How to Write a Press Release that Gets Attention

This guest post is by Frank Strong of PRWeb.

Writing good content for a blog is only half of the equation: promoting your blog to drive traffic is the other half.

Previously we offered five reasons to promote your blog with press releases as part of an overall content marketing strategy. This post provides a few tips on how to write a press release for maximum media exposure.

1. Create compelling headlines.

Should you use a sexy headline that attracts eyeballs or a headline stuffed with keywords for search? We’ve always found that people read content, not search engines, so while it’s important to include keywords in your headline where possible, only use them when they make sense in context.

Just like the subject line of an email invites a recipient to open a message, headlines should compel a reader to consume your content.

2. Draw the reader in with the lead.

The first sentence of the body—the lead—should compel the viewer to keep reading (think: time-on-page). Traditional PR pros will tell you to write using an inverted pyramid, where the content flows top down and the first paragraph explains the five Ws: the who, what, when, where and why.

There’s nothing wrong with that, however, we think the use of press releases has evolved, where they once were primarily used to provide a news hook to the media in order to reach an audience, they now can also reach that audience directly.

As such, in some cases, the press release is the story and the better performing releases (in terms of page reads) we’ve seen read like the story—complete with a powerful lead.

3. Use anchor text links.

It’s a fundamental, but often overlooked, point: anchor text links are pivotal! Be sure to hyperlink your keywords to pages on your blog that are optimized for the same key words.

This ensures that when press release syndication network distributes the content, your keywords are still hyperlinked to the content you’re promoting. Once again, people read content, so ensure that the keywords make sense in the structure and flow of your copy.

4. Include a powerful call to action.

You’ve written a release with compelling headlines and copy that drew the reader in. Now, what action would you like people to take? Invite them to take that action. For many blogs, this would be to visit the blog, subscribe via RSS, or sign up for email alerts on new posts.

5. Choose a strong press release topic.

Stuck for press release ideas? We have a list of hot topics for press releases. When you’re coming up with an idea, the trick is to think like a PR pro—what about your blog, personal life, or business could you see being picked up by the mainstream media? What is the “remarkable” story you have to share?

While those are big-ticket themes, a more tactical approach would be to publish a release about your most popular posts—the top ten of the year, or the five most read every quarter (or month if you’re a prolific blogger). Your release content should focus on the trend. For example, why are readers consuming those specific posts?

For further reading on creating great press releases, try:

• PRWeb Picks: Five Releases we Love this Month
• Use News Releases for More Than PR
• 5 Tips to Optimize Your News Release for New Media
• News Flash! Press Releases Aren’t Just for the Media Anymore
• PR pros should write for search engines

Have you used a press release to promote your post? What tips can you add to this list?

Frank Strong is director of public relations for PRWeb.

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8 iPad Apps for Brilliant Writing

While I was up late one night reading the Copyblogger archives (yes, I know I need to get a life), I stumbled across a great post discussing some brilliant writing tips.

The post inspired me to write — but since I was on my iPad at the time, how was I going to capture my brilliant insights on my mobile device?

More and more people are using mobile devices to create content — and thankfully, there are a slew of new apps that make it incredibly easy to write on the go.

Some time ago we got together here on Copyblogger, and I talked about a few ways to use the iPad to get your writing mojo back.

I wouldn’t want to leave anyone hanging once they were ready to bust out that next great article, so here we are again with the tools to get the job done.

Here are 8 tools you can use for your own brilliant writing:

1. Pages

Not mentioning this tool would be a sin. It was the very first iPad app to hit the app store (there are now over 32,000). If you use the desktop version of this great Word processor then you will be instantly familiar with the mobile version.

Apple does not leave much out. You get a nice clean writing surface with the ability to go into full-screen mode for distraction-free writing. You also get tables, basic editing tools, image placement, and some really nice templates.

Pages has also made some recent updates which added more functionality, such as the ability to store your documents online and the importing of Office docs. You can check out Pages here.

