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This is a guest post by Prem Shashi, who is running a contest with over $1000 in prizes. You can subscribe to Prem’s RSS feed here. If you would like to submit a guest post to be featured on my blog while I am in Nebraska, please visit the contact page.

Are you one of the many bloggers who want to stamp your name in the blogosphere some day? Do you feel like you have too much work to do everyday and you don’t find or have time to do some of the basic things in life because of your blogging career?

This guest blogging post was submitted by Sharon Hurley Hall from Piggy Bank Pie.

Who doesn’t like to get something for nothing? If you own a blog or website, the idea of free traffic is tremendously appealing, and many of us are willing to do whatever it takes to get a few more visitors to our websites. If it’s as easy as putting a widget on your blog, so much the better. It doesn’t take a lot of effort and you stand to gain a lot in return, or do you? I’ve tried a few of these widgets - TheGoodBlogs, BlogRush, Entrecard and others, and I’m beginning to wonder if they are really worth it.

Photo by Jurvetson

This guest post was submitted by Patrick from Piggy Bank Pie Writing Services.

You’ve probably heard of Search Engine Optimization hundreds of time. But bloggers these days are looking at more efficient ways to drive traffic instantly. The answer resides in Social Media Optimization.

There are numerous social media sites on the Internet. Some are specialized in news feeding, others in bookmarking, but the main point is, they are tools you can use to promote quality content published on your blog. Now, I cannot stress how important this last sentence is. Promoting every single post that comes out of your blog may put you in trouble. You will be seen as a spammer, and users will simply ignore you. But if used wisely, social media sites can really boost your traffic and give you high, very high visibility.

This is a guest post by Jason Pereira who blogs over at The University Kid and is currently running an RSS contest with $150.00 in prizes.

Anyone that’s ever tried to run a blog should know just how important readers are… without them, you probably wouldn’t be blogging.

No one likes to blog for empty space, and readers (and comment leavers) can make the difference between you quitting after a couple weeks and you going on to become a blogging mogul. I’d say the readers have the largest impact on a blog apart from the owner – their prods and advice can refine your blogging technique and help develop your blog into a better place to visit.

This guest post was submitted by Sharon Hurley Hall from PiggyBankPie.

If you’re going to have a successful blog, you need to get smart with setting goals. Success does not just happen; you have to plan for it. I’ve found it to be a process of trial and error. I know a lot more about getting a new blog started now than I did two years ago - and I’ve made plenty of mistakes on the way. Here’s what I’ve learned about goal setting.

This Guest Post was submitted by Tracey Sands from Piggy Bank Pie Writing Services. Update from Collin: I am not a huge fan of ebooks but I do know that a lot of people still make a good amount of money from them so I approved this post.You’ve finished your first ebook. It’s a PDF, it has a cover and it’s been proofed. It’s sitting on your website waiting for someone to buy it… but no one has, what gives?

This Guest Post was submitted by Sharon Hurley Hall from Piggy Bank Pie Writing Services. To get your own guest post on Mixed Market Arts, please visit the Guest Post page.

There are millions of blogs out there, so how do you make yours stand out from the crowd? There are proven methods you can use to raise your blog’s profile, but it will take months of good solid work - and it starts before you have even written the first post.

Optimization