While there is no silver bullet that will kill the procrastination bug, there are many simple steps we can take to improve our productivity. In the following list, we will examine 7 of the best ways to become a more productive person.

1. Streamline Your Workspace for Better Productivity

Wireless technology offers us many possibilities to create a more streamlined and less cluttered workspace. Investing in a wireless keyboard and other such gadgets can help to create a workspace that is both minimalistic and attractive. Technology now makes it possible to send documents to a printer without wires and to wear wireless headphones in order to eliminate distracting noises.

These minor investments in a clean workspace can go a long way in increasing output. If you cannot afford to go completely wireless, you can at least get control of the wires you have and bind them to keep them out of sight.

2. Go Paperless

Much like the above example, going paperless can lead to a more creative and productive existence. Clunky fax machines, noisy printers and scary photo copiers can often be done away with, if we adopt the correct programs.

There are many applications that will allow you to mark documents such as PDF files, right on your screen. These simple steps will leave you with an uncluttered workspace that will appear light and refreshing.

3. Purchase a Tablet

Tablets such as the iPad are geared toward greater productivity. These gadgets will have you looking at your laptop as if it were some old relic from a bygone age. The ability to write and draw directly on the screen takes life in a more streamlined and less cluttered direction. With a wireless keyboard, the iPad can perform nearly any function that a laptop or desktop can perform.

You will also save energy by not having to lug around that heavy computer everywhere you go. So what are you waiting for? Go buy a tablet to boost your productivity!

Considering that advertisers would have a plenty of choices with respect to platforms for advertising on, you would need to put your best foot forward for attracting them.

How to Attract Advertisers to your Blog?

If you want to pursue a career as a professional blogger, you will quickly find out that your best bet for making money is renting out advertising space on your blog. But generally speaking, if you are going to make money from your blog, you need some advertising and the following top 5 tips can help you sell direct ads to advertisers thus cutting the middle man’s commission.

1. Place a ‘Advertise With Us’ Banner

The first thing to do is to place a banner for advertisers inviting them to advertise with you. When advertisers click on the banner they should be able to access all relevant information that can influence their decision making process. For instance, you must include your Page Rankings, Alexa Rankings etc, the rate you would be charging for the advertisement space, the mode of payment you would prefer and complete contact information specifically for advertisers. If advertisers need to go hunting for all this information, they would most likely switch the blog.

2. Emphasize that you are Niche Specific

Advertisers would always prefer blog platforms that cater to a niche market segment. In order to emphasize your niche specificity you need to update your blog on a regular basis and furnish articles that are niche-related and information rich. General content would hardly work here. These measures would ensure higher search engine ranks and the probability of advertisers finding you would also be easier.

3. Make Use of your Banner Space

In case you do not have any paid advertisements to put up at the moment, you can still use your banner space quite intelligently to attract probable advertisers. Use this space to put up ads of in-house or partner products. You can also include free advertisements of products or services, without using the URL. This would encourage competitors in the same segment to approach your blog for paid advertisements. In addition, you must also put forth a request for full campaign performance disclosure. This will tell you about the number of clicks that took place, the percentage conversion and so on.

4. Provide Information on User Demographic

Since the primary aim of placing advertisements on blogs would be to enhance exposure among the target segment, providing relevant information on your user base would probably help them decide in your favor. So, you need to provide information on the gender bifurcation, age groups, marital status etc of your users. You can conduct site surveys and polls for the same.

5. Provide Detailed Information on Your Identity

Ideally, you must have a “about us” page which provides every relevant detail about your blog. Keep it short and professional, without omitting any relevant information. Advertisers might wish to know more about your blog before they can consider advertising on it.

Attracting advertisers on your blog is an art you need to perfect over time. You could also resort some expert tips from blog management professionals, for sure shot success. Also, make sure you check these top 5 tips on How to Sell Direct Ads on Your Blog.

Guest Author: Sofia Williams writes for Toyota Place. She likes to contribute to the online sphere by blogging on a vast variety of topics.

Pick the right blog after doing your research

A strategic guest-post campaign is not about submitting the maximum number of posts to all kinds of sites and blogs. As a guest blogger, you need to make sure that you post content only on websites that have a good reputation and solid readership. Authority blogs and sites in niche and unique topic areas that accept only those posts that are relevant to you as well as your clients are a good place to begin. Start with the archives and then go through the current content to get a good idea of the look and feel of the blog.

