Archetype of a Blogger's Goal Sheet

By Shri Nagesh

Goals are like map while hitting the unfamiliar road. They direct you to your destination.

I have a vision and I approach it step by step using short-term goals. When I meet one goal, I set another reasonable goal I can achieve, IF I work hard. This allows me to visualize exactly where I want to go and I focus on getting there. As i reach those goals, I gain more confidence and motivation to move forward. When I'm stuck, I don't hesitate to ask for help. It's like a "Treasure Hunt".

Some Great Quotes About Goals:

The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach." -Benjamin Mays

"By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be. Put your future in good hands - your own." -Mark Victor Hansen

If mentors told you this before, I'm sure they did. But nobody ever told you HOW TO. So here is an archetype of a blogger's goal.

So What is your blogging goal?

If you have a strong positive answer and are pretty sure about it, then ignore this article and move forward to achieving your goals.

But if you don't have set goals yet....this IS the first step. List down your long-term & short-term goals. Long-term probably for a period of 6-12 months. And short term goals for a month. (Note: Your goals must be achievable, small, next step goals).

Present Site Statistics as on Date: __________ :

• Google page rank _____________


• Alexa Traffic Ranking _________________


• Google backlinks ________________


• Alexa backlinks _______________


• Yahoo backlinks ________________


• Number of Incoming links ___________

Present Traffic Statistics as on Date: ____________ :

• RSS Feeds Subscribers ______


• Number of site visitors ___________


• Number of page-views ____________


• Average daily visitors ______________


• Average daily page-views ___________


• Opt-in list members _______________


• Numner of Guest posts _____________


• Number of Pingbacks ______________


• Comments ____________


• Twitter following ____________


• Ezine article score _____________

Site goals for the month of ______________:

• Increase google page rank to _____________


• Decreasing alexa traffic ranking below _________________


• Increase google backlinks to ________________


• Increase alexa backlinks to _______________


• Increase yahoo backlinks ________________


• Increase number of Incoming links ___________

Traffic goals for the month of _______________:

• Increase RSS Feeds Subscribers to ______________


• Increase site visitors to ___________


• Increase number of page-views to ____________


• Average daily visitors to ______________


• Average daily page-views ___________


• Increase opt-in subscribers to ______________


• Increase number of pingbacks to ______________


• Increase comments to ____________


• Increase voluntary twitter following to _____________


• Improve ezine article score to ___________

Cross blog networking goals (if you have joined our budding bloggers network):

• Join a team of _________ members


• Participate in __________ number of cross blog conversations


• Request for ___________ guest posts

ONE High Priority Goal Of The Month: ____________________________________________________________

There ends the goal sheet.

P.S. Feel free to copy & print this page. Fill in the blanks, add, remove fields, edit to make it suitable for you. I recommend you to print & stick your goal sheet in your workspace to work as a constant reinforcement strategy.

Shri is an online business consultant for small & medium businesses since 2004. Shri blogs about amiable cross-blog networking to help boost bloggers at SmartAdvise.info and created a community for Budding Bloggers at Budding Bloggers Network.

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25 Unique Ways to Make Your Blog Stand-out

By Shri Nagesh

Amiability: Make your readers feel welcome to your blog. Don't spook your visitor with cluttered text ads, banner ads, affiliate links, popups etc. This leaves limited space for the actual posts.

Unique décor: Choose a unique style for your website. This will leave a lasting impression on the visitors. It gives out a professional look. Imagine a white page with black letters or a web page which looks like a cluttered html lab. There are thousands of themes available, pick the right one that suits your niche, customize it to serve your purpose.

Easy To Navigate: Blogs are known for their bad navigation. Limited place or tabs are available to fit the vast amount of information you amass on the blog. You have to provide links to readers so they can easily browse around your space. You will want to include an about page, contact details, archives among other links.

Revive Latent Posts: Despite the number of advantages of blogs, there is one disadvantage I detest. Blog posts are filed in chronological order and slowly get buried in the archives. Your most important latent articles would need some revival.

Transparency: Don't make false promises. One of the key objectives of any brand is to build consumer trust in its values. So rather than a humbug sales copy that exaggerates or spins the truth, why not just tell the truth in the first place?

Offer something free: Many people just love the word FREE. Your visitors have so much of choice. If you want to keep them, you need to show them how good your products are. This will attract people to your site. Offer them a small free gift for signing up to your email. This is not just to attract people but also as a courtesy for the newsletter sign up.

Don't spam: Keep strict privacy policy and adhere to it. My vocab falls short to stress enough on this point.

Choose the things you offer to people: You need to pay close attention to what you are offering your visitors. Don't just offer because it gets you more commission. Try it out yourself if possible, or browse around for reviews. Mention to people what reviews you went through and how you support them or controvert them.

Genuine: Be yourself. Don't sell yourself as someone else or boast that you are something which you are not. False pretensions don't help build credibility.

Attention to detail: Don't rush. Take time on each thing and draw attention to detail. This will bring out the best in you. As a child I always wanted to finish my work as quickly as possible and end up messing things. I learned to slowed down a little and now I feel things are under my control.

Stay in touch: Once you build a subscriber/ customer email database, you'll need to use that list to stay in touch with them at pre-mentioned intervals (week, fortnight, month or once in a quarter) by sending e-newsletters, special offer emails, special discounts, free products etc. This will help them remember you among your competitors. Over doing this by flooding subscriber inbox will not only lead to higher unsubscriber rate.

ROI (Return On Investment): Don't expect to become rich overnight. Trying to monetize your blog too early can hamper its growth.

Taste: If you have what they are looking for, and instead of just reading about it, if they can savor a little, they are obvious to come for more.

Specialize: specialize in a micro-niche in your area. If you are running a blog on pets, find a micro-niche you are passionate about. Centralize on a that smaller topic. Ex: Pets > Dogs > Great Danes. Master that area.

Frequency of posts: Writing posts at regular intervals will keep your readers informed about your posting habits. If you can't post for some reason, let your readers know about it.

Be Pragmatic: When you are writing a post, think about its practical utility to the readers. The more your posts are written with a mindset to help, the more readers will be attracted to your blog.

Fast: Quicken your speed than competition. You should be able to finish a project in a week which your competition would take to finish in a fortnight.

Conversing Tone in Writing: Blogs should not sound like website. They should have the personal touch and blog posts should be written in conversational tone.

Interact With Readers: You should also take the advantage of comment facility with blogs to interact with your readers.

Hand pick your affiliate programs: Before recommending products to your readers, a blogger must have tried and reviewed the product. If that is not possible, you should have a strong reason why & how your readers are going to benefit from the product.

Reflect Your Personality: Quote: "Imitation is suicide". Come to think of it, Imitating another blogger won't serve any purpose. Your blog's uniquity comes with you and your writing. It should reflect your personality.

Primary Goal Of Your Blog: A focused blog is well admired by readers especially those who subscribve for rss feed. They will know what to expect from your blog. Choose a micro-niche and post continuously about it. Pretty soon, your blog will gain prominence.

Balancing quality & quantity of posts: I see that many bloggers set a goal about number of posts per month. It is great to set such goal, IF you have enough content. Your content should be relevant to your blogs niche and should be of quality.

Organic Posts: Try to write posts about topics that haven't been covered before. Or at least try to add more value to the topics already covered. There is no point in writing the same points which have been covered by hundreds of other blogs.

