SHE Answers on Blog Marketing

March 31st, 2008 by Poise Daily Staff Member

by Ms. Trendsetter

Q. I have a blog (who doesn’t?) and I want to have more readers, maybe even make money from it. How do I get a better following?

A. If you have great content, of course you’d like people to visit or subscribe to your blog on a regular basis. You have to understand, however, that driving traffic to your site and eventually monetizing it will require a lot of grunt work on your part.

First of all, you have to network with other bloggers in your niche, especially the most successful ones. This means visiting their blogs on a regular basis and leaving insightful comments with backlinks to your site. Eventually, you’ll catch their eye and then you can build a relationship with them. Don’t view other bloggers in your niche as competition. View them as allies who can drive interested parties to your site.

Of course, you’d also like to be found in the search engines. This requires something called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). A lot of people view SEO as a complicated process, but it really isn’t. It’s just a matter of knowing what keywords people are most likely to be searching for that will lead them to your site and capitalizing on those keywords. There are plenty of sources on SEO, ranging from specialized courses from the SEO master Aaron Wall to easy-to-understand condensed free e-books that work just as well.

Don’t forget to make the most out of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and StumbleUpon, to name a few (you do have one of these, right?).

Monetization comes later when you already have a good readership base. You can make money out of ads and affiliate links. However, you need to make sure that you will not compromise your content in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, or else you’ll find your readers migrating elsewhere. After all, you wouldn’t want to read a glorified sales pitch, why would they?

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She Answers by Ms. Trendsetter on Lipstick

March 18th, 2008 by Poise Daily Staff Member

Q. Dear Miss Trendsetter: I am a fashion maven, I’ll admit, but why is it still that Clarin’s, and Lancome, etc. have perfume in their lipstick? It’s gross! Have you every sprayed on perfume and accidently sprayed some on your mouth? Well it’s not sugar and spice. By Seriously Confused

A. Dear Ms. Confused, Hmm, this is a rather confusing question you have. Perfume as ingredients of lipstick? I’ve done a little research on the matter and, perhaps, you mean lipstick perfumes? Or actual scents that come in lipstick or lipgloss form and packaging? If you’re referring to these products, then I think we have a teensy weensy problem — they shouldn’t be used on your lips.

The best places to apply lipstick perfumes is below or behind your ears, on your neck, wrists, cleavage, or anywhere else you feel pulsations. You see, our pulse beats heighten the effect of concentrated perfume and helps it disperse faster and stay on longer.

As to perfume content of certain brands of lipstick, you’re probably referring to the chemical content called phthalates. They’re not usually listed on the ingredients, but studies have shown that some lipsticks do carry this harmful chemical. In fact, when you really do lab tests on what other components lipstick contains, you’d be surprised that it contains more than just fragrance tinctures to mask waxy tastes. Truth be told, anything that contains preservatives really doesn’t give a 100% health guarantee — and lipstick is one of them.

The price to pay for vanity?

Technorati Tags: Lancome, Lipstick, Ms. Trendsetter, She Answers, Trends, Vanessa Doctor