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How to Use Your Blog to Get Freelancing and Consulting Work

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Recently, we talked about 17 plugins you can use with WordPress to make money on your blog, and while I think this is a great place to start, not every blog needs to be monetized so overtly. Just because you don’t run ads or work with sponsors doesn’t mean you can’t make money with your blog. In fact, one of the most lucrative monetization efforts for me has been gaining other work through my blog. You can be hired as a freelancer or consultant, or you can even be offered a job in your field, all due to your blogging activities.

Before you go about monetizing in this way, here are a few things to consider:

  1. Every time you take on outside work, you have less time for your blog.
  2. When you take a full-time job in your field, you might ultimately have to give up your blog if it is a conflict of interest.
  3. If your main goal with your blog is to use it to get hired, you might have to heavily filter what you say in op-ed posts.

Now that you know some of the drawbacks, are you still interested in making money this way? If so, here are a few tips to help you get started.

  • Create a page for your services.

Sometimes, the people who visit your blog might not realize that you’re looking for work even though they’re looking to hire someone with your skills. Once, I worked with a client looking for a web designer. He said, “Can you help me find someone like such-and-such blogger? Her work is perfect!” My response was, “Have you asked that blogger?” My client ended up hiring that person, who almost missed out on the job simply because she didn’t have a “hire me” page on her website.

  • Talk about prices.

Every time I see Marcus Sheridan speak, he preaches the importance of talking about prices on your website. I think this is a great tactic if you’re selling services online. People like to know what they’re going to have to pay in order to hire you. Of course, sometimes, you can’t give an exact price, but even giving a range is better than not giving any pricing information at all.

If your ultimate goal is to get work from your blog, there are times when you might not want to post about certain topics. Potential employers could be turned off by highly opinionated pieces, posts where you are negative about a company in your industry, or too many guest posts on your blog. Yes, you want traffic, but if you are using your blog as an online portfolio, you should choose each post with care.

Ultimately, you don’t need ads to monetize your blog; you have other options as well, including using your blog to get freelancing and consulting work. If you’re a blogger looking for this kind of work, consider coming to the next NMX event. It’s a great place to network and meet the type of people who want to hire someone like you!

Why Good Writers Aren’t Always Good Bloggers

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If you’re a good writer, you can dominate the blogging world, right? Wrong. Good writers are often surprised to find they stink at blogging. With so much hype over the “Content is King” idea, it’s not surprising to find that many writers simply can’t understand why they are not rocking the blogosphere with their posts.

Do you need to be a good writer to be a good blogger? That’s debatable. But one thing is for sure: good writing skills are not all you need to be a good blogger.

Working in the Kitchen

The best comparison I can think of is a restaurant. If you’re a wiz in the kitchen with delicious recipes and impeccable skills, you can be an awesome chef. The chef of a restaurant is like a writer. You’re the core, the heart of the business.

But running a successful restaurant takes so much more. You have to do administrative work like hiring and balancing the books. You have to design the restaurant, choosing everything from seating to paint color. You have to market your restaurant and make business decisions, like menu prices. You have to be amazing at “front of the house” tasks, like greeting customers and dealing with complaints.

The chef is important, but the restaurant owner is the boss, and for good reason – he or she is the person responsible for the restaurant’s success or failure, and that person needs to know more than how to cook a chicken.

The same is true for a blog. You need more than just writing skills because your responsibilities stretch much farther.

Yes, a chef can be a good restaurant owner – just like a writer can be a good blogger. You just have to realize that the food is only part of the equation.

“You’re Gonna Have to Deal with Stress”

There’s this Dennis Leary song called “Life’s Gonna Suck.” It’s always cracked me up – it’s about how when you’re an adult, life gets stressful and hard. One of the lines is, “You’re gonna have to deal with stress, deal with stress, deal with stress. You’re gonna be a giant mess.”

Luckily, I don’t think life’s quite as bleak as an adult as the song makes it out to be! But the “you’re gonna have to deal with stress” part is definitely true. Many people become bloggers or otherwise work online because they think it’s an easy way to make money. Not true. Starting your own blog is the same as starting a business; you simply have less overhead. It’s stressful, though, and if you’re not prepared to deal with this stress, no amount of good writing will make your blog successful.

For me, managing the stress is about remembering what I love about blogging and focusing my attention on these tasks. I love the writing. Does that mean I can simply ignore all of the technical, marketing, and other tasks that go along with blogging? Absolutely not. But what it does mean is that I can start every day on the right foot by doing some writing, and make sure that all the tasks I do are supporting my writing, so I can afford to write more.

You can also work toward a goal of hiring a virtual assistant (VA) to work on tasks you don’t like so you can concentrate more on being a writer. Ultimately, if you’re a good writer you can be a successful blogger. Just be honest with yourself about the work you’ll need to do beyond writing to be a good blogger.

17 Free WordPress Plugins for Blog Monetization

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monetization plugins for bloggers

One of the reasons I like WordPress as a blogging platform is the vast library of plugins to add functionality to your blog. No matter what your niche, there are tons of awesome plugin options, many of which we’ve already talked about here on the NMX blog, along with other awesome tools for your blog.

Today, I wanted to highlight plugins that play a specific role – helping you monetize your blog. If you’re looking for ways to make money with your blog, these WordPress plugins can help. (Disclosure: Some of the below-mentioned companies/people have exhibited at our events in the past or have other relationships with NMX, but they aren’t listed here because of that connection. They’re listed here because I honestly thing they are good tools to consider as you’re monetizing your blog!)

