How Cancer Changed My Blog

This post is by Karl Staib of Work Happy Now.

I was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer. Yes, the dreaded c word. It’s probably not what you are thinking. I don’t look at this health issue as an anchor. I look at this as an opportunity for growth.

I’ve been blogging for over three years. Each year I’ve gone through unique pains.

The pain of no one reading my blog eventually transformed to Forbes.com contacting me and naming my blog one of the top 100 blogs for women. It’s been an amazing blogging journey.

I want to share how a major illness has shifted and improved my blog. It has been a journey that has bruised my ego, but it has also lifted me to new heights.

Blogging is not easy, every blogger will tell you that, especially when also dealing with personal issues. There are so many factors that can derail your progress if you don’t stay focused.

Put the important stuff first

You know that you need to put the important stuff first, but how do you figure out what’s important and what’s not?

You have to see where your present wins are coming from and figure out how to expand on them. I teach people to leverage their superpowers and bloggers are no different. You have your strengths, passions, and the work that puts you in the zone. All of these actions need to be pushed to the front.

Too many people say to focus on your strengths and you’ll be successful. That’s not true. You may be a great writer, but if you write about the wrong subject you are never going to thrive. You must take a holistic approach to your work. If you are crazy about music, but can’t seem to string your notes together then you won’t thrive either. It’s all about creating synergy between your passions, strengths, and focus. All three must be present for your action to be a superpower.

When you do work that gets you excited every day, it’s easier to keep your energy level high and stay productive. You have to have a system. Everybody’s system is different. Leo loves to write in the morning. Darren loves to do work in batches. The most important thing is that they put their passions at the top of the list and so should you.

Don’t be afraid to reach out

Blogs are dependent upon people not just following your posts, but also sharing your blog with others. That means you have to find the people who are willing to share your stuff with their friends. This is hard and I struggled with this concept in the first couple of years.

Since my cancer diagnosis, I’ve been more willing to put myself out there to be found by someone like you. I don’t care if I get rejected. The fear is just a little less intense.

Because the fear is less intense, I’m more willing to market my coaching or my brand.

You have to realize that you only have a finite number of days on this earth. If you want your blog to get to the next level you have to find people who will tell their friends about it. You have to connect with people in your niche and find a way to encourage other people’s audience to visit your blog on a regular basis. I know you know this, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. You have to test out a lot of different blogs until you find one that connects with your style.

Stop letting your frustration dictate your choices

I could have given up on my blog a long time ago. I have a full-time job, a wife, a kid, and not much time. My cancer would have been a perfect excuse to give up. Believe me, there have been times when I really wanted to do just that.

I didn’t give up because I know that I’m on a mission to help people leverage their superpowers. I want to help people change the world. It’s why I love working with bloggers. They are the type of people that are creative and passionate. They aren’t always sure how to get to point b, but they really do want to get there.

Your frustrations can take over if you let them, and they’ll wreck your happiness and relationships. You constantly have to be working with your emotions and using them to fuel your actions. Don’t not let them hold you back.

You can deal with your frustrations by taking time to process your emotions. I like to do a ten-minute meditation every morning and every night. It helps me set up my day and process my feelings each night. This mental exfoliating process is what keeps me balanced.

You may not like meditation, but you need to take time to process your emotions every single day. When you create this habit, you’ll improve your productivity and creativity. I promise.

Use a day each week to rest

As a blogger you have access to your work wherever you go. You can write a blog in any country, check your Facebook and Twitter account in any coffee shop, and build more connections at every comment on your friends’ blogs.

I’ve seen too many bloggers burn out because they go non-stop for too long and don’t enjoy the process. Blogging is a skill that takes time to develop, especially in this overcrowded age.

You have to take time to relax.

After discovering I had cancer and having it removed, I took a short time off from blogging. After a few days I quickly got back to it, but realized that I can’t go seven days a week any longer. I should never have been going seven days a week. I needed more time to relax and enjoy my family and life.

I’ve been blogging, networking and planning six days a week and I feel so much better. Sundays are no longer for blogging; whatever I don’t get done Monday through Saturday can wait until the following Monday. The best part about this new routine is that I get just as much done. I’m a little more focused, and I make sure that I get everything done by Saturday night.

You have to find time to relax that brain of yours. There is nothing wrong with posting seven times a week, but if you are constantly checking your stats, email, and whatever else you do all the time then you are missing out on life. You have to be willing to relax and let your mind recharge.

No pity

I’m not writing this post to gain your pity. I’m here to tell you that we have a short amount of time on this earth no matter how you look at it.

Bloggers are one of the luckiest groups of people on the internet. They have the superpower of communication. You can write, podcast, or video cast coherently. That’s a beautiful talent that you must optimize. You are changing people’s lives for the better. It’s up to you to find a way to take your setbacks and make you smarter, stronger and more widely read.

Have you ever been sick or had a family member become sick and had to adjust your blogging work load? What did you do and how did it change your blog?

Karl Staib is a career coach who helps people leverage their superpowers! If you enjoyed this article, you may want to check him out on or join his free 10 Part eCourse to a Happier and More Successful You.

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Share and Tweet Your Emotions with Smood.it

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There’s a new microblogging platform in town and it’s called Smood.it. On the site you can share your smood with the world; the word smood is “a syneresis of two words: smile and mood.” Smood.it calls itself a “micro(emo)blogging” services since it’s more focused on letting you share your emotions rather than a simple status message.

Smood.it offers all of the basic features like a profile, the ability to invite and search for friends as well as a timeline view that showcases the smoods of those you follow. In addition you can keep up with your weekly mood (that is if you use the site consistently).

There are two simple steps to sharing your smood:

1. Pick one of six emoticons that describes your mood. The choices are: joy, surprise, love, anger, fear and sadness.

2. Tag your mood with words that describe why you’re feeling that way; you can also use URLs here. Previous used tags from the community will appear below the text box as you type.

Once your done, your smood will appear as picture below, with the emoticon and tags. Clicking on each tag will, as expected, take you to a page where you can see others who have used the same tag.