2. Clean Writer

Clean writer is a writing tool for the minimalist. It focuses on simplicity with a zen-like interface. This is a word processor for those who just want to show up and write.

Clean Writer doesn’t bog down your creative genius with lots of features you don’t need; every tool has a simple, useful purpose.

Hats off to the developers for creating something writers can use for under $1. Check out Clean Writer here.

3. My Writing Nook

If you are writing an ebook or a book meant for print, then this is a tool you don’t want to miss. It’s a little different than a simple word processor, because it helps you organize your writing into chapters and has a unique screen layout meant for book writing.

One really nice thing about this app is the work you do on it will be automatically synced with the online version. This means you can work on your book from your desktop, laptop, and/or iPad.

In contrast to Clean Writer, this one has a lot more features. It is definitely meant for the focused writer who is working on a book. You can check out My Writing Nook here.

4. Chapters — Notebooks for Writing

Maybe you haven’t gotten to the writing-an-ebook part. Maybe you’re still brainstorming, taking notes, making sure you don’t lose any valuable ideas. You need a note-taking program

The problem with a lot of the other note programs is that they are unorganized. This app is anything but. It keeps your notes organized in virtual notebooks, which can then be password protected if you choose. It is also full of other useful features, from adding photos to creating PDFs.

At its core, this is a tool that helps you organize your thoughts in a brilliant way. You can check out Chapters here.

5. Chronicle for iPad

Along the same lines as Chapters, this is a tool that actually encourages you to write more. It offers up some pretty compelling ways to immerse yourself in your writing.

The look and feel is that of a regular paper journal, but it’s much more than that. It is a distraction-free way of writing and organizing.

This is a good option for creative types who like to jot down ideas, put all your thoughts together however seems best, or throw out new sentences just to remember them later. If you’re on a flight or waiting for an appointment and you want to jot down some thoughts for your next book or blog post, this is a great way to do it. Check out Chronicle here.

6. Advanced English Dictionary and Thesaurus

As writers and bloggers, we are well aware of the power of words — but often, the perfect word eludes us. Enter those old standbys: the dictionary and thesaurus.

Here is an app that is both.

The great thing about this tool is that you can use it even while offline. Keep it handy and while you are writing, use it to expand your vocabulary, or get “unstuck” when trying to find just the right word. It definitely helps with brilliant writing.

You can check out the Advanced English Dictionary and Thesaurus here.

7. Grammar App HD

There are some great grammar tips here on Copyblogger but what if you don’t have access to Copyblogger? What if you are actually offline?

Scary thought, I know. But it happens.

If you have poor grammar, it’s impossible to produce brilliant writing. Grammar is essential to both clarity and purposeful communication, and you have to know the rules in order to conversationally break them. This app helps you be a more grammatical, less chimp-like writer.

It offers tips, rules, and examples of grammar you can check out while you are writing. It’s a handy app to have in your writer’s toolkit right along with your dictionary and favorite word processor. Check out Grammar App HD here.

8. iA Writer

Have you ever heard that the key to good writing is focus? It’s true.

iA Writer lets you focus without any distractions. In fact, it was designed to eliminate distractions entirely, so nothing stands between you and getting those brilliant sentences onto the page.

iA Writer creates a writing environment that is noise-free with zero distractions. No spelling checkers. No auto-correction. No toolbars. All these features are hidden away and revealed only when you need them.

iA Writer also offers pleasing typography that is easy on the eyes, and has a nice feature called “reading time” which lets you know how long it will take to read your text. This handy little tool also syncs up with your DropBox account if you have one. You can check out iA Writer here.

Making Mobile Writing Happen

All of these apps are great for brilliant writing. But there is one more thing …

If you are going to be building your writer’s toolkit using apps and a mobile device (let’s assume an iPad), then you need to have a good way to actually, you know, write.

While you can train yourself to use touch screens, they’re just not recommended for long periods of composing.

