January, 2011

Blueprint To Deal With Your Blog Design

Its often tempting to make things perfect. In making things perfect, we start the lazy habit of procrastination.

In psychology, procrastination refers to the act of replacing high priority work or actions or tasks with low-priority actions, and thus putting off important tasks to a later time.

Small Case Study!
I had a client who was so tied up in making her blog look exactly the way she wanted it to look, that she didn’t have 3 articles up on her blog for a month or two. And after having 8 articles and spending day and night(with lot of excitement) tweaking the theme she felt like, blogging isn’t for her! She had great expectations. She had read a lot of success stories for years. After a long procrastination she had finally taken action and had registered a domain and bought a hosting account, and had published 8 articles on her blog. Owff…that’s a lot of work, isn’t it 🙂

It can happen to anyone
Procrastination isn’t anyones asset. It can happen to anyone. Many times we advice a lot, and we ourselves procrastinate. The best way to deal with all these is to plan before hand. Now planning and procrastinating doesn’t help!

Plan And Take Action
Make design changes along the way..along with blogging. Don’t think you will finish the design aspects of the blog once for all and after that start with blogging. If you think so, then you may never start blogging; the actual content generation process. Because, no design can be perfect. You will comeup with some design changes once in a while, more often in the beginning days of your blog. Its so overwhelming and distractive to keep making the changes, tweaks, optimization.

After a long period of procrastination, we somehow manage to sit down and start writing something for the blog. Suddenly a design issue starts interrupting our mind. Immediately we leave writing and start to fix the design issue. After we finish with that, we start browsing some blogs and immediately fall in love with some design elements – like a social media button. Now we want it on our blog too. Start with figuring that out. At the end of the day, you will still be procrastinating!

It seems like you have been working all day long, but at the end of the day it’s about results or the outcomes of your action that matters. My advice would be to reserve certain period of time for the most important activity for your blog or business. Do it with full focus. If you choose to work 3hrs or 2hrs a day? Make sure you only work on one big thing, the most important thing, with full attention.

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” —- Tony Robbins

So, am I suggesting to forget all other things and only concentrate on content generation? No, not exactly!

First of all, people subscribe/read your blog and they are here for content. If the content is good enough, they will stick around. But what if the design is too good, but there is no content for a long time.

So my advice would be to, start blogging immediately and make design changes once in a while.

Here is my blueprint:
You can’t fix a day in the week or month to think of design changes, tweaks, optimization etc. Because, on that day you may not be able to come up with creative design ideas.

So, what I do is, keep a note book or a file on my computer wherein I write down the design changes, tweaks, optimization ideas that strikes my mind every now and then. I also make sure to prioritize the listed items. I put the most important and urgent task at the top of the list. This file is dedicated to the look and feel of the blog. For new blogs, you can choose a day in 2 weeks or a day in a month and start working on the design, tweak/optimization works one at a time from the list. Make sure to implement as many changes as you can from the list.
If you could do only 10 out of 25 items that day, then postpone the other works for the next schedule. This way, you will make sure that the most important changes has been accomplished.

If some design tweak requires help from others, then mail them or post on any online forum and keep it pending and carry on with the rest of the things in the list according to the priority.

This way, you will be spending most of your time on the major aspect of your blog, that is “CONTENT” and you will not be neglecting the rest of the things that make up a good user experience on your blog.

Even if your blog is established and has a good looking design and usability factor, make sure to take a day in a month and do some improvements on it. Often times we get lazy to edit the theme and put on some code, affiliate link or help link etc. Make sure you don’t procrastinate any more with your blog/business. Don’t take it granted, make sure you work for it. Don’t forget, the subscriber count you see in your feedburner account are real people watching/reading your blog!

PS: So, should I say this: “Content Is STILL King!“

Adsense Revenue Share: Google/Publisher

Mayank,

Q: There are many ad networks which reveal the total percentage of revenue share they give to their publisher.
What percentage of earnings does Google share with their adsense publishers ?

Google didn’t reveal this until many bloggers and economists started guessing the revenue share based on their quarterly reports. But now Google itself has revealed the exact numbers. So we hope these numbers are accurate.

To look into it yourself, log into your adsense account. Navigate to My Account tab, scroll down and under the Property Information you will see the percentage of revenue share between Google and You(the publisher).

What Google has to say about this:

For displaying ads with AdSense for content, publishers receive 68% of the amount Google collects from advertisers. For AdSense for search, publishers receive 51% of the amount collected from advertisers. These percentages are consistent, regardless of a publisher’s geographic location, and are not in any way averaged between publishers. We don’t disclose the revenue share for other AdSense products; the revenue share varies for other products due to different costs of developing and supporting these products.

