Starting A Blog: Linky Etiquette

Do you participate in MeMes and link up at as many blogs as have Simply Linked or MrLinky widgets?  If you don't, you should - it does help drive traffic to your site.  It draws in new readers and some may even stay awhile to check out your blog. 

I offer two link ups a week - one on Wednesday for Wordless Wednesday and one on Saturday for Bloghopping Saturday.  I have quite a few people link up and I love visiting the blogs that link up.  I do not expect comments in return - I just do it because I love it. 

However, for those that use these link up times or others that are placed all over the blogosphere, did you know that there is proper etiquette for using these widgets?  Here it is:  Always comment on the post that you link up on. 

Why? 

1.  In a small way, it thanks the blogger who has provided a way for you to get free traffic to your site.  That blogger has basically given you free advertising to your site when they really didn't have to do so. 

2.  The blogger who provided the widget for you is more than likely to visit the sites that commented on her site.  She might skip the links that didn't comment because she may feel it is a waste of her time as you didn't take the time to acknowledge her post.  Some link ups like giveaways and Bloghopping Saturday are harder to comment on and do not necessarily need a comment; however, Wordless Wednesdays and memes like that should be commented on.  These bloggers love the comments like you do. 

3.  Commenting on other blogs can build your Google Page Rank as well as cause others to visit your site.  Commenting is an important part of networking your blog so the more you comment the better off you are. 

What are your thoughts?  Are you more likely to visit a blogger who has visited you and commented on your site? 

Starting A Blog: Find A Mentor

As a new blogger, one of the best things you can do is find a mentor.  A mentor is someone that has been in the blogging world longer than you have been and can help you with the learning curve.  A mentor can help you with many aspects of blogging and here's a few:


1. Product Reviews - the ins and outs of reviewing products.  A veteran blogger knows what type of companies welcome new bloggers and can also share with you what type of companies you should not try to pitch.  A veteran blogger knows what companies are looking for and may even be able to help you design your pitch letter, help you the beginnings of your writings, and they may even have a couple of emails to share with you.

2.  Writing Skills - a mentor can help you hone your writing skills.  A mentor will never try to change the way you write but can give you some valuable insight into what may detract from your writings.

3.  The Rules and Etiquette of Blogging.  Many bloggers have learned the hard way what you should and shouldn't do when blogging.  Ask them what they wish they hadn't done and they'll probably give you a list of things to avoid.  A mentor can teach what other bloggers will not like you for or what other bloggers find annoying with new bloggers.  Trust me, as new blogger, you are going to do things that us older bloggers are going to roll our eyes over. 


4.  Build your SEO.  If SEO sounds like a different language, get a mentor!  You need to know about SEO so that you can start building yours.

5.  Teach you what Google Page Rank, Alexia, Stats, and Technorati all mean.  These are bloggers worst enemies but you still need to know about them and how you can use them to your best advantage.  Pick the brains of a veteran blogger. 


6.  Website Design.  While your mentor, may not know everything about web design - they may be able to share with you how to number comments, what things cause your site to run slowly, and what things you should have listed on your site for both readers and PR reps. 

A mentor can be invaluable and I highly encourage you to find a blogger who you respect.  If you read their blog and respect their work, send them an email.  Not all bloggers want to be mentors so they may not email you back but there are other bloggers who would love to help.  These bloggers remember what it was like when they first started and want every blogger to succeed because they know that gives bloggers a good name when newbies succeed.  So many newbies fail and when they do, they help those that want to look down on mommy bloggers do so. 

If you do ask a blogger to mentor you, here are few things you should do:

1.  Don't expect your mentor to be available 24/7.  Most likely your blogger has 100 - 200 emails a day.  Your mentor will get to you when she can but don't expect an immediate answer.  She may be able to give you one day but not the next day. 

2.  Respect your mentor's time.  Your mentor is taking valuable time away from her blog and even her family to help you - respect that!

3.  Give your mentor linkbacks.   Put your mentor's button on your site and even mention your mentor in a blog post.  This gives your mentor valuable SEO but also shows your mentor that you value the time they are investing in you.  They are really getting nothing to mentor you so this will be an unexpected but wonderful payback for them. 


4.  Do not expect your mentor to share with you all their pitches or PR rep information.  #1, it is unethical for them to do this and your mentor has worked very hard to get some of the information that she has.  If you are only asking a blogger to mentor you for her PR reps, then you have the wrong motives and the person mentoring you will notice that and probably stop answering your emails.

