Establishing Your Online Credibility in 5 Easy Steps

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Mike | Permalink 0

Establishing your online credibility takes time. If you make mistakes along the way (like most of us do) it will take even longer.

Credibility is one of the rarest yet most powerful commodities online. If you have credibility, you’ll be able to get people on your email lists, get joint venture partners and get others to buy with ease.

Without credibility, nobody will give you their credit card number.

So how do you go about establishing your online credibility? You can do so in a few easy steps.

1. Share Your Story

A lot of marketers say you need to have a compelling “where I came from” story. I think most people just want to know a little about you.

Most of us think we are boring. But you will be surprised how many people will think you have an interesting story.

Have you ever noticed how just about every product ever invented has a story? Weight loss products tell the story of someone who was perpetually overweight finally losing the fat. Real estate gurus talk about how they went from rags to riches.

Stories are compelling. Figure out an attention-catching, respect-inspiring story to base your online identity around.

Just tell the truth. Some people in this business lie because they think they have to have some underdog makes it big story. Not everyone has that.

2. Show Results ?

Being a very private person this is one I struggle with. That’s why you see the question mark.

I know how easy it is to put false results out there.

Don’t be afraid to share the results that you’ve personally received if you think you need to.

If you’re giving advice about how to make money, share exactly how you are making money. If you’re giving advice about losing weight, share your exact measurements.

People want to be able to relate to you. They want to be able to feel that you’re one of them,  know what they’re going through, and that if you can do it so can they.

3. Use Proof Elements on Your Page

You should have several proof elements readily visible on your web page.

For example, if you’ve appeared on radio stations, put the logos of the radio stations on your page under “as seen on.”

If you have before and after photos, put those on your page as well.

A lot of people put pictures of themselves with internet marketing stars they met at internet marketing conferences on their websites. I see people all the time at conferences asking to have their picture taken with the guru’s.

To me all it means they have a picture with someone. Most times the guru barely knows the person if at all. I guess you could use it to say see I attend conferences.

The idea is to give people bite-sized chunks of credibility. They might not even consciously look at it, but just having them there makes a difference.

4. Make A Good First Impression

The first impression is very important. Though you can’t tell your whole story in the first impression, it’s important that you have one or two proof elements here.

Have a before and after picture above the fold if your market is weight loss.

Or have a killer testimonials prominently displayed on the front page. Or have your most spectacular achievement showcased upfront.

If you are just starting out don’t be afraid to say that. People will respect you if you are putting out good information they can use.

This site was started as a way to tell you about people in the internet marketing industry that will not rip you off. Anyone I recommend means I have used their products and know you will get your money’s worth if you apply the information they give.

They really want you to succeed.

5. Work To Get Social Proof

Social proof is one of the most powerful ways of building credibility. Why? Because it doesn’t come from you.

Social proof means that other people who have no financial gain from endorsing you like your product enough to go out of their way to help you. It sends a strong message.

Social proof includes comments on blog posts, testimonials on other people’s blogs or word of mouth endorsements from friends.

Forum marketing could be a great way for you to gain some credibility. People see you helping other people.

These are a few of the most powerful ways to establish your credibility online. In the beginning, this process takes quite a bit of thought, as you have to plan out your story and discover your proof elements.

Once you’ve got it down, however, your proof elements will keep working for you again and again, without you having to do much work.

Below I have a 12 minute video with Chris Brogan questioning Carrie Wilkerson of The Barefoot Executive. I read the book in December and highly recommend it. There are a lot of gems in this conversation about establishing your credibility.

YouTube Preview Image
Build Your Online Business, NAMS, Uncategorized

5 Steps To Become A Super Affiliate

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Mike | Permalink 0

A Super Affliate Is In The Fast Lane

A Super Affiliate Is In The Fast Lane

Becoming a super affiliate is a great way to make a good living. Finding a niche market with products and services you trust and believe in is the first step to success.  There are tremendous affiliate programs which offer you an abundance of tools and materials to promote and market their products. However, what you do with those tools and materials is entirely up to you.

You can be just another affiliate or really push yourself and become a  super affiliate.

What Is A Super Affiliate?

Technically speaking a super affiliate is someone who generates a significant amount of profits for the products or services they represent.  A super affiliate can make a healthy living from their affiliate business alone while a standard every day affiliate may need to supplement their affiliate income with, gasp…a 9-5 job!

