Running a successful and popular blog means completing several steps that work together to increase your chances of achieving your target visitor numbers. Your blog will need good on-page search engine optimisation (SEO), good off-site SEO, good content that is regularly updated, and good anchor text backlinks from high Page Rank websites.

Once your blog has all those factors lining up with good results, the visitor numbers will start to increase. But once you have all these new visitors, how do you retain them? To make your blog successful you must learn how to increase blog subscribers, also known as the art of blog subscriptions, guaranteeing that your visitors can’t help but return, again and again.

Increasing blog subscribers is one of the most important aspects of a successful blog yet surprisingly under appreciated by many internet marketers and bloggers. Now don’t confuse yourself with Blog Traffic and Blog Subscribers. It’s fine to have several thousand unique visitors every day, but if they never come back, then you will have had only one isolated opportunity to achieve your blog’s target. Whether it be an adsense click, an affiliate purchase, or a product sale, how much more likely would that objective be if your visitor returned twice instead of once, or 5 times, or every day?!

What do the pro bloggers mean when they say “Money is in the list”; even in this case, we are trying to get the email lead of the visitor which means turning the visitor into a subscriber so we can send them follow ups and blog updates. I bet now you can understand the value of return visits, and the very best vehicle for that return traffic is a subscription. If you can persuade your visitors to subscribe to your blog, they will return over and over again, and every time they return, they are increasing the value of your blog; in terms of traffic, sales, higher click through etc.

Whether you know this or not, if you can’t convince your visitors to subscribe to your blog, you will not be that successful in blogging industry. This is the bitter fact but you always have an option . Keep reading…

When a visitor subscribes to your blog, they are basically saying “yes, I like this blog and I appreciate the content”. Subscribers (not visitors) are most likely to fulfil your blog’s ultimate goal in the long run by purchasing your stuff, supporting you and looking up to you. There really is no better way to quickly increase return traffic than to increase blog subscribers.

So how do we entice blog visitors to click on to the RSS feed and become a loyal subscriber? There are lots of ways to get subscribers and retain them and I have posted several related articles previously such as Top 4 Methods to increase RSS subscribers but today, I will post my top 2 essential steps that always work. If you seriously follow them, I bet you will start to see an immediate increase in subscribers count.

The 2 Essential Steps to Increase Subscribers

Step 1 – Don’t Make it Difficult!

I know this sounds easy but I still see lots of blogs that are not following it. There are entire books on website usability; it is such an expansive topic. When it comes to persuading a site visitor to make a choice and actually click on something, usability has to be perfect. Anything less than perfect is a lost subscriber. So how do you make it easy, simple and a no brainier for your visitors to subscribe to your blog?

The most frequently used method of syndicating content and allowing visitors to subscribe to your blog updates is using an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed. Thousands if not millions of blogs have an RSS feed, but how many of them actually describe how to use the RSS feed? RSS means Really Simple Syndication, however to anyone who has never come across it before, it is far from simple.

You may be surprised to learn that many visitors simply click on the RSS logo, see a page of text, and then failing to understand what they have done, close the page and leave the blog! 80% of my friends and family do not know what RSS is. Surprised? Don’t be. Everyday the number of new internet users is increasing which means a lot of them will have/have no idea what RSS is and needs to be educated about it.

To ensure that these new visitors actually understand about RSS and subscribe to your blog, next to your RSS button or image, you can place a link to a page on your blog that explains what an RSS feed is and how to use it. To make it even better, you can include the following details:

• explain that RSS feeds are web-pages for computers, not visitors
• explain and link to example browser based RSS readers
• explain and link to downloadable desktop RSS readers
• describe where to find your RSS feed buttons, including the Firefox RSS feature
• explain how to subscribe using each type of RSS reader

By explaining these five crucial steps to understanding RSS feeds, you are massively increasing the chances of your visitors actually using your RSS feed and seeing content that they want to return and read in full. Make sure the link to this page is prominently displayed near to every RSS logo on your blog, and reap the benefits of RSS subscribers. This is a tip that you won’t find in many places; you will see this method in action on this blog in a few days so, I am giving you a head start

Step 2 – Encourage Visitors to Subscribe

With your RSS beginners guide in place, and your RSS feed button or link displayed on every page, you might think you have done enough to encourage visitors to subscribe, but no, you are only half way there!

Every web marketer should know that visitors need told what to do in order to close a sale, they need what is known as a “call to action” button. It is no different with RSS subscribers, they need a call to action i.e. you need to tell them to click that RSS feed button.

