Your Step by Step guide to being everywhere

If you intend to one day make money blogging then PAY ATTENTION! Because this is the most important post you will ever read!

OK maybe that’s a bit presumptuous of me, but hear me out, because what I propose is a blueprint of sorts,– a step by step guide to helping you succeed online. I did not intend to create such a blueprint, I simply wanted to show you how easy it is to be everywhere at once.

What I soon learned, and what you will hopefully realise is that everything starts with this key element. Being everywhere lays the foundations for success across the entire IM arena, not just the blogoshere; so grab yourself a drink, get comfortable – and let’s do this!

You want to start blogging, and you eventually want to make money from it right?

Problem is, no-one gives you a definitive step by step process to follow, nor do they take the time to explain why. OK maybe they do – but when you are just starting out, do you really take the time to listen? The moment you hear about the financial reward that blogging can ultimately bring – you stop focusing on the intricate details of how you are actually going to get there.

Yeah sure, post everyday and engage with other bloggers. Well that is surely a given, and if you just paid for an e-course and that’s the best they got – then sorry, you should have given the money to charity or something, because the problem with this information, and most of the information you get from these courses is that they are too ambiguous.  Granted it still necessitates that you actually get off your ass and do something, but without an exact how to – a lot of bloggers stumble. And I don’t mean that in a good ‘sharing content’ kind of way.

Before you can ‘do everything’, you need to ‘be everywhere’

And it all starts at this point. Being everywhere has the flow down effect that you need in order to succeed online, and there is no use trying to tackle it from the other direction. Trying to make sales, or build a list when no one knows who you are is tough going, yet this is what nearly ALL marketers do!

So ignore everything else for now, let’s just focus on going viral, and trust me – the rest will fall neatly into place without you even noticing.

This is what I do now, and what I would do if I had to start again. I am officially calling it ‘Alex Whalley’s Ultimate guide to going viral’ because what I outline is the exact process you need to follow in order to ‘be everywhere’ and do it relatively quickly.

Little things add up to a lot.

First, I want you to remember that statement – in fact I want you to write it down, because it will remind you why you are doing what you are doing, and trust me, that little line will keep you sane sometimes too! But this is all about longevity and going viral, and what I propose is a strategy that will take an hour or two out of your time, but cut the rate at which your blog and your brand grows by at least half!

From now on you are a guest

You want to go viral? You are going to have to change the way you post. For every three posts your write on your blog, at least one needs to be written and submitted for review as a guest post on another blog. I don’t care what blog – so long as it has traffic and it’s relevant. Oh – and this has to be your BEST post too, no second rate articles please. Guest blogging is THE no. 1 way to increase your online presence and ultimately get that ‘viral’ feeling (eeewwwww). Nothing else comes close to the exposure and ultimate brand recognition you can get from contributing to other popular blogs in your niche.

Leverage, syndicate, and then do it some more.

THAT is the key to ‘being everywhere’. It’s as simple as that. The internet is a massive place, and if you want to stand any chance of dominating your niche and being in as many places as possible then you need to leverage what you already have – and you need to do it on a massive scale.

What about Duplicate Content?

There is no such thing! Look, even if you don’t want to believe me – then think about it this way. Just say you post the same article to two sites. Unless those two sites are identical in every way, the Search engines are going to index them both. Besides it is still going to get indexed for other keywords, and the article is still going to contain the valuable link back to your site.

Worried about your content being indexed somewhere else first and you not getting ranked for it?

Chances are you never would have ranked above whatever high PR site you syndicated it to, and if you didn’t syndicate it at all, you would be on page 3 … maybe. At least this way you have YOUR content on page 1. Does it really matter where it’s located?

So listen, Here’s the plan…

I promised you a blueprint and I am going to deliver. It’s really simple too.

Everytime you publish a post or create a piece of content you are going to leverage it by duplicating and syndicating it across multiple web 2.0 platforms, social media sites, social bookmarking directories, Forums, video services and RSS Feeds. This may seem overwhelming, but consider this:

The process of actually doing this properly for a post is a realistic 2 – 4 hours, and that is not quick. But in the context of your online business, it really isn’t much time at all, and when you add it all together you end up with a very, very powerful and stable platform with which to establish and grow your online business, both organically and socially. Isn’t your business worth that?

