Karlonia.com

Like anyone who is in the business of creating content for a living, we bloggers sometimes have to deal with the phenomenon of writer’s block. This article by Jeff Johnston explores some of the common causes of this condition and describes a technique called freewriting that can be used to overcome it.

Writer’s block is the bane of any writer. Most of us, if not all of us have experienced it at one point or another in our writing career. For those of you who don’t know what it is, writer’s block is a condition that occurs when a writer sits down to write something and cannot get anything to appear on the page. It is a mental block that seems to cease all creative thought. There are many causes of writer’s block:
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As you have probably noticed by now, the visual theme of the site has changed. The new theme is called “Independence Day” and was created by JTk (yes, that is how he spells it) at imjtk.com. This seems like a good choice for now since it happens to be July 4th and I have been searching for something other than the default theme that I could easily use but still modify to my liking later.
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Leo di Milo has launched a new blog called IdiotAffiliate.com that is quickly becoming a valuable resource of information for novice webmasters and affiliate marketers. I was an avid reader of his site DrunkOnLife.com back in the heyday of autosurfs and HYIP around 2-3 years ago, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn about his latest project. Here is an excerpt from an email newsletter that I received from him a few days ago:

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Since the beginning of this blog, I have been debating about what to do with the design of the site. For those of you who do not recognize it, the current design is the Kubrick theme, which Wordpress blogs now begin with by default. While I have nothing against this particular theme, it has become apparent that I must eventually change it to something with a more “professional” look if I want to promote this blog with any real vigor. Otherwise I run the risk of being regarded as a clueless newbie (or worse) even if my content is of a relatively high quality. However, I am not really much of a designer or programmer, so instead of getting bogged down in time-consuming, headache-inducing internal debates over which theme to use or how I should customize it, I have decided that the best course of action for now is to simply declare an open thread and let you, the readers, make suggestions on what kind of theme or design you would like to see.
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Today I have removed the nofollow attribute from all comment links by installing the Nofollow Case by Case plugin, thus allowing all commentators to receive credit for links back to their sites.

By default, WordPress blogs automatically apply the “rel=nofollow” tag to all links in the comments section, which prevents those links from being followed by search engine spiders or counted in Google’s page rank algorithm. Ostensibly this was done in order to prevent spam and abuse of SEO practices, but recently a growing number of bloggers have begun rebelling against this one-size-fits-all type of system. Several plugins have been created that remove the nofollow attribute from all links in the blog so that comment authors who add content to the site can receive credit for their links. Bloggers who have discovered the existence of such modifications and actually use them become part of the NoNoFollow community, alternatively referred to as DoFollow or IFollow.

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Although this is an area where my current skill set leaves something to be desired, I know that high quality content alone will not guarantee traffic or inbound links. Design matters too; if the appearance of a site is so unappealing that it drives visitors away, then they will not even bother to read my carefully crafted content. So after researching this subject and combining my findings with comments from other people on this issue, I have discovered 8 simple ways in which a blog’s design can be improved without having to spend lots of money on web development.
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One of the key issues that many of us struggle with as newbie bloggers is the topic of post length. Is it better to write longer, more detailed posts or to keep them short? Like a lot of things in life, the answer seems to be a resounding “it depends”. After scouring the Internet for clues and doing some thinking on this topic, I have discovered five important considerations that should be taken into account when deciding how long your posts should be.
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Creating better quality content is arguably the single best thing you can do for your blog. In order to create better content, you need to be able to use the written word effectively so that you can connect with your readers and maintain their interest over time. Here are ten things that you can do to make better use of your words.

1. Use strong keywords in text and links

Although it is always a good idea to write for actual human readers instead of writing only for search engines, using well-chosen keywords that are relevant to the topic of your article is still one of the best ways to improve the overall visibility of your blog. You can use some of the free keyword research tools offered by Google AdWords, Overture, or Wordtracker to get ideas for good keywords and then refine them to suit your specific needs.

2. Get to the point quickly

Many people who scan blogs, feeds, and search engine results do not have the patience to read past the first two or three sentences unless they see something interesting. Therefore it is important that you capture their attention by telling the reader what the main point of your article is within the first two sentences. If you ramble too much in the first paragraph without getting your message across clearly, the reader is very likely to click away from your blog instead of reading the rest of your content.

3. Edit your post for clarity and relevance before publishing

In order to translate good ideas into good writing, editing is necessary to clarify the exact meaning of your words. This includes not only adding relevant content to support your ideas but also removing unnecessary and/or irrelevant content to increase your post’s power and effectiveness.

4. Create content that stands the test of time

Although difficult to do in the case of news-oriented blogs, it is always useful to write articles that contain the kind of enduring wisdom that maintains its relevance with the passage of time. With the exception of a few major historical events, most current events and fads will not be remembered 20 or more years from now. But solid advice on finance, lifestyle, personal growth, and other similar topics never goes out of style.

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