The best and most natural way to do this is to include a reminder at the end of the blog post along the lines of “if you liked this article, please subscribe to our blog!” You could make a subscriber link as your blog entry footer. On this blog, I have an intro plugin that asks to subscribe at the beginning of the post . You can also notice an email subscription option on the sidebar that clearly says what it does. I hope you get the point. I am listing some plugins that I personally use on my blogs. These will help you with the RSS stuff.

WordPress Plugins I found useful

1. What Would Seth Godin Do – Displays a custom welcome message to new visitors and another to return visitors. I am sure you know what to do with it You can have a customized RSS or even Email Subscription form at the end or beginning of your posts by using this plugin.

2. WP Greet Box – I have this installed on this blog. It simply greets visitors with a small message. You have the option to include the RSS link and various other social icons. Just check it out.

Enough said; if you can follow these two essential steps on every blog you run, you will definitely see an increase in blog subscribers – taking you one massive step closer to achieving your goals!

Maintaining a popular blog means following the rules of the “i”s; insightful, innovative, interesting. If you can make each and every one of your blog entries follow one or all of those rules then you are well on the way to blogging success and maintaining a popular blog with great traffic, and lots of return visitors.

However, sometimes inspiration does not come easy, sometimes writers block can set it, your blog posts can start sounding a little stale, and worse, your traffic might start to drop off. If you ever find yourself in a place like that, with subscriber numbers slowing, follow my three critical steps for Blogging Success below and re-invigorate your blogging!

Step 1 – Fresh Ideas!

If you are suffering from writers block and cannot think of the next subject for your blog there are a number of ways to find new subject matter of interest to your readership. Do you use bullet point lists in your blog entries? I hope so because they are a great way of making your blog posts pleasing to the eye and less hard work for the lazy reader. Just make sure you get your points out in a nice orderly matter. There is another use for these bullet lists in old blog posts though, and this tip is gold – read on!

Revisit the most popular posts on your blog, identified either by visitor stats, or by comment count, and take another look at those bullet points you have in there. Every one of those listed items can be a blog post of its own! You have already proved the blog post was a popular one, so now create a new blog post for each of the bullet point items! In this way you can find inspiration for half a dozen, a dozen, or even more brand new blog posts. This is a golden tip that keeps your blog relevant, interesting and insightful! Trust me, this stuff really works.

Here’s another golden idea for finding inspiration for your next blog post – check print media for ideas! Offline sources such as printed media can offer a blog owner a lot in addition to online sources. Many bloggers will simply Google for related topics to find inspiration for their next blog post, but there are even more powerful ideas waiting for you in the offline world – namely magazines. There are magazines for just about every subject these days and there is almost definitely at least one for your blog’s subject matter. There are two major benefits with researching offline articles; First, your blog is less likely to be penalised for duplicate content. And second, Professional writers from magazines come up with some great titles and innovative content!

So, visit your local magazine stand, find the best magazine in your niche, and buy a subscription for a regular stream of new ideas for your blog! Or, just google it and you will find tonne of good ones related to your niche.

You don’t have to steal any ideas or copy other’s stuff; instead, you can curate it

Step 2 – Connect with your Audience

When I say connect with your audience, what does it mean to you? When you are blogging, you are writing for people and not bots. When you write about a topic, try to solve a problem, direct a problem and seek solution or talk about personal experience/story. Post questions that people can comment on, post something that can be related to a group of people. Always remember your target audience for whom you are writing. You have to get this straight: connecting means relating to another, helping, answering questions, getting back, responding to emails and feedback etc. Here’s some more tips for making that all important connection:

I’ve already told you the first way to connect, that’s right, the three “i”s – insightful, innovative, and interesting. If you re-read your latest blog post and you can honestly say it has at least one of those elements, it’s all good. If it is lacking by either not having any, or perhaps having all three, but in diluted form, you have a decision to make. Do you publish the blog post and let the search engines put a value on it, but at the expense of boring your readers and losing a subscription opportunity – or, do you scrap it and go back to Step 1? Only you can decide, but for a long term successful blog, you should take the brave step of scrapping it and starting again!

Another way of connecting with your blog’s audience, is to harness the power of social media. Twitter and Facebook alone have accelerated beyond all belief to reach unprecedented membership. If you can offer your visitors a means of connecting your blog to their social media, with a simple click, they will do it at the drop of a hat – no hesitation! So jump on the social media bandwagon if you still haven’t and make sure you have like buttons and all those cool social icons posted with every blog post. WordPress has several cool plugins for it such as Digg Digg which is my favourite.

I also suggest that you Install the facebook comment platform on your blog because over 800 million people are on facebook and most are always logged into it. When they land on your blog post, they might simply post a comment because there is no hassle of logging since they are already logged in. On top of that, their comment gets posted on their profile which means more exposure and more connection.

