Credit: 7rains

In the past few months, I have seen many folks who share affiliate links blatantly on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. All publishers go through rough times. We all want to make more money and live more comfortable lives. Sharing affiliate links with your friends, followers, and those who have circled you may bring you some much needed cash. At the same time, it could set your business back overtime.

While it is true that some people don’t care about their contacts sharing affiliate links with them, many folks do. You may be able to pull it off but you want to be careful not to go overboard. Besides, you should take time to get yourself familiar with things you need to do to stay compliant with the law when sharing affiliate links online. Here are a few reasons why you want to share as few affiliate links as possible on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+:

• affiliate links could turn people off: if you are just getting started and don’t have a large following online, the last thing you want to do is turn people off. Sharing affiliate links time and time again with your contacts can do that. I have seen popular figures share affiliate links for  hot gadgets such as Kindle and iPad in their streams. Not everyone can pull that off though without losing followers. 
• paid links could damage your credibility: many of us leverage our social outposts to enhance our brands. Sharing affiliate links and spamming your followers will reflect poorly upon your brand. Besides, it is hard not to judge someone’s credibility when they are sharing paid links all the time.
• you could get in trouble: every country has its own set of laws as far as online marketing is concerned. If you live in the U.S., you need to disclose your paid links to your followers. It is so easy to get in trouble in this country if you are not too careful. Some people prefer disclosing their affiliate links. I prefer sharing regular links in my stream and not deal with the disclosure part. The choice is yours.
• paid links can get you banned: this should go without saying. Not all communities are friendly towards affiliate marketers. Even Google is not too fond of them. Sharing too many spammy affiliate links could get you banned.

At the end of the day, the decision to share affiliate links in the communities you are involved in is up to you. Only you can make the decision that is right for your business. You should always ask yourself whether what you are planning to do will be worth it in the long run.

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People love taking shortcuts. Getting to the top of a mountain when you are standing all the way down always looks daunting. Taking the right shortcuts may help you get to the top a tad bit faster. But you won’t become a super blogger overnight. Unfortunately, there are some bloggers who have no trouble trying black hat tactics to cheat their way to the top. The trouble is this approach will come back to haunt them in the future.

Let’s make no mistake about it. There are black hat tactics that will work for the short term. Those who tell you these tactics just don’t work are lying to you or themselves. That’s why so many people are tempted to go in that route. Taking that approach can have long-term repercussions for your business though. Here are 5 reasons you want to avoid black hat blogging tactics:

• you will get caught: some people get lucky and get to use black hat tactics to their benefit for a long time. But what if you are not lucky? Getting caught red handed can lead to major trouble for your business. At the very least, you are going to lose all the advantages that you have enjoyed.
  
• black hat tactics can damage your brand: we have all seen major companies that have been caught and penalized for trying to cheat their way to the top. If your blog is penalized, you could not only lose a lot of your business, your brand could get severely damaged. It is hard to make a comeback if your credibility as a honest blogger is completely shot. 
• you will eventually lose your advantage: even if you are not caught for using sneaky tactics, chances are others will. Let’s say you have been gaming Google for a while. Even if you are not caught and penalized, you could still become a victim of an algorithm change that takes away the loopholes you have been using.
• it could take away from your other efforts: some people become too comfortable when they find a black hat shortcut that gets them to the top. Why invest in other efforts when you are just finding success as pirate, right? The problem is when you get caught or your methods lose their effectiveness, you end up with a devastated business with no easy way out.
• it could lead to bigger issues: this is a huge issue for anyone who has tried black hat tactics in the past. People who do not get caught for pulling off small victories this way get tempted to try more powerful ways to cheat in their markets. The more risky methods you try, the more likely you are to do your business some major damage. If you have never been caught red-handed in the past, you probably don’t have a reason to change your ways. Eventually you will though.

Black hat tactics (whether you are using them for SEO or blogging) won’t work in the long run. Starting and building a successful blog takes a lot of time and effort. Those types of tactics may help in the short-term but could do your business immense harm.

