I’m going to post my blog statistics monthly here on the blog. This will help me make sure I check and analyze them monthly and it will hopefully also give you some insight into site metrics.

General Stats

1656 Visits Read More→

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time now you’ll know I love WordPress for websites, blogs, content management systems and just about any type of site.

That’s why I still do website designs over at www.BlogSiteMojo.com. I just love seeing a new site come together and, even better, hand it over to a new owner with a big vision.

Well over the weekend I did a big of an extreme makeover on my design site. I think the new look is much more representative of what I can offer and what people can expect from a WordPress website.

Anyway just wanted to do a quick post and share the before and after with you:

BEFORE

AFTER

So what do you think?

p.s. I’m offering a wide range of services over at Blog Site Mojo including a complete site setup, website critiques, copywriting and search engine optimization. Check it out if you’d like someone with proven experience to help you build your online business:
http://www.BlogSiteMojo.com

One of the hardest things about blogging is connecting personally with your readers.

It’s a common issue because we all want hundreds or even thousands of visitors and we try to talk to them all at once. The problem is there’s no way you can relate to a thousand personalities all at once. They are so different, so varied and so unique that it’s just not possible.

Sure, you can hit on a few things they might relate to but sometimes it’s hard to even know where to start when you are trying to relate to a BIG group.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the people who relate to my blog and really getting down to the individual personality types who will relate to what I blog about.

Here’s what I’ve come up with in terms of who I’m talking to here at Marketers Mojo:

- If you run a business from home…..I’m talking to you.

- If you’re having a hard time balancing a business budget…..I’m talking to you.

- If you’re a mom who never again wants to hear: “No, you can’t take off work to go to that Christmas Concert” (field trip, etc)…..I’m talking to you.

- If you’re a stressed out, over-worked, tired and frustrated service-based business owner…..I’m talking to you.

- If you’re tired of living your life based on making other people happy (ie. you people please)…..I’m talking to you.

- If you’re wondering if you can actually run a profitable business, be a good person and never compromise in your ethics…..I’m talking to you.

I know keeping clear on this will help me relate to the people who read this blog and vice versa. I’m sure you don’t want to read a blog with broad generalizations all across the board, you want to know someone is blogging about YOUR situation, YOUR feelings and YOUR circumstances.

That’s what I aim to do here at Marketers Mojo so we can all continue to grow our businesses into awesome extensions of a life we love.

Talk to YOU soon!

With all the social media hoop-la lately there seems to be much less of a focus on blogs and blogging for business. Even this past weekend as I attended Podcamp Toronto many of the sessions were on Social Media, Twitter, Facebook and Building Online Communities.

Now I’m not against social media at all but I am still very partial to building a community on MY website. That’s why I think blogging is still a largely important task for many business owners promoting something online.

Why Should I Blog?

With that being said, blogging for the sake of blogging is a mistake. You must know why you are blogging. I’ve worked with clients who’ve set up websites and blogs that have hundreds of pages with no results. The reason being is they never really understood why they were blogging in the first place.

In order to make more sense of why someone should blog, let’s look at some of the ways you can make money blogging:

- Sell a physical product.
- Sell a service.
- Sell an information product.
- Sell a product as an affiliate (physical or digital).
- Sell advertising.

That’s about all I can think of at the moment.

Not only is it important that you know how you are going to make money with your blog but you need to know how you will call your readers to take action.

Let me give you and example by using my own blog here at Marketers Mojo. My goal is to help my readers make an income doing what they love and in turn make myself a full time income through affiliate marketing. Now to do that I know I need to do my keyword research, write relevant posts, provide useful information and then lead my readers on to the next step.

In my case the next step is going to be either:
1. Sign up for my email list (or one of my number of email lists).
2. Click to buy a product I recommend.
3. (Coming Soon) Sign up for a webinar I’m offering.

With that information in mind I craft my posts around useful, helpful business products that help online business owners have a less stressful business. Then I link over to am appropriate free email list, product review, post or product website directly to send my readers on to the next step.

It’s not an overly complicated plan but it is a plan. Actually simple plans are usually the best. All I’m saying is that you must have a plan with your blog. What do you plan to achieve. And then you must believe in that plan and go after it.

