What is Good Content?

  You can go Google any blog tip on how to get high traffic count, how to get many subscribers, how to get a money-generating blog or any other way to improve your blog's popularity, and there is always the part that says : write good content.

  Yeah, thanks a lot bloggers who wrote that without further explanation. We all know that, but what is good content? It's kind of abstract to explain it, but there are certain standards and guidelines that should be followed by every blogger. Here are some of the guidelines and standards set and should be followed to be considered as good quality content :




1) No plagiarism 
       
      This point should be pretty obvious. Copying some other bloggers' content is totally unacceptable, stupid and should never be done. This is just going to ruin your reputation and you will not be able to successfully apply for many affiliate or advertisement programs. Your blog will also never get quality traffic. (Mind you, google-ing images and putting them on your blog is counted plagiarism too!)


2) Add pictures


      Blog posts and photos are tied together just like mashed potatoes and gravy.  One without the other will taste really weird and not as perfect. Together, they're awesome! Always try to insert photos into blog posts (that are relevant, of course) to spice it up and make it more interesting. If it's going to be all words, not many people can actually bear to read the whole thing without any illustrations. Keep readers spirits up with great pictures!


3) Write with accurate grammar


      Writing with grammar or spelling mistakes once every few sentences is not going to make your blog look professional is it? Please write with understandable and accurate English with few or even no errors at all to make your blog easily understood by the readers. Another tip : Never put short forms of words on your blog, it can be very hard for readers to read your blog smoothly.


4) Have structured posts
  
       Structure is very important to let readers see the points in your blog posts easily. Elaboration can be added to help readers further understand the meaning of your posts. Some examples of structured posts are posts that are in point form or posts that are categorized.


5) Write from the heart and soul


       Writing what you really love can help you touch your readers and connect with them. This is what writing is all about. If you write something you are forced to write, and not something from the bottom of your heart, what are the chances that your product will be awesome? Writing is about the passion, not about the money.






Like to add something? Comment below!

Get Free and Beautiful Blogger Templates

Many people may complain that their blog designs are not satisfying enough to them. The option given to them is that they can go buy a domain, have full control over their blog design and do it themselves. However, most people won't want to fork out the money to buy and host a domain. So what is the other best alternative for bloggers (especially those who use Blogger, because their designs aren't very beautiful 
and cannot be fully edited to your every whim) to get free templates? Here is the solution:


Get FREE pre-designed templates from various websites
  There is no such thing as perfection, but people strive to achieve it anyway. Same goes for blog designing. There will never be a perfect blog design that suits everyone, so the best is to choose, well, the BEST! Thus, various FREE templates have been offered by designers to give you awesome designs with no cost at all. Here are some sites that I personally recommend as they have great layouts and templates that are easy to setup: 


1) Btemplates.com


      One of the most popular choices for free blogger templates has to be Btemplates.com. It is updated frequently (everyday) with new templates that look fabulous. Full instructions for setup are also given so that you can smoothly install your new template without any hassle. Highly recommended if you want a wide range of templates to choose from with the high design quality.


Rating : 4.7 out of 5




2) BloggerTemplatesFree.com


  Another alternative is BloggerTemplatesFree.com They have lesser blog templates for you to choose from, but the design quality is amazing, creative and really of top standards. The beautiful designs are largely suitable for life blogs, but there are also professional designs for the more serious and commercialized bloggers. The templates are also categorized very neatly to help you choose what you want. 


Rating : 4.6 out of 5


3) BloggerTemplatesBlog.com


BloggerTemplatesBlog.com has also gained popularity due to its simplicity in presenting blog templates and the great designs available there that are updated on a daily basis. The blog templates there bring out beauty by keeping things simple. Most have ad-spaces built in to make it easy to position ads. Templates are also categorized neatly based on both style and theme to help you choose the one you want easily rather than going through the whole album.


Rating : 4.6 out of 5




  These 3 websites have the most templates and the most beautifully designed ones, so I've compiled for your convenience. 


Until next post! 

Check Your Blog Load Time

  Waiting for blogs to load can be one of the most frustrating experiences of your life - especially when it takes SUPER LONG! This is actually the main reason why most readers

3 Things to Know Before You Start Blogging

  Yes, it's the typical day that you heard the wonders that blogging can do to your life and you want to give it a try. But before you start plunging into the blogosphere, let me give you some so-called 'guidelines' to tell you the do's and don'ts of blogging.

