So it seems like Google will continue on with its domination by releasing a browser by the name of Chrome. TechCrunch has couple articles on it where they show all the screenshots and some video clips of the upcoming browser.
As of now, I have some mixed feelings about the software. I’ve been a Firefox user for several years now and one of the reasons that I can’t use any other browsers is because of the plugins. Thus, I honestly don’t have any immediate plans on changing. While I do like to embrace new technology, I honestly can’t be a pioneer this time around.
HOWEVER, I want to say that Chrome seems to have some nifty features which I am quite looking forward to. Anyways, I really can’t comment any further on a software that I can’t use yet, so I’ll shut up for now and see if Google can wow me again.
If you run a lot of websites, to increase your professionalism, it is essential to use your email@domain.com. In my case, I use my @ahnternet.com, @bloggerswalk.com, and a few others. However, logging into all of them one by one to check everyday can be so annoying. Unfortunately, I have no solution to this. I heard that Gmail has the capability to get all the emails into one spot, but it doesn’t seem to be the perfect solution.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Well, on my other blog, ahnternet, I’m giving away three 125×125 advertisement spots for three lucky people. How do you get the spot? Easy. Just make a comment on this post over at ahnternet and you’re in for the lucky draw.
Why am I doing this? The blog is still pretty new and the ad spots are getting dusty, so I thought I’d give it away for free if I’m not going to be making any money off of them right now.
So, get with it!
Do you see the 125×125 advertisements to the right of this post? As you can see, a few of them are open! Well, this blog is still pretty new so I doubt anyone is interested. So what am I going to do with them? Give them away for FREE! I’ll be giving the bottom three spots to three lucky winners.
How can I get a spot?
All it takes is a comment on this post claiming that you want it. Each comment will be assigned a number and I will use random.org to pick three winners.
How long will the ad stay up for?
For a full two weeks. Why not a month? C’mon guys, it’s free! Let’s give more people a chance!
I love this! How can I repay you more?
Well… You could always buy a spot via PayPal by contacting me!
How long will you provide this service for?
To be honest, I’m not sure. I’m just testing this out as while monetizing my blog is something that I consider, giving back something to my readers is also something that I have in mind. Let’s say that this will for sure be back for one more time in two weeks time.
What do I do when I win?
When you get my email, give me a URL link to your 125×125 ad and the URL to your website. The ads go live starting Monday Wednesday, so if you don’t send me a reply by then, the position is basically reopen and I’ll randomly draw another winner.
Well then what are you waiting for? Get with it!!
NOTE: I will be personally emailing you with the email you left when you made the comment. Also, I will not be advertising illegal, adult, gambling, and any other content which I feel is inappropriate to my readers. So, spammers, don’t bother.
Yesterday on ahnternet, I wrote a post about how an artist that I’ve been waiting for finally released her second album after nearly over a year of hiatus. The moment I got my album in my hand, it was one of the most happiest moments of this year! I’m serious!
Then yesterday, while listening to the album, I was also thinking about what would be a good post to put up on BloggersWalk today. Instantly I knew that this was the post that I had to make. Popular blogs already have hundreds and thousands of subscribers anxiously waiting for the next post. However, that is a bit different with beginning blogs and bloggers. So, I decided to see what type of posts could attract visitors when you’re just starting out. Note that even if you are a long time blogger, you could still use these to attract even more readers.
Write a Series Post
Series posts are great at attracting the crowd. One of the most famous examples in the blogosphere is WPDesigner’s series post on creating a WordPress theme from scratch. As a reader these series posts are like a TV show or an anime series. The desire to know what will be next can be quite huge. Even if you spaced your series posts every other day, there is a great chance that your readers will visit your blog everyday secretly hoping that the next series post is out a day earlier.
Case Studies are Interesting!
Blogs are an informative website (most of the time), so case studies are a great thing to try out. However, as it takes a lot of work, I’ve noticed many bloggers including myself staying away from case studies. Nonetheless, like series posts, interesting case studies spread out over a few posts can have some great positive effects.
Comment Contests Rock
Competitions always attract a crowd, but comment competitions especially can get some people anxious to come and check out your latest post. A live example is Shoemoney‘s comment contest where he randomly picks a commenter from that day and gives out a Shoemoney t-shirt. I genuinely like Shoemoney and what he writes, which is why I frequently comment on his posts. However, I’m sure that there are some comment freaks there too commenting for the t-shirt. Whether a genuine interest or not, these contests can definitely give you some nice exposure and some anxious readers.
Give a Short Preview!
You know how some series books have a little preview at the very end of the book as a little teaser? You know how movie trailers make you want to watch that movie even more? Same concept. If you know what you’re going to write about the next time you post, a little catchy preview at the very end of your post can go a long way. This has its ups and downs, but it certainly is a trick that you could use.
Try these tips out and tell me how it works out for you. If you have any tricks that you do to get readers to visit your blog on a daily basis, feel free to share them by commenting on this post!
After all, this is a personal blog, so I decided to post this. One of my favorite singers, Younha, just released her second Korean album today. I bought the CD earlier today and am currently going through the CD for the ninth time.
Since many of you guys probably don’t know about her, I’ll tell you guys some background information, although the Wiki link at the top is much more worth a look. Anyways, she wanted to be a singer when she was young, but because she didn’t make the audition (which she took over 20 times at various companies), she first went to Japan and got her chance to debut. Since late 2006 however, she came back to Korea and has been taking the Korean music industry by storm. Her first album was released last year and just today, she released her second.
