Problogger - Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

If you are looking for a good book to learn about making money blogging, then Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett's "Problogger Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income" is a must to have. The authors explained the entire process from various aspects such as creating and marketing your blog as well as ways how you can make money blogging in an easy step-by-step approach.

This book is essential for the begginer bloggers as well as intermediate skill bloggers. Quoted from the back cover of the book:

"This is not a get-rich-quick book, but rather a practical guide to creating and marketing a blog with the potential for generating a six-figure income."

Learn to:

• Choose subject matter that works for you
• Handle technical issues
• Examine different ways your blog can earn income
• Evaluate your blog's success
• Keep content fresh and interesting
• Use your blog to generate income indirectly

I personally have the book and frankly was overwhelmed by the contents. There are so many things to learn that are rather new to me in my profit blogging journey. You can expect to have really good information and advices that will help you to better yourself both on becoming a regular blogger and a profit blogger.

Do note that as said by the authors, this is not a get rich quick scheme. So, if you're impatience, this is not really something good for you. It does take time and effort from what I experienced and I am glad the book helped me with various aspects of blogging.

Making use of what's available for your post content

I often find it very interesting to include various media or items in a post such as graphics, still photos and videos other than lengthy texts. This is in fact, has already started probably many years ago since the existence of YouTube.

Attention span

Most blog visitors have very limited attention span when reading. It means that they are likely to leave especially if a particular content is of no interest, or in a way boring. Having various ways of presenting information (graphics, video etc) is good in the sense that it can cater to a wider audience of readers. Some really love reading while others love photos and most would go right to the point, looking for an answer or a specific information that they need.

Content is King

There's always a saying that "content is king" repeatedly echoed in the world of blogs, stressing how important it is to come up with great contents to encourage and build readership. This can be subjective, because not all content would be of interest to most readers. A post might be good for some and bad for others. You can only depend on comments to ignite a discussion and in turn, post your opinions that can be a content for your following posts.

Formatting your post

In terms of formatting your post, you can use headlines in bold to divide sections or paragraphs to indicate a point in your post just like this post. It is a good way for readers who want information fast to quickly scroll through the post and head right to the paragraph with a headline of interest.

Graphics and copyright

Using graphics, such as jokes or any interesting photos would grab readers attention and it is likely that they will be interested to read more about the post. Be careful of using graphics or photos that are copyrighted and restricted for use. Copyrighted materials are often indicated by the (c) symbol. If you are using any, do remove them if you are asked by the copyright owner to avoid legal issues.

Using video

Using video is also good especially for visitors who like watching rather than reading. Here's a video from YouTube that explains what a blog is plain English. I think it is very informative and would enlighten the mind for new bloggers. Thanks to the uploader leelefever.

Implications for names when commenting

There are many reasons that influence a reader on what name that he or she would leave when giving a comment on a post. You have probably seen many types of comments around and to some extent even comments are monetized if I may call it. This post is in view of Darren’s question “What name do you leave comments by and why?”

Here are a list of the type of names readers leave that Darren pointed out in his post and how I view them in my opinion.

• Real names – some readers prefer to leave a real name for their comments. This is a signature that states truthfulness and gives it a personal touch. It encourages authority in the sense that the comment is really coming from a genuine person and not representing someone else or an organizational body.
• Nickname – this is a very common approach that readers like to leave when commenting. It promotes privacy and nicknames can be artistic to reflect the mindset of the reader. Sometimes nicknames are created randomly on the spot and misused as a mean to being irresponsible for the comment left. This is often done when a negative comment is left while running away in disguise to avoid feedback from other readers.
• Niche keyword – this can also be another way that are frequently used by readers. Sometimes it can be annoying because most of the times niche keyword is left as a method for spamming. But it all depend, sometimes the comments are genuine and related to the post therefore cannot be regarded as a spam. Comments with spam sometimes include more than one links to other sites which is intended to drive traffic away.
• Company, brand or website name – alternatively, you may find company or brand name. This represents an organizational party rather than a single reader. It can mean an opinion coming from a single reader and the entire organization under the designated company or brand name.
• Meaningless or scrambled – what else if this name is not used for spamming? For some non-moderated posts, this can be a sore to the eye.

Personally, I like to leave a nickname because that’s the name that I would use for my blogging purpose. I have been using it for quite some times and it feels convenient for me to use as I am quite used to it. Leaving a real name can be too lengthy and might not fit many purposes.

With the types of names that I could think of as mentioned in the point forms above, there is also a mixture among them. For example, you might see a real name with a company name or a nickname with a website name.

I think it’s really fine to use any meaningful names so long as they don’t behave like a spam. It is the discussion that is more important to promote readership and value of the post.