I was brainstorming for a post this morning when it hit me, I had no idea what to blog about! So naturally, I headed over to Google looking for ideas, this is probably one of the best idea-generating machine around. After racking my brain for hours, about the only solid idea that I came up with was a bit too much of a link-baiting operation for my tastes… then it hit me… I’ll write about things to blog about when your mind completely shuts down! Wow. How clever am I, right?

This can be hard for most bloggers. There is always a mental plateau that we reach when we start to reach goals for the first time. Because of this, I have started to keep a notepad to jot down ideas as I come by them… a virtual arsenal of posts. But let’s discuss prevention later, eh? Right now, you are having a problem and you need help. Here are some tips to jump-start your thinking.

1. Make a List!
See what I am doing right now? That’s right, make a list! Not only do articles with lists of, for example, “top five ways to tie your shoes” or “the worst three blogs on the internet” drag a lot of attention, they are typically going to be self-sustaining posts that will be revisited over and over again. This is essentially one of the most important rules of blogging, write timeless information… things people will want to visit and search for again and again. This is your best bet if you run out of ideas, and will definitely look good to your readers.

2. Interview Your Peers
Blogging interviews can be very informative and you will typically be able to catch a popular blogger willing to share information on the fly. Make sure that you prepare some interesting questions ahead of time. The advantage here is that you will more than likely be posting a link to his/her website. With any luck, they will bring up your post and BAM! in comes some awesome traffic for your efforts. Not only that, but the way interviews are structured typically is easy on the eyes, and makes you look like a real professional.

3. Review a Service/Opportunity
When I first started blogging, I did a lot of review of different services that you can use to do things like manage a stock portfolio, track your visitors and even manage your favorite websites. There are ton’s of great topics that people are willing to dig for, and it’s always great to help people out. Chances are, you are using some kind of website or product that people want to hear about. Tell them how it is! You’d be surprised how many searches I get every day for my BetUS.com post (online sportsbook). I really just wrote this posting in a rush and didn’t expect anyone to read it. Turns out… there are lots of people interested, and a lot of potential traffic.

4. Bash A Service/Opportunity
There’s nothing like a good roast, is there? Just the opposite end of point #3, if you have a service that you have used in the past that frustrated you, let people know why it is bad. Not to be a negative Ne, but it seems that more search engine traffic rolls in from websites that point out flaws than those that shower praise. Be controversial and take a stand against a company that has done you wrong, people will listen! Now this is not an open license to wreak havoc on the web, always write responsible, well-researched and supported information; but as long as you have your proof… have at it!

5. Answer a Reader’s Question
I have a few posts floating around that answer common questions asked by my readers. This is a great way to connect with your viewer base and make sure that you are networking the right way. I have answered questions ranging from “how do I know x company will actually pay me?” to “how do I open a stock portfolio?” and both have been great ways to touch base with the people reading my blog. You need to always make sure that you aren’t going over anyone’s head when you are writing, so if you have a lot of questions… make sure you take the time to slow down and answer them!

6. Write a Tutorial Post
We’ve all been stuck on one thing or another. Writing a tutorial, or a walk-through of sorts, for something as simple as “how to start a blog” or “how to research a stock” is going to invite both discussion and interest. Everyone asks questions, and as a blogger, it can sometimes be your responsibility to answer them. If you are rushing for an idea in a pinch, I’d recommend writing (or starting a series of posts… hmm now we’re thinking) about something you are good at and you believe others would need help in. Fire up that article archive with some helpful information!

7. Add to a Blog Post or Conversation
This is a great method of making your own blog post out of someone else’s that requires little effort and is often well-traffic’ed. You will need first a successful blog post that people are legitimately interested in, but you have something you think is wrong or something you’d like to add. Let’s take a recent posting from retireat21.com titled “Top 30 Young Bloggers Under 21“… oh look I’m on the list… well anyways… one of my fellow bloggers Jason from theuniversitykid.com decided he didn’t want my name on the list apparently (just kidding Jason ) so he made his own spin-off version of the list on his website. Its controversial, its catchy, its popular, its a recipe for success!

