Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

How To Research Facebook To Find Profitable Topics - Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

Press the PLAY button on the video below to begin watching.

Text Transcript of Video

In the video you see one way to gather live feedback from real people about potential topics and also gauge how popular topics could be. The video above helps with Milestone One (Topic Selection) from the The Roadmap to Become A Blogger:
http://www.becomeablogger.com/roadmap/

Visit the SquidooRoo Program for focused training in social media marketing:
Social Media Marketing

Friday, October 01, 2010

Blogger vs WordPress - Which Blogging Platform?



Should you use Blogger.com or WordPress for your blog?
 
It's a matter of preference.  Some experienced marketers dismiss
Blogger.com because it is not as sophisticated or as flexible as
WordPress. But there are other considerations.
 
The fact of the matter is that a number of the world's top bloggers
started out on Blogger.com (including Darren Rowse), partly
because not much was available then.
 
I created this blog on Blogger.com in 2005.  It has been
in the top ten results for a number of keywords for years.
At one stage, it had a PR5 rating from Google but dropped
in rank, partly because I did not maintain my blog posting (I
got diverted creating 100 + Squidoo lenses).
 
Blogger.com has these advantages:
1. automatically indexed by Google (goes in their blog directory)
2. simple to use
3. has become more sophisticated recently with its own plugins
(you can add scripts, affiliate products, etc.) and the plugin
options are built-in - you don't have to go searching for them on the
web
4. has some attractive templates
5. less choice (more built-in) means that it's faster to build your blog
6. you can easily create tags/labels (but not categories).
 
The downside is that Google owns Blogger.com and you don't
normally have your Blogger.com blog on your own domain
(although you have the option to host it on your own domain -
which makes it a bit more complicated to set up.)
 
The parallel of course is that you can have a WordPress
blog hosted on WordPress.com or on your own domain.
 
I did not bother with WordPress initially because my
Blogger.com blog was doing okay and I did not have the
time or inclination to invest in learning about WordPress
themes and plugins.
 
This changed recently when I teamed up with Anne Corcino
of SeoPraxis.com and developed a joint venture. I then
engaged Anne on a paid basis to convert the site for my
offline business (HR consultancy) to a WordPress platform.
Anne is a Master WordPress designer.
 
In working with Anne on the design, I learned a lot about
WordPress and I am now hooked. We are working on a
couple of WordPress sites together and I have created
one to back the SquidooRoo Training Program. This WordPress
blog is built on the marketing-orientated, Socrates Theme:
 
This needs a bit of work at the moment (in terms of plugins)
but is basically self-generating as I use an auto-blogging facility 
developed by Brad Callen.

WordPress has the advantage of lots of plugins that can do
so many things automatically such as SEO and listing related articles,
etc.  You really are only limited by your imagination in how you use
the hundreds of plugins available. 
 
However, the range of themes (layouts) and plugins (action modules)
can be bewildering if you are new to WordPress or not technically
minded.  Even if you have some degree of technical skill, you
need time and patience to get across the numerous options available.
 
If I was starting out now:
 
1. I would engage someone like Anne from SEO Praxis to build my
SEO optimized, WordPress blog
 
or
 
2.  I would put a WordPress blog on my own domain
and use a simple theme that is designed for Internet
marketers such as the Socrates theme I used on
the social media marketing blog above.
 
If I was not technically minded I would start with Blogger.com
and master the art of writing blog posts and marketing first.
There is definitely a major time investment in setting up a
WordPress blog (even though the individual steps are relatively
easy).
 
As Darren Rowse points out, you can always start again with a
new blog (as he did three times). He now has 350,000 subscribers
to one of his blogs!
 
The blogging lesson (#6) of the SquidooRoo Training Program
takes this discussion further by exploring how to focus, write and
create your blog (on either platform) and how to make your
blog the foundation of your business.  There are also resources
with step-by-step instructions for setting up either a Blogger.com
blog or a WordPress blog.

 
*********************************************
Ron Passfield, PhD, is a Social Media Consultant, Top 100 Squidoo
Lensmaster and  Giant Squid100.

He is the Creator of the SquidooRoo Training Progam, a 6 month
course in social media marketing:
SquidooRoo Training Program

He provides free resources for Squidoo marketing on his
Squidoo authority site:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing
check out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:
http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the e-Book:
Squidoo Marketing Strategies

*********************************************



Thursday, May 28, 2009

Can you really [REALLY] make money online?

