Blogussion » problogger

Why You Should Run Multiple Blogs for 3 Simple Reasons

Alex — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 04:00:07 +0000

Last week I wrote about why I thought running more than one blog at a time is a bad idea. After viewing the comments, I couldn’t help but think maybe it’s not such a bad thing. That, and I’m trying to start another blog myself. I thought about it more, and want to share with you why I think running multiple blogs can also be a good thing.

The one reason I gave opposing multiple blogs is that it takes too much time to run more than one blog, and that you will have a hard time succeeding with any blog you create.

Most of the responses were in agreement, and the two following answers basically sum up what everyone was talking about in the comments:

Murray Lunn: If you’re starting a new blog after one has been around for years, it’s certainly possible due to the vast backlog of articles, relationships and traffic you’re regularly receiving on your mature blog.

You certainly wouldn’t be able to keep up with the demand of writing every day – you’d burn out. However, since the mature blog is so far along, I don’t feel it’s necessary to write every day, maybe twice or so a week.

Joella Molson: It is possible to write multiple blogs if you have the passion, the time and the organizational skills to pull it off.

So we all agreed that if you ran a blog with some sort of success prior to your new blog, or you just have the time and patience to actually manage multiple blogs, then you should go for it. Of course, it’s up to you and you’re free to do whatever you want!

But why would anyone want to run another blog? There are plenty of reasons why you wanted to start with just one blog, but do they all apply to creating yet another one?

I truly do see running a second or even third blog as an excellent opportunity to really define the kind of blogger you are. I mean, look at Darren Rowse. He runs ProBlogger, TwiTip, Digital Photography School and many others. Of course he just started with one blog, but expanded and now he is one of the top bloggers in the world.

I’m not saying that running multiple blogs is the key to achieving the same success, but there are definitely many great benefits that come out from doing it that can make things a lot easier for you in some ways.

1. More Income Opportunities

Just to get the most obvious reason out-of-the-way, running multiple blogs actually means a few different things for any income you make:

You can make more money from monetizing both blogs.
You can make more money in a diverse way.

When I talk about diverse income streams, I mean you can test different kinds of monetization methods. So one blog you can throw up Google Adsense, and you may want to focus more on selling those wretched banner ads on your other blog.

So not only can you in fact make more money, but you can use different techniques to do it that could make you even more than just trying them all on one blog.

2. Traffic Benefits

Opposed to a single blog, running multiple blogs can really give you a traffic boost. If you get about 1,000 unique visitors a day between 3 different blogs, that’s 3,000 visits and 3,000 possible conversions.

On the other hand, if you stick to one blog and average just 1,000…well, that’s all you’ll get. Between 3 different blogs you have a bit of an opportunity to really build audiences that will have a larger impact than just one.

Cross-Promotion

A truly interesting way of marketing your 2 or 3 blogs would to cross-promote them on each other. Meaning, link to Blog A on Blog B and vice-versa.

One blogger I see who does this very effectively is Jean-Baptise Jung. He runs a looot of blogs, but the few that he is probably most famous for all cross-promote each other very well:

I have always thought Jean makes a good example of a successful blogger who runs more than one, and I want you to visit his blogs and see how he does it (in the sidebars, his posts, etc.).

3. The Impact on You

Blogging for a long period changes how you view a lot of things, in and out of the blogging world (or is that just me?). But a few things can happen when you start-up another blog that will make you change the way you feel about blogging as a whole. If you look at it closely enough that is.

You’ll Have Fun: Blogging is fun! A lot of professional bloggers would never call what they do work, but game. Why else would you start even one blog? It seems fun to you, and running another blog with a totally different topic is going to be a blast for us blogging nerds!
Find Your True Niche: Hopefully if you do choose to run a few blogs, they’re in different niches. It would be a mistake to start 3 different blogging tips blogs. Maybe once you started up your cooking blog, you’d realize that maybe writing about landscaping wasn’t your true passion. You never know, it could happen!
Meet New People: Different blogs, different communities. You will meet new people in different niches, and start new relationships with them. You never know you’ll meet out there!
Learn New Things: I guarantee that if you can maintain two post frequencies on 2-3 blogs, then you will have learned what it takes to be a persistent, organized, successful blogger. That’s all you want from yourself, right?

How else do you think starting a new blog will change you?

Why Should You Run Multiple Blogs?

It’s not something everybody can do well, but running a second or third blog next to your primary blog can be tough. I failed at it the first time I tried to do it before I was ready, but I am determined to make it work out the second time.

What are the benefits you see in running more than one blog? Or, do you still think they’re not worth it? Can’t wait to hear your arguments!

Why Eggs?
I like to look for images that speak in metaphors to represent my blog posts. For this post, I chose a bunch of eggs. What do eggs have to do with the topic of this post? If you get it, I’ll be impressed…there’s a clue somewhere in the post!

