I mean does it thousands of dollars per day / month – not a few measly cents!

Would you like to the ranks of Top Earning Blog owners?

What is stopping your blog make money right now?

In his book, The Richest man in Babylon, George S. Clason stated that: 

1. Money is the medium by which earthly success is measured.

2. Money makes possible the enjoyment of the best the earth affords.

3. Money is plentiful for those who understand the simple laws which govern its acquisition.

OK, I know that some of you will point out that money is not the only measure of success (and I would agree) – but when it comes to the blogging business…

Money is the medium by which blog success is measured.

I meet a lot of bloggers and I review a lot of websites and when a blogger is not earning the reward they hoped for, chances are very high they are making a number of the following mistakes.

Do any of these apply to you?

11 Mistakes that are Preventing your Blog make money.

The following are the main reasons why most people fail to make money from their online business.

1. They Lack an Adequate and Workable Plan:

It’s not just enough to say that you want to be rich; you must also map out plans on how you want to achieve that. Saying that you need money is nothing if you don’t know how much you need and when you’ll need it.

The first thing is to desire the money and then, know how much you want. 

Sometime ago, I asked some of my blogging friends what they want to achieve from their blogs and how they plan to make money from it. To my utmost surprise, most of them don’t even know what they want.

Before even starting your blog, it is pertinent that you map out your plans. You must first of all know how you plan to monetize it based on your chosen niche. Do you want to make money by……..

        a)           Creating and selling your own products

        b)            Selling other peoples products as an affiliate

        c)            Running Amazon associate program

        d)            Using contextual ad networks

        e)            Niche sites marketing

        f)           Offering your own services

        g)           And many more.

It all depends on your chosen niche. But the main thing is to know what you want and how you want to get it.

Apart from knowing how you’ll monetize your blog, you also need to have a content marketing plan and schedule. 

If you want to succeed with content marketing then, you should always know when and what to publish at any given time.

Content marketing is no more all about writing articles either…

If that’s the way you’re still doing it today then, you will fail woefully. If you want your efforts to pay off then, every article you publish must have a goal. Its either you want the article to give you:

=> Social media shares

=> Get you some backlinks

=> Get you email subscribers

=> Land you some consulting gig

=> Help you to connect with some of the influencers in your community.

As Brian Dean said, just keep on producing the right type of contents and with time, your efforts will pay off.

One thing you need to be cognizance of is the fact that no successful blog on the internet became successful by accident. 

As Social Media Examiner once said: Those who “wings it” when they blog are usually setting themselves up for failure.

Brian Harris noted in his recent post that one of the worst mistakes he made in 2015 was not having a content marketing plan. That mistake cost him so many ways.

So, the first thing to do right now is to get an Editorial Calendar and start learning how to use it to plan for your posts. Once you’ve known what your plans are, you need to ensure that you stick to it at all cost.

Bottom Line: The article should achieve something for you and your blog. If it does not, your time will be a waste.

2. They Do Not Properly Research Their Niche Before Starting:

Will your Blog Make Money?

This one is synonymous with most bloggers including myself. Fact is, many of us (including me) started blogging without knowing anything about our niche.

It usually goes like this:

You were kind of broke and was searching on the internet on “How to make money on the internet”.  After all you had heard about all these success stories!

You see an article that talks about how the author made $$$$$$ in one month from the internet. 

You then decided to try and see if you can make something similar (If not more).

You also notice, that most of the people showing their income report on the internet are in the internet marketing and blogging niche. So, you also decided to venture into the same niche even without carrying out any research to know how it works. 

So, you create your own blog and start struggling and praying for miracle to happen………Sorry, it doesn’t happen that way.

If you’re going to create a popular blog in any niche, you must start from researching and knowing what’s happening in that niche. This will enable you to know if it’s worth your time or not.

The internet is inundated with so many *fake* information on how to make money blogging. That’s why so many people usually give up after awhil..

Most people are too lazy to do the necessary underground work needed to build a lasting and sustainable business on the internet today. If you’re one of them, you will always get scammed.

Side Note: Talking of scams – Neville Medhora has produced a blog post on scams that would be funny – but for the fact there is a lot of truth in it!

And just as important – beware of the Fake Guru!

To Build a Popular Blog you Must Research Your Niche Thoroughly.

Before starting any business both online and offline, adequate research is needed to ensure that you’re really servicing a need. (a hungry market)

In carrying out market research that you will know the best niche to enter and how to best monetize it.

You will also be able to know if people spend money on the niche and what they are buying. 

Each niche has its own way of monetization. If you don’t research the market well, you might end up monetizing your site the wrong way which will give you zero result.

Furthermore, in carrying out your research, you will be able to know what is going on in your space and what to do better to stand out.

With Google, you can find out about just about anything on the Internet. 

For example: 

Assuming you’re thinking of going into the Hair Loss niche and you typed “below image is what you’ll see.” into Google – depending on your country location, you will see something like this:

Now as you can see, this result shows that hair loss treatment has been searched 33,500,000 times in Google. 

This shows you that people are actually looking for information about it.

Also, it has some advertisers which is a good sign showing that people spends money in that niche. It’s also a good fit for Google Adsense in case you’re thinking of using it as one of your means of monetization.

The next thing will now be to check the sites that are ranking for that terms and see if there are ways you can outrank them. 

With tools like Open Site Explorer, Similar Web, Buzzsumo, etc, you can find out all you need to know about these sites.

For example, I used Similar Web to find out more about one of the sites ranking in the top 10 – mensfitness.com

They had an excellent article on 6 best fixes for hair loss.

Below are the stats I discovered using similar web.

From the screenshots above, you can see that the site had over 7 million visitors last month which is really mouth watering (Imagine if you’re the owner). Majority of their visitors are also coming from the search engines as you can see below:

One interesting thing I discovered using Open Site Explorer (image below) was that the page on Hair Loss did not have a significant number of back links.  Now to be fair, Mens Fittness is a powerful and highly reputable website – and back links are not everything, but it is conceivable I would suggest that you could create an article on “Hair Loss’ that would attract more back links – allowing you to compete with a huge website like this.

My point is that if you are prepared to invest the time in SEO and creating worthwhile articles that people will link to, then sooner or later, you will be in money!

3. They Think They Can Do it Alone:

Every successful business has a good team. Of course, you can single handedly build a successful business both online and offline but, you will need the help of other people to grow.

You can never be good at everything. Instead of trying to do all the things that your business requires to grow on your own, why not hire some smart people to help you out while you focus on the tasks that you’re good at.

You may decide to learn it all but; it will only be costing you lots of time. A far better strategy is to outsource!

Check out most of the successful bloggers out there, you will find out that they mastered the acts of team building from day one. That have taken their blog to a greater height over time.

So, why not imitate them!

When you start – money may be short, but as soon as you can afford it makes sense to hire people to do the tasks you find time consuming and challenging. As a side note, one of the most successful bloggers I know barely knows any technical stuff with regards to blogging and hosting – he lets others do that.

4. They are Not Willing to Invest in Their Business:

This is like the step 3 above, unless you’re running a hobby; every business needs money to grow. There are so many necessary investments you must make on your blog if you take it as a business.

If you want to become a successful and influential blogger, it will be a waste of time to use free blogging platforms like blogger and the rest of them. 

You must be ready to pay for your own domain and host. Also, you cannot afford to use a free theme.

While starting, you will be tempted most times to use any of the cheap hosting companies out there but you must resist that temptation. 

This is because if you don’t, you will regret it at the end. Sometime in the future, your blog will start slowing down. It might also get hacked because of poor security and worst of all, it will just disappear mysteriously.

Apart from investing in your business, you should also be investing on yourself. Joining a Mastermind Group is one of the best things any growing blog owner can do!

Learn how to invest in your business, no good business can survive without proper investment.

5. They Lack Focus and Concentration:

One of the main reasons why people always fail to achieve their desired result is because; they’re confused and less focused. 

Popular author, Robert Kiyosaki defined focus as….

F: Follow

O: One

C: Course

U: Until

S: Success.

If you want to make it with your blog, you must learn to avoid all the distractions out there. 

Do you plan to make money by creating your own products? Give it all your attention and forget about every other method of making money on the internet until you’ve achieved that. 

If after all your efforts it didn’t work out, you can now try another method knowing that perhaps, the first is not good for you.

Doing all the things people tell you to make money from your blog at the same time and not focusing is a bad idea!

Focus on one strategy first and burn all the bridges to ensure that you achieve your aim. If you want to make money building micro niche sites then, focus on that alone and forget the rest.

SPECIAL NOTE: If you are someone who struggles with focus and getting things done – we highly recommend Craig Ballantynes Perfect Day Formula.

6. They Are Not Setting Achievable Goals:

Research has proven that the best way to achieve anything in life is to set goals. 

After setting your goal, you need to write it down and paste it at a place you will always see it so that you will not forget what you’re pursuing. 

This will help you to put more efforts into what you’re doing to make sure you achieved your goal at your stipulated time.

