple as a quick reminder. Subscribe Remind is my favorite plugin to add a short plug at the bottom of each post… asking for readers to subscribe to your feed. A simple WordPress plugin with a huge implication on your traffic.

6. WWW Redirect
Did you know that having people link to your site differently (e.g. “http://yoursite” v. “http://www.yoursite”) is killing your traffic and rankings? WWW Redirect changes everything automatically to “www.” format with no need to muck around in your .htaccess file. This is a no-brainer!

7. CommentLuv
Give your readers an incentive to comment on your blog! CommentLuv really spreads the link love around, and will allow you to reward every comment with a fresh link back to their latest blog post. This is a win-win situation that will encourage more comments than ever before.

8. Comment Relish
Too many people ask me how I generate that nice email that goes out the first time you comment on theNetFool.com. I have used Comment Relish to mail out an automatic “welcome” letter on every blog I’ve ever owned, and you can even ask them to subscribe to make things more useful. It’s completely automatic after you set it up, and your users will thank you.

9. Top Commentators
Going with the theme, having a blog where people are commenting is a powerful tool. Since we want to leverage our reader base to the best of our ability, the Top Commentators plugin will gift your shining stars with a free link back to their blogs if they are among the most active.

10. ShareThis or Sociable (Social Media Networking)
Social Media has exploded as a reliable and fast-paced source of traffic and reputation for many blogs. Use either ShareThis or Sociable (both are great) to add a quick link on the bottom of every blog post/page so that people can Digg/Stumble/Reddit/etc. your best material with better accuracy.

This list is ordered to the best of my ability, and I really feel like I hit on all of the areas that you will want to optimize and add features to on your own blog. I use all of the following on Jimvesting dot com, and have never thought twice as they all add something unique.

Top Five Finance Blog Plugins
Got a financial blogsite? You probably would love to have some streaming news on the market and stock quotes in a prominent position of your website. Try out these WordPress-compatible plugins to increase the functionality of your blog!

1. Embedded Stock Data
This plugin is my absolute favorite overall, very smart. Chances are, if you are writing with a financial slant, you are going to at least mention a few publicly traded companies here and there. With Embedded Stock Data, you can embed the stock price and some more information right in your posts!

2. Stock Quote Sidebar
Research shows that a majority of the American public has money invested in the stock market in 2008, so the odds are strong that you have at least a few thousand invested in publicly traded stocks. Keep track of your performance and let your viewers know how you are doing with Stock Quote Sidebar!

3. Stock Quote Tooltip
Similar to the Embedded Stock Data plugin, Stock Quote Tooltip creates an awesome mouseover effect that will reveal a daily stock chart of any company that appears in your blog posts. It’s lightweight and very easy to set up.

4. Stock Symbol Plugin
Despite a slight lack in support, SaneBull is my favorite “tooltip” (mouseover) stock market plugin because of the beautiful streaming data that it pulls every time you mention a stock in your posts. Try it out and see for yourself!

5. Yahoo Finance Badge
Yahoo has come up with a great sidebar widget to stick in your financial blog anywhere you want. Called the “Badge” by nature, Yahoo’s new tool let’s you track your portfolio live, and you can even grab the latest news headlines and have them displayed on your website.

Top Five Community & Multi-Author Blog Plugins
Lot’s of websites nowadays are run on a community basis. With WordPress so easy to use, many people have multiple authors feeding articles into the website. Let’s have a look at some of the plugins that make this functionality more worth your while.

1. Role Manager
This is one of the best kept secrets in WordPress plugins, and is definitely in my personal top five. If you have multiple authors on your blog, you can use Role Manager to change specific capabilities on a user-to-user basis… so you can give control to your best writers in a more effective and safe way.

2. Get Author Profile
One of the best functions of WordPress is that it allows you to set up user profiles for each author. But this is no good if nobody can see it! Use the Get Author Profile plugin and get your writers’ information put into the spotlight.