Your Viral Marketing Checklist

I’m not here to argue about the reasons behind why each of these steps should be taken, I am simply providing you with a blueprint that will result in a MASSIVE ONLINE PRESENCE provided you do it religiously. The beauty of this whole process is that it not only creates a viral presence for your brand, it also starts the process of building solid quality backlinks* to your blog, and if you are anywhere near the IM niche, then trust me – you are going to need all the backlinks you can get.

*I know you know this already – but please remember to hyperlink (anchor text) your keywords. You’ll never outrank Adobe for ‘Click Here’ anyway

One final note before we get into the juicy details. If you are building a list and you have the opt-in and offer available on its own page then you can simply substitute your blog’s URL for that one every now and again. This way your list has a chance to grow at the same rate as your brand.

Here is your Blueprint. (finally!) There are a million more sites you can use to leverage your content, but listing them would put you right back where you started from – feeling overwhelmed and massively confused. So let’s keep this simple. I’ve divided the checklist up into the various website categories/properties – whatever you want to call them

Write a post, publish it, and then do this. (in no particular order)

Web 2.0 Properties

Little bit of work involved here – but very high quality links are obtained.

• Create a Squidoo Lens by simply cutting and pasting the article into 3 or 4 text modules and adding images. Link back to your article AND to your main blog page.
• Create a HubPage Hub – do as above
• Create a Blog on Tumblr.com* Set this up much like you would the original post on your blog.
• Create a Blog on Typepad.com* – Remember to include your keywords in the title as this becomes the URL. Save your catchy title for the page itself *Unlike the first two properties, these two sites allow you to create a blog, and not just a page – so once you have set these up you can simply add new relevant posts to them next time instead of creating a whole new blog.
• Create a Wiki. This is technically not web 2.0, but anyway. Go to Wikispaces.com (there’s a lot more) and simply create a page using your post, all or part. Wikispaces allows you to add pages onto the existing one, but I recommend treating it like it was a hubpage- that is, a single entity.

Social Bookmarking

• This is the easy bit – it’s all pretty much cut and paste. Oh, and you can do this with your guest post URL instantly – no need to wait a week or two
• Use IMAutomator (awesome FREE tool!) to submit your blog post URL to 15 high quality do follow social bookmarking sites
• Use OnlyWire to submit to another 30 (service is free provided you add a STUPID plug-in to your blog
• Use WP-Twitter plug-in to syndicate your posts to Twitter – still Tweet it every chance you get, and add a hash tag to prevalent keywords too! (eg: Check out this awesome #blog post from Alex Whalley, the #seo legend!)
• Use WordBook plug-in to send your posts to your Facebook page. On this note – don’t make my mistake. Start off by creating a page/profile dedicated to your blog/niche and let this fill with relative content. (Great for SEO)
• There is a million more but they are unnecessary overkill at this point, and this is one area that is way more confusing than it needs to be. Don’t trip yourself up worrying about it…. it’s OK to stumble though.

RSS Feeds

• I assume you have already done this, but if not – submit your blog feed to a few RSS Directories, but you only need to do this once. Like the now defunct ‘ping’* – the RSS Directories will be updated every time you create a new post, so it’s set and forget. *I say defunct because WordPress, and most blog platforms are designed to take care of all the pinging for you.
• http://www.feedage.com – because I did promise to make this easy (but there are SO many more – just Google it)

Article Marketing

• EzineArticles offer a plug-in that allows you to upload your posts straight to their directory – all without leaving your dashboard. It’s available through your Author Area under tools, so go and install it and start leveraging your content to the most authoritative Article Directory on the web.
• You can submit your post to other Article Directories if you have a preference for a particular one, just make sure you give it to EzineArticles first.

Social Blogmarking

I just made that name up, but it basically refers to Social Bookmarking aimed at bloggers, with a community being fostered on and around the site as well. This is where you NEED to have a presence – regardless!

• BlogEngage – Most active and Invite only, but most Famous Bloggers are members, just ask.
• MMOSocialnetwork – Famous Bloggers very own social network.
• Bloggersbase – One of the more established networks.

Video Marketing (for those wanting to go the extra mile)

Turn your how-to posts, and those aimed directly at your niche market into videos

This is where you can really make an impact with viral marketing – because you are recreating your content in another format – meaning the avenues available for syndicating and leveraging it just increased exponentially. It’s also effective because of the sheer visitor stats that YouTube alone can boast AND because it is a time consuming task, meaning you have very little competition from your fellow bloggers.