According to:  What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack, 3% of Harvard MBAs make ten times as much as the other 97% combined.

Source: sidsavara.com

Then in 1989, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class.  You can guess the results:

·         The 13% of the class who had goals were earning, on average, twice as much as the 84 percent who had no goals at all.

·         Even more staggering, the three percent who had clear, written goals were earning, on average, ten times as much as the other 97 percent put together.

Writing down your goal is also important. 

Dr. Gail Matthews, a psychology professor at Dominican University in California, did a study on goal-setting with 267 participants. 

She found that you are 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down.

Finally, you have to make goal setting a habit. According to Brian Tracy, Goal setting has been called the master skill of success. 

You have two choices in life: You can either work on your own goals, or you can work for someone else.

When you learn the master skill, you take complete control of your life and jump to the front of the line in your potential for great achievement.

7. They Associate With the Wrong People:

Remember you are the “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with“

There are some kinds of people you should avoid at all cost if you want to achieve any meaningful thing in life. 

The people you hang out with will always determine your future whether you believe it or not.

If you stay with failures then, you’re bound to fail as well because; you will always be like those you move with. 

One of the things that added to my success today is because, I’m always mindful of those I listen to and those I keep company with.

Surround yourself with the right minded and positive type of people and, you will always get what you want in life. 

Don’t stay with people that will always try to belittle your ambition.

In the business of internet marketing, we need motivation almost all the time to keep us going.

One of the reasons why people fail is because they lack those motivations due to the people they hang out with.

8. Not Having Enough Time for Your Business:

Time is an important factor in any business. 

Every business needs time to grow and for you to reap the rewards of your efforts, you will have to map out enough time for your business.

Set aside some time on a daily basis to work on your business unless it’s a hobby like I said earlier.

a.      Check to see if your blog is loading normal

b.      Check the loading time of your blog

c.       See if you have any email messages or requests

d.       Check your blog’s stats and find out if your traffic and income is growing or if you need to make any changes.

e.       Update your blog always

f.        Promote your posts well

g.      Connect and build relationship with the authority bloggers in your niche

h.      Guest post on other authority blogs like never before.

These and many more are the things you need to be doing to ensure the growth of your business. You also need to know when you’re wasting time. When it comes to blog promotion, it will be a waste of time to follow all the promotional techniques out there.

If blog commenting, guest blogging and social media marketing works well for you then, continue with it and forget about others. 

The wise thing is to chose a few marketing strategies and focus on them instead of following all the marketing techniques out there and getting little or no result.

Jon Morrow advised that you channel all your time to building your email list while starting. 

Now this may surprise you – but Social Media does not need to be your No 1 priority at the beginning. Sure it is good to have social media accounts, but far too often people confuse being active on social media with building their business. There are exceptions of course (think celebrities) but until you have built a list of active subscribers (1000+) there is little benefit in spending a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ etc. Again Jon Morrow has plenty to say on this subject – and others that are a waste of time for beginners.

9. Not Connecting and Building Relationship with your Readers:

If your readers don’t like and trust you, they won’t make you any money. You must earn the trust of your audience if you want to buy anything from them.

For people to click on your links and buy the things you’re promoting on your site, you must be someone they know and believe in. 

One way to do this is to always show them you like and care for them.

It could be by responding to their comments on your posts

Answering their questions, interacting with them on the social media and many more. Don’t forget to always write interesting and engaging articles on your site because, good content is king.

Just find ways to earn their trust and, they are more likely to buy when you recommend something. They will believe in your judgment but, don’t forget to always give them more in value than they give you in cash. Something to aim for is to always deliver ten times more value than cost as a minimum.

10. Not Connecting with Influencers in your Niche:

When you’re just starting out, the fastest way to grow is to connect with the influencers in your niche and they will help promote you. 

Its even better to build this connection before starting your own blog.

The concept is to start first by writing for some of the top brands in your niche to gain recognition. You can just set up a simple landing page for email collection and then, provide the link on your byline.

If you do this right, you will have a huge audience in no distant time and this will boost your own blog once you create it.

But in a case where you already have a blog, the best thing to start doing from now is to write for those influencers more than you write for your own blog. 

Dishing out hundreds of articles on your blog every now and then when no one is reading it will not do you any good.

Why not build the audience first? This was the same way Jon Morrow took his blog from 0 to 13,000 active subscribers in 60 days.

11. Not doing anything after reading this post:

My dear friend, reading is never enough

You need to put into practice what you learn.

A lot of people read just for reading sake but, that will take you nowhere.

Remember – it is not what you read that counts, it is not even what you know that counts – ultimately reading this article will have been for nothing, if you don’t take ACTION!

After all, the distance between your dreams and reality is called action!

Remember sharing is caring so, don’t forget to tweet and share this post with your friends.

Author Bio

Theodore Nwangene is on a journey to help bloggers and entrepreneurs build a better and profitable blog, increase visibility and boost their online authority. Follow Theodore and his website here.

The post 11 Reasons Why Your Blog Isn’t Making Money and What To Do About It appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

When I first learned about her work, something quickly struck a chord with me; aside from a very active fan-base, charming personality and stellar dreadlocks… and that was a specific notion:

Your body can heal itself. It does all the time from things like cuts or a cold. And if you treat it well, it will heal your acne problem – no matter how severe it is, or how long you’ve had it.

With what Tracy teaches online, she helps people get their life and confidence back. Acne is a very depressing condition that really cuts deep at people’s sense of self worth (which she knows from personal experience).  

Thanks to The Love Vitamin, she’s able to give them the information they need to have clear skin permanently and naturally – through a cleverly executed brand.

Quick Fire Questions

Biz Book Your Currently Reading? 

‘Get Rich Lucky Bitch’ by Denise Duffield-Thomas. The title sounds really pretentious, but it’s about getting rid of limiting beliefs about money! It’s a great book

Best Business Purchase? 

The original program I purchased in order to learn how to set up a blogging business – Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind program. Unfortunately it’s not available anymore, but yes – if I hadn’t bought this, I’m positive success would have taken years longer.

Investment in education is definitely worthwhile!

Favorite Business Resource? 

Google

Biggest Inspiration?

Leonie Dawson

Favorite Business Website? 

I don’t really have a favourite. I like Pat Flynn’s site, and Derek Halpern’s, Leonie Dawson’s obviously, Nathalie Lussier, Henri Junttila…

How I Started

I used to suffer with terrible acne, which I got rid of with lifestyle changes – better diet, etc. When I was going through my acne episode, I used to be glued to reading all kind of blogs about acne, and buying eBooks on the subject, etc.

I got really interested in nutrition in relation to healing the skin, so I was taking a natural nutrition certification program. But then I started thinking… what am I actually going to do with this schooling? What kind of business am I going to start?

And that’s when it hit me!

Starting my own blogging business was the answer. I thought that if the people I followed online could do it, why couldn’t I? I felt it was perfectly suited to my personality. And so I began right away.

I started my online business in January 2011.

Since then, the hours a week I work varies! Sometimes it’s as little as 15, sometimes probably well over 50, even 60, depending if I’m working on a big project.

Not quite making six figures YET, but getting very close.

The Best Thing I Did For My Business

My mindset. I used to think that it was only possible for me to have a small business in which I made an extremely modest income. It was because I didn’t see myself as someone who made more than, like, 13 bucks an hour since that was all I had ever been paid prior to starting this.

So in the first two years, my actions reflected that and I didn’t try very hard to expand the business.

Almost instantaneously when I started working on that limiting belief and realized that it was possible for me to help more people and create much more abundance for myself in the process, did my business and income start growing substantially. I have Leonie Dawson to thank for this change in mindset.

How I Make Money

Making and selling my own products is the bulk of income. I would not have the income I do if I didn’t have my own products. I do a bit of affiliate stuff too, mainly the Amazon.com affiliate program. But that’s it.

My advice for others: Take all of that helpful knowledge in your head and make it into a course or ebook! Don’t wait, and don’t worry so much – you don’t have to be an expert, you just have to know more about a subject than someone else.

How I Work

I admit, I am not very structured. I hate schedules and love flexibility, so I basically do whatever I want (hang out with friends, go for walks, work out, cook food, etc), and then work in the spaces in between. This still translates to lots of time on the computer!

I suppose a problem I have is that since I don’t have a schedule, whenever I have free time at home I feel guilty about just relaxing and not working. It’s hard to know when to quit.

Oh, also – I do pretty much everything in my business myself. Something I should really change. I guess I have fears about outsourcing…

Will it take more time to explain to someone how to do things than to just do it myself?

Will I get a return on my investment?

The Day I Realized I Made It

I considered myself successful when I began making the same amount per month as I had at my previous job. This came about a year in.

I Would Have Become Successful Sooner If…

I could have released my own products sooner, but I was nervous about how they would be received by my audience and kept delaying!

What YOU Should Be Focusing On

First, work on your money blocks – your fears, what’s holding you back.

