As you all know I love use, and advocate Blog Engage. I use it for its community, for networking with other bloggers, for the RSS feed, to help promote the articles I write here on avgjoegeek.net, and for the SEO benefits. I want to show you the ‘behind-the-scenes’ look at Blog Engage and what has changed recently with this awesome community. Join me as I give you an in-depth look at what Blog Engage is all about.
What is Blog Engage?
Blog Engage is so many things! It is a community of like minded bloggers working together to become successful. It is a place to share your content. Its has an RSS syndication service where you can share your content with multiple web portals and have it automatically shared on popular social media sites as well. It will improve your SEO and Backlink portfolio to your own Blog. It has live pages where content gets continuously updated. It has a thriving online community on the site as well as Facebook where people can discuss blogging related ideas, issues etc. Lets take a closer look at the features of the Blog Engage site.
RSS Syndication Services
Blog Engage offers an RSS Syndication Service. Once you plug in your RSS feed – Blog Engage will automatically take care of the rest. It will automatically take from 1 up to 8 feeds ** and share them automatically. Dependent on the plan you choose it will automatically to multiple websites as well as popular social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
** Based on the RSS Plan You Choose
One of the many great things about the RSS Syndication services is that there is a plan that scales to your level of business. If your just beginning and only have the one blog? Then the $9.99 Platinum service is perfect for you. Of if you have a larger budget? You can pay for the Direct to Front Page plan at $99.99 a month. Take a look below and you are sure to find a price and plan that will work for you!
Note: Plans are in GBP (Pounds) not USD
** Accurate as of 2/26/2013
SEO and Backlink Benefits
One of the big points of Blog Engage is to try and help you drive traffic and improve the SEO of your blog. It does this by having you submit your content to the Blog Engage site. You automatically create a back link back to your site/article. Depending on if you chose an RSS Syndication package – the more sites and social media outlets your content will be shared to and the additional back links will be created!
Submitting Content
As I stated above you can use the RSS Syndication service above or you can submit your content manually. To do this you need to log into the Blog Engage site. Then use the link on the front page to submit a link back to your content.
Submit Your Content!
You’ll then be brought to a page to fill in additional details:
- Category - Blog Engage has a large list of categories – make sure to select the correct one!
- Blog Article Title – Use the title from the article you are submitting. No need to “spin” it!
- Description – You can use the description at the beginning of your article or you can create a different one. For me I use the existing one as a time saver.
- Summary – You can either use the Description – or enter in your own custom Summary here.
- Submit to a Group – If you have joined groups within the Blog Engage website – then you can submit your article to a specific group (read on for an explanation of groups)
- Tags – These tags are for SEO purposes just like your own blog. I would suggest keeping them to under 5 key words and make sure they match your article!
Fill in the Details
After you have completed the above you get a chance to review the article you are submitting and make any necessary tweaks before submitting the article.
Review Your Submission
After you click on the Submit Blog Article Button – you have just finished submitting it to the site! Now it will be up to you and your peers to vote on the article so it gets published to the front page of the Blog Engage website. – So make sure you are submitting great content and networking with your fellow bloggers! Keep reading to find out how to get your articles published after submitting them.
Content is Submitted!
Voting
You need to get enough votes to have your article published after you submit it to Blog Engage. As of this writing you need 8 votes (1 from you and 7 other people) to get your article Published and displayed on the front page.
Note: There has been an update to the process of getting your article published. You now have 30 days to get the necessary 8 votes to get your content published or it will never get published.
This is where the work begins with Blog Engage. The whole point of the site is to Engage with other bloggers after all! To do this you need to get votes on your articles. The best way to do this is to start networking with other bloggers and voting on their articles. This does NOT mean you beg for votes. That is not a viable way to get your articles voted on.
Keep in mind though – higher quality articles and those who have been around in the community will probably have more votes then your articles. Do not get discouraged! Just keep working at it and over time you will start seeing more of your content voted and published to the front page!
Groups
This is an under utilized feature in the Blog Engage community – the Groups feature. I’m guilty of this as well unfortunately. I have joined a few groups but never really looked at the benefit of possibly creating my own group. Brian wrote a great article about the Group feature below:
Blog Engage Groups
Friends
Although Blog Engage is about getting your content noticed and helping with your SEO. For me it is about networking with other bloggers. I have met a lot of great people who have been supportive and helpful.
Plus the more friends you have the more likely your content will get voted and share your content!
Share and Comment on Other People’s Content as Well!
