7 Top Blog Design Tips

Most blog platforms come with some basic blog designs. They may call them templates or themes or something similar, and usually they are not bad although some customisation is pretty common. I often see some common mistakes, and hopefully you will be able to avoid them.

1. Include an about page
   Make it prominent and make it truly about you, not some resume-like page.If people find your blog and like what you have to say, they are going to want to know something about you.
2. Have contact information visible
   An email or maybe even a phone number should be included. Your email can be displayed as a graphic to prevent spammers from harvesting it easily. I would suggest using an address that has your domain at the end to be more professional. e.g tyrone @ internetbusinesspath.com, rather than tyrone @ gmail.com.

   Visible contact information will make you seem more real and although people may occasionally contact you, it will be far less often than you might think.

3. Include a picture of yourself
   Blogs are personal, even business blogs, and people who visit yours will want to know what you look like. It’s also easier to built trust if your picture is visible. Though, you don’t absolutely need a picture, but it’s strongly recommended. Sometimes people might think you are hiding something if you don’t have one.
4. Show a top posts or articles page
   Some of your blog posts are going to be much more popular than others (you may be surprised which ones they are). I call these your pillar articlesDon’t bury your pillar articles, your most popular blog posts. Highlight them somehow. You might for example have a top posts section in the titlebar or sidebar.

   I have a most top articles section and I list my most popular posts based on the ones that are read the most. Other people do it slightly differently. For example, Brian Clark at copyblogger.com has a “Popular Articles” in his sidebar and under that he lists his most popular blog posts. Yaro Starak, on his blog Entrepreneurs-Journey, calls his most popular blog posts “Popular Articles” and lists them at the very top.Somehow or another highlight them. You might do something as simple as create a category called “most popular” and include popular blog posts in that category.

5. Don’t have a blog banner that is too big!
   The banner is the top portion of your blog that goes across the top. It might have a picture of you there, the name of the blog, perhaps some graphic — they vary quite a bit.You don’t want your banner to be big. No one should need to scroll down to see your content. People decide really quickly when they first reach a Web Site, and that includes blogs, whether to read or to leave.
6. Create a visually appealing blog
   Avoid bright colors. Stick to reasonable fonts like Times New Roman and Arial. Have someone with a good eye look at your blog, preferably a graphic designer. Everytime I start a blog and I’ve started dozens for myself, for friends, and for clients, I always get a graphic designer to at least look at it after I am done.

   The problem is that it might look OK to you or me, probably neither having a particularly good eye nor appropriate training, but it still might look really ugly to others. Having a graphic designer take a quick look at it is good insurance.

7. Keep it simple silly!
   Some blogs are just so busy: they have one, two, sometimes three sidebars just crammed full of all kinds of stuff. With some of it you wonder why is it there. What purpose does this serve? Now in my opinion calendars are a prime offender. What good is a calendar there? Some people like them, but to me they serve no purpose.

   Empty space in a blog is not only allowable, but it’s a good thing. It helps focus eyes on what is important, which is your content and hopefully the few things you choose to put in your sidebar.

Most blogs start with a basic template which is then customised over time. These tips will hopefully help you that with customisation and help you avoid common mistakes with blog design.

Tyrone Shum
Blog Tipster

Using Your Blog To Market Your Internet Business

Blogging has been around for many years and more recently it has been considered as one of the addicting fads. Many teenagers have resorted to blogging as an outlet for their emotions, a little online nook where they can blurt out whatever just bugs them or whatever makes them feel elated. Savvy marketers have discovered that blogging is one of the best Internet marketing methods that won’t cost you a cent.

What is Blogging?
It is the widely used term that refers to web log. Basically, a web log (a.k.a blog) is an online journal. A blog could be set up to no cost at all, and can be used for just for the fun of it or for business reasons. Blogging for your Internet business is one fastest way to boost the visibility of your products and services. A few ways to boost your internet advertising with the help of a blog are:

1. Keep your clients or customers abreast on your website’s alterations. Your new products and services on your website could also be announced through your blog.
2. Keep track of your business objectives and plans through open writing. Your blog content can be easily stored through archives. What could be better than searchable information that could be easily accessed by anyone browsing the Internet? Knowledge can give you a real advantage.
3. Air your opinions, advice or reviews on specific services or products that are related to your business. Publishing is a very easy process with blogging.
4. Include links that will fetch back links and continually improve your ranking on search engines. By writing great articles on your blog you will attract these links quickly. Affiliate links could also be included in your blog to earn more extra income.
5. Collect response through the ability of blogs to fetch comments from your blog readers. You can learn and improve your products and services by receiving feedback from your readers.
6. Connect easily with other bloggers. When other bloggers notice that you have something good in your blog, they will put you in their favourite lists that will automatically link you to their blogs.

As you can see, there are many advantages by using blogs to market your Internet business. Go ahead, take action today and try some of these ideas in your Internet business.

Tyrone Shum
Blogging Marketer

Blogging For A Full Time Income

Did you know that you can make a full time income by blogging? You are able to create an online income business that earns you 4 or 5 figures every month by just spending 1 or 2 hours a day? If you are looking to create this kind of side income, this is the right article for you.