Email Marketing: The Killer Monetization Method You Haven’t Tried Yet

Rob — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:00:33 +0000

Most bloggers fail to realize that the true value and monetization of their blog falls within their email list. Building, maintaining and building a profitable list a gold mine for bloggers. The sooner we realize the true value of email lists, the sooner we set ourselves aside from the many bloggers who fail to realize this concept.

Building an email list is not only a good way to build a closer relationship with your readers, but also an opportunity for creating an additional revenue stream. Internet Lifestyle blogger Rob Rammuny shares how to create a profitable newsletter through email marketing.

If you’ve been a reader of Blogussion, you will have learned ways to build an audience around your blog and what it takes to run a successful blog. But what about taking your community to another level? I’m talking about taking your relationship one step further and also creating a profitable experience out of it.

Why You Need an Email List

When it comes to having a plan B, many bloggers do not have an alternative source to connect with their readers. If your blog gets shutdown today (and you have no email list) how do you expect to reach out to all your readers?

Sure, there are networks like Facebook and Twitter that can help you update them about your blog getting shutdown… but what about continuing to provide content?

Also… what about the readers that do not use networks such as Facebook and Twitter? When it comes to having a fallback option, having a healthy email list is a great way to notify your readers of the issue and also continue to provide content until you can fix the situation.

Other Reasons to Have an Email List

Affordable: For as low as $1 your first month using Aweber, you can have a profitable email list up and running by tonight.
Profitable: It is a proven fact that email lists convert better than blogs. That means you will be making money.
Community: You are building a stronger relationship with your readers.
Traffic: Email lists can drive massive traffic back to your blog. (I will be sharing this technique with you today)
Investment: Building an email list is an investment, that will benefit you in numerous ways.

Setting up a Profitable, Unique Newsletter

I’m about to cover how not only to drive traffic to your blog and deliver quality content through your newsletter, but also how to set-up a profitable newsletter that will make you money on auto-pilot.

Creating a Valuable Newsletter

Let’s face it, not everyone is going to be so quick to give out their email address. So you have to create a unique selling point (USP) for your newsletter.

The attention grabber: What makes your newsletter worth signing up for?
The offer: What are you offering on your newsletter list that they cannot receive anywhere else?
The value: How much value are you going to be adding into this list? Are you offering premium content?

Let’s focus on two out of three of these underlying concepts of the points I just stated here. (You will understand why I’m only going over two out of three)

1. The Offer: What are you providing your readers with?
They already receive content from you by reading your blog, so why sign up for your newsletter when they can get it without signing up? This is where you want to add additional value to your newsletter. Share content to your newsletter subscribers that is only for them. This content has not and will not be discussed on your blog. Doing this creates an urgency for your reader to sign up.

What we’ve just done is created our attention grabber and we’ve shown your readers the offer. But wait… while I’m at it, let me share with you something that will help you increase your opt-in rate.

Offer free stuff! People love free stuff, so why not give it to them? A great example that I see many bloggers use as their own unique selling point (USP) is by creating a simple pitch such as:

Sign up for my newsletter and receive my free 60 page eBook about creating a profitable blog” this is an example of a unique selling point.

2. The Value: Keep providing it.
Believe it or not, having a juicy offer is only half the battle. Congratulations, you have created an urgency for them to sign-up! Now… what are you going to do to keep them subscribed? You want to provide constant value to your email list. Whether it’s feeding them a new newsletter every week, sending free gifts or offering contests, etc. Whatever it may be, you need to do something to keep them reading your emails and engaging with you. What I’d recommend is sending out a weekly newsletter using a auto-responder (explained later) or maybe a monthly newsletter. Whatever works best for you.

What we’ve just done here is were building trust from our readers. By doing this, you will see a higher open rate and also higher conversion rate for affiliate sales because people see you as a credible source.

Creating a profitable newsletter

OK… we’ve accomplished setting up a valuable newsletter, but how about making money from doing this? There are several ways to make money through newsletters, but for the sake of this post (length wise) I’ll only cover two ways.

1. Email campaigns

If you’re subscribed to several email lists, probably one time in your subscription life you’ve received an email from the author promoting an affiliate product. You’re probably used to seeing some catchy sales pitch email with a couple of links pointing to the product. Believe it or not, these emails do convert well (only if done right).

By providing content to your email list you are building credibility and authority (this process is no difference than building credibility and authority through blogging).

People are going to trust you, so they will be interested in seeing what your promoting. The more people who react to the emails I send:

“Ayyy Rob sent me an email! He’s promoting a product, awesome! Let me go see what this is… *Clicks affiliate link* buys product…”

…means the more money I earn. This is what runs through the minds of your readers when they see emails like this; when you feed them valuable content.

Word of advice: Do not promote a new product every single day of the month to your list. It becomes spammy and people will unsubscribe from your list. Depending on how often you send emails, don’t send any more than two to three (three is starting to push it) email campaigns a month. So choose them wisely and make sure they are profitable campaigns!

2. Product Reviews

If you review products on your blog, take the time to send your newsletter readers an email pointing to your product review. If that review has an affiliate link, that means an opportunity for more sales and income for you. If you want to add more of a personal approach to the email, write a couple short sentences on why you recommend this product (reasons you didn’t use in the product review) and encourage them to learn more by visiting your article’s link.

