Saturday, January 10, 2009

Blog Marketing Strategies Revealed - Start Using These Blog Marketing Strategies Today

Blog Marketing Strategies Revealed - Start Using These Blog Marketing Strategies Today

by Jesus Leon

If you are an avid blogger and want to take it into another level, what can you do? More and more businesses are using the blog marketing strategies as their online tool to engage more customers to avail their products.

But with hundreds of blogs in the world wide web, it makes you wonder, how do other bloggers make their weblogs stand out? What blog marketing strategies do they use?
One of the recommended blog marketing strategies being done is by RSS feed distribution. The orange square is familiar to many web users. This keep people informed about the updates of a particular section of a website after they have subscribed to it.

Adding the RSS feed to your blog, by inserting the icon and HTML code, would keep your visitors get the updated information in your blogs a lot easier. By incorporating fresh keyword- rich text content in the blog, search engines would take notice of your site. This would enable more visitors to check your blog.
Other blog marketing strategies are blog submission and strategic product research. With blog submission, you can submit your blog details to a number of blog directories in the web. It can be time consuming, but it is worth it. These blog directories have an extensive list of categories with sub-categories, within which your blog can be reviewed. Directories may even show the amount of hits for a blog and whether they have received a review.

With the strategic product research, you can find ideas for your blog products. You can do extensive research and research about your target audience. You also get to know who you are competing with. You also get to know why you are being trashed or praised by the public and how to appropriately respond to these reactions.
Blog marketing strategies also include communication with the customers and representing your business transparently. To promote better communication with the customers you can have dialogs with your customers and readers to be updated about their needs.

Blogs humanize the company. Customers tend to buy from someone they can talk to instead of a corporate identity. This is what business benefit from blogging. They make their business transparent.

There are numerous blog marketing strategies you can try. These can either make or break your blog. It may or it may not work. But if some strategies would not work for you, surely you will learn what is best for your own business in the process.
Jesus Leon Is A Expert Online Marketer And Coach "Who Else Wants To Learn How To Put Cold Hard Cash In Their Pockets Month After Month Week After Week Even If No One Joins Your Primary Business?" Click On The Following Link To Learn NOW! => http://www.OnlineMLMTraining101.com

Friday, January 9, 2009

5 Steps for Planning the Direction of Your Blog in 2009

5 Steps for Planning the Direction of Your Blog in 2009
by problogger

http://problogger.net

Posted in: Featured Posts, Miscellaneous Blog Tips

Last week I shared a series of questions for bloggers to ponder as they look back on their last year of blogging.

The point of the questions was not to engage in a navel gazing exercise but to look back with the objective of identifying how a blog has been performing in order to improve it moving forward.

Today I want to suggest a process for thinking about the future of your blog.
I’m not sure that this process appears exactly like this in any strategic thinking books or teaching but it is the process that I use when I periodically look at how my blogs and business is going.

Step 1 - Define your Mission

This is fairly big picture stuff and for me actually goes wider than just why I blog and more fits with my overall life mission. I guess it’s about looking at your overall purpose and direction - what you want to achieve etc. Having this firm in your mind then enables you to work out how blogging fits into that overall purpose.

Step 2 - Paint a Picture of Your Vision

This is still pretty long term and looks beyond the coming year to where you want to eventually take your blog. It’s a picture of a reasonably distant future. Dare to dream a little and think big in this stage.

Step 3 - Make Goals

Now we’re drilling down into the year ahead. Where do you want to be at the end of 2009? Hopefully it’ll be somewhere towards your ‘Vision’ and have helped you to accomplish some of your ‘mission’ - but what will your blog look like, be doing and have achieved this time next year? Dare to think big but keep in mind that it needs to be achievable. You don’t need to have done everything in your vision in 12 months - these goals are stepping stones to the eventual goals.

Step 4 - Devise a Strategy

What are you going to need to DO to get to your goals? Usually this means some kind of ‘change’ in your approach. Do you need to blog more, start a new blog, change your topic slightly, hire a writer, network with other bloggers more, start using a new method for promoting your blog, follow what others are writing more, build community engagement, redesign your blog etc? Think about strategies across the different activities of blogging that will take you closer to your goals.

Step 5 - Set out an Action Plan

Most people set ‘resolutions’ in their lives (and for their blogs) that are quite ‘general’ and wishywashy in nature. ‘I’m going to lose weight’, or ‘I’m going to find a girlfriend’. While these resolutions are great they are often not achieved simply because while a decision is made to do something - the person making the decision puts no actual plan in place for ‘how’ they’ll do it. The same is true for thinking strategically about your blog. ‘I’m going to get more traffic in 2009′ is a great goal - but what are you doing to specifically focus on DOING to get that traffic. Your action plan should be made up of very concrete tasks that you’ll do in the coming months. I will write 5 posts a week - I will email 7 readers each week - I will leave 1 comment per day on another blog in my niche - I will write a guest post for another blogger each month - I will run a competition on my blog in June.