Basically they make their living just working online as an affiliate selling other people’s products.

Benefits To Being A Super Affiliate

The most significant benefit to being a super affiliate is the income.  Many super affiliates make six figures simply promoting the products and services of others.

Additionally, if you’re one of the main contributors to a company’s affiliate program they’re going to pay attention to you and your needs.  You may receive a higher percentage of sales you may receive first shot with new marketing materials and programs and you’ll get the support you need when you need it.

You will also receive numerous new products for free before they are launched to the public. Basically marketers are recruiting you to sell their products and services.

Here Are A 5 Steps To Become A Super Affiliate:

Step One – Commit to publishing content every single day.  Content has proven time and again to be the best sales tool available to affiliate marketers.  Nothing, not even strategically placed ad copy works as well as providing quality content that pre-sells any product that you’re promoting on your website.

Possible content includes:

* Autoresponders.
* Newsletters.
* Blogs posts
* Social networking via forums, social networking sites, Twitter and Facebook
* Articles
* Press releases

Step Two – Track and test.  Make sure you know where your prospects are coming from, what motivates them to click through and what information they read and respond to – then give them what they need.  Tracking and testing is the only way to hone your affiliate program into a smooth running, money making machine.

Step Three – Use the provided marketing materials and be willing to take it a step further. Many affiliate programs do a great job of providing their affiliates with ready to use marketing materials including:

1. Banner ads
2. Buttons
3. Email copy
4. Articles
5. Free promotional reports

Use the materials your affiliate manager has provided.  It’s been tested and developed for results.  That being said, be sure to create your own content too.  Even as an affiliate you are your own company and your website needs to reflect your personality and brand.

Building a community around your website and providing valuable content is a sure way to create a following that trusts you and your credibility – which will result in click throughs and affiliate sales.

Step Four – Pre-sell.  The good news is that your job as an affiliate is to pre-sell products and services.   Pre-selling means your content, whether it is a review, article, video,tutorial, or blog post, speaks honestly about the products and services you promote.

Pre-selling is about providing value to your website visitors and prospects, making them comfortable with you and your authority to generate interest and a click through to the company website, where the selling happens.

Step Five – Follow up.  Just like your affiliate manager follows up with you to see how you’re doing and what you need, follow up with your prospects.  A great way to do this  is to create a  list by providing a newsletter visitors can subscribe to, a free report, or any number of products in exchange for an email address and the permission to contact them with valuable information and special promotions.

After getting them on your list follow up with them via autoresponder messages. I personally use Aweber for my autoresponder. They are easy to use, have lots of videos that show you how to use Aweber and are really cheap for what you get. You can get a trial for like $1.00 for a month. Go here and check them out.

Being a Super Affiliate is the best way to go if you want to build a successful affiliate marketing business.  Find products and services you trust and believe in and then create a strategy to share information to your target audience.

Test and track your efforts, focus on providing value to your prospects and leave the selling to the companies you represent.  Helping others live better lives, without having to provide the products or services personally, is a great way to make a living.

In addition to the the 5 steps to becoming a super affiliate above you must become a master of getting traffic to your website and getting them signed up on your list so you can email them on a regular basis and bond with with them.

Get your list to like and trust you.

It is much easier to sell to the prospects already on your list than to  constantly be trying to get large numbers of traffic to your site and sell them cold. Especially in the beginning when it takes time to get large numbers of traffic to your site.

Affiliate Marketing, Uncategorized ,

The Number One Reason You Need Help With Your Online Business

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Mike | Permalink 0

I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I am still recuperating. I spend every Christmas in California with my kids and two granddaughters.

Well this year I got sick while there. I caught a virus and spread it around to everyone by Christmas day. Then I came home and went to Orlando to the Florida Citrus Bowl on Jan.2 and came down with a terrible sore throat and cold while I was there.

I am still feeling the effects of it. So I am way behind on getting information out to you like I wanted to.

Today I am going to tell you about one of my favorite sites, Nicheology. This internet business training site has been around for more than 7 years. That’s an incredible track record in online business. (Actually in ANY business.)

Even though Nicheology has a ton to offer, I want to tell you what I consider the most important reason to be a part of it.

Do you know why so many people fail in their online business?

It’s not a lack of money. It’s not a lack of a plan. It’s not even the dreaded information overload. It’s the lack of clarity. And that comes from not being able to make a solid, fast decision and then move forward with the decision.

