Happy Labor Day everyone! Last days of summer barbeques and the wearing of white. Hmmm...I will continue to wear white.
Here in Vancouver the weather has decided cooled from just a few weeks ago when we were melting from the heat ... yes, they were scraping us off the sidewalks then! I love working from my home office which looks out on a grove of oak trees. The leaves haven't even got a hint of rust anywhere, they are green as green can be. It won't be long though before the squirrels start coming to gather the acorns of which there will be plenty.
I always look at Labor day which usually is a bit earlier in September (I guess September 7th is as late as it can be)as the beginning of a new year. To me this is more of a new year than January. I guess it goes back to school. We always started a new grade or "year" in September and finished in June, with the summer off for fun. I still do that now with my business. I have noticed that this is also a time when people start new things - not make resolutions like they do on New Year's Day, but things like signing up for a course on something they've always wanted to learn, or sign up for a new activity like fencing or tennis. Corporations typically ramp up their efforts in sales and marketing to finish the year strong ... statistically October and November are the most productive months of the year, both in business and personal lives.
Ok... enough of the musing already.
Found a site today that publishes blog incomes of bloggers who, well, publish their incomes publicly. I wrote last week that I was going to try and compile such a list well Jeremia Froyland has done it. I noticed that the big earners were absent, Jeremia and I had a little bit of online conversation about that and agreed that when you start pulling in the really big bucks, a la John Chow, Darren Rowse, Yaro Starak to name just a few (easily in the half mil a year league)then you stop publishing. Privacy and other things come into play. So the big guns are missing but it will be interesting to see the incomes of the current list members rise over time. Hmmmm..... gee, I'd like to be on that list soon ... and then earn to the point where I will stop publishing.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
I guess acorns are like cheese for the squirrels
Quick Links:
Jeremia Froyland
Showing posts with label blogging for money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging for money. Show all posts
Monday, September 7, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
August Report - No Zero Days!
August was a busy month. I have three distinct income streams and they all needed chunks of time. My internet marketing time chunks were devoted mostly to 30 Day Challenge. I thought that this blog would suffer. Looking at the graphs I’m actually quite pleased - 38% increase in visitors from July! The graph above is one that is a comparative between August and July. The green line being July and the blue August.
Considering that August is the slowest month for business whether it is on the internet or in the “real” world I am quite pleased that the numbers are up. This is the first month that not a single day passed by without a visitor – NO ZERO DAYS! That is a milestone for me. That spike up there for August 10 reflects the day that Google picked up one my postings and included it in its Google Alerts for the keyword phrase "Blogging for money."
Search engine traffic is way down. Another encouraging factor. When the search engines begin to deliver the 8% - 12% traffic I have been receiving in the past few months then the visitor stats should increase.
Top three blog postings to date:
1. Yes Virginia, there is money in blogging
2. 30 Day Challenge More Like 30 Days of Christmas
3. Rock Stars at Frank Kern’s Mass Control
I am also encouraged by the increasing number of downloads for my ABC’s of Blogging for Money e.book.
Earnings were paltry. No affiliate sales. Adsense not even at $3! I came across a blog that posted the top 10 blog earners and I was going to put a link to that post here as I wanted you to see that there's money in them thar blogs, but then I noticed that some of the top earners were not mentioned. It’s hard to come by hard data but maybe what I’ll do for next first of the month report is come up with my own top ten blog earners. This info is based on those bloggers who publish their monthly results.
Its time to move on. I have started the process of moving this blog to Wordpress. The shenanigans behind the scenes will take a while since I am doing this myself, so the new look won’t be up for a week or two, but I am both excited and looking at the exercise with trepidation: excited as I will be able to make immediate comparisons between the two platforms, trepidation: because it means more learning or at least perfecting the Wordpress Direct system which is quite different from that of Blogger.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... What cheese?
Quick Links
ABC’s of Blogging for Money
There’s Money in Them Thar blogs
1. Yes Virginia, there is money in blogging
2. 30 Day Challenge More Like 30 Days of Christmas
3. Rock Stars at Frank Kern’s Mass Control
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
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Blogging for Money? You Need a System
The best run companies in the world have effective systems in place. There is a progression of tasks, efficiencies, output, and sales. Everything is tracked and continuously fine tuned.
Blogging for money is a business, not as complex as a huge corporation’s, but the basic principles need to be implemented if you want to be successful. The importance of a system is that when in place and executed properly, the business can run without you and isn’t that what we are looking for - otherwise we are just building a job for ourselves. That is why I am so excited about the 30 Day Challenge.
As I chunk away, day by day, I am amazed at the tools that are made available to us, the clear and explicit instructions on how to use them, the efficiencies that are now going to save me days and days of time. The output is visible. Tracking is key. Areas that need attention are quickly identifiable. Fine tuning is continuous. Back links are adding up and the domain URL and relevant pages has been bookmarked by a total of 240! In less than a month! Heck! Actually in less than a week as I am somewhat behind in the day to day and only began serious marketing this past weekend. As an example I have no idea how many have bookmarked this blog. Is it important? Numbers are a concrete measure of your progress and are a clue to where you need to do some fine tuning.
What makes this possible are the efficiencies that I have been able to implement. Some of the tasks have been either fully or semi-automated. Market Samurai keeps unveiling new features and now I have been introduced to Traffic Bug, a program that submits your articles to directories. As an example, according to the stats the one article that I wrote has been submitted to 33 Directories (and counting). Between Market Samurai's and Traffic Bug's automated systems an estimated 558 minutes have been saved! That is mind boggling. It’s not so much that the time has been saved but that with the efficiencies in place, so much more can be done in the same amount of time that I normally spend on internet marketing. Suddenly the money making potential has taken on a telescopic view and I have to tell you, it looks good. Gotta like that.
When you have a system in place you can outsource the tasks – yes, even the writing if you want. This frees up your time. Dan Lok who started his online business some seven years ago worked long hours to get his business off the ground, he now works four hours a day, four days a week and if he wants to, he can go on a holiday for several weeks at a time and his business will just keep on chugging and spitting out a seven figure annual income. He has a fine tuned system in place. That should be our aim – to have a business with a fine tuned system that keeps on chug-a-lugging and putting dollars into our bank while we are out doing what we like. Now that’s what I would call an enviable online income life.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
A ball or a brick of cheese?
