Last month I asked readers what blog platform they are using?

The results were clear with 43% of ProBlogger readers using WordPress.org, 29% using Blogger and 13% using WordPress.com.

This isn’t the first time I’ve run this survey. The first time I ran it was in January of 2006 – since then I ran it again in November 2007. Here are those results:

The top two platforms still remain #1 and #2 although WordPress.org has taken pushed out their lead but from there on in there’s been a shift with MovableType taking a step back and WordPress.come surging. Also interesting to me is the ‘Other’ category. When we ran this survey in 2006 there were many more platforms mentioned.

Keep in mind that this is just a survey of ProBlogger readers. While we have some diversity in our community we’re just a subset of the wider blogosphere and I’m not sure that these stats are representative of all bloggers.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

What Blogging Platforms Do We Use? [POLL RESULTS]

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“What’s the most common mistake made by new bloggers? How can we avoid it?“ – asked on Twitter by @alisonkerr.

Here are a few quick mistakes that I see new bloggers making (some of which mistakes I made myself). They’re listed in no particular order and I’d love for you to continue the list in comments below:

1. Giving up too early – blogs take time to take off
2. Putting off starting a blog – waiting until everything is just right before launching can mean you never do it
3. Echoing what everyone else is talking about – say something unique and share your opinion
4. Not blogging on your own domain – I know some swear by using hosted blogs but if you want ultimate control of your blog it is best to do it on your own domain and hosting.
5. Irregular Posting – you don’t have to post every day but try to establish a regular rhythm of posting
6. Being too apologetic – ’sorry I haven’t written for a while’ can end up being the most common type of post on a blog – yes apologize if you’ve messed up but don’t be too hard on yourself – keep investing your time into building your blog up rather than highlighting it’s problems.
7. Focusing more upon Quick Traffic than Loyal Readers – there’s nothing wrong with a big rush of traffic from social media or another blog – but just as important as that is building reader loyalty. Sometimes growing one reader at a time is more fruitful than getting spikes of traffic that never returns.
8. Clutter – too many buttons, widgets, navigation elements
9. Great Posts but Terrible Titles – don’t short change yourself by investing hours into writing great content only to slap a mediocre headline/title onto it.
10. Not Defining a Topic – the most successful blogs have a well defined topic/niche (or they target a certain demographic)
11. Choosing a Topic you have no Interest in – for your blog to be successful you’ll need to blog regularly on your topic for years – if you want to sustain it choose something you have an interest in or love for or you’ll run out of steam.
12. Too many Ads – I don’t have a problem with ads on a blog from Day #1 but when they overpower the content and push it down the page too far they hurt your chances of building a loyal readership.
13. Being too Insular/Expecting Readers to come to You – many bloggers starting out fail to realize that the more you put yourself out there and interact with other bloggers the more chance you have of being read.
14. Blogging about Making Money Blogging (as a first blog) – I’ve lost count of how many bloggers I’ve seen start blogs on the topic of blogging for money when they’ve never made money blogging. Start with something you know.
15. Not Being Useful – blogs that meet needs and solve problems are blogs that people will keep coming back to and which they’ll spread news of to their network.
16. Writing for Search Engines Before Humans – you can always tell when a blogger discovers Search Engine Optimization for the first time. Suddenly titles don’t make sense, keywords appear in posts for no real reason, links to other pages on the blog that are irrelevant to the post keep being used. Learn SEO – but keep your readers as your #1 priority.
17. Becoming a Stats-a-holic - the lure of checking your stats is understandable and common to new (and older) bloggers – but it can become an unhealthy obsession that leads to distraction and depression.
18. Link Baiting with Personal Attack – taking pot shots at other bloggers might get you some quick traffic – but hate breeds hate and the type of readers you attract and the culture it’ll breed on your blog could come back to bite you. Plus you’ll get a reputation that you might not want to live with.
19. Not Knowing Why You’re Blogging – while most of us don’t really know what we’re doing at the start – the faster you can work out what the purpose of your blog is the sooner you’ll start moving toward achieving that purpose.
20. Not Selling Yourself – one thing I don’t think many bloggers get is the power of blogs to sell yourself as a blogger. There’s nothing wrong with monetizing a blog with ads – but maybe a better long term strategy is to use a blog to advertise who you are and what you can offer readers.
21. Thinking You Have to Know it All – one of the best things about blogs is that they’re a great medium for involving your readers in the process of learning. Leave space for others to interact, share what they know and contribute.

There’s ALOT more to be said on this topic – what mistakes do you see new (and older) bloggers making?

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Warning: Do You Recognize These 21 Blogging Mistakes?

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Give your Blog a Kick Start with this 31 Day Challenge.

Regular readers of ProBlogger are familiar with the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog project that we ran here recently.

The concept was simple: bloggers set aside 31 days to be intentional about improving their blogs.

