Best of Performancing

There is a wealth of knowledge in the Performancing archives, which a lot of the new readers are probably not aware off.

To rectify that, I started digging through the Perf archives to get the best articles, dust off the proverbial cobwebs and showcase them on the site.

Here’s a list of the best Performancing has to offer:

• Blog Content / Writing Advice
• Blog Strategy
• Blog Promotion
• Blog Design
• Blog Monetization
• Blog Software
• Blog Launch
• Blog Flipping
• Blog Networks
• WordPress
• Blog SEO

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the list.

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1. 10 Killer Post Ideas – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   The whole article – go read it, print it out and then refer to it every day.

2. How to write Quotable Blog Posts – Philipp LenssenTakeaway:

   With your blog you are part of an ongoing larger discussion. And — depending on your content — you will be quoted, and linked to. Now there are several approaches to make it easier and more likely for others to quote you.

3. 10 Tips for Attracting More Comments – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Not every post needs to get a ton of comments but if your blog hardly ever gets a single comment then it will look unpopular and start a downward spiral. Hopefully using some of these tips you will turn it the other way and create a positive community snowball affect.

4. Guide to blogging Sports Events – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   One of the easiest niches to get into is sports – it’s a market with the perfect ingredients for a blog, and this article shows you how to dominate it.

5. How to turn link posts into linkbait – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   If you regularly link out to other sites, this article is an excellent primer in how to deliver value in your ‘link’ posts.

6. How to Beat the Blank Page of Doom – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Everyone has moments when they know what to say but struggle to say it. This list suggests several techniques to get those creative juices flowing again.

7. Tips for Avoiding Summer Blog Death – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   Every summer, comments and participation tend to drop off on most community sites but now is not the time to slack off on posting, on providing value to the users who aren’t out having fun in the sun. The folks who are still commenting represent the core of your audience, the absolute die-hard, passionate, and above all loyal, cream of the crop.

   The article gives you several ideas on how to keep the blog going.

8. 11 Reasons to Write When You’ve Misplaced Your Passion – Liz StraussTakeaway:

   There are days when the passion for blogging just doesn’t show up. This articles gives you the motivation (seriously) to get back up and start writing again.

9. 3 Ways to Engineer Good Content – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

   First, discover what people want, respond to, and get excited by and then give it to them.

   Don’t fall for the illusion of self-projection. Most of the world is dumber than you, and most of the world has different tastes. Give them what they want, not what you want. Then, as they say, you’re golden.

10. Want to be a better Blogger? Tell Funny Stories! – Ahmed BilalTakeway:

    If your writing doesn’t get your message across, if it doesn’t have an emotional impact on your readers and if it’s not in sync with what you aim to do with your blog, you’re wasting your time, etc etc.

    How to get these three skills nailed down to the exact centimeter?

    Tell Funny Stories.

11. 3 Steps for Writing Good Blog Posts – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    Like all good 3 step lists, this one is a model of simplicity:

    1. Define what ‘good’ is – use concrete measurements instead of an arbitrary feel-good factor
    2. Learn how to achieve the results defined above
    3. Execute (and then some).

    If it was as easy as writing it above, no blog consultant would have a job. As things stand, there’s a lot more to it under the surface although as discussed in the article, once you internalise this formula (or you start writing for a blog that gets tons of traffic) it becomes effortless.

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1. Finding the time to blog – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   – Prioritize your feed reading and blogging
   – Delegate tasks
   – Negotiate for time in your personal life

2. Co-blogging, Finding your Blog Buddy – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Blogging need not be a lonely profession. Perhaps you would get more fulfilment, and produce a better blog, if you found a writing partner?

3. 10 Business Models for Bloggers – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   Whether you’re blogging full or part-time, if you expect to make money, you need to have a clear business model. It’s no good just posting and expecting the cheques to roll in, you need to plan for how that cash will start flowing.

4. Top 10 Blog Disasters and How To Deal With Them – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   When we start out blogging professionally we dream of a steady flow of cash. It’s very easy to get used to that income. What will you do if disaster strikes? What can you do to prevent it happening?

   Phew, what a depressing topic! But you know what they say..

   Failure to plan is planning to fail

   If you don’t plan for these eventualities then they might well come up one day and bite you on the assets.

5. 10 Key Ingredients of a Great Blog – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Most of us can spot a stinker of a blog at 100 paces but can you recognise the properties that separate the lame from the great in your own blog? There are 10 qualities your blog must have to succeed.

