SkelliewagSkelliewagOn creating content your readers will fall in love with. Articles
The 5 Barriers to Success Series ? Part 1: Lack of Significance
2008-01-20 01:39:00 Photo by Frabuleuse Each weekend for the next five weeks I’ll be posting about one of the 5 barriers to success. If your blog is growing too slowly, if you’re rarely receiving comments or blogging feels like shouting into an empty valley, I hope this series will help you identify what isn’t working — and change ... More About: Series , Blogging , Success , Part , Lack
How to Get 1,100 Subscribers in Five Days
2008-01-17 03:15:00 Photo by Hamed Saber There are two reasons why I’ve used the above title for this post. Firstly, it’s a follow-up to my article on How to Get 1,050 Subscribers in Three Months. Secondly, because my new blog, Anywired, reached 1,100 subscribers five days after its launch on Thursday. This post contains everything I’ve learned about starting ... More About: Days , Five Days
Creating Passionate Readers
2008-01-14 23:06:00 Photo by *Dario* The marketer’s daydream is to ‘evangelize’ products and brands — to create customers who are passionate about what the marketers are trying to sell. When it comes to blogs and websites, having a passionate readership is just as valuable. By evangelizing your blog, you create an audience who is eager to link, comment and ... More About: Readers , Creating
Taking the Plunge: Launching Blog #2
2008-01-11 03:27:00 On the 21st of December I shared five hard questions to ask yourself before starting a new project. Since then, I have been answering those very same questions myself (for a project different to the one discussed in the article). After a few weeks of deliberation and work, I have good answer to all five questions. ... More About: General , Blog , Taking
A Guide to Breaking Into the Technorati Top 100
2008-01-07 23:49:00 Photo by *Solar Ikon* For a few minutes, I want to you to suspend your natural balance of optimism and cynicism. This article lists exactly what’s required to break into the Technorati Top 100 most linked-to blogs in the world. It might seem like an insurmountable goal, but remember, many others have done it — and most ... More About: Blogging , Guide , Breaking , Breakin
Are You Blogging Consciously?
2008-01-06 06:58:00 Photo by Hamed Saber I found myself thinking about an article I read a month ago on Zen Habits today, called “Wake Up: Are You Living Consciously?” The memory was prompted by a feeling of regret I had about pouring many hours of my time into a role at my university’s magazine — something I ended ... More About: Blogging
The Web?s Best Content Has One Thing in Common
2008-01-04 02:04:00 Photo by aussiegall It’s the ability to make audacious promises, and to back them up. Content that doesn’t just promise to make us a bit better at the things we do, but a lot better. And then delivers. If anything, the single failing of bloggers and webmasters is modesty. We underestimate what our target audience wants and what ... More About: Common , Thing
7 Blogging Lessons Learned From a Best-Selling Author
2008-01-02 03:54:00 Photo from the Four-Hour Work Week Blog. Everything you’ll learn about blogging or running a successful website, you’ll learn from someone else: either by reading how-to articles, observing the mistakes and successes of others, or by observing your readers and how they react to your blog. The second element — learning by example — has the potential ... More About: Selling , Blogging , Author , Lessons , Learned
Ask the Readers Winner & a Question
2007-12-30 03:44:00 In this post I’ll be announcing the most valuable commenter from last week’s discussion thread. I’ll also be announcing the overall winner of the Ask the Readers competition. Lastly, I’d like your input on what to do now the discussions have finished. * * * This week’s winning commenter for our discussion on making money online is Michael ... More About: Question , General , Winner
The Best of Skelliewag in 2007
2007-12-29 02:13:00 Photo by jonrawlinson A lot of new readers have joined the Skelliewag community in the last few months. I thought the general trend of ‘Best of 2007′ lists would be a nice way to remind both recent and long-time readers of this year’s highlights. Unfortunately, this list can’t be a true ‘Best of 2007′ round-up because ... More About: General
Archives Suck (and 3 Ways to Save Them)
2007-12-27 01:29:00 Photo by pingnews For a static page to become an Archive, it needs only to link to all the content you’ve written. Despite the freedom of this definition, the archives attached to most blogs or websites are useless to 99% of its visitors. If you follow the standard ‘months as categories’ model, where clicking on a month will ... More About: Simplicity , Suck , Save , Archives , Hive
Ask the Readers: Do You Make Money Online?
2007-12-23 01:15:00 Two days ago I resigned from my part-time job. Starting towards the end of January my income will be completely online based. I’ll be living pretty frugally for a while as I re-invest my time in writing an eBook. Once the eBook is done, I’ll re-invest my time in writing more content for Skelliewag (something ... More About: Money , Readers , Make Money , Make Money Online , Online
5 Hard Questions You Should Answer Before Starting a New Project
2007-12-21 02:19:00 Photo by striatic (CC license). When it comes to new projects (for me, a new blog or a website), you could say that I’m commitment phobic. For a long time I was more interested in the ideas behind a new project than the execution, leading to a long trail of half-finished projects — and some ... More About: Questions , Answer , Project , Innovation , Hard
How to Value-Add Everything (Even the Little Stuff)
2007-12-19 04:22:00 Photo by Computer Science Geek. To finish the trio of posts on the importance of value (for now) I want to put forward the argument that you can value-add every type of content you produce, from news to links. Earlier in the post series I explained why I believe value rules the attention economy and secondly, how ... More About: Stuff
Ask The Readers: What Would You Do If Time Didn?t Matter?
