Darren Rowse is the ProBlogger. In fact, he’s THE ProBlogger! And today he released another fantastic resource for bloggers – The Copywriter’s Scorecard for Bloggers.

Totally ignore the price on the banner – Darren is taking $5 off for the next two weeks and selling it for $9.97, just like he did with 31 Days to Build a Better Blog, which I and many of my readers benefited from.

The Scorecard will help make your blog posts more compelling, plus give you the skinny on SEO to better monetize your blog.

Whether you’re new to the blogging world (Welcome!) or an old hand at it, getting your blog ducks in a row is essential to building the traffic and creating the income you desire from your blog.

Brian Clark of Copyblogger has this to say about Darren’s Latest:

“I’ve built a multimillion dollar business not only by teaching the intersection of blogging and copywriting, but by using it. The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers provides clear guidance on how to put this powerful combination to work for you, too.”

Try The Copywriting Scorecard for Bloggers and see the difference it can make for your blog.

Remember when I told you Shalwick was up to something?

I’ve had a sneak peek at what he’s been up to, and it’s astonishing. It involves going viral on YouTube and helping people monetize their video popularity.

Stay tuned. I’ll be offering FREE PRODUCT on August 3rd that will help you get started with Gideon’s Rapid Video Blogging. If you’re not already subscribing to this blog’s RSS feed, do so now, and make sure you get the free report and video on August 3.

Worst blogging job ad ever:

We are looking for a writer who can make total of two posts per day (20 days a month) about luxury real estate, cars, boats, clothes and other high-end luxury products and properties.

The posts can be between 150 to 300 words each and must include one photo.

This is a long term blogger work so please be dedicated to commit to at least for a year.

The pay is fixed @ $250 per month. Payment via paypal at month end.

No blogger could live in luxury making $6 per post.

Had an interesting conversation yesterday with one of my bloggy friends from the political world. He’s been messing around with SEO lately, and discovered something amazing: Google gets more searches for the word “nude” rather than “naked”. Strange, huh?

The hot topic so far this week has been about the new Miss USA, a smokin’ hawt Lebanese chick from Dearbornistan. So Paul decides to put up a headline yesterday “Miss USA Rima Fakih Naked Photos” and another one “Nude Photos of Miss America – Rima Fakih“.

Despite the error in naming the contest – calling it Miss America instead of Miss USA, the headline with the word “nude” in it brought more search traffic than the one with the correct contest title.

SEO is all about getting inside a reader’s head and knowing exactly what words they’ll use to search. There’s a downside to random searches, though:

Oh, NOT ONE new subscriber, either. Go figure. I manipulated the post title for hits and did not deliver a chance of any repeat visits. So, you better have the content that your search traffic wants, you know?

This was by far the highest traffic day for my blarq, but when Kathy Shaidle linked my stuff, I got subscribers, too.

Experiment conclusion: Traffic is not the end-all be-all, lasting relationships are. Links from dependable sources net more regular traffic. Wow! It is just like life, too. You can sleep with thousands upon thousands of people, but to have a meaningful and steady thing, you better settle down. Rima Fakih could learn something from ME. I am a good teacher, nude.

No? Why the hell not? Do you not want to improve your traffic, or make your content more search-able? Tell me, do you just not love your blog? Because if you loved your blog, you’d be reading Glen.

I’ve written about this internet wunderkind before, and I’m shamelessly addicted to his blog and his book, Cloud Living. Glen knows there’s no free ride when it comes to making money online. He works at it, and it pays off.

A sprinkling of what you can learn from the child wizard, the Harry Potter of internet marketing:

• How to Make Money With Blogs
• Increase your Income with AdSense
• Buying & Selling Websites

His book, Cloud Living, puts all the info together in one handy place so you can refer back to it as needed. It’s a digital download, so ordering the book is instant gratification. Check it out, and let me know how it helps you!

Is it weird that I think Gideon Shalwick is way hot since he cut his hair? I mean really, really hot. He used to look like Weird Al with that crazy long curly hair. I’m almost tempted to think he hired a new spokesmodel and just calls him Gideon. But I think that theory stems from the fact that I forgot to put my tinfoil hat on this morning.

Anyway, this post isn’t meant to be about his massively improved appearance. It’s about the fact that he’s up to something.

An email in my inbox today alerted me to the fact that Gideon and Co will be launching a new blogging product in the next few weeks. intrigued, I clicked on the “learn more” link… but didn’t learn that much more. Now I’m really curious!

So, as soon as I know what he’s up to, you’ll know too!

UPDATE from BB: d’oh! I totally mixed up Gideon and Yaro. Yaro was the one with the hair, he did get it cut and it does look good. While I totally screwed up there, I still maintain my original point: Gideon is hot.

In this great world of outsourcing and link whoring, a new breed of spammer has come to a comment section near you. This spammer doesn’t just include 16 links to Cialis in the comments. Oh no, this spammer is friendly. Personable. And oh-so-thankful for your post.