I would recommend that you invest in a keyboard and a stand. There are literally hundreds of products out there but I use the Apple Keyboard Dock and it serves my purpose well. You can also get a Bluetooth keyboard and a separate stand.

What do you have in your mobile writing toolkit? Let us know about your favorites in the comments.

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Influence, Cash, or Hobby: Which Blogging Choice Is Right for You?

This guest post is by Brandon Connell of brandonconnell.com

When I first started a blog that I took seriously, it was to promote an ebook that I had published on Amazon’s Digital Text platform. Initially, I wanted the blog to be my “author’s headquarters,” but soon after, I realized what I really wanted to do with my blog. It was far from my initial goal, and I wish I’d made the right decision from the beginning, rather than reversing course.

The problems

Changing your blogging type after you start the blog causes problems. Those problems include, but are not limited to:

• losing readers and subscribers that had expectations
• confusing the search engines due to content changes
• wasting time marketing your blog on the wrong sites.

Readers walk

When you change your blog style or niche, it’s common sense that your readers will most likely walk. Think about it. They came to your blog because they came across some content that intrigued them. Now that you’ve decided to change your content, what reason do they have to stick around?

It’s important to choose your blog style ahead of time, and think about it carefully. You can literally waste hours of your time approaching the wrong reader audience. You can also end up being bad-mouthed by another blogger who’s angry with your switch.

Search engines get confused

It is a search engine’s job to make sure it indexes and ranks relevant content. Let’s say you start a blog about your golf hobby, but then you switch course, writing a stock tips business blog. Search engines may have already given you good rankings for golf. If you change your content, you’ll lose those rankings. You may even end up being penalized by the search engines.

When you first publish your blog, unless you’re blog hopping and guest posting, search engines are likely to be the first ones to read your content. Make sure they leave as happy customers. How? Be consistent. Your niche and blogging style should never change once you start.

You waste time

Should you have done your research on blog marketing, you’ll know that blog commenting and article marketing are excellent ways to promote your blog and build backlinks to it. If you change your style or niche, you have to consider the fact that you wasted all that time writing irrelevant articles that don’t match your newly chosen niche. The audiences for those article sites, backlinks, and guest posts will no longer be interested in what your blog has to say. When they click through to your site, they’ll be disappointed.

Another wasted effort would be the fact that you now have to delete your mailing list that you may have built up, since your subscribers didn’t sign up for information on your new topic. They subscribed because they had an interest in your previous topic.

Style vs. niche

Your blog style is not your niche: a blog style reflects your reasons for starting the blog in the first place:

• Did you want to make money?
• Did you want to influence a certain type of group?
• Did you just want to blog about your interests?

When choosing a blogging style, you need to think about what you intentions may be in the long term. There are many bloggers who simply want to make money—they heard that blogging can make that happen for them. There are others who don’t believe or care about making money blogging: they simply want to write about what they love. The influential blogger is a writer who wishes to have his or her readers care about what s/he says, and take action because of what s/he said.

A niche, on the other hand, is a topic that you’re writing about. You can fit your blog into any niche using any of the three blogging styles I just mentioned. My niche topic is making money blogging, and I write regularly about this topic. You could say that this niche reflects my target keyword—the topic that I want to be known for.

As we saw with the golf and stocks example above, it’s important not to change your niche after you start blogging. Most of the time, your niche is connected to your style. When one changes, so does the other in most cases.

Let’s look more closely at these blogging styles.

The influential blogger

The influential type wants more than anything to have control over the actions that people take. We can take medical marijuana as an example niche in which the influential blogger style might be applied. This blogger will either want to oppose medical marijuana laws, or support them. Whichever route they choose, they want to be able to get people on board to support their cause. Their cause may be a call to action: for example, to contact a congressman with a specific message that will generate support for the blogger’s desired law.