We believe our revenue share is extremely competitive. However, revenue shares alone can be misleading, so we encourage you to focus on the total revenue generated for your site. For example, if the Google ads on your site generate $100, with our 68% revenue share you’d receive $68 through AdSense. Another ad network might offer an 80% revenue share, but only collect $50 from advertisers, so you’d receive $40.

With the vast number of advertisers competing to appear on AdSense sites, our system ensures that you’re earning the most possible for every ad impression you receive.

So, publishers get 68% for AdSense for Content, 51% for AdSense for Search. And Google doesn’t reveal the revenue share for its other products, as it depends on many other factors.

Interview with Expert Freelance Writer: Ali Hale

Ali Luke(Ali Hale, is now Ali Luke as she got married in September 2010 ) is one of my favorite writers. I have been following her blog from a year now. And I enjoy all her writings, especially when she writes series articles. They are so catchy, sticky and yet so simple to follow. You can improve your writing kills just by following her writing.

She is a blogger, writing coach, she provides jury service, staff blogger and an inspiring human being. Recently she teamed up with Daniel Scocco and started Freelance Writing Course at DailyWritingTips.

With out much ado, lets get started with the interview.

1. Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hey! 🙂 I’m Ali Luke, a writer and writing coach. I live in Oxford in the UK. I write for a number of big blogs, and I’ve also written for magazines. I also run my own blog, aliventures.com and sell my own ebooks and ecourses.

2. How did you get started with freelance writing.

I started out by writing guest posts for big blogs, and landed a couple of paid gigs from that. I had a full-time day job in technical support/testing at this point, so pretty soon, I was getting up before 6am to write before going to work. It was hard for a few months, especially once my paid work really started taking off — but then I was making enough to quit my day job.

I saved up for several months so that I had an “emergency fund” which really helped – not just because I had money in the bank in case I didn’t get much work, but also because I changed my spending habits. Most freelancers don’t earn all that much to begin with, so it definitely helps if you can live fairly frugally.

3. Do you promote your freelance articles? How important is it to promote it or is it not that important

I’ll often tweet about an article, but not always. I find that the blog’s editor tends to do any promotion, and they usually have a much bigger following than me! So it’s not too important, though there’s no reason not to.

Sometimes I’ll link to my freelance pieces from my own blog, if they’re on topic. Again, I don’t think there’s any real need to do this, but if it’s useful to readers, why not?

4. Writing articles for your blog v/s writing for other blogs as a freelance writer. What’s your view ?

Well, I love doing both, as you might have guessed! 🙂 Writing as a freelancer is great, not just because you get paid, but because you can learn so much from working for an experienced blogger. Plus, you’ve got access to a big audience — great for feedback.

On the other hand, I love writing on my own blog, Aliventures, where I can put a bit more of “me” into my posts and write about anything I like. If a post doesn’t do too well, it’s no big deal — whereas in my freelance work, I want every post to be a hit!

5. How much profitable is freelance writing. As an industry, how is it growing and where do you see it in the future.

I believe it’s a growing industry. More and more people are devouring online content — and there’s a constant demand for new writing.

One problem is that there’s a lot of poor content out there, and editors who’re just paying as little as they can in order to get any content. This harms good freelancers, and creates a bad impression on readers.

It can take a bit of time to find good writing jobs. In my experience, the best jobs come from personal connections — getting to know editors on Twitter, sending them guest posts, and so on.

6. Being a freelance writer means it involves a lot of writing. How do you find time(along with your masters degree studies), topics, motivation to keep going. Basically, how do you deal with the deadlines ?

I’ve finished the masters’ now, so that helps! I had to be quite organised, with my masters’ degree deadlines and with client’s deadlines — I usually set aside particular days for particular tasks. For instance, I’d do my paid blogging on Mondays, and generally have Thursdays and Fridays for course work.

In terms of motivation, I think it helps not to get behind or overwhelmed! When you feel on top of things, it’s easy to keep going.

7. How to land big freelance writing projects which pays more.

Build up a strong relationship. Few people will hire you for a huge project without knowing a bit about you. So look for smaller jobs first — for instance, I started by guest posting for one particular blog, then worked there as a regular paid author, then stopped doing regular work but took on occasional higher-paid blog pieces for them, and finally launched an ecourse as a joint-venture with them. (That’s slightly different from straightforward freelancing, but not very different!)

8. What’s your advice to over come “writers block” ?

I personally never get writer’s block. I do sometimes get “writer’s laziness” though 😉

It helps to take breaks. No-one can write for hours a day, seven days a week. Give yourself the weekend off, at least once in a while! When you’re really struggling to write, it’s often best to just stop for a bit.