Psst… This also means more traffic back to your blog!

Wrapping things up

Creating a newsletter is a profitable experience. Whether you are a blogger trying to escape the 9-5 or someone trying to find an additional income stream online, creating a newsletter is definitely a way to help.

Are you willing to make an investment that will help benefit you? Or do you want to be just one of the millions of bloggers that have failed to see the true value behind email list? For bloggers who do have their own email lists, what advice would you add to this discussion?

Resource discussed: Aweber email marketing ($1 for your first month)

Editor’s Note
Rob has worked with me and has been coaching me throughout the development of the soon-to-be launched From Planning to Earning course from Blogussion. He has guided me with the very techniques he mentioned here, as well as others that he includes in his private coaching, all of which were skills developed through running his own successful newsletter on his blog.

How to Build an Audience Around Your Blog

Onibalusi Bamidele — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:00:56 +0000

Most bloggers come online, with new hopes of making it with ease just to find out that their hopes are almost dashing away, there is no achievement, there is no traffic, they are not just happy.

The way you treat your community reflects the amount of growth in readership your blog will see. Young entrepreneur Onibalusi Bamidele shares the 5 main tactics he uses to build powerful readership on his own blogs.

You have to build an audience behind your blog before can have “any form” of success. Before you can get your audience, you need traffic. Below are some great tips to get traffic to your blog and also build a loyal audience around yourself that are always ready to hear what you say.

1. Quality Content

You might be a video blogger, or maybe you post updates on your blog in text format. The mode of presenting the information you have is not what matters but the quality of information you have.

Let me ask you this question: why is it that your readers are coming to your blog and not the millions other blogs on the internet? Is it just to come and read what they have read numerous times before? Your blog should be unique; it should have what will separate it from any other blog in the whole universe.

Are you just posting on your blog to tell your readers how your relationship with your girlfriend went that weekend? Is it to tell them stories they can otherwise read elsewhere? What is the main focus of your blog?

It is always a good option to be personal, but your readers don’t always care. They don’t necessarily care about what you want either. They only care about themselves (just like any other person does) and what you can provide to them. Your readers will only stay on your blog if you have quality information for them.

2. Personality

I doubt you visit any corporate blogs, unless you still work for one. Your readers want somebody to relate to, somebody like them. They don’t want to speak to another type of company, they want to speak to YOU.

Lack of a good writing personality will go a long way to affect you. Bloggers that show little to no personality often result in casual readers, and they hardly get loyal readers. What some of your readers want in your blog is a person, not just great content. Some people find it difficult to relate with information that is not related to a true success story.

You should also have an about page that gives some basic (not too much) information about you. This has a long way to go because I saw a significant increase in traffic and subscriber on my blog when I created my about page. Be personal on your blog, you are not a company after all.

3. Frequency

So many people don’t care about this thing called posting frequency (how often you update your blog).

Some people only write once a month (which is a very risky move if you are starting out). You are not Maki from Dosh Dosh; it is very disastrous to not update your blog regularly.

Let me tell you a short story.

I have a personal blog and another blog in the technology niche that runs completely on auto-pilot. My technology blog automatically updates each hour while my personal blog is updated three times a week (with valuable content of course) manually.

The results of these two different approaches to the community on my blogs is that:

My technology blog receives much less traffic (about 200 unique visitors this month).
My personal blog receives thousands of hits a week.

Because there is little to no interaction between myself and my community, it’s obvious that it would receive less attention than my personal blog, where I respond to comments and inject myself into my articles.

Your readers want regularly updated content. Satisfy them with this and you will reap great rewards in terms of traffic, feed subscribers, mailing list subscribers, loyal readers, and the best of all – friendships.

4. Networking

#1, 2 and 3 are for keeping your readers; they have to be in place before you start looking for website traffic. Networking is a great way to get traffic to your blog. After having a blog, it is only you who will be the first reader.

A good method of finding people who will eventually become loyal readers is to go out and network with others.

Try to network with other bloggers and their readers by guest posting for them and also by commenting on their blog. You can also network with people outside your niche through forums and social networking sites.

It is very important to know that that social networking sites only favors those that are ready to help others and not just themselves, it is also important to promote others people’s post on social networking sites.

5. Guest Posting

Another method that can be used to generate traffic to your blog is by guest posting for other bloggers in your niche. Guest posting, if used effectively, can help you draw both traffic and loyal readers to your blog.

The problem most people face when trying to guest post is the fear of their article being rejected. Being someone who has written over 100 guest posts, I can tell you there is no way you can do without some of your articles being rejected. Some bloggers will even take ages to reply to you but your requests, but you will get used to it over time.

When guest posting, it is very important to know the type of blog you are guest posting for. What benefits does it have for you?

You can’t expect to have success at guest posting for a blog with almost no visitors a day. It is also important to not attempt a guest post for only big blogs because the majority of them might not even get to you or might eventually reject your guest posts.

