Hey, being addicted to blogging is a lot like being in love, which we’ve covered on Romance Tracker before.  But regardless of how great a relationship you have with your blog, it will never hold your hand or snuggle with you at night . . . and while you could try kissing your computer screen if you want, we sure don’t recommend it.

So if you ever want to actually meet another living, breathing human being to share your life with, it’s probably a good idea to pull yourself away from the computer eventually, change out of your pajamas, and get out of the house.  As a professional blogger myself, though, I know that’s more difficult than it sounds.

Until you can get your addiction under control, then, here’s a list of three ways you can use your blog to set the stage for finding that special someone.  You’ll have to let go of the keyboard eventually, of course . . . but by following these simple tips, you might be lucky enough to score a date with someone who actually doesn’t mind if you bring your laptop with you to that four-star restaurant.   

Top Three Ways Your Blog Can Get You a Hot Date

1.  Use your blog to meet other people interested in your niche

Despite what people say, opposites really don’t attract . . . and you have a better chance at maintaining a long, rewarding romantic relationship if you find a person who shares your interests.  If you’re starting a blog, make sure you concentrate on a niche that you have a passion for . . . and don’t be embarrassed to advertise your interests.  While finding a date shouldn’t be your main reason for blogging, if you stick with it you’re bound to meet plenty of other people who are passionate about the same hobbies and topics you are.

2.  Improve your communication skills by posting and interacting with your readers

Good communication is essential for success in blogging as well as relationships, and starting a blog can be a great way for a shy person to develop their communication skills, speak their mind, and become more confident.  Rather than limiting your communication to posts alone, make sure you interact with your readers through comments, return emails and other methods.

3.  Monitize your blog so you can actually afford to buy someone dinner    

You may start out blogging because you love your niche topic, but you’re doing yourself a disservice if you don’t eventually monitize your blog and make money from what you enjoy.  It might not be fair, but many potential dates will judge you by your income and professionalism, and telling someone that you actually get an income from your hobby will get you plenty of points.  Monetizing your blog may take a lot of time and dedication, but make it a goal to eventually earn money from your writing.   

This post is an entry in the Tips & Tricks Writing Project on Daily Blog Tips.  Go enter yourself if you get a chance!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the stuff that works best to build a successful relationship works wonders at building a successful blog, too.  Remember, the basics of blogging are all about having patience, using good communication skills, and really connecting with the people you want to reach . . . and the same goes for the basics of romance!

So, can you really use the romantic lessons you’ve learned in the course of your marriage or relationship to build a better blog, get more backlinks, and increase your readership?  Sure you can!  But in case you haven’t met that perfect person yet and don’t have the first clue how to “romance” your way to success, we’re going to give you a quick list of tips on how to shower your blog with a little love . . . and get some extra attention from the blogosphere at the same time!

Top Five Ways to Romance Your Blog

1. Learn to love yourself first

You can’t truly love someone else unless you appreciate yourself first, and that’s especially important when trying to romance your blog and attract new readers and backlinks.  Learning to love yourself means understanding your strengths and capitalizing on them, and you’ll need to do just that to create fresh content for your blog that makes readers come back for more. 

2. Don’t let yourself feel inadequate

Self-confidence is one of the most attractive things possible in a relationship . . . and on a blog.  Just don’t let your self-confidence develop into arrogance when you’re romancing your blog, or your readers may jump ship for a more modest alternative.

3. Be faithful to your blog

So, how the heck do you stay faithful to a blog?  Simple: by paying it the attention it needs.  Sporadic posting, staying away from your blog for days on end, visiting other blogs more often than your own, neglecting to tend to your blogging obligations . . . all lead to less readers and fewer backlinks.

4. Work on your communication

Come on, is this one really a surprise?  Almost every obligation you undertake in life can benefit from better communication, romantic relationships and blogging included.  If you don’t communicate well, your romantic partner—and your blog readers—aren’t likely to stick around for long.  And the best way to learn to communicate better on your blog is by studying the success of others.

5. Don’t try to become someone you aren’t

Pretending you’re someone else might bring you romantic success in the short run, but the person you fool is bound to find out about the real you eventually.  The same can be said for blogging.  The most successful bloggers build an audience of loyal readers who appreciate their unique personality and writing style.  If you need to fool people into loving you, your success isn’t going to last long.     

It’s been a really good week here at Romance Tracker, with two of our posts winning the top prize in some awesome writing contests and our traffic catapulting to its highest levels ever.  Here’s a quick recap of the writing contests we won this week:

• Thanks to the Group Research Project on eMoms at Home, our article on Being a Romantic Dad won us a $1,300 ticket to the Search Engine Marketing Bootcamp convention in Boston on August 8.
• This morning, I was delighted to see that our article L’amour de Blog won first place in the Blog Project Three at Daily Blog Tips.  That’s a $100 prize!   