6. The Blog Loyalty Ladder – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   The theory is that your audience can be grouped based on their level of awareness of your blog and their loyalty to it. Your very best people are at the top of the ladder.

   While you aim to get as many people from the bottom to the top realise that a minority will get there but they are to be cherished and nurtured. It is another case where the 80-20% rule works, these top 20% (or “quintile” as it is called in the trade) are pure gold.

7. Self Sustaining Blogs – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   Wouldn’t it be nice if your blog ran itself? No, I’m not talking about “splogs”, I’m talking about letting your members run the show, and just sitting back and watching the ad money roll/trickle in.

8. Knowing when to Stick and when to Fold – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Don’t quit too soon, you might be just round the corner from a breakthrough. Every blog has a tipping point, that one post or event that takes it to the next level. Read, digest and act on the advice here first.

9. Positioning your Blog – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Once you have settled on your own differentiated niche you need to articulate this difference. Your blog needs to project and exude this difference in the content, the design, the tone of voice, your marketing, everything. The visitor needs to always be aware that yours is the _____ blog and take away your unique properties.

10. 10 Step Plan to a Profitable Blog – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

    We’ve talked a lot about how to make money from blogging – this is a hands-on checklist for executing your plans.

11. 3 Problems Business Bloggers Face – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    If you are business blogger (or a blogger chasing the dream of a high-paying business blogging gig), here are a few problems that you probably face (or will face) and some suggestions on dealing with them.

12. What Kind Of Blog Do You Have? – Raj DashTakeaway:

    Knowing and understanding your audience can help you blog better.

13. 10 Traits Of Blog Readers – Liz StraussTakeaway:

    Know how your blog audience acts and tailor your blogging habits to cater for them.

14. How to Launch a Forum on your Blog – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    Forums (or community-style content blogs based on Drupal – think ThreadWatch) are a natural extension of blogs. Once your blog has a regular following and traction in your niche, forums (reader-generated content) offer the best solution for growing your brand and the community around it.

15. 2007 – The Year of Branding and Consolidation – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

    2007 is turning out to be the year of branding and consolidation. Not that branding and consolidation haven’t been important in the past. But I’m seeing clear signs this year from several independent corners of the web that the dynamics of the web (probably thanks to a combination of information saturation and Google’s push to measure quality indicators) have put pressure on web publishers to consolidate content and build brands. This is a real world observation.

16. Why Your Blog Archives are (mostly) Useless – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    90% Content is packaged for short-term gratification, not long-term value (for the reader).

17. Why Software is more Useful Than Books – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    To apply what you learn, you need a system – whether a how-to, step-by-step guide or a software – that helps you apply what you have read and understood.

18. Outsource your Blogging Chores – for free – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    I would strongly suggest that you do that (start off small, by inviting guest bloggers, for example, and then move on to assigning them topics and then asking one or two people to take on the role of editor) and see what happens. If you’re clear from the start that it is a voluntary position for which the person will get credit but not payment, you will STILL get a decent response.

    Before you go out and hire a second blogger / editor to take over your chores, find out first if your readers are willing to help you out, for free. Chances are that they will, and they’ll be happier for it.

19. 10 Articles All Bloggers Should Read (at least once) – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

    I have about twenty bloggers working for me at any given time. Many new bloggers are often not familiar with the details of blogging software (e.g. the screwy video embed issue with WP) or they don’t know much about the art of blogging (other than writing about the blog’s topic).

    Over time I’ve developed a list of ten articles that I send to all my new bloggers as part of their initiation. Today I’ve decided to make one version of that list public in the hopes that new bloggers everywhere can benefit, and maybe we can turn the comment section into a “you forgot this one” list.

    Many of these posts overlap in theme, and some even cover the same topic. But reinforcement never hurt anyone.

20. 41 Reasons Why Your Blog Probably Sucks – Common Blogging Mistakes – Raj DashTakeaway:

    No blogger makes all of these mistakes, of course, but the list serves to help those of you who are still establishing your name in the blogosphere, and to remind you that you’re not alone.

21. 21 Ways To Build A Better Blogger – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    When we talk about ‘creating’ better blogs, there’s an underlying assumption that it’s only the blog that needs improving.

    The reality is, us bloggers could use a huge kick up the ass once in a while as well. We get sloppy, we sometimes let our standards slide and worst of all, when it comes to making improvements we look at external factors, not ourselves.

