MISSING! Blogging Profits - Turn it Around

Recently I had a conversation with some of my Twitter friends about blogging for profit. The conversation was inspired by this NY Times “Fashion & Style” article. And although, the purpose of the article was to seemed to be to diminish the seriousness of female bloggers and to take a stab at women who expertly combine their real life and business life obligations…it did contain a number of quotes from women who are blogging their butts of, with little in return.

I think the phenomena of people not making enough money through blogging is actually quite common, but I don’t think this problem is unique to women. The problem seems to plague men and women who often fall into a few categories:

• They blog for other websites.
• They blog for themselves.
• Or they do a combination of both.

…and there are different issues with each.

Bloggers Who Blog for Others Are Allowing Themselves to Be Taken Advantage Of:

**Note:** For this section, I am mainly talking about bloggers who are trying to blog for profit, without necessarily creating their own business/website, etc. Basically, these are people looking for blogging “jobs”.

I have to tread lightly here. At first, I was going to say that blogs who recruit writers often take advantage of their writers, but realistically speaking, all these blogs do is put out the opportunity. It is your choice on whether or not to take it.

It is fully in your control to decide if an opportunity is right for you, so from here on in, please make those decisions wisely and rescind any decisions that haven’t proven fruitful.

My tips for you:

• Do not take a blogging assignment for NO PAY in the hopes of getting exposure and recognition. The exception to this might be if you already have an established business and the exposure that is being offered will directly benefit your business. However, if you are simply someone who is just getting started and wants to make money blogging, skip the unpaid jobs, no matter how high-profile they may appear.

If you forget everything else, remember:

“Popularity does NOT pay the bills”

I’ve been there. It was the same a few years ago before blogging became so popular. High traffic websites recruit writers, saying they can’t afford to pay, but their plan was to pay people as the profits came in. If the profits aren’t there now, seriously, don’t count on them being there in the future.

• Do not take blogging assignments that don’t pay an amount you’re comfortable with. Pay rates vary vastly from site to site and you need to decide what you need/expect out of the deal. If you’re writing to pay the bills, figure out how much money you need and how much time you can REASONABLY afford to dedicate (i.e. don’t let writing for a blog take over your life - it doesn’t have to). Figure out how long it takes you to write a blog post and decide on an hourly rate that would be suitable to fit your schedule. If the assignment doesn’t allow you to work toward your target hourly rate, pass it by. There WILL be more opportunities. If you keep taking on assignments that don’t pay well, you’ll overbook yourself and you simply won’t have the time to dig yourself out of this hole.

• Avoid ridiculous posting requirements that are common to many blogging assignments. Some blogs will require to make X posts in a certain time frame and insist that posts have to be some ridiculously long arbitrary length — and many that do this don’t even PAY their writers or don’t pay them well enough. Work with blogs that are flexible and understand the VALUE of good content, information and even entertaining blog posts.

• Consider taking your skills to paid content writing assignments for a clientele you build up yourself. Instead of getting tied into the stringent restrictions and blogging until your fingers bleed, take control of the situation with your own writing service. This will help you control how much money you make, allows to work directly with clients of your choosing and it’s your own business. Once you’ve done a good job for a few clients, ask them to refer to others to you and grow your business.

Bloggers Who Blog for Themselves May Not Have a Profit Plan:

**Note:** For this section, I am talking about business/website owners who center their profit plan around their virtual real estate. This is contrast to the previous section targeted at bloggers who seek out blogging “jobs”.

Personally, I think blogging for yourself (instead for others) is the way to go…but that’s only because I prefer to maximize my efforts. A blog post I write for myself today can potentially bring in profit for years to come. You just don’t get that when you’re being paid per post.

Of course, blogging for yourself is risky because it may take some time for the profits to roll in. Still, if you have a profit plan…you are more likely to reach your goal.

Here are some tips to get to profit faster:

• Have a clear plan of why your blog exists and the market you are trying to reach. Just like with any website that offers content, sells a product, etc…you need to have a plan.

• Know how your blog will make money. What products/services will you promote? Will you sell advertising, try Adsense? (NOTE: Don’t rely on the advertising and Adsense…until/unless you have a really good traffic flow, you’ll find this just isn’t that lucrative an opportunity).