• Create a pdf document from your post  (be sure to include images etc) and then simply film your screen as you click through the pdf and read it. Simple but VERY EFFECTIVE.
• Film yourself doing whatever it is your post was discussing
• Don’t have the software? Get Camstudio, the free alternative to Camtasia.
• Now upload the videos to YouTube and Vimeo.

HOT TIP: Everytime you create a new Web 2.0 property, or upload a video you get a new URL. Submit this new URL to your social bookmarking sites to get that ‘all over viral marketing feeling’

Remember the Guest posts you keep writing as well? When you submit them, it is advisable to wait a week or two before starting the above process so that the Article has a chance to be indexed on that blog first. It’s just the right thing to do.

That’s it!  Not so bad was it?

And…you’ll still probably fail.

If you are still with me, and thinking to yourself, “hang on, I need to know more about Web 2.0”. Or – “I need to know exactly what a wiki is” then STOP IT! This is the very reason that 97% of online marketers fail! You spend the bulk of your time wondering about the intricate details of how this works, or what that does that you never get around to actually doing anything! If you wanted to sail around the world, would you think about what type of fabric was used in the rigging, or would you learn how to sail, chart a course, and get going? I’ve taken the liberty of charting a course for you, so stop worrying about the colour of the wood paneling on the deck and start making waves already!

Imagine…

If you followed this routine, then assuming you post three times a week – at the end of a year you would have 500 – 1000 extra pieces of content and web property that are working for you 24/7. I could go on and on about the power of Twitter do to ‘X’ or how much you need Mr Y to help build your list, but what’s the point,  they are all small fries in comparison to what a viral online presence will do. Trust me, when everybody knows your name, you won’t need Twitter, and you sure as hell won’t need Mr. Y’s help either.

P.S.  Viral marketing doesn’t actually work.  Tell your friends.

I will be packaging The Blog Post Viral Marketing Checklist into a much more detailed listing of the sites, feeds, directories,resources , tools, and services available to help automate and/or streamline this process, which will be available for download FREE in the very near future.

Alternatively sign up to the Keyword Research & Niche Site Marketing Blog newsletter and get your copy sent over the minute it’s ready.

Are you still intimidated by search engine optimization (SEO)?

Do you still think there is no chance YOUR blog/site can be the one to show up on the first page of Google search results?

If so,

Take a look at these numbers:

1. 25% of marketers know little or nothing about SEO.

2. Only 14% implement SEO as part of their overall marketing strategy.

3. 60% do not currently invest in SEO at all.

3. 30% are not planning to invest in it in the upcoming year.

These and other statistics were revealed by SEO agency dotSEO in their new NakedSEO report.

Surprised?

Blown away more like it, if you ask me.

With numbers like that, what does REALLY stand between you and that top ranking position in Google?

If at least 60% of your potential competitors out there don’t do a thing to claim their fair share of Google traffic, what would you need to do to beat them?

I am not talking about becoming an SEO expert here, not at all. All you need to do is learn some solid strategies you can put into practice today and watch yourself break away from the pack.

Just find a way to be one step ahead of your competition. After all, getting a step ahead of someone who is standing still isn’t that hard!

If you are still not convinced that SEO is worth the trouble (which I am OK with: less competition for the rest of us), let me touch on one more thing from the report:

***23% surveyed marketers said that they were not all too sure about the benefits of implementing SEO and 14% of them said that they don’t see ANY benefits at all.

Here’s a very quick thought on that: what a bunch of hogwash!

Here’s the expanded version of that thought:

SEO Benefit #1. Google is the first port of call for anyone looking for services, products, or information.

SEO Benefit #2. The organic search engine traffic is absolutely free.

SEO Benefit #3. This is a leveraged traffic strategy, meaning once you achieve high search engine ranking optimization, maintaining it is very easy. You’ll be raking free traffic for a long time to come.

SEO Benefit #4. The traffic you get from SEO is highly TARGETED website traffic = increased sales of your products or services.

SEO Benefit #5. SEO is a marketing strategy that never sleeps – once your site is highly ranked, it will work for you 24/7/365.

SEO Benefit #6. It’s a very cost effective strategy, especially when you do it yourself.

Trust me, there are more where these came from.

Now if your objection to SEO is merely that fact that you don’t know anything about it and have no idea where to start, I’ve got the answer for you: download my free 7 Steps to Complete Search Engine Domination report, READ it and IMPLEMENT it. I promise that alone will put you miles ahead of your competition.