Catchy Phrases: This point has been stressed upon by every professional blogger. The title should be catchy to attract readers. You could also include an interesting piece of your post to display as excerpt. You will find this under advanced options, if you are running your blog on wordpress.

Keep your blog fresh: Provide fresh interesting content to your readers at regular (stipulated, if possible) intervals.

You need to provide a reason why your visitors should visit your blog among millions of blogs. Do you have a strong reason?

Shri is an online business consultant for small & medium businesses since 2004. Shri blogs about amiable cross-blog networking to help boost bloggers at SmartAdvise.info and created a community for Budding Bloggers at Budding Bloggers Network.

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Blogging Your Way to Big Traffic

By Raj Bedi

There was a time when people used a blog as a way to air out their thoughts, views, opinions and basically anything that they wanted to say. It didn't even matter if other people read these blogs. As long as they could express themselves, it was enough.

Nowadays, blogs have taken a different turn. Rather, people use of blogs for different reasons. Now, instead of just using them as a venue of self-expression, them have become a venue of business and even popular on the web.

There are a lot of websites that offer free blog hosting. People maximize their use of these by signing up, posting interesting content, and at the same time, inserting subtle advertisements for their products.

Having a blog means one thing: in order for you to be successful, you need to be able to generate a constant stream of traffic to your blog. You need to have traffic; otherwise, you'll be getting nowhere with respect to your goals. So how can you blog your way to big traffic? Here are a few tips:

• Post important, significant, and interesting entries

Many people think that when it comes to blogs, it doesn't matter what they put in it. After all, it is their blog. This is true. But if you want to have a surefire way of generating traffic, you need to do more than that. What you need to do is create entries that are of high interest of the general public.

So how do you come up with interesting topics? How can you be sure that the topics you want to post are something that people want to read? With this, you can watch the news, check current events, keep an eye on the current trends such as in fashion, make use of your ears--and turn them into radio to check what people are talking about.

When you post topics that are interesting, it won't take long before bots make their way into your blog. When they do, you can expect traffic to increase after you've been indexed.

• Use the tag and ping method

You may not know about this method, but tagging and pinging can be a great help in increasing web traffic to your blog. Take note that these two are not the same. Tags are used as bookmarks; they are used to classify the content in a blog. In a way, you can say that tags are also keywords and can serve as guides of users to your blog and its contents.

Now, pings are used to let search engines know that you have just updated your blog. There are a lot of sites that ping blogs for free. All you have to do is register your blog and then allow them to ping it. For the next pings of your blog site, you can either do them manually or embed the ping service into your site and automatically ping it with each update.

To optimize usage of these two, it is always good to tag your new post and ping your whole blog site for the update.

• Use popular and heavily used keywords

Another way to direct traffic into your site without any cost is through the use of keywords that people frequently search for in search engines. When you have such keywords in your blog, search engines are more likely to index your article and blog sooner.

To look for these heavily used keywords, you can make use of websites, such as Technorati, which allow you to check the current hottest, or most in demand and used, keywords on the web. Especially with Technorati, you can make use of their Keyword Watchlist service where you can keep track of the keywords searched in search engines.

Once you have the too-hot-to-handle keywords, you can make use of it in your blog posts. With the use of this technique, you are actually helping the search engines find your blog. Through the keywords, you are letting them find you on the web and hence, index you.

However, blogging is not the only way to generate traffic to your site. There are still numerous ways that you can approach your goal.

To learn more about the different strategies for generating traffic, go to http://www.UseTrafficSecrets.com to find out everything you'll ever want to know about generating traffic. Raj Bedi Website Name http://www.usetrafficsecrets.com

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Blogging Really Does Help All Types of Businesses

By Mark A. Abrahams

If a company allows blogging to in filter their online community or customer base they can become very popular. Almost everyone likes to hear personal stories and experiences that happen to real people. Blogging allows this by giving the author an opportunity to share their daily, weekly or life experience with the world. It also creates a relationship with the community that can push the online ratings through the roof. When these individuals feel like they know the author they begin to develop a respect and loyalty that will not soon be forgotten.

Blogging can also help businesses improve their offerings. Not only can blogging give the experience and expertise of the author, but also gain insightful experience from the readers. That's right, every business can improve, but they first must be aware of what to improve and the best way to go about it. Giving customers, potential consumers or visitors a voice on the blog can create a positive environment and also improve the likelihood that they will continue using the said product or service.

Another great feature of blogging for profit is the fact that it can increase traffic and revenue, but in most cases can be done for free. The cost to most blogs is simply the author's time and effort in making it a success. Many blogs are made up of SEO articles and other detailed product information that helps consumers make their decisions wisely. Experience and expertise sells every time and blogging gives business owners the opportunity to offer both.

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.

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Blogging, Personal Or Business

By Mark A. Abrahams

Blogging is a good way to stimulate business and in many cases is completely free. Since blogging can be done on a personal basis it is important that the content remain very neutral on a business based blog. Because everyone has such varied beliefs and moral convictions it is bad business to discuss or promote controversial topics through a business blog. A personal blog may be a different story, but when marketing to the public neutral content is always the best policy.

Now this doesn't mean that the blogger should not express emotional, personal or other experiences related to the site or business. This is perfectly acceptable as long as the average individual would not become offended by it. There are many topics and information that can be used besides something that is highly controversial. Blogging content can be anything from facts about the product itself or customer experiences that shed a positive light on the service. In fact it can be very helpful to have past clients make a statement or referral for potential customers to view. This can help them make their decision by showing them that others are happy or satisfied with the product.

When a company allows a blog it is representative of the company as a whole. That is the reason that it is important to maintain a professional blog space. Blogs can be a company's best friend and increase traffic as well as profits, but on the other hand it can become a nightmare without the correct guidance. Strict guidelines and rules should apply for business blogs to ensure that they promote appropriately.

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.

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5 of the Most Critical Things in Setting Up Your Blog

By Christine Imamshah

It really doesn't matter which blogging platform you chose or what you decide to do with your blog, there are certain required steps that you should not go without doing.

1. Modify & Configure; You want to go through each of the various categories in your blogging platform and update and personalize as much as possible to make your blog unique. Update your profile, add plugins, change your theme to something related to your niche. One of the main things you want to change is the standard "admin" user name to your name. This helps to personalize your blog and will let your readers feel better that there is actually a person behind the blog. You become more relatable and this is exactly what you need to be to keep your readers coming back.

2. Theme Modification - Pick a theme related to your niche and stick with it. You will have to download the theme and then FTP (upload) it onto your Wordpress platform. You do not want to look like "Just another Wordpress Blog" as people will view your blog as uncared for and unfinished, not to mention unprofessional. You are going to be using your blog to draw traffic and you cannot do this by being one amongst the crowd. Always try to stand out. When you change your theme and personalize your blog it begins to feel kind of like your "pet" project so you tend to it more which brings you greater results. Spammers on the internet create blogs but do not usually spend any time upgrading or modifying them so this will also differentiate you from this type of internet pest.

3. Content, Content, Content - Create content as often as you can. Content could be in the form of a written blog post, a video, an audio or a combination of these. Many people pre-produce their content just to avoid a possible "blank" period where they think they may not have any ideas for content. You can do this and upload it to your blog with set dates to be published.

