Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Why “Writing a Post a Day for 30 Days” Is a Brilliant Deception

They were so excited about starting in blogging. They tuned their themes and placed RSS buttons, they wrote their posts and submitted guest posts. They’ve done everything themselves to make their guests feel at home.

The only thing that didn’t do right was outsourcing the reason to blog to the Goal.

Now nobody knows their names and their blogs are sitting quietly waiting for time to take their domain names back to bits they’ve arrived from.

It wasn’t just any goal that destroyed them, but a particularly appealing Goal. The Goal of “writing a blog post every day for 30 days”.

At first it seems like it’s inncuous. I mean “write a blog post” – that seems fair, “every day” – that’s about right, “for 30 days” – I can do it.

But there’s a great evil lurking underneath this niceness that leads to wasted effort and exhaustion.

The first part of evil is that if you’ve set this goal – you obviously chose a wrong topic for your blog. Nobody that chosen the right topic had to setup a goal to write on it.

Most of successful blogger had chosen the topic so important to them that their friends actually have a goal “Make John shut up about [that topic]” in their New Year Resolutions. That’s the topic John should’ve chosen.

Admit it – you would feel stupid setting up a goal to “watch my favorite TV show a day for 30 days”? You are probably starting to feel the first part of “why”.

The Internet gets more and more new blood every day. Some of those guys actually write about topics they love and enjoy. If that’s the topic you are writing about and you don’t enjoy it – you can’t compete with them. They’ll kick your virtual butt with hardly any effort.

Imagine yourself in Cairo, near Sphinx and Egyptian Pyramids. Now imagine a huge glowing title over the desert: “The Internet”.

The web right now is a endless field with pyramids. Each of those is a topic. At the very top of it stand A-bloggers. Those are the people that know that theme in-and-out and they have a great way to shout around (from the top), so that almost everyone below hears them.

You are at the bottom of the pyramid, trying to step up. If you aren’t equally as good as the next guy – you won’t make that step. If you don’t know the topic at hand – you’re going to be walking around the bottom of the pyramid.

But that’s not even the worst thing yet with that goal. Remember it? “Write a blog post a day for 30 days”

The “for 30 days” part might be even worse (or at least on par). You’ve set yourself a deadline when your struggle to write about a topic you don’t know ends.

You are going to force yourself through these 30 days and then finally relax. Ending this awful journey would feel so good that you will never want to return to blogging again.

You’ll be scared of blogging when in reality blogging is really fun. You get to talk to people about interesting things, you get to hear people talking back to you, sometimes very smart people. You’ll get into some fights that won’t end up in emergency and you’ll learn a lot in the process and may even make money.

Don’t outsource your desires to “Goals” – it’s sure way to “Broken Dreams” book. Don’t assume that your “Goals” are actually your desires.

Throw away the goal of “blog a day for 30 days” and replace it with desire to write on the topic you love.

If you want something more physical – open up Google Calendar and setup a daily reminder with an SMS at some time (how’s 8pm for you?) to write a blog post.

Then, when alarm goes off – open up your favorite blogs, read something, write down some ideas while reading, then fire up WordPress and do it! Excite your readers! Burn through their imagination with the images of Great Pyramids and domains blowing back to bits of information the consist of!

About the Author: Slava is the author of TripIdeas.org, where he blogs about the most beautiful destinations around the world.

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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

How to Monetize Your Website While Keeping Your Visitors Interested

Most website owners create and maintain their sites for the purpose of making money. Maintaining a website requires hard work. Since website owners have to pay for website hosting services, it is important for them to make money while providing valuable information to their visitors. However, some people who run websites don’t know how to properly go about this without compromising their viewers.

People surf the Internet either for business or for leisure and it can be incredibly frustrating to have to deal with countless advertisements about topics that don’t even concern them or the topic they are reading about. While your main priority is to make money, you should still take your visitors into consideration. After all, they are the reason that your website continues to exist. Listed below are some tips on how you can monetize your website without driving away your visitors:

Post Advertisements that are Relevant to their Interests

Since you can easily make money off advertisements, you don’t necessarily have to give them up just to avoid alienating your visitors. You just have to be strategic about the kind of advertisements you place on your website.

If you post advertisements that are relevant to your visitors, there is also a higher chance for you to earn more, as they will most likely be encouraged to check out the products being promoted on your website’s ads. Just make sure that the ads posted on your site are related to the content you provide for your visitors.

Keep Advertisements to a Minimum

Some websites are studded with advertisements, it can be very difficult to find the content. Keep in mind that the purpose of your site is to provide content and not to promote advertisements. When posting advertisements, you can keep them on the sides of the page. You can use all sides if you want but try to avoid the center if you can, as this can be incredibly annoying for your visitors. Sidebars are useful for containing ads.

