The Importance of Being First in Niche Blogging

The ones who do something first usually get the most credit. Be that in business, innovation, creative work. In some cases, it is due to satisfying the audience even before they realize they have the need. In other cases this can even translate into being the first who answers an already apparent need, something already missing. However, for the most part it’s mainly due to serving the curiosity which is ever growing.

The thing is, that answering this need, being the first who provides the content, is as good a place to start as any when wanting to establish yourself as an authority within your niche, as well as capture a bigger market by leveraging random affinities and going viral.

Don’t let me bother you with flowery prose, and let’s delve deeper into why is it that you should always stay on top of what is new in your niche.

Even if sounding way too naive, this holds sense. You always have something new to write about, right? Think again. You will realize that on a second thought that’s almost a no. How come?

You see, even if the material you create is new in the sense of never repeating what you already have on your site, it’s probably talked about many times before, on sites that share the similar theme.

Now this is not that bad of a thing, don’t get me wrong. You definitely have contributed with presenting it in a slightly different fashion, from a different perspective, having it connected with other information, thus making it unique (have you?).

But it is still not something entirely new, you see.

By staying on top of what is happening in your niche, you can have something brand new to say to your readers. And not only them, but the whole audience interested in your niche- the potential audience, that is.

Realizing that every day billions of searches constantly happen, and that one third of those has never been typed into the search query box before, you should already get the picture about what this means.

In short, it means that sometimes chasing the event keywords or trying to predict the search volume of new trends beats already popular keywords by a huge margin.

I recently wrote a huge review about the Insanity workout. The thing is that it became quite popular in the world of fitness. The workout, that is. So, targeting an audience that resembles the workout potential buyer, I figured that it’s a great thing for me to cover. However, I did this a little bit too later.

Granted, I rank well with the review, have some conversion and sales going on, tons of visitors on a monthly basis. But, had I decided to go for creating the review the moment this workout was out of the oven, things would have been entirely different. You get the picture, right? If I stayed on top of what is happening in the niche, I would have made a fortune by now. But alas, we learn, and that’s a good thing.

Sometimes try and even predict what will be going on in your niche. Take for example people who build sites around event keywords before they even happen. Like creating a site for, let’s say the Olympics. Sounding familiar? Darren Rowse did this once. Way back, with the games in Athens, 2004 was it?

Since then many others tried to duplicate this approach, creating sites around things that they predicted would be talked about. The epilogue? Some had huge success with it, that’s for sure.

Now here is the thing; Not only they made a site centering the main keyword, they also tried to predict things like lack of available hotel rooms, traffic jam, incidents… You know, things that happen constantly on such events. In short, the result was great. Whenever some of these happened for real, they already ranked pretty well. And that’s a lot of traffic if you ask me.

We slightly went off-course with the previous one. I hope you don’t mind. Let’s get specific again, shall we?

The reason why I’m not putting link bait in the same basket with the SEO aspect, is because I refer to it more in terms of Internet Marketing.

You see, being the first to create content about what is new and trendy in your niche, the content itself becomes what SEO’s know as link bait. In short, content that is very likely to be linked. And regardless the form, be that in text, video, podcast, it buys you a lot of links either way. The reason being, because it covers what’s new and trendy, and we already discussed that people have the intrinsic need for such things.

But creating the content would not suffice all by itself. It has to either be a valuable resource (like those huge articles that Glen from ViperChill makes), present things in a certain entertaining fashion, make connections with other niche related aspects – random affinities (this term is coined by Ian Laurie from the SEOmoz community, and basically means an existing connection between two topics only in terms of having a common audience).

Your content can cover one of these, and classify as link bait.

How long do you reckon before people start to notice you in the sense of always being the one who brings the new right on the table? News travel pretty fast on the Internet. Go viral with one story, and you already caught the attention of the biggest part of your potential audience.

It won’t be that much longer before people turn to your brand, and start looking for exclusive content that can rarely be found other places.

Of course you will have to stay innovative and create content that satisfies those needs. Creating random affinities is as good a place to start as any. But I digress…

The thing is, be the one sharing the new going on in your niche, and you will see that people see you in an entirely different light authority wise.

This one is very tightly connected with the one above. Mostly in the sense of big players noticing you. They will cite you, maybe even ask you for advice or interview. Even linking to your work, they will make an effort to contact you, since it’s clear that you are an up-and-coming player in their niche now.

If you bother to ask, many bloggers will tell you that they made most of their connections this way.

Knowing what is going on in your niche can give you the upper hand in captivating and wooing your audience as well as opening to a new one, earning those links and Search engines love, thus ranking for those keywords as well. You will also make countless of connections, build authority while at it, and even expand your area of interest niche wise by leveraging the random affinities in connection to what is new.

