Well- because I committed to writing on Tuesdays and since I couldn’t come up with anything earlier, I am here now struggling to get something of value down on paper (ok- not on paper) for tomorrow’s post. I bet my fellow bloggers can relate to this situation. Here are my excuses so far:

• I just got back from a mini vacation and am still catching up with my emails.
• I want to come up with something unique.
• I don’t want to repeat myself.
• My kids are distracting me.

So is it better to get something posted that may not be your best work or is it better to just skip a week and get back on track the following week? I am going to say that either would be ok – partially because I am doing the first option as we speak. However, it is absolutely acceptable to take a short hiatus from writing if you find that you are being ineffective at writing as a means to attain your marketing goals with a blog. Perhaps this means a new direction is in order. Perhaps it means that you need to find someone to take over this part of your marketing. Or perhaps it just means that you need to refuel your imagination by taking a break.

Of course, in my case I just need to get a grip and get it done! Oh- I did get it done:) Sometimes being creative is just plain difficult. If you find yourself in this situation, don’t be too hard on yourself. Just weigh your options and make a decision. The earth won’t stop turning if you don’t write a blog post today. Tomorrow might be a better day or even next week.

That’s all she wrote on that subject!

Dan from TycoonBlogger wrote an article yesterday that I came across that compared several social bookmarking sites as well. Blog Engage was included in the list, so I commented about my feelings on the link scam part of the site. Brian (the owner of Blog Engage), who obviously has zero business experience, proceeded to tell me that I had a bad attitude.  The comments he left there continued to tell everyone else that had a complaint how “they” were “doing it wrong”. Don’t trust my saying it though, check out the article, especially the comments: Best Blogging Communities.

**UPDATE**

In the latest Newsletter (which I don’t get since being banned) Brian continues to alienate his users by telling them that the only way to stop getting the Newsletter is to remove yourself from the site! Way to go Brian! LOL

“If you wish to be removed from our newsletter we will have to remove your blog engage account. If this is your wish please reply yo this e-mail with your username and e-mail.”

The way I see this, I need to enact some “CrushIt” on the social bookmarking world. So what would YOU like out of a social bookmarking site? I know some things I look for:

• Direct links back to my article (not like Digg)
• Easy to submit (not too many clicks)
• Quality Support (forum)
• Nice Design (make it easy to navigate)
• A place to meet like minded bloggers (categories for my niche)

How about you?

DagaLoo

Late last year I got into using Blog Engage, I even wrote a few articles about it being a great source of traffic and discovery. The community of bloggers there is really great! I stopped using it a few months ago when the owner of the site decided to make it “invitation only”, and even though I was already a member, that just didn’t sit well with me. So I started exploring other alternatives, and I got an email from the folks over at Blogger Den and decided to check them out. Let’s talk about the good:

Pro’s:

• Both have do-follow links directly back to your article
• Both are relatively new, so it is easy to hit the front page
• Both have a decent PR (BE is a PR5 and BD is a PR4)
• Both have a great community
• Both cater to “bloggers” niches (blog tips, wordpress, social media, MMO, etc..)

Sounds great huh? Well some changes recently with Blog Engage has led me away. The “invitation only” was easy enough to get over because it is simple to get an invitation. Then last week I got an email from Brian at Blog Engage asking me to remove my site name from the title of my submissions. What that means is, I have my title tags to read:

Social Bookmarking Rant | Hot Blog Tips

This is just the way I have mine set up, so every article gets the site name in it (let’s face it, there are keywords there I am tackling!). I had submitted every article like that for 6mos, from 2 different sites. I admit I hadn’t been there in a month or so, but all I do is enter the url to the article, then their site pulls the info for the title, add some tags and a description (image if you wish) and submit. So, I wasn’t changing anything that their system did automatically, and nothing different than I had done for 4 pages worth of submissions.

Brian and I got into a little argument over this on Twitter, but we settled it, and I said I would make the adjustment on all my future submissions. I still don’t understand the problem with me building my brand while bookmarking articles, but I don’t own the site.

The Kicker:

Today, I get another email saying I needed to change something on my submissions. I clicked through the article, and there it was:

Due to the high amount of spam please follow this one suggestion or your account will not be approved and most likely deleted without notice.

1. Update your profile page and avatar Immediately.
2. Add the Blog Engage Profile Badges

Number one was no biggie, already had that done. Number two however, requires that I put a “profile badge” on my site. The badge looks like this:

There are others, but the point is, I am required to link to them and put their graphic on my site! Oh, I don’t think so! Sounds pretty similar to Blog Catalog to me.