Each day for 31 days readers were presented with a daily task and teaching to give them concrete ways to take their blogs to the next level – the goal being more readers, higher quality content, deeper reader engagement and higher levels of creativity and energy for the blogger.

Challenges included writing tasks, promotion techniques, methods to deepen reader engagement, creating thinking exercises, ideas for breaking through bloggers block and much more.

Today I’m releasing a Workbook that puts a fully updated version of 31 Day Challenge in your hands

If you already know about it and want a copy now – you can buy it now here.

Why a Workbook?

Over 13,000 bloggers signed up for the initial challenge and the feedback was fantastic.

Bloggers who’ve taken the tasks seriously are reporting increases in traffic, greater reader engagement, fresh inspiration for posts and a greater sense of where their blog is headed.

However two common requests came from participants repeatedly:

• 1. People wanted to do the challenge at their own pace (some found daily tasks too fast, some too slow).
• 2. People wanted all the content in the one place (so they could keep it somewhere handy and dip into it again and again over time).

As a result I decided to put together a downloadable workbook version of the challenge.

The work book is professionally edited – contains new content, unique to the workbook and it is available to purchase today in two ways.

Two Ways to Get the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook

1. Get the Book By Itself For $19.95

Download the 31DBBB workbook as described below for $19.95 USD.

To order it with this option simply hit the following ‘buy now’ button and you’ll be taken to PayPal where you can finalize your payment and download the workbook immediately.

2. Get the Workbook + Online Marketing Inside Out Book For $29.95

SitePoint (who helped me with editing the book) are also releasing a new book (a hard cover book not an e-book) today – it’s called Online Marketing Inside Out.

It is a great resource for those wanting to market products or services on the Web. This book shows you how to reach customers through podcasting, blogs, social networks, video, email, and contextual advertising and much more.

To get this 2-for-1 deal simply head over to SitePoint where you can read more about the book they’re offering and will receive both books when you order. Order Now (via SitePoint).

What You Receive with the Workbook

The 31 Days to Build a Better Blog project is all about giving participants a series of 31 daily tasks to help them make improvements in their blogs. This workbook takes this goal a step further with:

• Refreshed and Edited Versions of the Daily Tasks and Teaching
• New Bonus Material – each day has extra tips, questions and reflections (6000 extra words of content to help you extend the daily tasks and help you to apply them)
• Notes Areas – if you print out the book there is room to take notes, record ideas and make plans to help you implement the content
• 94 pages of content – actually we put two pages on each page in the book so it’s actually 188 pages.

Grab Yourself a Copy Today

Whether you’ve completed each of the 31 Daily tasks already and want to have a copy to dip into again and again as you continue to develop your blog or whether you’re yet to really start 31DBBB – I hope you’ll find this workbook helpful.

Grab your copy of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook here

PS: How are Bloggers using 31DBBB?

One of the things that I’ve loved about 31DBBB is seeing how it is being used so differently by different participants.

While originally designed for bloggers to work through over a month – the feedback that we’ve been hearing from bloggers indicates that 31DBBB is being used in a variety of ways including:

• Intense Training – bloggers setting aside days, weekends or weeks to go through multiple tasks at once
• 1 Task a Day – the way we designed it – one day at a time
• 1 Task a Week – bloggers taking their time with the challenge and making the tasks week long tasks
• Monthly Cycle – bloggers using the tasks again and again each month as a monthly routine for their blogging.
• Occasional Inspirational Resource – bloggers dipping into 31DBBB on a more occasional basis – using it on days when they have time or lack inspiration.

The great thing about 31DBBB is that you can do it at your own pace and in your own way. Daily tasks don’t need to be done daily or in any particular order as all but two are independent tasks that can be repeated time and time again to help you grow a dynamic blog.

Grab your copy of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook here

PS: A special thanks to the team at SitePoint who helped with cover design and editing as well as to Reese Spykerman with help with layout and design.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Get Your Own Copy of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog WorkBook

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Two quick notes for ProBlogger readers of a ’social persuasion’:

1. Got a Question? Ask it on Twitter – if you have a question that you’d like me to answer as a post on ProBlogger please feel free to ask it on Twitter with the hashtag of #pbquestions. I can’t do them all but am using it as a way to collect topics that you’re interested in. If we’re not already connected on Twitter follow me at @problogger.

2. Connect on Facebook – As Facebook limit ‘friend numbers’ to 5000 I’ve started a ‘fan page‘ for those who’d like to connect with me on that social network. I’ll be monitoring facebook more than I previously have so if it’s your preferred social network I’d love to connect with you there.

PS: while we’re talking social media – if your preferred network is LinkedIn or FriendFeed I also have accounts there where I’m happy to connect (although at this point I’m not quite as active there). The other place I have a presence is YouTube – subscribe to my channel there and you’ll get an advanced warning of new videos before they hit the blog here.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Got a Question? Want to Connect?

