By Monica Crowe

Wouldn’t it be great if you knew how to write a blog post quickly and easily so you could move on to other business matters that you enjoy more? Lots of people struggle with staying on top of their blog writing schedule, because they get hung up in the process. It takes longer than they want. They struggle to find the right words and to convey exactly what’s on their mind. We all have our strengths, but even if you aren’t a born writer, there are tricks that make blog writing easier than you might think.

I’m a former newspaper reporter. Every day at work I had to crank out two to five articles to meet deadlines, and that was on top of other responsibilities that included proofreading other people’s articles, laying out pages and going to meetings. In order to hit my deadlines and please the editor, I had to write fast and well. The following blogging tips are tricks I had up my sleeve that helped me to accomplish that. (more…)

By Donna L. Johnson

Promoting your blog was the topic in a recent #BlogTrends chat on Twitter. The first question the moderator asked was, “Is paying to advertise a good way to promote your blog? Why or why not?”. One of the participants responded, “if you mean getting business cards and paying for a .com I think those are good ways to invest.”

Let me see exactly where to start with dissecting the above statement.

I came across several definitions of advertising. The one I liked best is from the Small Business Encyclopedia at Entrepreneur.com:

To call the public’s attention to your business, usually for the purpose of selling products or services, through the various forms of media, such as print and broadcast notices. (more…)

By Jessica Sanders

When it comes to putting together a stellar business blog, you have so many options it can make your head spin. With blogging demand alarmingly high, there are plenty of platforms to choose from. But, which one should you choose?

Well, that depends on your skill level and work load.

If you’re half working, with one eye on kids all day, no worries. You can find a blogging platform that will require nothing but content from you. However, if you have the time and desire to create a well crafted, customized blog page for your business, you will find something as well. (more…)

By Scott Hersh

If you are just looking to blog for fun than it’s perfectly fine to write about whatever you want, rant away, and don’t worry about sticking to any one topic, you will probably have a lot of fun doing it too.  Many blogs are designed that way, it is not uncommon to find blogs that combine topics as unrelated as medical research, knitting, and dog care all in one.

The reason that blogs which combine a mishmash of the bloggers personal interests do not become very popular, or make a lot of money, is because they don’t focus on the needs of the readers. The mishmash blogs are focused on the bloggers themselves, which does not engage any particular niche.   (more…)

By Holly Reisem Hanna

When I first launched The Work at Home Woman, I knew that I wanted to monetize my blog with traditional advertising methods and affiliate marketing. I also knew that I needed a lot of blog traffic to do so, so offering free giveaways and product reviews became part of my marketing plan.

Because my blog isn’t a typical review or giveaway blog, I didn’t actively seek out these sorts of opportunities. But after a few months of being on the market, requests to do reviews and run giveaways slowly started to trickle in. Many of my first reviews and giveaways were for business and career related books.

Over time The Work at Home Woman grew and became more popular and my inbox became flooded with PR requests, everything from tech gadgets, business services to books, writing opportunities and much more. In fact, this is one of my favorite things about being a blogger; you never know what opportunities are going to come through the pipeline. (more…)