That’s held me back dozens of times. Always wondering if the next step is the right step can paralyze you and so you do nothing.

Unless…

Unless you have someone to help you personally. And that’s the #1 reason you should join Nicheology.

You need to know what to do next! Otherwise you will probably read and read and get more confused.

I find myself there often. It happens to everyone regardless of how long you have been involved in your internet business.

But there is help for you… Paul Evans and Nicheology

Every month Paul hosts Q & A Live. It’s where you get to ask YOUR questions and get answers specific to you. It’s like having a personal business coach without the hefty price tag.

And get this. There’s no limit to number of questions you can ask.

You can see how important this is, right?

The average person trying to make money online heads over to a forum to ask questions. 99.9% of the people on that forum have never made a dime online but they are liberal with their advice. And usually it’s in direct conflict to what really works. And everyone has a different opinion. What does that lead to? Even more confusion. More paralysis.

That’s crazy! Why not ask someone who has made millions online. Why not learn from someone who operates one of the most successful long-term internet business sites on the net?

You can end the confusion and get a personal online business coach for a tiny investment…” Nicheology Join Now!

Affiliate Marketing, Build Your Online Business, Information Marketing , ,

We Have So Much To Be Thankful For During The Holidays

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

I am out in Sacramento where I spend every Christmas with my two daughters and two grandchildren. I am an especially private person (just ask my family) and normally don’t share much private information about myself or my loved ones.

But in this new social marketing age one of my golas for 2012 is to open up a little bit and put myself on audio and videos, etc.

This year I am especially thankful here at Christmas because of an event that happened a week and half ago. Things happen so fast and this life can be short.

My youngest daughter (27) was leaving her boyfriends house in San Diego. Her truck was parked on the street. So as she was about to open the door on the drivers side a vehicle approaching fron the opposite direction swerved over and struck my daughter and her boyfriend.

Just inches saved their lives.

 There were still many injuries especially to her boyfriend who was hit in the back and his head slammed against her truck. He also suffered a broken leg in several places and spent about a week in the hospital and had to have a couple surgeries. My daughters leg was broken in a couple places and she had 4 hours worth of surgery and now has 4 or 5 screws in her ler leg.

The car was driven by a senior citizen who says he swerved to miss a vehicle that was stopped in the middle of the road. My daughter and her boyfriend  it turns out were very lucky. The vehicle hit them with a glancing blow before hitting her drivers side door. We are very aware of what would have happened had one or both of them been pinned against her truck and the mans vehicle.

So we have a lot to be thankful for even there were some broken bones and a head with several staples in it. They will both recover and be alright. I have a good friend who lost her son in a car accident last year just 5 days before Christmas. For her Christmas is over. It will never be the same.

Let’s all be thankful for what we have.

When I return home on the 26th I will be heading out of town to the beach for 3 days to get ready for 2012.

I plan on coming up with my goals both personal and business. I am going to make a few videos that I will share with you talking about my plans for 2012. Videos are something I find hard to do but I know one of my goals will be to put out a bunch of video and audio out there for my readers.

Hope you like a southern drawl because I got it bad.

After I get back from the beach I will leave for Orlando to watch South Carolina and Nebraska in the bowl game. I am a football nut. I watch high school, college and pro games.

Return from Orlando on the 3rd of January and get back to work.

Some of you know if you have read all of my posts I am still in the military. I work full time training National Guard units that are getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan and other places. I plan on retiring in a little over a year and becoming a full time internet marketer.(The hours I put in some time I feel like I am full time now.)

Starting an internet business while you still work is the best thing you can possibly do. You can learn while you keep your full time job.

To me I think it’s the best of both worlds. I love the military and as my career is winding down and I have found a new passion that I will be able to move right into full time when I retire with about 35 years or so of military service.

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and let’s have a great start to 2012.

Build Your Online Business, Uncategorized ,

How To Start A Blog For Profit

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 1

Before you just start creating content you need to know how to start a blog for profit. You need to think through what you want to do with your blog.  Do you want to sell from your blog or just put out free content for a website you have.

There are also blogs that people use just express themselves.

An online presence is important these days for whatever enterprise you engage in. To connect with a wide variety of people there is no bigger forum than the Internet. If you are looking for a way to show off your expertise and also make a little money while doing it, consider starting a blog.