4. Promote Your Content - Your blog requires promotion from you otherwise nobody will visit since they will not know it exists. You want to be writing articles and distributing them all over the internet to the several article directories. Make sure that you put a link in your "Bio" or "About The Author" box back to your blog. Consider using your posts on article sites, exchanges and more - you'll get more traffic if you diversify, so remember to add your site to bookmarking sites - and, encourage your readers to do so too.

5. Have Fun! - Blogging is the ultimate way for you to connect with your visitors as they can leave you comments and you can respond as well. It is highly recommended that you also have an opt-In form at your blog so that your readers can sign up to get communication from you from time to time. This way you build your list of readers to communicate with who hopefully you will eventually be able to turn into customers.

Blogging is a lot of fun as it allows you to express yourself, meet people and make friends online. It is also a way to make a substantial amount of money if you use your blog for business. So you can have the best of both worlds, have fun and make money. Enjoy!

Visit http://www.fastinternetmarketingtips.com for a Free ( $67 Value) traffic product that can help you draw traffic to your blog.

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Blog Profits - Advice For the New Blogger

By Kevin T Hope

Are you trying to make money from your blog? It's not as hard as it seems-here are some tips to get you started.

1. Experiment with different monetization strategies

Take a look at all your options, like adsense and affiliate programs. Be sure to check out other contextual ad systems as well. A blog is valuable real estate, and a well placed ad block or banner ad can bring in a nice stream of money.

2.Use blog posts to review affiliate products

There are an amazing number of affiliate programs available to online marketers. Take a good look around within your niche. Start with products that you own, if these products have affiliate programs. Make videos or do case studies if they are relevant to your niche. To get traffic to your reviews, post related content to article directories.

3. Offer site reviews

Contact other webmasters in related niches, and offer to review them on your blog. You won't be able to command much at first, but as your blog becomes more popular you can scale upwards.

The main thing to understand is that your promotions should be just as helpful as your personal content. Be sure to pick promotions carefully. For example, if you are in the diet niche, make sure you choose products to promote that are helpful to your readers. Be sure to look at helpful related programs, for instance exercise products. In this way you are adding interesting content as well as offering something that will dovetail nicely with your blogs primary focus.

Want your own Blog Profits? Check out http://www.squidoo.com/blogging-income

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Recipe For a Successful and Profitable Blog - Organize Your Ingredients

By Connie Ragen Green

The recipe for a successful business blog all comes down to the ingredients you put in. Just like with a successful meal, you must plan and organize your thoughts and ideas before you head into the kitchen.

It is best to define your niche as specifically as you can before you start blogging. If this is not possible, you must make every effort to continue this refining process until you know exactly who you are talking to and what you want to convey in your blog posts. This is crucial if you are to create and build a profitable online business based on your blog.

Branding your blog with your name, colors, and design will also be a big part of it. You want to send a message to your visitors that goes beyond the text and images they will see. You want them to feel that they have come to the right place to find the information they are searching for.

Choose your blog categories carefully. Start out with just a few and increase them as you begin to talk about new topics. These categories should include your keywords so that the search engines will begin to know what your blog is about very quickly.

There are also places to purchase royalty free clipart, graphics, and photos to use in your posts. These images will make your blog more interesting and tell your story in a different way than if you only used text. But be careful about using too many images, especially cartoon or childish ones, because that can detract from your credibility on your topic.

Now it is time to plan your blogging schedule. To stick with the recipe analogy, you want to have all of your ingredients close at hand before you start cooking your special dish. My goal is to bring the very best content to my readers in a way they can get the most benefit from it. I want them to leave my blog feeling completely satisfied, yet wanting to return for a second helping. This can be achieved by planning and organization.

Enjoy the process of building your blog over time. You are creating a body of work that will affect many thousands of people over time. Don not rush the process or post about things that are not related to your topic. Even when I write about my personal life I tie it into my niche topic so that my readers will again gain better perspective. When they leave a comment on one of my posts, that is the icing on the cake for me.

Connie Ragen Green teaches you how to write articles and eBooks to build an online business, as well as how to use the technology needed. Visit http://www.EbookWritingandMarketingSecrets.com to find out more.

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How to Get Your Website Indexed by Search Engines in 24 Hours Or Less!

By Jordan Jones

If you own a website, maybe you're asking to yourself, "Why my website got zero visits from search engine robots?" Well, if you face the problem that I had in the first month I started my online journey, then Congratulations! Because I've just crack the code about how to get your website visited by the search engine robot in 24 hours or less!

Okay, the very first thing to do is you must install blogging platform on your website. There's so many blogging platform on the internet like Drupal, Blogger, Wordpress, etc.

Next, maybe you already know about Wordpress, Wordpress is a blogging platform that very famous nowadays. Simply I say, Wordpress is the best blogging platform to get your website get search engine robot visit fast! I don't know why.

This is based on my experience. When I build my website, I installed Wordpress, and BAM! Suddenly I got search engine robot visit. You may not believe me, but this really work! One day I write my first post, after I finished, I just post it to my blog and suddenly, the magic happen! My website got indexed fast.

Wordpress have ability to ping your post right after you make it. Simply I say, ping is the simplest way to tell search engine robot that your website has been added a new and fresh content. You know that search engine really in love with highly updated website.

In my opinion, search engine like Google loves Wordpress so much. You can try it for yourself. If your website got indexed by search engine, your website visitor likely will be more targeted and that definitely will make you more sales and money. Try it now for your benefits!

About The Author Copyright (c) Jordan Jones. He is owner of http://www.gepulse.com - a website dedicated to make money online strategy. To get advanced in depth traffic strategy visit my website http://www.gepulse.com/all_about_traffic.html

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How to Get Easy Money For Teens Online Without Spending One Single Dime

By Jordan Jones

As a teenager maybe you ever talked to your self, when can I get a job? Well, in the real world surely you will get a job when your age is enough to do a job (about 17-21 in my country, I don't know yours). But here's something interesting about online job. As a teen you get full access to most make money online program, even if you are still 15 years old, YES, you can make money online.

Personally, I knew someone who makes $1000 a week working only 1 hour online and he's still 15 years old. This all about learn and information. If you got enough information to get you on the right track, then likely you will make money soon.

I will share my simple strategy here for you. This way you will get easy money online for your living.

All right now the very first thing to do is you make a blog about something that you like, I don't know what are your hobby, the ones who know about yourself of course is you! If you like swimming, then make a blog about swimming, if you like motorcycle, makes a blog about motorcycle, and so on. By the way, you can make your blog free on the internet.

After you finished posting to your blog, go to payperpost.com, it is a website that dedicated for people who loves blogging. The minimum requirement is at least you already have 30 posts on your blog and the other requirement can you read on their website. This will make you easy money, the better your post, the bigger you will make money, make your blog post original, don't just copy paste on the internet. If you feel can't make a good blog post writing, you can visit my website to get my secret trick to write any blog topic without being an expert on the topic itself.

This simple strategy will makes you hundreds dollar per month, if you can reach thousands dollar then it is good, you can help your parents with the money you get from the internet.

