1. GUI Interface for Customizing Blog Layout

You get an easy to use GUI (Graphical User Interface) to customize the Theme/Layout. You can customize the Site Layout width, background colour, background image, font size, font colour, font type, number of sidebars, sidebar placement location (left, right), footer, etc. If you know to hack the code, you can customize your site even more.

2. Stats

Blogger offers Detailed Visitor Statistics – Per hour, Per Day, Per Week, etc from within the dashboard. They also show country wise, OS wise, Browser wise split up of audience visiting your blog. You can register your Blogger blog with Google Analytics to get detailed stats reporting, if you wish.

3. List of Following Blogs/ Friend Connect

When you click the profile of a Blogger user, you can see the list of Blogs followed by the blogger. A Blogger user can also see the List of Blogs (and posts) they are following, from within their dashboard. So, there is no need to go to Google Reader to read your favorite blogs. You can even display all your followers using a Friend Connect Gadget in your sidebar. This makes it easier for everyone to read other (perhaps related) blogs and connect with other bloggers. Blogging, is all about connections!

4. Variety of Gadgets

WordPress calls these Widgets. In Blogger there are 1161 Gadgets (the last time I checked) available for showing off in your sidebar and even in the footer. Some innovative Gadgets include Display Image, Slide Show, List of Planned Events, Games, Daily Quotes, Daily Images, Aquarium with Fishes, etc.

5. Google Translate

There is a Sidebar Google Translate Gadget that enables your blog visitors to Translate your blog, without leaving your blog.

6. Native Adsense / Amazon Affiliate Integration

You might not want to monetize your personal blog now. But you might want to do it after 1 or 2 years, as I did. Both Adsense and Amazon Affiliate Network are fully integrated with Blogger and once you are approved in either program, its easy to monetize your site from within Blogger.

7. Blog list with their Latest Posts in Sidebar

Its possible for you to list the blogs you follow in your sidebar. Actually, there is one sidebar Gadget that links to the latest post published by all the blogs you follow and enables your readers to visit other blogs, if they like any of the post titles. Of course, others might come to your site like this too (from other blogs).

8. Own Domain & Email in your Domain

Both Blogger and WordPress.com allow their users to upgrade to a custom domain (Your own URL – yourname.com, instead of yourname.blogspot.com). Of course, this needs to be done at additional cost – Around $10 per year. But for that money, Blogger gives you a free Google Apps account. Among other things, you can use this account to create up to ten email addresses with your own domain like name1@yourdomain.com, name2@yourdomain.com, etc.

9. Support for Different Languages

From within the post editor, you can type in more than 50 languages! Its actually Transliteration – You type in English and it automatically gets converted into the script of the chosen language.

10. Blogger Dynamic Views

This is actually an upcoming feature in Blogger and if you are not aware of it yet

Anyway a feature that you don’t have on Google+ yet is the search one. What if you want to find the profile of people who are not in your Gmail contacts? Or maybe you want to find all Google+ updates that mention your name or your website?

In order to solve this problem I came a across a nice little tool yesterday, called Google Plus Search. It’s basically just a search box where you input keywords and the results will come from stuff inside Google+. After you search you can also filter the results to only “Profiles”, “Posts”, “Google Reader” items and so on.

By the way, how are you guys liking Google+ so far? Are you finding it more useful/relevant than Facebook?

The issue isn’t what you’re saying, but how you’re saying it.

You need to make your content irresistible.

You know that nervous feeling when you finally hit the publish button?

Excitement, fear, joy, and depression all come by to pay you a visit. Some outlast their welcome.

“Will anybody like this? Will my Twitter friends RT this? Do my Facebook friends give a rip? Will this post take off on StumbleUpon and Digg and Reddit or will it get buried on the archive shelf of boring, yawn-worthy, mediocre content?”

It’s the plight of all bloggers. Our self-worth is attached to how many people like and share our content. It probably shouldn’t be, but we pour a lot into our blogs. We lay bare our soul for the world to see.

Wouldn’t you say we should do all we can to make it irresistible for people to share? Content that helps people. Content that spreads because of of the difference it makes in people’s lives.