What is a Blog?

how to start a blog for profitA blog is actually an online journal of sorts. With a blog you can upload daily posts about anything that you want. Some people create personal blogs as a way to keep in touch with family members. Pictures, videos and other information are uploaded so your loved ones and friends can stay current with what is going on with you.

For our purposes here we are going to talk about building business blogs. This is a blog that you use to attract online traffic in order to sell products or services. To be interesting to others, your blog will need to:

•    Have updated content for visitors
•    Show your personality
•    Stay on topic

How To Start A Blog

 

If you are new to blogging, you can use a free blogging platform to get your feet wet. Sites like Blogger.com and WordPress.org and others offer free blogs to users. Depending on the site you choose, the themes and plug-ins (added features) will vary. Most will walk you through the process step by step so that you can be up and running in no time.

Before you start your blog, decide what will be the theme, or niche of your blog. A jack-of-all-trades type of blog doesn’t do as well as one that is geared towards a certain niche. If you like crafts for instance, that can be your niche.

Anytime you develop a blog or website after deciding on your niche you need to come up with a list of keywords you will use. There are many tools both free and paid you can use for this.

Next I suggest you come with 25-30 possible titles for your posts. Be sure to include your keywords in the title. This helps with SEO and lets your readers know what the post is about.

Create posts that talk about how to craft, what to craft, how to make crafting profitable and so on.

How to Make Money With Your Blog

In order to make money with your blog, you need to have people visiting it. This is where you have to use your marketing skills. You can buy traffic or get free traffic. To GET traffic you have to get the word out about your blog.

Most people do not understand how much traffic you need if you hope to make money with your blog. If you go the free route you will need to spend several hours a day on just marketing to get any decent traffic to your blog.

Don’t expect much traffic for months if you only want to get free traffic. That is unless you are working full time on your blog.

There are several ways you can blog for profit.  Most newbies start with google adsense on their blog. It will be awhile before you have enough traffic to make much money with adsense. I use it on a few of my affiliate sites.

I think the biggest check I have ever received for adsense was $176.00. Google adsense sort of died out but has been making a comeback lately. I started reading a book on adsense by Joel Comm this month. He is the guru of adsense I guess you would say and his new book is like getting a PHD in how to use adsense.

Most people use their blog to sell affiliate products like I do here. The key is to find products you have used and really believe in. The biggest mistake you can make is to try and sell something you know nothing about.

There are to many crap products out there.

You can also sell your own information products you develop on your blog. That is my next step and I think everyone should strive for that if you really want to develop a business.

You can also sell advertising on your blog. To do this you will need to show you have a pretty big following on your blog. Especially if you are not a big name in your niche.

I have a niche website in a sports niche where my competitors are making money by selling advertising such as banner ads. To a lesser extent they are selling physical affiliate products from places like Commission Junction.

I am selling the physical products on my site but I don’t have enough traffic yet to sell advertising space. It’s a very competitive niche and you need high traffic to compete.

Hopefully in the next 2-3 months I will get the traffic I need with some new traffic sources I am working on.

This should give you a good primer and some things to think about before you start your blog. I hope this article helps you with how to start your blog for profit.

Affiliate Marketing, Build Your Online Business, Information Marketing, Social Marketing, Uncategorized ,

Marketing To Moms : A Multi-Billion Dollar Market

Posted on December 11, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0
Marketing To Moms

Marketing To Moms

Marketing to moms may be just what your business needs to jumpstart your profits. Many marketers miss out on this golden opportunity. Many stay at home moms spend a good portion of their time online either shopping or running their own online business from home. Do you have a product or service moms would be interested in?

Mothers pretty much control everything that’s bought for the home. New moms are always online looking for information about raising a newborn. They are very concerned about safety and their children. Their are hundreds of niches where you should and  can market to moms.

This article will let you know some of the reasons why it’s so important to market to the moms out there.

The goal of any business is to make money. And, we’re not just talking about the short term but long term goals of increased revenue. To that end, many businesses are missing out on a multi-billion dollar market: moms. Marketing to moms is the wave of the now and the future.

Why Is Marketing To Moms So Important?

Moms are enterprising. According to BSM Media Inc., mom spending is already over the trillion dollar mark. That’s more than the budget of some third world countries.

