The following is a guest post by Sam Bakker…

I recall when I first started trying to use blogging to make money online. I had arrived at the entrance of a cyber metropolis armed with an idea and a daft look on my face. It was a multifaceted space teeming with online users, all I had to do was establish myself and I’d be crowded with customers in no time. I had bought a product that would teach me how to build a home-based business. It told me I should start a blog and begin sharing with the rest of the internet world how to be successful making money through a home-based business.

I opened an account with Blogger.com and put my hands to the keyboard. For two months I typed away, completing a design and posting content up on a daily basis. For all this effort, I had one member and no sign of traffic. My blog was floating around in an alleyway when I wanted it to be across the street from Facebook. I wasn’t making money and my website wasn’t going anywhere.

It wasn’t until a year later that I found out (and corrected) what I had done wrong. In this article today, I am going to discuss what mistakes I made in my first attempt to make money blogging online and how you can avoid them. By dodging these classic mistakes, your journey to success will help you obtain an internet marketing lifestyle that is greatly to your advantage.

Firstly, it must be said that before anything else, you must plan out what your blog’s central focus will be. As is the general nature of entrepreneurs, we get an idea and jump in head-first without planting a base for ourselves. Planning is essential especially when it comes to blogging; you not only need to identify your audience and the value you can offer them, but you also need to find effective keywords.

Keywords are the driving force behind a blog’s organic search engine traffic. You need to find the most effective ones using a tool such as “Google Adwords Keywords” to research. This will show you where you can get your search engine traffic from and what terms will be most profitable when it comes to making money. If you launch your blog without keywords in mind, often Google will struggle to place you in the index. Much of the time this means that your blog’s potential is capped very early on and your chance of getting decent traffic flow from Google is reduced. Be sure that you conduct the appropriate keyword research for your website before buying your domain name.

When you first launch your blog online, it feels great. However, now the challenge is in getting it seen. In order for search engines to rank your website based on targeted key terms, you will need to generate some external links back to your website. Use websites such as Ezine Articles, Squidoo and write for other websites in your niche to get your blog rising in the search engines and producing traffic.

Use these tips to ensure that your blog doesn’t end up like my first one, gathering dust along some forgotten nook in cyberspace. Instead, implement the techniques I have discussed with you here to get your blog off to an excellent start.

Sam Bakker has been making money online for the past 7 years. If you would like to find out more about Sam Bakker or internet marketing you can view Sam’s website at SamBakker.com

Aside from the usual perks you receive when you become an Ezine Articles Expert Author, I wasn’t aware that they actually mail you some goodies as well. Pretty nice of them actually. You can see the cool coaster on the left, and I’ll post pictures of the mug below.

Inside the mug was a packet of gourmet coffee, which I’ll never use. If you want it, leave a comment or email me with your address and I’ll ship it to you free of charge. I only have one, though, so be quick about it.

It’s nice to get perks like this, and I’m sure all the other Expert Authors feel the same way. It helps to encourage authors to continue sending their articles and makes them feel appreciated.

Becoming an Expert Author really isn’t that difficult, and if you’re serious about making a name for yourself and your work from home business, then cranking out, say 60 articles, shouldn’t be all that difficult. If you can’t or don’t like to write, just outsource the work for a small fee.

No matter what you do, incorporate article marketing into your daily, or weekly, marketing habits. You’ll establish yourself as an “Expert” and build targeted traffic to your site. And, you’ll build quality backlinks to your site which will increase its ranking in Google.

Okay… here’s the cool mug.

I know you’re all jealous…

By now you should know how effective article marketing is for your online business. However, there’s another way in which you can use your articles that a lot of people overlook or never think of.

There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of ezines (electronic magazines) available on the internet. In fact, if you have an email list of subscribers, then essentially you own an ezine. And I’m guessing you provide your subscribers with useful ezine articles on a regular basis.

Keeping this in mind, have you ever found it difficult to keep creating ezine articles to send to your list? A lot of successful ezines have been around for years and have tens of thousands of subscribers. That’s a long time to try to keep creating ezine articles to keep the subscribers interested.

So, what does an ezine owner do in this case? It’s very simple. They allow other people to submit ezine articles to them which will be sent to their subscribers. Can you see the possibilities here?

This opens the doorway for you to get your message out there to thousands of people that might have never known about you otherwise. This is absolutely huge!

Here’s how it works…

You first find ezines that are related to what you do or what you provide. If you own a website or online business, then find ezines related to that. Next thing you’ll want to do is contact the ezine owner and ask if you could write articles for their ezine on a weekly basis.

If they agree, you’ve just set up a very good proposition for yourself. Now all you have to do is create an article every week for that ezine. It shouldn’t be very difficult as you should already be familiar with the niche.

Now, the most important part is to then create an “about the author” section at the end of your articles. This only has to be one or two sentences about yourself, what you do and what you provide. Of course, you’ll want to leave a link to your website so that the readers can check it out.

This results in getting interested people to visit your website. The goal is to get them to subscribe to your ezine (newsletter), make a purchase, fill out a form, click a link, etc. You want them to take action!

Ezine articles can be an effective way to promote your website and should be part of your overall marketing strategy. Now, a problem with this is that it can take a lot of time to search for and find related ezines.

I recommend you use the Directory of Ezines to find ezines to write articles for. Not all ezines will allow article submissions, but the Directory of Ezines has an awesome search interface that will allow you to search for only ezines that do. There are many other search parameters as well, including categories, specific keywords, ezines that allow solo ads and more.