22. 27 Tips for Building a Kick-Ass Blog – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    If you’ve been blogging for a while, you probably have certain blogging ‘habits’ and tips that you swear by. This article is a collection of such tips, designed to help you build a better blog.

23. How Do You Pay Your Bloggers? – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    What’s important to remember is that while not everyone blogs for money, money IS a driving force for most people and if someone feels that they are not getting what they deserve for their efforts, then there will be disagreements between them and you and eventually you will lose them. The takeaway is to ensure that a) bloggers know what the benefits are and b) those benefits should make the cost of moving away from the network quite heavy.

    Or at least you should get your bloggers to think that way.

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1. The Art of Linkbaiting – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   Ever found it hard to get other bloggers to link to a new blog? Sure you have, it’s not easy sometimes. Even established blogs need to expand their traffic and influence on a regular basis, and linkbaiting is one way to do it. It’s not without potential perils, but the time honored tradition of being contrary, in order to get attention is well proved, and done right, it’s a killer way to break into a new area. There are also safer ways of linkbaitng, they’re just less fun 🙂

2. How To Make Your Blog Sticky – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   One of the areas I feel most blogs fail at, is the concept of community. I know that’s an odd statement, as blogs are all about conversation, but most blogs seem to entirely miss the point of the “on site” community.

   Sure you link to other blogs, and talk to other bloggers in your niche, sure you have comments enabled — in fact, in terms of distributed community blogs work really, really well. In terms of on site community however, they fail miserably for the most part. And it’s largely down to the blogger himself.

3. 3 Ways to Immediately Increase Search Engine Traffic – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   There is no magic wand, mystical powers or Search engine hoo joo to be had anymore, it’s all down to 3 things:

   1. Copywriting
   2. Links and
   3. Networking

   That’s not to say those tasks don’t require skill, but it really is that simple.

4. 10 Reasons why Blogging for PR and Marketing works – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   An excellent roundup of the various reasons why blogs are remarkably effective marketing tools.

5. 5 Surefire Steps to Increase Readership by 300% or more – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

   As they say in dieting, these should be lifestyle changes; not just short-term quick-fixes.

   If you’re like the average blogger then you live in a bubble. You are content to just write posts on a consistent basis and you feel as if the world is watching your every move. Think again. Chances are that you’re being ignored. So how can you change this state of affairs?

   In this article I list five surefire steps that will get you noticed, get you traffic, and ultimately make you some money. These aren’t easy to implement, and if you’re lazy like me, they probably seem daunting. But just like there’s no easy way to lose weight, there’s just no easy way to get and keep readers for your blog. Make a lifestyle change now, and the benefits will start compounding like a snowball rolling down a hill.

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1. With Navigation, Less is More – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   The state of navigational links on blogs is getting out of hand. If you’re blog’s purpose is to make money, why do we insist on distracting our readers with hundreds of useless links?

   Your blog should guide your reader to where she wants to go, or to allow her to discover where she wants to go. By placing huge lists of links in side navigation, or cramming the bottom of your posts with social bookmarking javascript links, you only make it harder for her complete her task.

2. Sweating the details – Andy HagansTakeway:

   Going the extra mile on your design and even your content is the mark of a professional, quality product.

3. Photoshop Tutorial – Performancing Banner – Wayde ChristieTakeaway:

   An excellent step-by-step tutorial by Wayde on how he made the original Perf FF banner.

4. How To: Bug Check Your Blog – John T UngerTakeaway:

   Sometimes it can be really difficult to track down bugs that cause your blog to display improperly? especially when the issue is not something you did in your template, but a mistake or typo in an actual post.

   That’s why it’s a good idea not only to view your blog in all the major browsers, but to periodically run your site through an HTML validator. Here’s a list of resources you can use to make sure that your blog will display properly on all platforms and in all browsers.

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1. How to create Intelligent Blog Ads – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   If you want to squeeze every last drop of revenue potential out of your blog without annoying your loyal visitors then you need to be a bit clever about the way you display advertising.

2. How to create Intelligent Blog Ads – Part 2 – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   What can we do about recognising first-time readers versus regular readers? The idea is a first timer is more likely to click ads and less likely to sign up, while a regular reader is more likely to subscribe to your feed and also more likely to get annoyed by over the top advertising.