10 Reasons Why You Should Use ShareThis

  First, do you even know what ShareThis is? It is a website than can help you create a share widget for visitors to share your blog/website to their friends. An example of this can be found at the top of my blog's left sidebar. Now you understand what it is, let me tell you why you SHOULD get it in this simple blog tip:

Creating the "Read More" Button / Creating Post Summaries (For Blogspot/Blogger)

  To squeeze more posts into a page, yet using minimal space to make sure your visitors can see most of your posts in a glance, is very easy to do with the "jump break" function. In this blog tutorial, I will be showing you how to customize the "read more" button to make it more eye-catching, rather than the boring old text.  Let's move on to the steps : 

Finding The Right Niche for Your Blog

  In respond to my post about niche blogging (check it out here), I'll share a bit on how I found my way into the topic I'm writing about now. Although it took me quite a while (over 4 months to be exact), I finally decided on what I should be writing about in my blog (*Phew*). So now, I'm going to help all of you so that you can decide much faster and easier! 




  Here are some of the steps I compiled to determine my topic:






1) Write down what comes to your mind in 30 seconds on a piece of paper

Website/Blog Header Designing Tips

  When you want to present your website to visitors, the simplest way is to use your blog header. Thus, it is very important that your website header can get the message across to your visitors easily.





Which is more attractive? 

  They say a picture is a thousand words. So what are you going to write on that picture? Here is what messages a good website's header should bring : 

How to Increase SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

  SEO is important when it comes to getting traffic for your blog. Basically, SEO is  like increasing your website's 'popularity' when people search a keyword related to your website. The higher your SEO is, the higher chances of people seeing your blog when they search a keyword in a search engine (Google, Digg, Bing, Yahoo Search etc.), thus grabs more attention from search engines to your blog.
But first, you have to submit your blog to search engines. For Google, you can add it at http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl. Here are some of the steps I used:

When to Post/Publicize Blog Posts

  The title may seem unimportant of insignificant to you, but I think it is quite important. When should you post/publicize your blog posts? I got curious and did a survey on this at YouthSays, and here is what I found : 

Why You Shouldn't Get Auto-Generated Traffic

  Don't know what auto-generated traffic is? I'll tell you : it's like those
websites where they use credits systems to encourage you to visit other people's blogs/websites that are linked to them so that you can earn more credits and use them to get other people to visit you back. There was once a Nuffnanger (if you don't know what a Nuffnanger is, just take it as a blogger.) posted something about this great way to generate traffic to your blog for FREE!! 

4 Widgets A Blog Should Have

  Widgets have different functions for every blog. Some helps the blog writer, some interacts with the readers, some do NOTHING. Obviously, you would want widgets that help you, right? Here, I'm going to introduce a few widgets that I think are really useful to a blogger.





1) Sharebar

      A sharebar is a widget that allows readers to share your blog to different social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Email and so on. Using this sharebar allows your readers to help       you spread the word about your blog easily.

How to Make Readers Feel Comfortable Reading Your Blog

  I've come across blogs that really make me feel uncomfortable when reading it, and decided to stop reading the post. The thing is, there were so many things that irritates a reader in that blog (which I will not mention which). I'm sure sometimes you feel the same way too when reading some blogs, right? In this post, I'll share with you how to make readers feel comfortable when reading your blog! 


1) Don't put too many advertisements
      It's annoying when the whole page is cramped with adverts but you cannot find the real content. Readers tend to hate this as they came to your blog for the content, not for some stupid adverts to annoy them off your blog. Please place adverts moderately and make sure that readers can see your main content. That way, readers will tend to read your adverts along with your content!






2) Tiny fonts
     You know, not just old people have eyesight problems, even young people nowadays do. So please, please, please put your font BIG enough for people to read. I don't want to squint my eyes figuring out what word that is when reading a blog.






3) Too much BLARING colours
      It's understandable if you want to emphasize a part on your blog and you highlight it with colours. But a whole blog filled with blaring colours? I don't think that's good. You see, sometimes the colours from the background will outshine your content and makes it hard to read. 






4) Share a bit of your life
      I find myself smiling at the computer screen sometimes when blog writers share a touching, heart-warming or even an embarrassing moment in their life. This makes me feel somehow connected to the blog writer and naturally makes you comfortable and want to read more.