There are many perks to becoming a member of the Directory of Ezines, especially if you become a lifetime member, which is what I am. At least check it out and see if it’s right for you.

No matter how you find potential ezines to partner with, just remember, this is free advertising for your website that has a lot of positive potential, so don’t ignore it. Ezine articles can have a huge impact on your online business.

Article marketing is one form of marketing that I think will never lose ground. It’s been around for a long time and still remains a proven method of promotion and link building. If I had to choose just one marketing method, it would be article marketing.

Here’s my list of sites that I submit my articles to, some are more important than others, but I have found all to be quality sites that bring in traffic or at least get exposure.

My top 31 Article Directory List:

1. The Free Library
2. Hot Article Directory
3. Hubpages – Must be unique
4. Qassia – Must submit here before anywhere else
5. Scribd
6. eHow
7. Helium
8. Google Knol
9. Associated Content
10. Ezine Articles
11. Go Articles
12. Article Archives
13. Free Articles Directory
14. Article Dashboard Directory
15. Article City
16. Article Cube
17. Article Alley
18. Buzzle – Must be unique
19. Isnare
20. Amazines
21. Articles Base
22. Article Marketer
23. Article Rich
24. Articles Factory
25. Drop Jack
26. eArticles Online
27. Get Your Content
28. Idea Marketers
29. Best Syndication
30. Niche Article Directory
31. Google Base

Which article directories do you get the best results from? Do you use any not listed?… Add them in your comments below.

I personally believe we do a dis-service to the industry and ourselves if we openly state…or even allude…that NWM is easy. It’s not. Nor is any business…. work at home or brick & mortar. Anyone who does say different is not being wholly truthful. I find that to be a shame.

NWM requires 3 main ingredients….time, effort, and yes – money. Time is just a matter of redirecting your habits. Not easy but doable. Time directly impacts your efficiency. Effort is entirely controllable by the individual…. and directly impacts your effectiveness. Money is self limiting and directly affects both efficiency and effectiveness. An individual must find the best combination of the three that works for them. Someone else can’t tell you what that combination is….but can help you find it (for example a good sponsor).

The new mlmer faces a daunting task…and competition…when it comes to “advertising”. Finding that “best combination” of time, effort, and money is a growth experience. Rarely will it just appear… education (self and provided) plus mentoring (if available) are important factors and hopefully a fact of life. However, “advertising” is not impossible.

In my mind advertising is just whatever method you choose to “reach” people. It might be the traditional newspaper or ezine ad or the simple greeting and sharing with a friend. How you “advertise” or “share” can take many forms.

There are free and inexpensive methods that do work. It’s a matter of finding those that work for you.

For example:

1. Writing and submitting ezine articles is an excellent method. It requires time & effort…but no money. The benefits include increased link popularity for the url used in your sig box (important for search engine ranking), branding, and reach (you can “reach” more with an article than an ezine ad). Plus it’s viral. Often your article is archived by publishers and directories…..available well after it was originally offered. Plus publishers and web masters will often “pick up” your article…again well after you originally submitted it.

2. Business cards are always a good method…and more inexpensive than one realizes. You can even make your own. Just pass them out like candy….stores, church, ball games, local events, restaurants (leave 1 with your bill), businesses you frequent, networking meetings, local Chamber Of Commerce. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

3. Flyers, posters, post cards, brochures, etc. can also be done very inexpensively. You can make your own on your PC or purchase custom or ready made templates from numerous online providers. You could even strike up a joint venture with a local community provider. They print it for you and include their “advert” somewhere…you distribute. You both win, you pay less, and maybe influence that partner to be involved in your business.

4. Web decals on your vehicle(s) is another inexpensive method. I have one on each of our family cars (back window) with a short “catch line” and my url. Cost was ~ $40 each but the visibility is priceless.

5. Newspaper/magazine ads can be found that aren’t going to cost an arm and a leg. Local publications are a good place to start. http://nationwidenewspapers.com is an excellent source. For some of my services I’ve found College student newspapers and alumni magazines to be good performers.

These are just a few examples.

Of course there are the traditional ezine ads, leads programs, Forum participation (sig line – branding reputation), search engines, “3 foot rule”, etc. Most of these will cost you money…all will cost you time & effort.

The key I believe is in being creative and sticking to what best fits your time, effort, money combination. It is and should be a personal choice. If the dollar “cost” doesn’t give you the dollar “value” you hope for…. keep looking. But don’t EVER give up.

Plus… diversify. Use multiple methods. Why limit yourself to just “one path”?

Should we just sponsor those willing to waste $1,000′s on advertising? Heck no!! We should sponsor anyone interested and teach them how to advertise in a manner best suited for them. Don’t mislead them with false expectations or pressure them into uncomfortable actions. Lead them to solutions which best fit their expectations & abilities (time, effort, money).

John Milton Fogg’s answer to the question is priceless……”It is simple, but it isn’t easy.”

Captures it pretty well I’d say. That’s the message. It’s not hard to understand…should/is fun…..but does take some effort.

Sending any message to prospects that denies effort is involved or necessary….misleads folks into becoming part of the “failed or quit” statistics.

It leads to false expectations.

They start to think they can sit on the couch with beer & potato chips watching Oprah on TV all day….and the money will roll in by itself.

Lays, Coronas, and Dr. Phil aren’t going to build your business.

YOU are.

In my mind (OK…my opinion)….that’s the core of any message they should receive.

If you really care…that’s what you’ll tell them.

Be honest….

What do YOU think????

Distributed by
Forex Robot
Forex Scalping

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