Then work on education – what actionable steps can you take that will expand the business to where you want it to be?

And then whatever you learn – TAKE ACTION. Action is always the key.

Why I’m Successful and You May Not Be

I’d say people fail because they give up too easily, plain and simple. Or they lack passion for the subject (in which case you just have to keep going until you find the subject that fuels your fire!).

Every hurdle can be overcome with education, action, and determination, but not everyone is willing or able to keep at it long enough to be successful.

The post Tracy Raftl Interview – Blogging Full Time In Under A Year appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

Most of these fall under the category of “structural” or “conceptual.”

Chances are, if you’re a novice, you’re guilty of at least a couple.

Don’t stress, this post will set you on the right track to becoming a more successful blogger.

But be warned…

You may find yourself compelled to throw out some posts, or even move your blog in a new direction altogether.

Mistake #1: Not Getting Your Audience

One of the biggest mistakes bloggers are still making is not identifying their audience.

Many get the topic and have the facts, but don’t connect with anybody.

As bloggers we have to understand the problems our readers face and empathize with them.

Literally feel what they feel and see through their eyes.

Once you do this, creating engaging posts that solve problems and answer questions is a breeze.

Aside from interacting with readers comments and installing Google Analytics, asking questions with a survey plugin like YOP Polls is great for identifying demographics.

You can even step the look up a notch with a service like Survey Monkey.

With the free version you get up to 100 responses and 10 questions per survey… and it’s easy to set up.

Mistake #2: Not Choosing a Strong Niche

Another big mistake that bloggers make is trying to be everything for everyone.

You can’t underestimate the benefits of strong focus.

Having a tightly defined and clear mission, makes you much more likely to gain a strong and passionate following that’s incredibly valuable.

Being passionate and excited about whatever it is you’re blogging really presents itself in your writing.

Mistake #3: Covering Too Much

A lot of bloggers want to appeal to a broad audience, so they write about a ton of topics.

You might be thinking, “well, that’s doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.”

The issue is, the blog can get a little too bloated and easily lose connection (and trust) with the reader.

Mistake #4: Inconsistency

This is one of the greatest factors of an unsuccessful blog, both in publication frequency and quality.

The hard part is these “elements of success” can sometimes seem like opposing forces.

Creating great content doesn’t typically take 5 minutes, which is a problem for those of us accustomed to instant gratification.

Ensure quality content on a regular basis by simply adhering to a publishing schedule.

Base your blogging on routine, not on whenever the muse comes to visit.

Don’t put out a great first post and follow it up with rushed crap. You’ll lose readers quicker than it took to write your lackluster content.

Mistake #5: Lack of Commitment

Not committing to blogging is another big mistake.

A lot of people get into blogging, and think it will have an instantaneous impact on their business – most receive a rude awakening.

You should plan on writing at least a couple posts per week for the first six months. It’s not likely you’ll experience overnight success.

But don’t get discouraged and quit because…

“Anything in life worth having is worth working for.” –Andrew Carnegie

Mistake #6: Quantity Over Quality

Your readers don’t want quantity, they want QUALITY!

Internet users want solutions to their problems with easy to digest information.

It WILL take you some time to research, write, and edit a good blog post…

Otherwise, a quick Google search would offer “good enough” information for your prospect.

Do yourself a favor and set your blog apart with unique content!

Steve Kamb of NerdFitness.com does a great job of making his content stand out in a VERY competitive industry.

Mistake #7: Writing For Yourself and Not Your Audience

Even if it sounds fun to share what’s on your mind in the moment, if it doesn’t help your audience, don’t post it.

You can’t be selfish. You need to leave that to your readers.

They want information that’s helpful to them.

Recognize your audience’s selfishness and feed them.

Indulging yourself doesn’t help your reader, which doesn’t help your blog.

Mistake #8: Making Your Blog About You

Remember, your audience doesn’t care about you unless you’re a celebrity.

Write blog posts that are entertaining, topical, and/or useful.

Unless you’re somehow directly relevant to how useful, interesting, or good your blog posts are, don’t make it about yourself.

Mistake #9: Poor Writing

A blogger’s job is to find and retain readers.

When you have more readers, you have an opportunity to help more people and make more money.

With this in mind, there’s one SUREFIRE approach to turn away new readers…

POOR WRITING.

Always proofread before posting. Use spell-check and review your readability statistics in Microsoft Word.

Take time to research the concepts, facts, and ideas in your posts.

Remember, your focus should always be helping people – especially if you plan to profit.

Mistake #10: Not Using Provocative Headlines

Engage your readers with compelling headlines.

Everyone’s more excited to check out a blog post when it has a provocative headline.

Make people want to read your stuff with seriously enticing headlines.

Here are 11 great examples of provocative headlines:

• Don’t Even Think About Blogging Without Reading This Report!
• Amazing New Discovery Kills Kitchen Odors Quick!
• Why Some People Almost Always Make Money Online?
• Is The Life of a Child Worth $1 to You?
• 7 Reasons Income Diary Readers Live Better
• Free Book Tells You 12 Secrets of Incredible Sex
• Why Some Foods “Explode” in Your Stomach
• The “Friendly” Health Advice You Should NEVER Take
• The Strange Breathing Technique That Improves Your Posture
• Thousands Now Play Who Never Thought They Could
• Lose Weight While You Eat (10 Foods That Actually Burn Calories)

Mistake #11: Blogging on Your Own

Learning to adopt skills from popular journalists, digging up stories and interviewing others from my industry has enhanced my writing skills and opened many doors.

A lot of bloggers think they have to do everything themselves.

And I was guilty of this too.

Thing is, this puts a lot of weight on our shoulders and drains creativity.

Expand your reach by emailing other bloggers from your industry and asking them for interviews and to exchange guest posts.

Mistake #12: Adding to Information Overload

Don’t just publish content for the sake of publishing content.

Try to create something unique and compelling.

Make sure every post has a lot of value, and doesn’t just contribute to the clutter that’s already out there.

Mistake #13: Too Much Self Promotion

Go outside your own products, services, and company and talk about other necessary subjects to offer solutions to your readers’ issues.

This builds trust, and shows you really care.

Besides, you can’t solve everybody’s problems.

Mistake #14: Not Connecting With Your Audience

A lot of bloggers just publish their posts and forget about them.

Looking at your comments, responding to them, and sincerely engaging with your audience, will help build strong relationships.

Mistake #15: Not Thoughtfully Responding to Comments

One of the most blatant mistakes a blogger can make is not taking time to respond thoughtfully to comments and interact with users.

Show your readers some love and respond to them.

Let them know you’re a real person that truly wants to improve their lives.

Make it clear by going beyond the initial response and following it up with engaging comments of your own.

Mistake #16: Not Promoting Your Blog Posts

To my disbelief, I see many bloggers not promoting their stuff. 

Once the article goes live, they’ll jump on Facebook, put a link on the fan page and that’s it.

Then you have those who go overboard and promote too much…

You have to strike a balance, getting your posts the attention they deserve without driving your followers crazy with self promotion.

Ideally, you want people sharing your content. Your traffic will go up once your stuff starts to get shared on social media.

You’ll achieve this by consistently writing engaging content geared toward solving your readers’ problems.

Mistake #17: Not Becoming Part of the Community

One of the most limiting mistakes bloggers make is trying to do everything alone.

There are a lot of dedicated, passionate writers out there who would like to help you craft a community blog around the great content in your niche…

This would accelerate the growth of your site with additional promoters and give you a greater social circle to utilize for exposure.

Resources like Blog Catalog can help you find other popular sites in your niche.

And communities like BlogEngage are awesome for the exchange of feedback and links by like-minded bloggers.

Mistake #18: Not Engaging Other Bloggers in the Industry

You want close collaboration with other bloggers in your industry.

You could even try to form a blogging group in your local community and start or join a group on Facebook.

The sky’s the limit.

Don’t think of your blog as a separate entity, acknowledge it as part of a larger community – collaborative partners can only help your site.

Think of your blog as one of many and link up with others for the benefit of your audience. You’ll destroy yourself trying to cover everything your niche has to offer alone.

Mistake #19: Not Sharing Your Expertise

Sharing your talent and expertise with other bloggers and websites builds trust, reputation, and credibility.

The quickest way to develop a community on the Internet is to share information.

Your readers can and will come from other authority blogs.

Get your foot in the door with the best blogs in your niche by doing guest posts, commenting on their stuff and asking to do interviews.

Mistake #20: Ignoring Keyword-Rich Titles to Appear Clever

A lot of bloggers choose really clever or catchy titles, but they don’t think about keywords.

Keywords can make a big difference to the search engines – especially for the long term.

Choosing a keyword-rich title can make the difference between your post living on and fading into nothingness.

You DEFINITELY want a catchy title, just make sure it’s relevant to your message.

We live in the age of information.

On a daily basis we’re exposed to more ideas, blog posts, and news stories than we could ever consume.

That said, time is a limited resource for most people these days.