Connect Your Twitter Account

Smood is tightly integrated with Twitter. When you first sign up, you have the option of signing up via Twitter OAuth. Be aware that by default, your smoods will be set to auto-post to Twitter. You can, however, turn this off under settings. You can also customize how your tweet will look when it posts, which is a nice addition that not many sites offer.

Alternately and also in addition, you can have your tweets post as smoods to Smood.it. This is also something that is set by default, but can be changed under settings. It seems as though Smood.it scans your tweets, gets a feel for the mood of them and then automatically sets one of the six emoticon for them. As for that tags, it uses the URL in your tweet (if one is included), the users mentioned (if you @mention anyone) and hashtags that you may have used.

I do like being able to quickly share how I’m feeling on Smood.it. Sometimes a simple emoticon (as opposed to a text status message) is the best way to describe my current mood and Smood.it makes this possible.

While the community does not seem very active, it may just be because it is hard to find other users (besides clicking on tags). Also, there doesn’t seem to be a way to “like,” comment or reply to others’ smoods. Of course, these are just some of the missing functionalities that come with an early beta site, so I’m anxious to see how Smood.it progresses.

Once again, here’s another site that I’d really love to use often and hope that I will remember to do so. What are your thoughts?

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How to Solve the Blogging Puzzle

This post is by Kiesha of WeBlogBetter.

Have you solved the blogging puzzle? Or are you just puzzled?

As a kid, when winter break rolled around, I found myself with too much time on my hands. So I would occupy myself with 1000-piece puzzles. They kept me entertained for days.

But after several hours working on the puzzle, I always came to a point where I wanted to quit—a point where I became so frustrated that I just wanted to throw the whole box of madness up against the wall. I can remember feeling as if the makers of the puzzle were deliberately trying to trick me, like they’d left out some very important pieces to keep me from finishing the puzzle. I felt like there were some insider tips that I was not privileged to know.

I was so puzzled, I had no choice but to step away from the table for a while—to actually eat, use the restroom, and do other stuff I somehow forgot while in my frenzied quest.

While on my break, I would continue to think about the stupid puzzle. I’d think about where I’d gone wrong. Perhaps there were pieces that I thought should fit in one spot that actually belonged somewhere else entirely. The puzzle even occupied my mind while I was eating.

When I got back to the puzzle with fresh eyes, I’d start seeing many pieces that I’d overlooked before. I’d find the exact spot where those pieces I’d been trying to force into all the wrong places really belonged. I’d get my second wind and before I knew it, every piece would be firmly placed and the beautiful, big picture would emerge.

Fast forward a few decades. I still love puzzles, but I no longer have time for such frivolous time-wasting (okay, I admit it: I still partake occasionally). However, I’ve learned that there’s a lot to be learned about blogging from puzzles.

Build the frame first

This seems like the most common-sense thing to do, but it’s also very tempting to just dive in and start throwing things together. Yet, without the frame, it’s easy to lose sight of how all the other pieces fit together—the puzzle becomes a vague, nebulous thing that makes no sense. The frame sets the physical boundaries that enable an understanding of the puzzle’s dimensions and help you see the significance of each individual piece.

It’s the same with blogging. A blog requires the solid foundation of a good design that visually shows your readers how all of the pieces of your blog fit together, and makes it easy to navigate. In addition to visual design, your categories provide the framework that’s needed to understand the boundaries of your blog. By looking at those categories, a reader should instantly get an idea of what they might or might not find on your blog.

Look at the big picture

Honestly, I see blogging as my latest puzzle adventure. As I continue to dive deeper into the world of blogging, I discover new pieces of knowledge that I had missed before. As I digest each new piece of information that comes in the form of books and others’ blog posts, the big picture begins to develop.

Sometimes, I realize there are misplaced pieces. The good news is that I don’t have to know everything. With a little research, I can do just about anything. Sometimes, I just have to go back and keep digging through the same pieces I thought were useless before until I realize those are the very pieces I need. There were pieces of the blogging puzzle I rejected at first. I couldn’t see the point of SEO, for example. I had to go back and add that valuable piece to my knowledge bank later, once I saw its relevance to my blog.

It takes work and time

Blogging requires work and a commitment of time. Like a 1000-piece puzzle, it’s never finished in one day. You have to keep at it, piece by piece, until it finally starts looking more and more like the picture on the box—like the blog you sought out to create before the frustration hit.

I don’t care how bad a blog starts out. I believe that, if you continue to work at improving it, time becomes the best medicine—especially in the blogosphere, where new blogs come and old ones go every day. If your blog can stand the test of time, some level of success won’t be far off.

It requires focus

I learned the hard way that jumping all over the place from one area to the next really only sped up the frustration factor. Instead of focusing on one area until I had developed something I recognized, I would become fascinated by a new set of pieces and start working on a totally unrelated section of the puzzle.

When I first started blogging, I was so fascinated by affiliate marketing and making money online that I didn’t have time to develop the most important piece of all: content.

It’s no wonder so many people step away from the blogging table—there are so many different elements demanding our attention. These factors can leave you feeling frazzled, and pull you all over the place, robbing you of focus. Once I realized the importance of focusing on one area at a time (when in doubt, focus on content), I was able to accomplish so much more.

What I learned about puzzles so many years ago now informs my blogging. That’s the beauty of personal experience: there’s an important lesson to learn in everything we do—even something as seemingly useless as putting together a puzzle.

So what about you? Are you still trying to solve your blogging puzzle? Or are you so puzzled that you’re ready to give in? What tips can you add?

Kiesha blogs at WeBlogBetter, a blog devoted to offering blogging tips. Sheís a technical writer, writing instructor, and blog consultant for small business owners. Connect with her on Twitter @weblogbetter.

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5 Great Ways to Get Sued as a Blogger

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The Internet has changed the game in terms of personal publishing. Now anyone, with only a few minutes a free account, can reach an audience of millions on the Web. Individuals with a little bit of free time can compete reasonably well with huge corporations with thousands of employees.

Unfortunately, very few bloggers have had any kind of mass media law training to prepare them for the responsibilities that come with reaching out to such a large audience and many end up running afoul of the law, often resulting in them being on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

While there are many pitfalls and ways that bloggers can be sued, some ways are more likely than others.

