Many new bloggers struggle to get enough number of comments per each post. That is usually the case until your blog becomes somewhat popular. Once you start getting more than 30K visitors to your blog on a monthly basis, those comments start adding up. A lot of it does depend on the type of content you write and how you position each and every post on your blog. Some publishers consider the number of comments on their blog to be a success indicator. While that is partly true, there is much more to your comments than meets the eye. Smart bloggers use every little feedback and discussion to improve their blog and provide a better community for their visitors.

Many super bloggers use the comments they get on their blog to come up with new blogging ideas or learn new things. Sometimes, asking your visitors a thought provoking question can turn your post into a classic. If you have been ignoring your comments so far, here are 5 ways you can get the most out of them:

1. Use your visitors’ feedback to your advantage: this is a no brainer. A lot of people do not handle criticism well. That should not be the case for bloggers as long as the criticism they receive is constructive. There is a difference between a troll and someone who genuinely wants to help you improve your blog. So ask your visitors to give you feedback and do not get defensive when people question you or your articles.
2. Learn from what your readers are doing: your readers may or may not have their own blogs. But that does not mean they don’t have something unique to offer. There may be things they are doing that you can learn from. Listening is key here.
3. Come up with new ideas: I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten ideas for my future posts by going through some of the comments I get on my blogs. Sometimes people tell you exactly what they are looking for. Some other times, you will have to pay more attention. Either way, don’t forget to go through the comments you get on your blog to try to identify needs and wants of your community members.
4. Form relationships: all bloggers can use their websites to connect with others and network with other bloggers in their niche. That’s why all bloggers need to take time to participate in discussions on their blogs. You never know who you are going to meet through your blog. The more people you get to know on your site, the more doors will be opened for you.
5. Hire your readers: that’s right. What a better way to expand your community by hiring your readers to help you manage it. Sometimes, you get lucky and find someone who has a great post to share on your blog. A few top bloggers actually pay their readers to do some work for them. Going through your comments should give you an idea about who you may want to offer a job to.

The comments you get on your blog do matter. Not all of them are going to be useful to you. That does not mean you should not be listening or paying attention.

Credit: jaylopez

Almost all bloggers that I know have had trouble coming up with new ideas for their blogs from time to time. Newbies have to deal with this issue more than experienced bloggers. These days, there are just so many tools that one can use to come up with new blogging ideas. You just have to learn how to use them. Twitter is one of those tools. It’s a powerful social network that connects you to the world and gives you access to millions of people. Many bloggers use Twitter to drive traffic to their blogs and push products. There is nothing wrong with that. Don’t forget that there is a lot of value in listening to what others have to say on Twitter. It’s not hard to miss things when you are the one who’s doing all the talking.

If you are ready to listen to what others have to say on Twitter, here are 5 ways you can use this network to come up with new ideas for your blog:

• Track top stories with Topsy: lots of Twitter fans use Tweetmeme to find the top stories in Twitterville. I personally prefer Topsy. It’s a powerful Twitter search engine that lets you find out what’s trending and what people are talking about online. It even shows you who the influential players are. Great tool to gather information for your next blog post.
• Ask Questions: if you are too impatient, you can just ask questions on Twitter. There are tools that let you share polls and questions with the Twitter community. Just make sure your question is to the point and something worth answering (that goes without saying).
• Track keywords: tools such as tweetbeep to keep track of your favorite keywords on Twitter just like you would on Google using Google Alerts. You’d be surprised how many ideas you can get by looking at your Twitter alerts.
• Pay Attention to Trends: this is really a no-brainer. Keeping track of what’s trending on Twitter is a must for every blogger. It’s even more helpful if you are struggling to come up with an idea for your next post. twendz is one of many tools you can use for this purpose.
• Integrate Twitter into your blog: I have seen this done many time by top bloggers. Here is how it works. You ask a question, gather feedback, organize them all, and turn them into a post. Don’t forget to give credit to those who have contributed and add your unique take to it as well. We have all seen those “top blog posts for this week” type of stories. There is no reason you can’t do it for Twitter.

What are your suggestions? How do you use Twitter to come up with new blogging ideas?

