Earning Money Blogging

/I have been blogging for sometime, I am not as successful as I would like to be, but I am still learning. I recently ran across an article by Dragonblogger and was very impressed.  Earning money blogging has been so blown out of proportion and Dragonblogger has put it back into proportion for us.

If you are looking to get rich overnight, maybe you should read his post. I did and what I found was the truth. Getting rich overnight is a myth...you might get rich, but it won't be tomorrow.  You must work at it, with a steady mindset towards the market and what is needed in the marketplace.

Some people say that blogging is an art, I disagree, blogging to me is "steady at the helm" . You must be patient, you must know your audience and your niche and you must interact.  All of these qualities will make you a good blogger that people will listen to.  There are several good bloggers around, some are great, some are okay and some are downright good, the downright good are the ones I study every move they make, Dragonblogger is one of the downright great.  The reason why is his honesty....now in our society today if you can find one honest person in the marketplace...go to bed with him....literally, take him home with you!

Content is king, we have heard this, but very few people pay attention to what is being said and they decide to write a formal blog, by this I mean, it is so stiff you choke on the message and cannot gain from what is being said.  Some bloggers never check their work and it is sloppy, not well written, but I think they have something to say, however they have not taken the time to correct their errors in the script.  I dump them, I do not follow them and they lose and sometimes, so do I.

I don't think blogging needs to be stuffy, but one thing I do think is that it must be honest and that is how I ran upon my new friend Dragonblogger.  His honesty sold me immediately, I am now a fan, I will listen to him and I will check out everything he has to offer.  Blogengage is a new blogging community that I discovered through Dragonblogger, very interesting site with an interesting concept. I will be blogging and entering their contest.

I connected with the "Dragon" on Twitter and was delighted when I saw his tweet today, now I was going to find out how to really earn money blogging.  What I found was right on the money, so save your dollars and get over to Twitter, Facebook and connect with the Dragon and learn how to make money online instead of beating yourself up everyday over blogging.  When you start paying it forward, giving back to the community and are consistent and have established your presence in the marketplace, you can blog like the Dragon.

Until tomorrow this is the Finder...

If Your a Blogger, You Deserve The Best!

If all of you bloggers out in the stratosphere are as tired of blogging everyday as I am and wish to do something different, consider my choices, you might like them.

With all the holidays upon us, one would think, let's do something different. So I have outlined some things that I think might interest you on these coming holidays




.

Easter 

Now we all know that mama needs a new dress and all the accessories, but don't forget the jewelry, as that will accent not only the outfit, but show your love in many ways. Every woman loves flowers, call your local florist and have a beautiful arrangement sent to your wife, mother and yes, your sisters too.

You cannot forget the kids and what they will need for Easter holidays either.Just   don't get too carried away.

Mother's Day

This is my favorite day of all days, even more so than Christmas.  I like to give to Mothers. They are the most maligned people in the human race. Without Mothers, we would not be here. They carry us in their tummies for 9 months and then they carry us right to their graves.

When the world is against us and we are fighting our own battles and don't know where to turn, we go to our Mothers. They are there when we are little and scrape our knees, when we graduate, when we fall on our face, when we make mistakes, when we choose the wrong mate, when we fail in business, when everyone it seems turns against us, Mothers never leave us...they just clean up the mess. Mothers are forgiving, to a fault. Sometimes we forget how great our Mothers are and I think they should be honored above all else.

Easter falls on April 24 and 2 weeks later is Mother's Day-May 8, 2011. Remember these dates, put them on your calendar and don't forget your Mother this holiday. Take her to dinner and show her that you care.

Vacation

When dinner is over pack everybody in the car and head to the airport and take a much needed vacation. If you have been working non stop, I am speaking of all you bloggers, get the cobwebs out of your head and head to the beach for some much needed relaxation. You will be a better blogger when you return and just think of all the stories you can blog about, after your holiday.

Your family will never forget you and they will thank you for remembering them.




Happy Holidays

Guess Who Got Hitched?

Yes, finally after all these years of being alone and struggling, I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to do something to get out of the mess I was in. So...

I put out some feelers, I contacted all my old friends and ask there opinion about what I should do and they all agreed that it was time for me to get hitched.

I started looking at my possibilities, what was in the marketplace and boy did I ever have a long journey.