Make your blog appealing to the eye. This does not mean you have to employ a graphics artist, but making “reading your blog” an easy process for the eye. This is an important step that many bloggers either forget or are blissfully unaware of. Make your blog easy to use and easy to read. In practice this means following these vital guidelines; Focus on a simple design and easy navigation. Do you like the design of this green blog ? What about the simplicity?

Try to keep your blog posts below 600 words like Seth Godin if you can’t write long interesting articles like viperchill; both kick-ass in their posting styles.

Make use of paragraphs, bold, italics whenever necessary.

Paragraphs make it easier to read and focus on sentences.

Make proper use of bullet points to list out points and important stuff.

Remember, don’t make its difficult for readers to be able to read stuff on your blog.

Having a strong Black Background with a weird light font will be a pain in the eyes. Try to keep it simple stupid. If you don’t like how it looks or if something sucks in your eyes then you know that you have to work on it.

Step 3 – Retain your Readership!

If your blog is leaking readers, or if your subscription stats are on a downward trend, it’s time to reassess and figure out why you are losing subscribers. I have experienced this before; Wise are those who make mistakes and take steps to fix it. So if you start losing subscribers all of a sudden, don’t panic. There can be many reasons for this, for example, perhaps your blog is based on a seasonal niche and will naturally have peaks and troughs of interest. However, here are the top three reasons why your blog is losing subscribers.

• Too many updates! Yes it is true; you can update your blog too often. There is a misconception that Google expects to see updates every day to be of value – don’t fall into this trap. Maybe 1 post a day can get indexed and bring you more search traffic, but your subscribers will hate you for it. Let me explain why. First of all, if you really don’t have anything awesome to post then its better to sit down, think about it, come out with something awesome and then post it. Secondly, you might be able to commit to your blog and make a post everyday. But, in reality, we all know that most of us are busy in our trade and it’s hard to keep up with several blogs on a daily basis. You don’t want to annoy your readers by sending them daily updates through aweber, feedburner, or twitter feed EVERYDAY. Make your readership wait, then hit them with the three “i”s couple of times a week. They’ll love you for it.
• Don’t be negative. There is always a way to put a positive spin on almost everything, and your readers will appreciate positivity more than negativity – every time. Some bloggers even agree that it is better to say nothing than to be negative, while other bloggers make a habit out of being negative and it becomes their Unique Selling Point. For the most part though, as a blogger looking for both new and returning visitors, keep it positive! If you are addressing something negative then try to find a positive outcome
• Over Promoting sucks. Are you writing promotional blog posts more than quality and informational ones? If this is the case, then your blog sucks and I wouldn’t doubt if you are losing subscribers. As a blogger, you should try to post useful and informational articles that will help others or make a difference in the community. There is nothing wrong with promoting stuffs and I love doing it myself but there is always a right time for everything. A lot of my readers emailed me asking why don’t I have that many promotional posts on this blog and how am I still able to make money from it ; well the secret is : the ultimate guide to blog monetization . Promote stuff that is worth it; a product that you will personally use and can vouch for. When is the best time to make a promotional blog post ? Let’s say, you are a regular blogger making 3-4 posts a week. In this case, you can make 2-3 promotional blog posts per month. I would try not to go above that.

Always remember, the more you share free ideas and help others, the more money you will make in the long run. Its a crazy psychology , I know, and maybe i’ll write a blog post on it someday soon.

Bottom Line

Successful blogs were not created over night and the fact is that you need to work hard on your first blog if you really want blogging success. Be truthful to yourself and take the shot. If you think your blog sucks and is not doing well then stop procrastinating and implement the three important tips mentioned on this blog post for your blogging success.

If your blog isn’t getting the big unique visitor numbers you need for decent conversions, or if your blog isn’t getting enough return traffic to keep the impression count up, your blog sucks! But why does it suck, what is it about your blog that’s making it fail when others are managing great with good visitor numbers and healthy commissions every month from Affiliate sales, Amazon or Adsense?

If you are trying to monetize your blog, you’re going to need to figure out why your blog sucks – and to understand that, all you need is our ten point hit list! Read it, and recognize your own blog in this list, and make sure you read all the way to the end to see why a blog that sucks can still make some great money!

This is Why Your Blog Sucks

1. You’re Too Greedy!

What’s the first thing you did once you had your blog up and running? If it was to add Adsense code or plaster it with affiliate links, then you’re being too greedy. The problem with your impatience is that when Google’s spiders come around and find your brand new blog, all they see is ton of adsense and less quality content. This sets off the Google “Made for Adsense” alarm, and before you have even got going, your blog is being marked down!

