Thursday, October 7, 2010

What Makes Real Blogging Success?

What makes a successful blog?

What makes a successful blogger?

I have been reflecting on these questions as I start planning out the next stage of my Authority Blogger course. It’s important to me that people get real results, and honestly the only way I can do that is by basing my advice on what has worked for me and other clients, and my getting people to take action.

It Takes a Long Time to Be an Overnight Success

Most of the bloggers you know who write about blogging didn’t start off with that. I recall Chris Brogan saying it took him 11 years to be an overnight success. Darren blogged for a while about spirituality. Brian was a lawyer until he took a blow to his noggin. My experience has not been all high-fives either. In fact, most of it was pretty unglamorous. It did, however, teach me a lot.

My first “blog” was around the mid-90′s. It was a science fiction website, where I would write fanboy postings about Star Trek and Doctor Who. I know, sexy, right?

After that I moved on to writing about another ultra-sexy topic. Programming. Oh yeah! This was where I started getting financial rewards in terms of selling services, paid writing gigs, books, the whole deal. As well as the benefits increasing, that was also where I went through my toughening up process. Developers might look like meek nerds but believe me they can craft a cutting remark

IT Geek, to Programming Geek, to New Media Geek

Lesson: Nobody is delivered into the world fully equipped, and it is not always a smooth path. It is hard work and like most things, most people will fail.

Success is Great, Failing is Good

Of course fast-forward a bit and I did a whole bunch of marketing consulting, copywriting and freelance blogging. Some highs and lows, like anybody. Everything from writing about drug-rehab and having friends and family concerned about my health (they were a client! never touched the stuff!) through to a couple of imploded SaS startups. There were many prideful moments, and also many that were followed by a fall.

Not every blogger is going to make a full time income. Of course not. Most people do not intend to, and of those that do, only a minority will put in the effort. Even with best intentions and lots of energy exhausted we can still fail. This is no different to starting a business, launching a career, or higher education. Failure rates are high everywhere.

Lesson: Put in the effort and don’t expect plain sailing. We learn a great deal from our mistakes, especially if we work out how to prevent them in future. Our successes can be educational, providing we learn how we achieved them and why what we did worked.

The Difference Between Successful Blogs and Obscurity

This might be a tough message to hear. We want to create. Craft compelling writing. And it is about that, but we also need people to do stuff or think differently because of our content.

We have to encourage people to subscribe, share, and maybe buy.

Lesson: Successful blogs are about persuasion. You might not have a financial outcome, but you do want to create a result. Leave the reader with an idea, an action, a next-step, and so on.

Content Follows Purpose

Therefore it might sound strange to read me say this but I don’t consider myself a blogger. Not in the way most people would describe it.

Do I blog? Yes, but as a means to an end. I am a marketer and a teacher. Do I call myself a “whiteboard artist” or “telephone user”?

When I am writing for a client blog, I am a freelance writer. If I am building awareness of my product, I am marketing. To get people to be interested in buying, I am a salesman.

This is my website where I encourage people to opt-in to have my content delivered via email and RSS. Of course I like helping people with my free advice, but I also have to put food on the table by people paying me. Therefore this is not just a blog, but a relationship and reputation builder.

My goals with all of this stuff have always been greater freedom and security for my family and myself. This is at the back of my mind as I work. My means to that end is helping and advising the maximum number of people to get closer to their own goals. It is fulfilling and rewarding to see people make progress without the financial benefits, but being paid to achieve that is wonderful.

You have to put your audience first. This stops outside criticism hurting so much, and means you will always be on the right track. Intentions count for a lot. Think long term, rather than aiming for a quick win. The reason I think what I do continues to be valuable and worthwhile over this period of time is because I want people to succeed with my stuff. I’ll only recommend stuff I have full faith in because of a personal experience or relationship, and the stuff I create myself I try my best to make it as good as it can be.

Lesson: What is the purpose behind your blogging?

You must answer this, then build your approach around that outcome.

