Blogging Success- The Importance of Sharing
Blogs are communication tools, pure and simple. A blog allows you to easily communicate with a large audience and to build a relationship with potential clients/customers.
One very successful blogger is David Airey. He launched his blog to promote his graphic design practice and he offers tips to other graphic design artists along the way. Those helpful tips not only helped other graphic designers to learn how to better practice their craft, but they also served to demonstrate David’s expertise. As a result, David’s business has grown.
I recently shared in Blogs-Credibility-Trust about a supposedly successful online business person who fell into posting the typical MMO style of posts. His “I’m so successful and look, I’m going to buy a 2nd home on an exotic island” post earned my disdain instead of my trust. On the other hand, David’s approach is, well.. authentic and it definitely inspires trust.
Recently, David took the opportunity to share the spotlight he’s earned with others through his post The Value of Trustworthy Subcontractors.
At the end of the post, David invites OTHER freelancers to list their specialties on his blog. Yes, it’s open to his competitors… other designers!
OUTSTANDING!
This kind of post goes a LOT further in building the image of a “successful online business” than any photo of him standing in front of a mansion leaning on an expensive automobile could ever do.
David is all about sharing and as a result, his blog and his business are apparently a raging success!
An Imaginary Land of Ease and Luxury
The word of the day over at Dictionary.com is Cockaigne (\kah-KAYN\). It’s a noun and it means an imaginary land of ease and luxury.
A lot of my web development clients come to me with the idea that the internet is a Cockaigne for marketing and advertising. Business owners imagine that their magical, mystical website is going to naturally attract visitors. People will be compelled to buy just because there’s a buy button in front of them. These business owners ignore or forget the fact that their website is competing with BILLIONS of pages for MILLIONS of eyeballs.
Not long ago, I worked with a client who agreed to use traditional media to promote his business. I’ve got to tell you that after more than a decade slugging it out on the internet, promoting his business via television, radio and newspaper was like shooting fish in a barrel. The money he spent to air his television spots was 1/3 of what he was spending on Adwords.
Blogs are truly great marketing tools, but they shouldn’t be your ONLY marketing tool. One of the reasons that I advise my clients to blog is because a website you don’t update isn’t worth the money you pay to host it.
A Day in the Life of a Full Time Blogger
I have met several people who are harboring a horribly distorted fantasy of what the life of a full time blogger entails. Some seem to think that they will sit down for 20-40 minutes a day, string together a few phrases and words, click “post” and VIOLA. The day of work is done.
Reality is quite different. Don Miller over at the “Make Money Make Sales” blog shares how he’s spending his time now that he’s a full time blogger in the post , BANS Adjusting For Success or Do Nothing And Fail
My day usually starts with a check to make sure my 100 + sites are live and doing what they are supposed to do. I spend a few hours commenting and getting links for those sites. Let me say this, there is nothing fun about getting links, at least that I can find, so I fire up iTunes and go get them. I usually write 10-12 posts a day for my various niche blogs and work a few trends blogs.
Did you catch that? 100 + sites… 10-12 posts a day… getting links. Blogging is truly not a “get rich quick” endeavor… however, Don admits that he’s having the time of his life.
Making money either online OR off line is only easy if you LOVE what you’re doing. If you spend your weekend blogging instead of golfing, fishing or swimming at the beach, then by all means… dig in and learn what being in business online is all about.
However, if you think you’re going to become a 6 Figure Full Time Blogger because you have 3 posts on your blogger account… well, think again. Full time income usually requires full time effort. However, when it’s something you LOVE to do anyway (as Don obviously does), then spending 12-15 hours a day having fun is a GREAT way to spend your days and nights!
The Best Make Money Blogging Advice
When you say “blogging” to most web savvy users, the first thing that comes to mind is MMO (Make Money Online). So how do you make money blogging?
This post was inspired by a post at a blog who I won’t give the benefit of a link. On this blog, for the past 18 months, the author has claimed to offer insight into how to make money blogging. I only found the blog recently, but the blog owner made recommendations such as using affiliate links for AllPosters.com (not an affiliate link) as images on your blog posts.
It sounds plausible, but recently it was revealed that the only way this particular blogger made money was to sell the blog. With only 346 RSS subscribers, I doubt the sale price of the blog would make any of the blog’s readers drool.
So where do you go for excellent advice on making money blogging?