Influential bloggers are usually heavyweights because they touch on sensitive topics that gain a lot of attraction. An influential blog doesn’t usually have a lot of advertising, and although the blogger may ask for donations to support their cause, that’s usually the extent of their money0making agenda. This does not make them a cash-seeking blogger.

The hobby blogger

I love the hobby blogger because they don’t care about anything other than sharing their passion with others. They care about what they do for fun, and they want you to have fun reading about it.

Hobby bloggers are quick to gain followers because they’re not concerned about advertising on their blog. They love the idea of publishing their articles and having like-minded people comment on them.

The cash blogger

I would say that I am a mix between a cash blogger and a hobby blogger. My entire niche and style is to teach others and make money doing it. I have done well in my style and niche, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The reason why I consider it a hobby is because I love what I am writing about, and I love sharing it all with others. It just so happens that I make money doing it.

My niche isn’t a necessary one, and it’s flooded with new blogs every day. You can monetize a hobby blog in any niche. I would say that there are a lot of hobby bloggers who have unintentionally turned into cash bloggers too, just because they realized at some point that money can be made with their traffic. If you’re thinking “but that’s changing your blogging style!” you’re right … in part. It’s a sort of merging of the two, rather than a clear switch. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, and you shouldn’t feel like you’re selling out if you go down this path.

Which choice is right for you?

No matter what style or niche you choose, you need to take the decision seriously. The last thing you want to do is change course once you’ve made your decision. There are too many negative side-effects of changing your style halfway through the mission.

Look at your decision as a life choice. You wouldn’t just pick up and move from Chicago to Iceland, would you? The choice you make today will impact your life years down the road. Make sure it is a decision you can live with, and choose a style and niche that you love without a doubt.

How did you choose your blogging style and your blog niche?

Brandon Connell is a full-time blogger, web designer, and internet marketer in Illinois. Visit http://www.brandonconnell.com, where Brandon teaches you how to make money blogging.

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Monthly Trends + 10 Tips for a Flawless Linking Strategy

This guest post is written by Kimberly Turner, cofounder of Regator.

To link or not to link—that is the question. What should you link to in your blog posts? How many outbound links should you have? When and why should you use outbound links?

We’ll answer those questions today, using posts about the month’s most-blogged-about stories to illustrate good linking strategies. The top ten stories of the last month, according to Regator.com’s blogosphere trends were: 1. Thanksgiving, 2. Midterm Election, 3. TSA, 4. Black Friday, 5. Korea, 6. WikiLeaks, 7. Sarah Palin, 8. Harry Potter, 9. Kanye West, and 10. Call of Duty. Let’s look at how a few bloggers used links to improve their posts about these stories…

1. Build relationships and community.

When bloggers in a particular niche link to one another, it shows mutual respect and helps build the community around that niche. Don’t immediately reject the idea of linking to blogs you consider to be your competition. Showing that you’re reading a competitor’s blog (especially if you take the extra step to leave thoughtful comments there) can be the start of great relationship that has advantages for you, the other blogger, your readers, and the community as a whole. Make your content as useful as possible.

Example: Serious Eats links to a number of food blogs in “Weekend Cook and Tell Round Up: Thanksgiving Leftover Derby.”

2. Give credit where credit is due.

One of the most common reasons to include outbound links in your posts is to provide references for facts, or as a hat-tip to a source that brought a particular fact or story to your attention. You will not always be the original source for the information you blog about. Providing links to your sources makes your content seem more credible, shows your appreciation of the work done by your source, and lets readers know that you’ve done your research—if the sources are credible. Remember: quality counts and linking to a site or article does, in some ways, imply endorsement.

Example: Despite its humorous tone, Cracked’s “6 Things You Won’t Believe Can Brainwash You On Election Day” links show that the information for this post came from reputable, trusted sources such as MIT, ScienceDaily, California Institute of Technology, and others.