Keep it fresh, and always think of new and creative ideas

Finding the right blog is only the first step in the process. A successful guest post that is unique and interesting always draws user attention. Even if you have the required credentials and provide links to blog samples and other relevant writing samples online, this guest post is the only way to prove to the audience that you have something that they should definitely pay close attention to.

One way of going about this is to take a look at the posts on other authority sites that have topics related to what you would like to write about.

Write quality content always

Coherent and compelling blog content always grabs eyeballs and garners the attention that it truly deserves. Your content has to be the best if you would like to increase your chances of being asked to post more content as a guest blogger.

The posts should never have any spelling and grammatical errors. Include a short bio along with one or two links to a website or page that you would like to share with the readers. Too many links make the post appear like spam and webmasters will reject your content right away. Always spend enough time and put in a lot of effort in writing informative and interesting content.

Be straightforward and honest

Providing inaccurate and false blog stats (page views, ranking, unique visitors), credentials, and other information is a foolish thing to do. Even if you start your guest blogging efforts on small blogs, you will get caught sooner or later, which will spoil your chances of gaining an entry into the big league.

Learn the ropes of the process, build your online reputation, attract your own blog traffic, and gain more exposure; even it means that you have to start afresh.

Pitch and promote your guest post after you write it

To drive valid traffic to your post, make sure that you promote it. Even new visitors leave comments and join the conversation if they find the content relevant and useful. Bloggers are busy people, and you can save a lot of time by emailing your guest post across to them, so they get a good idea of what you can offer.

Guest Author: Sonja Brown is a social media enthusiast and contributor to Degree Jungle – a college student resource. She enjoys helping online businesses grow.

There are some blogs that are so strongly branded that all you have to do is check out the logo on their Facebook page, and you’ll know exactly what website it represents. When you’re able to create that type of brand synchronicity in your blog niche, readers will automatically check out your blog whenever they have any questions related to your industry.

Create a Consistent Theme for Your Blog

To begin branding your blog, start with the basics. Make sure that your blog has consistent design on each page, including all of your social media profiles. Even though using the same colors, font, and images may seem subtle, your readers will automatically recognize your style no matter where you post a link to your content.

Grab Attention by Using a Unique Logo

This doesn’t necessarily mean that your logo needs to be elaborate and expensively designed. But you do need to choose a logo that will best represent the niche of your blog, using the same fonts and colors from your blog theme. When you use this logo on your Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn profiles, people will soon begin to recognize your blog based on this icon alone.

Focus on Your Strengths

In many cases, your blog’s strength may be something intangible, like creating a community full of stimulating reader comments or posting unique interviews with leaders in your industry. Whatever your blog does best, continue to do it and do it well.

If you don’t yet know your strength as a blog, feel free to ask your social media followers and blog readers. Asking your audience what they enjoy most about your blog will clue you in to why people are attracted to your blog in the first place. Once you find out, rinse and repeat.

Stick to Your Blog’s Vision

One of the biggest problems I see for bloggers who are trying to monetize or business trying to start blogs to promote their products/services is the lack of a mission or goal.  It will be difficult to grow your blog and reach out to more followers if you don’t have a consistent vision or mission statement. You will likely try to put too many irons into the fire at once and will confuse your identity.

Once you determine the vision for your blog, you can stick to it without compromise. This will help to set you apart from other competing blogs in your niche who may be offering the same type of content to the same reader base.

To find your vision, ask yourself why readers would want to read your blog. If you have an interior design blog to promote your company, then perhaps readers visit your blog to find insider design tips and do-it-yourself posts that they can’t find anywhere else. If your mission is to give readers easy tutorials in design that are hard to find online, stick with it. Readers will soon begin to recognize that you are living up to your claims and will become loyal visitors of your blog.

Know Your Audience:

“Branding” doesn’t have to lead to goals outside of your blog either. If you brand yourself well, it’s easier to find “your people” – the readers who really connect to you and your ideas. A well-branded blogger typically has more loyal fans who will, in turn, comment, subscribe, make purchases, share content, and more.

Guest Author: Bethany Ramos is a full-time freelance writer who specializes in Internet marketing and SEO. For the best selection of stacking chairs and folding tables, please visit Best-folding-tables-and-chairs.com.

