Fab Job: Become a Food Critic

MailArt 365 – Twitter – Facebook – Flickr

International Union of Mail Artists

Interactive writers are the men and women who come up with the stories and write the dialog and even the text messages seen in a range of interactive media from games to apps. Often working in a team, they may find brainstorming and mind-mapping skills just as important as old-fashioned writing skills. Rather than a novel, what they produce is closer to a film or TV script.

via How Writers Can Work with Games Developers | Publishing Perspectives.

What Do You Write on a Postcard??.

101 Steps to Becoming a Better Blogger.

Here are 101 steps to becoming a better blogger…

1. First, I’m going to assume you’re using WordPress. You are using WordPress aren’t you? The built-in SEO and pinging functions make WordPress a search engine machine.

2. Sign up for Feedburner.

3. Post at least once a day.

4. Optimize your blog for the search engines.

5. Make sure you have an “About Me” page.

6. Submit your blog to 9Rules.

7. Submit your blog to NewsNow.

8. Let your readers see the REAL you. Blogging is more personal than conventional websites. Don’t be afraid to tell a few
stories from your own life. By being real and personal, you will build a relationship with your readers based on loyalty and trust.

9. Blog and ping.

10. Submit your blog to rss and blog directories.

11. Use trackbacks.

12. Get involved in the blogosphere. Being a blogger is about being part of a community. Leave comments on other
blogs and get to know your favorite bloggers.

13. Give your blog it’s own unique voice… You!

14. Spend 99% of your time focused on creating unique, quality content. Content is King; or as John Reese says, “content is King Kong”.

15. Add a large RSS subscription button to your site.

16. Place an RSS feed link at the bottom of every post.

17. Set up a MyBlogLog Widget.

18. Encourage social bookmarking after every post.

Install these plugins to optimize your blog:

19. Akismet – This plugin helps eliminate comment spam.

20. Optimal Title – This plugin allows you to optimize the title of your blog post in order to improve your search engine rankings.

21. Ultimate Tag Warrior – The best tag system for WordPress.

22. Google Sitemap Generator – This plugin will enable you to automatically generate a Google sitemap for your blog.

23. Show Top Commentators – This plugin encourages feedback and discussion by rewarding the top commentators with a link back to their site in the sidebar.

24. Related Posts – This plugin will find other blog posts that are related to the current post. This encourages extra page views and keeps readers at your blog for a longer period of time.

25. Super Archive – One of the best archives system.

26. WP-Cache – This plugin is an extremely efficient caching system that will make your site much faster.

27. WP-ContactForm – This plugin allows your readers to easily email you. It also helps avoid spam.

28. Popularity Contest – This plugin determines which of your posts are most popular and then puts them in the sidebar.

29. Adsense Deluxe – This plugin makes it easy to implement Adsense into your blog.

30. Sociable – This plugin helps you spread your content through social bookmarking sites like Digg, del.icio.us,reddit, and others.

31. Feedburner Feed Replacement – This plugin directs all of your feed traffic to Feedburner, ensuring accurate readership stats. This plugin will also convert any existing subscribers from the old feed to the FeedBurner
one.

32. Create a custom blog design. Your blog is a symbol of your brand. Make it uniquely you.

33. Add photos to each of your posts.

34. Use tagging.

35. Share the link love.

36. Publish a full feed instead of a partial feed.

37. Consider approaching newspapers with a story about your blog. Remember, journalists are hungry for content and if
you can come up with a unique twist, then you could get some great coverage.

38. Persistence is the key. Give your blog at least 6 months before you start expecting great returns on all of your hard work. Believe me, it will pay off in the long run.

39. Submit exclusive content to high-profile sites.

40. Syndicate a press release. Take some time to craft a truly compelling and newsworthy press release and send it to some of the top journalists and bloggers. You can then submit it to the main press release sites, including PRWeb and PRLeap.

41. Turn your articles into podcasts.

42. Turn your articles into videos using PowerPoint to create an entertaining slideshow. Submit your video to all of the
popular video sites, including Google Video, YouTube, and others.

43. Submit to blog carnivals.

44. Participate in and submit to social web 2.0 sites, including Reddit, Digg, Delicious, Netscape, and Stumble Upon.

45. Turn your articles into downloadable reports/ebooks.

46. Join Blogburst.

47. Syndicate your articles to EzineArticles, GoArticles, iSnare,
American Chronicle, and other high-profile article directories.