Surely you’ve seen the comments that read “Thanks for this post – very informative!” A quick glance at their trackback URL and you’ll see that they’re flogging pills, porn or even lightbulbs. Yes, I had one last week for lightbulbs.

Here’s the thing: I don’t loathe these spammers for their attempts to get traffic. I just think 99.9% of them suck at it.

Anyone who works in any kind of web marketing knows the value of leaving relevant comments at a popular blogger’s site. There’s no harm in it. But most of these bloggers are ruthless when it comes to dumping spam comments (Personally, I usually dump them and then email the spammer with a kindly “Fuck off”). However, there are ways to slip past the Fuck-off-o-meter.

If you make an actual relevant comment on the post, you will get through every time. Instead of just saying “Great post!”, why not take 30 seconds to READ the damn thing and pick something – anything – that you could say was great about it? For example, leaving a comment on this post that reads “Thanks for this!” and a link back to your furniture store will probably get you vetoed. But what if you wrote “Ha, funny! Do you seriously send Fuck You notes to spammers??” will eliminate the chances of you receiving one!

The Friendly Spammer is far more palatable to bloggers, and if they would just make a little more effort, they would pass muster on more blogs.

Jennifer Mattern of All Freelance Writing has created (with a little tech help) a new Wordpress theme to help freelance writers organize their portfolios.

Here’s a screen shot:

Click the image to read more about it and find out Jenn’s terms for using it (very straightforward).

Darren Rowse of ProBlogger put up a great post last night about the evolution of his blogging life. From hobby blogger to macdaddy of the blogging world, Darren built his empire one post at a time.

I had to laugh when he revealed that his degree is in theology (would you like fries with that? and bless you!), as it is as helpful in the job market as my lack of post secondary education.

Darren doesn’t just sit around making money and laughing at the little guy – he has spent the last few years dragging the smaller bloggers kicking and screaming into success. He offers his knowledge mostly free of charge over at ProBlogger, proving that his theology degree wasn’t for naught – he’s giving of his own knowledge to help others succeed. He’s spreading the gospel of pro-blogging.

Well, the Book of Darren  – ProBlogger, the book (that’s Darren’s affiliate link, not mine) – is being re-released with updates and new information. After all, the tech world moves at an unprecedented pace. Originally released in 2008, the ProBlogger book is already old news, and Darren felt it was important to update the basic knowledge in the book with the latest technology tips and tricks.

I’ll be honest, I don’t have the ProBlogger book. I’ll probably pick up a copy, but I’m currently swamped with books I need to get through. Books are lots of knowledge crammed into small print on a tightly bound tome. These days I need lists and bullet points in order to absorb anything.

Thankfully, Darren has me covered there, too.

One of the most helpful products I’ve picked up in the past year has been the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook (my affiliate link). Last Spring, Darren had a month-long challenge at ProBlogger which included daily emails, tips, tricks and action points. When it was all over, he took the whole e-course and made an easy-to-follow e-book out of it.

The way I use the 31DBBB book is random. I open it up to any day, and implement the lesson on one of my sites. One day it might be keyword density, the next it might be list posts or guest blogging. Though I don’t use it as a 31 day resource, I refer back to it whenever I need a dose of inspiration for bettering my blogs.

Congratulations to Darren on the 2nd edition of ProBlogging! And if any of you are looking for ways to improve your blogs and increase traffic, pick up a copy of 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Workbook and get started today!

One of the things many freelancers – everyone, actually – get hung up on is facing their fears. Moving out of their comfort zone. If you have trouble with rejection, querying can be difficult and cold calling can be down right painful. If your hangup is public speaking, accepting seminar opportunities may give you sleepless nights.

I did something scary today. Something that may ultimately lead to rejection – likely in the form of silence. As some of you may know, my home blog is a staunchly conservative political site. I go on television to opine about the evils of such and such a policy. I am not warm and fuzzy in my views.

Today I applied for a job with a Kennedy. Yes, those Kennedys.

Am I selling out? No. The Kennedy in question isn’t political. He doesn’t show up on the floor of the House to spew policy ideas to the powers that be. He has other projects, and doesn’t resign himself to just being part of the clan. Sure, he’s probably a Democrat, but Democrats are people, too! I likely wouldn’t ever get into a car near a lake with him, for good reason. Then again, he probably wouldn’t be asking me what I think about immigration amnesty, either.

This is a straightforward writing gig, for which I feel I am uniquely qualified. And if the employer were Joe Shmo, I wouldn’t have the slightest hesitation in applying. However, since it’s one of them, I freaked out. I spent hours deliberating over whether or not I should even try. I convinced myself it was a lost cause. Then it took me two hours to write the damn cover email! All because of a stupid surname.

I’ve worked with famous and iconic people before. I regularly get emails or texts from people that many are envious of my knowing. That’s not the part that scared me. I was scared by ideological differences that don’t even have anything to do with the job at hand!

So I sucked it up and hit send. Even if I don’t get the gig, at least I can look at myself in the mirror without shame for being a coward.