The (Real) Reason You Started Your Blog

Setting up a blog and beginning to post to it is a great way to start your own online business. But, what’s your REAL reason for blogging?

You may have decided that your real reason to start a blog and become a blogger is to make money.

If so…you’re WRONG!

You may think that your reason to have a blog is to make money – but its not.

Making money from your blog is just a byproduct of your blogging efforts.

Your real reason to blog is to first and foremost create relationships with your readers.

To have a really successful blog you first need to create a relationship with your readers. This allows people to get to know you, like you and then trust you enough to do business with you. And this takes time to do.

When you start to create a relationship with your reader they begin to feel like they know you. They feel like you are talking to them when you write your posts. They identify with your content.

And people are much more likely to listen to a recommendation and take action when they hear it from a friend than from a stranger.

One way to create this relationship is to consistently create useful and valuable content that is relevant to your topic. People will return to your blog because they will learn that they can trust you to have new and valuable content. And, not only will your regular readers keep coming back… they will tell their friends and other people about it your blog.

Another way to build relationships is to ask for comments at then end of each post. Then, when someone has taken the time to comment, respond to them. Answer your reader’s comments ~ ALWAYS. Your comment replies are one of the biggest assets you have to creating and nurturing a relationship with your readers.

Your online business blog is designed to first create relationships with your readers. You need to take the time to interact with them and help them get honest answers to their questions. Help them solve a problem by really being their friend and trusted resource. This will go a long way to creating a successful blog as your start your own online business.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please feel free to leave a comment below!

How to Get More Done – If You’re Overwhelmed – or Lazy

Tired of all the long-winded advice you get for accomplishing more? When starting your own online business it is easy to become overwhelmed with all the things you think you need to do.

Here’s some easy to follow advice if:

- you are just getting started with developing and using goals, action plans and to-do lists;

- you have so much to do you don’t know where to start; or,

- you’re basically lazy (but still want to be productive).

Just do three four things.

For starters you should forget the long to-do list. Instead, aim every day to accomplish only three four tasks. Don’t set out to try to do more and do your best to get all four done.

BUT…these four tasks have to be things that count in developing your business.

Don’t put something on this list if, in a week, it won’t matter if you’ve done it or not. Instead, choose only high-impact tasks that will make a difference over time. The kinds that develop and grow your online business and personal skill set and pay dividends in the long-term.

The first three tasks on your list can and will change, but the fourth should always be the same task. (That’s why I changed the “three” things to “four”.) At the end of your day, always write done what you accomplished that day. Do this fourth task every day. It will become a record of your progress. But, most importantly, doing this will reinforce your sense of accomplishment and provide the incentive to do it again tomorrow.

Don’t wait until the morning to make your list of three tasks. Instead, make your list before you go to bed the night before. That way you’re not distracted by the little details of the following morning and you can jump in and get started right away.

Also, work on your list first. Do not get a few “little things” out of the way before you get started. Forget checking your e-mail. Forget making a quick phone call. Get started on your “big three” list immediately. You can do these other things in batches and bursts at the end of the day.

The best part of following this simple system? You’ll actually end up being MORE productive by doing just three big things to develop and grow your online business than most people who have checked off on a dozen or smaller, seemingly urgent, but ultimately unimportant tasks.

And you’ll feel a lot better and less stressed about accomplishing your goals and tasks too.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please feel free to share it with others.

So…Which Blog Platform Should I Choose?

You already know that blogging is hugely popular throughout the world today. It is a tremendously easy way for people to share their thoughts, feelings, pictures and many other things with people from all over the world.

As a new marketer starting your own online business a good blog can have great potential for developing and growing your business.

After deciding that you will start your online business using a blog, the question then becomes which blogging platform to use.

The type of blog you use is important, but a relatively easy choice for you to make. Blog types fall into two categories:

• blogging services, and
• self-hosted blog software.

Blogging services mean a service like Typepad, WordPress.com, Blogger and Blogsmith, where a third-party service is handling the blog software and hosting for you.

Self-hosted blog software refers to the software you use (such as WordPress.org, Movable Type, etc) to set up and run your blog and you provide the hosting yourself (usually by having a third-party host the platform for you).

