Posterous isn’t just a dead simple way to post everything online using email but beyond it’s simplicity, it’s a great SEO tool to automate the boring, manual work of link building.

While blogging via email isn’t new, Posterous took the idea and made it dead simple to blog. All you need to do is to attach anything – photos, video, MP3 or any form of content and send it via email to your account.

Yes, it’s just so dead simple.

Touted as a direct competitor to tumblr, it’s been one of my favorite blogging (bookmarking, link building) tools of late, not because of its simplicity and ease of use but simply because it does allow me to build link automatically.

Why I love Posterous

Posterous isn’t just a micro blogging tool. It’s nothing micro about it. In fact, it’s packed with awesome features.

One of them that should deserve enough attention is its ability to instantly auto post content to your network of blogs AND many of the social networking platforms you are a part of such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Identi.ca.

As you can see from the diagram above, whenever you post to posterous, your content will be instantly autoposted everywhere else across the networks you have pre-assigned, thus automating the task of link building which otherwise requires a fair amount of manual work.

Well, not all of these social networks are dofollow in nature. At the time of this writing, the following web properties do follow

1. Wordpress.com
2. Blogger.com
3. Identi.ca
4. Live Journal
5. Tumblr
6. Friendfeed
7. Typepad
8. Drupal

Here’s how you can build links automatically with Posterous!

1. Create an account if you’ve done so
2. Assign the dofollow social networks for selective auto posting
3. Install the posterous bookmarklet
4. Choose the site you want to build links to
5. For brevity’s sake, copy the first paragraph of your main article,
6. Click the bookmarklet
7. At the end of the excerpt, (yes, this is important!) change the anchor text of your inbound link.
8. Click post and voila, you’re done!

Just about the only thing to need to do next is to ping your social networks using this tool where you copy all the urls and ping them all at once.

Pretty neat, huh? Of course, you can selectively autopost to Facebook, Twitter for extra visibility if social traffic fits into your marketing campaign.

Sure, Posterous isn’t just a dead simple way to post everything online using email but beyond it’s simplicity, it’s a great SEO tool to automate the boring, manual work of link building and it’s free to use. Then again, a tool is just a tool unless you make good use of it.

So take advantage of it! And I’ll see you next time. Oh by the way, if you like it, please posterous it.

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Geeks and nerds. When they’re not fixing our computers, they’re reeling off reams of quotable material. Whether it’s something they saw last night, or a movie they saw as a child, they’re quoting it to the letter.

Imagine if your blog could be that memorable. If, ten years down the line, people still remembered that post you’ve written yesterday.

If you heed the advice contained in those pop culture quotes, you won’t need to imagine. Because there’s some great nuggets of insight that can be the difference between a memorable blog and a total flop.

Hang on, lads; I’ve got a great idea – Charlie Croker, The Italian Job

It doesn’t matter whether you’re starting a new blog, or hanging over a cliff in a coach full of stolen gold. You’re going to need an idea. And if you want to succeed, it’d better be great.

Don’t just dive in blindly. Take the time to sit down and ask yourself the difficult questions: Who is my blog aimed at?

Who is my competition?

What makes me stand out?

What’s my long-term objective?

How can I achieve that?

If you can’t answer those questions convincingly, it’s a safe bet that your plan isn’t a great one. And as you’ll see in our next quote

Stay on target! Stay on target! – Gold Five, Star Wars

The un-named Y Wing pilot “Gold Five” might not have known how to use the force, but he sure knew how to succeed in blogging. Exactly the same way as you succeed in destroying a planet-killing battle station.

Remember those questions you asked yourself about your long term objective? If you want to produce a truly memorable blog, you’ll need to keep those answers in mind. Because the whole point of a good plan is that you stick to it, and it helps you through good times and bad.

Change, and not a moment too soon – The Sixth Doctor, Doctor Who

That’s not to say that you need to cover every single eventuality with your plan. How could anyone blogging about the internet in the early 2000’s have forseen Facebook or Twitter?