Also according to BSM Media Inc., almost 90 percent of moms consider themselves the financial head of the home. Her husband may bring home most of the bacon but it is the moms who decide how to spend it.

They shop for everything related to the household: kids clothing, appliances, electronics, outdoor furniture, accessories and home improvement items.

Any husband that shops for these things is going to consult their wives before buying them.

Why?

Because wives do the research into these products to find the best on the market. Moms influence as much as 85 percent of the purchases for the home. That’s over 70 million women we are talking about here. It doesn’t get any bigger than that.

Think about all of the tasks that moms handle in a day. They take care of the housework, shuffle kids from school to sporting events to other activities, cook dinner and manage the finances.

In order to keep everything straight, they employ a wide variety of technology. It’s not uncommon to see a mom sitting in the park watching her kids play while listening to an iPod or browsing the Internet on her iPhone.

Mommy Bloggers Are All Over The World Now

Moms are also savvy on the Internet. The trend for many years has been moms coming out of the workplace and starting their own businesses at home to spend more time with their kids.

 To that end, moms have developed a network of blogs, websites and forums designed to teach moms everything from designing websites, starting Internet businesses, marketing to other moms and managing their homes. Their buying power has increased exponentially with their knowledge.

This means they are a huge source of traffic to your website for you.

Traditionally the only products marketed towards women were household products and cooking items. This goes back to the archaic thought that a woman’s place was in the home. That has been a huge detriment to many companies in the past.

Most companies are making amends now and see the tremendous value in marketing to mothers.

Women and moms have made an imprint in the business world in many areas. Women are not limited to office jobs; they are CEOs and CFOs. They run huge corporations.

They don’t just surf the Web, they are becoming entrepreneurs in the home with widening influence over Internet marketing. Thousands of moms now make a living as Virtual Assistants where they can perform all their work from the home.

Having moms shun your product because you are not marketing to them means you may be losing out on thousands of dollars a month to keep it simple…

Marketing To Mom What The Future Holds

. As moms become more “connected” in the world, their spending will increase. No product is off limits to mom advertising.

So it’s common sense to figure out a way to get your message out to the moms out there. If you are a mother you should be deeply involved in the mommy bloggers network. There are moms making nice income from their blogs.

Learn what they are doing. The biggest mistake we make as online marketers is trying to reinvent the wheel.

Men we can’t give up and think we can’t break into this huge network. If you offer an excellent product or service I suggest you too look at new ways to get your products in front of moms.

They want honesty and marketers they can trust. If you want to make a bad name for yourself quickly in this market screw over a few moms. The mommy bloggers will tear you to pieces.

So we know marketing to moms is one of the largest markets out there. It’s growing everyday. You need to figure out where your product or service can benefit mothers the most and start marketing to them now.

Build Your Online Business, Getting Traffic , ,

Backup Your Computer Files Yourself Or Pay Someone

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 1

Right now data stealing is running rampant. I told you last week about losing several of my websites and my friend Davids problems. This week another person that I buy services from was hacked into also. You need to backup your computer files like right now!

I told you about Mozy the service that most of the people I know online are using.

But there are several other things you can do if you don’t want to pay for an outside service although I recommend it.

If your computer runs Windows 7, then you already have a software solution available to you – the “backup and restore” feature. You can begin the process on Windows 7 by entering your “Control Panel,” clicking “System and Maintenance,” then selecting “Backup and Restore.” The “Backup and Restore” function lets you choose the folders of your computer that will be backed up, and schedule the process to occur automatically. Some earlier versions of the Windows operating system also have similar functions.

Some Windows users might not be satisfied with this solution, however, and want something with more options and features. There are other options available, including software packages that actually synchronize – in real time – all of the files and folders that you want to back up. This means that you always have backup copies of all of your important data in files. (If you use a backup solution that backs up only on a twice monthly basis, for example, you risk losing any new data since the date of the last backup.)

Even if your primary computer cost several thousand dollars, you probably place a much higher value on the data that’s actually stored on computer. Since we conduct significant transactions and other aspects of our lives through our computers, financial records, family photographs and other items are now stored solely on our desktop and laptop computers. A single catastrophic failure of your computer’s disk drive could result in an incredible loss.

You can also protect against this type of scenario by periodically backing up your data to an external hard drive. Some people prefer this over backing up their data and documents online and sending their data into the wild blue yonder. There’s something reassuring about knowing that your data is backed up to an external drive that only you have access to.

