marketing-online-tips.com – Page 91 – Online Marketing Tips, Info and Resources

How to Write Your Way to Income > Online Business

Did you know that writers are in high demand? In fact, there are many writers that easily take home six figures a year. And they get to make that money from their own home, the beach, the coffee shop – anywhere they can take their laptop. The writer’s life is a good one. Here are a few tips and suggestions to write your way to the bank.

#1 Choose a lucrative writing field – Some writing opportunities pay more than others. For example, copywriting pays more than blogging in general because you’re selling a product or a service. Ghostwriting books pays more than article writing. And business to business writing is in high demand simply because there just aren’t enough writers providing the service.

#2 Hone your skills – The great thing about writing is that you can always improve your skills. Writing is a craft and like most crafts, there is always room for improvement. Be a constant student. Sign up for writing workshops, read books from expert writers and learn your trade inside and out. You’ll be better able to answer your client’s questions and to provide the best service money can buy.

#3 Specialize – In order to become a credible expert it helps to have a specialization. Specialization provides you the opportunity to fine-tune your craft, to offer a better service and to charge more for your time. You can specialize in a topic or field of interest, or you can specialize in a format. You can also specialize in both, for example “self-help sales copy.”

#4 Be ultra professional – While there are many writers selling their services, many of them don’t take their business as seriously as they should. They miss deadlines. They don’t hire an editor and they don’t handle feedback or communication well. As a writer, you’re a service provider and a business owner. Professionalism and customer service matter.

#5 Be more than a writer – That isn’t to say that you should offer additional services; however, you can really write your way to the bank if you act as a consultant. You’re an expert, right? So people will come to you with questions. They’ll want your advice. Be ready, willing and able to give it. When clients are able to count on you as a partner and consultant, they’re more than willing to pay you the big bucks.

#6 Network – One of the best ways to build a writing business is to network. Connect with your clients and ask for referrals. Stay in touch with them by sending information they might find useful, or send them simple notes to say hello. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing device and it’s an effective way to build a writing business.

#7 Be confident – Many writers charge much less than they can. Be confident in your skills and charge what you’re worth, keeping in mind what the market can support.

Writing your way to the bank is possible. Don’t believe the myth that writers don’t make any money. They do. Specialize, hone your skills, network and be confident in what you have to offer. To your success!

Cost-Effective Ways of Increasing Traffic to Your Website > Site Traffic

An online business thrives and survives based on their traffic. The more traffic you have, the more potential customers you have. And the more customers you have…Yep! The more profits you’ll earn. However, you don’t always want to have to spend an arm and a leg to gain traffic. Here are seven cost-effective ways to increase traffic to your website.

#1 Social networking – Social networking is free. It costs time and energy; however, there’s little else to do on a social networking site except interact. And that’s how you drive traffic. Whether you’re using a Facebook fan page, a Twitter page, LinkedIn or another social networking site, the key is interaction. Create a compelling profile. Interact, share and comment. Then when it’s appropriate, post links to your website and website content. You will drive traffic to your site.

#2 Comment on industry blogs – You’d be surprised to find out how much traffic a blog comment can generate. Subscribe to industry blogs. When appropriate and relevant, comment on new blog posts. Be sure to register with the site and to include a link to your website. Fellow commenters are sure to visit your website, as are other blog readers. It’s a great way to drive traffic. Of course, make sure your comments represent you and your business effectively.

#3 Publish – Publishing is still one of the best ways to drive traffic to your website. Publish on article directories. Publish on other people’s websites. Publish in print and online magazines. And syndicate your website content – this will help it get published all over the web. Each time someone reads something you’ve published, they’ll visit your website.

#4 Blog – Blogging is similar to publishing. However, in addition to posting to your own blog, try to become a guest blogger. Write posts for other relevant blogs. And be sure to link to your website in your profile or author’s resource box.

#5 Giveaways – While the above four tactics are free, giveaways aren’t. You can give away free content like a downloadable report or online course. You can also give away something that’ll generate a lot of attention, like a Kindle or an iPad. Make sure, however, that your giveaway is related to your niche. When you’re giving something away, be sure to promote it. Spread the word on social networking sites. Blog about it. Ask others to share the link.

#6 PPC/CPM – Advertising is not free either. However, if you handle a campaign strategically it can be very cost effective. If you’re using this tactic to drive traffic, make sure you’re sending visitors to a specific page. For example, send them to a sales page or an opt-in page. This way you can track results and keep a tight hold on your budget.

