I was talking with Darren Rowse of ProBlogger on Ustream a couple of days ago and he let slip his secret to coming up with creative post ideas when he is experiencing “blogger’s block“.

The Secret

Darren shared that he subscribes to over 700 different feeds.  Most of us could never imagine subscribing to any more than 50 or 60 feeds, let alone 700.

I subscribe to only 27 feeds and that can get out of hand if I don’t check it for a day or two.  Especially for the blogs that update at least twice a day.

Darren says many of these blogs are within the same niche as him and he uses their posts to help generate ideas for his own posts.  But how he does it without feeling overwhelmed is the greatest secret of all.

Managing the Unmanageable

For any of you that haven’t played around much with the features of Google Reader, you probably don’t know that there is an option to create folders.  If you do know, then you’re already a step closer to understanding how Darren manages those 700 + blog feeds.

Under the manage subscriptions link in your Reader there is a “Folders and Tags” option that allows you to create your own folders.  Doing this and moving specific blog feeds into those folders is how you manage the unmanageable.

Put all the posts you subscribe to specifically to generate ideas, into one folder, then all of the blog feeds you simply enjoy reading in another folder.

Now anytime you need some inspiration for a blog post, just scan quickly through your ideas folder and find something that interests you.

Managing your feeds in this way will keep you from feeling so overwhelmed when trying to read the blog posts you enjoy.

Do you use this method to generate blog post ideas?

If you missed my latest post, click here to learn how I make $40-$50 per month with my SMS Blog Feed and only 3 subscribers.

More bloggers are using affiliate marketing to make money online than we have ever seen in the past.  Which is why I get asked so often, how I hide my affiliate links.

Not everyone believes in hiding affiliate links, but there are too many disadvantages if you decide against it.  Some that you may be unaware of yourself.

The Advantages Of Hiding Affiliate Links

There are some great advantages for hiding affiliate links.  For both SEO and maximum payout.

1. The Virus Scare - As internet users are becoming more aware that they shouldn’t click on links that look strange to them, because of scams and potential virus threats, they are also refusing to click affiliate links because they look exactly like these strange scam links.  Which link looks more like something you’d be prepared to click? “www.affiliateoffer.com/?pid=%$234%917” or “www.steven-sanders.com/freebook.html“
2. Commission Theft - Many affiliate marketers that might be interested in purchasing something you provide an affiliate link for may manually change the link to match their own affiliate link.  This is done so they can get the commission from your hard work.  Not only is this done manually, but many automated scripts are now being written that will do this.  If you hide your affiliate links, it is impossible for these automated scripts to steal your commissions.
3. Search Engine Optimization - You can modify your links with keywords rather than the long strange looking characters.  And because the links are hidden through redirection from a static html or php page that has noindex on it, search engines shouldn’t look at it.

How to Hide Your Affiliate Links

There are three methods to hiding your affiliate links, but we’re only focusing on two here.  The third is an unnecessary and difficult method.  The following two should be all that anyone ever needs:

Automated Plugins:

Alot of bloggers, like John Chow and Tyler Cruz, use the Wordpress Link Cloak plugin.  With this plugin, you simply enter your affiliate link url, the modified url you would like displayed, and a specific keyword.  Then everytime you write a blog post that contains the specified keyword, it automatically creates your hidden affiliate link.  This cuts back on alot of work, so you can focus more on your blog content rather than worrying about monetizing your posts individually.

Manual Method:

Some bloggers that try to use the automated plugin, find that their theme is laden with errors that don’t fully support the plugin.  But not to worry, there is a manual way, that isn’t as easy to do, but it gets the job done.

To create the hidden affiliate link manually, simply create a new PHP file, and add the following to it:

<?php
//rename the file with a .php extention after putting your affiliate url below

$url=”http://www.affiliateurlhere.com/affiliateid”;
header(’Location: ‘ . $url);
?>

Replace the url with your affiliate url.  Then save the file as whatever url you want the reader to see.  For example, if I created an affiliate link for a great ebook, I would save the file as “ebook.php“, then I would upload it to my server and everytime I wanted that url in my blog post, I would type the url path to “ebook.php“.

Now everytime someone click that link, they would get redirected to your affiliate url.

What are your thoughts on hiding affiliate links?

