Make More Money From Your Ideas

Yes, although a blog is not a "free for all", where anybody can contribute (That's a forum rather than a blog). A blog is usually a single author, though it can be set up with a "committee" of authors.

In Blogger.com, for example, when you create an account, only you can write to your blog (except for other people adding comments). But you can also add other authors, who then have the ability to post new entries to your blog.

Labels: blogs, writing

What's your market? If you're serving one market, stick to one blog - even if they are on different topics. If you're serving two or more distinct markets, then it might make sense to have a separate blog for each market.

Labels: blogs, niche marketing

When you write your blog, link back regularly to relevant pages on your Web site. For example, when we post a blog entry about something that's related to one of our products, we end the blog post with a link to that product's sales page.

Labels: blogs, traffic generation

"I have never even read a blog let alone looked at one. How do I ensure that prospective clients read my blog if I create one. I am a psychotherapist and life skills trainer in the UK and not brilliantly IT/tech based, are these blogs easy to manage?"

Yes. But - with respect - if you've never looked at a blog, it's too early for you to start publishing your own. Start by getting to know a bit about blogs - what they do, what they look like, what other people are using them for, and so on. You don't have to imitate them, but at least understand the lay of the land before launching your own.

Labels: blogs

"I wonder whether anybody really has time to read them. I don't have enough
time to do what I need to get done, let alone spend hours on the internet reading an unqualified person's views on a subject that may be of importance to me."

Good point! People do read blogs, but - like anything else - most of your readers will be loyal readers. In other words, it's all about creating a relationship with them so they grow to recognise your value as an authority on your topic.

You can also encourage readership by telling more people about it, even those who had heard about it in the past. For example, I occasionally publish an issue of my newsletter that's just a list of some of my blog posts on a particular topic. I provide a brief summary, and then link to the blog.

Labels: blogs

Blogger.com does allow you to modify your templates, though it requires a fairly good knowledge of HTML/XML. Alternatively, search Google for "custom blogger templates" (without the quotation marks) and you'll find various templates available for use.

Labels: blogs

No, not necessarily, though of course the more (high quality) readers you have, the better. It depends on the purpose of your blog, though.

Even a blog with no readers isn't necessarily a bad thing, if you're using the blog for other purposes - e.g. to store ideas for yourself before fleshing them out later for use in articles, e-books, and other written material.

Labels: blogs, writing

How much time do you have??? Seriously, the success of your blog depends on the amount of work you put into it. I didn't say the time you put into it; there are ways to publish a blog without investing lots of your own time. But a successful blog does take effort.

If you ignore your blog, it will look old and stale; and people will stop visiting it. On the other hand, if you publish to it regularly, it looks current and dynamic, and attracts more visitors.

Labels: blogs

"How do you get ideas what to write in the blog all the time when you
already do newsletters and articles?"

Blog posts are different from newsletters and articles.

Blog posts are typically shorter, focus on a single point, may just express a simple thought, often link to another Web page, and are often commenting on current news items.

Articles tend to be longer, might have more than one point, are generally written better, and are often "timeless".

Labels: blogs, writing

Clearly, getting more traffic to your blog will increase your readership. But there are other things you can do as well.

Most importantly, tell people about it! Promote it in your e-zine, on your Web site, in your e-mail signature, in your podcasts, when you speak to groups, when you speak to individuals ... everywhere!

Labels: blogs

Do exactly that! Create your blog using blogger.com, and make regular posts to it, which in turn link back to specific, relevant pages on your Web site.

Labels: blogs, traffic generation

The nice thing about a blog is that you can publish as often as you like without pestering people. Unlike an e-mail newsletter, which is delivered to your subscribers' in-boxes, a blog is simply a Web site. So even if you publish daily - or many times a day - you don't annoy your subscribers.

There is a way for people to "subscribe" to your blog - it's known as an RSS feed. But even then, this is separate from an e-mail in-box, so you still won't be cluttering up their in-box.

Labels: blogs

First, remember that a blog is a Web site. So all the traffic generation techniques that work on regular Web sites can also be applied to blogs. This includes:

• Good keywords in the title and body of your blog posts.
• Encouraging other bloggers and Web sites to link to you.
• Writing short, relevant posts on a single topic.
• Updating your blog regularly so the search engines keep visiting it.
• Give value; don't just promote yourself.
• Tell people about it!