#7 Affiliates – Starting an affiliate program can take time, but it doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. Affiliates can send traffic your direction. You only pay when their traffic results in a conversion. It’s extremely cost effective.

Generating traffic doesn’t have to be expensive. Before you implement any new tactic, create goals and a plan to achieve them. Test and track for success. Repeat any and all successes.

How to Make Money With PLR > PLR

The quickest way to get top quality products ready for sale is to use PLR or private label rights articles, reports, audio and video. The Internet is a fast moving place with new sites starting up every second.

The trick for the online businessperson is to get a product ready for the market and start generating traffic as quickly as possible. With PLR, you could conceivably have a product ready to go in less than a week, if you’re fast. Really, since PLR is licensed to you to do what you wish with it, the options for making money are endless. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

You can buy articles and rewrite them slightly and then package them together and turn them into a small report or eBook. Just use the article titles as the chapter headings, add a table of contents and a cover with graphics and you’re good to go!

You can take a PLR eBook and break it down into articles for your blog, articles to submit to Ezines, or wherever else you use articles to promote your business. Instant article marketing content!

If you have the knowledge on how to use the technology, you can quickly make an article into a video using PowerPoint and Camtasia. Make sure each sentence is on its own line. Then import the article into PowerPoint. This puts each sentence on its own slide. Then add images to the slides if you want and finally, record yourself reading the slides for an instant viral video.

What can you do with PLR audio? Here is a simple way to make a video. Listen to the recording and take good notes, typing them into a text editor – one sentence per line or paragraph.

Then you can import these notes into PowerPoint, which puts each sentence on a separate slide. Sync the audio with the text slides and it makes a nice video. All you have to do is add an intro slide and watermark your domain name and you’re good to go.

Of course, you can just take the PLR as is, if it’s really good. It’s always suggested that you take the time to make it truly your own by having new graphics made. Even with PLR, you need to take the time to make it unique. Just a simple change in graphics and a bit of reformatting will do the trick. Now it’s all your own!

Get More Reader Interaction on Your Articles and Blog > Blogging

Reader interaction accomplishes many things for a website. It helps add user generated content. It also helps pull in more readers. People want to participate and see what everyone’s talking about. However, getting reader interaction isn’t always easy. Here are a few tried and true strategies for getting more interaction on your articles and blogs.

#1 Ask for it – One of the best ways to get more interaction is to ask for it. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an article or a blog post. Here are just a few questions or calls to action you can include at the end of your content piece:

* What’s your experience?
* Do you have any advice on?
* What do you think?
* Have you ever…?
* What’s your favorite?
* Do you remember when…?

Of course some topics lend themselves to this approach better than others. A blog post on a home cooking site about your favorite soup recipe is likely to get a lot of content. People love to share their favorite recipes. However, a blog post about how to soak lentils isn’t likely to get much feedback unless you ask for advice or information about different soaking strategies.

#2 Respond to comments – When you respond to comments you start a discussion. Other people may feel the desire to put their two cents in. If you don’t respond to the comments, then the conversation may stop there. If you want to motivate more readers to chime in and offer their opinion, insight and comments, then always make time to respond to comments. It’s important.

#3 Spark a controversy or discussion by presenting a potentially heated topic – Controversy tends to motivate people to share their opinion. Take care here. If controversy doesn’t fit your brand or personality, then consider publishing newsworthy content. Again, people often feel motivated to share their opinion on both controversial and newsworthy topics.

#4 Share a picture or video – We’re visual people. When we see a picture that makes us laugh, smile, cry or get angry, we are motivated to comment on it. Sometimes a picture or a video is all you need. It can say more than any article or blog post. However, other times it’s nice to include it with relevant content.

#5 Share a personal story – Within the body of your article or blog post, share a story. Take time to share something personal that relates to the content of your article. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or long winded. When you share a story, it motivates others to share their story. You can find yourself learning a lot about your readers and prospects when you use this technique.

If you have a blog, reader activity and comments add credibility to your blog. Additionally, they tend to motivate more reader interaction, links and increased traffic. If you have a theme-based website, then reader-generated content can really help you boost your search engine ranking.

Five Ways to Find Great Article and Blog Post Topics > Blogging

There comes a time in every online marketer’s life when they run out of things to write about. There are many solutions to this problem. You can hire someone to come up with ideas for you. You can hire someone to write the content for you, too. You can even purchase PLR.

