Image courtesy of joeltelling.

Not only are product reviews an exceptional tool to drive traffic to a website, but they are a great way to overcome a bout of blog writer’s block. When you are out of ideas for fresh content a product review can be a fairly quick and easy post to write. And a well-written review becomes very valuable content as shoppers seek them out regularly. Product reviews are also an excellent marketing tool for affiliate marketers to pre-sell products. (Note: When using reviews as affiliate marketing tool, be sure to understand and comply with the FTC rules and guidelines for disclosing affiliate relationships and using testimonials.)

To be effective, a product review must be believable. Here are a few tips for writing great product reviews.

1. Answer these questions in your review:
   • What does the product promise?
   • How well does it achieve those goals?
   • Is it a good value?
   • What are the drawbacks of the product?
2. In addition to writing a single product review, consider comparing two similar products. Consider what features to compare. If you talk about the cost of one product, be sure to talk about the cost of the other. If you have a bias toward one product, be honest and tell readers that you prefer one over the other but don’t leave out features or drawbacks simply because they place a preferred product in a darker light.
3. Be honest. You want visitors to respect your opinion and in the case of affiliate product reviews, make a purchase. Write the review as if talking to a friend. This not only enhances the copy because it’s written conversationally, but it will ensure that the review feels genuine to its reader.
4. While it is possible to learn enough about a product to review it without trying it, I don’t recommend it, especially when you’re first learning to write reviews. Again, consider your readers. How might they react if they buy something based on your review and then learn that you never tried the product?

Product reviews can end up being some of the most frequently read content on your sites. Use them to your advantage to not only attract visitors, but to build trust.

I usually don’t complain about it. I have good systems in place to deal with it. But the other day I tweeted about being tired of it.

 
Spam!

It’s costly, annoying, time-consuming, and frustrating. It can shut down a website or email server. And it doesn’t appear it’s going to go away any time soon.

In our brief Twitter conversation about it, one of my friends suggested that we should all report spammers.

 
Shelly and I often agree on things, but in this case, I have to disagree. Reporting spammers is just not worth my time and energy. In most cases, I don’t believe that reporting it will result in any real action against the spammer, so I don’t bother.

I came across a blog post today that clarified some things about the spam comments I’m getting (they aren’t spambots; real people come by and post them), explains some of the reasons why they’ll continue, and confirms some of my reasons for not taking time to report it. Take a couple minutes to read it and you’ll see why I feel that way: Why blog and comment spam isn’t going away.

Steve’s research uncovered something I’ve always suspected. It can be very lucrative for the people who actually place the spam comments or circulate the email. And many of those people are outside the jurisdiction of any “officials” who would be in the position to do anything about it. Again, that’s one of the main reasons I don’t report.

So what do I do about spam? I use tools to combat it and I try not to use up much time and energy on the spam that gets through. Delete works much faster than trying to track down the source to report it.

For comment spam I use the standard WordPress plugins, Akismet and Bad Behavior, and they do a very good job of blocking and moderating spam comments. If you need more help, you might want to try the plugins mentioned in, How to Stop Blog Comment Spam

These articles contain my recommendations for tools to help combat email spam:

• Stop Wasting Time on Spam
• Will Bontrager on Email, Spam, and Mailing Lists
• Stop Wasting Your Time
• SpamStopping.com

There are some instances where I would take the time to report. One is if the spam is originating from one of my sites because it’s been hacked. And the other is if I’m bombarded with spam coming from one source. In both cases swift action is necessary to save my business.

Of course for some people, reporting spam is in itself gratifying. If it eases your frustration and gives you a sense that you’re doing something about it, then by all means, report away. Please just be careful to report spam and not inadvertently report legitimate email and comments. Being falsely accused can be quite damaging too.

How about you? Please leave your comments on this post. Report or not? If you report, have you seen any results from reporting? How do you combat blog comment spam?

Here are answers to questions you, our blog readers have asked about our blog theme, features, and practices.

Is the blog theme your own design?

It’s a free theme from WooThemes that we customized by adding our own header and colors and tweaking a few other things to our liking.
 

What hosting company do you use?

This site is hosted at LiquidWeb (affiliate link). I also recommend MomWebs (affiliate link).
 

How did you add the social bookmarking links to your posts?

It’s a plugin called Sociable.
 

Can I subscribe to your posts by email?

Yes you can click here to subscribe by email. The RSS feed can be found here.
 

Will you print my articles on your blog?

We welcome guest posts on topics specifically related to direct sales party plans and topics that clearly apply to that industry, even if they don’t specifically address it. We ask that submitted articles are original articles that have not been posted elsewhere (after we publish them you can submit them elsewhere).

