Recently, Dave Fowler shared his struggles over balancing an enriching home life with making money online. As Dave so eloquently illustrates, eking out a living on the Net is harder than most people think. It takes hard work, dedication, and hours upon hours of staring at a computer screen while the world goes on around you. It’s tough.

I put in more hours working from home than I ever did when I worked as a nurse. But that doesn’t mean that I’m crazy for choosing this lifestyle. It fits my needs for this stage in my life, and I’m having a great time. I’ve met some terrific people, I’ve learned new skills, and I get to set my own rules. It’s kinda like building your own treehouse when you were little. You create the floor plan, decorate it in your favorite colors, and decide who gets to climb the ladder to play.

Dave announced last week that he will be leaving Blogopolis. He’s returning to the land of corporate business, or in his case, public service. He wants to take his last few weeks to make up for lost time with his family.

While I am sad to see him go, I am glad he is doing what’s right for him. I wanted to take this opportunity to say thanks to Dave for all the laughs and entertainment he’s churned out over the last year or so. He’s brightened many days for me and for countless others. I hope he finds a few minutes here and there, in between throwing bad guys into jail, to drop in and Tweet or comment on a few blogs. The absence of his unique sense of humor will make the Internet a little duller.

Here’s to you Dave. Thanks for gracing us with your wit and charm. And if I ever make across the Big Pond, look for me and plate of cookies on your doorstep.

What Reputable SEO Execs Know

A good SEO company knows that quality counts. Building relationships with customers is important. And your business must be trustworthy to survive. (With the current economy concerns, many disreputable online companies will be closing their websites. Consumers want to hire a company they can trust. They are being more careful how they spend each dime.)

Busting Myths

“Outsmart the Search Engines with Keyword Saturation”

Many get rich quick bloggers claim to be able to outsmart search engines. While this may have been possible 6-12 months ago, search engines are getting smarter by the day. Google employs a whole team of geniuses who work night and day to improve algorithms and improve the validity of SERPS. If your website contains quality, relevant content search engines will value your website over keyword stuffed websites.

“Long Posts Increase Relevance”

When I first started writing SEO content creation projects, it was commonplace to write single articles of 1200-1600 words. Those articles were great for improving search engine ranking, but were awful for attracting regular traffic. No one reads a five page article online, no one. Web surfers are fickle with their time. They expect immediate gratification. They begin to skim the second a post loses their attention. Online content is more effective in bite-sized chunks of 200-400 words.

“Article Banks Draw Traffic”

Providing a smorgasbord of information for readers may seem like a good idea, and many bloggers claim to have made money using article banks and content carnivals. Consider this, the last time you needed quick information from the Net (good quality content and trusted facts) where did you point your Web browser? The number one answer is Wikipedia.

The chances are slim that you browsed through 800 pages of content topics on some website that ranked 150 on a SERPS. On-topic content is best. If your company sells pink flip flops, blog about flip flops, sandals, pedicures, and foot fetishes if you like, but don’t blog about snow shoes, hiking boots, or fan socks just because those keywords are ranking high this month.

Tomorrow’s post concludes this Blogging for Dollars mini-series. (Sorry, there’s no free iPod or tales of a sordid love triangle.) Read one, read two, or read them all~ Blogging for Dollars provides solid information for the serious professional blogger.

The Way of the Web

Websites that proclaim they make millions of dollars from a blog that is painful to read, is either lying or has very loose business ethics. But the sad fact is that websites who claim to make tons of money do get tons of traffic from poor souls looking for a better way to earn a paycheck. (Or not earn a paycheck, but collect one anyway.)

Blogging for Dollars

I’ve been blogging nearly exclusively for SEO companies for a couple of years now. (I could tell you which ones, but then they’d send out a team to waterboard you and your family in retaliation. ) What I know about SEO and marketing is from on-the-job experience. I’ve taken a few classes, read dozens of books, and had hands on training by SEO executives. I work for reputable companies that have been in business for many years and take pride in a job well done.

Can you use Black Hat SEO to increase traffic? Sure. Can you choke your blog full of flashy ads and affiliate programs to bring in a few extra bucks every week? Of course. The real question is, should you deceive the average Joe to line your own pockets.

Tune in tomorrow for Part Two of Blogging for Dollars.

Big is Beautiful!

“Big is Beautiful!” may work for plus-sized underwear ads, but it fails miserably in the world of online writing. Clear, concise writing is best. You have 500 words or less to take your reader on a journey with a destination of your choosing.

The Challenge

Your goal is to transport readers from point A to point B in a manner that inspires them to continue following your lead.  Most readers aren’t that picky, they’ll follow nearly anyone that piques their interest for a short time; the challenge is to keep their interest.

Step Three: Cutting the Fat

Cutting the fat is a painful process for many writers. Laboring over a creation only to trash your beloved words in a pile on the floor is unnatural. However, the trimmed up product is often a creation more beautiful and valuable than the first draft.