Quick Links:
30 Day Challenge
Market Samurai
Traffic Bug
Blogging for money is a business, not as complex as a huge corporation’s, but the basic principles need to be implemented if you want to be successful. The importance of a system is that when in place and executed properly, the business can run without you and isn’t that what we are looking for - otherwise we are just building a job for ourselves. That is why I am so excited about the 30 Day Challenge.
As I chunk away, day by day, I am amazed at the tools that are made available to us, the clear and explicit instructions on how to use them, the efficiencies that are now going to save me days and days of time. The output is visible. Tracking is key. Areas that need attention are quickly identifiable. Fine tuning is continuous. Back links are adding up and the domain URL and relevant pages has been bookmarked by a total of 240! In less than a month! Heck! Actually in less than a week as I am somewhat behind in the day to day and only began serious marketing this past weekend. As an example I have no idea how many have bookmarked this blog. Is it important? Numbers are a concrete measure of your progress and are a clue to where you need to do some fine tuning.
What makes this possible are the efficiencies that I have been able to implement. Some of the tasks have been either fully or semi-automated. Market Samurai keeps unveiling new features and now I have been introduced to Traffic Bug, a program that submits your articles to directories. As an example, according to the stats the one article that I wrote has been submitted to 33 Directories (and counting). Between Market Samurai's and Traffic Bug's automated systems an estimated 558 minutes have been saved! That is mind boggling. It’s not so much that the time has been saved but that with the efficiencies in place, so much more can be done in the same amount of time that I normally spend on internet marketing. Suddenly the money making potential has taken on a telescopic view and I have to tell you, it looks good. Gotta like that.
When you have a system in place you can outsource the tasks – yes, even the writing if you want. This frees up your time. Dan Lok who started his online business some seven years ago worked long hours to get his business off the ground, he now works four hours a day, four days a week and if he wants to, he can go on a holiday for several weeks at a time and his business will just keep on chugging and spitting out a seven figure annual income. He has a fine tuned system in place. That should be our aim – to have a business with a fine tuned system that keeps on chug-a-lugging and putting dollars into our bank while we are out doing what we like. Now that’s what I would call an enviable online income life.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
A ball or a brick of cheese?
Quick Links:
30 Day Challenge
Market Samurai
Traffic Bug
Monday, August 24, 2009
New Cheese
For several months now I have been adding a PS at the end of each posting here. I wondered how long it would be before anyone noticed, or made any comment. The PS always has something about cheese. Today I received this from a reader:
Cheryll wrote:
I thought you would like this little quote:
"Today is the best time to venture into the Maze -
even if it just means taking the smallest of steps
that leads to the next step that leads you to New
Cheese" - from "Who Moved My Cheese?"
What are your thoughts on cheese? Do you think Blogging for Money is all about getting your own cheese? Post your comments below.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
Quick Links:
Cheryll's Basket Talk
Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Cheryll wrote:
I thought you would like this little quote:
"Today is the best time to venture into the Maze -
even if it just means taking the smallest of steps
that leads to the next step that leads you to New
Cheese" - from "Who Moved My Cheese?"
What are your thoughts on cheese? Do you think Blogging for Money is all about getting your own cheese? Post your comments below.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
Quick Links:
Cheryll's Basket Talk
Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
Monday, August 17, 2009
F.U.Money
No 30 Day Challenge this weekend – I’m falling a tad behind so this will be short.
This weekend I attended the Cashflow Marketing seminar in Abbotsford. Think Cashflow, think real estate and Robert Kiyosaki and Darren Weeks, right? Think again.
This seminar was attended by entrepreneurs, mostly brick and mortar business owners. They came to learn how to market in these tough economic times, how to strategize, deploy tactical maneuvers and come out big time winners. The seminar spanned two days and by its end everyone had a workable system they took home with them. I am certain that their businesses will take a significant uptick on the sales chart.
One of the speakers was Dan Lok – I’ve written about Dan before. He’s a self made multi-millionaire in internet marketing. When I met him the first time several years ago, we chatted a bit about my interest in internet marketing. His advice: "Blog, blog, blog."
With Dan Lok
Dan is nothing if not to the point- blunt, some might even say. Dan has written several books and there is a new one in the offing ... we got copies of it. Did I say that Dan pulls no punches? Aptly, its title is F.U. Money. its listed on Amazon but not available for sale yet!
The book dovetails very nicely with a program that he launched a few months back as a beta and in which I have been participating. It's a system that puts much of your internet marketing on auto pilot ... so easy even grandma could do it.
Maybe I'm letting the cat out of the bag as Dan has been awfully quiet about it ... but here is the thing, I mentioned several times here that I will be moving this blog from Blogger to a Wordpress based platform. I am still thinking as to where exactly I want to move it. I am thinking that putting it on the beta program system would be good, as I already have hard data and stats, and then it will be easy to compare historical data with new results once it has been moved. From my experience with the system so far, I think blogging for money will take on a completely different trajectory ... UP! Stay tuned - new look coming up in a few weeks.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... wouldn't you know it, one of the attendees owns a gourmet cheese shop!
This weekend I attended the Cashflow Marketing seminar in Abbotsford. Think Cashflow, think real estate and Robert Kiyosaki and Darren Weeks, right? Think again.
This seminar was attended by entrepreneurs, mostly brick and mortar business owners. They came to learn how to market in these tough economic times, how to strategize, deploy tactical maneuvers and come out big time winners. The seminar spanned two days and by its end everyone had a workable system they took home with them. I am certain that their businesses will take a significant uptick on the sales chart.
One of the speakers was Dan Lok – I’ve written about Dan before. He’s a self made multi-millionaire in internet marketing. When I met him the first time several years ago, we chatted a bit about my interest in internet marketing. His advice: "Blog, blog, blog."
With Dan Lok
Dan is nothing if not to the point- blunt, some might even say. Dan has written several books and there is a new one in the offing ... we got copies of it. Did I say that Dan pulls no punches? Aptly, its title is F.U. Money. its listed on Amazon but not available for sale yet!
The book dovetails very nicely with a program that he launched a few months back as a beta and in which I have been participating. It's a system that puts much of your internet marketing on auto pilot ... so easy even grandma could do it.