Question: is it wrong to take advantage of your competitors who want to know nothing about SEO by simply implementing a solid search engine optimization strategy of your own? Comment below.

And one more thing: I suspect that I will get a lot of comments on how difficult your particular market is and how it’s dominated by some heavy-weight gorillas. Yes, it’s true there are markets you are better off staying away from. However, these markets are not the rule. Find yourself a niche that doesn’t have a competition killer.

search engine optimization is to attract new visitors to a company’s website. However, much can be done to improve the likelihood that this incoming traffic will result in sales.

For professional web marketers, a site’s “bounce rate” describes the percentage of visitors that leave after only viewing one page. When you wish to promote products and services online, a high bounce rate could significantly reduce your return on investment.

For this reason, it is critical for entrepreneurs to hire search engine marketing experts that offer conversion rate optimization.

What Is Conversion Rate Optimization?

Each website has its own objective for the end-user. If your company specializes in the generation of opt-in email leads for insurance companies, the goal is to entice the visitor to submit his or her email address.

A sleek look and clear purpose will establish credibility in the mind of the user. In this specific type of example, conversion rate optimization techniques can be used to help visitors feel more comfortable about relinquishing their email address.

Since the incoming traffic must often be paid for using funds from a company’s marketing budget, a high conversion rate will improve the organization’s return on investment.

For the proprietor of an e-commerce store, conversion rate optimization is equally crucial. To reach the point of sale, consumers must trust that your online storefront will safeguard their personal information.

Furthermore, the attention span of the average web visitor is limited; various techniques can be employed to communicate more effectively with the end-user.

A Low Bounce Rate Leads to an Improved Return on Investment

Search engine marketing experts have developed a wide range of methods by which conversion rate optimization can be accomplished. Detailed statistics can be analyzed to test the effectiveness of various design schemes.

In some cases, minor tweaks to your landing page might have a dramatic effect on your return on investment.

However, efficient web design is a complex art form. With limited funds to spend on advertisements, it would be wise to consider hiring a search engine marketing consultant that offers conversion rate optimization.

Incoming traffic is of little value when users do not reach the point of sale. By improving your company’s return on investment from pay-per-click advertising, the consultant’s fee fits neatly into an efficient marketing budget.

Conversion rate optimization will establish credibility with new users. In the end, you will be handsomely rewarded for helping them find the products and services that they need.

In order to remain competitive, modern businesses must continuously adapt to changes in technology. The world wide web has revolutionized the way consumers find out about new products and services. Smart phones and laptops can be used to engage in commerce over wireless networks.

The brick-and-mortar storefront is no longer the only viable form of infrastructure that businesses can use to interact with their customers. When one considers how the internet has changed the business world, it is terribly important for today’s entrepreneurs to enlist the help of a search engine optimisation consultant.

In a basic sense, search engine optimisation allows businesses to connect with consumers that are searching for information about specific keywords. Millions of people trust services like Google and Bing to provide information about a wide variety of topics.

With the right search engine optimisation campaign, your business can position itself as the leading provider of services that relate to popular keywords.

Solving Consumers’ Problems with Search Engine Optimisation

Before the emergence of e-commerce, companies could only market themselves according to broad industrial categories. For specialized companies, it was difficult to reach relevant consumers. The internet has improved the relationship between the entrepreneur and the end-user. People often turn to search engines to find solutions to problems.

In some cases, those individuals discover a new product that makes life easier. If your company takes advantage of search engine optimisation consulting, immense profits will be realized as consumers find out about your brand while searching for information about a relevant keyword.

Efficient Search Engine Optimisation Consulting Is the Key

Efficient Search Engine Optimisation Consulting Is the Key to a Successful Marketing Campaign

Some keywords attract more attention than others. Furthermore, specific techniques can improve the relevance of incoming traffic. For these reasons, it is important to work with a search engine optimisation consultant with a proven track record.

Today’s economic climate rewards those businesses that provide the highest quality of service at the lowest possible price to the end-user. With an efficient search engine optimisation campaign, you can increase your web traffic in a way that provides an excellent return on your marketing investment.

SEO empowers the consume

SEO (Search engine optimisation) empowers the consumer to find out about boutique products and services that solve immediate problems or relate to specific interests. Furthermore, these techniques improve the efficiency of entrepreneurs’ marketing efforts.

If you are looking for a way to boost revenues while expanding the average person’s awareness of your brand, it would be wise to establish a relationship with a search engine optimisation consultant.