Well, here are 10 tips for making your content irresistible:

1. Write with conviction

Don’t be boring. Don’t just spit out the facts. Write from a place of passion and honesty. Write from your soul, not just your head. Create a “wow experience for your readers…every time.

2. Write simply

Since most people scan online content, make sure you writing is simple – easy on the eyes and easy to understand. Invest enough time formatting your post.

3. Make it applicable

What do you want your readers to do? Don’t assume they will apply what you write. Give them specific instructions on how to do what you’ve written.

4. Use humor

It’s easy to drone endlessly about facts. Resist this urge. Also, don’t try and be funny if you’re not. Honestly, humor often comes from being honest. Look at your topic and describe how it makes you feel, how it makes your readers feel, and be descriptive. You may just unlock some humor you never thought you had.

5. Create unique headlines

If your headline sucks, say goodbye to anybody reading your content, except maybe your mother. She’ll probably read anything. Online readers are moving fast and if a headline doesn’t jump off the page, capture their imagination, connect with their passion, they won’t read.

6. Do your research

Thoughtful, well-learned people make the best bloggers. Are you constantly learning, constantly developing? It will show in your blogging. Know your niche, know what your readers want, develop an insatiable curiosity for deeper learning. It will show in your writing and people will love it.

7. Solve a problem

Content that spreads is content that helps. Find a problem that your readers have and solve it. This may take time, but it’s worth the investment.

8. Be generous with other’s content

Nobody likes a talking head that ignores everyone else. If you want your content to spread, live it by sharing other’s content. Networking and connecting with other bloggers is so important to your blog’s success.

9. Be kind

If people like you, they’ll be more inclined to share your content. Respond to comments when you can, participate in Twitter conversation, respond to facebook comments. Always be kind. This will increase your likeability.

10. Connect with influencers

The more you connect with influencers, the greater chance your blog has to getting noticed. Comment on their blogs with insightful thoughts. Link to their posts (they will notice). Share their content with passion. Reach out to them and thank them for their expertise.

I believe it’s a worthwhile endeavor for all bloggers to apply these 10 points. It’s not enough to simply write. We need to write in such a way that people actually read, apply, and their lives change because of it.

Whether you’re looking to increase your readers loyalty, improve your website’s accessibility and friendliness, or build a community these tips will help you achieve your goals.

1. Simplify your websites navigation - You should focus on the most important elements of your website and display those in your navigation and eliminate the rest.

It can be very confusing and annoying to make visitors click on everything.

Your navigation should give them clear direction to what your site is about and how to navigate it.

2. Choose an engaging color scheme – Your website should have two or three primary colors that stand out.

You want to break your content apart and allow your audience to see your website as different sections of content

Don’t overdo it though. Too many colors can turn visitors away as quickly as it can entice them stay.

3. Use images to break up the content and add personality – Images have a way of speaking to people the way that words never can.

Use images to convey emotion and draw your audience in.

4. Make your websites header (logo) and tagline stand out – It’s one of the first things a visitor sees on your site and can make your site look either professional or glued and pasted together.

Your headline and tagline should be clean and clearly display what your website is about.

5. Add more calls to action – A call to action is simple and often only a sentence long.

Ask people to comment, twitter your post or take some other action.

Whatever you decide to do get them in the habit of taking action.

In fact don’t forget to comment at the end of this post

6. Create strong, emotional headlines – Other than your posts picture your headline is immensely important.

If your posts title doesn’t get any attention readers aren’t likely to click on your little read more icon.

In fact they will probably ignore your post all together.

7 . Simplify your readability – While your content may make perfect sense to you it doesn’t mean your reader gets it.

Most readers want the information they are looking for to be easy to read, highly memorable, and easily accessible.

8. Offer more at the end of your post – Your post was absolutely amazing, now what?

Did you add a related posts section, a call to action or a request to comment?

If you want people to stay engaged give them more of what they want, or they’ll find it somewhere else.

9. Use sub headlines to break up your content – Most readers like to skim content. I know I do, and I bet you’ve done it too.

If your writing a long post or speaking on multiple topics break your content up with bold, larger, or different color sub headlines.

You’ll please the skimmers and the loyal audience, and most likely get more return traffic.

10. Change your content or change your audience - Your content may be great, monumental even, but if your audience isn’t reading it then you may need to change your audience or change your content.