These are all great solutions. However, you can also write the content yourself. You just need a little inspiration. Here are five ways to find great article and blog post topics.

#1 Grab a magazine from your coffee table. It doesn’t even have to be a magazine in your niche industry. Just about any magazine will do. Now take a look at the cover. Write down the headlines as they appear. Chances are they’ll look something like this:

* The __ secrets to ____
* Learn how to _____ today
* ___ tips to ____

Once you’ve written down the headlines, replace the keywords with your own. Fill in the blanks. If there are ten headlines on the cover of your magazine, you now have ten articles or blog posts you can write.

#2 Jump on a social networking site of choice and read posts in your niche. Visit the pages of your industry guru and read their latest posts and information. Chances are you’re going to find many content ideas.

You may take issue or disagree with something someone said. That’s a perfect blog post. You may think that a topic needs to be expanded upon. You may read a comment to a social networking post that is the foundation of an article. Social networking sites are packed with content ideas. You just have to look for them.

#3 Read your own blog and review the comments. Skim past the ones that say “Thanks for the information.” Those don’t offer any value to you right now. Instead, look for the questions or the meaty comments. Those are ideal for inspiring content ideas.

#4 Read your forum and blog comments on other sites. Often these comments are enough to be an article or blog post all by themselves. Just polish it up and format it for the web and you’re good to go. If the comment or forum post is short, expand on it. Use your feedback to create article and blog content on your website.

#5 Make a list. Lists are easy to make and they’re well received online. If you’re struggling to find content ideas, write down three to five list ideas and tackle them one by one.

Article and blog post ideas are out there just waiting for you to find them. With a little creativity and inspiration you can turn an unmotivated writing session into a productive afternoon.

Does Your Content Have a Purpose? > Blogging

Content is often considered an online business owner’s primary resource. It drives traffic. It helps make a sale. It provides authority, credibility and liking – all buying triggers. It also helps you market your business.

Unfortunately, many business owners write their content without any direction or purpose in mind. They may write fantastic content. Yet if it’s missing a purpose, it’s missing an opportunity. So what do you want your content to accomplish? It doesn’t matter if it’s short like a blog post or an article. It doesn’t matter if it’s a larger content piece like a report or e-book. It needs a purpose.

Potential Content Purposes

* To drive traffic to a web page
* To increase SEO
* To drive traffic to a sales page
* To generate affiliate income
* To boost credibility and authority
* To motivate a response/comments/links
* Collect opt-ins

You may find that occasionally your content has more than one purpose. For example, a report may be designed to collect opt-ins. In addition to the opt-ins you may also include affiliate links within the body of the report to generate income. Or you may link back to a sales page on your website to promote your products or services.

On the other hand, if your content is missing a purpose then you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity.

Making the Decision

The best time to determine the purpose for your content is when you create a content plan. Different people take different approaches. You may plan your content for the coming week. Or you may plan it for the entire quarter. (If you don’t plan your content at all, consider starting a new practice. Planning your content helps you make the most of your efforts.)

When you plan your content you’ll likely determine the keywords and the topic. You’ll also decide when you’re going to publish it and where. It makes sense to integrate your content into your traffic generation, SEO, sales and marketing strategies. This means assigning your content a purpose.

For example, you may know that in three months you’re going to launch a new service. Your content during that month leading up to the launch will ideally support the launch. It’ll generate interest and excitement. The purpose of the content therefore will be to drive traffic to your opt-in page. People can sign up ahead of time and receive notification when you launch. They may also receive special pricing. Your content can also generate awareness for the need of your new service. Or it can send traffic to your sales page once you launch.

How to Include Your Purpose in Your Content

Every piece of content needs to have some sort of call to action. For example, if you want to motivate comments and feedback at the end of a blog post, you have to ask for it. That’s your call to action. If you want to send people to a sales page, you need some sort of “Visit LINK to learn more.” Your purpose will be integrated into your call to action.

Take a look at the content you have planned for the next week or month. Does each piece have a purpose? Do you have a call to action? Is your content part of your overall business growth strategy? If not, make some quick changes and start reaping the rewards.

How to Write When You’re Not a Writer > Content Marketing

As a business owner you’re called on to manage a variety of tasks. Due to the importance of content, one of those tasks is writing. You have content to create. This can be a scary and potentially overwhelming concept. Many people fear writing or put it off because they don’t consider themselves to be writers.

