I have a personal friend that I’ve helped with starting a blog and as I’m listening to myself tell him all the things he needs to do, I’ll even admit, it  sounds overwhelming.

I can’t imagine what it sounds like to him.  That might explain the frequent deafening silence on the other end of the phone :-\

Creating a blog CAN be overwhelming, but if you can take it one step at a time, learn how to unlock your potential, and have the confidence that you can do it and then stick with it no matter what, you can do this.

Being determined is a big part of any task.

If you’re considering starting a blog or even if you’ve gotten started already,  here’s some advice I’ve given my friend which I give everyone to help unlock their potential

Be Unique with Your Blog

Creating a blog can be challenge, I won’t lie to you.  I use the WordPress platform for my blog and getting set up isn’t too bad as there’s plenty of help out there including a post I did on how to create a WordPress blog step-by-step, but as you develop your blog you’ll most likely run into things like what theme to use, what colors do you like, what approach do you want to take, what’s your purpose?

The great thing about WordPress is there are just tons of free WordPress themes to choose from.  I personally find choosing themes an overwhelming task, I could spend all day at it, however your goal has to be to find a theme that helps you stand out and not look like all the other themes out there.

If you want to choose a free theme, I think the WordPress Extend themes are the best, but if you want to really create a unique look for yourself, choose a premium or paid theme.   When I chose the Thesis theme last year, I liked it because I could customize the theme the way I wanted; and because choosing a theme is almost impossible for me, it saved me from having to sort through all the thousands of themes until I found one I liked.

Whatever theme you choose, customize it with your own personality.  I think using your picture in the header or sidebar is a good idea.  Also make a strong statement of what you are about and place it in your header and use colors that reflect the mood of your blog.  In fact, you can create a unique look and brand yourself  just by the colors and fonts you choose to use.

Choose an In-Demand Niche

We hear a lot about choosing a niche you’re passionate about,  but you have to be realistic with this, in other words, is your passion really something you can make money with?  It might be, but for 80% of the population, it’s really not.   For example, my daughter is an artist; God Bless the artists   Yes, it’s her passion but can she realistically make money at it?  No.  She’s now a photographer doing quite well.

From my experience, it really starts with having a passion for doing business.  If there’s no passion there, it’ll be tough to stick it out. If you’re going to be blogging, be passionate about blogging.

But find a niche market or niche topic that’s in demand too,  it has to be something that’s going to draw traffic.  Of course it can’t be something  you hate, but it should be something you at least like learning about and have some interest in.

Once you find your niche, learn about it, become as much of an expert at it as you can and teach us something.

Include Great Content on Your Blog

Writing great blog posts isn’t such a mystery.   Time is my biggest problem, I can spend hours coming up with post ideas and coming up with content that I think people will find useful.  I agonize over it less today because now I have a system.

At the beginning of each week I make a list of blog post topics to write about.  If I’m stuck I pull from these blog post ideas.  I don’t post everyday but when I do write I try to make it meaningful.

When coming up with writing ideas I try to remember who my audience is and the kind of information they seek out.  I also know that if I’m having problems with something, they’re likely to have the same problems so I write about them and offer remedies or suggestions.

Be a writer that doesn’t just state the obvious or just offers benefits for doing something.  Put yourself out there with your personal experiences, your knowledge, ideas, and insights.  But don’t forget to add a little fun now and then with a joke or a funny video.

Focus Each Post of Your Blog

What’s  the one action you want your reader to take with your post?  If your post gives your reader too many actions to take, they won’t take any.  So pick one.  Will it be to sign up for your newsletter?  Click on your affiliate link?  Buy your product?  Whatever you choose is fine, just keep it to one thing.

Promote Yourself Constantly

Each day, slot out some time to promote.  Yes, that’s every day!   I spend an hour or so every day posting to Twitter, Facebook and responding personally to blog posts.

Frankly, promotion is hard for me, I’d rather spend time creating a new website page, making design changes, finding new plugins, etc., surfing the web, but don’t be distracted by the things you’d rather do and neglect the things you need to do.

Make a daily plan and stick to it.  That’s actually been one of the hardest things for me, but when I set my mind to really sticking to my plan, painful as it may be, it’s been rewarding.