These plugins are listed in alphabetical order not in order of importance, and not every plugin is right for every blog, so use a discerning eye to determine which are right for you.

1. Ad Injection

If you want to include ads within your post, not just on your sidebar, this is a great plugin to consider using. Ad Injection works with Google AdSense, Amazon, ClickBank, and lots of other ad networks. Ads can be injected into your content at the beginning, end, or random spots throughout, and you have tons of control over who sees these ads, as you can limit ads by post length, post age, and more. You can even split test with this plugin to see which ads are preforming best.

The biggest reason I recommend Ad Injection over some of the other ad plugins out there is the amount of control you have with this tool. It’s pretty easy to scare readers away if your blog is too ad-heavy, so with Ad Injection, you have the control you need to make sure your content isn’t getting overwhelmed. The ability to target specific readers based on parameters such as how they were referred to your site is an added bonus.

2. AdRotate

As the name implies, AdRotate is a simply plugin that allows you to have rotating ads on your blog. I find this plugin a little less intuitive to use than others, so make sure you set aside some time to read the documentation and learn how to use it. Once you do, however, there are a lot of cool options. You choose the ad sizes and add them to group or blocks, and you can see the click through rates and other stats in the dashboard.

This plugin also warns you when ads are about to expire, allows you to export ad statistics, automatically disables ads after your designated time/number of clicks/etc., and more. So, once you set it up, this is a very easy automated system for ad management on your blog.

3. Affiliate Link Cloaking

The Affiliate Link Cloaking plugin allows you to use a “pretty” URL that redirects with your affiliate URL, giving you the capability to make money without a link that includes your affiliate ID. This ensures that the user does not remove the ID (yes, some people do that for some reason), and it also makes your links look nicer (some networks have really long, ugly-looking links).

A word of caution: NEVER use this of other link cloaking plugins to “trick” a reader into clicking the link. Always follow FTC guidelines and disclose any link that is an affiliate link.

4. Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer

I recommend some other Amazon plugins (see below) that you can use to add links, images, widgets, and more to your site, but definitely install Amazon Affiliate Link Localizer as well if you are an Amazon affiliate. What this plugin does is add your affiliate code to any Amazon link on your site, so if you forget to use an affiliate link, you won’t miss out on the sale.

Even better though – this plugin automatically detects where a visitor lives and directs them to their country’s Amazon site. So, if not all of your traffic is from one country, this ensures that you’re sending people to the same product on their localized Amazon site. You can pretty much install this one, update the options to include your affiliate IDs, and forget about it.

5. Cleeng Content Monetization

People are willing to pay for good content, and Cleeng Content Monetization gives you an easy way to create a pay wall, like you’ll find on membership sites, but without requiring membership. Anyone who wants to see more content simply clicks to pay a very small amount, but you can still keep the majority of your content open to the public in order to take advantage of advertising revenue. You can also work with a traditional membership subscription model or give out daily passes. There are a lot of options.

Here’s a great video that explains how Cleeng works:

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/17094725[/vimeo]

6. CrankyAds

The CrankyAds plugin from Yaro Starak allows you to add text, banner, and video ads to your blog pretty easily. A lot of other plugins do the same thing, but there are a few functions that set CrankyAds apart:

  • The plugin automatically creates an advertising page for your blog with all of your ad options.
  • The process is streamlined, so while you don’t have quite as many options as you do with some other plugins, you have a much simpler method of monetizing your site with ads.
  • You don’t have to do any of the manual uploading yourself – your sponsors do the work.

Although this plugin is free, when someone buys an ad, they do so through the CrankyAds marketplace, and they of course take a cut of the money. Some bloggers have also noted that they don’t like the auto-populating advertising page. CrankyAds is relatively new, however, so I think we can expect to see some improvements over the next several months. It’s definitely worth checking out and keeping your eye on, even if you’re not sold on it right now.

7. MSMC Redirect After Comment

Like some of the other plugins on this list, the MSMC Redirect After Comment plugin doesn’t have to be used as a monetization tool, but it certainly can be. With this plugin, whenever someone leaves a comment, they’ll be redirected to a page you specify, rather than just back to whatever post they were reading. So, you could have them redirect to a sales page, an online store, or even a list of “products I recommend” with affiliate links. There are a lot of possibilities with this plugin, and at the very least, it allows you to keep your readers on your site longer in many cases. The longer someone stays on your blog, the more likely they are to buy a product, sign up for your email list, or tell their friends about you.

8. Outbrain

Outbrain is a “related links” widget that can be used across many platforms (including WordPress). You can use this plugin to do internal linking, which typically decreases your bounce rate, but it’s also a monetization tool – if you want it to be. Some content creators pay Outbrain to distribute their posts on other blogs. If you write something related and agree to have outside posts linked as part of your Outbrain widget, you’ll be paid for the traffic you send to that sponsored content. With Outbrain, you have full control over the sponsored content you allow linked on your site, and you can also indicate other sources you’d like to include in the “related links” section when relevant, so it’s a great way to support your favorite bloggers.

9. PostPost

If you want to monetize your feed, PostPost is a great plugin option. With this plugin, you can add content before or after your posts/pages. Simply add the code snippet or text via the options and it will start appearing. PostPost supports JavaScript-based code, which means you can use it with Google AdSense and other ad networks, or you could also display affiliate ads, text/banner ads sold directly to sponsors, or even your own products.