The above 5 steps are the way I approach planning on my blogs (in fact it is how I do it in other areas of my life also). I actually do this for each of my blogs. The mission generally is much the same for each one and at times there are similarities in other steps.

This process will not be for everyone but I think can make a useful starting point for thinking about your blog in 2009. Some personality types will find it easier than others to think this way - actually for me it is not a natural way of thinking - I’m quite impulsive and this is a real effort to do. You might find some steps in the process more natural and quicker to complete than others but thinking things through from the big picture right down to specific tasks will hopefully help you to not only plan but make the changes you need to make in order to achieve your dreams.

Courtesy of Darren at http://problogger.net

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Seven Strategies for Successful Blogging

Seven Strategies for Successful Blogging
By Sharon Hurley Hall

What makes some blogs more successful than others? Here are seven strategies that will contribute to every blog's success.

What's Your Niche?

When people start to blog, they often have little idea what they're going to say today and less idea what they'll be talking about in five years' time. That doesn't matter much at the beginning, but if you're going to stick to blogging, you need to find something you enjoy writing about and can stay current on. Something that's a big part of your life will make a good blogging niche. For me, that's writing; for you, it could be something else.

Keep Your Focus

Once you've found your niche, stick to it, most of the time at least. When your readers get used to the content you provide, your readership will dip if you go off-topic for too long. You need to find a way to make your content relevant to your readers. Sometimes all you need to do that is a good title. Choosing a title that relates to the theme of your blog or post will help readers realize what your topic is and how this post relates to it.

Read Or Dead?

If you want people to read your blog, you've got to give them something to read - and you've got to make it regular. For some people, this means posting at least once or several times a day. For others, it means posting a couple of times a week. If you're a WAHM or part-time blogger, you may not have a lot of time to sit down and think of posts, let alone write them. But as long as there's activity on the blog, there'll be people reading it. Stay away too long and people are likely to abandon your blog for one that's got fresh content. Since people have lives that are offline (as well as online) getting a guest blogger is a good way to make sure your blog is updated if you have to be away. And with some blogging platforms like Wordpress, you can submit blog posts by email.

Tell The World

Sitting around waiting for people to find your content can take a long time. Instead, take the content to them with headline animators from Feedburner, email alerts from Feedblitz, RSS feeds from whoever you choose. Submit your blog to directories and try to think of a description that will make people want to visit. This is especially important if your blog is just one of many in a crowded field. What is the unique selling point of your blog? What makes it stand out from the rest? That's what you need to put in the description. Use pinging services like Pingoat to let people know you've updated your content. Also use the social bookmarking services to take your blog posts to a wider audience.

Read All About It

Read other people's blogs, not just on your own blogging platform, but everywhere. This will let you know what people are thinking and talking about and may give you inspiration for blog posts of your own. This article was inspired by a post on Problogger, for example.
Talk To Others


When you read other blogs, be sure to comment if you've found the post interesting or useful. If you have something to add to the discussion, that's even more useful. The best blogging has a community feel and you have to keep talking to maintain that community. That also means that you should respond to all comments on your blog. If you get a lot of visitors, you don't have to respond individually, but it's nice for people to know their voices have been heard.
Work Those Links


Use blogrolls and bookmarks to keep track of the bloggers you read. You can also link to interesting posts in your own posts and use the trackbacks feature to let those people know about the link. If you're lucky, those people will also link back to you and you'll get new readers for your blog. But that's only one part of the story. The best way to keep getting readers for your posts is to link to them in other posts. After all, you're the person who's most likely to know if one of your blog posts is related to another.

These strategies are a good way of building a blog readership and a sense of community with your readers. Once you've done that, your readers will come to you with questions and comments that will lead to other blog posts - and you'll be sure that someone wants to read them.

Sharon Hurley Hall is a freelance writer, ghostwriter and editor. Sharon worked in publishing for 19 years, writing articles and editing and designing books and magazines. Sharon writes on freelance writing for InspiredAuthor.com. For more information or to contact Sharon, visit doublehdesign.com.

Building Blog Traffic Starting at the Top

Building Blog Traffic Starting at the Top
By Mark Abrahams

When you are trying to get people to come to your blog, you do everything you can to get people to visit your blog. You post your link in you email signature, you post in forums, and you send the link to all your friends so that they will go and visit your blog.

Here are some ways that you can build traffic to your blog.

Commanding Title

One of the best ways that you can get people to come to your blog is to have a great title that catches the eyes of people. Think up a title that is going to be attention grabbing and make people want to know more.

Interesting Posts

Another thing that is going to help you get traffic to your blog is to write interesting posts. If you have something that people want to read, they are going to come back again and again to see what you have to say. People read interesting magazines and they are going to read your blog if it is interesting as well.

Ability to Leave Comments

People want to give their opinions on things that they read, so people are more likely to return to blogs where they are able to leave comments for the blogger and for others to read.

