As promised today I’m announcing the winner of the Iron Blogger Contest. It was an interesting mesh of entries and the decision-making process was hard. There were a couple of entries that I kept going back over because they were that good, but ultimately I can only choose one.
I chose the winner’s entry because this blogger went beyond merely, mentioning and talking about oysters, but actually used it to create an insightful analogy, which was the point. You know you’re a proficient writer when you can take almost any subject and create a teaching analogy that conveys deeper meaning and adds element of surprise to your writing. Being able to write in this fashion will enable you to keep your writing fresh and original and will help you stand out in the crowd among thousands of bloggers. Read more »
Lisa’s Traffic Secret
I thought it would be nice to finish off the weekend with a video from Lisa Irby of 2Createwebstie. The following video is one of her most viewed and is one that I found very useful when I first started blogging.
If you don’t know who Lisa Irby is, please take a moment to read Blog Better by imitating a blogger who does it well (How I learned to blog by following the blogging advice offered on her site) and Blog Better by interviewing a better blogger (An interview with Lisa Irby – she offers some great tips for beginners). Read more »
In yesterday’s post Blog better by imitating a blogger who does it well (in hindsight “emulate” would have been a better word choice) I explained how helpful Lisa Irby’s site has been to me since I’ve been blogging and as promised, today I present the responses to a recent interview. Read more »
I’ve always been a visual learner. If you show me how to do something, I can often get it fairly quickly if I have an opportunity to immediately apply what I’ve learned. Blogging is no different – that’s why when I first started out, I sought out the high ranking blogs and tried to get a feel for how they did things.
I knew blogging was more than good design, I needed to know what it was that these bloggers did to stand out from the rest. Read more »
Guest post by Daniel Packer
Like many of you, I want to drive traffic to my site. I want to gain more subscribers, and eventually, I’d like to make money! We all have different experiences with blogging, and we all know what works for us and what drives traffic. For some, that means guest posting a lot, and for others it means getting lucky that someone big notices you and retweets your link.
I had an experience I’d like to share with you because it completely changed the way I think about blogging. I did my fair share of guest blogging, but only got a few visitors each time. I wasn’t growing enough and was getting discouraged. One day, it all changed. I was getting more visitors, more quality visitors, and I knew that my growth wasn’t going to level off any time soon. Read more »
I recently submitted To Schedule tweets or NOT to tweet? to FamousBloggers.net and so far I’ve been seeing such an awesome response that I wanted to share it with you.
Although, I hadn’t really intended to enter the Guest Blogging Contest that the blog is currently holding, I was only trying to promote the Iron Blogger Contest and Birthday Celebration Contest I’m holding on my other blog, but I’m all for taking advantage of every opportunity that I can, so if you’ll be kind enough to drop by and RT and comment on my guest post, it would warm my heart immensely – and possibly help me win :)
While you’re at it, you might as well enter, too. If so, please let me know and I’ll be more than happy to return the RT and commenting favor!
Thanks! It truly is a pleasure to write for you everyday.
So far we’ve had several brave bloggers accept the “Oyster” challenge and they are pretty creative. It just shows that it takes a brilliant mind to blog. I’m impressed by the way each contestant has been able to integrate the word into a post related to their niche.
Today I want to present the contestants that I have so far, but remember entries are still being accepted until 11:59pm, Friday, March 12, 2010, so if you still haven’t entered and would like to, you’ve still got time. Don’t let these brilliant entries scare you away, remember that all contestants will receive a backlink, so it’s still a win/win situation.
I’m intrigued by the way each of these contestants took this one random word and found a way to merge it seamlessly into their writing.
Here’s what our contestants are doing so far (presented in no particular order): Read more »
Tuesday we fed your blog with some simple tips that will help you blog with passion. Wednesday, we discussed the importance of creating a remarkable blog personality. Thursday we threw in some tips for adding the unexpected to your posts and today, we’ll combine them all together and stir up the blog mix with some tricks for generating content. Read more »
A slice of the unexpected to take your blog to a new level
Inspired by today’s blog post Secret Blog Ingredient #3 and further encouraged by another great blogger, I’ve decided to make it official and invite all who are brave enough to enter.
In the spirit of one of my favorite Food Network shows, The Iron Chef , I’ll be giving you an unusual ingredient (a word or phrase) to work with. You’ll compose a blog post in which you somehow connect it to your blog niche. Read today’s post for ideas for using interesting similes, metaphors and analogies to add a slice of the unexpected in your writing.
The blogger with the best post will win the “Iron Blogger Award” and free Ad space until the end of the month. All contestants will receive a free backlink for participating, so it really is a win-win situation for everybody. Read more »
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