Slavko Desik is writer and editor at Lifestyle Updated, a site about improving one’s lifestyle and enjoying life full time. He also writes about subjects closely connected with internet marketing and blogging.

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

View the original article here

Blogging for Beginners: 17 Tips Before You Start Your Blog

Starting a blog is no longer enough.

There are millions of blogs out there, and most of them get nowhere because they don’t have a strategy in place.

In this post, you’ll not only learn blogging for beginners, but you’ll get 17 concrete steps you can take to dramatically increase your chances of success.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t started a blog yet, or if you’re a veteran, because just one of these tips can make a big difference in your life and in your blogging.

With that said, let’s start with the first tip.

1. Passion

Don’t just start a blog because you want to make money. There are no shortcuts to success.

If you want to build a thriving blog that brings in revenue, you will have to work hard, and to stay motivated, you have to find something you’re passionate about.

Or at least something you’re interested in.

2. Purpose

When your purpose is weak, your chances of giving up somewhere along the way go up dramatically.

So ask yourself the following questions:

Why are you starting a blog?What do you want to get out of doing this?Why do you want to succeed?

If you have a strong reason for starting your blog, you will go far. This is a long-term game. Always remember that.

3. Niche

The next step is to find your niche. The best way to stand out from all the millions of blogs out there is to become an expert in a highly targeted area.

Think opt-in conversion expert instead of email marketing. Think turning your blog into a book instead of just general blogging tips.

Get specific and you will go far.

4. Solve a Problem

One addendum to finding your niche is to make sure you solve a problem.

Money is made by solving problems for people. If you can help someone get more subscribers on their list and make more money, you’re solving a problem.

So think about what problem you’re solving, and then do some research on if people are willing to pay for having that problem fixed.

5. Personality

To really stand out from all the noise, you have to inject your personality and expertise into your blog.

There are too many people out there teaching something they have no experience in.

If you don’t have experience, get some. The more you know, the more you can share with your audience, and the more they will grow to know, trust and like you.

6. Come Up with a Domain Name

There are many ways of coming up with an excellent domain name, but in the end, you alone have to decide what kind of name and brand you want to build.

A few tips for coming up with a good domain name is to make it:

UniqueMemorableEasy to spellConcise

Coming up with a name is tough, so go for good enough instead of perfect.

7. Tag line

Coming up with a tagline is not absolutely necessary when you’re starting out, but it can be a lot of fun.

Go for a tag line that communicates who you help and what you help them with. If you help small businesses get more leads on their email newsletter, a simple tag line could be:

“Turn your readers into leads, and your leads into raving customers.”

8. Pick Your Web Host

Avoid using a free blogging option like WordPress.com or Blogger.com. If you’re serious about blogging, you need a self-hosted service.

There are plenty out there, like BlueHost and HostGator. They are just a few dollars a month and will get you started on the right path.

9. Pick Your Theme

Next up is picking a WordPress theme that makes your blog look professional.

Again, there are several free options out there, but I recommend you spend some money and get a good premium theme. Some of my favorites are:

If you’re strapped for cash right now, go with a simple free theme and upgrade later.

10. Pick Your Plugins

Once you’ve got a web-host and a good looking theme, it’s time to get your plugins in order.

Keep the amount of plugins you use to a minimum. Each plugin you add will (usually) make your site slower, which isn’t the best thing you can do.

Here’s a list of plugins I use:

Akismet – to prevent spam.Audio player – to play interviews and podcasts.Broken link checker – so I can remove and fix broken links.Contact form 7 – so people can contact me.Google XML sitemaps – to create a nice and simple sitemap for Google to crawl.Popular posts – to help people find my best content.Sharebar – so people can share my content on social media.WP smush.it – to reduce image file sizes and make my site load faster.WP super cache – another plugin that helps my site load faster.

11. Analytics

The next thing you have to do is get analytics set-up, which will help you keep track of how many visitors you get, where they are coming from, and what they are doing on your site.

If your traffic isn’t growing from month to month, something needs to change, but remember, traffic isn’t everything.

If your goal is to make money with your blog, you should be building your email list, and converting that traffic into email subscribers.

12. Content Strategy

You need to have a solid content strategy in place, so think about the following questions:

What kind of content will you produce? (audio, text, video)How will you produce it?How often will you publish new content?How will you make new readers aware of old content?How will you use your content to grow your business?

Your content is what will build authority and trust. The more you can share, the more people will trust you.

13. List Building

I mentioned building your list above, and it’s crucial if you want to make money with your blog. Think about how you will get people on your list, and what email service provider you will use.

