This is a subject that I don’t think gets covered enough. If you run a blog, it’s important to keep it up to date, and having the time to write all of that content can be tough. It’s oftentimes much easier just to use someone elses article on your own blog.
This is perfectly acceptable, but there’s some guidelines you need to follow.
First, you need to consider the source of the content. Depending on where you’re getting the content from, there can be specific rules regarding duplicating the content and using it for your own use. Most article directories have this spelled out for you. However, if you decide to pull the content from a personal/business website, you may want to contact the owner to make sure they allow you to use it.
Most content owners are more than happy to allow you to use their content on your blog, but this comes with stipulations. For the most part, you’ll be required to cite the name of the author with a link back to the original source where you got the content from. With article directories, there’s usually code you can copy and paste that already includes this information.
If there are links within the content body, they usually have to stay intact. With article directories, there’s almost always an author resource box, and this will have to accompany the article on your site, otherwise you violate the copyright.
Now, I happen to know of some people who are very adament against people using their articles on other sites. That’s understandable as they put in a lot of time and effort to write high quality content for their site. It’s rightfully there’s, and they have the right to reject anyone from duplicating it.
I personally don’t have a problem with other people using my content as long as they keep all links intact and cite the reference from which they got the content from. That’s all I ask. I have had some problems with this in the past, as you can read from this post: I Hate Thieves! Blogger Steals My Content!
What actually prompted me to write about this is not from that post I just mentioned; although, it’s the same circumstance. You see, I was just made aware of another blog that published one of my articles and disregarded my policy and proper etiquette of content duplication.
I have already contacted the owner, and hopefully we can get this resolved without any legal action.
I just want to make everyone aware that it is a copyright violation to use someone elses content without proper citation, and in some cases, without the content owners approval. You can face legal action for disregarding this.
Of course, I’m not an attorney or anything, so use your own discretion in this matter. Regardless, there’s always going to be people who don’t follow the “rules” of the internet. Luckily for us they’re the minority. Don’t let this discourage you in any way from using other people’s content when you think your readers could find value in it. And, don’t let this deter you from creating high quality content of your own.
I’ve decided to start doing a roundup of all of last month’s posts. This is in case you happened to miss one along the way for whatever reason, and it never hurts to refresh your memory with an idea.
I’ll start from the beginning of the month and move to the most recent. So here goes…
If you’re starting up a new blog, or you have a blog that could use more traffic, then you have to get this plugin. It’s free to download and will optimize your blog for the search engines and pull in laster targeted traffic.
Learn about my experience of switching web hosts and why Host Gator was my preferred choice. If you’re looking for reliable hosting at a super affordable rate, then this is a post you don’t want to miss.
If you’re looking for big-time exposure for your make money online site, then you must check this out. Learn how to get your site seen by thousands of targeted visitors and make more sales.
An online marketer knows the importance of using an autoresponder. It’s necessary if you’re going to use email marketing to bring in more sales, and you should be. Learn more about GetResponse and why I chose them.
If you’re struggling to do all the necessary tasks of marketing your website or just don’t have the time, leave it up to professionals. Learn more about my partnership with a proven company that can handle all of your internet marketing needs.
If you happened to stumble onto my blog last evening and early this morning, you probably noticed that it looked very weird. No, it wasn’t your computer or browser. The design was messed up.
What happened was I trying to fix a simple write error by changing the permission settings for a particular directory. Instead of fixing the simple problem, I inadvertently created a much bigger problem. The main functions of the blog still worked and navigation shouldn’t have been a problem, though.
Without trying to sound too “techie,” the read/write permissions that I screwed up caused my WordPress theme to not show up. So, you saw my blog, but without the header and other graphics. The layout was also messed up as a result.
I’m just happy everything is working properly again. I have folks from the Warrior Forum and my web tech guru from Niche Power Group to thank for helping me resolve this issue.
This is a good lesson to remember that if you plan on making changes to your blog, no matter how small, to first make a backup of your blog in case something terrible goes wrong. All I can say is… lesson learned!
When it comes to online branding, one must make the decision whether to brand the business or brand him/her self. In the online business world, it’s hard to be transparent with site visitors. You don’t have that personal connection as you do with a traditional offline business.
One question that gets asked many times is, “Should I brand myself or my business?” This would depend on what kind of business you have or plan to have. If you’re marketing a specific product or service, you may want to brand that product/service. If you’re an affiliate marketer and promote many different programs, you’ll definitely want to brand yourself.
