Archive for January 2010
How Has Blogging Changed Your Life?
I’ve been thinking about this over the past few days, I often wonder how the digital world improves our quality of life and why we (I) will spend hours and hours here on my Blog. I love being here, I love sharing, and more importantly I love helping others who struggle with something I find easy to do.
I think we all have something to say, we all have that axe to grind or that helpful tip, and better yet, that word of encouragement to someone who is struggling with whatever. So whats the big deal anyway? Why sit and write Blog Post after Blog Post?
For me it has given me hope, I’ve made more new friends and built strong relationships here, I feel utilized and valued in a way I would probably never be through other means, like working for an ungrateful. I can reach more people here, it gives me an opportunity to share, to help, to make a difference with all the technology knowledge in my head. Technology is what I know, how to use it in business, how to figureout what technology we should use, and how we can make a couple bux from it. That includes Blogging. I love trying to make business human through technology, I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but thats the challenge for me. I know we all need to be validated on some level, anyone who says they don’t, you’re either a narcisist or you have a superiority complex. And I can tell you nobody likes those kind of people to hang out and party with.
Any Who, it’s been on my mind, I’m sure Chris Brogan and Gary Vaynerchuk can show you a thing or two about making the most from Blogging.
So, how has blogging changed your life?
HELP! I Need Your Input Please
The past few months have been interesting to say the least, and in closing out 2009 I have been getting a variety of requests on my Blog, including speaking & consulting opportunities. When I started blogging I was hot and bothered about Nanotechnology, why people weren’t talking about it and how it may or may not impact our lives. That turned out to be a dead horse.
I then shifted energy to my other passion, I.T. Strategic Planning, that has developed some interest from a business perspective.
Lately, the biggest area of interest is Social Media, monetizing a blog, and how to get traffic to it. Go figure.
Anyway, My question for you is, is learning the ropes about blogging and or monetizing your blog important to you, do you want to know how and where I’m having success with it? Late 2009 and so far this year has proven profitable teaching and sharing on these items. Please do not take this as bragging, I’m merely sharing and want to know if you want to learn how I have done it. Or, is there something else you would like to see covered?
Thanks for your time, please let me know so I can discern where to invest my time serving you.
Please send me an e-mail with your input and or request: owen@owengreaves.com
Many Blessings,
Owen Greaves
http://blog.owengreaves.com
Blog Traffic = Dollars
Now that you have read the 3 Core Traffic Drivers, let me share with you how blog traffic = dollars here on Owen Greaves Consulting.
Those of you who know me, know I’m a big time promoter of other peoples products and services, even must get to know people. I’m not your traditional Internet Marketing Junkie, but I do like to make money, I suspect you do to. A few weeks ago I decided to get my feet wet, yes I purchased some products and services, which means I’m eating my own dog food. I believe in the products and services here on my blog, they have helped me, and they actually made me money in a short period of time! I hope they can help you too.
I would be lying to you if I didn’t tell you I spent many, many hours reading, listening and learning about how to make money with a Blog. The truth is, I have done so for two years, studying, and still I did not participate. Why? There was one thing I needed to do before I took the plunge, that was build some traffic.
I’m a stubborn lot and I don’t buy-in to alot of what I see on the Internet, the reason is, I believe I can figure out what those are doing without me spending money. I know, I hear ya chuckling. I will say this, I have figured out the process on my own, it’s not better, it’s just different. Some of you have purchased good products and services, I’m not bashing them, good for you and I hope they are working for you.
I’m merely here to give you hope and share how I was able to generate a few dollars through the little amount of traffic I have been able to attract. No I’m not financially independant, and no I didn’t make 10’s of thousands of dollars here (yet). This story may not impress you but it did me, what impressed me wasn’t the money, it was seeing the process work. The key of course was the traffic, how I got the traffic is now no big secret, it was however the largest investment of time.
The processes that worked for me are the 3 Core Traffic Drivers, Traffic = Dollars, pure and simple. The key is to have something the traffic wants, visitors come to places they find useful, that provide value and help them solve specific challenges.