Using a blogging service for a hobby, family or “just fooling around” blog is fine. Blogs can be set up quickly and easily and are usually free. The most popular services are Blogger, WordPress.com and Typepad.

Many people use blogger.com as their choice of blogging platform. This is done mainly because it is free and can be done in a few seconds.

Using a blogging service is okay to a certain extent. But not for your business blog.  There are two reasons you don’t want to do this. This first is that these services will not allow you to “monetize” your blog. This means you can’t use Adsense, etc. on your blog. More importantly, however, is that you are putting all your hard work into someone else’s hands. These services can shut your blog down in an instant, without even giving a reason.

This means all your hard work is gone for good and so is your business. For this reason, you should choose a more permanent solution which puts everything in your hands. Choose to use self-hosted blog software instead and put yourself in control of the software and hosting.

The most popular self-hosted blog software is available from WordPress.org (NOT WordPress.com). WordPress is the most-used platform among self-hosted blogs, which perhaps isn’t a huge surprise. It has more than twice as many blogs in the top 100 as Movable Type, the blog platform that came in second place.

WordPress.org software is free and can be set up in just a few minutes. The only other thing you’ll need is a hosting account (HostGator is a popular one). Hosting accounts can be purchased for around $10 a month and most allow you to have unlimited domains/blogs on them. So they are well worth the money.

Also, by using WordPress, you are also given instant access to plugins and tools that aren’t available in Blogger and other blogging services. These tools can make your blog more favorable to the search engines, as well as more unique to your visitors.

In summary, the one thing to bear in mind when choosing which blog type for your business is to try and keep everything under your control as much as possible. Using WordPress.org when you start your own online business is the number 1 way to do this.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please feel free to leave a comment below!

5 More Reasons to Build a Blog

Building a blog to start your own online business can be a fast way to get a lot of targeted traffic to your website. If you use WordPress, blogs are easy to set up and have running in a couple hours.

Here are 5 more reasons you should build your business using a blog:

1. Blogs can be free to create and operate.

2. Blogs are much easier to build and maintain than a static website.

3. Blogs get indexed in the search engines much faster than websites.

4. You can promote your free reports, articles and sales on your blog.

5. You can alert readers to a new post as soon as you publish it.

Another cool feature with your blog is that you can set it up so that every time you update your blog, it will send out an alert (called a ‘ping’) to all the blog directories letting them know you updated. You don’t have to wait for a search engine spider or robot to crawl your blog and discover your update. The ‘ping’ gets you indexed immediately.

A blog is a great way to set up and maintain your online business website without a lot of expense or technical knowledge required.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Please feel free to leave a comment below!

4 Things a Blog can do for Your Online Business

What can you expect from your blog?

There will always be people who blog simply for the fun of it and they are not concerned with traffic, number of readers or generating revenue.

But as a person looking to start and grow your own online business a blog can serve you well in several areas.

Hub – a blog can act as a central hub to your online business. You can use several ways (social media, search engines, etc.) to entice readers to visit and read your blog. Once on your blog site, you can then direct readers elsewhere to get additional information (optin for a free report, for example) and additional products (your own, products you are an affiliate for, etc.).

Income – blogs have the ability to earn money. Earning an income is probably the most important reason you have for wanting to take your business online! There are several ways to monetize your blog and we’ll be discussing some of them in future posts.

Branding – combine your blog with social media and you begin to create a brand. You may want to brand yourself or build a brand for your product or service. Building a blog with social media in mind can increase your exposure. People begin to see you everywhere and they begin to remember you by name and face. They start looking forward to your tweets, Facebook postings and blog posts.

Authority – In order to build a popular and successful blog you will need to learn how to drive traffic to it. A blog, no matter how well written or interesting isn’t going to make you any money if it doesn’t have traffic. In addition, a popular blog with traffic will begin to gain authority with Google making it easier to gain even more search engine traffic.

The above is not a complete list of how a blog can benefit your online business but it does provide several good reasons why when starting your own online business you should develop it around a blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.  Please feel free to share any comments you may have.