Good news! You don’t have to be a “writer” to write good content for your website. There’s a difference between content published in newspapers and some magazines and content published on most websites. The content on your website doesn’t need to appeal to a broad audience. It also doesn’t need to be on a broad topic. Quite the opposite, actually. Your content will be quite specific.

For example, it could be “Ten tips to bake better chocolate chip cookies.” It provides value to a very specific target audience. And if you have a website about chocolate chip cookies or baking, then you can write this article without thinking much about it. You know it. The information is already inside of you.

Web content is also more conversational. Content is written to feel personal – as if you’re speaking to your audience. You’ll use words like:

* You
* Your
* You’ll
* You’re
* And sometimes if you’re writing a blog post you’ll use “I”, “Me” and “We”

These are not words you’ll find in any piece of journalism unless they’re in quotes. Newspapers and magazines are generally more formal. They use third person perspective.

Additionally, web content is formatted for easy reading. You’ll use bullet points, numbers and headings and subheadings to break up your content into bite-sized pieces. So what does all this mean if you’re not a “writer”?

It means that writing content for your website is pretty straightforward. You:

* Write what you know and what your audience will benefit from
* Write conversationally
* Write so it’s easy to read online

The simplest method to use when you’re writing your online content is to spend a few minutes creating the structure for your article. Write a rough headline and subheadings. Then fill in the content. Write it as if you’re writing a letter to a friend. Don’t worry about grammar and spelling on the first draft. You can go back and edit for clarity later.

Once you have your thoughts down on paper, polish. Add your keywords in to optimize for the search engines and publish it. Test and track your articles and content to evaluate what content your readers respond to. With a little confidence and a plan, you can write content to build and grow your business.

Writing Attention-Catching Headlines for Blog Posts > Blogging

Blog posts need great headlines – just like sales letters, newspaper articles and any other medium where you’re competing for attention. Make no mistake: People reading your blog are always just a click away from reading something else.

In order to win new readership and keep old readership interested, you need to write headlines that draw people in. Here’s how to do it.

=> Make It about Them

This is one of the cardinal rules of copywriting, yet one of the most commonly violated rules by bloggers.

For example, posts like “What I did today” or “Updates from my vacation” are common enough posts by bloggers who think they have an interested audience.

The reality is, if your blog titles are about you, you’re losing audience rather than gaining it. Your blog titles should always be about your reader, what reading the article could do for them, about the powerful benefit they might receive by clicking on the full article.

=> Convey a Ton of Uniqueness

Uniqueness is critical in blog titles. In most industries, topics have been written about again and again, and people are just tired of the same stuff.

Even if you’re writing about a topic that others have written about in the past, make sure you imply that you have a unique spin. In fact, if you can make your blog title sound controversial or counterintuitive, you’re sure to get readership.

To be frank, you’re just not going to get readers if people think they already know what you’re saying. Your blog title needs to imply that whatever you’re writing about, it’s nothing they’ve ever heard before.

=> Echo Their Inner Conversation

Your average audience tends to have a very similar internal conversation. For example:

Internet marketing beginners: “I want to make money online, but I don’t really know how to start.”

Novice golf players: “I know there’s something wrong with my game, I just don’t know what.”

Intermediate photographers: “My photography skills are pretty decent, but I just don’t think I’ll be able to make money with my skills.”

And so on and so forth.

A very, very powerful principle in headline writing is to simply echo or address your reader’s internal dialogue. If you can show them that you understand what their frustrations are and that you can help, you will go a long, long way towards winning their trust.

Writing attention-catching headlines isn’t always easy. Sometimes you might even find yourself stuck on just the headline for hours. That’s okay – it’s just part of the process.

Some people find that they write the best headlines after they’ve written the actual post. Others find that writing the headline first helps them. Some people find they write the best headlines in the morning, while others write the best headlines after a couple beers.

Learn your own habits. It might take a while to really figure out what works best for you, but once you figure out your own best habits for writing headlines and also learn to get into your reader’s head, you’ll have an incredibly valuable skill for life.

When Should You Start Taking on Direct Advertisers? > Blogging

Bloggers who make their money from direct advertisers rather than through AdSense can make as much as 3-4 times higher CPMs. The direct ads market is a significant step up from monetizing via other methods. When should you take this step? Read on.

=> What Direct Advertisers Are Looking For

There are a few things that direct advertisers want in a site they’re advertising in.