The following response (extract) is drawn from
Shailini Gupta's 400th HubPage titled:

Shailini Answers:10 Frequently Asked Questions

(It is reproduced with the written permission of Shailini)

Can you really [REALLY] make money online?(8)

"Yes and No. If you really believe you can make money
online and work without worrying about the outcome, you
can make money. You can really make lots of money.
If you doubt it, do your work half-heartedly, you won't be
able to earn money. If you want to get started, I would
advise to choose a profession that gives immense pleasure
to you regardless of income.

Some people like writing - no matter if they receive money
or not, they would be happy to write articles on various topics.
Some people blog without expecting anything in return.
Some people like photographing. Some people like talking.
If you like the activity that you are doing, it would
help you to survive the first few months of drought when you
may not get any income. If you don't like the job that you do,
you will not survive the initial stage.

The online world has plenty of opportunities. Everyone who
ventures into it can really make money. It is like any ocean,
there are plenty of fish if you get out and go looking for it.
Of course, there is NO FREE LUNCH.

I still remember when I contemplated if I should buy the
ebook "Blogging to the Bank" with my hard-earned dollars.
Once I took the plunge (guaranteed by their money-back
guarantee), the course opened a new world to me. I learned
new tips, new secrets and how to maximize your revenue
potential with new strategies and less manual work. If you
have some spare dollars in your hand, I will highly recommend
you to enrol at the "Blogging to the Bank" (3rd edition). They
are still the highly successful program for the last few years
and millions have benefited from it, I am just one among them."

(End of extract from:
Shailini Answers:10 Frequently Asked Questions )

****************************************************

Related Posts from Affiliate Marketing Coach

I have offered Shailini's comments to reinforce some
of the discussions we have had over the last few months.
In particular, Shailini is a good example of the
"Just Do It" principle:

Just Do It!...Take some targeted action
Focused Achievement
Stick-at-it-ness: A Key Success Factor
Use Your Chakra Energy to Develop Your Marketing
Massive Action for Massive Results

****************************************************

Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo authority
site:
Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

Ron is the author of the e-Book:

************************************************

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Who do you blog for?

The experts tell us that we should blog with a single person
in mind. This means using words such as "you" and "your",
not "them" and "they".

It can really help you to write if you treat your blogging
as a conversation - a bit less formal writing than an article.

The secret to writing is clearly to keep the audience in mind
as you write - this is often difficult given the diversity of
levels of experience and knowledge of your readers.

I have to own up that I also blog for my own benefit.
In part, this is to get my head around some concepts
or to record some important information I want to
access later.

Invariably, I find that I have to put something into
practice after I make a post - some aspect that I have
forgotten about or overlooked. The blog post can
be a salutary reminder for me.

This just reinforces the fact that blogging has multiple
benefits for the author as well as the reader.

Related Posts:

Squidoo: The Importance of Blogging

7 Key Reasons to Blog


********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources for Squidoo
affiliate marketing on his Squidoo lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing
check out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:
http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the ebook:
Squidoo Marketing Strategies

********************************************

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Who said you can't write?

I used to believe that I couldn't write too!

I ended up writing a 100.000 word doctoral thesis
in 1996 and a swag of technical articles published in
journals. Since then I have co-edited 2 books, written
four e-books and published 40 online articles on affiliate
marketing and Squidoo.

What's the secret? - START WRITING!

The biggest impediment to developing your
writing skills is INACTION.

The secret is action learning - plan, write, review.

You learn to write by DOING IT!

When my son started Grade 8 at 13 years of age he
was gifted with a female teacher who believed in the
action learning approach to writing.

She started off by insisting that each student write
50 words a day and submit it for review ... and she
provided a range of topics.

At the beginning we had tears and tantrums as my
son asserted that, "I don't know how to write...I
can't do it."

We helped him plan his writing and gave him some
feedback as he finished. The teacher gradually
incremented the number of words required each day.

The more he wrote the easier it got...and the
more independent he became. By the end of the year
he was writing 1,500 words without much difficulty.

It's worth stating that principe again,:
The more you write, the easier it gets!

Where do you start?

Well, I recommend starting with a
Blogger.com blog as I did in 2005 (this blog).
You don't have to locate or add plug-ins, etc. They
are there for you to use if you want to.

The main thing is that your blog is an online journal -
a place to record ideas, insights, opinions, thoughts,
recollections, case studies... and to include links,
resources and references. It's your online data
storage as well because blogs are searchable via
the tags you include below each post. Keep
your audience in mind as you write and you will build
your readership (as well as your credibility).