Blogging to me is a conversation and every day I love connecting with people. It’s always a thrill to know that something I write or offered inspired or helped someone else in their business. Think about your reasons for blogging and then make them happen and I’m sure you’ll get the same rewarding feeling out of the blogging you do for your business.

p.s. Now that I’ve provided you with some useful info and food for thought I would like to invite you to find out more about blogging by getting the free report and weekly tips on ‘Beginner’s Blogging’. It’s all here:
http://www.marketersmojo.com/freebies/beginners-guides/blogging

It just never ends, does it? You just get one blog post up, and you have to start the next one. Or you need an article (or three, or seven) to use for marketing your business. Or you need a press release to announce your new product. Or your podcast is 5 days past due. (Yes, podcasts are content, too!) The list of content an online business needs is endless.

And if you’re like most people, your motivation for writing is in short supply. You may have even said once or twice, “I hate to write.”

Even I have to go in search of my missing mojo occasionally, and I write for a living! So don’t beat yourself up if you sometimes feel less than creative.

There are some things you can do to get your writing mojo back, though—or at least get it to show up for a limited engagement once in a while.

I Hate to Write

We all hate to write sometimes. First, change your attitude. You’ve probably heard the expression “fake it til you make it.” Don’t scoff. It works! Tell yourself you love to write enough times, and eventually even you will begin to believe it. While you’re at it, put a smile on your face next time you see your sister-in-law. Fake it til you make it works to quell family drama, too.

I Don’t Have Time to Write

Woody Allen said “Eighty percent of success is showing up” and that’s as true of writing as anything. Every day—preferably at the same time—sit down at your computer and write.

Note that research is not writing. Neither is forum participation, Tweeting, surfing Facebook, or checking email. Open a text document and begin to type. That’s writing. Do this every day at the same time and after a few weeks it will be so ingrained you would no more dream of skipping your daily writing time than you would forgo brushing your teeth before bed.

Aside from developing the writing habit, there’s another reason to write every day. You know how when you put something off–like laundry or bookkeeping–and it piles up and piles up and piles up and pretty soon you don’t even know where to start and you’re so overwhelmed you have to go take a nap before you can even think about it?

Well, that’s what happens when you put off creating content, too. You get this huge pile of stuff you have to write, and while you’re busy stressing over it more stuff is being added to the pile.

But if you just sit down every day and write one thing–just one thing–you’ll never find yourself trying to pound out seven blog posts, three articles, and four weeks of newsletters in a single afternoon. You’ll have a lot more free time if you just make content creation a priority in the first place rather than pushing it off until the last minute.

I Don’t Know What to Write About

Always be on the lookout for things to write about. Here is where you get to lounge about on forums, seeing what people are talking about. You can search Twitter for interesting topics and set up Google alerts for your keywords. Keep a notebook or smart phone or some other recording device with you all the time. You never know when inspiration will strike, so you need to be ready to grab it when it does.

Now when you sit down to write you won’t spend the first 20 minutes casting about for something to write about. Just get out your list, pick a topic, and go.

Will all this help you win a Pulitzer Prize? Probably not. But it will help you improve your sales. More content equals more traffic, more newsletter subscribers, more podcast listeners, and that adds up to more profit in your pocket. How can you say you hate that?

Cindy Bidar is a freelance writer specializing in content management for Internet marketers. She blogs about marketing and writing at http://cindybidar.com.

In September I did my first post in a series called ‘How I Made Money‘. I thought it would be helpful to explain to people who ask what I do to explain specific actions I’ve taken over the years to make money online.

Today’s topic is How I Made Money….Blogging.

Blogging is one of my favorite ways to make money online. It’s taken some playing around with blogging and a number of different sites to find my ‘blogging voice’ and to feel really comfortable with how I blog. Even then sometimes I feel like I don’t know what to blog about.

But let’s get right to it with how I made money blogging.

Blogging is just another way to get your message out to the masses. It’s a way to target a specific group of readers and to build a relationship with them.

Of course this blog right here is an example of that. Read More→