10. PostRelease

When you sign up for PostRelease, you open your blog up to a brand new automated revenue stream – sponsored posts. With this plugin, you’ll join a network of publishers, and companies interested in content marketing will automatically be matched with your site. So, for example, a car company might write a post called “How to Buy Tires For Your New Car” and be matched with your automotive blog. The post will appear on your blog exactly like any of your own posts, and will be marked clearly as “sponsored.”

From your dashboard, you can approve or deny sponsored posts, as well as track stats. If a sponsored post is not performing well, PostRelease will delete it so your site isn’t continually cluttered with posts your readers don’t like. One feature that I really like is that sponsored posts will always show up second in your feed. So, your own content won’t be overshadowed on your homepage if a PostRelease posts is published after it. Your content always takes center stage.

Check out this video to learn more about PostRelease:

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/42294717[/vimeo]

11. SEO Smart Links

The primary function of SEO Smart Links is to allow you to easily link internally on your own site, but you can also use this plugin for affiliate advertising. Basically, you input a list of keywords, along with the URL you want to link to whenever the keyword is used.

If you do choose to use this plugin for external affiliate linking, make sure you don’t overdo it. You don’t want to have links on every two words in your post! Also make sure you have a disclosure notice on your blog so you’re complying with FTC rules requiring you to tell your readers that you use affiliate links.

There is a premium version of this plugin available, but you can start off with the free version.

12. Sharexy

As a blogger, you probably already realize how important social sharing buttons are on your site. Sharexy is one of the button options out there, but unlike other social sharing plugins, this plugin also allows you to earn a little extra money on the side. One of the options you have with Sharexy is to also display a small advertisement, and you’ll earn money for every click.

I personally have never used Sharexy on any of my blogs, but have stumbled across this plugin more than once, and some people seem to really like it. So, it’s definitely an option I’m considering and one you should take a look at as well.

13. WordPress Amazon Associate (plus some other Amazon plugins)

This is an awesome plugin for anyone who’s an affiliate with Amazon. Yes, you can just log in on Amazon.com and get all the links you need that way, but with WordPress Amazon Associate, you don’t even have to leave your dashboard. The shortcodes you can use with this plugin save you time, and adding pictures and lists of products is easy to do in a professional way with WPAA.

For me, having WPAA right in WordPress also serves as a reminder to me as I’m writing posts to think about what products I could recommend to my readers that are related to the post topic. You, of course, don’t need to add affiliate links to every post you write, but recommending products that are helpful to readers is definitely a revenue stream you can explore.

Amazon Link is another Amazon affiliate plugin that you can consider. I do not have personal experience using this plugin, but it looks like it has many of the same functions. I’ve also read good things about AmazonSimpleAdmin, which is another Amazon plugin for affiliates that provides some of the same functions as WPAA and Amazon Link.

14. WP125

For those of you needing a simple ad management solution, WP125 is an easy-to-use option. It doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles you’ll find with other ad plugins, but sometimes, simple is better. With this plugin, you can easily add and manage 125×125 banners on your blog, either in manual or random order. This plugin also tracks how many times each ad was clicked, so it’s a great option for all-in-one affiliate ad management as well, not just for ads you sell to sponsors. In addition, you can have the plugin notify you via email when an ad expires, which is great for manually following up with people.

I personally do not use WP125, but I know people who do and like it due to its simplicity. If you’re just getting started and don’t have tons of banner ads to manage yet, check it out.

15. WP Auctions

Ever wish you could offer items up for bid online without using eBay? With WP Auctions, you can. This is a great option if you already have decent traffic and are selling some items closely related to your niche. You’re not going to have nearly the amount of viewers as you would on eBay, but for some people, this could work.

WP Auctions integrates with PayPal for easy payment when the auction is over. Along with selling items, keep in mind that you can also get creative with this plugin by auctioning off ad space, holding auctions for charity, etc.

16. WP e-Commerce

If you sell your own products, like ebooks or e-courses, WP e-Commerce is a great shopping cart solution. This plugin integrates with PayPal, Google Checkout, and more – and you can even accept checks via mail with this cart system.

Designers, rejoice! This plugin gives you complete HTML & CSS control, so you can customize your shopping cart experience. Don’t worry, though: if you aren’t technically inclined or don’t have an eye for design, the out-of-the-box version looks nice too.

Some other WP e-Commerce perks?

  • The ability to offer discounts, coupons, sales, free shipping on physical products, etc.
  • URLs that are search engine friendly
  • Integration with many common plugins and platforms
  • The ability to decide if you want one-click checkout or a multi-step process
  • Sales notification via email

I could keep going – you really have to check out this powerhouse plugin yourself to see all the cool options, most of which are available with the free version. For those of you out there with heavy commerce needs, there are also some paid upgrades available here.

17. WP-Insert

WP-Insert is similar to Ad Injection in that it allows you to include advertising not just on your sidebar, but within your content as well. With this plugin, you have a lot of options for control, such as blocking ads from showing on certain pages/posts, ad style customization, add the option to inset your ads into your RSS feed.

This plugin has a unique feature – the ability to add a ready-made Terms and Conditions page and a ready-made Policy page to your blog (if you want them). This isn’t an option every blogger needs, but as you grow, these are definitely pages you should definitely consider including on your blog. The written T&C/Policy pages can be edited easy to fit your needs, but it’s nice to have a starting point.