What is The Blogger’s Atlas? Well, it is a collection of many resources, tools, and articles that will help you along your path to Blogging Bliss. Instead of regurgitating information that is already out there, I scoured the web and found many quality posts from my fellow bloggers to further explain the points. We will dive deep into how to setup your blog, how to build traffic, and how to actually make money from your blog. And did I mention that this is all free to you? Weighing in at over 20 pages and 7,500+ words, it is definitely a valuable resource newbies and veteran alike. Did I mention it was free?

The first Volume

The first Volume of the atlas includes content and services from:

• @WayneFarley – Aviation Blog
• @DonnaFontenot – DazzlinDonna
• @z3olyte – The Game of Life
• @JeanSarauer – Virgin Blogger Notes
• @krenee76 / @weblogbetter – We Blog Better
• @SEOSmarty – SEO Smarty
• @DragonBlogger- Dragon Blogger
• @Titan7586 – Tech N Blogging
• @pixldinc – PixlD Inc.
• @DonEnck – Live Your Best Life
• @kikolani – Kikolani
• @jsinkeywest – Blogger Luv
• @bbrian017 – Blog Engage
• @dataentryforall – YoungPrePro
• @evelyn_parham – Become a Healthier You
• @bizchickblogs - Biz Chick Blogs
• @AskKim – Just Ask Kim
• and yours truly: @WaynesBNP – Business & Pleasure

So what are you waiting for?

You can head over to the atlas page to to download your copy right now!

P.S.: I am holding a contest to for referring people to download the guide. Check it out and get involved, cash is involved.

How can you loose something you don’t yet have?

Easily: by NOT taking your time to pick the perfect domain name.

Choosing the right domain name is one of the most important things you can do to get high search engine ranking optimization.

After you’ve done the proper keyword research and came up with that perfect niche market you want to make some money off, your next step should be to take you time picking the right domain name.

5 great guidelines you can use when choosing the right domain

Here are 5 great guidelines you can use when choosing the right domain (to make it easier, let’s pick a keyword – “pool chlorinator” for instance):

1. PoolChlorinator.com is THE perfect domain to get; it will trump all other variations you can come up with. When you have a dead-on domain, Google will WANT to put you in #1 spot!

2. PoolChlorinator.net or .org should be your second choice, if .com is not available.

3. Pool-Chlorinator.com – i.e. your-keyword.com. Many old school SEOs will suggest that this is a great way to go, and I won’t argue with them (or maybe I will). It was possibly the case back in the day when spamming was not so wide-spread. Rumor has it it’s precisely because many spammers are so fond of putting dashes in their domain names that Google discounts those type of domains altogether. Let’s look at it this way as well: how many big websites ranking high on Google you’ve seen that have dashes in their domain name? That’s my point.

4. PoolChlorinatorTips.com (i.e. suffixed.com) – this will be my next choice. When choosing your suffix, consider making it as short as possible unless it can be an additional keyword – more on that in a second.

5. MyPoolChlorinator.com (i.e. prefixed.com) – this would be my last choice. Google reads from left to right, as most of us do, and gives your first words the most weight.

Now a little exercise for those brain cells of yours:

Which domain is better?

a) PoolChlorinatorTips.com

or

b) PoolChlorinatorProducts.com

The former has a nice and short suffix that is more or less relevant to the topic.

The latter one… well, it has a suffix that clearly shows the BUYING intent vs research intent. Wouldn’t you rather attract visitors who are ready to buy vs just learn more about the topic? You bet!

So in this exercise the clear answer (although might be counter-intuitive at the first glance) is B.

Always use a suffix that gives you a bump in commercial intent. Here is a link to a great free tool that makes it a cinch to determine whether your chosen keywords have commercial intent.

One more word on that

Just because a keyword doesn’t have commercial intent, it does not mean you don’t want to optimize for it. As long as it has a great amount of searches, I say go for it! Just make sure you have good traffic conversion techniques in place and any traffic can be monetized!

So don’t take your domain choice lightly – it can definitely make or break your chance to rank well… VERY well.

When you have the dead-on domain name, the #1 Google listing is yours to lose.

This is my first design list of articles in the blogging and design niches, I love to travel in the design world from time to another, I believe in the importance of design in our lives as part of almost everything.