When it comes to online branding, it’s all about trust. People want to trust you, so you need to give them a reason to trust you or your product/service. Without that trust and personal connection established, your potential clients/customers will go somewhere else where they feel more safe.
I must say, it’s a lot harder to brand yourself online. I’ve made my best effort to make myself known to my site visitors, utilizing a picture of myself and having contact information available. This Work From Home Blog is probably the best way for visitors to see who I really am and learn more about me. That’s important for me, and it helps me build trust in my readers.
While online branding can be difficult, it’s not impossible by any means. Here’s some tips on how you can brand yourself online with social network sites:
Use a picture whenever possible
Complete your profile
Network with others with the same interests
If your branding a specific product/service, you want to make sure you talk about it within your profile. You could even use the product as the picture. Anything to get your product/service or yourself out there and known.
While I was planning this post on branding, I came across a video about Tony Hawk talking about how to brand a business. I thought it was quite interesting, so if you have some time, check it out.
No matter what business you’re in, branding is essential to success. Want more tips on how to brand yourself or your business online? Check out this insightful post on the Even Carmichael Forums about Personal Branding.
Do you have any other online branding tips? Share your thoughts below…
Here’s the scoop. Garry Conn from GarryConn.com, one of the leading make money online blogs, is looking for people to advertise on his site.
Garry’s blog is one of the leading blogs to cover the topic of making money online. It has attracted advertisement business from leading companies such as MarketLeverage.com, HostGator.com, NetPartner.com, DirectAgents.com, and, PepperjamNetwork.com.
If you’re looking for affordable advertising that gets results, then Garry’s blog may be the perfect fit for you. Get targeted traffic that gets results. Isn’t that what you should get for your advertising dollars?
Advertising your work from home business is a must. If you don’t advertise and get the word out, you’re not going to attract potential prospects or customers. If you happen to be in the make money online/work from home niche, please help Garry out by advertising on his site. I know he’d appreciate it.
Your business will grow when you advertise and get targeted visitors to your site. Advertising is the life-blood of any business, whether online or off. Remember, sometimes it’s necessary to make money. Consider it an investment in your future.
Here’s a few stats about Garry’s blog:
Google Page Rank
Web Page URL:
http://www.garryconn.com
The Page Rank:
5/10
(the page rank value is 5 from 10 possible points)
Alexa Traffic Rank
As you can see, GarryConn.com has been as high as the 13,000th (roughly) most visited site on the entire internet. This means a lot of traffic is going to Garry’s site, and the potential for you to receive a portion of that traffic when you advertise with Garry today.
What are your thoughts on advertising on other websites? Do you like Garry’s blog?Leave your comments below…
I’m all for getting more traffic to my blog. Traffic is a good thing, especially when you’re trying to sell products online as an affiliate. You won’t make sales if you don’t bring in any traffic.
I’ve been a subscriber of Jeff Johnson’s for quite some time now, and he provides some top notch tactics on getting more traffic and sales. And believe me, I don’t use the phrase “top notch” lightly at all.
Jeff knows his stuff and tests everything he does. It also helps to have a team working for you, which of course, Jeff does. He had his team put together new software that could get more traffic to his blogs by optimizing them for search engines and utilizing various plugins.
Jeff provides a lot of awesome content on his Underground Training Lab blog, and for free. He’s really a down to earth guy that enjoys sharing what he’s learned with others. I’ve learned a lot just from his videos. If you’ve never seen any of Jeff’s videos before, you can check them out on YouTube.
Jeff decided to give away his SEO blog software for free. I’ve already downloaded my copy and plan to install it here on this blog shortly. I wanted to make all of my readers aware of this software and how it can really benefit your blog by bringing in more traffic, and hopefully more sales.
You can grab your copy of Jeff’s Free Traffic-Getting SEO blog software here. All you have to do is simply enter your email address… no name required. You’ll also get full instructions on installing the simple plugin and setting everything up.
If you don’t yet have a WordPress blog setup and want to take advantage of this software, simply sign up for a hosting account through HostGator, and I’ll help you set up your new blog and software. HostGator is my recommended web hosting company as they provide the best support, and their prices are very hard to beat.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on how this software is bringing in more traffic for you. Did you find it easy to install and setup? How much more traffic are you getting from it?
Once I get it up and running on here, I’ll be back with an update.
I’m not a huge Twitter user, personally, as I don’t spend hours at a time chatting with my fellow tweets. I guess you could say I don’t use it for its intended use of socializing with others and building relationships. I make occasional updates about what I’m doing or thinking, but I don’t usually chat with anyone.
