Who says blogging has to be boring? I am sure you realize that not everything is about making PPC ads, link building or on page SEO. For marketing to be effective, it has to be entertaining and as a blogger, if you’re not having fun with your work, you can be sure your audience is going to be…

Bored Out of
Their Minds !

With that said, here’s 7 more utterly stupid but remarkably effective and extremely fun ways to promote your blog.

1. Make a Silly Song and Post it On YouTube

I love Fiverr.com. It’s an incredibly useful site where people do the craziest stuff for you for five bucks. You can have someone actually jump off a plane and shout out your blog name or message as they’re diving.

Incredible Stuff !

Now, what I’ve found is, you can find people who will write you a song and even sing it for you in a video or an audio file. It’s fun stuff. Now, the one thing I’d recommend for you to do is go ahead and tell the the person who’s going to be doing it for you, that you’ll pay him a little extra if…

The Song is
Really Good !

When you do that, he’ll put in the extra effort to make sure your song is share worthy which will obviously cause your content to go viral, and if you think about it, even if you end up spending $20 on it instead of $5…

It’s Still a
Complete Steal !

It doesn’t take much for a song like that to go viral, as you’ll find out if you try this tip out.

2. Create Sexy Pocket Calendars and Hand Them Out

They really don’t have to be anything fancy. A small one page, pocket size calendar will be just fine. Make sure that when you design it, you put something eye catching on it and slap your URL all over the place. Now, for this to work, your URL needs to be catchy and easily memorable, but…

I’m Sure
You Already
Realize that !

3. Make Funny or Outrageous Videos

Again, it really doesn’t need to be anything too complicated. One of the most viral videos I’ve seen was a short clip of two little boys talking back and forth using baby language. Funny as heck, probably recorded on the fly and insanely viral. I’ve actually had multiple people send me that video…

Over a Very Short
Period of Time !

The one thing to keep in mind is that for your video to work, you actually need to feel comfortable in front of the camera. You see, if your viewers sense you’re weirded out and just pretending to have fun, you’re going to lose them very quickly. They’ll actually feel sorry for you instead of thinking…

You’re Funny !

Again, anything goes. As long as it’s not ridiculously gross or terribly off putting and you’re having fun doing it, your viewers will be just fine. A tip that Frank Kern gave for getting comfortable in front of the camera is pretending that it’s your best friend. Just imagine you’re talking to a great buddy of yours, and you’ll stop being camera-phobic (if that’s even a word)…

Almost Right Away !

4. Sending a Message to a Bunch of People

For some reason bloggers don’t like to email their friends and family members about their blog. They kind of tend to think their blog is for their traffic and they don’t share it with the real world, because they feel a bit strange about it. The point is, though, if you put something funny on your blog and you know your family or friends are going to like, they’ll send it to their friends…

Who’ll Eventually
Send it to Their Friends,
etc !

Before you know, you will have that huge group of people talking about your content.

Awesome Stuff !

5. Sending Someone an SMS

Most people have internet access on their phones. They use them to check their email, the weather, the stock market, their class schedule, to shop you name it. One of the things people like to do is text each other and send emails. It’s kind of funny that whenever a person gets on a train or a bus, they tend to instantly…

Take Their Phones Out and
Text Away !

Well, if you feel like promoting your blog, next time you want to send an SMS, apart from telling the person you’re writing what you actually want to say to them, go ahead and mention your blog. It’s as easy as saying oh, and BTW, check out my blog: http://www.thebadblogger.com/ (you need to make sure that you include a complete link in the text message, so that all they have to do to get to your site is click it)

Makes Sense ?

6. Creating an iPhone App

iPhone Apps are huge now. A good number of top marketers talk about them all the time. Did you know that you can have a simple app made for as little as a couple hundred bucks? It really is nothing when you consider the potential it has for your blog. Just make sure that every time people download and open it, there’s a splash page that invites them to check out your blog. This is an extremely powerful strategy that will work really well if you use it.

Give it a Shot !

7. Having a Sexy Babe Put Your URL On Her Cleavage

Do you remember how I told you about Fiverr.com at the beginning of this post? Well, another thing I like to use that site for is getting sexy girls to put my URL on their chests. It’s really easy for them to do and there’s a ton of great looking women willing to…

Write Something
On Their Body for
5 Bucks !