3. Don’t go overboard.

You can have too much of a good thing. While relevant links can help with SEO, Google’s own webmaster guidelines advise you to “keep the links on a given page to a reasonable number.” What’s the cutoff between reasonable and unreasonable? No one knows for sure. The safe bet is to use outbound links when they are relevant and add something to your post and not to use them gratuitously to attempt to improve your SEO. Think of them as part of your content. And when it comes to link exchange schemes, just say no. Outbound links to scammy, spammy, or low-quality sites do you more harm than good for a number of reasons.

Example: Death and Taxes’ “Harvard Law Students Sue TSA” provides only enough links to give relevant back-story and additional information to benefit the readers.

4. Recognize guest posters or image sources.

No budget for guest bloggers or photography? You may find that a link to a writer’s blog or photographer’s flickr page can serve as compensation, particularly if your blog is popular. Try allowing guest posters to include a very brief bio with links at the bottom of their guest posts and look for Creative Commons images that are free to use with attribution.

Example: Business Insider’s “Window Shoppers Dominated Black Friday” provides a link to the photographer’s flickr page below the image as required by that photo’s Creative Commons license.

5. Provide a deeper understanding of your topic.

Use links to provide back-story, additional information, or context for your post, but don’t rely on links to the point that your post can’t stand on its own. Links should let readers who are particularly interested delve a bit deeper but shouldn’t be vital to a reader’s understanding of your post.

Example: Danger Room “Howitzers Fire, Jets Ready After North Korea Shells South” links to posts about relevant history, articles from Korean newspapers, and the Wikipedia pages about a particular weapon, among other things. Each link gives the reader an opportunity to learn more but none is required to grasp the post.

6. Support your opinion.

Your opinions are (hopefully) based on facts and knowledge that you’ve picked up about a given subject. Being opinionated on your blog is a good thing but presenting your opinions without any sort of support is likely to cause some readers to question your ideas. Use links to share information and facts to back up your claims.

Example: Valleywag’s “Amazon.com Evicts Wikileaks. Who’s Next?” takes the position that Amazon’s eviction of Wikileaks was inappropriate and uses a number of pertinent links to support that opinion.

7. Know that it’s okay not to link.

A number of studies have shown that simply including links in text, regardless of whether they are actually clicked, reduced comprehension and slows reading time. The theory is that each time you see a hyperlink, your brain takes a moment to assess the situation. Click or move on? Each of those small decisions disrupts your train of thought enough to break your concentration.

Example: Los Angeles Times’ Show Tracker’s blog presents “Decoding ‘Sarah Palin‘s Alaska’: Top 3 lessons from the debut episode” in simple black and white with no links, making for a quick, distraction-free read.

8. Promote your older posts and keep readers on your site for longer.

Linking to other posts on your own blog can increase your page views, help with SEO, and make you a better resource for your readers. Feature related links at the bottom of each post or intersperse links to older posts within the text when relevant.

Example: MTV Movies Blog has written about each of the Harry Potter movies and, because it stands to reason that if you’re taking the time to read one post about Harry Potter, you might be interested in other posts about Harry Potter, the blog linked back to its previous posts on the franchise in “Which ‘Harry Potter‘ Film Is Your Favorite So Far?”

9. Bring information together.

Occasionally, you may want to quote extensively from a source or bring a number of opinions on a given issue or story together for your readers. Linking back to the original source when quoting or doing round-ups pays respect to the original author’s work and lets your readers read more from the story you’re quoting. Just remember that a link does not give you license to plagiarize.

Example: Idolator’s “Review Revue: Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’” rounds up a number of reviews of Kanye West’s new album, each with a link.

10. Use good anchor text.

Anchor text is the visible, clickable text of the link you’re sharing. For the purposes of search engine rankings as well as readability, it’s best to avoid anchor text such as “click here,” “this,” or other non-descriptive text when possible. Imagine that the reader can see only the anchor text; would he or she still have an idea of where you’re sending them? If not, rethink that particular text.

Example: GamesBeat’s “Call of Duty Black Ops Sells $650M in five days” has very specific anchor text that lets readers know exactly where they’re headed when they click.