  That's about it. If you have anything you'd like to add please do in the comments section below. 

Christmas Special : How to Make Falling Snowflakes Effect for Blogger

  Read my last post on how to add snow scene to blogger yet? Then this post is a improved version! Not just dots now, but with newly improved SNOWFLAKE PICTURES!! Example: 

  Wouldn't you love that snowflake falling everywhere around your blog? Just go to your blogger's 'design' page, click on 'add a gadget', add a 'HTML/Javascript' gadget, then paste this code to the content: 


For this picture () use this:
<script src="https://sites.google.com/site/jscriptuploads/home/jscripts/snowflakesSUCCESS.js?attredirects=0&d=1"></script>


For this picture () use this : 


<script src="https://sites.google.com/site/jscriptuploads/home/jscripts/snowflakesSUCCESS4.js?attredirects=0&d=1"></script>




Will update more flakes under requests, just give me the picture! 

Oh, and by the way...

AND...

Credits to people who made this photo..

Your comments are much appreciated! Please leave them below!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT THIS YEAR!!

Christmas Special : Falling Snow Effect for Blogger

  Christmas is coming in 2 days! Naturally, you would want to spice up your blog a little for this upcoming day right? Well, the falling snow effect would be just the right thing for YOU!


 How it looks like: (I used gray snow for my template because white would be hard to see.)

  I spent quite a while researching how to do it, and I finally got it! But first, this is what you need: (If you're lazy to edit everything and just want the snow to be white, scroll to the bottom of this post for the easy tutorial)


1) A Javascript Editor, such as EditPlus! (Download it here! Very small only.. Don't care what is says about the free trial because it works after the trial anyway)


2) A place to upload your javascript files. (Such as Google sites. Click link and register to make a page, then click 'create a page', then click 'file cabinet'


3) Reading skills. (You won't get here without that right?)






  Got all of that? Then we're ready to start! 


1) Download the javascript file from 


https://sites.google.com/site/jscriptuploads/home/jscripts/snowstormzhiwei%27s.js?attredirects=0&d=1 


2) Open it using your Javascript Editor. Instructions on how to change the variables are in the file you downloaded. (P.S : For snow colour, you have to get the html code. Get codes for different types of colours here.)


3) Once you've edited to what you wanted, save and upload your file to your upload page. (Google Pages)


4) Copy the download link for your uploaded Javascript file.


5) Replace 'YOUR FILE DOWNLOAD LINK HERE' (below) with your download link and copy the whole code


<script src="YOUR FILE DOWNLOAD LINK HERE" type="text/javascript"></script>


6) Go to your blogger 'design' page and go to 'add a new gadget', 'HTML/JavaScript', then paste the code you copied into the empty space below the title. 
  
7) Save and view your blog. Satisfied? 
Leave you 'thank you's below at the comment box!


The Easier Way (White Snow)
Copy the following code:


<script src="https://sites.google.com/site/jscriptuploads/home/jscripts/snowstormzhiwei%27s.js?attredirects=0&d=1" type="text/javascript"></script>


Then go to blogger's 'design' page, 'Add a gadget', 'HTML/Javascript', and paste the code above into the empty space. Save and enjoy.


  CREDITS GIVEN TO SCHILLMANIA!!

Increasing Your Chances of Getting Noticed on Social Bookmarking Sites

  Everyone says that social bookmarking can generate traffic to your blog. Though it it true, what are the chances of your blog post getting noticed rather than other people? To increase your chances, gaining popularity is the way to go. But how? That's what I'm here to tell you!


 1) Comment on others
      To get others attention, a kind comment on their posts would help a lot. Please give sincere comments and not just asking them to go to your blog. This will be considered as spam and shall be ignored by the blog owner. True comments will be valued by the blog owner and inserting your blog link won't do any harm. 


 2) Bond with others

       Find a way to connect to any blog owner who is very active. Have a nice chat and exchange blog posts links that interest both of you. Introduce this person to your other friends and the other person will do the same for you (ask him/her to if needed). Read my other blog post about this point here.


  3) Build your popularity
        Once you have done the things above, build your popularity by writing good blog posts, giving a good first impression to new visitors (Read my post about it here), keeping them and they will frequently visit your blog! Posts on social bookmarking sites that are highly visited will usually appear at the first page as a top visited post, thus will attract more people to read. 

