Oct
31
When you first discover blogging, you’re excited. You start up a new blog, create your first blog post, and you’re off.
The next few days you’re still excited, so you find something to blog about each day. You’ve collected information over the years so finding a new topic isn’t hard. You write and post, excited about Read more
Oct
28
Blogging With Photographs - Ways To Find Pictures That Complement Your Blog Post
Filed Under Blog Resources | Leave a Comment
The purpose of a blog is to bring in readers that will find your information beneficial, and choose to follow you and possibly connect with you to do business. For most of us, a blog wouldn’t be the same if it didn’t have photographs.
As a photographer, it may seem as if I have it easy to find pictures - just look through my own files, right?
But it really can be a lot more complicated than that. What if I’m creating a storyline, and I want to show a photograph of an orange?
Sure I can stop what I’m doing and run to photograph an orange, process it, and use it - after 15-20 minutes of work. Instead, why not use the resources right in front of you?
Oct
24
Blogging For Business Tip #7
Filed Under Blogging Tips | Leave a Comment
You’re blogging along.
Your blog is new and you enjoy writing.
Then you have another great idea. You start planning an event and a new product.
You take on a new client that requires a lot of time.
And you forget about blogging.
I hear that same scenario again and again.
What about marketing? Do you forget to mail out your postcards when a client keeps you busy? Or do you forget to put your ad together because you’re planning an event? Of course not.
But somehow blogging is different bec
ause it takes time. When really all it comes down to is time management.
Remember, the best thing about your blog is the calendar feature - you can release a new blog post whenever you like - just change the time and date.
Two strategies that work well.
1. One day a week write several blog posts and post date them. If Monday mornings are quiet, schedule an hour or two and write.
2. Set up your days with writing ideas. Maybe Monday is "How To" day. Tuesday is "Find A Resource" day. Wednesday is "Practical Tip" day. Thursday is "Case Study" day. And Friday is "Inspiration" day.
The important thing is to create your system ahead of time, and know what it takes to get the job done.
Oct
20
What’s Your Niche? What If You Could Get Paid To Blog About It?
Filed Under Blog Resources | 1 Comment
Whatever business you’re currently in, what if you could turn one tiny piece of it into a full time stream of income?
In many cases I’ve reported statistics on blogging, and the numbers are quite large. But what you also have to realize is that most people create blogs as journals for things happening in their lives. Very few businesses - especially in the detailed, niche industries - take it seriously and blog for their business.
Which leaves huge opportunities for us!
Imagine having a health spa that services a local community. You have a variety of products and services, all helping women lose weight, maintain their optimum 
weight, and look good in the process. What if you became an expert of maintaining your optimum weight, and got paid to write about it?
That’s the reality of blogging.
I read a great article on Read Write Web that listed what if feasible in the online world. Can a person make money blogging? Can a person make money consulting about their niche through blogging? While this is a new industry without a huge number of case studies, the overwhelming answer is yes.
Which got me to thinking: Why can’t you combine what you love (your business) with blogging, and sell your services to help build your expertise along with other companies you partner up with?
You’re helping your partner by giving them quality content. Their helping you by allowing you to share your expertise - and getting paid in the process.
Most business owners will tell you the most difficult thing about being online is the content. They simply don’t know what to say. So if you provide them with the "what to say", you’re taking a huge task off of their shoulders.
So the small business owner of a health spa, from above, that sells weight loss and maintenance coaching to her clients, could easily team up with a small grocery chain as their "weight maintenance expert".
It’s about building your business first, showcasing your talents, and offering what you do - for a price - to others that can also benefit. Are you blogging?
Oct
15
No matter what industry you are in, its fun to get involved in something that affects people across the globe. And as a blogger, the way to get involved is Blog Action Day.
Today is Blog Action Day - the day bloggers from around the world get together and blog on one common topic related to their blog focus. And the topic this year is poverty. With 10, 667 blogs participating, I’m anxious to see what the rest of the world has to say.
Because this is a blog about blogging, I figured the best way to get involved is to find other blogs I enjoyed reading, and link to them here. Let’s see what others have to say about today’s Blog Action topic of poverty.
Vision Of Success
I’ll start by linking to my own post on my other blog. One of my passions is education and reading, and giving kids the love of a good book.
ThreeBillion
An interesting perspective on the business behind youth culture - the statistics alone are well worth the read.
ThatOneCaveman
His post on educating children fits right in with my vision. He also has an interesting perspective on financial news.
PutThingsOff
I never looked at myself as part of the 22% club - a very interesting take on the life we lead.
MyBellaVita
The idea behind a blog post is to bring you to the site and make you want to stay to read more. Mission accomplished here - wow. I think I may have to visit Italy soon.
andipantz
It’s so amazing to find a blog you have so much in common with. Andrea is a self-taught photographer currently an exclusive photographer and image inspector with istockphoto. hmmm… Guess I’ll have to see how we can connect with my VirtualPhotographyStudio site. connections, connections
As a blogger, hopefully you see how easy it is to use just a few minutes of your time to find some valuable resources. Blogging brings you together. Use it to find information you’ve never seen before, and connect with people that just might help you become better at blogging.
Oct
14
Everyone says you should be blogging - but the real question is "Why?"
Maybe you don’t like writing, and the thought of having to come up with 500 word posts on a regular basis is, well, somewhat unfathomable.
