* Make a RSS page for feed newbies.

Many, many people have no clue what the heck RSS is. How can they subscribe if they don’t know what it is. Here’s my RSS page. You want to include what RSS is, how to use it, links to RSS readers, what a reader is, and why they would want to subscribe to feeds.  Oh, and of course, don’t forget to link to your own blog feeds!

* Make your feed accessible.

People are lazy! If they don’t see a subscribe button or link, they won’t make the effort to find it. I have links in my sidebar where you can subscribe to my feed via reader or by email. Some people only check email and don’t have time to go to a reader and read. They simply want it coming to their inbox so make both available.

* Use Facebook

Create a tab on your page that allows for blog subscriptions.  You’d be surprised at how many will find you through facebook and not through the web.  Having your subscription link accessible will allow them to quickly subscribe before forgettting where they found you, once they find you.  You can find me on facebook: Lori Falcon | My Wooden Spoon | A Cowboy’s Wife

* Become a guest blogger

You would think contributing your work on someone’s blog would totally defeat the purpose but it actually does the opposite. IF it’s good and your own work, people will want to check out your blog for more interesting articles.  Try to  link to your main blog url and your blog subscription.  You can see one of my very old guest posts I did for Darren over at Problogger.net, Create a Video Tutorial and Help Others.  Was cool then, not so much now. lol

* Forums

When I started chatting in forums, my subscriber count increased. It’s a way to meet new bloggers and lure them back to your blog. Make sure to put your blog urls in the signature or they can’t visit you. Also, entice them by leaving the url to a post that is relevant to the topic discussion.

* Contests & Giveaways

People love free stuff so use your feed to your advantage. You could offer an additional entry for subscribing.  You could even make it fun to where ONLY the subscribers can see a clue on how to enter or perhaps create a contest post that will only be seen by your subscribers.  Lots of fun ways to gain subs.

* Content

You knew it was coming. One of the most important words of blogger dictionary. ~CONTENT~ If your content sucks, why would I want to subscribe? Whether your blogging about dolls or ways to earn money online, you need to have your own voice, opinions, and style.  Go to your homepage and see the last 10 posts….would they encourage YOU to subscribe?

Something else to do is create a post/page with some of your best/popular content.  A “best of”  and include it in a visible location.

* Lists

“Top” lists are always popular and can keep people coming back for more. You can create a list relevant to any niche and they are always fun to write and read. You can check out my list of 32 finger lickin’ food apps, you know, just in case you need an example.

* Create Controversy

While I don’t really recommend this one, it can work.  It’s just not my style.

* And finally, add visualization.

Nobody wants to read 200 words on every blog they are interested in. Add some color, videos, and pictures.

What tips do you have for increasing RSS subscribers?

I’m doing this for three main reasons.

• 1) I want to be in compliance with the FTC and will make sure my butt is covered.
• 2) I want companies to feel safe about working with me and understand what my ethics are as a blogger and as a person.
• 3) I also want new readers and current readers to understand that just because I do receive a free product or compensation, doesn’t mean I can be bought.  My opinions are always my own and if I don’t like a product or company, I simply won’t work with them or accept the sample.  I want them to know that they can trust what I write, about a product/company.

WHAT TO COVER IN YOUR DISCLOSURE

Some things you might overlook that should be considered for your disclosure include, Twitter, Facebook, and Affiliate links.  Clarify your position on on all three of these things.  It’s also important to add a way to contact you on that particular page just in case a reader, company, or blog police need to ask you any questions.  {giggle}

MY DISCLOSURE

Disclosure Policy for A Cowboy’s Wife (dot com)

As of today, November 5, 2009, you will see one of two badges on a review or sponsored post, along with any additional disclosure a company may require.  They will look like this (and lead to my disclosure policy):

BENEFITED REVIEWER

When you see this image, that means I was sent a product for review. I want it to be clear that something was sent to me. Please read the entire disclosure so that you understand how I work!

COMPENSATED REVIEWER

When you see this image, that means I was paid to create the content for this post. That means the time it took to create the content such as researching, writing, editing, and publishing. Again, read my entire disclosure to understand my standards.

As with any and all posts and in my life, I strive for authenticity.  I’ve worked hard to establish a trust with my readers and hope that you all know that I would never lie or deceive you for a product or for money. It’s not how I roll. ;)

OVER TO YOU!

So, what’s in your disclosure and how are you handling review and compensated posts?  I’d love for you to read mine and give me your thoughts on it too.  Maybe I missed something or maybe it’s overkill?  I wanna hear from ya!

I get asked this question a million times so I thought it was high time I answer it.  It’s super easy to create a banner.  Just have an idea of what you want in your head….image, colors, etc.

First, I recommend Paint.net.  It’s free and super easy to use & it’s what I’ll be using for this tutorial.  You can also use Gimp but it’s such a memory hog and I don’t like things that slow down my computer.