One of the easiest ways to start is to give away a free 5 to 10 page report when people sign-up.

There are many email list service providers out there, and they do cost money, but it’s an investment worth making. One of my favorites is Aweber. I’ve been using them for over 5 years.

Do not skimp on starting an email list, because while you may save money now, you will end up losing thousands in lost opportunity down the road.

14. Monetization

The next step is to think about how you will monetize. How will you make money with your blog?

If you don’t want to make money with your blog, you can skip over this step. But I see so many people jump into blogging without having a simple business plan.

You have to have an idea of how you will generate revenue. You don’t have to be crystal clear, but there needs to be opportunities for you to do so.

Look at what people are already paying for. Go to ClickBank, Amazon, or just use Google to find products and services people are selling in your market.

15. Traffic Generation

How will you get traffic to your site?

Write down at least three traffic generation strategies that you will start off with. For example, I started with blog commenting, but I quickly moved over the guest blogging, because it was so much more effective.

To this date, I’ve written close to two hundred guest posts for different blogs, and they all keep bringing traffic to my site and building my list, and consequently, my business.

16. Outreach

How will you connect with peers in your field?

If you blog about knitting, how will you connect with other knitters?

This part scares people, and it scared me for a long time. Or to be honest, it still scares me, but in reality, it’s about making friends and being yourself.

Just write down how you can connect with fellow bloggers. Maybe you can comment on their blogs, see if they hang out on Twitter or Facebook, or simply shoot them an email.

Start connecting with people right away. Think about how you can add value to their lives and people will appreciate your help.

17. Expectations

Last, but not least, write down what your expectations are. Here are a few questions to get you going:

Where do you expect to be with your blog in 6 months?What will happen if you don’t reach those expectations?Why do you want these results?

If your expectations are unrealistic, you will be in for a disappointment, and you’ll probably give up.

But if you equip yourself with the truth, you’ll know what to expect, and you will keep going when the going gets tough.

Summary

Whatever you do, don’t just move on and read another article. Pick one of the tips above and implement it.

If you haven’t started a blog yet, look at the first few tips on passion, purpose and finding your niche. Sit down and brainstorm some answers and then move forward.

Starting a profitable blog is not easy, but it is worth it. It opens doors, helps you grow as a human being, and if you work at it, can help you make a living working from home, just like it has done for me.

It’s not easy, but it can be done.

Henri Junttila is the founder of Wake Up Cloud, where he helps people turn their passion into a thriving lifestyle business. If you want to learn more about how to build a successful online business, make sure you grab his free special report (audiobook included).

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

View the original article here

Sail The 7 C’s Of Better Blogging

Aspiring blogger? 
New to blogging?

Wondering if you have what it takes to blog successfully?
Experienced and looking for tips?

If the answer to any of these questions is YES, read on.

The HOW of blogging is simple and at the same time tricky.  Understanding the 7 C’s of Blogging can get you on track.  This overview is the first of a short series where we will explore each of the 7 C’s in more depth.

For me, this topic is critical since Lead Generation is my primary focus and blogging is arguably the number one tool for generating leads online. Blogging is certainly one of the very few tools that you own and that can’t be taken away from you.

The first C is something you do BEFORE you start blogging.

The first thing you need to decide is: “WHAT is my blog is going to be about?” and “WHY am I blogging”

If your WHY is to create an online diary, you may not care if you have any consumers.

If you want to share your passion or if you want to cash in on your passion then you do want consumers.

Assuming that you want to talk to a growing list of consumers, the CORE is actually made up of two parts – your Center (passion) and a Crowd that is Starving for something related to your passion.

Discovering your CORE requires you to look in two directions at once (inward and outward).

Looking in two directions is a tricky task, to say the least, so we will take them one at a time.
First, look inward, inside yourself. 

Find something you love or have always been interested in and would really like to learn more about.
Then look outside yourself.
See if there is a crowd with a hunger for something related to your passion. 

Once you have both parts, you have a CORE for your blog.  This step is critical to successful blogging.  You won’t last unless you are talking about something that really interests you AND there is a crowd starving for your material.

Once you start your blog, CONSISTENCY is probably the number One task for better blogging.  It is a BIG C.  You MUST publish regularly if you want to gain a following of consumers.  We’ll cover this in more depth in a subsequent post.  The other side of consistency is your “voice.”   You need to pick a role (expert, friend, investigator, exposer, reviewer, etc.) and consistently use that voice.

CONGRUENCY is another BIG C.

You need to stay on topic or at least loosely relate you topic to your CORE.

For example, if you are blogging about Building Kites, you need to talk about the various aspects of building kites.  You may stray into the
kinds of people who build kites or something about you AND why you like building kites.  Talking about something totally unrelated – like politics or planting flowers will actually drive your followers away.