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“how important is it to buy both the .net and .com of the same domain name?”

Over on Twitter TragicDog asked me this question domains.

Different bloggers will have different approaches to this one but my personal preference these days is to secure the .com version first and then to seriously consider other versions of the domain if you are serious about developing it in the long term.

There are a couple of reasons I advocate grabbing the .net version (and potentially others) of your domain name in addition to the .com.

• As Defensive Move – just yesterday I received an email from a distraught blogger who had worked for 4 years to build their blog up only to find that this week another blog had started using the .net version of their blog. While the 2nd blog was behind the eightball and wouldn’t rank as well in Google this blogger saw it as a threat to their business.
• With a View to Expansion – having a second domain gives you the possibility of expanding your brand later with a different type of site. For example here at ProBlogger I initially set this blog up on ProBlogger.net (.com was parked and not for sale at the time) but now I’ve secured the .com version I now have a 2nd domain to set up another site. In fact with the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog challenge I set up the forums on ProBlogger.com/31Days which gives you a hint at what I have planned for that domain.

Whether you use all of the versions of your domain that you secure or not they are generally handy to have. I usually set mine to redirect to my main blog until I develop them.

My last piece of advice is to secure whatever versions you ‘might’ buy one day now. If you don’t you run the risk of losing your opportunity when others snap them up and either hold them ransom, develop them themselves or park them for their own profit.

For Further reading on domain names check out:

• Choosing the Domain Name for Your Blog
• How to Choose a Domain Name – Brandable Domains vs Keyword Rich Domains
• ProBlogger.com Sold! (the story of me buying problogger.com)

What is your approach to domains? Do you get more than the .com version?

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Should You Secure .com AND .net for Your Domain?

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Today I was reading about the ad performance tips on Yahoo Search marketing blog. These tips were crisp and clear and if you are involved in PPC with yahoo search marketing, you can ensure you do not make these mistakes.
Below are the top five mistakes advertisers make in their PPC campaigns:
1. Duplicate keywords across [...]

Posted by rebecca

Since I’m a movie buff and an Internet marketing nerd, I often notice Internet marketing and search mentions in various movies, and I always pay attention to the movie URL shown in trailers (my two recent favorites: the URL for Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming Bruno film was www.meinspace.com/bruno, but it looks like now it’s redirecting to MySpace.com, and the URL for I Love You, Beth Cooper is www.iloveyoubethcoopermovie.com, making me wonder why they had to append "movie" to such a specific URL). Recently I came across two examples where the movie industry referenced or directly utilized Internet marketing/social media marketing, and it got me wondering if Internet marketing is finally starting to become more mainstream (meaning fewer people will look at you with blank faces as you try to describe what you do for a living).

The first example comes from Steven Soderbergh’s new movie, The Girlfriend Experience. Available in theaters and via Comcast On Demand, the movie is about a high-end escort in NYC and her relationship with her boyfriend and her clients and their stresses about the current economic crisis and financial instability (the movie takes place right before the 2008 Presidential elections). In one scene the main character is having a conversation with a web developer/designer about her website, and one of her questions is "How do I get my site to appear high up in search engines?" His answer is so-so–he mentions that she has to submit her site to a lot of directories and other sites, which is a "well, yes and no" response–but he does sum up the conversation by telling her that she’ll need a lot of links, which was a pleasant surprise (I’m used to hearing a lot of really appalling search misconceptions).

I was pretty geeked to see that Steven Soderbergh kinda-sort of addressed SEO in one of his movies. Internet marketing isn’t really something you see in commercials or movies–I mean, there’s really nobody buying commercial space to advertise their marketing services, and you never watch a movie about the cute hipster Internet marketer who’s trying to woo the unattainable hot girl, only to find out that his nerdy best friend is actually the girl he’s in love with. Could the mention of SEO, albeit brief and a wee bit inaccurate (well, maybe not "inaccurate" so much as "requires more explanation"), be a step in the direction of mainstream notoriety?

My second example comes from the Cannes Film Festival. A movie is making the rounds at Cannes this year and attracting a ton of buzz. Not only is it a zombie movie (which is awesome in its own right), but it was made for a mind blowing $70. The movie, called Colin, is a zombie film that takes place from the zombie’s perspective, and it cost less to make than most DVD box sets. The filmmaker was able to put it together by utilizing Facebook and MySpace to round up movie extras, helpers and all sorts of people who wanted to be involved in the making of a zombie flick. This movie is a ridiculous example of how you can use social media marketing and networking to benefit your brand. Not only was he able to get volunteers for his movie and make his dream a reality, he generated buzz by building brand evangelists and by getting fans involved and having them spread the word.