Firstly, they’re looking for traffic. If your site doesn’t get enough traffic, they’re not even going to bother with negotiations.

Secondly, they tend to be very brand conscious. Specifically, they want their ads to be displayed on websites that complement their brand.

That’s why a “how to get rid of acne” page on WebMD can command so much higher CPMs than other sites built on the same topic. Advertisers want to be associated with a brand like WebMD.

Direct response advertisers sometimes do go for direct ad placements. However, by and large direct advertisers tend to be more brand conscious than response conscious.

If you want to shoot for the high CPM ad buyers, you’re usually aiming for brand-oriented ad buyers rather than purely response-oriented ad buyers.

=> When Should You Start Taking on Direct Advertisers?

A good sign that it’s time to start taking on direct advertisers is when people start approaching you to advertise on your site.

That means that people are already seeing your site as a reputable site in your space. They think you have traffic and are starting to believe in your brand.

Once you’ve made your first sale or two from people approaching you, you can start taking a more active role in soliciting future advertisers.

Apart from this rule of thumb, generally you’ll want to be getting at least half a million pageviews per month before seeking out direct advertisers. Your brand needs to be well recognized in your space and your home domain’s Page Rank should be at least 3 or 4.

=> Final Words on Dealing with Direct Advertisers

When you first take on direct advertisers, you’ll need to set up your own ad serving software. Generally, you’ll want to set up your site so that it displays direct ads first, then displays AdSense ads once your higher CPM ad buys run out.

You’ll also need to come up with your policy around text link buys. You’ll almost certainly be approached regarding buying text links. Though they can be a good source of revenue to start, selling links can damage your rankings in the future.

Finally, remember that direct advertisers are real human beings. Unlike dealing with AdSense code, you’ll now have to manage a real relationship. That means figuring out what’s important to your advertisers and making sure they’re continuing to get that by advertising with you.

Article Marketing Is Not for Everyone…Or Is It? > Article Marketing

Have you ever thought that article marketing is not for everyone? If you have, you wouldn’t be alone in your thinking but you would be mistaken. You would also be passing up a golden opportunity to spread valuable information about the products you’re offering.

It’s easy to understand why some would be reluctant to get involved with writing articles. For some, writing ranks as high on the fun meter as paying a large tax bill on April 15th every year. But even if writing articles isn’t your idea of a good time, there’s still no need to pass up using this powerful tool.

Remember that for those who can’t or those who can’t find the time – there’s always outsourcing. Outsourcing means that you find someone who will write the articles you need for you.

You can find writers at different freelance sites as well as on writer forums. If hiring a writer isn’t in your budget for the time being, then you might want to consider the option of purchasing private label rights (or PLR) articles to use.

All you have to do to turn PLR articles into personalized content is to tweak the words a bit and add your own touch – or just put your name on them and use them as is. You can take these articles and then use them as if you’d written them.

Article marketing is good for both beginning business owners as well as those who’ve been in the business for awhile. It’s not important just because it’s a free tool to use, but also because it gets results.

What you want to do when you get started (or if you’ve been at it awhile and you want to send out a fresh batch of articles) is to make a list of all of the article directory sites. Write out five important main points about your product or service. Under each point, write four sentences pertaining to each main point.

Once you have those five main points, draw on them again and again to write your articles. For example, if you were writing about a self help product to stop smoking, some of your main points might be things like ‘why smoking is addictive – why people enjoy smoking – what the triggers are (after meals, before bed, etc.).’

You can then branch that out into something like ‘replacement therapy’- going for walks, getting up from the table after a meal, etc. Then in your resource box, you could have something personal like, “I once had a tough time quitting smoking too. That is, until I discovered one product that changed my life forever. Click here to find out what it was…”

Article marketing isn’t for those who feel they can post articles anywhere with tons of affiliate links, long winded bios and absolutely nothing helpful to say. Not only will you probably be shown the door at the marketing site, but readers won’t have any reason to follow you.

SEO Best Practices for WordPress > Blogging

WordPress is one of the most powerful blogging platforms for getting ranked in search engines – if configured correctly. Unfortunately, out of the box WordPress is actually quite poorly configured.

Here are some of the SEO best practices to implement for your WordPress blog.

=> Change the Title Structure

By default, WordPress places your blog title first, then the blog post.

