If you are a creative professional, having a blog is very important for you. In this post, I will discuss how you can make your it more engaging with the right kind of blog customization.

• Quality content is truly the king when it comes to creating an interesting blog for visitors who are creative professionals themselves. If you cannot provide helpful information, it is likely that visitors will lose interest in your blog and move ahead to some other site. This is why, it is of utmost importance that you stay updated about the latest happenings in your industry and update your readers regularly.

Do not copy information from other blogs as this would lead to negative impact. However, you can read other blogs and accumulate information and then write a post. If you have to use another source, make sure you put the lines in quotes and provide the URL of that site. This would help readers understand that you are honest, which is important for loyal readership.

• Provide good images. If you are in the field of graphic design, you cannot afford to put up low-quality images. Even if you are using stock images, take care to see that their quality is good. But I would suggest you upload your own creation. This would leave a positive impression on the visitors.

• The categories in your site have to be relevant to what you do. Do not think that putting up lots of categories will attract several readers. Have only the categories that clearly define your area of expertise.

• Customize the icons such as RSS, Share, etc. Unleash your creativity and offer something your visitors may not have seen before. This would automatically impress users who land on your post.

• Solicit user participation. Provide an email newsletter that your readers can subscribe to. Request guest posts and if someone voluntarily wants to post a good guest article for you, let them.
• There must be an ‘about’ page describing yourself and your work. Needless to say, you should emphasize more on the work part. But do not make it too elaborate.

• Put up a ‘search’ field. This is very important. Put it on the top right corner so that people can easily look for something they want to read about.

• Place the ads in strategic places where they would be easily seen but will not distract readers.

• Finally, there has to be a contact page where people can get in touch with you. You never know why some visitor may want to contact you – it could be a new project, some advice or anything else. Make the contact form as simple as possible.

These are some things that can increase the readership of your blog. No matter whether you have been thinking of blog customization or not, I would say this is the time to do it, if you haven’t done it yet.

Best of luck! Don’t forget to share your thoughts!!

Google’s control over the World Wide Web cannot be described in words. Though webmasters are familiar with all the services of Google, this post will offer information regarding the ones that are most important for making your blog successful.

Let’s start with those Google services that are now an integrated part of nearly every website.

Gmail

Take a look at Gmail’s features. This is an email service that lets you handle all of your communication in a single account. Wouldn’t you agree that these following are some wonderful features of Gmail:

• Different mail accounts can be incorporated into your Gmail account. You get to send an email from a single account whereas it would appear as if you have sent it from your other accounts.
• You can receive the emails of your other accounts in your primary Gmail account.
• You can use Gmail as the email service provider for the email of your own website, such as abc@xyz.com
• You can tag different sets of your mails according to various categories and thus save a lot of manual effort that you would have had to put in otherwise, locating mails.
• As a webmaster, you can have multiple email accounts but use all of them from your Gmail account.

Google AdSense

Most people create their own blogs for some or the other financial benefit. If you have a WordPress blog, a number of websites can help you make money from blog customization. One such service is Google AdSense. If you need help with your WordPress website design, you can download a Quick AdSense WordPress plugin from the net.

Google Adwords

Market the WordPress blog you have with the help of Google Adwords. You can now make your blog appear in the ads on other websites which use Google Adsense. For this, you need to spend some money and effort to get the hang of Adwords. Do not forget to use the keyword tool of Google to find out some good keywords for your blogs.

Google Analytics

When you are done creating your blog and it is out there on its own, opt for Google Analytics. This is a tool will help you to not only keep track of your website traffic, but will also analyze the inbound flow of traffic. Use ‘Google Analytics for WordPress’ plug-in and ‘Google Analyticator’ plug-in.

YouTube

If yours is a WordPress blog, it would be a breeze for you to embed some YouTube videos in various blog posts. If you want to use some extended features of YouTube, try these plug-ins:  Tubepress and Viper’s Video Quicktags. If you want your social network to broaden a bit, use YouTube channels.

Google Maps

Utilize the power of Google Maps. You won’t be able to imagine how powerful this tool is. Use the MapPress plug-in. With it, you can include Google Maps in your blog, search for addresses and offer interactive maps to your readers.

Feedburner

As your blog grows, you need this tool to keep track of your subscribers in a variety of ways. Try FD Feedburner Plug-in for WordPress. It comes in various languages so you can use it even if you are not very comfortable with English.