Big blogs (we’re talking ProBlogger big) have some standards they want everybody to adhere to due to a plethora of other guest post submissions.

Try to make it balanced so that you won’t feel dejected if all your blog posts are rejected. Guest posting is good and it is one of the best ways to get free high quality traffic to your blog.

Editor’s Note: Learn From my Experience
I recently submitted a guest post to ProBlogger. I followed all of the best practices for submitting guest posts and wrote a very professional proposal message. However, I was declined due to the heavy amount of guest posts he already receives. What did I do? I submitted it elsewhere. And it got accepted. So it’s not the end of the world if you get rejected. - Alex

Getting traffic to a blog is easy, but building an audience is not. Using the above tips effectively will help you achieve success with your blog.

How do you build the community on your blog?

The Cycle of Making Money Blogging Part I

Alex — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 04:00:02 +0000

Recently, I read an article over at ProBlogger that talked about making money blogging. David Risley, a successful 6-figure blogger talked about how bloggers need to find a product. As a blogger who has a product, I can vouch for the points David brought up in his article and can say that making money blogging is done through having a product, not through blogging articles.

Read Part II!

I highly recommend you read David’s article at ProBlogger, as a lot of the points I’m going to be making in this mini-series will be based on some of the points he made in that article.

In January, I launched a product of my own. This was the first product I have ever sold, and my first real attempt at making money from a blog. When I put the product up for sale, it occurred to me that this was the way I was going to make money through my blog.

If you read David’s article, he said that if you want to make money blogging – have a product. If you read this article, (and a past article on the subject), I will say the same thing. His exact words were:

Most bloggers today operate in a dream world of made-up business rules. They try to make money with their blogs when they have nothing to sell. They’ll try to monetize the eyeballs only by littering the blog up with banner ads to sell other people’s stuff. It doesn’t take long for most bloggers to realize what a freaking difficult way to monetize a blog that is!

So if developing a product “isn’t your thing” and making money through your blog isn’t your intention, then stop reading. Nothing I have to say will hold much value to you.

Oh yeah, and if you are impatient and don’t understand that success is achieved over time, click the “x” button at the top of your browser. Because what I have to say needs time to develop.

Now, I’m not a 6-figure blogger like David Risley is, or really earn enough online to support myself (I’m only 16, so whatever I make goes a long way). But, I have earned enough money from selling just one product in the past 4^1/2 months to tell you that there is hope for your very own product as well.

The Cycle of Making Money Blogging

I have created what I believe the process of making money through selling a product is. The good news is that because it’s a cycle, it repeats itself. So, once you go through the cycle once, you have the capability to go through it again and again and earn more and more each time you sell a new product.

This cycle will be explained over the course of two articles. The first 3 of the 6 steps will be explained in this article, and the other 3 will be explained in tomorrow’s post.

I’m going to go over with you the first three steps of the process, prepare, research, and choosing your product. These are the three planning parts of the cycle, where you generally do more of the thinking and analyzing than actually doing anything else.

1. Preparation

You can’t approach something like this without a plan. It took me one year exactly to get my product ready for sale. I know that sounds like a lot of time, but there’s more to planning something like a product than the actual product itself.

What’s the one thing you need to sell something? People. You need readership; an audience who trusts and respects you. Think of the last time you bought something. You either bought it because:

Someone you trust told you about it, and because you trust them so much and see value in the product, you bought it.
You have read that persons blog or website for a while now, and you trust them enough to be willing to give them your money in exchange for whatever they have to sell.

So, in short: you need to have built some authority and have created a reputation for yourself.

Blog posts are not your product. They won’t get you paid.

As David said (and I agree with heavily), the articles you publish on your blog aren’t the things that get you paid. So many bloggers find different ways to monetize their blog articles, and if they are lucky – they will earn a few bucks doing it. The articles you publish onto your blog are NOT what makes you money.

They build your reputation, your readership, and really reflect the kind of blogger you are. The community you have on your blog is a result of the articles you publish, and how much you are going to earn from your product reflects the kind of community you have built.

So it took me about a year of consistent blogging to be able to build an audience that would look at my product, and buy it. For some, it takes longer. Some, not as long. But the most important thing, even more important than planning the actual product, is to have an audience to sell to.

2. Market Research

This isn’t the most enjoyable task, but it’s important nonetheless.

You are in complete control of what product you want to develop and sell. You have as much freedom to choose what you want to sell as you did when it came time to choose what you wanted to blog about. But unlike choosing your niche, you have to look at more than just your passion.

Once you have a pretty decent community built up (I had about 1,300 subscribers when I launched my product), you will be able to figure out what kind of people they are.