For example, if your blog’s name is “Rick’s Blog” and your blog title is “How to Learn Spanish,” WordPress would display:

Rick’s Blog | How to Learn Spanish

In reality, you want it the other way around:

How to Learn Spanish | Rick’s Blog

That will give you the most powerful rankings for your individual blog posts.

=> Keyword-Rich Permalinks

By default, WordPress uses a numeric system for creating permalinks. Your posts will be labeled example.com/?=24 for example.

Instead, it’s better for both your rankings and the human eye to actually have something that’s readable and has your keywords in it. For example, example.com/best-prices-on-widgets/.

=> Internal Linking and Categories

It’s best to link related articles to one another within posts on similar topics. This will pass relevant link juice between your own blog pages, as well as show real people other pages they might be interested in.

Categories can help a lot with internal linking. Make sure you have well-named categories and place each blog post into the specific category they belong in.

That will make it easy for search engines to tell what each category is about and see that you have a lot of relevant content in that category.

=> Add Caching to Increase Speed

One often overlooked SEO factor is page load times. Search engines place quite a high importance on load times. If your site loads fast, your site gets quite a few points for that.

To decrease your load times, install a caching plug-in like W3 Total Cache.

=> Tag Your Images

Tag the alt tags in all your non-navigational images. In other words, images that are actually part of your blog posts should always be tagged.

=> Use a Sitemap Plug-In

A sitemap makes it easy for search engines to find all the pages on your site.

Yes, search engines can find it without a sitemap, but by decreasing the computing power it takes for a spider to spider your site, you’ll win a few extra points in the search engine’s eyes.

The easiest way to set up and maintain a sitemap for WordPress is to simply install a plug-in that will automatically set up and update the sitemap for you.

=> A Few Last Words

The All In One SEO plug-in is a free plug-in used by many in the WordPress community. It makes it easy to change your title structures, permalink structures and a lot more.

Preventing blog comment spam is also an important part of ranking. The best way to do that is to use the Akismet plug-in, also free, written by the founder of WordPress.

These are some of the most important practices for optimizing a WordPress blog for SEO.

From Start to Profit: The Typical Lifecycle of a Blog > Blogging

Most blogs go through a fairly predictable lifecycle from start to profitability. To make it to the point where your blog is making significant income, you’ll need to go through all of these stages. Each and every stage has its own challenges and rewards.

Here are the five stages every profitable blog needs to go through to reach success.

1. Conception: No Traffic, No Rankings

You’re selecting your WordPress themes, have less than ten posts and are still experimenting with your tone and various options.

A lot of people underestimate how long this stage can last. Unfortunately, you can actually be getting just about no traffic for as many as twenty posts, sometimes more.

In order to succeed, you’ve just got to press through it.

2. Infancy: Trickles of Traffic, Still No Rankings

At this point, you’ll start to get a trickle of people coming to your website from a variety of random sources. Perhaps you have a link in your signature in forums. Perhaps you’re commenting on blogs that interest you.

People may be finding your site through totally random searches that you’re not really optimizing for.

At this stage, you start to have an audience, though a very, very small one.

3. Toddler: Some Traffic, 1-5 Pages Ranked, Some Trust

Though you’re not the top guy in the industry, you’re beginning to get a small following of people who listen to and trust your advice.

You have a couple of pages that are ranked in the search engines. This isn’t great per se, as by this point you’ll probably have at least fifty posts, but it still feels great to see some of your pages getting decent rankings.

At this stage you may want to consider beginning to build a newsletter. If you’re still using a free theme or design, you may want to pay for a custom design.

4. Young Adult: Moderate Earnings, Strong Reputation

At this point you’re making enough money from your blog to just about support yourself. You may even get 1-2 direct advertising deals.

You’re getting backlinks without having to ask and a higher percentage of your pages are getting ranked.

When you recommend a product, people begin to take it seriously. Sales come easier because people are starting to trust your reputation.

5. Adult / Expert: Strong Earnings, Known Brand in the Industry

At this point your blog is one of the top 3-5 in the industry. If someone mentioned your name at a conference, more often than not people would recognize the name.

Most blogs never reach this stage. However, if you do make it to this point, you’ll get to enjoy many perks.

One perk is that in addition to high levels of traffic, often direct traffic, you also get paid more for that traffic. Your CPMs from direct advertisers are many times higher than AdSense or the CPMs of other sites. You’ll also generally be selling your own products at a very decent conversion rate.