What I think BE is missing is that the ones that “submit” their articles are the ones that actually made his site! Not the other way around. I refuse to bow to these type of link scams and litter my site with useless chicklets and banners so I can submit my articles and content to their sites anymore!

Blogger Den:

My verdict is still out on Blogger Den. But I like it so far. Other than the obvious Digg looks, it fits my needs and has no special requirements. I get about an equal amount of referral traffic when I do submit (which I don’t always), and I don’t have to link back to them unless I want to!

Discussion:

Do you bookmark? Get any use out of it? Which sites work well for you?

There are many, many ways to promote an article after you have written it, but I am going to only concentrate on a few of my favorites and you are more than welcome to chime in with yours in the comments below.

Twitter:

Depending on your niche, Twitter can provide an amazing amount of traffic if you use it properly. I usually tweet my article as soon as I am finished writing it, which on most days is in the morning here on the east coast (US). I don’t have an enormous amount of followers, but the ones I do have are targeted (and like most, my following grows on a daily basis).

I am not a big fan of automated or timed tweets with your links in it (like HootSuite) because it can make you look like all you are on Twitter for is self promotion. I prefer to manually tweet my own articles immediately after I write one, then I may tweet about it once or twice more throughout the course of the day.

An important key to getting people to re-tweet your articles is to re-tweet other peoples articles. If I am reading an article I like, and the blog owner is smart enough to put a re-tweet button in the post, I will usually use it to send their article out to my followers.

Remember to share the love, re-tweet articles for others, and it is more likely that yours will be re-tweeted.

Facebook:

Post your articles here too, I have followers/friends on facebook that aren’t on twitter. This is a good way to get traffic to your article that wouldn’t have normally found out about it. I recently made a fan page for HotBlogTips, (so go be a fan :-0) and I recommend you do the same, is is really easy to do and you can put a widget in your sidebar that links to it. If one of your friends comments on your page then their friends can see that and may be curious, so it can become somewhat viral on its own.

BlogEngage:

I also immediately submit my article to blog engage. I encourage you to submit it your self to make sure it gets in the category and tags that you want. The community at blog engage is incredible and it is one of my best traffic sources. I also sign up for their email updates which emails you published articles on a regular basis. This is a good way to discover blogs you don’t read already and you can network with those bloggers.

After you submit your article, take the time to see if there are some articles that interest you that you can vote on as well, remember you must give to receive.

Blog Comments and Forums:

I try to wait until after I publish an article everyday to go through my Google Reader and start commenting on blogs. There are a couple of reasons for doing this and it does NOT include getting backlinks! Promoting an article by commenting on blogs can get your article indexed faster if the sites you frequent have a high PageRank (yes there are some uses for having higher PR) and if they have comment luv it is even better.

Commenting on blogs with commentluv after you publish your article gives you a great opportunity to promote your article because other commentators and the blog owner will see the title of the article and if you are good at writing title, they may be encouraged to click it.

Conclusion:

There are many other ways to promote your article like StumbleUpon and Digg which I use as well, but the ones I mentioned above are where I always start. What methods do you use?

Blog Engage allows you to submit your articles, vote for other articles, and get involved in a great community of bloggers.

Blog Engage Introduction Video:

I admit, I was skeptical at first, as I said I had spent hours in over a hundred different social bookmarking sites. Yes, I was one of those Blogs that had a hundred little chicklets in the bottom right of every page of my site. I have tried them all!

None of them did a thing for my site, I never got any traffic from them, the back links were pretty well worthless, and I wasted so many hours on it.

Why Is Blog Engage Different?

It is really simple to answer that question, COMMUNITY. I wrote about building community in your comments yesterday, and I think people get so wrapped up in stats, PR, and backlinks that they forget what community really is.

Blog Engage has community. The other bloggers there will support you, vote for your articles, and even mention your site on theirs. These bloggers are a different breed than most of you are used to.

I have discovered some great sites in my niche (not a very small niche, everyone want to write about blogging!) and have networked with bloggers on Blog Engage through Twittter and Facebook too.

Conclusion:

GO JOIN!!!! What else are you doing to help promote your site, is it really working for you, are the referrals targeted for you? Does the traffic your current bookmarking sites you use actually comment on your articles? If not, you should check out Blog Engage right now!