For me personally, Blogging has been a journey and there have been many lessons learned along the way.

But one of my most important lessons has been that blogging for money is a lot like starting a business, in fact it IS starting a business, so thinking like an entrepreneur and not just a blogger can mean the difference between failure and success.

But here's one thing I encourage you not to do when starting out, don't focus too heavily on the 'making money' part, at least not at first.  

You might think that's a strange thing to say but people sometimes get so focused on only making money that they're blindsided by the very things that build successful blogs and businesses, in other words they miss the essentials of what profitable blogging is all about, so consequently they never really make any money at all.  More on that in a minute.

There are lots of ways to make money blogging and I don't have all the answers but I know what has worked for me.

Some lessons are harder learned than others but hopefully they won't be for you

Start Blogging for Money with a  Focused Niche

What seems obvious to me now wasn't so obvious when I first began blogging.  My first blog was on the topic of skincare.  I blogged about everything 'skincare' and took a real interest in all the problems people has when it came to caring for their skin.

When the blog made me very little money it took me awhile to realize that I didn't really have a focused enough niche which led me to my next dilemma, figuring out just how focused my niche should be.

In the case of my skincare blog it attracted a wide variety of interests which meant I had no loyal following after all the acne sufferer didn't care about aging skin and vice versa.  But with so many skin care topics to cover I never really connected with my readers and it was hard for me to offer the quality, comprehensive information my readers needed, there was just too much information to provide. 

It took me some time but what I finally realized was that the more niche focused you are the more loyal and consistent your readers will be. They'll be able to connect with you on a deeper level because you'll be giving them the information they are most interested in. You'll also be able to monetize your blog more effectively because you'll be more in tuned to offering detailed knowledge, which builds trust and community. Your ads will also have higher conversions because they'll be more focused to your topic.

Experts will argue that both wide and narrow niches can work, but my experience with a wider focus simply meant a more crowded niche. I was also up against a lot more competition which ultimately meant that my blog required a lot more work to maintain, which wasn't my goal, I wanted less work, not more.  

One other thing I didn't have when I had a true heart-to-heart with myself was that my blogging success had to come from my enthusiasm for my niche. After honest personal examination, this wasn't the case with my skin care blog and it showed. I was more interested in blasting my site with general information and ads than I was with really connecting with readers. 

But this also gets back to what I said about not focusing too heavily on the making money part of blogging.  My skin care blog was a great example of a money only focus.  I liked skin care but I thought about in my spare time, spent money on myself or had real life experience in, other than to admire people who had nice skin. I simply knew skin care was profitable so I wanted to make some money at it, period.

So take a lesson, if you're simply creating your blog for the sole purpose of making money you could find yourself simply filling your posts with dull information that overstates the obvious, unable to express your real emotions, expressions and instruction that is what draws people to action. 

Blogging for Money Means Knowing Your Visitor

Here's something else that never really resonated with me at first and that was to simply knowing who I was writing for.  Once I really got that concept I began to understand my failings. Who was my audience?  I had no idea because I had such a broad range of visitors.  How could I target anyone? I could try to target them all but that was more than a one person job.

I finally realized that if I really knew who my target readers were I would be able to connect with them on the things they are most interested in knowing about.  Once I did that, I saw an amazing increase in interest and trust. 

That's one of the reasons social marketing has helped so many online businesses, a blogger can connect with their audience on a personal level helping them to trust and feel secure with those that they follow and learn from. Anyone that can't grasp that concept isn't as likely to be successful or even profitable and that was definitely the case for me. 

Create your blog as a Serious Business Owner

Remember, you're not just blogging for money, this is your business, so take that concept seriously.  For that very reason I'd recommend creating your own self hosted blog.  You'll have a lot more flexibility and more potential to earn money directly with your blog.  Free blogging sites come with many limitations in this area.

There are several blogging platforms but I use WordPress because for me it's been easy to maintain and customize. If setting up a self hosted blog scares you, don't be.  A hosting company that features simple point and click blog installations makes it super easy to set up a blog and it takes only about 5 or 10 minutes to do. In fact you can use my step-by-step guide on how to create a self-hosted WordPress blog. 

