Sometimes it can be difficult to find inspiration for blog posts… I loved Brian’s recent Cosmo Headlines idea on Copyblogger for coming up with blog topics, and recently as Char of Essential Keystrokes and I were discussing ideas for a group writing project, we decided that the great advertising slogans would also be great inspiration for blog posts! So, we would like to introduce the Ad Lib Group Writing Project!

Here’s the deal: you write a blog post inspired by one of the great ad slogans and then send the permalink either to me or Char at cpolanosky [at] gmail [dot] com (don’t submit to both, we’ll combine the lists). The deadline for submissions is Wednesday, March 12th.

Once we have a complete list of entries, Char and I will each choose the one we think is the most original and interesting, and the winner will receive a $20 gift certificate to either Amazon.com or iTunes - your choice! Two winners!

We don’t want to limit you as to the ad slogan that you might choose to use, but here is a short list to get you started:

1. A diamond is forever (De Beers, 1950)
2. Just do it (Nike, 1988)
3. The pause that refreshes (Coca-Cola, 1929)
4. Tastes great, less filling (Miller Lite)
5. We try harder (Avis, 1962)
6. Good to the last drop (Maxwell House, 1915)
7. Breakfast of champions (Wheaties)
8. Does she … or doesn’t she? (Clairol, 1964)
9. When it rains it pours (Morton Salt, 1911)
10. Where’s the beef? (Wendy’s, 1984)

If none of those strike you, here is a larger list at Wikiquote.

After March 12, we will post the winners and a complete list of articles on our sites for everyone to enjoy!

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I believe fully in the “I Follow Movement” now 8 months after the whole thing started, and I want to give commenters the little bit of Google juice I can as a result of their link being followed from the comment area. However… I have to say I’m getting a little tired of the MANY, MANY comments I’m getting from people who put things like “Real Estate Atlanta” or “Best Web Hosting” in the name field. Most of the comments left by these people are clearly just intended to gain what they think is going to be a ton of Google juice from my site since it is now a PR6. They read somewhere on some site about how they can get “free PR6 backlinks” from the list of sites provided. Since the latest Google update this whole thing has gotten out of control, and I’m just getting a little tired of it.

It’s not that I don’t understand your motivation - I really do. You’re trying to grow your site/blog and build backlinks from high PR sites. I get it, but somehow that just doesn’t make me feel any less used and annoyed. I’m not the only one.

The thing is, you’re not really getting a PR6 backlink like you think you are. Yes, randaclay.com is a PR6 site, but each individual page within the site does not carry that same page rank. For example, if you left a comment on the most recent post the URL where your comment resides is has a page rank of 0. Google ranks each page within a site, not just the root domain. (this is how I understand the whole page rank thing based on my reading and research - if I’m wrong here, someone please correct me and point me to a reliable source)

Because of the large number of these kinds of comments I’m getting, I’m afraid I’m going to have to add to my comment policy that if keywords are left in the name field instead of your name, I will just delete the comment.

Also, I can’t emphasize strongly enough that this kind of link whoring practice is really not the best use of anyone’s time. There are much better ways of increasing the exposure of your site.

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During the past several months, Google has made multiple decisions with regards to page rank, penalizing those who sell text links, etc. and I really haven’t commented on it or even been impacted by it much. I could always sort of see their motivation, even if I didn’t agree with their actions. However, the latest move to not allow links in the Blogger comment area to blogs other than those on their platform really has me baffled. If you have a Blogger blog, this means that you can no longer visit the blogs of those who leave comments unless they are also on Blogger, and it very likely means that you will see fewer comments in general. That just stinks. What stinks even more is that they didn’t even feel the need to let their users know about it, and just quietly stuck the change in. That is terrible customer service and terrible business practice.

Is there anything you can do about it?

1. Switch to WordPress or some other blogging platform.
2. Install Haloscan to continue allowing external links in the comments.
3. Encourage your readers to leave the URL to their site in the body of the comment.
4. Complain to Google. I doubt that will do any good, but who knows?

Do you use Blogger? Does this move make you want to switch, or am I making too much of it? Tell me what you think.

::Update - Dec. 20::

The ability to use a non-Blogger URL when commenting has been restored. Good to know they are listening to their customers.