About The Author Copyright (c) Jordan Jones. He is owner of http://www.gepulse.com - a website dedicated to make money online strategy. To get advanced in depth online video traffic strategy visit my website http://gepulse.com/teens_make_money.html

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Confessions of a Niche Blogger - First 30 Days

By Ian Turkstra

For a variety of reasons, niche blogging is an incredible business model. With the advent and exploding popularity of Wordpress, many people are flocking to become niche bloggers. I will admit it - I am one of them. One month ago, I decided to pay for a niche blogger course and have never looked back since. I would like to focus the whirlwind of my first days niche blogging for profit into a concise article that will hopefully encourage more people to get involved in this fast-paced business.

On Sept 1, I joined Amy Bass' brand new course "The Niche Blogger" which promised to have step by step directions that can be followed to build up a blogging empire. What convinced me to fork over $8.95 per month were two factors: (1) this was aimed at teaching someone with little internet marketing experience and (2) the ultimate goal was to build blogs that would earn passive income indefinitely, then move onto the the next niche with little need to keep updating previous sites. I had been following Amy from Day 1 as she has been building her passive income up to $5000+ per month.

I delved in, and soon became officially addicted. Every day before work, I would login, check the post, and keep it in the back of my mind while I was at my workplace for the day. When I came home from work, I would re-read the day's lesson and then get to work. I would spend lots of time at my computer following Amy's tweaks (from installing wordpress, to configuring little details that make all the difference to overall traffic and progress). The nights would fly by, though at first little actual work was visible on my site.

I followed Amy's detailed advice as I picked a niche and researched it to ensure it wasn't too competitive, and that it was profitable. With excitement, I registered a domain and paid for hosting. I installed wordpress and configured it - all with advice from the detailed lessons in the Niche Blogger course. Once I had my site setup and configured, I started to become proud of my little creation. I decided to track my niche blogger progress on Squidoo for all to see.

About 3 weeks in, with trepidation I wrote, edited, and posted my first blog post! Boy, did I ever feel inspired. From that day on, my blog has been steadily growing. The end of the first month was focussed on pumping out the blog posts and scheduling them for delayed publishing to let the site grow by 2 to 3 entries per week. My first month is almost up, and I should have the first 50 posts written and setup to publish over the next 5 months!

I have reached some considerable milestones. I am already indexed in google, have some good ranking keywords, and am seeing steadily increasing traffic to my first wordpress blog. Amy says the second month of daily teaching lessons is focussed on marketing the blog and driving traffic to it! I am pumped to dominate my first niche. Then it is finish, rinse, and repeat! If you would like more information on how to start niche blogging, I invite you to visit http://www.squidoo.com/thenicheblogger/ today. Watch and learn how I will make $5 to $10 per day by the end of the second month!

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The Ultimate 10 Tips to Write Your Best Ever Post

By Jansen D'Silva

One popular post can bring your more traffic and links than a month's worth of your usual content. Make the next post you write your most popular post ever.

The following ten tips form my key advice for tackling this task. There's no blueprint you can follow to write an incredibly popular post, but you won't have a chance unless you try. I'm confident these tips will give you a good shot at success.

1. Time is more important than talent

Work on something for eight hours and you can bet it will be good. You don't need to spend that long actually. More time means you can refine, format and fill your post with plenty of value. Take the time to really craft your content. It will show in the finished product. It's the quality that matters.

2. Use your best idea

A post will never become wildly popular unless it fulfills a need, and does so emphatically. What's something your niche wants but hasn't got yet? Can you assemble a whole lot of really awesome (targeted) resources in one place? The more your posts helps people, the better it will do.

3. Use formatting to your advantage

These days, social media is key when it comes to launching your posts into the stratosphere. Social media users are notoriously spoiled for choice, however. Use formatting to emphasize the best aspects of your post. Hone in on your funniest lines, your most profound bits of advice, your best resources. Make them stand out.

4. Steal the headlines

There are probably one or two bloggers who've completely mastered the art of writing headlines for social media. The rest of us haven't been blessed with such skills. When you see a great headline, chances are it's option #12 of a dozen choices. Few of us can think of a great headline straight away. Spend ten minutes brainstorming and you're bound to stumble across something that works. A weak headline will cripple your post's chances of success. It's essential that you put a lot of work into getting it right.

5. Invest plenty of value in your post

Ever bookmarked or voted for something without completely reading it? We've all done it. It's because of the 'Wow' factor - the presence of enough promised value in one place gets the reader enthusiastic about the post straight away. Instead of 5 tips, why not share 50? Instead of 9 resources, why not 40 or more? This will make a visitor to bookmark your blog and head right back for more!

6. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

If your post looks good, it will draw readers in. Take the time to add images, thumbnails and formatting to what you create. Make your post a visual feast. With so much web content presented in a bland way, your post is guaranteed to stand out.

7. Let them know what to expect

Readers will skip your waffly introduction. You can say the same in less words, particularly when you're writing for an impatient reader: someone who wants to get straight into your tips/resources/opinions. Use your introduction to highlight why the reader should stick with your post.

8. Send messages with links

The best way to get a blogger to investigate your blog is by linking to them. We've got a natural desire to know what's being said about us. If your post becomes really popular, each link inside it should send enough traffic outwards to be worth investigating. Be generous with your outbound links when writing your most popular post. It gives other bloggers an incentive to link to you, because it's ultimately more promotion for them.

9. Utilize your network

If you want people to Digg, Stumble or Reddit your post, there's no reason why you need to sit back with fingers crossed and hope it happens. Ask them. Your loyal readers like you. You entertain them, or teach them, or help them. If voting is a simple matter of clicking a link they'll be more than happy to do so. Ask for votes in your post and email readers and social media influencers. In most cases you will need to get the snowball rolling. After that, others will do most of the work for you.

10. Review previous posts

It's good to review your previous popular posts to analyze what worked before. Explore what was remarkable with it. It's always good to learn from example. You can transfer these qualities into what you write.

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Blogging to the Bank - How to Start a Blogging Business the Easy Way

By Colleen Slater

Blogging to the bank is actually the name of a successful blogging guide online. However, a lot of people online are making a part-time or full-time living as a niche blogger. I'm going to define exactly what it is and how you can quickly get started.

Some people claim that you can even become addicted to it and that there are thousands of stay at home moms addicted to it in one form or another.

It's Easier To Create A Long Term Business Than You Think Even those who consider running a weblog as a simple hobby can turn their blogs into money making websites. The better your weblog the higher return visitors you will receive and the higher potential income you can create.

What Blogging Can Be Used For One of the more popular and lucrative ways to earn from a blog is by becoming an affiliate and sell other people's products. There are many benefits to promoting other people's products:

• no expensive research
• no expensive start up costs
• no products
• no overheads
• no stock
• no customer service

How To Become An Affiliate

The only thing you need to do to become an affiliate is to sign up for an affiliate program (usually free) and put a link for an affiliate product on your site. Highly recommended affiliate products can be found at:

1. Clickbank
2. CommissionJunction
3. ShareaSale
4. LinkShare

How To Earn Money As An Affiliate Through this, you will earn a commission every time someone clicks on the link and purchases the product being sold. The number of affiliate programs you can sign up for is unlimited. It is advisable though to promote products that are related to the general theme of your website. It doesn't make much sense to promote a product about divorce if you're site is about dating....however a product about dating AFTER divorce would be ideal.

Analysing Desperate Buyers For maximum profit, you should choose an affiliate product that appeals to the target market of your site. If your readership base is made up mostly of young individuals then make sure that the products that you will promote are something that they would be interested in such as dating products or products related to technology...like ipods, iphones, downloads etc.

