At the crossroads of Crisis and Opportunity entrepreneurs are born. It’s true. Tough times bring out the latent entrepreneurial spirit in all of us. Whether that spirit moves us to successful entrepreneurship is up to you. It’s akin to leading a horse to water.
I believe there are two types of entrepreneurs. There is the A type of entrepreneur, the individual who may have tried the nine to five but couldn’t stomach the stifling atmosphere. Typically this type of person has an innate restlessness, an impatience for something bigger and better and quite honestly, does not make for a good employee. Such a person has a different agenda. You see such a person in the faces of Richard Branson, Warren Buffet and Phillip Knight.
Lesser known and flying under the radar of visibility is the entrepreneur who becomes one out of necessity, or, for want of a better term, the B type of entrepreneur. These are legion and account for a significant portion of multi-millionaires – not a bad place to be financially. Faced with economic uncertainty they actively cast about for opportunities and finding them take action. Today that opportunity is writ large on the internet and the entrepreneur born is often a blogger.
Blogging for money is the easiest introduction to making money online. Everyone can write, the cost is negligible and it is a user friendly introduction to cutting your teeth in the field of Internet Marketing. In fact knowing what I now know, after having taken several internet marketing courses, were I starting in Internet Marketing today, I would definitely start with blogging.
A word of caution though, you need to do more than just publish posts on your blog. If you want to make money blogging you need to treat it as a business. There are some basics that need considering:
1. Select a niche
2. Select the blogging platform
3. Monetize your site
4. Market, market, market.
Each of these basic to the bones steps form the foundation upon which you will build your business. That is why I wrote the e.book ABC’s of Blogging for Money which you can download in PDF format for free.
Once you get the basics down pat you can expand, bit by bit and eventually become a super blogger pulling in at the very least a mid-six figure annual income.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina Bellicova
Blogger for Money
Blogging is all about getting your own cheese.
Quick Lins:
ABC’s of Blogging for Money
Showing posts with label ABCs of Blogging for Money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ABCs of Blogging for Money. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Top Bloggers for Money
As I was doing some research on the top bloggers for money, I came across a posting by one of my "do follow" bloggers, the author of The Digerati Life which is a whole year old but the thread of comments keeps lengthening. Here is the link to her post titled
Make Money Blogging: Top Bloggers And How Much They Earn
Of course the stats need updating, notably her own. Two years into blogging she was making 50% of her corporate income as an IT engineer in Silicon Valley. That can't be too shabby. It is now three years. Is she at 75%?
This is the time of month that bloggers who publish their monthly results ... well, err..publish. So I am putting together a list of my own, which will not be a complete list, but its one to start with.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... today, blogging for cheese!
Quick Links
The Digerati Life
Make Money Blogging: Top Bloggers And How Much They Earn
Make Money Blogging: Top Bloggers And How Much They Earn
Of course the stats need updating, notably her own. Two years into blogging she was making 50% of her corporate income as an IT engineer in Silicon Valley. That can't be too shabby. It is now three years. Is she at 75%?
This is the time of month that bloggers who publish their monthly results ... well, err..publish. So I am putting together a list of my own, which will not be a complete list, but its one to start with.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... today, blogging for cheese!
Quick Links
The Digerati Life
Make Money Blogging: Top Bloggers And How Much They Earn
Sunday, August 30, 2009
From Below Broke to Self Made Multi-millionaire
“I quit every day, but I also got up every day and started all over again ...” July Ono
On a cloudless Sunday morning, July and I sat outside of Petra’s, a popular local café. We drank tea, shared a decadently lethal sticky bun and spent the better part of the morning getting to know each other.
I had the advantage. July is a celebrity, not just locally but in the world of real estate investment. She is also the author of Your Million Dollar Network: How to Start and Build Your Million Dollar Network
She is known internationally, so of course I know a lot about her already, notably, that she went from below broke to being a self made multi-millionaire. July has 440 “doors” - that’s real estate investor speak for units- and counting. Conservatively that translates into an impressive $30 million property portfolio. Not bad for someone who was $40 thousand below broke a scant seven years ago.
Success leaves clues. I love meeting with successful people. There is something special about them not in the sense that they are different from other people, in fact they are ordinary people just like you and me, but what I find is that they exude an energy that sets them apart from others. I think that the more time we spend with people like that the more we learn and the more that energy rubs off on us. Oh yes, they are willing to do what is required to get their first whiff of success.
What’s that got to do with blogging for money and internet marketing? ... you want to know.
Nothing, yet EVERYTHING!.
July was telling me about the first 6 months in her real estate investment career. It was poorly focused and filled with frustration. Nothing was coming together. It took her 6 months to get the first deal put together and even that almost unraveled literally hours before closing. I remarked on her tenacity and that’s when she told me that every night she quit, every morning she got up and started again.
I thought about how that holds such a parallel to what we do in internet marketing. So many people sign up for courses, spend lots of dollars on learning, but never do anything with what they learn. Or they go through the first three maybe four lessons of the course, find it overwhelming, and put it aside for a later time. A time that never comes. In the world of blogging exact statistics are hard to come by but it is estimated that there are some 150 million blogs created, but get this: 60% - 80% are abandoned after three or four postings, usually within a month!
While the sheer numbers are nowhere near as staggering in the real estate investment community, July concurs that the statistics are similar: most people who get started don’t continue. I venture this holds true for most entrepreneurial endeavors. What sets the true entrepreneur apart from the wannabe is the pit bull mentality and tenacity that these people bring to the game – a willingness to learn, to take action, to adjust, to sharpen and execute. They are willing to do what is required to get the job done. Eventually they get a taste of success – now they’re hooked!
