I could talk about blogging all day. The problem is, I don’t know anyone in the real world who blogs, cares to talk about blogging, or even knows what a blog is for that matter. I do talk to fellow bloggers via Skype or Twitter on occasion, but not everyone wants to discuss SEO tips or whether or not I should purchase a particular domain. That’s why I appreciate Performancing’s Hive forum.

If you’re a regular to my Freelance Writing Jobs blog you know people encourage me to charge for access to job leads and advice, and I refuse to do it. You also know I don’t pimp products or services for the hell of it, especially services where you’re expected to reach into your wallet. I don’t accept swag for swag’s sake and I don’t promote a product unless it’s something I absolutely believe in.

When I heard it would cost $10 for access to Hive I questioned the price. I felt $10 per month was way too high. But after spending months in a private forum with other senior Performancing members, I knew a private forum just for bloggers and people serious about the new media would yield a goldmine of information.

Why should you join Hive? I’m not going to sell you anything. Instead, I’ll tell you why I belong to Hive.

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I’m all about the link love. I don’t mind adding relevant links to my blogroll and I like to offer a week ending link love post on most of my blogs. That’s why it really annoys me when visitors comment just to spam. I’m not talking about the bots, I’m talking about regular visitors to my blog. Most commenters are smart. They can figure out there’s a space on most comment forms for which to leave links. Some don’t get it or don’t care.

I’m pretty easy. I don’t mind if something on your blog will add to the discussion on my blog. In which case you can state your point of view in the comments and afterwards invite people to check the link. When your only comment is a link to your blog, it’s not going to make it past the moderation filter.

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Last year was one of reinvention. When I started Freelance Writing Jobs three years ago, I was the only writing blogger on the block offering a daily list of leads for freelance writers. Three years later, blogs listing freelance writing and blogging leads and jobs are a dime a dozen. I know I’m not the only blogger experiencing this, either. While I do believe there’s room for everyone in the blogosphere, it’s also kind of frustrating to see everyone doing the same exact thing. What’s a blogger to do?

Refocus

Can you think of another focus for your blog while still staying on topic? The reason people visit my blog is to find work. Wouldn’t it stand to reason they’re also interested in reading articles about the best way to find said work? When I stopped featuring ONLY jobs, the numbers went way up. Now FWJ is more than just a “jobs” blog. It’s a writing community.

What can you do to set you apart from others in your niche?

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Three months ago, Freelance Writing Jobs moved from its rented space at Writers Row to its own brand new domain. The immediate results weren’t pretty.

• My Page Rank tanked from 5 to 0.
• My traffic dropped by half.
• My revenue showed a substantial decline.
• FWJ dropped in search engine rankings.

I did expect some negative effects in the very beginning, but nothing like this. October and November were bad months for me. Though things slowed down for the holidays, December showed a steady rise.

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Because I maintain 10 blogs for myself and others, I'm often asked how I manage. Honestly, it's not difficult. I just schedule my time and plan ahead. If you're struggling with the multi-tasking, these tips might help.

1. Get Yourself an Offline Blog Editor

My blog editor of choice is Windows Live Writer. I’ve also heard good things about Blog Desk. Offline editors are a must for blogging multi-taskers. What I especially appreciate is being able to switch blogs using a drop down menu, rather than changing WP dashboards each time. Plus you don’t have to be connected to post. Simply blog and schedule your post for whenever.

2. Get Yourself an Editorial Calendar

We talked about editorial calendars before. In fact, more bloggers are seeing the benefits of planning their posts well into the future. Some prefer a spreadsheet while others use Outtlook. My editorial calendar is a giant calendar hanging on my office bulletin board. I like to see everything right in front of my face. My calendar is at a glance and I can just look up from what I’m doing to see what’s next. Choose the method you’re most comfortable with.

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2007 was an amazing ride. Career-wise, it was the best year of my life. In the beginning of that year I resolved to break away from more traditional forms of writing to become a full-time professional blogger and I succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. How can I top that in 2008? By following two important rules:

1. There’s Always Room for Improvement

Just because I’m successful doesn’t mean I should stop learning. In fact, when it comes to blogging I don’t feel I’m very knowledgeable at all. Oh sure, I’m pretty good at building a community and writing for a specific group of people, but I’m technically challenged and need to study up more on blog design plus monetization and traffic-building strategies. I think anyone who wants to succeed as a blogger needs to learn to never stop learning. Fortunately for all of us, there are some terrific resources available.

