People in need of a particular content are always on search of the related information, and it is at this point the social bookmarking sites have gained importance.

You may not believe in the claims of the author of an article and authenticity of a post in a blog. But what if some hundreds of similar web viewers believe it really worked for them and they liked the article? Won’t you be interested in reading the post then?

Most of us believe in the reviews of the common visitors than some paid professionals. They simple logic has all it’s means in making the social bookmarking sites a huge success.

Out of many in the lot, few sites like stumbleupon, digg, reddit and technorati have gained huge success and popularity in no time. The user interference and reliability of information of these social bookmarking sites have made both the content hunters and publishers gain success.

Users can find related content and the most recommended blog post for the niche in which they are searching. The relevancy of the original blog post cannot be questioned as it depends on the number of viewer recommendations. If a person having an account in a particular social bookmarking site can recommend your blog post and can share it with his friends in the network.

The hot topic gets a slot in the home page of these social bookmarking websites. This can drive in thousands of visitors to your blog and most of them will be targeted visitors. This ultimately helps in more newsletter/rss subscribers for your blog. The more the subscribers and the visitors to your blog, the more popular becomes your blog.

Thus, in order to drive in huge amounts of traffic to your blog, first you need to create some great content and publish it. Have an account with site like stumbleupon or digg.

Add the socialbookmarking plugins to your blog posts. There are many such plugins available for free if you are using wordpress. Else, alternatively you can also embed a simple html snippet and paste in your blog post. This enables the viewers of your blog to stumble or digg it meaning they liked the post and are recommending it to their friends in the network.

This increases the chance of more recommendation, more views, more recommendations, more traffic. This becomes a chain process and in a very quick time you can see your visitor statistics go high. Have a look on your bandwidth and upgrade it immediately if you feel necessary.

Thus said, it is the content and right strategy to drive in enormous traffic from the social bookmarking sites.

One more reason why bloggers love these social bookmarking sites are they get some relevant information, ideas on blog posts and keep an eye on what’s hot in their niche. Also, these social bookmarking sites are Search Engine friendly and drive in huge traffic through the popular search engines like Google and Yahoo.

I personally don’t see any reason not to submit your website to directories. Doing it one by one is a laborious process, so my suggestion is to pay someone from Digital Point $10-20 to do a bulk submission.

Be sure to select an appropriate category for your website and ensure that you set up a junk email address as some of the submissions will need confirmation and all will need a valid email address.

Submitting to directories is a straightforward way of building links. If you submit in bulk then you can ctratch directories off your SEO list almost right away. Directory links won’t help too much with SERPs, but they will make your website stronger, even if only just a little bit.

Perhaps you’re dead set against submitting to directories. I think it’s better to submit than to not submit given the low cost of getting your link into a couple thousand directories at a time. Share your thoughts.

Some article directories allow you to include links in the body of the text, but most will only allow links in the resource or bio box. This is where you write a little snippet of text with a link or two to pages on your website or blog.

Deciding what to write your articles on is simple enough. Look at which keywords you’re targeting and turn them into articles. Be sure to include your keywords in the title and body of your articles. Depending on the keywords and niche you are targeting, you could see your article rank well in search engines.

Keep building articles and you’ll be building up relevant links. The traffic will come if you’re articles rank well and contain information that people find useful. If you write something that people want to read, they will be inclined to click on any links you provide to find out more. I have numerous travel articles about Phuket dotted around the Internet.

When you submit your article to a directory, you’re offering it for people to use on their own websites. The bonus for you is that when someone uses one of your articles, they must include the author bio or resource box. Thus, you get even more links and possible traffic. Write good articles and people will pick them up.

You may have seen people offering services to submit your articles to hundreds of directories at a time. Use these services with caution as search engines will not index hundreds of pages containing exactly the same content. However, some people claim that submission to multiple websites has helped their SERPs. It’s really just a matter of experimenting and trying various tactics.

Keep tabs on your articles and watch where they end up in search results. Write different articles targeting the same words and submit them to different article directories – there’s no point in limiting yourself to Ezine Articles.