It’s just a game. Master it. Have fun. You will live a life others only dream of.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money.
PS... make a point of being in the company of big cheese.
Quick Links:
Blogging Statistics
July Ono
Your Million Dollar Network: How to Start and Build Your Million Dollar Network
ABC's of Blogging for Money
On a cloudless Sunday morning, July and I sat outside of Petra’s, a popular local café. We drank tea, shared a decadently lethal sticky bun and spent the better part of the morning getting to know each other.
I had the advantage. July is a celebrity, not just locally but in the world of real estate investment. She is also the author of Your Million Dollar Network: How to Start and Build Your Million Dollar Network
She is known internationally, so of course I know a lot about her already, notably, that she went from below broke to being a self made multi-millionaire. July has 440 “doors” - that’s real estate investor speak for units- and counting. Conservatively that translates into an impressive $30 million property portfolio. Not bad for someone who was $40 thousand below broke a scant seven years ago. Success leaves clues. I love meeting with successful people. There is something special about them not in the sense that they are different from other people, in fact they are ordinary people just like you and me, but what I find is that they exude an energy that sets them apart from others. I think that the more time we spend with people like that the more we learn and the more that energy rubs off on us. Oh yes, they are willing to do what is required to get their first whiff of success.
What’s that got to do with blogging for money and internet marketing? ... you want to know.
Nothing, yet EVERYTHING!.
July was telling me about the first 6 months in her real estate investment career. It was poorly focused and filled with frustration. Nothing was coming together. It took her 6 months to get the first deal put together and even that almost unraveled literally hours before closing. I remarked on her tenacity and that’s when she told me that every night she quit, every morning she got up and started again.
I thought about how that holds such a parallel to what we do in internet marketing. So many people sign up for courses, spend lots of dollars on learning, but never do anything with what they learn. Or they go through the first three maybe four lessons of the course, find it overwhelming, and put it aside for a later time. A time that never comes. In the world of blogging exact statistics are hard to come by but it is estimated that there are some 150 million blogs created, but get this: 60% - 80% are abandoned after three or four postings, usually within a month!
While the sheer numbers are nowhere near as staggering in the real estate investment community, July concurs that the statistics are similar: most people who get started don’t continue. I venture this holds true for most entrepreneurial endeavors. What sets the true entrepreneur apart from the wannabe is the pit bull mentality and tenacity that these people bring to the game – a willingness to learn, to take action, to adjust, to sharpen and execute. They are willing to do what is required to get the job done. Eventually they get a taste of success – now they’re hooked!
It’s just a game. Master it. Have fun. You will live a life others only dream of.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money.
PS... make a point of being in the company of big cheese.
Quick Links:
Blogging Statistics
July Ono
Your Million Dollar Network: How to Start and Build Your Million Dollar Network
ABC's of Blogging for Money
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Yes Virginia - there is money in blogging
I just read a post by a blogger colleague and I am super disappointed ... in essence this blogger is saying that you should first and foremost blog because you have a passion for blogging and to forget about blogging for the purpose of money. That most bloggers blog from the crack of dawn and deep into the night. This person obviously subscribes to that group that believes in living your passion and the money will follow!!! Or another way they put it “do what you love and the money will come.”
Bull Dung!
I am getting tired of hearing this refrain. It gets me angry. It does a disservice to those who are serious about making money online. Blogging for money is a business and should be treated as such. If you are going to spend your waking hours blogging then why not make money? I have yet to meet anyone who was able to walk into a bank and deposit a whole bunch passion. Try paying your rent or buying groceries with love. Lets get serious.
First, if you want to make money at blogging you have to treat it like a business. That is why I wrote my ABC’s of Blogging for Money so that people can follow a system to lay down a foundation for success.
Yes, you also have to work at it. Nothing for nothing. But from crack of dawn into the dead of night??? I know several bloggers that are making money that CEOs of companies would eye with envy. You do need to put in consistent effort but I can guarantee you that these successful bloggers are not not up at the crack of dawn and working into the dead of night blogging.
You also need to be an ongoing student. Even my ABC’s of Blogging for Money is just the start. You need to be continuously learning about how to be a better internet marketer – that’s how you become a successful blogger. That's how you start making a bit of money which with effort becomes some money and then one day you wake up to lots of money.
It helps if you blog about something that you are knowledgeable on, and if it happens to be a passion, great! If you want to make money blogging about it, you need to make sure that there is a market out there that actually wants to know more about your subject (covered in my ABC’s of Blogging for Money). No market, no money honey.
As I mentioned earlier, blogging for money is a business. Apply business principles and through diligent effort the money will indeed come. There is an excellent online course right now, the 30 Day Challenge that I encourage everyone to register for and apply. It is free. You learn how to select a profitable niche, install a blog with Wordpress, and most importantly you learn how to market. If you have not signed up for it yet it is not too late. What is great about this is that you can work on it at your own pace.
Happy Blogging
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... oooh! It gets me angry when someone tries to tell me there is no cheese!
Quick Links:
Fee PDF Download of ABC’s of Blogging for Money
Register for 30 Day Challenge
Bull Dung!
I am getting tired of hearing this refrain. It gets me angry. It does a disservice to those who are serious about making money online. Blogging for money is a business and should be treated as such. If you are going to spend your waking hours blogging then why not make money? I have yet to meet anyone who was able to walk into a bank and deposit a whole bunch passion. Try paying your rent or buying groceries with love. Lets get serious.
