Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Monday, February 5, 2007
Making Money With Blogs
Make Money By Writing And Publishing Small Articles On The Internet
Right now, thousands of people from around the world, from professional authors to my sister-in-law, are using small, simple articles to make money on the Internet.
How much money can you make writing articles?
Well, that is going to vary from person to person, and a lot of other factors are involved as well. It's not simply how good a writer you are, but the subjects you choose to write about, how you address the subject, where you place your articles, how many sites you get your articles on, how valuable the information is, and the site(s) you link to with your articles. A few small, 600 to 1000 words, articles properly placed can create regular customers and sales while enhancing an internet business website ranking within the search engines...which also increases traffic to the website. Increased traffic can translate to increased customers, therefore more sales, and, in some cases, repeat sales, which translates to residual (passive)
Some people make thousands of dollars while others just make a few bucks. However, the technique is simple and it's a game that almost anyone can play. Even my sister-in-law figured out that if she simply wrote about some of the problems she encountered growing up, there would be places where her articles could be published, people who would read those articles, and a means of linking from those articles to a site she and her husband have on the internet.
So, what IS the technique for making money with small articles?
In most cases, the first step is to decide on what the general subject is you wish to write about. In this case, I have chosen to write about writing. The general subject is then narrowed down to a niche. Again, in this case, I have chosen to write about how to write small articles for profit. Someone interested in bicycling may write about racing, or even narrow the niche to a specific sort of bike racing or type of racing bike.
The niche should be related to the product. The product may be a physical product, a service, or information. Some people will have a product already. Our bicycle enthusiast above may own a bicycle store or sell bicycle parts and accessories over the internet. I offer various services and information related to writing and publishing articles, so I have chosen to write an article on writing articles...for profit!!
It is important in most cases that you choose a product or service that you enjoy talking or writing about. If you pick a product JUST to make money, but don't really care about the area of interest, you will lose your motivation during periods when income is small or slow. It is a reality, by the way, that the first few days, weeks, or even months may be periods where you will make little or no money. An interest in your topic will help keep you coming back to "open your store".
What if you don't already have a product?
There are many sites on the internet where you can find people or companies which will be happy to pay you a commission for bringing them buying customers. Most of these "affiliate programs" will only pay if the customer you send to them actually buys something. Years ago, you could find programs which would pay an affiliate for a click-thru, but, of course, many people would just sit and click on the link or have friends click on the link in order to generate income, so that went away.
Some places where you can find products with affiliate programs are ClickBank.com, commission Junction (cj.com), and Link Share (linkshare.com). If you cannot find a product or company that meets your interests, just do a search on related topics and request "affiliate program" with the search. You may have to kiss a few frogs, but there are good affiliate programs in just about every field.
What do you do with your articles?
Make your own website:
Obviously, if you have several articles on a subject, you can always create your own website. A benefit of having your own website is that you control the set-up of your articles and you have complete editorial control of both the articles themselves and the website. You can add, subtract, and edit as you wish, and you can create any potentially profitable links as you desire.
The drawbacks are that your website, and article, exposure will be only as good as your search engine optimization efforts will make it and that your articles will be confined to one spot on the web. You will also have to learn something about website design, buy hosting, register domain names, and provide periodic maintenance, just to name a few responsibilities. If you want to try this route, you might want to cut your teeth with free hosting and, once you have gained competence and confidence, register a domain and host your own site yourself.
Create a blog:
There are a myriad of places to create blogs on the internet, and most of them are free. If you are a prolific writer, a blog may be perfect as you can regularly update your blog with new material. Even if you don't turn out articles regularly, you can fill in with material from the article directories, which we will talk about in a moment. Again, you will have control over most of the linking, but free services are sometimes limited in what they will allow you to do. For one example, I once tried to place a banner for an affiliate program on one of my blogs and it threw the positioning of everything out of whack. However, if you can offer interesting and relevant information on your topic and update it regularly, you can create a good amount of traffic to your business or affiliate program.