There will always be something that you haven’t planned for, and that’s where advice from our eponymous Time Lord comes in. The reason that the BBC show has thrilled audience since the ‘60s is that it embraces change.

And if you want your blog to be memorable, then you’ll need to be prepared to regenerate once or twice.

Don’t think you are, know you are. Stop trying to hit me and hit me! – Morpheus, The Matrix

If you’ve got a plan, you’re sticking to it where appropriate and being flexible where needed, there’s just the small matter of being great at what you do.

“Faking it until you make it” doesn’t work with Blogging, especially when you’re trying to be noticed. Any falsehoods and posturing is going to make you look like a fool. Plus, who remembers the fakers?

So stop pretending to be great. Just go out there, create great content and become a leader in your niche. You’ve got the potential to do it, and without a homicidal race of machines to contend with, the only thing holding you back is you.

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room! – President Merkin Muffley, Dr Strangelove

Well it’s probably a safe bet to suggest that your blog won’t have a War Room, it’s almost certain that it will have some form of discussion area. And if you don’t want to come across as borderline insane, you will need to allow discussion in the discussion forum.

The discussion areas of your blog, be it a comments section or dedicated forum, are key to making your offering memorable. You’ll want to encourage robust debate from interesting characters. And that means that sometimes you’ll have to take criticism.

And yes, you will have to tolerate the odd fight in the war room.

So there you have it. Five memorable quotes for a memorable blog. I can’t promise that geeks will be attending YourBlogCon 2020 or quoting your work verbatim, but if you follow this advice, you’ll be sure to stick in the memory.

Andrew Nattan is the lead blogger for The FirstFound Blog and a contributor to FirstFound’s Optimise Magazine. He also looks after his own blog, Unmemorable Title.

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“While going through our records recently, we found that your AdSense account has posed a significant risk to our AdWords advertisers. Since keeping your account in our publisher network may financially damage our advertisers in the future, we’ve decided to disable your account.”

Ouch!! That hurts.

In fact, the no. of people receiving this dreaded letter is on the rise in the recent months. In most forums, there is a never ending discussion on why ‘my Google Adsense account is disabled‘, how to get it reinstated, and whatnot.

Are you experiencing the wrath of Google? Got your account disabled recently because, according to the email, it “has posed a significant risk to our Adwords advertisers?”

And you wondered why?

Here’s an on-going discussion of the top 30 reasons why your account is disabled. Are you guilty of any of those? Or you think the Big G with its “No evil” philosophy has done you an injustice?

“But it’s not my fault” I hear the usual denial.

Google doesn’t have to have a reason to ban you. And as much as you would like them to prove you did something wrong. They don’t have to do that either. While you’re given the option to appeal, it’s very unlikely that your account will ever be reinstated.

Go ahead and write your appeal. Your chances of reinstatement are slim to none.

Well, don’t cry over spoilt milk. It’s pointless. It’s pretty much final. But it isn’t the end of the world, given the fact that there are many other Google AdSense alternatives.

Sure, monetizing a blog with Adsense is by far the most popular choice for many – newbies or even seasoned bloggers. No doubt about it. As Google is controlling more than 75% of all search queries on the net, Adsense is still the best and most profitable CPC network if you know what you’re doing.

But when you lost it, it is really (I mean really real) tough to get back into the door as a Publisher but not impossible!*

So what are the alternatives to Google Adsense?

John from One Man’s Blog who made a decent income from Adsense shares the 8 best ways to earn money from Google Adsense alternatives that should give you a wide variety of alternatives to choose from.

If you want a simpler way to monetize your sites, try Query Ads. It claims to pay a minimum of .10 cent per click via paypal (with min. payout of $50). If you have a high quality site, with regular content updates, you can make money by displaying ads customized to match the content on your pages the way Adsense does.

Don’t be afraid of CPA too! If run properly, CPA campaigns can generate substantial income that could easily rival Google Adsense. Keep in mind that it’s not easy to accepted into CPA network as most networks are very selective of their publishers.