Maybe I'm letting the cat out of the bag as Dan has been awfully quiet about it ... but here is the thing, I mentioned several times here that I will be moving this blog from Blogger to a Wordpress based platform. I am still thinking as to where exactly I want to move it. I am thinking that putting it on the beta program system would be good, as I already have hard data and stats, and then it will be easy to compare historical data with new results once it has been moved. From my experience with the system so far, I think blogging for money will take on a completely different trajectory ... UP! Stay tuned - new look coming up in a few weeks.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... wouldn't you know it, one of the attendees owns a gourmet cheese shop!
Monday, August 3, 2009
"Tweak" along with me
For my 30 Day Challenge I am researching a new niche and as I do so I am learning things that I can apply immediately to this blog and I made such a change today.
When you first open this blog, the first thing you read is a blurb about the blog. As mentioned several times in my postings, I am fight for the keyword phrase "blogging for income" yet this phrase
1. is not in my URL
2. is not part of my domain name
3. is not part of the title
4. is not in the header
5. was not used in the description or "blurb" of the blog.
The first four items I cannot do much about right now - or at least I choose to leave till later, but I tackled item no. 5 right away and "tweaked" the description. I changed the wording and used several keywords that are good in this niche, but which I had omitted and I made sure that "blogging for money" was front and center.
Why is this important?
These are all factors that are taken into account by Google and other search engines. When compared to other blogs in the "blogging for money" keyword phrase this blog did very well in a number of areas, those that are known as "on page", in fact it outperformed some that were in the top 10 list, but I failed miserably in the "off page" criteria which are the 5 mentioned above.
Its a small "tweak" but it will be interesting to see what, if any, difference it will make in traffic.
So here is what you need to keep top of mind when finding a domain name and setting up your blog site:
1. keyword in the domain name
2. keyword in the URL (usually one follows the other)
3. keyword in the header
4. keyword in the Title
5. keyword in the description.
If you incorporate these five strategies you'll be way ahead over those who don't and have a leg up on the blogging for money game.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
can you say cheese?
Quick Links
30 Day Challenge
When you first open this blog, the first thing you read is a blurb about the blog. As mentioned several times in my postings, I am fight for the keyword phrase "blogging for income" yet this phrase
1. is not in my URL
2. is not part of my domain name
3. is not part of the title
4. is not in the header
5. was not used in the description or "blurb" of the blog.
The first four items I cannot do much about right now - or at least I choose to leave till later, but I tackled item no. 5 right away and "tweaked" the description. I changed the wording and used several keywords that are good in this niche, but which I had omitted and I made sure that "blogging for money" was front and center.
Why is this important?
These are all factors that are taken into account by Google and other search engines. When compared to other blogs in the "blogging for money" keyword phrase this blog did very well in a number of areas, those that are known as "on page", in fact it outperformed some that were in the top 10 list, but I failed miserably in the "off page" criteria which are the 5 mentioned above.
Its a small "tweak" but it will be interesting to see what, if any, difference it will make in traffic.
So here is what you need to keep top of mind when finding a domain name and setting up your blog site:
1. keyword in the domain name
2. keyword in the URL (usually one follows the other)
3. keyword in the header
4. keyword in the Title
5. keyword in the description.
If you incorporate these five strategies you'll be way ahead over those who don't and have a leg up on the blogging for money game.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
can you say cheese?
Quick Links
30 Day Challenge
Saturday, August 1, 2009
July Statistics - Melting in the heat!
Whew! I feel like one of those melting subjects in Dali’s paintings! We are setting record temperatures here in Vancouver and the humidity is right up there. It’s enough to fry a brain or should that be melt it? Not the best environment to be blogging for money in.
Everything I read by the gurus is in sync with business in the summer ... down, so I am somewhat pleased that July had an uptick on this blog.
Posted is the chart that shows the comparison between the two months, June and July(July is the blue line). The differences are not huge and July is still below May, but seeing as these are the dog days of summer, I am OK with that.
Comments and observations:
I like that there was an increase in visits in July over June and that page views also had a decent increase. Page visits and average time per page are down however. I am still frustrated that the overall visitor stats are not significantly better than when I first started this blog in January of this year! Yes, I know that I am in a very competitive niche and I am doing this for the long term, but still I would have thought the results would have been better by now.
What I find really puzzling is how did I happen to drop my page ranking? At the beginning of July I was super pleased to have finally been awarded a Google page rank of 1 (10 being the highest, but you have to start somewhere) and Alexa was down to the 2.5M level (the lower the number the better, ideally get below 100K)– today, no page rank and Alexa up to 4M. What gives? What did I do wrong? Did I offend mother Google somehow? But Alexa has nothing to do with Google.
Another puzzling statistic. Throughout most of the month my search engine traffic was running at the 18% mark, yet, today’s stat shows a mere 8%. Clearly, there is something I did (or did not do) that dropped that statistic as well. I am confident that had the trend continued to month end, the stats would have been better. Hmmmmm.... it is a puzzlement.
I have no affiliate sales to report for the month of July and Adsense is a mere $2.92!!! That makes it the lowest ever!
OK... maybe this is what the gurus refer to as being in the trenches. What can I do to achieve better results?
1. Increase frequency of posts
2. Review keywords (I am still fighting for “blogging for money”
3. Use selected keywords in postings
4. Repurpose posts and publish in article directories
These are steps I can take right now. I know how to. There is a fifth thing I can do, but I am not sure how to use appropriately yet and that is social media.
Having said that, today is the kickoff for the 30 Day Challenge and I will be spending most of my internet marketing blocks on this endeavor ... most of my posts will have to do with my 30 Day Challenge experience and how it translates here.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS...I think somebody stole my cheese!
Quick Links:
30 Day Challenge
Everything I read by the gurus is in sync with business in the summer ... down, so I am somewhat pleased that July had an uptick on this blog.
Posted is the chart that shows the comparison between the two months, June and July(July is the blue line). The differences are not huge and July is still below May, but seeing as these are the dog days of summer, I am OK with that.
Comments and observations:
I like that there was an increase in visits in July over June and that page views also had a decent increase. Page visits and average time per page are down however. I am still frustrated that the overall visitor stats are not significantly better than when I first started this blog in January of this year! Yes, I know that I am in a very competitive niche and I am doing this for the long term, but still I would have thought the results would have been better by now.