Promote Products and Services that You have Tried Yourself

You cannot promote something and rave about how amazing it is if you haven’t even tried it yet. You have to make sure that you try out everything you promote. By doing this, you can easily sell the product, since you are speaking from experience. Your visitors are most likely going to notice when you are lying so if you want to be more factual about your promotions, try the products first.

Label Affiliate Links

If you want to add affiliate links to your site, label them. It is better to label them for what they are rather than risk losing your frequent visitors. You can add affiliate links at the very bottom of your site.

If you try to mask these links as something else, your visitors would most likely be annoyed. If you want them to keep their confidence in you, be honest about the links you place on your site.

Keep Your Ads Simple

Ads that are presented in very large images, banners and GIFs can be incredibly annoying. Since no one clicks these ads on purpose anyway, except for when they accidentally click on it because of how large it is, don’t bother with them. These ads wont make you any real money. In fact, you may end up losing visitors because of them. Just keep your ads simple and clean.

Monetizing your website is important but you also have to value your visitors, as they are the reason you are highly in demand for ads anyway. By following the aforementioned tips, you can make money effectively while keeping your visitors interested.

Andre Conferido has been in the internet marketing business for over 5 years mainly doing “niche blogging”. Andre is also a writer at the make money online blog http://www.carlocab.com.

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Monday, November 29, 2010

How to Captivate Your Audience with Story (From America’s Greatest Living Playwright)

image of typewriter

There’s been a fevered interest in the art of storytelling among the marketing crowd recently.

The masters and the hacks alike are thumping from every available pulpit that storytelling is the most powerful device on earth in regard to human influence.

We are told that story — applied to salesmanship, preaching, advertising, conversation, marketing, songwriting, and blogging — contains the power to deliver the entire world to the deft storyteller’s door.

This is correct.

The writer runs this show.

But what is a well-told story? How do we know we’re getting down to the true thing?

Libraries are filled with books on craft. You can (and should) read everything from Aristotle to McKee to get your chops. Today, let’s get into a simple note or two from the pen of a contemporary legend.

David Mamet, America’s greatest living playwright, has forgotten more about all this than ten internet marketing gurus sipping mojitos in San Jose will ever know.

A few months ago, a memo surfaced, written by Mamet to the clan of writers working on his television show. This little “memo,” as Movieline states, is actually more a master class in writing and storytelling.

Let’s let Mamet take us to school …

Information is … information

The audience will not tune in to watch information. You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. No one would or will. The audience will only tune in and stay tuned in to watch drama. ~ David Mamet

50,000 people were waiting. Untold thousands would watch online in the hours and days ahead.

He walked onto the dark stage in faded jeans and running shoes at 10 am sharp. In his right hand was a simple clicker that moved the images behind him as he spoke.

For two hours, the audience laughed, roared and gasped as the unassuming everyman showed them exactly what they wanted. And then gave it to them, in spades.

Steve Jobs runs one of the greatest theater companies on earth.

What is drama?

Drama, again, is the quest of the hero to overcome those things which prevent him from achieving a specific, acute goal. ~ David Mamet

He landed in this country a small child with nothing but his family. He grew up oppressively poor, but found early on that he had a taste for hard work and persuasion.

He was going to make it in this new world. No matter what.

With a Big Wheel and a fistful of pocket change, he worked to find in-demand products to sell to his buddies in the neighborhood. The kid from Belarus was on the move …

A chain of lemonade stands.

A baseball card empire.

Earning four-figures a week before turning teen.

Then it came to an end. His father demanded he show up every day at the family liquor store to carry out the most menial tasks in the place. Day after day, week after week, he slogged it out for a fraction of what he’d been making on his own.

A few years later, flipping through a wine magazine, he made a connection between the guys who’d bought his baseball cards and his father’s customers that collected wine.

From packing boxes in the basement, to shipping wine out the door, he grew the family business from $4 million to $60 million in less than ten years.

Gary Vaynerchuk was only getting started.

Who cares about drama? I’m in business

If the scene bores you when you read it, rest assured it will bore the actors, and will, then, bore the audience, and we’re all going to be back in the breadline. ~ David Mamet

Read Mamet’s first quote again, about what the audience will or will not tune in to watch (or read, or listen to).

The Information Age is coming to a close. It is crumbling around the ancient foundation of the human desperation for meaningful story, unadorned truth, and compelling drama that holds a mirror to life.

Information is simultaneously too much and not enough.

Information is impotent to reach the hearts and minds of those who can use your idea, product, or service.