On that note, here are five of the more common lawsuit risks that bloggers face and, more importantly, how to avoid them.

1. Use Google as a Stock Image Search

If you want to include images in your blog, which is a great way to attract more attention to your posts and spice up your blog visually, you need to be careful where you pull them from.

Since copyright is affixed to most works upon creation, the vast majority of works on the Web are copyrighted. So using Google Image Search as a stock photo source is a very bad idea, especially considering that the stock photo industry has been on a massive litigation and legal threat campaign.

Instead, either use Creative Commons-licensed images or use freely-licensed stock photos from sites such as Morguefile and Stock.XCHNG.

2. Say Things That Aren’t True About Others

While you can express your opinions about others, saying things that are materially false may prompt those who feel you’ve hurt their reputation to sue you for libel.

This is becoming an increasingly common threat for bloggers, made worse by the habit of some for shopping for plaintiff-friendly venues, such as Australia. This is made possible by the international nature of the Web, which means that the libel can, in theory, happen just about anywhere in the world.

Your best bet is to stick to what you can prove and make what is your opinion very clear, possibly separating them if you can.

3. Post Other’s Personal Information

Contrary to what many assume, privacy does exist on the Web, at least in the legal sense, and posting private information about someone can lead to a lawsuit if they feel that the divulgement may have harmed them.

What is and is not private information is becoming a very difficult question these days, especially when some of it may have a legitimate news gathering purpose, but your best bet is to stick to information that is already publicly available.

You can’t be sued for divulging private information when the person has already released it themselves, though even there there are some difficult questions about what happens when information was posted in a semi-private forum, such as on a private Facebook group.

4. Misunderstand Fair Use

While it is true that fair use allows you to make limited use of other’s copyrighted works without permission, that exception is both very small and is by no means a free pass to copy and republish whatever you want.

While, generally, taking short quotes from another article for the purpose of criticism or commentary is considered acceptable, republishing an entire article verbatim generally is not.

As a blogger, it’s worth taking a few moments to understand the basics of fair use, how to understand which uses are likely to be considered “fair” and how to use other’s works in a way that is less likely to get you sued.

5. Spamming

Though it is unlikely that many of us would consider ourselves spammers, it is important to remember that what one person considers legitimate marketing, another likely considers spam.

the CAN-SPAM act in the U.S. put some strict criteria on email marketing and most people aren’t aware of all of them. Also, posting comments against a site’s terms of service, especially if you have to circumvent some kind of security measure to do so, can also lead to issues under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act or simply under contract law.

Your best bet is, if you want to have an email newsletter or do email marketing that you have a partner like Mailchimp that is knowledgeable about the law and will work to keep you within it. Also, always be careful to post comments legitimate and, if you feel that you’re unwanted, go somewhere else.

Bottom Line

All in all, there are many dangers when it comes to posting and distributing a blog online and there are a lot of laws that you need to understand and avoid crossing.

That being said, the EFF has a great guide to Blogger’s Rights that talks about many of these laws and how you can avoid being sued over them.

In short, you don’t have to be an expert on mass media law to be a good blogger, but having a little knowledge might help keep you out of court.

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Turning Your Passion into a Blog

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Blogging has opened the doors for millions of people to start writing about what they are passionate about, while meeting others with the same interests. One of my good friends Neil Patel has a side passion of his own, and it’s playing poker. Like everyone else, Neil wasn’t a master at Poker in the beginning and had actually lost over $13,000 in the process of learning how to be a great player. With all that said, it was definitely time for Neil to create a blog about his passion, and how to help others learn how to play poker without having to lose thousands of dollars.

You can visit Neil’s blog at OnlinePokerLowDown.com, which offers it’s readers a free download on how to win heads up poker, along with many articles covering everything from the basics of playing poker, to what hands you should always go in on and when to fold’em. Neil also created a free guide which goes through his story on how he lost over $13,000 playing poker and gives you the tips and advice Neil wishes he had when he first started.

The bottom line is, Niel has taken a niche that he has a huge interest in, while still being very knowledgeable and making a real blog and business out of it. Take a good look at how Niel has built his poker blog, consistently adds very targeted content and builds his following over the next several months, as I’m sure it will quickly rank as one of the top poker resources around. Find what your passion is and try to replicate the process.

Be sure to head over to OnlinePokerLowDown.com and download Neil’s free poker guide and subscribe to his RSS feed.

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What My 4-Year-Old Son Taught Me About Successful Blogging

In October I was involved in a Keynote at BlogWorld Expo, where I told the story in this video of my son who reminded me of a powerful principle of successful blogging.

So many people have since told me how much they enjoyed and were impacted by the story that I thought I should capture it on video and share it here on the blog.

I hope you enjoy the wisdom of my four-year-old son.

Transcription of “Tell the World Something Important”

About three months ago now, I was sitting here at my desk, typing away, blogging, and it was in the afternoon—about three-thirty, four o’clock.

Now, in my house around three-thirty, four o’clock, things get a little bit crazy. I have a four-and-a-half-year-old boy and a two-and-half-year-old boy. And in the afternoon, after sleeps and after a long day, they can get a little bit silly. So around this time of the day I would normally hear, you know, a bit of shouting, a bit of screaming. And sometimes I’d hear the footsteps racing down the hall towards my roo,m and I’d see the door burst open and all manner of strife would happen in my offices. Cords get pulled out and my kids demand that I make videos of them, and all kinds of stuff and it’s kind of a fun but also a bit of a crazy time of the afternoon.

On this particular day, things happened a little bit differently, though. I did hear some footsteps walking down the hall towards my room but there was no accompanying shouting or shrieking or laughter or giggling. It was just these quiet little footsteps padding down the hallway.

And then I heard the door handle creak and the door slowly open. And out of the corner of my eye I saw my four-year-old son Xavier standing at the door. I didn’t look around: I wanted to see what he would do. He very quietly and gently got down onto his knees and then he got down on his tummy and he began to commando-crawl into my room.