If you want to try CPA, two networks come to mind – Prosperent & CPALead. Both are great for either gray or white hat methods of monetizing search traffic. More importantly, approval is almost instant.

There you go. Possibly the best 10 Adsense alternatives for you to consider if your Adsense account were disabled by Google for all the wrong reasons or you want diversify for all the right reasons.

If you are a still Publisher, here’s the parting message. Don’t cross Google the wrong way. Don’t even try to outsmart it. It isn’t just worth it, especially if it’s your bread and butter. Best still, diversify. You can still make money without doing evil.

* Yes, there is a loophole on how to get back into the program which I hope I’m able to cover it in due course. So stay tuned and do subscribe if you have not already done so.

** Did you know that T3leads is one of the highest pay-per-lead program?

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How do blogging and dropshipping go together?

Or do they?

My experience with drophipping and blogging actually started way back in April 2005.  My first blog was more an “after thought” that I only set up because my Arizona SEO friend recommended it.

Since then, I’ve come to firmly believe that without a consistent blog presence, an eCommerce business can’t survive amongst younger, more “socially savvy” online marketers.

Blogging is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to promote your dropshipping products. Blogs do so many things for your eCommerce business.

What a Blog Can do for an Ecommerce Website

• Attract customers
• Establish trust
• Create product value

Darren Rowse has this to say about selling products on a blog:

As bloggers trying to make a few dollars from our online activity many of us get stuck thinking about making money by slapping ads on our blogs – but in doing so perhaps we’re doing the equivalent of busking for tips (not the perfect illustration I know). I know I’ve fallen into that trap myself over the years but in working to develop products to sell I’ve seen a variety of benefits including:

Revenue

Credibility/Authority

Opportunities

Deepen Relationships with Readers

Lengthens Relationships with Readers

Accelerated Learning

Traffic

To illustrate even more, let’s analyze Meaghan Mountford’s blog:

The Decorated Cookie blog is classy and effective.  The lady who runs it regularly posts recipes and simple directions for making fancy decorated cookies.  She includes plenty of pictures, and her blog is clean and well-designed.

On the side she includes clear links to purchase her book or visit her shop.  At the shop she sells cookie-decorating kits to make the projects on her blog.

Why is her blog so effective at selling products?

1. Provides value for free

People visit her site for the free recipes and directions.  They subscribe to her blog, visiting time and time again to see the new posts, and they send the links to friends.

Maybe they don’t buy her cookbook or her decorating kits the first time they visit, but they keep coming back to see the new recipes and eventually she hooks them with a super cute mustache cookie-cutter or a fondant set and they make a purchase.

2. Establishes trust and professionalism

Meaghan obviously knows what she’s talking about.  Her cookies are attractive and professional and her impressive credentials are posted in her bio, so you believe her when she says you should use this particular cookie scraper or that particular food coloring.

Oh, they happen to be for sale on her website?  Well then I guess I’ll buy them.

3. Creates a bond with the customer

Meaghan’s blog is well-written, warm, and inviting.  By reading her articles you come to know a little bit about her and to like her.  She includes a few personal details, like the fact that she has a two-year old son, and soon you want her to succeed, you want to give her your business and recommend her to friends.

But remember, she always maintains her professionalism.  Mentions of kids and cats = good, details about your husband’s vasectomy = too much information.

4. Tasteful use of keywords + Attracts inbound links

If you type  the words “cookie decorating blog” into your Google search bar, The Decorated Cookie site is the first one that pops up.  Getting your website to the top of the search engine response pages is one of the most important things you can do to bring in business.

Why is Meaghan’s website at the top of the list?  First, because she has plenty of relevant keywords in her blog posts, and second because her blog attracts inbound links.  Inbound links are when a website posts a link to yours; they’re very important for search engine optimization (SEO).

How can you get inbound links?  By having valuable content on your website that people want to share.  Most people probably link to her site so they can pass along her recipes and tips.  I linked to her because she’s such a great example of e-business marketing.

How can you create a successful blog for your dropshipping product?