I am going to mention some articles I had the chance to read last week, some of these articles was submitted to our new design news site DesignGizer.com, and the rest of articles is picked by my favorite design blogs. I find it a good chance to prepare a meeting between blogging and design in a business mode. I think that bloggers who writes in the Making Money Online and business niches should learn from designers, and those who runs a design blogs should learn from other bloggers.

One thing I must mention before I proceed, I am impressed with bloggers in the design niche because they are really active, and I am really in love with what they do on their blogs, starting from the blog design, and how they arrange their content in a fancy way, a lot of design blogs cares about usability as part of design, they are able to attract huge traffic in very short period of time compared with blogging in the money making, business, marketing, search engine optimization and the blogging niche it self, so why we don’t visit more design related blogs more often? and why not learn from them?!

We really need to make something different!

But, one thing is quite often missing in design blogs, which is lack of search engines optimization, and very long and endless lists, then after I think about it, I changed my mind about the long lists, and now I think that design lists is some times a must, especially when it’s about inspiration, this post could go really long, but still not convinced 100% that designers are able to realize and optimize their content for search engines, and this is what I will try to do by featuring member’s articles from our DesignGizer bookmark site, and I will use their blogs and sites logos as images on my post to show some branding love.

1- Up & Coming Design Blog’s To Follow

I like the up and coming lists more than the popular list of blogs for example, I mean why not spotting new blogs? while we have to repeat all the time the same lits everywhere?

Nenuno.co.uk has a great list of design related blogs,one good thing about this list I meet some nice designers through it, and also FB blog is mentioned on that post as a design blog, probably not everyone visit FB will think it’s a design blog, but actually we are having an active design category with a few design tips that helps our readers to enhance their blog designs.

If you are looking for some good design related blogs to follow, then you must visit Daniel’s blog, he made a nice list for those who are interested in design and blogging, showcasing creative resources, inspiration, tutorials and of course some nice giveaways!

2 – The Secret Of Successful Company Blogging

Very interesting read about corporate blogs from boagworld.com, why should companies have blogs? and why corporate blogs fail? This article provides solutions, and show you how simple it is to run a successful corporate blog, and it has a very good lessons for the individual or multi-authors blogs as well, it’s a must read!

3 - Why your Designing Business Needs a Blog?

DZINEPress.com answered this question, they focused this article about business aspect of a design blog and how we actually can use it to promote our services and products, some nice and useful thoughts I want to share with you.

4 – User & Community News Submitter Tool

A topic that interests so many bloggers, an amazing tool for designers to submit their articles to over 40 community news sites from one page, BoxModelJunkie.com is developing the article submitter tool, I mus say it save time indeed, and makes the work much more easier, I have just submitted one article to give it a try, and it seem working fine for me, try the News Submitter Tool.

5 – It Happened: I Nearly BROKE a Client’s Hand!

Some fun with Andrew at andrewkelsall.com, when he reached over to shake his client’s hand, and he heard and felt every finger of his give a mighty CRACK, followed by a loud “Ouch!”. Well, it’s really funny as I imagine it, read how Andrew was about to break the client’s hand, and maybe you have something funny to share!

6 – 10 Simple Usability Tips for E-Commerce Sites

Some of our reader will find this article interesting, even if you don’t own an E-Commerce site, it’s still useful to read and learn how others think of usability of their sites, I am sure that you can find and apply some usability tips that could help those who run mini sites, affiliate site or even blogs. Usability is very important for business websites, with little small changes you can dramatically increase your sales. I like to learn how others manage their enhance and develop their web sites. Find usability tips for E-Commerce sites.

7 – How to Brand your Business on a Small Budget?

Nothing defines a product better than a brand!

So true! This article talks about some ways branding can be utilized by small businesses, it’s perfect for those who are on a limited budget (like the most of us), as we are looking all the time for working, simple techniques, cost effective and easy to implement ways. We all need to grow our businesses, and one thing that I personally practicing is advertising to promote my sites, advertizing can get things started for small businesses and spread the word about your products more faster than anything else, and maybe one advertisement on the write spot can take you to another level. We really need to think about that and stop the fear of spending money if it’s going to the right place.

8 – Joomla, Drupal, WordPress..? Selecting the Right Content Management Platform

I think we really don’t have to use only one CMS (Content Management System) platform, WordPress is great, but why not discover some other CMSs platforms that you can use in your business, build a community, or any e-Store?

Here is some information about Joomla, Drupal and of course WordPress, all three are my favorites, and I have done projects using these platforms, they are different than each other, each has it’s own community and great support, but how do you know which CMS is the best platform for your website if you didn’t try any?!

