Just checking in again to see how everyone is doing. I know there are some of you who haven’t been chatting on twitter or in the Facebook group, how are you doing?

Before I answer some more blogging how-to questions from Friday night’s twitter party, a few things…

I encourage you all to subscribe to my Building Better Blogs Newsletter if you don’t already. It’s regularly sent out once a month but there are extra ones in and around the blogathons. It has the latest from the blog, news on the next blogathon, a subscriber only blog tip and links to some good blogging articles from other blogs and websites.  It’s also the best way to be notified when signups open for the next blogathon. You can sign up in the right side bar. Thanks.

Blogging Questions

@momsvictories - How to get email subscribers
This is something I’ve been researching and trying out as I just recently started email marketing. So no personal advice at the moment but I have started pinning helpful articles to the Email Marketing Pinterest board.

@NailaMoon - How to do buttons with the box thingy. I for the life of me, don’t get it!
To make it so others can copy some code and put your button on their blog, you have to create the code, and then encase it in the box so that it will show up as code instead of making the image show up. The best tutorial for this is from Blogging With Amy so I’ll let her explain it.

@jovansjourney – How do I get my blog posts more organized and have a header where you can go to specific categories? (@OlderMommyStill had a similar question)
To organize your posts, you need to properly use labels (blogger) or tags and categories (WP). Not sure what they are called on other platforms. I had trouble finding a good explanation for you, this one is pretty good and explains the difference between tags and categories on WP. For blogger, know that labels are to be used like categories. There are no tags in blogger.

To make it so a reader can see all your posts in one of your categories/labels, you need to make a link in your header directly to that categories/label. For example below this post it says filed under blogathon updates. If you click that, you are brought to a page that shows all posts under that category. Copying that link and adding it as an option in your header is how you would do that. At the top of this blog, if you click on blogging tips, it goes to all posts under that category. How to do it on WP depends on your theme. On Blogger, you add a menu and drag it to below your header. If you need more help, give the specifics of your blog in the facebook group and we’ll help.

@TonyMacKeand - How to find your niche I guess is my question
First of all, not every blog has a niche. The benefit of a niche (blogging about a single topic or a few similar topics) is that when a reader gets to your site, they know what to expect and can easily tell if they are interested or not. If you blog about 5 different topics, people interested in all 5 may come, but you will lose some readers who don’t’ want to wade through the topics they aren’t interested in just to find the ones they are.

A niche blog on one or two topics, will attract only those interested in those topics who will know they will only find that topic of interest there. Niche blogs sometimes have a little less traffic, especially if it’s not a really popular niche but they have targeted traffic which is important for making money.

If your main goal is to make money, then you want a niche blog. If your main goal is to share your knowledge, you don’t need as tight of a niche. The easiest way to find your niche is to start writing. After you’ve produced content for more than a month, see what types of content you are producing. Do they fit in similar categories? That’s your niche. Niches can change as well. Interesting Reads: How to Choose a Niche Topic for Your Blog, Are You Defining Your Niche Properly?, How To Decide What to Blog About

That’s it for now, hope that helps some people. Have a great night and hope to see you at the evening twitter party!