Nonetheless, I can’t ignore the fact that Twitter can bring in a lot of traffic. Twitter does have many advantages, and I continue to get more and more followers daily. Because of this, I use a service to automatically post my blog updates to my Twitter account.
As a marketer I try to capatalize on my efforts to get as much traffic with as little effort as possible. I’m sure others could agree that they strive to do the same. What better way to do this than to have others help bring you more traffic? That’s what the TweetMeMe WordPress plugin is designed to do. You may notice a little box above every post showing how many tweets that post has. There’s also a little green rectangle that says “ReTweet.”
If you find my posts useful and would like to share them with your fellow followers on Twitter, you can simply click that button at the top of the post to ReTweet it. Of course, you’ll have to have a Twitter account first. You can sign up for free here.
If you realize the true potential of social media and how sites like Twitter are gaining a foothold in the marketing world, you may want to consider adding this plugin, or a similar one, to your own blog.
Okay, this post is pretty personal, but there is a lesson here if you’re a marketer online.
Basically what happened is that one of my articles ended up on another blog. Thanks to Google Alerts I found out about. I highly recommend using Google Alerts to keep track of your name and domain name.
Anyway, what this blogger did was take my article from one of the article directories that it’s posted on and put it up on his blog. No biggie, right? Well at first I thought… “awesome, someone likes my article and wants to share it with their readers.”
Well after investigating, I find that, while the person aknowledges that I’m the author, he completely removed my resource box from the article. If you’re familiar with article marketing, you’ll know this is in violation of the author’s copyright.
This guy went even further by not only removing my links, but adding his own throughout the entire article. When I saw this I was quite irked to say the least, and still am.
Luckily (or maybe not) for me he has contact information on his site, so I emailed the owner and asked him to include a link to my site since he blatantly had removed it. Of course, I have yet to get a response. I also told him I would take further action if he didn’t comply (which seems impossible now).
I then went to Whois.com and looked up the contact information and web host for this domain. After finding out the host, it turns out you can’t contact them unless you have an account with them. How convenient, right?
I then decided to leave a comment on the page that my article is on. Well, I found out that the owner had conveniently deleted it. What’s the point of allowing comments if you’re just going to delete them anyway!
My last resort is to post about it here. People like this make me mad. They can’t come up with their own content, so they steal other people’s content and don’t give credit back by at least keeping their links. Yes, my name is there, but that’s just not enough, and it violates the terms of the article directories and the author.
You can view my article as well as check out the blogger who stole my content at http://www.getcashonline.org/work-from-home-online.
I absolutely hate thieves and hope this guy gets what he deserves. I know this problem is everywhere and can’t be avoided. It’s people like this that give the honest people a bad name.
What’s your experience with this? How did you handle it?
Firstly, we all want to know How to Make Money Online, and one of the best ways I have found is by creating blogs. In this article I intend to show you how you too can learn How to Make Money Blogging by telling you how combining the techniques I have gathered from across the web helps to make me $$$ every day. Secondly, I am not trying to sell you my latest “Get Rich Quick” scheme because I don’t have one. Each eBook you read will have a wealth of information within them which will, without a doubt, help you to discover the secrets of How to Make Money Online. I am only going to tell you which ones out of the 100′s available you SHOULD read if you too want to make lots of money.
I use a 10 step guide to setting up and starting all of my blogs.
I will give you a list of the top 10 resources later that I use and recommend to everyone who is serious about making lots of money online. One of the vital aspects people seem to miss out when they first get into blogging is the fact that their blog must contain information that people want to read.
Many bloggers are looking through closed eyes in this regard and if you browse through 50 blogs you will notice that most will tell you they know How to Make Money with Blogs when really all they tell you is where they went on their vacation or how many cars they have.
Are you ready to learn How to Make Money Blogging?
If the answer is YES then read on and start to make money with your blog. I am not here to tell you how to write your blog, that’s up to you, but what I am about to tell you is the 10 things I use to make money on the internet. You can choose to use these techniques or not, that’s your prerogative.
Step 1 – Finding a Topic
Turn off your computer, grab a pen and some paper and sit somewhere you can relax but also stay focused (if you are just starting out this step can be a pain because we all want to know How to Make Money Online and we want to know how to make it NOW). Think of a topic you are interested in and write it down (this helps because you will be more committed to trying instead of giving up in a day or two) and also make sure it is something other people are interested in too. A couple of ways I use to think of a topic is by using MetaSpy to find out what people are searching for, Ask IQ to find what’s popular and VRE Toolbar to find out how many people search for the topic (this is also useful later on to get traffic). Write down your top five keywords, you will want to use them later in your blog.