Paying For Site Reviews You can also get a lot of targeted traffic to your site by paying for site reviews. Recommended Sites include:

• ReviewMe.com
• SponsoredReviews.com

How To Start A Blogging Business If You Have No Experience As with everything in life, it can be extremely difficult to know how to start a new skill. That's why I highly recommend that you spend some time researching how to do it from people who are successful at it. Getting the right guidance from an early stage can put you way in front of other bloggers - and blogging to the bank may become more of a reality for you than a pipe dream.

Colleen Slater is the highly regarded "60 Minute Affiliate". In a period of just 2 years Colleen has created an income of $120,000.00 per year through blogging. Let Colleen help you grow your own blogging business online. Instantly save $30.00 on Firepow professional blogging software and get access to $100s of exclusive bonuses PLUS free UNLIMITED one on one coaching and mentoring with Colleen to help you start your own blogging business. Go to http://www.firepow-software-review.com to start your paid blogging career.

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Successful Internet Marketing With Blogging - Blogging to Success

By Cindy Francis

You can become a successful internet marketer with blogging if you go about it the right way. Blogging is a thriving business online. Millions of people keep blogs, and thousands of new ones are started every day. Blogs were originally thought of as online diaries, meant for friends, family and online fans to read and enjoy. This has changed as people have discovered the money-making potential of a blog. Today, you can actually earn a decent living with blogging if you know the tricks of the trade. Plus, the more blogs you have, the more money you can potentially make. When combined with internet marketing, blogs can become virtual cash machines. You could eventually replace your day job with your blogging income. Lots of other people just like you have done the same thing.

The first thing to do is to decide on a topic for your blog. A blog that makes cash needs a focus. Ask yourself what topics you know a lot about or are interested in? Focus on the topic you love the most, so you'll enjoy writing about it frequently. Next, commit to updating your blog at least three times a week. This is the minimum amount of new content you'll need to attract and retain readers. Finally, choose at least one product to promote with your blog.

You can choose products through one of the affiliate networks online. Clickbank and Commission Junction are two of the most popular, though there are lots of others. Pick a product that's in line with the topic of your blog. For example, if your blog is about natural health for cats, you could become an internet marketer for a cat food cookbook.

With a product chosen, you can promote that product on your blog in one of two ways. First, you can place banner ads or other graphic ads for the product on your blog and keep them there constantly. You could also write occasional blog posts about the product and its benefits (don't make this every post, though, or it will be obvious you're marketing it), and include links to the merchant's page in your posts. Whenever someone buys the product through your links or banners, you get a commission.

If you promote more than one product on your blog, you'll increase your chances of making money. Of course, blogging is only one of many ways to become a successful internet marketer.

If you'd like more help with starting your affiliate marketing business, including a step-by-step plan for success, and a Free Success Guide visit http://www.freemakemoneyreview.com Wealthy Affiliate is the Internet's premier educational resource for affiliate marketers of all levels and has created more 6-figure incomes than any other site online today.

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BCS Web Log (Blog) Code of Conduct

By Arch Brooks

In an effort to establish ground rules for individual wishing to participate in the BCS Blog the following rules must be adhered to in order to retain and maintain credentials to access and participate in the BCS Blog (Web Log). One would not think such a level of description would be required but not all individuals on the we posses common sense and an overall goodwill toward other human beings.

1). All users must register to gain access to the BCS Blog (Web Log). The registration will consist of a valid e mail address, first and last name as well as a password.

2). Users password must be strong with upper and lower case alphanumeric characters and at least one numeric character.

3). Be courteous to all bloggers at all time. If you are determined to participate in flaming or other misconduct your bloqging privileges will be permanently revoked.

4). Content deemed inappropriate will not be posted. No pornographic content; including conversations of gay sex of any nature as well as any content that would not be suited for public school grade levels ranging from kindergarten to twelfth grade will not be posted.

5). Hate speech against any group of individuals will not be tolerated and will not be posted.

Typically the blog is intended for open discussion of almost any topic (as long as it does not violate and aforementioned blog rules). Of course first amendment rights will be preserved as long as they do not violate any of the aforementioned blog rules.

Generally you should not put anything on the BCS Blog (Web Log) that you would not be able to repeat in front of a judge. For those individuals unable to grasp this concept do not post anything on the blog that you would not want your mother read. If this is not eminently clear pleas do not register nor participative in the BCS Blog (Web Log).

Please feel free to contact me at my web site below for further assistance in this as well as other endeavors. Simply click on the free consultation link at the top of every active page on the web site.

Mr. Arch Brooks, Software Engineer http://archbrooks.com

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How to Make the Most of Your Online Business Blog?

By Stephen Lincoln

The online industry is constantly changing and evolving. It is becoming more and more crucial for internet marketers to include an online blog with their business. It can aid you in increasing the traffic volume to your business, allow you to promote various products from your site and give you the opportunity to meet new people and build relationships.

There are several differences to running an online business blog versus a web site. One of the first things you have to realize is that it is far more casual than your web site. The benefit of having a blog is you can be far more conversational and less like a business owner.

This gives you the opportunity to open up and express who you really are. It can be difficult to show your true side with a business web site because you have to focus on being professional and taking care of your customers. With a blog you can focus on interacting and offering your opinion on various topics.

When running an online business blog, it is vital you take the time to post every day. You cannot get away with posting once a week if you want people to keep coming back for more. You have to be devoted to making at least one post a day. This way you can respond to other people's comments and start a new topic from time to time.

There is nothing wrong with staying with each topic for a few days if the conversation continues and everyone has insights. However, you do want to make sure to keep your posts fresh and enticing. There is no point in making a post that people have already talked about in several other blogs and forums.

The easiest way to keep your posts creative and fresh is with research. Take the time to post in forums and find what people are looking for. Find out what questions people have and what kinds of information, they want to learn about.

Do not be afraid to ask people questions either. Just because you are responsible of the blog does not mean you have to be the expert. It is certainly beneficial to know what you are talking about and be able to lead a conversation. However, keep your online business blog open so everyone can offer their opinions and answer your questions.

Running an online blog with your business can prove to be extremely beneficial. It gives you the opportunity to show a whole new side to yourself. You can interact, offer your opinions to topics, and truly bond with prospects and customers of yours

For more blogging tips, visit. Squeaky's - Madmouse Blog

S Lincoln

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Discovered Blogging Secrets

By Ronald Firquain

Blogging for news stories as they unfold is one of the most exciting and controversial applications of technology that bloggers have discovered. One thing that makes your blogging so active is the fact that it is possible to update instantaneously, so the news tends to be more current than the news in the paper, or on television. Unlike news delivered by these other media, news that appears on blogs does not have to travel through a series of editors and administrators before it reaches the public eye. This has some advantages, and some distinct disadvantages.

One of the most notable cases of news hitting blogs before appearing in other media took place in July 2005 when terrorism struck London. As passengers were evacuated from a subway car near an explosion, one man took several photographs of the scene with his cellular phone, and within an hour these images were posted online. First person accounts of the catastrophe began appearing on blogs soon after these photos appeared, and people all over the world learned about the events in London by reading the words and seeing the photos posted by bloggers.