48. Exchange guest posts with other bloggers.

49. Participate in group writing projects and memes.

50. Create a Squidoo lens that links back to your blog and established you as an industry expert in your chosen field.

51. Interview industry experts. This is one of the best ways to create original, engaging content.

52. Offer an e-mail newsletter in addition to RSS. An email newsletter allows you to form a closer relationship with
your visitors and picks up those who still aren’t comfortable with RSS technology.

53. Ask your visitors for suggestions on how to improve your website’s content because in the end, it’s really all about your readers.

54. Create a customized 404 page.

55. Claim your blog on Technorati.

56. Enable automatic trackback and ping functionality.

57. If someone mentions your website on their blog, thank that blogger in the comments of the post and send them a thank you note. You can monitor any mentions of your blog using Google Alerts, Technorati, and Blogpulse.

58. Make contact with related bloggers online as well as offline.

59. Build up the readership of your blog using StumbleUpon Ads.

60. Edit yourself ruthlessly.

61. Translate your site into multiple languages. This is one tactic that few sites are taking advantage of.

62. Have your blog reviewed by ReviewMe.

63. Become a Guest Blogger.

64. Use Google Analytics.

65. Validate your feeds.

66. Claim your blog at Feedster.

67. Interact with your readers. Blogging is a two-way communication tool. The most successful bloggers interact with their readers. They answer reader emails and comments and ask for feedback and suggestions on a regular basis.

68. Write about something that you love. You will not succeed if you are working at something you don’t enjoy. As Dale
Carnegie once said, “People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.”

69. Attend blogging conferences.

70. Invite your readers to submit articles.

Top Ways to Monetize Your Blog:

71. Kontera ContentLink

72. Text Link Ads

73. BlogAds

74. Ad Brite

75. Direct Ad sales & Sponsorships

76. Affiliate Sales

77. Google Adsense

78. ReviewMe

79. Bidvertiser

80. AuctionAds

81. Some of the best ways to monetize your RSS feed include theFeedBurner Ad Network and Text Link Ads.

Blog Writing Tips:

82. Learn to write great headlines.

83. Make your articles scannable. People don’t read on the Internet. They scan.

84. Use numbers in your titles to attract attention.

85. Vary your content. Be unique. Create a quiz. Interview a fellow blogger. Poll your readers. Review a book. Shake it
up a bit to keep your readers interested.

86. Edit your writing ruthlessly.

87. Write like you talk.

88. Write with passion. It will come through in your writing.

89. Say something worth reading.

90. Always write with your reader in mind. Imagine that you are chatting with them over lunch at a local cafe.

91. Make your important points up front.

92. Include bullet point lists.

93. Create a “top 10″ list.

94. Create a “How To” article.

95. Create a weekly or monthly roundup of great posts from around the blogosphere.

96. Watch for trends in your industry.

97. Read voraciously and bring your readers the golden nuggets of everything you learn.

98. If you ever find yourself with writer’s block, check out 101 Great Posting Ideas.

99. Leave your readers hungry for more. Give them a quick preview of what you’ll be posting the next day. They
are much more likely to come back if they are already excited about the next days post. Anticipation is
one of the greatest marketing tactic.

100. Have fun! Blogging doesn’t always have to be serious. Feel free to make your posts fun and entertaining.

101. If you’re still looking for blogging tips, then here are some great resources: ProBlogger, JohnChow, and Successful Blog.

25 Ways to Improve Online Content.

#1 – Add Creative Images

Select a number of creative images from your sources. Afterward, highlight certain areas of your article or post that you think are appropriate to add a creative image to. Distribute your images evenly throughout your content.

Sites such 123rf, istockphoto, shutterstock, etc. offer the possibility of purchasing images royalty-free.  If you’re a little more talented in the field of design, Photoshop is an incredible tool to enhance your images or create some of your own.

#2 – Add Facts & Quotes

Facts that are used to back up your claims or work show your audience that your work is completely credible. Facts add that “impressive” factor to your content. They are important.

Quotes help give your content a different perspective. They can also help solidify your credibility on a topic.

#3 – Conduct Interviews

Interviewing other respected individuals in the industry will spice up your output of content. Again, it gives your content another perspective from an industry expert.

Kindly email an expert or individual from the industry and tell him you’re interested in asking him a few questions and publishing his answers to your site.