Blog traffic is easy to build. All you have to do is to catch the eyes of readers with a catchy title, write blogs that are interesting to read, and let people comment on what you have written. When you do all of these things, you will find that there is a stream of visitors going to your blog.

Are you really interested in driving massive traffic to your website?

Here's the answer:

Secrets Of Article Marketing - Download your free ebook now.

Would you like to know more about the magical marketing techniques that have helped me to quit my day job? I have just completed my new ebook.

Secrets To Make Money Online - Download your free ebook now.

Mark Abrahams is a full time internet marketer who has helped others to earn a living online.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_A._Abrahams

Being a Blogging Leader via Your Niche Blog

Your ongoing process of being a leader in a chosen niche is empowered by blogging skills in the following areas:

1. blog feeds via Atom and/or RSS
2. posted comments
3. posted articles
4. e-books
5. mini-courses
6. blogging tips
7. white papers
8. newsletters
9. podcasts
10. videos (yours and other’s)
11. surveys and/or polls. This list is not exhaustive but I like the number eleven. Please add my RSS feed for daily updates to blogging topics and tips.

Thank you,
James Colt

http://bloginfoblog.blogspot.com

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

5 Blogging Suggestions for Internet Newbies

5 Blogging Suggestions for Internet Newbies

More and more web surfers are blogging on the internet everyday.
Blogging is a concept that started in late 90s. It used to be a way to comment on an existing webpage, an opportunity for visitors and readers to react or voice out one’s opinion on the page. What started as a single-sentence commentary has evolved into pages of personal take on just about anything and everything under the sun. As it continues to move forward, online advertising has tapped into the blog’s potential. Here are 5 reasons why you should use blogging as an Internet Marketing tool.

1. Blogging is simple. The simplest way to get your piece on the net is through blogging. No skills are necessary… an average adult can read and type, or at least click a mouse. It’s like having a virtual piece of paper and you just write your ideas, experiences, new products, and hope that the truth behind your articles comes out and entices your readers to also try your product. If you have a PC and an Internet connection (who doesn’t?) then you can blog and advertise.

2. Blogging is authentic. In this day and age where advertising saturates our lives, we question the credibility of promoters’ claims. However, in blogs, real people share their real-life experiences, unscathed by paid internet advertising. Reading blogs about first-hand products use is like talking to people about their first-hand experience. You definitely want to buy a tried and tested product.

3. Blogging is free. Because blogging is yet to be proven as a mainstream online advertising media, most sites see it as something to augment current marketing tools and thus offer it for free. Any opportunity for free webtime is definitely a bonus especially to internet businesses that are just starting up. Needless to say, paid blog pages can generate more income for your serious growing business.

4. Blogging builds credibility. As you get more and more into writing your experiences on a particular product or industry, your readers come to realize that they can depend on your posts for their own information needs. As such, you become an expert on it; as a consequence, more readers visit your site and more bloggers link to your blogs. As companies and professional organizations notice the growth of your readership base, they may soon get in touch with you for advertising on your blog page, or make you an affiliate, which pays for every referral generated from your blog site.

5. Blogging builds your market. Unless you are a Hollywood star, chances are, only your Mom reads your posts. Mom has a lot of friends, so she lets her friends know how interesting your blog site is. But you need not depend on Mom to increase your readership base. Look into the following ways to build your market through blogging:

- By using your e-mail. Today, blogging is overcoming the e-mail’s popularity in quickly and effectively reaching and expanding a market. In this age of speed and quick access, logging in and downloading e-mail is simply taking longer than clicking into a blog site. Let them explore your site by using a short e-mail message as teaser to your blog site. If your e-mail is on an entirely different subject, use your e-mail signature to give a link to the site.

- By using subscription. An easy way to get your readers e-mail is to give them an opportunity to subscribe to your blogsite. Keep some exclusive information for your subscribers to entice readers to subscribe and give their e-mail address. Just be responsible in using their e-mail address, as the last thing you want is a comment on your blog that you are a spammer.

- By understanding your readers. Conduct a simple survey for your readers to understand their profile and advertising preferences. Ask consumers to give you feedback on a post, an ad link, or a trial that you shared. In this way, it is like interviewing your readers without the commitment and intrusion of a face-to-face interview.

- By joining a blog network –A network of blogs maybe a collection of blog sites that share the same industry, interest, readership base, payment mode, etc. Consumers find credibility and convenience in clicking one link to several real bloggers about a single subject. Clearly, more bloggers are better than one.

- By using RSS. RSS is the fastest growing technology on the Internet today. As such, having RSS feeds to your blog is definitely another means of generating awareness for your readership base. Having a variety of feeds can add interest to your blog site.

Give your business a boost by effectively using blogging as an Internet marketing tool.

Terry Detty knows Press Release Services and Targeted Traffic leads to higher rankings. He will see better results using a great Internet Marketing Services Site.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

10 Blog Traffic Tips

10 Blog Traffic Tips by Gary Neame

Here are the top 10 techniques new bloggers can use to find readers.