If you think I’m swerving into hyperbole, check in with the infobesity epidemic.

Or the minimalist revival.

Or the rise of companies like John’s Phones.

Story is virile, rare, unforgettable. And when done well, more true than plain fact.

You, me, Mamet — we all eat or starve in direct proportion to how good (and truthful) a story we tell.

Every marketer a playwright.

Each prospect an audience.

Every retweet a ticket to your show.

Enter, stage left …

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Put Out the Welcome Mat: How to Run a Blog Contest with Panache

This guest post is by Nathalie Lussier.

Whether you’ve got a new blog or want to jump start your existing blog, you have two options: 1) keep blogging and hope it pans out, 2) try something different.

In this post you’ll learn how to run a blog contest with panache. Just like you want to organize a great party that everyone continues to talk about weeks after, your blog contest should create a great experience for everyone involved.

People love participating in contests: it makes them feel like they’re a part of something special, whether they win or not.

Before we dive in, let’s look at how running a giveaway on your blog can shift your blog into high gear.

Nurture what you’ve got and watch it grow

Ever notice how people who are good at taking care of what they have tend to get more of it? For example, people who are great at saving and investing money tend to make more of it? The same is true when it comes to taking care of your audience.

A new way to look at blog contests is to consider them as:

  1. a way to thank your existing readers for their loyalty
  2. a way to bring in fresh new readers.

Most of the advice on contests is about creating a buzz and getting more traffic to your blog. But I think it’s even more important to remember that, with a contest, you’re saying thank you to your existing audience.

Contests are also the perfect way to ask people what their challenges are, which will give you an idea of what topics to cover in future blog posts.

Contests create social proof.

If your blog is brand new and you want to build up social proof right off the bat, then consider setting up a simple contest. You will get more comments, social media props, and testimonials than you thought possible.

Giveaways increase engagement.

Ever publish a blog post only to hear crickets chirping? Yuck. No fun.

With a giveaway you’re sure to get lots of responses—if you do it right. The trick is to make your giveaways simple to enter, so you remove the barrier to entry and get more people to participate. The more people participate, the more likely they are to come back for more of your content and become loyal fans.

Start a buzz.

How do you know when something is creating a buzz? When everyone starts talking about it. People love sharing things that are useful, relevant, and fun. If you build your contest with these ideas in mind you’re going to give people something worth spreading.

Share your products or services in a fun, non-spammy way.

One creative way to use contests and giveaways is to offer your services or products as the prize. Structuring a contest around what you offer is a great way to make people aware of your products and services. If people like what you’ve got and they don’t win, they may decide to purchase.

Create a contest with panache

Now let’s look at how to structure your contest to ensure it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

1. To get sponsors or to go it alone?

Depending on the size of your blog, you might be approached by sponsors to offer their products as the contest giveaway. My rule is that you must feel like it’s a good fit for your audience, and stand behind the product, if you’re to give away an external party’s product.

For one giveaway, I mailed out two of my favorite books, so there was a values match there.

You could also approach sponsors that you think would be a good match for your audience. However, like Darren demonstrated in a previous article, it’s actually easier to give away your own products or services if you have them.

Delivering digital products is much easier than following up with someone to ask for their mailing address, and it’s also a great way to debut a new product or service.

2. Keep it simple, sweetie.

The easiest way to invite people to participate in a giveaway is to have them comment on a blog post. The easier you make it for them, the more likely they are to participate. You want people to participate and get excited about the contest.

I also recommend emailing your newsletter and directing them to the contest blog post so they can enter, even if they haven’t visited your blog in a while.

3. Add a social media component.

It’s easy to assume that people will be so excited about your giveaway that they’ll be shouting it from the rooftops. But unless you ask them to spread the word, they probably won’t. We’re all busy and after someone enters a contest they’ll probably be off to the next thing. One way to get the most bang for your contest buck is to build social media sharing into the contest.

Ask participants to tweet, Facebook like, or blog your contest for extra points. If it’s just a matter of clicking a tweet button, they’re a lot more likely to take action.

Be clear that sharing on social media sites (using a hashtag so you can track it, for example) will give them a greater chance to win.

4. Ask people to get creative.

If you’re offering a more highly priced, valuable prize, and you know people will be chomping at the bit to get it, then make them get creative.

The perfect example of this is Marie Forleo’s contest, where she gave away a seat to her live event in New York City, complete with accommodations. Marie was very clear that she wanted to get people to take action in a way that would get them moving toward their goals, whether they won or not. So she fashioned the contest in a way that rewarded people who filmed creative videos. This got many people to post their very first video online!