First, if you want to make money at blogging you have to treat it like a business. That is why I wrote my ABC’s of Blogging for Money so that people can follow a system to lay down a foundation for success.
Yes, you also have to work at it. Nothing for nothing. But from crack of dawn into the dead of night??? I know several bloggers that are making money that CEOs of companies would eye with envy. You do need to put in consistent effort but I can guarantee you that these successful bloggers are not not up at the crack of dawn and working into the dead of night blogging.
You also need to be an ongoing student. Even my ABC’s of Blogging for Money is just the start. You need to be continuously learning about how to be a better internet marketer – that’s how you become a successful blogger. That's how you start making a bit of money which with effort becomes some money and then one day you wake up to lots of money.
It helps if you blog about something that you are knowledgeable on, and if it happens to be a passion, great! If you want to make money blogging about it, you need to make sure that there is a market out there that actually wants to know more about your subject (covered in my ABC’s of Blogging for Money). No market, no money honey.
As I mentioned earlier, blogging for money is a business. Apply business principles and through diligent effort the money will indeed come. There is an excellent online course right now, the 30 Day Challenge that I encourage everyone to register for and apply. It is free. You learn how to select a profitable niche, install a blog with Wordpress, and most importantly you learn how to market. If you have not signed up for it yet it is not too late. What is great about this is that you can work on it at your own pace.
Happy Blogging
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... oooh! It gets me angry when someone tries to tell me there is no cheese!
Quick Links:
Fee PDF Download of ABC’s of Blogging for Money
Register for 30 Day Challenge
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Networking with other bloggers
Why Network with other bloggers?
Blogging for money is a business and just like in the offline world it is important to throw out your tentacles and network. Too many mistakenly think that to make money online all that is needed is to sit at the computer and just blog away. Your results will be immeasurably higher if you partake of some good old fashioned networking.
Think about it.
If your business was offline, you would attend Chamber of Commerce luncheons, join an association in your industry, attend conferences and conventions. Why? To promote your business of course, but also to network, to learn about what others in your industry are doing to move their businesses forward and to form strategic alliances. Why should blogging be any different?
Good news.
You can network in your pajamas if you want. Actually I like to network both online and off for my blogging businesses. I think that a mix of the two is important. Let me explain.
Lets start with the obvious one: networking online. There is a saying that no one reaches the pinnacles of success alone. Ask any guru out there. Cheering peers and colleagues were an integral part of their success. Did these colleagues and peers materialize out of thin air? NO. They were cultivated. This is an important strategy and there is nothing subversive about it. Here are some ways you can network online:
#1. Source out other blogs in the same niche as yours. Follow these blogs and post comments on their articles. Make sure they are quality comments.
#2. Select your favorite blogs and ask if the owner is willing to consider a guest article by you. If the offer is accepted, submit an original article. There is no guarantee that the owner of the blog will post it but chances are that if the article is well written it will eventually appear. This is the beginning of a relationship with that blogger. Treat it well.
#3. In your own blog give some link love to the blog and blogger that you are now cultivating. The blogger will be aware of your support – trust me on this.
#4. Join forums in your niche, follow for a while before posting, then post quality comments – comments that are helpful. Others will begin to take notice of you as will the owner of the forum.
#5. Review the blog that you are following. Tell your readership what you like about that blog, maybe a little bit of advice/critique as to what you think might make it an even better blog and summarize the highlights.
I can bet you dollars to donuts that over time you will have developed a good relationship with the owner of this blog. Rinse and repeat. This is the online version of networking.
I think that offline networking is equally important. Meet other bloggers or internet marketers in your area. Attend “meet ups” and other scheduled internet marketing functions. Some of these functions are free, others have a nominal fee. You will meet people in different disciplines of internet marketing and you will be surprised at how generous they are in sharing their knowledge.
Surprise, surprise. You might even be one of those who is able to share your expertise with a newbie. I recently attended a function that was not internet based. Everyone present was a small business owner. They were intrigued about my online marketing business and wanted to know more. We talked about blogging as a good way to begin their online marketing efforts. Of course I pointed them to my free e.book ABC’s of Blogging for Money.
A word of caution; when networking seek what you can do for the other person before asking them to do something for you. This will differentiate you from 90% of the attendees and will do you more good in the long run. When you meet someone for the first time, ask them what you can do for them that would help their business. Be sincere. Maybe all you can do is introduce them to someone who can be of help. Maybe at the moment there is not much you can do, but you never know when you will run into someone or a situation that is just right for your newly acquired contact.
One other thing when networking offline – its not about how many cards you give out or collect. Make two to five meaningful connections and begin to cultivate a relationship. Be open but be selective as to whom you decide to invest your time with.
Networking is an important component of any business – whether you are selling flowers to the corporate market or blogging for money cultivating relationships is what will take your business to the highest pinnacles of success.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for money
PS.... There’s plenty of cheese at the pinnacles of success.
Quick Links:
Blogging for Money
ABC’s of Blogging For Money
Blogging for money is a business and just like in the offline world it is important to throw out your tentacles and network. Too many mistakenly think that to make money online all that is needed is to sit at the computer and just blog away. Your results will be immeasurably higher if you partake of some good old fashioned networking.
Think about it.
If your business was offline, you would attend Chamber of Commerce luncheons, join an association in your industry, attend conferences and conventions. Why? To promote your business of course, but also to network, to learn about what others in your industry are doing to move their businesses forward and to form strategic alliances. Why should blogging be any different?
