Enkay Blog

I Got My PR, Did You?

So the Page Rank updates took place today and I just want to know how many of you got your PR updated. I know that I’ve been fighting with Google for a while now to get a PR and although I was a 3, it was snatched away from me in the summer and I was given a 0. Now I’m at 2 and it feels great. Let me know if your PR updated and let me know in the comments and you get a free backlink on this post, not bad huh?

ProBlogineer - 3
Chris - 0
Martin 4
David – 2
Normal Joe - 2
Nick – 2
Dr. Teeth – 0

What It Takes To Write An eBook

So I recently released my eBook, that honestly took a lot longer for me to write than it should have but, its mainly because I had taken a hiatus from writing it in the middle. I decided to re-write it beginning in August and about 40 days later it was ready to be published on the blog. I know quite a few bloggers that have an eBook and most of them are under a 100 pages, like mine, however, its really not as easy as it sounds. Theres a lot that goes into writing an eBook so I wanted to share some of the things that writing an eBook involves.

Research
Writing an eBook requires research no matter what topic you are writing about. Whether its monetization or blogging or even fitness for that matter. You will have to spend quite a bit of time confirming your facts and researching the topic to avoid skipping over key points or even avoid publishing wrong information.

Time
The time input is tremendous. The research, the actual writing of the book to even editing the book later requires quite a time commitment. You have to realize that you cannot churn out an ebook 50 pages or greater within a week. You could if you have done it before but if you’re a first time eBook writer then it will be a different scenario. It takes time and a lot of effort.

Reviewing
As part of my eBook, I had to review a lot of monetization techniques, blog publishing softwares and even hosting companies. Most eBooks will require you to review products and services and this also contributes to the amount of time you’ll need to write the eBook. Think about it, for a topic like monetization, you will have to look at affiliate marketing networks and several other monetizating sources such as Adsense, InfoLinks, ReviewMe, etc. Even for something like Gardening, you will need to review different plants, plant foods, fertilizers, etc. So basically you will need to review a lot of different products and services to provide the best information to your readers.

Writing Skills
This is probably one of the key points in writing an eBook. You need to make sure that you write your eBook with proper grammar, punctuation and most importantly spelling. This is required because you cannot seem unprofessional otherwise you won’t be taken seriously. Skipping prepositions or using the wrong spelling could not only look unprofessional but could change the meaning of what you intended to say.

Explanation Style
Explanation style basically means that you write your eBook in a manner that will make it easy to understand for your readers. You have to understand that although you and several others will know what you are talking about, there are lots of people that may be new to the topic. This means that you will need to go step-by-step and explain a lot of things in detail to avoid leaving out a segment of your readership.

So, I hope that this information helps you realize what goes into writing an eBook. I will try to do more posts like this as time goes on but I feel that this is a good one to get started with to help you realize what actually goes into writing an eBook. If you want to write an eBook or are currently writing one I’d like to hear from you. Also, those of you who have an eBook, I would like to see whether you agree with the points I’ve mentioned. Hope you guys have a great week ahead!

What Have You Been Upto?

I know that I have left my eBook post up for the past 3 days but theres a reason for it. I really want people to download it and read it and tell me their thoughts. The book has been downloaded thousands of time and I want to thank everyone for reading it and emailing me and writing your comments. I really appreciate it. This post is a general catch up to let you know what I have been doing.

Okay, Now I Understand!
So this section is to make you say “Oh, Now I Understand” but maybe you can understand why I’ve been so busy over the past few weeks. I’ve been going to school and doing school work and writing the book whenever I had time. There a lot of things that go into an eBook and I’ll be doing a post about that soon but I just wanted you guys to know that I had a legitimate reason for being so busy.

What Can You Expect
Well, in the next week or so you can expect almost all my ad spots to have been sold. Aside from that, I will be reading and commenting on the blogs that have stopped by including quiet a few new ones thanks to me winning the publicity wheel for the week. I know I have been slacking off on commenting but I will be stopping by, I promise. I also have lots of great posts planned that can help you write your own ebook, without the stress and research I put into it.

Why Pick A Charity and Why That Charity?
I’ve got a few emails about this and a lot of people have been generally very accepting of the fact that I picked a charity to give the donations to. I honestly don’t mind you giving the money to a charity of your choice if you may as long as its legitimate and involves helping someone who really needs the help. I picked Save The Children because it really helps those who need it the most. If you saw the video, I mentioned that 850 million people go hungry every day. I guess its hard for us to imagine the adversities of life as we sit at home with the AC on and food to eat and that was why I picked that organization.

Did You Really Write It?
Okay, so there seems to be skepticism about whether I really wrote the book. I know that its 60 pages and that its time consuming but I really did write the content for the book and I’m sure you can tell from the writing style that it is surely me. Am I not good enough? Is that what it is? (I’m just kidding!! I’m taking a page from Joe’s style!)

What Have You Been Upto?
Well, let me know what you’ve been upto. I wanted this to be a somewhat casual post to catch up with my readers and let them know what I have been doing. How was your past week? Also, I apologize for not stopping by or commenting but I will be doing my rounds tomorrow for sure! Hope you had a great week!