WP-Insert is really more than just an ad management tool. For some of you, the various functions will be welcomed, while others might find it a bit clunky because there are too many options. Check it out to see how/if it can fit into your needs.

Your turn: What WordPress plugins do you find helpful for monetization?

How a Blog is like a House

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house

Photo Credit: Julie Jordan Scott

A blog may be like a home, but a number of posts have been written about how a blog – or a site – should be welcoming. It has to invite a person to enter. It has to attract the audience, the one person, the blogger seeks.

Those things are true, but they neglect a simple fact: a home is a house long before it becomes a home. The “hominess” is the result of a person living within a house and adding one’s own touch or flair to the dwelling. That doesn’t mean the house should be neglected in favor of style and decorative elements; quite the opposite. A home loses its allure when the paint fades or the foundation cracks. No one wants to live in an environment where the pipes spring leaks or where the floor is susceptible to becoming a sinkhole. People want to live in a place where they can rest in safety, where they can be comfortable.

Always check the foundation.

What is the foundation of a blog? It’s the underlying structure of the blog. It’s how the blog – the site – is arranged and organized. It’s the purpose, the why. Without that organization and understanding, the house becomes dysfunctional. Rooms are used for purposes that they are not meant. The house becomes a labyrinth. Its confusing structure catches a person unaware; the person becomes so lost within the blog that he or she cannot find the purpose behind it nor can he or she understand how to navigate from one part of the site to another.

Examine the walls.

The next component of the house are the walls – the things that find their roots in the foundation and hold up the roof. The walls of a blog are the actual posts. The posts are built upon the underlying foundation. They support the purpose of the blog, whatever that may be. For one blogger, it may be teaching his or her audience a new cake-decorating technique. For another, it could be sharing practical ways for becoming a better speaker. In both cases, the walls – the posts – must support those underlying purposes. If they don’t, the walls fall. The homeowner has to start again, this time keeping his or her purpose, the foundation, in mind.

Consider the roof.

Once the walls have been established, the roof can be addressed. The roof brings the four walls together. It unifies them. It gives cohesion to the walls and completes the work begun by the foundation. While the walls primarily act as an extension of the foundation, they also point toward the roof. They work toward a common goal, whether that be the goal of more e-letter subscribers, visits to the blog, or book sales. The roof is, in a way, the bookend of the foundation. The foundation is incomplete without the roof just as the roof is incomplete without the foundation. They need each other, and they need the walls that bring them together.

Now, build a house.

What joins the foundation, the walls, and the roof? A house can’t be built with only a concrete slab and some plywood and bricks. Other tools and supplies are needed. The different components of a house are brought together through piping, nails, and support beams. Such things in a blog are the things that the audience rarely sees or considers. It’s things like themes, which tie back to the purpose found in the foundation and the goal found in the roof. It’s consistency in writing blog posts. It’s things like grammar. Those things – and others – support the foundation, walls, and roof and bring those three things together. They are the glue, the cement, the nuts and bolts, the nails and staples.

The house already exists, and it has problems.

Of course, it’s not always that simple for the blogger. Not every blogger gets to start with a newly built house. Some bloggers have to work with pre-existing ones. Often, the conditions of that house are not ideal. Perhaps the foundation has sunk on one side of it. Maybe one of the walls is sagging. The roof could have a leak. Maybe some of the nails are missing, or a previous owner stretched the limits of a support beam. The house could have been vandalized. Maybe it has been left empty for so long that it requires not only maintenance but also the tearing down of walls so that they can be rebuilt. What does the blogger do in that case?

The blogger has one of two choices: he or she can ignore the issue or address it. Neither of those choices are preferable; the first only prolongs the inevitable, and the second means labor and inconvenience. Once the concern has been identified, though, something has to be done. That could mean adding support piers where the foundation has sunk. It could mean replacing windows and doors or adding insulation. Any of those acts has repercussions. Altering the foundation could result in nothing happening, but it’s equally likely that some sheetrock could crumble or that some plumbing could start to leak.

It’s also true that houses start to show their age after a certain amount of time. The house will need repairs. It could be time for a fresh coat of paint. The roof might need to be replaced. The walls could have started to crumble and need to be reinforced in some way. Maybe the homeowner now has a family and needs to add a room or two, that is, if the homeowner chooses to stay in his or her current house.

Blogging is no different; blogs start to show their age, too. The foundation may develop problems. Maybe the site needs a new look to bring it up-to-date and to keep it competitive with other sites. It could be that new goals – a new roof – are needed, particularly if the existing ones have been reached. Perhaps the posts need to grow and mature in order to support both the foundation and the roof.

Why all this focus on a blog as a house? Because it’s only after addressing foundational and structural issues that a house can become a home. It’s only then that a blogger can concern himself or herself with style and with adding that bit of personality that makes a site his or her blog.

How Being a Nerd has Made Me a Better Blogger

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Are Nerds Better Bloggers I’ll admit it; I’m a total nerd. My idea of a romantic date night is playing video games or Magic: The Gathering with my boyfriend. I’d rather hang out online than hang out at a bar (most of the time). I can quote Doctor Who on command and would rather watch Star Trek than Sex in the City.

Perhaps my nerd-dom is summed up in the fact that I couldn’t think of a more recent popular non-geeky television show than Sex in the City.

Being a nerd isn’t really a badge of honor for me as much as it is a fact of life. Luckily, being a nerd has made me better at my job as a blogger. Here’s why:

  • Nerds are used to dealing with haters.

