I have been quite busy for the last couple of days due to preparation of Bloghology. Even though it is a huge workload for me, i enjoy every minute of it. It is really fun to manage a project with a group of talented and unique bloggers. You will meet them all in the March 2008 edition. In this edition i prepared some surprises for you. I am sure you will like them.

Now, i need your support to spread the word Bloghology.

• Please put Bloghology buttons on your blogs If you haven’t done already
• Please feel free to join Bloghology Blog Catalog group.
• If you have a Facebook profile, you are also kindly invited to join Facebook Bloghology group.
• Please Stumble and Digg www.bloghology.org
• If you haven’t heard of Bloghology before, please download 2007 Bloghology and give me feedback. Your constructive criticism is very important.

Don’t forget to download your copy on 26th of March, Wednesday. If you want to be promoted in the coming editions of Bloghology, sign up at www.bloghology.org

If you released your ebook and nobody downloaded it except your family and best friends, the possible reason was because there was no incentive to circulate it. Ebooks spread when a person wants to tell other people about it. Sometimes it is just to feel important or smart, to help others by directing them to a book which can help them.
There is another way to encourage circulation of your ebook. You can offer prizes or referral fees. This can result in a viral effect as each person is forced to include their friends, or family or work colleagues in order to get the benefit from your ebook.

In my case, i choose none of the above methods for spreading the word Bloghology. I must admit, i was lucky to have 24 participants and a lot of blogger friends helping me spread the word. Here is what i did to spread the word:

• Ilker Yoldas designed Bloghology buttons which increased the number of downloads significantly. Without buttons you have no chance at all to spread it like a virus. Almost all participating bloggers put these buttons on their blogs.
• I promoted Bloghology at scribd.com. Scribd groups are a great way to share documents with your friends, school, or organization. I strongly suggest you to promote your ebook here.
• I regularly update Bloghology Blog Catalog group. Create a group titled with the same name as your ebook and invite your blog catalog friends to join. Promote it regularly. Update your members every 2-3 days.
• I created Facebook Bloghology group. It is another effective way to promote your ebook. Don’t miss Facebook!
• Finally i launched www.bloghology.org and added a sign up form for the 2nd edition of Bloghology. A landing page like this will definitely boost the popularity of your ebook and increase the number of downloads.

I hope Viral Marketing with an Ebook series will guide you when writing and marketing your own ebook. In case you face with any problem, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be more than happy to help you.

I would like to update you about the final status of Bloghology:

• The number of blogs displaying Bloghology buttons have increased to 175 as of today. My target is to have 500 blogs displaying the buttons. If you haven’t put one of the buttons to your blog, please do so.
• The number of Bloghology downloads are 2101 until now. When we reach 500 blogs, the number of downloads will increase significantly.
• I have started promoting Bloghology at scribd.com. Scribd groups are a great way to share documents with your friends, school, or organization. I strongly suggest you to promote your documents here (Thanks to Tali Shapiro!)
• I regularly update Bloghology Blog Catalog group. Please feel free to join the group.
• If you have a Facebook profile, you are also kindly invited to join Facebook Bloghology group.

I will appreciate if you help me spread the word. I will bear in mind your contribution to Bloghology when choosing the 2nd edition participants.

I received a lot of positive feedback on Bloghology. Therefore i changed my mind, and decided to make it a monthly event. However, when it becomes a monthly event, we have to limit the number of participants to 15 due to limited time.

I will design another blog at www.bloghology.org so that you will sign up for the next edition and be informed regarding last minute updates. Already bought www.bloghology.org for this purpose.

I am glad that most of the bloggers liked 2007 Bloghology. Yet i am sure there are still things we can improve all together. Please download 2007 Bloghology and give me feedback. Your constructive critisism is very important. Thanks in advance!

Simply writing on a blog isn’t enough to drive business. If you do not pay attention to 4 key areas, then you are not on the right track. These are content, marketing, design, and action.

I would like to give you an easy checklist where you can easily follow whether you are on the right track or not. If you aren’t getting the kind of results you want from your blog, study each of these areas to find where you can improve and then make the necessary adjustments. In order to succeed in blogging, you have to work hard, and try many different strategies and tactics.

Spend your time on content creating, not for reading other blogs…

Without good content, you have no chance in this contest. There are already thousands of good quality bloggers in the Blogosphere. If your blog does not add value to other bloggers, no way out! I suggest you to write a blog on something you are passionate about. This can be pets, global warming, making money online, computers, bird watching, travel, etc. But before starting, you should think about the blog topic seriously. Even if you already started, and see that the outcome is not as good as you expected at the beginning, think about switching to another blog and topic. This is not the end of the road. You can learn from your mistakes.

You need to spend hours and hours every week to develop content for your blog. I suggest you not to read other blogs so much, rather spend your time for testing something and then sharing your observations with others. This can be an e-newsletter or a word processor. Don’t spend your time for reading others experiments, rather spend your time to try something. If you see positive results after using, then share it with other bloggers.

Marketing is your main responsibility, don’t expect them to find you…

Reaching out to other bloggers in your field is essential if you want to build readership for your own blog. This is a sorely neglected area for many business bloggers, especially those new to blogging.

Most business professionals who start a new blog are overly focused on what they have to say to their potential pool of global readers. They are thinking about broadcasting their messages. While this is important, those new to blogging will quickly realize that their audience is too small.

While blogs work as search engine magnets, and your blog posts will get indexed for all those juicy keywords, you can’t just blog and wait for readers to show up. You must stimulate traffic by visiting other blogs where readers are already reading.

Once you find other blogs you like, start commenting on their posts. When you leave helpful and meaningful comments that blog author may visit your blog or even write about you. Other readers and commenters may also come to you.

Leave effective comments, rather than crap…

Sometimes you just want to say “Right on!” and thank the blogger. Other times, you may point out a flaw in his logic, or a missing piece, or outright disagree. Here are some guidelines:

• Don’t market overtly by saying ‘visit my blog’ or ‘check me out’ or tell readers they can download your free report
• Include relevant links to other resources, to add to the conversation. When it’s your own, however, be careful. It’s probably more astute to say something like. “this site offers additional resources on this topic, as does my own.”
• Don’t spam, of course, by leaving irrelevant comments or self-serving references.
• Always be polite, especially when disagreeing. Respect alternative points of view, even when they appear to be idiotic and stupid. You may have read something wrong, and then you will appear to be the idiot.
• Be real, leave your real email address and name.
• Add something new to the conversation, something the author doesn’t know, or forgot, or remind him/her of historical information, etc. or a book, something valuable.
• Be careful when using humor – there are always people who misinterpret
• On the other hand, controversy stimulates the conversation and gets you attention. Don’t be afraid to state a strong opinion and stir things up; be prepared to back it up.

Find bloggers you like..

• Technorati.com: set up a Watchlist: http://www.technorati.com/watchlist
• Google: http://blogsearch.google.com/
• Set up Google Alerts for your keywords: http://www.google.com/alerts
• The Blog Catalog: http://www.blogcatalog.com
• Stumble Upon: http://www.stumbleupon.com
• Sphere.com: http://www.sphere.com
• Blogs by women, http://blogsbywomen.org
• IceRocket: http://www.icerocket.com
• Globe of Blogs: http://www.globeofblogs.com

I recommend that you should develop a daily blogging habit: post 2-3 days a week on your own blog, and the other days, spend time reaching out and commenting on other blogs in your field.

Your readership will grow and you’ll start getting known in the Blogosphere. Now, please do me and yourself a favor, and subscribe to my RSS feed. Become my ally in the Search For Blogging.