How To Enable Or Disable Comments In Blogger Blog | Step By Step Guide On How To Control Comments For Your Blog Both Generally And For Specific Posts

When I started my blogging career, I faced several challenges. These challenges were sometimes very
daunting. Most of the challenges that I faced, almost made me lose confidence in myself.

But do you know the best part of the whole thing?..... I always found my way around all the challenges that came knocking. One of the very challenges that I faced, was that of suddenly having specific post comments disabled.
I just loaded my blog one day and discovered that about a couple of posts had their comments disabled. I was confused, and it really took me a few days to figure out what the problem was. But finally, I got it fixed, and that gave me great joy.

So I thought it might be really great if I did a post about this, so people like you, don't get to face such a challenge as you blog.

Read on to see how to enable or disable comments in individual or specific posts in blogger blog.

But first, let's see how to generally enable post comments for your blog.

How To Generally Enable Or Disable Post Comments In A Blog

You can actually choose to enable or disable comments on your blog in general. This means that people visiting your blog or reading your blog posts would not have the option to post comments on your blog posts.

How do you achieve this?...

To enable comments, click on "Settings" from the drop-down menu on your Dashboard.

 
Then go to the area for "Posts and Comments" on the lower left hand corner of the page that is displayed, and click on it.

Next, you can effect some changes to the comment Settings area. To disable comments for your blog, set "Comment Location" to "hide". To enable threaded comments, set "Comment Location" to "Embedded", and so on and forth. You can pretty well experiment with the rest of the comments settings options.

That's all you need to know about generally turning comments on and off for your blog.

Then what about controlling comments for specific posts?

Here's how to do it..

How To Enable Or Disable Comments For Specific/Individual Posts In Blogger

If you don't want your comment settings to be blog-wide, you can click on the menu on the right side of the Post Editor (window where you type and edit your blog posts) to set post-specific comment settings. 
Here you have to click on "Options" under Post settings, then you can choose among three options: Allow; Don't allow, hide existing; Don't allow, show existing.

 

And that does the job!

So now I am glad you can do this yourself, and may not have to face any challenges with this one.

Has this post taught you anything that you didn't know how to do before?

Then it's time to share it with thousands of people who also need the information...C'mon don't be selfish.

Use the share buttons below the post now!

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How To Create A Stylish Signature And Add It To Your Blogger Posts

Have you ever seen a blog post which ends with a unique signature showing the blog owner's name,
the blog name itself or any name at all?

Did you wonder how that was achieved?

Then wonder no more, because in this post I am going to show you how to create your own stylish signatures, so you can use them in your blog posts in order to add some style to them.

One very good thing about using signatures is that they make your blog more sophisticated and also make your posts look like they actually are yours.

So let's get started...

Creating The Signature 
 Follow the steps below and you should have your signature within a few minutes.

 Step 1:  Visit My Live Signature , and you should see a page like the one below;

 Click "Start Now!" , don't worry about getting registered.

Step 2: You would see a page where you have an option to "use the signature creation wizard", "Draw a signature straight to the screen", "Use a scanned image", or "Create a personal font".

But for the sake of this tutorial, I would use the signature creating wizard. You can of course try out the other options to see how they work too.

Click on "Using the signature creation wizard" as in the screenshot below.

 



















Step 3: Next you would enter the name that you want to use in your signature. I entered my name, Okafor Obinna in this case. Click "Next step"

Step 4: Select the font that you want for your signature. Click "Next Step"

Step 5: Select the font size, and click "Next Step"

Step 6: Select the font color and click "Next Step". Notice that I checked the "Transparent" checkbox in the screenshot below so that my signature would have a transparent background. You can do some experimenting with this too.

Step 7: Set the "slope" of your signature and click "Next Step".

Now your signature is ready!

Click on "CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD IMAGE" to get the image version of your signature.

Want to get the HTML code for your signature, so you can use it on your blog,website or online forums?

