Building up a blog from scratch is no easy task. I’m sure most of us have been there before – having just launched a brand new website, not sure if it’s impending ultimate doom or may continue on to earn you the internet marketing lifestyle you crave. ProBlogger is an excellent example of how much Blogging can change your lifestyle.

For those who have read Darren’s book on Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income, you already know that Darren didn’t just hit riches with his blog right away. It took almost 2 years to build up ProBlogger to what it is today, and he had to work many jobs in the mean time to sustain his income.

We can all learn valuable lessons from Darren, both about blogging and learning how the internet works. Building up your blog to ProBlogger status is not very difficult, but it does require an extreme amount of determination, will-power, and drive behind you.

Utilizing the Power of Social Media

Back when Darren started blogging all those years ago, there wasn’t such a powerful force on the internet as there is today. It was much more difficult to get your articles out there, shared to people interested in what you have to say. Digg wasn’t as popular, StumbleUpon was still growing, and Twitter wasn’t even invented yet!

You can see how fast the internet grows, and as it grows we must grow with it. While it may have taken Darren a year or two to make his first 6-figure income online, many bloggers can do this within a 6-8 month period with an extreme amount of determination and man-hours put into it.

Knowing where to submit your articles, how to send around your content and what social news/media sites work best for your niche is key. Check out my list of 50 Social Bookmarking Sites if you need help figuring out where to submit to.

Understand the Concept of “Unique Content”

One of the largest factors impacting your blog’s success is your post content. Some blogger’s update their site 4 times a week, some update every day or even multiple times a day. It doesn’t matter how often you update, it only matters that you have well-written, interesting content for your readers.

Now I can’t vouch and say updating every day isn’t the best option. This is because Google will know to crawl your site for new updates every day, your readers will constantly be coming back for more each day, and you’ll gain more posts to have backlinks too, ultimately raising your site’s net work through Google’s PageRank and Alexa Ranking.

That’s not all unique content is good for, though. Think a bit down the road, maybe 4-5 months into your blog when you start matching up in searches for specific keywords. Bringing in tons of traffic from Google is an amazing way to start earning some real blogging status like Darren’s ProBlogger.

Organic traffic is possibly the best kind you can get – somebody searched for something in Google and found your site, thought it was interesting so clicked the link. It’s free traffic which you didn’t pay for, plus it’s extremely targeted for the keywords you matched! It’s a huge win-win, and when you can gain organic traffic ratings on tens of hundreds of blog posts, you know you’re well on your way to making it big with blogging.

Google PageRank is a very mysterious way of ranking sites. On a scale of 0-10, websites are ranked through Google for importance, backlinks, SERPS, etc. The actual value of your PR really doesn’t affect your site much at all, but it’s a huge selling point when offering ads on your website to advertisers. Along with this it helps visitors know your site is the “real deal”, and you get a lot more respect in the internet marketing community.

At the time of writing this post my blog is currently a PR4. I’ve been running this blog for almost 2 years, so I can say PR4 after 2 years is well overdue. I haven’t done much link building, though, so my blog here isn’t a great example of building high PR. But I have a few quick tips to help increase your site’s overall PageRank, and you can probably get them done within a week or two at most!

Building from a PR0 to PR4 in one Update Period

Although your Google PageRank is constantly changing, these changes are always behind-the-scenes at Google. Rather, Google let’s out an update every 2-3 months which reflects the changes on pages. This is known as a Pagerank update, and it’s an important time for most marketers.

This is the reason you can’t go from PR0 to PR2 within a few weeks – or rather, why you can’t see any changes. Google may rank your site that quickly, but you won’t be able to tell until they next update their PR database.

I actually tried out a case study, where I bought a brand new domain and built up thousands of backlinks to it. I ended up going from PR0 to PR4 in only 2 months (read the article here). Not only is this completely possible, it’s not even very difficult!

Learn how to Build Links – And Keep Doing it!

Link Building is the act of gaining backlinks from websites by whatever means necessary. There are a few common ways, but the best general idea is to gain backlinks from websites with a higher PR ranking than you. Especially if the site’s give all links as DoFollow, which means they pass on “link juice” to your page.

One of the best ways to start is with forum posting. I joined a few internet marketing forums, most notably Digital Point Forums and added links in my signature back to my website. I have racked up quite a few posts since joining over a year ago, and all of my posts are now great backlinks to my website.

Another great way, and probably the best way to build backlinks to your site is with blog commenting. It may seem like spam at first, but if you realize just how valuable comments are to articles it’s really a useful task for both you and the blog commented on.