The bottom line is that if you can’t tie a post back to your core and aim it at YOUR crowd, don’t put it on your blog.  Write an article and submit it to an eZine if you REALLY want to write about it.

You can also Guest Blog on someone else’s blog that might be more related to what you want to talk about.  Information posted on YOUR blog should always be CONGRUENT with your CORE.
One way to stay congruent is to pick 4 to 7 categories for your blog. 
Make sure each of your blog posts fits into one of these categories.  (Yes, you can have an “Other” or “Fun Things” category.  Just make sure that the vast majority of your posts are congruent with your CORE.)

“Content is King!”

I’ll have to admit, this phrase annoys me. It is 100% accurate and if you know what it means it make perfect sense.  On the other hand,  if you don’t know what it means, you  get nothing but a feeling of “I need to write well.”

Writing well is important, but it is not the whole story by a long shot.

Here is my take on what the phrase means.   The search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) are in the business of feeding their users the absolute best answers to the implied questions the users are asking when they search.

For example, if I search for a specific network marketing company, I DO NOT want to see 6,000 entries that are almost exactly the same. This would be a bad user experience.  The end result is that the programmers for the search engines go through some contortions to try and deliver the best content to the searchers.

This means that as a blogger, it is your job to provide content that would meet the current definition of “best content for the searchers” – in other words Content is King.

Key words and SEO are far beyond this short post, but it is critical to remember that your first job is to provide content that someone will find useful when they read it.  Useful may mean “how to” or “that was interesting” or “That was funny” or “now I know that writer better and I like them more”.  It can mean lots of things, but somehow the content must be useful.

In addition to being  useful, readers expect multi-media today. Readers expect and demand to see Videos, Pictures, or  Infographics.
There is another side to content. And that is the question of where to find good content to write about.
This is a very hot topic for bloggers.  You always start with “what do MY readers need?”, but it is possible to run out of ideas.   There are lots of posts on where to find ideas.
My three favorites for finding topics and ideas for blog posts are as follows:

Go to a book store and pull books about your passion.  Look for bullet lists.  Give credit where credit is due and argue, agree, add to, or subtract.  There is usually something there to talk about.Pull books on your topic off your shelf and ask yourself “Why did I buy this book?” and then “Did it give me what I wanted?”Look at the titles of past posts on other  blogs about your topic.  The titles themselves will spark ideas.

You developed your CORE before you started.

You have a reason for blogging and a target audience.

Now it is time to make sure that you have a CALL TO ACTION in your blog.

It doesn’t have to be there in every post, however there needs to be a consistent, congruent and frequent CALL TO ACTION where you tell your readers exactly what you would like for them to do.

I like the concept of a Persuasion Shell which is material that you cut and paste at the beginning and end of every blog post.  This consistent and congruent message is the same every time a person reads your blog.  The repetition carries a much stronger impact than you can achieve with the same message being delivered using different words every time.

In your posts you can have Calls to Action that are unique as you talk about different pain points, however the Persuasion Shell can be your best CALL TO ACTION tool.

A major part of Internet Marketing is checking your results and adjusting. 

Even if things are working, you try for something better.  If the “better”  doesn’t give better results, back up and then try again.  You need to be tracking when you change your offer and see how it affects the conversion rates.

Too many bloggers feel that once they press the “Publish” button they are done.  The best bloggers, the pros at better blogging, the ones with lots of people following them. have a routine they follow after they press  the Publish Button. This routine puts them in front of thousands of potential followers.

The cruise to Better blogging happens when you have identified your personal CORE topic and audience. 

Then your posts  must be CONSISTENT and CONGRUENT. 

You must deliver CONTENT your audience can use.  

For every post, you make sure your CALL TO ACTION is in place and CHECK (and Adjust) to achieve maximum results.

When you publish a new post then you must CONNECT with traffic.

The key to Better Blogging is handling ALL 7 C’s every time.

Now, print this post out and tape it near your computer so you have it to refer to. Also, please share this post if you found it of value. If you have questions or suggestions or want to add to your own ideas, please comment below.

With degrees in psychology and counseling and a doctorate in Ed. Administration and Research, Hale has a long history bf loving to teach and help. His background includes working for School Districts, Social Service Agencies, Universities and several small businesses. He has been involved in thousands of research projects and for the last forty years has been a software development systems analysts and project director. He has always been a teacher He loves helping people and learning new things. His current passion is network marketing and Internet marketing. Learn more about working with Hale by clicking the blog link below.

View the original article here

Blogging for beginners: 17 tips, before you start a blog

Starting a blog is no longer enough.

