This is a guest post by Eric Heavilin from BluePop13.com.

When you want to start a blog your first thoughts are probably how you can share what you know with the world on line. A blog is very simple in the way that is provides value to its readers and teaches someone something new. But with so many resources out there and everyone talking about ways to improve your blog and what you can do to stand out in the crowd, how do you actually just get yourself up and out there and start doing this thing called blogging?

Keep It Simple

This is your blog and you want to share what you know with the rest of the world who finds what you have to say meaningful in their lives in some way.

I suggest starting with WordPress.com and pick a name either you like, your name, or a name that has something to do with the topic of choice you’ll be writing about. Blogspot.com is a great service to start with but using WordPress right now will make it easier on you to switch to a self-hosted WordPress blog later on if you want to get more serious with your blog.

Just visit WordPress.com and sign up. It’s free and is very easy to do. Once you have chosen a name that you are going to use and you have figured your way around the admin area simply start your first post. Just say hi to everyone and explain what you’ll be writing about, keep it short and to the point, go for making it person and show your readers that there’s a real person behind the words, tell everyone a bit of a story and ask them what they think. This all you really have to worry about for any blog post you write. Above all, as said above, keep it simple.

Where To Next?

My suggestion is to post around ten articles and get a feel for how you are going to write your content. This way you will have a better idea of when you like to write, what you want to write about and who might comment on what you have to say. Ten is a good number, though every blog is different and provides value to its readers in its own way, experiment here and see what works for you.

Now you might want to do something different with the look and feel of your blog. You want it to look nice and look according to your topic, after all. Wordpress.com has many themes to pick from and choosing which theme you want for your blog is as easy as browsing all the themes in the themes section and previewing what appeals to you. When you find one you like just activate it. You now have a brand new theme and a decent amount of articles you’re looking at.

Becoming Someone

This is where you will probably hear a lot of talk and confusion and at this point you might even give up trying to become better at this as it’s not easy to do.

I have some good news for you if you’re stuck here: Keep it simple.

Look at how far you’ve come already. You chose a place for your words and ideas to be viewed upon by the entire world, you now have an idea of what you’re going to write about and maybe some visitors already checking out your stuff and you have a design set up.

Now that you’ve come this far you want to spread the word. Tell your family and friends about your new blog and join social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace (just to  name a few) and become active in forums and blogs related to your own. This isn’t rocket science even though some blogs may explain it to be. Keep learning what works and keep going. Blogging is great fun and you can do so many things for so many people by just having one.

From Here

I hope you found this information helpful and I also know that doing any of this will get you started out in the right direction for your blog. Keep experimenting with what might work for your blog and learn from others as well. Find some other blogs related to yours and start talking to them. Get in there and see what happens. The possibilities are endless.

Now start blogging!

Eric Heavilin has been online for years now and love what the Internet has to offer. Eric learned a bit about building simple web sites in Jr. High and from there I loved the idea of sitting down and writing out HTML and CSS in Notepad. Since then he came up with the name BluePop13 and decided to make it his personal website now blog. Eric loves helping others succeed. These days Eric uses WordPress but still loves the feeling of writing something up from scratch using HTML and the like. Visit BluePop13.com to learn more about Eric.

If you enjoyed this blog post you may also enjoy:

The Easy Way To Set Up A Blog Using WordPress (Set up a blog in 10minutes!)

Why Being PERFECT Is Hurting You And Your Blog

What Happens When You Use The Tweetmeme Button?

OMFG Just Stick To Your Goals!!

In case you didn’t know socialoomph.com (formerly known as tweetlater) has a free service where you can set up auto-DM (automatic direct messages) to send out to people when they follow you on twitter.

People see it as a great way to connect with your readers right off the bat without manually doing it themselves. However there’s a lot of debate about aut0-DMs. I’m on the fence about them. I think they can be effective if done right.

I went through pretty much all my direct messages the other day and thought I would share with you some of the suspected auto-DMs that I found EFFECTIVE.