The Secret Ingredient to Getting Quality Readers

  How lucky I am today, because I found the TRUE way of getting QUALITY readers.  

   I know you guys are like anxious and all, but chill! Don't worry because I will reveal this secret to you at the end of this post! 


  Some of you do social bookmarking to increase traffic (Read about it here and here!). But how can you ensure that a lot of people read your post and not others? Think: Why must they read yours and not 1 million others? Unless you have a strong popularity, there is minimal chance that you're post will be even viewed by people. Your chances are even smaller when you use famous social bookmark sites like Digg.


  So what is the one true way to get quality readers? 


  DRUM ROLL!!

  It's the WORD OF MOUTH (or typing)

  What is that? Simple: Recommend your blog to a friend, stranger, person, WHATEVER! Not literally using the mouth, but more of just recommending. 

  How?

  Just chat with someone who is online and recommend it to them, or just tell your friends! Don't believe me? I'll show you PROOF!

  By sending my links on a public chatbox, I gathered quite a lot of comments in just a few minutes (but if you're already famous then I know you have more than this). 

  You know what to do now don't you?

   READ MORE OF MY POSTS LAR!!

  How true do you think this is? Comment below!!

  

4 Easy Tips to Keep Blog Readers

1) Reduce your blog's loading time 


      Most people tend to get frustrated if your blog does not load in 10 seconds. So, getting your blog to load in around 3-5 seconds is a good tactic in maintaining visitor's moods. They will also be slightly more patient to view your longer blog posts. If you don't, people may navigate away from your blog before they even see anything! To reduce the loading time, you should take away unnecessary widgets. I see many blogs around that have useless widgets, which means they do not satisfy the visitors anyhow or do not have any particular use. 






2) Write short, simple but meaningful content 
  Stop twisting the story and get to the points straight away! If readers get bored at the part where you are twisting the story, they have a high chance of leaving. Add the interesting bits and just some of the boring bits. Oh, and inject some good humor too!
















3) Insert (relevant) images or videos
     Pictures and videos are more lifelike than just words. Colors also help a lot in this case. It soothes the eye after reading a lot of words. Please do not spam images and videos, just enough to solve the reader's boredom. Imagine you're talking about chimpanzees and you show your daughter's picture. Either you're really stupid to put such irrelevant photos, or your daughter is a chimpanzee! 


4) Be interactive with readers
     To make readers feel satisfied and comfortable reading your blog, you have to interact with them. This makes them feel that your blog is more real, and you can actually hear what they are saying (in this case, typing). Good feedback from readers are also very helpful for both you and the readers, so please listen to your readers!!


       

Free Blog/Website Advertising : Entrecard

  Don't you wish you could just advertise your blog without spending much or no money at all? There are websites such as Google AdWords that offer such choices, but they are quite pricey. But now, introducing the FREE way to advertise, Entrecard!!

  The way it works is quite simple: Sign up, submit your blog, create your logo/business card, start advertising! To advertise, you can start by browsing the different categories they have to offer. Then, choose the category that is relevant to your blog. You start of with 200 credits. To earn more, you can either drop cards to other people's blogs or wait for people to advertise on your blog. Once you get more credits, you can advertise on better blogs with more visitors. So what are you waiting for? Join today!

Introducing Contextual Advertising

  First of all, what is contextual advertising? Basically, this is a kind of advertising where the main website you sign up to scans your blog with a bot for keywords. If preferred keywords are found, the main website then highlights those keywords and links them to the advertiser's main page. On the other hand, you can also advertise through their website and type in your preferred keyword. That way, people who sign up and enter that keyword to their blog content, the keyword may be linked to your blog! But don't think that there are no competitors on the same keyword. Always choose your keyword wisely to reduce competition but with a sum of bloggers who may type that keyword.


  Alright, now you understand the concept in contextual advertising, here are some links to let you join in contextual advertising today!


1)Clicksor
2)Pulse360
3)Text-Link-Ads
4)Kontera
5)LinkAdage
6)LinkWorth
7)ValueClickMedia
8)VibrantMedia
9)Tribal Fusion
10)BurstMedia
11)SixApart

  As far as I know, TribalFusion has very strict requirements that you must achieve in order to participate in their program. Think you're capable? Check it out then! Personally, I recommend Kontera as i use it.