What I find really puzzling is how did I happen to drop my page ranking? At the beginning of July I was super pleased to have finally been awarded a Google page rank of 1 (10 being the highest, but you have to start somewhere) and Alexa was down to the 2.5M level (the lower the number the better, ideally get below 100K)– today, no page rank and Alexa up to 4M. What gives? What did I do wrong? Did I offend mother Google somehow? But Alexa has nothing to do with Google.
Another puzzling statistic. Throughout most of the month my search engine traffic was running at the 18% mark, yet, today’s stat shows a mere 8%. Clearly, there is something I did (or did not do) that dropped that statistic as well. I am confident that had the trend continued to month end, the stats would have been better. Hmmmmm.... it is a puzzlement.
I have no affiliate sales to report for the month of July and Adsense is a mere $2.92!!! That makes it the lowest ever!
OK... maybe this is what the gurus refer to as being in the trenches. What can I do to achieve better results?
1. Increase frequency of posts
2. Review keywords (I am still fighting for “blogging for money”
3. Use selected keywords in postings
4. Repurpose posts and publish in article directories
These are steps I can take right now. I know how to. There is a fifth thing I can do, but I am not sure how to use appropriately yet and that is social media.
Having said that, today is the kickoff for the 30 Day Challenge and I will be spending most of my internet marketing blocks on this endeavor ... most of my posts will have to do with my 30 Day Challenge experience and how it translates here.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS...I think somebody stole my cheese!
Quick Links:
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
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Is Tweeting for Bucks the New Blogging for Money?
Is anyone out there tweeting for bucks? Is anyone making money in social media?
That was the subject of a newsletter I recently received.
Is blogging for money being edged out by its sexier cousin tweeting for bucks?
I don’t know.
It seems that social media marketing is the hottest subject on the internet today and everyone is suddenly an expert and weighing in with their opinion – in my opinion it is highly misunderstood, misused and definitely abused.
I confess to not “getting it” when the hullabaloo first started – I mean, who cares if I just had sausages and toast for breakfast or if I’m packing to go and visit aunt Millie? It's a lot of noise about nothing, I thought, and ignored the phenomena for as long as I could.
Interestingly I began to receive emails from people in the internet marketing industry whom I respect. Successful internet marketers. Without exception they were extolling the power of social media marketing and how when applied properly, it can put dollars in your jeans.
HUH?
Adding dollars in my jeans always gets me attention. I began to read more.
Then I attended Frank Kern’s Mass Control in San Diego where Ed Dale made a compelling presentation on the power of Social Media and Perry Belcher followed up with conclusive evidence that yes, there is money in social media marketing, but, and here is the big “but” you really need to know how to apply it properly or you’ll be ignored; worse yet, you could be banned.
Social media sites are popping everywhere – they number in the thousands. Each has a purpose for its existence and the application or participation format vary from site to site. The most popular ones are Facebook, LinkedIn for the business crowd and the one that has all the internet atwitter is ... well Twitter!
First things first. As mentioned, each social site has a purpose. Delicious for example is an excellent venue for generating backlinks to your site. Search engines such as Google look at backlinks as a vote for your site so the more backlinks you have pointing back to your site, the better the likelihood of getting both a higher ranking on your site and generating increased traffic. Traffic is the holy grail of internet marketing – we all want it, lots of it.
Twitter on the other hand is the online equivalent of a blog sound bite and most importantly, the information is live. Why is that so important? When managed properly the internet marketer has up to the minute information on a subject of her choice and use it intelligently to leverage her marketing on the subject. Say your topic is celebrity dogs and you just learned that the Taco Bell chihuahua has gone on to its taco in the sky. Immediately you could post on your blog this breaking news content giving you front of line placement with the search engines. Rinse and repeat ... and soon you are the number one celebrity dog blog.
To go into details on social media marketing here is not within the scope of a single post. What is important to understand though is that it is not social media marketing that puts dollars in your jeans – it is a tool that used properly will definitely impact positively on the bottom line of your bank balance. Lets take the Taco Bell chihuahua as an example. With frequent "breaking news" postings traffic to your blog will increase and with increased traffic you are likely to have more clicks for ads, affiliates and if you don't have any paid advertisers on your site yet, this gives you leverage to attract them.
In this year’s Thirty Day Challenge, Ed Dale is going to be giving extensive coverage to social media marketing. It officially kicks off August 1 but the pre-season tools are being uncovered almost daily. To be better armed for a more successful blogging for money career, register today – hey, its free. See you there!
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS ... get your own cheese with the Thirty Day Challenge.
Quick Links:
Frank Kern’s Mass Control
Ed Dale
Perry Belcher
Follow Me on Twitter
Register for Thirty Day Challenge
That was the subject of a newsletter I recently received.
Is blogging for money being edged out by its sexier cousin tweeting for bucks?
I don’t know.
It seems that social media marketing is the hottest subject on the internet today and everyone is suddenly an expert and weighing in with their opinion – in my opinion it is highly misunderstood, misused and definitely abused.
I confess to not “getting it” when the hullabaloo first started – I mean, who cares if I just had sausages and toast for breakfast or if I’m packing to go and visit aunt Millie? It's a lot of noise about nothing, I thought, and ignored the phenomena for as long as I could.
Interestingly I began to receive emails from people in the internet marketing industry whom I respect. Successful internet marketers. Without exception they were extolling the power of social media marketing and how when applied properly, it can put dollars in your jeans.
HUH?
Adding dollars in my jeans always gets me attention. I began to read more.
Then I attended Frank Kern’s Mass Control in San Diego where Ed Dale made a compelling presentation on the power of Social Media and Perry Belcher followed up with conclusive evidence that yes, there is money in social media marketing, but, and here is the big “but” you really need to know how to apply it properly or you’ll be ignored; worse yet, you could be banned.
Social media sites are popping everywhere – they number in the thousands. Each has a purpose for its existence and the application or participation format vary from site to site. The most popular ones are Facebook, LinkedIn for the business crowd and the one that has all the internet atwitter is ... well Twitter!
First things first. As mentioned, each social site has a purpose. Delicious for example is an excellent venue for generating backlinks to your site. Search engines such as Google look at backlinks as a vote for your site so the more backlinks you have pointing back to your site, the better the likelihood of getting both a higher ranking on your site and generating increased traffic. Traffic is the holy grail of internet marketing – we all want it, lots of it.