8. Niche Ramblings
Consider first that people come to your blog because they want to learn about what you are talking about in that particular niche. Then consider that most of these people are going to be interested in what grinds your gears, or what you love (current events) that is going on at the moment. This could be anything from “there are way too many contests!” to “social networking is really coming alive!” and the public will listen. If you can create a demand for what you have to say, there will be interest. Being controversial can be the easy way out, but if you are crunched for time, why not take that low road? On the other side of things, a positive remarks post will help your readers along.. and your interactivity (comments and such) should increase as a result.

9. Write What Is Hot!
If people are searching for something, you should be picking up on this right away and trying to capitalize on their demand. What do I mean by this? Well most search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN) have things like the “top 100 searches” that basically tell you where the money is at. Think about the possibilities . If people are already searching for the terms, there is little hit-and-miss at work here. When you are stumped about what to write next, how about turning to a search engine and find out what people want to hear?

10. Go To Bed
Sometimes, we all get a bit flustered. Don’t ever fall into the trap that you need to post every day. If you really can’t come up with anything intelligent to write, just move away from the computer for a day and do other things you like to do. Seriously, give your mind a rest will yeh? Some of the best ideas out there have stemmed from dreams or just random “aha!” moments you can have when you are in class, playing basketball or even washing your car. Try not to think about it and ideas will flock to you. It’s much better to write good material than force out lame re-writes!

Hopefully, all of you struggling for ideas have used this post to your advantage in keeping up with your competitors. As important as it is to post, you should never feel that you need to post. Some of the most successful blogs in the world only post two or three times a week after all! That’s all from me this time, if you have any questions or comments… have at it!

-Jimvesting

If you have been a steady reader here at Jimvesting, you may have noticed that about a week ago I added a “Net Fool Twitter” widget to my sidebar. So what the heck does it do? Well basically, this is an online system that lets me update my current “what am I doing” status to let you guys connect with me on a different level. Sounds a bit strange/useless at first… but I am convinced that Twitter can be not only a tool for networking, but for increasing your traffic!

Let’s start with a general feel for what Twitter is, both on the surface and underneath it all. Here is how they define it:

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” -Twitter.com

So really, I would think about it as a blend of Facebook, Instant Messaging, Email and Text Messaging. It is what is known as a “mini-blogging” tool, because it is essentially a low-end version of a weblog!

I know what you are thinking… “wow, how useless is that… what does anyone care about what I am doing?” I thought this too, but the system is actually a lot more practical than it appears on the surface. Using it is easy and completely free, which is always nice. All you need to do is make an account any you are on your way. They give you ways to generate code to put right onto your blog (as I have done), but you technically only need the website to let people know what you are doing.

When you log into your user account at Twitter.com, you are shown an obvious interface with a box to type/update what you are doing. Below this, a listing of all of your friends recent updates. This is a fantastic way to get a view on what people are like, what they are doing in their free time, which really is an advantage in building a relationship. For example: I have written on mine when I am in the Penn State Trading Room, and just what I am doing there. Am I researching a particular stock, am I updating my blog, did I find a funny video link or am I just watching a movie. Its just a simple one line of information, and I think that because it is so simple, people actually like to hear about it!

So how can you update your Twitter status? Do you really have to log into the website every time you just want to let people know you found an interesting YouTube video? As the network has expanded, so have its features. You can always opt for IMing the Twitter username your status, and they update it right away. But now you can do things like text messaging and even G-Chat messaging (my preferred ). All you need to do is write what’s up, and BAM! its updated in your feed (or in your blog’s sidebar or wherever you have it displayed), they call this a badge. Convenient and easy.

Twitter goes beyond just you updating your status, you can now communicate with friends by sending messages with “@username MESSAGE” as the format. In this way, messages are sent back and forth so you can talk on a whole new level. In addition to this, you can opt to “follow” certain members, and they can opt to “follow” you right back. This means that they will see all of your updates, and vice versa. I haven’t even advertised me doing this and I have picked up a few followers… nice .