Click on "Want to use your signature?" as in the screenshot above to get options on how to get your signature downloaded to your system either as HTML CODE or BB CODE (for use on online forums). You should see a page like the one below;

Then Click on "Generate HTML code". Notice that there are two options for generating the HTML code for your signature as in the screenshot below;

But for this tutorial, I used the first option: "Generate a code for my handwritten signature" and this is what I got;

Now the HTML code for your signature is ready!

How To Add The Signature To Your Blog

Having created your signature, you have to add it to your blog so that it appears in perhaps every post, or in your website and email messages.

You can upload the signature as an image directly to your blog or website.

But just incase you need more flexibility, by having and working with the HTML version of your signature, then this is how to go around it;

From the Generated HTML Code for your signature just as in the screenshot above, you would notice the first snippet of code:

a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"

and the last snippet: /a

The two code snippets are opening and closing link tags, which are going to link the signature to a specified website when someone clicks on it. In this case it is linking to http://www.mylivesignature.com.

Delete the two codes if you do not want your signature linking to any webpage at all, or replace http://www.mylivesignature.com with the web address of your choice where you want your signature to link to, preferably, your blog or website homepage... You definitely don't want your signature linking to Mylivesignature.com website.

Notice again in the code, the "img" tag, which contains the image url on Mylivesignature servers.

img src="http://www.mylivesignature.com/54492/208/6A2053D387AD0BAF0F11EF38B4847ABA.png" style="border:0 !important; background:transparent;"/

You do not have to change anything here., but just in case you want to add some border to the signature in HTML mode, then you can change the "border" value to 1,2, or any number of your choice depending on how thick you want the border to be.
Some experimenting will be just fine.

Now that you are okay with the HTML code of your signature, here is how to add it to your blog.

First way to add the signature to your blog

Step 1: In the new blogger dashboard, click on the drop down menu > settings > on the left hand side of the page that appears, click "Posts and comments".

Step 2: On the page that appears, click "add" next to "Post template"

You should then be able to add the code into the box that appears after clicking the "add"

Now this means that every time that you go to write a post, the signature will already be in the post, this is because you have added the signature's HTML code into the post template box.

Second way to add the signature to your blog

In your New Design blogger dashboard, click on the drop down menu for your blog > Template > On the page that appears click Edit HTML.

locate the following code in your blog HTML:
(Use "ctrl + f" to get a search bar to easily locate the code)

Paste the code for your signature directly Below or After


Note: If data:post.body/ appears twice in your template, then you may want to use the second instance of this.
 Now save your Template, and your signature would have been added to your blog successfully...Yay!

If you are confused in any way, or need more help in achieving this, Leave a comment below.

And If you enjoyed this post, please take 5 seconds to share it with the buttons below.. Don't be selfish.

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How To Setup A Free Blog Within 5 Minutes Using Blogger.com

I am very sure that a lot of people do have challenges when it comes to trying to setup a blog.

And in this post, I am going to give a step by step guide on how to setup a simple blog within 5 minutes using blogger.

Here are the steps to follow in order to setup a blogger blog within 5 minutes;

If you already have a gmail account , No 1 is not necessary, you can skip it and proceed to No 2

1. Create a google account

This is the first thing you should do before creating your blog. I recommend that you create a single google account for use across all google services, because it gives you a unique and definite identity across google.

To create a google account visit www.gmail.com  , you should see something like the screenshot below:

Click on "Create an account" encircled in the image above, you should then see a page like the one below:

 Fill in the boxes appropriately with your Name, Username, Password, Birthday, Gender, Mobile Phone, Your current email address. Then check the first checkbox labelled "Prove you're not a robot" , and then check the second one labelled "I agree to the Google Terms of Service and Privacy Policy", then hit the "Next step" button to proceed.

If your password and details are verified okay, you should land on another page where you would have to provide your phone number so that a verification code would be sent to your phone either via text message or call.

When you get the verification code, input it into the box provided, and click "submit" to complete the process.

