James Brausch released some killer new software recently. It’s called MuVar (stands for Multivariate I guess). I just finished writing an article on it, and figured I’d post a link to it here.

http://www.sitecreationcourse.com/articles/a.php?a=59

- Aaron Brandon

In my previous entry I gave out the steps on how to create an announcement list. One main reason I posted that was because blogging automation is the key if you need freedom.

I’ll make up a quick example. Let’s say you need to go on vacation for a couple of days. Do you want to leave your blog sitting there gaining no new content? Probably not. So, what can you?

Actually, there is more than one solution. The first is to write two blog entries, and have them set to submit at specific times and dates. It’s a fairly simple thing to do. I think most of us can figure out how to do that. However, if you do that with your blog announcement in place, you’re killing two birds with one stone because each post is going to be e-mailed your subscribers. Likely, they won’t be able to tell if you’re really there or not.

The second solution is to post a blog entry asking for users to make a comment. An example blog post would be something like this:

“I’m feeling like I’m running out of ideas for what to write about here. I really want to know what YOU blog readers want to know more about. Is it how to _____ or what is _____? All you have to do is post a comment below, and I’ll answer them on Monday, it’s that easy.”

If you have enough visitors who often post comments, you will not only be receiving valuable information for what your visitors want to know, but they will be posting comments which also builds content for your blog. Cool? I think so.

[tags]blogging, blog automation, blogging automation, announcement list, freedom[/tags]

I’m seeing more and more blogs with announcement lists lately. What an announcement list does is e-mail a subscriber each time a new blog entry has been posted. This is a perfect method for attracting repeat visitors.

So, I’m going to tell you right now how exactly anyone with a blog can do this.

The first step is to sign up for Aweber. You can go to http://www.aweber.com and register for $20 per month (the cheapest plan).

After your account has been created, you will need to create a new list.

Once your new list has been created, click on the Leads tab and create a way for users to sign up for the blog announcement list.

When you’re finished doing that, you are read to create your “Feed Broadcaster”.

To create a feed broadcaster, click on the message tab and then click on feed broadcaster.

Click on Create New Feed.

Now, you will need to know your Feed URL for your blog. Paste it in to the first box.

Check the second box if you want to have this broadcast sent out automatically.

Now, enter a subject you want your subscribers to see when a new entry has been posted, along with a message for the e-mail.

When you’re finished, just hit save. It’s really that easy.

[tags]announcement lists, aweber, repeat visitors, broadcasting[/tags]