But while backing up our data is something that we know we should be doing regularly, chances are we’re not actually doing a good enough job at it. Fortunately, there are some ways to automatically back up your computer files to an external hard drive, reducing the chance that you’ll suffer any significant data loss.

Before you can set up your backup process, you’ll need an external hard drive. In recent years, the price of hard drives has dropped significantly, so you should be able to purchase a high capacity drive on practically any budget.

Because the backup process is not something you will be performing every day, don’t be overly concerned with data transfer speeds. For most people it’s simply not necessary to have the absolute fastest hard drive for backup purposes. You should, however, try to get the largest hard drive you can afford. The more space you have for backup storage, the better.

In order to have your backups occur automatically, you’ll want to get some software that manages the process for you. Just google data backup software and you will find review sites for software that can help you out if you prefer to do it yourself. Having to do manual backups of all your files on a weekly basis is a sure way to get frustrated and stop doing backups altogether.

You can always refine your backup process later, but the important thing is to get a schedule in place and get into the habit of backing up your computer files and data now!

Build Your Online Business , , ,

What’s On My Reading List Right Now

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

UPS just pulled up with another box of books so I thought I would take a few minutes to tell you what’s on my reading list. Like most people at any one time I am reading 4 or 5 books. Yea I know it’s kind of stupid but that’s what most of us do.

I just finished reading The Barefoot Executive by Carrie Wilkerson. Very easy reading with some links to some of her videos inside the book. Very good book for a newbie or an experienced online marketer.

She discusses several different models for making money online and uses herself and others as examples. Her action steps in each chapter are worth the price of the book by themselves.

Last week I finished Huge Profits With Affiliate Marketing by Connie Ragen Green, a fellow NAMS member. Connie is a retired school teacher who has burst onto the affiliate marketing scene. Everyone wants her to market their product. She has a loyal following that buys whatever she recommends.

This book is a step by step for the beginning or struggling affiliate marketer. I have a lot of ideas to  try highlighted in this book and have already implemented a few.

A general business book I am about to finish is Why We Want You To Be Rich-Two Men One Message by Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki. This book was published in 2006 and has been sitting around here for a year or two. I found it in a bag of books I had in a corner and started reading it.

Fascinating insight into how these two men built their empires. This book provides a great look into the future. It might scare you a little bit. Both men talk a lot about the principles that drive them.

I bought Book Yourself Solid by Michael Port originally because I thought it would help me with some offline marketing I am doing. Was I in for a surprise. He relates everything to the way products are being marketed online.

I am reading this book a little at a time  and have a special notebook for taking notes. It’s like having a strategy session everytime I read it. I will keep going back to this book long after I am finished reading it. If you sell anything I highly recommend it.

If you are reading this that means you sell something now or will in the future so get it.

That will finish off my reading list for now. I have a new book from Gary Vaynerchuk I need to get started on soon and my delivery today from UPS was 3 military books to give me a little something different from all the business and marketing books I read.

I would love to hear what you guys and gals are reading now. Leave a comment below.

Later

Mike

Affiliate Marketing, Build Your Online Business , , , , ,

Top 10 Traffic Ideas for your Blog

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 2

Blogs are popular ways to create an online presence for personal and for your business . You can build a blog for free and begin posting content right away. But, what good is that content if no one is reading it. Here are ten traffic ideas to bring in the traffic your blog needs to survive.

Of all the successful blogs on the Internet, thousands more have failed. Running a blog is like running a business website. Unless you are willing to put the time in and treat it seriously, you won’t be blogging long. Unless of course you are just blogging for fun and not profit.

That is not to say that the failed bloggers weren’t serious about blogging when they started. Most new bloggers aren’t prepared for the work that goes into creating a successful blog. Just building the blog doesn’t mean that people will come to read it. You must pursue prospects and give them a reason to become a customer.

1.    Fresh Content – no one wants to visit a blog day after day and see the same posts. Update your blog content at least twice a week after the first month. The first month you should post an article a day for 30 days to get the most benefit. You don’t have to just write articles . You can post an audio or some video instead. Just write a few sentences explaining what your audio or video is about. This will be easier if you write several posts ahead of time and upload them at the appropriate times.

You may want to purchase some good PLR and rewrite or repurpose it. I use a couple different writers depending on what I am looking for but Nicole Dean at EasyPLR is one of the best and she has PLR content you can use in various niches.

