” I”ve been blogging for a long time. I have a message to convey or a product to promote, but my words just aren’t reaching as many folks as they should.”

If this sounds like you, you are not alone.

I love to write. For me it is something that I am truly passionate about. Readers have often referred to it as an artform. But like so many of us, a large amount of my work has been trapped in the bowels of the blogosphere with a very tiny audience. I was not effectively marketing the product of my time and effort and it is easy to look back at what I did wrong.

I did not promote myself or my work in any effective way whatsoever.  What I was saying was being heard by very few people. Looking back, I’m somewhat frustrated by my lack of know-how, but I can help you avoid my folly.

Today’s tool you need to use is called Zimbio, and if you’re not part of this network, you are seriously missing out.

So what is Zimbio? Quite simply, it is the ultimate writer-driven internet newspaper. And what’s more, it is one of the easiest tools you can use to multiply your reach exponentially.

When you sign up, Zimbio will crawl your blog for articles to post. You choose the categories and they will be submitted immediately. Since your website is in the subtitle, people will find your blog with a simple click.

The great part about Zimbio is the freedom to choose which posts will hit their network. Unlike many blog networks, Zimbio only publishes what you want, when you want. If you write 20 posts a day, choose a few that you think will draw traffic to your blog. You can also use links, publish half of an article, and edit your work as you go. It’s really that simple.

Services like Zimbio also have a hidden benefit- they make you conscious of what you write, and the quality of work tends to rise. As your writing skills improve, your ability to attract and captivate an audience will increase. How you convey a message is often as important as the message itself. Engage your readers and they will return.

Do you want a larger, more intelligent audience that will increase your revenue?

If the answer is yes, you need Zimbio.

Whether you blog for pleasure or for profit, you invest your time, effort, and metal acumen developing content.

Your work could have a political, educational, or emotional focus. You could write about how to buy stocks or how to remove stains from cloth diapers, but whatever it is that causes your digits to move is something that is important to you. Most importantly, what you publish belongs to you.

One of the most serious irritations to bloggers today is the flood of people who want something for nothing. Folks who lack creativity troll the interwebs hunting for appealing content to fill their websites with readers and keep their advertisers happy.  Since some individuals have neither the writing nor research skills to continually come up with quality material, they steal the intellectual property of others.

Most of us know someone who has been plagiarized. I have found my articles posted on websites around the world including news blogs that garner millions of daily hits. But I have discovered ways to defend myself and I’ll pass a few tips on to you so that you will know how to establish ownership of your creative material and thusly prevent it from theft.

The first thing that any blogger should do is copyright his or her content. You do not have to be CNN or the Wall Street Journal in order to do this.  A one-stop FREE stop you must visit is myfreecopyright.com . Once you have been accepted your posts will be registered and the registry numbers e-mailed to you daily for your records. The digital fingerprint is your evidence should you ever need to pursue an online thief.

Another great feature is the fact that having their logo featured on your website is a visual deterrent to would-be pilferers. Simply put, if someone sees this , they might think twice before booting your blog.

Another free service that you can use is creativecommons.org , which gives you the ability to determine exactly how your work can be shared on the internet.

Now that you have protected your work, you might want to check for evidence of theft, and there are a number of ways to do this. I’ll give you a few of the easier options.

First- try Google Alerts . Simply enter a few key phrases from that epic blog entry and Google will e-mail you if it is copied anywhere on the net.

Another dandy that I use is Copyscape.com . The great part about Copyscape is that all you need do is enter the RSS feed or URL of your blog and let Copyscape do the roaming for you. The drawback is that the service only permits a few checks per month for free and is otherwise paid for by the consumer (A.K.A : you).

So now your content is copyrighted and you have discovered that some dolt has ripped you off. What do you do to track the miscreant down?

Sometimes the person has contact information featured on their website and if this is so, a diplomatic e-mail should force the administrator to either remove the content or publish it under your terms. In some cases you can work out a resolution in a way that everyone wins. This is the ideal.

Unfortunately though, there are serial plagiarists. These are more difficult to find because they know what they are doing is wrong and they usually take steps to try and avoid being identified.  But you might still have remedy thanks to Domain Tools’ award-winning WHOIS service . Simply forward your Creative Commons license or MyFreeCopyright registration page to the offender and he or she may just behave.

As a last resort, think revenge. Most websites operated by content sharks feature Google Adsense or Amazon affiliate programs. You can contact Google and they will remove the website from their index and suspend their Adsense account after an investigation. If you absolutely cannot get any reaction from the violator, contact the company that pays their bills. No reputable business will want to be associated with someone who does not abide by copyright laws.

When you work as hard at your craft as you do, you deserve to be acknowledged for your efforts. By taking a few minutes to protect yourself, you will ensure that your art remains your own.

Blog well and prosper.

