A rainy day here in the coal region as I sit here at the keyboard. It. has the ache factor a bit high this morning which is probably a good thing when trying to put together a rant.

One of the things that gets to me is when people tell me that they have nothing to write about. In various conferences the same thing always comes up I can never come up with a topic for my blog post.

Quite frankly this is a poor excuse and is to be blunt BULL!

If nothing else write about what you are doing right now.

Everyone thinks that every blog post they write has to be a piece of perfect literature. This is not true. The key is to sit and write regularly. Just do it.

Write your posts and let it sit until the next day. Come back and clean it up and you will have an adequate blog post. Do that every day and all of a sudden you will find that it becomes much easier to write regularly.

Will they all be perfect?

Absolutely not but the more you write on a topic the better they will become. Perfection and trying to achieve it before you push the publish button will kill your blog.

Here are three ways to find topics to blog on.

1. Check Google News for your topic
2. What is hot in the forums you frequent?
3. What topic is hot in the latest teleseminar/conference you attended?

So stop finding reasons not to blog and blog today, tomorrow and regularly after that.

Your questions and comments are always welcomed.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: blog posts, blog topics, blogging, regular posting

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There are a lot of questions that come up about social bookmarking. This is one that often comes up regularly.

As always your questions on WordPress or blogging are welcomed and will be answered here in future blog posts.

Is it ok to submit your own posts to Digg, Stumble Upon, Delicious Bookmarks, etc. If it IS, what’s the quickest and easiest way to do so? (I have not done this yet, just wondering if its a big NO NO.)

Yes it is okay to submit your posts to the various social bookmarking sites. There is a caveat to that and it applies to using these sites for anything.

If all you are bookmarking is your site and you never share other sites or resources you are basically a spammer.

I bookmark quite a few of my pages but I bookmark other sites too. If I find quality information I share it. This is the key in my opinion.

Now as to the easiest way to do it I use Onlywire. I have their tool on my browser and use it a few times a day when I find posts or pages I like.

Now Onlywire has two options. You can promote them by adding their badge to your site (like I do) or you can pay them a small monthly fee.

Either way makes it easy to bookmark to a number of popular sites once you have gone through the time to set it up.

Remember that your questions and comments are welcomed so leave them in the comments below.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: blogging, social bookmarking sites, spammer, stumble upon, wordpress

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One of the things I really like doing is teaching. Whether it is in conference rooms like I do each Thursday for Get Referrals Fast, the training I do each month for upgraded members at Profitable Blog Steps or answering your questions here.

Lately though the number of questions coming in has dried up. This could be that we have already answered all of the questions you may have about blogging and WordPress but some how I doubt it.

So it is time to answer the questions you have but you need to be asking them.

This is very easy just leave it in the comments.

Part of the reason the questions have dried up is that I stopped asking so today is the day to ask. For a long time I always ended my post asking for questions to be posted in the comments.

Over the last week or two I stopped doing that for whatever reason. Maybe just laziness or maybe figuring that readers know I want questions asked. You know I became enamored with that dangerous word assume.

I assumed that all my readers would ask questions even when I did not ask.

A good point to remember is that if you are not specifically asking for what you want to happen the odds are it won’t.

Time to get back to the old way so let me know what you think and please leave any questions you have about WordPress or blogging in the comments.

Technorati Tags: answering your questions, blogging, wordpress

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Well we are stuck in the dog days of summer here in the coal region of PA.

The weather is hot, the humidity is high and it is generally just yucky.

Yeah yucky one of those technical type words. (Remember the Mr Yuck stickers a few years ago.)

So I decided to take advantage of that and bring back a special offer that I have not offered since last November.

Blog 3 Pack

Last year I did a series of 3 calls on blogging that became products covering the biggest questions that come up from readers time and
time again.

They were recorded, transcribed and packaged with the workbooks that were created for the teleclasses.

I have packaged all 3 together for a special Dog Days Of Summer special offer.

This will only be available until Monday August 9th at 8 am.

Blog 3 Pack

Check them out before the special goes back in the vault.

You can grab 2 of the 3 every day but they would cost you more than the 3 pack and the third is not available anywhere else.

This will disappear after Monday at 8 am so check it out today before it goes away.

Blog 3 Pack

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: blog, blogging, dog days, special offer, teleclasses

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Well it is now the 8th month of the year. Where has the time gone?

Seems that each month goes a little faster. May just be that I am getting older of course each of us are.

Now the question for me today is was my blog better or worse in July than it was in June. Today will be the day to check stats, ranking for my main keywords, how many new subscribers and other data. It is not a fun part of blogging. Especially when you are starting and the stats are not what you would like them to be.

It is a necessary part of the process of growing your blog. If you are not tracking what you are doing you have no idea of what is working and what is not.

Unfortunately very few actually do this. Is it any wonder that very few people actually succeed in growing their blogs to the point they want?

So do you know if July was better than June for you? If you do know how will that help you make August better than July?

If you answer these questions each month you may be surprised at how your blog will grow and you will do more of the things that will make that happen because you will know what changes work and what changes don’t.

So the question today is “Was July better or worse than June for your blog?” Let me know by leaving a comment.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: blog results, blog stats, blogging, improve your blog results, tracking

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Each Thursday evening at 8 pm I do a training class for new marketers. This week the topic is Blogging and Social Media.