Turn Your Blog Around With These 10 Quick Tips

Start with your end-goal in mind, what change/action/outcome do you want to bring about?
Craft your content to work towards a satisfying conclusion.
You must answer WIIFM (“What’s In It For Me?”) on behalf of the audience. Avoid “So What?”.
What is the big point you want to deliver?
Headlines matter - 80% will read headline, but only 20% will read the rest.
Compelling headlines are Specific. Beneficial. Intriguing. Unusual.
Add emotion and urgency to get more clicks.
Openings should Tease, Question, Shock, or otherwise pull the reader in.
Anecdotes and stories deliver information subconsciously, but must stay on point.
Your reader is King. Focus on them, what can you do for your audience?

Summary

I guess bottom line is this. We get obsessed with the activity of blogging, and we look at the surface of others who blog. Success comes from digging under the hood and working towards an intention and a purpose.

What have I missed? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments ….

Are We Developing Young Bloggers?

Many of us want to be an entrepreneur, be our own boss, and make money online with a blog. For adults it can be scary and take a long time because we can’t give up the weekly paycheck to follow an endeavor full time. On the other hand there are many people who are already making a full time living online and have the luxury of being at home with the family.

For those who have children, are you missing the opportunity to develop entrepreneurship in your kids? Are you encouraging them to learn the basics of making money online and building their own income?

Most kids are already on the Internet listening to music, playing games and interacting with their friends and other people their age. Wouldn’t it be great if they spent more of that online time building their future and learning how to create their own business?

I found several websites that are ran by or were created by teens. These young people saw a need for catering to their peers and have built very successful websites by doing so. You can find links to those sites at the end of this post.

Benefits of encouraging entrepreneurship in your children:

* Learn to be self-sufficient – They can be their own boss and not depend on others for their livelihood.

* Build effective leadership qualities – It will teach them leadership skills so if they later decide to enter the job force they already have experience in leading a team.

* Decision making – Running their own website or blog will help them to learn how to make smart decisions in the business world.

* Build confidence – Running their own successful website will give them the confidence they need to go for bigger and better things in life.

* Success mindset – They will develop the mindset of being successful and taking risks that other people their age might not take.

The average parent teaches their children to make good grades in school and to attend college so they can secure a good job. As successful bloggers we know this is not the only way to secure our future. In fact the educational system usually leaves a young person pretty deep in debt by the time they graduate college. It doesn’t have to be that way. There is nothing wrong with a higher education, but wouldn’t it be better if they were running a successful business of their own to help cover the costs of college?

As bloggers, we also know the startup costs of a website are extremely low compared to a traditional business. The potential to make money can also be greater than that of a traditional business.

Lessons to teach your child about business and entrepreneurship:

* Any idea can be a good business idea.

* Research all ideas to see if the market is in need.

* Follow through with the idea before giving up too soon.

* Failure is a learning experience; not the end of the world.

* A profitable business requires work and testing results.

* Creativity goes a long way with a great idea.

* Being innovative will push you ahead of competition.

Remind your child that some business ideas can lead to great success, while others provide an incredible learning experience. Some ventures will prove to be highly profitable, while others may only produce a few dollars. The key is to teach your children to be resilient and keep moving forward toward their dreams.

If your child’s business ideas succeed, continue to encourage them to seek greater levels of success. Along the way, continue to promote self-sufficiency, independent thinking, and confidence. With these three traits, young bloggers have a better chance at success than other people their age.

Websites started or ran by young bloggers:

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Use WP Spire to Power Sales Pages

The great thing about WordPress is that it is such a robust content management system and while it is fantastic for blogging, it is a platform that can also be used for other purposes. You just need to add the right tools and modifications to make it work.

From an Internet marketing perspective, one of the more interesting products is WordPress Spire. Available as a WordPress plugin or as a WordPress theme, this product can effectively let you create multiple WordPress sales pages, landing pages, and squeeze pages.

Multiple Designs for Multiple Purposes

You may have encountered some other products that allow you to use WordPress to power your sales page, but WordPress Spire goes a little further than that by offering a huge range of design options.

The sales page design is easily configurable to include custom backgrounds, different page widths, different headers, footers, image boxes, and other features. You can also use it to generate landing pages, squeeze pages, and even mini-sites.

Going further, the same domain can be used for multiple sales pages, each with a different design. This is particularly powerful if you have a single brand to promote multiple products. Each WordPress post can be its own sales page, looking totally different from the other posts on your single WordPress installation.