Though it takes work, it’s not difficult to write a 400-word article about a subject you know well. You could probably write such an article in about 10 minutes. Of course, you should be putting most of your time into writing content for your own website or blog, but once you have an end product that you’re confident people will want to see, you can start hitting the article directories for all they’re worth.

Conditional tags are a way of having bits of your blog show up only in certain places. The task I had yesterday was to implement some RSS code on only certain pages of a website. I needed to keep the code kept off of the front page and only under a certain category, let’s say “category A”, for example.

It was so easy to implement that I’m actually a little embarrassed that I didn’t learn this basic code earlier. Bear in mind that this code will only work when implemented in your template files and not in actual blog posts.

There are a range of conditional tags that you can use, all of which can be found on the WordPress website. Here’s the one I needed:

<?php if(is_category(‘category A’) ) { ?>

Code went here

<?php } ?>

Let’s say you want something to appear only on your home page. The code would then look like this with conditional tags:

<?php if(is_home() ) { ?>

Code goes here

<?php } ?>

It’s that simple. Conditional tags can come in handy for cleaning up your blog’s template. The possibilities are endless. If you want to use multiple conditional tags, you can do so as follows:

<?php if(is_category(‘category A’) || is_single()) { ?>

Code here again

<?php } ?>

This would have the code show up only in category A and on single blog posts. Easy!

In Bangkok, it’s incredibly easy to present yourself as if you are a member of the high society, the elite. Fake designer labels can be picked up dirt cheap; there are numerous social gatherings with loose security you can show your face at; and people spend all of their money on expensive cars, phones and other such status symbols.

Even if they can barely afford to feed themselves, people in Bangkok spend obscene amounts of money on items that people will see and associate with wealth. It’s a fickle world, but when you think about it, as bloggers, we can do the same thing.

Instead of phones and cars, bloggers flaunt blog posts to show off their success. Just as wealth is perceived as good in Bangkok, so success is perceived as good in the blogosphere. This success usually comes down to how much money a blogger makes, but it can also be attributed to readers, RSS subscribers or just the ability to share useful information.

Image is everything

If you can pull it off like those people in Bangkok, convincing the online world that you are a success, then you give people a reason to read your blog. When I see a hot girl all wrapped up in designer threads with expensive-looking jewelry, I don’t think to question her status because she has an image. It’s the same with bloggers. Unless their claims are ludicrous, you don’t think to question their success.

You can often get away with presenting yourself in a favorable light because the vast majority of readers will not be keen on doing detective work to uncover the truth behind your image. The problem comes when you get so wrapped up in creating your image that you lose sight of what you’re doing. It’s like the people in Bangkok who spend their whole lives faking it: they stop putting time into actually making it.

Make the myth a reality

Sure, I could sit here every day and tell you I make $5,000 a month. I could convince you I’m an Internet guru, and if people started believing me then that would be half the job done. But to get the other half done – to actually make $5,000 a month – that’s the real challenge. What good does it do you to convince the world you’re rich if you don’t even have enough money to pay for your hosting?

I love Bangkok, but sometimes the fakeness of the city bores me. Being back in the big city, however, reminded me how easy it is to be held in high esteem by faking it. If your blog sucks and you have no readers, you don’t have to tell everyone that. Tell your readers you are the best, that they should read your blog – believe what you write and make it come true. Nobody wants to read a blogger who doesn’t believe in himself.

What you can see there is a group of men hitting themselves with axes and swords. This past week, I’ve seen men and women slice their own tongues with axes, pierce their cheeks with swords, blades and all manner of objects, bathe in hot oil, run across fire, and climb ladders with bladed rungs. These brutal, self-torturous acts are said to bring luck on the community. I have some horrifically-graphic images I could post, but then I run the risk of losing all my squeamish readers.

This festival has been taking up all of my time, and therefore my blogging schedule has been sporadic. I made the decision then to remove the date from all of my blog posts. I did this because when I visit a blog, if I see there is a gap in between posting, it makes me wonder why. Also, if I see a gap on one of my regular reads, it makes me question the blogger, even though I know that such gaps are inevitable.