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What do you do when you hit a blogging dry spell? Have you ever felt like you just didn’t have any good ideas for posts anymore… what was once a deep well of creativity has run dry? I’ve been feeling a bit like that lately. I knew it would happen. It happens to everyone, so I hear. Right now, I’m blaming it on the fact that we’re expecting our second child in July (yay!) and “pregnancy brain” has set in with a vengeance. Some days I feel very productive, and some days I want to just sit on the couch for hours, blankly staring at the wall. Anyway, it’s incredibly frustrating, because what I really want to do is provide helpful and informative content for you that will keep this blog growing steadily as it has for the past 10+ months.

So, when it came time to post at the Blog Herald this week, I thought it would be helpful to me to work on a list of solutions for the inevitable slumps that hit now and then. One of my suggestions was to ask readers for help. I especially like to help people solve problems, so I’d like to know if there are any questions I can help answer for you? Any problems I can help you solve? What’s the next thing you’d like me to cover with regards to learning to customize your blog?

What do you do when you hit a blogging slump?

Get an online education about a subject you enjoy. There are so many great resources on the web you can learn almost anything. Whether you want to learn html or you are more interested in getting education grants for college there’s a website for you!

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Since the whole I Follow Movement thing last spring, there have been lists of blogs published with titles like “10 High PR I Follow Blogs” encouraging readers to visit and comment, and “be sure it doesn’t look too spammy or it might get deleted.” Now that page rank has been updated, there are new lists being published, and since I’m now at PR6, I’m more of a target than ever for those sleazy link-whoring tactics. It’s not that I mind all that much - it’s pretty easy to spot and I can always delete the URL if not the entire comment.

While I certainly understand the urge to try and get as many high PR links as one can, in the end, many link whores are just lazy. All that time spent gathering links could be put to much better use writing great content, and networking with other bloggers.

Are you a link whore? Here’s a little quiz to help you answer that question:

1. Have you ever paid for a link (you can even buy links on ebay now!)? (5)

2. Have you ever left a comment just because you knew the site had turned off no follow? (2)

3. Have you ever done a press release that was full of links, but had nothing that was actually newsworthy? (5)

4. Have you ever used a trackback just for the link? (3)

5. Do you have multiple social bookmarking accounts, just so you can submit your posts multiple times? (3)

6. Have you ever e-mailed another blogger, asking to be added to their blogroll? (4)

Add up the points in the parentheses for each question you answered yes to. See how you fall on the relative scale of slut below:

0 - Congratulations! You get a halo and a gold star.

1-5 - Okay, that’s not so bad. We’ve all felt a little desperate to build links at one time or another. Resolve to never do it again and you can have the gold star too.
6-12 - We’re starting to edge into slutty territory here. Go leave 5 comments on blogs that actually contribute to the conversation, and don’t let me catch you looking for that I Follow badge (see my sidebar) before you do it either.
13-17 - You slut! 20 lashings with a wet noodle and then go write a nice long “how to” article for your site instead of sending those e-mails to bloggers you barely know, asking to exchange links or to be added to their blogroll.
18 or more - [cue the Eagles' Desperado soundtrack] You need help! Start the 12-step program at Link Whores Anonymous immediately and remember that the first step is always to admit you have a problem. After you’ve finished, and are completely reformed, resolve to increase your page rank purely through providing great content for your readers.

So tell me… how did you do?

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This is the first guest post ever on my site, and it couldn’t come from a better blogger. Ahmed Bilal is a prolific writer, who is found frequently on Performancing, with such posts as 21 Ways to Build a Better Blogger, and What Makes a WordPress Theme Great. Many thanks to Ahmed for starting guest posting off here with a bang. Are you interested in guest posting here? Feel free to pitch me an idea via my contact form. On to the post…

Linkbaiting is usually defined as some form of content on your website / blog that attracts links, but in reality it can be any action or news story (as will as different forms of content - images, videos, podcasts, etc) that attracts the attention of the linkerati.

Understanding linkbaiting is one thing, learning to recognise linkbait opportunities for your niche market is quite another. In this article, I’ll discuss specific strategies that you can use to discover linkbait topics for your own niche.