What they’ll normally do is take a marker and put your URL on their cleavage. Then they’ll take a picture of it and send it your way. What do you think is going to happen if you snail mail or even email that picture to your friends? Exactly!

They’re Going to
Go Check Out
Your Blog !

Alright, this is it. Before we part, though, I need to remind you that nothing happens until you take action, so go ahead and put what I told you to use. You’ll be more than happy you did.

Stay Stupid But Smart,

The Bad Blogger

Also Known As “The Stupid Smart Blogger”

Some aspiring bloggers put in hours of work and a whole ton of energy into getting their blog to be a success only to see heartbreaking failures. Blogging is not rocket science and there are just a few simple rules to it. If you follow them, you’ll have a great blog, if not, you’ll struggle. Simple as that. So…

What Are
Those Rules ?

Rule 1: You Have to Know What You’re Talking About

There’s no going around it. If you’re going to blog about something and you want it to be a positive experience, you need to either hire a research team and some writers that will learn what to write about for you or you need to create your own content yourself after you understand what it is…

That Your
Audience Needs !

Rule 2: You Have to Want to Write it

Believe it or not, but your readers can sense if you actually having fun writing your content. How? Well, if you do, there’s going to be a certain lightness to it. It’ll be a pleasure to write and…

Your Readers Will
Notice it !

Rule 3: You Need to Care About Your Readers

If you’re like most bloggers, you run your blog to make money. This is your main drive, but hear this: There’s a person name Guy Kawasaki who once said that if you focus on helping people and improving the quality of their life…

The Money
Will Follow !

It’s true if you think about it. Look, why was Google a successful company pretty much from the beginning? Because it solved a problem people had at that time. Why is it successful now? Because it focuses on providing quality search and advertising service.

You Get
the Picture ?

Rule 4: Your Blog Should Be Easy to Navigate

This is pretty self explanatory. If your readers are having a hard time finding what they’re looking for on your blog, you’ll not be able to keep them for very long. They’ll move on faster than…

You Can
Blink !

Rule 5: You Need to Be Unique

What’s the point in visiting your blog if you’re saying the same thing everyone else is saying? There’s none. You don’t have to be the Thomas Edison of your market and invent a billion things, though. Just make sure that you put your own spin on what you have to share and…

You’ll Do
Just Fine !

Rule 6: You Have to Have Some Authority

It’s going to be hard to get a brand new blog up and running, so you need to give it some time to get the momentum going. Just build a good foundation through guest posting with quality content, promote it and the people will start coming. With that, you’ll start gaining…

Authority and
Readership !

It’s not hard to follow these rules. What you need to do, however, is remember them so that you can do what’s necessary to get (and keep) people coming.

Stay Lawful,

The Bad Blogger

Also Known As “The Rule Blogger”

Well, it’s November, and we’re nearing the time when the monsters, zombies, and ghosts come out from their hell hole to play; what better way to celebrate than to share how you can avoid their evil clutches and…

Keep Your Blog
Out of the Dark
Pits of Hell !

1. Keep Your Wits about You

It should go without saying that as a blogger, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of the blogging market. This means you need to be aware of your competition, and make sure that you have a strategy in place. Always be aware of your surroundings, and never fail to plan. If you get lazy, or stop paying attention at any moment…

You Risk
Blogging Death !

2. Keep the Doors Locked From Hell

With the way in which spammers and hackers from hell are adept at polluting blogs, it’s important that you keep your blog locked up tight, and take advantage of every security precaution you can muster. This starts by keeping your blog and plugins up to date, and goes as deep as your hosting provider. Getting hacked could be the end of your blogging career, so…

Watch Out !

3. Know Your Friends

It’s always nice to have a posse that can protect you in the event of a zombie apocalypse. Building a network of friends and peers that you know and trust can go a long way towards keeping your blog out of trouble and in the clear. However, keep a close eye on everyone, including those you trust the most. You never know who’s been bitten. Remember…

We’re Most Vulnerable to
Those We Trust !

4. Always Have a Weapon

Regardless of whether the threat comes in the form of demons or vampires, it’s important that you have an arsenal of weapons at your disposal to vanquish your adversaries. Your weapon could come in the form of SEO, great copy, or fancy graphics. The important thing is that you have something that differentiates you enough to…

Keep You Safe !