• Don’t be afraid to do some peer-to-peer selling on your blog. You’re developing a relationship with your readers. It’s only natural that you mention your products and recommend others - so do it. Realize that blocks at the end of posts and in sidebars don’t convert as well as direct product mentions and recommendations.

Just a few ideas to get you started and I hope it’s helpful. The real key is to value your time. Never get stuck feeling that you don’t have any choice - you do.

Previous Posts and Resources to Help You with Your Blogging for Profit:

As I promised my Twitter friends after our conversions, I’ve gone through the Sweetie content library and uncovered some gems that might help you make a profitable blogging plan. Take a peek through these:

• How to Get Blog Traffic: 11 Steps to Growing Readership
• “A Blog is Not for Selling - WHAT?
• Free Blogging Beginners Guide
• Draconian Guest Blogger Requirements Or…
• Three Thoughts on Why You Needn’t Worry about the A-List
• BLOGS: Be the Go to Guy or Gal in Your Market
• FREE Download: Joint Blogging for Maximum Promotion & Minimal Effort
• 31 Quick Blogging Ideas
• Three Thoughts on Giving Your Blog the Care & Attention it Deserves
• Your Blog Content Rocks, But Is It Readable?: Three Thoughts Thursday
• Free Blogging Calendar - COOL!
• Multiple Blog Syndrome

More Help:

Lynette and I run our Internet Marketing Blogging Bootcamp every few months or so. We’re actually in the middle of a current session and it looks like our next one will be in 2009, but you can sign up to be notified of the next session here.

Mailwasher Review

Mailwasher Spam Filter and Removal Tool by: FireTrust

Review by: Sweetie Staff

What it is: Spam filter and spam blocking software for email

What You’ll Get:

This great piece of desktop software helps you quickly sort your email with minimal fuss. It allows you to preview the email on your server, WITHOUT ever having to download unwanted messages to your computer. You can create blacklists, friends lists, etc…allowing you to sort your email in a flash.

I’ve been using the Pro version of Mailwasher for several years and wouldn’t have it any other way. I also always get my virtual assistants to use it because I know it saves tons of time. Once they try it, they’re hooked and use it for all their clients.

You can download a free version and use it for as long as you want. The only catch is that it only works for one email address. If you want to use it for more than one email address, you’ve got to cough up a bit of cash, but it’s well worth it.”

I think words can’t do this tool justice and when I see people complain about spam, I can’t seem to express how it well it works and how much time it saves. So, I thought I’d give you a rundown of this handy software. . I’ve included screen shots to really give you a picture of how easy it can be.

I open up the software and it checks all my emails. Hundreds of emails are previewed in the software within seconds and you can view the full text (no html for your protection) of any email in the preview pane at the bottom.

In this preview pane, you’ll notice that some email senders are marked as “friend”, “blacklisted” and “origin blacklisted by spamcop”. The “friend” and “blacklisted” are set by me and that info is stored by Mailwasher. The “origin blacklisted by spamcop” is through the Spamcop database. Now, I don’t necessarily think Spamcop is the greatest thing, but I have to say these results prove to be quite accurate for my email.

Once email is loaded into the software (again it’s fast), you can easily sort by Date, Status, From…or whatever you want. Just click any of the titles in the tabs at the top of the screen and mailwasher will sort according to that title. Often, I sort by “Status” to put all the blacklisted senders to the bottom.

To update the status of any user, simply right click on the email in question. A pop-up will appear allowing you to add the specific email address to the blacklist or the whole domain to the blacklist. Or you put the specific address or the whole domain on your friends list.

Changing Status in Mailwasher

To get your email ready for processing, you can go through each email and click the delete box to the far left (blacklisted emails are automatically set to delete) or if you have a lot of emails to delete, it might save more time to just choose the option of “Mark All Emails for Deletion” and then uncheck the emails that you want to keep. I use this feature a lot, so I can just get rid of email that is FYI-type stuff and doesn’t require any action on my part. It keeps my Outlook inbox really (err…well pretty) clean.

Once the you’ve marked all the emails that need to be deleted from your server (Remember - NOTHING has been downloaded to your computer, you’re just quickly previewing email off the server), you can process it. Just click “Process” and all the emails for deletion will be removed from your server.

Once the email has been deleted, you can open up your usual email program or have Mailwasher automatically open it for you and download the email you ACTUALLY want.

Voila!