2. Set One Realistic Goal

While I do have a short list of New Year’s resolutions, I also believe it’s important to set one realistic goal each year. Last year my goal was to earn a full time salary as a professional blogger. This year it’s my goal to learn more about the technical aspects of blogging. I’d like to troubleshoot my own issues without having to call in the Calvary for tweaks and fixes.

I’m not perfect. I know I have a lot to learn. For me, the key is not to do it all. If I focus on one goal, while continuing to learn as much as I can about my chosen path, I can continue to be what I consider a success.

What is your one realistic goal for 2008?

A couple of weeks ago on Freelance Writing Jobs I wondered if all traffic equals good traffic. Specifically, did I want to purposely stir up negativity and controversy as a way to increase traffic? Though I already knew the answer, I gave it a little test. Here’s what I found:

1. Negative traffic stays long enough to make a negative impact and then it goes away. You can get on the front page of Digg as the result of a negative or controversial post, but as soon as your new visitors have had their fun, they’re gone. Very few will return on a regular basis. Most only come by to tell you you’re wrong. I’d rather focus my efforts on creating content that will keep people coming back for more, and stimulate intelligent and useful discussion among the members of my community.
2. My community doesn’t like negativity. The members of my community at FWJ want to discuss freelancing, specifically freelance writing and blogging. They’re not so much interested in a lot of “you’re wrong and you suck” type comments. A couple of weeks ago when I received a rush of negative traffic, a couple of my regulars told me they weren’t comfortable visiting my blog when people were cursing and name calling. Though I deleted all the offensive posts, I would have alienated my community if I allowed it to continue.
3. Negativity doesn’t mean ad revenue. When I received the negative traffic I didn’t do well, revenue wise. People who come to your blog to insult you and tell you you’re wrong aren’t going to click or buy anything. In comparison, I had major Stumble Upon traffic a few days later and revenue went way up.
4. Your reputation is at stake. Do you want to be known for teaching something useful or for writing linkbait? See item number one above. Negativity begets negativity. Don’t expect something positive to happen at your blog when you’re stirring up the pot or doing your best to offend. If you want people to consider you an important resource, you’ll write important blog posts. If you want people to think you know how to attract negative publicity, continue to find controversy.

I think it’s possible to write good, link worthy posts that enlighten, inform and entertain without having to resort to negativity or controversy. Remember, when it comes to blogs, you reap what you sow. And that’s not always good.

Have you ever wondered what will happen to your blogs if there’s an emergency and you’re sick, injured, or God forbid, worse? We don’t like to think about it, but the truth is we’re not permanent fixtures on earth and stuff happens.

Whenever I bring up the “what if something happens?” question to my fellow bloggers many don’t have a plan in place, while others don’t want to even consider there will ever be a time when they can’t blog. Before I left for BWE in the beginning of November, I thought a lot about what would happen if something happened. Who would alert my clients and readers? What would happen to my blogs if I was no longer around? Not attractive possibilities, but certainly something to think about.

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This weekend I didn't take my own advice and I've been doing damage control ever since. I'm not going to go into all the details, but suffice it to say, it doesn't pay to respond to negative feedback or feed the trolls.

Let me explain.

Not everyone is going to like what you write. The majority of them will tastefully rebut and you can carry on an intelligent discussion among the members of your community. If you go ahead and respond to the people who are looking for a fight, it will only hurt your reputation and spill over into your community. Don't do it.

Here's how to handle the trolls:

1. Ignore them – Let them say what they want and then ignore them. Do not respond, no matter how many times they insult you. You can't reason with them.
2. Delete their comments – When it comes to comments you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. If you let nasty comments stand, it makes your community uncomfortable. If you delete them you're accused of stifling free speech. The bottom line: It's your blog and your community, cater to them, not the trolls.
3. Moderate comments – If the trolls are bringing friends and they're piling it on, moderate your comments. This doesn't have to go on forever, just until the furor dies down.

Must.Not.Engage

Here's the thing. The people who are really negative are doing so for a reason. They're trying to provoke a response. The more you give into it, the more you respond, the more it will continue. No matter how much it kills you not to set matters straight, don't give in. Even if you're right, don't give in.

Your community comes first

When your blog becomes a battle zone your regulars will leave for neutral territory. They're not visiting your blog for the drama, (well, most of them aren't). They're visiting for the advice and the atmosphere. Do the right thing and think of them first.

Bloggers don't generally follow editorial calendars, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't. Many of us wait until it's too late to blog about products, seasonal topics or trends. Rather than wait for the last minute,plan ahead and organize an editorial calendar. Here are a few tips for getting ahead of the game in 2008:

Start researching trends now. Find out what the hot products and topics will be for 2008 and start writing about them NOW. And continue to write about them. By the time everyone else jumps on the bandwagon you'll already have made it to the tops of the search engines and you might even be considered an expert thanks to your early analysis.

