In my never-ending quest to attract readers, I’ve come across several free tools that assist bloggers in marketing their blogs and attracting even more readers. I thought I’d share.

1. StatCounter.com: StatCounter is a little bit o’ heaven I stumbled upon about a year ago when I was setting up some private websites and wanted to know if anyone was even going to the sites. With StatCounter it’s free to sign up and get emailed reports of the daily traffic to the URL you set up. You can run multiple campaigns and get various different types of data from this website. If you want more in depth information you can always pay for an account, but it’s not necessary. My favorite part are the e-mailed reports… I’ve set up weekly reports that let me know how many visitors my site has had. And I’ve never had a problem with any strange incorrect data.
2. Twitter: When I first heard about Twitter I was in Miami attending the Affiliate Summit East. I was like a sponge with the things I learned in the sessions I attended and wanted to apply all of my knowledge right away. So I came back and started to read Twitter. I have to admit that at first it seemed pointless, but as I’ve immersed myself into “mini blogging” I’ve started to get it. Link to the blog to remind people to read. Reach out to people with similar interests if you see something they’d be interested in. If your blog addresses that interest, even better. It’s a fun little community I’m happy to be part of.
3. BlogRush: This is a new one I just started using last week, and I’m happy to say it’s worked just a little bit. The service itself is relatively new to the blogosphere, but the nifty little widget I like. A few pretty reputable blogs I know of, including Marketing Pilgrim where I first learned about BlogRush, have joined the link exchange so far. There’s really nothing you have to do once it’s been installed in your blog and it’s totally free. Since it is in it’s infancy, some reporting features are still having the bugs worked out, but I have faith that this will be a good little widget to have.
4. ArticlesBase: I admit… I haven’t poked around much on ArticlesBase yet, but so far I’m fascinated. You can create your own submission and read other articles based on keywords. I love tagging and keywords myself, so this is a great tool to submit your article (for free) and to find other articles that you’ll enjoy reading.

I’m always looking for other freebie marketing ideas, so let me know if you know of any other great tools out there.

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Read a good article on Marketing Pilgrim that’s pretty much summarizing my thoughts on BlogRush right about now. Go check it out and give Andy some props.

BlogRush Battling Bozos – By Andy Beal

Another goodie, the true nature of bloggers. This comes to us from Cartoonist/Marketer Hugh MacLeod. You can find more on his website. I’ve mentioned before that he gave the keynote at the Inman News Real Estate Connect 07 in San Francisco and it was good stuff about the new age of marketing and social media & objects.

Some momentary social commentary… I saw this picture of Jennifer Lopez on the Best Week Ever blog and I also heard in the last couple of days that she confirmed her pregnancy… how can you stand to be pregnant and stand in those HEELS? I understand part of her job is looking fabulous, and you do still have to do your job well even if you’re pregnant, but honey we’d understand if you wore some flats!

That said, I’m wearing some flip flops I bought while in Miami for Affiliate Summit East in July and they’re incredibly comfy.

Happy Friday everyone! What do you all have planned (besides swearing off working until it’s time to get out of bed Monday morning?)

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Having very little to do at work might seem like some employees dream, but for those of us with a little thing called Work Ethic, it’s hard to just sit around and surf the web aimlessly on company time. So here’s some things to do that aren’t so much like goofing off.

• Filing: If you’re anything like me, you have a big basket on your desk of completed forms or papers that need to be filed. If you’re experiencing an awkwardly slow day (like I am), now is the time to kill an hour by sorting and filing all those papers overflowing from your done box.

• Spring Cleaning: Pay no attention that Spring is long gone. Most people don’t keep their work area spit spot, so take the slow time as an opportunity to introduce some much needed organization into your workspace. Wipe off counters and shelves, throw away that tootsie roll you’ve been staring at since June, and make your area presentable.

• Catch Up: It seems that everyone has some low priority project or task at work that they keep in a drawer for a day like this. Knock those little menial projects out of the way now that you don’t have something more important to focus on.

• Office Gardening: If you have plants in your office, take the time to groom them. All plants need their dead branches, buds, or leaves trimmed periodically. Grab your sheers (I’m the only person who keeps garden sheers in her desk? Okay fine, your scissors then) and trim the bad spots off your lovely plant. Throw some fertilizer in there or change those spikes. Your plant will love you for it.

• Refills: Have enough paper clips? Is there a full row of staples in that stapler? Now is the time to raid the supply cabinet and make sure you’re stocked up on all the supplies you need to function smoothly. That way you’re not stopping in the middle of a huge project later on to grab another pad of paper or a pen that works.

• Read Blogs: There’s probably some blogs out there that pertain to your industry, so now is the chance to seek them out and read them. You’ll gain some good insight and it’s not really procrastinating since you don’t have much else to do. In fact, you might just read something that inspires a project idea and then you don’t have this boredom problem anymore!

• Blog: Heh… it’s obvious I’m really slow right now, isn’t it? Craft a really good blog with some good content. Or, if you have writer’s block, seek out tools that can assist your blog in getting noticed. BlogRush seems to be a good one that I just added here yesterday and I can already see some traffic. If nothing else it’s a nifty little widget to throw on your blog.

So get out there and make yourself useful!

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