Create Great Content

Your blog will only be as good as the content you provide.  Everyone has their own ideas about what good content is but from my experiences all good content contains three things, it has to be useful, interesting and unique.  If it's useful it's going to be informative or educational.

But those elements go a lot farther if you can add your own personal findings and experiences rather than simply telling someone a few random facts that they probably know already or can find on a hundred other blog posts around the web.

Adding opinions, personal insight or rants and raves goes a long way for adding interest and getting people involved.  No one else will express their feelings and knowledge the way you can which is what draws readers in. A bonus to that is being unique is also what the search engines look for.

But before you can even hope to get your content read it has to have a title that grabs attention.  I've never been someone that's been quick with the catch phrases so I get a little help from Richard Bayan's "Words That Sell".  It an awesome 130+ page book that has tons of catch phrases and ideas for helping me write just a little more creatively. 

For example, I might have a blog post title like 'Get more website traffic'.  Boring but with a little creativity my post might grab more attention with a title like:  

• 'Get more website traffic – In days not weeks' or
• 'Get more website traffic – If You're Bold Enough' or
• Get more website traffic – Don't Make This Mistake'

Here are a few more writing tips that have served me well:

• Write short paragraphs and get to the point quickly
• Use bullets and images
• Use interesting quotes and where appropriate
• Use capitals, italics and underlining to emphasize points

Get your Blog Out There

Once you've created your blog and you're posting regularly, yes regularly, start building readership and getting traffic.  This brings us back full circle to what I said about creating great content first. There's no real value in getting tons of visitors to your blog if your content fails to connect or bring readers back on a regular basis.

The down side is that there are probably just as many ways to promote your blog as there are blogs, but one of my favorite promotion strategies has been guest blogging.  I didn't really get the value of posting as a guest on related blogs until I found out how successful it was for Nicole Dean, someone I admire and follow regularly.  Her experiences were definitely impressive.

Not knowing the first thing about guesting blogging I got her guest blogging step-by-step, which I recommend you get as well. For $17, not $97, it's an awesome strategy for getting yourself publicized on other traffic generating blogs, but it just makes good sense; bloggers need posts, you need exposure, it's a win win situation for everyone.  

The most important thing I want you to take away from all this is that if you want to know how to start blogging for money you must put your audience first and do it in a way that helps you stand out as unique, informative and compelling individual.  There are thousands of blogs created every day so if you can stand out in the crowd you'll be successful long after the others have given up.

If you've considered starting a blog for profit and have been checking out the options you're probably overwhelmed with how to choose a blog platform for making money online. 

To start, you'll want to carefully consider a blog platform that will help you create a blog that will not only attract targeted traffic but provide flexibility and be easy to navigate, very important.

Like most tools on the web you have lots of choices but if you're looking for easy to use platforms that are search engine friendly, two of the best options are WordPress and Blogger.  They are both free blogging platforms but they have some significant differences. 

Let's discuss them…

Blogger.com

Blogger is owned by Google and is super simple to use, especially for brand new bloggers.  There's nothing to install, no domain name to purchase or hosting service required, just a simple sign-up.  Once you've created an account simply follow the easy directions and within a few mouse clicks you've got a blog ready for you to populate with content and posts. 

Posting to Blogger is easy and you can easily change the look of your blog if you want.  All this is all done through Blogger’s dashboard. If you have more than one blog with Blogger, you can access all of the blogs from the same dashboard.

You will get a free domain name with your Blogger blog, but the domain name will look something like this:“yourblogname.blogspot.com” instead of “yourblogname.com", and because your Blogger blog is hosted on Blogger's server you won't have the control and ownership of the blog like you would if you were hosting it on your own server. 

The down side to Blogger is its lack of flexibility. Compared to other blogging platforms the design and function of Blogger is limited. You can download and install custom themes for the blog, but most of them are similar in look and feel, so if you've created your blog as a means for making money you won't stand out as well within your niche.

It's also important to note that because blogger.com is owned and hosted by a third party, your blog could be deleted for whatever reason, if you're blog is a source of income, that could be a huge risk if you were to violate their terms of agreement in some way.  

