Harold Mansfield
08-09-2009, 08:34 PM
After the initial excitement of having your first blog up and running wears off and you start realizing that you need to come up with something to write about frequently, a lot of people struggle for ideas.
If it is a company blog, unless you have products and services launching every week, there is only so much you can say...after about 2 or 3 weeks, you may be all out.
If you are blogging for dollars ( and this is where this really works), then you have centered in on a niche. After a while, you will find yourself searching other blogs and websites for ideas, and re-writing all ready available information. This will do you no good and you will never stand out amongst your competition, and it will take the steam out of all that exuberance you had when starting a blog was the greatest idea in the world, and you thought the whole world would love you.
So it's real simple. Once you have your blog designed the way you want it, and get some posts under your belt...what ever your niche is...Hit (contact) every company in that niche, or affiliated with that niche and ask to be put on their press list of upcoming services, products and promotions.
In every field there are tons of companies that want press for their stuff, and although the web is vast...it's not like the days of magazines when you knew what publications to submit to. People want their stuff on more sites than the top 5 that they know about, and if you let them know you exist, and they like what you are doing, and the way you do it, you will start to see your email box filling up with blog posts and article ideas everyday.
Act like you want to do a good job for them. In the beginning, let them know that you posted up their information and send them a link back to the post. Make it look good...go above and beyond to make it look nice..use your plug ins like Related Articles ( to draw attention to other articles about them), Post columns to give your posts some structure...anything that you can use fairly easily that will enable you to design a post, not just copy, paste, publish. Think of each post as a presentation. Since you are getting information fed to you, that's less time thinking about what to write, and more time making it look nice.
And don't forget to use Video. If there is a promotional video for what ever you are writing about that is of good quality (don't ever use crappy videos with bad sound), use it every time. You'd be surprised how many product videos are put out by a company that no one ever sees.
Always use the highest quality images, and highest quality video. This is very important. If they don't send it ( and most people don't) take 2 minutes to search the main video sites to see if a current one is available. (make your videos the same size on every post..it's not a rule or anything, it just looks better when things are congruent and helps instill familiarity to your readers)
If the only video available is crappy..DONT USE IT! EVER !
Once companies start seeing you promote their competitors, they won't want to be left out, and after while, you'll have a nice little industry contact list going....you can ask for images to use, samples to review, and even run promotions and giveaways in conjunction with the companies.
Could this work on company blogs ? Of course.
If you are a plumber, why not be on the list of every maker of fixtures, tubs, toilets, jacuzzi's and everything else (you probably already are) and write about them. With a few images and some specs, it keeps your blog populated, and gives people something to desire when they call you. Odds are, if they saw it on HG, they will probably search for it online..that would keep you busy for a month. I'd even make my own "As seen on HG TV" stamp or banner.
Web Designers could write about finished products, the challenges faced and how you met the needs of the client, and maybe even add a testimonial.
The point is. There are no rules . You can do anything you want if it will inform, or entertain readers in a way that will keep them coming back to your blog as a respected source of information, solve a problem, provide information, or sell them on a product that you can supply for them.....not just some guy re-writing old information.
Design well..what ever is appropriate for your niche.....a Rap Music blog shouldn't look the same as an antiques blog....... spell check, show professionalism and stay consistent.
Those of you blogging for dollars this won't work right away, you have to get some posts under your belt and build up some traffic the old fashioned way.
When you start making those contacts, make up an email signature that makes you look serious with your real name, website link, contact information and use a return email address that matches....not some free Yahoo, or Gmail address.
How will they remember you and take you seriously if you have one address for the website, and a different one (free one) as your contact ? If your website is "big pimpin.com" your email address better be "you[at]bigpimpin.com", not "bigpimpin[at]yahoo.com". Look like a professional. You are talking to people that understand matching email addresses in business, not my grandmother who won't remember it no matter what it is. Do you think Donald Trump uses "Dtrump[at]gmail" for business, or "Trump[at]Trumpindustries.com" ?
If you are blogging for your own business, make sure that your authors box contains your contact information, maybe even hours of operation and phone number. A picture is also a nice touch...and make sure it is visible either top right sidebar, or before (on top of) or after each individual post. Don't make them go to the "About" page to find out about you. Sign your posts, or your blog proudly.
As it builds, you would be surprised how many people will start asking to be featured instead of you having to ask them..and as you continue building your traffic and networking you will start to be seen as a source in the industry, which is what every blogger wants....then you can start selling more stuff :)
Edited:
I forgot to add ( this is more blogging 101)...use the subject in your headline. You would think that this is a no brainer, but it's not.
the best way to get SE traffic is to match what people are searching for. Unless you already have 10,000 U's a day, using slang, cute quips, and jargon worked well in the newspaper days of old. Cute and catchy headlines was the marketing that sold papers.
This is the internet. It runs on math. You want your "X's" and "O's" to match requests for information. If you are writing about a "Chevy Big Block 350 Engine", your headline needs to have "Chevy Big Block 350 Engine" in it, or at least "Chevy Big Block", and not something cute like "Paradise by the dashboard lights"..why ? because no one who is searching for information on a "Chevy Big Block 350" is ever going to search for "Paradise by the dashboard lights" and the only people that will see that are the hand full of readers that happen to come back.
People like submitting to blogs and websites that understand how to draw traffic. You don't have to be a power player, but it's a waste for me to continue to feed you the latest news if people will never be able to find it.....that is of course unless you have a multi-million dollar marketing and advertising budget, then you can be as cutesy as you wish....until then...work with the math.