I can’t stress enough the importance of blog content for this step. Not only does the content you write bring your potential customers to your blog, but it reveals the kind of buyers they are. When I established my product, I knew these three things about my customer base:

I know that many readers in this community are new bloggers without much to spend. I had to take that into account with the product I developed, and I have to remember that for the future. I found this out by actually talking to them in the blog comments, and seeing what their reactions were when I mentioned a paid blogging tool.
I also know that a lot of users in this community use the Thesis Framework, which is what my product was built on. My reputation in the Thesis community helped sell the theme, and that reputation was established through all the work I have done on this blog.
The theme that Blogussion uses has always been well-received by nearly anyone who has ever talked about it. I have been asked multiple times in the past to sell it, and have had offers thrown at me already.

It’s often the tiniest bit of information you can find out about your community that will help you decide what to sell, how much to sell it for, and when to sell it.

3. Find your product

Once you have your community and know what kind of buyers you have in it, it’s time to figure out what you want to sell.

The product you choose has to be something you are totally committed to. Finding a product to sell and choosing your blog topic are so closely related because they tie into your ability and willingness to actually do it.

So, with your market research in hand and the same process(es) you used to pick your original blogging topic, you can come up with the best product for your community.

Tomorrow: Part II
Tomorrow I will explain the other half of the cycle. How do you think it will tie into the first half? What are your thoughts about the first half of the cycle? See you tomorrow.

My $2000+ Return On Investment

Seth — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:25:54 +0000

Invest in this: Win a Free Copy of Smashing Magazine’s “The Smashing Book” with 313 pages of full-color images on coated paper by reading on…

What do you think of when you hear the word “investment?”

Perhaps you think of stocks, banks, debt, money, or profits when financial words like “investment” are used. For many bloggers and web entrepreneurs the word is somewhat intimidating.

I know for myself, until recently, I have never invested any money into blogging or working online. I learned through a wonderful experiment I am about to explain why investment can be a beautiful word to bloggers.

My Big Blogging Investment

I’ve had a no risk approach to blogging for the last 3 years. Its worked wonders for me! I put nothing but time into my blog and get nothing but lost time out of it!

You see I am earning on my blogs but the amount isn’t anything to be proud of. The reason why is because I don’t have enough time to make my blogging highly profitable yet. If I want to move closer to becoming a full-time blogger, which I do, then I need to learn how to make more money on the time that I have.

Right now I can’t invest much more time than I already do which is about 10-15 hours a week. With that much time allotted to responding to emails, tweets, stumbles, and comments plus writing new posts and promoting my blogs there isn’t much time to focus on monetizing. This is where the experiment begins…

My First Major Purchase

Okay so I have made small purchases before many times like web hosting and domain names but never a major purchase over $100. I have been wanting Adobe’s Photoshop for years now [if you click on the link you will be getting a sweet software package I love using] and so I finally decided to bite the bullet and get it. Here is my reasoning:

If you want to make money then you have to know when to spend money smartly. With the Thesis skills I have gained and the time I already invest in working with images I new it was time to purchase a high-quality imaging software package. Up to my purchase I had been using Gimp, which is the best free software available, but does not compare to Photoshop.

Buying the package was the best thing I have done in a long time. It cost me… $238 for the student package which included Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and the latest Acrobat program as well. For not that much I got a whole lot of quality software. Here’s how it paid off.

My Big Payoff

After two weeks of using Photoshop and my previous skills at design/Thesis Theme I have made a little over $2,000. I would say that it is an investment worth making!

You see too often we have something that will take us to the next level but we continue to fail at deciding to invest in it. I don’t just mean money either. It can be time, skill development, or relationships and networking.

Investing in your blogging means planning and working towards a realistic goal. It also includes putting the resources into doing what will help you to fulfill your dreams and reach your goals. Spending $238 made me… $2000+

This is my story but what is yours? What can you invest in to dramatically change your blogging dreams into reality?

Questions to Ask Yourself

Now that you have heard my story start thinking about yours. The key is to first ask yourself some important questions. I did not just up and buy something that I consider to be expensive on a student’s budget. I researched it all out first and found the best deal and new exactly what I was going to do with it.

Likewise what worked for me might not be the best for you.. I don’t know but you do. Ask yourself these questions and you will get a little bit closer to finding out what will help you get to the next level:

What goals do I have for Blogging?
How do I want to earn money?
Do I have any skills for providing services or products in any niche?
Are there any products that would drastically improve my performance?
What is my principle idea for monetization?
Do I need to invest money, time, or talent?
Is there something I should learn first?
Is this the right time to invest?

Now I don’t want to be blamed for encouraging anyone to rush off to any make money fast scam, I just want you to think about legitimate ways you can increase your earnings and reach your goals faster.

For some people they might realize they need to invest in getting themselves a custom design for their blog. Maybe for you its getting a content writer to post once a day to increase your content. Perhaps you should hire an SEO expert. Maybe its just that you should spend more time learning how to do those things yourself.

Whatever it is find out what you are missing out on and get doing it. The sooner you start investing in ways that will dramatically improve your blogging the sooner you will get a wonderful return on your investment!

Products and Tools You Might Need

Now I am listing some products and tools below that you might need. Not everyone will need them all though and some people might not be ready for any of them. They are affiliate links too, so know that if you do buy from the links you would be benefiting Blogussion.