Other Google tools that you can use are – Google Reader, Google Docs, Google Chart Tools, Google Font Directory and Goo.gl URL Shortener

These Google tools will definitely help your WordPress blog become popular.

All the best and do share your opinion.

After creating a blog of your own, comes a series of tasks that would help you popularize it. Known as blog customization, it’s basically implementing some ideas into your blog. This post will discuss those ideas. So let’s get started:

• A page on you – As the author of the blog, you need to take care of the fact that your readers get to know you. Add an ‘about me’ page wherein you will provide information about yourself, what you do, what you like and so on. But present all these info in an interesting manner, otherwise nobody will be interested to know about you. Your ‘about’ page should be interactive and inviting so that people feel like reading more of what your write. Don’t forget to create a ‘contact’ page along with it, where people can get in touch with you easily if they wish to.
• Put the default template away – and bring in a template that goes with your blog. It has to be relevant with the theme of your blog.
• Customize the ’404 error’ page – so that visitors get something nice to look at when they land on an article that you have already deleted. Put a link to your blog’s home page in the ’404 error’ page so that visitors get something to read.
• Optimize your blog and put a ‘search’ button – In addition to blog customization, optimization of the blog is necessary because it will give your blog a prominent position in search engines. Having a search function in your blog will help visitors look for something specific. Also, create relevant and crisp meta tags for every blog of yours with appropriate title, description and keywords.
• Allow your readers to comment – Your blog reflects what you think of something particular. Give a chance to your readers to put across their opinions on the matter you wrote about by keeping a ‘comment’ option at the end of your blog. This will help you build two way traffic.
• Choose a copyright type and put it up on your blog – As your blog becomes popular, other people may want to use your write-ups. Go for a copyright protection and allow or prohibit (whichever you want to) others to use your content.
• Place a plug-in for related content – If you want readers to be hooked on to your blog, put a plug-in to what you have written elsewhere.
• Use Google Analytics – Yes, there is some web development to be done in order to make your blog successful. By using Google Analytics, you will be able to keep track of your visitor count, trace the sources they are coming from and do a lot more. Studying the analysis will let you know what people like to read and you can create your future blogs accordingly.
• Put your blog on various search engines – Not all web-users use the same search engine. You need to be on every popular search engine out there to increase your visitors.
• RSS Feed – The best service to opt for is Feedburner. It will keep you informed about your RSS feeds.
• Have a sitemap – Let your readers navigate with ease on your blog by using a sitemap. If you use an XML sitemap, it will augment your visibility in search engines because it’s easy for search engine bots to crawl an XML sitemap.
• Sign up for Technorati – It is a great community for bloggers like you. You can claim your blog so as to allow your fellow Technorati users to read your writings and link back.
• Sign up for StumbleUpon -  StumbleUpon needs no introduction. If you can index your blog’s home page in StumbleUpon, users will land on it and if they like what they see, they will probably share it with their near and dear ones.
• Submit your RSS feeds to various RSS directories – This would let you easily inform a lot of people about your latest writing.
• Index your blog into different blog directories – Some top directories are BlogDup, BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog. Search the net and you will find several other weblog directories.
• Use social media to let everyone know about your latest blog – Share the link to your blog in various social networks and also in the information box of YouTube when you upload a video.
• If you are part of a forum, spread the word about your new writing there – Post your blog’s URL in your signature and talk to other members in the forum. Do not try to spam. If your comments are interesting, other members will come to your blog.
• Visit other weblogs and comment – Needless to say, you should leave your Blog URL in the comments you make. A good idea would be to visit and comment on blogs that are relevant to what you have written about. This way, other visitors will be interested to visit your blog.
• Sign up for Google AdSense – If your blog garners success, you can make money from it by using Google AdSense. It will provide you with links relevant to your content.
• Install widgets – This is also a part of your blog customization. You can promote your blog better with widgets.
• Have an option for linkback – Most of the people who read blogs have blogs of their own. If another blog owner likes your blog, he may share your link on his own blog. This would be a nice linkback to look forward to.
• Submit your write-ups in various social bookmarking websites – If you can do that, you may get points from readers and the higher the number of points, the better it’s for you. Some top sites are Del.icio.us, Digg and Reddit.

Now that you are geared up with these ideas, blog customization will be easy for you.

Care to share your thoughts? We are all ears!