We also use free content from time to time so if you write on the topic of direct sales party plans you can send me the link to your articles in an online directory and I’ll take a look to see if I can use any of them.
 

Can I use your article (or part of it) on my blog?

Most of the articles posted on our blog are not available for reprint. Please feel free to contact us to request a specific article and we’ll be happy to consider giving permission when possible. (Please do not request reprints through a blog comment. Use our contact page.)

Here are Linda’s articles that are available for reprint:

If you care to comment on, criticize, or debate something we’ve posted here by writing about it in your own blog, we welcome the discussion. In that case, of course we don’t mind if you quote a sentence or two from our post, as long as you give us credit. And a link back to the original post is appreciated. If your post and blog is relevant we’re happy to have the trackback added to our post.
 
 
Feel free to ask your questions by posting a comment or by contacting us and we’ll be happy to answer them.
 
Note: From time to time we add questions and answers to this post so please check back from time to time for new information. Last updated June 21, 2010.

This video from WebProNews.com includes another good argument for daily blog posting (meaningful posting that is).

WordPress is the website building tool of choice for many business owners these days. It’s a great option. No software needed on your computer, great functionality and flexibility – and you can update your site content from any computer, netbook or smart phone. It’s no wonder that it’s become so popular.

You’ve probably heard that WordPress is incredibly user friendly – and it is! Still, most first time users find it overwhelming at first. If you ever tried to tackle WordPress on your own and felt like giving up, you’re not at all alone. There’s a lot to take in at first.

I was lucky though. I had several patient friends available to help me over the learning curve. Still, I wouldn’t say that I felt truly comfortable for months after. The more I got to know it, the more I realized that WordPress is both simple and complex all at the same time.

If you only want to use WordPress to publish content, it’s pretty darned simple. The visual editor operates like any basic word processor. You enter content, press publish and you’re finished.

Think of WordPress as being three things at once.

1. It’s a Content Management Script that runs on your web server, letting you enter content as easily as writing an email.
2. Your content is stored in a Database on your web server.
3. Finally, it wears a Theme, a set of template files, that determines how the content is displayed online.

Entering content is easy. The database takes care of itself. Customization, want to alter your design and manipulate the database for special needs, you have to tap a whole other area of knowledge and that’s where many get stuck.

There’s good news and bad news for those who want to learn more about managing their WordPress site. The good news is that there’s a huge resource of documents and a large community of developers and users who are willing to answer your questions. The bad news is that there’s a huge resource of documents and a large community of developers and users…

The trouble for newcomers is usually that they don’t know how to ask the right questions to produce the answers they really need. The documents and forums seem to be written in a foreign language and newbie questions are often answered with links to more foreign explanations that just add to their feelings of overwhelm.

My advice? Don’t give up. Keep asking questions. To get the best answers, provide as much information about your problem as you can. If you’re persistent, you’ll find that things come easier over time.

About the Author:

Kelly McCausey of Mom’s Talk Biz invites you to WordPress Orientation, your all access pass to exclusive WordPress learning. We demonstrate answers to your questions during our live web conference sessions. If you’re goal is to do it yourself WordPress Orientation is your pathway to learning how.

Affiliate link (Why tell?)

Image courtesy of mikkime.

For your blog to be successful it’s important to regularly post fresh content. But it can be difficult to continually come up with new ideas for blog posts. Even the best writers suffer writer’s block sometimes. If you feel like you are running out of ideas, here are some ways to find things to write about.

1. Keep your blog readers informed about the changes you have made to your website. Whether you’ve added a new article, made major design changes, added new products or services, have a special offer, write a blog post to let your readers know what’s new.
2. Post lists of tools and resources that your readers will find useful.
3. Use a search engine like Google News to find news stories that relate to your business. For example, if you are in direct sales, you may find a news article explaining the benefits that a career in direct sales offers (which would make a great recruiting tool). You can post your thoughts or feelings on the news item and include a link to the original article. Watch your local news too. There might be something going on in your local area that you can write about and tie into something about your business,
4. Let your readers know when you find something of interest on another blog.
5. When a customer or blog reader emails you with a question, turn the answer into a blog post (don’t name the person who asked unless you get their permission). Or start a series of FAQ’s.
6. Visit message boards and social networks to see what information your target market is looking for or what types of questions are frequently asked.
7. You can give reviews of products and services that you have personally used. And check for an affiliate program for the product so you can include an affiliate link in your post. (Be sure to research, understand, and follow the FTC rules about posting affiliate links on blogs.)
8. Use a video service like YouTube to find and post videos about topics in your niche.
9. Define some of the common and/or more complex terms used in your industry.
10. Give your readers a glimpse of yourself. Every post doesn’t have to relate directly to your business. You can blog about a particularly busy day you had and include your favorite crock pot recipe. The people who read your blog may be very busy business people as well and can appreciate the fact that you too are struggling to get everything done.