A Simplified User Interface

Dealing with messy HTML and PHP code is a thing of the past. Yes, the coders still have to deal with that kind of thing, but the “end user” webmaster can get a lot going on with much easier to understand menus.

This is the case with WordPress Spire too. The various theme options and features can all be accessed through the WordPress dashboard. Click on the appropriate menu item, access the right section, and you can change just about everything you want.

It is here that you can add and remove things like opt-in boxes, testimonial boxes, and header images. To add these to your posts, for instance, all you have to do is make use of the numerous shortcodes that are included with the themes.

Combine with Split-Testing for Optimal Results

Want to see which designs work the best for your purposes? Since all you need is a single WordPress installation with WordPress Spire, you can make use of some great split-testing to see what design elements result in the best conversion rates.

The options and features in WordPress Spire are easy enough to change, so you really can try a range of different designs without dabbling too deeply into the raw code. If you’re an Internet marketer looking for an easier way to develop sales pages and squeeze pages, WordPress Spire looks like a good bet.

The theme version is currently on sale for $77, representing a $50 savings from the regular price of $127. This grants you a license for unlimited installations on your own personally-owned sites.

Link: WordPress Spire

Color Psychology – How To Use It In Your Blog?

- Makes people impulsive and want to click. Use red on "click here" buttons or text. The reason red makes people impulsive is because it is a very bright color that stimulates the mind and increases circulation.

Green - Makes people think of money. So if you have an affiliate site or a money making site green will be a great color to use. Use it in your banners, small amounts of text and images.

Blue - Helps people relax and be calm. It will help people stay longer on your site. So make sure to mostly use blue in your site. But use a shade that is not bright and is easy on the eyes. Use a light or medium blue in your background, in banners and images. This is a great color to use if you have a moneymaking blog. I have noticed allot of moneymaking blogs are using blue in their site.

Silver - Using this color in your website will make people feel your site has value and is worth more. Silver makes people think of expensive, modern, smooth and technical things. Don't use silver too much because it can hurt the eyes. Use a small bit in your blog. You can use it in your decorations and some of your text. But don't over do it.

Purple - Helps people trust you more. Use the colors purple, blue and white together. I learned these 3 colors work very well together. Purple will make people feel you are loyal, trust worthy; creative and you have cutting edge products!

Pink - People will feel your products are trendy and sophisticated by using this color in your site. It also means love, sweet, youth and is feminine. So if you want guys going to your website, don't use too much of it. Use a little bit through out your website instead.

Orange - Using a small amount of orange in your site will let people know your fun and they can enjoy talking to you. It's an inviting color. Have you noticed how most of the RSS feed colors are orange? I believe they chose that color for a specific reason. So people feel invited to be added to your feed! So don't stop using orange for your RSS feed buttons. I think it’s an excellent choice of color.

Yellow - This is a great color to highlight a small amount of text in your sales page. But don't over use it because some people can get angry or anxious with this color. I would suggest only using this color once or twice in your website and sales page.

Brown - Using a little bit of brown in your website will let people know your dependable and friendly. United Parcel Service uses this color so people feel they can depend on them for fast deliveries. You should definitely use this color in your website.

White - Is great to attract attention to your website and have a clean feel for your site. People will feel there is fresh things on your website with this simple but popular color.

Black - Try using less black in your site and more blue and white. Too much black text can hurt people's eyes. I enjoy dark gray text in my articles. It's easier on my eyes. Black is good to use in titles, banners and a small amount of text. I want my readers to read all of my articles and not have trouble when reading them.

I hope you enjoyed learning about color psychology and how to use colors in your blog the right way. If you enjoyed reading this article and feel you learned valuable information please stop by and read more articles from my site. I hope to meet you there. My website is KateKutny.com.

[Image credit: Tiger Color]

The One Thing Keeping You from Being a Blogging Master

Ahh, grasshopper.

Blogging master, you already are.

You just need to release your inner truth.

Have you noticed that most big time bloggers aren’t much better writers than you are?

The difference between you and them is not how they string words together, but it’s in their ability to connect to your emotional side. They know what they want to say and how to connect to their people’s hearts. They do this so well because of their intrapersonal relationship.

They’ve taken time to reflect on what excites them, so when they write, their readers are excited.

