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A week ago, I asked you to critique me for a chance to win a copy of my Ultimate Blogging Theme and my upcoming Google optimization book.
I got tons of really constructive ones, I appreciate those people who participated.
People pay for critiques
Last year I took a public speaking class to prepare for a 1 hour talk at Joel Christopher’s seminar. Because honestly, I’m an introvert, well I was an introvert :-)
The first few days were not hard, they were just speaking exercises, intonations and other stuff. But as we progress, it gets more “heart pounding”.
Seriously, it took the crap out of us.
Around the 2nd week of the class, we started to do VTR’s. They’d ask us impromptu on stage about all sorts of questions and record it with a video cam. Then they’ll “humiliate” (sort of) us when they play it right after we speak and critique it. It’s VERY awkward and I always think of myself looking funny.
We were already there, we paid for it. So no turning back now.
But that wasn’t all, the 3rd week, we were asked impromptu questions AND critiqued on stage! It sucks big time. One of my classmates got so shaky that she crumpled her notes while speaking!
Those moments changed us. We did it the 2nd, 3rd and 4th time and as we go on, we felt more comfortable on stage and because of those critiques, we were able to get rid of our bad habits in a flash. Like literally.
Totally sweet.
It takes a lot of guts
Getting critiqued takes a lot of guts. Actually, I expected more “hardcore” critiques from you but I appreciate you guys being constructive :-)
Now for the winnerSSS
Click here to continue reading
Recent Posts
By Carl On January 10, 2009
7 Comments
After introducing the new article marketing, the first person to comment just leaked my next posts unconsciously…
I love the idea, Carl, but I’m a little confused. How do you a) find the best authoritative blogs in your niche, b) submit your article to these blogs, and c) get them to publish it?
Way to go Joel for that comment (Now you’ll anticipate more people to subscribe to my blog, heh.)
Alright so…
How Do You Find The Best Authoritative Blogs In Your Niche?
Here are 7 websites I’ve been using when I go around hunting for popular blogs…
1. WhosTalkin – This new baby (just launched last year) is going big sometime soon. When you do a search, you get all the related blogs basing on your keyword PLUS results from other social media and social networking sites like Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, etc. A great tool for reputation management too.
2. Google Blog Search – Hmmm nothing new here, clean interface, relevant results, just the same as how Google serves us LOL.
3. Technorati – They’ve been pretty messed up for the last months because of their weird feature tests and design changes but their big, big directory still lives up to the promise of ranking top blogs.
4. StumbleUpon – Not really of good use if you’re doing a proper research, just a nifty tool to read some cool stuff on your interests.
5. Delicious – I like using Delicious personally because you get to know what people think about the blogs and how many people REALLY liked it – compared to the other sites in this list, it’s real people voting, not just some algorithm.
6. Ask Blog Search – Well Ask’s been doing a pretty good job with their blog search, less splogs than any of the above.
7. Google Reader – After a long day hunting, subscribe to the blogs you’ve found and test out Google Reader’s new “top recommendations” and you’ll double your popular blogs list.
How About You?
It’s definitely not a complete list, how about you? If you’re using a website or a technique to find popular blogs in a specific niche, speak up and share it in the comments section below ;-)
This Post Is Part Of The New Article Marketing Series…
By Carl On January 8, 2009
17 Comments
Early this morning, Adam asked…
Just wanted to get your thoughts on article marketing. Is it a good system to get backlinks and a good position in SERPS for low to medium competitive keywords, with under 1 million results.
Article marketing is very old school, to say the least.
The technique works like this…
You write a 300 word article with an about the author blurb at the bottom slapped with your link then you submit it to hundreds of article directories. It worked like a charm then because Google won’t mind duplicate articles – but today, Google doesn’t give that much weight to links from duplicate articles.
So most people nowadays submit an article to the top article directories only, wait for it to rank in the search engine results page (SERPS) then traffic comes – but not so many backlinks and not that quality.
How Do You Gain Backlinks Through Article Marketing Today?
Imagine, you write a 300 word article, submit it to one website and the next day, your traffic jumps, your article spreads to hundreds of websites and you get quality backlinks.
Not a lot, but quality.
The New Article Marketing
The idea is simple, instead of submitting your article into article directories, you submit it to authoritative blogs in your niche.
Basically, when your article gets posted on their blog, you get a backlink just like in the about the author blurb.
But here’s 5 magical things the new article marketing has to offer…
- You get traffic on the day your article gets posted
- You only submit to one blog
- You get targeted traffic
- Your article will be talked about on the blog giving a chance for it to spread on other blogs too
- You get quality backlinks
In My Experience
Back to Adam’s question, is it a good system to get backlinks and a good position in SERPS for low to medium competitive keywords, with under 1 million results?
It’s good.
It still works in my experience – but why not go to the best which is the new article marketing?
Less work, more results.
This Post Is Part Of The New Article Marketing Series…
By Carl On January 3, 2009
40 Comments
The last few months, as you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been really busy -busy in such a way that it’s a blessing because I’ve got Ultimate Blogging Theme, Youngest Blogger and tons of other projects to finish.
Those blessings ate almost all of my time online leaving this blog and a couple emails collecting dust.
So i would like to take this moment to say…
I’m sorry.
I know I’ve said several times that I’m gonna get back to blogging but it only lasted weeks so I’m not gonna promise now, instead I’m going to take this as a challenge…
And to make it fun, if in the next week you encourage me enough to make 4 posts I’ll give away 4 copies of the Ultimate Blogging Theme 2.0 which now includes a one click logo management to those who’ve participated.