Okay, okay. But how can Twitter increase your traffic?! I am a firm believer in networking and trade. All you really need to boost your traffic is more people visiting your blog more frequently. By having a Twitter feed embedded in your website, I would say it is up to 25% more likely for your readers to come back. Why? Part of blogging is establishing a connection with your readers. There is no better connection than a personal tab where you can both communicate. It’s easy, and by expanding on your “followers” network, more and more people are going to come around and read what you have to say. Bottom line: friends visit friends’ blogs

There are a few voices of concern around Twitter, but this is mainly about some bugs. For example, the servers seem to have problems with all of the updates, and it seems that a small percentage of “tweets” don’t go through and get updated. I have maybe had this happen once or twice, but it’s really not too much of a concern. There are also a few complaints floating around about the speed of things, but I feel like it updates fast enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.

Is twitter worthless and a waste of time? Perhaps, at least a lot of people will tell you. Can it be effective if used correctly? Yes, I believe so. Many people will tell you that using Twitter to update your status is a complete waste of time, but I feel that it can allow you to network in ways not before possible, so it can help your traffic along! Judge how you may, Twitter is worth checking out!

-Jimvesting

In the age of affiliate networking and social bookmarking through programs like EntreCard and AdSense, the so-called “Project Wonderful” has been making a splash as one of the best in its class. Made primarily for use by low-budget bloggers looking for some added traffic, the Project Wonderful system really does work well… despite its tedious flaws.

After using Project Wonderful to advertise my link to this blog, I feel that it is a great idea to let all of you know about the great ad prices you can get by using this network. A lot of the participating websites are somewhat small in the amount of traffic received daily, but I think that there is just enough around to get that added level of exposure we are all looking for .

What is Project Wonderful?
First things first, just what is this system? Primarily, it is an all-in-one ad management program. By installing a code on your website, you make it possible for Project Wonderful users to bid on that area constantly… the highest bid wins, and this winner can shift by the minute. What do I mean? Well if a 125×125 space on my website has been calculated to be $0.20 per day and I bid over this, my ad is immediately forced into that position until I am outbid. If AdSense and eBay got into a bad car wreck, the result would be Project Wonderful .

What is the advantage of using Project Wonderful?
Plain and simple, advertising space that is cheap. While many of the websites employing the service have little to no traffic, I have found some great buys and have been placing my ad (and getting hits) for no more than ten cents a day. The advantage comes in the fact that it is essentially an auction for ad space that is ongoing, and always gives you the best price possible. Using the system can be a great way to get some extra readers to your website.

Who should use Project Wonderful?
Small bloggers only. This is a new system, and as such, few people have actually signed up as producers. When you go to the “place a new bid” option and search out sites relevant to your own, you will typically come across only a small number of sites that are actually in your focus area. Because of this, I think that this ad network can really help out small bloggers by both giving some extra income on the publishing side, and gaining some cheap traffic on the advertising end of things. Bigger competitors might find the exposure very limited, and not worth the trouble.

Issues/Concerns with the PW System
My problems with this system lie in the auction-type configuration. While it may be an advantage in getting dirt-cheap ad space, you frequently get “outbid” by other members and all of your ads get bumped out of the system. This means that you really need to be checking all of the time to see if all of your slots are still active. On this note, if you are publishing other people’s ads, you are probably going to be giving away your valued ad space at a considerable discount to what you should be fetching.

My Experience
So far, Project Wonderful has worked out very nicely for me. Not only is it easy to advertise on the cheap, but they track all of your views and clicks automatically. Lets use my advertisement on Blogging Mix as an example. My current bid is just $0.13 for this great ad spot right on the top of the page. I just signed up for this last night, but have already seen 12 unique clicks at a “Cost Per Mille” of $0.22. So essentially, I am already raking in more traffic than my advertising is worth! The ability to track how your ads are doing makes Project Wonderful, well, wonderful!

“If AdSense and eBay got into a bad car wreck, the result would be Project Wonderful.” – Jimvesting

Bottom Line: Project Wonderful is a great (and thrifty) option for upstart bloggers like myself. Bigger contenders will typically be losing out on discounted advertising rates, so I would encourage only those looking to expand on some affordable traffic to use this system. The tracking allows you to check up on how you are outperforming/underperforming versus how much you are paying. Project Wonderful is a great new spin on advertising, and the ease-of-use makes them worth checking out

-Jimvesting

Nobody likes you. It’s sad but true, eh? You get traffic, but nobody subscribes. You get emails saying “hey I liked your blog,” but nobody ever comments or comes back. I have seen countless bloggers struggle to produce effective content, competitive traffic, retained readers or all of the above. There are many fish in this sea, and unless you are confident and unique… you are going to fail. Don’t fall into this trap!