If they’ve already heard your content a million times over by everyone else, then you need to teach it to an audience that hasn’t heard it as much and wants to learn it.

Or create fresh and new content for your existing audience.

The reason teachers have students is because students don’t know as much as their teachers.

If they did then we’d have no schools.

You need to find fresh minds to grow and build relationships with, which brings me to my next tip.

11. Create a monthly post questionnaire – You know it all don’t you? I know I do (just kidding

Writing a post every month or so and asking your audience what’s most important to them will do wonders for your blog or business.

It’s about as direct as you can get.

Ask them to comment about what’s on their minds, what they need the most help with, and what they think you can do better.

It will help you uncover topics, and idea’s you’ve never thought of “guaranteed!”

12. Build relationships with peers – We all love the A list bloggers, but building relationships with those that are at the same level as us is a great way to gain additional insights, followers, and contributors.

It helps you expand your reach, get your name into the blogosphere, and become known.

One of the best things about sharing idea’s with those in your niche is the motivation that you get.

It helps you reshape your thinking and build new principles to help you reach success.

If these tips have helped you than please contribute in the comment section with your own tips.

I’m sure it will not only help me improve, but help those that read your comments as well.

Your participation is just as important as this post! Thanks again, and have a great week

You need to do this by making whatever you do an event. If you are launching a new ebook on your blog you can’t just write a blog post and tell people you have a book. Well, you can, but your sales won’t be that amazing.

You need to make whatever you are launching something people want to talk about this. One of the tricks I’ve seen people using is designing a few covers for their ebook and letting their audience vote on their favorite cover. The idea is an old one, but not enough bloggers use it. Get people engaged with the product and they will feel more attachment to it.

My Story

I tried launching an e-course that bombed. Well it didn’t bomb, but it wasn’t the success that I thought it would be. It was about how to overcome fear and create a business that makes you happy. Great topic right? For some reason, well many reasons, the product never gained traction.
I didn’t use the advice that I’m going to give you in this post. I didn’t create any build up before the launch. I didn’t do anything fun during the launch. I didn’t do anything fun after the launch was over.

See a pattern?
I was a launch fool.
When marketing your blog and products you have to do stuff that is fun and interesting, otherwise you won’t get people excited about what you do.
Here are 3 new ways to market your blog and products that is fun and also layers your tribe’s engagement:

1. Twitter Parties

The whole concept is getting people to gather on Twitter, win prizes, and learn about your cool product. It’s an amazing marketing tool because it’s improves your social media presence as well as build connections.

I started throwing Twitter parties as a way to just mess around and have some fun then I asked Michael Port a bestselling author if he would like me to throw him a party. He didn’t even need for me to explain the whole concept, he loved the idea. We threw the party for his audience and it was a smashing success.

The reason I love Twitter parties is because they aren’t the conventional way of marketing. You create an event, give away some prizes, have some fun, and build deeper connections with people. It’s so much more fun than buying ads on Facebook and much more engaging.

Everyone wins. The people who participate meet new people and win prizes. You gain new followers who if they like what you do become buyers.

2. Facebook Photo Contest Giveaway

Facebook is one of the more difficult social media tools. It’s great to connect with friends, but a little harder to build a relationship with a stranger.
Most of your Facebook giveaways should be on the smaller. Too grand like an iPad and you end up with a bunch of people that are just there to win a prize and don’t care about what you do.

Gretchen Rubin gave away copies of her book The Happiness Project. It was a way to reward people who are already fans and hopefully encourage those fans to convince their fans to join in. It worked for Gretchen because she targeted her audience and used it as a tool to gain a deeper connection without making the offer too sweet and getting people who don’t care about what she does.

You have to really look at how you can build a little more trust with your people by giving something away that fits in line with your blog’s business plan. Once you have something that fits your audience then make sure you make the giveaway a fun event. Make them post a photo that relates to your product. Michael of Social Media Examiner did this well with his book launch. This is a great way get people sharing and talking with each other. You can’t do it all and you need your tribe to support each other.

3. Offer Your Superpower in Exchange for some Promotion

I know this is an old technique, but I included it here because social media has added a new twist to this powerful too.

You have superpowers that other bloggers need. You need to share this superpower with bloggers that have a larger audience than you. The idea is to create a winning situation for the both of you.