Credit: ba1969

Infographics are quite hot these days. Many of them have gone viral thanks to top blogs republishing them and people sharing them on Facebook, Twitter, and other top social networks. It is easy to assume that if you create an infographic, people will take time to share it. That is absolutely not true. Lousy infographics won’t make it too far. Even if you do get a few shares, the feedback coming back to you could be harsh if your infographic is awful.

Many infographic designers get too attached to their work and fail to see what is setting them back. Here are 7 mistakes you want to avoid if you do not want to end up with lousy infographics:

• too much information: infographics are not meant to be as comprehensive as the Bible. While you should not cut corners as you develop your infographics, you do want to break things down and include only relevant information in your work. Too much data may even confuse some of your visitors.
• wrong colors: the colors you use in your graphics are important. The right combination of colors can make your infographic catchy. The wrong ones could keep your work back or kill it off completely.
•  terrible layout:  there is a difference between developing a high quality infographic and treating your work as a piece of napkin. Most viral infographics have awesome layouts. The goal of your work should be to present your data in an organized, elegant fashion.
• lack of graphs: making graphs and charts for your infographic is not that difficult. Without those, you will have a hard time grabbing the attention of your audience. My own data tells me that infographics with graphs and charts get more love on social networking sites.
• terrible research: an infographic that is based on wrong data won’t get you too far. If you have hired someone to design visuals for you, the least you can do is check their research to make sure they have used the right material.
• no connection between data points: people won’t tweet or share your work on Twitter/Facebook just because it looks “cool.” You need to make clear connections among the data points you are using in your visuals. Don’t just throw information on your infographic for the sake of doing it.
• vagueness: going back to the previous point, if your infographic is vague and confusing to your audience, you have probably wasted your time.

Developing killer infographics takes a lot of work but it will be worth it in the end. Not every type of infographic goes viral. But those that do bring webmasters a ton of backlinks and traffic.

Credit: sxc.hu

Accepting guests posts on your blog is a great way to bring new voices to your audience and make connections in the blogging world. Many new bloggers go out of their way to create great work to submit as guest posts to top blogs. Not many of these blogs actually publish every article they receive. But if you got your chance this way, you know how important it is to help other aspiring bloggers reach their goal.

Just because you are accepting guest posts on your site does not mean you should get lazy. I have seen some bloggers who have more guest posts on their sites than original posts. Worse yet, some of these folks accept and publish the majority of articles they receive. This is a very dangerous practice that can damage your brand and your business as a whole.

The posts you publish on your blog say a lot about you and the way you run your business. Here are 5 things visitors can learn about a blog by studying the guests posts published on it:

• Quality control: everybody makes mistakes. As hard as I try, I make many of them everyday. But it is a huge turn off when a guest post is full of errors (factual or grammatical). If you post garbage to your site, how can you expect people to stick around and read more of your work. They may not even give you a second chance.
• Dedication to blogging: are you dedicated to blogging? If so, having more guest posts than original posts is not the best way to show it. There is nothing wrong with posting other people’s articles to your website. That does not mean you can just cruise through life and never blog again.
• Blogging philosophy: publishing other people’s work to your site is only one part of the process. You should also take time to promote those works. Not accepting any guest post also says a lot about your blogging philosophy.
• Generosity: I don’t know about you but I believe in Karma. The concept applies in the blogging world too. The more you help others and put into your community, the more good things happen to you. There is no reason not to help others make it in the blogging world especially if others have helped you in the past to reach your goals.
• Engagement level: publishing articles to your website is only one part of the process. Bloggers should take time to answer their visitors’ questions and address any issues/complaints on their articles.  Every legitimate comment that you get is special. So treat it that way.

Guest posting is not and should not be a way for you to spend more time procrastinating. You should vet all the articles you receive, edit them when you must, and spend time promoting the ones you publish. Blogging is not as easy as some believe after all.

