It is a question that comes up fairly regularly in blogging circles and one that different bloggers take different approaches to.

• Most bloggers have them - they’re on by default when they set their blog up and they never switch them off. They see the comments as adding a lot to the blog - making it a place of shared learning, interactivity and dynamic conversation.
• Other bloggers decide not to have them. Their reasons vary from not having time to moderate them to being frustrated by comment spam.

Between these views other bloggers take a variety of other approaches ranging from:

• having comments on some posts but not others
• switching comments off over a certain amount of time (to protect from comment spam)
• to not having comments in the early days of a blog and switching them on later once there is a big enough audience to justify them (this is what I did on DPS).
• to requiring membership for comments (thereby effectively switching them off to the general public and reserving the privilege to comment for those willing to sign up).

There are many options - but I thought it’d be interesting to open it up for some discussion.

• Do you have comments on your blog? Why or Why Not?
• Do you think a blog is a blog without comments?
• What are the advantages of having or not having them?

Interested to see where this discussion leads us.

Further Reading on Comments on Blogs:

• Blogging with or without Comments?
• Should Low Traffic Blogs Disable Comments
• 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog

Tags: blog comments, comments, reader question

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I sent this months email yesterday - but if you are not yet subscribed you can get a sneak peak of it as a html version (the formatting doesn’t convert perfectly from the email version) at:

October ProBlogger Newsletter

If you like what you see and want to receive future editions via email you can sign up by adding your email address here:

Free Bonus

As a small thank you bonus for subscribing - on the thank you page for subscribing there is a link to a one hour podcast interview that I did a few months back with Denise and Patsi from The Blog Squad. In it they interview me about my journey as a blogger and I share a lot of tips on how to improve your blog.

This is not available anywhere else on the web for free so the only way to get access to it is via the newsletter. Enter your email and you’ll have immediate access to the podcast.

Lastly - I’m hoping to expand ProBlogger later in the year. I’ll be inviting those subscribed to the newsletter to beta test the new features before everyone else. So if you’re interested in getting access before everyone else the only way is to be subscribed.

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I am just putting together my post to go out on 15th October for Blog Action Day because I will be at an affiliate conference on the day, but I hope to be calling in to Blog Talk Radio at some point. What are you going to do on the 15th?

If you haven’t heard of Blog Action Day, here is a video that explains …

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

All you have to do is write about it, donate, or if you are a creative type, do something wild to draw attention. For the more audio inclined, Vicky is hosting a panel on Blog Talk Radio.

Even if all those 8,952,087 (and counting) readers just donated $10 to poverty charity, think of the possibilities …

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At the end of that post I said that I would post some tips today for affiliate marketers on how perhaps they should engage in the practice on Twitter (if at all).

As I mentioned in the previous, post I’m not anti affiliate marketing or doing it via new media - but I think the ‘method’ and ‘attitude’ of the marketer is very very important. It can mean the difference between conversion or not - it can also mean the difference between keeping followers and losing them.

Before I get into some Twitter specific tips let me share a previous article with some general affiliate marketing tips for bloggers.

Let me also say that I’m still not convinced that Twitter is the best place for affiliate marketing. However if you do choose to do it on Twitter here are some starting points:

Tips for Promoting Affiliate Products on Twitter

1. Relevancy is Key

One of the things that I noticed earlier in the week about those who were promoting the affiliate product on Twitter (an AdSense tips product) was that quite a few of them were not normally writing about anything to do with AdSense. Adding a link to an affiliate product that has little to do with what you normally write about on Twitter is not smart. For starters it won’t convert and secondly it potentially will annoy your readers. If you’re going to directly promote products from Twitter make sure they are relevant to the followers you have.

2. Personalization Matters

Another obvious flaw in many of the tweets that we saw in the example mentioned in the previous post were that they were identical to everyone else’s. We saw Joel Comm set up a system where he pre-populated tweets with a script that simply told those reading it to go download a product. Joel actually stopped by my previous post and reflected (among other things) that those who personalized their messages converted better than those who did not. I think this says a lot. A personal recommendation is going to get a much better response in terms of actual conversions and it is far less likely to hurt your relationship with your followers as the tweet will be in your voice and hopefully out of your experience with the product.