Before I get into this, you need to know, everything I share, I use, and I believe in. If you don’t use or belive in the product or service you decide to promote on your Blog, DON’T. Eat your own dog food and only then will you be able to convince anyone else to try your recommendations.
– I started monetizing by trying a couple things, one of them is called Ad.ly, Ad.ly is an in-stream advertising platform that matches top-tier Twitter publishers with top-tier brands. I don’t pretend to be top-tier, but I looked into it anyway. This has done nothing to date, but that may be more about me than their system.
– One of the other products / services I looked into is selling products from Amazon, the commisions are actually very, very low so I’m not all hopped up on the program from that stand point. What I like about Amazon is, the huge variety of products available to you, no matter what your Blog or site is about. I promote books from Amazon, Chris Brogans Book TRUST AGENTS, and Gary Vaynerchuks CRUSH IT! are just a few.
– I sell a couple of books on my blog as well, one of them is called Beyond Blogging, this book sells, why, probably because of the 15 Top Bloggers in the book. They share their story, provide direction and enspire you at the same time, I highly recommend you get this book and then go through the worksheet that comes with it.
Another incredible book is called, 31 days to Build a Better Blog By Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, this book is a step-by-step book, also you should know that for the next few days (until 19 January 2010) Darren is offering 3 extra exclusive New Year Bonuses to all buyers of this downloadable workbook. It’s not the same as Beyond Blogging because it’s a How To book in more detail, this book covers daily tasks in considerable detail. These two books are the largest revenue generator on my blog as of this writing.
– One of the other things I looked at was Google Adsense and Chitika, I chose the later, no real good reason other than it was different and not Google. I have nothing against Google, I wanted to try something different. I use their Chitika Mini-mall on my site, it works in conjunction with Google search. I suggest you go to their site to get a much better description of how they work, rather than me trying to explain it.
– And finally my secret weapon, I have used for years now free stuff, but then I bought a theme for my Blog, which I swore I would never do by the way. This purchase is the best move I have ever made for Blogging, I highly suggest you look at what it does and can do for you. I will say this, my traffic has tripled by merely installing the theme, why, SEO is improved dramatically without any configuration by me. Once I learned the Visual Editor and played with the configuration, traffic got even better. The theme in question is NOT Thesis, it’s Headway. Headway Themes has put something together that flat out gets me fired up, I can modify my site on the fly, and the support is Top Draw. I love this product so much, I decided to join their Affiliate Program and promote / sell the theme here on Owen Greaves Consulting. If you want more information, just click here.
So there ya have it, that’s what I’ve been doing so far, I may drop or add depending on what vistors want / need, that’s business on the Internet. All these things also driver traffic to this blog, the 3 Core Traffic Drivers are the backbone, but these products / services are also driving traffic. As you can see it’s not simple thing, nor is it easy, it’s time consuming and strategic. So remember, nothing happens without Traffic, so build it as quickly as you can, then start monetizing, Blog Traffic = Dollars.
How To – 3 Core Traffic Drivers
After almost two years of blogging and learning the ropes so to speak, I have come down to three core traffic builders that have worked for me here on my Blog. Let me state up front, Blogging is not easy, getting traffic through free (not buying traffic) methods still costs you something in time. In fact, all three of these Core Traffic Drivers require planning and time.
Before I get into my big three, one thing you should do is study the traffic you already have, look for when they are coming to your Blog, time of day and which days of the week. That will help you determine a good posting schedule, which days to post and what time of day to do so. The busiest times on this blog are between 5PM – Midnight Pacific Time, so I post a few hours before 5 PM, I may do a late night post around 10 PM too. I can only share with you what I have done, I use WordPress with Headway Themes,(affiliate link) it has great SEO support within the theme, so I highly recommend it. The big 3 have sub-sets of things you will have to do as well, nothing is truly simple.
OK, let me share with you the 3 core traffic drivers that are working for me.