And with an abundance of mediocre and regurgitated information, treating your readers’ time with respect is critical…

Remember, the best way to respect your readers’ time is by delivering great content on a regular basis.

Success by choice, not by chance.

-David Aston

The post 20 Mistakes Bloggers Are Still Making appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

Bloggers and Entrepeneurs have to be weary of where to spend their time in order to cut through the clutter and reach their goals.

Today we’ll cover some of the hacks that come in handy for many of the worlds best bloggers and entrepeneurs and will greatly increase you productivity as well.

1. Journaling & Planning

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” – Albert Einstein

Journaling is one of the most effective ways to get thoughts out of your head and transform them into definite plans of action. It was used by many great achievers as a tool to get both inspiration and perspective on their thoughts and actions.
among them are:

• Richard Branson
• Albert Einstein
• Thomas Edison
• Leonardo Davinci
• Andrew Carnegie
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Winston Churchill
• Napoleon hill

just to name a few. Since our time on this planet is limited, it comes to no surprise that successful people and those seeking success value their time as their most precious asset. So should you! Planning and reflecting on your actions and the Problem at hand, even just for a 5 minutes a day, will definitely give you more clarity. It makes sure that you spend your valuable time doing things that give you joy and have a positive impact.
Also, successful Bloggers get into the habit of taking notes of their ideas, plans and knowledge in order to stay on top of things. The faster you establish the habit of writing things down when they come to mind, taking notes on the books and courses you read, the more you will be able to stay on top of things when times get busy and stressful.

Practical steps to get started:

• Grab a Journal or Post-it and write down at least 7 Things you want to do tomorrow and Put/Post it somewhere where you will definitely see it tomorrow morning (i.e. your screen, office etc.)
• Get into the habit of performing this task every day before going to bed.
• Train your idea-muscle (especially helpful if you don’t have a website yet or are short on ideas) Use a timer, set it for 5 minutes. and write down as many ideas as possible. Do not judge or evaluate anything, just write as much as you can. This can include everything, from exporting Grizzlies to zoos in India to creating a new iPhone app. Go Nuts! The aim of this exercise is to train your creative idea muscle and get ideas out without being limited by reason. If you do this every morning you will be amazed at the amount of ideas that pop into your mind.
• Apply the idea-muscle idea from above to any specific project you like. Got a website? Create a to-do list for your website! What needs to be done. What could be done, what would be awesome.
• Go through your list and limit it to 5 things.
• Prioritize them by ease of implementation.
• Then do it!

2. Working in short bursts

“Getting your shoes on is the hardest part of any workout.” – Kathrine Switzer

For most people including myself, the most difficult thing is do take action consistently. I believe that the main sources for this are fear and the feeling of overwhelm. We dont take action because we fear that its not gonna work, that we will look stupid once we fail and we can’t see the end result yet.

Sounds familiar?

We try to estimate what it would take and conclude that its not really worth the effort and i dont have the time now.

Think of jogging.
Most people start running and love the feeling. They run for 30 minutes and the next day their muscles are sore The problem is that they think they need to run for another 30 minutes, otherwise whats the point. That is hard to commit to when your muscles are sore. I will go tomorrow they say, but tomorrow never comes.
The solution. Instead of aiming for 30 minutes, they should make it a habit to put their running shoes on and walk for 20 meters before jogging back. Everything more is up to them, but that is 20 m is all that’s necessary. Sounds stupid? Try it out and see how it works. The beauty of this is that very soon people will want to run, because 20 m become too simple. When you take this approach with any endeavor, your whiny voice will shut up much more often, because it can’t tell you that you don’t have the time to put shoes on for 20 meters. And that’s great, because on some days you’ll run just that, and on others you’ll do much more.

I have used this strategy successfully for several goals of mine.
2 Years ago I wanted to create the habit of meditating daily, since I really enjoyed the feeling whenever i did it. So I set myself the goal to meditate for at least 1 min each day (5 deep breaths). That’s it! I have meditated daily ever since and I will continue to do so, because even though now I always do 15 minutes, even on the busiest day i will find time for 5 deep breaths.

Another thing is writing. Be it for University or Business, we have to write a lot. Therefore, I often set myself the goal of writing at least 4 x 15 minutes, which makes it easy to get myself going because the anxious part of my brain knows that I could come back any time later and finish it. Of course I rarely need this but it’s easier to convince the lazy/anxious part of my brain of 4 x 15 min sessions than 1 h each day. It’s all a matter of perspective.

Practical steps to implement this:

• What is something you need to work or a habit you’d like to create? Is it a blog post? A study paper? Phonecalls? Running daily?
• Whatever it is, give yourself a limited time between 1 – 15 minutes depending on your task and skill
• Remember. it’s better to jog 50 meters each day than for 30 minutes once every blue moon.
• Get stayfocusd for online tasks and use the nuclear function to assure you won’t cheat yourself.
• Use a timer like focus booster for your 15 min increments or productivity.

3. Batching

“Batch meetings or calls in one or two set days, with 15 minutes between appointments. Scattering them throughout the week at odd times just interrupts everything else.” – Tim Ferriss

Batching describes the principle of grouping similar actions together to be done in one “batch” of time in order to enhance productivity. This approach is highly practical and has been adopted by many successful online entrepreneurs.

By organizing your week in batches you’ll not only know when is what but have more clarity of what to do in between batches, since these batches can provide a productive framework to schedule your days.

For example, Derek Halpern from socialtriggers.com has a determined day for shooting his YouTube videos. Instead of filming each video individually and posting it, he writes up the scripts during the weeks and has one day where the camera is rolling for hours. This way he creates a backlog of Videos and posts that will be released automatically over the coming weeks, during which he can take care of marketing, researching and living a great life.

Probably the biggest drain on our attention online is everything regarding to communication, be it emails, twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp or any of the others.
While it may seem scary, try to limit your email to certain times to check. I personally allow myself only 10 min of distraction sites (FB, News, etc) each day using a chrome extension called stayfocusd! I also aim to check mail only twice daily (12.15 & 18.15) That may seem extreme, but it has worked wonders for me. I get more stuff done and have clear goals for using those 10 minutes.

Obviously you want to adapt this to your preferences and sites, but lets be honest. We all have sites that we use as outlets for wasting time and chilling around. And there is nothing wrong with these sites. Just make sure you use them in moderation and focus on the things that will actually give you energy (working out, quality times with friends and loved ones etc.) This will not only get you faster towards your goals, but make you happier too.

4. Pulling content into resource pages

“There are tons of different factors that go into ranking well, but the biggest is high-quality content.” – David Sinick

What’s the lifeblood of successful Blogs? Great Content and Promotion of that content.

If you find yourself in an evergreen niche (where your published content will always remain relevant), you may benefit greatly from pulling your already created articles into even better Resource pages. A great example of this is Josh Dunlops Beginners guide to photography, which provides a great content overview and links out to many of his own articles.

The beauty of this is that these sites have natural advantages:

• High SEO potential, since they they tend to be long in nature
• Get shared a lot, since they provide a concise overview over a specific topic
• Provides a hub for people entering your page
• Great monetization potential since you’re providing great value and your CTA is highly relevant (i.e. if you want to do X, I recommend Y/sign up for more via email)

5. Engaging users to generate content

Other ways to get great content without having to come up with ideas is asking questions to your audience and answer them as in show format. Marie Forleo does an excellent job at this. While this format is especially great for YouTube shows, podcasts and Webinars it can also be done in text format, especially when using polls or contests to get participants. If you make it a habit to engage your audience in this way, getting new content should be the least of your worries. Most followers enjoy personalized content since they often can relate to it. And if you give your fans the chance to be run part of the show, the are likely to take you up on the offer.

It can also make introductions much easier, since you have a crowd to back up demand.
Example: If you ask your audience whom to interview next and get 20 votes for Michael Dunlop, you’ll have both an easier time following through (because you pretty much have to at this point ;)) and also have a reason for contacting Michael and presenting yourself more or less as the Ambassador of your audience (i.e. these people want you and have these questions!). Furthermore, if you follow through on your audience tips, they will be more open to reciprocate if you give them the chance to (i.e. “Let’s get to 25 shares in order to get a second round interview etc.)

6. Outsource writing or research

“Do what you do best and outsource the rest.” – Julian Hall

While successful bloggers always add their personality in their texts to make sure their content is consistent, it can be a great investment to pay for research or Blogposts themselves. If you find it easier to edit existing content than writing something from scratch:

• Research your keywords and topics of interest.
• Pay for someone to write on them.
• Edit the content to fit your needs and make it pretty.

That way you can make progress much faster, especially if you don’t have many posts yet, since the base structure is already written and you have something tangible to work with. Also, you will find that the more you invest in good research and base structure, the more interest you will have in getting the post out there! It gives you a feeling of control and consistency to know that other people deliver while you sleep.

7. Allow guestbloggers with caution

Guestblogging is seen on Blogs like this one, problogger, fourhourblog and many more. Guestblogging can be great because you can get great Content for free or very little money while have others work for you.