These are tips specifically for new bloggers, those people who have next-to-no audience at the moment and want to get the ball rolling.

It helps if you work on this list from top to bottom as each technique builds on the previous step to help you create momentum. Eventually once you establish enough momentum you gain what is called "traction", which is a large enough audience base (about 500 readers a day is good) that you no longer have to work too hard on finding new readers.

Instead your current loyal readers do the work for you through word of mouth.

Top 10 Tips:

10. Write at least five major "pillar" articles. A pillar article is usually a tutorial style article aimed to teach your audience something. Generally they are longer than 500 words and have lots of very practical tips or advice.

This article you are currently reading could be considered a pillar article since it is very practical and a good "how-to" lesson. This style of article has long term appeal, stays current (it isn''t news or time dependent) and offers real value and insight.

The more pillars you have on your blog the better.

9. Write one new blog post per day minimum.

Not every post has to be a pillar, but you should work on getting those five pillars done at the same time as you keep your blog fresh with a daily news or short article style post. The important thing here is to demonstrate to first time visitors that your blog is updated all the time so they feel that if they come back tomorrow they will likely find something new.

This causes them to bookmark your site or subscribe to your blog feed. You don''t have to produce one post per day all the time but it is important you do when your blog is brand new.

Once you get traction you still need to keep the fresh content coming but your loyal audience will be more forgiving if you slow down to a few per week instead. The first few months are critical so the more content you can produce at this time the better.

8. Use a proper domain name. If you are serious about blogging be serious about what you call your blog. In order for people to easily spread the word about your blog you need an easily memorable domain name.

People often talk about blogs they like when they are speaking to friends in the real world (that's the offline world, you remember that place right?) so you need to make it easy for them to spread the word and pass on your URL.

Try and get a .com if you can and focus on small easy to remember domains rather than worry about having the correct keywords (of course if you can get great keywords and easy to remember then you''ve done a good job!).

7. Start commenting on other blogs. Once you have your pillar articles and your daily fresh smaller articles your blog is ready to be exposed to the world. One of the best ways to find the right type of reader for your blog is to comment on other people''s blogs.

You should aim to comment on blogs focused on a similar niche topic to yours since the readers there will be more likely to be interested in your blog.

Most blog commenting systems allow you to have your name/title linked to your blog when you leave a comment. This is how people find your blog. If you are a prolific commentor and always have something valuable to say then people will be interested to read more of your work and hence click through to visit your blog.

6. Trackback and link to other blogs in your blog posts. A trackback is sort of like a blog conversation. When you write a new article to your blog and it links or references another blogger's article you can do a trackback to their entry.

What this does is leave a truncated summary of your blog post on their blog entry - it''s sort of like your blog telling someone else''s blog that you wrote an article mentioning them. Trackbacks often appear like comments.

This is a good technique because like leaving comments a trackback leaves a link from another blog back to yours for readers to follow, but it also does something very important - it gets the attention of another blogger.

The other blogger will come and read your post eager to see what you wrote about them. They may then become a loyal reader of yours or at least monitor you and if you are lucky some time down the road they may do a post linking to your blog bringing in more new readers.

5. Encourage comments on your own blog. One of the most powerful ways to convince someone to become a loyal reader is to show there are other loyal readers already following your work. If they see people commenting on your blog then they infer that your content must be good since you have readers so they should stick around and see what all the fuss is about.

To encourage comments you can simply pose a question in a blog post. Be sure to always respond to comments as well so you can keep the conversation going.

4. Submit your latest pillar article to a blog carnival. A blog carnival is a post in a blog that summarizes a collection of articles from many different blogs on a specific topic. The idea is to collect some of the best content on a topic in a given week. Often many other blogs link back to a carnival host and as such the people that have articles featured in the carnival enjoy a spike
in new readers.

To find the right blog carnival for your blog, do a search at http://blogcarnival.com/.

3. Submit your blog to blogtopsites.com. To be honest this tip is not going to bring in a flood of new readers but it''s so easy to do and only takes five minutes so it''s worth the effort. Go to Blog Top Sites, find the appropriate category for your blog and submit it.

You have to copy and paste a couple of lines of code on to your blog so you can rank and then sit back and watch the traffic come in. You will probably only get 1-10 incoming readers per day with this technique but over time it can build up as you climb the rankings. It all helps!

2. Submit your articles to ArticleBase.com. This is another tip that doesn't bring in hundreds of new visitors immediately (although it can if you keep doing it) but it's worthwhile because you simply leverage what you already have - your pillar articles. Once a week or so take one of your pillar articles and submit it to ArticleBase.com.

Your article then becomes available to other people who can republish your article on their website or in their newsletter. How you benefit is through what is called your "Resource Box".

You create your own resource box which is like a signature file where you include one to two sentences and link back to your website (or blog in this case). Anyone who publishes your article has to include your resource box so you get incoming links. If someone with a large newsletter publishes your article you can get a lot of new readers at once.