First of all I wasn't looking in the right places. Second, those in my age group were just "out of the loop". So I decided I needed make some changes. 

I needed to look at different categories and thus the journey began. One cold wintry day I was online and surfing the net when I came upon a likely candidate. He was fairly good looking, a little younger than me, but that didn't matter too much to me. I liked what he was about and his presence on the net, so I started following him. I followed him on Twitter and Facebook and found myself in a predicament. I was obsessed with this man and he didn't even recognize me. 

So I decided it was time to change some strategy and what with my article writing all the time, I didn't really have time to look for someone suitable. I went to Squidoo and started writing up my little lens (pages) and was having a rather good time and learning too. I began reading some of the lens (pages) posted so that I could learn what I needed to do to be a better writer. 

I found a lens (page) by the Editor in Chief, Megan Casey and loved her picture and decided to read all her lens when about halfway through and at 1:00 a.m,. tired and weary from the reading, there he was...big as life and all this time I had missed him. All this time I didn't even know he existed. I hurriedly downloaded his material and was blown away.

Let me tell you about him.Talk about magic...American Way Magazine calls him, “America’s Greatest Marketer,” and his blog is perhaps the most popular in the world written by a single individual.  

So you can by now understand why I got hitched...yes, on March 30, 2011, in a quiet ceremony held in my office, in the middle of the night, we tied the knot, or should I say "I" tied the knot?

Mother's advice

My mother always taught me that if you want to get somewhere, you must follow those who have been successful and are good at what they do. She said, "just hitch your wagon to theirs", I took her advice.

Let the honeymoon begin

You see I am a freelance writer, but not a strong marketer and I had been searching for ways to accomplish what I wanted to do in my field. Now I can write, my college Professor Francis McDonald tells me I am a good writer, but I just couldn't get anywhere online. So I set out to find out how to get where I wanted to go and thus I found "Mr. Right".

I must send thank-you cards to Squidoo who started this whole thing by allowing me to write lens (pages) for them. Then the Editor-in-Chief, Megan Casey had to go and make a lens about all these wonderful things that were happening with his e-book and so it really wasn't my fault that I fell head over heels.

If you don't know who he is by now, then there is a good chance your not on the net, or that you live under a rock somewhere (kinda like me), or that you really don't know a brilliant writer and marketer like Seth Godin.

So I have taken the advice of my mother and am now hitched to Mr. Seth Godin. He has become my mentor, the go-to man, for anything related to writing, blogging, marketing and if you need a star to follow, be sure and hitch your wagon to someone who knows what is happening and does not mind sharing his thoughts and his ideas with others.

Mr. Godin does not know that I exist, and that is fine, but I know that he does and that he makes things happen. Somehow our paths were meant to cross. He has left an indelible mark on my writing career. I was particularly impressed by his speech at the BizTechDay in San Francisco speaking about "Over Powering The Lizard Brain".

Mr. Seth Godin is a genius and yes, I have hitched my wagon to his star and will follow his writing, blogging and marketing ideas to infinity.

Please read his e-book, "What Matters Now", very good information, and you know what he will give it to you for FREE..

Have You Seen The Doctor Today?

If you haven't been for a check-up lately, maybe you need to take the time. Seeing the Doctor at least once every 6 months for most people is good. However, the best advice I can give you now is to see him every week and in some cases everyday until you can get cured.

You say cured of what? Well if you don't know why your blog, your site, your podcast, is not going anywhere, maybe you need to see a Doctor.  I have found one that I think you will learn a lot from. It may take you some time to get acquainted with his (office) site. But if you hang around long enough you will learn and you will prosper.

 We think of Doctors as specialist, the Doctor I recommend is a general practitioner, and a specialist. He can help you in all areas. I highly recommend that you see him today so that he can prescribe what is needed to further your business endeavors.

 

Have You Been Branded Yet?

People who are interested in making money on the web need to realize one thing, people will only buy from those they trust, i.e., a friend or an acquaintance.

So you must brand yourself (not the old Texan way) and sell yourself first…the oldest trick in the book.  Even prostitutes know this, you must sell yourself first.  So get busy and sell yourself or rather brand yourself. We should make friends and help each other, that is why I like pay it forward, this is helping others. If you do not help others, don’t worry, you will not have any business, at least none that you will have to worry about or make money with.