These are the five typical stages in the lifecycle of a successful blog. The key to moving from one stage to the next is to continually provide top-notch content, while being patient about building a strong reputation. It may take time, but it’s worth it.

Five Tips for Coming up with Blog Post Ideas > Blogging

Hitting up against writer’s block? Coming up with blog post ideas day in and day out can be challenging at times. Here are five tips for coming up with blog post ideas when the ideas aren’t flowing.

1. Do Something Strenuous

Take a jog. Work out. Go for a swim. Hit a punching bag. Do something strenuous that gets oxygen pumping into your brain, while simultaneously taking your attention off of blogging.

Shifting your physiology can go a long ways towards shifting your mentality. Doing strenuous exercise can often help punch through the staleness of writer’s block and to help you discover new inspiration.

2. Do Something Relaxing

Conversely, relaxing can also help overcome writer’s block. Many of the world’s best inventors came up with their ideas while on leisurely strolls, in the shower or right when they woke up from a nap.

When you’re stressed or tense, try doing something relaxing instead.

3. Read Your Competitor’s Blog

Your competitors can be a great source of inspiration. What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong? How are their customers and readers responding to them?

Read both the content of the posts and the comments. See which of their posts are popular and see if you can address similar topics in your own style.

If there are any “holes” in their coverage, be the first to address those holes as well.

4. Just Start Ranting

Another great strategy to get writing is to just start writing. Write about any old thing. Write about the state of the industry, write about random tips, write about off-the-wall ideas you’ve had.

In short, just start writing. Later on, you might edit what you wrote and find something useful. You might not. What’s important is that you’ve gone from “stuck” to “writing.” That in and of itself can help you overcome writer’s block.

5. Browse Related Forums

Browse forums in your industry and in related industries. What are current topics people are talking about? What are some of the most often asked questions? What are questions that people are having a hard time getting answered?

Forums are a great way to get a sense for what’s going on in a particular field. By browsing forums, you can often come up with ideas on what to write about based on what’s on your target market’s mind.

These are five ideas you can use today to help come up with ideas on what to write. Any time you have trouble coming up with blog post ideas, just come back to this article and try one of these five tactics. Most importantly, try some of the tactics that you wouldn’t normally try. After all, if you’re only doing what you’ve always done, you won’t radically change your results.

How to Become a Super Affiliate Marketer > Affiliate Marketing

An affiliate marketer is someone who earns a commission selling or promoting the products and services of other companies. Super affiliates are those who are extremely successful affiliate marketers. They can earn six figures a year and they do it all from the comfort of their home. It’s a tremendously freeing lifestyle. Interested? Here’s how to become a super affiliate marketer.

Step #1 Build a website on a niche topic. Ideally, it’ll be a topic you enjoy because you’ll be writing and talking about your topic often. For example, if you’re a parent and you enjoy discussing better parenting you might choose to create a parenting website. You can choose a tighter niche if there’s a lot of competition in your industry. For example, organic parenting or parenting special needs children.

Step #2 Search online to find quality products and services you want to represent. These products and services will be directly related to your website topic. If your topic is organic parenting, then the products and services you’re an affiliate for will be natural or healthy parenting items and services.

You can find these products and services by searching affiliate networks and directories. You can also look to see if your favorite companies have an affiliate program. Most companies today do recognize the benefit of having affiliates promoting them online.

Step #3 Add your content. The next step is to make sure you have an abundance of quality and informative content on your website. Your primary value to any prospect or potential customer is to provide information. It’s how they’ll learn to trust your opinion. It’s what will bring them back to your website and it’s what will motivate them to click on your affiliate links and ads to make a purchase. Much of your content will also pre-sell the products and services you represent.

For example, you might write an article or a report on 15 ways to be a better parent. When relevant you might link to a product or service that you’re discussing. For example, if you say that to be a better parent you should occasionally treat yourself to a night out and hire a babysitter, you might make the word babysitter a link to a website that helps parents find trustworthy babysitters. If your reader clicks through and makes a purchase, you earn a commission.

As you can see, content is perhaps the single most important aspect of being a super affiliate. You can provide content in the form of:

* Articles
* Reviews
* Comparison charts
* Videos
* Reports
* Online courses
* Checklists
* eBooks
* Audio messages
* Newsletters

One final word about becoming a super affiliate – always strive to provide the best for your website visitors. The best content, the best quality products and the best information. When they trust you, like you and value your information, they’ll click on your links and make purchases.