Now these are set up for very new marketers to the internet as part of our support for Get Referrals Fast members. They are open to everyone.

You can access them online at our Hot Conference room.

Was a bit disappointed at the lack of response for resuming the Blog Talk Radio series yesterday but will ask again once the summer is over. This is one of the big vacation weeks of summer here in the US so that may have had a result on the response.

So if you are interested in getting started with blogging and social media make sure to mark your calendar and stop by tonight at 8 pm edt.

Here is the time in your area.

You can access the conference here.

Hope to see you there and as always look forward to your questions and comments.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: blogging, conference, social-media, training

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Okay I have been thinking about what to rant about today for over an hour while I go through my morning checklist. This has been a busy week for me and I have noticed that it is usually harder to find topics to rant about when I am creating content.

Now that is a good thing for me but it does bring up the point that when you are being proactive there is less other things to upset you. That is not a bad thing.

So I guess this rant will go in a different direction. What are you doing to be proactive?

Have you done any of the following this week and do you do them regularly?

• Create new blog posts
• Comment on related blogs
• Add or edit an email from your autoresponder series
• Submit articles to the directories
• Create a video or podcast of your article
• Guest post on someone’s blog
• Create a new product either for sale or as a giveaway

Those are just a few things that you could have done this week to move your business forward and generate more traffic to your sites.

How many have you done this week?

Leave your answer below in the comments or ask a question about WordPress or blogging. I have writing to do so cutting this short. What about you?

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: autoresponder series, blogging, email, podcast, rant, traffic, wordpress

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Great question today and one that does get asked frequently. After all everyone I know is looking for ways to automate as much of their business as possible and creating content can definitely be time intensive.

Remember that you can leave your questions in the comments and I do answer questions here regularly that are left in the comments. Right now the queue is down so your questions are appreciated.

Would like to learn more about autoblogging and if you think it is worthwhile. Keep hearing a lot about it.

I have tried some auto blogging and five years ago it worked and worked well for Adsense blogs. Now it has not been effective for quite some time.

It is good for supplementing what you are doing and if you have new content of your own and supplement it with automation it can be helpful.

What I use is Automatic Blog Posting plugin which is a paid plugin. It pulls articles based on your keywords from Article Base so first check how much content they have for your niche.

I only use it to supplement my efforts and add an extra post or two a week to keep the blog fresh but have not found any set up I could make work over the last few years that are truly set and forget.

They are great to supplement your efforts and add new content but as the prime way of generating your content I would not recommend it.

Your comments and questions are welcomed and appreciated.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: answer questions, auto blog, blogging, blogs, niche

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Considering opening a new service for my readers and customers and figured it is always better to ask first before laying the groundwork for it. Have learned this the hard way more than once so I would appreciate your input in the polls below.

Would you be interested in a blog professionally set up for you in the niche of your choice? If so I have a poll you can help me with.

Have looked at quite a few places now offering blogs for sale that are inclusive some with content and some without.

Would you be interested in this type of service?

What services would you like to be included. Check all that apply only if you answered yes above.

Finally what is the maximum you would pay for this type of service.

If you would be interested and want something that is not included in the poll please leave a comment below.

As always you can ask any questions about WordPress and blogging to be answered in the future here by leaving a comment.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: blog install, blogging, done for you, niche, poll, wordpress

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Today’s question is an interesting one that will be entirely opinion based. One thing I never lack for is opinions often to my detriment but such is life.

That being said lets get to today’s question and remember that you can get your question answered here by leaving it in the comments below. That is where I gather the questions that create this series.

How often can you share your new blog post on Facebook, Twitter etc. before it becomes annoying and spammy? (I know this will be a personal opinion.)

Now I announce my new posts on Twitter every time I post and have integrated my blogs with my Facebook account. It ties in with other social media too and I know there isn’t a rule I have found that works for everyone.

The key with any of the social media sites is to be active besides just your blog. Take part and share other things with the audience that are appropriate.

If all your Twitter stream or Facebook account shows is your own items and you never recommend other things of interest and interact with people it won’t be helpful and it probably will hurt your credibility.

I saw that when I started going through the new site IMfaceplate and seeing some of the Twitter streams people had in their profiles.

Link after link of the same thing. No interaction with others and then these will be the people that say it does not work.

Any of the social media take a bit of effort and time to make them work. The problem is to find what works and helps you without spending forever doing it. There is a fine line there but if you aren’t interacting your time will be wasted.

If you need to understand more about using these properly here are two resources from people that make them work.

For Facebook check out Tinu’s Fast Facebook Traffic and for Twitter check out Advanced Twitter Marketing from Doug Champigny. Both will help you get more from your efforts in a timely fashion.

Don’t forget to leave your comments and any questions you may have on WordPress or blogging below.

About the author

Mike Paetzold got started blogging in 2003 and has become an expert on using WordPress. He has become known as The WordPress Guy. After being an under ground niche marketer using his blogs he has surfaced to share some of the ways he uses blogs to enter various niches profitably. Get the details at Profitable Blog Steps

Technorati Tags: blogging, credibility, Facebook, interaction with others, personal opinion, twitter, wordpress

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