WordPress

WordPress offers two distinct options, WordPress.com and Worpress.org.  Both are free to use but the main differences are control and ownership.  Wordpress.com is similar to Blogger in that there's nothing to install, no domain name to purchase or hosting service required, just sign-up and go. 

WordPress.org, on the other hand, requires you to have your own hosting service, purchase a domain name and requires a WordPress installation on your host.  If you've never done this before or are a bit technically challenged a good hosting service like Hostgator, which I use, makes it fairly simple to set up and their technical support is awesome.

The real beauty of WordPress.org are the customization options. There are tons of WordPress theme templates to choose from and hundreds of customization plug-ins that extend the capabilities of WordPress to do just about anything you can think of. 

Note: If you're considering setting up a blog to make money it's worth noting that WordPress.com (non hosted version) does not allow Google Adsense ads.  

In summary, the blog platform you choose is an individual choice. Your goals, your budget and technical skills all come into play when making your choice. 

I would recommend that if you're seriously looking to choose a blog platform for making money online that you choose a self hosted blog platform such as WordPress.org. It will provide you the flexibility and control you will need.

If you're blogging more for fun with no specific monetary goals in mind, blogger.com or Worpress.com will do just fine. 
 
Here's a simple system and some real proof that shows you how you can make money with blogs.

Most online businesses appreciate being able to do things themselves …I know I do. It not only saves me money but I learn a few things along the way  

SEO isn't hard; it's just a matter of knowing the key strategies, understanding why they work and putting them into practice.  As soon as you start doing them they'll become second nature to you and pretty soon you'll be doing them without even thinking about it. 

So if you've got a website and want to optimize it without hiring a professional or using expensive tools, here's what you need to do …       

Use Your Best Keywords
This is a pretty important one and you should really take your time to examine your options. For example, each page of your site should be optimized for the best keywords possible.  Start by 'summing up' what the page is really about, then ask yourself what keywords accurately describe the content.  Once you have a good list of about 2 or 3 keyword phrases use a keyword tool like Wordtracker to determine which keywords get the most searches and have the least amount of competing web pages.

Learn to stay away from general words like pets, candy, shoes, computers; instead look for niche long tail keywords like 'women’s red tennis shoes' or 'black licorice candy sticks'.  Long tail phrases like this target several keywords, for example, ‘black licorice candy sticks' includes the keywords, 'black licorice', 'licorice candy' and 'licorice candy sticks'.

Create Search Engine Friendly Content
The search engines have always looked for content however it's more important than ever.  That means you have to focus on creating only good, quality content that is unique and useful. 

You also have to make sure the search engines can read it. Flash content or text embedded in images can't be read by the search engines. You're far better off using anchor text and make use of 'alt' text in your images.   Also use your best keywords that you wish to rank high for in the body of your text, use heading tags correctly and don't try to hide text by blending it into the background of the page.

Ensure Your Content Gets Indexed
Once you create content and upload it to your site or blog, check to see if it has been indexed by the search engines.  This may take a few days, however if you don't get indexed it may be because the site is still fairly new, there may be duplicate content, there may be links generated by JavaScript instead of HTML, it could have poor site architecture or has orphaned pages or various other factors.  If your site isn't getting indexed try writing to Google and asking them. Their responses can sometimes be a little cryptic but sometimes they do provide a few good suggestions. 

Get inbound links
Inbound links are simply your links that appear on other websites. If you have lots of quality sites that display your website's URL the search engines determine this as a vote for your site.  There are lots of ways to get inbound links, all of which are completely free methods.  However those sites that contain your link should be well-established sites that have quality ranking themselves.

Exchanging links with other sites is still an acceptable method but there are much better ways.  Keep in mind that using link farms and buying links are frowned upon with the search engines so avoid them.  Here are the methods that work best:  

• Submit to directories like Yahoo! Bizdirectory.org, DMOZ, Joeant.com and others
• Find blogs that relate to your site’s topic and make constructive comments or ask questions.
• Write articles that contain your website link and submit them to relevant websites and article directories
• Submit a press release that creates a backlink to your site. 

Start participating in social media and bookmarking communities
Social media and bookmarking is pretty new but it's creating quite a buzz and sites using them are experiencing some amazing traffic results. Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Furl, Digg, Del.icio.us Reddit, and Technorati provide users a way to store their favorite pages and media online plus share it with others.