If it is a company blog, unless you have products and services launching every week, there is only so much you can say...after about 2 or 3 weeks, you may be all out.
If you are blogging for dollars ( and this is where this really works), then you have centered in on a niche. After a while, you will find yourself searching other blogs and websites for ideas, and re-writing all ready available information. This will do you no good and you will never stand out amongst your competition, and it will take the steam out of all that exuberance you had when starting a blog was the greatest idea in the world, and you thought the whole world would love you.
So it's real simple. Once you have your blog designed the way you want it, and get some posts under your belt...what ever your niche is...Hit (contact) every company in that niche, or affiliated with that niche and ask to be put on their press list of upcoming services, products and promotions.
In every field there are tons of companies that want press for their stuff, and although the web is vast...it's not like the days of magazines when you knew what publications to submit to. People want their stuff on more sites than the top 5 that they know about, and if you let them know you exist, and they like what you are doing, and the way you do it, you will start to see your email box filling up with blog posts and article ideas everyday.
Act like you want to do a good job for them. In the beginning, let them know that you posted up their information and send them a link back to the post. Make it look good...go above and beyond to make it look nice..use your plug ins like Related Articles ( to draw attention to other articles about them), Post columns to give your posts some structure...anything that you can use fairly easily that will enable you to design a post, not just copy, paste, publish. Think of each post as a presentation. Since you are getting information fed to you, that's less time thinking about what to write, and more time making it look nice.
And don't forget to use Video. If there is a promotional video for what ever you are writing about that is of good quality (don't ever use crappy videos with bad sound), use it every time. You'd be surprised how many product videos are put out by a company that no one ever sees.
Always use the highest quality images, and highest quality video. This is very important. If they don't send it ( and most people don't) take 2 minutes to search the main video sites to see if a current one is available. (make your videos the same size on every post..it's not a rule or anything, it just looks better when things are congruent and helps instill familiarity to your readers)
If the only video available is crappy..DONT USE IT! EVER !
Once companies start seeing you promote their competitors, they won't want to be left out, and after while, you'll have a nice little industry contact list going....you can ask for images to use, samples to review, and even run promotions and giveaways in conjunction with the companies.
Could this work on company blogs ? Of course.
If you are a plumber, why not be on the list of every maker of fixtures, tubs, toilets, jacuzzi's and everything else (you probably already are) and write about them. With a few images and some specs, it keeps your blog populated, and gives people something to desire when they call you. Odds are, if they saw it on HG, they will probably search for it online..that would keep you busy for a month. I'd even make my own "As seen on HG TV" stamp or banner.
Web Designers could write about finished products, the challenges faced and how you met the needs of the client, and maybe even add a testimonial.
The point is. There are no rules . You can do anything you want if it will inform, or entertain readers in a way that will keep them coming back to your blog as a respected source of information, solve a problem, provide information, or sell them on a product that you can supply for them.....not just some guy re-writing old information.
Design well..what ever is appropriate for your niche.....a Rap Music blog shouldn't look the same as an antiques blog....... spell check, show professionalism and stay consistent.
Those of you blogging for dollars this won't work right away, you have to get some posts under your belt and build up some traffic the old fashioned way.
When you start making those contacts, make up an email signature that makes you look serious with your real name, website link, contact information and use a return email address that matches....not some free Yahoo, or Gmail address.
How will they remember you and take you seriously if you have one address for the website, and a different one (free one) as your contact ? If your website is "big pimpin.com" your email address better be "you[at]bigpimpin.com", not "bigpimpin[at]yahoo.com". Look like a professional. You are talking to people that understand matching email addresses in business, not my grandmother who won't remember it no matter what it is. Do you think Donald Trump uses "Dtrump[at]gmail" for business, or "Trump[at]Trumpindustries.com" ?
If you are blogging for your own business, make sure that your authors box contains your contact information, maybe even hours of operation and phone number. A picture is also a nice touch...and make sure it is visible either top right sidebar, or before (on top of) or after each individual post. Don't make them go to the "About" page to find out about you. Sign your posts, or your blog proudly.
As it builds, you would be surprised how many people will start asking to be featured instead of you having to ask them..and as you continue building your traffic and networking you will start to be seen as a source in the industry, which is what every blogger wants....then you can start selling more stuff :)
Edited:
I forgot to add ( this is more blogging 101)...use the subject in your headline. You would think that this is a no brainer, but it's not.
the best way to get SE traffic is to match what people are searching for. Unless you already have 10,000 U's a day, using slang, cute quips, and jargon worked well in the newspaper days of old. Cute and catchy headlines was the marketing that sold papers.
This is the internet. It runs on math. You want your "X's" and "O's" to match requests for information. If you are writing about a "Chevy Big Block 350 Engine", your headline needs to have "Chevy Big Block 350 Engine" in it, or at least "Chevy Big Block", and not something cute like "Paradise by the dashboard lights"..why ? because no one who is searching for information on a "Chevy Big Block 350" is ever going to search for "Paradise by the dashboard lights" and the only people that will see that are the hand full of readers that happen to come back.
People like submitting to blogs and websites that understand how to draw traffic. You don't have to be a power player, but it's a waste for me to continue to feed you the latest news if people will never be able to find it.....that is of course unless you have a multi-million dollar marketing and advertising budget, then you can be as cutesy as you wish....until then...work with the math.