The Trimming Process

Cutting the fact begins with eliminating or revising any confusion in your writing.

• Take out any parts that do not move the reader toward the destination. If it is not related to your topic, get rid of it.
• Organize your thoughts to create a logical flow. (We mentioned these first two steps in Focus and Keep it Flowing.)
• Break up long paragraphs into smaller chunks of related information. This creates a little more white space and is easier on the eyes. It also allows readers to scan for information quickly before they decide to invest the time it takes to read an entire post.
• Replace flowery prose with powerful descriptions. Long-winded descriptions are nice for poetry and story telling, but are not a good fit for most online content.

Step Four: Choosing Words Carefully

If you are a writer, you already know that word choice can make all the difference. All writers have a love for words, and sometimes we have a difficult time choosing which words to romance for a post. One way to select the right words for a post begins with determining your tone for the piece. Let’s say you are writing a sample blog post for a website that sells lightning rods. What emotions underlie your post on lightning storms? Are you conveying wonder, fear, fascination, or fast and hard clinical facts?

Once you identify the tone of your writing, brainstorm words that express your thoughts and evoke the emotions behind your tone. For example, words such as sizzling, singeing, ear-splitting, ground shaking, hair raising, and white hot invoke images of a lightening storm that convey power and fascination. In contrast, charring, electrified, scorched, random, split-second, and life threatening convey an attitude of fear.

Once you have a word bank to draw from, you can replace dull or incongruent words with selections from your brainstorming list.

Focus, flow, and lean writing are essential elements of clearer writing.  Next up in the Clearer Writing series: Originality. Stay tuned to learn how marching to the beat of a different drummer can be a good thing.

Beginning Your Journey

We’ve all experienced a similar situation with a poorly plotted movie or book, or when someone spills the beans and tells you that the bomber is really the main character suffering from multiple personality disorder, right after you read the first chapter of Three by Ted Dekker. (Oops! If you haven’t read the story, it’s still well worth the read.) To continue with our Clearer Writing Steps, this same principal of logical flow holds true for your writing.

Your writing must have a destination (focus), but it also must have a means to get to that destination. Every article, blog post, or story is a journey. There are no short cuts and you must know where you are going. In order to write clearly, your writing must follow a logical flow.

Step Two:Keep It Flowing

Just as in the movies, your writing needs to have a clear cut beginning, middle, and end. Your beginning should captivate the reader’s attention and compel them to keep reading. Attention spans are short on the Web, and if your opening is dull, your readers move on.

Introduce Your Destination

Introducing your writing should ease the reader into the point you are trying to make, and if possible, present some kind of tension. This tension can be in the form of two opposing view points, a controversial statement, or a question posed to the reader. Tension is not an essential element for every piece, but it does help draw your readers in and keep them hanging on until the end.

Writing the Body: Digging Into Meat and Potatoes

The body of your article is the meat and potatoes of your writing. This area presents facts supporting your argument, informs the reader, or tells your tale. The body should be streamlined, just like a trip on the highway. This means every point should carry your reader closer to the destination. The scenic route may be great for a country drive, but it is not pleasant in writing. No one wants to read a meandering, winding story with no real destination.

Each paragraph has its own theme or point to make. Sentences should be short, as should each paragraph. Online content is not the same as a college thesis. Each idea should flow logically from one idea to the next, with transitioning sentences where necessary. Break the flow and you lose your reader.

Wrapping It Up: The Fortune Cookie of Writing

Clear writing also includes a conclusion. This does not mean that you can copy and paste your opening paragraph at the end of the piece. Repetitive facts are boring and not worth the time it takes to read them. One way to create a nice wrap up is to read each paragraph of your body and ask yourself what four words summarize each paragraph. I call this this the fortune cookie method. Each paragraph is condensed into a short and sweet Chinese proverb to be listed in your conclusion.

Keeping your writing flowing from beginning to end helps make your posts pleasant instead of painful to read. For clearer writing, hug the curves, check the map often, and put up a few roadsigns along the course to help others find their way.

Got Focus?

“I want my sexy!” screamed my four year old from the bathtub. I could hear his older brother patiently going through a list of possible words, other than sexy, that might placate the little guy. With each incorrect guess, duckie?, cookie?, Saltie?, wedgie?, the demand got louder and louder. I put a stop to the screaming by sliding open the shower door and explained to the toddler that demanding the same thing over and over, only louder, was not helpful. After a series of descriptive inquiries similar to a 20 questions game, I picked up a plastic Jet Ski from the toy basket and handed it to a now beaming child. Who knew that Jet Ski and sexy are the same things when you’re four?

Clear communication is elusive for many of us, even as adults. We each come to the table with different experiences and ideas that shape the way we communicate. Writing is no different. However, clear writing is crucial on the Web. Internet readers expect fast facts, clear communication, and instant entertainment- all within the first paragraph. Post unclear copy and you’ve lost the reader (a.k.a. the potential customer).
So begins our series on 9 steps to clearer writing. This nine part post will hopefully help new writers create better content and maybe give those seasoned veterans among us a refreshed perspective on clear communication.