What’s your linking strategy? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

Kimberly Turner is a cofounder of Regator, as well as an award-winning print journalist. Find her on Twitter @kimber_regator, get freewidgets for your blog, or nominate your blog for review.

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7 Emotions that Trigger Reader Action

Image by Anna Gay

Earlier in the week I wrote an email to ProBlogger PLUS subscribers that talked about deepening reader engagement by aiming at the hearts of your readers.

In it, I shared an example from FeelGooder of a personal story post that I wrote that got a great reaction from readers.

As I wrote that email it struck me that my example post was only one example of a type of post that engaged the emotions of readers.

People are emotional beings and, as a result, when they’re engaged, that often leads to actions (both positive and negative).

As bloggers, many of us are interested in getting our readers active in different ways (commenting, linking to our posts, sharing them on Twitter, buying our products, and so on), so writing in a way that connects with readers’ emotions is something we might want to think about.

Of course this is open to abuse and can do damage to both our readers and our own reputation if it’s used in manipulative ways, so tread with care! Let’s examine seven emotions and how they might be used in blogging.

1. Disappointment

When it comes to reader engagement there’s nothing much more powerful than connecting with a disappointment that a reader might be feeling. Sharing one of our own disappointments—or at least showing understanding and empathy around what others are facing—is very powerful for building credibility and trust.

2. Anger

This one can be tricky. Many bloggers have used anger to trigger responses from readers in ways that are quite manipulative (for example, by baiting people to respond angrily). While it can be used in a negative way, there are times also when it can be used positively. For example, when you’re trying to bring about some sort of social change for good, highlighting an injustice can evoke an anger in people that motivates them to take some type of positive action.

3. Joy

Many humor blogs have experienced great success by tapping into joy. Present readers with something that evokes a belly laugh, make it easy to share your content on their favorite social network, and you’re on the way to a viral traffic event.

4. Fear

Fear is another one that has been used by many in an emotionally manipulative manner, but it can be used for positive purposes also. I still remember the time when as a smoker I was confronted with a family friend in the last stages of dying of emphysema. I never smoked another cigarette again.

5. Surprise

“Wow—I didn’t expect that!” I love getting comments like that—it shows that I’ve done something to snap readers out of a zombie-like state. Surprise or shock your readers with new information, writing in a new voice, presenting a staggering statistic, or even repackaging familiar ideas in a way that’s new, and you’ll certainly get a reaction.

6. Pride

Pride is something that’s often presented in a negative way (he’s too proud for his own good) but it is also something that can deepen reader engagement.

For example, you could mention readers by name in your posts or link to things that they’ve written on their own blogs, or show a video of them that they’ve posted on YouTube. Everyone wants to be noticed, and everyone wants to have their achievements celebrated. These things make a person proud and by tapping into that, you can build the relationship that you have with them. So build into your blog opportunities for readers to showcase what they’ve done, what they think, and who they are.

7. Anticipation

There’s nothing like the anticipation of a big event to get people coming together to engage, whether it be the release of a new product from Apple, the premier of a long-awaited blockbuster movie, or the season finale of much-loved TV show. If you can tap into the anticipation and excitement that people have about something that’s important to them, you can create something powerful.

This is particularly effective if you create a space for people to talk about the thing that’s anticipated, or if you have special information about it that people want.

What would you add?

I’ve only scratched the surface here. There are a lot of emotions that I’ve not touched on. What would you add? Which emotions have you focused upon in your own blogging, and what has worked in getting reactions from readers?

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4 Scientific Tips that Help You Get More Blog Comments

One of the most engaging features of the blogging platform is the commenting system.

Many bloggers believe there is as much or even more value in the discussion than the posts they write themselves. Comments are a classic form of social proof for blogs, and blogs that attract lots of comments appear more authoritative. Comments are also a great way to facilitate user generated content that is perfect for SEO.