2. You’re Too Cheap Pt 1!

Did you hire a content writer to prepare your articles so you could concentrate on SEO and link building? Did you pay less than $2 per hundred words for that content? Chances are, you got what you paid for and that article is neither interesting enough to keep your visitors returning, or poor on page SEO means Google has flagged it as spammy and your blog just lost another opportunity to gain some value in the eyes of Google. With Google Panda in effect, if you can’t produce quality articles, your blog will disappear from google search in a matter of time.

3. You’re Too Cheap Pt 2!

So you decided that having your blog sit on a free blogging server somewhere was just too tacky for you, you’d rather host it somewhere yourself so you can fully customise it and have full control. Sounds good, sounds great even, but where did you go to host your blog? Did you go to a host that was so cheap you couldn’t possibly fail to make enough money to cover the pitiful annual cost? Did you choose Godaddy? The problem here is that you just put your valuable blog on the same shared server as around 100 other sites, mostly of dubious origins. You don’t think Google knows this? Here’s a clue cheapskate … Reverse DNS. If you are starting out and are looking for a reliable wordpress hosting then go for either wpwebhost or hostgator.

4. You Backed the Wrong Horse!

This is a hard one to bear, but sometimes you have to re-evaluate the worth of your blog’s niche. You did check out the value of the niche using the Adwords Tool didn’t you? You did check out the competition didn’t you? If you haven’t checked the value of the niche and the likely traffic numbers, and if you haven’t checked if it is even remotely likely that you can rank for that niche, then the chances are, you backed the wrong horse by picking a poor niche, and you should call it quits and start again.

5. You are Impatient

Your blog is suffering because you are too impatient. Rather than waiting for natural backlinks to start coming in, you took some other action (see points 6 and 7), paid for stuff, and now it is all happening a little bit too quickly for Google to award your site a “natural” bonus. Google likes “natural” linkage, and “natural” growth, and you just blew it by creating a monster in 31 short days. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race

6. You Bought a Tool that Sucks

So you did all your SEO research and you learned that the most important thing for ranking is backlinks. That’s great, but then you fell foul of point number 5 again, you got impatient. So what did you do you hasten all those glorious high page ranking, EDU backlinks? You went and bought a backlinking tool that you don’t know about! Worse than that, you even used it. Now you have hundreds of backlinks from worthless sites – do you really think Google is going to listen to that kind of action? Remember the guys at Google, they are clever. If you think you can fool them, you are only fooling yourself.

7. You paid for a service

Taking short cuts is fine. You paid a guy to check your on page SEO. You paid a guy to do your off site SEO. You paid a guy to create your blog for you, and you paid a guy to write your content. You’ve been paying a lot of guys to work on your blog! The only problem there is that it is no longer your blog. It’s a mish mash of contributions from different people of different skill sets and different capabilities, it’s a mess. Your blog is a mess of contributions, and it’s missing a vital feature – you! Unless you take a hand in your own blogs development it will not have consistent and appealing stamp of “you”, and this means a lack of stickiness that will cost you return visitors.

8. Your blog domain is worthless

Google posted in their blog recently that they were devaluing exact match domains (EMD)’s. Well I don’t know if you noticed, but it doesn’t take much research to see that EMD’s still rank consistently higher than random names. I have several niche sites with EMDs that are on the first page. If you are chasing a niche and you thought of a cool quirky domain name for it, then your blog sucks. You should have went EMD!

9. Your blog has no strategy

You need a strategy for a successful money making blog. How often will you publish new content? How often will do off page SEO? How often will you check your Adsense account for income? If you answered in the following order: rarely, when I am bored, and every freaking day, then your blog sucks!

10. Make Your Blog Suck ?

Finally, here’s one reason why you might actually WANT your blog to suck, and some internet marketers actually plan a blog that sucks! If you have a decent domain and you are getting decent organic traffic, you can win with a blog that sucks by making sure the only outbound links on a page are Adsense ads. This strategy works for a lot of people, who see the type of massive Click Through Rates that are the stuff dreams are made of. I am not a big fan of this but trust me, it works

So now you know why your blog sucks, and by using this information, you can turn it around and start making money from your blog! Always be patient, consistent and focused. If you think this blog sucks then please let me know why do you think so by posting in the comments below.

Recently, Joost shared an amazing infographic with us. Being a wordpress fan, I had to repost it here with two other wordpress infographic I found interesting. I am not going to take much time typing because all the information is in the picture and I suggest that you check them out in depth. Let me know what you think.