I know that I look forward to a new Daily Blog Tips article in my RSS feed.

How do they do it?

Most people will tell you that they love to write, share, build a business, etc. But that’s just a part of it.

Fear

Probloggers such as Daniel aren’t afraid to let their true selves out. They embrace the fear of writing something that people might disagree with. They put themselves in uncomfortable positions because they want to stand out from the crowd.

Many of you hold back from saying what is truly in your heart. You’re afraid of the reaction that might occur. This is completely understandable, but the only way you will break through and create a blog that people keep coming back to is to create something that people can’t get anywhere else.

You have to create connections with people that allow for deep connections.

Building Relationships

The only way your blog will be read by a stadium sized tribe is if you build great relationships.

If you want to influence, you must have people who believe in you.

I teach people how to build better relationships because it’s the best way to increase happiness in a career. When you work with happy people, it’s easier to be happy yourself. When you have an audience who loves what you create, it’s easier to create great content.

It’s hard to create these emotional connections, whether you are a blogger or just trying to build your career. Daniel is good at it. Leo is good at it. Brian is good at it.

Their people trust them and keep coming back for more.

Get Good at Pulling on the Heart Strings

You have to connect with your audience through their emotions. That means being so well connected with yourself that you believe and love every word you type, talk, and sing.

If you don’t know what you believe, no one will follow and share with their friends what you have to say. You say you believe in yourself, but do you really?

That’s the key to creating your tribe: believing so intensely in what you write that people listen. That means knowing yourself so well that it sometimes hurts. You have to ask yourself the tough questions. You know you do this when you ask yourself questions that push you outside of your comfort zone.

By pushing past your limits, you’ll discover the best way to create that emotional connection.

5 Whys

The “5 Whys” method to help them get to the heart of a problem. There was an inclination for their workers to solve the symptoms instead of getting to the root cause of a problem. If you want to be a blogger who has a lot of influence then you must dig deep.

I like to think of this as a chance to do a little meditation. My “5 Whys Meditation” has been instrumental in my happiness and success.

Give it a try. Kick up your feet, close your laptop and just calmly breathe in and out as you go through the 5 whys. You’ll love the results.

For example, if I’m having trouble writing an article about sex in the workplace I ask myself “why” 5 times.

Why: Because I’m not in the mood.
Why: Because I’m not sure that people would be interested.
Why: Because it’s a delicate topic.
Why: Because I would have to interview people about this sensitive topic.
Why: Because it’s not easy to write about something I’ve never done.

It’s at this point that I need to either pick a new topic that I know about or interview people who have had intimate relationships with co-workers.

Then grasshopper you are ready…

Only when you have solid intrapersonal skills can you develop interpersonal skills that keep people wanting more.

If you want to build these skills, remember these three letters: S, H and V.

Story

You must tell a story every time you write. I don’t care if you are writing about human genetics. Tell a gripping story and people will want more.

Heart

Before you press post, make sure that you believe with all your being in what you wrote. If it doesn’t feel 100% to you, it sure as heck won’t feel 100% to your readers.

Value

Are you giving your readers something they can use when they are done reading? If you make them laugh, you did your job. If you make them want more, you did your job. If you open their eyes to a new perspective, you did your job.

Now grasshopper, you don’t need me any longer.

You actually never needed me. You just need to listen to that little voice in your heart that knows what the world needs to hear.

You know that you have what it takes. Let go of that fear and build the relationships so your tribe sings your praises to all their friends.

About the Author: Karl Staib of Work Happy Now created an e-course called Fear to Fuel to help people face their arch nemesis and do work that they love.

Join the 2010 More Buyers Mastermind

The make money online segment of the blogosphere has had its fair share of dubious characters selling their wares over the last few years.

However one guy that has consistently produced both valuable and helpful content as well as being a true gentleman and ethical business person is Dave Navaro.

Dave has produced some great resources of late to help people monetize their blogs by launching products and today has launched a new program – the 2010 More Buyers Mastermind.

Dave’s been so helpful to many ProBlogger readers in their journey that when he asked me to be interviewed for his Mastermind course I leapt at the opportunity.

We recorded a hour long call on the topic of ‘Attracting the Right Readers to Your Blog’.