Many of us are afraid to fail in everything we do. Nobody gets up in the morning aiming to fail in something. But we all have to deal with failures and setbacks at some point during our careers. The key is to not let them keep you from achieving your dreams. Fear of failure is the main cause for people not reaching their potential. If you are not taking chances because you don’t want to face a setback or make a mistake, how are you going to reach your dreams.

If you have never failed in the past, you have not experienced everything life has to offer. Failure can be devastating for some. But it could also provide you with the opportunity to learn and take your business to the next level. Here are 5 reasons failing at first can lead to bigger and better things for your business:

1. learn from your mistakes: each mistake that you make gives you the opportunity to learn from it and make yourself and your business better. I am not suggesting that you should make mistakes on purpose. Falling off the horse at some point during your career is not the end of the world. Many have done just that in the past. Those who have achieved success know how to get back up every-time they fall.
2. taste the bitterness: life was never meant to be a journey full of happiness and positive memories. Setbacks are also part of this experience we call life. By tasting the bitterness of failure, you will have even more motivation to succeed in what you do and avoid making the same mistakes again.
3. reach nothing to lose position: some folks are not willing to get out of their comfort zone until their back is completely against the wall. Failing can be a good thing for these folks. When you have got nothing to lose, you can think more boldly and make the decisions you didn’t think you had the guts to make before.
4. failure makes you humble: there is a big difference between being confident and arrogant. No matter how successful you are in the blogging business, keeping your feet on the ground gives you the chance to continue pushing forward as you always have. Arrogant bloggers often underestimate the circumstances surrounding their markets and end up failing in the long run.
5. avoid failure in the future: making mistakes should not be your goal in the blogging business. But if you are aiming to do something, you are better off doing it wrong than late. There are a lot of lessons one can learn from his/her setbacks. Making the same mistakes over and over again could be fatal for any business though.

Fearing failure can only set us back. But each setback is a learning experience that can make you a better blogger and individual. You won’t know the true taste of success if you have not failed in the past.

Credit: doctor-a sxc.hu

Let’s face it. We all need to make money on our blogs somehow. No matter how passionate you are about blogging, you won’t survive this business long if you can’t pay your bills. One of the best ways to pay your bills with blogging is by incorporating affiliate reviews into your website. It all seems easy on paper. You just find products that apply to your niche and write honest reviews on them, right? That might work for people who want to just throw a dart in the dark hoping to hit their target. Bloggers who are successful affiliates go beyond the basics and go out of their way to make their affiliate reviews stand out.

I was a struggling blogger in the past. When you are making $100 a month, there is not a whole lot to be cheerful about. But hard work pays in this business. That applies to your affiliate reviews too. If you go out of your way to provide the best reviews on your products, sooner or later people will start giving your blog the attention it deserves. Here are 6 simple ways you can make your affiliate reviews stand out:

1. don’t cut corners: when you are in need of money, it is easy to just cut corners to get your affiliate reviews out faster. But that is not the way to build credibility for your website. A short, silly review surely won’t make you enough money to make it all worth your while. Check what top players have done in the past with their reviews and try to outdo them with your own work. Easier said than done.
2. keep your content organized: nobody likes going through a disorganized piece of review. You should go out of your way to format your posts, add the appropriate headings, and much more. Don’t forget to break your review into pieces to better analyze the performance of the products you are reviewing.
3. add your own photos and videos: I have seen many bloggers who use videos from YouTube or other people’s photos in their reviews. You should never do that. It is much easier to build credibility for your website when you take time to create your own content (photos, videos, and much more).
4. answer people’s questions: when I want to review a new product, I usually go to top forums relating to that product to see whether people are asking questions about it. If you can find these types of questions and answer them in your review, you are golden.
5. be honest with your review: I don’t know about you but I absolutely despise people who recommend a product just to get paid. There is nothing wrong with trying to make more money online. But if you are recommending a product, at least be honest about. Just because you have partnered with an affiliate company does not mean you should kiss their butt. So what if the company you have partnered with does not have a decent product? Why would you want to stay involved with such a company in the first place?
6. disclose!: it is true that some people are turned off when you tell them that you are using affiliate links in your reviews. After all, how can you be honest and impartial if you are getting paid for each lead you bring to your partners, right? In reality, people are more likely to consider your website credible if you are disclosing your relationships. You may lose some sales but people will look at your blog a different way.