Hate to be a downer, but it needs to be said.

There are many ways to turn off potential “regulars” like myself, and I have literally seen them all. You need to separate yourself from the pack, and to get on the map… so without further ado, here is the top five list of why people aren’t sticking around.

1. Your Content is Bland and Unoriginal
This is an obvious starter. If your content is composed of mindless ramblings about what you did at work today, or useless commentary about how great Stumble Upon or EntreCard is… why even have a blog? Realize that nobody wants to read about what kind of sandwich you prefer just as much as nobody wants to be batted down with common knowledge that they can probably find more about by just visiting the creator’s website

This was really brought to my attention by my blogging buddy Jason Periera in his recent posting, and the kid has a point. What he misses is that it is fine to have the basics. I think that every start up blog needs to have some generally understood information like “how do I buy stock?” and “how do I boost my RSS subscribers?” before continuing. It’s a fact, you need the starting point. However, if you don’t branch off and start telling people how you are running things in a unique way… why would anyone stick around?

I think the best lesson here is that after you write a post, always to back over it and say to yourself “would I want to read this?” If you yourself think that your writing is water under the bridge, then delete it and start over, as painful as that might be.

2. You Draw Up Lame Metaphors About Blogging
Stop it. There is nothing I hate more than posts that start out “blogging is like a race car” or “writing a post is like climbing a tree.” Seriously, blogging is usually going to be about one of three things: making money, getting famous or teaching/helping readers. If you can’t help yourself but tell us how much boosting traffic is like baking a cake, sell your website now and save us the hassle. Please.

When people read posts like this or this, they are thinking to themselves… wow I just wasted five minutes of my life, I wish he/she had some actual advice for me. I’m sorry for calling you out, but it had to be said. This is just like the girl in school that takes black and white pictures and everyone says “wow, you are so artistic” when they are really saying to themselves: “wow, that was just a bad picture.”

Don’t be that black-and-white artist. Give us something we can use!

3. You are Selling Your Soul, and Your Soul Isn’t Worth a Dime
If your website has less than 100 readers a day and you are trying to load up your content with Adsense advertisements, you better know what you are doing. I’m all for effective advertising, pestering readers with “subscribe to my feed!” requests and writing up the occasional sponsored posting. But only if you are qualified.

Before you monetize your website, ask yourself if you would pay $5 a month to read your own material. This is basically an understatement of the opportunity cost foregone when someone is an active reader of your blog, roughly five bucks. If you wouldn’t pay a measly five dollars to subscribe to your own content, nobody is going to want to break through advertisements in order to read your stuff.

I could care less if you are giving up profit for a month or two, it just isn’t worth it. There is nothing that is more of a turn off than blogs that are chock-full of ads and bad content (and a bad design too perhaps ). If you yourself wouldn’t want to pay for your content, why impose a toll (advertising) on your readers for doing the same? Don’t sell your soul if the devil ain’t buying.

4. You Use Freebies Instead of Paying Your Dues
You know exactly what I am talking about. If you are trying to boost your traffic, your readership, your income and you are sitting on a “.wordpress.com” or a “.blogspot.com” domain name… you don’t deserve it. If you are using free web hosting from I-care-more-about-my-2-bucks-than-my-readers.com instead of paying the CHEAP fees involved with reliable web hosting in this day and age… you don’t deserve it.

It’s time to get serious about blogging folks!

The blogging universe is a crowded place, and if you haven’t paid your 6 bucks yearly for a cheap domain name, then you aren’t going to be noticed (save a few). It’s the cheapest way to guarantee a shred of respect around. Buying a domain name is very easy, very cheap and very effective. If you don’t have one, people feel turned off from the get-go… believe me. Save yourself the trouble and open that wallet, you won’t regret it.

