Welcome to the third edition of the Carnival of Better Blogging (CoBB #3). This Carnival covers any aspect of blogging: writing, design, analytics, infographics, SEO, etc. As always, there are some great entries this week. So please go check out the articles.

If your entry was accepted, support of this carnival of a link back to this page would be appreciated. If you did not get in, it’s likely you will be accepted in the next edition. Please: no one-paragraph articles or trying to push your affiliate links, and no pages with pop-ups/ pop-unders. These will be deleted immediately. I also have a current aversion to anything about BlogRush because they’re always from bloggers trying to get people to sign up (i.e., have affiliate links).

Enjoy.
Featured Post

This is the featured post for this edition.

1. Pat B. Doyle: Is Your Blog Easy To Read?
Every blogger that enters blog carnivals (or not) should read this. When I have to go through as many submissions as I do (almost) every week, you win points in my editor’s book by having easy to read pages. Else your post has to be exceptional.

Weekly Picks

Here are the weekly entries for this edition.

2. Ant: 10 Questions to Ask When Writing Hypnotic Posts.

3. Doris Chua: 15 FREE Ways to Bring in New Readers to Your Blog/ Site.
4. Edith Yeung: How to Drive Traffic to Your Website or Blog - Part 1.
5. Vaibhav Gadodia: 9 Surefire Tips to Get Traffic to Your Site for New Bloggers.
6. Amanda Harris: Resources For Your Charities Website.
7. Mandy: How Do Bloggers Get To Take A Holiday?
8. Silicon Valley Blogger: Ways to Monetize Your Blog.

That’s it for this edition. If you have an article that you think fits in, please use the Blog Carnival submission form. A couple of notes to consider before entering:

1. If you submitted your article on or after Sep 22nd, it may appear in the next carnival.
2. Please do not resubmit the same article to the same carnival.
3. One entry per person per week (Monday through Sunday), please.

Welcome to the second edition of the Carnival of Better Blogging (CoBB #2). This Carnival covers pretty much any aspect of blogging: writing, design, analytics, infographics, etc. As with the last edition, there are some great entries this week. So please go check out as many of the articles out as you have time for.

If your entry was accepted, support of this carnival of a link back to this page would be appreciated. If you did not get in, it’s likely you will be accepted in the next edition. [Please: no one-paragraph articles or trying to push your affiliate links. These will be deleted immediately.]

Enjoy.
Featured Posts

These are the featured posts for this edition.

1. Etienne Teo: The Comprehensive Secrets to Receiving Massive Traffic from Stumbling.
2. Peter Poffenberger: WorldWideWeb WarGames: 8 Ways a Competitor Can Sabotage Your Site.
3. Carole Fogarty: Prevent Leaking Energy in Your Work Space, Ouch! (Part 2 of Is Your Blogging Work Space With You or Against You?)

Weekly Picks

Here are the weekly entries for this edition.

4. Pinyo B: Top 10 Resources to Build a Better Blog.
5. Fred Peters: 10 Forums to Make You a Better Blogger.
6. Aahz: Top 10 Sites Every Blogger Should Join.
7. Taylor: Be Community Involved to Get More Traffic.
8. Thomas Slatin: Sneaky Cheap Website Promotion.
9. Marco Richter: Optimizing Your Permalink Structure.
10. Peter: Why You Should Blog.
11. Charles H. Green: Blogging vs. Podcasting.
12. Isabella Mori: The Z List: Are These My Worst Blog Posts?
13. Vanalli: How to Make Money Blogging.
14. Supermom in NY: Running a contest? Let these Contest Bloggers Know!
15. Madeleine Begun Kane: Ode To The Mobile Web (Cell Phone Browsing Humor).

That’s it for this edition. If you have an article that you think fits in, please use the Blog Carnival submission form. A couple of notes to consider before entering:

1. If you submitted your article on or after Sep 15th, it may appear in the next carnival.
2. Please do not resubmit the same article to the same carnival.
3. One entry per person per week (Monday through Sunday), please.

You’ve produced an editorial calendar, have your writing tools and research sources. But you have a massive to-do list, including blog posts to write, and for some reason the darn things refuse to write themselves. What if you could get them to do that? I have - many times. I can’t tell you why it happens, but here are some tips that might just help you get your creative flow on.

1. Consume content. Not only should you consume a lot of content, you should consume a variety from different channels/ platforms:

1. Print.
2. Radio.
3. TV + film.
4. Internet (print, audio, video).

Consumption of a variety of content is the primary reason that writing usually (but not always) comes easy to me. Just make sure you’re capable of squirreling away facts for later use.
2. Change your point of view. This can be a phsyical change or a conceptual change. Move to another room, or put yourself in the place of a potential reader.
3. Take a break. Overtasking your mind, without a break, is the quickest way to squash creativity and become mentally fatigued. Light physical activity gets your blood flowing, which guarantees your brain is getting enough oxygen - something that might be hampered by sitting for long periods. Just getting up and walking around can help.
4. Change modes. If writing what you need to write isn’t happening, write something else. Write reviews, check out writing tools, write some email.
5. Sleep on it. If all else fails, setting a project aside for a night often gives you clarity. If you’ve done all the research, prep and planning you can, letting your subconscious take over frees up the creative side. Given all the prep, I often wake up with articles already written in my head, and simply have to type them up fast before they fade from memory.
6. Try creative exercises. Jason Rekulak’s book Writer’s Block: 786 Ideas to Jump-Start Your Imagination(non-affiliate), is shaped like a block. And it’s packed full of good ideas. Try scribbling down answers to silly or fun questions, doodling or drawing. Write nonsense words that rhyme. Or not. Just don’t impose any limitations on yourself while you do this. You are not writing/ doodling for publication.
7. Eliminate guilt. Don’t think this will affect you? All I can say is believe me, it will. Guilt about something makes you focus on it the matter at hand, not your work. So you’re distracted and cannot think creatively.
8. Eliminate stress. Stress also blocks creativity. Take a micro-break by doing a bit of deep breathing, or turn on some familiar or creativity-inducing music that invigorates you and/or reminds you of good times.
9. Stop censoring yourself. Write what you want first, and what you need will come of it’s own accord. Not letting out what you want will produce writer’s block.
10. Emulate, then diverge. Successful fiction writers start by emulating the writers they enjoy. And over time, they develop their own style, by changing a few elements here and there. This advice applies to other types of writing, including blogging. But if you’re forcing yourself to develop a new style without knowing what it is, good luck finding creativity.
11. Utilize your cycles. Creativity is cyclical. As someone who’s been writing nearly 30 years, whether in my journal or professionally, I know this to be true. Utilize your peak times, forgive your lows. During the latter, you can do non-creative work such as research, administrative tasks, communications, commenting on other blogs or forums. Or you can brainstorm or map out ideas.

For those of you considering building an online media empire - even a small one - go read Ben Yoskovtiz’s 10 Steps to Building an Online Media Empire. He profiles Wendy Piersall and her mini blog empire relating to stay at home parents. Plus he gives, as his article title suggests, 10 steps that you can follow as well.

Now granted, the steps are a nutshell explanation of what needs to be done, but they’re as good a starting point as any. Here’s the bold text from his article’s steps.

1. Build up a popular blog on a specific niche.
2. Develop a strong brand.
3. Make lots of friends.
4. Master monetization.
5. Learn more about marketing.
6. Find opportunities offline.
7. Get help.
8. Be a teacher.
9. Realize it’s a business.
10. Expand slowly but promote like a crazy.

Blogging is sort of similar to golfing, in the sense that if you want to be good at it - and thus successful - everything has to be aligned. It’s not just about writing, and if you build it, “they” won’t necessarily come. It takes promotion and other efforts in tandem.

I want to particularly emphasize Ben’s points #2-4:

* Strong brands are memorable; they draw people back, whether because of a great logo design, an attractive website design, or a catchy name.
* Making friends online is as important as building relationships with customers for offline businesses. Friends will link to you, watch out for you, vote on social media sites for your articles, and vice versa.
* It’s all for naught if you don’t come up with an effective way to monetize. But online commerce really still is in its infancy, and monetization models might change. Stay on top of them.

Welcome to the first edition of the Carnival of Better Blogging (CoBB #1). This Carnival covers pretty much any aspect of blogging: writing, design, analytics, infographics, etc. There are a lot of great entries in this issue. So please go check out as many of the articles out as you have time for.

If your entry was accepted, please support this carnival by giving a link back to this edition as soon as you can. If you submit regularly, and get in but don’t link back, then your own readers don’t benefit with the opportunity of being introduced to other blogs - which is part of the reason for a blog carnival: networking. If you did not get in, it’s likely you will be accepted in the next edition. [Please: no one-paragraph articles or trying to push your affiliate links.]

Enjoy.
Featured Posts

Here are the featured posts for this edition.

1. Pat B. Doyle: 23 Great Ideas For Blog Posts.

2. Carole Fogarty: Is Your Blogging Work Space With YOU or Against YOU?
3. Sutocu: Link Building Naturally with Link Baits.
4. isabella mori: flaming vs. appreciative communication.

Weekly Picks

Here are the remaining entries for this edition.

5. Edith Yeung: Want More Traffic? Find Out Here.

6. Ken Xu: Top 3 Idea Stimulators.
7. Silicon Valley Blogger: How I Boosted My Woeful Web Traffic.
8. K T Cat: The Pareto Principle and Corporate Blogging.
9. Rob: How to Improve your Google Ranking. [Video]
10. Bill Henderson: Writing a Good Blog Post.
11. Vanalli: How to Write Successful Blog Posts to Make More Money Blogging.
12. Etienne Teo: A Change in Blog Design and a Change in Fortune.
13. Charles H. Green: Trust Networks vs. Search Engines.
14. Doris Chua: Don’t Stop Blogging!

Bonus Entries

Here are some additional entries that I felt might be of interest, which are not specifically about blogging tips, design, or monetization.

15. If you’re interested in the finance/ economics niche, Laura Milligan presents the Top 100 Economics Blogs.

16. Don’t know what to do all the money you make from your blog? Read Millionaire Mommy’s The Powerful (and Addictive) Nature of Giving. She’s using her bounty to finance women entrepreneurs.
17. This has nothing to do with blogging, unless of course you’re not making money from your blog and have the blues. Read Gustav S’ 10 Ways to Keep Yourself Happy.
18. But if it’s simply productivity issues you’re dealing with, read Julie Anne Bonner’s My Unbalanced Life - Top 7 Things I Do To Stay Sane and Productive.

That’s it for this edition. If you have an article that you think fits in, please use the Blog Carnival submission form. A couple of notes to consider before entering:

1. If you submitted your article on or after Sep 8th, it may appear in the next carnival.
2. Please do not resubmit the same article to the same carnival.
3. One entry per person per week (Monday through Sunday), please.