Good news.
You can network in your pajamas if you want. Actually I like to network both online and off for my blogging businesses. I think that a mix of the two is important. Let me explain.
Lets start with the obvious one: networking online. There is a saying that no one reaches the pinnacles of success alone. Ask any guru out there. Cheering peers and colleagues were an integral part of their success. Did these colleagues and peers materialize out of thin air? NO. They were cultivated. This is an important strategy and there is nothing subversive about it. Here are some ways you can network online:
#1. Source out other blogs in the same niche as yours. Follow these blogs and post comments on their articles. Make sure they are quality comments.
#2. Select your favorite blogs and ask if the owner is willing to consider a guest article by you. If the offer is accepted, submit an original article. There is no guarantee that the owner of the blog will post it but chances are that if the article is well written it will eventually appear. This is the beginning of a relationship with that blogger. Treat it well.
#3. In your own blog give some link love to the blog and blogger that you are now cultivating. The blogger will be aware of your support – trust me on this.
#4. Join forums in your niche, follow for a while before posting, then post quality comments – comments that are helpful. Others will begin to take notice of you as will the owner of the forum.
#5. Review the blog that you are following. Tell your readership what you like about that blog, maybe a little bit of advice/critique as to what you think might make it an even better blog and summarize the highlights.
I can bet you dollars to donuts that over time you will have developed a good relationship with the owner of this blog. Rinse and repeat. This is the online version of networking.
I think that offline networking is equally important. Meet other bloggers or internet marketers in your area. Attend “meet ups” and other scheduled internet marketing functions. Some of these functions are free, others have a nominal fee. You will meet people in different disciplines of internet marketing and you will be surprised at how generous they are in sharing their knowledge.
Surprise, surprise. You might even be one of those who is able to share your expertise with a newbie. I recently attended a function that was not internet based. Everyone present was a small business owner. They were intrigued about my online marketing business and wanted to know more. We talked about blogging as a good way to begin their online marketing efforts. Of course I pointed them to my free e.book ABC’s of Blogging for Money.
A word of caution; when networking seek what you can do for the other person before asking them to do something for you. This will differentiate you from 90% of the attendees and will do you more good in the long run. When you meet someone for the first time, ask them what you can do for them that would help their business. Be sincere. Maybe all you can do is introduce them to someone who can be of help. Maybe at the moment there is not much you can do, but you never know when you will run into someone or a situation that is just right for your newly acquired contact.
One other thing when networking offline – its not about how many cards you give out or collect. Make two to five meaningful connections and begin to cultivate a relationship. Be open but be selective as to whom you decide to invest your time with.
Networking is an important component of any business – whether you are selling flowers to the corporate market or blogging for money cultivating relationships is what will take your business to the highest pinnacles of success.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for money
PS.... There’s plenty of cheese at the pinnacles of success.
Quick Links:
Blogging for Money
ABC’s of Blogging For Money
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
June Statistics - into the summer
Holding steady, well almost. Bloggers I am following and who also frequently post their results for the previous month ... haven’t, yet! And I must say, that I am blogging away towards the close of day. Today is Canada Day – Canada’s birthday and today we celebrated Canada’s 142nd! Yup. As countries go, we are still just a babe in the woods - which is how I often feel about my own internet marketing career. Many years ago I came to this country and officially became a Canadian as soon as I qualified. Took my test. Was so proud to be sworn in. Am so proud to be a Canadian.
So, how did June pan out? A small downturn from May which is a bit disappointing ... I am looking for growth after all. But I have been told that the summer doldrums hit even the internet and my postings are not frequent enough to counteract.
As usual there are some peaks in the month. The two posts that drew the most traffic were
The Dot Com King
Ed Dale Kicks of 30 Day Challenge Pre-Season
The bright light is that it seems that the search engines are beginning to find this blog – at 15.93% it’s the highest to date.
The only earnings to report are Adsense at $6.83 ... no affiliates this month.
There were 46 downloads of my ebook ABC’s of Blogging for Money
Overall growth seems to be eluding me. I’ve looked at how I could improve the stats, get more traffic and have more people subscribing to my RSS feed (not sure I have that set up right), the newsletter or the “follow me” group. I checked to see what my more successful compatriots are doing:
John Chow who reportedly makes $40K per month really works hard at his blog. I just went over the past month and not only does he blog daily, but several times a day! And it’s all good stuff too ... some of it on his daily life, some of it on internet marketing, some of it on our buds in the biz. He’s got several products as well. He enjoys over 200K in traffic per month. Much of his revenue is from the paid sponsors. Not bad for someone who started to blog in 2006 “just because”
Yaro Starak who is known to have taken $100K to the bank at least one month – but more importantly, consistently pulls down over $35m monthly. Yaro has been blogging on one blog or another for nigh on ten years now and brings a lot of experience to the table. Not only does he post kick ass info but is now successfully joint venturing with other successful internet marketers -that's striking the gold vein in the mine!
Caroline Middlebrook – a software professional who started her blog some two years ago. Modest - compared to the two above - monthly income that hovers at the $2000 mark, but she’s been a rare presence on her own blog due to the time she is spending in developing a new software program.
How did I spend my Internet Marketing time blocks this past month?
