While perusing a forum one of the threads asked, “Is your blog profitable?”

I decided to make it a late night and give this question some more thought…

Search-This Cost to Benefit Analysis

• $6.96 per month for web hosting.
• $50 per month for marketing and promotion cost.
• $56,250 a year for time invested - say 15 hours a week with 50 weeks in a year (-2 for some vacation, come on) at $75 an hour.

BUT!

Time spent making new friends and helping others become better webmasters - PRICELESS!

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If you would like to learn more about blogging and connect with other bloggers, be sure to checkout the new Blog Experiment Forums. Now is a good time to join and introduce yourself because it’s still the grand opening!

The odds of opening a successful restaurant are not good. In fact, 1 out of 5 restaurants fail within the first 6 months of operation and 9 out of 10 are gone after 2 years.

Since there’s no Chapter 11 for blogs to file - we really can’t measure the success rate of a blog. What we can do is look at some common reasons why your blog might be struggling.

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Ah… the blogs versus website debate, where would we be without it?

The problem is, unlike other “this versus that” issues, this isn’t an apples and oranges debate at all, it is more like a Granny Smith’s versus … some other variety of apple. Um, red apples versus green apples? …

A website can have the attributes of a blog and a blog can do anything a website can. Why? Because they are both websites.

I use WordPress as a content management system; I have also added RSS to a traditional website before. It’s not always easy that way round, but doable.

Blogs do not even have to look like blogs, they can work however you want them to. Many people object to blogs because of “that front page with all the articles on it” or “I don’t like the archive based navigation” yada yada.

People who say “blogs must”, or “blogs can’t” or “blogs always” are probably overwhelmed with information and don’t want you to take their security blanket away.

Blogs can look or work however you want them to. It’s just a content management system and if you choose the right software, for example WordPress, then the only limitation is tweaking time.

If you think this is really about whether you should have a traditional website or a blog, that would be like asking “should my marketing only use one tactic” and my answer will always be a big fat sweaty NO.

I worked in the past with huge companies who only wanted to use one tactic. “Direct marketing will damage our brand”, “we are a premium brand, we don’t do radio *spit*”, “websites? websites? are you MAD, didn’t you know these products ONLY sell via point of sale/sales promotion/sampling/yada”. And yet every single time they allowed us to test an integrated multi-tactic strategy, sales improved.

You have to choose the tactics you believe you can make work and use them in unison.

Use both: use a blog for attraction and stickiness and use a traditional website for conversion.

… or put another way, articles and sales pages …

OK, blogs can have community - how about forums versus blogs?

Again they are both websites, it is possible to hack up a blog so it works like a forum (I wouldn’t, but you can). They are two different types of venue really.

In a blog it is “I think this, what do you think?”, where as in forums it is question/answer. You generally have little control over the direction the conversations take (which is a good thing) in a forum.

So again, why not have both? When you need to control the agenda, you direct the conversation more in blogs. If you want spontaneous conversation go with forums. Think of a forum as friends talking whereas with a blog it can be more like a friendly salesman directing the conversation towards purchase.

Next time someone asks you “blogs versus websites”, just say “no, articles AND sales pages” and tell them Chris told you to say it.

At some point in time you may find yourself struggling to come up with fresh material to blog about. Where do you draw inspiration from when this happens?

This article will provide you with several solutions to help you come up with new content for your blog.

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The question has been asked more times then I care to count: “How do I promote my blog?”

My answer: “One post at a time…”

It’s not sexy, it’s not a quick fix, it’s not a secret URL that you submit to and the rest is done for you. I’m sorry - I have no secrets for you - I wish that I did. The only way that I know how to make your blog a success is “one post at a time”. I will say that I think there’s more to this answer than meets the eye. The answer actually consists of two parts – that’s what we’ll look at in this article.

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640-863 640-863 CCDA Free Practice Exam

Pro blogger Chris Garrett offered a very generous service on his blog last month. He offered to review other peoples’ blogs and provide feedback on how they could be improved. Make no mistake: having an outside, impartial source with his expertise give feedback is worth its weight in gold.

I was so impressed with Chris’ generosity I decided I would give back to him by reviewing his blog. In doing so, you might also learn ways to improve your own blog.

Let me start by saying that I really enjoy Chris’ blog. He does a great job providing fresh, relevant content on blogging and marketing and his eBook “Killer Flagship Content” should be required reading for all bloggers.

What follows are suggestions, nitpickings, and personal preferences of mine on things he could do to improve his blog. While the following are aimed at Chris’ blog, the suggestions offered could apply to most blogs. So have a read and see if your blog could also be improved by the following suggestions.

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WordPress has become a leading content management system. Notice that I didn’t say blogging software. I love WordPress so much that I don’t think I will create another website without it, blog or not. And while WordPress is great right out of the box, there are some things you can do to make it even better.

This article will share some plugins, some code adjustments and some tweaks that will make your website more user-friendly, easier on your web server, and possibly increase your traffic.

It should be said that this list is not all encompassing; it doesn’t list every plugin that I use. Rather, it’s a list of some of the more popular amendments to WordPress that should be done immediately following an install.

So if you’re ready to pimp out your site, let’s begin.

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