There are other features you might want to explore, but that’s the basics. If this process seems cumbersome to you - I promise it’s not. This process is quick and it’s a snap.

Again, you can download it free (for one email address) or pay the $39.95 for the Pro version (more than well worth it).

Grab your free copy of Mailwasher here.

1000th Blog Post: Success Journey

Recently, I realized that I was coming up on the 1000 entry on this blog. I thought I could have a little fun with it and so asked my friends on Twitter what they thought I should do (by the way, if you don’t follow me on Twitter, do so cuz my friends there often get advanced notice of stuff , get to give feedback on what type of resources to provide AND I even hire biz help from there) . They wanted to know more about my road to success AND also to see some of the notable blog posts I’ve made along the way (if I have indeed, made any ).

I’ve incorporated both the success journey with links to old blog posts for you here…

A Little History

Although I started my online business in March 2002, the first post on this blog was on July 17, 2004, so it’s taken just over 4 years to reach this milestone, but I made it. That first blog post professed my ignorance at what blogs and RSS really were, but I sure was excited about it.

I Started Inexperienced & Clueless

I honestly had no clue when I got started online. I was just a new mom, determined to find a way to earn a living from the Internet, so I didn’t have to go back to work. I had no business training or education (although my B.A. in History & Archaeology helped in terms or research and writing skills) and it didn’t much look I was destined for success.

But that didn’t stop me.

I took that lack of experience and mixed it with my :

Drive to succeed (which actually more like my REFUSAL to fail).

Willingness to work hard.

Willingness to make and learn from my mistakes.

…and things started to shape up quite quickly, but I was far from perfect (no kidding!). At first, I worked just too darned hard (and finally, in 2005 decided it was time to leave the rat race and announced my semi-retirement plan here ). But I soon realized that a lot of that I called work, was really just time wasted.

I Fell into the Traps a Lot of People Do

Yes, I pretended (although in my mind, I really believe it) to work by:

Searching for the latest and greatest way to make money online. You know, that endless late night search, considering the craziest money-making schemes or garbage like this that I warned others about and even more illegal schemes like this. Thankfully, I avoided most of this stuff, but when you’re tired from sleep and hungry from success, it CAN sound tempting.

Mistaking popularity for business success. I was lucky right off the bat. I was able to generate plenty of traffic, have a popular site people linked to and spread the word about, but a lot of that popularity did not translate to profit.

Not tracking results. I was so hooked on being popular, networking, etc. that I wasn’t paying attention to what activities were actually productive for my business. I thought it was all important.

Not evaluating and reworking my plans. Because I wasn’t tracking anything and wasn’t paying attention what was working, obviously it was tough to decide where my focus really should be and which activities I should shave off my to-do lists.

Was a little afraid to sell. For the most part, I took quite a passive approach with my market and fooled myself into thinking that they wouldn’t buy or couldn’t buy all the stuff I wanted to buy. I was just plain old wrong.

But There Were Some Things I Did Right

Even through those stumbling blocks, I did do something right and I think that this one thing really helped me overcome those other problems…and that’s:

Not being afraid to invest in my business. I knew it took money to make money, so I did just that. I invested in:

Tools I needed to run my business (shopping carts, autoresponders, software, etc.)

Educational products to cut my learning curves and break some of the bad habits I mentioned above.

Outsourcing the help I needed to manage my time better and get things done that I couldn’t do myself.

Eventually, I Transformed Myself into a More Focused & Product Online Business Owner

There were a few steps involved in this process including:

I stopped that endless and fruitless searching: Slowly, but surely I saw what was working in my business and focused on that. I learned to ignore all the other shiny objects out there.

I became results oriented: Sure it was nice to be popular and to help people, but simply having a busy forum, a popular blog and online friends just didn’t pay the bills. I started to really pay attention to what was producing the $$$ and focused on those things.

I said enough of this nonsense and started actively selling. I have a business because I want to make money. No need to apologize for that (even though I was just getting over it in this April 2005 post) . I realized I could still help people and make money at the same time. This realization eventually gave birth to the whole Internet Marketing Sweetie concept (you can see the original post announcing the Sweetie stuff here which was on the AliceSeba.com blog at the time. The full transformation to Internet Marketing Sweetie came in April 2007).

And hey, do you remember this post when I was actually Stripped of my Sweetie Status, but had to stand my ground?