Twitter on the other hand is the online equivalent of a blog sound bite and most importantly, the information is live. Why is that so important? When managed properly the internet marketer has up to the minute information on a subject of her choice and use it intelligently to leverage her marketing on the subject. Say your topic is celebrity dogs and you just learned that the Taco Bell chihuahua has gone on to its taco in the sky. Immediately you could post on your blog this breaking news content giving you front of line placement with the search engines. Rinse and repeat ... and soon you are the number one celebrity dog blog.
To go into details on social media marketing here is not within the scope of a single post. What is important to understand though is that it is not social media marketing that puts dollars in your jeans – it is a tool that used properly will definitely impact positively on the bottom line of your bank balance. Lets take the Taco Bell chihuahua as an example. With frequent "breaking news" postings traffic to your blog will increase and with increased traffic you are likely to have more clicks for ads, affiliates and if you don't have any paid advertisers on your site yet, this gives you leverage to attract them.
In this year’s Thirty Day Challenge, Ed Dale is going to be giving extensive coverage to social media marketing. It officially kicks off August 1 but the pre-season tools are being uncovered almost daily. To be better armed for a more successful blogging for money career, register today – hey, its free. See you there!
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS ... get your own cheese with the Thirty Day Challenge.
Quick Links:
Frank Kern’s Mass Control
Ed Dale
Perry Belcher
Follow Me on Twitter
Register for Thirty Day Challenge
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Blogging - a valuable marketing tool
Blogs are sprouting up faster than a new growth of bamboo shoots. Suddenly everyone is jumping on the expressway to wealth and its called Blogging for Money – or so they think. It is definitely a growth industry. But as an industry is it really making money?
In this fast paced world of the internet, blogging is not a new phenomena. It’s been around for some ten years now – I know, because some of the bloggers that are pulling in the big bucks have been blogging in one form or another for that length of time. It is exactly the financial success of notable bloggers like Darren Rowse, Yaro Starak, Nathan Hangan, and Alvin Phang to name just a few that has captured the attention of the young and old alike and suddenly it seems that blogging for money has become the online version of the Klondike Gold Rush.
So, yes there is money in the industry but statistically that money falls to a very small percentage. There are millions of blogs. Most are not monetized nor were they ever put up with the intention of making money. Many more have been abandoned either because the initial flush of creativity died an early death or the promise of money failed to materialize.
Therein lies the challenge. Making money blogging. Manuals on blogging focus on finding a niche and then blogging about it. Plenty of attention is given to the fact that unlike traditional brick and mortar businesses it does not cost much to start a blog.
In my view many newbie bloggers are missing an opportunity that is right under their own noses. I am often asked by eager would be bloggers what it is that they should blog about. The first question I ask is whether they already have a business of their own. Often they do. I have spoken with dry cleaners, bakers, bike shop owners, florists and many other small business owners. When asked if they had given any thought about blogging about their businesses I get a blank stare. They've bought into the notion of unique and niche and their business, in their mind, is neither unique nor niche.
You see, blogging is just another marketing tool and a valuable one at that. It can be an effective way to promote your bricks and mortar business. I had a long conversation with the baker. His bread is to die for – all whole food type of ingredients and so delish. The quality is definitely high end and customers gladly pay the premium price. He wants to expand as a supplier to high end restaurants and local specialty grocers of natural and organic foods.
We chatted. How could a blog help him? Tricky. Go for the business to customer or business to business market?
“Could you handle more walk in traffic?” I asked.
“Absolutely” he said.
"In fact walk in traffic is the most profitable part of my business as the bread is sold at full price."
I happen to know that there are customers who drive an hour each way just to stock up on his bread. What if he blogged as part of his marketing mix? He could start with his story. He can write about what makes his breads different. Talk about some of the ingredients. The origin of some of the breads he bakes and much, much more. Do you think that he could create a continuously increasing stream of traffic to his store? Do you think that maybe those high end grocers just might begin to notice him. If he rolled up his baker's sleeves and employed even just a few online marketing strategies, could the effort pay off with more money in the bank?
I think so.
Now here’s a thought for you. You write. You want a blog. Topics elude you. Are you already a small business owner? Are there stores in your neighborhood that would pay you to market their businesses online? Is there a successful baker who's too busy to blog but has bigger ambitions for his business who would be willing to pay you to do so?
You could approach one store – preferably a friend – and offer to help market their business online for free as something to cut your teeth on while learning how to blog. Could you monetize that blog so that not only does the business get added traffic but makes money off of the blog? Do you think your friend would give you referrals to his small business buds? For pay? Could you become a professional blogger writing for established bricks and mortar businesses – and they don’t even have to be where you live, not if you learn how to market your blogging service properly.
Now there’s something to think about. Is that a possibility that can be a probability?
Happy Blogging ......
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... Now there’s a completely different spin on “a brick of cheese”
In this fast paced world of the internet, blogging is not a new phenomena. It’s been around for some ten years now – I know, because some of the bloggers that are pulling in the big bucks have been blogging in one form or another for that length of time. It is exactly the financial success of notable bloggers like Darren Rowse, Yaro Starak, Nathan Hangan, and Alvin Phang to name just a few that has captured the attention of the young and old alike and suddenly it seems that blogging for money has become the online version of the Klondike Gold Rush.
So, yes there is money in the industry but statistically that money falls to a very small percentage. There are millions of blogs. Most are not monetized nor were they ever put up with the intention of making money. Many more have been abandoned either because the initial flush of creativity died an early death or the promise of money failed to materialize.
Therein lies the challenge. Making money blogging. Manuals on blogging focus on finding a niche and then blogging about it. Plenty of attention is given to the fact that unlike traditional brick and mortar businesses it does not cost much to start a blog.
In my view many newbie bloggers are missing an opportunity that is right under their own noses. I am often asked by eager would be bloggers what it is that they should blog about. The first question I ask is whether they already have a business of their own. Often they do. I have spoken with dry cleaners, bakers, bike shop owners, florists and many other small business owners. When asked if they had given any thought about blogging about their businesses I get a blank stare. They've bought into the notion of unique and niche and their business, in their mind, is neither unique nor niche.
You see, blogging is just another marketing tool and a valuable one at that. It can be an effective way to promote your bricks and mortar business. I had a long conversation with the baker. His bread is to die for – all whole food type of ingredients and so delish. The quality is definitely high end and customers gladly pay the premium price. He wants to expand as a supplier to high end restaurants and local specialty grocers of natural and organic foods.