3. How to add E-Commerce to your blog – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   So you want to sell products directly from your blog? We have already decided it could be a great idea for creating revenue, let’s take a look at how exactly we add ecommerce capability to your blog.

4. Monetizing through packaged content – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Aside from the community aspects of blogs one thing blogs generate is a lot of content. While most bloggers will at least consider advertising to generate revenue, are you missing a trick by not packaging and selling your information as a product?

5. Make money blogging via paid subscriptions – Andy HagansTakeaway:

   Yes, you can make money by charging for some of your content.

6. Monetizing your Blog Archives – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   Using time-sensitive advertising to profit from blog archives.

7. Affiliate Tips for Bloggers – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   10 excellent tips to get you started on affiliate marketing.

8. Supplement your blogging income with e-reports – Raj DashTakeaway:

   If your topics are timeless, over 3-10 years you may earn some nice returns for 10-20 hours of work per month. So in the second year, you’ll have sales of new reports and older reports. In a couple of years, you could very well commit full-time and not have to rely on contextual advertising.

9. How To: Create Intelligent Amazon Associates Ads – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Using a bit of PHP programming, geo-targeting and creative solutions, you can maximize your affiliate earnings.

10. How To Squeeze More Income Out Of Your Blog – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

    The basic way to monetize your site is through a couple of ads on it, but if you plan things ahead and think in terms of monetizable ‘regions’ and ‘sections’ instead of one ‘blog’, it will change things completely.

11. Make Money from Projects You Don’t Have Time For – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    For most ideas, if you don’t have time today you won’t have time tomorrow either. Few things make you stand up and say that Yes, this is what I want to do more than anything else. If a project doesn’t appeal to you in that way and you’re ready to shelve it, take a couple of days out and work on it, maybe you’ll be able profit from it AND help others benefit from your ideas as well.

12. Affiliate Marketing Q&A (Part One) – David WilkinsonTakeaway:

    When it comes to making money on the Internet, or more specifically with a blog, there are simply so many options out there, it can be a little overwhelming for someone starting out, trying to earn a living through blogging or through creating a website community. One of the highest paying and easiest to use ways to make money is with affiliate programs. Affiliate Marketing is a lot simpler than the blogging and marketing ‘gurus’ would like you to think, and I whipped up a questions and answers blog post, highlighting a conversation I had with a client a few weeks back.

13. The AdSense Placement Thread – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

    A thread giving site-specific adsense placement advice to Performancing members.

14. How to Show Ads Between Posts on your Blog – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

    This article will show you how to place AdSense code (or any other ads) between posts on your WordPress blog’s main page – the same approach can be used to place ad blocks in your archive pages (including category and author archives).

15. $100 / day on AdSense – 7 things I’ve learned – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

    A simple, easy-to-follow formula for making $100 / day in Google AdSense.

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1. Professional Blog Software Reviews – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Chris looks at a bunch of different blogging software packages and grades them – each review gets a full article of its own. In the end, Chris shares his findings.

2. Blog Stats Software Reviews – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   A detailed look at the top blog stats packages available.

1. Choosing a Niche – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Choosing a niche is an important first task in starting a professional blog, it impacts everything else you do and is a very important factor in whether you are a success or not.

2. Qualifying your Niche – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Once you have a good list of topics to choose from (using the previous article), it’s time to evaluate their potential. Chris gives an exhaustive overview of how to do this.

3. Blogging Mistakes: Launching an Empty Shell – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   Announcing a new blog, when that blog has little or no content, has got to be one of the most moronic things I see in the blogosphere.

   At the end of the day, it’s all about trust, and perception of value. If i see a one liner announcing a new blog, and find an empty shell when i get there, am i going to invest in an RSS subscription?

   The hell I am…

   Not Shakespeare, but perhaps one of the the best pieces of advice on blog launches that you will find

4. How To: Launch a New Blog the Easy Way – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   The key is to stick at it. You might not know when you are near your blog tipping point. It could be a milestone like the 1000 post mark, it could be the 6 months mark. It usually takes a good few weeks to just get into Google’s index properly, sometimes longer to rank depending on your niche.

5. Planning a New Blog Venture – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   Before you run headlong into posting lots of lovely content to your blog it is useful to take a step back and think about how you are going to organise one or two things. Some small adjustments now could make a world of difference later.