A few weeks ago, Google unveiled its new Google Search interface. Google had given us the heads up that a new interface was in the works. It took a while for the company to properly test it and open it to everyone. The new interface may not look too different on the surface. But it does give bloggers a few tips on how to optimize their website for Google to maximize their traffic.

When you search for a term on Google these days, you are going to see a variety of search filters on the left side of your screen. Here are just a few that bloggers will need to pay attention to:

• Blogs
• Books
• Images
• Videos
• Maps
• News
• Updates
• Discussions

What does it all mean for bloggers? It’s really simple. If you want to maximize your traffic, you need to show up under all the above filters. That means you will have to upload images, capture videos, upload your own books, become a news source, and much more. Here are 10 ways you can go about enhancing your presence on Google:

• Upload Your Videos: videos are the present and the future. If you are serious about pro blogging, you should have your very own channel on YouTube.
• Become a News Source: you do not necessarily have to break the news all the time. But as long as you have a multi-authored blog that is updated regularly, there is no reason not to add your blog to Google News.
• Optimize Your Images: you should take time to upload your images to get them ranked on Google. Don’t just use free images you can find online. Take some of your own, optimize them properly, and give them descriptive names.
• Add Your business: don’t forget to add your online business to Google and Google maps. You may not have a local business, but you can still use your headquarters address to get the job done.
• Enhance Your blog: pay attention to keyword phrases and terms that you target on your blog. Spending a little bit of time to optimize your posts for search engines never hurts.
• Upload Your Book: not all bloggers have their own books. Those of you who have blogged for long enough have probably some ideas on how to write your very own e-book. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Once you have written your book, you may want to upload it to Google to get some more traffic.
• Be Involved In Forums: not only you should add a forum to your blog (if you have the resources), you should also be involved in other people’s forums.
• Take Advantage of Google Products: if you sell products online (mostly for business bloggers), being listed on Google Products does not hurt.
• Blog Often: don’t slack off. Fresh content does matter. You may not be able to write for your blog everyday, but that does not mean you should only write one post a week. Do as much as you can handle without bringing down the quality of your posts.
• Become More Social: social media matters. I am not suggesting you should spam Twitter or Facebook. You do, however, need be involved in those communities.

These are just an overview of what all bloggers need to do to maximize their presence on Google. It’s much easier on the paper. Nobody said blogging was an easy job.

Whether you are a part-time blogger or a pro-blogger who makes a full-time living online from your blog, you want to take time on a daily basis to keep up with the latest developments in your niche and other industries. You certainly don’t want to talk about things without being on the top of things in your market. Not knowing what you are talking about is the best way to lose your credibility and damage your blog’s reputation. Finding blogs to read in your niche is not that difficult. There are plenty of lists out there that show you what the top blogs are in each niche. There are plenty of bloggers that create posts about top blogs in different niches. So there is no excuse in finding a handful of blogs to read on a daily basis. Things get a bit more dicey when you are greedy like me. There was a time that I had over 1000 feeds in my “must read” folder. I was never able to catch up with everything in that folder, but it was a nice way to challenge myself.

I realized after a while that one just can’t keep up with that many feeds. Not without sacrificing some other things. As a business owner, I owed it to myself to organize my feeds in a way that would help me get the information I need on a daily basis without forgetting about my core business processes. If you suffer from information and feed overload, you may want to consider switching your feed reader and use one that lets you organize your feeds and get more out of them. Bloglines and Google Reader are both very powerful and worth using if you are a feed junkie. I personally stopped using Bloglines a while ago as Google Reader provided me with more social features, but either solutions works great. How you organize your feeds is going to be the most important part of the process. There are plenty of ways to organize feeds and gather information through your feed reader. I personally classify my feeds under these 6 categories:

• Must Read: these are feeds that have proven themselves over the past when it comes to quality and depth of analysis. These are feeds that I wouldn’t want to miss no matter how busy I am.
• Must Skim: there are some feeds that are not really worth going through all the time. Sometimes they have great articles that you want to read but not all the time. I would skim through these feeds to see if there is anything interesting available. But I wouldn’t spend too much time on them.
• Idea feeds: feeds that inspire me and give me ideas about future products/services and even future blog posts. I usually catch these once every other day.
• Forums: I have added my favorite forums’ RSS feeds to Google Reader as well. That allows me to get people’s questions when they happen. Besides, forums are great places to mine for ideas.
• Alert Feeds: these are the alerts I have setup through Google Alerts. Instead of sending the alerts to my e-mail, I just grab the feed and add it to my reader. It’s easier to manage and doesn’t fill up my inbox. Great for tracking brands, breaking news, and more.
• Wild blogs: these are blogs that have nothing to do with my niche. They are usually out there. We are talking about highly sophisticated tech, programming, psychology, and analytics blogs. I don’t read everything there is here, but they do help me get new ideas once in a while.