It’s much easier doing something when you understand the real purpose behind it.
So if you use postcards, and mail 2500 out every month, you understand the process and why it works.
But if you don’t understand the overall process behind blogging, why do it? Why waste your time when you and your office staff are the only one’s reading?
Blogging helps your business in these 5 ways:
1. It puts quality information out in the online world that people will find and connect to. A few weeks ago I wrote an article Recession Proof Your Small Business. It touched quite a few nerves, and it soon was linked up with several other popular blogs. Now my content is being read not just by people on my blog, but also on many others. And ultimately it brings the traffic back to me.
2. It proves your expertise. Let’s say someone finds my article from #1 on another site, and follows the link over to my blog. They read my complete article on Recession Proof Your Small Business, and then they start looking around. The more they read, the more they begin to trust what I have to say. I’m now a blogging expert in their eyes. (But only if I have enough information for them to browse through and prove it in their eyes.)
3. It feeds your social networking sites. Head over to Facebook (or one of the many other social sites). You can attach your blog feed to your Facebook profile - which means each blog post is being put in front of all of your friends and connections. And this happens automatically. 
4. It allows you to easily capture long tail keywords. Let’s say you have a phrase that people use quite a bit in your industry, and you would love to rank in the top 10. With a blog - it’s easy. A month ago I created a blog post "Micro Blogging By Email". I’m currently number 3 out of 1,710,000 results in Google.
5. It gives you a place to do business. Have a new product? Blog about it. Have resources to share with your clients? Blog about it. Blogging gives you a way to stay in touch with your customers - for virtually no cost.
All you really need is a blogging strategy. Start with a custom designed blog. Then create your blogging strategy. The rest will soon fall into place.
Oct
9
Blogging For Success - A Full Time Income By Sharing Your Thoughts
Filed Under Blogging Success | 1 Comment
The focus of my blog is to share ideas to help you take your business online, and make money within your business by using a blog. Many business owners already have a business in place, and simply want to sell their existing products and services. Online marketing gives them the tool to expand out fro
m their local target market.
But there are also many bloggers that start blogging for the fun of it, and slowly build a business from the popularity they receive as a blogger. Dooce.com is such a site.
The owner, Heather, has been blogging for years about her life - from dating, to marriage, and now to kids - and shares a wide range of ideas and opinions on life. She makes enough now (about $40k per month) to afford her and her husband the lifestyle of making this their "full time" position. Not bad work, eh?
Two things make a site like this so valuable: traffic and content.
As a business owner, no matter what products or services you sell, these same two items apply to you.
You have to have content to become successful. Write, write, and write some more. Even if you spend the first few months writing, and you’re the only one reading, its imperative that you get the content out there.
Once you have a system in place for growing your content, its time to find readers. You must give them what they want, and supply it in such a manner that they have the desire to come back. Just like you create products for niche markets, your blog must reach out to your target audience, and communicate in a manner that will attract attention.
Take your first step today!
Oct
7
Are you Google-able?
Filed Under Social Sites | Leave a Comment
Why do you blog? Why are you active on social networking sites?
Chances are at least one of your reasons is to be found by both your customers, and by search engines like Google.
Not only can blogging and linking your blogs to social sites help you build your business, but it can also help you with many other tasks.
Human resource departments regularly Google potential employees to find out what information exists online. Does it agree with the information they put on their applications, or does it differ?
Another recent article spoke of lawyers using Google and Facebook to do background checks on potential jury selections. Does the information online agree with what they filled in on questionnaires? Places like Facebook also allow you to connect with different groups, depending on beliefs and interests. With just a quick search, you can establish a pretty good feeling of the interests and beliefs a person holds true.
Social sites are giving people a new way of not only sharing information, but also developing a sense of character. As long as you remain true to who you are and what you post online, you’ll develop a strong profile in the online world.
Oct
6
Do you have a green site? Is your site all about alternative energy, living in green housing, or planting trees?
Social bookmarking is a way for people to track sites they find useful, and share those sites with your friends and followers. Many people use sites like Digg and de.licio.us to mark their favorites, but you can sometimes get lost in the masses. They’ve grown so large, unless you have a huge following, your chances of making the home page are slim.
Which is one of the reasons I love finding smaller, more niched bookmarking sites, like Green Living Feeds.
If you are a green blogger, or follow green news regularly and have articles and resources to share, Green Living Feeds may be the perfect place for you.
Oct
3
So You Want To Be A Millionaire
Filed Under Blogging Success | 1 Comment
What would you do if someone dropped $15 million into your lap - all to buy a blog you’ve been running as a solopreneur?
Not a bad job if you can get it.
According to Paid Content, that’s what happened to John Wu, solo owner and blogger for Bankaholic.com Bankaholic provides a wealth of information on deposits, savings accounts, money markets, bank rates - really anything that has to do with the financial world. With the immediate crisis in the banking and loan world, it’s nice to think that BankRate, the company acquiring Bankaholic, can actually afford to spend the $15 million on a blog site. 
What makes a site like Bankaholic so valuable? Ultimately it comes down to traffic. With an Alexa ranking of 41,904, and a Pagerank of 5/10, plus high ranking keywords, it’s great at dr iving traffic to the site. For instance, under the keyword "money market rates" Bankaholic comes up number 2. Not bad.
So what can you do to start growing your own blog? What niche can you go after? What keywords can you rank high on?
It could be well worth your time.
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