3. Profile Pics Plugin
If you have multiple writers, it looks much neater to allow each to submit their own image for you to list alongside their posts. Profile Pics is the plugin for you! Use this simple add-on to enhance the way each post looks when published.

4. Future Posts Calender
Ever scheduled a post into the future but weren’t really sure when you wanted it to launch? Use the Future Posts Calender to manage and organize your posts in order to have everything go public at exactly the right time. This one is new to me, and absolutely brilliant!

5. Our To-do List Plugin
What if you have multiple authors, but can’t always communicate? Out To-do List lets you put up a public chalkboard to write down and designate tasks throughout the week so everyone is on the same page. This brings a whole new level to your administrative backend!

Top Five “For-Profit” Blog Plugins
Are you just in it for the money? No need to be shy, we all like a little revenue to keep us motivated to write… so here are the best five monetization plugins to get your advertisements pulling in more cash than ever before.

1. OIO Publisher
If you are looking for your end-all solution to manage, sell and promote advertising on your website… look no further than OIO Publisher. At $37, it’s the best buy that I have ever made and you will make the initial investment back 100% in no time!

2. Adsense Manager
I don’t use this plugin because I no longer have an AdSense account. However, the Adsense Manager is known far and wide as the best Google Adsense ad management system for WordPress blogs.

3. WP-Amazon
If you’ve ever wanted to link to a book, movie or product relative to your post, you probably should be using WP-Amazon to pull live links from Amazon that display professionally where you want.

4. PayPal Donate
One of the more simple ways to make money on your blog is to ask for it. Add a PayPal donation button to your blog with ease with the PayPal Donate plugin made for WordPress.

5. AdRotator
AdRotator is the best system that I’ve come across other than WordPress for installing different ad slots around your website so that you can list your advertisements in the most effective places possible.

Top Writing and Document-Intensive Blog Plugins
Many blogs nowadays focus on writing. With a lot of professionals publishing new websites to write on, many of these are very article-intensive and a lot of people write things like newspapers, poetry and case studies. Let’s pick the best for these blogs!

1. WP-Print
As simple as it sounds, WP-Print adds the function to allow your readers to print each article straight from your blog in an optimized format. This one is simple, but very effective, and is one of my favorites.

2. Post2PDF
If you can’t have it in printed version, Adobe reader (.pdf) files have started to become the new standard in reading technology. Give your visitors the chance to grab posts in .pdf format with Post2PDF!

3. ThinkFree Document Viewer
Many of us have important documents to distribute or personal works that we want to reveal on the internet. ThinkFree Document Viewer solves this problem and allows you to let your viewers check out what you have uploaded much easier.

4. Blurb Book Publisher
Did you know that you can mold all of your articles into an actual book format? With the Blurb plugin you can publish everything quite easily, making this one heck of an addition.

5. AttachFiles
It’s not easy to list files you have available for your users to download if you are running a blog. AttachFiles solves this problem and let’s you provide incomers with a quick link to the files you have offered.

Top Image and Photo Blog Plugins
Photographers are some of the most influential bloggers of our time, and many blogs like to recount personal episodes with the use of images on their websites. Check out some of the best image plugins for keeping track of it all.

1. Image Manager
This is by far the number one plugin for getting your images up in your blog posts and articles every day. With more features to account for, you’ve got to check out what Image Manager has to offer.

2. Batch Image Uploader
If you’ve ever used the WordPress image uploader, it can really be a pain if you need multiple images at once. The Batch Image Uploader plugin solves this issue.

3. iMax Width
Many of the images you will use exceed the width of the content area. iMax Width fixes this forever by establishing some simple resizing rules that will get everything fitting where it needs to be, saving your layout the horror.

4. ThickBox
Once of the best Web 2.0 effects is having images load up in a nice browser-centered overlay in a zoomed-in view. Don’t know what I mean? Check out ThickBox for one cool effect.