You do not need to be an expert, you do not need to have a PhD in business and you do not need to have a degree in doing so. All you need is know how to blog. With a blog and a proven blogging system that I’m going to share with you, you will be able to create an online income business within 3 months.

How To Create Income From A Blog?

1. Choose a topic
   Before you create your blog, you must know which topic you are going into. The best is to choose a topic that you are passionate in. Choose a topic that you have intense passion. After that, try to narrow down your topic or find a niche within a market. For example, instead of blogging about fishing, blog about fly fishing.
2. Create a blog
   Next, create a blog. Creating a blog is very easy and there are numerous resources on the Internet to help you.  I would recommend setting a domain name and hosting your own blog and using WordPress. Read setting up a blog to get in depth instructions.
3. Create quality content
   You need to have quality content because it is what people in your market are looking for. Nobody is going to visit a blog that has no value to them. In internet marketing, content is king. Therefore, if you are going to create an online income business, you will need to provide value for your market, through quality content in your blog.
4. Market your blog
   Once you have content, you are ready to bring in visitors to your blog. This is about traffic generation, where most people fail and give up. Traffic generation is not as complicated as you think. As long as you are willing to take action, traffic will come. Create a daily, monthly and yearly traffic plan, and then stick to this plan and take the necessary action according to your plan.
5. Offer a product or service on your blog
   The last piece of puzzle you need is an offer. An offer is how you make money. Insert money makers or advertising into your blog such as Google Adsense or affiliate marketing. This is how you can make money from your blog. In fact, writing quality content and getting traffic is what takes time and requires work. This step is easier because once you have content and traffic, making sales for you will be a lot simple.

This is how you can create an online income business by using a blog. Remember, action produces results, if you are not taking any action, nothing is going to happen. So take the first step now and decide which market you are going into.

Tyrone Shum
Blogging Full-time

Freedom gained from an Internet Business

In this world, the Internet Business community has been portraited as living the high life, driving fast cars, eating and dining out all the time and socialising with celebraties. It’s definitely viable to do that, though in my opinion the best thing an Internet Business has brought for me is “Freedom”. Here’s my “words of wisdom” below:

Tyrone Shum
Business Freedom

How To Build Great Pillar Content For Your Internet Business?

I’ve found that a successful Internet businesses must start with a solid foundation. As I’ve seen, most Internet businesses will integrate a blog onto their website and start to build a solid foundation of pillar content. Pillar content or pillar articles are posts that are written to help a consumer establish what your Internet business is all about.

What Is Pillar Content?

This termed was first coined by a famous blogger called Yaro Starak at his website Entrepreneur’s Journey. Yaro provides the following detailed definition:

“A pillar is blog content, usually an article, which does some very important things:

• It will bring in a rush of new readers and backlinks (other sites linking to your blog).
• It will continue to bring in more readers over time as you and other people refer to it, even though it may be buried in the archives of your blog.
• Eventually it will bring in traffic from search engines (this is largely because so many other web pages link to it).
• You can list it in a separate area (like an articles page) with all your other pillars so your best content can easily be accessed and your value clearly demonstrated.
• It is not time dependent, so in twelve months’ time it will still be relevant and popular.”

Why Is Pillar Content Important?

Looking at the bigger picture, pillar content is your foundation of your Internet business as it will continue to bring consumers and readers to your website. You may think that just having a product or service to sell is all that’s needed to run a successful business. Not quite so. Consumers today are very hungry for information and want to know more about your business. Therefore providing pillar content relating to your products or services can add value for your consumers and generate more sales for you.

For example, if I were selling a watch online and it had a description and listed features, it may not be enough for a consumer to purchase the watch from my site. Reason being, most people would want to read reviews from others who have purchased this watch and see their feedback. What if I wrote an article about the watch talking about the history and make of it and asked an expert to state their opinion, and had other consumers respond with comments and feedback. Then this would provide social proof and adds value to your product without the consumer leaving your site and spending time looking for more information elsewhere.

Examples Of  Pillar Content

Most pillar content articles are longer than 500 words and have lots of practical tips or advice. There are many different forms of pillar content you can create and I have listed some examples below for you to apply to your industry:

1. How To Article – shows people how to do a certain task or instructions on building something
2. Definition Article – defines a term in your industry
3. Present A Theory Or Argument – writing to present some unique thought
4. Release A Significant Resource – a report, podcast, video
5. A “List” Article – it’s very easy to scan and share. Can be a top 10 list or action points
6. Technical Or Visual Guide – a screen capture presentation or how to fix something using a video presentation. It is also a very detailed step by step blueprint on exactly how to complete a task.

I’ve seen how effective pillar content can be for any Internet business and I recommend you have at least 10 pillar articles on your website before marketing to consumers. That way you’ll provide them with something valuable to read and also gain their interest to come back again. If you can write an article each day using the above examples, then you can build a very strong foundation for your Internet business.

Tyrone Shum
Pillar Article Writer