Click continue to gmail and Voila! your gmail account should be up and running.

2. Setup a blog

Having setup your gmail account, make sure that you are logged into your account, then log on to www.blogger.com
you should see a page like the one below, requesting you to retype your gmail password.

 Re-enter your gmail password and click "Sign in". You would be redirected to a page that looks like the one below;

 Click "Continue to blogger" and you should see a screen like the one below:

Click on "New Blog" button to create your new blog. You should see a page like the one below;

Enter the "Title" of your blog and the "Address" that you wish to use for your blog, for e.g yourname.blogspot.com.
Chose any template style from the options provided and hit the "Create blog!" button. You will land on a page that looks like the one below;

Voila! you have just created your first blog.

The screenshot represents your blog dashboard from where you can create new blogs, start posting to your current blog, add a reading list and do pretty much every other thing on your blog.

3. Start Posting

To create your first post, click on "Start posting" and you would be sent to a page where you can write your posts. It should look something like this;

The freehand sketches sure look funny, but it's a way to get your hands wet on the various tools on your blog post environment.

Write your content, include images, links, videos and of course just about anything you wish to add to your post using the "formatting tools".

Click "publish" button when you are okay with what you have.......and Congratulations! You now how your first post live on the internet.

Hurray!!!

If you have any questions about anything that doesn't seem quite clear in this post, feel free to add your comments, and rest assured you would be attended to.

Like what you've read?

then share it with your friends too using the share buttons below.

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The Real Ways To Make Profit From Your Blog

 Hi! and welcome to my blog.

In this article I am going to reveal to you the real ways to make money from your blog.

 If you are new into blogging, then this should be a good head start to start realizing some decent income from your new blog soon, but if you are a pro blogger already, then you might be needing this to add to your professionalism and to boost income from your blog.

Here is a little story I want you to read;

A couple of months ago, a good friend of mine came to me and said he needed to talk to me about a potential internet business idea which he had and wanted my honest opinion about. 

I accepted, and then we went to a nearby restaurant where he ordered some chilled juice with a scrumptious plate of fried rice and fried chicken.

I was excited, not only because we were having a good meal, but because I love helping people, especially those who have the zeal to learn and work hard towards achieving their dreams.

We enjoyed ourselves for a while, and I must confess, it was a good meal.

After a while being busy with our meal, I finally broke the ice;

Here's the rest of our conversation:

Friend: I want to start a blog about ABC.
(I used ABC to represent the niche that my friend wanted to blog about)

Me: That's very nice, but why have you chosen to blog about ABC?

Friend: I want to start a blog about ABC because I’m already seen as an expert in the niche and a lot of people come to me to proffer solution to their problems and challenges, which I eventually help them achieve.

Me: That's very good. Those are very vital factors to look out for when trying to choose a niche that would eventually pay off.

Friend: Wow! so what do you think? isn't it a wise idea I start blogging right away?

Me: Hmmmm...Do you really want to start a blog?

Friend: Of course yes! , or why do you think I came all the way down here to see you?..Is anything wrong with that?

Me: Nothing is wrong with starting a blog, but what’s the business? How will you make money off the blog?

Or haven't you thought about that?

Friend: Hmmm.... I have plans you know. I wish to make money through adverts on my blog and may be when my income rises, I would think about setting up other blogs and websites where I can place adverts too. Don't you make money from your blog, huh?....Doesn't this make sense?

Me: Of course it does make sense. You can make money from advertising. But listen, when you advertize on your blog for other blogs or for any third party advertizing platform, you are the MIDDLE MAN, and trust me, you don't get as much reward as you deserve. Then tell me, would you rather be the "MIDDLE MAN" ? Do you not wish to be the "MAN" instead?

Friend: [head nod]

Me: Very well  then. So, my question to you is this: after you start this blog, how will you make money? How will this blog turn into a real business?

Friend: Um…I don't know what to say anymore..

Me: What comes next? What comes after the blog?