WordPress in a Box

WordPress in a Box

WordPress Anatomy

WordPress Anatomy

The Power of WordPress

Power Of WordPress

There are ton of reasons to use WordPress. This is just an inspiration for 2011. Start blogging and making bank!

A Blog can be defined in many ways- It could be an online journal, a community to connect with people or even a platform to draw advertisers and make money. I won’t lie to you; blogging is hard work and no blogs have ever become popular overnight.

The primary focus of most blogs is to build a list of loyal audience and subscribers who would bring in value to the community.

Many bloggers give up the idea of blogging when they don’t get success. The sad part is that they don’t realize that success don’t come overnight. Blogging requires consistency and time. There are ton of blogs being created every day and each of them is screaming out load to seek attention. Considering all these, it is sometimes difficult to figure out if blogging is right for you.

Whether you want to connect with your audience, create a community or make money from your blog- You need ton of quality traffic. But how do we know if people are connecting to your blog?

7 ways to tell if your blog is doing right:

1. Niche

This is the first and most important thing to bear in mind when blogging. Ask yourself, what is your niche? Most newbie bloggers commit mistakes by going off-topic when writing blog posts. Whatever your niche might be, simply stick with it and create posts that are relevant to it. If you are looking to turn your blogging into a successful online business, you have to know your audience well.

The purpose of this blog is to help others create a profitable blog and make money online. I don’t think my subscribers will like it when they come back tomorrow and see a Justin Bieber post on my blog (no hate bieber). So, always stick to the niche and write for your target audience.

2. Growth in Subscribers Count

Subscribers are crucial for our blog’s success. I bet we all are hungry for them. Good content brings in loyal subscribers who would stick to your blog for a long time. If your subscribers count is growing then you should be on the right track, good job! However, bear in mind that building a list of loyal subscribers can take a while. This blog has gained 200 subscribers in the first 2 weeks. I realized that good content posted on a regular basis attracts massive visitors. If you can write a pillar article twice or thrice a month, you will definitely see some growth in visitors.

Do not get frustrated if your subscribers count doesn’t grow. You might be doing something wrong; maybe you should improve the quality of your posts. A good way to find out what your visitors would love to see is by taking a poll. This works out pretty good.

3. Comments

Comments can be a great satisfaction to bloggers. Comments indicate that your posts are getting noticed. All authors want to receive feedbacks from their visitors. So, if your blog is receiving ton of comments (excluding all the spam), then you are on track.

I have noticed that most blogs tend to receive more spams than quality comments these days. Most commenters are basically looking for a backlink to their site/blog and that is the only reason they drop by. I personally think this sucks. I bet you have seen ton of comments on popular blogs; some of them do not make sense and some are not even relevant to the topic. I appreciate comments that provoke discussion and debate. Does your blog have such comments? If yes, then it means that people are enjoying your posts and they want more. If not, just work hard and you will be there.

4. Likes & Tweets

Almost every single blog has a like and a tweet button. Social media is very crucial to your blog’s success. If your blog post is getting ton of likes and tweets (people like your stuff and thus sharing it with others), it is a good sign. Getting a post viral can bring in massive traffic to your blog.

If your posts are not being re-tweeted or shared online then you should re-valuate your posts. Improving the quality and being creative can help. I would recommend that you get involved with social media, stay active on twitter and Facebook and interact with others. Once you make friends on several social media platforms, you can request them to share your stuff. You never know, your content may just go viral.

5. Blog Buddies

When you start blogging, most likely you will get to know ton of like-minded people through online communities and social media. It is feels good to have friends who can share stuff that is related to your expertise or niche. Trust me, blogging buds and partners is essential if you want to succeed. They will not only help you grow but also help you gain credibility online.

If you are one of those (like me) whose most friends are not in tech field, then, the best way to make some new friends is through social media. I got to know ton of amazing people and trust me, I get to learn new stuff from each one of them. Do not simply go out there and make friends with everyone you come across; instead, participate in discussions in online communities. Several popular forums and blogs have potential and genuine people hanging out all the time. You can connect with them, engage in a conversation and also exchange wisdom.

6. Links & Trackbacks

Link building is important. It really helps your blog’s presence in the search engines in terms of ranking and placing. Search engines give sites with good inbound and outbound links a higher ranking. Building good links to your blog can be frustrating and a long process; why not let others do the work for you? I know it sounds too good to be true. I am talking about trackbacks. If your content is good, people will love it. When they love it, there is a chance that they will link back to it. This is the best way to get free high quality backlinks to your site.

Have you ever wondered why people always link back to Problogger.com or Entrepreneurs-Journey.com? Because the authors of these blogs are popular; they produce amazing and entertaining content that is loved by their audience. Once people start linking to your blog, more will soon follow.