Maki at Dosh Dosh shares significant insight on what has worked and what hasn’t for him in Publishing for Profit and Influence. In this recent post, he shares how important your passion on a subject is to your success in Niche Blogging. A few years ago, he shared How to Make Money Blogging: 7 Strategies to Help you Get Started Immediately, but read the recent entry before you read the second.
Of course, when it comes to the topic of making money by blogging, you have to talk about Darren Rowse of Problogger. net. Darren not only shares his “secrets”… (and since he shares them with so many readers… they can hardly be called “secrets”) of how he makes money blogging, he even show you exactly how he does it! He keeps a running feature on his blog to show how much each income stream contributes in “How I Make Money Blogging - Top Income Streams Update.” Darren makes no bones about the secret to making money blogging… it’s multiple streams of income.
Caroline Middlebrook is another straight shooter when it comes to the topic of making money online. In her post, Can You Make Money Online, Without Teaching About Making Money Online? she writes:
There are plenty of people who make a fortune in niches that have nothing to do with Internet Marketing but the reason we don’t know about these people is because they have no reason to tell their story! For example, a common and simple method of making money online is via niche blogging using monetized blogs. We know some of the prominent people who make money in this way, for example Darren Rowse. But we only know about Darren because of his ProBlogger blog where he shares his story.
How many other people out there who are busy working away in their niches but don’t have a blog where they document their journey, and don’t have an ebook or course that teaches others how to copy their system? These are the people you don’t see, that you never heard about. But just because you don’t see them does not mean they do not exist!
An ex of mine has been involved in Internet Marketing for many years. He is the creator of a popular Facebook application that was bringing in $200k a month until recently but he doesn’t teach other people how he did that! Nobody knows who he is. If I told you his name you would never have heard of him. He doesn’t have a blog like this one, he just works at his work privately and rakes in his money without anybody knowing about it.
Excellent advice.
Even more excellent advice, go to Rick Butts Worst Internet Marketing Advice I’ve Ever Heard. Rick is another “straight shooter” when it comes making money online.
Rick’s advice… pick three or four people and follow them. From what I’ve seen, these four bloggers are DEFINITELY worth a your time and attention.
Wordpress SEO and Search Engine Marketing
When it comes to search engine marketing, you can’t beat a web blog, especially a Wordpress self hosted web blog. It’s no secret that self hosted Wordpress blogs can be tweaked to become literal power houses when it comes to Search Engine Marketing.
Web blogs are especially powerful search engine marketing tools, but in order to get the most out of your Wordpress blog, you’ll need to tweak your installation.
Yoast has written a truly inspired The must read article about WordPress SEO. It not only has earned a place in my RSS feed… this article is bookmarked as well. He says it’s his best article yet… I say it’s the best article I’ve seen on the web on the subject!
The Importance of Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy is essential for the success of your business. If you’re a business owner who has a love/hate relationship with your marketing and advertising, then you’re in good company.
When you consider how little time you have to devote to the task of promoting your business and then consider the fact that advertising media options are rapidly changing - and are very often presented in a confusing manner, it is easy to see why most business owners love the promise but hate the actual execution of a successful marketing strategy.
As a result, many business owners often find themselves chasing after an array of marketing tactics instead of implementing a cohesive marketing strategy.
Unfortunately, without a marketing strategy in place, the marketing tactics which result in great success for one business may fail miserably for the next.
When you understand the underlying principles behind creating a successful marketing strategy and successful marketing message, then you’ll be able to choose the right marketing tactics that will help you to achieve your marketing objectives.
So before you begin chasing another marketing tactic, sit down and develop ad marketing STRATEGY for your business. If you need help, pick up a copy of Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results
Blog Marketing FAQ: The Importance of Hosting
The importance of finding the best hosting site for your blog is the first and most essential part of creating your blog. The difference between a good hosting site for your blog and a bad hosting site can mean the difference between success and failure of your blog.James Mowery of the Performancing Blog writes about the mistakes he has made since becoming a pro blogger. James shares the tragic tale of how something went awry with the company where he chose to host his blog. The company changed servers and restored a 4 month old backup. Suddenly, James lost the previous 4 months of work he had put into his blog. He writes:
This mistake could probably be explained in another way: maybe, just maybe, all I need to realize is that I got what I paid for. I got ripped off, but I did, in fact, receive what I paid for. I tried going to cheap route, and it came back to haunt me. It was a huge and costly mistake.