This week’s featured blogger is: Brett Martin of This Mama Loves Her Bargains

Why did you start your blog?

A friend suggested I start a blog to share some of the deals I find and it has kind of taken off from there.

What is your blog about?

Deals, reviews, giveaways- so far, mostly geared toward kids and kid related things but not limited.

What Platform is your blog hosted on?
Blogger

What blogging tip would you be happy to share with other bloggers on the Blog PR Wire?

Publicize your blog, tell your friends friends and ask them to tell friends. I have a fan page on facebook, and I use twitter to get my blog out there. I’m still pretty new so it’s a work in progress.

Tell us a bit more about your blog and your goals for the year.

I would like to continue growing the blog, and become more established in the blogging community.

Brett is a stay home mom with 3 children under the age of 5. She has a love for shopping and an adoration of a good (great!) deal. A firm believer in word of mouth marketing, Brett practices that belief religiously. She also love taking photograph of her children, and one day hopes to get back to taking pictures of other things, when she’s not chasing a 2 and 4 year old and wearing an 8 month old.

Brett, is just one of many bloggers you can reach through the Blog PR wire at BlogPrPitch.

Ahh Traffic. Whether you consider yourself a blogger or a publisher, TRAFFIC is the key to earning revenue.

You have the content. You write on your blog, but all the content in the world won’t  help you earn revenue of you don’t have traffic. And not just ANY traffic, you need the RIGHT traffic for the offers and advertisements you are promoting.

Unique visitors. Having Google followers or Facebook fans doesn’t qualify you for large ad buys. Having a LARGE volume of quality UNIQUE visitors does.

‘A unique visitor is a statistic describing a unit of traffic to a Web site, counting each visitor only once in the time frame of the report. This statistic is relevant to site publishers and advertisers as a measure of a site’s true audience size, equivalent to the term “Reach” used in other media’. – Wikipdia

Qualifying visitors. Qualifying visitors are the one who will interact and follow through with your ads.  You can have 100 visitors click on an ad, but if the advertiser doesn’t see an ‘action’ on their side you will soon find that  advertisers are no longer interested in your blog.

The key in earning advertising revenue on your blog  is to know your visitors.  Knowing where they come from, what they do on your site, and where they go when the leave.

Gathering this information is not as hard as you may think. Simply set up Google Analytics.

Set up up analytics today if you haven’t yet. When an advertiser calls, you need to know you traffic trends.

This week’s featured blogger is:  Jessica Hills of A Few of My Favorite Things.

Why did you start your blog?

I actually started blogging to keep my family and friends updated on my family.

What is your blog about?

I started blogging about the things I love – photography, interior design, fashion, crafts, etc.

What Platform is your blog hosted on?

Blogger

What blogging tip would you be happy to share with other bloggers on the Blog PR Wire?

Blog about what you love.
Make new friends.
Join McLinky parties to generate traffic and get your name out there.

Tell us a bit more about your blog and your goals for the year.

I am mostly promoting my photography business with my blog. I use it to connect with other people, get ideas, and share what’s on my mind. In the future, I hope to possibly open a little etsy store and sell some of the crafts I make.

Jessica Hill is a stay-at-home mom, part-time photographer with interests in interior design, fashion, crafting, thrifting, and lots of other things. She loves her religion, family, and life in general. She loves to share these things with others and organize all my thoughts on my blog.

Some people hate them. However they have proven to increase conversions from my experience.

If you are looking for a way to draw attention to a specific piece of blog news this Free WordPress Plugin will create a clean simple dhtml popup box easily and quickly on your WordPress blog.

You can see a sample at: Her Affiliate Manager

Like anything, the key is to not overuse the feature and this handy free wordpress plugin allows you to set how and when your visitors will see the box.

All of the settings you need in a wordpress pop up plugin are included. The only draw back, is that you are limited in the actual presentation/design. This free wordpress plugin creates simple basic html bloxes.

Worth checking out.

“If you could pick ONE way to earn revenue on your blog what would it be?”

Not so long ago, I participated in an Affiliate webinar and the one thing I walked away with was – do NOT limit yourself to one revenue stream. Whether your ad revenue is CPC, CPM. or CPA based (the best plan has a bit of everything), you should have a few different streams. Why? Because the rules can change.

If all your revenue is ‘review based’ and the FTC changes the rules. You could be left with no revenue. If all your revenue comes from your blog or website ads and Google changes it’s algorithm. You could be left with NO TRAFFIC and no ad revenue.

So here is my quick list of advertising revenue tips for bloggers:

1) Onsite ads: Consider installing an ad server such as openx (free) so that you can monetize your onsite ad placements. Include CPC, CPM, and CPA ads to learn what will convert on your site. (Remember onsite ads only work if you have quality traffic. If our advertisers don’t see results from their ads they won’t return – or worse they will tell others that their ad dollars were wasted when they didn’t convert ruining your credibility as a publisher.