Obviously products that are craft or project-oriented are easy to create a blog for.  Cake-decorating, rug-hooking, pottery-painting, wood-working, jewelry-making, and sewing all fall in this category.  However, you can create a blog like Meaghan’s around almost any product.  All you need is a subject you can write educational articles on, and that could be anything from fishing to chess to fitness to parenting.

The important thing is to write quality articles and to post regularly so people keep checking back.  You provide something of value – information on how to deal with a tantrumy toddler or how to find the perfect diaper bag – and in return people are motivated to purchase your baby carriers or  maternity clothes or toddler toys.

Nate Moller has helped thousands of new online entrepreneurs start an online business. He does SEO consulting for a variety of clients, including a wholesale dropshippers directory. He also works with clients to build their online reputation via social media marketing strategy. Follow him on Twitter @mollermarketing.

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Every Internet marketer knows about the importance of creating content. Whether it’s creating content for their blog, or creating content in the form of articles to submit to article directories, or creating content by writing guest posts on other people’s blogs in the same marketplace – it’s all about creating content.

You’ve most likely even heard of the phrase “Content Is King”.

It’s common to see or hear people in forums talking about writing 5 articles daily and submitting them article directories to gain backlinks and exposure.

While that is easy to say (in terms of theory), the reality is that NOT everyone has the time to write 5 articles per day, and NOT everyone likes to write articles. Some people just plain do not like writing.

I’m one of them. However, even though I don’t like writing, I still do it on a CONSISTENT basis because I know every time I write and create new content, my exposure and backlinks are going to increase.

It takes time and effort to create content. Especially if you’re talking about GREAT content (NOT like those low quality content you find on article directories), it takes even longer to create because of the extra research and thoughts involved in creating it.

Instead of creating NEW content all the time, there is another SMARTER way – which is to recycle or repurpose EXISTING content so that you can SKIP the research and thoughts/ideas process that are involved in creating new content.

This will save you time and effort, which eventually are going to cost you money.

So what is this smarter way to recycle your content?

You see, when we think of content, we often think of it in terms of TEXT content. However, in today’s more interactive and demanding world, audios and videos are also a form of content that should not be underestimated.

You can turn your EXISTING written articles into an AUDIO recording using a free software like Audacity. You just need to read your article out loud using a microphone and then record your voice. Once you’ve converted it into an mp3 file, you can distribute it to your audience as a podcast.

You can also turn your EXISTING written content into a VIDEO training using Powerpoint AND a free video recording software like CamStudio.

Here’s what you can do to recycle your content

You take your article and extract the main points. Then create a Powerpoint presentation to cover these. Finally create a video where you go over the presentation and you have just created a video training.

(hint: use the phrase “video training” instead of just “video” – it’s just MORE enticing and powerful…)

In addition, when you convert your written articles into an audio or video format, the PERCEIVED value for your content increases as people tend to regard video as having a higher price tag than audio, and audio having a higher price tag than text.

Apart from that, you can also connect with your audience on a more personal and deeper level since they can now hear your voice. If you use a camera to shoot yourself in video, they’ll be able to see your face talking to the camera. This is something that written text alone can’t achieve.

Up to this point, we’ve been talking about converting written content to audio and video. What about the other way around? What about converting audio and video to written content?

Well, that can be done too.

You can have your audio transcribed and you have yourself a small report or a series of articles. You can also get your video transcribed, then you add in some images, and you have a report ready as well.

So the next time you want to create NEW content, remember that you can also REPURPOSE or RECYCLE existing content to create NEW content. If you can work SMARTER, you should.

By the Author:
Welly Mulia’s FREE Cheat Sheet “This Is How You REPLACE YOUR JOB On The Internet…” Is Finally Available For The Average Beginner. Click Here Now To INSTANTLY Claim Your FREE Cheat Sheet And Learn How To Make Money On The Internet.

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Why do you blog?

What do you hope to achieve by taking time out of your busy day to write a blog post?

Do you want to become a professional blogger and make money blogging?