7. Request for Guest Post

Most bloggers allow guest posting on their blogs. This is because they want to take a break from blogging (which is a good thing) and the guest poster may bring something different to the table. I suggest that you have the option for guest posting on your blog.

If you receive guest posting requests then it is probably because your content is good and your blog is getting popular. Most guest posters seek relevant and popular blogs to post on. Your blog might not be popular at first but if you stick to your niche and produce quality content, it is just a matter of time to achieve that.

Another method to draw attention of the guest posters is to post on their blogs. You can request to exchange a blog post with any fellow bloggers you know. Exchanging guest posts with credible bloggers will bring in positive changes to your blog.

Question: What is blogging success according to you? What have you learnt from this post and what’s your take? The comment box is all yours!

Whats been happening in MasterMind Blogger

Today, I just wanted to update you guys about the latest happening in my life and my blogs. You all can see that I have not updated MasterMind Blogger for some time now. Of course, the blog is still alive, running and will keep providing the best tips. I was away traveling for the past 2 weeks. I have been to Boston and NYC and been up to a lot which I will explain in Salman Ahsan dot Com shortly. I am sure you all will have lots to take away from what I have learnt throughout the trip so, look out for the post

I also have been working on some new projects which I will discuss later in my posts. Most of my blogs including this one will soon have a new theme, fresh content and premium tools section only for my readers. I will also be installing several scripts which will make your seo/internet life easier. There will be a section where my readers can post questions and requests. Seriously, I have several things planned and I hope they all work out straight. I love you all for your support.

Please tell me what you want to see more in this blog. The purpose of MasterMind Blogger is to provide the best tips to build a money making blog, period! Whatever I post on this blog will be related to blogging and money making. All the tips are mine which comes from researches and experiences. There are ton of reasons why you should subscribe and stay in the loop. There is so much more to come…

If you are a newbie blogger and want to monetize your blog, then watch out for my next 5 amazing posts which will make a huge difference.

Last but not the least, join our forum and connect with all the bloggers and entrepreneurs at BlogMaster Point

The comment box is all yours so tell me what do you think?

To your blogging and money making success…

NB: MasterMind Blogger will be transferred to a new server in the next few days. If you experience any difficulty accessing it, please try again later. Cheers

I know I have been out for a while and couldn’t write much on this blog. So guys please don’t hate me for that. I have been really busy researching on the new twitter ad platform “promoted tweets” and facebook ads; there will be a detailed post on these case studies pretty soon.  I also have been working on my forums and few other projects. Besides, I have several exams coming up in a week. Those of you didn’t know, I am currently pursuing a degree in Business administration/entrepreneurship and computers so you know that it gets a little tough at times.

Anyways, today, I wanted to officially announce the launch of BlogMaster Point. It is a forum dedicated to bloggers and only bloggers. I don’t think the idea is something new but I am sure that you don’t see such forums that often. Most of them are either inactive or paid forums so BlogMaster Point should definitely stand out.

So Why Did I Think About BlogMaster Point?

Usually, I write for people and provide tips to help them succeed in blogging and money making ventures. I realized that it is not always possible to respond to every single email I receive or even respond to tons of comments throughout my blog network. A forum is a community where all like-minded can communicate and interact with each other. So, for example, if you have a question regarding blogging, seo, monetizing etc that needs a quick response, then, you can simply create a thread and post your query there.  I am sure there are plenty of professional bloggers and experts on board who would love to help you out and provide valuable information.

Now, you can see how this really makes my work easier.  In this way, you don’t have to wait for me to respond to a question since there will be tons of contribution from other members. I think this is a great idea although the idea itself is not new. However, I will do my best to make this forum unique and stand out in the blogosphere.

Why Should I join and Whats in for me?

In Simple terms: Blogmaster point was created to connect all the bloggers and entrepreneurs.

I know that that there are other similar forums out there but I believe in creating a difference and bringing out something new to the table. BlogMaster Point is free for everyone since I believe sharing knowledge shouldn’t have a price tag on it

So what’s the deal: Weeks ago, I made a post in Salman Ahsan dot Com giving a brief description about Blogmaster Point. I also have mentioned about a special section in the forum which is the VIP section. The super moderators of the forums, premium members and I will use this section to post and share tons of freebies, premium content, tools, products, e-books and other valuable information. You can also make personal requests and we will take care of it. Since the forum is quite new, the VIP section is still under construction but once it is up, it will be booming.