We chatted. How could a blog help him? Tricky. Go for the business to customer or business to business market?
“Could you handle more walk in traffic?” I asked.
“Absolutely” he said.
"In fact walk in traffic is the most profitable part of my business as the bread is sold at full price."
I happen to know that there are customers who drive an hour each way just to stock up on his bread. What if he blogged as part of his marketing mix? He could start with his story. He can write about what makes his breads different. Talk about some of the ingredients. The origin of some of the breads he bakes and much, much more. Do you think that he could create a continuously increasing stream of traffic to his store? Do you think that maybe those high end grocers just might begin to notice him. If he rolled up his baker's sleeves and employed even just a few online marketing strategies, could the effort pay off with more money in the bank?
I think so.
Now here’s a thought for you. You write. You want a blog. Topics elude you. Are you already a small business owner? Are there stores in your neighborhood that would pay you to market their businesses online? Is there a successful baker who's too busy to blog but has bigger ambitions for his business who would be willing to pay you to do so?
You could approach one store – preferably a friend – and offer to help market their business online for free as something to cut your teeth on while learning how to blog. Could you monetize that blog so that not only does the business get added traffic but makes money off of the blog? Do you think your friend would give you referrals to his small business buds? For pay? Could you become a professional blogger writing for established bricks and mortar businesses – and they don’t even have to be where you live, not if you learn how to market your blogging service properly.
Now there’s something to think about. Is that a possibility that can be a probability?
Happy Blogging ......
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... Now there’s a completely different spin on “a brick of cheese”
Monday, July 13, 2009
Time Managment
Time management is the bete noire of productivity – or should that be, lack of time management?
I run three businesses.
None of them on their own provide a livable income. One is a mature business in network marketing which provides me with the biggest chunk of change for my livelihood. Another is one that I fell into less than a year ago: marketing a pet product to the retail pet industry. It is growing. The third is internet marketing. It is at once the most time consuming and the least profitable, yet, it is the one I am pursuing with unfettered enthusiasm.
None earn enough so that I could outsource some of the more tedious tasks
Conventional wisdom dictates that I work only one business, build it up to extraordinary success and only then turn my attention to a second one. And as they say: rinse and repeat. Indeed, I give that very same advice to others.
Why do I not follow my own advice?
Frankly, I enjoy the diversity. It keeps my brain active.
The question I am often asked is how do I manage to run three businesses. The answer is with great difficulty. But I have adopted a system that seems to work: time blocking.
Time blocking is a management system where you take blocks of time – in my case I use a one hour block - and you allot so many blocks for a certain activity. Each day I allot several blocks to each business. Neither the number of blocks nor the sequence is uniform for each day. For each business I have a monthly and a weekly goal. The daily blocks are then focused on making the weekly goal. An example might be:
July:
Internet Marketing: Increase traffic by 10% to each blog/site
How?
- Publish 10 articles in Article Directories
- Blog daily (I have several blogs – so not each one gets a post every day)
- Each week take the best blog posts and repurpose into an article to be published in Article Directories
- Visit “Do Follow” blogs and comment as appropriate
Those are not the only internet marketing activities I engage in, but they are the bones which are then fleshed out.
As I am still very much a student of Internet Marketing and spend a good deal of time reading, listening to or watching videos of a course or a subscription I block time for that as well. This keeps me growing, increases my knowledge and improves my skill sets. I do not implement everything I learn – indeed, sometimes I feel that something is beyond my current grasp, and I leave it, to be returned to later.
I decided on this model because the previous one, which was based on task oriented results as a measurement of time for each business, was not working. An example might be to write up 4 new retail orders for the pet product that I market for the day. Sometimes even after hours and hours of following up by email and calls to my key contacts, it just did not happen. It was frustrating. Now, I have flexibility as to how many blocks I assign to this project on any given day – and there are days when one of the businesses may not be assigned any block at all. At the end of the month I have measurable results which include new customers, repeat customers and added prospects in the pipeline. Adjust as necessary
You may have a regular day job. A family to raise. A fitness routine to fit in ....and, you have decided to enter the world of internet marketing by blogging for money. How do you do it?
Ewen Chia, author of How I made my First Million on the Internet had all that to juggle – well not sure about the fitness regime. He blocked 4 hours each night to work on his internet marketing, but get this he did that between 11.00 PM and 3.00 AM. It’s a wonder he did not keel over from sleep deprivation. Now that is what I call driven and many would term that as being extreme, but what it has done is delivered extreme success to him.
You may not want to follow in Ewen’s footsteps (heck, I would drop from sheer exhaustion myself), but do take a page out of his book ... block some time for your success, daily. Turn off the TV and use the weekends to chunk in some real quality effort, say four or six hours straight, you’d be surprised how that escalates your results.
I use this system for my businesses, but really, it can be used for anything. Managed well, with systemic time blocking you will see incremental progress. I love comparing where I end the month with where I began that month. There is always progress. Progress built on progress eventually takes on a rocket ship trajectory.
Believe it. It's true.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... How do you cut your cheese?
Quick Links:
How I Made My First Million on the Internet
My network marketing business
All Natural Pet Balm
I run three businesses.
None of them on their own provide a livable income. One is a mature business in network marketing which provides me with the biggest chunk of change for my livelihood. Another is one that I fell into less than a year ago: marketing a pet product to the retail pet industry. It is growing. The third is internet marketing. It is at once the most time consuming and the least profitable, yet, it is the one I am pursuing with unfettered enthusiasm.
None earn enough so that I could outsource some of the more tedious tasks
Conventional wisdom dictates that I work only one business, build it up to extraordinary success and only then turn my attention to a second one. And as they say: rinse and repeat. Indeed, I give that very same advice to others.
Why do I not follow my own advice?
Frankly, I enjoy the diversity. It keeps my brain active.
The question I am often asked is how do I manage to run three businesses. The answer is with great difficulty. But I have adopted a system that seems to work: time blocking.
Time blocking is a management system where you take blocks of time – in my case I use a one hour block - and you allot so many blocks for a certain activity. Each day I allot several blocks to each business. Neither the number of blocks nor the sequence is uniform for each day. For each business I have a monthly and a weekly goal. The daily blocks are then focused on making the weekly goal. An example might be:
July:
Internet Marketing: Increase traffic by 10% to each blog/site
How?