Many thanks to everyone who visited Romance Tracker to read our articles and voted for us to win.  All of the money we earn here on Romance Tracker goes right back into advertising and development to make this a better romantic resource for you, our readers.  And if you have any ideas for articles you’d like to see in the future, don’t hesitate to drop me a line!   

I love taking parting in blog writing projects, which are a great way to come up with original ideas for posts and to introduce you to other members of the blogosphere.  The Blog Project Three put on by Daily Blog Tips was no exception.  Romance Tracker entered the project with a post entitled 3 Reasons Why Blogging is Like Being in Love.

The Blog Project Three reveived 112 entries in all.  I’m reproducing the list of entrants below for my readers to check out themselves . . . and I suggest that everyone else on the list do the same on their blog to help reward everyone who took part.  Good job!

Continue Reading »

For those of us who are addicted to blogging (who, me?) the symptoms of l’amour de blog are all too familiar.  The lump in the throat and twinkle in the eye when we gaze at a newly-uploaded banner image; the sinking feeling when we realize that the day’s events will keep us from checking our stats for hours; the deep sense of pride when months of hard work and dedication translate into a modest jump in Technorati rank. 

You unfortunate masses who’ve never experienced a deep, meaningful relationship with a blog have missed out on an achingly poignant truth: blogging is a lot like being in love.  In fact, for thousands of dateless programming junkies across the globe (don’t look at me!), the blogosphere is the closest they’ve ever actually gotten to going steady.

So if you’re a blogger, check out the following list of the top three reasons why blogging is like being in love . . . and look closely for any familiar symptoms.  If this post sounds all too familiar, your relationship with your blog may have already gone far beyond the platonic . . . and entered into the mysterious, intoxicating world of l’amour de blog.

 1.  In Your Eyes, Your Blog is Flawless

They say that love is blind, and nothing gives that old adage more weight than your infatuation with your blog.  You’ve spent endless hours making sure everything on your blog is just so: the banner image, the buttons, the sidebar, the links.  Heck, you even forced yourself to learn HTML just so you could figure out how to make the color of your anchor text match your blog’s overall scheme.

Yup, to you, your blog is beautiful . . . and that can be a good thing.  But not always, buster.  If you let the stars in your eyes make you blind to serious aesthetic problems on your site, you’re going to end up losing visitors.  That’s why you shouldn’t always trust your own judgement when deciding what works best on your blog.

Just as you do when you start dating a new person, ask people whose opinion you respect what they think.  Does your blog really look as good as you think, or are there changes you could enact to make it more friendly and functional?    

2. Every Moment Away From Your Blog is Like an Eternity

The evenings and lunch breaks you spend with your blog seem to go by all too quickly, and when it’s time to leave the computer and tend to other things your stomach churns with a painful longing.  You daydream about your blog when you can’t be in its comfortable embrace: about the next post you’re going to write, about rearranging the widgets on your sidebar, about getting that next big link.

Missing your blog when you can’t be near it is understandable, but remember one thing: time away from the one you love is necessary for your own sanity.  Spend too much time with your blog, and your relationship will burn out and crash before the next Page Rank update.

So force yourself to spend time away from your blog and do things that normal people do.  You know: go to work, play with the kids, get some exercize.  Your blog—and the living, breathing human beings in your life—will thank you for it.

3. The More You Put Into Your Blog, the More You Get Back

Just like a romantic relationship, the more time and effort you expend improving your blog, the more recognition and approval you’ll get.  Also like a romantic relationship, a large percentage of them end up failing because the participants just don’t want to commit to the amount of work it takes to really create something special.

The early months of your blogging relationship will sometimes feel like all work and no reward, but in reality you’re making a gradual investment that might not show returns until much further down the road.  So don’t reach for the easy way out and ”divorce” your blog when things start to get tough.  Remind yourself of why you fell in love with it in the first place, force yourself to write a few more posts, and weather the storm.

Remember: It’s the bloggers who are truly committed to posting, and who don’t let the rough patches get to them, who eventually find great success and happiness in the blogosphere.  In the not-too-distant future, when you and your blog are celebrating your first anniversary together, you’ll be thankful that you stuck it out. 

By the way, if you liked this post, you’d probably like 10 Reasons Why Blogging is Like Dating even more! 

I just noticed today that the number of people who have added Romance Tracker as one of their Technorati Favorites has rocketed up to 122!  That’s an awsome number of fans, and it puts us closer to our goal of getting into the Technorati Top 100 Favorited Blogs.

If you haven’t done so yet, please take the time to make us a Technorati Favorite.  It will go a long way in helping Romance Tracker spread the word about old-fashioned romance! 