1. Write more pillar articles. Everything you do above will help you to find blog readers however all of the techniques I've listed only work when you have strong pillars in place. Without them if you do everything above you may bring in readers but they won't stay or bother to come back.

Aim for one solid pillar article per week and by the end of the year you will have a database of over 50 fantastic feature articles that will work hard for you to bring in more and more readers.

Warmly,
Gary Neame

Monday, January 5, 2009

Blog - Before You Start Your Blog, 3 Tips to Avoid Disaster

Blog - Before You Start Your Blog, 3 Tips to Avoid Disaster
By Angela Booth

Do you want to avoid blogging disaster? Many new bloggers start a blog on a wing and a prayer. When their blog fails -- no traffic, no money -- they lose heart. If this has happened to you, please realize that it doesn't have to be like that.
YOU can make money blogging: your success or failure is determined before you start. Let's look at three steps which will ensure that your next blog is a roaring, profitable success.

1. Research Buying Keywords

Do keyword research first. Keywords are those words which searchers type into the search engines to find your blog.
Aim to collect as many "buying" keywords as you can.
For example, let's say you want to start a diet blog. "Weight loss" is a keyword. However, it's not the kind of keyword you'd use to launch a blog. Ask yourself what the searcher is thinking when he/ she types in that keyword. Chances are, the searcher is looking for information.

To make money from this particular searcher, you would have had great success back in 1999. Nowadays, such un-targeted keywords are a waste of time for you if you're just starting out.

You want highly targeted keywords like "buy diet program" or "best weight loss program" -- with keywords like these, you're much more likely to gain site visitors who are ready and willing to spend money.

2. Research Monetization

And speaking of money, that's your next step. Decide how you'll monetize your blog. Will you sell (as in our example) diet products and services? Find at least ten products you'd feel comfortable selling. Just make a list of products, and keep it safe. You'll need some content on your blog before most affiliate networks will let you promote their programs.

3. Write Content -- at Least Ten Articles

So that's your next step: write at least ten articles you'll post on your blog WHEN you finally create it.

Please complete ALL three steps before you create your next blog. Unsuccessful bloggers try to leap-frog these steps, and just create a blog... you may know already that that rarely works.

Happy blogging: remember, you can make money blogging, if you prepare first -- your success depends on it.

You can make money blogging. Discover how with pro blogger and copywriter Angela Booth. She'll teach you how to blog the right way, so your blog is profitable from the start, with her bestseller, "Blogging for Dollars" at http://www.abmagic.com/Blog/blogging.htmlAngela's blogging ebook package has a companion blog, the Blogging for Dollars Blog at http://www.dollars2blog.com/blog/ which keeps you up to date with what's happening in the world of professional blogging.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angela_Booth

Finding Your Blog Niche

You may think finding a niche for your blog will be easy as you're probably
thinking, "Can't you just find out which niche is most profitable and work from there?" Absolutely, positively not. First, you need to ask yourself six essential questions:

Are you interested in the niche? - This is no doubt the most important question to ask yourself. To run a blog successfully you will need to do countless hours of research and even more time adding content to your blog. Therefore if you have no genuine interest in what you are writing about, you will very quickly loose motivation for your blog. Additionally if you pick a niche that you are interested in, usually you will already have some previous knowledge about the topic.


Is the niche too specific or too general? - Try not to make your niche too specific because your blog will not appeal to a large enough audience. Likewise, don't make your niche too general because in most cases, the competition will be too high and you will be unable to engage with your audience at the same level as a more specific niche. For example, instead of having a blog targeting football, you could have a blog about a specific team or fans in a specific country or state.

Who will I be targeting? - It is important to know who your audience will be. For example, if you made a blog for senior citizens, you should be aware that those in this group who are the oldest, may use the internet as compared to those who are younger. Likewise, if you were targeting a specific country, city, or town, do many people have internet access in that area?

Will it be easy to advertise? - If you are looking to make a blog that will receive large amounts of traffic this question applies to you. Things you may look into could include how many search results there are in Google, are there many similar sites where you could exchange links, are there any forums about this topic and do these forums allow signature links?

Who are my competitors? - If you are already familiar with your niche, you would be aware of the various authority sites. Look for things that you can do differently that will make people want to read your blog instead of other blogs and websites.

Is this niche profitable? - This point is not relevant to everyone and you should not pick a niche on this point alone. If you have made a list of several niches that you are interested in, then you might decide to pick the most profitable out of the list. However, keep in mind that the more passionate you are about the niche, the more work you will do and the more work you do, the more revenue you will make.

By asking yourself the above questions you will be able to pick the right niche for you to start a blog. This may take some time however, so keep in mind that it is time well spent. There is nothing worse than setting up a website that you are not interested in and seeing it fail after a few months. Picking a niche using the above questions will ensure your blog becomes popular and makes revenue.

