When I think back to grade school, I still break out into a sweat remembering the horror of being called on unexpectedly by a teacher and asked to read a passage aloud. You always had the feeling that you were one stammer or mispronunciation away from being ostracized.

My wife, who is a teacher but still takes advanced education classes, recently asked me to help her with an assignment. My job? Read the paper she wrote aloud. And you know what? The tactic that she employs with her second grade class could be beneficial to bloggers. read more

As you learned from my Myers-Briggs self-assessment, I’m the kind of guy that rather blend in than stand out in a crowd. That means I can produce killer content, but don’t get a gold medal when it comes to self-promotion.

As I was sitting in traffic this morning thinking up ways to promote my blog offline, it occurred to me that a great opportunity could be staring me right in the face…literally. read more

A wise man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

That genius was Ferris Bueller, the fictional namesake of the ever-popular 1986 movie written and directed by John Hughes.

Time as a blogger flies by. When you’re not busy pounding out quality content, you are researching post ideas, reading about SEO, promoting your work on social networks, etc. At any given point, you are juggling a dozen different balls, and like most of the bloggers I know, you are amazing – because you keep most of them in the air. But there’s one I’ll bet you are dropping. read more

I recently read an article where 64 graphic designers were asked to record their Myers-Briggs personality type results. For those of you unfamiliar with The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI), it asks the taker a series of questions (there are no incorrect answers) and then generates a four-letter acronym that lumps people into one of 16 personality-type categories.

An argument on the validity of the test is for another day. Plus you have to pay (anywhere between $29 – $100) to take the questionnaire. Since most of us are fiscally-challenged, let’s take an unofficial poll. read more

As sure as I eat my breakfast, there are certain blogs that I read first thing in the morning. I’m not a coffee drinker, so caffeine addiction is foreign to me, but if you keep me from my A.M. blog reading, then I can get downright nasty!

Here’s my blog reading routine. read more

I’m a thief. Not in the Robin Hood philanthropic way, but in the robbing Peter to pay Paul kind of way. Let me explain. I recently started a blog about my puppy just for the fun of it. Unlike my other blogging endeavors, I have no real goal or agenda. I simply want to chronicle the experience of raising my first Shiba Inu.

Other dog owners have been stumbling across my work and writing me with their stories. In turn, I’ve begun very lengthy e-mail exchanges with other Shiba owners. We laugh about the breed’s inherent traits that drive us batty. We swap stories on how to train the stubborn pups. Overall, I think the e-mail trails are fun to read; valuable to any dog owner.

But that’s the problem. read more

By now you’ve probably realized that a lot of your Web traffic is unexpected. By that I’m talking about the many people who stumble upon your blog in unexpected ways. Whether it’s a random page that has been crawled and ranked well by Google – or some random niche site picking up and promoting one of your links.

When people land on your blog, you should not assume that they will hit your homepage or the landing page you have put so much effort into. That’s why it might be time to consider an FAQ. read more

As I’ve warned you before, there are a ton of other bloggers applying for that freelance opening. In fact, the last time I was looking for a blogger, I received over 800 inquiries!

That’s a lot of noise to cut through. There are several tactics you can employ to help increase your odds of landing a freelance blogging gig. Here are a few that have worked for me. Follow them and you might grab that next gig right out of my hands!

- THE HIRING AGENT IS BUSY, VERY BUSY. In my experience, the folks making hiring decisions for blogs and/or blog networks are busy. They normally wear multiple hats and are subjected to more Web noise then the average person. Unlike typical Human Resources professionals, these people are not trained to hire/fire. Therefore, you must approach them differently. That means no long cover letter or resume attachment.

- PLAY WITH THE SUBJECT LINE. Much like e-commerce campaigns, your first goal is to get the individual to open the e-mail – a major challenge in itself. Your subject line should be concise, descriptive, and unique. If there is a default subject line when filling out a form or clicking an e-mail link – change it. If a job asks you to list the title of the job in the subject line, do so, but put your own spin either before or after the requested information. read more

They come in short spurts and are unannounced; even I am unaware they are about to occur. I’m speaking of blogging blackouts, periods of time where some unknown force keeps me from blogging. Has is it ever happened to you? read more

I’m a nice guy. I believe in peace, love and harmony. But I also want to be a successful blogger. It’s no secret that controversial posts that take an unabashed stance on a hot-button issue generate serious traffic. If we’re going to be completely honest, sometimes being a pr*ck, is the best thing you can do for your blog. Since nice guys finish last, here are two ideas on how you can blog out of character. read more