Step 1

Open your paint program and select new.  Enter the dimensions of the banner you want to create.  For this tutorial, I selected 125px X 125px.  It’s the most common size.  I also increased the resolution for a more crisp, clean banner.  I put 300 because that is a very nice quality but you could use what ever.  The default is 96.

Now that we have our shape, it’s time to design.  This is pretty much where you can do what you want.  You can use the line, circles, text, etc to create the image you have in your mind.  I wanted to incorporate my logo into my banner but I didn’t want it to over power what my site was about so I decided to create a translucent type look with text overlay.

I wanted the entire banner background to be black to match my site.  This is where you click on your color, the little bucket, and then fill your square with that color.  Got it?!

So now I want to import my logo.  You click on layers, import from file, choose your picture that you want to import (if any) and viola…..it’s in your square.  Position it where you want and move on to the next step.

Since I’m going for a translucent look, I need to make my logo lighter and less visible.  I do this by clicking on Adjustments, then Hue/Saturation, then lowering the lightness to my desired look.  Hit Ctrl-d when done.

Finally, I add the text of my choice with the color of my choice.  I chose white for this banner and basically put it on top of the logo.  You can align it how ever with your font choice.  Hit Ctrl-d again when you’re finished.  That’s it!  You’ve just created a banner.

It’s really simple to use and you can create just about anything.  Remember to use the standard sizes for creating your banner.

• 125 x 125
• 468 x 60
• 250 x 250
• 88 x 31

So what does the finished product look like???  Here ya go! Clearly nothing fancy but it’s great for those of us who might be low on funds to hire someone else to do it.

Once you get really good at this, you’ll be able to create them for other people charging a flat fee!  Before you know it, you’ll be able to buy Adobe Photoshop and with all the money you’re making from designing banners and headers, go pro!……woohoo:)

CREATE A BLOGGER’S BUDGET

It’s always a good idea to have a budget in any financial situation and blogging is no exception.  Things to include are:

• promotions (contests & giveaways)
• ebooks
• courses
• books
• software
• hosting
• Designs
• domains
• advertising
• Conference fees
• traveling costs (events, eats,etc)

CUTTING COSTS

1) Instead of advertising on a site, try cutting costs down by asking if you can do a guest post on their site.  You’re getting your voice out there and encouraging traffic to your site, for no cost except time.

2) If you are given a per-diem to go to an event. Use it on the trip. I know that sounds silly but I know people who either use them before they go and then use their own money on the trip or who use their per-diem money here and there, with their own money.  Most expenses incurred on a trip is at the airport and out of sheer boredom.  I always recommend buying food snacks at a store before going to the airport.  That way you’re only spending on drinks which are already expensive enough.

3) Search for coupons before purchasing software, ebooks, plugins, and even domains.  There are tons of sales on just about everything so keep your eyes peeled before making a purchase.

4) If you’re not already asking your PR peeps to ship directly to the winner, you need to be. I very seldom mail anything myself.  If you do need to, keep records of it all for a tax write-off.

5) Pay for domains in advance. You get a better rate if you pay for a domain for 10yrs instead of paying for it yearly. Google likes it too…they like to know that you’re serious about being long term on the web.

STAY WITHIN YOUR BUDGET

The hardest part of budgeting in my opinion is staying within your budget.

Really, you simply need to sit back and think about what you are going to buy.  Do you really need it?  What are the benefits of it? Etc…..Wait a day or at least several hours and if you are still as passionate about buying it as you were, then buy it,  and if you’re not, it probably means you don’t need it.

ANALYZE YOUR SPENDING

I suggest you track all your spending so that you can see where your money is going and your spending patterns.  This is essential anyways for tax season so make it a habit.  Look at each month or week and see how you spent your money and how you could have cut costs and apply what you’ve learned on future spending.

FINALLY, AVOID SPONTANEOUS SPENDING

You all of the sudden feel the need to upgrade your camera because you want better pictures because EVERYONE is into photography now….Instead, invest in a Scott Kelby book and learn how to improve your pictures with the camera you have.

You see a newly released ebook that the writer says is a must have but stop and think first.  Wait a week or even two to see what others say about it or to see if the writer decides to give it away, which happens often.

Ask if your friends have whatever it is you’re after. Maybe y’all can barter or so

Final Words

I know it’s extremely hard to follow a budget but it’s such a necessary thing to do.  Just remember to stop and think about your purchase first and always do your research.  Research and analysis are key to a successful blogging career.

DO YOU HAVE A BLOGGER’S BUDGET?  OR, ARE YOU IN BLOGGING DEBT RIGHT NOW?

What are some possible offline marketing strategies that you can use in affiliate marketing? The following are just a few of the cost-effective solutions that offer tremendous potential to drive new customers to your website. Consider how you can utilize these techniques to give your sales a boost.

Word Of Mouth Offline Marketing

Word of mouth can be a powerful marketing tool on the web, but it can be just as effective in the offline world as well. Since word of mouth is completely free, this can be one of the best tools for small businesses. Every person who hears about your website represents a potential customer, but the key is to get people talking about what you have to offer.