Because of all this, comments can become addictive, and many bloggers want to know how to get more of them. While there is a lot of great anecdotal advice out there from experienced bloggers, I thought some might appreciate a more data-driven approach.

Fortunately for you, I’ve spent the past few months analyzing data on more than 150,000 blog posts. And in doing that, I’ve identified four data points you can use to encourage more commenting on your site.

The first thing I noticed is that while articles published during the week generally tend to get more views, articles published on the weekends get far more comments. This may be because users have more freedom on non-work-days to take the time to share their two cents.

Then, when I analyzed the hour-of-day blogs posts were published during, I found that commenting peaked on articles posted in the morning, specifically around 8 and 9AM.

I believe this is because posts released early are in everyone’s inboxes and feedreaders when they check them in the morning and the rest of the day.

I also found some interesting things when I looked at words used in articles and how they correlated with comment numbers.

Posts that mention “giveaways” and “gifts” are commented on more than the average article in my dataset, as are posts that mention “recruiting” and “jobs.” In these tough economic times, everyone loves a present and many people need jobs.

The word “comments” also appears in this list, indicating that directly asking for comments on your post does work.

On the flip side of the coin, I noticed certain words were correlated with posts getting fewer comments than the average.

The list includes many technical, legal and financial terms like “settlements,” “derivatives,” and “franchise,” “investing.” While people are concerned with their own monetary issues, they’re not so excited about discussing the finance world at large.

How about you?

What does your data tell you about the factors that seem to invite more comments?

Let us know (in the comments, of course!) what seems to increase (or decrease) comments on your site.

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I Am Not a Blogger, I Am a Human Being!

This guest post is by Katie Tallo of Momentum Gathering.

I’ve developed a tweet. It’s involuntary and annoying. My vision’s distorted. All I’m seeing are the letters S, E and O. Worse, I think I’m losing my mind because I don’t know who some of my friends are—at all—no idea who they are. I play with my widget all day. I’m obsessively turning my plug-ins off and on, off and on. I’m stumbling and tumbling around most of the time and alarmingly, there’s a growth mutating out of the side of my name. An @ has attached itself to me wherever I go. I need help.

I think I’m turning into a blogger!

It all started way, way back, seven months and thousands of links ago. It was a tweetless, friendless, skypeless time in my life—a simpler time when my inbox was empty and my surfing, innocent and drifting. A blog was some kind of weird public diary that weird public people did. Like pole dancing—too revealing. And yet somehow intriguing.

Naively, I peeked into a blogging forum one day and was instantly hooked. Suddenly, I was swinging from the nearest web publishing platform. Before I could stop myself, I’d picked a domain name, created a blog, and then brazenly published my very first post for everyone to see.

I was out there, naked. And I liked it.

I joined a blogging club, hung around the forum, attended webinars, blogging bootcamps, skype sessions and even flew off to a big conference in Vegas. Soon, I was being invited to other blogs. I even had some guests on mine. I chatted, commented, liked, moderated, shared and tweeted like a full-on social media butterfly. I was up all hours of the night, creating post after post, strutting my stuff. I couldn’t stop. While I madly typed and wildly clicked, my avatar just kept on smiling.

But all this linking and lurking was taking me deeper and deeper into the web where I soon found myself being chased by an angry mob of marketing-guru-type-experts who could smell my newbie blood. They threw me scraps of promises and secrets, coaxing me with freedom, riches, subscriber numbers and success! I ate up their feeds. I bookmarked their manifestos, signed up for their courses, bought their e-books and grabbed every freebie I could download.

Blurry-eyed and completely surrounded, my fingers moving rapid-fire across the keyboard, my mouth dry with dehydration from hours glued to my laptop, my soul screamed at me to get up, stand up, to even look up … and that’s when it happened … I did look up. I looked into the monitor and saw my reflection. I was a hideous visage of my former self—unrecognizable. I rolled back in my chair, lifted my hands to my face and screamed in anguish,

“I am not a blogger! I am a human being!