Video blogs has a lot of advantages over text based, and it is little wonder that this new technology is catching on all over the globe. Video blogs very effectively grab the attention of web surfers, and people are much more likely to become excited about the dynamic content of a video blogging than they are likely to find a written posting very thrilling. The more enthusiastic viewers are about a site, the quicker the word of mouth spreads, and the more traffic the site will get.

Of course, there are plenty of disadvantages to video bloggers as well. Hosting a video blog requires quite a bit of server space, which can make it difficult to get started. It takes more time to process and upload a video file than it does to dash off a quick bit of text, which means that running and updating a video blog can be quite a bit of work. In addition, web surfers sometimes grow frustrated with the slow loading times of the files on many video blogs. Whether you opt for a video blog or not depends on what kind of subject matter you want to cover, and how much time you can devote to video blogging. Before you decide to pursue a video blog, consider if there is an easier way for you to get your message across.

If you are blogging with the goal of selling advertising, there are two basic ways that you can go about recruiting sponsors who want to put ads on your site; you can let someone else do all of the legwork, or you can do the work yourself and keep all of the revenue. Within the first group, many people make money blogging by selling space through Google AdSense program. The advantages of this program are numerous, as it requires very little effort on the part of the bloggers or webmaster to begin raking in profits. However, most people discover that they make less money through this method than they had hoped.

If you already spend a fair amount of time on your computer, money may come to you literally as soon as you ask for it. Once you have an established blog with a regular readership, it is easy to turn a profit through advertising. By hosting sponsored links or banners, you can see income from your hobby almost overnight. Even if you did not start your blog intending to turn a profit, making supplementary income it may be easier than you think.

Ronald W. Firquain is a auto mechanic, musician, Arabian horse owner for 20 years, writer, marketer, entrepreneur, webmaster and has 18 years of computer experience. computer tips

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More Blog Comments - What Happens When You Apply Direct Response Selling to Your Blog Content?

By Robert Plank

If you want more traffic, more response and therefore more profits from your online blogs, don't forget to apply what you know about selling and direct response sales letters to content sites and blogs...

Try not to link out to too many sites. On the blogroll on the right side of the page, link only to your own products. Offsite linking includes "chicklets." Have one chicklet, i.e. "Digg this." But not: "Add to My Yahoo!" ... "Add to Reddit!" ... "Add to Bloglines" ... and so on.

Build up a mailing list and send an e-mail to that list every time you make a new post. Also, stay away from AdSense. AdSense is for people too lazy to build a list and make a product. Believe me, that was me too at one point.

I researched how to make WordPress more optimized for search engines: I added meta tags to the header and made a robots.txt file to prevent duplicate content penalties. I also changed the permalink configuration so the full URL of the post was actually revelant. Finally, I tweaked the template so there wouldn't be a bunch of extra text in the TITLE tag.

Got it? Your blog is just another part of your business, it's not "just for fun." It can be fun but it has a purpose. First, it presents you as an authority figure in your niche and allows you to brand yourself. Blogs capture untamed search engine traffic and funnel it into a list or to your other products. In addition, blogs help maintain that relationship with your list and past buyers. When you update them every once in a while, they remember who you are.

A minor side effect is that sometimes the conversation will meander off-topic and give you an idea for your next blog post. That's a pretty good side effect to have, if you ask me.

Robert Plank, internet marketer, PHP programmer, and 23 year old homeowner, made an average of $10,000 per month every month in 2008. Check out his marketing ideas worth STEALING at: http://www.robertplank.com

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More Blog Comments - The 10 Comment Rule

By Robert Plank

Do you want more comments to your blog? Do what I do and implement what I call "The 10-Comment Rule" ... I post a blog entry, but I don't post another one until the original post gets 10 comments.

I have the ten-comment rule because I'm just like you and have been to loser forums with tons of posts and zero replies to all of them.

On a blog, there is less focus on the replies and more on the original post, but that "empty restaurant" effect is still there.

Participation-wise... if someone fills out a comment to a post of mine, they're no longer just surfing. They are now in interactive mode and are more likely to buy from me if I mention a product.

The ten comment rule gets you massive search engine food. Search engines love lots and lots of content, and with comments, your pages can become much longer than the original post... that means more keyword matches for you and more search engine listings.

Finally, there is the intrigue factor. If you see lots of comments on posts you are more likely to read them, which means you spend more time on my site, which means you're more likely to see something you like.

Remember, your blogs are there to make you money. Update it and tell people about yourself, tell them what stuff you are working on and what products you have just put out. Try to work a call-to-action at the end of every blog post. Either you want to send them to a sales letter of yours, sign up to a mailing list or subscribe to an RSS feed.

If you are talking about someone else's blog or site, mention that in the BEGINNING of the post. Don't make that your final call to action (unless it's an affiliate link).

WordPress allows you to write PHP scripts in such a way that it "hooks" into the WordPress blogging software to make anything you thought possible: http://www.wordpressoncrack.com

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How to Get More Blog Comments

By Robert Plank

So you have a blog, but you don't get as many comments as you like. Let's face it, the number of comments on a blog is a good indication of how popular... and therefore how worthwhile... your blog is. If somebody visits your site, and they see tons of entries with zero blog comments, they are going to be less interested in what you have to say than a blog with 10 to 50 comments per post.

I run a blog that gets an average of 100 very good and thoughtful comments per month. That's right, as of this writing my blog is almost 10 months old and I have a total of 1100 approved comments. My most popular blog entry has 69 comments! I only write an average of 5 new blog posts per month... that's about one per week. I get 5000 unique visitors per month, so how do I get 2% of my readership to contribute their own content and link back to my site?

End each blog post with a clear call to action. That will get you half of the way there. When you post an article to article sites, don't you include a resource box at the end? When you post to forums, don't you included a signature? In the same way, you need to transition from your blog post either to the product you are promoting or to get your readers to leave a comment under your post.

Unlike a forum post or article submission, you can transition smoothly into your call to action. Just treat your post like a sales letter, except the "order button" you want people to click on is really your blog reply form.

Finally, use your blog to build a list and keep sending that list back to the blog when you make updates. That's the whole point of your blog anyway, right? To build a list and make some sales? Don't be shy, place a newsletter opt-in form on your sidebar and on each blog post. After people sign up, send a quick message letting them know how reading that blog post will benefit them. Arouse curiosity and keep your messages short and to the point.

Those are the bare bones basics to getting more blog comments: end with a clear call-to-action, transition to that call-to-action, and build a list which you can use to follow up with for later blog posts.

What is Robert Plank's "Ten Comment Rule" and how can you use it to get more blog comments by actually threatening your prospects and customers? Read here: http://www.robertplank.com/the-10-comment-rule

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Grow Your Business - Start a Blog

By Neil Baillie

Does your business have a blog? If the answer to that question is no, then you are leaving money on the table.

Blogging has become one of the most valuable tools that a business can employ. Corporate blogs are increasing all the time and business owners are realising what a great marketing tool it is.

All businesses need customers and happy customers at that. A blog can provide an invaluable platform for your customers to provide feedback. Wouldn't you want to know if they enjoyed your product, your customer service, the buying experience? Wouldn't you want to know if there was anything that they didn't like? Wouldn't you want to know if there was anything that they felt could be improved?

Of course you would. Who wouldn't? This kind of feedback is invaluable to any business, more valuable than any market research and no where near as costly.