Now, here is the best part— the first 500 members to BlogMaster Point will get FREE access to the VIP section for 6 months. Now that’s a crazy deal and an opportunity that you don’t want to miss out. Beside, you have nothing to lose but gain a lot. I am sure you are wondering what is going to happen after the 6 months , well first of all, you should know that most popular forums charge you a small monthly fee to gain access to their board. I am not going to do that right now but in the upcoming days, the VIP section will be a paid section in this forum. Believe me, the amount will be so less compared to what you will get that it will not hurt your wallet at all. I am dead serious about BlogMaster Point and in order to maintain the servers and bear other expenses related to this forum, I have to charge a little fee . But hey, keep that aside for now because you have 6 long months to enjoy and even after that, I bet you will want to stick with it.

Last but not the least, we are still working on the forums layout and theme so if you see something strange or weird, do not freak out but remain calm. If you have any suggestions or feedback then please feel free to pass them on. I would love to hear from you. So, head up to Blogmaster Point, register and introduce yourself in the Introduction section. And please don’t forget to upload your avatar/display pic. I want to see how good looking you are

If you have any question, you can post it below. I will see you on board. Till then, take it easy…

Register at Blogmaster Point

Increase Your RSS Subscribers

New bloggers always have several questions in mind. If you are one of them, then, I am sure that the first thing that hit your mind was how to get traffic to your blog.

You can get traffic through search engines, pay-per-click advertisements, backlinks and so on.

Good content will always bring good amount of traffic but it is never enough. A mediocre blog will have limited or certain amount of traffic through search engines and backlinks.

A blog is created for a purpose and for a certain group of audience. Search engine may bring you 1000 unique visitors but is that it? Are all of these visitors interested in your stuff? Well we can’t say that.

RSS subscribers are the best because they visit your blog whenever you update or write a new post. People subscribe to your blog because they want to learn from you and are interested in stuffs that you talk about. There are a number of ways you can go about pulling in more traffic and gaining influence with your readership and RSS is one of the best ways to do this.

Here are the top 4 winning tips on getting RSS subscribers for your blog

1. First, the most important, a lot of bloggers forget to put up the RSS sign up prompt or the icon in their blogs. I have noticed that most are concerned with ad blocks instead of RSS which is more important. Monetizing should come later and instead of putting up advertisements, you should put up RSS icons in the most appropriate and noticeable places. If you want your readers to know that the RSS option is available then simply stick it at the top of your pages.

2. You can put up several RSS images on your blog. People say that a picture is worth a thousand words. You can fill up your blog with tons of rss icons and images but don’t go crazy over it because too much of it can ruin the layout or make it annoying. But, instead of putting up weird ads and other junk, I would prefer to stick up the rss button where ever possible. Just Google for rss buttons and icons and you will find several decent ones that you can use.

3. What the heck is RSS? I was a newbie someday and so were other bloggers. Unless you are writing for a really popular blog, the fact is that a lot of people do not anything about RSS. Some people might click on it and leave; you have no idea how many subscribers you can lose that way every day. I am about to write a short RSS tutorial and put it on a noticeable area on my blogs especially beside or below the RSS button and you should do it too. There is no point sticking up the RSS button just like you stick up advertisements and other junks. You need to prove it to your readers and provide reasons why they should subscribe to your blog.  You can write a short post explaining the concept of RSS which will not only build up your rep but also will show that your care for your readers.

4. Include your feed where ever possible. There are so many places where you can leave your feed address. Your blog shouldn’t be the only place where you put up RSS buttons. If you are an active forum member then try including your feed in your signature. If you have a newsletter then include your feed in every email newsletter you send out. Have you heard about web2.0 properties? I am sure you have created hubpages, ezines, wetpaint and such. You can include your feed in all these pages. Believe me, these methods will maximize exposure of your rss and blog and will dramatically increase your subscribers. I write stuff based on experiences and I hope you follow it to succeed.

I hope that the above tips help you on your quest to build the ultimate RSS readers list. If you have any questions or suggestions then feel free to express your thoughts through comments. You should also check out 7 Tips To Convert One Time Visitors to Subscribers

To your blogging Success…

Make Your Blog Popular

There are many ways to make your blog popular. I have decided to compile a list of the most creative and useful ways to do it. Some of you might know some of the methods listed, some might find it funny; but I am sure that these tips work. I have come across a lot of blogs that are not doing well and some are totally off topic. Blogs need to focus on a niche.  The following tips can help you to build a better blog and make it popular.