3 Tips for Starting Your Own Online Business Blog

Here are three tips to keep in mind as you develop your blog when starting your own online business.

Set Goals for Your Blog. Don’t blog just because you’ve been told it’s the right thing to do. Blog because you have particular goals in mind, such as: developing an ongoing conversation with your clients, sharing useful information, becoming recognized as a valuable resource about your topic, and/or marketing your or other people’s products. Once you have particular goals in mind it becomes easier to stay focused.

Dispense Simple Advice. Is there a problem or concern that comes up frequently in your topic area that you know has a quick and easy fix? These types of solutions can provide you with material for quick and easy blog posts. They can also help you find readers, especially those looking for solutions to their problems. If your answers match the questions they type into search engines they may visit your blog and you may gain a new follower.

Focus First on Value – Not Money. One of the biggest mistakes new bloggers make is that the only reason they have for launching a blog is to make money from it. Yes, you are trying to start an online business that you can eventually make money from. But, your main purpose in the beginning is to show your readers your creativity and provide them with a new perspective on what you’re trying to promote. Especially if you are not the only one discussing your topic. Initially, your focus should only be on building value for your readers by providing useful content. Once your readers begin to see the value you provide the more likely they are to return to your blog. Then, as you continue to build a relationship with them, the more likely they will be to purchase from you in the future.

Feel free to add your best tip by leaving a comment!

What’s an ‘About’ Page all About?

I decided to work on my ‘About’ page today. And it occurred to me that you might benefit from some tips I am following to design my page. So…

Most bloggers realize that they need an “About Page” on their blog. However, that doesn’t mean they know what one is or how to do it well.

There isn’t a single right way to do it. However, the page has to be written by taking into account the typical mindset of a new arrival on your blog. And, that is…

Who Is This Person, What Is This Blog About And Why Should I Care?

In other words, they want to know what’s in it for THEM.

Before they want to know about you they first want to know if, and why, they should follow your blog. They want to know why it matters to THEM. What are you offering and does it provide information that will help them?

Furthermore, they want to know NOW. We are bombarded with so much information these days that our attention is stretched thin. So do them a favor and don’t waste their time. Tell them right away what your blog is all about and what you hope to provide. If that interests them, they will read on.

Think of your ‘About’ Page as a sales letter for your blog. The ‘About’ page is one of the most consistently visited pages on your blog and is an important page to get “right”.

#1 – Just Call It “About”
Always make sure the page is found in your top navigation bar and labeled with a simple, understandable title like “About” or “About This Blog”. Don’t get fancy naming it as it may get missed entirely.

#2 – Quickly Answer Their Question, “Why Should I Care?”
Quickly give them the highlights to tell them what your blog is about. For example, on my About page, the very first sentence tells people what I do:  “This blog is written for people who want to start an online business but are new to internet marketing.” Bada Bing, Bada Boom! Done. Now they know.

Next, give them a little more information, but in a “short version”, and use bullet points. Chances are this isn’t the first blog about…dog training, gardening, debt reduction, etc…they’ve come across. Bullet points are easy to scan to get more information.

#3 – Establish Credibility.
What, in your background or experience, gives you the authority to talk about what you do on your blog?

If you don’t feel you can establish suitable credibility on your own here are some tips:

• Its okay to say something like “We will both learn together as you follow me on my journey as I …………”

• You can “borrow it”. An indirect way to establish credibility is by association with known sources of credibility. “Having worked closely for many years with ……………”

• Another way to “borrow it” – is to take quotes from the media about your niche. What you’re doing is establishing the importance of what you’re doing and indirectly bolstering your credibility.

#4 – Use a Photo of Yourself
People bond with people, not blogs. They want to see that there is a real person behind the blog. So, show yourself!

#5 – Tell about Yourself
When writing about yourself, it may be hard to determine what to share and what not to share. Since this decision will largely depend on you, your readers, and the goal of your ‘About’ page, my advice to you is make it interesting. If it’s not interesting or funny, people won’t read it.

But don’t make it your life’s story. As a reader, I’m only interested in what you’re doing now. Unless your childhood is directly relevant to your blog niche (a dog attacked and bit me when I was 8, that’s why I write a blog about dog obedience training), don’t include it.