Post your articles on forums:
There are a kazillion (my spell checker hates that non-word) forums on the Internet, and you can find at least one for almost any topic or subject area. Many will allow you to create a signature which can include a link to your internet business website. Regularly posting relevant and interesting articles on these sites can create a lot of traffic, and sometimes contribute to enhancing your ranking and placement on various search engines.
Post your articles on article directories:
This is my absolute most favorite type, kind, and sort of method. Once you have written an article, you can go to any one of several good article directories and post your article. Article sites will allow you to include a link to your site. Be aware, however, that many sites will not allow linking directly to an affiliate link provided by the company you are affiliated with, so you may wind up having to create an intermediate information site or portal anyway.
Since this article may appear on several different article directories, I won't mention any specific article directories here, but, if you are seeing this article on an article directory, I possibly posted it there...which brings me to a benefit of posting your article on article directories.
Obviously, the more exposure you get for your article the better...in most cases at least. However, it can be a real pain to go from one article directory to another, cutting and pasting and dealing with the rules or restrictions particular to each site. Since many sites allow for your article, with your byline or links attached, to be copied by others, your article may be copied and placed on other sites or used in ezines. Those placed on other websites create new links back to your site, enhancing the value of your site in the eyes of the search engine spiders, and possibly bringing in new customers.
Still, you are faced with the bother of manually placing each new article on several different sites with different requirements. One way around this is to purchase the services of an article submission service. For a fee, these companies will, once you have posted an article on their site, submit it to several different article directories and forums. This can increase your exposure exponentially.
As with many things, there are few overnight successes. If you are able and willing to write at least a few articles and find places to post, them, however, you will be able to create the start of an Internet success story. The key is not to give up just because nothing happens right away. This is why you choose an area which pleases and interests you. If you are working in such an area, you will find it much easier to continue creating articles even if you are not immediately experiencing fantastic results.
Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. He is a University of West Florida alumnus, a member of Mensa, and is retired from the U. S. Army. He posts many of his articles on his poetry and writing blog at http://ravensong-poetry.blogspot.com/ .
Sunday, January 21, 2007
12 Steps to Creating Your First Info Product
This is a great post. For all of us online marketers and those new to online marketing, creating your own informational product targeted to a specific niche online is absolutly the quickest and easiest way to build an opt in email list that can be marketed to over and over.
If you think about it. Trying to compete within the home business arena is almost like an excercise in futility right now, unless you have an unlimited budget or can joint venture right away.
But if you can target a market, create a product that fills a void in that market, then compile an opt in list that can be marketed to over and over is the true way to build an intelligent business online for the little guy. This is low cost stuff here, but very effective if you're willing to put in the time. Most people aren't so that's good for us smart marketers.
To check out more inexpensive success tips and join my mastermind group click here and join: Octopus Marketing Group
Copyright © 2007 Donna Gunter
The creation of your first info product is a huge first step toward implementing multiple streams of income in your business. It means that you have something to sell prospective customers to "size you up" as they consider purchasing your services, that you can sell something 24-7 from your website that demonstrates your expertise, and that you're well on your way to creating a passive revenue stream for your business.
Your process doesn't have to be as detailed as I've outlined here, but if you want to do a thorough job in the creation process, I suggest that you embark on all the steps.
1. Solution to a Problem. The best-selling information products provide a direct solution to a major problem of your target market. If you're a professional organizer, the problem might be how to clean and store and organize holiday decorations so that they can be easily found and used from year to year. If you're a weight loss coach, the problem might be how to stay motivated when you've hit a weight loss plateau. Jot down some of the primary problems of your target market and the process by which you help your clients resolve these issues.
2. Determine Your Offering. Info products come in all types of formats, from ebooks to ecourses to recorded teleseminars to podcasts to special reports to CD and DVD sets. Take stock of your target market and determine what format would best fit their lifestyle. Are they virtual business owners who work from home at their computers for most of the day? Then an ebook or ecourse would probably work well for this group. Are they busy executives who travel frequently? Then you might consider a portable audio format. You can also combine formats to appeal to a variety of learning styles or lifestyles.