Okay, maybe it didn’t quite happen that way, but you get the point. Being a blogger can feel inhuman at times—an existence that’s indifferent to even the most basic of bodily functions, like walking, sleeping, eating, and peeing.

Blogging can completely change you … if you let it.

I blame no one, but myself. I found my passion and that passion caught me by surprise. I felt like there was so much to learn and so little time. I was trying to catch up, trying to get where everyone else seemed to be, trying to make my mark, trying to be everything, all at once.

It’s impossible and inhuman and I won’t do it anymore.

Maybe some of you feel this way too. Maybe you’re burning out big time from blogging. If you feel like you’re twittering on the edge of the grotesque, then it’s time to pry your clammy fingers from the mouse and lean back for a moment.

It’s time to be a human being again.

This doesn’t mean you stop blogging—far from it. But the human being has to emerge again. I’m going to be a mother, a wife, a filmmaker, a vegan, a runner, a motivator, an organizer, a camper, a volunteer, a writer and then a blogger. I am all of these things. And it’s all of these things that inform my blogging. If all I do is blog, I’ll end up with nothing to write about and my blogging will implode.

You have to live first, then blog.

Seems obvious, but the internet will feed you an endless stream of wants if you want it to. So I will stop wanting so much and remember what it is I really need. I don’t need to be the best, to compare, to win or to succeed at all costs.

I will return to who I really am and get back to what makes sense to me.

I will make my own rules. I will say, “forget it!” to SEO (for now), get to know my friends, sell things worth buying, give away great stuff, make loads of mistakes and focus on having amazing conversations. Most of you will find your own way to be human and make your own rules. The best bloggers already have.

Take Darren Rowse, for example. When I attended that conference in Vegas and sat in the audience at the keynote presentation, there was a tear in his eye when he spoke of his son who peeked over his shoulder, while he was writing “to the world”, and whispered, “Make sure you tell the world something important.” That’s likely Darren’s number one rule.

What’s important is the human stuff.

The stuff we all have in common, our pain, our struggles, our challenges, our worries, our victories, our oneness, and even our blogging. Because that reflection in the monitor is most beautiful when we see both the human being and the blogger looking back at us together. So I guess that makes me both a human being and a blogger after all.

Katie Tallo seeks to inspire simple, joyful life change through her blog, Momentum Gathering. Subscribe to her blog and grab her Life Cleanse Starter Kit if you need a little help feeling human.

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4 Great Tips to Build More Links to Your Blog Posts…Based on Scientific Analysis

This is a guest post by HubSpot’s social media scientist, Dan Zarrella. It contains data from his upcoming webinar “The Science of Blogging” taking place on December 9th.

Many marketers and small business owners see blogging, rightly, as an important aspect of their SEO efforts because of their ability to attract inbound links. And even beyond SEO, getting lots of links for your blog posts is key to establishing yourself as an expert and building traffic.

I’ve spent the past few months analyzing data on over 150,000 blog posts and I’ve identified several ways you can optimize your blogging efforts to drive more incoming links.

Day of Week

I found that blog post published in the early and mid business week tended to attract more links than articles published on other days. This is likely because the “linkerati” (people who control and create links, like bloggers) tend to spend the most time working on their sites during the week, as opposed to on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Time of Day

When I turned my analysis towards the hour of publishing, I found that blog posts published very early in the morning (like, 7AM early) attracted many more links than articles posted at other times during the day. This is because most linkerati are looking at their inboxes and feedreaders in the morning to find interesting content to write about and link to.

Most Linked-To Words

When I studied the words that occured in blog post and how they correlated with incoming links, I found words like “recent” and “soon” that indicated linkers were interested in writing about timely content. I also found many words like “insights,” “analysis,” and “review” that told me people were interested in linking to content that expressed a blogger’s personal and unique point-of-view.

Least Linked-To Words

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