Or do you blog to vent, rant, or talk about your boss? (be careful, he/she may subscribe to your blog secretly)

Whatever your reason for blogging, if you’re like me, you want people to READ what you have to say and comment.

To help you achieve whatever blogging goal you have in mind, I’ve compiled a list of 5 steps to help you better promote your blog post.

Step 1: The Power of the Title

Your content could be the BEST out there, but if your title sucks, the content probably won’t get touched.

Write a blog post with a catchy title!

Brian Clark calls this “The Law of Headlines and Hooks“:

Your post titles must stand out in a crowded, noisy blogosphere, and you must quickly communicate the value of reading further with your opening.

Some of the titles that have worked best for me:

• 5 Performance Goals All Bloggers Should Set

• How To’s in List Format

Love them or hate them, informational posts presented in list format are easily digestible and allow for an efficient transfer of your value proposition to the reader…creating an excellent list gives you an extra boost in terms of presentation and connecting with your readers.

• 10 Social Media Books to Read in 2010

• A title in the form of a Frequently Ask Question
  • (ie. Is Blogging Really Worth It?)

Step 2: Blog Posts Must Be Reader Friendly

Make sure the blog post is “scannable” so readers don’t have to sift through all the “words” to get the gist of the content.

How to Make a Blog Post Scannable

• Bullet Points
• Header Tags
• Numbered Lists
• Pictures
• Quotes
• Short Paragraphs
• Bold Text
• Good spacing between lines (this is CSS technical stuff)

Step 3: Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words

Include pictures in ALL blog posts.

Not only does a picture “liven the mood” of an article, but it’s more likely to get passed on in the social networks, especially if it’s funny, creative and applicable to the content you’ve shared.

(My client will LOVE this!)

Step 4: Use Video from Time to Time

I’ve seen video used really effectively.

And I’ve seen video OVER-DONE. Use it from time to time if you feel it’s adding value to what you’re sharing.

One small recommendation I give clients is to add at least a few paragraphs of text after a video. Not only does this show you’ve put in a bit of time to get the content ready, but it will help with SEO too.

I’ve even “transcribed” or “summarized” video content about social media marketing in the form of text to emphasize key points.

Step 5: Keep It Simple Stupid

If you’re blog posts are way too long and wordy, you’ll lose readers right away! I usually shoot for 500-750 words max.

I don’t care how good your writing is, most people won’t read more than a few sentences. Any more and they’ll start scanning. You probably aren’t reading this article exactly from top to bottom are you? In fact, you’re probably not even reading this sentence. Man, for a discussion about brevity this sure is dragging on. You can fight it by being more entertaining, but the best policy is to just write less.

How have these steps helped you promote your blog and achieve your life’s purpose?

Nate Moller has helped thousands of new online entrepreneurs start an online business. He does SEO consulting for a variety of clients, including one of the best dropship companies online. He also works with clients to build their online reputation via social media marketing strategy. Follow him on Twitter @mollermarketing.

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Let’s face it. More often than not, every new blogger will opt for free themes, simply because they’re either low on budget or it’s super easy to find one from thousands of free themes available on the net.

That’s the beauty of WordPress. Due to its popularity, it makes it all worthwhile for theme designers to craft the next best themes to serve the large WordPress community.

However, finding the right theme can be a tiresome search. Sure, you can google for WordPress themes any time of the day and you’ll be going back and forth demoing all the themes.

But when you are faced with choices, how often do you make the right choice? and before you know it, your favorite theme is the exact theme shared and used by thousands of others.

Point being, it isn’t uniquely “You”.

First Impression Counts

Your blog is very much a reflection of yourself and the theme you are using is pretty much that of your unique personality. I’m all for “Content is King” but folks, your design (or the theme you choose) is what appeals to your first time visitors to stop and read your content and decide if it’s worthy of a king.

As in most cases, “First Impression does Count the most” and I can attest to it.

I was lucky to be the first person who was offered the premium theme design – Sketch’d you are seeing right now prior to its release and not only I’ve seen a 300% increase in my readership level, my subscribers base has increased by three fold ever since.

