This might come early but I’m on GMT+8 here so Happy New Year everyone!!

I hope this is the beginning of an exciting year for all of us.

Starting a new blog is never easy, especially if you don’t see the big picture and you’re stuck inside your little box. This happens to the best of us. We for example often slack in content simply because we feel like no one’s reading. We often feel as if our efforts are improperly disposed of and that we’re wasting our time. But the key to a successful blog is to keep going even when the going gets tough. Stick with your original passion and make sure you find a way to relive it everyday of the week. Sometimes we have to blog not to please the crowd, but simply to please oneself. If we blog out of passion, because we love the subject or the niche, then eventually traffic will pickup on its own and we’ll slowly build a readership. It sounds very simple yet people get caught up everyday. We’re guilty as charged and we know it, that’s why we write this article as a reminder for ourselves and for you bloggers out there. Stick with your work and blog with passion. Persistence pays.

We’re sorry for the lack of updates within the past week or two. I have just moved to KL and Lee now has a dayjob. We will reorganize our schedule ASAP to pick up on things around here. Until then should you need any help with your website or anything please feel free to contact us.

Bandwidth and disk storage are the two main commodities of any hosting package, and just like most other commodities disk storage and bandwidth don’t come cheap for the supplier. So if this stuff isn’t cheap, then why are we seeing more and more unlimited offers these days?

First things first. Disk storage (web space) is the medium used to store all your website files on, and the amount available depends entirely on how much money the provider has invested in physical storage. Bandwidth (in hosting terms) is the amount of data your web site can transfer over a period of time. With web space once you reach your disk storage limit you simply wont be allowed to store anymore files, but if you reach your monthly bandwidth allowance then your site becomes unavailable to your visitors and you’ll need to upgrade your hosting package or wait until the end of the month before people can start viewing your pages again.

This is where unlimited hosting packages claim to solve that problem. Don’t be fooled though, unlimited bandwidth and web space simply isn’t possible in the real world. I’m not saying that providers of unlimited hosting packages are crooks or liars, but what they are offering simply isn’t sustainable long term. These companies/individuals will often have special terms and conditions relating to exactly what you get with your ‘unlimited’ package as well, which may include restrictions on file sizes, no video or audio storage, a maximum number of visitors per month and other restrictions which may make your hosting deal a very limited experience indeed. Unlimited doesn’t necessarily mean a poor service either, some of these providers are simply trying to get business and this is definitely one way to get your attention.

Bandwidth costs the supplier by the megabyte (which they then sell on to you), this means that if their claims were true and they had hundreds of clients then they’d be running at a huge loss every year. Just look at the big name hosting providers, they don’t usually offer unlimited bandwidth or web space because they’ve either learnt from past experience or simply have sensible business skills from the beginning. Most providers (even some of the big names) also rely on the fact that not everyone will use more than a few gigabytes of bandwidth per month, which leaves plenty left over for the hardcore users and a handful of bandwidth abusers.

Here at digitalSURGERY.net we keep things realistic, our hosting package has been tailored for optimum performance, it provides adequate storage for your files and offers a generous 5 gigabytes of data transfer (bandwidth) per month. We can increase bandwidth and disk storage when your web site needs it, this is to save you money and helps us keep our servers at optimal performance.

Here’s a quick tip if you want to boost your traffic overnight (or over a short period of time). Write something controversial. Sure people will love you and hate you. But most of these people would link you anyway to make their point, or to flame you. Google doesn’t care if a link is meant to harm you or praise you, it only counts it as another link to your blog or article, hence boosting your PR. If you keep doing this for a while you’ll get tons of incoming links, bringing tons of traffic. I’d be careful though, you wouldn’t want to lose credibility or anything, so play it safe.

You can now get your Google AdSense reports sent to your inbox:

Now, new emailable reports offer you even more freedom: the ability to have your AdSense earnings reports sent straight to you. You select where and when you want your reports sent. Up to ten custom reports can be delivered daily, weekly, or monthly to the inbox of your choice.

To set up an emailable report today, visit the new ‘Report Manager’ page, under your Reports tab…

Google have also announced their ‘Themed Ad Units’, with seasonal images and colour schemes being displayed during holidays, the festive season and special events.

For more information on Google AdSense custom reports by email, Themed ad units, AdSense for search designs and new improvements to their Link Units visit the Google AdSense what’s new page.

One of the best things a blog can offer to its reader is fresh, relevant content. ExtremeLee talked about Blogger’s Block and how to work on it in order to come up with more content for your site. One thing you can do to increase content on your site, and user participation at the same time, is to allow guest blogging.

Guest blogging basically does what it says; allowing guests to write main entries on your site. These guests can be readers to your site, or you can invite other bloggers who have something to contribute to the topic your blog focuses on. A new blogger on your site can provide new content for your site, and also freshen up things for your readers. These bloggers can also provide you, the site owner, information as to how to improve your site through their writing. This can also help you come up with new ideas for your own future topics.

You have to setup at least 2 rules for allowing guest bloggers.

1. You shouldn’t allow anyone to become a guest blogger. You should find someone whose writing can cater to the needs of your readers, even if the writing is different than what you yourself are used to.
2. If you ask someone to write on your site, make sure that if that writer offers one version of a topic [for example, abortion, definition of marriage, Microsoft being a monopoly or not, etc], you should try to offer the opposite version of the story also, either by writing about it yourself or through another guest blogger, so that it’s clear you’re not inviting guest bloggers who’re offering one side of the story.