Buying the domain name is a must. But I would recommend going a step further and paying for web hosting from one of the big resellers like Host Gator or 1&1. This will run you just a few bucks a month, and boy is it worth it. You now have peace of mind that your website wont take more than 7 seconds to load (I click out of these immediately) and that everything functions as it should (crashes, debugging messages, etc.). It is very cost effective nowadays, and you don’t need much space at all (50mb – 250mb should cover this requirement with ease).

The Bottom Line: If you don’t like your blog enough to spring for some extras, people aren’t likely to find your material interesting or worthwhile.

5. You Don’t Post Regularly, So I Don’t Visit Regularly
The title says it all. Unless you are writing some brilliant articles 2 times weekly, you probably should be aiming to post every day or at minimum 4-5 times a week. After all, your competition is doing it!

Even if I have nothing original for the day (rare ), I will still at least put up an announcement post that lets you guys in on how I am doing and what to expect coming up. As much as you want to escape the issue, the fact remains that you have bloggers in your niche, and whoever is putting out more unique content will win the race in the long run.

When I first started blogging, I made a list of 25 websites I wanted to visit regularly. After about a week, I noticed that a few of these bloggers weren’t updating at all… and guess what happened *guillotine sound effect.* Don’t put your blog on the back-burner, and neither will the public.

I know this is more of a rant than anything else, but heed my word because it represents what the world thinks about your blog site. Fix it! The simple metrics I have mentioned like buying a domain name and posting useful articles can go for miles. Globalization of the blogging world is upon us, where will you be?

-Jimvesting

The EntreCard system is a relatively new sensation that has hit the blog world by storm. In essence, it is a system that allows bloggers and website owners to exchange ads by trading “EntreCard credits,” gained from clicking around on other websites, for a day’s worth of ad space. I have had great success using this ad network to place my banner on popular websites where I couldn’t normally afford to pay for advertising. Point taken. When your small, EntreCard delivers. But when you’re big, EntreCard leeches traffic!

I feel like we should start with a description of the EntreCard system. It’s very smart in design, and is a sort of inverse pyramid-scheme of sharing traffic. When you sign up for an account on EntreCard, you upload your 125×125 banner ad and a short description of your website. Once you place the script on your website (seen on my sidebar), you can visit other websites and “drop your card.” This is nothing more than acknowledging that you have been to the website and have seen the ad currently sitting in their widget. You get one EntreCard credit for every “drop” you make, and can then turn around and use these credits to purchase daily ad space on participating blogs.

Why Is This Bad?!

I love EntreCard. Why? Because I am leeching off of the big guys for now. I think that any website that is popular and using EntreCard is out of their mind. The fact that just 10 minutes of link following can buy me a day’s worth of advertising on multiple websites like Feed The Bull and John Chow is ridiculous. Seriously, what the heck were these guys thinking? I give all of the credit in the world to John Cow for refusing this service. But evidentially, things have yet to hit home for many bloggers.

The system of estimating advertising costs for EntreCard is ridiculous. You can have a blog with 20 RSS subscribers costing 450+ credits a day, and then John Chow (almost 21,000) costs but 200! Something is wrong here.

Not only do the advertising rates make no sense, but the actual traffic driven to your website is downright lousy. Research shows that people clicking your ad on participating websites are typically looking to rack up more “drops” rather than a legitimate interest. What this means, is that the little guys (*I wave hello*) get awesome ad coverage, not too concerned about whether or not our name sticks as long as we get some recognition. On the other side of the coin, people with legitimate traffic are only allowing EntreCard-drop spammers, who don’t generate and “real traffic,” to pass by their websites.

And we’re off to the races. Entrecard is a huge drag on your traffic and competition. Your traffic turns from solid organic growth, to crummy passer-bys. Your competition gains ground on you, while you loan out your subscribers to “lesser” websites at a discount. I can’t help but laugh. This is fantastic for me as a start-up, but the big dogs are losing money in this transaction.

EntreCard is a small-blog conspiracy, its a charity donation from the rich.

Back up the system as much as you want, but there is a natural flaw behind the reasoning in this system. The people at the bottom of this pyramid scheme are the big time popular bloggers with armies of subscribers. Who’s at the top? What I like to call “drop-spammers” that rack up credits with ease and leech away advertising room. I’m not as popular (yet) as competing blogs… so I’m stickin’ with EntreCard!

-Jimvesting