I continued to study copywriting and marketing - and of course, incorporating those concepts into all aspects of my business. I studied and applied lessons from Dr. Ken Evoy, Michael Wong, Armand Morin, John Reese & Michel Fortin. I am so thankful for having found them and learned from them.

So, as I corrected some of my early errors, my income and business grew steadily. But you know what? I still kind of felt I was flying by the seat of my pants. I had plans and a more focused schedule, but a lot was still done on the fly.

In the Past Couple of Years I’ve Turned Even More Focus to…

Planning & scheduling: This means most products are planned a year in advance and then detailed planning is done at least one month in advance. This includes knowing what my role will be in all the projects, assigning tasks to my team, etc.

Even more emphasis on evaluating & adjusting: I never keep doing things for the sake of doing them anymore. There is constant evaluation in what I do and my entire team does. Adjustments are made every step of the way. Here’s an interesting post about cleaning house in your online business.

And that’s in a nutshell. Those are the core lessons I needed to make turn my business into a full-time income without the more than full-time work trap that many self-employed people fall into. THAT is what success is to me.

More Stuff: Some More Blog Posts of Note

If you can’t get enough of this stuff, I bookmarked a few more of the popular blog posts over the years. Read, absorb and apply…where appropriate. Most of these go hand-in-hand with the stuff I wrote about above.

What are you doing with your eggs?

Do you know your ABCs?

But I’m not trying to build an empire

I’ve tried everything and I give up

What will you absolutely do differently in 2008?

Web 2.0: If you don’t know every site, you’ll die

If I give too much content for free, people won’t buy my information product

When you just don’t feel like it

3 thoughts on why you shouldn’t worry about the A-List

It’s time to refuse freebie services and consulting

“I can do it better myself“

Could this be the problem?

And for a chuckle, please enjoy…

How many Internet marketers does it take to…

Do You Spend Time on Research?

When I conducted my review of Traffic Secrets last week, John discussed the importance of spending time on research and had some great strategies for conducting research for your business. He covered things like target market research, finding endless content topics, researching competitors etc.

Even though we might know it’s important, I know a lot of online business owners don’t spend a lot of time on research, which is funny…because even though it takes time, it saves a ton of time in trial & error.

So my tough question to you is:

Do you spend time conducting REAL research for your online business? No, I’m not talking about pretending to research by looking through Twitter history, Googling your name or getting lost on message boards. I mean the productive stuff that results in real concrete plans for your business.

(By the way, if you didn’t already know, we do Internet-based research at AllCustomContent.com…so if you don’t feel like you have the time or discipline, we’re here for you.)

20% Off Tuition at SparkPlugU (Coupon Expires July 31, 2008)

Earlier today, we did an impromptu giveaway of free Podcasting Bootcamp tuition to 5 of my subscribers and the spots were snatched up FAST. Clearly, there were far more people interested in the bootcamp than spots, so I spoke to Kelly (instructor) and Wendy (owner SparkPlugU) and asked if they could offer a little something to those who were interested and didn’t win.

Well, they’ve generously offered a 20% off coupon that is actually good on the purchase of any course or courses, as long as you register by July 31, 2008.

Pretty cool stuff.

If you’re not familiar with SparkPlugU it’s a new learning center with online/distance courses to help you in your work from home. The courses are all very affordable and include courses on business and productivity.

Some of the Upcoming Courses Include:

How to Make Money Freelancing: Discovering the Right Niche

Get Started Freelancing: Writing for the Web

Diversify Your Income Workshop

Organize Your Home Office for Maximum Productivity

Write Press Releases to Grow Your Business

Fearless Financials - Getting Past Stuck

Introduction to Starting a Blog Network

…and a bunch more. Just go to SparkPlugU for all the details.

How to Claim Your Coupon:

1. Go to SparkPlugU.

2. Choose your course or courses.

3. Enter the following coupon code on checkout: ALICELOVESYOU

Just register by July 31, 2008 and your discount will be applied.

FREE Podcasting Bootcamp Tuition

If you’ve been thinking of starting your own podcast, here’s a perfect opportunity for you. Or if you have a podcast you’ve been working on and have become stuck in really getting things off the ground, you’ll want to check this out too.

Kelly McCausey’s “Podcasting Bootcamp: Strategy Through Implementation” class starts tomorrow at SparkPlugU…and Kelly has graciously allowed me to give free tuition to 5 lucky podcasting students.