Why are you doing what you do? How did you get here? You really only need to tell them what is relevant to your blogging experience. For example, you could include all kinds of subjects about your life (pets, hobbies, family, vacations etc.), but don’t. Why? Because, it isn’t relevant to establishing your credibility and providing a reason to read your blog.

#6 Add Contact Info
People are going to want to know how to contact you. The e-mail address you use for this purpose should be prominently displayed on your About page.

Including contact information is particularly important if you’re hoping to be contacted by marketers wanting you to review their products. Don’t bury your e-mail address inside the page; make it as prominent as you can. You can also include links to follow you on other social media sites – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.

#7 – Funnel Your Visitor’s Attention
They’ve come to your about page. They’ve found out why they should follow your blog. They’ve learned a little about you (the parts that matter). Now what?

You’ve got to steer them somewhere. Give them options to connect with you in the forms of calls to action. You want to have a way to continue to reach out and bring them back and turn them into a fan. You can post a link to your mailing list or newsletter optin form, or links to connect on social media, etc.

Does my ‘About’ page include all of these elements? Not yet. Will it? Yes. How about yours?

PS. You can look at my ‘About’ page by selecting the “About This Blog” tab on the navigation bar above or by clicking here.

Thank you for taking your time to read this post. I know your time is valuable. If you enjoyed it, please feel free to share this with others! And don’t forget to leave your comments below!

Einee…Meinee…Minee…Mo

Ever play this game as a kid? It can be fun. Ever play this game as you’re starting your own online business? Not so much.

You start playing this game when you become distracted by chasing after bright, shiny objects. “Buy this, it will…”, “Try this method, it will…”, “Make 40 gazillion dollars an hour by following my step-by-step…” are examples of bright, shiny objects. The VAST majority of these temptations have nothing to do with what you set out to do initially.

Though not falling for those types of empty promises, I did get sidetracked by chasing after a bright, shiny object myself recently. Some offline people I respect(ed) convinced me I should be teaching offline business owners what I was developing for online business owners. Sounded like a great idea. I could do both at the same time and generate some income as well.

So I joined referral groups, business development groups, attended Happy Hours, held one-on-ones to promote myself and my business.

Problem #1 was – I didn’t HAVE a business I could deliver anything from! I spent so much time telling people how I could help them with what I wanted to do, was developing, had in process, could/would deliver that I never had the time to finish what I started!

Problem #2 was – so many needs came out of these discussions that I ended up with a bigger list of things I could address that what I started with, or even imagined. And I started chasing after them.

Problem #3 was – I was getting so far away from what I set out to do originally that I thought of abandoning my original intent.

Problem #4 was – I basically accomplished nothing in the last several months. Oh, I met some nice people I will probably remain friends with. I did write a Strategic Planning Guide that is quite valuable. I should incorporate it in my own business sometime . I started a Twitter guide. But I ignored my blog and the value I was starting to build there.

One morning I simply said “Enough”. I canceled an appointment and instead took a long walk and had a talk with myself. (It’s okay to have a conversation with yourself as long as you don’t discuss things out loud.) I knew better than to chase after this, that and the other. I read that advice often enough from other successful online marketers. But I somehow forgot that advice.

Pick ONE thing. Work on it until you get good at it. Be successful at that one thing. Then move on to the next one thing that follows that one thing.

I thought long and hard about the direction I was taking and how I had gotten away from what I really wanted to do. And I decided that what I set out to do initially was still important to me. Important enough to throw away all the new shiny objects and get back to my basis for getting online in the first place. To learn how to and teach others how to start their own online business.

Did I have to learn the hard way? Apparently I did. Will I make the same mistake again? I’ll try not to. Will you make the same mistake? Probably. Will you recover from it and get back on track. I hope so. I know I did.

How Long is this Gonna Take?

That depends on how fast you want to succeed. Some successful Internet marketers recommend that you spend at least 2 hours a day on building your online business for at least the next 6 months if you want to see any measurable results during that time. Obviously, in order to do that you are going to have to find time in your current schedule to allow for these 2 hours.