These days, being a geek is “cool.” Or so it seems. I would argue that living zombies and playing Madden with your “bros” doesn’t really make you nerdy. But regardless, nerds out there know how hard it was growing up loving books instead of cheerleading or chess instead of football. I count my lucky stars that I’m a girl, so I was never on the receiving end of a wedgie (do boys still give wedgies to one another on the playground?), but I was certainly teased and even bullied. It’s great experience for dealing with haters online. I’ve grown a thick skin over the years, which makes it easier for me to voice my opinions online without being fearful of people thinking I’m uncool.

  • Nerds love education.

Growing up, I was always the kid who actually liked going to school. The first day was exciting for me, and I would often start browsing through my textbooks as soon as I got them, even before we had homework assignments or had jumped into lessons. This love of education has really helped me as a blogger, because I’m constantly trying to learn new things in my niche. More importantly, I like the research aspect of blogging, which is where I feel like a lot of bloggers are lacking. The amount of misinformation online is astounding, and even most opinion pieces online could benefit from better research. Don’t just tell me why I should do something a certain way. Tell me what proof you have to back up your opinion.

  • Nerds are passionate about weird stuff.

To be successful as a blogger, you have to be passionate about your niche. Weirdly passionate. Nerds already get that. We’re fangirls and boys of weird stuff, whether it’s bringing Firefly back on the air and who shot first–Han or Greedo. We follow every snippet of news about books from our favorite authors  becoming movies, we spend hours creating fantasy characters for a new tabletop game, and we stand in line behind thousands of other people at ComicCon to see our favorite comic book artists. That weird obsessive behavior is what will make you successful in your niche, and trust me; nerds have weird down pat.

  • Nerds are driven.

I wasn’t given a basketball scholarship. Making friends didn’t come easily to me. Getting a date? Let’s not even talk about that. Growing up, if I wanted something, I had to try really, really hard. Even with academics, the competition to be best among nerds is fierce, and if you aren’t working hard, you’re falling behind. Nerds have to work extra hard at everything they do growing up, so it leads to a very driven personality in many cases. Now, that’s not to say that if you aren’t nerdy, you aren’t a hard worker. But as a nerd, I personally learned to be a very driven person, working hard for everything I have with nothing just handed to me. This is a quality that has helped me be a successful blogger today. You aren’t going to be successful if you aren’t willing or able to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into your blog.

  • Nerds love a challenge.

Whether it’s figuring out that math problem or writing a novel or beating a video game villain, nerds love a challenge. And really, that’s what blogging is–a challenge. If you’re someone who easily quits when things get tough, this probably isn’t the right path for you, at least not as a career. Challenge is scary, but it can also be extremely rewarding. When you embrace the challenge of blogging and combine that with your nerdy nature to be driven, passionate, educated, and willing to express your opinions even in the face of haters, that’s when you can truly start to build a better blog.

So let your nerd flag fly! Embrace the inner geek, learn to love your dorky self, and start building a better blog instead of repressing those memories of getting picked last in gym class.

For other nerds out there: do you think being nerdy has helped you become a better blogger? And if you weren’t a nerd growing up, do you think that your personality as a child (and beyond) has helped you be successful as a blogger?

Are Your Blogging Goals Realistic?

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When I first started blogging, I had laughably unrealistic goals. It was 2006, and I was newly hired to run an op-ed blog examining religions of the world for a blog network. At that time, I was offered payment based on a percentage of the total Google ad earning on the site, plus a very small base salary per post (less than $10). I didn’t care about the base salary because I knew how well I could write. I knew my posts would lead to massive amounts of traffic. I know that huge traffic numbers would mean a lot of ad clicks. I knew that this blogging thing was going to be a piece of cake.

So I spent four hours writing my first post, which was about 250 words with no pictures or links in it. I hit the publish button, sat back in my computer chair, and waited.

Of course, as you can probably guess, everything I “knew” was completely wrong. If I remember correctly, I made less than $3 in ad revenue that first month, and this was typical during my time blogging on this site until they changed the freelance blogger payment method. I was making around $2 per hour working for this blog network, which was not quite what I had imagined when I took the job.

The Importance of Realistic Goals

Last month, I wrote about how important it is to ensure that your actions and goals align, but let’s focus for a moment just on your goals. If you start out with bad goals, it doesn’t matter what actions you take.

When I realized the reality of my religion blog, I was pretty upset. I imagined that I would be making hundreds or even thousands of dollars blogging under this model, and I hoped it could be a full time job eventually. My goal during that first month was to make at least $500 – and I came up drastically short. It was depressing. I wasn’t motivated to continue, and I questioned my abilities as a writer.

If you don’t have realistic goals, you’ll never be able to reach them. While challenging yourself is important, having unrealistic goals that you can never reach sets you up for certain failure. When you’re focused on trying to avoid this inevitable failure, you aren’t attentive to the ways you can succeed.

How Do You Know If Your Goals Are Unrealistic?

Every blogger should be pushed by goals. Setting goals like “get ten Facebook fans” is silly. If you don’t challenge yourself, you’ll never really be able to grow to your full potential. But don’t forget that the opposite is also true. Being discouraged by unrealistic goals can hold you back.

So how do you know if your goals are unrealistic? Here are a few indications:

  • Your goal isn’t relative.