Always be sure to invite your readers to comment on your posts. Some lively discussions can result as well as other new ideas for blog posts. So please, post a comment here and share your ideas for overcoming writer’s block.

Image courtesy of Alanna George.

Having a Web log, or ”Blogging” as it’s more commonly called, is a great way to share information with others in a public forum, by posting comments on a (often free) website.

Blogs are easy to build; even a novice can set one up in just an hour or less. With free applications like Google’s “Blogger” (blogger.com) or the easy to use WordPress (Wordress.com), a simple blog can be put together that will highlight your thoughts and images. By setting it up with a clean format and using the latest templates, this increases the blog’s appeal and it can be updated as often as you wish.

One fun and profitable way to blog is by starting a recipe blog (and there’s plenty of information on the topic in this Just Add Sweat guide). A recipe blog is where you can post your favorite family recipes, restaurant secrets or other popular “dishes” about the world of cooking. It’s perfect for people who have tried recipes and thought they could do better. Or those who have sampled restaurant cooking and found a favorite they’d like to share. If cooking is your passion, blogging about it is a wonderful way to get more information out there about this interest. It’s also a great way to tell others about new products available in the world of cooking.

A recipe blog can also offer the opportunity for an entrepreneur to build a home based business. How? By offering for sale cooking products, popular recipes, cook books and other tools that the budding chefs of the world would like. In this way, a blogger can build a nice residual income to support their cooking habit.

Popular blogs that earn a substantial amount of website traffic can earn even more revenue. Through the power of using web traffic tracking tools, a blogger can earn ad revenue or earn commissions by recommending product from other companies. Successful bloggers can even sell their blogs to others and earn an income from developing popular topics into highly trafficked websites.

With a little bit of time and a lot of creativity, a recipe blogger can create an income working from home.

Recommended Additional Resource:

To learn exactly how to set up your blog and how to create a recipe blog that people love, talk about and come back to, grab Just Add Sweat Guide to Start a Recipe Blog. You’ll also learn how to get traffic to your blog and make money doing something you enjoy.

Affiliate link (Why tell?)

A common comment that we receive at MomWebs.com is this “Why I would want to pay for hosting when I can get a free blog?”

We normally answer that question with a question of our own “What is the difference between renting and owning your home?”

Whether you’re blogging for fun or profit – or both, you’ll be pouring time and love into your creation. Do you want to own your blog and everything on it? Or would you rather just rent it and let someone else control how it’s treated, how long it stays online, and what kinds of limitations are placed upon you?

Me? I want to own my blog. I want to have 100% rights to my creation – whether it’s a personal blog with pictures of my puppies or whether it’s a blog that I’ve set up to make money.

Can you imagine owning a house and having someone come by and say “Ma’am… you can’t paint your bathroom that color. And, we can’t allow you to have a Tupperware party, either. Oh, and by the way, we’ll be moving your home in the next 24 hours and all of your addresses will need to be changed.”

You’d be thinking “No WAY!”

While that’s a long list of “What if’s” – all of those things can happen when you are using a free service. I certainly would not recommend that anyone build a business on a free blog.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking that’s all well and good, but how the heck does it work? And, that’s where a good web host like MomWebs.com comes in to save the day. Not only do they offer email support, but you can pick up the phone and leave a message day or night and they’ll call you back.

Just go to MomWebs and look for the link that says “Blog Installation”. They’ll set up your blog for you and you’ll be set to go with a blog that you own today, tomorrow, and in 10 years for your kids to look at.

All you need is an idea and the desire to blog for fun or profit or both. We wish you the best – with whatever you decide.

Nicole Dean & Kelly McCausey love helping moms to earn money online without struggling and making mistakes like they did. Both women have been mentoring potential online business owners in the work at home mom community for many years. MomWebs.com was created to help work at home moms to overcome the technical hurdles that may be preventing them from sharing themselves with the online world. Check out the free training at MomWebs.com

All links in this post are affiliate links (Why tell?)

Recently someone asked me how to set up a navigation menu like the one here at the Business Opportunity Connection. My response was very short – it’s just part of my blog theme.

I’ve been using WordPress and various themes for just about 5 years (The 5th anniversary of this blog is coming up in a couple of weeks!) and am pretty comfortable with changing themes and customizing them to my liking. But if you are new to blogging or aren’t comfortable taking the plunge to change and customize your theme, Traci Knoppe has some great tips for you in her article below.