Now Xavier has this perception that if he can’t see you, you can’t see him. And so he had his head buried down low so that he couldn’t see me and he began to crawl into the room. And he crawled up my right hand side and then he crawled in front of my desk in plain sight for me, but he thought he wouldn’t be seen. Then he crawled down on my either side and then he stood up very quietly and gingerly behind me.

Again, I could kind of see him out of the corner of my eye and I could feel his presence there at my left shoulder, and he just stood there for 30 or 40 seconds as I continued to type. I was trying to finish a blog post before whatever happened was going to happen.

And as I was sitting there writing, he just watched. And after a moment or two I felt him lean into me, and I felt him begin to breathe on my neck and on my ear. And as he leaned in he just whispered in my ear “Daddy, what are you doing?”, and then he leaned back again.

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to describe blogging to a four-year-old. It’s not something that I really know how to do, so I just said “I’m writing a message to the world.” And he seemed to accept that.

Again there was silence for a moment or two and again he leaned in close to me and he said “Daddy, make sure you tell the world something important.”

And then he leaned back and he got back down on his knees again and he commando-crawled back in front of me and out the door and shut the door behind him.

And it was kind of a bizarre little moment. For one, I wasn’t quite sure why he wasn’t in his normal hyper mood, but as I began to think about what he’d actually said to me, it kind of, it was a moment that I found actually quite challenging as I began to think about the type of blogs that I was writing and the information that I was putting out there.

I’ve been blogging now for eight years, and I’ve always wanted to tell the world something important. I’ve always had a motivation of trying to help people. But as someone who makes a living from it also, there are these other motivations. You want to make money out of it. You want to build some credibility and you want to build your profile. And so all these other motivations creep into it.

And so for me, that little moment where he whispered, “Tell the world something important”—for me it was kind of a challenging moment as I began to think “Yeah, that’s so true”.

That was the reason that I got into blogging in the first place but it’s also the secret to any success that I think I … success that I have had. The times where I’ve actually told the world something important rather than something that I think might be profitable, they’re the times where things begin to take off for me. The times where you’re actually are solving people’s problems, when you’re actually doing and saying things that matter. They’re the times that people seem to respond the most, and they’re the times where the profits actually do come down the track—for me, in my experience, at least.

And so I guess my message to you as I tell the world a message today is to keep that in the back of your mind. For one, it’s much more satisfying to be a blogger who’s actually saying something important, who’s making a difference. But two, a successful blog is actually built on that. If you’re actually doing something that matters to people, if you’re doing something that’s real and that is actually impacting people’s lives in some way, you’re much more likely to build a blog that people are going to take notice of, and that people will trust, and that people will keep coming back to.

So from the mouths of babes, from the mouth of my little guy Xavier who’s coming up to four and a half now, I’d encourage you to keep that in your focus. Tell the world something important.

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TechCrunch, Engadget and AOL: Great Theater, Great Dysfunction or Both?

Here at Marketing Pilgrim we have carved out a very specific niche in the Internet marketing blog space. We are not here to break stories. Why? Because that takes a different skill set than we have and, honestly, it’s a lot of work. Instead we help our readers see some of what we consider to be top stories that are of interest and we put our spin on it. Some things you like some you don’t and that’s what makes it fun.

In other parts of the blogging world there is a lot of discord these days. On once such stage the main players are AOL, TechCrunch, Engadget and The Business Insider. The first three are part of a blended family whose parent (AOL) brought together two warring tech blog giants in TechCrunch and Engadget. They live under the same roof like the Brady Bunch did but rather than goofy family hijinks that end up in a group hug, these two ½ siblings co-exist with each other with an undercurrent of vitriol and loathing that is usually reserved for extremists in the political sphere. The leader of TechCrunch is Michael Arrington, who is well known for controversy in the tech world, and the Engadget crowd is led by Editor-in-chief, Joshua Topolsky.

Enter The Business Insider. The Business Insider is hugely successful and covers all things business. The site’s founder, Henry Blodget, was barred from the securities industry following a conviction of securities fraud. As evidenced by a post yesterday on its Silicon Alley Insider blog it is not afraid of stirring a rather volatile pot over at the AOL offices.

When AOL bought TechCrunch last September, the first question on everyone’s lips was, “How long could Mike Arrington possibly last as an AOL employee?”

Yesterday, four months after the deal, we may have begun to learn the answer to that question.

On Tuesday evening, for no apparent reason, Arrington threw public punches at AOL’s crown-jewel technology blog, Engadget, and Engadget’s editor, Joshua Topolsky.

Specifically, Arrington called Engadget “a plasticized caricature of a real blog” and blasted it for buying traffic through Google Adwords (which Engadget actually hadn’t even done).

Then, today in a tweet, Arrington appeared to call AOL itself “pathetic.”

The tweet heard round the tech blogging world read as follows according to the Business Insider.

The tweet in which Mike Arrington appeared to call AOL “pathetic” came at 2:14 eastern time this afternoon:

My guess is AOL rolls over on this whole salescrunch bullshit. Back in the day, though, I wouldn’t have. pathetic.

Couple that opening salvo with a picture of Arrington flipping the bird as the centerpiece of the post and you can pretty much figure out where this is headed.

Well, it looks like it’s ‘go time’ for these tech blogging monsters and it’s shaping up to be quite a fight. The post itself is looking at Arrington’s motives (could he be maneuvering for an earlier release and payout than the 3 year earnout he signed with with AOL las year?). The resulting comments section of the blog plays out like a late celebration of Festivus and its ‘airing of grievances’. Arrington, Blodget and Topolsky all have something to say to and about each other.

Arrington claims that his use of the term pathetic was directed at salescrunch (which TechCrunch is unhappy with obvious naming issues) and not AOL. The beauty and tragedy of the English language, especially in the online age, is that things are read and interpreted differently by different people. In this case, one man’s descriptor pointed in one direction could also look like it was pointed in the other. We’ll let you decide which is which in this case.

What happens in the comment section though is REALLY interesting as the main players go public with their fight. It’s kinda like a bar brawl that spills out into the street. Since it went so public more people have joined in and are willing to take a few swings. If you want the gory details you should check it out for yourself because there is more than we can cover here.