2) Email & Newsletters: With the creation of blogs came RSS feeds. Many bloggers focus on the number of RSS feed subscribers they have. If your focus is just readership this is good. If your hope is to create revenue through advertising and sales. RSS feeds may not be the right solution. (Okay, they are only part of the solution.) My time spent behind ad servers evaluation opens,impressions, click throughs, and actions leads me to believe that EMAIL campaigns still work.

Of course I am referring to emails sent to your subscribers who have double opted in. Not sure how to do that? Try Feedblitz or Mail Chimp.

3) Social Media: Social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and Ning are great places to earn revenue. Consider utilizing Ping.fm and Hootsuite. Two simple free tools.

One quick post note, If you do not understand how Internet advertising works it’s time to learn. Advertising online has established guidelines, serving technology and it’s been around for quite a while.  To be treated as a professional publisher, one needs to know the industry.

Yes, you are a blogger. But you are also a ‘publisher’.  It’s being a publisher that earns you revenue. (Unless you are working as a blogger for someone else.) If you want to earn revenue on your blog, then you need to learn more about being an Internet Publisher and run your blog as a business.

Have more questions ? Send us a @blogprwire and I will consider making your question a blog tips post.

Looking to spruce up your blog?

Blog PR Wire is inviting all of their registered subscribers to help us get the word out about the Blog PR Wire to other bloggers and of course there is a prize! You can win your very own premium  Dynada WordPress theme.

Features:
* 10 styles and color, easy to choose style/color via admin theme options.(one click from a blue theme to a red theme!)
* Ability to rotate sliding images on your WordPress Home page.
* Homepage Template with 3 sidebar position, one for right side and two sidebars for below content.
* 5 Page Template with its own right sidebar position.
* Blog Page with custom category, just create a page and tell it which categories to include. Perfect for multiple blogs.
* Portfolio Page with custom category, just create a page and tell it which categories to include. Perfect for multiple portfolio page, sub-page and more.
* Supports nested comments with Gravatars.

Click Here to see a LIVE demo |  Click Here to see screen shots

What we LOVE about this theme- It’s multiple page templates! Ever wondered how some blogs have different layouts in one theme ? This pne does just that. You can select different WIDGETS to display on different pages.

So how do you win ?

Register as a blogger on BlogPRWire.com (be sure to verify your email). Then post a comment letting us know you are registered and you are entered!

Want to earn MORE entries ? Simply Tweet out the contest (no more then once a day) and come back and post the link to the tweet.

Your tweet should include our @blogprwire id and the URL: http://bit.ly/cgbGtf   Or just use:

Bloggers – win a PREMIUM WP theme http://bit.ly/cgbGtf via @blogprwire

Good LUCK !

Contest closes April 30 2010 11 59 PM PST.

Promoting your blog. Creating a network. Just seeing some really great blogs. Those are a few of the things that happen at the Ultimate Blog Party.

Of course you can win prizes as well.

I have participated in the Ultimate Blog Party for the last few years with my blog. This year I decided to participate as a ‘mompreneur blog’ and I listed the Blog Tips blog under the Mompreneur Linky. So I thought maybe this intro should be a bit more ‘business like.

We are hosting our own little contest here. Simply comment on this post  and share a tip for promoting your blog. One random winner will be selected at the end of the blog party and receive three free dedicated PR Pitches (one per month) via BlogPrPich .

Enjoy the party … we are off to find some great blogs.

Keeping your blog fresh and fun is as easy as using unique stock art. Try to consider that in the world of web 2.0 you may ant to refrain from the use of clip art images we all used 15 years ago which will give your blog a ‘dated’ look.

Most bloggers aren’t huge corporations or newspapers with the money to purchase the rights to large volume royalty art. There are some affordable and even free solutions online.

One of my first suggestions is to use sources like flicker. When you find an image you would like to use you will need to CONTACT the photos or images owner and ask for permission to use their image. explain where you will use it, and how, with an offer to provide a link back to them. Of course you will then have to wait for their reply (which may never come as not everyone actively checks their in messages at flicker.

There are a few services online allowing you to use images without needing to pay royalties or one-time publishing rights.

My favourite is DreamsTime. The allow you to search their ‘free images’. Though you will need to check the royalty usages and requirements of each image (some require that you insert an html code on your site giving credit to the artist).

I just discovered Snappixel. On of our blogger members is a photographer and he informed me it is where he lists his photos.

Here are some more:

Pixmac: – find photos for your blog – and earn revenue offering your own photos for others to use.

Stock Exchange: – offers a great selection of photos for your blog.

PD Photo:

IStock Photo: I love their Dollar Bin full of great images for your blog.

ShutterStock:  Thousands of photos for your blog and the ability to earn revenue with your own photos.

Good luck and please feel free to comment and share some of your favourite royalty free photo and image services.