And, of course, cost is a major consideration. Do you want to create a physical product that has to be shipped, or would an electronic download work? There are much greater costs on your end to produce a physical product than an electronic one, and you also have to deal with product fulfillment as well if you choose to sell a physical product. I tell my clients to start with an electronic version and test it out, and if it's successful, move to a physical product, which has greater perceived value in the eyes of consumers.
3. Pricing. Pricing of info products is all over the map. Check out your competition (yes, there will be competing products on the same topic aimed at the same target market) and see what they're charging. You also need to take a look at your contact database and make some assessments of the value of your information to them as well as what you think they will pay. You can survey your database to determine this info, or base it on comparable offerings in the marketplace. Many times my clients get hung up on the notion of comparing pricing for their info product to what they can find in the local bookstore. Generally, pricing for info products is higher than retail bookstores because the info being sold online is specialized for a target market and is delivered immediately upon order (if it's an electronic download).
The pricing strategy that also seems to sell better online is ending your price with a 7, like in $17, $47, etc. If you offer a high-priced product, consider offering payment via an installment plan, where you charge a bit more each month for the product than if someone were to pay for the product in full at time of purchase.
4. Technology. Do you have the technology in place to create and deliver your offering? If it's an ebook, you'll need either a PDF writer program or ebook compiler software. For an audio program you'll need a microphone and audio recording and editing capabilities. For an ecourse you'll need either autoresponder software or a direct to desktop solution. For delivery you'll need a shopping cart that can deliver electronic products or take shipping info for physical products as well as some type of merchant account to take credit and process credit cards. You'll also want a sequential autoresponder service to follow up with your buyers.
5. Create the Product. This is typically the most labor intensive part of the process, as you're actively recording or writing or videotaping your information for the product. Some products are easier to create than others, especially if you're recycling other content that you have into a new product. If you're starting from scratch, however, give yourself a full 3-6 weeks of steady work time for product creation. After creating the product you may want to have it proofread and/or edited in some fashion by a proofreader or an audio/video expert.
6. Graphics. A picture tells a thousand words, and more importantly, info products sell better when the visitor has a graphic representation of this intangible info product item. If graphic design isn't your specialty, find someone to design an ebook cover or podcast album art for you. You may want to have the designer also create a website header banner for the product that you can use on your sales page. You can generally have both of these done for around $200. The more professional your image, the better perceived value your product has.
7. Domain, Hosting, and Website. I believe that each info product should have its own domain name and sales page to be most effective. Domain names are pretty inexpensive, so you could actually buy several for each product -- one that reflects the product name, for example, and one that reflects the result someone will receive after using your product. You can use the various domain names and websites for a variety of testing purposes as you go to sell your product. If your plan to create multiple info products, you'll probably want to obtain a website hosting account that will enable you to host multiple domains from the same account. Another option is to forward your product's domain name to a "hidden" page of your primary site.
8. Copywriting. There is a specific formula to copywriting for one-pages sales letter websites. The best way to get ideas for your sales letter is to create a Marketing Swipe file of other sales copy that you like. From your swipe file take a look at the headlines, the introduction, the subheadlines, the listing of benefits, the product description, the outline of the features, the call to action (request to buy), the closing, and the postscripts. You'll begin to see a pattern emerge when you look at 4-5 sample sales pages.
9. Shopping Cart. Once your product is complete, you need to upload the product into your shopping cart and set up the cart for purchases. This may mean that you also need to set up shipping and handling charges for physical products and integrate your shopping with your shipper of choice. If your state requires the collection of state sales taxes, you'll need to integrate that as well.
10. Followup Autoresponders. Creating a series of autoresponders to follow-up with a customer after purchase enables you to stay in front of the customer and reminder her about your other product/service offerings. Design a series of 3-5 autoresponders that will be sent out after a purchase to check in with your customer and tell her the next step she needs to take after her purchase. This might mean referring her to another info product, asking her to join some type of subscription service, or experiencing your service with a free trial.
11. Capturing Contact Info. Sadly, not everyone who visits your website will buy what you're selling. However, you can still capture their contact info by creating a free giveaway for those who may not be ready to buy. This might be a special report or free ecourse, and you follow the same steps outlined previously for creating this giveaway. You'll also need to create 3-5 followup autoresponders here as well that will ultimately offer them your product once again.