3 Core Traffic Drivers
1.) Social Media Networks – I have to tell you this is where most of my traffic comes from, not because I’m there, but because I’m always there and you will see me participating with a few people. Thats the hot tip with this Core Driver, openning up an account and then hoping it will just happen will fail you time & time again. Now I realize not all of you will have the same amount of time I invested in Social Media Networks so bare with me for a bit. When I started using these networks I learned alot about what not to do, I’m not going to get into those things in this post but may do so at a later time. In fact, I did write a post here on Owen Greaves Consulting called, ” 10 Days To a 1000 Followers ” , this tells of how I started with Twitter.
One of the key secrets to using these networks is to centralize, make your Blog your home base. Use plug-ins to send your blog posts to your out-posts. Out-posts are these networks, FriendFeed, FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and so on, there are so many of them out there I won’t list how many I use.
The best way to use these networks is to promote other people, promote other peoples products 9 times out of ten, promote your site, products and services at a 1 in 10 or 1 in 12 ratio. Edify others always, help others always,and build powerful relationships with those who are likeminded with you and your blog. Share, Share and share information you find useful for others, things that are interesting and helpful, information that teaches and directs. You need to become a TRUST AGENT,(affiliate link) someone who connects with others and connects business with others, make a positive impact on society. Maximize Social Media Networks, it’s word of mouth that can put you on the map or take you off it.
2.) Consistant Blog Posting – There’s not much to say on this topic because it plain works, post regularly to your blog and the search engines go nuts! This means a couple things, I won’t go into detail but there are a couple of other things you need to pay attention to while here.
a) SEO – I’m not especially strong on this topic but I have learned how to make it work for me. There is a science here that baffles most people, it can be learned so expect to spend some time here. You may need to get help, so don’t feel bad if you don’t grasp it.
b) Study your sites traffic numbers for the purposes of scheduling your regular blog posting strategies.
I have found that posting to your blog regularly builds traffic better than anything, especially if your posts are teaching something of value. This post will be useful to many and should generate considerable traffic, why, because everyone, and I mean everyone is trying to find the silver bullet to getting traffic to their blog.
Again, I won’t go into details on SEO & traffic numbers but they are important. My secret weapon is Headway Themes. (affiliate link)
3.) Commenting on other Blogs /Forums – I fought this hard for along time, I just didn’t want to spend time on other blogs, it felt like I was wasting time. I was WRONG! I think this item is a true weapon for Bloggers, especially high profile blogs & forums that have large followings. I mentioned earlier that this traffic thing takes time, lots of time, and lots of your time.
So what do you do at these Blogs & forums? Answer questions, help those looking for answers, ask a question you need answered, promote someone else’s product or service, strongly disagree on a post, you will get noticed for sure. I can’t stress enough how good this works, I challenge you to spend some time on this and see what happens.
So there ya have it, 3 Core Traffic Drivers that I do and have been working for me, I have not paid for any traffic, I have paid for Affiliate products which you will find in this post and on my blog. Someday I’ll spend money for traffic, but I haven’t as of this writing.
I hope these help you, I’m here helping you make sense of Social Media, Blogging and I.T. Strategies, let me know how it goes for you, please leave comments and suggestions below, I really would love to hear what’s working for you.
Technology Questions To Think About
I have been surfing about looking at sites selling different products & services, it got me to wondering if the technology they chose is working for all these business sites. I thought I would share a few questions that have been rattling around in my knoggin. Here ya go:
1.) Does technology help fill your sales funnel, and how?
2.) Has or does technology help build your brand?
3.) Does your current technology build community?
4.) Does your technology match your business processes?
5.) Is your technology easy to use?
6.) Which technology do you like best?
7.) Does your current technology improve productivity?
8.) Is your technology doing what you need it to do?
The strategic planner in me wonders how much work or time was put into determining what was going to work best and how they measured the solutions used. I’ve often said, if you don’t have your business process documented, how can you possibly know if a software or hardware solution actually handles 70, 80, 90% of your problems.
Anyway, I was thinking out loud and thought I would share my technology questions.