It’s one of the best decisions I have ever made and never regretted since.

Free vs Premium

If you are on tight budget and good at tweaking html, php and css, free theme is not a bad option after all. Otherwise, a premium theme may be the way to go. Though some premium themes may be too popular and fast becoming the norm and losing its uniqueness.

One of the primary reasons it takes so long for the majority of  us to move away from free theme to premium one is the cost factor. How affordable can a premium theme be, you may ask?

A premium theme may set you back for $80 to $200 depending on the popularity of the theme designers. Understandably, the investment involved may be considered too steep a price to pay for beginners.

Now what if you can have unlimited access to 16 20 awesomely elegant WordPress premium themes for as low as $19.95 per year and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that it costs you less than $1 per theme.

I really wish I knew it early when I was simply wasting my time searching for the right WordPress theme. Blame it on the perfectionist side of me.

Cheapest WordPress Premium Themes

What separates Elegant WordPress Premium Themes from the rest is undoubtedly the low cost of its membership access. All other things being equal, where else can you find WordPress premium themes for as low as $1? and yet without compromising on its quality.

Each of these themes comes coded in valid XHTML 1.0 transitional and CSS. Every theme is made in compliance with the latest version of WordPress, and is compatible with Firefox 3.0, Internet Explorer 7/6, Safari, Opera, and Netscape.

Here’s the list of all the features you can get from each theme

• Valid XHTML + CSS
• Smooth tableless design
• Wordpress 2.6 compatible
• Firefox, Safari, Opera, Netscape and IE6 + IE7 compatible
• Site-wide search bar
• Widget ready
• Adsense ready
• Gravatar ready
• Social bookmarking ready
• Theme option pages
• Custom thumbnail images
• PSD files

The package includes the WP theme files, plugin files, as well as fully layered PSD files and blank logo images that can be edited with any graphic design software for easy customization. Besides, you are not required to retain the credit link if you decide not to.

In My Humble Opinion

I’m all for using a free theme, it is perfectly fine when you are a new kid on the block but if you want to take your blog to the next level that will guarantee an increase in your readership level and subscribers base, right now it’s time to think about what you can do to differentiate yourself among the crowd.

Stop searching for the right theme, leave the worry to Elegant WordPress Premium Themes and maximize your time writing quality contents worthy of a king.

Besides with unlimited access for only $19.95 per year, it is without any doubt (one of) the cheapest WordPress premium themes.

With the membership, you can have full access to the entire collection of its premium themes, as well as themes released in the future and there is no more excuse that your blog is not getting the deserved makeover sooner.

If you are still hesitating, folks, here’s the take away message, “You have to spend a dollar to make a dollar” and I hope it does make some sense to you.

Get the unlimited access for $19.95 today!

This is not a sponsor review. This article is written with all beginners in mind and for those who couldn’t handle a $80 price tag for a single license premium theme such as Thesis theme – the one I’m currently using.

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Just a quick note for those of you who are planning (or still contemplating) to move your blog from blogger.com to self-hosted WordPress.

Coupon Code: APRIL30

The above coupon is good for a one-time 30% OFF for all hosting plans and billing cycles. For the best deal, opt for a 24-month hosting plan where you’ll only need to pay $84 instead of $120.

What’s in the package

• 50GBs of web space
• 500GBs of monthly bandwidth
• Host up to 50 domain names

If that’s not cheap hosting, I don’t know what is.

In my experience with WP WebHost for almost a year now, as far as I remember, never once I need to contact their support team. Well, I’m not saying that they are the best but certainly, they are one of the select few whom I trust my portfolio of sites to.

Beside, they are a relatively young web hosting co. who is always eager to bend over backwards to do absolutely anything for its customers. Not quite sure how to migrate your blog? Let them do it for you at no extra cost.

Grab it while it’s still valid! (Use Promotional Code: DAVIESLIM APRIL30)

P.S. Hopefully by the time you use the above coupon, you’ll still be able to take advantage of this amazing offer.