So back to my original question. Is this genuine dysfunction or just theater that is designed to get attention and traffic? Is it even anything at all other than political maneuvering to get a desired result?

In the online space we have to determine how we are to go about attracting people and getting them interested in our brand whether it’s personal or corporate. We always talk about how content is the most important thing but a harsh lesson learned in ‘solid’ content marketing strategy and delivery is that there is considerable time and effort needed over a very long period of time to see that content have a real impact.

Controversy and general ‘bad boy’ behaviors get attention in the online space and lots of it (The online industry would be a great venue for a very weird reality show that would have everyone scratching their heads about what goes on). Most brand marketers, however, don’t have the luxury of controversy creating interest because brands don’t like controversy or surprises. Oh and it can get you arrested!

So should we care at all about the behaviors of the Internet industry glitterati? Should there be any more attention like the Business Insider’s post and posts like this to examine it or is this just a spectacular waste of regular people’s time? Can we at least see how this space can be worked then apply it to our businesses?

It’s likely I have given this too much attention as it is but it’s a question that Internet marketers are faced with every day. Where should I be putting my attention and what is it that will grab the attention of my target audience? Am I willing to be controversial even if I can’t map out all of the possible ways such controversy can work for the good and the bad?

And what about the online behavior of very prominent industry heavyweights like Arrington, Blodget and Topolsky? Is this how we are to conduct ourselves in the Internet age by taking the fight to the general public? Is this a positive outgrowth of our ‘know everything about everyone’ age or is this just the latest indicator that there are plenty of things that don’t need to be done or said in public?

What’s your take?

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Top 10 Attributes of a Successful Blogger

Have you ever thought about what it actually takes to become a successful blogger? Well, there are certainly a lot of successes out there and we can all learn from the best of the best. So I got to thinking about what it actually takes to run a successful blog and here is a list that I came up with.

1. Loves to write
You must admit that in order to blog successfully then loving to write must be #1. You really shouldn’t be blogging if writing to you is a chore. Your own writing style is what endears you to your readers.

2. Knows his grammar
Maybe you didn’t expect to see this one on the list but it is very difficult for me to read anyone’s blog who isn’t very particular about proper grammar. A case in point is Daniel Scocco, the owner of this extremely successful blog. If you didn’t know, he also runs a blog called DailyWritingTips. It is my guess that Daniel also feels that writing properly is very important to a successful blogger.

3. Hard Worker
If you’ve run a blog for a while, as I have, you certainly know that you must work hard. If you don’t, then it will show in your writing and your blog will not be well read. You can’t fool people and put your blog on auto-pilot. If you do then you will lose readership.

4. Entrepreneurial
After a while you will want to make some money from the online presence and brand that you have established with your blog. A lot of people get into blogging for this sole reason. Whatever your situation entails, chances are you want to supplement your income. I plead guilty to this as well. It’s hard to be in the blogging world and hear about how others are making money online and not want to have a piece of the pie.

5. Creative
You can make a blog anything you want it to be. You have the choice of a myriad of themes and plugins that you can tweak to make your blog site unique. This is what makes the world of blogging great. No blog is the same and it’s simply up to the creativity of the blogger to make it that way.

6. Life Lover
This is one of the most positive aspects of the blogging world. Have you run across a blogger who doesn’t love life? This is why I added this attribute to my list. And since I started my blog I have come across the most engaging, pleasant, and helpful people I have ever met.

7. Personal Developer
Personal Development is a huge niche when it comes to the blogging world. Well, I’m here to say that all bloggers want to develop personally. We all have this in common. Without this trait would we really be doing what we are doing? I don’t think so. I try to learn and grow as a person every day but I don’t think I’m unique.

8. Communicator
This one is no big surprise is it? A blog is basically a means by which we can communicate with our readers. Communication is not only good for the blogger but also hopefully for the reader. A successful blogger wants to connect the audience. Replying to comments is very important and that is why I respond to every comment on my blog.

9. Helps Others
This was one attribute that blew me away. When I started blogging I emailed some fairly high profile blog owners and they actually responded to my email. I wanted an opinion on the design of my blog and I also asked to interview them for my blog. They helped me out and it got me off on a very positive note when it came to blogging. It showed me how compassionate and helpful even high profile bloggers can be.

10. Efficient
We all have a certain amount of time in our lives. And unless you are blogging full-time, you are trying to squeeze in the time to create new blog posts or to guest post on other blogs. Successful bloggers are very efficient with their time because they know that their time is limited. A successful blogger will work in high quality guest posts at certain times which allow them to maintain content but not at the expense of publishing subpar posts.

I think that this is a pretty comprehensive list of the top attributes of a successful blogger. Please feel free to share any more traits or characteristics that you think I left out.

About the Author: Bob Bessette writes a blog called TotallyUniqueLife which is geared toward practical solutions, tips, and advice for your life.

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How to Be a Remarkable Blogger

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Have you ever thought about what it takes to build your blog above the norm and make it the envy of everybody? What it takes is being a remarkable blogger.

There are many debates in the blogosphere; some agree that content is king while others believe marketing is king. But the truth is that neither content nor marketing is king but the blogger himself. The blogger has to put the right balance between content and marketing which brings the need for being remarkable.

Be Unique and Personal

It is no doubt that John Chow and Darren Rowse are highly successful bloggers and their results are enviable but the truth is, trying to be John Chow or Darren Rowse won’t take you anywhere. Things would even be worse because a lot of people are already reading John Chow’s blog and your content will look boring to them should they come across your blog.

You are yourself and you won’t go far trying to be someone else. While there is nothing bad in looking up to a particular successful blogger and trying to be as successful as he is there is no point in copying everything that particular blogger is doing. The world already has one Darren Rowse and they don’t need another one but the world is yet to have YOU and they need YOU so try to be the master of your own ship. Let your unique traits and personality come through anything you do on your blog and it will be easier for you to achieve success.

Another thing worth noting is that there are countless regurgitated content on the web so make sure your blog posts are as unique as possible. Even though it is almost impossible to come up with a totally unique post you can give what has been said several times a new and unique spin and people will be happy to read it.