Now.. More Social Power for Designers

Here is my new Social Bookmarking Site for designers, I hope we can deliver more social power for designers through our network, Visit DesignGizer.com if you are seeking promotion, we will do more of these awesome design list posts in the future, and probably you will get featured if you submit your design related articles! Follow us on Twitter @DesignGizer

Blogging, Design and Business!

OK, I will just stop at this point, letting you read and think about what I have said today about Blogging, Design and Business! then I would like to hear your thoughts, what’s missing on this blog? what’s missing on yours?

Affiliate marketing is among the most difficult methods to generate income online. The most challenging part of the affiliate marketing is how to convert your readers’ clicks into sales. Only sales and leads will help you earn commissions from advertisers and vendors.

There are several factors that affect your readers’ decision whether they will proceed to checkout page and pay the bill or not. It is not easy like many other bloggers usually think. It is a very long & complete process that you cannot miss any steps in the between in order to boost your sales.

Here are some fundamental steps that will possibly help you convince your readers not only clicking on your affiliate links but also paying the bill happily.

1. Your blog design:

Many of you can be against to this point but frankly, your blog design will definitely help skyrocket your affiliate marketing campaigns. Why? If you have a professionally-designed theme, you must be a real blogger and you are serious about what you are doing. Your readers will trust you from what they see.

When your readers trust you, they will likely click on your affiliate links and proceed to checkout page.

2. Personal reviews from your own experiences:

You cannot tell your readers that “Oh, this is a good product, you should buy it blah blah blah…”. Is that convincing enough to encourage your readers buy products or services? I do not think so.

I will never trust any reviews that are not coming from author personal experiences. If you have used that product and you write a review about it, you must know well about what is the good and what is the bad. With that said your readers would surely love it and buy if they need it.

3. Discount coupon codes for extra value:

All of us love freebies and discount. It can help us save a lot of money shopping online. You can base on this common characteristic to boost your sales. I have done this way successfully by requesting a special coupon for my readers and I have made over $500/month for just a single plugin.

You should contact vendors/advertisers asking for a special coupon to offer your readers. That is win-win strategy and most of vendors are willing to do so.

4. Your personal branding:

Many of your readers use your affiliate links to buy products and services, not because of its high quality but of your branding. They love you as you have provided them with added values through many articles on your blog and they would like to reward you by this way.

Don’t promote bad quality products with high commission just because you are famous and you think your readers are always generous. They will be just in case you provide them high quality services and products.

5. Your willingness to support:

When I introduce any products or services to my readers, I always offer my personal support for FREE even they use my affiliate links or not. This will remind your readers that they will get your free support now and then.

You can disclose this in your affiliate policy page to notify your readers and give high priority to those who buy with your affiliate links. I am sure that you will get more sales from this strategy too.

If you have followed all those steps strictly, I can guarantee that your readers will likely click on your affiliate links and pay the bill. Therefore, your sales will be boosted and your commission will increase accordingly.

Your comments and feedbacks are always welcome!

Usually, you start a business, run it for a while, and then start a blog to do the “social media thing”.  This is a mistake.  If you are thinking about starting a new business, do yourself a favor and start your blog first.

Here’s why.

Most businesses fail because they don’t sell enough products to make a profit and keep the lights on.  The business equation is ruthless. No customers=no business.  Surprisingly, many business owners start with only an idea and faith that there are enough customers out there. Inevitably, they fail unless they are one of the lucky ones who hit it out of the park on their first try.

But, what if What if you could find your customers, understand what they want to buy, find instant rain-makers without spending a cent?

You can with a Blog

Here are 6 reasons why using low-cost blog to give your business a profitable makes sense.

#1: Inexpensively Find Your Audience

A blog is a search engine magnet. The moment you start posting you will begin getting ranked for keywords used in your posts.  Once you do, your future customers will start arriving at your blog.  And, if you spend the extra time to write spectacular posts than they will leave clues about their buying habits in their comments.  This is where you can begin to create a picture of your perfect customer.

#2 Identify a Real Need

Use your blog posts to offer advice, suggestions, and reviews on topics related to your product or service.  In these posts ask your readers to tell you what they think about your product idea.  This is great low-key way to doing some covert market research.