6. Planning a new blog? Get Started Already! – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   Get things out of the door fast and start applying your ideas, and as a result you’ll solve those pesky unforeseen problems early, and overall, get things done today as opposed to think about doing them tomorrow.

7. 7 Steps to Launching a Great Blog – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   You don’t need to have thousands of dollars to make a big splash with your new blog – the alternative, a momentum-building bootstrapping approach, is just as effective.

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The practicing of buying and selling blogs, for fun and for profit.

1. 3 Keys to Buying A Blog – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   You need to focus on Time, Money and the Exits. If you don’t have the time, don’t jump in. If the site isn’t making money, don’t pay that much for it.

   And if you don’t have an exit strategy – good lord, what the hell are you going to do when you have to cash in?

2. How to Sell Your Blog in 3 Easy Steps – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   Selling a blog may seem a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be so difficult or stressing. Perhaps what you need is the right system to assist you in selling your blog.

3. The Blog Valuation Manual – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   A discussion on which factors to consider when putting a price on any blog.

4. 7 Steps to a Profitable Blog Exit Strategy – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   The beauty of preparing for exit is that once it focuses you to develop a business model that is efficient, has optimal monetization and is capable of running without you being involved in day-to-day decisions.

   While preparing for your exit, you’ll also have built a hands-off, self-reliant, stable and automated business.

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1. A better structure for blog networks – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   One thing strikes me every time I look at a network: There is room for much improvement in structure.

2. Do you have what it takes to be a Blog Overlord? – Andy HagansTakeaway:

   Are you good at this stuff, but just don’t have the will to write every day for the next year? Then maybe you need to skip the blogging itself — perhaps you’re cut out to be a blog overlord.

3. Time for Team Blogging – Chris GarrettTakeaway:

   This says to me that as professional blogging matures there will be more and more team blogs. Blogs will become more akin to online magazines than online diaries. Note I say “team blogs” rather than “multi-author” blogs. While these blogs might well have multiple authors, the distinction I make is there will be essential team members who do not post.

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1. Optimal Meta Description Tag Code for WordPress – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

   Meta descriptions are important for page differentiation and improving CTR from SERPs. Here’s how to get them right in WordPress.

2. Optimal Title Tag Code for WordPress – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

   HTML title tags are, arguably, the single most important SEO ranking factor. Here’s how to get them right in WordPress.

3. 10 Things You Must Know About WordPress Themes – Nathan RiceTakeaway:

   Looking back at the code of my first attempt at a WordPress theme, I can easily see that without a proper understanding of WordPress theme template files and template tags, it can be a frustrating project to undertake. And although I am a HUGE fan of learning as you go, I wanted to share a few secrets that might save you a headache or two along the way.

4. What Makes A WordPress Theme Great – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   Designing a general-purpose theme is hard than one focused towards a specific audience. It’s easier to plan the layout of a theme for a photoblog or a car blog than it is to plan the layout of a theme that could be used in a thousand different ways. You have to allow for the design to be immensely flexible and at the same time include the basic elements that would be needed by and be useful to everyone who takes your theme for a spin.

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1. Why Bloggers Don’t Need SEO – Nick WilsonTakeaway:

   For the most part, bloggers just shouldn’t be worrying about SEO.

   That doesn’t mean that your pages shouldn’t be Search engine friendly, or that you shouldn’t use good anchor-text when linking out. It doesn’t mean that actively promoting your blog to other blogs in your topic area isn’t a good idea. What it does mean, is that bloggers shouldn’t be worrying about shitty directory listings, useless reciprocal link schemes or any of these “snake oil” ranking recipes.

2. Why Bloggers Need SEO – Ahmed BilalTakeaway:

   Bloggers need SEO because it offers a single system for managing your blog’s marketing. It’s a set of guidelines and tools that will push to be a better marketer, a better writer and a better webmaster.

3. The Only SEO Graph That Matters – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

   I thought I’d try to refocus all the SEOs out there on the only thing that truly matters in SEO: search referral growth. It’s plain and simple. The ultimate goal of SEO should be to increase search referrals. This is often lost on those who focus their SEO efforts completely on building PageRank.

4. 7 Quick Observations About Linkage – Ryan CaldwellTakeaway:

   A recipe for quick linkbuilding success (in terms of SERPS not PageRank) consists of getting about 10 main page links (within fresh content…not old, retrofitted content), 20 deep-links, and participating in the comments section of 5-10 thematically related blogs.

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Last updated: Sunday 2nd September 2007