12. Publish and Promote. Now, you're ready to sell. Publish your website and begin to promote your offering to your own database. You can create a buzz about your product by writing a press release, offering a free teleclass, buying ads on other websites or in other newsletters, publishing articles, creating podcasts, purchasing pay-per-click advertising, requesting colleagues to send out notices to their contact lists, and creating an affiliate program in which others can sell your product for a commission.
Creating your first info product can be a time-consuming process. However, once it's created, you stand to earn income from it for years to come. Start to expand your business offerings today with information products.
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at Get More Clients Online.
If you think about it. Trying to compete within the home business arena is almost like an excercise in futility right now, unless you have an unlimited budget or can joint venture right away.
But if you can target a market, create a product that fills a void in that market, then compile an opt in list that can be marketed to over and over is the true way to build an intelligent business online for the little guy. This is low cost stuff here, but very effective if you're willing to put in the time. Most people aren't so that's good for us smart marketers.
To check out more inexpensive success tips and join my mastermind group click here and join: Octopus Marketing Group
12 Steps to Creating Your First Info Product
Copyright © 2007 Donna Gunter
The creation of your first info product is a huge first step toward implementing multiple streams of income in your business. It means that you have something to sell prospective customers to "size you up" as they consider purchasing your services, that you can sell something 24-7 from your website that demonstrates your expertise, and that you're well on your way to creating a passive revenue stream for your business.
Your process doesn't have to be as detailed as I've outlined here, but if you want to do a thorough job in the creation process, I suggest that you embark on all the steps.
1. Solution to a Problem. The best-selling information products provide a direct solution to a major problem of your target market. If you're a professional organizer, the problem might be how to clean and store and organize holiday decorations so that they can be easily found and used from year to year. If you're a weight loss coach, the problem might be how to stay motivated when you've hit a weight loss plateau. Jot down some of the primary problems of your target market and the process by which you help your clients resolve these issues.
2. Determine Your Offering. Info products come in all types of formats, from ebooks to ecourses to recorded teleseminars to podcasts to special reports to CD and DVD sets. Take stock of your target market and determine what format would best fit their lifestyle. Are they virtual business owners who work from home at their computers for most of the day? Then an ebook or ecourse would probably work well for this group. Are they busy executives who travel frequently? Then you might consider a portable audio format. You can also combine formats to appeal to a variety of learning styles or lifestyles.
And, of course, cost is a major consideration. Do you want to create a physical product that has to be shipped, or would an electronic download work? There are much greater costs on your end to produce a physical product than an electronic one, and you also have to deal with product fulfillment as well if you choose to sell a physical product. I tell my clients to start with an electronic version and test it out, and if it's successful, move to a physical product, which has greater perceived value in the eyes of consumers.
3. Pricing. Pricing of info products is all over the map. Check out your competition (yes, there will be competing products on the same topic aimed at the same target market) and see what they're charging. You also need to take a look at your contact database and make some assessments of the value of your information to them as well as what you think they will pay. You can survey your database to determine this info, or base it on comparable offerings in the marketplace. Many times my clients get hung up on the notion of comparing pricing for their info product to what they can find in the local bookstore. Generally, pricing for info products is higher than retail bookstores because the info being sold online is specialized for a target market and is delivered immediately upon order (if it's an electronic download).
The pricing strategy that also seems to sell better online is ending your price with a 7, like in $17, $47, etc. If you offer a high-priced product, consider offering payment via an installment plan, where you charge a bit more each month for the product than if someone were to pay for the product in full at time of purchase.
4. Technology. Do you have the technology in place to create and deliver your offering? If it's an ebook, you'll need either a PDF writer program or ebook compiler software. For an audio program you'll need a microphone and audio recording and editing capabilities. For an ecourse you'll need either autoresponder software or a direct to desktop solution. For delivery you'll need a shopping cart that can deliver electronic products or take shipping info for physical products as well as some type of merchant account to take credit and process credit cards. You'll also want a sequential autoresponder service to follow up with your buyers.