We kept discussing over this same issue of utilizing a blog as a means of making money online.

I didn't stop enjoying my plate of fried rice with chicken, anyways...Lol

Now the silent point of argument remains:

How Can Anyone Turn a Blog into a Business?

I have a feeling you just said, "I know how!"

But, If you are thinking of monetizing your blog by simply using Google Adsense, which eventually would lead to selling advertising space on your blog, then there is one question I would like you to answer, "Would you really call that blog of yours a business?"

Maybe.

But you would be directly dealing with third-party companies to fill those advertising spaces. You would probably be making so little money than you actually worked for...Seriously!, and that's not what you want, is it?

Personally, It was only after taking a cue from some of my favorite bloggers that I knew I had to do something more than just blog to make some real profits. Soon after, I formed my Limited Liability Company and leveraged the authority and trust I had earned on my blog to launch a profitable internet business.
It’s my belief that anyone with a blog, passion, and a good work ethic can do the same thing.

So, as my friend and I sat there eating our fried chicken with rice, we discussed how we could possibly take his idea of “just a blog”, and turn it into some kind of profitable business.

Here’s what we came up with:

Write a hot selling eBook

This is the most logical step for many of us “just bloggers” out there. We already write on a blog, so it’s not all that difficult for us to write an eBook too.

In many cases, we can simply reformat what we’ve already written on the blog and turn that into an eBook. Even though our readers could get most of the same information for free, if you’ve established yourself as an authority, people will gladly pay you for a neatly organized and formatted eBook.

If you’re interested in writing a hot selling eBook that would embarass you with profits, then see  

The Internet Wealth Secrets Package on my website

Must Read..be sure to get your copy. The book contains everything you need to know in order to start an online business of your own, NOT JUST BLOGGING.

Write a Printed Book

Most bloggers do not buy the idea of writing eBooks, but that's okay, because most bloggers utilize the content of their blog to create or come up with an actual printed work.



However, it takes a lot longer to build your reputation as a blogger to have the ability to write and publish an actual printed book (not including those who self-publish via sites like LuLu.com), but doing so can definitely skyrocket ones authority in a niche and income potential as well.

There are indeed several bloggers who have gone to the next level and have published an actual printed book: Why can’t we do the same?

Start a Membership Website

A membership website is probably the most attractive business model for most bloggers who don’t want to be “just bloggers” anymore. Usually, these membership websites have either premium content or exclusive content that cannot be found on the blog and require a recurring payment to access.

Here’s what really makes membership websites attractive:

Let’s say we set up our own membership website and charge a $20 monthly fee (which is relatively low, but a nice round number I can use to prove my point).

In the first month, we sell 50 memberships. That’s $1000.

In the second month, we sell another 50 memberships. That’s $1000, plus another $1000 from the 50 members from the first month. That’s $2000 total in the second month.

In the third month, we sell 100 new memberships. Now we have 200 total members, which is $4000. And so on and so forth…

Obviously, people drop out and don’t stay members forever, but still – profits can add up quickly. Setup your membership site once, and just reap the benefits month after month.

Very good.

Here are some examples of membership websites with premium content:

    Shaun & Cici's  LearningIndonesian.com
    Lynn Terry’s Self-Starters Weekly Tips
  
Create and Sell Courses

Somewhat related to membership websites, you can create a full line of courses to help teach whatever it is you want to teach. The difference between a membership site and selling courses, is that the courses don’t necessarily have to be something that is only accessible online. Think DVD packages and audio CDs.

Here’s a great example from a site that helps people learn how to play the guitar:
 John’s Online Guitar Lessons at LearningGuitarNow.com

Become a Consultant / Start a Service

Many bloggers use their leverage in the blogosphere to actually launch their own consulting or service businesses that are related to their niche. Think about the type of businesses that a successful graphic artist and blogger could create. Or how about a social media expert, or an interior designer?
Yes, these kinds of businesses aren’t as “passive” because they require your direct services (at first), but it’s definitely a viable way to start earning a profit as a result of who you become on your blog.