Step 2 – Create Your Blog
Find and create your blog online. I like to use WordPress for it’s SEO benefits but there’s also Blogger and Movable Type. You can find all the help in the program you use to get information when setting up the blog. Create your content, make it original, and make it informative. This is one of the main keys to learn How to Make Money with Blogs. You need to include the keywords you wrote down in Step 1 in the content of your blog. Try not to overuse these as it sends out bad signals to the search engines, and this is 100% not what you want.
Step 3 – Go Google
Sign up for Google Adsense and insert the code in the margin of your blog. You can customize your ads in many ways, such as including text links or image links. I prefer the text links only, as they are easier to blend in with your blog and don’t take the focus away from the information. Google Adsense will probably not make you a millionaire but it is an instant way of generating a small amount of money.
If you want to track where your visitors are coming from with regards to direct hits or from search engine results then I would suggest you use Google Analytics and again you can get all the help you need setting that up from within the program.
You will also want to add your URL to Google’s index.
Step 4 – Find Something to Sell
If you don’t want to sell anything and are happy with the income Google Adsense is bringing in then you can skip this step. If you want to maximize your income and truly learn How to Make Money with Blogs you will want to find an affiliate program to join. A couple of affiliate programs I would suggest are ClickBank and Commission Junction. You can sell anything from office furniture, pet supplies, movies and clothing to PC games, Dieting tips and Audio software.
Whatever program you join will give you help inserting the code you will need to insert into your blog, but be sure you do this correctly or you WILL NOT earn money from your visitors. If you do not know how to edit HTML, W3Schools HTML tutorial is a great place to start.
Step 5 – Social Bookmarking
There is no better advertising than word of mouth, but the next best thing is social bookmarking. You will want to make things easier for people to do this. Social bookmarking sites I use and recommend are OnlyWire and SocialMarker and they are used for people to share their bookmarks or websites that they have liked with other people in their online community.
I would not suggest you add your own links to these services, but provide visitors to your website the ability to do so.
Step 6 – Write an Article
Whether your blog is about a specific product, for example a certain MP3 Player you are promoting, or just about giving people information, I would suggest you to write an article or a review of it. Most article directories require articles of 500 words and over so I would use this as a rule when writing to ensure your article is published.
Submit your article to any of the 100′s which are out there. I personally use a few of the Top Article directories such as EzineArticles, Article Dashboard, Amazines.com, isnare and SearchWarp. I also use a nifty piece of software called Article Submitter which will submit your articles to over 600 article directories, which saves you lots of time and leaves you to focus on writing your blogs.
Step 7 – Ping The Hell Out Of It
Every time you add new information to your blog, you want to let the blog directories know about it, this is known as pinging. Some Blog providers automatically send out pings when you update, but to be on the safe side you will want to do this manually too. WordPress already does this for you. Add any pinging services to the list already provided. Word of note – ONLY PING WHEN YOU UPDATE.
There are a couple of Ping sites I use which will send a ping to multiple blog directories at the same time. PingMyBlog would be my first port of call and then if for some reason that site is down I would use Ping-o-matic. Remember, to only ping when you update or you could get blacklisted, and that is bad.
Step 8 – Yahoo! Answers and Forums
One of the easiest ways to get targeted visitors to your blog is to make use of the people you want to target. I would suggest you sign up to at LEAST one forum in the topic you are writing about, and don’t just go straight in there and start posting comments for people to look at your blog, they won’t.
The secret is to add the link to your blog in your signature and actively become a member of the forum, posting relevant topics and starting debates within them. The more you post, the more your link will show, and if you provide someone with good info the chances are higher they will click your link.
Yahoo! Answers is along the same lines as forums but the beauty of this is it’s viewed by thousands of visitors each day. If you don’t already have a Yahoo! account get one and then login and search for questions relating to the topic of your blog and answer them well. You can then insert the link to your blog and as with the forums, if you answer well you may have not only earned yourself a point or two on Yahoo!, but also earned a visitor to your blog.
Step 9 – Update Your Blog
This can be by several means, one is to add new reviews or content to your blog, and if you are going to do this I suggest updating every couple of days. This helps to keep the search engines happy as they love to see new and original content.