In addition, blogs have some additional ways of attracting traffic as well:

• Create an RSS feed, so people can "subscribe" to your blog.
• Promote your blog in various blog directories, such as technorati.com.
• Link to other blogs, and ask them to link to you.

Labels: blogs

Blogger.com allows you to disable comments, which is one way of stopping spammers. However, that also stops other people from submitting their comments as well.

Another option in blogger.com is to choose the "Show word verification for comments" option, which forces users to type in a disguised word along with their comment. This prevents automatic spam robots from posting comments.

Labels: blogs

"Do I need to personally respond to every comment on the blog, or just let the readers talk amongst themselves?"

If you have a vibrant group of readers contributing comments on your blog, then by all means leave it to them! It builds up the community and builds credibility.

However, most blog owners find it difficult to get reader comments on their blog. So you might have to get the ball rolling by personally responding to all comments, which rewards the original commenter, and might encourage others to comment as well.

Labels: blogs

"Is it better to host my blog on my own Web site, so it gets a better ranking in Google?"

Ideally, yes, you're right - hosting it on your own Web site is an advantage for Google.

But that's an answer for advanced users. For just starting out, I recommend that people use Blogger, and either host it at blogspot (default) or a separate domain name. These don't give you the same advantages as hosting it on your own Web site, but it does mean you can use some of Blogger's handy layout and indexing tools.

Of course, you can get the best of both worlds with some other blog software like WordPress.

Labels: blogs, search engine listings

"I was advised to have my website “American Spelling” (and also to use American dollars). Do you agree that the American spelling is the way to go? Comments on the American dollars? "

The answer to this - as to most other questions about Web site design - is to first ask "What's your market?" If you're aiming primarily at an Australian market - not the American public - stick to Australian spelling and currency.

Taking orders in non-Australian currency is tricky, because you have to convert to A$ to process the transaction, but the conversion rate won't match what the bank uses, so the customer sees a weird amount on their credit card statement, with no sign of their original US$ amount. You can get around this by using, say, PayPal, which accepts transactions in US$.

Labels: market research, sales conversion

"Having recorded every presentation, I’m thinking to skip the whole production of CDs in a jewel case etc and go straight to a completely online format. I'm looking for help to link recorded audio or video content with Powerpoint as a product package that could be downloaded and viewed via the web as an online learning tool."

Camtasia from www.techsmith.com is a popular choice for doing on-screen video (including PowerPoint). Another option is FlashPoint, a PowerPoint plug-in from http://www.flashdemo.net/, which converts PowerPoint presentations into Flash movies.

Labels: audio, multimedia, video

"How do I set up the automatic machinery at the back of my site to send out an e-book? Do I need a gateway? Or is there some simple way my ecart can send it out?"

It depends what cart you're using. Does yours allow you to customise the "thank you" page after somebody buys a particular product? If so, you can add a link to the e-book on the thank-you page for that product.

Alternatively, does it allow you to customise the e-mail message that goes out to acknowledge the sale? Again, if it does, then you can do it the same way.

Some shopping carts do allow this; others don't. Clickbank.com, for example, does allow you to customise the thank-you page. So does ours.

But many of them don't.

Labels: e-commerce, shopping cart

"One reason I have not done a practice consulting newsletter is that I suspect I would annoy some in my client base. I am toying with the idea of doing a once a year one, so as not to be too intrusive but at the same time to keep my name in front of people. Of course, people can log onto my website and get a free download each month. I do get some responses to that."

First, why would people get annoyed? Make your sign-ups optional, so people can choose whether or not to receive it. Those who might get annoyed would simply not sign up (or would unsubscribe when they start getting annoyed).

Second, once a year is way too infrequent! It's hardly "keeping your name in front of them" if you're only doing it once a year. If that's all you're willing to do, do something better - like buying them a book or a gift voucher!

Finally, your monthly downloads are all the more reason to have a monthly newsletter, even if all it does is to tell people that they can go to the Web site and get the free download. Otherwise, you're expecting THEM to remember - and they won't.

Find out more about publishing a newsletter.

Labels: e-mail newsletter