Commenting
Blog Engage uses the CommentLuv commenting system. This is the same system I use here at avgjoegeek.net. This means you get a free do follow link back to your blog whenever you comment on a blog post at Blog Engage. You can also use the keyword feature after you have 3 comments approved on the site as well.
You can also comment on submitted/published content as well. If you click on any published or submitted article on Blog Engage – you can leave a comment below letting them know you voted – or if you have any questions/criticism/praise etc. you can leave the author a note and let them know what you think.
Karma
This is a relatively new feature added to Blog Engage is the Karma system. This new system is utilized whenever you do an action on the Blog Engage website. Take a look below at how the Karma system works:
- When you submit a story that becomes published you get +30 points
- When you submit a story to Blog Engage you get +15 points
- When you make a comment in the community you get +10 points
- If your story is discarded or deleted you receive -250 points
- When a comments id removed you receive -50 points
- When a comment is marked as spam you receive -150 points
- When you vote on an article you get +1 point
- When you vote on a comment you get +3 points
- A minimum of 100 Karma points are need before any article will be published by any member
Karma is Good!
Guest Blogging
By joining the Blog Engage website and community you can also get a chance to write Guest Posts for the site. If you have been blogging for awhile you already know the benefits of guest blogging on other sites. I have personally submitted a few posts and the experience was awesome. Not only did I get to meet a lot of people. The relationships created from doing that has been priceless.
Plus – you’ll get another free back link to your blog as well as getting to plug your social media outlets as well!
Job Board
Another great new feature recently added by Blog Engage is the Job Board. This is a great opportunity for you to be able to make some extra cash by doing what you love to do already! If you are a member of the Blog Engage community you also have the opportunity of posting jobs on there as well.
Profit Sharing / Affiliate Marketing
A few of the perks of becoming a Blog Engage member is the ability to earn some extra money. I have personally earned enough from the Blog Engage site that it has paid for itself 
Google Adsense
By becoming a Blog Engage member you can share in the profits by adding your Google Adsense ID to your published content! Of course you’ll need an active Adsense account in order to do this!
Affiliate Lights
You can also join in helping to promote Blog Engage on your own blog and receive commissions for anyone who signs up for a Blog Engage membership or one of the RSS Syndication Services. If you are interested you can click on the banner below to learn more (and sign up today!).
Just ReTweet
I almost forgot about Just ReTweet. This is another community that Blog Engage has partnered with. If you sign up for an RSS Syndication Service ** you can earn free credits for this site as well. All you need to do is sign up with your Twitter account to get started. This is a great service to get your tweets re-tweeted but to earn additional followers as well!
** Based on the type of RSS Syndication Service you sign up for.
Facebook Community
If all that wasn’t enough? There is a very active Facebook Community that you can only join once you become a member of Blog Engage. You can join the discussions and ask questions about anything related to blogging there.
Blog Engage‘s New Design
The old site was clunky, it was blue, it was difficult to navigate, half the time it didn’t work. Sorry Brian, but it is true. The old site was dated looking and frankly – a hot mess. The only reason why I kept using it was the fact that once you got through the tangled mess of the site the community and people who took part in it was worth its weight in gold. But I digress…
Now its been updated! Everything that you just read above? All fixed! The site has a great new look! Everything is responsive and quick. Although I’m not a huge fan of RED – it has a new theme that looks awesome. The navigation of the site is 1000 times more intuitive and easier to follow. Submitting content is even easier (if that was possible) than before. Take a look at the pic below to see what I’m talking about.
New Blog Engage Design
Contests and PunchTab Rewards
PunchTab Rewards
The owner Brian has changed things up a bit. Now he has added the PunchTab reward system to the site. By visiting and performing certain actions you can earn points toward rewards. I personally use and love PunchTab here on avgjoegeek.net so I can attest that it does work. The cool thing about what Brian does over at Blog Engage is he opted to offer custom prizes. You’ll have to go and visit the site and look for the little flag in the upper right of the screen to find out what he is giving away though!
Weekly Contests
Brian has also opted to offer weekly contests for a chance at a spotlight blog entry on the site. I actually just recently won this and you can check out the article here if you like!
Other Benefits!
OK, I know this is getting long. The last thing I would like to mention is the other benefits of joining Blog Engage! You will receive special notifications for discounts from everything from WordPress themes, Contests, discounts on other products.
Please note though that you are NEVER pressured into having to buy anything or even participate!
Yes, I think Blog Engage is Awesome
Personally I am a proud member of the Blog Engage community. As a blogger I have flourished largely in part as to what the Blog Engage community has been able to help me with.
I would love to hear from you though. Go and take a look around the site and come back and leave me a comment.
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