- Publish 10 articles in Article Directories
- Blog daily (I have several blogs – so not each one gets a post every day)
- Each week take the best blog posts and repurpose into an article to be published in Article Directories
- Visit “Do Follow” blogs and comment as appropriate
Those are not the only internet marketing activities I engage in, but they are the bones which are then fleshed out.
As I am still very much a student of Internet Marketing and spend a good deal of time reading, listening to or watching videos of a course or a subscription I block time for that as well. This keeps me growing, increases my knowledge and improves my skill sets. I do not implement everything I learn – indeed, sometimes I feel that something is beyond my current grasp, and I leave it, to be returned to later.
I decided on this model because the previous one, which was based on task oriented results as a measurement of time for each business, was not working. An example might be to write up 4 new retail orders for the pet product that I market for the day. Sometimes even after hours and hours of following up by email and calls to my key contacts, it just did not happen. It was frustrating. Now, I have flexibility as to how many blocks I assign to this project on any given day – and there are days when one of the businesses may not be assigned any block at all. At the end of the month I have measurable results which include new customers, repeat customers and added prospects in the pipeline. Adjust as necessary
You may have a regular day job. A family to raise. A fitness routine to fit in ....and, you have decided to enter the world of internet marketing by blogging for money. How do you do it?
Ewen Chia, author of How I made my First Million on the Internet had all that to juggle – well not sure about the fitness regime. He blocked 4 hours each night to work on his internet marketing, but get this he did that between 11.00 PM and 3.00 AM. It’s a wonder he did not keel over from sleep deprivation. Now that is what I call driven and many would term that as being extreme, but what it has done is delivered extreme success to him.
You may not want to follow in Ewen’s footsteps (heck, I would drop from sheer exhaustion myself), but do take a page out of his book ... block some time for your success, daily. Turn off the TV and use the weekends to chunk in some real quality effort, say four or six hours straight, you’d be surprised how that escalates your results.
I use this system for my businesses, but really, it can be used for anything. Managed well, with systemic time blocking you will see incremental progress. I love comparing where I end the month with where I began that month. There is always progress. Progress built on progress eventually takes on a rocket ship trajectory.
Believe it. It's true.
Happy Blogging!
Valentina
Blogger for Money
PS... How do you cut your cheese?
Quick Links:
How I Made My First Million on the Internet
My network marketing business
All Natural Pet Balm
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Google Alert - a useful tool for bloggers
The 30 Day Challenge pre-season is in full swing. New “tools” are introduced on a regular basis. Some of these tools are not new to me yet I decided to invest the five minutes or so to view the videos. Amazing. Even though I thought I knew how to use these tools, I found something that I was not fully utilizing from each video! It's always good to review!
One tool however was new to me – Google Alert. This is different from Google Reader. It made sense to check it out so I registered for my Google Alert account.
What Google Alert does is send you freshly minted content on the keyword phrase you want to be kept up to date on. You can put as many such phrases as you want and Google will send you the aggregate list of articles on the topic within the time intervals you choose. What I like about this service is that I don’t have to go searching for fresh material on my topic. I also become better informed on my subject and therefore more of an authority on it. One of the phrases I submitted was blogging for money.
In this morning’s serving there was an article that I thought was very interesting ... talk about “niche” marketing. A blogger in the UK has decided to blog about his very unique house as a way to market it to buyers. The blog has been up for two months or so and already he has had 10,000 visitors and a few who expressed further interest in possible purchasing it. The article’s title is Sold to the Highest Bidder and you can read it on Times Online
The real point of this little soupcon on Google Alert is that if you want to get returns that are exactly what you are looking for then you need to put quotation marks around the phrase, like so: “blogging for money”. Clearly the article in question about the house for sale by blog, while it met the criteria of blogging for money, was of a different stripe than what I am looking for.
Now the dilemma. Do I go and manage my Google Alert and change the instruction by encasing my phrase with quotation marks or, do I leave it? Reads such as above are interesting.
To make my decision I asked these critical questions.
Am I looking to expand my general interest knowledge or am I looking for targeted information? Which choice takes me towards my objective of making money online?
The answer is targeted information. I am an easy pushover for good reads. It is one of my biggest “distractions.” I could easily lose myself in this type of activity and spend precious little time on the real activities that make a difference to my business.
What about you? Is the time you spend on internet marketing put to productive use or are you just visiting in your own business?
Happy Blogging!
Valentina Bellicova
Blogger for Money
Free download ABC’s of Blogging for Money
PS. The cheese is not in the wheel.
Quick Links:
30 Day Challenge
Blogging for money
Google Alert
Sold to the highest bidder
One tool however was new to me – Google Alert. This is different from Google Reader. It made sense to check it out so I registered for my Google Alert account.
What Google Alert does is send you freshly minted content on the keyword phrase you want to be kept up to date on. You can put as many such phrases as you want and Google will send you the aggregate list of articles on the topic within the time intervals you choose. What I like about this service is that I don’t have to go searching for fresh material on my topic. I also become better informed on my subject and therefore more of an authority on it. One of the phrases I submitted was blogging for money.
In this morning’s serving there was an article that I thought was very interesting ... talk about “niche” marketing. A blogger in the UK has decided to blog about his very unique house as a way to market it to buyers. The blog has been up for two months or so and already he has had 10,000 visitors and a few who expressed further interest in possible purchasing it. The article’s title is Sold to the Highest Bidder and you can read it on Times Online
The real point of this little soupcon on Google Alert is that if you want to get returns that are exactly what you are looking for then you need to put quotation marks around the phrase, like so: “blogging for money”. Clearly the article in question about the house for sale by blog, while it met the criteria of blogging for money, was of a different stripe than what I am looking for.
Now the dilemma. Do I go and manage my Google Alert and change the instruction by encasing my phrase with quotation marks or, do I leave it? Reads such as above are interesting.
To make my decision I asked these critical questions.
Am I looking to expand my general interest knowledge or am I looking for targeted information? Which choice takes me towards my objective of making money online?
The answer is targeted information. I am an easy pushover for good reads. It is one of my biggest “distractions.” I could easily lose myself in this type of activity and spend precious little time on the real activities that make a difference to my business.