Goals take time. If you’re trying to do too much too quickly, you will likely fail. Instead, take some time to study your blog so you can set relative goals. For example, if your blog traffic typically grows by 10% per month, it’s unrealistic to set the goal of growing by 50% in a month. Instead, try setting a goal of 15% and move from there. Before you try to achieve above-average goals, you have to know what average really is.

  • There isn’t a plan in place to reach your goal.

If your goals aren’t linked to actions, you will likely fail. Sure, your blog will naturally grow over time if you publish quality content, but natural growth is not really in your control. You want your goals connected to actions you can actually take to reach that goal. For instance, if your goal is to reach 500 Pinterest followers, just relying on people to follow your page without you actually doing anything is silly. Instead, list what you’ll do to get these followers. That way, you can actually achieve this goal, not just sit by and wait for it to happen.

  • Your goals are too broad.

Broad goals aren’t realistic because even if they are obtainable, you can’t really track your progress. For example, let’s say that your goal is simple “make more money with my blog.” Monetization is a great topic for a goal, but this particular goal is way to broad. How will you know when you’ve reached your goal? Technically, if you make a single cent more, you’ve reached you goal. So quantify your goals rather than being too general.

  • You’re asking too much of yourself.

There are only so many hours in the day. If your goals don’t allow you to sleep, it doesn’t matter if you achieve them or not. Ultimately, you’ll be too burned out to care. Avoid challenging yourself so much that your goals are unobtainable without sacrifices that cost too much.

If you haven’t yet, sit down at your computer or even with a pencil and paper in your hands and make a list of your goals. Always ask yourself, “How can I get there?” whenever you come up with a goal. You want to push yourself to do things that seem impossible, but be careful to avoid goals that actually are impossible.

Why “Blog When You Have Something to Say” is Bad Advice

Author:

One of the most common questions I hear about blogging is this:

How often should I blog? Do I need to write a certain number of posts per month or week or day?

And commonly, the answer I see people giving is this:

Blog when you have something to say. You don’t have to stick to a certain schedule or routine. What’s important is that you blog when you feel passionate about the topic.

It certainly sounds like good advice, but in actuality, it can be quite dangerous, especially for new bloggers. Why is “blog when you have something to say” such bad advice?

1. It encourages laziness.

When you only blog when you have something to say, you’re encouraged to be a lazy blogger. It’s almost as though we’re giving ourselves a free pass to do less work. Something big happens in your industry? Meh. I don’t *really* feel passionate about that topic, so I’m not going to write about it.To be sure, you don’t have to write about everything, but sometimes covering a topic is what is best for your readers. If you give yourself a free pass to ignore certain topics, you aren’t giving your readers the best experience possible on your blog.

2. We aren’t forced to push ourselves.

When you only blog when you have something to say, it’s easy to fall into the trap of not looking for something to say. It’s not about blogging about topics when you don’t care about them. It’s about finding things to care about. When you’re forced to push yourself to find topics to cover, you might be surprised at what you find. The world is an interesting place. You might also be surprised at the work you do when you push yourself to find the interesting story in a topic you don’t naturally find interesting.

3. More posts lead to more traffic.

The more you write, the more your fans will visit your blog to read what you write. Maintaining a high quality is important, but if you do, you will see more traffic. Chris Brogan talked at BlogWorld New York about how he recently decrease the number of times he posts per week and he’s definitely seen a decrease in traffic. When having a conversation with Jared Polin about this, he told me that he attributes at least some of his own success to the fact that he posts six or seven times every week. I can also confirm from my personal experiences that when I post more, I see more traffic. So if you’re measuring success with statistics, posting more often is a great way to boost your traffic. And remember, readers are creatures of habit. If you post on a schedule, they’ll know when to expect new content. If you post sporadically, they might simply forget about you.

Going back to the original question – how often should you blog? If the answer isn’t “blog when you have something to say,” what is the answer?

Some people might disagree with me, but I think the best answer is this: Blog as often as you can while maintaining a high quality. Get on a schedule and stick to it, pushing yourself to blog regularly. Sometimes it might be hard, but as Jimmy Dugan says, “It’s supposed to be hard! If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it.”

How often do you blog? How often do you think people should blog? Tell us with a comment below!

 

14 Tips to Becoming a Better Writer

Author:

As the owner of a blog there are several issues bloggers have to deal with. One of the biggest challenges is learning how to write quality content.

Below I will give you 14 tips to becoming a better blogger.

1. Write with a goal.

Every time you sit down to write you need to have a goal in mind. Maybe the article is supposed to educate, inform, or trigger thought. Knowing your direction will make the article flow more easily. People all over the internet write different types of articles for different reasons. For example, if you are looking to get on the big popular blog sites, you don’t want to write short articles that carry no meaning. The alternative is writing long informative 800-1,000 word articles that actually deliver quality information on your topic.

2. Do your research.

The better you know the topic, the easier it will be to write about it. By knowing your topic, you can cut down on the time it takes to create informative articles your readers will enjoy. Follow a general blogging rule; the topics you choose should be ones in which you are an expert. If you don’t consider yourself an expert, become one.

3. Just write.

The more you write, the better you will get at it. Don’t just focus on personal topics, but challenge yourself to research and write on topics you don’t know. Write on anything and everything, and your overall writing skills will improve, not to mention your typing speed. Both things will help you reduce writing time in the long term.

4. Write with your readers in mind.

Instead of writing with the idea of making money, write about what interests your readers. Ask yourself a few questions:

  • What is the reason my readers are reading my article?
  • Am I addressing their needs and concerns?
  • Why would anyone read what I have to say?