Be a Product of What You Teach

Just take a look at the blogosphere and you will notice that this is very common among bloggers. A lot of people are teaching you what they have no experience doing; someone who’s never made money online is teaching you how to make thousands of dollars online and someone who finds it difficult to get traffic is writing an ultimate guide on getting traffic to a blog. Things like this won’t take you far and people will easily see through you if all you do is preach what you aren’t.

You don’t necessarily need to start a blog in the make money online or blogging tips niche because those are not the only niches you can succeed in as a blogger but try to start a blog on what you are passionate and highly successful at. For example, if you are very good at football but you’ve never made any money online you will find it easier to be successful at blogging about football than blogging about making money online.

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Is Blogging The Right Career Path For You?

To many, the world of blogging for income seems like a fantasy world. Internet marketing “gurus” are a dime a dozen and it seems like everywhere you look online, there’s a website claiming they can teach you the secrets to creating financial freedom. It all look so easy…but it’s not. Not even close!

The profession of blogging is often misunderstood and gets far less credit that it deserves. People assume that all we do is sit at home in our underwear, surf the Internet, and write an article now and then.

Now, this may be true for recreational bloggers, but for those who are trying to earn a living from it, it couldn’t be further from the truth. Blogging is a process, a very long process, and if you don’t agree then you are obviously NOT a blogger.

On the surface, blogging may seem like a laid back, easy way to make some money online. In actuality, it’s ultra competitive, especially in the Internet marketing space, requires a massive time commitment, and for most bloggers, offers little or no monetary reward.

The upside is that you get to write about what you love (hopefully), work from anywhere you want, build a huge social network, and have the possibility of earning more in a month that you ever did in a year at your day job.

The Internet Lifestyle

The lure of the “Internet lifestyle” brings millions of new bloggers out of the woodwork and into the blogosphere every month. Getting paid to write about something you love while sitting on a white sandy beach is what most new bloggers probably envision their life will be like.

Unfortunately, that rarely happens, and if it does, then consider yourself blessed. Blogging is a grind and while there is nothing wrong with having to spend countless hours working on building your blog, it’s still a long, often tedious process.

One problem is that people get so wrapped up in the idea of being a superstar blogger and living the good life that they miss the bigger picture. And that’s creating a valuable resource for their readers, writing entertaining and/or educational content, and properly marketing their blog.

Statistically, very few bloggers will earn more than $500 from their blogs and the main reasons are

• They don’t treat it like a business
• They write infrequent and/or random posts
• They have no idea who their target audience is
• They have no clue how to effectively market their services
• They have no strategy for their business

These things all need to be considered before you even think about trying to build a business from your blog. Fail to understand any one of these and you may find yourself in a place that you don’t want to be. And that place is frustration.

Blogging For Income Isn’t Easy

The path to success for a blogger is not a straight line. What works great for one person may not work at all for another. There are many different ways you can achieve online success, and even more ways you can achieve failure.

When a new blogger starts out, everything seems great. We have a seemingly infinite number of ideas, are writing tons of great content, are getting involved with multiple social networks, are creating a buzz for our blogs, but it eventually wears off.

This is when frustration rears its ugly head. When you have just thrown your absolute best out into the blogosphere and you see very little being returned, it’s disheartening. This is why it’s vital that you have a strategy for your blog. Just trying to figure out your business plan or marketing strategy as you go does not work!

It’s very important to figure out exactly how you plan to earn income from your blog before you try to do it. If you don’t, you may end up being one of the blogging casualties we hear about all the time. These are the people who have a great blog, are doing exciting things, and then one day they are gone. They forgot one important thing-planning.

When we eventually realize that making money online is not easy, it can be a shock. Many bloggers think that building a list, putting a few Google AdSense ads up, and adding affiliate links to their site will make them a bunch of money.

While these are all techniques that actually do work, they do not work for those without a clear plan.

So before you decide that you are going to be the next Darren Rowse or Brian Clark, do some research first. Make sure you fully understand everything that goes into blogging for a full-time income before you set off to do it.

Otherwise, you may end up like millions of other “wannabe” pro bloggers, disappointed and broke.

About the Author: Steve Roy is the owner of EndingTheGrind.com, a blog dedicated to helping people get out of their miserable jobs, build an online business, and live with passion!

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How to Play Poker Like a Rockstar

Think back five to ten years ago… if you wanted to play some poker you had two options; call over a few friends, or head over to your nearest casino. Now, through the power of the internet, you can play poker and win/lose money from the comfort of your own home! Poker is now bigger than ever and everyone wants to get in on the action!

My good friend Neil Patel is about to take the online poker world by storm with his new blog, Online Poker Lowdown, where he covers everything from learning how to play poker, to mastering the arts of bluffing,  and teaching others how to master the game without having to lose their wallets.

Being a close friend of Neil for many years now, I already know that everything he touches turns to gold, so I’m very excited to see what Neil has in store for his readers at OnlinePokerLowDown.com.

Are You the Next Poker Rockstar in the Making?

Just like building a business, learning how to win at poker takes a lot of time and effort. That is why Neil created Online Poker LowDown, to help you learn the game and become a poker pro! Whether you’ve won or lost thousands of dollars playing poker, or just play for fun, you need to download Neil’s free guide to learning how to play poker like a rockstar.

The best way to get good at poker is by playing it, alot!… but Neil sums it up best in the following…

At first I tried to read as much information online about poker, but I couldn’t find one good website that could help you go from not knowing anything about poker to becoming an expert.

After a while I just gave in and decided that I would get good at it by playing in countless tournaments and games. And I have to say it worked really well. The problem was I lost over $13,000 before I started to get good at the game.

For that reason, I decided to start Online Poker Lowdown. And as I mentioned earlier, although I can’t guarantee that you’ll win the next WSOP, if you decide to join the Online Poker Lowdown community I can promise you 3 things:

1.    You’ll become a poker rockstar – if you are willing to put the time and effort into getting good at poker, I promise that I’ll do everything in my power to make you a poker rockstar. From teaching you about the basics to helping you with advanced poker strategy.