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Regardless of where you are, the economy is in a mess but that isn’t news to anyone. Especially to those that have lost their jobs or businesses because of it. Even those that have been lucky enough to keep their jobs are concerned about how much longer that is going to last.

Well, you can either choose to wallow in it and continue to ponder the future that seems to be bleaker than usual or you could rise to the occasion and start taking action.

Life is all about choices. It’s hard if you live it the easy way and easy if you live it the hard way.

In today’s recessionary economy, it has becoming the newest national past time to find ways to make money online.

People are being bombarded on a daily basis with online money making opportunities. They are everywhere out there but going through them and deciphering which one is best for you and your particular skill and interest can be overwhelming.

It can’t be denied that there are plenty of money making opportunities online and blogging is -  has always been and will always be – the primary choice of wanna-be internet entrepreneurs. After all, it’s the easiest vehicle to make money with little or no capital investment.

In fact, it’s the perfect platform to make money and bring foods to the table. It’s no surprise that people of all ages, the young, the retiree, stay-at-home mums all flock into the blogging bandwagon.

but that’s only one part of the story

Thing is, blogging for money can be extremely confusing. There are so many different ways it can be done. And before you can even get started, you have to know what blogging is, how and where to do it.

Once you have educated yourself on blogging and know that a blog is a weblog or online journal. There are a variety of platforms like HubPages, Blogger.com, WordPress.com where you can start a blog for free and you are on your way.

The next thing is to decide what to write about. What you choose to write can either make or break it.

If you choose a niche that only you and a small number of people are interested in, it will be very difficult for you to make any money out of it. Likewise, the more interest that you can generate in your topic, the more likely you are to be able to generate profits from it.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that you want to pick a topic that not only appeal to a majority of people but is also unique enough that everyone in the world isn’t already doing it.

For a start, choose a niche that you are passionate in and knowledgeable about. It’s the key ingredient of keeping you motivated and stay longer in the business.

When all is done, the question is how do you make money from my blog?

Here’s the truth!

I’m sure by now you know that if you are going to talk about how cute your cat is or what you had for dinner, you might as well get a job at McDonald for its measly pay.

My point is tad simple. No one really cares about your cat or your sponsored dinner for that matter.

If you want to make money from your blog, you need to have readers who care about what you write. Yes, you certainly require sustainable traffic and more importantly, the know-how to turn that traffic into customers (which is of course beyond the scope of this article – I suggest you take a look at the Keyword Academy).

In simple term, money is the by-product how you use your blog to generate interest and put your readers into pre-sale mode.

For starters, when you carry and market someone else’s products on your blog, this process is what we call, affiliate marketing. For each sale generated from your blog, you’ll get paid commissions in a varying degree of percentage depending on the products.

I recommend searching for the hottest and newest products in Clickbank, Amazon or Commission Junction. Of course, there are tons of affiliate products on the net. All you need is to find one that suits your niche.

And once you get into the groove of blogging and realize your own potential, doing freelance job can be another profitable, quicker way to make money online.

For instance, if you have a knack for writing, you could easily get writing gigs at elance.com and scriptlance.com. The truth is there are scores of people who are in need of writers to do everything from writing articles to ghostwriting books.

Or you can write for Associated Content or eHow and earn upfront payment for the articles you submit as well as royalties each month based on the number of times your articles have been viewed.

The options above are not meant to be-all-end-all of how to make money online. I’m merely presenting you with several opportunities you can grab right out of the gate.

The internet opens up a whole world of opportunities for those looking to make money online. It’s just that finding the right one for you is the most difficult part of the equation.

The important thing to remember is not to judge what you can or cannot do. As the journey of a thousand mile begins with the first step, never let the fear of failure leads you to inaction.

So don’t belittle yourself. YOU CAN DO IT! In fact, come rain and shine, anyone with a computer and an internet connection can do it.

Now, go grab your piece of the pie and rise to the occasion.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a meaningful 2010 ahead.

