Every Blogger Should Check Out What Empire Avenue Has To Offer

If you're serious about building an audience for your blog and getting people to see it, check out Empire Avenue. I just recently found the site and signed up about a month ago and it's been great to me so far. It's like a social networking stock market where people are the commodity being bought and sold.

It's a really neat concept that actually measures a person's online worth through how they interact with others in their online activities. It's free to sign up, but I must warn you, it's quite addicting. There's a lot of benefits to getting yourself signed up and start doing some networking, trust me it will help you to make connections with some well known people in different niches. I've seen my traffic rise on my sports blog site and on all my social media platforms as well.

Some people approach it as a game and I'm fine with that, but I'm in it for the long haul. I'd love to hear what your thoughts are after you go and check it out for yourself.

The Power Of Facebook And Why You Should Use It For Your Blog

We all know that Facebook is huge, but I didn't realize how huge until coming across MarketingTechBlog.com and seeing their post and slideshow on Facebook. I'm now convinced more than ever that I must learn more about how to use Facebook so that my sites may get the maximum benefit. I wish they would make the platform more user friendly because I struggled to learn the basics and almost gave up on the network, but they have made some improvements since I started.

I will post the slideshow on here for you to see and will link to the article that goes with it in case you'd like to read it. What are your thoughts on Facebook?

Facebook: The Largest Marketplace on Earth

View more presentations from Douglas Karr

Related articles

• 4 Facebook Marketing Tactics You Might Not Know About (seomoz.org)

New Bloggers Need To Be Active In The Blogosphere

 You need to work really hard in the beginning as a new blogger if you want to build a successful blog. I'm talking about more than just getting your site up and posting some articles because that happens everyday with new blogs popping up like a bag of Jiffy Pop Popcorn. You need to get out into the blogosphere and start interacting with other bloggers by leaving comments on posts. Don't just leave the standard "good post" comment because that doesn't really help you in any way. You need to leave good comments that can add value to the post you have just read and it's ok to disagree with someone as long as it's done in a professional tone.

I have learned that commenting can help you to build your credibility online and also generate new traffic to your site. Plus it can help add to your PageRank in the search engines which is what everyone likes. I really didn't buy into the commenting theory when I first started blogging because I was thinking that it would be time better spent working on my site and improving my online skills, but that is warped thinking now that I look back on it. I'm not telling you that you need to  leave a novel sized comment on every post that you read on another site, but you want to start getting your name and blog out there for people to start seeing it.

Commenting is just another tool for you to use in building your blog and it really does have value for you. I don't ever leave a comment or link to someones post or their blog and expect anything from them in return. I do it because it is of value to my site readers and it would be nice if I get links and comments in return, but I don't sweat it because thats not my style.

RSS Feeds Can Generate Huge Free Targeted Traffic To Your Site

If you want to get some free targeted traffic to your blog I found a great way to do it with RSS Feeds. On my other site, Beltwayboysports.com  I got a big boost in my site traffic last month after I started to syndicate RSS Feeds into my site. In March I had 18,215 page views for the whole month. For the month of April it jumped to 47,851 page views and I didn't start syndicating the feeds until April 10th. After I saw a little jump in my traffic I added a few more feeds and the traffic really started to take off. I made sure to add only sports feeds that my readers would be interested in reading. I installed the plugin FeedWordpress and have been more than happy so far! I have made sure to keep the posts as-is and keep the authors names because I don't want to be viewed as a fraud. I had been going crazy trying to create content and learn all the aspects of building a successful sports blog at the same time and this plugin has been wonderful!  

A Must Read For New Bloggers

I just finished reading David Meerman Scott's book, The New Rules Of Marketing And PR, How To Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media To Reach Buyers Directly. Mr. Scott is an expert in online marketing and strategies. The way in which Mr. Scott lays out his concepts and actual examples is very easy to understand. The book has value to anyone from a beginning blogger to a seasoned online veteran.  I didn't know that bloggers were able to issue press releases, I think that is so cool! He also covers the power of blogging, podcasting, videos, social networking and search engines. I'm glad that I found the book because it actually helped connect the dots on several questions I had. The best thing is that 90% of the ideas Mr. Scott explains in the book are free to use. You can get your name and site seen by a great many people online for free and can grow your audience at the same time! It's a win-win situation!

5 Blogging Tips To Grow Your Audience

1. Post frequently when you first start your blog
2. Post comments on other blogs that you read
3. Respond to comments and emails that your readers send to you
4. Don't try to push crappy products to your readers for the sake of making a dollar, because they will not remain your readers for long. 
5. Join the social networking party with Twitter, Digg and all the others that are out there in the Blogosphere.

There are plenty of other tips for growing your readers and gaining traffic to your site, but the main thing is to get out here and join the party! Good luck and have some fun!