Building Tons of Backlinks with Blog Comments

On Wordpress blogs, if enabled, visitors can leave their name and URL along with a comment. This means if you leave a comment on a popular blog (say mine for example), you not only get to speak what you think about the article but you also get a backlink in your title.

This is huge on most blogs, as DoFollow links in comments can produce not only traffic from curious visitors, but PR juice passed. Although these are a few quick tips, overall it doesn’t take long to find 40-50 cool blog posts to leave comments on. I highly suggest this method, it’s worked wonders for me and built up my site in no time at all!

Have any ideas for other ways to build up PR? Share them below in the comments! In case you were wondering, yes JRB is DoFollow in comment links! But that’s not the only reason to leave comments – be insightful, add value to the content of the article and allow others to learn from your comments.

Many look at the idea of “flipping” a blog as bad taste. But really, a website and domain name are very closely related to the real estate market. You can buy a previously unknown domain, build up an amazing blog with tons of RSS subscribers and unique posts… then sell and make a huge profit!

This method has worked for countless others. Honestly it doesn’t even take that much work, depending on how determined you are it’s completely possible to build up a blog worth a couple thousand dollars within 2-3 months.

Understanding the Value of Blogs

A blog’s value is greatly determined by a number of factors. Google PageRank is a big one, Alexa Rank too. Number of backlinks is important, plus how many pages are indexed in popular Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.

However numbers can only go so far. When examining a blog’s value, you really need to consider a lot more than what Google ranks your site at (although that does hold importance). How does the site’s design look? Is it appealing, easy to navigate and find content? How many posts are cataloged in the blog’s archives? These are all questions you should be asking yourself, and all things you can directly affect.

I’m not saying you can’t change your blog’s Google PR or Alexa Ranking, but you have much more control over your site’s template design or post content than some number system. The first step when preparing a blog to flip is to build it well. I see so many poorly designed Wordpress and Blogspot blogs these days, it kills me how people don’t take time with a little creativity to make some halfway-decent.

If your theme is at least moderately appealing, it’s usually good enough to sell. Another really big factor that comes into play is content – and content is always king.

How to Rank Content Well Enough to Flip

Content doesn’t just grow on trees! You need to work hard for it, putting in many man hours and nights staring into your computer screen, furiously typing away at your keys. It may seem annoying at first, but when you realize just how small articles need to be you can get past this pretty easily.

Consider an average article of decent length between 350-550 words. You may do less, or even more if you want, but we’re just talking generalization here. If you plan on flipping your blog in 3 months, that would be 90 days. Most really good blogs will update once a day, and that’s a pretty good limit to keep on your site – 90 blog posts.

You can even write most of them in advance, it’ll save you a lot of time later. If you can write 90 blog posts within 25-35 days, you will have taken out the entire writing portion of your site. Save all of the drafts you need somewhere, and pull them out to be published as the days pass. This will make it look like the blog is constantly updated with new content, when really it’s content you’ve already written just haven’t released.

So I want to Sell my Blog. Now What?

A perfect question! I haven’t found many great places to actually flip your sites, although there are a lot of great auction sites for dropping websites and domains (Flippa is one). I would say check some popular forums like Digital Point and Warrior Forum as well, sometimes buyers on there will pay some decent money for sites.

If you are still having trouble, maybe check around Google for similar auction sites for selling websites. I haven’t heard of any large one’s hitting the front pages or anything, but new sites spring up every day.

Flipping sites for profit isn’t something too difficult. It does require a small amount of patience and a keen eye on what works: this including design, content, domain name, branding, and where to sell your blog. Plenty of people are making money selling blogs and domains online, so if you think you’re up for it I say dive right in!

I am a big believer that better articles can be written when you’re in a better setting. By setting, I mean the area around you when you are sitting with your computer writing. This could be Starbucks, your home office, a friends couch… plenty of places to blog! One of the biggest factors of setting is music, which I can digg.

Not any type of music will do, though. Each blogger will have his own opinion when it comes to setting the right mood in the room. I prefer to chill on some Smooth Jazz or Acoustic songs. Primarily because they don’t contain lyrics – this allows me to focus on the words going on in my own head to write down, and not the words an artist is singing about.

Another consideration when it comes to music is what type of setting you are into when you blog. If you are into heavy Death Metal and Thrash songs, by all means rock out and write hard. If that’s how you think you work best, I say do it!

I can never judge anybody by what they feel is right. I prefer my methods and everybody prefers their own, and to each his own as the saying goes. But just sharing what I have found useful about music, is to not have lyrics in my songs. Something about instrumental music allows me to flow with ideas a lot easier, which does make sense because you’re not processing lyrics and your thoughts at the same time.