2007-12-16 02:03:00 This week I wanted to encourage a fun exercise with some pretty concrete benefits. I’d like you to answer the question: What would you do if you had unlimited time to blog/run your website? How would you reach your goals as quickly as possible? The purpose of this exercise is to get us thinking about what we’d ... More About: Readers , Time , Matter
Skellie Elsewhere: 5 Extra Posts
2007-12-16 01:59:00 Here are some new posts from me, published at other blogs this week. The better each post does, the more likely I am to be kept on as a freelancer. In a roundabout way, your comments and votes help me pay the bills :-). Guest Posting Secrets: How to Get Published on an A-List Blog This one was ... More About: General , Posts , Extra
How to Avoid Fool?s Gold and Create Value-packed Content
2007-12-14 03:52:00 Photo by ?mrhappy? In my last post — why value rules the attention economy — I argued that concentrating value is a wise growth plan in the Web 2.0 era. Though a number of readers disagreed with some of the extra points I made, people did seem to respond well to the idea of creating value-packed ... More About: Gold , Content , Fool , Avoid , Create
Why Value Rules the Attention Economy
2007-12-12 03:01:00 Photo by DownTown Photography. “…in an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a dearth of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients.” – (Herbert Simon 1971, p. 40-41) You’ll never read every good, relevant post in ... More About: Economy , Rules , Attention
Ask the Readers: Where are the Holes in Your Leaky Bucket?
2007-12-09 02:29:00 As bloggers, webmasters and web workers, none of us are perfect at what we do. From the A-listers to the Z-listers, there are things we all need to work on. For the sake of illustration, try to think of yourself as a leaky bucket (hopefully something you don’t do too often). The little holes in the ... More About: Readers , Holes , The Hole
Usability is a Conversation
2007-12-07 03:58:00 Photo by kalandraka. Making your site more usable is really the art of making it easy for visitors to do what you want them to do. Whether that’s coming to grips with what your site is about, commenting, subscribing, contacting you or buying your product, usability gets results. “Usability ” can seem like a pretty abstract term, though. What ... More About: Simplicity , Conversation , Sabi
Why Traffic, Your Subscriber Count and Money Doesn?t Matter
2007-12-05 03:36:00 Lines of code from The Matrix (1999). One question I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is: what sets the top blogs and websites apart, from a visitor’s perspective? The question has an astonishing answer. It’s not traffic, it’s often not subscriber numbers and it’s not advertising revenue. These are the things visitors don’t see, or don’t ... More About: Money , Traffic , Matter , Count , Subscriber
Ask the Readers: What?s Your Definition of Success?
2007-12-02 02:30:00 This week, I want to challenge Skelliewag readers to set out a concrete definition of success for their blog or website. A point where you can say you’ve achieved everything you wanted. My personal definition of success is focused around two goals: to be able to quit my part-time job and make my income online doing ... More About: Readers , Success , Definition
The Flickr Guide, Part 2: How to Caption or Credit Photos in Posts
2007-12-01 02:13:00 Photo by Stewart. Thanks to everyone for receiving my guide to finding and using incredible Flickr images so warmly. Finding photos through Flickr seems to be something many have wanted to do but weren’t sure how to go about it (or how to go about it safely). One question many people had in response to the post ... More About: Photos , Credit , General , Guide
A Complete Guide to Finding and Using Incredible Flickr Images
2007-11-29 04:04:00 Photo by Leposava. I don’t think this blog would be half of what it is without Flickr . The images included with most posts magnetize the eye to the page and create an atmosphere for the rest of the piece. It’s also one of the most commented-on aspects of the blog — the images are something I ... More About: General , Images , Guide , Incredible
The Top 20 Ways to Come Up With Amazing Ideas
2007-11-26 22:00:00 Photo by mugley. This is a guest post from Leo Babauta, who blogs about productivity, simplicity and happiness at Zen Habits. I’m a pretty prolific blogger — between regular posts at Zen Habits, and writing regularly for blogs such as Web Worker Daily, FreelanceSwitch, NorthxEast and more, and writing guest posts for other blogs (such as the ... More About: Ideas , Innovation , Amazing
Ask the Readers: What?s The Most Important Lesson You?ve Learned?
2007-11-25 02:32:00 This week’s Ask the Readers discussion should be an opportunity to collect a number of profound lessons in one place. The question I’d like you to answer is: what’s the most important lesson you’ve learned about blogging or being a webmaster? When I sat down to write this, I thought I’d answer the question from my ... More About: Lesson , Learned
Time is Something You Make
2007-11-23 02:33:00 One question I get a lot is: ?Where do you find the time?? It?s a good question, but it?s the wrong one. Few of us have vast reserves of free time lying around, waiting to be found. If you want to do something, you have to make the time. Making time is like budgeting money. You ... More About: Organization , Time , Make , Some
How to Get 1,050 Subscribers in 3 Months
2007-11-21 05:08:00 Photo by josef.stuefer. By beginning this post with the above figure, I don’t do so to boast. I know there are thousands of blogs that have received more subscribers than this — and in less time. I highlight this figure (1,050 subscribers in 3 months) to show that you don’t need to have big money, the perfect ... More About: Blogging , Months , Scribe , Mont
How to Write the Perfect ?About? Page (by Numbers)
2007-11-19 22:00:00 Photo by Sugar Pond New visitors to your site want to know straight away what your site has to offer them. A prominent link to an ?About? page says: ?Want to know what this site is about? The answer is right here.? Usability should be conversational. A new visitor asks, internally: ?What is this site about?? Your ... More About: Write , Page , Numbers , Perfect , Number
Ask the Readers: What Does Your Writing Budget Look Like?
More articles from this author:2007-11-18 02:22:00 One of the most potentially stress-inducing aspects of web publishing is that few of us have a safety net of content developed. The trite-but-true central principle of personal finance is to “spend less than you earn.” When it comes to writing content, though, most of us spend exactly as much as we earn: we live hand-to-mouth, ... More About: Writing , Readers , Budget 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
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