However, the question that pops out is whether or not it is possible for a ghost blogger to earn some bucks. There in no doubt that, these days most of the blog authors wish to have unique and quality content for their blogs. For that purpose, many bloggers are even willing to provide handsome rewards to efficient writers.

Ghost Blogging: How To Make Money Without A Blog?

Now, people who love to write would certainly be interested in ghost blogging. If you have a craze for writing, you can contact bloggers who are in need of ghost bloggers. This is a great way to earn some good bucks if your writing skills are more than average.

Why Writers Should Consider Ghost Blogging?

If you can provide quality content as per the demand of the blogger, it is really a good way to earn money without any investment. However, one should keep in mind that content buyers always look for specific type of content, and you should remain prepared to deal with any type. Below are a few of the most common topics that are in demand now:

1) Tips on using Facebook and Twitter as social media platforms.
2) Topics regarding WordPress, Blogger & Zoomla technologies.
3) Topics related to green energy, solar power & LED lights.
4) Sports technology especially soccer, rugby & baseball.
5) Articles regarding eTicketing, tour management and event promotion.
6) Articles on small business such as business networking, entrepreneurship and evolution of small businesses.

However, you should keep in mind that each blogger has specific rules. If you want to successfully earn some money through blogging, you should first consult with the blogger regarding his/ her specific requirements and only then proceed.

If you don’t have, create an online banking account and a Paypal account to receive payments on time. Further, make sure the amount you’d receive on each article. Lastly, what you shouldn’t forget.

If you want to become popular as a ghost blogger, you should always remain focused on your article’ quality and not on what you are getting as reward.

Have you ever tried earning extra income via Ghost Blogging? Have you ever hired a ghost blogger to pump articles  into your blog, during time when you were going through a phase of ‘writer’s block’? Share your comments and express your opinions with us.

At least, when it comes to my nutrisystem and medifast diet blog I currently get 99% of my search engine traffic from Google alone, while the other one percent comes from all the other search engines.

How To Get Free Traffic Using Google

The name Google is the first name that comes to the mind of most people when people talk about “search engines“, and any blogger who is very smart will quickly realize this and as a result leverage it for effective results.

I have been studying how Google works for years now, and as a result I’ve been implementing the tips I learned on my medifast and nutrisystem diet blog, and in this article I will be giving you a few tips on how to use Google to grow your blog.

Focus on Your Content

Do you know that Google currently considers around 300 factors before trying to rank any web page? I know that is a huge number of factors showing that nothing is certain, but in reality one of those factors is certain, and that one factor is your content.

Over the years Google has changed how it ranks websites, it has introduced a lot of changes in how it calculates links, and it has also disabled and introduced a lot of new factors. Of all those factors, the only factor that wasn’t affected is content.

What this shows is that Google still does, and always will, respect great content, so it is very important to start focusing more of your efforts on delivering the best of your content if you really want to get results from your blog.

Realize that Links Influence Google Rankings a Lot

Another thing you need to realize in other to get the best from your search engine optimization efforts is that Google places more importance on links to your site compared to other search engines. As far as Google is concerned, links control the web.

Most search engines today rank your websites based on majority of factors, but unlike other major search engines like Yahoo and Bing that focus on on-page factors, Google places more strength on the number of links to your blog and the quality of those links

Capitalize on Existing Rankings

One thing I’ve observed based on years of optimizing my medifast and nutrisystem diet blog for the search engines is that it is easier to move to page one for keywords I’m already ranking for compared to ranking for a new keyword.

In other words, Google places more importance in ranking you more for a keyword you’re already ranking for. The best way to effectively use this is to capitalize on existing rankings. So instead of having to target new keywords, try to look for keywords you are already ranking for and focus on improving your ranking for them.

Guest Author: This is a guest article from John who gets thousands of visitors daily from Google, and is always happy to share how he does that. He blogs about discount coupons for health products like Medifast and Nutrisystem. His best articles give nutrisystem coupons and medifast promo code.

But it simply isn’t enough for a blogger to receive tons of organic traffic — unless you can make those visitors ‘stay‘ on your blog by providing them with ‘related content‘ from your blog they will soon leave your blog and move on; thus attributing to a ‘high bounce rate‘.

