In the first part of "Buying and Selling Blogs" we looked at ways to see value over and above the traditional income and value of the domain. The next step after looking to see what value is there, is to see what value you can add. It's just like in the real world of real estate, website real estate can be refurbished and sold for a higher price than an uncared for dilapidated property. All of the value elements can be improved upon apart from the domain. But wait, you can switch to … [Read more...]

Selling blogs is a growth area of professional blogging. Having said that it's not just people who want to buy or sell blogs that want to know how to value them. Bloggers often want to compare their progress against others. This is a very difficult question because often you are comparing apples and oranges, plus you have to take into account what the bloggers intentions are. The main generalized criteria will be the value of the domain, plus traffic, income, comments and subscribers. … [Read more...]

When Adii updated my design he gave his own take on my theme and brought it up to date. I have received a great deal of feedback but it is not fair the spotlight be entirely on my blog, I think it is about time adii has the pleasure of some feedback :)If you are not already aware from the design post, Adii is a freelance designer and strategist from South Africa. His blog promotes his services, introduces himself and his thoughts on design.The design, as you would hope and expect, looks great. I … [Read more...]

You already know how effective guest posting can be for building your profile as a blogger and also driving more visitors to your blogs. There are opportunities for guest posting and then there are also paid blogging gigs out there if you know where to find them. Over the weekend I discovered a third type with my friend Raj.We were discussing where I guest post and I mentioned that some of the blogs I write for end up costing me money but I still think they are worth it. Guest Posting Costs … [Read more...]

Dear FeedBurner, Let me start by saying I love your service. Of course I have no choice. There are no alternatives. But really, I do love your service. I find it looks nice, is easy to use, and mostly gives me what I need. The main issues I have are in the area of your email service. Here are some things I think would make FeedBurner really rock: Email frequency - Allow the blogger or subscriber to set email frequency. You already combine multiple posts into a digest which is great, … [Read more...]

I just did my first ever Sketchcast over at Codswallop and I found the experience quite strange. For years my teaching method was to speak while I write and doodle on a whiteboard. That felt natural and fun. For some reason recording my voice while trying to draw didn't really work for me. Perhaps with better equipment and practice I would get better at it. Sketchcasting is a cool idea. Apparently my old Performancing colleague Patrick is behind the service, based on an idea by Richard … [Read more...]

In my post about web community building and participation I mentioned making friends and contacts. I think this is an important and much overlooked factor. For people who work online, usually from home, it can be a terribly solitary and lonely existence. Over the years I have had the good fortune to meet some great people and have made a lot of online friends. Some I have met in person, while a good portion I have only spoken to over the phone. As I said in the linked article above, I was … [Read more...]

In August Ben Cook ran a competition to win some great blogging prizes, including a subscription to the Blog Mastermind program, a copy of Aarons SEO Book and a critique from me. The winner was announced as Jason Peck so here is the critique :) Jasons blog is called Take A Peck and he describes it as a: Blog about sports business, sponsorship, social media, and related topics Sports and business are not two topics I immediately associate but it turns out that Jason works in the sports … [Read more...]

Useful and interesting content is not all you should be creating for your blog. At the same time you need to be building your blog in other ways. Your content can attract new visitors, can help retain the visitors you have, and can bring you in links. Here are some tactics you can use:Flagship Content - Obviously you are going to need something for your sidebar, content that is an ambassador for your blog. These types of content can take a while to create but are a foundation to build your blog … [Read more...]

One of the question themes I get asked about most is making money with blogs. While this isn't a "make money online" blog like Darrens or Johns, it is still something I know many of you care about. While I never talk about how much I earn it is no secret that my money is made almost entirely from indirect sources. I blog so people know who I am, know I can help them with certain things, and hopefully trust me to deliver. I say "almost" because I still make a small percentage from affiliate … [Read more...]