The key with getting tools or products is knowing what you are going to use them for. I will try and give a brief explanation for when and who should use products like these:

Problogger Book

Darren Rowse is the most famous blogger who blogs about how to blog better. His blog is excellent and his book is a must have for new to intermediate bloggers. The book outlines the essentials of starting a blog, building a brand and promoting your blog to monetization methods too. Maybe you just need more knowledge to get yourself to the next level. - Buy Problogger Book

WP Affiliate Ninja

If you are a serious affiliate blogger [someone who sells products via affiliate links] then you have to have MaxBlogPress’s very easy to use and highly functional Affiliate Ninja plug-in. The way it works is you input what affiliate products and links you want to use for certain keywords you choose. When a reader comes to your site the plug-in automatically inserts the affiliate links into your blog’s post on relevant keywords. To avoid being spammy you can set the limit for links as well as a number of other essential tools for internet marketers. – Affiliate Ninja

Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is not only a must have for anyone who calls themselves a designer but also for bloggers too! Adding your own custom images to your blog posts is easy and fast with Photoshop. Over time and with the help of some fantastic tutorials [like PSDTUTS] you can design your own blog very quickly. – Buy Photoshop

Remember: Don’t Be Afraid to Invest… it might pay off!

Contest Rules

Its easy to enter to win Smashing Magazine’s “Smashing Book” – all you have to do is follow the rules below! The contest will end on Sunday December 20th, 2009 at Midnight.

1. Comment on this post below [no spam comments will count]

2. Tweet this: @Blogussion is giving away a free copy of “The Smashing Book”, leave a comment to enter… http://ow.ly/Ne7P

The Winner will be contacted via email.

The Content Debate: Finally Put Out Once and For All

Little Known Ways Darren Rowse Makes Money Blogging

Seth — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:01:08 +0000

Before Darren Rowse became “the Problogger” we all know as the face of the Blogging tips world, he was a full-time blogger earning a six-figure income.

Today we are going to talk about how he earned a full-time income from blogging before he became the famous blogging authority.

Darren Rowse “Problogger”

No matter your opinion of Darren Rowse as the most influential blogger in the blog tips niche, everyone must admit he is the branded authority for this topic. When Darren’s name is attached to something it does two things, succeeds and sells. He is a trusted authority for any new blogger and an old friend to many advanced bloggers.

His blog’s range from the ultimate in blogging tips to cool tutorials and Twitter news. Here are the profiles of his most well-known projects and blogs. These blogs are all created since 2005 and surprisingly all of them but Problogger.net have been created after Darren made six-figures.

When Problogger.net (Darren’s signature blog) was launched in 2005 it was not more than 9 months before Darren became a legitimate problogger who made six figures – $XXX,XXX. The article where Darren announces this monumental event can be read here - Darren Hits Six-Figures

Here are the profiles of Darren’s most well known blogs:

Problogger.net

Since 2005, Darren’s most influential blog has provided important tips and topical news to encourage and educate bloggers. As the face of Darren’s brand online, Problogger has become more than an income stream and far more as a resume for Darren’s authority as the problogger. - Problogger.net
Pageviews per day: 27,975 / Total Pageviews: 29,649,731 (in 5 years)

Digital Photography School

Started in 2006, Darren’s fun and tutorial rich photography blog has excelled at driving traffic and getting lots of subscribers. In addition to the tutorials and blog posts, digital photography school is unique because of its interactive forum community. - Digital Photography School
Subscribers: 345,030 / Alexa Rank: 7,156

Twitip

A recent addition to Darren’s arsenal, Twitip features awesome articles on how to use Twitter to drive traffic to your blogs and sites or how to use Twitter as a stand alone social media platform for networking. The blog just had a recent redesign and is looking good and getting more content posted every day - Twitip
Alexa Rank: 17,112 / Subscribers: 33,183 / Twitter: 81,102

Problogger.com

Problogger readers have long begged for a chance to have a forum on Darren’s blogging tips blog. After having a very successful mini series to make bloggers better, Darren decided to give it a try. So far the project has been a success with lots of posts, active members, and a full-time moderator – Problogger.com
Members: 2,080 / Total Posts: 15,000+

The most important point in this article is this…. Darren became a six-figure blogger before his books, before Problogger had more than 700 subscribers, and before his widely popular TwiTips and Digital Photography School blogs. Darren was a Problogger from other blogs.

Those blogs and his strategy are what we are going to explore today. Too often bloggers try to emulate Darren’s strategy by creating a huge tips blog and becoming an authority on one site. While this may work, Darren’s trusted strategy.. because it obviously worked is far better. First lets look at his income sources at the time of his six-figure income.

Note: Problogger.net was very small at the time, comments were low, and traffic was no where near its current milestones. Its important to understand this was 5 years ago and the other major blogs I listed above did not exist.