There are millions of blogs out there, and most of them get nowhere because they don’t have a strategy in place.

In this post, you’ll not only learn blogging for beginners, but you’ll get 17 concrete steps you can take to dramatically increase your chances of success.

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t started a blog yet, or if you’re a veteran, because just one of these tips can make a big difference in your life and in your blogging.

With that said, let’s start with the first tip.

1. Passion

Don’t just start a blog because you want to make money. There are no shortcuts to success.

If you want to build a thriving blog that brings in revenue, you will have to work hard, and to stay motivated, you have to find something you’re passionate about.

Or at least something you’re interested in.

2. Purpose

When your purpose is weak, your chances of giving up somewhere along the way go up dramatically.

So ask yourself the following questions:

Why are you starting a blog?What do you want to get out of doing this?Why do you want to succeed?

If you have a strong reason for starting your blog, you will go far. This is a long-term game. Always remember that.

3. Niche

The next step is to find your niche. The best way to stand out from all the millions of blogs out there is to become an expert in a highly targeted area.

Think opt-in conversion expert instead of email marketing. Think turning your blog into a book instead of just general blogging tips.

Get specific and you will go far.

4. Solve a Problem

One addendum to finding your niche is to make sure you solve a problem.

Money is made by solving problems for people. If you can help someone get more subscribers on their list and make more money, you’re solving a problem.

So think about what problem you’re solving, and then do some research on if people are willing to pay for having that problem fixed.

5. Personality

To really stand out from all the noise, you have to inject your personality and expertise into your blog.

There are too many people out there teaching something they have no experience in.

If you don’t have experience, get some. The more you know, the more you can share with your audience, and the more they will grow to know, trust and like you.

6. Come Up with a Domain Name

There are many ways of coming up with an excellent domain name, but in the end, you alone have to decide what kind of name and brand you want to build.

A few tips for coming up with a good domain name is to make it:

UniqueMemorableEasy to spellConcise

Coming up with a name is tough, so go for good enough instead of perfect.

7. Tag line

Coming up with a tagline is not absolutely necessary when you’re starting out, but it can be a lot of fun.

Go for a tag line that communicates who you help and what you help them with. If you help small businesses get more leads on their email newsletter, a simple tag line could be:

“Turn your readers into leads, and your leads into raving customers.”

8. Pick Your Web Host

Avoid using a free blogging option like WordPress.com or Blogger.com. If you’re serious about blogging, you need a self-hosted service.

There are plenty out there, like BlueHost and HostGator. They are just a few dollars a month and will get you started on the right path.

9. Pick Your Theme

Next up is picking a WordPress theme that makes your blog look professional.

Again, there are several free options out there, but I recommend you spend some money and get a good premium theme. Some of my favorites are:

If you’re strapped for cash right now, go with a simple free theme and upgrade later.

10. Pick Your Plugins

Once you’ve got a web-host and a good looking theme, it’s time to get your plugins in order.

Keep the amount of plugins you use to a minimum. Each plugin you add will (usually) make your site slower, which isn’t the best thing you can do.

Here’s a list of plugins I use:

Akismet – to prevent spam.Audio player – to play interviews and podcasts.Broken link checker – so I can remove and fix broken links.Contact form 7 – so people can contact me.Google XML sitemaps – to create a nice and simple sitemap for Google to crawl.Popular posts – to help people find my best content.Sharebar – so people can share my content on social media.WP smush.it – to reduce image file sizes and make my site load faster.WP super cache – another plugin that helps my site load faster.

11. Analytics

The next thing you have to do is get analytics set-up, which will help you keep track of how many visitors you get, where they are coming from, and what they are doing on your site.

If your traffic isn’t growing from month to month, something needs to change, but remember, traffic isn’t everything.

If your goal is to make money with your blog, you should be building your email list, and converting that traffic into email subscribers.

12. Content Strategy

You need to have a solid content strategy in place, so think about the following questions:

What kind of content will you produce? (audio, text, video)How will you produce it?How often will you publish new content?How will you make new readers aware of old content?How will you use your content to grow your business?

Your content is what will build authority and trust. The more you can share, the more people will trust you.

13. List Building

I mentioned building your list above, and it’s crucial if you want to make money with your blog. Think about how you will get people on your list, and what email service provider you will use.

One of the easiest ways to start is to give away a free 5 to 10 page report when people sign-up.

There are many email list service providers out there, and they do cost money, but it’s an investment worth making. One of my favorites is Aweber. I’ve been using them for over 5 years.

Do not skimp on starting an email list, because while you may save money now, you will end up losing thousands in lost opportunity down the road.

14. Monetization

The next step is to think about how you will monetize. How will you make money with your blog?