Removing the date from all posts means that when a new reader arrives at my blog, the latest post is always “new”. It also makes gaps between posting more difficult to spot. Ideally, I try and blog every day, but this isn’t always possible. Removing the date was as simple as going into the “index” and “single” files of my theme and editing the code.

Now every post reads, “Posted by Angel” with no reference to when my post was written. A lot of bloggers use this technique if they can’t post every day. Let’s face it, what does it matter when a post was written if it contains good content? Not all readers will see that logic though. Readers can be demanding. They want daily posts and they want regularly updated blogs.

Have you ever considered making your blog timeless?

When you write a headline, you want to lure a reader into the story. If your headline is too bland, the reader will likely assume the story is just as boring and move onto another post or, worse still, another blog.

Deliver the goods

Short, snappy headlines always work over something long and drawn out. One common annoyance that even the pro bloggers are guilty of from time to time is writing misleading headlines. If you promise one thing and deliver another, no matter how good your post is, the reader already has one hurdle to overcome. You want to reading process to be as fluid as possible.

Keep to the point

You shouldn’t need to explain your headline. I detest headlines that use quirky facts, such as, “Cows have five brains,” and then lead into the post saying something like, “We aren’t luck enough to have five brains, but here’s a way to make money blogging.” It’s an ugly trick that copywriters use sometimes.

List ‘em up

The easiest posts to write headlines for are lists. You can write “My top 10 WordPress plugins” or “My top five reasons for leaving a blog” and the reader then knows exactly what to expect in the post. If you know your audience and have written something they will be interested in, then you don’t need a fancy headline. Writing a headline telling people, “How to…” is also a good way to draw attention to a strong blog post. “How to make money blogging” is one example.

News headlines for news stories

As a journalist, I like to read news headlines, but obviously these should be reserved for news pieces. “Yahoo unveils Google-destroying service”, for example. When writing a news headline, you need a verb in there to give the story a sense of action and, well, news.

This ain’t War and Peace

Some bloggers try and get a bit abstract with their headlines. For a novel, a thesis or a poem, that’s great, but there’s no need to get too deep with your blog posts.

Pose a question

One of my favorite techniques for writing headlines on blog posts is to ask a question, such as, “Is Google under attack?” Asking a question makes the reader become involved in the story even before he or she has started reading it. If you ask a question that your readers can answer or can relate to, then you’ve got them.

Claim your position

As a reader, one of the most eye-catching type of headlines reads something like, “How I made $100,000 blogging about cherry blossom.” If you tailor such a claim to your audience and to the topic you write about, you will get people interested. Make sure you can back your claim up though, because there is nothing worse than an unfulfilled promise.

Call to action

If you have a product you want people to sign up for or a website you want people to visit, calling your readers to action in the headline is an effective technique. You could say something like, “Sign up for Pay Per Post and make $20 with your first post.” I tend to avoid blog posts that have overly aggressive calls to action because they come across as being pushy. Your readers will ask, “What’s in it for me?”, when you call them to action.

The knack of writing headlines is something that comes with practice. Read other blogs and decide which headlines make you interested and what make you think “meh”.

Learn from your mistakes

It’s important not to be stubborn when people disagree with what you do or say. Anthony from Blogging Dosh is a prime offender here. He was outed by both John Chow and Cash Quests for being a bit shady. He could have turned it around if he had had the sense to back down and appease the situation, but he didn’t. His response post, since removed, was aggressive and showed an unwillingness to want to restore peace.

Even the most heinous acts can be redeemed in a lot of people’s eyes with a simple, “I’m sorry.” If you are going to stand your ground and defend your position, there has to be a bit of give and take.

Let your readers do the work for you

Once you get yourself into a position where you have a few loyal readers, these are the people who will have your back during times of debate. Reward these readers often with mentions and kind words, emails and recognition, and when the time comes, they will stand up and tell the world you’re not so bad. Never take these readers for granted.