5. Decide on the winning criteria.

Often the easiest way to identify your winner is to select someone randomly, using a number generator. That may be the most egalitarian way of giving out a prize, but I think you’ll get a lot more engagement if you set selection criteria. For instance, you might let readers know that you’ll pick the response that’s most passionate.

You can also set up your contests using a two-step process, if you’re having a hard time choosing a winner and the prize is substantial. First, gather the contestants and have them comment or film videos, then set up the finalists in a poll. In this case, the numbers will clear show who the winner is. Having a poll will also get the participants to share with their networks to gather votes, thus bringing in more visitors.

Being clear that you’ll be the final decision-maker is just as important as the rest of the criteria I’ve mentioned here.

6. Keep to a timeline

One of the biggest mistakes I see new bloggers make is to have a contest every week. Unless your blog is set up to be a contest blog, you want to build contests in as a fun surprise and not a regular occurrence.

The problem with too many contests is that you’re essentially bribing your readers instead of giving them good value through your content. I recommend running contests once per quarter.

Most giveaways run best with a deadline that’s about a week away. This gives people enough time to enter and to share the contest with friends. The timeframe’s also a short, so it won’t get lost or forgotten on a to-do list.

Your contest giveaway action plan

Here’s a quick recap that you can use as a checklist to plan your first (or next!) contest:

  1. Choose your purpose: good will, buzz, engagement, launch.
  2. Decide whether you’ll go with a sponsor, give something you possess/buy, or offer a product or service you provide.
  3. Choose the scope: make it super-simple or ask people to put some skin in the game.
  4. Pick a time frame: no more than a week, and no more often than every quarter.
  5. Kick off the contest with your social media network, blog, and email newsletter.
  6. Keep the energy going after the contest ends by giving everyone who participated something really cool like a free ebook or special piece of content.

Have you ever used a contest on your blog? How did it go?

Nathalie Lussier is a contest loving blogger and a finalist at the Infusionsoft contest, who will love you forever if you vote for her Raw Foods Witch here. It takes less than 5 seconds, and you’ll see how to run a high-end contest at the same time! Tweet her at @NathLussier.

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Sunday, November 28, 2010

U.S. Government Seizes Multiple Domain Names and Sites

Quite some interesting news spreading around the internet today about the government and Homeland Security seizing and shutdown a large amount of domains around the web. “The Hill” has the full articles, which states the following:

The investigative arm of the Homeland Security Department appears to be shutting down websites that facilitate copyright infringement.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has seized dozens of domain names over the past few days, according to TorrentFreak.

ICE appears to be targeting sites that help Internet users download copyrighted music, as well as sites that sell bootleg goods, such as fake designer handbags.

The sites are replaced with a note from the government: “This domain named has been seized by ICE, Homeland Security Investigations.”

For instance, 2009jersey.com, 51607.com, and amoyhy.com have each been seized.

TorrentFreak has another article about the domain seizing and also has a large list of “infringing sites” and domains that are no longer in possession of their original owners. The article includes the following recap:

“Following on the heels of this week’s domain seizure of a large hiphop file-sharing links forum, it’s clear today that the U.S. Government has been very busy. Without any need for COICA, ICE has just seized the domain of a BitTorrent meta-search engine along with those belonging to other music linking sites and several others which appear to be connected to physical counterfeit goods.”

Stay tuned as more information on ICE, site infringements and domain names that have been seized all continue to be released…

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Saturday, November 27, 2010

10 Realizations that Will Crush Your Little Heart In Your First Year of Blogging

This guest post is by Moon from Experiments in Passive Income.

This post comes from someone who has made a ton of mistakes and is on her way to learn from those mistakes. You and I probably have a lot in common … after all, you’re here to learn about blogging and how to do it well and, well, I’m trying to do the same.

Being the owner and author of a blog that is in its first year of infancy, it’s been an emotional roller coaster ride—kind of like riding a car with a driver who makes you think of your impending death thanks to their inept braking skills and their random urges to switch lanes (without looking).

As a new blogger in a very crowded niche, I’ve found the year tough. It’s been tough finding my voice among so many others, producing content that is rich and teaches others a thing or two, attracting traffic that sticks (subscribers)—all while trying to establish a schedule.

Still, it helps to be prepared. Here are ten things that will crush your little heart in your first year of blogging:

1. You’re still waking up to low subscriber levels.

After eight months, only 100 subscribers are subscribing to your blog feed. Yeah, that will kill you inside. You might smile on the outside and tell yourself all’s well … but you’ll have to swallow your pride and evaluate how you’re hindering your blog’s growth. Are you presenting your readers with boring content? Or do you need to guest blog to bring exposure to your new blog?