Six Figure Blogging

Darren’s income can be traced [with a bit of investigative journalism] back to a variety of blogs coming from 2 major domain names. The two domains are breakingnewsblog.com and livingroom.org. If you go to the main page of either domain you can see very basic graphics, limited text and no monetization. So how did he do it?

The key was each of these domains had many sub-domains. Each sub-domain was very targeted to specific topics like digital cameras, printers, camera phones, and even unmanned aerial vehicles. The blogs were then very keyword specific and advertising inundated. The blogs brought in lots of search engine traffic and if you look at them today they are still bringing more traffic then 80% of other blogs even though many have not been updated for years.

Does this sound not only interesting but weird? Yes the blogs are not pretty, the designs are generally bad, and some are not even on wordpress (oh no!), but this gives us a great example of making money online. Here’s a visual for how Darren was doing it:

Darren’s Strategy

The 3 major pillars in Darren’s strategy that I can tell from looking at the blogs and review some of their statistical information are these:

1. Keyword Rich Content – Articles on site about printers, robotics, or other random topics are both specific and targeted. Post topics are very detailed and the reviews are precisely what both search engines and users would look for on the subject. The keywords are also linked throughout the site to each other and all of his sub-domains are linked in the footers of his blogs, making his blogs search engine optimized (SEO).

What You Should Do

The visualization helps us to realize to make six-figures it is much more realistic if there are multiple sources of income coming in from a variety of monetization methods. What this means to you is that if you want to be a six-figure blogger or even just a full-time blogger for that matter you should diversify your income and learn from a Problogger.

I would start now by getting yourself a blog if you don’t have one [if you need help contact us and we'll help] and then get writing. Start producing as much content as you can for your blog and when you start to see search engine traffic coming into your blog then begin another blog and do the same. As you build traffic on one blog and start earning money on it, find a writer for the blog and start to pay them for content and regular posting. Then all you have to do is write a post a week [based on the topic] and adminster the blog.

Every time you reach this point of success then start a new blog. The writer you hire will continue to produce content for your blog while you build up the content on a new site. This way you do not have to spend any money you do not have. Over time the writer will put so much content on your blog you will not only be paying for their services but you will start making a profit. After you have built up a few blogs with lots of content, its time to ramp up the monetization.

To monetize you can check out some of these tips for making money blogging, or just find a great way to make money from your niche topic. The possibilities are endless and the financial investment is minimal. If you are willing to put the time into your blogs you can be a six-figure blogger too, just like Darren Rowse!

How We Earned Over 200 Subscribers with 2 Simple Posts

Seth — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 00:34:34 +0000

I have written hundreds of posts over the last few months on a variety of blogs. In fact, my role on Blogussion is primarily to write great content and promote our blog. Alex also writes awesome content and has insane design abilities.

Together we are building Blogussion’s brand by connecting with our readers and networking with hundreds of other bloggers. Our goal is for Blogussion to be the source of great content on blogging tips. Reaching our goal requires us to promote our content to everyone on the internet. Today, I am going to explain our #1 source for bringing in new traffic.

Guest Posting Strategy

Let me first explain the most important part of our strategy when it comes to guest posting… sitting down and doing it! This isn’t going to be the first time many bloggers have heard of guest posting. If it is or isn’t your first time, listen up and get ready to do some serious promotion. Guest posting is the best way to get new subscribers and more traffic.

Why Guest Post?

Bloggers spend a lot of time worrying about traffic and trying a variety of different methods. Some work great and others just take a lot of your energy away from other important things. The majority of traffic methods usually lead to bloggers wasting valuable time instead of writing new content or seriously promoting their work. Many of the methods are not even worth the efforts made to use them.

After trying everything, guest posting is the single most effective way to build traffic to your blog.

Promoting your blog is hard and can be very frustrating. You tweet, stumble, digg and comment all over the internet and still your blog seems to find little change in readership. Eventually you dive into SEO and try to learn more about keyword rich titles and content. You know links are important, but you’re scratching your head as to how to get more of them. You have heard about guest posting but for some reason you are too scared, too tired, or not aware of the powerful results.

Personally I learned the power of guest posting when I started blogging for a new site. The blog was only a week old but I had produced 30 quality posts to launch the blog. With the help of some of my blogging buddies, and the start of search engine traffic trickling in I began my promotion methods the very first day I began blogging. Here’s what I did to turn a new blog into a busy blog.

Research Your Niche

I knew from previous experience what blogs were important in my current niche (topic) so I went to five of the top blogs and began reading their posts. While reading their posts I asked myself these 10 important questions:

What exactly are they writing about on this blog?
Is there content similar to my content?
Would their readers be interested in what I write?
What topics are they currently writing on?
Are there any ways to elaborate further on recent posts?
Are there any major post topics they are missing?
Do they use guest posts?
What style of writing do they use?
How can I use my background and blog uniquely in their content?
Are my experiences useful to their readers?

Photo by Stefan Baudy

Asking these questions and answering them honestly will help you come to the conclusion of whether or not the blog is worth guest posting on. To many of you I give this advice… I can find a way to fit ANY blog topic into a post for ANY other blog, and so can you. If you need help, just go to the contact page and let me know what blog you want to write for and what help you need.