#4 – Publish Case Studies

Case studies are excellent points of evidence for a specific process or claim. Publishing more case studies as articles onto your blog will raise your chances of becoming an expert in your field.

Case studies attract much attention from the Internet world, especially if it gives them a new idea or helps them accomplish some task in their work. Case studies are completely unique and offer others a view of your own work ethic.

Set a time period, and observe some of your results. If you feel like they will be very helpful to your readers and help them improve as well, don’t hesitate to create a case study about it and include some of your results as graphs or evidence.

#5 – Add Infographics

An infographic is a type of visual content that displays data in a visual way.

Some infographic services on the Internet offer to create your own type of Infographic. Using your acquired set of data from your own studies, they will use each piece of data and display it in a visual way whether it be graphs or unique graphics.

Infographics are also great link attractors from different sources. Other sources may pick up your infographic, publish it at their own site, and give you credit by linking back to the original source.

#6 – Write an eBook

E-books can be created and used to create profits, exchange for emails, or give away for free.

Pick a topic you are well familiar with and have much knowledge about. With a specific topic or idea in mind, write about it and turn it into an e-book.

I would recommend that you focus on a particular topic, one that isn’t too broad. You will need to expand on the topic to every degree and a large topic will take way too much time.

#7 – Record a Podcast

Podcasts are an excellent way to spice up your content. It gives a reader a “hearable” point-of-view of your content and opinion. Plus, they can be listened to anywhere one is located.

When it comes to recording your podcast, you should use the right kind of program. You can use the same program to edit your recorded podcast. Don’t forget to add important call-to-actions within podcast recording, right towards the end of the program.

#8 – Add Videos

To increase their engagement with your content, videos will attract more views and engagement from your followers. If you have a topic in mind and you aren’t too shy to stand in front of a camera lens, please don’t hesitate to jump on the opportunity to create a video.

Creating your own videos will take your content creation and production to a whole different level! Videos are one of the kings in explaining a specific process or topic.

#9 – Create Content Often

Maybe it’s time that you post content on a more daily basis. If you’re currently posting content that has no schedule structure, your next step to improve your content is to create a rigid schedule for posting content.

Posting content often will increase the social media shares of the posts. Posting often will keep your visitors closer and every update will keep them reminded of your site or blog.

#10 – Use Creative Titles

The title is probably the first piece of content that a visitor will see. That’s why it’s important to come up with creative titles that will grab their attention. A creative title will drive a visitor to check out your content.

Using certain powerful words, large numbers, controversial topics, and important keywords is the key into creating the best titles for your content.

Example:

7 Life Lessons From Steve Jobs That Everyone Needs To Remember

#11 – Host Webinars

Webinars will help your readers become more active and help create a relationship with them.

Create an amazing landing page that announces a webinar you have planned and created. Always create a webinar that is closely related to what you present on your blog or website.

#12 – Let Your Personality Shine

Adding your personality to your content may help keep your readers’ attention glued to your content for a longer time. It helps keep your content unique and makes it stand out from the crowded content fields of the Internet.

If you possess an experience or story about a specific thing or topic, don’t hesitate to spice up your content with your experience.

#13 – Connect with Your Audience

When you write your content, keep in mind to include questions within your content. Questions will help your readers think more about what you said and those questions will help keep your audience engaged.

When writing, don’t forget to remind your readers that you’re no different from them and you struggle with the same dilemmas. Your audience will feel more connected to the meaning of your content and grow stronger.

#14 – Include Personal Experiences

Experience always becomes an added bonus to your content. One, beginners will be more confident in trying your solutions or agree to what is being said in the content. Secondly, it adds more credibility and stability to your content.

If you came up with your own solution to your unique problem, it would be best if you impart your knowledge about the situation to your audience. Who knows? They might have the same problem as you.

#15 – Expand and Create Content on Smaller Topics

Don’t forget: smaller topics are just as important as the larger ones are. Smaller topics are like the details in a project, and as they say, “Success lies in the details.”

Smaller topics may be a help to someone out there. Remember, smaller topics hold the key to some situation or problem!

#16 – Create More Sought-Out Topics

Nobody wants to end up reading content that is boring!

Your content will attract more attention if it is made up of topics that are well sought after.  Research your niche or industry and find out what is in demand. Create content based on your research.

#17 – Build Trust

Trust is built when you add reinforcing words such as “fact,” “proven,” and “I” within your content.