5. Create the Product. This is typically the most labor intensive part of the process, as you're actively recording or writing or videotaping your information for the product. Some products are easier to create than others, especially if you're recycling other content that you have into a new product. If you're starting from scratch, however, give yourself a full 3-6 weeks of steady work time for product creation. After creating the product you may want to have it proofread and/or edited in some fashion by a proofreader or an audio/video expert.
6. Graphics. A picture tells a thousand words, and more importantly, info products sell better when the visitor has a graphic representation of this intangible info product item. If graphic design isn't your specialty, find someone to design an ebook cover or podcast album art for you. You may want to have the designer also create a website header banner for the product that you can use on your sales page. You can generally have both of these done for around $200. The more professional your image, the better perceived value your product has.
7. Domain, Hosting, and Website. I believe that each info product should have its own domain name and sales page to be most effective. Domain names are pretty inexpensive, so you could actually buy several for each product -- one that reflects the product name, for example, and one that reflects the result someone will receive after using your product. You can use the various domain names and websites for a variety of testing purposes as you go to sell your product. If your plan to create multiple info products, you'll probably want to obtain a website hosting account that will enable you to host multiple domains from the same account. Another option is to forward your product's domain name to a "hidden" page of your primary site.
8. Copywriting. There is a specific formula to copywriting for one-pages sales letter websites. The best way to get ideas for your sales letter is to create a Marketing Swipe file of other sales copy that you like. From your swipe file take a look at the headlines, the introduction, the subheadlines, the listing of benefits, the product description, the outline of the features, the call to action (request to buy), the closing, and the postscripts. You'll begin to see a pattern emerge when you look at 4-5 sample sales pages.
9. Shopping Cart. Once your product is complete, you need to upload the product into your shopping cart and set up the cart for purchases. This may mean that you also need to set up shipping and handling charges for physical products and integrate your shopping with your shipper of choice. If your state requires the collection of state sales taxes, you'll need to integrate that as well.
10. Followup Autoresponders. Creating a series of autoresponders to follow-up with a customer after purchase enables you to stay in front of the customer and reminder her about your other product/service offerings. Design a series of 3-5 autoresponders that will be sent out after a purchase to check in with your customer and tell her the next step she needs to take after her purchase. This might mean referring her to another info product, asking her to join some type of subscription service, or experiencing your service with a free trial.
11. Capturing Contact Info. Sadly, not everyone who visits your website will buy what you're selling. However, you can still capture their contact info by creating a free giveaway for those who may not be ready to buy. This might be a special report or free ecourse, and you follow the same steps outlined previously for creating this giveaway. You'll also need to create 3-5 followup autoresponders here as well that will ultimately offer them your product once again.
12. Publish and Promote. Now, you're ready to sell. Publish your website and begin to promote your offering to your own database. You can create a buzz about your product by writing a press release, offering a free teleclass, buying ads on other websites or in other newsletters, publishing articles, creating podcasts, purchasing pay-per-click advertising, requesting colleagues to send out notices to their contact lists, and creating an affiliate program in which others can sell your product for a commission.
Creating your first info product can be a time-consuming process. However, once it's created, you stand to earn income from it for years to come. Start to expand your business offerings today with information products.
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Online Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to automate their businesses, leverage their expertise on the Internet, and get more clients online. To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at Get More Clients Online.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
The Art of Evangelizing a Blog--By Sharon Sarmiento
I thought this was a great post so and a great match to the theme of this new blog. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks Sharon.
Jesse Boland
Founder: Octopus Marketing Group
My Automated Marketing System
So, you've got a brand new shiny blog. You lovingly tend to it, writing posts with the perfect mix of warmth, humor, irony and insight.
You write, you post, and you wait.
Crickets are chirping in the silence as you start to wonder, "So now that I have a blog, how do I actually get people to look at it?"
If your traffic report for your site is like a flat line on a graph, don't fret.
Unless you're Guy Kawasaki or Seth Godin, it's not likely that your blog will shoot to the tippy top of Technorati overnight. For us non-famous folks, it takes consistent, patient, strategic work in order to build up our blog traffic.
Building blog traffic is all about creating useful content for your readers and making contacts within the blogging community.
