I haven’t had time to read all the tips and resources mentioned on the post, but I thought what a great service it is for the ProBlogger to compile this list of Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers that I’d better book mark it here as a post so that I can go back and read more at leisure. I’m not exactly a ‘new blogger’ anymore, but I learn something new everyday. Especially since I didn’t really take blogging seriously until a year ago, I could use all the tips on the technical side and marketing side of blogging.

The post covers topics such as:

1. Posts on Starting a Blog – read posts on how to choose the right blogging platform, choosing a domain name, how to choose a topic or niche for your blog, and tips on how to start blogging successfully.
2. Writing Blog Content – its been said over and over again, ‘content is king’ in blogging. Read articles on how to craft a blog content, how to come up with ideas to blog about, where to get them, and more.
3. Blog Promotion/Finding Readers – when I first started blogging, I never even thought of promoting my blog. I was still operating on the Field of Dreams idea that ‘if you build it, they will come’. Well, blogging is not the field of dreams. Better go read the ProBlogger’s tips on how to find an audience.
4. Making Money from Blogs – once you have an audience and decent traffic coming to your blog, you can start making money from it. Yes, it’s possible. I would never have thought that I could make money from blogging but yes, you can. I am, and I am by no means an expert.
5. Further Reading and Resources on Starting a New Blog – when you’ve read all the basic tips, go on and keep reading. It will keep you on your toes and keep you sharp. It will also keep you blogging

Thanks for the memories, BlogRush, it was good while it lasted.

I just received an email that BlogRush, creator of the blog link widget that you’ve probably seen in some blogs, mine included, have decided to shut down their service. They request that if you have their widget on any of your blogs, to remove it. I think their server have already disconnected anyway as I noticed that on the two blogs that I had it on, they are no longer showing up. I went ahead and removed the code anyway.

BlogRush was a free service and it was a neat way to find other blog posts that are related to your topic. I had discovered quite a few blogs from their widget and I had also gotten some traffic from their widgets. But I suppose that happens in business. Try it out if it works and if it doesn’t work for you, know when to pull out.

Good luck to the BlogRush team in their future endeavors. As one who availed of the free service, thank you.

Speaking of promoting your blogs, I blogged about promoting your blog on Forum Finder previously and told you about how you can win $25 in addition to gaining readership for your site.

Well, since I joined forum finder, I have increased the readership of this blog and other blogs I run, made new friends, discovered new sites to visit, and now, I also have some hard cold cash! How awesome is that?

Why don’t you come and join the fun. Visit Forum Finder and learn how to start attracting people to your blog. That’s guaranteed. On top of that, you’ll also gain much more.

I’ve been using StumbleUpon to find new sites and to promote my websites. Once your post gets discovered on SU, you will immediately notice a spike in the number of visitors to your post. This happens often enough and before you know it, you’ll have developed regular readers. Of course you still have to provide them something good to read to keep them coming back.

If you had a post that has just been ‘Stumbled’ (you’ll know by the sudden increase in your viewership) you can check who’s been stumbling your post by clicking on the white bubble on the Stumble toolbar. Recently, I just realized what the ‘Send to’ button next to the white bubble on the SU toolbar is for. It means if you found a website or post you’re excited about, even if it’s your own, then you can send an alert to your SU friends to check it out. If they like it, more thumbs up for you. So it helps a lot if you have a network of friends on SU.

HOWEVER….
You knew that was coming, didn’t you

You can’t abuse the system either and just use it solely to promote your site. Some people have been doing this and I guess doing it A LOT. So StumbleUpon is now updating its algorithms to prevent some of these abuses according to this article: StumbleUpon Has Updated its Algorithms.

What does it mean for you who wants to promote your site?

1. You can’t discover your own site anymore. – Start making friends and get them to Stumble it for you
2. Stumble out of sequence from your friends – if you have a group of friends who are Stumbling each other’s site, don’t go down your list to Stumble. They are now looking for similar Stumbling patterns. This is one of those times when being random is a good thing.
3. Stumble other random sites – even if they don’t benefit you. This gives your stumbling habit some variety.

Some of the tips above, I usually do already anyway. Why? Because StumbleUpon is also a good source of blogging ideas. Don’t just use it to thumb up your posts and your friends’ posts. Use it when you have writer’s block and don’t know what to blog about. Sometimes we bloggers get stagnant visiting the same blogs on our blogroll all the time and we forget that the internet is expanding and growing every minute. There is always something new out there just waiting to be discovered. Click that Stumble! button and see what comes up. Thumb it down or Thumb it up, either way you’d have seen a new website you probably hadn’t visited before. And if you happen to Stumble across one of mine or one of your friends’ don’t forget to give us a Thumbs Up.

So if you haven’t already, download the toolbar and start Stumbling.