Auto-DM’s that didn’t make me cringe thinking ‘oh, just an auto-DM’

Why did the chicken cross the Social Media Road? . . . .To Tweet of course! Thanks for following me & I look forward to Twinteracting with @JonneyJay

Thanks so much for following me on Twitter! It’s always nice to have new peeps to Twitter with! @lefinley

Thanks fur the follow! @mydeafcat
Note the name of the tweeter

Thank you for following me – much appreciated! If there was ONE tweet I could tweet about you or yr business, what would it be? Please DM me @iggypintado
Note: Although it was obvious the message from iggypintado was an auto-DM I still replied to him saying a bit about beginnerblogger. He then retweeted what I said to his entire list which is 13k+ followers.
The message he sent was: Meet Sarge from @beginnerblogger who is helping bloggers and beginner bloggers alike achieve success.
The result of that message was a lot of people adding me to twitter and even a few new subscribers to the blog. I had quite a few conversations on twitter as a result of that message and was able to help out a few people as well.

Wow-Thanks! I’m going to assume that you’re not lost & that you meant to follow me. Much appreciated! You won’t regret it. Well…hmmm. @TriciaAbney

Hi. This is it. The one & only automated DM message from me via Socialoomph.com. Congrats you found me! Now let’s talk like real people :O) @halfbakedseo

If ud like some free resources 2 help transform your life please check out my blog: http://bit.ly/x3Z9w I have nothing to sell u. Sorry. @JayCataldo

Hey, thanks 4 following. What Tweets do you like to read? @ZahidaKhan

Thank you for following me. I look forward to getting to know you. What are you up to today? @David_Michaels

Thanks for following. Just want you to know I’ll try to add REAL value with my tweets. I don’t sell on Twitter, only give! @LeadToday

Thanks for following me here on Twitter! Let’s connect and change the world one step at a time for the better…It only takes one step ya know…:)To your success,Joni @JoniBeadle

Thanks for following me…I really appreciate it! So what have you been up to? @MickSilvester

Thanks for following alicedesigns, tweet me ‘hi’ and tell me something about yourself so I can get to know you better! @alice_elliott

Thanks for the follow! How’s Twitter treating you so far? @ToddDickerson

Hey there! I’m an interesting guy! No, really! I’ve owned a restaurant, edited tv & commercials, rock out & do real estate. Let’s tweet! @mattgsilver

I don’t auto-follow, but I’d love to chat with real people. So feel free to send me an @reply anytime. I see them all. Happy tweeting. @davidrisley

Thanks for following… Would like to know more about you, do you blog? @steitiyeh

Hi there, open the door, let the sun shine in and welcome the new day. @affsaltra

Conclusions We Can Draw

Posts without links/selling that ask a question or get a laugh from me are most powerful.

I always suspect the first DM I get from a person is an auto-DM, even if it isn’t. So the worst thing to do is put a link in. Tell me about yourself or engage with a question. Get the conversation started!

Everyone says ‘look forward to your tweets’ or ‘thanks for following me’. Mix it up a bit – ask a question. I believe the best way to start a relationship with someone is to ask a question.

My one and only auto-DM you will get from me I try to engage with you. I try and and make them personal and encourage a response back so we can get the ball rolling.

Your Thoughts?

Do you auto-DM? Do you reply to DMs or click on links that are inside a suspected DM? Do you totally ignore suspected auto DMs? What are some great suspected auto-DMs that you’ve received? Let everyone know in the comments below!

I would love to hear your thoughts.

Enjoyed this post? Here are some more you may like:

1. How I Got 1000 TARGETED Twitter Followers In 30 Days
2. Top 5 Ways To Increase Your Twitter Following Without Begging For One
3. Twitter TweetDeck and some Tips

Stemming from yet another thought provoking blog post by Jordan Cooper he got me thinking about blog commenting and that feeling of being obligated to blog on someone else’s blog if they were to comment on my blog.

Don’t Feel Like You Have To Reciprocate

First of all – I never expect you to come to my site nor comment on my posts when I comment on your blog. Sure, I’d love for you to come over and check my blog out and check out some posts that you like the sound of. But I don’t want you to comment on my posts unless you genuinely want to. If you enjoy giving value, adding to the conversation or really enjoyed my post and want to thank me, then go for it. But NEVER feel like you HAVE to.

I’ll apoligise in advance and want to give warning to everyone that has commented here on this blog. I don’t want to feel obligated to comment your blog posts just because you commented here. I’d say I would visit your blog 9/10 times if you comment here but that doesn’t mean I will automatically comment on your blog.

Strive for Quality Engagement

I value quality engagement on my blog, email, twitter, facebook etc. Don’t we all? There’s way too much noise out there on the internet. You don’t read every blog post in your RSS feed, do you? You don’t read every single tweet on your home feed on twitter, do you?