2.    Article Marketing – the niche you’ve chosen for your blog is one that interests you. If it is interesting you will spend more time doing it. Create content not only for your blog but also to be submitted to article directories. www.EzineArticles.com is the granddaddy of article directories.Use the resource box to put a link to your blog so people can find you.

Big Extra Tip-  Submit your good articles to www.Bloggersbase.com This can bring you huge amounts of traffic. Most marketers do not know about the site or just just don’t tell you about the site.

3.    Social Networking – these sites are everywhere. Join Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or a dozen others and make connections. You can join groups of likeminded people who are also bloggers or entrepreneurs.

4.    Viral Marketing – this is where you spread the word about your blog. Talk to friends, family and even strangers. Give out business cards that have your blog address on them. Hang out in forums and groups online where your prospects hang out.

5.    Use RSS Feeds – RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” Readers can subscribe to your feed and get email updates when new content is posted. It is an easy way for them to keep up with your blog without spending all day online. This is something it took me awhile to understand.

6.    Submit Blog to Search Engines – This is not as important as it once was. Generally your wordpress blog should get found by the major search engines (Google/Yahoo)  just by putting out content. However there are niche search engines and smaller search engines you may want to submit your blog to. They could send you some traffic.

7.    Joining Forums – as a blogger you are a budding entrepreneur. Right now you are marketing yourself to find traffic and then profit. Become a member of  forums in your niche, business forums and work at home forums.  Meet new people on the forums and share ideas. You can add a link to your blog in the signature line so others can your blog or website.

8.    Visit other blogs – show your appreciation to those who visit you by also posting comments on their blogs. It is a kindness that shows others you are not just out to advertise your blog alone. Add links to your blog in your comments. Commenting on blogs will also get you backlinks which are very important.

9.    SEO Marketing – whenever you write, use relevant keywords and keyword phrases. Keyword density between three and ten percent is good for getting higher page rankings in search engines. Base your keywords on a research you do to find the most popular words used in search engines for your niche. Go for long tail keyword phrases with 3 or more words in them

10.    Social Bookmarking – submitting posts to social bookmarking sites allows others who are members of those sites to track you back to your blog.

Using any of these traffic ideas will start the traffic moving in your direction. I suggest you concentrate on 3 of the 10 traffic ideas in this post. It takes time but you will build the readership you need to be successful.

Build Your Online Business, Getting Traffic, Uncategorized ,

Back Up Your Online Websites and Online Work – Hard Lessons Learned

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Mike | Permalink 0

I learned a hard lesson this weekend and it was something I had been meaning to take care of but kept putting it off. Back up your online websites and online data!

At the NAMS6 conference in August David even had a security expert come in and talk to us about different security problems online. David  talked about he got hacked and had serious problems that cost him quite a bit of money to be fixed back at the start of the year. Not to mention the money he lost while his site was down.

My problem was a little different and I am still at a loss as to exactly how this happened even after spending a couple of hours online with my hosting account.

It all started last week when I tried to log into one of my affiliate websites and I got an error message. I then put my URL into Google and guess what. There was an error message again.

So I started checking my other affiliate websites and I had 4 websites that had disappeared. I am still trying to understand how this happened but so far no one has been able to explain it to me. At least where I can understand it.

The bottom line is I did not back up my systems and now all the work is gone. These were sites that had numerous pages and a lot of work put into them. Not just some quick one page affiliate sites that people throw up.

So I am sitting here now wandering how to go about building them back up. It will be a lot of work to get them back to the way they were.

The lesson learned here is to back up your websites.

The company I will use to backup my work is Mozy Online Backup. I have heard several other marketers talk about them for a year or two now and they were talked about at NAMS 6 by Regina Smola who was giving classes on securing your work online..

I wish I had followed up and took action after hearing her talk and the several problems David faced last year. Now I have to find the time to rebuild the websites and of course I will have no money coming in from them for awhile so it will be just like starting over with those sites.

You live and learn. Don’t make the same mistake I did and do nothing. Go click on the Mozy Banner to the right and keep your online data secure. You can backup your data very cheaply by the way in case you were wandering.

If any of you have had your website hacked or lost all the material on your website I would love to hear about it so we can all learn from it.

Please leave your comments below.

Build Your Online Business , ,