The WordPress (WP) Theme – How to Find, Install and Customize
By Traci Knoppe

So you have your WordPress (WP) blog installed, but the default WP theme definitely does not reflect your business message, nor convey your personality. Good thing WordPress makes installing a new theme quick and easy.

How to Find the Perfect WP Theme

Web Search: You can actually find WordPress themes quickly by either doing a web search. To help narrow down your search results, use specific elements you want in your theme; for example: “red 2 column wordpress theme”.

WordPress Admin Theme Search: with the newest version of WordPress, you can now search for, and install, wp themes all from within your administration dashboard! This handy admin dashboard search feature only searches the themes directory at the WordPress web site; however, you are given ability to search by keyword phrase or even select listed search parameters, such as color, how many columns you prefer and/or even if you want a theme with an easily customizeable header.

How to Install a WP Theme

Whether you find and download the zip file for your new WordPress theme via a web browser search engine find, or you find your new theme in the admin dashboard, installation is super easy. Follow these simple installation steps:

From a saved zip file

1. Log into your WP admin dashboard and in the left navigaton column, go to Appearance > Add New Themes
2. At the top of the page, below where it says Install Themes, click the Upload link
3. Cick the Browse button to find the zip file on your computer for the theme you wish to install
4. Click Install Now
5. After installation is complete, you will see a message asking if you want to Activate the theme. If you want to apply this theme to your blog, click Activate.
6. That’s it!

From a WP admin dashboard search

1. If you have found your theme using the search feature from within your admin dashboard (Appearance > Add New Theme), then below the preview listing for each theme name, you’ll see the Install Theme link right next to the Preview link.
2. Click the Install Theme link.
3. In the window that pops up, click the Install Now button
4. You will then get a successful installation message with a link to click to Activate the theme for your site, if you want to activate this theme, click Activate
5. That’s it!

Free WordPress Themes – Premium or Custom WordPress Themes: Which is Better?

There is a never ending supply of free wp themes available. That’s great news for your budget; but if you do not have the image editing software and/or the ability to at least customize a free theme, you run the risk of your site looking exactly like many others on the web using the same free theme.

Free WordPress Themes

My advice is to customize any free wp theme you intend to use. Change the header graphic, as well as any icons or graphics used within the theme, to reflect your business image or message. Use the search guidelines I mentioned above to get the core layout of the theme as you want it (i.e. 2 columns or 3 columns) because changing colors and a few graphics is much easier than changing the entire layout of a theme.

Premium WordPress Themes

A premium WP theme is one that you pay for; however, it still needs a bit of tweaking to make it uniquely yours. Since many folks will be going for and using the free themes, buying a pre-made theme is the next step up to not having your site look like every other one on the web. You can find premium themes on template sites, or by doing a web search. They aren’t hard to find, but there are far fewer choices of premium themes.

Custom WordPress Themes

This is an option that requires hiring a wp theme designer. Yes, this is going to cost you money to have done; but your returns in the long run may be better, as you can truly get a theme designed exactly as you want that will uniquely brand you and your company. Before you hire a WordPress theme designer, make sure you see samples of their work. Any experienced professional web designer will have a portfolio of their work. Another key thing to screen new web designers for is their ability to communicate; more specifically to listen to your needs and then comprehend what your needs are and translate that into a blog theme design that meets those needs. Communication skills are essential and the designer should be able to translate your non-tech requests into appropriate and applicable tech needs for your blog theme.

Once you have chosen your blog’s theme, it’s easier to select a theme for your blog, whether a free theme, premium or custom. Keep your branding mind and go from there.

If you find that you need more help with WordPress issues, feel free to join my free newsletter at http://GenesisBlogging.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Traci_Knoppe
http://EzineArticles.com/?The-WordPress-(WP)-Theme—How-to-Find,-Install-and-Customize&id=2903419

Whether you write just for your own sites or are branching out as content writer for others, these five tips will help you improve your skills and increase your value online.

1. Read other people’s content. Not only will you get ideas for what to write about, but you may pick up some pointers on style and format.
2. Stay current. Accepted writing practices change, especially online writing practices. You may want a copy of the AP Stylebook, a resource used by reporters and other writers as a guide to spelling, grammar, abbreviations, and more.
3. Keep learning. Set yourself up to be an expert.
4. Choose a niche. If you are going to be an expert, you need to have a field. It is hard to concentrate on three or four different areas. Choose one and establish yourself there before moving on to another area.
5. Find a writing style. Or find your voice. Are you laid back, witty or serious? Every writer has a voice – explore and develop yours.

The best writers are those who never stop learning. There’s always room for improvement.