By: Reba Collins

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Reba Collins runs the Internet Marketing Boomer website at www.InternetMarketingBoomer.com. There you will find information to help you market your business on the internet. To read how to set-up a blog go to ezinearticles.com/?Setting-Up-a-Blog&id=1824992.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Take a Look at Yourself and Improve Your Blog

Take a Look at Yourself and Improve Your Blog by Larry McCullough


If you have been blogging for a while and you still aren't finding much success with the business, you might want to examine your personal attitude toward your blog in order to determine the problem. As with any business, it is important for you to take ownership of your business and to look at yourself as a serious business owner. Yet, when it comes to blogging or to the craft of writing in general, many people fail to identify themselves as a writer or blogger. Unfortunately, this lack of confidence becomes projected onto your audience and it becomes much harder to convince them that you are an authority on the subject or that you are someone they should trust.

Taking Ownership of Your Business

One of the reasons many bloggers and writers have difficulty taking ownership of their business is because it is something they do on a part-time basis or as a "side job." Therefore, they don't look at themselves as being professionals or as true business owners. Unfortunately, when you look at your business as just a part-time gig or as something you do as a hobby or in your free time, you likely will not put forth the effort necessary to make it a success. Even worse, those around you will fail to take you seriously.

So, how can you take ownership of your blogging business and help make it more successful? First, you need to identify yourself as a blogger. Sure, you may also be the manager of a restaurant or a retail salesperson, but you are also a writer. Therefore, the next time someone asks you what you do for a living, be certain to identify yourself as a writer as well as by the title of whatever other occupation you may hold.

When you start to identify yourself to others as a writer, you will find that something amazing happens. First, many people will ask you to elaborate on what you write about. Obviously, this gives you an excellent opportunity to spread the word about your blog and to potentially draw in new readers. Second, you start to feel more confident in your business, your writing abilities and your knowledge regarding your blog topic. Your readers will pick up on this confidence, which will help your community grow.

Using Your New Found Confidence

A lack of confidence in your knowledge and abilities is a big turn off with blog readers. Your readers aren't looking for someone who appears to be wishy-washy or who seems to be trying to fake his way through his posts. If you aren't knowledgeable about something that has to do with your blog, take the time to research it or to admit it to your readers rather than writing a blog that is nothing but fluff. If you do know what you are talking about or if you have a strong opinion about a certain topic, express your opinion to your readers. Not only will this help to shape your voice and personality, it will also give your readers something to debate - which is sure to draw even more traffic to your blog!

About the Author

Larry McCullough has been marketing and writing on the internet for over 10 years. Owner of various websites. Main site Blog
Blog Info Blog Intro for "How to Create Great Blogging Content", by John Parks:

The following blog post by John Parks emphasizes the importance of keyword research as well as keyword use within blog content. Also, Mr. Parks offers suggestions on how to avoid the dreaded spam level in keyword density. Good stuff, and, it's blog news you can use!

How to Write Great Blogging Content

Blogging has often been associated as more of a hobby than a serious moneymaking tool. However, in reality, blogging content offers the perfect tool for progressing one's Internet marketing ventures. You just need to know how to create the right type of blogging content. Once you learn that skill, you could make a lot of money from Internet marketing, whether it's promoting affiliate products or posting ads for other companies.

With that being said, how can a person turn blogging content into something that propels their Internet marketing efforts? First, they need to think about keyword-optimization. To achieve this, your blogging content must contain popular Internet keywords... terms that contain a lot of searches yet minimal competition.
To find these terms, your best bet is to use a keyword analyzer... one of the most powerful tools in the Internet marketing world. All you have to do is enter in a general term, (like you would Google or any other search engine). From there, the keyword analyzer would return even more specific phrases. They will also include how many searches the phrase is receiving each month.

Some keyword analyzers take things a step further. An example is Micro Niche Finder, which includes the "Strength of Competition" field. This field lets you know if the program believes a particular keyword is worth your effort. If the field has a green circle, the keyword is very profitable. If the field has a yellow circle, its profitability is so-so. A red circle indicates that the keyword has too much competition to really make Internet marketing worthwhile.

Of course, regardless of which keyword you choose, the process of keyword optimization is the same. As you are writing your blogging content, you will want to include the term 2 to 5 percent of the time. To put things into perspective, if your blogging content is 500 words, you will want to include your chosen keyword at least 10 times. The maximum number would be 25 times, as anything more than that could get your blog flagged for spam. When this happens, even if your blogging content is good, you lose your Internet marketing advantage since most search engines will de-index you.

On the other hand, you don't want to go under 10 if you can help it. If you do, it won't always result in an Internet marketing failure, especially since some keywords have no websites associated with them. But if a website has at least 100 or so competitors, (when the term is in quotes), you will want to try to include the keyword at least 2 percent of the time throughout your blogging content. Otherwise, the search engine bots may not be able to notice your blogging content, simply because it doesn't contain enough keywords.

Now that you know the importance of keyword optimization, you might be wondering how you can create good blogging content in the first place. How can you balance good blogging content with the basic principles behind Internet marketing? Well, if you can't afford to hire a ghostwriter to write the content for you, there's always the option of using existing articles as a source of research. Print out an article that relates to whatever keyword you're promoting and highlight the important points. Create a new spin on these points when writing your blogging content, making sure you don't plagiarize existing ideas. When you're finished, you'll have engaging blogging content that will work well with your Internet marketing pursuits.