Just because someone was nice enough to comment on your blog, and even if it was a really great comment, their site may be total crap or something not related to your niche or subject matter that you simply can’t comment on. There’s a wise saying that ‘if you have nothing to say, say nothing’.

If you’re feeling obligated to comment but don’t have something you feel you could really add or want to say – you can always vote (as long as you think it’s worthy of a vote, don’t vote ‘just because’)

So in this case comment if you feel like it. Just let it flow naturally Quality is what we should strive for.

Bottom line is that I do not EXPECT you to comment on my blog if I comment on yours nor do I hope you EXPECT me to do the same back. Only do so if it’s WORTHY of a comment/vote. Not – just ’cause

I think reciprocation is a great thing and I do participate in helping others out if they help me too (I like to think I give more than I receive). Definitely! But only if what I’m doing or what you’re doing is of VALUE.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this

This blog post has been in the backburner for some time. I’ve just been reading Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents which sums this post up beautifully.

“Is it wrong to think that what you do for someone will be (eventually) reciprocated? No. Is it wrong to expect it? You betcha.”

If you enjoyed this post you may also enjoy:

How To Deal With An Information Overload and Take Action

How To Keep Yourself Under Pressure and Perform With Your Blog?

OMFG Just Stick To Your Goals!!

Why Being PERFECT Is Hurting You And Your Blog

Competitions (or contests) and giveaways are a great way to interact and have some fun with your current readership while at the same time gain more subscribers and additional readers. Beginner Blogger had its first Contest/Giveaway last month, which was a great success.

Today I thought I’d showcase some of the bloggers that currently have  contests and giveaways that I’ve found around the blogosphere that you may like to enter. There are some great prizes going around so check them out! (Please note these aren’t affiliate links or anything like that. These bloggers aren’t even aware that I’m doing this! )

Derek from lifenotion.com

Derek is giving away a Flip Video Camera(!). To enter you have to write a guest blog post.

Click here to enter

Senthil Ramesh from Novice Bloggers

Senthil is giving away 2 125×125 ad spots for whoever has the most comments at the end of the month.

Click here to enter

Erica from Erica Says

Erica is giving away a bucket full of prizes including:

• a 1 hr private comedy coaching lesson from Jordan Cooper
• 2 months advertising from Rhys Wynne who runs The Gospel According to Rhys blog
• Several other prizes!

To enter all you have to do is comment on the post! (There are other ways to gain additional entries)

Click here to enter

@blpro from BloggingPro

Is giving away 4xclub memberships to Elegant Themes. All you have to do is add @blpro to twitter and tweet the instructions given!

Click here to enter

Contests that just came in:

Aminul from aisajib.com

Is giving away 125×125 ad space for 2 months. To enter you have to comment with quality comments. You have till now till Valentines day (14th February)

Click here to enter

These are just a handful of many contests that I’m sure are around the blogophere for the start of January.

What contests and giveaways have you entered lately? Are there any contests that I may have missed? What’s your favourite type of contest to enter?

Let everyone know in the comments below!

Most bloggers recognize the importance of sharing their content with as many social media outlets as they can get their hands on. It seems there’s no end to the number of sharing, microblogging, and bookmarking services to sign-up for. Social networking tools are a bloggers best friend and they can be used to provide a constant stream of traffic to your blog.

Karl Foxley of FMSSEO, highlighted the value of YouTube and podcasts in 30+ Ways To Generate Traffic To Your Website. By adding podcasting and video sharing sites to your portfolio of social networks, you’ll expand your reach to potential subscribers from new audiences in the quest to attain higher Alexa rank, and ultimate blog supremacy.

I suggest you create your own how-to or introductory podcasts to improve your brand recognition and boost your credibility. Post videos on your blog, but also increase your chances of going viral by adding it a plethora of sites including YouTube, iTunes, Vimeo, and a string of others. Another benefit is that some sites, like Blip.tv offer the possibility of additional revenue streams by adding sponsored clips to your content.