I’m not talking about just offering your copywriting services to J.D. of GetRichSlowly.org and hope he links to you. I want you to create something that will be an event for another blogger. Something that you can create that helps them get exposure too.

Let’s say you are a copywriter. You can offer another blogger a guest post and also offer to review someone’s ebook or salespage to the person that leaves the best comment. You can make the rules, so do it in a fun way that gets people talking.

The bigger blogger gets a guest post, his readers get to win a prize and you get to show your authority on copywriting. It becomes so much more than just you helping another blogger. It becomes a win-win-win.

“I’m more lucid about my own work if I have got something to distract me” said Spielberg of his peculiar practice. “I can be making a movie and then I can go off that movie for a half an hour while they are lighting the set and I can be looking at the script and making changes with the writer on my next movie.”

To most people Spielberg’s appetite for distractions is a little puzzling. To them it sounds counter intuitive at best and downright destructive at worst. After all, why would somebody purposely seek out interruptions while working on a project?

Spielberg’s Subjectivity Problem
The answer comes down to what Spielberg calls the subjectivity problem. When you are working on a piece – be it an article, a music track or a film scene – you get too involved and lost in your work. You lose perspective of how a first time viewer would see the work. In Spielberg’s words, you lose your objectivity, which he defines as “losing sight of what you are doing and not being able to see it from the 15th row back, where the audience lives.”

The only remedy for this problem is time away from the work at hand. You have to take a step back from that piece in order to gain a fresh perspective. But spending time away from work is counterproductive as it wastes time. It slows down the rate at which you can create content.

This is where the Spielberg method comes into play. Rather than working on one project at a time, he works on multiple projects. That way the time away from one film is time spent on another. That is, the down time of one project becomes the up time of another project – allowing Spielberg to complete more projects in less time without sacrificing quality.

How to Turn Downtime into Work time
If you want to write more quality blog posts in less time, then consider the Spielberg method. Rather than working on one post and seeing it through till the end, work on multiple posts at a time.

When you start feeling stale and lost in one, switch to the next and work on that. Similarly, when you have run out of ideas or lost your train of thought on the second post, jump to the next one or go back to your first post and continue working.

Like Spielberg, you too will find that you return to your blog posts with greater clarity and direction than when you left them.

Blogging typically requires generating loads of content, so if we can find a way to create that content at a more efficient pace it only makes our job that much easier.
Below are 5 action items we can follow to become more productive bloggers.

Create an idea list

Great ideas can spawn anytime, and we need to make sure we have a system to capture those eureka moments before they slip away. Whether you use a sophisticated application like Evernote or just pen and paper, come up with a set way to store blogging ideas and reference it when you are ready to create.

Focus on one article at a time

When it is time to actually write an article, focus on one at a time. While it may be tempting to flip back and forward as ideas pop into the head, it actually makes the final product take longer, while dropping the quality at the same time.

Outline your article

As useless as I thought creating outlines in English class were, I have never found them so important and useful as I do now.

Outlines allow us to visually see all pieces of an article and how we can best craft it together. In relation to blogging, an outline also makes it easier to see where we can link to other articles from our blog and insert any appropriate affiliate links.

Finally, an outline will let us know if the idea is actually meaty enough to be a full fledge article as sometimes the ideas in our head turn out not to be so grand or in-depth when we break it down onto paper.

Write all the way through the article before editing

When putting together an article you may be tempted to stop and go back earlier into the work to fix or add onto something, but that just ends of breaking the current concentration or flow of the article.

Write all the way through the article once, and then edit, remove, and add stuff as you see fit.

Create a checklist for post-article publication

Whether you submit your articles to social bookmarking sites, social networks, or email distribution lists, create a set checklist of tasks that should be done once an article is published.
Perhaps you could even pawn those tedious tasks out to somebody else, and by writing them out it makes it easier to share what needs to be done.

Wrapping it all together

Regardless of where we are trying to improve our productivity, creating a defined list of tasks or action items to follow is a great way to master that activity and achieve increased efficiency.

The less we make our brain focus on administrative tasks, the more free it is to be creative.