If you don’t want to make money with your blog, you can skip over this step. But I see so many people jump into blogging without having a simple business plan.

You have to have an idea of how you will generate revenue. You don’t have to be crystal clear, but there needs to be opportunities for you to do so.

Look at what people are already paying for. Go to ClickBank, Amazon, or just use Google to find products and services people are selling in your market.

15. Traffic Generation

How will you get traffic to your site?

Write down at least three traffic generation strategies that you will start off with. For example, I started with blog commenting, but I quickly moved over the guest blogging, because it was so much more effective.

To this date, I’ve written close to two hundred guest posts for different blogs, and they all keep bringing traffic to my site and building my list, and consequently, my business.

16. Outreach

How will you connect with peers in your field?

If you blog about knitting, how will you connect with other knitters?

This part scares people, and it scared me for a long time. Or to be honest, it still scares me, but in reality, it’s about making friends and being yourself.

Just write down how you can connect with fellow bloggers. Maybe you can comment on their blogs, see if they hang out on Twitter or Facebook, or simply shoot them an email.

Start connecting with people right away. Think about how you can add value to their lives and people will appreciate your help.

17. Expectations

Last, but not least, write down what your expectations are. Here are a few questions to get you going:

Where do you expect to be with your blog in 6 months?What will happen if you don’t reach those expectations?Why do you want these results?

If your expectations are unrealistic, you will be in for a disappointment, and you’ll probably give up.

But if you equip yourself with the truth, you’ll know what to expect, and you will keep going when the going gets tough.

Summary

Whatever you do, don’t just move on and read another article. Pick one of the tips above and implement it.

If you haven’t started a blog yet, look at the first few tips on passion, purpose and finding your niche. Sit down and brainstorm some answers and then move forward.

Starting a profitable blog is not easy, but it is worth it. It opens doors, helps you grow as a human being, and if you work at it, can help you make a living working from home, just like it has done for me.

It’s not easy, but it can be done.

Henri Junttila is the founder of Wake Up Cloud, where he helps people turn their passion into a thriving lifestyle business. If you want to learn more about how to build a successful online business, make sure you grab his free special report (audiobook included).

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

View the original article here

The Importance of Being First in Niche Blogging

The ones who do something first usually get the most credit. Be that in business, innovation, creative work. In some cases, it is due to satisfying the audience even before they realize they have the need. In other cases this can even translate into being the first who answers an already apparent need, something already missing. However, for the most part it’s mainly due to serving the curiosity which is ever growing.

The thing is, that answering this need, being the first who provides the content, is as good a place to start as any when wanting to establish yourself as an authority within your niche, as well as capture a bigger market by leveraging random affinities and going viral.

Don’t let me bother you with flowery prose, and let’s delve deeper into why is it that you should always stay on top of what is new in your niche.

Even if sounding way too naive, this holds sense. You always have something new to write about, right? Think again. You will realize that on a second thought that’s almost a no. How come?

You see, even if the material you create is new in the sense of never repeating what you already have on your site, it’s probably talked about many times before, on sites that share the similar theme.

Now this is not that bad of a thing, don’t get me wrong. You definitely have contributed with presenting it in a slightly different fashion, from a different perspective, having it connected with other information, thus making it unique (have you?).

But it is still not something entirely new, you see.

By staying on top of what is happening in your niche, you can have something brand new to say to your readers. And not only them, but the whole audience interested in your niche- the potential audience, that is.

Realizing that every day billions of searches constantly happen, and that one third of those has never been typed into the search query box before, you should already get the picture about what this means.

In short, it means that sometimes chasing the event keywords or trying to predict the search volume of new trends beats already popular keywords by a huge margin.

I recently wrote a huge review about the Insanity workout. The thing is that it became quite popular in the world of fitness. The workout, that is. So, targeting an audience that resembles the workout potential buyer, I figured that it’s a great thing for me to cover. However, I did this a little bit too later.

Granted, I rank well with the review, have some conversion and sales going on, tons of visitors on a monthly basis. But, had I decided to go for creating the review the moment this workout was out of the oven, things would have been entirely different. You get the picture, right? If I stayed on top of what is happening in the niche, I would have made a fortune by now. But alas, we learn, and that’s a good thing.

Sometimes try and even predict what will be going on in your niche. Take for example people who build sites around event keywords before they even happen. Like creating a site for, let’s say the Olympics. Sounding familiar? Darren Rowse did this once. Way back, with the games in Athens, 2004 was it?

Since then many others tried to duplicate this approach, creating sites around things that they predicted would be talked about. The epilogue? Some had huge success with it, that’s for sure.