Since, many bloggers or website owners struggle to increase their number of page view it is a good idea to add a related post WordPress widget bellow your article, since they are often effective in increasing page views and lowering bounce rate. This is where nRelate Related Content plugin comes in.

nRelate Plugin Helps Reduce Bounce Rate and Show Related Articles on Your Blog

From the plugin page:

“nrelate is not just another related posts plugin. Our patent-pending technology continuously analyzes your website content and displays other related posts from your website. This ultimately leads to higher page-views for your site, and a better user experience for your visitors.”

nRelate Related Content Plugin (for WordPress) Features:

- nRelate related posts plugin is not just visually appealing but it has more interesting features and benefits as well. Some of the more obvious benefits of using this plugin are: it helps you engage readers, increases page views, lowers bounce rates and helps you turn casual one-time blog visitors into regular returning visitors.

- The customization of this plugin is so easy that the plugin fits perfectly with your blog’s frame and style (CSS). They even have a large number of thumbnail themes to select from.

- You can also set the plugin to show related content from other sites. That’s pretty cool if you have a network and you want to keep your readers on your own sites as long as possible.

- If you have not placed a photo in your post, you can set the plugin to display a default photo. Nrelate gives you the option of thumbnail size also, from 100 pixels up to 150 pixels.

- You can enter your own ‘related posts‘ title like ‘Check out these awesome articles‘ or can change the text to whatever you want.

- It is absolutely spot-on in generating accurate related content and thus helps your visitors in seeing content related to what they are reading/searching. Hence the readers might stick around a while longer and browse more of your articles.

- nRelate is not your average plugin, it comes with a service from their side that spiders your entire site and analyzes all the content, so it can not only show related posts, but really show related content from all over your site.

- On the plug-in dashboard page it shows you its progress and on the settings page you can determine whether you want to show related content with image and text or with just text, and also what size the image should be.

- However, the thumbnail for related post might not appear on your blog immediately because it takes some time to index all your blog posts and pages. But once the indexing is done, it is immaculate in displaying laser-targeted related content for your articles.

- They have a completely optional nRelates ad network to make money through . You can turn off the ad feature at any time.

- As an added benefit, because of the increased page views, you can also expect to see a sharp increase in your Adsense revenue.

Overall, the nRelate plugin works very well and does everything it says. Don’t believe us? Then ditch LinkWithin (or any other related posts plugin that you might be using right now) for a week and take nRelate for a test ride and be amazed.

If you are a Blogger or planning to create your own blog or interest to earn some extra money then this article can help you out. You might be aware that you can make money from blogs. But are you wondering how?

If you’re interested in making money blogging – blogging for bucks, here are top ad selling strategies that could turn your blog into a moneymaker. Here is the solution to your problems that will help you earn considerable amount of money via blogging.

Generate Blog Traffic:

Your primary task will be to get more blog traffic in your blog in order to sell advertising space in it. If the traffic is less then you will not be successful in your attempt to make money. When people visit your blog then the product you are advertising will be available to many visitors.

Create a Great Landing Page:

You can focus on making money if your blog has high traffic then you can convince many people to promote their product on your blog. When you plan to make online money then ensure that you have a successful landing page.

The details of the scope of advertisements on your blog are on the landing page so it needs to be effective. If anyone requires detail about advertisement in your blog can check from there.

Create Related Content That Advertisers are Looking to Promote:

If your blog has high visitors then people shall seize the advertising opportunity. This will also give you a scope to make money easily and without giving much effort. You can do an extensive research on topics that can hold the attention of the readers.

If you can provide articles related to interesting topic on your blog then you can attract more visitors in your blog. You can acquire more information on how your competitors make online money from their blogs.

Track and Share Accurate Traffic Stats:

Make sure that you provide accurate information about the statistics of your blog without any factual error. Try to include information like the number of unique visitors each month according to compete.com, page views to your blog, Alexa traffic rank and Google Page Rank, etc.

You can also incorporate RSS feed subscription, social and e-mail subscribers to your blog as it will be beneficial for you.

Therefore, keep the above mentioned points in mind when you plan to make money by selling ads on your blog.

Sometimes, though, that’s not an option. Those of us who use the internet to work must learn to live, like a bartender with a drinking problem, side by side with temptation.