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I‘ve worked with thousands of clients who are looking to start an online business, particularly eCommerce based, and I’ve heard this very question over and over again.

I have to admit, it is a valid question, one that caused me to reflect on the concept and ask myself, “Why do I really blog for my eCommerce site anyway?”

To help us answer this question, let’s first review what blogging really is.

Wikipedia explains blogs in the following way:

A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of most early blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on photographs (photo-blog), sketch-blog, videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting), and are part of a wider network of social media. The term “blog” is derived from “Web log.” “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. As of November 2006, blog search engine Technorati was tracking nearly 60 million blogs.

Other explanations I’ve heard about blogs include “online journal”, “digital newspaper”, and “web logs”.

Why are blogs so important when it comes to eCommerce?

Isn’t a blog just something else you have to work on and spend time doing? You bethya! However, the return on investment of a blog can come in a variety of ways.

4 Reasons Why Blogging is for eCommerce

1. Free (or very inexpensive) Targeted Advertising: there are many free options out there. My favorites are wordpress.com and blogger.com. I use both of them but lean more and more to wordpress.com because of all the functionality. Having multiple blogs, in relation to your website, can be so helpful: it’s a way to build additional quality links – ways that search engines can find your website. As you make posts on your blog, you can create anchor links to specific pages of your new website using keyword phrases. This is off-site advertising at its best! If you want even better recognition, purchase a domain name from GoDaddy and get your blog hosted for a low monthly fee.
2. Build Industry Credibility: the more quality information you post about products, services, and information within your industry, the more your visitors (and potential buyers) can see that you know what you’re talking about; they can trust in the products you are offering. Without content and quality information to back up buying decisions, buyers will probably look elsewhere.
3. Affiliate Marketing Opportunities: blogs can give you a few different ways to actually make money in addition to selling products online. The first is through Google Adsense, a pay-per-click campaign that makes money as visitors click on the advertising links. Google Adsense is free to set up and can be a great supplemental income to your business plan, at least to start. Other affiliate marketing campaigns on blogs can be product reviews with companies like CJ.com and Amazon.com. Sign up for these free accounts and start applying for affiliates within your industry or that compliment what you are doing. The pay may not be as good as getting products at a wholesale price and reselling at a retail price, but at least you give yourself the opportunity to make money (and there’s no cost).
4. Your eCommerce Competitors are Blogging: that’s right, your competitors are probably blogging right now so you better take this post serious and start blogging too! Not only does blogging show that you know what you’re talking about in your industry, but it’s also very helpful for search engine optimization purposes too. Some of my biggest masses of traffic to my eCommerce store have come due to blog posts I’ve done about industry news. As potential clients searched for these topics in Google, guess who’s blog post they found at the top of the page? Not only did this help build my brand and reputation online, but these same blog posts had a direct connection with increased sales on my eCommerce site.

If you haven’t been blogging for your eCommerce website yet, don’t worry, there’s still time. Many business just seem to be getting the hang of blogging and doing it on a more consistent basis. The best recommendation I can give you as a new eCommerce blogger is to make sure you remember the key word for effective blogging – Consistency:

• How often you post – whether it’s once a day, week, or whatever, it’s important that you post new information on a consistent basis if you want readers to come back.
• What you write about- if you have questions about this see my post about the importance of focus.
• Anchor links – we don’t want to overdo the anchor links to our website, but it’s important to make keyword links to other pages (deep linking)
• Product Reviews - if you are selling products on your website, it’s a good idea to do reviews from time to time – tell visitors why your products are better than the competition (use testimonials and feedback from clients)
• Posting to other people’s blogs - find blogs you like that relate to what you are marketing and make good comments, asked to guest post, and get them involved in what you do too.

What are your thoughts about blogging for an eCommerce business?

Nate Moller has been teaching clients about how to start an online business for almost five years. He consults small to medium sized business, helping them establish and implement a blogging & social media marketing strategy to grow their business. Read more about Nate at MollerMarketing.com and follow him on Twitter (@mollermarketing).

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