The steps:

1. decide the focus you want

2. create a blogger.com blog

3. START WRITING

4. Make a post on Twitter.com with the URL
of the blog post.

....rinse and repeat with whatever frequency
you can muster.

Optional:

5. Add the blog RSS feed to your Squidoo lens if you
have one (and the feed will automatically appear on
your Squidoo lens).

WARNING for the perfectionists - don't try
to make every blog post a landmark post. Focus on
an idea or an insight and just get it down.

P.S. The great novelists will tell you that writing
is 95% perspiration and 5% inspiration. They create
a writing routine - and some have been known to tie
themselves to their chair to make sure they persist
with trying to write ... even when nothing seems to
come.

Again, the principle of focused achievement comes
into play.

**********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resourcesfor Squidoo
affiliate marketing on his Squidoo lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

To learn more about Squidoo Affiliate Marketing
check out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com/

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:
http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the ebook:
Squidoo Marketing Strategies

********************************************

Saturday, March 21, 2009

7 Key Reasons To Blog

There are numerous reasons why you should blog.

Here are 7 Key Reasons for Blogging:

1. A focused blog builds your Internet Profile, credibility
and reputation.

2. Google loves fresh content and looks to blogs to provide
regularly, updated content.

3. You can add the blog's RSS feed to your Squidoo lens
and build lensrank.

4. Regular posts with appropriately targeted keywords
can help you dominate a niche and the first page of
Google results.

5. Blogs are a great place to store your own learning and
readily access it via intelligent tagging - they can serve as
reflective journals.

6. Blogs boost traffic and sales if you set them up right and
market them effectively.

7. Blogs help you build relationships with your subscribers
and develop two-way communication.

********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo lens:
Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

Ron is the author of the ebook:

********************************************

Friday, March 20, 2009

Squidoo : the importance of blogging

I can't stress enough the importance of blogging
to support your Squidoo lenses.

Blogging will boost your Squidoo lensrank and Google
PR rank as well as bring you targeted visitors and
increased income.

Adding your blog's RSS feed to your lens will provide
fresh content whenever you update your blog.

[Note: even though the feed from your latest post
shows on your lens, you still need to edit and publish
the revised lens to get acknowledgement of the
update in your Squidoo dashboard - I've checked this
over multiple lenses.]

The value of a blogging is beyond dispute. Both Squidoo
and Google love fresh, unique content.

I had real proof of the impact of a blog feed on Squidoo
Lensrank over the past few weeks. Two of my new lenses,
with different blog feeds, achieved a lens rank of around
1,200 within two weeks of creation.

I attribute this to two key actions:
1. daily updating (however small the change)
2. incorporation of a blog feed

So create a blog today and get the RSS feed linked
to your lens - you will be presently surprised.

If you want a comparative review of blogging
products to help you blog, check this site out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com/howtoblog

Here's some further blogging resources I have created
on Squidoo lenses:

Review of Blogger's Paycheck
Write great blog content
Create a Blog Today
Latest changes to Blogging
State of the Art Blogging Training
Blog Success Case Study (with principles of sound blogging)


COMMENT

Giant Squid, thefluffanutta, left this comment on my post:

"Unfortunately, because of how the RSS module has
been implemented, Google and other search engines
cannot see your feeds. All they see is an empty
module, with no links, and which doesn't get
updated. You can observe this yourself by looking
at the source code, or looking at the 'text only'
cache of the lens on Google.

The RSS Module is still good for real visitors
though, as it showcases your most recent blog
posts. This brings traffic to your blog, and the
clickouts from your lens will help its Lensrank."

RESPONSE from Ron

The RSS feed, as
thefluffanutta mentions, does
not impact Google. However, the original post
itself does and the more frequently you post on
your blog the better (provided it is on the topic
of your blog's focus). By way of example, I
noticed recently that one of my earlier posts
ended up in the 5th position on the first page of
Google results for a targeted keyword that had
4.3 Million results. In summary then, regular
blogging helps your Google ranking/positioning
and the RSS feed to your lens, helps to boost
lensrank.
********************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo lens:
Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

Ron is the author of the ebook:

********************************************

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Squidoo: Focused Achievement

I was reflecting on Pat Rigsby's article, Activity or Achievement,
and thought about taking the theme further.

To me the fundamental issue is a lack of focus, which in turn
exposes us to information overload and the activity trap.

