Archive for the ‘Content Writing’ Category

2 Ways to Sabotage a New Blog’s Success

Saturday, May 23rd, 2009

Blogging is still a hobby for some people, but the more savvy ones have learned how to use blogs to earn online. Can you really earn off a blog? You can, if you start correctly.You may have heard of ways to earn from blogging, but unfortunately, there are also many ways to sabotage your own blog’s success.

Here are the 2 ways to kill a blog without really trying.

Mistake #1: Using Free Hosting THEN transferring to a hosting account  that you don’t own

Whether you’re dabbling at this online marketing thing, or you’re seriously looking for a day job alternative, get your own hosting account. I recommend the Platinum Package from Bluehost. You’ll get a free domain, and all the space you need to accommodate your blog data

That last bit is important because active blogging means storing an ever-increasing amount of data in your database. If you go cheapo on your online business and you won’t pay 7 dollars a month to own server space, you risk losing this data if your host suddenly decides to cut your hosting.

About free blog spots: these are OK, but….

When you start blogging, you also start making friends online. People who like your blog will link to you and use your FREE subdomain’s url. As your blog grows, you’ll lose track of who’s linking to you and who’s been telling their friends about your blog. If you change your blog’s URL because you finally decided to avail of hosting, you risk losing the link love from those who sent traffic your way in the past.

Mistake #2: Publishing Unrelated Content

Your visitors read your website for a reason, and they will come back (via their bookmarks) in the future for the same reason. Your topic is your main selling point. If you write about sales, all your posts must be related to sales. You may write about other things, but you should always find a way to link any topic to your main one.

Let me reiterate: people come to your site because they are interested in what you have to say about a particular topic. Try to maintain an acceptable level of consistency.

Experienced Bloggers Can be the Best Virtual Assistants

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

How can you jump from being a blogger to a virtual assistant?

In my opinion, bloggers make the best virtual assistants because we already know the business somewhat. From link building to content creation, bloggers have had experience maintaining a business online. Being a Virtual Assistant has its perks and its downside. You will get paid but you have to spend a lot of time on someone’s project, so there’s less time to work on yours.

Companies and individuals now realize how time consuming internet marketing is, and those of us willing to work for others can get a lot of cash if we want… Becoming a Virtual Assistant (VA) doesn’t necessarily require specialized training, but you have to know the basics.

The usual services you can offer include:

1. autoresponder management

2. Blogging

3. Article submission

4. Link building

5. Affiliate management

For more suggestions, you can check out this book, How to Become a Virtual Assistant , if you want a complete walk-through, and then some…

•2 hours of audio outlining everything from getting a business license to keeping your clients happy.
•Accompanying workbook with notes
•5 customizable website templates to get you started
•A professional newsletter template so you can stay in touch with your readers and clients
•A video critique of a new VA’s website to show you how to optimize your site for maximum results.
How to Become a Virtual Assistant is full of real advice by real virtual assistants who have found success. They offer this information so you can avoid costly mistakes.

There’s one advice I can give you if you plan on pursuing this SURE way to earn cash online:

Choose who you work for. If you cannot root for someone 110%, or if you feel like you’re not getting what you deserve, do NOT commit to a long-term arrangement.

3 Killer Ways to Write Quality Content Daily for Multiple Blogs

Monday, April 27th, 2009

If there’s one trait that all bloggers share, it’s this: OPINIONATED. We always have something to say, regardless of the topic (niche). For this same reason, we put up multiple sites, so we can categorize our thoughts.

Sadly, there are times when we just don’t want to write because we’re tired, we have a lot of other things to think about (like what’s for dinner and taking care of chores). But have you noticed that there are times when you just have so many ideas inside your head and you can’t seem to catch them fast enough?

How to Write Regularly on Multiple Blogs

1. Harvest Ideas While You’re In the Mood to Write

When you’re in the mood to brainstorm ideas, like when you just finished reading the papers, after work while sipping coffee or a drink, or while you’re watching television, JOT DOWN all the things you feel like blogging about later. Then, sleep. You can keep these topic lists and continue collecting ideas until you have the time to post everything on your blogs.

Split your opinions into different niches and post 300 words at a time. Next, schedule the posts so that they get published every two days or 3 times a week.

2. Grab one quality pack on a topic you like and edit one article at a time. I use a checklist to track how I use my bought articles. View the checklist: QualityPLR_Checklist. One article pack costs 12 USD, even less if you have a coupon (view the PDF document to get the coupon for this month).

Here’s how I edit my  documents to produce more articles from just one pack of quality articles:

  • Get the main points and use them as subheads on your article. Usually these are the first or last sentences of every paragraph.
  • Put 3 opinion sentences at the start, and another three at the end of your final product.
  • Fill your copy with bullet points. Use your own keywords as bullet points. (You can use google’s free adwords tool or get what I use, micronichefinder)
  • You can use the rest of the sentences in the article at will, but I recommend expressing at least a sentence of your opinion to personalize each section.

3. Create a Topic of the Week

You may have one good topic every week and run it across multiple niches. For example, you can write a post about Earth day on your parenting blog, and another on your gardening blog. Since the two niches are dissimilar, you can discuss the topic from different angles.

Writing for multiple blogs is fairly easy if you aren’t afraid of work, and if you’re opinionated enough (which you are; otherwise, you wouldn’t be blogging right?).