Any interesting holidays or events befitting your niche? Research the history, traditions and ideas behind the event and plan a series. Start writing now, but use your timestamp feature to post closer to D-Day.

Research your stats. What days and months have the higher traffic? Try writing your best posts on the days with the most traffic and perhaps drop a linkbait or two at times when traffic is needed the most.

Will you be away from your blog? Will you be unavailable for blogging due to vacation, family events, or other matters? Blog now, post later.

Plan weekly features. Plan weekly features for your blog, maybe an interview Monday, product reviews on Tuesday, a tutorial Wednesday, and so on. The good thing about this is that you don't run out of ideas.

Write more than one post at a time. Rather than post on the fly, try taking some time out to write several posts and adjust your time stamp for each post accordingly.

I like editorial calendars because they help keep me focused and prevent me from getting bloggers block. If I know I have to post a certain thing each day of the week, it's easier for me to plan ahead.

Did you know many bloggers have no idea what they'll blog about each day? They make it up on the fly. By preparing as much as you can in advance, you only stand to gain traffic and better your reputation.

I was halfway through part two in my series about monetizing blogs when I became sidetracked with a forum conversation. Without bringing in a lot of unnecessary details, I was visiting my favorite forum for work at home moms yesterday when I came across a thread from a blogger who was rather upset when a commenter disagreed with her. He wasn't being disrespectful, though she felt he was, and she closed comments for that post because she didn't want a debate.

I read all the posts with interest. I was very disappointed to learn many of my fellow WAHMs were trashing the person who disagreed and even going to his blog and leaving heated comments. After reading the entire thread I posted about how blogging is about building a community. About how discussions are supposed to happen and people should be allowed, no, encouraged to disagree. Debates do happen and as long as people act civilized, there's no reason to close comments.

What I found most interesting was that a couple of people didn't exactly agree with me. Neither of them realized blogging was about community. They felt is was more a marketing tool and comments weren't really necessary. This goes against everything I believed blogging to be. Am I wrong?

So let me put it to you, Performancing community. Since the majority of you are bloggers, probloggers or wannabe bloggers, what is a blog to you? What is the purpose your blog? Why do you do it and how important is community?

Thanks for indulging me.

The main reason I'm attending the Blog World and New Media Expo is to learn. The sessions here are a wealth of information and I have so many ideas running around in my head. Yesterday I attended most of the monetization seminars. Though I'm primarily a blogger for hire, I do have my own blogs and I want them to be profitable.

The fine folks at Performancing hired me to write posts that lay it all out for beginners. I'm not someone who has a lot of technical knowledge, so I can speak to the people who are just starting out in terms they understand. After yesterday's session about "Smart Ways to Monetize Your Blog" I sat down in the media breakroom (there are benefits to a press pass) and wrote this post, the first in the series "How to Monetize Your Blog". Today, I'd like to talk to you about the things you need to do and think about before even considering monetization strategies.

Blog Monetization: Before You Begin

1. Be realistic- Is your blog really worthy? I'm not being a snob, but you really have to think about the profit potential for your blog. If your blog on ant farming brings in three visitors a month, no matter how much promotional work you do, you might not be a good candidate for advertising.
2. Define your blog - If you want your blogs to be profitable, you have to use ads that work well with your niche. One thing I'm learning is that a writing blog is very difficult to monetize. My readers aren't interested in purchasing a lot of gadgets and toys. They want to learn more about writing and about making a living as a writer. It only makes sense that I define my blog's purpose and find ads suiting that purpose.
3. What kind of traffic are you getting? - Here it is, plain and simple. If no one is visiting your blog, no one is going to click on your ads or buy affiliate products. Get your traffic flowing then move on to step three.
4. What are your blog's demographics? - It's important to truly know your audience before you even think about advertising. That's why I always recommend blogging for a while before seeking advertisers. You'll want to know your readers likes and dislikes. Are they primarily men, women or both? Are they in their 20's or 50's? Once you know the answer to these questions (and more), you can start thinking about the type of ads your readers are most likely to use.
5. Where are your ads going to go? - Here's the thing. You can't just put ads on your blog and expect the money to roll in. It takes careful planning. An ad's placement is very important. Place them too low in the blog and no one will see them. Place them in an "in your face" location and you may turn off some of your readers. What will ads do to your blog's design? Will they ruin its integrity? How will your readers react?

Very few bloggers get rich from advertising on their blogs. Some of us do make OK money and some very little if anything at all. You can't just slap ads on your site. You have to consider all the factors. Knowing your audience is key and careful planning is essential.