If you can get into the mind of your reader and what they are seeking from you and your writing, you’ll be able to address their needs and write something that they will enjoy and keep coming back for.

5. Backlinks.

If you are writing for the purpose of back linking remember to include your keywords. Now with back linking I am going to say the main goal is still the same and that’s to attract your readers, remember traffic is the key to getting ranked in Google. As Google recommends, create your content for your readers, not just to improve your ranking in Google. If all you’re trying to do is rank in Google you will fail.

6. Learn to use crafty titles.

Titles are one of the most important parts of the article and a big part of the writing battle. It doesn’t matter how informative or well written your article is, if the title doesn’t catch the readers and make them want to open the article then all your blogging is pointless. With that being said, spend some time on your blog post title. Next, focus on making it reader friendly and interesting.

7. Write with passion.

If you are bored by your topic, chances are your writing is going to not only show it but bore your readers as well. If you love your topic then your readers will be able to pull the passion right off the content you write. The more passion they feel on the topic, the more interested they become in what you’re blogging about. Not to mention, you my gain them as a daily reader.

8. Forget the Grammar.

Stopping to do spell check and grammar is a killer on time when you are first writing. When you constantly stop to edit your post, most likely your post will die with it. Instead, focus on getting the thoughts and ideas down, and then go back and do the spelling and grammar checks. You’ll find your mind thinks and writes much quicker by using this method.

9. Quality.

There will forever be the debate over quality and quantity. The truth is good quality will automatically give you quantity. If you are always providing good quality then people will check out your work on a regular basis. The more publishers that take notice of your work, the more targeted traffic you will be getting.

10. Turn off word count.

Don’t worry about how many words your post has in it. Sure, don’t have your posts be 100 words each, try and keep it above 300 words but whatever. This is the best way to ensure that your articles are quality and not fluff. Watching word count makes you want to add extra wording that does not need to be there and it keeps you from concentrating on your content.

11. Read. Read. Read.

Reading is a way to open you up to the world and what it has to offer. It also gives you knowledge that can be used in your writing. Some people don’t believe this but it can help with your grammar and vocabulary all of these are things that can lead to quality content.

12. Check the competition then do it better.

Find out what your competition is doing and try and do it better. By knowing what kind of content you are trying to compete with, you can improve your own skills and marketing mindset.

13. Use your target audience language.

If you are writing for highly educated people, your writing should reflect that. If you are targeting parents, write from the mindset of a parent. You get the picture. Now what this means; you have to know who your target audience is and what they need. Figure this out and it will be a gold mine to you.

14. Understand that writing is a skill.

It is said that it takes 10,000 hours to master something. If that is the case then you need to spend lots of time practicing. You also have to realize writing is not for everyone. If writing is not your thing then you should consider outsourcing the work to others. There are tons of people that love to write content. Check out Blogging.org, it’s a great resource for finding quality writers at cheaper prices.

I hope these tips will help you improve your content writing skills. These tips are not going to help unless you actually start writing and putting them into practice. Once you do this it will become second nature.

If you already use these tips or have others feel free to share them.

Does Your Blog Just Tell People What They Want to Hear? A Honest Look at Social Success

Author:

Oh, the ripples a single blog post can make. It’s been a long time since a post about social media got people as worked up as Cathryn Sloane’s “Why Every Social Media Manager Should Be Under 25” at NextGen Journal. I’ve read dozens of blog post responses to her, and as of writing this post, there are 482 comments on her post itself.

In reading the responses, there are a lot of very thoughtful points being made. At the same time, there’s something about this whole discussion that is making me cringe a little. It’s highlighting a very important and oft-ignored problem in op-ed blogging: the tendency to overvalue the popularity of our own posts when they haven’t truly added any value. As I continue to read blog posts about age and social media, it’s making me more and more uncomfortable.

Cathryn’s post struck a nerve with a lot of people, but the vast majority of commenters were older social media managers (and other older people working in the social media space, regardless of official title). Understandable, since those were the people she was attacking with her post. And the vast majority of people who wrote rebuttal posts were also older social media managers. Again, understandable given her attack.

But what I’ve seen most of the time (read: not all of the time) are defensive rebuttal posts that are simple masquerading as a “discussion” or “conversation” on the topic when they aren’t really adding anything to the debate at all. I have to ask myself, what do these posts accomplish other than perhaps making the blogger feel good about him/herself?

To me, a discussion or conversation about the topic is all about debate and, more importantly, learning. I actually think that’s where Cathryn’s post was extremely successful. Regardless of your opinion of the piece, what she published was an opinion about something that she felt needed to be addressed. She supported her opinion with a few reasons and put it out there for the world to read. Whether or not she did a good job or has a valid opinion is a moot point. She was, in her blog post, seeking to make a difference, to change your way of thinking, to highlight an injustice she thinks is a problem in this industry.

Did the rebuttal blog posts do the same? Or did they just say, “NUH UH!” and get liked and tweeted by the same hundred or so people who’ve been liking and tweeting all rebuttal posts and comments?

In other words, did your post make a difference, or did it just tell your community what they wanted to hear? Did you actually add to the conversation with new ideas or did you just defend yourself by calling someone wrong? Did you seek new ways of looking at the topic or did you just rant?