#3 Create a List of “Warm” Prospects

Every small business guru will encourage you to start a list of email subscribers.  They are right on the money.  The easiest way to create this list is by offering a newsletter on your blog.
Use your email list as a way to slowly prepare your subscribers for eventually purchasing your product.  Go slow, deliver great information, and listen to what they have to say.  This is a goldmine for the patient entrepreneur.

#4 Uncover Your Niche’s Influencers

Over time, your blog will attract “influencers” who can immediately turn your product into an overnight sensation.  You can identify them from their comments and retweets of your posts.  Once you’ve identified them, reach out to and offer to help them.  Be courteous and willing to be a resource to their community.

This tactic alone virtually guarantee your businesses success.

#5 Increase Your Margin of Error

Most businesses don’t get their product right the first time.  It takes multiple revisions to find the perfect balance of features, benefits, and value.  Use your blog to start a conversation about your product.  Use surveys and polls to ask for suggestions during the planning.

This is a smart way to discover bad assumptions on paper before you invest big and make huge (and expensive) mistake.

#6 Get Momentum

With your blog, you will be able to launch with a ready-made community of people who trust you, a list of warm prospects, and a crowd-sourced product that people can’t resist.  This is the best environment to get some early wins and testimonials from happy customers.

Want to really “guarantee” your success?

You might want to play it safe and absolutely guarantee that you will get a winner out of the gate.  I like that.  Here are some advanced tips that I cooked up just for you:

• Comment Your Heart Out: This is the #1 to get on your influencer’s radar screen.  Even the topic bloggers are religious about reading their comments.  Leave genuinely helpful comments to impress mover-and-shakers and attract future customers.
• Guest Post: If you’ve been blogging for more than a 3 days, you’re already been taught the necessity of guest blogging.  Do it.  It works.  Guest posting allows you to borrow other people’s audience.  It’s super effective and a win/win for everyone.
• Join the “Do Follow” Movement: If you don’t already, give your blog commentors a little link love by turning off no-follow.  Yes, you will need to spend a little more time monitoring again spam but you also get more quality comments in the process.

Now the deck is stacked in your favor. Start your blog today and start posting tomorrow.  Get some momentum and start asking questions as soon as you can.

Once you thoroughly understand your customers, their needs, and expectations then unleash your product on the world.

Tell me, are you using a blog to research your product?  How will you use these tips for your business?

Today is Tuesday and that means that we are going to have our weekly round up.

If you would like your article to be featured here then be sure to submit it to MMO social network. All of the articles here and much more can be found at MMO, join us and you might be mentioned!

And after reading, I would like to invite you for a nice discussion!

Here is What I Have Found For You Today on MMO Social Network

Best Blogging Articles

• 12 Traits of Highly Successful Bloggers – I really enjoyed reading this article because it covers all the things that are important in blogging. Great read!
• Are You Commenting Wrong? – Another nice read which outlines a strategy that will help you to comment more effectively.
• Where to Find Free Legal Content For Your Blog – This is great article about where you can find content for your blog. Definitely read it!
• Getting Inspiration for Your Blog Posts – I liked this short post because it gives you an idea of how you can use Twitter creatively.
• How to Write Popular Posts that Get Traffic – Analysis of 5 Top Blogs – It’s a nice analysis of articles from popular blogs and what you can learn from that to write better articles yourself.
• Should We Update Our Old Posts Regularly? – A nice short article about why you should update your old posts regularly. Be sure to check it out.
• Blog Commenting: CommentLuv, Disqus or IntenseDebate? – This post shows you the advantages of using each of these comment plugins. Nice article especially if you are trying to decide which plugin to use.
• 5 Reasons Why You Should Not Be a Blogger – A good post about why some people won’t make it as a blogger. Be sure to read it!
• 7 Guaranteed Ways to Reduce Your Blog Bounce Rate – If you want to reduce your bounce rate then follow the advice that Onibalusi is giving here. Very interesting article!
• Meet & Interact with Your Commenters – A short post about an interesting new WordPress plugin called “Meet Your Commenters”. Definitely looks interesting.

I hope you enjoy the articles I have listed above. Feel free to share some additional related articles.

Discussion: Important Traits of a Blogger

Since the first post is all about the traits you need to have as a blogger I thought of starting a discussion about it. What do you think are traits that you need to have as a blogger? What is important?

I personally think that passion is one of the most important traits you need to have as a blogger. But you also need to be persistent and keep trying out new things. If you are good at writing then this is definitely good but I don’t think that it’s a requirement as a blogger.