For more information on blogging content, visit http://3dcontent.net.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Parks

Digital Camera Rating Headline Animator

Net Ads Make Money Online

Why AdSense Isn't Performing Well on Your Blog
By TC Thorn

I'm fortunate enough to make a nice living from running Google AdSense on my blogs and websites, and I often get questions from folks who are trying to figure out why the program doesn't perform for them. How can you make dollars - even hundreds of dollars - a day instead of mere pennies?

In this article, I'm covering some of the most common reasons people have trouble making money from AdSense.

1. AdSense works best on niche consumer-oriented blogs

To those of us who have been making money online for a while, this seems obvious, but lots of new folks haven't had that ah ha realization yet.

If your blog is a journal of your life or serves mostly to entertain, it's not going to be a good candidate for AdSense (and - I'll be honest here - it's probably not going to make much from other programs either).

The best performers are blogs that are focused on a specific niche. Even more, that niche should have lots of products or services associated with it.

For example, a blog on home improvement (many of my sites are in the home and garden niche) can do well since there are all sorts of tools and products people buy when they're looking to remodel or otherwise improve their homes. There are also plenty of services related to this niche, everything from roofing companies to pool maintenance outfits. All of those companies that offer products or services in that niche will want to advertise on your blog, and they're willing to pay well for qualified clicks.

On the other hand, if your blog is unfocused or attracts people looking more for entertainment than information related to products and services, you'll find advertisers less likely to pay well (that's when you see those 1 and 2 cent clicks).

2. Ads must be placed prominently in order to attract attention

I noticed a gal on Twitter complaining that AdSense was making her something like 18 cents a day. I checked out her site, and lo and behold, her tiny 125x125 AdSense block was way over on the right side of her blog below the fold.

If you want to make money with AdSense, stick those ads where people will see them!

This means getting them as close to your content as possible (if you can wrap the ads right into the blog post, it's best) and keeping them above the fold (people shouldn't have to scroll down to see your ads).

Also, don't be afraid to use big ad blocks. Those large rectangles are the best performers - people can't miss them. If you want to make money from your blog, you can't be shy about placing those ads prominently.

3. Write about products or services that cost a lot

It's a foregone conclusion that you'll make more per click from a blog that reviews $500-$1000 backyard grills than one that reviews books or cds that cost $20. The profit margins are a lot higher on big ticket items, so advertisers can afford to bid more per click.

It's also helpful if the items you're writing about are easily purchased over the internet. Even though hot tubs cost thousands of dollars, they tend to be items that people try out first and buy locally. On the other hand, software packages that cost a few hundred dollars are logical choices for ordering online.

As you can see from this short list, the real secret to doing well with AdSense is to pick your niche - and start a blog - based on the potential for profit rather than adding AdSense to an existing blog and hoping it will make you rich.

If your existing blog isn't at all consumer oriented, but it has a lot of traffic, you can always use it to drive traffic to a new blog that does work well with the AdSense model. Don't give up - you can definitely make good money from AdSense (and other affiliate and advertising programs as well), if you're willing to build a site that will appeal to both visitors and advertisers.

The author earns a full-time income from running Adsense on her blogs and websites. For more advice, check out the AdSense section of her writing blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=TC_Thorn
http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-AdSense-Isnt-Performing-Well-on-Your-Blog&id=1814710

Labels:adsense, Google adsense, blog info, blogs, blog for income, blogging for money

Networkers Club Blog

Most Profitable Adsense Blog: What Does It Look Like?
By Christopher Kyalo

What does the most profitable Adsense blog look like? What can a blogger intending to take advantage of the Google Adsense program learn from such a blog?

The most profitable Adsense blog tends to have plenty of pages of useful content. The Adsense program feeds off content-hunger. It is widely believed that the availability of so much free information online has dramatically reduced the hunger for information. Actually the very opposite is true. The World Wide Web is to information what the radio was to pop music sales. The most profitable Adsense blog owners have long realized this fact.

Would you believe the fact that initially record companies resisted having their songs played on radio. That is until they realized that rather than quench people's thirst and demand, radio dramatically increased it. Folks would listen to a song on the radio and line up in music stores to purchase it. The most profitable Adsense blogs will tend to serve their content in such a way that they help to create even more hunger for information rather than quench it. They do this by providing such interesting information that visitors to the blog immediately desire to know even more.

This is one of the most important distinguishing factors about the most profitable Adsense blogs.