When it comes to keeping up with your feeds, you want to focus on quality instead of quantity. You are not going to have time to read blogs all day. That’s not how you run a blog or business. So pick and choose the blogs you read carefully and remove those that usually have similar posts on the same topics. Keeping up with 100s of blogs a day is always nice, but that shouldn’t be your only focus. Not if you are running a serious business.

Driving traffic to your blog should not be your only priority but should be a big part of your overall strategy. You can have the best content in the world, but people are not able to see what you have to offer, you are not going to achieve the success that you deserve. I know a lot of people want to believe in those Cinderella story when you blog for years and finally get recognized for your work. I hate to break it to you, but unless you take time to promote your blog, you are not going to get the appreciation you are hoping for.

One way to drive passive traffic to your blog is by optimizing your blog for the search engines. I am not talking about creating splogs but rather using relevant keywords that people are searching for in each post. Many bloggers choose to go after those generate keyword phrases, but there is a lot of traffic to be gotten if you target those long-tail keywords in your posts. The good thing about long-tail keywords is that you don’t have to sound like a robot to use them in your posts. The traffic per keyword may not be much, but if you use enough of them, your traffic adds up.

SpyFu is one of the best tools to dig up those long-tail keywords for your blog. It may not be as famous as WordTracker and Keyword Discovery, but it provides you with a wealth of features to help you optimize each and every post for highly-targeted keywords. For starters, SpyFu allows you to spy on other blogs and websites and find out what keywords they are using to generate traffic. You can also take a look at their ads, their PPC keywords, and even their estimate advertising budget to find out what your competitors are focusing on.

SpyFu Kombat allows you to find out which channels other bloggers are focusing on and what you can do to match or better their efforts in those channels. You can always download the keywords that other blogs are using and find out which ones you can use in your future blog posts.

If you push your blog using Google Adwords, SpyFu has you covered in that area as well. But I personally have used SpyFu to come up with blogging ideas, find out what my competitors are doing, and find keywords that people are interested in talking about. Ultimately, SpyFu is an affordable premium service that can help you write more targeted posts and get more passive traffic in the long run.

Note: SpyFu is a premium keyword research service and while you can use the free version to get some research done, to take advantage of some of the above mentioned features, you will need to become a paying member (thanks @searchguru).

The job market is tough. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that. It’s not that jobs are not out there. It’s just that you have more people going for less positions. To put it in economic terms, you have a lot of demand but not that much supply. A lot of job searchers have been discouraged by the conditions in the job market, and some even stop searching. I know a lot of these people, and it’s heart breaking to see people struggle to make a living these days. But the question that I usually ask this folk is whether they blog. It’s really simple. If you don’t have a job and searching for a job, you are still going to have some time to blog on a daily basis. It’s never too late to start blogging, and who knows where it’s going to take you.

Many people are afraid of starting a blog. They feel blogging is done only by geeks and nerds. That attitude has started to change in the recent month as more people are realizing how easy it is to start a blog and start building business. Becoming a blogging superstar is not that easy. It does take a while, and a lot of work. But that doesn’t mean you should start. If you don’t get into the game, you are never going to succeed. Blogging can open a lot of doors for you. You may get consulting offers from your visitors. You can even write a book (a lot of bloggers have). Here are just a few things you can achieve with blogging:

• Find a job.
• Build up your resume (blogging looks good on your resume).
• Gain more on the job experience.
• Find consulting/short-term projects.
• Create an in-demand product.
• Make money from your blog.
• Sell your blog for profit.
• Set yourself up as a guru in your industry..
• Increase your marketability.
• Network with other bloggers and expand your network.
• Find new passions and enter new industries.
• …

Whether you are looking for a job or you already have one, there is still no reason not to start a blog. The sooner you start blogging, the better off you will be in the long run. Your blog will gain value over time and open doors for you in the future. It’s not just about money, but rather about building assets. One day you are going to be thankful you started your blog when you did.