Not a Fan of Music, huh? What about Television

Another interesting phenomenon which I’ve noticed blogging is I am unable to write to my full potential whenever the TV is on. I’ll sometimes leave this on in the background for white noise, or check back and forth between a couple of shows as I write.

This, to me, is a horrible habit. I am frequently a multi-tasking person, so I like to get 3 things done all at once. When it comes to blogging, though, you’re entering another realm.

Again this technique may work for some bloggers out there, I’m just stating it doesn’t work well on me. I find trying to pay attention to The Simpsons and my newest post about some new marketing idea just don’t mix well. This is more than OK with me, though, as there’s really not much great on TV nowadays…

Choosing the Right Music for Blogging

Ultimately, the choice is yours. I would say experiment with tons of different music – if you have any suggestions of specific bands or songs you groove to while writing, definitely post them in the comments. I enjoy finding out about new works and bands, so I’m always open to new ideas.

One of my best friends enjoys listening to video game soundtracks while working. This has been somewhat of a success with me as well, as many songs from classic Final Fantasy games can be extremely relaxing and thought provoking. This is another avenue to take if you’re a big gaming fan, but again to each his own!

I love Digg, you love Digg. We all love Digg – it can bring in boatloads of traffic, and even though the community is starting to slip down the drain the site still has some value. I always enjoy checking out what the highest ranked stories are over the year, and 2009 hasn’t had it’s shortcomings of news.

Taking a walk down memory lane of this year’s happenings, I have refreshed myself about 25 of the most interesting and popular submissions to Digg. Take a look at the list, I’m sure classic Digg users will remember at least a few of these.

- Legalization of Marijuana Bill in California
- Why you shouldn’t have your boss on Facebook (Pic)
- The Pirate Bay Trial: The Official Verdict – Guilty
- Who on Digg hates this?
- Why men should rethink drinking beer [Pic]
- If a guy says GO MAKE ME A SANDWICH what’s a good comeback?
- Michael Jackson Dies *RIP*
- Physics WIN! (PIC)
- OMG The Reviews of this T-Shirt on Amazon!
- Girlfriend’s angry emails to her vacationing boyfriend
- Mythbusters vaporize a car with a rocket sled doing 650mph
- We Didn’t Start the Flame War [Music Video]
- Did You Know? It Will Blow Your Mind.
- Genius Husband of the Year [PIC]
- Really, it’s OK…
- The Story of Prisoner F95488
- Anddddddd your keyboard is now Daft Punk [woot!]
- Hello .. Ladies of the Internet | Find the love of your life
- Heath Ledger Wins Oscar
- AT&T blocks 4chan!
- Vegan?
- I knew they were real!
- DiggBar Launches Today!
- Best Video I’ve Seen Today Will Make You Smile
- DIGG gets in on April Fool’s Day with Pop-Up Shenanigans

Tags, depending on how you look at them, can be both very beneficial to your blogs and a pain. Some bloggers really enjoy being able to categorize their posts in laymens terms, while others think they’re just a cheaper version of categories. I’m not claiming there’s a right or wrong way to run a blog, but looking at both aspects is key in deciding whether you should use the tagging system.

Tags have been around for much longer than blogging, if you consider how some social networking sites such as Delicious and Technorati have been using them since originally launching.

I’m going to point out the straight facts about running tags on your blog. I don’t want to push a certain idea one way or the other – I’m just discussing facts about the tagging system, and having you, the reader, question whether you think you should be using it on your blog.

Tags are Useful for Laid-Back Blogging

The simplest way to look at tagging is a more laid-back way of running categories. You can have both tags and categories running side-by-side on a blog – in fact, it’s encouraged in most cases! They are in fact not one in the same, although many articles will say otherwise.

Some blogs, I would assume corporate or business blogs, may not see a reason to run tags. Their users are looking for the article they want to read, and if they have a specific area or niche they want to read about the categories should cover it. Tags are more general – maybe 2 or 3 different articles will use 1 tag, but 20 or 30 different articles will fall under a similar category.

So what are the Benefits of Tagging?

Overall, it depends on how you look at the tag system. The benefits far outweigh the negatives, if you can even assume there are any. For one, it allows your users to find articles much more targeted to their interests. You may have tons of articles about blogging and writing, but maybe only a few pertain to marketing your blog on social media and news websites. This would allow your readers to click on the tag “social media” and bring up tons of great articles about it – without needing to start a brand new category.