In addition services like Facebook and Myspace provide services for creating a comprehensive profile that gives you a way to promote your content which in turn helps you create your own personal "buzz" throughout the internet. 

A word of advice, social communities won't do much for you if you are pushing or promoting products.  Social media is based solely on popularity, so if what you are sharing with people isn't interesting, unique and of interest to them you won't generate much interest. 

If you're pretty much on track with all of the above suggestions …and I hope you are, but you need to get on a faster track, then you're probably an excellent candidate for Traffic Secrets 2.0.  It's designed for the user that needs more of a competitive edge by getting the high octane strategies that can sky rocket your traffic.  It's definitely worth a peek.   

You've got nothing to lose except tons of traffic.

Recently I've been following the buzz that Ken Evoy has generated with the article he sent out called:

"Why Blogging Is A Massive Mistake".

Just the title is enough to raise an eyebrow.

I don't think blogging is a mistake and I'm sure the millions of bloggers out there would agree.

If you read Ken's article, he makes some interesting points, but they are all debatable.

For example let's look at the 3 major flaws Ken points out with Blogging…

Fatal Flaw #1) Blogs Do Not Deliver Useful Information Resources

Wow, I've seen just the opposite of that.  I subscribe to several blog RSS feeds simply because that's exactly what I do get – useful information and resources.  But not only is there a ton of useful information in these blogs, I also get lots of good 'food for thought' from the comments of others.

Ken also talks about how articles and posts are dated and their usefulness plummets with time.  This may be true but not all articles or posts need to be dated. I often create content 'pages' instead.  Also posts don't have to be dated; you can leave off the date and it's easily done with WordPress. 

Fatal Flaw #2 – Blogging Navigation and Internal Organization Are Inherently Awkward

Not sure about the internal mechanics of blogging navigation but there are certainly organizational and management tips that you should pay attention to when creating your blog and if followed they all keep your navigation nicely in check.  For example:

1. Make sure there is a link to your home site.
2. Create links or pages to articles or information that may be of particular interest to readers of your blog.
3. Create logical categories and organize your posts logically under those categories.
4. Use anchor text links that are descriptive and point viewers to permalinks or comment links.

And finally…

Fatal Flaw #3 -  Blogs Do Not Meet the Natural Needs of Most Small Business Opportunities

Ken feels that not all businesses are well suited for blogging, however if you're in a fast moving field that experiences frequent changes and new developments, such as in the field of internet marketing, then blogs are a good thing, but for everyone else blogging should be avoided.  

Ken goes on to say:

"The nature of your business and its related subject matter is most likely inappropriate for blogging. Your own business is almost certainly better served by a Theme-Based Content Site. Why? Because your future customers will be better served by information delivered in this manner. Theme-Based Content Sites flex to meet the goals, knowledge and circumstances of everyone… "

Hmmm ….obviously Ken hasn't seen Manolo's Shoe blog 

Manolo is right on with his "shoe fashions", theme-based blog, not to mention it gets tons of traffic, lots of comments and does a really good job in keeping up with shoe trends and styles. I'd even be willing to bet he makes a killing in sales! 

In closing I also found it interesting, funny actually, that Ken points out that bloggers often "burn out" from the pressure and stress to blog.  Perhaps if you feel pressured to comment 'every day' — that WOULD be stressful! But personally, I don't think daily blogging is necessary.   I prefer to take my time and find something worthwhile and informative to comment about on a 'once a week' basis.  If I have something to post, I post it, if not, I let it ride until I do.  I almost look forward to making my blog comments.

So what do you think?

PLR means "Private Label Rights" content.  This is content that someone else has written that you can use on your website, blog, e-book, newsletter, whatever you choose.

If you're doing business online you probably have lots of PLR articles sitting on your hard drive.  If you do have lots of articles sitting around, or even if you don't, you can easily get some, and then you can turn that PLR content into a cash making business for you.

Here's what to do…

Below you can download a free report called:
 
"PLR SECRETS: How to Use PLR Products to Create a Money-Making Small Reports Business"

This is a powerful 43 pages of solid content by Nicole Dean that will teach you how to use and monetize PLR content.  The report is a quick read with lots of good cash pulling information that I want you to pay attention to.  