Your take: what has stopped you from starting your own blog?

Controversy sells. If you have writing your blog for a while, you have probably used controversial posts to engage your users and gain more traction in the blogging world. Just take a look at Fox News. Those guys have some of the worst reporting I have seen in the media. They are so biased and crude. At the same time, they are dominating the world of cable television. Guys such as Bill Oreilly and Sean Hannity call President Obama all the names in the book, and people keep watching them (and I am not talking about the conservatives). It’s really the oldest trick in the book. Create controversy and reap the rewards for a long time. If you don’t believe me, ask Rush Limbaugh.

There are many ways to create controversy, some of which even I am not comfortable with. Not everyone can pull off a Rush Limbaugh. It’s an art, and that’s why Rush is so good at what he does. But if you are looking to create a little bit of controversy to gain some exposure on the Web, here are a few ideas to consider:

1. Take on other top bloggers.
2. Make bold predictions.
3. Make off the wall predictions.
4. Talk about the difference between men and women.
5. Pick one gender over the other (know your audience first).
6. Talk about why Web 2.0 is overrated.
7. Bash Twitter!
8. Talk about the death of blogging.
9. defend Scientology and Tom Cruise on your blog.
10. Pull a Hannity on President Obama
11. Talk about who shouldn’t have touched the Queen
12. Pick Microsoft over Apple.
13. Bash the iPhone!
14. Talk about UFOs.
15. Tackle Illegal Immigration.
16. Defend or oppose abortion.
17. Post a controversial video.
18. Create response videos to top bloggers.
19. Talk about how our economy is doing great.
20. Defend Jim Cramer and the Wall Street.
21. Defend Facebook’s latest redesign.
22. Better yet pick Facebook over Twitter.
23. Or Twitter over Facebook.
24. Discuss how Zune was great.
25. Repeat Glenn Beck’s claims on your blog.
26. Talk about how Kindle will never make it.
27. Discuss Cash 4 Gold on your blog.
28. Leave Twitter and talk about the reasons.
29. Bash Digg and its new toolbar.
30. Attack Net Neutrality.
31. Argue why Wikipedia is overrated.
32. Talk about why Twitter and Facebook should be paid services.
33. Talk about dubious ways to gain followers on Twitter.
34. Discuss the pros of behavioral tracking.
35. Talk about who you wouldn’t date.

There are many more ways to create controversy on your blog. I strongly recommend everyone to look at FoxNews. These guys have turned this concept into an art. I am personally no fan of controversies. But there is no question this tactic works. Just make sure you know where that line is and don’t cross it. Remember, you want to expand your blog not kill it!

Your take: did I miss anything? What would you add here?

Professional bloggers are always on the lookout for ways to blog more effectively and get more done in less time. There are only a limited number of hours in a day, which means to take your blog to the next level you need to use tools that allow you to get your blog posts done faster without you having to cut any corners. Zemanta is a cool new service that allows professional bloggers and professional media members to research more effectively and find appropriate content faster.

You can install Zemanta on your server (for Wordpress) or just use their browser extension. There is really no difference between the two. Zemanta is truly a life saver as it allows you to find content for your blog posts fast. Here is how it works. Once you download Zemanta, it adds a bunch of tabs to your blog’s sidebar. From there, you can search for images, news, and other type of content and import them to your blog fast.

How To Use Zemanta

Zemanta is simple to install. You can easily add it to Firefox or Internet Explorer. You can also download the plugin for Wordpress and put it on your server. I personally prefer the browser extension. Here is what you can do with Zemanta once you install it:

• Find images for your blog based on your keyword term.
• Tag your posts like a pro. Zemanta automatically suggests targeted tags based on your content.
• Link out to other sites that address the same topic as yours.
• Use the Reblog button to create reaction posts to what other bloggers have had to say about your topic.

You can also use Zemanta to write e-mails more effectively. You get the same features you get on your blog on Gmail as well.