The album is called Someday and it is an album that deals with a lot of music genres ranging from rock to jazz. She’s not a typical Korean visual artist, but am truly a talented musician. If any of you guys recognize the face, she’s the girl that plays the piano while singing. Worldwide, she’s probably the most famous for singing ほうき星 (Houki Boshi), the opening song for the famous anime, Bleach.
I’m planning on ordering some more copies of the CD and handing them out as a part of a contest that I’m planning right now. Some Korean music exposure will never hurt you guys!
Yesterday, I got a comment on my post Google Ad Manager for Everyone!. You know that I manually approve every single comment I get, and while I used to approve 100%, this one comment knocked me down to a 99%. It was one of those “dreaded” hater comments.
Well, this one user (which I won’t disclose his name) decided to leave a comment along these lines. I censored some parts: WT* IS YOUR PROBLEM LEAVING BAD COMMENTS ON CPASHARE.COM. HE IS WAY ****ING BETTER THEN YOU SO WHY DONT YOU GO **** YOUR ***
I left a hater comment at CPA Share? Well I decided to go and see what I wrote and I didn’t right a single bad thing at CPA Share. Another hater comment on CPA Share was right below my fine comment and my hater must’ve thought that I had posted it.
So, why am I posting this? Well, this was my first hater comment and it was quite “surprising” if you could put it that way. However, I also realized (once again) that making comments on others’ blogs can lead to your site/blog gaining some exposure.
Well, you know what I’ll be doing right now after this post. Commenting!
Unique Blog Designs is especially well-known for designing blogs like Shoemoney, John Chow, Entrecard, and more recently, Yahoo!. Well, they just celebreated their first year and are holding a contest! They’re giving out some awesome prizes and considering that it’s free, it never hurts to participate!
Prizes
Grand Prize: 8GB iPod Touch + the upcoming UBD Citrus WordPress theme
Three runner-up prizes of the upcoming UBD Citrus WordPress theme
Entering is really simple. Just make a comment to the UBD’s contest post and send a trackback to it via a blog post and you’re in.
If that iPod Touch comes to BloggersWalk, you know that it’ll be going back to one of you guys. 
So I wake up and what do I find? Google Ad manager is avaliable for everyone now!
Google Ad Manager is basically an ad management tool that is backed by Google. What’s great about it is that you can hook it up with your Google AdSense account to really optimize your ads like mad! Note that you’re not restricted to AdSense and can use other ad networks too, which is a big bonus!
Unfortunately, I was never able to get into their beta program, so this is quite exciting for me. I’m already in and checking it out. From what I’m seeing so far, it looks pretty cool and promising.
I bet that all of you bloggers want to boost your RSS feed count and want more people to read your posts. I’ve been blogging for quite a while and I’ve felt the same desire. So I thought and thought again to see if there is anything I can do to increase my “fan base” if you could call it that way.
If I was a surfer/visitor…
The two things that you should keep in mind when viewing your blog in a visitor’s perspective is quality and keywords. Are the stuff that you’re writing informative? Is it really worth a read? You visit your blog everyday because it’s yours and you have to manage it, but visitors visit to gain something. They’re not going to come for no reason. Also, think about how your visitors are going to get to your blog. Keywords. It’s big! If you’re using WordPress as your blogging platform, utilize all those SEO plugins and make some nice titles using the keywords your audience will probably search for!
Be an Opinionated Blogger
There are always new debates and arguments going on in the blogosphere. Whether it is in the form of a thoughtful comment or a full blown blogpost, usually stating your opinion will get you some publicity. Play the villain or the hero that solves the debate; it is sure to give you some exposure.
Link for Further Reference
Usually those who are selfish won’t get the “fan base” that they crave for. You know how Wikipedia links to its own articles whenever possible? By them doing this, they can keep the visitor within their site. However, from a visitor’s perspective, you know that when you go to a Wikipedia information page, you will gain more than enough information. By linking out to other bloggers, first you form a relationship with them, but you also build this reputation among your readers. Your readers will know that your blog is one that is quality and is one that will offer more than enough information. You want more, not less.
Readers > Advertisements
BloggersWalk has very little advertisement. I’m personally not a fan of so many advertisements, but at one time, I had Google AdSense up. Personally, I thought it was slightly ugly, but a few of my designing friends told me that it was really distracting and made the page look very ugly. Some even said that they’d rather NOT visit the blog! That was like a wake-up call to me. I’d rather make a thousand less and have a hundred more subscribers.
Spice Up Your Posts!
Do you remember the time when your English teacher told you to use the bold, italics, and the underlines sparingly? This is because they really are powerful. As a blogger, you should be utilizing them anyways. However, that’s not what I wanted to say for this post. Your English class probably was a Times New Roman, 12 pt, with a black font. When you’re blogging, the restrictions are quite the same. Who said your words can be in a different color? Put some makeup on those posts to make your post look a little bit dazzling!
I’m sure there are a lot more tips to increasing your loyal reader count/RSS subscriber count. Care to share your tips? These are just a few that I thought of, but I’m sure that you probably have some under your sleeve too. If you don’t mind, make a comment and share it with the BloggersWalk community!
