Fellowship Fridays: Free Blogging Blueprint

June 19, 2009

Today’s Fellowship Fridays post is a little different because it is about one blogger and his gift to the blogging community. So, if you aren’t a blogger, you may want to skip this one… unless you want to know some of the crazy stuff we go through to create our blogs. The rest of you, who are bloggers,  may want to take a moment to download and read Glen’s free ebook, Blogging Blueprint.

FOR THE RECORD: I don’t earn any money from this review, or from any clicks or links. Just sharing info.

Glen Allsop is a fantastic young man, whose blog (PluginID) has made quite a name for itself in the Personal Development genre. But this isn’t his first blog, and he’s no newbie on the net. So when Glen released his free Blogging Blueprint ebook, I read it right away. Unlike most people out there teaching others how to succeed as a blogger, Glen has actually done it. This guy makes more money in a month than some people make in a whole year! Not that it’s about money, though… he also provides insanely useful content to a devoted audience that is growing by the second.

Glen’s Blogging Blueprint is a book in three parts:

1.  Glen’s story

I’ll let him tell it, but the quick version is: he’s 20, has several years of experience with blogs and websites, and he makes a ton of cash at it. In fact, he is offering this e book for free because, as he says, he is doing so well, he doesn’t need any more money! This guy knows what he’s talking about.

2.  How to build a blog

This section has so much useful content, I don’t even know where to begin. He shares interesting little secrets, like the use of “No Follow” to redirect search engine traffic to your main pages, making the secondary pages (like About Me) less relevant. He points out that selling text links on your blog decreases your Google page rank. So be mindful of what you put on your site.

Aside from the usual reason to guest post (exposure to a larger audience), Glen reminds us that it is also a great strategy for obtaining valuable back links to our own blogs. And one of my favorite tips in the book:  be real. Too many bloggers try to hide their true identity and present objective, but impersonal, information that readers cannot truly connect to.

Glen describes some of the types of content that tend to do well: lists, resource posts, viral content, and unique content. Of the four, I’d have to say the only one I do consistently at Quest For Balance is unique content; I do try to put my own spin on most topics. He says, “If you can change people’s assumptions, then you are onto a winner.” I’d like to think that’s what I’ve done with posts like these:

• Personal Labels Do More Harm than Good
• What I Learned from a Stripper
• Personal Development is a Prisoner’s Dilemma

3.  Tips for blogging success

One of his main tips is being transparent, honest, open and real. I love these qualities, and he does a great job of showing us how it’s done by sharing his own stories. It blew me away that at one time he actually sold  PluginID, since he had become  frustrated with the slow growth process. I’m so glad and inspired that he decided to buy it back and keep working at it.

In closing, he includes tips for getting back links… some of them simple, others a little above my head. In truth, I find it a bit discouraging to know there’s a whole system, or game to this that I may never understand. I guess I’d better stick to creating unique content, and forming lasting relationships with my readers.

Glen, thanks for the wonderful gift to our community!

Have you read Glen Allsop’s Blogging Blueprint?  Do you have your own tips for blogging success?  What are your greatest blogging challenges?

Thanks!!!

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Posted in Fellowship Fridays, Reviews, helping others