Sell Something You Actually Make

This wasn’t an option for my buddy, but it might be for a lot of other bloggers. Maybe you knit really awesome sweaters, or build powerful circuit breakers. There’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to develop a following and begin to sell your creations online.

What about food? (Although – I’m sure there are some strict regulations for selling any kind of food online. Better check on that before you sell your Grandma’s sandwiches online.)

For software developers and coders out there, maybe you’ve created some type of awesome software or program that does something we all wish we had the ability to do, but why not sell it on your blog for some crazy profit?

How about a WordPress theme?

You could also sell wordpress themes on your blog and make an insane income from it.



At the end of our lunch, my buddy thanked me and said:

Friend: From our discussion so far, I think I have a lot of options.

Me: Yep! But keep that enthusiasm you have with your blog, because it can take you places.

Friend: I will. But what should I do after the blog. I mean, what’s my next step? Create An eBook, like you?

Me: Maybe, but I wouldn’t worry about that right now. If you go into building your blog knowing that you’re going to launch an eBook on such and such date, or start a membership website right away, you’re going to fail. Work on your blog, build it naturally with the primary purpose of helping people. If you do that, you’ll gain authority and by then you’ll know what you should do next. Keep everything we talked about in mind so you’re ready when that happens.

But in case you wish to know more about being a super blogger real fast and creating an eBook that would sell in millions of copies, I would recommend you get a copy of my package here

Friend: I'll do just that, thanks Obi.

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9 Best Ways To Make Money Online With A Blog

In Nigeria and indeed in any part of the globe, owning a blog is one of the best ways to make money online.

In today's article, I am going to try and put you through the various ways anyone can make money online in Nigeria with a blog.

First of all, What Is A Blog?

A blog (Short form of Weblog) is a discussion or informational site published on the world wide web and consisting of posts which are displayed in reverse chronological order. In other words, a blog is a website which allows people to comment on posts that they find interesting.

Let's continue....

But before we do so, I want to believe that you already know how to setup a simple blog within 30 minutes.

Having established that, let's go ahead with the 5 Best Ways To Make Money Online With A Blog.

1. Creating And Selling Products On Your Blog

This is one of the best ways to make money online with a blog from anywhere in the world. Having said that, I must also reiterate the fact that it is not a "bed of roses", meaning that you have to work hard to get a reputation for yourself and win the trust of your customers before forcing any of your products down their throat.

However, there is no gainsaying the fact that starting a blog and selling your products on it, is one of the best ways to generate a lot of insane income for yourself.

Now the very question that should be on your mind would be, "How do I get to create a high quality product to sell on my blog?", "How do I go about packaging and presenting my products to boost sales?"

Good, the answer isn't far fetched, but first, let me give you a little example with my own very experience.

When I started my internet business full time in 2011, I must tell you that I barely had any idea about the internet, I was a helpless rookie but with a vision to make a change in my life and indeed in the lives of others like you by providing valuable information. So I pushed hard because I believed in being self employed and in being the change that I want to see in my life.

Exactly two months after I started, I had created what I now call a "hot selling product" for my new blog. It was an "Autocad Video Tutorial Series" which by dint of hardwork sold like mad.

Within one month and two weeks, I had already sold it to 145 people at N4,000.

Now do the mathematics: 145 * 4000 = N580,000 just  for selling products that took me just one week of constant work to come up with.

Now tell me, what offline business would pay you up to that amount for doing such little work?...

What's more?
You too can come up with a product of your own to sell online. it could be in form of an ebook, a video tutorial or an audio tutorial series.