Details of the Bootcamp

The bootcamp includes 3 sessions that total 4 hours of intensive instruction to get your podcast up, running and getting attention. Kelly gives you the tools to create your podcast, find your target market, line up your guest and develop a profit strategy.

You can learn more about the course here.

ONLY THING: Bootcamp starts on Monday night…so you have to move quickly on this.

Here’s How it Works: First 5 Are In!

1. Check out the course details here to see if it’s right for you and fits into your schedule.

2. Write a comment below with your full name, state/province and country stating that you’d like to enter. Make sure you include your REAL email address with your comment (just put it in the email box…it will NOT be published on the blog). Entries are void if they miss any of this information.

3. The first 5 to enter are IN! We will email you regarding your registration details. If you don’t hear anything by noon on Monday, please email to news @ internetmarketingsweetie.com since emails can get lost…but please, only email if you were one of the first 5.

Good luck!

Silly Sunday - 5 Year Artist or Vandal?

It’s been a long time since I did a Silly Sunday and this one isn’t Internet marketing related. But it certainly could give some clues on my early creative outlets that led to my being able to build an extremely fulfilling and rewarding online business.

So maybe I ought not to give the little guy such a hard time either. Click here to make your judgment.

(By the way, you can register for an account there and submit your own content with byline too)

Easy Website Makeovers & Conversion Strategies: Sweetie Saturday Report

Yes, it’s that time - Sweetie Saturday Report Time! It comes the 3rd Saturday of every month, just like clockwork.

To Report Club Members: If you’re a member, this brand new report is already in your account. If you’re not a member yet, info on signing up comes in a bit. By the way, this is the last month to sign up at the low, low introductory Sweetie Saturday Report Club rate.

If you’re into making small changes for BIG results, this month’s report will be right up your alley.

Introducing: Easy Website Makeovers & Conversion Strategies…this is your guide to re-evaluate your website for better conversions. Make more money with the traffic you ALREADY have to your website.

Understanding your website’s purpose. What works well for one website, may not be right for another.

Understanding your target audience and why they want to buy from you, instead of your competitors.

How to find out what’s REALLY going on with your website visitors and what to do about what you discover.

Reviewing your work with an objective eye. It’s easy to become “too close” to our own websites and resist change. This guide shows you how to get past that and focus on profits instead.

How to test the changes you make on your website. Most website owners don’t even bother with this, leaving a ton of money on the table. It’s an easy way to get ahead of your competition.

Design elements of your website that can be killing your profitability and how to fix them.

Design is important, but your message is even more crucial. Find out how to make the most of the words on your page for best results.

Extra tips for improving conversions…even more simple ideas to potentially boost your sales.

At only 14 easy-to-digest pages (or listen to the audio if you prefer), it’s easy to whip through and start making small changes for big results. No sense in reading all day, when you can be DOING and getting more results from your website.

Get the Report for Only $9 [FINAL MONTH] by Joining the Club…

Click here to join the Sweetie Saturday Report Club for $9 per month and instantly receive a new Sweetie Saturday Report each month. You can cancel at any time.

IMPORTANT: I keep adding to the monthly perks because it is my goal to give the best and most complete information possible. This membership is PACKED with great stuff at a great price and I’ve kept the price super low for a long time now,
but that’s about to come to an end….

This is your final month to lock in your $9 per month price. Order now you’ll pay that low monthly fee for as long as you remain an active member. If you wait until next month, you can expect to pay almost 50% more. Join today and use that extra cash to pay for other things you need for your online business.

Cool NEW Members-Only Perk:

We’ve just added the Essential Biz Notes monthly supplement.

It is a personal letter from me including a variety of strategies and recommendations for all aspects of your online business. It’s been a whole lot of fun writing this month’s issue that includes help on having the confidence to make GREAT and growth-inspiring decisions for your online business.

This month’s topic: “Can You Take Time Off?” ~ Do you take your laptop on vacation (or avoid vacations altogether?). Or what would happen if you got ill or heaven forbid, you passed away? Would your business survive as a valuable asset for your family. This month’s notes contains some useful methods of preparing your business for the unknown bumps in the road.

What to Do Next

Click here for full details on the Sweetie Saturday Report Club.

…or…

If you’ve already made up your mind, go directly to the sign up page.

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