Some folks love writing hundreds of short reviews instead of taking time to develop 10 thorough articles. In the end, when it comes to product reviews, quality trumps quantity every day of the week. Whatever you do, don’t cut corners when preparing your product reviews.

Nobody is perfect. Even the best bloggers in the world make small mistakes from time to time. As a blogger, I try everyday to minimize the number of mistakes that I make and learn from those I have made in the past. Unfortunately, some mistakes are harder to get rid of than others. Take typos for instance. Once you start typing a word a certain way (the wrong way), it almost becomes a habit. You may know how to spell the word “their,” but if you type “there” instead enough times, it will be tough to get it out of your system.

With that said, all bloggers should try their best to avoid those simple mistakes. Here are 10 avoidable mistakes that I have seen bloggers make all the time:

1. Typo in headline: this seems to happen all the time. Most content management systems do not come with a spell-checker for the post title section. I have made enough of these mistakes. Unfortunately, I am not the only one doing it. I have seem many “super-bloggers” make the same mistakes. The best way to address is to read your title right before you are ready to publish your story.
2. Typo in first sentence: that’s one of the most frustrating mistakes one can make. You try so hard to keep your copy clean and get the typos out. For some reason, some bloggers have typos in their very first sentence (and in a lot of cases nowhere else).
3. Including broken images: always make sure you have the image you want to link to on a reliable server. It is just ugly to have broken images in a post.
4. Posting under uncategorized category: this one is a biggie. Many new bloggers forget to set up the right categories for their blogs from the get go. There is simply no excuse for having the default “uncategorized” category on your blog.
5. Having the default about me page: this is another one of those problems that many new bloggers struggle with. CMS solutions such as WordPress do come with a default about me page. These pages have a couple of sentences but those are certainly not about you. Change the content before getting your blog live.
6. Not doing your research: this is a big problem if you make it even a couple of times. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if you post a story about something that is actually not true. Doing a careful research for each post will help you lessen the chances of this happening. The more popular your website becomes, the more it will be scrutinized by your visitors for the accuracy of your information.
7. Use admin name as you comment: I am personally guilty of doing this on my other blogs. It only takes a couple of seconds to change the default username on any blog. Unfortunately, some of us forget to do that.
8. Hotlinking to others content: linking to other people’s images is a no-no. You should always try to link to images that are on your server. Stealing bandwidth from others is not going to make you too many friends.
9. Charging for content: I am not suggesting you can’t charge for your awesome content. But don’t expect people to pay to read what you have had for lunch. Charging for your regular content is the best way to start losing your audience.
10. Scheduling your posts way ahead of time: I don’t mind scheduling posts ahead of time. But when you schedule a post 6 months ahead, you better make sure your content is still relevant when your post is published. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing to talk about a product 6 months ahead of time only to realize it’s dead when your post is live?

Mistakes happen all the time. For me, it’s all about the learning process. Nobody is perfect. But making the same mistakes over and over again can be frustrating and disappointing.

Have you made any of the above mistakes in the past? Please share your embarrassing blogging mistakes.

Credit: katagaci

Have you ever read a product review on a blog and taken a chance on that product only to find out that it doesn’t work or was misrepresented by bloggers? There are a lot of good things that one can talk about today’s blogging world. But there are some serious issues that all bloggers have to face as well. When you don’t have a popular blog, you don’t get too many offers from companies to advertise for them or push their products. But your blog does get some decent traffic and recognition, that’s when you are going to face some tough decisions. You are going to hear from companies that want to buy text links on your blog. Some even try to buy positive reviews on your blog. While any professional bloggers wouldn’t fall for such offers, there are unethical bloggers out there who don’t mind recommending a product to their readers as long as they get paid.