Take a good hard look at how successful you are on social media. If you say, “HITLER IS BAD!” it’s not hard to get your audience to agree with you. But what does that prove? Did you teach your readers anything? Did you really start a conversation? This applies to every controversial topic, not just the wildfire that caught online about age and social media this past week.

An example: Let’s say I write a post about how automated DMs are bad. Of course the vast majority of the NMX/BlogWorld community is going to agree with me, and if I write a passionate, well-written post, it’s likely going to get a lot of social shares. But so what? All I’m doing is preaching to the choir. I’m not bringing new people to church. Putting the popular opinion into a blog post doesn’t alone make you a good blogger or good at social media.

That’s not to say that you have to be controversial when you blog about something, but I do think it is important to be honest about your social media success. Before you smugly say that Cathryn knows nothing about social media, perhaps take a good hard look at how often her post has been shared, how many true discussions it has created, and how many people have admitted that she does have some valid points that they hadn’t considered before.

Are you achieving the same things with your op-ed posts or are you simply telling people what they want to hear and patting yourself on the back when people like it?

Why You Should Embrace Sponsored Posts on Your Blog

Author:

The phrase sponsored post still leaves a dirty taste in the mouths of many bloggers. Companies are still learning how to work with bloggers, so you might still get a ton of lame offers, ranging from press releases to requests for free promotion for a product or service that has nothing to do with your niche.

But if you swear off sponsored posts altogether, you could be missing out on awesome content for your blog – not to mention a source of income.

The Negative Connotation of “Sponsored”

If you poll your readers, asking, “Would you like to see more sponsored posts on my blog?” I have a feeling that 100% would say, “No way!” But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have sponsored posts. There’s this negative connotation with the word sponsored. People read that word and think crap that has no relevance to me that the blogger published because they were paid.

Stereotypes happen for a reason. Many bloggers do publish crap that has no relevance to their readers simply for the cash, and that’s a problem for three reasons:

  1. Your readers aren’t getting high-quality content.
  2. The sponsor isn’t getting any bang for their buck since readers aren’t clicking their links.
  3. Companies everywhere see this continue to think this is what bloggers want.

There’s a bit of a revolution with sponsored content happening right now, though. Companies are beginning to realize point number two – that they aren’t getting any benefits from the money they’re spending on on sponsored posts. But it’s up to us bloggers to take it a step farther and educate companies on what we really want. That way, the word sponsored won’t make readers shudder anymore.

A Three-Point Rating System

Whenever I’m pitched by a company, I use a three-point rating system to determine whether or not it is a good fit for our blog.

  1. Is the topic relevant and interesting to my readers?
  2. Am I being compensated for my work?
  3. Will the content be unique for my website or is everyone in the niche posting it right now?

So, for example, let’s say that XYZ company sends me a press release about a celebrity chef for my food blog. They offer to send me to his restaurant for a free meal and pay me for the post. Is the topic relevant and interesting? Yes. Am I being compensated? Yes. Is the content unique? Well, it’s a press release, so probably not.

Let’s say that a start-up offers me access to their new social media monitoring product and payment to post a review of it on my fashion blog. In this case, I’m being compensated and since it’s my own review, it would be unique. But will readers of a fashion blog want to know about a social media monitoring tool? Probably not.

Now let’s say that a third company, 123 Travels-R-Us contacts me to write about their new hotel deals site for my travel blog. They offer to send me a unique post about how to save money booking tickets online, which links back to their site. However, they do not offer any kind of compensation for publishing the post.

So I should say no to all three of these offers, right?

Get the Sponsored Content You Really Want

The answer is no: No, I (or any blogger) should not just say no to the above three offers. As bloggers, when we get good but slightly “off” pitches like these, we have the chance to educate companies about their content marketing strategy and get awesome content for our blogs – all while getting paid!

If a company satisfies none of the point on my three-point system, it’s probably not a good fit and working with them will likely be a huge headache. But if they satisfy one or, better yet, two of the points, we can probably work together. They just need a good teacher!

Respond to the email, not in an attacking way, but in an understanding way. They have a job to do – promote their own company. So tell them exactly how they can better make that happen on your blog.

  • “Dear Company XYZ, I would love to promote your chef to my readers, as I feel they’d be very interested in visiting his new restaurant. Instead of posting a press release, though, I think you’ll get more interest if I can do a unique interview with him about his food. If that sounds good to you, let’s work out the details.”
  • “Dear Start-Up, Your new social media monitoring tool looks great, but unfortunately most of my readers are fashionistas who wouldn’t be interested in this topic. However, I am willing to review it as a guest post for such-and-such blog about social media. Does this interest you?”
  • “Dear 123 Travels-R-Us, I checked out your new site and it looks fantastic! I’d love to promote this to my readers. Attached, you’ll find my rates for sponsored posts, and I also have package deals if you’re interested in sidebar or newsletter advertising as well. If you’re interested, I’m happy to talk to you more about my traffic numbers and audience demographic.”

In all three of these cases, the company might not be interested or they might not respond, but you’re sending a clear message:

  • Bloggers want unique, quality content.
  • Bloggers want relevant content.
  • Bloggers want to be paid fairly.

When you can satisfy all three points, you’ll not only be paid for your work, but your readers will enjoy the post you’ve published. Sponsored doesn’t have to be such a dirty word if the details of the sponsorship are very carefully worked out. The vast majority of readers don’t care in the least that you were paid to write something (as long as you’re honest about that, of course); they only care that what you write is something they want to read.

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