Once you have a few big blogs to write on… get out a piece of paper, whiteboard, or open a document and start writing post ideas. You should brainstorm as many post ideas that would fit with the guest posting blog as you possibly can. Then start to narrow the posts down into posts you think are most interesting and easily researched/written.

How to Guest Post

Writing is the next step. First begin with an outline of major points for the blog post ideas you liked best. Really try hard to get the main point of your post idea in the outlines you write. Then look for the posts with the clearest outlines and most interesting topics. Start thinking of stories, analogies, web tools, images, or anything else which could compliment your post. Then do some research on the topic to make sure your opinion is correct, or at least arguable.

The next step is different for many bloggers, so choose carefully. Your options are to either email the owner of the blog with your proposal to guest post, main point (one sentence), brief outline, and contact information to see if it is worth writing up, or you can go ahead and write the entire thing.

I have done both and found that emailing a very brief and succinct outline of a post I wanted to write works very well, especially when you are less experienced. When I had started my blog this is what I did for my first guest post on ProBlogger. Darren Rowse was very nice and sent me a quick reply telling me my ideas were worth writing [note: his reply did not mean he would automatically post my written article, but rather that he liked the current direction]. Then I wrote up the post and sent it too him. He replied that he would love to post it soon.

I did the opposite for Daniel Scocco, Daily Blog Tips, the very same week. I wrote the entire post because I knew the idea would really connect with him and emailed it. He quickly sent a reply and told me he would be posting it soon. The very next week I had a guest post go live at BOTH ProBlogger and Daily Blog Tips and my blog had been live for only a week!

Writing a Guest Post

In the last 6 months I have guest posted on dozens of blogs all around the internet. Guest posting four times at Problogger, two times at Daily Blog Tips and then over 23 different blogs have rapidly increased my blogs links and traffic. Currently I have three guest posts waiting to be published at three very high traffic blogs. Each time I have submitted a guest post, it has been accepted so I have tried to think of how you can replicate this success.

The key is to write your very best content for others! They will love it and so will their readers. Then traffic and links will soar on your blog. When I named this post, I thought of a significant event on this blog. It was when we received 200 new subscribers in 2-3 days! What happened is I was featured two time on Problogger in two days! We got thousands of visitors and hundreds of new subscribers. Many of you reading this might have come from one of those posts.

In addition to writing your best content, be sure to look at Alex’s recent post and reverse the role that Alex talks about in Preparing a Guest Post. His post has you thinking as the blog owner, but put yourself in the guest posters shoes and think about how you could make the blog owner’s job easier.

One way I do this is by making the emails very brief when I send my guest posts. I include:

My name and link to my blog
Proposed Title (usually 2 options)
Main Text
Image (w/ attribution)
Byline

I promise you, if you spend 2 hours writing a powerful guest post for your blog, you will have more traffic and subscribers then by spending 2 hours doing anything else online! So stop what you are doing and get your guest post written and sent in today!

ProBlogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Project – Sign Up Now!

Alex — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:03:36 +0000

On April 1st, Darren Rowse (The ProBlogger) is planning to start up another one of his “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” project. It was just announced on his blog that he will be running this thing differently then he did in the previous years of running the project (2005 & 2007), so be sure to read the announcement post for more in depth information.

The idea

Basically, the whole idea of this project is to get you to start taking more action on your blog. So many bloggers, including myself always have something that they want to do but just don’t feel like getting around to it immediately. The whole point of this project is to get you out of that process and into a new, more efficient one.

But don’t take my word on it, this is how Darren describes it:

The idea behind this is simply to have a group of bloggers setting aside a month of their time to work at improving their blogs. While we all want to have better blogs sometimes it becomes one of those things that we’re going to do…. one day.

I personally find that I improve (in all areas of my life) when I’m more intentional and set aside a specific time to make the improvements. That’s what this project is about.

Blogussion Will Take The Challenge

I have decided to sign up and do this. It looks really great, and I think it will be very beneficial to me. I looked at ProBlogger’s past challenge posts, and some of the things that he wrote up were really interesting. This will definitely be a good learning experience for me, as it will probably get me to start doing things I don’t usually do for the blog.

Do You Want In?

I think everybody should try this. It will be a great way to make you feel better about your blog. It might just reveal things that those 50 Self-Reflecting Questions I wrote up earlier in the month didn’t reveal.

What’s great is that he isn’t forcing you to stick with this (how can he really?). If you do sign up, but can’t keep up then you can drop out. It’s no big deal, and you can say you at least tried (which is a lot more than what some people can say).

So, to sign up just read Darren’s post at ProBlogger and fill out your name and email address in the sign up form if you want to. You don’t have to do that to participate, but it will be a great way to just get all of the information sent straight to your email.

Let Me Know

If you do happen to sign up and take the challenge, let me know! I’d love to follow your blog and see how you do in the project.

Image by @Mark Macdonald, found on ProBlogger.net