1. Write several pillar articles a week
2. Start a contest and keep up with it
3. Give away freebies whenever possible. We all love free stuffs.
4. Write about your life and experience once a while.
5. Share your secrets to success or something that will benefit others
6. Share your personal views and opinions with your vistors
7. Ask questions to your readers and write on the topics they are interested in
8. Start a controversy and keep it clean
9. Interview other bloggers and post the interview on your blog.
10. Write about other bloggers and their success stories.
11. Use humor in your post to some limit
12. Tweak your blog and maintain its health
13. Brand your blog with a good slogan and logo
14. Write an e-book that can add value to your blog and distribute it for free.
15. Give out t-shirts or merchandise with your brand on it
16. Introduce popular and legitimate affiliate and money making programs
17. Encourage your readers to share opinions through comments
18. Create polls based on the latest buzz
19. Break a story and let your visitors know it first.
20. Share link love
21. Request other bloggers to exchange links with you
22. Write about your blog’s achievement and success
23. Buy paid reviews from famous bloggers
24. Build or find tools that your visitors will find useful
25. Start a newsletter and keep your visitors up to date
26. Support a non-profit organization and encourage people to do the same
27. Organize a meeting in your local to connect all the bloggers
28. Create video tutorials and post them on youtube
29. Dig up some old popular articles on your blog and start a discussion.
30. Advertise on the newspaper
31. Get featured in a print magazine
32. Do podcasting whenever you can
33. Be an active user on social sites
34. Lookout for people who need assistance and help them out
35. Post often, help your readers and be yourself

I hope you find these useful. Feel free to share and add yours through comments

To Your Success…

15 Steps to Improve Your Blogging

It is very important to keep up with your blog and the truth is that there is always some space for improvement. As a blogger, you need to know what your audience is looking for and you should be willing to implement that in your blog.

You should always scan your blog, find the glitches and fix it before you get dragged into failure. If you love your blog, get prepared to work hard for it.

Check out the following list of tips that I have developed by doing stuffs on my own blog:

1. First, the most important part of your blog is the content. You need to continuously update your blog with fresh and original content so that your readers have a reason to visit your blog frequently. This part is very important and ignoring this can be detrimental to your blog.

2. Scan through your blog once again and analyze it; find any unnecessary plugins and widgets and remove them right away. Keep your sidebar clean and relevant. People don’t want to see piled up junks and adverts all the way. Irrelevant and unnecessary widgets not only slow down your blog’s speed but also divert the focus off your content.

3. Make sure you don’t have any weird and huge flash images or videos that take up huge space and are not at all required or necessary for your blog. From my experience, I realized that readers love clean and straight to the point blogs.

4. Format your content so that it is user friendly and blends smoothly with the blog’s layout

5. A lot of blogs lose their reputation because of bad posts and grammatical errors. Before submitting any posts, make sure you scan through every word and run a spell and grammar check. Ignoring this can mess up your reputation and credibility.

6. Add relevant images wherever you think it is applicable. Do not add huge images or videos that will slow down your blog. The new WordPress 2.9 has the option to edit an image within the platform so make sure you resize it to fit the screen.

7. The font used in your post should be bright and visible (should not hurt the eyes). This is very important and should not be ignored because if your fonts are not user friendly or clear enough then you will lose a massive number of readers.

8. Include an archive section so that your readers can easily navigate and browse your older posts. This will also enable the search engines to index your posts much quicker.

9. Include a related post widget or create a map to make navigation through various posts easier.

10. If you are using or posting other peoples stuff then make sure you add a copyright note and give them credit. If you don’t, there are chances that your will get screwed up and your reputation will go down the drain.

11. Internal linkup can be very helpful in terms of SEO. Add internal links within your posts wherever it is relevant. This helps you promote your older posts and gets your reader’s attention.

12. Create a favicon for your blog. It is obvious that the new bloggers do not know the importance of it at first but remember that a favicon is a great method to differentiate your blog with the rest in the blogosphere. It is very appealing and gives your blog a unique identity. You can easily create a favicon by visiting favicon.cc

13. Design and layout plays an important role for a successful blog. Choose your theme wisely and keep it clean. Themes are very important so make sure you chose the right one that caters to your niche.

14. Contact forms should be simple and easy. Do not add lots of unnecessary fields. The purpose of blogging is to establish a connection and a dialogue with your readers so keep it straight to the point.

15. Last but not the least; use your blog domain email address whenever possible because this will give you much more credibility over the free emails.

To wrap this up, go through all these fifteen points once a while and make sure that your blog is tip top. Scan through your posts regularly and remove any errors if you find any. Keep your blog up to date. And remember, being a blogger takes much more than being an author or writer because in blogging, you not only focus in your writing but also your audience. You are here to create a dialogue with your readers so always do the best to help them out and listen to them. This is the number one rule for me and many bloggers out there.

To your extreme blogging success….