The exception to such a rule can be when you’re catering to a specific theme. For example, if your site is an anti-abortion site and you don’t want to offer posts supporting abortion, you could allow guest bloggers who support you on the issue, if that’s what your site is about.

Guest bloggers can be invited for a certain topic, to cover up for a time you may not be available to write on your site [such as being on a vacation], to offer more opinions and perspectives for your readers, or simply to help you get over your writer’s block. The guest bloggers can be invited regularly also, if you wish, like on certain days of the week or every xx number of days. The users on your site will feel appreciated at the same time, as they would see that you’re allowing someone, just like the user, to write on your site. That would make them more interested to see that you’re actively looking forward to the interests of your user, and may also make them interested in offering content to be published on your blog.

Good luck finding a guest blogger.

If you look around here you’ll notice we don’t get too much feedback in our comments. You might experience the same lack of discussion on your blog too, but don’t let that little fact worry you just yet.

There are six major types of readers out there:

1. Passer-Byers - most of these people hit your blog from search engines. They come like a storm (sans the effects) and they’re gone before you know it. The only reason that would keep them around is if they find something interesting on your blog, then they might come back another day. These are also called speed-clickers.
2. Lurkers - these are probably the most loyal of readers any blogger can have. Lurkers would come to your blog like their lives depended on it, but they always keep below the radars. Lurkers don’t post, they just like to read you and watch you from a distance.
3. Commenters and Critiques - this is a mixed group. Some may come from search engines or other links and they would say something because they feel the need to. Some commenters and critiques are loyal readers and they would say something from time to time. They keep you in check. They’re very honest and sincere about what they say most of the time. They’ll praise you when you do an excellent job and they’ll shove it right in your face when you suck. Commenters and critiques are a valuable asset as they can help you shape the direction of your blog.
4. Flamers - unlike commenters and critiques, flamers on the other hand are quite the opposite. They would post flammatory comments because they want to be cool like you but they can’t. These are envious people.
5. Friends - just like lurkers these are the most loyal of readers, but they would share their thoughts with you from time to time. They read you not because of what you write but they read you because of who you are. It’s always nice to have friends around.
6. Robots - some are nice (like Googlebots) and some are evil (spambots). They come and they leave like a thief in the night. Good bots index your content to help boost your search engine positioning, evil bots leave nasty links and spam your comments box.

There’s probably more types of visitors out there, but those are the six major groups that come to our blogs.

So if you notice that your blog isn’t receiving much feedback, don’t worry. You might have a bunch of passer-byers, lurkers and friends, which is good enough for me any day of the week. Look at some of the gods of blogs out there, like Gizmodo, they don’t get too much comments either. So cheer up and remember, content is king!

One of the main key-ingredients to a successful blog is regularly updated content. But how can you write new content when you’re suffering from the dreaded writers block? Or as I call it ‘Bloggers block’.

Well for starters, you can either sit around all day wasting valuable hours staring at your computer screen waiting for inspiration to kick you in the knee, or you can make the most of these more productive tips:

Be inspired by someone else’s work. There is no shame in getting ideas from someone else’s blog, so long as you write it in your own words and you don’t plagiarise it, and remember to give credit where credit is due.

Check those archives. Get yourself a duster and be prepared to brush away those cobwebs on your old posts, look for old content which you might be able to reuse in a new post. I often go back over my old stuff and see if I can write an updated article on an old subject. Do the same for other bloggers archives, don’t just use their latest stuff for inspiration, get your hands dirty and dig deeper into their old archives.

Industry newspapers , websites and magazines. Keep your eye on the industry newspapers, magazines and websites. Here at digitalSURGERY.net we always keep a close eye on Googles various news and gossip blogs like googleblog.blogspot.com and adsense.blogspot.com, for example.

Pen and Paper. Put your hands where we can see them and move away from that computer screen. Seriously, grab yourself a pen and paper, go and sit somewhere quiet, as far away from your computer as possible and brainstorm ideas onto paper. Being stuck in front of a computer trying to rack your brain for new ideas can do more harm than good. Take a break from the PC and change your environment, you may just surprise yourself with the results.

Just type it. Sometimes your creative mind is bullied by your conscious mind, this happens a lot when you start reading over what you’ve just typed before you move onto the next paragraph/section of your post. My advice for you is just keep typing and don’t look back until you’re ready to PUBLISH (doing so will just hinder your creative thought process otherwise).

Get out. When you’ve tried everything in the book and nothing is working, then just get out of the house. Go for a coffee, visit the library or just take a walk in the park. Take your notepad and pen with you though, a change of scenery can be very effective for the creative mind.

Exercise. Stop laughing! I’m serious, you should aim for about 15-30 minutes of exercise per day , minimum. Whether that’s a brisk walk/run in the park, a yoga session or whatever floats your boat. If you’re healthy, your brain is healthy too. Most of my best ideas come during a daily workout.

Leave it. Only to be used as an absolute last resort. If all of the above fails to inspire new ideas in you, then take a break and come back in a day or so. Don’t burn yourself out, because if your no good to yourself, then you’re no good to your blog.

Why don’t you share your tips for dealing with Bloggers Block with us. Use the comments form to share your tips and advice with others.

We look forward to hearing from you.