5. Be Proactive

The best defense is a great offense, and the best way to keep your blog from going to hell is by taking the situation into your own hands. This means you need to be a market leader, and not a follower. You need to set trends instead of falling victim to them. Always be on the lookout for…

New Tactics and
Strategies !

6. Build a Refuge

When the shit hits the fan, and civilization gets wiped out, people will need a place to go in order to feel safe and secure. Instead of being that blogger without a place to go, be the blogger that creates one. Your community is a refuge for the world, so don’t forget to make it easy to find, and…

A Place
Worth Finding !

7. Plan for the Worst

The best way to avoid blogging hell is to plan for it, which means you need to have multiple plans in place for not only avoiding it, but for getting out of it. What happens if your main source of traffic disappears? What happens if plan A stops working? What happens if you have to start over? Be ready for the worst, and…

You’ll Never Have
a Single Reason
to Worry !

If you are on the path to blogging hell, don’t worry, sit down, hang out on my blog, and I’ll show you how to get into the light. Who’s with me?

Stay With Me,

The Bad Blogger

Also Known As “The Blogger that Lights”

(Left Photo Credit to: jirvinphotography)

There’s been some debate in the blogosphere about whether or not list posts make for good blog posts. On one hand, you have the advocates, who say that list posts earn them more traffic, and on the other, you have bloggers saying that list posts are boring and lazy.

So
Who’s Right ?

Here’s my take.

1. List Posts Are Neither Inherently Boring Or Inherently Interesting

Great writers can make list posts exciting, and bad writers can make them boring as hell. Therefore, you can’t blame the format if a post…

Doesn’t
Read Well !

2. List Posts Are Not a Format, But a Method of Breaking Up Content

No one would argue that headings, sub-heads, and bullet points are useless. I would argue that the same applies for list posts. Using lists is a way to break up content, nothing more and…

Nothing Less !

3. List Posts Headlines Work Better Than List Posts Copy

Look, list posts are easy to skim, but the reason they work so well is not because they’re easy to read, but because they’re easy to click through. List post headlines (i.e. 7 ways to get more traffic) are succinct and appealing, which is…

What Makes the Format
So Popular !

As an experiment, write a list post headline but hide the points within a standard article format. I bet you’ll see similar results as you would with…

A Standard
List Post !

4. List Posts Are Easy to Consume

…And therefore are favored for breaking information into bite sized pieces. The long form blog post is disappearing, and because of this, you have to find a way to place a lot of information within a short format.

List Posts Are
Perfect for This !

5. List Posts Are Easy to Share

Let’s face it, most people probably skim the content and quickly move to the comment or share button. In fact, I’d argue that the content doesn’t matter at all, but that people are simply looking for something to share rather than something to read.

List Posts Are
Great for This !

6. List Posts Are Difficult to Do Well, Which is What Makes Them Great

A good list post takes just as long, if not longer to write than a normal post. Look most of the list posts on Smashing Magazine or any blog on the Envato Network and you’ll see a well compiled list of helpful resources. These take a lot of time and research to craft, but…

Audiences
Love Them !

7. List Posts Help You Mix Things Up

Let’s face it, writing the same post every day gets boring, both for you and the audience. Use a list post to mix things up a bit and it will refresh you, and…

The Audience !

So here it is, my treatise on list posts written as a list post. The format works, period. Now here’s where your input makes a difference…do you like list posts? If so, why? If not, tell me more in the comments.

Stay On the List,

The Bad Blogger

Also Known As “The List Blogger”

Many years ago, when blogging first hit the scene, it was difficult to find a good software let alone a place to host it. Over a decade later, things have changed dramatically, and it’s amazing what types of technologies…

We Have at
Our Fingertips !

As far as hosting goes, you’re probably set with one of the typical shared or VPS hosting providers, which is great. However, you might not be aware of the next level of site optimization, which comes in the form of a “content delivery network”, also known as a…

CDN !

Thank You Amazon

Before Amazon cloud services, most people didn’t know what CDN was let alone how to use it. However, with the advent of AWS and EC2, a whole host of cloud services have sprung to life, increasing the average blogger’s ability to…

Speed Up and
Optimize Their Blog !

What is CDN ?

Before I talk about how to use a CDN, I want to explain it a bit so that you understand…

Why You Should
Use it !