On the other hand, if you just feel a bit reluctant to sit down and get started, the best thing you can do is sit down at the computer, open up that document, and get going. Often, you’ll find that initial resistance just vanishes. You might want to use a timer (e.g. ticktocktimer.com) and tell yourself that you just have to write for 15 minutes, or even 5 minutes.

9. Your top 3 secrets to be the best freelance writer and to be ahead of the competition.

1. Always deliver good work. If a job is badly paid, don’t take it — even if you think you can turn out some piece of scrappy content in ten minutes. It harms you to have bad work out there with your name on it.

2. Be professional. That means meeting deadlines, replying to emails, and approaching editors in a polite and respectful way.

3. Build up good relationships with other freelancers. They aren’t necessarily your competition — how about viewing them as colleagues? If you get offered a job that’s not quite right for you, perhaps you can pass it on to a fellow freelancer (and they may well return the favor in the future).

10. Some tips to write articles more effectively.

1. Set a timer when you’re writing. I know it sounds like a tiny thing, but it makes a real difference — it helps you stay on task.
2. Plan out your article before you write. Jot down your subheadings, for instance. This makes it much easier to get the piece written (and it’s more likely to be a good, well structured piece, too).
3. Keep a list of ideas so that you’ve always got a starting point. Sitting down with a completely blank document in front of you can make your brain go blank, too!

11. Things to include in the freelance portfolio or service page/landing page

Explain clearly what you do. Ideally, pick a particular specialisation — that might be a type of content (blog posts, sales pages, SEO pieces) or a subject area (parenting, sports, health, etc).

I think it’s a good idea to give an indication of your rates, though not all writers want to do this.

Make it very clear how to contact you! I know this sounds obvious, but it’s really easy to miss out. Just having a “Contact” page on your site isn’t enough — put your email address, or at least a contact form, on your services page too.

Include testimonials, if you have any. And put in some links to pieces that you’ve written (ideally freelance ones, but they could be good pieces on your own blog).

Anything more you would like to tell our readers..

If you’re looking to get started as a freelance blogger, check out my Staff Blogging Course, The Blogger’s Guide to Effective Writing. It’s currently only $29 but I’m rewriting it at the moment (and will be charging more for the new version). Anyone who buys the current version will get the updated one for free, so it’s worth buying it now!

GMail Desktop notifications for emails and chat: HTML5

Google has introduced yet another innovative feature! Innovation, not because its desktop notification, but because its HTML5 based desktop notification. Its currently working only for those who have enabled it and using Chrome. They are working to make this feature available on other browsers too.

To enable this, use chrome and login to your GMail. Goto Settings. Enable notification and save it.

Chat notification example:

Email notification example:

Browser settings:
Open Google Chrome browser. Goto Options -> Under The Hood tab -> Privacy -> Content Settings. Or click on the settings icon on the chat or email notification.

Source: GMail Blog
Do you prefer to enable this feature or let it be disabled ?

My Dell Studio XPS 8100 Stopped Working: Troubleshoot

Usually my computer will be ON 24×7(like most of your computers!). When I sleep, I let my computer download some stuffs for me. It may be some movies, music or any trial software or Windows 7 updates. Thanks to Karnataka(state) government for their frequent power outages, so that I shutdown my computer once in a while.

One day when I woke up, my computer was turned off, I thought there might have been a power failure at night. I tried to switch on my pride(Dell Studio XPS 8100), but to my surprise and shock, there was no response from my computer 🙁 It was all dead silent. I tried all the tricks I had learnt in my life, but no luck. I knew, if I call customer care and if they pick up my call after 5 – 8 tries and 30 – 45 minutes of wait, they will tell me to unplug all the wire and plug it in again and try to restart the computer. I did all these things, when nothing worked I tried my final option; that is to call customer care!

It wasn’t a complete surprise when no one picked my call until I tried 6 times with lot of persistency. Finally a girl received my call, talked so politely, heard all my problems, situation and calmly told that she will connect me to the technical team! Again, the wait began and finally I heard a guy answering my call: “Hey its Mark, how may I assist you”. Out of curiosity I asked him, where are you talking from? He said, Australia.

By this time, I had already gone into phonesia!

Phonesia: The affliction of dialing a phone number and forgetting whom you were calling, just as they answer!

I had no hopes of getting my PC fixed by the Dell support team via phone. I was worried about the data in my hard disk, I was worried about my business etc.

With all these, I continued talking to Mark. I explained him about the problem and as expected, he told me to pull all the wire behind CPU(Central Processing Unit). But he told me one extra weird thing to do.
He told me to switch off the power, remove the power plug/cable from the computer. And told me to press and hold the start button for 15 seconds.