Another way of updating your blog and keeping the content fresh is to add RSS feeds to it. Make sure the feeds are relevant to your blog and provide visitors with helpful information. Visitors to a World of Warcraft blog don’t want to read feeds about knitting, or do they?
Step 10 – More, More, More
Repeat steps 1 – 10, this is the only way How to Make Money Blogging.
Step 11 – A Bonus Step
If you have your own product or newsletter, give your visitors an easy way to sign up to receive updates or information. This helps you to contact the visitor again with more great info or products you wish to sell.
How to Make Money Online is easy if you follow the above steps.
Some important things to remember so you don’t get disheartened with your blog is the fact that you will not become a millionaire overnight, it takes hard work and a lot of effort. If you are really serious about learning How to Make Money with Blogs then stick with it and eventually you will have an Ah-Ha moment. This is when things start to work and you think to yourself Ah-Ha, that’s how they do it! Your moment could be sooner than you think.
My Top 10 resources I use and recommend are:
1. Rob Benwell’s Blogging to The Bank 2.0
2. WordPress Goldmine
3. Rob Atherton’s Building A Blog Empire For Profit
4. The Blog Challenge
5. Hinge Marketing Magic
6. Blogging For Riches – Complete Video Tutorial
7. Social Bookmarking Demon
8. Adsense Inbox
9. WordPress SEO Sniper
10. RSS, Blogs and Syndication…
Now that blogging has become so popular among everyone from the novice writer to the most experienced journalist, businesses are starting to take notice. A well-written and frequently updated blog can help market almost any type of business. Blogging can help target readers who are interested in a company’s product or service, and businesses can keep track of what their readers are looking for through blogging. In addition, blogging can help link together companies that compliment each other very easily.
There is a lot of talk about blogging. Some feel that blogging is just a passing fad, but others feel it is just the beginning. Some business analysts feel that blogging does not significantly help a business market the company. Many businesses feel that this is not so. Blogging can be a beneficial way to market a business, build an audience and help link in other companies together.
Blogging can help almost any business expose their readers to their services and products. Sometimes with new products, a blog can create interest in something new. Blogging is helpful because it can talk in-depth about the product, and it can also give step-by-step instructions on how a certain product can be used. A reader, who is interested in the product after reading about it on a blog, will be more inclined to research similar products on the Internet. This can lead to a more informed consumer and can save a consumer time when shopping or researching a new product. In turn, a company may save time because customers who have read the blog are already informed about the product. These customers can also read reviews on these products and services, which can be helpful in the buying process.
Another great thing about companies using a blog for their products and services is that a blog enables the company and the customer to communicate effectively. A customer can read the blog and comment on it right away. This provides good feedback to the company and they can know what the customers want. Usually blogs will provide places for readers to leave their comments or send emails to the writer. This is a good marketing tool for businesses. People enjoy communicating about products and services that they have had good or bad experiences with and blogging provided the opportunity to do so.
Blogs can also help market a business because it will be included in search engines. When people enter certain keywords, blogs that contain those words will show up. When blogs are updated frequently, search engines can provide your company with a lot of hits. This can lead to many people looking at the company’s blog who might not otherwise have done so.
When companies use blogs, it also has the ability to create a sensation around a product and influence public opinion. This is an excellent tool for companies to use. Because of the huge popularity of blogging, this can be a more effective tool than some forms of advertising. Readers are more likely to share interesting blogs with their friends and this can help companies get the word out about their product.
Another way blogging can help market a business is that blogs often help a company position itself as a leader in a certain field. This means that those who blog can show their expertise about certain subjects and then updates this information on a regular basis. Blogging can help generate leads and send a positive message about your company without spending a lot of money for advertising. Readers can look at these blogs and know that they are dealing with a quality company.
Companies also use blogs to help network with other companies that compliment their business. This is beneficial because they can easily share their links and readers will see all of the blogs that relate to what they are searching for on the Internet. Link swapping is often used in blogging, especially with businesses.
Blogging is proving to be a beneficial marketing tool for businesses all over the world. While it’s a fairly new way for companies and customers to communicate with each other, blogging provides an immediate and unique form of advertising for the company. Customers are able to read and research products and services through blogging and companies can better understand what their customers want.
I’ve decided to start doing a roundup of all of last month’s posts. This is in case you happened to miss one along the way for whatever reason, and it never hurts to refresh your memory with an idea.
of being ReTweeted.
When it comes to online branding, one must make the decision whether to brand the business or brand him/her self. In the 