3. Genuine Recommendations

My policy with affiliate marketing is to only recommend products that I have used or have had someone close to me who I trust use and recommend. This is again something that will add weight to your recommendation and increase conversion - but it’ll also help your reputation and stop you from promoting products that are rubbish. Recommend a product that doesn’t work and your own reputation and any trust you’ve built up with those who follow your advice will suffer. Don’t sacrifice your own brand for the sake of a few quick dollars.

4. Be Conversational

I have used affiliate links directly on Twitter on three occasions (from memory). In each instance they were Amazon Associate links and they were a part of a conversation that I was having with other Twitter users (from memory they were at times when followers asked me for recommendations on products). The links that I left were relevant, the conversations were started by others and they fit naturally into the conversation. From memory I declared that they were affiliate links on at least two of those occasions. The opposite of this ‘conversational’ tweeting is the ‘cold call’ tweet which comes out of the blue.

5. Link to Affiliate Products Indirectly

If I were to recommend one tips above others it would be this one. I think it would be much more effective and less intrusive with the culture on Twitter to tweet a link to a post you’ve written on your blog that includes an affiliate link - than to tweet the affiliate link directly. Write up a review of the product on your blog, give a balanced review, share why the product is relevant to your readers, tell them who would benefit most from it etc. And THEN tweet a link to the review. The problem with Twitter is that you’ve got 140 or so characters and to really do the product you’re promoting service and to give your readers a well balanced review you need more than that.

6. Moderation is Important

In any affiliate marketing (and perhaps all types of marketing) those who you are speaking with will begin to ’switch off’ and become blind to your promotions if you hit them too many times with marketing messages. This will especially be true on Twitter where I see the audience is highly skeptical to marketing messages, are attuned to transparency and where they can very quickly opt out of receiving future communication with you. Not only can they opt out when your messages get too much - they often subscribe or follow you on the basis of what you’ve already written. If all you ever do is promote products (or yourself) you’re unlikely to grow a readership or become anyone with any kind of influence on Twitter.

7. Listen to Your Followers

The thing I love most about Twitter is that it a listening device. A lot of people use it and promote it as a broadcasting tool (which is can be useful for) but I’m increasingly finding it to be a fantastic way to hear what people are thinking - both about life in general but also you. If you engage in affiliate marketing on twitter make sure you stay in tune with how people respond. This doesn’t just mean watching what people ‘reply’ to you but also means watching what happens to subscriber numbers after you tweet and also watching what people say about you without using your @username (you can set up an RSS feed on Twitter search to watch for keywords like your name).

8. Be Useful

This is a fairly general Twitter tip but it applies to affiliate marketing. If you’re going to promote a product on Twitter make sure it’s highly useful to your followers. This is connected to being relevant - but goes beyond it. I find that the more useful my Twittering is the more positive feedback I get from followers. The same is true from blogging and interestingly enough it applies to the products I’ve promoted over the years. The best feedback that I can possibly get after an affiliate product campaign is from someone who bought the product and thanks me for recommending it because they found it useful. To me this is the ultimate feedback because it means I’ve not only made a little money, but more importantly I have a reader who is happy, who remains loyal and who is perhaps even more loyal than they were before I made the recommendation. This really comes down to smart selection of products to recommend - make sure that they are the best!

There you have it - my guide for Affiliate Marketing on Twitter.

Have Your Say about Affiliate Marketing on Twitter

I’m aware that some will still be pretty anti the idea of promoting affiliate products on Twitter (and I remain unconvinced except through the indirect method of promoting links on your blog rather than direct ones that I mention above) but IF you’re going to do it - those are my starting points.

I’d love to hear more discussion on this topic though. Marketing on Twitter (and all kinds of social media sites) will only continue to happen more and more so the more we discuss it the better!

Tags: affiliate marketing, Affiliate Programs, social media, twitter

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RWW also analyzed in-house bloggers, either employed, or with special contracts, and got the following:

Our respondents reported annual pay rates ranging from $45k and $55k with benefits (!) up to $70k, $80k and $90k with bonuses. We’re tempted to say, based on the anonymously submitted but descriptive replies we got, that the closer to pure journalism our respondents were doing the lower their wages were.

For more, like where the big money is, check out the post.

Now, what does this mean?