- published 9 posts on this blog
- submitted 2 articles to one article directory
- kept up to date in the 30 Day Challenge pre-season
- researched niche topic for the 30 Day Challenge (I think I have one nailed)
- working on the beta project that Dan Lok put out
- Read my RSS feeds
- Read my favorite blogs and posted comments (got backlinks)
- Visited some forums
- Working on my postings for July which will be on linking.
Thoughts to Ponder: Now that I am much more familiar with WordPress I am seriously considering migrating this whole blog to that system. I am also seriously scared – scared that I’ll mess the whole thing up in the process techie type stuff not being my strong suite. But I now understand why the top dogs in the internet marketing scene choose Wordpress.
Soon I will unveil my project in the beta program which I think will work in good stead with the niche I am considering for the 30 Day Challenge. These will be covered in this blog in the future as each will have something to contribute to my progress and hopefully yours.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina Bellicova
Blogging for Money
PS. Another top notch blogger, Alvin Phang baked a cheesecake for his first anniversary. Pictures and recipe on his blog.
Quick Links:
The Dot Com King
Ed Dale Kicks of 30 Day Challenge Pre-Season
John Chow
Yaro Starak
Caroline Middlebrook
30 Day Challenge
Alvin Phang
So, how did June pan out? A small downturn from May which is a bit disappointing ... I am looking for growth after all. But I have been told that the summer doldrums hit even the internet and my postings are not frequent enough to counteract.
As usual there are some peaks in the month. The two posts that drew the most traffic were
The Dot Com King
Ed Dale Kicks of 30 Day Challenge Pre-Season
The bright light is that it seems that the search engines are beginning to find this blog – at 15.93% it’s the highest to date.
The only earnings to report are Adsense at $6.83 ... no affiliates this month.
There were 46 downloads of my ebook ABC’s of Blogging for Money
Overall growth seems to be eluding me. I’ve looked at how I could improve the stats, get more traffic and have more people subscribing to my RSS feed (not sure I have that set up right), the newsletter or the “follow me” group. I checked to see what my more successful compatriots are doing:
John Chow who reportedly makes $40K per month really works hard at his blog. I just went over the past month and not only does he blog daily, but several times a day! And it’s all good stuff too ... some of it on his daily life, some of it on internet marketing, some of it on our buds in the biz. He’s got several products as well. He enjoys over 200K in traffic per month. Much of his revenue is from the paid sponsors. Not bad for someone who started to blog in 2006 “just because”
Yaro Starak who is known to have taken $100K to the bank at least one month – but more importantly, consistently pulls down over $35m monthly. Yaro has been blogging on one blog or another for nigh on ten years now and brings a lot of experience to the table. Not only does he post kick ass info but is now successfully joint venturing with other successful internet marketers -that's striking the gold vein in the mine!
Caroline Middlebrook – a software professional who started her blog some two years ago. Modest - compared to the two above - monthly income that hovers at the $2000 mark, but she’s been a rare presence on her own blog due to the time she is spending in developing a new software program.
How did I spend my Internet Marketing time blocks this past month?
- published 9 posts on this blog
- submitted 2 articles to one article directory
- kept up to date in the 30 Day Challenge pre-season
- researched niche topic for the 30 Day Challenge (I think I have one nailed)
- working on the beta project that Dan Lok put out
- Read my RSS feeds
- Read my favorite blogs and posted comments (got backlinks)
- Visited some forums
- Working on my postings for July which will be on linking.
Thoughts to Ponder: Now that I am much more familiar with WordPress I am seriously considering migrating this whole blog to that system. I am also seriously scared – scared that I’ll mess the whole thing up in the process techie type stuff not being my strong suite. But I now understand why the top dogs in the internet marketing scene choose Wordpress.
Soon I will unveil my project in the beta program which I think will work in good stead with the niche I am considering for the 30 Day Challenge. These will be covered in this blog in the future as each will have something to contribute to my progress and hopefully yours.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina Bellicova
Blogging for Money
PS. Another top notch blogger, Alvin Phang baked a cheesecake for his first anniversary. Pictures and recipe on his blog.
Quick Links:
The Dot Com King
Ed Dale Kicks of 30 Day Challenge Pre-Season
John Chow
Yaro Starak
Caroline Middlebrook
30 Day Challenge
Alvin Phang
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
ABC's of Blogging #1 on Page One of Google!
WOW! ABC’s of Blogging for Money is #1 on Google and Blog Along With Me holds a respectable #2 position on Google’s page one! I am soooooo happy … I don’t think I have ever been #1 before! But before I sink into the euphoria of this most honored position I have some explaining to do …………..
The next round of topics on this blog is going to be on linking. While I have a fairly good working knowledge of this marketing technique I thought it would be a good idea to bone up on what other top dog bloggers have to say.
The more I read, the lower my spirits sank. I thought once again I did not do enough homework before starting this blog. The glaring error?
Keywords! Or the lack of them in my links. The most powerful link that you have is your domain name. For this blog I had decided to fight for Blogging for Money … while I frequently pepper this phrase in my postings, the domain name rules and it is glaringly bereft of the keyword phrase that I want this blog to become known for.
In an earlier post I had mentioned that this is a long term blog. I am blogging on how to blog – that is a crowded market with professional sites such as Blogger and Wordpress sitting comfortably in the top ranks on page one. Then there is Darren Rowse with his long standing and very popular Problogger coming up strongly in the middle of page one. When I was researching my keyword phrases, I decided that I could live with going for the phrase “blogging for money” which generates a daily search of 145.
While I did not expect to be sharing page space with Blogger, Wordpress or Darren, I did think that at least I would have got Google’s blessing with a page rank … oh, even page rank 1(with Google the higher the number of the page rank, the better it is) would have been great. Nada. Not even a nod.