Enkay’s Free Ebook

Yes, its true! I have an eBook of my own now. I have been writing this eBook since December of last year and because of school, I never got around to completing it. Well, over the summer I decided to completely re-write what I had and today is when I will be launching the free eBook. Before I get started, you can visit the eBook website at http://www.enkayblog.com/ebook or you can download it by clicking on the image below:

What Is It About?
First off, about 90% of the eBook content is written from scratch, so a lot of the content has been written specifically for the eBook and you won’t find it on my blog. It is 62 pages long and its a guide for all bloggers specially new bloggers. It helps you get started with blogging by picking out your options and then it provides you with tips about blogging, Alexa, Technorati as well as other topics such as Social Networking, Video Blogging and even Monetization. Its a very comprehensive guide to blogging and I really hope you like it.

Why Free?
Well, I figured that if people are unhappy with the book for some reason, then they can get their money back, which was zero to begin with. At least thats what one of the reasons was. The main reason why the book is free is so that I can help a charity.

I want everyone to read the book and once you’re done reading, and you like it, I want you to think what the amount would be that you would be willing to pay for this book and then I’d like you to donate that amount to the Save The Children Foundation. For those of you who don’t know what the organization does, I’ve created a small video below and have provided the narration for the video. I hope you can understand what this money can do for people who need it more than you and I do.

Hopefully the video will encourage you to support such organizations and foundations. For those of you who are wondering, yes, that is my voice as part of the narration and this video was created specially for the eBook. I would really like to hear your thoughts on the fact that the eBook is free and can really make a big difference in the lives of children who are truly deserving of help.

Win A Free iPod Nano

I have a brand new 4GB Silver Ipod Nano that I have to give away and so I figure that right now is the best time to do so. Theres only three ways you can get an entry.

1) The first is to subscribe to my blog using the form below (2 points):

2) The second way to get an entry is to blog about the book and link to this post using the words “free blogging ebook” or “blogging ebook” or anything you find fitting. Be sure to let me know what your url was so that I don’t miss it. (5 points)

3) The last method is to just let me know that you’ve downloaded and read the ebook (1 point). This is based on the honesty method so there isn’t any way that I can check on this but please be honest about it.

Once you’ve subscribed and downloaded and read the eBook or blogged about the book, just leave me a comment or send me an email and I’ll put your name in the mix. Also, I would like to offer more prizes so if you’re an advertiser and you’re willing to sponsor a prize, do let me know. I will be picking the winners October 15th so its less than a month away.

Hope you enjoy the eBook and I’d love to hear your feedback. This is the first eBook I’ve ever written so if you find any errors, do let me know. I also want to thank Rebecca Mercurio for helping me pick a date to launch the ebook. Since last night I have read it about 10 times to avoid any embarrassing errors but after a while you seem to think that everything looks good. So, in that case, do let me know if you find any errors and what you think! I look forward to hearing from you.

How You Should Market Your Blog

There are many ways that you can gain readers and visitors and I like to think that over the time that I’ve blogged, I have come across some great ways to get traffic when you need it. This isn’t about link bait posts or anything of that sort but other ways that you can market your blog to help gain readers and visitors.

1) Market Yourself In The Blogosphere - One of the best methods that works for me is when I go around the blogosphere and check out other blogs and leave comments. This helps me in getting out there and helps people recognize who I am. Be careful though, the type of comment you leave is a first impression as it indicates what someone can expect when they visit your blog.

2) Writing On Universal Topics – If you have a MMO blog there are ways that you can gain extra traffic by going a little outside the box. For example, if you talk about a particular ad network that blogs of other niches can use or if you talk about certain video blogging techniques that other bloggers can use, then you’re writing on a universal topic. A topic that is not confined to your particular niche will help you reach a larger audience specially through search engine results.

3) Responding To Advertiser Emails - A lot of times I get emails from individuals asking me to check out their website or try out their product and by checking out their website and leaving a comment or by trying out a product you can gain a new audience. The advertiser may link back to you or mention you in one of his posts and it can help you gain more readers. This is different from commenting on other blogs because it involves being contacted by an advertiser or a new venture blogger first.

4) If You May, Offer Your Help – If youre the giving type then offering your help to bloggers and helping them succeed can play to your advantage. Its not that you have an ulterior motive but its an added benefit of being helpful and friendly. Most of the times when I help a blogger they mention me, become a committed reader and link back to me. This helps me maintain a relationship with the blogger as well as have them help in improving my traffic from time to time.

5) Interviews, Sponsoring, etc – I recently did an interview with Market Leverage and I have even sponsored a contest recently but doing things such as interviews and sponsoring contests can help raise your awareness in the blogosphere. Most interested individuals will decide to check out your blog if the contest you are sponsoring includes a great prize or you come off as natural and approachable in an interview. It can definitely boost your traffic.

I would like to know what are some other unconventional ways that you use to gain traffic. Its common to see things such as hosting contests, link bait posts or anything of that sort. What are some of the things you do that seem to work for you?