2.    I’ll save you money – I can’t guarantee that you won’t lose money, but I’ll help you avoid the dumb mistakes I made so you won’t have to spend $13,000 to get good at poker.

3.    I’ll never brag – a lot of people like talking about how much money they make playing poker. You’ll never have to worry about that with me because it does no good for me to brag. Just think of it this way, if I told you how I made thousands dollars playing poker will it help you make thousands of dollars? No! So there is no point in me bragging.

Don’t have $13,000 to blow on playing poker? Download Neil’s free guide “How to Win Heads Up” and subscribe to his RSS blog feed for all future posts and poker updates. Let me know what you think!

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What’s the Difference Between Content Marketing and Copywriting?

For a traditional marketer, the answer to the above question is simple.

Content marketing is the creation of valuable content that has a marketing purpose. For example, my company creates an awesome special report, and we exchange it for your email address and your permission to educate you further about our stuff.

Copywriting is designed to get the reader to take a specific action. Sometimes that’s making a purchase, but it can also be confirming an email opt-in, calling for more information, or going into a store to check out the merchandise.

Content marketing is blogs, white papers, and viral video.

Copywriting is sales pages, infomercials, and direct mail.

Two different critters, right?

Well, not if you’re doing it right.

Content without copywriting is a waste of good content

There are some blogs out there with seriously good content, and few readers. (Maybe yours is one of them.)

If you’re writing great stuff that people would love to read, but you’re not finding the traffic you want, the problem probably lies in ineffective copywriting.

• Your headlines are boring and they don’t give people any reason to click through.
• Or your headlines might be too cute and clever, showing how smart you are without communicating any reader benefit. Either way, if you’re not putting much thought into your content headlines today, hop over to the Copyblogger tutorials on writing great headlines and fix that before you try anything else.
• You haven’t explicitly thought about how your content benefits readers. Just like a product has to have a benefit to the buyer, your content has to be inherently rewarding to readers, or they won’t come back. Here’s an article that talks about how to do that.
• Your content isn’t building any rapport or trust. You can always get social media attention by being a brat, a pest, or a train wreck, but attention doesn’t translate into subscribers or customers.
• You haven’t leveraged any social proof to show readers that your blog is a cool place to hang out. This is tricky when you don’t have lots of readers yet, but we have a few tips for you.
• You don’t have a clear, specific call to action that lets people know what you want them to do next. (That might be to subscribe to your blog, sign up for your email newsletter, or share your content on social sites like twitter and Facebook.)

Remember, copywriting is the art of convincing your reader to take a specific action. (And yes, it’s still copywriting if it takes place in a podcast or video … if you’re doing it well).

The thoughtful use of copywriting techniques on your blog will get readers to subscribe to your content, opt in for more from your email newsletter, and share your great stuff with other readers. That’s how you build a large, loyal audience.

Copywriting without content is a waste of good copy

So is copywriting everything? Will effective use of copywriting technique propel you automatically into the ranks of the world’s most popular blogs?

Sadly, no.

If you do a brilliant job packaging and marketing crap, all you do is efficiently get the word out about how bad your crap is. Not the result you’re looking for.

Smart marketers still need to keep these cornerstones of great content marketing in mind:

• Generosity is sexy. When your free content is so valuable that it makes you a little uncomfortable, you know you’ve got the mix right.
• Only ad men like advertising. If your content looks like an ad, it will be overlooked or thrown away. Make your “advertising” too valuable to throw away by wrapping it in wonderfully beneficial, readable content.
• Content marketing makes for great SEO, but don’t make the mistake of writing for the search engines. Always write for people first, then go back and make your content search-engine friendly so new readers can find you.
• And of course, always remember the first rule of Copyblogger.

Really good content is unsurpassed at building rapport, delivering a sales message without feeling “salesy,” and getting the potential customer to stick around.

That’s why the sharpest copywriting minds are trending more toward a “content net” approach. They combine strategic copywriting with great content to get the best of both worlds. Which is exactly what Copyblogger’s been teaching readers for the past five years.

How about you? How are you using content and copywriting on your site to build more traffic, and to convert that traffic into fans and customers?

Let us know in the comments.

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Corporate Blogging Insights From C-Suite

Corporate blogs (and blogging in general) get run through the ringer of “Is it a dead art?” to “It’s essential for online success!” and all stops in between. Many fear blogging due to concerns about time, risk / reward, exposure and the list goes on.

eMarketer brings us a corporate some insights from a survey done by Blog2Print (an interesting idea, btw). Here are the reasons why big companies blog according to CMO’s.

The most prominent reason might well have been named “If you can’t beat’em, join’em”. When you say that you are essentially “giving in” to do this then you wonder just how sincere or genuine the effort will be moving forward. I think it is safe to say that if there is passion behind a blog the chances of success through reaching the other goals desired goes up exponentially. But hey, it’s not often we confuse Fortune 1000 companies with passionate companies is it?

As for the attributes of what makes a corporate blog a success? Well, they seem to be a little more in tune on this one.

In the end, it is true that part of the cost of doing business today is having a business blog. It’s the expectations around the blog that are what need to be examined or even taught to most business people. The ‘build it and they will come’ approach (referred to here as the Filed of Dreams Method) doesn’t fly. The “Let’s make this a pure sales vehicle’ approach is obvious and unattractive.

What most markters should be concentrating on is the entire ecosystem of the online space that the blog is a part of (Oh brother, did I just type that?). In plain English, it’s just a part of the bigger puzzle. It’s a way to get links, it’s a channel to get some play in the social media world and it’s just another way to simply do business.

Is a corporate blog a requirement for success? I would say not. It is a requirement, however, for greater success in the digital business world we all live in today.

Your thoughts?

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Big News at Marketing Pilgrim!

You may have noticed a trend over the past few months.

While I’ve personally been blogging less and less, Frank Reed and Cynthia Boris have been hitting it out of the park! Case in point, Frank’s excellent interview yesterday with Mike Blumenthal.

So, why have I been slacking?

Honestly, Trackur is growing so fast it’s time to turn my attention 100% on building the world’s best social media monitoring tool. (Yes, the SEO in me couldn’t pass up that anchor text opportunity).