You can even build a product around a topic that interests you the most, it could be a product about:

1. Dating.

2. How to design a website.

3. How to start a blog.

4. How to find a good partner.

5. How to design with Autocad, Archicad, Orion etc.

6. How to make money online.

7. How to loose weight easily.

8. How to cure gonorrhea.

9. How to get the perfect solution to painful mensuration without spending a fortune.

10 How to stop smoking without losing your mind.

11 How to stop acute toothache within 20 seconds
12 How to last long in bed, etc.

Mind you! whatever product that you are coming up with, you must source for valuable information with which to make it highly educative and also beneficial to the consumers of the product (Information product). By this, I mean that you have to know more than your target audience already knows and be a source of solution to their problems through your products.

You can find out more on how to get information for your information products here

Now Picture this:

Assuming that you have sourced for information and perhaps have a complete product (ebook or video) that teaches "how to stop toothache within 20 seconds" , then you start a blog around that niche, and let's say that within a month and with the right marketing strategies , about 40 people buy this product from you at the rate of N3,000, that would amount to 3,000* 40 = N120,000, all into your pocket just for selling these products. 

Isn't that amazing?...... 

So what are you waiting for to start blogging today? it's free and very simple to setup, even if you have no knowledge of website designing, programming or any of that complicated stuff. 

2. Affiliate Marketing


This is yet another way that anyone can make money on their blog. 

May be you do not want to go through the rigours of creating your own products from scratch, or you simply have a job somewhere and may not have all the time in the world to create products of your own and sell online.

Hakuna Matata! Affiliate Marketing has got you covered.

Affiliate marketing is the system that allows you to sell already made products for the affiliate company. It is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate's own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as 'retailer' or 'brand'), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as 'the affiliate'), and the customer. In this case, you are the publisher and you are going to use your blog as your publishing platform.

Here is how it works:
When you sign up for a referral or affiliate program, the affiliate company would give you a code/link that is unique to you, which you are going to use to make the sales. This code is what your customers would click on, in order to get to the affiliate company's website, it should look something like this;  www.affiliatecompany'swebsite.com/?k id=infoking.

When a customer clicks on the link, they would be directed to the affiliate company's website or page, and then you get paid just for doing this little work.  It is then through your affiliate id which you would obtain free of charge on sign up, that your affiliate company would know that the referral came from you.

3. Place Advert Links On Your Blog

This is a powerful source of generating a lot of income off of a blog. When you start posting interesting content to your blog, it soon starts having good readership and more traffic starts flowing into your blog.

This therefore means that companies , and even online marketers can pay you to advertize on your blog since there is a high tendency for more customers to see their ads.
You can charge as high as $8.34 USD (N3,000) to $611.36 USD (N100,000) per week depending on the advertizing company or individuals.

Picture this;
Assuming you have just 10 big advertizers pay $305.68 USD (N50,000) to place their advert links on your blog for 1 week, that amounts to a revenue of $3056.8 USD (N500,000), FOR 1 WEEK, JUST FOR SELLING ADVERT SPACE.

Here's an example of a blog that generates revenue from advertizing for others;

So, What are you waiting for?...Are you going to let others keep taking the glory?

4. Make Money With Google Adsense

Google AdSense is a program run by Google that allows publishers in the Google Network of content sites to serve automatic text, image, video, or interactive media advertisements, that are targeted to site content and audience. These advertisements are administered, sorted, and maintained by Google, and they can generate revenue for your blog on either a per-click or per-impression basis.

How It Works
 If your blog enjoys a lot of traffic, or has good content, then you are eligible to apply for google adsense so that google can place targeted ads of online marketers on your blog. This then means that google pay you everytime your blog visitor clicks on the ads on your blog.

5. Sell Your Own Ad Space Directly to Online Advertisers

This is also a good way to make good money from a blog.

You can attempt to sell your own ad space directly to advertisers, but unless your blog is established with a sizable audience, it can be difficult to manage and make money selling ad space directly.  Fortunately, there are sites like BuySellAds.com that link online publishers (like bloggers) up with online advertisers to make selling your ad space easier.
 