Whether to use guestblogging depends on your strategy and goals:

Positive:
If you plan to build a business that becomes less about your but about your brand. By enabling guestposts you not only have more content to share, but your Blog also becomes easier to sell since your audience is used to guestposts and the business could potentially be operated without your involvement. Furthermore, if you find relevant content and make it an exclusivity to write for you you can attract great relationships and offers. For an example of this look at Tim Ferriss’ Blog: By leveraging high quality guest posts that attract a lot of reach he not only boosts his own credibility (He’s the guy giving all these people a stage and is affiliated with them), but also becomes a desirable platform to be on for many top notch entrepreneurs.

Negative:
If you want to build a great personal brand that relies only on your appearance and thoughts, than opening your blog for guestauthors may harm your personal brand and upset your audience. People usually don’t like it when their favorite author suddenly is replaced by another, even just temporarily (this is particularly true for domains with your name in it (imagine guestposts on sethgodin.com).

In any case: you have to be very conscious about what type of guestposts you allow –> don’t drop quality for quantity!

8. Distraction free environments

“Deleting 200 spams a day is a drag. And I was checking my email constantly, rather than getting on with my real work, which is reading and writing. Email was becoming a distraction, a burden rather than a liberation.” – Tom Hodgkinson

One of the biggest win for any blogger is the setup of distraction free environments! Creating a place of order, structure and clarity is not only helpful for your productivity, but will make your day more satisfactory by allowing for maximum output in a short period of time. There is definitely a reason why Steve Jobs demanded every Wall and Ceiling to be painted in pure white, without anything hanging on the walls. But creating your own distraction free zone can be had more quickly.

Here are some hacks I found helpful in setting it up:

• Clean up! No-brainer, but a messy environment leaves a messy mind. Go pick up your stuff and either store it or throw it away entirely. The time will be well invested.
• Open the window for fresh air and get a glass of water.
• Give yourself a time-frame (i.e. 4 x 15 minutes, see point 2.) You mind enjoys clarity!
• Write down all the things you need to take care of later and put it somewhere behind you so that you can act on it later.
• Turn your phone into airplane mode and put it aside so you can’t see it (behind you or in another room.
• Use good headphones (I personally use these Headphones model from AKG, but others will do as well) and just put them on. I often don’t listen to anything, but it helps me shut out any noise.
• If you do listen to something or feel your mind wandering too much, put on one of these two tracks. (XX-Intro 10h & ambient Rain 10h) to neutralize auditory sensations until you get into flow (usually takes around 10-20 min. for me)
• Get F.Lux! This free little software runs in the background and shifts your screen colors to reflect the state of the sun at your location. No more eye strain or headaches from working in the evening! Must have.
• Use the Nuklear option of stayfocusd to only allow the websites you need to work effectively!
• Maximize your browser window to go full screen (F11 on Chrome). More Space, less distraction!

9. Get a life outside of the internet

“Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon

Last but not least, it is important to get a break and take care of life. The most important business decisions happen offline!

While your blog, your community and all the other goodness are all great fun and a big part of your life, don’t be foolish to think that a successful blog will solve all your problems.

Example: Lets say that your constantly online, only focused on your blog. You publish new content daily
and your community is growing. You hustle and post on Facebook, YouTube and all the other things that are
out there. You build great relationships with other bloggers, which enable you access to an entirely new level online. Your audience loves it and wants more of you and your voice online. That’s when you discover that you feel burned out and the enjoyment that you got in the beginning from a new comment has veined to something annoying. You may have lost relationships along the way because you never spent time with friends and only wanted to talk about business, you may have gotten in bad shape or even become ill in the process.

In short, you have become unbalanced! But the problem is, your audience has become so used to your presence that they riot about why you’re not posting or responding to comments like you used to. We as humans get used to things very quickly and usually don’t like it when things change.

Be aware of your commitments in the beginning and maintain a life outside of Business as well, so your Business can become and stay a sustainable pillar of joy, service and wealth for you and your audience.

10. Learn less, do more

“Knowledge doesn’t pay for anything, it’s what you do with that knowledge that pays.” – Napoleon Hill

If you want to get ahead in life, this is definitely the biggest piece of the puzzle. Spend less time looking and more time doing! Simple advice that you’ll find hard to follow! It is something that I personally struggle with constantly! I love learning and see how others got to where they are and how I can do the same. However, it has become my comfort-zone.

Learning is great joy and should be a definite part of your life, however, too much learning can cause you too never take action and stay in the belief that there is something else you need to learn before you can get started!

Sounds familiar? I have spent 1000+ hours just learning stuff about computer graphics and online marketing. I have had great successes in many areas, but still have no successful blog!

Learning has become my comfort-zone and that needs to change!

The reason is simple. it is easy to stay where we are and comfortable to know a lot and talk a great deal but never acting on it. This is also the quality I admire most about Michael.
When he’s got an idea he acts on it, IMMEDIATELY!

As Noah Kagan from Appsumo says: “Getting real Feedback from potential customers is more valuable than any book you’ll ever read.”

So let’s stop right there and get going!

To sum up, here are the 10 areas to improve your Productivity:

1. Journal on your goals & ideas to gain clarity over the lifestyle you want to live. (The best books providing self assessments are: Click millionaires and Think and Grow Rich)
2. Use a timer to work on one task for 1-15 minutes, than see if you are in for another round.
3. Batch your Tasks, especially mail and social media.
4. Combine your existing articles into resource pages.
5. Try outsourcing your blogpost drafts! For more info on how to do this effectively, check out Traffic Domination.
6. Experiment with allowing Guestposts! Choose Quality over Quantity!
7. Get your users to contribute content (Q&A, contests, polls, desired interviews etc.)
8. Schedule time for your offline life.
9. Create distraction free environments where you can get to work without loosing focus.
10. Learn less, do more! No one will pay you for what you know, but only for what you do with what you know!

If you found this article helpful, share with your ambitious friends. Also tell us your experience! Which tools and techniques help you to get the most out of your day! We’d love to hear it!

The post 10 Practical Productivity Hacks of Successful Bloggers appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

Sounds like an ideal vacation… but it’s an even-better job.

More and more people are making the decision to become a location-independent, traveling entrepreneur. Below I’ll walk you through how to become a “digital nomad” in five steps.

#1 Save up Money

Before you jump out of an airplane, you strap on a parachute. Before you hop on the nomad trail, you make sure that you have some cash saved up so that you can ride out the rough patches.

“Put your head down and put away some money,” advises Matt Wilson (Under 30 CEO). He continues, “You need some savings… as a buffer if you are going to make a long-term habit of living outside of the United States.”

How much Money Should You Save?

The answer depends on (A) the cost of living per month where you’re going, (B) the cost of travel to/from this location, and (C) how much your willing to go without luxury and security. You’ll also want to consider the travel cost of renewing your visa every 30, 60, or 90 days.

Let’s say I want to begin my nomad life in Costa Rica. I’m going to need at least enough money for the flight to and from Denver (about $600). Then I’ll need about $500 for the first month of food, lodging, wifi, and bus fare. Then it’s just a matter of how much I would want for luxuries (about $100) and a “rainy day fund” (let’s say $2800).

For this example, I would save up $4000 before buying my ticket to San Jose. Depending on where you’re at in life, that may seem like a fortune or chump change.

Given the risk of your laptop breaking, you needing medical attention, or your best friend getting married back home… it’s always a good idea to save up more money than you think you’ll need.

…or Don’t

“Leap and the net will appear.”

Zen saying

Like to take risks? Thrive under pressure?

If so, you don’t have to save up much money before you start. John Bardos of Jet Set Citizen had just $1000 dollars to his name when he arrived in Japan and began his life as a nomadic entrepreneur. Bardos hit the ground running and never looked back. He says, “It was easy because I had nothing to lose.”

Not having a financial safety net will motivate you to succeed, since you won’t have any other choice. Still, I recommend you have at least enough money for one month’s rent and transportation to get home at all times.

#2 Get the Essentials

Some items are no-brainers. If you’re a photographer, obviously you’re going to need your camera. Most everyone is going to need a laptop and a padded bag for it. Of course, you won’t forget your toothbrush.

Here are some essential items and resources that you may not have thought of:

External GPRS/EDGE/3G USB Modem

These little doodads plug into a USB port and turn a cell phone data network into an Internet connection. This vastly expands the number of locations you’ll be able to work while traveling.

Theft Protection Software

For most digital nomads, their laptop is their livelihood. But the value of electronic devices also makes them attractive to thieves.

If your laptop, tablet, or smart phone is ever stolen or misplaced while traveling you’re going to wish you had a way of locating it remotely. Prey anti-theft software is just that. Registering up to three devices is free and it only takes a couple minutes.

Online Backup

Services like Mozy offer regular cloud-based backups in case anything goes awry. For one computer, it can cost as little as $5.99 per month (about $72 per year).