2. You realize that attracting visitors is more than just good SEO.

Sooner or later, you’ll realize that attracting visitors to your blog is more than just good SEO (long-term strategy). At that point, it’s time to buckle down and learn how to use Twitter, su.pr, and Facebook properly to garner thousands of views a month.

This type of social media marketing needs to be done, and done well. And it will take you more than a few minutes to promote your content properly and on a daily basis. No one wants to simply hear noise on their media streams—give them that, and they’ll quickly stop paying attention to you.

3. You realize what SEO entails.

Eventually, it dawns on every budding blogger that SEO involves much more than just incorporating your keywords into your content excessively and using keyword rich links. If you want search traffic, you need to spend a few hours a month learning about SEO and actually executing it. It’s amazing how much time I’ve spent catching up on SEO, but I’m still not using it properly. I bet you’re not, either.

4. You fail to monetize your blog.

When you don’t earn even a measly $100 per month from your blog, despite trying hard, it hurts. But earning money through your blog is more than slapping ads on it. Keep trying!

5. You realize there are no easy ways to make money through your blog.

It’s absolutely essential that you write great, unique content and create a list of subscribers who love that content. It’s not 2001 anymore! People have become wary of the Internet, and they want proof of your success before they’ll trust you. Give it to them.

6. You understand that you need to do more for others.

You want subscribers? You need to do more. To get that list going, you should probably create a handy, free ebook or report that deals with a topic related to your blog, and helps your readers. Yes, you do have to help others in order to help yourself.

7. You recognize that good content can take more than an hour to create.

Great content will definitely take more than an hour, especially if you’re a beginner. Anyone can produce good content. You’ll need to write unique and in-depth content to give your readers something to talk about and impress other fellow bloggers—to get the buzz going, so to speak.

8. You realize that people want to read specifics and in-depth case studies.

Your readers can find generic crap anywhere. There are tons of blogs that talk about growing your traffic or making money online … and the majority are boring!

Instead, show readers how you’ve helped someone grow traffic or what strategies you’ve implemented to make money through your blog. This is precisely what I did when I showed my readers how exact domain names can kill the competition! This kind of content takes a bit of time and experience to develop. Keep plugging away!

9. You understand that networking is a necessity, not an option.

This doesn’t mean you re-tweet someone’s post occasionally. You need to converse with your followers, ask questions, and interact with other bloggers—successful ones as well as beginners in your niche and peer bloggers who started around the time you did. Create a group that helps promote each others’ posts. You never know who will get your hype snowball rolling.

10. You realize that you’ve been doing most things wrong!

Just because you knew all this stuff doesn’t mean you executed it at all, or executed it properly. At the time when I started my blog, I thought I knew something about blogs and making money online. But that learning is an ongoing process. Once you realize this, you might feel momentary despair. That’s okay—as long as you continue to take steps and improve your efforts.

Despite all these things that might have you sobbing under the blanket with a pint of scotch, hopefully you’ll realize that you should keep going. In fact, if you love what you’re blogging about, the pure thrill of having your content go viral or making your first few sales will probably have you giggling like a school girl and make you realize that it’s all worth it.

I’ve made all these mistakes and then some and I won’t be quitting any time soon! What mistakes have you made in your blogging experience? Share them with us!

Join Moon as she shares results of her passive income experiments at her website. You can check out her free ebook, To The Moon & Back, in which she details all her experiments in the span of a year

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What’s In A Name – A Domain Name That Is?

NOTE: This post was originally written by me in 2006, but I have updated it with new numbers and tools.

You are getting ready to start a new business or expanding your current one to include an online presence, what is your first step? These days you might want to check what domain name is available for your potential business before you purchase your business cards. According to Domain Tools, there are 125,067,779 ACTIVE domain names, of which 91,264,685 are .com names.

Before you go to purchase your domain name, I recommend brainstorming a bit and start with 5-10 potential names. Once you have this list, you need to go to Bustaname.com and let their system help you come up with potential names based on the keywords you want to highlight. Once you think you have a domain name, you need to register it. You can purchase your domain through a company like Networksolutions.com or my personal choice GoDaddy.com. Network Solutions has long been the standard, trusted source for purchasing domains, but GoDaddy has proven itself as a leader in the industry and has the best prices for domains.

Dot com is still king and if you can get a .com name, you really should. You may need to be a bit creative with your domain name – using a phrase or dashes between words, but there are plenty of names left and Bustaname or GoDaddy will actually suggest alternatives if your first choice is taken. It might take a two or three word combination to get the domain you want and I recommend focusing on the keywords you are going after rather than the “cute” or “cool” factor in a name.

Deals on domains:

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