Find out how you can learn more about the best Adsense make money secrets from an expert who makes over $19,000 a month from Adsense. Or grab my ezine on Adsense secrets for free by sending a blank email now to clickaffiliatesecrets-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_Kyalo
http://EzineArticles.com/?Most-Profitable-Adsense-Blog:-What-Does-It-Look-Like?&id=196304

Labels:adsense, adsense blog, blog profits, money blog, blogging for money, blog info

Make Money With Blogger
By Tracey A Edwards

Want to make some extra cash? Well with all the great free resources on the internet it is now even easier to do that and my favorite way is to make money with Blogger. Blogger is Google's free blogging platform and one of the easiest and simplest ways to get started. All you need to do is decide on a name and theme (what you are going to write about) and start posting. Now of course there are still some extra things that you need to do to make your blog profitable than just start writing so get comfortable while I fill you in on the best ways to earn some nice money from a free Blogger blog.

Before you set up your blog you need to spend a little bit of time thinking about what you are going to write about. The reason you should do this first is so that you can decide on the best name for your blog. Having keywords in your blog's title will give it a tiny boost in the search engines so choose wisely. Obviously it needs to be something that is tied in with the theme of your blog, so if you are going to write chocolate recipes then something like cookingwithchocolate.blogspot.com would be a good name. Oh and if you do decide to blog about chocolate then let me know because I'd love to try some of your recipes!

Now you can go ahead and start your blog. Head over to Blogger.com and follow the easy instructions to get started. Once you are done you can start by writing your first post.

Unsure what you should write about? Think about how you can offer your readers great value. My recipe example from before is great, or you can offer tips on how to make money online or even choosing the perfect lipstick for your skintone. Obviously you'll need to tie each post into the theme of the site so you can't just write about random topics and hope to gain a following. Pretty soon if you write everyday or at least a few times a week your blog will start showing up in search engines and people will begin to visit.

Now that you've got traffic you can put some money making features onto your blog. One of the easiest ways to earn some cash is to write reviews for products in your niche that you earn a commission on. Every third or fourth post make a review about a product that is helpful to someone in your niche. So going back to our chocolate example, perhaps you can recommend a great fondue set or chocolate moulds that your readers might like.

You can find lots of different items to promote where you earn a commission from places like Amazon, eBay or digital products on Clickbank. Pretty soon your free Blogger blog will be making some great money for you.

For more great money making ideas grab your copy of Blog Cash.

You can get a free sample chapter of Blog Cash at http://www.traceys-ebooks.com/blogcash/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tracey_A_Edwards
http://EzineArticles.com/?Make-Money-With-Blogger&id=1567691

Labels:blogger, make money with blogger, blog info, Google blogger, blogger and affiliate programs

How to Build Your Money Blog
By Liam Smith

With the growth of the World Wide Web, blogging has given a platform and a voice to those of us who may not have had one previously. Blogging will help you get your message out to the public, and you can make money blogging as well.

If you would like to know how to start a blog, here is what you do. Simply do a blog search, and when you find a blog style you like, the homepage will have a link that you can follow to create a blog. After you fill out a short online form, you are on your way to becoming a blogger!

A common beginner blogging mistake is thinking that once you create a blog, viewers and money will start rolling in. Before you learn to blog for money, you should know how to build your blog. The most important thing you can do is post original quality content. When you post your content, always use the spell checker. Proper grammar and spelling will give your blog a more professional look. For more information, do a keyword search for "beginner blogging course" and "beginner blogger products."

Now that you know how to blog, you will need to get some readers. The best way to do this is to visit other blogs, and post quality comments on them. The authors and readers of the other blogs will see your comments, and they may visit your blog and post a few comments themselves. Posting on message boards and forums are also a way to advertise your blog. When you do this, search out message boards that share a common interest with your blog, and offer a link. (If you visit a blog about stamp collecting, and you post a link to a blog post about how to grow tomatoes, you might get banned for spamming.)

Building a good-sized readership is important if you are going to build blogs for money. The more readers you have, the more money you can make. There are many paths to becoming a big time money blogger. One way you can make money with your blog is by using contextual ads. Contextual ads scan your post for content, and automatically put up links to products they think your readers might be interested in. When a reader clicks the ad, you make money. The amount of money ranges from a few cents to a few dollars, but these can build up after time. Contextual ad companies have the blog tools and blog software you need to maximize profits.

A more profitable way to make money blogging is to join a network that will give you access to advertisers who will pay you to post about their products. The more popular your blog is, the more money advertisers are willing to pay you for your posts. (I've seen some that pay as much as $75 dollars for a 200-word post!) If you go this route, remember that you must still post non-advertisement quality content on your blog, and you must continue to advertise your blog for maximum profits.

Now that you know how to build a better blog, and how to make money blogging, the rest is up to you. There is no magic formula that will help you make tons of money overnight, like everything else in life; you will need to work at it. But take my word for it, blogging can be very rewarding.

For more information on Beginner Blogging visit our website at http://www.learnbuildingblogs.com for comprehensive advice, reviews and tips on Blogging Programs that you can use to build your first money blog.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Liam_Smith
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Build-Your-Money-Blog&id=1856714

Labels: blogging, money blog, blog info, money blogging, contextual ads

HowToMakeMyBlog.com

Online Sophistication