Start with your existing networks, then begin branching out. Join your local Chamber of Commerce, volunteer to speak and industry events and always be prepared to discuss your affiliate marketing business whenever possible.

Start A Mailing List Or Newsletter

In addition to your online mailing list, it is also a great idea to branch out into offline mail marketing as well. Compile your own contact list, then begin creating newsletters, sales flyers or postcards to distribute to potential customers offline. Another great idea is to post information on public bulletin boards in your community. For example, if your affiliate marketing business sells children’s toys or clothing, it would be a good idea to post a sales letter at local daycares, libraries,  or community recreation centers.

Advertise In Your Local Newspaper Classifieds and Trade Publications

Another affordable way to take advantage of offline marketing strategies for affiliate marketing is to advertise in the classifieds section of your local newspaper. Most newspapers and trade publications have a special section devoted to home-based businesses, which is a great place to highlight your website and let readers know about what you have to offer.

While many people overlook this simple offline marketing tool, these publications generally garner the attention of thousands of interested readers. Write a clean, concise and appealing ad that showcases your business and includes a prominent link to your website.

Become A Guest Speaker For A Radio Or Television Station

Radio and television stations are always on the lookout for articulate experts who can offer valuable information to listeners and viewers. Take advantage of this by contacting area broadcasters to offer your services as a free guest speaker. During your segment, highlight your affiliate marketing business and what you have to offer. These broadcasts have the potential to reach out to a broad audience, which can dramatically increase offline brand awareness and direct more traffic to your website.

While online promotional techniques are still important, never overlook the potential of offline marketing strategies for affiliate marketing. These techniques are often very affordable or even completely free. However, it does require some effort and creativity on your part to discover the best and most effective offline marketing tactics. Start looking for offline marketing opportunities today to start driving more customers to your site and begin increasing your affiliate sales.

Using custom promotional items with your logo can be a great offline marketing tactic and also increase brand awareness.  Do you have any tips to share about how to market yourself or your business offline?

This is your call to action.

Few bloggers get the opportunity to direct their visitors to the next action based on the words in their blog post. But the trick is that every blogger has the key to create action points if you’re formatting your posts correctly.

Not everyone is going to take action. But you need to appeal to people who will by making your post worth doing something with.

So, what exactly do you want them to do? The answer lies within the content of your post. Here are some common action points and how you can get your visitors to take action.

Affiliate Marketing

Your links for affiliate sites should be both hidden and obvious. Visitors should trust that you’re going to lead them to places that are trustworthy and worthy of their time. Taking up your visitor’s time with useless links will harm your reputation.

Make your affiliate links obvious by the anchor text that you use and hidden by using an affiliate link plug-in that makes links appear to go to a different place. I recommend Affiliate Ninja.

Remember, your visitors are at your blog because they enjoy your writing style, you provide useful information, and they trust your words are on target. Ensuring that your links follow those same rules will produce more clicks and help you gain more trust from your visitors.

Deep Linking

Every niche blogger can write a post today and reference at least one previous post within their blog. This is the act of deep linking. If more bloggers would take the time to research their own blog and remember their posts, fewer people would need the “related posts” plug-in to keep visitors on their blog.

The added benefit to deep linking is that you’re supplying anchor text for search engines to associate your blog posts with. This is a major help with search engine traffic and again, like affiliate marking, helps your visitors to know where they’re going to land once they have clicked.

Social Bookmarking

Vital for a lot of bloggers for good traffic, bookmarking posts should be easy for your visitors and be part of every single post you write. For bloggers this is super easy to do. From the Add Me widget to the various plug-ins for WordPress users.

Ensure that you’re ending all of your posts with links to bookmark the post to networking site of your visitor’s choice. While I’d be more than happy to have all my readers bookmark my posts to StumbleUpon, not all of them will because it’s not their preference. By creating the ability to bookmark to several social networking websites, you’re expanding your reach by just one single visitor.

Ask Questions

Nothing will prompt your visitors to comment on your post faster than asking a question. Pertain to the various interests and styles of your readers in a single blog post. Haven’t you ever found that asking questions will capture attention?

So your comments may become a new topic on their own because you asked a question. Isn’t this a great thing?

Creating a comment community and visitors that actually speak to each other and not just you, the blogger, is interesting and draws in a lot of attention. Ensure that you’re holding that attention by being part of the comments that are taking place on your posts. Even if your visitors love to talk to each other, it is you that they come to the blog for. Make sure you remain present, even in your comments.

Final Thoughts

With the next post you format for your blog, think of different ways that you can create a call to action with your visitor. Whether it be to visit another area of your site, click on an affiliate link, bookmark your post, or just comment. You can have the blog visitors, traffic, and income revenue that you want if every single post internally focuses on your goals.

Have you tried a call to action on your blog posts? What was the outcome from your visitors?