You can create video, and also audio podcasts or you can do both. I prefer using video mostly in the form of “how-to” screencasts. Here’s what you need to get started with screencasting:

• Recording Software
• Mic
• RSS Feed for distribution

Here’s a short screencast I created to demonstrate the recording interface from the Screentoaster.com website:

When you are done creating your video, you are ready to share it with the world. Register with video sharing sites like some of the ones I joined:

Blip.tv
Daily Motion
How Cast
Metacafe
Vimeo
YouTube
Zoopy

Next, sign up for TubeMogul, where you can save lots of time by uploading your video once for simultaneous distribution to all of these sites for maximum access to a multitude of new subscribers. In my last post Promote Your Blog With a Podcast I talked specifically about how “creating an account and uploading videos to Blip.tv sends an RSS feed directly to iTunes”, and how the use of video is directly responsible for a significant increase in my traffic. Additional resources and tutorials are listed on my blog as well.

What are your podcasting experiences? What useful resources you’re aware of?

This is the first guest blog post for Ileane from Ms. Ileane Speaks. Ileane and I have been Twitter and blogging buddies for a while now and now she is branching out into podcasting. You can find Ileane at http://ileane.wordpress.com or subscribe to the podcast at http://msileanespeaks.blip.tv/ Her debut tutorial which includes the podcast Screencasting 101.

I’ve personally learnt a lot from Ileane, she’s a great blogger and person. So make sure you check out her blog and podcast!

If you enjoyed this blog post you may also enjoy:

What Happens When You Use The Tweetmeme Button?

Social Media Revolution

• What text would appear on my twitter feed if I clicked it?
• Would it automatically appear straight away in my feed without getting a chance to edit it when I click the button?
• Would I get an option to edit the text?

It feels like Christmas morning, the stockings are filled, the owls are hooting… wait, did I just say the owls are hooting? Well yes I did!

Hootsuite is out on the iPhone! Christmas has come early!

Hootsuite the Web Application

If you’re not already familiar with Hootsuite it is a web-based twitter account manager that is very much similar to tweetdeck. Hootsuite has the added benefits of displaying stats (when someone clicks on your links) and the ability to schedule tweets.

Hootsuite recently came out with an update that integrates facebook, facebook fan pages, linkedIn and ping.fm accounts. You can pretty much manage any social media site from within the Hootsuite web application. So if you’re not already using hootsuite I recommend you at least try Hootsuite on the web now – it’s free.

Hootsuite the iPhone Application

Hootsuite came out on the iPhone today. After playing around with it for the last hour or so I am very impressed. It’s fast, reliable (I haven’t had a crash yet) and lets you can manage your (perhaps multiple) twitter account on run.

Here’s a list of features for the iPhone version:

• Customizable user interface with sortable tabs and columns
• Easy navigation thanks to column swiping
• Schedule tweets
• Update multiple accounts at once
• Save searches
• Track statistics
• Share photos
• Import lists
• Explore trending topics

Unfortunately there doesn’t appear to be any facebook, linkedIn or ping.fm support for the iPhone version. But I have no doubt it will be available in a future update – at least I’m hoping so!

Also you can only view stats in per-tweet on the iPhone and not a set time-frame view like you can on the web, but this is minor. I do find looking at per-tweet stats on the iPhone version much quicker and easier than the web-based version.

I would have paid $10+ for this application but it only costs $1.99 US.

If you’re new to Hootsuite in general definitely check it out on the web first before you check out the iphone version.

Your Turn

What’s your impression of Hootsuite? Have you used Hootsuite before? Would you download the iPhone application for $1.99? What twitter applications do you use? What’s your favourite, and why?

Write them down in the comments below

Happy hooting!

If you enjoyed this post you may also enjoy:

Social Media Revolution

Twitter Has Crashed

Twitter, TweetDeck and some Tips

In contrast to my How I Got 1000 TARGETED Twitter Followers In 30 Days blog post, I wanted to write about how you can get yourself twitter followers without the need to go out and add people yourself. Granted, you probably won’t get as many followers than if you went out and followed as many people as possible using services like Buzzom, but I believe if people voluntarily add you to twitter than those people are much more valuable to you. They went out of their way to add you, so as long as they’re not a spam account, you must be doing something right!

Here are my top 5 ways you can increase your twitter following without begging for one:

1. Provide valuable tweets

First and foremost, the main reason anyone would want to add you to twitter is because you provide great tweets. You won’t find yourself with many followers if you have an empty twitter account with no tweets. You’ll also find yourself lonely if you provide meaningless updates like ‘at the shops’, ‘lunch was yum’, ‘walking home’ etc.