If people nowadays are able to make a movie and promote it primarily through social networking and social media marketing, shouldn’t that reinforce the benefits to your clients or to your own team of marketers? You could argue that if it’s becoming more mainstream and commonplace to do SMM since it’s "all the rage" right now that it’s going to get too crowded, but I just think that means you have to ensure that your marketing efforts are that much more clever and better than everyone else. It’s certainly what this guy did–tons of people promote their bands and movies and comedy acts and whatnot via MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, etc., but not everyone succeeds. It’s a mixture of having the right product, clever and persistent marketing, and properly utilizing your social networking channels that equates to a great viral campaign.

So what do you guys think? Can you recall any examples from movies, music or television that lend credence to the notion that Internet marketing is becoming more "mainstream," or do we nerdy marketers still have to huddle in a corner to have our geek conversations while the masses go about their lives dishing about Jon and Kate’s imploding marriage and what Tom Hanks’ hair looks like in his new Robert Langdon movie?

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Posted by randfish

Dear 2007 Rand Fishkin,

Hi there – it’s me – your 2009 self. I know it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever get this email, but who knows? The flow of time could chaotically spasm and somehow drop a printed copy of this on your lap – stranger things have happened. And, in that unlikely event, here’s a few quick things you should know:

• Take the VC Money – it’s going to make you a better entrepreneur, a more serious company and fund some very exciting technology.
• Don’t Turn Down the Extra Funding - $1.1 million will get you through fine, but 2007 valuations were awesome, and that extra million they’re offering will make great things happen even faster.
• Build Linkscape, But Make Usability, not Features & Data, the Focus – the technology is amazing, sure, but most SEOs and Internet marketers have a very tough time understanding how to apply the information. You don’t have 20 minutes to explain it in person to everyone, so make the interface as simple, intuitive and usable as possible (and rely on existing nomenclature wherever possible).
• Start Using Email Marketing ASAP – You have no idea the power of a well-crafted email campaign.
• Learn to Delegate Better – Hire people who can do the things you’re spending your time on now. Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you should be doing it. Your job is to lead, to craft the vision and to evangelize. Whatever you’re doing now that isn’t those three things, stop and recruit someone who’s better at it than you are.
• Remember What SEOmoz Is – at its core, your company is about making something complex & mysterious into something simple & understandable. That’s what the tools, resources and services in PRO should do.
• Development & Scalability are Your Big Challenges – concentrate on hiring great devs and build small, nimble, self-sufficient teams
• Hiring Friends Works – Gather the smartest people you know, trust and like and bring them aboard; it doesn’t work for everyone, but it’s working great for you.
• Get Religion About Conversion Rate Optimization – Design, launch, test, measure, improve and repeat for every aspect of the conversion process on the site, from blog page landings to the last step of signup.
• Don’t Invest in Marketing via Booths at Events – The ROI just isn’t there, and the cost is tremendous.
• Do Invest in Your Affiliate Program – There are a lot of Internet marketers serving SEO-style content who don’t have great ways to monetize it. Just putting a link in your footer is not going to get them excited.
• Learn Relentless Focus – Find the most critical things the business needs for the next six months, make them the everyday focus of every person and hour you can spare and cut out everything else to the point where it hurts at least a little. Only then will you have the focus you need. 
• Buy a Scooter to Commute to the Office – Just make sure you buy some motorcycle pants to wear on rainy days.
• You, Rand, Are Not the Customer – Get over it, and build products that someone who just learned SEO last week can use.
• Establish Guiding Principles Now – Don’t wait; just write them down, work on them until they make sense and post them on the wall in big font.
• Last, and Most Important; Get Married – It’s unbelievably excellent in every way.

And now, in a rarely used tactic, I’m pinging some friends from other web startups to ask them what they’d like to tell their past selves. Dharmesh Shah from Hubspot, Richard Zwicky from Enquisite, Seth Besmertnik from Conductor, Will Critchlow from Distilled, Kelly Smith from Inkd, Glenn Kelman from Redfin, Ethan Lowry from Urbanspoon and Chris Winfield of 10e20 – can I convince you to write an advice letter to your former incarnations?

p.s. Anyone interested in more on this topic should check out my recent interview with the gang at Wildfire Marketing for Thought Leader Thursday.

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It’s been a few years since services like PayPerPost (and others) controversially came onto the scene and gave bloggers the option to be paid for writing posts about products, companies or services.

So I thought it’d be interesting to see how many bloggers have done paid posts (and how many still do).

Feel free to expand upon your vote in comments below.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

Have You Ever Written Paid Posts On Your Blog

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Finding RSS Subscribers is something that many bloggers spend a lot of time thinking about – so in this video I thought I’d put together a few thoughts on how to grow your subscriber numbers.

See the full sized version of this video here at YouTube.

Post from: Blog Tips at ProBlogger.

9 Tips to Help You Find More RSS Subscribers for Your Blog

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