Andrew over at BenSpark.com is a friend of mine as well as a fellow Izea Insider.  He is having a giveaway on his blog.  You can try your hand at winning his “Big Box of Awesome” giveaway by going here.

He is randomly leaking out the box’s contents all over the web, and has just recently contacted me to let you in on one of the secret items.

At first I got to thinking I should offer it to you for a price.  You’d have to leave a comment, or tweet this blog post to find out the secret, but then I decided I like all of you too much to make it any harder than it already is to win the giveaway.

So remember that the next time you see me around.

Anyway, the secret item that I was selected to reveal from the “Big Box of Awesome” is:

The SocialSpark “Sparky” Button

Click here to head over to BenSpark.com for your chance at winning the “Big Box of Awesome”.

A big part of a blogger’s life is attending at least one of the hundreds of blog conferences and social networking events put on every year by the big names in the online industry.

Some of you have been going to these conferences for many years now, some of you may be going to your first conference in 2009, and some of you may not be planning on attending a conference at all.

For those of you not ever planning on attending a blog event, I’ve got a future post with your name all over it.

For those of you who have been going to blog events for years, you already know alot of the tricks of the trade. But for those of you who are going for your first time, here are 5 tips to help you survive your first blog, social media, or internet marketing conference.

Attend Panels and Keynote Speeches

Some of these blog conferences can have so many different speaker panels and keynote speeches that it can be overwhelming when deciding on which to attend.

The easiest way to decide is to get the agenda as far in advance of actually attending as possible.

Make sure you look real close at the list of who is speaking and what they are speaking about. Try to attend the most important ones to you. The ones that deal with what you’re doing with your blog.

If you’re interested in everything, then do some research online. Find out who is attending what panels and keynotes. Find out what the most talked about and anticipated ones are. Then go to those.

Attend After-Parties & Gatherings

The point of attending a blog conference or social media conference isn’t to rush back to your hotel room as soon as it’s over, lock the door, and play on the internet the rest of the night.  You can do that when you get back home.

The biggest part of these conferences is the networking.  Schmooze with others.  Build relationships with people that could benefit you down the road.

Just like with the plethora of panels and keynotes, there are just as many after-party events to attend.

The easiest way to choose which to attend is to ask around, both before and at the conference.

With any get-together there is gonna be the elite crew that go to all of the greatest parties.  Find out who they are, and find out where they’ll be going.  I guarantee these will be the biggest most talked about parties years later.  Placing yourself in the same crowd as the who’s who of the internet will put you in a place for success.

Arrive Early & Stay Late

There will be literally hundreds of different people at any given conference.  Sometimes thousands.  Chances are that any big-shot you’re interested in meeting face-to-face, is going to be swamped with others wanting to do the same thing.  The chances of getting more than 5 minutes with them is probably really slim, especially when you attend a conferences with large numbers of attendees.

So how do you get their attention for any long length of time and still have them remember who you are a couple of months or even a year from now?

Show up a day or two early for the conference, and stay a day or two after it ends.

The big names on the internet will most likely arrive early and stay late as well.  They’ll be looking for other bloggers to get something to eat with or just hang out.

This is your chance to really sit down and get to know them, and have them get to know you.

Stay As Close As Possible

Many new attendees of blog conferences or social media conferences don’t always pick the best hotels.  I’m not necessarily talking about luxury as I am about commuting distance.  You’re probably not gonna spend much time in your hotel room anyway.  At least you shouldn’t.

If you don’t feel like treking 100 miles before the conference is over, I suggest you find a hotel that is within a short walking distance from the conference location as well as the big after-party events.

If you don’t find a hotel close, your legs will hate you by day two.

A Few Short Suggestions

There are so many different tips and tricks for each individual person that I cannot possibly list them all.  What works for some may not work for others.

A couple of other important things to keep in mind though, are to:

• Talk to others - Don’t sit in the corner being shy.  If you’re going to do that, then don’t even pay the money to go to a conference.
• Ask questions - You don’t know everything and neither does anyone else. The only stupid question is the one not asked.  Don’t go home regretting that you didn’t get an answer you came looking for.
• Be nice - Don’t make rude comments to anyone, even if you’re not fond of them.  If you don’t like someone in particular, simply do not talk to them.  They won’t feel bad that you didn’t.  They’ll be too overwhelmed with everyone else who does want to talk to them, that they won’t notice.

What tips and tricks do you have for making the most out of attending conferences?