Blogging is not a get rich quick scheme. Those who have made it in this industry have worked very hard on providing value to their readers. Some have written books and created membership sites for their readers. But you can be sure that most top bloggers don’t even try to give a product a positive review without testing it properly. That’s where the idea of transparency comes in. Being transparent with your readers is the only way to build trust and keep your readers coming back for more.

Transparency

The idea here is simple. Whether you are getting paid to write a review or given a free product to keep in return for a blog post, you should always take time to discuss this with your readers. What’s the worst that can happen? So what if your readers don’t trust your review due to your connections with product manufacturers? Of course, if you have tried your best to build trust with your readers and provided real value to them in the past, they won’t mind you getting compensated for your thoughts. That’s what trust buys you.

Honesty

We all want to make enough money to lead a comfortable life without ever having to worry about those monthly bills. When you write a review, you want to make sure you keep your priorities straight. It’s too easy to write a bogus positive review for a product. But your readers are not stupid. They can figure out you have lied once they try that product for themselves. That’s when all the work you have done to gain the trust of your readers goes out of window. You may as well look for a 9-6 job when that happens.

Selling Your Soul

Not everyone is going to get caught doing bogus blog posts. But what if you get away with it for once? That doesn’t mean you can make a career out of deceiving your readers. You may not make enough money from blogging, but it can open doors for you. Your readers may help you with that as well. Once you sell your soul to these bogus advertisers, it’s going to snow ball. Your reputation will soon be out of the window, and you’ll have only yourself to blame.

Test Everything

It doesn’t matter who’s offering you a product to review. It could be Amazon, Apple, or Microsoft. Just don’t assume that the product you have gotten is great without testing it. I am sure all those companies would appreciate getting rosy reviews from bloggers. That doesn’t mean you should give high scores to those companies without testing every aspect of their products. Everybody makes mistakes but giving a terrible product great scores is more than just a mistake.

A lot of us bloggers don’t make a whole lot of money. Not many of us are going to be millionaires. There are always opportunities to make money on your blog by taking bogus advertisers and their products on. But your reputation and credibility shouldn’t be up for sale.

Whether you are a professional blogger or have just started with your own blog, you have probably had to deal with hosting issues in the past. Web Hosting is one of those tricky issues that can determine the success or failure of your site. You can work on your content all day, but if your website is down when your visitors pay you a visit, you are not going to get too much value out of your web host. Unfortunately, choosing the right web host is not an easy process. There are plenty of companies that promise you a lot of things but don’t deliver on their promise. In the past, I have talked about how you should go about choosing a web host for your blog, so there is no reason to address that again. But even if you do your best to research all the web hosting services around, there is still a chance you can sign up with the wrong partner.

When you start your blog, there is a good chance you are not going to get a lot of traffic right from the start. So the idea of signing up for a shared web hosting service can be intriguing. After all, nobody minds paying $5 a month for one of these services. But many bloggers feel hesitant when it comes to signing up for a VPS or dedicated server account. Those accounts are going to cost you significantly more money. Of course, there is a reason for that.

Shared web hosting services will work fine for new blogs. As long as you are not getting a decent amount of traffic, your shared web host should be handle your traffic. But there are many limitations on these accounts. It’s so easy to hit those limits with bad plugins or scripts on your server. What happens when you hit those limits? Your site could crash or become so slow. That’s the easiest way you can lose your loyal visitors as no one likes to wait a minute for your site to load up, no matter how good your content is.

Shop Like a Pro

The key to finding a good web host is knowing what you need and doing your best to find out what company can offer you what you need. Shared web hosting is not going to work for your blog forever. So if you have big plans for your blog, you want to take the time to search for a web host that allows you an upgrade path. So when you are searching for a web host, not only you want to find out about its shared hosting service but also about its private and dedicated servers as well. You can always switch from one host to another if you prefer it that way, but I’d rather know all about my web host before signing up.