Think before you write

If a situation heats up, don’t write impulsively. Take 10 minutes, grab a Diet Coke and think about what you are going to say. You can’t retract comments without losing credibility, so it pays to think your responses out as they can make or break your reputation. Anger is an unwanted quality in a blogger.

Don’t be too lengthy in your responses

If someone has got you really wound up, there’s no need to justify yourself with paragraph after paragraph. It can give the impression of a blogger uncertain of his or her position if you ramble on and on about why you are right and other people are wrong. Keep it short, snappy and ot the point.

Avoid being childish

It’s a real turn off when big bloggers react to critics by either insulting them (directly or indirectly) or boasting about why they are big bloggers to end an argument. It looks needlessly aggressive and can upset the wrong people. Don’t abuse your position by using it as a weapon. Getting personal is another route to avoid.

Listen to your critics, because you can often learn from what they say. A lot of bloggers tarnish their reputations by becoming unnecessarily angry at criticism. And remember, just because one person lashes out against one of your posts doesn’t mean they will do the same for the next post. Don’t hold grudges because a new days begins each morning.

Straight away I could see how muddle my blogging was. Today, I opened up an Excel file and listed all the blogs I have going at the moment. I put them in order of priority and decided which ones were worth keeping and which ones needed to be canned because they were wasting my time. Straight away, there was a few hours of my week freed up.

Next thing I did was to compile all the tasks that I need to do with regards to my blogs. These tasks ranged from claiming a blog on Technorati and setting up Feedburner, to tidying up a theme and putting ads on a blog. I also set out how many times I need to update each of the blogs I chose to keep.

What it means is that I have a lot of tasks to complete, but I can at least visualize them and work through them methodically. Within three months, I should be an unstoppable blogging machine.

For anyone out there who is feeling overwhelmed by the whole process of blogging regularly, my advice would be to stop what you’re doing and throw all your ideas down on paper (or an Excel file). Look at what’s cool and what sucks; weed out all the unnecessary clutter that is wasting you valuable hours every week. That way, you can concentrate on the things that matter and start to really make money online.

For this blog, I decided to give each day a theme, kind of like in a magazine. Although there is room for me to deviate from this theme, every week World of Angel will loosely follow this pattern:

• Monday feature
• Tuesday gossip from around the blogs
• Wednesday product review or news
• Thursday writing tips
• Friday update on my progress
• Saturday random topic
• Sunday links

This new sense of direction is uplifting to say the least. Try it for yourself.

Ever had a blogging revelation?

I read a lot of blogs of people who say that they make thousands of dollars working as online freelance writers. I’ve written about Internet freelance writing before, and it’s not something I’m particularly keen on when writing for print media is more profitable and also a heck of a lot more fun.

Even so, if you want to become a freelance writer on the Internet, there is one simple way to go about it: author a blog that exhibits your skills. People notice how well a blog is written, and I get asked to write for people without advertising my services. Mostly, I have to turn the offers down because the money isn’t worth my time, but this shows the power of blogs.

For so many people to comment on writing style should be enough to convince you of its importance. Things that annoy me as a reader include excessive use of italics, exclamation points and patronizing ad copy – don’t treat your readers like children.

The editor of the newspaper I work for actually hired me partly because he had read one of the blogs I author. You can make money, both online and offline, writing articles about absolutely anything.

Most recently, I edited a press release for John Cow (ripped it up and put it back together). The thing that I am able to do best is write, so if that’s one way that I can reach out to other bloggers (popular bloggers in particular) then I should capitalize on it and see how much money can be made on side projects for other people.

The latest project I’ve been offered actually came from someone who I sold a link to on another blog. He read the blog he was buying on, found my other blogs and then asked me to write (actually rewrite) articles for him for $50 a week. Again, I’m unsure if it’s worth my time at face value, but by writing for the websites this guy owns, I have the opportunity to promote my own blogs on high PR sites.

If you need help with a writing project then you can contact me and maybe I will be able to do something for you.

Remember: clean copy will make your blog shine. If you need some guidance, you could always head over to my tips for writing better blog posts.