Now here is the thing; Not only they made a site centering the main keyword, they also tried to predict things like lack of available hotel rooms, traffic jam, incidents… You know, things that happen constantly on such events. In short, the result was great. Whenever some of these happened for real, they already ranked pretty well. And that’s a lot of traffic if you ask me.

We slightly went off-course with the previous one. I hope you don’t mind. Let’s get specific again, shall we?

The reason why I’m not putting link bait in the same basket with the SEO aspect, is because I refer to it more in terms of Internet Marketing.

You see, being the first to create content about what is new and trendy in your niche, the content itself becomes what SEO’s know as link bait. In short, content that is very likely to be linked. And regardless the form, be that in text, video, podcast, it buys you a lot of links either way. The reason being, because it covers what’s new and trendy, and we already discussed that people have the intrinsic need for such things.

But creating the content would not suffice all by itself. It has to either be a valuable resource (like those huge articles that Glen from ViperChill makes), present things in a certain entertaining fashion, make connections with other niche related aspects – random affinities (this term is coined by Ian Laurie from the SEOmoz community, and basically means an existing connection between two topics only in terms of having a common audience).

Your content can cover one of these, and classify as link bait.

How long do you reckon before people start to notice you in the sense of always being the one who brings the new right on the table? News travel pretty fast on the Internet. Go viral with one story, and you already caught the attention of the biggest part of your potential audience.

It won’t be that much longer before people turn to your brand, and start looking for exclusive content that can rarely be found other places.

Of course you will have to stay innovative and create content that satisfies those needs. Creating random affinities is as good a place to start as any. But I digress…

The thing is, be the one sharing the new going on in your niche, and you will see that people see you in an entirely different light authority wise.

This one is very tightly connected with the one above. Mostly in the sense of big players noticing you. They will cite you, maybe even ask you for advice or interview. Even linking to your work, they will make an effort to contact you, since it’s clear that you are an up-and-coming player in their niche now.

If you bother to ask, many bloggers will tell you that they made most of their connections this way.

Knowing what is going on in your niche can give you the upper hand in captivating and wooing your audience as well as opening to a new one, earning those links and Search engines love, thus ranking for those keywords as well. You will also make countless of connections, build authority while at it, and even expand your area of interest niche wise by leveraging the random affinities in connection to what is new.

Slavko Desik is writer and editor at Lifestyle Updated, a site about improving one’s lifestyle and enjoying life full time. He also writes about subjects closely connected with internet marketing and blogging.

Sign-up to the Daily Blog Tips newsletter and you will be able to download the "Make Money Blogging" eBook for free (worth $47).You will also receive tips to improve your blog, strategies to make money and useful resources from around the web.

View the original article here

Sail The 7 C’s Of Better Blogging

Aspiring blogger? 
New to blogging?

Wondering if you have what it takes to blog successfully?
Experienced and looking for tips?

If the answer to any of these questions is YES, read on.

The HOW of blogging is simple and at the same time tricky.  Understanding the 7 C’s of Blogging can get you on track.  This overview is the first of a short series where we will explore each of the 7 C’s in more depth.

For me, this topic is critical since Lead Generation is my primary focus and blogging is arguably the number one tool for generating leads online. Blogging is certainly one of the very few tools that you own and that can’t be taken away from you.

The first C is something you do BEFORE you start blogging.

The first thing you need to decide is: “WHAT is my blog is going to be about?” and “WHY am I blogging”

If your WHY is to create an online diary, you may not care if you have any consumers.

If you want to share your passion or if you want to cash in on your passion then you do want consumers.

Assuming that you want to talk to a growing list of consumers, the CORE is actually made up of two parts – your Center (passion) and a Crowd that is Starving for something related to your passion.

Discovering your CORE requires you to look in two directions at once (inward and outward).

Looking in two directions is a tricky task, to say the least, so we will take them one at a time.
First, look inward, inside yourself. 

Find something you love or have always been interested in and would really like to learn more about.
Then look outside yourself.
See if there is a crowd with a hunger for something related to your passion. 

Once you have both parts, you have a CORE for your blog.  This step is critical to successful blogging.  You won’t last unless you are talking about something that really interests you AND there is a crowd starving for your material.

Once you start your blog, CONSISTENCY is probably the number One task for better blogging.  It is a BIG C.  You MUST publish regularly if you want to gain a following of consumers.  We’ll cover this in more depth in a subsequent post.  The other side of consistency is your “voice.”   You need to pick a role (expert, friend, investigator, exposer, reviewer, etc.) and consistently use that voice.

CONGRUENCY is another BIG C.

You need to stay on topic or at least loosely relate you topic to your CORE.