My call is just one of 14 that you get – others include Brian Clark, Naomi Dunford, Laura Roeder, Chris Brogan, Johnny B. Truant and Lynn Terry.

Topics are varied but all revolve around making your online business more profitable including:

Becoming the Dominant Site in Your Niche
Getting People to Buy Every Thing You Make
Selling with Social Media (without being Spammy)
Creating a Mindset that Grows Your Business
Becoming the Recognized Leader in Your Field
Becoming the Trusted Authority in Your Niche
Selling High Ticket Products
Building a Personality Based Brand
Making Every Promotion More Profitable
Growing Your Business with a Team
Promoting as an Affiliate (without being Cheesey)

Dave’s also doing 14 followup Q&A/Coaching sessions and has created some great ‘action plans’ that you get as well.

Until this Friday the 2010 More Buyers Mastermind course is $197. After Friday it goes up to $397 so if you think it is for you – you should sign up today. It’s fully guaranteed for 60 days so if you find it isn’t for you you can get your money back – no questions asked.

Grab Your Copy Today.

BlogWorld & New Media Expo is Coming, Are You Going?

This time of year is one of my favorite times because I get so excited to see all of my blogging friends at BlogWorld & New Media Expo. I have been lucky enough to have attended every single BlogWorld that there has been. I went to my first on in 2007 and am going to be speaking at this one on Friday October 15, at 2:45pm. My session is called Content You Care About. I happen to be on at the very same time as the owner of this blog, Zac Johnson, is on the Make Money Super Panel. I really would have liked to have seen him speak especially since he came and saw my panel at Affiliate Summit and has let me ramble on here on this blog offering help where I can.

In one of my earliest posts on Blogging Tips.com I asked the question Should you Attend a Social Media Conference? At that time I mentioned that I had put in proposals to a number of conferences that I planned to attend. Well, my proposals were accepted at all of them and the response has been incredible. Blogging and Social Media conferences are amazing ways to make contacts, friendships and business ventures. But you have to do a lot of work to make it happen for you, so here are my essential tips for having a successful conference attendance.

Talk to Everybody – Seriously, you never know who you are going to meet and if you don’t talk to everyone you are going to miss out on so many opportunities. MY most recent conference was at Modern Media Man in Atlanta. I was tired and figured that I would head back to the hotel when I saw one of my friends talking to a representative from Mattel. At the time I hadn’t been doing very much with my Dad blog, Read to Me, Dad. and wondered if I had much to offer in the way of working with Mattel, but I do love toys and so I got introduced and struck up a great conversation. This leads me to my next tip.

Ask for What You Want – I don’t mean that you have to be a swag whore and try to get something for nothing but you do need to put yourself and your intentions out there. I knew that I wanted to work with a major brand like Mattel and so I asked if they were looking for Dad bloggers who did reviews. I also asked if I could be one of those bloggers. A relationship started right then and there.

Give it Your Best – While at Modern Media Man I spent a lot of time with major sponsor Chevrolet. They had cars on hand to take on test drives. I saw people taking the test drives and collecting their iTunes gift cards, essentially taking but not giving anything back tot he advertiser. I quickly got out my camera and snapped a ton of photos of the staff and the cars and then took one of my video cameras and gave it to the company rep who took me on test drives of the Silverado, Camaro and Convertible Corvette. I asked them to interview me about my thoughts on their cars at the same time as they showed me the great features of each car. I was able to give them content from my experiences in their vehicles. I then put the videos together and posted them so that as an advertiser they got something for all the money they spent to support the show.

Follow Up – It is so essential to follow up on your connections right away. I really wish that GMail had a feature where you could schedule when you send your e-mails because I would have written every follow up message that same night that I met someone and they were fresh in my mind, but send it a couple of days after the conference so that they had time to catch up on the work they missed while at the conferences. Either way, follow up is so crucial because it means that you are serious and should be taken seriously.

Have Fun – Conferences aren’t all about work, going out and having a great time is also key. Go out to the parties, have meals with your new friends, don’t eat alone, or spend all your time working in your room, there is time for that but the one on one time that you get with other conference attendees is priceless. Have fun and who knows you might meet your next business partner, friend or more.

Blogging World

Blogger Insight - blogging world

Thursday, October 7, 2010

What Makes Real Blogging Success?