Linking. Aha. The more I read on linking the deeper the realization sank in … It’s the link, stupid! The domain link does not have the keyword phrase in it! What does it have? It has the far more competitive word “blog” in it. Over 2 million searches daily. Other established and more savvy marketers are cornering that market! Dumb!!!
Now there are other strategies that I can employ to overcome this error but it would take time and aggressive marketing techniques. I could also go for another domain name and have it redirected to this site – I already did that once. I read that as prominent a blogger as Yaro Starak changed his first blog’s domain name three times. But this linking thing kept niggling at me. Then I had an idea. I Googled “blog along with me” and voila, there is my blog on page 1 holding positions 2, 3, 4 and 5.
My first reaction was big deal! Who goes searching for “blog along with me” but then I looked at the numbers – there it was in the 1 -10 of a possible 111,000,000! Be still my heart. How did my little blog of just 6 months beat out over a 100 million other entries?
I looked at each position to see what it was that helped me get to page one and as best as I can figure it out:
Content: The title “Blog Along With Me” is in the header. The phrase “blog along with me” appears in the description of the blog beneath the title in the header. This is a static part of the blog so that everytime a new post is added and the spiders or bots crawl this site, Blog Along With Me keeps showing up. Fresh content, consistent keyword.
Adbrite: I recently added Adbrite as an alternate to Adsense to monetize the blog. It is an interesting advertising system which works in tandem with Adsense, but replacing it when it can do better. Adbrite advertises to prospective advertisers and its ad for Blog Along With Me got picked up by Google. That is a link pickup. It occupies position No. 3.
Blog Catalog: I had submitted Blog Along to Blog Catalog and that too got crawled by Google and once again it is a link pickup
Twitter: One of my readers (bless you Michael) tweeted one of the posts on Twitter. And even though it was a Twitter URL it was a backlink to this site again!
I keep thinking of Mike Litman who was my first mentor. His favorite saying is “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”
I had an idea! What about my A B C’s of Blogging for Money? That has been up a scant month. To my surprise, there it was on page one holding top spot in the 1 – 10 out of a possible 27,500,000! This time the keyword phrase was in the domain title, and my press release got picked up.
This is really encouraging. It means that if you do enough of the right stuff it will eventually over ride the wrong stuff and your efforts will begin to pay off. More on that in the next post.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogging for Money
PS… That’s a big smiley on the cheese.
Quick Links:
ABC's Of Blogging for Money
Blogger
Wordpress
Adbrite
Blog Catalog
Twitter
The next round of topics on this blog is going to be on linking. While I have a fairly good working knowledge of this marketing technique I thought it would be a good idea to bone up on what other top dog bloggers have to say.
The more I read, the lower my spirits sank. I thought once again I did not do enough homework before starting this blog. The glaring error?
Keywords! Or the lack of them in my links. The most powerful link that you have is your domain name. For this blog I had decided to fight for Blogging for Money … while I frequently pepper this phrase in my postings, the domain name rules and it is glaringly bereft of the keyword phrase that I want this blog to become known for.
In an earlier post I had mentioned that this is a long term blog. I am blogging on how to blog – that is a crowded market with professional sites such as Blogger and Wordpress sitting comfortably in the top ranks on page one. Then there is Darren Rowse with his long standing and very popular Problogger coming up strongly in the middle of page one. When I was researching my keyword phrases, I decided that I could live with going for the phrase “blogging for money” which generates a daily search of 145.
While I did not expect to be sharing page space with Blogger, Wordpress or Darren, I did think that at least I would have got Google’s blessing with a page rank … oh, even page rank 1(with Google the higher the number of the page rank, the better it is) would have been great. Nada. Not even a nod.
Linking. Aha. The more I read on linking the deeper the realization sank in … It’s the link, stupid! The domain link does not have the keyword phrase in it! What does it have? It has the far more competitive word “blog” in it. Over 2 million searches daily. Other established and more savvy marketers are cornering that market! Dumb!!!
Now there are other strategies that I can employ to overcome this error but it would take time and aggressive marketing techniques. I could also go for another domain name and have it redirected to this site – I already did that once. I read that as prominent a blogger as Yaro Starak changed his first blog’s domain name three times. But this linking thing kept niggling at me. Then I had an idea. I Googled “blog along with me” and voila, there is my blog on page 1 holding positions 2, 3, 4 and 5.
My first reaction was big deal! Who goes searching for “blog along with me” but then I looked at the numbers – there it was in the 1 -10 of a possible 111,000,000! Be still my heart. How did my little blog of just 6 months beat out over a 100 million other entries?
I looked at each position to see what it was that helped me get to page one and as best as I can figure it out:
Content: The title “Blog Along With Me” is in the header. The phrase “blog along with me” appears in the description of the blog beneath the title in the header. This is a static part of the blog so that everytime a new post is added and the spiders or bots crawl this site, Blog Along With Me keeps showing up. Fresh content, consistent keyword.
Adbrite: I recently added Adbrite as an alternate to Adsense to monetize the blog. It is an interesting advertising system which works in tandem with Adsense, but replacing it when it can do better. Adbrite advertises to prospective advertisers and its ad for Blog Along With Me got picked up by Google. That is a link pickup. It occupies position No. 3.
Blog Catalog: I had submitted Blog Along to Blog Catalog and that too got crawled by Google and once again it is a link pickup
Twitter: One of my readers (bless you Michael) tweeted one of the posts on Twitter. And even though it was a Twitter URL it was a backlink to this site again!