Professional bloggers work a lot, and I do mean a lot. RWW got an hourly wage at $20-$35 when doing the math for the in-house bloggers, and they get that kind of surprisingly low number by the fact that most successful bloggers put down 50-60 hours each week (compared to 40). Now, I’m not sure what you can be expected to earn in the US, but if you’re an expert in your niche (which most probloggers try to at least seem to be), $35/hour doesn’t sound too good. For instance, when I do consulting work in Sweden, we’re talking some $200/hour. I’m not earning that much when I’m blogging, obviously, and should I focus on what makes the most money, you’d see me writing a lot less. Luckily, I like writing, although not everybody enjoys it, but that’s another story.

Besides, my $200/hour doesn’t sound so bad when RWW talks consulting. $300 is obviously the most common hourly wage among the top tier 20 they talked to, so I’m actually cheap to hire, it seems! I wonder what the number would be if we looked at web, and blog in particular, design?

As someone being milked by one of the world’s highest tax pressure’s (Sweden), I have a hard time digesting these numbers. So based on this, can you make a decent living blogging in the US? What do you think, and how low would you go?

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The network brings together some of Australia’s leading political blogs, including PollBludger and former Senator Andrew Bartlett under the one roof. The Crikey blog network is live now, but I understand that other blogs are to follow, including some leading Australian blogs in excess of 1 million page views a month.

They manage this by buying existing blogs, rather than just recruit bloggers and build from the ground up. The actual blog network is powered by WordPress MU, which the WordPress Publisher Blog gladly points out.

Crikey is an independent online media service, according to their own words, which costs money. You can read more about it here.

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To get the information they approached 20 top-tier tech bloggers and social media consultants, half of them responded (so this isn’t a massive sample).

While the sample size is small the results revealed:

• Most bloggers getting paid about $25 a post (with the full range being between $10-$200 a post).
• In house/Full time bloggers earn annual pay of between $45,000 to $55,000 (with benefits) and up to $70,000-$90,000 with bonuses.
• The real money seems to be in consulting with hourly rates not below $150 an hour and $300 an hour the most common rate named.

Read the full report and analysis at How Much Do Top Tier Bloggers and Social Media Consultants Get Paid? We Asked Them!

Tags: blogger earnings, blogging for money, make money blogging, money, survey

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I’m excited to announce today that World Vision Australia and more specifically their blog Learn About Poverty (a blog that they have specifically set up for Blog Action Day which contains some fantastic resources for all bloggers wanting to participate in that very worthwhile project) are offering one Australian ProBlogger reader the chance to travel to Sydney on 29th October for an amazing day of Digital Training. This prize is quite amazing and I’m actually quite disappointed I can’t win it myself!

Please don’t just read the prize details - also read the rules to put yourself in the running to win!

The Prize

The prize includes multiple parts of a day of digital training on 29th October.

1. Flights to and from Sydney from your nearest capital city (you need to get to the airport yourself), accomodation overnight and transport on the day are all provided for you. I’m sure they’ll probably buy you lunch somewhere along the way too

2. 4 ‘classes’ of digital training. The classes are:

Class 1 (10:30am-11:30am) Microsoft Surface

Spend an hour with the only Microsoft surface machine and experts in Australia.

Class 2 (11:45-1pm) Digital Strategy & Creative

Learn about the trends and attitudes that drive the one of the premier digital agencies in Asia Pacific: Amnesia.

Class 3 (2pm-3pm) Yahoo!7 SEO Training

Tutorial with Yahoo! 7’s SEO and SEM expert.

Class 4 (3:30pm-5pm) Google Australia

Finish off the day at Google’s Sydney office. Dialogue session with the digital experts at Google Australia.

3. It’s important to note here that World Vision has been able to provide this incredible prize through the generosity of the organisations providing the associated prizes. They have not needed to spend a dollar, and these organisations should be congratulated for their involvement.