Yesterday Amy Derby gave us a peek into how she earns $1,000 a month on a blog receiving very little traffic. I sometimes earn that much on a blog receiving fairly decent traffic, but I don't earn that much every month and I'm sure I can earn more. Still, for a writing blog it's pretty good. You see, writing blogs are difficult to monetize.

Here's how I do it:

Adsense – Adsense is still my biggest money maker. Though I'm still playing around with other forms of income, I have success with this and I'm not parting with it any time soon. For the end of October and beginning of November, my Adsense revenue is way down however, so I need to keep finding methods to monetize my biggest money-making blog.

Amazon – I have some luck selling books using Amazon but the bulk of my earnings with this affiliate is through the search box during the holidays. While I do earn a little using this throughout the year, during the holidays I can count on it for a few hundred bucks from people looking to do holiday shopping from home.

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I have a pet peeve regarding some individuals and networks advertising for bloggers. Many of them are jumping on the blogging bandwagon without actually knowing what blogging entails. They know blogs are popular and profitable and want in, but have no clue about blogging. In fact, many places want articles and not blog posts. Trust me, there's a difference.

Article

Articles are well researched paragraphs of information following a specific format and word count. They're static pieces of content in which the author cites sources and speak with a particular tone and voice.

Blog Posts

Blog posts are less structured. Posts can be one line or several paragraphs. They can be expert interviews or opinion pieces. A post can consist of a photograph, a video or useful content such as this. Blogs are supposed to encourage community and posts should elicit conversation among your readers.

Finding a Happy Medium

One of my former clients has a magazine publishing background and wanted her blogs to run the same way. She didn't want me to use "I's" and insisted on each post meeting a certain word count. Another client found my blogging to be too conversational and turned off the commenting feature because it was too "distracting". Speaking of distracting, a current client sent an email around to all of his bloggers because he felt images were unnecessary and rather we didn't use them.

In these situations I do my best to work with the client, but also offer a few suggestions as to why it might be beneficial to encourage a more open-minded approach to blogging. Some clients are willing to compromise, but the ones that don't "get" it tend to have a "my way or the highway" type of attitude.

Adequate Compensation

If your client wants you to write an article as opposed to a blog post, be sure you're adequately compensated, especially if you're expected to do a lot of heavy research or interview experts. $3 a post isn't going to cut it for a heavily researched 500 worder. I understand why blogging pays less than traditional writing, but if it's traditional writing you want, you'll have to open your wallet a little wider.

I'm not saying you should pay for a couple of lines a day either, but if you're looking to hire bloggers it's a good idea to take some time out to learn a little bit about blogging and what it entails.

The other day I received a letter from a woman asking about whether or not she was cut out to be a writer. She mentioned starting about nine blogs and abandoning them because of having < a href="http://performancing.com/the-only-way-to-beat-bloggers-block">blogger's block. While I won't go into whether or not she has what it takes, I will say that good writers know blogger's block or writer's block happens, and take steps to deal with it.

It's frustrating not knowing what to write about, here are some of the things I do to overcome blogger's block.

12 Tips for avoiding bloggers block:

1. Make a list - I have notebook on my desk filed with ideas. If I need inspiration, I look through my notebook.
2. Check out other blogs - Not just blogs in your niche either. My bloglines has hundreds of blogs listed and even though I don't visit all of those blogs every day, I do have daily stops. Making the rounds never fails to provide me with a topic or two.
3. Go out for a while - Go for a walk, run some errands or have a cup of coffee with some friends. Take inspiration from the world around you.
4. Subscribe to Google Alerts - Set up Google Alerts to notify you of any new news or blogs posts.
5. Read past blog posts - Is there anything you can update or expand upon?
6. Blog somewhere else - Move to another room or bring your laptop to the local coffee shop, Internet café or library.
7. Check out your comments - I get my best ideas from the comments section of my blogs.
8. Put it to your readers- Offer a poll, a quiz or take questions from your readers
9. Enlist the aid of a guest blogger - Even if doesn't give you new ideas, it will give you a break.
10. Make a list - - List posts are a great way of presenting lots of small ideas instead of one big one.
11. Visit some website's offering writer's prompts - Many writing websites offer writers prompts to help battle writing block. This may be a good way to get back on track.
12. Stumble Upon - I like to cruise Stumble Upon for a few minutes each morning while I have a cup of coffee. It's a great way to find some very cool things to blog about.

Everyone who writes for a living encounters block now and then. Some just plow through it, others seek inspiration elsewhere. No matter which method you like to use, it's good to know blocks are temporary conditions easily overcome by a break or distraction.