Even the ‘just turn the broadband off’ school of thought most likely need to use a computer, at least now and then, and that means they could also benefit from some of the best and proven anti-procrastination tips (techniques) below.

So without further ado, we’re all supposed to be doing something else after all, here are our three top picks.

1. Use a Distraction Free Desktop

Distraction-free desktops keep computers screens minimalist so that you can avoid seeing the nagging things on your desktop you haven’t got done yet and, hopefully, stop that nagging feeling stopping you work, too.

Ommwriter and Focuswriter are some of our favorites – they’re both just very simple word processors with all the functions available through keyboard shortcuts.

For distraction-free reading try the Readability download, it turns every site crowded with links and sidebars into a clear page of black type on a white background. Much easier to concentrate.

2. Keep Track of Your Time Online

If lists and time management really help you to concentrate there’s a wealth of software online to help with that.

Many rely on you adding extra time for organization to your day, though, which could just give you another task to procrastinate to avoid.

RescueTime is one application we know of that manages to sidestep that: it monitors the web sites and applications you use so that you can see how you’re using your time and set goals to do things faster as you go on. Also, look for these 15 signs to tell if You are Addicted to The Internet!

3. Obtract Keeps Procrastination to a Minimum

Finally, at Obtract.com there’s a smart little download that recognises the necessity of procrastination but helps you stop it taking up your whole working day.

You choose the sites or applications that are major distractions – Facebook and Twitter are bound to be up there, isn’t it? – and the software allow you five minutes an hour of your treat.

After the time’s up, you’ll have to do a maze to keep being distracted and the longer your procrastinate the more difficult the puzzle will get. The puzzle is meant to wake you up to the fact that you’re getting distracted so that you can stop.

Guest Author: This is a guest article from broadband deals site Choose, which covers UK broadband including BT infinity.

Just like a blog (or a website), an RSS feed also needs marketing and promotion. Increasing your RSS feed subscribers will widen your reach. You need to invest enough effort and time into promoting your RSS feed. The following are some proven guidelines for promoting your blog’s RSS feed.

RSS Feed icon

Make sure all your web pages have an RSS feed icon. The icon should be obvious, as well as visually appealing. It should be situated ‘above the fold’, meaning that that visitors should be able to see it without having to scroll down, up, right or left. The icon should be included in all a site’s web pages so as to enable visitors to subscribe no matter what page they navigate to.

Make Use of RSS Feed Directories

Submit your RSS feed to different RSS search engines and feed directories. Many people visit RSS feed directories to find topical feeds which would be beneficial to them. Being list in such feeds can help you attract a fresh audience who are always in search for a better blog.

Publish a Press Release

Send a press release pronouncing the availability of an RSS feed for your website content. In the release, you could briefly describe what sort of information the feed contains, and explain how the feed can be of help to interested individuals.

One-click Subscription

Make sure your RSS feeds have a one-click subscription option. This will enable your blog visitors to subscribe easily and quickly.

Announce RSS Feed Availability

Make use of all communication channels to inform people about the availability of your RSS feeds. Details of your RSS feed should be included in email and forum signatures. Remember to make a mention in product or company newsletters. Such announcements have been effective in promoting the RSS feed in blog.

Educate and Explain

Though some people understand the capabilities and powers of RSS, other might not. Make sure you help visitors to your site understand how they can subscribe to RSS feeds, and how this can benefit them. A little education  for your blog visitors can help you increase your RSS subscribers significantly.

RSS content

The following are some guidelines in regard to feed content.

- Offer quality content which is relevant to your subscribers. To retain the attention of your readers, you need to make sure that your material in interesting.
- Your RSS feed content should focused. Make sure your feed’s theme is narrow and concise.
- Make sure you regularly add new content to your RSS feed
- Avoid inserting self-serving content and ads in the RSS feed. Use advertising sparingly.
- Regularly examine your logs to find out what content is popular with your readers. When you discover what is very popular, you could create additional content which goes deeper into the subject of interest.

Also Read – Top 7 Tips on How to Increase Comments on your Blog Post

Author Bio: This guest post is contributed by Charles Mburugu who often writes about internet marketing and e-Commerce. He also blogs about coupon deals at discount blogs that share webhostingpad discounts and register.com coupons. He is currently writing for a coupon site that offers webhostingpad promotional codes and register.com web code.