5.  Overall, be courteous.  This person is giving you so much valuable information and saving you some failures and probably is giving you some traffic that you would not have gotten without them. 

Starting A Blog: Ethical Blogging

Do you want to be known as being an honest and transparent blogger?  Or do you want to build a reputation that people don't trust you?  While unethical blogging may not get you caught right away, it will eventually catch up to you.  I know of bloggers who regularly steal others work or write reviews for items that they did not actually try.  These bloggers have been caught and even been ousted on public forums.  Others have been quietly removed from the blogging world by Google.  There are some bloggers have not been exposed yet but their day is coming and unfortunately it can be embarrassing for the blogger and discouraging for their loyal readers.  Here are a few tips to avoid looking like them or coming across as an unethical blogger.  I have also included a few reasons why people do not choose to blog ethically. 

1.  As a deal blogger if you saw a deal or coupon on other person's blog, give credit!  Unless the coupon arrived in your mailbox or you actually came across it yourself - give credit!  But what if the coupon is on coupons.com for all the world to see?  Did you find about the coupon all on your own without reading another blogger's post?  If you didn't - give credit.  If you don't get credit, you come across as stealing others work especially when your readers other blogs.

But...it gives traffic to other blogs and could take my readers away. Actually, I have been giving credit for over a year and just topped 10K readers a month in February.  It didn't hurt me and according to my demographics survey -  it was people appreciate the most about my site.

2.  If you are a review blogger, post pictures wherever you can.  This shows your readers that you actually reviewed the item.  DVDs, bath items, and other things are harder to do pictures of but in those cases make sure you really give your honest opinion.  If you post pictures on your other reviews, your readers will still trust that you reviewed the other things.

But....I don't have time to take pictures.  Then take on less reviews.  This is such an important part of blogging and will set you apart as a blogger.

But...I'm not a good photographer.  You don't have to be. Your readers will appreciate the extra time you spent actually spent capturing the item.  My Oxiclean review with its before and after pictures has been a favorite review due to its pictures and it wasn't hard to take pictures of.

3.  Never copy another blogger's work.  I have seen full paragraphs taken from other bloggers blogs.  Don't do this!  Not only will Google slap your Page Rank for this but you shows that you are not an honest blogger.

4.  When posting deals, reword the great coupons or deals that you are posting.  If you found this on another blog, use different words even if you are giving credit.  Google is not happy with bloggers who copy and the bloggers who have their words copied are not thrilled either.  Give credit  for the coupon or deal and then rewrite the post.

5.  If you decide to write about an idea that you saw on other bloggers site, give them traffic also.  Let's say that you saw a great article about creating a niche and want to write something like that for your readers - do it.  Then after you have written the article, be kind and add something like this to the article - "if you would like a different perspective or more information on this topic, see "post blogger's name" great article.  It inspired me to write this article and I think you will enjoy it as much as I did."  The link juice helps the other blogger out and builds your credibility. 

6.  Admit when you made a mistake.  It might be embarrassing but it goes a long way to building trust.  Just apologize once and then go one with life.  Your readers will love you for it and keep on reading because you are human just like them.  Oh, and if you lose a reader or two, you might gain three or four.  Honestly really does bring readers!

These things will help you stand out as a blogger.  You will build a great relationship with your readers and other bloggers.  The blogging world can be a hard place to be sometimes so let's support one another instead of tearing each other down.

Do you have some ethical blogging tips?  Have you written an article like this that has some great points?  I would love you to share your thoughts or articles.  Do you have questions?  You can either post them in the comments or you can send me an email at rachael @ empoweringmommy.com (just take out the spaces).

Starting A Blog: Picking Your Name

On Friday, I talked about Deciding Your Niche and how your niche will define you as a blogger.  I encourage you now to get out another piece of paper and begin brainstorming your blog name.  Keep the paper with your niche (what your goal for blog is) and begin to find a name that works for you. 