I keep thinking of Mike Litman who was my first mentor. His favorite saying is “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”
I had an idea! What about my A B C’s of Blogging for Money? That has been up a scant month. To my surprise, there it was on page one holding top spot in the 1 – 10 out of a possible 27,500,000! This time the keyword phrase was in the domain title, and my press release got picked up.
This is really encouraging. It means that if you do enough of the right stuff it will eventually over ride the wrong stuff and your efforts will begin to pay off. More on that in the next post.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogging for Money
PS… That’s a big smiley on the cheese.
Quick Links:
ABC's Of Blogging for Money
Blogger
Wordpress
Adbrite
Blog Catalog
Monday, June 8, 2009
Internet Marketing Courses - What's Right for You?
My last post on fish throwing … & Internet Marketing Courses generated more emails, not about fish throwing in Seattle but on internet marketing courses. Rather than reply to each email I thought there might be others who visit here who could also benefit from more information on how to select a course that’s right for you.
First. Ask yourself why are you looking at courses? This is crucial. I know. I have spent the equivalent of a small ransom on courses. As a newbie in internet marketing the thought foremost on my mind was to leapfrog over all the dull and boring stuff, get to the meat of things and start pulling in the dough. I jumped from one course to another. Good thing I still have those courses as I am now revisiting them and plumbing some good content that completely eluded me before.
Many buy courses, dig into them, find the first two maybe even three lessons easy, or at least workable. The next lesson is a bit more challenging. By the time you get to the sixth lesson – if you haven’t put the package aside for “later” by then – you find that you are now way in over your head. It’s not your fault. It’s not the fault of the course either. It’s just that you have not built your IM muscles yet. Overwhelm takes over. I know. It happened to me.
In my opinion internet marketing is just like going to school. What if as a child your parents bought a packaged course that took you from grade one through high school in the one go and worse yet, you were expected to finish it in one year or less! Disaster, right? You still had not learned how to read yet by the end of twelve months you were expected to be doing calculus and reading Shakespeare.
Internet Marketing is like that. The good news is that it does not take twelve years to be super good and even better, you can start to make money in grade one.
That is why the question of why you are looking for a course is so important. If you have been in internet marketing for a little while, speak the language and have some online experience already, then a comprehensive course is right for you. These types of courses vary in cost. Some questions to ask yourself before signing up for a course:
1. What level of internet marketing am I at?
If you are a complete newbie and don’t know affiliate from joint venture, a comprehensive course that takes you from A to Z may not be the best option for you at this time. That is why I started this blog and wrote the e.book ABCs of Blogging for Money. This is “on the job” learning. I believe that blogging is the best way to get started. The e.book is an easy to follow, hands on, step by step system that will ease you into internet marketing and help you build your IM muscles and prepare you for more serious stuff later on. Get your free copy of ABCs of Blogging for Money
2. Am I ready for the big picture?
You have some understanding of internet marketing but have no idea of what the big picture looks like. What are the different options that are available to you. Do you want to specialize but don’t know where to begin?
You may be ready for a comprehensive course. A comprehensive course will take you from niche selection, to domain purchasing, to setting up your site, to the different methods of generating traffic to your site. You will be introduced to marketing models such as affiliate marketing, article marketing, social media marketing, podcasting, video marketing, copywriting and yes, even blogging.
There are so many disciplines within internet marketing that you can never learn them all, but you do need to have a generalist’s knowledge and appreciation of them. A comprehensive course will give you step by step, practical applications to apply to a full blown site. It will also help point you towards a direction that you want to become an expert in. I have taken several comprehensive courses on internet marketing but if I was to pick one, it would be the Nitro System.
3. Am I looking for a specific skill set?
You have taken a comprehensive course and now want to be a specialist. Congratulations! You are now entering the field of where the big boys and girls play. Yes, gurus specialize. Some are great at copywriting, some are great at list building, some are great at social media. They play to their strengths and it is time you do too. Look for a course that is targeted towards the area you want to become an expert at.
4. Am I looking for software to automate some of the steps in my marketing?
You already have at least one site, have been working at it diligently and now understand that there are efficiencies you can implement simply by installing the appropriate software. When looking at software there are two options:
- Buy the software program with a one time purchase fee. Make sure that unlimited upgrades are available to you for the life of the software program.
A software program typically addresses itself to one specific action. An good example is Atomic Blogging which concentrates on driving traffic to your blog.
- Subscribe to a software system at a monthly fee. The advantage here is that the developers of the system typically include several online marketing functions in one. A good example is the F.U. Money Machine which is a fully automated system that helps you run your online business.
5. Am I looking for someone to coach me through the course?
If you have the money to pay for one on one coaching go for it. Often the coaches are contracted out and they cost in the thousands. When considering a coaching program ask:
- is the coaching course specific?
- will the coaching include technical assistance?
- how many coaching sessions are included and over what period of time?
- how long is each coaching session?
- is there additional email coaching support?
- what results can I expect from the coaching program
- what guarantees (if any) are given with the coaching program
Coaching is a tough call. Successful people in all walks of life have coaches and/ or mentors. They don’t come cheap but the trade off is that a good coach will take you to a new level of success … improved performance, increased earnings, heightened public awareness, and the list goes on. A good coach will cut the learning curve in half, but keep in mind, that a coach does not do the work for you, you still have to do the heavy lifting where needed. In my view, I think it is important to first familiarize yourself with what internet marketing is all about. An athlete does not start with a coach on day one but has already displayed some ability in a sport.