If you want to be a more productive blogger, stop thinking about quantity, focus on one article at a time, and rinse and repeat. Before you know it, you will be spitting out great content faster than ever before.

The best way to expose yourself is through guest blogging. Yet how many new subscribers should you expect from a guest post? Twenty-five? Sixty?

I recently Skyped a good friend, and in the course of conversation, he shared an alarming statistic: He had written three epic articles for Problogger … and had ninety subscribers to show for it.

If Stephen worked minimum wage for the amount of time he spent writing those three posts, he would be paying $1 per subscriber. Kind of steep, huh?

Sadly, Stephen is not alone. While I average more than one hundred subscribers each time I guest blog, the typical writer does not.

What am I doing different? What does it take? Reaching these numbers requires three critical pillars.

1. Write unusually great content

There are countless posts published across the web…how can you break away from the clutter? You need to write unusually great content. This content has three rules.

A. Do not talk to yourself

Instead, talk to your audience. Your writing must hold its own with few first-person pronouns. Only refer to personal stories that enhance your prose. You are bringing your readers along a journey, and this cannot be interrupted with meaningless diary.

Everything you write must be relevant to your reader, or you will lose her.

Failure to talk to your audience is much more common than you think. Study copywriting, and ditch your trash.

B. Keep it sticky

After all, this is what readers are looking for.

State your position in no uncertain terms. Make it easy for your adversaries to criticize you – and for your followers to support you. As Brian Clark once said, the middle of the road is the best place to get run over. Do not sit there.

Refrain writing what everyone already knows. Be controversial. Nobody likes to read an article that anybody can agree to.

C. Write correctly

Otherwise, you are undermining your credibility. It is shocking how many articles with potentially viral content fizzle out because they are poorly written.

Take blogging seriously.

Rewriting good content to make it great is vastly underrated and seldom exercised.

2. Send this to a popular blog in your niche

Blast a brief (but compelling) email with your article the blog owner and wait patiently. Go easy – it was a full 8 days before I heard back from my first major post.

Remember, readers are much more likely to subscribe to your blog if your post appears on a blog in the same niche. Stephen’s example has demonstrated what happens when you do not observe this.

Pick your sandboxes carefully. They must be large, but they must be relevant.

3. Have a seductive atmosphere awaiting your traffic

This involves just two steps.

A. Match the quality of your guest post with your own articles

Your dynamite guest blogging will heavily resonate with readers, but this is all a pure waste if you cannot match the quality on your own estate.

Visitors scan your blog to decide if they will subscribe. Often, they flip through several pages of archives while making that decision.

To win them, your every post must be top notch.

B. Place attractive signup forms in prominent places

Make them as big as you can. Place them wherever you can. Ask for the subscription early and often, and state why readers will profit from this exchange.

Demote the social icons. Place them lower in your sidebar. If you have fewer than 100 subscribers, get rid of them completely.

Make your “call to action” very obvious. You want email addresses, and nothing else will suffice.

If you give more than one call to action, visitors will be less likely to respond to any of them. But if you capture email addresses, they will be back later for the social aspects.

I recently made a Facebook fan page for my blog. I needed 25 people to like it before I could give it a proper username, so I pinged my list asking them to connect. Before nightfall, I hit my goal. This works.

Take a peek at the popular blogs around town (this one included). See how their large, inviting forms are hovering near the top?

Is that it?

Although these three steps are straight forward, they are rarely done well. But with a little determination, you can be busting one hundred new subscribers every time you guest post.

Listen, I get as much bad luck as you do, so I know you can do this.

When will you start writing?

The formula is to know what you are getting into:

• Do your homework.
• Be ready for the hard work.
• Be passionate about the subject.
• Be clear about the plusses, minuses, expense, time, effort, & everything else that makes people successful and rich bloggers.

And finally give your goal your best and most patient shot. Remember, that just because your friend or cousin is making great money out of her traveling blog is no reason for you to start a traveling blog, especially not, if you are a fitness freak and happen to be an instructor at the gym.

Your fitness blog is likely to earn you money like you haven’t been able to imagine. And fitness blogging would be so much fun for you. That is another secret to success:

Blog about subject close to your heart and have some interest, knowledge and control over.