It's kind of like when you move to a new city where you don't know anyone. Little by little you build relationships, you meet folks who introduce you to other folks, you make connections, make a name for yourself, and you become better known in the community.
It's the same with blogging, except it's a different type of party and you make your connections in different ways.
Here are 7 techniques that savvy bloggers use to make those oh-so-important connections and pump up blog traffic:
1. Focus on a targeted niche. Decide who you're writing for, what you're going to write about, and then stick to it. Don't be all over the place and have one post on marketing, another on dog training, and then another that's a review of the movie you saw last weekend. A blog with multiple topics is disorienting, not just to readers that stumble upon it, but to the search engines as well.
You see, the Google robots are easily confused. If they visit your blog and see that it's a mish-mash of information, they don't know what to make of it. But, if they stop by your blog and see that the words "marketing" and "small business" (or whatever) are sprinkled steadily throughout, they think, "Aha! This blog is about small business marketing. Whenever folks google the words "small business marketing", we'll know to include this site higher up in our results!"
Not only does having a very specific topic for your blog make it search engine friendly and result in higher rankings, but it also gives you the chance to become known as an expert in your field and have readers coming to your blog for their daily fix. The tighter you can make your niche the better.
2. Post as frequently as you can. When you first start your blog, it can feel a little overwhelming to have to write posts all the time. That's normal--you just need to focus on getting into a regular writing schedule. Trust me, after a few weeks your mind will start to think in "blogging mode", and you'll start to come up with ideas for blog posts everywhere you turn.
I've noticed that most of the pro bloggers post almost daily, and oftentimes several times a day, but don't feel pressured to mimic the pro bloggers Herculean blog writing stamina.
That would be like trying to go from couch potato to marathon runner overnight. Blogging is supposed to be fun, so don't hurt yourself. And really, if it's not fun, you're not going to stick with it, are you?
You can start off by setting a goal for yourself of writing 3 posts a week.
The posts don't have to be long essays. They can be short, compact posts that relay tidbits of info (often linking back to other people's blogs) that your readers find interesting and are great conversation starters (which causes folks to make lots of comments).
3. Link to other people's blogs. I try to link to other folks' blogs as much as I can. This means that I see a great post at so-and-so's blog, and then I write a post on my own blog that has a link to their post.
When my readers click on the link to go to the other person's blog, that blogger will notice that he's getting traffic from my site, and he'll really appreciate it! I've had a few bloggers contact me to say hello and leave comments on my blog.
There are 50 million blogs out there (literally), but the blogosphere can be an incredibly small world. When you show a genuine interest in what another blogger is writing about, then that peaks their interest in you. You've just built another link in your community. Linking to other blogs also helps with your search engine ranking.
4. Comment on other blogs. My goal is to post thoughtful comments on at least 5 blogs a week. (If this sounds too much to you, start out smaller. The important thing is to get into the habit of commenting on other blogs.)
I look for interesting blogs in my genre (online business, marketing, productivity). I keep up with what they're writing about, and when one of their posts catches my eye, I post a relevant comment. (You can research blogs within your genre at Technorati.)
While some people like to post anonymously by just leaving their first name, I include my first and last name and a link to the URL of my blog. I do this because I want to build name recognition within these communities.
5. Use Trackbacks. A trackback is like leaving a remote comment on a person's blog. When you reference a post on another blog, you use the trackback address for that post and enter it when you're creating your post. When you create a trackback to someone's post, you'll see an excerpt from your post with your URL appear under their post in the trackback area.
Trackbacks are often the forgotten step-child in blogging, but I've found them to be the most effective means of making connections within the blogging community.
I've even had a journalist from a major newspaper contact and interview me as a result of a trackback I left, which led to another journalist finding me and interviewing me for her article, which led to me being featured in articles that were published in more than 20 different newspapers in the United States! How's that for a big time payoff for one trackback?!