Download the PLR Secrets report here…

I've used Google Adsense ads for a few years now and they bring me in a steady paycheck each and every month.  However, if you use Adsense you may have noticed that your monthly income has declined a bit.

Now there are several theories for that, in fact Jason Lee Miller over at Webpronews has a few ideas that are definitely plausible but in my opinion, it's probably due to a combination of factors.

The bottom line is that whatever the reason, it's probably not a good idea to rely on Google Adsense as your sole source of income.  We all know Google likes to change things and what seems like a goldmine one month may turn into a lump of coal the next.

But I'm still a fan if Google Adsense and I use the ads on many of my websites because I can get a fair amount of income from them, however it helps to know that there are websites and website topics that can make it harder to make money with Google Adsense while others do very well.      

For example, political sites or blogs can generate tons of traffic but political ads don't generally pay very much.  Also it's hard to get the right ads to serve your site.  Political blogs generally take a political side or point of view and getting the right ads to complement your site's viewpoint is difficult at best. During election season there may be more advertising competition however typically they don't generate very high bids. 

The same is true for religious sites; again it's hard to serve ads that correctly relate to your sites beliefs or views and the ads don't pay well.

Celebrity or gossip sites don't do well either, you would think so since there are so many of them, but even though they can bring in high traffic they don't bring in a lot of high product value. You can associate celebrities with movie tickets, DVD's or concert tickets and try to promote those types of items on your site but as far as advertisers go, most aren't shelling out the big advertising bucks.

Other sites that tank when it comes to Google Adsense are gambling and adult content sites. Google doesn't allow advertising on sexually explicit sites and they are not fond of gambling either.  Not sure about drug sites but Google doesn't allow them for Adwords so they may not allow the Adsense ads either.

Now where Adsense does seem to do well is with Skincare.  I have a skin care site that covers several topics of skin care. The section of the site that gets the most traffic is the anti-aging skincare.  The products sold on that site bring me about 23% of the revenue while 77% comes from the Google Adsense ads.   Kind of sad for the products but the Adsense does very well.

Another top adsense earner are the tech blogs.  Most tech advertisers pay top advertising dollars, so it doesn't surprise me that tech sites do pretty well.  If you own an internet marketing website you may also notice your Adsense Ads do quite well.

I'm sure there are other sites that do pretty well with Google Adsense and I'm sure there are some that don't.

Leave a comment below and let us know about your Adsense experiences 
 
Try this Free PDF guide on how to use Adsense for making the most money on a consistent basis.

Got a blog?  Maybe you want to start a blog but don't know exactly how to get started.  

Well, I have good news for you that's coming up on the horizon.

Alice Seba and Lynette Chandler are about to launch an intensive 4-week "Internet Marketing Blogging Bootcamp".  Alice is one of the premier online marketing trainers and she is teaming up with a Lynette Chandler who knows all about the technical aspects of blogging and can answer just about any question anyone has on blogging.

Anyway, Alice and Lynetter will be conducting a 4-week intensive and personalized "Internet Marketing Blogging Bootcamp". 

Anyone signing up for this bootcamp will receive weekly lessons that will be delivered in a private online membership area.  Each week students will receive printable training guides as well as audio recordings.  You'll also get practical weekly assignments that you can readily apply to your blog.  What's even better is you will also receive personalized feedback from Lynette and Alice directly. 

Registration actually starts on March 3 and classes will begin the following week on the 10th. 

These classes will be an excellent opportunity for anyone to get a blog started and begin making money immediately.  Even if you already have a blog it will teach you how to effectively monetize it.

But you don't have to wait until March 3.  Alice and Lynette have put out a blogging tips and ideas PDF guide that has 31 great starter ideas on what to blog about and how to begin making some early cash today.  
 
Ultimately I think this will be a 4-week course that anyone online will truly benefit from. It's not an ebook you have to push yourself to get through, it's a guided tour, if you will, on how to get a blog started and monitize it to its fullest.

At the very least, pick up your 31 free blogging ideas right now.

Happy Blogging!