Is blogging becoming a job for you?  I'm sure you've heard the saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.   That saying is just as true for Internet Marketers as it is for any other job.  After you've written your thirty or fortieth article about dog training, you become a little bored with the topic. 

You have to push yourself to continue and you can't find anything new and fresh to say.  And your visitors notice it, too.  Your blog has become lifeless and dull and it sounds like it was written by a robot.  All of a sudden blogging, and reading your blog, has become a job!  Wait a minute...blogging was supposed to be your ticket to freedom!   And reading a blog is supposed to be not only informative, but engaging and entertaining.
 

Nobody said that your blog had to be one continuous stream of informative data.  In fact, quite the contrary.  People come to the Internet looking for information, but they also want to be entertained.  If all they wanted were facts and data, they'd go to Wikipedia. 

Think back to your school days and your favourite teachers were those who made learning fun – you learned your ABCs by singing a little song, your English teacher let you dress up in costume while you were presenting your book report or your Maths teacher used roller coasters to demonstrate the laws of physics.  And in between your lessons you had recess or physical education class or some other form of activity to break up the monotony of sitting at a desk and listening to a constant drone of information.  

Take those lessons you learned back in school and apply them to your blog.  Break up that information stream with a little bit of fun every now and then to keep your visitors, and yourself, entertained and engaged.  That doesn't mean you have to learn how to be a stand-up comedian.  There are several ways you can add some excitement to your blog and let your visitors entertain themselves.

Polls – Bloggers have been using polls for years as a way to engage their readers and gather various statistics.  But a poll doesn't always have to be a boring fact gathering mission.  At the end of that informative post about how to choose the most nutritious dog food, include a poll asking your readers something silly like – What is your dog's favorite pizza topping?  Or, which does your dog prefer – Markies, Milk Bones or the postman's leg?
 

But then also go one step further and tell your visitors to vote and then tell you in the comments section why they made that choice.  People love to be asked for their opinion but they love it even more if you ask them to explain it.
 

If you're using Wordpress for your blogging platform it's very easy to set up any number of polls.  First, go to PollDaddy.com and sign up for a free account.  Then, from the plug-ins menu on your Wordpress dashboard, download the PollDaddy.com plug-in.  After you enter your PollDaddy.com account information, you can create polls right on your dashboard by clicking on the Polls radio button in the left sidebar.

Surveys – A poll is typically one question with a multiple choice of answers and your reader simply clicks a radio button.  But a survey is generally a number of questions with either multiple choice answers or spaces for the reader to fill in their own answer.  These are also great for finding out what your visitors like or dislike about your blog but again, they can be a great source of entertainment as well. 
 

SurveyMonkey.com offers a free version that will allow you to create and unlimited number of surveys with up to ten questions.  With the free version you'll only be able to see the first 100 responses but there is no limit to the number of people who can actually respond.  If you have a large readership, once you hit one hundred responses you can just go back in a duplicate the survey.
 

SurveyMonkey.com also allows you to collect responses via email.  What a great way to get those stragglers from your list to come back to your blog for another visit!

Treasure Hunts – A treasure hunt can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it but think of all the things you could accomplish – while you're having fun. 
 

1) You could grow your list – In your blog post where you tell people about your exciting, upcoming treasure hunt, tell your visitors that they have to sign up for you email to participate and get their first clue.

2) Grow your Twitter Followers – Tell your visitors that in order to get the next clue they have to follow you on Twitter and send you a DM letting you know that they're following you.  (Be sure to check your DMs so you can Tweet them the next clue.)

3) Grow your Face Book Friends – Post a clue on your wall at Facebook.

4) Bookmarking – Tell them they have to bookmark one of your posts or send it out in a Tweet.

5) Send them searching for a clue in a previous post on your blog, send them to someone else's blog for a clue, send them to one of YOUR other blogs for a clue.  The possibilities are endless.

Be sure to send your treasure hunters to fun and interesting pages – the joke of the day or one of those funny videos you find on YouTube or even a page where they can get a free download of something fun, whether it's relevant to your blog or not. 
 

A Treasure Hunt is a little more work than a survey or a poll because you'll need to remember to set it up so that one clue either leads to the next or to an autoresponder where they can submit their information to get the next clue automatically delivered.   Just be sure you've created an easy to follow path from the beginning of the treasure hunt to the final prize at the end.
 

Have your treasure hunters end up at a contact page on your blog so they can email you with answers or just to let you know they made it to the page.  And make sure you have a prize for everyone – a free guide or a free sample of dog food or something fun.  It doesn't even have to be something that's relevant to your blog. 
 

Whether you decide to use a poll, a survey, a treasure hunt, or some other type of contest, make it fun for your visitors.  Never make it ALL about marketing.  And you certainly don't want them to have to end up buying something in order to participate.  You spend all your time selling and they spend all of theirs thinking about whether or not to buy.  Give yourself a break, and your visitors, too, and just have a little fun for a post or two.

And always remember to point your visitors to the comment section.  The whole point of these activities is to entertain your readers and get them engaged in the conversation.  Remember, all work and no play make's Jack's blog very boring

An opt-in form should be one of the first pieces you put into place whenever you set up a new website or blog. I know you're in a hurry to get that site up and start making sales. But consider this: It's been shown that the average online shopper will have to look at your product or website at least 5 to 7 times before they will actually buy something from you. An opt-in form will help you speed up that process and get you that sale that much faster.

Before I even start to set up a new site, I already know what I'm planning to sell. But I also keep in mind that it's going to take my visitors a few visits to make up their mind. So, while I'm setting up the site, I'm also thinking of some type of product that I can give them for free – a small guide or short report that tells them just enough to get them interested in the product, usually. 

So now that I've told you how important an opt-in box is, I should probably tell you how to install one on your blog or website. First, I recommend that you use Aweber. Their service is excellent and their their tracking and analytics are second to none. You can even find out which of your visitors is clicking on the links you send out in your emails! And if you CLICK HERE, you can see my article at eHow.com that tells you exactly how to set up and install that first opt-in box.