6. Blogging customer appreciation. Whenever a new person leaves a comment on my blog, I send her an email thank you note to let her know how much I appreciate her input. And if someone is sweet enough to talk about me on their blog and link to me, I go to their blog and leave a comment thanking them for giving me the attention. Also, when people write about me on their blogs, I make a post on my own blog ("Look who's talking about me. Go see what they're saying..." sort of thing) to bring attention to it and send traffic back to the other person's blog.
7. Beef up your blogroll. I look for interesting blogs that cover similar topics to my blog, then enter their links on to my blogroll. When my readers click on those links, the folks on my blogroll can see that they're getting traffic from me. It works the same as when you link to other blogs within your posts. It's another way of letting the community know you're there and that you're interested in what they're saying. Some of the folks on your blogroll might even reciprocate by putting you on their blogroll. Who knows?
If the thought of implementing all 7 of these tips makes your brain hurt, don't fret. Maintaining a blog is an ongoing process, so start off by picking just a couple of these tips to work on, then when you feel comfortable start working on another.
Out of all of these tips, I would say that the easiest ones to start with are 1, 2 and 3-- streamline your post topics to focus on your targeted niche, post as frequently as you can, and link to other blogs.
I've heard pro bloggers say that it can take 6 to 9 months before seeing a noticeable increase in traffic, so don't feel disappointed if you don't see immediate results.
Evangelizing your blog is really an exercise in patience, with consistency and longevity being the keys. Thankfully, it's a fun, creative exercise, and if you stick with it you'll have a blog that's a source of joy for you, as well as being an excellent marketing tool for your business.
Sharon Sarmiento is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in helping folks with internet technology & web media companies explode their businesses to the next level. She organizes, oversees and manages the million tiny details that go into the day-to-day operations of online businesses. For free resources on how you can work less and have more free time while still making more money, visit Sharon's blog, eSoup, at: => http://www.eSoupBlog.com .
Jesse Boland
Founder: Octopus Marketing Group
My Automated Marketing System
So, you've got a brand new shiny blog. You lovingly tend to it, writing posts with the perfect mix of warmth, humor, irony and insight.
You write, you post, and you wait.
Crickets are chirping in the silence as you start to wonder, "So now that I have a blog, how do I actually get people to look at it?"
If your traffic report for your site is like a flat line on a graph, don't fret.
Unless you're Guy Kawasaki or Seth Godin, it's not likely that your blog will shoot to the tippy top of Technorati overnight. For us non-famous folks, it takes consistent, patient, strategic work in order to build up our blog traffic.
Building blog traffic is all about creating useful content for your readers and making contacts within the blogging community.
It's kind of like when you move to a new city where you don't know anyone. Little by little you build relationships, you meet folks who introduce you to other folks, you make connections, make a name for yourself, and you become better known in the community.
It's the same with blogging, except it's a different type of party and you make your connections in different ways.
Here are 7 techniques that savvy bloggers use to make those oh-so-important connections and pump up blog traffic:
1. Focus on a targeted niche. Decide who you're writing for, what you're going to write about, and then stick to it. Don't be all over the place and have one post on marketing, another on dog training, and then another that's a review of the movie you saw last weekend. A blog with multiple topics is disorienting, not just to readers that stumble upon it, but to the search engines as well.
You see, the Google robots are easily confused. If they visit your blog and see that it's a mish-mash of information, they don't know what to make of it. But, if they stop by your blog and see that the words "marketing" and "small business" (or whatever) are sprinkled steadily throughout, they think, "Aha! This blog is about small business marketing. Whenever folks google the words "small business marketing", we'll know to include this site higher up in our results!"
Not only does having a very specific topic for your blog make it search engine friendly and result in higher rankings, but it also gives you the chance to become known as an expert in your field and have readers coming to your blog for their daily fix. The tighter you can make your niche the better.
2. Post as frequently as you can. When you first start your blog, it can feel a little overwhelming to have to write posts all the time. That's normal--you just need to focus on getting into a regular writing schedule. Trust me, after a few weeks your mind will start to think in "blogging mode", and you'll start to come up with ideas for blog posts everywhere you turn.
I've noticed that most of the pro bloggers post almost daily, and oftentimes several times a day, but don't feel pressured to mimic the pro bloggers Herculean blog writing stamina.