As you pick your name, here are a few tips that I used when changing Money Saving Tips for a Keeper at Home to Empowering Mommy:

1. Pick a name that is short and sweet.  A blog name that generally is over 4 words is going to be hard to remember, hard to say, and even harder to remember the URL for.
2. Pick words that are easy to spell.  If your name is easy to misspell, chances are people are going to end up misspelling it in your URL.
3. Pick a name that defines your niche.  When your name matches your niche, people know exactly what they are coming to your blog for.  Here are a few names that match that:
1. Money Saving Mom - I know when I go to Crystal's site, I am going to get tips about saving money. 
2. The Buzz 4 Moms - Even though this site is new, this name tells me that I am going to this site to hear about the latest and greatest things for moms.
3. My Frugal Adventures - I figure that this site is all about frugal tips and she probably even shares the great deals that she got.
4. 3 Kids and Us -  I expect that Cat is going to be talking about her life, her kids, and maybe the things she loves.
4. Do not pick a name that doesn't allow you any wiggle room unless you are committed with that niche for the rest of your blogging career.  I have found that bloggers can tend to change their themes and ideas after about 6 months - they find what they are good at and love.  By that time, their name defines them and they are often concerned that by changing their name they will lose their readers.
5. Pick a name that is easy to say on the phone.   One day you may find yourself describing your blog to someone on the phone.  You don't want a name that you are going to have to spell in order for them to understand what you just said.
6. Pick a name you are proud of and scratch any name that makes you uncomfortable.  My journey to picking EmpoweringMommy.com was terrible.  I hated my previous name and didn't even like to tell people in stores that that was my name.  Now, it's a different a story.  My name has given me a new boldness and I'm proud to represent the blog I write for.  

Picking a good solid name may take a little while.  Keep throwing names out there until you find the one you really like.  It should be a good representation of what you would like to see your blog become in the next 6 months, the next year, and even 5 years from now.  

Next time, I'll share with you how to buy your domain name and walk you through the process of creating your blog.  

Starting A Blog: Deciding Your Niche

Before you ever open or start an online blog, get out a piece of paper and pencil and decide what you want to write about.  What are you passionate about?  Are you good at something?  You do not have to be a writer to be a blogger. Maybe you are good at crafts and can share some great crafts for children or adults.  Maybe you are an artist who can draw and add quippy sayings.  Maybe you take photos and can have a photo blog.  Maybe you would love to be a food blogger. 

Your niche will be what determines what your name will be, what your blog will look like, and what type of audience you will reach.  Don't set a niche for yourself that you don't love.  If you are blogging for fun, your blog won't be fun if you don't like what you are doing.  If you are planning to turn your blog into a business, you will grow to hate it if you don't like it. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

1.  What are your passionate about or would love to share with others?

2.  Who is your targeted audience?  What type of people do you want to reach? 

3.  Do you want your blog to bring in an income or do you want to do it just for fun or both?

4.  Are there a lot of other people in your area or field of interest?  How would you stand out from the crowd?  Would you do things differently? 

Brainstorm, choose your niche, and next we'll talk about choosing your name.  Your niche and your blog name are all important things to contemplate before you ever begin your blog.  It will give your blog the direction, motivation, and structure you need to be the great blogger you want to be. 

Starting A Website, Part One

I have begun to receive many emails about starting a website.  Many what to know how to become a blogger and others just want to know how to start a website to promote their business.  I am not an expert but I will share a few tips that I have learned along the way.  I have been a blogger for 5 years now and not only own EmpoweringMommy.com but am also the designer and administrator for Beautiful For Thee.

This will be a series as there is no way that I can cover everything in one post or one day.  I will walk you through where to begin, teach you how to use blogger (using screenshots), share with you how to become a review blogger, tips for deal bloggers, and point to many resources along the way.   As I said, I am not an expert but I know a lot of great bloggers who are currently covering the much deeper aspects of blogging so I will be sharing their websites and tips also.

My journey as a blogger did not begin to create a business.  I started with my own small personal blog where I updated family and friends about our own family.  As I learned how to blog and html code, I was approached about making a ladies' inspirational blog.  This blog is now 27 blogs all linked together creating one large online monthly newsletter.  As I created and worked on that blog, my skills began to be sharpened and I learned what to do and what not to do. 

At the end of February of 2009, I created Money Saving Tips for a Keeper at Home with the mindset of only helping those I knew find coupons and good deals in our local stores.  In just months, the website grew to be something I had never dreamed of.  Today, my website is Empowering Mommy and I can foresee great things for it.  It is now a work at home business that reaches far more people than I ever dreamed. 

I have had many bumps and bruises along the way from mistakes that I have made.  I plan to share those with you so you learn what not to do.  I have had so much help myself, I want to pass it on to you. 

Tomorrow, I will share with you - how to create your own online niche.