External Hard Drive

As a video producer, my work eats up Gigabytes like PacMan eats dots. For me, an external hard drive is the cost of doing business.

But even if you don’t need an external hard drive for the storage, you should have one for a backup. Online backups are great, but you won’t always have access to a consistent, high-speed Internet connection.

You can pick up a 1TB external hard drive for under $100.

Pocket Notebook

When you’re hiking the Himalayas, you may not have your laptop handy. Ditto for when you’re laying on the beach.

But those are both times when you’re likely to feel inspired and creative. Always have a notebook on you and you’ll always be able to catch lightning in a bottle for your business – even when it strikes in the most remote of places.

A Grasp of the Language

A few important phrases in the native language goes a long way. I’ve personally used DuoLingo to sharpen up my Spanish. It’s amazingly robust (and free!) language learning software.

Unless you’re fluent, pick up a travel-sized phrasebook. Once you’ve settled in, look around for a tutor. One-on-one lessons are highly effective and may be surprisingly inexpensive.

Eliminate the Unnecessary

I just listed some of the things you’ll need to have as a digital nomad, but the list of things that you’ll need to lose is even longer. It’s important to travel light. You’ll probably have to shed the majority of your possessions unless you’ve got some generous friends/family with a big garage.

#3 Choose a Starting Location

Here are a few of the more popular countries for digital nomads:

– Thailand

– Cambodia

– Argentina

– Columbia

– Laos

– Vietnam

– Malta

– Costa Rica

There are hundreds of different factors to consider, but ultimately there’s no “best” country for digital nomads. Whether you carefully weigh your options or picking a starting location at random, the most important thing is having the right attitude (and a wifi connection, of course).

#4 Find a Reliable Location-Independent Income

Earning money is about providing value to others. The Internet has made it possible to provide value to people who live very far away from you, all around the world. It isn’t easy to do, but it is easier than ever before – thanks in part to sites like Income Diary that are completely devoted to teaching people how to make money online.

Many nomad entrepreneurs have single-person businesses that are based on providing a service (much like freelancing). This is the quickest path to being able to finance a nomadic lifestyle. If you’re interested in this path, I’ve written a guide on how to make money with a service business and another on how to attract leads and clients online.

Here are some of the more common fields for nomad entrepreneurs to take up:

The Written Word

The market for people who can write high-quality blog posts has never been larger. You could finance a modest lifestyle in many countries by writing four articles like this one per month. Of course, this job also requires an understanding of online publishing, SEO, photo-editing, and more.

There’s also work to be found transcribing, editing, and translating text.

Digital Media Specialist

If you’re a graphic designer, web developer, or software programmer, you know that there’s not much difference between working 10 miles away from your client or 1000 miles away.

Photography and video production are also well-suited to location-independence. Plus, you’ll surely find plenty of inspiring vistas to capture on your travels.

Remote Work Agreements

Increasingly, businesses are allowing their employees to work remotely. It saves on office space and can lead to higher employee satisfaction and productivity. If you’ve already got a good job and you don’t technically need to be on-site to do it, consider asking your boss if you can work remotely.

Passive Income

Developing a passive income takes more time but also offers a greater reward at the end. Create a great website, cultivate an audience of people who trust you, and you could one day make a six-figure income by selling ad space and products.

The List Goes On…

Nomadic jobs are only limited by your imagination. Nunomad’s list of location-independent careers includes everything from the bizarre (balloon artist) to the mundane (insurance agent) and everything in between (consultant, coach, camel trainer, radiologist, property manager, virtual assistant, English teacher, dancer, and importer).

#5 Hire a Virtual Staff

What’s the fun of traveling the world if you have stare at a computer screen eight hours a day, five days a week? Most businesses require daily attention to keep running smoothly – and if you’re on safari in the Serengeti, that’s just infeasible.

The solution: a virtual staff to pick up the slack.

I’ve never hired a virtual staff member myself, so this section is reinforced by one of the world’s leading experts on outsourcing, Tyrone Shum. Back in 2005, Shum started an online Dragonboat paddle business. Business was so good that Shum was working 60 hours a week. That’s when he decided to hire a virtual staff. Within six months, Tyrone was working just 10 hours a week.

Use a Virtual Staff-Finding Service

If hiring someone who lives in a different country to be a part of your business sounds like a daunting task to take on on your own, you’re right. Tyrone Shum told us about his misguided first attempt:

“When I first started, I spent weeks on end trying to find the right person, to negotiate the best price, the best working conditions, and all that kind of stuff. But in the end, they didn’t even stay.”

from Web Domination 20

After this, Shum turned to a virtual staff-finding service and he’s never looked back. He recommends Virtual Staff Finder: “They go through the whole process and you pay a one-time fee. They come back to you with three candidates, you meet them and find out if they’ve got the right skills for you, and then – bang – you’re up and away.”

Start with a Virtual Assistant

Eventually, you may want to hire a whole staff: programmers, designers, writers, and more. But Shum says that “the first position to outsource is a virtual assistant.” Virtual assistants can do anything from handling your emails to maintaining your blog to running your social media.

They give you more time to focus on growing your business – and allow you the freedom to go on adventures without the gears of your business grinding to a halt.

How much does it Cost to Hire a Virtual Assistant?

The price is always in flux. Shum told us that when he started the going rate for a full-time virtual assistant was “roughly $300 a month” but that the price had already crept up to $450/month.

More skilled positions, like web developers, will be a bit pricier.

Note: If you’re really serious about outsourcing, I recommend you check out our interview with Tyrone Shum in Web Domination 20. He goes into detail about his hiring process, his management style, and what he’s learned to look for in a virtual staff candidate.

Ready to Become a Traveling Nomad Entrepreneur?

Then book your flight and pack your bags! If you’re still not sure what you want out of your work and life, you may want to check out our page on how to get your ideal lifestyle as an entrepreneur.

Post Image Photo Credit: Claudio Vaccaro.

The post How to Become a Traveling Nomad Entrepreneur in 5 Steps appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

Still, I get a lot of puzzled looks when I tell people that having a blog is the single most important thing a business, cause, or person can do to advance online. Even though ‘blogging’ has hit it big, most people don’t get what makes blogging so powerful, helpful, and beneficial.

To put an end to that, I’ve compile a list of the 20 biggest benefits of having a blog below. If you’re among the uninitiated, prepare to be enlightened. If you’ve already started a blog of your own (as I assume many of you Income Diary readers do) then you can consider this an affirmation of why you do what you — and a good place to direct people who still think that a blog is just a pointless public diary. There are many perks of having a blog as you will see.

The 20 Biggest Benefits of Blogging

#1 Get a Better Job

According to MediaBistro, nine in ten companies mine online profiles before making a new hire. Employers want to hire people who have a strong online influence:

“Determining influence is so critical to brands because this is what drives word of mouth validation – typically the most powerful and cost-effective marketing method available.”

Mark Schaefer, from an interview on Inc.com

Put simply, employers prefer to hire people with a positive online influence and blogging is the single best way to achieve that.

#2 Start a New Business

Sometimes a blog starts out as a hobby only to become a full-time business.

That’s what happened to Pat Flynn, who created a blog called Green Exam Academy simply to share his thoughts and insights on architecture. When Flynn was laid off from his job, he decided to take his blog a little bit more seriously and about one year later the blog had become a $100,000 per year business.

That type of growth isn’t typical. But Flynn’s story is a great example of how a simple blog can be the foundation for a thriving business if you’re willing to commit to it.

#3 Get More Clients to Your Existing Business

Static websites don’t attract many new clients or customers. But a regularly updated blog can produce a constant stream of good leads from all around the world.

When you publish in-depth blog posts that help potential clients/customers solve their problems, they come to trust you and respect you as an expert in the field. If they want more help than a blog post can offer, then they’re likely to be interested in hiring your business.

I know that this is Neil Patel’s primary revenue model for Quicksprout and I’ve also used it to good effect for my video business.

#4 Become a Better Writer

The only way to become a better writer is to write – pages and pages, day after day.

Of course, that’s exactly what an active blogger spends his or her time doing. The more you blog, the more you write – and the better writer you become.

#5 Become a Published Author

The publishing business isn’t what it used to be and publishers are less likely than ever before to take a chance on an unknown author.

They would much rather give a contract to an author with a built-in audience of readers – and that’s where having a blog comes in. So keeping a blog isn’t just a good way to become a better writer, it may be your fastest path to becoming a published writer.

#6 Get Immediate Feedback

An author has to wait months between finishing his/her book and reading the reviews, but bloggers get to read their readers’ comments the same day they click ‘publish’.

This makes blogging a great way to get feedback on an idea that you want to develop further. Having an outside perspective and a little bit of constructive criticism is invaluable.

#7 Learn More About a Group of People

Bloggers spend most of their time sharing their ideas and insights with their readers. But if you listen, you’ll find that your readers share a lot with you too.

I learn a lot about the readers on Income Diary from your comments, your tweets, and your posts on the forums. That information helps me to know what type of posts to write and I know that it also helps Michael determine what products to develop that will help his readers the most.