A CDN works by taking your blog’s content and spreading it to servers across the globe. For example, if your server is in New York, a CDN could spread each of your blog pages to servers across the network to places like Florida, Texas, California, and even overseas to Europe, Asia, Australia, and…

Beyond !

This way, if a user in another city, state, or country visits your blog, they will receive content from a nearby server, which not only speeds up their experience, but reduces…

The Load
On Your Server and
Database !

Better yet, this also isolates content delivery, making it much more difficult to hack a blog, or use a spam bot to…

Wreak Havoc
On Your
Comment System !

How to Use a CDN ?

There are many different CDN providers that you can use, ranging from free to very expensive. However, two of the most popular solutions are MaxCDN (I’m currently using it, you can see how fast my blog load), a service that charges by the TB and lets you start for as little as $40/month, and Amazon Cloud Front, which can be accessed via…

Dozens of Free
WordPress Plugins !

Though the plugins are free, Amazon charges a small cost per request/transfer, starting at less than a penny per request and 12 cents per gigabyte. Overall, these options are very inexpensive when you consider…

The Benefits
They Provide !

If you’re looking to try a free option, you can check out CloudFlare, which has a great free plan to improve performance and security, while also allowing upgrades to more advanced feature sets. I am also currently using CloudFlare because of it’s ease of installation and low price (Pro plan is just $20/month), and I can’t recommend it highly enough, especially with the added security features. As hackers get better, and more people install WordPress, bloggers like you and I become an easy target.

CloudFlare Helps
Fight Against that !

Overall, CDN’s are the next step for bloggers looking to create a serious business, and make the change from amateur to professional. Your blog is your business, and it’s your job to make sure it’s…

Safe, Fast, and
Easy to Use !

Stay Speedy,

The Bad Blogger

Also Known As “The Speedy Blogger

The age old dilemma for an established blogger is how to grow his or her readers without alienating the current one. The issue is that by diving into new topics, current readers might lose interest, and by refusing to change, the blog might keep its current readers, but eventually will become stagnant, at which point…

No One
Will Read Anyway !

So the issue isn’t so much whether to change, but how to do it properly. Here’s my recipe for doing that.

1. Explain to Your Readers

Sometimes, something as simple as an explanation can make the difference between upsetting someone, and not. In this case, explain to your readers that your blog is growing, you thank them for reading, and you’d like to keep that trend in place. Mention that you’ll be trying some new ideas, and that you’ll be happy to get feedback. By including your readers in your growth, they’ll feel like part of the experience/team, rather than…

Outsiders
Looking in !

2. New Columns

Suppose that you post Monday/Wednesday/Friday on pretty regular topic schedules, and that’s what your readers expects. Why not announce a new Saturday or Sunday edition, something with a fancy/experimental title, and give them the option whether they want to read or not. This will not disturb their current expectations, and will…

Allow You to
Experiment !

3. New Categories

When Mashable and Techcrunch grow to match market demand, they do so not by forcing new topics into old categories, but by further dividing the blog into sections so that readers can always find what they want, without…

Being Forced to See
What They Don’t Want !

4. Build a Network

Growth doesn’t necessarily have to occur on your own blog, another way to do it is by building a satellite/sister/brother blog and creating your own blog network. The big guys do this by buying blogs, but if you’re small, you can do this by crafting partnerships, or just creating a second blog. Make it experimental, keep it quiet, announce it, it’s up to you, but try something. No one can fault you for wanting to…

Expand
Your Reach !

5. Guest Posting

This is an oft-used strategy that is losing its effectiveness (may be), but it can’t hurt to try. By posting guest posts on other blogs, you get to reach a new ton of readers, perhaps by writing in a way that your readers isn’t accustomed to, without turning off your current readers. Those that follow you back to your blog will either dig what they see, or won’t, but even if just 1/10 new readers stick, that’s still…

A Net Increase !

So there you have it, 5 great ways to increase your reach and improve your blog’s capacity for growth without upsetting your current readers. One more thing to keep in mind is that sometimes, you might get a lot of complaints in the comments, but the truth is that commenters make up a very small portion of active readers, and in many cases, make the worst customers. So don’t worry about what they say and instead worry about which matters most -

Analytics !

Stay Happy,

The Bad Blogger

Also Known As “The Happy Blogger”