I have found that focusing on a goal and concentrating on
achieving milestones along the way is the fastest and surest
way to income and success.

It takes a hell of a lot of discipline to focus and concentrate
to achieve specific goals - that is why so few people achieve
success and income on the Internet.

If you become unfocused your brain becomes "scattered"
and your energy is dissipated. You can become like a
cork tossed in the sea of information.

Focus gives you an anchor and the strength to concentrate
and withstand the constant buffeting that will come your way.

I discovered Squidoo in early 2007, and immediately saw its
potential. I decided then and there to develop a specialised
expertise in Squidoo. I realised that the Squidoo platform
enabled me to do all the things I love doing - be creative, learn
daily, write, explore resources, share information and expertise,
build networks and coach/mentor others.

It also built on the work I had done before - blogging, affiliate
marketing, email marketing and article writing.

So my focused achievement was to build expertise in Squidoo
and use this achievement to educate, build networks and grow
my affiliate income.

So this focused achievement is reflected in my Giant Squid
status, Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and the development of a
range of innovative Squidoo lenses.

My focus now is to educate others on how to build their own
authority status and to use that to build their affiliate income.

I have been very impressed with the work of PotPieGirl,
Giant Squid, in showing how to build affiliate income through
focused achievement. Her One Week Marketing Plan
is a prime example of focused achievement on a week by
week basis using Squidoo.

PotPieGirl (Jennifer) has demonstrated how a focus on
achieving weekly goals rapidly builds a sizable monthly
income. She shows how she went from a frustrated,
overworked Mum to earning over $150,000 per year as
an affiliate marketer using free methods such as Squidoo.

To follow her detailed plan of action, you have to be focused
but results are assured. I used her One Week Marketing
approach to promote her own product and have made over $300
to date from this one product.

So whatever you decide to do, focused achievement is the
route to success. Ask yourself each day, "What is the most
important thing for me to concentrate on at the moment if
I am to achieve what I set out to achieve?"

**********************************************

Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo lens:
Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

Ron is the author of the ebook:

********************************************

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Affiliate Classroom Magazine: blogging, hosting and web copy

The February 2009 issue of the Affiliate Classroom
Magazine
focuses on Building Your Website.

The key articles are:
  • Blogging platforms for affiliates
  • Choosing a web host
  • Writing winning web copy
  • CMS for your site?
You can download your free copy by clicking the
following link for the coloured PDF version:
Affiliate Classroom Magazine February 2009

Ron's comment:

My preference for hosting is Hostgator.com
where I have had a number of domains hosted
for over 3 years.

While there is a lot to be said for self-hosted blogs and
WordPress in particular, I believe that WordPress
is more complicated than people seem to assume.

The recent innovations with Blogger.com are often
overlooked as is the fact that Google owns Blogger.com
and has a vested interest in indexing its own blogs.
The new Blogger.com now comes with RSS feed
sign up and multiple widgets that are very easy to
use. This means that you can embed links,
images, sign-up forms etc in the right hand column.

I think Squidoo Lensmasters should not overlook
the value of having a blog RSS feed on their lens.

For great resources on how to blog, check out this
Squidoo lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/ReviewofBloggersPaycheck


**********************************************

Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
Giant Squid. He provides free resources
for Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo lens:
Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

Ron is the author of the ebook:

********************************************

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Squidoo: targeting the first page of Google for mutiple keywords

I have written previously about the benefits of Squidoo
in terms of deep indexing of Squidoo lenses by Google.
I have also identified strategies to encourage this deep
indexing.

What I want to address here are ways to broaden your
Google presence by expanding the keywords that you
target. These strategies have enabled me to get on the
first page of Google for multiple keywords for the one
Squidoo lens.

After you have established a presence on Google for
your primary keyword, you can target other selected
keywords one at a time. You may even choose to
target keywords that have a higher search volume
than your primary keyword. I have done this
successfully in the past.

So here is the basic strategy:

1. Use your new targeted keyword as your anchor text
for hyperlinks in blog comments, Squidoo lens comments,
etc.

2. Write blog posts incorporating your targeted keyword
and use the following format as the title for your post:
Targeted Keyword: rest of post title
(e.g. Golden Retriever Dog Training: the benefits of
the crate method)

3. Write and publish articles incorporating your
targeted keyword and have a title similar to the one
above:
Targeted keyword: rest of article title
(e.g. Golden Retriever Dog Training: taming the
retriever instinct)

I adopted the above strategy when I discovered
that my lens did not appear in the first 100 pages
of results for an important keyword. Now 5 0f the
top 10 ten results for this keyword are my links
- my Squidoo lens, blog posts or articles.