Trust is also built when proof is visually displayed as a method within your content.

#18 – Copy Ideas from Other Sources

Copying ideas is not wrong. Think of it this way: you were inspired by some content out there and decided to create something similar. You shouldn’t replicate what someone else has created, but it’s fine to copy an idea as long as you add your own flair.

Becoming inspired from different known sources will help keep your creativity level high.

#19 – Segmenting the Content

Segmenting content into more sections will help make the content much easier to read.

Organization is the key to displaying your content more professionally. It helps the reader understand your content on a different level and it becomes more easily digestible.

#20 – Format the Content with Font Styles, and Heading Tags

A majority of readers tend to have a short attention span. They will scan quickly an article and try to pick up the most important parts of the content.

To make their job easier and more enjoyable, the best way to do this is to format your content as best you can. It gives them a better understanding of your content, on a quicker basis.

Formatting key points will help your reader tremendously. Highlight section headers, keywords, and important ideas within your content.

#21 – Use Popular Themes

Popular themes within content are heavy attention-grabbers. Themes make it possible to assemble content that is enjoyable to read with points that are easy to grasp.

Creativity is the key to this point in this article. You will need to try your best to tie in popular themes with the points and the general idea of your content or article.

Here is an example:

How To Be A Super Hero At Work

#22 – Include Important Links Within the Content

Creating content isn’t always about you. By linking to other sources within your article, you might be able to help a reader understand a topic on a more profound level.

Linking to other sources similar to your content will also give your content more credibility.

#23 – Create List Articles

List articles are powerful promotional techniques you can create for your site. Large lists do very well in attracting new readers and help give readers many options and ideas from one place.

When creating list articles, use large numbers that are going to grab attention. Using large numbers in your titles have more power in attracting more visitors to your content.

Here is an example:

50 Inspiring Quotes from 50 Music Stars

#24 – Eye-catching Feature Images

Adding a theme image to the article will create a visual, unique look to it.

Visually, the content must possess a professional look to it and a feature image will help you obtain that.

#25 – Add Screenshots to the Content

Nothing will help your reader understand more the topic by creating screenshots and placing them within the content.

If an idea is too profound to understand using just words, explaining the idea through a screenshot can ease the confusion of a reader.

Deciding on a dream reader means thinking about who actually does read here. Other than myself.

Time to put your writing caps back on, and start honing your blogging focus.

We often create posts hoping that someone in particular will see (and appreciate) our work. Today, publish a post for that person — whether they’re a real-life figure or not — and stretch your blogging chops as you do.

Today’s Assignment: publish a post for your dream reader, and include a new-to-you element in it.
Why do this?

Writing with a specific reader in mind is a great way to focus your thoughts.
Exploring new elements and post styles adds more tools to your storytelling toolbox.
Publishing different types of posts and media adds visual interest and keeps people reading.
Even if you’re simply blogging to have a place to practice writing, there’s someone you’re hoping will read. Maybe it’s your dad, so he’ll finally understand your life choices. Maybe it’s the head of Random House, so she’ll skyrocket you into literary limelight. Whether serious, frivolous or purely hypothetical, focus on your dream reader and write a post — about anything — aimed at him or her.

This doesn’t need to be the Greatest Blog Post of 2014 — it can be on any topic at all. The key is to keep your dream reader in mind as you write, and see how that influences what you create.

In your post, include one new kind of element. If you’re a photo blogger, try add context to your images with some haiku. If you’re a parenting blogger, add a photo. If you’re discussing current events, embed the tweets of other folks chatting about the same topic. If you’re an Instragram or Pinterest user, embed one of your own shots or some pins. Embed a song that resonates with what you’re posting about, or a map of a place mentioned in your post.

Trying something new brings an interesting twist to your blog, and thinking about what you post from a different angle is a useful exercise for any blogger. And the more tools you have at your disposal as a blogger, the more effectively you can tell your story.

Here are embed instructions for WordPress.com bloggers:

Upload and insert images.
Embed Instagram photos.
Embed video clips.
Embed a tweet.
Embed from Pinterest.
Embed tracks from Spotify or Rdio.
All the other things you can embed and more ideas for using them.
Before you hit “publish,” make sure you’ve added the blogging101 tag to your post — it’s the easiest way to make sure other participants can find you. (Still not sure how to add tags? Read this.)

Questions? Hit us, or share your works-in-progress in The Commons.