Knowing about your audience is invaluable (this is why companies spend so much time and money testing out their products in focus groups). As a blogger, achieving this type of insight is a natural byproduct of your day-to-day routine.

#8 Gain Influence

What’s the best way to change the world? You could become a politican, activist, or volunteer.

Or you could become a blogger. A successful blogger gains a wide audience of people who trust and respect them.

#9 Establish Yourself as an Expert in Your Field

Anybody can start a blog on any subject they like. So you don’t get a lot of respect just for saying, “I have a website about that.”

But over time, as you write more posts and share more of your expertise, you’re website will change from ‘just another blog’ into a powerful demonstration of your knowledge in a field. When somebody visits your site and sees the insights you’ve shared on a subject, along with the community of people who respect and seek that insight, it will be clear that you’re genuinely an expert in the field.

Being an expert is a good thing. You may get consideration for careers, awards, or consulting opportunities.

#10 Build a Network

“The richest people in the world build networks.

Everyone else looks for work.”

– Robert Kiyosaki

Starting a blog is a guaranteed way to expand your network.

First of all, valuable and interesting blog posts attract readers who will then comment on your site and send you personal messages through your contact page. Many of your readers will be asking for help, but others will be looking to help you.

A blog is also a good platform for reaching out to others. Many of the first posts on Income Diary were interviews with experts in the ‘make money online’ community. With every interview, Michael gained a personal relationship with an influential person.

#11 Learn In-Demand Skills

Easy-to-use blogging platforms like WordPress have made it so that a person doesn’t need to have a grasp of computer programming in order to start a blog.

But through the process of blogging, most people learn some HTML and CSS simply because it’s easier to make minor improvements to your site by yourself than it is to hire somebody each time. That’s good news because fluency in web design, HTML, and CSS are highly valued skills in this day and age.

The same can be said for a whole slew of other blog-related skills, such as graphic design, search engine optimization, content marketing, and social media marketing.

#12 Improve Your SEO

Ultimately, search engines want to deliver results that are helpful to their users. When you write a series of in-depth, valuable articles around a topic, Google takes notice.

Each high-quality blog post that you publish is another opportunity to get traffic from search.

#13 Collect Emails

There’s a lot of talk about social media today, but email is still the most reliable way to communicate online. People check their email regularly and they’re used to receiving important updates.

Getting somebody to give you their primary email isn’t easy, but once you have it you have a direct connection with that person. You’ll then be able to get their attention whenever you find something that you think will benefit them or if there’s something important regarding your business or blog that you want to inform them about.

#14 Stay Knowledgeable in Your Field

If you’re looking for an incentive to keep up to date on all of the latest information on a certain subject, starting a blog is a great start. Your weekly quest to put up new content will lead you to always be searching for new information and sharing it with your readers.

#15 Sell a Product

A blog can make for a great virtual store. Michael has made a small fortune selling PopUp Domination on IncomeDiary and other bloggers have found success selling everything from e-books to membership sites.

#16 Talk to Your Idols

I first became an entrepreneur back in 2010 when I helped Nicholas Tart compile a book of interviews with 25 of the world’s top young entrepreneurs.

One of the entrepreneurs we wanted to interview was Joe Penna, AKA Mystery Guitar Man. Like me, he was a musician and producer of creative online videos. Getting to sit down and talk with him was an inspiring experience that I’ll always remember.

If we hadn’t had a blog, I truly doubt we would have had the online credibility for Joe to take the time and sit down and talk with me.

#17 Express Yourself

This one’s pretty simple: a blog is an expressive medium that can contain words, images, and sounds. Whether your blog is formal business affair or a personal “what-I-ate-for-breakfast-this-morning” diary, blogging is powerful form of self-expression.

#18 Help Others

Every good blog helps its readers. Income Diary does this by offering free information about how to make money online. Other blogs help people lose weight, raise their kids, and come to terms with life-threatening disease. Yet others mobilize groups of people to take action and raise money for important causes.

The power of a blog to educate, inspire, and bring like-minded people together makes blogging a great way to help people.

#19 Build Trust Online

Trust is a rare and valuable commodity online. You can’t buy trust. It has to be earned by demonstrating your commitment to your readers, time and time again.

As it turns out, that’s exactly what good bloggers do by regularly posting valuable, honest articles on their blogs. The more people whose trust you’ve earned, the easier it will be to accomplish your goals online.

#20 Take Control of Your Online Identity

Whether you’re a person or business, there’s probably lots of information about you online. When somebody searches for you online, you want to make sure that they get an accurate and complete picture of who you are and what you’re all about.

Starting a blog that covers all the bases is a great way to control your online identity and make sure that the top result on Google makes a the right first impression.

The Last Word:

After listing the 20 biggest benefits of creating and maintaining a blog, I still feel like I’ve left a lot unsaid. A blog can be more than just a way of advancing your online presence; it can be a way of advancing your life… a platform you create that can propel you forward in the direction of your choice.

If you can think of a big benefit to blogging that I’ve missed, please share it in the comment section below. Otherwise, please share this post through your social networks so that people will stop giving me those confused looks when I talk about the huge importance of blogging.

Read more: ‘24 Rules I Follow When Creating Successful Websites’

The post The 20 Biggest Benefits of Blogging appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

They range from motivational to humorous — covering everything from social media to monetization. Mostly they seek to define what blogging is, what makes it so important, and how to blog well.

Prepare to be inspired and informed.

Post Image Courtesy of Anonymous Collective

Top 40 Blogging Quotes

#1 Brian Clark

As a blogger, everything that you do flows from understanding your audience and seeking to help them as much as possible.

#2 Mike Butcher

“Blogging is a conversation, not a code.”

#3 Scott Adams

Scott Adams gets to speak his mind every day with his syndicated comic strip, Dilbert. But he also loves the free, often goal-less nature of his regular blog. He has said about blogging,  “All you get is the pleasure of a completed task.”

#4 Lee Odden

“A blog is only as interesting as the interest shown in others.”

#5 Simon Dumenco

“Blogging is just writing — writing using a particularly efficient type of publishing technology.”

#6 Andrew Sullivan

For most of human history, all published writing had been carefully inspected, edited, and approved.

In the last decade, blogging has turned the publishing world on its head. A blog allows you to write and publish anything, from anywhere, and have it be immediately available to billions of people all around the world.

This means that blogging is uniquely “alive”, as Andrew Sullivan points out in The Atlantic. I, for one, am happy to embrace the chaos and vitality.

#7 Tom Foremski

“Blogging is a communications mechanism handed to us by the long tail of the Internet.”

#8 Michael Conniff

“Blogs are whatever we make them. Defining ‘Blog’ is a fool’s errand.”

#9 Ron Dawson

“The first thing you need to decide when you build your blog is what you want to accomplish with it, and what it can do if successful.”

#10 Neil Patel

“Don’t try to plan everything out to the very last detail. I’m a big believer in just getting it out there: create a minimal viable product or website, launch it, and get feedback.”

#11 Daniel B. Beaulieu

“The casual conversational tone of a blog is what makes it particularly dangerous”

#12 Seth Godin

When you write remarkable content, you stay engaged and excited with your blog. Your readers follow suit.

Godin’s blog is a great example of remarkable content: it’s reliably snappy and insightful. Learn more Seth with our in-depth blogger profile.

#13 Jerry Schoemaker

“I think I am about 5 for 500 when it comes to successful ideas vs flops.”

#14 George Siemens

“Where the Internet is about availability of information, blogging is about making information creation available to anyone.”

#15 Joshua Micah Marshall

“I think of us as journalists; the medium we work in is blogging.”

#16 David Sinick

Sinick knows every SEO “trick” in the book and he still recognizes that the easiest way to rank well for competitive search terms is simply to create high-quality content.

#17 Google’s SEO Starter Guide

“Your ultimate consumers are your users, not search engines.”

#18 Sufia Tippu

“Blogging is hard because of the grind required to stay interesting and relevant.”

#19 Neil Patel

“If you want to continually grow your blog, you need to learn to blog on a consistent basis.”

#20 Yaro Starak

“You can work quite hard, in particular online, and do quite well independently, but if you really want to grow you need points of leverage and most of them come from knowing people.”

#21 Seth Godin

“If you love writing or making music or blogging or any sort of performing art, then do it. Do it with everything you’ve got. Just don’t plan on using it as a shortcut to making a living.”

#22 Pat Flynn

Pat Flynn makes over $40,000 per month online with his various websites, but he doesn’t make a dime off of social media – at least not directly.

When we interviewed Pat for Web Domination, he told us emphatically that social media is a terrible sales tool. Instead, Flynn sees social media as, “something that allows [him] to connect with [his] audience more.”

#23 Gary Vaynerchuk

When blogging first became popular, many thought that it was just a passing trend. But it has stuck around – and more than that, only strengthened over time.