6. Publish Posts and Reviews for Pay

You can write blog posts on your own blog in exchange for pay, and there are several Web sites that link online publishers (such as bloggers) up with companies and individuals who want their products and services reviewed or discussed online.  Just be sure to understand how to safely publish a paid post or sponsored review on your blog, so you don't negatively affect your blog's traffic.

7. Sell Merchandise

There are a number of Web sites that make it extremely easy for bloggers to create their own online stores where you can sell custom or stock merchandise and make money doing it!  CafePress, Zazzle and Printfection are three of the most popular sites for creating your own online store.
 
8. Become a Professional Blogger

If you write well and can work autonomously, then you could work from home as a professional blogger!  Fortunately, there are many sites where you can search for paid blogging jobs.  Keep in mind, blogger pay rates can vary drastically, so make sure any opportunity you take matches your long term blogging goals.
 
9. Join a Blogging Network

There are a number of blog networks that include a number of blogs and bloggers all publishing under a larger brand or company.  Many of these blog networks pay bloggers a flat fee per post or word that the blogger writes or the blogger receives a percentage of advertising earnings tied to the number of page views his or her posts generate (some networks even pay both a flat fee and a percentage of advertising revenues).  As always, make sure the opportunities you pursue match your long term blogging goals.

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10 Ways To Improve Your Writing Skills And Make Money Through Writing

10 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR WRITING SKILLS AND MAKE MONEY THROUGH WRITING

Writing is a wonderful thing. It is to some people a hubby while for others, it could be a career.
I don't know what it is to you......but truth be told, some writers are just so DUMB!

Okay, I'm not trying to be mean, but honestly, we all have written dumb articles once or twice in our lives, not because we are stupid, but because we do not really know what it takes to bring out the best in us as far quality writing is concerned.

You dream of being a writer, you dream of publishing content that would entice your target audience, you want to be admired for your writing prowess, but yet when you sit down to scribble down your thoughts and ideas, something seem to be wrong.

Oh Ma gosh! you just can't put the pieces together, it seems to show up, and then it disappears. The last resort becomes to drop your pen and shove the piece of paper down the writing table. You are depressed!
You actually started writing but never finished it off.

Has this ever happened to you before?

Well, it happens to the best of us. It has even happened to me several times and the reason is crystal clear... You haven't done the right things.


Here are the top 10 tips that you need in order to improve your writing skills

1. You Need The Power Of Focus

It is often said that lack of focus is the killer of creativity and innovation, and as a writer those are the two things that you would be needing.
Learn to focus your mind on something and avoid distractions which could come from watching irrelevant motion pictures all the time, playing video games etc.
Focus on a particular topic and make sure you get it over and done with.

2. Improve Your Vocabulary Skills

Your vocabulary skills really matter if you must publish what people would find interesting and educative. Publishing on the internet isn't just about churning out series of words that hardly connect with each other, but is about producing articles that your target audience would learn a great deal from. And how are your audience supposed to learn from your posts if the contents hardly make complete sense?....

Now the question is, what do you do to improve your vocabulary?

• Read novels and textbooks written in Queen's English.
• Study the dictionary: This might sound wierd, but you would learn a lot of amazing things faster, by applying this strategy.
• Watch Documentaries and TV Reality Shows.
• If you must watch movies, then it should be movies scripted in Queen's English (I always emphasize on this). Honestly, there are tons of things that you would discover by watching these movies.
• Speak English to your friends, family, colleagues etc as often as you can. You don't know what harm you are doing to your vocabulary skills  by avoiding this. Practice they say makes good improvement, if not perfect.
• Pay attention to certain movies, documentaries and other TV programs and grab words which you aren't familiar with so you can look it up in the dictionary later (This is something that people fail to do, which is really important for building their vocabularies).

3.  Learn To Make Most Events In Your Life Something To Write About

A good writer always thinks out-of-the-box to build content. Your ability to make every event in your life "Poetry", makes you a wonderful writer.

Depending on your niche, making an article out of your "Secretary's dressing style", or "The best ways to make potato chips that you just discovered", or even "The fight that occured yesterday at the airport", is something every writer should learn to do.