Making friends in the social stratosphere is your next step…get busy making acquaintances that you will turn into friends.  Join Facebook, Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn and USfreeads and make yourself known in your market. Become the expert that you know yourself to be and knock them dead. 

Everyone has a need, your need may not be their need, or their need may not be your need, however if you look at your market close enough you will find a need and you can fill that need. Filling the needs of others should be primary in your focus here, not your need. If you focus upon their need, your need will be met. I cannot stress this enough.

There are many outfits out there ready to tell you how many millions they have made online, however, BEWARE as you will go broke following everybody that tells you they have made a million online. There are some people online that are willing and ready to help you. I am going to list a few of the people that have helped me through the years, please at least look at what they are offering and see if they can help you. I am not being paid to do this, I care about people and think what we learn, we need to pass on to others. 

                                  I am now involved in "branding" myself.

It has taken me so long. Don’t spend your hard earned money on phony scams and millionaire promises, instead, copy those that have made it.  Here is a list of people that have helped me…I am not self taught, these people helped me…they gave me the goods and I ran with it.  And now I can make the claim that I am helping others, just as these sites helped me. 

Michael Hyatt

Mavis Nong

Matt Garrett

John Schultz

Kelly-Stone

Just to name a few.

Mikeb302000: The Cost of the War in Libya

Mikeb302000: The Cost of the War in Libya

Are You a Marketing Whore?

The art of marketing your site is not something to take lightly or frivolously. There is an art to marketing online and it is much different than marketing that your mama taught you.

Know Your Market
Marketing online is an art and many times an overlooked art. Once you have gotten your site ready to publish, you know who your market is, or rather you should know who your market is, but you want the world to see your "new baby", your own creation, WAIT! Analyze where you are headed and what the results will be, the search engines will thank you.

Demographics
Rather than haphazardly submitting, plan your submissions. First your demographics will dictate the proper time for exposure, for instance if you are selling something to the public, you must first decide on where, when and how they will be using it so that you know when, where and how to present it. For example if I was selling a recipe for "stuffed grape leaves", I sure would look funny if I tried to market that product to the middle eastern countries. I would need to push that product in another area. The middle easterners make the stuffed grape leaves and they would not be interested in my recipe, so I sure would not get much traffic there. Again, know your market and what they need and fill that need. Do your homework and you will know when, where and how to market your products.

Wasting Time
If you tend to just submit your site to all the search engines may be a waste of time. If you send your site to Google, of course you are going to be seen in the USA and many other countries.A lot of the search engines are not active in all countries, hence a waste of time for you.

Target Your Market
Target your market and go for it. Look for hot items to address in your blog that coincides with the products you are trying to sell. If you market "YOU", the sales will come. Give people a reason to want to follow you, either by fulfilling a need or just by reaching out to people. Get involved in charities, in care groups, forums and blog, blog, blog. I have found the more active you are in these areas, the more the word gets around and soon you will be known in your industry.

Planning
I have seen those who would create a site and throw it up in the social media arenas and just let it hang there. This to me is crass, yes you want their business, but to slam them with your product as though your saying, "here, buy this now", is a market whore! The public is aware of what you are doing and they will be turned off by your tactics. Ask for advice, not only from the "gurus" but from your friends and neighbors in the social media places. when you involve your public they will feel appreciated for their knowledge and they will help you and they will respond to you. You must give them something to go away with, by this I don't mean a freebie, in as much as I mean something to feel good about themselves
and about you and your product. I remember an old story I heard which fits right here. Two bulls were up on the hill and saw all these females down on the range grazing, the young bull looked at the old bull and said let's just run down there and grab one of them. The old bull said oh no, let's just saunter down and get them all!

Do Not Push
Keep that story in mind when addressing your market, saunter into the market place and you will have the business,if you behave, or if you have the mindset of the young bull you may get one sale, but you will have left a mark on your market that Ajax can't take off.

Beware of being pushy in the market place.

I learned from the Squidoo Queen how to market and how not to market. She is an ace in this area and I found that if I follow her advice I am much further ahead in the game. If you haven't gotten your Squidoo lens, then you need to stop by and see Kelly and get a lens, you can make money with your lens.

Ask Kelly about her free lessons, they are excellent lessons about blogging, marketing, SEO,Amazon,AdSense and Wealthy Affiliate.