If you don’t have very many posts, though, the tagging system begins to lose it’s purpose. If you are trying to tag a blog with 50 or 100 posts, it overall loses it’s value. You can use categories to suffice in this situation, as there isn’t much benefit trying to squeeze in tags for such a small site.

If you are planning on sticking it out blogging for the long haul, you may end up with archives of hundreds of even thousands of posts! This would be difficult to sort though just by categories alone, so that type of blog would benefit greatly from tags.

Ultimately there is no Right Answer – It’s Personal Opinion!

Personal opinion is what it comes down to in the end. You would be surprised how many people use tagging or don’t just to follow their idols of blogging – really this is completely backwards! Don’t use tagging because somebody else tells you to or not to, use it because you see the benefits of it.

I don’t currently run a tagging system on Jake Rocheleau Blog, but that is because I don’t see the main value in it… yet. I can envision needing to implement this at some point in the near future, but for now I think my blog is small enough where my content can be easily found.

Of course if anybody has another opinion I’d love to hear it – this is just me ranting and frantically typing my thoughts out. Tags just aren’t for everyone – but if you’re running a large blog, it can’t hurt to allow your users a quicker way to access stories, no?

I have been thinking a lot about JRB recently. The blog here seems to hold a lot of valuable information. Many people enjoy the content I write, I am gaining new RSS subscribers each and every day, and I feel like I can write just about anything here. These pleasures are well worth the experience I can gain as a blogger, and this has provided me with inspiration to work on some changes for the blog.

In order to become a professional blogger, you need to have been in the business for a while. Not just because it takes a while to build up your website, but because you learn new things along the way. New challenges await everyone, especially new bloggers and internet marketers. I have a few new ideas for the blog which I think are going to catapult me to the top.

Right off the bat, I need to get more content. I find that my blog is lacking a considerable amount of content, and I think I can fix it just by writing articles. By just writing more and more blog posts, I can fill in areas where I’ve missed in the past and re-build up my blog’s credibility.

Plus, Jake Rocheleau Blog has a PR of 4. This is great, as it allows me to continue to gain backlinks and hopefully by next PageRank update I’ll be at PR5! This would be nothing short of a miracle, I assure you, but one can hope.

A Sneak Peek at What’s Ahead

Along with the concept of new posts, just be on the lookout for tons of new and free content. I’m trying to push my game to the level here, and I want JRB to be a place where internet marketers, designers, programmers, and really anyone interested in the web can collaborate.

I’ve already got some great ideas for some awesome posts, and sharing information with my readers is why I enjoy blogging. It allows me to connect on a deeper level with everyone, and I really enjoy myself writing posts here. Hell, it even seems relaxing at times.

I am hoping to get back into the tutorial posts area. I know that my Template Seller Mockup tutorial was a huge hit, and I’m hoping to share a bit more with my loyal readers.

New Ads and Design Coming?

I’ve been interested in running a few new advertising agencies, just to tread the water and see what I can get. I’m working through BuySellAds right now, and they seem to be wonderful. I’ve also gotten paid through Microsoft’s PubCenter program (similar to AdSense but run by Microsoft).

Ads are the least of my concerns, though, as a new design may well be under way. I am interested in working on a new logo for the blog – having some new text or something to help me stand out. Otherwise I can see me hitting the drawing board and drafting up from scratch – and let me tell you, it’s no walk in the park to create a custom Wordpress theme from scratch.

I suppose I’ve ranted on long enough about my blog’s newest traits. I know what you guys like to see is some action, and I’ll have plenty of great posts coming soon.

If any fans of JRB or first-time readers have suggestions or comments about the site, let me know! I’m always open to suggestions.

I recently found a new interesting free fonts web site called Fonts2u.com. With over 20,000 free fonts in their collection, I thought it would be helpful to present the top 20 most popular fonts. Every web designer needs to have an extensive toolbox full of useful fonts for logos, banners, and any type of design work.

Included along with the fonts are links to the fonts page, free for download! I know there are tons and tons of download-able fonts out there, and Fonts2u is a fantastic service for it. If you really enjoy the site you should check out their Twitter @fonts2u. Either way, browse my collection below and download a few gems that catch you eye.

Constantly having to update your blog can seem like a hassle at times. I will admit there have been large gaps of weeks/months where I haven’t even attempted to post on my blogs. I can attribute the lack of posts for something – maybe schoolwork was more important at the time, something else going on, but posting just comes as part of being a blogger.