1. Identify Your Audience

Let’s get one thing clear from the start - the linkerati are not your actual blog / site audience - they are just the people who are most likely to link to interesting, quality content, thus making your content popular so that it gets noticed by your end audience, the people using industry-leading blogs and search engines to find information in your niche.

• Bloggers in your niche
• Bloggers in related niches
• Active community members in your niche (forum users, blog commenters / readers, etc)
• Social media networks’ users

Different styles of presenting content attract different types of audiences - you may write an article that attracts a lot of links from forums and encourages debate but gets little love from bloggers. On the other hand, you could put up some news that puts you on the front page for many bloggers just because you wrote something funny, but it could escape the attention of forum goers completely.

Forum links may not provide great search engine value but you can be pretty sure they bring in regular readers, and that in itself is as valuable (if not more) than links.

You want to be able to target all sections of your audience, even if it takes you several baits to attract one section at a time. Links from these sources are important in their own way and in terms of bring readers and search engine rankings, these are a must.

2. Research and Observe Successes and Failures

Find out what works in your niche on social media networks. You can do this quite easily by searching through a particular network based on your niche keywords (or any specific topic that you want to cover).

Observer what the top blogs / sites in your niche talk about and link to.

Track trends - what’s hot right now, what’s not.

Track the timeless stuff - discussions and topics that never get old.

All this time, keep making notes of what you can write about using the information you are accumulating from all this research.

Build a profile of what topics are successful and what type of writing is most linked to. You’ll realise that most of the time, people will link to friends, although sometimes they will link to stuff that they’ve come across out of coincidence. More on the promotional angle later - for now observe what sells (and what doesn’t).

3. Write Your Resource Bait

Find a good ‘resource’ topic to write on in your niche - something basic and foundational. If it fits the profile of flagship content, even better. In fact, I would suggest that it would greatly help you if, before this step, you read the two articles I’ve linked to here on linkbaiting and flagship content. The ideas you will get just from reading these two articles will be enough to keep you busy writing linkbait for several weeks.

Do not limit yourself by excluding topics that have already been covered online. If there is a gap which you think can be improved, go forth and fill that gap. Provide your unique analysis, freshen things up by making them simpler and clearer (if the material is dense and detailed) and / or flesh topics out (if the material is sketchy on details).

If you’re stuck on how to structure your content (and structure is a key part of good linkbait), here’s how to do it.

4. Copy Successful Linkbait Formats

You’ve been researching articles that get links in your niche, right? By now you’ll see familiar patterns in how the content is structured. I’d urge you to go ahead and copy a popular format (whether you go with a list or a mini-report) and add your own variations if you feel it necessary (images are a must, by the way).

For resource-oriented linkbait, lists, reports, series of articles (mini-linkbaits) - all of these work really well.

And when you are copying success, remember that it all starts with a) the right topic and b) a killer headline.

5. Promote Through The Right Channels

Unless you have 50 friends who are going to digg all your articles (well, until the repeated patterns gets your site banned on suspicion of trying to game Digg), you need to work on the smaller social networks where you have a better chance of success. Propeller, Delicious and StumbleUpon are my bets to start with, plus you should look towards social networks and aggregators in your niche.

Leverage your existing social networks - encourage your friends to vote for you / link to you; if you have strong profiles on Orkut, Facebook or MySpace then leverage them to the hilt.

Are you a new blogger just starting out? In that case you won’t attract the attention of the big fish. Instead, the trick is to attract the attention of those second-tier bloggers who are read and linked to by the top bloggers in your niche (research!) and then pitch them your top posts.

And always - always - learn from linkbait promotion success stories.

More Niche Linkbaiting

This is just the tip of the iceberg - there’s a lot more that you can do in the sphere of linkbaiting, such as:

• Use advanced topics to create linkbait
• Target ‘tougher’ social media networks like Reddit, Fark and Digg
• Linkbait the press (A link from the Fox News website is worth more in terms of traffic and link-building than a front-page story on Digg)
• Experiment with different formats and types of content

But all of that comes later, after you have the knowledge, experience and confidence of creating successful niche linkbait.

Ahmed Bilal writes on Soccerlens and Performancing.

Make your dream of working in web design a reality with an online web design degree. Even if web design isn’t up your alley there are other online degrees for areas of interest like business, or nursing. Learn more today and discover the power of distance learning!p>

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