5. Yet Another Photoblog
Photographers and photobloggers rejoice with YAPB, one of the best photo-blogging WordPress plugins available. Organize your images in a whole new way.

Whew! Those sure were a lot of targeted and reliable plugins, eh? My suggestion would be to use no more than 15 of these… meaning the ten must-have’s and five from one of the lists depending on how your blog is focused. WordPress plugins are great, but they can slow you down if you have too many. Still, some are simple too cool to pass up… here’s to the great developers that gift us with these awesome additions!

-Jimvesting

Related posts:

1. Day 22: Installing and Adding Plugins to Your WordPress Blog
2. Day 21: Installing and Adding Plugins to your WordPress Blog
3. Top Five Must-Have WordPress Plugins

It is my firm belief that one of the best ways to retain blog readers, encourage commenting… and ultimately increase your traffic is to simply stick to your niche, your focus area. Sure, there are a few blogs about nothing… but it’s tough to get any interest if your readers are interested in internet marketing and you get side-tracked into talking about web design.

Jimvesting Dot Com Trims the Fat
Over the past few months, I have taken a blog that had WAY too many “focus areas” for its own good, to a fine-tuned machine capable of unspeakable destruction producing great growth numbers. The following is a little about my history. Jimvesting.com was originally started up with three focuses: stock market, sportsbooks and get paid to programs. You’ll notice that nowhere on that list is the more obvious “make money online” niche. I started out making myself way too many promises. I was going to update sports spreads and my personal wagers every week, post multiple stock pitches and review GPT programs. What was I thinking? I suffered through 4-5 months with less than 25 subscribers because I didn’t understand how to trim the fat and focus on what I really wanted to say.

“Make money online” was ultimately a combination of my interests, as all three topics were essentially ploys to try and make revenue on the internet. It wasn’t until I rejuvenated my blog into a focused website that I really saw growth develop. This brings me to the most important rule of blogging:

Rule #1: Start Small, and Gradually Increase Your Niche Focus Area

There’s no doubt in my mind that every successful blogger has started small and gradually expanded their focus outward as subscriber numbers grow. There is really no other way to do it, because without a following you can not… and should not… attempt to diversity your portfolio. Nobody is going to be able to follow along, and you are throwing away otherwise interested subscribers that will boost your rankings and exposure. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity!

Taking a Break v. Taking a Break
There are two different types of break-taking activity that I would like to talk about here. I feel that it’s nearly impossible to keep putting out techniques, tutorials and the like day after day. With this in mind, lots of bloggers, myself included, like to fill dead time with some personal time with readers… anywhere from looking at payment proof to talking about a new website you think is interesting in your niche. However, many bloggers confuse this type of relaxation with taking a break from their focus areas, and put out posts that, quite frankly, are a complete waste of time.

Jimvesting Calls You Out!
A few examples of this that caught my eye: Garry Conn, an internet marketing blogger, wrote about… rotator cuff excercises? The Germz, a make money online blogger, wrote about… T.I. music lyrics? This happens all the time. While I can give these guys the pass because they are obviously doing it just to try to place higher on Google for random search results, I still feel that articles like this are a waste of time. Why? Well you aren’t trying to sell your product to a hip-hop dance crew (or a rotator-cuff injury ward?), so you are probably putting out useless content.

Don’t get me wrong, traffic is great… but we want the traffic flowing to our blog to be real, not from something completely unrelated that will soon dwindle. For me, I want to cater to the subscribers that I already have and expand my reach gradually. If you get so large that you have nothing else to write about but your cousins new truck, be my guest. Until that point, you are much better off focusing on your target area, trimming the fat, and increasing your rss subscriber numbers the right way… with superior, and relevant, content.

-Jimvesting

Related posts:

1. Creating A Blog – Part One: Establishing Your Niche & Focus
2. Making a Killer Link Bait Page – How To Boost Your SERPs and RSS Subscribers
3. Content Before Cash? Not In This Town!