Step ONE: Focus- Your Writing Foundation

Focus. A clear focus serves as the strong foundation for your writing. What is your article about? What idea are you conveying to your readers? When you lose your focus your writing tends to wander around aimlessly, resulting in confusion and frustration in your readers.

Finding a Goal

Each article, blog post, page of sales copy, or website content page should have an obvious goal. This goal may be to express an opinion, provide step-by-step directions, review historical facts, inform the reader, or entertain an audience.

Where to Start

Many professional copywriters recommend beginning with your title. You can revise the title once the article is finished, but having a brief summary of your writing helps keep you on track. Every sentence in the article should relate back to the subject of the title. If you need help writing better titles, you can visit CopyBlogger or ProBlogger for terrific tutorials.

Building a Framework

Keeping focus also requires a logical flow to your writing. Each piece should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. These three portions of your article need to be interesting, not repetitive. The introduction determines whether readers continue to the end of the page, the body should be easy to skim, and the rest of copy must support the conclusion.

Read Like a Visitor

One of my pet peeves is a professional writer that is too busy to read over their own work before posting. Taking a few minutes to read over a post eliminates 99% of errors in any content, as long as the reader has an adequate understanding of grammar and a good spell checker. Some writers recommend reading your wok out loud to help uncover any unclear or awkward phrasing. You should strive to read the content from the viewpoint of the reader, not the author.

Anything that does not related back to your title needs to go. Editing can seem like a brutal process, but pruning out the dead branches of redundant copy is essential to a healthy article.
Merriam-Webster defines focus as the center of activity, attraction, or attention; a point of concentration. Focus provides the solid foundation for your writing. Determine your purpose, set a goal, and build the framework for great content. Review what you’ve written before posting and don’t be afraid to edit out unfocused phrases. Focus provides clearer communication between you and your readers.

Next up in the clearer writing series is Keep it Flowing: Reaching Your Destination. See you soon!

Success!

Bogging is a fiercely competitive business for some. Others just want to be heard and catch their own five minutes of fame, even if no one reads their blog except mom. That’s one of the unique appeals of blogging- it fills different needs for different people.

Three Blog Categories

If you’re not sure where your blog fits into the vast world of cyberspace, consider the three basic blog categories on the Web.

Corporate Business Blogs

Corporate business blogs write to draw traffic. Not just any traffic, mind you, targeted consumers looking to open their wallets for the products and services offered on the website. Increased profit margins are the Big Enchilada.

Personal Blogs

Personal blogs seek out community.  People with common interests unite, converse, and exchange ideas. Personal blogs may provide information, such as a recipe for Grandma’s Sunday Chicken Dinner, the latest pictures of the kids, or how to change out the spider gears in your ’85 Chevy C-10, but they also fill the need for connecting with others on a personal level. Folks gather to ask about life and share their lives with others.

Informational Blogs

Professionals, or at least individuals who master a subject, often write informational blogs. The die-hard model train enthusiast may be an informational blogger as well as the successful business owner looking to mentor others. Websites like TreeHugger.com are insanely popular because they provide free information about a popular topic. TreeHugger also provides a community for environmentalists to gather, a safe place to get information about products related to green living, and ideas for ways to get involved in going green. It’s a one-stop-shop for the environmentalist.

Top Blogs Examined

Each of these types of blogs wants to attract readers. They want to be successful blogs, not random words lost in the jumble of search engine results pages. I recently read a post by Danny Dover over at SEOmoz that caught my attention. His post entitled, Examining The Internet’s Top Blogs: What We Can Learn From Their Success, was filled with tons of neat statistics about the Internet’s top blogs.
I like condensed facts, and this post had succinct facts galore. My mind whirled as I processed the graphs and lists of websites that had made it to the top. Then I wondered, what made these particular blogs successful?

Picking Apart the Facts

Many successful blog provide a valuable service, such as delivering news feeds or discussing the latest politics, without tons of ads and sales pitches. The majority of successful blogs listed by Mr. Dover write about technology or news, subjects of interest to people who regularly surf the Net.

Some blogs, like Endgadget, are written in a style that drives most copywriters insane, but somehow they pull it off because they are the first to play with new toys and are nice enough to tell us about it, complete with pictures that make techo-geeks (like me) drool.

Certain blogs, like Darren Rowse’s Problogger, are just simply terrific. They know their stuff, are happy to open up their brains for examination, and have a passion for their blog subject. That fire shows through in their blogging.

If you don’t have a blog bout the latest techno gadget, or work for CNN.com, don’t despair. If blogs with fire and passion like Problogger can make it to the top, so can you. Love and passion for your blog subject is more valuable than million-dollar marketing campaigns and being on top of the latest fads or breaking news.

So, do you have what it takes to be a top blogger?