The Rules

To put yourself in the running to win you need to do the following:

• Be in Australia and be willing to get yourself to a capital city (or major airport).
• Leave a comment below in this post that helps about how World Vision Australia can develop a better blogging and social media strategy. I’ve included some more information from World Vision below to help you with this.
• The winner will be chosen by World Vision based upon your comments. So make them as helpful as possible and make sure you look over what they’re already doing and what their goals are (see below).
• Entries need to be received by 5pm Melbourne time on Thursday 16th October. The winner will be announced in the days that follow.
• Please confirm that you live in Australia in your comment.
• Please use the word ‘poverty’ in your comment - this will help us make sure comments don’t get filtered into our spam filter

Information About World Vision Australia and Learn About Poverty to help you in your entry

The blog Learn About Poverty has been specifically set up for Blog Action Day (happening later this month). It is one of World Vision’s first blogging efforts and is being developed to give bloggers video and other types of resources to help them with their posting on Blog Action Day.

Here is some information provided by World Vision Australia that might help you in giving them the most helpful advice in your comment:

Goals as an organisation: We’re really trying to help ignite a social movement. Poverty is such a massive issue, that no one product or campaign will solve it, so our focus is very much becoming how we can help create/participate in the momentum already happening in society. This is a key for us moving forwards.

General direction of online: We’re moving towards a place where we can better tell our stories with anyone out there. We have a huge number of latent stories and information that circles around World Vision - literally, we walk past people in our office how are changing the world. We’re trying to come up with how we, as a large organisation, can begin to show people more of the amazing stuff we do. I’d be keen to hear how your readers think we might be able to do this and still remain authentic at the same time.

What kind of ideas: We would love ideas on how World Vision could implement more blogging and social media activities. Blogging for us could be tricky, as in some cases we can’t talk openly about our work for fear of putting governments where some of our staff and stakeholders work off-side, bringing about obvious safety issues. This has been especially tough with Learn About Poverty. But we realise we need to be much more connected with the public, in order to better communicate the urgency of the issue of global poverty. We’re really keen to hear from the probloggers our there how we could tailor a social media/blog strategy to help ignite a social movement that acknowledges this.

There you have it - please let me know if you have questions and good luck to my fellow Aussies!

Tags: Blog Action Day, competition, World Vision

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Among the dozen plus iPhone RSS apps out there, Byline (an iPhone app developed by Phantom Fish) separates itself from the pack in two ways: its steep price (at $10) and its ability to flawlessly sync with Google Reader.

While version 1.0 left me underwhelmed (and $10 poorer), Byline 2.0 (which is currently awaiting Apple’s approval) pretty much destroyed every reason for me to even keep the Google Reader web app on my home screen–or even consider defecting towards the competition.

The Good

What made me fall in love with Byline 2.0 is that unlike its previous version, it organizes your synced feeds based upon your folders (or labels) within Google Reader.

This makes it much easier to read blogs and news articles within a specific grouping, instead of all at once (although the “fire hose” option is still available for those who want to view everything).

The new version of Byline also comes with an ability to not only star and share your favorite feeds, but also write (and share) notes as well.

You can even email articles to friends and family (which is quite useful as many people still prefer emails over RSS feeds).

Byline 2.0 also sports a new design, with an elegant polished wood layout compared to the cold and boring look that looks borrowed from Apple’s original email app.

Last but not least Byline allows users to archive shares items, new feeds, notes and even starred items, allowing you to view the web pages in full (yes, it downloads the pages to your iPhone).

This is very helpful, especially when you have very little signal (or none at all) within a building.

The Bad

The only items I found worthy of complaint was the fact that if you are subcribed to a large number of feeds (say like over several hundred) that the app tends to sloooowww doowwwnn.

Users also can only sync up to 200 feeds at a time, which may not please those with a large number of updates.

Also users may discover that the “red status” counter alerting you to how many unread feeds you have may not work (although previous beta versions of Byline had no problems displaying this).

Aspiring Rivals

Byline does have one rival in the “app-o-sphere” called Doppler, who allows users to select which individual feeds they want to sync as well as giving users the option to sync all of their new feeds (and not just 200).

While Doppler is a lot cheaper than Byline (Doppler cost only $1), it tends to crash frequently, not to mention the fact that it lacks folders, and a pretty interface (the orange look has to go).

Doppler does how ever match many of Byline’s 2.0 features (such as starring, sharing, noting and emailing) although it does (unfortunately) lack a landscape mode (which is quite useful when scrolling through feeds).

Conclusion

Overall, I was very impressed with Byline, as it was built with both function and elegance in mind.

Unless the Google Reader team intends to build an iPhone app themselves, Byline is probably one app that every blogger should consider owning.

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