Now, I know you’re all wondering what the deal is with me titling a post the EXACT SAME TITLE that I just titled one with.  You’re all caught really off guard right now.  Some of you have even wondered what the points of ellipsis are for.

Simple.  the whole thought there is: Stop linking to Wired…start writing about it instead.

Now, this is actually an interesting notion.  See, every blog you see out there, every web site, every service, has two faces.  The face you see, and the behind the scenes face you’ll never see.  That “behind the scenes” face is what some people end up writing about.  Here, for example, what we put up every day is the public face.  But what you don’t see is what goes into each of these posts.

So next time you’re strapped for a post topic, try writing ABOUT the thing you’d link to.  Write about business news at Google or Netflix or even, yes, Wired.  Don’t just take something they wrote and rewrite it with your own spin.  That works great, sometimes, but do it all the time and you’ll wear your welcome thin with your readers.  Instead, write ABOUT the thing you get your links from.

It’s much more original, and thus, much more credible, than the alternative.

Now that’s not a tactic most of us have likely thought of.  But it’s no less true for the novelty–next time you go to write a blog headline, take a look at it, and think, does this make a good article?

Of course, it’s not MUCH of an article.  We’re talking about a one sentence article here that’s likely less than eleven words.  But looking at it in that sense will give you a LOT of help when it comes to writing your blog, in three specific ways..

You’ll get more attention this way.  People don’t spend a whole lot of time reading every single article out there.  If you can snag attention with one quick headline, you’re much more likely to get someone to read.

You’ll get more targeted attention.  If your title post is a small article by itself, then people will know, upon reading it, if it means anything to them.  Thus, you’ll know that most of your readers didn’t just stumble in, but wanted to read the post.

You’ll get a great keyword focus.  Your article will essentially revolve around keywords.  The rest of the article is basically just elaboration on those keyword points, so Google should fall in love with your article and give it great attention.

So if you make sure your headline could be an article on its own, you should get a lot farther with your posting efforts.

I probably got someone to spit their drink all over their monitor with that one.  Apologies if you personally happened to be the person who did the spit take.

Anyway, the title’s a little misleading, but it’s pretty close to what I’m suggesting.  If you’ve been having a hard time getting attention for your blog, try introducing yourself around.  Take just a couple minutes a day and send a few emails out to the writers of big blogs in your industry or niche.  Tell them who you are and offer up a link to your blog.  Don’t specifically ask for a link, either–not this time, anyway.

It’s a long shot that may pay off pretty big dividends.   I emphasize the may, of course–chances are your letter will be ignored and at the very worst you may well alienate the writers of some big blogs, but even this worst case can be worked against if you mention how fond you are of the site they right.

I’ll tell you this much–blogging, nine times out of ten, feels like screaming at an empty room.  But getting an email from a regular is very encouraging.  You may be able to use that encouragement to your own advantage.

I’ve been bludgeoning you with messages about credibility for weeks now, and maybe one of the best moves you can make to establish credibility is to include an author bio with your blog.

It’s true what they say, that something signed is always more trusted than something anonymous.  When you put your name on something, you’re putting everything that goes along with your name on the line as well.  You’re putting your skill, your expertise, your reputation…everything that goes along with your name on the line when you post with your name.

If you’re not willing to put that kind of gravity and import on your posts that the use of your name implies, then there’s something wrong with your posts, plain and simple.  If you want people to trust you, then you have to be so clear and so strong in your belief that you’re willing to tell everybody who reads it: this is MY POST, and I stand behind it so deeply that I’m willing to put my name on it.

So when you post, you’d best make it as honest as possible.  Everyone’s got their eye on you.

Remember my post where I tell you, my readers, to stop lurking and start commenting? Well, here’s a follow-up to it, but for the bloggers out there. I know that many of you are bloggers with your own blog, and I also know for a fact that there are times when you are just lurking around the web and not doing anything. Let me tell you something… you need to get to work! Time is money (seriously) and with 10, 30, or 60 minutes of time that you waste, you could have done a lot of stuff!

So let’s say you spend 3-4 hours a day on the computer, doing whatever it is that you do everyday. And let’s say that you have spent 1 hour of that just lurking around instead of doing some work. Here’s what you could have done:

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Didn’t I just tell you not to read this? Why are you still reading? Well, maybe it just proves that reverse psychology does really work. Or it could have been because of the title itself? Anyway before I get more on that, I just want to let you know that this information is not important so do not read on.

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After transitioning into WordPress in the past few days, I felt that there was one very important thing missing: comments. I had to sacrifice all my old comments to move to this new blog platform (but it was surely worth it), which will mean that I would need to get new comments in as many of my posts as possible. What a better way to do that than to have another contest! The prize for the first Slyvisions contest was a free blogroll text link, a blog review, and a 125×125 button on the sidebar. This time, the prize is money! $7 to be exact.

So what exactly do you have to do? Easy. Comment, comment, comment. Whoever is the #1 Top Commentator according what it says on the sidebar by the end of the month, November 30, 11:59 PM Eastern Time, will earn themselves an easy $7.

Before you get started, here are some rules:

• No Spam! Any kind of spam will be deleted.
• Make sure you actually read the post you comment on. If I see that your comment has nothing to do with the post, then it will not count and will result in a deleted comment.
• You must have a PayPal account since that’s the only way I can send the money.

That’s it! Get started before November ends! Here’s a simple tip to help you win: there are over 200 posts in this blog so far. That’s over 200 comments you can make (if you decide to) that will easily earn you the contest prize.

There are a lot of ways that a blogger can get his point across whatever the topic is. Sometimes, if they are trying to show their readers some steps or directions, lists are used. Lists are also used even to just…well, list stuff. Even though it might be very easy to list items, properly using them is one of the common mistakes I come through. Here are some steps to use effective lists in your blog posts. **Notice how I use lists to do this**

1. Use the proper list type. Number lists are used for directions or for showing steps to do something (like this post). Bullet lists are for listing anything that doesn’t need a proper order. For example, you might list your favorite foods. You would use a bullet list for this and not a number list.

2. Highlight keywords. Remember, write good content that can easily be scannable. First impressions of a blog post can also affect first impressions of your blog. Even if the reader doesn’t read the whole article, they can go over all the important keywords that are highlighted. You can do this by putting words the important words in bold.

3. Don’t lose track. If you’re trying to show directions or steps, make sure you get out of order. Keep things organized to keep your readers reading.

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