What about you? Is the time you spend on internet marketing put to productive use or are you just visiting in your own business?
Happy Blogging!
Valentina Bellicova
Blogger for Money
Free download ABC’s of Blogging for Money
PS. The cheese is not in the wheel.
Quick Links:
30 Day Challenge
Blogging for money
Google Alert
Sold to the highest bidder
Sunday, May 17, 2009
How to Monetize Your Blog
Been absent from posting here as am focused on my e.book on blogging for money.
Here is what happened. An online colleague asked me to be a guest speaker on her teleconference call on blogging. Of course I accepted and thought it would be great to sweeten the invite with a free report to all who registered. Well, that report on blogging is now a full blown e.book, and could be the draft for something more substantial. If you would like to get a copy of the "beta" version, contact me via the email option on this page. No cost. Feedback appreciated.
During the Q & A I was asked just exactly how does one monetize a blog and where does one find these advertisers. Duh! But of course! If you are blogging for money then you have to monetize your blog! I thought that would be a good thing to post on this blog as well. Listed below is a beginner's list but I feel that it will keep you well "affiliated" and monetized for a long time.
Google Adsense. You do need to have a published site in order to get accepted. So here is what you need to do.
1. Open your blog account with the platform of your choice.
2 If you are going with Blogger go into your admin area, click on settings and write something in the “description” part of your template. A similar option is available with other blog platforms and their templates.
3. Publish your fist post. When you are completing the application for Adsense with Google, the URL is your blog address: http://www.moneymusclegym.com It can take up to two weeks for Google to approve your submission. Don’t let that stop you from working on your blog and making posts.
Adbrite: This is an advertising service similar to Adsense. I just recently discovered it and what I like about it is that it can sit alongside your Google Adsense and will kick in its ads if the clicks will pay more than the Adsense ones. You can actually set a minimum per click pay once you have historical data to refer to from Adsense. For now, just set it up. I also like that you do not have to wait till you reach a minimum of $100 for a payout.
Amazon: Open your account. Select products that are compatible with your blog topic. Amazon will pay up to 15% on sales. If you opted for WordPress and have static pages this is a good place to populate them with your selection from Amazon.
Clickbank: Clickbank is a directory of suppliers of information that offer affiliate programs. Typically this means products such as downloadable courses, training manuals, how to videos, subscriptions to newsletters and so on. Commissions can be as high as 75%. When you are looking at the affiliate offers in your category, look not only at the commission rate but also at the conversion rate. You want something that converts well. After selecting my affiliates, I like to go to their sites and register through their sites (they will redirect you to clickbank). The reason being that you will then be given a password to log on with and get valuable banners that you can put up on your site.
Commission Junction: This is another affiliate directory but unlike Clickbank offers physical products as well. To register from the home page, click on the “publishers” tab and select “application” from the drop down menu
The above should be enough to get you started. There are many other sources of affiliates. To find more options Google “affiliate marketing programs” but honestly, I think the above will keep you busy for quite a while.
You will find that each offers good tutorials on how to best optimize your efforts in promoting these affiliates. Be sure to read them. It's a great way to pump up your blogging muscles.
Here’s to Blogging for Money.
PS… OK… what kind of cheese are we talking about?
Resources:
Google Adsense www.google.com
Adbrite: www.adbrite.com
Amazon: www.amazon.com
Clickbank: www.clickbank.com
Commission Junction: www.commissionjunction.com
Here is what happened. An online colleague asked me to be a guest speaker on her teleconference call on blogging. Of course I accepted and thought it would be great to sweeten the invite with a free report to all who registered. Well, that report on blogging is now a full blown e.book, and could be the draft for something more substantial. If you would like to get a copy of the "beta" version, contact me via the email option on this page. No cost. Feedback appreciated.
During the Q & A I was asked just exactly how does one monetize a blog and where does one find these advertisers. Duh! But of course! If you are blogging for money then you have to monetize your blog! I thought that would be a good thing to post on this blog as well. Listed below is a beginner's list but I feel that it will keep you well "affiliated" and monetized for a long time.
Google Adsense. You do need to have a published site in order to get accepted. So here is what you need to do.
1. Open your blog account with the platform of your choice.
2 If you are going with Blogger go into your admin area, click on settings and write something in the “description” part of your template. A similar option is available with other blog platforms and their templates.
3. Publish your fist post. When you are completing the application for Adsense with Google, the URL is your blog address: http://www.moneymusclegym.com It can take up to two weeks for Google to approve your submission. Don’t let that stop you from working on your blog and making posts.
Adbrite: This is an advertising service similar to Adsense. I just recently discovered it and what I like about it is that it can sit alongside your Google Adsense and will kick in its ads if the clicks will pay more than the Adsense ones. You can actually set a minimum per click pay once you have historical data to refer to from Adsense. For now, just set it up. I also like that you do not have to wait till you reach a minimum of $100 for a payout.
Amazon: Open your account. Select products that are compatible with your blog topic. Amazon will pay up to 15% on sales. If you opted for WordPress and have static pages this is a good place to populate them with your selection from Amazon.
Clickbank: Clickbank is a directory of suppliers of information that offer affiliate programs. Typically this means products such as downloadable courses, training manuals, how to videos, subscriptions to newsletters and so on. Commissions can be as high as 75%. When you are looking at the affiliate offers in your category, look not only at the commission rate but also at the conversion rate. You want something that converts well. After selecting my affiliates, I like to go to their sites and register through their sites (they will redirect you to clickbank). The reason being that you will then be given a password to log on with and get valuable banners that you can put up on your site.
Commission Junction: This is another affiliate directory but unlike Clickbank offers physical products as well. To register from the home page, click on the “publishers” tab and select “application” from the drop down menu
The above should be enough to get you started. There are many other sources of affiliates. To find more options Google “affiliate marketing programs” but honestly, I think the above will keep you busy for quite a while.
You will find that each offers good tutorials on how to best optimize your efforts in promoting these affiliates. Be sure to read them. It's a great way to pump up your blogging muscles.
Here’s to Blogging for Money.
PS… OK… what kind of cheese are we talking about?
Resources:
Google Adsense www.google.com
Adbrite: www.adbrite.com
Amazon: www.amazon.com
Clickbank: www.clickbank.com
Commission Junction: www.commissionjunction.com
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