However, Marketing Pilgrim is still my baby! It’s become the leading place for marketers to get the lowdown on the latest internet marketing news. As we’ve always said, “We don’t always break the news, but we do always break it down for you!”

So, to ensure Marketing Pilgrim continues on its epic growth in 2011, I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that Frank Reed will today take over as Managing Editor!

A round of applause for Frank? OK, maybe leave him a comment in this post.

Frank will be tasked with ensuring Marketing Pilgrim continues to offer the best in marketing news commentary, but he’s also got some great ideas up his sleeve.

Cynthia will continue to be his “wing woman,” Joe will kick-butt on Saturdays, David will keep an eye out for interesting developments you may have missed, and me? Well, I’m moving to the role of “Publisher” which will see me more behind the scenes, but you just know I won’t be able to resist adding my 2 cents on a regular basis.

Thank you for your loyal readership. Frank and I are looking forward to an awesome 2011 with you!

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Monthly Trends + Resolutions for a Better Blog

Happy 2011! How are the ole resolutions holding up so far? Have you stopped biting your nails, started a daily exercise regimen, and organized your closets yet? Me neither. Still, ’tis the season for new starts, and while you’re thinking about improving your health, your home, or your life balance, don’t forget about your blog. Make a resolution today to take your blog to the next level in 2011.

It’s the beginning of the month as well as the year, so, as always, Regator has provided blogosphere trends for the month, and I’ll use posts about these popular stories to inspire you to make a vow to improve your blog in the New Year. (The most-blogged about stories for December 2010, in order, were: Christmas, Wikileaks, Tax Cuts, DADT/Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Tron, New Year’s Eve, Net Neutrality, Elizabeth Edwards, Oprah, and Michael Vick.) Let’s make some resolutions!

1. I resolve to be funnier.
Inspiration: Cracked’s The 12 Most Unintentionally Disturbing Christmas Ads. Obviously, humor isn’t always appropriate, but it certainly has its place and can breathe life into a dry subject if it’s used correctly. If you can handle a bit of rough language, comedy blog Cracked.com provides plenty of inspiration, putting an amusing spin on everything from Christmas to science to pop culture.

2. I resolve to take extra time to write gripping intros to my posts.
Inspiration: The Chronicle Review’s Why WikiLeaksIs Bad for Scholars. The first few lines of your post will determine whether readers will stick around or click around. Don’t save your genius for the third paragraph. Use your first paragraph to make a promise, create intrigue, hit readers with a killer quote, or—as in this example from The Chronicle Review—build suspense with a story.

3. I resolve to help my readers solve more problems.
Inspiration: The Consumerist’s Calculate How Much Of A Raise You’ll Get On January 1 [Tax Cuts]. You’ve read it over and over here at ProBlogger, but it can’t be said enough: Be useful to your readers and they will come back for more. As you sit down to write each post, ask yourself what the reader will get out of it and why he or she should take the time to read it. Even if it’s not a straight-up, service-oriented post, like this example from The Consumerist, all of your posts should provide some benefit: entertainment, knowledge, advice, etc.

4. I resolve to take more time to craft my headlines.
Inspiration: Queerty’s Why Fox News’ Story On Gay Soldiers Living UnderDADTNever Got Filed. Your headlines should not be an afterthought and, if they are, this is the resolution for you. They’re all people see when your link is tweeted and the first thing potential readers see in RSS readers and aggregators. A great post with a mediocre headline will lose countless potential readers. This example from Queerty is keyword-heavy, potentially controversial, and seems to promise an intriguing bit of information.

5. I resolve to be more creative and to break out of the echo chamber.
Inspiration: Pushing Pixels’ The colors of “Tron: Legacy”. While many were blogging about Tron’s opening weekend numbers or its (awesome) Daft Punk soundtrack, Kirill Grouchnikov took a different approach and blogged a fascinating breakdown of the color usage in Tron’s computer world. It’s a perfect fit for that blog’s readers and a unique twist on a frequently covered story. If bloggers in your niche are writing about one particular story, find a way to put your own unique twist on it.

6. I resolve to use more photos and/or video.
Inspiration: The Big Picture’s A New Year rolls in. Photos and video add interest and depth and if you aren’t using many, this may be the resolution for you. Just be sure you’re using them legally. This example from The Big Picture shows just how striking the right photo can be.

7. I resolve to be more opinionated.
Inspiration: Tech Talk’s

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Big Good Tips From A Little Book And Other Stuff

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There’s lots of advice for writers out there today—books on how to write and what to write about, where to submit your work and how to get your literary foot in the front door when you want to be published. Some of the advice you can get is helpful and some is just thinly disguised advertising designed to get you to buy something someone has to sell.

It all comes around full circle in the end to a little book that I got way back in the day when we worked on typewriters and smoked in newsrooms. The Elements of Style by William Struck and E.B. White is a timeless manual for anyone that wants to be a writer because it is clear and concise and it tells you what you need to know about expressing yourself with the written word and leaves out what you don’t need.

And that brings me to other stuff. Has anyone else been following the social  media trending that been going on lately? I just read a study from the business experts at Deloitte that said while a fair percentage of new and forward thinking business is looking into social media, a large percentage still don’t understand what it’s all about and what kind of ROI they can expect on their investment. That makes me wonder if this is a real tool for business to use or just a fad that will slip from prominence eventually.

From a seo standpoint, Facebook or Twitter can drive traffic to your site but you need to be aware of the fact that these social media sites don’t work with keywords and links in the same manner that traditional seo does. Still, if enough people are talking about these sites being the next big thing, then they are bound to be some kind of self fulfilling prophecy in the sense that business will continue to flock to them regardless of their seo effectiveness.

So all that brings things back full circle. Regardless of whether you want to write for the social media or the seo world, you need to know how to write well. The medium doesn’t really matter in the end, it’s the message that counts. So here’s a few more techniques that you can use to make sure that your words attract attention.

Self editing always helps. I’ve just read an article that says you should read aloud when you’re proofing and only use a spell checker as a first screening. Remember too that Less is More. Usually the best way to write something is with the fewest words

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