If you’re really interested in making money online with blogging and not ending up as another percentage who doesn’t make it big, learning this lesson early will help a lot. No matter how bad you don’t want to, some days you really need to sit down and force yourself to blog.

It’s not all an issue – Blogging can be Fun!

This isn’t always the case, I don’t want to sound like I’m sitting here yelling at bloggers to stop being lazy. If you are running a blog where you only want to update bi-weekly or 3 times a week, there’s nothing wrong with that. Just be sure to stick by it, so your readers know what’s coming.

The probloggers – the one’s who make blogging their full-time career – are often posting at least once a day to their blogs. This is because their blog is like a business, and yours can be too. The more time and effort you put into creating worthy content, the higher your blog will climb through the ranks and the more backlinks you’ll gain.

Becoming a full-time blogger is no easy decision. You really need to address yourself and ask “is this what I want to do with my life?”. There are a million+1 ways to make money online, no need to worry. Being a blogger you are your own boss, but that means being strict on yourself sometimes when it comes to writing posts and marketing.

How to Avoid the Slumps

The best way to avoid slumps of missing blog posts would be to keep drafts saved! I have started to save at least 2-3 articles in my drafts folder at all times. This allows me to update my blog on-the-fly, just in case I don’t have enough time to sit down and write out a post.

The other benefit of writing drafts ahead of time is that you can schedule them to post automatically to your blog. This means if you won’t be able to log into your blog for a couple of days, set a few posts to go up live during those days and they’ll appear at the exact time of posting – it’ll look like you just wrote it then and there!

Whatever you do, Just Keep with it

I can’t say how many people have hit huge slumps in their blogs, only to say “this isn’t working” and give up. This is the worst attitude to have, and I’ve outlined this in a similar post. Just keep with your blogging habits, and over time you’ll grow and do just fine.

Do you have any tips for keeping away the slumps? Writers block can be terrible as a blogger, if you’ve got any secret home-made recipes for curing this share with us in the comments.

Blogging can be very rough, I’m not going to lie. There are some nights which you must stay up until the wee hours of the morning promoting your articles, writing new content, blasting out e-mails.. whatever you’re business may be. Time efficiency is extremely important, and I’ve come to understand some very keen and insightful uses for time management.

As a blogger you need to put your work first, always make sure your content is posted at certain dates for your readers to expect. You also need to make sure that your content isn’t just keywords thrown together – actually engage your reader! Try and bring them into what you’re writing about. This will help them relate better to your blog, and thus continue to read more of your posts in the future.

There’s Only so Many Hours in the Day

This point really hits home for me, as when I first started blogging I would try and spend every waking hour devoted to it. There were some days I would barely eat, wouldn’t shower or even move from my bed except to get a drink or use the bathroom. It’s easy to get caught up in this schedule of spending 16 hours a day in front of a computer screen, but it’s not healthy.

The realization that there’s only so much one blogger can do in a day is crucial. You not only need to realize this, you need to accept it as fact and implement this into your blogging each and every day. Maybe set aside an hour or two for writing content and getting new content ready, a few more hours for social bookmarking and networking, plus some time for promotion and you’ve got a full day!

Planning unrealistic goals can also affect this, so be sure you’re in line with what you’re trying to do. Make sure that you can go to bed at night and say “I accomplished a lot today, I’ll be sure to do even more tomorrow”. This is a great feeling, and you don’t need to push yourself to the brink of exhaustion to get it.

Breaking Up your Most Important Tasks

Quite obviously, writing new content is one of the most important parts of running a blog. You need to make sure new content is published and available for your readers. I recommend writing 2-3 articles a day, and then saving them in your drafts section.

This allows you to come back to them at any point in the future and use them as new content. Let’s say there’s a day coming up where you have absolutely no time to work on your blog. If you have a few backup articles already set, just choose one and schedule it to post the following morning – you don’t even need to touch your blog to get content up there!

Always Remember: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

The old childhood tale of the tortoise and the hare is usually right in many aspects in life. It can also attribute to blogging, when you look at the different styles and approaches people can have to the profession. Those who rush into it and try to get everything done within a few months burn themselves out quickly, lose passion and stop doing it.

If you’re a wise blogger, you’ll manage your time so that you only really need to put in a few hours of work a day. After this, your blog should draw in visitors naturally and over time build up to earn you money, internet fame, and whatever you heart desires.

So just remember to take it slow. I can’t say there are some people who will use black hat methods or software to help push them to the top, but ultimately this won’t help you win in the end. The best way to make a successful blog is to post consistently with quality content, and over time your archives will build up with terrific posts and inspire readers everywhere.