I’m not sure if I deserve it, but Roberta Ferguson tagged Romance Tracker as a member of a new community of Awsome Guy Bloggers.  Thanks for the honor, I’ll try to live up to it! 

If you want to apply for the Awsome Guy Blogger award or its female equivalent, Rockin’ Girl Blogger,  make sure you contact Roberta.  It’s a fun idea that I’m sure she’ll do well with.

This is really cool!  Liz Strauss at Successful Blog has completed the Blogging Metaphor Project, and  Romance Tracker’s post on 10 Reasons Why Blogging is Like Dating has been chosen as one of the ten winners.

Even cooler: as a winner, Romnace Tracker is going to receive an autographed copy of Lorelle’s book “Blogging Tips–What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging.”  It’s strange to learn that I’ll be getting a free copy of this great book, because I was actually already thinking about ordering it!

I’m sure “Blogging Tips” will help me improve Romance Tracker and make it even better for our regualr readers.  Kudos to Liz Strauss for running such a super blog project and inspiring so much good writing!  I’m going to reproduce the entire list of entries below, and I hope you check them all out if you get a chance.

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog has posted her third and fourth batch of submissions in the Blogging Metaphor Project, and I’m copying the list below.  It’s a great project and I encourage you to check out the links if you get a chance.

Romance Tracker’s post on 10 reasons why blogging is like dating was included in the first batch, and it brought us some nice traffic.  Kudos again to Liz for thinking up a great blogging project!

• Kayaking as a Metaphor for Blogging at Loosely Speaking—A VA’s Blog
• A hug, metaphorically speaking at MamaBlogga
• Blogging is like dancing on top of an iceberg, and other Metaphors at J.T’s Productivity Blog
• 20 Blogging Metaphors - Rock Throwing and the Universal Monkey at marketing neophyte
• Blogging metaphors at Roberta Ferguson
• Blogging Metaphors at Lena M Holmberg
• Blogging Metaphor (s) at Transition Capital Management
• The Blogosphere is a Virtual Time Capsule : Another Viral Meme at Orbit Now!
• Dexter’s Memetic Laboratory at Spooky Action
• Really? Why? What’s a blog? at Art Dinkin’s Moment on Money
• 10 Basic Tips for Starting a Blog Using Gardening as Metaphorat Circular Communication
• Behold, A Blogging Sower Went Forth To Sow Links at The Frugal Law Student
• For Whom the Blog Tolls at Idea Dude
• All the Blog’s a Stage at Just Thinkin’
• Blogging Metaphor: Blogging Is a Large City with Hundreds of Small Neighborhoodsat A Writer’s Word, An Editor’s Eye
• What’s your blogging metaphor? at The Junky’s Wife
• Blogging is a Tapestry at Grow Your Writing Business
• Blogging Metaphors at The Gift Idea Help Blog
• 7 Ways That Blogging is Like Opera at Randa Clay Design
• Blogging Metaphor: Blogging Is Like Catching Dreams and Setting Them Free at Online Public Relations
• Blogging Metaphor at Better Business Blogging
• I’m Baking a Blogging Cake … at Writing Thoughts
• Why Blogging is Like Fishing at Freelancing Journey
• The Metaphor Project at The Marketing Whore

Liz Strauss at Successful Blog has posted her second batch of submissions in the Blogging Metaphor Project, and I’m copying the list below.  It’s a great project and I encourage you to check out the links if you get a chance.

Romance Tracker’s post on 10 reasons why blogging is like dating was included in the first batch, and it brought us some nice traffic.  Kudos again to Liz for thinking up a great blogging project!

• Bloggers, Brains and Metaphors at BrainBasedBusiness - Using your Brain to succeed in Business ·
• Blogging is like a box of chocolates… at Small Business Marketing Ideas - Marketing Idea Blog
• Blogging Metaphors, or, What I am doing here at A Politically Incorrect Entrepreneur
• Blogging Metaphor: Why blogging is like a Mommy at Moments of Clarity
• My Blogging Metaphor at Carpe Factum
• What’s Your Blogging Metaphor? Teaching by Bits (and Bytes) at ModernMagellans - Maps to Improve Your Business, Leadership, and Life
• A Blog is Your Bullhorn to the World at Blawg IT
• An Image Is Worth A Thousand Words! Huh? at Smart Wealthy Rich
• Blogging Metaphor - The “Party Line” at Insight Advertising-Marketing Communications
• Singing the “blogging song” around the campfire at Live the GREAT life you desire
• Blogging is Like Baseball at Rush Nigut: Rush on Business
• Raise your sails and blog on! at dsm BUZZ
• One BIG small town at Runners Lounge
• Metaphorically speaking, this is what I do at Passing It On