P.S. For info on Golden Retriever Dog Training
see:
http://www.squidoo.com/goldenretrieverdogtraining


************************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster
and Giant Squid. He provides free resources for
Squidoo affiliate marketing on his Squidoo lens:

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:

Ron is the author of the ebook:

To learn more about blogging,
check out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com/howtoblog

************************************************

Monday, February 16, 2009

Squidoo lensrank: improve lensrank with a blog feed

One key way to improve lensrank and Google PR for
your Squidoo lens is to establish a blog and enter the
blog feed on your lens.

You use the RSS module for this so that whenever you
update the blog, your lens is also updated. Of course,
the blog has to be relevant to the content of the lens.

Daily updating and publishing of your blog and the
relevant lens will result in improved PR ranking
for the blog and enhanced lensrank for the lens.

I recently experimented with a lens and related blog.
I updated both daily. The lens went from 800,000+
rank to 17,000 in one week.

The Squidoo lens also attained a PR of 7 but dropped
to 5 when I stopped updating the blog on a daily basis.

So the moral of the story is to place an RSS feed for
your blog on your Squidoo lens and update both daily.

************************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster
and provides free resources for Squidoo affiliate
marketing on his Squidoo lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

Subscribe to Ron's free Squidoo Marketing e-course:
http://www.smsecourse.squidoomarketingstrategies.com/

Ron is the author of the ebook:
Squidoo Marketing Strategies

To learn more about blogging,
check out:
http://www.squidooaffiliatemarketing.com/howtoblog

************************************************

Monday, November 05, 2007

Google Blog Slap: Squidoo to the rescue

Google recently did a re-rank of web sites and particularly
blogs.

Many of the world's best blogs dropped in Google page ranking
(PR) e.g. from PR7 to PR5 or PR5 to PR3.

This action by Google has been the subject of heated debate
on blogs across the globe.

The interesting fact is that many of the blogs have had their
page rank restored. In some cases this was because they were
not in fact using paid links at this point in time.

The story so far

Here's a tracking of the story:

Darren Rowse, Problogger.com (PR7), wrote about it when
it first happened. He identified the fact that Google was
penalising "authority sites" for using paid (sponsored)
advertising links:

Problogger dropped to Page Rank 4
(Problogger drops from PR 6/7 to PR4)

Google Page Rank Pendulum Swings Again
(Problogger back to PR7)

A blogger reports that paid links are now worth more
(many bloggers have stopped using paid links
but there are still people willing to pay ...and pay
even more)

Andy Beard has shown the progression in ranking
after the third round. This great list gives you the
top blogs (so why not comment on them!). Check it out
here:
http://andybeard.eu/2007/10/pagerank-update-2.html

What has this got to do with Squidoo?

Well Squidoo seems to be going from strength
to strength
while all these changes are going on.

Here's the Google ranking of three
of my lenses
(at least at the time of writing):

http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies - PR5

http://www.squidoo.com/digital-storytelling - PR4

http://www.squidoo.com/onlinelearningresources - PR4

Google PR5 is a ranking usually reserved for authority sites...
and often takes years of blogging to achieve. The Squidoo
Marketing Strategies lens was started in March this year!

So I suggest you get to it and build an authority Squidoo site
(with no paid links!!!) ...and then build multiple affiliate
marketing sites each dedicated to one product or service...and
cross-link the lot.

If you want to check out the Google page rank for your
Squidoo lens you can do so here:
http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/future-pagerank/

****************************************************************
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

I have just listened to Yaro Starak's Blog Profits Blueprint
on my iPod as I walked. Wow - this is great free stuff from
one of the Top ten bloggers in Australia (and a Brisbanite to
boot!). It really does give you the blueprint to make
money from a blog - step by step. Yaro should know - he
earns $5000 per month from blogging. This is a great
resource and you will not find a better resource on
blogging any where (even in the two $47 ebooks on the
topic that I have purchased).

Click here to download the Blog Profits Blueprint

************************************************
Ron Passfield is a Top 100 Squidoo Lensmaster and
provides free resources for Squidoo affiliate marketing
on his Squidoo lens:
http://www.squidoo.com/squidoomarketingstrategies

Ron is the author of the ebook:
Squidoo Marketing Strategies


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