The whole question of courses is a broad one and could probably be expanded into a report or even a mini-e.book. The above is a good place to get started.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... plenty good cheese above
Quicklinks:
ABCs of Blogging for Money: http://www.abcsofblogging.com
Nitro System: http://www.nitromarketing.com/g.o/valentina
Atomic Blogging: http://twurl.nl/dmltoq
F.U. Money Machine: http://www.fumoneymachine.com
First. Ask yourself why are you looking at courses? This is crucial. I know. I have spent the equivalent of a small ransom on courses. As a newbie in internet marketing the thought foremost on my mind was to leapfrog over all the dull and boring stuff, get to the meat of things and start pulling in the dough. I jumped from one course to another. Good thing I still have those courses as I am now revisiting them and plumbing some good content that completely eluded me before.
Many buy courses, dig into them, find the first two maybe even three lessons easy, or at least workable. The next lesson is a bit more challenging. By the time you get to the sixth lesson – if you haven’t put the package aside for “later” by then – you find that you are now way in over your head. It’s not your fault. It’s not the fault of the course either. It’s just that you have not built your IM muscles yet. Overwhelm takes over. I know. It happened to me.
In my opinion internet marketing is just like going to school. What if as a child your parents bought a packaged course that took you from grade one through high school in the one go and worse yet, you were expected to finish it in one year or less! Disaster, right? You still had not learned how to read yet by the end of twelve months you were expected to be doing calculus and reading Shakespeare.
Internet Marketing is like that. The good news is that it does not take twelve years to be super good and even better, you can start to make money in grade one.
That is why the question of why you are looking for a course is so important. If you have been in internet marketing for a little while, speak the language and have some online experience already, then a comprehensive course is right for you. These types of courses vary in cost. Some questions to ask yourself before signing up for a course:
1. What level of internet marketing am I at?
If you are a complete newbie and don’t know affiliate from joint venture, a comprehensive course that takes you from A to Z may not be the best option for you at this time. That is why I started this blog and wrote the e.book ABCs of Blogging for Money. This is “on the job” learning. I believe that blogging is the best way to get started. The e.book is an easy to follow, hands on, step by step system that will ease you into internet marketing and help you build your IM muscles and prepare you for more serious stuff later on. Get your free copy of ABCs of Blogging for Money
2. Am I ready for the big picture?
You have some understanding of internet marketing but have no idea of what the big picture looks like. What are the different options that are available to you. Do you want to specialize but don’t know where to begin?
You may be ready for a comprehensive course. A comprehensive course will take you from niche selection, to domain purchasing, to setting up your site, to the different methods of generating traffic to your site. You will be introduced to marketing models such as affiliate marketing, article marketing, social media marketing, podcasting, video marketing, copywriting and yes, even blogging.
There are so many disciplines within internet marketing that you can never learn them all, but you do need to have a generalist’s knowledge and appreciation of them. A comprehensive course will give you step by step, practical applications to apply to a full blown site. It will also help point you towards a direction that you want to become an expert in. I have taken several comprehensive courses on internet marketing but if I was to pick one, it would be the Nitro System.
3. Am I looking for a specific skill set?
You have taken a comprehensive course and now want to be a specialist. Congratulations! You are now entering the field of where the big boys and girls play. Yes, gurus specialize. Some are great at copywriting, some are great at list building, some are great at social media. They play to their strengths and it is time you do too. Look for a course that is targeted towards the area you want to become an expert at.
4. Am I looking for software to automate some of the steps in my marketing?
You already have at least one site, have been working at it diligently and now understand that there are efficiencies you can implement simply by installing the appropriate software. When looking at software there are two options:
- Buy the software program with a one time purchase fee. Make sure that unlimited upgrades are available to you for the life of the software program.
A software program typically addresses itself to one specific action. An good example is Atomic Blogging which concentrates on driving traffic to your blog.
- Subscribe to a software system at a monthly fee. The advantage here is that the developers of the system typically include several online marketing functions in one. A good example is the F.U. Money Machine which is a fully automated system that helps you run your online business.
5. Am I looking for someone to coach me through the course?
If you have the money to pay for one on one coaching go for it. Often the coaches are contracted out and they cost in the thousands. When considering a coaching program ask:
- is the coaching course specific?
- will the coaching include technical assistance?
- how many coaching sessions are included and over what period of time?
- how long is each coaching session?
- is there additional email coaching support?
- what results can I expect from the coaching program
- what guarantees (if any) are given with the coaching program
Coaching is a tough call. Successful people in all walks of life have coaches and/ or mentors. They don’t come cheap but the trade off is that a good coach will take you to a new level of success … improved performance, increased earnings, heightened public awareness, and the list goes on. A good coach will cut the learning curve in half, but keep in mind, that a coach does not do the work for you, you still have to do the heavy lifting where needed. In my view, I think it is important to first familiarize yourself with what internet marketing is all about. An athlete does not start with a coach on day one but has already displayed some ability in a sport.
The whole question of courses is a broad one and could probably be expanded into a report or even a mini-e.book. The above is a good place to get started.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... plenty good cheese above
Quicklinks:
ABCs of Blogging for Money: http://www.abcsofblogging.com
Nitro System: http://www.nitromarketing.com/g.o/valentina
Atomic Blogging: http://twurl.nl/dmltoq
F.U. Money Machine: http://www.fumoneymachine.com
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