You do want to beware of affiliate marketers when going through reviews for web hosts. Web hosts pay $50-$300 to their affiliates, so the paycheck can be significant for top affiliates. While there are honest affiliates out there, I have seen too many affiliates who promote only services that pay the most money per sign up. There is really nothing malicious  about that approach. After all, how different these web hosts can be, right?

You should always take the time to search for hosting complaints and scams to make sure you don’t sign up for a mediocre post. If you can find people who have first hand experience with hosting candidates, that’s even better. That can be accomplished by searching through top hosting forums on the Internet. Finally, when it comes to hosting, more expensive hosting doesn’t mean better service. So don’t just assume things.

I can’t emphasize this enough. As someone who’s been a victim of bad hosting in the past, I can tell you that don’t want to take any chances with your website. If your site is slow or down all the time, that could lead to a drop in your search engine rankings. Your audience is not going to tolerate your slow site either. When looking for a web host, don’t be cheap. Be smart!

Not all blogging mistakes affect your blog the same way. Some can devastate your business and rock your world. Others can be mended or forgotten. The mistakes that I am going to discuss in this post are a bit tougher to get over. Those small mistakes can be dealt with and learned from. But huge blunders could take away your credibility and kill your business in its infancy. Here are a few blogging mistakes that you should avoid at all costs:

• Giving up: you heard it right. If you are not willing to risk a bit to keep your blog going, you shouldn’t be in this business. If you are truly passionate about your blog, you shouldn’t give up on it all so fast. Nobody has won anything by giving up too early. I am not just talking about giving up physically. Giving up mentally is just as devastating. It’s easy to get discouraged as a blogger, but you should try to stay positive if you want to succeed.
• Negative Partners: if you have started a blog with a few partners, you want to make sure they are the right ones to take your blog to the next level. A group that is not well-balanced and on the same page has no chance of succeeding. Don’t forget to encourage your partners to stay positive. Negative partners are tough to deal with.
• Winging It: running a successful blog takes work. You can’t expect to cut corners and become a successful blogger. You can’t just wing it when it comes to developing good content for your readers.
• Lack of Research: if you are one of those people who don’t like to spend time researching for your blog posts, then you are leaving yourself open to ridicule and loss of credibility. A lot of new bloggers focus more on writing more blog posts than creating well-researched ones. Quality is more important here.
• Breaking The Rules: you may be a new blogger, but that doesn’t mean you can get away with breaking written and unwritten rules. Always give your sources credit. If you take an image from another site, always ask for permission and give credit. That way you show your peers that you are serious about this business and you won’t have to deal with angry bloggers and lawsuits.
• Inappropriate Tone: this is really tricky. As a blogger, only you can figure out what the right tone is on your blog. But do not accuse others on your blog without having evidence to back your claims up.
• Fighting with Readers: your readers can be tough on your posts. They might insult you or call you names. You can always get into fights with them and even get defensive. But the best way to go is by being professional enough to ignore the naysayers. It’s a lose lose situation when you get in fights with your readers.
• Not Listening: as a blogger, you should take time to listen to what your readers have to say about you and your posts. You should also take time to communicate with your readers through comments to get a feel about what they think about your content.
• Deceptive Practices: every blogger wants to make money online from her work. But don’t use deceptive practices to get people to buy from your sponsors. Also, don’t try to present your community as something it is not. You shouldn’t make up fake comments or use Blackhat tactics to monetize your community. It’s just not worth it.
• Getting too Attached: don’t get too attached to your work. Not everyone’s going to like your work. Don’t for a second take things personal. Try to listen and improve. There is always room for improvement. Besides, nobody has been hurt by constructive criticism.

Building a killer blog is all about building trust and credibility with your readers. Not doing your research or insulting your readers is the fastest way to lose the trust you have earned. So think twice before pulling something “off the wall” on your blog. Building trust takes a long time. Losing it only takes one or two  post.