Zemanta is truly an exciting tool for bloggers. Not only it allows you to find content for your blog, it helps you optimize your blog posts for search engines as well. Best of all, it comes in many formats allowing you to install it on your browser client or on the server side. If you are looking for a tool that helps you become a more effective blogger, you should try Zemanta.

Many of my colleagues often ask me whether I am being paid by the Wordpress guys to spread the word around about their product. In truth, I am being paid by them. Not the way you think. These guys have provided me and millions of other bloggers around the globe with the best content management system ever made. It’s not cash, but who needs cash when you get a piece of software that should be worth thousands of dollars for free. What’s more valuable that Wordpress software is the community behind it. These folks spend hours of their time to write free/paid plug-ins and themes to enhance the Wordpress experience for everyone who’s using it.

Wordpress is the best blogging platform on the market, period! Nothing comes close. The software is highly intuitive and comes with so many enhancements that help bloggers connect with their readers more effectively. The number of pro blogging themes made for Wordpress is just astonishing. If you are an experienced blogger looking to give your blog a makeover or just a newbie excited about getting started in this business, you can’t afford to ignore Wordpress.

Wordpress has some of the most beautiful website designs ever made. But we can’t list them all here. So here are the top 5 blogging themes that you can use to take your WP blog to the next level.

• Thesis Wordpress Theme: thesis is the top pro blogging theme for the Wordpress platform. Most superbloggers are using Thesis on their blogs. It’s very easy to work with and highly customizable. And it is optimized for search engines. In essence, you are buying a theme that keeps paying for itself by bringing you more visitors. And if you know any coding, you can change your settings easily and create a whole unique design for your blog.
• Urban Elements: Press75 is a top producer of video-blogging themes. In fact, they have 4 of the top 5 video-blogging themes available on the market. Urbal Elements is one of the few themes by Press75 that is designed for regular bloggers. It’s very attractive yet easy to modify. Urban Elements integrates your social media accounts, allowing you to help your visitors keep in touch with you on popular social media sites.
• Who’s Who: an amazing news blogging theme designed for bloggers who specialize in reporting the news. It comes with a highly attractive design and is social bookmarking ready.
• Bobv3: Bobv3 is another attractive Wordpress theme designed specifically for pro bloggers. It’s lightweight and search engine friendly.
• Sketchd:  Sketchd is a perfect theme for personal and pro blogs. It comes with a super attractive design, and it is very easy on the eye. It’s cheap too!

(Honorable mention: TrueBlogger, a pro blogging theme that is a clone of the old problogger.com).

What’s your favorite Wordpress blogging theme?

Everybody wants to blog these days. There is something hot about blogging, at least to the average Joe/Jane. I have had the feeling that blogging is not treated as being unemployed these days. In fact, it is treated as something that smart people do (but not as geeky as paying chess). But how do you establish yourself as a force in the blogging world in 2009?

Let’s be honest. If you are trying to start a blog these days, you are not an early market mover. Big established blogs are at least a few years old, and their authors have been honing their skills for years. Even getting started with Twitter and FriendFeed is not anything new. But here is a fundamental questions: do you need to try something new to be successful in the blogging world?

The answer is yes and no. Innovation does pay in the long run. Having the ability to differentiate yourself from others by trying new things certainly helps. But you don’t have to invest something to innovate. Blogging is a form of communication, and you have the most potent differentiation tool in your pocket – your voice. Your voice is unique to you only. Sure. People can imitate you. Superstars are imitated all the time, but at the same time, you can’t clone someone’s voice and personality.

In order to find success with blogging, you need to find your own voice and angle to tackle things. You’d be surprised how far you can go in the oldest niches by taking a different angle. Folks are out there hungry for information, and they get tired of hearing the same perspectives over and over again. If you are creative enough to think outside the box and figure out a way to stand out in the blogging crowd, you are golden.

You want to make sure that there is an audience for your voice. You should listen to your visitors at all times to find out what they are looking for. It’s back to economics again. You’ve got to make sure there is a demand for your supply. Blogging is a communication platform, which means there is no excuse for not knowing what you readers are looking for. You can use your blog comments or polls to find out what is it that turns your audience on. That’s what good leaders do. They listen!

Do you agree? Have you had success using the above approach to get a firm footing in a hyper-competitive niche?