Solution: Always test backups and sign with a reliable hosting company.
I often read blog posts written for people who want to either become a pro blogger OR who want to use their blog as a marketing tool for their businesses. If either of these are what you have in mind when you launch your blog, begin with choosing the absolute BEST hosting you can afford!!!
What is the Best Blog Hosting Site?
Hostican provides affordable blog hosting and fantastic support! They are a recommended host by Wordpress for Wordpress blogs as well.
Is Your Blog Ready for the Limelight?
One of the key questions asked by blog owners is “How do I get traffic to my blog?
Traffic doesn’t always happen on cue but when it comes, you need to be ready for it. Here’s a story of a blogger whose number just came up.
Jana has a blog and submitted a great question to the pros at Problogger.net. Her question How Much Free Content Should I Put in My Blog? was answered by Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips. Because Daniel’s a great guy, he includes a link to Jana’s blog at the top of the post. That’s the way most successful bloggers are, by the way. They’re very generous when it comes to giving credit.
As a result, the clock has begun ticking on Jana’s blog’s 15 minutes of blog fame.
That’s often the way traffic happens with a blog. Perhaps you’ve broken a story… or asked a question… usually it boils down to being in the right place at the right time. When it happens, it’s usually unexpected and with that in mind, be prepared in advance.
Hopefully, Jana’s blog is featuring the right look, the right post titles and the right post content to connect with visitors and grow her own target audience.
Is your blog ready for its 15 minutes of fame? If you knew your blog was going to be featured on Problogger.net next week, what would you do this week to prepare?
Treat every day as if tomorrow is the day the limelight will shine on your blog tomorrow… because it just may!
Best Blog Post Secrets Revealed
There’s no doubt about it, blogging can easily become a dreaded chore. Finding blogging inspiration can be one of the most difficult parts about blogging.
If you’ve found yourself searching for blogging inspiration, it’s probably because you’ve fallen into a blogging rut. The secret to finding blogging inspiration is to mix up the types of posts you create for your blog.
Yes, when it comes to creating a blog, a post is not merely a post. According to blogging experts, there are more than a dozen different types of post. Here are 8 of the best posts I’ve found on the secrets to creating many types of blog posts.
- Jennifer at Network Blogging Tips has recently posted 16 Post Ideas for Your Blog - Different Types of Posts for Network Blogs
- Darren Rowse of Pro-Blogger offers his take on how to break out of a blogging rut with his 20 Types of Blog Posts - Battling Bloggers Block
- Michael Martine offers his own take in a guest blog post at Pure Blogging in theThe 5 Types of Blog Posts that Experts Write
- Gyutae Park is offering his own version of the different types of blog posts in All 13 Types of Blog Posts - Which Ones Are You Missing?
- Dave Briggs over at Dave Press has narrowed the list down to 7 different types in his post The different types of blog post
- Rohit Bhargava at Olgivy Public Relations offers The 25 Basic Styles of Blogging … And When To Use Each One. This unique and informative presentation is delivered via slideshare… and offers a “difficulty” rating for achieving success with each type.
- Collis at the The North X NorthEast Blog offers 9 Essential Posts that Every Blogger Should Know
- Nate White shares 5 Types of Blog Posts that Generate Traffic which, of course, are the BEST kinds of blog posts.
What’s your best blog post secret?
Build Business Relationships With Blogs
Blogs are easy to update… they’re search engine friendly but as if that weren’t enough, blogs are a powerful tool you can use to build business relationships.
Building relationships is an essential part of promoting your business. People like to do business with people they already know and trust. Your blog can act as a trust building tool which can be used in building business relationships you need to help your business grow.
You’ve heard a lot about social networking sites. Well, many business bloggers are now prominently featuring their Linked In information on their blog. Linked In is a social networking tool created exclusively for business people. While there may be information on your Facebook or Myspace account that you’d prefer your best clients NOT see, Linked In is a social networking tool devoted exclusively to the business person.
At one point, there was a hope that Linked In would lead visitors to the business’ blog… but now, the opposite seems to be in effect. As some social networks stumble, blogs for business just seem to be picking up steam!
It takes 8 touches to “connect” with a prospective customer. A blog is a great way to make many of those prerequisite touches and begin building those relationships, not only with customers… but also potential business partners.
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