Social media is around for the long haul because we value our relationships with one another above just about everything else.  A blog entry isn’t just a block of text, but a slice of humanity and an opportunity to begin a real conversation.

#24 David Aston

First-time bloggers often chase the big spikes in traffic that come with a viral post or a big media mention. Then lightning finally strikes… and they come to realize that those surges in traffic are made up mostly of people who aren’t very engaged and who don’t stick around for very long.

Instead, follow David’s advice and focus on building a loyal following of regular readers. That’s the strategy that David has used to make WhyAmIUnhealthy hugely popular in just over a year.

#25 Matt Wolfe

Matt’s right:  the Internet is absolutely bursting at the seams with valuable information, all available for free. Yet he and other bloggers like him are able to make six-figure incomes by creating information so specialized and valuable that people are more than willing to pony up the dough.

The bulk of Wolfe’s income comes from his membership site, The WordPress Classroom.

#26 Gary Vaynerchuk

“What you do after you create your content is what truly counts.”

#27 Luke Langford

“The term ‘Professional Blogger’ is no longer an oxymoron.”

#28 John Chow

“Making money from blogging requires you to do only two things: drive a lot traffic, then maximize the income from that traffic.”

#29 Darren Rowse

Darren Rowse practices what he preaches by earning revenue through Digital Photography School, FeelGooder, TwiTip, and Problogger.

#30 Jason Calacanis

Most people think that the ‘currency’ of blogging is actual currency (money). They think, “I’ll give my readers authentic, valuable blog posts and they’ll give me money in return.”

Blogger Jason Calacanis has the real exchange:  you write authentic, valuable blog posts and you’re readers give you back trust. Once you have an audience that trusts you, all sorts of things are possible (including making money).

#31 David Risley

According to Risley, the key to a six-figure income as a blogger is “a blog with a business backend.”

#32 Steve Pavlina

Never try to trick somebody into giving you their money. Even if it works, it’s a short-term way to make money online.

#34 Adrienne Smith

“Successful people don’t spam.”

#35 Penelope Trunk

Increasingly, employers are interested in hiring people who’ve cultivated an influential online presence. So sometimes the best resume is a blog.

A well-maintained blog establishes your authority in a niche by showcasing your knowledge and dedication to the topic.

#36 Dick Costolo

Of course, just because you can write anything you want while blogging, that doesn’t mean that you should…

#37 Liz Strauss

Blogger Liz Strauss explained in an interview why it’s so important to be conscientious about everything that you publish online:  “Your children, your grandchildren, your future spouse, your future boss, and your future enemy will see what you write eventually. Speak the truth with your head connected to your heart.”

Write with integrity and you never have to worry about your words coming back to haunt you.

#38 David Risley

“There are no lines in the sand in the blogosphere except for those who draw those lines in an effort to get attention.”

#39 Chris Brogan

“If you accept all the praise, you have to accept all the critics.”

#40 Brian Clark

From our perspective today, it may seem that the Internet is already so far advanced that it’s too late to make any significant traction.

The opposite is actually true:  the Internet is still relatively new and it’s expanding in popularity and scope each year. Looking back in twenty years, we will be able to see that the opportunities to benefit from social media (blogging included) “have only just begun.

Which Blogging Quote is Your Favorite?

Let me know with a comment. If you’ve got a great blogging quote that I missed, tell me about it and I may add it.

The post Top 40 Blogging Quotes appeared first on How To Make Money Online.

Lately, I’ve had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with Michael Dunlop, founder of Income Diary, and ask him about how he makes six figures a year online.

Obviously it’s important to have an audience online and so in our first session we discussed the traffic strategies that Michael uses to attract 100,000s of visitors to his blogs. While I encourage you to read all ten traffic tips, the overwhelming message was this:  simply write amazing content.

For our second interview, Michael wanted to talk about the bigger picture:  how do you turn a single successful website into an online empire that you can sell for a fortune?

What You’ll Learn:

• Why invest back into your websites
• The key to ‘flow’ in the growth of your online network
• How Michael’s brother helped him discover the power of partnerships
• How to prepare your online empire to be sold

Note:  if you would like some more background on how Michael Dunlop got to where he is today before we begin, take a look at “The True Story of My Overnight Success”.

Starting Your Online Empire

Every empire starts with a single building and every big online business starts with a single website.

Michael explains, “When you’ve got your core thing going really well, then you can start to look at different industries. Your next sites are only going to be successful based on the success of the first one.”

Invest back into the Business

As a child, Michael Dunlop observed how much his self-employed father had to pay in income taxes (about 50%). He also couldn’t help but notice that when his dad sold his company, the capital gains tax was much, much lower (about 10%).

That’s why Michael invests $10,000’s back into his companies. He has to pay less in taxes now and his websites, products, and customers reap the immediate benefit of his investment.

If you’re wondering how you could invest in your online business, Michael suggests, “New website design, article writers, software development, graphics, and buying other peoples websites.”

Long-Term Domain Names

Using your own name as a domain name may be a good idea if the site’s for personal use, but it’s the worst thing you can do if you want to build an online empire. Since the site’s brand revolves around you it will be difficult to bring other people on board or sell the site down the road.

A ‘.com’ domain is familiar, versatile, and international. According to Michael, having a ‘.com’ “makes a big difference when you’re selling your business.”

Image courtesy of Jjjohn

 Growing into an Online Business

“I prefer to compete against myself rather than someone else.”

Michael Dunlop

Michael had some tough breaks early on in his online career. First his site was hacked, then he got banned from Adsense.

Through it all, he learned a pretty simple lesson:  “You can’t keep all of you eggs in one basket.”

Today, Michael owns several successful websites across several niches.

Expand into Related Niches

Michael’s first website was devoted to graphic design. From there, he created sites that in the niches of web design, then online business, and now photography and more.

There’s flow at work here. The graphic design community Michael fostered originally was naturally also interested in web design. The web design community was naturally interested in making money from websites (online business). The photography community has ties to both design and business.

Michael gave me another example of how it could work for someone else:

When planning your online empire, think about how you could branch out from your first niche to more areas that are valuable to that community. That way, you’ll guarantee a built-in audience when you launch.

Expand Beyond Websites

An online empire can and should be more than just websites.

Michael teamed up with a software developer to make PopUp Domination, which enables website owners to customize popup boxes and increase their conversion rate. PopUp Domination has gone on to be a huge success for Michael, generating over a million dollars in revenue.

The right product can be sold across all of your websites – and it goes beyond even that. If all of Michael’s websites were to disappear tomorrow, PopUp Domination would still be being sold on the websites of others all around the world.

Brand Together

Michael’s first series of websites (the ones that were hacked) all had the word ‘Shout’ in them. Today, he’s got a series of products with the word ‘domination’:  SiteProfit Domination, Blog Creation Domination, Traffic Domination, and Web Domination.

Michael told me that, “by having a well-branded network, the perceived value of the business is greater because it all comes together as one.”

The Power of Partnerships

Initially, Michael was the driving force behind all of his websites.

Today, Michael is much more focused cultivating partnerships and providing consultation while someone else takes a more active role:

Expert Photography isn’t Michael’s only big partnerships success.

PopUp Domination is also a partnership, this time with software developers. Michael says that it was as simple as having the idea and then saying, “Go build it for me. I’ll give you half of the business if you put in all the programming hours and run the business for me.”

In exchange for his partners doing the groundwork, Michael offers his expertise and his vast online network – and so far it has been paying off for all involved:

More Growth through Partnerships:

Michael’s been so impressed with his experience with partnerships that he sees more on the horizon:

The size of Michael’s blogging network is already pretty staggering. In 2011, a website broker advised him that his online business is collectively worth over $1,000,000. But as Michael continues to forge valuable assets through partnerships, he truly is building an empire.

And after he’s done that, the only thing left is to cash-in.

The End Game:  Selling Your Online Empire

“The money comes at the end.”

Michael Dunlop

For Michael, the plan has always been to sell his websites. I have to admit, there’s something pretty appealing to detaching completely and having a big paycheck to show for it.

Here’s Michael’s advice on how to sell an Internet asset.

Separate Your Self

Michael built Income Diary in to what it is today by writing in-depth articles for it week after week.

But he realized that nobody would ever be interested in buying Income Diary if its success was completely reliant on him. Michael wasn’t for sale – just the business.

So he took a step back. Michael explains:

Michael did this by making his image less prominent in the site’s design and by hiring knowledgeable writers to contribute regular content (ahem). By now, more Income Diary articles have been written by other people than by Michael – and the site is in a much better position to sell because of it.

Automate Systems

Michael hasn’t totally automated Income Diary, but he’s close (he calls it an “almost passive income”). For more insight on the matter, read Michael’s 2011 article How to Autopilot Your Blog.

According to Michael, buyers like the idea of “something that just sits there and makes them money for years. Automated support. No emails.”

Who wouldn’t like that?

Last Words

Post image courtesy of Aleks Ivic.

The post Big Picture Blogging: How to Go from a Blog to an Online Empire appeared first on How To Make Money Online.