Everybodysagenius’s Weblog

Promote your blog with real honest to goodness ink.

I just read a story in the Nov. 2007 OMMA magazine called Build Blogs’ Mass Appeal. It turns out that you can get you blog listed in Blogger & Posdcaster Magazine for $495 annually or $50 a month.

Blogger & Podcaster it seems, has also teamed up with the USA Today to host a blog guide on the newspaper’s site. The guide is featured at the bottom of www.USAToday.com. It includes topics such as arts, cars, sports and video to find relevant blogs and podcasts. You can also rate and add comments to the listings. The site also lets you add a variety of news widgets directly from their page: http://www.usatoday.com/community/widgets/index.htm

And if you go to USA Today, I couldn’t find this blog index either. Maybe it isn’t up yet. If you hear anything new. Tell me about it.

Later,

Bill

Ehow is not only a great resource to learn how to do “just about everything.” It is also a great tool to promote your own skills or personal expertise. There is an old saying in the media world that to be an expert all you have to do is be interviewed.

Well, it just got easier. Now all you have to do is to know how to do something and answer inquiries. If you become a member of the ehow network you can even post video and audio instruction. This can be a great tool for DIY book sellers or anyone who wants to establish some credibility. It fufils almost all the requirements for a great Web site on the user side too. It has a large library of information, it requires no login (to learn) and it is free.

You can even make money by posting relevant articles:

Step One

Sign up for eHow’s WCP–shorthand for Writer’s Compensation Program. It’s fast and easy. All you need is an active PayPal account and an eHow profile. Once those two prerequisites are met, click on the My Profile tab and look for a sub-heading labeled My Earnings. Once you’ve gone this far, the rest of the sign-up process is a cakewalk.

Step Two

Educate yourself on the WCP’s finer points. OK, sure, no one likes reading the small print, but eHow has put together an excellent list of common questions and answers to help get you on your way to padding your pockets. Lest you think this info is worth skipping, the FAQ tells you how and when to get paid. See Resources below for a link that gives you the lowdown.

Step Three

You’ve enrolled in the program and read the FAQ. What’s next? That is up to you and how much you want to write. Once the WCP sign-up is complete, all you need to do is publish articles. Seriously. That’s it. Just write what you know (as Hemingway said) and click the publish button.

Step Four

Socialize your article, send it to friends, blog about it, link to it from other pages and generally spread it around to people you know. The more popular your article (i.e. the more people who read it) the higher your eventual WCP payouts. It stands to reason that you should try to build the best audience possible for your little work of art.

Step Five

Build out your profile. Add a short bio, upload a picture (or one of eHow’s stock avatars), fill out your interests and start making friends in the eHow community. You might think it’s unrelated, but if so, you’re wrong. The numbers say that a significant portion of eHow readers click on profile links when they read an article. A more engaging user profile makes for more interested readers, and a greater likelihood that they’ll return to see your stuff again. Cha-ching!

It is also free to join to community and become an expert. So, get out there an promote what you can do.

Later,

Everybodysagenius