That would be like trying to go from couch potato to marathon runner overnight. Blogging is supposed to be fun, so don't hurt yourself. And really, if it's not fun, you're not going to stick with it, are you?
You can start off by setting a goal for yourself of writing 3 posts a week.
The posts don't have to be long essays. They can be short, compact posts that relay tidbits of info (often linking back to other people's blogs) that your readers find interesting and are great conversation starters (which causes folks to make lots of comments).
3. Link to other people's blogs. I try to link to other folks' blogs as much as I can. This means that I see a great post at so-and-so's blog, and then I write a post on my own blog that has a link to their post.
When my readers click on the link to go to the other person's blog, that blogger will notice that he's getting traffic from my site, and he'll really appreciate it! I've had a few bloggers contact me to say hello and leave comments on my blog.
There are 50 million blogs out there (literally), but the blogosphere can be an incredibly small world. When you show a genuine interest in what another blogger is writing about, then that peaks their interest in you. You've just built another link in your community. Linking to other blogs also helps with your search engine ranking.
4. Comment on other blogs. My goal is to post thoughtful comments on at least 5 blogs a week. (If this sounds too much to you, start out smaller. The important thing is to get into the habit of commenting on other blogs.)
I look for interesting blogs in my genre (online business, marketing, productivity). I keep up with what they're writing about, and when one of their posts catches my eye, I post a relevant comment. (You can research blogs within your genre at Technorati.)
While some people like to post anonymously by just leaving their first name, I include my first and last name and a link to the URL of my blog. I do this because I want to build name recognition within these communities.
5. Use Trackbacks. A trackback is like leaving a remote comment on a person's blog. When you reference a post on another blog, you use the trackback address for that post and enter it when you're creating your post. When you create a trackback to someone's post, you'll see an excerpt from your post with your URL appear under their post in the trackback area.
Trackbacks are often the forgotten step-child in blogging, but I've found them to be the most effective means of making connections within the blogging community.
I've even had a journalist from a major newspaper contact and interview me as a result of a trackback I left, which led to another journalist finding me and interviewing me for her article, which led to me being featured in articles that were published in more than 20 different newspapers in the United States! How's that for a big time payoff for one trackback?!
6. Blogging customer appreciation. Whenever a new person leaves a comment on my blog, I send her an email thank you note to let her know how much I appreciate her input. And if someone is sweet enough to talk about me on their blog and link to me, I go to their blog and leave a comment thanking them for giving me the attention. Also, when people write about me on their blogs, I make a post on my own blog ("Look who's talking about me. Go see what they're saying..." sort of thing) to bring attention to it and send traffic back to the other person's blog.
7. Beef up your blogroll. I look for interesting blogs that cover similar topics to my blog, then enter their links on to my blogroll. When my readers click on those links, the folks on my blogroll can see that they're getting traffic from me. It works the same as when you link to other blogs within your posts. It's another way of letting the community know you're there and that you're interested in what they're saying. Some of the folks on your blogroll might even reciprocate by putting you on their blogroll. Who knows?
If the thought of implementing all 7 of these tips makes your brain hurt, don't fret. Maintaining a blog is an ongoing process, so start off by picking just a couple of these tips to work on, then when you feel comfortable start working on another.
Out of all of these tips, I would say that the easiest ones to start with are 1, 2 and 3-- streamline your post topics to focus on your targeted niche, post as frequently as you can, and link to other blogs.
I've heard pro bloggers say that it can take 6 to 9 months before seeing a noticeable increase in traffic, so don't feel disappointed if you don't see immediate results.
Evangelizing your blog is really an exercise in patience, with consistency and longevity being the keys. Thankfully, it's a fun, creative exercise, and if you stick with it you'll have a blog that's a source of joy for you, as well as being an excellent marketing tool for your business.
Sharon Sarmiento is a Virtual Assistant who specializes in helping folks with internet technology & web media companies explode their businesses to the next level. She organizes, oversees and manages the million tiny details that go into the day-to-day operations of online businesses. For free resources on how you can work less and have more free time while still making more money, visit Sharon's blog, eSoup, at: => http://www.eSoupBlog.com .
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