For example, if you are blogging about Building Kites, you need to talk about the various aspects of building kites.  You may stray into the
kinds of people who build kites or something about you AND why you like building kites.  Talking about something totally unrelated – like politics or planting flowers will actually drive your followers away.

The bottom line is that if you can’t tie a post back to your core and aim it at YOUR crowd, don’t put it on your blog.  Write an article and submit it to an eZine if you REALLY want to write about it.

You can also Guest Blog on someone else’s blog that might be more related to what you want to talk about.  Information posted on YOUR blog should always be CONGRUENT with your CORE.
One way to stay congruent is to pick 4 to 7 categories for your blog. 
Make sure each of your blog posts fits into one of these categories.  (Yes, you can have an “Other” or “Fun Things” category.  Just make sure that the vast majority of your posts are congruent with your CORE.)

“Content is King!”

I’ll have to admit, this phrase annoys me. It is 100% accurate and if you know what it means it make perfect sense.  On the other hand,  if you don’t know what it means, you  get nothing but a feeling of “I need to write well.”

Writing well is important, but it is not the whole story by a long shot.

Here is my take on what the phrase means.   The search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo) are in the business of feeding their users the absolute best answers to the implied questions the users are asking when they search.

For example, if I search for a specific network marketing company, I DO NOT want to see 6,000 entries that are almost exactly the same. This would be a bad user experience.  The end result is that the programmers for the search engines go through some contortions to try and deliver the best content to the searchers.

This means that as a blogger, it is your job to provide content that would meet the current definition of “best content for the searchers” – in other words Content is King.

Key words and SEO are far beyond this short post, but it is critical to remember that your first job is to provide content that someone will find useful when they read it.  Useful may mean “how to” or “that was interesting” or “That was funny” or “now I know that writer better and I like them more”.  It can mean lots of things, but somehow the content must be useful.

In addition to being  useful, readers expect multi-media today. Readers expect and demand to see Videos, Pictures, or  Infographics.
There is another side to content. And that is the question of where to find good content to write about.
This is a very hot topic for bloggers.  You always start with “what do MY readers need?”, but it is possible to run out of ideas.   There are lots of posts on where to find ideas.
My three favorites for finding topics and ideas for blog posts are as follows:

Go to a book store and pull books about your passion.  Look for bullet lists.  Give credit where credit is due and argue, agree, add to, or subtract.  There is usually something there to talk about.Pull books on your topic off your shelf and ask yourself “Why did I buy this book?” and then “Did it give me what I wanted?”Look at the titles of past posts on other  blogs about your topic.  The titles themselves will spark ideas.

You developed your CORE before you started.

You have a reason for blogging and a target audience.

Now it is time to make sure that you have a CALL TO ACTION in your blog.

It doesn’t have to be there in every post, however there needs to be a consistent, congruent and frequent CALL TO ACTION where you tell your readers exactly what you would like for them to do.

I like the concept of a Persuasion Shell which is material that you cut and paste at the beginning and end of every blog post.  This consistent and congruent message is the same every time a person reads your blog.  The repetition carries a much stronger impact than you can achieve with the same message being delivered using different words every time.

In your posts you can have Calls to Action that are unique as you talk about different pain points, however the Persuasion Shell can be your best CALL TO ACTION tool.

A major part of Internet Marketing is checking your results and adjusting. 

Even if things are working, you try for something better.  If the “better”  doesn’t give better results, back up and then try again.  You need to be tracking when you change your offer and see how it affects the conversion rates.

Too many bloggers feel that once they press the “Publish” button they are done.  The best bloggers, the pros at better blogging, the ones with lots of people following them. have a routine they follow after they press  the Publish Button. This routine puts them in front of thousands of potential followers.

The cruise to Better blogging happens when you have identified your personal CORE topic and audience. 

Then your posts  must be CONSISTENT and CONGRUENT. 

You must deliver CONTENT your audience can use.  

For every post, you make sure your CALL TO ACTION is in place and CHECK (and Adjust) to achieve maximum results.

When you publish a new post then you must CONNECT with traffic.

The key to Better Blogging is handling ALL 7 C’s every time.

Now, print this post out and tape it near your computer so you have it to refer to. Also, please share this post if you found it of value. If you have questions or suggestions or want to add to your own ideas, please comment below.

With degrees in psychology and counseling and a doctorate in Ed. Administration and Research, Hale has a long history bf loving to teach and help. His background includes working for School Districts, Social Service Agencies, Universities and several small businesses. He has been involved in thousands of research projects and for the last forty years has been a software development systems analysts and project director. He has always been a teacher He loves helping people and learning new things. His current passion is network marketing and Internet marketing. Learn more about working with Hale by clicking the blog link below.

View the original article here