You may be thinking – “Oh sure, I’ll just snap my fingers and …where am I going to find 2 hours a day?” Especially if you have a full-time job, family and kids and don’t feel like you have 2 minutes to spare, let alone 2 hours! Its one thing for a full-time Internet marketer to spend 2 hours a day on their business, it may be quite another for you.

Don’t stress over this – it’s just a recommendation! But, you will have to find some time to work on your business.

The first thing to do is to sit down with pen and paper and list your daily and weekly schedule as it is now. Start with what time you wake up. Then, activity-by-activity, list everything you do each day until the time you go to (collapse into?) bed. If you really think hard, you will probably find some time in each day that can be utilized in a more constructive or efficient manner.

Remember, building your business is important to you! That might mean that you have to drop a favorite pastime for awhile or stop watching a favorite television show. (Maybe you can get it on Netflix and spend some time on the weekend to watch multiple episodes at one sitting and without the commercials.)

Maybe it means that you will have to get up a little earlier each day or stay up a little later every night. Whatever it is, you need to decide now and make a commitment that you are going to dedicate that time to growing your business

Efficient time management comes down to planning what you’re going to do, scheduling time to do it, and then sticking to your plan as much as possible. A good method for doing this is to map out your week ahead of time.

By looking at your week as a whole, it’s easier to spot opportunities where you could be doing something more productive. Once you identify these possibilities you can then plan to use those times for working on your business.

If you are not already doing so, you should seriously consider using some type of day planner system, such as Day-Timers. You can buy these at any office supply store. These systems are based around the principal of putting first things first.

Start putting things together by looking at your current schedule and planning ahead of time when you are going to accomplish certain tasks. Begin by blocking out the time required for tasks you have to perform (your job, running the kids around to their activities, eating, sleeping, etc.). Do this for as many weeks in advance as you feel comfortable doing.

Then look at the first week and block out those times you’ve identified as times you can be working on your online business. Try to allocate time each weekday. Schedule a little “review” time toward the end of each week. Use this time to review the week’s plan and schedule to see what worked and what didn’t work. Then make adjustments as you plan your schedule for the following week.

Lastly, each evening before you go to bed make a “to do” list of the things you want to do work on the next day. Doing this will help you dive right into your tasks instead of spending your “allocated” time figuring out what to do.

Whether it is 2 hours or 20 minutes, spend some time each day doing some business building task. Starting your own online business will require some sacrifices in the beginning. But, if you keep putting consistent effort into your business activities, you will succeed.

Like this post? Please feel free to comment below. I know you are busy and I very much appreciate your time!

Accomplish Online Marketing Tasks by Setting Deadlines

If you don’t set deadlines for accomplishing tasks you need to do in starting your new online business, you run the risk of…

o Expanded Scope: You’ll start looking at adding new features, strategies, tweaks, etc. If you don’t control this tendency, your time frames and budgets will quickly blow apart.

As you discover things you’d like to do that aren’t essential to your task, set them aside as “possibly”. Once all the important things are done and the blog is published and promoted, you can then go back and look at possibly adding some of these features.

o Procrastination: A task will always take as long to do as you allow for. Given an excuse to put it off until tomorrow, it will always be put off until tomorrow. Creating a sense of emergency, setting a strict time frame, and rewarding yourself when a task is accomplished can help. Avoiding procrastination takes self discipline, especially if the only one you answer to is yourself.

I personally don’t procrastinate – I’m just very good at re-scheduling!

o Analysis Paralysis: Without a set deadline you can easily find yourself wasting hour upon hour that, in the end, adds nothing to what you are trying to do. This is especially true for a task you have never done before.

Don’t try to find out how everyone and their bother have done the same task in an effort to get it “perfect”. Don’t misunderstand me, there are more and better information resources available today than EVER before. But that creates a dilemma in knowing which route to take, and how to get started.

What might be right for one person – may not suit another! Because of that not every solution will work for everyone. You need to find the one that works for you. Then, make a decision and act on it! Pick what you think is a good source of information and follow it.

To make progress in starting your own online business, set deadlines for each task you need to accomplish. Then allocate time to those tasks, use a timer and make sure you are spending time working on tasks that move your online business forward!