Some people start writing a blog because they thing it’s cool, while some are serious bloggers. People get attracted to blogs because they can post their content online, make it available for a global audience and earn money simultaneously. However, every blogger faces some challenges and sometimes gives up on blogging. Here is a list of some commonly faced problems and their solutions.

Eternal wait for comments

This one is probably the most common problem faced by bloggers in their initial stages. Here are few simple tips to get you more comments.

• Post a comment on other people’s blogs- It’s a give and take policy. Unless you post a comment on other’s blog, they won’t post a comment in your blog. Try to find blogs on topics you like, read their post and leave a short but informative comment.

Don’t try famous blogs initially because they might overlook your comments in the sea of comments they receive everyday. Try small but good blogs, maybe of someone who is also a beginner. They will return the favor more easily than reputed bloggers. Once you get 4-5 comments, more people will start leaving comments on your posts.

• Reply to comments- Leave replies to your blog comments for your readers to show them how much you appreciate their feedback. It will create a loyal reader community very soon.
• End your post with a question- What is the best process to get an answer? Asking a question, obviously! When you end writing a post, just add lines like “were my tips helpful?” Or “what is your opinion?” It will encourage your readers to post a comment.
• Try controversial or thought provoking topics- People like either something brilliant or something controversial. If you want faster attention and response from readers, try to write on exclusive topics or cover controversial topics that people often search on the internet.

People not visiting your blog

Every blogger wants more readers no matter he has 10 readers or 10000 readers. To attract new readers and keep the old ones, you should try these methods.

• Are your posts good enough? – Before you start crying for not getting enough visitors, make sure you are offering quality content. Search other blogs on your topic and find out what they are writing and what makes them so good. It can be the tone of language, topic selection, great quality of content to hold attention, etc. Find your shortcomings and eliminate them.
• Guest posts can earn you reputation- There are several blogs that accepts guest posts and they have good readership. If you regularly post a guest article in such blogs, then people will learn about your writing style and will get the links of your blog from the author biography section. If they like your guest article, then they will visit your blog.
• Share links in social media- The best and easiest way to promote your content is to share it in social media. There are several specific news oriented social media where you can post your links. Sites like Digg, StunbleUpon, Facebook and Twitter are good examples of such social media platforms.

Why are you writing?

Every blog has something to say and it can vary from personal opinion to product promotion. When you start a blog ask yourself, “why am I here?” “What will I share?”

• Focus on your subject- If you want to prove that you are an expert on a subject, post exclusive and well researched content. If you want to promote a product or service, write a review on that item and give every detail possible.
• Don’t be whimsical while writing a blog – Maintain the main purpose of the blog throughout. If you are writing electronics gadget review, stick to it instead of suddenly writing a poem in your blog.

Visitors never came back

Sometimes an occasional reader comes to your blog, reads and never comes back again. For the success of your blog, you need repeated visitors and to do that, you should create a community that will follow your every post, leave a reply and promote your articles.

• Integrate RSS feed and send Email newsletter- Unless readers know you have posted something interesting, why will they come back? RSS feed is a good option to share blog feeds instantly. Encourage readers to subscribe for RSS feeds by putting large RSS feed icon in your blog. You can send newsletters to your readers and mention all articles you have posted throughout the week.
• Create a customized blog theme and integrate Twitter/Facebook- Try to make your blog design different from others. If you can’t afford a custom blog design, then try to customize the header or add your photo to give it a more personalized feel. Give your Facebook/Twitter link in your blog so that readers can easily find you in social networks.
• Maintain regular schedule and promote consistently- Make a schedule to post your articles. For example, you can post an article every Monday. If you start doing it consistently, readers will get habituated with it and they will come back to your blog every Monday.

Income from blog is not enough

If you want to earn some money from your blog then have some patience and be realistic in your approach.

• Make a plan- When you want to earn money from your blog there are mainly two options – either you earn from ads posted in your blog or sell your content. To earn from ads, you should concentrate on writing on topics that are frequently searched in internet. Do some keyword research and use keywords in your article so that search engines easily find it. If you want to make money from selling a tutorial or design, then your content quality must be extremely good.
• Build a following- When you have a long term relation with your readers, they start trusting you. Once you have a large number of loyal followers you can easily sell a product or service.
• Solve readers’ problems- The most successful products and services that are endorsed through blogs are those that solve problems for readers. It can be information, a simple app or consulting that solves problems. Try to sell the services or items that can make the readers’ life simple.