That was my success key. When I started my blog, I did not want to change it to a business that makes money for me. I just wanted to blog about something that I loved and knew very well (trading). However, as the subject was my passion, it started moving like a river and took me with itself. I did not change my blog to a business. My blog readers did it. They wanted my blog to be promoted and upgraded. They did it themselves too.

Maintaining focus while building your blog is crucial. Figure out the focus for your life, and blog about that. What is so fascinating to you that you know will still fascinate and interest you 20 years from now? If you know what it is – you know that’s the thing to blog about! Think of blogging as a means of self-expression, contribution.

The sincerity with which you work on it will decide the kind of dividends it will reap in years to come. This may sound clichéd, but that’s the only way it can sound! No carrots, shortcuts, no quick-buck….none of all that. Hard work and home work is what will spell success for your blog!

We know that 90% of money and attention goes to 10% of people and blogging offers nothing that is different. There are hundreds and thousands of blogs mushrooming every minute and yet only a handful are doing what they are suppose to – making money for their owners.

I have been observing and following several successful blogs, and psyche of bloggers to find out why do blogs that fail, fail and why do blogs that succeed – succeed!

The answers I have found are surprisingly not boasting of some complex formulae or rocket science. On the contrary they are straight and simple.

Don’t chase money. Let money chase you.

To understand this let us discuss what I have said at the beginning – that one should start the right blog with right intentions. Right blog is a blog that you would genuinely be interested in writing about. And you will genuinely be interested in writing about things or subject that you have a natural liking for and knowledge about.

When you create a blog on a subject that is of genuine interest to you – you will make a great success out of it. Since you understand the subject, your blog will have the right kind of information; flow of information will follow a certain hierarchy; your interaction with the visitor will be direct and easy, and above all in the right tone.

When the above elements are present, your blog is bound to attract traffic and traffic means money! Simple!

I have observed that a successful blog also succeeds in building rapport with its readers. A smart blogger knows that building trust with readers is highly imperative. And rapport is built by being human and genuinely connecting with people. Saying the right thing, at the right point of time, in the tone that strikes a cord with them – is the big secret behind a successful blog.

Don’t start a blog casually, if you seriously intend to make money with it. Make sure that you have something worth the salt to say. Then, make a well thought out, well informed effort towards its publicity, promotion and, consequently, traffic will come your way, provided the information (read content) on he blog is truly great.

To create good content, become the master of your subject matter. Read and learn; use your sensibilities and intelligence while writing; never stop gaining knowledge about your subject; with experience, and as time passes, your reputation will grow and people will seek you out. This will help to attract more comments in your blog, which is what cross promotion is all about. Therefore it is important that you always respond to your comments too, it is vitally important.

Another thing I have observed in successful blogs is that bloggers do a great job at striking an impressive first impression. First impression is as much about words as it is about theme, layout, navigation, colors and design of your blog.

Last but not the least, learn to be web savvy. Lean to work with blogging softwares, publishing, book marking, marketing, pinging, tagging, reading traffic statistics, using multiple streams of income that you can use on the blog and so on.

All it takes is attitude. Right attitude and right frame of mind will put you en route making your blog into a million dollar business! Patience will come in handy and so will your familiarity with right blogging tools and techniques.

Around one year ago many readers started to email me asking what I thought about .co.cc domain names, as they were being offered for free by the company who controls their registrations. My reply was that using such domains as test websites was OK, but that I would think twice before developing a serious site there.

Well, it looks like it was sound advice, as yesterday Google confirmed it is removing all the .co.cc domains and websites from its index (i.e., they will not show anymore on any search query, so those domains will not receive any more traffic from Google). The reason is that the majority of the sites using that extension are spammy.

If you are wondering, .co.cc is not a recognized top level domain (as .com or .co.uk are). Instead it’s the domain name of a private company located in Korea, and that is why Google considered it a free hosting provider and blocked it completely.

I don’t think the story would be different if this was a top-level domain though. Say a certain country starts giving away domains with its extension, and spammers start using that offer to create thousands of spam websites. The result would probably be the same.

Also, you don’t need to go far to find similar scenarios. Just think about .biz and .info domains. It’s usually quite easy to find a good domain with those extensions, but it is worth the risk of having your site mixed with spammy ones?

The bottom line being: always go with a .com, .net or .org (.com preferably!).