Most things that writers post, are things that happened in their lives which in one way or the other their target audience would learn a thing or two from.

In other words, when you see things happen around you, try to sit back and think of what good writing you could make of it.

4. Make Your Dictionary A Companion

Every "good" writer should keep a "good" dictionary by his/her side at all times for reference purposes. Some words can be really confusing, so in order not to post annoying contents, which have poorly spelt words or wrong grammar in them and which would tame the respect that your readers have for you with , Use The Dictionary.

5. Proofread Your Articles Before You Post Them

It has been discovered overtime that most writers just type away at the keyboard while posting, without even looking at the screen to see what balderdash it is that they have typed, simply because they think they have some basic skill in "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" or they think they have typed for years.
This is real bad practice, because you would be prone to making avoidable mistakes and may hit the "P button'' when you should have hit the "O", which gives an error!, and irritates your reader.

Whether you write articles to post online, or you are an offline publisher, or you do freelance writing, posting without doing a thorough preview of your articles could have grave consequences on your reputation and readership.

It could be very disgusting when readers go through your post and see errors like "waht" instead of  "what" or "pupose" instead of "purpose" etc, because it distorts the intended meaning of the write up and could drive readers away from your website even as soon as they got there.

So to avoid this kind of mistake, no matter the length of your posts, be sure to proofread them at least 2 to 3 times before hitting the "Publish" button, or better still have your friends do their own part of the proofreading for you before or after you have published your post.

Best Practice: It is better to proofread after you have written up to 10 lines of words, that way, it doesn't get so cumbersome to spot errors.

6. Rest Your Brain

Whenever you feel you need to sleep or rest, do not deny yourself the urge, because the brain needs rest in order to recover from stress.
You should try as much as you can to have a good amount of rest each day to help your brain fluids flow once again for the uphill task ahead.

Don't take this for granted.

7. Keep Writing, Don't Be Discouraged, Don't Stop

As a writer, there would be times when you pick up a pen and paper to write down something, but somewhere along the line you feel like stopping, perhaps because you suddenly lost the zeal or inspiration that drove you to start writing in the first place.

Don't stop, keep writing, even when you are discouraged and have no idea what to write next.
But If the drive to quit pushes harder, just rest your head or involve in any activity that interests you the most, and then afterwards get back on the table and do your thing. This time, the inspiration would have been fully restored.

Food For Thought: Never give-in to your fears and do not despair, because things only get harder when it is starting up, but keep working for there is always light somewhere at the end of the tunnel.
                                                                                                        
8. Put Your Audience First

To be a good writer, you have to put your audience at the forefront....afterall the content was meant for them to digest in the first place, so they deserve to get information from your article and use it for their own good.
So write something that your readers would benefit a great deal from.

9. Do A Thorough Research On Your Topic

This is yet another way to post rich content for your readers. Doing a thorough research and study about the topic that you wish to write about, gives you an edge over others who just post stuff without doing good research.

Read books & other rich posts by others on the topic which you want to write about and then pick up salient points which you would be needing to launch to your own rocket.......Metaphorically speaking..

Remember, no one is an encyclopedia of all knowledge. Even the greatest writers in the world do research before writing their posts or offline articles/books.

You cannot walk it alone and before you ever thought of writing about it, so many others have written about it already.

10. Use Your Biro and Paper

No good house is built without an architectural plan for defining the aesthetical arrangement of the building elements, and a structural plan for defining the stability of the house.

Same goes with writing...
Every good article has to be written down on a book first using a pencil or pen, because that defines a rough layout of the post content.

Writing down things that you want to post on a piece of paper, helps guide you better when you start typing it on the computer, and it helps speed up time of publication.

So it is good practice to to scribble down your thoughts on a piece of paper before going to type it on your computer.....

It pays dividends..

Thanks for reading, and if you have any more suggestions and tips on this topic, feel free to share.

Okafor Obinna (Infopreneurking)

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