Picture this – you’ve just started a twitter account and you’ve been focusing solely on creating great quality tweets. Suddenly someone finds you through search.twitter.com (or something like this) that likes what you’re saying about that certain topic. This person that just added you has over 1000 friends. He ReTweets one of your tweets which is broadcast to the 1000+ on that persons list. Those 1000+ people can then follow you on twitter or ReTweet your message again to their list, which may be broadcast to even more tweeters out there.

This is why the quality and value of your tweets are so important. Provide great quality and value and you’re sure to attract many many people.

2. Engage with your audience

Don’t go on autopilot. Don’t create one of those spam accounts that just read out RSS feeds. Sure put some auto-RSS feeds on your twitter account if they relate to your niche or your purpose, but make sure you’re a person as well. People are more likely to recommend you to others willingly if you’re an approachable and engaging person on twitter.

There is a novelty on twitter on Fridays called Follow Friday (#FF or #FollowFriday) where people nominate people that they think everyone on their twitter list should follow. I’ve found that the people that recommend me for Follow Friday are the ones I have engaged with on twitter the most, some have very large twitter followings so I’ve generated a lot of followers this way.

A great idea is to make it a habit to send a message to every person that adds you to twitter that you are going to add back. Your relationship will improve dramatically this way than not interacting with them at all and them just being ‘another one to the list’

3. ReTweet valuable relative content

This is why I believe you should have a purpose/niche on twitter. If you have a clear purpose/niche people that are interested in your niche will follow you. If you ReTweet something related to your niche it goes to everyone on your list. So it’s of great benefit to have people following you that are interested in what you ReTweet.

ReTweeting also builds relationships. People love it when you ReTweet their tweets. So if someone tweets something you like and you think others on your list will enjoy ReTweet it because they might re-ReTweet it to others not following you and you may find yourself with more quality followers!

4. Follow those that are beneficial to you

Don’t just follow random people and don’t feel you have to follow people back if they follow you. You choose who you follow, no-one else. If people are thinking of following you they may check out who else you’re following. If you’re following a bunch of spam accounts and people tweeting unpleasant links or offensive content they may think twice before following you.

It doesn’t make any sense to follow someone that won’t gain anything from your twitter account – so don’t do it. Having 10 people that follow me that find my content useful, helpful and more likely to click on my links is much more valuable than 100 random followers that will ignore most if not everything I have to say.

5. Have a custom Twitter background, avatar, bio and preferably website.

You should fill these out before you even start tweeting. A bio and picture I feel is absolutely necessary and bare minimum to at least know you’re human. I would also change your background from the default blue/green background.

Personally I only add people that I feel are real people. I’m very picky now of who I follow now because I don’t want to follow those I’m not interested in.

A custom background, avatar, bio and preferably a link to your website is ideal. I always check out a website of someone before I add them to twitter. If it takes me to a sales page I probably won’t add you unless I’m impressed with your tweets and you’re not spamming.

To clarify – spamming to me is constant tweets that link off to sales pages and it’s obviously just a twitter account made to create money. I don’t want any part of that thanks.

Find your purpose

Make sure you find your purpose on twitter. I use @beginnerblogger mainly to help others with their blogging, provide valuable blogging tips I feel bloggers and beginner bloggers will gain value from and also from time to time put in the odd personal tweet. I make sure the personal tweets are not boring like ‘off to the shops’, I try and make them interesting too.

Something I’m going to do over the next few weeks is really go through my twitter list, engage with those I haven’t engaged with and unfollow the ‘unhuman’ twitter accounts that are of no benefit to me. I want to engage with real people. My struggle at the moment is that I am following too many people and it’s near impossible to keep up with everyone as much as I’d like.

What do you feel are great ways to get more quality followers without having to beg for them? Reply in the comments below.

Enjoyed this post? Here are some more you may like:

1. How I Got 1000 TARGETED Twitter Followers In 30 Days
2. Twitter Had Crashed
3. Twitter TweetDeck and some Tips

This is also the first youtube video I’ve posted. Hopefully it all goes smoothly

Personally, I thought the information goes a little too fast to take it all in. Maybe it’s because I’m sick with possible swine flu or the flu at the moment (and which is why you’ve seen little activity from me in a while).

In any case you can click here to check out the social media stats from the video.

Does this video scare you? Excite you? How does this video make you feel about the future? Write in the comments below to discuss