When you allow customers to leave comments about your product on your blog you show them that you value their custom and are willing to listen to what they have to say. You might make the product, but your customer is the one who puts it to use and therefore your customer is the one who will find problems with it first. Believe me, you may think you have covered every contingency, but your customers will find problems that you have never even considered.

A blog is also a good way to keep customers informed about new products on the horizon. Wouldn't you like to pre-sell your upcoming products? Your business blog will let you list your products features long before it ever hits the stores. You can get your customers excited at the thought of your new product. Once you have their interest you can tantalise them with sneak previews. By the time your product hits the stores your customers will be first in the queue.

As a public relations tool, your blog is priceless. You can pre-empt any corporate scandal long before it hits the news stand. You can inform your customers about changes to your company structure, promotions etc.

In conclusion, your company blog is probably your biggest free asset, indispensable if used in the proper manner. By giving your customers the right to leave comments, you are showing them you care about their opinions. So, if you run a business and you don't have a blog, then you're going to get left behind while your competitors reap the rewards.

For more blogging and home business tips check out my blog at http://www.what-home-business.net/blog To find out more about money making blogs http://www.squidoo.com/incomefromblogs/

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Can You Really Make Money From Blogging?

By Neil Baillie

If you're looking to start an internet business and have little or no marketing experience, then blogging can provide the ideal solution. Starting with no list, no traffic and no experience a complete newbie can start to make money from blogging in the very first week. You don't have to have a website to blog, there are hundreds of free sites on the internet who will let you create a blog for free.

With a new blog being created every second of the day, blogging is fast becoming the next big thing in internet marketing. Now is the time to get involved. Your blog is a portal to the rest of the world, where you can say what you like (within reason), and people will listen.

Whether you are passionate about the latest fashions or whether you are an expert in the world of high finance, people want to know what you have to say. Your opinions have the power to influence people in ways you wouldn't realise. When you run a blog you are immediately afforded a certain amount of prestige. Your comments and opinions carry weight. Your readers become your friends and trust your judgment - and rightly so. A successful blog can hold readers spellbound with its comments, captivated by its content and enthralled by its eloquence. In short, your blog is the chance for you to get your ideas out there and your readers will be hanging on your every word. Do you know why? Blogs are personal. By their very nature blogs are written in a conversational tone that makes the reader think that you are writing only for him. And you are! You are carrying on a one to one conversation with, possibly, hundreds of people at the same time.

Blogging is easy and its fairly easy to make money from your blogging, but you do have to know the correct techniques.

The search engines love blogs and blogs always rank highly on their search results. Higher ranked pages means more traffic and more traffic means more potential customers. You see where I'm going here? More customers means more money for you.

There is no limit to the amount of blogs you can create, your blogs can be about anything you want. The more blogs you have, the easier it will be to make money, but you have to do it properly. By using proven blogging techniques you can easily start to dominate the market for your chosen niche. And once you learn the techniques you can do it again and again and again.

For more blogging and home business tips check out my blog at http://www.what-home-business.net/blog To find out more about money making blogs http://www.squidoo.com/incomefromblogs/

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Bucks From Blogging

By Neil Baillie

Is it possible to make money with blogs? The short answer is yes, yes and yes. If you are looking to start up a business with no capital outlay, then blogging is the way to go. It really is easy. There are bloggers who make thousands of dollars a month blogging and this is their main source of income. Is that realistic for a newbie? No, well at least not at first. There are many ways to monetize your blog and you are only limited by the time that you put into it. That's the beauty of blogging, you can spend a little time blogging about your passion or you can spend hours online building up a profitable business. This business model is successful in so many different levels. Best of all it really is achievable.

As a blogger, you are held in some esteem by your readers. You are considered an expert on your topic. Some blogs have become so influential, that they are often sited by mainstream news organisations as a source of information that they can trust.

Your blog is your own personal space on the internet where your readers come to interact with you. The best thing is, they come by choice and they stay by choice. The fact that they keep returning is testimony to your content. The more your readers return, the more chance they will become customers.

The other great thing about blogs is the fact that your readers can leave comments in real time, allowing you to interact completely with them.

To keep your readers coming back, however you need to update it regularly. Keep your readers interested and keep your content fresh and original. If you don't update your content your visitors won't come back and worse, you will be penalised by the search engines.

Search engines love blogs and they always rank high in the search results. For this reason alone, it is imperative that you keep your blog updated. A high search engine ranking will pull in casual browsers who will visit your site, stay and become valuable customers.

In short, your blog is a goldmine, and if you're not taking advantage of the money making opportunities that are available, you are leaving money on the table. If you don't pick it up, someone else will.

For more blogging and home business tips check out my blog at http://www.what-home-business.net/blog To find out more about money making blogs http://www.squidoo.com/incomefromblogs/

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Blog Marketing - Your Affiliate Business

By Neil Baillie

Many affiliate marketers spend time setting up landing pages to promote their affiliate products. Some marketers set up a single site, with each product on a different page while others set up a new site for each different product that they're promoting. But guess what, setting up a website, sourcing graphics, buying a domain name and setting up a hosting account can be expensive, especially if you don't have the skills yourself. Professional web designers can aren't cheap and the costs can soon mount up.

There is another way, a better way. Use your blog as your own personal sales assistant. Blogs are free to set up and there are many other ways to earn money from your blog.

Take advantage of your readership your blog will already have a loyal following of readers who trust your judgment. If you are promoting a product that you believe they will benefit from, tell them. Don't preach or go for the hard sell. Your readers are too important for that. Just tell them of the amazing new product or service you've found, how it helped you and how you think it will help your readers.

It will be much more palatable coming from you (a blogger that they trust), than coming from a complete strangers web site whose sole purpose is to sell you their product whether they know the customer or not.

Do you see a pattern here? You, as a blogger, are trusted. Most of your reader will consider you an expert and if you tell them that a particular product is worth buying then they will believe you. In short, your readers are more likely to buy something if you tell them to than if they landed on a sales page, selling them the same product, while browsing.

The upshot is, your blog is the greatest asset you have when it comes to selling your affiliate products. Use your influence with your readers. Tell them what to buy and why they should buy it and they will buy it. If you do it tactfully without pushing the product too hard, your readers will become customers. You can start a new blog for every product you are promoting or you can promote all your products from the same blog. This is a great business model, especially if you're on a tight budget. As I mentioned earlier, blogging is free to set up. Once you have made a few sales and the commissions start to mount up, then there's no reason why you can't use some of your earnings to promote your business through more traditional advertising methods. The best thing, though, is that you don't ever have to pay a dime if you don't want to.

It's your business. Use your blog to your advantage. If you don't, one of your competitors will.

For more blogging and home business tips check out my blog at http://www.what-home-business.net/blog To find out more about money making blogs http://www.squidoo.com/incomefromblogs/

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Is it Easier to Make Money With Blogs Or Static Websites?

By Kevin T Hope

As more and more people discover the benefits of internet marketing, the question that is sure to come up is "Is it easier to make money with blogs or static websites? This is a great question, because the proper choice of tools and techniques can mean the difference between success and failure.

For me, the answer is simple. Blogs are superior for most projects, especially for the new marketer. I have a handful of reasons for believing this.