Well this must be crazy thing to do. But I did it, as Mark told me to do. Because I had no other options left.

After 15 seconds I connected back all the cables and switched on the power and pressed the start button on my computer, and boom, to my surprise..my PC started working! it just gave me a warning message.

I asked Mark about what’s it in pressing and holding the start button for 15 seconds? He was generous to explain me that, there will be a battery(maybe a capacitor) which needs to be charged always. Once it looses its charge it stops responding to the press event of start button. To recharge it, we need to press and hold for 10 to 15 seconds and then it starts to respond like it did before!

Lesson learnt: Be open to learning. Be calm. Know that people who built the system aren’t stupid. Most importantly, Don´t judge too quickly!!

Above video is in no way directly related with this article, but shared it as it has some good message.

If you know any such troubleshoot tips and if you were in similar situation like me, then please share it with us in the comment section.

Upload Videos Longer Than 15 Minutes: YouTube!

Recently YouTube extended the (upload limit) video length from 10 minutes to 15 minutes for all YouTube users, it was a welcome sign for people who wanted to create lengthy video tutorial, how-to’s, entertainment videos etc.

YouTube Partner benefits:
We all know, YouTube Partner’s enjoy a lot more feature, opportunity than normal users; and why not, they bring in huge profits to YouTube and make people comeback to YouTube again and again.

Some of the exclusive partner benefits being:
1. Revenue share.
2. Possibility to upload lengthy videos.
3. Ability to customize the channel page. Make it look like a custom landing page.
4. Add or remove ads from their videos. etc

Good News For Normal Users:
In recent developments, YouTube has started rolling out a new feature to normal YouTube users, where-in people who abide by the rules(hopefully) get the opportunity to upload videos longer than 15 minutes.

To know, if your account has been enabled to upload videos longer than 15 minutes: log into your YouTube account and hit on the Upload button. Now at the top, you should see this message, if your account has been enabled:

Congratulations! Your account is now enabled for uploads longer than 15 minutes. Click the Upload button below to select a video.

if not, then you need to follow all the rules and wait some more time.

YouTube Promoted Videos
Another new thing added is, a link to YouTube Promoted Videos section, where you can promote any of your videos to target audience and pay only when people click on your videos. Well, this is a old thing for people who are familiar with YouTube advertising. But for those who had no clue about the videos that were displayed in the right hand side of their YouTube homepage, will now come to know that they are promoted videos! Every user has a link in their profile’s “Account Settings” to promote their videos now, making it more transparent.

Is this feature enabled to your YouTube account? What’s the maximum length video you have ever uploaded to YouTube so far. If enabled, what kind of videos you intend to upload?

Mobile Number Portability In India: Don’t Be Trapped!

So starting from today( Thursday, 20/02/2011 ), the MNP or the Mobile Number Portability service is available all over India. So far, this facility was avilable only in Haryana(from November 25 2010) in India. Now this facility is available all over India and hence you can retain the same number and switch from one operator to another.

Customers who wish to exercise this option will have to send an SMS from their phone, send PORT ” Your mobile number without quotes ” to 1900. Subsequently, they will get a unique porting code as a reply from the existing service provider. The customer can then apply in the prescribed format, mentioning the code, to the new service provider for porting the number.

New operator should take a maximum of 7 days to process the application. The subscriber will have to pay Rs 19 as porting charge. Once a subscriber shifts to another operator, he cannot port his number again for another 90 days.

MNP has been available in many parts of the world from many years now. Its ironical to see the 2nd largest consumers of the mobile phone in the world(India) is getting this service now. And the 3G spectrum is not still available in all parts of the country. India is a leading country when it comes to technology, but the political situation makes it look poor and backward! If all were good, 4G would have already been implemented in India.

Caution:
I’m sure, now mobile operators will start providing offers which are tied with the number of years! If you stay with them longer, you will get better offer(They may claim). Once you pay for 3 or more years, you will get stuck with them for atleast 3 years and you think you got the most precious offer, and only after some days you will see call drops, surprise SMS fees, high GPRS costs, low internet bandwidth etc. So make sure before committing to any operator for long term.

MNP helpline numbers:
IDEA MNP Helpline: 1800-270-0000 (Toll-free)
Vodafone MNP Helpline: 1800-1234567 (Toll-free)
TATA Docomo MNP Helpline: 1800-266-0000 (Toll-free)
Aircel MNP Helpline: 98020 98020

I wish this MNP brings in more flexibility and peace of mind to customers.

ps: Public notice: It is advised not to line up outside your paanwalla shop for switching to new mobile operator. MNP is starting today, not ending 🙂

* No pending bills with old service provider, before the transfer.
Existing offers ~~and balance amount~~ will not be carried to the new network.