How do you encourage me?
Be creative, send quotes, guides, leave an encouragement comment or email or whatever that you think will help me + you think that will get you a copy of UBT.
P.S. Happy new year everyone :-)
By Carl On December 25, 2008
20 Comments
It’s funny that our ISP got a hiccup exactly on Christmas day.
So I had to go to a nearby coffee shop just to launch this on time…
http://www.youngestblogger.com
Since it’s Christmas, I wanted to launch something unique that will help other bloggers, young bloggers like me.
It basically ranks bloggers under 18 using 4 ranking factors which is their age (younger the better), Google PR, Technorati and Alexa rank – plus it updates automagically everyday!
Formula
For those curious cats, here’s the formula of how the blogs are ranked…
Age: 20%
Google PR: 25%
Technorati: 30%
Alexa: 25%
Review and vote
Now this is where it gets pretty. We’ve added a spiffy, review and vote function wherein you can review the blog and rate it from 1 to 5 to help the blogger improve and go a long way.
No “This blog sucks.” reviews there, the main goal is to improve the young bloggers so we review each comment thoroughly.
Still Not There Yet
We are on the 20’s mark – it’s still a long way to complete the goal of top 100 list so I need your help on this one, click here if you are below 18 and blogging. If you’re not, then add someone you know that is under 18 and blogging.
Check it out here…
http://www.youngestblogger.com
By Carl On December 10, 2008
10 Comments
Last Sunday, our national pride, Manny Pacquiao humiliated the so called “dream match” by putting De La Hoya into a nightmare with his accurate punching and outstanding footwork…
And I was there to watch it on the big screen – live. I had to get up 7 AM on a Sunday morning just to watch the fight though but it’s totally worth it.
Before the fight, there were about 3 HBO special series about Pacman and the Golden Boy’s training camp, what they do and who they are training with.
This is what I noticed that accounts for Pacquiao’s vicious victory…
- De La Hoya’s trainer, Ignacio “Nacho” Beristain is 69 years old and assistant trainer, Angelo Dundee (Former trainer of Ali) is 87 years old
- Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach is much younger, 48 years old
Yes, De La Hoya’s team got the experience, wisdom and all the tactics to win – in the 70’s.
Things have changed.
It’s 2008 and we got new methods, new techniques and new technology to train for the fight. Freddie Roach was aware of that.
A stinging straight, duck and dodge – those were the weapons trainer Roach equipped Manny to take advantage of the flaw he spotted in De La Hoya’s defense.
Not only that, De La Hoya’s team was busy managing his weight, worried to pay the $3,000,000 penalty for every excess pound – while on Pacquiao’s camp, they’re busy training and preparing the pound-for-pound champion.
Think about it, many of the CEO’s of big companies nowadays are younger. Young people are more aware of technology and most probably can multi-task better. Young people are open to new ideas. Young people do not fear scarcity…
So here’s what I think to get superior results in your business. Get the wisdom of the older ones and apply using the techniques and methods of the younger.
By ganeshsrinivas On December 8, 2008
26 Comments
This article is guest posted by Ganesh from Blog Smartly.
If you’ve ever started a Wordpress blog before, you know how it feels. Its exciting to launch a new blog. Most of you jump when you get that inspiration and start your new blog right away. Slow down. You need to prepare well in advance before launching your blog. Here are some tips on how to make your blog launch successful.
Map Your Goals
Think. Ask yourself why you are starting the blog. What are your goals? Do you want to make money? How much time are you going to spend on your blog? Ask yourself all these questions. Goals are very important for achieving milestones. Just breakdown bigger goals into smaller ones and challenge yourself to accomplish them within a period of time. Its better to write them down in a notebook or something. Take some time to write some articles for your blog well in advance.
Blog Design
The blog design is the most important aspect of a blog. It has to look attractive and professional. Take some time to check out good theme or get a custom theme designed for your blog. Get all the logos, gravatars, favicons, banners ready so that you can promote your blog effectively. A well designed blog stands out to the visitor.
Use a Domain Parking Theme
It is best to install Wordpress as soon as you get the domain. If you just leave your domain as it is, your domain company would will turn it into an ad farm. Install the Launchpad theme for Wordpress. It is a domain parking theme that informs the visitor that the blog is about to launch soon and allows them to subscribe via RSS and email. Its pretty nice and professional too.
Networking
Use networking to get traffic for your blog when it launches. If you’re an active participant in some of the social media sites, then it could be a big plus for you. Although I’m suggesting you to use sites like Twitter and Plurk to promote your site, I don’t recommend using them solely for promoting your blog since that would look spammy. I also recommend using forums for promoting your blog.
I also found out that commenting on other blogs is a great way to promote your site. Remember, the blogosphere is a big community. No blogger is an island. Connect with other bloggers, read and comment on their blogs and they will surely return the favor.
Contests
You know that bloggers hold contests to promote their blogs. So why not hold one before you launch the blog too? After all, it only makes your blog more popular. You can hold a small contest and give away a small prize, lets say $20 cash, one among those who subscribe to your blog so that it creates some buzz. You can use forums to spread the word about your contest.
Conclusion
If all this sounds like nonsense, let me sum up everything you need to know – Plan well and launch your blog in a professional way. Leverage the power of social media sites to promote your site. Impress your visitors and convert them into loyal readers.
All the best!
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Carl Ocab is one of the most successful teenage bloggers on the net. But remarkably, Carl was just 13 years old when he rose to fame with his hugely popular “make money online” website: www.carlocab.com