The Learning Curve

While learning to build a website is an admirable goal, it can be difficult for a new person to get a grasp on using HTML, much less CSS, PHP, or Java. In contrast, the wordpress blogging platform takes a few minutes to download, one quick modification, and a minute or two to upload. This is detailed by the "Famous 5 minute Wordpress Install" on the wordpress webpage.

The Cost

Another factor is the cost of software. Although there are free HTML editors out there, they are limited in functionality. Buying more advanced software comes with a higher learning curve as well as a higher price tag.

Speed of Use

Updating a webpage can be a big project...writing the content, applying it to the web template being used(or creating a new template), uploading the page using ftp software....

Luckily, you can just log in to your blogs control panel and hit "create new post" and add your content.

Adaptability

Decided you don't like the look of your page? Need to change colors, layouts, or add and remove functions? Good thing you're a blogger! Unlike conventional pages, you can quickly change themes, layouts, plug-ins, and monetization strategies. That's an all day affair with a static page, unless you want to just pay a web designer to do it.

For tips on how to Earn Money Blogging Click over to http://www.squidoo.com/blogging-income

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Tips For the Business of Blogging For Business

By Katy Tafoya

Have you ever considered using blogging to help spread the word about your business, or to put yourself out there as an expert? According to a recent BlogHer survey, "36.2 million women actively participate in the blogosphere every week." We're talking about women so passionate about their blogs that they're more willing to give up alcohol, PDAs, iPods, newspapers, and magazines than their blogging habit.

All those women just might be on to something. So here's a quick guide to help make the blogosphere a little less daunting ...

What Is Blogging?

Blogging is a platform where anyone can become a published writer at the push of a button. It can be anything from a daily journal to a group of links to a source of information or even a sales pitch. Blogs can consist of text, audio clips, video, music, photos, recipes, how-to tips- really, anything you can think of. Readers of the blog can type in their comments at the bottom of each entry.

Maintaining a blog is actually quite simple. If you can chat with your girlfriends, mother, sister, or co-workers, then you can blog. Just be honest and insightful. Keep the tone casual and breezy. Use short blocks of text and try to stick to one topic per post (it doesn't always work that way, so don't stress over this). An easy recipe for blogging: Write about a problem and offer up a solution.

How Can Blogging Help My Business?

Search engines like Web sites that are updated on a regular basis. Search engines love blogs because they are updated regularly. In addition, with more content available in a blog than in a static Web site, there is a greater likelihood that your business will show up more than once in search results.

With blogging you establish your own voice and lay your claim on a piece of the Internet. Blogging is much like creating an interactive newsletter. It enables you to have a conversation and be part of a community where you can interact with potential customers.

What Do I Need to Start Blogging?

Starting a blog is simple and only requires a few basic tools: a computer, Internet access, blogging software (I recommend WordPress; you can download it for free at http://wordpress.org/), and something to blog about. You do not need your own Web site to blog. In fact, many small businesses use a blog as their Web site since they are often free or inexpensive. (And remember that you can also create your own blog in the Ladies Who Launch online network.)

How Often Should I Blog?

Any form of marketing takes an investment of time, and a successful blog does too. If you're writing your own blog, you should consider posting at least two to three times a week. The more consistent you are, the more readily your readers will follow along and the more content you'll have out there for the search engines to find. The more easily you and your business can be found in search results, the more likely you'll be contacted by interested parties, who may either be seeking someone in your field to be called upon as an expert, or by someone who might be interested in your products or services.

If you think that you might not be ready for the time investment needed to start your own blog, then offer to guest blog for other sites that relate to your field. You're an expert in what you do; don't be afraid to share your knowledge. It's a win/win situation for all involved-your name and brand get out there and the site hosting your guest blog doesn't have to write its own content for that day.

Additionally, you should be leaving comments on at least five relevant blogs a couple of times a week. When you leave comments, you naturally leave links back to your blog (by creating a hyperlink out of your name-this is automatic). Again, these incoming links to your blog help your search-engine rankings and can lead to potential new readers and new customers. Just remember that your comments should be relevant and not spammy.

How Do I Find Good Blogs to Read?

If you're looking for blogs to read, here are three easy ways to find some:

1. You can do a Google search under "Blogs" (use the pull-down menu under "More" on the main Google search page, then click on "Blogs"). Search using any keywords or topics that interest you.


2. Once you've found a blog or two that you like, look to see if they have a sidebar list of other blogs (sometimes called a "blogroll"). The blogroll is like a personal recommendation list of blogs that this particular writer reads, likes, or finds useful.


3. Pay attention to the reader comments: If you like what someone has to say, click on their name and it will link back to their site.

Like anything related to building your brand and marketing, blogging is just something you should do. Take a moment and schedule it into your calendar. If you're confused, ask for help or take a class. You never know, you just might find yourself enjoying it. Those 36.2 million women must be having fun and learning something to keep them coming back day after day. Can't wait to see you in the blogosphere!

Katy Tafoya (katytafoya.com) is a business coach specializing in using social media to help small businesses and solopreneurs increase their visibility. She is also the owner and editor of http://www.ConstantChatter.com - an interactive online women's community and blog.

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Craft Blogging - Writing a Craft Blog is Money in the Bank!

By Gordon Carew

If you're not craft blogging you're missing out on the single most cost-effective communication resource your craft business has at it's disposal.

You're failing to reach your existing customers as easily as you could and you're missing a massive opportunity to attract new customers.

Put simply, running a craft business blog could transform your income.

If you think I'm exaggerating then you don't understand the impact a properly run craft blog can have.

Don't believe me? Not convinced? Let's look at a cost-versus-benefit scenario.

If you already have a craft business website then adding a blog to it will cost you precisely nothing. Wordpress, the blogging platform almost all the pros use, is free and depending on who hosts your website you can probably install it yourself with a few mouse clicks.

Even if you don't yet have your own website your cost to set up a craft blog will be a paltry $15 with monthly hosting fees of under $5. If you think you can't afford that then eat one takeout less a month and you're covered.

Actually, by month two your craft blog will probably be in profit so you only have to miss one takeout, not one a month!

But seriously, when you're getting started those are your only costs. You can choose from hundreds of free "themes" to customise how your blog looks and you can install free "plug-ins" that get you ranked better in the search engines and perform all kinds of other useful tasks for you.

So the up front costs are negligible. You don't have to worry about it being too complicated either. Although I'm using terms like "themes" and "plug-ins" it's no more complex than copying a file from one place to another. Put it another way, if you can send email you can set up your own craft blog and run it successfully.

So we've got costs out of the way, we've got any concerns over the technology out of the way, what about the benefits?

It can take as little as five minutes to add a "post" to your blog (a "post" is just what we call the short articles you add). That post can be seen by anyone, any time of the day or night. Can you tell me an easier way of keeping in touch with people?

The search engines love blogs. It can take six months for a new website to rank in the search engines but a blog can be there in a week or two - even just a few days in some cases.

People love blogs. A regularly updated blog is fresh and lively. It's full of information. Your potential customer doesn't feel like they're being "sold to" and yet your message is getting across load and clear.

It's easy for your customer to keep up to date with what's going on as well. People are increasingly reluctant to give you their email address but are more than happy to subscribe to your RSS feed.

You can also earn money directly from your craft blog in a number of ways that you may not have considered. In fact all my craft blogs are independently profitable.

Let me show you how simple craft blogging can be and give you a valuable free gift at Craft Business Blogging.

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